PFLP-GC claims 23,000 Syrian Palestinians have fled to Sweden

The PFLP-GC claims that some 23,000 Palestinian Arabs from the Yarmouk camp in Syria have fled to Sweden during the civil war.

Yarmouk camp

The group, which supports the Syrian regime, blames the opposition for setting up their forces in the camp.

I couldn't find verification of the numbers, but they are not unrealistic. In 2012 there were over 2000 Palestinian Arabs along with some 8000 Syrians who sought asylum in Sweden, and things have gotten far worse this year.

There is of course one additional factor: Arab nations have been treating the Palestinian Arab refugees from Syria like garbage, either turning them back at the border (Jordan, Egypt) or putting inhuman restrictions on them (Lebanon.) (I have been unable to determine if Iraq is letting any Palestinian Arab refugees into its camps.)

Oil-rich Gulf countries don't want any of them, either.

It is not surprising that the ones that make it successfully to Sweden will communicate with their relatives and friends and tell them that Europe is far more friendly to Palestinians than their Arab brothers are.

For some reason, "pro-Palestinian" groups are silent as to how their pets are being treated by Arab countries. No rallies, flotillas, or other campaigns against Jordan, Egypt, and Lebanon.  And the last time there was a Palestinian Arab refugee crisis - when they were expelled from Iraq by the thousands - Arab leaders were dead-set against them becoming naturalized in the West, because happy European Palestinian Arabs are no longer useful as cannon fodder against Israel.

It is remarkable how much the very people who pretend to love the Palestinian Arabs the most are the ones who care about them the least. Even more remarkable is that the Western media and "human rights" organizations all but ignore the discrimination and hate by Arabs for their own. 

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Egyptian media celebrating 1973 "victory" over "the Jews." Not Israel - "the Jews."

Today is the 40th anniversary of Egypt's surprise attack on Yom Kippur, 1973, and Egypt is celebrating.

But if you look at Egyptian media in Arabic, very often it says that this "victory" was over "the Jews" - not over Israel, or over Zionists.

While many of the articles only talk about the "glorious victory," without naming over whom, when the enemy is named, more often than not, they are called "the Jews."

This interview with an Egyptian general in El Balad  is peppered with referencs to "the Jews."

Vetogate, while discussing Muslim Brotherhood threats against the celebrations, notes that  it is a happy day because "this is a black day in the history of the Jews."

This interview with Sadat's sister at Al Mogaz mostly refers merely to "the enemy" but has a reference to the victory over "the Jews." Nothing about Zionists or Israel.

Al Masry al Youm incidentally talks bout the "victory over the Jews."

By the way, here is how Time magazine reported the end of the war that the Egyptians are wildly celebrating:

From a purely military viewpoint it was already clear that the Israelis had come breathtakingly close to a victory that would have matched their swift triumph in the Six-Day War. Despite the important advantages possessed this time by the refurbished Arab armies—the element of surprise, the early losses they inflicted, their easy penetration of the Bar-Lev Line along the east bank of the Suez Canal and Israeli bastions in the Golan Heights—the Israelis managed in scarcely more than two weeks to reverse the tide of battle and push the battlefronts into Syria and Egypt. At week's end the Israelis claimed that they had captured most of the city of Suez; their armies had fought to within 30 miles of Damascus and about 45 miles of Cairo.

Although the details were still obscured by censorship, the bridgehead made by an Israeli armored force across the southern sector of the canal may rank as the most brilliant military feat in the country's short but tempestuous history. In the end, Egypt may well have agreed to a ceasefire because it realized that to continue fighting would lead to another disaster.

Enlarging their bridgehead on the west bank of the Suez Canal (TIME, Oct. 29), Israeli forces last week proceeded to neutralize, both militarily and politically, the dug-in Egyptian forces on the east bank. With at least 20,000 men and 500 tanks at their disposal on the southern portion of the west bank, the Israelis cut the vital highway between Suez and Cairo, encircled and later captured most of the city of Suez and pushed on to the port of Adabiya. In the process, they trapped the Egyptian Third Army, which was still in position on the east bank of the canal.

The Egyptian public hardly realized what had happened. At the week's beginning, a mood of euphoria still persisted in Cairo. Many Egyptians initially resented the declaration of a ceasefire because they believed that it was cheating Egypt out of a clear-cut victory. In any case, full-scale fighting broke out again almost immediately. In the 24 hours that followed the ceasefire, the Israelis drastically improved their position on the west bank. They destroyed large numbers of missile and artillery sites and, most important, they isolated the Third Army, cutting it off from food for its 20,000 men and fuel for its 400 tanks. Time after time, the Egyptians fought ferociously to free themselves but failed.

