WEEKLY QUOTES

“With much sadness we found the three bodies this evening. Everything indicates that these are bodies of the kidnapped boys, Eyal, Gilad and Naftali. They were kidnapped and killed in cold blood by human animals. In the name of all the nation of Israel, I want to say to the dear families, the mothers, the fathers, the grandmothers and grandfathers, brothers and sisters – our hearts are bleeding, the nation is crying with you…Hamas is responsible. Hamas will pay. May the memory of the boys be blessed,” —Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, at an emergency cabinet meeting on Monday. Security officials said the bodies of Naftali Fraenkel and Gilad Shaar, both 16, and Eyal Yifrach, 19, were found in an open area close to Hebron, near where they were abducted. Fraenkel was a dual U.S.-Israeli citizen. Lt. Col. Peter Lerner, an Israeli army spokesman, said the bodies were discovered about 5 p.m. Monday by civilian volunteer searchers and special forces near the village of Halhul just north of Hebron. (Jewish Press, June 30, 2014)  

“If Netanyahu launches a war against Gaza, the gates of hell will open on him,” —Hamas Spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri, on his Facebook page. Hamas denied responsibility Monday evening for the kidnapping and killing of three Israeli teenagers. According to Zuhri, “the story of the disappearance and killing of the three settlers is based on the Israeli narrative only…The Israeli occupation is trying to refer to this narrative in order to justify its wide-scale war against our people, against the resistance and against Hamas.” (Times of Israel, June 30, 2014)

“They’re throwing the guilt on him by accusing him of kidnapping,” —Amer Abu Aysha’s mother. The Israeli government has identified two prime suspects in the kidnapping and murder of the three Israeli students: Abu Aysha, 33, and Marwan Qawasmeh, 29, both of them Hamas activists. Abu Aysha’s mother told Israel’s Channel 10 news: “If he did the kidnapping, I’ll be proud of him.” (Wall Street Journal, July 1, 2014)

“Here’s my question: What kind of society produces such mothers? Whence the women who cheer on their boys to blow themselves up or murder the children of their neighbors? Well-intentioned Western liberals may prefer not to ask, because at least some of the conceivable answers may upset the comforting cliché that all human beings can relate on some level, whatever the cultural differences. Or they may accuse me of picking a few stray anecdotes and treating them as dispositive, as if I’m the only Western journalist to encounter the unsettling reality of a society sunk into a culture of hate. Or they can claim that I am ignoring the suffering of Palestinian women whose innocent children have died at Israeli hands. But I’m not ignoring that suffering. To kill innocent people deliberately is odious, to kill them accidentally or “collaterally” is, at a minimum, tragic. I just have yet to meet the Israeli mother who wants to raise her boys to become kidnappers and murderers—and who isn’t afraid of saying as much to visiting journalists,” —Bret Stephens, in a Wall Street Journal op-ed, referring to comments made by Amer Abu Aysha’s mother. The Israeli government identified Abu Aysha’s son as one of the prime suspects in the murder of the three Israeli teens. Stephens concluded that “a culture that celebrates kidnapping is not fit for statehood.”  (Wall Street Journal, July 1, 2014)

“Most people are mad at those who kidnapped the kids…[because] When they commit such acts, we rejoice, celebrate for Israel’s suffering, then sit down and worry if we will be allowed into Israel for work and medical treatment. To me, such a kidnapping only destroys the livelihood of my four children. This has to stop, for our own sake,”—an anonymous Palestinian businessman. (Gatestone Institute, June 24, 2014)

“The Israelis say [Saleh al-Arouri] was one of the key operational leaders who has been calling for and overseeing these various kidnapping plots over the past two years,” —Matthew Levitt, Director of the Stein Program on Counterterrorism & Intelligence at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy. Levitt was referring to the senior Hamas operative who is seen by Israel as responsible for a wave of kidnapping attempts in the West Bank. Al-Arouri is based in Turkey, inside the territory of a NATO ally. “It’s not that he was necessarily on the phone with these kidnappers, but kidnapping in general has been a key focus for Hamas operatives in the last two years and al-Arouri has been encouraging it,” Levitt explained. Now that the man who Israel believes has significant responsibility for the murder of the three teenagers is in Turkey, it could further complicate relations between Ankara and Jerusalem, two former allies that have tried recently to repair a broken relationship. Turkey has cooperated at times with Israel and the West on contingency planning for Syria during its civil war. But the Turks also maintain close ties to the political wing of the terrorist organization Hamas. (Daily Beast, July 1, 2014)    

