Obama puts nuclear deal into effect, but Iran still likely months away from sanction relief

President Obama on Sunday signed the Iran nuclear deal, officially putting the international agreement into effect.
The president’s signature opens the way for Iran to make major changes to an underground nuclear facility, a heavy water reactor and a site for enriching uranium.
However, the rogue nation will need months to meet those goals and get relief from the crippling economic sanction that will be lifted as part of deal, despite the pact going into effect Sunday.
The seven-nation deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, was reached on July 14, after roughly two years of negotiations.
The so-called “Adoption Day” on Sunday also requires the United States and other participating countries to make the necessary arrangements and preparations for implementation” of the deal, the president said.
"Today marks an important milestone toward preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon and ensuring its nuclear program is exclusively peaceful going forward," Obama said. "I welcome this important step forward. And we, together with our partners, must now focus on the critical work of fully implementing this comprehensive resolution that addresses our concerns over Iran’s nuclear program."
Senior administration officials said Saturday they understand it's in Iran's best interest to work quickly, but they are only concerned that the work is done correctly.
They insisted that no relief from the penalties will occur until the U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency has verified Iran's compliance with the terms of the agreement. They said Iran's work will almost certainly take more than the two months Iran has projected.
The administration officials spoke on a conference call with reporters, but under the condition that they not be identified by name.
As part of the nuclear agreement, Obama on Sunday also issued provisional waivers and a memorandum instructing U.S. agencies to lay the groundwork for relieving sanctions on Iran.
In Iran, Ali Akbar Velayati, a top adviser to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told state TV: "On implementation, all should be watchful that Westerners, particularly Americans, to keep their promises."
Velayati said Iran expects that the United States and other Western countries that negotiated the deal will show their "good will" through lifting sanctions.
Iran's atomic energy chief, Ali Akbar Salehi, told state TV that Tehran was ready to begin taking steps to comply, and awaited an order from President Hassan Rouhani. "We are hopeful to begin in the current or next week," he said.
The IAEA said Sunday that Iran has agreed to allow greater monitoring of its commitment to the deal, going beyond basic oversight provided by the safeguards agreement that IAEA member nations have with the agency. For instance, it allows short-notice inspections of sites the IAEA may suspect of undeclared nuclear activities.
Even as the terms of the deal begin taking effect, recent developments have shown the wide gulf between the U.S. and Iran on other issues.
Fighters from Iran have been working in concert with Russia in Syria, and a Revolutionary Court convicted a Washington Post reporter who has been held more than a year on charges including espionage. The court has not provided details on the verdict or sentence. Further, two other Americans are being detained, and the U.S. has asked for the Iranian government's assistance in finding a former FBI agent who disappeared in 2007 while working for the CIA on an unapproved intelligence mission.
Also, Iran successfully test-fired a guided long-range ballistic surface-to-surface missile.
But the U.S. officials asserted that those actions would be worse if they were backed up by a nation with a nuclear weapon. The officials emphasized that the seven-nation pact is focused solely on resolving the nuclear issue.
The steps being taken by the U.S. come 90 days after the U.N. Security Council endorsed the deal.

Trump suggests he might have prevented 9/11 attacks, extending feud with Bush

Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump suggested Sunday that he could have prevented the 9/11 attacks had he been president in 2001 -- escalating his feud with primary rival Jeb Bush about the fatal terror strikes.
Trump, a first-time candidate, implied his stance on immigration could have kept out the terrorists who slipped into the United States and trained in the country to hijack the four commercial airliners and kill nearly 3,000 people on American soil on Sept. 11, 2001.
“I am extremely, extremely tough on illegal immigration,” Trump told "Fox News Sunday." “I believe that if I were running things,  … I doubt that those people would have been in the country.”
The 19 hijackers crashed one airliner each into the Pentagon and the twin World Trade Center towers in New York City, roughly nine months after Bush’s older brother, President George W. Bush, took office in 2001.
Passengers in one airliner overpowered the radical Islamic hijackers, forcing the craft to crash in Shanksville, Pa., with no survivors.
The Trump-Bush feud essentially started during the second 2016 GOP presidential primary debate when Jeb Bush defended his brother against Trump’s criticism about the attacks.
“You remember the rubble at the World Trade Center? He sent a clear signal that the United States would be strong and fight Islamic terrorism, and he did keep us safe,” Bush said to huge audience applause.
Trump responded: “You feel safe right now? I don’t feel so safe.”
Bush, a former Florida governor, has since shaped his response to suggest his brother united Americans and kept then safer after the attacks.
The exchanges also have put Bush in a challenging position, defending his family while trying to distance himself from Bush political dynasty, included shortcomings in the administrations of his brother and father, George H.W. Bush.
On Friday, Trump returned to his attacks when talking on Bloomberg TV about how and why, if elected, he could best handle national emergencies.
“Blame him or don’t blame him, but (Bush) was president,” said the billionaire New York real estate mogul. “The World Trade Center came down during his reign.”
Hours later Jeb Bush tweeted, “How pathetic for @realdonaldtrump to criticize the president for 9/11. We were attacked & my brother kept us safe.”
Trump also said Sunday that during the debate he was just responding to Bush saying the country was safe under his brother’s watch.
“I'm not blaming anybody,” Trump said. “But the World Trade Center came down.  So when he said, we were safe, that's not safe.  … It was probably the greatest catastrophe ever in this country.”

Maryland gets okay to recall Confederate flag license plates; Virginia's recall meets defiance

Maryland got the okay from a judge to recall Confederate flag special license plates, joining Virginia -- where a similar recall effort has encountered near universal defiance from owners of the tags to return them.
Both states acted to recall the plates after a self-proclaimed white supremacist killed nine black South Carolina churchgoers in June. The gunman had taken photos of himself with guns and the Confederate flag and posted them online before the shooting.
A federal judge issued an order Thursday allowing Maryland to recall tags featuring the Confederate battle flag after Nov. 17, Reuters reported.
“I look forward to the day when these plates are no longer on the road,” Maryland Attorney General Brian Frost said in a statement. “This flag is a painful symbol that divides us, conjuring images of hate and subjugation. It has no place in any contemporary government use.”
A judge ruled in 1997 that Maryland’s Sons of Confederate Veterans license plates were protected free speech and enjoined the state from recalling them, Reuters reported.
But in June, the U.S. Supreme Court said Confederate flag license plates constituted government speech that could be subjected to regulation.
Virginia announced it would recall the plates in August and as of Oct. 4 it is illegal to drive with Confederate license plates. Violators face prosecution on a misdemeanor if stopped.
But the recall has encountered little cooperation, according to WAVY-TV.
Of 1,600 Sons of Confederate Veterans license plates on the road, only 187 have been returned, the station reported Thursday.
Kevin Collier told the station he is refusing to give up his plates. He is the commander of the Stonewall Camp of the Sons of Confederate Veterans and his great-great-great grandfather fought with the Confederacy.
“I can’t fight on the battlefield like they did, but I can fight however I can in modern times and I will not give them plates up,” he said.
The Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles asked the Sons of Confederate Veterans to help design a new plate but the organization did not respond.
“Next thing you know, they’re going to say you can’t wear blue on Monday, you know, or you can’t wear yellow on Thursday,” Collier told WAVY. “Where’s it going to end?”

