November 9

An act of terror, an act of war

Have we learned nothing about al Qaeda and the jihadi movement since September 11?

At least one politician is facing reality - Lieberman refuses to ignore the obvious

Sen. Joe Lieberman distinguishes himself from the maddening mush emanating from elected leaders and the chattering class on the Fort Hood massacre. He states what should be, and I think is to ordinary Americans, obvious: this from all appearances is “the worst terrorist attack since 9/11.” Based on what we know, Lieberman says that Hasan seems to be a “self-radicalized, homegrown terrorist.” Shocking, I know, to tie the murderer’s own words, actions, and behavior to the heinous slaughter of our troops, but there’s precious little of that going on so far. Lieberman therefore proposes a full-blown investigation, citing plenty of evidence that Hasan “turned to Islamist extremism”:

Lieberman to probe Ft. Hood attack

Sen. Joe Lieberman, the Connecticut independent who chairs the the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee, plans to begin an investigation into the killing of a dozen soldiers and a civilian at Fort Hood, Texas, to see if the Army "missed warning signs."

Officials: U.S. aware of Hasan efforts to contact al Qaeda

U.S. intelligence agencies were aware months ago that Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan was attempting to make contact with people associated with al Qaeda, two American officials briefed on classified material in the case told ABC News.

Take a look at Hasan's old mosque

What interpretation of Islam influenced Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan? As often before, the trail leads to the official sect of Saudi Arabia -- known as Wahhabism to most of us of who denounce it.

FBI set to probe Fort Hood gunman Nidal Hasan's 9/11 links

The FBI is set to investigate possible links between the gunman who killed 13 US soldiers at Fort Hood and a radical preacher in contact with at least one of the September 11 hijackers.

Mark Steyn: Degrees of separation

Step One:

Hasan, the sole suspect in the massacre of 13 fellow US soldiers in Texas, attended the controversial Dar al-Hijrah mosque in Great Falls, Virginia, in 2001 at the same time as two of the September 11 terrorists, The Sunday Telegraph has learnt. His mother's funeral was held there in May that year.

Max Boot (Baghdad): As we stand down, can they stand up?

One way to chart the recent course of Iraq's history is by the vehicles that American soldiers drive. When I first came here in the summer of 2003, I remember riding around in open-top, unarmored Humvees. By 2004, a spate of IEDs had made it necessary to move to up-armored Humvees, followed a few years later by heavier MRAP (Mine Resistant Ambush Protected) vehicles that look as if they wandered off the set of a Star Wars movie. When last here in 2008, I went everywhere in a hulking MRAP.

Iraqi forces search for Qods Force agents

The Qods Force agents are wanted for "armed operations against Iraqi security personnel and civilians," an Iraqi security official told Voices of Iraq. "The security authorities in Kut appealed to local residents to report these dangerous persons who are wanted on charges of involvement in terrorist operations in Iraq."

Iran charges three detained Americans with espionage

Iran has charged three detained U.S. citizens with espionage, the official IRNA news agency quoted a prosecutor as saying on Monday, but Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said there was no evidence to back the charges.

U.S. top brass: Nuclear Iran is existential threat to Israel

Mullen said he would prefer that the U.S. work diplomatically to keep the country from acquiring nuclear weapons, but hinted that should such efforts fail, the U.S. air force and navy could be put into action as well.

But give them until new year anyway?

One can only conclude that the Obami have neither the skill nor the will to move from the quicksand of negotiations to any more stringent action. It seems as though they are simply buying time, trying to keep Israel at bay and waiting for the day when they proclaim that Iran’s nuclear-weapons capability is a foregone conclusion. But don’t worry, we’ll be told. We can do business with the regime.

Hezbollah gears up for new war

Hezbollah is rapidly rearming in preparation for a new conflict with Israel, fearing that Benjamin Netanyahu's government will attack Lebanon again prior to any assault on Iran's nuclear facilities.

Getting ready for war?

Name: Francop. Expedient: Iran. Destination: Hezbollah, through Syria.  Quantity: thousands of medium-range 107- and 122-millimeter rockets, armor-piercing artillery, hand grenades and ammunition for Kalashnikov rifles.

Councils in northern Lebanon unite typically divided Palestinian parties

As a settlement to end the two-year-long intra-Palestinian conflict between Fatah and Hamas grows more and more unlikely, despite a breeze of false hope recently in Cairo, a normalized, cooperative relationship between the two organizations already exists – albeit in northern Lebanon.

Turkey PM: Israel war crimes worse than Sudan

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday accused Israel of committing greater crimes against Palestinians during its war in the Gaza Strip than those for which Sudanese leader Omar al-Bashir had been indicted.

At Brandeis, Israel's guilt and innocence on display

To Brandeis University last night, South African jurist Richard Goldstone brought his international reputation as a legal scholar, a human rights advocate, and the former chief prosecutor of the United Nations tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda. Dore Gold, Israel’s former ambassador to the UN, brought facts and figures, maps and photographs, and audio and video in English, Arabic, and Hebrew.

Alleged Gaza rocket launch renews war threat

Amos Yadlin, Israel’s head of military intelligence told a parliamentary committee that the rocket flew 37 miles (60km), a distance that potentially brings the centre of Tel Aviv, Israel’s main city, into the range of Gazan missiles for the first time.

How much of this report is rumor and how much is fact? PM heads to U.S. under threat of Palestinian statehood declaration

Concerns are growing in Israel's government over the possibility of a unilateral Palestinian declaration of independence within the 1967 borders, a move which could potentially be recognized by the United Nations Security Council.

Khaled Abu Toameh: Abbas claims Israel doesn't want peace

A senior PA official said that Abbas was surprised to hear on Sunday morning from the Israeli media about secret understandings between Fayad and President Barack Obama over US recognition of Fayad's plan for an independent Palestinian state.

. . . A source close to Fayad said that no such secret deal had been reached with the Americans.

Washington chill

Arab sources, with a little help in Europe, are now engaged in a disinformation campaign claiming Obama is party to a "secret deal" that would see the US recognize a new declaration of Palestinian independence and jettison Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338. In other words, rather than negotiate with Israel, the Palestinians are still fantasizing that Obama will impose a solution and deliver Israel on bended knee.

