Gill (Jill) Rosenberg safe?
On Sunday, I reported that ISIS claimed to have
kidnapped Canadian-Israeli Gill (Jill) Rosenberg. Now it's being reported that
Rosenberg is safe and sound.
Two messages have appeared on the Facebook social media website since Sunday night, indicating Rosenberg was not taken prisoner.
Facebook user Oliver Bruno wrote "Gill is safe and she is not active on
Facebook cause (sic) she has no internet access. ISIS's supporters
launched a rumor on social media that she was captured in #Kobani
which is not true, simply because Gill is at least 300 km. from Kobani."
The message would imply Rosenberg left Israel to fight but was
some 186 miles away from Kobane, a town on the Syria-Turkey border and
the scene of two months of fighting.
A later message from Bruno said the head of the YPG Kurdish forces in Kobane "categorically refuted these allegations."
Another message from Facebook user Emanuela Siyar Barzani, citing a "qualified" source, noted "Everything is fine with Gill."
I certainly hope so.
Labels: Islamic State, Islamic terrorism, Kurds
Islamic State claims to have kidnapped Canadian Israeli UPDATED
The Islamic State terror group claims to have
kidnapped 31-year old Jill Rosenberg, a Canadian immigrant to Israel who
recently traveled to Irbil to join the Kurdish resistance. This is from the second link - a report that is nearly three weeks old.
Rosenberg was born and raised in the Canadian province of British Columbia, while preparing for career pilots of civil aviation. However, in 2006, she left everything behind and immigrated from Canada to Israel, and a short time later was drafted into the ranks of the IDF. Rosenberg has served two years as a soldier of emergency services in the home front Command.
In 2009, Rosenberg was arrested in a joint operation by the FBI and the police of Israel:
12 people, including her, were accused of fraudulently obtaining $ 25
million from older Americans. Members of the criminal group called
themselves the representatives of the lottery were sent to the old
congratulatory bouquets and gifts to gain their trust, and then asked to
pay a Deposit before receiving the main prize".
On request of the American side Rosenberg
was extradited to the United States. On the court she expressed remorse
for his actions and told the judge, among other things, that "all the
time was looking for a better job and even tried to enter the Mossad".
The Federal court in new York sentenced her to four years in prison,
but, in all probability, it was released earlier this term and deported
to Israel.
Some time ago, Rosenberg
was established through the social network contact with the Kurdish
resistance and decided that its military and aviation experience for
them would be a great help. To reach Kurdistan was easy: November 2, Jill arrived at the airport of Amman in Jordan, and the next morning landed at the airport of Irbil, the Kurdish capital.
In a telephone conversation with the journalist of radio Rosenberg
said: "the Kurds just like the Jews - they are good people, they love
life as we are." She told me that now is training and familiarization
with the terrain and soon expects to be in a combat zone, which still
3000 km
There are more pictures of Rosenberg
here (link in Russian).
There is no independent confirmation of this story. We can only hope and pray for the sake of a fellow Jew that it is not true.
UPDATE 6:34 PM
Hmmm.
Labels: Islamic State, Islamic terrorism, Kurds
If Islamic State slaughters thousands of Kurds, will anyone care?
There's a little town called Kobani on the Syrian side of the Syrian-Turkish border in Kurd country. There are about 50,000 refugees packed into the town. The Islamic State terror group is on the march to take over the town, with the encouragement of President Hussein Obama's best friend forever, Turkish President for life Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Obama refuses to do anything effective to stop Islamic State. Jeffrey Goldberg reports that
if Kobani falls to Islamic State, thousands are likely to murdered. Will anyone care?
I just got off the phone with a desperate-sounding Kurdish
intelligence official, Rooz Bahjat, who said he fears that Kobani could
fall to ISIS within the next 24 hours. If it does, he predicts that ISIS
will murder thousands in the city, which is crammed with
refugees—Kurdish, Turkmen, Christian, and Arab—from other parts of the
Syrian charnel house. As many as 50,000 civilians remain in the town,
Bahjat said.
"A terrible slaughter is coming. If they take the city, we should
expect to have 5,000 dead within 24 or 36 hours," he told me. "It will
be worse than Sinjar," the site of a recent ISIS massacre
that helped prompt President Obama to fight ISIS. There have been
reports of airstrikes on ISIS vehicles, but so far, Bahjat said that
these strikes have been modest in scope and notably ineffective.
Kobani is located on the Turkish border, but Bahjat said he is
receiving reports that Turkey is pulling its troops back, rather than
risk armed confrontation with ISIS. "It's unbelievable—Turkey is in
NATO, so you literally have NATO watching what is happening in this
town. Everyone can see it—the TV cameras are there, watching. It's
terrible."
He went on, "This just can't be allowed to happen. I'm upset
personally as a Kurd, seeing my brethren killed. I'm upset as a
secularist seeing the hope of freedom being murdered and I'm upset as a
human being, watching these monsters commit genocide."
Kurdish fighters are outnumbered by ISIS, and they have no heavy weaponry. There are reports
coming out of Kobani that at least one female Kurdish suicide bomber
has struck at ISIS terrorists already. The situation is grim, growing
grimmer, and one in which hesitation by the international community may
not be easily forgiven.
