MidnightWatcher – Prophecy in Motion

Here is an addendum to some thoughts on this story …

By Elad Benari – “Middle East expert Professor Eyal Zisser warned on Monday against a possible Syrian attack on Israel, if President Bashar Assad feels threatened by the anti-regime protesters.

In an interview with Arutz Sheva, Zisser said that in the short term there is no reason for particular concern, because a situation which is bad for Assad is good for Israel as this means that the Syrian president is preoccupied with his internal affairs and not with attacking Israel.

Zisser added that the concern is in the long run, because it is quite possible that a desperate Assad may decide to rally his people around a common enemy, namely Israel.

Referring to Defense Minister Ehud Barak’s comments on Sunday that the end of Assad’s rule is approaching and that it would be a ‘blessing for the Middle East,’ Prof. Zisser said that these remarks do not have any special meaning for the Syrians as they do not pay attention to remarks made by an Israeli defense minister.

He also spoke of the interview Assad gave last week to ABC News, in which he told veteran journalist Barbara Walters that ‘no government in the world [would] kill its people unless it’s led by a crazy person.’ Zisser explained that the interview is a direct continuation of an attempt by Assad’s men to show him as an enlightened person who is different from his father. This attempt, he said, has been ongoing since Assad took over power from his father.” Read more.

Report: Syria Arms Medium-Range Missile Arsenal with Chemical Warheads – “The Syrian regime, which has endured nine months of civil unrest spurred by the Arab Spring as it swept across the Middle East, has armed its medium-range missile arsenal with chemical warheads. According to a report published by the Sabah daily Sunday, Damascus armed 600 one-ton chemical warheads to use in the event of a foreign military intervention. Furthermore, President Bashar al-Assad ordered the deployment of 21 missile launchers along its border with Turkey. Syria’s medium-range missiles that can be equipped with chemical warheads have a range of up to 1,300 kilometers…” Read more.

“Israel on Sunday night closed the Mughrabi ramp leading to the mosque compound in the Old City over public safety concerns in a move which was immediately condemned by Palestinians officials and Jordan, which is the custodian of Muslim holy sites in Jerusalem.

‘This is a serious step that shows the Zionist scheme of aggression again the Al-Aqsa mosque,’ Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhum said.

‘This is a violent act that amounts to a declaration of religious war on the Muslim holy places in Jerusalem,’ he said, calling for ‘Arab and Muslim mobilisation to stop this serious event.’

Jerusalem city council says the ramp poses a fire hazard and could collapse onto the women’s prayer section by the Western Wall.

But Muslim leaders fear its demolition could destabilise the mosque compound and accuse Israel of failing to coordinate its renovation with Waqf, which oversees Islamic heritage sites.

The closure prompted a swift response from Palestinian presidential spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina who warned it was another Israeli ‘attack’ on efforts to revive the moribund peace talks which could shake up the region.

‘These practices create a negative atmosphere in the entire region that could plunge the area into turmoil and tension,’ he warned.

Jordan’s powerful Islamists denounced the decision as ‘flagrant aggression.’

‘This is a very dangerous move,’ the head of Jordan’s Muslim Brotherhood, Hammam Said, told AFP.

‘The only solution against this entity (Israel) is resistance in order to protect the sanctity of the holy places against such flagrant aggression,’ he said.” Read more.

Egypt, Jordan Warns Israel over Temple Mount Gate – “Egypt has warned Israel over the matter of renovating the footbridge that leads to the Rambam (Mughrabim) Gate to the Temple Mount, Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin said Monday. ‘We are receiving warning messages from the Egyptians, because the Muslim Brotherhood is exerting pressure on them,’ Rivlin told German Ambassador to Israel Andreas Michaelis, who met him in Rivlin’s bureau Monday. The Muslim Waqf, which controls the Al Aqsa area atop the Temple Mount, has demanded that Israel refrain from renovating and rebuilding the walkway, which Jews use to access the Mount. Jordan, too, has warned Israel in the matter.” Read more.

Hamas’ own charter states in no uncertain terms that “Israel will rise and will remain erect until Islam eliminates it as it had eliminated its predecessors … There is no solution to the Palestinian problem except by Jihad … Muslims will fight the Jews (and kill them); until the Jews hide behind rocks and trees, which will cry: O Muslim! there is a Jew hiding behind me, come on and kill him!”  Yet, according to the Turkish President, Hamas supports democracy and peace with Israel?  And this is the ‘moderate’ model from which new leaders of the ‘Arab Spring’ draw their inspiration?  …

By Elad Benari – “Turkish president Abdullah Gul on Sunday said Israel should take advantage of the changes in the Middle East to achieve peace with the Palestinian Authority and the entire Arab world, the Turkey-based Today’s Zaman reported.

