Wednesday’s “News in Review” Round-Up

Obama Tries to Invent Whatever Excuse He Can to Break with Israel: Elliott Abrams, National Review, Mar. 22, 2015

For Washington, This is as Bad as it Gets in the Middle East: J.L. Granatstein, National Post, Mar. 18, 2015

The Yemen Meltdown: Wall Street Journal, Mar. 22, 2015

La Guerre, Yes Sir!: Jean-Christophe Boucher, Philippe Lagasse, and Justin Massie, National Post, Mar. 18, 2015

WEEKLY QUOTES

“I know that my statements last week offended some Israeli citizens and members of the Arab Israeli community…That was never my intention. I apologize for that,” —Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, to a group of Arab Israelis in Jerusalem. “I view myself as the prime minister of each and every citizen of Israel, without any prejudice based on religion, ethnicity or gender…I view all Israeli citizens as partners in the building of a prosperous and safe state of Israel, for all Israelis,” he added. Netanyahu said that his actions as prime minister, including massive investment in minority sectors, prove his commitment. In a message seemingly intended for Washington, he also added “no element outside the state of Israel should intervene in our democratic processes.” Netanyahu had drawn accusations of racism when, just a few hours before polling stations were to close across the country, he issued a warning to Israel’s Jewish voters: “The rule of the right wing is in danger…Arab voters are going to the polls in droves!” (Globe & Mail, Mar. 23, 2015)

“We take him at his word that it wouldn’t happen during his premiership, and so that’s why we’ve got to evaluate what other options are available to make sure that we don’t see a chaotic situation in the region,” —U.S. President Barack Obama, responding to Netanyahu’s pre-election statement that there would be no Palestinian state during his tenure. Ignoring Netanyahu’s attempts in postelection interviews to walk back his comments, Obama made it clear … that he believes Netanyahu is opposed to the creation of a Palestinian state. “While taking into complete account Israel’s security, we can’t just in perpetuity maintain the status quo, expand settlements — that’s not a recipe for stability in the region,” Obama added. (New York Times, Mar. 21, 2015)

“It’s been unnerving seeing the president show his open hostility…It’s immature and over the top and has made people suspicious…He makes it hard for Democrats to trust him,”— U.S. Republican Senator Lindsay Graham.  According to Graham, Obama’s hostility towards Netanyahu is creating a backlash in congress among Democrats, and White House resentment towards Netanyahu is beginning to deliver very real political consequences for the President’s agenda. Graham is the cosponsor of legislation requiring greater congressional review of any nuclear deal Obama strikes with Iran. (Algemeiner, Mar. 22, 2015)  

“I have a very business-like relationship with [Mr. Netanyahu]…He’s representing his country’s interests the way he thinks he needs to, and I’m doing the same. So the issue is not a matter of relations between leaders. The issue is a very clear, substantive challenge. We believe that two states is the best path forward for Israel’s security, for Palestinian aspirations and for regional stability. That’s our view and that continues to be our view. And Prime Minister Netanyahu has a different approach.” — Barack Obama (Globe & Mail, Mar. 24, 2015)

“The Arab and Muslim world is guided by ideas and emotions, religious as well as secular, that never got past the Middle Ages. They aren’t the Arab/Muslim world’s only ideas and emotions, of course, but they are the guiding ones. For Israel to trade land for peace in such a climate is, if anything, detrimental to peace. Expecting Palestinians to stop attacking Israel by distributing land to them is like expecting sharks to stop attacking swimmers by pouring blood into the water. The question was never whether Israel would give land for peace, but whether it could get peace for land. The answer is possibly yes, one day, but not yet. Israelis want peace because they know they can’t get a better deal, but the Arab/Muslim world still thinks it can. Netanyahu says the time to negotiate is when Israel’s opponents realize that peace is the best deal available to all. I agree — and, it seems, so do most Israelis,” —George Jonas (National Post, Mar. 24, 2015)

“The two-state formula…has not worked. We are as far from any peace between Israel and its Palestinian neighbors as ever. Even the so-called “peace process” has been exposed as a sham. Obama’s peace envoy, the honorable George Mitchell, pulled out as fast as he could. And last week it was the turn of Tony Blair, the Peace Quartet envoy, to throw in the towel. There is no evidence that a majority of Israelis want a two-state formula. In fact, if we add up votes won by all parties implicitly or explicitly opposed to the two-state formula, we will have a whopping 75 per cent of Israelis. Thus what Netanyahu mastered enough courage to say aloud is what most Israelis think in silence,” —Amir Taheri (New York Post, Mar. 20, 2015)

