Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Monday, August 26, 2013

8/26 Links Part 1: Doomsday scenario in Syria, Netanyahu - Syria is Iran’s ‘testing ground’

From Ian:

Syrian opposition groups, for their part, may be already making the Saudi paper’s prediction a reality. Also accused of committing vast human atrocities, they have already vowed to bomb Alawite villages along the Syrian coast with thousands of rockets as retaliation for the chemical attack, according to the Dubai-based media channel Al-Arabiya.
The leading editorial in Al-Quds Al-Arabi states that, at this point, it is no longer important who carried out the chemical weapons attack. In a piece entitled “Doomsday scenario in Syria,” the paper argues that nothing other than military action can prevent Assad from continuing to subject his people to genocide.

JPost Editorial: Attention on Syria

It remains to be seen if the more aggressive tone will have any effect on the Syrian leader. With inspectors having arrived in the country just days before, why would Assad risk crossing such a redline? One interpretation is that he has become more brazen. With thousands of Hezbollah fighters entering the country last month to bolster the regime and his having pushed the rebels out of numerous areas along the Aleppo-Damascus axis, perhaps he thought it was time to deal a death blow to the rebels in the capital.
Has Assad come to view the international community as incapable of action, especially with his Russian and Chinese backers at the Security Council? If so, that is the challenge the West faces as it gathers its forces and contemplates action.

Netanyahu: Syria is Iran’s ‘testing ground’

“Now the whole world is watching,” Netanyahu said Sunday. “Iran is watching and it wants to see what will be the reaction to the use of chemical weapons.”
The prime minister went on to compare the Syria use of chemical weapons to Iran’s alleged pursuit of nuclear weapons: “What is happening in Syria, simply demonstrates what will happen if Iran gets even deadlier weapons.”

Israel’s interest: That Assad not be victorious

Asked whether a US strike could trigger a retaliation against Israel, as happened during the first Gulf War, and whether the nature of the US strike might dictate the severity of Assad’s response, both Brom and Inbar were cautious yet dubious of Assad’s willingness to attack Israel.
“There was a broad Arab coalition against Saddam,” Inbar claimed, asserting that the point of Saddam Hussein’s missile launches in January 1991 was to drag Israel into the fray and thereby fracture the Arab unity. “Here there’s hardly any Arab coalition at all.”
Brom said Assad’s bottom line was “survivability” — a goal that clashed with a major strike against Israel. “Syria is right on our border,” he said. “We can be very effective there… actually, more so than the Americans.”

Israeli President Peres Calls for Removal of ‘All Chemical Weapons From Syria’

“The use of chemical weapons to kill hundreds of women and children and the cries of the girl begging her father to come and save her is a cry to which we cannot remain indifferent,” Peres said. “I can understand the problems and the doubts, but the moral call is superior to any strategic considerations. The time has come for a joint effort to remove all the chemical weapons from Syria. They cannot remain there either in the hands of Assad or of others. In addition to everything else needed to stop this massacre there must be an international attempt to take out the weapons. It is very complicated and it is very expensive but it is more dangerous and more expensive to leave it there. It must be done.”

Ariel: As Jews, We Must Protest the Genocide in Syria

“On this day, although it is a day of great joy, I cannot refrain from mentioning what is happening in the north in our neighbor, Syria,” said Ariel, referring to the reports of a deadly chemical attack by regime troops outside of Damascus.
“Of all people, we, who cried out, and have been asking to this day, 'how could the world have been silent?' – We, as people; we, as Jews, cannot remain silent in the face of genocide, no matter who it is and where it is. And I say to ourselves – first of all, to ourselves, as Jews; as citizens of Israel; as a minister in the government of Israel, there will not be another genocide. We will not allow it,” he said.

Top US official to 'Post': UN probe in Syria 'too late to be credible'

“If the Syrian government had nothing to hide and wanted to prove to the world that it had not used chemical weapons in this incident, it would have ceased its attacks on the area and granted immediate access to the UN – five days ago,” the official said.
“At this juncture, the belated decision by the regime to grant access to the UN team is too late to be credible, including because the evidence available has been significantly corrupted as a result of the regime’s persistent shelling and other intentional actions over the last five days,” the official continued.
Extensive evidence indicates that sarin gas was used against civilians in Ghouta on Wednesday, killing upwards of 1,000

UN team probing Syria gas attack comes under sniper fire

The UN team that is supposed to investigate an alleged chemical weapons strike near the Syrian capital Damascus came under sniper fire on Monday as it traveled to the scene of the attack. A vehicle was damaged but there were no reports of injuries.
A United Nations spokesperson tweeted that the team had turned back to replace the vehicle after which the investigators intended to head out again. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon’s spokesperson Martin Nesirky said the investigators were ”deliberately shot at multiple times” by unidentified snipers in the buffer zone area between rebel- and government-controlled territory in Damascus

31 Palestinians among victims of alleged chemical attack

At least 31 Palestinians were among the victims of an alleged chemical attack said to have killed hundreds in Damascus on Wednesday, relatives said Saturday.
Opponents of Bashar Assad said the Syrian president's forces used chemical weapons east and southwest of Damascus in attacks Wednesday that killed hundreds. The regime has strongly denied the accusations.
Eleven members of the al-Hurani family, from Jenin in the northern West Bank, were killed in "the massacre in Ghouta," including six children, family member Abu Zeid al-Hurani told Ma'an.

Analysis: The international law president vs the Damascus regime

A former top legal adviser to the British government and another to the US State Department recently wrote that intervention could be justified on several grounds: Syrian attacks on Turkey could trigger collective selfdefense obligations by other NATO states, Syrian chemical weapons use could accidentally cross Syrian borders impacting other states, potential transfer of chemical weapons to Hezbollah could lead to further national security threats, recognizing the Friends of Syria group as the sole representative of the Syrian people as France has could sidestep any violation of sovereignty issue, the humanitarian situation is sufficiently dire and extreme (which has some veil of UN legitimacy under a similar 2005 doctrine endorsed by parts of the UN called “R2P” or responsibility to protect) as the Kosovo case.

Analysis: How will the US and its allies strike Syria?

International law bans the use of chemical weapons on any battlefield under any circumstances. And R2P – a norm agreed upon by global powers at the United Nations 2005 World Summit – compels the international community to respond if a country fails to protect its citizens from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing or crimes against humanity.
Russia agreed to the principles of R2P at the summit, and cited R2P during its campaign in Georgia in 2008.

Cameron reportedly pushing Obama toward Syria strike

The report by The Times of London, which was unsourced, came as US and Western leaders have increasingly placed blame on the regime of Syrian president Bashar Assad for a devastating alleged chemical attack that killed hundreds near Damascus last week.
According to the paper, Cameron wants to act while outrage over the chemical attack is still fresh.

UK: Action over Syria possible without UN unity

Hague accused the Security Council of “not shouldering its responsibilities” over the Syria crisis, saying disagreements among the five members have prevented any action over Syria for too long.
“Is it possible to respond to chemical weapons without complete unity in the UN Security Council? I would argue yes it is,” Hague said an interview with the BBC.

