LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
January 01/16
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias
Bejjani
Bible Quotations For Today
The Circumcision Of Jesus
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 02/21: “After
eight days had passed, it was time to circumcise the child; and he was called
Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.’
The Feast of the Circumcision of Jesus
Letter to the Ephesians 02/11-22:
“Remember that at one time you Gentiles by birth, called ‘the uncircumcision’
by those who are called ‘the circumcision’ a physical circumcision made in the
flesh by human hands remember that you were at that time without Christ, being
aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of
promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus
you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he
is our peace; in his flesh he has made both groups into one and has broken down
the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us. He has abolished the law
with its commandments and ordinances, so that he might create in himself one
new humanity in place of the two, thus making peace, and might reconcile both groups
to God in one body through the cross, thus putting to death that hostility
through it. So he came and proclaimed peace to you who were far off and peace
to those who were near; for through him both of us have access in one Spirit to
the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are
citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God, built upon
the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the
cornerstone. In him the whole structure is joined together and grows into a
holy temple in the Lord; in whom you also are built together spiritually into a
dwelling-place for God.
Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis & editorials from miscellaneous
sources published on january01.16.htm
Welcoming the New Year With A New Page/Elias Bejjani/January
01/16
Ya'alon: Our enemies know we'll strike them hard if they try to attack/By
YAAKOV LAPPIN/Jerusalem Post/December 31/15
Assessing the sincerity of Yemen peace talks/Manuel Almeida/Al Arabiya/December
31/15
2015 winner in Middle East: U.S. arms exporters/Joyce Karam/Al Arabiya/December
31/15
Gazans Slam Hamas Decision To Ban New Year Celebrations/MEMRI/December 31, 2015
Russian Imperialism Meets Illusions of Ottoman Grandeur/Burak Bekdil/2015
Gatestone Institute/December 31/15
The Islamization of Britain in 2015/Soeren Kern/Gatestone Institute/December
31/15
Titles For Latest LCCC
Bulletin for Lebanese Related News published on january01.16.htm
Welcoming the New Year With A New Page
Samir Kuntar: ‘Resistance hero’ or sex monster?
IDF, Russian, Iranian forces on war alert for Hizballah attack on Israel – and
backlash
New Year's Eve terror attack thwarted in NY
Ya'alon: Our enemies know we'll strike them hard if they try to attack
Report: Fear of Assassinations to 'Shuffle Cards' on Presidency
Lebanese Arrested for Joining Nusra Front, Recruiting Members to Fight in Syria
Syria Shells Lebanese Helicopter in North
Moqbel, Qahwaji Affirm, 'Saudi Grant on Track'
Israel Army Chief Inspects Golan Front amid Tensions with Hizbullah
Titles For Latest LCCC
Bulletin For Miscellaneous Reports And News published on january01.16.htm
Funeral Held for 13 Assyrians Killed in Restaurant Bombings in Syria
Huge Fire Erupts at Dubai Hotel, Site of New Year Celebrations
Jittery world bids adieu to a year marred by violence
A look back at the Gulf’s most important events in 2015
World preps for 2016 festivities amid threats
16 Dead, 30 Wounded in Three Blasts in Northeast Syria
Merkel: Refugee influx ‘an opportunity’
Suspected ISIS backer held for New York attack plot
U.S. Midwest braces for more flooding as rain-swollen rivers rise
Belgium charges 10th suspect over Paris attacks
Six more held over alleged New Year plot in Brussels
ISIS claims deadly shooting in Russia’s Caucasus
Links From Jihad Watch Site for january01.16.htm
Dagestan:
Muslims open fire at Russian tourist attraction, murdering one tourist and
wounding 11
Iranian
Muslim cleric: I converted Hitler’s grandson to Islam
Michigan:
Muslim State Dept rep defends “Palestinian” stabbings of Jews, says foes of
stabbings are defending “animal rights”
Egypt
jails Muslim scholar for suggesting Islamic reform
Rochester,
New York: Muslim arrested for Islamic State jihad mass murder plot in restaurant
on New Year’s Eve
10th
Paris jihad murder suspect arrested; Brussels cancels New Year’s Eve fireworks
for fear of jihad terror
UK:
“I am Muslim, do you trust me enough for a hug?” guy jailed for threatening to
bomb MP’s house
Kazakhstan:
Convert from Islam to Christianity gets 2 years prison for inciting religious
hatred
Agents
nab Pakistani Muslims with jihad terror connections crossing U.S. border
New
Glazov Gang: The Presidential Candidates and the War We’re In
Belgium:
Two Islamic State jihad cell members arrested for planning Christmas holiday
attacks
Welcoming the New Year With A New Page
Elias Bejjani/January 01/16
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/2015/12/31/elias-bejjani-welcoming-the-new-year-with-a-new-page/
“For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; he will lead
them to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their
eyes”. (Revelation 07/17)
The righteous who Fear Almighty God and His Day Of Judgment are ought to
welcome the New Year with a new page. A page that is totally free from all
kinds of grudges, hatred, envy and hostilities. A page that is enriched with
holy virtues of forgiveness, love, meekness and tolerance because yesterday,
the last day of the year 2015 has become history and no matter what is done it
would not come back.
By opening a new page we recognize that our journey on earth is so short and
transient, and that no one can carry with him any thing from this its mortal
riches, no matter big or small once Almighty God recuperates back His Gift of
life. The Moment life, the Godly gift goes back to its creator, the human body
immediately becomes cold, motionless, breathless, pale and disintegrated within
few weeks by his own body worms. The human body as the holy Bible teaches us
turns back into dust that originally it was formed from.
The body goes back to dust while the Soul, the incorporeal and immortal essence
of a living being and the Godly gift of life is called upon by God where it
will face His Day Of Judgment.
Based on the Soul’s acts and conduct all through its earthly life span is
justly and fairly judged. When the Godly Judgment is over, the Souls is either
welcomed in Heaven alongside with the righteous, saints and angles, or thrown
to Hell into the darkness. In Hell there will be weeping, gnashing of teeth,
burning fire that does not end, everlasting anguish, and worms that does not
die.
In this Biblical context, it is a must that the righteous and faithful are
highly expected to walk in the New Year with a new page while entirely trusting
Almighty God and putting themselves into His blessed hands. Human beings are
not entitled or entrusted under any given circumstances to put themselves in
Almighty God’s place and judge others, because He is the only one who can carry
this task. When we fall into the devil’s temptation and stop fearing God and
His Day Of Judgment we commit deadly and unforgivable sins and end into the
darkness of Hell, far, far away from Heaven.
Today, on the first day of the New Year, and with a the new clean page we
welcome and start the New Year, 2016.
Lord is our beloved and merciful shepherd.
“The Lord is my Shepherd; I lack nothing”. (Psalm23/01). With these holy words,
Let us all welcome the New Year, while expressing our sole and unquestionable
satisfaction in the care of Jesus Christ, the great Pastor of the universe, the
Redeemer and Preserver of men. Empowered with faith, love, joy and hope, we
welcome the new year.
In the midst of all the on going and unprecedented world wide chaos on all
level and domains we welcome the New Year with no fear at all entrusting in
Almighty God’s love, Wisdom and justice.
We pray, asking Almighty God that this new year, 2016, will bring with it peace
and tranquility to all the countries and people who are facing savage and
barbaric wars especially in the middle east.
We pray for the salvation of millions and millions of innocent refugees, mainly
children, elderly and women who were forced by evildoers, terrorists and
murderers to abandon their homes and property by force after being exposed to
massive massacres, persecution, poverty, humiliation and torture.
We call on our Father, Almighty God to help all those who are in need of help
and who are weary and burdened.
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take
my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in. (Matthew
11:28)
We, pray for our occupied mother country, Lebanon, and for its oppressed
people. We pray that the new year will bring freedom and peace for Lebanon and all
the countries and people that are encountering hardships.
In conclusion, let us put all our burdens in God’ Hands and trust Him. “Be on
guard, then because you do not know what day your lord will come. If the owner
of the house knew the time when the thief would come, you can be sure that he
would stay awake and not let the thief break into his house. so then, you also
must always be ready, because the Son of Man will come an hour when you are not
expecting him”. (Matthew 24,/42-44).
Happy New Year
Samir Kuntar: ‘Resistance hero’ or sex
monster?
Noam Rotenberg/Jerusalem Post/December 31/15
After his release from Israeli prison in 2008, he had a series of sexual
affairs – some with women being pressured and intimidated by Kuntar, sources
say.
Some new disturbing facts are emerging about the character of Lebanese
terrorist Samir Kuntar who was assassinated in an airstrike attributed to Israel earlier
this month. Sources that were were familiar with Kuntar have described him to
Lebanese daily newspaper, The Beirut Observer as no less than a “sex monster.”
The report, that was later confirmed to The Jerusalem Post by Syrian rebel
sources, says that since his release from Israeli prison in 2008, he has has
had a series of sexual affairs – some with the women being pressured and
intimidated by Kuntar. The website for The Beirut Observer ceased to operate
following the publication of the report and sources in Lebanon suspect
that a deliberate hacking attack took down the site to prevent the report from
being seen. The sources say that when Kuntar visited his “working office” on
the outskirts of Damascus,
women were brought to him to “release his stress.”' One of the women who was
involved with Kuntar was the widow of a terrorist who fought with the
arch-terrorist and was killed after a bomb exploded in his car (an action that
was also attributed to Israel).
Even inside Hezbollah, fighters were surprised to hear the warm words that
Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah said after Kuntar's death, and the promises to
avenge him. “Is this a way that a ‘hero of the resistance’ behaves?” the
sources asked. “He (Kuntar) has damaged the respect of many women,” a source
said. “How can he be refereed to as a hero?” The sources added that Kuntar's
sexual escapades continued after he was married to his wife.
IDF, Russian, Iranian forces on war
alert for Hizballah attack on Israel – and backlash
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report December 31, 2015
The IDF and all of the armies involved in the Syrian civil war, namely those of
Russia, Syria and Iran, went on their highest war alert on Thursday, Dec. 31
when all their intelligence organizations reported that Hassan Nasrallah could
not be stopped from attacking Israel, in revenge for the assassination of Samir
Quntar in Damascus on December 20.
More than one intermediary visited Beirut
to avert the Hizballah attack and its deadly fallout, including a former senior
officer of the German BND foreign intelligence service. According to
debkafile’s intelligence sources, Gerhard Conrad, late of the BND and incumbent
director of the European Union’s Intelligence and Situation Center,
was given this urgent mission by Chancellor Angela Merkel.
He came away from a meeting with Nasrallah on Dec. 29, with the news that the
Hizballah chief was not open to persuasion and the attack was already underway.
Conrad has excellent connections in the Arab world, especially in Syria and Lebanon. Seven years ago, he acted
as intermediary between Israel
and Hizballah for negotiating the recovery of the bodies of two fallen IDF
soldiers, Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser, in exchange for the handover of that
same Hizballah high-up Samir Quntar and other jailed and convicted Arab
terrorists.
The German spy-diplomat then established personal connections with a shadowy
figure, Wafik Safa, who is in charge of Hizballah’s intelligence and security
network and a close crony of Nasrallah.
Conrad used those connections again in 2011 to broker the release of Gilead
Shalit from Hamas captivity.
It was Safa he arranged for him to meet Nasrallah in Beirut Tuesday. He found the Hizballah chief
unshakeable in his determination to make Israel
pay for Quntar’s death, even at the cost of a painful backlash against the
Shiite group's terrorists in Syria
and Lebanon.
He was unmoved by the warning issued by Israel’s chief of staff, Lieut. Gen.
Gady Eisenkott, on Monday, just hours before the Conrad mission. Eisenkott
said, “Just as we have proven in the past, we know how to strike anyone who
wishes to harm us. Our enemies know they will suffer grave consequences if they
try to undermine our security.”
Upon receipt of the German emissary’s report on the meeting, Eisenkott, his
deputy, Maj. Gen. Yair Golan, and OC Northern Command, Maj. Gen. Aviv Kochavi,
inspected the preparedness of the IDF’s northern border defenses for all
contingencies.
They took into account a scenario, whereby Nasrallah would take advantage of
the stormy weather forecast for the weekend in Syria,
Lebanon and Israel, to strike Israel, in the knowledge that the
heavy rain and snow would impede Israeli air force activity and give the
Hizballah operation a tactical edge.
Russian military and Iranian Revolutionary Guard forces in Syria have taken into account that a Hizballah
attack will not go unanswered by Israel and that the IDF would most
likely hit back at Hizballah on Syrian soil, thus ushering in the New Year with
a new whirlwind.
