Exceptional article from Elliott Abrams outlining President Obama’s abject failure in the Middle East and the risks he has created.   Make sure to read the entire article – well recommended.

(Via Politico) There’s always Tunisia. Amid the smoking ruins of the Middle East, there is that one encouraging success story. But unfortunately for the Obama narratives, the president had about as much as to do with Tunisia’s turn toward democracy as he did with the World Cup rankings. Where administration policy has had an impact, the story is one of failure and danger.
The Middle East that Obama inherited in 2009 was largely at peace, for the surge in Iraq had beaten down the al Qaeda-linked groups. U.S. relations with traditional allies in the Gulf, Jordan, Israel and Egypt were very good. Iran was contained, its Revolutionary Guard forces at home. Today, terrorism has metastasized in Syria and Iraq, Jordan is at risk, the humanitarian toll is staggering, terrorist groups are growing fast and relations with U.S. allies are strained. (more…)

FRANCE – A Frenchman [Mehdi Nemmouche – pictured left] with suspected ties to Islamic extremists in Syria has been arrested over last week’s shooting at the Jewish Museum in Brussels that left four people dead, according to sources linked to the investigation.

The 29-year-old suspect was arrested Friday in the southern French city of Marseille, the sources told the AFP news agency.

He was detained by customs officials at the city’s coach station on board a bus arriving from Amsterdam via Brussels and was found carrying a Kalashnikov automatic rifle and a gun with ammunition in his luggage, as well as a miniature video camera.

He has been detained on suspicion of murder and attempted murder in connection with a terrorist enterprise, a judicial source said. (more…)

The media, who’d never want to be seen as racist or inflammatory, has virtually blacklisted the reporting of this nationwide trend in black-on-white crime.  And,  just like anything else that’s allowed to exist unchecked,  you only get more of it.  Here’s hoping the victim’s two friends returned the favor.

(ArutzSheva) – A Facebook page for the “Al-Bustan Culture Center in Silwan” features a homemade video that appears to show an Arab man engaging in an east Jerusalem version of the anti-Semitic “knockout game.”   (more…)

The crucified Coptic Christians beg to differ….

(Via MEMRI)  Muhammad Badi, General Guide of the Muslim Brotherhood, made an address to the court on May 18, 2014, rejecting the accusations brought against him and other members of the movement. In footage from the trial posted on the Internet, Badie says: “We have fought only against the Jews… yet now we are being accused of conspiring with Hamas against the Egyptian people. This is an absolute lie.”

Following are excerpts:

Muhammad Badi (standing before the court): Assalam Alaykum. Allah’s blessings and prayers upon you.

Judge: You have two minutes. (more…)

A very similar historical pattern is evolving.   First, Vladimir Putin used the concern for Russian nationalists in Ukraine as justification for military incursion into Crimea and Eastern Ukraine.   This is the same justification Adolf Hitler used to move troops into Poland.

Now, just like before, Jews in Eastern Ukraine are told they need to register their personage or their property will be confiscated.  “Register or be Deported”.

UKRAINE – A leaflet distributed in Donetsk, Ukraine calling for all Jews over 16 years old to register as Jews marred the Jewish community’s Passover festivities Monday (Passover eve), replacing them with feelings of concern.

The leaflet demanded the city’s Jews supply a detailed list of all the property they own, or else have their citizenship revoked, face deportation and see their assets confiscated.
Donetsk, a Ukraine province with 4.3 million people – 10 percent of Ukraine’s population – and 17,000 Jews, is home to much of the country’s heavy industry, and is thus the biggest prize of the eastern regions where pro-Russian separatists have captured government buildings in the past week.
The leaflet, signed by Chairman of Donetsk’s temporary government Denis Pushilin, was distrbiuted to Jews near the Donetsk synagogue and later in other areas of the city where pro-Russians activists have declared Donetsk as an independent “people’s republic”, defying an ultimatum from Kiev to surrender. (more…)

Politico has an interesting summary of the Israeli / Palestinian talk collapse filling in some timelines to the analysis we previously presented.   Even if you are not a global political news junkie it’s worth the read.

While the Politico story doesn’t directly outline the ego of John Kerry as the impetus for the framework, and subsequent collapse, it’s still there and you can catch glimpses of it throughout the article.

Even among senior Obama aides, there’s disagreement about how wary the president actually was all along about taking another shot at the peace process, how much distance he was really trying to keep, and how much of his actions were about humoring an ambitious Kerry’s swing at the history books.

As we previously shared the entire construct of the Kerry spearheaded peace talks originated from Secretary Kerry’s desire to be something legendary, and do something on a grand scale worthy of his own opinion of himself.
John Kerry was not so much interested in the construct of Israeli security, or foundationally finding a substantive ‘two state’ solution; for Kerry -the ideologue- he wanted to carve the mold, and then watch the global media cast the brass bust.
(more…)

If you’ve been following along you likely know how absurd this is.  

Somehow, in the bizzarro Easter Island land of long faces where John Kerry was spawned, this makes sense to him.   Israel blamed for derailing peace talks Palestinians would not participate in.

WASHINGTON DC – Secretary of State John Kerry on Tuesday said Israel’s announcement of new settlements in East Jerusalem last week derailed the peace talks with the Palestinians.
Israel first missed the deadline to release the fourth tranche of Palestinian prisoners, Kerry told lawmakers at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing. Israel then announced 700 new settlement units in Jerusalem.
“Poof, that was sort of the moment,” Kerry said at a hearing focused on the fiscal 2015 budget for national security and foreign policy priorities. (more…)

Again, as predicted.    Here’s the way the entire face saving fiasco is being spun by the Palestinians.  Fatah spokesman Ahmad Assaf told reporters the Palestinian Authority “blackmailed” Israel to bring about the release of dozens of prisoners.

Palestinian Media – The Palestinian Authority’s only reason for agreeing to and continuing the peace negotiations with Israel is to bring about the release of prisoners, Fatah’s spokesman Ahmad Assaf has indicated. Stating that the PA “blackmailed” Israel to release the prisoners, Assaf explained that by virtue of the PA’s membership in the UN, the PA is able to threaten Israel with taking it to the International Criminal Court. Assaf maintains that to prevent the PA from doing so, Israel agreed to release 104 prisoners, most of them serving life sentences for murder.

Senior PA leader Nabil Shaath explained already in November and again in December 2013, that the reason the PA has not “stopped negotiations,” is because the PA wants to first fulfill its goal of having all the prisoners Israel arrested before the Oslo Accords released. (more…)

As predicted.   Golly-Gee Mr. Ketchup, why the long face ?

ISRAEL – US Secretary of State John Kerry left Israel Tuesday morning as details emerged of a possible deal that would lead to the release of imprisoned Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard by passover and would ensure the continuation of peace talks into 2015.
Kerry will return to the Middle East on Wednesday to meet Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said.
Officials included in the talks said that the emerging deal contains the following elements:
1) Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard will be released before the first Passover seder on Monday April 14.
2) The negotiations will continue into 2015, during which time the Palestinians will commit themselves not to engage in diplomatic warfare against Israel by going to international organizations for recognition.
(more…)

By now most people might have heard about an Israeli request for the release of Jonathan Pollard. Here we present the actual substance behind what’s really going on.
President Obama and Secretary Kerry have been trying for months to establish their own legacy position by leveraging a peace agreement between Palestinian Authority President, Mahmoud Abbas, and Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.
Specifically because Kerry/Obama are less pro-Israel than any other administration – Abbas (Palestinian Authority) has felt empowered, and doubled down on his position that Netanyahu (Israel) must make *ALL* the substantive concessions for peace.
(more…)