By [Wednesday morning,] the Egyptian government fully realized to what extent it had blundered in underestimating the seriousness of the Israeli bridgehead on the west bank. But it was too late to change the course of battle; the Egyptian Third Army was, as Moshe Dayan put it, "technically blocked." In a particularly stinging gesture to the Egyptians, the Israelis announced that they would supply blood plasma to the Third Army, since the Egyptian government was incapable of doing so. The Israelis added that the encircled Arabs were in no immediate danger of dying from thirst or hunger.

... But already, hundreds of thirsty and hungry Egyptian soldiers were walking out of the harsh, blazing desert with their hands up and handkerchiefs waving. From their east-bank positions, the nearest fresh water was 100 miles away; the water conduit from the west was held by the Israelis, who seemed determined to supply them with water only in exchange for surrender. At best, the ones who held out could probably expect to go through what Gamal Abdel Nasser, as a young major, was forced to do in 1949: to await an armistice, after which, by joint agreement, they can walk through Israeli lines to safety.

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Egypt sends back 100 Gaza Hajj pilgrims

Ma'an reports:

Egyptian authorities on Wednesday forced over 100 Palestinian pilgrims to return to Gaza after having entered the country to travel to Saudi Arabia for the Hajj pilgrimage.

Egyptian security officials said that the 100 or so pilgrims had entered Egypt via the Rafah land crossing and were forced to return to the Gaza Strip for security reasons, without providing further details.

Egyptian director of the Rafah terminal, Sami Mitwali, told Ma'an that around 680 Palestinian Hajj pilgrims have entered Egypt via Rafah.

In 2007, under Mubarak, Egypt allowed terrorists to go on Hajj, over Israeli protests - but gave them a hard time before allowing them back into Gaza. There were reports that Hamas members went to Iran for terrorist training and cash after the pilgrimage.

In 2008, Hamas itself banned Fatah members from going.

In 2010, Egypt banned Hamas leaders from going on Hajj.

There is a lot of history there about how Egypt and Hamas have used Hajj for political purposes, rather than it just being the purely religious experience they pretend it is.

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Five ways Egypt's closure of Rafah hurts Hamas

Pan-Arab paper Al Hayat describes five different ways that Egypt's closure of Rafah, which for some reason is never called a "siege," is significantly hurting Hamas:

1. Loss of tax revenue. Hamas taxed all the goods coming from the tunnels, but the PA taxes the goods that come in from Israel. Hamas was receiving some $12 million in revenues every month from taxing smuggled goods. As a result of the closure, Hamas has cut paychecks and delayed payments to its 40,000 employees in Gaza.

2. Higher prices. Goods that come from Israel are at market prices, while many of those that come from Egypt are subsidized by the Egyptian government. Construction material in particular have doubled in price and Gaza's Federation of Contractors has called to stop all work for its 60,000 members until prices stabilize. Fuel prices as well have gone up to what Israelis are paying.

3. The end of cash being smuggled to Hamas. Banks refuse to transfer money to Gaza out of fear of running afoul of anti-terrorism laws, and Hamas had received a significant part of its cash from people smuggling cash through the tunnels (from Iran and elsewhere.) This has all but ended.

4. Weapons smuggling has gone way down. Hamas as well as Islamic Jihad depended on the smuggling trade from Sinai jihadists and middlemen to get their weapons and ammunition, and Egypt is not going to look the other way any more.

5. Hamas leaders cannot easily travel any more. Only last year Hamas leaders were touring Arab nations, asking for money and acting like heads of state. That seems to have largely ended.

According to the article, Hamas doesn't see any way out of this predicament right now, so it has decided to tolerate it until the political situation changes. But meanwhile Hamas is saying that Fatah no longer wants to talk to them since the hope is that an internal uprising in Gaza is coming soon.

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Antisemitic TV series to be rerun in Egypt for 40th anniversary of Yom Kippur War

"Knight Without a Horse," a notorious 2002 Arab Ramadan miniseries that used the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion" as the driver for the plot, is going to be shown again on Egyptian TV this month.

Why would an antisemitic TV series be shown again? Because that is part of the celebrations of the Yom Kippur War, which Egypt considers a great victory.

But what does antisemitism have to do with the 1973 war? Well, officially, nothing. Officially, Arabs claim that they aren't antisemitic, that they are only anti-Israel. Officially, they have no reason to write, produce and air TV series that blame Jews for all strife and wars worldwide.

Yet there it is, being aired during the celebration of a war against Israel. Très intéressant.

The ADL has a synopsis of the series, which was 41 episodes long. At the time it was originally aired, Arabs felt that at least the first episode was extraordinarily boring.

