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Contents: | Weekly Quotes | Short Takes | On Topic Links
Turkey Broadens Clampdown Against Erdogan Rivals: Emre Peker & Yeliz Candemir, Wall Street Journal, Mar. 4, 2016
In the Fight Against the Islamic State, all Roads Now Lead to Mosul: Patrick Martin, Globe & Mail, Mar. 6, 2016
Why Libya Must be the Next Front in the War Against ISIL: Matthew Fisher, National Post, Feb. 21, 2016
Outremont Should Leave Hasidic Residents Alone: Dan Delmar, Montreal Gazette, Mar. 4, 2016
WEEKLY QUOTES
“Let me say in no uncertain terms: The United States of America condemns these acts and condemns the failure to condemn these acts. This cannot become an accepted modus operandi…This cannot be viewed by civilized leaders as an appropriate way in which to behave…It is just not tolerable in the 21st century. They’re targeting innocent civilians, mothers, pregnant women, teenagers, grandfathers, American citizens. There can be no justification for this hateful violence and the United States stands firmly behind Israel when it defends itself as we are defending ourselves at this moment as well.” — U.S. Vice President Joe Biden. Biden on Wednesday appeared to condemn PA President Abbas for not speaking out against terror attacks. His comments, delivered in Jerusalem, came minutes after Prime Minister Netanyahu said that Abbas’s Fatah had not only failed to condemn but had praised a terrorist who killed a U.S. citizen in Jaffa in a stabbing spree Tuesday. An American was killed and at least 13 other people were wounded in a string of three separate terror attacks that rocked Israel on Tuesday. The American and 10 others fell victims to a Palestinian terrorist who went on a stabbing rampage in Jaffa and southern Tel Aviv on Tuesday. Mere hours earlier, two Border Police officers were wounded by an Arab gunman in in Jerusalem’s Old City. Shortly beforehand, one Israeli was wounded in a suspected terror stabbing in Petah Tikva. All three attackers were killed. (Times of Israel, Mar. 9, 2016)
“We are in the midst of a war against ISIS-style Muslim extremist terror…We are in an emergency situation. There are murderers here who are motivated by hatred and we cannot allow Jews to continue to get harmed. There is an intifada of incitement. We must restore deterrence, so I must ask all the higher than thou who scold us to understand our current reality.” — Israeli Intelligence Minister Yisrael Katz. Twenty-nine Israelis and four foreign nationals have been killed in a wave of Palestinian violence since October. Some 180 Palestinians have also been killed, two-thirds of them while attacking Israelis, and the rest during clashes with troops, according to the Israeli army.
“I want to reiterate, as I know people still doubt, if in fact [Iran] breaks the [nuclear] deal, we will act…All their conventional activity outside the deal, which is still beyond the deal, we will and are attempting to act wherever we can find it.” — Vice President Biden. Biden said during his two-day visit to Israel the U.S. will take action against Iran if long-range ballistic missile tests Tehran said it carried out were confirmed. Earlier Iran test-fired two ballistic missiles, which Iranian news said had the phrase “Israel must be wiped out” written on them in Hebrew. (Times of Israel, Mar. 9, 2016)
“The 2,000-kilometre range of our missiles is to confront the Zionist regime…Israel is surrounded by Islamic countries and it will not last long in a war. It will collapse even before being hit by these missiles…We will not be the ones who start a war, but we will not be taken by surprise, so we put our facilities somewhere that our enemies cannot destroy them so that we could continue in a long war.” — Amir Ali Hajizadeh, the head of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard’s aerospace division. The semiofficial Fars news agency offered pictures Wednesday it said were of the Qadr H missiles being fired. It said they were fired in Iran’s eastern Alborz mountain range to hit a target some 1,400 kilometres away off Iran’s coast into the Sea of Oman. In October, Iran successfully test-fired a new guided long-range ballistic surface-to-surface missile. It was the first such test since Iran and world powers reached the landmark deal last summer. (National Post, Mar. 9, 2016)
