FDD

Material Support to Terrorism: U.S. to Fatah (AM)

From the New York Sun: 

American-run programs that train Fatah militias were instrumental in the "success" of the Palestinian intifada that began in 2000, a senior Fatah militant told The New York Sun.

"I do not think that the operations of the Palestinian resistance would have been so successful and would have killed more than one thousand Israelis since 2000 and defeated the Israelis in Gaza without these [American] trainings," a senior officer of President Abbas's Force 17 Presidential Guard unit, Abu Yousuf, said.

America has longstanding training programs at a base in the West Bank city of Jericho for members of Force 17, which serves as de facto police units in the West Bank, and for another major Fatah security force, the Preventative Security Services.

This weekend diplomatic security officials announced that the State Department will begin training Force 17 again this year in an effort to bolster Mr. Abbas against Hamas, which took over the Gaza Strip in June when the terror group easily defeated American-backed Fatah forces in the territory.

Meanwhile, those lovable moderates from Fatah (the ones whose charter calls for the destruction of Israel), while they collect hundreds of millions in U.S. funding and resources, are reportedly in secret negotiations for a rapprochement with Hamas.  They have even begun releasing Hamas detainees.  Maybe soon we'll be able to fund and train all of them together — y'know, as part of that "peace process."

Thomas Smith Quotes Walid Phares on NRO's "The Tank"

Walid Phares checks in:

This report quoting Palestinian authorities accusing Iranian and Syrian intelligence of fomenting the "coup" in Gaza corroborates our analysis of last week putting the Hamas takeover in the framework of the Iranian offensive on the eastern Mediterranean. The PA [Palestinian Authority] intelligence branch is now exposing the emerging hand of Tehran and Damascus we were expecting to see.
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In previous analysis for "The Tank," in interviews, and in forthcoming articles, I have argued that Hamas was literally ordered by the Tehran-Damascus axis to seize Gaza fully in a move corresponding with an offensive along the eastern Mediterranean north and south of Israel in Lebanon and in Gaza. The analysis I developed wasn't only about the actual Iranian support of Hamas — we knew about that — but it was primarily about the strategic command and control the Iranian regime has over Hamas and Islamic Jihad. This development, in addition to crumbling the academic fallacy that Hamas is just an "independent liberation movement" reveals a regional terror dimension this group has with all of its geopolitical consequences.

The Death of Palestine? (CM)

Bret Stephens writes:

No matter how much diplomatic, military and financial oxygen is pumped into Mahmoud Abbas's Palestinian Authority, it's oxygen flowing to a corpse.  Palestine has always been a notional place, a field of dreams belonging only to those who know how to keep it. Israelis have held on to their state  because they were able to develop the political, military and economic institutions that a state requires to survive, beginning with its monopoly on  the use of legitimate force. In its nearly 14 years as an autonomous entity, the PA has succeeded in none of that, despite being on the receiving  end of unprecedented international goodwill and largesse. The message is ready to be sent with the following file or link attachments:

More here.

Isolate Gaza (CM)

Charles Krauthammer writes that Gaza is now

run not by a conventional political party, but by a movement that is revolutionary, Islamist, and terrorist. Worse, Hamas is a client of Iran. Gaza now constitutes the farthest reach of the archipelago of Iranian proxies: Hamas in Palestine, Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Mahdi army (among others) in Iraq, and the Alawite regime of Syria.

This Islamist mini-replica of the Comintern is at war not just with Israel, but with the moderate Arab states, who finally woke up to this threat last summer when they denounced Hezbollah for provoking the Lebanon war with Israel. …

There is nothing to do with the self-proclaimed radical Islamist entity that is Gaza but to isolate it. No recognition, no aid (except humanitarian necessities through the U.N.), no diplomatic commerce.

Israel now has the opportunity to establish deterrence against unremitting rocket attacks from Gaza into Israeli villages. Israel failed to do that after it evacuated Gaza in 2005, permitting the development of an unprecedented parasitism by willingly supplying food, water, electricity, and gasoline to a territory that was actively waging hostilities against it.

With Hamas now clearly in charge, Israel should declare that it will tolerate no more rocket fire — that the next Qassam will be answered with a cutoff of gasoline shipments. This should bring road traffic in Gaza to a halt within days and make it increasingly difficult to ferry around missiles and launchers.

If that fails to concentrate the mind, the next step should be to cut off electricity. When the world wails, Israel should ask, what other country on earth is expected to supply the very means for a declared enemy to attack it?

More here.

