Ties Warming Between Turkey and Russia

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told reporters Monday that his government “will cooperate with everyone who fights (the Islamic State terror militia” and hinted that this might include Russia. Russian officials reacted very positively to the statement.

Three Palestinian men who participated in the shooting terrorist attack at Tel Aviv’s Sarona market on June 8 were indicted in the Tel Aviv District Court on Monday, two for murder and one for aiding and abetting. The terrorist admitted to having been “inspired” to carry out the attack, which killed four Israelis and wounded several others, by online postings of the Islamic State (IS) terror militia.

An announcement Monday by the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that 240 homes for Jewish residents have been approved to be built in the eastern Jerusalem neighborhoods of Ramot and Har Homa while 600 homes for Arab residents had been approved to be built in the seamline neighborhood of Beit Safafa unleashed a firestorm of critical commentary. Leaders of several parties, factions and interest groups weighed in on the announcement, with most denouncing it for different and often contradictory reasons.

The Islamic State (IS) terror militia was suspected of carrying out multiple suicide-bomb attacks in Saudi Arabia Monday as the Moslem holy month of Ramadan draws to a close. The attack in Medina, near one of Islam’s holiest shrines, killed three people including the bomber and wounded several others. Other attacks near the US consulate in Jeddah and in the predominantly Shi’ite city of Qatif wounded several others. The attacks came as the death toll from IS attacks in Baghdad over the weekend climbed to at least 219 and a ballistic missile launched at Saudi Arabia by rebel factions in Yemen was intercepted and destroyed by air defense units near the border.

Today savage terror is once again sweeping the world. We must recognize that the battle against it is indivisible. When terrorism succeeds in one place, it spreads to other places. And when terrorism is defeated anywhere, it is weakened everywhere.