Israel's other weapons sources
Those of you who recall the story from 10 days or so ago when it was disclosed that the United States had
denied Israel Hellfire missiles for use in Gaza, and who are aware that Britain and Spain have placed an embargo on weapons sales to us, might be wondering whether Israel has sources for weapons other than the United States and Western Europe. Unfortunately, while we have such sales
they are negligible.
According to Defense Ministry figures, around one-quarter of the
output of the Israeli defense industry is intended for IDF use. The rest
is exported.
Despite official Israel’s reluctance to get specific
about its arms trade, reports submitted by various states to the UN’s
Register of Conventional Arms shed some light on the matter. For
example, Ukraine’s official reports state that two years ago, Ukraine
sold Israel 193 missiles and 32 launchers. According to reports made as
part of the voluntary disclosure mechanism, in 2010 Ukraine sold Israel
four Strella (SA-7) missiles and two launchers, about 75 Igla missiles
of various models and 10 launchers for them. It is not clear why Israel
purchased so many Russian-made shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles.
The assumption is that they are being acquired as part of Israel’s
development of systems to counter them, such as the aircraft-defense
system. As recently as February, Defense Ministry officials and Elbit
Systems announced the successful completion of tests of the Sky Shield
system, which is intended to protects civilian aircraft from
shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles. Arms experts have said it likely
that Russian-made missiles were used in the test. Still, the number of
missiles Ukraine reported selling to Israel is relatively large even for
that purpose. Defense Ministry officials declined to comment for this
report.
Reports in the UN Register that were examined in recent
years point to some more interesting acquisitions, mainly for
Soviet-made arms that are not considered at the forefront of technology.
For example, in 2008 Ukraine reported that it sold Israel a launcher
for BM-21 rockets — a launcher that the Israeli army used in the past
after it was captured as booty in the Yom Kippur War and used during the
first Lebanon War. Hezbollah uses it to fire Grad rockets. In 2006, the
Czech Republic sold Tochka tactical missile systems to Israel. Two
years previously, Bulgaria sold Israel six 130 mm artillery systems
about which no further details were provided.
Against the backdrop of reports about Britain and Spain examining their
arms sales to Israel, an expert characterized the amount of arms that
Israel purchases from countries other than the United States as
“negligible.”
...
Israel has signed several significant defense contracts with other
countries in recent years. Germany provides Israel with submarines from
its HDW shipyards in Kiel. Israel has purchased six submarines so far,
three of which are in use by the Israel navy. The IDF has taken delivery
of two submarines, with additional deliveries scheduled through the end
of 2019.
Italy last year arranged to sell 30 M-346 training
aircraft to Israel. The first of these are already making their first
flights. As part of the deal, Israel sold Italy several defense
products, an Israeli-made satellite and a deterrent aircraft produced by
Israel Aerospace Industries in a deal estimated at $2 billion dollars.
Last
month, the Defense Ministry issued an international tender for the
purchase of “defense ships,” which will be used to protect the offshore
natural-gas drilling rigs in the Mediterranean Sea. According to an
Israeli Navy plan for the protection of the rigs that the defense
minister and the chief of staff approved about two years ago, four more
large vessels will be required to secure the area properly, at a cost of
roughly 100 million dollars per ship. The names of several foreign
shipyards — in Germany, Italy, the United States and South Korea — were
mentioned in the past as possible makers of the ships that would protect
the natural-gas fields.
There are two answers. In the short term, export less and use our own arms. That will help only when the arms in question are arms that we produce domestically. Obviously, there are things (like submarines) that we do not produce domestically, and for which we will still be dependent on other countries.
But in the long run we should be developing our own military industry more than we have been. If we have learned nothing else in the last six years, we should have learned that there are even situations where we cannot count on the United States. We should not be dependent on anyone. Not even the United States. What if Hillary Clinton - or possibly worse Elizabeth Warren is the next President? We would have 4-8 more years of pressure and unreliability. It's time that we learn to cope on our own. We're a big enough economy to pull it off.
Labels: Barack Hussein Obama, Britain, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Elizabeth Warren, Germany, Hillary Clinton, Italy, military equipment, Russia, Spain, Ukraine, United States, weapons acquisition
Burgas terrorist active on Facebook?
The two Hezbullah bomb-makers and the terrorist who carried out the terror attack in Burgas, Bulgaria last summer may have smuggled the bomb parts into Bulgaria
on a train from Poland.
The suspected Hezbollah operatives behind the Burgas attack last July
smuggled a detonator and remote control device from Poland into
Bulgaria.
The Bulgarian daily Trud
reported on Monday that the bomber, who remains unidentified, and the
two additional Hezbollah suspects smuggled the bomb devices on a train
from Warsaw on June 28.
...
According to media reports in June, Poland hesitated to designate
Hezbollah’s military wing as a terrorist organization. It is unclear if
the Polish government was concerned about Hezbollah’s retaliation in
Poland.
The suspects Farah and Hassan used three Eastern European
countries for their terrorist operation. After the men detonated the
bomb, they fled to Romania and escaped to Lebanon.
Hezbollah has
used Europe over the last several years to conduct meetings to plan
terrorist operations. The convicted Hezbollah member , the
Swedish-Lebanese national, Hossam Taleb Yaacoub in Cyprus , used Lyon,
France and Amsterdam in the Netherlands, to hold meetings with his
Hezbollah handlers. A Cypriot court convicted Yaacoub in March for
planning to murder Israelis on the Mediterranean island. The court
sentenced Yaacoub to a four-year prison term.
Meanwhile, Threat Matrix, a blog run by the Long War Journal, reported on Monday that one of the Hezbullah terrorists may be
active on Facebook.
Farah, an Australian national who is believed to have built the bomb
in Bulgaria, may still be active on Facebook as authorities search for
him.
One Facebook account possibly attributable to Farah states that the
user studied at the Lebanese International University (LIU) and lives in
Australia. According to press reports, the printer utilized to create
the forged licenses carried by the Hezbollah cell responsible for the
Burgas terror attack was based at LIU, where the suspects are said to
have studied engineering.
The user of this account, who has 'liked' an array of celebrities and
athletes, including Usher and David Beckham, appears to have used
online chat services, such as Tohla and Omegle, among others. The user
of the account was also involved in online poker via Facebook.
Interestingly, none of the publicly available photos linked to the
account provides a match to the photo released by Bulgarian authorities.
In fact, the user has used photos of Turkish actor Necati Şaşmaz and
Iranian actor Mostafa Zamani as profile pictures. A photo of Zamani is
currently adopted as the user's profile picture.
The last public activity for this account, which has 62 friends, was
today, July 29, when the user became friends with a few women based in
Bulgaria, including at least one in Burgas.
There are two other accounts that may be connected to the bomb-maker.
Read the whole thing.
Labels: Bulgaria, Facebook, Hezbullah, Islamic terrorism
Smoking gun?
Perhaps
this is what finally convinced the European Union to ban Hezbullah's 'military wing.' A Bulgarian newspaper reported on Friday that Hezbullah transferred approximately $100,000 to the two terrorists (who were named by Bulgarian authorities last week) who carried out last summer's Burgas terror attack.
Hezbollah’s military wing transferred about $100,000 to of the two suspects in
last July’s bus bombing in Bulgaria that killed five Israelis and their local
bus driver, a Bulgarian newspaper reported on Friday.
The money was
allegedly wired to help fund the attack in the Black Sea resort town of Burgas
and for intelligence operations in Bulgaria and other countries, wrote AFP,
citing the local daily 24 Hours.
Bulgaria’s Interior Ministry on Thursday
said the two suspects were identified as 32- year-old Australian citizen Meliad
Farah, also known as Hussein Hussein, and 25- year-old Canadian citizen, Hassan
el-Hajj Hassan.
Bulgarian foreign intelligence agencies and international
financial institutions alleged the funds were transferred to the Burgas bombing
suspects’ bank accounts in Australia and Canada, according to the
report.
Go ahead, Europe. Keep fooling yourselves that it can't happen to you again.
Labels: Bulgaria, Hezbullah, Islamic terrorism
Europe v. Hezbullah
Here's Soccer Dad's Middle East Media Sampler for Tuesday, July 23.
