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Daryl McCann Jerusalem Bound?

Posted By on January 9th, 2017

The last time Arabs ruled eastern Jerusalem and the Old City all but one of the Jewish Quarter’s 35 synagogues was demolished, a fact John Kerry prefers not to mention. Trump’s pledge to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv would end the prospect of history repeating itself.
As a candidate in the 2016 election season Donald Trump often talked of moving the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. It was easy enough to dismiss. After all, both Bill Clinton and George W. Bush had made the same promise before winning the White House.

This time around might be different. For a start, David Friedman sounds like a very different kind of U.S. ambassador to Israel. Here’s Friedman responding to Trump endorsing him for the post: “I intend to work tirelessly to strengthen the unbreakable bond between our two countries and advance the cause of peace within the region, and look forward to doing this from the U.S. embassy in Israel’s eternal capital, Jerusalem.”

Should the United States relocate its embassy to Jerusalem? A lot of opinion in Australia is against it, although Tony Abbott saw merit in the idea. Australia joining a move by President Trump to shift its embassy to Jerusalem could “demonstrate its unswerving support for Israel, as the Middle East’s only liberal, pluralist democracy”. Members of the Turnbull government rebuffed “talkative” Abbott’s latest idea. Shifting the embassy would exacerbate an already problematic situation, especially with regards to the “two-state solution”. Deputy PM Barnaby Joyce referred to Abbott’s comments as “not helpful”, while Foreign Minister Julie Bishop gave her former leader short shrift: “The Australian government does not have any plans to move the Australian embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.”

Greg Barton, professor in global Islamic studies at Deakin University, made this case for retaining the status quo:

“The future of Israel for Jewish Israelis and Palestinian Israelis and for people living on the Gaza Strip and the West Bank depends upon trust and negotiation…If we went ahead and moved our embassy, following suit after the Americans to Jerusalem, we would be closing off doors of opportunity to play that mediating role.”

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s, not surprisingly, took an even harder line, and warned that changing the US embassy would unleash a “crisis we will not be able to come out from” for “the peace process in the Middle East and even peace in the world”. Departing Secretary of State John Kerry appeared to be reading from the same script, characterising the planned embassy change as dangerous: “You’d have an explosion, an explosion in the region, not just in the West Bank, and perhaps in Israel itself, but throughout the region.”

But so many explosions are already taking place in the Middle East and none have anything to do with the Israeli-Palestinian dispute. Syria’s civil war alone has resulted resulting in as many as 470,000 deaths. Perhaps this outgoing secretary of state might have found better things to do than trying to foist on Mahmoud Abbas a Palestinian mini-state (the West Bank and East Jerusalem) instead of his real goal, a fully-fledged Palestinian state from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea.

The Palestinian Authority has played John Kerry for a fool. The latest version of Mahmoud Abbas’ polemic naturally enough features UN Resolution 2334 and its call for East Jerusalem – including the Jewish Quarter in the Old City – to be the capital of an independent Palestinian state. According to Abbas, at any rate, it would now be “hypocritical” of the US government to move its embassy before all Israeli-Palestinian territorial disputes, not least any final agreement on Jerusalem, are resolved. John Kerry – again – is on the same page as Mahmoud Abbas: “If all of a sudden Jerusalem is declared to be the location of our embassy, that has issues of sovereignty, issues of law that would deem to be affected by that move…”

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Theresa May Says Britain Will Make Definitive Break With EU Brexit strategy isn’t ‘muddled,’ British prime minister says By Jenny Gross

Posted By on January 9th, 2017

LONDON—U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May said Britain would make a definitive break with the European Union while still seeking to negotiate the best possible access to the bloc’s common market.

“Often people talk in terms as if somehow we are leaving the EU, but we still want to kind of keep bits of membership of the EU,” Mrs. May said in an interview with Sky News. “We are leaving. We are coming out,” she said, adding that London still “wants the best possible deal” in terms of trade.

