Giant, "mutant" rats plague Tehran

No joke:

Photo with article might be only illustrative

Tehran, the capital of Iran, is battling an invasion of "genetically mutated" giant rats.

Iran has sent in sniper teams to clear Tehran's streets from the massive rodents weighting up to five kilos plaguing 26 district of the Iranian capital, the city's environmental agency said.

"They seem to have had a genetic mutation, probably as a result of radiations and the chemical used on them," Ismail Kahram, Teheran city council environment adviser and university professor Ismail Kahram told Qudsonline.ir.

"They are now bigger and look different. These are changes that normally take millions of years of evolution. They have jumped from 60 grams to five kilos, and cats are now smaller than them."

The "mutated rats" have been running rampant in the capital, as cats are scared off by their giant size and traditional poison appear to have no effect on them.

To stop them storming of restaurants' backyards and scavenging public waste containers, the council has deployed ten snipers teams armed with infra-red sighted rifles.

"We use chemical poisons to kill the rats during the day and the snipers at night, so it has become a 24/7 war," the head of the environment agency, Mohammad Hadi Heydarzadeh, said.

Rats' carcasses are burnt or buried in lime.

So far 2,205 rats have been shot dead, but the war is far to be won and the council is planning to bring the snipers team up to 40.

Between the Tehran rats and the Cairo locusts, we Zionists have had a busy week getting our zoological friends to do our nefarious bidding! Bwa-ha-ha-ha!

(h/t Motti)

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EoZNews: Interview with NGO Monitor's Gerald Steinberg

On the first full day of my recent trip to Israel, I visited NGO Monitor, the organization that keeps track of abuses by NGOs - both the supposedly unbiased NGOs like Human Rights Watch and the many specifically anti-Israel NGOs that have spouted up.

I was warmly welcomed, and had a nice time meeting all the employees over a Big Apple Pizza lunch. (It isn't Pizza Hut, but it isn't bad!)

I took the opportunity to interview its president, Gerald Steinberg, about how NGO Monitor started, the Israeli NGO transparency law that has caused such angst among the anti-Israel crowd, and NGO Monitor's own transparency.

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Monday Links Part 2

From Ian:

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Ashton's £240m EU ministry is attacked as wasteful and clueless in damning report
-European External Action Service is accused of squandering money
-Conclusions are a humiliation for Baroness Ashton, appointed in 2009

The report, drafted by a group of experts after five months' research, warns that morale in the service is falling because of lack of trust, internal quarrels, clashes with other European institutions and an opaque chain of command.
The conclusions are a humiliation for Baroness Ashton, who was appointed to head up the new service in 2009.
The Labour peer is regarded as a political lightweight by opponents in Brussels and has been pilloried for her inability to speak a foreign language.
One of the report's authors, Geert De Maere, a Belgian law professor, said: 'We specifically decided not to say too many things about Baroness Ashton so as not to allow the report to be interpreted as a character assassination, which is why we focused on her office instead.'

Missing Peace: Relationship between EU and Israel increasingly complicated
Relations between Israel and the European Union hit a new low last week when the EU funded NGO Breaking the Silence leaked an internal EU report which blasted Israel’s policies vis-à-vis the Palestinians.

Another official said the report, and other annual reports put out by the EU heads of missions in east Jerusalem and Ramallah, is a result of their living in an “echo chamber.”
He said the EU representatives there are forbidden to be in contact with Israeli government officials, and are only exposed to the Palestinians and the NGO community – organizations such as Breaking the Silence.
“As a result, it is not a surprise they come out with one-sided partisan reports,” he said. “This is a structural problem. One part of the EU’s foreign policy bureaucracy is institutionally anti-Israel, where their whole milieu is Palestinian activists on the West Bank and NGOs that share their same agenda.”

Oren: We Want Peace, Now
Ambassador sounds pacific note at AIPAC conference, ahead of Obama visit.

"We do not want a peace process," Israel's U.S. Ambassador Michael Oren said at Sunday's AIPAC Conference. "We want peace."
"We do not want to start negotiations tomorrow; we want to start them today, now – in Jerusalem, in Ramallah and here in Washington," Oren said.

Oren to Abbas: Unity with Hamas sets back peace

Israel’s top envoy in America warned Fatah leaders on Sunday against entering a national unity deal with Hamas, arguing that it would set back prospects for peace.
“We hope that [Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud] Abbas will not follow through on reconciliation with Hamas,” said Michael Oren, Israel’s ambassador to the US, during the opening plenary of the annual American Israel Public Affairs Committee policy conference in the US capital. “We see that very much as a game-blocker.”

