Authorities Abandon Huge Refugee Camp After ISIS Cells Emerged

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A gigantic refugee camp in Jordan has become an “imminent threat” after Islamic State cells started to emerge.

Some 80,000 people are trapped inside the Al Rukban refugee camp by the Syrian border after Jordanian military cut off humanitarian assistance last summer. ISIS militants at the camp “have whole weapons systems … small arms, RPGs, anti-aircraft,” Brig. Gen. Sami Kafawin of the Jordanian army told NBC News in an article published Monday.

“They consider the camp a safe haven. We consider it an imminent threat,” Kafawin told NBC News.

Authorities estimate as many as 4,000 residents, about 5 percent of the camp’s population, may be militants. The area has been struck by several attacks and almost daily gun battles after the government lost control, according to Kafawin.

The military abandoned the camp after seven border guards were killed and another 13 were wounded in an ISIS-claimed car bombing last June. (Read more from “Authorities Abandon Huge Refugee Camp After ISIS Cells Emerged” HERE)

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National Front to Rebrand After Crushing Defeat in French Election

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Marine Le Pen’s National Front party will engage in a rebranding effort after suffering a crushing loss Sunday to centrist candidate Emmanuel Macron.

Le Pen told supporters that the party must reevaluate itself, and that she will continue to fight for its policies in the upcoming parliamentary elections in June. The populist leader lost the run-off election after receiving approximately 35 percent of the vote.

“The National Front must also renew itself,” said Le Pen in an address to supporters after the results came in. “I will therefore start the process of a deep transformation of our movement … I call upon all patriots to join us.”

Le Pen promised to create a “number one opposition force” to counter globalization in France.

The party will change its name, among other things, according to National Front Vice President Florian Philippot. (Read more from “National Front to Rebrand After Crushing Defeat in French Election” HERE)

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MUSLIM DOG DAY AFTERNOON: Man With Dog Nabbed by Toronto Police for Offending Nearby Muslims

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The Muslim proscription against “unclean” animals received state-enforced validation last Saturday in Toronto at the annual Al-Quds Day rally held in the city’s Queen’s Park. 47-year-old Allan Einstoss, who was accosted by a Muslim demonstrator while walking among the crowd with his dog, is considering legal action after being held by the police after the assault, while the man who attacked him was not even questioned. Police on the scene reportedly chastised Einstoss for being “insensitive” to the Muslim protestors with the presence of his canine companion in the public park. “I was detained. They had me in handcuffs,” Einstoss told Front Page Magazine. “They trampled all over my rights.”

Al-Quds Day is an annual international event created in 1979 by Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeini to mark the end of Ramadan. It is anti-Semitic in nature, calling for the destruction of Israel and the creation a Palestinian state. Einstoss, who attended the event with his 77-year-old father and 16-year-old son, also brought along Cupcake, his 165 pound English Mastiff. Cupcake is a registered therapy dog slated to begin visiting veteran patients at Sunnybrook hospital this October. At the rally he was on a leash, and wearing an Israeli flag around his neck.

Einstoss said he was attending the rally as a “concerned citizen,” unaffiliated with any group. He was amongst the crowd when two Muslim women approached him to ask about his dog. According to Einstoss, he was then approached by a male Al-Quds demonstrator who told him he was “not allowed to go near our women.” Einstoss then asserted his right to go anywhere he pleased, but turned to walk away. At that point he said he was “punched in the chest” by a second male demonstrator, and that someone also kicked his dog.

Einstoss responded by shoving the man who punched him. He was immediately grabbed by several police officers and put in handcuffs. “The cops jumped me, and dragged me off in front of my 77-year-old father and 16-year-old son. They cuffed me for half an hour, and patted me down,” said Einstoss. “The two cops told me I was being arrested for assault and inciting a riot. One of them also mentioned that I was being insensitive to others. They threatened me with a weekend jail, before offering me a deal: they would free me if I agreed to be escorted out of the park.” He complied and left the area.

Part of Einstoss’s apparent “insensitivity” was that, in the eyes of the police, he should have known better than to bring his dog to a rally predominantly comprised of Muslims, whose dislike of dogs among the devout is widely known. By detaining him and threatening him at least partially on the pretext of this “offense,” while refusing to punish the real aggressor in the altercation, the police were essentially telling Einstoss that when Muslims gather in sufficient numbers, public laws and individual rights play second string. (Read more from “MUSLIM DOG DAY AFTERNOON: Man With Dog Nabbed by Toronto Police for Offending Nearby Muslims” HERE)

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North Korea Detains Another American Over Alleged Hostile Acts

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North Korea announced Sunday that it detained a fourth American citizen over unspecified hostile acts against the country and amid worsening tensions with the U.S.

