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Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, got a chance to personally congratulate new US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on the day of his confirmation when both men attended the National Prayer Breakfast earlier this month.
Danon was among some 100 foreign dignitaries invited to the annual event.
Danon and Tillerson discussed Israel’s treatment at the UN, and the Israeli thanked the Trump Administration for appointing as its new ambassador to the UN former governor of South Carolina, Nikki Haley, who has vowed unwavering defense of the Jewish state.
On Tuesday, shortly after touching down in Washington, DC for his first meeting with President Trump, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu invited Tillerson to visit Israel in the near future to continue their discussions on pressing matters such as Iran.
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Holding Bible, Israeli Ambassador Slams UN Security Council
Sunday, December 25, 2016 | Israel Today Staff
Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, gave an impassioned and biblical response to the Security Council’s passing of a resolution denying Jews the right to live in Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem.
The vote took place just a day before Hanukkah. Danon noted that if the Greek overlords of the time couldn’t keep down the Jews, then neither can today’s UN.
Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Ron Dermer praised President-elect Donald Trump's decision to move the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. (Reuters photo)
Israeli Ambassador Praises President-elect Trump's Plan to Move U.S. Embassy
During the presidential campaign, President-elect Donald Trump befuddled the liberal media and the Washington, D.C., political establishment when he pledged—if elected—to move the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
They claimed it would destabilize the region.
They claimed it would dismantle the ongoing "peace process" between Israel and the Palestinians.
They claimed it would lead to war.
Those, of course, are all the Palestinian talking points, but what they didn't do was ask those who have the most at stake—the Israelis—what they thought. Had they bothered to do so, it would've changed the narrative completely.
This week, during the Israeli Embassy's annual Hanukkah party, Ambassador to the United States Ron Dermer said he fully endorsed moving the American embassy to Jerusalem. Not only did he think it was a good idea, but he said it would boost the chances of peace in the Middle East.
The reasons for doing so are "pretty clear," he added.
"The first thing, it would send a strong message against the de-legitimization of Israel and of Jerusalem," he said. "The second reason why I think the embassy should be moved to our capital is that it would be a great step forward to peace. That's right. A great step forward to peace."
Dermer didn't elaborate on the second point. Palestinian officials, however, have said such a move would effectively end the peace process.
The U.S. maintains a consulate in Jerusalem.
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At an elegant gala in New York City, our friends at the Center for Security Policy conferred upon Israeli Ambassador to the United States Ron Dermer their 2016 Freedom Flame award. At the same dinner, Zionist Organization of America Communities President Morton Klein received the 2016 Keeper of the Flame award.
Both men gave important remarks that are worth reading and dissecting, and we will start with Ambassador Dermer's discussion of what he called "militant Islam."
Now, there are many militant individuals in groups. Timothy McVeigh and Ted Kaczynski can be described as militants. Terror groups like the FARC and the Tamil Tigers, who are responsible for the murder of tens and thousands of people, are militant organizations. But while these individuals and groups are extremely dangerous, they are not part of a global movement; "militant Islam" is.
The forces of "militant Islam" have struck in New York, in Orlando, London and Paris, Bali and Bangkok, Sydney and Buenos Aires and dozens of other places across the world. In the Middle East and North Africa they have struck in every country between the Straits of Gibraltar and the Khyber Pass.
Ambassador Dermer proceeded to explain that "militant Islam" is not monolithic, there are Sunni branches, such as ISIS, al Qaeda, Boko Haram in Nigeria, al Shabaab in Somalia and Hamas in Gaza. There are Shia branches such as the Ayatollah regime in Iran, the various Shia militias in Iraq, the Houthis in Yemen and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
These branches have different theologies, explained Dermer: the militant Sunnis are fixated on the early seventh century; the militant Shiites are fixated on the middle of the tenth century. Perhaps one day they'll compromise and take us back to sometime in the eighth century.