E. Jerusalemites skeptical on statehood

While anxiety is reportedly mounting within the government over the possibility of a unilateral declaration of Palestinian statehood, with east Jerusalem as its capital, residents of east Jerusalem - Arab and Jewish alike - told The Jerusalem Post on Sunday that they have little faith such a prospect would materialize, and were more concerned with their daily lives than with vague expectations for the future.

Analysis: PA would breach Oslo if it declared a state unilaterally

From a practical point of view, the question of whether or not the Palestinian Authority can declare "Palestine" an independent state is more political than legal.

Abbas expected to stay, despite retirement announcement

Palestinian analysts as well as senior Palestinian Authority and Fatah officials believe that so long as Fatah and Hamas do not reconcile, the presidential and parliamentary elections Abbas called for January 24, 2010 will be postponed indefinitely.

Obama hosts Netanyahu

U.S. officials said the delay, which stretched until late Sunday, stemmed from last-minute discussions aimed at gaining a more robust and public commitment to the peace track from Mr. Netanyahu. One official said the U.S. wanted Mr. Netanyahu to express stronger support for negotiations on an independent Palestinian state at his speech Monday before the Jewish Federations of North America in Washington. "We're in the part of the process where you can't expect something for nothing," the official said.

The policy of pique

The Journal report contends that this is a “rare display of pique by the White House toward Israel.” Excuse me? Obama’s entire policy is built on pique — that Netanyahu remains prime minister, that Israel continues to allow Jews to live where they want, that Israel’s courts in legal proceedings evict Palestinians who unlawfully occupy property, that Israel insists on talking about a military operation against Iran, that Israel won’t knuckle under to bullying and threats, and that American Jews who ever so timidly object to the unworkable and foolhardy settlement freeze are insufficiently self-reflective. Hardly rare.

Political note:

The death of deliberative democracy

Three years later, Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi jammed through a 1,900-page health care takeover bill through Congress with a hasty Saturday vote while members of her own party revolt against strong-arm tactics. Upward of 40 pro-life Democrats objected to the plan’s government subsidies for abortion. Majority leaders evaded sunlight by keeping a compromise amendment on the matter out of the version of the bill made available to the public.

November 6

Tragedy at Fort Hood

It’s a heavy and sorrowful duty, like the ones General Cone has to undertake now, to consider the need for and ramifications of earlier intervention in a life like Nidal Hasan’s. It has to be done, but losing our very American reluctance in this regard is not something to wish for. Historically, humans have not proved very adept at walking the fine line between legitimate, situational suspicion and its politicized evil twin.

Understanding the Ft. Hood attack: America’s the bad guy This I know, because my TV told me so"

I feel sorry for American veterans, soldiers, and their families who must put up with anti-American slanders from rich American show business types who live in luxury, feel smug, and never do anything for their country but bash it. This is also the kind of thing that brings us to a world where Libya, Iran, and Sudan condemn Israel for alleged war crimes as part of the Western intelligentsia cheers.

US Army major behind Fort Hood murders expressed sympathy for Islamic terrorists

Hasan also was vocal in his opposition to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and praised Muslims who attacked US troops in the US, according to Colonel Terry Lee (Retired), a former coworker who served with Hasan at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, DC.

A biography of Maj. Nidal M. Hasan

Iran's nuclear diversion

Dealing with Iran has always been a complicated enterprise with moral hazards. The persistent mistake that the West has made is to place the nuclear issue above all other concerns. The Iran problem is not limited to illicit nuclear activities, and it is somewhat incomprehensible that the United States and other nations can contemplate nuclear transactions with a regime that maintains links to a range of terrorist organizations and engages in brutal domestic repression. Western officials would be smart to disabuse Iran of the notion that its nuclear infractions are the only source of disagreement. Iran's hard-liners need to know that should they launch their much-advertised crackdown, the price for such conduct may be termination of any dialogue with the West. Only through such a policy can the United States advance its strategic objectives while standing up for its moral values.

How Obama is aiding Ahmadinejad

The point of the statement, of course, was to avoid saying anything that might offend the rulers in Tehran or give any encouragement to the regime’s opponents. The Obama administration is locked into its approach on Iran and is seemingly impervious to changing circumstances. It has never adjusted to the unexpected rise of a nationwide opposition to the regime and still tries to move forward as if there were no turmoil and unrest in Iran.

Three journalists held in Tehran crackdown

Three journalists, one of them foreign, were arrested at Wednesday’s mass demonstrations in Tehran by a regime determined to suppress all independent sources of information.

Caroline Glick's Column One: The mullahs' big week

On Wednesday morning, just as Israel was announcing the capture of the Francop, scores of thousands of Iranians in cities throughout the country took advantage of the regime's planned demonstrations celebrating the 30th anniversary of the seizure of the US Embassy in Teheran to protest against the regime. These regime opponents willingly placed themselves in front of the batons, tear gas cannons and guns of Iranian regime goons to protest June's stolen presidential election and to call for the overthrow of the mullahs' regime of tyranny and its replacement with a democracy.

Ehud Ya'ari: Iran's nuclear program: Deciphering Israel's signals

Israel's options vis-a-vis Iran's nuclear ambitions are frequently discussed by experts and analysts abroad. A vast body of literature already has been produced by U.S. scholars debating whether Israel should, could, or finally would choose to mount a preemptive strike against Iran's key nuclear installations in an effort to disrupt the Islamic Republic's pursuit of atomic weapons. However, in Israel itself there is surprisingly little public discussion of this issue.

Iran tested advanced nuclear warhead design – secret report

The very existence of the technology, known as a "two-point implosion" device, is officially secret in both the US and Britain, but according to previously unpublished documentation in a dossier compiled by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Iranian scientists may have tested high-explosive components of the design. The development was today described by nuclear experts as "breathtaking" and has added urgency to the effort to find a diplomatic solution to the Iranian nuclear crisis.

Iran cleric: IAEA obligated to supply Iran nuclear fuel

"The International Atomic Energy Agency is legally obliged to provide fuel ... if you want to play games with us then I can assure you that we will produce it by ourselves," Khatami told worshippers at Tehran University. "The Iranian nation is wise and will not be deceived by the nuclear deal."

