Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Thursday, October 04, 2012

"Blasphemy" arrests in Egypt skyrocket

Egyptian prosecutors are bearing witness to a wave of blasphemy accusations following the production of "Innocence of Muslims," a movie released this summer, as two Coptic minors and a teacher are referred to prosecution on religious blasphemy charges.

Prosecutors referred Nabil Nady Rizk, 9 and Mina Nady Farag, 10, to a juvenile detention facility Tuesday night after they were accused of urinating on two copies of the Quran in a Beni Suef village, according to Isaq Ibrahim, a researcher at the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights.

The defiled Qurans were reportedly found by a sheikh near Ezbet Marko’s village mosque in the Upper Egyptian city. The sheikh then brought the kids to the local bishop and insisted someone else had incited them to desecrate the Qurans and throw them near the mosque.

Ibrahim told Egypt Independent that the sheikh filed a complaint accusing the two of blasphemy at Fashin Police Station. The two minors, who denied the accusations, are expected to stand before the prosecution for the second time on Sunday.

The incident came one day after a Coptic teacher was interrogated by the Assiut Prosecutor’s Office over accusations of blasphemy. Nevine al-Sayed, a preparatory school history teacher, was accused by one of her students of insulting the Prophet Mohamed while teaching a lesson about his life.

The teacher said that Prophet Mohamed was raised in a poor family, but according to the interrogation reports, the student said she described the Prophet as being “unfortunate,” a word that is very close to the word “poor” in Arabic.

Sayed was released pending investigations on Thursday and left her home in Assiut fearing a violent reaction from the student’s family.

“There have been more than 17 cases of religious blasphemy filed in front of the prosecution after the incident of the inflammatory movie against Prophet Mohamed,” Ibrahim said.

Insulting Islam and the prophet is considered a crime in Egypt under Article 98(f) of the Penal Code.

The article states, “Confinement for a period of not less than six months and not exceeding five years ... shall be the penalty inflicted on whoever makes use of religion in propagating, either by words, in writing, or in any other means, extreme ideas for the purpose of inciting strife, ridiculing or insulting a heavenly religion or a sect following it, or damaging national unity.”

Human rights activists say the article poses a threat to freedom of expression and that it has been used to suppress dissident voices.

In related news, the Nasr City Misdemeanor Court adjourned the trial of owner of Al-Umma channel Sheikh Ahmed Mohamed Mahmoud Abdallah, known as Abu Islam, his son and a reporter at Al-Tahrir newspaper to 14 October. The three are charged with blasphemy after allegedly burning a Bible during protests against the film “Innocence of Muslims.”

The Arabic Network of Human Rights Information, in a statement released Wednesday, slammed the recurring crackdowns on freedom of expression through religious blasphemy charges, deeming them a “general inclination by the state to silence opponents.”

You don't like your neighbor in Egypt? Just accuse him of blasphemy! Problem solved!

Thursday links

From Ian:

Anti-Israel, Pro-Hamas Muslim Leader Is US Delegate to Warsaw Human Rights Conference

"For this administration to appoint to an august human rights organization Salam Al-Marayati, who has openly supported Hizbollah, claimed that the FBI has illegally incited Muslims on terrorism charges because of FBI sanctioned policies of “racial profiling,” has defended as innocent the most notorious members of Hamas who were found guilty of laundering millions of dollars to a terrorist group, and someone who has complained of ‘having the Holocaust shoved down [his] throat,’ is an outrage."

NY State Sen. Breaks Silence About Why He Walked Off Stage at Muslim Day Parade: ‘Attack on Our Country’

"I was deeply offended by the various remarks that were made during the on stage presentation and felt they were an attack on our country as well as the State of Israel and were anti-Semitic in nature and as a result I left the stage in protest."

Who Is(n’t) a Refugee?

"Far more remarkable than millions of invented Palestinian refugees receiving UNRWA largesse is the even larger number of Jewish refugees from Arab states who, along with their children, have rejected perpetual dependence and special pleading to build fulfilling lives elsewhere. Indeed, a Committee of Baghdadi Jews in Ramat Gan (Israel) opposes the effort to equate Jewish and Arab refugees as a politically driven effort to offset Palestinian claims, rather than a genuine attempt to rectify individual losses."

