Category Archives: History

The Last General(s) who Wanted to Win a War?

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Were General(s) Patton and McArthur the last two generals that wanted to win a war? Patton wanted to move forward and take out the Soviets, his command was taken away. Then McArthur wanted to win in the Pacific and Truman refused to listen, so McArthur wrote a letter to a congressman who read it on the House floor, he was fired…Old soldiers never die, they just fade away…

Does the West want to win a war or just the hearts and mind of the enemy?

A skyward look at the world and macro view of the enemy tells global leaders the enemy has prevailed and is in fact emboldened. As 2014 was to close military operation in Afghanistan, such is not the case, as more U.S. troops are being deployed and their operations have expanded until the end of 2015.

When there is no will to win even after thirteen plus years, the costs grow such they cannot be fully measured. Barack Obama pulled U.S. troops out of Iraq before the mission was complete and now a rather secret troop expansion is going on there as well. Then there is Yemen, Somalia, Libya, Syria, Nigeria and Sudan. The questions are, will the rules of engagement change and what is has been the cost so far and the cost in the future?

WASHINGTON, Dec. 15 (UPI) — The U.S. war in Afghanistan has cost nearly $1 trillion with several hundred billion yet to be spent after the U.S. presence officially ends.

The calculations by the British newspaper Financial Times, citing independent researchers, indicate over 80 percent of the spending came after 2009, when the Obama Administration increased U.S. military presence in Afghanistan.

The cost of the 13-year war, the longest in U.S. history, has never been quantified by the U.S. government. It is officially scheduled to end Dec. 31 with the final withdrawal of NATO combat troops.


Special inspector-general John Sopko, whose agency monitors spending on reconstruction projects in Afghanistan, noted billions of dollars have been wasted on, or stolen from, projects that made little sense.

“We simply cannot lose this amount of money again,” he said. “The American people will not put up with it, noting that, adjusting for inflation, the Afghan war cost the United States more than the Marshall Plan to rebuild Western Europe after World War II.

The funding for wars in Iraq and Afghanistan was entirely borrowed, and the United States has paid $260 million in interest, the Financial Times said, citing calculations by Ryan Edwards of the City University of New York. Yet to be paid are the costs of maintaining 10,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan in non-combat roles, estimated at $56.4 billion, and $836 billion in estimated care for veterans of the two wars.

President Barack Obama will travel to Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, N.J., Monday for a ceremonial thanking of returning troops. “Our war in Afghanistan is coming to a responsible end,” he said in his weekly radio address.

We can always add in the fraud and corruption in war, most recently in Afghanistan. This is reported by Inspector Generals but few in Congress take a pro-active posture to stop it all. Meanwhile, food service is a problem and the most recent sample of fraud, costing us taxpayers.

Two companies — one from Switzerland and the other from the United Arab Emirates — have paid a massive fine to the U.S. government for overcharging for food and water supplied to U.S. troops in Afghanistan.

Supreme Foodservice GmbH, a privately held Swiss company, and Supreme Foodservice FZE, a United Arab Emirates company, entered the plea in U.S. District Court in Pennsylvania and paid a fine of $288.6 million, the Justice Department reported.

Supreme Group B.V. and a number of its subsidiaries also agreed to pay an additional $146 million to settle civil lawsuits – including a whistleblower lawsuit in Virginia — involving alleged “false billings to the Department of Defense for fuel and transporting cargo to American soldiers in Afghanistan.”

“These companies chose to commit their fraud in connection with a contract to supply food and water to our nation’s fighting men and women serving in Afghanistan,” said U.S. Attorney Zane David Memeger for the eastern district of Pennsylvania. “That kind of conduct is repugnant, and we will use every available resource to punish such illegal war profiteering.”

 

Egyptian Steals Carrier Secrets

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Clear and present dangers…

Under construction in Virginia, USS Ford is the lead ship in the Navy’s new class of carriers. The Ford stands 25 stories high and is three football fields long. Scheduled for delivery to the Navy in 2016, it is believed to be almost impossible to hurt.  However, every system has its weak spot and Awwad thought he had found one.
To sink an aircraft carrier is extremely hard. To sink it with one missile is believed to be impossible. On Oct. 9 FBI’s affidavit says, Awwad gave the undercover drawings of the aircraft carrier that he said were top secret. During the meeting, “Awwad discussed where to strike the vessel with a missile in order to sink it,” the affidavit says.