Jonathan Snow Discusses Al-Aqsa TV

The Coalition Against Terrorist Media ran the following op-ed on Hamas's al-Aqsa television network in Sunday’s Providence Journal. It argues that “a major element” of Al-Aqsa’s programming is aimed at mobilizing children for holy war.

Hamas' Terrorist Media Empire

In a backgrounder released today, FDD's Jonathan Snow analyzes Hamas' global media empire. Here are a few key excerpts:

Since its early days, Hamas has recognized the importance of the media to achieving its goals. It has built up a network of media properties -- including magazines, newspapers, websites, and television and radio stations -- that allows it to spread its hateful propaganda, recruit suicide bombers, incite hatred and violence, raise money, and support terrorist operations.

Hamas is exporting its terrorist media internationally, most recently by signing contracts to broadcast its al-Aqsa television throughout the Middle East, Europe, and North Africa via satellite providers.

The law and terrorist charities (AV)

In this morning's National Review online, I have an article with Howard Anglin, Esq. on a recent judicial decision out of California authored by Judge Audrey Collins that seriously hampers the government's efforts to restrict terrorist financing. Read the article.

To be fair to Judge Collins, her opinion is nothing like the hatchet job performed by Judge Anna Diggs Taylor on the NSA’s terrorist-surveillance program earlier this year. Judge Taylor’s opinion was roundly — and rightly — condemned as poorly reasoned and unworthy of the legal craft by lawyers from across the political spectrum. Judge Collins’s decision, by contrast, is neither overtly partisan nor irrational. With one exception it is a workmanlike application of precedent to fact. Unfortunately, that one exception has catastrophic potential.

...

There is, however, a compelling basis for a government ban on any assistance — even self-described humanitarian aid — to terrorists. Because terrorist organizations are not known as models of corporate transparency, there is no way of knowing whether a terrorist entity’s humanitarian arm is funneling money to its militant one. What is more, the fungible nature of money means that donations to the peaceful arm free up money to be spent by the militant arm.

A tribute to Jeane Kirkpatrick (AV)

I was awakened this morning by a call from a friend informing me that Jeane Kirkpatrick had died. Ambassador Kirkpatrick, until fairly recently, was a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, where I interned last year, and her office was only a few steps away from my bay on the 11^th floor. She later went on to help found the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies.

Jeane would make a point of stopping for a chat every time she passed my bay at AEI, and we had many fascinating conversations about foreign policy, and I was constantly struck by her powerful mind, on which, mercifully, age was not taking its toll.

Being a somewhat bumptious sort, I would try to tease out her views on the issues facing us today—at the time, it was the floundering Iraq mission—and it was clear that her contributions deserved a more public airing. Fortunately, prior to her death, Jeane had finished writing a new book on foreign policy. Though I have not yet had the pleasure to read it (it will be published shortly), I am told by those whose judgment I trust that it is excellent.

I remember one particular conversation with Jeane during which, and this was the Tory in me speaking, I quizzed her about her role in the Falklands crisis, which had received unfavorable reviews in Margaret Thatcher's memoirs Downing Street Years. Jeane displayed her characteristic graciousness, explaining the basis for her skepticism at being too supportive of Britain's pursuit of its territorial claim, while conceding that hindsight showed her fears were too severe.

Jeane explained that she was worried that an embarrassment of the Argentinean government over the Falklands might lead to its replacement by a communist one. Jeane's thinking flowed from the powerful, and powerfully American traditions of the Monroe Doctrine, as well as her own thesis in Dictatorships and Double Standards, which foreign policy thinkers today, especially those specializing in the Middle East, are I think admonished to read. (A link to the original essay is here, and its book form here).

In vivid detail, Jeane explained that hindsight had vindicated Lady Thatcher's decision, not her own. Yet, in this concession, Jeane's graciousness and honor came through, and I came to see that any sensible policymaker in her place would have had the same fears as her, and would probably have come to the same decision: I, with all my sympathies for the Anglosphere and the old order, certainly would have.

Jeane then spoke to me about the profound ambiguity of foreign policy idealism that animated her Dictatorships and Double Standards thesis, subtly calling attention to a particular weakness in my own foreign policy thinking. I would say that if there is one essay that those who are called neoconservatives should read, it is Dictatorships and Double Standards.

Ultimately, difficult policy decisions cannot be entirely based on ex ante normative ideals, but prudential concerns, animated by history. Fortunately, this underscores the need for powerfully smart, and idealistic, statesmen, of which Jeane Kirkpatrick surely was one. Withal, Jeane's contribution to U.S. foreign policy was very significant, and her death is serious and in many ways sad, but she leaves behind many friends, a goodly number of acolytes, and a very, very significant legacy. May she rest in peace.