Gowdy: Benghazi panel's new facts focus on 'four dead Americans,' not Clinton 2016 bid

Hillary Clinton’s upcoming testimony before Congress’ special Benghazi committee is being hyped as the biggest moment in the panel’s controversial existence. But the committee’s Republican leaders said Sunday they are equally, if not more, focused on new evidence and continued pursuit of the facts behind the fatal 2012 attacks.
“We have found new facts that have absolutely nothing to do with her,” South Carolina GOP Rep. Trey Gowdy, chairman of the House Select Committee on Benghazi, told CBS' “Face the Nation.”
“I get that people don't want to talk about that. But the seven [Republican] members of my committee are much more focused on the four dead Americans than we are anyone's presidential aspirations.”
Clinton, the 2016 Democratic presidential front-runner, is scheduled to testify Thursday about her role as secretary of state during the Sept. 11, 2012, attacks on a U.S. outpost in Benghazi, Libya, in which Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans were killed.
Gowdy said Sunday that the 12-member bipartisan committee has acquired Stephens’ emails from that time and suggested dozens more witnesses will be called.
Clinton is "an important witness, but she is one witness,” he also said. “I understand that there's more attention associated with her. But from my perspective, I am much more interested in Chris Stevens' emails, which we just received, than I am her emails, which we just received.”
He also suggested that new emails show Clinton and other members of the administration were too focused on the politics of Benghazi.
Gowdy said Stevens even joked in an email that maybe he and others at the Benghazi outpost “should ask another government to pay for our security upgrades because our government isn't willing to do it.”
“You want to know what happened in Libya, you got to look at his emails,” Gowdy continued.
The special committee discovered that Clinton as the country’s top diplomat used a private server and emails for official business. But since being formed last year, the committee has faced criticism about being a political tool for Republicans to tarnish Clinton’s 2016 campaign.
Democrats and other critics say House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., proved the argument a few weeks ago when he suggested that Clinton’s poll numbers have dropped as the committee and others investigate the email controversy.
Their argument and calls to shutter the committee have been further bolstered recently by Rep. Richard Hanna, R-N.Y., suggesting the committee is politically motivated and a fired committee investigator suggesting Republican members were overly focused on Clinton.
This weekend, Democrats also argued that the select committee probe has lasted longer than the congressional Watergate investigation.
However, Republican committee member and Rep. Mike Pompeo said Sunday that Democrats “hiding the ball” has slowed investigative efforts and that GOP leaders have no plans to close the committee.
“We’re not done,” the Kansas lawmaker told NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “We still have many witnesses and many documents. We’re just getting started.”
In addition, Gowdy on Sunday told fellow Republicans uninformed about exactly what the committee is doing to "shut up."
Maryland Rep. Elijah Cummings, the top Democrat on the committee, still thinks the panel is too focused on Clinton and a waste of taxpayer money.
“After 17 months, $4.7 million and counting of taxpayer money .. Chairman Gowdy is now saying he has another two dozen witnesses to interview,” he told CBS on Sunday.
He also said Gowdy is “now trying to shift back to where we should have been all along -- that is looking at the Benghazi incident.”
As proof, Cummings said the committee has yet to call to testify the CIA director, secretary of defense and head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the time of the attacks.

Biden Cartoon

Hillary moneyman highlights new Saudi connection

The Saudi government, under increasing criticism over civilian casualties from its airstrikes in Yemen and a harsh crackdown on political dissidents at home, has just hired a powerhouse Washington, D.C., lobbying firm headed by a top Hillary Clinton fundraiser — an arrangement that critics charge raises fresh questions about the influence that foreign government lobbyists could have on her campaign.

The Saudi contract with the Podesta Group, owned by veteran Washington lobbyist and Clinton campaign bundler Tony Podesta, calls for the firm to provide “public relations” and other services on behalf of the royal court of King Salman.

It included an initial “project fee” payment of $200,000 last month and unspecified further sums over the course of the next year, according to documents recently filed with the Justice Department Foreign Agents Registration Act office.

The retention comes at a time when the Saudis are being condemned by United Nations officials over reports that their bombings against Houthi strongholds in Yemen’s civil war have resulted in the deaths and injuries of hundreds of innocent civilians, including children.

Adding to the international pressure, the Saudis are also facing criticism from human rights groups over their continued refusal to allow basic rights to women (e.g., the freedom to drive cars). They are also being criticized for their hard-line domestic suppression of political dissidents, with draconian punishments such as the sentence — by beheading — recently given to a 20-year-old Shiite political protester.

“They are very nervous about an American policy change, and so they are betting on the horse they think will win — Hillary Clinton,” said Ali Al-Ahmad, a Saudi analyst with the Institute for Gulf Affairs, and a frequent critic of the regime, about the hiring of the Podesta Group.

The Podesta Group is now on a roster of a half-dozen D.C. lobbying firms representing the Saudis, including the giant international law firm DLA Piper and the firm Hogan Lovells, whose principal on the Saudi account is former Minnesota Republican Sen. Norm Coleman, who chairs the Congressional Leadership Fund, a super-PAC that is a major source of House GOP campaign funds. (Former Texas congressman Tom Loeffler, a top bundler for Jeb Bush’s presidential campaign, for years represented the Saudis, but his current firm, Akin Gump, now lobbies for the United Arab Emirates, among other foreign clients.)

But the retention of the Podesta Group has gotten attention in Washington lobbying circles because of its unusually close ties to Hillary Clinton’s campaign: Tony Podesta is the brother and former business partner of Clinton’s campaign chairman, John Podesta. He is also a prolific Democratic Party fundraiser who is among 43 Washington lobbyists (many of whom also represent foreign governments) listed as Clinton campaign bundlers in reports filed by the campaign with the Federal Election Commission.

The reports disclose that Podesta had raised $140,175 for the Clinton campaign through Sept. 30. Two weeks ago, just days after filing its Saudi contract with the Justice Department, Podesta held a Clinton campaign fundraiser at his home that offered fine Italian food cooked by five gourmet chefs, including himself and his brother, the campaign chairman.

The Podesta Group point man on the Saudi account is David Adams, who previously served as assistant secretary of state for legislative affairs in 2011 and 2012, making him Clinton’s chief Capitol Hill lobbyist for her last two years as secretary of state, according to Justice Department filings reviewed by Yahoo News.

But Tony Podesta, while calling himself “a proud Clinton bundler,” vigorously denied that the Saudi contract had anything to do with his efforts to elect her president. “I’ve never had a conversation with Hillary Clinton or anybody in the campaign about the work of the firm,” Podesta said when reached by Yahoo News on his cellphone while he was dining at a restaurant in Sicily. “We represent a dozen foreign governments around the world — we do good work for them. And it has nothing to do with the Hillary Clinton campaign.”

Obama's foreign policy could burden Biden if he runs in 2016

When President Barack Obama announced this week that the United States would leave more troops than planned in Afghanistan, his vice president, Joe Biden, stood right at his side.

And for Biden, still mulling a presidential bid, that could pose a problem.

As he calculates all the angles that would influence his candidacy - a decision is reportedly coming within days - Biden has more than the looming obstacle of front-runner Hillary Clinton to consider. As a candidate, he would become the chief defender of a foreign policy that critics say has been incoherent and that gets increasingly low marks in public opinion polls.

