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WEDNESDAY’S “NEWS IN REVIEW” ROUND-UP

Contents: | Weekly QuotesShort Takes   |  On Topic Links

 

 

On Topic Links

 

The World is Becoming Immunized to the Horrors of Terrorism: Rex Murphy, National Post, July 15, 2016

Turkey’s Schizophrenic Civil War: Burak Bekdil, Hurriyet Daily News, July 20, 2016

The 28 Pages that Damn Saudi Arabia: A.J. Caschetta, Gatestone Institute, July 19, 2016

Welcome Home!: Jewish Press, July 19, 2016

 

WEEKLY QUOTES

 

“The coup was a blessing to him…He emerged easily as a hero and now is likely to squash the remaining opposition as well as the few media outlets left.” — Suat Kiniklioglu, a former parliamentarian in Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party. Kiniklioglu, who is now a critic of Erdogan’s rule, said the President had emerged “strengthened exponentially” from the failed putsch. The putsch attempt, which was launched Friday only to collapse Saturday morning, started to crumble when Erdogan – who won three consecutive terms as prime minister before winning election as president in 2014 – made an appeal on state television (via his mobile phone) for his backers to go into the streets. (Globe & Mail, July 17, 2016)

 

“The people on the streets have made that request…The people have the opinion that these terrorists should be killed. … Why should I keep them and feed them in prisons for years to come, that’s what the people say.” — Turkish President Erdogan. More than 7,500 members of the military, police and judiciary – including 27 generals and admirals, as well as Mr. Erdogan’s own chief military adviser – have been detained since Saturday. Almost 9,000 others, including 30 local governors, have been removed from their posts. The crackdown shows no sign of slowing. On Monday, the government suspended some 1,500 finance ministry officials. It also cancelled annual leave for the country’s three million civil servants, demanding that those already on vacation return immediately to their posts. Public officials were also banned indefinitely from travelling abroad. (Globe & Mail, July 18, 2016)

 

“The United States is not harbouring anybody, we’re not preventing anything from happening…We think it’s irresponsible to have accusations of American involvement when we’re simply waiting for their request, which we’re absolutely prepared to act on, if it meets the legal standard.” — U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry. Erdogan quickly accused his long-time rival Fethullah Gulen, a retired imam who lives in self-imposed exile in the U.S., of inspiring the move against his rule, and vowed to eliminate what he called the “virus” of Gulen’s supporters within Turkey’s army and other state structures. Erdogan demanded the immediate extradition of Gulen to face trial in Turkey. Kerry said the U.S. could only consider extraditing Gulen if Turkey produced evidence of his involvement. (Globe & Mail, July 17, 2016)

 

“Terrorism is a threat that weighs heavily upon France and will continue to weigh for a long time…We are facing a war that terrorism has brought to us. The goal of terrorists is to instil fear and panic. And France is a great country, and a great democracy, that will not allow itself to be destabilized.” — French Prime Minister Manuel Valls. Last Thursday, 84 people were killed and 303 injured when a cargo truck was deliberately driven into crowds celebrating Bastille Day on the Promenade des Anglais in Nice. The driver was Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel, a Tunisian resident of France. (National Post, July 15, 2016)

 

“We’re on the verge of a civil war. I think this confrontation is going to happen. One or two more attacks and it will take place. It is up to us to anticipate and stop all those groups who would trigger clashes…Where is the spark going to come from that will light the powder, transforming France into an uncontrollable country where groups take up arms and hand out their own justice? Who sees a crumbling country where violence and vengeance alternates between two camps, where the spiral of attacks does not stop?” — Patrick Calvar, head of the General Directorate for Internal Security (DGSI), France’s most senior security chief. Growing tensions between the “extreme Right and the Muslim world” have pushed France to the “verge of a civil war”, Calvar warned in May. His dramatic comments were leaked to French media last week. France is still reeling from the Nov. 13 attacks, which killed 130 people at the Bataclan concert hall, Paris restaurants and cafes, and the national stadium, as well as a separate January 2015 attack in Paris that targeted journalists at the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo and Jews at a kosher supermarket. (Daily Mail, July 12, 2016)

 