Ambassador Dermer further stated:
And while these militant Islamists, they fight Christians and Jews, Yazidis and Kurds and other non-Muslims, they also ferociously fight each other in their battle to determine who will be the king of the militant Islamic hill. But for all their differences, all the branches and sub branches of "militant Islam" are rooted in a similar radical ideology, and they are fired by the same fanaticism. They all seek to reverse history, the rise of the West, and to restore Islam to its former glory.
For all of these groups, said Dermer, the answer to their problems is Islam in one radical form or another. That is why the forces of "militant Islam" are in fact part of the same global threat, and that is why they must be countered as part of a global strategy.
However, Ambassador Dermer was hopeful that "militant Islam" was not the only future available to the world's 1.7 billion Muslims:
But, ladies and gentlemen, just as the enemy we face is not mere militancy, the enemy we face is also not Islam. Islam is a faith with some 1.7 billion adherents throughout the world, and faiths, including the faith of Islam, are malleable things ... So too the relevantly tolerant Islam practiced in 12th century Spain, and practiced for some thirteen centuries in Persia before 1979, is not the Islam of ISIS or the Islam of today's Ayatollah regime. Admittedly it is troubling, it is troubling that to find a more tolerant Christianity, one only need look at the present, whereas to find a more tolerant Islam, one must look largely to the past. But my point, ladies and gentlemen, is Islam, like other faiths, has evolved. I see no reason why it cannot or will not evolve again, so do not assume that the forces ascendant in the Muslim world today will be the same forces ascendant in the future.
The most dangerous lies that Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama have tried to sell to the American people are that "Islam is a religion of peace" and that "They [the leaders of ISIS, al Qaeda, etc.] are not religious leaders—they're terrorists. And we are not at war with Islam. We are at war with people who have perverted Islam."
Contrary to what President Obama said, the most violent terrorists in today's world are Islamic. Moreover, as Breitbart's John Sexton documented two years ago, while the truly violent jihadists make up a tiny percentage of Muslim's worldwide; a significant percentage of Muslims around the world, numbering well over 100 million, believe practices like mutilation, stoning and the death penalty are appropriate for non-violent offenses.
Pew did do a worldwide poll of Muslims which included their attitudes toward Sharia law. What the poll found was that 74 percent of Egyptian Muslims favored making Sharia the law of the land and, among those, 86 percent believed the death penalty was appropriate in cases of apostasy. If you multiply it out, calculated Sexton, you get 64.5 percent of Egyptians who believe in killing apostates.
Another question Pew asked was about support for stoning women caught in adultery. The response to that question was similar or higher in some cases to the apostasy question, notes Sexton. In Indonesia (the most populous Muslim nation) support was 48 percent of the 72 percent who support Sharia. That works out to 34.5 percent of the population as a whole, or about 70 million Muslims.
Sexton also noted that Muslims who support Sharia were asked if they also support the corporal punishment Sharia entails, i.e. whipping and amputating the hands of thieves. In Egypt support was at 70 percent, in Bangladesh at 50 percent and in Indonesia at 45 percent. Those are not majorities, but they are large pluralities equal to tens of millions of people in these countries.
Obama, in another lie, said, "Al Qaeda and ISIL do draw, selectively, from the Islamic texts. They do depend upon the mis-perception around the world that they speak in some fashion for people of the Muslim faith, that Islam is somehow inherently violent, that there is some sort of clash of civilizations."
The Qur'an contains at least 109 verses that call Muslims to war with nonbelievers for the sake of Islamic rule. Some are quite graphic, with commands to chop off heads and fingers and kill infidels wherever they may be hiding. Muslims who do not join the fight are called "hypocrites" and warned that Allah will send them to hell if they do not join the slaughter.
Qur'an (2:191-193): "And kill them wherever you find them, and turn them out from where they have turned you out. And Al-Fitnah [disbelief or unrest] is worse than killing ... but if they desist, then lo! Allah is forgiving and merciful. And fight them until there is no more Fitnah [disbelief and worshipping of others along with Allah] and worship is for Allah alone."
