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In-Depth Issues:
Did the Iranian Regime Play a Role in Australia's Hanukkah Massacre? - Dr. Dan Diker ( Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs)
Hours before the Bondi Beach attack, Ahmad Ghadiri Abyaneh - the son of Mohammad-Hassan Ghadiri Abyaneh, a former Iranian ambassador to Australia - posted a cryptic message on X condemning Jewish Hanukkah celebrations as a "satanic ritual."
His post framed Jewish religious observance as a threat requiring "societal defense," citing Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's doctrine of "mobilized civil resistance" against perceived enemies of Islam.
This echoed the Iranian regime's systematic use of religious language to legitimize violence against Jewish and Western targets.
The cumulative evidence surrounding the Bondi Beach massacre strongly suggests a conducive environment shaped by Iranian ideology.
The attack should be understood as part of a global campaign of intimidation linked to state-sponsored extremist doctrine.
The writer is President of the Jerusalem Center.
The Bondi Beach Terror Attack Must Strengthen, Not Shatter, Our Bridges - Jason D. Greenblatt ( Newsweek)
Islamic State-linked materials and symbols were found with the perpetrators of the atrocity at Bondi Beach on the first night of the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah.
ISIS and its ideological offshoots are not Islam. They are a violent, nihilistic cult that hijacks religious language to sanctify the murder of innocents.
Since 2017, I have interacted with Muslims across countries, cultures and professions. I have worked alongside them, learned from them and shared conversations.
Even where we disagreed sharply, including on Israel, Gaza and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, nothing I encountered remotely resembled the ideology that inspired the Bondi attackers.
The Islam I know is not one of death-worship.
The struggle against extremist violence is not Jews versus Muslims, or the West versus Islam.
It is humanity versus dehumanization. It is life versus an ideology that thrives on death and division. Grief does not require us to abandon clarity.
The answer to terror must be a redoubling of efforts to build bridges between Jews and Muslims, and between Muslim-majority nations and Israel.
The Abraham Accords did not emerge from fantasy. They emerged from years of quiet engagement, shared interests, and the recognition that endless conflict only empowers extremists.
Extremists do not own faith. They do not own identity. And they do not get to define our future.
The writer, Assistant to the U.S. President and Special Representative for International Negotiations (2017-2019), played a key role in developing the Abraham Accords.
How Turkey Went from Ally to Strategic Threat - Maj.-Gen. (res.) Giora Eiland ( Jerusalem Post)
Turkey was one of Israel's greatest friends. However, since Erdogan rose to power 23 years ago, Turkey has become a real enemy.
The main factors that explain Turkey's threatening approach toward Israel are its religious outlook, its national outlook, and its megalomania.
During the First World War, the Ottoman Empire, which had ruled for centuries both in the Middle East and in the Balkans, collapsed. Turkey, which had been allied with Germany and Austria, was defeated and was forced to retreat to its current borders.
As an IDF general, I met with my Turkish counterparts many times and they told me: "We do not accept the borders that were imposed on us in 1923. Turkey's natural borders must expand in at least three places: the southern border, the Aegean Sea, and Cyprus."
Since Erdogan came to power, two additional dimensions have been added to Turkish national pride: the megalomaniac personality of the Turkish president and his strict Islamist approach.
Turkey's hostile approach has been characterized by venomous statements, by provocations such as the flotilla to Gaza in 2010, and by funding provocations in Jerusalem.
Turkey has a huge and high-quality navy, and if it decides to attack Israel, it is certainly capable of creating a maritime blockade.
The writer is a former head of Israel's National Security Council.
We Can't Fight Terrorism If We're Scared of Being Called Islamophobic - Michael Deacon ( Telegraph-UK)
The Birmingham City Council has announced that to keep people safe while visiting the local Christmas market, it's installed "Hostile Vehicle Mitigation" bollards. I didn't know vehicles could be hostile.
It's possible that the vehicles themselves aren't hostile. It's the people driving them.
But if the danger actually comes from people, shouldn't the council specify the type of people it thinks might carry out a terrorist attack on a Christmas market?
We have no way of knowing which group of people is thought most likely to plot the slaughter of Christians at Christmas.
I'd have more faith in our leaders' efforts to tackle terrorism if they weren't so petrified of being called Islamophobic.
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News Resources - North America, Europe, and Asia:
- Strikes on Islamic State Pound a Foe the U.S. Once Thought Defeated - Omar Abdel-Baqui
The heavy U.S. strikes against Islamic State positions highlight the difficulty in fully suppressing a foe that was declared militarily defeated half a decade ago. U.S. forces carried out attacks on more than 70 targets in Syria on Friday, following more than 80 operations the U.S. military conducted in Syria in the last six months, including airstrikes as well as raids that have killed Islamic State leaders.
Despite extensive targeting of the group following the collapse of the Assad regime in Syria a year ago, its cells continue to carry out ambushes and increased the pace of their attacks early this year. Islamic State maintains loosely organized cells in Syria, targeting the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces militia that is working with the U.S.
Islamic State militants staged 117 attacks in northeast Syria through the end of August, outpacing the 73 attacks in all of 2024, according to SDF figures.