North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency said that Kim Hak Song had worked for the Pyongyang University of Science and Technology before he was held on Saturday.

North Korea on Wednesday announced the detention of an accounting instructor at the same university, Kim Sang Dok, for “acts of hostility aimed at overthrowing the country.” Kim was detained in April at the airport in Pyongyang.

The KCNA report didn’t say whether the two cases are connected.

Kim Hak Song is among at least four Americans being detained in North Korea. (Read more from “North Korea Detains Another American Over Alleged Hostile Acts” HERE)

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Navy SEAL Killed Near Mogadishu. What Are US Troops Doing There?

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A U.S. Navy SEAL was killed in Somalia Thursday on a U.S. mission involving the al-Shabaab terror group. It was the first U.S. military combat death in Somalia since the infamous 1993 Black Hawk Down mission.

Almost immediately upon arriving on a mission location 40 miles west of Mogadishu, American and Somali troops came under intense gunfire.

“We helped bring them in there with our aircraft,” Pentagon spokesman Captain Jeff Davis said Friday, per ABC News. “We were there maintaining a distance back as they conducted the operation, that’s when our forces came under fire and we had the unfortunate casualty.”

In addition to the death of the Navy SEAL, two Americans were injured on the “advise-and-assist” mission.

So, what brought brings our troops to the east African state rife with Islamic extremism?

U.S. African Command (AFRICOM) says that American forces are there in an advisory role to the Somali National Army.

“Al-Shabaab presents a threat to Americans and American interests,” AFRICOM said in a statement Friday. “Al Shabaab’s affiliate, al-Qaeda has murdered Americans; radicalizes and recruits terrorists and fighters in the United States; and attempts to conduct and inspire attacks against Americans, our allies and our interests around the world, including here at home.”

U.S. forces are in Somalia to “degrade the al-Qaeda affiliate’s ability to recruit, train and plot external terror attacks throughout the region and in America,” the statement added.

Indeed, al-Shabaab has been able to successfully recruit a number of Somali immigrants resettled in an area of Minnesota that has come to be known as “Little Mogadishu.” As of late 2016, dozens of individuals from Minnesota’s Somali community have been recruited by al-Shabaab, Fox News reports.

However, as CR Senior Editor Michelle Malkin has argued, this internal radicalization issue is also largely due to a broken refugee program that allows individuals from radical Islamic countries to come into the country and live in resettlement zones that are detached from the American melting pot.

And given that Somalia hardly has a functioning government, it’s hard to see how American efforts in the country will pay off in the long term. Additionally, Somalia is one of the least free countries on the planet. Skeptics have challenged the wisdom of an American government picking a winner in a semi-failed state that does not have the ability to defend either its borders or its people.

But U.S. military officials are said to be encouraged by the new president of Somalia, Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo (a dual-American citizen), who is reportedly more invested in the campaign against jihadi terrorism.

There are an untold number of American troops in Somalia (reports range from dozens to hundreds). In April, President Trump authorized a larger troop contingent there to assist in the mission to stave off al-Shabaab. The new deployment will consist of about 40 more soldiers, a military official told CNN.

The U.S. pulled troops out of Somalia after the “Black Hawk Down” battle that saw 18 U.S. servicemen killed and another 73 wounded.

Somalia was one of the countries listed when President Trump attempted to impose an immigration moratorium on individuals coming from radical Islamic strongholds. The executive orders, however, were struck down by federal judges under questionable authority. (For more from the author of “Navy SEAL Killed Near Mogadishu. What Are US Troops Doing There?” please click HERE)

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New Strategy Needed to Confront Islamist Threats in War of Ideas

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Coming into office, President Donald Trump declared defeating and destroying ISIS to be his foreign policy top priority.

In contrast with the Obama administration, he had no hesitation defining precisely the root of the threat: Islamist terrorism — not vaguely phrased “violent extremism,” “workplace violence” or “manmade contingencies.”

This definition of the threat also needs to come with a far more concise strategy to combat it. The shorthand for the Obama strategy was “CVE,” or “Countering Violent Extremism.”

Like the evasive title, this program failed. The United States continues to face terror attacks from radicalized individuals, such as last year’s Orlando nightclub massacre.

In a recent article for The National Interest, “Top 10 Ways to Make the War on the ‘War of Ideas,’” The Heritage Foundation’s James Carafano writes that “the new team in Washington needs to right-size the effort, making it complimentary with effective counterterrorism measures and U.S. strategy overseas.”

Carafano’s 10 points are:

Helping Americans understand the changing nature of the war. This could potentially occur through the creation of a 9/11-style commission to define the threat for this new era.