Turkey says it would join coalition against Syria

“We always prioritize acting together with the international community, with United Nations decisions,” Davutoglu told the Turkish daily Milliyet, Reuters reported. “If such a decision doesn’t emerge from the UN Security Council, other alternatives… would come onto the agenda.”
Davutoglu said that dozens of countries are currently discussing possibles responses. “If a coalition is formed against Syria in this process, Turkey would take its place in this coalition,” he said.

Western military intervention doomed, Assad vows

Western military intervention into Syria would only end in failure, Syrian President Bashar Assad said on Monday in an extensive interview with the Russian newspaper Izvestia, in which he dismissed allegations of chemical weapons use by his government.
If America decided to intervene the Syrian civil war, it would meet “what it has been confronted with in every war since Vietnam… failure,” Assad said, according to a translation provided by the Syria state news agency.

Lebanese mufti: Hezbollah destroys Syria, Lebanon for Israel

Mufti of the Lebanese Mountain Sheikh Muhammad Ali al-Juzo addressed the double attack in Tripoli over the past weekend, in which more than 40 people were killed, and fiercely criticized Hezbollah.
"Hassan Nasrallah insists on taking on his adventures at the expense of the Lebanese people," the Sunni Sheikh said, and added that "Israel can rest since Hezbollah is destroying Lebanon and Syria for her with its involvement in the (Syrian) civil war."

Hezbollah-Hamas Relationship Strained

According to a report published on the Iran-based Tabnak news site, Hezbollah and the Lebanese intelligence are accusing Hamas members of taking part in a string of recent attacks in the country. These include the Aug. 15 car bomb explosion in southern Beirut that killed 22 people and injured hundreds more, as well as the firing of Grad missiles towards Lebanon.

Among many Egyptians, a dramatic shift in favor of the military

Like many Egyptians, [Hassan] Hosny blames the Brotherhood for the violence that has convulsed his country since the coup. “Most of the people believe the police and military are standing by the people’s side,” he said.
The military has portrayed its takeover as a bold stroke to save the country from terrorism. But the public’s rejection of Morsi is rooted in the wildly high hopes that ordinary Egyptians had for the Arab Spring — and their bitterness at how democracy failed to deliver jobs or social justice.

Israel an obstacle to Arab democracy, Egyptian strongman wrote

According to Sissi, “The fact that Israel reflects a Western interest raises suspicion among Arabs about the true nature of democracy.” The Egyptian general did not explain how Israel’s existence cast doubt on the notion of democracy, but asserted that it would “slow the emergence of democracy in the Middle East.”
Conflicts in areas such as Iraq, Afghanistan and Israel must be resolved before democracy can be “fully accepted” by people in the region, he added.
Democracy, Sissi claimed in 2006, was closely related in the minds of Arabs to the economic interests of the United States, and was therefore ill-received. For democracy to take root in the Middle East, it must reflect local culture and show more respect for local values, namely Islam, he said.

Muslim Brotherhood leader Gomaa Amin is in hiding in London

Gomaa Amin is understood to have been made head of the Islamist organisation last week following the arrest of his predecessor in Cairo by Egypt’s military rulers.
Mr Amin, 79, had flown to London about two months ago for medical treatment and as a result escaped detention when the army seized power in a bloody coup.
He is now residing at an undisclosed address from which he is trying to orchestrate the Muslim Brotherhood’s response to the coup.
The presence of Mr Amin in London is a potential headache for British authorities who may be obliged to provide protection for such a senior and controversial figure.

Egyptian preacher: Killing MB more important that fighting Jews

Egyptian media is reporting that popular and influential TV preacher Amr Khaled has issued a fatwa, on a leaked video, for the Egyptian army to kill Muslim Brotherhood members.

He said that battling the Brotherhood is even more important than fighting the Jews. How much stronger could he have phrased it?

Khaled said that the Muslim Brotherhood members do not deserve to live in Egypt.

His words were understood to mean that he advocates killing the MB demonstrators, although his clarification afterwards seemed to indicate he was talking about the jihadists in the Sinai.

Then again, Khaled is just part of that huge Jewish conspiracy to make Arabs hate each other. Al Resalah today reminds its readers that "there is fire everywhere and the beneficiaries are the Jews."

Speaking of, here's a cartoon that shows a little of the latter mentality, although it makes a bizarre assumption that the IDF is more scared of the Egyptian army than vice-versa:

"AAAAAH...we can sleep tight... The Brotherhood is fighting the Egyptian army instead of us!"

(h/t Ibn Boutros)

Video of incident in Qalandiya

This morning:

A Palestinian hospital official says three Palestinians were killed and more than a dozen wounded in clashes with Israeli troops in the West Bank.

Border police spokesman Shai Hakimi said officers were on a raid to apprehend a terror suspect, who was released from prison a month ago, when over 1,500 Palestinians poured into the streets and attacked the officers with firebombs and rocks.

Military sources said that the troops used crowd dispersal means, shot at the rioters' legs and were aided by a rescue force who employed similar riot control means.

A video posted by Palestinians shows Palestinian youths standing on roof tops at the refugee camp hurling rocks at an IDF jeep that found itself stuck in an alley.

At one point another jeep arrives and lightly bumps into the first jeep and the two continue to sustain rocks and other objects thrown at them. Fortunately, no member of the security forces was hurt.

Here are videos, showing what Mahmoud Abbas considers a "nonviolent demonstration:"

One of those killed was a terrorist released in the Shalit prisoner swap. What a coincidence, that the innocent Arab bystander just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. What are the odds?

(h/t Gidon)

A couple of tweets, and the NY Times is in love with Rouhani

Remember when journalists were skeptics?

This New York Times editorial shows that wishful thinking continues to trump hard facts at the Old Grey Lady.

Social media are an unorthodox, but useful, way to start to get a sense of Iran’s new president, Hassan Rouhani. In a flurry of English-language posts on Twitter since his election in June, Mr. Rouhani has given reason to hope that he is serious about resolving disputes with the United States and other major powers, most urgently about Iran’s nuclear program.

“We don’t want further tension. Both nations need 2 think more abt future & try 2 sit down & find solutions to past issues & rectify things,” he, or somebody writing in his name, said on June 17. On the nuclear program, he commented: “Our program is transparent, but we can take more steps to make it clear to world that our nuclear program is within intl regulations.”

This seemingly reasonable outlook — refreshing after the ugly, confrontational approach of his predecessor, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad — has been reinforced by other recent moves. The most significant is Mr. Rouhani’s appointment of Mohammad Javad Zarif as foreign minister. In addition to being educated in the United States and serving many years as Iran’s ambassador at the United Nations, Mr. Zarif has been at the center of several rounds of secret negotiations over the years to try to overcome decades of enmity between the two countries.

