The Great Palestinian Shakedown: Have the Arabs Had Enough?

In this mailing: - Bassam Tawil: The Great Palestinian Shakedown: Have the Arabs Had Enough? - Debalina Ghoshal: North Korea Ships Chemical Weapons to Syria: Nukes Next? - Uzay Bulut: Turkey Rejects "Moderate Islam" [] [The Great Palestinian Shakedown: Have the Arabs Had Enough?]( by Bassam Tawil • November 30, 2017 at 5:00 am - Many people in the West are not aware that the Palestinians are trying to torpedo any peace initiative in order to blame others. - The Palestinians are crying Wolf, Wolf! -- but only a few in the Arab world are listening to them. This, in a way, is encouraging and offers hope for them finally to be released from decades of repressive and corrupt governance. - These are just some of the challenges Saudi Crown Prince is facing. It is important to support him in the face of attacks by some Palestinians and other spoilers. Saudi Arabia and most of the Arab countries are obviously fed up with the recurring attempts by the Palestinians to blackmail them and extort money from them. Pictured: Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas embraces Saudi King Salman bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, December 30, 2015. (Photo by Thaer Ghanaim/Palestinian Press Office via Getty Images) A young Saudi man has posted videos on social media in which he calls the Palestinians "dogs" and "pigs." The man says that Saudi Arabia has provided the ungrateful Palestinians with "billions of dollars" during the past few decades. "The Palestinians," the Saudi man charges, "have been milking us for decades." The videos, which have since gone viral, have understandably drawn strong condemnations from Palestinians, who say they would not have been made public without the tacit approval of the Saudi authorities. For the Palestinians, the abusive videos represent yet another sign of increased tensions in their relations with Saudi Arabia. Further evidence of Saudi disdain for the Palestinians was provided in a video posted by Saudi Arabia featuring a Palestinian gunman as a terrorist. [Continue Reading Article]( [] [North Korea Ships Chemical Weapons to Syria: Nukes Next?]( by Debalina Ghoshal • November 30, 2017 at 4:30 am - Syria could, of course, also acquire nuclear weapons from North Korea. Syria already possesses ballistic missiles; the chemical weapons are already there. - In the past, North Korea has shipped ballistic missiles to Hezbollah and Hamas via Syria; they will probably continue to do so, and to terrorist organizations as well. North Korea's nuclear and ballistic missile programs have been both alarming the US and destabilizing the Middle East. Pictured: A mobile ballistic missile launcher at North Korea's 2013 Victory Day parade. (Image source: Stefan Krasowski/Flickr) North Korea is reported to be shipping chemical weapons to Syria. The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) has stated that activity has been intercepted during the past six months and that North Korea is also shipping conventional weapons there. Furthermore, a Syrian government entity, the Scientific Studies and Research Centre, has apparently established cooperation with the Korean Mining Development Trading Corporation (KOMID), North Korea's key arms exporter, and blacklisted by the UN Security Council Shipping weapons and chemical weapons to Syria brings cash-strapped North Korea hard currency, Meanwhile Syria, thick in a civil war, can only acquire sophisticated weapons and weapons of mass destruction through a black market; so a sanctioned North Korea is ideal. [Continue Reading Article]( [] [Turkey Rejects "Moderate Islam"]( by Uzay Bulut • November 30, 2017 at 4:00 am - "These epithets of 'moderate Islam' are very ugly, it is disrespectful and an insult to our religion. There is no moderate or immoderate Islam. Islam is Islam and that's it." — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. - In keeping with Erdoğan's assertions, the Turkish government-funded Directorate of Religious Affairs (Diyanet) published in July a detailed 140-page report, which stated that Islam is "superior" to Judaism and Christianity, and that "interfaith dialogue is unacceptable." - "The word kafir is the worst word in the human language. It is far worse than the n-word, because the n-word is a personal opinion, whereas, kafir is Allah's decree." — Dr. Bill Warner, director of the Center for the Study of Political Islam (CSPI). Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan recently rejected the concept of "moderate Islam" again, saying, "Islam cannot be either 'moderate' or 'not moderate.' Islam can only be one thing," and that the "patent of this concept originated in the West," which "really want[s] to weaken Islam." Pictured: Erdogan in Hamburg, Germany on July 8, 2017. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images) At a conference on women's entrepreneurship, held in Ankara on November 9 and hosted by the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan rejected the concept of "moderate Islam". Referring to the vow by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman -- during the Future Investment Initiative conference in Riyadh on Oct. 25 -- to turn his country into a bastion of "moderate Islam," Erdoğan said, "Islam cannot be either 'moderate' or 'not moderate.' Islam can only be one thing." He also claimed that the "patent of this concept originated in the West," which "really want[s] to weaken Islam." Erdoğan has consistently communicated his thoughts about the term "moderate Islam" often used in the West to describe his Justice and Development Party (AKP). As early as 2007, he said: "These epithets of 'moderate Islam' are very ugly, it is disrespectful and an insult to our religion. There is no moderate or immoderate Islam. Islam is Islam and that's it." [Continue Reading Article]( [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [RSS]( [Donate]( Copyright © Gatestone Institute, All rights reserved. You are subscribed to this list as {EMAIL} You can change how you receive these emails: [Update your subscription preferences]( or [Unsubscribe from this list]( [Gatestone Institute]() 14 East 60 St., Suite 705, New York, NY 10022