Hillarious Quoted! Friendly Palestinians Welcome Christmas Stabbing Israelis. Iran Deal and ISIS As It Changes!

;

Quote of the day.   No ... of the week! Wait!   Make that a month.   Actually, it qualifies as quote of the year. No!  DECADE

"My accomplishments as Secretary of State? Well, I'm glad you asked! My proudest accomplishment in which I take the most pride, mostly because of the opposition it faced early on, you know… the remnants of prior situations and mind-sets that were too narrowly focused in a manner whereby they may have overlooked the bigger picture, and we didn't do that, and I'm proud of that. Very proud. I would say that's A major accomplishment."

- Hillary Clinton 11 March 2014

Could someone please tell me what she just said?  And she is running for President???
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Friendly Palestinians welcome in Christmas by stabbing Israelis. (See 1 and 1a below.)

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Clifford May on The Iran Deal! (See 2 below.)
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Response to most recent memo: "Thanks for todays dose of reality.  Loved the Adrienne Yaron essay on BDS.

Buncha Dumb Sots...D----"

and

Dick:  First, wishing you and yours a very healthy and happy New Year. 

Second, may the Lord help us with either the Donald or Hillary but it does bring to mind in picking between the two Hamlet's quote "....tis better to bear the ills we have than to fly to others we know not of." However, " conscience does make cowards of us all."

Best to you and family

B----"

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New Palestinian hero - Israeli baby killer!

Yes, it is all because of climate change and unemployment.

Can't go fishing in the heat so better you reach out and kill someone. (See 3 below.)

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Got to sustain that Iran Deal and a look inside ISIS.. (See 4 and 4a  below.)
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Dick
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Within hours, three terrorist attacks in West Bank By JPOST.COM STAFF,YAAKOV LAPPIN Attacks occur in Ariel, near Hebron and north of Jerusalem.

In the space of a few hours on Thursday there were three terrorist attacks in different areas of the West Bank.  In the first attack, two Israeli security guards were stabbed at the entrance to the industrial zone of the West Bank town of Ariel.  The victims, one in serious condition and one in moderate condition, both 24-years-old, suffered stab wounds to their upper bodies.  A spokesperson for Magen David Adom said that the two wounded Israelis, a man and a woman, were both conscious and stable and were being evacuated to the Rabin Medical Center-Beilinson Campus, Petah Tikva.  The Palestinian terrorist was reportedly shot.    At around 10 a.m., shortly after the Ariel attack, a terrorist attempted to stab a soldier with a screwdriver at a checkpoint at Hakvasim Junction in the Mount Hebron area. The attacker was shot dead by IDF soldiers on the scene. There were no injuries among the security personnel.  Just before noon, there was a third suspected terror attack at the entrance to the Rama outpost north of Jerusalem when a car drove into a number of pedestrians.  The suspect tried to run over soldiers and border police officers who responded by shooting him.  Magen David Adom treated one Israeli at the scene who sustained light wounds.  The attacks on Thursday in the West Bank come one day after a deadly attack by two knife-wielding Palestinian terrorists in Jerusalem in which two Israeli men died near the Old City’s Jaffa Gate.

1a)The Real Palestinian Christmas Show

By JONATHAN S. TOBIN

As Christians around the world prepare to celebrate Christmas even tomorrow, their television screens will be filled with the usual images from Bethlehem. We won’t hear much if anything about how that city’s once largely Christian population has been driven out by a rising tide of Islamist fervor and the Palestinian leadership’s desire for continued conflict rather than peace with Israel. Palestinians leaders will, as they do every year, speak of their suffering and recycle myths about Israeli persecution of Christians that are eagerly lapped up by credulous journalists. Then they will promote their own bizarre version of replacement theology in which the historical Jesus becomes, as Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas likes to call a “Palestinian messenger.” The whole point of the show is to damage Israel’s reputation in the West and justify its isolation. But the real Palestinian Christmas show involves behavior that won’t be part of the Christmas Eve broadcasts.

Today, as they have virtually ever day for the past three months, individual Palestinian terrorists struck in attempts to kill random Jews they encounter on the streets. In this instance, it took place at the Jaffa Gates to the Old City of Jerusalem, a site familiar to tourists. Two Jews were killed after being set upon by two Palestinians who were killed by police that tried, in vain, to save the victims. That raised the toll to 24 Jews slain in this so-called “stabbing intifada.” More than 100 Palestinians, the vast majority of them terrorists cut down during the course of their attacks have also died.