The Times seems to have a very hard time distinguishing between propaganda and reality, which should be the first thing any serious news organization does. Today, Iran continues its secret weaponization program aimed at placing nuclear warheads on missiles; it continues its secret laser-based uranium enrichment program, and it is covering up evidence of the high explosives testing. These all continue today and they are not under IAEA inspection.

This means that the second Rouhani tweet quoted so approvingly by the NYT is a baldfaced lie. And once we know that Rouhani is a liar, the entire complexion of his public relations blitz turns from evidence of real change in Iran to evidence of a deliberate plan of concealing its nuclear activities from the West.

In other words, the Times should be using Rouhani's tweets as evidence that Iran is now playing a new card based on deception rather than falling for that very deception.

The Times' shows how enraptured they are with Rouhani in the end of the op-ed, (also noted by The New York Sun:)

President Rouhani is sending strong signals that he will dispatch a pragmatic, experienced team to the table when negotiations resume, possibly next month. That’s when we should begin to see answers to key questions: How much time and creative thinking are he and President Obama willing to invest in a negotiated solution, the only rational outcome? How much political risk are they willing to take, which for Mr. Obama must include managing the enmity that Israel and many members of Congress feel toward Iran?

Israel's enmity towards Iran is the problem? Has the NYT ever spent five seconds reading the official Iranian news agencies? In just the past couple of days, official Iranian media claimed that Israel was behind the chemical weapons attacks in Syria, Israel is also behind the bombings in Tripoli, the US is behind all Arab states' turmoil, and an Iranian general threatened to attack both the US and Israel.

This is the new, moderate Iran that the Times is praising.

Lots of Arabs are also being killed in Lebanon

Last week there were twin bombings in Tripoli, Lebanon, killing 47 people.

Police arrested two suspects Saturday linked to the twin car bombs in the northern city of Tripoli as the death toll from the blasts rose to 47 and politicians grappled with the aftermath of the attack amid worries of more sectarian strife.

Sheikh Ahmad Gharib, 40, was arrested by the police overnight in his residence in Minyeh, north of Tripoli. Arms, explosives and maps of the northern city were seized at his home, judicial sources said.

The sources said that Gharib was an affiliate to the Syrian regime-backed Baath Party and had recently paid several visits to Syria. Gharib was studying Islam in Syria but then quit and became a staunch supporter of the Assad regime.

Another suspect in the bombing, Sheikh Abdel Razzak Hammoud, was arrested around noon, the sources said.

The sources said that both sheikhs are members of the Tripoli-based Islamic Tawheed Movement, a pro-Syrian regime group headed by Hashem Minkara.

Investigations into the explosions outside two Sunni Muslim mosques carried on as military experts inspected the blast scenes to identify the cars used in the large bombings outside the Al-Salam Mosque on Tripoli’s Maarad Street and the A-Taqwa Mosque near Abu Ali roundabout.

Even though the blasts were done against Sunni targets and the suspects have ties to the Syria regie, Iran blames - Israel!

Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Seyed Abbas Araqchi strongly condemned the recent terrorist attacks and bombings in the Northern city of Tripoli in Lebanon, and took Takfiri extremists and Zionists responsible for the massacre of the innocent Lebanese people.
“Undoubtedly, the wicked hands of the Zionist regime of Israel have now come out of the sleeves of Takfiri groups and irresponsible extremists, who intend to sow the seeds of sedition and undermine national unity and peaceful co-existence of different Lebanese ethnic groups, particularly Islamic sects,” Araqchi said on Friday.

The blast comes right after a car bomb in Beirut killed 27 more.

In fact, in Lebanon this year the death toll from the spillover of the Syrian civil war has already taken about 160 lives.

On an entirely unrelated topic, 48 were killed in Iraq on Sunday.

It's all because of the settlements.

Alaska's part of Operation Magic Carpet

From the Anchorage (Alaska) Daily News:

From the end of 1948 to the fall of 1950, Alaska Airlines took part in the airlift of 50,000 Jews from Yemen to the newly created nation of Israel. Known as Operation Magic Carpet, Alaska Airlines employees flew in perilous conditions while helping to fulfill a Biblical prophecy that said the Yemenite Jews would return to their homeland "on the wings of eagles."

More than 60 years later a new museum in the state of Alaska pays tribute to this piece of Alaska Airlines history. The Alaska Jewish Museum's first featured exhibit, "On the Wings of Eagles: Alaska's Contribution to Operation Magic Carpet," tells the story of a young Alaska Airlines and its employees' heroic efforts to avert a humanitarian crisis during a trying time in world history.

"We decided to have the 'On the Wings of Eagles' exhibit at the museum because of the unique melding of energies between disparate groups (Alaska Airlines, the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, the State of Israel and the American government) to ensure the rescue of virtually an entire population from devastating circumstances," says Leslie Fried, the museum's curator.

The Yemenite Jews in Aden were living under extremely harsh conditions in the years prior to and immediately following the birth of the State of Israel.

At the time, Alaska Airlines was the largest non-scheduled carrier in the world. When the American Joint Distribution Committee contacted Alaska President James A. Wooten, he was moved after seeing the terrible conditions under which the Yemenite Jews lived in the Aden ghetto created by the British.

Throughout the next two years Captains Sam Silver, Warren Metzger, navigator Elgen Long and Chief Pilot Robert McGuire Jr. along with many others airlifted 50,000 Jews to Tel Aviv. The approximately 430 flights Alaska Airlines made were treacherous. Fuel was difficult to obtain, flight and maintenance crews had to be positioned throughout the Middle East and sandstorms wreaked havoc on the plane engines. There were no deaths during the flights though one plane was forced to make a crash-landing after the loss of an engine.

The exhibit provides a detailed look of the history of Operation Magic Carpet through historic artifacts, such as the jacket worn by Capt. Metzger and video footage of pilots sharing their airlift experiences. An interactive map also illustrates for visitors where the planes traveled while transporting the refugees.

France: "The Israeli-Palestinian conflict remains the main issue" in the region

From WAFA:

President Mahmoud Abbas and his guest, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, agreed Saturday that regardless of the developments in the region, the Palestinian question remains the main issue and resolving it would contribute to peace and stability.

Abbas said after meeting Fabius that when he saw an opportunity to resume negotiations with Israel, he grabbed it without paying too much attention to what is going on in the region.

“When there was an opportunity to resume negotiations, we took it without looking at what was going on around us,” he said.

Fabius agreed that the opportunity of reaching a final peaceful settlement between the Palestinians and Israel is going to contribute positively to stability in the region.

“It is very important to move forward with negotiations because this will be great for peace and stability in the region,” he said.

‘The Israeli-Palestinian conflict remains the main issue and therefore it should be resolved peacefully,” he added.

He warned however that unless the negotiations move forward, the developments in the Arab countries could become an obstacle in their way.

He also described the Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem as “illegal under international law.”

Which means that Fabius' understanding of international law is as tenuous as his grasp of the Middle East.

