Merkel Faces Coalition Immigration Revolt while Islam Focuses on Europe, Iranians Riot against the Regime, and Israel Helps Syrian Refugees

THE REAL NEWS TODAY COMES FROM GERMANY, IRAN -- AND ISRAEL. It all has lessons for America. • Reuters' headline on Monday morning labeled it "Chaos in Merkel's coalition after Seehofer dangles resignation." What is going on? • • • EU MIGRANT DEAL LEADS TO GERMAN POLITICAL CRISIS. Last Friday, after 9 hours of negotiating well into the night, the EU's 27 member state leaders announce they had reached an agreement on migration. Although the number of migrants arriving in Europe has fallen by 90% since their 2015 peak, the fallout of the 2015 influx has created a political crisis between and within EU member states. The new populist government in Italy -- where, until Italy refused to let migrant boats dock two weeks ago, most migrants had landed if they made it across the Mediterranean -- demanded that the rest of the EU take “concrete steps” to share its burden (and was prepared to veto any deal if they did not), and anti-immigration leaders in countries such as Hungary and the Czech Republic rejected even the idea of automatic quotas per member state for illegal immigrnats and asylum seekers. In Germany, which took in more than a million migrants in 2015, Merkel’s conservative Bavarian coalition partner threatened to shut the border to migrants who had applied for asylum elsewhere in the EU, a move that could trigger the collapse of Merkel's government and mark the end of the EU’s passport-free Schengen zone. Even Chancellor Merkel had said migration could “decide the fate of the EU.” • What was agreed last Friday? Here's the Guardian's report : "Like many EU deals, this was a carefully but vaguely worded fudge to satisfy divergent views. It stopped well short of decisively solving the problem, but may have raised enough of a platform to build on. Satisfying Italy, member states agreed to send rescued migrants on EU territory to 'control centers' across the bloc -- at locations still to be decided, and only in countries that volunteered to have them. There, 'rapid and secure processing' would sift economic migrants from refugees with a potential right to asylum, 'for whom the principle of solidarity would apply.' Appeasing some of the central Europeans, no relocation measures would be compulsory. Leaders also backed plans, broadly agreed by all members, to tighten the EU’s external border, give more money to countries such as Turkey and Morocco to help prevent migrants leaving for Europe, and set up processing centers in countries such as Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Niger and Tunisia. And in an apparent lifeline for Merkel, the accord said governments should 'take all necessary internal legislative and administrative measures' to stop refugees and migrants crossing Europe’s internal borders. • Italy's prime minister, Giuseppe Conte, said the deal meant that Italy was “no longer alone.” Merkel said the deal was “a good signal” but much still needed to be done, and France’s Emmanuel Macron said it was an important step which had delivered a “European solution and cooperation.” More importantly, a senior politician from Merkel’s rebellious Bavarian coalition partner, the Christian Social Union, said “something has moved in the right direction,” and Matteo Salvini, Italy’s anti-immigration interior minister, said “real progress” had been made. The Guardian said : "The deal, and whatever actions eventually follow, is not enough to heal Europe’s deep political divides over migration -- but for the time being, at least, it may be enough to paper over the cracks." • That was a bit premature. On Monday, the Guardian was reporting about the German political crisis, reporting : "The future of Germany’s coalition government is hanging in the balance after the country’s interior minister reportedly announced his intention to resign over a migration showdown with Angela Merkel. Horst Seehofer, who is also leader of the [Bavarian] Christian Social Union, on Sunday night offered to step down from his ministerial role and party leadership in a closed-door meeting in which he and fellow CSU leaders had debated the merits of the migration deal Merkel hammered out with fellow European Union leaders in Brussels. But with CSU hardliners believed to have tried to talk the combative interior minister into staying, a press conference was postponed until Monday, with Seehofer seeking to go back to Merkel in search of a final compromise. At a 2am media conference, Seehofer said he had agreed to meet again with Merkel’s party before he made his decision final. 'We’ll have more talks today with the CDU in Berlin with the hope that we can come to an agreement,' Seehofer said. 