New Year's Eve terror attack thwarted
in NY
Ynetnews/Reuters/December 31/15/The US
Justice Department arrest a man who planned to attack a restaurant in upstate New York on New Year's Eve; he is charged with providing
material support to ISIS. A 25-year-old man
who planned to attack a restaurant in upstate New York
on New Year's Eve has been arrested and charged with attempting to provide
material support to Islamic State, the US Justice Department said on
Thursday. Emanuel L. Lutchman, "claiming to receive direction from an
overseas ISIS member, planned to commit an armed attack against civilians at a
restaurant/bar located in the Rochester,
New York, area today," the
department said in a statement. A criminal complaint against Lutchman, who
appeared in US District Court for the Western District of New York on Thursday,
described him as a "self-professed Muslim convert with a criminal history
dating back to approximately 2006... as well as previous state mental hygiene
arrests." It said Lutchman expressed support for Islamic State in
telephone conversations with a paid informant in November and December. It said
that this month he was in contact with someone who identified himself as a
member of the militant group in Syria.
On Tuesday, he went to a Walmart store in Rochester
with another informant and bought two black ski masks, zip-ties, two knives, a
machete, duct tape, ammonia and latex gloves for the planned attack, the
complaint said. He had no money, and the confidential source paid about $40 for
the supplies, it said.
Ya'alon: Our enemies know we'll strike
them hard if they try to attack
By YAAKOV LAPPIN/Jerusalem Post/December 31/15
Defense minister: If enemies try to harm us, we can hit back from the air, sea,
or surface
Amid ongoing heightened tensions with Hezbollah following the assassination of
Lebanese terrorist Samir Kuntar, Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon issued a
warning on Thursday, saying that Israel's enemies "know that if they just
try to harm us, we will strike them powerfully, and we will do so in any way we
find appropriate. From the air, sea, or surface."
The defense minister was speaking at Hatzerim airbase during a ceremony to mark
the flight course completion of the latest air force cadets.
Israel
has advanced air capabilities to send its aircraft anywhere, and hit
"those who constantly seek our harm, and to disrupt the lives of Israeli
residents, whether through terrorism or through smuggling advanced
weapons," Ya'alon said.
On Monday, IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Gadi Eisenkot said the military stands
ready to face "any challenge" from the North, and Israel's
enemies will pay a dear price if they seek to undermine Israeli security.
He spoke a day after Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah threatened for the second
time in recent days to retaliate against the killing of Lebanese terrorist
Samir Kuntar in an air strike in Syria.
"Beyond our borders too, facing the threats we hear from the North, we
stand ready for any challenge, and as we have proven in the past, we know how
to find and hit all who seek our harm," Eisenkot said.
The chief of staff warned that "our enemies know that if they try to
undermine the security of Israel,
they will face severe consequences." On December 19, Kuntar was killed in
a missile strike on his operations center in the suburbs of southern Damascus.
Earlier this week, Nasrallah said via video message, “The Israelis are hiding
like rats along the border. They are worried and they should be worried along
the border and inside Israel.
Their threats will not benefit them. The retaliation to Samir’s assassination
will inevitably come." Jerusalem Post Staff contributed to this report
Report: Fear of Assassinations to
'Shuffle Cards' on Presidency
Naharnet/December 31/15/Security forces warned that the vacuum at the top state
post can pave way for a favorable environment for the assassination of
prominent political figures, As Safir daily reported on Thursday. “The most
dangerous thing about extending the vacuum is that it could be a favorable environment
for dramatic incidents inside Lebanon
that could lead to the assassination of political figures,” security forces
told the daily. They added on condition of anonymity, disclosing fears that
"the assassination of officials could take place in order to shuffle the
cards and push for a quick presidential election.”"The continuation of the
presidential vacuum seems most likely at least in the foreseeable future, until
the region crosses the 'transitional phase' toward the major settlements, which
will be preceded by developments and confrontations to improve the negotiating
positions," they added. Lebanon
has been without a president since the term of President Michel Suleiman ended
in May 2014. Conflicts between the rival March 8 and March 14 camps have thwarted
all attempts to elect a successor.
Lebanese Arrested for Joining Nusra Front,
Recruiting Members to Fight in Syria
Naharnet/December 31/15/The General Security arrested a Lebanese man for
confessing to belonging to the al-Qaida-affiliated al-Nusra Front, it said in a
statement on Thursday. The suspect admitted that he was tasked with forming a
Nusra Front cell in Lebanon,
recruiting members, and facilitating their passage to join the fight in Syria. He said
that he had illegally entered Syria
through Turkey,
where he pledged his allegiance to the al-Nusra Front's branch in Reef Latakia.
Commander of this branch, a Syrian called Abou Hassan, had tasked the detainee
to form the cell in Lebanon.The suspect added that he had also harbored wounded
terrorists and provided them with safe residences, added the General Security
statement. He also facilitated their escape and protected them from detection.
He has since been referred to the concerned judiciary for further
investigation. The various security agencies and the army have for the past
months arrested a number of Lebanese and foreign members of terrorist groups.
Syria Shells Lebanese Helicopter in North
Naharnet/December 31/15/Syrian anti-aircrafts opened fire at a Lebanese
helicopter near the al-Kabir River on the border with Syria in the North, the
state-run National News Agency reported on Thursday. The helicopter was
slightly damaged but the pilots managed to return to the Qlaiaat base, it
added. The helicopter was on a tour roaming over the plains of Akkar.
Investigations and contacts have kicked off following the unprecedented
incident. The Voice of Lebanon radio (100.5) later said that the “Syrian
authorities have targeted a Lebanese military helicopter because it violated
its airspace.”
Moqbel, Qahwaji Affirm, 'Saudi Grant on
Track'
Naharnet/December 31/15/Defense Minister Samir Moqbel and Army Commander
General Jean Qahwaji assured that they have been officially notified that the
Saudi grant to purchase French weapons is “on track” and that the arms are in
the making process, al-Mustaqbal daily reported on Thursday. “The $3 million
grant is on track and there is no backing down,” said Moqbel to the daily. “We
have been informed by the Saudi authorities that the French company ODAS has
been told to begin the process of manufacturing under this grant,” he added. “A
new batch of arms will be handed to the army at the beginning of next April and
the other shipments will be handed respectively over a time period that extends
over six years,” added the minister. ODAS is the French agency in charge of
promoting defense sales in Saudi
Arabia. For his part, Qahwaji stated that he
had been "officially notified by head of ODAS company Admiral Edouard
Guillaud, that the Saudi Finance Ministry has signed the required documents
with the company and that they are now working on setting a time limit to hand
Lebanon the French weapons." In December 2013, OPEC kingpin Saudi Arabia
agreed to finance the $3-billion package of French military equipment and arms
for the Lebanese army. France
is expected to deliver 250 combat and transport vehicles, seven Cougar
helicopters, three small Corvette warships and a range of surveillance and
communications equipment over four years as part of the $3 billion (2.8
billion-euro) modernization program. In June, reports claimed that the grant
was frozen over stances by some Lebanese officials regarding Riyadh's
war against Shiite Huthi rebels in Yemen. Saudi
Arabia is leading an Arab coalition that launched an air
war on the Huthi rebels and their allies in Yemen on March 26.
Israel Army Chief Inspects Golan Front amid Tensions with
Hizbullah
Naharnet/December 31/15/Israeli army chief of staff Gadi Eisenkot toured the
Syrian frontier in the occupied Golan Heights
on Wednesday amid high tensions with Hizbullah that followed the assassination
of top operative Samir al-Quntar. Northern Command chief Aviv Kochavi and
Galilee Division commander Amir Baram accompanied Eisenkot on his tour, the
website of Israel's Yediot Aharonot newspaper reported. The Israeli army has
“taken heed of Hizbullah Secretary General (Sayyed) Hassan Nasrallah's recent
warnings in the wake of the targeted killing of Samir Quntar, which Nasrallah
and others attributed to Israel,” the website quoted Israeli army sources as
saying. "We take Nasrallah's statements in his speeches very seriously and
are preparing for them," said the sources but added that "Hizbullah
also takes what we say seriously." On Monday, the Israeli army carried out
a military drill in the occupied Shebaa Farms.
“A series of explosions were heard in the towns of al-Orqoub during a maneuver
for the Israeli enemy's army on the eastern peripheries of the occupied Shebaa
Farms,” Lebanon's
National News Agency reported. Tensions surged between Israel and Hizbullah in recent days after the
party accused Israel's air
force of carrying out a raid that killed Samir al-Quntar near Damascus. On Sunday, Hizbullah chief
Nasrallah reiterated a pledge that his group will retaliate to the
assassination. “The retaliation to Samir's assassination will inevitably come,”
Nasrallah vowed, noting that the timing and place of the response is now in the
hands of Hizbullah's fighters and military commanders. “The Israelis are hiding
like rats along the border … The Israelis are worried and they should be
worried -- along the border and inside Israel. Their threats will not
benefit them,” Nasrallah said. Hizbullah played a key role in Quntar's release
from prison after he had spent 30 years in Israeli jails, becoming known as the
longest-serving Arab prisoner. Shortly after his release, Quntar joined
Hizbullah. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said he became "head of
the Syrian Resistance for the Liberation of the Golan," a group launched
two years ago by Hizbullah in the Syrian region, most of which Israel seized in
the 1967 Middle East war.
Funeral Held for 13 Assyrians Killed in
Restaurant Bombings in Syria
Posted 2015-12-31
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/2015/12/31/funeral-held-for-13-assyrians-killed-in-restaurant-bombings-in-syria/
Qamishli, Syria (AINA) — A funeral service was held today in Qamishli for the
13 Assyrians who were killed yesterday in the bombing of three restaurants
(AINA 2015-12-30). The attacks were carried out by ISIS, who have claimed
responsibility. At least one of the attacks was by a suicide bomber. All of the
restaurants are owned by Assyrians and are located in the Assyrian quarter of
the city.The Syriac Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch issued the following
statement:
Damascus, December 31, 2015Once again, terrorism
strikes in Syria
and this time in our beloved Qamishly. Dozens of martyrs and many others were
injured on December 31, 2015, in three suicide bombs in the city. The old
people weep, the young are losing hope and the children’s joy is wiped away.
This injustice is inflicted on the people of Qamishly, of all confessions and
religions, only because they are good citizens, known for their love and
loyalty to their country and land. The enemy of humanity is spreading its power
everywhere in our beloved Middle East, seeking
to destroy the homes of the children of God and to lead them astray. What god
do these suicide bombers worship? What religion do they follow? They use blood,
slaughter, and killing as a way to please their god. Where are the people of
good conscience to act against these attacks? Is it not time to wake up from
their deep sleep and to do all that is possible to protect the remaining people
in this region, whose sole concern is to live in peace in their homeland? Is it
not the fit time to unite and collectively fight all forms of terrorism and
extremism?
To our Syriac faithful in Qamishly, we say: You have paid a high price for
keeping your faith and remaining in your homeland. You have offered and
continue to offer lessons of citizenship and of the love of your country. This
is not strange to you, grandchildren of the martyrs of the Syriac Genocide Sayfo
that took place 100 years ago. You refused humiliation and submission and you
did not accept a substitute for your land. We believe that these terrorist
attacks will not separate you from your land; these explosions, however violent
and bloody they may be, will not uproot you from your country.
We condemn these criminal acts and demand immediate intervention to protect the
people of this region from terrorism and suicide bombings. We also demand for
an investigation to know who is behind these crimes, that they may receive the
punishment they deserve.
We pray for the repose of the souls of the martyrs. May their names be written
in heaven. We ask the Lord to comfort the hearts of their families, relatives
and all those saddened by their departure and pray for the healing and speedy
recovery of the wounded.
May God have mercy of the martyrs of Qamishly and Syria.
The following are the names of 13 of the Assyrians who were killed:
Ramy Tarzi Bashi
Aboud Hagiki
Robert Krio
Eli Kaspo
Issa Hanna
Anton Joseph
Eliamo Malke
Nedal Abdo
Marwan Shamoun
Danny Hanna
Shabo Malke
Jack Tuma
Robert Hegame
Huge Fire Erupts at Dubai Hotel, Site of
New Year Celebrations
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/December 31/15/A huge fire ripped through a
luxury Dubai hotel on Thursday near the world's tallest tower, where people
were gathering to watch New Year's Eve celebrations, police said.The Dubai
government media office tweeted that a "fire has been reported in the
Address Downtown hotel. Authorities are currently on-site to address the
incident swiftly and safely". Witnesses near the iconic Burj Khalifa, the
world's tallest building, said huge flames could be seen billowing from the
hotel. Images aired on the Dubai-based Al-Arabiya news channel showed a
high-rise building with fire engulfing dozens of storeys. Dubai authorities said earlier Thursday that
they had deployed thousands of security personnel to ensure visitors and
residents could enjoy the New Year's festivities safely. The emirate had
promising a "spectacular" fireworks display that was set to kick-off
at midnight from the Burj Khalifa before spreading to various locations across
the city. Al-Arabiya said that the celebrations will go ahead as scheduled.
