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Bible Quotation For Today/Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in the prophet’s home town.
Luke 04/22-30: "All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth. They said, ‘Is not this Joseph’s son?’He said to them, ‘Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, "Doctor, cure yourself!" And you will say, "Do here also in your home town the things that we have heard you did at Capernaum." ’And he said, ‘Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in the prophet’s home town. But the truth is, there were many widows in Israel in the time of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up for three years and six months, and there was a severe famine over all the land; yet Elijah was sent to none of them except to a widow at Zarephath in Sidon. There were also many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.’ When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with rage. They got up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they might hurl him off the cliff. But he passed through the midst of them and went on his way."

Bible Quotation For Today/Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars; I alone am left, and they are seeking my life
Letter to the Romans 11/01-08/: "I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means! I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. Do you not know what the scripture says of Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel? ‘Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars; I alone am left, and they are seeking my life.’ But what is the divine reply to him? ‘I have kept for myself seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal.’ So too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace. But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace would no longer be grace. What then? Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking. The elect obtained it, but the rest were hardened, as it is written, ‘God gave them a sluggish spirit, eyes that would not see and ears that would not hear, down to this very day."

LCCC Latest analysis, editorials from miscellaneous sources published on July 19-20/15
Concepts Of Death In The Bible/Elias Bejjani/19 July/15
If the Iran Deal Fails/Robert Satloff/Politico/July 19/15
Tennessee shooter was upset over Gaza war/Reuters/Ynetnews/19 July/15
Netanyahu: No way to compensate Israel if Iran deal goes through/Roi Kais/Ynetnews /19 July/15
The West's War Against Jihadi Terrorism Is Just Beginning/Guy Millière//Gatestone Institute/July 19/15
Will Anyone Help the Kurds/Uzay Bulut/Gatestone Institute/July 19/15
Obama’s desperate gamble over the Iran deal/Dr. John C. Hulsman/Al Arabiya/19 July/15
Iran’s true gains from the nuclear deal/Raghida Dergham/Al Arabiya/19 July/15
Thwarting Iran’s Regional Influence/Abdulrahman Al-Rashed/Asharq Al ASwsat/19 July/15

LCCC Bulletin itles for the Lebanese Related News published on July 19-20/15
Concepts Of Death In The Bible
Al-Rahi: We Pray for Election of President to Breathe Life into Constitutional Institutions
Geagea Holds Talks with Saudi King in Jeddah
Mashnouq Heads to France next Week
Report: Czechs 'Kidnap' Linked to Prague's Arrest of 'Hizbullah Suspect'
Arsal Captors Demand Release of 2 Female Roumieh Inmates, Safe Passage of Refugees to Syria's Fleita
Man Accused of Killing Relative in Baalbek Family Clash Arrested
Qaouq Says Hizbullah Won't Change Policies after Iran Nuclear Deal
Nusra Chief in Qalamoun Threatens to 'Enter Shiite Villages' in Lebanon
10 Suspected Terrorists Arrested in Northern Bekaa
Berirut Airport Security Thwarts Attempt to Smuggle Narcotic Pills Hidden in Crib
Firefighters Trying to Douse Wildfire in Koura

LCCC Bulletin Miscellaneous Reports And News published on July 19-20/15
Yemen Rebel Fire Kills 57 Civilians as Aden Battle Rages
Bahrain Police Escape Blast in Shiite Village
Bahrain Summons Iran Diplomat over 'Flagrant Interference'
Israel Says 'Hamas Members' Held over West Bank Murder
Egypt Says 7 Troops, 59 Militants Killed in Sinai
Turkey Detains Nearly 500 People Trying to Cross from Syria
Gaza Car Blasts Target Hamas, Islamic Jihad Armed Wings
Qaida Claims Killing of at least 9 Algerian Soldiers
Obama sends Iran deal to wary Congress, Israel urges rejection
Iran nuclear deal opens window for Israel to join new Mideast order'
Israel urges rejection as US Congress receives Iran nuclear deal

Concepts Of Death In The Bible
Elias Bejjani/19 July/15
Far from politics, terrorism, the Middle East chaos, and the on going world wide Jihadists’ and terrorism wars, I have decided that my new editorial be a faith on that dwells with thorough and deep personal contemplation on death; this mystery that has puzzled and pre-occupied man since God created him with Eve. How much of an awakening and spiritual realization would it be if each and every one of us attended a funeral at least once every year, and fully utilized this short yet precious and odd period of time to deeply meditate and contemplate the very human reality of this inevitable and irreversible journey?
During this short, internal procession of great solemnity and silence, from the funeral home to the church, and then to the cemetery, one should mentally and physically relax and release his self, putting aside all of his every day life burdens. To truly learn and benefit from this spiritual experience, one must temporarily forget who he is, his fortunes, his poverty, all problems that he is encountering, his enemies and friends, physical ailments they he may be suffering from, and marital, or family difficulties he may be going through. One needs to imagine that his body is so light, so clean, and innocent, and their mind and soul so pure, free of sin with no conflict of any kind or magnitude.
One needs to reminisce and go back in time to the period when he was an innocent child, not yet polluted with human evil deeds and thoughts, hatred, grudges, greed, selfishness and fear. When one feels that every kind of evil feeling and venomous instinct inside him is numb, he needs to ask himself sincerely and honestly, what this dead person who is now just a cold corpse resting motionless and breathless in the coffin, is going to take with him from this mortal world to whichever world the dead go to?
No matter how rich, powerful, fearless, intelligent, famous, or mighty this dead person was while alive, would he now be able to carry with him any of his riches, or ask any of his beloved to join him in death, and be buried with him in the cemetery? At this scary, terrifying, contemplative and somber moment, the individual needs to relate with the dead person and accept death, imagining himself actually lying in the casket!
By the end of the funeral procession, and after the coffin has been buried, the dead person who could not take anything with him, becomes just a memory and his body returns back to dust. “By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return” Genesis 3:19 19. To be the actual creatures that the almighty God has created in His own image, and to be wise, humble and forgiving, we need to occasionally ask ourselves these simple questions: Can we not die?’
Can we not escape death’s inevitable journey?
What can we take with us when leaving this mortal life?
These questions should be asked whenever we are engaged in bloody competitions, conflicts, disputes, grudges, hatred and struggle for power and money.
The one and only answer to all these questions is a definite, NO!
Attending funerals at least twice a year helps us to get back in touch with reality; to know who we are, and where we are going; to wake up and to always remember that God, on judgment day, will judge our deeds, and not the magnitude of our earthly riches, nor our earthly power. Does any one of us, rich or poor, weak or powerful, sick or healthy, know when the almighty God will reclaim his soul? Definitely not! So let us live each day of our lives as if it were our last. Let us always be ready to face our Creator on the day of judgment with a set of righteous deeds.
While we are celebrating the death and resurrection of Lord Jesus, let us solidify our trust and faith in almighty God, and ask Him to lead our lives and grant us the graces of patience, humbleness, hope, love and forgiveness, so that we can carry with courage our life burdens.
Let us remember in the face of every difficulty and crisis what the Holy Bible teaches us: “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for your selves. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.” (Matthew 11, 28-30).
Death, this mystery that has worried, perplexed and confused man since his first day on earth, has been defeated by Jesus’ resurrection and made conceivable by man’s mind. We do not die, but sleep on the hope of resurrection! “Behold, I tell you a mystery. We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we will be changed”, (Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians 15 / 51-52).

Al-Rahi: We Pray for Election of President to Breathe Life into Constitutional Institutions
Naharnet/ 19 July/15/Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi hoped on Sunday for an end to the presidential vacuum in the country that began in May 2014. He said: “We pray for the election of a head of state to revitalize constitutional institutions.” He made his plea during a sermon at Annaya marking the 50th anniversary of the beatification of Saint Charbel. The patriarch made his plea to the saint to enlighten politicians to end the vacuum crippling Lebanon's highest Christian post. Al-Rahi also called for political solutions to regional conflicts, hoping for the safe return of refugees to their homeland. Ongoing disputes between the rival March 8 and 14 camps have been thwarting the election of a president. Numerous presidential election sessions have been scheduled, the majority of which were not convened due to a lack of quorum at parliament caused by a boycott of Hizbullah's Loyalty to the Resistance and MP Michel Aoun's Change and Reform blocs. Lebanon

Geagea Holds Talks with Saudi King in Jeddah
Naharnet/ 19 July/15/Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea held talks Sunday evening with Saudi King Salman bin Abdul Aziz at the al-Salam Palace in Jeddah. The meeting tackled “the latest developments in the Lebanese arena,” the kingdom's news agency SPA reported. Geagea “expressed his gratitude and appreciation of the kingdom” over “its support for Lebanon and its people and its keenness on the country's security and stability during all circumstances,” the agency said. The meeting was also attended by Deputy Crown Prince and Defense Minister Mohammed bin Salman, State Minister Musaed al-Ibyan, Culture and Information Minister Adel al-Turaifi, State Minister for Foreign Affairs Nizar Madani and head of General Intelligence Khaled al-Humaidan, SPA added. Geagea had traveled Saturday to the kingdom for talks with “top officials,” according to his press office.

Mashnouq Heads to France next Week
Naharnet/ 19 July/15/Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq is scheduled to travel on an official visit to France next week, reported the pan-Arab daily al-Hayat on Sunday. He will head to France on Tuesday. The minister will kick off his visit by meeting his French counterpart Bernard Cazeneuve. On Wednesday, he will meet with Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius and a number of other officials. Mashnouq is set to hold a press conference on the details of his trip on Wednesday morning, said al-Hayat.

