Palestinians: The Real "Crimes"

by Bassam Tawil • December 26, 2018 at 5:00 am

As far as Abbas and other Palestinians are concerned, Israel's security measures in response to terrorist attacks are also a "crime." In other words, they are saying that Israel does not have the right to conduct hot pursuit after terrorists hiding in Palestinian cities or refugee camps.
When it comes to the actions of the Palestinian leaders themselves, however, they see utter innocence. For them, the daily incitement against Israel and Jews is not a "crime." For them, the glorification of terrorists and paying salaries to their families is not a "crime." For them, the shooting of a pregnant woman at a bus stop is not a "crime."
Such messages are driving Palestinians into the open arms of Hamas. If you are telling your people that Israel and the Jews are criminals, and that anyone who does business with them or visits them is guilty of a "crime," you are telling them that Hamas has got it right: Palestinians should be seeking the destruction of Israel, not peace with it.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and his cohorts have long been waging a campaign of hate and incitement against Israel -- one that aims at depicting Israelis and Jews as "criminals" and "murderers." (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)

The Palestinian Authority (PA) leadership's favorite -- and probably most used -- word in recent weeks is "crime." This is the word that PA President Mahmoud Abbas and his senior officials in Ramallah have endorsed as part of their anti-Israel campaign of incitement. Almost every statement that is issued by the Palestinian leadership concerning Israel includes the word "crime."

For Abbas and his officials, almost everything Israel does or says is a "crime."

ّIn their world, building housing units for Jews in the West Bank or Jerusalem is a "crime."

According to the logic of Abbas and his Palestinian officials, the killing of a Palestinian terrorist who murdered two of his Jewish co-workers and Israel's subsequent demolition of his house is a "crime."

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US Pullout from Syria: Who Will Fill the Vacuum?

by Burak Bekdil • December 26, 2018 at 4:30 am

"What Turkey is going to do is unleash holy hell on the Kurds. In the eyes of Turkey, they're more of a threat than ISIS. So this decision is a disaster." — U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham.
The U.S. move also could turn out to be a death-blow on Washington's efforts to keep Tehran from further establishing itself in Syria and threatening the security not only of Israel, but of the entire Mediterranean region.
Potential Turkish-Kurdish conflicts would further destabilize Syria and strengthen Russia. This point cannot be ignored. Turkey's and Iran's dependency on Russia in Syria will increase, as the trio further teams up to have a larger role in shaping Syria's future.
It is understandable that abstaining from the role of the world's policeman may look consistent with Trump's pre-election pledge to "Make America Great Again." Nevertheless, caution is needed here: Leaving the "policing" job in the world's most volatile and turbulent parts to un-free regimes such as Russia, China, Iran and Turkey could also damage the quest of America and others in the free world to become great again -- and to remain free. The free world simply does not have the luxury -- even in remote geographical areas -- of allowing security to be policed by un-free state and non-state actors.

U.S. President Donald Trump's optimism about a potential Turkish military campaign to finish off ISIS looks woefully premature. Trump taking seriously Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's pledge to "eradicate whatever is left of ISIS" is also problematic. ISIS and some of its offshoots are Erdoğan's former Islamist allies. Pictured: Trump and Erdoğan talk at the NATO Summit in Brussels, Belgium on July 11, 2018. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

U.S. President Donald Trump's unexpected decision to pull U.S. troops from Syria (and Afghanistan) was music to Turkish ears. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan called it "the clearest and most encouraging statement" from Washington.

Foreign Minister Mevlüt Cavuşoğlu welcomed Trump's abrupt decision to withdraw all 2,000 U.S. troops from northern Syria. Defense Minister Hulusi Akar vowed that that Syrian Kurdish fighters whom Turkey considers as top regional security threat, would soon be "buried in the trenches that they dig."

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A League of Democracies: Dusting Off an Old Idea

by Lawrence A. Franklin • December 26, 2018 at 4:00 am

"Ours are not western values. They are the universal values of the human spirit. Anywhere and anytime, ordinary people when given the choice, the choice is the same: freedom not tyranny, democracy, not dictatorship, the rule of law, not the rule of the secret police." — Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, 2003.
A League of Democracies might also serve as a vehicle to increase the numbers of democracies in the world: it could have as its overriding objective the expansion of democracy throughout the planet.

(Image source: iStock)

During a recent interview_, Ambassador Ron Dermer, Israel's Ambassador to the United States, suggested that a "League of Democracies" would help freedom-loving states survive the challenge to democratic values presented by authoritarian states and extremist ideologies.

According to Dermer, the league could be made up of a consortium of "Free World" nations unlimited by territorial region, race or culture. The alliance could be global in scope, not confined, as is NATO to a North Atlantic community of nation-states. Nor would the league be exclusively military in nature. Dermer proffered that it could include India, the world's most populous democracy; Israel, the Middle East's only democracy, and Japan, an Asian democracy.

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