24-Jun-18: Chilling: In boasting of those she killed, the fugitive terrorist can barely control her excitement

Ahlam Tamimi lies, exaggerates, thrills to the excitement of murdering Israelis, and especially Jewish children. Here she is - the fugitive from US justice for whom the Kingdom of Jordan is prepared to risk everything, including the flagrant breaching of its 1995 Extradition  Treaty with its most important ally.

For background to the July 2012 Kuwaiti television interview of which the clip above is just an excerpt, see our post "5-May-13: Self-confessed jihadist murderer: "With my media card, I was able to enter back and forth, undetected..."

(Some of the sources for that 2013 post seem to have disappeared. Here's an archived version.)

The cold-blooded interviewer is a Kuwaiti Islamic preacher, Dr. Mohammed Al-Awadi. His popular TV program is entitled “Bayni wa Baynkom” ("Between Me and You").

22-Oct-17: The mass-murdering savage, an FBI fugitive, sends her apologies

Happy "pioneers of Jerusalem" in Istanbul yesterday. The
jihadist savage Tamimi is missing from the photo - the explanation
is below in her own words [Image Source]

An Arabic-language report on a government-controlled Kuwaiti news site informs us that a conference under the headline "Fourth Pioneers of Jerusalem Forum" took place in Istanbul, Turkey, this weekend. (If there was Turkish media coverage, we haven't found it yet.)

This caught our eye because one of the speakers was our daughter's murderer, the on-the-run savage Ahlam Tamimi, now relatively well-known as the youngest fugitive Most Wanted Terrorist on the FBI's list . She currently lives in Jordan (the place she was born and raised) and is the subject of an unsatisfied extradition request by the United States government.

Tamimi interviewed in Kuwait's Al-Rai TV studio in July 2012,
gloating over dead Jewish children and how she killed them

As we have written before, the circumstances in which Jordan chooses not to comply with its 1995 treaty obligations make clear to us and to experts we have consulted that Tamimi is being afforded special protection by the monarch of Jordan, King Abdullah II.

[See the background at "23-Mar-17: Looking for justice in Jordan, Jerusalem and Washington"]

The Kuwaiti report, published by an arm of Kuwait's Ministry of Information, says this of the female jihadist (machine-translated from the original Arabic which explains the jerkiness):

Released prisoner Ahlam al-Tamimi said in a recorded speech that she was unable to attend the forum because she was listed on the wanted list of the International Police (Interpol), that Palestinian women played the main and most important role during the popular uprisings, viewing many of the old and modern jihadist roles of women. Al-Tamimi called on Arab women to break the silence and support Palestinian women by organizing weekly demonstrations and supporting their steadfastness in various ways. Women's organizations and human rights organizations also demanded that Palestinian women in general and women prisoners in particular be allowed to take their rights... The International Women's Coalition for Jerusalem and Palestine [evidently the organizer of the event] was founded in 2014 on the sidelines of a forum for pioneers in the Islamic world to support the steadfastness of Palestinian women and expose the Zionist violations that are being inflicted on Al-Aqsa Mosque in addition to activating projects and activities aimed at supporting Jerusalem and Palestine in all countries and resisting normalization with the occupation in all its forms.

The Arabic version of the FBI Tamimi
Wanted poster [Online original here]

Machine translations often have problems with expressions that possess special and distinct meanings in their original languages. When the Kuwaiti editors put words like "steadfast", "pioneers" and "take their rights" into the mouth of a self-confessed and boastful murderer of fifteen innocent people, most of them children, it's entirely possible that in Arabic she was saying things far more blood-curdling and hate-filled than the bland English that comes out at the end.

The Kuwaiti site does have an English-language edition. But for reasons only its editors and the commissars to whom they report know, the Tamimi quote and the report of those happy pioneers in Turkey are an Arabic-language exclusive. They go unreported in the English-language edition. (The editors and government officials evidently know what their markets want.)

We already knew that in Kuwait, they admire Tamimi and the murders she engineered: she was an honored and highly publicized visitor there, including being interviewed at length on one of their television stations, first in July 2012 (on Iqraa TV - transcript here and reported by us here) and then again in March 2014.

As for Tamimi's mention of Interpol, here's what we think she means:

Jordan's absolute ruler

So long as she stays within the borders of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, she's safe. That's provided King Abdullah II, the ruler of the kingdom who single-handedly appoints every last one of its judges and exercises total control over its lawmakers by dissolving the country's parliament roughly once every fifteen months (that's according to the US Congressional Research Service), keeps blocking US extradition efforts. As long as he does, and keeps ignoring the plain language of a 1995 extradition treaty his father signed with the Clinton administration 22 years ago, the boastful murderer will be safe.

But the minute she gets on a plane to travel - and she has done lots of travel since her freedom was extorted by Hamas in the Shalit Deal of 2011 - then she is at risk of being taken into custody.

That's the result of an arrest order announced in March 2017 ["14-Mar-17: Sbarro massacre mastermind is now formally charged and extradition is sought"] and made by a Federal judge four years earlier in Washington DC. In Istanbul, Turkey, she's a steadfast pioneer. In Amman, Jordan, she's a national hero and symbol of the resistance.

In Washington, and via the eyes of the US Justice Department and the FBI, she's one of its most wanted fugitives.

04-May-16: Begging for spare Arab change at UNRWA

Everyone and his personal struggle: Addressing transport
issues in the UAE [Image Source: Reuters]

In the Middle East, there are two fundamental, but different, realities that influence strongly the shape of the Arab/Israel conflict. One is the passion with which Arab states, especially the richest among them, pledge undying support for the "resistance" "struggle" of the Palestinian Arabs. The other is the financial resources they put behind that "support".