Report: Czechs 'Kidnap' Linked to Prague's Arrest of 'Hizbullah Suspect'
Naharnet/ 19 July/15/Five Czechs who disappeared Saturday in the Bekaa region were likely kidnapped in connection with the Czech Republic's recent arrest of a man suspected of having ties to Hizbullah, a media report said Sunday. Citing “intersecting security reports,” MTV said the Lebanese driver who vanished with the Czechs, Saeb Taan, is “a brother of Ali Taan, also known as Ali Fayyad, who was apprehended in the Czech Republic during the recent wave of arrests that targeted Hizbullah security cadres in Europe.” However, the abduction “has not been claimed by any party” and “no contacts have been made with any side in Lebanon or the Czech Republic, MTV added. It noted that the Czechs were in Lebanon on a “journalistic mission.” The cameras that were found in their abandoned car “were used only hours prior to their abduction and they conducted a TV interview with a local official in the Baalbek region,” MTV said. “He was the last person who came in contact with them,” the TV network added. It said they conducted two interviews that had to do with the issues of the restive northeastern border town of Arsal, the Syrian refugees, and the ongoing battles in the outskirts of the Lebanese border towns between Hizbullah and Syria-based groups. Meanwhile, a security source confirmed to AFP that "the five Czechs have indeed been kidnapped," saying several leads were being chased in the case. The sources said the motive behind the kidnapping was still a mystery and the five men have not yet been publicly identified. "The security services are working on multiple leads but nothing is clear yet," one source said. A spokeswoman for the Czech foreign ministry confirmed Sunday that five Czech citizens and their local driver have gone missing in Lebanon. CNN quoted the spokeswoman, Michaela Lagronova, as saying that a "massive" operation is underway to find the missing people. She declined to comment on speculation about how they disappeared. The Czech government was informed by Lebanese authorities on Saturday about the missing citizens. The search for those missing is being conducted by Lebanese security forces, Lagronova said. She declined to name the missing people, although she said their identities are known to authorities. Czech Foreign Minister Lubomir Zaoralek spoke by telephone Saturday with his Lebanese counterpart Jebran Bassil, and the two ministers agreed to work together to do everything possible to find the missing people, Lagronova said. As Safir newspaper reported Sunday that Ali Taan, aka Ali Fayyad, was recently arrested in the Czech Republic on “arms trade charges.”“Fayyad has the Ukrainian nationality and he used to occupy an official post in Ukraine,” the newspaper said. Pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat meanwhile reported that the man's family had organized several sit-ins outside the Czech and U.S. embassies in Beirut to press for his release. The five Czechs, along with their Lebanese driver Saeb Taan, a resident of Nabatiyeh, have been missing since Friday night, when their car was discovered in the Kefraya region in the western part of the Bekaa. "We don't know what happened to them but we assume they were kidnapped because we found their passports and documents and belongings in the car," a Lebanese military source said Saturday. "We are carrying out searches of local hotels and other places in the area," he added. State-run National News Agency said the car contained personal suitcases, scattered clothes, three cameras and five Czech passports inside. The Voice of Lebanon radio later said that the father of Taan had filed a complaint to the police station in al-Dweir and claimed that his son has disappeared in mysterious circumstances. VDL added that the five Czechs had entered Lebanon on the seventh of June. Kidnappings have declined in Lebanon since the 1975-1990 civil war, when some 100 foreigners, mostly Americans and West Europeans, were snatched. But some cases have been recently recorded, often for ransom and involving Lebanese as well as foreigners.In the most high-profile case in recent years, seven Estonian cyclists were kidnapped at gunpoint in the Bekaa in 2011, being released some four months later. The group claiming the abduction was previously unknown, and its motives were never entirely clear. A ransom was reportedly paid, but that was never confirmed by any side.

Arsal Captors Demand Release of 2 Female Roumieh Inmates, Safe Passage of Refugees to Syria's Fleita
Naharnet/ 19 July/15/The relatives of the servicemen abducted by the al-Qaida-affiliated al-Nusra Front were allowed to visit their loved ones over the Fitr holiday, reported the pan-Arab daily al-Hayat on Saturday. It said that 60 family members were allowed to visit on Saturday the 16 captives held on the outskirts of the northeastern border town of Arsal. The relatives told the daily that the hostages “are in good health and are being treated in the best possible way.” In addition, they revealed that the captors are demanding the release of Saja al-Dulaimi, a divorcee of Islamic State chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, and Joumana Hmayyed, who is affiliated with al-Qaida-linked groups, from Roumieh Prison. Another demand, made by Emir of al-Nusra Front in al-Qalamoun, Abou Malek al-Talli, is allowing the safe passage of Syrians in encampments to the Syrian town of Fleita, said the relatives. The families of the captives accused the Lebanese state of neglecting the case of their loved ones, saying: “Some sides are practicing political spite.”The servicemen were abducted from Arsal in August in the wake of clashes with al-Nusra Front and Islamic State gunmen in the area. A few of the captives have since been released, four were executed, while the rest remain held. The families told al-Hayat that they are scheduled to meet with General Security chief Abbas Ibrahim on Tuesday to discuss the latest negotiation efforts in the case. The official had recently visited Qatar to that end.

Man Accused of Killing Relative in Baalbek Family Clash Arrested
Naharnet/ 19 July/15/A young man accused of killing his relative during a family dispute was arrested Sunday in the Bekaa city of Baalbek. “The Internal Security Forces' detective department in Baalbek arrested H. M. A. Awada, who is accused of killing Mohammed Awada during a family clash that also left two people injured on the eve of Eid al-Fitr,” state-run National News Agency reported. Meanwhile, al-Jadeed TV identified the detained man as Hussein Ahmed Awada and quoted his father as saying that his son has nothing to do with Mohammed Awada's death. “He is not Hussein Mohammed Awada who is nicknamed al-Mukhtar,” the father noted. The National News Agency had reported that the 24-year-old Awada was killed near Dar al-Amal University Hospital in Douris on Wednesday night. Awada was visiting his hospitalized brother Hussein, who was injured in the shoulder two days earlier in a dispute with Hussein Mohammed Ahmed Awada, the agency stated.

Qaouq Says Hizbullah Won't Change Policies after Iran Nuclear Deal
Naharnet/ 19 July/15/A senior Hizbullah official announced Sunday that the nuclear deal that was recently reached between Iran and the top world powers will not push the Tehran-backed party to change its policies. “Hizbullah will remain the same after the Iranian nuclear agreement. Today, tomorrow and everyday it will be the party of resistance that supports Palestine and protects Lebanon from every threat, be it Israeli or takfiri,” Sheikh Nabil Qaouq, the deputy head of the party's Executive Council, declared. “This is our pledge that we will not change,” he added. Qaouq vowed that Hizbullah “will continue the battle that it launched to protect our villages and people in Lebanon from the takfiri gangs.” “The resistance will carry on with what it had started in the outskirts of (the northeastern border towns of) Arsal and Ras Baalbek and (Syria's) Qalamoun and Zabadani,” he added, referring to the party's battles with Syria-based militants. “We will not ask anyone or seek anyone's approval or permission. All this sectarian noise, screaming and incitement will not change the resistance's decision to press on with this battle against the takfiri terrorism until victory,” Qaouq went on to say. On July 14, the P5+1 group -- Russia, the U.S., China, Britain, France and Germany -- struck a landmark agreement with Iran after a 13-year stand-off over its disputed nuclear program. The international agreement finalized in Vienna aims to ensure the Islamic Republic does not obtain nuclear weapons. In exchange, the country of 78 million people will be given step-by-step relief from crippling international sanctions.

Nusra Chief in Qalamoun Threatens to 'Enter Shiite Villages' in Lebanon
Naharnet/ 19 July/15/Abou Malek al-Talli, the so-called emir of al-Nusra Front's Qalamloun branch, has threatened to invade border towns in Lebanon's Bekaa region in retaliation to Hizbullah's military intervention in Syria. “You are leading Lebanon into the abyss,” al-Talli said in an interview with MTV, addressing Hizbullah.The interview was conducted in a region on the Lebanese-Syrian border by MTV reporter Hussein Khreis, who accompanied the families of the Lebanese servicemen held by al-Nusra on a visit to their loved ones. “Do you think the families of the Syrian victims will remain silent?” the Nusra leader added. “We will enter Lebanon and take revenge on the Shiite villages,” he threatened. The relatives of the servicemen were allowed to visit them for the occasion of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr. The servicemen were abducted from Arsal in August last year after al-Nusra and the Islamic State group stormed the northeastern border town and engaged in bloody battles with the Lebanese army. A few of the captives have since been released, four were executed, while the rest remain held by the two groups. Hizbullah has dispatched fighters to bolster the Syrian regime against an Islamist-led uprising. The Lebanese party and Syrian forces have managed to recapture most of the regions on Lebanon's border. A major offensive is currently underway to retake the strategic border town of Zabadani.

10 Suspected Terrorists Arrested in Northern Bekaa
Naharnet/ 19 July/15/Ten suspected terrorists were arrested Sunday evening in the northern Bekaa region, according to media reports. “Army intelligence agents apprehended in the northern Bekaa town of al-Labweh ten individuals suspected on belonging to a terrorist organization,” state-run National News Agency reported. “They were on their way from the outskirts of (the border town of) Arsal to areas inside Lebanon,” NNA said. “They were referred to the relevant judicial authorities,” it added. LBCI television meanwhile said the ten men are all “Syrians who belong to terrorist groups.”It said they were heading to the North and Western Bekaa. Al-Jadeed TV said the detainees are members of the Islamic State extremist group, which has seized vast swathes of territory in Syria and Iraq, adding that they were arrested in “several ambushes on al-Labweh road.”

Berirut Airport Security Thwarts Attempt to Smuggle Narcotic Pills Hidden in Crib
Naharnet/ 19 July/15/Security forces uncovered on Sunday an attempt to smuggle narcotic pills from the Rafik Hariri International Airport to an Arab country in North Africa, the Internal Security Forces announced in a statement. It said that around 15.5 kilograms of captagon pills, hidden in a child's crib, were seized from a Syrian traveler. The packets were concealed in the sides of the crib. Investigations are underway with the suspect.

Firefighters Trying to Douse Wildfire in Koura
Naharnet/ 19 July/15/A major blaze erupted Sunday at a forest in the Ijdaabrine area in the northern Koura district, state-run National News Agency reported. The fire has gutted vast areas containing trees and bushes, NNA said. Civil Defense crews have since been dispatched to the area and efforts are underway to contain the blaze, the agency added. Forest fires are common in Lebanon, especially during the hot months of summer.

Yemen Rebel Fire Kills 57 Civilians as Aden Battle Rages
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/ 19 July/15 /At least 57 civilians were killed on Sunday when Shiite rebels bombarded Yemen's second city Aden, where Saudi-backed pro-government forces have made gains against the insurgents, a health official said. The bloodshed came two days after Prime Minister Khaled Bahah declared the city to be "liberated", although Iran-backed rebels continued to resist in some districts. Local health chief Al-Khader Laswar told AFP that the death toll had risen to 57 from 43, and that 12 children and six women were among the dead. More than 215 people, also including women and children, were wounded when the Dar Saad neighborhood in the north of the port city was targeted, Laswar said.Backed by air support from Saudi-led warplanes and troops freshly trained in the kingdom, forces loyal to exiled President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi have managed to wrest back control of most of Aden. Two ministers from the government exiled in Saudi Arabia returned to Aden this weekend, and on Sunday they toured the southern city devastated by four months of ferocious fighting.On Sunday, fighters from the pro-Hadi Popular Resistance advanced towards the rebel-held district of al-Tawahi, a military source said.
Air strikes hit rebels
Aden's presidential residence is in the district, where Hadi took refuge after escaping house arrest under the rebels in Sanaa in February, before then being forced to flee for Saudi Arabia. Warplanes from a Saudi-led Arab coalition have pressed an air campaign launched in March in support of Hadi and against the Huthis and renegade troops loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh. Since late Saturday, around 15 air strikes targeted rebel positions in Al-Tawahi and on the northern outskirts of the city where the rebels had brought in reinforcements, military sources and witnesses said. There was also fighting in the Crater district where some rebels remain holed up, according to pro-Hadi fighters. Nine rebels were killed in a raid on Khormaksar neighborhood, witnesses said. The interior and transportation ministers headed a delegation from the exiled government that landed in Aden on Friday night. On Sunday they also took part in a meeting that looked into reopening the airport and the port to allow the flow of much-needed aid, as well as the restoration of electricity and water services, state media said. Loyalist forces took the airport shortly after an assault dubbed "Operation Golden Arrow" began on Tuesday.
'There is no life!'
Some displaced residents have returned to assess the damage to their houses and neighborhoods. "There is no life! No hospitals, no electricity, nor water. If it was not for the two wells of the neighborhood, people would have died of thirst," said Crater resident Moatez al-Mayssuri. A rebel spokesman dismissed the government's claims on Saturday that it now controlled Aden as "psychological warfare and an attempt to improve the crushed morale" of loyalist fighters. On Sunday, the spokesman for the Huthis' Ansarullah movement Mohammed Abdulsalam said the rebels had "regained the lead and repelled several attacks by the mercenaries". The rebels, meanwhile, also targeted Saudi positions across Yemen's northern border in Najran and Jizan, according to the rebel-controlled Saba news agency which cited a military source. Elsewhere, firefighters managed to extinguish a huge blaze at a gas depot southwest of Taez in central Yemen after it was shelled by rebels, according to the government-run news agency. The United Nations has declared Yemen a level-3 humanitarian emergency, the highest on its scale. After weeks of shuttle diplomacy between the two sides, the U.N. announced a humanitarian truce last weekend to allow the delivery of desperately needed relief supplies, but the ceasefire failed to take hold. More than 21.1 million people -- over 80 percent of Yemen's population -- need aid, with 13 million facing food shortages. Upwards of 3,200 people have been killed in the fighting -- many of them civilians, the U.N. says.