Any takers left for Obama’s Iran policy?

It’s hard not to be impressed by the sheer range of people who publicly lost patience with Barack Obama’s Iran policy this week.

IDF reveals footage of Francop raid

The IDF on Friday published new video clips documenting the moments when Navy commandos from the elite Flottila 13 unit raided the Francop cargo vessel, opened containers on board the ship and discovered a huge stash of armaments sent by Iran and bound for Syria, possibly intended for use by Hizbullah.

Report: U.S. stopped Israel from attacking 'Hezbollah arms ship'

The United States informed Israel of a ship carrying tons of weapons allegedly en route from Iran to Hezbollah, but vetoed Israel's plans to attack, the A-Sharq Al-Awsat newspaper reported on Friday.

Another success story

The list of success stories by what the other side believes to be Israel's intelligence agents is quite impressive. In the past four years, several strange mishaps maligned the Iranian nuclear project and significantly hindered the uranium-enrichment process. The disappearance of an Iranian nuclear scientist, the crash of two planes involved in the project, and fires that broke out in two labs only reinforced the sense that someone was trying to undermine the nuclear project.

A NATO without Turkey?

The European Union has long debated the merits of Turkish EU membership. But now, nearly a decade after Islamists took the reins of power in Ankara, the central question is no longer whether Turkey should be integrated into Europe's economic and political structure, but rather whether Turkey should remain a part of the Western defense structure.

The Goldstone illusion

In 2000, I was asked by the Israel Defense Forces to join a group of philosophers, lawyers, and generals for the purpose of drafting the army’s ethics code. Since then, I have been deeply involved in the analysis of the moral issues that Israel faces in its war on terrorism. I have spent many hours in discussions with soldiers and officers in order to better grasp the dilemmas that they tackle in the field, and in an attempt to help facilitate the internalization of the code of ethics in war. It was no wonder that, when the Goldstone Report on the Gaza war was published, I was keen to read it, with some hope of getting a perspective on Israeli successes or failures in this effort to comprehend war, and to fight it, morally. Unlike many who responded to the report, in praise or in blame, I gave this immensely long document a careful reading.

The bitterest deadlock

But while Netanyahu insists he is ready to enter a substantive negotiating process right away without preconditions, the PA is not only requiring a full settlement freeze before it deigns to reenter talks, it is also presiding over an intensified campaign of delegitimization against Israel and criticism of the United States for not meeting the demand.

Khaled Abu Toameh: Palestinian Affairs: Abbas's big bluff

Fatah's failure to come up with new faces is also seen by many Palestinians as evidence that the faction is not serious when it comes to implementing reforms. With candidates like Muhammad Dahlan, Jibril Rajoub and Nabil Sha'ath, Fatah is certain to lose the vote once again. Decision-makers in the US and the EU have clearly forgotten that these three men were part of the Fatah list that lost the elections to Hamas in 2006. And they appear to have forgotten that Barghouti, who is often described by mainstream media in the US as a popular and charismatic leader, was the head of that list.

Anyone surprised? Prisoner could stand as Palestinian president

A former militia leader serving five life sentences in an Israeli prison for a bombing in Tel Aviv has emerged as the likely successor to Mahmoud Abbas, the moderate Palestinian leader who plans to stand down.

November 5

The War against the War on Terrorism

If American intelligence officers cannot cooperate with European counterparts without fear of arrest, then both Europe and America are less safe. The 9/11 hijackers formulated their plot against the U.S. in Germany, but Spain, Great Britain and Germany have also been targets. According to some reports, Mr. Nasr was planning an attack on the U.S. Embassy in Rome, which could have killed Italians and Americans.

Italian Court levies judgment on U.S. rendition program

The ACLU says today’s decision by the Italian court demonstrates that these rendition/torture cases are capable of being tried without violating state security secrets and “underscores the need for the US to hold its own officials accountable.” In a statement, ACLU attorney Steven Watt went on to say, “It is shameful that the first convictions of this kind came from a foreign justice system, where those convicted are not likely to serve their time.”

The Flying Imams win

When these defendants appealed the ruling to the Eighth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, she scheduled the conference that resulted in the termination of the lawsuit. As a result of the recent settlement, Montgomery's 47-page decision of last July stands as the last word on the law applicable to the case. Without going into all the legal issues it discusses, some aspects of it deserve serious scrutiny. Montgomery emphasized the distinction between the suspicion necessary for lawful investigatory stops (a relatively low standard) and the probable cause necessary for arrests (a higher standard), and her comments addressing the issue raise lingering concerns.

Hillary versus State

The resolution, passed by the U.N Human Rights Council, contains the kind of fuzzy language that will surely be used as ammunition by countries seeking to muzzle critics of Islam. It condemns "negative stereotyping of religions and racial groups" and "urges States to take effective measures…to address and combat such incidents." And it speaks about the media's "moral and social" responsibility in "combating racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance." Defending the resolution, State Department official Douglas Griffiths described it as "a manifestation of the Obama Administration's commitment to multilateral engagement." Mr. Griffiths was quoted by a U.N. notetaker as calling it a bridge over an "unhelpful divide."

Iran's Revolution at 30

Now, though, the future is not what it used to be. Millions of people poured into the streets wearing green and holding green signs of protests. The revolutionary guards, the Basij militia, the plain-clothes thugs and other state-controlled vigilantes were all shocked. Iran's nonviolent green revolution is making the color green--previously cherished by the clerics as the Prophet Mohammad's favorite, and the one that, according to the Quran, is worn by the inhabitants of paradise--the color of hell.

Obama on Tehran's democrats

But the opposition's dreams of American support, moral as much as anything, have been dashed. Mr. Obama was slow and reluctant to speak out on their behalf and eager to engage the Iranian regime in nuclear talks as soon as the summer of protest tapered off. Iran's democrats are now letting their disappointment show. The new chant passed around in Internet chat rooms and heard in the streets yesterday was, "Obama, Obama—either you're with them or with us."

An early win in the next war

Senior navy officers say the shipment - destined for the Syrian port of Latakia - contained enough armaments to last Hezbollah for a month of fighting against Israel.

