Egypt op-ed debunks Egyptian stereotypes about Israel

A rare voice of relative reason in The Daily News Egypt:

While anti-Israeli attitudes are not uncommon in Egypt, they are becoming more virulent after the revolution so much so that 54 percent of Egyptians prefer annulling the peace treaty with Israel, according to a recent poll by the Pew Research Center.

The point of interest here is not to morally judge these attitudes, but to examine whether or not their underlying assumptions are logically justified. Three myths about Israel appear to continue dominating Egyptian public opinion:

1. Israel works to weaken Egypt
Common among conspiracy theorists in Egypt is the notion that Israel wants an Egypt that is weakened, divided, and torn by sectarian violence. Deputy Prime Minister Yehia El-Gamal stands out in expressing this notion while in office, though a considerable number of intellectuals and former high-level officials do not hide their belief in it. Typifying this view is the editor of the state-owned daily Al-Ahram who argued that Israel supports the counter-revolution forces in Egypt, citing the rumor that Israeli former chief of military intelligence confirmed his success in sowing seeds of division within Egyptian society.

In fact, a stable Egypt is in Israel’s interest. A divided Egypt might turn into another Iran, where organized Islamists took over a shattered state after a democracy-seeking uprising. Alternatively, it might turn into another Lebanon, where state weakness allows actors like Hezbollah to attack Israel at will. Would Israel be interested in creating a similar situation in which Jihadists join Hamas and operate from Egypt? Of course not.

At best, a chaotic Egypt might turn into a Mexico (or a Pakistan?) where another weak state fails to stop cross-border illegal immigration, drug and weapons trafficking. Thousands of African illegal immigrants enter Israeli territory from Sinai each year, despite measures taken by Egyptian authorities. Skyrocketing numbers of African infiltrators, drugs, let alone explosives, would reach Israel in case the Egyptian government loses control, or is domestically too busy to control borders.

None of these scenarios are good for Israel, and therefore it would certainly be interested not in undermining Egypt, but rather in an in-control, stable government in Cairo to keep the peace, and maintain order on the southern border.

2. Israel wants to occupy Egypt
The conventional view that Israel plans to occupy Egypt or re-occupy Sinai is part of a broader myth that Israel’s long-term strategic objective, out of Jewish religious beliefs, is to rule from the Nile to the Euphrates. Alleged “evidence” maintains that over the Knesset’s entrance hangs a map asserting that “the Land of Israel from the Nile to the Euphrates,” and that the Israeli flag’s two horizontal blue lines represent the Nile and the Euphrates rivers. Yet the truth is that there is no such a map in the Knesset, and the lines in Israel’s flag are derived from the design of the traditional Jewish prayer shawl.

The “Greater Israel” claim is as true as the contention that Muslims plan to establish a world-ruling Islamic caliphate. Some ultra-extremists might want to, but the vast majority does not even think of it. First, it would take a fairly insane Israeli leadership to bear the massive military and economic burden of invading a country of Egypt’s scale. Note that occupational experiences have exhausted Israel in areas as small as the Gaza Strip, southern Lebanon, and even the West Bank. Second, paradoxically, this claim contradicts another generally accepted view by the Egyptian public asserting that Israel is militarily superior and enjoys full, unconditional US support. Why, if this really is the case, has Israel not attempted an invasion? The answer is simple: Israel is satisfied with the current status-quo — in which, it perceives, Israel is the one deterring its neighbors and not vice versa — and is not interested in a territorial expansion that would go far beyond its capabilities.

3. Israel is all-powerful
Most Egyptians apparently believe that the premises of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, displayed in an Egyptian TV series titled “A Horseman without a Horse” in 2002, are true. Within this framework, obviously inflated notions — such as that Israel exploited agricultural cooperation with Egypt to either cultivate cancer-causing products in Egyptian soil or export these products to Egypt, and that the Mossad stood behind the December 2010 fatal shark attacks to hit tourism in Egypt’s Red Sea resorts — are easily accepted. Notwithstanding that such allegations have no factual or logical grounds, no one stops to ask why should an Israel facing serious security challenges (Iran, Hamas, Hezbollah, etc.) busy itself with that kind of stuff.

On a larger scale, Israel, or the Jewish people (as people hardly distinguish between Jews and Israelis), is viewed as a mighty force that rules the world through Jewish communities. It follows that any Israeli (or Jewish) economic or cultural activity in Egypt is seen as part of a “grand plan” to penetrate the society and gradually pervade all walks of life. While the Israel lobby in the US and elsewhere is truly powerful, the claim that the Jewish state controls the world provides, unfortunately, a tool to cover up one’s own failures than a realistic proof.

That these misconceptions are shared by a large part of the Egyptian public, which in a representative democracy will significantly influence the foreign policy agenda, is disappointing. That is because the revolution against the old regime has not yet removed old myths which deny the public opinion credible and informed judgments, regardless of whether a democratic Egypt would see in Israel a friend or a foe.


Amr Yossef is an Adjunct Professor of Political Science at the American University in Cairo

(h/t Callie)

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What Hamas is doing in Egypt

Palestine Press Agency, which is rabidly anti-Hamas but whose reporting has generally panned out as true, is reporting exactly what Hamas is doing to take advantage of the chaos in Egypt:

Special units of the Qassam Brigades of Hamas infiltrated through the tunnels deployed on the border two days ago to the city of Rafah in Egypt and then to the towns of Sheikh Zuwaid and El-Arish to support the Sinai Bedouin attacking the centers of the Egyptian security; [the Bedouin represent] the strategic depth of the Hamas movement in the Sinai.

A number of cars in the Sinai are filled by Hamas with weapons smuggled [from Gaza to Egypt] through the tunnels: mortars, RPGs, and packages of homemade explosives, such as those used in the bombing of Alexandria, in addition to a number of hand grenades, and these are used against the security forces and supporting the Egyptian Sinai Bedouin in the eradication of the ruling system in Egypt.

A large amount of Hamas members in civilian clothes have already passed through the Rafah crossing on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday through to Cairo, with the help of bribed state security officers, where they seek cooperation with the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt to attack the Egyptian prisons, where there are Hamas prisoners. Hamas is a natural extension of the Muslim Brotherhood.

There is talk about an escape of prisoners, including Ayman Nofal [jailed by Egypt in 2008] and others, and Hamas expects to return its prisoners to the Gaza Strip by Monday.

Aa state of overwhelming joy prevails in the ranks of Hamas from the influx of news from Egypt along with cheers and fireworks about the success of its own power to break points of the Egyptian security and access to the heart of Cairo. Hamas considers events in Cairo to end the rule of President Mubarak of Egypt, which they describe as a traitor and they wish the fall of the corrupt system in order for the Brotherhood to ascend to power.

It is worth mentioning the escape of the Palestinian King of Tunnels, nicknamed The Mouse, from the prison of Al-Arish, and his escape to Gaza after bloody battles fought by the Special Unit of the Qassam Brigades in collaboration with the Bedouins of the Sinai against the security forces of Egypt. In addition the al-Qassam Brigades kidnapped 3 Egyptian soldiers who seem to have been freed at the border of the city of Rafah.

Related, from Ma'an:

Palestinian sources say 12 people including Bedouins and Egyptian police officers were killed Saturday in clashes in the Sinai Peninsula, in what appeared to be an attempt by tribes in the region to take control of the swath of land south of the Egypt-Gaza border.

Gunshots were heard in the Egyptian city of Rafah as Bedouins attempted to occupy the border with Israel and the Gaza Strip. Rocket-propelled Grenades were fired at Egyptian soldiers, witnesses said, causing the near-total destruction of one home near the border area, and damage to a sector of the Gaza-Egypt border fence.

Gaza government police were said to have fixed the breach immediately, while eyewitnesses said police forces deployed across the border area on the Gaza side, in an apparent attempt to prevent Gaza residents from entering Egypt.

Armed groups attacked Egyptian police in the cities of Rafah and Sheikh Zweid, set fire to one police station and were behind the slaying of one officer identified as 36-year-old Jum’a Hamid after he was abducted along with two others, security sources said.

Security officials also said Bedouins were behind an earlier attack on an Egyptian security checkpoint, where four officers were killed and four others injured. All were transported to hospital in Al-Arish. Four banks and several state buildings were also reportedly set ablaze and looted.

The two stories are not inconsistent.

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7/04 Links Part 1: A ‘P’alestinian Inconvenient Truth, Egypt Roundup and Assad's Hypocrisy

From Ian:

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A ‘P’alestinian Inconvenient Truth

In the ongoing “battle of the narratives” between Israel and the Palestinians, one minor, but telling, detail rarely gets mentioned: the Arabic alphabet, the abjad, lacks the letter “P.” Until the “P”alestinians, no people in history had ever adopted a name for themselves, or for their country, that cannot be written in their own language. By itself, this detail establishes that the “P”alestinian national narrative is a wholly modern invention.
In Arabic, the “P”alestinians call their country “Filastin” and themselves “Filastiniyun,” but this doesn’t validate their narrative; in fact, it underscores the simple truth about “P”alestine that the world ignores.

