Mass March on Gaza Border May Only Be The Beginning - By Yoav Limor -
Friday's "March of Return" on the Israel-Gaza Strip border ended in a way that made it clear that the Hamas-organized march was only the first act in a play that is expected to drag on for months.
Some 30,000 Palestinians took part in demonstrations along the Gaza border, during which rioters hurled rocks and firebombs at Israeli troops. Seventeen protesters were killed, and according to the Palestinians, some 1,400 were wounded. The Israeli military said that 10 of the fatalities were known terrorists.
Still, from a military standpoint, Israel can say it marked a positive outcome. The turnout was far smaller than Hamas wanted--the terrorist group was aiming for 100,000 people--and the protesters were unable to rush or sabotage the border fence.
The attempts to use the protest to carry out terrorist attacks also failed, and the Israel Defense Forces proved that it can successfully tackle complex civilian-driven events.
From a diplomatic standpoint, however, Hamas can mark a success, as the protest once again placed Gaza at the center stage of international attention.
The U.N. Security Council has called for an investigation of the violence. Even if nothing comes of this call, global public opinion would be tuned in to any future event on the border.
Moreover, Hamas military leader Yahya Sinwar has taken his place as the most important Palestinian leader today, pushing Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas aside. It was Sinwar who was able to convince the masses to take to the streets, and it was his actions that allowed the Palestinian issue to make headlines.
Abbas will now find it difficult to continue abusing the coastal enclave by withholding wages and funds for its power supply.
This situation and the perceptions derived from it all but guarantee that Friday's events will be repeated in varying frequency and intensity in the coming months.
Hamas will continue to challenge the IDF, especially on the border, to maintain international interest in the coastal enclave. The terror group's main challenge will be to continue convincing the Palestinians to show up en masse, so as to give the demonstration an air of "popular protests."
This poses a dual challenge for Israel. Militarily, the IDF will have to maintain a high level of alert on the Gaza border for a prolonged period of time, and the sector will demand considerable combat and intelligence resources.
Diplomatically, Israel is facing the complex task of making the international community understand Hamas is the one harming the Palestinians.
It is hard to explain this to an international community that judges everything as black or white, and instinctively sides with civilians who appear to be coming under military fire.
The fact that all the fatalities Friday were men and that most of them were terror operatives is lost on global public opinion. This is why Israel must find different solutions to pre-empt any international attempt to force a solution on it.
Hamas's Partners in its War Against Israel - By Caroline Glick - https://www.breakingisraelnews.com/105343/hamass-partners-in-its-war-against-israel-opinion/#xY9GX81PEhTv4rYe.97
On Friday, the Palestinian terror group Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, is inaugurating what it is calling "The March of Return."
According to Hamas's leadership, the "March of Return" is scheduled to run from March 30 - the eve of Passover - through May 15, the 70th anniversary of Israel's establishment. According to Israeli media reports, Hamas has budgeted $10 million for the operation.
Throughout the "March of Return," Hamas intends to send thousands of civilians to the Israeli border. Hamas is planning to set up tent camps along the border fence and then, presumably, order participants to overrun it on May 15. The Palestinians refer to May 15 as "Nakba," or Catastrophe Day.
The first question that observers of this spectacle need to ask themselves is whether Hamas believes that it will be able to overrun Israel.
The obvious answer is, of course, it doesn't.
So this brings us to the second question.
If Hamas doesn't expect its civilians to overrun Israel, what is it trying to accomplish by sending them into harm's way? Why it the terror group telling Gaza residents to place themselves in front of the border fence and challenge Israeli security forces charged with defending Israel?
The answer here is also obvious. Hamas intends to provoke Israel to shoot at the Palestinian civilians it is sending to the border. It is setting its people up to die because it expects their deaths to be captured live by the cameras of the Western media, which will be on hand to watch the spectacle.
In other words, Hamas's strategy of harming Israel by forcing its soldiers to kill Palestinians is predicated on its certainty that the Western media will act as its partner and ensure the success of its lethal propaganda stunt.
Given widespread assessments that Iran is keen to start a new round of war between Israel and its terror proxies, Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, it is possible that Hamas intends for this lethal propaganda stunt to be the initial stage of a larger war. By this assessment, Hamas is using the border operation to cultivate and escalate Western hostility against Israel ahead of a larger shooting war.
Several Israeli commentators have noted that Hamas's plan to send civilians to the border and, presumably, order them to breach it at a certain point, is not original. Hezbollah, acting in concert with Ahmed Jibril's Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command (PFLP-GC) and the Syrian regime, did something similar in 2011.
As the UK Guardian's Jonathan Steele reported in March 2015, that operation played a major role in transforming the civil war in Syria from a few scattered battles between the regime and opposition groups into a full-fledged civil war.
Steele recalled that ahead of "Nakba Day," on May 15, 2011, the Syrian regime sent forces into the Yarmouk refugee camp (actually an upscale neighborhood five minutes from central Damascus). In early 2011, the "camp" was home to 150,000 Palestinians and 650,000 Syrians.
The government forces encouraged the Palestinians to participate in a march on Israel on Nakba Day. On May 15, 2011, the regime sent buses to Yarmouk. Several hundred people from Yarmouk were driven to the border with Israel. The passengers alighted and began marching to Israel.
Israeli soldiers stationed on the Israeli side of the border in the Golan Heights were taken by surprise by the marchers and opened fire. Three of the Palestinians were killed.
A month later, the regime sent minivans to Yarmouk. Several dozen Palestinians climbed aboard. At the border, they were joined by several hundred more marchers. Together, they began scaling the border. Israeli forces responded with live shells and tear gas.
