Syrian opposition: Obama allowed ISIS cancer to metastasize
An Israeli Druze who is in touch with the Syrian opposition accuses the Hussein Obama administration of allowing what he calls
the ISIS cancer to metastasize. He also reports that the (non-Islamist) opposition wants friendly relations with Israel.
Mendi Safadi, an Israeli Druse who served as former Likud deputy minister Ayoub Kara’s chief of staff, has independently met with members of the liberal and democratic Syrian opposition who oppose the Islamists and want friendly relations with Israel.
Safadi, who met with senior opposition officials last week, has traveled in the region, met with activists, and relayed messages from them to the Prime Minister’s Office.
He was responsible for relaying the congratulatory letters from the Syrian opposition to then President-elect Reuven Rivlin.
Islamic State should have been dealt with months ago, when it was concentrated in much smaller territory, Safadi told The Jerusalem Post in an interview on Sunday.
“Islamic State is a cancer,” and just like the disease, “it needed to be attacked before it spread.”
...
Islamic State could have been finished off three months ago if the US had acted decisively at that time, said Safadi, but now that the group has spread, it will require a much more robust ground operation to eliminate the group’s hold on territory in Iraq and Syria.
Safadi showed the Post documentation identifying two apparent spies who infiltrated Islamic State and were sending him information about the group in return for cash.
Not all of the fighters affiliated with Islamic State are true believers, he said, noting that some have come to the conclusion on their own that the group is extreme and dangerous.
...
Safadi also claimed that his sources in Islamic State told him about the group’s upcoming declaration of a caliphate, a month-and-a-half before it was to occur.
Safadi said that he shared the intelligence with Israel and contacts in the United States six months ago, but no action that he is aware of was taken to halt the group at that point.
Safadi also claims that if the US supported the non-Islamist rebels, the war could be over in months.
Read the whole thing.
But of course, that won't happen. Hussein Obama wants the world to be taken over by radical Islam. What could go wrong?
Labels: Ayoub Kara, Druze, Free Syrian Army, Golan Heights, ISIS, Israeli Arab, Syria
MK; 'Obama likely to be dangerous for Israel'
Here's some really spot-on commentary from Likud MK
Ayoub Kara.
MK Ayoub Kara (Likud) openly expressed concern Wednesday following
U.S. President Barack Obama’s victory in the U.S. presidential
elections. “The truth must be said. This leopard is likely to change its
spots and to be very dangerous for Israel,” he warned.
“All
the hypocritical, cowardly Israeli politicians are giving media
interviews and are suddenly showering endless praises on Barack Obama
and his support for Israel…. I’m sure that if Obama had lost the
elections, we’d be hearing a different song,” he said.
Ouch. But definitely spot-on.
Labels: Ayoub Kara, Barack Hussein Obama, US-Israel relationship
Likud MK's blast Obama speech
At least two Likud MK's - Ayoub Kara and Danny Danon -
blasted President Obama's AIPAC speech on Sunday, arguing that only Israel can and will protect itself (Hat Tip:
Memeorandum).
Deputy Negev and Galilee Development Minister Ayoub Kara (Likud) criticized Obama for saying that too much bluster played into Iranian hands and suggesting that it led to higher gas prices.
“There is a saying that it’s easier to watch a fire from far away,” Kara said. “We are facing an existential threat, not the US. If Israel doesn’t bluster, the US will also be in danger, because Iran’s missiles will reach them too. Israel is doing everything possible to keep the world safe, and it’s unfortunate that the White House doesn’t see things the way we see them here.”
MK Danny Danon (Likud) mocked Obama’s promises to protect Israel’s security.
He said history had proven that Israel can rely only on itself.
“Looking back at the way the United States criticized Israel for destroying the nuclear reactor in Iraq, Israel must make its decisions based on its own good judgment,” Danon said.
My own view is that only God will protect Israel, but we have to make our own effort and not wait for God to come and do it all for us. If we put in our effort, He will finish the job.
Labels: Ayoub Kara, Barack Hussein Obama, Danny Danon, Iranian nuclear threat, Israeli attack on Iran
Gadhafi wanted to negotiate peace with Israel in exchange for easing by NATO
Deputy Minister for Negev and Galilee Development Ayoub Kara (Likud) told the Jerusalem Post on Sunday that Seif al-Islam Gadhafi, oldest son of Libyan dictator Muammar Gadhafi, offered to
sign a peace treaty with Israel and negotiate captive soldier Gilad Schalit's release in exchange for reduced pressure from NATO and Europe on Libya.