Jittery world bids adieu to a year
marred by violence
The Associated Press Thursday, 31 December 2015/In Bangkok, police-flanked
partygoers will ring in the new year at the site of a deadly bombing that took
place just months ago. In Paris,
residents recovering from their city’s own deadly attacks will enjoy
scaled-back celebrations. And in Belgium’s capital, authorities
anxious after thwarting what they say was a holiday terror plot have canceled
festivities altogether. As the final hours of 2015 draw to a close, many are
bidding a weary and wary adieu to a year marred by attacks that left nations
reeling and nerves rattled. Still, most places are forging ahead with their
celebrations as many refuse to let jitters ruin the joy of the holiday. “We
still have this fear but we need to continue to live,” said Parisian Myriam Oukik.
“We will celebrate.”
A look at how people around the world are planning to do exactly that:
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
In the megacity
of Dubai, three separate
firework displays are set to wow spectators. The show starts from the Burj
Khalifa, the world’s tallest building at 828 meters (905 yards). Already,
organizers say the tower has been fitted with 400,000 LED lights and 1.6 tons
of fireworks will be used in the display. From there, fireworks also will light
up the sky around the sail-shaped Burj Al Arab and later down near the Dubai
Marina. Fireworks also will be on display in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the country of
seven emirates.
The fireworks will end a year of challenges for the United
Arab Emirates, which saw global oil prices drop below $40
a barrel and dozens of its soldiers killed in the ongoing Saudi-led war against
Shiite militias in Yemen.
Meanwhile, the Mideast as a whole still reels from the onslaught of ISIS.
FRANCE
The French are still recovering from the Nov. 13 attacks that left 130 people
dead in Paris,
and authorities are preparing for a possible worst-case scenario on New Year’s
Eve. About 60,000 police and troops will be deployed across the country on
Thursday. “The same troops who used to be in Mali,
Chad, French Guyana or the Central African Republic
are now ensuring the protection of French people,” said Defense Minister
Jean-Yves Le Drian. Paris
has canceled its usual fireworks display and will instead display a 5-minute
video performance at the Arc de Triomphe just before midnight, relayed on
screens along the Champs Elysée. In previous years, more than 600,000 French
and foreign visitors gathered on the famous avenue for New Year’s Eve. This
year, it will be closed to vehicles for just one hour instead of the usual
three. Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo said the “noble
and decent” show will be aimed at “sending the world the message that Paris is standing, proud
of its lifestyle and living together.”
CHINA
An official New Year’s Eve celebration is planned near Beijing’s
Forbidden City with performances and fireworks, and one of China’s most
popular TV stations will broadcast a gala from the National Stadium, otherwise
known as the iconic Bird’s Nest. For security reasons, Shanghai
is closing subways near the scenic waterfront Bund because of a stampede last
New Year’s Eve that killed 36 people and blemished the image of China’s most
prosperous and modern metropolis. Beijing’s
shopping and bar areas are under a holiday security alert that started before
Christmas and has resulted in armed police standing guard at popular commercial
areas. Police commonly issue such alerts during holiday periods to ensure
safety.
INDONESIA
Indonesia
is on high alert after authorities said last week that they had foiled a plot
by militants to attack government officials, foreigners and others in the
world’s most populous Muslim nation. About 150,000 police officers and soldiers
have been deployed to safeguard churches, airports and other public places.
National Police spokesman Maj. Gen. Anton Charliyan said security is focused on
anticipating attacks in vulnerable regions including the capital, Jakarta, the tourist resort of Bali and restive West Papua, where President Joko Widodo is celebrating
the New Year. More than 9,000 police are deployed in Bali, the site of Indonesia’s
deadliest terror attack, which killed 202 people in 2002.
INDIA
Hotels and restaurants in and around New
Delhi have been advertising grand party plans with
live bands, dancing and plenty of drinks. With security being a concern, police
and anti-terror squads on Tuesday conducted mock terror-attack drills at a
crowded shopping mall and food court. Witnesses, however, were unimpressed.
Mona Arthur, a Delhi
journalist who was in the mall at the time, dubbed the exercise a “mockery of a
mock drill.” She and a friend were shopping when two police officers ran past
them. Then a security official said two terrorists had entered the mall. “The
whole thing was comical,” said Arthur, who was irritated that no information
was given to shoppers on where to go or what to do.
BELGIUM
Authorities in Belgium’s
capital canceled planned New Year’s Eve fireworks amid fears of a terrorist
attack. The decision came one day after authorities arrested two men in
connection with an alleged plot to unleash holiday season attacks against
police, soldiers and popular locations in Brussels.
Mayor Yvan Mayeur said it would be impossible to screen the thousands of
revelers who would otherwise be gathering in Brussels to ring in the new year.
NEW YORK
Around 1 million people are expected to converge on New York City’s Times Square for the annual
celebration. The party begins with musical acts, including Luke Bryan, Charlie
Puth, Demi Lovato and Carrie Underwood, and ends with fireworks and the descent
of a glittering crystal ball from a rooftop flagpole. This year’s festivities
will also be attended by nearly 6,000 New
York City police officers, including members of a new
specialized counterterrorism unit. People usually begin filling the square and
adjoining blocks before sundown for the televised spectacle. Everyone arriving
gets screened for weapons with a metal-detecting wand.
A look back at the Gulf’s most important
events in 2015
Staff writer, Al Arabiya News Thursday, 31 December 2015/As the world prepares to
say goodbye to a tumultuous 2015, here's a look at some of the most important
events that happened in the Gulf region.
Saudi Arabia:
- In January, Saudi King Salman came to power following the death of King
Abdullah on January 2015. King Salman visited a number of countries.
- In late March, Saudi
Arabia led a coalition to support the
legitimate Yemeni president Abdrabbu Mansour Hadi against the Houthi rebels and
forces loyal to the former Yemeni president, Ali Abdullah Saleh.- Saudi’s 2016
budget was one of the topics which made headlines worldwide.
The United Arab Emirates
- Many soldiers died while on duty taking part in the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen.
- UAE increased the prices of fuel and became the first Gulf State
to link it to international prices.
- Emirati woman stabbed to death an American citizen in an Abu Dhabi shopping mall. The woman, dubbed
the “Reem Island Ghost” who authorities said had sent money to terrorist groups
– was later sentenced and executed.
Yemen
- Iranian-backed Houthi militias execute a coup against President Abdrabbu
Mansour Hadi, resulting in Saudi
Arabia forming a coalition to prop up its
southern neighbor and restore the internationally-recognized government to
power.
- A conference held in Geneva hosted a dialogue
between Yemen’s
warring parties, in a bid to restore peace to the nation.
Kuwait
- In June, a deadly blast hit the Imam as-Sadiq Mosque in Kuwait. The
bombing, which was claimed by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS),
killed 27.
- Diplomatic relations between Kuwait
and Iran became under strain
after Kuwaiti authorities discovered a warehouse full of weapons and ammunition
they suspect had come from Tehran.
Bahrain
- Bahraini authorities launched for the first time the sales of governmental
Ijara sukuks (Islamic leasing bonds) worth $265 mln through the Manama stock exchange.
Qatar
- FIFA announced that Qatar’s
hosting of the World Football Cup 2022 will be held in November instead of the
summer.
- Qatar
ended its controversial sponsorship system for foreign workers and introduced a
new law to regulate the movements of expatriates in and out of the country.
Oman
- In November, a hurricane dubbed “Chapala” hit parts of Oman and Yemen, resulted in massive rains.
World preps for 2016 festivities amid
threats
Staff writer, Al Arabiya News Wednesday, 30 December 2015/As the world prepares
to bid farewell to a tumultuous 2015, security forces have been making their
own plans to thwart potential militant attacks taking place on the night. While
most cities will go ahead with their plans to celebrate the new year,
authorities in the Belgian capital Brussels
took the drastic step of cancelling all public New Year's festivities and
fireworks due to the terror threat. On Tuesday, Belgian police arrested two
people who were suspected of plotting attacks for the celebrations. Authorities
in New York, where the central Times Square is a popular New Year’s Eve spot
for festivities, are prepping “more extensive than ever” security measures, its
mayor said on Tuesday. A total of about 6,000 officers will be on hand, the
city’s police chief Bill Bratton told reporters, noting that some would be in
plain clothes.
After the Paris attacks on November 13, which killed 130, an Islamic State of
Iraq and Syria (ISIS) propaganda video broadcast images of New York from Times
Square.
“This is the best prepared city in this country to stop terrorism, and people
should rest assured that they will be very well protected on New Year’s Eve,”
Bill De Blasio said. Meanwhile, Russia,
who began bombing ISIS militants in Syria in September, adopted a more
cautious approach.
Moscow’s Red Square,
traditionally a place where people gather to ring in the New Year, will be
closed to revelers on the night.
Russia has introduced a raft
of tighter security measures since both the Paris
attacks and the downing of a Russian passenger plane over Egypt’s Sinai
in late October, killing 224 people. “It’s not a secret that Moscow is a desired target for an attack by
international terrorists,” the Russian capital’s mayor said earlier this month.
Turkey - which this year saw
a surge in attacks from what authorities claim is from the ISIS and Kurdish
militants – has so far detained two suspected ISIS militants believed to be
planning suicide attacks during New Year celebrations in central Ankara.
New Year’s Eve in Paris
will see the first large assembly allowed in the French capital since the state
of emergency started in November.
Hundreds of thousands of people are once more expected to gather on the
Champs-Elysees boulevard to hail the New Year. But this year’s celebrations –
which the French call “Reveillon” will be marked with more “sobriety and
remembrance,” the city's mayor told the paper Journal du Dimanche. Paris police will be on
their guard around the Arc de Triomphe, where a standard 20 minute light show
has been cut to just 10 minutes to avoid crowds gathering for too long. In
addition to the deadly November attacks, France saw this year begin by
attacks on the headquarters of satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo in early January.
In London,
police are planning to deploy 3,000 officers – some of them armed - to patrol
the capital’s streets on New Year’s Eve. However, police added that there was
no evidence of a specific threat. Authorities in neighboring Germany believe
that militants may use “improvised explosive devices… or firearms” during a
potential New Year’s Eve attack. Police in the capital Berlin have banned fireworks, handbags and
backpacks at the celebrations at the city’s Brandenburg Gate.
16 Dead, 30 Wounded in Three Blasts in
Northeast Syria
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/December 31/15/At least 16 people were killed and
30 wounded by explosions in three restaurants in the northeast of Syria on
Wednesday, a monitoring group said, in attacks claimed by the Islamic State
group. At least one of the blasts in the city of Qamishli was caused by a suicide bomber, the
Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights told Agence France Presse. An
AFP correspondent in the city said the suicide attack took place in a
restaurant in a Christian neighbourhood. "Three explosions, one by a
suicide bomber inside a restaurant, hit... Qamishli city in Hasakeh
province," the Observatory's director Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP. News
agency Amaq, which supports Islamic State jihadists, said the group had claimed
responsibility for the attacks on the city, which lies near the border with Turkey and close to Iraq. "Dozens of dead and
wounded in the bombings by the fighters of the Islamic State in different parts
of Qamishli city," it said. Qamishli is under the shared control of the
Syrian regime and Kurdish authorities, who have declared zones of
"autonomous administration" across parts of north and northeast Syria. Syrian
troops and seasoned Kurdish fighters have coordinated on security in Hasakeh
province where IS jihadists have tried to advance. According to the
Observatory, all three of the restaurant explosions happened in a zone
controlled by regime forces.
Merkel: Refugee influx ‘an opportunity’
AFP, Berlin Thursday, 31 December 2015/Chancellor Angela Merkel in her New
Year’s address Thursday asked Germans to see a record refugee influx as “an
opportunity for tomorrow” and urged doubters not to follow racist hate-mongers.
The past year - when the top EU economy took in over one million asylum seekers
- had been unusually challenging, she said in a pre-released text of the
speech, also bracing Germans for more hardships ahead.But she stressed that in
the end it would all be worth it because “countries have always benefitted from
successful immigration, both economically and socially”. With a view to
right-wing populists and xenophobic street rallies, she said “it’s important we
don’t allow ourselves to be divided”. “It is crucial not to follow those who,
with coldness or even hatred in their hearts, lay a sole claim to what it means
to be German and seek to exclude others.”
Merkel has earned both praise and criticism at home and abroad for her decision
to open Germany to a record
wave of refugees, about half from war-torn Syria. Germany took in almost 1.1 million
asylum seekers this year, five times last year’s total, the Saechsische Zeitung
regional daily reported Wednesday citing unpublished official figures. Merkel,
faced with opposition in her conservative camp and popular concerns about the
influx, has vowed steps to reduce numbers next year. Her plan involves
convincing other EU members to take in more refugees, so far with little
success, and an EU deal with gateway country Turkey to better protect its
borders. Merkel said that “there has rarely been a year in which we were
challenged so much to follow up our words with deeds”. She thanked volunteers
and police, soldiers and administrators for their “outstanding” accomplishments
and “doing far, far more than their duty”. Looking to 2016, she said “there is
no question that the influx of so many people will keep demanding much of us.