'After that, then we will see.' ” • German Chancellor Angela Merkel is battling for her political future as she tries to negotiate her way out of her 2015 policies that opened Europe's doors wide to an unprecedented influx of illegal immigrants. The UK Daily Express wrote on Monday : "Angela Merkel is fighting for her entire political future this week after her most senior minister threatened to resign over her EU migration deal -- a move which could trigger the collapse of her shaky coalition and leave Germany facing yet another election....Mr Seehofer said the deal was affecting the “credibility” of his role as party leader and warned he saw 'no alternative' but to turn back some migrants at the German border. This could see Mr Seehofer deliver on his threat to close Germany’s borders to migrants -- a move which could forces Mrs Merkel to sack him, triggering the collapse of her three-month-old government as well as the EU's Schengen zone of free travel. Should Angela Merkel’s government crumble, it could pave the way for a dissolution of parliament and new elections in Germany, which in turn could embolden the rise of far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD)." • Seehofer; as interior ministr, has the right to direct immigration actions, but he is answerable to Chancellor Merkel. The dispute is about whether to turn back migrants at the German border who have registered elsewhere in the European Union. EU law requires migrants to seek asylum in the first EU country they enter. Most migrants arrive in Italy, or now Spain, but often state their desire to go on to Germany or other northern EU countries to seek asylum. Seehofer and his CSU reject this approach, which would cause a continuing influx of migrants into Germany. Merkel was cornered last month when Seehofer threatened to defy her wishes and order police to turn back asylum seekers unless she secured a broader EU deal on distributing migrants more evenly. That led to the Friday EU meeting and deal. • Chancellor Merkel emphasized her willingness to corporate with the CSU in an interview with German broadcaster ZDF on Sunday, stating : “I share the CSU’s aim of on the one hand reducing the number of immigrants being brought to Europe by smugglers, and on the other hand I also share the view that asylum seekers can’t simply choose which country they want to go to. The sum of all we've agreed is equivalent to what the CSU wants -- that's my personal view, but the CSU must decide for themselves. It is also sustainable and in accordance with the European ideal. Europe is slow, and we aren't yet where we want to be. In my view Europe will be held together, otherwise free movement could have been in danger." • Meanwhile, Spain’s maritime rescue service on Sunday picked up 160 people from five boats that were crossing the dangerous Strait of Gibraltar from northern Africa. The rescue service said 57 migrants were rescued from three boats on Sunday morning and brought ashore in Tarifa, at the southernmost tip of the Iberian peninsula. Another rescue vessel took 103 people to Algeciras, a large port city to the east. The number of people reaching Europe by the so-called western Mediterranean land and sea route to Spain has surpassed boat arrivals to Italy this year, after the new Italian govenrment closed Italy's ports to migrant boats. • • • WHAT HAPPENS IF MERKEL'S GOVERNMENT FALLS? If Seehofer resigns and his replacement, undoubtedly from the CSU, continues an adversarial approach, it would threaten to bring an end to the historic alliance between Merkel’s party, the Christian Democratic Union, and the Bavarian CSU, pushing the Chancellor’s coalition government to the brink of collapse. • The Guardian reports : "After the EU last week hammered out a vague accord on migration, promising to set up secure centres to process the asylum claims of people rescued in the Mediterranean, Merkel drew up her own raft of measures to tighten controls on the influx of migrants to Germany and presented it to her sceptical, conservative coalition partners. Seehofer threatened to turn away any asylum claimants already registered in another EU country unless Merkel came up with a solution by Sunday night. Merkel set out fresh measures to calm the row, but Seehofer reportedly voiced his dissatisfaction with the plans at his meeting with fellow CSU party leaders. The interior minister complained in Munich that he had engaged Merkel in a 'conversation with no effect' about his plan to turn away asylum seekers already registered in other EU countries, the sources said. According to sources cited by newspaper Die Welt, Seehofer directly contradicted the Chancellor, who insisted in a TV interview [the ZDF interview] on Saturday night that the deal she had hammered out in Brussels amounted to the same end result as the unilateral steps