Speaking upon his return from Vienna, where he snubbed an official lunch on Friday because of the presence of Defense Minister Ehud Barak, Gul told local reporters that Israel had not yet understood the reason for Turkey’s anger with the Jewish state. He added that in order to return to normal relations with Turkey, Israel must achieve peace with the PA and other Arab countries.

Gul added that Israel should take advantage of what he called the ‘efforts for democracy’ being made as part of the Arab Spring, and added that the period of Arab dictators backing the IDF operations in Gaza was over.

‘As the democracy in the Middle East grows, Israel will eventually have to stop the violence in ‘Palestine’’, he was quoted as having said.

Gul also claimed that Khaled Mashaal, head of the Hamas terror group, is a supporter of democracy and is willing to live in peace alongside Israel.” Read more.

Hamas sets up rocket production line in Sinai – “Hamas has established forward bases and rocket production facilities in the Sinai Peninsula in an effort to protect them from Israeli air strikes, The Jerusalem Post has learned. By establishing the facilities in Egypt, Hamas aims to protect its assets since it believes Israel will not strike targets inside Egypt due to the affect it would have on bilateral relations. Israel has called on Cairo to increase its efforts to restore order in Sinai and to prevent attacks, but the Egyptian military has held back from dismantling the Hamas infrastructure in the peninsula.” Read more.

Flashback: Hamas MP and Cleric: The Caliphate is Coming and in a Few Years a ‘Great Massacre of Jews’ – “The (Jews) are brought in droves to Palestine so that the Palestinians – and the Islamic nation behind them – will have the honor of annihilating the evil of this gang… All the predators, all the birds of prey, all the dangerous reptiles and insects, and all the lethal bacteria are far less dangerous than the Jews… In Just a few years, all the Zionists and the settlers will realize that their arrival in Palestine was for the purpose of the great massacre, by means of which Allah wants to relieve humanity of their evil.” Read more.

Right Side News – “Middle Eastern terrorists have infiltrated Latin American countries—especially Mexico—to plan an attack against the United States, according to an alarming exposé broadcast this week by the world’s largest Spanish news network.

The Univision documentary, ‘La Amenaza Irani,’ (Iranian Threat), uses undercover, never-before-seen video footage to illustrate how Iran’s growing political, economic and military ties to Latin America threaten U.S. security. The videos were part of a seven-month investigation in which college-aged Mexicans infiltrated diplomatic circles in Mexico to obtain recordings that prove diplomats from Iran, Venezuela and Cuba planned a cybernetic attack against the White House, FBI, Pentagon and U.S. nuclear plants.

The documentary also features secret video taken by extremists linked to Iran and footage from an undercover journalist who infiltrated Venezuelan military camps where terrorists trained. The news network’s investigative team also tracked the expansion of Iranian interests in the hemisphere, including money-laundering and drug-trafficking activities by terrorist groups supported by Iran.

A segment is dedicated to the connection between Mexican drug cartels and the foiled plot to murder the Saudi ambassador in Washington D.C. a few months ago. One of the Iranians charged had been ordered by that country’s Special Forces to travel to Mexico to recruit members of the notorious drug cartel ‘Los Zetas’ to carry out the plot. The massive scheme against U.S. government information and computer systems had been in the works years earlier, the documentary reveals.” Read more.

Flashback: Argentina flirts with Iran as West watches nervously – “Argentina is quietly reaching out to Iran, worrying key Western powers and Israel as they try to tighten Tehran’s international isolation over its nuclear program, UN diplomats told Reuters… Iran has every reason to want to mend relations with Argentina. Under sanctions and increasingly isolated due to its nuclear program, Tehran has few allies and needs friends. Argentina is also on the 35-nation board of the U.N. nuclear watchdog, where Iran’s nuclear program is a key issue… Several European diplomats noted that [Argentine President] Fernandez is a close ally of regional leftists like Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez and Bolivia’s Evo Morales, who have warm ties with Iran.” Read more.

