Joel C. Rosenberg: Nation has lost confidence in Obama's ability to defeat Islamic terror.

As President Obama prepares for final State of the Union, nation has lost confidence in his ability to defeat Islamic terror. (Here’s the latest polling.) by joelcrosenberg (Virginia Beach, Virginia) -- During his 2015 State of the Union address, President Obama never mentioned the terms "Islam" or "Islamic extremism" or "Radical Islam" or"Apocalyptic Islam" or even "al Qaeda." He never even used the term the "Islamic State," calling our very serious enemy "ISIL" instead. He insisted that "in Iraq and Syria, American leadership -- including our military power -- is stopping ISIL’s advance," even though at that point the Islamic State had essentially doubled its territorial gains over the course of 2014, was slaughtering Muslims, engaged in genocide against Christians and Yazidis, and had recently seized Mosul, the second largest city in Iraq. What's more, Mr. Obama insisted that the mortal threat facing the American people wasn't from a nuclear Iran or a genocidal Islamic State. Rather, he said that "no challenge -- no challenge -- poses a greater threat to future generations than climate change." Even by August 28, 2015, after the Islamic State had seized more than one-third of the territory of Iraq and James Foley, an American journalist, had been beheaded by ISIS, the President admitted that “we don’t have a strategy yet” to defeat ISIS. In November of last year, the President insisted in November that his policy had“contained” ISIS. The next day came the terror attacks in Paris, and soon thereafter the attacks in San Bernardino. What, then, will the President say on Tuesday night, when he delivers his final State of the Union address? Will he finally acknowledge the threat of Radical and Apocalyptic Islam? Will explain them -- and their differences -- to the American people? Will he lay out a comprehensive strategy to actually defeat ISIS? Most Americans aren't holding their breath for such decisive leadership. In the wake of the attacks in San Bernardino and Paris and in so many other places -- and FBI arrests of at least 80 ISIS loyalists operating here in the homeland -- the American people have lost confidence in President Obama's ability to protect us from the terrorists. More Americans than ever before now believe the terrorists are winning, and the U.S. is losing the global war with Radical Islam. In fact, a recent CNN poll found a 17-point jump in the number of Americans who believe the terrorists are winning. What’s more, the CNN poll reveals that: Only 18% of Americans believe that the U.S. and our allies have the upper hand against the terrorists. Three-out-of-four Americans (74%) do not believe the United States is doing an effective job in the war against Radical Islamic terrorism. Nearly two-out-of-three Americans (64%) specifically disapprove the way President Obama is handling the threat posed by the Islamic State. The central theme of my recent novels -- The Third Target and The First Hostage -- is this: “To misunderstand the nature and threat of evil is to risk being blind-sided by it.” To the extent that President Obama and his senior team continue to fail to truly comprehend the evil we and our allies are facing from Iran and the Islamic State, the more dangerous a year 2016 is likely to be. ————– Order The First Hostage today — it’s now available in hardcover, e-book and audio formats. FACT SHEET: The Iranian leadership’s Apocalyptic Beliefs FACT SHEET: The Islamic State’s Apocalyptic Beliefs What the next US president will need to know about Iran and Islamic State.(my column in The Jerusalem Post) ——————- Subscribe (free) to the RSS feed (click here) and receive every new posting on this blog directly via email. Order THE THIRD TARGET today , the first in this new series — now out in paperback — the New York Times best-selling novel about ISIS capturing chemical weapons in Syria and plotting genocidal attacks. Make an investment in The Joshua Fund (www.joshuafund.net), our non-profit organization to help Christians care for Syrian refugees, educate and mobilize Christians to bless Israel and her neighbors in the name of Jesus, care for the poor and needy in Israel (both Jews and Arabs) with food and other humanitarian relief, care for Holocaust survivors, and strengthen the Church in the epicenter. Read our latest Donor Report, and make a tax deductible, secure, on-line contribution before the end of the year. Follow on Twitter — @joelcrosenberg joelcrosenberg | January 11, 2016 at 11:10 pm | Categories: Uncategorized | URL:http://wp.me/piWZ7-3QM

New Jihadi Threat Has Israel's North Border on Alert

CBNNews.com

Wednesday, September 10, 2014

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GOLAN HEIGHTS, Israel -- Less than a month after a ceasefire with Hamas took effect, Israel faces another threat on its northern border.

In late August, the al Qaeda-linked group al-Nusra scored big gains against the Syrian army of President Bashar al-Assad. The fighting took place on Israel's northern doorstep.

On an observation point overlooking the Israeli-Syrian border, CBN News heard explosions in the background and saw plumes of smoke, presumably coming from the fighting between al-Nusra and the Assad regime's forces.

One of the most important victories al-Nusra has won recently is taking over the strategic Quneitra Crossing about a mile from the border. For years this crossing has served as the only portal between Israel and Syria.

"Look at this!  There's a big mushroom there now. You see it," Arik Golandsky told CBN News. "So the war is going on over there all the time, and today is a quiet day."

Golandsky manages a restaurant in Kibbutz Mermom Golan, close to the border, with lodging, horses and guest houses. Now there's a new terrorist neighbor.
 
"Al-Nusra controls now 80 percent of the whole region of Quneitra," Golandsky said. "It's not just here, but it's also the city, the village.  Like 80 percent is already controlled by al-Nusra and [Syrian President Bashar] Assad wants to take it back.  We're not that far from Damascus."

The Golan Heights sit along Israel's northern border with Syria. Israel won the land in the 1967 Six-Day War. In the 1973 Yom Kippur War, Israeli forces defeated a huge Syrian tank force that overran the area. For the past 40 years, it's been Israel's quietest border.  
 
Now, U.N. observers monitor the fighting from the Syrian side of the border, where al-Nusra recently captured 44 Filipino peacekeepers. Golandsky says ISIS is not far behind al-Nusra on Israel's border.

"They [ISIS] are more to the south of the Golan and most of them are before Syria and Lebanon [and] not on this border so far. Again, it can change," he said.    
 
Despite the nearby fighting, life for Israelis in the Golan Heights goes on. Lilach Ashtar serves as a community liaison with the IDF.

"We live a very peaceful life, but we know that a few kilometers away there is a war," Ashtar told CBN News. "But as I said, in the history of Israel, it doesn't matter where you are, it's there. We are not in the most safest neighborhood." 
 
"It means we have to be alert.  We have to be aware," Golandsky said. "But it's now happening all over the world, okay. It's a more global problem than specifically a small problem here on the border because Israel will be ready. The border will be ready. The question is will the whole world be ready for the Islam[ist] movement." 
 
Being ready is why two U.S. pastors told CBN News they brought their tour group to the northern border. 
 
"Just to pray for the peace of Jerusalem, to pray for the nation of Israel and that we need to support them and to stand with them and give them all the moral support that we can," Pastor John Miller, with Revival Christian Fellowship, said.

Pastor Gerry Brown, with Calvary Chapel Romoland, said jihadists so close to Israel's northern border are a concern for everyone.

"The proximity of that push so close to the border of Israel is a concern for all of us," he said, "certainly for the people here of Israel and the land of Israel, but all of the world because of the radical Islamic position and mindset is one that we all have to be concerned about."

Israel literally sits on the front lines, but as the memory of 9/11 reminds us, radical Islam knows no boundaries.