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Bible Quotation For Today/ Prable Of The Wise & Foolish bridesmaids/Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour."
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 25/01-13: "‘Then the kingdom of heaven will be like this. Ten bridesmaids took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. When the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them; but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. As the bridegroom was delayed, all of them became drowsy and slept. But at midnight there was a shout, "Look! Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him." Then all those bridesmaids got up and trimmed their lamps. The foolish said to the wise, "Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out." But the wise replied, "No! there will not be enough for you and for us; you had better go to the dealers and buy some for yourselves." And while they went to buy it, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went with him into the wedding banquet; and the door was shut. Later the other bridesmaids came also, saying, "Lord, lord, open to us." But he replied, "Truly I tell you, I do not know you." Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour."

Bible Quotation For Today/ my beloved, just as you have always obeyed me, not only in my presence, but much more now in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling
Letter to the Philippians 02/12-18: "Therefore, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed me, not only in my presence, but much more now in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure. Do all things without murmuring and arguing, so that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, in which you shine like stars in the world. It is by your holding fast to the word of life that I can boast on the day of Christ that I did not run in vain or labour in vain. But even if I am being poured out as a libation over the sacrifice and the offering of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you. and in the same way you also must be glad and rejoice with me.

Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on October 18-19/15
Bachir Gemayel : Legend of a Ghost By Joseph El-Khoury/By Joseph El-Khoury/October 18/15
Ya'alon to visiting US military chief: Israel will defeat wave of terrorism/YAAKOV LAPPIN/J.Post/October 18/15
Israelis save drowning Syrian and Iraqi refugees/Assaf Kamar/Ynetnews/October 18/15
Breaking the mold: Why there is still hope for Israeli-Palestinian peace/Ben-Dror Yemini/Ynetnews/October 18/15
Royal Schism in the House of Saud/Simon Henderson/The Washington Institute/October 18/15
Israel’s fascists are pushing Palestinians towards a third intifada/Eyad Abu Shakra/Al Aabiya/October 18/15
Sectarian incitement as a weapon in the Gulf/Abdulrahman al-Rashed/Al Aabiya/October 18/15
Hillary’s foreign policy: Not Obama 3.0/Joyce Karam/Al Aabiya/October 18/15
The Taliban are coming back for Afghanistan/Dr. Azeem Ibrahim/Al Aabiya/October 18/15
Why is ISIS able to recruit Saudi youth/Samar Fatany/Al Aabiya/October 18/15
Women of Courage Betrayed by U.S. and the Media/George Phillips/Gatestone Institute/October 18/15
Kurds Ask for Peace, Turkey Attacks/Uzay Bulut/Gatestone Institute/October 18/15
Europe's Muslim Migrants Bring Sex Pathologies in Tow/David P. Goldman/Asia Times/October 18, 2015
Iranian Supreme Leader Khamenei, Iranian Officials Speak Out Against Iranian Approval Of JCPOAMEMRI/October 18/15

Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin for Lebanese Related News published on October 18-19/15
Bachir Gemayel : Legend of a Ghost
Rifi: We Have Dealt a Major Blow to Michel Aoun, Hizbullah
Report: Rahi Appalled by Political Situation, International Indifference towards Lebanon
Nasrallah: Toppling the Government Brings Vacuum, Hizbullah Presence in Syria Greater than Ever
Sidon Personal Dispute Escalates into Armed Clash
Bassil: We have Military Power and Intellect to Eliminate Terrorism
Palestinian Dead with Gunshot Wound to Head in Tyre
Bachir Gemayel : Legend of a Ghost By Joseph El-Khoury
By Joseph El-Khoury
Hezbollah: Syria presence greater ‘than ever before’

Rifi: We Have Dealt a Major Blow to Michel Aoun, Hizbullah
Naharnet /October 18/15/Justice Minister Ashraf Rifi declared Sunday that the rivals of Hizbullah and Change and Reform bloc chief MP Michel Aoun dealt them a “major blow” in the latest political confrontation over military promotions and appointments. "We have turned the page on the so-called promotions battle, which ended with a major blow to Michel Aoun and Hizbullah,” said Rifi during a sport event in the North. “We told them that the state will always emerge victorious,” he added. Rifi also stressed that “Aoun and Hizbullah's demands are not an inevitable fate that we must bow to.”In response to a question, the minister reminded that he had announced the “clinical death” of Prime Minister Tammam Salam's government. “The Lebanese, especially political leaders and the heads of parties, must realize this and exert efforts to rescue Lebanon,” he added.Rifi also called on all officials to pay attention to the “dangerous regional situation” and to “steer Lebanon clear from the region's blaze as much as possible.”The thorny issue of military and security appointments is one of the main points of contention paralyzing the cabinet's work. Aoun had been lobbying for the appointment of outgoing Commando Regiment chief Brig. Gen. Chamel Roukoz, his son-in-law, as army commander. But Roukoz reached the age of retirement on Thursday after the failure of a proposed settlement that would have kept him in the military and made him eligible to lead the institution in the future. Rifi was among several ministers who rejected the so-called settlement.

Report: Rahi Appalled by Political Situation, International Indifference towards Lebanon
Naharnet/October 18/15/Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi expressed dismay at the destiny of the political situation in Lebanon, blaming the christian leaders for not realizing the magnitude of danger surrounding the Christians, al-Mustaqbal daily reported on Sunday. “Rahi arrived at a conviction that many political leaders, mainly Christians, do not want to elect a president because they are benefiting from the vacuum and from the absence of the president to exercise their powers on behalf,” sources close to the Patriarch told the daily. “Rahi is also shocked by the indifference of the international community toward Lebanon,” they added. “The Patriarch is working hard through his presence at the Synod of Bishops to restore Lebanon to the map of international attention through the Vatican,” the sources said. “Diplomatic circles in Rome have expressed concern over the situation in Lebanon," which they said is "turning from bad to worse in light of the international indifference towards the country,” added the daily. Vatican sources said that the Vatican's former Foreign Minister Monsignor Dominique Mamberti returned "pessimistic" from his recent visit to Lebanon, as he expressed concern over the outcome of the situation in the country mainly that of the Christian Maronites. Lebanon has been without a president since the term of President Michel Suleiman ended in May 2014. Conflicts between the March 8 and March 14 alliances have thwarted all efforts to elect a successor, leaving the top Christian post vacant for over 17 months now.

Nasrallah: Toppling the Government Brings Vacuum, Hizbullah Presence in Syria Greater than Ever
Naharnet/October 18/15/Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah stated on Sunday that the party does not approve to topple the cabinet despite its slow performance, affirming that Hizbullah commits to dialogue despite warnings that some parties might withdraw from the sessions. “We reaffirm our commitment for dialogue and convergence among the Lebanese. We have participated in this government for the security and political stability in Lebanon,” said Nasrallah in a televised appearance. “We refuse to be blackmailed. Those who wish to stay in the dialogue sessions and the government are welcome, and those who wish to leave, are free to do so,” added Nasrallah. On Friday al-Mustaqbal movement warned that it might quit the government and the ongoing dialogue if the political deadlock continues in the country. “Despite the government's sluggish performance we voice calls on maintaining and not toppling it.Toppling the government means vacuum and collapse," he added in his speech commemorating the death of leading Hizbullah figure Hassan Hussein al-Hajj. On the participation of the party in the Syria war, Nasrallah said: “Our people feel safe because of Abou Mohammed al-Iqlim (al-Hajj) and the Resistance together with the Lebanese army. I would like to assure all that the Resistance has had great leaders for many years.” Al-Hajj died on October 10 fighting in Sahl al-Ghab, a strategic plain in northwest Syria where Hizbullah has dispatched fighters in support of the embattled regime of Bashar Assad, reports say. Nasrallah added that his group was fighting a "critical and definitive battle" in Syria with a greater presence than ever before. Addressing the fighters he said: “Maintain the strength that you have built and work on developing it because it is the road to preserve our country and people.”Nasrallah said Hizbullah members fought "for 30 years on the border with Palestine and have now gone to Sahl al-Ghab, where Abu Mohammed died, to the borders with (Syrian provinces) Hama, Idlib, Latakia, and Aleppo."Hizbullah has sent thousands of fighters to support the Syrian army's ground offensives in the country's center, north, and northwest, recently bolstered by Russian air strikes.But the group has been criticized for diverting resources from combating its traditional enemy to the south, Israel, which Hizbullah most recently clashed with in a month-long war in 2006. Nasrallah tried to temper that criticism by saying Israel and extremist factions in Syria, like the Islamic State group, had the same goals. "The two projects -- the Zionist and the takfiri (extremist Sunni) -- want to achieve the same result: destroying our peoples and our societies," he said. “We will continue to battle the Zionist project in the region and we will continue to fight alongside the Palestinians. There will be no future for the Zionist entity in the presence of the axis of the Resistance,” he emphasized .“We have been able to confront the takfiri for over four years now. If it was not for the perseverance on the ground in the face of the Islamic State, where would the region be today?” he asked. He acknowledged that Hizbullah's fight in Syria "may be long," but said it would be necessary to "protect these countries and this region."

Sidon Personal Dispute Escalates into Armed Clash
Naharnet/October 18/15/A personal dispute escalated into an armed clash Sunday in Sidon's Villas area, state-run National News Agency reported. “The dispute between Ali J. and members of the Najm family erupted into a shooting, which resulted in the destruction of a house for the Najm family and the wounding of Ali J., Haitham B. and a third person,” NNA said.The army has since encircled the area and is pursuing the shooters, the agency added.

Bassil: We have Military Power and Intellect to Eliminate Terrorism
Naharnet/October 18/15/Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil said from Tehran that the world expects Lebanon and Iran to eradicate terrorism because we have the military power and intelligence to do so, the state-run National News Agency reported. “We have talked about the expectations of the region and its people from two countries such as Lebanon and Iran. Our main responsibility is to eradicate terrorism from our land," said Bassil in a press conference. "We have the military capability and the intelligence to prevent its expansion into the world,” the Minister added.
On his second day visit to Tehran, Bassil met with Top Adviser for International Affairs of Iran's Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President of the Center for Strategic Research of Iran's Expediency Council Ali Akbar Velayati.“Our second responsibility is to develop our people in conjunction with the efforts to eliminate terrorism. It is what Iran has succeeded at," he concluded. Bassil traveled to Iran on Friday on the same plane as Chairman of Iranian Parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Committee Alaeddin Boroujerdi. Boroujerdi had paid a visit on Friday to Lebanon where he held talks with senior officials, including Prime Minister Tammam Salam, Bassil, and Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah. Bassil attened a regional conference affiliated with the Munich Security Conference at the invitation of his Iranian counterpart Mohammed Javad Zarif, reports said. The conference was attended by a number of regional and international foreign ministers.

Palestinian Dead with Gunshot Wound to Head in Tyre
Naharnet /October 18/15/A Palestinian national was found dead with a gunshot wound to his head in the southern area of Tyre, the state-run National News Agency said on Sunday. Alaa Walid al-Qasem, 18, from the area of al-Qasmieh was reportedly found dead in one of the banana groves on the coastline between al-Qasmieh and Tyre. He had a gunshot wound to his head and a pump action rifle in his hand. The circumstances of the fatal gunshot are under investigation. No cause has been released.

Bachir Gemayel : Legend of a Ghost By Joseph El-Khoury
By Joseph El-Khoury
IndraStra Global Lebanon , Opinion , The Middle East
Saturday, October 17, 2015
http://www.indrastra.com/2015/10/OPINION-Bachir-Gemayel-Legend-of-a-Ghost-by-Joseph-El-Khoury-0322.html
The September was the month of Bachir Gemayel. The change in month is also coupled with a change in image. A new re-looked Bachir, better suited for the 21st century, was unveiled for the celebrations organised by his son Nadim in memory of the former’s 1982 election. The Lebanese Forces, stuck to a more traditional portrait of their historical leader for the annual mass honoring their martyrs.
In times of crisis, and this is certainly one for Lebanese Christianity, the soul searching seems to bring this community back to the ‘Golden Era’ of Maronite domination and Bachir.
Few will argue convincingly against the new reality in effect since the mid 1990s. The balance of power is now unashamedly shared between three population blocks, with Sunnis and Shias are no longer constituting a single political and social ‘Islamic’ entity. As the heating conflict between Sunni sand Shias escalates to boiling point, we hear a deafening silence on the Christian front of the Lebanese confessional arrangement. The burning tyres in the Southern suburb and the sniper shots in Tripoli seem to have a muffling effect on the figureheads of the Christian camp, all affiliation included.
Nonetheless the delusion of power seems unshakable. For many of these a return to pre-1989 if not 1943 remains a realistic goal. The nostalgia for better times is certainly deeply engrained in the Christian Lebanese psyche and perpetuated by the affiliated media. Politically, it is fueled mostly by the posturing of General Michel Aoun, a father figure of the Christian middle classes and embodiment of their state of denial. Michel Aoun for his supporters is what they want him to be; a savior, astute political mover, and visionary. The man himself is less important than the function he fulfills: Michel Aoun is everything they would have expected from an older Bachir Gemayel, had the latter not been brutally assassinated on that fateful day of 14th September 1982.
An Interview with Bachir Gemayel, 1981
https://youtu.be/Jp0_NJaLhb4
It is well known that those who die young, at the height of their productivity, are always idealized in the minds of their public. This applies to Bachir Gemayel (who died age 35), as much as it did to the guerrilla leader Che Guevara (died age 39) or the singer from the doors Jim Morrison (died age 27) with the obvious differences between these characters. Exploiting their memory is often a cleansing experience to those left behind, who end up being compromised by life and experience.
The grief suffered by the Christian population, at the time hurled in an ever narrowing ghetto, and gripped by the paranoia of a threatening increasingly alien surrounding, lingered for many years. There were no obvious replacements to Gemayel. Neither the mild mannered, always neatly dressed Ameen could fill his brother’s shoes, neither did the second nor third in command in the Lebanese Forces, who had operated under Bachir as loyal sidekicks without much clout. For the following years, the leadership struggle resembled more a boardroom overhaul rather than a true fight for the soul of the Christians. This is until the final showdown in the mid-1980s between Samir Geagea and Elie Hobeika, resulting in the dominance of the first and the exile of the second. The Christians of the ‘centre’, effectively those who originated from parts of Mount Lebanon and Beirut did not take to Geagea, son of a northern village. His humble origins did not fit with their image of themselves as the country’s intellectual and financial elite. The fact he had not completed his medical studies, although for very justifiable reasons, did not sit well with the liberal professionals (doctors, lawyers). Despite his articulate style and his ruthless determination, Geagea in military garb or in a suit could simply not replace Gemayel.
Enters Michel Aoun in 1988. Until then a respected yet not over-influential army general, Michel Aoun became the last minute attempt at avoiding a complete disintegration of state institutions. The man brought in as a stop-gap until better solutions could be found had other plans and a well-rehearsed rhetoric to accompany his ambitions. Words such as ‘state’ army’ ‘order’ security’ have the effect on the Christian Middle Classes you would expect from a 7 year old child presented with a cone of ice cream. Aoun used them again and again in a litany that mimicked the simple message that had sold Bachir Gemayel (the one of 1982, not 1976) to the hearts of that population: We, the Christians can reverse the effect of the civil war and can bring back order and prosperity to this country, working hand in hand with those from other confessions who choose to be as patriotic as us.
This perverse view of patriotism as more inherent to one sect over others, unfortunately explains why the alliance between Aoun and Hezbollah is viewed so positively by large sections of the Christian population, despite its obvious imbalance in favor of the Shia militant organisation, with which they have little in common, culturally, politically and socially. It also explains why March 14th has not succeeded in breaking Aoun’s popularity. By adopting Geagea, maybe by default, as a Christian figure head and allowing the Hariri clan to treat their disparate array of Christian allies with some disdain, they had gone too far in trampling on the pride of the Christian middle classes. This situation persists today. Despite the shift in his discourse, which should assure him a broader appeal, Geagea, it is doubtful that he will ever be in a position to capture the imagination of the majority of Christians. This handicap is what maintains the hope of the new generation of Gemayels in regaining a position of leadership they believe is rightfully theirs. But their real challenge is elsewhere. If they ever manage to ever place their differences to one side, it is primarily the Patriotic movement they will need to wrestle for the ghost of Bachir Gemayel.
**This article was first published at Arab Democracy and The embedded video is for the reference purpose, not linked with the author of this article or the original publisher.

