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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T. Belman. Boteach focuses only on what was in the adviser’s emails. But in Hillary is pro-Palestine and anti-Israel, by Jeff Dunetz, Dunetz focuses on the things Hillary did and said, even before her marriage to Bill that portrayed her own feelings. It is a horror story. It is a must read. (Note I changed his title )

By Shmuley Boteach, ALGEMEINER

It’s already been established that one of Hillary Clinton’s most trusted advisers, Sid Blumenthal, sent her dozens of anti-Israel articles, ideas and pieces of advice during her time as secretary of state. But the stream of anti-Israel advice received by Hillary was much more comprehensive than that which came from just one adviser. In the entire batch of Hillary’s emails, you will be hard pressed to find a single email that is sympathetic towards the Jewish state, from any of the people on whom she relied.

The negative, poisonous approach towards Israel throughout this cache of emails shows the atmosphere that Hillary had established around herself. These emails seem to demonstrate that a huge segment of her close advisers and confidants were attacking Israel, condemning Netanyahu, and strategizing about how to force Israel to withdraw from Judea and Samaria at all costs.
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By Yishai Fleisher, JPOST

Dear Mr. Ban Ki moon…We must shoot down the fallacious and hypocritical assertions of your article

No one missed the double entendre of your recent New York Times article’s title, “Don’t Shoot the Messenger, Israel,” which had the chutzpah to both accuse Israel of hotheadedness and insinuate it has an itchy trigger finger. And yet beyond this thinly-veiled smear, you went on to suggest that you had offered Israel an important “message” – that we should rush to seal a two-state deal – as if either we had never heard of this before or anyone in the region still thought it was a useful idea.

We must shoot down the fallacious and hypocritical assertions of your article.
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I have just created a Petition to Free Meir Ettinger. It is waiting for final approval but you can sign it now.

Go Here:

http://www.petitionbuzz.com/petitions/free-meir-ettinger

Ettinger has not been accused of illegal acts. Is there such a thing as an illegal opinion in a democracy?

By Daniel Pinner

Honourable Prime Minister, Mr Binyamin Netanyahu,

You were elected to lead the State of Israel and the Jewish nation primarily due to your devotion to the principle of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state. And you have indeed initiated several programs which are intended to strengthen both Israel’s Jewish identity and her democratic character.

And it is precisely because of your belief in Israel as a Jewish and democratic state that Meir Ettinger’s administrative arrest – which must inevitably have been done with your agreement – is so problematic and puzzling.
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T. Belman.  61% of Israelis disagree with this statement, “The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is perhaps not ideal but can continue for many years without posing a threat to Israel’s security and existence.” Therefore the pressure is building to change the status quo in favour of separation, a la Herzog, or annexation in whole or in part.

Had the questionnaire reminded Israel of the threat of abandoning the hills of Samaria, the result would have shown even more support for annexation.

Latest Peace Index examines attitudes toward Israeli policies in the West Bank; survey shows Israelis divided on whether time has come to annex land captured in 1967.

Israel Democracy Institute  February 2, 2016

• Separating from the Palestinians: Earlier this month, opposition leader Isaac Herzog recommended separating Israelis from Palestinians, including the construction of an electrified wall separating the two communities in East Jerusalem. Some 49% favor such a policy while 44% are opposed. Likud (78%) and Yisrael Beiteinu (64%) voters are most in favor of such a plan; Meretz voters (75%) are most opposed. Only 6% of Arab Israelis support the plan.
• Annexing the West Bank: When asked whether the time has come for Israel to formally annex all territories conquered during the 1967 Six-Day War, 45% of Jewish Israeli responded that Israel should. The same number (45%) opposed such action.
• Maintaining the Status Quo: A considerable majority of the Jewish public (61%) disagree with the statement that, “The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is perhaps not ideal but can continue for many years without posing a threat to Israel’s security and existence.”

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The now five month old Palestinian terror campaign is entering a new phase, with direct attacks inside Israeli communities becoming a new major threat.

By Caroline B. Glick, JPOST

Amjad Sacari made no effort to hide his feelings and intentions towards Israel. The soldier in the Palestinian security forces filled his Facebook page with paeans to Saddam Hussein. Last weekend he published two posts indicating his imminent plan to carry out a terrorist attack.

In other words, if the PA forces he served had been serious about preventing their members from carrying out terrorist attacks, they could have easily prevented Sakari from driving to an IDF checkpoint between Ramallah and Beit El Sunday morning, opening fire and wounding three soldiers – one critically. Sakari, who was killed in the course of his attack, was the third member of the US-backed PA security forces who engaged in terrorism in the past two months.
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