envisioned by the Bavarians." • The CSU faces regional elections in October and has pressured Merkel for weeks to get tough on immigration and asylum because it fears being beaten at the polls by the anti-immigrant, anti-Islam Alternative for Germany (AfD). BUT, Merkel fears that if Germany closes its borders, it will set off a chain reaction that destroys Europe’s border-free travel zone, regarded by the EU as one of its greatest achievements, as well as a linchpin of jobs and prosperity. Merkel says she has struck deals with 16 other countries for them to take back already-registered asylum seekers. But central European nations including Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia deny any such agreement. “Germany has not addressed us and I will not sign this agreement,” said Czech prime minister Andrej Babiš. “No negotiations have taken place between the Czech Republic and Germany on this question.” • The Guardian says : "While most analysts expect Merkel to survive the clash with the CSU, it is unlikely to be the last occasion on which the sister party seeks to distance itself from a chancellor it sees as too centrist for its own supporters." • Deutsche Welle wrote an article on Monday to explain what happens if Horst Seehofer resigns. DW states : "Germany's Basic Law (constitution) doesn't make a distinction between voluntary resignation and dismissal for federal ministers, meaning that Seehofer must ask Merkel to be dismissed. Should Seehofer ask to be dismissed, Merkel cannot make the call by herself. She would need to propose the move to German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who would then be the one to dismiss Seehofer from his interior minister post....Should Seehofer decide to leave his post, his Bavarian party would then need to propose a new candidate from their ranks to be the next interior minister. If, however, the party no longer wants to stay in the governing coalition, they could also pull all of their ministers out of Merkel's Cabinet, thereby ending the government's majority in the Bundestag, Germany's lower house of parliament....If the CSU no longer wants to stay in the coalition, there are several possible scenarios, none of which look particularly promising for Merkel : Minority government. Merkel's CDU -- and the SPD, if they agree to it -- could attempt to continue ruling without a majority in parliament, but they would need to continually seek partners in the opposition in order to pass legislation, as a majority is required. During the lengthy talks to form the current coalition, Merkel said she'd rather call for a new election than opt for a minority government, meaning she won't likely be keen on taking this route. Forming a new coalition. The CDU and the SPD could also start searching for a new coalition partner to fill the gap left by the CSU. They could possibly strike a deal with either the business-friendly Free Democrats (FDP) or the environmentalist Greens. However, Merkel's seat as chancellor would likely be up for grabs during negotiations. Voting out Merkel. The technically legal but unlikely third option could see Merkel facing a vote of no confidence in the Bundestag. Should the CSU abandon the CDU, there would technically be a majority in parliament against the chancellor. However, the other parties would need to also simultaneously propose a new candidate -- an unlikely option considering the divides between them. New elections. Should Merkel's government break down, this could pave the way for the dissolution of parliament and new elections in Germany. The process to call for new elections is complicated, but it's an option that Merkel previously said she prefers to ruling in a minority government. Should President Steinmeier decide to dissolve parliament, a new election would have to take place within 60 days." • Amalysts seem to be betting that Merkel will survive this crisis and continue to lead Germany and, de facto, the EU. But, the immigration issue has seriously weakened Merkel both at home and in the rest of the EU, and she seems determined ot take the middle ground position that immigrants must be admitted into th EU if they arrive, and that their status and final destination will be resolved by negotiation -- among EU states many of whom are obviously unhappy with Chancellor Merkel's immigration policies. It is not a stablilizing vision for the EU future. • • • MOSLEM MIGRANTS ALREADY IN THE EU ARE ORGANIZING. Gatestone Institute's Judith Bergman wrote an article on Monday titled "Europe : The Vision is an Islamic State." Europe will still exist, writes Bergman, "but, as with the great Christian Byzantine Empire that is now Turkey, will it still embody Judeo-Christian civilization?" She cites a Dutch government report published in June showing that Moslems in the Netherlands are becoming more religious. The report, based on information from 2006-2015, is a study of more than 7,249 Dutch nationals with Moroccan and Turkish roots. Two thirds of the Moslems in the Netherlands are from Turkey or Morocco : "According to the report, 78% of Moroccan Moslems pray five times a day, as do 33% of Turkish Moslems. Approximately 40% of both groups visit a mosque at least once a week. More young Moroccan women wear a headscarf (up from 64% in 2006 to 78% in 2015) and large majorities of both groups eat halal (93% of Moroccan Moslems and 80% of Turkish Moslems). 