In Turkey, the Kurds know that Erdogan is setting their countrymen up to be murdered. Let's go to the videotape.
And the world is silent.
Labels: Barack Hussein Obama, Islamic State, Kurdistan, Kurds, Recep Tayyip Erdogan
Moroccans say ISIS doesn't speak for us, support Zionism(!), offer (metaphorical) sex to Kurds fighting ISIS
MEMRI posts two videos showing how Moroccan activists are opposing ISIS. The first one is just called 'Not in my name: Moroccan campaign against Islamist extremism.'
Let's go to the videotape
In the second video, a female activist of the Amazigh movement defends Zionism and explains her (metaphorical) offer of sex services to Kurds fighting ISIS.
Let's go to the videotape.
Hmmm.
Labels: Islamic State, Kurds, Morocco, Zionism
How Turkey sees Israel and what Israel should do about it
Unsurprisingly, Turkey sees Israel's groveling attempts at restoring relations as a sign of weakness. But there is a way in which Israel could reestablish the upper hand and do the right thing: It could
support the Kurdish resistance in Turkey.
Although many influential Turks, among them Fethullah Gülen, who was instrumental in helping AKP to become the ruling party did not approve the anti-Israel turn, and although the UN Palmer committee in essence justified Israel in the Marmara incident, Israeli response was extremely cautious, as if walking on egg-shells. Israel largely did not follow the harsh language of Mr. Erdogan and Mr. Davutoğlu. What is more important, it did not object to US selling weapons to Turkey, as it usually does when arms are sold to unfriendly countries. It also might have influenced its friends in America not to object either. Cautious Israeli response was perceived by Turkey as weakness. It was damaging in the sense that it allowed President Obama and Prime Minister Erdoğan to forge a friendship, notwithstanding the anti-Israeli turn. It also gave Turkey the false impression that the influence of Israel in the US is wanning. The fact that, strangely as its sounds, the trade between the two countries flourishes and grew substantially after the Gaza flotilla incident, may have enhanced Israel's rather naive hopes.
Turkey made a strategic decision about Israel and it is difficult to see any advantage for it in reversing the turn, It is high time for Israel to accept the state of affairs with Turkey realistically and define its response. Many in Israel see, at least emotionally, in the more than 30 million Kurdish people an ally because of history of repression and common residence of being surrounded by hating neighbours. During the Sadam Hussein repression Israel maintained defense and intelligence relations with Mustafa Barzani and the Kurds in Iraq. Today in Iraqi Kurdistan operates an Israeli Kurdish educational institute with its own weekly publications.
Nobody claims that Kurds, unlike Palestinians, are invented people. They have at least a thousand years history, a language and culture of their own and national aspirations for an independent state, or at least autonomy. Iraqi Kurdistan is semi-autonomous since American invasion of Iraq. It is, so far, the only tangible achievement of this war. In Turkey, Syria and Iraq the repression of the Kurds continues. It is time bring about for Kurdish people too, a new spring. Israel can and should be a leader in such effort in the United States and other places. More independence for the Kurds will change the map of the Middle East, the position of Israel in it, and will contribute to peace, or at least to more favorable balance of power.
Indeed.
Labels: Kurds, Turkish obsession with Israel
Assad trying to prevent Kurds from joining revolt
The Kurds - who are far more worthy of a 'state' than the 'Palestinians' - live in adjacent parts of Syria, Iran, Iraq and Turkey. I've discussed several times how the Turks oppress their Kurdish population. The Syrians oppress the Kurds too. But until now, most Kurds have not spoken out about it anywhere near as much as has been the case in Turkey. Now, with Bashar Assad reeling and the Kurds constituting 10% of his population, Assad is trying to keep the Kurds
out of the uprising against him (Hat Tip:
JGCaesaria).
The government has been regularly accused of sanctioning a heavy-handed and in some cases violent approach to controlling the annual Nowruz, or Kurdish new year celebrations, which have become increasingly politicized since the Baath party took office in 1963. That is, until this year.
On Sunday, Nowruz festivities across Syria passed without any major incidents and members of the Kurdish community noted that police allowed them an unusual level of freedom.
Nahas said this was a government attempt to "bribe" the Kurdish people into not following the example of the largely Sunni Muslim tribes demonstrating in the south of the country. Presidential advisor Buthaina Shaaban offered her greeting of "Nowruz Mubarak" or "happy new year," to the Kurdish people Thursday, when she told a news conference about the "wonderful coexistence" among Syrian people.
The political move won't work, though, according to Ribal al-Assad, the first cousin of President al-Assad now living in exile in London. "They can't suddenly give the Kurds freedom to celebrate Nowruz without expecting them to ask for their other rights, like owning an ID card or using their own language," al-Assad said. "The Syrian secret service and police are very good at dividing people, but most Kurds want to be part of Syria."
The Kurdish community is not expected to keep quiet.
