News From Israel and the Middle East
Israel worried by increasing Islamist presence on Syria border
September 2, 2014 — YnetNews.com reports: “Israel’s frontier with Syria, where militants have kidnapped 45 UN peacekeepers, has become a magnet for Islamist activity and Israel itself is now a target, the defense minister and security analysts said on Tuesday.
The Nusra Front, an al-Qaeda-linked group fighting Syrian President Bashar Assad, has established a major presence in the region, analysts said, and is poised to carry out attacks across the barren borderlands where Syria, Israel and Jordan converge.
Iran meanwhile is seeking to expand its influence in the region via its support for Assad and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, all of which are allied against the Sunni insurgency confronting Assad, Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon said.
‘Iran’s fingerprints can be seen in Syria, including in the Golan Heights, in attempts to use terror squads against us,’ Ya’alon told Calcalist’s Economic Conference as he set out the combined threat from Islamist groups in Syria…” (Israel has the right to worry about being invaded and slaughtered by Muslim nations. In Psalm 83:5 – 7 a number of Islamic nations are mentioned and they call for the extinction of the nation of Israel: “They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance. For they have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee” – Psalm 83:4, 5.)
Hamas Cleric Calls for ‘Jihad for the Sake of Allah’
August 25, 2014 — Israel National News reports: “In a sermon in Khan Yunis this part Friday, a cleric affiliated with Hamas called for ‘jihad for the sake of Allah’.
The sermon by Sheik Muhammad Abu Rajab aired on Hamas’s Al-Aqsa TV and was translated by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI).
His comments were made following the killing of three top Hamas commanders in an Israeli airstrike.
‘The Zionists gather, from all corners of the world, in Jerusalem and its environs. They occupy and plunder the land so that the promise of Allah will be fulfilled: ‘We have brought you in droves so that it will be easier to slaughter and kill you,’’ charged Abu Rajab.
‘Oh Zionists, you know this for a fact. You know this because your stay here is temporary. You live here, but your eyes are set on the airports,’ he continued.
‘Know that jihad for the sake of Allah is not dependent upon any individual. Otherwise, the spread of Islam would have ceased with the death of the Prophet. However, after the death of the Prophet Muhammad, the light of Islam reached the borders of France and of China. Our jihad is not dependent upon individual people.’
‘Oh scoundrels, let me deliver a personal message to you. This is a personal message to the commanders of the cowardly army. I have a boy, two and a half years old. Netanyahu and Yaalon, you have been encouraging this conduct in our children, so expect their wrath,’ threatened Abu Rajab.
He also said that ‘we are preparing for you an army that you cannot match, and we await the fulfillment of the promise of Allah.’
We loyal to the vow we made, oh Prophet of Allah. This is a pledge of allegiance to the death, oh Prophet of Allah. We have pledged allegiance to you and to the commanders of the jihad – to Deif, to Al-Attar, and to Abu Shamalah. We pledged before the commanders of the jihad and resistance to die for the sake of Allah,’ declared Abu Rajab…”
Nasrallah: Israel is a cancer and the ultimate goal should be to remove it
August 15, 2014 — The Jerusalem Post reports: “Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah has said in an interview that ‘Israel is a cancer’ and that the ‘ultimate goal should be to remove it.’
Speaking in a multi-part interview on Thursday, which is to be published over the next two days in the Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar, which tends to support Hezbollah, Nasrallah said that Israel seeks short wars that lead to ‘a quick, decisive and clear victory.’
‘The reason for this is their realization that any future war is going to be a lot more difficult in terms of its targets and the ability of the resistance – its rocket capabilities and capabilities in all areas. The enemy cannot withstand a war of attrition,’ he said.
Nasrallah played down the success of the Iron Dome defense system, asserting ‘it will face a real issue when there is a large number of rockets.’
Asked about advice he would give the ‘Palestinian resistance’ in Gaza, Nasrallah responded, ‘When a human being is given two choices, either surrender or fight, there is no choice between fighting and humiliation. The culture of the resistance and the choice of the resistance grew among the Palestinian people because they have no other option.’
Asked about Hezbollah’s relationship with Hamas following its break with its ally, Syrian President Bashar Assad, Nasrallah said that despite this, ‘contacts and meetings were never put on hold. Everything stayed normal.’
Asked, ‘Are we going to enter Jerusalem?’ the Hezbollah leader responded, ‘I have no doubt.’…”
Kissinger: Iran is a bigger threat than Islamic State
September 8, 2014 — Haaretz reports: “Former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger called Iran on Saturday a ‘bigger problem’ than the Islamic State group, formerly known as ISIS, and said that the threat posed by the militants is ‘more manageable’ than a confrontation with Iran.
In an interview with National Public Radio, the former top diplomat said that ‘ISIS is a group of adventurers with a very aggressive ideology. But they have to conquer more and more territory before they can become a strategic, permanent reality.’ Iran, on the hand, has the opportunity to ‘reconstruct the ancient Persian Empire, this time under the Shia label — in the rebuilding of the Middle East that will inevitably have to take place when the new international borders [are] drawn.’ That, said Kissinger, ‘gives Iran a very powerful level from a strategic point of view.’
The strategy to defeat Islamic State, Kissinger said, should involve ‘superior air power, and then, if we can enlist other countries, or other more local groups to do the ground fighting, we might actually destroy them.’…” (Iran is becoming less belligerent to America momentarily because the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, known as ISIS is anti-Shiite and wants to put most of them to death because Sunni’s leadership under Al Baghdadi the leader of ISIS. Up this this hour hundreds of hate messages to destroy the USA have been reported in through bombastic utterances by the past president Ahmadinejad and Khamenei the head clergyman of Iran. They will soon have their atomic nuclear weapon completed and will definitely use it on America.)