96% of Moroccan Moslems say that faith is a very important part of their lives, whereas the number is 89% for Turkish Moslems. The number of Dutch Moroccan Moslems who can be described as strictly adhering to Islam has increased from 77% in 2006, to 84% in 2015. For Turkish Moslems, the numbers have increased from 37% to 45%. There are few secular Moslems -- 7% among Turkish Moslems, 2% among Moroccan Moslems." • The report points out that : "In Denmark, the trend of Moslems becoming more religious was apparent as early as 2004, when a poll showed that Moslems were becoming more religious than their parents, especially 'young, well-educated and well-integrated women.'....A more detailed Danish poll from 2015 showed that Moslems had become more religious since a similar poll taken in 2006....Brian Arly Jacobsen, a sociologist of religion from the University of Copenhagen, was surprised by the results. 'With time we would expect [that Moslems] would become more like the rest of the Danes, who are not particularly active in the religious sphere,' he said. Jacobsen thought that a possible explanation might have been the 20-30 new mosques that were built in the decade preceding 2015." • Bergman says : "The trends expressed by these polls are corroborated by studies and polls showing that many Moslems in Europe want to live under sharia law. According to a 2014 study of Moroccan and Turkish Moslems in Germany, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Austria and Sweden, an average of almost 60% of the Moslems polled agreed that Moslems should return to the roots of Islam. 75% thought there is only one interpretation of the Koran possible, and 65% said that Sharia is more important to them than the laws of the country in which they live. A 2016 UK poll showed that 43% of British Moslems 'believed that parts of the Islamic legal system should replace British law while only 22% opposed the idea.' In a 2017 study, which included a poll of 400 Belgian Moslems, 29% said they believe the laws of Islam to be superior to Belgian law, and 34% said they 'would definitely prefer a political system inspired by the Quran.'....The more than two million predominantly Moslem migrants that have arrived in Europe in recent years are only reinforcing the trend of growing Moslem religiosity on the continent. A 2017 study of predominantly Afghan asylum seekers in the Austrian city of Graz showed that the asylum seekers, mostly men under the age of 30, were all in favor of preserving their traditional Islamic values with 70% going to the mosque every Friday for prayers. The women were even more religious, with 62.6% praying five times a day, notably more than the men (39.7%). In addition, 66.3% of the women wore a headscarf in public. Half of the migrants said that religion now plays a larger role in their daily lives in Europe than it did in their native country, and 51.6% of the interviewees said that the supremacy of Islam over other religions was undisputed." • The tendency of many Moslems to become more religious once they arrived in Europe was also on display in a new documentary series, "False Identity," by Arabic-speaking Israeli journalist Zvi Yehezkeli, who went undercover to report on the activities of the Moslem Brotherhood in Europe and the US. In Germany, he encountered two young Moslems from Syria, who came to Germany via Kosovo, where they received help from a "British Islamic organization." They had left Syria as secular Moslems, but on the way to Germany they lived for a year in Pristina, Kosovo, where, according to Yehezkeli, "Moslem Brotherhood organizations are active in helping refugees while turning them into devout Moslems. Ahmed and Yusuf arrived [in Germany] already praying five times a day." Ahmed said : "When I left Syria, mentally I felt more relaxed. The Islamic charity organization played an important role in this. Look, the first time you meet them they start helping you. You sit, you stare at them, they pray in front of you and here I am a Moslem, studied the Quran, yet don't pray. Suddenly I find myself alone asking, Why shouldn't I pray like all others?" Yehezkeli asked them what their dream is. "The vision is an Islamic state -- Islamic