Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News: algeria

Showing posts with label algeria. Show all posts

Thursday, May 05, 2016

Algeria bans Jews from pilgrimage. Not "Zionists" - Jews.

Tlemcen synagogue

Algerian news site El Khabar reports that the government is not allowing French Jews to come on an annual pilgrimage to visit the gravesite of a 15th century rabbi.

Rabbi Ephraim ben Israel Alnaqua was a legendary spiritual leader and physician who escaped Spain (according to legend) and settled in Tlemcen, Algeria. The synagogue he established there was still there as of 1906, according to the Jewish Encyclopedia.

Since Algerian independence there have been a number of visits by Jews to the Jewish cemetery in Tlemcen (the rabbi is buried nearby). Some of the visits have been done under the radar but some publicly, including a 250-strong delegation in 2005.

These pilgrims are not from Israel. They are French Jews whose ancestors lived in Algeria. But the Algerian government is banning them from visiting.

I'm sure it is because of "occupation."

(h/t Ibn Boutros)

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Tension mounts between Algeria and Morocco - and Jews are blamed

Here's an article in the North Africa Post telling the Moroccan side of the story of their long standing dispute with Algeria:

The deep causes of the antagonism between the two countries lie deep in the colonial legacy that left huge territorial imbalances penalizing Morocco and Tunisia in favour of Algeria.

After emerging from their independence struggle, Morocco and Tunisia were well aware that Algeria acquired its geographic extent at their expense and were hoping that an independent anti-colonial Algeria will repair the territorial injustices caused by colonialism. However, history took another course with the takeover of the army commanders in Algiers and the subordination of politicians. All the promises given by the political leaders of the Algerian provisional government prior to Algeria’s independence were renounced including the promise given to Morocco’s King Mohammed V to negotiate the borders in gratitude for Morocco’s support for the Algerian resistance and the Kingdom’s refusal to negotiate the status of the borders with France. Right after independence the omens of territorial consolidation began to manifest itself in the revolutionary military commanders that emerged as Algeria’s kingmakers. Thus, Tunisia was propelled to give up its territorial claims and signed an agreement recognizing the post-colonial borders with Algiers, while skirmishes took place with Morocco over the region of Tindouf. This low-intensity war in the early 1960s opposing Morocco and Algeria, known as “Sand war”, ended with a military victory for Morocco. However, the Kingdom fell short of retrieving what it deems historically Moroccan lands.

As a result, Algeria has been supporting the groups that are against Morocco's occupation of Western Dahara:

Strikingly enough, the very retrieval of Western Sahara by Morocco sounded the alarm bell for Algerian military junta who saw in the move an attempt to revive the aspirations for a “Greater Morocco,” an idea that resounds in history referring to an era where Moroccan dynasties ruled Mauritania, northern Mali and most of western Algeria.

But it is easier to blame Jews for these decades-old disputes.

Andre Azoulay

Algeria's Akbar El-Youm says that Jews are really the ones who are goading Morocco into confrontation with Algeria.

[We cannot] not rule out the existence of a dirty Zionist scheme that aims to ignite a war between Morocco and Algeria, two of the Arab countries that have so far escaped from the Arab infighting...These are not merely guesses and speculation, but a degree of certainty there is a real Zionist scheme aimed at fueling a fierce war between Algeria and Morocco similar to those that took place between Iraq and Iran during the 1980s that led to the exhaustion of the two countries both classified in the category of "Israel's enemies". There is no doubt that the Zionists will never forgive Algeria's unconditional support for the Palestinian cause, which made Algeria one of the most loved countries in the occupied Palestinian territories where their children raise the flag of our country through many of the clashes that took place recently between them and the Zionist occupation soldiers. It is known that the Jews were behind the lobby that controls the joints of the decision-making in Morocco, the Jew Azoulay is one of the most prominent of King Mohammed VI's advisers if not the most powerful of all, one of the defenders for the security of so-called Israel and supporters of two states (Israel and Palestine) on the holy land of Palestine. André Azoulay who also served as an adviser to King Hassan II is the face of a large Jewish community in Morocco, which is among the largest Jewish communities in the Arab and Islamic countries.

The article goes on to list other prominent Moroccan Jews, and uses as evidence of their nefarious nature that one of them said in a ceremony 6 years ago that "Jews will not disappear from Morocco, we have a long history here."