Iran, Hizballah Making Moves to Topple Lebanon, Expert Says

Recent quotation from CNSNews article by Julie Stahl reads:

The recent Democratic takeover of the U.S. Congress emboldened Syria, Iran and Hizballah (Iran's proxy) because they view it as the defeat of President Bush, said Walid Phares, a senior fellow at the Washington-based Foundation for the Defense of Democracies. The rest is here

Hamas' Terrorist Media (BM)

FDD Manager of Research Jon Snow has an op-ed in today's Philadelphia Inquirer showing how Hamas uses its many media properties to support its terrorist operations, including its recent radio broadcasts orchestrating the rescue of scores of terrorists encircled by Israeli forces.

Last month, FDD COO Mark Dubowitz and Jon Snow exposed Hamas' plans to take its terror television broadcast global in this Wall Street Journal op-ed.  A sample:

For a preview of things to come, it's worth looking into the Palestinian terror group's media operations at home. Like Hezbollah, Hamas uses its propaganda network to support terror activities, including recruiting suicide bombers, inculcating hatred, raising funds and providing direct operational support to terrorist operations.

Al Aqsa TV routinely broadcasts Hamas leaders calling for jihad, songs of incitement to murder, and videos of Hamas gunmen. Just like Hamas newspapers, magazines, and websites, Al Aqsa programs typically feature splashy stories glorifying the actions of "martyrs" and assurances that through their sacrifices the "Zionist Entity" will be destroyed.

For more on how FDD's Coalition Against Terrorist Media is fighting the proliferation of terrorist owned and operated media outlets, including Hezbollah's al-Manar and Hamas' al-Aqsa TV stations, please visit www.stopterroristmedia.org.

NSA program hits speed bump, then drives over it (AV)

There is an excellent editorial on NRO rubbishing Judge Anna Diggs Taylor's decision to strike down the NSA surveillance program.

Judge Taylor's opinion is funny rather than sad, because there is a 0% chance that its rationale will be endorsed by the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. Judge Taylor, surveying the NSA program, found violations of the First Amendment, the Fourth Amendment, the Separation of Powers, and two federal statutes. If she looked harder, she may very well have found a violation of Roe v Wade, too.

Senator Specter's bill before Congress to, as it were, normalize the NSA wiretap program, will if it is passed, moot the question of whether the program violates FISA, but leave open the question of whether it violates the Constitution. Suffice it to say, for now, that even fierce critics of the NSA program are unwilling to sign up to Judge Taylor's take on that bold claim.

Judge Taylor's opinion is a damp squib; already, her permanent injunction against the NSA program's continued operation has been stayed, so it will, at least for the time being, continue to yield actionable intelligence.

Required Reading (CM)

Andy McCarthy:

“Israel's war against Hezbollah is a watershed in the war on terror. As long as we understand that it's not just Israel's war.”

His column is here.

Charles Krauthammer:

“The road to a solution is therefore clear: Israel liberates south Lebanon and gives it back to the Lebanese.”

His column is here.   

Alan Dershowitz:

“While Israel does everything reasonable to minimize civilian casualties -- not always with success -- Hezbollah and Hamas want to maximize civilian casualties on both sides. Islamic terrorists, a diplomat commented years ago, ‘have mastered the harsh arithmetic of pain. . . . Palestinian casualties play in their favor and Israeli casualties play in their favor.’"

His oped is here.   

Jed Babbin:

“A cease-fire would benefit Hezbollah and threaten Israel. It would protect both Hezbollah and the nations that support it--Syria and Iran--as well as the Lebanese who have accepted the terrorist organization as a legitimate part of their government. A cease-fire would allow Hezbollah to rebuild its power base and enable it to resume its attacks whenever Damascus and Tehran desired. For Israel, a U.N. force would create no security whatever against future attacks.

“The U.N.'s years-long record on the Israel-Lebanon border makes mockery of the term "peacekeeping." … the U.N. presence [in southern Lebanon] serves as a shield against Israeli strikes against the terrorists. … For the first time, Israel has acted in accordance with what used to be President Bush's theory: that a government that contains, supports or harbors terrorists is responsible for their actions. Israel is now demonstrating that there is a price to be exacted from nations who collaborate with terrorists.”

His op-ed is here.      

Michael Rubin:

"’Lebanon . . . is not willing to be the spearhead of the Arab-Israeli conflict,’ former President Amin Gemayel said. ‘Hezbollah will have to explain itself to the Lebanese,’ Druze leader Walid Jumblatt told Le Figaro. The independent Beirut daily Al-Mustaqbal quoted Lebanese Communications Minister Marwan Hamada saying, ‘Syrian Vice President Faruq al-Shara gives the commands, Hezbollah carries them out, and Lebanon is the hostage. … Ahmed al-Jarallah, editor of Kuwait's Arab Times, condemned both Hezbollah and Hamas in an editorial that same day, writing, ‘Unfortunately we must admit that in such a war the only way to get rid of 'these irregular phenomena' is what Israel is doing.’"