Mrs. May reiterated earlier comments that the U.K. would have control over its borders once outside the EU. She declined to say whether she would prioritize curbing immigration over market access.
EU leaders say the U.K. must allow free movement of people from across the EU if it wants access to the tariff-free single market. Many British lawmakers say membership in the single market is crucial for Britain’s economy.

Mrs. May has faced renewed pressure over the past week from critics who have questioned whether the British government has clear aims in Brexit negotiations, which are due to start by the end of March.

Ivan Rogers, the U.K.’s top diplomat in Brussels, on Tuesday resigned unexpectedly and wrote in a letter to staff that he hoped colleagues would continue to challenge “muddled thinking.”

“Our thinking on this isn’t muddled at all,” Mrs. May said in Sunday’s interview. “We will be outside the European Union but we will get the best possible deal for the U.K. in terms of our trading relationship with the European Union.” CONTINUE AT SITE

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Truck Plows Into Israeli Soldiers in Jerusalem, Killing Four Israeli authorities call incident a suspected terror attack By Rory Jones

Posted By on January 9th, 2017

TEL AVIV—A Palestinian man rammed a truck into Israeli soldiers on a busy promenade in Jerusalem on Sunday, killing four, in what Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called a terrorist attack.

The driver targeted a group of Israeli soldiers disembarking from a bus in a popular tourist area overlooking Jerusalem’s Old City and was shot dead at the scene by security forces, police said.

A video published by Israeli media outlets showed the truck driving into the Israelis before attempting to ram them again. The attack killed three female soldiers and one male soldier, all in their 20s, Israeli authorities said. Some 17 other soldiers were wounded and evacuated to hospitals, they said.

“We know the identity of the perpetrator, who by all indications supports the Islamic State,” Mr. Netanyahu said as he visited the scene Sunday evening, according to his office.

Israeli police identified the driver of the truck as 28-year-old Fadi Qunbar. The Palestinian Authority’s official news agency, Wafa, said the driver was a Palestinian from East Jerusalem.

The attack came ahead of a conference France is convening this month with members of the international community in an effort to revive Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, and amid tension over a United Nations resolution last month that deemed Jewish settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem illegal.

Mr. Netanyahu compared the Jerusalem attack with Islamic State-claimed truck-rammings last month at a Berlin Christmas market, which left 12 people dead, and in France last July, in which 86 were killed. He provided no evidence of links between Islamic State and Sunday’s attacker.

In the past, the Israeli leader has attempted to link Palestinian violence against Israeli civilians and soldiers with global acts of terrorism committed by Islamic State. But support for the terror group isn’t widespread among Palestinians, according to Israeli security officials.

There was no immediate claim or statement referencing the attack on Islamic State’s official media channels.

Medics and police arriving moments after Sunday’s truck-ramming described a bloody scene, with bodies wedged under the vehicle.

“When we arrived there was chaos,” said Chen Lendi Sharon, a medic who was among the first to arrive on the scene, according to a statement from Israel’s ambulance service. “I saw a truck that rammed youngsters getting off the bus.” CONTINUE AT SITE

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Divide Over Russia Deepens in Congress Tensions expected to play out at hearing for Rex Tillerson, Donald Trump’s nominee for secretary of state

Posted By on January 9th, 2017

WASHINGTON—Congressional Republicans’ worries over President-elect Donald Trump’s views on Russia are deepening, with GOP hawks saying they still have questions about approving Rex Tillerson for secretary of state days before his scheduled confirmation hearing.

Two key Republicans, Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Sen. John McCain of Arizona, said in a joint interview Sunday on NBC that they are pushing forward with legislation to impose new sanctions on Russia, a move that would contradict Mr. Trump’s desire for a rapprochement with the Kremlin. Broad support for such a bill would put pressure on Mr. Trump to go along or risk appearing further isolated from his party on U.S.-Russia relations by vetoing such a measure.

The release Friday of a U.S. intelligence community report that pointed a finger at the Kremlin for interference in the 2016 presidential election is expected to heighten tensions around Mr. Tillerson’s confirmation hearings and the full Senate vote on his nomination.

