In light of terrorism, support for Israel in Iraq rises - Itamar Eichner Ynetnews

In light of terrorism, support for Israel in Iraq rises

The Israeli Foreign Ministry is surprised to receive thousands of messages from Iraq in support of Israel in light of the crisis on the Temple Mount and recent terror attacks, with Iraqis saying they 'recognize the State of Israel,' and even calling Palestinians 'traitors and terrorists.'

Itamar Eichner  Ynetnews|Published:  08.08.17

Against the backdrop of the events on the Temple Mount and the recent terrorist attacks, the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem was very surprised to see a dramatic increase in the number of Israel sympathizers in Iraq.

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Yonatan Gonen, head of Arabic-language digital diplomacy at the Foreign Ministry, who also runs the Foreign Ministry's Facebook and Twitter accounts, said that the ministry has been flooded with pictures and messages of sympathy, support and even a desire to establish relations between the two countries.

'Iraq with Israel' - Iraqis showing support of the Jewish state

In addition, several new Facebook pages were opened, and even an Arabic-language website was created to bring Israelis and Iraqis together.

The reactions include harsh criticism of "the hypocrisy of the Arab peoples," with an emphasis on the Egyptians and the Jordanians, whose countries have signed a peace treaty with the State of Israel.

One of the main arguments raised by the respondents on the matter is that if they oppose normalization with Israel, they should act to cancel the peace treaty with Israel before they start complaining. Another central argument is based on the approach that normalization with Israel is not shameful, as long as the interests of both countries are preserved.

At the same time, some respondents admit that the desire to establish relations with Israel does not stem from their love for the country, but rather from their disappointment with the Arab states and their desire to eliminate terrorism in their country.

For example, Zaid, from Baghdad, wrote to the Israeli Foreign Ministry, "All the Iraqis are with you, not necessarily out of love. Israel did not (even) throw stones at us while the Muslim Brotherhood sent suicide bombers and financed them to fight us."

Abdullah Bassem from Baghdad wrote, "A message from Baghdad to Tel Aviv: We recognize the State of Israel—the chosen and the victorious people. Fakestinians (a derogatory term for Palestinians) are traitors and terrorists. We, as Iraqis, will be happy to visit Israel and welcome a visit by Israelis to their second homeland, the great nation of Iraq."

Bader from the city of Basra wrote, "The Iraqis have suffered for years, while the Israelis have been refusing to accept terrorism for decades. The Palestinians must be expelled to countries that adopt and teach death and destruction."

The scene of an attack in Baghdad, in which 55 people were murdered, carried out by a Palestinian terrorist.

The Foreign Ministry's digital staff responded to Bader, saying, "We share your courageous view and know that you have suffered. We are in the same boat as far as terrorism is concerned and hope that Iraq's sons will enjoy security. As for your advice, we will never expel anyone, because we are all from the same region and there is no escape from living together. We believe in peace in the region."

An interesting and recurring point in the reactions of the Iraqis who wrote to the foreign ministry is that the State of Israel is an existing reality and a fait accompli, and it is a shame to waste energy and resources in an attempt to change this reality. Quite a few even wrote that the Iraqi people are tired of killing and bloodshed, and that normalization with Israel will promote Iraq economically and help rebuild it.

Many have also harshly criticized the Palestinians as "ungrateful," after reports that no less than 1,200 Palestinians have committed serious attacks on Iraqi soil and killed hundreds of Iraqi people. Individual responders even went so far as to say that if the Al-Aqsa Mosque was controlled by the Palestinians, it would become an arena of terror attacks and bloodshed.

On the other hand, there are Iraqis who told the foreign ministry that every self-respecting Iraqi is committed to fighting Israel and to "liberating Palestine and Jerusalem."

Bashir, for example, wrote, "I, as an Iraqi, think that hostility to Israel is a duty just as we must fast and pray. The victory of our Palestinian brothers is a must. We— Sunnis and Shiites, Christians and members of all ethnic groups—love Palestine."

"It seems that the Iraqi people are divided on the matter, but the very fact that such opinions are voiced openly and without fear indicates that this is not a negligible phenomenon," said Gonen. "It is clear that if such opinions were uttered 20-30 years ago, the people who expressed them would be probably hanged."

Ptoject Bright Future, calls for establishing relations with Israel

A source in the foreign ministry added, "We hold on to it like breathing air, because it balances all the curses we absorb every day, hour, minute and even second."

In the past month, a group of Iraqi citizens have opened a Facebook page under the name "Iraq with Israel," one of whose stated goals is to establish relations between the two countries and promote dialogue and discourse.