Bahrain Police Escape Blast in Shiite Village
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/ 19 July/15 /Authorities in Bahrain said an explosion on Sunday as a police patrol passed by in the Shiite-majority village of Ekr was a "terrorist act", adding that nobody was injured. The interior ministry said on Twitter that an investigation was under way into the second such incident in 24 hours.On Saturday, another police patrol was targeted in Krana, another village near the capital Manama, it said. The ministry on Wednesday said a man was killed while trying to plant a bomb in Ekr. It did not identify him. Shiite-led protests since 2011 demanding reforms in the minority Sunni-ruled kingdom have sparked clashes with security forces in which at least 89 people have been killed, human rights groups say. Since an Arab Spring-inspired uprising was crushed four years ago, protesters have clashed frequently with security forces in Shiite villages outside Manama.

Bahrain Summons Iran Diplomat over 'Flagrant Interference'
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/ 19 July/15 /Bahrain summoned Iran's acting charge d'affaires Sunday to protest against its supreme leader voicing support for "oppressed people" across the Middle East including in Bahrain, state media said. The foreign ministry handed "an official protest memorandum" to Mortaza Sanubari over "statements made by Ali Khamenei against the kingdom of Bahrain," BNA news agency said. Khamenei said on Saturday that the nuclear deal reached between Tehran and world powers would not alter Iran's support for the governments of Syria and Iraq, nor its backing for "oppressed people" in Yemen and Bahrain, and the Palestinians. Iran has provided money and military advisers to support President Bashar Assad's regime in Syria against rebels it accuses Gulf Arab states of arming with Western connivance. Shiite-majority Iran has also strongly opposed Saudi-led military interventions against fellow Shiites in Sunni-ruled Bahrain and in Yemen. Riyadh, the region's main Sunni power, has in turn accused its Shiite rival Iran of malign military intent and meddling -- charges shared by other Gulf Arab states. Bahrain's foreign affairs undersecretary, Abdulla Abdullatif Abdulla, said Khamenei's statements "represented a flagrant and unacceptable interference in Bahrain's internal affairs," BNA reported. He called on Iran to put "an end immediately to such statements " and respect "the principles of good neighborliness and non-interference in the internal affairs" of Bahrain. Home to the U.S. Fifth Fleet and strategically situated across the Gulf from Iran, Bahrain has witnessed sporadic demonstrations since it crushed a protest movement in 2011.Manama accuses Tehran of backing Bahrain's Shiite-led opposition which has been demanding a constitutional monarchy and an elected prime minister. At least 89 people have been killed in clashes with security forces since 2011, while hundreds have been arrested and put on trial, rights groups say.

Israel Says 'Hamas Members' Held over West Bank Murder
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/ 19 July/15 /Palestinians from a "Hamas military network" that allegedly killed an Israeli in the occupied West Bank last month have been arrested, the Shin Bet internal security service said Sunday. It named seven Palestinians suspected of organizing and carrying out the June 29 West Bank shooting in which Malachi Rosenfeld was killed and three others in a car with him were wounded. Four suspects were being held by Israel, while Ahmad Najjar, a Hamas militant freed in a 2011 prisoner swap for Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, orchestrated and funded the attack from Jordan where he still is, a Shin Bet statement said. Two more suspects, including Maath Hammad who allegedly pulled the trigger, were being held by the Palestinian Authority but questioned by the Shin Bet, it said. Six members of the group were from the town of Silwad northeast of Ramallah. The seventh, the father-in-law of one of the suspects and not identified as a Hamas member, lives in nearby Kusra, the agency said.
Rosenfeld, 25, was shot while returning from a basketball game to the Kochav Hashahar settlement where he lived. Shin Bet said the same group of suspects also shot at an ambulance and other Israeli vehicles two days earlier without causing any casualties, and had also planned another attack that did not take place. Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon praised the security forces for apprehending the suspects, while accusing Turkey of hosting a senior Hamas leader actively planning attacks. Attempts to activate Hamas cells in the West Bank originate in "Hamas headquarters in Gaza and Istanbul, from where Salah Aruri plans severe attacks against us by proxies in the West Bank and in neighboring countries," he said in a statement. "Salah Aruri is acting from Turkey -- a NATO member, which at the same time allows a terror base on its territory," Yaalon charged. Rosenfeld's killing took place during the holy Muslim month of Ramadan, which saw an increase in Palestinian violence in the West Bank and east Jerusalem.
Another Israeli, Danny Gonen, was shot dead in the West Bank on June 19. The Shin Bet said the suspect in that case, whose arrest was announced last week, belonged to an armed group linked to Fatah, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' party.

Egypt Says 7 Troops, 59 Militants Killed in Sinai
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/ 19 July/15 /Egypt's military said on Sunday that 59 militants and seven soldiers were killed in fighting in North Sinai the previous day, including three soldiers in a checkpoint rocket attack. The military is battling militants loyal to the jihadist Islamic State group (IS) in North Sinai where an Islamist insurgency has surged over the past two years. It said a total of seven soldiers were killed on Saturday, after previously saying three died in a checkpoint rocket attack which was claimed by IS. The statement also said troops killed 59 militants. "The men of the armed forces backed by air support targeted several terrorist dens on Saturday," the statement said, listing 14 sites where operations took place. On Saturday, it had said 20 militants were killed in an assault on a jihadist hide-out, and posted on Facebook a video of air strikes on a building and two trucks. The army also said four militants were captured and troops were still counting "terrorists killed in the air campaign". Jihadists, mainly in Sinai, have carried out a series of brazen attacks, killing hundreds of members of the security forces since the military overthrew Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in July 2013. In a sweeping two-year campaign, the army says it has killed more than 1,100 militants in North Sinai bordering the Palestinian Islamist-run Gaza Strip and Israel. Militants say their attacks are in retaliation for the brutal crackdown on Morsi supporters in which hundreds of people have been killed and thousands jailed.

Turkey Detains Nearly 500 People Trying to Cross from Syria
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/ 19 July/15 /Turkey's security forces detained nearly 500 people attempting to cross the border from war-torn Syria on Saturday, the army announced. "488 people were detained by the land forces command border units while trying to cross into Turkey from Syria and 26 while attempting to cross into Syria from Turkey," the army said on Sunday in a statement posted on its website. The army statement did not reveal the nationalities of those detained. Turkey has often boasted of an "open-door" policy championed by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and taken in 1.8 million refugees since the Syrian conflict started in 2011 but has repeatedly complained that it has been left to shoulder an unfair burden. Several hundred thousand refugees are sheltered in camps along the border with Syria but the vast majority of them are scattered throughout the country including the mega city Istanbul. Turkey has long been under international pressure to tighten the security of its volatile 911-kilometre (566 mile) border with Syria to cut the flow of jihadists who try to join the ranks of Islamic State militants who have made gains in Iraq and Syria. Turkish authorities have fiercely rejected the accusations, saying it is making every effort to secure a long border but no tangible results can be obtained unless Western states share more intelligence about would-be jihadists. In an apparent bid to deflect criticism, Turkish authorities have arrested over the last week dozens of suspected IS militants. Turkey has also beefed up its military presence on the border in recent weeks, deploying tanks and anti-aircraft missiles there as well as additional troops. The Turkish build-up follows the advance of Syrian Kurdish forces who have made gains against the extremists in northern Syria near the border. Cross-border smuggling is also common on the Turkish-Syria border, and tobacco is one of the most frequently smuggled illicit goods. The army also said 97 packs of cigarettes and 32,4 kilogrammes of hashish were seized on Saturday.

Gaza Car Blasts Target Hamas, Islamic Jihad Armed Wings
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/ 19 July/15 /Five near-simultaneous explosions in Gaza on Sunday targeted members of the armed branches of Hamas and Islamic Jihad amid growing tensions between the Palestinian territory's rulers and extremist opponents. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blasts that rocked an area in the north of Gaza City and destroyed five cars belonging to members of the Ezzedine al-Qassam and al-Quds brigades, the armed wings of Hamas and Islamic Jihad. There were no reports of serious injuries. Witnesses said the explosions that went off at around 6:30 am appeared to have been caused by bombs placed underneath the cars parked in front of their owners' homes. Three of the cars were said to have belonged to members of al-Qassam and two to members of al-Quds. According to witnesses, the explosions occurred within an interval of 15 minutes. Police working under Hamas, the Islamist movement that rules the Gaza Strip, did not say who they believed was responsible, but vowed action against the culprits. "This morning, saboteurs exploded several cars of (members of) resistance movements in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood, causing material damage," Hamas police said in a statement. "Security forces have opened an investigation and are searching for those responsible. We assure that the criminals will not escape punishment." The explosions appeared to be intended as a warning rather than an attempt to inflict casualties given the early hour, as has occurred with previous incidents. A series of such attacks in recent months is suspected to have been carried out by Salafist extremists, some of whom claim links with Islamic State group jihadists, though experts have expressed doubts over whether there are any true ties between them. Sunday however marked the first time Islamic Jihad was targeted. The extremists view the militant group as part of the establishment in Gaza. There have been growing signs of internal unrest in the Gaza Strip, with Hamas engaged in a power struggle with smaller extremist groups in the coastal enclave of 1.8 million people ravaged by three wars with Israel in six years. Gazans who have gone to fight with the Islamic State group in Syria recently released a video calling for Hamas to be toppled in the territory.
'Camp of traitors'
Al-Qassam and al-Quds released a joint statement on Sunday saying "the culprits of the violence are in the camp of traitors" without providing further details. "Guilty hands are attempting to attack the resistance by blowing up its fighters' vehicles, which only serves the occupier and its objectives," the statement said. Occupier refers to Israel. A spate of attacks has targeted public buildings, officials, international organizations and others seen as linked to the establishment in Gaza. In May, mortar rounds were fired at a base for al-Qassam in an incident claimed by a group calling itself Supporters of the Islamic State in Jerusalem, which has also taken credit for recent rocket fire into Israel. Salafist groups have been angered by a Hamas crackdown and claimed in recent weeks that around 100 of their members or supporters were behind bars.They also criticize Hamas for what they see as its lack of zeal in enforcing Islamic law as well as for its truce with Israel since last year's war in the Gaza Strip. Experts warn that the appeal of jihadist groups is growing, particularly among Gaza's disaffected youth who have been particularly hard hit by conflict, grinding poverty and soaring unemployment and feel let down by traditional Palestinian nationalist movements. Dozens of young Palestinians with few prospects have left Gaza to fight in Iraq or Syria, while others have been drawn towards jihadist groups involved in a deadly insurgency against Egyptian forces in the Sinai Peninsula. Such fears have in part led some to call for an easing of the Israeli blockade against the Gaza Strip in hopes that conditions will improve. Gaza's border with Egypt also remains strictly controlled.