It will take time, effort and money.”But Merkel recalled that Germany had
mastered past challenges such as reunification a quarter-century ago and
benefitted from a “robust and innovative” economy. “I am convinced,” she said,
“that, handled properly, today’s great task presented by the influx and the
integration of so many people is an opportunity for tomorrow.” She urged
Germans to be “self-confident and free, humanitarian and open to the world”.
Amid the world’s greatest refugee wave since World War II, she said, “it goes
without saying that we help and accommodate people who seek safe haven with
us”. The speech will be broadcast at 1815 GMT on ZDF public television and then
online with English and Arabic subtitles.
Suspected ISIS backer held for New York attack plot
Reuters Thursday, 31 December 2015/A 25-year-old man who planned to attack a
restaurant in Rochester, New York, on New Year’s Eve has been
arrested and charged with attempting to provide material support to Islamic
State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), the U.S. Justice Department said on Thursday.
“The FBI thwarted Emanuel Lutchman’s intent to kill civilians on New Year’s
Eve,” a Justice Department statement quoted FBI Special Agent in Charge Adam S.
Cohen as saying. “The FBI remains concerned about people overseas who use the
Internet to inspire people in the United States to commit acts of
violence where they live.”
U.S. Midwest braces for more flooding as rain-swollen
rivers rise
Reuters Thursday, 31 December 2015/Missouri and Illinois were bracing for more flooding on
Thursday as rain-swollen rivers, some at record heights, overflowed their
banks, washing out hundreds of structures and leaving thousands of people
displaced from their homes. Days of downpours from a winter storm that spawned
deadly tornadoes in Texas and significant
snowfall in New England has pushed rivers in
the U.S. Midwest to levels not seen in decades, the National Weather Service
and local officials aid. At least 24 people have died, mostly from driving into
flooded areas in Missouri, Illinois,
Arkansas and Oklahoma after storms dropped up to 12
inches (30 cm) of rain, officials said. Flooding has destroyed hundreds of
homes and businesses, and overflowing rivers could menace Southern states as
the water moves downstream toward the Gulf of Mexico,
the National Weather Service said. “Floodwaters will move downstream over the
next couple of weeks, with significant river flooding expected for the lower Mississippi into
mid-January,” the NWS said. Water rose to the rooftops of some structures in Missouri towns. Governor
Jay Nixon spoke with President Barack Obama on Wednesday and received a pledge
of federal support. Two rivers west of St.
Louis crested at historic levels, flooding local
towns, disabling sewer plants and forcing hundreds of residents from their
homes. Some evacuees stayed with family or friends or went to hotels, while
others found refuge in Red Cross shelters set up in the area. The Mississippi
River, the third longest river in North America, is expected to crest in the
next few days in Thebes, Illinois, at 47.5 feet, more than 46 cm
above the 1995 record, the National Weather Service said. Several levees, including
one along the Meramec River near St.
Louis, were at risk of a breach, the St. Louis
Post-Dispatch said. Periods of below-freezing air in coming days will cause
some flooded areas in Missouri and Illinois to turn icy,
adding to the clean-up challenges, the forecasting site AccuWeather reported.
Belgium charges 10th suspect over Paris
attacks
AFP, Brussels Thursday, 31 December 2015/Belgian prosecutors said Thursday they
have arrested a 10th suspect over the attacks in Paris last month and charged him
with terror offences. The Belgian national, identified only as Ayoub B., was
detained on Wednesday during a raid on a house in the troubled Brussels neighbourhood of Molenbeek, a
statement from the federal prosecutor’s office said. He has been charged with
“terrorist murder” and involvement in the activities of a terrorist group, it
said. The suspect will appear in court again for a custody hearing within five
days, it added. Molenbeek is home to the Paris
attacks fugitive Salah Abdeslam and has emerged as a European hotbed of
Islamist extremism. Belgian authorities on Wednesday cancelled annual New
Year’s Eve celebrations and fireworks in the heart of Brussels after revealing an alleged jihadist
plot to attack the capital during the festivities.
Six more held over alleged New Year
plot in Brussels
AFP, Brussels Thursday, 31 December 2015/Six people were being held Thursday
for questioning over an alleged plot to launch attacks during New Year
festivities in Brussels, federal prosecutors said. The suspects were detained
following several police raids in and around the Belgian capital, the
prosecutor’s office said in a statement. A total of eight people are now held
in the case, including two men who have been formally charged, it added.
ISIS claims deadly shooting in Russia’s
Caucasus
AFP, Moscow Thursday, 31 December 2015/The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria
(ISIS) has claimed responsibility for a shooting at an ancient citadel in
Russia’s volatile North Caucasus region of Dagestan that killed one and injured
11, the SITE Intelligence Group said. “With the help of Allah, the warriors of
the Khalifate were able to attack a group of Russian special service officers
in the city of Derbent in southern Dagestan, killing one officer and injuring
the others,” the monitoring organization SITE quoted ISIS as saying several
hours after Wednesday’s deadly attack.
Assessing the sincerity of Yemen peace talks
Manuel Almeida/Al Arabiya/December 31/15
The best that the latest round of U.N.-sponsored Yemen
peace talks - which took place in Switzerland between Dec. 15 and 20
- was able to produce was the promise of another round of talks on Jan. 14 in a
location to be agreed. Although a meagre achievement, especially given the dire
humanitarian situation, diplomacy still remains by far the best hope for an
exit route from the current miserable state of affairs. This latest round of
talks was again marked by a failure to implement a ceasefire, from which other
important measures would follow, such as a focus on much-needed delivery of
humanitarian aid. Both sides agreed to “lift all forms of blockade and allow
safe, rapid and unhindered access for humanitarian supplies to all affected
governorates,” as part of confidence-building measures. There are indications
that many of the forces involved in the fighting see little benefit in a peace
agreement, at least before any major changes on the ground. However, fierce
fighting has continued in various locations, including the city of Taiz in the southwest,
and the northern Jawaf and Marib provinces east of Sanaa. The initial ceasefire
was still extended by one week on condition that the Houthis commit to the new
truce, but the result seems to have been equally disappointing.
Window-dressing?
An important question that emerged out of the ongoing stalemate is whether any
major change has taken place since the previous round of talks in June, which
could indicate a greater chance for diplomatic success. Back then, negotiations
were interrupted by insults, fist-fighting and shoe-throwing among the
delegates, who failed to even agree on a humanitarian truce during Ramadan.
Beyond the root causes of the current crisis, the various competing political
allegiances within Yemen,
and the involvement of several external players, the conflict has two main
drivers. One is the belief by the Houthi rebels’ radical leadership, which is
backed by Iran and have
close ties to Lebanon’s
Hezbollah, that a military option could be beneficial to the group. The other
is the refusal of the hugely rich and influential Ali Abdullah Saleh, the
former president of Yemen,
to accept the idea that his days as key player in the complex Yemeni political
scene were numbered. In 2014, these two visions converged. The support that the
forces still loyal to the former president provided the Houthis, Saleh’s former
foes against whom he fought six wars, proved decisive in the rebels’ military
offensive that resulted in the takeover of the capital. Today, despite the
participation of Houthi delegates in the peace talks - without which the talks
would make little sense - it remains to be seen if the rebels are committed to
negotiation. In early October, the Houthi leadership wrote to the U.N.
secretary-general to affirm its commitment to both the seven-point peace plan
brokered by the United Nations in Oman, and to relevant Security
Council resolutions. However, just a day before this month’s peace negotiations
were due to begin, and hours before the official start of the ceasefire, the
Houthis inflicted one of the deadliest attacks on coalition forces, when a
missile struck a military base of the Arab forces backing Yemeni President
Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi. Soon after the conclusion of talks, Houthi leader Abdul
Malik al-Houthi made a defiant call to his supporters, which again showed
little consideration for the diplomatic process: “Don’t bet on the United
Nations, whose role conforms to American policy.”
The war’s cost
Within the factions of General People’s Congress (GPC) - the long-time ruling
party - that still support Saleh, it is difficult to tell if there is a unified
position regarding the settlement of the crisis through diplomacy. Previous
diverging positions between him and his supporters could well be signs of
cracks within the party, but it could also be part of stalling tactics. In
October, the GPC accepted the peace plan and relevant U.N. resolutions in an
emailed statement. Yet Saleh refuses to talk with the
internationally-recognized government, and calls instead for direct talks with Saudi Arabia.
“If the war ends, we’ll hold talks with Saudi Arabia and not with the
delegate of escapees,” he said this week. There are indications that many of
the forces involved in the fighting see little benefit in a peace agreement, at
least before any major changes on the ground. Sadly, the hope is that as the
human and material costs of the conflict increase, the perceived benefits of a
negotiated solution will eventually outweigh the temptations of prolonging the
conflict. Within the unlikely Houthi-Saleh alliance that has defined this war,
at least one part has to be genuinely interested in a negotiated solution.
Otherwise, the conflict will go on.
2015 winner in Middle East: U.S. arms exporters
Joyce Karam/Al Arabiya/December 31/15
46.6 billion U.S. dollars is the average estimate for arms sales from the United States
to the world in 2015. Big chunk of those receipts have gone to the Middle East where four wars are simultaneously being
waged and military spending is at an all-time high.
2015 had many ups and downs, with no winner or loser on the regional
battlefield. The so-called Islamic State (ISIS) scored victories in Palmyra and Deir Zour in
the first half of the year, but witnessed defeats in Ramadi and Houla in the
second half. Those who bet against the Iran
deal were also disappointed last July as a historic agreement was signed
between Tehran
and the West on the nuclear program.
But throughout 2015, and in the midst of ISIS expansion and Iran negotiations, the constant winner has been U.S. arms exporters feeding from the regional
anxiety and selling more weaponry and defense shields to the Middle
East.
Redefining U.S. role
If the final numbers hold at $46.6 billion in U.S. global arms sales in 2015 that
would be a significant increase of $12.4 billion from 2014 and $18.8 billion
from 2013.
The 2015 landscape has been the worst in decades for conflict areas in the Middle East but is ideal for global arms exporters.
The dramatic increase in arms sales cannot be seen, however, in isolation from
the U.S. policy pivot in the
Middle East. If anything, the two biggest
milestones in 2015 namely the war on ISIS and the Iran
deal rebranded Washington's
role in the region, from a perceived caretaker into an unenthusiastic
spectator. In both tasks of fighting ISIS and assuring the regional skeptics
about the Iran
deal, the Obama administration chose to use military sales and not hands on
regional diplomacy as a way to comfort its allies.
In the case of ISIS, the fact that the Iraqi
government is the largest weapons buyer in the region today with $7.3 billion
in the tunnel this year speaks volumes to this new dynamic. Baghdad’s
surging defense market is also in response to the U.S.
approach, withdrawing from Iraq
by the end of 2011, and assigning the ground war against ISIS
to Iraqi troops while avoiding combat missions. The war against ISIS also involves 17 regional partners whose military
capability and air force is being improved as a result.
With Iran, the Obama
administration chose to play the military sales card at the Camp David summit
last May to assure its GCC allies with new border and maritime defenses, as
well as deterrence against Iran.
This was translated in more F-15 sales and missile shield to GCC states.
Whether it's confronting ISIS or assuring its allies on Iran, the Obama
administration is weighing heavily on military sales, little diplomacy and
lighter footprint in the region. Washington
appears to have given up on easing Iran-GCC tension or using its leverage to
seek to change the trajectory of conflicts in Libya,
Yemen and Syria.
Trend to continue in 2016
While U.S. arms exporters are signaling concerns that their sales will dip in
the Middle East in 2016 due to the fall in oil prices and slow economic growth
in the region, conflict indicators and new threats predict a continued high
demand for arms supplies.
Whether its Syria, Libya, Iraq,
Yemen, ISIS threat in GCC
countries and Sinai, or active Iran
proxies, there are no signs that these conflicts will be permanently dissipate
in 2016. Most indications are to the contrary in the coming year, and predict a
U.S-Russian rivalry in flooding the defense market in Iraq, Egypt and GCC countries. The rise
of the militias in Syria and
Libya and Yemen, point to
a prolonged war where arms will be flowing in different directions.
On the States level, there is an increased tendency towards boosting state
military institutions to counter ISIS threat
and internal opposition or what is perceived as elements of instability. This
has played out in Egypt and Lebanon, where
the role of the army saw a major boost in the last three years. Uncertainty and
unclarity surrounding the U.S.
role in the region is also feeding this rush to militarization, as confidence
drops in Washington's commitment to its
presence in the Middle East.