Kangaroo Court and Clown Show rolled into one - the Russell Tribunal on Palestine stumbles into New York this weekend

“A tribunal, as defined by the meaning of the word, is a court with the authority to render decisions of justice. So among the other abuses perpetrated by the Russell Tribunal on Palestine is a debasement of the English language by the upcoming gathering this weekend of prejudiced fanatics and buffoons who comprise it.” See also: NGO Monitor backgrounder

The Age and Human Rights in Gaza

"For perhaps the first time in recent history, and at least for the first time since Ruth Pollard took the reigns as Middle East correspondent at the Age, a story has run which portrays Hamas in a negative light…the last time this happened was most likely back in 2008, a good four years ago…writes Emily Gian."
“One cause that the Age has really relished in trumpeting over the past few years is the Free Gaza Movement, who, among other things, have been behind the flotillas to “break the blockade” of Gaza. If you recall, correspondent Paul McGeough even wrote a six-page spread back in 2010 which featured in the Good Weekend magazine entitled ‘Project Gaza’, focussing on six activists involved in the movement."
Back then, McGeough wrote about the “motley crew of cash strapped activists” that united to form the Free Gaza Movement. One of those people was the Free Gaza Movement co-founded and Board Secretary Greta Berlin, who has now found herself in quite the pickle after posting an extremely anti-Semitic video on the Free Gaza Movement’s twitter page.”

Sharp increase in terrorist acts in West Bank in September
Majority of the attacks involve Molotov cocktails, Shin Bet report shows

Hamas gate-crashes press conference where it is accused of torture

"Representatives of Gaza's Islamist Hamas government turned up at a Human Rights Watch press conference in Gaza on Wednesday to dispute a recent report compiled by the international rights group accusing Hamas of torture and other abuses of justice The rights group says that Hamas security forces had committed rampant abuses against Palestinian prisoners"

U.N. atomic agency says no date set for fresh Iran talks

Hezbollah commander killed while on 'jihad duties' in Syria

Bypassing Israel, French capital endorses unprecedented agreement with ‘East Jerusalem’
Israel’s Foreign Ministry says the agreement reflects a “make-believe world”

"The agreement was initiated in early 2011 by Green Party councilmen Jacques Picard and Michel Bock, who also serves as chairman of the international and European action committee in the regional council of Île-de-France.”

Venezuela and Its Fleeing Jewish Population
What elections mean for the remnants of the Jewish community

The Campaign Against Scandinavian Jewry

Troubling news from Sweden, Denmark, and Finland
While the tone of the language may sound different when uttered from a podium instead of graffitied on a wall or synagogue, the message is the same. And it’s not good.

Also, an interesting new hasbara/information initiative: Ask Herzl

Some of my materials are there.

Islamic Jihad holds terror celebration

Today, Islamic Jihad celebrated its 25th anniversary, and thousands attended the celebration in Gaza.

The head of its armed terrorist wing said that this rally was a "referendum" on "resistance."

The head of Islamic Jihad itself, Ramadan Shallah, gave a speech from a video screen, the same way that Hezbollah's leader Nasrallah does, afraid that a drone might just pick him off.

His speech emphasized that their goal is the armed takeover of all of "Palestine". He also railed against Oslo, Jews on the Temple Mount, the PLO, the Mohammed video, and the fact that the issue of Palestinian Arab nationalism has dropped off the agendas of most Arab countries.

Some photos:

"Jihad. Jihad. Rah. Rah. Rah. Can I watch cartoons now?"

Special guest star, Mahmoud Zahar, just to make sure everyone knows that Hamas agrees with Islamic Jihad

Are you allowed to grope young boys in public in Gaza?

The crowd was not particularly large, actually.

Fun for the whole family!

Grandma wants a piece of that delicious jihad flavor!

By the way, the EXIF information for these images show that they were shot (not very professionally) with a Canon EOS 7D camera, which costs upwards of $2000 with proper lenses. Islamic Jihad and their "media war" division can get cash when they want to.

(h/t Challah)

A "cultural intifada" to destroy the Jewish state

The latest stunt to try to blame all of Palestinian Arab woes on Israel, called the "Freedom Bus," flew completely under the radar.

From Bikya Masr:

On Monday, the Freedom Bus marked the final stop of its tour across the Israeli-occupied West Bank by hosting a concert in Bet Sahour.