UN Palestinian agency turns to Gulf countries to avoid funding crisis | Established in 1950, UNRWA helps some five million Palestinians living in Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and in the Palestinian territories (File photo: AP) | AFP | United Nations (United States) Tuesday, 3 May 2016 | The head of the UN Palestinian refugee agency on Tuesday urged Gulf countries to donate millions to help UNRWA avoid a funding crisis. Last year, the agency was hit by a major funding crisis that threatened to affect the opening of schools. An appeal by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to donors helped resolve the crisis, but the agency still has a funding gap of some $80 million. “We’d be very appreciative to have countries that have come forward last summer to help, and in particular three Gulf states –- Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Kuwait -– renew their generosity this year,” said Pierre Krahenbul, UNRWA’s commissioner-general. “If we could have that, we’d be able to avoid another crisis this summer,” he said.

Image Source

To give this a frame of reference, the Gross Domestic Product in 2014 (US dollars), the latest numbers we could find, for the three Arab countries to which UNRWA is turning its beseeching eyes:

• United Arab Emirates $399.5 Billion
• Kuwait $172.6 Billion
• Saudi Arabia $746.3 Billion

To help readers put this pathetic charade into perspective, and understand the decades of deep Arab cynicism about their beloved Palestinian brothers, see "19-Jun-13: We actually do understand why Arab states put almost no money in the Palestinian Arab "refugee" fund pot. We just don't get why the US does."

Based on some numbers we published here four years ago, pretty much the same question should be asked of the European Union, Australia, Sweden, UK, Norway and a list of other Western countries.

29-Dec-15: Gaza and what manipulative, highly-politicized foreign aid can buy

The red carpet is constantly out for visitors to Shujaiyeh
neighborhood, Gaza City. This non-Photoshopped photo is from nearly
a year after the destruction [Photo Credit: Dan Cohenvia 972Blog]

Gazan suffering. It's a vastly potent issue that drives much of the passion on the Palestinian Arab side.

With bitter wintery weather setting in fast, why are so many Gazan Palestinian Arabs still waiting for homes destroyed in 2014's summer battle with Israel to be reinstated and/or replaced?

Some digging around by reporters for the Wall Street Journal today offers surprising insights: "Politics Slows Rebuilding in War-Ravaged Gaza Strip | Political differences among Gulf Arab states play large role in who gets aid" [Rory Jones and Abubakr Bashir | Wall Street Journal, December 29, 2015]

It frames the question in terms of the very different fates experienced by a pair of Gazan brothers and their two adjoining residences. They are Abdelraziq Harara, 53, and and Jihad Harara, 65, two Palestinian Arab everyman-like unknowns who happen to have lost their neighboring Gaza homes in the storm of war that swept over them in July 2014. That's when the densely-populated Shujaiyeh neighborhood of Gaza City became the center of fierce fighting involving the terrorists of the rocket-rich Hamas regime and the IDF. More than 140 Hamas rockets had been fired in the general direction of Israel from the Harara brothers' neighborhood in the 12 days commencing July 8, some of them reaching well into Israel's centers of population in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv and .

Open-air prison? [Source]

Israel's patience got stretched thinner and thinner. Then it ended. At that point, Israel took some extraordinary preliminary measures before commencing a much-needed counter-offensive. Starting on July 16, 2014, and with the intention of minimizing the loss of civilian lives, the IDF

by means of leaflets, loudspeaker announcements, telephone calls, text messages and radio messages, told the residents to leave and relocate in central Gaza City until further notice... By 19 July, OCHA reported that while the majority had not left their homes,and ignored the warnings, up to half had gone as bombardments intensified. Israel condemned Hamas for using "human shields". According to Amnesty International, the UNRWA shelter facilities were overflowing and many of the residents had nowhere to go. Residents interviewed later also cited confusion due of lack of electricity and communications. The official Israeli view was that Hamas had compelled residents of Shujai'iya to stay behind in the face of IDF warnings to evacuate prior to the IDF assault, holding civilians as "hostages".Jordanian-Palestinian politician Mudar Zahran wrote that a Gaza medical worker had told him "Hamas militants blocked exits, shot people as they were running and forced the rest to return to their homes and get bombed". [Wikipedia]

Serious air, tank and mortar fire began on the night of July 19, 2014. Then shortly afterwards, Israeli ground forces entered the neighbourhood. Much destruction ensued.

Concentration camp? [Source]

Fast forward to today's WSJ analysis.

While Abdelraziq Harara's house is almost completely rebuilt, the immediately-adjacent lot, where his brother Jihad Harara's house once was, remains desolate. Same street, same family, completely different outcome. Why? As the WSJ article makes clear, the answer is: very poorly managed money, and the cynical manipulation this makes possible.

Soon after the end of the 2014 fighting, foreign donors were convened in Cairo for a one-day hand-over-the-money conference aimed at raising enough money to reverse the damage suffered by the Gazans. We noted here ["27-May-15: The cheque for Gaza is in the mail, or whatever"] that

the fund-raiser was an incredible success. The organizers had hoped to raise $4 billion, but ended with pledges to Gaza of an incredible $5.4 billion,.. And you have to take your hat off in recognition of the donors' selfless generosity. Some of them may be astronomically wealthy but let's give credit where it's due: they really wanted to help. Their fraternal ties to the Arabs of the Gaza Strip provided a powerful incentive to do the right thing. As we noted, major pledges of funding came from Qatar ($1bn). Saudi Arabia ($500m), Turkey ($200m), United Arab Emirates ($200m), the European Union ($568m), the United States ($212m) and the United Kingdom ($32m).