“I have no doubt that the people who murdered [them] were Hamas members,” —Alan Dershowitz, retired Harvard Law School professor. Dershowitz continued “We don’t know whether they did it under instructions from Hamas leadership, but Hamas is responsible. They cheered it — imagine cheering the murder of 16-year-old children? But that’s what Hamas does.” Dershowitz said he had recently taken a chilling tour of the underground network of tunnels that are used in the transportation of kidnapped children by terrorists. “Hamas digs [the tunnels] under…Gaza and the tunnel the Israelis recently found exited at a point just yards away from a kindergarten with 57 Jewish kids in it. Their goal was to kill or kidnap these 57 toddlers and kids,” he said. “They have multiple tunnels that they use only for terrorism — not for transporting goods or anything. They’re just terrorist tunnels designed to allow them to come in behind Israeli lines … and to capture and kill as many babies and children as they can.” Dershowitz said that goal makes it impossible for Israel to engage in any real dialogue for peace. “How do you make peace with an organization that’s committed to the destruction of Israel and how do you make peace with the Palestinian authority that is now joined together with Hamas in a unitary government?” he said. “It would be as if the United States joined in with al-Qaida and that would never happen, but the Palestinian Authority is joining with Hamas.” (Newsmax, June 30, 2014)

“I think [the slaying of three Israeli teens by Arab terrorists is] a direct outcome of the terror government that the Palestinians established last month,” —Ofir Akunis, Deputy Minister in the Office of Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, adding that the recent uptick in rocket attacks from Gaza can also be traced to the agreement. The deal between Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah Party and internationally recognized terror group Hamas was inked last month. Akunis also sharply criticized the U.S. for rushing to accept the new Palestinian government: “I think that it was a huge mistake – huge – that the Secretary of State and Ministers of Foreign Affairs in the world recognized this government and said that it’s good for the peace process because Abbas will take leadership in the Gaza strip again,” he asserted. “Of course it was a mistake; the opposite happened. Hamas is getting stronger in Judea and Samaria; that’s what happened. And unfortunately this terror attack is part of this, this is a part of the wrong idea of a national unity government in the Palestinian Authority.” (Algemeiner, July 1, 2014)

“It is upon us to support the international efforts to strengthen Jordan, and support the Kurds’ aspiration for independence. Jordan is a stable, moderate country with a strong army that can defend itself, and it is especially due to this that these international efforts are worthy of supporting it. The same is true for the Kurds: They are fighting people that have proven political commitment and political moderation but they’re also worthy of their own political independence.” —Prime Minister Netanyahu, endorsing the creation of an independent Kurdish state. Recent turmoil in the Middle East — including the territorial gains made by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant — offers Israel the chance to “build an axis for regional collaboration,” Netanyahu said. “This is not only a challenge but also an opportunity. We can’t solve the conflicts between extremist Sunnis and Shiites, not in Syria or Iraq or elsewhere. These two camps are our bitter foes – the Shiites led by the Iranians and the Sunnis led by al-Qaeda and ISIL. But they are also other people’s enemies as well. That is where there is an opportunity for enhanced regional cooperation.” (Times of Israel, June 29, 2014)