“Have you gone mad? … Will you still condemn [the GCC’s decision] when Hezbollah fires missiles at your villages? Does Hezbollah distinguish between [Jewish and Arab] blood? It wants to destroy Israel and you are Israeli citizens. Hezbollah has been designated a terrorist organization by major Arab countries. This is a significant development, an astonishing one even, but what’s equally astonishing is that two parties here have denounced this decision. There are major changes taking place in the Arab world, even if they have yet to permeate parts of the Knesset. Major Arab states have come to realize Israel isn’t the enemy, but an ally in the war against Islamic State and Iran.” — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Arab MKs sparked a new controversy when they condemned a recent decision by several Persian Gulf states to designate Hezbollah a terrorist organization. The six-member Gulf Cooperation Council — comprising Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman and Qatar — announced the designation last week, ahead of potential sanctions against the Iranian-backed Shiite organization. The Balad and Hadash parties, which alongside Ra’am-Ta’al comprise the Joint Arab List, criticized the decision as seeking to “appease” the U.S. and Israel. (Israel Hayom, Mar. 8, 2016)
“Is it the position of the NDP not only that Canada should withdraw from fighting in the region, but so should every western country, so that we simply leave the atrocities to perpetuate themselves with no one intervening at all?” — Liberal Mount Royal MP Anthony Housefather. Housefather took NDP MP Richard Cannings to task over a statement that the conflict against I.S. is not Canada’s war. During a debate in the Commons, Cannings said “It is time that Canada played a positive role in the Middle East, concentrating on humanitarian aid and diplomacy.” Housefather said he took exception to the opinion that “this war is not our war, because, obviously, this is a murderous, horrible group of people who are seeking the end of western civilization and are committing atrocities against Yazidis and Christians in the areas they occupy.” (Suburban, Mar. 2, 2016)
“This particular [Nigerian] government has proven to be socially responsible and they’ve tried to do as much as they can do [to find the girls], so Canada can engage with this government to find out what logistic support or what intelligence support it can provide to locate the girls.” — Babatunde Osotimehin, executive director of the UN Population Fund. Osotimehin is calling on Canada to reach out to the Nigerian government and offer logistical and intelligence services to help find more than 200 Nigerian schoolgirls abducted by terrorist group Boko Haram nearly two years ago. Osotimehin said Canada has a good opportunity to re-engage with the Nigerians, who elected a new government last year, and support a “re-energized campaign” to locate the abducted schoolgirls. (Globe & Mail, Mar. 7, 2016)
“What we have seen growing in the past months and year is that, in that flow of refugees we see criminality, terrorism and foreign fighters…This criminality, the terrorists and returning foreign fighters are clearly a daily part of the refugee flow now.” — U.S. Air Force Gen. Philip Breedlove. Breedlove, who is head of U.S. European Command and NATO supreme allied commander, said that I.S. is infiltrating the ranks of refugees entering Europe, and that terrorists and returning foreign fighters are now part of the “daily” flow. He said that both Russia and the Assad regime were actively trying to drive Syrians to become refugees, as a way of targeting the EU. “I’ve used the term ‘weaponization of immigration,’” Breedlove said. He cited Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s use of barrel bombs, an indiscriminate weapon that does not serve an effective military purpose. “Barrel bombs are designed to terrorize, get people out of their homes, and get them on the road, and make them someone else’s problem,” he said. “These indiscriminate weapons used by both Bashar al-Assad and the non-precision use of weapons by the Russian forces – I can’t find any other reason for them other than to cause refugees to be on the move, and make them someone else’s problem.” (CNS, Mar. 2, 2016)
“This pattern is appalling, and Turkey is galloping towards an authoritarian regime full speed ahead…Unfortunately, the world, in particular the E.U., remains silent. The government here can sense the vulnerability in the West, especially since the beginning of the refugee crisis, and is pushing the boundaries to consolidate its power…Erdogan knows the West is vulnerable because of ISIS and the refugees and he is going to use this as much as he can.” — Asli Aydintasbas, a prominent Turkish journalist who lost her column last year at the daily Milliyet under government pressure. Backed by a court order, the Turkish authorities moved on Friday to seize Zaman, the country’s most widely circulated newspaper, in the latest crackdown by the government of President Erdogan on freedom of the press. The seizing of the newspaper also highlighted the government’s building campaign against those it perceives to be its two greatest enemies: opposition journalists and the followers of Fethullah Gulen, a Muslim cleric affiliated with the newspaper who lives in exile in the U.S. (New York Times, Mar. 4, 2016)
SHORT TAKES