Europe vs. Hezbollah
Yesterday, the European Union's foreign minsters voted unanimously to
designate Hezbollah's "military wing" a terrorist organization. This
will give European nations the authority to disrupt the organization's
finances.
The vote required unanimity and it was a long time in coming.
Last August, an article written by Nicholas Kulish of the New York Times, Despite Alarm by U.S., Europe Lets Hezbollah Operate Openly, told how freely Hezbollah operated in Germany.
While the group is believed to operate all over the Continent, Germany
is a center of activity, with 950 members and supporters last year, up
from 900 in 2010, Germany’s domestic intelligence agency said in its
annual threat report. On Saturday, Hezbollah supporters and others will
march here for the annual Jerusalem Day event, a protest against Israeli
control of that city. Organizers told the Berlin police that the event
would attract 1,000 marchers, and that two counterdemonstrations were
also likely.
Hezbollah has maintained a low profile in Europe since the attacks of
Sept. 11, 2001, quietly holding meetings and raising money that goes to
Lebanon, where officials use it for an array of activities — building
schools and clinics, delivering social services and, Western
intelligence agencies say, carrying out terrorist attacks.
European security services keep tabs on the group’s political
supporters, but experts say they are ineffective when it comes to
tracking the sleeper cells that pose the most danger. “They have real,
trained operatives in Europe that have not been used in a long time, but
if they wanted them to become active, they could,” said Alexander
Ritzmann, a policy adviser at the European Foundation for Democracy in
Brussels, who has testified before Congress on Hezbollah.
However at that time:
The European Union’s unwillingness to place the group on its list of
terrorist organizations is also complicating the West’s efforts to deal
with the Bulgarian bus bombing and the Syrian conflict. The week after
the attack in Bulgaria, Israel’s foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman,
traveled to Brussels for a regular meeting with European officials,
where he called for the European Union to include Hezbollah on the list.
But his pleas fell on deaf ears.
“There is no consensus among the E.U. member states for putting
Hezbollah in the terrorist-related list of the organizations,” Erato
Kozakou-Marcoullis, the foreign minister of Cyprus, which holds the
European Union’s rotating presidency, said at the time. “Should there be
tangible evidence of Hezbollah engaging in acts of terrorism, the E.U.
would consider listing the organization.”
However, in February of this year, when Bulgaria Implicated Hezbollah in July Attack on Israelis, the mood in Europe began to change.
The announcement could force the European Union to reconsider
designating the Lebanon-based group as a terrorist organization and
cracking down on its fund-raising. That would upend Europe’s policy of
quiet tolerance of the group, which, in addition to operating schools
and social services, is an influential force in Middle East politics,
considers Israel an enemy and has extensive links with Iran. ...
The United States, too, urged the European Union to condemn Hezbollah.
John O. Brennan, President Obama’s chief counterterrorism adviser and
his nominee to run the C.I.A., responded in a statement Tuesday: “We
call on our European partners as well as her members of the
international community to take proactive action to uncover Hezbollah’s
infrastructure and disrupt the group’s financing schemes and operational
networks in order to prevent future attacks.”
But countries including France and Germany have been wary of taking that
step, which could force confrontations with large numbers of Hezbollah
supporters living within their borders.
By May of this year, 3 in Europe Now Oppose Hezbollah, now including previously reluctant France and Germany.
The shift in stance by Germany, the most populous country in the
European Union and its largest economy, signals a significant change in
momentum. “The German position is based on an increasingly clearer
picture of the facts and on the progress achieved by Cypriot authorities
in analyzing terrorist activities,” the statement said. “Minister
Westerwelle hopes that the necessary consultations within the E.U. can
be concluded rapidly.” ...
In the past, France and some other countries, like Sweden, have opposed
putting Hezbollah on the terrorist blacklist, fearing it could
destabilize the Lebanese government. The Palestinian group Hamas is on
the list, and a number of European countries now believe that listing
Hamas was a mistake because of the important political role it plays in
Gaza and in the Palestinian political world. European officials are
banned from talking openly to Hamas officials, for example.
Mr. Fabius explained the changed French position by emphasizing Syria,
not Bulgaria. “Given the decisions taken by Hezbollah and the fact that
it has fought very hard against the Syrian population, I confirm that
France will propose to inscribe the military wing of Hezbollah on the
list of terrorist organizations” of the European Union, he said,
according to Agence France-Presse.
In June, at a meeting of EU security specialists, a vote to designate Hezbollah's military wing, did not achieve unanimity.
Diplomatic sources said Austria and the Czech republic led opposition at
a meeting of EU countries' counter-terrorism specialists in Brussels on
Wednesday (19 June).
Ireland, Italy and Poland also voiced concerns.
Objections centre around shaky evidence that Hezbollah bombed a bus containing Israeli tourists in Bulgaria last year.
At that point, it didn't look like another vote was going to come up on the topic until later this year.
But by the beginning of the month, momentum started to change.
Britain has argued that the militant Shi'ite Muslim group should face
European sanctions because of evidence that it was behind a bus bombing
in Bulgaria last July that killed five Israelis and their driver.
Hezbollah denies any involvement.
Diplomats say a majority of the 28 EU member states, including EU
heavyweights France and Germany, back the British proposal. But
unanimity is needed and Austria, the Czech Republic and Italy have been
among EU governments that have voiced reservations.
The British proposal has gained urgency - and some support - in Europe
in recent weeks because of Iranian-backed Hezbollah's deeper involvement
in the Syrian civil war.
Yesterday, the EU's foreign ministers voted unanimously to ban Hezbollah's "military wing," even though Hezbollah acknowledges that it has a unified leadership.
What changed in recent weeks?
The New York Times recently suggested that it was part of a "carrot-and-stick approach"
that Europe was employing towards Israel. According to the article,
Europe wants to show Israel that it is concerned for its security even
as it issues new guidelines regarding settlements, which, of course, are
for Israel's own good.
The problem is that the reporting for the article don't support that thesis.
But the official said he was “not aware of any connection” made between
the two issues either by Mr. Netanyahu or his counterparts. ...
While Israel is deeply concerned about the Union’s declaring Hezbollah a
terrorist group, Europe generally views Hezbollah as part of its issue
with Syria, not Israel. And because the Europeans — in contrast to
outraged Israelis — view the new guidelines as a minor step reflecting
longstanding policy, they do not see themselves as “owing Israel one.”
One possibility, as mentioned above, is that Hezbollah's involvement in
the Syrian civil war on the side of the Assad regimes has hurt its image
significantly in Europe. Another is that in the last week, Bulgaria
announced new evidence linking Hezbollah to the Burgas bombing. Also last week the Gulf Cooperation Council announced that it would blacklist Hezbollah as a terrorist group. While it's true that Hezbollah claims that Israel is its main enemy, it is not its exclusive target.
After giving a summary of the Hezbollah's activities in Europe, Matthew Levitt explains how the new designation could hurt Hezbollah:
Despite the formal focus on asset freezing, the most significant impact
of the EU ban will be felt on other fronts. First, it will enable EU
governments to initiate preemptive intelligence investigations into
activities that can be tied in any way to Hezbollah's military wing.
Germany and a handful of other European countries have already conducted
such investigations, but the designation will spur many others to do
so. This alone is a tremendous change that should make Europe a far less
attractive place for Hezbollah operatives.
Second, the ban is a strong means of communicating to Hezbollah that its
current activities are beyond the pale, and that continuing them will
exact a high cost. Previously, the group had been permitted to mix its
political and social welfare activities with its terrorist and criminal
activities, giving it an effective way to raise and launder money along
with a measure of immunity for its militant activities. Today's
designation makes clear to Hezbollah that international terrorism,
organized crime, and militia operations will endanger its legitimacy as a
political and social actor.
As for the financial angle, seizing significant amounts of Hezbollah
funds is unlikely because the group's accounts are presumably registered
under its nonmilitary names. But the ban will probably still curtail
Hezbollah fundraising. Some of the group's members may be barred from
traveling to Europe as governments become bolder in opening new
investigations, and Hezbollah leaders may curtail certain activities on
the continent as they assess the ban's full impact.
Recently it was reported that Hezbollah uses a network of German mosques to raise funds for its activities. Time will tell if the new designation will disrupt this effort.
Hezbollah has reacted predictably. With threats.