The writer and lead actor of the series told Al Jazeera in 2002 that whether or not the "Protocols" was authentic, "Zionism exists and it has controlled the world since the dawn of history."

Ah. That explains it.

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Egypt closes Rafah again, says it is for Gazans' own good

The inhumane Egyptian siege of Gaza continues:

Egyptian authorities closed the Rafah crossing with Gaza on Saturday, officials said.

"Egypt is concerned about the security of Palestinian citizens as Rafah and Sheikh Zuweid continue to blaze with explosions occurring from time to time," an Egyptian security official told Ma'an.

The crossing had been operating at a reduced capacity since Monday, after being closed for seven days due to the security situation in Sinai.

Isn't it sweet of them to imprison Gazans for their own security?

Meanwhile, Israel issued 1,177 permits for people to cross the Erez crossing two weeks ago.

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World media still ignoring Egypt navy killing two Palestinians in cold blood

Yesterday I reported about the Egyptian navy firing at a boat filled with Syrians and Palestinian Syrians trying to reach Europe, killing two of the Palestinians.

I noted then that the Western media coverage of the event was nonexistent, while there was heavy coverage of the IDF killing an admitted Islamic Jihad terrorist while being attacked with firebombs.

How about today? Are any media reporting on the cold-blooded murder of two Arab civilians of Palestinian ancestry?

This isn't Syria, where the 1500 or so Palestinian Arabs killed pale next to the hundred thousand total dead so far. There were no other major violent attacks in Egypt yesterday.

So what English language media outlets have covered this?

Al Ahram English has the story - and no one else. 

The story has drama - people desperately trying to flee Syria and make a better life. It has politics - Egypt not allowing Palestinian Syrians to seek asylum there. It has violence. It has irony, that those fleeing Syrian bombs get felled by Egyptian bullets.

It has all the ingredients for a great news story.

But it is apparently missing an essential component: It doesn't fit the mainstream media narrative of Palestinian Arabs being oppressed by Israel and only Israel.

That makes it messy, and harder to explain, and it reveals shades of grey that the media prefers not to get into because they would then have to be more careful not to report other stories based on a template but based on real reporting.

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Report: Hamas prevented Gazan students from going to Egypt

From the PA's official WAFA news agency, confirmed by Palestine Press Agency:

Hamas police Wednesday prevented Gaza students seeking to travel to Egypt through Rafah crossing to reach their colleges abroad from leaving the Strip, according to the students.

They said that around 200 students gathered at Rafah crossing after Egypt has decided to open it for a couple of days to allow students and other humanitarian cases out of Gaza.

However, Hamas members attacked the students with clubs and pushed them back with their jeeps to prevent them from leaving Gaza.

Students said that Hamas did this because they coordinated their travel with the Palestinian embassy in Cairo, as requested by the Egyptian authority to facilitate their travel.

The Palestinian embassy in Cairo had asked students who want to leave Gaza to attend colleges abroad to coordinate their travel through it due to the closure of the Rafah crossing since last week following an attack on Egyptian security personnel in Sinai.

Egypt agreed to open the crossing briefly on Wednesday and Thursday for special cases after President Mahmoud Abbas Monday called the head of the Egyptian intelligence, Mohammed Tohami, and requested that Egypt allows students, the sick and humanitarian cases to leave Gaza.

The siege of Gaza by Hamas continues!

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No one seems to complain when Egypt acts like Israel

From Ma'an:

Egypt plans to impose a 500-meter buffer zone along its border with the Gaza Strip, a senior Egyptian military official said Sunday.

Egyptian residents living in Saladin, al-Barahmeh, Canada, Brazil, al-Sarsouriya and other neighborhoods close to the Gaza border have received eviction notices.

Homeowners who received eviction orders demonstrated against the decision and burned tires in protest.

Army bulldozers have also uprooted trees in the border area.

The army has demolished 13 homes in the al-Sarsouriya neighborhood where tunnel entrances were found.

An Egyptian military official told Ma'an that most cross-border tunnels with entrances in fields or open areas had been destroyed in a security campaign to stop smuggling. He said it was more difficult to locate tunnels that opened into houses.

This was the same kind of clearing operation that Israel was doing on its side of the Gaza border - and which was permitted by Oslo - when Rachel Corrie was killed.

The article continues:

Egypt's army spokesman Ahmad Mohammad said that forces have destroyed 343 smuggling tunnels. He said the Egyptian military has also prohibited fishing near the border to prevent smuggling via the sea.

Hamas said Friday that two Palestinian fishermen were wounded and five others arrested by the Egyptian navy off the coast of the Gaza Strip.

