~ Actions Speak Louder Than Words ~

In recent days some western media have begun to take note of Egypt’s President Fatah al-Sisi who challenged the larger Muslim religion to confront violent religious extremism.

However, with this recent attention few are paying attention beyond the words to the concrete actions al-Sisi has quietly taken in the past eighteen months to put action where his mouth is. So allow us to highlight some of the actionable items that showcase a man of action behind his words. Since reluctantly taking power in 2013 Fatah al-Sisi has:

◾Disbanded the Muslim Brotherhood as a political terror entity. (link)  (link)
◾Arrested those who burned churches and attacked Coptic Christians. (link) (link)
◾Jailed or banished the extremist forces.  (link)
◾Supported Israel’s right to exist and defend it’s borders.  (link)  (link)
◾Defeated Hamas in the border region. (link)  (link)
◾Destroyed the border terror tunnels used by Hamas  (link) (link)
◾Pressured Hamas and the PA to negotiate the ceasefire, and forced the PA and Hamas to assemble ONE negotiating group for their interests. (link)  (link)
◾Fought extremism in the Sinai region, and fought against ISIS infiltration.
◾Fought the Libyan new al-Qaeda network “Libyan Dawn”.  (link)
◾Charged and prosecuted the leadership of the Muslim Brotherhood, who fled to Qatar.  (link)

(more…)

JERUSALEM (AP) — Two Palestinians stormed a Jerusalem synagogue on Tuesday, attacking worshippers praying inside with knives, axes and guns, and killing four people before they were killed in a shootout with police, officials said.

2 suspects entered a synagogue in the Har nof neighborhood in Jerusalem with knives and axes. Police arrive at scene and kill terrorists.

— Micky Rosenfeld (@MickyRosenfeld) November 18, 2014

The attack, the deadliest in Jerusalem in years, is bound to ratchet up fears of sustained violence in the city, already on edge amid soaring tensions over a contested holy site.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed that Israel will “respond harshly” to the attack, which he denounced as a “cruel murder of Jews who came to pray and were killed by despicable murderers.” (more…)

This is a pretty sobering statistic.   Last week in response to continued terrorist attacks in the Sinai region, Egypt began to widen the border between Gaza and Egypt.  A “buffer zone” is being built and homes on the border are being removed.  A “border wall” is currently being considered.
So far around 200 homes have been bulldozed or destroyed as Egypt’s President Abdul Fattah el-Sisi and his government begin the process.  Of the 200 homes removed, 78 have been found to house tunnels from Egypt into Gaza, that’s 39%.  These tunnels are used by Hamas to smuggle arms and rockets into the Gaza strip – the target of the rockets is Israel.

EGYPT – North Sinai Governor General Abdel-Fattah Harhour said owners of houses on the border line with the Gaza Strip will not receive any compensation for their demolished houses if smuggling tunnels were discovered inside their homes.
“The number of these homes whose owners will not receive compensation is 78, no compensation because these houses have smuggling tunnels,” he told local CBC television.
On Wednesday, the army began demolishing homes along the border line with the Gaza Strip to create a buffer zone which aims at preventing weapons smuggling. (more…)

WASHINGTON – Deputy National Security Adviser and MFA in creative writing Ben Rhodes likened an Iranian nuclear deal to Obamacare in a talk to progressive activists last January, according to audio obtained by the Washington Free Beacon (below).
The remarks, made at a since-discontinued regular meeting of White House personnel and representatives of liberal interest groups, reveal the importance of a rapprochement with Iran to President Obama, who is looking to establish his legacy as his presidency enters its lame-duck phase.

[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/174586449″ params=”color=ff5500″ width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]
(more…)

We were wondering why the White House put out last week’s meeting of the National Security Council so quickly – they never do that, ever.  Reading this lengthy Politico article the urgent optics now make sense…. there’s always a reason with this crew.

(Via Politico) When President Obama, after months of equivocation over how to respond to the takeover of parts of Iraq and Syria by radical militants, announced in September that the United States would “lead a broad coalition to roll back this terrorist threat,” the White House swung quickly into action, sending proposed legislation to train and equip Syrian rebels to Capitol Hill that same day.
Unfortunately, the White House failed to consult with the Pentagon—which would be doing most of the rolling back—on the timing or details of the announcement. (more…)

When it mattered, when it could have made a difference, he was willfully blind and silent.
Now, post facto, he’s filled with President Obama should have’s…

The insufferable Leon Panetta has a new book revealing how President Obama, Denis McDonough, Valerie Jarrett and Ben Rhodes constructed every encountered policy, including defense, through a domestic political lens.  Duh! 
This short-sighted and naïve world view is why the foreign policies of the Obama administration -from Libya and the support for al-Qaeda, to Iran and the almost certain nuclear bomb they will acquire- have been catastrophic in consequence. But it really doesn’t matter now does it?

The value in Panetta’s public push back -against the amateur crowd occupying the White House- would have been important when those disastrous policies were being debated, planned and executed. But now, not so much – the Rubicon has been crossed, and hundreds of U.S. military have been killed.
It should also be remembered that Panetta the Prog is responsible for constructing ‘Operation Zero Footprint’ with Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton. A State Dept. and CIA operation which eventually led to the death of Ambassador Chris Stevens, Sean Smith, Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty. Neither Clinton nor Panetta have been held to account.
(Via Washington Post) Tell-all memoirs can be tough when they actually, well, tell all. But it would be hard to surpass the shot that Leon Panetta, President Obama’ s former CIA director and secretary of defense, takes at his former boss and the White House foreign policy team in his new book: “Worthy Fights.” (more…)

To Paraphrase: In the 1940’s we fought the evil creation behind the “master race”; in 2014 we are fighting the evil creation behind the “master faith”.  Bibi pulled no punches in his speech to the United Nations today….

Britain’s Prime Minister David Cameron does an effective job describing the danger of “extremism“, not just “violent extremism“, all extremism. (Cameron Speech Here)
However, anyone interested in actually following, researching and analyzing international action against radical Islamist extremism, must also note that Egypt’s President Fatah El-Sisi is about two years ahead in confronting the extremist ideology.

Almost everything both Obama and Cameron have stated in the past month can be viewed curiously against their unwillingness to hold such public views while El-Sisi was pushing back against extremism, and doing something about it.

~ At the root of all extremism lies the fertilizer of hatred ~

Hatred is an outcome of evil manifested.   Readers and visitors to the Treehouse community know full well we have watched Egypt intently. We continue to share that no international leader has done more to confront ALL the tentacles of radicalism than Fattah El-Sisi.
Yet he has also been the recipient of marginalization – at best, from both Obama and Cameron; and significant western political admonishment.   Through the past two years Sisi has consistently carried out a challenging mission to provide secular stability not only to Egypt, but as a direct consequence, also to the entire region. (more…)