Hezbollah: Syria presence greater ‘than ever before’
By AFP | Beirut/Sunday, 18 October 2015/The head of Lebanon’s Shiite movement Hezbollah said on Sunday his group was fighting a “critical and definitive battle” in Syria with a greater presence than ever before. Hassan Nasrallah spoke during an event commemorating the death of leading Hezbollah figure Hassan Hussein al-Hajj, known as Abu Muhammad. According to Al-Manar television, which aired the speech, al-Hajj died on October 10 fighting in Sahl al-Ghab, a strategic plain in northwest Syria where Hezbollah has dispatched fighters in support of the embattled regime of Bashar al-Assad. Nasrallah said Hezbollah members fought “for 30 years on the border with Palestine and have now gone to Sahl al-Ghab, where Abu Mohammad died, to the borders with (Syrian provinces) Hama, Idlib, Latakia, and Aleppo.” His group’s presence in Syria “is larger than ever before -- qualitatively, quantitatively, and in equipment, because we are in a critical and definitive battle”, Nasrallah said. Hezbollah has sent thousands of fighters to support the Syrian army’s ground offensives in the country’s center, north, and northwest, recently bolstered by Russian air strikes. But the group has been criticized for diverting resources from combatting its traditional enemy to the south, Israel, which Hezbollah most recently clashed with in a month-long war in 2006. Nasrallah tried to temper that criticism by saying Israel and extremist factions in Syria, like the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) group, had the same goals. “The two projects -- the Zionist and the takfiri (extremist Sunni) -- want to achieve the same result: destroying our peoples and our societies,” he said. He said Hezbollah would continue to protect Lebanon from Israel, just as it was fighting extremist factions in Syria. “If it were not for the perseverance on the ground in the face of Daesh (ISIS) and its brothers... then from Iraq, to Syria, to Lebanon, where would the region be today?” Nasrallah said. He acknowledged that Hezbollah’s fight in Syria “may be long,” but said it would be necessary to “protect these countries and this region.”

Pope Francis urges ‘no to hatred and revenge’ in Holy Land
By AFP | Vatican city/Sunday, 18 October 2015/Pope Francis called Sunday for those caught up in violence in the Holy Land to have the “courage and fortitude to say no to hatred”, after fears weeks of unrest could turn into a full-scale Palestinian uprising. “I follow with great concern the situation of tension and violence that plagues Holy Land,” he said during Sunday’s Angelus prayer in Saint Peter’s Square. “There is a great need now for the courage and fortitude to say no to hatred and revenge and make gestures of peace.”The Argentine said he prayed to God to “strengthen in all, rulers and citizens, the courage to oppose violence and to take concrete steps to ease tensions”. “In the current context of the Middle East, peace in the Holy Land is more crucial than ever,” he added. The 78-year old head of the Roman Catholic Church was speaking as Israel pressed ahead with major security measures after five more stabbing incidents and over two weeks of relentless violence. The violence began on October 1, when a suspected cell of the Islamist movement Hamas murdered a Jewish settler couple in the West Bank in front of their children. The attack followed repeated clashes in September between Israeli forces and Palestinian youths at east Jerusalem’s flashpoint Al-Aqsa mosque compound. Including alleged assailants, 41 Palestinians have been killed since the upsurge in violence, while seven Israelis have lost their lives.

1 Dead, 10 Hurt as Palestinian Gunman Attacks Israel Bus Station
Naharnet/Agence France Presse/October 19/15/An Israeli soldier was killed Sunday in a shooting at a bus station in Beersheba, further stoking fears of a full-blown Palestinian uprising as diplomats scramble to quell tensions. The evening attack in the southern city was the first after a day in which unrest between Palestinians and Israelis seemed to somewhat ebb, following more than two weeks of relentless violence. Police said a gunman, thought to be Palestinian, entered the bus station armed with a pistol and knife, killing the soldier and wounding 10 other people, including four officers. The gunman himself was then killed and an African bystander was shot by security forces who mistook him for a second gunman. The identity of the assailant was not immediately known, and there was no claim of responsibility for the attack. But it was praised by militant groups in Gaza, with Hamas calling it a "natural response to Israelis assassinations" and Islamic Jihad saying it was a "normal answer to Israeli crimes."Diplomatic moves to halt the more than two weeks of unrelenting violence gained steam, meanwhile, with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry saying he planned to meet both the Israeli and Palestinian leaders in the coming days. Clashes also broke out in the West Bank city of Hebron, where three attacks occurred on Saturday. On the Gaza border, three Palestinians were moderately wounded by small caliber bullets during clashes with Israeli forces Sunday after they tried to breach the border fence, Gaza medics and the Israeli army said. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected an idea from France that would see international observers sent to Jerusalem's al-Aqsa mosque compound. Clashes at the compound between Israeli police and Palestinian protesters in September preceded the current wave of violence. Muslims fear Israel will seek to change rules governing the site, located in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem. The site is sacred to Muslims and Jews, who refer to it as the Temple Mount. Jews are allowed to visit but not pray there to avoid provoking tensions, and Netanyahu has said repeatedly he has no intention of changing the rules. "Israel cannot accept the French draft resolution at the United Nations Security Council," Netanyahu said. With international concern mounting, Kerry said he would meet both Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas later this week.
Attacks defy crackdown
Checkpoints have been set up in Palestinian areas of east Jerusalem, where many of the attackers have come from, and some 300 soldiers on Sunday began reinforcing police. Israeli police also began erecting a wall between Palestinian village Jabel Mukaber and Jewish neighborhood Armon Hanatziv to protect it from firebomb and stone attacks. Tel Aviv authorities have barred cleaning and maintenance employees from schools during times when students are present, with parents concerned over possible attacks against children. Most of the attackers have been young Palestinians wielding knives and believed to be acting on their own. Including alleged assailants, 41 Palestinians have been killed since the upsurge in violence began on October 1, while eight Israelis have died. Violent protests have also erupted in east Jerusalem, the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Israel on Sunday closed the only civilian crossing from Gaza into Israel, except for humanitarian cases, while damage was being repaired. Incident at holy site In yet another sign of tensions, ultra-Orthodox Jews illegally visiting a West Bank site holy to them were assaulted by Palestinians, two days after Palestinians torched the site. The group of about 30 religious students from Jerusalem had traveled to Joseph's Tomb in the northern city of Nablus despite not having the required authorization from Israel's military. They told police they intended to repaint the shrine after the fire. Israeli authorities said Palestinian police beat at least some of them with their batons and the butts of their guns. A group of Palestinian civilians arrived afterwards and also beat them, according to Israeli police. Joseph's Tomb, inside a compound in the Palestinian refugee camp of Balata in Nablus, has been the scene of recurring violence between Israelis and Palestinians. The shrine is under Palestinian control and off-limits to Israelis except on escorted trips organized by the army.

Egypt Heads to Polls to Elect New Pro-Sisi Parliament
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/October 18/15/Egyptians were voting Sunday in a much-delayed parliamentary election that will tighten President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi's grip on power after he crushed all opposition since ousting his Islamist predecessor. The vote for the 596-member parliament will be staged in two phases ending on December 2, with Egyptians abroad casting their votes for the first round from Saturday. But with an absence of opposition parties -- including the now-banned Muslim Brotherhood that has faced a deadly government crackdown overseen by Sisi -- polling has inspired none of the enthusiasm witnessed for Egypt's first democratic elections in 2011. Experts say the outcome of the election is a foregone conclusion and only voter turnout will be a gauge of popularity for Sisi, who has enjoyed a cult-like status since he ousted his predecessor Mohamed Morsi in 2013. Most of the more than 5,000 candidates in the polls overwhelmingly support Sisi and are expected to dominate parliament. Cairo resident Islam Ahmed, who said he would not be voting, was unmoved by polling getting underway. "I think the turnout will be low. I don't know any candidate in my constituency... many people don't know candidates in their constituencies," he told AFP. Hazem Hosny, political science professor at Cairo University said: "This parliament will be a parliament of the president. "It's really a parliament... to keep things as they are, to give an image of democracy." Many Egyptians tired of political turmoil since the 2011 ouster of veteran leader Hosni Mubarak support Sisi, who has vowed to revive an ailing economy and restore stability amid a deadly crackdown targeting supporters of his Islamist predecessor Mohamed Morsi. Morsi, Egypt's first freely elected civilian leader, was ousted by then army chief Sisi on July 3, 2013, after mass street protests against his divisive year-long rule. An ensuing government crackdown overseen by Sisi and targeting Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood movement left hundreds dead and thousands jailed. Hundreds more including Morsi have been sentenced to death after speedy trials, which the United Nations denounced as "unprecedented in recent history".Sisi, meanwhile, won a presidential election in 2014. Scores of policemen and soldiers have been killed in jihadist attacks since the crackdown on Islamists began, with the Egyptian affiliate of the Islamic State group leading a deadly insurgency in North Sinai. Sisi enjoys support of Western countries who have signed major arms deals with Cairo to back him in the fight against jihadists. "Sisi is our soul... without him we would have been migrants like those from other countries around us," said Buthaina Shehata after she cast her vote at a Cairo polling booth.
Brotherhood missing
The constitution empowers parliament to move a no-confidence motion against the president and also gives lawmakers 15 days to review all presidential decrees. But experts say the ability of lawmakers might be close to zero given the absence of any real opposition. The Brotherhood dominated the last assembly but is now banned after being blacklisted as a "terrorist organisation," while leftist and secular movements that led the 2011 uprising are boycotting or are badly represented in the polls. It had been the main opposition force for decades, fielding candidates in parliamentary elections under Mubarak despite an official ban. Its party took 44 percent of seats in the first free democratic elections following Mubarak's ouster in 2011. That parliament was dissolved in June 2012, but the Brotherhood's popularity shone through days later when Morsi, a civilian, was elected, putting an end to six decades of presidents coming from military ranks.
Sisi urges voters
As Egyptians abroad started casting their ballots on Saturday, Sisi appeared on television calling on citizens to vote. "Celebrate the choice of representatives and make the right choice," he said. "I am expecting Egyptian youth to be the driving force in this celebration of democracy."
Of the 596 lawmakers being elected, 448 will be voted in as independents, 120 on party lists, and 28 will be presidential appointees. The main coalition is the pro-Sisi For the Love of Egypt, which includes leading businessmen and former members of Mubarak's National Democratic Party. It aims to win two-thirds of the seats. The openly pro-Sisi Salafist Al-Nur party that backed Morsi's ouster is the only Islamist party standing. About 55 million voters are eligible to cast their votes in the two-stage election across the country's 27 provinces, with polling in the first stage to be held over two days. Any run-off in the first phase will be contested on October 27-28. The second phase starts on November 21.

Turkish Police Arrest 50 in Ankara Bombing Probe
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/October 18/15/Turkish police arrested around 50 foreign nationals in Istanbul early Sunday in a sweep targeting jihadists of the Islamic State group suspected of involvement in last weekend's Ankara suicide bombings, reports said. The raid focused on several apartments in the Pendik suburb on Istanbul's Asian side, the NTV news channel reported. It did not indicate the nationalities of those detained and questioned by police. The Dogan news agency said the suspects were preparing to travel to Iraq and Syria to join IS.
Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has said IS is the chief suspect in the double suicide bombing that killed 102 people at a peace rally in Ankara on October 10 in the deadliest attack in the country's modern history. Turkish media reports have said one of the two bombers was identified as Yunus Emre Alagoz, brother of the man who carried out a similar attack in July in Suruc, a town in southern Turkey on the border with Syria, that killed 34 people. The other, identified as Omer Deniz Dundar, had twice been to Syria in recent times, the reports said.
The attack has raised political tensions to new highs as Turkey prepares for a snap election on November 1, in a country that has become more polarised than ever. Pressure has piled on President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, with opposition figures blaming him for security lapses over the Ankara attack. For almost three months, Turkey has been waging an offensive against PKK militants, who have responded with attacks of their own, killing more than 140 members of the security forces.