PM: Palestinian leaders think its possible to destroy Israel

Speaking at a memorial session marking the 73rd anniversary of Jabotinsky’s death, Netanyahu said the Irgun and Betar founder’s realism should be kept in mind today.
“The obstacle to peace between us and the Palestinians is not just fundamentalist terrorist organizations, but the belief that it is possible to destroy the State of Israel,” the prime minister explained.
“These organizations, states and leaders plant hopes in their nations that we can be beaten by sword, gun and bomb. We cannot be defeated by any those means or any others.”

Analysis: Hamas grows stronger in Gaza, again

Eight months after the IDF’s Operation Pillar of Defense in Gaza, events in Syria, Egypt and Lebanon have turned the Strip into an arena of secondary importance for many observers.
Despite the relative quiet in the Gazan arena, much is taking place there. Hamas is entrenching itself further as the sovereign, and rearming itself with rockets. It once again has thousands of short-range rockets – around 5,000 of them – and possesses medium-range rockets which can strike greater Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.
Hamas’s rocket arsenal places 70 percent of Israelis within range.

UN calls for end to Israeli restrictions on Gaza

Israel’s Foreign Ministry brushed aside the criticism and laid the blame at the doorstep of the Hamas rulers of the Gaza Strip.
“As soon as Hamas reaches out to Israel and asks to sit with us to coordinate lifting the restrictions, we will be able to say what is possible and what is not,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor told The Times of Israel. “As long as Hamas continues to speak about Israel only as the target of rockets, speaking of lifting restrictions sounds particularly hollow.”

Israelly Cool: Hamas Would Rather Their People Suffer Than Benefit From Israeli-Produced Goods

Hamas has closed a gas canister factory in Gaza.
The crime? Selling canisters of the same color as Israeli-produced canisters.

4 Hamas operatives arrested in Cairo

Four Hamas operatives were arrested at their home in a Cairo suburb on suspicion of planning a terror attack, Egypt’s Al-Ahram reported early Wednesday.
Security forces found explosives in the apartment, as well as military and police uniforms.

Barry Rubin: Obama Administration Middle East Policy: See What I've Been Trying to Tell You?

A self-interview
First, I want to apologize that I have often used intemperate language to describe U.S. policy and the people making it in the last 4.5 years. Perhaps I have put off some of you who would otherwise have been persuaded that something is very wrong. Therefore, I have tried to do another version of this approach. Remember, I'm not responsible for the way the questions are phrased here.

A victory for young revolutionaries, but not for democracy

But for Hamas, the news out of Cairo Wednesday night was especially grim. The Palestinian organization is losing its most substantial ally, one that gave it vital political support. The Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas’s parent organization and in many ways its “Godfather,” lost its power to a military establishment that is hostile to the Palestinian group’s goals.
Hamas, which has clashed with Syria and Iran over the course of the last year, now finds itself nearly isolated in the Arab sphere. Perhaps the new reality in which it finds itself will lead the weakened Hamas to conclude its reunification with Fatah.

Morsi’s fall is a blow to Mideast Islamists

Egypt was the centerpiece of the Islamist movement’s vault to power in the Arab world’s sweeping wave of uprisings. Winning election after election here, the Islamists vowed to prove they could govern effectively and implement their vision of political Islam, all while embracing the rules of democracy.

Police raid Brotherhood as new leader calls for inclusion of Islamists

Adly Mansour sworn in as president; Police seeking Muslim Brotherhood head, have already arrested Morsi and 300 other senior party members; ElBaradei heads list to lead interim government

Morsi role at Syria rally seen as tipping point for Egypt army

Mr Morsi himself called for foreign intervention in Syria against Mr Assad, leading to a veiled rebuke from the army, which issued an apparently bland but sharp-edged statement the next day stressing that its only role was guarding Egypt’s borders.

At Pro-Morsi Rally, Supporters Chant Anti-Jewish Slogans Threatening Massacres

Pro-Morsi protesters at Cairo University – which was the scene of bloody clashes overnight – were heard chanting an anti-Semitic slogan threatening massacres against Jews:

“Pro-Morsy protesters at Cairo University chant the anti-Jewish slogan: "Khaybar, Khayber, O Jews, the army of Mohamed will return."

The chant is a reference to the 7th century events around the oasis of Khaybar in modern-day Saudi Arabia, in which Muslims massacred and expelled the town’s Jewish population.

Revenge: Coptic Church Set Aflame for Morsi

True to their vows, pro-Morsi Muslims are attacking Egypt’s Christians for participating in the anti-Morsi protests. The St. George Coptic Christian Church in a village in al-Minya, Egypt, has just been set on fire by “pro-Morsi” forces. Copts are reported to be in a state of “fear and panic.”
Days earlier, a letter was circulated in al-Minya, which has a very large Coptic population, calling on Copts not to join the protests, otherwise their “businesses, cars, homes, schools, and churches” might “catch fire.”

American Islamists Rally Behind MB Amid Egypt Protests

Millions of Egyptians are in the streets demanding the ouster of President Mohamed Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood regime in Egypt for their totalitarian theocratic policies. But many of America's leading Islamists are sticking by Morsi and condemning the protesters on social media.

Syria's Assad says political Islam being defeated in Egypt

Relishing the possible downfall of one of Assad's most vocal critics, Syrian television carried live coverage of the huge street demonstrations in Egypt demanding the departure of President Mohamed Mursi.

Turkey’s Ruling Party, Opposition Unite to Condemn Egypt Coup

In a rare show of unity, both Turkey’s ruling AK Party and its opposition Republican People's Party have condemned Wednesday's overthrow of Egypt's President Mohamed Morsi following protests by millions that led to a military coup d'etat.
AKP spokesperson Huseyin Celik told reporters that the coup was a sign of "backwardness," and accused some Western nations of having supported the overthrow.

Saudi Arabia Congratulates New Egyptian Ruler, West ‘Concerned’

Saudi Arabia’s king has already congratulated Egypt’s new transitional head of state, while Western leaders express concern and call for “dialogue.”
Saudi King Abdullah sent a message of congratulations to Supreme Constitutional Court chief justice Adly el-Mansour on Wednesday immediately following his appointment as the new head of Egypt’s transitional government by Egyptian Army Commander General Abdel Fattah el-Sisi in the hours after the overthrow of Muslim Brotherhood-backed President Mohamed Morsi.

Catholic priest NOT among three beheaded on video by Syrian rebels, says head friar

A Catholic priest was not among three men graphically filmed being beheaded in Syria last week a friar overseeing the Franciscans in the Middle East has told CNN.
Father Francois Mourad, a Syrian originally named as victim of a merciless mob, was instead shot eight times on June 23 when a group of rebels stormed his monastery, said Friar Pierbattista Pizzaballa, head of the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land. He was buried that same day.

Hanging Out With Hezbollah

The intervention—Hezbollah’s first full-scale battle to reinforce Assad in Syria—suggests a new direction in the war and has seemingly prompted the U.S. to rush supplies to the rebels. It has also fanned fears that Hezbollah’s involvement will drag Lebanon deeper into the Syrian quagmire and possibly ignite a sectarian civil war between Sunnis and Shiites within Lebanon itself.
But the idea that this may be treacherous territory isn’t foremost in the mind of the Hezbollah commander. To him this is opportune training ground. “What we are doing in Syria in some ways is a dress rehearsal for Israel,” he says.

Gulf States Slam Hezbollah for Syria Fighting Conducted “Under The Banner” of Iran

Gulf states are again slamming Hezbollah over the Iran-backed terror group’s role in bolstering the regime of Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad:

Chechen terror leader calls for attacks on Winter Olympics

A Chechen Islamist leader, described in Russia's media as the country's most wanted man, has issued a dramatic video broadcast threatening "maximum force" to disrupt the Winter Olympic games next year in the Russian resort town of Sochi.
Doku Umarov, leader of the so-called Caucasus Emirate group which has killed dozens in high profile bomb attacks at airports and metro stations, sought to rally his supporters and allies, saying:

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Egypt playing both sides of the Fatah/Hamas fence

In public, Egypt has fallen in line with the West's attitude that Fatah is a moderate, peace loving group of guys:

The takeover of the Gaza Strip by Hamas militants has pushed Egypt to transfer its embassy from Gaza to Ramallah in the West Bank.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmad Abul Ghait decided to dispatch his ambassador to the Palestinian territories, who has been based in Gaza for the past 12 years, to Ramallah, according to the Egyptian Middle East News Agency.

The Egyptian move, which came a week after it pulled out its ambassador from Gaza to protest the Hamas takeover, is a clear indication of Cairo's support for Abbas and Fayad's government.

But in private, Egypt seems to be a little more nuanced towards Hamas terrorists:

Egypt has quietly supported the Hamas takeover of the Gaza Strip.