Successful as it all seemed to be, seriously negative signs were not hard to find even then. We suggested what this meant for Gaza's teeming masses and the desperately-needed cash that seemed to have been raised:

[T]he United States which pledged $277 million has handed over 84% of that. The European Union promised $348 million, and 40% has shown up so far which, compared with the Arabs, is not too shabby... [On the other hand] Qatar is spending tens of billions of dollars on getting ready to host the 2022 FIFA soccer World Cup. Of the $1 billion it pledged to its Gazan brothers, it has delivered 10 percent. The Saudi Arabians have produced just one-tenth of the $500 million they promised. Turkey pledged $200 million and has sent $520,000. Kuwait, not to be outdone, also pledged $200 million - and has not sent a penny. The unimaginably rich United Arab Emirates said it was giving $200 million; the World Bank says it has no data for how much arrived... ["27-May-15: The cheque for Gaza is in the mail, or whatever"]

With due modesty, it turns out we were right. As today's WSJ piece, written 14 months after ours. demonstrates, a mere

$1.2 billion of the $3.5 billion has been delivered, with Gulf states dispensing only about $170 million. Like other donors, Gulf governments have attached conditions on how their aid money is spent, according to Palestinian, United Nations and World Bank officials. “Donors have different requirements and priorities,” said Bashir Rayyes, who coordinates the Gaza aid effort for the United Nations and reports to the Palestinian Authority, which governs the West Bank. Chief among these differences is their views about Gaza’s rulers. While Qatar supports Hamas, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have grown more aggressive in recent years in their opposition to Hamas... [Wall Street Journal, December 29, 2015] 

Gas chamber? [Source]

There's a self-serving quote in the article from a Hamas politburo member, an Islamist regime insider by the name of Ziad al Zaza:

"Each one of these countries wants a say in Gaza... We will never allow anyone to have a say in Gaza except the Palestinians."

Zaza, who knows how these things work, is a former Hamas deputy prime minister and finance minister. Other than his last three words, we think he ought to be believed... and the homeless of Gaza ought to be pushing him out of power as fast as they can.

Here, paraphrasing the WSJ team's findings, is what's known now about how certain super-wealthy Arab countries are playing their Gaza "relief aid" hand:

• Qatar, encouraged by Hamas to do this, has set up its own foreign-aid office in Gaza. In this way, it hires contractors and laborers directly to carry out road, school and home reconstruction. Still, it has managed to spend only a fraction of the $1 billion it pledged in Cairo.
• Saudi Arabia, for its own reasons, has no interest in seeing Hamas benefit from aid. So its funds are channeled via UNRWA. And, if you're wondering, it too has delivered just a tiny part of what it promised in Cairo last year.
• United Arab Emirates is sending some of its aid money to Gaza via Mohammed Dahlan, who was a powerful (and phenomenally wealthy) figure under Yasser Arafat. It's calculated to cause problems. Hamas see Dahlan as a rival. Fatah insiders say he has been trying to overthrow the Palestinian Authority's president Mahmoud Abbas. Just the right guy.
• Kuwait is also bypassing Hamas, and said to be sending its contribution via the Palestinian Authority. So how much have they already sent? According to the WSJ, oh, about exactly zero.

Qatar's man in Gaza gives the whole messy affair some revealing context:

Ahmad Abu Rass, who heads the [Qatari government] office, said Doha [the Qatari capital] won’t shell out more cash in Gaza until other donors step up efforts to fulfill their pledges. A half-hearted aid effort only sows more despair among Gazans and sets the stage for another round of fighting, making any aid a wasted investment, he said. [Wall Street Journal, December 29, 2015] 

Let's say that differently: no foreign aid serves Hamas better than foreign aid that never arrives. That's because Hamas has no interest at all in aiding its people - only in leveraging their plight for malevolent Islamist purposes. 

As poorly understood as this is by large parts of the mainstream media and by foreign governments (which it certainly is), ordinary Gazans comprehend it in practical and down-to-earth ways:

Abdelraziq said he and other displaced Gazans would take cash from Israel if it meant living in their own homes again soon. They don’t care about politics, he said... As Qatar’s maroon-and-white flag flew above a completed house nearby, [his still-homeless brother] Jihad said he had no control over what country aided him or why. He just hoped the money would come soon. “If the Israelis built the house, I’d fly the Israeli flag.” [Wall Street Journal, December 29, 2015] 

Not exactly what Hamas wants people to hear.

But then the messaging of its dominant fat-cats ["23-Nov-14: Gaza's wealth and where it is - and is not - going"] has always been strong on blunt threats and on real and threatened terror/fear - and considerably lighter on the basic business of taking care of the people they rule.

By the numbers. Source: WSJ

(The revealing WSJ graphic - note that we we removed a small part of it to simplify the message - sums up the Arab "largesse", contrasting it sharply with aid from Western sources.)

Describing accurately and fully how this works is a rare and tricky thing. Complex, often interwoven interests affect and are affected by it. That trickiness contributes to spiraling hyperbole - the need to reach for ever more evocative ways of depicting it, and never mind how outlandish or fact-free. The headlines we included in the screen shots above hint at the creative spirit behind much of the failed reporting and the supremely irresponsible rhetoric.

Understanding why so much misery goes on for so long in Gaza despite the phenomenal sums of money that have been channeled into countless relief efforts, special funds and emergency humanitarian appeals, remains Mission Almost-Impossible. Chronic distortion of facts is an essential part of the whole sad and endless process.

28-Jun-15: Terror: now you see it, now you don't

The aftermath of the terrorist massacre in the Kuwaiti mosque [Image Source]

A killer, motivated by ideological passions, enters a house of worship and launches a frenzied attack that results in a great deal of spilled blood, numerous deaths of the faithful, and devastated families.

It's terrorism, right? Well, that depends on who's doing the editing.

Terror attacks in Kuwait, France and Tunisia echo Isis methods | The Guardian, June 26, 2015

Headline says it all.

Five Israelis killed in deadly attack on Jerusalem synagogue | The Guardian, November 18, 2014

The murders of unarmed Jewish worshipers are described as a "frenzied assault", the most lethal incident in the city (Jerusalem) in years. But the word 'terror' appears only when it's part of a direct quotation from comments made by two people: an eye-witness and the US Secretary of State.

Terrorist Attacks in France, Tunisia and Kuwait Kill Dozens | New York Times, June 26, 2015

Headline says it all

Israel Shaken by 5 Deaths in Synagogue Assault | New York Times, June 26, 2015

Terrorism not mentioned. The attackers are termed "assailants", the massacre is an "attack" and an "assault". The savagery is framed as part of "the rising religious dimension of the spate of violence, which has been attributed mainly to a struggle over the very site the victims were praying toward". Does the reporter see the victims as part of that "spate"? Were the men at prayer involved in a "struggle"? Are any Israelis to be considered outside that struggle? 

