In this mailing: Douglas Murray: Iran's Cash for Murder: Why is the UK Silent? Burak Bekdil: Turkey's Runaway Anti-Semitism Iran's Cash for Murder: Why is the UK Silent? by Douglas Murray  •  March 10, 2016 at 5:00 am The Iranian distribution of cash to families of terrorists is an open incitement to an ongoing campaign of murder. It should by now have not only been condemned by the whole world, but have caused a colossal rethink among the P5+1 nations that signed the ill-judged accord with Iran. It is worth considering another recent Iranian development: the decision -- allegedly by a conglomeration of media outlets, but hardly able to be separated from the government in a country whose press is more "government" than "free" -- to increase the cash-bounty on the head of the British novelist Salman Rushdie. The British government has been strangely mute on the matter. The "normalised" relations with Iran were meant to lead to business opportunities for Britain and an increase in decent behavior from Tehran. Instead, the first major test of Iranian-British relations in several decades turns out to be precisely the same test that the late Ayatollah Khomeini drew up in 1989. Iran's then Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini put a cash bounty on the head of British novelist Salman Rushdie 27 years ago. Last month, a group of Iranian media outlets added $600,000 to the cash reward. Last year, when America, Britain and four other countries (the P5+1) signed their joint plan of action with Iran there was no shortage of people who warned of the consequences. They warned that the deal would merely delay rather than prevent Iran from becoming a nuclear-armed power. They warned of the increased grip the mullahs would have on the country they purport to govern. And in particular, those not caught up in the P5+1 jubilation warned of what Iran would do with the tens of billions of dollars' cash bonanza it would receive once the deal was done. Would Iran use this windfall solely to improve the lives of its people? Or might it spend at least a portion of this cash doing what it has been doing for nearly four decades: that is, spreading terror? There have already been some signs that the ill-judged deal is embedding Iran's worst behaviour rather than elevating the regime to any higher behavioral level. Continue Reading Article Turkey's Runaway Anti-Semitism by Burak Bekdil  •  March 10, 2016 at 4:00 am When it comes to diplomatic conflict between Turkey and Israel or Turkish anti-Semitism, there is always an unusual optimism in the official language chosen by Israeli officials or Jewish community leaders. Facts on the ground are a little bit different than the rosy picture. If Turkish Jews are "safe and secure" in Turkey, why do they feel compelled to protect their schools and synagogues with heavy security? Why do most synagogues in Istanbul look almost like a U.S. embassy in Baghdad or Islamabad? Anti-Semitism in Turkey reached such intensity that even anti-Semitic Islamists were not immune to anti-Semitic smear campaigns. Turkish newspaper columnist Seyfi Sahin (left), a staunch supporter of Turkey's President Erdogan, wrote, "I believe that the gorillas and chimps living today in the forests of North Africa are cursed Jews. They are perverted humans that have mutated." Yusuf Kaplan (right), another Turkish newspaper columnist, also has a record of making anti-Semitic statements. But when he criticized government policy, he was accused of being a "Jewish stooge." The 74th anniversary of an embarrassing tragedy took place in Turkey on February 24, 2016. The MV Struma was a small iron-hulled ship built in 1867 as a steam-powered schooner, but was later re-engined with an unreliable second-hand diesel engine. In 1941, it was tasked with safely transporting an estimated 781 Jewish refugees from Axis-allied Romania to Britain's Mandatory Palestine. Between its departure from Constanta on the Black Sea on Dec. 12, 1941 and arrival in Istanbul on Dec. 15, the vessel's engine failed several times. On Feb. 23, 1942 with her engine still not running but the refugees aboard, Turkish authorities towed the Struma from Istanbul through the Bosporus out to the Black Sea. On the morning of Feb. 24, the Soviet submarine Shch-213 torpedoed the Struma, killing all but one of the refugees and 10 crew aboard. Continue Reading Article

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