Qaida Claims Killing of at least 9 Algerian Soldiers
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/ 19 July/15 /Al-Qaida's North African branch claimed an ambush of an Algerian army patrol that killed at least nine soldiers, in one of the deadliest such attacks in years. The assault took place in Djebel Louh in Ain Defla province, 140 kilometers (85 miles) southwest of Algiers, on Friday night at the start of the Eid al-Fitr holiday marking the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan. Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) claimed the attack in an unverified statement posted online late on Saturday night. "The knights of Islam have, on the first night of Eid, killed 14 soldiers in an ambush on an army platoon in the area of Djebel Louh," it said, adding that the attackers managed to escape unharmed after seizing the dead troops' weapons. The military gave a different toll of nine dead and two wounded. "Members of the People's National Army immediately proceeded to seal off the area and unleashed a vast operation to flush out and kill the criminals," it said in a statement. The defense ministry said last week that 102 Islamists were killed, captured or surrendered to security forces in the first half of 2015. In April 2014, 15 soldiers were killed in an attack in the country's mountainous east. The Ain Defla region was considered a hub for jihadist groups during the 1990s, but there has been a drop in Islamist-linked violence in Algeria in recent years.

Obama sends Iran deal to wary Congress, Israel urges rejection
Reuters, Tehran/Washington/Sunday, 19 July 2015
President Barack Obama’s administration sent a nuclear agreement with Tehran to Congress on Sunday and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged U.S. lawmakers to reject a deal he said would only feed an “Iranian terror machine”.
In a first concrete sign of European determination to quickly rebuild economic and political ties with Iran after a 12-year standoff, German Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel arrived in Tehran with an economic delegation. Other European powers were expected to follow.
Obama has promised to exercise his veto if Congress rejects the deal, which curbs Iran’s nuclear program while allowing an easing of economic sanctions.Overriding it would require a two-thirds majority of both the House of Representatives and Senate, so the administration is working to win over enough of Obama’s fellow Democrats to offset strong Republican opposition. “I think the right thing to do is merely not to go ahead with this deal,” Netanyahu said on CBS’s “Face the Nation” as he continued a string of U.S. media interviews denouncing the deal reached on Tuesday between Iran and six major powers.“There are many things to be done to stop Iran’s aggression and this deal is not one of them,” he said.
Iranian recognition of Israel
Tehran denies Western and Israeli accusations it has been using a research program as cover for ambitions to develop atomic weapons. President Hassan Rowhani said on Saturday he expected the deal would lead to closer relations with Tehran’s neighbors in the Gulf region, while Supreme Leader AyatollahAli Khamenei said Iran remained at odds with the West. It was on Khamenei’s words that Netanyahu seized, speaking to his cabinet on Sunday.“The Iranians are not even trying to hide the fact they will take advantage of the hundreds of billions they will receive via the agreement to arm their terror machine,” he said. “And they say explicitly they will continue their struggle against the United States and its allies, Israel of course above all.”U.S. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter was due in Jerusalem on Sunday night in an attempt to assuage Israel’s anger over a deal it says can only delay Iran becoming a nuclear state. He is also touring Jordan and Saudi Arabia, which both eye the prospect of increasing Iranian influence in the region with some suspicion.
Germany’s Gabriel, due to meet Rowhani and several ministers, told German newspaper Bild he would use his three-day trip to suggest Germany could serve as a mediator between Iran and arch-enemy Israel. He said he would insist the Iranian government recognize Israel’s right to exist. “Really stable, good relationships with Germany will only be able to develop if this is accepted in Iranian politics. I will keep making that clear during my trip to Iran,” Gabriel said in comments due to be published on Monday.
Opponents of the deal argue it does not provide enough supervision of Iran’s nuclear program. Secretary of State John Kerry, who led the U.S. delegation to the talks with Iran, was asked on “Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace” why the deal did not provide for inspections anywhere anytime. “The fact is, that in arms control, there is no country anywhere on this planet that has ‘anywhere, anytime’,” he said. “There is no such standard. There is no such standard within arms control inspections.”

Iran nuclear deal opens window for Israel to join new Mideast order'
J.Post/19 July/15/The former head of Israel’s vaunted intelligence agency Mossad said on Sunday that the nuclear deal struck between Iran and Western powers offers Jerusalem an opening to join “a new Middle Eastern order.”Shabtai Shavit, who served as Mossad director from 1989 to 1996, told US radio broadcaster Aaron Klein that Israel now has even more impetus to make common cause with Sunni Arab countries who are nervous over the West’s overtures toward their common nemesis - Iran. “I believe that in the present time there is a widow of opportunity for Israel in order to try and pursue a new order in the Middle East,” Shavit said. The former spy chief said that Sunni states like Egypt, Jordan, and the Gulf sheikhdoms share Israel’s suspicions about Iran, giving the Jewish state a de facto membership in the moderate camp. “Iran is considered to be the adversary of all those countries that you mentioned, of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan and the Emirates,” Shavit said. “In other words, the more moderate Sunni Islam. And we are a member in this same camp.”"We have here a unique opportunity to try and create a coalition of moderate Arab countries headed by Saudi Arabia and Israel, both in order to address the Iranian potential nuclear capability in the future and also in order to create a new order in the Middle East," he said.Shavit said that the formation of the new coalition is predicated on a resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian dispute, which Sunni Arab governments can help facilitate. "I believe that having the moderate Sunni countries being involved in an Israeli-Palestinian political solution - they are in a position to contribute a lot in order to achieve this objective," he said. "Bearing in mind the fact that up until now we did not succeed in (reaching) any kind of a final solution with the Palestinians in spite of the participation of all kinds of other parties like the Americans, the Europeans and others.""I personally agree that the participation of Saudi Arabia, of Egypt and Jordan, both countries that we already have peace treaties with them, and the Emirates - their contribution to such a solution can be considerable." The full interview can be heard on the “Aaron Klein Investigative Radio” broadcast Sunday night on New York’s AM 970 The Answer and Philadelphia’s NewsTalk 990 AM.

Israel urges rejection as US Congress receives Iran nuclear deal
REUTERS/07/19/2015
President Barack Obama's administration sent a nuclear agreement with Tehran to Congress on Sunday and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged US lawmakers to reject a deal he said would only feed an "Iranian terror machine".
In a first concrete sign of European determination to quickly rebuild economic and political ties with Iran after a 12-year standoff, German Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel arrived in Tehran with an economic delegation. Other European powers were expected to follow. Obama has promised to exercise his veto if Congress rejects the deal, which curbs Iran's nuclear program while allowing an easing of economic sanctions. Overriding it would require a two-thirds majority of both the House of Representatives and Senate, so the administration is working to win over enough of Obama's fellow Democrats to offset strong Republican opposition."I think the right thing to do is merely not to go ahead with this deal," Netanyahu said on CBS's "Face the Nation" as he continued a string of US media interviews denouncing the deal reached on Tuesday between Iran and six major powers. "There are many things to be done to stop Iran's aggression and this deal is not one of them," he said.
IRANIAN RECOGNITION OF ISRAEL
Tehran denies Western and Israeli accusations it has been using a research program as cover for ambitions to develop atomic weapons. President Hassan Rouhani said on Saturday he expected the deal would lead to closer relations with Tehran's neighbors in the Gulf region, while Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Iran remained at odds with the West.It was on Khamenei's words that Netanyahu seized, speaking to his cabinet on Sunday."The Iranians are not even trying to hide the fact they will take advantage of the hundreds of billions they will receive via the agreement to arm their terror machine," he said. "And they say explicitly they will continue their struggle against the United States and its allies, Israel of course above all."US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter was due in Jerusalem on Sunday night in an attempt to assuage Israel's anger over a deal it says can only delay Iran becoming a nuclear state. He is also touring Jordan and Saudi Arabia, which both eye the prospect of increasing Iranian influence in the region with some suspicion.
Germany's Gabriel, due to meet President Hassan Rouhani and several ministers, told German newspaper Bild he would use his three-day trip to suggest Germany could serve as a mediator between Iran and arch-enemy Israel. He said he would insist the Iranian government recognize Israel's right to exist.
"Really stable, good relationships with Germany will only be able to develop if this is accepted in Iranian politics. I will keep making that clear during my trip to Iran," Gabriel said in comments due to be published on Monday. Opponents of the deal argue it does not provide enough supervision of Iran's nuclear program. Secretary of State John Kerry, who led the US delegation to the talks with Iran, was asked on "Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace" why the deal did not provide for inspections anywhere anytime."The fact is, that in arms control, there is no country anywhere on this planet that has 'anywhere, anytime'," he said. "There is no such standard. There is no such standard within arms control inspections."

