Institute for Contemporary Affairs, Founded jointly with the Wechsler Family Foundation

By Lt. Col. (ret.) Michael Segall

• Today, amid Hamas’ ongoing distress, the changes in its leadership both within and outside of Gaza, and the decline in its funding and political support, the movement is seeking to warm its ties with Tehran.
• The relations between Iran and Hamas, which had already known ups and downs in the past, turned frosty when Hamas refused to support the efforts of Tehran and Hizbullah to ensure the survival of Bashar Assad’s regime.
• The election of Yahya al-Sinwar – a key figure in Hamas’ military wing – to head Hamas’ political bureau in Gaza marked a turning point in the movement’s relations with Tehran.

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Palestinian attacker shot dead after shooting attack in settlement of Har Adar near Jerusalem ? Another Israeli sustained serious injuries ? Hamas: New chapter in intifada

Yotam Berger, Amos Harel, Jack Khoury and Nir Hasson, HAARETZ

Three Israelis were killed in a shooting attack in the West Bank settlement of Har Adar, near Jerusalem, on Tuesday morning. The Palestinian attacker was shot dead. Another Israeli sustained serious injuries.  

According to the Border Police, the terrorist entered the settlement through the eastern gate with a group of Palestinian workers, and opened fire.
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HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH

GENEVA, Sept. 25, 2017 – A Hamas member turned humanitarian addressed the U.N. human rights council today and called the Palestinian Authority the “greatest enemy of the Palestinian people.” See full speech below.

“If Israel did not exist, you would have no one to blame; take responsibility for the outcome of your own actions,” said Mosab Hassan Yousef, whose father was a founding member of Hamas.

As recounted in the film The Green Prince, Yousef emerged as one of Israel’s prized informants, who disrupted lethal attacks and uncovered terror cells.
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T. Belman. The HUFF POST is a far left publication. If that is the worst they can say about the Platform of the AfD then that party doesn’t worry me. Simply put they want to preserve the Germany they know. What’s wrong with that?

The left and the establishment (is there any difference) want to absolutely reject that model and support a multicultural model which includes deference to Muslims. I am fine with that, they are entitled to promote their agenda and policies. But so is the AfD.  But the left wants to shut any such policies down and wants to smear them and delegitimate them. They don’t want to debate with them.

By Jack Sommers, HUFF POST

It was a remarkable rise for a party that was founded just four years ago.

But the party’s rhetoric is further right than many other eurosceptic parties.
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By Ben Lynfield, JPOST

One might think that as a people struggling for statehood and demanding recognition of their own right to self-determination, Palestinians would have backed the Kurds as they held their historic referendum on statehood Monday.

Indeed, the veteran Palestinian journalist and columnist for The Jordan Times, Daoud Kuttab, expressed this sentiment in an interview from Amman with The Jerusalem Post.

“The referendum is a very risky move. But as a concept, the right of a people to have the right to self-determination is something we as Palestinians have been fighting for, and we certainly can’t oppose it for anyone else,” he said on Monday.
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Turkish leader says his country could halt Iraqi Kurdistan’s oil exports over independence vote, which he calls ‘matter of survival’

TOI

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened a military intervention in Iraq in response to the Iraqi Kurdish region’s referendum on independence from Baghdad.

Erdogan, speaking at a conference in the Turkish capital of Ankara as Iraqi Kurds voted in their region on Monday, said that Kurdish independence was unacceptable to his country and that this was a “matter of survival.”

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By Alon Tal, JPOST

Israelis live in the most crowded country in the developed world. But few understand the cumulative price they pay now that quantity of life has begun to degrade quality of life.

On August 14, the Israel National Economic Council issued a seemingly banal, technical publication called “Regional Population Scenarios for the State of Israel During the Years 2015-2040.” The local press paid little attention to the report even though its findings should have troubled anyone who cares about the Land of Israel and the future of the Third Jewish Commonwealth. Distilled to its essence, the report’s three main findings are: Israel’s population is set to expand by 5 million people over the next 23 years; the number of elderly citizens will double; and the percentage of Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) Israelis will increase from 11% to 20%.

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“After years of reform promises there is apparently still little room for tolerance in the country’s schools.”

