video by Senator Ted Cruz (June 26, 2014)

The man who is seen as the leader of the Salafist Jihad movement in Jordan is  Assem Barqawi, better known as Abu Mohammad al-Maqdesi,(the Jerusalemite). He was born in the villaeof Burqa near Shechem on July 3, 1959 (next week is his birthday!) and studied Islam in Mosul and Medina. He published a book in which he claimed that the Saudi regime had no legal basis. He is the spiritual mentor of  Abu Mus'ab al-Zarqawi, who founded "al-Qaeda in the Land of the Rivers" in 2004. The latter is the organization that turned into ISIL ("The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant"). 

by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik (June 24, 2014)

 

Only four days after the kidnapping of the three Israeli youths, Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement posted a video on its Facebook page promising Israelis: "Death is near." [Facebook, "Fatah - The Main Page," June 16, 2014]

 

The song promotes violence and destruction in the name of Allah, as it calls to "smash the fortress of the hopeless" and "shout: 'Allah is Greater'" and states that "the remains of our bodies and our blood are a song of rage."

Fatah's military wing, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, is described as "the rival in the land who burns the foreign enemy" and who will "reach the enemy everywhere." Israelis and/or Jews are addressed directly and promised death:

 

"Stop and consider, sons of Zion, that death is near...

All you'll get from us is death

Stop and consider a thousand times

That a revolution sparks with a flame

Fatah is like a rock, whose soldiers love to fight"

 

The Wickedness of the Presbyterian Church U.S.A. (and the World)

by The Editors at The National Review (June 24, 2014)

 

If Israel did not exist, the United Nations might not have much to do. Last year the General Assembly adopted 25 resolutions against particular countries. Twenty-one of those resolutions were against Israel; the other four were against Syria, Iran, North Korea, and Burma. Not since the apartheid regime in South Africa has a country been so stigmatized by the world. And foes of Israel, of course, promote the lie that Israel is an "apartheid state."

 

Consider a few steps in the effort to delegitimize Israel. Stephen Hawking, one of the most famous scientists in the world, joined the academic boycott of that country. He has been happy, however, to go to Iran and China. The American Studies Association voted to boycott Israel. In Scotland, the West Dunbartonshire Council forbade local libraries to carry books printed in Israel. Israeli athletes are often harassed, and prevented from playing; same with Israeli musicians.

 

It used to be that, when a performer refused to perform in Israel, it made news. Now it makes news when a performer has the nerve to show up in Israel.