Western intelligence sources said Egypt cooperated with Hamas in allowing shipments of weapons, munitions and explosives that facilitated the Islamic takeover of the Gaza Strip last week. The sources said Egypt concluded that a Hamas takeover would halt or reduce insurgency infiltration in the Sinai Peninsula.

"The Egyptians were in the picture as early as several weeks ago," an intelligence source said. "[Hamas leader Khaled] Masha'al discussed the Fatah strategic threat and said Hamas would stop [Fatah security chief Mohammed] Dahlan at any cost."

In a recent telephone conversation with Egyptian intelligence chief Gen. Omar Suleiman, Masha'al said Dahlan and his allies were working with Al Qaida-aligned groups to undermine Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The sources quoted Masha'al as saying that Fatah was allowing Al Qaida to infiltrate the Sinai Peninsula to facilitate attacks on the regime of President Hosni Mubarak.

So Egypt was a prime force behind Hamas' victory - which they are justifying by saying that the "moderate" Fatah has ties to the "extremist" Al-Qaeda which was trying to infiltrate Egypt from Gaza. If true, it stands the conventional wisdom of Fatah moderation on its head. But if it was true, why would Egypt be publicly supporting Fatah?

Perhaps because Fatah in the West Bank is no threat to Egypt and meanwhile it can get brownie points from the West by falling in line on Fatah.

Of course, that doesn't quite explain this:

We will apparently also need to act in an effort to curb the smuggling that has turned into a flood on the Philadelphi Route. We are talking about above-ground smuggling through breaches in the wall.

Then again, what does YNet know about smuggling? Olmert himself denies it is getting worse:

The prime minister said that the arms-smuggling situation along the Philadelphi Corridor between Gaza and Egypt was no worse now than in the past, and he still felt that IDF military action there would not be "a preferred option."

He said he had spoken recently with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak about the situation on the border, and hoped that the Egyptians would take "more aggressive action" to stop the weapons smuggling.

Good old Olmert, "hoping" that the Egyptians do something about the smuggling that they seem to be actively encouraging. Ehud is very affluent with the currency of hope and dreams, rosy assumptions and wishful thinking, rainbows and unicorns.

His share of the reality market seems a bit lacking.

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Egypt convinced the Sinai terrorists came from Gaza (UPDATE x4)

The IDF Blog summarizes:

Global jihad terrorists in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula stormed an Egyptian military post near the town of Rafah last night, killing more than 15 Egyptian soldiers and capturing an armored personnel carrier (APC) and a truck filled with explosives.

The two vehicles then headed toward Israel. The truck exploded at the Israel-Egypt border. The APC entered Israeli territory with four terrorists inside. It was then targeted by the Israel Air Force.

The IDF Spokesperson, Brig. Gen. Yoav Mordechai, stated:

“The IDF is ruling out the possibility a soldier is missing or was abducted.”

Brig. Gen. Mordechai stressed that no Israeli injuries were reported as a result of the attack.

An IDF spokesman is quoted as saying that five of the terrorists were killed in Israel.



From Al Ahram:

An Egyptian security source has told Ahram Online that the army helicopters, with the help of army rangers, are attempting to apprehend suspects in the blast that killed 16 soldiers and injured seven earlier on Sunday evening.

The source added that army units, as of the early hours of Monday, have completely surrounded the city of Rafah (on the Egypt side of the Egypt-Gaza) border to prevent suspects from escaping.

An anonymous Egyptian security official was quoted by Egypt's state-run news agency, MENA, as saying that Islamist elements who infiltrated Egypt from the Gaza Strip through tunnels are behind the attacks, along with other Islamists situated in the areas of El-Halal Mountain and El-Mahdia in eastern Sinai.

Infuriated at the incident, hundreds of Rafah residents (on the Egyptian side of the Egypt-Gaza border) gathered at the Sadat Square and blocked the road, preventing trucks heading to the port of Rafah and tunnels leading to the Gaza Strip.

Some of the protesters told Al-Ahram's Arabic news portal that they refuse seeing the Egyptian army insulted, and that they would sacrifice their blood "to defend the Egyptian soldiers."

Apparently, placing Gaza under siege is allowed when terrorists from that sector are considered a danger. 

Oh, wait, that can't be the rule. Hold on....Here it is:

Apparently, placing Gaza under siege is allowed when terrorists from that sector are considered a danger to trained Egyptian soldiers, not when they endanger innocent Israeli civilians.

There ya go.

UPDATE: Here's part of a transcript from an IDF spokesperson:

20:00 last night, we identified a group of terrorists which infiltrated an Egyptian base, took over two vehicles – a truck and an armored vehicle (APC). They also killed approximately 15 Egyptian security personnel and loaded the truck with explosives. They then stormed the border fence between Israel and Egypt at Kerem Shalom. It's not far from Kibbutz Kerem Shalom, with hundreds of Israelis living in it, and also not far from the Kerem Shalom supplies crossing.

The truck exploded after storming the border fence – I suppose they wanted to target some soldiers or a security post. It was a very large explosion. We targeted the second vehicle from the air (the APC); we hit it once from the air, and since we could still identify movement there we fired from the air again.

All in all, we targeted 5 terrorists – four in the APC, one driving the truck, all infiltrating into Israel. We assume they wanted to kidnap Israelis or reach one of the houses in the region. Mind you, there are around 10,000 Israelis living in that area.

We had some prior intel about this kind of attack. Three days ago we published an announcement asking Israelis to refrain from going to Sinai due to security threats. At the moment we're not able to pin down the affiliation of the terrorists in the group. There are some possibilities due to connections between organizations in the Sinai area, but at the moment we're not 100% sure.

Sinai has become a no-land's land quite a few months ago. There are several terror organizations loose in the region. We need to wait a bit in order to confirm the exact affiliation of the terrorists acting.

The infiltration was initially in the Rafah area. As you know Rafah was divided into two – the Egypt area and the Israeli area. The vehicle came from Rafah to Kerem Shalom We found large amounts of weapons: explosive belts, magazines and ammo, flak jackets. It's clear that a lethal attack was prevented here.

There were a lot of inaccuracies in the beginning: where did we attack? On the Egyptian side or Israeli side? I want to emphasize that the vehicle was targeted only after it crossed into Israel. There were also no tanks involved, although some people spreading rumors may have confused the APC for a tank. Overall there was exaggerated info about the Israeli Air Force targeting – heavy rocket fire and so forth – the main explosions were from the APC itself, which exploded near Kerem Shalom, and not from the firepower of the strikes.

UPDATE 2/3: Former Egyptian presidential candidate Hamdeen Sabahi charges that Israel bombed the APC in Egyptian territory, and he condemned it. Of course, he is lying.

Hamas spokesperson Abu Marzouk blames Israel for the attack, as do other Gaza leaders and "analysts." And Hamas' Palestine Times quotes the experts on  Facebook to come to the same conclusion!

UPDATE 4: The IDF unit that helped track and stop the terrorists is mostly Bedouin:

Lt. Col. Wahid Al-Huzeil, commander of the Desert Reconnaissance Battalion which participated in thwarting last night's attempted terror attack, explained today (Monday, August 6) that his forces were prepared in advance of the attempt.

"We realized that there was an incident and we arrived on the scene," he recounted. "We were prepared at the site and identified a vehicle that had exploded at the crossing. We tried to capture the second armored vehicle, and during the operation, the Desert Reconnaissance Battalion worked with the armored forces and the Air Force."

"Ultimately, we succeeded in capturing the vehicle, eliminating the terrorists, and preventing them from harming our forces or innocent civilians," he added.

In 2008, Lt. Col. Al-Huzeil received a citation from the Chief of Staff for successful activity in the same area, then as a deputy battalion commander. In that incident, he led his forces in preventing a complex attack in which three booby-trapped vehicles approached the Kerem Shalom crossing.

(h/t al-Gharqad)

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10/03 Links P1: The Arab Springs Big Winner, Egypt Planning Gaza Strikes?, Dalal Mughrabi Ping Pong

From Ian:

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The Real Big Winner of the Arab Spring

Finally, analysts tend to overlook the most important factor: Israel’s overwhelming military superiority. The Arab states have fought four major wars against the Jewish state, all won convincingly by Israel. In the intervening 40 years, the IDF has only gotten stronger while Arab armies have petrified. Israel currently maintains a massive qualitative edge over its potential enemies, honed over decades of battle experience. The Egyptian and Syrian armies, untested since the Yom Kippur War, are not even capable of controlling their own territories, while Jordan has not gone to war since 1967. The Arab states know full well that they would be decimated in any large-scale conflict with the Jewish state.
Obviously, none of this should be taken as cause for sanguinity with regard to the long-term threats to Israel’s survival and prosperity. But the Arab Spring has compromised strategic rivals and devastated a number of these threats. While its neighbors are roiled by chaos and violence, Israel remains strong. By exercising restraint, keeping a low profile, and strengthening its defenses, Israel is in a better position now than it was several years ago. In fact, Israel may be the only real long-term winner of the Arab Spring.

JCPA: After the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, Is Hamas in Gaza Next in Line?

