Samir Kuntar - Child Killer

The recent reports by the official television station of Hezbollah have stated that; “three Druze members of Syria’s National Defense Forces (a branch of Syrian Armed Forces of  President Bashar al-Assad) were killed when an Israeli drone targeted their car at the entrance of the Druze village of Hader, in Quneitra Province.”

The names of all its members that were killed in the "alleged" Israeli Killer Drone attack were;

Hazem Raad from Beqaa , Abbas Hijazi from Ghazieh , Jihad Imad Moughniyah from Tair Dibba and  Mohammad Issa from Arab Salim.

It is NOT YET confirmed that  Samir  Kuntar from Abey Mount, Lebanon was among those killed.

This report was confirmed by, the so-called UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights which said five people in total were killed in the airstrike. Two of those killed were from the Lebanese "resistance movement" Hezbollah, and three men from pro-government popular committees in the Druze town of Hader which has been witnessing clashes between militants and members of pro-Syrian government groups in recent weeks.

According to a report, which appears on the "the Algemeiner" web site, a person identifying himself as Samir Kuntar's brother, Bassem Kuntar claimed, “Samir is fine” and added his condolences to the “martyrs of the Syrian Arab resistance to the Israeli occupation in the Golan who were killed during the Israeli strike in the afternoon.”

I never remembered hearing in the course of the talks we had, during his visits to the clinic in the prison, with Samir that he had siblings. Since according to him his parents divorced soon after his birth and his mother died when he was a boy.
It is possible that the person referred to in this Tweet could possibly be his step-brother from his father's second wife Shiham.

Nevertheless there are as of now no confirmed reports from any source and Hezbollah itself is not reporting anything nor has Samir appeared to deny the reports as his "Brother" states.

The Israeli military has not yet commented on the attack.

Who was / is Samir al-Kuntar?

Samir Kuntar was the infamous Lebanese born Druze who was once a member of the Palestine Liberation Front. He was convicted by an Israeli court of law of the ghastly murders in the attack on Nahariyah in 1979.
He was released on July 16, 2008, in exchange for the coffins containing the remains of the Israeli soldiers Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev who had been killed, or severely wounded, at the time of their abduction in the act that started the 2006 "Second" Lebanon War.

On November 24, 2008, Kuntar visited Syria, where he met with President Bashar Assad. Assad awarded him the Syrian Order of Merit and in early 2009 he was honored by former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

I wish to point out to those who have accused my report as a lie and fabrication that I am aware of the story told by Dr. Zvi Sela, a former senior police officer to Coby Ben Shimhon of Haaretz in 2009 that 'al-kuntar"; "... told me he didn't do it and I believe him." As a side note, Samir Kunar was diagnosed as a habitual liar according to the psychiatrist who served  in my medical unit.

In the conversation from the article in Haaretz Dr Zvi Sela contradicts himself and proves how Kuntar lied to him when he states:

"That is what he says, and in my opinion there is support for the fact that they were killed by fire from the Israeli rescue forces. You can accuse him all you like, but it was obviously the rescue forces that opened fire. There were all kinds of legends about Kuntar. People also said that he would return to being a terrorist [after his release]. Nonsense. He told me then explicitly that he would not go back to terrorism, that he was too old to execute operations - and that's also clear."

If what Dr, Zvi Sela alludes to as Samir's story of innocence. Then why did Samir Kuntar accept the position in Hezbollah as leader of the military wing, after the death of Jihad Moughniyah? More importantly what was he doing on the Golan Heights? Why was he killed in the airstrike in Syria?

Also it should be noted that in July 13, 2008, after being classified for nearly thirty years, File No. 578/79, containing the evidence and testimony from Kuntar's 1980 trial, was first published. According to the file, evidence presented by the pathologist at the trial showed that Einat Haran was killed by the force of a blunt instrument – most likely a rifle butt. The pathologist's report also showed that Einat's brain tissue was found on Kuntar's rifle.

I myself know the truth because I was on the scene that fateful night in Nahariyah and I was an eyewitness to the whole ghastly murder.

I would like to relate what happened on the night of April 22^nd ,1979, when the group headed by Samir Kuntar (born in 1962) which included; Abdel Majeed Asslan (born in 1955), Mhanna Salim Al-Muayed (born in 1960) and Ahmed AlAbras (born in 1949) – all members of the PLF under the leadership of Abu Abbas entered Israel from Lebanon by a rubber dingy boat.

I was an active member of the Civil Guard of Ma’alot on patrol as the driver of the van patrol vehicle that fateful night. Around 11:45 PM Shabbatai Alon the commander of the Civil Guard in Ma'alot and I had gone to the Christian Arab village of Maaliyah on patrol to the Hila Lookout. We had stopped at the house of an old friend the commander an ex member of the Israeli Knesset Masaad Kassis to drink sweet black Arab coffee under his grape arbor outside. 
Shabbatai Alon  had served in the famous 101 Unit of the IDF and later joined the Israeli police where before his retirement had served as a commander of the Police Station of Moshav Meona. As we sat in the village of Maaliyah that night we left the door of the old Citroen police van open so we could monitor and listen in to the radio calls.

The four PLO terrorists landed in Nahraiyah opposite the beach front villa of Amnon Sela, the wealthy owner of a local transportation company, at around midnight. They walked up to the villa gate and pressed the intercom buzzer. Sela and his wife had noticed the suspicious figures carrying backpacks from the vantage point of the upstairs bedroom and had assumed they were burglars and telephoned the police.

Due to his standing in the community the Police responded immediately and the dispatcher called the watch commander Eliyahu Shachar who was the first to respond and quickly arrived at the scene.

We could clearly hear the voice of  Eli Schahar (24) the young police officer from Ma'alot on the police radio answer the call for a disturbance. 
I can still hear his final scream on the radio “Micablim, neftsati!" (Hebrew for "Terrorists, I've been wounded!") and then silence. Commander Alon and I jumped into the van and raced off in the direction of the main road (*89) between Ma’alot and Nahariyah. Just as we reached the Kibbutz Kabri summit we received a radio call to rush to Nahariyah.

After killing Eliyahu Shachar the Terrorist group then entered an apartment building on 61 Jabotinsky Street planning to abduct two or three people and take them back to Lebanon. One of the PFLP men, Abdel Majeed Asslan, broke into the apartment of Charles Shapiro (34), a recent immigrant from South Africa, after the door to his apartment had been shot up. Shapiro, who was armed with a 44 magnum revolver, shot through his apartment door at the terrorists standing outside killing  Asslan.

Kuntar and the two remaining terrorists Mhanna Salim al-Muayed, and Ahmed al-Abras ran downstairs where they encountered Moshe Sasson, a resident who was trying to reach the building's bomb shelter carrying his two young daughters, one under each arm. Kuntar shoved Sasson and slammed a handgun into the back of his skull. However, Sasson managed to escape when the hall lights suddenly went out, and hid under a parked car.