“I can’t hide that I feel a deep anger…How is it possible in our country that after everyone said there was a state of emergency, a state of war, we forgot it after Charlie Hebdo…Then there was the Bataclan. After the Bataclan, we forgot. There was Brussels. After Brussels, we forgot and there was Nice, so there are questions that need to be answered.” — Christian Estrosi, the head of the Nice region and a member of the Republicans, the party of former President Nicolas Sarkozy. French President François Hollande, breaking records of unpopularity in the polls, is severely weakened. He confronts a rising populist onslaught from the far right, and even challenges within his own party. Facing an election next year, he is almost certain to lose. (New York Times, July 15, 2016)

 

“The war against the scourge of Islamist fundamentalism has not begun; it’s now urgent to declare it. We will truly engage in it by implementing a set of measures I have already detailed and which I’ll have the occasion to come back to, which will aim at tackling the roots of the phenomenon. To our shock and compassion, we must now add action, the necessary measures of prevention and control, and the most absolute determination to eradicate the scourge of Islamist fundamentalism. On this day, I will put all of my energy toward the profound desires of the bruised people of France, so that they are heard and that the battles are waged.” — Marine Le Pen, the leader of the National Front, the French right-wing party that has risen to prominence by warning against immigration and railing against the European Union. (New York Times, July 15, 2016)

 

“The heritage of Jerusalem is indivisible, and each of its communities have a right to the explicit recognition of their history and relationship with the city…To deny or conceal any of the Jewish, Christian or Muslim traditions undermines the integrity of the site.” — Director-General of UNESCO Irina Bokova. Amid the heated atmosphere surrounding the pending decision by UNESCO to solely recognize Muslim sovereignty over the Temple Mount, the general director of the organization acknowledged the ancient connection between Jews and Christians to the city of Jerusalem. The resolution seeks to prioritize Islamic ties to the Old City of Jerusalem while simultaneously erasing any Jewish historic connection to the site. The committee had originally planned to vote on the resolution during this month’s meeting in Istanbul, but due to the recent attempted coup in Turkey, UNESCO agreed to reschedule. (Breaking Israel News, July 20, 2016)

 

“He’s turned into President Hector…He hectors us about our moral failings; about how we have to do better. I understand the frustration…But you know, I’m allowed to be frustrated as a citizen. The president isn’t supposed to be frustrated, he’s supposed to be the problem solver.” — Gil Troy, a professor at McGill University, the day after Obama gave a 40-minute speech at a memorial for five police officers shot dead in Dallas. In his Dallas speech, Obama praised the police while addressing the racial tensions that flared after two black men, Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, were shot dead by white police in Louisiana and Minnesota this month. (National Post, June 15, 2016)

 

"We obviously disagree with the decision and want to know what precautions will be taken and what assurances the director can give that Secretary Clinton won't mishandle classified information. She has proven herself untrustworthy." — Spokesman for House Speaker Paul Ryan. Ryan is upset with Director of National Intelligence James Clapper's decision to allow Hillary Clinton to receive pre-election classified briefings. Ryan cosponsored a bill last week that would revoke Clinton's security clearance in response to her use and cover up of private email servers as secretary of state. The legislation may be the only way for Republicans to block Clinton from obtaining classified information after she secures the nomination this month. (Washington Examiner, July 11, 2016)

 

“When [police] come to save your life, they don't ask if you are black or white, they just come to save you…It's time to make America safe again…I know we can change it because I did it by changing NYC from the crime capital of America to the safest large city in the U.S. What I did for New York, Donald Trump will do for America.” —New York's former mayor Rudy Giuliani, at the Republican Convention. Giuliani also addressed the terror threat facing the US and other countries around the world. He said: "We must not be afraid to define our enemy. It is Islamic extremist terrorism. I for the purposes of the media, I did not say all of Islam, I did not say most of Islam, I said Islamic extremist terrorism – you know who you are, and we're coming to get you." (IBT, July 19, 2016)

 

“I shared with Mr. Trudeau how much it meant to me to be here with him praying at the site of mass murder in the presence of my wife, my daughter, and my granddaughter and I was moved to tears when I recited prayers for the dead…I saw that he too was visibly touched and he shared his tears with mine … With his permission, I placed my hands on his head and blessed him with the Priestly Blessing, the most ancient blessing in Judaism.” — Auschwitz survivor Nate Leipciger. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was escorted through Auschwitz earlier this month by Leipciger, now of Toronto. The prime minister couldn’t hold back the tears as he stood before the ruined gas chamber where Leipciger’s mother and sister were killed 70 years ago. (National Post, July 19, 2016)