Indeed, Egypt has finally decided to tackle the security threat from the Sinai Peninsula, a region that was nearly under the control of jihadist organizations with links to al-Qaeda and Hamas. The Egyptian army has massed troops, deployed combat helicopters, dispatched navy patrol boats, and is carrying out coordinated attacks against concentrations of terrorists in Sinai.
The Egyptian army’s ultimate goal is clear: to recover Egypt’s sovereignty in Sinai. In order to succeed in its mission, the Egyptian supreme command understands that it must neutralize Hamas, which it sees as partly responsible for the security situation in Sinai during the last few years.

Egypt drafts plans to launch strikes on Gaza terror targets

Military sources told the Palestinian Ma’an news agency that the new Egyptian plans call for attacks on specific targets in the Strip, and that Egyptian unmanned aerial vehicles recently overflew the territory and photographed a number of sites.
According to the report, the UAVs’ mission was focused on Rafah and Khan Yunis, cities along the Gaza Strip’s southern border with Egypt.
These statements were made following Egypt’s Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmy’s warning his country could take military action against Gaza terrorist groups last week. The warning was issued in light of continuous attacks against the Egyptian army in Sinai, particularly in the areas of Rafah and Sheikh Zuweid, also adjacent to the Gaza border.

Soldier’s killer still at large 10 days later

Nearly two weeks after Kobi’s death, however, the shooter remains at large. According to the Maariv daily, the IDF and Shin Bet security service believe the gunman acted on his own — and have no real leads in the case. Among the indicators supporting this theory is the fact that no organization has claimed responsibility for the attack. The fact that the killer likely acted alone has made it harder to gather intelligence and crack the case, unnamed sources told the paper.

Jerusalem Councillor: Time to Stop Illegal Mosque Noise

Despite their many protests, residents of the Pisgat Ze'ev neighborhood of Jerusalem have still found no relief from the ongoing din made by mosque muezzins who issue the call to Muslim prayer at all hours of the day – and the night. Especially at issue is the first call to prayer of the morning that is made – very loudly – at dawn.

Arab Witness 'Lied' Over Cemetery Vandalism; Suspects Released

The four argued that they had been in the area only because they were walking to the mikvah (ritual bath), and that they had no connection to the vandalism.
“The only one who testified against us was the Arab man, a man we know who had a clear interest in doing us harm,” one of the suspects said Thursday morning, following his release.

PLO Flag Flies over Homesh

Palestinian Authority resident Arabs took over the town of Homesh on Thursday morning, just two weeks after a government order supported turning the Jewish community over to PA hands.
Pictures showed Arab men celebrating at the scene by waving PLO flags and holding up signs with what appeared to be anti-Semitic images, including a depiction of a religious Jew being speared through the head.
The men painted over the picture of a menorah on the local water tower that had been Homesh’s trademark, replacing it with PLO images and slogans in Arabic.

PMW: Terrorist Dalal Mughrabi glorified in ping pong tournament sponsored by Palestinian official Jibril Rajoub

On the same day that Palestinian Authority Chairman Abbas spoke about the Palestinians' desire to live in peace with Israel and their "rejection of terrorism in all its forms," Fatah Central Committee member Jibril Rajoub, who also heads the Palestinian Olympic Committee, glorified terrorist Dalal Mughrabi.
Dalal Mughrabi led the most lethal terror attack in Israel's history in 1978, when she and other terrorists hijacked a bus and killed 37 civilians, 12 of them children.
Rajoub chose to sponsor "The Martyr Dalal Mughrabi Table Tennis Tournament." At the closing ceremony, Vice President of the Palestinian Table Tennis Association, Radwan Al-Sharif, honored terrorist Dalal Mughrabi, when he "mentioned the glorious deeds of hero Martyr Dalal Mughrabi."

Top minister: Makes sense for Israel, Arabs to cooperate on Iran

Israel has held a series of meetings with prominent figures from a number of Gulf and other Arab states in recent weeks in an attempt to muster a new alliance capable of blocking Iran’s drive toward nuclear weapons, Israel’s Channel 2 reported Wednesday. An Israeli minister said Thursday that it made sense for Israel and worried Arab states to work together, though he did not confirm the specifics of the report.
According to the report, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been supervising a series of “intensive meetings” with representatives of these countries. One “high-ranking official” even came on a secret visit to Israel, the report said.

Israel no longer certain Obama would ever use force against Iran, Likud MK indicates

Speaking to The Times of Israel in New York in the wake of Netanyahu’s speech to the UN General Assembly on Tuesday, Hanegbi said “the most dramatic part” of the prime minister’s address was the passage in which he warned, “Israel will not allow Iran to get nuclear weapons. If Israel is forced to stand alone, Israel will stand alone.”
Why was this so dramatic, Hanegbi asked rhetorically? “Because it marked the first time it was said in public, and not behind closed doors, that Israel will act even if stands alone.”

Netanyahu: Ayatollah Khamenei ‘heads a cult’

Netanyahu dismissed the notion that Rouhani was freely elected, saying Iranians would topple the regime if they could.
“These people, the Iranian people, the majority of them are actually pro-Western,” he stated, adding, “But they don’t have that. They’re governed not by Rouhani, they’re governed by Ayatollah Khamenei. He heads a cult. That cult is wild in its ambitions and its aggression.”

New sanctions likely despite thaw in US-Iran ties

In July, the House approved tough new sanctions on Iran’s oil sector and other industries. The bill blacklists any business in Iran’s mining and construction sectors and commits the United States to the goal of ending all Iranian oil sales worldwide by 2015. It also builds on US penalties that went into effect last year that have cut Iran’s petroleum exports in half and left its economy in tatters. China, India and several other Asian nations continue to buy billions of dollars of Iranian oil each month, providing Tehran with much of the money it spends on its weapons and nuclear programs.
No bill would likely be finalized before November. That gives the administration at least several weeks to see whether Iran changes course under Rouhani.

Video: Testimony on Prison Conditions in Iran

In her first, full-length witness interview since her escape from Iran, former political prisoner Zaynab Bayazidi--a Kurdish women's rights and children's rights activist--describes her multiple arrests, interrogations and imprisonment in exile in Maragheh Prison in Iran. In her statement, Bayazidi explains in careful detail the substandard health and sanitation conditions in prison, sexually coercive practices in interrogation, suicide attempts of inmates, the treatment of children in prison, sexual abuse of female inmates, violence in prison and other prison circumstances and practices that she herself experienced or to which she was a first-hand witness.

Egypt Cancels all Flights, Tourism Ties with Iran

The announcement came Tuesday, with Egypt stating it has ordered an end to all tourism activities with Iran. These had increased considerably during the yearlong rule of Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood.
Whereas deposed Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi tried to improve relations with Iran, seeing it as a natural ally, the new regime is trying to distance itself from Tehran.

Egypt’s Liberals Can’t Get a Break. Will They Ever?

I came looking for the country’s beleaguered secular liberals, hoping to find out what they think about the difficult situation in which they and the people of Egypt now find themselves: Two years after the Egyptian revolution ended President Hosni Mubarak’s 30 years in power, the country’s liberals, who bitterly opposed Mubarak, are now largely aligned with another military-dominated regime.
Is this a betrayal of the revolution’s core principles, or the only way Egypt’s secular democrats can eventually triumph over the theocratic forces of the Muslim Brotherhood who seek to create a coercive sharia-based state? Are Egypt’s liberals simply rebooting their revolution after the failure of Morsi’s government, or is their tolerance of the new military-backed government a strategic error?

John Greyson and Tarek Loubani: Egypt considering murder charges against Canadians

For the first time, the Star is publishing a detailed list of the intended charges the authorities are pursuing against them. Similar charges are also being sought for 140 Egyptians scooped up during demonstrations in the heart of Cairo that left dozens dead.
The most serious allegations against the Canadians include murder, “intention to kill,” aiding and abetting murder, and “using explosives against the Azbakiya police station” in central Cairo. At least one of those allegations — murder — carries a potential death sentence in Egypt.

Islamist Group Tied to Obama Downplays Violence Against Coptic Christians

Dalia Moghaed, credited with helping President Obama draft his June 2009 Cairo speech about American relations with the Islamic world, recently downplayed attacks against Egypt’s Coptic Christians on a Facebook page.
More than 80 Coptic churches were burned by Brotherhood supporters after the Egyptian military’s crackdown last month on Muslim Brotherhood encampments in Cairo. A local branch of the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party appeared to sanction violence in retaliation for the Coptic Church’s backing of the Egyptian military.

Amnesty International accuses Turkey of gross rights violations

“The attempt to smash the Gezi Park protest movement involved a string of human rights violations on a huge scale,” Amnesty International’s expert on Turkey, Andrew Gardner, said. ”They include the wholesale denial of the right to peaceful assembly and violations of the rights to life, liberty and the freedom from torture and ill-treatment.”
Protests broke out at Gezi Park in June over government plans to redevelop Istanbul landmark Taksim Square and build a replica Ottoman-era military barracks at Gezi, one of the last green areas in the city. The public rallies then evolved into an outpouring of discontent with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government, which many have accused of becoming authoritarian, and spread to other cities in Turkey.

