7/08 Links Part 1: Will Hamas Be Next?, Ahmadinejad Proud Of Holocaust Denial and Turkey's Conspiracies.

From Ian:

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Khaled Abu Toameh: Will Hamas Be Next?

Unlike Egypt, Palestinians in the Gaza Strip do not have an army that could come to the rescue. Also, Fatah's supporters in the Gaza Strip do not have enough weapons to launch an Egyptian-style coup against Hamas.
Hamas, on the other hand, has a huge arsenal of weapons and thousands of militiamen who are quick to act against any individual or group who challenge its regime.
The Gaza Strip also does not have a credible, powerful, well-organized secular opposition that could rally thousands of Palestinians behind it.
Today, the only choice in the Gaza Strip is between Hamas and Fatah. The problem is that many Palestinians still do not see Fatah as a better alternative to Hamas.

Middle East experts find Kerry focus on Israeli-Palestinian peace ‘baffling’

What’s more, [Michael] Rubin said, with all the fires flaring around the world, it makes little sense that Kerry would devote so much time to a problem that isn’t currently in a position to be resolved.
“Egypt is imploding, and Turkey is going south fast. Antagonism between Europe and America is at an all-time high. China is bullying U.S. allies in southeast Asia. And what is Kerry doing? Off tilting at windmills,” he said.

Abbas: We're Not Making Any Concessions

Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, who is often touted by the West as a “moderate peace partner”, has once again indicated that he is willing to resume negotiations with Israel - but not give up on even one of his never-ending preconditions.

Ahmadinejad says Holocaust denial was his major achievement

Outgoing Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said during a farewell ceremony Sunday that publicizing his Holocaust denial was a major achievement of his presidency.
“That was a taboo topic that no one in the West allowed to be heard,” Ahmadinejad said in a speech, according to the Iranian Fars news agency. “We put it forward at the global level. That broke the spine of the Western capitalist regime.”

Daphne Anson: The UK Zionist Federation Fights Against The Iranian Revolutionary Guard

The Zionist Federation in Britain has launched a petition targetting one of the world's principal terrorist groups:
"The Iranian Revolutionary Guards (IRG), backed by the Iranian regime, have been key in providing fighters, weapons and training to the Assad regime and the Iranian proxy terrorist organisation Hezbollah. This has played a major role in the massacres Assad has carried out against his own people during a bloody civil war and has also led to Assad using groups like the IRG and Hezbollah to attack Israel

Jewish Group Protests Argentina-Iran 'Whitewash Agreement'

The Simon Wiesenthal Center is protesting a decision by the Argentinian prosecutor general to block the chief investigator who led the probe into the bombing of the Buenos Aires AMIA Jewish Center from testifying at a hearing before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Homeland Security. The hearing is scheduled to take place July 9, and is entitled “Iran’s Extending Influence in the Western Hemisphere”, reflecting American concerns over the Islamic Republic's role in international terrorism, among other things.

Analysis: For the Egyptian army, there’s no turning back

The army has been effectively – and brutally – dealing with the Islamists for years, and if anyone knows how to suppress them, it is the army and the country’s intelligence service.
The army knows that it must crack down hard on the organization in order to install a government more in line with its interests and those of the opposition protesters, while at the same time quelling any protests and violence from former president Mohamed Morsi’s supporters.

Muslim Brotherhood urges ‘uprising’ as dozens are killed

Amid fears of imminent civil war, Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood called Monday for an “uprising” against the military and urged international intervention in Egypt to prevent the situation from spiraling out of control.
The call to arms came hours after some 40 members of the Islamist group were killed in a clash with the Egyptian military, according to numbers released by the Egyptian Health Ministry. Hundreds more said to have been injured.

Gunmen slay soldier in northern Sinai

Gunmen shot and killed an Egyptian soldier near the northern Sinai city of el-Arish Sunday night, a day after a Coptic priest was gunned down in the same town by suspected Islamist militants.
An Egyptian police source told AFP that the attack took place at a military checkpoint just outside town. Mina Aboud Sharween, a Coptic priest, was shot dead in el-Arish on Saturday in the latest bout of violence in the lawless Sinai Peninsula, which borders southern Israel.

Fears for Egypt's Christians following Murder, Arson Attacks

Fears have been raised over the plight of Egypt's Coptic Christian community, after a series of attacks - including the assassination of a priest and an arson attack against a church - following the ouster of Muslim Brotherhood-backed President, Mohammed Morsi.

Officials: Sinai Desert not Safe for Israelis

The National Anti-Terror Unit on Sunday issued a travel warning for Sinai, and warned Israelis still there to come home immediately. “Given the deteriorating security situation in Sinai, which includes numerous violent clashes between groups, along with intelligence we have received about possible terror attacks,” the warning strongly suggests that Israelis avoid Sinai altogether, including the popular resort of Taba on the border near Eilat.

Daniel Pipes: In Terms of Civilization, Turkey is Not Part of Europe

In other words, what counts is civilization, not waterways. Morocco and Turkey are both for many centuries part of Dar al-Islam, the Muslim world, Islamdom, call it what you will. Atatürk’s reforms, to be sure, made Turkey appear more European and less Islamic but they did not change the essence of the country’s culture, as has been increasingly evident during the past decade.
So, Schaeuble is right where it counts: Turkey is not part of Europe and should not become a full member of the European Union.

The Great Turkish Conspiracy

In addition, the Islamist daily Yeni Şafak has reported that the protests are an anti-Erdoğan plot concocted in February by the American Enterprise Institute and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.
AKP deputies have submitted a resolution to Parliament, calling for an investigation into the Gezi Park protests. The Ankara Police Department has also submitted a summary of the proceedings of the events to the public prosecutors, in which it claimed that anti-government media networks, journalists, NGOs, supporter groups, artists and marginal groups have incited and guided the demonstrations, and for which it held foreign media outlets -- such as CNN, BBC and The Economist -- responsible.

Erdoğan’s Disdain Extends from Jews to Blacks

Every Tuesday, Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan addresses his Justice and Development Party (AKP) cohorts. Speaking before a friendly audience, he often lets his guard down and lets the real Erdoğan shine through. Alas, increasingly it’s apparent that the real Erdoğan is not only an anti-Semite—ranting and raving about Jews or some amorphous “interest rate lobby”—but also a racist.
Criticizing Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, the leader of the center-left and secular Republican Peoples Party (CHP), Erdoğan declared, “Kılıçdaroğlu is striving every bit he can to raise himself from the level of a black person to the level of a white man.” The Turkish word—Zenci—Erdoğan used is often used in a derogatory way.

Footage emerges showing assailants with machetes attacking protesters and bystanders in Istanbul

Amateur video footage showing unidentified people with machetes indiscriminately attacking protesters and bystanders running from the effects of tear gas has emerged, hours after the police intervention in protesters in Istanbul on July 6.