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Hidden camera video proudly reveals how much Algerians hate Jews

Diga Man, an Algerian team known for making hidden camera prank videos, has produced a new one of which they are particularly proud.

One of the members put on a yarmulke and asked Algerians on the street for help in finding the Jewish cemetery.

They called the video "A Jew in the Streets of Algeria: What happens?"

Here are the results:

Algerian raising his hand to hit the "Jew"

The first group of people hit and kicked the "Jew." A second group completely ignored him. Then a group of youngsters, after ascertaining that he was Jewish, started to attack him and chased him down the street..

The filmmakers then proudly say how Algerians will always support Palestinians. They say " "Palestine is always in our hearts, it has to be supported, no matter if they are oppressed or are the oppressors" based on a hadith that quotes Mohammed as saying that a Muslim must support all Muslims no matter if they are the oppressed or the ones doing the oppressing.

The video became popular when it was released, until controversy broke out when several commenters pointed out that Arabs are not supposed to hate Jews, but only Zionists, and the actor in this video did not do anything indicating he was Zionist or Israeli.

The filmmakers then went into damage control mode, changing the name of the video to "A Zionist in the Streets of Algeria: What happens?" and turning off comments on YouTube. They then claimed that they only intended to show how much Algerians hate Zionists. But the video shows plainly that this isn't true, even with a caption in Arabic and English about the episode with the schoolboys says "Junior hate Jews."

The group told CNN Arabic that they did not intend to incite anyone against Jews, only Zionists. Even CNN pointed out that their excuse was lame since the video clearly shows otherwise.

Not surprisingly, CNN has not bothered to report this story in English as of this moment. The enlightened liberal media.refuses to cover stories about the widespread and easily seen antisemitism among Arabs and Muslims.

Because that would be Islamophobic.

(h/t Ibn Boutros)

Algerian paper claims Jews are burning Algerian flags in France

Algerian newspaper El Chorouk is covering the Muslim attacks on Jews in France - but it is claiming that it is violence between the groups, not the one-sided would-be pogroms we have seen.

According to the paper, French Jews have been burning the Algerian flag in response to French Muslims burning the Israeli flag. According to the article, French Jews and Muslims have lived together in peace, but (Zionist) French TV coverage of Muslims burning Israeli flags, along with them carrying Algerian flags, has caused all the problems of Jews returning the favor.

"For the first time by the Jews of France protests are not against the Palestinians and against Hamas, but against Algeria and its symbols," the article says.

The article helpfully adds that Algerian Jews - who lived in Algeria for centuries - were colonialists who helped the French during the revolution and who were therefore expelled.

We are told that Algerians are afraid of the Jews in their midst, and that - get this - Jews in France are trying to gain the trust of French Tunisians, Moroccans and Turks in an attempt to isolate the Algerians.

Looking through photos and video, I could not find a single instance of a Jew burning an Algerian flag. Lots of videos of French burning the Algerian flag during the World Cup. And Egyptians burning the Algerian flag, also over football. And Wahhabis in Syria. And Moroccans (who helpfully changed the five pointed star in the flag to a six-pointed one.)

Yes, those aggressive French Jews, out for blood against a Muslim population that outnumbers them 10-1.

Algeria picking a fight with Israel

A couple of days ago, a rumor started in Algeria that Mark Regev, the spokesperson for the Prime Minister's office, had said "the financial support of Algeria to the Gaza Strip is an act of support for a terrorist organization", namely Hamas, and that the $25 million given by Algeria "is a hostile act against the state of Israel."

I can find no such statement.

But now an op-ed in El Chorouk is threatening Israel for supposedly threatening Algeria.

The article goes on about "Mark Regev, official spokesman of the Government of Jewish terrorism in occupied Palestine" and how Algerian Jews were traitors against independence and engaged in terror attacks against Algerians (the truth was the opposite) and how Israel is threatened by Algeria's strong support of Hamas.

Good thing there are no Jews left in Algeria to find out how tolerant their hosts are.

Algeria may restore synagogues, now that there are no Jews there

AFP (Arabic and French) reports:

Algeria, which has a small discreet Jewish community, is willing to re-open synagogues that were locked in the '90s for reasons of safety, assured the Minister of Religious Affairs Mohamed Aissa, quoted Thursday by the press.