Argentina’s About-Face on Terror By Fabián Bosoer and Federico Finchelstein

Mrs. Kirchner’s decision to abandon Argentina’s longstanding grievances against Iran is particularly galling because it comes just weeks after Bulgaria, another country victimized by Iranian-sponsored terrorism, accused Hezbollah of staging a suicide attack on Israeli tourists in the Bulgarian town of Burgas last year. That attack, like the 1994 bombing in Buenos Aires, was part of a shadow war against Jewish civilians across the world. Bulgaria’s government, unlike Argentina’s current administration, decided to stand up to Hezbollah and forthrightly accuse it of the crime.
Argentina’s president is undermining her own country’s prosecutors, who have for several years tried to pursue the suspected perpetrators. Many observers have denounced Mrs. Kirchner for giving Iran a free pass. As Laura Ginsberg, whose husband was killed in the 1994 attack, has put it, the Argentine government has terminated the possibility of justice.

British MEP Relents, Removes Derogatory 'Jew' Remarks
British MEP David Ward removes derogatory "Jews” statement from his website following further calls for disciplinary action.

British Member of the European Parliament (MEP) David Ward has finally removed a derogatory statement about “the Jews” from his website following further calls for disciplinary action, The Jewish Chronicle (JC) reported.

New DC institute aims to put Israel in the Ivory Tower
Non-partisan organization hopes to boost study of Jewish state via new programs, financial resources and academic partnerships

In the crowded alphabet soup of Washington, DC, Jewish think tanks, advocacy groups and associations (AIPAC, WINEP, APN, JCPA, JINSA…), a new institute opened its doors last week with a novel mission: to advance the scholarly study of modern Israel in the United States and around the world.
The Israel Institute, established by the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation, aims to be something of an academic clearinghouse for scholars pursuing Israel-related research and schools looking to expand their offerings of Israel studies courses and programs.

Trains, bikes and shoppers: The quiet unification of Jerusalem
Jerusalem’s physical division once seemed imminent. Today, urban planning is subtly bringing the capital’s disparate parts closer to each other than ever before

The idea of an “east” and “west” Jerusalem has always been more a theoretical shorthand than a workable description of reality. There are Jewish neighborhoods to the east of the Arab ones of “east” Jerusalem, and Arab neighborhoods to the west of Jewish ones in the “west.” But the recent developments are additional proof — at least for some of those concerned about the city as a place where people live rather than as a chip on the poker table of the peace process — that Jerusalem’s urban health lies in the integration of its parts, and that any solution will have to involve sharing the city, not splitting it.

The Nine Lives of ‘Hava Nagila’
A new documentary looks at the many iterations of the popular tune, from Hasidic niggun to American kitsch

On today’s podcast, guest host Rebecca Soffer, a New York-based producer and writer, talks to Grossman about how this project came to be, the song’s status among American Jews today, and Bob Dylan’s “talking blues” interpretation which is, depending on your perspective, a mangling or a brilliant articulation of Jewish ambivalence. [Running time: 19:50.]

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Davutoğlu refused to shake hands with Ehud Barak

From Today's Zaman:

Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu refused to shake hands with Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak at the Munich Security Conference held in early February, Today's Zaman has learned.
Davutoğlu did not shake hands with Barak, thus rejecting an attempt by US and German officials to break the ice between Turkey and Israel during a dinner hosted by Bavarian Premier Horst Seehofer on the sidelines of the conference last month.

According to the seating plan prepared by US and German officials, Davutoğlu sat next to Seehofer and US Vice President Joe Biden, while Barak sat opposite the Turkish minister. When officials sitting in Davutoğlu's row started to shake hands with the figures sitting opposite them, the Turkish minister immediately stood up and greeted the Macedonian and Croatian presidents. Seeing Davutoğlu not responding to his attempt to shake his hand, Barak said, “As the distance between the two sides of the table is wide, we could not reach each other's hand.” Davutoğlu replied: “No, the problem is not the size of the table. There will always be a distance between us unless you meet our demands.”

Davutoğlu was referring to Turkey's demand for an official apology from Israel for a deadly attack on the Mavi Marmara bound for Gaza in May 2010.

Classy, right?

Meanwhile:

Last month, Israel agreed to send promised electronic systems to Turkey, which will integrate those systems into its Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) military aircraft purchased from the US. In addition, Israel also offered to build an undersea gas pipeline from Israeli-owned offshore gas rigs to Turkey's south coast for Turkish business conglomerate the Zorlu Group.

And:

A senior member of the Turkish government, former Finance Minister Kemal Unakitan, recently visited Israel for stem cell treatment. Unakitan, who is suffering from chronic renal failure, served seven years in Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government from 2002-2009.

According to Turkish media, the 67-year-old Turkish politician was treated at Tel Aviv’s International Center for Cell Therapy & Cancer Immunotherapy (CTCI) for almost two and a half months.

It seems that instead of sending advanced AWACS equipment and offering to help Turkey in other ways, Israel should simply say that unfortunately the distance between the two states has become insurmountable, and it might decide to use its goodwill towards friendly Greeks and Kurds instead.

Let's recall how friendly a reception the IDF received when it boarded the Mavi Marmara:

(h/t Silke, Zvi)

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Jordanian columnist describes Arab childishness perfectly

In my last speaking engagement, I stressed that the Arab world must be held accountable for choosing to act like children, instead of the coddling that the West has been giving the Arab world, where outrageous behavior is simply considered normal.

