Middle East Press On: JFK, US, Deep State, Houthis, Iranian, Diaspora: New Age Islam's Selection, 14 April 2025
By New Age Islam Edit Desk
14 April 2025
JFK Files Strengthen Theory of Israeli Clique in US Deep State
Eyal Zamir's Decision to Discharge IAF Reservists Who Call for End to Gaza War Is Rash
Yemeni People Continue to Bear Burden of Weaponisation of Houthis
Ayatollah's Last Days: Fear of Iranian Diaspora, US Administration Consolidation
Turkey’s Power Game Is Maintaining Control at Home and Beyond
Israel's Real Enemy May Be Its Internal Divisions, Not The Terror Threats
Politicizing The Shin Bet Endangers Israel's National Security
Lebanon Remembers a War That Never Truly Ended
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JFK Files Strengthen Theory of Israeli Clique In Us Deep State
By Ömer Ekrem Keçeci
Apr 14, 2025
Documents relating to late U.S. President John F. Kennedy's assassination were first made public with the JFK Act, enacted in 1992, following the impact of Oliver Stone’s JFK film, which was released in 1991. U.S. President Donald Trump appears to have kept another election promise by releasing more than 80,000 documents before his first 100 days are up.
Trump began releasing documents related to assassinations during his first term, but with some exclusions, because they could “bring harm” to the military, law enforcement and foreign relations, it was said. Releasing continued during President Joe Biden's term.
To understand the newly published ones, the following statement made by Jefferson Morley, vice president of the Mary Ferrell Foundation – which is said to have the most Kennedy documents – on March 19, is important: "The first JFK files release of 2025 is an encouraging start. We now have complete versions of approximately a third of the redacted JFK documents held by the National Archives (1,124 of approximately 3,500 documents). Rampant overclassification of trivial information has been eliminated and there appear to be no redactions, though we have not viewed every document. Seven of ten JFK files held by the Archives and sought by JFK researchers are now in the public record. These long-secret records shed new light on JFK’s mistrust of the CIA, the Castro assassination plots, the surveillance of Oswald in Mexico City and CIA propaganda operations involving Oswald. The release does not include two-thirds of the promised files, any 500-plus IRS records, or any 2,400 recently discovered FBI files. Nonetheless, this is the most positive news on the declassification of JFK files since the 1990s."
So, there are still many documents that have not been released. The reason may be what Trump pointed out in 2017, especially concerns about Israel in the context of foreign relations. Many of the documents that have been released were previously available with some names of individuals and places redacted, but they have now been fully disclosed. Therefore, they hardly change our understanding. Trump also said, “I don’t think there is anything earth-shattering in the Kennedy files,” and a few days later claimed that the documents were “unspectacular.” Propagandists like Gerald Postner, who claim that there was no conspiracy and that the perpetrator, U.S. Marine veteran Lee Harvey Oswald, organized the assassination on his own, have also defended similar ideas.
Influencers with hundreds of thousands of followers increased people's interest in the files. In this way, some very striking information that had previously been revealed has been heard for the first time by many people unaware of it.
Where does the CIA fit in?
The Garrett Underhill (an intelligence agent during World War II) case is a good example. He left Washington in a hurry the day after the assassination, and agitatedly he told some friends that a small clique within the CIA was responsible for the assassination and that he feared for his own life. Less than six months later, he too was found dead. These and the suspicion of an assassination are reflected in the documents. Many people are just learning about it.
Actually, we can safely say that the claim that the documents are “unspectacular” is false. Republican Florida congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna, whom Trump appointed to lead the task force responsible for releasing the documents, stated in her first press conference on Feb. 12 that she believed there were two assassins. After the documents were released, she and various researchers reiterated this view. However, no document directly proving this has been released. Yet, indicators that have been talked about for a long time and documents that cast even more doubt on the CIA have strengthened this theory.
According to journalist Jefferson Morley, we learned important information from a statement of one of the most prominent figures in CIA history, James Jesus Angleton. Angleton's statement to the House Select Committee on Assassinations that he did not know Oswald before Kennedy was killed was revealed to be false. Thus, an effort by a CIA counterintelligence officer to obstruct the Kennedy investigation was detected.
Morley told MSNBC: “Angleton had a 180-page file on Oswald on his desk a week before Kennedy went to Dallas. What this story raises is this question: Was the CIA incredibly, atrociously incompetent when it came to Lee Harvey Oswald, or was Angleton running an operation involving Oswald?”
The Israeli factor
It is known for certain from past and newly published documents that Angleton worked for Israel and initiated intelligence relations between Israel and the U.S. The newly published memorandum dated June 10, 1953, also states that Angleton’s main intelligence source was Israel. One of the publications is the 112-page report of Angleton’s testimony to the Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations concerning Intelligence Activities in 1975. Even here, the questioner seems to suspect that he was working in Israel’s favor rather than in the interests of the U.S. A 1954 memo shows Angleton explaining that “he is involved in several sensitive projects, such as Israeli Intelligence.” Another memo from 1975 reveals the FBI’s coverage of the Israeli embassy in Washington between 1969 and 1972. It says Angleton met with Israeli intelligence representatives and exchanged “extremely sensitive information.”
