Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News: Poster

From JPost:

His late mother was an illiterate housewife and his father a simple farmer and construction worker who never got beyond fourth grade. Nevertheless, Dr. Aziz Darawshe’s 11 younger siblings include three physicians, a dentist, an engineer and five sisters who attended university.

There goes the theory that to get anywhere in life, one has to have well-educated and well-off parents...

Three months ago, the 57-year-old cardiologist, internal medicine specialist and emergency medicine expert replaced Prof. Ya’acov Assaf who retired after 18 years in the position, beating other candidates competing in a Hadassah tender. Darawshe earned an excellent reputation since 1994 as chairman of emergency medicine at Emek Hospital in Afula.

A self-declared secular Muslim, Darawshe was born in Iksal, near Mount Tabor and Nazareth, and with his wife Mona – a mathematics teacher – he still lives in the village.

His eldest son, 27, has completed his medical degree in Jerusalem and is learning neurosurgery in Beersheba, while his second one is studying in Germany.

An unusual characteristic one discovers in Darawshe is his drive to understand and get to know his patients. Besides Arabic, Hebrew, English and the Bulgarian he learned at medical school, he also speaks “a bissele Yiddish,” Russian, Spanish and German – learned either in courses or from his conversations with his colleagues and patients.

“Last October, I was invited to an event at Beit Hanassi [President’s Residence] in honor of Bulgarians, and I was able to speak to them,” he said. “I sometimes make errors in Arabic, and I don’t feel bad. But if I make a mistake in Hebrew, I feel terrible. I speak much more Hebrew than Arabic. Most Arabs learn Hebrew, and more Jews should learn Arabic. It should be regarded as the language of one’s neighbors, not that of one’s enemy.”

Darawshe also knows a lot about Jewish history – probably more than many Jews.

He has gone to the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial to understand what they went through.

Asked whether he has suffered any discrimination as an Arab physician, Darawshe answers a definitive “No! The integration of Arabs into the medical field has been impressive in this country. In the health system, Arabs and Jews get along excellently on an individual level. It’s an oasis, in a world of ethnic, socioeconomic, racial and other prejudice. Since the establishment of the State of Israel, this has been so in hospitals and health funds and in Education Ministry institutions, unlike in other government ministries and various public companies. The establishment has no choice but to hire Arabs as manpower in schools, and the same is true in medical institutions. The rate of Arab pharmacists is about 40 percent. I’d be happier if Arabs were given chances to excel in other fields.”

(h/t Yael)

This is one of the videos that got the US to condemn Egyptian president Morsi yesterday, finally translated by MEMRI:

Mohamed Morsi: One American president after another – and most recently, that Obama – talks about American guarantees for the safety of the Zionists in Palestine. [Obama] was very clear when he uttered his empty words on the land of Egypt. He uttered many lies, of which he couldn’t have fulfilled a single word, even if he were sincere – which he is not.

[...]

Dear brothers, we must not forget to nurse our children and grandchildren on hatred towards those Zionists and Jews, and all those who support them. They must be nursed on hatred. The hatred must continue.

UK-based Al Quds said that the exposure of these videos, as well as any move to publicize embarrassing statements made by Arabs, was a Zionist plot against Morsi, and was akin to "McCarthyism." (This particular video was first exposed on Arabic media.)

Meanwhile, Morsi responded, saying that the comments were "taken out of context."

He's right:

Speaking of lies...

Here's another just released by MEMRI where Morsi claims to have worked for NASA - and he denies ever saying that

Following are excerpts from statements made by Egyptian talk-show host Mahmoud Saad, which aired on Al-Nahar TV on January 11, 2013.

Mahmoud Saad: Let’s see what [Morsi] said in an interview with Nader Al-Bakkar:

Footage of Nader Al-Bakkar’s interview with Mohamed Morsi

Mohamed Morsi: I never said or wrote that I used to work for NASA. This never happened. I have never worked for NASA. I never wrote that I did. My CV does not say that I worked for NASA.

Cut back to studio

Mahmoud Saad: What do you think? This is Dr. Mohamed Morsi’s CV: “Dr. Mohamed Morsi is the leader of the Freedom and Justice Party, and a former member of the Guidance Council of the Muslim Brotherhood.”

[...]

“He conducted research for NASA and worked for NASA.” This is what you wrote. They say that I don’t understand the difference between working and being a consultant. He didn’t work there, nor was he a consultant, and there is nothing wrong with that. What is shameful is that the president wrote things that are not true. That is what is shameful. That is the problem.

Morsi told Nader Al-Bakkar that none of this was true, even though he himself had said, in an interview with Khairi Ramadhan, that he had worked for NASA. Let’s watch.

Footage of Khairi Ramadhan’s interview with Mohamed Morsi

Mohamed Morsi: I worked in teaching, in industry, and as a consultant for NASA, in the field of spaceship engines. I did this for a long period. I conducted a lot of research on this.

Cut back to studio

Mahmoud Saad: I don’t get it. He said that he had worked as a consultant for NASA for a long time. This means that he worked there. Then he took it back in the interview with Nader Al-Bakkar. What is this?