Britain unveils £5m plan to tackle ‘extremist poison’
By AFP | London/Sunday, 18 October 2015/Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron on Sunday pledged £5.0 million to root out the "poison" of extremists like ISIS that target the alienated and vulnerable in British communities. The funds ($7.7 million or 6.8 million euros) will support local initiatives, campaigns and charitable organizations this year in a so-called "national coalition" against radicalization. "We need to systematically confront and challenge extremism and the ideologies that underpin it, exposing the lies and the destructive consequences it leaves in its wake," Cameron said on Sunday. "We have to stop it at the start -- stop this seed of hatred even being planted in people's minds and cut off the oxygen it needs to grow." The pledge came on the eve of the launch of the Conservative government's counter-extremism strategy, which will also include a broader crackdown on extremist content online. The strategy is widely expected to include closer working between Internet companies and police to remove online propaganda, using systems currently employed against child abuse images. There is also set to be a clampdown on extremism in prisons and universities, and incentives for schools to integrate pupils better. The new strategy will set out "our new approach to tackle this poison", Cameron said. The plan will target "violent and non-violent" extremism, support mainstream voices, and address the segregation and feelings of alienation that provide "fertile ground" for radical ideologies. The premier warned however that the scale of the challenge was "immense".At the core is building a national coalition of all those individuals and groups who are united in their determination to defeat extremism and build a more cohesive society. "We will do everything we can to support them -- through my new community engagement forum and with practical support and funding to tackle these deep-rooted issues. "The scale of the task is immense and that is why we need everyone to play their part. The strategy will also establish a joint industry and government group to tackle the proliferation of extremist content online. According to recent research by British-based think-tank the Quilliam Foundation, the Islamic State produces 38 unique pieces of high-quality propaganda every day -- which spread on social networking websites and target ISIS sympathizers and supporters across the world. "The past 18 months has seen a big change in the way that extremists use the Internet to target their radical ideology directly at young minds," the government added in Sunday's statement. Cameron had already vowed earlier this year to "de-glamorize" ISIS militants and clamp down on extremists in Britain.

Israel says more knife attacks thwarted, four Palestinians killed
By Reuters | Occupied Jerusalem/Sunday, 18 October 2015/Israeli authorities said four Palestinians had been shot dead and a fifth seriously injured in thwarted knife attacks on Saturday in Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank as tensions ran high after more than two weeks of unrest. Forty-one Palestinians and seven Israelis have died in the recent street violence, which was in part triggered by Palestinians’ anger over what they see as increased Jewish encroachment on Jerusalem’s al-Aqsa mosque compound. Israel says it is keeping the status quo at the holy compound, which is also revered by Jews as the location of two destroyed biblical Jewish temples. Read also: Has the status quo in and around Al-Aqsa compound changed? The Palestinian dead include attackers wielding knives and protesters shot by Israeli forces as they threw rocks. The Israelis were killed in random attacks in the street or on buses. In the latest attack, a Palestinian stabbed and wounded an Israeli border policeman at the Qalandia crossing in the West Bank, a police spokesman said. The attacker was initially shot and wounded in the leg. During a follow-up body search, the attacker drew a second knife and tried to stab another officer, after which he was shot dead, the spokesman said. In East Jerusalem and Hebron, two Palestinians who also attempted knife attacks were killed and another was seriously wounded, Israeli authorities said. One Israeli border policewoman was lightly wounded. A fourth Palestinian was shot dead, also in Hebron, but there were conflicting reports about the incident. Israel’s military said the Palestinian attempted to stab an Israeli civilian, who was carrying a gun and shot the attacker dead. A Palestinian man told Reuters that his daughter, a high school student, had seen the shooting and said it happened when Jewish settlers attacked an unarmed Palestinian. There has also been violence along the Gaza-Israel border. Israel’s army defused a rocket that it said had been fired by Gaza militants overnight and landed in an open area. Peace talks collapsed in 2014 over Israeli settlement-building in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, areas that the Palestinians seek for a state, and after Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas angered Israel by reaching a unity deal with the Islamist group Hamas in Gaza. The last major armed confrontation was the Gaza conflict between Israel and Hamas in 2014, which left large sections of Gaza destroyed. Around 2,100 Palestinians, most of them civilians, and 73 Israelis, most of them soldiers, were killed. The United States has stepped up efforts to try to restore calm. Secretary of State John Kerry spoke by phone with both Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Abbas to discuss ways to end the violence.Kerry and Netanyahu are due to meet next week in Germany.

Iran deal closer to reality as U.S. prepares sanctions waivers
New York, Reuters/Sunday, 18 October 2015/The United States was set to issue conditional sanctions waivers for Iran on Sunday, though it cautioned they will not take effect until Tehran has curbed its nuclear program as required under a historic nuclear deal reached in Vienna on July 14. Several senior U.S. officials, who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity, said that despite Washington’s move on Sunday, actual implementation of the deal was likely several months away. That means the sanctions relief Tehran is looking forward to is unlikely to come this year. They said the timing of nuclear-related sanctions relief will depend on the speed at which Iran takes the steps needed to enable the U.N. nuclear watchdog to confirm Tehran’s compliance. “We cannot imagine it taking less than two months,” one of the U.S. officials said. Sunday was so-called “adoption day” for the deal, which came 90 days after Iran, the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China reached an agreement under which most sanctions on Iran would be lifted in exchange for limits on Tehran’s nuclear activities. In addition to Washington's conditional orders to suspend U.S. nuclear-related sanctions, the officials said the United States, China and Iran would release a joint statement on Sunday committing themselves to the redesign and reconstruction of the Arak research reactor so that it does not produce plutonium. The fate of the Arak reactor was one of the toughest sticking points in the nearly two years of negotiations that led to the July agreement. Other steps Iran must take to meet the requirements of the deal include reducing the number of uranium-enrichment centrifuges it has in operation, cutting its enriched uranium stocks and answering U.N. questions about past nuclear activities the West suspects were tied to weapons work. One U.S. official noted that the U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency said Iran already has met its obligation to provide answers and access to the agency. The official suggested the quality of answers Iran might have provided to the IAEA was not relevant when it came to deciding whether to press forward with sanctions relief. Tehran denies allegations from Western powers and their allies that its nuclear program was aimed at developing the capability to produce atomic weapons. Unilateral U.S. sanctions against Iran not tied to its atomic program, such as those related to human rights, will remain even after the nuclear deal is implemented. The U.S. officials were asked about Iran’s decision to test a ballistic missile a week ago in violation of a U.N. ban that will remain in effect for almost a decade. The United States has said the missile was capable of delivering a nuclear warhead. The officials reiterated the launch was not a violation of the nuclear deal. “This is not, unfortunately, something new,” a U.S. official said, adding that the missile test should not be seen as an indicator of Iran’s willingness to comply with the nuclear deal. “There is a long pattern of Iran ignoring U.N. Security Council resolutions on ballistic missiles,” the official said. Washington has said it would seek Security Council action against Iran over the missile test. Once the deal is implemented, Iran will still be “called upon” to refrain from undertaking any work on ballistic missiles designed to deliver nuclear weapons for a period of up to eight years, according to a Security Council resolution adopted in July. Countries would be allowed to transfer missile technology and heavy weapons to Iran on a case-by-case basis with council approval. However, in July a U.S. official called this provision meaningless and said the United States would veto any suggested transfer of ballistic missile technology to Iran.

Russia: planes hit 51 ISIS targets in Syria
Reuters and AFP/Sunday, 18 October 2015/Russian planes carried out 39 sorties and hit 51 Islamic State targets over the past 24 hours, Interfax news agency quoted the Russian Defense Ministry as saying on Sunday. The aircraft hit targets in Hama, Latakia, Damascus and Aleppo regions, it added. Russian forces hit a "command point of one of the detachments of the Jaish al-Fatah (or Army of Conquest) terrorist organization" in Kafr Zeita 40 km northwest of Hama, the defense ministry said. "As a result of the air strike, the running of the detachments of the Jaish al-Fatah terrorist organization in this area was totally disrupted, after which the fighters abandoned this combat area."Moscow said it also destroyed a network of fortified tunnels in Talbisseh in Homs province used by Islamic State group jihadists to hide from the Syrian army and secretly move around the town.It also claimed it destroyed an "advanced supply point" in Damascus province that was used by IS to deliver ammunition, food and fuel. Russia said that it had information of increasing strife between the rebel groups Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and Al-Nusra Front, both of which it has named as targets. "Dissention between the various terrorist groups is growing, due to the battle for control over territory and cash flows," the ministry said. "According to the data from communications interceptions, just last week IS carried out three terrorist attacks using mined vehicles against field commanders of Al-Nusra Front," the ministry said. It also said it had information of mass desertions by rebels and forced recruitment.

German aid worker kidnapped in Afghanistan released
By Reuters | Kabul/Sunday, 18 October 2015/A German aid worker kidnapped in Afghanistan in August has been released safely, the German development agency GIZ said in a statement. “We are relieved and happy that our staff member is free again,” a statement from the organization said. No details were released regarding the kidnapping, which occurred in downtown Kabul on Aug. 17.The kidnapping was one of a series of attacks on foreign targets in the Afghan capital since the withdrawal of international troops from most combat operations last year.

Al-Qaeda commander killed in Syria strike
By The Associated Press | Beirut/Sunday, 18 October 2015/An airstrike has killed a top al-Qaeda commander and two other fighters in Syria, activists said Saturday, but it was not immediately clear whether it was carried out by the U.S.-led coalition or Russian warplanes. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Abdul Mohsen Abdallah Ibrahim al-Charekh, a Saudi better known as Sanafi al-Nasr, was killed Thursday in an airstrike near the northern Syrian town of Dana, along with another Saudi and a Moroccan member of al-Qaeda’s local affiliate, known as the Nusra Front. Russian warplanes have been carrying out airstrikes in Syria since Sept. 30. A U.S.-led coalition has been targeting the Nusra Front and ISIS for more than a year. The Observatory’s chief Rami Abdurrahman said it was not clear if al-Charekh was killed by U.S. or Russian warplanes. The Observatory, which relies on a network of activists inside Syria, said an Egyptian commander escaped the bombing. It said all four men had been dispatched to Syria by al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri. Extremist activists on social media say al-Charekh was killed by a U.S. drone strike. A U.S. official said an American drone targeted and struck al-Charekh but the U.S. was waiting for confirmation that he was actually killed in the attack. The official was not authorized to discuss the strike publicly so spoke on condition of anonymity. Al-Charekh, the alleged leader of al-Qaeda’s operations in Syria, was one of six men that the U.N. Security Council imposed sanctions on last year. He was 49th on a list of 85 most-wanted militants by Saudi Arabia who are outside the kingdom. The list, issued in 2009, includes 83 Saudis and two Yemenis. “America is offering its services to the Safawi (Iranian) project in the region by removing every brain who confronts this project,” wrote prominent Lebanese extremist cleric Sirajeddine Zuraiqat on Twitter. Zuraiqat is believed to be in Syria and is wanted in his home country. The U.S. killed top al-Qaeda official Muhsin al-Fadhli in an airstrike three months ago. Some Arab press reports suggested that al-Charekh was a member of the Khorasan group, a secretive cell of al-Qaida operatives who U.S. officials say were sent from Pakistan to Syria to plot attacks against the West. The Nusra Front’s leader, Abu Mohammed al-Golani, has denied the existence of the Khorasan group. In Moscow, Maj. Gen. Igoro Konashenkov said Russian aircraft conducted 36 sorties over the past 24 hours, striking a total of 49 positions. He said the airstrikes were in the province of Hama, Idlib, Latakia, Damascus and Aleppo. Konashenkov said one of the targets was a building on the outskirts of the town of Salma in the coastal province of Latakia where foreign instructors prepared militants. Syria’s state news agency, SANA, said troops carried out operations in Salma and nearby areas killing and wounding at least 300 fighters. “Several vehicles and hideouts were destroyed,” SANA said. Salma is in the mountains of Latakia province that is a stronghold of President Bashar Assad and is predominantly inhabited by members of his minority Alawite sect. Since Russian airstrikes began two weeks ago, Syrian troops have been on the offensive on several fronts around the country. The Observatory said government forces captured the villages of Wadihi, Sabqiyeh and Shgheidleh in Aleppo province under the cover of airstrikes. It added that fighting on the southern edge of Aleppo province killed 17 militants and eight troops and pro-government gunmen.