The three remaining terrorists then broke into the apartment of the Haran family taking the 31 year-old Danny Haran hostage along with his four-year-old daughter, Einat. The mother, Smadar Haran, who had heard the gunfire was able to climb up and hide in a crawl space above the bedroom with her two-year-old daughter Yael, and a neighbor – Sasson's wife.
Regretfully the hysterical Smadar Haran accidentally suffocated her baby girl Yael while attempting to quiet her whimpering, which would have revealed their hiding place.

This is what occurred that night according to Smadar Haran Kaiser:

"It had been a peaceful Sabbath day. My husband, Danny, and I had picnicked with our little girls, Einat, 4, and Yael, 2, on the beach not far from our home in Nahariya, a city on the northern coast of Israel, about six miles south of the Lebanese border. Around midnight, we were asleep in our apartment when four terrorists, sent by Abu Abbas from Lebanon, landed in a rubber boat on the beach two blocks away. Gunfire and exploding grenades awakened us as the terrorists burst into our building. They had already killed a police officer. As they charged up to the floor above ours, I opened the door to our apartment. In the moment before the hall light went off, they turned and saw me. As they moved on, our neighbor from the upper floor came running down the stairs. I grabbed her and pushed her inside our apartment and slammed the door.
Outside, we could hear the men storming about. Desperately, we sought to hide. Danny helped our neighbor climb into a crawl space above our bedroom; I went in behind her with Yael in my arms. Then Danny grabbed Einat and was dashing out the front door to take refuge in an underground shelter when the terrorists came crashing into our flat.
They held Danny and Einat while they searched for me and Yael, knowing there were more people in the apartment. I will never forget the joy and the hatred in their voices as they swaggered about hunting for us, firing their guns and throwing grenades. I knew that if Yael cried out, the terrorists would toss a grenade into the crawl space and we would be killed. So I kept my hand over her mouth, hoping she could breathe. As I lay there, I remembered my mother telling me how she had hidden from the Nazis during the Holocaust. "This is just like what happened to my mother," I thought."

As police began to arrive, the terrorists took Danny and Einat down to the beach.When we reached Nahariyah the terrorist had already taken Danny Haran and his young daughter to the beach and I remember seeing the actions described here according to a 1979 Israeli Maariv Newpaper which described the details of this attack: 

"After drowning Danny in the sea in front of little Einat (all this taking place as Ahmed Al-Brass and Mhanna Salim Al-Muayed stood and served as look outs and backup cover for Kuntar) Kuntar, then turned his attention towards the frightened little 4-year old. He took his rifle and then swung it across the little toddler's head, knocking her to the ground. As little Einat was knocked to the ground, she was screaming and crying hysterically "mommy daddy help me," while thrashing her little legs around in the sand. But unfortunately Einat was alone, and no one was there to save her. Kuntar then dragged the little toddler a couple of feet to the closest rock he could find, this was while she was begging him not to hurt her. Kuntar, then laid her head down on a rock, with the intention of crushing it with the butt of his rifle. Einat, instinctively covered her head with her little arms, Kuntar struggled with the little toddler until he finally managed to clear her arms out of the way so that he could aim for her head. Once her arms were out of the way, Kuntar proceeded on beating her on the head over and over with the butt of his rifle, and repeatedly stomping on her little body as hard as he could as well, until blood rushed out of her ears and mouth, and her little cries faded away as she was knocked into unconsciousness. Then, to ensure she was dead, Kuntar continued on beating her over the head, as hard as he could, several more times until her skull was crushed and she was dead." 

We, the members of the Golani Infantry Unit, could have killed Samir then and there but our officers protected him since he – "Surrendered".

What I remember was a fanatically wild eyed 17 year old filled with some astronomical hatred. When we captured him he defecated on himself and cried hysterically. He whined and cried as we covered him with a blanket on a stretcher. Some hero!

Years later, while serving in reserves as the Chief Medic at the prison where Samir Kuntar was being held. I remember the new hero of the Palestinians and Hezbollah as being overweight, suffering from hyperuricema, diabetes mellitus, dyspnea and severe water retention from his hypertension.

Epilogue:

Samir Kuntar and Ahmed Al Abras were convicted of murdering four people by an Israeli court of law in 1980, and they were sentenced to four life sentences, and an additional 47 years for injuries inflicted.
Ahmed Al Abras, was later freed by Israel in the Ahmed Jibril prisoner exchange deal of May 1985

I have been asked what happened with Smadar. She is a social worker, she remarried and had two daughters.  

Samir Kuntar was killed December 19th 2015 in Jaramana, on the southern outskirts of Damascus. Hezbollah attributed his death to  four long-range missiles launched from Israel Air Force aircraft. In deference to the previous announcement in July 2015 this time Kuntar's his step-brother from his father's second wife Shiham acknowledged his death in a "Tweet"

If indeed Samir Kuntar was "neutralized" by Israel, it would bring some slight comfort to the Schachar and Haran families.

The Iranian Agreement

After days of listening and reading reviews of the Iran Agreement I do wonder where in the hell is the United States Intelligence community and the Pentagon?  Now I know that since the Viet Nam War era America has been soul searching but to get down on your knees willingly like those Americans murdered by John the English ISIS be-header is a little TOO much if you ask me.

Yes friends, for a brief period during the Reagan and Bush Presidencies of the America of the Red, White and Blue period,America returned to it's glory days. You know the USA we baby boomers experienced while growing up. 

That brave "Great America"  reflected in those fabulous movies of Error Flynn and John Wayne. You know when Americans had "True Grit" and were actually the “Good Guys” and weren’t bumbling Woody Allen type schlemiels or like a bunch of Keystone Cops. 

They weren't Presidents who were saxophone player's and whatever's. The ones taken over by the Liberals who want to return to the 1920's "Isolationism" and hedonistic pleasures of the 1920's.

At one time the US was a country to be counted on, to be looked up to but now check your towels and ash trays….oh and may I have my welfare check.

Yes, “My fellow Americans” ever since the election of President, as he enunciated his name at the reception speech on his arrival in Kenya President Obama emphasized HUSSEIN Obama. The United States has fallen into the depths of utter "Wimpdom".(Remember how the butler Lurch in the Munsters would mumble?)

Oh yes let's join hands in a circle boys and girls and sing ‎“Kumbayah!” Smile ‎and be nice and announce to the world: "We are Mr Nice Guys" and  “We do not want to hurt anyone!”

As an Israeli I wonder if I can sell you a used bridge at a cheap price?

Ah yes, just as Nero played the Lyre while Rome burned. Mr Putter Guy from Kenya went to Cairo and changed the Moslem world, forever.

This totally naive American president of the ‎“Kumbaya” party had allowed for the Moslem Brotherhood to take over Egypt during the Arab Spring. One has to stand in wonder and ask; "Where for God's sake is the US Military and Intelligence Leadership?" And why for God's sake is NO ONE is listening to Abdel-Fatteh El-Sisi?

Realizing that they had a "Good Thing" with this totally naive and weak kneed "(NON) Leader of the Western World." The Moslem Brotherhood immediately rushed to open the jails to release their minions of radical fundamentalist Islamic terrorist followers. Just as in Tehran with the return of the Ayatollah. These previously restrained, crazed Islamic fanatics, climbed out of the Pandora box with their 13th century view of Islam to engulf the Moslem world.

