Copyright 2024 Middle East Forum Sat, 10 Feb 2024 18:55:17 -0500 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Middle East Forum :: Writings https://www.meforum.org/ webmaster@meforum.org (Middle East Forum) webmaster@meforum.org en-us https://www.meforum.org/65547/hamas-supremacism-in-boston Fri, 9 Feb 2024 13:11:15 EST Dexter Van Zile recounts his experience attending an Islamic Society of Boston Cultural Center (ISBCC) gala and hobnobbing with extremist speakers Abdullah Faaruuq and Siraj Wahhaj. https://www.meforum.org/65546/from-insanity-to-bye-bye-texas-a-m-closes-qatar Fri, 9 Feb 2024 12:00:17 EST Texas A&M is the first of six American universities with all-expenses-paid campuses in Qatar to pull out of the emirate, the Arab world's lead patron of Hamas. Stay tuned. https://www.meforum.org/65542/the-spending-in-erdogan-secret-slush-fund-nearly Thu, 8 Feb 2024 11:40:40 EST The expenditure in a secret fund that is allocated for the personal use of the Turkish president to pay for covert intelligence operations nearly doubled last year, according to data provided by the Ministry of Finance. The discretionary fund, a line https://www.meforum.org/65540/greeks-opinion-of-islam-falls-with-influx Wed, 7 Feb 2024 13:39:37 EST In 2009, Greece had few Muslims, and just 23% of Greeks harbored negative views of Islam. In 2023, after years of illegal immigration swelled the size of this minority, 59% held such views. From Raymond Ibrahim. https://www.meforum.org/65536/former-employee-defeats-powerful-organization Tue, 6 Feb 2024 14:00:11 EST The Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) filed a defamation lawsuit against a former employee who accused the organization of sexual harassment, religious discrimination, and support for terrorism. #EpicFail https://www.meforum.org/65535/europe-schools-now-bow-in-prayer-toward-mecca Tue, 6 Feb 2024 13:36:25 EST Throughout Europe, schoolteachers are finding that refusing to make special accommodations for Muslim prayer will get them fired. From Giulio Meotti. https://www.meforum.org/65534/countering-pro-palestine-propaganda-part-4 Tue, 6 Feb 2024 12:12:28 EST A.J. Caschetta on the use of Holocaust inversion by militant anti-Zionists to undercut Israel's right to self-defense. https://www.meforum.org/65533/a-hostage-deal-would-put-goal-of-toppling-hamas Tue, 6 Feb 2024 12:09:42 EST Hamas has "skewered" Israeli leaders "on the horns of a dilemma: Get your people back and fight us again later or ... leav[e] over 100 Israelis to violent deaths," writes Lazar Berman. But the dilemma is perhaps "not as dire as it might seem." https://www.meforum.org/65532/did-iraqi-kurdish-allies-kill-a-us-government Tue, 6 Feb 2024 08:29:51 EST The Kurdistan Victims Fund, a charity incorporated in Wyoming, filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the Kurdistan Regional Government. Co-defendants include many, but not all, members of the ruling Barzani family and their top aides. While Iraqi Kurdish https://www.meforum.org/65529/who-killed-the-three-us-soldiers-at-tower-22 Mon, 5 Feb 2024 13:48:54 EST Jonathan Spyer concludes that Ktaeb Hezbollah and Hezbollah al-Nujabaa are the Iraqi Shi'ite militias mostly likely responsible for the January 27 drone attack on "Tower 22" along the Jordan-Syria border that left three U.S. soldiers dead. https://www.meforum.org/65523/facing-iran-security-of-free-shipping-in Fri, 2 Feb 2024 16:20:52 EST "Iran is overconfident," writes Vahid Beheshti. A "limited response" to the killing of American servicemen, as contemplated by the Biden administration, "will only embolden its global aspirations." https://www.meforum.org/65522/mef-reporting-rattles-texas-a-m-ties-to-qatar Fri, 2 Feb 2024 08:01:58 EST PHILADELPHIA – February 2, 2024 – Milstein Writing Fellow Benjamin Weinthal's reporting on Texas A&M University at Qatar's (TAMUQ) dangerous research agreement with Qatar has spurred Mark Welsh, Texas A&M's new president of its main U.S. campus, to https://www.meforum.org/65520/police-stand-by-as-hamas-allies-disrupt-canadian Thu, 1 Feb 