By Ben Lynfield, JPOST

Saudi Arabian secondary school pupils are taught that the day of resurrection will not come until Muslims kill Jews, Human Rights Watch found during a recent review of textbooks that also revealed hateful and disparaging references to Christians, Shi’ites and Sufism.

“As early as first grade, students in Saudi schools are being taught hatred toward all those perceived to be of a different faith or school of thought. The lessons in hate are reinforced with each following year,” Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director for Human Rights Watch, said in a press release last week. The New York-based group reviewed 45 Saudi textbooks and student work books produced by the Education Ministry for the primary, middle and secondary education levels.
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Migron expellees say plan to approve new homes for them after Succot ‘too little, too late.’

By Nitsan Keidar, INN

Shai Alon, head of the Beit El Council, responded to the report on Arutz Sheva that thousands of housing units planned for Israeli towns across Judea and Samaria will be approved next month following the Sukkot holiday.

The meeting of the Supreme Planning Council was scheduled to convene this week, Alon said, but was postponed due the White House’s efforts to jump-start negotiations with the Palestinian Authority.

“We all expect the marketing of the 300 housing units to be approved,” Alon said. “The land is ready, there are already appeals from young couples who want to live in the council. Everything is ready and we are waiting only for the approval of these housing units.”
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State presents position late, hearing on Arab outpost demolition postponed. Court: ‘With better planning, State could have met timetable.’

By Mordechai Sones, INN

The hearing on the petition filed by the Jerusalem Belt Forum (Forum Otef Yerushalayim) to evacuate the illegal Arab outpost Khan al-Ahmar and an Italian-built school next to Kfar Adumim was postponed today after having been postponed six months ago.

The postponement was accepted by the High Court despite the fact that the Court only recently allowed a postponement until September 19, 2017.
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By Charlie Nash, BREITBART

GoFundMe has reportedly removed the account of the Glazov Gang, who were raising funds for an anti-Sharia law tour and their conservative web show.

According to a blog post made by The Glazov Gang, GoFundMe “suspended The Glazov Gang campaign without any notice or explanation, nor have they responded to any queries.”

“This conduct by GoFundMe is part of its larger effort to shut down the efforts of Anni Cyrus, the producer of The Glazov Gang,” they continued, adding, “Recently, also with no notice or explanation, GoFundMe deleted Anni’s entire account while she was raising funds for her anti-Sharia tour — wiping out all of her donor history and four open campaigns, one of which was The Glazov Gang campaign.”
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Mudar Zahran. This article is based on a fake news story written by AlArbi AlJadid news site, which is owned and operated jointly by Jordan’s king and Qatar’s Emir. The actual Executive Director is Azmi Bishara, convicted for terror-supporting former Israeli Arab MK. The king is trying to dismiss the fact that Jordan is Palestine is now being seriously discussed by US, UK, Israel, Saudi, UAE and Egypt.

Report: The president promotes the establishment of a Palestinian state within the borders of the Palestinian Authority. According to the newspaper Al Arabi Al Jadid, the Egyptians and the Saudis gave the blessing, Israel opposes it

Nir Moalm

Has President Trump’s peace plan been revealed? According to the newspaper Al Arabi Al Jadid, it appears that it is. The London-based London daily reported on Sunday that the US president’s plan would include gradual borders for the Palestinian state, but that the refugee issue would be taken off the agenda at least in the initial stage. It was also reported that the Egyptians and the Saudis had already given their consent to the plan, and it was not inconceivable that the Palestinians also agreed to it, Maariv reported.

In the Arab media, the program was dubbed “the deal of the century”, while the Americans sounded a bit more cautious and called it the “general lines” plan. The borders of the Palestinian state that will be established will initially include Gaza and the Palestinian territories in Judea and Samaria and will gradually expand according to future agreements toward the 1967 lines.

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Abraham ben Zvi Washington and the axis of evil

“One thing is clear, however: Contrary to Trump’s initial message of isolationism and drawing inward into America, the holding defense doctrine he presented to the world last week clearly demonstrated his willingness to decisively and uncompromisingly confront challenges. Together with the international community, he is ready to face the centers of fanaticism and radicalism that are threatening the U.S.’s national interests and the stability of the entire system. This is a major step toward rehabilitating the U.S.’s status and ability to lead, which eroded during former President Barack Obama’s eight years in the White House.”