Qur'an (2:216): "Fighting is prescribed for you, and ye dislike it. But it is possible that ye dislike a thing which is good for you, and that ye love a thing which is bad for you. But Allah knoweth, and ye know not."
Qur'an (8:12): "I will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve. Therefore, strike off their heads and strike off every fingertip of them."
Likewise, with regard to women the Qur'an in Sura 4:24 says slave women are sexual property for their male owners: "And forbidden to you are wedded wives of other people except those who have fallen in your hands [as prisoners of war]." (Maududi, vol. 1, p. 319). See also Suras 4:3; 23:5—6; 33:50; 70:22—30, all of which permit male slave owners to have sex with their female slaves. Suras 23:5—6 and 70:22—230 also allow men to have sex with their slaves.
The lie in the Obama-Clinton narrative about the global jihad movement's alleged "selective" use of religious texts to justify its actions is that sexual slavery, terrorism and everything that goes with them are not inventions of ISIS, or "violent extremists," they are right there in the Qur'an—and in graphic terms that cannot be misunderstood or taken out of context.
As our friend, Clare Lopez, Vice President for Research and Analysis Center for Security Policy and a former operations officer for the CIA, has observed on numerous occasions, we are not fighting a war on "terrorism," we are fighting to live free of the oppression of Sharia and the ideas expressed in the Qur'an.
This war is not just with the radical Islamists of ISIS and Al Qaeda but with concepts deeply embedded in Muslim culture and the Qur'an.
We understand Ambassador Dermer's wish for a future for Muslims that is tolerant and peaceful—it is a view we once shared after traveling extensively in the Islamic world and living among secular Muslims, but it is a dream that is, in our view, fast disappearing. And it is disappearing because the forces of "militant Islam" are not perverting Islam as some have suggested; rather, they are following its tenets to the letter.
George Rasleyis editor of ConservativeHQ, a member of American MENSA and a veteran of over 300 political campaigns, including every Republican presidential campaign from 1976 to 2008. He served as lead advance representative for Governor Sarah Palin in 2008 and has served as a staff member, consultant or advance representative for some of America's most recognized conservative Republican political figures, including President Ronald Reagan and Jack Kemp. He served in policy and communications positions on the House and Senate staff, and during the George H.W. Bush administration he served on the White House staff of Vice President Dan Quayle.
This article was originally published at ConservativeHQ.com. Used with permission.
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“Look around you. This is an historic moment in the UN!”
Those were the words of Israeli Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon on Tuesday as he looked out over a packed General Assembly Hall at the start of an event opposing the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement.
More than 2,000 attended the session, making it one of the rare occasions, if not the only to date, in which the UN General Assembly Hall could be described as a place of pro-Israel sentiment.
“Never before have so many people, from so many places, gathered here in the General Assembly to declare unanimous support for the State of Israel,” Danon continued.
Under the banner “Building Bridges, Not Boycotts”, Danon explained to the international community that the BDS phenomenon is a thin mask for “modern-day anti-Semitism”, and urged the world to “put an end to its ideology of hatred and lies. …We will not allow the forces of hate to demonize Israel. Together, we will defeat BDS.”
The gathering was addressed by other Jewish and Israeli leaders, and was also regaled by American-Jewish singer and songwriter Matisyahu whose hit “Jerusalem” elicited cheers and applause from the audience.
The video presentation was screened during the session.
“That He will deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence.” (Psalm 91:3)
In a bombshell revelation, the US National Security Agency (NSA), under direction of US President Barack Obama, has been eavesdropping on phone conversations between top Israeli officials and American-Jewish groups and US lawmakers, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday.
Citing current and former US officials as sources, the Obama administration is believed to have intercepted classified information on Israel’s stance against the Iran nuclear deal to be used against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Among various tactics used by the NSA, spying on Jerusalem included “a cyber implant in Israeli networks,” which would open up access to information in Netanyahu’s office.
According to the report, the NSA informed the White House of Netanyahu’s strategy to leak certain details, which were gathered through Israeli espionage operations, of the US-Iran negotiations that could ultimately put Israel in great peril.