If the Iran Deal Fails...
Robert Satloff/Politico/July 19, 2015
Congressional rejection of the nuclear deal wouldn't be pretty, but a messy domestic political battle is a far cry from the president's warnings of potential war with Iran. I have not yet decided whether the costs of the Iran nuclear agreement are worth its advantages. But I have reached one conclusion -- President Obama's argument that "the alternative to this agreement is war" is wrong. Let us assume that Congress overrides the president's veto of a resolution disapproving the deal. What happens the day after? The president said that the congressional vote not only vitiates the agreement but destroys all international constraints on Iran's nuclear program, after which the Iranians will race toward a bomb. That development, so this argument goes, would launch a regional nuclear arms race and likely trigger either American or Israeli military action to stop Iran's march toward a bomb. With Iran likely to respond in either case by launching thousands of Hezbollah missiles into Israel, the result is war.
But is that really the most likely chain of events? No.
Faced with what would be a revolt in his own party, let alone near-universal Republican opposition, the president might have second thoughts about the Vienna deal. If he still wanted to salvage a nuclear agreement, this could compel him to go back to the bargaining table -- first with his P5+1 partners and then with Iran -- to secure certain improvements. These could include, for example, less time for Iran to delay inspections; a longer period for the maintenance of the arms embargo; or clear and agreed consequences spelled out for various types of Iranian violations. In other words, a vote for disapproval may just force the president to seek the proverbial "better deal."But let's say that the president holds firm to the current text, despite ignominious defeat on his flagship foreign policy achievement. Remember precisely what Congress will be voting on -- to constrain the president's ability to waive sanctions on Iran. That's all. He will still have the prerogatives of his office to seek execution of the deal in other ways.
In that case, I believe the likely scenario would be as follows:
The administration has said it will seek U.N. Security Council endorsement of the Vienna accord in the coming days. That means the agreement will be enshrined in international law well before Congress acts, though that Security Council resolution will be timed so as not to take effect until after Congress votes on the deal. Then, in early September, let's say Congress votes to override the president's veto. Then, a determined president will still go to the annual convening of the U.N. General Assembly and announce that he will do everything in his power to execute the agreement. If Congress won't let him waive sanctions, then -- as he did with deportations of certain illegal aliens -- he will order the State and Treasury Departments to focus their enforcement powers elsewhere. Congress will fume; a legal battle looms. But even at that point, the United States is still not in violation of the agreement. According to the deal, the next step is that Iran has to implement its nuclear restrictions -- mothballing centrifuges, redesigning the Arak plutonium reactor, etc. -- to the satisfaction of the International Atomic Energy Agency. Most experts estimate that will take at least six months. Only after the IAEA certifies that Iran has met its requirements are the P5+1 countries and the United Nations required to implement their commitments to terminate (or, in America's case, suspend) sanctions.
In other words, even if Congress denies the president waiver authority on Iran sanctions in September, he wouldn't begin to use that authority until next spring, at the earliest. At that point, when he tries to make an end-run around Congress, Messrs. Boehner and McConnell can be expected to take their case to court. Eventually, the Supreme Court will decide. Perhaps the president will still be in office; perhaps he won't. What does Iran do during this domestic political contest here in the United States? Does it chuck its enormous diplomatic achievements in Vienna for a mad dash toward a bomb? Highly unlikely. My hunch is that Iran will seek to exploit our internal squabbles to isolate America from its own negotiating partners. "We are very sorry to see small minds in Congress try to snuff out hopes for peace and mutual security," savvy Iranian diplomats will say. "But we will not let them. Therefore, we will continue to abide by the terms of the agreement." That's the best way for Iran to make sure that the European Union and the United Nations terminate their sanctions and, along the way, deepen divisions between Washington and its major allies. So, let's put this issue into context. Congressional rejection of the Iran deal won't be pretty. While it might convince the president to seek "a better deal" to win legislative support, we shouldn't delude ourselves into thinking that we can just go back to square one with negotiations or that we can keep the current sanctions regime in place as if the past two years of diplomacy never happened. We will be in a different place, much grayer than before.
But that messiness is a far cry from war. In my view, the only war that may ensue from a congressional vote of disapproval is a war of words between our legislative and executive branches, eventually adjudicated by the Supreme Court. In other words, the worst-case scenario will be business as usual in Washington.
**Robert Satloff is executive director of The Washington Institute.

Tennessee shooter was upset over Gaza war
Reuters/Ynetnews /Published: 07.18.15 / Israel News
Friend of Mohammod Youssuf Abdulazeez says gunman sent him a text hours before shooting in Chattanooga with a link to an Islamic verse that says: 'Whosoever shows enmity to a friend of Mine, then I have declared war against him'.Friends of a gunman who killed killed five US servicemen in Tennessee said he was upset about Operation Protective Edge in Gaza last summer and the civil war in Syria. The suspect, Mohammod Youssuf Abdulazeez, a 24-year-old Kuwaiti-born naturalized US citizen, was killed in a gunfight with police. "He felt Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia were not doing enough to help, and that they were heavily influenced by the United States," said one friend.
Another friend said, "He had always talked about it, but I'd say his level of understanding and awareness really rose after he came back."One of the friends received a text message from Abdulazeez hours before Thursday's attack in Chattanooga, a link to a long Islamic verse that included the line: "Whosoever shows enmity to a friend of Mine, then I have declared war against him."The friend showed the text message to Reuters on Saturday. He said he thought nothing of the message at the time, but now wonders if it was a hint at Thursday's attack in Chattanooga.
The FBI is investigating the shooting as an act of terrorism, but said it was premature to speculate on the gunman's motive.The rampage has re-ignited concerns about the radicalization of young Muslim men. Abdulazeez's friends said he returned from a trip to Jordan in 2014 concerned about conflicts in the Middle East and the reluctance of the United States and other countries to intervene.
After the trip, he purchased three assault rifles on an online marketplace and used them for target practice, the friends said.
"He expressed that he was upset about (the Middle East). But I can't imagine it drove him to this," said the friend who received the text message.
Authorities said Abdulazeez sprayed gunfire at a joint military recruiting center in a strip mall in Chattanooga, then drove to a Naval Reserve Center about 6 miles (10 km) away, where he killed four Marines before he himself was shot dead. Three other people were injured, including a US Navy petty officer who died from his wounds on Saturday. The Navy did not give the name of the sailor, but his step-grandmother identified him as Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Randall Smith of Paulding, Ohio, who left behind a wife and three young daughters. "He was an awesome young man," Darlene Proxmire told Reuters. "He loved his wife and children. He loved the Navy."
Jordan trip 'a real eye-opener'
Abdulazeez, an engineer, had occasionally smoked marijuana and drank alcohol, and struggled to reconcile that with his faith in Islam, the friends said. At one point, in 2012 or 2013, he received therapy for his drugs and alcohol use, they said.
"He used it to de-stress, when things were difficult at home, or whatever," the first friend said, adding that tensions between Abdulazeez and his Palestinian parents had upset him. His parents nearly got divorced in 2009, according to court records.
Abdulazeez also had problems with local youths that sometimes took on a religious and racial tone, the friend said.
"There were rednecks, ignorant people, who sometimes would cause problems. Mo never fought, but he used to get worked up and yell and stuff," he said. "Afterwards he would calm down, and just say it doesn't matter."
Abdulazeez went to the Middle East in 2010 and visited several countries, according to the friend. He then went to Jordan in 2014 to work for his uncle, and lived with his uncle and his grandparents there, the friend said. "That trip was eye-opening for him. He learned a lot about the traditions and culture of the Middle East. He said he really enjoyed it and wished to go back some day."
After Abdulazeez returned, he seemed more mellow to his friends, less interested in partying. "That is part of what drew us closer. He was a guy who wanted to settle down and get his life going. That connected us," the friend said.
Guns, fast cars
Abdulazeez had purchased three guns on armslist.com after returning from Jordan, including an AK-74, an AR-15, and a Saiga 12, his friends said. They said he also owned a 9mm and a .22 caliber hand guns. Over the past few months, Abdulazeez and his friends practiced shooting in the Prentice Cooper state forest near Chattanooga, sometimes two or three times a week. "He was always interested in guns, since he was young. He started with a BB gun and paintball, and went on from there. We would go out shooting quite often," said the friend who received the text message.
Abdulazeez also liked driving fast in the hills surrounding Chattanooga. Two nights before the attack, he and some friends went joyriding in Abdulazeez's rented gray convertible Ford Mustang, passing through the towns of Whitwell, Dayton and Jasper.
"Fast car on a rainy night. We were flying, doing tight turns and drifting," said the friend, adding that they returned home at about 3 o'clock in the morning.
"He seemed totally normal. We made plans to hang out on the weekend," he said. The night before the attack, just after 10 p.m., the friend received a text from Abdulazeez with this link to a Hadith, or Islamic teaching. For jihadists and ultraconservative Salafist Sunni Muslims, the Hadith "is usually understood within the context of al-wala wa-l-bara (or) love for Islam and hatred for its enemies," said David Cook, an associate professor who specializes in Islam in the department of religion at Rice University in Texas.
It was unusual for Abdulazeez to send such a link, said his friend, who had been asking Abdulazeez for job advice.
"I didn't see it as a hint at the time, but it may have been his way of telling me something," he said. He continued to text Abdulazeez that evening and into Thursday but did not get a reply.
The friend said he has been interviewed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
He said Abdulazeez had a good paying job and many plans for his life, including possibly starting a computer sales business in Chattanooga. "He wanted to buy a car. He wanted a video console, to make a man cave - every guy's dream."
He said it was difficult to understand how his friend became the suspect in the rampage. "The signs just weren't there," he said. "The only thing I can think of is that it was a combination of things - what is happening overseas, his family problems, maybe some of the issues with the less educated people here. I don't know."
After the shooting, the friend texted Abdulazeez, asking him if he had heard about the attack. "I guess he knew about it before I did."

Netanyahu: No way to compensate Israel if Iran deal goes through
Roi Kais/Ynetnews /Latest Update: 07.19.15/ Israel News
In divergent appearances on US media, PM says 'There are many things to be done to stop Iran's aggression and this deal is not one of them,' while Kerry hits back: 'If the Congress turns this down, there will be conflict in the region because that's the only alternative'.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu continued to do battle against a pro-deal media campaign Sunday, urging US lawmakers to hold out for a better Iran deal, and saying there was no way to compensate Israel if the nuclear agreement goes through. US Secretary of State John Kerry and Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz also gave competing interviews Sunday, contesting Netanyahu's point of view. "I think the right thing to do is merely not to go ahead with this deal. There are many things to be done to stop Iran's aggression and this deal is not one of them," Netanyahu said on CBS' "Face the Nation" as he continued a string of US media interviews denouncing the deal reached on Tuesday between Iran and six major powers.
Netanyahu said he felt obligated to speak out because the deal endangers his country, the region and the world and there was no way Israel could feel safe if it takes effect. The strain in US-Israeli relations was further evident over the weekend, when it was revealed that Kerry spoke with Netanyahu on Thursday, saying that the idea of reaching a better deal with Iran over its nuclear program is a "fantasy."As part of media offensive launched by President Barack Obama after the signing of the deal, Kerry has given several interviews with the intent of explaining the agreement to the public - an agreement that Congress lawmakers have up to 82 days to review. Israel's ambassador to the United States was racing in and out of offices on Capitol Hill, trying to persuade lawmakers that the nuclear deal with Iran is a historic mistake. Democratic Sen. Chris Coons ran into Israeli Ambassador Ron Dermer three times.
"He is a very informed and persuasive advocate for the Israeli perspective and he is a persistent and thorough critic of the context of these negotiations and he made some very strong points," Coons said. The secretary of state rejected Netanyahu's position that the West should maintain pressure until Iran entirely capitulates its nuclear ambitions. "They won't be crushed by sanctions; that's been proven. We'll lose the other people who are helping to provide those sanctions. They're not going to do that if Iran is willing to make a reasonable agreement. "If the Congress turns this down, there will be conflict in the region because that's the only alternative," said Kerry. "The Ayatollah, if the United States says no, will not come back to the table to negotiate and who could blame him under those circumstances?"Kerry also addressed Netanyahu's concerns that Iran will use its newly recovered financial capabilities to fund its proxies throughout the region and increase its military influence, directly endangering Israel's security interests.
"They're not allowed to do that, even outside of this agreement. There is a UN resolution that specifically applies to them not being allowed to transfer to Hezbollah."But according to Kerry, Iran will struggle to find additional cash for its proxies for the next several years at least. "President Rouhani needs to deliver to the Iranian people. They have high expectations from this deal for a change in their lifestyle. Iran needs to spend $300 billion just to bring their oil industry capacity back to where it was five years ago.
President Barack Obama has promised to exercise his veto if Congress rejects the deal. Overriding the veto will require a two-thirds majority of both the House of Representatives and Senate, so the administration is working to win over enough of Obama's fellow Democrats to offset strong Republican opposition.
**Rueters contributed to this article.