The 2015 landscape has been the worst in decades for conflict areas in the Middle East but is ideal for global arms exporters. As
ISIS threat looms, and regional proxy wars heat up, calls for peace from Washington will be ironically accompanied with
unprecedented stockpile of U.S.
made weaponry and fighter jets in the region.
Gazans Slam Hamas Decision To Ban New
Year Celebrations
MEMRI/December 31, 2015 Special Dispatch No.6250
On December 30, 2015, Hamas' police force announced a ban on holding New Year
celebrations in restaurants, hotels and cafes in the Gaza Strip. Police
spokesman Ayman al-Batniji explained that the ban was "meant to minimize
as far as possible phenomena that contravene the heritage, customs, values and
directives of Islam" and also to demonstrate solidarity with the martyrs
of the "Al-Quds intifada" by avoiding celebrations. He condemned
those who "are planning new year celebrations at a time when the
Palestinian people are enduring hardship, a suffocating siege, and the death of
martyrs in the intifada."[1]
Gaza restaurateurs expressed displeasure at the ban due to the financial loss
it will cause them, especially considering that Hamas recently raised taxes on
restaurants.[2] The ban also evoked harsh criticism from Gaza residents, who
voiced their complaints on social media, and also from public figures, such as
a member of the Palestinian People's Party who advised the Hamas members to put
aside their cars and start riding donkeys instead.
The following are examples of criticism leveled at Hamas for this decision.
In a post on his Facebook page, human rights activist Mustafa Ibrahim accused
Hamas of hypocrisy and of disregarding the wishes of the Gaza residents: "Hamas has a new
surprise for us every day, and at the end of the year it insists on a new
addition to its bad human rights record. Seeking anything that can harm it and
us, it cleaves to its customs and heritage which it is trying to impose and to
realize in the name of religion, and attacks the public's freedoms. To the West
it says, 'we are a moderate Islamic movement,' while in the domestic arena, it
tries to tell many of its members that it governs [the Gaza Strip] based on
religious Islamic law, rather than state law, and that, it if could, it might
[even] implement the Koranic punishments... Its claim [that it has banned new
year celebrations due to] the siege and the martyrs is not true. Hamas is the
last one who should talk about the siege. It is the one that is preoccupied
with appearances and arrogance and giving no weight to the siege [itself, only]
to cries for help. All our lives we have been sacrificing martyrs but [also]
celebrating. [Besides], how many celebrants [are we talking about]? Hearing
about Hamas' decision [to ban the celebrations], one might think that tens of
thousands celebrate [this occasion in Gaza].
By the way, celebrating the new year is not a religious matter, but a global
human tradition. It's as though we are not part of the world, or as though we
have lost our humanity."[3]
Mustafa Ibrahim's post
Ibrahim's post evoked many responses on his Facebook page. A reader called
Mohamed Weshah wrote: "You are absolutely right. Islam has become a
[smoke]screen used to justify positions."[4] Another reader, 'Adnan
Al-Laham from Egypt,
wrote: "Brother, celebrate international heritage as you wish, but stop
this exaggerated [criticism of] Hamas. What [bad human rights] record are you
talking about?" A third reader responded to Al-Laham's reply, saying:
"We don’t need the quibbles of someone who lives outside Gaza. Come to Gaza and see how we live under Hamas, and
then you can talk."[5]
Responding to Ibrahim's post, some readers posted a photo showing Hamas
officials, including Moussa Abu Marzouq, standing beside a Christmas tree and a
figure of Santa Claus during their visit the Saint Porphyrios Church in Gaza
last year (see below).[6]
In fact, many Palestinians posted this photo on social media to demonstrate the
hypocrisy of Hamas officials, who participated in New Year festivities yet now
ban the public and the restaurateurs from celebrating. Posting on the Amad
website, an individual named Yasser Al-Najjar asked sarcastically: "Is
Santa Claus perhaps a member of the Muslim brotherhood?" Abu Ahmad
Al-Dweik criticized the Hamas officials for visiting the church, writing that
"it is prohibited to share in the Crusaders' festivities during their
holidays, since they claim that Jesus was the son of God and participating in
their holidays is an act of supporting their faith."[7]
Palestinian People's Party Member: Stop Making Society Resemble ISIS
Nafez Ghneim, a senior member of the Palestinian People's Party (PPP), accused
Hamas of violating collective and individual liberties on the pretext of
minimizing Western influence on the lives of Gaza residents, and added:
"Why do some people describe certain human [customs] as a Western
tradition that contravenes the tradition of [Muslim] society? If such is the
case, they should get out of their cars and ride on a donkey, or smash their
mobile phones and return to antiquated modes of communication. Also, they
should not follow the West or imitate it in their dress. They should burn their
suits and ties and return to robes and wooden clogs." He wondered further:
"Aren't the insurance companies an imitation of the West? Isn't trading in
cigarettes and levying taxes an imitation of the West? What about the tourist
resorts that are managed and controlled by all those who govern the Gaza Strip...?
Nafez Ghneim and the PPP emblem
He added: "Modesty will be attained [only] when justice is attained, when
the poor can earn their crust of bread in dignity, when people gain freedom of
expression in the framework of modern law, and when all men are equal before
the law. Only then will celebrations be sweet, whereas today the joy that
everyone seeks is but an escape from a living hell, and despite this, [those
who wish to celebrate] are being persecuted under the pretext that they are
imitating the West and deviating from social traditions."
Ghneim urged the Gaza authorities to leave
people in peace and stop molding society, bit by bit, in the image of ISIS. He urged them to seek ways to restore to the Gazans
their dignified lives, and address the roots of the poverty, despair and
frustration felt in every Gaza
household."[8]
Endnotes:
[1] Al-Quds (Jerusalem),
December 31, 2015.
[2] Karmapress.com, December 29, 2015.
[3] Facebook.com/mustafa.ibraheam, December 30, 2015.
[4] Facebook.com/mustafa.ibraheam, December 30, 2015.
[5] Facebook.com/mustafa.ibraheam, December 30, 2015.
[6] Qudsnet.com, January 8, 2015.
[7] Amad.ps, December 30, 2015.
[8] Amad.ps, December 31, 2015.
Russian Imperialism Meets Illusions of
Ottoman Grandeur
Burak Bekdil/2015 Gatestone Institute/December 31/15
http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/7145/russian-imperialism-ottoman-
Earlier in 2015, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that he found it difficult
to understand what Russia was doing in Syria, since "it does not even
border Syria."
By that logic, Turkey should not be "doing anything" in the
Palestinian territories, Somalia, Egypt, Pakistan, Afghanistan or any of the
non-bordering lands into which its neo-Ottoman impulses have pushed it.
In a 2012 speech, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, then foreign
minister, predicted that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's days in power were
numbered and that he would depart "within months or weeks." Almost
three and a half years have passed, with Assad still in power, and Davutoglu
keeps on making one passionate speech after another about the fate of Syria.
Turkey's failure to devise a
credible policy on Syria
has made the country's leaders nervous. Both Davutoglu and President Recep
Tayyip Erdogan have lately resorted to more aggressive, but less convincing,
rhetoric on Syria.
The new rhetoric features many aspects of a Sunni Islamist thinking blended
with illusions of Ottoman grandeur.On December 22, Davutoglu said, "Syrian
soil is not, and will not be, part of Russia's imperialistic goals."
That was a relief to know! All the same, Davutoglu could have been more direct
and honest if he said that: "Syrian soil will not be part of Russia's imperialistic goals because we want it
to be part of Turkey's
pro-Sunni, neo-Ottoman imperialistic goals." It is obvious that
Davutoglu's concern is not about a neighboring territory becoming a theater of
war before it serves any foreign nation's imperialistic goals. His concern,
rather, is that neighboring soil will become a theater of war and serve a
pro-Shiite's imperialist goals. Hardly surprising. "What," Davutoglu
asked Russia, "is the
basis of your presence in Syria?"
The Russians could unconvincingly reply to this unconvincing question:
"Fighting terror, in general, and ISIL in particular."
But then Davutoglu claims that the Russian military hits more
"moderates" (read: merely jihadist killers, not to be mixed with
jihadist barbarians who behead people and cheerfully release their videos).
Translation: more Islamist targets and fewer ISIL targets.
A legitimate question to ask the Turkish prime minister might be: What is the
basis of "moderate" Islamists' presence in Syria -- especially when we know
that a clear majority of the "moderate" fighters are not even
Syrians. According to Turkish police records, they are mainly Chinese Uighurs,
several Europeans and even one from Trinidad and Tobago.
Could the basis be the religious bond? Could Prime Minister Davutoglu have
politely reminded the Russians that the "moderate" fighters are
Muslim whereas Russia
is not? But then, one should ask, using Davutoglu's logic, "What is the
basis of the U.S.-led Western coalition's airstrikes in Syria?"
Since when are the Americans, British, Germans and French Muslims? In Turkish
thinking, there is just one difference between non-Muslim Russia's presence in Syria
and non-Muslim allies' presence: The non-Muslim Russians seriously threaten the
advancement of our pro-Sunni sectarian war in the Levant,
whereas the non-Muslim allies can be instrumental in favor of it. Hence Turkey's selective objection to some of the
non-Muslim players in Syria.
Earlier in 2015, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that he found it difficult
to understand what Russia
was doing in Syria, since
"it does not even border Syria."
By that logic, Turkey should not be "doing anything" in the
Palestinian territories, Somalia, Egypt, Pakistan, Afghanistan or any of the
non-bordering lands into which its neo-Ottoman impulses have pushed it over the
past several years. By the same logic, also, Turkey
should be objecting to any allied (non-Muslim) intervention in Syria, or to
any Qatari or Saudi (non-bordering) intervention in the Syrian theater.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said that he found it difficult to
understand what Russia was
doing in Syria, since
"it does not even border Syria."
Pictured: Russian President Vladimir Putin (left) with then Prime Minister
Erdogan, meeting in Istanbul
on December 3, 2012. (Image source: kremlin.ru)
In the unrealistic imperial Turkish psyche, only Turkey
and the countries that pursue regional ambitions convergent with Turkey's can
have any legitimate right to design or re-design the former Ottoman lands. Such
self-righteous and assertive thinking can hardly comply with international law.
The Turks and their imperial ambitions have already been declared unwelcome in Libya, Tunisia,
Egypt, Lebanon, Syria
and Iraq.
Nor would such ambitions be welcomed in any former Ottoman land to Turkey's west.
But if, as Turkey's Islamists are programmed to believe, "historical and
geographical bonds" give a foreign nation the right to design a polity in
another nation, what better justification could the Russians have had for their
post-imperial designs in Crimea? When they have a moment of distraction from
their wars against Western values, the West, Israel, Jews or infidels, the
Sunni and Shiite Islamists in the Middle East fight subtle-looking (but less
subtle than they think) and cunning (but less cunning than they think) wars and
proxy wars, and accuse each other of pursuing sectarian policies. Turkey's rulers
are no exception.
**Burak Bekdil, based in Ankara,
is a Turkish columnist for the Hürriyet Daily and a Fellow at the Middle East
Forum.
The Islamization of Britain in 2015
Sex Crimes, Jihadimania and "Protection Tax"
Soeren Kern/Gatestone Institute/December 31/15
http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/7151/britain-islamization
Hospitals across Britain are dealing with at least 15 new cases of female
genital mutilation (FGM) every day. Although FGM has been illegal in Britain since
1984, there has not been a single conviction.
At least 1,400 children were sexually exploited between 1997 and 2013 in the
town of Rotherham,
mostly by Muslim gangs, but police and municipal officials failed to tackle the
problem because they feared being branded "racist" or
"Islamophobic."
Reverend Giles Goddard, vicar of St John's in Waterloo, central London,
allowed a full Muslim prayer service to be held in his church. He also asked
his congregation to praise "the God that we love, Allah."
There has been a 60% increase in child sexual abuse reported to the police over
the past four years, according to official figures.
British intelligence are monitoring more than 3,000 homegrown Islamist extremists
willing to carry out attacks in Britain.
A Muslim worker at a nuclear power plant in West Kilbride, Scotland, was
removed from the premises after he was caught studying bomb-making materials
while on the job.
"We try to avoid describing anyone as a terrorist or an act as being
terrorist." – Tarik Kafala, the head of BBC Arabic.
The Muslim population of Britain
surpassed 3.5 million in 2015 to become around 5.5% of the overall population
of 64 million, according to figures extrapolated from a recent study on the
growth of the Muslim population in Europe. In
real terms, Britain has the
third-largest Muslim population in the European Union, after France, then Germany.
Islam and Islam-related issues were omnipresent in Britain during 2015, and can
be categorized into five broad themes: 1) Islamic extremism and the security
implications of British jihadists in Syria and Iraq; 2) the continuing spread
of Islamic Sharia law in Britain; 3) the sexual exploitation of British
children by Muslim gangs; 4) Muslim integration into British society; and 5)
the failures of British multiculturalism.