“Canadian Muslims are law-abiding citizens and no one should get involved in international wars on the belief and excuse that they are helping their Muslim brothers…Canadian Muslims who might do this are promoting disloyalty to their government,” —statement issued by the Canadian Council of Imams, saying those who participate in overseas wars are breaking the laws of Canada and violating Islamic “principles”. “Any Canadian individuals taking up arms and fighting foreign governments are actually breaking the laws of their own country,” the imams’ statement says. “We believe that any Canadian citizen who takes up arms should do so only in the legal context of the Canadian law and government.” Syria has become a magnet for Western jihadists, including an estimated 30 Canadians, some of whom have joined the ultra-extremist Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham, which recently seized parts of northern Iraq. Meanwhile, about 100 Canadians are serving elsewhere in Islamist extremist factions, according to the Canadian Security Intelligence Service. Recent attacks attributed to them include the deadly siege at an Algerian gas plant in January 2013 and last November’s suicide bombing in Iraq that killed 19. (National Post, June 26, 2014) 

“This is the last wave…Qaraqosh was the second city for Christians [in Iraq], after Ainkawa, and now they are here. Think about it.” —Father Rayan Atto, a local priest who on Thursday was running an impromptu refugee-processing centre on the outskirts of the northern Iraqi city of Ainkawa. Thousands of Iraqi Christians escaped Qaraqosh last week after militants from the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) attacked the town and exchanged mortar and light-weapons fire with defending Kurdish peshmerga fighters. The emptying of Qaraqosh is particularly significant since the town of 50,000 was seen as one of the last safe havens for Iraqi Christians outside of the Kurdish region. It’s just the latest round in a mass exodus that has seen Iraq’s Christian community, one of the world’s oldest, depleted from 1.5 million before the U.S. invasion of the country in 2003 to less than a third of that today. Many of those who remain live in the semi-autonomous Kurdish north, the only part of Iraq where secularism still reigns.

SHORT TAKES

ISRAELIS MOURN SLAIN TEENS AT PUBLIC FUNERAL (Modi’in) —Tens of thousands of Israelis gathered Tuesday for a funeral service for three teenagers whose bodies were found Monday, more than two weeks after they were kidnapped. Speaking a day after the teens’ bodies were discovered in a field near the city of Hebron, Prime Minister Netanyahu pledged that everyone involved in the crime “will bear the consequences.” He said Israeli forces, which have arrested nearly 400 alleged terror operatives and killed at least five Palestinians during a more than two-week search, would “vigorously strike at Hamas members and infrastructure” in Gaza and the West Bank. Naftali Fraenkel, 16, Gilad Shaar, 16, and Eyal Yifrach, 19, were buried together in a cemetery in the city of Modiin, halfway between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. (Washington Post, July 1, 2014)

ISRAEL CLASHES ERUPT AFTER BODY OF PALESTINIAN TEEN FOUND  (Jerusalem) —The death of a Palestinian teenager sparked clashes between protesters and Israeli police in East Jerusalem on Wednesday after rumors spread that the youth was lynched by Jewish vigilantes to avenge the kidnapping and killing of three Israeli teenagers. Less than a day after Naftali Fraenkel, Eyal Yifrach and Gilad Shaer were buried in a funeral service in Modiin attended by tens of thousands of Israelis, the body of Mohammed Hussein Abu Khdeir was found in a wooded area of Jerusalem, after Israeli police were notified early Wednesday that a kidnapping had occurred. Within hours, protests erupted in the Shuafat neighborhood of East Jerusalem, where police said the alleged abduction took place. Dozens of Palestinians hurled rocks at a light-rail passenger station and police, who fired volleys of tear gas and stun grenades. (Wall Street Journal, July 2, 2014)

RECORDING OF TEEN’S EMERGENCY CALL RELEASED (Jerusalem) — In a partial recording newly allowed to be aired, one of the three slain Israeli teens attempts to report his kidnapping on the night of June 12 by placing a phone call to 100, Israel’s emergency hotline. “They’ve kidnapped me,” whispers the teen to the operator, as the kidnappers can be heard in the background shouting in Arabic-accented Hebrew at the three youths to keep their heads and hands down. The operator tries to interact with the caller, said to have been Gil-ad Shaar, but receives no answer. Seconds later, several loud noises, which might be gunshots, are heard. Someone in the car is heard groaning. A voice in the car says in Arabic, “Take the phone from him.” The kidnappers, apparently realizing that a call had been made, shot the three teens dead at that point in the backseat of the car, military sources said. (Times of Israel, July 1, 2014)