2024 14:05:33 EST Mohammed Rizwan discusses three primary waves of pro-Hamas protests in Canada since the October 7 Hamas massacre, and how "misplaced multiculturalism" led the police to let them run wild amid a rise in anti-Jewish hate crimes. https://www.meforum.org/65519/biden-iran-policy-has-backfired Thu, 1 Feb 2024 12:16:13 EST President Biden's strategy of doing his utmost to avoid direct conflict with Iran may result in exactly that. From Jonathan Spyer. https://www.meforum.org/65518/biden-determined-to-avoid-regional-war-seen-as Wed, 31 Jan 2024 17:21:14 EST Since the killing of 3 U.S. soldiers by Iranian proxies 5 days ago, the Biden White House has wrestled with a dilemma: How to retaliate heavily enough to "project strength," but lightly enough to avoid war. From Lazar Berman https://www.meforum.org/65516/kataib-hezbollah-announces-suspension Wed, 31 Jan 2024 12:23:25 EST A leading Iran-backed militia implicated in attacks on American forces in Iraq has declared a "suspension of military and covert operations against occupation forces" in order to avoid "embarrassing" the Iraqi government. From Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi. https://www.meforum.org/65515/rule-of-thuggery-prevails-in-denmark Wed, 31 Jan 2024 09:48:04 EST Denmark's ban on desecrating "writings with significant religious importance" mirrors the anti-blasphemy laws of many Islamic countries (which nominally extend to other religions but are almost exclusively used to protect Islam). From Raymond Ibrahim. https://www.meforum.org/65513/the-islamic-state-attack-on-a-church-in-istanbul Tue, 30 Jan 2024 17:34:44 EST Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi cautions against "overthinking and attaching some kind of rational strategy" to the January 28 #ISIS attack on a church in Turkey. https://www.meforum.org/65512/countering-pro-palestine-propaganda-part-3-israel Tue, 30 Jan 2024 13:51:50 EST A.J. Caschetta: "Palestinian Arabs living in Gaza & parts of the West Bank controlled by the Palestinian Authority are forced to live apart from the citizens of Israel ... This is not apartheid social policy but rather common-sense international relations." https://www.meforum.org/65511/greece-and-cyprus-should-link-turkey-f-16s-to Tue, 30 Jan 2024 12:10:08 EST Michael Rubin: "The United States must calibrate delivery [of F-16s] to the withdrawal of Turkish forces from occupied Northern Cyprus ... [and] repatriat[ion of] the 250,000 Turks who have settled on the island." https://www.meforum.org/65509/tehrans-servants Tue, 30 Jan 2024 11:07:48 EST https://www.meforum.org/65503/hamas-turkish-benefactor-occupies-key-position-in Mon, 29 Jan 2024 15:16:18 EST Turkey's Islamist regime uses regional and municipal governments to funnel money to Hamas, in part because it is more difficult to trace. The key facilitator is Ceyda Bölünmez Çankırı, the AKP deputy chairman for local governments. https://www.meforum.org/65502/do-not-make-light-of-pakistan-attack-on-iran Fri, 26 Jan 2024 16:26:41 EST Iran's tepid response to Pakistan's air strikes on its soil "exposed the regime's psychological, intelligence, strategic, and security weaknesses to its regional and global enemies," inviting "stronger attacks" in the future. From Reza Parchizadeh. https://www.meforum.org/65501/us-support-is-firm-but-biden-and-netanyahu-play Fri, 26 Jan 2024 16:15:09 EST If President Biden wants to see the end of Netanyahu's reign as Israel's prime minister, he should stop calling for a two-state solution – something few Israelis support in the wake of October 7 and many believe only Netanyahu can prevent. From Lazar Berman. https://www.meforum.org/65500/iran-axis-of-resistance-after-october-7-part-ii Fri, 26 Jan 2024 14:36:55 EST Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi militia has proven to be the sleeper hit of the Iran axis, threatening global trade with drone and missile strikes on shipping in the Red Sea. But Iran may have miscalculated the consequences of its brazen attacks. https://www.meforum.org/65498/countering-pro-palestinian-propaganda-part-2 