23 people were killed. Twelve of the dead were from Yarmouk. The next day, 30,000 people attended their funeral.
The mourners were livid at the regime for sending them to die and infuriated with Jibril for encouraging them to go. They surrounded Jibril's offices in Yarmouk. PFLP-GC gunmen killed a 14-year boy in the crowd. The angry mourners stormed the offices and burned them to the ground.
Steele reported that Jibril himself was rescued by regime forces.
The anger the Palestinians directed against the regime inspired the opposition forces to mobilize the Palestinians to their side. The Free Syrian Army and the al-Nusra Brigades took over Yarmouk.
The regime responded by laying siege on Yarmouk. Most of the residents escaped to other areas of Syria, to Lebanon and Jordan. 18,000 civilians and combatants remained. The regime starved and bombed them into submission over the ensuing three-and-a-half years.
Some Israeli commentators believe that having studied the events in Syria, Hamas will end up calling off the marches to avoid a rebellion in the event that Israel kills civilians at the border.
But there is a good reason to believe that Hamas intends to go through with the operation.
Wednesday, Arab affairs commentator Yoni Ben Menachem reported that one of the chief organizers of Hamas's March of Return is Zaher al-Birawi. According to Ben Menachem, al-Birawi, a senior Hamas and Muslim Brotherhood operative, holds the title, "Liaison for the International Committee for Breaking the Embargo on the Gaza Strip."
In years past, Ben Menachem reported, al-Birawi was a key operative involved in organizing the flotillas to Gaza.
The most lethal flotilla charged with challenging Israel's naval blockade of Gaza's coastline was the May 2010 flotilla organized by Turkey's IHH organization. IHH is an Islamist NGO affiliated with al Qaeda. The lead ship in the six-ship flotilla, the Mavi Marmara, was commanded by IHH. Most of its 630 passengers were anti-Israel activists from Western nations. Forty well-trained IHH members were on board and tasked with assaulting any and all IDF soldiers who attempted to board.
The Israeli naval commandos who were dropped onto the deck of the ship from helicopters were attacked by IHH personnel armed with axes, iron bars, knives, and guns. During a pitched battle between the IHH attackers and the naval commandos, nine soldiers were wounded, three seriously. Nine IHH attackers were killed.
Israel was harshly condemned for what the international media and the international left referred to as a murderous use of force against innocent peace activists.
Turkish President Recep Erdogan demanded that Israel pay compensation to the dead IHH attackers' families, and accused Israel of state-sponsored terrorism while opening war crimes trials against senior Israeli military commanders in Turkish courts.
During his visit to Israel in 2013, then-President Barack Obama strong-armed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to offer an apology to Erdogan and agree to pay compensation to the dead attackers' families. Obama participated and oversaw the call, which took place on the tarmac of Israel's Ben Gurion airport before Obama boarded Air Force One to depart from Israel. Most Israelis were angered by Netanyahu's apology, and Netanyahu privately said he regretted agreeing to offer one.
For their part, the Western anti-Israel activists who were on the Mavi Marmara joined the pile on against Israel, accusing its soldiers of wanton aggression against them.
Earlier this month, British investigator David Collier exposed the existence of a virulently antisemitic secret Facebook group called "Palestine Live." Collier's most newsworthy finding was that British Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn was an active member of the group until shortly after he was elected head of Labour in 2015.
Collier also reported that Greta Berlin, a member of the Palestine Live group, and one of the heads of the Free Gaza Movement that organized the Mavi Marmara flotilla together with IHH, admitted in one of her exchanges there that Israel was not responsible for the lethal events aboard the ship. Had the IHH activists - including Kenneth O'Keefe, a former U.S. Marine-turned-Hamas terrorist and "Palestine Live" group member - not attacked the Israelis, Berlin wrote, they wouldn't have opened fire.
In her words, "Had [O'Keefe] not disarmed an Israeli terrorist soldier, they would not have started to fire."
In addition to a massive quantity of axes, crowbars, chains, tear gas, knives, and other weaponry, Israeli forces found an advanced broadcast and film editing studio aboard the Mavi Marmara. The attackers clearly viewed media warfare as an integral component of their aggression against Israel.
Which brings us back to Hamas' plan to have Gaza civilians die at the border with Israel to make Israel look bad.
Israel will, no doubt, find means to undermine Hamas's operations. It has already announced it intends to use drones and snipers. The IDF can be expected to block communications. And in an interview with al-Hurra Arabic television, IDF Maj. General Yoav Mordechai warned that Israel will penalize any bus company that transports Gazans to the border.
The real issue revealed by Hamas's planned operation - as it was revealed by the Mavi Marmara, as well as by Hamas's military campaigns against Israel in 2014, 2011 and 2008-09 - is not how Israel will deal with it. The real issue is that Hamas's entire strategy is predicated on its faith that the Western media and indeed the Western left will side with it against Israel.
Hamas is certain that both the media and leftist activists and politicians in Europe and the U.S. will blame Israel for Palestinian civilian casualties. And as past experience proves, Hamas is right to believe the media and leftist activists will play their assigned role.
So long as the media and the left rush to indict Israel for its efforts to defend itself and its citizens against its terrorist foes, who turn the laws of war on their head as a matter of course, these attacks will continue and they will escalate.
If this border assault does, in fact, serve as the opening act in a larger terror war against Israel, then a large portion of the blame for the bloodshed will rest on the shoulders of the Western media for empowering the terrorists of Hamas and Hezbollah to attack Israel.
Trouble in the Holy City - By Sean Gooding -
"Behold, the day of the Lord is coming, and your spoil will be divided in your midst. For I will gather all the nations to battle against Jerusalem; the city shall be taken, the houses rifled, and the women ravished. Half of the city shall go into captivity, but the remnant of the people shall not be cut off from the city. Then the Lord will go forth and fight against those nations, as He fights in the day of battle.
