Huckabee: Hillary Clinton Would Be a Disaster for Israel

Gov. Mike Huckabee at the Herzliya Conference / Screenshot

“Hillary Clinton will be a disaster for Israel,” former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee told Walla on the sidelines of the 2016 Herzliya Conference Wednesday. Huckabee, an early dropout in the GOP presidential race, suggested Clinton would continue President Obama’s policy regarding Israel. “And I don’t think anyone would say that Israel-US relations have been good under his leadership over the last eight years,” he commented.

In his address to the conference, Gov. Huckabee said that “every friend of Israel is a friend of the United States and every enemy of Israel is an Enemy of the United States.” He also suggested that “America is looking into the mirror and sees Israel.”

Huckabee noted that the greatest common foe facing Israel, the US and the free world was “radical Islamic ideology that takes us back to the 7th century.” He then reiterated: “We have a common enemy and that enemy is radical Islam that wishes to destroy civilization itself and wishes to turn the clock back to centuries ago.”

Mentioning the past week’s two acts of terror, one killing four in Tel Aviv, followed by the mass shooting in Orlando, Fl. that killed 49, Huckabee said that the argument about whether the Orlando shooting was a terror attack or hate crime is “ridiculous. All terror is based on hate.” He said that he feared that sometimes people were afraid “to call out the common enemy of radical Islam in case we offend someone,” but went on to state that he was offended when “innocent people were murdered in the name of an ideology that wishes to destroy all semblance of peace.”

He referred to the “Ill-fated and tragic deal to trust the Iranians,” saying that “here can be no deal with those who believe its okay to murder people” because of their race, religion or ethnicity. “It’s impossible to enter into any agreement with the present leadership of Iran… I hope and pray that it will be rescinded.”

Focusing on the Israeli-Arab conflict and the talks about a two-state solution, Huckabee said that the idea is naïve and cannot be realized “unless both sides agree that the other side has a fundamental right to exist.” He said that until there were no longer schools in Judea, Samaria and Gaza celebrating the death of Jews, there could be no solution. He added that there was no magical formula for the issues but that the basic issue of radical Islam and one people wanting to destroy another and celebrating every time someone on the other side was killed had to be solved first. “This is not a conflict about land, or about power, but about existence,” he asserted.

“Neither Israel nor the United States is perfect but we do have a system of laws that we insist are abided by… we do not name streets after or make heroes out of terrorists.”

Huckabee also focused on the issue of Jerusalem, saying that “the notion that Jerusalem should be divided is nonsense…. Only one nation in the world every claimed it as its capital… it is never even mentioned in the Quran… At some point we have to come to grips that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel, not because it has been since 1948 but because it has been for 3000 years and it has to be accepted.”

Returning to his original point, Huckabee concluded, “We have to recognize that if it’s good for Israel then it’s ultimately good for the United States and if it’s good for the United States then it’s ultimately good for Israel… the similarities between the two countries are just too glaring to ignore… our alliance is too precious.”

He said that Israel’s sovereignty, safety and security had to be protected because Israel was just the first “domino” and the United States would follow. “Anyone who comes after you is after us next,” Huckabee said.

David Israel

About the Author: David writes news at JewishPress.com.

CAIR Hilarity: We Welcome "Significant, Healthy Debates" Among Muslims

He might have been trying to be ironic. But Corey Saylor seemed to be playing it straight Monday when he claimed that the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR)wants "more empowered voices" in the future to "let the public at large see more of us talking about the full spectrum of views that exist within the Muslim community."

We could hear the spit-take all the way from Arizona. That's the home of Zuhdi Jasser, who founded theAmerican Islamic Forum for Democracy (AIFD) and the Muslim Reform Movement. Both groups embrace a "separation of mosque and state" and stand against the Islamist victimization agenda pushed by CAIR.

For that, CAIR repeatedly has called Jasser names in attempts to discredit and silence him. It tried to block his appointment to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom in 2012 and tried unsuccessfully to have him ousted two years later.

Saylor's comments about embracing debate came during a news conference to unveil CAIR's latest report on groups it says are pushing "Islamophobia" in the United States, along with their funders. The report includes the AIFD among organizations "whose primary reason for existence is to promote prejudice against or hatred of Islam and Muslims."

While simultaneously calling for more empowered Muslim voices, CAIR accuses Jasser, a Muslim, of promoting hatred and prejudice against his faith because he disagrees with CAIR politically. For example, following terrorist attacks like the slaughter at Orlando's Pulse nightclub, or last November's multi-pronged attacks in Paris, Jasser will talk about the radical Islamist ideology that drives the violence. CAIR, on the other hand, insists it has nothing to do with religion.

Rather than welcoming "the full spectrum of views," as Saylor claimed, CAIR wants to "marginalize debate," Jasser said in an interview. "They simply want to continue their sense that Islam has a PR problem, and it's not a reform issue, that it needs to happen in the separation of mosque and state. The Islamists don't ever want to recognize they are Islamists or that they do try to collectivize our community into a political movement. Because once they did that, they'd have to recognize that there are diverse voices that reject Islamism and their Islamist platform."

It happened to him again last week. Jasser spoke in Birmingham, Ala., about curbing Islamist extremism and the terrorism done in its name. "No, it's not all Islam that's the problem, but there's a problem in the house of Islam that needs to be addressed," Jasser said.

A local television station turned to CAIR and a local mosque for reaction. "They said he's a part of the problem and is only spreading Islamophobia," the story said.