Egypt Heads to Polls to Elect New Pro-Sisi Parliament
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/October 18/15/Egyptians were voting Sunday in a much-delayed parliamentary election that will tighten President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi's grip on power after he crushed all opposition since ousting his Islamist predecessor. The vote for the 596-member parliament will be staged in two phases ending on December 2, with Egyptians abroad casting their votes for the first round from Saturday. But with an absence of opposition parties -- including the now-banned Muslim Brotherhood that has faced a deadly government crackdown overseen by Sisi -- polling has inspired none of the enthusiasm witnessed for Egypt's first democratic elections in 2011. Experts say the outcome of the election is a foregone conclusion and only voter turnout will be a gauge of popularity for Sisi, who has enjoyed a cult-like status since he ousted his predecessor Mohamed Morsi in 2013. Most of the more than 5,000 candidates in the polls overwhelmingly support Sisi and are expected to dominate parliament. Cairo resident Islam Ahmed, who said he would not be voting, was unmoved by polling getting underway. "I think the turnout will be low. I don't know any candidate in my constituency... many people don't know candidates in their constituencies," he told AFP. Hazem Hosny, political science professor at Cairo University said: "This parliament will be a parliament of the president. "It's really a parliament... to keep things as they are, to give an image of democracy." Many Egyptians tired of political turmoil since the 2011 ouster of veteran leader Hosni Mubarak support Sisi, who has vowed to revive an ailing economy and restore stability amid a deadly crackdown targeting supporters of his Islamist predecessor Mohamed Morsi. Morsi, Egypt's first freely elected civilian leader, was ousted by then army chief Sisi on July 3, 2013, after mass street protests against his divisive year-long rule. An ensuing government crackdown overseen by Sisi and targeting Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood movement left hundreds dead and thousands jailed. Hundreds more including Morsi have been sentenced to death after speedy trials, which the United Nations denounced as "unprecedented in recent history". Sisi, meanwhile, won a presidential election in 2014. Scores of policemen and soldiers have been killed in jihadist attacks since the crackdown on Islamists began, with the Egyptian affiliate of the Islamic State group leading a deadly insurgency in North Sinai. Sisi enjoys support of Western countries who have signed major arms deals with Cairo to back him in the fight against jihadists. "Sisi is our soul... without him we would have been migrants like those from other countries around us," said Buthaina Shehata after she cast her vote at a Cairo polling booth.
Brotherhood missing
The constitution empowers parliament to move a no-confidence motion against the president and also gives lawmakers 15 days to review all presidential decrees. But experts say the ability of lawmakers might be close to zero given the absence of any real opposition. The Brotherhood dominated the last assembly but is now banned after being blacklisted as a "terrorist organisation," while leftist and secular movements that led the 2011 uprising are boycotting or are badly represented in the polls. It had been the main opposition force for decades, fielding candidates in parliamentary elections under Mubarak despite an official ban. Its party took 44 percent of seats in the first free democratic elections following Mubarak's ouster in 2011. That parliament was dissolved in June 2012, but the Brotherhood's popularity shone through days later when Morsi, a civilian, was elected, putting an end to six decades of presidents coming from military ranks.
Sisi urges voters
As Egyptians abroad started casting their ballots on Saturday, Sisi appeared on television calling on citizens to vote. "Celebrate the choice of representatives and make the right choice," he said. "I am expecting Egyptian youth to be the driving force in this celebration of democracy."
Of the 596 lawmakers being elected, 448 will be voted in as independents, 120 on party lists, and 28 will be presidential appointees. The main coalition is the pro-Sisi For the Love of Egypt, which includes leading businessmen and former members of Mubarak's National Democratic Party. It aims to win two-thirds of the seats. The openly pro-Sisi Salafist Al-Nur party that backed Morsi's ouster is the only Islamist party standing. About 55 million voters are eligible to cast their votes in the two-stage election across the country's 27 provinces, with polling in the first stage to be held over two days. Any run-off in the first phase will be contested on October 27-28. The second phase starts on November 21.

Turkish Police Arrest 50 in Ankara Bombing Probe
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/October 18/15/Turkish police arrested around 50 foreign nationals in Istanbul early Sunday in a sweep targeting jihadists of the Islamic State group suspected of involvement in last weekend's Ankara suicide bombings, reports said. The raid focused on several apartments in the Pendik suburb on Istanbul's Asian side, the NTV news channel reported. It did not indicate the nationalities of those detained and questioned by police. The Dogan news agency said the suspects were preparing to travel to Iraq and Syria to join IS. Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has said IS is the chief suspect in the double suicide bombing that killed 102 people at a peace rally in Ankara on October 10 in the deadliest attack in the country's modern history. Turkish media reports have said one of the two bombers was identified as Yunus Emre Alagoz, brother of the man who carried out a similar attack in July in Suruc, a town in southern Turkey on the border with Syria, that killed 34 people. The other, identified as Omer Deniz Dundar, had twice been to Syria in recent times, the reports said. The attack has raised political tensions to new highs as Turkey prepares for a snap election on November 1, in a country that has become more polarised than ever. Pressure has piled on President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, with opposition figures blaming him for security lapses over the Ankara attack. For almost three months, Turkey has been waging an offensive against PKK militants, who have responded with attacks of their own, killing more than 140 members of the security forces.

Netanyahu rejects French proposal, says Israel not the problem at Temple Mount
HERB KEINON/J.Post/10/18/2015 /Israel is not the problem at the Temple Mount, but rather the solution, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at Sunday morning's cabinet meeting, rebuffing a French proposal to place international observers at the holy site. “We are preserving the status quo,” he said. “We are the only ones doing that, and will continue to do this responsibly and seriously.”He reiterated what he has been saying for weeks, that the only change in the status quo has been efforts organized by the Israeli Islamic Movement and other “outside forces” to bring explosives into the mosques on the site and “attack Jews from them.”This is the change in the status quo that has caused all the events there over the last year, he said. Netanyahu said that Israel rejected the French proposal put forward at the UN Security Council, and pointed out that it did not mention Palestinian incitement or terror. There is, however, a call in the proposal to “internationalize the holy sites.”Netanyahu said that everyone has seen what happens to holy sites in the the Middle East, “what happened in Palmyra [Syria], what happened in Iraq, Syria and elsewhere where Muslim extremists destroy each other's mosques, to say nothing about Christian, Jewish and heritage sites.”Netanyahu said that Israel was acting in an aggressive and systematic manner against the wave of terrorism through the reinforcement of security forces, and taking both deterrent and punitive steps. “Today we will begin taking steps against incitement, including against the Islamic Movement, which is the foremost inciters,” he said, adding that Israel will take action against that group's source of funding. The security cabinet is expected to meet later on Sunday to discuss this matter.

Ya'alon to visiting US military chief: Israel will defeat wave of terrorism
YAAKOV LAPPIN/J.Post/10/18/2015
Israel will defeat the latest wave of Palestinian terrorism, Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon told the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Joseph Dunford, on Sunday, adding that Iran is financing terrorist activities in the West Bank in order to ignite the area. Dunford arrived in Israel on Saturday for a visit, which is his first official trip outside of the US since taking up his position on October 1. He met with Ya'alon at the Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv, and discussed strengthening bilateral defense ties, as well as going over strategic regional issues. IDF Chief of Staff Maj.-Gen. Gadi Eisenkot, who is officially hosting Dunford, also attended the meeting. "We very much value your commitment to Israeli security. The US and Israel share many common values and interests. We view our relationship as strategic, and I would say, as a cornerstone of our national security," Ya'alon said. Ya'alon praised the close cooperation between Israel's Defense Ministry and the Pentagon, the two militaries, and ties between the intelligence agencies of both countries."We believe we must be on the same page regarding all developments in the Middle East," he said. "The only set thing in the current situation of the Middle East is change, and the only thing that is stable is instability," the defense minister stated.
As nation states in the region collapse, Israel is witnessing a range of threats linked to the global jihad, like ISIS and Jabhat Al-Nusra, washing up on its doorstep. Organizations supported by Iran are also nearby, he warned. "Iran, unfortunately, is the instigator and contributor of instability in the Middle East. We do not have a border or a territorial dispute with Iran, but the Iranian regime subverts us and does not intend to change its spots. It will continue being the chief instigator of terrorism in the region." Iran is seeking to set up terrorist bases against Israel from the Syrian Golan, and one can find Iranian fighter prints in every place where there is terrorism in the Middle East. They are striving for regional hegemony and exporting their revolution, Ya'alon said. Israel has in recent weeks faced a new wave of terrorism perpetrated by Palestinian youths who are under the influence of incitement, and go out stabbing Israelis, Ya'alon said. Israel is combating this threat with all of its capabilities in order to defeat it, "as we have done in the past... I believe that we will win," he added. Ya'alon rejected criticism that the government is merely safeguarding the status quo in the conflict with the Palestinians, adding that Israel seeks progress in a multiple areas. General Dunford said that it was his first visit outside of the US in his current role. He acknowledged the diplomatic ups and downs in "the family" between Washington and Jerusalem.
But military ties remain strong, he asserted, and will continue to be close. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff echoed Ya'alon's statement that the US and Israel will overcome security challenges. He added that Ya'alon's familiarity with regional challenges were better than his own, which is one of the reasons he came to Israel, "to listen to the [IDF] chief of staff, to you, and to the IDF commanders, because I know that you have the perspective that is very important to us. It will help us ensure that we are acting in the most effective manner." Meanwhile, Israel's Ambassador to the US Ron Dermer said on Sunday that Israel and the United States have resumed talks on future defense aid that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu suspended in protest of the Iran nuclear deal. He added that Yaalon, visiting Washington later this month, would pursue those talks, as would Netanyahu when he meets US President Barack Obama in the White House on November 9.
"Israel hopes that the discussions we are now engaged in will culminate in a long-term agreement that will dramatically upgrade Israel's ability to defend itself by itself against any threat and enable Israel to address the enormous challenges we now face in the region," Dermer said in a Facebook post.
The allies had been looking to agree on a 10-year aid package to extend the current US grants to Israel worth $3 billion annually, which are due to expire in 2017. But Netanyahu froze negotiations ahead of the July deal reached between Iran and world powers, which Israel deems insufficiently stringent.
"With the nuclear deal now moving ahead, Israel is also moving ahead, hoping to forge a common policy with the United States to address the continuing dangers posed by Iran," Dermer said. "Discussions over a new Memorandum of Understanding between Israel and the United States, which had been on hold for some time, resumed this past week in Washington," he said, using a term for the defense-aid agreement. Before the suspension, the two sides were close to a new package of grants worth $3.6 billion to $3.7 billion a year, US and Israeli officials have said. They have predicted that the amount could rise further as Israel argues that it needs more aid to off-set a likely windfall for Iran in sanctions relief which might be used to finance anti-Israel guerrillas.
*Reuters contributed to this report.

Saudis and Iran vie in cash tug-‘o-war behind Palestinian terror. US sidelined
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report October 17/15
The wave of Palestinian terror plaguing Israel in the last two weeks is in fact being quietly tossed back and forth by two opposing external forces, debkafile’s intelligence sources reveal: Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are laying out large wads of cash to various Palestinian groups, especially the Fatah’s Tanzim militia, to stay out of the terror offensive. The money is channeled through Israel and Jordan, which also provide intelligence on which groups are worth financing to counter the efforts of Tehran and Beirut to keep the violent flames high. Israeli and Jordanian government and security officialdom at the highest levels are working hard to remove bureaucratic obstacles and keep the money flowing in the right direction. Along with aid, Iran and Hizballah are sending directives to the Palestinian recipients on how and when to jump the terror offensive from one stage to the next. For instance, Saturday morning, Oct. 17, following Israel’s partial success in slowing the flood of Palestinian knife attacks, Hamas media instructed terror activists to switch from stabbing attacks to running people down with vehicles, as a more effective way of killing larger numbers. The backstage cash contest between the Saudi-UAE partners and the Iranian-Hizballah duo is strongly determining the course of the Palestinian terror offensive, with the effect of sidelining Washington and further disempowering Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas.
The Obama administration had in any case given up on leverage to sway these events by declining to ask Tehran to restrain extremist Palestinian violence. That was part of the price exacted from Israel for its failed fight to stop Obama obtaining a nuclear accord with Iran. Hence, Washington’s even-handed comments which so incensed Jerusalem this week, when Secretary John Kerry linked the outbreak of violence to “massive settlement building” and the State Department referred to Israel’s resort to “excessive force.”Still, President Obama and Kerry Friday, Oct. 16 backtracked up to a point after being taxed with unprecedented heat by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon and charged with utterances that could be construed as support for terrorism. Obama and Kerry then turned around and leaked to mainstream media negative innuendo about over-the-top Israeli actions for reining in terror. One report, for instance, noted that “both sides have traded blame about who is responsible for the spate of violence;” others highlighted the deaths of Palestinian terrorists and vindicated their violence.
Israel’s international reputation undoubtedly suffers from this stratagem, while at the same time, it contributes nothing construcive toward solving the crisis.
Mahmoud Abbas, even if he for once dispensed with prior conditions for a meeting with Netanyahu, has even less to contribute. His influence on the Palestinian street is at rock bottom, even after his stuttering support for the ongoing Palestinian “Al Aqsa struggle.” His presence in Ramallah is ignored by the two Arab governments working to stifle Palestinian terror. They prefer to go directly to Jordan’s King Abdullah and Netanyahu and leave him in the cold. The stakes of the contest between Saudi Arabia Jordan and the UAE, on the one hand, and Iran and Hizballah, on the other, are high indeed - not just for the security of Israel but also of Jordan as well as its stability, if radicalized Palestinians are not subdued quickly. The Obama administration’s policy of disengagement from the burning conflicts of the region and its lost points in Jerusalem have left the US empty-handed for taking any hand in the current Israel-Palestinian crisis of terror. It’s just as well that the government in Jerusalem entertains no illusions about anything useful coming out of from Netanyahu’s encounter with Kerry in Berlin next Wednesday, Oct. 21.

