Tuesday, July 31, 2018

IPT Blog: Senior MB Official Touts Linda Sarsour's Gaza Video



Steven Emerson, Executive Director
July 31, 2018

Senior MB Official Touts Linda Sarsour's Gaza Video

by John Rossomando  •  Jul 31, 2018 at 3:10 pm
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When Linda Sarsour speaks, a senior Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood official apparently likes what he hears.
Gamal Heshmat shared an anti-Israel video by Sarsour on his Facebook page last Friday. In it, Sarsour glosses over Hamas' role coordinating the "Great March of Return" in May.
She fails to inform viewers that the protesters used kite bombs, incendiary balloons and rockets to try to attack Israeli civilian areas. She does speak about the death toll, however, noting that 50 Gazans died on May 14.
"...[These] people didn't choose to die. People were killed. They were massacred at the hands of snipers," Sarsour said in the video originally posted in May.
Subsequently, Hamas leaders took full credit for the violence, boasting that the overwhelming majority of casualties were members of the terrorist group. Subsequent Israeli analysis confirmed the Hamas claim.
"This is not peaceful resistance," Hamas Politburo member Mahmoud al-Zahhar told Al-Jazeera on May 13. "Has the option (of armed struggle) diminished? No. On the contrary, it is growing and developing. That's clear. So when we talk about 'peaceful resistance,' we are deceiving the public."
Heshmat belongs to the Brotherhood's Shura Council, the legislative body that sets the group's agenda. It isn't clear what prompted him to post the two-month old video Friday, but tried to pretend the prominent Hamas role instigating the violence somehow was a secret.
"The crimes of the Zionist Entity are increasing in light of international protection which betrays its principles, and an Arabic guardianship which thwarts its Umma, and an Islamic silence which harms the Religion and forsakes the Truth, we will expose it to everyone to publish and distribute," Heshmat wrote in the post.
Having a senior Brotherhood official tout her video is a bad look for Sarsour, said Zuhdi Jasser, founder and president of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy (AIFD).
"It's no longer credible to say that it's guilt by association when a major thought leader in the Muslim Brotherhood is using her material to establish a political agenda," Jasser said.
Sarsour's video calls for a Palestinian right to "return to their original homelands" – a demand which would effectively eliminate Israel as a Jewish state. She also called a "prison" due to a blockade aimed at preventing Hamas from smuggling weapons into the area for future terrorist attacks.
Top Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh cited the same talking points in a June 7 column posted on Hamas' website. Hamas wants Israel's destruction, nothing less.
Despite her hateful rhetoric, Sarsour remains a hot political commodity. She spent the weekend in Michigan campaigning for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Abdul El-Sayed.
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The Long War Journal (Site-Wide)

The Long War Journal (Site-Wide)



Posted: 31 Jul 2018 12:44 PM PDT
The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing at a military checkpoint in the Philippines earlier today. The bomber was identified as a foreign fighter known as Abu Kathir al-Maghrebi.
Posted: 31 Jul 2018 11:22 AM PDT
The US Treasury and State Departments designated three members of Lashkar-e-Tayyiba as terrorists today. One of them was captured in Iraq in 2004 and held for a decade before he was transferred to Pakistan and released. Another has raised funds to send to Syria.
Posted: 31 Jul 2018 06:26 AM PDT
The Islamic State's Amaq News Agency has released a short video allegedly showing five young jihadists swearing allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi before they attacked cyclists in Tajikistan. The video is similar to a number of others released after small-scale attacks since mid-2016.
Posted: 30 Jul 2018 10:30 PM PDT
Resolute Support continues to invent new terminology to obfuscate the extent of Taliban control in Afghanistan.

Monday, July 30, 2018

Was The Danforth Shooter a Member of a Toronto-based Radical Islamic Terrorist Cell?

It is about time that our political leaders stop being so politically correct. And instead demand independent investigations and/or initiate independent investigations so we get real answers to this troubling terrorist event and to these questions.

Was The Danforth Shooter a Member of a Toronto-based Radical Islamic Terrorist Cell?