Fatal Friday: Scores dead after France, Tunisia & Kuwait hit by terrorist attacks | rt.com (Russia), June 26, 2015

Headline says it all

3 US & 1 UK rabbis killed, 7 injured in attack at Jerusalem synagogue | rt.com again, November 18, 2014

Two "assailants" attacked worshipers (knives, axes, pistol) in a Jerusalem synagogue. "Spokeswoman Luba Samri described the incident as a "terrorist attack."" But other than as part of a quote from the police, terror goes unmentioned... except in the URL of the article itself, which suggests someone with more brains than political correctness realized what the massacre in Jerusalem actually stood for, but was then editorially over-ruled.

Friday’s Three Terror Attacks Might Not Be Connected—and That’s Even Scarier | Time Magazine, June 26, 2015

"A bloody assault in Tunisia, a decapitation in France and a suicide bombing in Kuwait are part of the horrifying new normal of terrorism"

Fears of Religious Conflict After Synagogue Killings | Time Magazine, November 18, 2014

Ilene Prusher/Jerusalem @ileneprusher  Updated: Nov. 18, 2014 5:34 PM

Terrorism is never mentioned other than as part of someone's quoted words. "Tuesday’s attack in a crowded synagogue where worshippers has just begun their morning prayers is the most serious attack in recent weeks. Both Israelis and Palestinians noted the choice of target and the skyrocketing tensions over Jerusalem’s holy sites – the Temple Mount or Noble Sanctuary houses the Dome of the Rock and the Al-Aqsa Mosque, and has the Western Wall at its base. Many expressed concerns that this may be morphing into a religious war more than a struggle over land."

And finally for a sense of the rhetorical acrobatics that this issue brings out in people, a commentary published by Reuters last week in the wake of a massacre at a South Carolina house of worship:

Why the South Carolina shooting suspect should not be called a terrorist | Reuters - Masha Gessen, June 23, 2015

Was the massacre of nine people at the Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina an act of terrorism? Almost certainly, yes. Does this mean we should be calling the suspect... a terrorist, and prosecuting him as one? Probably not…

True to Reuters policy, its editors manage to tell the story of Friday's massacre in the Kuwait mosque as well as the November 2014 massacre in the Jerusalem synagogue with no mention of terror in either case. So does this mean we are closer to a solution? Are we better off this way? Is there anything we can learn from this? Stay tuned.

The aftermath of the terrorist massacre in the Jerusalem synagogue [Image Source]

26-Jun-15: A month of disasters for the infidels on at least three continents and that's just today

The Liquid Air plant in south-east France, the target of today's explosive
and barbaric attack by "suspected" "alleged" terrorists [Image Source]

For adherents of one of the world's great religions, it's a special time of year [see "22-Jun-15: Deconstructing the Ramadan stabbings and shootings"]. Here is a taste of the drama unfolding today, as reported just now by New York Times, in a story datelined rather oddly Beirut:

Terrorists attacked sites in France, Tunisia and Kuwait on Friday, leaving a bloody toll on three continents and prompting new concerns about the spreading influence of jihadists.
In France, attackers stormed an American-owned industrial chemical plant near Lyon, decapitated one person and tried unsuccessfully to blow up the factory, in what French authorities said was a terrorist attack.
In Tunisia, gunmen opened fire at a beach resort, killing at least 27 people, officials said. At least one of the attackers was killed by security forces.
And the Islamic State claimed responsibility for an explosion at a Shiite mosque in Kuwait City. Local news reports said at least eight people had been wounded.
There was no immediate indication that the attacks were coordinated. But the three strikes came at roughly the same time, and just days after the Islamic State, the militant group also known as ISIS or ISIL, called for such operations during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan... “It appears to be an effort to launch and inspire a wave of attacks across three continents, reminiscent of Al Qaeda’s simultaneous multiple attacks of the past,” said Bruce O Riedel, a former C.I.A. officer who is a counterterrorism expert at the Brookings Institution in Washington. “The Kuwait operation is especially dangerous, as this is ISIS’ first operation in a gulf state,” Mr. Riedel said in an email. “The others will be deeply alarmed.”
...[T]he quick succession of the attacks raised the possibility that the Islamic State, which has seized control of territory in Iraq and Syria, has successfully inspired sympathizers to plan and carry out attacks in their own countries.
“Muslims, embark and hasten toward jihad,” said the Islamic State’s spokesman, Abu Mohammed al-Adnani, in an audio message released this week. “O mujahedeen everywhere, rush and go to make Ramadan a month of disasters for the infidels.” [Source: "Terrorist Attacks in France, Tunisia and Kuwait Kill Dozens", Ben Hubbardine | New York Times | June 26, 2015]

The Tunisian shooters are still at large, says Sky News. whose editors manage to detail the facts as they are currently known without once mentioning the word "terror".

The Kuwaiti outrage - on a house of worship, and with at least 10 dead (something the NY Times people did not mention) - is reported by BBC News without once mentioning the word "terror", as well.

The beheading and attempted explosion at Liquid Air's plant in France, and the identification of the man arrested at the scene ["The suspect has been named as Yassin Salhi, 35" which leaves us wondering whether he's the racist thug of the same name in this 2012 news item] are reported by Independent UK without once mentioning the word "terror", or the word Islamic, Islamist, Moslem, Muslim or any other word connoting any religion, great or small.

Very well done, chaps. Does being non-judgmental in your precious manner mean we're winning this war?

UPDATE | December 23, 2015: Salhi, who beheaded a man and tried to blow up the Air Products plant, hanged himself in his French jail cell [Source]

15-Nov-13: Putting PA hypocrisy on display. Astonishingly, money plays a central role (who would have imagined that?)

Head of the PA, Abbas, embracing freshly-released
unrepentant convicted murderers, August 2013

The prominent Israeli-Arab journalist Khaled Abu Toameh publishes a searing attack today on the rank hypocrisy of the senior Palestinian Arab leadership when it comes to prisoners. His article appears on the Gatestone Institute website. The full text follows.