Israelis save drowning Syrian and Iraqi refugees
Assaf Kamar/Ynetnews/Published: 10.18.15/11 people rescued at sea near Greece by Israelis on yacht; upon learning rescuers were Jews from Israel, the refugees kiss and thank them.
A group of Israelis rescued several drowning Syrian and Iraqi refugees near the Greek shore on Sunday morning. Upon spotting the refugees, the Israelis stopped their yacht and fished out 11 refugees, including four children, and, tragically, a deceased infant. After providing first aid to the refugees, the Israelis notified Greek authorities. The incident occurred across the Turkish town of Kas, next to the Greek island of Kastellorizo. Shlomo Asban, the yacht captain, recounted the rescue: "I've been sailing for 40 years and this is the first time something like this has happened to me. We heard cries for help from the water, stopped the boat and found a teenage refugee with a life vest. We pulled him out of the water and he told us that his brother was missing and apparently dead.”At that stage the Israelis believed that the boy was the sole survivor, but a few minutes later they spotted other refugees in the water alongside a rubber boat that had sunk. "We retrieved a total of 12 people, including a dead six-month-old baby who was in his mother's arms, said Asban." Esban also recounted that "the mother held the baby in her arms all night long. We found out they were Syrians and Iraqis, gave them water and cell phones to talk with their families. After we told them that we Jews from Israel, they kissed us and thanked us.”Gal Baruch, a resident of Rinatya who was also on board said: "The first boy we identified spoke Arabic and said he was from Syria. We asked if there were other people, but he started to cry and pointed out in all sorts of directions. We combed the area with binoculars and then we found a large group of people. In the group there was also a person who suffered a heart attack and diabetic shock. We gave him sweets to eat and we saved his life.”Baruch added that "it was hard on us. It’s not easy to see such a sight. We are a team that is at sea a lot and we have never encountered difficult scenes like these. The team behaved properly and acted according to maritime law, which says you have to save people regardless of where they come from. After an hour of sailing, we removed the refugees safely and they were transferred to the Greek authorities.”

Breaking the mold: Why there is still hope for Israeli-Palestinian peace
Ben-Dror Yemini/Ynetnews/October 18/15
Op-ed: The fact that there is currently no partner on the other side does not mean we should lose hope. Anyone who belittles the role or the importance of the international community does not understand the world we currently live in, and that they themselves are in fact helping the anti-Israel campaign.
There are no magic solutions. No easy fixes. We are talking about a chronic condition that involves periodic outbreaks. There is no need to panic - Israel is the strong side, and usually the right side as well. Every wave of violence hurts the Palestinians much more than it hurts Israelis.
They could have thrived. They could have chosen a path of reconciliation. But their history is full of mistakes that have taken them from catastrophe to catastrophe. They insist on not learning the lessons of the past. Once it was the Nazi Mufti, Haj Amin Al-Husseini, who led them to the Nakba. Today, it is Hamas and Raed Salah who are leading them down a similar path. A path that includes more incitement, more hate, and more bloodshed. Thousands of Jews paid with their lives so that Israel could overcome difficulties and become a strong, successful, and thriving state. But at the end of every wave of violence, Israel somehow becomes even stronger. The Israel that emerged from the first intifada was much stronger than the country that entered the conflict.The Israel of 2005, after the intifada, became stronger than that of 1995. And the Israel of 2015 is stronger than it was in 2005. And what happened to the Palestinians? They have become weaker. During the two decades that followed the War of Independence in 1948, Arab regimes ruled in Gaza and the West Bank. They didn’t establish a state, and did nothing for themselves.
They never held Al-Aqsa as their primary source of joy and pride. The mosque was of marginal importance and physical disrepair, like it had been during most of the Islamic history. But then Israel came into the picture, and Al-Aqsa blossomed under occupation. It's true; it's not nice to say it, because its "colonialist," but the occupation has mostly done the Palestinians good. Without it, they would have remained under oppressive Egyptian and Jordanian regimes. This doesn’t mean the occupation is good. At the moment it is bad for Israel. It serves as a weapon against Israel. But what about the Palestinians? The day Israel ends its occupation, there will be a greater chance that the Palestinians will become "Southern Syria," as they once requested, and a site of bloody conflict between rival faction, rather than a center of growth and success. There is no point in being addicted to fantasies; peace is not on the horizon. The Palestinians are unable to find peace in and among themselves, and are divided between two entities, and further divided into factions that typically communicate through the use of weapons. So how can we possibly make peace with them? Let's assume that Netanyahu offers up the Clinton plan, the Geneva outlines, or the Olmert plan – and I can only hope he would – but the reply is known in advance. We have seen signs of change here and there, with Palestinians who agreed to fair solutions, without a mass-scale right of return, but they have always recanted in the end.
But does that mean we should lose hope? Does that mean that there is no way out? Far from it.
The fact that the left is wrong does not make the right wing correct. Smart and serious people such as Amos Yadlin, Prof. Shlomo Avinri, Giora Island and others have brought forward new proposals that are not buried in the left's fantasies or the right wing's hallucinations. The proposals involved an Israeli willingness to compromise, and steps that would lead to division, and reduced points of friction, without giving up security control. All in order to prevent the West Bank from turning into the Gaza Strip. The fact that there is currently no partner on the other side does not mean we should lose hope. Ben-Gurion's wisdom was that he always, always extended his hand in peace. Israel must prove to the world that it wants peace. Anyone who belittles the role or the importance of the international community does not understand the world we currently live in, and that they themselves are in fact helping the anti-Israel campaign.
The moment Israel claims that EU funding is paying for the Palestinian Authority's incitement to terror, people listen, but when it authorizes four illegal outposts to house hooligans and troublemakers at the same time, no one takes its claim's seriously. It's true that the Palestinians have rejected "two states for two peoples." It's also true that incitement has engulfed Palestinian society, and that at the end of the day they want one big state. But does this mean that Israel needs to fall into their trap? The right is correct in its assumption that a Palestinian state may soon thereafter turn into a jihadist Hamas state. But a Palestinian state is a distant vision. The fact that Israel has to offer it doesn’t mean that they want it. In any case, Israel will demand, and rightfully so, security measures and international support, to prevent the establishment of a terror state.

Royal Schism in the House of Saud
Simon Henderson/The Washington Institute/October 18/15
Persistent reports of royal disquiet about the role of the king's favored son indicate that a showdown between rival factions may be imminent. Saudi Arabia's leadership has been in turmoil since January, when King Abdullah died and was succeeded by Crown Prince Salman, who promptly promoted his twenty-nine-year-old son Muhammad to minister of defense. The status of MbS, as he is known, was further enhanced three months later when the king named him deputy crown prince. The nominal heir apparent is King Salman's nephew, Crown Prince and Interior Minister Muhammad bin Nayef, or MbN, age fifty-six. But MbS is clearly closer to the king and is widely believed to be his true intended successor. The resultant tensions have the wider royal family and the public worried -- a sentiment exacerbated by concerns about the cost of the Yemen war and the low price of oil, both of which are forcing government cutbacks. How the tensions will play out is a matter of speculation. The laconic MbN, a favorite of Washington because of his counterterrorism cooperation, sometimes cuts a sorry figure alongside the brash, self-confident MbS, who last week flew to Russia for negotiations with Vladimir Putin over Syria and, most likely, oil policy. Although he seemed deferential toward his cousin at first, MbS now projects disdain (e.g., an official photo of a meeting that MbN chaired in Mecca after the recent pilgrimage stampede disaster showed MbS reading a magazine).
Meanwhile, two widely reported letters circulated by an anonymous Saudi prince have called on royal family members to stage a coup against King Salman, while also alleging that his son's policies are leading the kingdom to political, economic, and military catastrophe. The unnamed prince, whose identity is a matter of considerable speculation, could well be acting as a front for other family members. In one report, he is quoted as favoring the king's younger full brother Ahmed for the throne, though his qualifications seem poor -- Ahmed is widely viewed as a nonentity who was passed over for the role of crown prince by both King Abdullah and King Salman. Another element of the crisis is the king's poor health. At age 79, Salman suffers from many ailments, walks with a stick, and has shown deteriorating mental ability -- a fact now widely acknowledged, though not publicly, by many Western officials. He is said to have good days and bad days; his conversation is reportedly repetitive, and the royal court goes to elaborate lengths to cover for this deficiency by often positioning a teleprompter in front of him, obscured by elaborate floral arrangements.
In light of these factors, several scenarios are possible:
King Salman dismisses MbN as crown prince and appoints MbS in his place. This could prompt a military standoff between the Saudi army, under MbS, and the Interior Ministry's considerable paramilitary forces under MbN -- the latter perhaps supported by the Saudi Arabian National Guard, whose commander is Prince Mitab bin Abdullah, a son of the late king and perceived ally of MbN. King Salman relinquishes his dual post as prime minister and names MbS to the position, making deputy prime minister MbN subordinate to his younger cousin. The elder prince already suffers similar indignities elsewhere in government: although MbN chairs the important Council of Political and Security Affairs, MbS holds a seat there as well; meanwhile, the king's son chairs the other main decisionmaking body (the Council of Economic and Development Affairs, which controls the crucial oil portfolio), from which MbN has been excluded.
MbN and MbS try to force each other's ouster. MbN's weak spot is the huge death toll during last month's Hajj pilgrimage, the organization of which was his direct responsibility. And MbS could be vulnerable over the Yemen war, an initiative that apparently remains popular in the kingdom but is viewed as adventurist by Washington; whatever the case, a clear-cut military and diplomatic success there seems elusive. The House of Saud is forced to cede some or total control to nonroyal senior military figures, who are exasperated by the inexperience and incompetence of royal leadership and have the backing of their troops, who may regard the Yemen war as folly.
A deciding factor in all but the last scenario would probably be the role of the senior princes on the Allegiance Council, a succession-related body that has been sidelined during King Salman's elevation of MbS. The council would have to balance its sense of the royal family's long-term future against the short-term perception that the leadership is imperiling the House of Saud's ruling legacy and future prospects in Arabia. For the United States, the crucial dimension of any Saudi crisis is, as always, the potential effect on world oil supplies and prices. The surge in U.S. production led by shale oil has altered Washington's sense of vulnerability, though Saudi chaos leading to supply disruption would still damage the global economy. President Obama may be tempted to use any opportunity presented to advance his idea of strategic balance between Sunnis (led by Saudi Arabia) and Shiites (led by Iran). This would be risky, however: Iranian pilgrims topped the casualty list in the Mecca tragedy, and Tehran is contemptuous of MbS, referring to him as an "inexperienced youngster." To the extent that Washington can influence outcomes, it should instead look for stability in the kingdom and the broadest acceptable leadership.
**Simon Henderson is the Baker Fellow and director of the Gulf and Energy Policy Program at The Washington Institute.
http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/view/royal-schism-in-the-house-of-saud

Israel’s fascists are pushing Palestinians towards a third intifada
Eyad Abu Shakra/Al Aabiya/October 18/15
The Arab world is not a happy sight these days. Iraqis are not relaxed with the fact they reside in a fragmented country dominated by Tehran and “cherished” by Washington. The Libyans are not so sure about their future in the midst of internal division and feverish grabbing of religious extremism and regional and tribal loyalties despite the efforts of the U.N. envoy Bernardino Leon. In Syria and Lebanon, the requirements of new maps and apportionment of influence are leading to population “displacement” and “exchange” as hundreds of thousands are being killed and millions uprooted in Syria. While in Lebanon, the population’s fabric is being changed through systematic forced migration achieved through undermining civil society and government institutions by a religious militia implementing foreign regional plans. Then, let’s not forget Yemen, the Arabia Felix no more, which has been saved in the eleventh hour from being handed to those using sectarianism as a “Trojan horse” intended to destroy the Arabs from within.
However, with all this it is impossible to overlook the oldest Arab wound - Palestine!
The Palestinians look as if they are now going through a third Intifada after Benjamin Netanyahu and his folks have effectively killed off any chance of a permanent and just political solution. The Palestinian wound is bleeding again as a result of the transformation of Israel’s political chemistry, marked by the collapse of the Left, the disorientation of the liberals, and the takeover of extremists of the leadership of the Right and religious Right. For the Zionist pioneers Israel was a “dream of redemption” far from discrimination and persecution in Europe. Some Zionist intellectuals strongly believed the “Promised Land” had to accommodate all trends and strains within the richly varied Jewish society as it was influenced in the different environments in which the Jews lived across the world. Even the text of the Balfour Declaration spelled out clearly in the future Jewish Homeland that “nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine.”
The Palestinian state
Then, when the U.N. adopted its partition plan of Palestine, it recognized several criteria pertaining to demographics, land-ownerships, etc. Examining that map one can clearly see those demographic facts which allocated to “The Jewish State” three areas connected at two intersection points shared with the areas allocated to “The Palestinian State” as follows: The first area, in the north, comprised Eastern Galilee which included Safed and Tiberias, two of the four “holy” Jewish cities, linking with the Second area west of the town of Afula. The second, in the western center, extended from southwestern Galilee (including Jezreel Valley and the Carmel) where intensive settlement activity during the British Mandate turned Haifa to a city with a sizeable Jewish population, along the Coastal (Sharon) Plain towards the second intersection point south of the town of Ramla, east of Ashdod and west of Latrun.
Finally, the third area, in the south, extends from the aforementioned point and ends at the shore of the Gulf of Aqaba, covering most of the Negev desert. “The Palestinian State” was made up of three areas linked to one another at the two intersecting points, as follows: Western Galilee in the north including the towns of Acre and Nazareth; a much larger West Bank than pre-June 1967 in the center including the towns of Ramla, Lydd (Lod), Beersheba, and areas west of Jerusalem; and also a much larger Gaza Strip extending from Ashdod and Majdal/Ashkelon in the north to a large sector in western Negev along the Sinai borders. Even the city of Jaffa was kept as an “Arab island” surrounded by the lands of “The Jewish State”; while Jerusalem and its outlying suburbs were put under the U.N.’s authority.Sure enough, the Zionist political and military establishments were well-prepared for the expected Arabs’ rejection of the Partition Plan on the eve of the “birth of the State of Israel” in 1948, and their declaration of war against it. Consequently, Israel defeated the ill-prepared and badly led Arab armies, and vastly increased its designated “original” territory thus Making the 1947 map irrelevant.
Accumulating Arab mistakes
More realities on the ground changed in the following years and decades primarily due to accumulating Arab mistakes, the most noteworthy of which was – and still is – their ignorance of what Israel really is, and what it means to and in the West. So, after annexing western Galilee plus large territories in both the West Bank and Gaza Strip, Israel occupied all the West Bank and Gaza Strip in June 1967. However, today, in spite of the Oslo Accords which agreed the establishment of a “viable Palestinian State” and for which Yitzhak Rabin, Shimon Peres and Yasser Arafat won the Noble Peace Prize, one might surmise that the facts on the ground allow for neither the creation of a “Palestinian State” nor reaching a political settlement to the Palestinian problem and the Arab – Israeli conflict. In the West there are still those who insist on blaming the Palestinians for the collapse of the “Peace process”, but the truth is that the Palestinians – just like their Syrian brethren today – have been victims of two culprits: the first a declared enemy who is fighting directly, and a concealed enemy who claims to be an ally but keeps inciting them, pushing them towards extremism and plays on their differences.
Indeed, as the declared enemy represented by the extreme Right takes over the government of Israel and boasts – from the highest office – its rejection of the principle of “Land for Peace”, thus encouraging Jewish ultra-fundamentalist terrorists to murder, burn and grab the lands and homes of Palestinians; the concealed enemy has been busy destroying the Palestinians’ national unity and driving them to political suicide. It has been sowing the seeds of friction and divisions among the Palestinians, fomenting animosity, and outbid them even in their own cause. It has also succeeded in convincing some that the only way to confront Jewish religious fascism is by an Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS)-style Islamist fascism it is supporting in Palestine while claiming to be fighting in Syria and Iraq.
The Palestinians look as if they are now going through a third Intifada after Benjamin Netanyahu and his folks have, through their illegal settlement and displacement policies, effectively killed off any chance of a permanent and just political solution. To rise as a means of refusing capitulation now is not only a Palestinian’s right, but also their sole choice. But if they need to heed one important truth then it must be sticking to reason and unity, and to stop betting on those regional players using them and exploiting their suffering in order to enhance their negotiating position, noting that these players just approved deals and treaties with powers that for a long time refused to recognize their legitimate rights. The destiny of Palestine must be the only priority, not any empty slogan that has been perfected by insincere out-bidders for decades.