"And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which faces Jerusalem on the east. And the Mount of Olives shall be split in two, from east to west, making a very large valley; Half of the mountain shall move toward the north and half of it toward the south. Then you shall flee through My mountain valley, for the mountain valley shall reach to Azal. Yes, you shall flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah."
When it rains it pours, I have heard many say over the years. Right now, Israel dwells in relative peace. But the time is coming when peace will run from them and they will wish for it and not find it. Some will make a claim that this event occurred in 70 AD when the Romans sacked Jerusalem. Now there may be a reference to this event that is well-recorded in history, but as we can see in verse 3, there has been no deliverance by the Lord to make this a fulfillment event.
Thus, we are looking for a future fulfillment of this prophecy. We are looking past the events of 70 AD and to a time when the nation will be under true invasion from a multinational force. The battle will be real; millions will die. As bad as it gets, Jerusalem will not fall to the enemy, and a small remnant will be left to defend the city and witness the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus.
At the time of the end, there will be two major battles. One will be the nations of the earth against the nation of Israel as recorded here. The second will be the nations of the world led by Satan himself attacking Jerusalem when Jesus is the king of Israel. These attacks are 1,000 years apart, and this needs to be noted.
Make no mistake; Satan knows that whoever rules from Jerusalem is the one who rules the world. The resurrection of Israel is one of the greatest attests to the validity of the Bible in the history of man.
The mere fact that the world is still focused on the nation of Israel, and in particular the city of Jerusalem, is the reminder that we should be looking for the emergence of the New World Order. It is running rampant in the USA, it is technically running Europe, and we are seeing the Globalization of the world come to life right in front of us.
Ezekiel 38
There are two attacks that will come on the nation of Israel. The first will come from the surrounding armies; they are Iran, Ethiopia, Libya, Russia, Turkey and others. We are told that 'thoughts' will come into their minds and they will decide to collectively invade Israel. Man, what a bad idea! God will show up, not like Jesus does in our text, but God will mess with their minds and they will turn on each other. Ezekiel 38: 21 tells us,
"I will call for a sword against Gog throughout all My mountains,' says the Lord God. 'Every man's (invading soldier's) sword will be against his brother (ally) [in panic and confusion]'" (AMP).
God did this at least once before with the invading armies of Sennacherib in 2 Kings 18-19. This massive army surrounds Jerusalem, and God turns them on each other; and overnight, an army of 185,000 men is decimated.
People just will not learn. This great war will change the landscape of Israel; there will be earthquakes and maybe even a volcano, in the understanding of some commentators. Nevertheless, the end result will be the total destruction of Israel's enemies.
Zechariah 14
This is the second of the two attacks. This one will come closer to the end of the Tribulation. The governments of the world will enter into a treaty, we are told in Daniel, with the nation of Israel, driven by some factor - either the Rapture or the defeat of the previous military endeavor. The nations of the world will enter into a 7-year treaty with Israel. We see this in Daniel 9: 26-27.
"And after the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself; and the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end of it shall be with a flood, and till the end of the war desolations are determined. Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week; but in the middle of the week he shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate, even until the consummation, which is determined, is poured out on the desolate."
Each day of the weeks mentioned above represents a year. So, as we see in verse 27, the 'he' - the Anti-Christ, the leader of the world after the Tribulation - will sign a treaty that lasts 7 years (a week) with the nation of Israel that will allow them to rebuild the Temple and will appear, on the surface, to offer lasting peace with their enemies.
Halfway into the treaty we are told, he, the Anti-Christ, will defile the Temple by declaring himself to be god and defiling the Temple. He will set up an image or an idol that will require worship, similar to what Nebuchadnezzar did in Daniel 2. This will open the eyes of the Jews to the fact that the man they think is the Messiah is an imposter; and the whole world will turn on them as they begin to run back to God and begin to call for a deliverer like they did in the days of Moses. God will hear their call; but before Jesus shows up, they will go through a period of great suffering, and then Jesus will show up.
Make no mistake; the entire period of the Tribulation is about Israel and God. First, they will turn to a false messiah like they have for thousands of years; and they will then repent and turn to the Lord God of Israel, who will show up and rescue His people. And, what a rescue that will be!
Revelation 19: 11-16
Jesus in all His Glory will split the eastern sky, flanked by the armies of heaven. We were introduced to them in 2 Kings 6:16-17.
"So he answered, 'Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.' Then Elisha prayed and said, 'O LORD, I pray, open his eyes that he may see.' And the LORD opened the servant's eyes and he saw; and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha."
God allows Elisha's servant to see His armies surrounding the enemies of Israel. There is constant war in the heavens. Michael, one of the Archangels, is mentioned in fights in the books of Daniel and Jude; He fought over the body of Moses. We are literally surrounded by spiritual war all the time. It will flow over into the sight of man that day in Revelation 19.
Every eye will see the Lord Jesus step foot on Jewish soil for the first time in 2,000+ years. He will cause a great earthquake, and the battle that ensues will be gruesome for the enemies of Israel. Millions will die, bodies everywhere. Blood and human remains will scatter the hillside of the Mount of Olives as the King of Israel and then of the World will come to claim his rightful Kingdom. See Revelation 19:11-16.
"Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war. His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except Himself. He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God.
"And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses. Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written:
"KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS."
Zechariah has been right about every prophecy so far. He talked about Jesus being betrayed for 30 pieces of Silver, he talked about Him being pierced, and He talked about the fact that Israel would be restored in the last days. He is right about this war as well. It is coming. We can see the hatred for Israel in places like the UN. Imagine what that hatred will be like when it is fueled by the spirit of delusion that God will allow, according to 2 Thessalonians 2: 9-12.