"Some Egyptian navy ships fired in the direction of Palestinian fishing boats near the Egyptian border off the coast of Rafah at dawn on Friday," the Hamas government's press agency reported.

"Two fishermen were wounded and five others arrested," said Hamas.

They were both taken to the hospital in Rafah, medical sources said, adding that their lives were not in danger.

Hamas described the incident as an "unjustified act," and called for those "detained to be freed."

Isn't it amazing that when Israel defends itself from Hamas terror and smuggling of weapons, it is violating the human rights of 1.6 million Gazans - but when Egypt does the exact same thing, it is simply defending itself? Indeed, Egypt goes beyond what Israel does (by not allowing people and goods to cross into Gaza via the official crossings) and there is near total silence from the so-called "pro-Palestinian" activists.

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Latest Egyptian rumor: Muslim Brotherhood army being formed in Gaza under Hamas

News out of Egypt is unreliable, to say the least, as the pro- and anti-Muslim Brotherhood sides hurl nutty accusations at each other.

Egypt's Youm7 newspaper quotes unnamed senior Egyptian officials as saying that the new head of the Muslim Brotherhood, Mahmoud Ezzat, had fled to Gaza several weeks ago and is now overseeing a new mini-army of  Gaza militants and1500 Muslim Brotherhood soldiers and smuggled from Egypt into Gaza through tunnels.

These troops are being trained with Hamas' Al Qassam Brigades, according to the rumors, and they are in two areas of Khan Younis. It is being funded by the Muslim Brotherhood and is receiving weapons from Turkey, smuggled to Gaza through Cyprus, including anti-tank missiles.

The rumor gets a little more fantastic when it says that some of the weapons are stolen from both the Egyptian and Israeli armies.

(What is true is that Mahmoud Ezzat has not been seen for several weeks, since he was appointed in his new role. The idea that he is directing operations from Gaza is a bit far-fetched, though.)

The commenters are taking this seriously, though, with one suggesting that it is time for the Egyptian army to hold its own "Cast Lead" against Gaza, damn the civilian casualties.

Even though the story seems filled with holes, the fact that it even gets such prominent play in Egypt (and even gets leaked by Egyptian officials to the media) says volumes about how Hamas and Gaza itself is regarded as an enemy.

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Egypt arrests Palestinians, keeps Rafah closed (update)

Today is the fourth consecutive day of the Rafah crossing being completely closed by Egypt.

Still no flotillas to Egypt to protest this siege.

Meanwhile, the Egyptian security forces continue to arrest Palestinian Arabs in the Sinai on suspicion of terrorism:

North Sinai Security Directorate forces arrested Egyptians and Palestinians in Arish over suspected involvement in an earlier attack on the city's civil defense building.

Four Egyptians and five Palestinians were arrested in the sweeping operation.

The suspects were arrested inside a mosque near the meteorological authority building, close to al-Nasr Mosque, a supposed haven for jihadi groups in Arish.

Authorities claimed the four Egyptians had been drafted to attack army and police troops in North Sinai.

The Sinai Peninsula has witnessed escalating attacks against army and police since the overthrow of former President Mohamed Morsy. Attacks are largely blamed on extremist groups in the region.

The army said Tuesday it detained 11 suspected terrorist elements, including two Palestinians.

Given the current mess in Egypt, it is impossible to know whether these Gazans are terrorists or if they are just caught up in the army's crackdown on Islamists (and popular opinion against Gaza.) What is clear is that no "pro-Palestinian" group is making much of a stink over this.

UPDATE: Meanwhile, Gazans are protesting - the Israeli "blockade." (h/t Jonathan Schanzer)

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Lawsuits in Egypt to cut off electricity to Gaza - and to expel the US Ambassador

Today, an Egyptian court may decide whether the country should continue to provide electricity to Gaza.

The First Circuit Court of Administrative Justice of the Egyptian State Council, headed by Judge Abdul Majid , will rule today on a lawsuit filed by lawyer Reza Albarakaoy, which called for a court ruling to stop the Egyptian export of electricity to the Gaza Strip.

The lawsuit says that Egypt exports electricity to the Gaza Strip at a time when the Egyptians suffer from outages of electricity themselves, and disregards the needs of the Egyptian people themselves.

The suit adds that the production of electricity in Egypt is very expensive because it uses large quantities of Egyptian natural gas in the process of producing electricity, which requires the need to provide electricity to the Egyptian people, and take advantage of it rather than exported to the outside and the people in greatest need, in short supply.

Egypt provides about 28 MW of electricity to Gaza. Israel provides about 125 MW.