Over a hundred people came to Bet Sahour’s old city to watch Palestinian performers such as the rap group DAM, Haifa-based reggae band Ministry of Dub-key, and Toot Ard, a Syrian band from the occupied Golan Heights.

It sounds like there were more people in the bands and their crews than there were in the audience.
Outside of this article, there seems to have been no media attention given to yet another stunt designed to ensure that Palestinian Arabs do nothing to better their situation and put all of theior efforts into blame, blame and more blame. The "Freedom Bus" website even calls its purpose to wage a "cultural intifada." (And it has a quote from Judith Butler supporting the infantilization of the cause.)

972mag, abandoning what little pretense it had of being a news site, simply copied a press release from the Freedom Bus' spokesperson instead of bothering to actually report on what appeared to be a major fail. The "pro-Palestinian" crowd simply hasn't figured out that the world is sick of their whining and refusal to take even a scintilla of responsibility for their lives.

But let one of the featured bands talk about their view of how the Middle East should look:

Palestine Street, a local rap group from the nearby Dheisheh refugee camp in Bethlehem, brought the crowd to their feet during their performance, dedicating their closing song to Palestinian refugees living in exile. “Palestine will be free, from the Jordan River to the sea,” they shouted at the end of their set, arousing immense applause from the crowd.

As long as they choose to deny the reality of Israel, there will be Freedom Bus-like gimmicks for another 65 years, and beyond.

Continued Palestinian Arab fantasies, fed by stunts like this, are the biggest impediment to peace. Which means that this "intifada" will ultimately be as counterproductive for the daily lives of average Arabs in the territories as the last two were.

Secularist Tunisian president: Islamist rise a "poisoned gift" to Arabs

From Reuters:

Islamist militants are shifting their focus from southwest Asia to Arab North Africa and stepping up violence in the region, Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki said in an interview published on Tuesday.

Moderate Islamists who were harshly suppressed by secular Arab dictators have gained political power or prominence following popular uprisings in Tunisia, Libya and Egypt.

But armed, militant Islamist groups, including the North African wing of al Qaeda, have also benefited from lapses in internal security across the region wrought by the often chaotic transition to more democratic government.

Marzouki told pan-Arab daily al Hayat that some of Tunisia's hardline Salafists had links to al Qaeda and that North African countries would work before the end of the year to form a united front against the threat of rising Islamist militancy.

"The centre of the terrorist movement is moving now from Afghanistan and Pakistan to the Arab Maghreb region ... and the great danger is at our doors," Marzouki said.

He said around 3,000 Salafists in Tunisia were estimated to be potentially dangerous and described them as a "cancer" in the country, the first in the Arab world to bring down dictatorship in a wave of popular uprisings.

Marzouki, a secularist in office under a power-sharing deal with the moderate Islamist Ennahda party after it won a free election a year ago, said talks with such militants were futile and the threat they posed must be addressed with legal measures.

"(Militants) are mainly present in Libya and Algeria, and especially in the south," Marzouki said, referring to the remote and thinly populated desert expanses of the Maghreb where policing is weaker and there has been traditional tribal resistance to central authority.

"There is a security problem now threatening the entire Arab Maghreb region ... All our southern borders are threatened with this problem now. There has to be a unified response from all the countries."

The money quote from the Al Hayat interview, which neither Reuters nor AFP published, was this:

The rise of Islamist parties in the "Arab Spring" countries are a "poisoned gift," he said, pointing out that the Arab peoples had big ambitions beyond the current reality.

While the relatively moderate Ennahda party in Tunisia was forced to share power with Marzouk's secularist party, in Egypt the Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafists achieved an overwhelming majority in the parliamentary elections. So the Salafists that he is warning against in the Maghreb as being potential terrorists are the same ones who are now hugely influential in the Arab world's most populous nation, and helping write the constitution there.

Too perfect:

Organizers of the Bethlehem Walk said Tuesday they have decided to cancel the event following strong protests and threats from Palestinian activists, who objected to the participation of Israelis.

The event was supposed to take place on October 5 in Bethlehem.

Israelis, Palestinians and members of other nations and religions from around the world were supposed to walk quietly in Bethlehem to promote “change and acknowledge basic common grounds and sow the seeds of understanding and acceptance.”

The organizers said in their invitation that “walking in mindfulness is a quiet walk full of respect for the here and now. It is an experience that helps us to develop calm, balance and confidence when faced with the challenges of reality.”

However, the planned event drew strong condemnations from Palestinian youth activists in Bethlehem, who expressed outrage over the participation of Israelis.

The activists called for cancelling the event under the pretext that it was a form of “normalization” with Israel. They also threatened to prevent Israelis from “desecrating our holy city and sites.”

The organizers said they decided to cancel the event “out of respect for the feeling of all those who were outraged by the march.”

One of the Palestinian organizers, who asked not to be identified, said his group “had no intention to spark violence and outrage.”

Just as a thought experiment, would the "activists" have objected if the Israelis who walked were Muslims or Christians?

Hmmm.

Here is the organizers' response:

"We, the organizers of the walk, deeply honor and hear clearly the responses of all of you who have been challenged by the walk. Our purpose is not to perpetuate anger nor violence, and not to undermine any view, but to seek to deeply listen to all voices and hear their concerns and needs with the hope of reaching a common ground that makes all of us stand strong in facing and ending all forms of oppression and violence and create a future where true peace, justice, and equality is lived and honored for all and by all.

Therefore, honoring the concerns of each and everyone of you, the walk will not take place at this time as originally planned. We acknowledge the disappointment of our supporters and affirm our faith in the possibility of peace in our troubled land, and our determination to persevere together to that end. We ask you to remain in contact with us, spread the word, and join us in this vision no matter where you are and no matter how you do it."

See how tolerant they are? They "honor" even the bigots among them!

They are creating an alternate event for tomorrow:

As we move a step forward in creating a new consciousness for real peace, acknowledging the deep work needed by all of us, Israelis are invited to join together on Friday, October 5, for mindful walking and listening circles, at the Spiritual Center in Neve-Shalom/Wahat al-Salam. We will start at 1000 and end at 1400. Please bring a hat, drink and food.

It appears that the only place that peace activists can actually demonstrate tolerance is in that hateful apartheid state of Israel, not in beautiful liberal "Palestine."

(h/t Ian)

Israel Loves America (Posters)

There are lots of polls about how Americans love Israel, but the other side of the story isn't told so often. The fact is, though, that Israel and Israelis love America.

And the contrast with the other countries in the region could not be starker.

Or, if you want it in more graphical message:

Kuwaiti politician accuses Muslim Brotherhood of being Jewish!

Arabic media, including Akhbarak and Egypt's El Barad, are reporting that Safa Al-Hashem, activist and political candidate for the Kuwaiti parliament, has launched a sharp attack on the Muslim Brotherhood.

Funny, he doesn't look Jewish

He said the Brotherhood was like poison that has spread in the body of the Arab world under the auspices of America.

Al-Hashem told Al-Watan-Kuwait that the Brotherhood has a plan to deploy this poison in the Gulf, and he claims that Hassan al-Banna, founder of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, was really a Moroccan immigrant of Jewish descent! According to al-Hashem, al-Banna really meant the "Jewish brotherhood" when he founded the organization.

Dr. Mohamed Badie, leader of the Brotherhood, suggested that al-Hashem read history instead of hiding behind "the guise of religion."

The bottom line is that both the Islamists and the anti-Islamists in the Arab world can be counted on to be anti-semitic. Not only that, but the fact that someone can make such an accusation in order to defame a person or group proves that they know that the entire Arab world is anti-semitic as well - otherwise, it wouldn't be an insult!

Iran accuses Turkey's IHH of arming terrorists!

Pretzel irony from Iran's FARS "news" agency:

A Turkish NGO known as IHH which is operating in full coordination with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and Saudi Wahhabi groups is sending heavy weaponry to Syrian rebels under the guise of humanitarian relief aid.

IHH was established in Istanbul in 1991 by advocates of Turkey's Welfare Party founded by former Turkish Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan. It played a positive role in supporting Bosnian Muslims during the Bosnia War (1992-1995).

Throughout coming years, IHH distanced itself from Turkey's Welfare and Felicity Parties. After the outbreak of unrests in Syria in March 2011 it actively took part in helping the Syrian opposition groups.

IHH was supposed to provide humanitarian relief in case of outbreak of war, earthquake, hunger or conflict. Current president of the IHH is Fehmi Bulent Yildirim, but his deputy Osman Atalay is practically in charge of IHH's affairs.

