Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Some Alawites defecting from Syria too

From Time:

[Alawite] members are increasingly breaking rank, as defections swell along with mounting uneasiness about the government’s crackdown against what started as a peaceful protest movement.

Captain Umar in Syria is a rebel fighter and an Alawite, and he considers Assad a “butcher.” The officer no longer believes the regime’s propaganda and says he abandoned his unit after the government began shelling civilian neighborhoods in his hometown. But Umar says it is Assad who is injecting the conflict with a sectarian hue. “Bashar is telling us the Sunnis will slaughter us,” he says via Skype from Syria. “He is scaring Alawis and pushing them to the edge. This is why the army is killing the people in the street. They are scared the Sunnis will massacre us.”

Umar says that it was the military’s daily shelling of civilian areas that pushed him to defect. “I just couldn’t see Syrians dying anymore.” He refuses to reveal how many Alawite officers have defected, but he does say the “number is significant.”

Others with ties to the security forces have also turned their back on the Alawite leadership. Luban Mrai’s father is a senior leader in the paramilitary organization known as the shabiha that targets civilians. She recently left the country after experiencing “serious moral and ethical dilemmas” stemming from the targeting of civilians. Today she resides in Istanbul, trying to mobilize support for the rebels. “The regime is using our religion for political ends,” she explains in a phone conversation. “Alawis are killing Syrians for no reason. This is wrong.”

Leading Alawite intellectuals have abandoned the regime as well. Rasha Omran is one of Syria’s better-known poets and has been invited to read her poetry at literature festivals throughout Europe. Since the beginning of the uprising, she has lent her voice and pen to the cause. Omran announced her support of the revolution within days of its eruption on her Facebook page. She marched in protests and spoke out against Assad. “This is a dictatorial regime,” she said in a phone call from Egypt. “How can I support a government that kills its citizens?”

Omran wanted to support the revolution by remaining in Syria. But her vocal protests embarrassed a regime trying to project sectarian unity. Because she belongs to a respected Alawite family, the government risked an Alawite backlash if it arrested her. Instead, she says, intelligence agents pressured her to leave the country in a series of visits to her house. She finally left Syria at the beginning of the year.

"We're not against Jews. We're against non-Arab Israeli citizens"

972mag's Noam Sheizaf brings us a fantastic example of how Arabs will never accept the existence of Jews as equals in the Middle East.

A Jordanian "anti-normalization" group put out a notice to ban all "Zionists" from traveling to Jordan to attend an after-party with a popular Lebanese band called Mashrou Leila (that recently canceled a gig opening for the Red Hot Chili Peppers in Beirut because the RHCP are playing in Israel.) Apparently, many anti-Zionist Israelis are big fans of the band.

Well, that's not quite true. The "anti-normalization" letter says it intends to ban all Zionists, but its definition of Zionist is interesting:

Finally, we would like to inform you clearly that despite your confirmation and that of your associates here in Amman, that the event you're organizing will not host any Zionists (to be clear we take this stand against all Israeli nationality holders that are non Arab) we are still taking certain measures to ensure that you will abide by your word on this matter, fully realizing and taking into consideration the continuous arguments and justifications in favor of accompanying Zionists to the event here in Amman. We simply reject all Zionists' irrelevant of their race, political or religious orientations or beliefs.

We are very vigilant to all cultural events in Amman and we will have narrow to the ground during Mashrou Leila, so we urge you to keep your word and promise to keep our events and country zionist-free.

Now, a number of vehemently anti-Israel Jewish citizens of Israel - people who completely share the Arab desire to destroy Israel and create a single "Palestine" from the river to the sea - were offended by this letter. Here is a dialogue between "Noa" and Jordanians who make it quite clear that if she is a true anti-Zionist, she should leave the country she was born in because she is Jewish:

Noa: (Israeli) Cau I ask a question?

how come Zionists are “all Israeli nationality holders that are non-Arabs”, but then you say you reject all Zionists, irrelevant of their race and religious orientation”?

I was born Jewish in Israel. I have fought all my life along with my rifaq, the Palestinians of 48′, and other anti Zionist Jews as myself, against Zionism inside Israel.