CAIR's report, done in collaboration with the University of California, Berkeley's Center for Race and Gender, also includes the Investigative Project on Terrorism among 33 "inner core" organizations that, like AIFD, exist to gin up hatred of Muslims and Islam. IPT "claims to investigate the activities and finances of radical terrorist groups, but makes all of Islam culpable," the report said.

No supporting evidence is provided.

It is a false claim. In fact, IPT frequently cites Muslims who oppose Islamism, ranging from liberal UK reformist Maajid Nawaz to Jasser, an American Navy veteran and physician. But we also have exposed many of CAIR's skeletons and emphasized its roots in a Hamas-support network in the United States created by the Muslim Brotherhood. We also frequently showcase radicalism exhibited by CAIR officials.

Saylor's statement about embracing debate echoes a recommendation in CAIR's formal report: "Empowering a diverse range of legitimate voices to persuasively contribute, particularly in the news media, to the views of Islam and American Muslims within public dialogue." [Emphasis added.]

CAIR, the statement implies, reserves the right to tell the public which voices qualify as "legitimate." CAIR's stated objective, therefore, is at odds with its own definition of how debate can occur.

Saylor's full statement further exposes the shallow nature of the claim CAIR wants "more empowered voices."

"Our major holiday, Eid, is a topic of significant debate," he said Monday. "When is it going to happen – because it's based on a moon cycle? So if we can have these kind of healthy debates we want all of those voices to be trained and go out and speak to the public at large."

First, debate is limited to "simple practices of certain dietary requirements, or prayer or calendar issues," Jasser said. "None of the diversity that they're talking about is related to core issues of universal human rights."

Second, CAIR must ensure those engaged in debate are "trained" to participate.

"That's the hypocrisy," Jasser said.

When CAIR officials speak of diversity, Jasser said, they're referring to ethnic/national background. Muslim Americans come from all over the world, from the Middle East and Asia.

"Islam is an idea. It's not a race," he said, so true diversity includes different views about the faith and its application in modern life.

"When it comes to intellect diversity, they're completely missing in action," Jasser said.

CAIR equates criticism of scholars or certain Islamist dogma with hate, he said. "They, with self-righteous indignation, refuse to accept the fact that somebody can love the community and love their faith and still be very critical of what is normatively felt to be Islamic law. That is un-American. Imagine somebody telling someone them that they are not good Americans because they disagree with this policy or that policy."

CAIR largely has ignored the Muslim Reform Movement and has not commented on the specific principles its members enumerated.

The Muslim Reform Movement issued a public Declaration of its principles. Among them:

We support the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which was adopted by United Nations member states in 1948.
We reject interpretations of Islam that call for any violence, social injustice and politicized Islam. Facing the threat of terrorism, intolerance, and social injustice in the name of Islam, we have reflected on how we can transform our communities based on three principles: peace, human rights and secular governance.
...
We are for secular governance, democracy and liberty. We are against political movements in the name of religion. We separate mosque and state. We are loyal to the nations in which we live. We reject the idea of the Islamic state. There is no need for an Islamic caliphate. We oppose institutionalized sharia. Sharia is manmade.

To be true to its own call, CAIR needs to embrace these ideals or publicly explain why it will not. That might lead to an outcome Saylor said with a straight face that he wants – "More empowered voices" and "significant, healthy debates going on among ourselves every year, every day."

Now that would be a news conference worth watching.

Israeli PM Netanyahu is a Nazi with a swastika tattoo - in Fatah cartoon

 

Click to view on PMW's website

by Nan Jacques Zilberdik

The above cartoon showing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a Nazi with a swastika tattooed on his arm was posted today on one of Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah Movement's websites. 

The cartoon titled "Knockout" shows a boxer representing "Palestine" - his glove is in the colors of the Palestinian flag and labelled: "The State of Palestine" - delivering the knockout blow to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has a swastika tattooed on his arm, Stars of David on his gloves, and the name "Netanyahu" on his belt. [Website of Fatah's Information and Culture Commission, June 23, 2016]

A few days ago, the same Fatah website showed Israel's Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman as Islamic State executioner Jihadi John:

Earlier this month, Fatah portrayed Netanyahu as a baby killer on Facebook:  

Palestinian Media Watch has documented that the PA and Fatah often claim that Israel behaves like the Nazis or worse, and Netanyahu himself has been pictured before as a Nazi:

Israel, US agree to cyber information-sharing efforts

The United States and Israel have signed a joint declaration on cyber defense cooperation, making Israel one of the only nations to join the Department of Homeland Security’s information-sharing platform on cyber threats.

The declaration was signed Tuesday by Israel’s National Cyber Directorate chief Eviatar Matania and Cyber Security Authority head Buky Carmeli, as well as Alejandro Mayorkas, deputy secretary of the US Department of Homeland Security, and Under Secretary of Homeland Security Suzanne Spaulding.

The agreement was announced at the 6th Annual International Cybersecurity Conference at Tel Aviv University.

The bilateral cyber defense initiative will commit the US and Israel to expanded cooperation“for the benefit of dealing effectively with common threats in the cyber domain,” the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement.

The pact means Israel will be one of the first nations in the world to join the DHS’s Automated Indicator Sharing program, which involves data-sharing on cyber threat indicators between governments and private companies.

The declaration specifically means the two nations will cooperate in real time on the monitoring of cyber activities, defending vital infrastructure, private-sector partnerships, and future efforts at research and development of new technologies.

Spaulding, the undersecretary for national protection and programs with DHS, will oversee the bilateral cyber defense operations, along with Israel’s Carmeli.

BHCO's AG Loretta Lynch: ‘Most effective’ response to Islamic terrorism ‘is love’