IDF: Arms smuggling will continue

Military says that while capture of Hezbollah-bound weapons shipment was major blow to Iran, Syria and Shiite group, smuggling attempts are likely to continue using different routes.

PM: UN Security Council should discuss Iranian 'war crime'

Iran's attempt to smuggle hundreds of tons of weapons to Hizbullah is a "war crime," Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said on Thursday, adding that the UN would do better to investigate the evident arms flow to Syria and south Lebanon from Iran instead of its scheduled discussion on the Goldstone Report.

The New Karine A

Israeli Navy commandos seized a cargo ship last night en route from Iran to Syria. It contained 10 times the arms that the Karine A attempted to deliver from Iran to the Palestinians in 2002, enough weapons, according to the head of the Israeli Navy, to keep Hezbollah supplied in a hot war for a month. Along with 3,000 rockets, the ship contained:

International pressure on Tehran is having impact

IRISL is a state-controlled company with a fleet of 95 commercial ships, including 18 container ships. It plies routes to the Far East, the Gulf, Egypt and Europe. And it is one of the companies the UN Security Council listed in its sanctions resolutions against Iran, due to its role in transporting equipment for Tehran's nuclear and missile programs.

'Francop' second German ship caught with Hizbullah-bound weapons/span>

The Francop, the German-owned vessel seized early Wednesday by the Israel Navy that was carrying weapons destined for Syria and Hizbullah, is the second German-owned ship found carrying Hizbullah-bound arms in the past month.

Shipped in plain sight

As the tale of the “New Karine A” develops, one alarm bell it sets off concerns the ease with which the arms transshipment was brought off in plain sight. The ship the Israelis caught with the arms was M/V Francop, a freighter operated by Cyprus-based United Feeder Services. The crew onboard didn’t know what they were carrying, and didn’t carry it from Iran anyway: they picked their cargo up in Damietta, Egypt. The Israelis had tracked Francop from Beirut to Damietta and knew the cargo was loaded there. That means the arms themselves were shipped from Iran to Egypt by other means. Sounds like a story we’ve heard before about Port Sudan and overland convoys to Gaza, right?

Hizbullah: We have no links to ship

The Lebanese Shi'ite organization issued a statement saying that it "categorically denies" any connection to the weapons "that the Zionist enemy claims to have confiscated from the ship."

Hezbollah’s destiny

Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Moshe Yaalon announced recently that Israel not only maintains spy networks in Lebanon, but will continue to do so until Hezbollah disarms. For the Lebanese, such official declarations exhibit casual Israeli contempt for Lebanese territorial sovereignty. Otherwise, Yaalon’s statement raises the question of the ultimate destiny of Hezbollah’s military wing.

How Israel destroyed Syria's Al Kibar nuclear reactor

In recent months, SPIEGEL has spoken with key politicians and experts about the mysterious incident in the Syrian desert, including Syrian President Bashar Assad, leading Israeli intelligence expert Ronen Bergman, International Atomic Energy Agency head Mohammed ElBaradei and influential American nuclear expert David Albright. SPIEGEL has also talked with individuals involved in the operation, who have only now agreed to reveal, under conditions of anonymity, what they know.

These efforts have led to an account that, while not solving the mystery in its entirety, at least delivers many pieces of the puzzle. It also offers an assessment of an operation that changed the Middle East and generated shock waves that are still being felt today.

Yemen civil war spills over into Saudi Arabia

Yemen’s civil war spilled into neighbouring Saudi Arabia for the first time yesterday when Shia gunmen shot dead a Saudi security officer in a cross-border attack.

Moral leadership, EU-style

But the British-French hypocrisy doesn’t stop there. After the HRC vote, Haaretz reported, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and French President Nicolas Sarkozy wrote to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to assure him that, of course, Israel has the right to defend itself — but if it wants European support in keeping its officers and cabinet ministers out of international courts afterward, it must open the border crossings with the Gaza Strip, completely freeze construction in the settlements, and resume negotiations with Mahmoud Abbas (never mind that he refuses to do so) on the terms dictated by Barack Obama — namely, a full return to the 1967 lines

The Mideast impasse

Has Mr. Abbas suddenly realized that settlements are the key obstacle to a Palestinian state? Hardly: In private, senior Palestinian officials readily concede that the issue is secondary. Instead, the Palestinian pose is a product of the Obama administration's missteps -- and also of the fact that the opportunity Mr. Obama said he perceived to broker a two-state settlement is not so visible to leaders in the region.

Do words matter?

In fact, that was not the position of either the Clinton or the Bush administration. On the contrary, both administrations provided Israel with explicit written statements (in 1997 in a letter from Secretary of State Christopher, and in 2004 in a letter from President Bush) that the peace process must provide Israel with “defensible borders” — which no one can reasonably argue means the 1967 ones.

The wrecking crew

As they were knocking over the furniture, the Obami felt compelled to deny the Bush-era agreement with Israel for reduced settlement activity. Rather than spruce that up with a bit of self-serving rhetoric and garner some credit for advancing the “peace process,” the Obama brain trust embarked on its fruitless quest for a settlement freeze, ultimately alienating both sides. As Elliott Abrams, George W. Bush’s deputy national security adviser, observed, “We had nine months of nonsense.” The Obami have earned the contempt of both sides and left the parties so estranged that face-to-face talks may no longer be in the offing.

'Fatah has no feasible candidate'

Throughout the day, many Palestinian officials reportedly visited Abbas at the Muqata, advising him on the matter and urging him to reconsider his decision. Slogans and jingles such as "We are renewing our oath to you, Abbas" and "Allah is with you" were aired on Palestinian national television.

Abbas to stand down as Palestinian President

Mahmoud Abbas, the increasingly isolated president of the Palestinian National Authority, announced today that he would not stand for re-election in polls scheduled for January, further unravelling US hopes for reviving the long-stalled peace process.

Five years of dithering

Despite the Holocaust-denying doctorate and the long years spent at Arafat's side, Mahmoud Abbas was supposed to be different.