According to the web page of the law firm bringing the lawsuit, they also sued to close all Gaza smuggling tunnels, to stop Al Jazeera from broadcasting in Egypt, and to stop the sale of land in the Sinai - out of fear that Palestinian Arabs might buy it and use it as an "alternative homeland."

Another lawsuit being brought demands the expulsion of the US ambassador to Egypt for "violating Egyptian sovereignty through the provision of the U.S. Embassy financial and political support for the Muslim Brotherhood and Salafi groups."

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Why aren't any Rachel Corries flying to Egypt?

Palestine Press Agency reports that there was a new round of tunnel destruction on the Egyptian border with Gaza.

Five tunnels, including those for smuggling of building materials and food, were dynamited, with white smoke visible from the explosions. The Egyptian army also flooded the tunnels with water.

The army also destroyed a house, apparently because it either hid the entrance or was used otherwise in the tunnel trade.

Which makes one wonder - how come there are no Rachel Corries bravely flying to Egypt to protect the houses of Rafah and the tunnel trade to Gaza? Where are the brave activists willing to use their bodies to protect Gazans from losing their lifeline (and Egyptians from becoming homeless)? How come no hordes of human shields from ISM to help their friends in Gaza from the Egyptian army who are placing them under siege? Where are the protests at Rafah for the closing of the crossing? For that matter, where are the filmmakers documenting Egypt's destruction of the tunnels and the cruel actions of the Egyptian army? Is Evergreen College offering college credit for students who want to travel to Egypt to protest? Where are the.................

I'm sorry. I couldn't finish the paragraph because I was laughing too hard. Brave protesters are only "brave" when confronting the ruthless, evil, inhuman IDF. They are more than willing to put themselves in danger when they believe that there is no danger.

They seem to lose their principles when the principles have any potential cost.

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Israel-hating Canadian filmmaker arrested in Egypt on way to Gaza

From Realscreen.com:

Toronto-based documentary maker John Greyson (pictured) has been arrested in Egypt, according to multiple international reports.

Greyson, whose doc Fig Trees won a Teddy Award for Best Documentary at the 59th Berlin International Film Festival, was arrested on Friday (August 16), along with Tarek Loubani, an Ontario-based emergency room doctor.

The pair were in Egypt en route to Gaza, with Greyson exploring the possibility of making a documentary on the work Loubani was to undertake. With the border crossing closed, the two men became stranded in Egypt.

Caitlin Workman, a spokesperson for the department of foreign affairs, told the Toronto Star that the government was aware of the arrests. “The embassy in Cairo is in contact with local authorities and we are prepared to provide consular assistance,” she said.

According to the CBC, Justin Podur – a professor at York University, where Greyson also teaches – informs that he has received word from the two men and that they are both okay for the time being.

The Toronto Palestine Film Festival (TPFF) today issued a notice expressing concern for the safety of the two men; Greyson is a TPFF advisory board member.

“Canadian and Egyptian authorities should be aware of Professor Greyson’s and Dr. Loubani’s dedication to humanitarian work in their fields,” the TPFF stated. “In addition to being an admired university professor and award-winning filmmaker, Professor Greyson has played an integral role in the festival as an advisor for the last five years, providing us with invaluable programming guidance and support.

“Professor Greyson has used his skill, art and reputation to spotlight human rights issues in Canada and abroad, including the plight of Palestinians.”

In addition to winning a Berlinale award in 2009, Greyson also drew attention that year when he withdrew his short documentary Covered from the Toronto International Film Festival, in protest of the festival’s inaugural City to City Spotlight being on the city of Tel Aviv.

Greyson's letter to the Toronto International Film Festival shows how much he hates Israel and how easily he lies about it:

This past year has also seen: the devastating Gaza massacre of eight months ago, resulting in over 1000 civilian deaths; the election of a Prime Minister accused of war crimes; the aggressive extension of illegal Israeli settlements on Palestinian lands; the accelerated destruction of Palestinian homes and orchards; the viral growth of the totalitarian security wall, and the further enshrining of the check-point system. Such state policies have led diverse figures such as John Berger, Jimmy Carter, and Bishop Desmond Tutu to characterize this 'brand' as apartheid. Your TIFF program book may describe Tel Aviv as a "vibrant young city... of beaches, cafes and cultural ferment... that celebrates its diversity," but it's also been called "a kind of alter-Gaza, the smiling face of Israeli apartheid" (Naomi Klein) and "the only city in the west without Arab residents" (Tel Aviv filmmaker Udi Aloni).