Among other things, they wrote, "We are a group of Iraqi citizens who call for opening channels of civil cooperation between us and Israeli citizens. To this end, we launched a campaign to support the security of the State of Israel."

"First and foremost, we firmly condemn all terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians," they added. "As a country that has suffered and is still suffering from terrorism, we are aware of the great pain these attacks cause. Despite the tangible risk to us in managing this campaign, thousands of Iraqi citizens have joined it so far."

In addition, an Iraqi website called "Project Bright Future" was opened, calling for the establishment of diplomatic relations between Israel and Iraq, under the motto "Iraq and Israel are allies."

Before Being Killed, the Children Told ISIS: 'No, We Love Yeshua.'

Chris Mitchell

CBN News Middle East Bureau Chief

Before Being Killed, the Children Told ISIS: 'No, We Love Yeshua.'

Few people understand or have seen the persecution of Christians in the Middle East like Canon Andrew White, who has been in the eye of the storm.

White oversees St. George's Church in Baghdad. His ministry, The Foundation for the Relief and Reconciliation in the Middle East offers comfort and humanitarian supplies to many of the Christians devastated by the march of ISIS throughout Iraq and Syria.

Here's an excerpt from a recent and revealing interview with the man known as the "Vicar of Baghdad."

Joel Rosenberg - With prophetic implications - the region of Iraq. What does it mean?