Daniel Pipes: U.S.-Turkey Partnership is a Gigantic Blunder

A headline declaring “U.S. and Turkey to Create Fund to Stem Extremism” may look like a parody headline but it’s the entirely serious title of a New York Times article by Eric Schmitt. Some details: John Kerry and Ahmet Davutoğlu announced recently at a meeting of the Global Counterterrorism Forum

Future says Hezbollah’s arms reason behind Lebanese emigration

Lebanon’s Future bloc said on Tuesday that non-state arms, in reference to Hezbollah’s weapons, are why the Lebanese people are emigrating from the country.
“The arms which are not under the state’s authority are the reason behind the Lebanese people’s emigration [legally] and illegally,” the Future bloc said in a statement issued following its weekly meeting in reference to the recent incident of the sinking of a boat carrying Lebanese asylum-seekers.
At least 29 Lebanese asylum-seekers are missing after their boat capsized off Indonesia on its way to Australia, the Lebanese Foreign Ministry said Saturday.

Hezbollah Withdraws 1,200 Troops from Syria

The fighters were sent in to help Assad retake the city of Qusair, near the border with Lebanon, which they did in early June. They were accused of murdering women and children during the fighting, which exacted a heavy toll on both sides.
Hebollah then redirected its efforts towards Homs, to help Assad’s troops retake that area, and intended to move on afterward to Aleppo.
However, instead of quickly retaking the area, the Hezbollah and Syrian soldiers, and their Iranian advisors, found themselves increasingly trapped in endless bloody skirmishes in the region. Not only did they not retake land from the rebels, but they found themselves suffering heavy losses.
The losses lead to increasing division within Hezbollah, with many criticizing the group’s head, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, for spending Hezbollah lives in a foreign country. Nasrallah's own brother Khader was among the dead.

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Goldstone report inaccuracies part 18

Part Two, Section A of the Goldstone Report is dedicated to "Military Operations." Goldstone decides to begin this section with a description of the blockade:

311. The military operations of 28 December to 19 January 2009 and their impact cannot be fully evaluated without taking account of the context and the prevailing living conditions at the time they began. In material respects, the military hostilities were a culmination of the long process of economic and political isolation imposed on the Gaza Strip by Israel, which is generally described as a blockade.

Why exactly does Goldstone choose the blockade as the beginning point of the narrative? It would be at least as valid to choose the beginning of the Qassam rocket fire on Israelis several years beforehand, or perhaps the violent Hamas coup against the PA, or perhaps the rocket fire that came after Israel's disengagement from Gaza, or any of a number of other seminal events each of which helped shape the circumstances of the fighting.

By choosing the blockade as his starting point for the military operations, Goldstone specifically chooses an event that makes Israel appear to have initiated the conflict. (He repeats the same pattern in choosing December 27th as the beginning of actual hostilities, and ignoring Hamas' effective declaration of war on December 24th, accompanied by a huge rocket barrage. )

Is it not strange to ignore the role that thousands of Qassam rocket attacks had in setting this fighting into motion, and that they are not considered a seminal event by Goldstone?

The blockade section of the report blames only Israel. It does not note that the Quartet participated in the blockade (except for an elliptical statement "This was also accompanied by the withholding of financial support for the Gaza Strip by some donor countries and actions of other countries that amounted to open or tacit support of the Israeli blockade.)

Goldstone also does not saythat Egypt has any part to do with the blockade. In fact, in paragraph 278, the report says:

Israel controls the border crossings (including to a significant degree the Rafah crossing to Egypt, under the terms of the Agreement on Movement and Access 163) and decides what and who gets in or out of the Gaza Strip.

However, the link he provides to this Agreement shows no such thing.

In reality, Egypt was not a signatory to the Rafah Agreement - it was between Israel, the PA and the EU. Israel could veto specific people from going into Gaza, and it could watch the crossing via closed-circuit TV, but the Rafah Agreement provided for EU observers to be the main gatekeepers and for the Palestinian Authority to be the party responsible on the Gaza side. After the Hamas coup, the Rafah crossing was closed because the EU observers could no longer travel there safely and because the PA was no longer in charge, as per the agreement. Israel's influence over Egyptian behavior at Rafah has nothing to do with this agreement, that was in any case effectively abrogated by Hamas' coup.

Egypt has opened up the Rafah border on a number of occasions, for humanitarian aid and for people to cross (often for pilgrimages to Mecca or medical reasons.) There is nothing in the Rafah Agreement that precludes Egypt from fully opening up Rafah. There are obvious reasons why it doesn't do so, and they have little to do with Israel.

In other words, Goldstone blames Israel exclusively for the blockade, even on the Egyptian side, using a link to a UN document that shows nothing of the sort.

(At times, Hamas also limits movement out of Gaza as well, another salient fact that Goldstone ignores. Hamas stopped Fatah members from attending the Bethlehem conference and it stopped Gazans from leaving when Egypt opened the border in May.)

In the blockade section of the report, Goldstone mentions (para. 320)

The tunnels built under the Gaza-Egypt border have become a lifeline for the Gaza economy and the people. Increasing amounts of fuel (benzine and diesel) come through those tunnels as well as consumables.

Yet he doesn't mention other major imports through the tunnels - explosives, rockets and weapons. Egypt has confiscated many tons of weapons before they reached Rafah. Goldstone elsewhere mentions that some of Hamas arsenal are "thought to be smuggled" and "allegedly smuggled" without saying exactly how (para. 1621 and 1622.)

Since Goldstone ignores the smuggling of weapons to Hamas through the tunnels in context of the blockade, it doesn't even address the concerns that Israel has about allowing construction materials or infrastructure materials like metal pipes into Gaza. It ignores the fact that Hamas has confiscated metal pipes meant for sewage treatment in order to manufacture rockets.

More generally, Goldstone doesn't address other pertinent facts about the reasons for the blockade. Hamas takes all of the available materials that Israel allows into Gaza first, and then hands over the leftovers to the rest of the territory. It ensures that it has all the fuel it needs before it allows the rest to go to ordinary Gazans. Hamas has also stolen ambulances donated by other countries and converted them for military use. All these are ignored by Goldstone as he assails Israel alone for the blockade.

Hamas' apparent policy is that any imports to Gaza are primarily used for military purposes and only secondarily to help Gazans themselves. If that policy would change, in a transparent manner, all indications are that Israel would allow far more goods through to Gazans. One only needs to see the differences between how Israel treats Palestinian Arabs in the West Bank and those in Gaza to see that the driving factor for Israeli behavior is not to punish the people but to protect Israeli citizens.

Goldstone sees no such nuance. He flatly states that the blockade "amounts to collective punishment intentionally inflicted by the Government of Israel on the people of the Gaza Strip" (para. 1878).

One can argue whether the blockade is effective, and one could argue whether the specific goods Israel disallows into Gaza can be used against Israel. But if Goldstone is being fair he should at least mention Hamas abuses with the goods that are brought into Gaza as a possible reason for Israel's reticence to provide it with such goods.

Similarly, he fails to point any blame at Hamas for Israel's reluctance to provide Gaza with materials that Hamas would immediately use against Israelis.

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Egypt used chemical weapons in the 1960s; no one did anything then either

Arabs, allied with Russia, kill hundreds of other Arabs with chemical weapons. A cover-up of chemical weapons use and angry denials, allowing Western nations stand by and do nothing for political reasons.

In 1967.

From Chemical and Biological Warfare: A Reference Handbook, by Albert J. Mauroni (2007):

The Yemeni Civil War (1962-1970) pitted the Yemeni royalists of the deposed imam against the Yemen republican forces in North Yemen, with Saudi Arabia and Jordan supporting the royalists and Egypt supporting the republican forces. This war was fought for five years until the two forces reached a stalemate in 1967. Although there had been occasional mentions of Egyptian military employment of mustard agent—filled bombs between 1963 and 1966, in 1967 these attacks became more frequent. International journalists began reporting that Ilyushin heavy bombers were dropping mustard-filled and phosgene-filled bombs on cities and rebel bases.

In January 1967, a gas attack near Sada killed more than 125 people. In May, two villages suffered 75 casualties from phosgene-filled bombs. Between 1967 and 1968, it is estimated that more than 1,000 Yemeni were killed as a result of exposure to CW agents. An International Red Cross mission sent doctors to assist the wounded, and the doctors testified to what they saw. Al-though they were careful to clarify that they did not see any evidence of actual attacks taking place, the signs and symptoms of the victims included burning eyes and trachea, pulmonary edema, internal thorax pain, extreme fatigue, and anorexia. Their findings were that in all probability these victims had inhaled toxic gases (Cookson and Nottingham 1969).The doctors were reluctant to identify the specific chemical warfare agents used, in part because they wanted to retain their neutrality and access to war victims. Although it appeared conclusive that mustard and phosgene had been used, a few cases suggested the use of nerve agent—filled bombs as well. The problem was how to prove the use of chemical warfare agents and who was responsible for using them. Because there were no arms control experts assigned to monitor or investigate these attacks, there was very little evidence other than eyewitness accounts from civilians and what could have been propaganda from the royalists. Although bodies and samples were sent to Saudi Arabia for more study, again, it was difficult to accuse any specific nation. Egypt claimed it had not used chemical weapons in Yemen, and, according to some sources, this may be true if Soviet air crews were manning the Egyptian-marked bombers that attacked those cities.