Through the use of the Internet they have expanded their reach globally to the entire Moslem world. The word of "Calipha" has ignited a fire in the hearts and mind of millions of Wahabist / Salafist followers.
The Sunnis and the followers of Da'ish /Daesh, or as they are labelled by the foreign media in the West as ISIS (the acronym for the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant/Syria) are in a horrendous bloody and bitter struggle with the Shi'ites of Iran-Syria-Hezbollah and Hamas.

So are we in Israel worried about Daesh /ISIS? Yes we are. The difference between us in Israel and the rest of the world is that we have these fanatics on our actual doorstep. Oh yes Mr and Mrs Walmart you CAN BE certain they will come for you too. Make absolutely no mistake about it...it is ALL written in the Quran it is the doctrine of “Taqiyya.”

"Taquiya, allows -- even obliges -- a Muslim to lie in certain situations in order to carry out his mission of jihad while living among the infidels. Tawriya (creative lying), allows a Muslim to say a lie while appearing to tell the technical truth by shifting context."

 So Mr and Mrs Walmart  lift your eyes briefly from your iPhone texting to notice that your fictional "Zombie" invasion is coming, but it wears black and screams "Allah Akbar".

Now, getting back to the “Dimbo Deal Agreement”, as I refer to the Iranian Agreement. Boys and girls I got news for you! Those ICBMs tested by Iran –copied from North Korea and those very same centrifuges producing weapons grade Uranium 38 and those triggers to arm those very same nuclear devices were invented by "Who?" Take a wild guess?

Nope, NOT by Israel and NOT by the USA! but a person who is a Pakistani nuclear physicist and a metallurgical engineer, colloquially regarded as the founder of HEU based Gas-centrifuge uranium enrichment program for Pakistan's integrated atomic bomb project. His name is Abdul Qadeer Khan of course do not take MY word for it click on the link to "Google his name". (Which I recommend for all of you in the NSA and CIA to actually learn INTELLIGENCE) 

“On 4 February 2004, Khan appeared on state-owned media Pakistan Television (PTV) and confessed to running a proliferation ring, and admitted to transferring technology to Iran between 1989 and 1991, to North Korea and Libya between 1991 and 1997.”

Wait did I hear someone mention WMD?

What has not been mentioned here regarding this wonderful agreement is that we, in Israel, are NOT the main target of the Shi'ite Arab world. (I do believe that was American flags being burned with chants of ecstatically contorted faces screaming "Death to America!" in the celebrations in Tehran with the Dimbo Deal Agreement)

By the way has anyone asked the guy from the back nine and his Viet Nam anti-War protester Secretary Of Wimp just why the Iranians need North Korean designed ICBMs with Nuclear warheads to hit Israel?
I mean correct me if I am wrong ICBM is the acronym for Inter Continental Ballistic Missile is it not? The distance between Israel and Iran is definitely not “Inter Continental.”

This stupidity reminds me that in 1991 during the "Gulf War' (Desert Storm) when Saddam Hussein launched SCUD missiles at Israel that no one remembers to mention  those that fell short near "Falestinian" villages on the "West Bank".

In those villages, the "Falestinian Authority” TV went to "Joyfully" record the SCUD missile attacks on the "Zionist entity". As the rockets fell nightly we saw those hysterical cheering happy gleefully smiling faces that gathered nightly to watch the attack on the "Zionists" in Tel Aviv.

That is until a few fell short."Oops!"

Ah I remember the scene well! Suddenly, abruptly one of the minions of those happy dervishes noticed the rocket was not going to fall on the hated Zionists! Almost in an instant hundreds were scared "shitless!" The camera unwittingly showed the brave Haters of Israel jumping from roof tops -where they had been watching and cheering and broke limbs. The village women who had earlier been screaming their lungs out like banshees from hell "Allah Akbar!" Suddenly went into hysterics and fainted.

I remember later reading of the lame excuses given by the SCUD missile crews about how they were "Harried" into launching the rockets "prematurely" by the allied anti-SCUD flights and SAS commando units. For some reason it reminded me of the reasons a lover makes excuse for the inability to have proper sexual relations due to premature ejaculation....

So let us suppose "IF" Iran launches atomic warheads at Israel does anyone remember what happen during Operation Protective Shield?

We "devious" Israelis had developed the Iron Dome system and the Israeli system of bomb shelters, in lieu of human shields!!

And what was the oh so lame excuse of Hamas?

Their God changes the path of our rockets in mid-air!! Hmm one does wonder what those pesky Liberal atheists think about this!

Now as to a request from a young lady of the Birmingham Jewish Federation she wrote me recently: 

We are collecting impressions from Birminghamians who have made aliyah regarding the recent Iran agreement."

Oh yes but of course we in Israel are deeply concerned regarding the Iranian Agreement; as many of my acquaintances -Jewish and Arab neighbors here in Israel have written and debated and discussed at length during the past weeks. We all know that with this agreement Iran will gain monetarily and there are major concerns concerning the ability of Iran to purchase new military equipment for itself and it's proxy's in the Hezbollah and in Hamas.

All of us were in agreement that the people of Iran have suffered but just like Hamas in Gaza and the Hezbollah in Lebanon the organizations and their military prowess is more important than the health and welfare of the people.

Just today over Arabic "Turkish" coffee today, in the Village of Tarshicha, part of our "Joint" Municipality, I had a very noisy, and occasionally heated, discussion in a Christian Arab friend Walid's cousin's coffee shop. Walid stated; 

"For us Israelis-Arabs and Jews alike, we have so many things our wonderful neighbors have planned for us that "Oh Gosh" where can I begin? Hezbollah ah, yes. Even with all the difficulties vis a vis the organizations involvement in Syria this has not stopped Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah from ranting against Israel with some particularly aggressive rhetoric in three speeches he gave in one week's time during June. In which he included direct threats against Israel. What is the last estimate, 180,000 rockets of various ranges and sizes pointed at Israel?"

As Walid and Hussain (a Moslem friend) sipped their coffee and we reminisced about the three young Bedouin from Tarshicha; Shanati Shanati, 18; Amir Naeem, 18; and Muhammad Fa'ur, 17, who were murdered by a Hezbollah Katyusha on the 3rd of August 2006. We noted that very few will remember or even be reminded in the Media that 15 out of 43 killed in the Hezbollah rocket attacks on Israeli civilians during the Second War with Lebanon were Arab-Israelis.

As we are all getting "younger" what we discussed was the "Less than 15 seconds" distance time to our nearest bomb shelter here on the Lebanese border,....Well "sigh" I said; "I guess my family and I will need to sit in our "space" under our stairwell in our home again. We do NOT have a "secure room" or private bomb shelter in our home."

Hussain pointed out the broadcast on the Arabic news stations about Hamas and Gaza. That they are posting videos gloating of all the new tunnels built with the funds and the building materials Israel has, under pressure from those Kumbaya Nations of the BDS given to them.

The major concern of us all was Syria and the ISIS on the Golan Heights, now in Gaza and in Sinai.