"The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness."
There is a horrible time coming, a time sent by God that will allow lies to prosper and grow at such a rate that the whole world, for the most part, will believe the lies of Satan. The world we live in is being conditioned for this. There are false churches set up to teach the doctrines of deception. Truth is being outlawed as hatred; and all that we have known to be true for millennia, even to the gender of people, is being questioned, and lies are being legislated into law by the 'enlightened.'
The buildup to this has begun; it has been in place for hundreds of years with a determined group of persons who are as committed to the kingdom of darkness as the New Testament church should be to the kingdom of Light.
Here's Why Hamas Is Stirring Deadly Border Riots with Israel - by Aaron Klein - http://www.breitbart.com/jerusalem/2018/03/30/klein-heres-hamas-stirring-deadly-border-protests-israel/
At least fourteen Gazans were killed and over 1,100 were reportedly wounded in Hamas-instigated mass protests and riots along the Israel-Gaza border. Hamas is singlehandedly responsible for every one of those deaths and injuries.
Israel must use heavy-handed tactics to quell riots in which Gazans attempt to violently storm the border of a sovereign nation. The Times of Israel reported on the deadly tactics used by the so-called protesters: "Rioters threw firebombs and stones at troops, tried to bomb and breach the security fence, and burned tires." Today's carnage follows numerous attempted terrorist attacks and infiltrations along the Gaza border during the past six days.
The international news media has largely failed to provide proper context for the "protests" taking place today, framing the events as grassroots demonstrations aiming to secure a Palestinian state.
The AFP, for example, reported:
Tens of thousands of Gazans took to the streets Friday in mass protests calling for Palestinians to be allowed to return to land that their ancestors fled from in the 1948 war but that is now part of Israel.
The AFP, like scores of other news outlets, is seemingly uninterested in asking the simple question: Why the protests now? The shallow coverage misses the fact that the Hamas terrorist organization meticulously planned today's unrest, and they have been openly calling for a series of upcoming border clashes with Israel slated to peak next month during Israel's Independence Day celebrations.
Hamas has been selling the mass protest movement as "return rallies", marketing the fiction that Palestinians have a so-called right of return to the state of Israel.
Hamas, famous for its use of civilians as human shields, has in reality been cynically utilizing the Palestinian protesters to stir up tension along the Gaza border out of sheer desperation over its increasingly desperate predicament.
The Islamist terrorist group understands the Gaza population is frustrated that 11 years of Hamas rule has resulted in destructive wars - launched each time by Hamas itself - and an economy dangerously teetering on the brink of collapse. Hamas's decision to turn Gaza into a terrorist enclave has prompted an Israel-Egypt boycott that has impacted all aspects of Gaza life, although Israel allows for truckloads of humanitarian goods and supplies per day to enter Gaza.
Gazan's are also suffering from the Hamas-Fatah divide, with the rulers of the West Bank and Gaza Strip failing to reach a reconciliation agreement that would likely result in the flow of aid to Gaza.
Hamas views Israel's upcoming 70th anniversary and President Donald Trump's historic decision to relocate the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem as perfect opportunities to channel Gazans anger and redirect the rage toward the easiest target - Israel.
Hamas knows the ensuing casualty count will bring international news media attention to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, and it will thrust the issue to the forefront of the foreign policy debate.
The border clashes may also press Egypt into easing the blockade and putting Egyptian pressure on Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah party to reach a reconciliation deal since Gaza tensions usually favor the jihadists operating against Egypt in the Sinai. Abbas must fear that the protests could spread to the West Bank and threaten his rule there.
Lastly, Hamas may also be signaling to Iran and to other potential state patrons that Hamas is still the dominant player in Gaza and that it is useful to financially support the terrorist movement once again.
In failing to provide the full context for the deadly border riots, the news media are unwittingly helping Hamas achieve its objectives.
Saudi Prince Recognizes Israel's Right to Exist In Interview - By Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz -
"Arabia and all Kedar's chiefs were traders under your rule; they traded with you in lambs, rams, and goats." Ezekiel 27:21 (The Israel Bible�)
In a historic move, Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman acknowledged Israel's right to exist, in an interview with Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic, while adding fuel to an already raging fire by comparing Iran's leader to Hitler.
"I believe that each people, anywhere, has a right to live in their peaceful nation," the Saudi Prince told Goldberg. "I believe the Palestinians and the Israelis have the right to have their own land, but we have to have a peace agreement to assure the stability for everyone and to have normal relations."
Saudi Arabia still does not have official diplomatic relations with Israel. Although it is unprecedented for a Saudi leader to recognize the legitimacy of the Jewish State, bin Salman's remarks were not shocking and unexpected. Goldberg noted that "the Saudis, like many Arab leaders, have tired of the Palestinians," reflecting recent reports of "fraying" relations between Saudi Arabia and the Palestinian Authority (PA).
Israel, in contrast, has much to offer Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries in the region according to Prince Salman.
"Israel is a big economy compared to their size and it's a growing economy, and of course there are a lot of interests we share with Israel and if there is peace, there would be a lot of interest between Israel and the Gulf Cooperation Council countries and countries like Egypt and Jordan."
According to Prince bin Salman, religious differences between Saudi Arabia and Israel would not necessarily preclude the development of bilateral relations between both countries.
"Our country doesn't have a problem with Jews," he claimed. "Our Prophet Muhammad married a Jewish woman. Not just a friend-he married her. Our prophet, his neighbors were Jewish."