Flashback: ‘A World Without America’: Iran Building Rocket Bases in Venezuela to be Used Against ‘Iran’s Enemies’ – “The Iranian government is moving forward with the construction of rocket launch bases in Venezuela, the German daily Die Welt wrote in its Friday edition. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is Teheran’s most important South American ally. Iran is building intermediate- range missile launch pads on the Paraguaná Peninsula, and engineers from a construction firm – Khatam al-Anbia – owned by the Revolutionary Guards visited Paraguaná in February. Amir al-Hadschisadeh, the head of the Guard’s Air Force, participated in the visit, according to the report. Die Welt cited information from ‘Western security insiders.’” Read more.

“The Syrian regime, which has endured nine months of civil unrest spurred by the Arab Spring as it swept across the Middle East, has armed its medium-range missile arsenal with chemical warheads.

According to a report published by the Sabah daily Sunday, Damascus armed 600 one-ton chemical warheads to use in the event of a foreign military intervention. Furthermore, President Bashar al-Assad ordered the deployment of 21 missile launchers along its border with Turkey. Syria’s medium-range missiles that can be equipped with chemical warheads have a range of up to 1,300 kilometers and would include the southern and central provinces of Turkey.

According to the daily, the Syrian military keeps its stockpile of chemical warheads in secret facilities in and around the capital city of Damascus. In mid-November, President Assad held a special meeting with top commanders of the Syrian army and argued over how to respond to a possible military intervention by the international community. Additionally, Russia, which stood by the Assad regime’s defiance of international pressure on Damascus, sent 3 million gas masks to the troubled country. Most of those masks will be distributed to the regime’s loyalists, the families of soldiers and Baath supporters. The distribution of the masks is set to be completed by the end of December, according to the daily.” Read more.

Flashback: Saddam’s WMDs are in Syria – “An Iraqi air force general with information on Saddam’s weapons of mass destruction is scheduled to meet with Senators Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) and James Inhofe (R-Okla.) next week. It seems that the Iraq WMD controversy is about to crack open once more. In a book titled Saddam’s Secrets, Gen. Georges Sada claims that Saddam Hussein moved weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) to Syria prior to the American invasion. According to Sada, two cargo aircraft made 56 flights to Syria. They were carrying ‘yellow barrels with skull and crossbones on each barrel.’ There was also a truck convoy. Sada is not the first person to make this claim. On 23 December 2002, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon publicly stated, ‘Chemical and biological weapons which Saddam is endeavoring to conceal have been moved from Iraq to Syria.’ Last month, former Israeli Defense Force chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Moshe Yaalon, claimed that Saddam Hussein moved chemical weapons to Syria six weeks before American forces entered Iraq.” Read more.

Report: Assad’s brother-in-law shot to death – “Sources within Syria’s opposition reported Sunday that General Assef Shawkat, Syrian military intelligence chief and President Bashar Assad’s brother-in-law, was shot to death during an argument with his aide, General Ali Mamlouk. The report has not been confirmed. According to the report, an argument broke out between Shawkat and Mamlouk at the military intelligence chief’s office. At some point, Shawkat pulled out his pistol and aimed it at Mamlouk, who proceeded to take his own gun out and shoot his boss. Shawkat was secretly evacuated to a military hospital in Damascus, where, the report said, he died of his wounds. Other sources claimed Shawkat was in a coma.” Read more.

The media spin doctors and minions of the willingly ignorant continue to paint a positive face on ‘moderate’ Turkey and the popular Islamist goverment of Prime Minister Erdogan, yet these rose-colored spectacle-wearing ‘journalists’ remain conspicuously silent when it comes to the fact that the popularity which Turkey’s ‘moderate’ AKP party now enjoys would not have risen to the level it has had it not been for Erdogan’s very public anti-Israel vitriol.  Diplomatic relations between Turkey and Israel are now at an all-time low as a result and show no signs of improving any time soon, if ever.  If the new Islamist governments of Tunisia, Egypt, Morocco, Libya, and potentially even Syria (and perhaps others) are inspired by Turkey’s so-called ‘Justice and Development’ politics, who in their right mind can reasonably expect anything different from Islamist governments inspired by Turkey’s example?  If anything, this is nothing but another indication in a long list of many that we are continuing to see a ‘bad crescent-moon rising‘ …

(Reuters) – “As Islamist groups emerge triumphant in Tunisia, Egypt and Morocco, Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party under Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan seems decided to act as their mentor — and to throw its weight behind the Syrian opposition seeking to oust President Bashar al-Assad, a former ally.