It should also be noted that the CIA wanted everything related to Israel in the files to be redacted and not to be made public. Despite this, their publication has been a particularly notable and much-discussed issue on the internet. Trump has also said that Mike Pompeo, the former CIA director and his first secretary of state, wanted the documents not to be released. Now it seems, as Morley puts it, “Angleton may not have been the mastermind behind the assassination, but he was the mastermind behind Oswald.” And this Angleton is someone who works for Israel rather than the U.S.
Therefore, the view that Israel was behind the Kennedy assassination has strengthened. You can see this even in the comments under Luna’s tweets. Trump probably could not foresee this reflection and, for that reason, contradicting his previous statements, started to say that the documents were “unspectacular.”
Enemy within
The main reason for publishing the documents was to strengthen the perception that there is an “enemy within” and a deep state. The belief that a clique within the CIA is complicit (which Trump's supporters are suspicious of) is also something that could strengthen the perception that Trump is right in his statements and that he is fighting against an internal enemy that has been taking root for decades. However, extending the issue to Israel through the members of this clique and other information is not something Trump wants.
Whether he wants it or not, the revelation of more of the truth is no longer something he can prevent. It is a known fact that Kennedy had serious disagreements with Israel on the nuclear issue and that Israel viewed nuclear acquisition as vital. The newly published “President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board meeting of March 8-9, 1963” also provides information in this context. Here, CIA Director McCone is seen to be concerned about the nuclear developments in Israel and says that if they do not listen, economic reprisals will be necessary. It's understood that the Kennedy administration was going to prevent Israel from acquiring nuclear power. Therefore, it's a fact that Israel benefited from his assassination.
The importance of understanding the assassination issue correctly lies here. There is a deep structure in the U.S. that truly exploits the American people and their power in a hostile manner, and this structure puts Israel first, not America. Even if a president takes the opposite path, the end of the road is shown. Although the Kennedy case cannot be proven 100%, there are many indicators that it is connected to Israel.
What about the FBI?
Many people speaking across the country focused on the CIA, as they always have. However, in its March 3 issue, the famous National Enquirer magazine claimed that then-FBI Director Edgar Hoover had Kennedy assassinated.
The magazine states that sources who examined the FBI's aforementioned 2,400 documents said that Hoover organized the assassination and that he involved a group of people from the deep state. According to this, Vice President (later President) Lyndon Johnson, former CIA Director Alan Dulles, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairperson Lyman Lemnitzer and the mafia were involved.
There is striking information about Hoover's closeness to Zionists, which can be read in the Renegade Tribune.
There is also a striking piece of information in the recently published documents. A Russian source named Sergyj Czornonoh gave intelligence to American Vice Consul Blackshire in Bulgaria on Aug. 15, 1963, that Oswald was an assassin and would kill Kennedy. On Aug. 19, he met with Kippingan, director of the Special Counselor Department of State. He repeated this information. He also said that he had heard that Martin Luther King was going to be killed. The source describes what Kippingan did as follows: “The Director called on the FBI agents after the FBI used anesthesia gas to freeze me to drub me to keep me amnesia.” Czornonoh was also reported as a “bombshell” by the Daily Mail, but interestingly, the FBI-related parts were not included in the report.
The House convened a hearing on released records on April 1. Here, it was discussed that Oswald was not the real assassin and that there were some lies by both the CIA and the FBI.
There is still a lot to learn. It can be said that the roads laid piece by piece lead to Israel. This is probably why commentators like Ben Shapiro try to portray not only these documents but also the entire Kennedy assassination as an unimportant issue far in the past.
https://www.dailysabah.com/opinion/op-ed/jfk-files-strengthen-theory-of-israeli-clique-in-us-deep-state
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Eyal Zamir's Decision To Discharge Iaf Reservists Who Call For End To Gaza War Is Rash
By Jpost Editorial
April 14, 2025
Historically, if there’s any institution that has remained outside of Israel’s very volatile political and social divisiveness, it’s been the military.
With enemy countries at or near Israel’s borders intent on its destruction, Jerusalem simply can’t afford dissension in the ranks of the army.
However, the acrimonious debate over the government’s judicial reform plans in 2022 and 2023 flooded over into the previously off-limits realm when a small number of reservists, most notably from the air force, protested the legislation.
As the Post’s Yonah Jeremy Bob reported last week, former IDF chief Lt.-Gen. (res.) Herzi Halevi and former defense minister Yoav Gallant were generally sympathetic to those IDF reservists who protested the government’s judicial reform policy – as long as they showed up when called to serve. Only a small number, those who refused to show up for duty, were actually discharged.
