NEVER FORGET? The Holocaust yearns to return, by Hamas and its Jew-hating Western allies

The world has been shocked and ripped raw in grief and horror as Hamas Muslim jihadists attacked and killed, raped, and kidnapped Israelis, targeting women and children. The beheading of many of them, a central fixture in Islamic terrorism, has been confirmed. Islam is revealed once again in its full depravity, the spawn of Muhammad, the deviant false prophet and warlord.

By their own words: Muslim groups and Leftists support Hamas and Jihad Terrorism against Israel and Jews

Hamas top dog quotes Qur’an, tells Muslims to ‘kill them wherever you find them’

Fatah quotes Qur’an as it calls on ‘Palestinians’ to ‘slaughter everyone who is Israeli, by Allah, this is jihad’

Leftists Come Out in Support of Hamas Massacres, Send Money to Palestinians

CNN’s Tapper: Last Few Days Really Eye-Opening to ‘Antisemitism on the Left’

Black Lives Matter Organization Shows Support for Hamas Amid Terror Attack on Israel

‘Free Palestine’ Rally in Dearborn, Michigan, Cheers Hamas

Rod Dreher, from his Substack:

The mindless and simplistic Oppressor/Oppressed binary has led so many of that generation [Gen Z], steeped in wokeness, to lose their moral compass. The same people who took to the streets to protest the police killing of a drug addict named George Floyd have no problem with people taking to the streets to cheer on the terrorist killing of 1,300 Jewish civilians in the highest one-day Jewish death toll since the closing of the Nazi death camps.

Think about that.

Dr. Timothy Furnish: 'Hamas, Iran’s Bloodthirsty Sock Puppet'

Here is an excellent primer on Hamas' bloody, barbaric Islamic Jihad terrorist attack against Israel, from noted Islam scholar and author Timothy Furnish:


Hamas, Iran’s Bloodthirsty Sock Puppet

By TIMOTHY FURNISH | The Stream | October 9, 2023

Hamas has murdered, so far, over 600 Israeli civilians in its new war. Only the War of Independence (1948-49) and the Second Intifada (2000-05) killed more non-combatants. In addition, over 400 Palestinians have died. Both sides are sure to lose more. Especially the Gaza Palestinians. Because Israel’s wrath is kindled. And with good reason.

Hamas: Elected Terrorists

What is Hamas? It’s the Palestinian branch of the global Muslim Brotherhood. The name is actually an acronym from Arabic. Harakat al-Muqawamah al-Islamiyah, “Movement of the Islamic Resistance.” Founded in 1987, Hamas won the Palestinian elections in 2006. But it lost control of the West Bank to the non-jihadist Palestinian National Authority (PNA). Relegated to the tiny Gaza Strip, Hamas has spent the past 17 years periodically attacking Israel. It’s one of the 55 Islamic terrorist groups in the world (81% of the total). The vast majority of which are Sunni.

Iran: the Puppeteer

However, Hamas and some Sunni groups, like the related Palestinian Islamic Jihad, are supported by staunchly Twelver Shi`i Iran. Since the 1979 “Islamic Revolution” the ayatollahs fancy themselves leading a global Islamic insurgency. Not merely sponsoring terrorism. But insurgency against what, exactly? Against the West in general. And the United States in particular. Why? Because European-American civilization has dominated the globe for 500 years. In the past, Muslims saw the West as pushing Christianity on others. Now, it’s seen as imposing godless secularism and the LGBTQIA+ agenda. (Orthodox Christian Russia and officially Communist China also see the post-modern West as overbearing. Which is why the three civilizational blocs often cooperate against the U.S.)

The Little Satan is Closer

So what’s that have to do with Israel? Fundamentalist Sunnis and Shi`is agree on one thing, at least. That the Jewish state is the tip of the Western spear, embedded in the Muslim Middle East. A “foreign body” that must be expelled. Sunni Usama bin Ladin often referred to the “Crusader-Zionist” alliance. The Shi`i ayatollahs now say the same. But unlike UBL, they’re loathe to directly attack the Great Satan. Besides, it’s the Far (Away) Enemy. So they provide funding and weapons — especially rockets—to attack the Little Satan. Which is a convenient Near Enemy.