 

 

Contents

 

SHORT TAKES

 

I.S. CLAIMS RESPONSIBILITY FOR ATTACK IN NICE (Nice) — I.S. claimed responsibility for the deadly truck attack in the French city of Nice, saying the assault was a response to calls by the extremist group to target those nations allied against it. Despite the assertion of responsibility, the nature and scope of the Sunni Muslim extremist group’s involvement in Thursday’s attack, which killed 84 people and wounded scores more, was unclear. French authorities said Saturday they had found no evidence of ties between terror groups and the man who carried out the assault in Nice, Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel, a 31-year-old Tunisian man living in the city. Prosecutors also said they had little doubt I.S. had, at the very least, inspired the attack. (Wall Street Journal, July 16, 2016)

 

I.S. CLAIMS RESPONSIBILITY FOR AXE ATTACK ON GERMAN TRAIN (Berlin) — I.S. claimed responsibility on Tuesday for an attack by an axe-wielding Afghan refugee on a German train, according to its Amaq news agency. The interior minister for the state of Bavaria said a hand-drawn I.S. flag was found in the room of the 17-year-old Afghan refugee who attacked passengers on a train in southern Germany before being shot dead by police. Four people were severely wounded in the attack before he was shot dead by police. The attack is likely to deepen worries about so-called "lone wolf" attacks in Europe and could put political pressure on German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who welcomed hundreds of thousands of migrants to Germany over the past year. (Jerusalem Post, July 19, 2016)

 

FRENCH WOMAN AND HER DAUGHTERS STABBED BY MOROCCAN-BORN MAN IN FRANCE (Paris) — A French woman and her three young daughters were seriously wounded in a knife attack at an Alpine resort on Tuesday by a man who reportedly complained that they were scantily dressed. The man was arrested after the attack at the Alpine resort of Garde-Colombe in southern France. The youngest girl, aged 8, was rushed to hospital in Grenoble with a punctured lung. Her mother, 46, and sisters aged 12 and 14, were being treated at a hospital closer to the scene of the attack. Their injuries were serious but not life-threatening. The attacker, named as Mohamed B, 37, "may have acted out of religious motives", French television channel TF1 reported. (Telegraph, July 19, 2016)

 

MAJOR TERRORIST ATTACK PREVENTED IN DOWNTOWN JERUSALEM (Jerusalem) — A mass-casualty terrorist attack was averted in downtown Jerusalem Sunday when security guards prevented a West Bank man armed with explosives and knives from boarding the light rail at the Jaffa Center station. Shortly before 9 a.m., police said security guards stationed in the city center observed a suspicious man carrying a shoulder bag. Confronted, the man admitted he was armed. The suspect, who police described as in his 20s and from the village of Beit Ula near Hebron, was forced to lay on the ground at gunpoint. Security personnel found three pipe bombs and knives in his bag. (Jerusalem Post, July 17, 2016)

 

ISRAEL BALKS AT OBAMA’S NEW TEN-YEAR AID OFFER (Jerusalem) — Israeli industry is bracing for lost funding and layoffs as a result of a proposed $38 billion, 10-year US military aid package that rescinds Israel’s ability to convert a significant portion of US grant dollars into shekels for local research, development and procurement. While Israel still hopes to prevail upon the White House to bump its top line closer to $40 billion over 10 years, government and industry sources hold little hope of Obama's administration wavering on Buy America demands. The proposed deal aims to follow the current $30 billion memorandum of understanding inked by both countries in 2007, which expires October 2017. (Defense News, July 15, 2016)

 

GINSBURG APOLOGIZES FOR ATTACK ON DONALD TRUMP (Washington) — U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has apologized for her unprecedented attack on GOP presumptive presidential nominee Donald Trump. Ginsburg had said in an interview, “I can’t imagine what this place would be — I can’t imagine what the country would be — with Donald Trump as our president … For the country, it could be four years. For the Court, it could be — I don’t even want to contemplate that.” After criticism that followed the report Ginsburg said in a statement: “On reflection, my recent remarks in response to press inquiries were ill-advised and I regret making them. Judges should avoid commenting on a candidate for public office. In the future I will be more circumspect.” (Jewish Press, July 14, 2016)