Hezbollah member of Parliament Walid Sukkarieh told reporters:
“Hezbollah isn’t a terrorist group with plans to commit acts of terror
in Europe – that is religiously forbidden. Our resistance is different.”
“Europe, by taking this decision, puts itself into confrontation with a
segment of people – with Hezbollah and its supporters and even all the
forces of confrontation in the region,” Sukkarieh continued.
Hezbollah threatens through its "FM" Adnan Mansour:
"states contributing to UNIFIL, more than others, should review its
calculations." (1)
— Tony Badran (@AcrossTheBay) July 22, 2013
More Hezbollah threats via Mansour to al-Manar: "there are local factions that played a negative role in [the EU decision]." (2)
— Tony Badran (@AcrossTheBay) July 22, 2013
Labels: Bulgaria, European Union, financing terror, Germany, Hezbullah, Middle East Media Sampler, Soccer Dad
Bulgaria has new evidence linking Hezbullah to Burgas
The Bulgarian government has new evidence
linking Hezbullah to the terror attack in Burgas last year in which five Israelis and a Bulgarian bus driver were murdered.
A Bulgarian representative to the European Union said Wednesday that
investigators have discovered that a Hezbollah operative was the owner
of a printer used to produce fake documents that facilitated the July 19
bombing of a bus filled with Israeli tourists in Burgas. Five Israelis
and their Bulgarian driver were killed in the attack.
The disclosure was made at a meeting of the CP931 working group,
according to an EU diplomat who was present. The group is charged with
determining whether the European Union will blacklist Hezbollah as a
terrorist organization.
“The Bulgarians put new evidence on the table during this meeting,”
the diplomat said. “Their representative said the printer had been sold
to someone from Hezbollah.”
The meeting was the second session convened at the request of
Britain, which regards Hezbollah’s military wing as a terrorist entity
and last month cited the Burgas attack in a motion to have the British
position adopted by the European Union.
The British position is gutless and ineffective. There is no split between a 'political' and a 'military' wing of Hezbullah, and allowing the 'political' wing to continue to operate will mean that the terror group raises millions of dollars in Europe.
What could go wrong?
Labels: Bulgaria, designated terror organization, Hezbullah
Ireland ♥'s Hezbullah?
In an unusual step, unnamed Israeli government officials have
accused Ireland of leading the charge in the European Union to prevent even the 'militant wing' of Hezbullah from being declared a designated terror organization.
According to the officials,
Ireland – which holds the EU’s rotating presidency – was supported in this
position by Sweden and Finland at a working group on Tuesday that debated the
issue.
...
A spokesman at Ireland’s embassy in Tel Aviv,
when asked if his country was indeed spearheading opposition to the move, said
that a formal proposal to designate the “military wing” of Hezbollah had been
made by one member state “and is currently being considered within the relevant
working group known as CP931, which Ireland chairs as the current EU
president.”
The spokesman said that an initial discussion was held on
Tuesday, and that further discussions would be required to see whether the
working group “can arrive at an agreed position on the proposal.”
That
meeting, the spokesman said, was scheduled to take place within the next couple
of weeks.
He did not reveal Ireland’s stand on the
matter.
However, one Israeli government official who said Dublin was
leading the opposition charged that this position was “unusual,” given that
Germany, France and Spain – which all have large contingents in UNIFIL – now
back the move.
Media outside Israel have claimed that there are other countries trying to save Hezbullah's fundraising sources.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Austria was also
opposed, while Lebanon’s Daily Star reported that Italy was leading European
opposition.
The claim of Italian opposition was dismissed by Israeli
government officials as “unsubstantiated rumors.” A formal request to the
Italian Embassy in Tel Aviv for a response went unanswered.
The Europeans' total lack of courage is hair-raising. They cannot even agree to declare Hezbullah's
fake 'military wing' a terrorist organization. What could go wrong?
Labels: Bulgaria, European Union, Finland, France, Germany, Hezbullah, Ireland, Italy, Sweden
Bulgaria getting cold feet on Hezbullah
Bulgaria is getting cold feet on
Hezbullah's involvement in the Burgas terror attack last summer.
Bulgaria said on Wednesday it only had an "indication" that Lebanon's
Hezbollah might have been behind a deadly bus bombing in July and that
this alone did not justify any European Union move to list it as a
terrorist group.
The new Socialist-led government backed away from charges by its center-right predecessor that
the Shi'ite Muslim militant group had carried out the attack that
killed five Israelis and their Bulgarian bus driver in the Black Sea
city of Burgas.
"It is important that the (EU) decision be based not only on the
bombing in Burgas because I think the evidence we have is not explicit,"
Foreign Minister Kristian Vigenin, whose government took office last
week, told national state radio BNR.
"There is an indication that
it is possible (that Hezbollah was behind it) but we cannot take
decisions with important consequences for the EU based on indirect data.
"If we have enough serious proof from other cases, then we will not waver to back such a decision," Vigenin said.
You don't think the Bulgarians are afraid of being hung out to dry by the Americans and the rest of the Europeans do you?
Labels: Bulgaria, designated terror organization, Hezbullah, Islamic terrorism
Soccer Dad's Middle East Media Sampler
Here's Soccer Dad's Middle East Media Sampler for Wednesday, April 24.
1) Friedman resurrects "Fayyadism"
Some time ago, Thomas Friedman coined the term "Fayyadism," a concept that, according to Nathan Brown, never had a chance.
Why Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad never had a chance to meet the high expectations placed on him atfp.co/10hH6rY
— Foreign Policy (@ForeignPolicy) April 18, 2013
(No I don't agree with everything Brown argues, but the fourth and fifth paragraphs are good observations.)
In his most recent column, Goodbye to Fayyad Thomas Friedman boasts about his neologism:
Who is Salam Fayyad? A former economist at the International Monetary
Fund, he first came to prominence when he was named finance minister of
the Palestinian Authority in 2002, after donors got fed up seeing their
contributions diverted for corruption. Shortly after he became prime
minister in 2007, I coined the term “Fayyadism” — the all-too-rare
notion that an Arab leader’s legitimacy should be based not on slogans
or resistance to Israel and the West or on personality cults or security
services, but on delivering decent, transparent, accountable
governance.
Whether he used the term "Fayyadism" in other fora, I don't know, but
the earliest mention of it in a column was in a 2009 column, Greet Shoots in Palestine.
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is to the wider Middle East what
off-Broadway is to Broadway. It is where all good and bad ideas get
tested out first. Well, the Palestinian prime minister, Salam Fayyad, a
former I.M.F. economist, is testing out the most exciting new idea in
Arab governance ever. I call it “Fayyadism.”
Fayyadism is based on the simple but all-too-rare notion that an Arab
leader’s legitimacy should be based not on slogans or rejectionism or
personality cults or security services, but on delivering transparent,
accountable administration and services.
...
Things are truly getting better in the West Bank, thanks to a
combination of Fayyadism, improved Palestinian security and a lifting of
checkpoints by Israel. In all of 2008, about 1,200 new companies
registered for licenses here. In the first six months of this year,
almost 900 have registered. According to the I.M.F., the West Bank
economy should grow by 7 percent this year.
While it's possible that Friedman came up with "Fayyadism" in 2007, the
context of the 2009 mention suggests that the term was based on the
results of Fayyad's governance, so I believe that Friedman is mistaken
about his own record.
But what's worse than this possible lapse is that Friedman demonstrated
his absolute ignorance of Palestinian politics. Over the time that he sporadically advertised "Fayyadism" as the path to peace, Freidman wrote in a 2011 column, Bibi and Barack:
And it is equally silly for the Palestinians to be going to the United
Nations for a state when they need to be persuading Israelis why a
Hamas-Fatah rapprochement is in their security interest.
Hamas made it absolutely clear that it wanted Fayyad sidelined
and yet Friedman told us that a Fatah-Hamas agreement would be to
Israel's benefit. This suggests that "Fayyadism" is one more empty
Friedman phrase. "Fayyadism" was a handy rhetorical stick with which to
beat Israel. Sure Fayyad is more honest and transparent that any other
Palestinian leader, but he is also a leader without an internal constituency.
If Friedman could tout a peace killing alliance between Fatah and Hamas
the same time he promoted "Fayyadism" as the only way to peace, it
demonstrates that he is disingenuous, if not illogical and ignorant.