Do not allow efforts to be captured by ulterior motives. This happens when the perpetrators of violence are excused as victims, and therefore not to blame.

Focus on Islamist threats. The Islamist threat is a very specific and anti-democratic threat that cannot be countered with a generic counterterrorism approach.

Limit domestic programs and keep them modest in character. Overly broad programs to counter radicalization have failed in the past. For instance, one FBI anti-terror program in 2012 identified the real terror threat as right-wing terrorism, not Islamism.

Focus domestic programs on counterterrorism. Identify and hone in on individuals that pose potential threats, and prevent those individuals from successfully striking. Most domestic terrorists have been on law enforcement’s radar screen prior to attacking.

Make domestic programs bottom-up. Equip local communities and law enforcement to confront terrorism, instead of hoping that the federal government can handle the terror threat all by itself.

Emphasize support to the field in overseas programs. Again, local officials and political leaders will be far better equipped than central authorities to deal with radicalization on the ground in trouble spots.

End handouts that don’t deliver. No more government-funded conferences and meetings for ineffective NGOs, such as George Soros’ Open Society Foundations.

Avoid obsessing over social media. Social media is not itself the root cause of terror attacks. Social media is a contributing factor in radicalization that is most effective where there is already a local network to carry out attacks.

Drop the label. The Obama administration’s “Countering Violent Extremism” label is too vague. Islamist extremism represents a well-defined threat that we need to fight in the name of all that human decency and liberal democracy stand for.

An 11th point that should be added is the importance of information and communication in defeating the enemy.

For that, the United States government has powerful tools — in particular, the civilian entities of U.S. International Broadcasting under the Broadcasting Board of Governors.

These broadcasters are legitimate and important tools of U.S. foreign policy, and have been ever since they were created in World War II.

The U.S. government has devoted millions of dollars over the last 15 years toward expanding these broadcast services to the Middle East and Afghanistan, with varying degrees of success.

Networks that came from these efforts include the Middle East Broadcasting Network (which consists of Radio Sawa and Al Hurra Television), Voice of America’s Persian News Network, Radio Free Afghanistan and Radio Farda (for Iran) produced by Radio Liberty in Munich.

The Trump team must now create a comprehensive broadcasting strategy to reach and inform audiences who are trapped behind enemy lines, often by autocratic Islamist regimes. This should become part of a clear, focused and revitalized counterterrorism strategy. (For more from the author of “New Strategy Needed to Confront Islamist Threats in War of Ideas” please click HERE)

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Europe’s Childless Leaders Sleepwalking the West to Disaster

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There have never been so many childless politicians leading Europe as today. They are modern, open minded and multicultural. They know that “everything finishes with them.” In the short term, being childless is a relief since it means no spending for families, no sacrifices and that no one complains about the future consequences. As in a research report financed by the European Union: “No kids, no problem!”

Being a mother or a father, however, means that you have a very real stake in the future of the country you lead. Europe’s most important leaders leave no children behind.

Europe’s most important leaders are all childless: German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte and the French presidential hopeful Emmanuel Macron. The list continues with Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Löfven, Luxembourg’s Prime Minister Xavier Bettel and Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon.

Europe Is Committing Suicide

As Europe’s leaders have no children, they seem have no reason to worry about the future of their continent. German philosopher Rüdiger Safranski wrote:

[F]or the childless, thinking in terms of the generations to come loses relevance. Therefore, they behave more and more as if they were the last and see themselves as standing at the end of the chain.

(For more from the author of “Europe’s Childless Leaders Sleepwalking the West to Disaster” please click HERE)

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US Military Member Killed in Somalia, 1st Death Since 1993

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A U.S. service member has been killed in Somalia during an operation against the extremist group al-Shabab — the first U.S. combat death there in more than two decades — as the United States steps up its fight against the al-Qaida-linked organization in a country that remains largely chaos.

“We do not believe there has been a case where a U.S. service member has been killed in combat action in Somalia since the incident there in 1993,” U.S. Africa Command spokesman Patrick Barnes said Friday. The United States pulled out of Somalia after that incident in which two helicopters were shot down in the capital, Mogadishu, and bodies of Americans were dragged through the streets.

In a statement, the U.S. Africa Command said the service member was killed Thursday during the operation near Barii, about 40 miles (64 kilometers) west of Mogadishu. The Pentagon said two other service members were wounded. (Read more from “US Military Member Killed in Somalia, 1st Death Since 1993” HERE)

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North Korea Accuses US, south Korea of Assassination Attempt

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North Korea on Friday accused the U.S. and South Korean spy agencies of an unsuccessful assassination attempt on leader Kim Jong Un involving biochemical weapons.