His op-ed is here.

Can The Lebanese Government Be Trusted?

In today's Family Security Matters, J. Peter Pham questions the role of the Lebanese government in the current conflict in the Middle East and whether a government that includes Hezbollah can even be a responsible interlocutor, much less partner, in resolving the crisis.

Course Correction

Andrew McCarthy’s latest piece in NRO argues that Israel’s war with Hezbollah is part of a much larger war that Iran has been waging against the U.S., Israel, and the West.

Syria's Nexus of Terror

Alykhan Velshi's latest backgrounder outlines Syria's role in supporting terrorism and its history of facilitating attacks against Israel and U.S. forces in Iraq.

Middle East Round Up, Cont...

National Review editorializes:

The Hamas leader, Khalid Mashaal, has headquarters in Damascus, protected by the thugocracy of Bashar al-Assad, himself protected by Iran. The overpowering of Hezbollah might lead Hamas’s sponsors around the Middle East to conclude that they can’t engage in a proxy war against Israel with impunity. If not, the targeted killings of Mashaal and his lieutenants in Syria would be appropriate, and other targets there might beckon as well. It is right to eliminate terror masters, and beyond that, the weakening and humiliation of its wretched Syrian stooge would be a suitable reward to Iran for its mischief-making.

In the New York Sun, Youssef Ibrahim explains how "The Road to Beirut Leads Straight to Damascus."

Middle East Media Round Up

CNN continues to update the situation in the Middle East here.  Reuters offers its own take on the situation here.

Charles Krauthammer tackles the question "Why They Fight" in today's Washington Post:

In 1948 Israel acquired life. The fighting raging now in 2006 -- between Israel and the "genocidal Islamism" (to quote the writer Yossi Klein Halevi) of Hamas and Hezbollah and Iran behind them -- is about whether that life should and will continue to exist.

Also in the Post, Michael Oren explains why Israel's only option in the current crisis is to confront state sponsors of terror:

By eliminating the terrorist leaderships in Gaza and southern Lebanon and deterring Syria and Iran from prodding their proxies to war, Israel can restore a reasonable level of security to its citizens.

The Bull Moose comments on the crisis here.

Littlegreenfootballs comments on the Vatican's condemnation of Israel here.

Michael Rubin argues that the U.S.' fight for spread of democracy is the Mideast is faltering in the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Bolton Rejecting Draft Security Council Resolution (CM)

We call upon Syria and Iran to end their role as state sponsors of terror and unequivocally condemn the actions of Hamas, including this kidnapping.  We yet again call upon Syria to arrest the Hamas ringleader, Khaled Meshal, who currently resides in Damascus.  We stress again our condemnation of Syrian and Iranian support of Hizballah, which has claimed responsibility for the other kidnappings along the Blue Line between Israel and Lebanon.

We further call on the Palestinian Authority government to stop all acts of violence and terror and comply with the principles enunciated by the Quartet:  renounce terror, recognize Israel, and accept previous obligations and agreements, including the Roadmap.  The failure of the Palestinian Authority government to take these steps hurts the Palestinian people.

More here.

A Widening War Part II (CM)

Michael Ledeen writes that from Gaza to Baghdad “there is a common prime mover, and that is the Iranian mullahcracy, the revolutionary Islamic fascist state that declared war on us 27 years ago and has yet to be held accountable.” His piece is here.

Austin Bay offers two related (and intriguing) theories:

Theory One: Iranian insanity on nukes has tried European patience. Hezbollah is a financial creature of Tehran.

Theory Two, cast as a fair question: Have the Egyptians, Fatah, Saudis, and Lebanese governments given Israel an implicit go-ahead? The strategem: Reduce these violent factions (Hamas and Hezbollah) and then every one will re-set the chess table.

More here.

Also, the Iraqi blogger Iraq the Model writes that the regime in Tehran will “fight to the last Lebanese, Iraqi and Syrian before their turn comes.

“From an Iraqi perspective I believe that a powerful strike to Hizbollah will be in Iraq's national interest. Hizbollah is Iran's and Syria's partner in feeding instability in Iraq as there were evidence that this terror group has a role in equipping and training insurgents in Iraq and Hizbollah had more than once openly showed support for the "resistance" in Iraq and sponsored the meetings of Baathist and radical Islamist militants who are responsible for most of the violence in Iraq.

