Friday Links Part 1

From Ian:

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Barry Rubin: In Egypt, Pogroms against Christians Have Become Routine

The Brotherhood is running the government; the Salafists are running in the streets. Moderate Muslim Egyptians, like those who run al-Ahram for the time being (as a state newspaper it will soon come under Brotherhood control) are unhappy with the persecution but can do nothing.
Things can only do worse. The world is indifferent; the Western mass media is usually determined to be “even-handed” or to ignore the extent of the situation, preferring to seek alleged oppressors in other, near-by countries.

PMW: Facebook allows Palestinian promotion of hate speech but prevents PMW from exposing it

Following Palestinian Media Watch’s bulletin exposing the PA TV broadcast of a girl reciting a poem referring to Jews as “enemies of Allah, descendants of pigs,” Facebook, like YouTube, decided to remove PMW’s post.

BBC guest champions Hass’ advocacy of violence against Israelis

By providing a platform for Glass to whitewash Hass’ call for what is – let’s be perfectly frank about this – the organized and pre-meditated attempted murder of Israeli civilians, the BBC has rendered itself complicit to that incitement. Although it fairly successfully avoids reporting on the majority of the dozens of incidents in which Israelis are attacked – and sometimes killed – by Palestinian stone-throwers, it would not be too difficult for the BBC to apprise itself of the consequences of such shockingly frequent acts of terror.

US-Palestinian boy faces trial for stone-throwing

"The American government is obligated to do something for us," says father of 14-year-old suspected of stoning cars in W. Bank.

Lawyer: Recognize Victims of ‘Terrorist Rape’

There is a clear trend of Arab men sexually assaulting Jewish girls and women as a form of anti-Israel terrorism, attorney Roni Sadovnik said Wednesday, speaking to Arutz Sheva.
Israel’s courts prefer to treat such crimes as solely criminal in nature rather than as crimes motivated by nationalist hate, she said. Changing the status of such crimes would give victims a wider array of services and assistance.

U.S.: Fayyad Not Going Anywhere, as Far as We Know

The United States on Thursday reacted warily on Thursday to reports that Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad was poised to offer his resignation to Chairman Mahmoud Abbas after a dispute between the two, AFP reported. Similar reports have surfaced in the past.

'Hamas didn't probe executions of spy suspects'

Rights group says Hamas failed to investigate executions of 7 Palestinians accused of spying for Israel during Gaza operation.

Hamas Claims 'Collaborator' Campaign a Success

"A number of agents turned themselves in," Shahwan said, without giving a number, adding only that they would be "dealt with" according to Palestinian law.
Under Palestinian law, collaboration with Israel is punishable by death.

Sinai Bedouin kidnap, release Hungarian observer

An Egyptian security official says armed Bedouin tribesmen have kidnapped a Hungarian member of the multinational observer force in Sinai.
The observer was released several hours after the kidnapping, and the kidnappers said they did not know he was a member of the international peacekeeping force.

West has ‘hard evidence’ chemical weapons used in Syria

Diplomats say the West has firm proof that chemical weapons have been deployed at least once over the course of the civil war that has been ravaging Syria for two years.
“In one case, we have hard evidence,” one diplomat was quoted by AFP as saying Thursday. And “there are several examples where we are quite sure that shells with chemicals have been used in a very sporadic way.”

U.S. Envoy: Syria ‘Not Fit to Sit’ on UN Rights Committee

The Geneva-based watchdog group UN Watch congratulated Ambassador Killion and urged UNESCO to finally expel Assad from the panel.
“It is indefensible for the Syrian regime to be allowed to stand as a judge of other countries’ human rights records,” said Ambassador Killion in response to a question by UN Watch, which heads a global campaign of more than 50 parliamentarians, human rights and religious groups calling for Syria’s expulsion.