“It means pushing the Obama administration to present out its own peace plan, and to punish – yes, punish – the Israeli government for rejecting it. It means making sure that every time Benjamin Netanyahu and the members of his cabinet walk into a Jewish event outside Israel, they see Diaspora Jews protesting outside. It means loving Israel more than ever, and opposing its government more than ever. It means accepting that, for now at least, the peace process is over and the pressure process must begin,” — Peter Beinart, a liberal critic of Israel, in a Ha’aretz opinion piece. Beinart argued that those who support Israel should pressure the Obama administration to present its own peace plan. (New York Times, Mar. 20, 2015) 

“Instead of a president who boycotts Prime Minister Netanyahu, imagine a president who stands unapologetically with Israel,” — Senator Ted Cruz, a Republican from Texas, during his announcement of candidacy on Monday at Liberty University. A staunchly conservative, Christian and pro-Israel Senator, Cruz became the first candidate from either party to announce his run for the American presidency in 2016 on Monday. “Those who continue to hate Israel, hate America,” Cruz said in Washington DC in September at an event called, In Defense of Christians. While his comments got him booed off the stage at the time, the senator has continued to vocally support Israel. (Jerusalem Post, Mar. 24, 2015) 

“My greatest thrill is that Netanyahu was able to pull off a feat that in my opinion was not only good for the morale of Israel and the security of Israel, but finally put Obama in his place,” —Rabbi Sidney Shoham, a retired Modern Orthodox Rabbi who lives in Boca Raton, Florida. He said he cheered Netanyahu’s recent speech to the joint meeting of Congress warning President Obama against signing a nuclear deal with Iran, and he welcomed the prime minister’s re-election. Shoham said that he saw Israel was becoming more isolated internationally but that he was not terribly troubled by it because of what he said was a basic Jewish principle: “Being more or less in control of your own self, your own country, or your own being is much more important than being loved by others.” (New York Times, Mar. 21, 2015)

“At the end of the speech, as I joined in the sustained standing ovation for Netanyahu, I thought of a sentence in the 1956 letter by the political philosopher Leo Strauss, in which he tried to convince the editors of the recently launched National Review that conservatives should be pro-Israel: “Political Zionism was the attempt to restore that inner freedom, that simple dignity, of which only people who remember their heritage and are loyal to their fate are capable.” One felt, watching the prime minister of Israel speak, that, whatever other challenges await, in this task political Zionism has been successful. One also looked forward to the day when the United States would once again stand unswervingly and unstintingly in the ranks of those fighting for human freedom and dignity,” —William Kristol (Weekly Standard, Mar. 16, 2015)

When future historians come to examine the presidency of Barack Obama, they may notice the odd inversion of U.S. relations with some of its traditional allies, as opposed to its usual rivals. Mr. Obama has displayed a singular inability to get along with countries, like Canada and Israel, that have long considered themselves among America’s closest friends. On the other hand, the leaders of regimes in Russia and Iran may be reluctant to see his presidency draw to a close… Indeed, one thing keeping Tehran at the table is the likelihood that Mr. Obama’s departure would lessen the chances of their getting the nuclear capability they’ve long coveted…Should Mr. Obama be succeeded by a Republican president, or a less pliant Democrat, neither Tehran nor Moscow could expect such easy pickings as have been on offer of late. It’s an odd situation: America’s friends pining for a new president, while its enemies feast on the incumbent. If there’s logic in there, perhaps the historians can dig it out,” — Editorial (National Post, Mar. 23, 2015)

“I call on the P.K.K. to convene a congress to end the 40-year-long armed struggle against the Republic of Turkey and to determine political and social strategies and tactics in accordance with the spirit of the new era,” — Abdullah Ocalan, the jailed Kurdish rebel leader. Ocalan, who continues to exercise influence over Turkey’s Kurdish population from a prison on an island in the Sea of Marmara where he has been serving a life sentence since 1999, urged the separatist Kurdistan Workers’ Party, known as the P.K.K., to hold a congress in the spring to end a Kurdish insurgency that has fractured society and claimed nearly 40,000 lives since the 1980s. (New York Times, Mar. 21, 2015)

“We have not yet reached the finish line…Make no mistake. We have the opportunity to do this right. It’s a matter of political will and tough decision-making. It’s a matter of choices. And we must all choose wisely in the days ahead,” — U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry. Kerry said that now is the time to make “hard decisions,” as he left the latest round of talks in Lausanne, Switzerland for consultations before the final push for an agreement over Iran’s nuclear future.  “The stakes are high,” Kerry explained. “The issues are complicated, highly technical and interrelated. We don’t want just any deal. If we had, we could have announced something a long time ago.” (Washington Post, Mar. 21, 2015)