"Saif al-Islam and I have mutual acquaintances in Austria. Long before the whole mess in Libya, I asked them to talk to him about Gilad Schalit, because the Gaddafis are close with [Hamas leader Khaled] Mashaal," Kara said.
"About a month ago, he remembered me and told his friends that he would tell Mashaal to release Schalit, sign a treaty with Israel, and even give a speech in Jerusalem like [former Egyptian president Anwar] Sadat," the Druze minister explained. "I said that I would be willing to talk to him to help Gilad, and Saif al-Islam thought this would get rid of European and NATO pressure on Libya."
Kara received another message shortly afterwards that a meeting was arranged for him, as well as a Jewish Israeli and Jewish Austrian politician David Lazar with Saif al-Islam Gaddafi in Libya. However, Kara was denied permission from Israeli authorities to travel to Libya, for security reasons.
"Lazar told me that Saif al-Islam said he would bring us Gilad," Kara said, "and he told me not to speak about the deal until it was authorized by [Libyan leader Muammar] Gaddafi."
"I said I would bring the deal to the government and let them decide what to do," he said, adding: "Since then, the situation in Libya has declined, and it's no longer relevant."
I wonder how long that would have lasted once the Gadhafis were back in power. And I cannot believe that Hamas would have let Shalit go to keep the Gadhafis in power.
Labels: Ayoub Kara, Gilad Shalit, Khaled Meshaal, Muammar Gaddafi, Seif al-Islam Gadhafi
Der Spiegel tries to blame the Likud for Breivik
Sorry about the lengthy break. I had a lot of paying work today, but I did not anticipate being off for this long.
Germany's Der Spiegel has a story that lumps
the Likud together with Rightist parties in Europe and blames all of them for Anders Behring Breivik's murderous spree in Norway last week.
Islamophobic parties in Europe have established a tight network, stretching from Italy to Finland. But recently, they have extended their feelers to Israeli conservatives, enjoying a warm reception from members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition. Some in Israel believe that the populists are Europe's future.
...
The reason for the growing focus on Israel is not difficult to divine. "On the one hand," Strache told SPIEGEL ONLINE in a recent interview, "we are seeing great revolutions taking place in the Middle East. But one can't be totally sure that other interests aren't behind them and that, in the end, we might see Islamist theocracies surrounding Israel and in Europe's backyard."
In other words, in the battle against what right-wing populists see as the creeping Islamization of Europe, Israel is on the front line.
...
Many in Israel see it the same way. Eliezer Cohen, known in Israel by his nickname "Cheetah," says that leftist parties in both Europe and Israel have lost their way. Cohen, a decorated Israeli air force colonel now in retirement, is a former member of the Knesset with Yisrael Beiteinu, the hardline nationalist party led by Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman that currently governs together in a coalition with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party.
"Right-wing politicians in Europe are more sensitive to the dangers facing Israel," Cohen, who gave a keynote address during Dutch right-wing leader Geert Wilders' visit to Berlin last October, told SPIEGEL ONLINE. "They are talking the exact same language as Likud and others on the Israeli right. I'm too old for bullshitting -- we hope the right wing wins out in Europe."
Kara sounds no different. "I am looking for ways to lessen the Islamic influence in the world," Kara told the Israeli daily Maariv in June. "I believe that is the true Nazism in this world. I am the partner of everyone who believes in the existence of this war."
I have no problem with figures on Israel's Right having connections with Right wing parties in Europe so long as those Right wing parties are not anti-Semitic when they are not dealing with Israel. Some people would call that realpolitik. And as I have noted on numerous occasions, one of the rules in the very tough Middle East is that my enemy's enemy is my fried. I know that sounds like a cliche, and so does, "nations don't have friends, they have interests." But there's a lot of truth in those sayings.
In fact, most of the Right wing parties in Europe are not, as I understand it, anti-Semitic, although some of them have anti-Semitic pasts. Every time I hear someone accuse Geert Wilders of anti-Semitism, I dismiss them as having an agenda.
To use a broad brush to tar all of the European Right with blame for Breivik's actions is outrageous. The Likud and the parties on the Right in Europe are no more to blame for Breivik's actions than Noam Chomsky is for Osama Bin Laden's actions.
Read the whole thing. More
here.
Labels: Anders Behring Brievik, Ayoub Kara, English Defence League, Geert Wilders, Likud party, Vlams Belang
Hmmm....
Druze MK Ayoub Kara (Likud) has warned that Israel will
defend Syria's Druze community if it is attacked by Bashar al-Assad.