Joel C. Rosenberg's Blog

With prophetic implications, the Kurds, known as the Medes in the Bible, seize oil-rich region of Iraq. What does it mean? by joelcrosenberg (Washington, D.C.) -- Could recent developments in Iraq have prophetic implications? Actually, the answer may be yes -- especially with regards to the Kurdish people who live in northern Iraq. Let me explain. As we've been seeing in recent weeks, the Radical jihadist forces of the "Islamic State of Iraq & al-Sham" (ISIS) are on the move towards Baghdad. They are leaving a trail of bloodshed and carnage in their wake. The objective of the ISIS leaders is to topple the Iraqi government, seize control of all of Iraq, establish a jihadist state under Sharia law, and use Iraq to begin a regional -- and eventually global -- Islamic caliphate, or kingdom. Now, the Kurdish leaders have taken advantage of the chaos of this moment to seize control of the oil-rich region of Kirkuk for themselves. (see AP story below) The oil fields of Kirkuk have been a long-standing issue of controversy in Iraq, especially since the liberation of the country in 2003. Whoever controls those fields would control enormous wealth as the oil there is more fully developed and shipped to markets around the globe. The Kurds, generally, are Sunni Muslims, but they are not ethnically Arabs. Indeed, many Kurds have a deep hatred for the Arabs. Several decades ago, the world create a special, protected, autonomous region for the Kurds in the north region of Iraq, after Saddam Hussein repeated attacked and tried to destroy the Kurds, including with the use of chemical weapons. Ultimately, many Kurds want to create an independent country of their own, uniting Kurds living in Iraq, Iran, Syria and Turkey. Yet each of those national governments strongly oppose the creation of an independent Kurdistan. What's fascinating is that the modern Kurdish people were known in ancient, Biblical times as the Medes. Here is where things get interesting. Bible prophecy indicates that in the End Times, as we get closer to the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, God will allow the Medes to gain power, even as the Lord allows the Arabs to gain power and rebuild the kingdom of Babylon in the heart of Iraq. The Book of Revelation, for example, tells us that Babylon will be the epicenter of evil in the last days of history, and will eventually face the judgment of God. The Hebrew prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah and Daniel tell us this, as well, indicating Babylon will be completely destroyed and when the judgment is complete, Babylon will be completely uninhabitable. Indeed, Isaiah 13:20 says of Babylon, "It will never be inhabited or lived in from generation to generation; nor will the Arab pitch his tent there, nor will shepherds make their flocks lie down there." What's more, Bible prophecy indicates that God will raise up the Medes -- that is, the Kurdish people -- to be an instrument of judgment against Babylon. Isaiah 13:17 -- "Behold, I am going to stir up the Medes against them [the Babylonians]...." Jeremiah 51:11 -- "The Lord has aroused the spirit of the kings of the Medes, because His purpose is against Babylon to destroy it; for it is the vengeance of the Lord...." Jeremiah 51:28-29 -- "Consecrate the nations against her, the kings of the Medes, their governors and all their prefects, and every land of their dominion. So the land quakes and writhes, for the purposes of the Lord against Babylon stand, to make the land of Babylon a desolation without inhabitants...."  How exactly will these eschatological prophecies come to pass? It's too early to say for certain. But after studying these prophecies, traveling four times to the Iraqi Kurdistan region, meeting with senior Kurdish leaders -- including Kurdish Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani -- and tracking developments there over the past decade or so, I think it is fair to say we may be seeing some of the prophetic battle lines developing: The hatred of the Kurds/Medes against the Arabs, and vice versa, is steadily growing. The Kurds/Medes and the Arabs are in a continued struggle to control the oil resources that will make either or both of them enormously wealthy and powerful in the End Times. The Kurds/Medes are, step by step, forming into their nation, and possibly their own country. The Kurds/Medes are developing an increasingly effective military force that is able to overpower the Iraqi Arabs at times.  Please keep the Kurdish people in your prayers. There are a growing number of truly born again Christians living in Kurdistan, including many MBBs, Muslim Background Believers. Please pray that they would boldly preach the Gospel, and be able to make many disciples, and help the believers that grow deep in their faith in Christ, especially amidst all the chaos and carnage.  For more on the latest geopolitical developments, here are excerpts from a recent article from the Associated Press, "HOW THE KURDS SEIZED KIRKUK." "After a decades-long dispute between Arabs and Kurds over the oil-rich northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk, it took just an hour and a half for its fate to be decided," the Associated Press reports. "As al-Qaida-inspired militants advanced across northern Iraq and security forces melted away, Kurdish fighters who have long dominated Kirkuk ordered Iraqi troops out and seized full control of the regional oil hub and surrounding areas, according to a mid-ranking Army officer. He said he was told to surrender his weapons and leave his base. His account was corroborated by an Arab tribal sheik and a photographer who witnessed the looting of army bases after troops left and who related similar accounts of the takeover from relatives in the army. All three spoke to The Associated Press Friday on condition of anonymity because they feared retribution from Kurdish forces. "They said they would defend Kirkuk from the Islamic State," said the Arab officer, who oversaw a warehouse in the city's central military base. He asked that his rank not be made public. He insisted the Iraqi troops had not planned to retreat before the Islamic state. "We were ready to battle to death. We were completely ready," he said at a roadside rest house just inside the semi-autonomous Kurdish region. The Kurdish takeover of the long-disputed city came days after the extremist Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant and other Sunni militants seized much of the country's second largest city of Mosul and Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit before driving south toward Baghdad. Their lightning advance has plunged the country into its worst crisis since the 2011 withdrawal of U.S. troops. A spokesman for Kurdish forces, known as the peshmerga, said they had only moved in after Iraqi troops retreated, assuming control of the "majority of the Kurdistan region" outside the semi-autonomous Kurdish Regional Government. "Peshmerga forces have helped Iraqi soldiers and military leaders when they abandoned their positions," including by helping three generals to fly back to Baghdad from the Kurdish regional capital Erbil, Lieutenant General Jabbar Yawar said in a statement on the regional government's website.... Kirkuk, 180 miles (290 kilometers) north of Baghdad, is home to Arabs, Kurds and Turkmen, who all have competing claims to the oil-rich area. Kurds have long wanted to incorporate it into their self-ruled region, but Arabs and Turkmen are opposed. In the 1970s and 1980s the Arab-dominated government in Baghdad drove hundreds of thousands of Kurds out of Kirkuk and surrounding regions, settling Arabs from the south in their place in an attempt to pacify a region that had seen repeated revolts. During the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 the highly disciplined peshmerga swept down from the semi-autonomous Kurdish region and established a strong presence in a belt of largely Kurdish towns and villages stretching south toward Baghdad. But the disintegration of Iraqi forces this week seems to have led the peshmerga to assume full control in areas they have long coveted, further enhancing their autonomy from Baghdad and undermining hard-fought U.S. efforts to bring about a stable, multiethnic Iraq. "To a great extent Kurdish forces had been de facto in control of Kirkuk for some time, but now they're completely in control," said F. Gregory Gause, III, a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Doha Center. He said it was unlikely the Kurds would seek formal independence from Iraq, however, because such a move would be strongly opposed by neighboring Turkeyand Iran -- both of which have sizable Kurdish minorities -- as well as Washington. joelcrosenberg | June 17, 2014 at 12:39 pm | Categories: Uncategorized | URL:http://wp.me/piWZ7-31f

What America's Failures in Iraq Mean to Israelis

Sunday, June 15, 2014 |  Israel Today Staff  

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America

Israelis are growing increasingly skeptical over whether or not they can trust American security guarantees as they watch a previously US-occupied Iraq crumble in the face of a jihadist onslaught.