"You will find a lot of Jews in Saudi Arabia coming from America, coming from Europe," he continued. "There are no problems between Christian and Muslims and Jews. We have problems like you would find anywhere in the world, among some people. But the normal sort of problems."
Nevertheless, bin Salman expressed anxiety over Israeli policy on the Temple Mount, the Jewish people's holiest site.
"We have religious concerns about the fate of the holy mosque in Jerusalem and about the rights of the Palestinian people," he said in the interview. "This is what we have. We don't have any objection against any other people."
The motives behind Prince Salman's receptiveness to initiate relations with Israel may be twofold. Prince Salman is advocating a pet project dubbed Vision 2030, a wide-reaching plan to remove Saudi Arabia's dependence on exporting finite oil as the basis for its economy. He may therefore views Israel as an economic and technological power in the region that could work to Saudi Arabia's advantage.
Even more influential might be a common nemesis shared by Israel and Saudi Arabia in Iran. Bin Salman once again compared the Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, to Hitler, makes is a powerful incentive.
"I believe the Iranian supreme leader makes Hitler look good," Prince Salman said. "Hitler didn't do what the supreme leader is trying to do. Hitler tried to conquer Europe ... But the supreme leader is trying to conquer the world. He believes he owns the world. They are both evil guys," he said to
"He is the Hitler of the Middle East. In the 1920s and 1930s, no one saw Hitler as a danger," bin Salman added. "We don't want to see what happened in Europe happen in the Middle East. We want to stop this through political moves, economic moves, intelligence moves. We want to avoid war."
Prince Salman was critical of the influence the previous White House administration had on the region and specifically, with regards to Iran.
"President Obama believed that if he gave Iran opportunities to open up, it would change," Salman explained. "But with a regime based on this ideology, it will not open up soon. Sixty percent of the Iranian economy is controlled by the Revolutionary Guard. The economic benefits of the Iran nuclear deal are not going to the people."
The Prince noted that little, if any, of the sanctions relief for Iran under the 2015 international nuclear deal was funneled to the Iranian military instead of the Iranian society. Prince Salman also doubted the international nuclear agreement's likelihood of helping to reform Iran for the better.
"For Saudi Arabia, there is a 0.1 percent chance that this deal would work to change the country," Prince Salman said. "For President Obama it was 50 percent. But even if there's a 50 percent chance that it would work, we can't risk it. The other 50 percent is war. We have to go to a scenario where there is no war."
A March to Destroy Israel - by Bassam Tawil -
On March 30, an attempt by tens of thousands of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip to infiltrate the border with Israel launched a six-week campaign of mass protests -- called the "March of Return" -- organized by Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other radical Palestinian groups.
The groups encouraged Palestinians in the Gaza Strip to head to the areas adjacent to the border with Israel. The protesters were also encouraged to try to infiltrate the border, thus putting their lives at risk.
Hamas and its allies told the protesters that the "March of Return" marked the beginning of the "liberation of all of Palestine, from the Mediterranean Sea to the Jordan River." In other words, the Palestinians were told that infiltrating the border with Israel would be the first step toward destroying Israel.
Hamas leaders Ismail Haniyeh and Yehya Sinwar, who joined the March 30 mass protests along the border with Israel, did not hide the real goal behind the "March of Return" -- to destroy Israel and thwart US President Donald Trump's yet-to-be-announced plan for peace in the Middle East.
The two Hamas leaders told the protesters that the March 30 demonstrations marked the beginning of a "new phase in the Palestinians' national struggle on the road to liberating all of Palestine, from the river to the sea." Haniyeh and Sinwar also made it clear that the "March of Return" had another goal: to foil any attempt by the Arabs to make peace or normalize their relations with Israel.
Based on statements made by Hamas leaders, the "March of Return" campaign is not about improving the living conditions of the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. Nor is it about finding ways to solve the "humanitarian" and "economic" crises in the Gaza Strip.
Hamas and its allies did not send the protesters to the border with Israel to demand jobs and medicine. They did not encourage Palestinians to risk their lives at the border with Israel because of the lack of electricity supplies to the Gaza Strip.
Instead, the organizers sent the Palestinians to the border after assuring them that this was the only way to flood Israel with hundreds of thousands of Palestinian "refugees" as part of the "right of return." The "right of return" refers to the Palestinian demand that Israel allow Palestinian "refugees" and their descendants to move to Israel.
As Zaher Birawi, one of the organizers of the "March of Return" explained, "The right of return is sacred and a red line not to be crossed. The Palestinians will do their utmost to achieve this right."
His words, together with those of the two Hamas leaders, prove that the mass protests are aimed at forcing Israel to accept millions of Palestinian "refugees" as a first step towards turning Jews into a minority in their own country. The next step would be to kill or expel the Jews and replace Israel with an Islamic state.
Crucial here is the fact that what we witnessed along the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel on March 30 was not a protest by poverty-stricken and miserable Palestinians against a blockade of any kind.
If that were so, why didn't the organizers ask Palestinians to march toward the border with Egypt? The real blockade on the Gaza Strip is being imposed by Egypt, and not Israel.
In 2017, the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip was open altogether for less than 30 days; by contrast, the border between Israel and the Gaza Strip was open for more than 280 days during the same year.
Israel enforces a naval blockade on the Gaza Strip that is meant to prevent Iran, Hezbollah and other terror parties from smuggling weapons into the coastal enclave controlled by Hamas. At the same time, Israel has kept its border crossings with Gaza for the movement of goods and individuals.
Israel permits Palestinians to enter and leave the Gaza Strip through the Erez border crossing. Last month, the Palestinian Authority Prime Minister entered the Gaza Strip through the Erez border crossing, only to have his convoy targeted by a roadside bomb once inside Hamas-controlled Gaza. Israel also allows foreigners to enter the Gaza Strip through the same border crossing. They include journalists, diplomats, and hundreds of foreigners working for various international aid agencies, including the United Nations.