By Yaacov Amidror, ISRAEL HAYOM

Iran’s ballistic missile test on Friday, which included a projectile with a range of 2,000 kilometers (1,242 miles), making it capable of reaching much of the Middle East, including Israel, again highlighted the weakness of the 2015 nuclear deal between the Islamic republic and world powers, namely the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany.
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Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reports Israeli warplanes carried out at least three sorties that targeted weapons depots and weapons intended for Hezbollah in Lebanon • Syria’s air defense system fails to intercept fighter jets.

By Daniel Siryoti, Lilach Shoval, Reuters and Israel Hayom Staff

Israeli fighter jets attacked a compound housing long-range missiles and other weapons near the Damascus International Airport around 2:30 a.m. on Friday, Syrian and Lebanese media reported over the weekend.

While Damascus and Hezbollah have yet to officially respond to the reports, unofficial sources in Syria were quoted as confirming the airstrikes. The sources said there were no casualties among Syrian forces from the attacks, but a number of warehouses inside the compound sustained considerable damage.

The U.K.-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that Israeli Air Force aircraft carried out at least three sorties from Lebanese air space that targeted weapons depots and weapons intended for transfer to Hezbollah in Lebanon.

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By Thomas Lifson, AMERICAN THINKER

One of the most outrageous abuses of the Obama presidency was a scheme by which fines for corporate misbehavior by the biggest Wall Street banks were channeled into the hands of radical leftist groups that are now vehemently opposing the policies of President Trump. We are talking hundreds of millions of dollars that ought to have gone to the federal treasury, but instead became a slush fund for the left.

Paul Sperry explains in the New York Post:

Wall Street might be shocked to learn it is helping bankroll the anti-Trump “resistance” movement that’s aggressively fighting policies it favors — including corporate tax cuts and the repeal of Obama-era banking and health-care regulations.

The Obama administration’s massive shakedown of Big Banks over the mortgage crisis included unprecedented back-door funding for dozens of Democratic activist groups who were not even victims of the crisis.

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T. Belman. As I said before, the issue is not whether the US can withdraw but when she withdraws, what will she do to stop Iran’s progress on the bomb. I say that she has no other option but to bomb the facilities and instigate regime change.

Can the US wash its hands of the agreement, or are we stuck with it?

By Eric R Mandel, JPOST

The Iran deal is not a fair deal to this country” – US President Donald Trump, September 14, 2017 What if the Trump administration comes to the conclusion that the Iran agreement (JCPOA ) authored by the previous administration has destabilized the Middle East and undermined American interests? Since it was signed, Iran has actively supported the ethnic cleansing of hundreds of thousands of Sunnis, while being complicit in Syrian President Bashar Assad’s genocide of his own people.

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T. Belman. Even if this was fake news, there was a lot of news on McMaster that wasn’t fake.He got rid of Pro-Israel people from the NSA did he not. He gave a security clearance to Susan Rice. He sent an anti-Israel person with Kushner in his last trip to Israel. I am sure there are many more. He reiterates Obama’s views on Islam and the MB rather than Trump’s.

Israel Embassy & NSC officials say McMaster Hezbollah/Yelling story is false. What is going on?

By Jeff Dunitz. INN

Pajamas Media and Israel National News (Arutz Sheva) both ran a story this month that U.S. National Security Adviser McMaster sparked an argument with an Israeli delegation during an August meeting to discuss the terrorist group Hezbollah. According to the reports, the argument was sparked by McMaster bringing an unwanted NSA official to the meeting and his denying that Hezbollah was a terrorist group.

In a statement to The Lid, the spokesman for the Israeli Embassy in DC called the reports “totally false,” and in a separate discussion, an NSC official who was at the meeting says the NSC employee in question wasn’t in the meeting.

Per each of the reports, National Security Advisor. McMaster invited NSC Senior Director on Counter-Terrorism Mustafa Javed Ali to the meeting with Israel that took place in the White House. Supposedly Mr. Ali is against designing Hezbollah as a terrorist group. According to the reports, the Israeli delegation demanded that Ali leave the room.

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