NSA reports, delivered to top Obama administration officials, allowed the White House to gain insider information on Israeli lobbying efforts in Congress to turn away support from the nuclear deal.
The Journal described how Israeli Ambassador to the United States Ron Dermer coached pro-Israel groups on how to formulate their arguments in opposition of the Iran agreement when meeting with US lawmakers. An Israeli Embassy spokesman in Washington told the Journal that this was “total nonsense.”
In January 2014, Obama declared that the US would limit its foreign eavesdropping operations on allies following espionage revelations by former NSA contractor and whistle-blower Edward Snowden.
According to the Journal, while a number of friendly leaders such as German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande were declared off-limits, Obama cited “compelling national security purpose” to continue monitoring Netanyahu.
“Going dark on Bibi? Of course we wouldn’t do that,” a senior US administration officials told the Journal.
Following Israel’s launch of lobbying efforts against the Iran deal on Capitol Hill, the report stated that Obama administration and intelligence officials quickly realized the NSA was gathering the content of conversations between Israel and US lawmakers.
Israeli Ambassador to the US Ron Dermer (Photo: Miriam Alster, Flash90)
While a 2011 NSA directive stated communications between members of Congress and foreign intelligence targets must be destroyed upon interception, the NSA director can issue a waiver if he determines “significant foreign intelligence” is contained in the communications.
The report revealed that during Israel’s lobbying efforts in Congress, the NSA removed the name of lawmakers from their reports on Israel but passed them on to Obama officials.
When asked by the newspaper for a comment, a White House National Security Council spokesman stated: “We do not conduct any foreign intelligence activities unless there is a specific and validated national security purpose. This applies to ordinary citizens and world leaders alike.”
In Israel, Intelligence and Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz stated Wednesday that Israel does not spy on the US and expects any administration to do the same.
“Israel does not spy on the US, and we expect that our great friend, the US, will treat us in a similar fashion,” Katz told Ynet news. “If the information on the subject turns out to be true, Israel must file a formal protest with the American government and demand it stop all activities of this kind.”
Former Israeli national security adviser Yaakov Amidror told Army Radio that claims of the US spying on Israel are unsurprising.
“The US listens in on everyone, we don’t need to get excited about it. Everyone knows — it’s a fact,” he said. “Israel is careful not to carry out any spying operations in the United States, not even a little bit.”
US intelligence officials say Israel has “crossed red lines” in its spying on America, according to a report published in Newsweek on Tuesday. According to the report, in closed door meetings the Americans expressed growing concerns that the Israeli “friends” had gone way too far in their espionage activities on US soil.
The remarks were reportedly made during intelligence briefings to members of Congress amidst ongoing discussions over whether or not to remove visa restrictions on Israelis wishing to visit the US. Currently, Israelis require a pre-approved visa to visit the US, while Americans can enter the Jewish state without any prearranged permits.
Newsweek reported that the American intelligence officials are most worried over what they said were Israeli’s constant efforts to obtain industrial and technological secrets. The officials insisted that while this is true of all nations, Israeli spying in America far exceeded that of any other ally.
Former Israeli Ambassador to the US Michael Oren responded by telling Israel’s Ynet news portal that the allegations of Israeli spying were simply untrue. “Israel has not spied against the United States since the Pollard affair, period,” said Oren. “I do not know if there are people in the business and commercial arena that conduct espionage, as this happens all over the world, but no one is spying [in America] on behalf of the Israeli government.”
Another Israeli official told Ynet that it was probably a case of some American politicians who are opposed to removing visa restrictions on Israelis. “Anyone who opposes the removal of visas for Israeli has only to bring up the topic of intelligence security,” he said. “It always works.”
Another official said the entire affair carried the “stench of anti-Semitism.”
Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman also weighed in, telling Israel Radio: “We’re talking about lies and falsehood, simply libel which is baseless and unfounded. I am sorry that there are apparently anonymous elements in the United States who are simply trying to maliciously spread false accusations.”
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