Ankara’s evolving response to the upheavals of the Arab Spring is broadly in harmony with its NATO and European Union allies, who had balked at the AKP’s previous ‘zero problems with the neighbors’ policy, that indulged Syria and its ally Iran, and which some derided as a neo-Ottoman turn away from Turkey’s long-standing Western ties.

Both Turkey and its Western allies now hope the success of the AKP in transiting from Islamist roots to a sort of Muslim version of Christian Democracy, and in running a dynamic economy that has doubled the income of its people, will be an attractive model to Arab Islamist parties now coming to the fore.

‘I think the AKP hope is that they will be really an example for the Islamists of the region and they will moderate themselves and become parties like AKP which respects Islamic values but mainly focuses on economic development and doesn’t support a radical agenda,’ said Mustafa Akyol, author of the recent book ‘Islam without extremes: a Muslim Case For Liberty’.

Erdogan and his government are nonetheless intent on influencing the reformists in the Arab Islamist parties.

On a triumphal tour in September of Tunisia, Egypt and Libya — the three countries that successfully overthrew their dictatorships this year — he pointedly defended Turkey’s model of a secular state as a shield that defended the beliefs of all, including Islamists.

Tunisia’s Ennadhda party has publicly embraced the AKP as a source of inspiration, while the new generation of the Muslim Brotherhood, especially in Egypt, look to the AKP as an example.

‘They want to be a mentor to all these Islamist groups in Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia,’ says Soli Ozel, a prominent academic and commentator in Istanbul.” Read more.

Flashback: Turkey Installing New Military Tech That Will Allow Warplanes and Ships to Target Israel as the Enemy – “In yet another sign of the deterioration in Israel-Turkish ties, Turkey’s Star Gazete reported Tuesday that the military is installing new technology that will allow warplanes and ships to target Israeli vessels. Previously, Turkish planes, ships and submarines used American technology, which automatically classified Israeli equipment as ‘friendly.’ The new system, developed in Turkey, will allow the Turkish military to decide which targets to label as friendly.” Read more.

Flashback: Erdogan: ‘The Relations Between Turkey and Israel Will Never Become Normal Again’ – “Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned on Saturday that relations with Israel may ‘never be normal again’ as tensions continue to rise after Israel refused to apologize over a raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla last year in which Israel Defense Forces soldiers killed nine Turkish citizen… He continued, saying ‘if you are insistent on creating a source of unrest, you are bound to become lonelier and lonelier. They used to be great friends of ours. And this solitude is Israel’s fate under these circumstances.’” Read more.

Flashback: Erdogan: Iran Isn’t the Real Nuclear Threat in the Middle East, Israel Is – “Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that while the West may presume that Israel and its surrounding nations would be under threat from a nuclear-armed Iran, it is Israel that possesses nuclear weapons. In a Time magazine article published on Tuesday, Erdogan dismissed claims that the agreement to install NATO radar in Turkey was a response to the nuclear threat posed by Iran… Erdogan continued to insist that UN sanctions on Israel would help solve the Israel-Palestinian conflict, saying ‘had these sanctions been imposed, the Palestine-Israel conflict would have been resolved a long time ago.’” Read more.

Maybe he decided to act upon his own personal ‘triggering event‘ …

By Claire Reitz – “A lone gunman, Tyler Brehm opened fire at people passing by near Sunset and Vine in Hollywood, CA on Friday, December 10.

The 26 year-old shooter walked with a gun around 10:00 AM toward the famous intersection. Along the way, he taunted a few people.

One woman in a car driving by reported the man walking up to her car and tapping on the window with his gun. Immediately after she turned her vehicle off of Vine onto a side street, she began hearing shots.

The man walked in the street on Vine toward Sunset shooting at pedestrians and others driving by. Three people were wounded and another was killed. The man killed was an off-duty police officer who was working on a movie set nearby. Another wounded was a man driving by who was rushed to the hospital immediately following the incident. He is still in critical condition. The two other men were mildly wounded.

When the Los Angeles Police Department arrived on the scene, they tried to end the violence. When the gunman made a threatening move toward them, they shot and killed him.

You may have heard this story on Friday night or Saturday. What was not reported by any news outlets other than a local news program in Los Angeles was what the man was yelling as he walked down the street shooting people.

A witness reported the gunman shouting ‘allahu akbar’, which means ‘God is the greatest’ in Arabic. The motive of this random shooting is still unknown.” Source – Technorati.com.