Beyond Syria, Islamic State retains strongholds in parts of Africa and Asia. Australian authorities said it inspired the recent attack on a Hanukkah celebration in Sydney's Bondi Beach. (Wall Street Journal)
- Bondi Gunmen Threw Bombs at Start of Attack - Renju Jose
Australian police say the Bondi Beach attackers threw homemade pipe and tennis ball bombs at the Jewish Hanukkah celebration before shooting, but they failed to detonate, according to court documents released on Monday.
The two gunmen had planned the attack for several months and visited the Bondi beachside park for reconnaissance two days prior. Pictures included in the police report showed the father and son training with firearms in an isolated part of New South Wales, the state which includes Sydney.
Police found a video taken in October on one of their mobile phones showing them sitting in front of an Islamic State flag and making statements in English about their reasons for the attack. 15 people were killed in the Dec. 14 attack; 13 remain in hospital, including 4 in critical condition.
(Reuters)
News Resources - Israel and the Mideast:
- Leaders of Israel, Greece, and Cyprus Meet to Reaffirm Security, Energy Commitments - Alex Winston
Israel, Greece, and Cyprus reaffirmed their commitment to mutual support and shared strategic interests at a meeting between their leaders in Jerusalem on Monday. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the leaders were "cooperating and discussing in detail cooperation in many fields: energy, technology, connectivity, and also security."
Netanyahu also warned in a thinly-veiled threat to Turkey: "To those who fantasize they can re-establish their empires and their dominion over our lands, I say, forget it. It's not going to happen - don't even think about it." Netanyahu said the leaders had agreed "to deepen our security and defense cooperation," stressing that "the threats we face are real. Together, we're defending not only our own nations, but vital sea lanes and critical infrastructure that the global economy depends on."
(Jerusalem Post)
- U.S. Ambassador Huckabee: "Israel Is Just the Appetizer" - Ariel Kahana
U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee said in an interview on Monday: "Since 1979, when the ayatollahs seized power, they have always said 'death to Israel, death to America' - in the same sentence. There has never been a separation. Israel is just the appetizer, because you're closer and you're an easier target."
"The real main course, their ultimate goal, is to destroy the United States. If you want to destroy Western civilization and return the world to the seventh century - you can't do that without eliminating the United States....It's not just about Israel. It's about the United States. And Iran has threatened America for 46 consecutive years."
Huckabee said that U.S. military aid to Israel is not one-sided. "Look at what we're getting back."
He noted that all aid funds are invested in American industries, and emphasized Israel's contribution in developing weapons systems. "Israel tests the F-35 in combat in ways we can't. Billions of dollars of benefit in what makes this plane better - that's a gift to the United States."
Addressing Gaza, Huckabee said, "If you don't get rid of Hamas, how will Gaza be rebuilt? Who will want to invest there?" He said there is no gap between U.S. and Israeli goals, and Hamas "must lay down its weapons and release all the hostages." (Israel Hayom)
See also Video: Interview with Amb. Mike Huckabee (Institute for National Security Studies)
Global Commentary and Think-Tank Analysis:
Observations:
- Hamas must be given a deadline for relinquishing its weapons, after which Israel will have a green light to return to combat operations across Gaza, U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) told the Times of Israel on Sunday.
"Put them on the clock. If they don't disarm in a credible way, then unleash Israel on 'em."
- The second phase of President Trump's plan for Gaza demands that Hamas disarm and the Strip be demilitarized. But Hamas's leaders have said consistently that they won't give up all their weapons, and never signed on to the second phase of the plan.
- The envisioned multi-national International Stabilization Force for Gaza has no chance of success until "Hamas has been disarmed," said Graham. "There's no international stabilizing force that's going to come in here and fight."
- "My advice to the President [Trump] is until Hamas is dealt out of the game militarily and politically, the chance of success is pretty remote," Graham said. "These people are religious zealots. They're religious Nazis. I have no confidence, short of their demise, that they're ever going to do anything other than what they promised to do. Did they stop wanting to destroy Israel? Did they change their stated goals? No."
- Regarding Iran, Graham said that if Iran is indeed trying to enrich uranium again and to expand their ballistic missile program, "it'd be in our national interest to hit them now."
- Graham urged the U.S. to join in on any potential attack on Hizbullah: "I would like the United States to participate in military operations, in the aerial side, against Hizbullah, if that's what it takes to knock them out.
I want our fingerprints on that. Let me tell you why: We had a lot of brave young Marines die at the hands of these bastards and we have a very long memory."
- In October 1983, 241 U.S. military personnel - including 220 Marines - died in a Hizbullah truck bombing of a U.S. Marines barracks in Lebanon. Less than a year later, Hizbullah bombed the American embassy in Beirut, killing 23 people.
- The U.S. and Israel "have common enemies and common values, democracy, and [Israel is] surrounded by a bunch of people that would kill us if they could get to us....Whatever we do to help Israel is a great investment....It's in America's interest to have a strong, vibrant Israel. Anything less would put us at risk. I think that's not going to change anytime soon."
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