In a statement carried on state media, North Korea’s Ministry of State Security said it will “ferret out and mercilessly destroy” the “terrorists” in the CIA and South Korean intelligence agency responsible for targeting its supreme leadership.

North Korea frequently lambasts the United States and South Korea, but its accusation Friday was unusual in its detail. (Read more from “North Korea Accuses US, south Korea of Assassination Attempt” HERE)

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Trump’s First International Trip Shows Middle East a Priority

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President Donald Trump could be indicating his highest international priority in traveling to the Middle East ahead of European summits later this month, experts say, while also honoring three of the world’s major religions.

Trump will travel to Saudi Arabia, then to Israel, and finally to Italy to visit the Vatican in Rome. This will be his first international trip as president.

The president announced the travel to centers of three major religions–Islam, Judaism, and Christianity–during a National Day of Prayer event Thursday in the Rose Garden of the White House.

The trip comes ahead news came ahead of already-scheduled travel to Brussels for the NATO summit May 25 and a Group of Seven, or G7, gathering May 27 in Sicily.

Trump’s travel plans are a good sign to American allies following President Barack Obama’s two terms, said Mike Makovsky, a former Pentagon official who is now the president of the Jewish Institute for National Security of America.

“President Trump has had this image of a great disruptor, but this shows he is a great restorer of our ties with our traditional allies,” Makovsky told The Daily Signal. “This is an important message after eight years of Obama. It reverberates globally by reassuring our traditional allies, who realize this is a good signal.”

Even with other problems abroad such as North Korea, the Trump administration is focusing much attention on the Middle East with challenges including the Islamic State terrorist army, the civil war in Syria, an emboldened Iran, and unstable countries such as Iraq and Libya.

“The Middle East is a big problem and he wants to do something to address it,” said Richard Benedetto, an adjunct professor in American University’s government department, adding:

It’s significant that Saudi Arabia is the first stop. They have been our second-closest ally [after Israel] in the Middle East and our closest Arab ally. Each president–Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama–has worked closely with the Saudis.

While in Saudi Arabia, Trump is scheduled to meet with leaders of the five other countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council, a political and economic alliance of Arab nations. They are Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates.

“He recognizes the importance of bringing all of our partners together, and certainly looking for ways that we can combat some of the greatest threats to all of the world,” White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said of the president at a press briefing Thursday. “And that’s going to take some buy-in and some of the people in the Middle East taking a larger stake in that process, and I think that’s a big part of what we’re going to see on that trip.”

America needs the participation of four key countries for a coalition to help stabilize the Middle East and combat the Islamic State—Egypt, Israel, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia—said James Carafano, vice president for national security and foreign policy studies at The Heritage Foundation.

Trump already has visited with the leaders of Egypt, Israel, and Jordan at the White House. He is going to Saudi Arabia. He will handle the Middle East differently than his immediate predecessors, Obama and Bush, Carafano said.

“This trip will have a specific operational component, it’s not just for balance or checking off boxes,” Carafano told The Daily Signal, adding:

He wants to re-engage with the Middle East, not as Bush did in a muscular way, and obviously not in a lead-from-behind Obama way. Unlike Europe, with the Middle East, everything is bilateral. Relationships are important.

Trump met earlier in the past week with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, and frequently has talked about the Middle East peace process. However, showing commitment to a peace deal is as much strategy as it is a goal, Carafano said, explaining that it’s an important way to get Arab allies on board for other U.S. national security priorities.

The third destination, a visit with Pope Francis at the Vatican, might be a harmonious way to check a box after going to the holy cities of Islam and Judaism, Carafano said.

Still, considering the rhetorical clash the pope and Trump had during the 2016 campaign over immigration, Benedetto said, their meeting will have symbolic importance.

“Americans have always seen the pope as a world spiritual leader,” Benedetto said. “Trump’s executive order seemed to be a way of showing he cares for people of faith, and this meeting could show that moral leadership is important to him.”

Trump signed an executive order on religious freedom Thursday that directed the Internal Revenue Service not to target political speech by leaders of churches and other houses of worship. It also eased Obamacare-related regulatory burdens on religious organizations.

Bridging the gap could be worthwhile, said Craig Shirley, a presidential historian whose most recent book is “Reagan Rising: The Decisive Years, 1976 to 1980.”

President Ronald Reagan’s relationship with Pope John Paul II was “world altering” in ending the Cold War, Shirley said.

“I don’t know if we could see that here without a strategic alignment against Islamic terrorism, as there was against Soviet communism,” Shirley told The Daily Signal. “Being from Poland, Pope John Paul II saw Soviet communism first hand. Pope Francis hasn’t directly experienced Islamic terrorism.” (For more from the author of “Trump’s First International Trip Shows Middle East a Priority” please click HERE)

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