 

SECRET DOCUMENT SHOWS IRAN CAN UPGRADE NUCLEAR PROGRAM IN DECADE (Tehran) — A secret document shows that an add-on agreement to the nuclear deal with Iran would, after a decade, allow Iran to upgrade parts of its nuclear program. The document is the only part of the deal that hadn't yet been made public. Although it was already known that some of the restrictions put in place by the agreement would be lifted after 10 years, the document addresses what will happen to the uranium enrichment part of Iran's nuclear program. It sets out that as of 2027, Iran will be able to replace some of its centrifuges with more advanced machines. These new centrifuges would cut in half the time Iran would need to build a nuclear bomb from a year to six months. (I24, July 18, 2016)

 

IRAN CELEBRATES ANNIVERSARY OF NUCLEAR DEAL BY FIRING BALLISTIC MISSILE (Tehran) — One year almost to the day after the signing of the nuclear agreement between Iran and the world powers, and in blatant violation of UN Resolution 2231, Tehran tried to launch a ballistic missile using North Korean technology. In UN Resolution 2231, Iran is “called upon not to undertake any activity related to ballistic missiles designed to be capable of delivering nuclear weapons, including launches using such ballistic missile technology.” The test failed when the missile exploded after liftoff at a site Iran has used before to conduct ballistic missile tests. This is the latest attempt in the year since the signing of the nuclear deal. (Jewish Press, July 16, 2016)

 

9/11 ATTACKERS MAY HAVE HAD SAUDI HELP, CLASSIFIED PAGES SAY (Washington) — Saudi nationals connected to the government in Riyadh may have aided some of the Sept. 11 hijackers in the U.S. before they carried out their attacks, according to a long-classified portion of a congressional inquiry. But top U.S. intelligence officials who approved releasing the report emphasized that they didn’t consider it accurate or reliable. The 28 pages were released as complaints have re-emerged in recent months from some Americans that Saudi Arabia or organizations and wealthy individuals based there have financed groups linked to terrorism or failed to crack down on militants. Fifteen of the 19 hijackers in the 9/11 attacks were identified as Saudi nationals. (Bloomberg, July 15, 2016) 

 

HAMZA BIN LADEN VOWS REVENGE AGAINST U.S. FOR KILLING HIS FATHER (Kabul) — In a speech entitled “We Are All Osama,” 23-year-old Hamza bin Laden said al Qaeda would continue waging jihad against the U.S. and its allies. “We will continue striking you and targeting you in your country and abroad in response to your oppression of the people of Palestine, Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Somalia and the rest of the Muslim lands that did not survive your oppression…As for the revenge by the Islamic nation for Sheikh Osama…it is not revenge for Osama the person but it is revenge for those who defended Islam,” he said. A U.S. Navy SEAL commando killed Osama bin Laden at his hideout in Pakistan in 2011, dealing a major blow to al Qaeda, the terrorist group behind the 9/11 attacks on the U.S. Osama bin Laden’s son has been dubbed “the Crown Prince of Terror.” (Breitbart, July 11, 2016)

 

PAKISTANI INTERNET CELEBRITY, IS KILLED IN ‘HONOR KILLING’ (Islamabad) — An internet celebrity who pushed the boundaries of what is considered acceptable behavior for women in Pakistan was killed by her brother in a suspected “honor killing.” Officials said Qandeel Baloch, a 26-year-old who was described as the country’s Kim Kardashian, died at her parents’ house. Baloch became one of the country’s best-known media figures for posting videos and selfies on her social-media accounts, which have hundreds of thousands of followers. Many of her videos enraged conservative Pakistanis. While there was no nudity in her social-media posts, critics said her commentary, poses and clothes were inappropriate, overly sexual and violated Pakistani and Islamic norms. (Wall Street Journal, July 16, 2016)

 