Now with all this going on there is still the usual day by day drudgery of life we Israels must deal with; trying to make ends meet financially, paying bills, taking care of kids and of course our grand-kids. Yes, in our beautiful Israel friends there LITERALLY is NEVER a dull moment. Oh well as they say we never promised you a rose garden.

And as my Momma, of blessed memory used to say in her Southern (Alabamian) English:

"Oh good gracious,ya'll!"

Islamic Terror - Made In The USA

"There's this misconception that Islam is a violent religion. Muslims are actually peaceful,"

a quote from the Chattanooga Times Free Press in 2010 by Yasmeen Abdulazeez the sister of the Terrorist Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez.
The names of the five US military personnel who were shot down in cold blood at two military-related facilities in Chattanooga by the terrorist Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez were: U.S. Navy Petty Officer Randall Smith, 26 Members of the USMC:  Staff Sergeant David Wyatt, 35,
Gunnery Sergeant Thomas Sullivan, 40,
Sergeant Carson Holmquist
Lance Corporal Skip Wells, 21.

Just three days ago after hearing of the cold blooded murder of five –unarmed!! -US military personnel I had posted a comment on Facebook concerning the incident and "… the radicalization (of a growing number) of young (US citizens) Muslim men,” which incidentally is NOT something new among the Moslem immigrants and their children born in America.

Before continuing some clarification:
Al-Qaeda is a radical Sunni Muslim organization dedicated to the elimination of a Western presence in Arab countries and militantly opposed to Western foreign policy: founded by Osama bin Laden in 1988. 

Harakat al-Shabaab al-Mujahideen the Wahhabism/Salafism Sunni Moslem  "Mujahideen Youth Movement" more commonly known as Al-Shabaab is a jihadist terrorist group based in Somalia linked to Al-Qaeda.

Dar al Islam al Sham in the Arab world are called by the acronym Da'ish /Daesh or as you call them ISIS [Islamic State of Iraq and Levant/Syria] the international resurgence of ultra-Wahhabi terrorism. Is a Salafi jihadi extremist militant group and self-proclaimed caliphate and Islamic state which is led by Sunni Arabs from Iraq and Syria
 As caliphate, it claims religious, political and military authority over all Muslims worldwide and that "the legality of all emirates, groups, states, and organisations, becomes null by the expansion of the khilāfah's [caliphate's] authority and arrival of its troops to their areas"

According to a Matt Smith,of  CNN the radicalization of Moslems in the US started a few years ago:

“As early as 2008, the FBI warned that more than a dozen youths, some of them American citizens, had left Minneapolis, home to the largest Somali population in the United States  to join al Qaeda to kill non Moslems.

They have carried out suicide bombings in Somalia. Many Somali-American young men from Minneapolis,Minnesota have been slipping away to join the al Qaeda-affiliated guerrilla group Al-Shabaab for the past few years, sometimes in groups. Several have died, their relatives learning of their deaths in cryptic phone calls or in messages posted online. One of those killed was Burhan Hassan, who was killed fighting in Somalia. “In 2010, a federal grand jury charged 14 people in the United States with aiding Al-Shabaab. Two women in Rochester, Minnesota, were convicted of soliciting more than $8,000 for the group under false pretenses, telling contributors the money was for the poor, and received 10- and 20-year prison terms.” CNN terrorism analyst Peter Bergen said: "We know Shabaab has recruited in the United States." Three of the terrorists who attacked Kenya's Westgate Mall in Nairobi in September 2013 were from Minneapolis,Minnesota and one from Missouri. Republican Rep. Peter King of New York, a member of the House Intelligence Committee, warned in an article at that time that al-Shabab had recruited from the United States stated:

"I would assume that local law enforcement are looking into Somalia-American communities today," King said, adding that US law enforcement will need to ensure a similar attack won't happen on American soil." 

-- Anwar Al-Awlaki  was an American-born imam, who preached in 2001 at the Dar al Hijrah Islamic Center in Falls Church, Va., where two of the 9/11 attackers reportedly prayed was killed in an American drone attack in Yemen on September 30, 2011.  He praised Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan in an article on his Web site and called the alleged Fort Hood shooter a "hero." 

--Ahmad Abousamra, a 35-year-old Syrian-American who grew up in the leafy Boston suburb of Stoughton, Massachusetts and his other American associate Tarek Mehanna. Abousamra who traveled to Pakistan in 2002 to try to get terrorist training so he could enter Afghanistan to fight and kill American soldiers.

--Nuradin M. Abdi, a Somali citizen living in Columbus, Ohio, was sentenced in 2007 to 10 years in prison after admitting he sought terrorist training in Ethiopia to carry out attacks, including a never-attempted attack on a mall in 2002.

--Derrick Shareef of Rockford, Illinois, was sentenced in 2008 to 35 years in prison after pleading guilty to plotting to set off grenades at a Rockford shopping mall. Shareef was a convert to Islam who was recorded saying he wanted to kill "infidels."

The highest profile member of this group of “Native Born Islamic Terrorists” was Omar Hammami, a well-known Somalia-based terrorist who grew up in south Alabama was the most high-profile Westerner (in) the al-Qaida-linked terrorist organization (al-Shabaab).

Al-Hammami whose Mother was a Baptist had married a Moslem, and according to his mother and Maternal Grand parents Omar was “raised a Baptist” but later converted to Islam, and had a falling out with the group. He died according to reports in a "fratricidal" ambush in 2012.

In response to my Facebook comment regarding the loyalty of Moslem’s to the United States, I received several comments from pro-Falestinian Talkback Trolls stating that I was a “Zionazi” and "racist" and that I had "mental issues." There were even a few “juicy” comments by some self-hating Jews (mainly from the San Francisco California Area – “Alumni” of Berkley) who suffer ‎from IDS, Israel Derangement Syndrome. ‎ Even a certain web site that publishes Blogs was afraid and stated that the facts I am quoting are "a form of hate speech"?

These members of the “Intellectual Elite of the Lower Gene Pool ” stated that I lied about Mohammod Youssuf Abdulazeez being a "Falestinian". Well if I lied then hopefully their mental capacity will allow them to read the quote from Reuters News Agency -released after my claim: 

"Born to Palestinian parents and raised in a Chattanooga suburb...”

or this from YNET 

“…the first friend said, adding that tensions between Abdulazeez and his “Palestinian” parents had upset him."

As to the absolute stupidity and uselessness, of those meant to guarantee your safety in the USA:  Homeland (Non) Security and the FBI - (The friend said he has been interviewed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.)

If you reside in the USA I do fervently hope that you will contact your congressional representatives ASAP to improve your safety.

Once more according to Reuters: 

“They (the FBI) found Mohammod Youssuf Abdulazeez to NOT be a security risk.”

“Years ago, his father, Youssuf Abdulazeez, an engineer who attended Texas A&M University, came under investigation by a Joint Terrorism Task Force for possible connections to a militant group, one source said. But he was cleared of any association with terrorism or wrongdoing.” Maybe someone should consult with Israeli (actual) Intelligence?