More broadly, the divide over Russia threatens to thwart hopes by Republican leaders for a smooth start that would include rapid confirmation of the Trump cabinet and a quick vote on legislation to repeal the Affordable Care Act. Democrats are additionally complaining about the fact that several committees haven’t received financial and ethics paperwork that nominees are required to file.

CONTINUE AT SITE

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Syrian Kurds Deserve a Seat at the Negotiating Table President-elect Trump should arm the Kurds and fight for their autonomy in the region. By Stuart Rollo

Posted By on January 9th, 2017

The beginning of 2017 is shaping up to be a critical period in the Syrian Kurds’ campaign to defeat Islamic State and secure a measure of political autonomy in their homeland. How President-elect Trump manages the competing interests and alliances in Syria will directly affect the Kurds’ destiny. He ought to stand with these steadfast American partners.

Since 2012 the Syrian Kurds have occupied a precarious political position. They have been crucial American allies against ISIS. The Russian government has also courted them, particularly during Russia’s period of intense enmity with Turkey in late 2015. For long stretches the Syrian Kurds have also participated in an unofficial truce with Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government.

Amid this tangle of relationships, the Kurds’ connection with Turkish President Recep Erdogan may be the most important in whether they will secure some form of autonomy. Mr. Erdogan views them as a threat to Turkish territorial integrity, due to their alleged links with the separatist Kurdistan Workers’ Party, known by the Turkish acronym PKK.

Mr. Erdogan was an early supporter of the Free Syrian Army, but as the conflict progressed and the rebellion was taken over by radical Islamists, Turkey shifted its support to those groups, including Ahrar al-Sham and Faylaq Al-Sham. Ankara did this with the hope of replacing the Alawite Assad regime with a Sunni-led government, which would owe Turkey its allegiance.Turkey hosted Syrian political dissidents in the earliest stages of the rebellion and provided the Free Syrian Army with a secure base of operations within Turkey. Arms from Saudi Arabia and Qatar were flown into Turkey en masse and distributed to rebel groups across the border. As the conflict escalated and militant Islamist groups, including ISIS and Jabhat Al-Nusra, became the most powerful rebel factions, Turkey continued facilitating the flow of arms, cash and recruits across its border. CONTINUE AT SITE

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Bonfire of the Intelligence Vanities Putin is the winner as Washington melts down over Russian hacking.

Posted By on January 9th, 2017

What a spectacle. Two weeks before a peaceful democratic transition of power, Democrats are using Russian cyber hacks as an excuse to explain their defeat, and Donald Trump is playing into their hands by refusing to acknowledge that Vladimir Putin is no friend of America. The only winner here is Mr. Putin, who must be laughing at his success in causing Americans to mistrust their own democratic system.
***The U.S. intelligence community (IC) late Friday finally released a declassified version of the report on Russian hacking that President Obama had requested before he leaves office. The surprise is how thin it is. The report is made up mostly of top-line conclusions, while seven of the 25 pages are devoted to RT, Mr. Putin’s propaganda arm whose anti-Americanism is well known.

The IC report says it couldn’t release details without betraying intelligence sources or methods, but that didn’t stop leakers from whispering some of those details to NBC and the Washington Post. The Post reported that the U.S. overheard Russian officials gloating after Mr. Trump’s victory, saying it would be good for Russian interests. A fair inference is that White House officials authorized those leaks to embarrass Mr. Trump and suggest the election was stolen by the Kremlin.
The report concludes “with high confidence” that Mr. Putin “ordered an influence campaign in 2016 aimed at the US presidential election” to “undermine public faith in the US democratic process, denigrate Secretary [Hillary] Clinton, and harm her electability and potential presidency.” It also concludes that Mr. Putin “developed a clear preference for President-elect Trump.”