To my mind, this isn't the right year to celebrate Brand Israel, or to demonstrate an ostrich-like indifference to the realities (cinematic and otherwise) of the region, or to pointedly ignore the international economic boycott campaign against Israel. Launched by Palestinian NGO's in 2005, and since joined by thousands inside and outside Israel, the campaign is seen as the last hope for forcing Israel to comply with international law. By ignoring this boycott, TIFF has emphatically taken sides --and in the process, forced every filmmaker and audience member who opposes the occupation to cross a type of picket line.

A group of celebrities including Jerry Seinfeld, Sacha Baron Cohen, Natalie Portman, Jason Alexander and Lisa Kudrow, slammed Greyson's position. The usual Israel bashers like Alice Walker, Ken Loach and David Byrne expressed support. So did Jane Fonda, who later changed her mind.

Rafah has been closed by Egypt, and it is possible that Egyptian authorities are suspicious that anyone who tries to travel to Gaza is a supporter of Hamas. In this case, they are probably right.

(h/t Josh, Russell)

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Qaradawi: "Even the Jews never did a massacre like the Egyptians"

Sheikh Yusuf Al Qaradawi, the antisemitic, terror supporting TV preacher who is allied with the Muslim Brotherhood, decided to use the J-bomb in his criticism of the Egyptian crackdown on Islamists.

In a phone interview on Al Jazeera, he said that he never saw such a "massacre" such as the army in Egypt performed with the help of the police, "even from the Jews."

He claimed that they killed and burned thousands of demonstrators.

Qaradawi demanded that Egyptians go out "to defend the gains of the January revolution and the defense of the innocent martyrs."

Even worse than the Jews? How can such a thing be?

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Dozens of churches, Christian businesses torched in Egypt

From CNN:

For 67 years, the Virgin Mary Church has been a peaceful refuge for Shenouda El Sayeh, much like the Giza province village of Hafr Hakim where it rests and where he has lived all those years.

But, as he swept its floors on Thursday, it was painfully obvious things had changed.

The night before, a mob -- chanting against Coptic Christians such as El Sayeh and calling for Egypt to become an "Islamic state" -- had torched and looted the Virgin Mary Church.

"I didn't expect this to happen," El Sayeh said.

He's not alone. Christians all around Egypt are cleaning up in the aftermath of a spate of attacks, which not coincidentally came on the county's deadliest day since the 2011 revolution that overthrew longtime President Hosni Mubarak.

Bishop Angaelos, the Cairo-born head of the Coptic Orthodox Church in the United Kingdom, said he was told by colleagues in Egypt that 52 churches were attacked in a 24-hour span that started Wednesday, as well as numerous Christians' homes and businesses.

Ishak Ibrahim, a researcher with the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, told CNN he had confirmed attacks on at least 30 churches so far, in addition to the targeting of church-related facilities, including schools and cultural centers.

Those churches reportedly set ablaze Wednesday included St. George Church in Sohag, a city south of Cairo on the Nile River.

And the new day brought new attacks. Prince Tadros Church in Fayoum, which is southwest of Cairo, was stormed and burned Thursday night, according to the official Middle East News Agency.

CNN is trying to avoid blaming any group for the torchings, but Al Ahram explains who did it:

Incensed by the bloody crackdown that has claimed more than 500 lives, Morsi loyalists orchestrated nationwide assaults on Christian targets, wreaking havoc on churches, homes, and Christian-owned businesses throughout the country.

The Muslim expression "First the Saturday people, then the Sunday people" is coming true in Egypt.
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Egyptian TV analyst: "Muslim Brotherhood acts just like Jews", plus a classic essay by John Derbyshire

From MEMRI:

Following are excerpts from a statement by Ahmad Taha Al-Naqr, spokesman of the Egyptian Association for Change, which aired on ON TV on August 14, 2013.

Ahmad Taha Al-Naqr: I'd like to focus on the connection between the Jews and the Muslim Brotherhood. The MB have adopted the policy of the Jews, and they are implementing it to the letter, with respect to the invasion of the media, presenting an image of eternal victims…

They use violence and view others as Gentiles. The Jews always say that non-Jews are Gentiles and that it is permitted to kill them – Gentiles can be killed or banished, like they do to the Palestinians.

The [August 14] Rabaa massacre was orchestrated in the same style as the historical Masada massacre of the Jews, so that the MB would be able to continue to harp on about it, thus justifying foreign intervention in the affairs of Egypt. They actually demanded such foreign intervention. Anyone demanding intervention in his country's affairs is committing high treason. They simply clone and implement the image of the Jews.

The Muslim Brotherhood, meanwhile, said that General Abdel al-Sisi's mother was Jewish.

So do we support the rabidly Jew-hating Islamists, or the rabidly Jew-hating secularists?

It reminds me of a great essay, written 11 years ago but that could have been written today, by John Derbyshire in National Review.