This piece of “Investigation,” by those of the “I” in FBI, is something I am sure the families of the dead American personnel will fully appreciate. Just as those families of the 13 murdered –unarmed - American Military personnel in the murderous rampage by Maj. Nidal Hasan at Fort Hood, Texas, in 2009 appreciate the conclusion that his actions were “NOT” a “Terrorist” attack.‎ ‎

As to the story of Reuters quoted on YNET:

“Abdulazeez went to the Middle East in 2010 and visited several countries, according to the friend. Abdulazeez's friends said he returned from a trip to Jordan in 2014 to work for his uncle, and lived with his uncle and his grandparents there, the friend said." ..."he was upset about Operation Protective Edge in Gaza last summer and the civil war in Syria"
 "He felt Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia were not doing enough to help, and that they were heavily influenced by the United States," said one friend."
 Another friend said, "He had always talked about it, but I'd say his level of understanding and awareness really rose after he came back."
 "That trip was eye-opening for him. He learned a lot about the traditions ( Ah yes the religion of Peace) and culture of the Middle East.”

Now I am no employee of US Intelligence services but “IF”, a US citizen with a “Palestinian” background went not once but twice to the Middle East, and came back, and according to Reuters, went online and purchased not one but three semi-automatic weapons!!!(WTF) I sure as hell would be closely watching him . 

YNET

 “Abdulazeez had purchased three guns on armslist.com after returning from Jordan, including an AK-74, an AR-15, and a Saiga 12, his friends said. They said he also owned a 9mm and a .22 caliber hand gun.”

 Oh and this other WTF moment from the article by Richard Valdmanis and Mark Hosenball of Reuters:

“In 2013, he was hired as an engineer at an Ohio nuclear plant and spent 10 days there before he was let go. A spokesman for the FirstEnergy Corp, which owns the plant, did not say why he was dismissed and would not confirm media reports that he had failed a background check.”

Meanwhile Secretary State John Kerry and El Presidente Obama are adamant to belittle Israel and our Prime Minister because we tried to warn the world.

What the US administration is NOT telling you is that with this agreement there will be some slow downs and some “cat and mouse” games between the  IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) and the Iranians but the centrifuges are still there and the Nuclear material are in the hands of the recognized main provider of assistance to terrorist organizations in the world.

This accord will release the sanctions so that billions of dollars and Euros will flood in to pay for The Revolutionary Guards to continue to take over parts of Syria and Iran with the Hezbollah. They will also use the funds to bankroll Hamas in Gaza as the Shi’ite Moslem world enters the war against the Sunnis in Dar al Islam al Sham or as they are referred to as ISIS [Islamic State of Iraq and Levant/Syria].

Now as a teacher of History I would like to quote from an article “The Coming War with Islam” by Solly Ganor (a survivor of Dachau in the Holocaust) from FrontPageMagazine.com | March 15, 2007

Solly’s intro:

“Last week, I had another conversation with an Israeli Arab construction boss by the unlikely name of Francis who was in charge of building a villa near our house in Herzliya. He told me that his family was Christian, and his name was given to him in honor of the Franciscan monks. Our conversation was as interesting as the first conversation I had with the Arab student five years ago and I would like to share it with you.”

The following are the words recorded by Solly in his article spoken by Francis the Christian Arab, who is from a small village in the Galilee called Jish (Gush Halav), between Kibbutz Sasa and Mount Meron from 2007.

"The Americans, the Europeans, and even you Israelis really don't know what it is all about, do you?

During the last generation hundreds of thousands of children have been taught all over the Moslem world in Madrass schools to become martyrs for Allah in order to kill the infidels. These youngsters not only are ready to do it, but are actually in the process of doing it. Bombs are going off all over the world killing and maiming thousands of people, not only on 9/11 in the US, in London Madrid and Bali, but in Africa, India, Bengladesh, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and many other places. The first signs of the Islamic Tsunami are already here, but the West doesn't understand, or doesn't want to understand what is coming."
"The Americans, instead of realizing that this is as bad as World War Two, or even worse, are going to pull out of Iraq, handing it over to Iran on a silver platter. Next may come the Saudis and the rest of the Gulf States. When dirty bombs go off all over Western towns, who is going to stop the Iranians?"
"Now is the time to stop them, not only because they are developing nuclear bombs, but because Iran has become the base for all Islamic terrorist. They supply money, men, and weapons to Islamic terrorists around the world, quite often through their diplomatic mail. Billions of petro-dollars that are pouring into Iran are being funneled into terrorist organizations world-wide. They believe, and perhaps rightly so, that the West will do nothing to stop them in achieving their goals. Is history repeating itself? Are the Iranians making the same mistake that Hitler made when he attacked Poland? Is the situation similar?"

Now I ask you to consider that “IF” a Moslem suicide bomber can put on a vest laden with ball bearings and shrapnel and go into a Mosque and blow himself up to murder other Moslems (because it is a “misconception” that Islam is a violent religion).  I do seriously wonder what will they do with the “freedom” to produce military grade uranium and what will stop them from using it in a more horrendous act?

As Francis stated:

"Actually, I don't understand why the Iranians bother to develop atomic bombs and bring the whole world down on them. Every suicide bomber is a potential atomic bomb, or a biological, chemical or dirty bomb that can be no less
devastating than an atom bomb. The Americans and Europeans have no defense against this type of war."

In conclusion, a sane person has to scratch his head in wonder as to what is going through the minds of the supposedly elected leaders of the “Free World” when the major news outlets show Iranian’s celebrating the agreement marching in the streets of Tehran carrying banners and chanting not "just"  "Death to Israel", but “Death to America?”

Here is what Francis the Christian Arab suggested to do back in 2007: 

"You said there are two ways to avoid Armageddon?" I remembered to ask him

"Sure, all the West has to do is follow Putin's ways. He assassinates his enemies without blinking an eye. Assassinate the four or five Mullahs who run the show, Ahmadinejad, and a few more Iranian fanatics, and the War can be avoided. It may be difficult to do, but not impossible. With today's hi- tech technology I am sure that new weapons against individuals are being prepared right now. I think it would be a better way of handling the matter than an all out war against Islam."

"Find the cost of freedom"

In light of recent events in the USA it is extremely important to remember on this July 4th, that great men and great thinkers who were more educated than many today in America laid the basis for what so many take for granted today.
If Americans truly cherish their freedom, then education needs to be the number one priority for all Americans.

Why education? Simply go on the street and ask; "How many Americans can identify the author of this sentence and where it is from?"

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

Where did the knowledge for such a tremendously advanced thought in the 18th century come from? As for the statement, "That ALL men are created equal..." is the philosophy of which great English thinker?

Here is his original quote; "All mankind... being all equal and independent, no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty or possessions."
So who was this grand philosopher? It was John Locke born August 29th 1632. John Locke is regarded as one of the most influential thinkers of Empiricism during the Enlightenment and he is known as the "Father of Classical Liberalism." His writings influenced Voltaire and Rousseau, many Scottish Enlightenment thinkers, as well as the American revolutionaries. Locke was the first to define the self through a continuity of consciousness. He postulated that, at birth, the mind was a blank slate or tabula rasa. Contrary to Cartesian philosophy based on pre-existing concepts, he maintained that we are born without innate ideas, and that knowledge is instead determined only by experience derived from sense perception.
His contributions to classical republicanism and liberal theory are reflected through Jefferson in the United States Declaration of Independence

Thomas Jefferson the man

Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) was the third of ten children. He was born on April 13, 1743  in  a half story farmhouse in Shadwell, not far from Charlottesville in the British Colony of Virginia.was the third of ten children.