Fri, 26 Jan 2024 11:28:38 EST In the second installment of his series on Palestinian propaganda claims, A.J. Caschetta refutes the mantra that Israel is a "colonial settler state." Members of an oppressed minority flocking to their ancestral homeland is anything but colonialism. https://www.meforum.org/65494/europeans-will-succumb-to-islam-says-former Thu, 25 Jan 2024 19:31:56 EST Europeans will eventually "succumb to Islam," says a former German intelligence chief, as more Muslim migrants settle in the continent, bringing "a completely different culture" that secular societies "are not at all prepared for." https://www.meforum.org/65493/turkey-pro-kurdish-party-opposed-sweden-nato Thu, 25 Jan 2024 16:17:35 EST Turkey's leading Kurdish party voted against Sweden's NATO ascension in parliament, in part because "Kurds are being treated as bargaining chips" – a reference to Sweden's pledge to investigate and prosecute Kurdish "terrorists" in Europe. https://www.meforum.org/65492/iran-axis-of-resistance-after-october-7-part-i Thu, 25 Jan 2024 15:13:58 EST "Israel will not be able to tolerate #Hezbollah fighters on its northern border. The dread in the north of a possible Hamas-style commando raid – with the mass rape, mutilation and massacre of Israeli citizens ... will never fade." From Amatzia Baram. https://www.meforum.org/65491/how-the-us-should-respond-to-turkey-strings Thu, 25 Jan 2024 14:49:40 EST Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan thinks he's getting F-16s (and a White House visit) in exchange for calling off his latest attempt to sabotage the NATO alliance. Congress should make sure he gets none. https://www.meforum.org/65489/countering-pro-palestinian-propaganda-part-i Wed, 24 Jan 2024 17:32:28 EST In the first installment of a series on Palestinian propaganda claims, A.J. Caschetta refutes the mantra that #Hamas is a "resistance organization that only targets Israelis," noting in particular that it has deliberately attacked Americans. https://www.meforum.org/65488/turkey-humiliated-nato-if-nato-cant-expel-it-here Wed, 24 Jan 2024 13:02:09 EST Every new outrage from Turkey's Islamist regime is met with exasperated repetition of the mantra that no mechanism exists for expelling a member of #NATO. True, writes Michael Rubin, but much can be done (and isn't) to sideline Turkey's role in the alliance. https://www.meforum.org/65487/senior-hamas-leader-aided-by-iran-backed Wed, 24 Jan 2024 12:25:08 EST Meet Suheil Ahmad Hassan al-Hindi, Hamas's man in Turkey. Yes, NATO ally Turkey. https://www.meforum.org/65483/the-road-from-damascus-the-bloody-history Tue, 23 Jan 2024 16:23:24 EST Todd Bensman reports from the Balkans on "a new European migration surge of magnitudes not seen in years," stretching from Turkey to wealthy EU nations with a reputation for welcoming immigrants." This "presages an elevating threat of terrorism in 2024." https://www.meforum.org/65482/iran-sets-mideast-on-fire-as-critics-say-biden Tue, 23 Jan 2024 13:38:14 EST Benjamin Weinthal speaks to Walid Phares, Michael E O'Hanlon, and Jason M Brodsky about the spectacular failure of the Biden administration's attempts to "deescalate" tensions with Iran since October 7. https://www.meforum.org/65481/eyewitness-report-london-street-demonstrators Tue, 23 Jan 2024 13:10:12 EST A coalition of Islamists and hard left activists marched through London on Saturday, January 13, demanding an end to Israeli military action in Gaza. The protesters, who numbered in the tens of thousands, called for a ceasefire while expressing no https://www.meforum.org/65480/is-qatar-putting-the-squeeze-on-the-anti-taliban Tue, 23 Jan 2024 12:43:33 EST #Qatar, a leading foreign supporter of the #Taliban, just received a visit from President Emonali Rahmon of Tajikistan, which hosts Ahmad Masoud's anti-Taliban National Resistance Front. Michael Rubin suggests Qatar is trying to "buy off Tajikistan." https://www.meforum.org/65479/alleged-qatar-spy-operation-said-to-have-targeted Tue, 23 Jan 2024 11:45:14 EST Qatar hired a former CIA