Beyond Afghanistan, the White House is under fire for its response to Russian action in Syria, where Vladimir Putin has assumed the superpower role there that the United States has declined to take, for the enduring threat posed by Islamic State, and for the Iran nuclear deal that has spiked tensions with ally Israel.

Biden, who prides himself on being a full partner on Obama’s national security team, would own all of it. “Foreign policy is a liability for Biden,” Democratic strategist Douglas Schoen said.

The Afghanistan shift was a personal setback for Biden, the most influential voice in the administration pushing for hard timelines for the removal of U.S. troops from the country. Clinton, by contrast, favored a more robust military presence there during her tenure as secretary of state during Obama's first term.
Clinton, whose status as the prohibitive front-runner wouldn't change even if Biden jumps in, has distanced herself from Obama by calling for more aggressive action in Syria and opposing the Pacific Rim trade deal. As a sitting vice president, Biden wouldn't have the luxury of distancing himself from Obama's policies, even if he were so inclined.

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President Barack Obama, left, standing with Vice President Joe Biden, right, listen as Diana Caldero …

“How does a presidential aspirant like Joe Biden reach for a bold American foreign policy without fundamentally distancing himself from his boss? It’s tough,” said Aaron David Miller, a former official in the Clinton and Bush administrations who is now with the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.
Obama’s approval ratings with the U.S. public on foreign policy have tumbled since Biden stood at the Democratic National Convention three years ago and pronounced, “Osama bin Laden is dead and General Motors is alive.”
According to Gallup, Obama enjoyed about a 50 percent approval rating on foreign affairs during his first term. That number fell to 36 percent this summer.
National security is often overshadowed in U.S. presidential races by domestic issues, most notably jobs and economic growth.
But with the economy on a firmer footing that means it is not drowning out other issues for voters, some Republicans such as U.S. Senator Marco Rubio of Florida are trying to put more of a spotlight on foreign policy.
Rubio regularly blasts Obama on the campaign trail and said of Biden: “He’s been wrong time and again on issue after issue."
“He would be a disastrous commander-in-chief,” Rubio told radio host Hugh Hewitt in August, as speculation about Biden’s intentions began to swirl.
Biden’s reputation took a hit when it was revealed that he had advised against the U.S. military raid that killed bin Laden in 2011.
He was a firm supporter of a reduced U.S. role in Iraq, which the administration’s detractors argue created a vacuum that strengthened the rise of Islamic State. Biden also resisted arming rebel groups in Syria.
Clinton recently called for a "no fly" zone in Syria, which both Obama and Biden oppose.

Should he run, Biden “has to establish his own identity,” but to do so he would have to highlight times when he privately disagreed with Obama, said Anthony Cordesman, an expert on U.S. security policy at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Biden’s supporters say he could point to his decades in the Senate, especially his years chairing the Foreign Relations Committee, to counter Republican arguments that he would simply be an extension of Obama's world view. For example, Biden has been friends for decades with Benjamin Netanyahu. Obama, by contrast, has a frosty relationship with the Israeli prime minister.

Donald Trump says true thing about 9/11 and Jeb! is having none of it

Last night, things got even more fun when Jeb! decided to come at the Donald via everyone’s favorite social media platform for discussing large complex topics.
What kicked this newest incident off was an interview Trump did with Bloomberg, during which he said:

When you talk about George Bush, I mean, say what you want, the World Trade Center came down during his time…He was president, OK?…Blame him, or don’t blame him, but he was president. The World Trade Center came down during his reign.

This is a 100% factual claim, which is a weird thing to say after a Donald Trump quote, but here we are. Jeb! (whose last name is Bush) wasn’t thrilled with this statement and took to Twitter to let everyone know.
This is similar to a Jeb! quote from the last republican debate, which also made its way into another confusing tweet.
There is a certain morbid hilarity in the idea of a picture of Bush standing atop the rubble of a terrorist attack and proclaiming he “Kept us safe.” This is a weird talking point that Jeb! just refuses to abandon, despite the fact that every time he says it everyone legitimately wonders if he just flat out doesn’t remember 9/11.
By the way, Jeb! should know way more things about his brother. Little things, like his birthday and wife and children’s names should probably be on the list of “things you know for sure about your brother.”
Of course, coming at Trump on Twitter is a risky proposition, because he will respond, and he will be mean, and he will put a period before that @ to make sure everyone sees it.
Once again, these are true statements. It’s an empirical fact that the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001 happened during the presidency of George W. Bush. If Jeb! wants to argue to finer points of why his brother shouldn’t be blamed or how his policies in the aftermath of the attack were good (which would be a monumentally difficult task, because they were not), fine, he can do that. But he really needs to stop just saying “he kept us safe,” because it’s way too easy to point to that one day and say “No, I don’t believe he did.”

Jeb responds to Trump comments on George W. Bush and 9/11 attacks

Jeb Bush on Friday night defended brother and former President George W. Bush after fellow GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump suggested that he shares blame for the 9/11 terror attacks.
Bush, a former Florida governor, called Trump’s criticism “pathetic.”
The front-running Trump made his comments earlier Friday while speaking on Bloomberg Television about how and why, if elected, he could best handle national emergencies.
“Blame him or don’t blame him, but (Bush) was president,” Trump said. “The World Trade Center came down during his reign.”
Jeb Bush responded on Twitter, saying “How pathetic for @realdonaldtrump to criticize the president for 9/11. We were attacked & my brother kept us safe.”
This is not the first time Bush has during his 2016 campaign had to defend his older brother, in trying to distinguish himself from the Bush family political dynasty and be his “own man.”
In the second GOP presidential primary debate, Bush defended similar criticism from Trump, after he acknowledged that his foreign policy advisers would likely come from the administrations of his brother George W. and his father, former President George H. W. Bush.
“You remember the rubble” at the World Trade Center? He sent a clear signal that the United States would be strong and fight Islamic terrorism, and he did keep us safe,” Bush said to huge audience applause.
Trump responded: “You feel safe right now? I don’t feel so safe.”

'How to stab a Jew': Israel at UN condemns Palestinian president for inciting violence