Although it is unfortunate that the heat Gingrich received has caused him to take a step back by voicing ‘support’ for the establishment of a Palestinian state, I am pleasantly surprised that Gingrich spoke the truth in this regard.  The flip side of the coin, of course, is that truth is a much hated thing in ‘Palestinian culture‘ …

“Newt Gingrich declared in an interview that Palestinians are an ‘invented’ people, a statement that drew outrage Saturday from top Palestinian officials.

Gingrich’s campaign, while standing by the statement, afterward clarified that the former House speaker still supports the establishment of a Palestinian state.

The front-running Republican presidential candidate made the comments in an interview with The Jewish Channel. The interview marks some of the toughest language to date any candidate has used to describe the Middle East peace process. It also comes after Gingrich pledged at a forum earlier in the week that if elected, he would name John Bolton — a hawkish, pro-Israel former U.N. ambassador who served in the George W. Bush administration — as his secretary of state.

In the interview with The Jewish Channel, Gingrich likened himself to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whom he praised for his “tough-minded realism” about Israel’s security.

He said the Jewish people have the right to a state, but stopped short of declaring the same for the Palestinians.

‘Remember there was no Palestine as a state. It was part of the Ottoman Empire. And I think that we’ve had an invented Palestinian people, who are in fact Arabs, and were historically part of the Arab community,’ Gingrich said. ‘And they had a chance to go many places. And for a variety of political reasons we have sustained this war against Israel now since the 1940’s, and I think it’s tragic.'” Read more.

Flashback: Gaza and the West Bank: 31 Opportunities for Statehood Squandered in Favor of Genocide – “There is an eerie déjà vu about an unmistakable and oft-repeated process in the Arab–Israel conflict. The process started in 1937 and has repeated itself with minor variations many times over the subsequent 74 years. The process is as follows: Arabs go to war with Israel, promising Israel’s destruction and the annihilation of its Jews. Israel wins the war and offers peace. Arab leaders reject Israel’s peace offer, renew their promises of destruction and annihilation; and after a while they go to war again, and lose again, and Israel again offers peace. Repeat this process 31 times and you have the history of the Arab-Israel conflict in a nutshell.” Read more.

Flashback: PLO executive committee member Zahir Muhsein (1977): ‘The Palestinian people does not exist’ – “Way back on March 31, 1977, the Dutch newspaper Trouw published an interview with Palestine Liberation Organization executive committee member Zahir Muhsein. Here’s what he said: ‘The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct ‘Palestinian people’ to oppose Zionism. For tactical reasons, Jordan, which is a sovereign state with defined borders, cannot raise claims to Haifa and Jaffa, while as a Palestinian, I can undoubtedly demand Haifa, Jaffa, Beer-Sheva and Jerusalem. However, the moment we reclaim our right to all of Palestine, we will not wait even a minute to unite Palestine and Jordan.'” Read more.

“Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood said that the country’s peace treaty with Israel needs re-evaluation by the country’s new parliament, in press remarks by a senior member of the group published Friday.

‘A long time has passed since the Camp David accord was signed, and like the other agreements it needs to be reviewed, and this is in the hands of the parliament,’ said Mahmoud Hussein, the group’s secretary-general.

‘The brotherhood believes the treaty is of great importance, but it is not on the top of our list. There are other priorities for the time being,’ Hussein told the regional Asharq al-Awsat daily.

‘Generally, Israel does not honor the agreement,’ he added.

He denied a report saying that the Muslim Brotherhood had reached an understanding with the United States and Israel on ‘the importance of safeguarding the peace treaty with Israel.’

Last week, Israel expressed concern at the gains of Islamist parties in the first round of Egypt’s parliamentary elections and urged any future government to uphold the 1979 peace treaty.

Islamists made big gains during the initial round of the first elections since a popular revolt this year forced former president Hosni Mubarak out of power.

The Freedom and Justice Party, the brotherhood’s political wing, was in the lead with 36.5 per cent of the vote. It was followed by the hard-line Salafist party, Al-Nour, with 24 per cent.” Source – Haaretz.

Egypt: Muslim Brotherhood Holds Venomous Anti-Israel Rally, Vows to ‘One Day Kill All Jews’ – “A Muslim Brotherhood rally in Cairo’s most prominent mosque Friday turned into a venomous anti-Israel protest, with attendants vowing to ‘one day kill all Jews.’ Some 5,000 people joined the rally, called to promote the ‘battle against Jerusalem’s Judaization.’ The event coincided with the anniversary of the United Nations’ partition plan in 1947, which called for the establishment of a Jewish state.” Read more.