Palestinian Authority's Double Standards on Prisoners

Khaled Abu Toameh | November 15, 2013 | Gatestone Institute

While the Palestinian Authority continues to demand the release of Palestinians from Israeli jails, it has long been ignoring the fact that thousands of Palestinians are languishing in prisons in several Arab countries. The families of the prisoners held by Israel at least know where their sons are and most visit them on a regular basis.

But in the Arab world the story is completely different.

The daily Al-Quds Al-Arabi recently revealed that dozens of Palestinians have been held in Kuwaiti prisons since 1991. The families of these prisoners do not know anything about their conditions. That Palestinians are being held in prison in an Arab country is not surprising. What is not understood is the Palestinian Authority's position. According to the report, the Palestinian Authority has never approached the Kuwaitis concerning the fate of the prisoners.

Mohammed al-Udwan, the father of one of the Palestinians held in Kuwait for the past 25 years, said that he still does not know exactly where his son, Essam, is being held. He and other families complained that the Palestinian Authority has not done anything to help them.

The Palestinian Authority ambassador to Kuwait, Rami Tahboub, refused to comment on the plight of the prisoners there. Reached by phone, the ambassador first said he was busy with a meeting. He later stopped answering the phone.

Hassan Khraisheh, Deputy Speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council in Ramallah, urged the emir of Kuwait to put an end to the "tragedy" of the Palestinian families whose sons are held in his prisons without trial. Khraisheh called on the emir to inform the families whether their sons were still alive. "If they are dead," he added, "then we want confirmation and information where they are buried."

Kuwait expelled hundreds of thousands of Palestinians after U.S.-led coalition forces liberated the tiny oil-rich emirate in 1991. The move came in retaliation for the Palestinian Liberation Organization's [PLO] support for Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait a year earlier. After liberation, the Kuwaitis also arrested many Palestinians on suspicion of collaboration with the Iraqi occupation army. Recently, the Kuwaitis finally allowed the Palestinian Authority to reopen the Palestinian embassy in the emirate. The move came after Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas apologized for the PLO's support of Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait.

But the Palestinian Authority leadership is apparently too afraid to ask the Kuwaiti authorities about the Palestinians who went missing in the emirate during the past two decades. Abbas does not want to alienate the Kuwaitis; he is apparently hoping that they will resume financial aid to the Palestinians.

Two weeks ago, Abbas boasted that he had acted as a mediator to secure the release of nine Lebanese nationals abducted 17 months ago in Syria. Abbas's announcement enraged families of Palestinian prisoners in Kuwait and other Arab countries. The families said that Abbas's top priority should have been to secure the release of Palestinians, and not Lebanese, from Syrian prisons. Hundreds of Palestinians are held in various prisons in Syria, some for more than two decades. In the past year, at least two prisoners were reported to have died in Syrian and Egyptian prisons. Again, the Palestinian Authority leadership has not even demanded an inquiry into the deaths or the continued incarceration of Palestinians in the Arab world.

A prominent Palestinian writer who spent three weeks in jail in Syria described the prisons there as "human slaughterhouses." Salameh Kaileh was arrested in April last year on suspicion of printing leaflets calling for the overthrow of Bashar Assad. "It was hell on earth," Kaileh told Associated Press. "I felt I was going to die under the brutal, savage and continuous beating of the interrogators, who tied me to ropes hung from the ceiling."

For the Palestinian Authority, the plight of Palestinians in Arab prisons does not seem to be an important issue. As far as the Palestinian Authority leadership is concerned, the only "heroes" are those prisoners who are held in Israel. 

For the Palestinian Authority, the Palestinians who are being tortured and killed in Arab prisons are not worth even a statement.

20-Aug-13: Planning to travel? One or two (dozen) places not to even think of going

Though warnings of this sort tend to get pooh-poohed in some quarters, we think it's important to record here what the Israeli public was formally told yesterday about current and immediate dangers confronting us in "coming weeks".

The warning comes from a professional, and essentially non-political, government body: the Counter-Terrorism Bureau (CTB), part of the National security Council that is, in turn, a part of the multi-dimensional Prime Minister's Office. Its website defines the mission of the CTB as a peak-level coordinating and organizational body among all the various other bodies active in the counter-terrorism field.

The Monday announcement speaks of “concrete” indications of upcoming terrorism. Geographically, it first addresses these places, ascribing the highest level of danger to them (listed here alphabeticallly within each group):

• Bahrain
• Egypt
• Jordan
• Kuwait
• Qatar (citing a “basic” terrorist threat)
• Sinai Peninsula ("because of the chaotic situation in Egypt", and because of “information on the intention to carry out further attacks”)
• United Arab Emirates, meaning Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Dubai, Fujairah, Ras al-Khaimah, Sharjah, and Umm al-Quwain

At the next level going down, CTB tells Israelis to postpone nonessential visits (because of “ongoing potential threats”) to 

• Morocco
• Oman
• Turkey

CTB reconfirmed the Israeli ban on Israelis going to these states where the “concrete” terror threat is “very high”

• Iran
• Iraq
• Lebanon
• Saudi Arabia
• Syria
• Yemen

The following are characterized by “very high” terror threats; Israelis are told not to go there, and if already there, then to immediately leave:

• Afghanistan
• Algeria
• Chechnya
• Djibouti
• India’s Kashmir province
• Libya
• Mauritania
• Parts of Kenya
• Northern Nigeria
• Parts of the southern Philippines
• East Senegal
• Somalia
• Sudan
• Parts of southern Thailand
• Tunisia (where there are “threats to carry out attacks on Israeli and Jewish targets”)

After the "very high" threats comes the merely "high":

• Burkina-Faso
• Indonesia
• Ivory Coast
• Malaysia
• Mali
• Pakistan
• Togo

Still feeling the travel urge? The CTB says Israelis traveling overseas must

take extra precautions, such as avoiding unexpected meetings or out of the way places, and to change regular travel routes.