"There is a well accepted Jewish community in our districts. It has the right to exist. Its representative, who is a patriot, is in permanent contact with the ministry," the minister said at a forum organized by the daily Liberté.

Asked about the reopening of Jewish places of worship, he said that Algeria was ready, but added that "the State does not intend to reopen them immediately" because "we must first secure a place of worship before delivering it to the faithful."

Jews were often the target of [Muslim] fundamentalists in the '90s and two leaders of this community were murdered in Algiers.

Let's look at some context.

First, a recent history of Jews in Algeria:

[By the late 1950s] the Jews could sit on the fence no longer when two events forced them decisively into the French camp: the first was the burning of the Great Synagogue in Algiers in December 1960. Arabs went on the rampage ripping memorial plaques from the walls, and torching books and Torah scrolls. The second was the murder in June 1961, while he was out shopping in the market, of the famous Jewish musician, Sheikh Raymond Leyris, a symbol of a shared Arab-Jewish culture and father-in-law of the singer Enrico Macias.

Like the pieds noirs, the Jews were faced with a stark choice: suitcase or coffin. They scrambled to reach seaports and airports. By the time Algeria had declared independence on 3 July 1962, all but a few thousand Jews had left for France.

The watchword was now ‘Muslim Algeria’ not ‘Algeria for the Algerians.’ No ‘foreigner,’ even those who had fought for the FLN, was awarded Algerian nationality, unless they had a Muslim father. There was no place for Jews in the new Algeria, as there is no place for Jews anywhere in the Arab world.

Jewish Virtual Library says:

After being granted independence in 1962, the Algerian government harassed the Jewish community and deprived Jews of their economic rights. As a result, almost 130,000 Algerian Jews immigrated to France. Since 1948, 25,681 Algerian Jews have immigrated to Israel.

In 1994, the terrorist Armed Islamic Group - GIA declared its intention to eliminate Jews from Algeria; thus far, no attacks have been reported against the Algerian Jewish community. Following the announcement, many Jews left Algeria and the single remaining synagogue was abandoned. All other synagogues had previously been taken over for use as mosques.

If there is a remaining Jewish community in Algeria, it is minuscule. In 2011, Mrs Esther Azoulay, the last person in Algeria to get aid from the Joint Distribution Committee, passed away. Maybe there are a couple of Jews left, but I doubt that there is a minyan for a synagogue. Any synagogue, if one ever re-opens, would be a relic.

So what's the minister talking about?

Algeria is next door to Tunisia. In May, Tunisia hosted at least a thousand Jewish pilgrims from abroad for the annual Lag B'Omer pilgrimage to the synagogue in Djerba. Tunisian security maintained order and the country expects more Jews to come back next year.

It seems highly likely that Algeria's new-found tolerance of Jews is a combination of jealousy over the tourist dollars they bring to Tunisia and the fact that the remaining Jews in Algeria are pretty much invisible. (Notice that the religious affairs minister doesn't even mention the name of the Jewish community leader who he says he is in contact with.)

It is also interesting that last year an Egyptian documentary on the Jews of Egypt became an unlikely hit. There is nostalgia in Arab states for the days when Jews lived as dhimmis under Muslim rule - a period of time that Arabs now recall as if the Jews were happy. Some of their friends were Jewish! Why did they leave, anyway?

(One can imagine a similar nostalgia in a future Egypt about those Copts who were treated so well.)

Minister Mohamed Aissa seems to have that same selective memory about Jews of Algeria, not quite remembering how his nation forced them to leave. Sure, Muslims love their Jewish subjects - as long as they are silent or dead.

But they also want some of that Jewish tourism money!

Algerians upset over official's "Jewish sounding" name

Algeria recently appointed a woman to be Secretary of Education. Her name is Noria bin Gabrit Rimon.

Immediately, Algerians started wondering whether she was Jewish. After all, they note, "Rimon" rhymes with...Shimon.

More fuel for the fire came from the fact that she came from a region of Algeria from which many Jews lived, after fleeing from Spain in the 15th centuries.

Salafist leader Sheikh Abdel Fattah Zrawi Himedash denounced the appointment, asking how a Jew can possibly help educate the Islamic masses of Algeria, He asked "what right and legitimacy and credibility can the Jew Noria bin Gabrit Ramon bring to the Ministry of Education and the education sector in Algeria?".