agent's company to identify its "enemies" on Capitol Hill and develop a plan for discrediting them. It was that easy. https://www.meforum.org/65478/boston-first-muslim-city-councilor-cavorts-with Mon, 22 Jan 2024 16:03:24 EST Why does Tania Fernandes Anderson, a supposedly "progressive" Muslim Boston city councilor, insist on hobnobbing with misogynistic and homophobic Islamic extremists? From Dexter Van Zile. https://www.meforum.org/65476/while-iran-recent-strikes-show-weakness-its Mon, 22 Jan 2024 14:56:52 EST Iran launched air and missile strikes on three different countries last week (to say nothing of its proxies' attacks on Israel, American troops, and global shipping). Its regional adversaries aren't impressed, but Washington is panicking. https://www.meforum.org/65475/hezbollah-exposed-position-following-idf Mon, 22 Jan 2024 14:21:54 EST Jonathan Spyer on the "controlled but intense confrontation" taking place between Israel and Iran's proxies in Lebanon, and why "the tactical advantage ... appears to be on Israel's side." https://www.meforum.org/65470/dont-ban-muslim-immigrants-just-choose-the-right Sat, 20 Jan 2024 15:55:39 EST The Islamic world has been in a state of religious and intellectual crisis for centuries. Napoleon's 1798 invasion of Egypt sparked introspection: How can Islam be superior to Christianity and yet the Western world appears so much more powerful? https://www.meforum.org/65468/what-if-the-west-only-accepted-christian-refugees Fri, 19 Jan 2024 16:12:08 EST For years now, a number of mostly Eastern European nations have been arguing that, if they are going to accept any refugees from the Muslim world, they prefer Christians. Hungary, for example, has apparently been doing just that. To this, the official https://www.meforum.org/65467/in-central-gaza-where-gunmen-lurk-underground Fri, 19 Jan 2024 13:58:10 EST Col. Elad Shushan, head of the IDF's 646th Brigade, takes Lazar_Berman into the heart of the Gaza battlefield. "If we don't want our kids to have to deal with Hamas, it will take another year" to finish to job, says Shushan. https://www.meforum.org/65466/unchecked-muslim-immigration-is-transforming Fri, 19 Jan 2024 09:00:14 EST European countries like France, Sweden, and Belgium have rapidly growing, largely immigrant Muslim minorities, expected to reach 20-30% of the population by mid-century. Giulio Meotti: "The Great Islamic Hijra is underway." https://www.meforum.org/65465/turkish-intelligence-operatives-spied-on Thu, 18 Jan 2024 16:43:23 EST Leaked documents show how a quiet, unassuming graduate school in Pennsylvania became the focus of Turkish spies because of its alleged affiliation with the Gülen movement. https://www.meforum.org/65464/photos-pro-hamas-islamists-rally-in-dc Thu, 18 Jan 2024 16:32:54 EST From black Shahada flags popular among jihadists to praise for Houthi attacks on global shipping, danger signs abounded at last Saturday's "March on Washington for Gaza." Photo essay by Susannah Johnston. https://www.meforum.org/65463/does-khamenei-want-iran-to-be-bombed Thu, 18 Jan 2024 15:30:08 EST Michael Rubin suggests that aging Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei "needs an external crisis" to "distract the Iranian public from the Islamic Republic's failings" and may even be trying to provoke a U.S. military strike on Iranian soil. https://www.meforum.org/65462/how-germany-facilitates-erdogan-influence Thu, 18 Jan 2024 14:30:09 EST A German government plan to ease citizenship requirements for millions of Turkish immigrants, German lawmakers are warning, could lead to the creation of Germany's first national Islamist party. Such a party, they say, would be controlled by Turkish https://www.meforum.org/65460/the-islamic-republic-wants-a-referendum-start-in Wed, 17 Jan 2024 13:29:46 EST The Iranian regime believes it is running high. Three years ago, the Islamic Republic was near bankruptcy because of sanctions and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's "Maximum Pressure" campaign. Hezbollah had trouble paying its salaries, and Iraqis