Yet the same Palestinian leaders like Abbas who will speak tomorrow of Jesus’s message and of a desire for “peace on earth” and “justice” have also played a principle role in inciting these bloody attacks. It is the same Abbas who spoke just a few months ago about the need for Palestinians to prevent “stinking Jewish feet” from polluting holy places sacred to all three monotheistic faiths and who praises those who try to butcher Jews as “martyrs” that will be allowed to grandstand on international television tomorrow. And it is also the same Abbas that refused multiple Israeli offers of peace and statehood, in spite of his claims that this is what he wants.

But, of course, Abbas isn’t the only source of Palestinian leadership. Though they will not put on a Christmas show for the world, Hamas is also making its presence felt. Unlike Abbas’s Fatah Party, those Islamists make no pretense of respecting Christianity. But it is fear of competition from the rulers of Gaza that impels Abbas to continue to stoke the fires of conflict when not preening for the foreign press.

Hamas is observing the cease-fire that has for the most part been preserved along the border with Gaza since the 50-day war with Israel ending in the summer of 2014. It doesn’t want another all-out battle such as the one that devastated the Strip after they initiated a new round of fighting with terrorist murders and by launching several thousand rockets at Israeli cities, towns and villages. But it is also mindful of the fact that Israel is equally wary of having to launch another ground assault on this heavily fortified terrorist base that is for all intents and purposes an independent Palestinian state.

But Hamas is not content to let the conflict be put on a back burner. It is actively seeking to foment terrorism in the West Bank ostensibly run by Abbas as well as within Israel itself. That’s the motivation for the terror cell and bomb factory that was uncovered by Israeli security forces in East Jerusalem and announced on Wednesday. The cell was swept up before it could be put into operation, but the implications of its existence are far-reaching. It consisted of at least the 25 Palestinians that have been arrested, the majority of whom apparently were students at Al Quds University in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Abu Dis. The group operated a laboratory for making explosives and was reportedly under the direct control of the Hamas leadership in Gaza.

The goal of its operations was to transform the stabbing intifada into an even more bloody wave of terror. Suicide bombings reminiscent of the second intifada that raged in the last decade would have untold consequences for Palestinians as well as Israelis.

Apologists for the Palestinians will say that Israeli intransigence and a refusal to stop building settlements in the West Bank or relinquish territory is the reason for both the stabbings and Hamas plans. But that is a story line that only those who haven’t been paying attention to events in the region can believe. Abbas has boasted of his refusal to accept Israeli offers, and Arafat did the same. Though the PA speaks of its acceptance of a two-state solution, they’ve proven over and again that they refuse to recognize the legitimacy of a Jewish state no matter where its borders are drawn. As for Hamas, it makes no pretense of wanting anything but Israel’s destruction and the slaughter of its people.

Though their methods differ and the PA is ironically dependent on Israeli security for its continued rule in the West Bank, neither has any intention of making peace in the foreseeable future. That’s why Israel continues to be stuck with its “occupation” of the West Bank even though the vast majority of its people would accept a division of the country in exchange for real peace. The problem is that they know pulling back from the West Bank, even including the dismantling of settlements, would produce the same results as in Gaza where every Jew, soldier, and settlement was withdrawn.

Those are the key facts to remember when you see tomorrow night’s Christmas show from Bethlehem that will be repeated in an endless loop the following day on the news channels. The reality of Palestinian Christmas isn’t the prayers of victims for freedom. Rather it is of a continued determination to wage a terror war against the descendants of the real Jesus as opposed to the Palestinian myth.

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2)  Early returns on the Iran deal

The unsigned, non-binding, non-agreement goes from bad to worse

By Clifford D. May

Senator Bob Corker, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, opened a hearing last week with these candid, if perhaps not immortal, words: “I think the agreement is off to a really terrible start.”

The agreement in question is the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). It is to provide more than $100 billion in unfrozen assets to the Islamic Republic of Iran, the world’s leading sponsor of terrorism. In exchange, Tehran is supposed to halt a nuclear weapons program whose existence it has consistently denied.

More on that in a moment but first this point: A deal so consequential ought to have been framed as a treaty. But treaties require congressional advice and consent. President Obama was uninterested in the former and unwilling even to try for the latter.

Initially, the deal Mr. Obama cut was termed an “executive agreement.” But in a Nov. 17 letter responding to a query from Rep. Mike Pompeo, the State Department revealed that the JCPOA does not fall into that category either. In fact, it’s not even a “signed document.” It merely “reflects political commitments” -- commitments that are not “legally binding.”

Why make enormous concessions in exchange for anything so fuzzy? Said the State Department to Mr. Pompeo: “The success of the JCPOA will depend not on whether it is legally binding or signed, but rather on the extensive verification measures we have put in place, as well as Iran’s understanding that we have the capacity to re-impose – and ramp up – our sanctions if Iran does not meet its commitments.”