Palestinian youth grow weary of political stalemate

"There has been a drop in youth membership in the political groups," he says. "The parties have failed to realise any of their goals, whether by armed struggle, or popular uprisings, or by peaceful means."

Political note:

Media criticism, Chicago-style

Bert Gall and Robert Frommer of the Institute for Justice have made a compelling case that the Obama administration's word choice is quite significant. They think that by branding Fox as something other than a "legitimate news organization," the White House is actually setting up a more brutal attack using campaign finance laws. News media organizations are exempt from campaign-finance laws' speech regulations. But if Fox is not a "legitimate news organization," then federal election authorities might be able to argue that its political speech can be regulated like that of any other non-news corporation.

November 4

Defense officials say weapons were bound for Syria, Hizbullah

Hundreds of tons of weaponry, ten times the size of the Karine A shipment of 2002, were seized in an overnight raid Tuesday by the Israeli navy, some 100 nautical miles west of Israel, officials said. The ship seized was sailing under an Antiguan flag.

Israel Navy: Hezbollah-bound Iran ship carried hundreds of tons of arms

Israeli commandos seized the ship before dawn on Wednesday and defense officials said it had been carrying missiles and rockets bound for Lebanon's Iranian-backed Hezbollah guerrillas, believed to have come from Iran.

Israel seizes major Iranian arms shipment

"We found dozens of containers, with hundreds of tons of arms bound for Hezbollah from Iran," Deputy Naval Commander Rani Ben Yehuda told reporters, adding that the weapons included rockets, grenades and ammunition.

Syrian FM: Ship was not carrying arms

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem on Wednesday afternoon denied that a cargo ship seized by Israel the previous night was carrying weapons from Iran, and implicitly called the Israeli naval forces "pirates."

Obama: US, Iran must move past suspicion

US President Barack Obama noted Wednesday's 30th anniversary of the takeover of the US Embassy in Teheran, while insisting he wants the United States and Iran to move beyond the "path of sustained suspicion, mistrust and confrontation" that followed the subsequent hostage crisis.

Opposition protesters tear-gassed at rally in Iran

Violence erupted in Tehran this morning as Iranian security forces clashed with thousands of opposition activists seeking to hijack a state-sponsored rally marking the 30th anniversary of the storming of the US embassy.

Iranian police 'open fire on protesters'

Witnesses said earlier that security forces used batons to try to disperse demonstrators holding anti-government marches in a central square in the capital. The opposition protests were called to coincide with state-sanctioned rallies.

Iran's Khamenei rejects U.S. outreach

Iran's supreme leader, spurning what he described as several personal overtures from President Obama, warned Tuesday that negotiating with the United States would be "naive and perverted" and that Iranian politicians should not be "deceived" into starting such talks.

The President snubs Iran's democrats

Yet courageous and dignified overtures to the U.S. by Green Movement activists have been snubbed by the Obama administration. The administration has avoided discussion about the prospects for liberalization in a country that exports radical Islamist ideology throughout the Middle East and beyond. In regressive realpolitik fashion, it has grown increasingly reticent about the Iranian people's struggle for human rights, apparently viewing it as irrelevant to U.S security interests. Rather than bolstering the opposition at a time when the Iranian regime is at its weakest, America is pursuing a policy of appeasement.

How Iran skirts sanctions

The Asian Clearing Union was established in Iran in 1974 as a U.N. initiative to expand trade and forge closer banking relations among ACU members. The organization's primary goal is to "facilitate payments among member countries," which include the central banks of Iran, India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, the Maldives and Burma.

Barry Rubin: U.S.-Syria relations: Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad complains that America isn't giving him enough concessions for???

Now Syrian dictator President Bashar al-Assad has complained to the country’s official news agency, November 1, that while the U.S. government is talking instead of “commanding” nothing much has changed with the Obama Administration. "It is hard to say that big steps have been taken in bilateral relations," Assad said.

MEMRI: Owner of Lebanese pro-Syrian daily 'Al-Safir': 'Silence that chatterbox [U.S.] Ambassador!'

In an op-ed titled "Silence That Chatterbox Ambassador!" in the pro-Syrian daily Al-Safir of November 2, 2009, the paper's owner, Talal Salman, accused U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Michele Sison of interfering in Lebanon's affairs, inciting civil war in the country, and making provocative statements. Also in the article, Salman attacked March 14 Forces leaders, saying that they were taking orders and dictates directly from Sison and that she was forbidding them to include Hizbullah in the new government that has yet to be formed.

After Afghan vote, an awkward task for Obama

The Obama administration is studying whether to send thousands more troops to Afghanistan and has made little secret of its concerns with Karzai's alleged corruption and ballot-stuffing and his pacts with unsavoury warlords.

. . . "There's a world of difference between Afghanistan and other parts of the world," Bokhari said. "Politics in Afghanistan is actually the politics of warlordism - alignments between warlords.

Taliban claim responsibility for British soldiers' deaths

A Taliban spokesman said: "We want to sow mistrust between the Afghan National Police and foreign forces."

Obama is learning from the IDF

These critics are wrong in a big way: The U.S. military effort against Al-Qaida and the Taliban is based on a doctrine developed by Israel. The IDF was a global leader in targeting terrorists from the air. When Israel embarked on its assassinations policy in the summer of 2001, the United States condemned it. Several weeks later the Twin Towers were brought down in a terrorist attack and Washington's approach changed. Instead of condemning Israel, the Americans simply copied its methods, foreign sources say. Unmanned combat air vehicles (UCAVs), armed with missiles, started being used to kill terrorists, first in Yemen and later in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

'OIC initiated Goldstone inquiry'

Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, the secretary-general of the OIC, says the organisation has gained prominence in recent years as a trusted mediator in conflicts involving the Muslim world and was the "initiator" of a UN war crimes inquiry in Gaza.

ANALYSIS / Israel preparing public for a new war in Gaza

Yadlin's announcement should be seen as part of an attempt by the military to prepare the public for a new attack against the Strip. The General Staff is not remotely eager for another round, especially with the Goldstone report conclusions still haunting commanders of the previous operation when they travel abroad.

Clinton: Settlement halt 'forever'

US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton defended the US stance toward Israeli settlement building to worried Arab allies on Wednesday, saying Washington does not accept the legitimacy of the West Bank enclaves and wants to see their construction halted "forever."