How Hamas’ War Benefits Iran

What do Iranian zealots get out of goading, if not directing, such horrible Hamas attacks at this juncture? Five benefits, in ascending order of importance.

First, a thumb in the eye of the Biden Administration, which recently “released” $6 billion to the Islamic Republic, to ransom hostages. Earmarked, say Bidenistas, only for “humanitarian purposes.” The ayatollahs are laughing all the way to the weapons market.

Second, sparking a major conflict in the Middle East gets Ukraine off the front page. This helps Russia, one of Iran’s patrons.

Third, the war makes the planned Turkish-Israeli rapproachment untenable.

Fourth, it scuttles the possible Saudi-Israeli normalization. Neither Turkish President Erdoğan nor Saudi ruler Muhammad bin Salman can meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Not when the IDF is leveling Palestinian buildings. With people inside.

Finally, there are some in Tehran obsessed with eschatology. These want to hotwire the apocalypse. Which means what? Destroying Israel in order to spark the return of the Twelfth Imam, the messianic Mahdi. In this view “the annihilation of the Zionist regime is one of the preconditions for the arrival of the Mahdi.” Iran’s President, and probable next Supreme Leader, is almost certainly of this mindset, too.

Hamas: Jihadist or Joker?

What does Hamas get out of this bloodletting? Many of its members will get a one-way ticket to the afterlife. Unfortunately, many of them have been convinced that they will be rewarded by Allah there with sensual delights. Instead, they will be punished by the true God for their evil deeds. Hamas’ jihadists truly exemplify that “some men just want to watch the world burn.”

Much more in the full article at The Stream...

Leo Hohmann: 'Attack on Israel activates ‘zero hour’ around the world, and America is not immune'

From noted independent journalist Leo Hohmann:

"This single event in Israel has triggered [Muslim rallies in support of Hamas] in America’s largest cities, New York City, Los Angeles, Boston, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. Muslims are also celebrating in Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, Iran and Turkey (a NATO member), and they will launch more attacks on Jews and Christians around the world."

"...It would be a mistake to view what happened in Israel as something 'over there'. It can and will happen here. In the U.S. and many European countries, the hordes are not standing at the gates, they’re inside the gates, waiting for their zero-hour event. This may be it."

Globalists open second front in World War III: Attack on Israel activates ‘zero hour’ around the world, and America is not immune

LeoHohmann.com  |  10/8/2023

In the realm of geopolitical events, things are almost never as they appear.

The messaging being sent by the media is no longer mere “news.” What we receive from them are carefully crafted narratives meant to advance certain agendas. The same event, in fact, can carry multiple narratives often diametrically opposed to each other because the narratives are tailored to specific audiences and loaded with explosive words and images meant to trigger emotions in those audiences depending on their prior conditioning.

And the devastating attack on Israel Friday night was no exception.

The “what” cannot be debated – over 600 Israeli citizens were slaughtered and more than 2,000 injured in a brazen and brutal attack by Hamas terrorists. More than 100 other Israelis, including an Israeli military general, were captured and are being held as hostages.

But the “why” and the “how” – as in why now and how did they get away with it – will be less understood by the average American who’s more interested in who wins the Packers’ game this Sunday or how long Taylor Swift will retain her latest boyfriend.

Islamic Jihadists responsible for Arson Attack of Bethlehem Monastery

"A lot of work has to be done to change the way preaching is done in mosques because far too often they provoke people and foment hatred. Anti-Christian hatred and violence should stop."

Arson attack at Bethlehem’s St Charbel Monastery, probably the work of Islamic fundamentalists, says Maronite leader

Asia News — September 28, 2015

Bethlehem (AsiaNews) – Sobhy Makhoul, the chancellor of the Maronite Patriarchate in Jerusalem, told AsiaNews that the fire that broke out over the weekend at St Charbel Maronite Monastery (pictured) in Bethlehem was deliberately set. “It was an act of arson, not a fire caused by an electrical problem, an act of sectarian vandalism by radical Muslims.”