In case you missed it: Both those claims have since been tested.

Last week, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) ended its investigation into the “possible military dimensions” (PMD) of Iran’s nuclear programs – its attempt to verify whether Iranian officials have been telling the truth when they’ve claimed they’ve never had a secret program to develop nuclear weapons.

No surprise: Iranian officials have been lying. Iran did indeed conduct nuclear-weapons research -- a lot of it prior to 2003 (when the U.S invaded Iraq and toppled Saddam Hussein) and some as late as 2009.

In fact, the IAEA found that “Iran’s clandestine nuclear activities represented a parallel nuclear program (from mining to uranium conversion and enrichment) carried out alongside its declared one,” according to Olli Heinonen, former IAEA deputy director general and head of its Department of Safeguards.

True, the inspectors found no evidence of weaponization work after 2009 but absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. Not finding much doesn’t mean much given the fact that Iranian officials have “refused to come clean,” as Dr. Heinonen phrased it. And Iran coming clean is what Secretary of State John Kerryvowed last April “will be part of a final agreement. It has to be.” Well, Mr. Kerry, it’s not.

I was surprised by how many journalists chose not to report this. On the BBC’s News Hour with Razia Iqbal, a correspondent from the BBC’s Persian Service said not a word about Iran’s now-proven nuclear deceptions. His sunny spin: The IAEA “will end investigations and look to the future – no more looking to the past.”

As to the future, this much is clear: The nuclear deal does not prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons. In the words of my colleague, Mark Dubowitz, it “opens a patient path.” If Tehran abides by the JCPOA, it can have a massive nuclear weapons program 10 years or so after Mr. Obama leaves office.

And consider what Iran’s rulers are doing in the present: In October and November, they test-fired ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads. Not only does that ignore Iran’s “political commitments,” it’s also a flagrant violation of UN Security Council resolutions.

The message, Iranian Defense Minister Hossein Dehqan explained, is "to tell the world that the Islamic Republic of Iran acts based on its national interests and no country or power can impose its will on us."

Iran’s rulers have been sending that message in other ways as well, e.g. launching cyber attacks against the U.S. State Department; continuing to support their mass-murdering Syrian client, Bashar al-Assad, with both Iranian forces and those of Hezbollah, their Lebanon-based foreign legion; attempting to turn Yemen into a satellite; and keeping American citizens – including a Washington Post correspondent and a former U.S. Marine – imprisoned on trumped-up charges.

Will President Obama, in response, “re-impose – and ramp up – our sanctions” as Mr. Pompeo was assured? At last week’s hearing, Stephen Mull, the administration’s coordinator for implementation of the Iran nuclear deal, revealed that sanctions may be lifted ahead of schedule, as early as next month.

Some members of Congress, from both parties, are distressed.  Sen. Kelly Ayotte has filed legislation to prohibit sanctions relief unless the administration can certify that Iran has “verifiably ended all military dimensions of its nuclear program.”  Devin Nunes, Chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, has introduced the “IRGC Sanctions Act,” aimed at limiting the ability of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps to fundraise and export terrorism.  And a bill introduced by Rep. Pete Roskam would lower the threshold for the Treasury Department to designate IRGC-controlled entities.

I’ll be surprised if President Obama does not oppose these measures – vetoing them if they pass or, more likely, arranging for filibusters to block votes in the Senate.

So why should members of Congress try? For one, because that’s their job. Second, such bills at least provide guideposts for whoever will be preparing to occupy the White House next. Will the new president take the steps necessary to prevent the Islamic Republic from acquiring the nuclear weapons it needs to further the jihad it’s declared? I’m doubtful. But I’m always willing to be surprised.

Clifford D. May is president of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) and a columnist for the Washington Times

The Washington Times: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/dec/22/clifford-may-early-returns-obamas-iran-deal/

Pundicity: http://www.pundicity.com/

Town Hall: http://townhall.com/columnists/cliffmay/

Israel Hayom: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_opinion.php?id=14737

FDD: www.defenddemocracy.org

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3)Child killer - The new Palestinian superhero

Samir Kuntar who murdered a four-year-old Israeli

by smashing her head with the butt of his rifle,

is the newest PA - Fatah hero and role model

http://www.palwatch.org/main.aspx?fi=157&doc_id=16756

f

 

PA-Fatah Poster at rally commemorating Kuntar in Nablus,  

with symbols of both the PA-funded Prisoners Club and Fatah

 Text on poster under Kuntar's picture: 

"The Martyr (Shahid) of Palestine and Lebanon, 

the heroic freed prisoner Samir Kuntar" [PA TV, Dec. 21, 2015]

Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik

Samir Kuntar is a Lebanese terrorist who in 1969 infiltrated Israel and murdered four Israelis. Kuntar murdered his youngest victim, four-year-old Einat Haran, by repeatedly smashing her head with his rifle butt.