Her party denied the scurrilous accusations, saying that they wouldn't choose someone with such "questionable" background. They said that Rimon was an Arabization of the Spanish "Ramon," and that her family helped found a major mosque in Paris in the 1920s.

To its credit, some in the Algerian media pushed back, asking what difference it would make if she were actually Jewish.

Algerian "expert" warns that Jewish pilgrims to Tunisia are really spies

Algerian newspaper El Bilad is alarmed at the annual influx of Jews on pilgrimage to the synagogue in Djerba, Tunisia. It claims that many of the pilgrims are in reality Israeli spies intent on fomenting problems in the Arab world, and who were responsible for the "Arab spring."

The paper quotes "an expert in security affairs," Bin Omer bin Janneh, as saying that Algeria has the means to detect the Zionist schemes, either through their embassies or through their intelligence, which has allowed them to frustrate Zionist schemes in the past. He said that "the Zionist entity" is known to be looking for opportunities to hit the stability of Algeria, and is still waiting for the opportunity to prejudice the security of Algeria, which represents the state most firmly supportive of the Palestinian cause and against Jewish settlement "in all its forms."

He added that Tunisia has the absolute freedom on their territory, but they must take wary of any attempts against its stability, especially with the emergence of jihadi groups, and movements that recruit young Tunisian to fight. Presumably, he is claiming that these jihadi groups are Zionist.

While the government of Tunisia has been very supportive of the pilgrimage in an attempt to jump-start its tourism sector, there has been opposition there are well.

Algeria and Morocco trade accusations on Syrian refugees

Arab nations pretend to be terribly concerned about the human rights situation in Syria - but not concerned enough to actually want to help them.

Morocco and Algeria, North Africa's two most powerful countries and biggest rivals, are accusing each other of mistreating Syrian refugees.

Morocco's Interior Ministry issued an official statement Tuesday protesting what it said was the rise in expulsion of Syrian refugees onto Moroccan territory by Algeria.

The statement said that between Sunday and Tuesday some 77 Syrians, including 18 women and 43 children had been expelled. The statement follows up on similar accusations in Moroccan media over the past week.

The spokesman for Algeria's Foreign Ministry, Amar Belani, said Thursday that the stories of expulsions were complete lies by the Moroccan "pseudo-media that specializes in nauseating bubbling of the anti-Algerian media swamp."

Algerian security forces along the border told the Algerian state news agency on Monday that in fact it was the Moroccans who were expelling Syrians into Algeria.

"The gendarmes refused access to the national territory to Syrian refugees that the Moroccan authorities wanted to expel to Algeria," said Col. Mohammed Boualleg. "It was after this refusal that the Moroccan authorities called on their media to wrongly accuse the Algerians of expelling Syrians."

Morocco is a major jumping off point for immigrants, usually from sub-Saharan Africa, seeking entry into Europe.

In the past, when Morocco has caught Africans who entered from Algeria hoping to cross into Europe, it expelled them into the deserts along the border with Algeria.

Algerian MB official blames everything on the Jews

The head of Algeria's Guidance Bureau of the Muslim Brotherhood, Mustafa Belmehdi, came out with an entertaining rant about who is behind all of the problems.

He accused the Jews of trying to undermine national stability, stressing that "Jews look at Algeria as an enemy," adding that "their fingers are planted" in the country with Jewish involvement in the arms trade, drug trafficking and corruption.

Belmehdi said, during a seminar on Palestine yesterday in the capital, that what is happening in the countries of the Arab Spring are an "anti-democratic revolution" aimed at striking the stability of these countries, which is the result of a global Jewish conspiracy.

I'm glad that the MB in Algeria hasn't yet figured out that Belmehdi is in fact on our payroll.

Algerian Muslims praising Merah (video)

From MEMRI:

Following are excerpts from an address by Algerian cleric Ali Belhadj, former vice-president of the Islamic Salvation Front, in the course of which a Muslim with dual nationality demonstratively tears up his French passport. The footage was posted on the Internet on March 30, 2012.

Ali Belhadj : Yesterday, I saw that despicable man, Sarkozy of France. Forgive me. I brought important things to talk about, but sometimes, there are things that make one go off on a tangent.

I saw the father of [Toulouse terrorist] Merah, Allah's mercy upon him...

Crowd : Allah's mercy upon him...