(Even if you believe that the WB is occupied, and even if you twist Geneva to be understood as if Jews building communities there were violating Geneva, it doesn't make the communities themselves illegal. Calling them illegal means that under international law, they must be dismantled and hundreds of thousands of Jews, including a significant number who were born in the area, must be ethnically cleansed. And no one, even the most anti-Israel legal scholar, seriously interprets international law that way. See this video starting at about 39:00.)

Here is a recent cartoon I saw on Twitter that shows the same mentality as Mr. Fabius:

8/25 Links: MSF in Syria CW Toll 3,600 Injured 355 Dead, The Rabaa Four Fingered Salute

From Ian:

Get Clarity: Aish.com's Rosh Hashanah Music Video

Khaled Abu Toameh: Palestinian journalists to protest against assaults by PA security forces

Palestinian journalists plan to stage a sit-in strike in Ramallah on Sunday in protest against recurring assaults on them by Palestinian Authority security personnel.
The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate in the West Bank called on its members to participate in the protest and condemned the attacks as an assault on freedom of expression.
The syndicate called on the PA leadership to punish security officers and policemen who assault journalists.

Sheikh to Israeli Arabs: Block Jews With your Bodies

Sheikh Raed Salah is at it again. The leader of the northern branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel, who has previously called on Muslims to “liberate” Jerusalem and has preached against Israel in Be’er Sheva, called this weekend for Israeli Arabs to block Jewish access to the Temple Mount with their bodies.
Salah warned his listeners that Israel is planning to “break in” to the Temple Mount, on which the Al Aqsa mosque now stands.

Israeli Sheikh Tells Arabs: Israel behind Cairo Coup (Video)

Ra’ad Salah, head of the radical Islamic Moveent’s northern branch, incited Arabs with Israeli citizenship on Friday, telling them in no uncertain terms that Israel was behind the ouster of Muslim Brotherhood president Mohammed Morsi last month.
In a speech marking the 44th anniversary of a crazed, Christian Australian’s attempt to burn down the Al Aqsa mosque on the Temple Mount in 1969, Salah blamed Israel for the attack and for the coup in Egypt.

UN envoy hints failure to strike peace deal would spell end for PA

Nonetheless, Serry warned that yet another collapse of the peace process would cast a heavy pall over the political future of PA President Mahmoud Abbas.
"President Abbas has already been, for a long time, the leader of what is considered to be the more moderate wing of the Palestinian movement which is committed to a two-state solution," Serry told Israel Radio. "Another failure will have consequences for him."
"But the very reason that in my view the consequences for both sides will be pretty serious if this fails again gives me hope that they will be serious in this US-led effort to return to meaningful negotiations."

Thwarted Attempts by Hamas to Hit Security Sites in Sinai

According to a report by Kuwaiti newspaper, Alrai, the Hamas squad entered into Egypt with 15 terrorists through one of the smuggling tunnels and transferred weapons in order to harm the selected targets of the attack.
Israel Radio reported that Hamas planned on smuggling leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood prisoners out of jail.

PM: Israel's 'finger on the pulse' of Syria developments, if necessary will also be 'on the trigger'

"Our heart goes out to the women, children, babies and citizens killed in such a cruel way through the use of weapons of mass destruction," he added.
Netanyahu said that Israel drew three conclusions from this episode.
"First, this situation cannot continue. Second, it is forbidden for the world's most dangerous regimes to have the most dangerous weapons in the world. And thirdly, we expect this to end, but we remember the ancient adage of our sages: 'If we are not for ourselves, who will be for us' – that is to say, our finger, our hand, will always be on the pulse. Our finger is responsible, and when needed it is also on the trigger."

US official says ‘very little doubt’ Assad behind chemical attack

A senior administration official said Sunday there is “very little doubt” that a chemical weapon was used by the Syrian regime against civilians in an incident that killed at least 100 people last week, but added that President Barack Obama had not yet decided how to respond.
The official said the US intelligence community based its assessment given to the White House on “the reported number of victims, reported symptoms of those who were killed or injured,” and witness accounts. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to speak publicly.

MSF-backed hospitals treated Syria 'chemical victims'

Medecins Sans Frontieres says hospitals it supports in Syria treated about 3,600 patients with "neurotoxic symptoms", of whom 355 have died.
The medical charity said the patients had arrived in three hospitals in the Damascus area on 21 August - when opposition activists say chemical attacks were launched against rebels.
But MSF says it cannot "scientifically confirm" the use of chemical weapons.

Steinitz: If US Plans Attack, Israel Will Know

The United States will have no choice but to take action on Syria following the latest reports of a mass chemical weapons attack, Minister of Strategic Affairs Yuval Steinitz predicted Sunday.
“Washington won’t be able to stay quiet in the face of chemical weapons use by the Assad regime, and the West is expected to act,” Steinitz told IDF Radio (Galei Tzahal).
If America attacks Syria, Israel will know in advance, he continued. In such a scenario, he said, the odds of Assad responding with rocket fire on Israel “are relatively small.”
“In any case, we need to be ready in terms of both offensive and defensive capabilities,” he added.

Four-finger salute: Egypt rivals use ‘Rabaa hand’ to turn Facebook yellow

A new victory sign has been flashed across Egypt to remember the Rabaa al-Adawiya protest camp, which was dispersed last week in a deadly military crackdown on demonstrators in support of former President Mohammed Mursi.
The “four-fingered salute,” as it has come to be known, is being publicized by bright yellow signs posted on social networking websites by Egyptian masses wanting to remember Rabaa protesters who camped out for weeks in Cairo.
In Arabic “Rabaa” means “fourth,” and the hand gesture is being used to display solidarity with protesters.

Turkish PM greets crowd with 'Rabaa sign'

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan greeted people with the 'Rabaa sign' after the Friday prayer at al-Aqsa mosque in Turkey's capital Ankara.
In the courtyard of the Al-Aqsa mosque close to his residence, Erdogan greeted the people with the 'Rabaa sign' and left for the official residence of prime ministry.

Erdogan: Why Did Washington Condemn My Remarks on Israel?

His accusation was furiously rejected by the White House which described it as "offensive and unsubstantiated and wrong."
In response, Erdogan said, "Why is the White House making a statement on this? The White House should not have spoken about this. If there's somebody to speak on this, it should have been Israel.”
In televised remarks, he also said that the White House's statement "upset" him, calling Washington's approach to its NATO ally "unbecoming."
But he added, "This is very important to show the world's double standards," without elaborating.

Appeals court upholds NY terror plot convictions

An appeals court has upheld the convictions of four men in a terror plot to blow up New York City synagogues.
The 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan made the decision public on Friday.

Argentina to probe official for anti-Israel incitement

On Aug. 14, the Simon Wiesenthal Center wrote to Argentina’s minister of agriculture, Norberto Yauhar, calling for Persico’s removal. “Apparently, the speakers at Al Quds Day in Buenos Aires feel energized and empowered by the Argentina-Iran agreement, and now foment hate with impunity,” Sergio Widder, the Wiesenthal Center’s director for Latin America, told JTA, referring to a much-criticized agreement between the countries to jointly investigate the AMIA bombing.