I refused to serve in the Israeli occupation army and my friends sat in jail 2 years for that refusal. I’m involved with bi-National anti Zionist activism for years, and I can tell you more if you’re interesting. you can also ask Palestinian activists from here, they can tell you, I’m sure.

I’m also sure you can guess how the Israeli mainstream treats Jewish anti-Zionists as myself.

But then you call me a Zionist, just for being a non-Arab Israeli – well, these identities are ones I was born with. I chose to be an anti Zionist, and your decision to ignore this choice and see me as a Zionist just for my Jewish family goes against all the other things you say.

Your attempts to set the Palestinians of 48′ apart from their Jewish anti-Zionist allies hurts the possibility of struggle for both sides, and pushes us anti Zionist Jews back to our original community, and away from the connections with the activists who can teach us about the Palestinian reality and fight with us against the Israeli apartheid.

So actually you want me to be Zionist?

Of you just don’t care, I was born a Jew and that’s all I can ever be?

Palestinian from Jordan ALL CITIZENS OF THE ILLEGAL STATES OF “ISRAEL” ARE A PART OF THE ZIONIST COLONIAL PROJECT, EXCEPT THE ORIGINAL PEOPLE OF PALESTINE, AND SO, ALL THOSE WHO SERVE THE ZIONIST PROJECT ARE ZIONISTS FOR US, REGARDLESS OF THEIR RACE, RELIGIOUS BELIEVES OR DISBELIEVES OR POLITICAL VIEWS, FOR DISAMBIGUATION, ANY NON-ISRAELI JEW IS NOT A ZIONIST, ANY PALESTINIAN JEW IS NOT ZIONIST, AS LONG AS THEY ARE NOT SERVE THE ZIONIST COLONIAL PROJECT BY OTHER MEANS THAN CITIZENSHIP

Noa: How do I serve the Zionist project? I was among the organizers of the refusal movement, of Jewish Israelis who refuse to serve the Israeli army, my male friends sat years in jail because they refused to serve. I was born in Israel and so were my parents. My grand parents were refugees from three different countries – where is that you want to send me? Poland, Romania or Hungary? I have no other citizenship, and I have fought against the Zionist regime more than most of your friends.

So if you still judge me just on the background of my birth, what does it make you?

Palestinian from Jordan YOU CAN ASK FOR YOUR ORIGINAL CITIZENSHIP AS WE SHOULD DEMAND FOR OURS

Noa wanna split me into 3 different pieces?

I belong here, and not going anywhere else.

I believe you need to start to differentiate between Jewish and Zionist. The struggle against Zionism is the struggle to live together in an open and equal democratic state of Palestinians and Jews together, and not the struggle to return back to the past and send all the Jews away in a second Nakba. Otherwise you’re no better than the Zionists.

Zeina (Palestinian): Noa, you keep throwing religion into this, while the letter is clearly not making any distinctions on the basis of religion. Rather, it is the Zionist movement that is claiming Palestine as a land for Jews. There were Palestinian Jews coexisting in Palestine with Christians and Muslims long before 1948, for us, it is not about religion. The issue is very simple, any person who came from anywhere else in the world to live in Palestine under the so called name of “Israel” is serving the Zionist project. I don’t think I need to remind you that every one of you is living in the place of a Palestinian that was either martyred or expelled. For us, it is Palestine, always has been and always will be. A true anti-Zionist would pick and up and leave the land to its native inhabitants: Muslims, Christians, Jews, or atheists; doesn’t really matter as long as they are Palestinian.

Noa: Jaffa is my only homeland, dear Zeina.

Colonialism is different in different contexts, and unlike the French in Algeria, in this context there’s no metropolin to return to. The Jews were thrown here because of hirtorical events unconnected to Palestine, but after 3 generations, we’ve mixed so much, cut all our roots in our previous countries and grown roots in here. That’s the reality of our generation, and if you stll think 6 million people need to be uprooted again, and no joined future is possible, well – you sound just like the Zionists to me.

972, which is a magazine by and for Jewish anti-Zionists, is clearly uncomfortable with this exchange showing that no matter how much Jews try to twist themselves into pleasing Arabs, they will still be considered "Zionist."