There is clear evidence that Muslim Faisal Hussain, ( aged 29) who shot fifteen people on the Danforth, killing two innocent girls, Juliana Kozis (age 10) and Reese Fallon (age 18), and injured thirteen other innocent people, was neither seriously mentally ill, nor that he had acted alone.  (Also see Saturday’s 1st off-the-mark breaking story by William Kay, ‘Did We Just Dodge 9/11 2.0’?)
Seemingly within minutes of the SIU (Special Investigations Unit), identifying Hussain as the Danforth shooter, an unsigned statement was suspiciously released to various media organizations, purportedly on behalf of the family.

This statement was promoted by such mainstream media as the CBC and the Toronto Star as the truth without any apparent due diligence or investigation.

The statement explained that “our son had severe mental health challenges, struggling with psychosis and depression his entire life.”

We have learned that this statement was prepared not by the father, mother or close family member or friend of the Danforth shooter , as is normally the case,  but by a certain leftist New Democratic Party (NDP) Muslim organizer and activist named Mohammed Hashim, whose biography describes him as a driving force behind the National Council of Canadian Muslims.

Anthony Furey of the Toronto Sun has reported that Hashim self-identifies as a spin doctor who admits that his “work as being widely credited as framing a new narrative for Muslims in Canada.”
Well, that “new narrative” of an apparent radical Islamic terrorist being a victim of serious mental illness, blew up within a day of its release.

Sue-Ann Levy, also of the Toronto Sun, interviewed a co-worker of Hussain’s at the Leaside Loblaw’s on Redside Road. This co-worker worked with Hussain for the past four years. She confirmed that Hussain was always “bubbly” and “would go above and beyond” to help. This co-worker said Hussain never showed any signs of mental illness.

Amir Sukhera, a friend of Hussain’s for over eight years, corroborated the Loblaw’s co-worker’s view of Hussain. Sukhera remembers him as shy, reserved, but also generally happy and upbeat. According to Sukhera, Hussain never showed signs of being troubled or violent.

In addition, video evidence and eyewitness reports of Hussain on his killing spree on the Danforth show a man who is determined, focused and fully in control of all his faculties. These are not traits of a seriously mentally ill individual. Rather his expert actions, the grip of his handgun, his stance and his ability to walk and shoot calmly and accurately while reloading at least three times, amidst the chaos, indicates he was a very well trained marksman and assassin.

We have learned that within the space of a few horrifying minutes, Hussain, with his handgun, was capable of shooting and hitting 15 moving targets in discharging about three magazines of bullets ( about 20-30 shots).

Policemen on the scene and other gun enthusiasts have all concluded that your average cop with ten years of gun training could not match Hussain’s shooting ability.

We have learned from Joe Warmington of the Toronto Sun, that in total Hussain discharged about 4 magazines of bullets ( about 40 – 50 bullets) and that he had another three magazines in reserve.
We have also learned that a search of Hussain’s apartment indicates that another firearm was discovered together with an extensive amount of ammunition.

CBC has suggested that Hussain obtained these illegal firearms from his brother who was known to the police as being a member of a gang and a known drug dealer. But his brother has been in a coma for over a year, so that simple explanation is questionable.

We know Hussain had little money, as he worked part-time at Loblaw’s- probably at minimum wage.
At the age of 29 he still lived with his parents in a modest apartment.

So how Hussain could afford these illegal guns and very expensive ammunition?

Also due to acute and up to date Hussain’s expert shooting skills, it can be concluded that Hussain must have had years of training as a marksman and killer, not only in Afghanistan or Pakistan, but more recently here in Toronto or outside of Toronto.


Such professional training implies he was trained by professionals. His expert skills were not self-taught.

If he was professionally trained in Toronto, then other radical Islamists were also trained.

Furthermore, since his brother has been out of the picture, it appears more reasonable that his guns, ammunition, organizational and logistical support was supplied by other individuals, i.e.  a well-organized team.

In other words, the facts clearly suggest that this highly deadly and effective mass shooting was not the work of a lone wolf. Hussain had significant help.

In other words,  it is arguable that Hussain is part of a radical Islamic cell, that apparently not only trained Hussain extensively but supplied him with weapons,  ammunition, logistics, organization and planning. And best of all, a cover story. After the fact.