A Palestinian disguised as a photojournalist stabbed an Israeli soldier in Hebron Friday, the same day Palestinians torched a site honored by the Jewish community as the tomb of the biblical figure Joseph.
The latest round of violence and bloodshed came as the United Nations Security Council held an emergency meeting on the fighting. Speaking before the meeting, new Israeli Ambassador Danny Danon displayed a Palestinian diagram meant to incite violence, entitled: "How to stab a Jew."
He blamed the Palestinian government and media for provoking attacks among children and teenagers. “You can see with this picture what incitement looks like,” he added.
The Palestinian ambassador to the United Nations, Riyad Mansour, blamed what he called Israeli "terror" through its occupation of East Jerusalem. He said such actions "will not break the will of our people."
U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Samantha Power condemned the deadly attacks, urging world leaders to tone down harsh rhetoric, or "any actions that can feed the violence."
Friday’s stabbing occurred on the sidelines of fighting between Israeli troops and Palestinian stone-throwers. A Palestinian man wearing a T-shirt with the word "press" in large letters stabbed and wounded the Israeli soldier before troops shot and killed the attacker.
At one point, shouts were heard, followed by several gunshots. Troops rushed to the scene of the stabbing, near a military jeep, and administered aid to the injured soldier who was eventually taken away by ambulance. The attacker lay on the ground, clutching a knife in his right hand.
The incident heightened concerns among journalists about their safety. The Foreign Press Association for Israel and the Palestinian territories said it "marks a worrying development" that demands all media operate with greater caution.
"We utterly deplore this violation of press privilege and call on local Palestinian media organizations to immediately verify all media credentials," the FPA said in a statement.
The attacker's name has not been released, but local journalists said they did not know him.
In Nablus, another West Bank city, Palestinians firebombed the tomb, an attack condemned as "irresponsible" by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Flames blackened exterior walls of the small stone structure, a scene of Israeli-Palestinian clashes in the past.
Confrontations also erupted in the biblical town of Bethlehem and the Israel-Gaza border.
In Gaza, hundreds approached a border crossing with Israel, throwing stones and drawing Israeli fire that killed one Palestinian and wounded two, health officials said. In Bethlehem, dozens of Palestinians hurled stones and firebombs at Israeli troops who responded with tear gas, rubber-coated steel pellets and live rounds.
In the past month, eight Israelis were killed in Palestinian attacks, most of them stabbings. During the same period, 34 Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire -- 15 labeled by Israel as attackers, and the others in clashes between stone-throwers and Israeli troops.
Many of the Palestinian assailants are from east Jerusalem, the sector of the city captured by Israel in 1967 and sought by the Palestinians as a future capital. The recent attacks have largely been carried out by individuals with no ties to militant groups. The violence comes at a time when a possible partition of the land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean into two states -- Palestine alongside Israel -- is fading fast.
In response to the stabbings, Israel has taken unprecedented measures, including setting up checkpoints in Arab neighborhoods of Jerusalem this week despite Israel's long-standing assertion that the city is united.
In one area, men passing through a checkpoint Friday said they lined up and ordered by troops to lift their hands and shirts to show they were unarmed before being allowed to pass.
Israel also imposed restrictions on Muslim worship at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, Islam's third holiest site in Jerusalem's walled Old City. Men under 40 were barred from the shrine, and hundreds of young worshippers spread out prayer mats on streets leading to the Old City.
The Muslim-run shrine, also revered by Jews as the holiest site of their religion, has been at the root of recent tensions. Palestinian and Muslim leaders have alleged Israel is attempting to change long-standing arrangements that bar Jews from praying on the hilltop compound, a claim denied by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. However, several senior members of Netanyahu's coalition have called for Jewish prayer rights at the site, once home to biblical Jewish Temples.
The widespread perception among Palestinians that Al-Aqsa is under threat from Israel has fomented tensions and violence.
Abbas has tried to lower the temperature, telling his security commanders that armed attacks on Israelis counter Palestinian interests. However, he has also told his security forces not to stop Palestinian stone-throwers heading to confrontations with Israeli troops.
Abbas on Friday condemned the Nablus arson as "irresponsible," ordered an investigation into who was behind it and said repairs would begin immediately, according to the official Palestinian news agency WAFA.
Dore Gold, a senior Israeli Foreign Ministry official, said the site was targeted "just because it is a place in which Jews pray." Lt. Col. Peter Lerner, an Israeli army spokesman, said the attack violates freedom of worship and that the military will "bring the perpetrators of this despicable act to justice."
For centuries, the site has been identified with the biblical Joseph but some Palestinians say it was a sheikh's grave or used as a mosque. The tomb has become a popular prayer site in recent years among some sects of religious Jews.
The site is located in an area under Palestinian self-rule and visits by Jews are coordinated between Palestinian security forces and Israeli troops.

Hillary Cartoon

Fact Check: Obama claims Afghan combat mission over – despite airstrikes, special ops

Report: US believed Afghan hospital was Taliban base

President Obama may be stretching when he assures the American public that combat operations in Afghanistan ended last year.

The president repeated the claim Thursday as he announced 5,500 U.S. troops would remain in Afghanistan after 2016. "Last December, more than 13 years after our nation was attacked by Al Qaeda on 9/11, America’s combat mission in Afghanistan came to responsible end," Obama said from the White House, flanked by Vice President Biden, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Joe Dunford and Defense Secretary Ash Carter.

But this year alone, the U.S. military has carried out more than 328 airstrikes, dropping 629 bombs since January, according to U.S. Air Force Central Command. That amounts to roughly one U.S. airstrike a day since the president announced that combat operations had ended during his State of the Union address in January. So far this year, 25 U.S. service members have been killed in Afghanistan.

During his January address, Obama said U.S. troops have moved to a “support role.” He said, “Together with our allies, we will complete our mission there by the end of this year, and America's longest war will finally be over."

Obama backed off his pledge Thursday to end the war by the end of the year, but maintained that the combat mission is over and said the mission of those staying behind will not change. The remaining U.S. forces will be based at three air bases in Bagram, Kandahar and Jalalabad, and will only be authorized to train Afghans and hunt Al Qaeda.

"Our forces engage in two missions -- training Afghan forces and supporting counterterror operations against remnants of Al Qaeda," the president said at the White House.

Carter told reporters the same from the Pentagon: "The combat mission has ended and our mission now, on a day-to-day basis, is train, advise and assist and counterterrorism and only to undertake other kinds of operations, either to protect our own forces or in an extremist situation."

The administration argues that despite sustained airstrikes, that mission nevertheless counts as “counterterrorism” and not “combat.” A Fox News reporter asked Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook on Thursday to clarify Carter's remarks that "combat" is over and the "counterterror" mission remains.

"I think we've talked about it a lot,” Cook said. “It’s clear when we're talking about the counterterror mission – the target is remnants of Al Qaeda."

Yet these restrictions may also be a misrepresentation of the reality on the ground in Afghanistan.

For example, the actions of U.S. Special Operations forces on the ground in Kunduz show U.S. troops are doing more than "training Afghan forces" or targeting Al Qaeda. A U.S. Special Forces team called in the airstrike on Oct. 3 that hit a Kunduz hospital run by Doctors Without Borders. The hospital had been suspected of having a Taliban presence; the head of U.S. forces in Afghanistan Gen. John Campbell told reporters it was the Afghans who requested the airstrike. The U.S. has since called the strike a mistake.

Separately, a press release from U.S. Forces-Afghanistan revealed that beginning Oct. 7, the U.S. military “conducted 63 precision strikes while Afghan forces engaged in several battles on the ground against al-Qaeda networks at two related sites.” A large cache of weapons was seized by 200 U.S. and Afghan ground forces.

The two training sites were located in Kandahar, Afghanistan, the same area where Usama bin Laden set up training camps in the 1990s. According to the statement, one of the camps was 30 square miles, half the size of Washington, D.C.
Jennifer Griffin currently serves as a national security correspondent for FOX News Channel . She joined FNC in October 1999 as a Jerusalem-based correspondent.