The fire caused no casualties or injuries because the building is currently unoccupied and under renovation, but the damage is evident and the local Christian community is now fearful of further violence.

Muslim Persecution of Christians worsens in Israel & Palestinian Territories; Influence of Islamic State grows

Mob violence against Christians, anti-Christian billboards and graffiti, and imams at major mosques preaching jihad and jizya:

“When you face a polytheist enemy [i.e. a Christian who worships the Holy Trinity], you should give him three options – they must convert to Islam, or pay the jizya [tax on non-Muslims], or else you should seek the help of Allah and fight them. You should fight them even if they do not fight you.” —Sheikh Issam Ameera, imam at the Al-Aqsa mosque, Jerusalem

Christians Suspect Islamic State Influencing Muslims in Palestinian Territories, Israel; Increased radicalization seen in attacks, rhetoric.

Morningstar News — June 11, 2015

Muslim billboard in Nazareth, threatening Christians.

ISTANBUL, Turkey (Morning Star News) – After months of Islamic State (IS) committing horrific violence in the Middle East and North Africa, Palestinian Christians say a large number of Muslims in the Palestinian Territories and Israel have become “radicalized” and are much more aggressive toward them.

Anti-Christian hostility boiling under the surface for years has come into plain view in the past few months in the form of physical attacks, incendiary religious speeches and inflammatory billboards, they said.

Palestinian Christian leaders said not all Muslims in the Territories and Israel have become extremists, and elders within the Muslim community are trying to dampen the effects of extremist ideology, but enough Palestinians have become radicalized that many Christians feel unsafe or, at minimum, openly unwanted. Whereas tensions between Christians and Muslims previously were seen as issues between individuals, there is now a definite “us vs. them” mentality from Islamic extremists, Christian leaders said.

Orthodox Bishop: ‘We Palestinian Christians Say Allahu Akbar’

I hesitate to comment much on this story, except to point out that zealous Muslims all over the world routinely scream "Allahu Akbar" when slaughtering their victims. Out of over 25,150 Muslim terrorist attacks since 9/11/01, I think it's safe to estimate that in upwards of 25,148 of them, the Muslim terrorists were screaming "Allahu Akbar" when they were shooting, stabbing or self-detonating. What Christian, Arabic-speaking or not, would want to self-identify with that phrase?

I might also point out that in Malaysia, the Muslim community has been using everything from threats and open persecution of Christians, to the country's legal system, to forbid Arabic-speaking Christians from referring to God as "Allah." Malaysian Muslims would likely be rioting in the streets (or firebombing the church) if a Christian hierarch there made such statements.

Lastly, the situation for Palestinian Christians is considerably more complex and precarious vis a vis Muslims than this interview indicates, as per these reports:

• Christian Arabs beatify their Palestinian nightmare
• Muslim threats and attacks force Christians out of East Jerusalem church
• Treatment of Palestinian Christians “Medieval”
• Jihadists persecuting Palestinian Christians in Gaza
• Palestinian Christians fear their country might become an Islamic state

Orthodox Bishop: ‘We Palestinian Christians Say Allahu Akbar’

The only Palestinian Orthodox Christian bishop in the Holy Land speaking about the suffering of Palestinian Christians, their unity with Muslims in the Palestinian struggle, about Orthodox Christian martyrs, and Ukraine.

Nadezhda Kevorkova — February 3, 2015 — Pravmir.com

Nadezhda Kevorkova is a war correspondent who has covered the events of the Arab Spring, military and religious conflicts around the world, and the anti-globalization movement.

Archbishop Sebastia Theodosios (Atallah Hanna), 49, is the only Orthodox Christian archbishop from Palestine stationed in Jerusalem and the Holy Land, while all other bishops of the Patriarchate of Jerusalem are Greeks. The Israeli authorities had detained him several times, or stopped him at the border, and taken away his passport. Among all Jerusalem clergymen he is the only one who has no privilege of passing through the VIP gate in the airport – because of his nationality. “For the Israeli authorities, I am not a bishop, but rather a Palestinian,” explains his Beatitude. When talking on the phone he says a lot of words you would normally hear from a Muslim: “Alhamdulillah, Insha’Allah, Masha’Allah”. He speaks Arabic, and the Arabic for ‘god’ is Allah, whether you are a Christian or a Muslim.