ISRAELI JETS POUND GAZA, HIT 34 TARGETS IN OVERNIGHT STRIKE (Tel Aviv) —The Israel Air Force pounded the Gaza Strip on Tuesday morning, bombing 34 targets in Rafah in response to a barrage of rockets that struck Israel’s South on Monday. Thirty-two targets in a Hamas compound in Rafah, in the southern Strip, were struck, including a command center, residential structures and a weapons storage facility. Islamic Jihad targets were also hit. On Tuesday evening, two Palestinian rockets exploded in the Eshkol region, in open areas. A few hours before the Israeli strikes, Gazan terrorists had fired four rockets at southern Israel. (Jerusalem Post, July 1, 2014)

60,000 ISRAELIS DOWNLOAD SOS APP AFTER KIDNAPPING OF TEENS (Jerusalem) —Following the murders of three kidnapped youths, 60,000 Israelis have already downloaded the one-swipe emergency alert application that was recently offered free to the public by the volunteer rescue organization, United Hatzalah. With one swipe of the finger, SOS subscribers can inform the nonprofit organization that they are in distress, and give the security forces permission to track their location using GPS technology. The murders have highlighted the need for additional tools to avert such disasters. In regular calls to the police, such as the one made by the kidnapped teenager, court permission is needed in order to track a mobile phone. The new emergency alert incorporates a waiver in the registration process, allowing UH volunteers at the 24/7 dispatch center to track a situation from first alert until it is cleared. (Jerusalem Post, July 1, 2014)

ISRAEL TO BUILD SECURITY FENCE ALONG JORDAN BORDER (Amman) —Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that in light of recent developments in Iraq, Israel would maintain a security presence in the Jordan Valley regardless of peace talks with the Palestinians. Netanyahu also announced that Israel would build a security barrier along the Jordanian border that would stretch all the way from Eilat to the Golan Heights. “Our first challenge is to protect our borders. Extremist Islamic forces are knocking on our doors in the north and south and we’ve set up obstacles against them, except for in one sector,” Netanyahu said during a conference at Tel Aviv University. (I24 News, July 1, 2014)

UKRAINE BEGINS MILITARY OFFENSIVE AS CEASE-FIRE ENDS (Kiev) —Ukrainian forces began military operations in the east of the country Tuesday, marking a definite end to a unilateral cease-fire that had been in place for 10 days. The speaker of Ukraine’s parliament, Oleksandr Turchynov, told lawmakers the government’s “anti-terror operation” against pro-Russia separatists had been “renewed.” The announcement came hours after Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said that his country would not renew a cease-fire with the separatists, vowing instead to “attack and liberate our land.” “Termination of cease-fire is our response to terrorists, insurgents, marauders … and (those who) deprive people of normal peaceful life,” Poroshenko said. (CNN, July 1, 2014)

U. OF CALGARY IGNORED JIHADI VIEWS ACCORDING TO FORMER PROFESSOR (Calgary) — A former professor at the University of Calgary says he left his tenured position after colleagues refused to respond to his concerns about students spreading radical Muslim views. Aaron Hughes, a prolific author on religion, who holds a PhD on Islamic studies, said he once found a message scrawled in Arabic across his classroom’s chalkboard endorsing Islamic Jihad and Hamas, widely considered a terrorist group by Western countries. Mr. Hughes, who is Jewish, said he interpreted the message as antisemitic, but he said the university declined to remove the offending student from his class. Hughes, who now teaches at the University of Rochester, said he’s not surprised by reports of Calgarians travelling abroad to fight with extremist groups, given what he experienced. He wondered whether influences on university campuses are helping to fuel this movement of young men waging jihad in Syria and Iraq. (National Post, June 26, 2014)

UN EXPERTS CONFIRM: ARMS SHIPMENT SEIZED BY ISRAEL IN MARCH CAME FROM IRAN (Geneva) —A UN expert panel has concluded that a shipment of rockets and other weapons that was seized by Israel came from Iran and represents a violation of the UN arms embargo on Tehran, according to a confidential report. The finding comes just days ahead of the next round of negotiations in Vienna between Iran and six world powers aimed at securing a deal that would gradually lift international sanctions on Tehran — including the arms embargo — in exchange for curbs on the controversial Iranian nuclear program.  Despite Israel’s public statements that the seized arms were destined for Gaza — an allegation that Gaza’s governing Islamist militant group Hamas dismissed as a fabrication — the experts said the weapons were being sent to Sudan. (Jerusalem Post, June 28, 2014)