society," said Yusuf, "Moslems will prefer sharia rule. But the vision for twenty years from now is for sharia law to be part of Germany, that sharia will be institutionalized in the state itself." • Bergman notes that as Moslems in Europe are becoming more religious, European Christians are becoming less religious. Bergman points out a study of young Europeans, aged 16-29, published in March and based on 2014-2016 data, whose author is Stephen Bullivant, a professor of theology and the sociology of religion at St Mary's University in London. Bullivant concluded : "With some notable exceptions, young adults increasingly are not identifying with or practicing religion...Christianity as a default, as a norm, is gone, and probably gone for good -- or at least for the next 100 years." The study notes that between 70% and 80% of young adults in Estonia, Sweden and the Netherlands categorize themselves as non-religious. Between 64% and 70% of young adults consider themselves non-religious in France, Belgium, Hungary and the UK. The most religious youths were to be found in Poland, where only 17% of young adults defined themselves as non-religious, followed by Lithuania with 25%. • It does not paint a positive picture for European Christianity as it faces an increasing flow of Moslems who are bringing Islam with them and hoping to install it as the key in European culture. Given young Europeans' lack of a religious identity and the vacuum left by the departure of Christianity from the lives of the majority, we have to wonder how sturdy their ability will be to withstand such attempts at replacing Europe's Judeo-Christian civilization? It is also a warning for the United States, where Christianity is still strong, but Msolem enclaves are growing in number and in their demands for sharia law in their communities. • • • HAVE IRANIANS HAD ENOUGH OF THE AYATOLLAHS? The Epoch Times and many other media outlets have been reporting about the protests in Iran. But, Epch Times wrote on Monday that an alleged Iranian government agent on the back of a motorcycle fired a rifle at protesters in Iran. The shooting video was on Twitter. The protester in Khorramshahr was killed while allegedly peacefully demonstrating against water shortages, state oppression, and pollution. Epoch Times quoted a June 30 Alireza Nader tweet : " Regime forces have killed an #Iranian demonstrator in Khoramshahr, a city which bravely resisted Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein during the war & now resists the dictator Ayatollah Khamenei." Epoch Times says that : "After the protester was killed, the protests turned to riots in a country where tensions and open demonstrations against the regime have been steadily building. Videos released between June 30 and July 1 show fires in the streets, regime forces firing at civilians, and growing unrest." Nader also tweeted : "Security forces belonging to Rouhani’s government shoot at peaceful protestors in Khorramshahr. Rouhanj is the 'moderate' the regime promised as his police now shoot, injure, & kill #Iranians." Epoch Times says videos of the situation show chaos in the streets of Khorramshahr, a city near the Iraq border in southwestern Iran. Babak Taghvaee, an author and journalist, wrote on Twitter that on the second day of protests in the city the regime’s security forces started brutal suppression of the protesters using machine guns. Here is Babak Taghvaee's tweet : "#BREAKING: 2nd day of protests against #Iran's Islamic Regime in the #Khorramshahr due to unavailability of drinking water. The regime's security forces have started brutal suppression of the protesters using machine guns. Regime ignored warning of Opposition Leader, #RezaPahlavi....Brave protesters in #Khorramshahr just started defending themselves by shooting at the terrorist #Basij militia & #IRGC Special Unit of #Iran’s Islamic Regime Police....#BREAKING: Protesters filmed one of the #IRGC's Special Unit Police bikers while was shooting at unarmed protesters using AK-103 assault rifle. Death of 2 protesters is now confirmed. #Iran's Islamic Regime is scared now. #IranProtests #IranStrikes pic.twitter.com/Wvrcwnkmco....