Recall not long ago,  Toronto had another home-grown radical Islamic gang of 18 which wished to blow up the Parliament buildings and kidnap then Prime Minister Stephen Harper.  This is a more plausible explanation than the ridiculously unbelievable story that Hussain was just a seriously mentally ill lone wolf.

The questions now being asked by millions of Canadians and Americans who are following this story is how extensive is this Toronto-based radical Islamic cell? And have radical Islamists and radical Islamist sympathizers infiltrated the New Democrat Party (NDP),  the Toronto police, the SIU, and especially the Toronto Star and the CBC who apparently colluded in putting out this suspect and deceptive story in the first place?

It is about time that our political leaders stop being so politically correct. And instead demand independent investigations and/or initiate independent investigations so we get real answers to this troubling terrorist event and to these questions. The overriding goal is to prevent further such Danforth shootings, or other terrorist events such as bombings, or stabbings by radical Islamic terrorists in our midst.

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Child Brides in Turkey


In this mailing:
  • Burak Bekdil: Child Brides in Turkey
  • Amir Taheri: In Iran: The Past is a Foreign Country

Child Brides in Turkey

by Burak Bekdil  •  July 30, 2018 at 5:00 am
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  • According to Turkish Philanthropy Funds, 40% of girls under the age of 18 in Turkey are forced into marriage.
  • "Low education" means almost all of Turkey: The average schooling in the country is a mere 6.5 years.
  • In January 2018, a government body under President Recep Tayyip ErdoÄŸan's jurisdiction suggested that, according to Islamic law, girls as young as 9 and boys as young as 12 could marry.
  • In Turkey you may abuse a 13-year-old and walk free, but you may not tease the president.
Turkey's president from 2007 to 2014, Abdullah Gül (left), was a 30-year-old man when he married his wife Hayrünnisa (right) when she was 15 years old. (Photo by NATO press office via Getty Images)
Where would you like your daughter to be when she is 13? In school, or in bed with a grown man? The answer to this question is largely beyond argument in much of the world. In Islamic societies, however -- including non-Arab and theoretically secular Turkey -- the answer is anyone's guess. Usually in such states, the police power of the government does not fight the patriarchal tradition; instead, it supports it.
Turkey's former president, Abdullah Gül, incumbent Islamist strongman Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's former ally and co-founder of the party that has ruled Turkey since 2002, was a 30-year-old man when he married his wife Hayrünnisa when she was 15. Gül, nominated for the presidency by Erdoğan, was Turkey's first Islamist president.

In Iran: The Past is a Foreign Country

by Amir Taheri  •  July 30, 2018 at 4:00 am
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  • Ayatollah Khomeini and his successors branded all accords that Iran signed under the Shah as "a Zionist conspiracy against Islam." Now they are trying to eat humble pie in the hope of regaining some of the privileges Iran lost when they seized power.
Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif claims that cooperation accords signed between Iran and the US in the 1950s contradict President Trump's threatened decision to impose new sanctions on the Islamic Republic. (Photo by Lennart Preiss/Getty Images)
"The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there." This is how English writer L.P. Hartley, in his novel The Go-Between, comments on the ambiguity of our relations with a past that fascinates and confuses us. I was reminded of Hartley's enigmatic phrase last week as I skimmed through a series of news stories indicating the discovery by the Khomeinist establishment in Tehran of Iran's past.
There was Iran's President Hassan Rouhani advising US President Donald Trump not to ignore Iran's "7,000-year old civilization" in stark contradiction to Ayatollah Khomeini's claim that the whole of Iranian history before his seizure of power should be classified as "jahiliyah" (darkness).
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Eye on Iran: U.S. Probes Web of Businesses for Ties to Alleged Hezbollah Supporters



   EYE ON IRAN
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TOP STORIES


U.S. intelligence officials are probing a transcontinental network of real-estate, weapons and electronic firms for ties to two Lebanese men blacklisted for their alleged support of terrorist group Hezbollah, according to people familiar with the matter.