EU-TURKEY DEAL ‘WOULD CONTRAVENE INTERNATIONAL LAW’ (Ankara) — The EU proposal to return tens of thousands of migrants en masse from Greece to Turkey is likely to violate international law, the UN said on Tuesday, as the grand bargain appeared to unravel. Angela Merkel’s deal with Ankara to end the migrant flow across the Aegean faced serious criticism from her allies, who protested the offer of visa-free travel for Turkish citizens. Under a deal provisionally agreed on Monday night, Turkey will accept the rapid return of any migrants who travel by boat to the Greek islands. In addition, for every Syrian removed from Greece to a Turkish refugee camp, one will be sent from Turkey directly to an EU state, in order to discourage illegal migration. The plan was met with a chorus of protests from legal experts who warned it falls foul of a number of pieces of EU and international law, including that asylum seekers must have their cases assessed as individuals. (Telegraph, Mar. 8, 2016)
BIDEN IN ISRAEL TO TALK MILITARY AID — AND TRY TO PATCH THINGS UP (Jerusalem) — Vice President Biden arrived in Israel on Tuesday to patch up, again, relations between the Obama and Netanyahu after a very public spat over the Iran nuclear deal. Biden’s mission is, in part, to advance long-running talks between the White House and Jerusalem over a new multibillion-dollar, 10-year military aid package. As Biden was en route to the Middle East, the White House expressed consternation that administration officials heard through the Israeli news media that the prime minister was canceling a visit to the U.S., in which he was supposed to meet with Obama later this month. Israeli officials said their ambassador told the White House last week that there was a “good chance” Netanyahu wouldn’t come. (Washington Post, Mar. 8, 2016)
IDF, SHIN BET CAPTURE ACCUSED TERRORIST MURDERER OF AVRAHAM HASNO (Jerusalem) — IDF soldiers and intelligence agents arrested the suspected killer of 55-year-old Avraham Hasno. The suspect is accused of murdering Hasno in a terrorist vehicle hit-and-run attack on October 20, 2015 near Hebron, after he was ambushed in a rock-throwing roadblock at the site. He was run over twice by the Arab truck driver. Local Arab residents cheered and whistled while paramedics unsuccessfully tried to save his life. The murderer was initially spared Israeli arrest by immediately turning to the Palestinian Authority, who took him into custody. Subsequent to his release by the PA authorities several days ago, he was arrested by Israeli forces following much effort and intelligence work. (Jewish Press, Mar. 9, 2016)
EGYPT EXPELS LAWMAKER WHO DINED WITH ISRAEL’S AMBASSADOR (Cairo) — Egypt’s Parliament last week expelled a television personality turned lawmaker over a dinner he had with the Israeli ambassador. The lawmaker, Tawfik Okasha, had already been attacked with a shoe by a fellow lawmaker three days earlier over the same episode, which highlighted Egyptian sensitivity toward Israel, 37 years after the two countries signed a peace treaty. Although Egypt and Israel enjoy close security cooperation, particularly in the struggle against Islamist extremists in Sinai, many Egyptians view Israel with hostility over its policies toward the Palestinians, and public interactions with Israeli officials are considered taboo. (New York Times, Mar. 2, 2016)
RUSSIA REPORTEDLY FREEZES IRAN MISSILE SALE FOLLOWING ISRAELI PRESSURE (Moscow) —According to Kuwaiti media, an order of S-300 heavy surface-to-air missiles purchased by Iran has been put on hold by Russia following talks with Israeli officials. Israel criticized the sale, claiming that at least some of the S-300 missiles would likely fall into the hands of the Hezbollah terror group in Lebanon. Russia halted the shipment of the missiles after Israel provided evidence that other surface-to-air missiles sold by Russia to Iran had ended up in Hezbollah’s hands. Since the outbreak of the Syrian civil war, military ties between Russia, Syria, and Iran have tightened, with increased sales of advanced weapons and even direct intervention by Russian forces in the area. (Arutz Sheva, Mar. 6, 2016)
SANDERS WINS MICHIGAN PRIMARY; TRUMP TAKES THREE STATES (Detroit) — Donald J. Trump easily dispatched his Republican rivals in the Michigan and Mississippi presidential primaries Tuesday and won the Hawaii caucuses. Senator Bernie Sanders scored an upset win in the Michigan Democratic primary, threatening to prolong a Democratic campaign that Hillary Clinton appeared to have all but locked up last week. Clinton lost badly in Michigan among independents, showed continued weakness with working-class white Democrats, and was unable to count on as much of an advantage with black voters as she had in the South. While bolstering Sanders’s hand as the race turns to a series of large states next week, his victory in Michigan did not dent Clinton’s lead as she won overwhelmingly in Mississippi, crushing Sanders among African-American voters. (New York Times, Mar. 8, 2016)
