By David Weinberg, ISRAEL HAYOM

By Jonathan Spyer, The Jerusalem Post

UN Special Envoy on Syria Staffan de Mistura this week announced the suspension of just-convened peace talks in Geneva intended to resolve the Syrian civil war.

The failure of the talks was predictable and foreseen by most serious analysts on Syria. Diplomacy requires compromise. But the forces of President Bashar Assad, Russia, Iran and Hezbollah are advancing in both northern and southern Syria.

The dictator and his allies, as a consequence, see no reason to abandon their core aims or accept a political process leading to a transition of power.
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by Michel Gurfinkiel, The Daily Caller

In 2009, the American journalist Christopher Caldwell famouslycharacterized the changes that a massive non-European, non-Judeo-Christian, immigration was forcing over Europe as a “revolution.” We may now be on the brink of a counter-revolution, and that can be as violent and far-reaching as revolution itself.

Last year’s massacres in Paris (the attacks on satirical cartoonists and a kosher supermarket’s customers in January 2015, then the November 13 killing spree) were a tipping point : the French – and by extension, most Europeans — realized that unchecked immigration could lead to civil war.
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The Left’s whiny war on free speech, and the Israeli Right’s inept, and often cowed, response.

By Martin Sherman, JPOST

You [Im Tirzu] are the cancer in our society. You are the real foreign agents…. A few days ago you gave license for the killing of my grandfather and others. People who have different opinions than yours. In the case of those targeted they were also lovers of Israel and of their fellowman and Zionists. But even if they were not[,] it is their right not to be incited against. 

– Dean Oz-Salzberger, grandson of Amos Oz, The Jerusalem Post, January 31, in response to the student organization Im Tirzu criticizing Oz’s affiliation with B’Tselem, a foreign-funded NGO critical of Israeli policy and IDF actions.

... the time has come to call this monster by its name. We wanted to be like all other nations, we longed for there to be a Hebrew thief and a Hebrew prostitute – and there are Hebrew neo-Nazi groups. Perhaps the only difference is that our neo-Nazi groups enjoy the backing of numerous nationalist lawmakers – maybe even racist.

– author Amos Oz, The Telegraph, May 11, 2015 Read more…

T. Belman. Under no conditions should Israel let Turkey into Gaza, or apologize for killing 9 Turkish terrorists on the Mavi Marmara, or pay damages to the family of the terrorists. Nor should Israel participate in bolstering Turkey’s popularity in the Arab world which making a deal with Turkey on her terms would do. Turkey wants to buy Israeli gas because she is fighting with her current suppliers, Russia and Iran. She doesn’t need rapprochement for that.

Amid rapprochement talks with Israel, Turkish team meets with Hamas officials to plan seaport – even though Israel adamantly opposes.

By Ari Yashar, ARUTZ SHEVA

In the midst of ongoing normalization talks with Israel, Turkey is planning to invest $5 billion in reconstructing the Hamas stronghold of Gaza including a seaport – which Israel has fiercely opposed due to the blatant threat of weapons smuggling.

The Turkish Hurriyet Daily News on Friday reported that a team of the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB) announced the expensive rebuilding plan, which is being prepared by the Center for Multilateral Trade Studies at the Economic Policy Research Foundation of Turkey (TEPAV).
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By Dan Calic, AMERICAN THINKER

The US and others, while suggesting they are strong supporters of Israel and its need for security, in reality are not promoting peace. Their policies are actually sustaining and rewarding terror.

Let me explain…

President Obama for example has repeatedly stated throughout his administration  America’s commitment to Israel’s security is unshakable. No doubt these are reassuring words to Israel and its friends around the world. However,  his actions contradict his words.
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DEBKA

While diplomats from 70 countries talked in London about how to raise $9 bn for projects to rehabilitate Syria’s refugees and rebuild their war-ravaged country, its future was further clouded this week by an argument that flared between the main arbiters, Russia and Iran.