Iran's rial tumbled to another historic low, resisting government efforts to shore up the economy as the restoration of U.S. sanctions looms. In an effort to signal they're taking action to fight corruption and cushion the blow of the U.S. economic offensive, authorities have rounded up more than two dozen merchants who they say exploited government currency measures for personal gain.


The Trump administration is quietly pushing ahead with a bid to create a new security and political alliance with six Gulf Arab states, Egypt and Jordan, in part to counter Iran's expansion in the region, according to U.S. and Arab officials. The White House wants to see deeper cooperation between the countries on missile defense, military training, counter-terrorism and other issues such as strengthening regional economic and diplomatic ties, four sources said.

UANI IN THE NEWS


Although [Iran Quds Force Commander Qassem] Soleimani was likely aiming his posturing, in part, at Iran's domestic hardliner audience and external proxies, this incident shows that Iran's campaign of defiance is escalating as sanctions inexorably roll out. Soleimani, Iran's Supreme Leader, and Iran's President have all recently made statements against the United States to which President Trump has responded harshly. The comments from Soleimani also may signify that Tehran is seeking to elicit a bellicose response from the United States to bolster its domestic anti-American narrative as well as to gain sympathy from Europe, which tends to overlook Iran's rhetoric as revolutionary hot air common at Iran's many political events.


And if you have [the Bab-el-Mandeb], and the Straight of Hormuz, if you're Iran, you have about 46 percent of all the oil floating every day so it's a powerful incentive for Iran to remain involved this area, and that's why it's critical that the United States support the Saudis and the Emirates in maintaining the freedom of global trade in that area.

NUCLEAR DEAL & NUCLEAR PROGRAM


Iran will likely have to agree to complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization in any future deal with the United States, just like North Korea, a top diplomatic official signaled Friday. "Nothing in the conduct of foreign policy is ever done in a vacuum," Assistant Secretary of State for Arms Control, Verification and Compliance, Dr. Yleem D.S. Poblete, told an audience in Washington.

SANCTIONS, BUSINESS RISKS, & OTHER ECONOMIC NEWS


Iran plans to offer price and tax incentives to private investors to take over idle state projects and help boost the economy, state media reported on Saturday, as the country faces likely U.S. sanctions and the exit of many foreign companies.


MMK (MAGN.MM), one of Russia's largest steel producers, has postponed the launch of a lucrative project in Turkey due to uncertainty created by global trade wars... Tariffs are not the only Trump policy to affect MMK's strategy. The steelmaker has also stopped deliveries to Iran... against the backdrop of new sanctions Washington has promised to impose on Tehran...  [S]teel traders told Reuters earlier this month that Russian metals firms were cutting back on sales to Iran for fear, at least in part, of falling foul of the sanctions.


American victims of terror attacks have filed a civil action against the European Investment Bank (EIB) for continuing their financial ties with the Iranian regime.


Saudi Arabia agreed to build a solar power plant and sell the electricity to Iraq at a steep discount to supplies the war-torn country previously bought from the kingdom's regional arch-rival Iran. 


While Iran would prefer EU help when it comes to relief from US sanctions, Moscow might be better suited to this role than the Europeans.


Iran's Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh is imposing four-year term limits for all top oil managers at state-run energy companies, with the rule taking effect in October. 


The chairman of Iran's National Center for Persian Carpets says she plans to file a complaint against the United States at international tribunals for the sanctions Washington has imposed on handwoven Persian carpets.

PROTESTS & HUMAN RIGHTS


Iran's top security body has approved the release of opposition figures Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, under house arrest for seven years for leading mass protests in 2009, a family member told local media. 


Human rights groups say Iranian courts have confirmed prison terms for eight Baha'is, members of a religious minority that has experienced decades of discrimination in the Shiite Muslim-majority nation. 


A Baha'i International Community representative who participated in a first-of-its-kind U.S. conference on religious freedom says she urged delegates to press Iran to stop mistreatment of its Baha'i minority.


A small group of Iranian farmers drove their tractors to the entrance to the town of Varzaneh.  The vehicles stopped next to a canal that once provided their crops, but has been dry for years. The farmers appealed to government officials for help. "We are the people," shouted Mostafa Benvidi. "Help the people. At night they go to bed hungry!"