Why now? According to Times of Israel, the CTB cites

concerns about terrorist acts timed to coincide with the forthcoming Rosh Hashana (New Year), Yom Kippur and Succot festivals, and also said that the anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the US was likely to be “a favored period” for al-Qaeda and other global jihadist groups to attempt to carry out acts of terrorism. Iran and Hezbollah, it warned, were continuing their “global terror campaign” against Israeli and Jewish targets. It noted that Iran remained bent on avenging alleged Israeli responsibility for the killing of Hezbollah terror chief Imad Mughniyeh in a Damascus car-bombing in 2008, and the deaths of three Iranian nuclear scientists. It said its information indicated that Israeli businessmen and ex-government officials were prime potential targets for assassination and/or kidnapping.

01-Jul-13: 66 acts of murder make him a hero in parts of the Arab world. What does this tell us about parts of the Arab world?

Mahmoud Abbas' official television station expresses what they want

us to know about the convicted and unrepentant killers

in our prisons [Image Source: PMW]

The Jordanian parliament is so keen to have Palestinian terrorists freed from Israeli prisons where some of them are serving multiple life-terms for hideous atrocities that they are seeking to expel Israel's ambassador and cancel the Israel/Jordan peace treaty if they can't get their way.

A report posted on a Jordanian government website last night (Sunday) says they are demanding that Israel

respect the Jordanian-Israeli peace treaty and to respond to the Jordanian demands and release all Jordanian prisoners. They stressed that "soft diplomacy" with Israel can not solve the issue of prisoners, therefore, the government is required to use all political and legal papers its has to ensure the release of the prisoners. 

The notion that Israel must "release all Jordanian prisoners" because of "the Jordanian-Israeli peace treaty" is nonsense. No such obligation has ever existed: not legally, not morally, not diplomatically. We are aware that the notorious "chief negotiator" for one of the two Palestinian Arab statelets, Saeb Erekat, claims it does. But as IMRA explains here, he achieves this only by twisting the plain words of the 1999 Sharm el-Sheikh Memorandum which in reality says something quite different.

So whom are the Jordanians so keen to free? Well, it's a long list, but it includes the man sentenced to the longest term of anyone in the Israeli prison system. 

We're speaking of a person about whom we have written in the past [see here]: Abdullah Barghouti, a Kuwaiti who is the self-confessed murderer of 66 people including 9 in the July 2002 bombing at the Frank Sinatra Cafeteria of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem; 11 in the March 2002 bombing of Jerusalem's Cafe Moment; 10 in the December 2001 triple-bomb outrage on Jerusalem’s Ben Yehuda pedestrian mall; and 15 (most of them children, including our 15 year old daughter Malki) in the August 2001 massacre at Jerusalem's Sbarro pizzeria in August 2001.

The judges who sentenced him expressed regret that the death penalty was not an option. This is a not common occurrence in Israeli jurisprudence. The one time a death penalty was carried out in Israel was that of the Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann in 1962.

From prison, Barghouti has done an exemplary job of reminding anyone listening of the bestiality that underpins his psychopathic nature. 66 innocent people killed? Not enough. In 2006, in the intimate setting of a quiet interview beamed throughout the world by CBS television's '60 Minutes' program, Barghouti famously said

"I feel bad because the number is only 66. This is the answer you want to hear? Yes, I feel bad because I want more." [Quoted on a CBS site]

To emphasize the point, in an Israeli court in 2010, he reiterated his dedication to killing more if (when?) he is freed again.

Hard to imagine anyone seriously trying to turn this sick killer of children into something heroic and worthy of emulation. But of course that is precisely what has been happening during the past decade.

Case in point - the official public television station of the Palestinian Authority headed by the 'moderate' Mahmoud Abbas. Just four days ago, it broadcast a program which Palestinian Media Watch has now translated to English and is streaming from its own site [here]. The host, a woman called Manal Seif, launches with visible enthusiasm into a paean of worhip and praise for three figures - all of them sitting in Israeli prisons, all of them convicted of acts of mass-murder. Let's listen:

I want to tell the Israelis that our prisoners are heroes and not terrorists. What I saw reminded me of an Israeli website called PMW or Palestinian Media Watch, a site that monitors the Palestinian media. Of course every visit that we film for a prisoner gets them angry. I was surprised a week ago that [regarding] brother Ibrahim Hamed (54 life sentences), brother Abbas Al-Sayid (35 life sentences), and brother Abdallah Barghouti (67 life sentences), they [PMW] objected, they were upset, they slandered these heroes and claimed that they are terrorists. If they see Abdallah Barghouti as a terrorist, Abbas Al-Sayid as a terrorist, Ibrahim Hamed and Nasser Awais (14 life sentences), if they see all these prisoners as terrorists, we see them as heroes... I salute you, all you heroic fighter prisoners, and of course I always wish you freedom. [PMW]

The good people at PMW told us that Manal Seif hosts a weekly PA TV program called "For You", where 'you' means 'prisoners'. Each week, she visits homes and families honoring/glorifying prisoners as heroes. She is a civil servant, paid a PA salary that is principally funded, as we keep reminding readers here, by the EU, Norway and the US. Without that funding, the hateful and distorted bile she delivers into the airwaves could simply not get there.

In those night-is-day, evil-is-good parts of the Arab world, Seif is not alone.

From a 2006 article on the Keren Malki website

• A December 2012 profile of Barghouti on a Palestinian website provides an astounding example of the self-delusion fueling the hatred industry in their world. Barghouti "was charged with organizing a series of attacks against Israel, which resulted in the death of up to 70 Israeli soldiers" they absurdly write. And so Israel "sentenced him to serve seven life sentences", which is also nonsense; he was sentenced to 67 life terms. In reality, there were few if any soldiers among those killed by Barghouti's bombs, all of which were deployed in deliberately mundane places: popular restaurants, mostly. The engineer of the Sbarro massacre, the woman called Ahlam Tamimi, makes plain that her explicit goal in delivering a Barghouti bomb to the center of Jerusalem was to kill and maim Jewish religiously-observant children [video]. Soldiers never came into the calculation. These people are terrorists, and that's how terror works.
• In May 2013 [source: PMW], mass-murderer Barghouti's family was honored with a media-drenched visit by a delegation of government officials from the Abbas regime headed by PA Minister of Prisoners' Affairs Issa Karake and District Governor of Ramallah, Laila Ghannam. It was termed a 'solidarity' visit, from which we deduce (but of course we knew this already) that significant parts of the PA government feel solidly connected to the killer of our daughter.
• Ten days ago, in a post here ["21-Jun-13: In dark corners, remorseless killer of 66 innocents is called 'administrative detainee' and 'captive'"] we quoted reports that Barghouti has been on a hunger strike since May. He is being treated in Ha'emek Medical Center (aka Afula Hospital) in northern Israel. 