Ali Belhadj : He asked for his son to be buried in Algeria. True, he was a French citizen and was supposed to be buried in France, but if his father writes a letter to the president, asking that his son be buried in Algeria - why refuse?

Did his act warrant his excommunication? Is he a heretic? He should be buried in a Muslim graveyard, and prayers should be said for him.

[...]

French Muslim : Sheik, I would like to say something.

Ali Belhadj : Go ahead.

French Muslim : Sheik, this is my way of supporting... I would have like to have done it in front of Allah's enemies in France 24 TV, and in front of all the infidels. I want Allah's enemy Sarkozy to see this.

I have dual nationality. Sarkozy, Allah's curses upon you...

Tears up his French passport

Crowd : Allah Akbar... Allah Akbar...

French Muslim : I love you as a brother in Islam, Sheik... I am doing this in support of my brother in Islam, the mujahid Muhammad Merah.

Crowd : Allah Akbar... Allah Akbar...

French Muslim : By Allah, he was a lion, my brothers. Let me tell you, Sheik, he is not a kharijite. By Allah, he is a Sunni Salafi.

Sheik, I would like to tell you something.

Ali Belhadj : Go ahead.

French Muslim : I am not in a position of authority in matters of jurisprudence. You are a sheik, and I love you as a brother in Islam. By Allah, [Merah] was not in the wrong, because there are fatwas by great scholars who said: If they kill our women, kill their women, and if they kill our children, kill their children.

Sheik, he was not in the wrong. Sheik Ibn Al-Uthaymeen said this, and he was a great scholar, and Ibn Taymiyya and many others said it before. [Merah] was a God-fearing man, and I don't mind if they denounce me.

Sheik, let me say to that Sarkozy: Allah's curses upon you, you pig! You are a Jew. We know you all too well. I lived among you in France, you enemies of Allah. I was a lawyer, defending our brothers in Islam. Let me tell you something. I pray that Allah place [Merah] in Paradise. Sarkozy, you pig, may Allah freeze the blood in your veins.

Crowd : Amen.

French Muslim : Allah, bring a black day upon them.

Crowd : Amen.

French Muslim : I would also like to say to our brothers in the Forsane Alizza organization, headed by my brother Abu Hamza, who were taken to prison. Sheik, they sent 19 of them to prison, although they had nothing to do with it. They had nothing to do with those brothers. [the Forsane Alizza] are preachers, religious people, who wanted to defend women wearing the niqab.

Sheik, I'm not in a position to...

Ali Belhadj : May Allah bless you...

French Muslim : Sheik, may that lion [Merah] vouch for me on Judgment Day.

[...]

Will a popular uprising begin in Algeria this Saturday? (updated)

There's a Facebook page that started last month calling for a Day of Anger in Algeria on September 17th.

This event mostly slipped under everyone's radar, but the Algerian government is taking no chances. So, of course, it announced that the September 17 movement is orchestrated by Zionists.

The Algerian Minister of Interior and Local Government, Dahou Ould Kablia said that foreign parties are involved in order to cause unrest in Algeria September 17. The survey conducted by security services, confirmed a general reluctance on these malicious calls from foreign parties whose purpose is to destabilize the country.

In a statement to Ennahar, Ould Kablia said that the authorities, who surveyed the streets of Algeria, through social networking sites, like Facebook, have concluded that there was no impact of these nuisance calls on the Algerians. On the contrary, many people, especially youth, organize to combat these ideas by calling for wisdom and mobilization in order to bar the way to any attempt to destabilize the country.

According to the Minister of Interior, "the appeals find no echo and there will be no demonstrations or disturbances at that precise date."

Responding to a question as to the results of the survey which was conducted by the security services, to reach the authors of this appeal, Ould Kablia said that they were foreign parties, given the date chosen which coincides with the Camp David and also with the events of Sabra and Shatila. It is, in his view, a Zionist plan against Algeria. "If it was the work of people inside the country, we would have unmasked and arrested them, but the clues point us to foreign parties in relation to the Zionist entity."

They even came up with a theory as to who is behind this entire enterprise: French philosopher Bernard Henri Levy:

The date of September 17, 2011 of the alleged revolution in Algeria, to which call hundreds of Facebook and Internet users as the French journalist of Jewish origin, Bernard Henri Levy, for the overthrow of the regime in Algeria, coincides with the same day when Napoleon III had trampled Algerian soil. The choice of the date by the French philosopher is not accidental. According to an article by Daniel R. published in the French magazine “Histoire” in January 1991, Napoleon III came to Algeria September 17, 1760 [sic]. He dreamed of creating a Jewish state stretching from Algiers to Baghdad, under a French protectorate.