Zamir's new approach
That approach seems to have changed under new IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen Eyal Zamir.
His decision to discharge some air force reservists who signed an open letter calling for an end to a “political”’ war in Gaza, is giving the message that the IDF, and its reservists, are forbidden from taking any public position on policies set by the lawfully elected government of Israel.
The letter, published in a number of Hebrew language newspapers on Thursday and signed by close to 1,000 retired and current IAF reservists, urges the government to prioritize the release of hostages over the continuation of the war in Gaza, which the signatories argue serves “political and personal interests” rather than national security.
“The continuation of the war doesn’t advance any of the declared goals of the war, and will bring about the deaths of the hostages, of IDF soldiers and innocent civilians,” read the letter, which was signed by, among others, former IDF chief of staff and IAF commander Lt.-Gen. Dan Halutz, and Nimrod Sheffer, former head of the IDF’s Planning Directorate – both of whom have been regular attendees of anti-government rallies calling for the release of the hostages.
Only about 10% of the signatories of the letter, which IAF chief Maj.-Gen. Tomer Bar reportedly attempted to stop publication of, are active reservists. The IDF said that it has no issue with reservists protesting any matter in their civilian lives, as long as they do it without tying it in with the military or their role in it.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday backed dismissing the active reservists, claiming that they were refusing to serve.
“Refusal to serve is refusal to serve, even if it’s only hinted at in whitewashed language. Statements that weaken the IDF and strengthen our enemies in a time of war are unforgivable.”
He also called the signatories “a group of fringe extremists who are trying once again to break Israeli society from within,” and tied the pre-October 7 protests against the judicial overhaul as a sign of perceived weakness by the military that led to the Hamas massacre.
That theory remains unsubstantiated, since Netanyahu continues to refuse a state inquiry into the events leading up to October 7. And his distortion of the contents of the letter only adds fuel to a fire that should be extinguished before it spreads further.
The letter that was published by the reservists is disturbing, as it connects their service in the IDF to their views on the wartime policy of the government.
There is no excuse for those refusing to serve their country, especially during wartime. But we also cannot ignore the fact that the burden on those who have served since October 7 is too much for anyone to handle. Families are falling apart and individuals are suffering from trauma, while other groups have been continuing life as if there hasn’t been a war.
This protest is not something that should happen during wartime, but we also cannot marginalize a segment of the population and do nothing to instill confidence or encourage listening to the other side.
The letter may have been wrong – the military should remain above the political fray. But as long as the reservists are not refusing to show up for duty, the decision to dismiss them is rash on Zamir’s part and not proportionate to the action they took. Reprimand them? Yes. Dismiss them? No.
https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-850014
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Yemeni People Continue To Bear Burden Of Weaponisation Of Houthis
By Neville Teller
April 14, 2025
Yemen is at the epicenter of national and international interests at odds with each other and battling for supremacy. At the heart of the turmoil is Iran, financing and weaponizing the Houthis in order to establish a strong Shia presence on the Arabian Peninsula and a continued front against Israel – to replace the weakened Hezbollah and Hamas. The burden of suffering has fallen on the hapless people of Yemen. They continue to bear the human cost.
Today’s catastrophe started in the sadly misnamed “Arab Spring” uprisings of 2011. Inside Yemen they took the shape of mass protests against the long dictatorial rule of its president, Ali Abdullah Saleh. He was forced to step down in favor of his vice-president, Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi. In 2015, Hadi sponsored a revised constitution for Yemen that proposed a federal system split between northerners and southerners, but the Iran-backed Houthi rebels rejected it.
The Houthis are a fundamentalist Shia group. The ex-president, Saleh, although a Sunni Muslim, decided to collaborate with them in a bid to return to power. It was through Saleh that the Houthis were able to gain control of most of the Yemenite military, including its air force. As a result, and supported with military hardware from Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, they overran large tracts of the country, including the capital city, Sanaa.
Saudi Arabia, determined to prevent Iran from gaining a foothold on the Arabian Peninsula, formed a coalition to support Hadi’s government and intervened in March 2015 to beat back the Houthis. The internal struggle for power has continued ever since.
A significant moment came in April 2020, when a body calling itself the Southern Transitional Council (STC) was formed, declaring that south Yemen was breaking away from the national government and would henceforth rule itself.
Since then, a UN-engineered truce between the warring parties was achieved but never renewed. Yemen has staggered on, much of its people subsisting in abject poverty.
Three main groups are fighting each other – the Houthis, the internationally recognized government, and the STC – but other smaller bodies are also involved, including local militias, tribal forces, remnants of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), and ISIS.
Since Hamas’s bloody assault into Israel on October 7, 2023, Yemen has also become the base for the Houthis’ military effort in support of Hamas. At Iran’s behest, the Houthis virtually declared war on October 19, 2023, when they launched missiles and armed drones at Israel. They have since attacked dozens of merchant and naval vessels in the Red Sea that they declare, often erroneously, to have some connection with Israel.