All this while the Rafah border crossing with Egypt remains closed. Since the beginning of this year, the Egyptians opened the border crossing intermittently only for two or three days each time. Egypt also continues to bar foreigners from entering the Gaza Strip through the Rafah terminal. Even Arabs who want to help the people of the Gaza Strip are forced to enter through the Erez border crossing because the Egyptians do not give them permission to use the Rafah terminal.
Take, for example, the Qatari envoy to the Gaza Strip, Ambassador Mohammed Al Emadi. Each time he leaves and enters the Gaza Strip, he uses the Erez border crossing with Israel. The Egyptians will not allow him or any other Arab seeking to help the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip to enter through the Rafah terminal.
Given this reality, the question is: Why aren't the Palestinian protests directed against Egypt? The answer is obvious.
The Palestinians know that messing with the Egyptian army will cost them a heavy price. If Israel used snipers to stop the March 30 protesters from crossing the border, the Egyptian response would undoubtedly have been much tougher. The Egyptians would have used artillery and warplanes against the Palestinian demonstrators. The Palestinians are well aware that the Egyptian army would raze the entire Gaza Strip if the Palestinians breached the border and undermined Egypt's national security.
Besides, the "March of Return" is intended as part of the Palestinian national struggle against the "Zionist entity" -- Israel -- and has nothing to do with the closure of any border.
It is part of the Palestinian jihad (holy war) to eliminate Israel, which they see as a "colonialist project" imposed on the Arabs by Western powers after World War II. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, in a rare moment of honesty, admitted earlier this year that this is precisely how Palestinians and Arabs perceive Israel.
The organizers of the "March of Return" have made it clear that besides flooding Israel with millions of Palestinian "refugees," the campaign has two other objectives: to foil Trump's "deal of the century" and stop any form of Arab normalization with Israel.
The Palestinians have proclaimed a wholesale rejection of Trump's plan because they know it will not advance their goal of turning Jews into a minority in their own country. Trump's plan, they believe, does not recognize the Palestinian "right of return," which means that "refugees" and their descendants will not be allowed to move into Israel, turning it into an Arab-majority state.
The organizers of the "March of Return" have clearly stated that this is a driving force behind the mass protests -- to send a message to the Trump administration that Palestinians will not accept any deal that does not facilitate their dream of replacing Israel with an Arab Islamic state.
The "March of Return" is also aimed at sending a warning to the Palestinian Authority and the Arab countries not to make any concessions to Israel or collaborate with the Trump administration.
Again, this is not what political analysts are saying. Instead, these are the exact words and phrases used by the organizers of the event. Their ultimate goal: to prevent Mahmoud Abbas and his Palestinian Authority from returning to the negotiating table with Israel and to threaten Arab countries not to sign peace agreements with Israel.
Now, the organizers are telling us that the "March of Return" will continue and reach its peak in mid-May, on the 70th anniversary of the establishment of Israel.
The "March of Return" is yet another phase in the Palestinian attempt to wipe out the presence of Israel in the Middle East, not about any blockade. The "March of Return" is an anti-peace campaign designed to thwart any attempt to achieve peace between Israel and the Arab countries.
The leaders of Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the other groups that organized the mass protests are now complaining about the high death toll and accusing Israel of opening fire at "unarmed and peaceful" protesters. These are the same leaders who urged their people to head to the border with Israel and to try to force their way into Israel. These are the same leaders who encouraged their people to damage the security fence along the border with Israel. Did they expect the Israeli soldiers to greet them with flowers?
As for Mahmoud Abbas, he has supplied yet more proof of his towering hypocrisy. Hours after the violent confrontations along the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel, Abbas appeared on Palestine TV to hold Israel "fully responsible" for the violence and death and injury of the protesters.
This is the same Abbas who recently told us that Hamas was a terror group that was behind the March 13 botched assassination attempt on his prime minister. This is the same Abbas who last year imposed sanctions on the Gaza Strip by suspending payments for electricity supplied to the Gaza Strip by Israel and suspending payments to thousands of civil servants there. Instead of condemning Hamas for sending the Palestinians to clash with the Israeli army and endanger their lives, Abbas chose to denounce Israel for protecting its border.
The Palestinian "March of Return" is being mistakenly referred to by some journalists and political analysts as a "peaceful and popular" drive by Palestinians demanding freedom and better living conditions.
Palestinians' living conditions in the Gaza Strip could be improved if the Egyptians only opened the Rafah border crossing and allowed Palestinians to leave and allowed Arabs and others to come and help the people there. Their lives could be improved if Hamas stopped building terror tunnels and smuggling weapons.
But, as has become evident by now, the "March of Return" is nothing but a declaration of war on Israel and the Trump administration.
Gaza Protests Show the 'Land-for-Peace' Concept Has Failed - Martin Sherman -
The mass demonstrations that took place over the weekend on the fence separating Gaza from Israel underscored two points of grave significance. The one relates to past decisions made by Israel; the other to future ones it will have to make.
With regard to the past, it is clear that the formula of land for peace has failed dramatically, disastrously, and definitively.
Land for Peace Has Failed Both Jew and Arab
After all, it was in Gaza that the misguided experiment of attempting to foist self-rule on the Palestinians was initiated with Yasir Arafat's triumphant return to the coastal enclave in July 1994, amid fanfare and international acclaim.
The events of last Friday have proven just how unfounded the high hopes of peace and prosperity, back then, were. For the process that was set in motion in mid-1994 has - predictably - brought only trauma and tragedy to Jew and Arab alike.