After being released from Israeli prison in 2006, Kuntar joined Hezbollah and was planning terror attacks against Israel when he was killed in Syria last week.

Child-killer Kuntar is the newest Palestinian Authority-Fatah superhero.

The following are 15 statements by PA and Fatah officials glorifying Kuntar and his "heroic" act of murder:

"The Commission of Prisoners and Released Prisoners' Affairs established a house of mourning for the most senior of Arab prisoners, Martyr (Shahid) Samir Kuntar, who Israel assassinated... Director of PLO Commission of Prisoners' Affairs Issa Karake stated: 'Martyr Samir Kuntar is a Palestinian symbol...We gather today in honor of Martyr Kuntar, in order to accompany him to his wedding (i.e., Martyr's funeral) as a Martyr, in the name of all the Palestinian people, and in order to emphasize to him and to everyone fighting for Palestine - you will remain present throughout our lives. We will not forget your heroic acts and sacrifice, and we will talk about you with all future generations. We will tell them: Kuntar rubbed the nose of the occupier in the dust here.'"

[Ma'an, independent Palestinian news agency, Dec. 22, 2015]

"Bassam Abu Sharif, advisor to the late President Yasser Arafat [and member of the Palestinian National Council, the legislative body of the PLO] stated: 'This terrorist act claimed the life of one of the Arab resistance heroes, Samir Kuntar, who had been released from the Israeli prison. This action, which claimed the life of the heroic Martyr (Shahid), is added to the international terrorist acts perpetrated by Israel.'"  

[Donia Al-Watan (independent Palestinian news agency), Dec. 20, 2015]

"Fatah Central Committee member [and former head of the PA General Intelligence] Tawfiq Tirawi, condemned yesterday in an announcement, the assassination of fighter leader, released prisoner Samir Kuntar... Tirawi stated that this heinous crime is added to the history of terror by the Israeli occupation state, which insists on continuing with the killing and destruction anywhere it pleases... Tirawi expressed deep sorrow and extended his warm condolences to the family of the deceased Martyr, Samir Kuntar, who fought in the Palestinian revolution from a young age. He said that the grief for a fighter who dedicated his life to the Palestinian and Arab cause is the same in Palestine, Lebanon, and the [entire] Arab world."

[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Dec. 21, 2015]

"The national and Islamic forces in the Ramallah and El-Bireh district set up a mourning tent to receive those offering condolences over leader Samir Kuntar's death as a Martyr (Shahid)...

 In his speech in the name of the Fatah Central Committee, Fatah Central Committee member Azzam Al-Ahmad saluted Martyr Kuntar and his long path of struggle... The factions and those present eulogized the Martyr with short speeches, which noted his virtues and bravery... He sat for 27 years in the occupation's prisons, from the time he was a young boy, following a heroic operation."

[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Dec. 23, 2015]

Picture and text posted on the Facebook page of Adnan Al-Damiri, official spokesman of the PA Security Forces

Adnan Al-Damiri, official spokesman of the PA Security Forces:"Palestine loves you as you loved it. None of us doubts your loyalty to Palestine, a Martyr (Shahid) as big as the homeland...Peace be upon your soul, O Palestinian Arab."

[Facebook page of Adnan Al-Damiri, Dec. 20, 2015]

Official PA TV news broadcast about Samir Quntar's death 

Official PA TV reporter: "Martyr (Shahid) Samir Kuntar was born in 1962 in the village of Abey on Mount Lebanon, joined the Palestine Liberation Front when he was 14 years old, and joined its training camps, and created for himself a history of unrelenting struggle.

[Official PA TV, Dec. 20, 2015]

Official PA TV program Topic of the Day on the death of Samir Kuntar, hosted PLO Executive Committee member and Secretary-General of the Palestinian Liberation Front Wasel Abu Yusuf.

Official PA TV host: "In this episode we will discuss the Israeli air force's bombing and assassination operation against the great fighter Samir Kuntar who spent nearly 30 years in Israeli prison while defending freedom, honor, and the Palestinian national struggle."

PLO  Executive Committee member and Secretary-General of the Palestinian Liberation Front Wasel Abu Yusuf: "We extend condolences to ourselves, to the Palestinian people, to the Arab and Islamic nation, and all free men around the world, on the Martyrdom-death of Samir Kuntar,

[Official PA TV, Dec. 20, 2015]

"Fatah Central Committee member Sultan Abu Al-Einein condemned the assassination of Lebanese Hezbollah leadership memberand released prisoner, Samir Kuntar... Abu Al-Einein sent condolences on fighter Samir Kuntar's death to the Martyr's family."