Erekat: Palestinians may have to abandon goal of independent state

It may be time for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to "tell his people the truth, that with the continuation of settlement activities, the two-state solution is no longer an option," Erekat told a news conference.

Israel calls on Gulf states to aid Palestinians

Israel's deputy foreign minister expressed disappointment on Tuesday that Arab states were not doing more to support the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, and called on the wealthier Gulf countries to put at least $10 billion into the Palestinian economy.

Iraqi woman run over by father in US in 'honour killing'

Noor Faleh Almaleki, 20, whose family had moved to Phoenix, Arizona, was hit by her father's Jeep last month as she walked across a car park. She lay in a coma for two weeks in hospital before dying.

Political note:

Interview with historian Victor Davis Hanson, Obama’s “Bush did it” narrative

The paradigm of discussing radical Islam is entirely different after January 20. Jihad has been institutionalized now as a benign personal odyssey rather than explicatory of the sort of murderous attacks we have seen since 1979 directed at the West, most recently with the four Islamic plots to kill Americans by radical Islamists since Obama has taken office.

November 3

Germany: Iran threat to Israel is a threat to West

Iran's denial of Israel's right to exist is unacceptable and Tehran must be prevented from obtaining a nuclear weapon, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said in a speech before the U.S. Congress on Tuesday.

Khamenei: US offers smile, hides dagger

Khamenei's statements come as Iran is asking to modify a UN-brokered proposal for Russia and France to turn the Islamic republic's uranium stockpile into nuclear fuel and allay Western fears over a possible weapons program.

Who killed engagement with Iran?

It is true that no one should imagine that Iran’s “liberals” can be relied upon to push for a change in the country’s confrontational foreign policy or to abandon the quest for nukes. But the idea that Moussavi — whose supporters have been rounded up to be tortured, raped, or murdered in prison or cowed into silence — has much influence on the nuclear decision-making process seems to fly in the face of everything we know about the country. As for those “pragmatists,” it isn’t likely that they would buck the nation’s “supreme leader,” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, whose control over Ahmadinejad has never been questioned. After the regime’s display this past summer of how it deals with dissidents, how can we be expected to believe that the rejection of the nuclear deal has been stopped by “politics”? If Khamenei and the other mullahs that run the country wanted the confrontation with the West resolved by this deal, there’s no question it would soon be signed, sealed, and delivered.

Bret Stephens: When no means no

Perhaps this is merely some tactical posturing by Iran; as of this writing, its foreign minister hasn't yet categorically ruled a deal out. Then again, it's probably worth rehashing the history of the West's nuclear negotiations with Tehran to see where things are likely to go from here.

Yadlin: Qom facility has no possible civilian use

The recently-revealed Iranian nuclear facility in the Shi'a holy city of Qom has "no possible civilian use," Military Intelligence chief Maj.-Gen. Amos Yadlin said Tuesday morning, directly contradicting statements made by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in September.

Many who stormed US embassy in Tehran now oppose Iranian regime

The students who captured the city centre compound of "The Great Satan" and who took more than 50 US diplomats hostage said they acted in response to Washington's refusal to hand over deposed shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.

Bill Roggio: Qods Force 'acting like a nation-state-backed terrorist organization' - US general

Of particular interest are Flynn's comments on Iran and the role of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps and Qods Force in Afghanistan. There is one small quibble, which I will note at the end.

Waiting for Obama

The main problem now isn't Afghanistan's President. It is that no one in Washington or around the world is sure whether America's President is committed to his own strategy—or even if he'll stick with that strategy if he reaffirms it.

Time to be Presidential

If Obama wants to conserve the prestige and aura of the presidency, which are scarce commodities, he would do well to start projecting the qualities of a commander in chief — determination, decisiveness, magnanimity, and intolerance for partisan squabbling. Unfortunately, the Afghanistan-war seminars have given us a far different image of Obama, one that does not redound to the benefit of America or to his own political standing.

Who’s afraid of a government in Lebanon?

In that light, discussing further offers and concessions is no longer useful, as it is now obvious that the problem is regional, supervised and maintained by Iran. Moreover, if March 14 were to make more concessions, it would cease to exist, both as a majority and as a political movement.

Fury at BP takeover of Iraq’s biggest oilfield

The agreement to develop the Rumaila field, near the southern city of Basra, will potentially put Iraq on the path to rivalling the riches of Saudi Arabia within a decade — if the Government can fend off corrupt officials, continuing terrorist attacks on pipelines and political uncertainty.

Clinton offers U.S. aid to help boost Muslim ties

The programmes Clinton announced on Tuesday include a $76 million project to boost economic opportunities in Yemen, a $30 million project for vulnerable young people in Jordan and an entrepreneurship summit in Washington next year to bring Muslim innovators together with U.S. business leaders.

Secret mission rescues Yemen's Jews

The State Department took something of a risk in removing the Yemenis to the U.S., as it might be criticized for favoritism at a time when refugees elsewhere are clamoring for haven. The U.S. calculated the operation would serve both a humanitarian and a geopolitical purpose. In addition to rescuing a group threatened because of its religion, Washington was seeking to prevent an international embarrassment for an embattled Arab ally.

MEMRI: PA Officials: Hillary Clinton is a liar bribed by the Zionists

Palestinian Authority officials have expressed disappointment with statements by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who called on them to resume negotiations immediately and without preconditions; they are calling her a liar and inexperienced, saying she has been bribed by the Zionists, and accusing her of being pro-Israel.

Palestine's missing critics

Israel's harshest critics claim to champion the rights of Palestinians. So we're curious about the fallout, or lack thereof, from revelations that the Palestinian Authority regularly brutalizes its own in the West Bank while enjoying a steady flow of dollars and euros.

Israel urges West: Reject Goldstone report at UN

Israel has called on Western nations to speak out against any endorsement of the Goldstone Commission's damning report on the Gaza Strip when the matter comes up for deliberation at the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday.