Ali Akbar Velayati, Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s foreign affairs advisor, spent three days in Moscow Feb. 1-4 haranguing Russian leaders, including President Vladimir Putin, whom he saw twice, on the differences that had cropped up in their long political and military cooperation for propping up the Assad regime.
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Obama visited the Islamic Society of Baltimore, a mosque with longstanding ties to the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas.

By Caroline Glick, JPOST

On Wednesday, the US media interrupted its saturation coverage of the presidential primaries to report on President Barack Obama’s visit to a mosque in Maryland. The visit was Obama’s first public one to a mosque in the US since entering the White House seven years ago. The mosque Obama chose to visit demonstrated once again that his views of radical Islam are deeply problematic.

Obama visited the Islamic Society of Baltimore, a mosque with longstanding ties to the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas. During Operation Protective Edge, the leaders of the mosque accused Israel of genocide and demanded that the administration end US support for the Jewish state.
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By Yossi Melman, JPOST   

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, obsessed with his Holocaust fears and motivated by his political agenda, could not resist Tuesday hinting what has been so clear to the rest of the world for two decades – the fact that the Israeli submarine fleet was mainly established for the purpose of deterrence and, according to foreign reports, to grant Israel the capability of a second nuclear strike.
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Just a few short years ago, Turkey was heralded as one of the region’s rising powers. What happened?

By Henri J Barkey, FT

It wasn’t long ago that Turkish foreign policy was the talk of the town. Defined by the catchy phrase of “zero problems with the neighbors,” Turkey aimed to both improve relations with its neighborhood and slowly emerge as the dominant regional power. It was a classic case of enhancing soft power through democratization and economic reforms at home, coupled with shrewd diplomacy aimed at establishing Ankara as a mediator in the region’s conflicts.
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Asylum seekers waiting to register in Berlin. Many of the migrants are Muslim, and their arrival has inevitably ushered in a worried discussion about what that means for Germany’s Jews. Credit Gordon Welters for The New York Times

By ALISON SMALE, NYT

BERLIN — These days, all talk here is of the ramifications of taking in more than one million asylum seekers who arrived over the past year.

Many of the migrants are Muslim and from countries with a deep antipathy toward Israel, leading to a worried discussion about the degree to which some refugees may have brought anti-Semitic attitudes with them. This stoked existing fears among Jews here, who believe anti-Semitism is already on the rise, along with support for far-right movements.

The concern is apparently so great that Chancellor Angela Merkel, without specifically mentioning the Muslim influx, addressed anti-Jewish feeling head-on in her latest weekly podcast.
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Maj. Gen. Nitzan Alon, head of IDF’s operations branch, says Islamic State is “our enemy” and Israel is sharing intelligence with allies battling the group • International coalition is making gains against the group, but struggle will be long, he says.

Associated Press and Israel Hayom Staff

Maj. Gen. Nitzan Alon | Photo credit: Uri Lenz

A top Israeli general said Wednesday that the Islamic State group is “our enemy” and that Israel is sharing intelligence with allies battling the extremist group, despite remaining on the sidelines of Syria’s civil war.

Maj. Gen. Nitzan Alon said that while Iran remains the greatest threat to Israel, Islamic State is also a dangerous adversary.

Israel has kept its distance from the civil war on its northern doorstep, wary of appearing to side with any of the warring parties — nearly all of which are hostile to it.
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‘Turkey;s Weakest position in Syria in years’:

By Natasha Bertrand, BUSINESS INSIDER

Institute for the Study of War

Pro-government forces in Syria have reportedly broken a rebel siege of two villages northwest of Aleppo, effectively cutting off Turkey’s supply line to opposition groups operating in and around Syria’s largest city.

Government troops, accompanied by Iran-backed Shiite militias and Hezbollah forces, apparentlyreached the cities of Nubl and Zahraa with the help of heavy Russian airstrikes on Wednesday.
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T. Belman. Of course they are. What’s wrong with that? The world should concede such a state to Russia and Iran if they want peace. The rest of Syria can become a sunni state. The Kurds should be part of the negotiations and be permitted to have a Kurdish state. The US and her allies want a unified Syria without it being controlled by the Alawites. The only solution is the division of Syria.