Your Beatitude, what’s it like being the Palestinian bishop in the Holy Land?

Firstly, I’d like to confirm that I am the only Palestinian bishop in the Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem. A fellow bishop is serving in the city of Irbid in the north of Jordan; and there are also several Palestinian priests.

I take pride in belonging to this great religious institution that’s over 2,000 years old.

My church has been protecting the Christian presence in the Holy Land and the sacred items related to the life of Christ and Christian Church history.

I am proud of my religion and nationality, I am proud to belong to my fatherland. I am a Palestinian, and I belong to this religious people who are fighting for the sake of their freedom and dignity to implement their dreams and national rights.

I support Palestinians and share their cause and their issues. We the Palestinian Orthodox Christians are not detached from their hardships.

Muslim leader in Israel: “Entire earth” will be “subordinate” to caliphate

Joins numerous Muslim world leaders and clerics in predicting Islam's ultimate victory over the entire world.  

via Robert Spencer,  Jihad Watch — October 26, 2014

Iran’s former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad himself once said: “Have no doubt… Allah willing, Islam will conquer what? It will conquer all the mountain tops of the world.” 

Sheik Ali Al-Faqir, former Jordanian minister of religious endowment, said this on Al-Aqsa TV on May 2, 2008: “We proclaim that we will conquer Rome, like Constantinople was conquered once…” 

Hamas MP and Islamic cleric Yunis Al-Astal said this, also on Al-Aqsa TV, on April 11, 2008: “Very soon, Allah willing, Rome will be conquered, just like Constantinople was, as was prophesized by our Prophet Muhammad.”

Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, the most prominent and renowned imam in the world, in writing about “signs of the victory of Islam,” referred to a hadith: 

“The Prophet Muhammad was asked: ‘What city will be conquered first, Constantinople or Romiyya?’ He answered: ‘The city of Hirqil [i.e. the Byzantine emperor Heraclius] will be conquered first’ – that is, Constantinople”¦ Romiyya is the city called today ‘Rome,’ the capital of Italy. The city of Hirqil [that is, Constantinople] was conquered by the young 23-year-old Ottoman Muhammad bin Morad, known in history as Muhammad the Conqueror, in 1453. The other city, Romiyya, remains, and we hope and believe [that it too will be conquered]. This means that Islam will return to Europe as a conqueror and victor, after being expelled from it twice – once from the South, from Andalusia, and a second time from the East, when it knocked several times on the door of Athens.”

_____

Israeli Islamist Leader Kamal Khatib: Jerusalem Will Be Caliphate Capital; PA TV Cuts Interview Off 

MEMRI, October 17, 2014:

In an interview with the official PA TV channel, Sheik Kamal Khatib, deputy leader of the Islamic Movement in Israel, said: “Jerusalem will not be only the capital of the Palestinian state, but also the capital of the coming righteous Islamic caliphate.” After he repeated his views several times and said that “the entire Earth” would “become subordinate to the Islamic caliphate one day”, PA TV cut the interview short.

Following are excerpts from the interview, which aired on October 17, 2014.

Interviewer: Let us first watch what you said at the Al-Aqsa Mosque this week.

Kamal Khatib: I have said it before, and I say it again: Allah willing, Jerusalem will not be only the capital of the Palestinian state, but also the capital of the coming righteous Islamic caliphate…

Crowd member: Say: “Allah Akbar!”

Crowd: Allah Akbar!

Greek Orthodox Archbishop: 'Hamas Used Church to Fire Rockets' (VIDEO)

"Christ tells us we must love each other, our neighbors, and our enemies... No other religion says that except the Christian faith." — Archbishop Alexios of Gaza

The source news report for this post.

by George Thomas, CBN News — August 8, 2014

GAZA STRIP -- Air raid sirens sounding in the Eshkol Region on Wednesday afternoon turned out to be a false alarm. The 72-hour ceasefire appears to be holding for now.

Hamas is not only using mosques to launch attacks against Israelis. It has also used a church compound.