Sectarian incitement as a weapon in the Gulf
Abdulrahman al-Rashed/Al Aabiya/October 18/15
A video showing a Saudi young man verbally abusing a taxi driver because he hanged a picture of a religious symbol in his car has recently gone viral, with many voicing support for the taxi driver and demanding his rights be defended. Although the incident was an individual act, it's a clear sign that sectarian strife has been successfully spread between Sunnis and Shiites. A day after this incident occurred, the Saudi police shot dead a 20-year-old young man who gunned down five Shiite citizens. A video he made before carrying out his terrorist operation showed that he was affiliated to ISIS. Despite a troubled history, the people of the Gulf have mostly lived together in peace, so why has this become one of the biggest challenges confronting Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman today? Of course, this is a product of recent revolutions in the region and, prior to that, the U.S. invasion of Iraq, as well as the spread of Iranian sectarian influence. Before the terms "Sunni" and "Shiite" became popular among the public here, and before they made it to news headlines or political science researchers began analyzing them in the West, the Syrian regime had been well-known for its competence in managing the ethnic mosaic that makes up Lebanese society – one of the most diverse in the region, in terms of religion, sects and race. Late Syrian President Hafez al-Assad’s policies were based on running a puppet show in Lebanon that was based on an accurate ethnic arrangement that only he decided he could control.Assad used this to govern the Lebanese people and also applied the policy in disputes with Israel, the West and Arab countries that belonged to the other camp. Despite a troubled history, the people of the Gulf have mostly lived together in peace, so why has this become one of the biggest challenges confronting Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman today? In Syria itself, and although the country is historically well-known for rivalry between Kurds, Turkmens, Sunnis, Alawites, Christians, Druze and Shiites, Assad prohibited inciting religious and ethnic tensions and imposed strict punishment on whoever stirred such problems. He knew for a fact that such tensions would threaten the state and he therefore marketed Baathist and Arab nationalist principles in order to unite the Syrians and maintain the stability of his power.
Serving Iran and Syria
Iran learnt a lot from Hafez al-Assad. His son, Bashar, tried to follow in his father's footsteps, however, he quickly slipped into Lebanese political struggles as he adopted Hezbollah’s Shiite party, against Rafiq Hariri’s Sunni, in turn, opening up the gates of hell for himself. Bashar al-Assad and the Iranians have repeatedly threatened to export sectarian strife to the Gulf in response to what they considered to be support of the sectarian war against their allies in Syria and Lebanon. Iran was, in fact, active on that front in Bahrain, as it encouraged Shiite groups to demand change. It did the same in Kuwait, where Shiite groups even enjoy a higher rate of media and political freedom. There's much evidence pointing at Iran’s funding of Shiite religious opposition activities in Saudi Arabia. Iran is also behind the emergence of the sectarian Houthi group in Yemen.
Destabilizing the Gulf
Iran and Syria are not the only regimes guilty of inciting sectarian divisions in the region, however. There's also the Sunni Muslim Brotherhood in the Gulf and other regional countries. The Brotherhood did not resort to inciting sectarianism to besiege Iran and Syria, but instead to destabilize Gulf regimes by pushing Sunni extremists to clash with Shiite extremists. This may seem contradictory to the group's political stance which has typically supported Iran for more than 30 years; however this activity is in fact part of the internal game the Brotherhood plays and it aims to weaken Gulf Arab regimes and is therefore not hostile to Iran as a political regime. For example, the Brotherhood in Egypt is not involved in the enmity against Shiites because there's only a small percentage of Shiites in Egypt. However the Brotherhood incites against Christian Copts in order to trouble its rival, the regime of Abdelfattah al-Sisi. Since the aim of inciting sectarianism in the Gulf is either to serve Iran and Syria – as seen with the Shiite situation – or to weaken Gulf governments – as seen with the Muslim Brotherhood and rebellious Salafism – the question is: Why are these Gulf countries silent over what is happening in their lands? Another question to ask is: Why are they not issuing clear-cut laws against incitement, like the Saudi Shura Council had previously tried to do - when it sought to enact a law that criminalizes tribal and sectarian strife - but failed? Without such a legal stance, sectarian strife will surge and achieve what the Iranians and their allies want, in terms of destabilizing Gulf countries and the wider region.

Hillary’s foreign policy: Not Obama 3.0
Joyce Karam/Al Aabiya/October 18/15
She was his Secretary of State (2009-2012) and a key supporter of his breakthroughs on Cuba and Iran, but when it comes to steering America's foreign policy, Hillary Clinton -if elected President- would be a very different maestro than Barack Obama. Her approach to addressing conflicts is more bellicose and proactive, balancing military tools with vigorous diplomacy to assert Washington's influence rather than insulate it. For Russian officials, Hillary Clinton was "the neocon of the Obama administration" a phrase they used to describe her presumed hawkish and interventionist approach that they clashed with so often while she was Secretary of State. But Clinton is no Dick Cheney or John McCain in her understanding and projecting of American power. Her track record suggests a playbook of assertiveness that is closest to the tenure of her husband Bill Clinton, thus striking a balance between soft power and the use of force when and if necessary.
More decisive on Russia and Syria
Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have always had a split on foreign policy, one leaning to the left wing of the Democratic Party (Obama) and one capturing the center of the foreign policy debate in American politics (Clinton). Even rhetorically, Obama's rise came through promising the moon in his speeches, while Clinton has the tendency to appear more tough on national security. The 44th President rosy talk in Berlin and Cairo is very unlike the former First Lady who has consistently offered more sober and realistic tone in addressing global challenges. Her support for the Iraq war -now withdrawn- ended up costing her the nomination in 2008 against Obama who ran on an anti war platform. It would be a mistake to align Hillary Clinton's record and policy outlook with that of the Obama administration. Later as Secretary of State and in the policy rooms during Obama's first term, Hillary Clinton comes across in several memoirs as frustrated at the slow and indecisive nature of Obama's policymaking. In his book "Confront and Conceal", David Sanger writes that after a month of meetings on a new Afghanistan strategy in 2009, Clinton bluntly tells a reluctant Obama that he needs to make a decision.
Obama's reluctance versus Clinton's decisiveness replays itself on major policy debates later in the administration on Libya, and Syria, where Clinton was a major proponent for early action while Obama dragged his feet in Libya, and sidestepped the conflict in Syria.
Ignoring Syria in 2012 came at a heavy cost in Clinton's words, telling Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic that "The failure to help build up a credible fighting force of the people who were the originators of the protests against Assad—there were Islamists, there were secularists, there was everything in the middle—the failure to do that left a big vacuum, which the jihadists have now filled."
In that same interview, Clinton ridicules Obama's principle "don't do stupid stuff." Her response : "Great nations need organizing principles, and 'Don’t do stupid stuff' is not an organizing principle." In her speech at Brookings last September, Clinton also acknowledged one of the major gaffes in Obama's Syria policy, backing down on his own Chemical Weapons redline in 2013. She told the audience "I do think that not being able to follow through on it cost us...that still comes back in conversations that people have with me both here at home and abroad."Today on Syria, Clinton is calling for a No Fly Zone and for upping the pressure "on Russia, in particular on Putin" who is "sinking himself into historical roots of tsar-like behavior and intimidation." The Obama administration for its part is divided on the way to the move forward, with Obama and his aides favoring a more cautious approach, while Kerry advocating a stronger response. On Iraq, unlike Obama's White House advisers, Clinton was an early critic of the failed government of Nouri Maliki whose dismissal of the political process led among other reasons to the resurgence of ISIS in 2014. Clinton also pushed for keeping troops in Iraq post-2011, and for hard-nosed negotiations on the SOFA implementation. For the Obama team however, lot of the regional calculus including the Iraq withdrawal, was driven by domestic poll numbers and making sure the President fulfills a campaign promise in 2012 despite the dire geopolitical ramifications it has brought today.
Support but skepticism on Iran
Despite her tough talk, Clinton's record is not one of unilateralism or warmongering. Her early role in the secret negotiations with Iran in Oman in 2011, and support for the deal thereafter captures the foreign policy balance that she is trying to contrast with both the Obama administration and the anti-deal Republican rivals. Unlike Obama, however, Clinton avoids calling the Iran deal historic or transformational. She tells Brookings "my approach is distrust and verify" warning that Tehran "will test the next President. They'll want to see how far they can bend the rules. That won't work if I'm in the White House."
Clinton also takes a much harder line than the Obama administration in calling out Iran's behavior in Syria, Gaza, Lebanon and Yemen. She calls for increased U.S. military presence and security cooperation with the Gulf Cooperation Council countries to counter it. While the Obama Presidency has brought forth such measures to the GCC countries last May in Camp David, the implementation and follow up of these meetings has been slow and disappointing according to several Arab officials. The GCC countries are diversifying their options post-Iran nuclear deal, renewing ties with Russia and expanding relations with China. Never since Cold War have the leaders of the GCC and Egypt flocked to Russia at such a pace, which makes restoring the balance in the relations a major challenge to the next U.S. President.
People to people relations
Arab officials who have met Obama describe him as a "very business like" and "direct", in contrast with a warmer and more interpersonal exchanged with Clinton at the leaders and the public level. Clinton's long meetings with the GCC leaders and visits to Tahrir square in Egypt, or her holding town halls in Qatar, emphasize this strong people to people suit that neither Obama nor Kerry have been able to replicate after she left office. At at time when tectonic changes are taking place in the Middle East, having the ability to communicate with resolve tough messages to its leaders and public is paramount to U.S. interest. Messages from Kerry, Biden, and Obama himself on issues related to Yemen, Israel, Egypt, Syria, and funding ISIS have being constantly ignored by regionals players. While anti-Americanism is not at the level it was during the George W. Bush days, U.S. credibility and standing has taken a major hit in the region under Obama. It would be a mistake to align Hillary Clinton's record and policy outlook with that of the Obama administration, given their disagreements from dealing with Putin to tackling ISIS. A more assertive foreign policy interwoven with personal relations would mark a Clinton Presidency, as one of caution and reluctance concludes the Obama era.

The Taliban are coming back for Afghanistan
Dr. Azeem Ibrahim/Al Aabiya/October 18/15
It has not escaped anyone that the U.S. intervention in Iraq has been an unmitigated disaster. Twelve years on and the country is effectively split in three, between the Shi’a South, the Sunni North-West and the Kurdish North-East, with no sight on the horizon as to how it might ever be whole and peaceful again. We are reminded of this on a daily basis, as ISIS continues its rampage through the region. What we hear less of in the news is how Afghanistan is still in the grip of an ongoing civil war between the Western-backed government in Kabul and the Taliban. And the Taliban are on the ascent. Just this week, they have taken Kunduz, a major urban centre in the north of the country, and strategically important both for its transport links and its food production. Unlike in Iraq, the U.S. cannot be accused of being half-hearted in its efforts in the country. It continues to spend about 4 billion a year on the Afghan army, for example, and has so far spent over 65 billion, just on that. That is on top of all the other infrastructure and economic investment. The problem is that no amount of money is going to fix Afghanistan. Indeed, the American approach was doomed to failure from the start, a fact foretold by almost all experts. As in Iraq, the U.S. has proven perfectly apt at destroying a military and a state apparatus. And it can even rule a country under direct military occupation. What it cannot seem to do in a country where the majority of the population is hostile, is rebuild a civilian state from the ashes - not when the government military it tries to train up often has no desire to fight the Taliban, and sometimes trained soldiers simply desert to the Taliban. The problem facing Afghanistan is not one that the U.S., or any other external force can solve. And it has recently emerged that the Pakistanis had warned their U.S. allies that this was going to be the outcome all along. Vali Nasr’s recent book contains an iconic passage, describing how General Kayani, Chief of Pakistani Army, reacted to the American proposal to build up and equip an Afghan army for the U.S.-backed government in Kabul. Nasr narrates:
In one small meeting around a narrow table, Kayani listened carefully and took notes as we went through our list of issues. I cannot forget Kayani’s reaction when we enthusiastically explained our plan to build up Afghan forces to 400,000 by 2014. His answer was swift and unequivocal: Don’t do it. “You will fail,” he said. “Then you will leave and that half-trained army will break into militias that will be a problem for Pakistan.” We tried to stand our ground, but he would have none of it. He continued, “I don’t believe that the Congress is going to pay $9 billion a year for this 400,000-man force.” He was sure it would eventually collapse and the army’s broken pieces would resort to crime and terrorism to earn their keep. And so it was going to be. Something resembling an Afghan army still exists, and still fights, however half-heartedly, for the Kabul government. But for how much longer? The problem facing Afghanistan is not one that the U.S., or any other external force can solve. It is that it is not a country in the way we think of a country in the West - it is nothing even vaguely resembling a nation state. It is, instead, a diverse mix of ethnic and tribal alliances, as well as a number of urban polities, who have little in common and little interest in a common good. And they have been constantly fighting with each other since the 1970s, even before the Soviet invasion. The Taliban in the 90s had been the only group with both the firepower and the internal discipline to emerge on top of this conflict and impose some semblance of order. But as things stand now, even they might find it difficult to reimpose their authority. Nevertheless, one thing remains the case: whatever happens next, the prospects for a secular, democratic, pluralistic but unified Afghanistan run from Kabul are very dim indeed.