Money Men: Carson, Bush, Cruz lead latest round in GOP cash race

Ben Carson, Jeb Bush and Ted Cruz appear to be leading the money race in the Republican presidential primary, according to third-quarter numbers released by the campaigns ahead of Thursday's filing deadline. 
Carson far out-raised his GOP rivals in the last quarter, bringing in more than $20 million, thanks to a surge of support in the polls and accompanying rush of small-dollar donations.
While the retired neurosurgeon's numbers previously had been reported, Bush only released his fundraising details Thursday afternoon. Though there was speculation as to whether the one-time front-runner would be able to sustain the fundraising pace as his poll numbers have slipped, the former Florida governor's campaign says he raised nearly $13.4 million in the latest period, outpacing his second-quarter haul.
Cruz, a Texas senator, followed with $12.2 million raised.
Billionaire Donald Trump, the Republican front-runner raised $3.9 million during the last quarter, but is not actively fundraising and is instead spending his own cash on the campaign trail. 
The totals suggest Bush and Cruz, among others, have the financial backing to sustain an aggressive campaign, for now, even as Trump and Carson lead the polls. Bush reported having $10.3 million in the bank at the end of September, while Cruz reported $13.5 million on hand. While Florida Sen. Marco Rubio did not raise as much in the third quarter, he also reported a sizable, $11 million war chest.

More on this...

• Fox News Poll: Carson giving Trump a run for his money

But Carson's numbers are especially impressive in that he more than doubled the $8 million he made in the last quarter, raising $12 million in the month of September alone.
"He is converting the populist appeal of his message into support and campaign dollars, which will allow him to continue to wage a viable campaign -- but whether this allows him to broaden his base of support remains to be seen, especially given the competition he faces from other non-traditional and conservative candidates," said Tony Corrado, professor of government and a campaign finance observer at Colby College in Maine.
Carson had $11.5 million cash on hand in the third quarter, cementing his status as a top-tier GOP candidate, second only to Trump in recent surveys.
The Federal Election Commission filing deadline is Thursday, though many of the campaigns decided to report their contributions to the press beforehand. The third quarter covers the period of June 30 through Sept. 30.
Meanwhile, Trump told Fox News on Tuesday that he has spent "very little" on his campaign so far. "I've spent zero on advertising. Every [network] they have covered me a lot. It's almost like if I put ads on top of the program it would be too much, it would be too much Trump. I've spent the least money and have the best poll numbers."
The Democrats brought in a far greater take than the Republican candidates, in part because there are fewer of them vying for the party's donor base. According to front-runner Hillary Clinton's campaign, she raised $28 million during the third quarter and had $32 million on hand. Her main opponent, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, raised $26 million and had $25 million in cash on hand.
Carson apparently is spending the money at a quick pace, as he tries to sustain his momentum. According to his campaign, he spent $14 million from July to September.
"We will be able to fully fund our most expansive get-out-the-vote program, and our most expansive advertising program and our most expansive social media program in Iowa through the caucuses," Doug Watts, his spokesman, told the Des Moines Register Thursday.
Other candidates are pulling in substantial figures as well.
Republican Carly Fiorina has benefited from a boost after solid performances in the first two primary debates. According to her campaign, she raised $6.8 million in the third quarter and had $5.8 million on hand, compared with the $1.7 million she took in during the second quarter from April to June. She joined the race officially in May.
Rubio, according to his campaign, raised $6 million in the third quarter -- compared with $8 million in the second quarter -- and has about $11 million on hand. Political observers say he is competing for the same establishment donors as Bush, but could benefit from a shot in the arm by casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, who recent reports indicate has been warming to the Florida senator. Adelson spent a total of $92 million on political candidates and causes in 2012.
The figures being reported by the campaigns this month pertain to campaign accounts, and not the super PACs backing them, which are pouring in millions more on top of what the campaigns are spending.
Analysts say the ability to raise money through a large donor base, particularly from small donors, signals the long-term health of a campaign over all -- perhaps with the exception of self-funder Trump.
In this arena, Carson appears to be ahead too, receiving more than 600,000 donations from more than 350,000 donors, his campaign reported to the press at the end of September. Meanwhile, Cruz's campaign said he had a total of 120,000 donors through the third quarter. Still, none of this compares to Sanders, who says he has had 1 million donors since the start of his campaign in late May. Clinton's people say 93 percent of her donations were $100 or less.
Other Republican candidates are pulling in less money.
Ohio Gov. John Kasich raised $4.4 million, spent $1.71, million and finished the quarter with $2.66 million on hand, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie raised $4 million in the last quarter, spent nearly $3 million, and has about $1.4 million on hand.
Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul raised $2.5 million, a decline from the $6.9 million raised in the second quarter, and had some $2 million in cash on hand.
The Paul campaign sent out a memo Thursday defending its status in the race, saying some "are pushing a false narrative that Senator Rand Paul (SRP) is on the ropes."
The campaign maintained that Paul "has the best organization in America."
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal reported raising $1.16 million in the third quarter. Former Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore reported raising $62,000. Other Republican candidates have not yet announced their fundraising totals.

Source: FBI probe of Clinton email focused on ‘gross negligence’ provision

Three months after Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email address and server while secretary of state was referred to the FBI, an intelligence source familiar with the investigation tells Fox News that the team is now focused on whether there were violations of an Espionage Act subsection pertaining to "gross negligence" in the safekeeping of national defense information.
Under 18 USC 793 subsection F, the information does not have to be classified to count as a violation. The intelligence source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity citing the sensitivity of the ongoing probe, said the subsection requires the "lawful possession" of national defense information by a security clearance holder who "through gross negligence," such as the use of an unsecure computer network, permits the material to be removed or abstracted from its proper, secure location.
Subsection F also requires the clearance holder "to make prompt report of such loss, theft, abstraction, or destruction to his superior officer. "A failure to do so "shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both."
The source said investigators are also focused on possible obstruction of justice. "If someone knows there is an ongoing investigation and takes action to impede an investigation, for example destruction of documents or threatening of witnesses, that could be a separate charge but still remain under a single case," the source said. Currently, the ongoing investigation is led by the Washington Field Office of the FBI.
A former FBI agent, who is not involved in the case, said the inconsistent release of emails, with new documents coming to light from outside accounts, such as that of adviser Sidney Blumenthal, could constitute obstruction. In addition, Clinton’s March statement that there was no classified material on her private server has proven false, after more than 400 emails containing classified information were documented.
Clinton and her team maintain the use of a private account was allowed, and the intelligence was not classified at the time, but later upgraded. The latter claim is disputed by the intelligence community Inspector General, who represents the agencies involved, which concluded the information was classified from the start.
One of Clinton's primary defenses is that the emails containing classified information, did not carry classification markings, but a leading national security defense attorney says that is no excuse under the law.
“The fact that something's not marked or that the person may not know that it was classified would not be relevant at all in a prosecution under the Espionage Act,” defense attorney Edward MacMahon Jr. recently told Fox.
It is not known what relevant evidence, if any, has been uncovered by the FBI, or whether any charges will ultimately be brought, but Director James Comey told reporters in Washington D.C. on Oct. 1, "If you know my folks... they don't give a rip about politics."
On Thursday, a group of national security whistleblowers held a news conference in Washington at the National Press Club to highlight what they characterized as a double standard in these types of cases.
NSA whistleblower Thomas Drake was indicted in 2010 under the Espionage Act for sharing unclassified material with a Baltimore Sun reporter. Drake, who also went to Congress with his concerns about the NSA, said his goal was to expose government misconduct.
"This is the secretary of state, one of the most targeted individuals by other intelligence entities and agencies in the world using a private server to traffic highly sensitive information and no doubt including classified information and no doubt including info about sources and methods,"Drake said at Thursday’s event.
He added the whistleblowers’ treatment shows there is a law for the average citizen, and apparently a different set of rules for the powerful.
"But hey, I'm secretary of state,” Drake said in a sarcastic tone. ”Even Obama gave her cover."
The charges against Drake were eventually dropped. He pled guilty to a misdemeanor, but in the process lost his ability to work in national security and depleted his life savings to mount a defense.
Former CIA officer Jeffrey Sterling also went to Congress with his complaints, but was sentenced in May to three-and-a-half years in prison for violating the Espionage Act by giving classified information to a New York Times reporter. Sterling, who is appealing the case, was also convicted on obstruction of justice charges because a single email was missing from his account, even though the government could not show he was responsible for that.
Clinton has acknowledged deleting some 30,000 emails she considered personal.
In 2015, former CIA Director General David Petraeus pled guilty to a misdemeanor admitting he mishandled classified materials by sharing notebooks with his former mistress and biographer, Paula Broadwell.
He also was ordered to pay a $100,000 fine. Sterling’s supporters said he shared far less classified information with the New York Times.
“Powerful and politically connected individuals accused of the same and much worse conduct receive, at most, a slap on the wrist. Like General David Petraeus who gave away more secret information, classified at a much higher level, to his mistress and received a sweetheart plea deal for a minor misdemeanor,”Jesselyn Radack, a whistleblower and former ethics adviser to the Department of Justice, said Thursday.
“Or Hillary Clinton - she got a primetime TV apologist political spin interview from President Obama himself,” Radack added.