Archbishop Alexios is Gaza's most prominent Christian leader. His decision to open his church to 2,000 Muslims escaping the war surprised many of Gaza's residents.

"Christ tells us we must love each other, our neighbors, and our enemies," Bishop Alexios told CBN News. "No other religion says that except the Christian faith."

Orthodox Archbishop in Gaza: Hamas fired rockets from church

by Joel B. Pollak, Breitbart News — August 8, 2014

Archbishop Alexios, the Greek Orthodox Christian leader of Gaza, told CBN News on Wednesday that Hamas had used the church to fire rockets at Israeli civilians prior to the 72-hour ceasefire. The church was also being used at the time as a shelter for Palestinian civilians of all faiths who were fleeing the war's bombs and rockets.

Hamas used the church and the civilians as human shields--a war crime under international law--in order to deter Israel from striking the rocket launchers, and to cause Israel maximum public relations and diplomatic damage if it did return fire. At least two United Nations facilities housing civilians were struck in that fashion.

Though the White House called Israel's actions in those instances "indefensible," and other world powers rushed to condemn Israel, few bothered to consider that they were playing directly into Hamas's hands, and creating an incentive for Hamas and other terror groups to continue to use the same deadly tactics in future.

Islamic State Caliphate Threatens Attack on Israel, with Nuclear Weapons

"Tel Aviv will fall as fast as Mosul when the time is right... Do you think that we do not have access to nuclear devices?  The Zionists know that we do... we will not hesitate.” — ISIS Source

Related: Terror army gets hands on load of 'low grade' uranium, able to create 'dirty bomb' - Fox News (and this is just what the MSM is leaking out).


via IRAQ INVADERS THREATEN NUKE ATTACK ON ISRAEL

ISIS focus on 'destroying Zionist regime' to 'liberate Palestine'

by F. Michael Maloof, WND — June 23, 2014

WASHINGTON – The well-organized army of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, claims it has access to nuclear weapons and a will to use them to “liberate” Palestine from Israel as part of its “Islamic Spring,” according to a WND source in the region.

Franklin Lamb, an international lawyer based in Beirut and Damascus, said the move is part of the ISIS aim of creating a caliphate under strict Islamic law, stretching from the Mediterranean Sea to Iraq.

Lamb, who has access to ISIS fighters and sympathizers, said ISIS has been working with a “new specialized” unit organized at the beginning of 2013 to focus “exclusively on destroying the Zionist regime occupying Palestine.”

Lamb added that the ISIS “Al-Quds Unit” is working to broaden its influence in more than 60 Palestinian camps and gatherings from Gaza, across “Occupied Palestine,” or Israel, to Jordan and from Lebanon up to the north of Syria “seeking to enlist support as it prepares to liberate Palestine.”

ISIS Now Openly Operating in Gaza – Flags Seen Waving at Funeral

"Israeli and other western intelligence services have warned that the group’s influence is spreading and may have set down roots in the coastal enclave."

Algemeiner — June 29, 2014

ISIS military convoy in Iraq. (Photo: Twitter-nayelshafei)

Mourners in Gaza were seen carrying black flags of the bloody Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terror group at a funeral on Sunday for one of two terrorists Israel targeted in an airstrike on Friday, Israel’s Ma’ariv daily reported.

Analysts said this was the first such open sign of local support for the group (also known as the “Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant”), which is engaged in fierce battles for control of Iraq, and in Syria, in order to create a unified Islamic caliphate.

Israeli and other western intelligence services have warned that the group’s influence is spreading and may have set down roots in the coastal enclave.

Bartholomew: Christians united, real catalysts for peace in the Middle East

We live in interesting times:

The Ecumenical Patriarch arrives today in Rome to take part in the prayer meeting with Pope Francis, Shimon Peres and Mahmoud Abbas. The scope of the prayer meeting goes beyond immediate results.

Pravmir — June 7, 2014

Istanbul (AsiaNews) – The Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew arrives tonight in Rome to participate in the prayer for peace tomorrow, at the invitation of Pope Francis.

The pontiff has invited Israeli President Shimon Peres and the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, to pray for peace in the war-torn Middle East where the Christian element is about to disappear.