In today's column, Friedman also asserts:
Fayyad also played the leading role in rebuilding the Palestinian
security services in the West Bank, which even the Israeli military grew
to respect, and in trying to build Palestinian institutions, on the
argument that the more Palestinians built their institutions — finance,
police, social services — the more Israel’s denial of them of a state
will be unsustainable.
Lately there's been a rise in attempts to kidnap Israeli soldiers and rock attacks against Jewish residents of Judea and Samaria,
suggesting that the Palestinian security forces are helpful, when they
want to be, but can hardly be relied upon. Furthermore, even with the
built up institutions, the PA is still way too dependent on foreign aid.
(This is something that Friedman implicitly acknowledges later in the
column, but he, of course, blames the shortfall on Israel for holding
back tax monies, ignoring the ineffectiveness of Palestinian
governance.)
Hamas hated Fayyad, and many Palestinian Authority officials were
jealous of him, but success protected him until 2011. President Mahmoud
Abbas, frustrated by the right-wing Israeli government’s refusal to
strike a land-for-peace deal, decided to seek recognition of Palestinian
statehood at the United Nations. The United States retaliated by
cutting off aid, and Israel did so by withholding Palestinian tax
receipts. I thought it foolish for Abbas to go to the U.N., but I
thought it irresponsible for America’s Congress to cut off aid to the
Palestinians for doing so — when we’ve never retaliated for the even
more obstructionist building of settlements by Israel.
"Hamas hated Fayyad," and yet Friedman wanted Fatah to join with Hamas
for Israel's "security!" Going to the UN wasn't foolish, it was a
violation of the premises of the peace process Friedman claims to
support. Friedman and the PA may not like settlements but they were
allowed by the Oslo Accords, even if Israel has largely restricted any
building in them to existing communities. (Though Israel gets precious
little credit for this.)
At the end of his column, Friedman presents 4 "takeways." The second and
third are ludicrous, but the first one makes a lot of sense:
For Palestinians, particularly Abbas and Fatah, who so easily turned
their most effective executive into a scapegoat, if there is no place
for a Salam Fayyad-type in your leadership, an independent state will
forever elude you.
Fayyad's failure isn't a failure of Israel or of Israel's settlers. It
is a failure of Palestinian culture. (Though he'd be loath to admit it,
Friedman's making a similar argument to the one Mitt Romney made last
year!)
The problem is that most of the rest of the column is at odds with this
observation as Friedman blamed everyone else but the Palesitnians for
Fayyad's failure!
Friedman's fourth "takeaway" is:
“There is nothing inevitable about a liberal order emerging from any of
these Arab awakenings,” argues the pollster Craig Charney. Indeed, to
produce that outcome takes someone like a Fayyad with the consistent
help of external parties as well as a loyal base at home ready to see it
through. In the end, Fayyad had neither. Add another nail in the coffin
of the two-state solution.
Note that first Friedman suggested that the Palestinians bear the blame
for their failure to achieve statehood, then he writes that he despairs
of a two state solution. The evidence is before him but he is blind to
what it means. The occupation (his obsession) is mostly over. What is
left is for the Palestinians to achieve independence. That's not
something that is dependent on Israel, but on the Palestinians changing
their political culture. Had Fayyad managed to win political support -
either in the Palestinian leadership or in the street - maybe he'd be
more than a footnote right now.
Jonathan Schanzer laments some in Congress are seeking to pressure Abbas to draft a new succession law.
Hamas’ anticipated rise to power in the PA could lead to a
cut off in critical U.S. aid dollars and foster an even more fraught
relationship with Israel and America, according to the Rep. Peter Roskam
(R., Ill.), the House’s chief deputy whip.
“It’s one of the things Congress will have to monitor closely,” Roskam said in an interview.
Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, he said, are poised to “encourage
the PA to deal with their succession plan. The notion of a default
position of a Hamas official being the head of the PA is complete
unacceptable and if the PA were to make that decision to have that
leadership, the consequences are quite significant.”
The failure of Friedman's fabled "Fayyadism" is unconnected to Israel.
Until the Palestinian culture is about openness and opportunity rather
than despotism and grievance, reform and self-governance will elude the
Palestinians. As long as Thomas Friedman continues blaming his
ill-informed and mendacious arguments he is covering for, not fighting
Palestinian malfeasance and misrule.
2) Getting around with Hezbollah
Last month the National Post reported Hezbollah deliberately seeks Canadians because of internationally accepted passports: senior CSIS official:
The terrorist group Hezbollah has been seeking operatives with Canadian
passports, a senior intelligence official told MPs reviewing a bill
Thursday that could strip terrorists of their citizenship.
Appearing before the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration,
the Canadian Security Intelligence Service official said Canadian
passport holders were being actively sought by terrorist groups.
...
The RCMP is also investigating allegations a Lebanese-Canadian Hezbollah
member was behind last July’s bombing of a bus full of Israeli tourists
at Sarafovo airport on the Black Sea coast. The suspect, who now lives
in Lebanon, had used his Canadian passport to travel to Bulgaria.
Now it's been reported that Iran agent monitoring Chabad arrested in Bulgaria:
Bulgarian police officers last summer arrested a Canadian citizen linked
to the Iranian government who engaged in surveillance of the local
Chabad center in the capital of Sofia, a well-placed and reliable local
source told The Jerusalem Post last week, on condition of anonymity due
to security reasons.
An Iranian-sponsored female agent in her 50s, holding a Canadian
passport, traveled from Istanbul to Sofia several weeks after the
bombing of the Israeli tour bus in the Black Sea resort town of Burgas
in July 2012. She was arrested on her first day in Sofia after the
Bulgarian police, on high alert, noticed she was monitoring the Chabad
center.
While it isn't certain that this agent was working for Hezbollah, the
possibility certainly can't be ruled out since Hezbollah is a proxy of
Iran and Syria.
And how is Hezbollah funding its international operations? The Jerusalem Post reports:
Jonathan Schanzer, vice president for research for the Foundation for
Defense of Democracies, says exchange houses have been used more
frequently in recent years by the Islamic Republic in Iran to fund its
nuclear program, as sanctions have increasingly restricted its access to
resources.
“It’s not insignificant that Europe is identified as a place where Hezbollah is apparently selling drugs,” Schanzer said.
...
Experts say that Hezbollah’s asymmetric fund-raising campaign has kicked
in to high gear as the regime of Bashar Assad in Syria has lost ground
in its war against his fellow countrymen. The Assad regime, and the
Ayatollah regime in Iran, are Hezbollah’s primary patrons.
With Iran and Syria limited in the resources it can provide Hezbollah,
the terrorist organization is turning to drugs and money laundering to
finance its operations.
Labels: Bulgaria, Canada, Hezbullah, Iran, Middle East Media Sampler, Salam Fayyad, Soccer Dad, Tom Friedman
The price of appeasement, Part 1
Europe continues to delude itself that Hezbullah is not a terror organization, or alternatively that it has a 'political branch' that is not a terror organization. Europe will not ban Hezbullah, partly because they fear it, partly because they don't recognize the full extent of its threat and that it cannot be bought off in the long run, and partly because Hezbullah '
only targets Jews' anyway.
But Europe's appeasement of Hezbullah comes with an ever increasing price. JPost reports that shortly after the Burgas terror attack last summer, an Iranian woman traveling on a Canadian passport was caught
surveilling the Chabad Center in Sofia.
An Iranian-sponsored female agent in her 50s, holding a Canadian
passport, traveled from Istanbul to Sofia several weeks after the bombing of the Israeli tour bus
in the Black Sea resort town of Burgas in July 2012. She was arrested
on her first day in Sofia after the Bulgarian police, on high alert,
noticed she was monitoring the Chabad center.
Her mission was to
survey the Chabad center – which houses a synagogue – and not the main
Sofia Sephardi synagogue, as first reported.
The Canadian may be a dual Iranian-Canadian citizen.
...
Dr. Matthew Levitt, director of the Stein Program on Counterterrorism
and Intelligence at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, and a
leading authority on Hezbollah’s global terror operations, told the
Post that, “It would not surprise [us] if Iran or Hezbollah were found
to be behind this plot [against the Chabad center] last year. Recall
that five years earlier Western intelligence indicated that ‘Hezbollah
chiefs and Iranian intelligence officials had put Bulgaria on a list of
nations propitious for developing plots against Western targets.’ “Their
first attempt at killing Israeli tourists failed when a suspicious
package was noticed on a bus carrying Israeli tourists from Turkey to
Bulgaria in January 2012. Six months later Hezbollah operatives struck
again, this time with devastating success in Burgas.”