I recently got a long, carefully composed e-mail from a reader, who begged me to circulate it among "other opinion-formers." It laid out a plan for peace in the Middle East. The writer, obviously an intelligent and well-informed person, had composed the e-mail with great care. With some passion, too — he really wants to find a solution to the Israel-Arab problem. Here was a public-spirited person doing his citizenly best to promote an idea that, he fervently believed, would put an end to the horrors.

And what was that idea? In a nutshell: The U.S. should lean hard on Israel to abandon the Jewish settlements in Arab land — i.e. beyond Israel's pre-1967 borders. These settlements (my reader argued) were the root cause of all the strife. Closing them down would remove the main casus belli; and the good faith shown by this act would open the eyes of the Arabs to the fact that peace with Israel is possible. The logjam would be broken.

I don't know what to say to people like this. Obviously they are decent, good citizens. Obviously they are trying their best — trying to be constructive, to give some hope to the world. How do I tell them what I feel? Which is, that they are floating in orbit between Uranus and Neptune — inhabiting some place that does not touch the real world at any point.

Look: Possibly there would be some abstract justice in closing down the settlements, I don't know. I don't see it myself, I must admit. Why should Jews not live among Arabs? Lots of Arabs live in Israel, and do very well there. There are rich Israeli Arabs; there are Israeli-Arab pop stars and comedians; there are Israeli-Arab intellectuals, teachers, writers, businessmen, athletes. Why, when the whole thing gets sorted out, should there not be Jews living in Arab territory — as there were for centuries past? What, exactly, is wrong with the settlements? I don't see it.

But, okay, let's suppose there is some valid moral objection to the existence of the settlements; and let's suppose my reader's plan were to be carried out, and all the settlements were removed, their populations transferred back to metropolitan Israel, their buildings razed, their fields ploughed with salt. Does anybody think it would make a damn bit of difference? There was no such thing as settlements, no such thing as "occupied territories," before the 1967 war. There were no such things in 1960, for example, when Adolf Eichmann was abducted from his hiding-hole in Buenos Aires by Israeli secret agents, an event recorded by Saudi Arabia's principal government-controlled newspaper as: "ARREST OF EICHMANN, WHO HAD THE HONOR OF KILLING 6 MILLION JEWS".

The problem of the Middle East is not the settlements. It is not this piece of land or that piece. It is not the Golan Heights or East Jerusalem or Temple Mount. It is not oil, or land, or water, or history, or geography, or metaphysics. The problem is in plain sight. You know what the problem is, and so do I. The problem is that the Middle East hates the Jews.

I say "the Middle East" because I don't know any more precise way to say it. You can't say "the Arabs" (though of course the Arabs hate the Jews more than anyone), because the Iranians and the Pakistanis and the Berbers of North Africa hate the Jews too, and they are not Arabs. You can't say "the Muslims". That is a lot closer, I think, and there surely cannot be much doubt that institutional Islam is riddled with Jew-hatred. Still, Malaysia is a Muslim country, and they don't hate the Jews, except in a go-along, pro forma sort of way, to keep on good terms with the Saudis and Gulf Emirs.

And I am sure, before you write to tell me, that lots of people in the Middle East don't hate the Jews. Lots of Arabs, millions probably, don't hate the Jews. Probably lots of non-Arab Muslims don't hate the Jews, either. Yet it's hard to avoid the impression, from reading the MEMRI translations, from looking at the kinds of things taught in schools all over the Middle East (and in Islamic schools here in the U.S.A. — see below), from listening to the pronouncements of Middle East politicians (remember the Syrian foreign minister explaining to the Pope — to the Pope! — that: "When I see a Jew in front of me, I kill him"?) and from random conversations with New York cab drivers, that visceral, murderous Jew-hatred is awfully widespread among Arabs, Pakistanis, Iranians, and North Africans. Awfully widespread.

[...]
It is not too difficult to envisage a plan by which the spoken grievances of the Arabs against Israel could be addressed, and some compromise struck. The chancelleries of the world — including Israel's — are in fact full of such plans, drawn up with loving care by legions of diplomats, experts, politicians, ambassadors, scholars and private do-gooders like my reader, across decades of time. In an atmosphere of goodwill, and genuine desire for a solution, the Palestine circle could be squared. You'd just have to pull one of those plans down from the shelf, blow the dust off it, and say: "Let's take this for a starting point, shall we?" The circle is not going to be squared though — not by George W. Bush, not by my e-mail pal with his elaborate scheme to shut down the settlements, not by another round of "shuttle diplomacy," not by any amount of work on a "peace process". It isn't going to be, because there is no goodwill, and no real desire on the part of Israel's enemies for a solution. Or rather, there is a widespread desire for only one solution — the extinction of Israel and the driving out, or mass killing, of the Jews. That's what they want, the Middle East; that's all they want.