The retaliatory bombing, drone, and missile attacks by the United States, United Kingdom, and other national forces on Houthi missile sites and its military infrastructure have only added to the misery of the population. Since March 15, 2025, the US has conducted over 200 strikes, resulting in significant casualties among Houthi forces and also, unfortunately, collateral damage to the population.
President Donald Trump has recently intensified his rhetoric and actions against the Houthis. On April 4, 2025, he shared drone footage on his Truth Social platform depicting a US airstrike targeting approximately 70 individuals identified as Houthi militants. Trump stated that the group was assembling to plan attacks on commercial shipping and declared, “They will never sink our ships again!”
Yemen being on verge of catastrophe
On March 25, the UN children’s agency (UNICEF) pinpointed precisely this Houthi-controlled western coastal area of Yemen as being on the verge of a catastrophe due to the lack of food and water.
“Half of all children under five are acutely malnourished,” UNICEF official Peter Hawkins told reporters. “Among them, over 537,000 suffer from severe acute malnutrition (SAM) – a condition that is agonizing. Equally alarming, 1.4 million pregnant and lactating women are malnourished, perpetuating a vicious cycle of intergenerational suffering.”
The next day, Yemen’s looming disaster was highlighted by the International Rescue Committee (IRC), which warned of a widening chasm between rising humanitarian needs and the funding needed to alleviate them.
The IRC, founded in 1933 at the request of Albert Einstein, is a global humanitarian organization that provides emergency aid, long-term assistance, and advocacy for refugees and displaced people worldwide. It estimates that in 2025, some 19.5 million people in Yemen will need humanitarian assistance and protection – 7% more than in 2024. Yet, it emphasizes, the humanitarian response remains critically underfunded. The estimated humanitarian budget of $2.47 billion is only 5% funded so far.
In 2024, just over half of what was required was actually delivered, forcing aid agencies to scale back essential support, such as food distribution, and limit access to clean water and other services.
Caroline Sekyewa, IRC’s country director in Yemen, said: “For 10 years, Yemenis have endured relentless conflict, economic collapse, and limited access to lifesaving health and nutrition services. Humanitarian aid has been their lifeline. For donor governments to consider reducing or removing that support is not just short-sighted but puts millions of lives at risk... After a decade of crisis, political solutions and economic recovery are now needed more than ever to secure long-term stability. Yet the fact is that today, aid is what stands between life and death for millions.”
So the IRC is calling for renewed donor support to match the scale of the need.
Sekyewa said, “2025 must be a turning point in this crisis. With needs steadily increasing, we call upon all donors to step up and ensure that this year’s humanitarian needs and response plan is fully funded.”
Meanwhile, UN Special Envoy for Yemen Hans Grundberg continues his efforts to establish a lasting ceasefire in Yemen. In January 2025, his office conducted a series of political dialogues in Aden involving civil society representatives, political parties, and other actors to foster an inclusive peace process. Nothing of substance was achieved.
In January 2024, the Security Council issued a resolution demanding that the Houthis cease their attacks on international shipping in the Red Sea. After continued violations, Grundberg urged the Security Council in October 2024 to unite in halting the attacks. A second resolution followed in January 2025. Both resolutions were ignored.
Yemen, a country spread across the base of the Arabian peninsula, was described by the Romans as “Arabia Felix” – happy, fortunate Arabia – an epithet that would certainly not apply in more modern times. Its present situation, and that of its population, is dire. However, the world’s attention seems to be directed elsewhere.
https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-849767
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Ayatollah's Last Days: Fear Of Iranian Diaspora, Us Administration Consolidation
By Matt Schlapp, Mark D. Wallace, Thomas S. Kaplan
April 14, 2025
Make no mistake: the first day of the last days of the Iranian ayatollah’s barbaric regime begins when the diverse tapestry that is the Iranian diaspora comes together under one roof – and collectively interacts with US administration officials.
This genuine consolidation is precisely what the anti-American, Islamist tyrant Ali Khamenei and his band of terrorist thugs in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps fear the most.
How do we know this? When the diaspora joined forces during the 2022 “Woman, Life, Freedom” protests in Iran, the IRGC’s operatives declared that the regime “should not allow the Iranians abroad to constantly demonstrate and issue messages against us.” Thereafter, the regime’s cyber army and its online pawns went into overdrive to foment visceral division and toxicity – efforts that ultimately succeeded in preventing Iranians from mobilizing together and communicating coherently with policymakers abroad.
In a piece published on March 26 in The Jerusalem Post, a member of the Iranian diaspora observed that “for decades, Western policymakers have struggled to engage effectively with Iran’s opposition.” We could not agree more. And this is exactly why “CPAC for Iranians in Exile” was launched.