This op-ed from Ammon News in Jordan is directed to Jordanians only, but it describes how childishly a large part of the Arab world acts.

It’s Friday and we must have a protest in Jordan. Someone, somewhere in Jordan has done something that peeves us and makes us angry so we need to go out, block the roads, cry foul and snarl traffic because we have nothing constructive to do but protest. We seem to be doing a lot of that in Jordan lately.

The latest spat is because the government has raised fuel prices that are already subsidized by another 4%. So let’s go out and protest against these government civil servants and their leadership that must be corrupt.

It cannot be that the fuel prices have been kept low for so long by subsidies that the government cannot continue to maintain due to large debts, and fuel prices that are going up. It has to be because they are corrupt.

It cannot be because we refuse to walk anymore to burn off some of the fat from our overly obese bodies (The rise of Diabetes in Jordan is staggering). Or the fact that some of us cannot walk a kilo without collapsing because of all the cigarette smoking we do and the fact that this vile, dangerous, costly, dirty habit is killing us and our children who have to live with second hand smoke (Cancer and many other disease linked to tobacco use in Jordan is growing rapidly).

We don’t want to change our poor habits. We don’t want to take a bus or taxi (because that is beneath us). We don’t want to walk or try different alternative sustainable energy methods that in the long run will make it cheaper for us and our country. We just MUST HAVE cheap fuel.

It cannot be because we are lazy and do not want to try to make things better by attempting new innovations or thinking. It’s because it must be the corrupt civil servants and their leadership that is doing this to us.

We don’t want to leave our wet nurse, we don’t want to grow up and start to think and live on our own and pay our own way. We want to be moochers of the government coffers, because after-all they are our mommy’s and daddy’s.

So when we do not get our way, we need to throw a fit. We need to go out and protest. We have to show them and the world that we can throw a tantrum just as well as a teenage kid, when they are told that they are spending too much time playing and on the phone with his friends and not studying and applying new skills.
...

My brothers and sisters we of all people know that we have been living like wet nursed children for so long. We know that we need to wake up and move on alternative sustainable energies. We know that we need to raise prices not just on fuel but things that we are fully aware are killing us and our children principally tobacco use.

This product must be taxed to limits that will deter its use. We know that we have to control this dangerous narcotic as we control other dangerous narcotics. But I have yet to hear a protest or demands about its flagrant use in our public building and street and at tobacco companies, who are profiting on the demise of others.

We must get our heads out of the sand and stop pretending that we do not live in the real world. When things get hard we must rise to the challenge. That does not mean we let our public officials off of performing their duty to us, but understand that things in our country must change for us to survive. So like my father used to say, “Pull up you big boy pants and get to work”.

Westerners are so afraid of criticizing the Arab mentality the way that some brave Arabs do. But that criticism itself is a necessary precondition to forcing the Arab world to grow up. By giving them a free pass, the childish behavior is being rewarded and reinforced. This hurts everyone - including the Arabs themselves.

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Monday Links Part 1

From Ian:

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A.B. Yehoshua Tells BBC Correspondent: I Hope Israel Flourishes in the Future and is Recognized by You (VIDEO)

The interview, which became contentious at times, was conducted by Tim Franks, the BBC’s former Middle East correspondent. At its conclusion it became apparent how exasperated Yehoshua had become, when he answered a question from Franks on whether or not he remained optimistic about Israel by saying, “This is what I’m doing with my friends in Israel, to work very hard that our Israeli state, the Jewish totality state will be functioning in peace with its environment, and I would say flourishing in the future,” then hesitated, adding “and recognized by you.”

The BBC ‘explains’ Zionism

And of course the fact that there would have been no “life under occupation” whatsoever had Arab nations not chosen to take another shot at wiping Israel off the map in 1967 is also completely ignored.
Instead, the writer absolves the Arab nations in general and the Palestinians in particular of all responsibility and agency for their fate, blaming Zionism for all ills. One might even wonder if this particular BBC journalist moonlights as a speech writer for Erdogan.
Clearly, this article contravenes BBC Editorial Guidelines on impartiality: a correction and an apology should be issued urgently.

Telegraph runs silly and gratuitous anti-Israel propaganda piece
The Telegraph's attempt to smear Israel with the apartheid label over Palestinian buses is silly, but it is also dangerous

First, there's the obvious security issue: there is a dreadful history of Palestinian suicide bombing on Israeli buses. Israelis are understandably afraid, especially in the context of mass incitement by the Palestinian Authority, and would rather Palestinians took their trips to Israel on their own buses. (Are you absolutely sure you wouldn't feel the same way?)
The second reason, which explains why Israel has made its move now, is that due to more generous arrangements for the Palestinians, Israel is now granting more work permits. More workers, more buses. More Palestinian workers, more buses for Palestinians. Not one of life's great mysteries... unless you smell a conspiracy.