***

The question remains who vets and clears the background checks of those with foreign passports for domestic sensitive jobs within intelligence or the military? Short answer is no one doing it correctly or at all for the sake of political correctness. Where is the FBI? How many more moles or infiltrators do we have in America?

In the recordings, for example, Awwad spoke of the critical parts of an aircraft carrier that could cause the ship to sink if they were struck.

“Even if we are not able to make the carrier, you will be able to see how it can be hit and drowned,” Awwad told the FBI agent, according to DePadilla. “The bomb bay. The bomb storage area. That’s it. Bye-bye.”

Prosecutors: Egyptian took Navy job to steal secrets

By Scott Daugherty
The Virginian-Pilot
©

NORFOLK

A former Egyptian citizen told an undercover FBI agent earlier this year that he took a job with the Navy for the sole purpose of stealing military secrets and providing them to the Egyptian government, according to federal prosecutors.

Mostafa Ahmed Awwad – who worked as a civilian engineer at Norfolk Naval Shipyard until last week – told the undercover agent that it didn’t matter that he had surrendered his Egyptian passport. He said he still viewed himself as an Egyptian citizen and would do whatever he could to help his country: even hand over schematics to the aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford and hide homing beacons on U.S. submarines.

“I went to this place just for this reason,” Awwad told the agent, who posed as an Egyptian intelligence officer.

According to prosecutors, Awwad said he turned down a job with Lockheed Martin because the lower-paying Navy job allowed easier access to classified information.

“I don’t know what is wrong with this government. They hire the Chinese. They hire the Russians. They hire us,” Awwad said.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph DePadilla argued in federal court Wednesday that Awwad should remain in jail pending trial.

“The evidence shows this man is a patriot for Egypt,” DePadilla told the court.

Magistrate Judge Douglas Miller ordered Awwad held, noting the strength of the government’s case.

Awwad – who received his security clearance four months ago – was arrested Friday on two counts of attempted exportation of defense articles and technical data.

The charges stemmed from a “false flag” operation orchestrated by the FBI and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service. According to an FBI affidavit that at times reads like a Tom Clancy novel, Awwad handed over 10 computer-aided-design drawings of the Ford.

During one of their conversations, Awwad told the agent where to strike the vessel with a missile to sink it.

“I want to give this technology to my country,” Awwad told the agent, the prosecutor said.

DePadilla told the court that Awwad had given instructions to his mother in Egypt to kidnap his two sons, ages 2 and 11 months, and raise them there if anything happened to him. Awwad described his wife as a “problem” because she did not know about his desire to help Egypt and would not support it.

During the hearing, his wife sat a few feet behind him. Awwad did not look at her before leaving the courtroom, a sharp contrast to his tearful pleas to her on Friday when he asked her to call his mother.

The wife declined to comment before leaving the courthouse with her mother and a friend.

DePadilla said Wednesday that the FBI contacted Awwad after he approached the Egyptian embassy and offered his assistance to their government. He described Awwad as an “accomplished hacker” and said he told the agent during their first encounter that he had been secretly collecting classified information from his work computer for months.

Prosecutors filed a notice Wednesday morning that said federal agents sought help from the secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act court for unspecified electronic surveillance and physical searches in the investigation.

DePadilla said investigators recorded all of Awwad’s conversations with the undercover agent, as well as some conversations with his mother in Egypt.

The FBI affidavit also describes some of Awwad’s background. He was born in 1979 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. He married his wife, a U.S. citizen, in 2007 in Cairo. After that, he moved to the United States.

Assistant Federal Public Defender Keith Kimball, Awwad’s defense attorney, said his client became a citizen in June 2012.

Awwad attended Old Dominion University from August 2010 to December 2013, according to the school’s registrar. He graduated last year with a bachelor of science degree in electrical engineering.

The affidavit said Awwad was hired in February to work as a civilian engineer at Norfolk Naval Shipyard in the nuclear engineering and planning department. His security clearance, received in August, gave him access to classified information up to the level of “secret.”

Awwad had access to information concerning the design, arrangement, development, maintenance and repair of the propulsion plants the Navy uses on nuclear-powered ships and prototypes, the affidavit said.