When Saudi Arabia and the royalists tried to get the United Nations to investigate, the UN's secretary general, U Thant, declined. On March 1, 1967, he stated that he was "powerless" to investigate the issue, and that the facts were in sharp dispute. Although he almost certainly knew exactly what was going on in Yemen, he had made a political decision to stay out of the affair. The U.S. government, occupied with answering criticisms about the use of Agent Orange and riot control agents in Vietnam, chose not to get involved. The U.S. military decided that the chemical warfare attacks were an aberration and not reflective of any requirement to worry about future chemical warfare attacks (and in 1972, chose to disestablish the Chemical Corps). The United Kingdom was attempting to reestablish relations with Egypt at that time, so it chose not to say anything publicly against Egypt or Soviet affairs in the Middle East (Seagrave 1981, 124-125). The incident became a political nonevent, fodder for the arms control community but not much else.

This incident teaches several interesting lessons. The first is the failure of the world's nations to react against the use of chemical weapons against civilians and military forces that were not similarly armed. This was not a clear violation of the Geneva Protocol of 1925, since Egypt was not then (and still is not) a signatory of the Geneva Protocol, unless it could be proven that Soviet crews were in those bombers. The reason that some military analysts believe there were Soviet crews in the bombers was twofold: First, they do not believe that the Soviet Union would have allowed Egypt to own or employ chemical weapons in 1967, Egypt having just started its interest in an offensive CW program. Second, the bombers dropped their munitions upwind of their targets for maximum effect, and in some cases, MiG fighter planes came back to drop high explosives or napalm on and near the targets to reduce or eliminate the evidence. These same tactics were seen years later when the Soviet air force attacked Afghani villages with chemical weapons. Because the attacks occurred in such remote locations and because post-mortem examinations took place days or weeks later, it was very difficult to directly attribute the cause of death to the bombing attacks. 

This was the first instance of Arabs attacking Arabs with chemical weapons.

The second was the Iran-Iraq War, where some 45,000 are believed to have been killed by chemical weapons.

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Why the West cannot stop smuggling tunnels

The UAE National newspaper has an illuminating article about the Rafah tunnels, and it is pretty clear that no amount of "memoranda" will be able to stop them from being built.

And the reason is because Egypt will not crack down on them.

After weeks of bombing and despite high-level meetings and diplomatic speeches pledging to end the smuggling of goods and weapons from Egypt to this Palestinian enclave, reconstruction of what the workers here estimate are 1,000 tunnels has continued unabated for the three days since Israel and Hamas ceased firing.

“Israel will never succeed. I will make it 25 metres deep” to avoid the Israeli bombs that destroyed this narrow corridor during the three-week assault, said Abu Haysem, one of the Rafah tunnel owners. Abu Haysem said he built his tunnel out of the basement of his home, which lays, speckled with shrapnel, about 320 metres from, and 14 metres under, the Egypt-Gaza border.

“If Egypt decides to stop the tunnels from working, they can. They can block the roads to Rafah and arrest the tunnel owners,” said Abu Haysem. “Egypt says they will stop the tunnels but they don’t because they want the money.”

That money – 50 per cent of Abu Haysem’s lucrative trade – is used to pay his partners across the border and funds their graft scheme with Egyptian officials.

The sentiment on the ground remains one of scepticism that serious steps would be taken to halt the smuggling. Indeed, most of the tunnelling along the border is done in the open, within sight of Egyptian border posts.

Other than by bribing officials, some tunnel owners claim their tunnels will remain open thanks to Egyptian solidarity with the Palestinians, after Egypt faced the opprobrium of several Arab countries for keeping their part of the Gaza border sealed. That sympathy, said Akram Hamad, a tunnel worker, is partly derived from a common understanding between Egyptians and Gazans: that the Rafah tunnels no longer traffic in weapons. “The Egyptian side has sympathy with us when it comes to food, but when it comes to weapons they are very strict,” said Mr Hamad.

The Egyptians tied to the tunnels apparently do very little actual work building them, but assume the bulk of the legal risk and responsibility for bribing Egyptian authorities to get materials through them.

I tend to believe that most Rafah tunnel diggers are reluctant to smuggle arms nowadays, but the author doesn't consider that Hamas has its own tunnels exclusively for weapons and explosives whose owners are much less likely to grant interviews. Indeed, Hamas has more money for bribes from taxing the goods from the "consumer tunnels," and Egypt regularly finds caches of explosives and arms in the Sinai meant for Gaza. (It is entirely possible that Hamas has built tunnels south of Rafah, as well.)

At any rate, the idea that the tunnels could be closed without full Egyptian cooperation is a non-starter. Money tends to make people a bit less interested in adhering to agreements.

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12/26 Links Pt1: Israeli journalists banned from Bethlehem, Are Erdoğan's Days Numbered?

From Ian:

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Khaled Abu Toameh: No Christmas spirit in the West Bank: Israeli journalists banned from celebrations

The Palestinian Authority said on Tuesday that it expelled Israeli journalists who came to Bethlehem to cover Christmas celebrations.
The PA Ministry of Information said the decision was taken at the request of Palestinian journalists, who protested against the presence of their Israeli colleagues at Manger Square in the city.
The journalists who were kicked out of Bethlehem worked for Haaretz, i-24 News, Channel 1 and Arutz Sheva, the ministry said.
Palestinian journalists praised the PA police for ordering the Israelis out of the city.

Arafat died of natural causes, Russian experts say

The conclusion came was in line with findings by French experts who earlier this month ruled out the possibility that Arafat died of poisoning, as some had suspected.
“Yasser Arafat died not from the effects of radiation but of natural causes,” Vladimir Uiba, head of the Federal Medico-Biological Agency (FMBA), said according to the Russian Interfax news service. (Broken on EOZ first!)

Turkish Local Court Rejects Mavi Marmara Compensation Suit

A local Turkish court in the city of Kayseri rejected a compensation suit filed over the 2010 Mavi Marmara incident, the Herriyet Daily News reported Wednesday.
Relatives of Furkan Doğan, one of the Turkish citizens killed in the raid, had requested 4 million Turkish Liras of compensation from Israel. However, the court rejected the claim, stating that Israel cannot be tried in a Turkish court.

Jerusalem plays down Turkish report that 'Mavi Marmara' compensation deal 'almost' complete

While there has been progress in talks to normalize relations with Turkey over the last few weeks, diplomatic officials stopped well short of confirming a Turkish newspaper report Wednesday that compensation talks between the countries over the Mavi Marmara incident were “nearly finalized.”
“There has been progress,” said one official informed of the talks, adding however that reports of an imminent deal were “premature.”
The daily Hurriyet quoted a Turkish diplomat Wednesday as saying that compensation talks for the Mavi Marmara have been “almost finalized” at a meeting last week in Istanbul.

None hurt after Kassam fired at Ashkelon area

Red alert sirens wailed through the region before the missile hit, for the second time this week.
The rocket came amid heightened tensions between Israel and the Palestinians following a string of attacks against Israeli civilians, police officers and soldiers, and Israeli retaliatory strikes against Gaza on Tuesday.
Earlier Wednesday, the IDF deployed an Iron Dome missile interception battery to the area near the southern cities of Beersheba and Sderot, and on Thursday put a third battery near Ashdod.

IDF commander: We know an attack from Gaza will involve multiple threats

Operating under the southern Gaza territorial division, the Company, established in 2003, is equipped with a range of heavy armored vehicles, such as D-9 armored bulldozers, armored personnel carriers, and drilling equipment.
Its members join infantry and armored units, and act as trailblazers for military forces, clearing paths in areas with bombs in them, exposing and destroying attack tunnels, and joining daily border patrols.
“We practiced all of the potential scenarios. We understand that if we come under attack, it will be a complex event involving multiple, combined threats, rather than one pinpoint attack,” Levi said. “We could be dealing with an explosives incident while coming under full attack from projectiles and gunfire. We could face an attempted kidnapping.”

Demonstration at Spot where Cop was Stabbed

Dozens of residents of the community of Adam, just north of Jerusalem, held a protest rally Tuesday night at Adam Roundabout, near the community of Adam, following the stabbing of a policeman there on Monday. The policeman, officer Rami Ravid, has lost a kidney as a result of the stabbing.
The head of the Binyamin Regional Council, Avi Roeh, said at the rally: “We call upon the government of Israel and the prime minister from here, to snap out of it and defeat the terrorism. This situation cannot go on. The government of Israel must bring back security to the residents.”