Sheizaf, in order to be able to square his readings of virulent anti-semitism among his friends and heroes, manages to come up with a further fantasy to deepen his cognitive dissonance:

At the end, I feel that what the recent Facebook conversation showed is the futility of any form of “dialogue” at this point in time. As long as the political issue remains unsolved, such contacts make both sides more angry and “extreme.” The heart of the matter are the issues on the ground – the occupation, the refugee problem – and when these are solved, or even when there are some real steps taken in the right direction, I believe that rhetoric and ideologies will change too, at least in the mainstream.

Noam, why resort to putting your head in the sand? The answer may be even simpler. Just read these words out loud: "There is no God but Allah and Mohammed is his prophet."

Now there is a slight chance that you can be the equal you dream of living in a liberal Arab society, as you watch your Jewish - I mean "Zionist" - former friends being shipped out of the Middle East in cattle cars.

And when that happens, you can scream Allah Akbar with your fellow "Palestinians" and hope that your embrace of Islam will help you avoid being discriminated against - for another year or two.

It's all about "justice," right?

(h/t Sasha)

More crazy quotes about Canada from Iran and its fans

These are just so funny....

The brick Ottawa built within the shaky wall of Zionism will remain forever as a black stain in the brief history of Canada.

It goes without saying that Canadian extremist Prime Minister Stephen Harper is the key to this entire anti-Iran move.

Known as the ‘Ugly Canadian’, Harper has been widely criticized for shamelessly pandering to Israel and constantly throwing one-sided support behind the Zionist regime in the Palestinian issue.

Canada is hitching its cart to dead horses by making Washington a model of emulation in its foreign policy. Cutting ties with Iran, pandering slavishly to the Zionist regime, ignoring the plight of the downtrodden Palestinians, supporting the despotic Arab regimes in the Middle East and many other things to boot constitute only a small portion of the twisted policies of Canada’s conservative government which will be faced with eventual isolation and left with a legacy of domestic and foreign debts just like Washington. - PressTV

Although there are three times as many Muslim and Arab Canadians as there are Canadian Jews, Harper only retains political control because of his favorable treatment by the Zionist media in Canada and the deep pockets of Canadian Jewish donors swelling his coffers. Harper has attempted to purge the government-funded Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) of those who maintain an even-handed approach to Middle East issues in the same way that the Public Broadcasting System and National Public Radio in the United States has seen a similar purge. -PressTV

Iran on Monday said Canada had a "neo-conservative extremist government" as it kept up a furious response to Ottawa's decision last week to cut diplomatic ties.

Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi used that description in an interview with the Iranian parliament's website (icana.ir) in which he also said the Canadian government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper was "boundlessly defending international Zionism." - AFP

The Zionist-beholden, pro-war Canadian Government has broken off diplomatic relations with remote, peaceful Iran and justified this with a comprehensively false litany of allegations. While Iran has not invaded any other countries for centuries, the pro-war, pro-Zionist, US lackey, Canadian Government has been involved in the Zionist-promoted US War on Muslims that has killed 12 million Muslims through violence or war-imposed deprivation since 1990. Further, 1.1 million Canadians have died preventably since 2001 linked to perverted Canadian Government fiscal priorities of killing Muslim abroad rather than keeping Canadians alive at home.- Gideon Polya at Countercurrents

That last statistic is so ridiculous that you have to read the article to believe it. In short, every Canadian who died from, say, cancer - or homicide - since 2001 are assumed to have been indirectly killed by the Canadian government.

I'm sure we'll see some swastika maple leaves with the Star of David on some of these sites any day now.

Classic!

Arab media cover Jewish refugee conference more than Israeli media

Times of Israel reports:

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon (Yisrael Beytenu) vowed Sunday to promote the issue of Jewish refugees from Arab lands despite the possible negative political implications for the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

Netanyahu, speaking via a pre-recorded message at the international “Justice for Jewish Refugees from Arab Countries” conference in Jerusalem, said he raises the issue of Jewish refugees wherever he goes.

“The Arab world has neglected Arab refugees for decades and has used them as a battering ram against Israel, while Israel, who was just born as a nation-state, has managed to absorb and resettle the Jewish refugees from Arab countries and turn them into productive citizens,” said the prime minister.