Kimball argued Wednesday for his client to be released to the custody of his wife, who has lived in Canada and the United States since she was 1. He added that while his client allegedly said a lot of things to the undercover agent, the veracity of many of the comments remains in question. Kimball pointed to Awwad’s false claim of “top secret” clearance.

“There seems to be a lot of exaggeration,” he said.

Know Someone That Went Missing? Check North Korea

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The decision by a U.N. General Assembly committee to condemn North Korea for crimes against humanity this week is historic. It could well lead to North Korean leaders facing trial at the International Criminal Court (ICC), forcing them to confront the numerous accusations made against their isolated regime.

There is still a long way to go, however. The resolution must pass the Security Council, where Russia and China — two important allies of North Korea — hold veto power. Also, the ICC itself has struggled with problems of legitimacy since it was established in 2002 to prosecute war crimes.

Even so, North Korea seems worried, and after Tuesday’s decision it offered a belligerent warning that it would conduct further nuclear tests. The reaction reflects a broader trend: In the past few months, the country has used crude insults and a curious charm offensive to try to deflect the U.N. criticism of its human rights offenses. At one point, it even released a list of the alleged U.S. human rights abuses, in a clear moment of “Whataboutism.”

***

It gets worse:

Inside the Ring: North Korean document alleges Kim role in kidnapping program to create spies

By Bill Gertz

A secret North Korean document obtained by Western intelligence states the late dictator Kim Jong-Il conceived and directed a program to kidnap foreigners and bring them back to his communist country to force them to become spies against their home countries, The Washington Times has learned.

Diplomatic sources familiar with the discovery, who spoke only on condition of anonymity, said the recently obtained document for the first time provides details on how and why Kim, who died in 2012, directed a covert spy unit in the 1970s called the Investigation Department that kidnapped foreign nationals and brought them to North Korea.

The Investigative Department, part of the ruling communist Korean Workers Party Central Committee, carried out several dozen selective kidnappings and used the abducted foreigners for training its intelligence operatives, and to be dispatched overseas in foreign spy operations and propaganda activities, including film production, the document indicates.

The document, believed to have been produced within the past several years as part of a historical archive, is regarded by authorities as a classified North Korean government report, the sources said.

It is considered authoritative because of its origin and the importance within the North Korean system of precisely recording the words of supreme leaders, they added.

One source familiar with the document said there are no indications the report is a forgery.

According to translated portions obtained by Inside the Ring, Kim met with the chief of the Investigation Department, which is known by its Korean acronym “Josabu,” on Sept. 29, 1977, and Oct. 7, 1977. During the meeting he spelled out plans to use people from overseas in intelligence work.

Kim, who was succeeded in power by his son Kim Jong Un, told the intelligence chief and a group of party officials that forcibly training foreign nationals in their 20s for five to seven years in North Korea would produce valuable intelligence agents who would be useful until the age of 60, the document stated.

He then ordered spy teams dispatched to Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Eastern Europe to secretly lure young men and women into supporting the regime. A special focus was placed on targeting attractive women.

Kim stated that targets of those brought to North Korea should include people who were loners or orphans. The abductions were to be carried out secretly using methods that could not be traced to Pyongyang’s agents, according to the document.

Among those kidnapped by the North Koreans after the 1977 orders was 13-year-old Japanese schoolgirl Megumi Yakota, who disappeared from Japan in 1977. She was taken to North Korea where she spent the rest of her life in captivity, and, according to the North Korean government, eventually died in the communist state.

On Aug. 25, 1977, Kim then ordered the Investigation Department to set up a covert Hong Kong unit devoted to inviting South Korean film actresses and the offspring of high-ranking South Korean officials to visit Hong Kong, the document states.

The objective of the covert group was to befriend selected people as targets and use them to obtain invitations to South Korea, where North Korean agents could produce films under cover.

That appears to be the motive behind the kidnapping in 1978 of South Korean actress Choi Eun-hee and her director husband Shin Sang-ok. The couple was taken to North Korea where it was hoped they would help the regime produce propaganda films. They escaped in 1986 during a visit to Vienna.

In October 1978, according to the document, Kim ordered his intelligence operatives to persuade the abducted foreign nationals to settle in North Korea. The Investigative Department arranged for the abductees to live in special guest houses where it was hoped they would reside comfortably, in contrast to the harsh living conditions faced by most North Koreans.

The kidnappings have long been known, but Kim’s role in the program has been unclear.

On Sept. 17, 2002, after then-Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi met Kim in Pyongyang, the North Korean leader admitted that his intelligence services has carried out the abduction of 11 Japanese. The admission and apology was part of a bid to obtain Japanese aid.

But according to North Korea’s official statement at the time, Pyongyang asserted the kidnappings were carried out without Kim’s knowledge or approval.

The recently-obtained document contradicts that statement.

Ambassador Jang Il Hun, deputy chief of North Korea’s mission to the United Nations, denied the late leader was involved in the kidnapping operations.

“The abduction of Japanese nationals in 1970s was an act of individual heroism conducted by some people in the intelligence community who sought fame and reputation by such acts,” Mr. Jang told Inside the Ring.

Mr. Jang said the rogue operatives were motivated by “indignation” over Japan’s refusal to apologize for abuses during Tokyo’s rule over the Korean peninsula in the early 1900s.

“In no way was the government of the DPRK involved in the abduction case, to say nothing of our respected Supreme Leader Chairman Kim Jong Il,” he said in a statement, using the acronym for North Korea’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. “This is the truth.”

Mr. Jang added that “we had so many Koreans who were repatriated from Japan, there was no need for our government to use the Japanese nationals for any government purpose.”

The total number of foreigners abducted during the intelligence operations of the 1970s and 1980s is not known but has been estimated to be several dozen people. They included nationals from China, Malaysia, Lebanon, France and Italy, in addition to those from Japan and South Korea.

In Japan, the government has elevated the issue of resolving past cases of at least 17 missing Japanese to a national priority.

Talks between Japanese and North Korean officials on the issue were held in October, and Japan earlier agreed to lift some sanctions on Pyongyang if the regime fully investigates outstanding cases of the missing nationals.

Bruce Bechtol, a North Korea specialist formerly with the Defense Intelligence Agency, said he doubts the North will investigate the cases of the missing.

“The whole idea of an ‘investigation’ is a sham,” Mr. Bechtol, a professor at Angelo State University, said in an email.

“The North Koreans obviously kidnapped several Japanese nationals,” he said. “Now I believe the debate in the North Korean ruling infrastructure will be whether or not to execute them and send the remains back, or to simply send those who are still alive back. Of course, all of this will depend on how much money the Japanese government offers to the government of the DPRK.”

Disclosures in the document bolsters the findings of a United Nations human rights report based on testimony of defectors and issued in February. The U.N. report found widespread “crimes against humanity” committed by the North Korean regime, including abductions linked to the country’s supreme leader.

North Korea “used its land, naval and intelligence forces to conduct abductions and arrests,” the report said. “Operations were approved at the level of the supreme leader. The vast majority of victims were forcibly disappeared to gain labor and other skills for the state.”

The issue of North Korea’s human rights abuses was discussed in a letter signed by 10 nations’ representatives on the 15-member U.N. Security Council last week. The letter urged the council to include the issue on its agenda. China and Russia in the past have vetoed measures for council meetings that were opposed by North Korea.

The U.N. General Assembly will vote later this month on a resolution that calls for referring North Korea to the International Criminal Court over the rights abuses.

Further evidence of North Korean interest in western films also surfaced recently. Hackers using techniques linked to North Korean cyberattacks on South Korea hacked Sony Pictures networks and stole large amounts of data, Reuters reported last week.

The cyberattack was carried out Nov. 24 and came one month before the release of Sony’s film “The Interview,” a comedy that has two American journalists tasked by the CIA to kill current leader Kim Jong Un. North Korea has said release of the film would be an “act of war.”

 

 

 

 

Rotation NATO Operation Atlantic Resolve

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Atlantic Resolve (OAR) Land Forces training mission Dec. 15 from the Texas-based 1st Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, to the 2nd Cavalry Regiment, based in Vilseck, Germany.

The 2nd Cavalry Regiment assumes responsibility as the next rotational U.S. Army unit to take part in ongoing multinational land forces exercises across NATO’s eastern border to include Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland.