Upstart Israeli News Channel i24 Takes Aim at CNN, the BBC—and Al Jazeera

Executives say they’re reaching 350 million viewers worldwide, and none of them in Hebrew
The headquarters of i24news, Israel’s first international news channel, is still unfinished. Outside, the glass building in Tel Aviv’s newly redeveloped Jaffa port sparkles, but inside the cavernous blue-lit newsroom, where broadcasts launched in mid-July, wires and beams are still exposed. But the ongoing construction doesn’t seem to bother the 150 journalists working around the clock to produce simultaneous newscasts in English, French, and Arabic.

Israel’s Kira Radinsky listed on MIT’s Young Innovators under 35

Israel’s Dr. Kira Radinsky has grabbed headlines again. The 27-year-old is one of 2013′s 35 Young Innovators under 35, as chosen by the MIT Technology Review.
Radinsky, who started studying at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology at 15 years old, first snagged the world’s attention with her pioneering data-mining software that can predict disasters of many types, including disease outbreaks, violence and natural catastrophes.

Tales of a British entrepreneur in the start-up nation

I’ve always been fascinated by Israel’s success.
According to Bill Gates, this tiny country has, “relative to its population, done the most to contribute to the technology revolution.” For starters, there are more Israeli companies on Nasdaq than all of Europe combined. A pretty impressive feat.
So how did Israel do it, surrounded by enemies? Why did Dan Senor and Saul Singer’s book The Start-up Nation inspire our British company to leave London, a major financial center, and relocate to Tel Aviv for awhile? In this post, I want to share some of my own experiences about what has contributed to the “economic miracle” of Israel.

Egypt used chemical weapons in the 1960s; no one did anything then either

Arabs, allied with Russia, kill hundreds of other Arabs with chemical weapons. A cover-up of chemical weapons use and angry denials, allowing Western nations stand by and do nothing for political reasons.

In 1967.

From Chemical and Biological Warfare: A Reference Handbook, by Albert J. Mauroni (2007):

The Yemeni Civil War (1962-1970) pitted the Yemeni royalists of the deposed imam against the Yemen republican forces in North Yemen, with Saudi Arabia and Jordan supporting the royalists and Egypt supporting the republican forces. This war was fought for five years until the two forces reached a stalemate in 1967. Although there had been occasional mentions of Egyptian military employment of mustard agent—filled bombs between 1963 and 1966, in 1967 these attacks became more frequent. International journalists began reporting that Ilyushin heavy bombers were dropping mustard-filled and phosgene-filled bombs on cities and rebel bases.

In January 1967, a gas attack near Sada killed more than 125 people. In May, two villages suffered 75 casualties from phosgene-filled bombs. Between 1967 and 1968, it is estimated that more than 1,000 Yemeni were killed as a result of exposure to CW agents. An International Red Cross mission sent doctors to assist the wounded, and the doctors testified to what they saw. Al-though they were careful to clarify that they did not see any evidence of actual attacks taking place, the signs and symptoms of the victims included burning eyes and trachea, pulmonary edema, internal thorax pain, extreme fatigue, and anorexia. Their findings were that in all probability these victims had inhaled toxic gases (Cookson and Nottingham 1969).The doctors were reluctant to identify the specific chemical warfare agents used, in part because they wanted to retain their neutrality and access to war victims. Although it appeared conclusive that mustard and phosgene had been used, a few cases suggested the use of nerve agent—filled bombs as well. The problem was how to prove the use of chemical warfare agents and who was responsible for using them. Because there were no arms control experts assigned to monitor or investigate these attacks, there was very little evidence other than eyewitness accounts from civilians and what could have been propaganda from the royalists. Although bodies and samples were sent to Saudi Arabia for more study, again, it was difficult to accuse any specific nation. Egypt claimed it had not used chemical weapons in Yemen, and, according to some sources, this may be true if Soviet air crews were manning the Egyptian-marked bombers that attacked those cities.

When Saudi Arabia and the royalists tried to get the United Nations to investigate, the UN's secretary general, U Thant, declined. On March 1, 1967, he stated that he was "powerless" to investigate the issue, and that the facts were in sharp dispute. Although he almost certainly knew exactly what was going on in Yemen, he had made a political decision to stay out of the affair. The U.S. government, occupied with answering criticisms about the use of Agent Orange and riot control agents in Vietnam, chose not to get involved. The U.S. military decided that the chemical warfare attacks were an aberration and not reflective of any requirement to worry about future chemical warfare attacks (and in 1972, chose to disestablish the Chemical Corps). The United Kingdom was attempting to reestablish relations with Egypt at that time, so it chose not to say anything publicly against Egypt or Soviet affairs in the Middle East (Seagrave 1981, 124-125). The incident became a political nonevent, fodder for the arms control community but not much else.

This incident teaches several interesting lessons. The first is the failure of the world's nations to react against the use of chemical weapons against civilians and military forces that were not similarly armed. This was not a clear violation of the Geneva Protocol of 1925, since Egypt was not then (and still is not) a signatory of the Geneva Protocol, unless it could be proven that Soviet crews were in those bombers. The reason that some military analysts believe there were Soviet crews in the bombers was twofold: First, they do not believe that the Soviet Union would have allowed Egypt to own or employ chemical weapons in 1967, Egypt having just started its interest in an offensive CW program. Second, the bombers dropped their munitions upwind of their targets for maximum effect, and in some cases, MiG fighter planes came back to drop high explosives or napalm on and near the targets to reduce or eliminate the evidence. These same tactics were seen years later when the Soviet air force attacked Afghani villages with chemical weapons. Because the attacks occurred in such remote locations and because post-mortem examinations took place days or weeks later, it was very difficult to directly attribute the cause of death to the bombing attacks.

This was the first instance of Arabs attacking Arabs with chemical weapons.

The second was the Iran-Iraq War, where some 45,000 are believed to have been killed by chemical weapons.

Iran sets a "red line" against US intervention in Syria

From Al Arabiya:

A top Iranian military chief warned on Sunday that the U.S. will face “harsh consequences” if it intervenes in Syria over claims of chemical attacks, reported Agence France Presse citing a Fars new agency report.

“If the United States crosses this red line, there will be harsh consequences for the White House,” armed forces deputy chief of staff Massoud Jazayeri was quoted as saying.

A year ago, U.S. President Barack Obama warned the use of chemical weapons in Syria would cross a “red line” and have “enormous consequences.”

Then again, Iran had threatened Israel specifically if it does anything in Syrian territory, but nothing happened after Israel evidently repeatedly attacked weapons en route to Hezbollah.

Latest Egyptian rumor: Muslim Brotherhood army being formed in Gaza under Hamas

News out of Egypt is unreliable, to say the least, as the pro- and anti-Muslim Brotherhood sides hurl nutty accusations at each other.

Egypt's Youm7 newspaper quotes unnamed senior Egyptian officials as saying that the new head of the Muslim Brotherhood, Mahmoud Ezzat, had fled to Gaza several weeks ago and is now overseeing a new mini-army of Gaza militants and1500 Muslim Brotherhood soldiers and smuggled from Egypt into Gaza through tunnels.

These troops are being trained with Hamas' Al Qassam Brigades, according to the rumors, and they are in two areas of Khan Younis. It is being funded by the Muslim Brotherhood and is receiving weapons from Turkey, smuggled to Gaza through Cyprus, including anti-tank missiles.

The rumor gets a little more fantastic when it says that some of the weapons are stolen from both the Egyptian and Israeli armies.

(What is true is that Mahmoud Ezzat has not been seen for several weeks, since he was appointed in his new role. The idea that he is directing operations from Gaza is a bit far-fetched, though.)

The commenters are taking this seriously, though, with one suggesting that it is time for the Egyptian army to hold its own "Cast Lead" against Gaza, damn the civilian casualties.

Even though the story seems filled with holes, the fact that it even gets such prominent play in Egypt (and even gets leaked by Egyptian officials to the media) says volumes about how Hamas and Gaza itself is regarded as an enemy.

8/24 Links: Abbas to Run for Pres. again?, Assad's Brother's Unit fired CWs, MB protests fizzle

From Ian:

No summer break in the violent Middle East
Amid horrific bloodshed all around Israel, Hamas is redoubling efforts to regain center stage — defying Egypt, and seeking to abduct IDF soldiers

Despite Hamas’s attempts to ignore the signals that it receives from Egypt and to keep a low profile, it has been working tirelessly to reignite terrorist activity in the West Bank. These should not be mistaken for signs of empowerment, as they are clearly indications of distress. Hamas has reached rock bottom both in Gaza and in the West Bank. Hamas’s attempts to incite terrorist activity in the West Bank are motivated by its struggle to restore its status as a central authority for the Palestinian people without risking clashes with the IDF in Gaza.
Increasing numbers of terror alerts have been piling up in the Shin Bet and Palestinian Authority security offices. Hamas activists in Gaza, particularly those who were released and sent to Gaza as part of the prisoner exchange deal for Gilad Shalit’s release in 2011, are now trying to establish a terrorist network to carry out terrorist attacks such as abducting Israelis, in order to disrupt the relative peace and quiet.

Arab Terrorists Ignite Forest Fire in Israel

While throwing Molotov cocktails at passing Israeli cars driving on the Nachliel road, near the Arab village of Dir Nizzam, Arab terrorists ignited a forest fire near Neve Tsuf, in Israel’s Benyamin region. Volunteers quickly arrived on the scene and began to extinguish the blaze, amid fears that the flames would spread to nearby homes. The volunteers were soon joined by firefighters. No injuries were reported, but significant damage was caused to the area’s greenery.

Abbas planning elections to wrong-foot Hamas

Abbas intends to call elections in the West Bank, and require that Hamas enable elections in the Gaza Strip as well. If Hamas fails to do so, Abbas could declare Gaza a rogue entity, and might suspend the transfer of PA funding to the Strip, the TV report said.
Although Abbas has frequently threatened to step down as PA chief, and indicated he would not seek another term as president, he is now ready to run again, the report said.

Report: Gaza protestors march against peace talks

The marches, reportedly organized by Hamas and Islamic Jihad, condemned rival West Bank-based Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas's "political failure" for returning to the negotiating table with Israel.
Protesters marched from various mosques across the enclave toward a square in central Gaza City, according to AFP.
"All the Palestinian factions say you don't have the right to relinquish any piece of our land, or to give up Palestinian rights," AFP quoted Hamas Religious Affairs Minister Ismail Ridwan as saying during an address at the demonstration.

Hamas official: Palestinian Tamarod group was trained by Egyptian intelligence

"The 'Tamarod against the injustice in Gaza' group, that has bases in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, is guided by foreign forces, among them the Egyptian security and intelligence forces," Yahya Moussa said.
"These groups were trained and were organized with the aid of the Egyptian intelligence, to act in the Gaza Strip like the Tamarod movement in Egypt [that brought to the ouster of President Mohamed Morsi]," Moussa added, speaking to the Lebanese newspaper Elnashra.

UN chief condemns rocket fire on Israel

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned on Friday the rocket fire from southern Lebanon into Israel that occurred one day earlier and prompted an Israeli response.
According to a statement issued by the UN chief’s spokesperson, Ban considers the firing of rockets from the area of Tyre “a clear violation of resolution 1701,” which called for the cessation of hostilities between Lebanon and Israel in 2006.

Hezbollah on Rocket Attack: ‘We Don’t Condemn Actions Taken Against Israel’

Hezbollah MP Hassan Fadlallah claimed on Friday that his organization was not behind Thursday’s rocket attack on Israel, but would not condemn the attack either, asserting that military action against Israel is justified, Israel’s Channel 10 reported, citing a Lebanese television interview with the Hezbollah MP.

Death toll in Lebanon bombings rises to 47; al-Qaeda blames Hezbollah

Meanwhile, al-Qaeda claimed Saturday that Hezbollah, backed by Iran, was behind the bombings in Tripoli. The organization’s North African branch, al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, or AQIM, said via social media that it was “certain” that Hezbollah was behind the “heinous act” in Lebanon. The organization also vowed to retaliate for the attack.
For its part, Iran said the instability in Lebanon plays into the hands of “the Zionists,” aka Israel.

Will Syria Be the Graveyard of Obama’s Presidency?

Rarely has an administration looked as inconsequential as President Barack Obama’s did this week.
A year after Obama warned the Syrian regime that using chemical weapons would cross a “red line,” rebel forces said Wednesday that the army of President Bashar Assad had used poison gas to attack civilians near Damascus, killing hundreds.
The rebels’ allegations have been verified by videos showing victims convulsing and choking, as well as photos of children wrapped in clean white shrouds, lined shoulder to shoulder with their dead faces visible. Foreign governments, such as Israel, have also verified the claims.
Yet, despite the growing body of evidence of chemical weapons attacks, the Obama administration continues to assess, reassess, hem, and haw.

US naval forces move closer to Syria

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel declined to discuss any specific force movements while saying that Obama had asked the Pentagon to prepare military options for Syria. US defense officials told The Associated Press that the Navy had sent a fourth warship armed with ballistic missiles into the eastern Mediterranean Sea but without immediate orders for any missile launch into Syria.

Following Reports On Chemical Attack In Syria, Articles In Arab Press Blame International Community, U.S. For The Massacre

Articles published today (August 22, 2013) in the Arab press, and especially in the Saudi and Qatari press, likewise held the international community and the U.S. responsible for the massacre. Especially noteworthy are two articles. The editorial of the London-based daily Al-Quds Al-Arabi stated that it was the inaction of the international community in the past two years that had led to the massacre. Tariq Al-Homayed, a columnist and former editor in the London-based Saudi daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, wrote, in a similar vein, that the massacre resulted from the absence of a clear American policy in the Middle East.