”Iran, Syria, Hamas and Hizbollah have made it clear that their mission is to fight back the American plans in the Middle East, to me that is equal to saying that their mission is to stop Iraq from becoming a stable democratic country to prevent democracy from spreading to the rest of the region.

”Those extremists do not understand the language of compromise and they do not believe in negotiating even if they declare the opposite. They want a war and I think they're going to get one.”

My latest Scripps Howard column on the situation is here.

Media Roundup

Claudia Rosett continues to cover Tongsun Park's trial for NRO.  Park is "charged by federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York with having acted as an unregistered agent of the government of Iraq under Saddam Hussein."

Andy McCarthy argues that the Hamdan decision "sounds the death knell for the National Security Agency’s Terrorist Surveillance Program (TSP)," in today's NRO.

Michael Kraus and J. Peter Pham question if Israel's disengagement from Gaza is a mistake in today's NRO.

Cliff's Notes & Comments are available in this week's e-newsletter.

Iraq Wants an Apology From Hamas (CM)

"The Iraqi government demands that the Palestinian government headed by Hamas gives a clarification regarding their earlier statement [defending Zarqawi and calling him a 'martyr'], if they fail to do so, the Iraqi government will thoroughly discuss a suitable reaction to the attitude of the Palestinian authority."

Iraq the Model has more here.

Hamas mourns death of Zarqawi [AV]

Underscoring the nexus of hate that unites terrorists worldwide, within hours of the announcement of Zarqawi's death, Hamas issued a statement to Reuters "commend[ing] brother-fighter Abu Musab...who was martyred at the hands of the savage crusade campaign which targets the Arab homeland, starting in Iraq."

Update (06/09): Hamas has denied issuing the statement linked to above but in their denial they praised Zarqawi as a "symbol[] in the face of American occupation."

Hamas: Send Fighters, Guns, and Money (BM)

Anyone looking for evidence that Hamas will moderate will not want to read this Reuters report:

Palestinian militant group Hamas urged supporters around the world on Wednesday to send it arms, fighters and money to back its fight against arch-foe Israel.

"We ask all the people in surrounding Arab countries, the Muslim world and everyone who wants to support us to send weapons, money and men," Hamas political leader Khaled Meshaal said in a speech at a pro-Palestinian event in Qatar.

"You should not shy away from of this. This is resistance, not terrorism," said Meshaal whose group -- sworn to the destruction of Israel -- leads the Palestinian government.

The rest is here.

Hamas Plot to Assasinate Abbas (BM)

This important story from The Times of London has received very little pick up:

A HAMAS plot to assassinate Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, has been thwarted after he was tipped off by Israeli intelligence.

Hamas’s military wing, the Izza Din Al-Qassem, had planned to kill Abbas at his office in Gaza, intelligence sources said.

Abbas, who became president of the Palestinian Authority last year after the death of Yasser Arafat, was formally warned of the danger by the Israelis and cancelled a planned visit to the territory.

The murder plan is the clearest sign yet of the tensions inside the Palestinian Authority between Hamas, which swept to power after elections in January, and Abbas’s Fatah movement

Lots of coverage, though, for the gun battle between Hamas and Fatah that left three dead in Gaza.

Nasrallah Finally Admits Support for Palestinian Terrorists (BM)

From today's AP:

The leader of Hizbullah, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, acknowledged giving militant Palestinian factions financial and political support but denied arming them, in an interview published Thursday.

Nasrallah did not name the groups in an extensive interview with the daily As-Safir, but Hizbullah is known to have close ties to Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

"They (the Palestinians) have fighters and expertise. They can produce a missile by logging on to the Internet," Nasrallah said.

"What they need is financial, political and media support. And we do not deny that we help them on those fronts," he said.

It was the first time that the Hizbullah leader, a staunch supporter of the Palestinian cause, publicly acknowledged funding Palestinian terrorist groups, an accusation made by Israeli officials.

Worth noting:  Nasrallah includes "media" in his list of the ways in which Hezbollah supports other terrorists, obviously referring to Hezbollah's al-Manar television and al-Nour radio.  Both were recently named as terrorist organizations by the U.S. Treasury Department, action that FDD's Coalition Against Terrorist Media had long urged.  The Treasury Department specifically cited al-Manar's support for Palestinian terrorists:  "In addition to supporting Hizballah, al Manar has also provided support to other designated Palestinian terrorist organizations, including the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) and al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, notably transferring tens of thousands of dollars for a PIJ-controlled charity."

Just another way in which al-Manar is shows itself to be a terrorist organization masquerading as a television channel.