Atalay acts in full coordination with Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, Salafis and Wahhabis, and is engaged in humanitarian relief operations on the surface.

So does this mean that Iran now agrees with Israel that IHH - whose members attacked IDF soldiers on the Mavi Marmara - is a terrorist organization masquerading as a humanitarian NGO?

This Syria situation is certainly twisting alliances up in the Muslim world.

(h/t Aaron G)

Debate open thread, with competing attack videos

Since no one would read anything I would post during the debate anyway, here's an open thread.

With competing attack commercials from each party's Jewish arm.

From the Republican Jewish Coalition, "Perilous Times":

From the (Democrat) Jewish Council for Education and Research, "Wake the F--k Up:"

Four interesting stories in Arab media today

#1: Holocaust denial in Al Watan Voice:

The author claims that Jews originally claimed to have lost 40 million people in the Holocaust, more than there were in Europe; then they revised that downward to 24 million before finally settling on six million, a number that he claims Jewish historians know is a lie.

Judaism is based on deceit and fraud and the desire to generate sympathy of the world, and then to easily blackmail the world. To this day continue blackmail Germany under the pretext of Nazism and the Holocaust. Note that there is an awakening German movement begun to emerge to get rid of this yoke.

#2: Yemeni human rights leaders detained for speaking to Jews, at Al Masdar:

On Wednesday, Yemeni intelligence services detained a team consisting of four people who visited the Yemeni Jews' homes east of the capital Sanaa.

They were taken into custody on the grounds that their entry into the homes of the Jews were contrary to [the law.]

The Sawa Organization Against Discrimination they visited the Jews in their region in order to consult with them, to engage in a comprehensive national dialogue, which will bring together the political forces and factions in all their diversity.

The soldiers said visiting Jews is a violation. The human rights team is still being held at the time of writing (5:30 PM).

#3: Israelis fake polls showing they are happy, at Al Bayan (UAE)

An Israel Hayom poll (actually, an Israeli Democracy Institute survey) showed that Israelis are optimistic about the future and proud to live in Israel. The author, noting Israel's political isolation in the world and almost universal army service, flatly claims that this poll is a lie meant to make the Jews feel better about themselves.

#4: Hasbara sites in Arabic are meant to fool young Arabs into thinking Israel is less than totally evil, at Al Ahram (Egypt):

This article is very upset over the many Israeli Arabic sites that say that Israel is a nice place.

Facebook is the easiest way for Zionists to freely communicate with millions of young Arabs about normalization and lies bypassing the language barrier....A large number of pages on Facebook say that their goal is to be a source of information about the state of Israel and what is happening there different from what the Arab satellite stations show. They are keen to embellish the face of the Zionist entity and to highlight the human face that is tolerant and advanced scientifically and economically ...These pages aimed at millions of Arab people all highlight the good side of Israel, for example, that they teach Arabic in Israel to 70 thousand Jews in one year of in order to achieve integration and equality between Jews and Arabs...

Stories that upset this author include one about an 8 year old Jewish girl who won a bronze medal at a European chess championship, and about an Arab chemistry and biology specialist who is a potential future Nobel laureate, and the fact that the Jewish state allowed 250,000 Muslims to worship in the AlAqsa mosque during Ramadan.

The Mona Eltahawy story everyone is missing

I have mostly stayed away from the silly story of two gigantic egos clashing underneath the streets of New York City, as Egyptian-American journalist Mona Eltahawy announced to the world her plans to vandalize a pro-Israel subway poster put up by blogger Pam Geller. Apparently Eltahawy believed that a poster that was clearly against jihadists was insulting to every Arab worldwide, which tells you a little about her mindset.

Perhaps the best commentary on the kerfuffle was written by Petra Marquardt-Bigman in two separate articles. Read them both.

There is one aspect of the story that no one seems to be talking about, though.

Eltahawy is a reporter. And she has done some important work in exposing the sickening sexism in the Arab world (even exposing people who she might call "savage.")

But journalists are not supposed to become stories. Moreover, they should never actively seek to become stories. Doing a stunt like Eltahawy did is anathema to real journalists Any journalist that pulls a publicity stunt like Mona did should be branded as utterly unable to maintain even a pretense of objectivity.

In any sane world, Eltahawy's journalism career should be over.

The question is - is it?

Or are adamantly anti-Israel positions consistent with the types of media Eltahawy usually writes for?