Bethlehem: One stabbed as Muslim mob storms and stones church

Church Near Beit Jala Attacked

CAMERA, May 8, 2014 (via JihadWatch):

Reports are starting to trickle out of the West Bank about violence St. George’s Orthodox Church near Beit Jala. The details are sketchy, but the violence took place on May 6, 2014. One person was allegedly stabbed and several others hurt during a confrontation between Muslims and Christians at the church, which was celebrating the feast of St. George, its patron saint. [Linked] is video of the event that was posted on Youtube soon after the attack. Injured parishioners can be seen moving past the camera and at one point, a stone can be seen flying into a crowd.

More details as they are available.

Update: 11:10 a.m. May 8, 2014: 

Here is what Lela Gilbert, author of Saturday People, Sunday People, Israel through the Eyes of a Christian Sojourner, reports:

A Bethlehem Greek Orthodox Church (St. George’s Church – Khadar – near Beit Jala) was attacked by Muslims during its annual St. George’s Day services on May 6. … Some local Muslims either tried to park a car too close the church and/or tried to enter the church during a service honoring St. George – the initial instigation isn’t clear. But when the intruders were asked to leave, one of them stabbed a Christian man who was outside the church serving as a guard. He was hospitalized. Several then started throwing stones at the church. 7 or 8 Christians were injured and some physical damage was done – broken windows etc. The police didn’t show up for an hour.

Islamic Conference in Italy: Al-Aqsa Mosque imam urges Muslim countries to destroy Israel

MEMRI, via Jihad Watch — April 27, 2014

Following are excerpts from a public address delivered by Al-Aqsa Mosque Imam Raed Al-Daan, in an Islamic Conference in Milan, Italy, which aired on Al-Jazeera Network, on April 27, 2014:

Raed Al-Danna: In Gaza, I see orphans who have sprouted wings. In Gaza, there are great and proud men, whose feet are firmly planted in the ground, who have realized that darkness and the Jewish state would vanish, and that the morning sun will rise on Palestine.

[…]

We will return to the sea of Jaffa, to the sands of Haifa, to the palm trees of Beit Shean, and to the hills of Lod and Ramla. We in the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque await the legions of the conquerors. We await the armies from Tunisia, from Jordan, from Egypt, from Iraq, from the Maghreb, and from the Hijaz.

We await a Muslim leader, whose voice we yearn to hear, shouting to the liberating armies in the Al-Aqsa Mosque courtyard: You must say the afternoon prayer only in Safed, Haifa, or Jaffa. You must say the afternoon prayer only in Lod and Ramla.

Crowd member: Allah Abkar. All praise be to Allah.

The Middle East War on Christians

Muslim-majority nations are doing to followers of Jesus what they did to the Jews.

By RON PROSOR — OpEd to the Wall Street Journal

April 16, 2014

This week, as Jews celebrate the Passover holiday, they are commemorating the Bible's Exodus story describing a series of plagues inflicted on ancient Egypt that freed the Israelites, allowing them to make their way to the Holy Land. But over the past century, another exodus, driven by a plague of persecution, has swept across the Middle East and is emptying the region of its Christian population. The persecution is especially virulent today.

The Middle East may be the birthplace of three monotheistic religions, but some Arab nations appear bent on making it the burial ground for one of them. For 2,000 years, Christian communities dotted the region, enriching the Arab world with literature, culture and commerce. At the turn of the 20th century, Christians made up 26% of the Middle East's population. Today, that figure has dwindled to less than 10%. Intolerant and extremist governments are driving away the Christian communities that have lived in the Middle East since their faith was born.

In the rubble of Syrian cities like Aleppo and Damascus, Christians who refused to convert to Islam have been kidnapped, shot and beheaded by Islamist opposition fighters. In Egypt, mobs of Muslim Brotherhood members burn Coptic Christian churches in the same way they once obliterated Jewish synagogues. And in Iraq, terrorists deliberately target Christian worshippers. This past Christmas, 26 people were killed when a bomb ripped through a crowd of worshipers leaving a church in Baghdad's southern Dora neighborhood.