Deputy Galilee and Negev Development Minister Ayoub Kara said Sunday that should Assad attack the Druse population in Syria, Israel would not sit with its “hands folded.”
Kara, a Likud lawmaker who is Druse, said in a statement he is concerned Assad could “attack the Druse in Aleppo as was done in the past. He needs to know that in that case we will not sit with our hands folded.”
Kara’s comments came on the same day that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu asked his ministers at the weekly cabinet meeting not to speak publicly about the situation in Syria. If they must do so, he said, they should first coordinate their message with the Prime Minister’s Office or Defense Ministry.
One government official said it was clear that Kara was “expressing his own opinion, and not that of the government.”
Kara said he was already hearing support for the Syrian opposition among Golan Druse who “for years were afraid to express opposition to the Assad regime.”
Defending the Syrian Druze would probably
not be a bad move for Israel.
The Druze on the Golan Heights are in limbo between Israel and Syria; even though they would rather stay under Israeli rule, they have to continue to declare their loyalty to Syria's Bashar al-Assad, because they cannot rely on Israel not to return them to Syria, and therefore they have to live in fear of one day falling under Assad's rule.
Hmmm....
Labels: Ayoub Kara, Bashar al-Assad, Druze, Syrian regime change
'Giving up Gaza was a mistake'
You all know already that giving up Gaza was a huge mistake because it handed Hamas a base on Israel's southern flank and let the Islamists claim victory. So why is this story significant? Because this time, the people who said that giving up Gaza was a mistake were a group of Right wing
European parliamentarians who have been here on a tour.
Dozens of senior parliamentarians from across Europe visited the Gush Katif Museum in Jerusalem during a trip to Israel. They were joined by Minister Ayoub Kara (Likud), and all together, lit Chanukah candles as a gesture of solidarity with the Jewish people.
As they toured the museum, the MPs remarked that Israel's unilateral withdrawal from Gaza in 2005, termed the “Disengagement,” had been a mistake. The one-sided move, which followed years of terrorist attacks, was seen by radical Islamists as a victory for their ideology, they said.
Israeli Jews should build throughout the land, particularly in Judea and Samaria, said Rene Stadtkewitz, Chairman of Germany's Freedom Party. Conceding land does not bring peace, but rather, strengthens terrorists, he said.
Let's go to the videotape.
Read the whole thing.
Labels: Ayoub Kara, Gaza expulsion, Gush Katif Museum, Hamastan, Rene Stadtkewitz
Bibi to announce withdrawal from northern half of Ghajar
Last December, when I went on an IDF-sponsored trip to the North for bloggers, I wrote at length about the town of Ghajar and how its residents wanted to
all remain part of Israel. A few days later, there was a report in Lebanon's an-Nahar that claimed that the IDF would be
pulling back from the northern half of Ghajar and that the town would be divided. The residents of Ghajar were vehemently opposed and
begged Israel to stay in the entire town.
It's taken a while, but now it seems that the government has gathered the spinelessness to do what the residents feared: Prime Minister Netanyahu plans to tell the UN on Monday that Israel will
withdraw from the northern half of Ghajar, dividing the town into a Lebanese zone and into an Israeli zone (which the 'international community' regards as 'occupied Syrian territory).
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is expected to inform United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon of this plan, when the two men meet in New York on Monday, during Netanyahu's five day visit to the United States, according to officials.
The withdrawal plan has been discussed with senior members of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon.
Upon his return from the United States, Netanyahu is expected to ask the Security Cabinet to approve the plan, officials said.
Arutz Sheva
adds:
The international border set by the United Nations, known as the “blue line,” runs directly through the middle of the village. Likud Deputy Minister Ayoub Kara, a Druze, warned in February that abandoning the village to U.N. forces could lead to its eventual takeover by Hizbullah terrorists.
Kara vowed last year to “fight with my last drop of blood” against Israel’s withdrawal from the village, many of whose 2,200 residents hold Israeli citizenship and have expressed fears of being forced to live under Lebanese rule.
I really don't understand what the government hopes to gain by doing this. It's not going to bring us any goodwill at the UN or anyplace else, it's going to bring Hezbullah even closer to our border in one spot, it's wrong on a humanitarian basis, and it's wrong because it shows weakness.
Netanyahu is turning out to be as much of a pussy as Olmert. What could go wrong?
Labels: Ayoub Kara, Binyamin Netanyahu, Ghajar, Hezbullah, United Nations
