Friday, August 16, 2013
CIF Watch: ‘Comment is Free’ contributor: Israel sparks fury with its postcards of falafel.
While questions remain as to where precisely in the Middle East the deep-fried round patties (made from ground chickpeas, fava beans or both) originated, as Shabi surely knows, nearly half of Israeli Jews are Mizrachi – descendants from Jewish communities in the Middle East. So, to suggest that Israelis are ‘colonizing’ the ubiquitous street food is not only petty, but ahistorical.IsraellyCool: Sweet Irony! Safer To Be An Islamist In Tel Aviv Than In Cairo
Oh, and if you think I’m reading too much into Shabi’s passage about Israeli ‘culinary incitement’, you should note that this isn’t a one-off for the CiF contributor when it comes to complaints about such Zionist theft:
So in the evil, hated Zionist Entity, Islamists are free to protest in Tel Aviv, and you better believe that not a single one of them fears any kind of violent reaction from Israeli security or police personnel.
Personally, I think the irony here is almost too delicious to believe, my friends.
Fatah threatens ‘painful decisions’ against Hamas
Emboldened by the military coup in Egypt, a senior Fatah official is threatening “painful decisions” against Hamas in a bid to end the political divide that has separated Gaza from the West Bank since 2007.20,000 Palestinians working in settlements, survey finds
Azzam Al-Ahmad, head of the Fatah delegation to reconciliation talks with Hamas, told Palestinian radio station Mawtini on Thursday that his movement “will not remain captive to Hamas” and has begun discussing “clear and painful moves” against the Islamist group, which he would not specify.
The survey also showed an increase in the number of Palestinians working in Israel and settlements.Palestinians want FIFA to ban Israel over travel dispute
The survey showed that the unemployment rate in the Gaza Strip was 27.9 percent compared with 16.8% in the West Bank in the second quarter of 2013.
In both areas, the unemployment rate for women was 33.6% and 17.6% for men, the survey showed.
The public sector employed 22.5% of those in employment: 36.2% in the Gaza Strip and 16.4% in the West Bank.
Palestinian sports supremo Jibril Rajoub has threatened to call for Israel's expulsion from world soccer's governing body after it denied a number of officials entry to the West Bank for a youth tournament on security grounds.Hamas Uses Social Media to Crackdown on Dissent Amid Fears of Egypt Chaos Spillover
"At the next FIFA Congress, the Palestinian FA is planning to ask for Israel's expulsion in response to its violations against Palestinian sport," Rajoub said on Thursday before the planned start of an international youth tournament.
Hamas’s fears are not without precedent. On March 15, 2011, youth activists used social media to organize large rallies denouncing the rift between Hamas in Gaza and rival political party Fatah based in the West Bank.Gaza-Sinai Border Crossing Closed Indefinitely Following Unrest in Egypt
The targets of the crackdown go beyond pro-active citizens and have included journalists who cover Hamas. Journalist Emad Drimly, the office director of the Chinese news agency Xinhua in Gaza, told Al-Monitor that he received a death threat after publishing what was perceived to be a message in support of deposing Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi to his Facebook account.
Mahir Abu Sabha, director of border crossings for the Hamas-run government in Gaza, said in a statement that the Rafah crossing would be closed heading in both directions “due to bad security conditions in North Sinai district,” according to the Ma’an report.Suppose the German military had crushed the Nazi Party in 1936
Suppose the German military had overthrown the democratically-elected leader of Germany and massacred his loyal followers, say, in 1936? The world, presumably, would have condemned the blatant use of force against an elected leader even if, hypothetically, a third of the German population already had taken to the streets to demand Hitler’s ouster. The Muslim Brothera are Nazis bearing a crescent rather than a swastika.Islamists march against military rule in tense Cairo
Tens of thousands of Muslim Brotherhood supporters took to the streets Friday in several Cairo neighborhoods and other towns across Egypt in defiance of a military-imposed state of emergency following the country’s bloodshed earlier this week.Egypt: Obama remarks ‘strengthen’ armed groups
The protesters poured out of mosques after traditional mid-day prayers, responding to the Muslim Brotherhood’s call for a “Day of Rage” as armored military vehicles sealed off main squares in the Egyptian capital and troops with machineguns stood at the ready on key junctions.