[Facebook page of Fatah Central Committee member Sultan Abu Al-Einein,

Dec. 21, 2015]

Image and text tweeted from Fatah's Twitter account  

"O erect tree of the forest and the heart glittering in the waters of the homeland

Martyr (Shahid) Samir Kuntar, goodbye"

[Fatah Twitter account, Dec. 20, 2015]

"Secretary-General of the Palestinian Liberation Front [and PLO Executive Committee member] Dr. Wasel Abu Yusuf stated that 'Israel's assassination of Lebanese-Palestinian-Arab fighter Samir Kuntar is a new crime perpetrated by the occupation against Arab fighters... He believed in the concept of resistanceand implemented it in Palestine since his youth, in the heroic operation (i.e., terror attack) in Nahariya."

[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Dec. 21, 2015]

  Image and text posted on Abbas Zaki's Facebook page on Dec. 20, 2015

"Fatah Central Committee member and Fatah Commissioner of Arab Relations and Relations with China Abbas Zaki sent a letter of condolence to his honor Hassan Nasrallah (i.e., Secretary-General of Hezbollah)... The letter said: 'We received with pride and honor the news of the death as a Martyr of the national hero, one of the outstanding knights, senior among prisoners, Martyr of the Lebanese resistance and Martyr of Palestine, the late Samir Kuntar, who died as a Martyr through traitors, in a despicable bombing by the Zionist entity's airplanes... We swear to the Martyr to continue in the way of struggle until victory, Allah willing, and until the purification of the Palestinian and Arab land from the Israeli occupation and the criminal gangs. To him be glory in paradise with the prophets and truth speakers, and to you and us, to his family and those who love him, patience and condolences for his glorious death as a martyr.

[Abbas Zaki's Facebook page, Dec. 20, 2015]

"Arab-Lebanese fighter Samir Kuntar became involved in the Palestinian national struggle at an early age, when he joined the Palestine Liberation Front. Samir was endowed with courage and valor, and continued the path of struggle. In April 1979 he came off [a boat] off the Nahariya (i.e., Israeli city) coast, and carried out his operation (i.e. terror attack), in which 5 Israelis were killed , and several others were wounded... Samir Kuntar's body is gone, but the spirit and lessons drawn from his pioneering experience remain present in the Palestinian national history, as well as the Lebanese and Arab history."

[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Dec. 22, 2015]

Al-Mayadeen TV report about a Gazan Palestinian who named his newborn son after Samir Kuntar:

Al-Mayadeen TV reporter: "Israel failed to eliminate the name of Martyr Samir [Kuntar], as the shriek of newborn Samir crosses horizons."

The newborn's father Maher Hathat: "The least we could do is to name him after Samir Kuntar."

[Quds Net News Agency, Dec. 20, 2015]

The following are longer quotes from some of the statements honoring Kuntar:

"The Commission of Prisoners and Released Prisoners' Affairs established a house of mourning for the most senior of Arab prisoners, Martyr (Shahid) Samir Kuntar, who Israel assassinated... Director of PLO Commission of Prisoners' Affairs Issa Karake stated: 'Martyr Samir Kuntar is a Palestinian symbol... We gather today in honor of Martyr Kuntar, in order to accompany him to his wedding (i.e., Martyr's funeral) as a Martyr, in the name of all the Palestinian people, and in order to emphasize to him and to everyone fighting for Palestine - you will remain present throughout our lives. We will not forget your heroic acts and sacrifice, and we will talk about you with all future generations. We will tell them: Kuntar rubbed the nose of the occupier in the dust here... Karake sent the occupation a message that it must begin to prepare for its demise, stating: 'The era of its injustice and crimes is about to end and be wiped out, and soon the [Palestinian] prisoners will be released, and the prisons will empty out."

[Ma'an, independent Palestinian news agency, Dec. 22, 2015]

Headline: "Tirawi condemns assassination of fighter leader Samir Kuntar"

"Fatah Central Committee member [and former head of the PA General Intelligence] Tawfiq Tirawi, condemned yesterday [Dec. 20, 2015] in an announcement, the assassination of fighter leader, released prisoner Samir Kuntar... Tirawi stated that this heinous crime is added to the history of terror by the Israeli occupation state, which insists on continuing with the killing and destruction anywhere it pleases...