GREEN PARTY MOVES TO EXPEL HOLOCAUST DENIER (Ottawa) — The Canadian Green Party issued a press release condemning “statements made by former candidate” Monika Schaefer. B’nai Brith Canada exposed Schaefer—the Green Party’s candidate in Alberta in 2006, 2008 and 2011—as denying the Holocaust in a YouTube video. Schaefer described the Holocaust as “the most persistent lie in all of history,” and claimed that victims of Nazi death camps “were kept as healthy and as well-fed as was possible,” and that “there were no gas chambers there.” She denounced “the 6-million lie” and recommended the writings of Ernst Zündel, a German Holocaust denier who had been deported from Canada in 2005. (Jewish Press, July 17, 2016)

 

POLICE INVESTIGATE TEACHER’S COMMENTS AT AL-QUDS DAY RALLY (Washington) — B’nai Brith Canada has filed a complaint with police against Mississauga teacher Nadia Shoufani for glorifying terrorists at the Toronto Al-Quds Day rally. Shoufani allegedly praised two men with ties to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a group that the government of Canada classifies as a terrorist entity. Jewish groups have unsuccessfully tried in the past to have the Al-Quds Day rally banned in Ontario. International Al-Quds Day, typically celebrated after the fast month of Ramadan, was started in 1979 by Iranian leader Ayatollah Khomeini. The day is held in solidarity with the Palestinians and in opposition to the existence of Israel as a Jewish state. (CJNews, July 14, 2016)

 

CANADA MUST DO MORE TO HELP PERSECUTED YAZIDIS, MPS TOLD (Ottawa) — Canada must do more to help Yazidi survivors of genocide and cannot rely on a "flawed" refugee identification system led by the UN, advocates told MPs in Ottawa. The House of Commons immigration committee heard horrific accounts of torture, rape, murder and enslavement as witnesses offered emotional testimony about atrocities carried out by I.S. Nadia Murad Basee Taha, who was abducted and held by I.S., said the world has remained "negligent" and "silent" as I.S. continues to rape, torture, kill and enslave Yazidis in a quest to exterminate the targeted population. (CBC, July 19, 2016)

 

BRITAIN’S YORK UNIVERSITY PAYS STUDENT £1,000 OVER ANTISEMITIC ABUSE (London) — A student at York University is to receive a public apology and £1,000 from the student union for antisemitic abuse he was subjected to during his studies. Zachary Confino, a law student and former treasurer, said the university had done very little when he was called a “Jewish prick”, an “Israeli twat” and subjected to an anonymous social media comment that Hitler was “on to something”. The payment is believed to be the first of its kind by a UK university. (Guardian, June 2, 2016)

 

200 FRENCH JEWS IMMIGRATING TO ISRAEL WEDNESDAY (Paris) — More than 200 French Jews arrived in Israel July 20, aboard a special Aliyah flight organized by The Jewish Agency for Israel. This is the largest Aliyah flight from France set to land in Israel this summer. The flight was planned months ago, without any connection to recent events in France. Numbering just under half a million, the French Jewish community is the largest in Europe and the second-largest in the world outside of Israel. French Jewish immigration to Israel has surged since the year 2012, breaking records for Aliyah from France and from Western countries. (Jewish Press, July 17, 2016)

 

Contents

On Topic Links

 

 

The World is Becoming Immunized to the Horrors of Terrorism: Rex Murphy, National Post, July 15, 2016 —If what occurred in Nice, France, on Thursday was a one-of-kind event, I’m certain the world’s response would be dramatically more powerful and intense. Who rents a truck with the intended purpose of driving it into a crowd of people celebrating a national holiday, with the intended purpose of running over and maiming as many as possible? Unfortunately, the world is becoming immunized to these horrors.

Turkey’s Schizophrenic Civil War: Burak Bekdil, Hurriyet Daily News, July 20, 2016 —It is amazing that the Crescent and Star never ceases to shock with the most unexpected insanity. The capacity to shock is a feature most observed at times of war. And Turkey is at war – a schizophrenic civil war.

The 28 Pages that Damn Saudi Arabia: A.J. Caschetta, Gatestone Institute, July 19, 2016—After keeping them secret for 14 years, the White House has finally released the 28 pages that were removed from the 2002 Congressional inquiry into the 9/11 attacks and withheld from the final 9/11 Commission Report. More puzzling than the elusive pages is why Obama released them, and specifically, why now.

Welcome Home!: Jewish Press, July 19, 2016 —223 American Jews made Aliya and arrived in Israel today! Welcome home.

 

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