JANUARY 2015
January 7. The British-born Islamic extremist, Anjem Choudary defended the
jihadist attacks on the offices of the French satirical magazine, Charlie
Hebdo. In an opinion article published by USA Today, Choudary wrote:
"Contrary to popular misconception, Islam does not mean peace but rather
means submission to the commands of Allah alone. Therefore, Muslims do not
believe in the concept of freedom of expression, as their speech and actions
are determined by divine revelation and not based on people's desires.
"In an increasingly unstable and insecure world, the potential
consequences of insulting the Messenger Mohammed are known to Muslims and
non-Muslims alike. So why in this case did the French government allow the
magazine Charlie Hebdo to continue to provoke Muslims, thereby placing the
sanctity of its citizens at risk?"
January 9. Muslim cleric Mizanur Rahman of Palmers Green, north London, also defended the attacks in Paris
and declared that "Britain
is the enemy of Islam." Speaking to an audience in London — his speech was also streamed online
to thousands of his followers — Rahman said the cartoonists at Charlie Hebdo
were guilty of "insulting Islam" and therefore "they can't
expect a different result." He added: "You know what happens when you
insult Mohammed."
January 14. Zack Davies, 25, attacked a 24-year-old Sikh named Sarandev Bhambra
with a machete at a Tesco supermarket in Mold, north Wales. British newspapers initially
portrayed the attack as a "racially-motivated attempt" by a
right-wing extremist promoting "white power." It later emerged that
Davies is actually a Muslim convert who goes by the name Zack Ali. On the
morning of the attack, Davies warned on his Facebook page of his impending
assault, posting four verses from the Koran that call for violence against
non-Muslims.
January 16. Rahin Aziz, an Islamist from Luton, was pictured in Syria
brandishing an AK-47 rifle. In a tweet, Aziz, who also calls himself Abu
Abdullah al-Britani, wrote: "Still deciding to what to do with my #british
passport, could burn it, flush it down the toilet, I mean realistically its not
worth spitting on."
January 16. Communities Secretary Eric Pickles sent a letter to more than 1,000
imams across Britain
asking for their help in fighting extremism and rooting out those who are
preaching hatred. Muslim groups responded by accusing the British government of
stoking "Islamophobia" and demanding an apology.
January 17. The Telegraph reported that a convicted al-Qaeda terrorist with
close links to the jihadist attacks in Paris
cannot be deported from Britain
because it would breach his human rights. Baghdad Meziane, a 49-year-old
British-Algerian, jailed for eleven years in 2003 for running a terror network
recruiting jihadists and fundraising for al-Qaeda, was released from prison
five years early and allowed to return to his family home in Leicester. Since
then, Meziane has successfully thwarted attempts to deport him, despite the
government's repeated insistence that he constitutes "a danger to the United Kingdom."
According to The Telegraph, a close associate of Meziane, Djamel Beghal,
mentored at least two of the suspected gunmen responsible for the killings —
Amedy Coulibaly and Chérif Kouachi — while they were together in prison.
Beghal's wife, a French citizen, is living in the UK, courtesy of British taxpayers.
Sylvie Beghal lives rent-free in a four-bedroom house in Leicester.
She came to Britain with her
children in search of a more "Islamic environment," after deciding
that France
was too anti-Muslim.
January 20. The former chief of MI6, Sir John Sawers, in what can be seen as a
recommendation for self-censorship, warned Britons not to insult Islam if they
want to avoid Islamic terrorists from striking inside the country. He said:
"If you show disrespect for others' core values then you are going to
provoke an angry response... There is a requirement for restraint from those of
us in the West."
January 25. Tarik Kafala, the head of BBC Arabic, the largest of the BBC's
non-English language news services, said that the term "terrorist"
was too "loaded" to describe the actions of the men who killed 12
people in the attack on Charlie Hebdo.
January 26. It emerged that hospitals across Britain
are dealing with at least 15 new cases of female genital mutilation (FGM) every
day, and that the problem is especially acute in Birmingham. Although FGM has been illegal in Britain since
1984, there has not been a single conviction.
January 29. A Sky News investigation into child sexual exploitation in
Rotherham, a town in South Yorkshire, found
that hundreds of new cases continue to emerge. In August 2014, the so-called
Alexis Jay Report revealed that between 1997 and 2013, at least 1,400 children
were sexually exploited, mostly by Muslim gangs, and that police and municipal
officials failed to tackle the problem because of politically correct concerns
over being branded as "racist" or "Islamophobic."
FEBRUARY 2015
February 4. British police arrested 45 Muslim men on charges of child sex
grooming. In Northumbria,
20 suspects appeared in court to face charges including rape, sexual assault
and sex trafficking. The alleged offenses involved 12 victims, including one
girl aged just 13. In Halifax, West
Yorkshire, 25 men were charged with a number of child-related sex
offenses.
February 4. The entire cabinet of Rotherham Council resigned after a report
found that misplaced political correctness, combined with a culture of denial,
allowed more than 1,400 girls to be routinely abused by gangs of Muslim men
over a period of 15 years. Children as young as nine were groomed, trafficked
and raped by members of the town's Pakistani community, but fear of being
labeled racist meant town councilors turned a blind eye to the abuse.
February 8. More than 1,000 British Muslims protested in central London against what they
called "insulting depictions" of the Prophet Mohammed by the French
magazine Charlie Hebdo. Crowds carrying placards with slogans such as
"Stand Up For the Prophet" gathered near Prime Minister David
Cameron's office in London's Whitehall government district. The event was
organized by a group called Muslim Action Forum, which is launching a lobbying
campaign as well as series of legal challenges in the English court system to
establish that depictions of Mohammed are a "hate crime."
February 25. Asif Masood, 40, an unlicensed drunk driver, apparently three
times over the blood alcohol limit when he crashed his friend's car into a fire
hydrant in Nottingham, avoided a prison sentence after he persuaded a judge
that he had just rediscovered his Muslim faith and had quit drinking.
February 27. A judge in Liverpool stopped a
trial after he discovered that the defendant, Kerim Kurt, had sworn on the
Bible and not the Koran. Judge Patrick Thompson of the Liverpool Crown Court
said Kurt had taken "an oath to tell the truth which was sworn on the New
Testament." But it later emerged in cross-examination that he was a
Muslim. Kurt insisted that he accepted taking the oath on the Bible because
"he respected all holy books and wanted to swear on the holy book of the
country in which he was residing." But Judge Thompson said he "took
the view that Mr Kurt should have sworn on the Koran as a Muslim."
MARCH 2015
March 3. A government report found that nearly 400 British girls as young as
eleven are believed to have been sexually exploited by Muslim rape gangs in
Oxfordshire during the past 15 years. The report charged local officials with
repeatedly ignoring the abuse due to a "culture of denial."
March 7. A leading liberal clergyman, Reverend Giles Goddard, vicar of St John's in Waterloo,
central London,
allowed a full Muslim prayer service to be held in his church. He also asked
his congregation to praise "the God that we love, Allah." It is
thought to be the first time an entire
congregation to praise "the God that we love, Allah." It is thought
to be the first time an entire Islamic service has been held by the Church of
England.
March 11. Reverend Canon Gavin Ashenden, one of the Queen's chaplains,
expressed concern about more than 100 passages in the Koran that "invite
people to violence." He was responding to comments by the Archbishop of
Canterbury, Justin Welby, who claimed that young people are turning to jihad
because mainstream religion is not "exciting" enough.
March 12. A delegation of prominent British-Egyptians called for the UK government
to proscribe the Muslim Brotherhood and ban its activities on British soil. The
petition said: "Terror knows no borders, and the Muslim Brotherhood and
its spin-offs know no mercy, their lust for power, quest for theocracy and
desire for domination, make them all blood thirsty, and they will stop at
nothing until they bring down civilization — West and East alike."
March 15. The British government announced that it would not classify the
Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization.
March 20. Newly released figures showed that the population of Muslim inmates
in Belmarsh prison — London's
de facto terrorist jail — has more than doubled in just four years. The number
of Muslim inmates at the top-security "Category A" prison has jumped
by 108% since March 2010, up from 127 to 265 in December 2014. Government data
shows in spring 2010, Muslim prisoners made up just 14% of Belmarsh inmates,
but fewer than five years later, that proportion had climbed to almost
one-third. The proportion of Muslim prisoners in Pentonville prison jumped 40%
while that in west London's
Wormwood Scrubs had increased by almost a sixth over the same period.
March 23. A report warned that Muslim women across Britain are being systematically
oppressed, abused and discriminated against by Sharia law courts that treat
women as second-class citizens. The 40-page report, "A Parallel World:
Confronting the Abuse of Many Muslim Women in Britain Today," was authored
by Baroness Caroline Cox, a cross-bench member of the British House of Lords
and one of the leading defenders of women's rights in the UK. The report shows
how the increasing influence of Sharia law in Britain today is undermining the
fundamental principle that there must be equality for all British citizens
under a single law of the land.
APRIL 2015
April 1. Police in Turkey
detained nine British nationals from Rochdale, Greater Manchester, who were
allegedly seeking to join the Islamic State in Syria. The nine — five adults and
four children, including a one-year-old baby — were arrested in the Turkish
city of Hatay.
One of those arrested was Waheed Ahmed, a student of politics at Manchester University. His father Shakil, a Labour
Party councilor in Rochdale, said he thought his son was doing an internship in
Birmingham:
"It's a total mystery to me why he's there, as I was under the impression
he was on a work placement in Birmingham.
My son is a good Muslim and his loyalties belong to Britain, so I don't understand what
he's doing there. If I thought for a second that he was in danger of being
radicalised I would have reported him to the authorities."
April 5. Abase Hussen, the father of a runaway British jihadi schoolgirl,
conceded that his daughter may have become radicalized after he took her to an
extremist rally organized by the banned Islamist group, Al-Muhajiroun, run by
Anjem Choudary, a British-born Muslim later remanded in custody, charged under
section 12 of the Terrorism Act 2000.
Amira, 15, was one of three girls from Bethnal
Green Academy
in East London who flew to Turkey
in February to become "jihadi brides" in Syria. During a hearing at the Home
Affairs Select Committee in March, Abase blamed British authorities for failing
to stop his daughter from running off to Syria. Asked by Chairman Keith Vaz
if Amira had been exposed to any extremism, Hussen replied: "Not at all.
Nothing." The police even issued an apology.
Abase, however, changed his story after a video emerged which unmasked him as
an Islamic radical who had marched at an Islamist hate rally alongside Choudary
and Michael Adebolajo, the killer of Lee Rigby. Abase, originally from Ethiopia, said he had come to Britain in 1999
"for democracy, for the freedom, for a better life for children, so they
could learn English."
April 5. Victoria Wasteney, 38, a Christian healthcare worker, launched an
appeal against an employment tribunal which found she had "bullied" a
Muslim colleague by praying for her and inviting her to church. Wasteney was
suspended from her job as a senior occupational therapist at the John Howard
Centre, a mental health facility in east London,
after her colleague, Enya Nawaz, 25, accused Wasteney of trying to convert her
to Christianity. Wasteney's lawyers said that the tribunal broke the law by
restricting her freedom of conscience and religion, enshrined in Article 9 of
the European Convention of Human Rights.
April 5. In an interview with the Guardian, Nazir Afzal, Britain's
leading Muslim prosecutor, warned that more British children are at risk of
"jihadimania" than previously thought because they see Islamic
terrorists as "pop idols." He said:
"The boys want to be like them and the girls want to be with them. That's
what they used to say about the Beatles and more recently One Direction and
Justin Bieber. The propaganda the terrorists put out is akin to marketing, and
too many of our teenagers are falling for the image.
"They see their own lives as poor by comparison, and don't realize they
are being used. The extremists treat them in a similar way to sexual groomers —
they manipulate them, distance them from their friends and families, and then
take them.
"Each one of them, if they go to Syria, is going to be more
radicalised when they come back. And if they don't go, they become a problem —
a ticking time bomb — waiting to happen."
Talha Asmal (left), a 17-year-old from Dewsbury, is believed to have become Britain's
youngest suicide bomber when he blew himself up at an Iraqi oil refinery.
Friends described Asmal as an "ordinary Yorkshire
lad." Amira Abase (right) travelled from London
to Syria
in February, at the age of 15, to join the Islamic State as a "jihadi
bride."
April 8. The Guardian reported that there has been a 60% increase in child
sexual abuse reported to the police over the past four years, according to
official figures obtained through a Freedom of Information request which made
public for the first time the scale of the problem in England and Wales.