"There has been a lack of trust from the Kurds since 2004," said Khalaf Dahowd, co-chair of the International Support Kurds in Syria Association. Violence involving Kurds, Arabs and police broke out after a soccer match in Al-Qamishli in March 2004. Several people were killed and over a hundred were injured.
Dahowd, a Syrian Kurdish refugee now living in England, believes that the resentment felt by many Kurds toward Arabs after that event has also divided Kurdish people. He speculates that many will find it very difficult to join their Arab neighbors in protest against President al-Assad and his government.
As an activist for Kurdish rights and a united Syria, Dahowd argues that Kurds should put aside any bad feeling they have for other opposition factions. "Everybody in Syria needs to rise up. This regime needs to go," he said.
With several leading Kurds already imprisoned for speaking out and the Kurdish political movement divided between as many as 15 parties, the impetus to demonstrate will need to come from ordinary Kurds, many of them classed as "stateless" without Syrian citizenship.
"These people are desperately poor and weak, but ripe for protesting," Lowe said.
Unlike the '
Palestinians,' the Kurds are a uniqute and distinct ethnicity with a defined territory and ought to have their own state. Maybe with all the upheaval going on now in the Arab world, they will get one.
Labels: Bashar al-Assad, Kurds, Syrian regime change
Turkey could sell satellite images of Israel to Iran, Hamas and Hezbullah
Israel is trying to bring about the cancellation of a Turkish electro-optical satellite known as
Gokturk, which would give Turkey
salable satellite images of Israel (Hat Tip:
Joshua I).
The project will also enable the acquisition of high-resolution images for military purposes in Europe, the Caucasus and the Middle East, and it will strengthen Turkey’s hand in fighting the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). Concerned that the satellite will gather images from its territory, Israel has put pressure on France, which is working on the construction of the satellite in cooperation with the Italian-based Telespazio to stop the project. Given the possibility that its efforts in France prove fruitless, Israeli officials are also lobbying in Ankara.
Once the satellite is launched, Turkey will be able to sell the images obtained through the satellite to other countries as well. Israel is currently attempting to negotiate with Turkish officials in order to ensure Turkey does not sell images of Israel to other states. However, the response of Turkish officials was clear: “We decide how to use the images taken by our satellite.”
Speaking to Today’s Zaman, high-level officials from the Turkish Defense Ministry said: “For years, Israel has obtained images of our territory. For the first time, we will have a satellite for intelligence. Reciprocity is essential in international relations. If they observe Turkish soil, Turkey has the same right, too.” Turkey’s defense and procurement authorities had completed a deal with Telespazio for the construction and launching of the country’s first military satellite, Göktürk, in 2009. The 250 million euro contract was signed on July 16, 2009 at a ceremony attended by top Turkish officials including Defense Minister Vecdi Gönül and Undersecretariat for the Defense Industry (SSM) head Murad Bayar and company representatives.
The agreement covers the supply of an earth-observation satellite equipped with a high-resolution optical sensor, an integration and test center for satellites to be built in Turkey and the entire ground segment of the system, which will carry out in-orbit operation, data acquisition and processing. Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) has been eliminated from the approximately $250 million project.
If this project goes ahead, Israel ought to provide intelligence to the Kurds on Turkey (and let the Turks know in advance that it intends to do so). What's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. To date, I don't believe Israel is providing intelligence to anyone on Turkey.
I would rate it unlikely that Turkey will back off this project. Our best hope is pushing France and Italy (didn't Berlusconi used to be in our court?).
Labels: Gokturk, Kurds, satellites, Turkish obsession with Israel
Hmmm....
Was
this how the Syrians decided to greet the new United States ambassador, Robert Ford?
Syrian sources close to RPS confirmed that four suicide car bombs exploded in Aleppo two days ago killing seven and injuring many more. The car bombs were detonated in the Ashrafieh area mostly populated by the Kurds. The Assad regime has successfully suppressed the information from reaching the outside world.
No one has taken responsibility for this new violence inside Syria.
Some experts claim it is the work of the regime itself as a warning shot across the bow against any uprising by the Kurds à la Tunisia. They fuel their argument with the fact that the regime in Damascus has always claimed that without Assad, Syria will become another Iraq. These explosions were intended to show the people in Syria willing to rise that such an outcome will bring death and destruction the way Assad administered against the innocent in Iraq.
On the other hand, some analysts believe that the suicide car bombs, an Assad specialty, used with abandon in Iraq, may have come home to haunt the regime from the very same people Assad sent to Iraq to haunt others. They chose this moment and the Kurds to send two signals: The Assad regime is not acceptable nor are any separatist ideas often expressed by the oppressed Kurds.
It also wanted to demonstrate that the Assad regime is weak and that the people of Aleppo can rise. Sending military reinforcements to Aleppo is counterproductive to the regime because the majority of the foot soldiers in the Syrian army are Sunni Muslims. Turning their guns on Damascus is the last thing Assad can afford in a post Tunisia atmosphere. RPS is told that Syrians are stunned how little it took to send the president of Tunisia fleeing to Saudi Arabia.
Hmmm....
Labels: Aleppo, Bashar al-Assad, car bombs, Kurds
