Excerpts: Europe's rising anti-Semitism. Assad:US rebel training plan
'illusory'. Jordan/Japan cooperate re IS hostage January 26, 2015

+++SOURCE:”Europe’s Jewish Leader Fears ‘Exodus’ over Rising Extremism”,
Agence France Presse
SUBJECT:Europe’s rising anti-Semitism

QUOTE:” ‘Jihadism is very close to Nazism …they are two faces of the same
evil’ “

FULL TEXT:Europe is facing a new Jewish exodus in the face of rising
anti-Semitism and extremism, the head of the European Jewish Congress (EJC)
said Monday[26 Jan..

"Jihadism is very close to Nazism. One could even say that they are two
faces of the same evil," EJC chief Moshe Kantor said at a Holocaust forum in
the Czech capital Prague.

The Jewish community is "close to" a new exodus from Europe, he told
reporters, without providing any specific figures.

European Commission First Vice President Frans Timmermans said last week
that the EU faces a "huge challenge" to reassure Jews about their future in
Europe.

In France, home to Europe's largest Jewish community, estimated at up to
600,000, many are considering leaving as the number of anti-Semitic attacks
mounts.

An Islamist gunman shot dead four Jews in a kosher supermarket in Paris on
January 9 in a series of attacks in the French capital that left 17 people
dead.

Kantor also mentioned the March 2012 attacks in the southern French city of
Toulouse when an Islamist shot dead three children and a teacher at a Jewish
school.

In Brussels last year, a lone gunman also killed four people at the Jewish
museum.

Figures from London police showed anti-Semitic crimes more than doubled in
the capital over the 12 months to November 2014.

Almost half of Britain's Jews fear they have no long-term future in Britain
or Europe, according to a survey published earlier this month by the
Campaign Against Anti-Semitism.

Kantor said Europe needed a security institution similar to the Department
of Homeland Security, which the United States set up after the 9/11 terror
attacks.

"We have to establish in Europe a special envoy on anti-Semitism because the
Jewish minority, the oldest in Europe, is the only one which is in danger to
be killed and to be expelled," he said.

The Czech president, the EJC and the European Parliament are hosting the Let
My People Live forum, which ends on Tuesday[27 Jan] -- International
Holocaust Remembrance Day.

"Today's fanatism, fundamentalism, racism is very similar to that which was
happening in the 1930s," Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka said at the
forum.


+++SOURCE:”Naharnet (Lebanon)26 Jan.’15:” Assad Dismisses U.S. Plans to
TrainRebels” Agence FrancePresse

SUBJECT:Assad :US rebel training plan ‘illusory’

QUOTE: “ Assad: US plans to train vetted rebels to fight the Islamic State
group were ‘illusory’ as they would eventually defect to the jihadists”

FULL TEXT:Syrian President Bashar Assad said U.S. plans to train vetted
rebels to fight the Islamic State group were "illusory" as they would
eventually defect to the jihadists, in an interview published Monday.[26
Jan.]

The Syrian leader also questioned talks to be held in Moscow this week,
telling Foreign Affairs magazine that his government would attend but was
not convinced the opposition figures taking part represented Syrians on the
ground.

Washington has backed the Syrian opposition since early in the uprising and
has unveiled plans to train more than 5,000 vetted rebels in Qatar, Saudi
Arabia and Turkey to fight IS.

Assad said the planned U.S.-trained force would be "illegal" and would be
treated like any other rebel group.

"They are going to be fought like any other illegal militia fighting against
the Syrian army," he said.

"Bringing 5,000 (fighters) from the outside will make most of them defect
and join ISIS (Islamic State) and other groups.

"The idea itself... is illusory."

The Pentagon has itself acknowledged that identifying and vetting potential
rebel recruits for training is a difficult task that cannot be accomplished
quickly without significant risks.

Assad questioned the seriousness of the U.S.-led campaign against the
jihadists.

"What we've seen so far is just, let's say, window-dressing, nothing real,"
he said.

"Did the United States put any pressure on Turkey to stop the support of
al-Qaida? They didn't," Assad said.

He was referring to his government's longstanding accusations that Ankara
has backed rebel groups including IS's jihadist rivals in al-Qaida affiliate
al-Nusra Front.

Assad said the nearly four-year-old conflict could only be ended with a
political solution, but cast doubt on the value of talks being organised
this week by his key ally Russia.