At the age of 14, Thomas father died and he inherited the plantation of Monticello, (Italian for "Little Mountain") which encompassed approximately 5,000 acres of land. He also inherited between 20 to 40 slaves. He took control of the property after he came of age at 21.

As was common in the day, children of British landlords like Jefferson began their childhood education under the direction of tutors. Jefferson began attending a local school run by a Scottish Presbyterian minister in 1752 and at the age of nine, Jefferson began studying Latin, Greek, and French which was also the requirement of English gentry. As a youth on a plantation he learned to ride horses, and began to appreciate the study of nature. While boarding with Reverend James Maury's family,from 1758 to 1760 near Gordonsville, Virginia, he studied history, science, and the classics.

In 1759 while at the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, at the age of 16. Jefferson met his influential mentor the law professor George Wythe. Professor William Small, was the one who introduced the enthusiastic Jefferson to mathematics, metaphysics, and philosophy and the writings of the British Empiricists; John Locke, Francis Bacon, and Isaac Newton. 

As an avid reader throughout his life Jefferson he collected and accumulated thousands of books for his library at Monticello. In 1814 after the British had burned the Library of Congress Jefferson offered to sell his collection of more than 6,000 books to the Library for $23,950 to pay off some of his large debt. Jefferson had read a wide variety of English classics and political works and after realizing he was no longer in possession of such a grand collection he wrote in a letter to John Adams, "I cannot live without books".

Jefferson was prevented by illness from attending the Virginia Convention of 1774 that met to discuss what to do in the aftermath of the Boston Tea Party and the closing of the port of Boston by the British. However Jefferson did serve as a delegate to the Second Continental Congress beginning in June 1775, soon after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War. Though he didn't know many people in the Congress, he sought out John Adams who, along with his cousin Samuel, had emerged as a leader of the convention.  

Jefferson and Adams established a friendship that would last the rest of their lives Jefferson sent a paper to the convention, later published as A Summary View of the Rights of British America. The force of its arguments and its literary quality led the Convention to elect Jefferson to serve in the Continental Congress

In June 1776, Adams ensured that Jefferson was appointed to the five-man committee to write a declaration in support of the resolution. Furthermore after discussing the general outline for the document, the committee decided that Jefferson would write the first draft of the Declaration of Independence. This assignment, and what he made of it, ensured Jefferson's place as an apostle of liberty. In the Declaration, and in his other writings, Jefferson was perhaps the best spokesman we have had for the American ideals of liberty, equality, faith in education, and in the wisdom of the common man. But what Jefferson wanted to be remembered for, besides writing the Declaration of Independence, was writing the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom and founding the University of Virginia.

 A Bill for Establishing Religious Freedom

[in Virginia] by Thomas Jefferson

Section I.

Well aware that the opinions and belief of men depend not on their own will, but follow involuntarily the evidence proposed to their minds; that Almighty God hath created the mind free, and manifested his supreme will that free it shall remain by making it altogether insusceptible of restraint; that all attempts to influence it by temporal punishments, or burthens, or by civil incapacitations, tend only to beget habits of hypocrisy and meanness, and are a departure from the plan of the holy author of our religion, who being lord both of body and mind, yet chose not to propagate it by coercions on either, as was in his Almighty power to do, but to extend it by its influence on reason alone; that the impious presumption of legislators and rulers, civil as well as ecclesiastical, who, being themselves but fallible and uninspired men, have assumed dominion over the faith of others, setting up their own opinions and modes of thinking as the only true and infallible, and as such endeavoring to impose them on others, hath established and maintained false religions over the greatest part of the world and through all time: That to compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves and abhors, is sinful and tyrannical; that even the forcing him to support this or that teacher of his own religious persuasion, is depriving him of the comfortable liberty of giving his contributions to the particular pastor whose morals he would make his pattern, and whose powers he feels most persuasive to righteousness; and is withdrawing from the ministry those temporary rewards, which proceeding from an approbation of their personal conduct, are an additional incitement to earnest and unremitting labors for the instruction of mankind; that our civil rights have no dependence on our religious opinions, any more than our opinions in physics or geometry; that therefore the proscribing any citizen as unworthy the public confidence by laying upon him an incapacity of being called to offices of trust and emolument, unless he profess or renounce this or that religious opinion. is depriving him injuriously of those privileges and advantages to which in common with his fellow citizens, he has a natural right; that it tends also to corrupt the principles of that very religion it is meant to encourage, by bribing, with a monopoly of worldly honors and emoluments, those who will externally profess and conform to it; that though indeed these are criminal who do not withstand such temptation, yet neither are those innocent who lay the bait in their way; that the opinions of men are not the object of civil government, nor under its jurisdiction; that to suffer the civil magistrate to intrude his powers into the field of opinion and to restrain the profession or propagation of principles on supposition of their ill tendency is a dangerous fallacy, which at once destroys all religious liberty, because he being of course judge of that tendency will make his opinions the rule of judgment, and approve or condemn the sentiments of others only as they shall square with or differ from his own; that it is time enough for the rightful purposes of civil government for its officers to interfere when principles break out into overt acts against peace and good order; and finally, that truth is great and will prevail if left to herself; that she is the proper and sufficient antagonist to error, and has nothing to fear from the conflict unless by human interposition disarmed of her natural weapons, free argument and debate; errors ceasing to be dangerous when it is permitted freely to contradict them.

Section II.

We the General Assembly of Virginia do enact that no man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place, or ministry whatsoever, nor shall be enforced, restrained, molested, or burdened in his body or goods, nor shall otherwise suffer, on account of his religious opinions or belief; but that all men shall be free to profess, and by argument to maintain, their opinions in matters of religion, and that the same shall in no wise diminish, enlarge, or affect their civil capacities.

Section III.

And though we well know that this Assembly, elected by the people for the ordinary purposes of legislation only, have no power to restrain the acts of succeeding Assemblies, constituted with powers equal to our own, and that therefore to declare this act irrevocable would be of no effect in law; yet we are free to declare, and do declare, that the rights hereby asserted are of the natural rights of mankind, and that if any act shall be hereafter passed to repeal the present or to narrow its operation, such act will be an infringement of natural right.

Written by Thomas Jefferson and passed by the Virginia General Assembly on January 16, 1786, the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom is a statement about both freedom of conscience and the principle of separation of church and state.  It is the forerunner of the first amendment protections for religious freedom. Divided into three paragraphs, the statute is rooted in Jefferson's philosophy. It could be passed in Virginia because Dissenting sects there (particularly Baptists, Presbyterians, and Methodists) had petitioned strongly during the preceding decade for religious liberty, including the separation of church and state.