Yet the report offers no evidence or judgment that the hacking influenced the election result. The leaks from Clinton aide John Podesta’s email and the Democratic National Committee were embarrassing in their candid views of individuals, but they included no bombshells. The emails that really hurt Mrs. Clinton’s electability were those she kept on a private server while Secretary of State.

American voters were also well aware of the Russian meddling during the campaign, since Democrats made so much of it. “You encouraged espionage against our people,” Mrs. Clinton said to Mr. Trump in the third debate. “You are willing to spout the Putin line, sign up for his wish list, break up NATO, do whatever he wants to do. And that you continue to get help from him because he has a very clear favorite in this race.”

She lost anyway, and for reasons unrelated to the Kremlin. But Democrats and the left want to maintain the stolen-election line because they want to undermine the Republican ability to govern and repeal the Obama agenda that voters rejected at the polls.

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IN AUSTRALIA ANTI ISRAEL CLERICS HAVE SOME FUN….TRIPPING THE LIGHT FANTASTIC

Posted By on January 8th, 2017

http://daphneanson.blogspot.com/

Sydney Anglican priest and keen amateur boxer Father Dave Smith, a sort of antipodean Sizer whose anti-Israel bias will be familiar to regular readers of my blog.

See, for example, his breath-taking Al Quds Day corker here

Father Dave is seen in this photo practising some nifty dance steps at a function given by the Australia Palestine Advocacy Network (APAN) last year.

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David Singer: Congress rebuffs Obama and Kerry for abandoning American Policy on Israel

Posted By on January 8th, 2017

The US Congress has swiftly moved to rebuff the efforts by President Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry to reverse long-standing American policy in relation to Israel. By a vote of 342:80 Congress resolved on 5 January 2017:

“the passage of United Nations Security Council Resolution 2334 undermined the long-standing position of the United States to oppose and veto United Nations Security Council resolutions that seek to impose solutions to final status issues, or are one-sided and anti-Israel, reversing decades of bipartisan agreement”

Congress’s decision goes a long way to restoring America’s reputation and integrity.

Vice President-elect Pence has certainly signalled the incoming Trump Administration’s approval of such Congress action with the following tweet:

Congress now needs to rectify Obama’s abandonment of the written commitments made to Israel by President Bush in his letter to then Israeli Prime Minister Sharon on 14 April 2004 (“Commitments”).

Congress has a vested interest in seeing those Commitments restored – because it overwhelmingly approved Bush giving those Commitments to Israel by a massive vote of 502 to 12.

Among those voting to support those Commitments was Senator Hillary Clinton.

Senator John Kerry – whilst not casting a vote in the Senate – made his position very clear to moderator Tim Russert on Meet The Press on 18 April 2004:

Russert: On Thursday, President Bush broke with the tradition and policy of six predecessors when he said that Israel can keep part of the land seized in the 1967 Middle East War and asserted the Palestinian refugees cannot go back to their particular homes. Do you support President Bush?

Kerry: Yes.

Russert: Completely?

Kerry: Yes.

Subsequent decisions by both Clinton and Kerry respectively as Secretary of State played an active role in aiding and abetting Obama’s abandonment of the Bush Commitments – marking a shameful period in American history.

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Hitting Trump Before He’s Sworn In Democrats are fine with becoming “the party of no.” Matthew Vadum

Posted By on January 8th, 2017

Democrats and left-wing activists are planning to vigorously attack President-elect Donald Trump’s cabinet nominees before Trump even takes office at Noon on Jan. 20.

The purpose of this early resistance to the incoming Trump administration is not only to deprive Trump of political legitimacy but also to undermine his authority and make it impossible for him to govern.

All this talk of a vast Russian conspiracy to hack U.S. computer networks to put Trump in the White House is also part of the leftists’ scheme. So was Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein’s goofy fundraising campaign disguised as recounts in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania.

Commie agitprop director Michael Moore is encouraging angry left-wing mobs to come to Washington, D.C., and riot in the streets of the nation’s capital on Inauguration Day in an effort to prevent or at least cast a shadow over Trump’s assumption of the powers of the presidency. Moore’s idea is to do as much damage as possible to Trump before he even gets sworn in. It worked against George W. Bush.