However, although it has imposed several serious security challenges on Israel - such as suicide bombing, overhead rockets, underground terror tunnels, lone-wolf knifing, and ramming attacks - what it has wrought on the Palestinian-Arabs is far worse - particularly in Gaza, where it all began.
With frequent and extended power outages, soaring unemployment, pervasive penury, undrinkable water, polluted beaches and awash in flows of raw sewage, the largely destitute Gazan population has been the real victim of two-statism and the ill-conceived initiative to grant them political sovereignty. To make matters even worse, the head of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, locked in a fierce power struggle with Hamas that (mis)governs Gaza, is threatening to make the situation of the hapless Gazans even worse by further cutting off funds to reduce electric power, food, and medical supplies.
So after almost a quarter century after the Oslo Accords were signed, allowing self-rule to the Gazan-Arabs, and well over a decade after Israel completely evacuated the Gaza Strip, removing any remnant of Jewish presence, hordes of Gazans, tens of thousands strong, massed at the border, egged on by their leaders to obliterate Israel - within the pre-"occupation" borders - in what was dubbed the "March of Return."
A March to Destroy Israel
This was clearly articulated in the fiery proclamation by the head of Hamas, Yahya Sinwar, who vowed: "The 'March of Return' will continue. It will not stop until we remove this transient border. Friday's protests mark the beginning of a new phase in the Palestinian national struggle on the road to liberation...and the return of the Palestinian refugees and their descendants to their former homes inside Israel..."
He continued, declaring, "The 'March of Return' affirms that our people cannot give up one inch of the land of Palestine ... The protests will continue until the Palestinians return to the lands from which they were expelled 70 years ago."
The reference to erasing the "transient border" between Gaza and pre-1967 Israel, to the "return of the Palestinian refugees and their descendants to their former homes inside Israel and...the lands from which they were expelled 70 years ago" removes any doubt as to the purpose of the so-called "March of the Return."
For this clearly indicates that the sense of "grievance" that the March is intended to address is not any alleged injustice due to the "Occupation" (which began in 1967 just over 50 years ago) but the existence of Israel as a Jewish state (established in 1948, i.e. 70 years ago).
Thus as Gatestone's Bassam Tawil aptly points out in his "A March to Destroy Israel": "Hamas leaders Ismail Haniyeh and Yehya Sinwar... did not hide the real goal behind the 'March of Return' - to destroy Israel."
"We Will Eat the Livers of the Jews"
Israel can ill-afford to treat the "March" as anything less ominous - especially in light of the manifest resolve to continue - indeed, escalate - the hostile rally on the border. Indeed, recent reports suggest that the participants will attempt to obscure the vision of the IDF forces with smoke screens produced by burning huge quantities of old tires and blinding IDF sharpshooters with mirrors and lasers, to allow rioters to breach the fence, undetected.
One need little imagination to picture the ghastly consequences were a tiny fraction of the frenzied mob, pressing against the fence were to burst through and overrun a single Israeli community close to the border, butchering the residents, ravaging the women, and razing the homes. After all, it was none other than Sinwar himself who unabashedly pledged publicly that the invading Gazans would "eat the livers" of Israelis they encountered.
Clearly, Israel cannot afford to treat this initiative to launch a popular invasion of its sovereign territory with anything other than zero tolerance. For even the perception of partial Palestinian success is likely to ignite similar mass marches in Judea-Samaria, on Israel's northern border and even among Israeli Arabs in the Galilee, the Ara Valley and the Negev.
"March" Is an Act of War, the Participants Enemy Combatants
The sustained specter of large, potentially violent - even lethal - mass demonstrations will inevitably draw off and pin down large numbers of troops, which will disrupt other IDF activities. This could obviously be used as a distraction or a diversion to facilitate perpetration of other terror activities.
Accordingly, Israel must convey, unambiguously, that it will consider the continuation of the "March of Return" an overt act of war - and all the participants in it, enemy combatants - who must expect to face all the risks that entails.
Abbas Targets Hamas, Then Condemns Israel for Targeting Hamas - by Bassam Tawil -
The Palestinian Authority (PA), now calling for an international inquiry into the March 30 events along the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel, says that Palestinians in the Gaza Strip have the right to demonstrate and protest against Israel.
Ironically, however, when it comes to areas under the control of the PA in the West Bank, Palestinians are banned from staging protests in front of President Mahmoud Abbas's "presidential" Mukata headquarters in Ramallah. In general, the PA leadership does not tolerate any form of criticism -- which happens to be the reason that protests against Abbas and his government are virtually unheard of.
The only protests the PA accepts and welcomes are those directed against Israel. Yes, in PA-controlled territories in the West Bank, Palestinians can stage daily protests against Israel anywhere and at any time they wish! They can throw stones at IDF soldiers and Jewish settlers, and the Palestinian policemen will do nothing to stop them. Does any Palestinian, however, dare to throw a stone at a Palestinian policeman? You guessed it. Definitely not.
In a similar vein, the PA security forces feel free to arrest any Palestinian they want, even for the most trivial infraction. They are allowed to hold Palestinians in detention without trial and deny them visits by their family and lawyer. They are allowed to arrest any Palestinian journalists they wish for posting supposedly critical remarks on Facebook. Rami Samara, for instance, was arrested by PA security forces on April 3. for criticizing "arbitrary measures" taken by the PA against Palestinian journalists. Unwilling to face the strong protests by human rights organizations and Palestinian journalists, Abbas ordered the release of Samara hours after the journalist was taken into custody.