The latest
disclosure about Iran’s alleged monitoring of the Chabad center may add
new weight to the EU talks about banning Hezbollah, Iran’s chief proxy
in Europe.
Dr. Wahied Wahdat-Hagh, an expert on Iranian terrorism
in Europe and senior fellow with the Brussels-based European Foundation
for Democracy, told the Post on Saturday, “Europe needs to wake up and
learn from Hezbollah’s terrorism.” He said the group uses Iranian
“know-how and money” to launch its terror attacks.
Islamic terror organizations have a special place in their hearts for Jews in general, and for religious Jews and especially for
Chabad in particular. People who are visibly Jewish seem to disturb them more than others. And the world doesn't care.
Labels: anti-Semitism, appeasement, Bulgaria, Chabad House, designated terror organization, European Union, Hezbullah, Jews
Iran planned to bomb synagogue in Sofia
According to a report by an American think tank, within days after the terrorist attack at Burgas, Bulgaria last summer, Bulgarian authorities caught personnel of
Iran's Qods Force militia staking out a synagogue in the Bulgarian capital, Sofia.
According to a 2013 Washington Institute for Near East Policy report titled Hizballah and the Qods Force in Iran’s Shadow War with the West,
“within days after the explosion in Burgas — while the investigation
into the bombing and the search for accomplices was at its height —
Bulgarian authorities reportedly caught a Qods Force operative scoping
out a synagogue in the country’s capital.”
Israeli intelligence
officials disclosed the Qods Force surveillance of the Sofia synagogue
to the report’s author, Dr. Matthew Levitt, a leading authority on
Hezbollah and director of the Stein Program on Counterterrorism and
Intelligence at the Washington Institute.
...
Asked about the surveillance and arrest of an Iranian Qods force
operative in Sofia, Dimitar Yaprakov, a Bulgarian foreign ministry
spokesman, answered the Post by email on Monday that “you may address [your questions] to the Ministry of Interior of Bulgaria.”
In response to a Post query,
a press spokesperson from the Interior Ministry wrote “Such kind of
information does not fall within the scope of the competence of MoI, it
falls within the competences of SANS, the State Agency for National
Security.”
A spokeswoman for SANS told the Post by phone that the security agency would work on a reply.
Maybe Iran should also be named a designated terror organization.
Labels: Bulgaria, Hezbullah, Iran, Islamic terrorism
Bulgaria won't push for EU sanctions on Hezbullah
In a concession to opposition groups who fear reprisals, Bulgaria's new Prime Minister said on Saturday that his country
will not push the European Union for sanctions against Hezbullah. It was a terror attack on Bulgarian soil that led to the calls for sanctions against Hezbullah in the first place.
Marin Raikov did not give a reason for his decision - but it will likely
be seen as a concession to Bulgarian opposition groups, who have argued
the country could open itself up to more attacks if it takes the lead
in blacklisting Hezbollah.
Raikov, a career diplomat, took over at the head of a technocrat
administration on Wednesday after mass protests against poverty and
corruption by opposition groups and other activists brought down
Bulgaria's center-right government.
He was appointed by the president to maintain market confidence and placate protesters before an election on May 12.
Opposition
leaders had also used the protests to denounce what they saw as
irresponsible government accusations that Hezbollah was behind last
year's bombing that killed five Israelis in the Black Sea resort of
Burgas.
"Bulgaria will not initiate a procedure (for listing
Hezbollah as a 'terrorist organization')," Raikov told the state BNR
radio station. "We will only present the objective facts and
circumstances and let our European partners decide."
I suppose it would be too much to expect interim technocrats to have any courage. Europe continues to weasel....
Labels: Bulgaria, European Union, Hezbullah, Islamic terrorism
Bulgaria thumbs its nose to terrorists, expels Hamas members
Bulgaria has once again thumbed its nose at terrorists,
expelling a Hamas delegation that was visiting the Eastern European country. Hamas was attempting to use the visit to prove that it is being welcomed across Europe. Well, no, it's not.
Three officials from Hamas' parliamentary party the Change and Reform
Bloc -- Ismail al-Ashqar, Salah al-Bardawil and Mushir al-Masri --
arrived in Bulgaria on Wednesday.
The bloc said in a statement
Friday that Bulgarian security ordered them to leave the country before
the end of the five-day visit. They said Israeli pressure was behind the
move, and noted that they entered the country officially.
The Hamas delegation left Bulgaria shortly after.
The
PLO ambassador in Bulgaria told Ma'an he was informed by the Bulgarian
foreign ministry that they "regret" the presence of the Hamas delegation
and took a decision to ask them to leave.
Amb. Ahmed Madbouh
said the foreign ministry denied it had raided the hotel, but rather had
a "calm discussion" with the Hamas delegates.
...
Hamas official Ahmad Yousef said Friday that his party's visit to Bulgaria could presage moving Hamas off the EU terrorism list.
Saying
he had specific information, which he could not yet reveal, Yousef told
Ma'an that EU countries had "no reservations against removing Hamas
from the terrorism list," with the exception of Germany and the Czech
Republic.
"There is more than one country in Europe that welcomes Hamas MPs, and this is a good sign," he said.
However,
the Bulgarian government immediately moved to clarify that the
delegates were not officially invited, and would not meet with
government representatives, according to the Sofia news agency.
Sounds like Hamas isn't coming off the terrorism list anytime soon.
Labels: Bulgaria, Hamas, Islamic terrorism
Bulgaria's unwanted guests
The Bulgarian government is doing everything it can to
dissociate itself from a visit to its country by Hamas 'legislators' this past week. Hamas, unlike Hezbullah, has been named a designated terror organization by the European Union.
The Bulgarian government flatly rejected on Thursday meetings between
official representatives of the government and Hamas. Vessela Tcherneva,
the spokeswoman for the Bulgarian foreign ministry, told the Jerusalem Post
that “the news about an official visit of Hamas is wrong and false” and
no one has invited Hamas from the side of the government."
She added that the Hamas representatives are “on a private visitation of a NGO” in Sofia.
A spokeswoman for Israel’s Ambassador to Bulgaria, Shaul Kamisa Raz, conveyed a statement to the Post from Israel’s top envoy. Raz said,” Hamas is recognized as a terror organization by the EU.
There
can be no ambiguity about this group and its purposes. As for this
recent visit to Bulgaria, we are looking into this. In order to
understand the exact circumstances under which this visit took place,we
prefer not to make any further comments at this point." Ismail
al-Ashkar, head of the Hamas parliamentary list, Change and Reform,
headed the delegation.
Hamas legislators Salah Bardaweel and
Mushir al-Masri, who is also a spokesman for the Islamist movement in
the Gaza Strip, accompanied him. The three Hamas officials arrived in
Bulgaria at the invitation of the Center for International and Middle
East Studies, sources close to the movement said.
Read the whole thing.
You still have to wonder why the Bulgarian government allowed them in.
Labels: Bulgaria, European Union, Hamas, Palestinian terrorism
Bulgaria: Iran did not withdraw its ambassador
I reported earlier that
Iran had withdrawn its ambassador to Bulgaria after being named one of the parties behind last summer's Burgas terror attack.
Bulgaria is now denying that story.
"That's not true. The term of Iran's ambassador to Sofia expires at the
end of this week. A new envoy, who was appointed months ago, will arrive
in Bulgaria on the next day," the news agency quoted Bulgarian Foreign
Ministry spokesman Vessela Cherneva as saying to TV channel Evropa.
Hmmm.
Labels: Bulgaria, Hezbullah, Iran, Islamic terrorism
Soccer Dad's Middle East Media Sampler
Here's Soccer Dad's Middle East Media Sampler for Friday, February 8.
1)Not much political about them
Once upon a time, President Obama's counter-terrorism chief and current
CIA nominee, John Brennan advocated engaging with Hezbollah.