Trump Says He’ll Boycott Debate To Protect Viewers From Greedy Network – Update

2nd UPDATE with Trump’s Fox News interview: Donald Trump says he’s threatening to boycott CNBC’s upcoming GOP debate for viewers’ sake, after learning CNBC wanted the debate to run longer than two hours and exclude candidates’ opening and closing statements. “The same thing is happening as happened with CNN,” He told Greta Van Susteren on her Fox News Channel show this evening. “They sold the commercials so much, and for so much money. It was going to be $4,000 for a 30-second commercial, and then it ended up being $200,000 and $250,000 for a 30-second commercial. And the same thing is happening now with CNBC. And what they’re trying to do, they’ve sold out all their commercials and they want to increase [the debate] by an hour.” Watch the interview above. Trump noted that this week’s Dem debate on CNN was only two hours long (actually about 2 1/2) and yet “pretty boring.” Neither he nor Van Susteren mentioned that debate included just five candidates, while CNN’s main GOP debate packed 11 onstage taking questions

“I think it’s unfair to the viewers because it’s too much to watch. They’re doing it because they want to make more money,” Trump said of CNBC. “It’s unfair to the viewers. I don’t care. I could stand for five hours; I could stand for 10 hours.”

UPDATE with details: GOP candidates just seized control of televised debates for the rest of the election cycle –  just as if they were stars of a TV show that became an overnight hit, averaging 24 million viewers on a ratings-starved network. Oh, wait….

Donald Trump and Ben Carson’s campaigns have sent a letter to CNBC (read it below) saying they will not participate in the network’s October 28 GOP debate unless CNBC promises the debate will run just two hours in length, including commercial breaks. The network also must agree to include opening and closing statements by all candidates onstage — which, in a GOP debate, could mean nearly a dozen statements at each end of the event.

“Mr. Trump and Dr. Carson do agree to a 120-minute debate that includes commercial breaks and opening and closing statements,” the candidates’ reps said in a letter to CNBC Washington bureau chief Matthew Cuddy. “Mr. Trump and Dr. Carson do not, and will not, agree to appear at a debate that is more than 120 minutes long including commercial breaks.

megyn kelly cartoon

With Donald Trump's Rise, Fox News Reaps What It Sows

The cable news network that trained its audience to see media criticism of Republican politicians as evidence of bias is attacked for its coverage of Trump.

Fox News’ coverage of Donald Trump’s campaign has resembled the treatment that the real estate tycoon and reality TV star receives in “the mainstream media.” It is unlike the network’s coverage of unqualified populist favorites from past election cycles, like Sarah Palin, Michele Bachmann, and Herman Cain. And populists are taking notice.
Last week’s debate is a fine illustration.
Immediately after the candidates left the stage in Cleveland, Ohio, Fox News moderator and anchor Megyn Kelly threw the network’s coverage over to pollster Frank Luntz, who stood in a room with a small group of voters gathered to offer their impressions. “Megyn, we’re about to make some news tonight,” he said as he turned to the panel. His meaning quickly became apparent: Under questioning, most of the assembled voters revealed that they felt unfavorably about Trump’s performance.
“You know what happened?” one man said. “I liked him when I came in here, because he wasn’t a politician. But right now, he skirted around questions better than a lifelong politician ever had.” Said another, “I was really expecting him to do a lot better, but he just crashed and burned. He was mean, he was angry, he had no specifics, he was bombastic.” A third voter declared, “You know, he just let me down. I just expected him to rise to the occasion and look presidential. He didn’t.”

The reactions were confounding to me, even though they squared with the conventional wisdom that Trump’s demeanor had finally inflicted a fatal wound on his presidential prospects.
I’d watched the debate. For most of it, I thought that Donald Trump would emerge as popular as ever: I don’t understand his appeal, but his performance was completely in keeping with the style and substance of his campaign to that point. Why did the handpicked Republicans disagree? Had I been in the room with them, I’d have asked, “If you came here as a Donald Trump supporter, how could you possibly be disappointed by tonight’s anger, bombast, blatant question-skirting, and a lack of specifics? When have you known the man to act differently?”
As I switched off the TV, I thought of two possibilities: Either I understood Trump supporters less well than I thought, or Fox News had assembled a wildly unrepresentative panel that misrepresented the reaction to Trump’s performance.
Come Monday, I was no longer puzzled.
“There is no sign that Donald Trump's raucous first presidential debate is hurting his support among party voters,” Reuters reported, “with the latest Reuters/Ipsos poll showing he still has a big lead over his rivals for the Republican presidential nomination. The debate did little to change Republican voters' opinions of Trump, the poll found. One-third said they liked him more after the debate, one-third said they liked him less, and the remaining third said their opinions had not changed.”

An unrepresentative Fox News panel does not raise my suspicions. Like other cable news channels, the network offers political coverage that isn’t particularly rigorous, and pollster Frank Luntz has gotten far more consequential matters wrong before. But the hard right has always been more inclined to attribute media missteps to conspiracy rather than incompetence. Now it’s suspicious of Fox News.
“They took advantage of us,” talk radio host Mark Levin told Breitbart, “they took advantage of the audience.” Steve Deace declared in USA Today that “very few conservatives I interacted with during and after the debate thought Fox was ‘fair and balanced.’”
The most popular entertainer in the conservative movement, talk-radio host Rush Limbaugh, speculated on Friday that the Republican Party establishment had conspired with Fox News, ordering the network to “take out” Trump. In another segment, he criticized the debate moderators. “If I didn't know any better,” he said, “I would have watched this thing thinking that there is a Republican War on Women based on the questions and the lack of a woman being on the stage among the 10.  I thought the War on Women was a Democrat creation by George Stephanopoulos. The last place I ever thought I would see it continued is Fox News.”
In a CNN interview, Trump either implied or accidentally seemed to imply that Kelly treated him angrily during the debate because she was menstruating at the time. Said fellow GOP candidate Carly Fiorina in a tweet: “Mr. Trump: There. Is. No. Excuse.” Fiorina would continue to attack Trump and to voice her support for Kelly.

Afterwards, a caller to Rush Limbaugh’s show responded:

Rush, it's an honor.  Thank you for taking my call, and mega dittos.  I'm calling in regard to Carly Fiorina and her support in her tweet to where she clearly stated, “I stand with Megyn.”  She tweeted that, Rush. And, you know what, in my book, you stand up with the media or for the media, you are now part of the media.  If you align yourself personally with the media, you are now part of the media. And, Rush, she has clearly played straight into the hand of the media, and there is no way I want my president to send out little tweets in support of the media.  I'm just outraged.

Note that there is no distinction made between the Fox News Channel and “the mainstream media” or “the liberal media” or what Rush Limbaugh calls “the drive-by media.” There’s just “the media.” Kelly is a part of it. She is therefore the enemy, her attackers are allies, and those who stand with her are useful idiots at best.
I rarely agree with Limbaugh. But I think he was right when he said about Trump: “There's a percentage of the population that is totally fed up with the political class, including the media.  And they have wanted things said to people and about people… for years and they haven't heard it.  I mean, the media is not loved.  The media in some cases is despised, and Trump is giving it right back to 'em in ways that many people in this country have dreamed of happening.”

“As such,” the radio star said of the former NBC host, “he comes off as refreshing. Even when he's not on message, or not on issues, he comes across as somebody that says things they would like to say … things they have hoped others would say ... I don't think a lot of these big players, including in the media, have any idea who their audiences are … I don't think they have the slightest idea the size of and the amount of real anger directed at them … It goes so far beyond the fact that they're biased.”
Consider the Fox News debate as Donald Trump fans experienced it. Wouldn’t you wager that Kelly, Chris Wallace and Bret Baier all believe that Trump’s candidacy is a joke and that his supporters are naive and misguided? Didn’t their questions seem to imply that Trump is obviously unfit to be president?
Meanwhile, hasn’t Fox News spent years conditioning viewers to believe that journalists belong to a condescending class of decadent elites which engages in barely-concealed conspiracies to destroy anyone who tells it like it is to real Americans? For years, Roger Ailes broadcast everything that Glenn Beck wrote on a chalk board! Surveying America for individuals whose insights he would broadcast to the masses, he settled on Sarah Palin as a person whose analysis he would amplify. It is no accident that a chunk of the Fox News audience is now inclined to side with Trump over Kelly. With Trump’s rise, the network is reaping what it has sown.

Fox News Poll: 60 percent say Clinton has been dishonest on Benghazi

A new Fox News poll finds that by a nearly two-to-one margin, voters think Hillary Clinton has been deceitful about the State Department’s role in the events surrounding the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi.
Thirty-two percent say Clinton has been honest with the American people, while 60 percent disagree.
CLICK HERE TO READ THE POLL RESULTS
Despite doubts that Clinton has been honest, less than half of voters (46 percent) think Congress should continue investigating her handling of the terrorist attack.  Exactly half say it’s time for lawmakers to move on (50 percent).  That’s mostly unchanged from this summer, when 47 percent said continue and 49 percent move on (July 2015).
Among Democrats, nearly one in three says Clinton has been dishonest on Benghazi (30 percent), and one in five thinks the Congressional investigation should continue (19 percent).
Clinton was head of the State Department when the September 11, 2012 attack that killed four Americans took place.
Overall, only 13 percent of voters approve of the job Congress is doing.  A large 78-percent majority disapproves.  A year ago, it was 12-78 percent (October 12-14, 2014).  Over the last year, the highest approval lawmakers received was 21 percent in both February and March (2015).
Democrats (19 percent) are more than twice as likely as Republicans (9 percent) to approve of Congress.
The Fox News poll is based on landline and cell phone interviews with 1,004 randomly chosen registered voters nationwide and was conducted under the joint direction of Anderson Robbins Research (D) and Shaw & Company Research (R) from October 10-12, 2015. The poll has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points for all registered voters.

Kerry planning Mideast visit as US faces pressure to calm violence in Israel

The Obama administration is under pressure to help calm the growing violence in Israel which has some warning of a third intifada, as Israel's military steps up its response to deadly Palestinian attacks by deploying hundreds of troops. 
Amid the unrest, Secretary of State John Kerry just announced plans to visit the region, and has spoken with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
"We're working on trying to calm things down," he said Tuesday during an event at Harvard University. "And I will go there soon at some point appropriately and try to work to re-engage and see if we can't move that away from this precipice."
White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest also cited that visit Wednesday when asked what President Obama is doing to address the crisis, saying Kerry will travel "in the near future." He said the visit underscores the "continuing deep concern" the U.S. has and urged both sides to take "affirmative steps" to calm tensions.
Yet the State Department under both Hillary Clinton and now Kerry so far has been unable to push forward the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. Relations between Obama and Netanyahu remain as chilly as ever -- particularly after the Iran nuclear deal put them on opposite sides of the debate -- and it's unclear how much sway the administration still has in the volatile region.
Retired Lt. Col. Ralph Peters, a Fox News analyst, cited Netanyahu's visit last month to Moscow to meet with Putin to discuss Syria. "He can see that Obama's Middle East non-policy has failed utterly," Peters said.
Kerry may be hoping his personal touch can help bring both sides together as tensions reach a critical point.
Tuesday was among the bloodiest days so far, as a pair of Palestinian stabbing and shooting attacks in Jerusalem killed three Israelis and another two attacks took place in the normally quiet Israeli city of Raanana. Three Palestinians, including two attackers, were also killed.
On Capitol Hill, U.S. lawmakers urged a stronger response from the administration.
"I stand behind Israel's fundamental right to defend itself and its people from violence and terror," Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., said in a statement. "Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and his government have an obligation to stop these attacks, to cease the harsh rhetoric that incites them, and to negotiate in good faith for a peaceful resolution."
He added, "It is imperative that the United States continue to ensure that Israel has the resources [it] needs to enhance its security and meet these threats."
Sen. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., said "it is critical that the Obama administration and Congress press Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas ... to act decisively to end the growing wave of Palestinian violence and return to bilateral peace negotiations with Israel."
State Department spokesman John Kirby on Tuesday put out a statement condemning "in the strongest terms today's terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians."
He said the U.S. stresses the importance of "condemning violence and combating incitement" and is in "regular contact" with both governments. "We remain deeply concerned about escalating tensions and urge all sides to take affirmative steps to restore calm and prevent actions that would further escalate tensions," he said.
It's unclear what the U.S. message involves beyond those appeals.
Pressed repeatedly at Tuesday's briefing on what U.S. officials are doing and saying about the crisis, State Department spokesman Mark Toner said Kerry is urging both sides to condemn violence and combat incitement. But he would not elaborate beyond saying that the U.S. is delivering the same message to the Israelis and Palestinians. The only specific item he mentioned was that Kerry is stressing the "importance of upholding the status quo in word and in deed at Haram al-Sharif/Temple Mount."
This was in reference to what is seen as the spark for the fresh surge of violence -- rumors that Israel was plotting to take over Jerusalem's most sensitive holy site, sacred to both Muslims and Jews. Israel has adamantly denied the allegations.
Eight Israelis and 30 Palestinians -- including 13 identified by Israel as attackers -- have died in a month of unrest, with dozens of others wounded.
In response, Israeli police said 300 soldiers have been incorporated into their deployment on the streets of east Jerusalem, where many of the assailants are from.
Israeli Cabinet minister Yuval Steinitz said the current conflict had less to do with political differences and more with anti-Semitic incitement to create a religious war. He quoted Abbas' recent statement where he blessed "every drop of blood spilled for Allah" and said Jews desecrated a Jerusalem holy site with their "filthy feet."
Steinitz said, "It's all about horrible, anti-Jewish, racist incitement."
A column in National Review by attorney and writer David French said Israel is "on the brink of a third intifada," and questioned whether the Obama administration's waning influence in the region might fuel the unrest.
But Brookings Institution fellow Khaled Elgindy told Al Jazeera America it's "too early to say this is the 'third intifada' because we don't yet see an organized political leadership that can coordinate the various Palestinian pieces of this and can articulate political demands."
The first and second intifadas -- Palestinian uprisings against the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip -- started in 1987 and 2000, respectively, and lasted several years.