So the date chosen by the French writer and journalist Levy, of Jewish origins, and his consorts fans of Napoleon Bonaparte, those who belong to the new philosophical movement whose slogan "liberation of nations from domination" and follow a new modern way, using the youth of the Arab countries, and Algerians in particular, by encouraging them to revolt; a way to re-colonize these nations and put their people once again under the boots of Napoleon Bonaparte.

(UPDATE): T34 found an article about Napoleon III by Daniel Rivet in L'Historie, but it says nothing about him wanting to create a Jewish state. In fact, he wanted to create an Arab kingdom, with equal rights for all, although under the protection of France. And it does appear that he indeed came to Algeria on September 17th, 1860.

Chances are that this Saturday's actions will fizzle as the Algerian government is already on the offensive to stop the uprising before it starts. As always in the Muslim world, "Zionists" provide the pretext.

Algeria refuses to allow Abbas to visit

Mahmoud Abbas, on his way back from Washington, stopped off in Morocco, Tunisia and Libya.

According to Palestine Today, however, Algeria refused to allow him to visit that country.

The reasons for Algeria's move were not clear, but the article says that a number of years ago Algeria gave a large sum of money to the PA - and then discovered that millions of dollars from their donation ended up in secret personal accounts owned by PA officials in Morocco.

Algeria is also reportedly not happy with the fact that Abbas only contacts them to demand money.

Is there a new blockade-breaking ship from Algeria to Gaza?

JPost reports:

Another aid ship meant to break the IDF naval blockade on Gaza sailed out of Algeria, Channel 10 reported on Thursday.

The ship reportedly left Algeria in the early afternoon, and is sponsored by the government. Religious and political figures are on the vessel, along with food, and educational and medical supplies.

The ship was organized by the Muslim wise men organization in Algeria, and funded by business men, according to Channel 10. The organizers said the ship's purpose is to "show identification with the Palestinian nation."

However, according to this Algerian paper, the ship is headed to El Arish, Egypt where the aid will be transferred into Gaza via Rafah.

I cannot find the ship's name, to be able to track its progress.

World Cup: US vs. Algeria's Jewish goaltender (updated)

The Algerian goaltender in the US/Algeria game being played right now is Raïs M'Bohli, who I mentioned last month was being slammed by Algerian fans for not being a real Algerian - because his Algerian mother is Jewish and he was raised in France.

So far, he has made some nice saves.

UPDATE: The US won, no signs of any riots, M'Bohli did an excellent job, and he denies being Jewish.
(h/t research)

Algerians upset at Jewish soccer player

Algerians are upset at how their nation has been hiring many non-Algerians to play football for their national team, skirting the normal naturalization requirements to become citizens instantly.

Things came to a head when Raïs M'Bohli, goalkeeper for a Bulgarian team, bragged in an interview that he received his Algerian passport in five minutes while the average person takes 15 months to get one.

The thing is, M'Bolhi's mother is Algerian (his father is Congolese.) He was raised in France. But the Algerians aren't happy - because his mother is apparently Jewish.

As Palestine Today writes,

[Problems] that plague Algerian society and threaten its Arab and Islamic roots and identity, such as the marriage of thousands of Algerian Muslim, Jews and Christians in Europe, and the granting of Algerian nationality to each dog just to [be successful in] the World Cup. Algerian officials are challenging the feelings of 35 million citizens, many of of whom live below the poverty line, by profligacy and wasting people's money to import players that have nothing to do, either closely or from afar, with Algeria.

The article goes on to say that many Arabs in Algerian chat boards are very upset, and the autotranslation ends with these enigmatic but clearly bigoted words:

The sacrifice of local players and is called the scheme aimed to eliminate the identity of the Algerian people, in which case the maximum was boiling in him to the ranks of the Jewish vegetables.

Algeria reveals the extent of its participation in 1967, 73 wars

Al Quds has an article about a new book written by former Algerian defense minister Major General Khalid Nizar where he details Algeria's participation in aiding the Egyptian army from 1967 to 1971, and from 1973 to 1975.