Christians are losing their lives, liberties, businesses and their houses of worship across the Middle East. It is little wonder that native Christians have sought refuge in neighboring countries—yet in many cases they find themselves equally unwelcome. Over the past 10 years, nearly two-thirds of Iraq's 1.5 million Christians have been driven from their homes. Many settled in Syria before once again becoming victims of unrelenting persecution. Syria's Christian population has dropped from 30% in the 1920s to less than 10% today.

Temple Mount now central Israeli-Palestinian flashpoint

Jerusalem's importance grows as Israeli-Palestinian peace talks flounder.  Both Jewish and Muslim leaders call the situation a "war of religion." Apocalyptic clouds on the horizon?

by Ben Caspit, AL Monitor — April 22, 2014

The conflict around the Temple Mount is increasing as Israeli-Palestinian peace talks might be on the verge of collapse.

Israeli policemen run in front of the Dome of the Rock during clashes with stone-throwing Palestinians after Friday prayers on the compound known to Muslims as Noble Sanctuary and to Jews as Temple Mount in Jerusalem's Old City, Feb. 7, 2014. (photo by REUTERS/Ammar Awad)

Assessments of the situation as well as in-depth intelligence reviews by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) regarding mounting tensions in the territories do not, for the time being, include warnings about a possible violent conflagration between the Palestinians and Israelis. For now, a third intifada is not featured among the working papers, forecasts or charts of plausible scenarios and expectations for the coming year. To extricate itself from its serious diplomatic and operational isolation and improve its standing among the Palestinian public, Hamas is trying to set the territories on fire. As a result, the number of terrorist attacks has risen steadily as has the number of disturbances.

The above notwithstanding, we are not talking about the orchestrated activity of organized cells, but more about what Israelis call “mood-based attacks.”

According to IDF and Shin Bet assessments, there is still no pent-up, popular energy just waiting for a volatile incident to turn it into a wave of violence. The Palestinian public has yet to forget the horrors of the previous intifada, which left some 4,000 Palestinians and more than 1,000 Israelis dead. Israel’s greatest fear is a “diplomatic intifada” — called here the “South African intifada” — which will be inflicted on it in UN institutions and accompanied by a series of international boycotts and anti-Israeli measures.

On the other hand, a well-known adage in the Israeli air force goes, “The one that will shoot you down is the one you can’t see.” With or without intelligence assessments, tension in the territories is growing. Clashes on the Temple Mount — pitting Palestinian youths, Hamas militants and Salafist activists against thousands of Jews, mostly right-wingers attempting day after day to get to the Temple Mount to exercise their freedom of religion — have reached a new peak during this year's Passover holiday in April.

Hamas deal last straw for Congress on US aid to Palestinians

This important, bi-partisan development in US Congress could help firm up US resistance to radical Islam in general.

by Julian Pecquet, AL Monitor — April 23, 2014

Wednesday's announcement of a reconciliation between the rival Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah triggered an instant call for retaliation on Capitol Hill.

Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., the author of the Palestinian Anti-Terrorism Act, called for an immediate suspension of US aid to the Palestinian Authority (PA). The 2006 law, passed after Hamas won that year's legislative elections, prohibits support for a "Hamas-controlled Palestinian Authority."

"The Administration must halt aid to the Palestinian Authority and condition any future assistance as leverage to force Abu Mazen [Mahmoud Abbas] to abandon this reconciliation with Hamas and to implement real reforms within the PA," Ros-Lehtinen, who chairs the House Foreign Affairs panel on the Middle East, said in a statement. "U.S. law is clear on the prohibition of U.S. assistance to a unity Palestinian government that includes Hamas, a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization, and President [Barack] Obama must not allow one cent of American taxpayer money to help fund this terrorist group."

Her Democratic counterpart on the subcommittee, Ted Deutch of Florida, issued a similar warning.

"President Abbas now stands at a pivotal crossroad — does he want peace with Israel or reconciliation with Hamas?" Deutch said. "Be certain that the Palestinian Authority will face significant consequences if a unity government is formed that includes terrorist members of Hamas."

Rep. Nita Lowey, D-N.Y., the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, flatly said the move "jeopardizes US assistance."