“This government has decided to promote the issue and therefore I raise this issue as well everywhere I go,” he added.

Ayalon, who last week launched an online advocacy campaign entitled “I am a refugee,” told the conference, “The issue of refugees from the Middle East has two sides. Granted, there are Palestinian refugees, but there is a larger number of Jewish refugees from Arab countries.”

Ayalon was referring to hundreds of thousands of Jews who fled Middle Eastern and North African countries at the time of Israel’s establishment, most of them heading to Israel. Ayalon’s campaign aims to raise this issue in part as a counter to Palestinian demands for a “right of return” for Arabs who left what is today Israel at around the same time. The Palestinians claim that millions of fourth generation descendants of those Arabs should be allowed to “return” to Israel under a peace agreement — a demand that would demographically end Israel as a Jewish state. Israel argues that Arab refugee descendants should be absorbed in the new “Palestine” under a peace accord, just as Israel absorbed the Jewish refugees.

Ayalon, too, emphasized the Netanyahu administration’s focus on the matter: “The Israeli government has decided to put its full force behind this issue, of which there are political implications, in particular regarding peace negotiations.”

There has been some coverage of this in the English-language Zionist media, the Arabic press has been treating this as a major story. In fact, the only place I found the full text of Netanyahu's speech was at an Arabic Israeli site!

The anger that Palestinian Arabs have at being equated to any other refugee group is palpable, and some of their comments are revealing. For example, Al Wafd reports that Ahmed Hannon, head of the refugee committee for the PLO, said that this is "Israel's strategy in questioning the right of return for Palestinians," adding that this mythical "right of return" is the most prominent of the sticking points that prevent the revival of peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.

Since that "right" is wholly meant to destroy Israel, that shows how interested Palestinian Arabs are in building their own state.

This conference is shining a lot of light on Arab hypocrisy.

WTF???

Here's the entire text of a small story in Egypt Independent:

Police seized a high explosive "bomb" from two men driving on the Cairo-Ismailia road on Sunday, but the men escaped, said Interior Ministry sources.

Bomb squad director Alaa Abdel Zaher said this type of bomb could destroy a whole city.

Monday links

From Ian:

Steps to Disempower Iran by Christine Williams

"A coordinated effort is required by all Western allies, and these nations need to pull their weight; with the goal of isolating Iran. There is an urgent need for an approach of zero tolerance to Iran's terrorist strategies practiced both within its boundaries against dissidents and Westerners, and those exported by means of a fifth column in Western democracies. Taken straight from the Hezbollah's Secretary General, Hassan Nasrallah: Being on the European terrorist list would "destroy Hizbollah," drying up its financial, political resources and moral support."

Lessons for Israel from Captured Iraqi Nuclear Documents by Dore Gold

"To prove their point that stability will not be the likely result of the proliferation of nuclear weapons, they cite a meeting of the Iraqi Revolutionary Command Council on March 27, 1979 in which Saddam presented his strategic thinking, when he was the de-facto ruler of Iraq and just about to formally become its president. His thinking was surprising for he explained that Iraqi nuclear weapons would neutralize what many believed was Israel’s nuclear capacity, thereby allowing Iraq to wage conventional war against Israel."

NGO Monitor: NGO Statements on the Rachel Corrie Verdict

NGO Conflicts of Interest: "The NGOs failed to disclose several conflicts of interest that call into question their ability to issue credible statements regarding this incident.
For example, HRW commented on the case without revealing that the Corrie family’s media contact during the trial, Stacy Sullivan, previously worked for HRW, a clear conflict of interest.
Amnesty International’s reporting is similarly marred. Both Amnesty International’s and Amnesty USA’s Israel researchers, Deborah Hyams and Edith Garwood, respectively, were activists in ISM around the time of the Corrie incident."