While it was known that Algeria did contribute some troops, planes and tanks, Nizar believes that this is the first time the extent of Algeria's participation. He was prompted to write the book after a friend visited the Cairo Museum and did not see a word about Algeria in the exhibits about the wars.

According to Nizar, Algeria sent some 20,000 soldiers to each war and during the War of Attrition. They also sent hundreds of tanks, artillery and combat vehicles and nearly a hundred aircraft to help the Arab war effort. Although they were mostly in secondary, defensive support roles, about 100 Algerian soldiers died in battle.

Arab League finds a mediator for Algeria/Egypt

Remember when the Arab League was ticked off at the joking suggestion that Israel mediate between Algeria and Egypt in their simmering dispute over football?

Well, maybe they do have a sense of humor after all. Al Arabiya (Arabic) reports that the Arab League has asked a prominent, honorable Arab to mediate the dispute.

His name? Moammar Qaddafi!

The Libyan news agency reported that the Secretary General of the Arab League, Amr Mussa, called Gaddafi on Monday and asked him to intervene as Chairman of the African Union on the basis of his "high visibility, which is distinguished by the leader of each of the parties to an Arab."

The agency said "that the Leader of the Revolution will work to bridge the chasm that has been seen the relationship between the two countries Egypt and Algeria due to the repercussions of the recent football game between the two countries."

OK, maybe the Libyan news agency isn't the most objective source for this story, but it is not out of the realm of possibility. Libya is right in between both countries, after all.

And from the Arab League perspective, Qaddafi is a lot better than any Israeli would be!

Israel offered to mediate between Egypt and Algeria?

From Al-Arabiya:

The Arab League is currently mulling several proposals after it was forced to step in, rebuffing a provocative Israeli offer, to end a bitter tit-for-tat spat between Egypt and Algeria following their 2010 World Cup qualifier playoff match in Sudan.

An Arab League spokesman, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that since the tension has been rising Secretary General Amr Moussa h+as been receiving several phone calls from member states calling on the league to solve the crisis.

Arab initiatives to solve the problem intensified in the wake of a provocative statement made by Israel in which it offered to mediate between Egypt and Algeria.

Did Israel really offer to mediate between Egypt and Algeria? The idea is preposterous, as Israel and Algeria do not have any diplomatic relations themselves. Not to mention that Egypt and Algeria would probably prefer all-out war to the indignity of being counseled by Israel.

My guess is that some Israeli pundit or politician made that suggestion as a joke to tweak the Arabs on their internal international football crisis, and that the super-sensitive Arab League took it as a real offer, one which would of course cause add to the embarrassment they feel for the actual kerfuffle itself.

This brings up an entirely new avenue for world diplomacy: whenever Westerners have a problem with an Arab country, or when Arabs have their own internal disputes, the UN should threaten to send Israeli mediators to resolve the issues. They can justify it by saying that Jewish lawyers are well-known to be sly and smart. The thought is so scary to Arabs that they would redouble their efforts to solve their problems peacefully.

Let's try it with the Saudis and the Houthis!

Algeria beats Egypt, and Algerians beat Egyptians

The rivalry between the Egyptian and Algerian soccer teams, which caused so much violence last week, is over for this year, as Algeria prevailed in a tiebreaker in Khartoum, 1-0:

Silence and despair loomed over Egypt Wednesday night as the national football team lost their tiebreaker against Algeria in Sudan in a bid to secure a qualification ticket to the World Cup in South Africa next summer.
Algerian defender, Antar Yahia scored the game’s only goal in the 40th minute, clinching a spot for his team after a 24-year absence from the world football stage.

And the Algerians celebrated in typical fashion:

Violence broke out in Khartoum following the World Cup qualifier between Egypt and Algeria as Algerian fans attacked a bus carrying Egyptians, according to news and television reports.
The injured mainly suffered from bruises in the face, arms and chest, with a couple suspected to have a fractured foot and thigh. Nine of them were transferred to Nasser Institute and Heliopolis and Al Safa hospitals. The remaining 11 received first aid in the airport and were immediately released, according to the news report.
Algerian fans attacked a bus carrying Egyptian journalists, actors and singers, breaking its windows and leaving some injured after the match, singer Mohamed Fouad told Orbit satellite TV show “Al-Qahera Al-Youm” over the phone.

To put this violence in a wider perspective, check out the second panel in this comic strip from that same Egyptian newspaper: