RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/13240/hamas-truce-trust

These benefits for Hamas are exactly why the proposed truce is dangerous and sends the wrong message to Hamas and other Palestinian terrorists. A truce now says that if you engage in violent, extortionistic acts, you get what you want.

This victory for Hamas will, of course, only increase the terrorists’ appetite and motivation to continue their attempts to kill as many Jews as possible. They will see any truce as a retreat on the part of Israel in the face of violence and terrorism.

Hamas will now have more time to prepare for the next war against Israel. The proposed truce will give Hamas breathing space to smuggle more weapons into the Gaza Strip, dig new tunnels and recruit thousands of Palestinians to its ranks.

A real truce between Israel and the Gaza Strip will be achieved only after the jihadi terrorists are removed from power, and not rewarded for violence and threats.

It is no secret that most of the Arab countries do not trust Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist group. President Mahmoud Abbas’s Palestinian Authority, for instance, as well as many Palestinians, do not have any confidence in Hamas, particularly after the summer of 2007, when the Islamist movement violently seized control of the Gaza Strip. Earlier this year, Abbas threatened that “shoes will be pouring” onto the heads of Hamas leaders.

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/13250/asia-bibi-pakistan-betrayal

“I am requesting the president of the United States, Donald Trump, to help us exit from Pakistan.” — Ashiq Masih, Asia Bibi’s husband.

“Placing Asia Bibi on the ECL [no-fly list] is like signing her death warrant.” — Wilson Chowdhry, Chairman of the British Pakistani Christian Association.

Blasphemy laws in Pakistan “have been used to target religious minorities, pursue personal vendettas, and carry out vigilante violence. On the basis of little or no evidence, the accused will struggle to establish their innocence while angry and violent mobs seek to intimidate the police, witnesses, prosecutors, lawyers and judges.” — Amnesty International.

The joy over the acquittal of Asia Bibi lasted barely 24 hours. The Christian mother of five from Pakistan was forced to spend eight years in prison, much of the time on death row, ostensibly for “blasphemy,” before the Supreme Court cleared her of any offense.

“I can’t believe what I am hearing, will I go out now? Will they let me out, really?”, Asia Bibi said by phone after the historic sentence, according to AFP news agency.

Unfortunately, massive street protests by extremist Muslims immediately erupted to pressure the government to delay her release. The phone network in some areas was suspended for reasons of “security”. Rioting caused schools in Islamabad, Punjab and Kashmir to close. Roads were blocked, paralyzing parts of Islamabad, Lahore and other cities. Christian schools warned parents to come and get their children for fear of violence. Churches were put on high alert. Protesters hold placards that read: “Hang Asia Bibi”.

“There will be a war if they send Asia out of country,” warned Khadim Hussain Rizvi, leader of Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), an Islamist party that supports blasphemy laws.

Threats by vigilante mobs who called for her death and warned of national unrest evidently worked. Pakistan’s government, after saying it would begin the process of preventing Asia Bibi from leaving the country, has now been accused of signing her “death warrant”.

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2018/11/brazils_bolsonaro_takes_aim_at_communist_cuba.html

Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro, the conservative former military man painted by the press as a madman, “Tropical Trump,” and all that, is showing signs of a strategic mindset.

In his first noticible foreign policy move, he’s threatened to just shut down ties with Cuba. According to Reuters:

BRASILIA (Reuters) – Brazilian far-right president-elect Jair Bolsonaro said there was no point maintaining diplomatic relations with Cuba because it trampled on human rights and there was no business to be done with the communist-run island.

In an interview published on Friday by Correio Braziliense newspaper, Bolsonaro criticized the Mais Medicos (More Doctors) program under which 11,420 Cuban doctors work in poor or remote parts of Brazil.

He said that 75 percent of the doctors’ salaries was paid to Cuba’s government and their children were not allowed to join them in Brazil, citing the case of a doctor whose three young children had to stay in Cuba.

“That is just torture for a mother,” Bolsonaro said. “Can we maintain diplomatic relations with a country that treats its people that way?”

Seems family separations, something the Democrats have a big cow about, aren’t such a big deal when Castro does it.

The Miami Cubans over at Babalu blog, as you can imagine, are pleased. Alberto de la Cruz wrote:

If you wondered why leftists hate Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro so much, this is one of the reasons.

What a move like this would show is two things: One, ties with Cuba are a waste of time, given that Castro doesn’t allow private business to flourish, the communist regime doesn’t believe in paying bills and as a result, the country doesn’t have money. It’s a permanent freeloader state, in search of a patron.

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/13195/refugees-vandalism

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has often argued that Christian Europe should admit more Muslim refugees.

“I’ll tell you strictly Muslim-to-Muslim. These (European social workers) are funny. I don’t know why on earth they are in love with a Muslim cause that even we Muslims despise.” — Syrian migrant to the author, Lesbos, Greece.

“The Syrian refugee crisis in lands stretching from the Middle East into the heart of Europe is another episode in a grandiose, multi-faceted Middle Eastern dilemma: Muslims in this part of the world view the Christian West as ‘evil;’ yet they know Christian lands are the most decent places to live economically and politically.” — Burak Bekdil, 2015.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, in his speech at the United Nations General Assembly in September, launched a scathing attack on the European Union. He accused the EU of having not done enough to support the refugees and claimed that the EU should pay Turkey more than it pledged (three billion euros).

Erdoğan has often argued that Christian Europe should admit more Muslim refugees. In a 2016 speech, he angrily threatened to open the floodgates of migrants into Europe again (in 2015 alone, three quarters of a million migrants passed through Turkey on their way to Europe).

Is Erdoğan using the mostly Syrian migrants as a bargaining chip to recalibrate his country’s failed admission to the EU? Is he simply carpet-trading by trying to maximize the amount of European money coming as aid into Turkey? No doubt, but not only that. His Islamist ideology dictates that the number of Muslims living in all corners of the Old Continent should one day herald a demographic victory for Islam.

“Occupying infidel lands” by the force of sword was an Ottoman idea. Occupying infidel lands through demographics is one of the features of post-modern Islamism, as Muslim nations, unlike the Ottoman Empire, lack the military might needed for military invasion.

http://www.israelhayom.com/2018/11/02/in-bulgaria-netanyahu-warns-europe-of-possible-attacks-by-iran/

“The most potent force of militant Islam is the Iranian regime. It’s devouring one nation after the other,” PM Netanyahu says • In talks with Bulgarian, Greek and Romanian leaders, Netanyahu expected to discuss possibility of embassy moves to Jerusalem.

Iran is the “most potent force of militant Islam” and Europe should be wary of possible Iranian attacks on its soil, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Thursday during a state visit to Bulgaria.

Speaking to reporters in the Black Sea city of Varna after meeting with Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov, Netanyahu said radical Islam is a threat to the world, and that Israel has recently revealed a number of Iranian plots to carry out attacks in Europe.

Netanyahu traveled to Varna for a meeting Friday of the Craiova Forum, which includes the prime ministers of Bulgaria, Greece and Romania, and the president of Serbia.

Ahead of his trip, Netanyahu said he wants to strengthen ties with European countries and “change the hostile and hypocritical approach of the European Union” toward peace in the Middle East.

http://www.israelhayom.com/2018/11/02/i-look-to-trump-as-a-role-model-says-brazils-president-elect/

In what appears to be his first foreign media interview, Jair Bolsonaro tells Israel Hayom U.S. President Trump “is doing a brilliant job” and there are “many things I use as examples for what I’m doing” • “I plan to move embassy to Jerusalem,” he tweets.

Until a few weeks ago, Jair Bolsonaro, now the president-elect of Brazil, was a little-known legislator. No one thought he would go on to become the leader of the country.

But on Wednesday, a week after he astonished everyone by winning the presidential election in Brazil – the largest democracy in Latin America – Bolsonaro chose Israel Hayom for what appears to be his first interview with the foreign media, and made it clear that his support for Israel and promises about Jerusalem were not just an election gimmick.

In a tweet on Thursday, Bolsonaro reiterated his position that he saw no problem in possibly moving the Brazilian Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, a platform he had promoted during his campaign.

“I plan to move the embassy to Jerusalem,” the unequivocal tweet stated.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed the sentiment from “my friend the President-elect of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, for his intention to transfer the Brazilian Embassy to Jerusalem. This is a historic, correct and thrilling step.”

Earlier this week, Bolsonaro confirmed that Netanyahu had congratulated him on his electoral success. Officials in the Bolsonaro camp confirmed he would visit Israel next year, after taking office.

The status of Jerusalem is one of the thorniest obstacles to a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians. If Brazil does move its embassy to Jerusalem, it would become the third country to do so after the United States and Guatemala.

Bolsonaro is expected to announce a full cabinet this month, ahead of his Jan. 1 inauguration. Israel Hayom Editor-in-Chief Boaz Bismuth spoke to Bolsonaro by telephone, with the help of an interpreter.

Q: Did you know that your name, Jair, means ”bringing light” in Hebrew?

“Yes, I was informed not long ago. I have the moral compass of a man who intends to do his best for his country and intends to tighten relations with other countries that think the same way we do and champion democratic elections, liberty and respect for others,” he says.

https://spectator.us/angela-merkel-vision-eu/

Whatever anyone’s views on the enterprise, there was one question always begging to be asked of the European Union: ‘What do you want to be when you grow up?’ At an early stage it wasn’t clear to everyone. Then the purpose and direction of travel seemed agreed — under the stewardship of Angela Merkel. She was there to settle disputes, authorize bailouts, offer German help to struggling nations and protect the project as it led to ever-closer union. Whatever else can be said of it, with Merkel at the helm at least the EU appeared to have direction. Not anymore.

This week — after another political drubbing for the CDU in Hesse — the German Chancellor announced that she would not seek re-election as head of the party she has led for 18 years. She also announced she would be stepping down as Chancellor at the next election, in 2021, a position she has held since 2005. During that time in office she has worked with four French presidents, four British prime ministers, and seven people who tried to run Italy. Her demise is proving a drawn-out affair — but we can see, in parallel, the demise of her vision of Europe. A clear, federalist vision which once seemed inevitable and now sorely lacks a leader.

Today there is simply no one on the scene capable of acting as the queen or emperor of that project, as Merkel has done for the past decade. That is due, in no small part, to the decisions she took and the hardness and hubris with which she acted when she held the most powerful position in Europe. The Merkel project had created a EU that had unachievable ambitions, seeking to govern countries with long histories of independence, and was fundamentally un-European in that it sought to impose uniformity upon the most gloriously diverse set of countries on earth.