SHORT TAKES

ISRAEL DENIES SPYING ON IRAN NUCLEAR TALKS (Jerusalem) — Three top Israeli ministers on Tuesday denied a report that their intelligence services had spied on the closed-door negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program, as tensions continued to mount between Washington and Jerusalem. “There is no such thing as Israel spying on the Americans,” the defense minister, Moshe Yaalon, said. Yuval Steinitz, the minister for strategic affairs, and Avigdor Lieberman, Israel’s foreign minister, also denied the allegations reported in Tuesday’s Wall Street Journal. The report said that senior White House officials had learned – through American spying on Israel – that Israel had acquired information from confidential U.S. briefings, informants and diplomatic contacts in Europe and shared it with U.S. lawmakers in hopes of persuading them to block the deal. (New York Times, Mar. 24, 2015)

HARPER TELLS OPPOSITION THAT CANADA WILL FIGHT I.S. FOR ‘AS LONG AS IT IS THERE’ (Ottawa) —  Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Tuesday that Canada intends to fight the Islamic State for as long as the terrorist group poses a threat. The government introduced a motion to extend the current six-month mission in Iraq for up to a year, ending in March 2016. But the expiry date is apparently flexible. The new plan also allows for warplanes to enter Syria and strike ISIS targets. But the extension will not require additional troops and no Canadian special forces will be deployed in Syria. (National Post, Mar. 24, 2015)

U.S. TO DELAY PULLOUT OF TROOPS FROM AFGHANISTAN (Washington) — Obama on Tuesday announced that he would leave 9,800 American troops in Afghanistan until at least the end of the year. The announcement came after a daylong White House meeting with President Ashraf Ghani of Afghanistan. The two men said the decision was a necessary response to the expected springtime resurgence of Taliban aggression and the need to give more training to the struggling Afghan security forces. The resilience of Al Qaeda in the mountains that straddle the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan has surprised many American officials, and there are fears that the Islamic State could gain a foothold in the Afghan conflict. Mr. Ghani has repeatedly raised the specter of the Islamic State in comments ahead of his trip to Washington and during his visit. (New York Times, Mar. 24, 2015)

HOUTHI FIGHTERS ATTACK AIR BASE USED BY U.S. FORCES (Aden) —A Yemeni air base used by U.S. forces for counterterrorism operations came under attack by army units and fighters allied with the Houthi movement on Wednesday as they clashed with forces loyal to President Hadi near his current refuge in the southern city of Aden. The U.S. evacuated its military personnel several days ago, with fighters from Al Qaeda’s Yemeni affiliate moving closer from one side and Houthi fighters pushing closer from the other. Yemen is sliding toward a civil war with ominous elements of a sectarian feud, a regional proxy conflict, the attempted return of an ousted authoritarian, and the expansion of groups like Al Qaeda and I.S. eager to capitalize on the chaos. (New York Times, Mar. 25, 2015)

I.S. BOMBS KILL 137 AT YEMEN PRAYERS (Sanaa) —Four ISIS suicide bombers attacked a pair of crowded mosques in the capital of Yemen during midday prayers on Friday, killing at least 137 and wounding more than 350. A group claiming to be a Yemeni branch of ISIS said it was responsible for the atrocities in Sanaa, calling them a “blessed operation” against the “dens of the Shiites” and warning of an “upcoming flood” of attacks against the Iranian-backed Houthis rebels, who have taken over much of Yemen. Two suicide bombers attacked the Badr mosque in southern Sanaa while another pair attacked the al-Hashoosh mosque in northern Sanaa. (New York Post, Mar. 20, 2015)

I.S. RELEASES HIT LIST OF U.S. MILITARY PERSONNEL (Washington) —Islamic State terrorists have published a hit list of 100 American military personnel, including names, photos and addresses they claimed to have hacked from secure government computers.  Signed by the “Islamic State Hacking Division,” it urges supporters in the West to launch lone-wolf attacks, such as the one last year on Parliament Hill in Ottawa by Michael Zehaf-Bibeau. “We have made it easy for you by giving you addresses, all you need to do is take the final step, so what are you waiting for?” the message reads. Earlier this year, hackers gained control of the Twitter account of U.S. Central Command, posting jihadist images and threatening attacks on personnel. (National Post, Mar. 22, 2015)