Why is ISIS able to recruit Saudi youth?
Samar Fatany/Al Aabiya/October 18/15
On Wednesday, the Muslim world celebrated its new year amidst fears and concerns of the growing threat of ISIS and the spread of an extremist militant ideology that has destroyed peace and harmony in many parts of the Muslim world. ISIS and other terrorist organizations which kill and commit barbaric acts against innocent Muslims and non-Muslims alike continue to be the worst enemies of Islam. Reports of ISIS terrorist activities dominate the Western press and our local press has daily coverage of alarming stories of young ISIS recruits who turn against their own families: a son who kills his father, two young members of a family who shoot their cousin, all because they do not share the same terrorist views. There are also many stories of parents who discover too late that their sons have been recruited by terrorists in Syria or Iraq. It is evident that terrorist groups are determined to target our youth and use them to further their own political agendas. Sadly they have been very active while many of our imams and parents have failed to recognize the extent of their threat. The nationwide campaign to combat extremism and foster tolerance and moderation should involve all government agencies and engage civic institutions
Meanwhile, the national campaign to fight deviant ideology has not been effective. It is critical at this stage to mobilize a stronger united front of progressive reformers to combat extremists who are a threat to our security and social stability. The public should be more alert and should confront those imams with extremist views who promoted a toxic mentality. Extremists and ISIS sympathizers among us need to be confronted by those with a stronger sense of patriotism and better citizenship.
Disillusioned
Nurturing and guiding the young is the national and religious responsibility of all members of society. Many of the young have become disillusioned by the failure of both reformers and hardliners and hence have adopted an extremely negative attitude with regard to their country’s values and traditions. The limited opportunities to participate in cultural, economic and political life have created a dangerous situation with the potential for violent behavior from frustrated youth who have no hope for a better future. This state of affairs may lead to social turmoil and political unrest. The nationwide campaign to combat extremism and foster tolerance and moderation should involve all government agencies and engage civic institutions. Community leaders must speak out against social ills that have led to extremism and have created a hostile environment. The prevalent conventional policy of authoritarian constraint does not permit the implementation of flexible programs to ensure basic rights for all citizens. Rather it allows the influence of negative and unprogressive attitudes to exist depriving many of the freedom to express themselves and to reject hardline views.
A determination to combat extremists
The social attitude of many who are convinced that there is no urgency for domestic reform is the main obstacle to a more prosperous society. There are others who are persuaded that we need to develop slowly to allow society more time to accept modernity and adopt more progressive attitudes. However, this policy will only add more hurdles, and the continued delay will compound our challenges keeping us lagging behind the accelerating global progress. The old school of a centralized system must be upgraded with management that delegates work to qualified personnel, young men and women, who can get the work done without delay. Discrimination and the lack of incentives are behind the poor performance in many government departments. It is time we catch up with global progress with more support for an active civil society that can complement government policies, push the implementation of reforms and promote the skills of citizenship essential for a more tolerant and progressive environment. Let us celebrate this new year with renewed determination to combat extremists who are a threat to our security and social stability. Let us take time to reflect upon our achievements and create better prospects for our youth with innovative reforms to meet the challenges of the modern world.

Women of Courage Betrayed by U.S. and the Media
George Phillips/Gatestone Institute/October 18/15
http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/6700/women-of-courage
Berta Soler and the other "Ladies in White" have been ignored by the Obama Administration -- bypassed year after year. These and countless other brave women who are also human rights leaders -- often falsely accused of crimes, and who are currently suffering in Iranian prisons -- should be recognized as Women of Courage, but remain sidelined by the U.S. government, the media, and most notably by women's groups. Why are we not only failing to help them, but instead washing our hands of them? Disingenuously, Obama keeps repeating that his deal will "prevent" Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons -- when the deal clearly empowers Iran to get them. Pope Francis, on his recent trip to Cuba, failed to embrace publicly the world famous "Ladies in White" ("Damas de Blanco") -- the wives and relatives of Cuba's jailed dissidents. "Ladies in White" was formed by Berta Soler in 2003 after 75 human rights activists and journalists were sent to prison by the Cuban government. The men in their family had been jailed for being activists. The "Ladies in White" were peacefully calling for their release. This year, for twenty straight Sundays between April and August, members of the "Ladies in White" were arrested as well -- for leading protests against the Castro regime for having imprisoned their family members and for suppressing human rights.
These women have also been routinely harassed and beaten during their peaceful efforts to stand for freedom. After 75 human rights activists and journalists were sent to prison by the Cuban government in 2003, Berta Soler (left) formed "Ladies in White" with the female relatives of the political prisoners. At right: Cuban dissident Digna Rodriquez Ibañez, a member of Ladies in White, was pelted with tar by agents of the Cuban regime, in February 2015. On September 20, on their way to a special meeting with Pope Francis in Cuba, Berta Soler and her husband were arrested by police. An additional 20 members of the "Ladies in White" were also arrested to prevent them from attending the papal mass in Havana. Berta Soler and the other "Lades in White" have been ignored by the Obama Administration – bypassed year after year as one of the ten women honored by the U.S. Department of State at its annual Women of Courage Award. Iranian women have also largely been bypassed for this honor. As members of the Obama Administration move forward with the policy of engagement with the brutal regimes in Havana and Tehran, it is important not to forget the courageous people, including women, who oppose them.
Since the inception of the award in 2007, eleven Afghan women and four Pakistani women have been honored as Women of Courage.
Although there are plenty of deserving candidates among Iranian women for this award, only one has been selected, and that, in 2010: Shadi Sadr, a lawyer and journalist who started a website dedicated to women's rights activists in Iran and has represented activists in court. The Women of Courage Award, which in the past also has been given posthumously, should also be awarded to Neda Agha-Soltan, whose was brutal murder was recorded live during the "Green Movement" protests in Iran in 2009 and gained world-wide attention. Neda, as she has become known, was hailed by protesters as an "Angel of Freedom." After her murder, the Iranian regime banned prayers for her. Her grave has been desecrated, posters memorializing her have been torn down, and her family has been targeted. Unfortunately, members of the Obama Administration failed to give any support whatsoever for the Green Movement in 2009 and certainly do not seem likely to do so now. The current U.S. Administration evidently prefers clinging to a quixotic "Iran deal," supported by only 21% of the American public, and that, in any event, many believe will have catastrophic consequences. Disingenuously, President Obama keeps repeating -- most recently on a CBS 60 Minutes interview with Steve Croft -- that his deal will "prevent" Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, when the deal is quite clear that it empowers Iran to get one.
There are also countless brave women, also human rights leaders, often falsely accused of supposed crimes, who are currently suffering in Iranian prisons. They, too, should be recognized as Women of Courage, but remain sidelined by the U.S. government, the media, and most notably by women's groups.
One of these women, Bahareh Hedayat, was arrested in Iran in 2009 for her work in a student organization and the "One Million Signatures Campaign for the Change of Discriminatory Laws Against Women." The official charges against her included "acting against national security and publishing falsehoods", "insulting the Supreme Leader" and "insulting the President." Just as she was finishing her prison term and scheduled for release, she was given an additional two years for a previously suspended sentence in 2007 relating to peace activism. The extension was added by Iran's Revolutionary Court on the ethereal-sounding grounds of "acting against national security", "disturbing public order" and "propaganda against the state."
Iran targeted another woman, Narges Mohammadi, after she met with the then European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton in 2014. Doctors are requesting her be moved from prison to a hospital, to prevent a paralysis from which she is suffering from becoming worse.
Recent charges against Mohammadi from her arrest this May include "activities against national security and anti-government publicity" for participating in human rights campaigns and a campaign against the death penalty. Also serving 14 years in prison is another opponent of the death penalty, Atena Daemi. The regime imprisoned her because of her Facebook posts and information on her mobile phone critical of the Supreme Leader, as well as her efforts against death penalty. Daemi's health is also poor. She is having increasing difficulty sleeping and seeing, and may have multiple sclerosis.
While frequent charges against these women include "insulting the Supreme Leader" and acting "against national security," it seems as if their actual "crime" actual "crime" is freedom of speech. The "Ladies and White" and so many other brave Cuban and Iranian women are merely asking for freedom and justice. Why are we not only failing to help them, but instead washing our hands of them? **George Phillips served as an aide to Congressman Chris Smith of New Jersey, working on human rights issues.
© 2015 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. No part of this website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.

Kurds Ask for Peace, Turkey Attacks
Uzay Bulut/Gatestone Institute/October 18/15
http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/6711/turkey-attacks-kurds
Just after the bombing attack in Ankara, Turkish authorities said that the Islamic State (ISIS) was responsible. But in response, Turkish jets did not bomb ISIS; they bombed the Kurdish PKK, who are fighting ISIS.
Where were the special forces and the police, so quick to shoot Kurds but not protect them? The police delayed medical help, and instead attacked with tear gas the people that were helping the wounded, in an effort to disperse them.
"The PKK ceasefire means nothing for us. The operations will continue without a break." -- Senior Turkish security official.
"Ankara is the capital of Turkey. If a bird flies here, the state knows about it. ... There was a rally of 100,000 people but no security precautions were taken. Look at their own rallies: the security precautions start 10 streets away." -- Selahattin Demirtas, co-chairman of the Kurdish HDP Party.
Many massacres have been carried out against the Kurds. None of the perpetrators has ever been punished -- in those massacres, the planners were the state authorities themselves.
On October 10, the Kurds in Turkey were exposed to yet another massacre – this time a double suicide bombing in Ankara, the capital of Turkey, in the center of town.
This time, two explosions ripped through a peaceful crowd that had gathered outside the entrance to Ankara's central railway station to proclaim an end to violence in a "Labor, Peace and Democracy" rally.
Together with the Kurds were officials from the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP); supporters of left-wing parties, and members of trade unions in Turkey -- all calling for peace and democracy.[1]
At least 105 people were killed, according to the Turkish Medical Association, and more than 400 injured.[2]
One victim, Meryem Bulut, was a 70-year-old member of the "Saturday Mothers" group, who have protested about their missing sons and daughters since the 1990s. Her grandchild died last year fighting against ISIS in the Yazidi town of Sinjar, Iraq.
Nine-year old Veysel Atilgan participated in the rally with his father, Ibrahim Atilgan; both were killed in the blasts.
The aftermath of the explosion was almost as horrific. The police delayed medical help, and instead attacked with tear gas and pepper spray the people that were helping the wounded, in an effort to disperse them. The government, after attacking even the wounded, unleashed the military and police apparatus against Kurds who came to mourn their dead.
Orhan Antepli, the legal secretary of the Bursa branch of the Trade Union of Public Employees in Health and Social Services (SES), witnessed the explosion. The police used tear gas against the wounded, he said, and did not allow ambulances to enter the area:
"On the road, for two kilometers, we did not see a single police officer. I was facing where the second explosion took place. After it, there were about 100 pieces of flesh of 1cm each on the coat of the person beside me."
Antepli said that he ran to help the wounded, but the police did not allow ambulances to enter the area: "While I was treating a wounded man, the police started using tear gas. They blocked the road. Two or three gas bombs were thrown at the people."
At least 105 people were killed and more than 400 wounded in the Oct. 10 Ankara suicide bombings. For a long time after the explosions, neither police nor ambulances came to the scene -- victims were left to fend for themselves. When police arrived, they fired tear gas at the wounded and those helping them.
In the meantime, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said, incredibly,
"An utterly successful operation against terror was carried out. Similarly, due to our vigorous efforts since 23 July, the most important cadres of ISIS have been arrested or their contacts have been broken. ... But when you step out of routine, this has a limit in a democratic state of law. You cannot arrest someone without a reason. There is even a list of people who might engage in suicide bombing in Turkey. You follow them, but when you do something before they carry out that act, you are exposed to another protest."
So, Turkey keeps a list of potential suicide bombers, while Davutoglu is saying with a straight face that the government -- which has attacked and even arrested many journalists simply for doing their job, and even high-school students for tweets critical of the government -- should not arrest a potential suicide bomber "without a reason." The AKP is the last government that should be talking about a "democratic state of law."
Just after the blasts, some Turkish authorities said that the Islamic State (ISIS) had caused them. Yet in response, Turkish jets did not bomb ISIS; they bombed the Kurdish PKK, who are fighting ISIS. After the government rejected a new ceasefire announced by the PKK on Saturday, the Turkish air force attacked.
The PKK had declared in a written statement that "they reached the decision to stop military action against Turkish state forces as long as there were no attacks."
The Turkish government, however, seems determined to continue killing Kurds no matter what. "The PKK ceasefire means nothing for us," one senior Turkish security official told Reuters. "The operations will continue without a break."
While the Turkish army is bombing the PKK headquarters (again), the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor's Office has issued a gag order on the Ankara massacre investigation.
In addition, the state media watchdog, the Turkish Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTUK), imposed a ban on broadcasting images of the bombings. After the temporary ban, Twitter, Facebook, and several other social media sites were also inaccessible throughout Turkey. That is what a repressive state does to keep facts from coming out.
Later, when many people in Ankara, including Kurdish MPs and mayors, took to the streets to protest the massacre, police used water cannons and tear gas against them. Some protesters were wounded and taken to hospital; four were arrested.
Across Turkish Kurdistan, countless protesters were also exposed to police violence. The police in Diyarbakir used real bullets with the tear gas. An ambulance was reportedly prevented from entering the area where Ahmet Taruk, 63, was overcome by the tear gas; he lost his life on the way to the hospital. During a police crackdown in Izmir, 66 people were arrested.
Eventually, the Turkish media reported that both perpetrators of the Ankara suicide bombing attack had indeed been identified as members of ISIS. One of them, Omer Deniz Dundar, had gone to Syria in 2013 and came back to Turkey in 2014. Eight months later, he went back to Syria again. His father said in an interview that he had sought the help of the police many times to bring his son back home, but could do nothing.
The other suspect, Yunus Emre Alagoz, in his latest telephone conversation in May 2015, said, "This is the last time we are speaking." The call was recorded by the police. They interrogated Alagoz as a "suspect" but then released him.
His brother, Yusuf Alagoz, said that Yunus Emre Alagoz had attended school in Afghanistan in 2009, followed by a religious education at a madrassah [Muslim theological school] in Iran.
Still another brother, Seyh Abdurrahman Alagoz, had carried out the deadly suicide bomb attack in Suruc on July 20, in which 33 people were killed.
But just imagine for a moment that it really was two terrorists who committed the massacre, without the knowledge of the Turkish government, and that the state institutions were completely innocent. Where, then, were the security forces to help people after the blast? Where were the medics to help with the wounded? Where were the ambulances? Where were the special forces and the police, so quick to shoot Kurds but not protect them?
The pro-government media in Turkey has been claiming that the PKK was the perpetrator and that the HDP party should be held responsible. They only criticize the public's response to the attacks; never the attacks themselves.
In Turkey, at other gatherings, not even a mosquito can fly without the Turkish police interrupting it. Yet for this demonstration, there was no security; no medical personnel, no protection for the demonstrators. After the blasts, people were covering the dead with the banners they brought to the rally. People were trying to resuscitate the wounded and making splints for their broken bones by themselves.
Who knows how many people would have survived had it not been for the tear gas that prevented them from breathing? So severe were the wounds that people could not even leave the area; and police were firing tear gas.
After the massacre, Selahattin Demirtas, the co-chairman of the HDP party, said:
"They are trying to convey the message that 'we can come and rip you to pieces in the middle of Ankara'. They are on the brink of saying 'the HDP blew up its own rally.' The prime minister spoke for half an hour; he spent 20 minutes insulting and threatening us. Did you hear him make a single statement condemning ISIS? No. He is still threatening us. Ankara is the capital of Turkey. If a bird flies here, the state knows about it. This is the city where the intelligence unit is the strongest. There was a rally of 100,000 people but no security precautions were taken. Look at their own rallies: the security precautions start 10 streets away. There were 100 corpses; 500 wounded. But they had also had to deal with the water cannons fired by police. Is that what your justice is?"
During the rule of the AKP government, similar massacres against Kurds in Roboski, Diyarbakir and Suruc have also taken place. Before that, since 1920s, there were many massacres against Kurds. None of the perpetrators has ever been punished: in those massacres, the planners and organizers were state authorities themselves.
On October 10, the Kurds and their friends tried to call for an end to war. The Kurds proclaimed peace and brotherhood -- Turkey as usual, responded with murder.
**Uzay Bulut, is a Turkish journalist, born and raised a Muslim, and based in Ankara.
[1] The rally was organized by the Confederation of Progressive Trade Unions of Turkey (DISK), the Union of Chambers of Turkish Engineers and Architects (TMMOB), the Turkish Medical Association (TTB) and the Confederation of Public Workers' Unions (KESK). The Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) was one of the major participants.
[2] The Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) said in a written statement that the Ministry of Health does not share the data at hand about the dead and wounded and the chief physicians of hospitals have been given certain instructions not to share the data with the public.
© 2015 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. No part of this website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.