Tirawi stated that targeting the fighter Kuntar who [fought] at the battlefield against ISIS and the forces of darkness and terror, is a proof of the occupation government's support of ISIS and its partnership with ISIS in causing the dissolution of the Arab states. This is in order to redraw the political map in the region in a manner that would serve the new colonialist conspiracy in the Arab region, which is aimed at eliminating the Palestinian cause. Tirawi expressed deep sorrow and extended his warm condolences to the family of the deceased Martyr, Samir Kuntar, who fought in the Palestinian revolution from a young age. He said that the grief for a fighter who dedicated his life to the Palestinian and Arab cause is the same in Palestine, Lebanon, and the [entire] Arab world."

[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Dec. 21, 2015]

Text posted on the Facebook page of Fatah Central Committee member Sultan Abu Al-Einein

"Fatah Central Committee member Sultan Abu Al-Einein condemned the assassination of Lebanese Hezbollah leadership memberand released prisoner, Samir Kuntar... Abu Al-Einein added that Martyr (Shahid) Kuntar had inhaled the scent of Palestine since his childhood, and had turned 16 when the Israeli enemy's justice system sentenced him to 5 life sentences and a few decades...

Abu Al-Einein stressed that the Kuntar's assassination reveals that Israel and its allies stand behind the dark terrorist movements and currents in the region, most prominently ISIS...

Abu Al-Einein sent condolences on fighter Samir Kuntar's death to the Martyr's family, Hezbollah, the Lebanese and Palestinian people and freemen around the world... He called on the Arab and Islamic nations to consolidate a unified position concerning Israel's schemes to destroy the entire region."

[Facebook page of Fatah Central Committee member Sultan Abu Al-Einein,

Dec. 21, 2015] 

"Secretary-General of the Palestinian Liberation Front [and PLO Executive Committee member] Dr. Wasel Abu Yusuf stated that 'Israel's assassination of Lebanese-Palestinian-Arab fighter Samir Kuntar is a new crime perpetrated by the occupation against Arab fighters... He believed in the concept of resistance and implemented it in Palestine since his youth, in the heroic operation (i.e., terror attack) in Nahariya. Upon his release from the occupation's prison, after over 30 years (sic.) he chose [to continue] his way with the Lebanese Hezbollah, and continued his struggle in Lebanon, after his release from captivity."

[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Dec. 21, 2015]

Video headline: "Samir Kuntar was born in Gaza"

"Palestinian citizen Maher Hathat from Khan Younis, in the south of the Gaza Strip,named his newborn son after Martyr (Shahid) Samir Kuntar, today, Sunday [Dec. 20, 2015]"

An Al-Mayadeen TV report

Al-Mayadeen TV reporter: "Israel failed to eliminate the name of Martyr Samir [Kuntar], as the shriek of newborn Samir crosses horizons, indicating that Palestine and Lebanon are a single heart... Allah gave Maher a child, and behold, Samir Kuntar was reborn on the day of his death."
The newborn's father Maher Hathat: "The least we could do is to name him after Samir Kuntar... because he rebelled for Palestine."

Al-Mayadeen TV reporter: "The body of Samir Kuntar has left the world, but his soul is eternal, spreading hope and resolve for the liberation of Palestine."

[Quds Net News Agency, Dec. 20, 2015]

Samir Kuntar - A Lebanese terrorist who murdered 4 Israelis in Nahariya in 1979: 3 members of the Haran family - 4-year-old Einat Haran, who Kuntar murdered by smashing her head with his rifle butt, 2-year-old Yael, who was accidentally suffocated as her mother tried to keep her silent while they hid from the terrorists, and their father, Danny Haran - and Eliyahu Shahar, the first policeman to respond. Kuntar was sentenced by Israel to 4 life sentences. He was released in a deal between Israel and Hezbollah in July 2008, exchanged for the bodies of Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser, Israeli soldiers kidnapped and killed by Hezbollah in 2006.

On Dec. 19, 2015, he was killed in an explosion in Syria. An Israeli airstrike is suspected by some, though the Free Syrian Army took credit.

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4) Obama Admin Will Veto Counter-Terror Measures to Save Nuke Deal
By Adam Kredo

Secretary of State John Kerry is working to reassure Iranian leaders that recent congressional efforts to tighten counter-terrorism measures will not harm Iranian interests, according to a letter sent by Kerry to Iran’s foreign minister.

The assurances come following efforts by Congress to tighten restrictions in the visa waiver program, which they claim has gaping loopholes that may enable suspected terrorists to legally enter the United States with few background checks.

Iranian leaders expressed anger over the move in recent days, prompting senior Obama administration officials to convey their own concerns to lawmakers.

Kerry wrote to Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif late last week, promising that the Obama administration could veto these new counter-terrorism laws in order ensure Iran is not negatively impacted.