#BREAKING: Brave protesters in #Khorramshahr just started defending themselves by shooting at the terrorist #Basij militia & #IRGC Special Unit of #Iran's Islamic Regime Police. They have armed themselves by AK-103 assault rifles captured from security forces. #IranProtests. pic.twitter.com/U580ECdz6h....Protesters were defending themselves via throwing stones at the security forces who had brutally suppressed their protest pic.twitter.com/0URo4Ralub." • Epoch Times also reported that Masih Alinejad, an Iranian activist and journalist for Voice of America, tweeted that people in Khorramshahr stood up to defend their city against Iraq, during the Iran–Iraq War. She stated : “During the Iran-Iraq war, people of Khorramshahr defended their city & country against invasion. Many of them died. Today, they were defending themselves against the Islamic Repub. Their own government opened fire on them. Their own government doesn't care about their problems. • On July 1, Alireza Nader tweeted : "Regime forces have killed an #Iranian demonstrator in Khoramshahr, a city which bravely resisted Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein during the war & now resists the dictator Ayatollah Khamenei." Another video shows a large crowd walking, in an alleged protest in the southwestern city of Ahvaz. Taghvaee stated on Twitter that : “Iranians in several cities of #Iran have come to streets to protest against #Iran’s Islamic Regime due to brutal suppression of #Khorramshahr’s people in #Khuzestan, #Lorestan & #Isfahan provinces.” • Epoch Times says : "If the claims are true, then the incidents in Khorramshahr may have been a powder keg that set off an uprising that has long been brewing. The incident follows a series of similar protests that have been growing in size and frequency, and similar killings of protesters by the Iranian regime. Alireza Nader, a former RAND analyst, published a video of a protest on June 25 in front of Iran’s parliament building, noting that the narrator of the video claims there were at least 20,000 protesters : "Mass protest in front of #Iran’s parliament building. The narrator of the video claims there are at least 20,000 protesting near the parliament." In another tweet, Nader said that since December 2017, there have been similar protests in more than 110 cities in Iran. • The Iranian regime seized power in 1979 through a student revolution with communist undertones, stated the Epoch Times, "with influences from Soviet subversion and from socialist “Islamism” tied to the ideas of Sayyid Qutb, a founder of the Moslem Brotherhood. The 1979 Iranian Revolution overthrew Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the last Shah of Iran, who died in 1980 while in exile in Egypt, ending the Persian monarchy, which had lasted for 2,500 years." • • • DO THE IRANIAN PROTESTS MEAN ANYTHING? American Thinker's Monica Showalter wrote on Sunday that most protests are meaningless because the brutal regimes the protesters are opposing ignore them and continue in their brutal ways. • BUT, says Showalter : "Iranians can protest till the cows come home, whether it's the truckers protesting artificial costs, teachers protesting theft of their pensions, villagers protesting mismanagement of water resources, kitchen-sink Iranians protesting the 131.15% inflation...according to inflation expert Steve Hanke, and locals always protesting corruption....Until now. Apparently the mullahs and their goon squads were in for a surprise when on Sunday, someone opened fire on them in Khorramshahr, 400 miles southwest of Teheran, as they rolled in to shut down a protest over locals getting poisoned by untreated water. It's an area with a large Arabic population out near the Iraqi border. The gunfire came back at them. Mowing down is now going two ways, and it's clear the regime is scared -- their official state media said the protestors only threw stones and garbage. Well, no. There's a spectacular, well-shot video on Twitter [Babak Taghvaee@BabakTaghvaee] [also see Twitter cites above], showing a protester firing back on the Iranian state goons, and it's starting to attract the notice of the news....Breitbart says four were killed. The mullahs are saying it was one. Gives you the flavor of the propaganda war going on, and the mullahs' desperate and failing effort to suppress the news. Scared they are, indeed. And this is likely to get worse." • Showalter says it was "just one person with a gun, and we have occasionally seen that sort of thing in both Cuba and Venezuela. It may mean nothing and go away. But the fact that the news is on it serves as a multiplier effect and is likely to encourage more action. That's different from what's going on in Cuba or Venezuela where such events are found only in local news briefs. Meanwhile, as we have reported here, there is a big conference of Iran democracy activists over in Paris and it's being closely watched by all sorts of Iranian exiles, as noted in the tele-presence of Albanians. You can BET the Iranians are watching, too." • Showalter says there is NO chance the Iranian regime will reform : "The only way these people are going out is on the sharp end of a meathook and they know it....A quiet retirement at home is out of the question for a leader who has done so much damage to so many people : The specter of prosecution would always loom....So all that remains to happen is either to endure the hellishness, or fight it. There's