This initiative of the Conservative Political Action Coalition will provide an inclusive platform for all Iranians to engage with one another, determine their own future, and interact with key policymakers on their own terms and with their own voice – for the very first time. It will be like no other in the West: established on the principle of absolute respect for the civilizational history of Iran, its borders, and its strict territorial integrity.
The emphasis of CPAC for Iranians in Exile’s on collective action is encapsulated in its founding principle of “absolute respect for all those diverse groups within the Iranian diaspora, ensuring their treatment with dignity and civility.” As such, those promoting separatism, Islamist ideology, and terrorism will not be welcome. For it is indeed the concurrence and harmony of the Iranian diaspora, which is composed of diverse opinions, backgrounds and heritage, that the tyrannical ayatollah and his regime fear the most.
CROWN PRINCE Reza Pahlavi – the son of the late Shah of Iran – declared in his recent Norooz address to the Iranian people: “let us stand together decisively… to achieve this bold vision” of a world without the Islamic Republic. We believe that CPAC for Iranians in Exile marks the beginning of a new era; one in which the diaspora can lay down their regime-driven hostility towards each other, and gather, meet, and talk – under the single guiding principle that we all share: namely, to do everything in our respective power to end the ayatollah’s despotic rule.
Facilitating a platform against the regime
Our hope is to facilitate a platform that brings together opposition to the tyrannical regime and provides Iranians with a space to discuss and collaborate – both among themselves and with US administration officials – on plans for a post-Islamic Republic of Iran. And we believe leaders, prominent figures and influentials like the crown prince can – and should – play a strong and productive role in this regard.
Those individuals in the diaspora who spend their time and energy attacking fellow compatriots – including the brave women and men in Iran – should realize that they are only doing the ayatollah’s work. They should also appreciate that they are few in number.
Conversely, CPAC for Iranians in Exile has already received overwhelming support from Iranians of all different backgrounds and beliefs, who recognize that now is the time to come together and mobilize collectively against the ayatollah – and to do so in conjunction with President Donald Trump’s administration.
The CPAC initiative’s announcement has already caused significant angst across the Islamic Republic, which stands objectively at its weakest and most vulnerable position since 1979. A unique window of opportunity is presenting itself for us all to seize.
As the truly great Shahbanu, Empress Farah Pahlavi, has so eloquently articulated: in the end, light shall always prevail over darkness. For the past 46 years, the formidable Iranian nation has been driven by oppression into obscurity by occupying Islamist forces that sought to impede the illumination of Iran’s extraordinary history, culture, and identity.
We are confident that, in these somber times, the abiding resilience of the Iranian people – both at home and abroad – augurs the downfall of this cynical enterprise. The faster the Iranian diaspora comes together, the sooner such a bright future will materialize.
https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-849768
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Turkey’s Power Game Is Maintaining Control At Home And Beyond
By Loqman Radpey
April 13, 2025
The political climate in Turkey is reaching a boiling point with the jailing of Ekrem Imamoglu, the mayor of Istanbul and a key challenger to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Imamoglu, a prominent figure in the opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), has been widely seen as a serious contender for the presidency. His arrest marks yet another episode in Turkey’s relentless power struggle.
Istanbul’s mayor has been charged with “establishing and leading a criminal organization, accepting bribes, misconduct in office, unlawfully recording personal data, and bid rigging.”
Prosecutors have even sought to charge him with “aiding an armed terrorist organization,” a reference to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has been engaged in a decades-long conflict with the Turkish state over its oppression against the Kurds. While the court ruled that this particular charge was “not deemed necessary at this stage,” the broader strategy is clear: In Turkey, anyone who challenges the ruling system can easily be accused of terrorism to be sidelined from power.
What makes İmamoglu’s case particularly striking is the historical irony of his party, the CHP. Since the founding of modern Turkey in 1923 by Mustefa Kemal (Ataturk), it was the CHP that institutionalized the denial of Kurdistan and suppression of Kurdish identity – a policy that has been carried forward by every ruling party since.
Today, the very tools of repression once used against the Kurds are now being turned against the Kemalists themselves, exposing the cyclical nature of Turkey’s political repression.
Turkey's image to the world
Turkey is classified as a “brown country” with both democratic and authoritarian features, but democracy, legality, and citizenship rights effectively disappear in southeastern Turkey, known as Northern Kurdistan. Since the 1920s, successive governments have maintained a state of emergency under different guises, all of which have been used to systematically suppress Kurdish rights.
Erdogan and his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) – backed by the ultranationalist Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) – are pursuing a dual strategy: systematically eliminating political rivals while continuing Turkey’s longstanding policy of denying Kurdish rights. This is evident in their approach to Abdullah Ocalan, the imprisoned PKK leader, and his call for disarmament, which they manipulate to serve their own agenda.
