In this mailing: Bassam Tawil: Palestinian Normalization -- With Hamas, Not Israel Burak Bekdil: Turkey: Let Them Die! Gatestone Institute: NOTICE Palestinian Normalization -- With Hamas, Not Israel by Bassam Tawil  •  October 11, 2017 at 5:00 am The most widespread conspiracy theory, which has been floating around for decades and can be heard in almost every coffee shop on the streets of Cairo, Amman, Ramallah and Beirut, is that Zionist Jews, together with American capitalists and imperialists, have a secret plan to take control over the Arab and Islamic countries and their resources. How exactly are the "Zionists and imperialists" trying to "undermine" the Palestinian "national project"? And what, precisely, is this project? Is it the project of Hamas and many other Palestinians that seeks the destruction of Israel? The corrupt Arab and Palestinian leaders spread such rumors to divert attention from problems at home, such as corruption and dictatorship. These leaders want their people too busy hating Jews and Westerners to demand reform, democracy and transparency from their leaders. Those valuables, of course, are what Arab and Palestinian leaders still refuse to offer their people. Why do many Palestinians prefer peace with Hamas? Because they identify with Hamas's dream of destroying Israel and killing Jews. It may be an unpleasant a truth, but that is the bottom line. Palestinian and Israeli women from the "Women Wage Peace" group participate in an event on September 30, 2017. (Image source: Women Wage Peace/Facebook) When Palestinian women took part in a march with Israeli women for peace this week, they were condemned in the harshest terms by many other Palestinians, who called for their punishment. The Palestinian women who participated in the October 8 event, organized by a group called Women Wage Peace, have been denounced by many of their own people as and "traitors" and "whores." Conversely, when Palestinian Authority (PA) officials held "reconciliation" talks with Hamas leaders in the Gaza Strip and Egypt during the same period, many Palestinians praised them as "heroes" and "brave." Judging from the reactions of many Palestinians, especially on social media, they prefer peace with Hamas rather than with Israel. Continue Reading Article Turkey: Let Them Die! by Burak Bekdil  •  October 11, 2017 at 4:00 am More than 50,000 people have been arrested and some 110,000 others dismissed from government jobs in Turkey's largest-scale crackdown ever. As cruel as that looks, a case of two Turkish teachers is undeniably worse than just cruel: it displays a remorseless state mechanism. "Let Nuriye and Semih live!" Protesters bearing a picture of Nuriye Gulmen and Semih Ozakca during the "Rally for Justice" in Istanbul, July 9, 2017. (Image source: Hilmi Hacaloğlu/VOA/Wikimedia Commons) Until last year, observers were debating how fast Turkey's drift away from democracy was progressing. Today the talk is rather about how fast Turkey is drifting from undemocratic practice to simple rogue-state practice. More than 50,000 people have been arrested and some 110,000 others dismissed from government jobs in the country's largest-scale crackdown ever on people with alleged links to terror groups or to the U.S.-based cleric, Fethullah Gülen, whom Turkey accuses of orchestrating the failed coup in July 2016. As cruel as that looks, a case of two Turkish teachers is undeniably worse than just cruel: it displays a remorseless state mechanism. Continue Reading Article NOTICE by Gatestone Institute  •  October 11, 2017 at 3:00 am Gatestone Institute, its President and Board of Directors strongly condemn the defamatory campaign waged by Mudar Zahran (under his own name and through various fictitious accounts and names) against Gatestone Institute's Distinguished Senior Fellow Khaled Abu Toameh. Gatestone Institute wishes to note that it has warned Mudar Zahran in the past a number of times to stop his obsessive campaign. Although he promised and apologized, he had persisted with his campaign, and continues to make false and defamatory accusations and insinuations against one of our esteemed Fellows. Gatestone Institute wishes to clarify that it terminated all ties with Mudar Zahran four years ago. Accordingly, he does not speak on behalf of Gatestone or any of its affiliates, constituents or participants.