no democracy alternative in the middle. It looks like at least some Iranians have come to this conclusion too with this gunfire, and it may well mean that what's next will be bloody. The Green Revolution didn't work. Now with the mullahs refusing to reform and refusing to retire, the signs are there that Iran is now moving to a revolution that far from being green will see rivers of red." • And, Babak Taghvaee reports on his Twitter string that the Revolutionary Guard may be getting ready to directly take over the Iranian regime. Meanwhile last Friday, Newsweek reported that : "Power outages have hit Teheran this week as protests rocked the Iranian capital due to economic woes, which have seen the country’s currency fall rapidly in recent months. • The US sanctions are working. Under the impending threat of new US sanctions, the government has moved to ban more than 1,300 foreign imports that can be produced domestically. Traders have responded to the economic problems this week by staging large protests and shutting down their shops in Teheran’s Grand Bazaar. In another sign of increasing economic turmoil, Teheran was thrown into a blackout on Wednesday, Radio Free Europe reported. Officials blamed the problem on an overheated power grid. The country’s Energy Minister Reza Ardakanian has said electricity consumption has increased by 28% from a year ago, leaving the country’s infrastructure unable to meet demand." We should note that the Grand Bazaar is a huge center in Teheran, much more than a shopping mall, with schools, shops, worker associations, and such. It employs 600,000 people, so a protest is a big deal. President Trump is doing the right thing in applying sanctions pressure to the Iranian regime. • • • DEAR READERS, today, we end on a brighter note. Israel Today noted in an artilce on Sunday that : "More than 160,000 Syrian refugees have amassed near Israel's border on the Golan Heights. Despite being told their entire lives that Israelis are bloodthirsty and heartless enemies, they are now seeking shelter in the Jewish state amid a merciless onslaught by their own dictatorial regime and its Russian allies. Israel, of course, cannot permit an influx of so many refugees, especially from a nation still officially at war with it. But, the Jewish state is determined to do all it can to help these poor souls, including feeding and clothing them to the best of its ability. Over the weekend, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) sent 300 tents, 13 tons of food, 15 tons of baby food, 30 tons of clothes and shoes, and three pallets of medical supplies to the massive refugee camp taking form just over the border." Additionally, the Israeli military granted entry to six Syrians in dire need of emergency medical care. Four of them were newly-orphaned children who were wounded during indiscriminate aerial assaults by their own government. The IDF published a statement reading : "In a unique and complex medical operation by the Bashan Division, six moderately to severely injured Syrians were received and treated last Friday night, including four children. According to reports from the Syrian side, the families of the children were killed in bombings during the fighting in Syria, and the children were rushed to Israel to receive treatment." The children all received emergency first aid by IDF medics. Once stabilized, they were taken to a hospital in northern Israel. • The even better news is that the Syrian civilians being mercilessly bombed by their own regime and turned away by neighboring Arab countries are thanking Israel for showing kindness even to its enemies. The refugees began streaming to the border last week when the Syrian regime and its Russian allies began indiscriminate aerial assaults on their homes situated in some of the last rebel-held territory. Israel Today reports that : "Speaking to Israel's Ynet news portal, one Syrian refugee said he and his family felt hopeless after being turned away at the border with Jordan, which has already taken in over half a million Syrian refugees, and turned toward Israel as a last resort. They were pleased to find the Jewish state ready to help, despite the fact that Syria remains officially at war with Israel. 'We saw a very noble stance by the Israeli side, both by the aid that it sent and in its treating of the wounded,' the man, identified as Sa’id, told Ynet." • You won't find this story in US or European news coverage, but it is worth more than the biased news coming form western media because it shows how Israel not only seeks peace but works with goodwill to help those it wants to have peace with. Israel is not the war-mongering haertless regime that the UN and Israel's enemies would like the world to believe. It is the voice of compassion and peace in the Middle East.