Why Won’t Western Churches Condemn Muslim Oppression of Christians?

See also my article here on this question.

by Tom Wilson, Commentary — Feb 27, 2014 — h/t Creeping Sharia

The news of how Christian communities in Syria are being forced to purchase their lives by signing treaties of submission to jihadi overlords is just one of the more recent reminders of the worsening plight of Christians in the Middle East. This is a subject that struggles to receive much comment from Western leaders, or apparently provoke much serious outrage in the general public. 

Naturally, Christian groups and media outlets do periodically go through the motions attempting to draw some attention to this matter. Yet among some of the liberal churches, the alleged oppression of Palestinian Muslims by the Jewish state seems to keep them far too busy to devote much time to campaign about the genuine oppression of Christians by Muslims.

In some sense, the precarious predicament of Christian communities in the Middle East is somewhat more complicated than it may appear. In both Iraq and Syria, the Baathist regimes co-opted the Christian community into supporting what were already minority-run states. In Syria in particular, it made sense for the Assads’ Alawite minority to enlist the help of Christian communities in maintaining power over the Sunni majority. The disintegration of these regimes has naturally left Christians exposed to the resentments of the wider populace. Nevertheless, the most extreme and sustained violence against the region’s Christian minorities is primarily coming from radicalized and emboldened Islamist terror groups. From the Copts in Egypt, to the Christians under Hamas in Gaza, to the state-sanctioned oppression in Iran, to the sporadic attacks on Christians in Pakistan, the same extremist Islamic forces are at work.

The latest events in Syria specifically concern the Christian communities in the province of Raqqa, which is currently under the control of the militia forces of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), an Islamist group which claims association with al-Qaeda. There the leaders of the community faced either forced conversion to Islam or death if they did not agree to sign a treaty of submission, which forbids them from practicing their faith openly. By imposing this treaty ISIS is following orthodox Sharia practices, which compel Christians in Islamic society to live in a subservient state of dhimmitude. Nor was the convert-or-die threat an empty one. In the past year alone, 1,213 Christians were murdered in Syria in what were recorded as killings motivated by the victims’ religion.

13,000 teens complete Hamas training camps to emulate ‘suicide martyrs’

Numbers more than double in second year of Gaza’s ‘Pioneers of Liberation’ program; females also trained.

BY ELHANAN MILLER, Times of Israel — January 15, 2014

A child practices disassembling an AK-47 during the Hamas-run 'pioneers of liberation' camps in Gaza (photo credit: Hamas interior ministry website)

The Hamas government in Gaza celebrated the graduation on Monday of paramilitary camps geared at training high-school children “to follow in the footsteps of the suicide martyrs.”

The camps, titled “the pioneers of liberation,” are run by Hamas’s ministries of education and interior. Some 13,000 students in grades 10-12 participated in the one-week training camps this year, compared to 5,000 last year when the program was launched, Israeli sources with knowledge of the program said.

Nazareth Christians Warned Against ‘Slandering’ Allah

from Israel Today, January 21, via JihadWatch

As Christians of every stripe in Jesus’ hometown of Nazareth begin to again take a real stand for their faith, local Muslims are warning them not to overstep the boundaries of their traditional place in the Middle East (hint: they must remain dhimmis, or second-class).

A large billboard hanging at a central point in Nazareth features a picture of an Israeli stop sign, along with the English translation of a verse from the Koran cautioning Christians (and Jews) to speak only the “truth” regarding Allah.

The poster (and Koran 4:171) reads:

“O people of the Scripture (Christians)! Do not exceed the limits of your religion. Say nothing but the truth about Allah (The One True God). The Christ Jesus, Son of Mary, was only a Messenger of God and His word conveyed to Mary and a spirit created by Him. So believe in God and His messengers and do not say: ‘Three gods (trinity)’. Cease! It will be better for you. Indeed, Allah is the One and the Only God. His Holiness is far above having a son.”

Evangelical Christians from Nazareth have become a growing and integral part of the overall Messianic body in the land, while traditional Christians (Catholics, Greek Orthodox, etc) have been waking up to their historical and religious connection to the Jews and are joining the Israeli army in ever greater numbers.