Again ironically, hardly a day passes without the PA and its institutions condemning Israel for arresting Palestinians in the West Bank for security-related offenses. The PA often denounces the Israeli arrests as "abductions" and "violations of human rights" of Palestinians. Yet, this is the same PA that takes liberties in arresting and harassing Palestinians on a daily basis, mostly for being affiliated with rival groups, and for voicing criticism of the PA leadership and its policies - not to mention corruption.
When Israel arrests Hamas and Islamic Jihad supporters, the PA expresses outrage and demands the immediate release of the suspects. When the PA stages a campaign of arrests against its political opponents, however, suddenly, everything changes. Then, Palestinians are required to remain silent and even support their leaders and security forces for supposedly defending the national interests of the Palestinian public or "preserving law and order."
Consider, for example the following: just in March, Abbas's security forces in the West Bank arrested 210 Palestinians for allegedly being affiliated with Hamas and other Palestinian opposition groups. Another 121 Palestinians were summoned for interrogation by the PA security forces. The PA security forces also raided the homes of 49 Palestinians for various reasons, including critical comments on social media. At least eight detainees are said to be on hunger strikes in PA prisons in different parts of the West Bank. Among the detainees in Palestinian prisons are 25 university students, two school pupils, three journalists, one human rights activist, three school teachers, an engineer, two physicians and two university lecturers.
On April 4, the families of some of the Palestinians held by the PA security forces tried to hold a peaceful sit-in strike in front of Abbas's office in Ramallah to demand the release of their sons. The families, however, were told that it was forbidden to stage any form of protest in front of Abbas's headquarters for "security reasons." The families were told that they could instead go to one of the streets in the center of Ramallah and protest there. The only demonstrations that are permitted in and around Abbas's headquarters are those where Palestinians pledge allegiance to their 83-year-old president or to protest against Israel.
At the April 4 protest, the wives and mothers of the detainees complained that their sons were being held without trial and without family and lawyer visitations. The wife of Ziad Kilani, arrested last month by the PA security forces, said that she and her family do not know anything about their son and do not know where or why he is being held. Kilani's mother said that when she asked the PA security officers the reason for her son's detention, she was told that he was being held on the order of a top Palestinian official. She said that when she asked the official himself, he denied any knowledge of the matter.
The Palestinians say that the vast majority of the detainees arrested by Abbas's security forces are detained solely for their political affiliations. They say these "politically motivated" arrests are part of the PA's continued security crackdown on its political rivals in the West Bank, including Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
Huda Na'im, member of the Palestinian Legislative Council -- the Palestinian parliament that has been paralyzed for the past decade because of the power struggle between Hamas and Abbas's ruling Fatah faction -- called for the immediate release of all the Palestinian detainees held in PA prisons. "The ongoing politically motivated arrests in the West Bank [by the PA security forces] constitute a crime against the Palestinian people, and only serve the interests of Israel," she said. Nai'm called on the PA to backtrack on its "treacherous practices. She also called for bringing the commanders of the PA security forces responsible for the arrests to trial for politically motivated arrests and torture.
Some may argue that the PA security forces are doing a good job by targeting Palestinians affiliated with Hamas and Islamic Jihad. One is left, however, with the nagging question: Why does the PA castigate Israel when it does the same thing against Hamas and Islamic Jihad?
During the March 30 events along the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel, several Palestinians belonging to Hamas and other armed groups in the Gaza Strip were killed by the Israeli army. The victims were not supporters of Abbas and Fatah. In fact, they were Abbas's enemies. Didn't Abbas recently hold Hamas responsible for the March 13 assassination attempt against his prime minister, Rami Hamdallah, during a visit to the northern Gaza Strip? Didn't Abbas threaten to take "legal, financial and national measures against Hamas? Didn't he threaten that "shoes will be pouring on the heads of the most junior and senior official in Hamas?"
Here is the situation: Abbas is arresting and torturing Palestinians on suspicion of being affiliated with Hamas at the same time that he is criticizing Israel for killing or arresting members of Hamas.
Abbas and his government want the international community to launch an investigation against Israel for killing a number of their Hamas enemies in the Gaza Strip. Abbas and his government say Palestinians are entitled to demonstrate near the border with Israel and endanger the lives of soldiers and Israeli citizens but are not allowed to stage a small protest outside his Ramallah office for "security reasons."
Abbas and his government actually owe Israel a massive debt of thanks for targeting their enemies -- the same enemies they just accused of trying to assassinate Abbas' prime minister in the Gaza Strip last month.
Instead, Abbas is busy inciting against Israel and accusing it of committing "massacres" against "unarmed" civilians in the Gaza Strip. Who is Abbas fooling? Doesn't Abbas see that even Hamas has boasted that several of those killed by the Israeli army were members of Hamas's military wing, Izaddin al Qassam?
Again, we are showered by Abbas and the PA leadership with deceit and dissimulation. Were it not for Israel, these Hamas men would have crossed the border from the Gaza Strip and killed not only Israelis, but the Palestinian president and many of his Ramallah-based cronies.
As the leader of the Palestinians, Abbas should be criticizing Hamas and other terror groups for sending children, the elderly, women and "unarmed civilians" to the border with Israel, where they are endangering their lives. Abbas, however, is terrified of Hamas. He is also afraid of his own people, whom he has taught to hate - more than they love life.
Abbas, of course, knows the truth: that Hamas is sending Palestinians to be killed and injured near the border with Israel just to be able to hold up dead Palestinian babies with which to blame Israel in front of the press.
Abbas, however, is not only hypocrite, he is a coward. He knows it is safer for him to turn the heat falsely against Israel -- the same Israel that is propping up his regime in the West Bank -- and ensuring that Hamas does not drag him to the center of Ramallah and hang him as a traitor.
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