In 2009, Barry Rubin quoted from a paper written by Brennan:
“It would not be foolhardy, however, for the United States to
tolerate, and even to encourage, greater assimilation of Hezbollah into
Lebanon's political system, a process that is subject to Iranian
influence. Hezbollah is already represented in the Lebanese parliament
and its members have previously served in the Lebanese cabinet,
reflections of Hezbollah's interest in shaping Lebanon's political
future from within government institutions. This political involvement
is a far cry from Hezbollah's genesis as solely a terrorist organization
dedicated to murder, kidnapping, and violence. Not coincidentally, the
evolution of Hezballah into a fully vested player in the Lebanese
political system has been accompanied by a marked reduction in terrorist
attacks carried out by the organization. The best hope for maintaining
this trend and for reducing the influence of violent extremists within
the organization—as well as the influence of extremist Iranian officials
who view Hezbollah primarily as a pawn of Tehran—is to increase
Hezbollah’s stake in Lebanon’s struggling democratic processes”
This kind of thinking would do far more than bury Lebanon. It would bury
U.S. interests and influence in the Middle East. And so it is only
appropriate to quote William Shakespeare’s lines for another funeral
oration: “If you have tears, prepare to shed them now!”
Yes, it would be foolhardy for the United States to encourage growing
influence and power for a radical Islamist terrorist group that is a
client of Syria and reasonably close to being an agent of Iran. Brennan
seems to give no evidence of any serious knowledge about the Middle
East.
The recent Bulgarian investigation, implicating Hezbollah in last year's
terror attack in Burgas, apparently has Brennan rethinking his
position. Lee Smith writes in Blaming terrorists for terrorism:
The Obama administration and other U.S. officials greeted the Sofia
report with enthusiasm. The White House’s counterterrorism adviser John
Brennan commended “its friend and NATO ally.” Obama’s nominee for CIA
director has in the past indicated he’s somewhat confused about
Hezbollah, recommending for instance that Washington should seek to
empower the terror group’s so-called “moderates.” But regarding the
Burgas bombing, Brennan was clear-eyed. “Bulgaria’s investigation
exposes Hizballah for what it is,” Brennan said in a released statement,
“a terrorist group that is willing to recklessly attack innocent men,
women, and children, and that poses a real and growing threat not only
to Europe, but to the rest of the world.”
New Secretary of State John Kerry also weighed in, urging “other
governments around the world – and particularly our partners in Europe –
to take immediate action to crack down on Hizballah. We need to send an
unequivocal message to this terrorist group that it can no longer
engage in despicable actions with impunity.”
Kerry is referring to the ongoing debate within the European Union
whether or not to designate Hezbollah as a terrorist organization.
France and Germany are against listing Lebanon’s Islamic resistance, and
led an aggressive campaign to convince the Bulgarians not to name
Hezbollah as the culprit. The Netherlands, on the other hand, has been
pushing for designation and has blacklisted Hezbollah separately from
any EU actions. The UK meanwhile has designated Hezbollah’s “military
wing,” an action taken largely because of Hezbollah fighters that
squared off against UK troops in Iraq, and intended to distinguish it
from the outfit’s “political wing,” a distinction that the Bulgarian
report made implicitly.
However as Smith and others have pointed out, Hezbollah's number two official, Naim Qassem said in a 2009 interview with the LA Times:
Neither
Qassem nor Washington distinguish between the Shiite militant group's
political wing, which has members serving in the Lebanese Cabinet and
parliament, and its military wing, preparing for the next round of
battle against Israel. "Hezbollah has a single leadership," said the
57-year-old cleric in a rare interview with an American reporter
recently.
"All
political, social and jihad work is tied to the decisions of this
leadership," he said. "The same leadership that directs the
parliamentary and government work also leads jihad actions in the
struggle against Israel."
Bulgaria's actions contrast favorably with those of Argentina, which
recently chose to cooperate with Iran in attempting to learn the truth
about the 1994 bombing of the Jewish community center in Buenos Aries.
Lee Smith writes in Iran to investigate JCC bombing:
Israel’s Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon likened the formation
of the truth committee to “inviting the murderer to participate in the
murder investigation.” It’s a fair assessment. From the outset, the
Iranian regime was believed to have been responsible for the AMIA Jewish
community center attack, as well as the 1992 bombing of the Israeli
embassy in Buenos Aires, which killed 29 and injured 242.
But it wasn’t until October 2006, when Argentinian special prosecutors
officially charged that it had been carried out by a team of Hezbollah
operatives, including the late head of the terrorist group’s external
operations unit, Imad Mughniyeh, under the direction of the highest
authorities in Tehran. An Argentinian court issued arrest warrants for
Mughniyeh as well as six senior Iranian figures, among them former
President Ali Rafsanjani and current Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi.
According to the report that the special prosecutors presented the judge
in the case, a group called the Special Affairs Committee, which
includes Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and Rafsanjani, convened in the
Iranian city of Mashad on Aug. 14, 1993, to approve the attack.
Iran, of course, has long denied any involvement in the AMIA attack, and
its intense diplomatic efforts to shirk responsibility seem to have
finally paid off. Mutual commercial interests and shared ideological
sympathies have brought Argentina and Iran closer than ever before—and
this so-called truth committee is only the latest evidence of the
increasingly close alliance.
In an interesting irony, a reporter, Borzou Daragahi, tweeted the other
day that Israel had paid off Bulgaria to implicate Hezbollah. After the
tweet was exposed and publicized, Daragahi backed off his charge.
Daraghi was also the reporter who interviewed Qassem in 2009.
2) Not even pretending
I guess as a way to balance out Shmuel Rosner's essays in Latitudes, the
New York Times has engaged Raja Shehadeh to write about all the
outrages Israel visits upon the Palestinians.
A few months ago he claimed that Israel was preventing Palestinians from getting needed medical treatment. The numbers tell a much different story.
Now in More than a land grab he raises the specter of "settlers."
Meanwhile, last Thursday a fact-finding mission of the U.N. Human
Rights Council issued a scathing report about the settlers’ tactics,
perhaps the boldest report ever issued by a U.N. body. It noted that
“the identities of settlers who are responsible for violence and
intimidation are known to the Israeli authorities, yet these acts
continue with impunity.” It continued: “The mission believes that the
motivation behind this violence and the intimidation against the
Palestinians as well as their properties is to drive the local
population away from their lands and allow the settlements to expand.”
Depending on the UN Human Rights Council for an objective view of Israel is ridiculous. A recent New York Times editorial
(illogically) criticized Israel for not submitting to a human rights
review by that organization even as it acknowledged that the council
singled out Israel for disparate treatment.
NGO Monitor explains that the fact finding practiced by the UNHRC didn't follow proper protocols. The Australia/Israel and Jewish Affairs Council weighs in with specific criticisms of the UNHRC report. (h/t Bennett Ruda)
Of course balance would be the goal if Shehadeh were honest. But
Shehadeh isn't simply trying to make people understand the Palestinian
perspective. He is using inaccuracies, distortions and generalizations
to demonize Israel. He can even give his arguments some "substance"
because there are institutions like the UN and Ha'aretz that are always
eager to portray Israel as beyond redemption. In engaging Shehadeh, the
New York Times once again demonstrates its disdain for Israel, as well
as for the truth.
3) That 3 AM phone call
The editors of the Washington Post ask Why did Mr. Obama overrule his advisers on Syria?
WE NOW know that President Obama’s national security team
overwhelmingly supported providing arms to the rebels in Syria. On
Thursday, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta told a Senate committee that he
and Gen. Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,
backed a plan that would have vetted, trained and armed selected
opposition groups, which have been pleading for such U.S. support for
more than a year. According to the New York Times, the strategy was
developed by former CIA director David H. Petraeus and supported by
former secretary of state Hillary Rodham Clinton.
As we have frequently argued, the rationale for such action is
compelling. Syria’s civil war, which has killed more than 60,000 people,
grows steadily worse and more dangerous for the United States and its
allies. An opposition that once was a peaceful pro-democracy movement
has been all but overtaken by jihadist organizations, including an
al-Qaeda affiliate, that receive ample funding and weapons supplies from
abroad.
This is incredible. During the Bush administration stories that
suggested that President Bush ignored intelligence that his approach to
Iraq was wrong regularly were treated as above-the-fold-front-page-news.
Now we have news that the current president refused the unanimous
recommendation of every single senior member of his foreign policy team.