Gilad Shalit calls for release of Jonathan Pollard

Former captive IDF soldier Gilad Shalit wrote in an open letter Wednesday that all Israelis should demand that the United States free jailed American-Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard, joining 106 Knesset members in calling for his release after 28 years of incarceration.
“After Israel has released terrorists with blood on their hands as a gesture to the Palestinians, a return gesture is all that is being requested,” Shalit said in his open letter, published on Ynet.

Report: Hamas attack thwarted by Egyptian army

Egyptian security forces arrested "a Palestinian belonging to Hamas who illegally entered Egypt... in a car with North Sinai license plate," according to Ali.
He added that during interrogations, the suspect "confessed he planned to blow up (his car) in front of a strategic security building,"
Egypt's army says militants from the Hamas-run Gaza Strip have staged joint attacks with hardline Islamists in North Sinai, where the government has ramped up security operations after a surge of violence set off by deposed President Mohamed Morsi's ouster in July.

Explosion hits bus in Egyptian capital

Security officials said an explosion has hit a public bus in the Egyptian capital Cairo, wounding five people.
There were also unconfirmed reports of one death, according to Egyptian news site al-Ahram.
The officials said the blast went off Thursday morning as the bus passed through Cairo’s eastern Nasr City district. They said the cause was still uncertain but they suspected an explosive device was thrown at the bus or set nearby.

Pentagon to Israel: Sway Congress against Egypt cuts

An Israeli request to US legislators to restore all American military aid to Egypt was orchestrated at the behest of high-ranking US officials in the Pentagon and the US State Department.
According to a report in Maariv on Wednesday, the Israeli effort came about after US officials, including some who are close to US Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel, urged Jerusalem to help influence Congress against the cuts.

Former prime minister of Egypt arrested

Kandil was appointed prime minister in July 2012.
In July 2013 an appeals court endorsed a ruling that dismissed Kandil from office and sentenced him to a year in prison over a case concerning a state-owned textile company that was sold to a private investor. Morsi, who was president at the time, was removed by a military coup later the same day.

Obama Withdraws Egyptian Ambassador Nominee Under Pressure From Egypt Military

Sources familiar with the matter say that Robert Ford — the highly-respected, Arabic-speaking career diplomat and current ambassador to Syria — was withdrawn from consideration for the Cairo post after some representatives of Egypt’s military regime quietly indicated that they didn’t want him in the job because of his stated willingness to negotiate with some of Syria’s Islamist militants and political groups.

Israel tracks Syria's Western jihadis, worried about their return

Israel is working with allies abroad to track Westerners fighting in Syria, concerned that such militants could attack Israeli or Jewish targets once back home, a senior Israeli official said on Tuesday.
Of an estimated 10,000 foreign combatants among rebels battling Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, around 20 percent are from the West and that number is rising, the official said.

Syrian Jihadist Leader Targeted UN Workers

The leader of a powerful Al-Qaeda group fighting in Syria sought to kidnap United Nations workers and scrawled out plans for his aides to take over in the event of his death, The Associated Press (AP) reported on Wednesday.
The report is based on excerpts of letters obtained by the news agency. Iraqi intelligence officials offered AP the letters, as well as the first known photograph of the Al-Nusra Front leader, Abu Mohammed al-Golani.

Barry Rubin: Obama Administration Iran Deal Cannot Work

For example, revolutionary Islamists do not make concessions. That is not the way they bargain. Islamist Iran will never stop seeking nuclear weapons; it will be patient about it. The real danger to the Iranian regime is economic collapse from sanctions, and the potential gain would be for Iran to achieve its true ambitions–mainly, a Shi'a bloc made of Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq; and the destruction of Israel, which won't work.
Egypt played it tough and will probably be the only Arab state that has gained anything. Nevertheless, the Egyptians have so lost confidence with the United States that they just signed a 2 million dollar agreement to buy weapons from Russia. This takes the world back almost 60 years, to 1955, when Egypt was a Soviet client and was buying all its arms from the Soviet Union. Egypt then managed to obtain Russian arms deals for money and yet a U.S. arms deal for free!

Steinitz: Sunni-Shi’ite nuke race will result if Iranian program isn’t stopped

If Iran remains a nuclear threshold state, there will be a Sunni- Shi’ite nuclear arms race, Intelligence and Strategic Affairs Minister Yuval Steinitz said on Wednesday.
Any agreement with world powers must dismantle Iran’s nuclear program, he continued at a conference on Regional Upheavals, held by the Israel and Middle East studies department at Ariel University.
“The Middle East has gone mad,” said Steinitz, adding that nobody had expected what has happened in the Middle East over the past few years.

Iranians draft bill to up enrichment to 60 percent

Iranian parliamentarians have proposed a bill to increase uranium enrichment to 60 percent in the event of new Western sanctions, the Iranian Press TV reported Wednesday. In addition to raising the enrichment level significantly, the draft, signed by 100 legislators, would resume activity at the Arak heavy water reactor.
“If the bill is approved, the government will be obliged to complete nuclear infrastructure at the Fordo and Natanz [enrichment facilities] if sanctions [against Iran] are ratcheted up, new sanctions are imposed, the country’s nuclear rights are violated and the Islamic Republic of Iran’s peaceful nuclear rights are ignored by members of the P5+1,” Seyyed Mehdi Mousavinejad, an Iranian lawmaker, said on Wednesday, according to Press TV.

Turkey: Are Erdoğan's Days Numbered?

Long-brewing political struggles within the ruling AK party have also surfaced. They boil down to two radically different views of Islam. In the first, Erdoğan's faction identifies and allies itself with the [Arab] Muslim Brotherhood. This faction was strongly supportive of the ousted Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood President Muhammad Morsi, and also of Syria's fundamentalists. In the second view, supporters of the Fethullah Gülen look down upon "Arab Islam." To them, "real" Islam is "the Islam of the Turks - meaning the people who live in Turkey, Central Asia, and Western China."
To the outsider, these differences might seem to be distinctions without differences: supporters of both views understandably want Islam to be a major part of the political order. But for Turks, these differences are seismic: the question is, do they belong to the Middle Eastern Arab and Muslim political camp, or do they belong to the wider Turkish world?

Erdogan replaces 10 ministers amid corruption scandal

Erdogan replaced Economy Minister Zafer Caglayan, Interior Minister Muammer Guler and Erdogan Bayraktar, the minister for the environment and urban planning. All three men’s sons were detained as part of the corruption investigation. They all deny any wrongdoing.
Erdogan also replaced the minister in charge of relations with the European Union, who was also been implicated in the scandal, but has not resigned.
In all, Erdogan replaced 10 ministers, including three who will contest mayoral elections in March.

Turkey requests Santa Claus’ bones from Pope

The Turkey-based Santa Claus Peace Council has said it has written a letter to Pope Francis, requesting the return of the bones of Saint Nicholas.
Council Chairman Muammer Karabulut said they were expecting Pope Francis to give a positive response to their request to have a meeting on the bones, which are currently in Bari, Italy.

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02/03 Links Pt1: New Chair Can’t Salvage UN Gaza Travesty; Captain Kangaroo Covers His Behind

From Ian:

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New Chair Can’t Salvage UN Gaza Travesty

It should be recalled that the UNHRC’s investigation of the 2008 war in Gaza—the Goldstone Commission—was a travesty that was focused almost entirely on delegitimizing Israeli self-defense while largely downplaying the actual war crimes committed by the Hamas rulers of Gaza. Ultimately Judge Richard Goldstone, the South African Jew who had been appointed to chair that commission, repudiated its findings. But that recantation came too late. The damage was already done. Whereas the UNHRC thought to put a more acceptable face on its Star Chamber investigation of Israel with Goldstone, naming Schabas showed it no longer thought it worth the bother to even put up a pretense of objectivity.
That’s why Schabas’s withdrawal changes nothing about the UNHRC’s prejudice or its methods. No one who is likely to be named to this post would be objective and anyone who was would quickly discover, as Goldstone eventually did, that the UNHRC’s staff has one objective with respect to Israel and it is not fairness or the truth.
But rather than focus solely on what is, in effect, a pro forma effort that will produce a raft of slanders and distortions no matter what evidence is presented to the panel, observers should be directing their attention to the UNHRC itself. Despite efforts to reform it, this agency remains one of the worst examples of UN bias against Israel and the Jews. Rather than helping to stem the rising tide of anti-Semitism around the world, the UNHRC is aiding and abetting it. Rather than wring its hands about the likelihood of an unfair attack on Israel about the Gaza war, the United States ought to be pulling out of the UNHRC and leading efforts to isolate it so as to prevent the world body from doing even more damage. But since the Obama administration is led by a president who is infatuated with the UN and often enraged by the temerity of Israel’s leaders to both defend their country and to urge others to speak out against threats to its security—such as the Iranian nuclear threat—don’t expect common sense or courage from Washington on the UNHRC.
In the meantime, decent persons both here and elsewhere should be denouncing the UNHRC’s latest attempt to smear Israel, no matter who is at its head.