Gaza rights group criticizes Hamas over tunnel death toll

"No one cares about what happens in the tunnels," Zaquot said. "The government here in Gaza just wants to make money off the tunnel owners and that's it. They take money from the people but do not provide any services to them. They don't care about the conditions for the workers, whether or not it's safe or the quality of the goods coming in from Egypt."

Defense sources: Iran gave Hamas missile that can hit Tel Aviv

The sources revealed the source of the missile just hours after the Israel Defense Forces' top military intelligence officer told a parliamentary panel in Jerusalem that Hamas now possesses such a weapon in its military arsenal.

Israel: Gaza rockets can reach metro Tel Aviv

Most of the Hamas rockets targeted at Israel are crude projectiles cobbled together in small metal shops. But militants also have fired more sophisticated, longer-range weapons, believed made from parts originating in Syria or Iran.

On Jewish terrorists

Indeed so. What distinguishes one terrorist from another? Answer: the reaction of their communities. There's a world of difference between the settler milieu Teitel called home, and the society that spawned Dwayat, Tir and Dhein.

November 2

US moves on domestic jihadis

In recent months, the US has experienced an alarming rise in jihadist activity. In the last two months alone, five terror plots have been foiled by the FBI, and there have been dozens of other arrests for various related crimes, such as providing material support for terrorists. The plots have been directed at targets at home and abroad, both civilian and military. The arrests clearly demonstrate the potential for al Qaeda and other extremist groups to recruit and carry out attacks in the US.

NEFA "Target: America" Series - "The North Carolina Jihad Cell and the Quantico Marine Base Plot"

The NEFA Foundation has released the 22nd report in the “Target: America” series, a PowerPoint presentation on the accused jihadist network operating in Raleigh, North Carolina and an alleged plot, involving members of that cell, to attack the U.S. Marine Corps base in Quantico, Virginia.

Bomb expert who saved 'countless lives' killed

Among the great skill and courage in the ordnance disposal teams S/Sgt Schmid, 30, was marked as the “best of the best” defusing 64 of the estimated 1,200 IEDs found by British troops this year.

Guantánamo suspects 'want to stay'

Despite its reputation, the regime at the Pentagon facility on Cuba's southern coast offers privileges that would not be enjoyed at the federal "supermax" prison at Florence, Colorado, the likely alternative for the most dangerous al-Qaeda suspects.

Obama DOJ shovels out more grist for foreign prosecutions of Bush officials 

The New York Times reports that on Friday, DOJ released "hundreds of pages of partially declassified documents" on the interrogations. Ostensibly, they were released pursuant to Freedom of Information Act demands by the ACLU and Judicial Watch. But as I've noted before, there are FOIA provisions the administration could use to withhold this information — Obama is releasing this material because he wants to, not because he has to.

Ahmadinejad: Iran's enemies a 'mosquito'

Iran's hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Sunday compared the power of Iran's enemies to a "mosquito," saying Iran now deals with the West over its nuclear activities from a position of power.

Barry Rubin: The Region: Why does the US insist on playing Iran's game?

The great experiment of engaging Iran seems to be over but the Obama administration refuses to admit it. This shouldn't come as a surprise. As the Iranian regime's record shows, it stalls, maneuvers, gives vague promises and then doesn't deliver, but only after it's taken your concessions. Do you know how many years the talks with Iran have gone on without yielding fruit and letting Teheran develop nuclear weapons every day? Answer: Seven.

National Geographic vs. the Syrian regime

Along with hurling unsubstantiated accusations, Moustapha threatens the writer and the magazine, a step also typical of the Syrian regime. “I believe that many other countries in our region will reconsider their working relationship with your organization when they are made aware of this incident,” Moustapha writes, imagining an Arab boycott of the National Geographic in solidarity with the Syrian autocracy.

Report: Mossad hacked Syrian computer to uncover nuke site

Israel's Mossad espionage agency used Trojan Horse programs to gather intelligence about a nuclear facility in Syria the Israel Defense Forces destroyed in 2007, the German magazine Der Spiegel reported Monday.

In Lebanon, A lot of hot air

Both ends of the opposition spectrum were doing what they do best over the weekend, with the Free Patriotic Movement calling for a reinstatement of the previous government as a solution to the political deadlock, while Hezbollah and co. was yet again banging its war drum in the south.

Bashing Bush in Pakistan

Hillary forgets that the Bush administration in 2001 inherited an even more difficult problem — the new Palestinian terror war that concluded the eight-year Clinton peace process. During the next eight years, the Bush administration nevertheless did the following:

Clinton's Mideast mess

This is precisely right. Clinton was the one who demanded a complete freeze on Israeli settlements (though she may have been previewing adminstration thinking), providing the Palestinians with American cover for a precondition on talks that had never before been demanded. And now the Palestinians look like they're getting rolled as the Obama administration inevitably caves on that ill-conceived demand. (The only precondition this administration would put on any talks the world over would be placed on the Israelis? Obama would talk to A'jad without preconditions but he would have preconditions on talks with Bibi?)

Clinton: Israel settlement offer still falls short

"This offer falls far short of what our preference would be but if it is acted upon it will be an unprecedented restriction on settlements and would have a significant and meaningful effect on restraining their growth."

Clinton tries different tack over Israel

Her claim that Mr Netanyahu has made “unprecedented” concessions will confuse her own staff, and at J Street, almost as much as enrage Palestinians.

Elliot Abrams: "US & Israel had agreement on settlements"

Elliott Abrams came to prominence in the Reagan Administration and later served in several national security posts under President George W. Bush. He was Deputy National Security Adviser for Global Democracy Strategy, under President Bush, during which time he also headed the Near East, North Africa desk of the National Security Council. He is currently a Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. He spoke with Felice Friedson at The Media Line's Mideast Bureau on October 26, 2009.

Abbas’s war strategy

How exactly does Israel talk peace with someone who seeks to cripple Israel’s ability to defend itself even as he endorses anti-Israel terror? That isn’t an act of peace; it’s an act of war. And while Abbas may have had little political choice about jumping on the Goldstone Report bandwagon, he can hardly plead that Goldstone forced his hand: the PA filed its own war-crimes complaint against Israel in the International Criminal Court in January — nine months before the Goldstone Report came out. It even signed a special cooperation agreement with the court to get around prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo’s initial objection that he lacked jurisdiction, since Israel is not a member of the court, and the PA, not being a sovereign state, cannot be.

Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center

The interior minister of the de facto Hamas administration describes the support his office gives the terrorist organizations operating in the Gaza Strip. His description contradicts the claim the Hamas administration made to the Goldstone Committee, according to which it had no direct or indirect links to the terrorist organizations.

MEMRI: Article in UAE Daily: "The new Jewish lobby J Street [has] provided the U.S. and other countries with political and media ammunition"

In a recent column in the UAE daily Al-Ittihad, columnist Dr. As'ad 'Abd Al-Rahman wrote about the Jewish-American advocacy group J Street, arguing that its importance is in that it provides the U.S. administration with "political and media ammunition" against Israel, especially in the absence of an Arab lobby in the U.S.

Congress to weigh in on U.N.'s Gaza report

The House of Representatives on Tuesday is poised to pass a nonbinding resolution condemning a controversial U.N. report on alleged Israeli war crimes in the Gaza Strip that has become a major complication in Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton's diplomacy in the Middle East this weekend.

Clarity bedevils J Street and the Obama Administration

J Street and the administration, it seems, would rather not make too much of a fuss over Goldstone’s Israel defamation. Their reaction, however, only highlights their lack of understanding of the stakes, not only for Israel, but for any democracy that must fight terrorists who choose to attack  from behind the skirts of old women and the cribs of toddlers.

October 30

The week in blood

For now, the battle is being played out mostly in Muslim-majority lands, though New York, London, Madrid and Israel's cities have also been killing fields. Western elites have tended to deny, downplay or reject outright the systemic nature of the Islamist menace. Under these circumstances, there has been no real will to mobilize Western publics for the sacrifices ahead.

Wisdom wedded to tenacity

Despite opposition as fierce and sustained as one can imagine (and far worse than anything President Obama is now experiencing), Bush and a small handful of others — the most important of whom were General David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker -– persisted. They displayed raw determination. They fixated on a simple conviction and gripped it, viscerally and unflinchingly, through complexity and confusion. And they were proved right. In other words, the qualities Bush displayed in wartime are now the qualities Brooks and others (including me) are hoping Obama possesses.

 Bill Gertz: Inside the ring

"The bottom line is that in spite of all our intelligence capabilities in Afghanistan, U.S. forces have been surprised twice by massed Taliban forces in a pre-planned attack against two of our outposts," the official said. "That begs the question of whether we have a problem of analysis."

Imam's death reignites Gitmo worries

The deadly shootout near Detroit involving the FBI and the leader of a radical Sunni Muslim group has fueled already simmering fears of some residents in Standish, Mich., where a proposal to move Guantanamo Bay detainees to an empty maximum security prison is dividing the community.

Iran counters U.N. on uranium plan

Iran on Thursday appeared to reject a key element of a U.N.-backed proposal aimed at quickly reducing its stockpile of enriched uranium, offering an informal oral counteroffer that diplomats said fell far short of a tentative deal reached earlier this month.

The return of Israel's existential dread

The postcard from the Home Front Command that recently arrived in my mailbox looks like an ad from the Ministry of Tourism. A map of Israel is divided by color into six regions, each symbolized by an upbeat drawing: a smiling camel in the Negev desert, a skier in the Golan Heights. In fact, each region signifies the amount of time residents will have to seek shelter from an impending missile attack. If you live along the Gaza border, you have 15 seconds after the siren sounds. Jerusalemites get a full three minutes. But as the regions move farther north, the time drops again, until finally, along the Lebanese and Syrian borders, the color red designates "immediate entry into a shelter." In other words, if you're not already inside a shelter don't bother looking for one.

The Turkish temptation

Times change—and so do countries. Earlier this month, Turkey cancelled an annual multinational air force exercise because Israel was scheduled to participate in it, despite historically close ties between the Turkish and Israeli militaries. In a recent interview with Britain's Guardian newspaper, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said of Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that "there is no doubt he is our friend."

Israel as an al-Qaeda target: Sorting rhetoric from reality

Since the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is perhaps the single most animating regional conflict for many Arabs and Muslims, its resonance provides al-Qaeda with a powerful rhetorical tool for radicalization, recruitment, and fundraising. Matthew Levitt's article shows how al-Qaeda has always been interested in the Palestinian issue, demonstrates the gap between al-Qaeda's rhetoric and its operations targeting Israel, and finally identifies the few attacks that al-Qaeda has conducted against Israel and Jewish targets.

Israel's response to the Goldstone Report: exposing a politically motivated fraud

There are also broader implications, as the response shows. If the concepts used in the report are adopted, democratic countries facing terrorist attacks will be unable to respond without international political and perhaps legal condemnation. For example, the U.S. attack into Afghanistan after September 11 would be subjected to war crimes' charges.

Here's a sample from part of the response:

Caroline Glick's Column One: Silencing dissent in America

Former ambassador to the UN Dore Gold should probably buy himself a flak jacket. Gold is scheduled to debate Richard Goldstone at Brandeis University next Thursday and the anti-Israel forces are organizing quite a reception for him.

'Waqf quietly pleased at Salah's arrest'

Heads of the Waqf Department have quietly expressed their satisfaction with the Israeli authorities' recent measures against Sheikh Raed Salah, leader of the northern branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel, and top Fatah operative Hatem Abdel Qader, a senior official with the Ministry for Internal Security said on Thursday.

Palestinian ire over Jerusalem is getting to Abbas

Meanwhile, Fatah members are in the mosque to express their solidarity and to prove that they aren't being directed by Israel's Arabs, but rather are leading this fight themselves. One of the most prominent figures present is the man who holds the Jerusalem portfolio for Fatah, Hatem Abdel Qader, who was arrested there this week on suspicion of incitement.

Tribute: Remembering Jamil Abu Toameh, a true teacher

Older than me by a few years, he was an Israeli Arab who, I learned, had been doing translation work in the Gulf States before he returned to Israel and undertook studies leading to a degree at the university. He was a standout, serious student with flawless English and engaging graciousness, and in over time the relationship of teacher and student evolved into one of friends.