Guardian provides forum for Palestinian terrorist Samer al-Issawi

Issawi’s ‘jailhouse letter’ at ‘Comment is Free’ represents not only another example of the Guardian Left’s inability to see past even the most risible charades of post-colonialism and anti-imperialism, but also what can only be described as a fetishization towards political violence which continues to make a mockery of every value the true left has historically embraced.

PMW: Debate at the highest political level in Norway following TV report on PMW findings
MPs challenge Norway's funding of the PA and criticize Norway's failure to stop PA Antisemitism and hate promotion

The next day, two Norwegian MPs from opposition parties were interviewed by NRK TV and challenged Norway's funding policies. They called to stop funding the PA if the PA continues its hate incitement and terror glorification:
Morten Høglund, foreign policy spokesman for the Progress Party: "We must use the power we have, and as a major donor to the PA, we must fight fire with fire and say that we will stop the aid unless the PA takes immediate action to stop this type of hate message."

Palestinian finance minister resigns in anger
Nabeel Kassis walks out in protest of the PA’s growing budget deficit, expected to reach $1.4 billion in 2013

Nabeel Kassis told reporters Sunday that the Palestinian Authority’s 2013 budget deficit is expected to reach $1.4 billion. He says he decided to step down after politicians and labor unions objected to a number of proposed austerity measures.

Kerry: US releasing millions in aid to Egypt, but with promise of reform

Secretary of State John Kerry said Sunday the United States will give Egypt $250 million more in aid, following President Mohammed Morsi's pledges for political and economic reforms.
However, Kerry also said the Obama administration will hold Morsi, who came to power in June as Egypt's first freely elected president, to his commitment.

John Kerry vilified by Egypt’s opposition
US secretary of state promises aid to Morsi, protesters block his path to airport in response; leading Islamist gets stoned in Tunisia

The London-based Al-Quds Al-Arabi reports that Al-Ahly Ultras, fans of the Cairo-based Al-Ahly soccer club that was embroiled in a massive riot in Port Said a year ago, used burning tires to block the road leading to the airport, paralyzing traffic in both directions and delaying Kerry’s flight by two hours.
In addition, supporters of over 28 political parties launched protests in front of the US consulate in Alexandria.

Egyptian Religion Classes Aim to Prevent Conversion to Christianity

A recent course in Egypt’s southern city of Aswan has raised a few eyebrows after it was announced that the course would be an “anti-Christianization course” aiming to educate youth about Islam and how to respond to attempts of converting by Christians in the country.
The course, which started on Saturday and will continue until Wednesday, is run independently, according to coordinator, Ibrahim al-Etmany, a student at the engineering faculty in Aswan.

Egypt unleashes Islamic morality police force

A new informal police force has been launched in Cairo, to ensure Islamic morals are adhered to. The Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice denies it is linked to Saudi's dreaded morality police, which share the same name.
Islamic Cleric Hisham el-Ashri, founder of Egypt's newly launched Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, stated the morality police will only use "non-violent methods" to implement the moral principles of Islam, the IB Times reported.

Latin American priests ‘create new friendships’ in Israel
Delegation organizers hope to forge bonds of understanding between future Catholic leaders and the Jewish state

Claudio Epelman, executive director of the Latin American Jewish Congress, said, “We seek to achieve increased cooperation between future Latin American Catholic and Jewish leaders in the teaching of common values, mutual respect and support for the Jewish state, which will add strength to our communities.”

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Islamists claiming IDF officer kicked a Quran on Temple Mount

The Al Aqsa Foundation, an organization that has no compunction about lying, claims that a female Israeli police officer kicked a Quran on Sunday while trying to move some women who were studying it. Other Islamic media are carrying this story as fact.

The Al Aqsa website claims to have photos and video of the incident, but none of the videos show anything remotely like that. All that can be seen is that the Israeli police are asking that they move their chairs and tables a couple of meters, and then the women start protesting.

The article at the Al Aqsa website helps explain what probably happened.

Apparently, in an attempt to stop all Jews from entering the Temple Mount, the women set up their "study groups" directly at the Moroccan Gate, the only entrance for non-Muslims at the Mount.

They normally study in the large plaza between  the Al Aqsa Mosque and the Islamic Museum, where there is plenty of room, as I showed in the video tour of the Temple Mount I made last month. Israeli police then asked them to unblock the entrance, and they replied that they had the right to "study the Quran" anywhere they wanted to.

This appears to be another attempt to incite a third intifada, something that the Al Aqsa people have been trying to do for years by making up ludicrous rumors and incitement.

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Report: Hamas refused smuggled rockets with "spy devices"

According to Egypt's Youm7 newspaper, Hamas has refused to accept some 28 long-range missiles smuggled from Libya because it discovered that they were equipped with tracking devices that would allow Israel to know where they were.

The report says that members of the Al Qassam Brigades of Hamas inspected the missiles in the Sinai and discovered the tracking hardware within.