Jefferson had argued in the Declaration of Independence that "the laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle [man]…." The first paragraph of the religious statute proclaims one of those entitlements, freedom of thought. To Jefferson, "Nature's God," who is undeniably visible in the workings of the universe, gives man the freedom to choose his religious beliefs. This is the divinity whom deists of the time accepted—a God who created the world and is the final judge of man, but who does not intervene in the affairs of man. This God who gives man the freedom to believe or not to believe is also the God of the Christian sects.

An Act for establishing religious Freedom.

 Whereas, Almighty God hath created the mind free;

That all attempts to influence it by temporal punishments or burdens, or by civil incapacitations tend only to beget habits of hypocrisy and meanness, and therefore are a departure from the plan of the holy author of our religion, who being Lord, both of body and mind yet chose not to propagate it by coercion's on either, as was in his Almighty power to do,

That the impious presumption of legislators and rulers, civil as well as ecclesiastical, who, being themselves but fallible and uninspired men have assumed dominion over the faith of others, setting up their own opinions and modes of thinking as the only true and infallible, and as such endeavoring to impose them on others, hath established and maintained false religions over the greatest part of the world and through all time;

That to compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions, which he disbelieves is sinful and tyrannical;

That even the forcing him to support this or that teacher of his own religious persuasion is depriving him of the comfortable liberty of giving his contributions to the particular pastor, whose morals he would make his pattern, and whose powers he feels most persuasive to righteousness, and is withdrawing from the Ministry those temporary rewards, which, proceeding from an approbation of their personal conduct are an additional incitement to earnest and unremitting labours for the instruction of mankind;

That our civil rights have no dependence on our religious opinions any more than our opinions in physics or geometry,

That therefore the proscribing any citizen as unworthy the public confidence, by laying upon him an incapacity of being called to offices of trust and emolument, unless he profess or renounce this or that religious opinion, is depriving him injuriously of those privileges and advantages, to which, in common with his fellow citizens, he has a natural right,

That it tends only to corrupt the principles of that very Religion it is meant to encourage, by bribing with a monopoly of worldly honours and emoluments those who will externally profess and conform to it;

That though indeed, these are criminal who do not withstand such temptation, yet neither are those innocent who lay the bait in their way;

That to suffer the civil magistrate to intrude his powers into the field of opinion and to restrain the profession or propagation of principles on supposition of their ill tendency is a dangerous fallacy which at once destroys all religious liberty because he being of course judge of that tendency will make his opinions the rule of judgment and approve or condemn the sentiments of others only as they shall square with or differ from his own;

That it is time enough for the rightful purposes of civil government, for its officers to interfere when principles break out into overt acts against peace and good order;

And finally, that Truth is great, and will prevail if left to herself, that she is the proper and sufficient antagonist to error, and has nothing to fear from the conflict, unless by human interposition disarmed of her natural weapons free argument and debate, errors ceasing to be dangerous when it is permitted freely to contradict them:

Be it enacted by General Assembly that no man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place, or ministry whatsoever, nor shall be enforced, restrained, molested, or burdened in his body or goods, nor shall otherwise suffer on account of his religious opinions or belief, but that all men shall be free to profess, and by argument to maintain, their opinions in matters of Religion, and that the same shall in no wise diminish, enlarge or affect their civil capacities. And though we well know that this Assembly elected by the people for the ordinary purposes of Legislation only, have no power to restrain the acts of succeeding Assemblies constituted with powers equal to our own, and that therefore to declare this act irrevocable would be of no effect in law; yet we are free to declare, and do declare that the rights hereby asserted, are of the natural rights of mankind, and that if any act shall be hereafter passed to repeal the present or to narrow its operation, such act will be an infringement of natural right.

Druze and Syria

There are some 130,600 Israeli Druze  who reside in Israel primarily in the region of the Galilee. Some members of the Druze community have  reached the senior echelons of Israel's military and the government.The Druze villages and population are:
Daliyat al-Karmel (15,000), Yirka (14,750), Maghar (11,600), Beit Jann (10,600),Isfiya (8,500), Kisra-Sumei (7,000), Julis (5,700),Yanuh-Jat (5,300), Hurfeish (5,250),Shefa-'Amr (5,150),Peki'in (4,150),Sajur (3,700), Abu Sinan (3,450) and Rameh (2,200).

This past week members of the Druze community expressed their anxiety, saying they are very concerned about the fate of their brethren across the border in Syria.

“We are worried about the Syrian Druse and demand that the world not stand by and do nothing,” said the Israeli Druse and Circassian Local Councils Forum head Jaber Hamoud. “The Druse love peace, but they know how to defend themselves. They need the means, not knives and axes." "The Druze have largely kept out of the conflict in Syria, only taking up arms to defend their towns and villages."

Who are the Druze?

The Druze are an esoteric monotheistic religious community found primarily in Syria, Lebanon, Israel, and Jordan. The religion incorporates elements of Ismailism, Gnosticism, Neoplatonism and other philosophies. The Druze call themselves Ahl al-Tawhid "People of Unitarianism or Monotheism" or al-Muwaḥḥidūn "Unitarians, Monotheists." The Druze revere the father-in-law of Moses, Jethro, whom some Muslims identify with Shuʻayb. According to the biblical narrative, Jethro joined and assisted the Israelites in the desert during the Exodus, accepted monotheism, but ultimately rejoined his own people. The tomb of Jethro near Tiberias is the most important religious site for the Druze community.

Sheikh Amin Tarif was the preeminent religious leader of the community from 1928 until his death in 1993. He was highly esteemed and regarded by many within the community as the preeminent spiritual authority in the Druze world.

Druze citizens are prominent in the Israel Defense Forces. Border Police. Police and in politics. The bond between Jewish and Druze soldiers is commonly known by the term "a covenant of blood" (Hebrew: ברית דמים, brit damim)

On the Golan Heights

After Israel's conquest of the Golan Heights in the Six Day War of June 1967 four formerly Syrian Druze villages; Majdal Shams (9,700), Buq'ata (5,900), Mas'ade (3,100) and Ein Qiniyye (1,735), came under Israeli rule. In the late 1970s, the Israeli government offered citizenship to all non-Israelis living on the Golan. By offering Israeli citizenship to the residents of the Golan Villages it would entitle them to an Israeli driver's license and enable them to travel freely in Israel.

Ninety percent of Druze residents of the Golan until recently continued to regard themselves as Syrian citizens. Many were afraid of reactions or repercussions by the Syrian Assad family regime to their family members who reside within Syrian territory should they accept Israeli citizenship. That 10 percent who applied for Israeli citizenship are entitled to vote, run for Knesset and receive an Israeli passport.

For foreign travel, non-citizen Golan Druze are issued a laissez-passer-by the Israeli authorities. As Israel does not recognize their Syrian citizenship, they are defined in Israeli records as "residents of the Golan Heights."
Since 2012 in the light of the deteriorating situation in Syria, Golan Druze have applied to Israeli citizenship in much larger numbers than in previous years. Though young residents of Majdal Shams are not drafted by the Israel Defense Forces, there has been a marked increased desire by them to volunteer for service in the IDF, Border Police and Police.