War of words continues after Russia says British foreign secretary is spreading ‘dangerous disinformation’ about its role in the long-running civil war

THE GUARDIAN

Britain has said Russia could be trying to carve out an Alawite mini-state in Syria for its ally President Bashar al-Assad by bombing his opponents instead of fighting Islamic State militants.

Russia and Britain have been engaged in a war of words after British foreign secretary Philip Hammond said on Monday that he believed president Vladimir Putin was worsening the Syrian civil war by bombing opponents of Isis.
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As crackdown widens on illegal Arab building in Judea-Samaria, security forces destroy nine buildings funded by European Union in Tamoun.

By Ido Ben Porat, ARUTZ SHEVA

The supervisory unit of the Civil Administration along with security forces destroyed on Thursday nine illegal structures erected in the Arab village of Tamoun in the northern Jordan Valley.

In total, five residential tents, three tin buildings and an outhouse were demolished.
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“Islamophobia is a contrived term that was invented by the Muslim Brotherhood with the sole purpose of stigmatizing those who are engaged in dialogue about militant Islam.” – Brooke Goldstein

Analysis: An injection of US cash into Israel’s anti-tunnel technology will speed up its development. But the increased activity on the Israeli side is liable to provoke Hamas into jumping the gun and launching an early surprise attack.

By Alex Fishman, YNET

The US government is set to invest $120 million in developing and manufacturing the “Israeli invention” for detecting and identifying tunnels, in collaboration with the Ministry of Defense, following Congress’ approval of the budget transfer. Israel is set to invest a similar amount. If there were even a shadow of doubt about the invention’s efficacy, Congress would not have approved a single cent.

The US deputy minister of defense visited Israel a few weeks ago and saw the anti-tunnel project in its early stages around the Gaza Strip. Impressed, he approved $40 million to cover its first year.
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Three terrorists armed with sub-machine guns, knives and bombs open fire on Border Police near Damascus Gate.

By Ari Sofer, ARUTZ SHEVA

Two female border police officers aged 19 and 20 have been seriously wounded in a shooting attack close to Jerusalem’s Damascus Gate.

Both officers have been evacuated to Jerusalem’s Hadassah Mount Scopus hospital.

One of the casualties is in critical condition and on a respirator, while the condition of the second victim has stabilized somewhat and is now classified as moderate-to-serious.
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T. Belman. There’s a lesson here. Don’t pussy foot around. Get the job done as quickly as possible. No matter how brutal, it will save lives. This lesson should apply to the PA. Stop supporting them so that they are forced to compromise, even capitulate. Destroy the negotiating table and dictate to them. Never empower your enemy to stand up to you.

DEBKA

SU-35 Russian warplane for ground targets deployed this week in Syria

Russia is determined to bomb Syrian rebels into submission by a massive aerial campaign, comparable to the American 2003 “shock and awe” offensive over Baghdad. Only this time, it is Russia which is invading Syria. Tuesday, Feb. 2, saw a wave of air strikes, for which heavy Tupolev Tu-22M strategic bombers flew in from their base in Russia. President Vladimir is not deterred by the hundreds of civilian casualties caused in these raids, or the cries rising from the Syrian town of Aleppo which was targeted Monday.
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Congress questions Justice Department’s commitment to prosecuting terrorists

By Adam Kredo, FREE BEACON

The Obama administration has not prosecuted a single Palestinian terrorist responsible for killing Americans abroad, despite a congressional mandate ordering the Justice Department to take action against these individuals, according to disclosures made by lawmakers on Tuesday.

Palestinian terrorists have murdered at least 64 Americans, including two unborn children, since 1993. Yet the U.S. government has failed to take legal action against those who committed the crimes, lawmakers disclosed during a Tuesday hearing on the Justice Department’s failure to live up to its mandate to bring these terrorists to justice.
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