Activists occupy Baltimore City Hall, voice displeasure over police commissioner

Activists refused to leave Baltimore City Hall on Wednesday night as they protested the permanent appointment of the city’s interim police commissioner and told police they wouldn’t leave until the commissioner and mayor met their list of demands, including changes to police tactics and significant investment in education and social services.
Members of the Baltimore Uprising began shouting from the upper gallery of a conference room as city council subcommittee prepared to vote for Kevin Davis as permanent commissioner. The full council will vote on Monday.
"All night, all day, we will fight for Freddie Gray!" the activists chanted amid calls to postpone the vote. "No justice, no peace!"
Three of the subcommittee's five members voted in favor of Davis. Councilman Nick Mosby, who is married to State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby, voted against the confirmation, while Carl Stokes, who is running for mayor, abstained.
After the committee began to leave, protesters refused to go. A member of the group who identified herself as Ralikh Hayes told the Associated Press reporter that 32 protesters were inside and that they "have no access to bathrooms, food or water currently."
"People are sitting, relaxing," she said. "We are waiting to see if we'll get a meeting with anyone tonight. We want to meet with the interim commissioner and the mayor, but that meeting doesn't mean we're leaving. We'll be here."
Earlier Wednesday, a spokesman for Baltimore Uprising said the activists wouldn’t leave until Davis and Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake agreed to a list of demands. Among them: that police avoid using military-type equipment such as armored vehicles, and only use riot gear as a last resort to protect officers.
They also want officers to wear name tags and badges and want to be able to protest in larger areas and for longer periods of time than “would normally be tolerated.”
In addition, they are asking police to be "more tolerant of minor law breaking," such as the throwing of water bottles, "when deciding whether to escalate the use of force."
Rawlings-Blake appointed Davis interim commissioner in July after his predecessor Anthony Batts was fired amid a spike in violent crime in the city. The violence followed unrest following the death of Freddie Gray, a black man who died after suffering an injury in police custody.
It was Marilyn Mosby who decided to prosecute six officers in connection with Gray's death. All of the officers are currently awaiting trial. In the aftermath of Mosby's decision and the widespread unrest, homicides began to rise and residents in crime-addled neighborhoods accused police officers of abandoning their posts.
Following the subcommittee's vote, Davis called Wednesday night's protest an "act of civil disobedience" that "is just part of this moment."
"It's all part of the healing process," he said. "The fact that this occurred isn't upsetting. It's just part of where the city is right now. I understand where they are. I understand their frustration. ... I promised the citizens of Baltimore and the protesters that I'll be the type of police commissioner that they deserve. This is just part of where the city is right now, and if we're going to get to the other side of this, we have to go through these moments."
 Addressing the council subcommittee earlier, Davis said that he remains committed to training officers to actively engage and interact with community members. Davis also emphasized his commitment to "respect and fight for the right for Americans to assemble and peacefully protest."
"2015 is the year that things change," Davis said, referring to the task of repairing the tense relationship between the police and the public in Baltimore.
If approved by the full council, Davis will earn $200,000 a year. His contract will run through June of 2020.

Abbas Cartoon

Israel sending troops into cities after latest attacks

JERUSALEM –  The Israeli military began deploying hundreds of troops in Israeli cities Wednesday to assist police forces in countering a wave of deadly Palestinian shooting and stabbing attacks that have created panic across the country.
The military's deployment of six companies marks the first implementation of measures by Israel's security cabinet to counter the attacks that have intensified dramatically in recent days. The cabinet met late into the night and announced steps early Wednesday that included allowing police to seal off points of friction or incitement. Many of the recent attackers have come from Arab areas of Jerusalem, prompting calls to seal off those neighborhoods to contain potential attackers.
The cabinet also decided to strip residency rights and demolish homes of some attackers and draft hundreds more security guards to secure public transport.
The measures came after a particularly bloody day in which a pair of Palestinian stabbing and shooting attacks in Jerusalem killed three Israelis and another two attacks took place in the normally quiet Israeli city of Raanana. Three Palestinians, including two attackers, were also killed.
The government has thus far been unable to stop the violence, carried out mostly by young Palestinians unaffiliated with known militant groups and apparently acting on their own.
Israeli security officials, however, said Tuesday's seemingly coordinated attacks indicated that the outburst of violence was starting to take on a more organized fashion, from groups behind the planning and those carrying out attacks. The officials, speaking anonymously according to regulations, said Israel expects the current wave to last at least a few more weeks.
The attacks have caused panic in Israel and raised fears that the region is on the cusp of a new round of heavy violence.
The violence erupted a month ago over the Jewish New Year, fueled by rumors that Israel was plotting to take over Jerusalem's most sensitive holy site, sacred to both Muslims and Jews. Israel has adamantly denied the allegations and accused Palestinian leaders of inciting the violence and spreading lies.
Palestinians repeatedly barricaded themselves inside the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem's Old City, hurling stones and firebombs at police.
Violence was initially confined to east Jerusalem and the West Bank -- territories Israel captured from Jordan in the 1967 war and claimed by the Palestinians for a future state -- but later spread to Israeli cities. Violent protests have also broken out along with Israel-Gaza border.
Eight Israelis have died in a string of stabbings, shootings and the stoning of a car, while 29 Palestinians -- including 12 identified by Israel as attackers -- have been killed.
In Tuesday's violence, a pair of Palestinian men boarded a bus and began shooting and stabbing passengers, while another assailant rammed a car into a bus stop, then got out of his vehicle and began hacking bystanders with a long knife.
The near-simultaneous attacks, along with two stabbings in the central Israeli city of Raanana, marked the most serious outbreak of violence since the current round of tensions erupted.