As a result, Hamas has ended its relationship with come of its arms smugglers.

Hamas suspects that Israel was behind these attempts.

It is certainly plausible that Israel would do this. It was widely reported that Israel had placed GPS tracking on some of the cars that were transferred into Gaza on the assumption that the first cars to be imported there would go right to major Hamas officials.

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Report: Hamas taking over Kerem Shalom crossing

From YNet:

Hamas will take control over one of the most important crossings connecting Israel and the Gaza Strip:

The organization's government in Gaza has notified Nahed Shuhaiber, the concessionaire who operates the Kerem Shalom crossing from the Palestinian side, that his responsibilities are being rescinded and that starting Monday morning, the new concessionaire will be Muhisan Sharafi. Monday morning, 70 trucks stood at the crossing waiting to bring goods into the Strip.

Because Shuhaiber operated the crossing on behalf of the Palestinian Authority and for this reason, Israel agreed for years to cooperate but Israel has also made a fundamental decision that the government and the defense establishment do not work opposite any Hamas-related entity.

In the past six days, the Kerem Shalom crossing has been closed for the entrance of goods to the Gaza Strip as a response to the rocket that fell on Ashkelon last week and the shots fired on the car of the Gaza Division's Northern Brigade from the Strip on Friday.

Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories Major-General Eitan Dangot announced on Sunday that the crossing will be opened on Monday morning, but it seems that Hamas is planning on disrupting the resumption of activity there.

It is estimated that the PA's disagreement with the Hamas government in Gaza's unilateral decision, will cause the crossing to remain closed since there will be no trucks or contractors at the site to receive the goods from the Israeli side.

Palestinians estimate that 400 trucks full of goods will reach the crossing on Monday morning, a larger quantity than usual because of the fact that it has been closed over the past few days.

The Palestinian crossings administration updated Dangot regarding Hamas' decision and clarified in talks with senior PA officials, that Israel sees this move as an upset of the security-related status quo at the crossing, causing a situation in which Hamas and not the PA, is operating the crossing.

Dagnot explained to officials in the PA that working with a new concessionaire without coordination constitutes a security risk.

In light of the conflict, Egyptian officials placed heavy pressure on the Palestinians so that activities resume on Monday morning at the crossing.

Hamas made this decision in light of their new demand that the concessionaire pay a toll of NIS 170 (about $46) for every truck that enters the Strip. The reason for this toll stems from the loss of profits from taxation from the smuggling tunnels which were mostly destroyed over the past few weeks as a result of intensive Egyptian activity.

Palestinian sources in Rafah told Ynet that Egypt is not only destroying the tunnels intended for weapons smuggling, but also tunnels intended for the smuggling of goods and fuel – which prompted a rise in costs for various products in the Strip on the one hand, and to a significant reduction of income for the government in Gaza on the other.

The Fatah-leaning Palestine Press Agency reports this more as an excuse for Hamas to increase profits at the crossing, and not as a takeover by Hamas. It quotes Hamas official Ziad Zaza as saying that this is merely an attempt to open up the Kerem Shalom concession to competition, and Hamas has no plans to take it over; moreover, that Hamas isn't interested in directly controlling a crossing that Israel is involved with, presumably because Hamas doesn't want to appear to publicly speak to Israelis. Then again, if the previous concessionaire was considered to be working for the PA from Israel's perspective then this may still disrupt the operations there.

We will see in the coming hours whether the trucks make it through the crossing.

Meanwhile, after months of promises, several trucks of building materials have been starting to enter Gaza from Egypt via the Rafah crossing.

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Muslims attacking Copts in Egypt over false rumor

From Al Ahram:

A rumour has spread in the Upper Egyptian city of Kom Ombo that a divorced Muslim woman in her mid-30s has been kidnapped by the Coptic Church and converted to Christianity. In an area socially divided across tribal loyalties and religion, the story managed to fuel violence against the area's Christian minority.

The city's most central and largest church, Mar Girgis, has been under attack for the past three days from what residents described as "unknown assailants." Mostly in their teens, hundreds of young boys and men have been surrounding the church, showering it with rocks and Molotov cocktails.

With Central Security Forces (CSF) trucks and soldiers fighting the assailants with teargas grenades, the church was relatively protected, although Molotov cocktails and rocks managed to reach its roofs and its open central courtyard.

A field hospital was set up in one of the corners of the courtyard while many of the injured sat inside the church resting, others praying. One young man in the church had obviously burned skin on his arms and back, which he said he suffered from one of the Molotov cocktails thrown at the church.

"The missing woman is not in this church as you can see … Her family never claimed she was," Priest Abanob Wahid of the Mari Girgis Church of Kom Ombo told Ahram Online.

The violence is not only limited to the church. Seventeen-year-old Copt Abanob, whose arm was covered with medical bandages, explained he was attacked by a young man also in his teens who had first asked him whether or not he was Christian.