While the Washington Post is disturbed by this, there's been little
else written about President Obama's failure to heed this advice. There
was a time when American intervention may have helped steer the Syrian
rebellion. That time has long ago passed. (Barry Rubin noted the administration's failure
to aid the rebels and gain some influence among them, last May.) That
the President persisted despite the recommendation of
his advisers should be a major scandal.
Maybe President Obama answered the proverbial 3AM phone call, but then
he did nothing to show that he appreciated its significance.
Labels: AMIA truck bombing, Argentina, Barack Hussein Obama, Bulgaria, Hezbullah, Islamic terrorism, Middle East Media Sampler, Palestinian lies, Soccer Dad, Syrian uprising, United Nations Human Rights Council
Name and shame: Financial Times reporter tweets 'Israel bribed Bulgaria,' later apologizes
Borzou Daragahi, the Middle East and North Africa correspondent for the Financial Times of London, has now apologized for a tweet on Tuesday that implied that
Israel had bribed Bulgaria to implicate Hezbullah in the Burgas terror attack.
“Sincere apologies and regret for
ill-conceived tweet yesterday about Israel and Bulgaria,” Borzou
Daragahi, the London-based newspaper’s Middle East and North Africa
correspondent, wrote Wednesday on Twitter.
The previous day Daragahi had tweeted, “I
don’t doubt Hezbollah/Iran could be behind Bulgaria bombing, but also
think Israel could pay Sofia to say anything.” He included a URL of a
Reuters article quoting Bulgarian Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov as
blaming two Hezbollah operatives for the July 18 bus bombing in Burgas
in which six people were killed, including five Israeli tourists.
Not quite as bad an instance as I expected of the correction getting far less publicity than the original. The
original tweet was retweeted 15 times and favorited four times, while
the correction was retweeted 10 times and favorited once. But Mr. Daragahi has over 13,000 followers. And as
one commenter pointed out in the correction, the tweet just might be indicative of Mr. Daragahi's biases.
Sounds like he should at least have been transferred.
Labels: anti-Israel media bias, Bulgaria, Hezbullah, Islamic terrorism
Soccer Dad's Middle East Media Sampler
Here's Soccer Dad's Middle East Media Sampler for Wednesday, February 6.
1) Implicating Hezbollah
The New York Times reports Bulgaria Implicates Hezbollah in July Attack on Israelis. (more via memeorandum)
The announcement could force the European Union to reconsider
designating the Lebanon-based group as a terrorist organization and
cracking down on its fund-raising. That would upend Europe’s policy of
quiet tolerance of the group, which, in addition to operating schools
and social services, is an influential force in Middle East politics,
considers Israel an enemy and has extensive links with Iran.
...
The United States, too, urged the European Union to condemn Hezbollah.
John O. Brennan, President Obama’s chief counterterrorism adviser and
his nominee to run the C.I.A., responded in a statement Tuesday: “We
call on our European partners as well as other members of the
international community to take proactive action to uncover Hezbollah’s
infrastructure and disrupt the group’s financing schemes and operational
networks in order to prevent future attacks.”
But countries including France and Germany have been wary of taking that
step, which could force confrontations with large numbers of Hezbollah
supporters living within their borders.
Last August the New York Times reported Despite Alarm by U.S., Europe Lets Hezbollah Operate Openly:
While the group is believed to operate all over the Continent,
Germany is a center of activity, with 950 members and supporters last
year, up from 900 in 2010, Germany’s domestic intelligence agency said
in its annual threat report. On Saturday, Hezbollah supporters and
others will march here for the annual Jerusalem Day event, a protest
against Israeli control of that city. Organizers told the Berlin police
that the event would attract 1,000 marchers, and that two
counterdemonstrations were also likely.
Hezbollah has maintained a low profile in Europe since the attacks of
Sept. 11, 2001, quietly holding meetings and raising money that goes to
Lebanon, where officials use it for an array of activities — building
schools and clinics, delivering social services and, Western
intelligence agencies say, carrying out terrorist attacks.
European security services keep tabs on the group’s political
supporters, but experts say they are ineffective when it comes to
tracking the sleeper cells that pose the most danger. “They have real,
trained operatives in Europe that have not been used in a long time, but
if they wanted them to become active, they could,” said Alexander
Ritzmann, a policy adviser at the European Foundation for Democracy in
Brussels, who has testified before Congress on Hezbollah.
Benjamin Weinthal reports in the Jerusalem Post, Bulgaria: Hezbollah behind Burgas attack:
Hezbollah’s number 2 leader Naim Qassem rejected the British
separation of his organization into political and military wings. He
told the LA Times in 2009, “The same leadership that directs the
parliamentary and government work also leads jihad actions in the
struggle against Israel.”
This is an important admission because a lot of commentary will attempt
to differentiate between Hezbollah's "military" and "political" wings.
The Washington Post calls for the European Union to respond to Hezbollah’s attack in Bulgaria:
Since then the Quds Force has, among other things, plotted to kill
the Saudi ambassador to the United States in Washington and the U.S.
ambassador to Azerbaijan, and it has attacked an Israeli diplomat’s wife
in India. Hezbollah has attempted attacks on Israeli tourists in
Cyprus, Greece and Thailand as well as in Bulgaria. Mr. Levitt says that
more than 20 terror attacks by Hezbollah or the Iranian force were
detected between May 2011 and July 2012; fortunately, almost all failed
or were disrupted.
...
The United States, which long ago designated Hezbollah as a terrorist
organization, has been pressing European leaders to do the same so that
the group’s funds in European banks and other financial assets can be
targeted. Several governments, led by France, have resisted; they worry
that sanctions could further destabilize Lebanon or subject European
peacekeepers in the south of that country to reprisals. Bulgaria’s
findings should end the debate. Inaction would mean accepting that
Europe can be a free-fire zone for Iran and its proxies.
Unfortunately, the editorial implies that Israel has been killing Iranian scientists, a supposition that's disputed by Michael Ledeen. On the positive side, the editorial cites Matthew Levitt's HIZBALLAH and the QODS FORCE
in IRAN’S SHADOW WAR with the WEST. (.pdf)
IN JANUARY 2010, the Qods Force—the elite unit of Iran’s Islamic
Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)— decided that it and Hizballah, its
primary terrorist proxy, would embark on a new campaign of violence
targeting not only Israel but U.S. and other Western targets as well.
Since then, the two organizations have been cooperating but also
competing to launch attacks across the globe. What is particularly
striking is how amateurish the actions of both organizations have been:
targets were poorly chosen and assaults carried out with gross
incompetence. But as the groups brush off the cobwebs and
professionalize their operations, this sloppy tradecraft could quickly
be replaced by operational success. Indeed, one particularly odd effort
might have succeeded were it not for the fortuitous placement of an
undercover U.S. government informant: the case of an Iranian-American
used-car salesman who pleaded guilty in October 2012 to conspiring with
Iranian agents to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to the United States.
Related commentary and details from Honest Reporting, This Ongoing War, Israel Matzav, Elder of Ziyon, Eugene Kontorovich and The Lid.
2) Not liking Hagel
Time Magazine features an ugly article Just who do they representAt Hagel Hearing, Concern for Israel Tops U.S. Troops in Combat by Brandon Friedman (via memeorandum):
It’s difficult to interpret this message any other way: the Senate
Armed Services Committee—particularly its Republican membership—is more
concerned with the apparent American defense secretary’s relationship
with Israel than with the future of Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the fate
of U.S. troops engaged in both locations.
We are approaching a host of critical and delicate decisions on how many
— and how fast — U.S. troops should be pulled out of Afghanistan. Yet,
after more than a decade at war there — and nearly 2,100 U.S. lives lost
— the people charged with overseeing the operation seem no longer
interested.
While Israel is a strategic ally in a precarious situation (the
committee also frequently brought up Iran), at best, this sends a
disheartening message to the American men and women serving down range,
under hostile fire. After 11 years of fighting, committee members seem
to have little concern for what the likely incoming defense secretary
thinks of the situation.
If Hagel had acquitted himself well, maybe there'd be an argument here.
And surely how Hagel would deal with Iran is important to know too.
Barry Rubin recounts how the question about containing Iran went:
Here’s the primary example — Hagel said: “I support the president’s
strong position on containment.” Now, the truth is that there’s nothing
wrong with that. He did not say the president’s position advocating
containment of Iran. Contrary to the way that many writers are
portraying it, what he said wasn’t incorrect, just ambiguous. He could
easily have recovered. Then, some of his handlers asked him to clarify.
