Rockets have stopped flaring from Gaza into Israel, and retaliatory strikes have been halted. About 30 terror tunnels prepared for a Rosh Hashanah blood bath have been destroyed in the south of the country. Yet a quiet peace for Israel, the goal of Operation Protective Edge according to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, is hardly in the offing as its enemies gather around Israel.
Hamas:
Within Israel, IDF troops from the Nahal infantry brigade were withdrawn from their posts around Netiv Ha’asarah on Monday night with no alternative security force moving in to replace them, angering residents in the area and causing high anxiety. According to Arutz Sheva, an unnamed military official said Givati Brigade soldiers were stationed nearby.
The settlement’s fears are fueled as just last week right after the beginning of the cease fire, the results of a poll of 1,000 Palestinian adults in Gaza was released by the Palestinian Center for Public Opinion, a non-profit internationally-staffed think tank. It showed that 88.9 percent of Gazans are in favor of rocket fire on Israel and are against United Nations intervention. The poll also indicated that Hamas’ deputy bureau chief, Ismail Haniyeh would win the presidency of the Palestinian Authority from Abbas.
Gazans were shooting rifles in the air, claiming victory, while one third of their population is homeless because of Hamas. During negotiations, Mahmoud Zahar, a senior Hamas commander, said they would rearm and prepare for the next war. “We will build and upgrade our arsenal to be ready for the coming battle, the battle of full liberation.” The Hamas charter calls for the death of every Jew. Despite the mass destruction of its infrastructure, Hamas has always been able to buy weaponry with funding from Qatar, which pushed against a ceasefire agreement. Now Qatar has offered to help rebuild Gaza. No amount has yet been given.
Syria:
In the north, ISIS has taken over the Syrian side of border crossing in the Golan Heights which has been experiencing intermittent mortar firing from Syria in recent months, as reported by United Nations peacekeepers. Forty five Fijians UN peacekeepers have been kidnapped by the Nursa Front, an al-Qaeda-linked group rebelling against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. In exchange for releasing the Fijians, the Nursa Front fighters are demanding to be removed from the global terrorism lists.
Iran:
On another front, Israeli Defense Minster Moshe Yaalon said Iran is supporting Assad and Hezobllah, which are allied against the Sunni insurgency. “Iran’s fingerprints can be seen in Syria, including in the Golan Heights, in attempts to use terror squads against us,” said Yaalon. On Tuesday ISIS beheaded 31-year-old Israeli-American freelance journalist, Steven Sotloff
Meeting the same fate on Monday was Abu Obeida al-Maghrebi, who was in command of the prison where Foley was held. He was suspected of passing information to the British Intelligence Agency,MI6.
In an unusual move by Great Britain, Prime Minister David Cameron announced he would be introducing laws restricting travel for British citizens to Syria and Iraq. The legislation will make it easier for authorities to confiscate passports. Also yesterday, Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Yuval Steinitz told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that he did not believe Iran would “dramatically change their stance and will not compromise on the issues of centrifuges,” as pertains to their nuclear talks, according to The Jerusalem Post. Steinitz said he would be in Washington next week to demand that Iran be stripped of all nuclear capacity.
According to the Jerusalem Post, “while not a party to the negotiations with Iran, Israel wields influence in foreign capitals given its veiled threats to launch preemptive wars to prevent Iran from getting the bomb.”
Turkey:
ISIS has also been reported to have taken over border crossings between Syria and Turkey, as well as some Turkish villages, reported one secular Muslim, Turkish photojournalist Bunyamin Aygun, who was captured and held for 12 days before being released. He said the fighters were mostly Turks from Turkey and Germany.
Lebanon:
ISIS also seized a Lebanese border town for a few days, said the New York Times. During their sojourn they captured 19 Lebanese soldiers and last Saturday beheaded one–a Sunni Muslim from northern Lebanon, Ali al-Sayyed.
Jordan:
On Monday, Israel Hayom reported that Jordan informed NATO that ISIS terrorists infiltrated its borders with Syria and Iraq. The Jordan Times reported that the kingdom will have a role in an anti-ISIS alliance to be discussed at the NATO Summit that started on Thursday. Amid concerns of how this would play out in Jordan, on Wednesday, Israel signed a $15 billion natural gas deal with Abdullah. Israel will supply Jordan with natural gas from Leviathan for 15 years beginning in 2017. The 19 trillion-cubic feet natural gas field off of Haifa, is controlled by Texas-based Noble Energy.
Egypt:
The Times of Israel reported that last week, in Sinai, a jihadist group, Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis, claimed responsibility for beheading five Bedouins who they said collaborated with Israel by reporting to Mossad. This brings the number of ISIS victims in Sinai to nine.
Qatar:
The small but wealthy kingdom has funded Hamas’ terrorism of Israel and Syrian rebel groups, but in an article in the Jakarta Post, they deny funding ISIS. Qatar’s foreign minister, Khalid bin Mohammad al Attiyah said, “Qatar does not support extremist groups, including ISIS, in any way. We are repelled by their views, their violent methods and their ambitions. The vision of extremist groups for the region is one that we have not, nor will ever support in any way.” Qatar’s funding of ISIS was also denied by Congressman Eliot Engel the ranking member of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.
Turkey:
Engel in an interview with JLBC said that Turkey was much more troubling than Qatar. Turkey with Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the helm had set the nation’s course toward a more extreme path of Islam. It was reported in PressTV that a German television station, ARD, reported that the Takfire group has recruited Turkish volunteers to help them in Syria and Iraq. They also reported that it was revealed in the Turkish parliament that the government has been treating ISIS leaders in Turkish hospitals. Turkish media also reported that four Turkish officers have been arrested in the city of Falluja in Iraq, where they were engaged in training ISIS militants.
A Surprising Turn of Events in Turkey:
While ISIS has been seen to be unstoppable, it has been turned back several times, most recently, by its most feared enemies, female warriors, reported Fox News. ISIS fighters believe getting killed by a female will bar them from heaven. Members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, also known as the PKK, fighting alongside Kurdistan’s Peshmerga. The PKK is a leftist Kurdish group classified as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and NATO.
By Anne Phyllis Pinzow