The West's War Against Jihadi Terrorism Is Just Beginning
Guy Millière//Gatestone Institute/July 19, 2015
http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/6154/war-against-jihadi-terrorism
"I'll see you guys in New York." — Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, self-declared "Caliph" of ISIS.
On May 23, 2013, U.S. President Barack Obama declared that the "war on terror" was over. In a public opinion survey conducted in 2006, in Egypt, Pakistan, Morocco and Indonesia, two third of respondents supported the idea of "uniting all Muslim countries in a new caliphate." On June 8, 2015, President Obama said his administration had "no strategy yet" for dealing with the Islamic State. The Islamic State does have a strategy. For now, Western countries are, at best, on the defensive. They dare not even identify the enemy. Rather than cautionary vigilance in the face of danger, today's Western leaders are choosing willful blindness and appeasement. Saint Quentin Fallavier, France, June 26. A man, Yassin Salhi, decapitates another man, Hervé Cornara, his boss. He lifts the head he has just severed, takes a selfie, sends the picture to one of his jihadi friends in Syria, and pins the head to a fence, next to the black flag of the Islamic State. He then attempts to trigger a deadly explosion in a factory manufacturing industrial gases, but fails. Had he succeeded, he could have caused a regional disaster akin to the accident that occurred in Seveso, Italy, in 1976.
The same day, another man, Seifeddine Rezgui, goes to a beach in Sousse, Tunisia. He unearths an assault rifle he earlier had buried in the sand. He kills thirty-nine tourists, mainly British, and wounds forty others. He is shot and killed by the police. Before the shooting spree, he had sent a selfie, smiling, rifle in hand, next to the black flag of the Islamic State. He sends the picture to a jihadi friend in Syria, just as Yassin Salhi did. Meanwhile, a suicide bomber kills twenty-seven people when he blows himself up in a Shiite mosque in Kuwait City.
The Islamic State issues a statement claiming responsibility for the three attacks, and stating that June 26 was the first anniversary of the caliphate proclaimed by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. In one year, the Islamic State has come to control half of Iraq, more than half of Syria, and occupy an area the size of Great Britain. It seized important towns, such as Ramadi and Palmyra. It destroyed monuments that had been preserved since ancient times. It killed thousands of people, mostly Christians, often in the most atrocious manner. It restored slavery. It spread well beyond its original territory and secured promises of allegiance from other Islamic groups: Boko Haram in Nigeria, Jund al-Khilafa in Algeria and in Yemen, and Ansar Beit al-Maqdis in Egypt. It is now present in fourteen countries. It releases bloody videos, and awakens religious callings. It welcomes thousands of recruits from Sunni Arab countries, from Europe, and from America. It calls on all "authentic Muslims" to kill the "disbelievers" (Christians and Jews) and "impure infidels" (Shi'ites) in all possible ways, and in all possible places.
On the first day of Ramadan, June 17, one of its leaders, Abu Muhammad al-Adnani, renewed the call to kill "infidels". Yassin Salhi, Seiffeddine Rezgui and the author of the suicide bombing in Kuwait City followed the directive. Three days after the attacks in France, Tunisia and Kuwait, the Islamic State killed Hisham Barakat, Attorney General of Egypt in a bomb attack in Cairo. At the same time, it launched an offensive against the Egyptian army in Sinai, in El Arish. Israeli intelligence believes that the offensive was organized in cooperation with Hamas in Gaza. The Islamic State is present in Egypt's larger cities, in the Gaza Strip, in Judea and Samaria, and in the territories occupied by the Palestinian Authority. The French police estimate that it has sleeper cells in France and throughout Europe. The Islamic State controls the city of Derna in Libya and the coast of Cyrenaica, whence boats carrying thousands of illegal immigrants are sent to Sicily and southern Italy.
The Islamic State is minting its own coins bearing a world map and the words "The Islamic State - A Caliphate based on the doctrine of the Prophet." It appears to have global ambitions. It does not have the means to realize all its ambitions. Nevertheless, it has unprecedented resources for a jihadist structure. It is the first jihadist structure to organize as a state, and the first to produce oil. It works as both a state and as an informal global network. It is the main incarnation of the global jihadist threat of our times. It does not yet have nukes, but it could have access to nuclear bombs through Pakistan. It is now the main incarnation of the jihadist war launched against the West and its allies several years ago.
Rather than cautionary vigilance in the face of danger, today's Western leaders are choosing willful blindness and appeasement. They speak of the Islamic State as if it were a cult and as if it promoted a "perverse ideology." They therefore cannot understand its attraction for so many young Muslims. They do not grasp how it establishes for young Muslims a return to the original Islam and to what Muslims consider the "words of God" dictated to Muhammad. They also do not understand the nostalgia for the caliphate, ever present in the Sunni world, since the departure of the last Caliph, orchestrated by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk in 1924. In a public opinion survey conducted in 2006, in Egypt, Pakistan, Morocco and Indonesia, two thirds of the respondents supported "uniting all Muslim countries in a new caliphate."
Many Muslim commentators in the Western world encourage blindness; they declare that the Islamic State is not Muslim. The flag of the Islamic State bears the shahada, the Muslim declaration of faith. The Quran used, and cited constantly, by the Islamic State is the Quran used and cited by all Muslims, all over the world. Muslim organizations such as the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), and the Fiqh Council of North America, have published texts claiming to "refute" the Islamic State's Islamic legitimacy, however, none of those texts asserts that the Islamic State does not respect Islamic principles. After the killings in Tunisia, David Cameron said the fight against the Islamic State is the "fight of our generation." He did not say how he would lead the fight. He then repeated that the ideology of the Islamic State is not Islamic.
After the beheading in Saint Quentin Fallavier, French Prime Minister Manuel Valls spoke with a little more clarity, and said that the enemy is "jihadism." He added that the world must pursue a "war against terrorism." He did not say how the war should be conducted.
France has neither the means nor the will to wage a global war. President François Hollande immediately mitigated the "harshness" of Manuel Valls's remarks and simply referred to France's "determination." Manuel Valls's remarks resembled other remarks, pronounced fourteen years ago. On September 20, 2001, nine days after the attacks of September 11, U.S. President George W. Bush spoke of a "global war on terror." He designated targets and implemented a strategy. Most Western leaders strongly criticized him at the time. Despite mistakes, by the autumn of 2008, Islamic jihadism and terrorism had largely receded and seemed on the edge of defeat. In March 2009, the U.S. Defense Department officially changed the name of operations from "Global War on Terror" to the "Overseas Contingency Operation."
On May 23, 2013, President Obama declared that the "war on terror" was over. In January 2014, in an interview given to The New Yorker, Obama downplayed Islamic State power, and compared it to a "jayvee" (junior varsity) team. Eighteen months later, on June 8, 2015, he said his administration had "no strategy yet" for dealing with the Islamic State. It seems his administration still does not have one. The Islamic State does have a strategy. The jihadist war against the West and its allies is growing. The West's war against jihadist terrorism is only beginning. For now, Western countries are, at best, on the defensive. They dare not even identify the enemy.In 2009, when Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi walked away from a U.S. detention camp in Iraq, he said, "I'll see you guys in New York." He is not in New York -- yet.