I don't think we should be sending diplomats to the Middle East. I think we should be sending teams of psychiatrists. This is a diseased culture, a sick culture. Go back to that disgraceful recycling of the Blood Libel in the Saudi press. Do you think anyone in that newspaper's readership thought there was anything odd about it, anything deplorable about it, anything untrue about it? I don't think so. To the newspaper readers of Saudi Arabia, it was routine stuff, a statement of the obvious. If MEMRI hadn't brought it to the attention of the civilized world, do you think the Saudi authorities would have bothered about it? Do you think, even now, they really have a clue what all the fuss is about? Of course the Jews use gentile blood to make their cookies. Doesn't everyone know that? We'd best pretend to be shocked, though. Those Americans are so-o-o sensitive!

We are dealing here with people who are, not to put too fine a point on it, nuts. The Arabs, the Iranians, the Pakis, the Libyans: they are nuts, the great majority of them. Nuts. Not playing with a full deck. Not too tightly wrapped. One brick short of a load, one coupon short of a toaster. The smoke not going all the way up the chimney. Not quite 16 annas to the rupee. Nuts.

Is there anything we can do about it? Only what Peggy Noonan told us to do in her brilliant Wall Street Journal piece last week: Do what you do when you find yourself in a roomful of glittering-eyed lunatics down at the local funny farm. Keep smiling, talk softly, don't make any sudden moves, keep nodding and smiling, and keep a tight hand on the stun gun in your pocket. The Middle East contains three hundred million people, and most of them are crazy as coots. Glad I don't live there.

UPDATE: A tweeter sent out a series of messages excoriating me for republishing the essay of a person who apparently wrote a bigoted article that got him fired a while back. I don't follow pundits like they were rock stars and I had no idea about this, to be honest. This essay still holds up, but for people who are concerned about the source, you can discount it as you wish. You can read my FAQ to see my feelings about stereotyping Arabs and Muslims.

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Rally in Egypt to support Mubarak, "humiliator of Jews"

El Balad reports that a group called "Sons of Mubarak" will demonstrate their support for the deposed dictator in front of a police academy in Egypt during the next phase of his trial.

Only one reason is given for the rally.

Hassan Ghandour, spokesman on behalf of the "Sons of Mubarak," explained that all Egyptians are indebted to Mubarak because "he is the last remaining Muslim leader who had humiliated the Jews."

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Sinai Jihadists claim responsibility for rocket to Eilat

The Mujahadeen Shura Council took responsibility for firing a rocket (or rockets) at Eilat early Tuesday morning.

This is not the Ansar Jerusalem group who had four members killed on Friday.

The statement says "In response to the recent crime of the Jews which killed four of the Mujahideen in the land of Sinai, the black Mujahideen Shura Council [announces] the bombing of the city of Rashrash 'Eilat' with a missile at one dawn on Tuesday."

The statement added that the missile caused the Jews to have "dread and horror" as they rushed to their underground shelters.

The Mujahideen Shura added that the city of Eilat "and other cities of the Jews" will not enjoy security nor tourism, pointing out that "the Jews will dearly pay the price for the blood of the mujahideen.

Iron Dome intercepted one rocket. Residents reported hearing two explosions, one of which may have been Iron Dome firing.

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Secular Egyptian paper says Muslim Brotherhood is acting out the Protocols of the Elders of Zion

We've seen before how the secular Egyptian party al-Wafd has pushed the most bizarre anti-Zionist, anti-semitic and anti-American conspiracy theories around.

Today they continue, with a long article that (yet again) describes the forgery known as the Protocols of the Elders of Zion - and how the Muslim Brotherhood is part of this vast Jewish conspiracy.

For example, the first protocol supposedly says that the Jews must cause strife and infighting in the nations they want to destroy - and that's what the Muslim Brotherhood did!

The ninth protocol says to fool people with false slogans - and that is what the Muslim Brotherhood did!

The tenth protocol forces world leaders to adhere to the wishes of the Jews in order to stay in power - and this is exactly what the Muslim Brotherhood did!

The article goes on and on, piling idiocy upon stupidity upon crazed conspiracy.

Remember, these guys represent the secularists - the best of the best of Egypt, the ones that the West is hoping will take over (although they pretend that the West loves Morsi and always did.)

Once again, I cannot find the tiniest pushback to these crazed anti-semitic conspiracy theories in the Egyptian media. Either the sane voices are too afraid to speak up, or they don't exist.

Either way, it is not an auspicious sign for the future of Egypt.

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