MILITARY/INTELLIGENCE MATTERS & PROXY WARS


As tensions between the US and Iran ratchet up, the Trump administration is looking at what military options may be needed to keep vital waterways in the Middle East open in the wake of attacks on Saudi oil tankers by Iranian-backed Houthi rebels on July 25, according to two administration officials. Both officials emphasize that if any military action is taken it would be carried out by US allies in the region, such as the Saudis, and not by US forces. 

U.S.-IRAN RELATIONS


The United States has not instituted a policy of regime change or collapse in Iran, U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said on Friday, saying the goal was still to curb what Washington sees as Iran's threatening behavior in the Middle East.


Since U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew the United States from the Iran nuclear deal, the Iranian government will move to boost its uranium enrichment capacity, as Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei threatened, and to keep testing ballistic missiles. Nevertheless, Tehran will be careful to avoid violating the deal or provoking further action from the U.S. administration for fear of international and domestic backlash. Iran, instead, will focus on its economic and political problems for now, while trying to muddle through the restored U.S. sanctions.

RUSSIA, SYRIA, ISRAEL, HEZBOLLAH, LEBANON & IRAN


An official from Yemen's foreign ministry said that Lebanese 'Hezbollah' is a partner in shedding the blood of Yemenis by insisting on sabotage roles.


Russia, Iran, and Turkey, co-sponsors of Syrian peace talks held periodically in Kazakhstan, will meet on July 30-31 in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi to discuss issues related to the seven-year-long civil war. 


U.S. security aid to Lebanon has never been politically palatable, and it's facing new headwinds these days. But the strategic case for continuing it remains sound.

IRANIAN INTERNAL DEVELOPMENTS


There is a war going on within the Iranian presidential palace, where two leading members of the administration are striving to force First Vice President Eshaq Jahangiri out of the government.

GULF STATES, YEMEN, & IRAN


A military coalition led by Saudi Arabia said Sunday it had destroyed sites used by Huthi rebels in neighbouring Yemen to launch missiles at the kingdom.


Saudi Arabia lamented on Friday the United Nations Security Council's inaction on Yemen, which it said helped Iran arm the Houthi militias.


How should the international community deal with state-sponsored terrorism? The official position of most countries is to not negotiate with terrorists because it encourages them to commit further acts of terrorism. Does paying a ransom encourage more of the same? The consensus is that paying for the release of captured civilians sets the ground for more kidnappings. When terrorists discover they can collect large sums of cash and get away with it, why not repeat the exercise?


The latest tanker attack by Iranian-backed rebels underlines the need to restore the entire Red Sea coast to Yemen's internationally recognized government.

IRAQ, TURKEY & IRAN


Prominent Iranian Sunni leader Molavi Abdul Hamid sent a letter July 21 to Iraq's top Shiite cleric, Ali al-Sistani, regarding the unequal status of Sunnis in Iran. Abdul Hamid asked Sistani to act as a mediator between Iranian authorities and Iran's Sunni community, with the goal of encouraging the government to adopt fairer policies toward Sunnis in Iran.

AFGHANISTAN & IRAN


Over the past four years, thousands of young Afghan Shiite men have been drawn into the war in Syria by Iran, part of a well-financed system of recruitment, training and incentives that funnels Afghan recruits to fight for a repressive Arab government. The Afghans are soldiers in someone else's war, propelled by economic woes and religious loyalty to join a foreign fight.






Eye on Iran is a periodic news summary from United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) a program of the American Coalition Against Nuclear Iran, Inc., a tax-exempt organization under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Eye on Iran is not intended as a comprehensive media clips summary but rather a selection of media elements with discreet analysis in a PDA friendly format. For more information please email press@uani.com.

United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) is a non-partisan, broad-based coalition that is united in a commitment to prevent Iran from fulfilling its ambition to become a regional super-power possessing nuclear weapons.  UANI is an issue-based coalition in which each coalition member will have its own interests as well as the collective goal of advancing an Iran free of nuclear weapons.