Feminists are planning a Women’s March on Washington for Trump’s first full day as president. Organizers hope 200,000 people will show up but that number seems very optimistic.

“We plan to make a bold and clear statement to this country on the national and local level that we will not be silent and we will not let anyone roll back the rights we have fought and struggled to get,” said Tamika Mallory of Al Sharpton’s National Action Network.

President Obama is part of this too. He is planning to stay behind in Washington after Inauguration Day in order to obstruct Trump’s efforts to undo his destructive legacy.

So with just one decisive election that reduced Democrats nationwide to their lowest ebb since at least 1920, the left-wingers who spent the Obama years denouncing Republicans as the “party of no” have suddenly decided being the “party of no” is fine by them.

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BREAKING: FortLauderdale Terrorist EstebanSantiago Joined My Space As “Aashiq Hammad”, Recorded Islamic Music

Posted By on January 8th, 2017

Fort Lauderdale Airport terrorist Esteban Santiago registered on MySpace under the name “Aashiq Hammad” and recorded Islamic religious music on the site, 3 years before he ever deployed to Iraq as a U.S. soldier, destroying the lying mainstream media’s narrative that he was just a mentally disturbed veteran and that “Islam had nothing to do with it.”

Here’s how we know all that:

A search of public records database Nexis reveals that Puerto Rican Esteban Santiago has a brother named Bryan Santiago and two e-mails registered to his name:

naotaemail

The second e-mail, “Naota33@hotmail.com”, is how GotNews exclusively visually identified Santiago before every mainstream media outlet and discovered he was posting on an explosives/weapons forum about mass-downloading Islamic terrorist propaganda videos in 2007 yesterday.

Today, we discovered the first e-mail, “Naota017@gmail.com”, in the MySpace database that was leaked earlier this year. This is the raw data we found:

211355052:naota017@gmail.com:aashiqhammad:0x313afa5189c150b7b0f3e6d39e0fa223f88ec42b:

The middle entry “aashiqhammad” can be added to the MySpace URL to discover the profile that was registered to the e-mail address “Naota017@gmail.com”.

Sure enough, Esteban Santiago registered a MySpace account under the name “Aashiq Hammad”:
myspace1

Archive here.

“Aashiq Hammad” lists Penuelas, Puerto Rico as his location, just like Esteban Santiago’s records in Nexis.

And take a look at the three songs recorded by “Aashiq Hammad.” The first one is titled “La ilaha illAllah”, which is Arabic for “There is no God but Allah,” and the first half of the Muslim declaration of faith, the Shahadah:
myspace2

Archive here.

If the location and e-mail weren’t enough proof, “Aashiq Hammad” also has Bryan Santiago — Esteban’s brother — as a connection:
myspace3

Archive here.

myspace4

The song “La ilaha illAllah” by “aashiq” is indeed just an Arabic recitation of the Muslim declaration of faith “There is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is his messenger.” We recorded the song and you can download and listen to it for yourself here.

“Intentional” recitation of the Shahadah is generally considered sufficient to convert to Islam. Listen to that song. It sure sounds like Esteban Santiago was “intentional” about what he was saying!

And the best part?

That song was recorded in 2007, 3 years before Esteban Santiago went to Iraq as a U.S. soldier in 2010, destroying the lying mainstream media’s narrative that he was a “mentally disturbed veteran”, although even they admit Santiago went into an FBI office in 2015 and told agents he was being forced to watch ISIS videos by voices in his head (or something).

2007 was also the year that “Naota33” was posting on an explosives/weapons forum about mass-downloading Islamic propaganda videos, as GotNews exclusively revealed yesterday.

Santiago was definitely mentally disturbed, but if he was calling himself “Aashiq Hammad”, recording Islamic religious music online, and downloading Islamic terrorist propaganda all in 2007, 3 years before his first deployment to Iraq, what do you really think is the root cause here?

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