“I want to confirm to you that we remain fully committed to the sanctions lifting provided for under the [nuclear deal],” Kerry wrote Zarif in a Dec. 19 letter that came a day after the two met in person. “We will adhere to the full measure of our commitments, per the agreement. Our team is working hard to be prepared and as soon as we reach implementation day we will lift appropriate sanctions.

A copy of the letter was obtained and published by the National Iranian American Council, a pro-Iran advocacy group long suspected by critics of working on behalf of the Iranian regime.

Kerry vows to ignore new counter-terrorism measures if they impact the administration’s ability to uphold the deal. Iran in recent months has already been accused in recent months of violating the accord by testing multiple ballistic missiles that could carry a nuclear payload.

“I am also confident that the recent changes in visa requirements passed in Congress, which the administration has the authority to waive, will not in any way prevent us from meeting our [Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action] commitments, and that we will implement them so as not to interfere with legitimate business interests of Iran,” Kerry wrote, outlining the “tools” the administration has to ignore new visa waiver restrictions.

“We have a number of potential tools available to us, including multiple entry ten-year business visas, programs for expediting business visas, and the waiver authority provided under the new legislation,” Kerry wrote. “I am happy to discuss this further and provide any additional clarification.”

Stephen Mull, the State Department official in charge of implementing the Iran deal, warned the Senate Foreign Relations Committee late last week that recent congressional efforts to tighten restrictions “could have a very negative impact on the deal.”

Iranian leaders also have expressed anger over the situation.

Ali Larijani, the speaker of Iran’s parliament, said last week that newly tightened measures “are aimed at harassment” and that they “blatantly violate the nuclear agreement,” according to comments carried by the Iranian state-controlled press.

Larijani warned that this action will detonate the deal before it has even been implemented.

“If the Americans pursue the plan, they will destroy an achievement with their own hands since it is against the [nuclear deal], and it will trouble them,” he warned.

Critics have accused the Obama administration of bending over backward to appease Iran.

“According to the Obama administration’s latest interpretation, the nuclear deal allows Iran to test ballistic missiles in violation of international law, but does not allow Congress to prevent terrorists from coming into the United States,” Omri Ceren, the managing director of press and strategy at The Israel Project, a D.C.-based organization that works with journalists on Middle East issues, recently told the Washington Free Beacon.

4a) Iran Military Leaders: Missile Production 'Increased' After P5+1 Deal

By Bridget Johson

As some congressional Democrats fume over the Obama administration's reticence to confront Iran about its ballistic missile tests — nevermind introduce any real consequences — the Islamic Republic is defiantly expanding its missile programs.

Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Hossein Dehqan said at a ceremony in northern Iran on Monday that Tehran is not scaling back its program or even keeping production at pre-deal levels.

“We have not halted designing, producing and testing our missiles, (on the contrary) we have even increased our production,” Dehqan said, according to the semi-official Fars News Agency.

The news agency said the defense minister ranked missile production and military upgrades at the top of the country's agenda “to ensure protection against enemies.”

On Tuesday, the second-highest-ranking commander in Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps said that “anti-Iran resolutions” would have no bearing on the IRGC's determination to increase its “defense and deterrent power.”

Brigadier General Hossein Salami stressed “this is an independent and a national decision and has nothing to do with the resolutions,” according to Iran Press TV.

Last week, 21 Senate Democrats asked President Obama to not ignore Iran's second ballistic missile test, which was conducted in November.

“If there are no consequences for this violation, Iran’s leaders will certainly also question the willingness of the international community to respond to violations of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) and UN Security Council Resolution 2231,” the Dems note in the letter sent to the president.

“The November test is Iran’s second recent violation of UNSCR 1929, which clearly states 'Iran shall not undertake any activity related to ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons, including launches using ballistic missile technology.' Clearly, the Security Council should take appropriate enforcement action against Iran in the face of this violation. On this matter, we recognize and appreciate United Nations Ambassador Samantha Power’s ongoing efforts to build support to enforce consequences for the October 10 ballistic missile test by referring the issue to the Iran Sanctions Committee and advocating for a forceful response by the UN Security Council. However, in the time it took the Panel of Experts to make a determination on the first violation, Iran tested another ballistic missile.”

Two of the senators on that letter, Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Ben Cardin (D-Md.) and Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), voted against the Iran nuclear deal.

Another vocal opponent of the deal, Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), fired off his own warning to Obama about Iran's violations and the International Atomic Energy Agency closing its Iran file.

“Iran did not come clean about its programs and intentions and it did not provide access to the people, places, and documents necessary for comprehensive findings on its past activities,” Menendez wrote to Obama. “…The fact is that Iran denied the existence of a nuclear weapons program that irrefutably exists, and – against unenforced United Nations resolutions and international will – is testing the conventional means to deliver a nuclear weapon that may have been (or still may be) within its capability to produce or acquire.”