A report published today by another Palestinian Arab website, Alray, calls him a "Palestinian-Jordanian detainee", but not a Kuwaiti for some reason even though Kuwait is where he was born. It reveals that Barghouti is sadly now

"in a critical condition... Barghouti‘s heart rate is very weak; only 40 beats per minute and he suffers from a liver failure which might lead to liver cirrhosis. Doctors of Internal Committee of Red Cross expressed their concern over Barghouti’s health deterioration, warning that his heart might stop at any time." 

Some years ago, on the Keren Malki website we created to honour the memory of our daughter, a victim of Barghouti and of others like him, we wrote this at the time the CBS interview went to air:

As ugly and repugnant as the words of Barghouti will likely be to the viewers of "60 Minutes", we urge them and CBS not to focus on the man. He is irrelevant, except that he creates a context. Barghouti's evil deeds are the concrete expression of the desires of a government which wants to be accepted as an equal by the community of nations. The anger and revulsion which his interview creates should be redirected at them - at the terrorists in business suits who plot and scheme every day to increase Barghouti's 66 to the largest number they can think of. 

05-May-13: Self-confessed jihadist murderer: "With my media card, I was able to enter back and forth, undetected..."

Convicted and unrepentant murderer Ahlam Tamimi (in July 2012),
explains her outlook on high-profile Kuwaiti talk-show

Anyone who reads our blog, even occasionally, knows that the double-standards, circumlocations and hypocrisy so manifest in the way certain people, certain institutions, certain major broadcasters, certain other parts of the mainstream media, deal with terrorists, terrorism, terror and the murder of children simply enrage us. 

We don't see the issues as political. Terrorism is beyond politics. In fact, it's a sort of litmus test. How you deal with terrorism - after you peel away all the double-talk and jargon - determines the sort of human being you are and how others ought to view you. 

Thoughts like these were on our minds when we wrote eight months ago about an American, a senior and influential journalist in the world of Christian thought, and a man of letters. He is James M. Wall and in a blog post ("23-Aug-12: Theology and sociopaths"), we wrote this about him:

Wall is not marginal to the public discourse of the United States. Nor is he regarded (as far as we can tell) as a shrieking crank or a red-neck. He served as editor of a prominent journal called The Christian Century for 27 years, from 1972 to 1999. Wikipedia calls it "the flagship magazine of U.S. mainline Protestantism" [source]. He continued there as a regular columnist until a few years ago, even after his retirement. Though it appears he has stopped writing for it, his name remains on the masthead as Senior Contributing Editor. These days, Wall writes a blog under the title “Wall Writing”. From where we sit, his output has some quite unpleasant tones. In a December 2011 piece on US politics, for instance, he characterizes pro-Israel Republican candidates as “wear[ing] the Jewish kippah”. But as we learned, Wall is capable of advocacy journalism of a far more pungent sort. In October 2011, he posted a lengthy article to coincide with the extorted release from prison of Ahlam Tamimi, our child's murderer... At about the time he wrote it, in October 2011, an Arab newspaper dotingly quoted Tamimi making this statement: “I have never regretted what I have done, and if given another chance I’ll do it again” [source]. Yet extraordinarily, the Wall piece 'lionizes' her. (That’s the term used by the clear-eyed Christian analyst who pointed us to it). With loving attention to the human aspects of her story, Wall urges his readers to resist the Israeli view of the Jordanian woman's "crimes"; those quote marks around the word crimes appear in Wall's essay. Wall leaves readers in little doubt that the atrocities to which Tamimi confessed in court - atrocities to which she confesses afresh frequently, proudly and in public - were not crimes at all but something very different.

Mohammed Al-Awadi hosts a talk show on Kuwaiti television that
provided a platform for Ahlam Tamimi

Wall's rambling article, entitled “Ahlam and Nezar, A Palestinian Couple Released in The Prisoner Exchange”, makes the argument that Tamimi did what anyone would do if they saw themselves at war. And at the end of the day, what she did was merely logistic. For Mr Wall, it was therefore quite understandable:

[Tamimi’s] crime, for which she was sentenced by a military court for multiple life terms, was for “choosing the location and securing transportation to reach that location”.

We can argue, and we have certainly tried to say over and again, that this is an irresponsibly wrong view of what the convicted murderer Ahlam Tamimi did. 

Today, however, there is no need for us to say it again because she has now said it about as clearly as a person can. 

We have just seen an Arabic-to-English translation, published in the last few days, of what this psychopathic woman says about herself and about what she did. 

It’s in a video that has had wide dissemination via YouTube and other channels right across the Arabic-speaking world since its appearance in July 2012. [In case they disappear, the page is archived here. We archived the YouTube clip itself, the full length version, here.] 

For now, we rely on the translation that appeared Thursday on Walid Shoebat's site. Fluent in Arabic, he gives this intro to his transcript:

Tamimi first teaches Muslims how to best prepare their souls by instructing Muslims how to abandon secular life and worldly things, then how to smuggle terrorists, plant explosives in condensed areas, watch, document statistics, and monitor civilian movements in heavy traffic areas... Tamimi tours the Arab media now and provides expertise on how Muslims – both male and female – can become killing machines. [Shoebat]

Here is Ahlam Tamimi, the murderer of our child and of fifteen other innocents, in her own words: 

Tamimi: I studied all the ideologies of each [terrorist] group in order to decide which one I will join... With my media card I was able to enter back and forth, undetected, to do journalistic interviews in Jerusalem in order to avoid detection by the Zionists. 

Al-Awadi (her interviewer): So you get in and out as a journalist? 

Tamimi: Yes 

Al-Awadi: Beautiful! 