Over the past few weeks, the armies of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) have scored major victories in northern Iraq, and are now said to be moving on Baghdad itself.

One of those victories was the conquest of Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city. Reports indicate that the US-trained and equipped Iraqi army units in Mosul folded like a house of cards as ISIS approached.

Israeli analyst Guy Bechor, a regular media commentator, noted in an op-ed for the Ynet news portal that “the Americans built this army, trained it and have invested tens of billions of dollars in it in the past decade. But its thousands of soldiers have escaped without fighting, leaving their shoes and clothes behind, as well as advanced American military equipment, an airport, hospitals and prisons.”

It is important to note that in addition to pouring so much into building the Iraqi army, US President Barack Obama deemed that force ready and capable of handling the state’s security when he withdrew US forces in 2011.

Why is this important to Israelis? As Bechor explains:

“Those same hallucinating Americans designated a security plan for us in Judea and Samaria, like the plan they designated for Iraq. US Secretary of State John Kerry, with all his security experts, thought that it would be enough to have an American plan on paper in order to stabilize a [Palestinian] regime and a state there.”

In fact, the Americans have played this game with Israel before in the strong pressure applied on the Jewish state to abandon the Gaza Strip in 2005. Not two years later, the US-trained and equipped Palestinian Authority was routed by Hamas and Gaza became a haven for jihadists of all stripes.

Bechor and many other experts are convinced the same would occur in Judea and Samaria - the so-called “West Bank” - if ever the two-state solution were to come to fruition.

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Remarkable Pictures of Extinct Jewish Communities, Part 3 - Israel's History - a Picture a Day (Beta)

Remarkable Pictures of Extinct Jewish Communities, Part 3 The pictures from the University of California - Riverside Archives Posted: 13 Jan 2014 Original caption: "Jew Tailor in his Booth on a Street in Old Cairo" (Credit: Keystone-Mast Collection, California Museum of Photography at UCR  ARTSblock, University of California, Riverside)  We present Part 3 of a series of vintage pictures on the Jews of the Middle East.  Like the communities in previous features -- Baghdad, Mosul, and Constantinople (Istanbul) -- the Jews of Cairo, Alexandria, and Damascus are on the verge of extinction.  Some of the pictures presented here show both the poverty and the wealth of the various Jewish communities. Egypt Cairo:  In 1948, the Cairo Jewish community numbered an estimated 55,000. Pogroms and imprisonment caused almost all of the Jews of Egypt to emigrate. Zaoud-el Mara (Jewish Quarters) Alexandria,  Egypt.  A Library of Congress photo dates this picture from 1898. Alexandria:  According to a Jerusalem Post article from 2008, Alexandria "is said to have boasted a community of tens of thousands of Jews of both Ashkenazi and Mizrahi descent, but some were expelled as French or British citizens during the Suez Canal crisis of 1956. Others were expelled and/or imprisoned for up to three years during the Six Day War. Some, too, left on their own accord, feeling that there was a brighter future for them as Jews in countries like Israel, America and Australia." There are believed to be around 40 Jews living in Egypt today. Syria - Damascus  "Beautiful shaded court of a Jewish Home in Damascus, Syria." Look at the details of the picture. (Credit: Keystone-Mast Collection, California Museum of Photography at UCR  ARTSblock, University of California, Riverside)  The Damascus Jewish community numbered an estimated 15,000-17,000 in 1918.  Riots, government discrimination, and imprisonment caused almost all of Syrian Jewry to flee. Today, perhaps a few dozen Jews live in Syria, but the savage civil war has also engulfed old Jewish neighborhoods and ancient synagogues. At the start of the 20th century, several wealthy Jewish families lived in Damascus, and photographs of their homes are presented here. Enlarging the photos disclosed  several interesting details.  The matron of the home?  Children of the home?   Grand Mosque and Damascus from the Jewish  Quarters, Syria. Three women on a balcony  overlooking city.  Credit: Keystone-Mast Collection, California Museum  of Photography at UCR ARTSblock, University  of California, Riverside)    Court of a Wealthy Jew’s Home in Old  Damascus, Syria. See also here. Keystone-Mast Collection, California Museum of Photography  at UCR ARTSblock, University of California, Riverside)  Click on pictures to enlarge.  Click on the caption to view the original photo. Subscribe to www.israeldailypicture.com to receive features by email.   Enter your address in the box in the right sidebar.