From Ian:
***
"Palestinian nationalism often seems a mirror-image of the Zionist
project, but with this one crucial difference: Over the half century before the
foundation of the State of Israel, the Zionist movement pre-built the
institutions of a state. The Zionist movement built not only a proto-government
and the elements of an army, but charitable institutions, educational
institutions, even artistic institutions.The Jewish state, when it came, was
voted by the UN. But it was in no sense a gift from anybody, let alone an
international organization."
Abbas will not rush to issue "State of Palestine" passports, fearing
a conflict with Israel, PLO officials claim.
"President Obama's nomination of Chuck Hagel as Secretary of Defense risks
increasing the likelihood that Iran will develop nuclear weapons. It poses that
risk because Hagel is well known for his opposition both to sanctions against
Iran and to employing the military option if necessary. These views are inconsistent with the very different views expressed by
President Obama. The President has emphasized on numerous occasions that he
will never allow Iran to develop nuclear weapons and will use military force if
necessary to prevent that "game changer."
Something has gone badly wrong when a conference of Christians praises the side
most prone to violence and least disposed to peace; presents falsehoods as
facts, and even denies that there is serious persecution of their own brethren in
the Palestinian territories. "Do Christian hearts not grieve for Jewish
children forced to cower in bomb shelters, day in and day out? But none of
these facts was mentioned by any of the speakers. Not one speaker at any
point, in fact, had the honesty to say one word about the several wars started
by Arab armies invading Israel, nor the thousands of Israelis killed and
injured in terrorist attacks, including suicide bombings."
Fatah’s heroes: Saddam Hussein, Dalal Mughrabi and the rifle
"It is well known that Al Jazeera’s English language operation (launched
in 2006) tones down its coverage in comparison to its less subtle Arabic
department, which has fawned over the terrorist child-murderer Samir Kuntar and
features as its most popular programme the weekly rantings of Qatari-based
Yusuf Qaradawi – spiritual leader of the Muslim Brotherhood and a virulent homophobe
and antisemite. Nevertheless, Al Jazeera English remains firmly on target
as the vector of the Qatari regime’s agenda, as some of its former employees
have disclosed."
WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: I asked the Egyptian President about the blind Egyptian
cleric who was convicted here in the United States in connection with the 1993
World Trade Center bombing. Omar Abdel-Rahman is serving a life sentence in a
U.S. prison.
"Israel stole just under $50 billion worth of sand"
This was reported by EOZ on January 07 2012
Report:
Egypt demanding $500 billion from Israel for Sinai damage
Essam el-Erian, a top advisor to Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi, has
resigned from his position, Egyptian media reported Sunday. "Although the
report said that el-Arian had willingly made the decision because he was
“occupied with other work,” analysts said that there was no doubt that he was
pressure to quit – after inviting back to Egypt the descendants of Jews
who were thrown out of the country, or who fled due to anti-Semitic violence."
On Monday, Egyptian authorities foiled a car bomb plot in the city of Rafah,
near Gaza….Those behind the plot are currently unknown, though Al Arabiya
quoted an Egyptian security source as saying that it was "probably radical
Islamists whom security forces have been tracking for months." According
to the Associated Press, "[t]he military said it suspects the gunmen
preparing the car bomb are from the Gaza Strip and entered Egypt illegally
through underground tunnels." Following the seizure of the explosives and
weapons, Egyptian authorities announced a security alert. A military source has
told Ma'an News Agency that "intelligence services have received
information in the last few hours about planned attacks by groups in the
Sinai."
"Some 5,000 Hezbollah fighters crossed from Lebanon into Syria last month
to fight on the side of Bashar al-Assad’s forces the Al Watan newspaper
reported on Monday. According to the paper, nearly 300 of those fighters have
been killed in the last several days."
"EndoChoice, an Alpharetta-based company that sells endoscopy devices,
said Friday it plans to merge with an Israeli-based medical firm in a deal that
would create 200 new jobs, mostly in metro Atlanta. The company also announced
it raised $43 million from a well-known Silicon Valley venture capital firm,
Sequoia Capital, to fuel its growth."