One of Erdogan’s latest moves is his attempt to co-opt the Kurdish Newroz (new year) – a significant cultural and political event for Kurds. He plans to propose that Newroz be celebrated collectively by the “Turkic world” under the auspices of the “Organization of Turkic States” in May 2025. This is a calculated attempt to erase Kurdish identity from a festival that was banned by the Turkish state until 1992, resulting in the loss of many lives, and still leading to the ongoing detention and imprisonment of those who celebrate it.
A day after Erdogan’s speech on March 21, 2025, this erasure mindset became evident in the Kurdistani city of Urmia in western Iran, where Kurds form the majority.
Emboldened by Turkish and Azerbaijani-backed Azeri pan-nationalist mobs – with implicit support from the Iranian regime – they gathered in Urmia after a mass Kurdish Newroz celebration (marking the year 2725), calling for massacres against the Kurds and continuing their campaign of Kurdish denial.
To Erdogan, Turkey’s “spiritual geography” spans “from Syria to Gaza, from Aleppo to Tabriz [in Iran], from Mosul to Jerusalem.”
Protests have erupted in Turkey against Imamoglu’s arrest, with demonstrators chanting: “Rights, law, justice.” But these same voices remain silent when it comes to the rights of Kurds, who continue to suffer under the very system that their political fathers – Atatürk and the CHP – created. This selective outrage exposes a deeper truth: Turkey’s political battle is about control, not justice.
Imamoglu is still awaiting trial, but history suggests that today’s persecutors could become tomorrow’s victims. The Kemalists who once labeled Kurds as “terrorists” now face similar accusations themselves, as Turkish power struggles turn inward. What is unfolding is not a fight for democracy but a conflict among Turks to dominate the state apparatus.
Despite their internal rivalry, both the CHP and AKP – along with their Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) ally – share one common reality: They need the Kurdish vote to win the next general election in 2028 and cement their grip on power. This places the Kurds and the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM) in a precarious position, as both factions seek to manipulate Kurdish political aspirations for their own gain. This exposes the so-called “peace” initiative they launched in October 2024 as insincere from the start. Neither the Kemalists nor Erdogan’s Islamist-nationalists offer true change for the Kurds.
In this high-stakes power struggle, the Kurds must be vigilant against being used as mere pawns in Turkey’s internal conflicts.
https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-849764
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Israel's Real Enemy May Be Its Internal Divisions, Not The Terror Threats
By Jj Sussman
April 13, 2025
As Passover approaches, Jewish families across Israel and around the world prepare for the Seder night with the same rituals, the same words, and the same story told for thousands of years. But perhaps the most radical part of the Seder is not what we say, but how we say it.
The Seder is not a monologue. It’s not a sermon or a performance. It is a conversation – often imperfect, sometimes chaotic, and always intergenerational. It is one of the few times in Jewish life at which people of vastly different opinions, beliefs, and backgrounds still sit together and share a common narrative. And it all begins with a question.In the current state of Israeli society, this feels especially relevant.
We are still deep in a national crisis. The war in Gaza continues, our hostages are still not home, and political instability grows with each passing week. A new scandal involving alleged foreign influence at the highest levels of government has shaken public trust yet again.
More concerning that Israel's messy politics
What worries me most, however, are not the external threats or political dysfunction but the way in which we have stopped listening to one another.
Whether on the street, online, or even around the Shabbat table, disagreement so often turns into accusation. Debate becomes dismissal. Opponents are not challenged, they are demonized. And worst of all, too many of us have started to believe that those who vote, think, or protest differently are the true enemy.
Pessah challenges that kind of thinking. It reminds us that real freedom requires humility – the humility to ask questions, to listen with curiosity, and to make space for multiple voices. The Haggadah gives us four children, four perspectives, each one engaged. The point is not to agree – it is to remain in dialogue.
Israel was never meant to be a place of sameness. It was always a gathering of exiles, ideas, and arguments. That diversity is not our weakness – it is our strength. But only if we stay at the table.
That’s what makes the Seder so powerful. We show up. We tell the story. We ask the questions. We listen, even when it’s hard. And we remind ourselves that we are part of something bigger than any one political movement, religious identity, or ideology. We are part of a people.
This year, when we say “Next year in Jerusalem,” let’s think not just about geography, but about aspiration. Let our words be a hope for a Jerusalem where all voices can be heard; where we remember who our real enemies are – and it is not each other.
This year, let “Next year in Jerusalem,” be a call to stay in the conversation, to fight for our future together, and to honor the story by continuing to tell it, side by side.
https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-849791
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Politicizing The Shin Bet Endangers Israel's National Security
By Eran Shamir-Borer, Amichai Cohen
April 13, 2025
Israel faces immense security threats, both external and internal, more significant than those faced by perhaps any other democratic state.
To address its internal security threats, Israel established a strong domestic security agency, the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency), which holds extensive investigative, surveillance, and intelligence-gathering powers.