WHAT DO ISRAELIS REALLY THINK ABOUT TRUMP, CLINTON AND BERNIE? (Tel Aviv) — A majority of Israeli Jews believe that Donald Trump would be a friend to Israel if he were elected president, according to a recent poll conducted by the Israel Democracy Institute (IDI). 61 percent of Israeli Jews believe Trump would be “very friendly” or “moderately friendly” to Israel, while a mere 14 percent said they believed he would be “not so friendly” or “not at all friendly”. Between the two Democratic candidates, Hillary Clinton was the preferred choice, with 40.5 percent of those polled saying she would be better for Israel and only 16.5 percent choosing Bernie Sanders despite his being the first Jewish candidate in history to have won a US presidential primary. (Breaking Israel News, Mar. 7, 2016)
US AIRSTRIKES TAKE OUT 150 ISLAMIST TERRORISTS IN SOMALIA (Mogadishu) — On Sunday, U.S. warplanes killed about 150 newly-minted terrorists at a training facility in Somalia, near Mogadishu. The airstrikes hit a Shabab outpost at what U.S. officials said they believed was a graduation ceremony. The targeted terrorists were “preparing an attack against American troops and their regional allies in East Africa,” which is believed to have been a “large-scale attack.” The American warplanes dropped precision-guided bombs and missiles on the terrorists who “were outdoors in formation,” according to a U.S. official. (Jewish Press, Mar. 7, 2016)
IRAQ SUICIDE BOMBER KILLS DOZENS AT CHECKPOINT NEAR BABYLONIAN RUINS (Baghdad) — At least 33 people were killed and 115 wounded in the Iraqi city of Hilla on Sunday when a fuel truck driven by a suicide bomber exploded at a checkpoint not far from the ruins of ancient Babylon. I.S. took responsibility for the fiery blast in a message on a website affiliated with the group, and in a Twitter post. “The battle has just started and the coming will be worst,” the Twitter post said. In 2014, a similar attack killed more than 70 people and injured 150 at the checkpoint, known as the Artifacts Checkpoint. (New York Times, Mar. 6, 2016)
CANADA TO TRAIN KURDISH SPECIAL FORCES BATTALION (Ottawa) — Canada’s top general says the Canadian Armed Forces will be training and equipping a battalion of Kurdish Special Forces as part of its efforts to fight I.S. Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Jonathan Vance made the comments during an appearance before the Senate defence committee on Monday, where he also acknowledged that I.S. has chemical weapons. The Trudeau government announced last month that Canada would be tripling the number of military personnel working alongside Kurdish peshmerga in northern Iraq to 200, as well as providing “lethal aid” to the Kurds. The move coincided with the Liberals ending Canadian airstrikes against I.S. in Iraq and Syria. (National Post, Mar. 7, 2016)
SON OF EX-OTTAWA CLERIC DIES FIGHTING GOVERNMENT IN LIBYA: REPORTS (Benghazi) — The son of a former Ottawa cleric who encouraged Libyans to “take part in jihad” was reportedly killed in an armed clash with government forces in Benghazi over the weekend. The death of Owais Egwilla, described as a former Ottawa university student, was announced on social media accounts affiliated with Libyan fighters. The posts said he had died in a battle against the “infidel forces” of Libyan Gen. Khalida Haftar. The Libya Observer reported Egwilla was a member of a militia called the Omar Al-Mukhtar Brigade. The Al-Mukhtar brigade is affiliated with Ansar Al-Sharia, which is fighting to impose Islamic law in Libya. (National Post, Mar. 6, 2016)
DANISH GIRL, 16, ACCUSED OF PLOTTING TO BOMB JEWISH SCHOOL (Copenhagen) — Danish prosecutors say a 16-year-old girl who was arrested in January was planning bomb attacks against a Jewish school in Copenhagen and another school in Denmark. Prosecutors presented the preliminary charges against her and a 24-year-old man suspected of being her accomplice in a court hearing Tuesday in Holbaek, northwest of the Danish capital. Prosecutor Kristian Kirk said that the suspects obtained chemicals and tried to produce explosives with the intent to commit terror attacks against the two schools. The suspects, who were not identified, deny the charges. (Times of Israel, Mar. 8, 2016)
URUGUAY JEW STABBED TO DEATH IN SUSPECTED ANTISEMITIC ATTACK (Montevideo) — Media outlets in Uruguay are reporting that a Jewish man from the town of Paysandu was stabbed to death. Investigators want to ascertain if antisemitism was the motive for the killing. According to reports, the victim has been identified as David Fremd, a 54-year-old merchant. Fremd’s son is reported to have witnessed the attack. In coming to his father’s aid, he, too, was stabbed, though his wounds were not considered serious. The man in police custody is reported to be 35 years old. He is said to have a criminal record. Social media users speculated that the assailant shouted “Allahu akhbar” during the attack, though this has yet to be confirmed by authorities. (Jerusalem Post, Mar. 9, 2016)
