This issue looks at the Hamas refusal to recognize Israel, Egypt’s financial woes, Turkey’s doubletalk, Iran’s refusal to “talk,” Hagel’s disastrous hearing, Kerry’s treasonous debut, Colonel Sanders’ success, a CAIR leader’s run for NYC City Council, and a poignant founder’s quote.
OUR ISRAELI CONNECTION

News from the Israel Project
Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal used a recent speech, carried by Arabic-language media outlet Al-Hayat, to emphasize that Hamas will not accept a Palestinian state alongside Israel. His statement is in tension with recent second-hand leaks the effect that Mashaal was ready to compromise on Hamas’s commitment to the eradication of the Jewish state.

Deepening Egyptian political instability – driven partly by increasingly graphic reports of violent crackdowns conducted by security forces on behalf of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood-linked government – may soon be exacerbated by economic turmoil. The government has been unable to implement austerity measures demanded by the IMF in exchange for a critical $4.8 billion loan. Cairo needs the loan in order to stem a decline in investor confidence and a concomitant drop in foreign currency reserves.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu over the weekend lashed out at Israel over the reported strikes, urging the Bashar al-Assad regime – against which Turkey has been waging a two-year proxy war inside Syria – to retaliate against Jerusalem.

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khomeini has rejected the possibility, proposed earlier this month by U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, of direct bilateral negotiations between Washington and Tehran.

Iran Now a Nuclear State
The Jerusalem Prayer Team reports: Iran’s President Ahmadinejad is now claiming that his country is already a “nuclear state”…but that Iran only possesses “defensive” weapons. He made the remarks while visiting Egypt, a country with which Iran has had a very cold relationship since the Islamic revolution of 1979-that is, until the Muslim Brotherhood came to power. Nothing good can come from this meeting of radical Islamists who hate Israel and the Jewish people.

Click here to watch an amazing and inspirational short video of the birth of the Israeli Air Force. (If you need a password to view it, it’s iaf.)

If you liked that video, check this one out.

IT’S NEWS TO ME

No Confidence
Jay Sekulow reports: The shock waves are still being felt following Senator Chuck Hagel’s disastrous hearing on his nomination for Secretary of Defense. Sen. Hagel took a softer line toward Iran’s dangerous nuclear program, contradicting Obama Administration policy. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff refused to express confidence in his potential future boss. Sen. Hagel’s performance was so bad that influential columnist Charles Krauthammer said that he displayed an “astonishing lack of competence.” We already knew that Sen. Hagel’s anti-Israel policies were far out of the mainstream. He continues to appease Iran, which is said to be just months away from building a nuclear bomb and is imprisoning and persecuting an American pastor. Simply put, Sen. Hagel is the wrong man for the job. Make your voice heard. Sign one of the largest petitions in our ACLJ history.
Sign the Petition to Stop President Obama’s Anti-Israel Nomination for Secretary of Defense.

What Planet Does John Kerry Live On?
Daniel Pipes reports: The two-day old tenure of Secretary of State John Kerry got off to a flying start today with an astonishing statement from his ambassador to Egypt, Anne W. Patterson, at a joint ceremony in Cairo to mark the delivery of four American-made F-16

Anne Patterson, U.S. Ambassador to Egypt

aircraft:
Today’s ceremony demonstrates the firm belief of the United States that a strong Egypt is in the interest of the U.S., the region, and the world. We look to Egypt to continue to serve as a force for peace, security, and leadership as the Middle East proceeds with its challenging yet essential journey toward democracy. … Our thirty-four year security partnership is based upon shared interests and mutual respect. The United States has long recognized Egypt as an indispensible [sic] partner.

Comments:
(1) Is not anyone in the Department of State aware that Egypt is now run by an Islamist zealot from the bowels of the Muslim Brotherhood whose goals differ profoundly from those of Americans?
(2) Willfully ignorant, head-in-the-ground statements like this are the embarrassment and ruin of American foreign policy.
(3) What a launch for Kerry, whose mental vapidity promises to make Hillary Clinton actually look good in retrospect. (February 3, 2013)

Jesus: The Secret Recipe to Colonel Sanders’ Success
“My prayers have always been of thankfulness. God has been so good to me. Tithing is a great inspiration in my life. People don’t know that I gave most of my money away. Most of it goes to churches.” -Colonel Sanders
Read more.

CAIR Leader Runs for New York City Council
Zead Ramadan, board president of the New York chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), is eyeing a bigger platform from which to promote his Islamist agenda: a seat on the New York City Council. If he prevails, the city that endured 9/11 will count among its lawmakers a senior official in an organization linked to the financing of terrorists and intent on frustrating law enforcement efforts to foil the next jihad plot.

Founder’s Quote:
“Laws that forbid the carrying of arms … disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes… Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants; they serve rather to encourage than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man.” –Cesare Beccaria, On Crimes and Punishment, quoted by Thomas Jefferson in Commonplace Book

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