For instance, the Shin Bet is authorized to infiltrate computers remotely and covertly search them for information. It also collects vast amounts of communication metadata.
The powers of the Shin Bet
The enormous accumulation of this data, combined with the agency’s advanced technological capabilities, gives it access to a wealth of information about every Israeli citizen. During the COVID-19 crisis, for example, it became evident that it could track the location of any Israeli citizen via their mobile phone, and identify the people with whom they had been in proximity.
The Shin Bet also has broad powers and statutory authority in the field of investigations. It may prevent a suspect under investigation from meeting with his or her attorney, extend detention before a court hearing, or hold hearings on detention extensions without the suspect’s presence. Additionally, it has authority over the security clearance of public officials and civil servants.
These considerable powers granted to a secretive organization demand the establishment of appropriate oversight mechanisms to ensure that they are used solely for their intended purposes and to prevent misuse against individuals or communities in Israel.
Due to the secretive nature of the organization and its operations, standard oversight mechanisms, such as the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, the courts, civil society, and the press are not always effective. The Shin Bet’s internal oversight mechanisms are, therefore, critical. These include the Shin Bet Comptroller, its legal advisor, and, crucially, the organizational culture and ethos instilled by the head of the Shin Bet.
The agency underwent a major organizational reform following scandals exposed in the 1980s, replacing a culture of deception and abuse of power with an internalization of the importance of restraint and the rule of law in a democratic society. This current perspective, for example, has led the Shin Bet to hesitate in using its intrusive capabilities, intended for national security purposes, to combat organized crime in Arab society.
The agency’s extensive powers create significant temptation for the minister responsible for it – the prime minister – to direct the Shin Bet chief to use those powers against political opponents or to suppress individuals and groups perceived as oppositional to the government.
In recent days, former Israel Security Agency chief Yoram Cohen alleged that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had requested that the agency use its capabilities and powers against his political opponents (these allegations have been denied, at least in part, by the prime minister). To protect the Shin Bet from political interference, the Shin Bet Law includes a special provision stating: “The Service shall operate in a mamlachti manner; no task shall be imposed on the Service for the purpose of advancing party-political interests.” (“Mamlachti” refers to the Israeli concept of civic duty, prioritizing national above sectorial or political interests).
This provision, which has no parallel in other laws for Israeli government agencies, not only prohibits the Shin Bet from acting in a partisan manner but also restricts political leaders from directing the agency to do so. In effect, the Knesset intended to provide the Shin Bet chief and the organization with protection from political interference and to empower the chief to refuse to comply with any “political” orders from the prime minister.
This unique authority creates an inherent potential tension between the prime minister and the head of the Shin Bet. While the agency chief is obligated to implement government policy, he is not required to follow a directive from the prime minister if he deems it political and contrary to the mamlachti principle enshrined in law. The head of the Israel Security Agency is not a personal appointment of the prime minister and does not serve “at his pleasure.”
It is, of course, important that a professional trust-based working relationship exists between them. However, the Shin Bet chief has a degree of independence from any prime minister. This independence is further reinforced by the fixed five-year term of the chief, which is deliberately longer than the parliamentary term and is independent of a change in the prime minister or government.
True, the government has the authority to shorten the term and dismiss the agency chief, but this power should clearly be used sparingly, only for professional reasons, and subject to the rules of administrative law.
Otherwise, every time the Israel Security Agency chief resists the prime minister’s political demands, the latter could simply dismiss him – thereby hollowing out the obligation of acting in a manner that is mamlachti.
The importance of a Shin Bet independent from political intervention cannot be overstated. It is what ensures that the agency does not become a draconian political tool against opposition forces, akin to the secret police of dictatorships. This independence from politicization also enables the Shin Bet to recruit the best of Israeli’s citizens into its ranks, regardless of their political views.
If perceived as a political organization, many would refuse to join it, and growing public distrust might impact its effectiveness. Above all, this independence guarantees that the Israel Security Agency’s primary focus remains its central mission: protecting Israel from its enemies.
Protecting the Shin Bet’s independence from political intervention is critical to safeguarding Israel’s security and the rights of its citizens. If we do not protect it, the Shin Bet will not protect us.
Dr. Eran Shamir-Borer is director of the Center for Security and Democracy at the Israel Democracy Institute (IDI). Prof. Amichai Cohen is a senior fellow at the IDI and a faculty member at Ono Academic College Faculty of Law.
https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-849780
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Lebanon Remembers A War That Never Truly Ended
Dr. Khalil Gebara
April 13, 2025
On April 13, the Lebanese marked the 50th anniversary of the outbreak of the civil war — a conflict that profoundly reshaped the nation’s modern history. While the infamous Ain El-Remmaneh bus incident served as the spark that ignited the violence, like many civil wars, there were deeper and more complex causes rooted in a web of overlapping local, regional, and international dynamics and domestic economic, demographic, and sectarian imbalances. Though the incident resulted in a dozen deaths, it set off a 15-year war that brought immense destruction, loss of life, and mass displacement.