YOUTUBE RESTORES PALESTINIAN MEDIA WATCH’S ACCOUNT (New York) — YouTube has restored Palestinian Media Watch’s (PMW) account, one day after it was frozen. PMW says that the account was “terminated” after it shared a video of an official PA broadcast featuring a young girl demanding “vengeance and liberation” and calling to “smash the oppressor.” This video supposedly violated YouTube’s terms of service, even though PMW was merely exposing the incitement and not supporting it. Many of PMW’s followers contacted YouTube and its parent company, Google, to appeal the block and their appeals seem to have succeeded. (Arutz Sheva, Mar. 7, 2016)
ISRAEL TO LAUNCH ADVANCED MISSILE DEFENSE SYSTEM (Tel Aviv) — A joint exercise now being conducted between thousands of Israeli troops and the U.S. European Command represents a final test before Israel begins to deploy one of the most sophisticated missile defense systems in the world. The U.S. has provided more than $3.3 billion over the past 10 years to support the defensive system, which will be able to knock down not only ballistic missiles but also orbiting satellites. In December, Israel and the U.S. celebrated successful tests of two new ballistic missile defense systems — David’s Sling, which is designed to intercept short- and medium-range threats, and Arrow-3, which is intended to stop long-range attacks and knock out enemy targets in space. (Washington Post, Mar. 3, 2016)
GAY IRANIAN NOVELIST SEEKS ASYLUM IN ISRAEL (Tel Aviv) — At a time when Iran is known for its hostile attitude towards Israel, openly gay Iranian poet and novelist Payam Feili described how he found himself living in the Jewish state. Feili said that when he was still in Iran, he began working with an Israeli to translate his latest novella into Hebrew. This caused Iranian government loyalists to write articles accusing him of immorality and collaborating with the enemy. He escaped to Turkey in 2014 after being detained several times, and was able to enter Israel on a temporary visa as a visiting artist three months ago. Feili is living in Tel Aviv, which is home to a vibrant LGBT community. He is seeking asylum in Israel and has tattooed a Star of David on his neck. (Algemeiner, Mar. 3, 2016)
OUTREMONT COULD HOLD A REFERENDUM ON BYLAW THAT BANS NEW PLACES OF WORSHIP (Montreal) — Council in the Montreal borough of Outremont voted last week to hold two registries on the issue of the bylaw that bans the construction of new places of worship on Bernard and Laurier avenues. The register would ask citizens who are opposed to the bylaw change to come out and vote. With enough votes the borough can call a referendum. The borough adopted the bylaw back in December 2015. Human rights lawyer Julius Grey represents some members of the Hassidic community and insisted the bylaw ignores the community’s needs. “The predicament of religious Jews is that they cannot take an automobile or a bus on a holiday,” said Grey. It restricts construction of new places of worship to an industrial area. (Global, Mar. 2, 2016)
Turkey Broadens Clampdown Against Erdogan Rivals: Emre Peker & Yeliz Candemir, Wall Street Journal, Mar. 4, 2016—Turkey detained the executives of a top conglomerate and appointed a trustee to take over a leading opposition newspaper on Friday, as authorities expand their crackdown on perceived rivals of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
In the Fight Against the Islamic State, all Roads Now Lead to Mosul: Patrick Martin, Globe & Mail, Mar. 6, 2016—Almost two years after the Sunni jihadi group known as the Islamic State stunned the world by capturing Iraq’s second-largest city, the battle to retake Mosul has finally begun. An array of forces is closing in on this metropolis, site of one of the world’s oldest Christian communities and now the self-proclaimed capital of the IS “caliphate.”
Why Libya Must be the Next Front in the War Against ISIL: Matthew Fisher, National Post, Feb. 21, 2016—Canada’s larger training mission with the Peshmerga in northern Iraq will not get underway until the back half of May, but preliminary discussions are already underway about what must come next. And what must come next is Libya.
Outremont Should Leave Hasidic Residents Alone: Dan Delmar, Montreal Gazette, Mar. 4, 2016—Quebec has been mired in a series of fruitless so-called reasonable accommodation debates for the better part of a decade. The outbreaks of manufactured tension can be traced back to two places: Hérouxville, where conflict between pure laine and Muslim Quebecers was purely hypothetical as (statistically) no minorities live in the rural Mauricie town, and the posh Montreal borough of Outremont, whose council continues to stoke tensions between it and the Orthodox Jewish community.