Israel TV: Chemical weapons were fired by Assad’s brother’s unit

The chemical weapons allegedly used to kill an estimated 1,000 or more Syrian civilians by the regime of President Bashar Assad last Wednesday were fired by the 155th Brigade of the 4th Armored Division of the Syrian Army, an Israel TV report said.
This division is under the command of the president’s brother, Maher Assad.
The nerve gas shells were fired from a military base in a mountain range to the west of Damascus, the Channel 2 news report said.

Report: Syrian rebel forces trained by West are moving towards Damascus

Le Figaro reported that this is the reason behind the Assad regime's alleged chemical weapons attack in Damascus on Wednesday morning, as UN inspectors were allowed into the country to investigate allegations of WMD use.
The rebels were trained for several months in a training camp on the Jordanian-Syrian border by CIA operatives, as well as Jordanian and Israeli commandos, the paper said.

Reeling from crackdown, Egypt's Brotherhood fails to show street power

Mass protests called by Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood mostly failed to materialize on Friday as the movement reels from a bloody army crackdown on followers of ousted President Mohamed Morsi.
Troops and police had taken relatively low-key security measures before the "Friday of Martyrs" processions that were to have begun from 28 mosques in the capital after weekly prayers.
But midday prayers were cancelled at some mosques and few major protests unfolded in Cairo, although witnesses said at least 1,000 people staged a march in the Mohandiseen district.

Erdogan Sheds a Tear Over Muslim Brotherhood Politician's Poem

In 2010 Erdogan cried on camera at the deaths of children in Gaza at which time there was some comment in Turkey about why he did not do the same when Kurdish children were killed.
His wife, Emine Erdogan, also cried on camera during a 2012 visit to Myanmar’s western Rakhine state where she met with members of the Rohingya ethnic group, a heavily persecuted minority.

Kiwis battling their country’s anti-Israel media bias

Kiwis for Balanced Reporting on the Middle East – an NGO in New Zealand – feels it hasn’t been able to properly get Israel’s message across in the country’s mainstream newspapers.
The group was formed in 2006 after the Second Lebanon War, due to common sentiments that media coverage of the conflict was very one-sided and in many cases untruthful.

PBS Includes Vicious Anti-Semites in Show About Mohammad

One anti-Semite to appear on the show was Sheikh Ikrema Sabri, the former Grand Mufti of Jerusalem. According to the New York Sun, Sabri is a fan of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, a well-known forgery that portrays the Jews as the enemies of humanity.
Sabri, who testifies to Mohammed’s cosmic flight to Jerusalem or “Night of Power,” in the PBS series spoke with Jeffrey Goldberg in 1999. Goldberg reported the following:
“If the Jews want peace, they will stay away from Al Aksa,” Sabri told me when I met with him in his office near the Temple Mount. “This is a decree from God. The Haram al-Sharif belongs to the Muslim. But we know the Jew is planning on destroying the Haram. The Jew will get the Christian to do his work for him. This is the way of the Jews. This is the way Satan manifests himself. The majority of the Jews want to destroy the mosque. They are preparing this as we speak.”

Latma: Raise your blue and white flag (closing song)

Iran literally covering up evidence of nuclear testing

Remember the Parchin site in Iran, suspected of nuclear explosive testing? Where last year they started covering up the buildings in pink tarp to make it harder for satellites to see what was going on?

In espionage (and police work,) evidence of covering up a crime is often more obvious than the crime itself. Unfortunately, no one has easy access to these sites, so while we have secondary evidence, Iran is covering up the primary evidence.

And, at Parchin, they are doing it again.

From ISIS:

Recent commercial satellite imagery of the Parchin site in Iran shows the extent of new paving as well as the extent of other alternations undertaken at the site over the past year and a half starting in February 2012. Iran appears to be in the final stages of modifying the suspected high explosive test site at the Parchin complex, having recently asphalted large sections of the site. As noted in several of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA’s) quarterly Iran safeguards reports and in numerous ISIS satellite imagery reports on Parchin, asphalting and the other documented activities have significantly changed the site and impacted the ability of IAEA inspectors to collect environmental samples and other evidence that it could use to determine whether nuclear weapons-related activities once took place there. Asphalting an entire area in this manner would make it very hard to take soil samples and likely be effective at covering up environmental evidence of nuclear weaponization-related experiments. Iran in 2003 and 2004 conducted similar concealment activities at Lavisan-Shian, razing and rebuilding the entire site in an effort suspected to be aimed at concealing alleged, undeclared military nuclear efforts.

The Parchin site remains of interest to the IAEA due to evidence of pre-2004 activities related to the development of nuclear weapons. Iran is alleged by the IAEA, the United States, and at least three European governments to have had a well-structured nuclear weapons program aimed at building a warhead small enough to fit on the Shahab 3 ballistic missile.

Iran is banking on the West discounting secondary evidence. And the scheme works well.

"Hey, IAEA, look over there for a minute, will you? I have to, um, take out the trash."

Weekend administrivia plus a poster idea

I have never been too good in using tags on my posts, and I don't have time to go through over 17,000 posts to categorize them, but lately I've been making an attempt to place tags on at least most newer posts.

I have a new automatically generated page, called a Table of Contents, that organizes my posts from recent months by category. It isn't perfect (the lower-case tags after the upper-case ones, for example) but you might find it a useful way to browse posts you might have missed. (Some also got miscategorized, through a weird Blogger bug, apologies.)

Let me know if it is useful.

Also, this week I was inspired by Bar Refaeli's response to Roger Waters' call for boycotting Israel. I've been playing with this idea for a poster series welcoming BDSers to boycott certain Israeli products, starting with supermodels. In this case I chose Esti Ginzberg, who also served in the IDF. But it can aply to computer chips, pharmaceuticals, software...(Click to enlarge.)

Have a great weekend!

8/23 Links Part 2: Netanyahu: We'll Hurt Whoever Hurts Us, Realism on Egypt, Saudi War on Witchcraft

From Ian:

Netanyahu: We'll Hurt Whoever Hurts Us

"We are operating on all fronts, in the north and south, in order to protect the citizens of Israel from these attacks,” Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said Thursday in the aftermath of a Katyusha rocket salvo fired at northwestern Israel.
"We are using a variety of measures – of both defense and prevention – and we are operating in a responsible manner. Our policy is clear: to protect and also to prevent.
"Anyone who hurts us, and anyone who tries to hurt us, must know that we will hit him.”

Analysis: Dragging Israel into conflict

It’s not unreasonable to assume that those who fired the rockets would be pleased to create the conditions that would suck the IDF into a conflict with Hezbollah. Their calculation could be that the IDF’s immense firepower will weaken the Shi’ite organization, which rules southern Lebanon and is involved neck-deep in the war against Sunni rebels in Syria.
A weakened Hezbollah would in turn cripple the murderous Assad regime, and might shift the balance in favor of the Sunni rebels in Syria.