Advance elements of 3rd Squadron, 2nd Cavalry regiment have already arrived in the Baltic nations and Poland to prepare for the arrival of the unit’s personnel and equipment. The squadron is expected to complete the deployment of its personnel and equipment to the four nations by the second week of January.

1/1 CAV will rotate back to its home base in Fort Hood, Texas, in time for the holiday season.

Operation Atlantic Resolve demonstrates U.S. commitment to NATO Allies following Russian aggressive actions in Ukraine.

“As the main enabler for NATO land forces in the U.S. European Command, we are absolutely committed to assuring and defending our NATO allies. We’ve been executing Army operations with a combination of forward stationed and rotational forces since early spring of 2014,” said Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges, U.S. Army Europe commander. “Our commitment to each other and interoperability are stronger than ever. USAREUR is the leadership laboratory for the Army as we have the unique advantage of working side by side with our Allies and partners every day.”

In close coordination with the host nations, both allied and U.S. Army units will conduct a transitional period over the holiday break from mid December to early January to allow the flow of outbound and inbound unit equipment and for Soldiers to spend the holidays with family.

Meanwhile:

U.S. army may station tanks in Eastern Europe

The U.S. Army plans to deploy about 150 tanks and armored vehicles to NATO countries next year and some of the heavy armor may be stationed in Eastern Europe, Lieutenant General Ben Hodges, Commander of U.S. Army Europe, said on Tuesday, cites LETA/AFP. 

The move is part of a U.S. effort dubbed “Operation Atlantic Resolve” in the Baltic states and Poland to reassure allies anxious about a resurgent Russia, with American troops deploying for several months at a time to conduct joint exercises.

Nearly 50 armored vehicles are already in place and another 100 “M1 Abrams” tanks and “Bradley” fighting vehicles will be pre-positioned in Germany and possibly elsewhere for the U.S. troops conducting drills with NATO partners, Hodges told AFP in a phone interview from Estonia.

“The troops will come over and train, and they’ll go back. The equipment will stay behind,” Hodges said.

The arrangement was “a lot cheaper” than transporting tanks across the Atlantic and more efficient for the training mission, the general said.

Hodges said he would soon make a recommendation on whether to store some of the tanks and armored vehicles among NATO’s eastern members.

“I’m going to look at options that would include distributing this equipment in smaller sets, company-size or battalion-size, perhaps in the Baltics, Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, places like that,” he said.

The United States has about 29,000 forces permanently stationed in Germany, Italy and Belgium but has stepped up temporary deployments of troops for training and exercises designed to send a signal to Russia and NATO partners.

About 600 U.S. Army troops from the 1st Cavalry Division are to depart in mid-December after a three month stint in the Baltic countries and Poland. They will be replaced by soldiers from the 2nd Cavalry Regiment based in Vilseck, Germany, who then will hand over in the spring to members of the 3rd Infantry Division, he said.

Hodges said the troop rotations will continue through 2015 and into 2016.

Then Zerohedge reports: Having grown used to images and clips of “Russian” tanks rolling through Ukraine, crossing borders, and generally creating havoc, we thought the following clip was of note. With NATO and Russia rattling sabres ever louder, the site of a trainful of American tanks passing through Latvia will, we are sure, do nothing to calm both sides. Video is here.

As LiveLeak reports,

According to the representative of national armed forces of Latvia, till December 6 transportation of heavy military equipment of the first cavalry division of army of the USA from Adazhi and Estonia was carried out to Lithuania.

*  *  *

As NATO builds its forces…

Before:

After:

 

and “incidents” surge…

 

 




 

What You Should Know about BDS

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Anyone remember that Israel is still working diligently to defend herself? Anyone remember that the West is not only doing nothing to support Israel as an ally but in many cases is working against her as noted by SecState John Kerry dealing with Iran on the nuclear program which failed but then he is still using all back-channels with regard to a peace process with the Palestinians.

There are countless grass roots operations under Boycotts, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) that are also working against Israel. Businesses in America and even universities have joined the BDS network. Here is what you should know.