"'Yes, I am a Christian! What's your problem?' I exclaimed before he followed me accompanied by a friend of his and took out a pocket knife. He aimed for my face but cut my arm instead, which I quickly raised to cover my face in an attempt to protect myself," Abanob told Ahram Online.

...Despite denials made by the family, church figures, and influential men of both religions that the woman had been kidnapped by the church, violence continues against Kom Ombo's Copts for a third day.

Since the missing woman disappeared a week ago, rumours have continued to spread and change without their sources ever being confirmed.

The latest widespread belief was that the room of the missing woman, who is also a well known school teacher in the area, was left full of crosses and Christian texts. Some say her ex-husband has kidnapped her; others claim she escaped with her Coptic lover and converted in a place far from Kom Ombo.

In recent years, Egypt had witnessed several attacks on churches, especially in Upper Egypt where sectarian tensions are more commonplace.

Clashes over alleged forced religious conversions have also been common in recent years. Most alleged instances centred on Christian women converting to Islam and believed held captive by the Coptic Church. The best known case was that of Camelia Shehata, the wife of a Coptic priest who was allegedly detained by the Church after she converted to Islam.

Copts have frequently complained that young Coptic women have been kidnapped by Muslim men and forced to convert for the purposes of marriage.

While conversion from Christianity to Islam is legally recognised, the opposite is not.

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Sunday Links Part 2

From Ian:

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Rand Paul: It's not Our Business Where Israelis Build
The senator spoke at The Iron Dome Congressional Tribute, a celebration of the U.S.-Israel alliance.

Several hundred Jewish leaders from across the U.S. journeyed to the capital to offer their gratitude to members of the United States Senate and House of Representatives for their staunch support of the U.S.-Israel relationship. Nearly two dozen Members of Congress, ranging from ultra-conservative to extremely liberal in their political ideologies, put partisanship aside and participated in this special program in order to stand united with the State of Israel.
Senator Rand Paul, a Republican from Kentucky, spoke about his trip to Israel and how much he enjoyed being there. He told the crowd how he sang Hebrew songs together with a group of rabbis at the Western Wall, even though he had no idea what the words meant. However, the statement that received thunderous applause was, “It is not our job to tell Israelis where they can or cannot build."

Kerry Commended for Defending 'Bedrock' of Jewish People
Simon Wiesenthal Center commends Sec. of State Kerry for directly confronting Turkish PM Erdogan's slanderous accusation against Zionism.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center commended U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Friday for directly confronting Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's slanderous accusation in which he called Zionism a “crime against humanity”.
“Secretary Kerry is to be commended for publically objecting to Erdogan’s outrageous attack against Zionism, the bedrock of the Jewish people's historic narrative,” said Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean of the leading Jewish human rights organization. “If our Turkish NATO ally wants to contribute to peace the first step would be for the Turkish prime minister to stop his verbal assaults against the Jewish state and her supporters around the world.”

UN Watch:

Germany Condemns Turkish PM Erdogan for “Hurtful and Unacceptable” Remarks
Full Transcript: Kerry calls Erodgan remark “objectionable”
World Leaders Condemn Turkey’s Erdogan over Zionism Slur

No way out
For Muslims, there is no escape from anti-Semitism

Muslim anti-Semitism has become historically genetic. It is fed into them with their mother’s milk.
It is inculcated at all levels, family, religious, cultural and political. It demands a high level of personal resolve and courage for an individual Muslim to break out of this festering prison of Jew-hatred. Yet to do so leaves that individual open to ridicule, hatred and retribution if he or she remains in that environment. This is the worrying swamp which, for many, there is no escape.

MEMRI: Inspire X "Open Source Jihad" Calls To Assassinate Top U.S., British, And French Heads Of State And Politicians

"If you think you are unable, then you have easy targets like [G.W.] Bush, Bill Clinton, Colin Powell, or Condoleezza Rice. Of course, you can also kill Sarkozy and Tony Blair. It is now easy to reach these guys, especially [now] that they aren't in office anymore."

Sanctioned sex club events and Israeli Apartheid Week have some university students angry over what their money funds

“It was one of those clear examples of crossing that line from legitimate criticism of Israel into hate and anti-Semitism,” says Mr. Gilboord. “Am I gonna cry at night? … No, but I think on campus we’re supposed to have a more academic atmosphere.”
Mr. Gilboord said one of the speakers quipped that Israeli Defence Forces kill Gazans six days a week out of seven. “I guess they take the Sabbath off,” said the speaker, according to Mr. Gilboord. When he and a handful of other pro-Israel students in attendance left near the end of the event, their departure was cheered by others in the crowd. All of this despite the equity statement commonly read at student meetings about ensuring a safe, inclusive space free from intolerance.