Menendez has not received a response to an Oct. 19 letter he wrote to Secretary of State John Kerry about Iran, and noted that “in the silence since that letter, we have witnessed yet another Iranian test launch of a ballistic missile that, in the months to come, the United Nations will undoubtedly find has violated the same United Nations Security Council resolutions.”

“Will the administration take demonstrative actions so that Iran understands the consequences of violating the international order? What will those actions be?” the senator asked the president.

“How you respond to this challenge will send a message to the Iranian regime about its compliance with the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). In the meantime, we can expect that Iran will continue to test the limits of international order.”

Menendez recommended that Obama use his discretionary authority to adopt specific measures outside of the P5+1 deal “such as special designations of foreign nationals, including freezing assets and banning travel for individuals and entities that support or facilitate Iran’s ballistic missile proliferation.”

“I urge you to take action imminently in response to both ballistic missile test violations,” he said.

4a) A look inside the evolving face of ISIS

By Seth J. Frantzman

Kurdish security experts and commanders describe how terrorists have changed tactics over the last year.

On December 16, Islamic State launched coordinated attacks on Peshmerga, the Kurdish forces of the Kurdistan Regional Government in northern Iraq. Using fog for cover they launched suicide attacks on various positions along the hundreds of kilometers of front lines that extend from southwest of Kirkuk all the way to the Syrian border in the northeast.

It was a sign Islamic State is far from finished, despite news that the Iraqi army is in the process of trying to take the city of Ramadi from the extremist organization.

Since conquering huge swaths of Iraq last summer, starting in September Islamic State has been on the defensive against peshmerga forces. However Kurdish soldiers, commanders and security officials who spoke with The Jerusalem Post said that despite being on the defensive the extremists have changed tactics and learned how to cope with a different military situation.

The US-led coalition has been punishing the terrorists with air strikes, but Kurdish commanders said there were many instances where they had informed the coalition of intelligence indicating Islamic State was moving trucks with explosives towards their positions and the coalition had not done enough to neutralize the threat.

Qasem Sheshu, a Yazidi peshmerga commander in the Shingal area who commands around 7,500 men, said recently he had informed the allies that Islamic State was bringing 20 trucks from its capital in Raqqa, Syria to Iraq and that air strikes only hit one.

As Islamic State capabilities have been degraded it resorts to limited suicide bomber attacks. The fog provides cover because coalition aircraft cannot operate. A slideshow presentation at a peshmerga headquarters illustrated the ingenuity of the fanatics.

In one case they had constructed a remote control rifle, in another they built a truck with double-armored plating and hatches men should shoot out of. Along hundreds of kilometers of front line, the Islamists have dug tunnels into the ground and laced the earth with TNT, improvised explosive devices and other devices rigged to explode.

Islamic State has also sought to infiltrate cities with cells of followers.

Chief of Kirkuk police Sarhad Qadir told Rudaw news that he had broken up an Islamic State cell of four men on December 16. The KRG has thousands of security officers working to ferret out these terrorists and has major checkpoints between the cities examining every car.

But a senior security commander noted that Islamic State is always a danger.

“The majority of Sunni [Arabs] support ISIS and that is the reality. I cannot say that Sunni Arabs are not ISIS, their support is absolute. If they find a way they will make problems, we must be worried and vigilant day and night not to give them any weak point in any place.”

He noted that peshmerga had killed hundreds of their fighters in recent months, more than 70 in the attacks last week, but that Islamic State would want to find a way to strike at Kurdistan. There are concerns that the more than a million Arab refugees now living in Kurdistan may have among them people with a potential to support Islamic State. In cities like Kirkuk the danger is not just Islamic State, but a half dozen other Sunni jihadist groups of Arabs who turn to terrorism. In addition, Kurdish commanders noted that it would be wrong to go back to the days of arming Sunni tribes, as the US did, noting a case where the truck of the head of a tribe supposedly allied to the central government transported TNT for IEDs.

Kurdish peshmerga commanders from a Rojava regiment that patrols part of the road between Rabiah on the Syrian border and Snune noted that they had encountered Islamic State fighters from China and Nigeria. The presence of Chinese jihadists in Islamic State ranks is a phenomenon mentioned on frontline sectors from Shingal to Kirkuk.

However, Capt. Hamid Majid who commands a unit in Western Shingal overlooking a strategic road junction, where one road leads to Syria and another leading south towards Anbar province, said Islamic State has weakened overall.

“Daesh is much weaker compared to last year, they have foreign fighters, the local Arabs here are not prepared to fight for them anymore.”

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