Europe's Muslim Migrants Bring Sex Pathologies in Tow
David P. Goldman/Asia Times/October 18, 2015
http://www.meforum.org/5569/migrants-rape
Excerpt of an article originally published under the title "More Horrible than Rape."
Picture attached: A 20-year-old Syrian immigrant identified as "Rokstan M" (left) was allegedly stabbed to death by her father (right) and brothers because they felt that her past gang rape had left her "unclean."
The body of a 20-year-old Syrian woman, "Rokstan M.," was unearthed from a shallow grave in the small Saxon town of Dessau last week. Her father and brothers stabbed her to death on her mother's orders, after she was gang-raped by three men. The rape left her "unclean" and the mother allegedly demanded the killing to restore the family's honor. German police are seeking the father and brothers.
That by itself is not newsworthy. What is newsworthy is that this affair did not appear in any of Germany's major daily newspapers or websites. The tabloid Bild-Zeitung ran the story, along with the regional press, while the arbiters of enlightened opinion buried it. Der Spiegel, the country's biggest news site, and the Frankfurter Algemeine Zeitung, the newspaper of record, made no mention.
The case of Rokstan M. is heart-rending. She had found work in Germany as a translator for the government, but she knew her family would track her down and kill her. "I am awaiting death. But I am too young to die," she had written on a social media profile. Her story deserves a line or two in the quality press. But it's one of many that German leaders want to ignore.
Political leaders in Germany—which may absorb 1.5 million migrants this year—are struggling to respond to reports of a sex crime epidemic among newly-arrived Muslims. Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere urged Germans not to believe rumors of widespread rape at refugee centers, while Germany's police union chief Rainer Wendt warned, "There is a lot of glossing over going on. But this doesn't represent reality." Wendt added, "It is understandable that there is the desire to calm things down politically."
Germany's elite knows perfectly well that the migrants bring social pathologies, because they have already seen the world's worst sex crime epidemic unfold in Scandinavia. Sweden now has the highest incidence of reported rape outside of a few African countries, and nearly ten times the rate of its European peers—and all this has happened in the past ten years. Sweden ranks near the top of the World Economic Forum's Gender Gap Index, yet it has become the most dangerous country for women outside of Africa, with an incidence of rape ten times that of its European peers. Sweden's political leaders not only refuse to take action, but have made it a criminal offense to talk about it.
Even in liberated, feminist, gender-neutral Sweden, there is something more horrible than rape, something horrible enough to persuade the political elite to sacrifice the physical and mental health of tens of thousands of Swedish women. That is the horror of social disintegration in the Muslim world. Sweden opened its borders to refugees twenty years before the migrant flood arrived on Germany's doorstep, and the foreign born rose from 9% of the population in 1990 to 15.4% in 2012. Foreigners have a higher birth rate, so the percentage is higher including second-generation immigrants.
There have been protests, to be sure, and nationalist parties like the Sweden Democrats have gained support on an anti-immigration platform, but Sweden will remain supine as its social fabric unravels. So, I expect, will Germany. Europe is transfixed by the horror unfolding from Libya to Afghanistan, as one of the world's major civilizations unravels in real time. In its moment of agony, the Muslim world's most potent weapon is its own weakness. The human cost of the collapse of Libya, Yemen, Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria is horrendous, but it is small thus far compared to the horrors that would attend instability in Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Bangladesh. The West can't bear to look at it.
The incidence of rape in Sweden has tripled in the past ten years as the country became Europe's premier destination for Muslim immigrants. Writing for the Gatestone Institute, Ingrid Carlqvist and Lars Hedegaard observe,
Since 2000, there has only been one research report on immigrant crime. It was done in 2006 by Ann-Christine Hjelm from Karlstads University. It emerged that in 2002, 85% of those sentenced to at least two years in prison for rape in 2002 were foreign born or second-generation immigrants.
A 1996 report by the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention reached the conclusion that immigrants from North Africa (Algeria, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia) were 23 times as likely to commit rape as Swedish men. The figures for men from Iraq, Bulgaria and Romania were, respectively, 20, 18 and 18. Men from the rest of Africa were 16 times more prone to commit rape; and men from Iran, Peru, Ecuador and Bolivia, 10 times as prone as Swedish men.
A new trend reached Sweden with full force over the past few decades: gang rape — virtually unknown before in Swedish criminal history. The number of gang rapes increased spectacularly between 1995 and 2006. Since then no studies of them have been undertaken.
Sweden not only stands by while a large number of its women are raped, but outlaws public discussion of the causes. Michael Hess, a Social-Democratic politician, was condemned by a Swedish court under a law forbidding denigration of ethnic groups. for writing in 2014, "There is a strong connection between rapes in Sweden and the number of immigrants from MENA countries [Middle East and North Africa]."
*David P. Goldman is a senior fellow at the London Center for Policy Research and the Wax Family Fellow at the Middle East Forum.

Iranian Supreme Leader Khamenei, Iranian Officials Speak Out Against Iranian Approval Of JCPOA
Special Dispatch | 6191 | October 18, 2015/The Middle East Media Research Institute
On October 18, 2015, the day set as Adoption Day for the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the Iranian leadership continues to come out with statements opposing Iran's approval of it.
In the past few days, Iranian officials have clarified that Iran's Majlis, Supreme National Security Council, and Guardian Council have not approved the JCPOA; Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei tweeted, and posted on his Facebook page, an announcement titled "Negotiation With America Is Forbidden"; and other Iranian officials have stated that Iran is expecting the U.S. to announce that the sanctions have been terminated, not suspended as the JCPOA stipulates.
Khamenei's Facebook and Twitter announcement: "For America negotiations with the Islamic Republic of Iran means penetration. This is their definition of negotiation and they want to open the way for imposition. Negotation with America is forbidden, because of its countless detriments and because of alleged advantages of which it has none whatsoever." @Khamenei_ir, October 16, 2015.
In light of these developments, it is not clear whether Iran will officially announce its "adoption" of the JCPOA. It is also not clear whether the U.S. will announce its suspension of sanctions and the E.U. will announce its termination of sanctions, as per the agreement.
The following are statements by Iranian officials on the matter:
Guardian Council secretary-general Ayatollah Jannati said in his October 16, 2015 Friday sermon in Tehran: "There are those who think that approval by the Majlis means approval of the execution of the agreement in Iran. This is not so. Majlis approval regarding the nuclear agreement is not [approval of] its execution. The nuclear agreement was discussed in the Supreme National Security Council and council members expressed their opinion about it and gave their approval regarding its execution. But Leader [Khamenei] still has not signed it. The Majlis's work concerns the framework of the nuclear agreement, that is, it places on the government the responsibility for carrying out the reciprocal steps in exchange for America's steps...
"Caution should be taken, because the side that we are facing [i.e. the U.S.] customarily breaks its promises and does not keep them. What the P5+1 does in the matter of executing the nuclear agreement must be examined...
"The termination of the sanctions must be taken seriously. If they are terminated, it is a sign that the nuclear talks and agreement have yielded results. But if the other side breaks its promises and instead of terminating the sanctions [merely] freezes or suspends them, this shows that the nuclear agreement was useless. Our hope is that the sanctions will be terminated...
"If we do not stand fast against the other side, then the next day they will say that we must officially recognize Israel, give equal rights to men and women, cancel executions, sever relations with Hizbullah, and so on."[1]
On October 17, 2015, Guardian Council spokesman Nejatollah Ebrahimian said: "The [Guardian] Council did not approve the JCPOA, but rather the Majlis plan on the JCPOA. This means that neither the Majlis nor the Guardian Council have approved the content of JCPOA [itself] – which constitutes neither opposition nor agreement to the content [of the JCPOA]. The JCPOA remains a political document, not a legal one."[2]
A few days earlier, on October 14, 2015, Majlis speaker Ali Larijani said: "We agreed to the negotiations because we wanted the sanctions on Iran terminated. These negotiations became an agreement, so that the sanctions would be terminated and the nuclear knowledge would continue and not stop... The JCPOA was examined at various conferences, and we explicitly approved it in the Majlis. If the other side does not terminate the sanctions, [the nuclear facility at] Natanz will renew its activity."[3]
He also said, on October 18, 2015: "The JCPOA was not immediately approved in the Majlis; there was a process, and the Supreme National Security Council was involved in this, and eventually this agreement was reached. Some opposed the JCPOA, and some agreed to it, but the strongest opinion was to define a framework and set conditions [for executing the JCPOA], and this opinion was eventually accepted...
"We have not approved the JCPOA in the way that the other side [i.e. the U.S.] has said. We also have not said that it should be executed as is, but rather that the JCPOA should be placed in the framework of the steps taken by the Supreme National Security Council. Ultimately, this council's approvals are sent for the approval of the Leader [Khamenei].
"We felt there was a risk in the matter of the termination of the sanctions, or of their reinstatement by the Western side on various pretexts. In this situation, we must stop the agreement and produce 190,000 [centrifuge] SWU [Separative Work Units] within two years. Additionally, Iran could be threatened militarily, and in this case as well the nuclear agreement must be stopped.
"Likewise, the inspections must be conducted according to international law, and there is an absolute ban on inspections of military centers and national security [sites] except with the approval of the Supreme National Security Council, [and this requires] the ultimate approval of the Leader [Khamenei]."[4]
[1] Fars (Iran), October 16, 2015.
[2] Kayhan (Iran), October 17, 2015.
[3] Tasnim (Iran), October 14, 2015.
[4] Tasnim (Iran), October 18, 2015.

News Bulletin Achieves Since 2006 Click Here to go to the LCCC Daily English/Arabic News Buletins Archieves Since 2006

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