What did he do?
I was just handed a note that I misspoke … that I said I supported
the president’s position on containment. If I said that, I meant to say
that we don’t have a position on containment.
Now this management alone is enough to bar him from handling one of
the most important and complex jobs in the world. Let’s count the ways:
– Never admit that you’ve just been told you were wrong! He should
have pocketed the note without mentioning it and simply added to his
statement (see below). What he did instead is on the level of stupidity
of a television host being shown a cue card reading: “Wrap up the show,
moron!”, and then reading that aloud to the live audience. — He should
have said something like this: “I do not want any ambiguity in my clear
statements of support for the president and for a tough policy on Iran. I
support the president’s position of asserting that containment is
insufficient and that our goal is to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear
weapons, leaving all options open for doing so.”
He doesn’t just not know the facts, he doesn’t know how to be a
high-level official. He doesn’t just not know the details of
international affairs, his thought is simply not coherent. And unlike
Obama and Kerry, he doesn’t know how to hide his radicalism behind
smooth phrases.
Dorothy Rabinowitz made similar observations about Senator Hagel in the Wall Street Journal.
While the critics of Hagel's critics claim that the campaign against
Hagel is primarily about Israel and often go as far as Friedman in
suggesting that there is an unseemly aspect to Hagel's critics on this
count. On the other hand Hagel's critics seem to like largely because of
his past statements about Israel! It certainly isn't due to his savvy.
But are Hagel's (pre-confirmation coversion) views on Israel correct?
Did his views on Israel show that he put American interests first?
Michael Doran writes in Hagel’s misreading of how to treat an ally that the answer to both questions is "no."
Realists in the Hagel mold find this episode exhilarating.
Eisenhower, they say, pursued the national interest without concern for
“sentimental” attachments, to say nothing of domestic lobbies. When
applied to the present, the analogy calls for dealing sharply with
Israel. The United States, the implication goes, must not allow its
client to drag it into conflict with Iran. Instead, Obama must treat
Benjamin Netanyahu with the same grit that Ike flashed at Eden.
But this analogy omits a key fact: Ike came to regret those policies.
“Years later,” Richard Nixon wrote in the 1980s, “I talked to Eisenhower
about Suez; he told me it was his major foreign policy mistake.” By
1958, Ike himself had realized his error and reversed course.
Labels: anti-Semitism, Bulgaria, Chuck Hagel, designated terror organization, Dwight Eisenhower, European Union, Hezbullah, Middle East Media Sampler, Soccer Dad
EU unlikely to declare Hezbullah a designated terrorist organization
Prime Minister Netanyahu
welcomed the Bulgarian government's report on this past summer's terror attack in Burgas.
In a statement issued after the Bulgarians released their report
implicating Hezbollah in the July 2012 attack in Burgas, Netanyahu –
apparently noting that Bulgaria referred to Hezbollah’s “militant wing” –
stressed that “there is only one Hezbollah, it is one organization with
one leadership.”
Netanyahu said the findings are additional proof
of what Israel has long known, that Hezbollah and its Iranian sponsors
are waging a terrorist war that “spans borders and continents.”
He
said that the attack in Bulgaria was just one of many that Hezbollah
and Iran have planned and carried out, including attacks in Thailand,
Kenya, Turkey, India, Azerbaijan, Cyprus and Georgia.
“All this is
happening in parallel to the deadly support given by Hezbollah and Iran
to the murderous Assad regime in Syria,” Netanyahu said.
“The attack in Burgas was an attack on European soil against an EU country,” Netanyahu said.
“We hope the Europeans will draw the necessary conclusions regarding the true nature of Hezbollah.”
Netanyahu thanked the Bulgarians for what he said was their “thorough and professional” investigation of the bombing.
The prime minister’s remarks were echoed by John Brennan, US President Barack Obama’s counterterrorism top adviser.
But Hezbullah continues to deny involvement in the attack and accuses Israel of a '
smear campaign.'
Deputy Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem said the accusation was part of
"allegations and incitements and accusations against Hezbollah" pursued
by Israel after it had failed to defeat Hezbollah militarily.
"All these accusations against Hezbollah will have no effect, and do not
change the facts," Qassem said. "We will not submit to these pressures
and we will not change our priorities. Our compass will remain directed
towards Israel."
The Europeans apparently agree with Hezbullah.
They do not plan to declare Hezbullah a designated terrorist organization.
“Hezbollah is part of Lebanon’s government,” said Moniquet, the founder
of the European Strategic Intelligence and Security Center, a
Brussels-based think tank. “Calling it terrorist would limit France’s
ties with Beirut and put French targets and personnel in Lebanon at risk
of retaliation. The Bulgarian report doesn’t alter this realpolitik.
There were always plenty of smoking guns.”
...
Catherine Ashton, the EU's foreign policy chief, took "note of the
results of the investigation," adding that it required further
"reflection." And the union's top counterterrorism official, Gilles de
Kerchove, told a Belgian news agency that being behind a terrorist
attack did not automatically result in a terrorist designation.
“It's
not only the legal requirement you have to take into consideration,
it's also a political assessment of the context and the timing,” de
Kerchove said.
While the refusal to designate Hezbollah a terrorist group is widespread
in Europe, France is considered to be a major impediment to any
changes. Lebanon is a former French colony, many French soldiers serve
in the country under U.N. auspices, and there is extensive trade and
cultural exchange between the two countries.
...
The Bulgarian investigation traced a money trail leading from
Hezbollah’s military wing, which perpetrated the attack, to Hezbollah’s
leadership in Lebanon. That revelation could make the British
distinction between Hezbollah's political and military activities harder
to defend.
“It implicates the much bigger financial structure
that facilitated the attack,” said Nuno Wahnon Martins, director of
European Affairs at B'nai B'rith. “[It] means Hezbollah’s entire
drug-smuggling and money-laundering operations are serving the
organization’s terrorist activities.”
Like other Eastern European
countries, Bulgaria tends to be more closely aligned with U.S. foreign
policy than countries in the West. Moniquet attributed the country's
“courageous” statement this week to precisely that inclination, and to
the fact that it has fewer strategic interests in Lebanon.
European
Jewish groups recognize the the tangle of interests at play in Europe,
but generally have little sympathy for it. European Jewish Congress
President Moshe Kantor said the decision to label Hezbollah a terrorist
group “should not be subject to political considerations but whether
proscribing Hezbollah will hinder its continuing efforts to murder
innocent civilians.”
Analysts say a European lifeline is crucial
for Hezbollah, which holds several seats in the Lebanese parliament. Wim
Kortenoeven, a former Dutch lawmaker and author of a book on Hamas,
says Europe is Hezbollah's “money laundromat and piggy bank.”
David Suurland, a lecturer at Leiden University’s school of law and
an expert on radical Islam, believes the Bulgarian report can be used by
jurists to force the E.U. into severing ties with Hezbollah-affiliated
bodies, including the Lebanese government. This, in turn, could remove
incentives to shield the terrorist group from being labeled as such,
Suurland said, since it would violate a number of international
treaties.
It also would violate the 2002 bilateral trade agreement
between Europe and Lebanon. Article 2 of the pact states that the
relationship is “based on democratic principles and fundamental human
rights” -- not Hezbollah’s forte, Kortenoeven says.
As a lot of you know, I often change planes in Europe on the way to the US. It's cheaper.... But the only place I feel that I could be an obvious target - God forbid - is in the airport where it's clear who is arriving from and departing to Israel. European airport security is not great.
But most Israelis who travel on vacation travel the same way those people in Burgas did last summer - in groups of Israelis. About a year and a half ago, I changed planes in Berlin, and I had a few hours and wanted to know if there was sufficient time to go see the city. Once I was out of the luggage claim area (which you had to go through anyway if you were changing terminals, which I was), it took about 30 seconds to find the Hebrew speaking tour guide who told me that I did not have enough time to go into the city.
Israelis are sitting ducks in European airports and stick out like sore thumbs. And Hezbullah would God forbid love to murder us.
If the President of the United States had the junk, he could lean on Europe really hard to make that declaration. But he's gutless.
What could go wrong?
Labels: Bulgaria, designated terror organization, European Union, France, Hezbullah, Lebanon