UN Watch: Backstory: Schabas quit UN inquiry following growing pressure from colleagues

Why did William Schabas finally step down as chair of the UN inquiry on Gaza?
The latest revelation that he was paid by the PLO for legal advice in 2012 was the last straw, but the decision came in wake of a sustained campaign by UN Watch starting from the day of his appointment, which included videos of Schabas calling for the indictment of Israeli leaders, a formal UN Watch legal brief demanding his recusal that was submitted to the UN in an official filing, and UN Watch op-eds urging legal scholars to speak out against the absurd appointment of Schabas. Many did so.
Over the past several months of the campaign, some of the world’s most prominent international lawyers and human rights activists around the world—jurists well known to Schabas because he cites them as authorities in his works, or they are professional, faculty or law review colleagues—called for him to step down.

Hillel Neuer argues before U.N. plenary: "Schabas must step down"


NGO Monitor: Schabas Resignation: What Else Has Not Been Disclosed?

The revelation that Schabas previously did legal work for the PLO raises numerous questions, which should be publically and transparently addressed by the UNHRC.
- What other conflicts of interest did Schabas not disclose?
- What connections and consultancies did Schabas have with politicized NGOs such as Amnesty International and what role did these NGOs have in the UN “investigation”?
- How did the UN’s vetting process fail? According to news reports, Schabas “was not asked to detail his consultancy work when he was appointed.”
- If UN officials were previously aware of Schabas’ connections to the PLO, why was this information not disclosed earlier?
Journalists also have a responsibility to pursue these avenues of inquiry.
“Before there is further embarrassment, the Commission should disband immediately,” continued Prof. Steinberg. “From the beginning, the Commission’s mandate was part of the campaign to single out of Israel through the exploitation of human rights and international law. The Human Rights Council failed to learn the lessons from Judge Goldstone’s denunciation of his own pseudo-investigation in 2009.”

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Saturday night links

From Ian:

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Middle Eastern Tunnel Vision

"Critics also need a history lesson. The E1 area, comprising 4.6 square miles of Israeli state-owned land, belongs to Maale Adumim. E1 land is located inside Area C where, under the Oslo II Accords, Israel retains zoning and planning powers. Every prime minister since Yitzhak Rabin has supported its development. If there is any threat to contiguity, wrote Nadav Shagrai in Haaretz (2009), it comes from continuing illegal construction on E1 land by both Palestinians and Beduin."

Build, Bibi, Build

"And this is why it is imperative for Israel to build and settle Jews in every corner of Jerusalem and the West Bank territories; because a Qassam rocket has never been fired from a Jewish neighborhood.
In Israel, no amount of international pronouncements has the ability to stem Arab terror as the building of one Jewish apartment block. But from the lands controlled by Israel’s enemies has sprung forth hate, terror, intolerance and bigotry.
As such the Prime Minister of Israel has but one prerogative: Build, Bibi, build!"

The Political Logic of the Palestinian Authority

"Abbas’ war of ideas also involved elements of delegitimization of Israel, especially statements that denied the Jewish historical connection to Jerusalem and the State of Israel. An official Palestinian Authority book published this year insisted that the word “colonialist” be used when describing Israel, otherwise “the Zionist endeavor” will be turned from a “racist” project into “an endeavor for self-definition and independence for the Jewish people.” For the Palestinian side, words were not used as “confidence-building measures” but as instruments to be employed for political warfare."

Into The Fray: Assessing Abbas’s address
At the UN General Assembly last week, histrionic spin trumped historical substance, while sinister subterfuge went unchallenged.

"So get this. The Palestinians are basing their claim for statehood on a UN resolution which, to this day, they consider irretrievably invalid – regardless of the passage of time. As I said, bizarre, huh?
But perhaps even more bizarre was the spectacle of the General Assembly rising to a standing ovation as Abbas’s vicious vilification of a UN member state drew to a close – which of course significantly reinforces the sentiment expressed in the opening citation: “They are only concerned with using the concept of Palestinian freedom as a weapon against Israeli freedom.”

The Hamas Theme Song (Teach Your Children Well)




Hamas political chief pays first visit to Gaza, vows next trip will be to Jerusalem

Khaled Mashaal says he’ll do everything in his power to unite Fatah and Hamas; Israel says it has no control over who enters Strip from Egypt

“I have been dreaming of this historic moment my entire life, to come to Gaza,” Mashaal told reporters as he stood alongside senior Hamas member Mousa Abu Marzouk and Haniyeh. “I ask God to give me martyrdom one day on this land.”

US pressured Egypt to keep Islamic Jihad leaders out of Gaza, report says

Israel warned Egypt that allowing named individuals to join Khaled Mashaal on visit would violate truce, pan-Arab daily confirms
"The paper confirms reports by Islamic Jihad, which said on Thursday that Israel had warned Egypt it would consider the three-week-old truce since Operation Pillar of Defense over if the terrorist group’s leader Ramadan Abdallah Shalah and his deputy, Ziad Nakhaleh, entered the Strip."

Former Sun Editor: Anti-Israel Bias in Media is “A Form of Proxy for Anti-Semitism by Journalists in the West”

At a recent Jewish Chronicle event in London, former Sun editor Kevin MacKenzie suggested that hostile media coverage of Israel is “a form of proxy for antisemitism by journalists in the West.”

Boycott academic bigots instead

In my opinion, a boycott of Israeli academics is racist and anti-intellectual and should not be tolerated in any Australian university:
"THE head of the University of Sydney’s Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies has been slapped down by his faculty head for refusing to help a Jerusalem-based civics teacher to study in Australia."

Muslim Brotherhood inherits U.S. war gear

“Egypt has far and away the largest army in Africa,” said Egypt analyst Robert Springborg, a professor at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, Calif.
"The billions of dollars in U.S. military aid — in annual $1.3 billion stipends — have made the Egyptian air force the fourth-largest F-16 operator among 25 countries. Egypt’s 4,000 tanks, including the 1,000 or so M1A1s, make it the world’s seventh-largest tank army."

U.N. nuclear chief: Alleged weapons testing site was probably sanitized by Iran

"International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Yukiya Amano said the nuclear watchdog would try again next week to visit the Parchin military base, a sprawling complex where Iran is thought to have conducted tests on high-precision explosives used to detonate a nuclear bomb."

Seven companies continue investment in Iran's oil
At least seven companies from China, India, South Korea and South Africa continued to have investments in Iran's oil and gas sectors in 2012 even as Tehran came under international scrutiny for its nuclear ambitions, a US government watchdog said on Friday.

Iranian Commander Says Sanctions Helping Iran

"He cited gasoline production, which Iran had tried to be self-sufficient at since 1991, but said it only achieved that level in 2010, two years after the first gasoline bans were imposed. In July the European Union enforced a total ban on oil imports from Iran. He also made mention of the weapons development in the country which has increased as restrictions on imports have tightened."

'Iran not on track to make long-range missile'

US Congress report casts doubt on intelligence views Iran could test-fly intercontinental ballistic missile by 2015.
"It is increasingly uncertain whether Iran will be able to achieve an ICBM capability by 2015," said the report by the non-partisan Congressional Research Service, which works exclusively for lawmakers.
Iran does not appear to be receiving as much help as would likely be necessary, notably from China or Russia, to reach that goal, according to the 66-page report dated Thursday."

Sweden probes artist who used Holocaust ashes

In response to complaint filed by citizen, police consider charges against man who used ashes of Holocaust victims in artwork.
"Police said the prosecutor's office would investigate the case and was considering pressing charges against artist Carl Michael von Hausswolff. Police inspector Annika Johansson told AFP that authorities launched the investigation in response to a complaint filed by a member of the public, alleging the painting was "disturbing the peace of the dead."

Exclusive: A7 Interview with Maj. Gen. Ben Reuven on Iron Dome

Major Gen. (res.) Eyal Ben Reuven, Israel National Defense College AA Chairman, talks about the venue for IDF conceptual analysis.
"It was most appropriate, that on the heels of the success achieved by the Iron Dome antimissile system in the last round of the fighting in Gaza, the Israel National Defense College Alumni Association (INDCAA) devoted its Third annual conference to the topic of "Science and Technology in the Service of Israel's Future and How National Technological Development Serves the Security of the State of Israel."

SodaStream to kick off at Super Bowl

Israeli soft drink company has long been a target of pro-Palestinian activists who promote boycotts of settlement products
"SodaStream has enjoyed widespread success in Europe. It says 25 percent of Swedish households use its products, and reports similarly high rates in countries like Finland and the Czech Republic.
But in the US, the household penetration rate is just 1 percent. Birnbaum is confident that with his publicity blitz, beginning with the Super Bowl, he can gradually bring that number closer toward the European levels."

Steve Wonder Parody: We Just Called to Say We LOVE Israel! VIDEO



Standing Up for Israel with Stand Up Comedy
Arutz Sheva met the participants of a unique tour of soldiarity. "Comedy for Koby" brings comedians to Israel for laughs and support.

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