Jewish Students at Cornell Respond to Anti-Israel Defacement of Flyers on Campus

More than 20 posters that showed a defaced promotion for a Cornell Hillel event that brought Israeli soldiers to speak on campus were left scattered in a university rec center last week . The posters, which were marked up with red ink, denounced the “exclusively Jewish” soldiers — asserting that they engaged in “war-crime[s],” not “combat,” and served in “massacres,” not “missions.”
The Cornell Daily Sun reported that on Sunday Students for Justice in Palestine, an organization that describes itself as being dedicated to “raising awareness of the Palestinian experience,” took credit for making the posters. SJP claimed it produced the posters to “condemn the nature of Hillel’s event.”

Finnish police find ‘Jew list’ at neo-Nazi’s home
Man arrested for stabbing had compiled information about Jewish teens

JTA — Finnish police have informed several members of the country’s Jewish community that a neo-Nazi activist has been gathering information about them.
Police sent a letter to an undisclosed number of individuals after finding details about Finnish Jews on a USB stick in the possession of a man arrested two months ago, according a report Friday in the Israeli daily Ma’ariv.

Google opens Campus Tel Aviv startup space
The newest pin on the Google-Israel map aims to contribute toward future Israeli tech innovation.

Google opened its Tel Aviv offices in 2006. Currently, 270 developers work in this creatively designed eight-floor headquarters in the 45-story Electra Tower.
Another 80 employees churn out new products and technologies at Google’s Haifa R&D lab. “We also have a business operation here working with advertisers in Israel, Europe and Africa to build online businesses,” says Solomon.

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EoZNews: Interview with Alex Safian of CAMERA

When I was in Israel I had the opportunity to meet with many of the people working for CAMERA, the Committee for Accuracy in Middle east Reporting in America, as well as representatives of their sponsored blogs CiFWatch and BBCWatch. We had a good discussion of media bias and strategy. (Yes, conspiracy theorists, I will discuss strategy with fellow pro-Israel advocates. Scary, isn't it?)

Here is an exclusive EoZNews interview with Alex Safian, Associate Director of CAMERA, about media bias, the "apartheid land policy" claim that got him involved in the field, and other topics.

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Sunday Links Part 1

From Ian:

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Syrian Rebels Hang 'Palestinian Refugees' who Aided Assad
Syrian rebels hanged two Arabs registered as “Palestinian refugees” on suspicion of aiding the Assad, says a rights watchdog.

"Rebels in the Yarmouk camp executed two men accused of cooperating with the regime by identifying targets that were bombed last week," the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
"They were hanged from trees in the camp," added the Observatory, which relies on a network of activists and medics on the ground to collect information. It provided a picture illustrating the hangings, reported AFP.

Assad accuses UK of bullying, vows to hit back at Israel
Speaking to Sunday Times, Syrian president blasts London for trying to send arms to rebels, says Damascus always retaliates against Israel

Speaking about a reported Israeli airstrike in January on Syrian soil, which had allegedly damaged a chemical weapons site, Assad vowed to hit back as he said his country always had, though he said it might not be an overt counterattack.
“We retaliated in our own way, and only the Israelis know what we mean. Retaliation does not mean missile for missile or bullet for bullet. Our own way does not have to be announced,” he said.

Three Syrian Mortar Shells Strike Golan Heights

Three mortar shells exploded Saturday afternoon in the southern Golan Heights, near Ramot Magshimim. No one was hurt and no damage was caused.
The defense establishment believes that the shells were stray ones, which were fired in the course of the civil war in Syria, on the other side of the border.

Israel to renew apple exports to Syria

Thousands of tons of Israeli apples will be exported to Syria later this week in a renewal of an arrangement that was halted last year due to the civil war across the border.
The apples, grown by Druze farmers on the Golan Heights, are transferred between the two countries with the coordination of the United Nations and the International Red Cross.
This year is set to be the largest ever export since the arrangement began several years ago. Some 18,000 tons of apples will pass through the border crossing at Quneitra over the next three months.

Plague of locusts afflicts Egypt
Swarm of Biblical proportions surprises local authorities and blankets the ground near Giza

An enormous swarm of locusts is plaguing Egypt in a development that agricultural authorities admitted they failed to predict.
Egyptian Agricultural Minister Salah Abad Almoman said the swarm, comprising an estimated 30 million insects, descended on Giza, near southern Cairo, where it is causing great damage, Maariv reported on Sunday.
“The armed forces and the Egyptian border units are trying to battle the swarm with various means at their disposal,” Almoman said, but the report did not detail what action was taken. The minister appealed to local residents to refrain from attempting to deal with the ravenous horde themselves.

Islamic Cleric Charges: Morsi is a 'Zionist'
An Islamic cleric who opposes the Muslim Brotherhood described Egyptian President as a “Zionist” who shares security interests with Israel.

An Islamic cleric who opposes the Muslim Brotherhood described Egypt's Islamist President Mohammed Morsi on Friday as a “Zionist” who shares security interests with Israel, Al Arabiya reports.
Speaking to protesters in Cairo’s Tahrir Square, Sheikh Mohammed Abdullah Nasr, leader of the Front “Ozharyoun with civil state,” said U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry was coming to Egypt to support “Morsi the Zionist.”