April 8. The Leicester Crown Court
jailed Jafar Adeli, an Afghan asylum seeker, for 27 months after he attempted
to meet "Amy," an underage girl, after grooming her online. Adeli,
32, who is married, arranged to meet the girl after engaging in sexual
conversations online and sending an indecent image of himself. But he was duped
by a pedophile vigilante group called Letzgo Hunting. "Amy" was in
fact a vigilante named John who was pretending to be a young girl.
April 10. Abukar Jimale, a 46-year-old father of four who sought asylum in the UK after fleeing war-torn Somalia, avoided jail time for sexually
assaulting a female passenger as he drove her across Bristol in his taxi. Although Jimale was
found guilty of sexual assault, he had his two-year sentence suspended. The
defending counsel said that the Somali-born Jimale was a hard-working father
who had lost his job and good name as a result of his crime.
April 13. Mohammed Khubaib, a Pakistani-born father of five, was convicted of
grooming girls as young as 12 with food, cash, cigarettes and alcohol. The
43-year-old married businessman, who lived in Peterborough with his wife and children,
befriended girls in his restaurant and then "hooked" them with
alcohol in an attempt to make them "compliant" to sexual advances.
April 14. The president of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom, Lord Neuberger,
said in a speech that Muslim women should be allowed to wear veils in court. He
added that in order to show fairness to those involved in trials, judges must
have "an understanding of different cultural and social habits."
Neuberger's comments came after a judge upheld a ruling allowing Rebekah
Dawson, a 22-year-old convert to Islam, to stand trial wearing a niqab, a veil
that only leaves the eyes visible.
April 20. A 14-year-old schoolboy from Blackburn, Lancashire, became Britain's
youngest terror suspect. He was arrested in connection with an ISIS-inspired
terror plot in Melbourne, Australia. Police said messages
found on his computer and mobile phone indicated a plan to attack the centenary
celebrations of the Anzac landings at Gallipoli during the First World War.
(Anzac Day — April 25 — marks the anniversary of the first major military
action fought by Australian and New
Zealand forces during the First World War.)
April 20. Police in Turkey
arrested a British couple and their four young children on suspicion of seeking
to travel to a part of Syria
controlled by the Islamic State. Asif Malik, his wife Sara, and the four
children — aged between 11 months and 7 years — were detained at a hotel in Ankara. Turkish officials
said the family had crossed into Turkey
from Greece
on April 16 and had been detained after a tip-off from the British police.
April 22. Four Muslim men were charged with child sex crimes in Rochdale. Hadi Jamel, 33, Mohammed Zahid, 54, and Raja
Abid Khan, 38, and Abid Khan, 38, were each charged with one count of sexual
activity with a girl who was under 16.
April 22. The Daily Mail published excerpts of a new book, "Girl for Sale," which
describes the shocking ordeal of Lara McDonnell, who became the victim of a
Muslim pedophile gang when she was only 13 years old. She wrote:
"Mohammed was selling me for £250 to paedophiles from all over the
country. They came in, sat down and started touching me. If I recoiled,
Mohammed would feed me more crack so I could close my eyes and drift away. I
was a husk, dead on the inside.
"Sometimes, I would be passed from one pervert to another. In Oxford, many of my abusers were of Asian origin; [in London] these men were Mediterranean,
black or Arab.
"Then, at the start of 2012 [some five years after the abuse began],
Thames Valley Police asked to see me. They had been conducting a long-overdue
investigation into sexual exploitation of young girls and wanted a chat. I told
them everything, and by the end of March, Mohammed and his gang were in
custody. Unbeknown to me, five other girls were telling police the same story.
"Mohammed's defense was laughable: he claimed I'd forced him to take drugs
and have sex with me. His barrister, a woman, implied I was a racist because
all the defendants were Muslim.
"Because the defendants were Muslim, the case had opened sensitive issues
about race and religion. My view is clear: they behaved that way because of
differences in how they viewed women."
April 23. The Birmingham Crown
Court sentenced Imran Uddin, 25, a student at the University of Birmingham, to four months in jail for
hacking into the university computer system to improve his grades. Uddin used
keyboard spying devices to steal staff passwords and then raised his grades on
five exams. Uddin is believed to be the first British student ever to be jailed
for cheating.
April 25. The Telegraph reported that British taxpayers are paying the monthly
rent for Hani al-Sibai, the Islamist preacher who "mentored" Mohammed
Emwazi (aka Jihadi John, the ISIS
executioner). Al-Sibai, 54, a father of five, lives in a £1 million home in
Hammer-smith, a district in West London.
April 27. Mohammed Kahar, 37, of Sunderland
was arrested after disseminating extremist material, including documents such
as, "The Explosive Course," "44 Ways To Serve And Participate In
Jihad," "The Book Of Jihad," and "This Is The Province Of
Allah."
April 28. An 18-year-old jihadist, Kazi Jawad Islam, was convicted of
"terror grooming" for trying to "brainwash" his autistic
friend, Harry Thomas, "a vulnerable young man with learning
difficulties," into attacking British soldiers with a meat cleaver.
April 28. Aftab Ahmed, 44, of Winchcombe
Place, Heaton, was charged with threatening to
behead David Robinson-Young, a candidate for the United Kingdom Independence
Party (UKIP) in Newcastle East.
MAY 2015
May 3. Bana Gora, chief executive of the Muslim Women's Council, announced
plans to create the country's first mosque run by women, for women, in Bradford. She said:
"In the Prophet's time the mosque was the center of community life and
learning and we hope to replicate that model including women-led congregational
prayers for women. Through the consultation process we intend to work with
diverse groups, opinions and organizations including the Council for Mosques to
create the ethos and spirit of the mosques during the Prophet's time."
May 7. A record of 13 Muslim MPs (up from 8 in 2010) were elected in the general
elections in Britain.
Eight of the Muslim MPs are women.
May 14. The BBC's Home Affairs Editor, Mark Easton, drew criticism after he
compared the British-born Islamist Anjem Choudary to Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson
Mandela. Tory MP Michael Ellis, a fellow member of the last home affairs select
committee, said:
"The BBC seems obsessed with giving as much airtime as possible to hate
preachers. To make a comparison between historic figures who campaigned for
peaceful change and a hate preacher like Choudary is appalling, offensive and
inflammatory."
Choudary himself rejected the BBC's comparisons:
"The comparisons with Mandela and Gandhi are false. They are kuffar
[non-believers] going to hellfire whilst I am a Muslim. Alhamudililah [praise
Allah]."
May 26. Abu Haleema, a radical preacher from London, who posted films online
attacking British Armed Forces and vowing never to "submit" to
democracy, was banned from using social media to promote his views. The ban
prompted complaints from his supporters about the suppression of free speech.
JUNE 2015
June 1. Karim Kazane, a 23-year-old Muslim man, demanded that Zizzi, an Italian
restaurant chain, pay him £5,000 (€7,000; $7,800) in compensation after he
found a piece of pepperoni in a meal at their branch in Winchester. Kazane was halfway through a
carne picante, advertised as containing beef and chicken, when he discovered
the meat banned under Islam.
June 4. Mohammed Rehman, 24, from Reading and
Sana Ahmed Khan, 23, from Wokingham, were charged with preparing for acts of
terrorism in the UK.
Both are accused of buying chemicals to manufacture explosive devices and of
researching and downloading instructions for carrying out an attack, including
a copy of the Al-Qaeda magazine Inspire containing an article titled, "How
to Make a Bomb in the Kitchen of Your Mom."
June 9. Sara Khan, the head of the anti-radicalization group, Inspire, told The
Guardian that British teachers are afraid to report suspected Islamist
extremism among their students out of fear of being labelled
"Islamophobic."
June 10. A 34-year-old Muslim businessman from Cardiff
was the first person in the UK
to be prosecuted under forced marriage laws that entered into effect in June,
2014. The man was jailed for 16 years after admitting to making a 25-year-old
woman marry him under duress. The man, who was already married,
"systematically" raped his victim for months, threatened to go public
with hidden camera footage of her in the shower unless she became his wife, and
threatened to kill members of her family if she told anyone of the abuse.
June 11. A report warned that Britain
is facing an "unprecedented" threat from hundreds of battle-hardened
jihadists who have been trained in Asia, Africa and the Middle
East. It warned that more Britons are now trained in terrorism
than at any point in recent memory.
June 11. Alaa Abdullah Esayed, a 22-year-old female refugee from Iraq living in Kennington, South
London, was sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison for
tweeting messages that encouraged terrorism. Esayed posted more than 45,000
tweets in Arabic on an open account to her 8,240 followers between June 2013
and May 2014, with many tweets encouraging violent jihad.
June 12. Tamanna Begum, a Muslim woman living in Ilford, Essex, lost a legal
battle to wear an Islamic jilbab, a head-to-toe gown, at a nursery because it
posed a "tripping hazard" for children and staff. Begum filed a claim
for discrimination because of her "ethnic or cultural background."
Judge Daniel Serota upheld a previous ruling by the East
London employment tribunal that the gown was "reasonably
regarded as a tripping hazard."
June 13. Talha Asmal, a 17-year-old from Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, who ran away
from home in April to join ISIS, is believed to have become Britain's
youngest suicide bomber when he blew himself up during an assault on an Iraqi
oil refinery. Friends described Asmal as an "ordinary Yorkshire
lad." That may be true in more ways than one: Dewsbury, a quaint former
mill town, has been linked to more than a dozen Islamic extremists, including
Mohammad Sidique Khan, the organizer of the July 7, 2005 London bombings.
June 15. An anti-Sharia group called "One Law for All" issued a
statement calling on Britain's
new government to abolish Islamic Sharia courts, which they described as
"kangaroo courts that deliver highly discriminatory and second-rate forms
of 'justice.'" The statement said:
"Though the 'Sharia courts' have been touted as people's right to
religion, they are in fact, effective tools of the far-right Islamist movement
whose main aim is to restrict and deny rights, particularly those of women and
children.
"Opposing 'Sharia courts' is not racism or 'Islamophobic'; it is a defense
of the rights of all citizens, irrespective of their beliefs and background to
be governed by democratic means under the principle of one law for all. What
amounts to racism is the idea that minorities can be denied rights enjoyed by
others through the endorsement of religious based 'justice' systems which
operate according to divine law that is by its very nature immune from state
scrutiny."
June 19. A British judge ruled that a terrorism suspect did not have to wear an
electronic tracker because it violates his human rights. The suspect, a
39-year-old Somali-born Islamic preacher who is accused of radicalizing young
British Muslims, said he thought that MI5 had placed a bomb inside the
bracelet, and that wearing the monitoring device was making him
"delusional." The judge, Mr. Justice Collins, ruled this amounted to
a breach of Article 3 of the Human Rights Act, which is meant to prohibit
torture.
June 24. It emerged that police in Birmingham
knew that Muslim sex grooming gangs were targeting children outside the city's
schools but did not alert the public out of fears of being accused of "Islamophobia."
A confidential report obtained under the Freedom of Information Act showed that
police were worried about "community tensions" if the abuse from
predominantly Pakistani grooming gangs was made public.
JULY 2015
July 1. The director general of the BBC, Tony Hall, rejected demands from a
cross-party group of MPs to stop the broadcasting corporation from using the
term "Islamic State" to refer to the terrorist group. More than 100
MPs signed the letter calling on the broadcaster to begin using the term
"Daesh" (the Arabic acronym for Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) when
referring to the Islamic State. The letter, which was drafted by Rehman
Chishti, a Pakistani-born Conservative MP, stated:
"The use of the titles: Islamic State, ISIL and ISIS gives legitimacy to a
terrorist organization that is not Islamic nor has it been recognized as a
state and which a vast majority of Muslims around the world finds despicable
and insulting to their peaceful religion."
The MPs made their demand in a letter following criticism from Prime Minister
David Cameron, who rebuked the BBC for referring to the Islamic State by its
name. During an interview with BBC Radio 4's "Today" program on June
29, Cameron said:
"I wish the BBC would stop calling it 'Islamic State' because it is not an
Islamic state. What it is, is an appalling, barbarous regime. It is a
perversion of the religion of Islam, and, you know, many Muslims listening to
this program will recoil every time they hear the words 'Islamic State.'"
Hall said that using Daesh would not preserve the BBC's impartiality as it
risked giving an impression of support for the group's opponents. He said the
term is used pejoratively by its enemies. Daesh is close to "Dahes,"
Arabic for "one who sows discord."
July 20. David Cameron outlined a new five-year plan to fight Islamic extremism
in Britain.
In a landmark speech in Birmingham,
Cameron called the fight against Islamic extremism the "struggle of our
generation."
July 27. The Telegraph reported that the number of children and teenagers
referred to counter-radicalization programs is set to double in just two years
because of the growing allure of ISIS.
Youngsters are being reported to the Channel Project, a government
anti-radicalization program, at a rate of more than one a day amid fears many
are at risk of becoming jihadists. In one case, a three-year-old child was
referred to the scheme. Other instances have included schoolchildren who have
drawn pictures of bombs or made Islamist threats.