ISIS DECLARES ‘CALIPHATE’ STRETCHING ACROSS IRAQ AND SYRIA (Damascus) —Emboldened by a weakened Iraqi government that is struggling to stop their murderous advance, the extremists of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria declared over the weekend that they have set up a caliphate spanning large areas of the two countries. In a newly released audio message and written statement, purportedly from the official spokesman of ISIS, the group called on Muslims to swear allegiance to the caliphate, which means Islamic state. The group said in the message Sunday that its flag now flies from Aleppo province in northwestern Syria to Diyala province in eastern Iraq. It announced that it was changing its name to just the “Islamic State.” (CNN, June 30, 2014)

IRAQ’S PARLIAMENT ADJOURNS WITHOUT DECISION ON MALIKI (Baghdad) —Amid loud bickering and walkouts, the opening session of Iraq’s new parliament failed to take a critical first step toward forming a government that can confront an Islamist uprising overrunning large parts of the country. The constitution obliged parliament to elect a new speaker at the first session, one of the country’s three key leadership positions along with the president and the prime minister. But legislators who have been negotiating for weeks over who will fill the three slots remain gridlocked over Shiite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s bid for a third term. The Obama administration exhorted the Iraqi parliament to quickly appoint a new government, warning that the Sunni insurgency that began three weeks ago won’t be quelled without creation of a politically inclusive regime. (Wall Street Journal, July 1, 2014)

CHURCH BELLS FALL SILENT IN MOSUL AS IRAQ’S CHRISTIANS FLEE  (Mosul) —Last Sunday, for the first time in 1600 years, no mass was celebrated in Mosul. The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) seized Iraq’s second largest city on June 10, causing most Christians in the region to flee in terror. The remnant of Mosul’s ancient Christian community, long inhabitants of the place where many believe Jonah to be buried, now faces annihilation behind ISIS lines. Those who risk worship must do so in silence, praying under new Sharia regulations that have stilled every church bell in the city. Although few reports from ISIS-occupied Iraq can be corroborated, the group’s record of torture chambers, public executions, and crucifixions lends credibility to nightmarish accounts from the ground. (Daily Beast, June 29, 2014)

Contents

On Topic Links

Not the Moment for “Restraint” Against Hamas: Jonathan S. Tobin, Commentary, July 1, 2014 —In a sentiment that was echoed across the Israeli political spectrum, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed today that “Hamas will pay” for the murders of three Israeli teenagers kidnapped two weeks ago.

The Men Israel blames For the Deaths of Israeli Teenagers and Their Violent Family History: Terrence Mccoy, Washington Post, July  1, 2014— The evening of June 12 was the last night either of the men were seen. One of them was a 29-year-old barber named Marwan Qawasmeh. The other was a scraggly, intense-looking locksmith named Amer Abu Aisha last seen dancing at a wedding, his father told reporters, before he suddenly left.

After the Horror: Herb Keinon, Jerusalem Post, July 1, 2014 —A national trauma that began 18 days ago ended in the worst possible way in a stony field outside Halhoul Monday evening with the discovery of the bodies of the three teenagers – Naftali Fraenkel, Gil-Ad Shaer and Eyal Yifrah – who became more than household names in this country, but rather the object of intense hope and millions of prayers.

What Kurdish Independence Would Mean: Lee Smith, Tablet, July 1, 2014 —The president of the Kurdish Regional Government Massoud Barzani announced today that he intends to call for a referendum on independence within the next few months.

The Kurds and Israel: Straws in the Wind: Neville Teller, Jerusalem Post, July 2, 2014—Events have conspired to bring the Kurdish and the Jewish people into an embryonic relationship that might yet develop into a new political force in the Middle East.