Egypt, two Coptic Orthodox children aged 9 and 10 risk jail on blasphemy charges

Yet another case of violence and abuse against Coptic Christians. On 26 February, the Court of Bani Suef (Upper Egypt) dismissed the appeal of the families of the two children Rzik Nagy, aged 10, and Mina Farag, 9, accused of desecrating the Koran. They have been detained in a juvenile prison since April 2012. The case has attracted a lot of criticism in the country. Many claim the trial was illegal and devoid of any logic.

100 Copts Arrested In Libya

Voice of the Copts strongly condemns the round-up, detention and presumed torture of Egyptian Copts in Benghazi, Libya being held for allegedly proselytizing Christianity which is illegal in that country. Evidence of such offense is yet unsubstantiated as facts cited by the arresting body keep changing. Furthermore, the charges are highly suspect given they follow recent attacks on a Coptic church.

Seized Chinese Weapons Raise Concerns on Iran

Among the items aboard the dhow, according to a review of factory markings on weapons and their packing crates, were 10 Chinese heat-seeking antiaircraft missiles, most of them manufactured in 2005.
The missiles were labeled QW-1M and bore stencils suggesting that they had been assembled at a factory represented by the state-owned China National Precision Machinery Import and Export Corporation, sanctioned by the United States for transfers of missile technology to Pakistan and Iran.

Comedy Central: Jon Stewart Letter Backing Anti-War Protest Group is Counterfeit
Code Pink published a letter "from" Stewart backing their anti-drone campaign; Comedy Central says the note is bogus.

Code Pink, the organization known for screaming and streaking during their public protests, published and sent to its email list a letter purported to be from The Daily Show host on Wednesday; it claimed his support for the group's request that the senate releases documents about the drone campaign.
However, a representative from Comedy Central has confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter that the letter was not sent by Stewart or anyone at the network.

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Accuweather says the Jewish Quarter is in "Palestine"

Last year, CiFWatch noted that the Israeli town of Modi'in is considered to be part of "Palestine" by Accuweather, even though it is within the Green Line. Tweeter "AntiIsrael Douchebag" noticed the same in his mobile app:

Not surprisingly, many Jewish communities in the territories are also considered to be within "Palestine" as well by Accuweather, although Jerusalem is still in Israel at the moment...

Pisgat Ze'ev, a part of Jerusalem, is also in "Palestine" according to Accuweather. (Interestingly, Har Nof is considered Israeli, and so is Maale Adumim.) Canada Park, owned by the Jewish National Fund, is considered in "Palestine."

Here's a full list of "Palestine" cities.

As absurd as this is, nothing beats this one I stumbled onto:

"Jewich Quarter"?

It is a good thing that peace plans aren't drawn up by clueless webmasters at weather sites.

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Far more camps/ghettoes in Holocaust than previously thought

From NYT:

Thirteen years ago, researchers at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum began the grim task of documenting all the ghettos, slave labor sites, concentration camps and killing factories that the Nazis set up throughout Europe.

The researchers have cataloged some 42,500 Nazi ghettos and camps throughout Europe, spanning German-controlled areas from France to Russia and Germany itself, during Hitler’s reign of brutality from 1933 to 1945.

The figure is so staggering that even fellow Holocaust scholars had to make sure they had heard it correctly when the lead researchers previewed their findings at an academic forum in late January at the German Historical Institute in Washington.

“The numbers are so much higher than what we originally thought,” Hartmut Berghoff, director of the institute, said in an interview after learning of the new data.

“We knew before how horrible life in the camps and ghettos was,” he said, “but the numbers are unbelievable.”

The documented camps include not only “killing centers” but also thousands of forced labor camps, where prisoners manufactured war supplies; prisoner-of-war camps; sites euphemistically named “care” centers, where pregnant women were forced to have abortions or their babies were killed after birth; and brothels, where women were coerced into having sex with German military personnel.

...When the research began in 2000, Dr. Megargee said he expected to find perhaps 7,000 Nazi camps and ghettos, based on postwar estimates. But the numbers kept climbing — first to 11,500, then 20,000, then 30,000, and now 42,500.

The numbers astound: 30,000 slave labor camps; 1,150 Jewish ghettos; 980 concentration camps; 1,000 prisoner-of-war camps; 500 brothels filled with sex slaves; and thousands of other camps used for euthanizing the elderly and infirm, performing forced abortions, “Germanizing” prisoners or transporting victims to killing centers.

In Berlin alone, researchers have documented some 3,000 camps and so-called Jew houses, while Hamburg held 1,300 sites.

Dr. Dean, a co-researcher, said the findings left no doubt in his mind that many German citizens, despite the frequent claims of ignorance after the war, must have known about the widespread existence of the Nazi camps at the time.

“You literally could not go anywhere in Germany without running into forced labor camps, P.O.W. camps, concentration camps,” he said. “They were everywhere.”

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