TUNISIA TERRORISTS TRAINED IN LIBYA (Tunis) —It’s still unclear who exactly organized the well-executed attack that left more than a dozen tourists dead in Tunisia last week — the Islamic State has claimed involvement — but the Tunisian government says it does have some information on the gunmen. They reportedly trained in next-door Libya, which has been overrun by sundry Islamist and tribal militias since a Western intervention helped push Moammar Qaddafi from power. In fact, their story suggests post-intervention Libya could become a new hub for terror: The gunmen were Tunisians, recruited at a mosque in their country to go train in Libya. (National Review, Mar. 20, 2015)

JORDAN AND RUSSIA TO SIGN $10B NUCLEAR DEAL (Amman) — The Jordanian government is set to sign a nuclear agreement with Russia…in order to build its first nuclear power plant. Russian state-owned Rosatom will build two nuclear power plants and the spent nuclear fuel could be sent back to Russia. These nuclear agreements come as the West is reportedly close to reaching a nuclear deal with Iran. Experts worry that if Iran goes nuclear or if a deal is reached, it will lead other Sunni Middle Eastern countries to follow suit with their own programs. (Jerusalem Post, Mar. 22, 2015)

MASS GRAVE OF BOKO HARAM VICTIMS DISCOVERED (Lagos) — Soldiers battling Boko Haram in northern Nigeria have uncovered a mass grave of the Islamist’s victims, a grim sign of the reckoning to come as troops from four countries fight to secure the region ahead of elections on March 28. Soldiers from Chad and Niger uncovered about a hundred bodies in a shallow grave outside Damasak, a town near Nigeria’s border with Niger. The arrival of troops from Cameroon, Chad and Niger appears to have turned the fight in Nigeria’s favor. Boko Haram’s unprecedented retreat from more than 30 northeastern towns and areas this month comes after six years in which the group killed more than 20,000 (Wall Street Journal, Mar. 20, 2015)

CONGRESS ANNOUNCES LAUNCH OF TASK-FORCE TO COMBAT ANTISEMITISM (Washington) — Eight members of the U.S. House of Representatives announced the formation of a task-force aimed with the challenge of combating antisemitism. The forming members will serve as co-chairs of the force and work to minimize the proliferation of antisemitic acts across the globe. The committee, coined “The Bipartisan Taskforce for Combating anti-Semitism,” will work to educate Congress members on this particular form of prejudice and will seek to share solutions that could minimize the phenomenon with the Executive Branch of the government, foreign leaders and civil society organizations. (Jerusalem Post, Mar. 24, 2015)

DIEUDONNE CONVICTED OF CONDONING TERRORISM (Paris) — French comedian Dieudonne M’bala M’bala was found guilty of condoning terrorism for social media posts sympathizing with the Islamist gunman who killed four Jews at a Paris-area kosher supermarket. A Paris court has given Dieudonne a suspended two-month jail sentence. Dieudonne posted “I feel like Charlie Coulibaly” on Facebook, shortly after the hostage siege at the Hyper Cacher supermarket and the attack at the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo magazine that left 13 dead. His post mixed the phrase in support of the magazine — “Je suis Charlie” — with the name of the killer, who also shot a policewoman dead during the murderous spree. Dieudonne has been convicted seven times for inciting racial hatred against Jews. He has been charged almost 40 times under France’s hate-speech laws. (Jerusalem Post, Mar. 19, 2015)

CORNELL DEAN SAYS ISIS WELCOME ON CAMPUS IN UNDERCOVER VIDEO (Ithaca, N.Y) —A video sting operation shows Cornell’s assistant dean for students, Joseph Scaffido, agreeing to everything suggested by an undercover muckraker posing as a Moroccan student. Scaffido casually endorses inviting an ISIS “freedom fighter’’ to conduct a “training camp” for students at the upstate Ithaca campus. Is it OK to bring a humanitarian pro-“Islamic State Iraq and Syria” group on campus, the undercover asks. Sure, Scaffido says in the recorded March 16 meeting. Scaffido doesn’t even blink an eye when the undercover asks about providing material support for terrorists. How about supporting Hamas? No problem at all, Scaffido said. (New York Post, Mar. 24, 215)

BENGHAZI PANEL ASKS CLINTON TO HAND OVER EMAIL SERVER (Washington) — A Republican-led U.S. congressional panel has asked Hillary Clinton to hand over her private computer server, ramping up scrutiny over her use of a personal email address while Secretary of State. Clinton has come under pressure for using a private address and email server rather than government systems while the country’s top diplomat. The revelations reinvigorated an investigation by a House of Representatives committee into the 2012 attacks on a U.S. facility in Benghazi, Libya. Republicans contend Clinton did not do enough to prevent the incident. (Huffington Post, Mar. 20, 2015)