In this mailing:
- Bassam Tawil: Palestinians: The
Threats Trump Needs to Hear
- Jacobus E. Lato: Indonesia: U.S.
vs. Reality
by Bassam Tawil • May 16, 2017 at
5:00 am
- The
warning by Hamas and Islamic Jihad is directed not only
against Trump and his new administration, but also against
Abbas and any Arab leader who dares to "collude"
with the U.S.
- A
new policy document recently published by Hamas says that the
Islamic terror movement accepts a Palestinian state in the
West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem, but without
recognizing Israel's right to exist. Translation: Hamas seeks
a Palestinian state that would be used as a launching pad to
destroy Israel.
- The
electoral showing demonstrates with excruciating clarity that
Hamas could easily take over any Palestinian state that the
U.S. and the Europeans help create in the West Bank.
- Abbas
is a weak leader with precious little legitimacy among Palestinians.
He would never survive any kind of real peace deal with Israel
-- a reality that, ironically, he has done his very best to
create.
At his
scheduled meeting with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud
Abbas in Bethlehem next week, U.S. President Donald Trump might put
aside the sweet talk of Abbas, and listen instead for the
unsettling truths voiced by other Palestinians such as Hamas and
Islamic Jihad. Pictured: Trump and Abbas give a joint statement on
May 3, 2017 in Washington, DC. (Image source: Olivier
Douliery-Pool/Getty Images)
As U.S. President Donald Trump prepares to hold his
second meeting with Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud
Abbas in Bethlehem next week, two Palestinian terror groups have
announced that the new U.S. administration is planning to
"liquidate the Palestinian cause." The warning by Hamas and
Islamic Jihad is directed not only against Trump and his new
administration, but also against Abbas and any Arab leader who
dares to "collude" with the U.S.
The two Palestinian terror groups, which control the
Gaza Strip and its two million residents, also renewed their pledge
to pursue the armed fight against Israel; they said they would not
give up one inch of Palestine, from the (Mediterranean) sea to the
(Jordan) river.
by Jacobus E. Lato • May 16, 2017
at 4:00 am
- Ironically,
Vice President Mike Pence was delivering his message of
harmony on the day that Ahok, the Christian governor of
Jakarta, was ousted in a heated election marked by violent
Islamist demonstrations.
- Pence's
assertion that "religion unifies" might, in fact,
have been interpreted by those who voted for the candidate
favored by militant Muslims to replace Ahok, to mean that the
Trump administration was giving a stamp of approval for Islam
to serve that role exclusively.
- The
Trump administration and the rest of the West needs to pay
closer attention to what is going on in Indonesia: its future
as a tolerant democracy is being rapidly threatened by a
strengthening Islamist presence.
Indonesian
Islamists in Jakarta, Indonesia chant 'Allahu Akbar' during a
February 21 demonstration demanding that Ahok, who was then
governor of Jakarta, be suspended for blasphemy. (Image source: Ed
Wray/Getty Images)
When U.S. Vice President Mike Pence arrived in
Indonesia on the night of April 19 for his first state visit
abroad, he clearly did not intend for his positive gestures and
kind words to be construed as controversial by the very people at
whom they were aimed.
"In your nation, as in mine, religion unifies,
it doesn't divide," Pence said to Indonesian President Joko
Widodo the following morning at the Jakarta Palace. Pence lauded
Indonesia, the largest Muslim-majority country, for "its
tradition of moderate Islam," which he called "an
inspiration to the world."
He also toured the Istiqlal Mosque, designed by
North Sumatran Christian architect Frederich Silaban for
Indonesia's first president, Sukarno, who insisted it be built near
the Jakarta Cathedral and Immanuel Church as a symbol of religious
harmony.
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