As part of their "resistance to Israeli occupation" many Golan Druze consistently show open public support for the Syrian government of Bashar al-Assad had historically been high among Golan Druze in order to acquire the favoritism of the Assad's government to conduct trade across the border with Syria.

Some tensions have recently arisen in the community due to differing stances on the Syrian civil war, though open public support for the Syrian opposition is relatively uncommon.

In Syria

Druze made up about 3% of Syria's 22.5 million population before the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began in 2011. Many Druze live in the Jabal al-Druze region in the southern province of Suweida, where they constitute the vast majority of the local population. But there are also several Druze villages in other parts of the country, including in Idlib Provence.

The head of the Druze community in neighboring Lebanon, Walid Jumblatt, who is a Lebanese politician and the current leader of the mostly Druze Progressive Socialist Party (PSP),said the incident was an isolated one. Furthermore Walid Jumblatt, said he had made contact with Syrian opposition factions and "influential regional forces", according to a news website run by his political party. This contact had yielded a "joint effort" to guarantee the safety of Druze villages in Idlib Provence which had "stood by the revolution", it reported.

Walid Jumblatt has been a consitant supporter of the Syrian regime from the 1970's. Since the death of Syrian President Hafez Assad in 2000, he has campaigned for Damascus to relinquish control. With the onset of the Syrian Civil War, Jumblatt and the PSP moved towards an anti-Assad stance. Jumblatt has been crucial in negotiations regarding the Syrian Druze during the Syrian Civil War, and has stated about al-Nusra Front “I cannot classify, like Western countries, Nusra as terrorist because most of Nusra are Syrians. The terrorist regime of Bashar obliged the Syrians to join Nusra”.

In light of the recent attack Jumblatt responded that; "Any inciting rhetoric will not be beneficial, and you should remember that Bashar Assad’s policies pushed Syria into this chaos."

The spiritual leader of the Lebanese Druze community, Sheikh Naim Hassan, expressed condolences over the killings.
“We stand in silence, pain and sympathy with our people on Qalb Lawzeh. We pray for the martyrs,” he said after the Beirut meeting.

In the latest incident in the Druze village Qalb Lawzah in Idlib province, at least 20 to 25 Druze villagers were murdered by the al-Qaeda-affiliated al-Nusra Front in north-western Syria,(close to the Turkish Border)  the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The shooting occurred after a Tunisian al-Nusra commander tried to confiscate a house belonging to a Druze man who he claimed was loyal to the Syrian government. Relatives of the house's owner protested and tried to stop the commander.

The al-Nusra commander accused the Druze of being "kuffar" (infidels), because the Druze faith is an offshoot of Islam and is considered heretical by jihadists. The dispute soon escalated and turned violent. It was reported that a villager seized the rifle of an al-Nusra fighter and opened fire, killing one of the jihadists. Among those killed were elderly people and a child. Rebel groups allied to al-Nusra, including Ahrar al-Sham, eventually intervened to stop the bloodshed.

al-Nusra's leader Abu Mohammed al-Julani told Al Jazeera that Druze and other religious minorities who did not fight it would not be targeted. He said representatives had been sent to their villages to "inform them of the doctrinal pitfalls they have fallen into".

Druze activists living in Idlib Provence have reported that Druze residents have been subjected to religious persecution by al-Nusra with several hundred forced to convert to Sunni Islam. The group was also accused of desecrating graves and damaging shrines.

Wiam Wahhab, a Lebanese Druze politician close to Assad, urged Assad’s government to supply the residents with weapons. Wahhab also called on all the Druze in the southern Syrian province of Sweida to carry arms and defend their villages, since al-Nusra opposition fighters have reached the region that had previously been spared from the fighting in Syria’s four-year long civil war.

Wahhab also warned of revenge attacks against Nusra Front members in Lebanon in retaliation for the killings in Qalb Lawzeh.

Who or what is al-Nursa?

The al-Nusra Front, or Jabhat al-Nusra  is a branch of al-Qaeda operating in Syria  and Lebanon. It's name in Arabic is: جبهة النصرة لأهل الشام‎ transliterated as Jabhat an-Nuṣrah li-Ahli ash-Shām, "The Support Front for the People of Al-Sham", or JaN or JN). It is sometimes referred to as Tanzim Qa'edat Al-Jihad fi Bilad Al-Sham or al-Qaeda in Syria or al-Qaeda in the Levant.

The al-Nusra Front, or JaN  has been described as both "the most aggressive and successful" and "one of the most effective rebel forces" in Syria, and has been designated as a terrorist organisation by the United Nations,  Australia, Canada, New Zealand,  Russia,  the United Kingdom, the United States,  and Turkey.

Jabhat al-Nusra is made up primarily of Syrian mujahideen (is the plural form of mujahid (Arabic: مجاهد‎), the term for one engaged in Jihad) who adhere to Sunni Islam.
The goal of Jabhat al-Nusra is to overthrow Bashar al-Assad's government in Syria and create an Islamic Emirate under Sharia law. At this stage they are focusing on the defeat of the Syrian regime rather than on global jihad.
There have been statements to the effect that Syrian members of the group are only fighting the Assad regime and they are not interested in attacking Western states though group still views the United States and Israel as enemies of Islam. They have consistently warned against Western intervention in Syria, Jabhat al-Nusra leader Golani has stated that "We are only here to accomplish one mission, to fight the regime and its agents on the ground, including Hezbollah and others".

In early 2014, Dr. Sami Al Oraidi, a top Sharia official in the group, acknowledged that his group is influenced by the teachings of Abu Musab al-Suri. The strategies derived from Abu Musab's guidelines include: providing services to people, avoiding being seen as extremists, maintaining strong relationships with communities and other fighting groups, and putting the focus on fighting the government.

The tactics used by Jabhat al-Nusra are markedly different to that of rival jihadist groups such as ISIS [Islamic State of Iraq and Levant/Syria] Dar al Islam al Sham. Whereas ISIS (Daish) has alienated local populations by demanding allegiance and carrying out beheadings,Jabhat al-Nusra has cooperated with other militant groups and has declined to impose Sharia law where there has been opposition. Analysts have noted this "benevolent policy" used by Jabhat al-Nusra may give them a greater long-term advantage.

Jabhat al-Nusr leader Abu Mohammed al-Julani was instructed in early 2015 by al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahiri to pursue the following five goals;

• Better integrate his movement within the Syrian revolution and its people
• Coordinate more closely with all Islamic groups on the ground
• Contribute towards the establishment of a Syria-wide Sharia judicial court system
• Use strategic areas of the country to build a sustainable Al-Qaeda power base
• Cease any activity linked to attacking the West. 

Since early 2015, there have been persistent reports of the al-Nusra Front considering leaving al-Qaeda and planning to abandon its current name and merge with smaller Islamist groups, such as Jaish al-Muhajireen wal-Ansar, in order to form a new entity that will receive funding from Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

In a statement issued on 9 March 2015, the group reaffirmed its allegiance to al-Qaeda and denied plans to break away from it.