The Attacks on Israelis You Won’t Read About Anywhere Else, September 6-7

Disappointing Israel, Clinton says US won’t set deadlines for Iran

Netanyahu has been hoping Obama will specify ‘red lines’ that, if crossed by Iran, would prompt US military action

Ahmadinejad to address UN on Yom Kippur

Western leaders' speeches at General Assembly this year expected to focus on Iranian, Syrian issues. PM Netanyahu to speak day after Iranian president

Iranian rial plummets as sanctions take hold

The mission: Target Israelis

Iran's Quds Force, widely considered to be Tehran's black-ops arm, executes terror attacks overseas. Encouraged by its success in Burgas, it now has its sights on other destinations

Mexican authorities arrest suspected Hezbollah operatives

Two remain in custody, one extradited to the US

Syria transferred chemical weapons to port city last month, raising alarm bells,
report says

Russian and US warnings came after news that embattled regime had moved weapons

Greens Punished for their support of fringe issues including BDS

NSW (Australia) voters “thumped and punished” the Greens in the weekend NSW local government elections for their support for their support of fringe issues like the global Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) which attempted to de-legitimise the State of Israel.

UNESCO site in Uruguay points to a forgotten Jewish past

The small historical city of Colonia del Sacramento is slowly unearthing remnants of Port Jews who fled persecution on the Iberian peninsula and slowly assimilated in the New World.

Red Hot Chili Peppers visit Western Wall<

Those evil Israelis helping Gaza farmers again

From COGAT, part of the IDF:

On Tuesday, the Gaza District Coordination and Liaison held a day-long preparatory seminar in anticipation of the export season. Starting in November, strawberries will be exported from the Gaza Strip to European markets. The seminar was planned and coordinated by the Coordination and Liaison Administration's agricultural coordinator, Mr. Ori Madar.

The seminar opened with a meeting between the heads of Palestinian farmers' associations and representatives from the Israeli company that will export the crops from Gaza to Europe. The meeting's objective was for the two sides to reach an agreement, and indeed during the meeting the Palestinian farmers signed a marketing contract. In addition, they shared with Mr. Madar their expectations and needs for the upcoming export season, and he will address them in order for the export to go as comfortably and smoothly as possible

Later in the day, 40 Palestinian farmers heard a lecture delivered by Mr. Nabil Ganaim, a world expert in growing strawberries. His lecture provided the farmers with knowledge about growing and exporting strawberries, with the goal of helping them produce crops that adhere to the standards of the European market.

In anticipation of the conference, Mr. Madar organized and coordinated all aspects of the day, including permits for the farmers who attended the seminar at the District Coordination and Liaison offices. At the beginning of the day, Khatib Mansour, commander of the Gaza Coordination and Liaison Administration, greeted and welcomed the Palestinian farmers. He emphasized that Israeli support for exporting crops is strong and will continue.

Strawberries are not the only crop being exported: the Coordination and Liaison Administration is preparing more conferences in the upcoming weeks, in order to prepare the Administration and Palestinian farmers for exporting more vegetables and spices.

Naturally, this meeting didn't make it into the Arab press.

I wonder if Gaza farmers who export their goods via Israel are "collaborators"?

IAEA "frustrated" by Iranian coverup of nuke work

From Radio Netherlands:

The head of the UN atomic agency hit out Monday at Iran's refusal to address allegations of nuclear weapons research and called on Tehran to allow access to a suspect military site "without further delay".

"Despite the intensified dialogue between the Agency and Iran since January 2012, no concrete results have been achieved so far," Yukiya Amano said at the start of an International Atomic Energy Agency board meeting.

"This is frustrating because, without Iran's full engagement, we will not be able to start the process to resolve all outstanding issues, including those involving possible military dimensions to its nuclear programme.

"We consider it essential for Iran to engage with us without further delay on the substance of our concerns," Amano said, according to the text of his speech released by the Vienna-based IAEA.

Amano also said that activities at the Parchin military base near Tehran, where Iran is accused of having carried out weapons research and of removing evidence in recent months, "will have an adverse impact on our ability to undertake effective verification there".

Activities spotted at Parchin by satellite "further strengthen our assessment that it is necessary to have access to the location at Parchin without further delay in order to obtain the required clarifications," Amano said.

So what's the level of "frustration" that constitutes a red line? A mushroom cloud?

Muslims freak over "Judaizing" Christian concert south of Temple Mount

The Aqsa Foundation has released another seething press release that has been copied verbatim throughout the Arabic media world about the latest Israeli crimes.

And today's crime was a concert held last night by the southern wall of the Temple Mount.