Boycotts, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS)
Overview

Boycotts, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) are the tactics of political warfare used against Israel, based on the exploitation of human rights, double standards, comparisons to apartheid South Africa, and false accusations of “war crimes.”
  • Definitions:
    •  Boycotts of products, culture, and academics – BDS activists lobby stores not to carry Israeli products and encourage others not to purchase them. They send letters to artists, musicians, authors, and academics, imploring them not to perform and appear in Israel or cooperate with Israeli institutions. Boycotts undermine liberal values, such as academic freedom and freedom of expression, by restricting openness and tolerance.
    • Divestment from companies that do business with Israel – Distorting the concept of ethical investing, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) accuse companies that conduct business in Israel of involvement in war crimes and violations of international law. The NGOs approach investors, primarily large banks and pension funds, and push for the exclusion of these companies.
    • Sanctions against self-defense measures – Anti-Israel activists demand that the international community enact comprehensive sanctions against Israel – treating Israel as a pariah state. The ultimate goal is legally enforced sanctions by the UN Security Council. Other forms of sanctions include arms embargoes, which are premised on baseless charges of war crimes. Similarly, legal proceedings are initiated against Israeli officials to punish Israel for defensive actions. 
  • BDS is the main component of the “Durban strategy,” which was adopted by dozens of NGOs at the 2001 UN Conference Against Racism held in Durban, South Africa, which crystallized the strategy of delegitimizing Israel as “an apartheid regime” through international isolation.
    • Other tactics of the Durban Strategy include “lawfare” campaigns against Israeli officials in international courts; lobbying international bodies, including the UN, EU, US and criminal courts; publishing false reports and accusations of “war crimes,” “ethnic cleansing,” and “apartheid”; organizing provocations such as flotillas and violent demonstrations under the guise of humanitarian operations and human rights.
  • The campaign seeks to end the “occupation and colonization of all Arab lands” and promotes the right of “Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and properties.” These goals undermine the fundamental right of the Jewish people to self-determination.
  • This campaign is financed and supported extensively by foreign governments, as well as foundations and religious charities, which provide frameworks for anti-Israel political influence. *See funding chart below.
  • Most of this money comes from Europe, usually involving taxpayer funds funneled through secret processes to organizations that operate under the banners of promoting human rights, humanitarian aid, democracy and peace.
  • BDS seeks the elimination of Israel as a Jewish state.
    • Co-founder of Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) Omar Barghouti (2004): “The current phase has all the emblematic properties of what may be considered the final chapter of the Zionist project. We are witnessing the rapid demise of Zionism, and nothing can be done to save it, for Zionism is intent on killing itself. I, for one, support euthanasia.”
    • As’ad Abu Khalil, a central activist in the U.S. (2012): “Justice and freedom for the Palestinians are incompatible with the existence of the State of Israel.”
    • Pro-BDS author Ahmed Moor: “OK, fine. So BDS does mean the end of the Jewish state…. I view the BDS movement as a long-term project with radically transformative potential….In other words, BDS is not another step on the way to the final showdown; BDS is The Final Showdown.”
  • BDS is not an established organization or movement, but comprised of dozens of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and radical activists.
  • In practice, the BDS campaign has little success on the ground, but its effectiveness lies in its ability to penetrate the public and political discourse and blur the lines between legitimate criticism of Israel and the complete de-legitimization of Israel in the international arena.
  • BDS activists utilize the threat of political, economic, academic and cultural isolation as a means of pressuring Israel, and seek to have this idea penetrate the public and political discourse, as a means of influencing governments and businesses to adopt BDS tactics.

Then when a retired General and a former director of the CIA puts out warnings with regard to BDS, sanctions and Israel, listening and action is prudent.

NEW YORK (JTA) — Former CIA director Gen. David Petraeus said that any nuclear deal with Iran should not include a significant decrease in sanctions on the country.

“No deal is better than a bad deal,” Petraeus told a crowd of over 1,700 Wall Street insiders on Monday night at the UJA-Federation of New York’s annual Wall Street Dinner, a fundraiser that broke last year’s record by raising more than $26 million. “And turning the screw on the sanctions is better in the end.”

At the dinner presentation, Marc Lipschultz, the global head of energy and infrastructure at the private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, asked Petraeus, also the former commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, about the Islamic State jihadist group and other global threats to Israel.

Petraeus responded that the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel in Europe is potentially more dangerous to Israel than threats in the Middle East and “might keep more people awake at night than anything else.”

He also said that Hezbollah’s threat to Israel has largely been neutralized by the Iron Dome defense system.