The dialogue, which was due to open later on Monday[26 Jan.], was intended
to bring together government and opposition representatives, but the main
exiled opposition bloc, the National Coalition, is boycotting.

Assad said his government would attend, but asked: "Who do you negotiate
with?

"We have institutions, we have an army and we have influence," he said.

"The people we are going to negotiate with, who do they represent?"

His government has long argued that the exiled opposition does not represent
people inside Syria, accusing it of being "puppets" of its main foreign
backers, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the United States.



+++SOURCE: Jordan Times 26 Jan.’15:”Japan cooperating with Jordan to secure
hostage’s release – official”, by KhetamMalkawi
SUBJECT: Jordan/Japan cooperate re IS hostage
FULL TEXT:AMMAN — Japan is working to realise the immediate release of
reporter Kenji Goto, who is held captive by the so-called Islamic State (IS)
group, while obtaining the cooperation of relevant countries, including
Jordan, Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said Sunday.

“At the same time, Japan will not give in to terrorism. Our position of
actively contributing to the counter-terrorism efforts by the international
community remains unchanged,” Suga told reporters, according to a transcript
of the press conference made available to The Jordan Times.

A video released by the terrorist group on Saturday[24 Jan] purportedly
shows Goto saying that he will not be killed if would-be suicide bomber
Sajida Rishawi is released by Jordanian authorities.

A photo was also released on the same day showing Haruna Yakuwa, the other
Japanese national who had been captured by IS, decapitated.

Rishawi is an Iraqi woman who was captured in connection with a failed
suicide bombing in one of the three hotels targeted in the Amman 2005
bombings.

She was supposed to detonate an explosive belt after another terrorist blew
himself up, in an orchestrated Al Qaeda attack that killed more than 60
people. Rishawi is currently on death row.

Suga refused to disclose any details on what Japan and Jordan are discussing
in connection with the swap.

“This is still an ongoing matter. Japan will pursue every possible means,
first and foremost, to save the life of Mr Goto. Furthermore, our position
on the matter of terrorism remains completely unchanged,” he added,
highlighting Jordan and Japan’s “extremely amicable relations”.

“His Majesty King Abdullah visited Japan last year and the prime minister
[Shinzo Abe] visited Jordan this month. In this sense, I would like to
reiterate that Japan and Jordan have extremely close ties,” he added.

Reports and analysts had expected that IS would demand the release of
Rishawi and another detained Iraqi terrorist, Ziad Al Karboli, in return for
detained Jordanian pilot Muath Kasasbeh, who was taken hostage late last
year when his plane crashed in Syria.

Stressing that Jordan and Japan share deep ties, Mamoun Abu Nuwar, a
military expert, said Jordan might negotiate for the release of Kasasbeh
along with the Japanese hostage in exchange for Rishawi.

He said there has been a “dramatic change” in the IS attitude, as they
decided to change their demands from a $200 million ransom to the release of
Rishawi, although “they need money” after the drop in the price of oil,
which is a main source of their income.

The Kingdom last year released Libyan prisoner Mohammad Dersi, who was
serving a life sentence imprisonment in Jordan for plotting to carry out a
bombing attack against Queen Alia International Airport in 2006, as part of
a swap deal to release Jordan’s ambassador to Libya Fawaz Aitan.

Aitan was kidnapped by an armed group in Libya in April 2014.

Meanwhile, the Jihadi Salafist movement in Jordan denied as baseless news
reports claiming that they can negotiate with IS for the release of Kasasbeh
and the Japanese hostage.

Mohammad Shalabi, or Abu Sayyaf, head of the Jihadi Salafist movement, told
The Jordan Times that there is no contact between the movement and IS.

“There are members of the movement who know members of IS, but there is no
coordination or any connection with them at the group level,” Abu Sayyaf
said.

In remarks to The Jordan Times on Saturday[25 Jan.], one of the Japanese
journalists who came to Amman to follow up on the kidnap of Goto said the
Japanese people hope that the Jordanian government will help in the release
of their fellow citizen.

Yusuke Ibi, who works for Tokyo Broadcasting System, said: “Most of the
Japanese people hope that the Jordanian government can release Rishawi to
save Goto.”

He added that although the Japanese know about IS, they never expected that
the group would affect them.

Japan set up an operations room in Jordan last week to deal with the
kidnapping. The operations room is headed by Japan’s State Minister for
Foreign Affairs Yasuhide Nakayama, an embassy official told The Jordan
Times.

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Sue Lerner -Associate, IMRA