The Foundation says that this concert, attracting foreign tourists, in the days before Rosh Hashanah, is another manifestation of Judaizing Jerusalem.

The Foundation complained that the sound of the music could be heard at the Al Aqsa Mosque and "confused" worshipers, which apparently is a human rights violation. They also really disliked the fact that there were dancers.

The photos of the concert provided in the article show that the singers and the audience were anything but Jewish:

Hmmm... that last photo makes it very hard to argue that the concerts were meant to "Judaize" Jerusalem!

The Al Aqsa Foundation also noted that Jews have been flocking to the Kotel at midnight and early morning to perform the Selichot services done every year before Rosh Hashanah and up until Yom Kippur. They declared that these concerts and prayers will never destroy the Islamic character of Jerusalem.

Notably, when it is in their interest, the Muslim leaders will cooperate with Christian dhimmi leaders of Jerusalem to complain about "Judaization" of the city, but when they are by themselves they will not admit any Christian history in Jerusalem either.

PalArabs protest fuel prices; West Bank paralyzed (update)

Public transport workers in the PA called a general strike today, paralyzing life throughout the West Bank.

People who rely on public transportation were unable to go to work or school.

Beyond that, other protesters have been burning tires to block roads, in Ramallah and Jenin.

Rising fuel prices sparked the protests last week.

Panicked citizens have been buying up bread as they fear that bakery owners will join the strike. The bakers say that they won't, but people are worried about supply lines to the bakeries or that tomorrow they won't be able to even reach the bakeries altogether.

Yesterday, protesters demanded the resignation of Mahmoud Abbas. Up untl now, prime minister Salam Fayyad had been the focus of the protests. The main road between the northern and southern West Bank was blocked yesterday by protesters.

Abbas had a major press conference on Saturday, but as far as I can tell he again did not say a word of support for Fayyad. (UPDATE: He does defend Fayyad to the West here, h/t David G.)

Seeing the writing on the wall, Hamas announced that they would reduce the price of fuel in Gaza, lowering the cost of fuel by 20 agorot a liter.

UPDATE: Protests getting violent in Hebron, according to tweeters.

Hamas to build terror museum with Iranian help

The Hamas-based Palestine Times reports that a new museum is being planned in Gaza to commemorate the "resistance," i.e., terrorism.

The Hamas minister of Culture, Youth and Sports signed an agreement with his Iranian counterpart on a number of cultural initiatives, including the terror museum in Gaza.

Minister Mohammed al-Madhoun visited Tehran and met with Iranian President Ahmadinejad and Mohammad Hosseini, his culture minister, along with other Iranian officials. After more than five days of talks the Hamas minister signed a memorandum of cultural cooperation with Iran. They agreed to exchange delegations and have Iran offer training courses in various fields, especially film, for Gazans. One of the major promises was cooperation to build a museum to commemorate the "resistance."

It seems likely that the museum will be patterned after a similar museum in southern Lebanon that Hezbollah uses to indoctrinate youngsters into lives of terrorism.

Egyptian newspaper: How Jews control the world

From Egypt's El Balad, one of the types of articles that seem to be multiplying under the Muslim Brotherhood-controlled Egypt.

It goes into great detail into how Jews are taking over the world:

The close intellectual and spiritual cooperation between the Jews and the British shows their desire to capture the world, and then this cooperation extended to include the United States.

Here are their steps and protocols to achieve this control:

1 - the destruction of any community authority for the benefit of state power
2 - reducing the power of States to increase the authority of the United Nations
3 - put the United Nations authority in the hands of the five permanent members of the Security Council and to have Jews achieve control of the governments of these countries

Here are their steps to destroy the authority of society:

1 - a culture of equality between men and women, so men lose their sense of ownership of the family
2 - fight and destroy the marriage relationship and family authority and make the man and women as a means of producing children to be taken over by state care so the identity of the individual is only as determined by the state.
3 - to justify adultery.
4 - laws on child protection to reduce the power of family and inciting children to disrespect authority of the father or the mother or the family and freedom from any community limitations.
5 - insulting the clergy and ridicule them and show them that they are hypocrites, and incite young people not to obey them.
6 - to prevent beatings or any means of punishment of children in schools so teachers lose their prestige and their ability to control them, and the children are brought up to disrespect anyone.
7 - stripping tribal elders of their material and moral powers
8 - Revolution on popular fashion "folk"; new forms of clothing fashion so citizens lose values of cultural identity.
9 - looting ancient cultures from the minds of the people and replace them with stories and Western films.
10 - rewrite history to guide peoples' cultures, including the historic Islamic stories of our Ancestors and sayings of the Prophet (peace be upon him).
11 - the establishment of parties and political groups that are pro-religious Jews and America, and support for access to the rule, which in turn works to achieve indirect occupation by Jews of America.

I'm not sure whether El-Balad is a state-run newspaper, but its been a while since I saw such raw anti-semitism so explicit in an Egyptian media outlet outside of religious sermons.

The dreaded open thread

Here. Now.

Jordanian protesters arrested for "lèse majesté"

From Ammon News:

Jordanian security forces on Saturday arrested nine Pro-reform activists who belong to the Free Tafileh Movement after tense protests that took place Friday in both the southern governorate of Tafileh, and the Tafileh neighborhood in eastern Amman.

The protests turned violent after pro-reform activists reportedly chanted slogans against the Jordanian regime and insulted King Abdullah II and the Royal Court. Security forces fired tear gas at the protesters and went on a campaign to arrest the activists.

A security source told Ammon News that the slogans chanted during the protest went against Jordanian norms and standards of decency, in addition to defamation, slander, and distorting reputation of top figures in Jordan.

Ammon News learned that the nine activists will be facing five major charges, including breaching security and order, Lese-Majeste, slander and defamation, violating public decency, and opposing the existing regime.

I had wondered why previous protests stayed away from saying anything bad about the king - it is because to protest against the king violates more laws!

I'm not sure if these protesters were Islamist, but there is an Islamist protest scheduled today as well.

Sunday links

From Ian:

Abbas attacks Israel, Hamas over PA economic woes By KHALED ABU TOAMEH

PA president clarifies no date set for UN application; protesters surround PA Prime Minister Fayyad's car, calling on him to resign.
“He also said that he would go the UN General Assembly on September 27 “to consult with friends” about upgrading the status of a Palestinian state in the international agency to non-member.
However, Abbas did not say that he would submit a request to the General Assembly in this regard. No date has been set for filing the application to the UN, he clarified."

Canada’s moral leadership

Canada’s bold words and actions give us Israelis hope that there are indeed many decent people, some of them in positions of power, who will not bow to demonization or to the Orwellian twisting of history and language that often pertains to Israel these days. And they will stand in defense of Israel.

PM: World must follow Canada's example, cut ties with Iran

Netanyahu praises Canada's decision to sever ties with Tehran, says int'l community needs to set down this type of "red line" which sends message "dark regime" mustn't obtain nuclear weapons.

Facebook Fails Review

OHPI (Online Hate Prevention Institute) recently reported a number of antisemitic images to Facebook using the regular reporting facility available to all users. Every one of our reports was swiftly reviewed and swiftly rejected.
Facebook is making a serious effort to respond faster to complaints, but this is meaningless if the response is to invariably reject the complaints. There is also no appeal and we have no details of any internal review process – if there is one, Facebook is welcome to share details to reassure us.

MEMRI Clerics and Experts on Yemeni Houthi TV Indulge in Multiple, Antisemitic 9/11 Conspiracies

'Kill the Jews' Spray-painted in New Jersey

Residents of a neighborhood in Monmouth Heights, NJ, awoke on Thursday to find swastikas and hate-filled slogans.

Arsonists burn Jewish eatery; 2nd attack at Hollywood plaza

A strip mall where arson destroyed a Judaica store last year became the site of a second fiery attack Friday, when two masked arsonists in hoodies broke into a kosher restaurant and splashed flammable liquid all over the kitchen to make it go up in flames.

Jihadists join Aleppo fight, eye Islamic state, surgeon says

The foreign jihadists included young Frenchmen who said they were inspired by Mohammed Merah, a self-styled Islamist militant from Toulouse, who killed seven people in March in the name of al-Qaeda.

Syrian troops storm Palestinian refugee area