Tamimi: I entered a [terrorist] cell. A cell is constructed by having a leader, then there are different groups; each one is divided into itself... You do not know who the leader is... First, I scouted places to decide where to carry out Jihadi operations... I would wander into Jerusalem to find the best spots to carry out these missions... First, I would scout stores and major shopping malls… schools, restaurants… I would then present my findings to the leader of the cell... I would do a meticulous count on the numbers of people moving in these areas and study it mathematically. I would use my wrist watch and count how many were walking in an area within one hour. So I would make reports that if an operation is conducted in such and such area. Then I would estimate the numbers of casualties; in some cases my number would be 30 Israelis will die and other estimates it would be 50 Israelis that will die... So from this time to that time there would be 70 Israelis who entered this spot. So during lunch for example, from this time to that time, so many Zionists enter this area. The school for example, I would study the morning time when school children would enter. Of course the second phase would be the Jihadi operation itself. I would take the components to be filled up with explosives to Abdullah Barghouti. He of course prepares the explosive charges. I would choose the device myself, based on products that are most sold amongst the Zionists. So I would provide a report, for example, that said the best device is a favorite drink or product. So the explosive device is manufactured to look like this product. So the product on the outside would appear like something that easily looks like the products in the stores and on the inside, it would be a time bomb. Of course, I learned how to operate one of these devices... My other mission is to accompany suicide martyrs. [Archived source]

There are some life-saving lessons here for what is and is not legitimate to do with reporters in dangerous jihad-infected places and times. And when she cryptically says that the "best device is a favorite drink", she is referring to the bomb, disguised as a beer can, that she placed on the shelf of the basement supermarket in the Mashbir Latzarchan building on King George Street, central Jerusalem, ten days before the Sbarro massacre and only 200 meters up the street from the pizza restaurant. In a little-reported prequel to her career as a terrorist, it exploded but fortunately killed and injured no one.

Al Awadi, on whose program she appeared, is described in this US confidential cable as "a Kuwaiti Islamist commentator and regular al-Jazeera talking head". It's sobering to think how many major figures in the Arabic world take such a public, central role in the encouragement of terrorist outrages. (If only more non-Arabs understood Arabic.)

A word about Abdullah Barghouti whom Tamimi mentions in passing. [We have written about him here, here and here.] Barghouti was contracted to custom-assemble the bomb that destroyed the Sbarro restaurant. A clever man with golden hands, he embedded it inside a guitar case to minimize the risk that the man carrying the nail-filled explosive packaged would be intercepted before he brought it to ground zero in the absolute center of Israel's capital city. Tamimi and the young Islamist fanatic who had the bomb on his back passed through the busy Qalandiya security checkpoint en route to Jerusalem. The Israeli soldiers and Border Guard personnel manning the crossing did not stop them, even in a cursory way. Perhaps the sight of a woman dressed in a typically Israeli tank top completed the illusion of a harmless couple of youngsters with music on their minds. 

Barghouti was not there that day. He was in the midst of his busy season. Bombs delivered up by him to his Hamas clients during 2001 brought about the extremely violent deaths by murder of 66 people. The government of Norway, among the most generous providers of development aid to the Palestinian Authority, is currently wrestling with its conscience over the role it has played in funding the PA’s Rewards-for-Terror scheme. That’s not what they call it, but that assuredly is what it is. (There’s some background here. And keep in mind this is a program of the 'moderate' PA, lead by the 'moderate' Mahmoud Abbas'.) Under the scheme, Barghouti will receive a salary this month, and every month for as long as he remains a prisoner of Israel, equivalent to four times the average salary of a PA government worker. The scheme is highly publicized among Palestinian Arabs because the 'moderate' PA wants its citizens to understand the high priority it gives to acts of child-murdering heroism like those undertaken by Barghouti and Tamimi. 

Tamimi has always described herself as an agent of Hamas, though on the day she blew up the Sbarro restaurant, she was the on-camera news-reader for the other Palestinian Arabs, the faction that calls itself the PA, the 'moderate' side of the Palestinian Arab world. Few of the Palestinian Arab viewers watching her read the news that night (August 9, 2001) realized what a central role she took in the massacre on which she was reporting.

Click here to visit the site

And a word about James M. Wall as well. 

As we noted last summer, he engages in advocacy for self-admitted murderers and their deeds. In open societies like the US and Israel, it’s something he has the right to do freely, obnoxiously and even offensively. But what does it mean that The Christian Century still has him on its masthead? Does the editorial board agree with his ‘understanding’ of the actions of people who murder children in the name of jihad? Do they disagree? Will they disavow him and them? Are his views Christian? How Christian is it to embrace the unrepentant murderer of children who says she prays for the chance to do it again?

Ahlam Tamimi was sentenced to sixteen terms of life imprisonment after her conviction for planning and executing the massacre at central Jerusalem's Sbarro restaurant. She walked free in October 2011 as one of the 1,027 murderers, jihadists and assorted other terrorists whom Israel bargained away for the freedom of a hostage, Gilad Shalit, held captive for five years by Hamas. Tamimi subsequently married another unjustly freed murderer (her cousin), and is living in total and unfettered freedom in Jordan from where she is a regular broadcaster on the Al-Quds satellite channel (operated by Hamas). She flies freely around the Arab world and YouTube features dozens of her speeches. Her relentless encouragement of acts of murder in the name of jihad has made her a figure of admiration and stature throughout the Arab world. 

We fought a campaign to have her name removed from the go-free list in October 2011. But we failed. At the time of the Shalit transaction, we wrote [here] that the "media celebrity" Ahlam Tamimi is a "religiously-inspired monster":

Dozens of photographs of her smiling and exultant face are syndicated by the major global newswire services. Her every statement is broadcast and analyzed not only by the terrorists of Hamas and Gaza to whose murderous strand of Islamism she long ago swore allegiance, but also by the mislabeled 'moderates' of Fatah and the PA who are not in the least moderate on the subject of the murder of Jews and the dismemberment of the society we have created here in Israel. The injustice of this person's freedom, and the hypocrisy of those who fail to scream out against it, overwhelm us. They choke us. 

And still do.