Will Anyone Help the Kurds?
Uzay Bulut/Gatestone Institute/July 19, 2015
http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/6182/help-kurds
What does the Turkish army -- this flamboyant member of the NATO -- want from the small Kurdish village of Roboski?
The West should apply pressure on Turkey to act humanely, morally and responsibly towards Kurds and other minorities. We all know that the Obama administration will never do that. But there are thousands of activists, academics, and universities who just turn a blind to the plight of Kurds as if their maltreatment is perfectly normal. There are many "activists" like that. Their universities are filled with events bashing Israel. But if you ask them, they do not even know what is done to Kurds by their Turkish rulers. These activists are either ignorant or hypocritical. Their activism has nothing to do with caring about human beings; it is just about hating the Jews. When Turkey condemns Israel for "committing massacres," Israelis should start lecturing Turkey about tens of thousands of dead Kurds and about how Turkey still treats them. During Turkey's elections on June 7, the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) won a great victory by securing 13% of the vote, which allowed its candidates to occupy 80 seats in the 550-seat parliament of Turkey -- not all of them are Kurdish, some are Turkish or of other ethnic groups. In any normal country, this would be welcomed by state authorities as a potential way to resolve a huge national issue in a non-violent manner for the benefit of both peoples, Kurds and Turks.
Sadly, Turkey does not seem to be about to do so. The recent incidents in which Ferhat Encu, a Kurdish deputy from the HDP, was threatened, insulted and beaten by Turkish soldiers in the Kurdish village of Roboski (Uludere) in the Kurdish-majority province of Sirnak are another manifestation of that. (Video of the incident: here and here, and here.) For four months, the Turkish army has blockaded the plateaus in Roboski and banned the villagers from going to those places, Ferhat Encu told Gatestone Institute. Heavy military reinforcements have also been sent to the village, which borders Iraq's Kurdistan Regional Government, and this has created tension in the village, said Encu. In 2011, Turkey's air force killed 34 innocent civilians, including 17 children, in an airstrike on Roboski. Ferhat Encu lost 11 relatives in the massacre, including his brother Serhat Encu.
Between the 2011 massacre and his election to parliament in June 2015, Ferhat Encu had been detained by the police six times under to various pretexts, and then released. On June 7, Encu travelled to Roboski, his hometown, to observe what was going on and try to ease tensions. "Roboski is like an open prison," he said later. "On 6 July, local people started a 2-day protest to end the ban on travel to the plateaus and stop the military reinforcements to the region. But soldiers shot their long barreled weapons [rifles] at the villagers. "On July 7, about 20 soldiers intercepted us and threw [tear] gas bombs at our car. Then, a reporter from the newspaper Cumhuriyet, Mahmut Oral, got out of his car, introduced himself and asked them not to throw gas bombs, but they threatened him. "Then, I got out of the car and I told them I am a [parliamentary] deputy. There were about 5 meters between the soldiers and me. At that moment, a few soldiers started shooting their guns randomly."
Perhaps, they fired their guns up in the air. They may have done this just to scare him and the journalists, not to kill them. Even if they had killed them, they would have never been held accountable for that. There are lots of gunshots in the video. Encu said that he told the soldiers they were not being resisted, and asked them to stop shooting. "But they responded: 'You are not our deputy. You are the deputy of terrorists, traitors, and marauders. And we represent the honor of the state.' "Then the commander told me to buzz off and walked up to me -- I tried to stop him from hitting me. Then soldiers started shooting their guns again while others battered me."Mahmut Oral, a reporter from the newspaper Cumhuriyet, who was present during the confrontation, wrote: "When we got out of the car, saying that we are journalists, we were manhandled by soldiers and threatened with guns. When the situation got more serious, Encu got out the car but soldiers seized him by the collar and surrounded him. The soldiers told Encu that 'we are the state here. What deputy? You are a terrorist and marauder.'... They kept insulting the journalists who tried to intervene between Encu and the soldiers... They threatened us with breaking our cameras and shooting us if we do not get back on the car."
The 2011 Roboski Massacre
On December 28, 2011, Turkish F-16 fighter-bombers launched a five-hour long airstrike on Roboski, killing 34 civilians, including 17 children, some of whom were as young as 12. The victims had been transporting cheap cigarettes, diesel oil and the similar items into Turkey when the bombing started. The bodies of some of the victims were burned beyond recognition or dismembered. The AKP government has not provided any written or verbal apology for the massacre. Instead, on December 30, 2011, Erdogan, then prime minister, thanked the Turkish general staff for "their sensitivity towards the issue despite the media." Some of the victims froze to death, according to a report by human rights activists, doctors and lawyers; after the massacre, aid was not provided for hours and even ambulances were not allowed to enter the area. The funeral procession for the victims of the 2011 Roboski massacre in Turkey.
In May 2012, Prime Minister Erdogan said that whoever was trying to keep the Roboski massacre on the agenda was "the terrorist organization and its extensions."In June 2012, when families of the victims and representatives of NGOs came out to commemorate the dead, the police turned water cannons on them. At first, public prosecutors from Diyarbakir were responsible for the investigation on the Roboski killings. But then, in June 2013, they announced that they were not going to deal with the case due to "lack of jurisdiction," and forwarded the file to military prosecutors. In January 2014, the Turkish military prosecutor's office dismissed the investigation into the Roboski airstrike. The 16-page ruling said that "the staff of the Turkish armed forces acted in accordance with the decisions of the Turkish parliament and council of ministers and with the approval of the general staff." The ruling also stated that Necdet Ozel, chief of the Turkish military's general staff, gave the order for the airstrike from his home. Veli Encu, Ferhat Encu's brother, said that receiving the ruling by the military prosecutors was like having the 34 victims killed all over again: "We struggled for two years to bring the perpetrators of the massacre to court, but the state officials did not even send the ruling to our lawyers. We learnt it from TV," he said. "None of those responsible for the massacre have been removed from their posts. The perpetrators of the massacre are rewarded instead of being punished."
He added that the government is trying to ban villagers from entering the location of the massacre."I and my four friends took a writer to the border as she was going to write a book on the massacre. On our way back, the military officers stopped us. They had about 30 dogs with them. They detained us even though we had not crossed the border. And they gave us a fine of 2,000 Turkish liras for border violation." Relatives, including children aged 12 and 13, who tried to go to the site to lay flowers to mark 500 days after the attack, were stopped, given fines or asked to report to the police station for "violating the passport law". Zeki Tosun, who lost his son in the massacre, said, "We went there to lay 34 cloves. But they gave us a fine of 3000 Turkish liras for each clove. ... Here is like a cage. Every step we take is followed [by the Turkish army]. We are already in custody."The victims' relatives were then brought to trial in court, but acquitted in August 2014.Meanwhile, no perpetrator of the killings has yet been brought to trial, even as a criminal investigation was carried out against the survivors of the massacre, Davut Encu, Servet Encu and Haci Encu. They were interrogated in January 2012.
Attacks against this small village continue.
In June 2015, Ferhat Encu told the Bianet News Agency that soldiers had attacked people in Roboski for two days and that people were afraid to go outside. "Soldiers broke into houses and battered women, detained four people and insulted people. A citizen was injured and the vehicle carrying him had an accident. When soldiers departed, everything calmed down. "In this morning at 5 o'clock, without a warning, soldiers opened fire and killed villagers' five mules. If people had been outside at that moment, they would have been killed."
"I cannot comprehend this savageness. What do they want from Roboski?"That is the question: What does the Turkish army -- this flamboyant NATO member -- want from this small Kurdish village? The answer is that the dehumanization of Kurds in Turkey is so intense and widespread that state authorities cannot stand anything related to the Kurdish existence. Not only a Kurdish election victory -- even if this election was for the parliament of Turkey, not of Kurdistan -- but also Kurds' demanding punishment for the perpetrators of a massacre is intolerable to them. Kurds are not to be members of parliament, not to mention patriotic MPs that struggle for national rights. They are to be assimilated into "Turkishness" or be invisible, and if possible, dead. As the infamous saying of Turkish racists goes, "The best Kurd is a dead Kurd."
Experience has taught us that in the 21st century, there are two ways of dealing with a national problem.
First, there is the right way -- the moral, civilized and democratic way -- in which you treat peoples under your rule with respect. When an indigenous people say that they are suffering or that they have complaints about or demands from you, you listen to them, try to understand and come terms with them because you regard them as your equals and you know that this indigenous people have been living in their ancient lands for centuries. Actually, you do not treat them as if they are less than fully human in the first place. And you do not put them through huge grievances. But even then, a disagreement might emerge. On such on occasion, you also clarify your expectations and want that group to recognize your right to life and liberty, as well. And as civilized parties, you might decide to go separate ways and become good neighbors. But if you want to keep that people inside your borders, you at least recognize the national existence of that people. Whatever political and cultural rights you have, you grant those things to them. This is how political leaders with moral considerations would behave. But then, there is the traditional Turkish-Islamic or Middle Eastern way: In such a political culture, when indigenous peoples or minority groups have complaints or demands, you instantly crush them with your army. You murder them en masse, deny their existence, torture them as you wish, insult them daily and then call them "terrorists", "traitors" and "marauders". And you commit all those atrocities based on one thing: your military power. For that is the only "value" you have.
Kurds entering the Turkish parliament by getting so many votes was a huge victory, and should be cherished as an opportunity for achieving democratic peace in the region. And Kurds have made it clear many times that they wish to live in peace. Before the elections, Selahattin Demirtas, the co-president of the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), said that "whether the HDP enters the parliament or not, we will defend peace." But if even becoming MPs and demanding a legal way to resolve the Kurdish issue through dialogue and negotiations cannot provide Kurds with political recognition and national rights, what else are they supposed to do? Is it not high time that the international community heard of the plight of Kurds and supported them? The US helped to liberate Kosovo. The West should now apply pressure on Turkey to act humanely, morally and responsibly towards Kurds and other minorities. We all know that the Obama administration would never do that. But there are individuals and organizations outside of Turkey. There are thousands of activists, academics, universities who just turn a blind to the plight of Kurds as if their maltreatment is perfectly normal.If they are ignorant and unaware of the Kurds and other minorities in the region, we need to educate them, and hope that after they learn the truth, they will "act." If they still do not care, then they are hypocrites. There are many "activists" like that. Their universities are filled with events bashing Israel. But if you ask them, they do not even know what is going on in Kurdistan and what is done to Kurds by their Turkish rulers. These activists are either ignorant or hypocritical. Their activism has nothing to do with caring about human beings; it is just about hating the Jews. When Turkey condemns Israel for "committing massacres," Israelis should start lecturing Turkey about tens of thousands of dead Kurds and about how Turkey still treats them.
**Uzay Bulut, born and raised a Muslim, is a Turkish journalist based in Ankara.

Obama’s desperate gamble over the Iran deal
Dr. John C. Hulsman/Al Arabiya
Sunday, 19 July 2015
“Time changes everything.” --Thomas Hardy
Boiled down to its essence, the Obama administration is betting it all that the great late Victorian novelist and poet is right. The whole of the immense and desperate gamble the White House just made in signing its historically-important nuclear deal with Iran amounts to a cosmic bet that time will sweep away the objectionable portions of the regime, allowing space for dramatic change over the next decade.
When I think of the specifics of the Iran deal, I can visualise a clock ticking over the whole scene. Generally, in the short run, the deal favours the P5 plus one (U.S., China, Russia, UK, France, Germany) in that there are real and tough strictures on the Iranian regime’s ability to pursue its nuclear programme. Two-third’s of Tehran’s enrichment capacity will be done away with. Iran’s stockpile of low-enriched uranium (LEU) will be reduced to 300kg, a whopping 96% drop.
Further, the deal decreases the number of installed centrifuges the Iranians possess by two-third’s as well. Tehran will allow U.N. inspectors to enter its sites, including military areas, when they have grounds to believe undeclared nuclear activity is being carried out there. Only once the U.N.’s International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has verified Iran has taken steps to meet these terms in reducing its programme will U.N., EU, and U.S. sanctions begin to be lifted. These are not trifling concessions.
For if the deal favors the U.S. and the rest of the world in the short run, it certainly tilts toward Iran as the years march on
Critics of the deal—if they are to be taken seriously as they should be--must accept the reality that in the short run these measures will increase the time it takes Iran to acquire enough material for one nuclear weapon from 2-3 months to a year. This amounts to a huge tactical victory for the U.S., which would over this longer period of time be able to stop through air strikes any break-out effort Iran undertook to race to a nuclear capability. In fact, to go further, there are simply too many constraints on an Iran that will just be enjoying the economic fruits of sanctions being lifted for it to be credible to allege—as Prime Minister Netanyahu of Israel is strongly hinting—that Iran will cheat on the deal. A far better question that the sceptics of the accord ought to be asking is this: why would they want to?
High-risk narrative
For if the deal favours the U.S. and the rest of the world in the short run, it certainly tilts toward Iran as the years march on. Restrictions on trade with Tehran in conventional weapons lasts only another five years; in eight years Iran can resume trading in components relating to ballistic missile technology. Most of the limits on Iran’s nuclear programme come to an end in a decade; all of them do in 15 years. In the meanwhile Iran will economically be brought in from the cold, with surprisingly effective global sanctions being removed. Why wouldn’t a Persian civilisation thousands of years old merely abide by the terms of the deal, wait the out the rest of the world, and then go on its merry way to acquiring a nuclear capability in what amounts to an historical blink of the eye?
When pressed the Obama team spin this high-risk narrative. All the myriad problems between the U.S. and Iran will surely not go away with the nuclear settlement. It may take the coming of a new—and less hysterically anti-American—Supreme Leader for the U.S. to really take advantage of the present opening. And that’s making the very large assumption that the next Supreme Leader will be more tolerant of the ‘Great Satan,’ which surely hasn’t been the case under either Ayatollahs Khomeini or Khamenei.
Going on, the White House desperately hopes that Iran will grow used the being part of the international community, with all the economic benefits that provides. Over time, increased prosperity ought to lead to the rise of the Iranian middle class, which will demand a more pluralistic society, fundamentally altering its current political dynamic. So the bet is that over 10-15 years, Iran becomes far more pro-American, pro-western, and far less of a revolutionary power, determined to upend the present order in the Middle East. By the time Iran is free of the present restraints and can build a nuclear weapon again, the wager is the country will be a very different place, either through a mellowing of its present elite, or through revolution.
All that is certainly possible, but is it probable? Is this a sensible strategic bet? At a minimum, one must accept that it amounts to a desperate wager by the White House. For in the short run, the deal above all mightily helps President Rouhani and the moderates grouped around him. The certainly do not desire the overthrow of the present order, but merely its reform, and strengthening. At least $150 billion in unlocked assets will flow to Tehran in the near term following the accord, which can be used to bolster the regime’s stagnant economy as well as funding its adventurism elsewhere. These indicators militate against the administration’s rosy scenario.
In the end, the best arguments for and against the deal have been largely unstated: For the President is entirely right that the sanctions regime would not hold in the present conditions, and his critics have yet to put forward much of an alternative. While that is true, the sting in the tail of the present accord is that it amounts to a desperate gamble about hoped-for change over time, and is far from a sure thing.