AUGUST 2015
August 1. The Daily Mail reported that Shamima Begum, 15, who fled her East
London home to become a jihadi bride in Syria,
was radicalized at a women's charity based at the East London Mosque, one of
the biggest mosques in Britain.
Islamic leaders and some of their family members initially blamed the Internet
for grooming her, but the Mail discovered that Sharmeena was first radicalized
inside the East London Mosque, allegedly by women from the Islamic Forum of
Europe (IFE), a group with links to the Muslim Brotherhood.
August 5. Anjem Choudary, a British-born Islamic extremist, was remanded in
custody, charged with the terrorism offense of encouraging people to join ISIS. Choudary, 48, and Mohammed Rahman, 32, appeared at
Westminster Magistrates' Court and were charged with repeatedly violating
Section 12 of the Terrorism Act. Choudary said he is not afraid of going to
prison, which he describes as a fertile ground for gaining more converts to
Islam. "If they arrest me and put me in prison, I will carry on in prison,"
he warned. "I will radicalize everyone in prison."
August 18. A judge in London
ordered a 16-year-old girl to be removed from her parents after they groomed
her to become a jihadi bride. Police found her home filled with jihadist
propaganda, including a book titled, "How to Survive in the West — A
Mujahid's Guide." Mr. Justice Hayden said her "deceitful" mother
and father had done as much harm to her as child molesters. Her flight to Syria was stopped by counter-terrorism officers
who removed her from a Turkey-bound plane already taxiing on the runway at Heathrow Airport.
August 26. A 16-year-old schoolgirl pleaded guilty to two terror charges when
she appeared at Manchester's
main youth court. She admitted the charges after bomb-making recipes were found
on her phone, along with pictures of dead children, executions and ISIS propaganda.
SEPTEMBER 2015
September 17. An appeals court in London
ruled that it was proper for Jamal Muhammed Raheem Ul Nasir, a child molester
who abused two Muslim girls, to have been given a longer sentence than if his
victims had been white — because Muslim sex crime victims suffer more due to
shame. Lawyers for the pedophile argued that his original sentence was too
harsh. The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC)
said:
"British justice should operate on a level playing field and children need
to be protected irrespective of cultural differences. Regardless of race,
religion, or gender, every child deserves the right to be safe and protected
from sexual abuse, and the courts must reflect this."
September 18. The Times reported that British intelligence are monitoring more
than 3,000 homegrown Islamist extremists willing to carry out attacks in Britain.
According to the report, British men and women, many in their teens, are being
radicalized within weeks to the point of violence.
September 26. The Queen Elizabeth Hospital
in Margate, Kent, apologized to Air Force
Sergeant Mark Prendeville after he was moved away from other patients because
some members of the staff said his uniform might cause offense to Muslim
patients.
Also in September, a London
art exhibition celebrating freedom of expression banned anti-ISIS artwork after
police raise security concerns. "ISIS Threaten Sylvania," a series of
seven satirical tableaux featuring the children's toys Sylvanian Families, was
removed from the Passion for Freedom exhibition after police raised concerns
about the "potentially inflammatory content" of the work. The police
informed the organizers that, if they went ahead with their plans to display
it, they would have to pay £36,000 ($53,000) for security for the six-day show.
OCTOBER 2015
October 9. Channel 4 News reported that Muslim convert Jamal al-Harith, who was
awarded a £1 million ($1.5 million) payout by the British government after
being released from the Guantánamo Bay detention camp in Cuba,
has fled to Syria and joined
ISIS.
October 12. Nadir Syed, 21, Yousaf Syed, 19, and Haseeb Hamayoon, 27, appeared
at Woolwich Crown Court for the opening day of their trial. Prosecutors say the
trio planned, in the name if ISIS, to behead people on the streets of the
streets of Britain.
They had also allegedly planned to use a hunting knife to murder a police
officer, soldier or member of the public on Remembrance Day, also known as
Armistice Day, a national holiday commemorating the end of World War I. The
court heard that the men seemed "unnaturally interested in murders and
beheadings."
October 25. It emerged that Abdulrahman Abunasir, an immigrant who sexually
assaulted a woman within two weeks of arriving in Britain, is blocking attempts to
deport him by claiming to be a Syrian refugee. Abunasir submitted a claim for
asylum while serving an 18-month prison sentence for the sex attack. When
immigration officials questioned him, however, they found he could not answer
even simple questions about Syria.
British officials say there is a "very high degree of certainty" that
Abunasir is from Egypt,
but due to European human rights laws, they cannot deport him because they
cannot prove his nationality.
October 27. A Muslim worker at a nuclear power plant in West Kilbride, Scotland, was
removed from the premises after he was caught studying bomb-making materials
while on the job. A source at the plant said: "You can't have people with
access to a nuclear core having any sort of interest in explosives. No one
knows what was going through his head, but it's not what you want to see in a
nuclear power plant."
October 29. The British Muslim Youth, an Islamic group in Rotherham,
called on Muslims to boycott the police because the investigation into child
sexual exploitation in the town amounts to "marginalization and
dehumanization" of Muslims. In a message posted online, the group ordered
fellow Muslims to immediately cut all ties with law enforcement or face being
made pariahs in their own neighborhoods.
October 30. Atiq Ahmed, 32, from Oldham,
Greater Manchester, was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison for
threatening to behead a police officer. Police found a stash of videos of executions
and beheadings at his home. After watching the videos, Judge Michael Topolski
QC said: "Many of them are deeply disturbing, truly horrifying and bear no
relation whatsoever to the true practices and principles of the ancient
venerable religion."
NOVEMBER 2015
November 1. The Independent published an opinion article titled, "The
Prophet Mohammed had British values — so the only way to combat extremism is to
teach more Islam in schools."
November 1. The Sunday Times revealed that government investigators found that
non-Muslim inmates in several of Britain's top security prisons are being
forced to pay a "protection tax" to radical Muslim prisoners out of
fear of facing violence. The "tax," also known as "jizya,"
is being imposed by gangs of Islamic extremists at Belmarsh, Long Lartin,
Woodhill and Whitemoor prisons. Non-Muslim inmates said they have been bullied
and threatened with violence unless they made payments with phone cards, food,
tobacco or drugs. Some of the alleged victims said they were told to arrange
for friends and family on the outside to transfer money to bank accounts
controlled by Islamists.
November 3. Kasim Ali, 25, and his cousins Adeel Ali, 20, and Razi Khalid, 18,
who were found guilty of an "honor attack" on the boyfriend of one of
their sisters, were spared prison sentences. The three men, all from Blackburn,
Lancashire, targeted Aquib Baig because their
family did not approve of him seeing their sister. They rammed his car before
chasing him into a store, where they kicked and beat him in front of horrified
shoppers. The judge, Recorder Julian Shaw, said:
"There is no place for any religious or honor based violence. It's
abhorrent, it's against your religion, and it's unlawful. I hope you're all
truly ashamed to find yourselves standing in this court. Your families are no
doubt scratching their heads thinking what did we do wrong? Here they are being
humiliated and embarrassed as we watch you, a cowardly group, attack someone
else. Go back to your community, your families and build your reputation again.
Don't ever come back to haunt this court with any honor-based violence."
November 9. It emerged that Muslim teachers at Oldknow Academy,
a school implicated in the "Trojan horse" scandal, an attempt to
Islamize British schools, forced pupils to recite anti-Christian chants in
assemblies. Former teachers Jahangir Akbar and Asif Khan allegedly led pupils
by shouting, "We don't believe in Christmas, do we?" and "Jesus
wasn't born in Bethlehem,
was he?" Christopher Gillespie, the lawyer representing the National College
for Teaching and Leadership, said, "An agreement was made to introduce an
undue amount of religious influence into the education of Oldknow School.
The distinction between a faith school and a state school was being blurred if
not obliterated."
November 12. British police arrested Bakr Hamad, Zana Abdul Rahman, Kadir
Sharif and Awat Wahab Hamasalih as part of a European anti-terrorism operation
linked to plots to recruit suicide bombers and kidnap Western diplomats. The
four men, all believed to have been granted refugee status in Britain from
Iraq, were part of an al-Qaeda splinter group using the Internet to recruit
suicide bombers, establish "sleeper cells" inside Europe and attack
targets overseas.
November 13. Yahya Rashid, 19, was convicted, in a trial at Woolwich Crown
Court, on two counts of preparing to commit acts of terrorism. Rashid used his
student loan to book flights to Turkey
for himself and four others, with the intention of traveling on to Syria to join ISIS.
Following pleas from his family to return home, Rashid eventually changed his
mind and remained in Turkey.
He was returned to London
in March 2015, and arrested on his arrival.
November 17. Nissar Hussain, a 49-year-old father of six who converted to
Christianity, was savagely attacked outside his home in St Paul's Road, Manningham. A video of the
attack, captured by Hussain's home CCTV, shows two hooded men get out of a car
parked in front of his house and strike him 13 times with a pickaxe. Police are
treating the attack as a religious hate crime. Hussain said he and his family
have endured a life of harassment, intimidation and fear at the hands of Muslim
hardliners since 2008, when they appeared in a Channel 4 documentary about the
mistreatment of Muslim converts.
DECEMBER 2015
December 9. Police officers corroborated a claim by US
presidential candidate Donald Trump that parts of London are no-go areas for British police
because of Muslim extremism. Trump's claims were derided by Prime Minister David
Cameron and London Mayor Boris Johnson. Home Secretary Theresa May insisted,
"The police in London
are not afraid to go out and police the streets." The Metropolitan Police
issued a statement saying:
"We would not normally dignify such comments with a response, however, on
this occasion we think it's important to state to Londoners that Mr Trump could
not be more wrong. Any candidate for the presidential election in the United States of America is welcome to receive a
briefing from the Met police on the reality of policing London."
But a Lancashire Police officer said: "There are Muslim areas of Preston that, if we wish to patrol, we have to contact
local Muslim community leaders to get their permission." Another policeman
said that he and other colleagues fear being terror targets and spoke of the
"dire warning" from bosses not to wear a uniform "even in my own
car." Yet another officer said: "Islamification has and is occurring.
Muslim areas are not new."
An officer from Yorkshire wrote:
"In this instance he [Trump] isn't wrong. Our political leaders are best
either ill-informed or simply being disingenuous. He's pointed out something
that is plainly obvious, something which I think we aren't as a nation willing
to own up to — do you think a US police department would ban officers from
wearing their uniforms...due to FEAR of their cops being killed by
extremists?"
December 17. The British government published a long-awaited review on the
Muslim Brotherhood. The so-called Jenkins Report concludes that the "Muslim
Brotherhood has not been linked to terrorist-related activity in and against
the UK."
But it also raises concerns over the "sometimes secretive, if not
clandestine" way the Brotherhood has operated in the recent past to shape
Muslim thinking through three groups: the Muslim Association of Britain, the
Muslim Council of Britain and the Islamic Society of Britain.
December 17. The Waltham Forest Council of Mosques, which claims to represent
70,000 Muslims in London, vowed to boycott the government's anti-terrorism
Prevent program after accusing the policy of being a racist attack on the
Islamic community. It was the first time a council of mosques issued such a
boycott, and undermines the government's attempt to involve religious
communities in the fight against radicalization.
December 26. The Times reported that Muslims are boycotting the government's
anti-terrorism Prevent program; less than a tenth of extremism tip-offs are
coming directly from the Muslim community. The revelation that there were fewer
than 300 community tip-offs in six months will raise concern that the police
are being denied information that might prevent terrorist attacks.
December 29. Mohammed Rehman, 25, and wife Sana Ahmed Khan, 24, were found
guilty of planning an ISIS-inspired terror attack on a London shopping center
or the London underground. Their plot was only foiled when Rehman, using the
Twitter handle 'SilentBomber,' sent a tweet asking for advice on which was the
best target. Officers then raided his home in Reading, Berkshire, where they
found 10 kg (22 lbs.) of nitrate explosives. The prosecution said Rehman was
just days away from completing the device, which would have caused many
casualties if he had not been stopped by anti-terror police.
During the trial, the court heard that Khan had underlined passages in a copy
of the Koran that read: "Slay them wherever you find them and drive them
out from the places they drove you out... such is the reward of the
unbelievers." Another marked passage read: "Warfare if ordained for
you though it is hateful for you. It may happen that you hate a thing that is
good for you and that you love a thing that is bad for you."
Soeren Kern is a Senior Fellow at the New York-based Gatestone Institute. He is
also Senior Fellow for European Politics at the Madrid-based Grupo de Estudios
Estratégicos / Strategic Studies Group. Follow him on Facebook and on Twitter.
His first book, Global Fire, will be out in early 2016.
Follow Soeren Kern on Twitter and Facebook
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