The Egyptian Presidency’s office issued a statement late Thursday in response to US President Barack Obama’s earlier remarks on the crisis, saying that the country was fighting “terrorist acts” and that Obama’s comments are not based “on the truth of matters” and could be seen as “strengthening the armed violent groups and encouraging them in their path.”US issues travel warning to Egypt, scraps military drills
The response, issued by the office of interim President Adly Mansour, said that while Egypt “appreciates the American concern of the developing events, it would like things to be put in their correct context and the real facts of the situation on the ground to be understood.”
President Barack Obama scrapped plans for joint American-Egyptian military exercises Thursday, announcing the first concrete US reaction to the spiraling violence in and around Cairo but stopping well short of withholding $1.3 billion in annual American military aid.Middle East countries split on Egypt support
The US State Department also updated its travel warning for Americans in Egypt, telling US citizens to defer travel there and urging Americans living in Egypt to depart. The travel warning stated that the political unrest stemming from the “change of government” showed little sign of abating.
Saudi Arabia, UAE maintain support for Egyptian army while Turkey, Iran and Qatar back Islamist protesters; Turkey's Erdogan calls on western countries to get involved, stand up for democracy.Egypt Violence Is Not ‘Worse Than the Holocaust’
A quick way to turn public opinion against a valid and deeply troubling issue (in this case, the military’s violent crackdown against the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt) is to widely exaggerate the death tolls. Another way is to invoke the Holocaust without credibility. Today, a Muslim Brotherhood official did both, at least, according to the Daily Caller.Egypt's UK envoy says protesters 'got what they wanted'
Egypt's ambassador to Britain said a crackdown on supporters of deposed President Mohamed Morsi was not excessive and that protesters had portrayed themselves as victims and had shot one another dead in some cases.Sunni Group Issues Warning to 'Pig Nasrallah'
Shortly after news of the attack broke, an online video surfaced showing three masked men, two of them holding rifles, in front of a white flag inscribed with the Islamic profession of faith, reported AFP.Nasrallah not looking quite so smart now
"You, the pig Hassan Nasrallah, we send you our second powerful message because you haven't understood yet," said one member of the group, which called itself the Company of Aisha Umm al-Muminin, the Prophet Mohammed's favorite wife.
Arab affairs expert Dalit Halevi said that the group also accused the Hezbollah chief of being “an agent of Iran and Israel."
It’s fair to assume that on Thursday night, too, Nasrallah was internalizing the scale of the mistake he made when he caved in to Iranian pressure and agreed to send his forces to fight alongside Assad’s in Syria. Thursday’s car bombing was only the beginning for those terror groups associated with al-Qaeda who see the Shi’ites — no less than the Jews and Christians — as their enemy.Insight: Iran's Arab minority drawn into Middle East unrest
Nasrallah may even be starting to realize that he is now at odds with the only people in the Middle East whose mindset may be even more pernicious than his own.
Arab insurgents blew up a gas pipeline in Iran last week and dedicated the attack to their brothers in arms in Syria, highlighting how the Syrian civil war is spreading into a region-wide proxy conflict that could blow back onto Iran.French advocate for Nazi and terrorists dies at 88
The blast, two days after new President Hassan Rohani took office, hit a pipeline feeding a petrochemicals plant in the city of Mahshahr in Iran's southwest, home to most of its oil reserves and to a population of ethnic Arabs, known as Ahwazis for the main town in the area.
A French publishing house says Jacques Verges, called the “Devil’s advocate” for his flamboyant courtroom defense of the likes of former Nazi Klaus Barbie and Carlos the Jackal, has died.Anti-Israel Author Disinvited from University Event
The University of Michigan has disinvited author Alice Walker from giving a speech at the anniversary celebration for the university’s Center for the Education of Women.
According to Walker, the invitation was rescinded due to pressure from donors offended by her virulently anti-Israel views.