Iran’s true gains from the nuclear deal
Raghida Dergham/Al Arabiya
Sunday, 19 July 2015
Iran has fulfilled two pillars of its fixed strategy. The first is U.S. and international recognition of the legitimacy of the Islamic Republic that imposes religion on the state, with a pledge not to provide assistance to any Iranian opposition, whether it is seeking reform or seeking to oust the regime. The second is U.S. and international recognition of Tehran as the newest member of the nuclear club, and recognition of its right to enrich uranium, with a pledge to end inspection of its nuclear activities under the title of nuclear non-proliferation when the U.N. Security Council resolution in this regard expected to come next week expires ten years later.
The third pillar of Iranian strategy is seeking to be a major regional power in the Middle East, whose demands should be taken seriously and accommodated by the United States and the international community, which is not a problem if Tehran pledges not to expand outside its territory in a bid for regional dominance. Here, in the third pillar the United States is seeking to reassure its traditional allies in the Arab region that it intends to pressure Iranian policy to allow the moderates in Iran to draft non-expansionist orientations for the new post-nuclear deal Iran, as Iran is crowned as a strategic partner for the major world powers. But wishes and hopes that the lifting of the sanctions on Iran would produce an economic revolution and social shifts in favor of the moderates against the hardliners in Iran are not enough. It is not enough either – far from it –for Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to focus on the nuclear agreement’s role in boosting efforts against Islamic extremists such as ISIS while Russia continues ahead together with the Islamic Republic their support for the Syrian regime and its destruction of Syria.
The hopes of U.S. President Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry will not be enough if the coming months are not put to use to extract serious de-escalation on the part of Iran – during Congress’s deliberations over the deal – vis-à-vis its neighbors. There is a real opportunity to realize a qualitative shift in the relations between Iran and the world through reassuring measures in the region. Obama has the opportunity to broker the needed rapprochement and dialogue, and help establish constructive relations between the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and Iran. This requires guarantees and not just wishes and hopes. Israel must have no doubt obtained guarantees as part of its strategic alliance with the United States. The Gulf countries are prepared to interact with the historic nuclear event as long as their security can be guaranteed by means of a U.S. security umbrella and as long as Iran’s quest for expansion and dominance in the region is curbed. But if the P5+1 nations ignore the needs of the Gulf nations as they celebrate the nuclear deal, they would be encouraging Saudi Arabia and others to acquire nuclear weapons and launch a nuclear arms race to establish deterrence in the Middle East – and impoverish themselves.
Iran, most certainly, entered history this week. It is being said, and this is true, that both the West and the East have bowed down to Iran. It may be said that the mullahs of Iran have decided that rescuing the Islamic Republic requires them to reshuffle the list of enemies and friends, for which reason they made the relationship with the United States a top priority. This is also true, and it could well be Iran’s finest achievement, because the relationship with the United States is an absolute priority for the Islamic Republic.
Normalization?
After decades-long estrangement, hostility, and sanctions, the Obama administration launched an era of normalization with the theocratic regime in Tehran. Obama has avoided upsetting the regime by not raising any issues other than the nuclear program, and by deliberately overlooking its regional violations and internal violations against human and civil rights.
What the draft resolution means is that Iranian Revolutionary Guards are no longer barred from encroaching on Arab lands
The administration’s goal has been to avoid confrontation and pursue appeasement, in line with the desires of the American people. However, the nuclear deal signed between Obama’s administration and Iran is being met with serious concern and objection from many American segments led by many in Congress. What Obama concluded with Iran will lead to sharp American divisions, especially since the United States is on the cusp of presidential elections. Obama likes to say that there was no better alternative to the deal, but one response to him has been that the sanctions on Iran were working. Obama, by that argument, did not have to cave in to the dictates of Tehran and keep mum about its regional violations and breaches of U.N. resolutions including arms embargos that should prevent Iran from sending weapons and fighters across the border to Syria, Iraq, Yemen, and Lebanon.
Congress will not give its seal of approval to the nuclear deal as eagerly as the P5+1 countries did. There will be a political confrontation, but President Obama has pledged to Iran and the five other powers in the negotiations that he would use his veto power to prevent Congress from scrapping the deal.
The confrontation may not be an easy one, if Congress refuses to ratify the nuclear deal with Iran, this means that U.S. sanctions on Tehran may not be lifted. But Tehran wants those sanctions in particular to be lifted. What will be lifted whether Congress approves or not are the U.N. sanctions. This alone is an achievement worth billions of dollars, but it would remain incomplete as long as the U.S. sanctions remain in place.
What will happen at the Security Council next week when the resolution drafted by negotiators in Vienna will be approved sets a precedent on more than one level. Russian Ambassador to the United Nations Ambassador Vitaly Churkin was right by describing the draft resolution as "one of the most complex, most creative, and most interesting draft resolutions in the history of the United Nations." The resolutions punishing Iraq because of its nuclear and regional ambitions in the era of Saddam Hussein pale by comparison
Iranian diplomacy rushed to take advantage of the country’s return to the world stage, and invited the ambassadors of the ten U.N. Security Council member states to brief them on what happened in Vienna and explain the Iranian vision of the agreement. Iranian diplomacy decided to start its new page with the Security Council by taking the initiative even before any of the five permanent member states that have veto powers.
The U.S. ambassador Samantha Power distributed to the ambassadors of the ten U.N. Security Council states the text of the resolution that the five permanent members intend to put to a vote early next week, possibly Tuesday. The resolution is “precooked” and cannot be changed or altered in any way. Therefore, what the ten elected U.N. Security Council member states have no other option but to rubberstamp the consensus of the big five and issue a resolution that will no doubt be dubbed as historic.
The complicated resolution will consist of seven pages full of technical details, in addition to seven pages and two appendices containing the Join Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) and the framework agreement between Tehran and the International Atomic Energy Agency. The draft resolution abolishes seven previous resolutions issued under Chapter VII imposing sanctions and restrictions on Iran. Among the resolutions that will be abolished automatically when the new resolution is passed are 1737 and 1747, which contain clauses prohibiting Iran from exporting weapons, military equipment, and troops, and imposes travel bans and asset freezes on a number of entities and persons.
The Security Council ignored Iranian violations of these two resolutions, which were adopted under the binding Chapter VII, as Tehran continued to dispatch advisers, troops, and weapons to Syria, Iraq, and Yemen, and to provide rockets and funding for Hezbollah in Lebanon. The Security Council turned a blind eye to protect the nuclear talks, and it is officially abolishing these resolutions even though their provisions are unrelated to the nuclear issue.
In addition, the Security Council determines, under the draft resolution, a specific date – ten years after the new resolution enters into force – for the expiry of the historic resolution. In other words, Iran will be completely liberated from the Security Council’s grip after ten years, when the Security Council will stop examining Iran’s nuclear program.
The Congress hurdle
These issues, however, will not pass easily in Congress. They must also be the subject of queries by the Arab and Gulf countries, when members of the U.S. administration will come to explain the deal and give reassurances.
Practically speaking, what the draft resolution means is that Iranian Revolutionary Guards are no longer barred from encroaching on Arab lands. It means that its ability to expand will grow because the Revolutionary Guards will be the most to benefit from the end of the sanctions and the flow of billions of dollars to accomplish its mission and impose a fait accompli.
Even if there truly is a battle in Iran between the moderates led by Hassan Rowhani and hardliners led by Qassem Soleimani, Soleimani’s faction will quickly move to achieve military victories on the ground thanks to the funds the nuclear deal will unlock. The moderates will not be able to engage in immediate confrontations with the hardliners, and any new directions the moderates adopt will come too late after the hardliners impose a fait accompli.
The exception could come however if the Supreme Leader of Iran Ayatollah Khamenei reins in Soleimani and decides to back moderates led by Rowhani as a new Iranian strategy. Such a decision would be in the interests of Iran, the region, and the world.
If the Iranian leadership acts prudently, it can take advantage of the opportunity to demonstrate its wisdom by calling a serious dialogue with Gulf leaders, especially Saudi leaders, to normalize relations and open a new page. This requires reining in Soleimani and giving strong support for Rowhani’s camp.If Iran allows by contrast to impose its dominance over Iranian decision-making and the region, which would be the biggest wastage of a historic opportunity, it would be pushing in the direction of devastating sectarian wars.
The Iranian leadership must send a strong signal to Gulf leaders, and Saudi Arabia must do the same, and send a strong signal to the Iranian leadership. This is a historic opportunity that must not be missed, whether President Obama becomes involved in it or not.

Thwarting Iran’s Regional Influence
Abdulrahman Al-Rashed/Asharq Al ASwsat/19 Jul, 2015
Why would we in the Gulf stand against Iran’s nuclear deal? We support any agreement ending all forms of confrontation with Iran and the sanctions imposed on it. The problem lies in the details. If it was a good deal, Iranians and Arabs would be happy neighbors. But it is not a good deal. The Iranian regime is like a monster that was tied to a tree and has finally been set loose in our region. This means we are on the threshold of a new, bloody era. Verbal promises from Washington will not be enough, and Iranian pledges will not reassure us. The countries of the region have only one choice: to expect a worst-case scenario.
However, every cloud has a silver lining. The withdrawal of the West from the conflict with Tehran may be a good incentive for us to reexamine the rules of confrontation. The challenges are substantial: economic, political, security, and military—all interrelated. Without a vital economy, we will not be able to improve other fronts. With the huge void caused by the withdrawal of the West from the conflict with Iran, we need to review our military capabilities according to the new reality.
Before the agreement, we had three decades of international cooperation on controlling Iranian ambitions. There was a ban on military deals, and Iran was besieged and controlled by a large fleet—this is what led the Iranians to wage war via Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas and Islamic Jihad in Palestine, Asa’ib Al-Haq in Iraq, the Houthis in Yemen, and the Syrian and Sudanese regimes.
After the agreement, however, we face one of two possibilities: Tehran will either change its ways, marking a new era of reconciliation, or it will increase its hostile activities, unencumbered by sanctions and Western involvement in the regional conflict.
Tehran does not intend to drop its aims of expanding its regional dominance and destabilizing neighboring countries, taking advantage of the lifting of sanctions, which will facilitate the transfer of funds and the purchase and shipment of arms.
Tehran intends to destabilize the region in order to impose itself on submissive regimes. It is using Hezbollah to control Lebanon. It is behind the political division in Palestine, using Hamas against the Palestinian Authority. Iran is also operating a large network of organizations and militias in Iraq to impose its authority over the country’s institutions. It is behind the Houthi coup in Yemen, where its ally has now occupied most of the country.
Iran is using the Sudanese regime for its own purposes, and is using opposition groups to spread unrest in Bahrain. Tehran is responsible for the Syrian regime’s unprecedented crimes. The list is long.
Washington believes these activities are temporary as Tehran has been using them to reach an agreement and force the lifting of sanctions.
However, we in the Gulf believe it is a fixed, long-term policy. Tehran’s dominance will expand and become more dangerous over time, even without direct conflict with the Gulf states.
The countries of the region face an imposing task when it comes to thwarting Iran’s activities in Syria, Iraq, Yemen, and elsewhere. They should deploy all possible efforts to push Tehran toward genuine reconciliation, and not settle for Iran’s current maneuvering with the West. However, managing the conflict will not be successful without improving economic and bureaucratic performance, and developing military and security forces that are necessary in light of today’s chaos and Tehran’s clear appetite for regional domination.

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Click Here to go to the LCCC Daily English/Arabic News Buletins Archieves Since 2006