Middle East

Parole panel declares Libyan too dangerous to leave Guantanamo

MIAMI — A day after the Obama administration disclosed its largest single-day detainee downsizing, the Pentagon revealed Tuesday that the Guantanamo parole board approved the indefinite detention of a Libyan captive — the prison’s 18th board-approved “forever prisoner.” Ismael Ali Faraj Ali Bakush, 48, got to the detention center in southeast Cuba on Aug. 5, […]

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International, Middle East, USA

Obama’s biggest-ever release of Gitmo detainees draws ire from Trump, lawmakers

President Obama faced renewed criticism of endangering national security Tuesday with the announcement that the administration is transferring another 15 detainees from the Guantanamo Bay detention facility. “President Obama is more focused on releasing hardened terrorists than capturing new ones – a reckless policy that is putting America and the West at risk,” said House

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International, Middle East, USA

Middle East Roundup: August 16, 2016

Shin Bet uncovers Hezbollah attempts to recruit Palestinians on Facebook (JNS.org) Several Palestinian terror cells in the Judea and Samaria region were recruited through Facebook by the Lebanese terror group Hezbollah to carry out attacks against Israelis, Israel’s security agency (Shin Bet) announced on Tuesday. One of the groups in the Palestinian city, Qalqilya, was

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Middle East

Ancient cuisine, modern flavours: Lebanese cook highlights versatility of Middle Eastern vegetarian fare

Salma Hage hooked me with her baba ganoush – smooth, garlicky, and most definitely moreish. She reeled me in with her other mezze classics: fava bean and mint falafel; sweet potato kibbeh; and beets with labneh (a tart, strained yogurt cheese). The Lebanese cook focuses entirely on the meatless in her second book, The Middle

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Middle East, The World We Share

Director springs to defend ‘Wonder Woman’

Even Wonder Woman can do with a little extra protection sometimes. The upcoming movie depicting the DC comic heroine got some defense this week from director Patty Jenkins after a letter published online claimed that, inside the production studio, the film is seen as “a mess.” “Woah, just saw this press about WW having problems,”

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Middle East, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, USA

With cardiac surgery, Israeli team saves Afghani boy’s life

A baby boy born in Afghanistan with multiple heart defects received life-saving surgery in Israel thanks to a Facebook friendship and a covert operation that traversed enemy borders and diplomatic lines. Yehia was born to Afghani parents in Peshawar, Pakistan, with major heart defects, The New York Times reported. His parents had no way of

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Middle East, Science, Medicine, & Education

As ISIS Brewed in Iraq, Clinton’s State Department Cut Eyes and Ears on the Ground

This story was co-published with The Washington Post. A week before the last U.S. soldiers left his country in December 2011, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki traveled to Washington to meet the team that would help shape Iraq’s future once the troops and tanks were gone. Over dinner at the Blair House, guest quarters for

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Middle East, USA

Trump campaign looks to voters in Israel for swing-state boost

Looking for an absentee-voter boost in swing-states like Florida, Pennsylvania, and Ohio, Donald Trump is actively courting American Jews living in Israel in what the campaign hints could be an insurance policy against a repeat of the 2000 Bush-Gore deadlock in Florida. Managed by the Republicans Abroad Israel branch of the GOP, the new campaign

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Middle East, USA

Facebook takes down Hamas accounts

Facebook reportedly closed the account of Hamas leader Ismail Radwan on Facebook, in addition Sami Abu Zuhri, Fawzi Barhoum and Salah Bardawil, in the midst of municipal Gazan election season. Hamas leaders frequently use their social media accounts to garner support for terrorism and incitement to terror. Last week, Facebook closed the account of Islamic

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Middle East

IDF demolishes home of terrorist who killed 13-year-old in her bed

Israeli troops demolished overnight Sunday the home of a Palestinian terrorist who stabbed to death a 13-year-old Israeli girl in June. A large military force, including members of the Combat Engineering Corps, arrived in the West Bank village of Bani Na’im, outside Hebron, in the early hours of Monday morning to raze the family home

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Middle East

Jason Dov Greenblatt: Peace is possible if Palestinian leaders seek it

An electrical fire recently broke out at the historic Al-Jazzar mosque, located in the northern Israeli city of Acre. The damage to the centuries-old structure was extensive, but the community’s show of unity in dealing with the blaze’s aftermath is heartening. Such unity in the wake of this tragedy casts a glimmer of hope illuminating

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Middle East

Jewish Trivia Quiz: Olympics special delivery

By Mark D. Zimmerman MELVILLE, New York — The Israeli startup company Senecio is very busy making deliveries during the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. What are they delivering? A. Kosher meals for visitors. Senecio is a food delivery service which delivers meals from restaurants throughout Israel (similar to Seamless in the United States). Senecio applied

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International, Middle East, Sports & Competitions