The human and economic toll of the war was staggering. More than 120,000 people were killed and around 300,000 wounded, while 18,000 people disappeared, and one million Lebanese were forced to migrate. An analysis by the International Monetary Fund estimated that the cumulative economic loss caused by the war between 1975 and 1993 was equivalent to at least 24 times Lebanon’s real gross domestic product in 1993. Throughout the conflict, Palestinian factions, as well as the Syrian and Israeli armies, became deeply entangled in the fighting. Beirut became the first Arab capital to be occupied by the Israeli military, and state institutions, including the Lebanese armed forces, fractured along sectarian lines.
Half a century later, the wounds remain unhealed. Even though the Lebanese have yet to fully confront, debate, or come to terms with the legacy of its civil war, they ended up grappling with the aftermath of yet another conflict. The recent Israeli attacks on Lebanon have caused more than 4,100 deaths, displaced around 1.2 million people, and inflicted over $14 billion in damage and economic loss, according to World Bank estimates. This is not the first Israeli conflict since the end of the civil war — it is the fourth. Lebanon also experienced internal armed conflict in May 2008, when Hezbollah and its allies took over parts of Beirut in response to decisions made by the government at the time, led by Prime Minister Fouad Siniora.
The April 13 remembrance is an opportunity for the Lebanese and Lebanon’s friends to reflect on a difficult question: Why is Lebanon so prone to violence? Why does this country remain trapped in a cycle of crises and missed opportunities? And what would it take for Lebanon to finally enjoy sustainable peace, inclusive prosperity, and a functioning, accountable state?
The Lebanese civil war exposed the country’s vulnerable position in a deeply fractured regional context. Lebanon was one of the first casualties of the strategic divergence between Syria and Egypt following the 1973 war and, later, one of the first recipients of the exportation of the Iranian revolution in 1979. The war did not officially end until October 1990, only after the geopolitical balance shifted with the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait.
Efforts to mediate a resolution to the war began just months after it started. In October 1976, Saudi Arabia hosted the Riyadh Conference to secure a ceasefire, reaffirm Lebanon’s sovereignty, reject partition, and regulate the Palestinian presence. Unfortunately, the ceasefire was short-lived. In the following years, the Kingdom and other Arab and international actors encouraged Lebanese leaders to meet in Geneva (1983) and Lausanne (1984) in search of national reconciliation, but without lasting success.
By 1989, Lebanon was on the brink of institutional collapse, with rival governments claiming legitimacy and the conflict showing no signs of resolution. At its Casablanca summit that May, the Arab League established a Tripartite High Committee — comprising Saudi Arabia, Algeria, and Morocco — tasked with mediating an end to the war. The final diplomatic breakthrough came in the Saudi city of Taif, where the Kingdom hosted the 62 surviving members of Lebanon’s 1972 parliament for intensive negotiations. On Oct. 22, 1989, they signed the Document of National Accord, widely known as the Taif Agreement. This was ratified by the parliament on Nov. 5, 1989, and its provisions incorporated into the constitution in 1990.
Today, one may ask whether Lebanon is once again standing at a “post-Taif” crossroads. The country is emerging from yet another devastating war, while its institutions have crumbled under the weight of prolonged paralysis, fragmentation, and political vacuum. As in the aftermath of the Taif Agreement, a central and unequivocal demand has resurfaced: the disbandment and disarmament of Hezbollah and all Lebanese and non-Lebanese armed groups operating outside the authority of the state — a prerequisite for restoring credibility, stability, trust, and the prospect of renewed economic support.
For the past 50 years, the Lebanese have often invoked the phrase “tenzakar wa ma ten’ad” — “let it be remembered but never repeated” — as a collective expression of sorrow, regret, and hope. But for this hope to translate into reality, the Lebanese government, and perhaps the Lebanese people, must deliver on its own commitments, including those it pledged to in its ministerial statement. This means reclaiming the state’s monopoly over the use of force, and asserting exclusive authority over decisions of war and peace.
Another key commitment is the enforcement of a comprehensive plan to rebuild an economy devastated by the recent war and one of the worst financial collapses in modern history. The World Bank has characterized Lebanon’s economic crisis as one of the most severe globally since the 19th century. Since October 2019, more than $80 billion in deposits have been wiped out, erasing the savings of residents, nonresidents, and foreign depositors alike.
The Lebanese people have the right to live in peace, dignity, and stability. That right has long been denied — by their own political elites, by competing regional and international agendas, and because of Lebanon’s geopolitical position. On the 50th anniversary of the civil war, the Lebanese are not only remembering the past — they are asserting their right to a present and a future that breaks the cycle.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2596902
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URL: https://www.newageislam.com/middle-east-press/jfk-us-deep-state-houthis-iranian-diaspora/d/135152
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