When all else fails, target Israel

Finally, in the age of active defense, Israel’s intelligence capacities, as Thursday’s rocket fire illustrates, are less opaque. Three weeks ago, an Iron Dome battery was moved to the Eilat region; one week later, for the first time, it intercepted a rocket over the southern resort city. On Wednesday, also for the first time, an Iron Dome battery was rotated to the Sharon region, north of Tel Aviv. The rocket intercepted over the Acre-Nahariya area may have been shot down by the Iron Dome battery further to the north, in Haifa, but clearly in an age of multiple threats, with varying and shifting degrees of urgency, Israel’s intelligence community was not caught by surprise by the fire from Lebanon.

Palestinian-Lebanese group promises retaliation for IAF strikes

A Palestinian terror group in Lebanon, which was apparently the target of IAF strikes early Friday morning in response to rocket fire in northern Israel Thursday, expressed surprise at the raid, given that a Sunni, al-Qaeda-inspired group claimed responsibility for the rocket attack.
A spokesman for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command (PFLP-GC) promised retaliation against Israel. “The Zionist enemy will not drag us into responding. It will come at the right time, in the right place.”

Twin blasts kill 20 in Lebanese city of Tripoli

Lebanon’s health minister said at least 20 people were killed, and over 213 were wounded in twin bombing attacks in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli Friday afternoon.
According to the Lebanese Future TV, the bodies were being transported to a hospital in the city. Security sources said the death toll is expected to rise sharply.
The blasts occurred outside two mosques as Friday prayers ended. The Lebanese Daily Star newspaper reported that the attacks occurred minutes apart.

U.S. Sanctions Four Members of Hezbollah

Cohen, who oversees terrorism and financial intelligence issues, described the four as either high-ranking Hezbollah operatives or those directly tasked with carrying out operations.
“Hezbollah is determined to spread instability, plan terrorist attacks and operate well beyond Lebanon’s boundaries,” he told reporters, according to AP. “And we have seen the violence and misery that comes along with Hezbollah’s influence, particularly in places like Syria and Iraq.”

Netanyahu: Syria chemical attack a ‘grievous crime’

The alleged use of chemical weapons against Syrian civilians on Wednesday “proves yet again that we cannot permit the world’s most dangerous regimes to acquire the world’s most dangerous weapons,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday.

"They Don't Care About Syria, They Won't Care About Us"

On his Facebook page, Rabbi Ronsky wrote that the hundreds killed by the Syrian army in a chemical weapons attack Wednesday sent a grim message to Israelis. Hundreds die, he said, “and the world remains silent. Hundreds of people – supposedly born in the image of G-d – die before us from chemical poisoning, and the world remains silent.”
One day soon, he said, those chemical weapons could be aimed at Israel, too. “And the world will remain silent – very silent – when those weapons are aimed at us,” he wrote.

Obama: Syria chemical attack an event of ‘grave concern’

President Barack Obama on Friday called the possible chemical weapons attack Wednesday in Syria a “big event of grave concern.”
The president said the US was still seeking conclusive evidence that chemical weapons were used this week. But he said such actions were “very troublesome” and are going to “require America’s attention."

Galloway: Israel gave chemical arms to al-Qaida in Syria attack

The Respect Party MP for Bradford West, who is a longstanding supporter of Hezbollah and Hamas, stated: "If there has been use of chemical weapons, it was al-Qaida," asking, "Who gave al-Qaida chemical weapons?"
Staring determined into the camera, Galloway stated: "Here's my theory. Israel gave them the chemical weapons."

UN says Syrian child refugees top 1 million mark

740,000 are under the age of 11; 7,000 children killed so far in the country’s bloody two-year civil war

Syria-based al Qaeda group issues threat to Western aid workers

Al Qaeda's affiliate in Syria - the Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham, or ISIS - warned Western aid workers that they are at risk of kidnapping or death if they enter Syria. The directive from the terror group now officially makes many U.S.-funded organizations targets.

Clifford May: Realism on Egypt

Final point: A great and historic upheaval is taking place not just in Egypt but throughout the Muslim world. It should by now be evident that there never was an "Arab Spring" — the blossoming of a new season of freedom. Nor is there an "Arab Awakening" — a widespread recognition that peace, prosperity, and dignity can be achieved through the establishment of liberal-democratic governance. What are we looking at instead? Anger, frustration, and ambition within societies that have become frighteningly dysfunctional, and in which poisonous ideologies based on dreams of conquest and glory — blended with nostalgia for an imagined past — have taken root.
Both America's expectations and its policies require adjustment. If Egypt's generals can be persuaded to see their immediate mission as pacifying the country, beginning the process of economic recovery, protecting minorities, and guaranteeing basic rights even while countering the militant, supremacist, and anti-democratic Islamists — a delicate balance, to be sure — it will be in our interest to assist them.

Egyptians Bewildered Over Support for Muslim Brotherhood

What many Egyptians cannot understand is: Why is the U.S. Administration siding with the forces of oppression in their country and assisting with its transformation into a failed state under the leadership of the Muslim Brotherhood? These conditions all run contrary to American interests.
In the Middle East, a strong economy, military, and police are the cornerstones of stability. Egypt was the first Arab nation to choose the path of peace with Israel. Egypt is the nerve system of the Arab and the Islamic world. The U.S. has a strong interest in a stable, modern, and prosperous Egypt. It simply cannot be allowed to become another Somalia or Afghanistan, controlled by its own version of the Taliban.

Christians United for Israel Condemns Attacks on Egypt’s Churches

Christians United for Israel (CUFI), the largest pro-Israel organization in the U.S., condemned the recent attacks on Christianity in Egypt and urged the U.S. government to do more to aid Christians there.
“Events in Egypt this week highlight yet again the tragedy facing the Christians of the Middle East. Once again, Christians are being targeted for murder. Once again Christian schools, businesses and churches are being attacked. And once again, the world is largely silent,” David Brog, executive director of CUFI, said in a statement.

No More Kosher Food from Egypt

The latest violence in Egypt has finally put an end to kosher food exports from the country. Several Egyptian factories that marketed reliably kosher food to Israel will no longer be able to do so.
Over the past two and a half years, kosher certification companies in Israel have continued to send their workers (mashgihim) to Egypt despite political unrest as first Hosni Mubarak and then Mohamed Morsi was ousted from power.

New Images Show Major Alterations at Iran Nuclear Site

The most recent imagery from satellite company Digital Globe is from August 13 and was seen by The Associated Press ahead of publication by the Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS).
The images show what ISIS says is progressive asphalting of a part of the Parchin complex that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) says was possibly used to test conventional explosive triggers for a nuclear blast.

Saudi Arabia's War on Witchcraft

Belief in magic is so widespread that it is often invoked as a defense in Sharia courts. "If there's an employer dispute -- say the migrant domestic worker claims she wasn't paid her wages or her conditions are unlivable -- a lot of times what happens unfortunately is the defendant makes counterclaims against the domestic worker," Coogle said. "And a lot of times they'll make counterclaims of sorcery, witchcraft, and that sort of thing."
Domestic workers, many of whom who are not fluent in Arabic, face significant challenges in defending themselves against these charges, according to Coogle.