Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Thursday, July 04, 2013

Archaeology news 3: Samson mosaics found in Galilee

A monumental synagogue building dating to the Late Roman period (ca. 4th-5th centuries C.E.) has been discovered in archaeological excavations at Huqoq in Israel’s Galilee.

The excavations are being conducted by Jodi Magness of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and David Amit and Shua Kisilevitz of the Israel Antiquities Authority, under the sponsorship of UNC, Brigham Young University in Utah, Trinity University in Texas, the University of Oklahoma and the University of Toronto in Canada. Students and staff from UNC and the consortium schools are participating in the dig.

Huqoq is an ancient Jewish village located approximately two to three miles west of Capernaum and Migdal (Magdala). Thissecond season of excavations has revealed portions of a stunning mosaic floor decorating the interior of the synagogue building. The mosaic, which is made of tiny colored stone cubes of the highest quality, includes a scene depicting Samson placing torches between the tails of foxes (as related in the book of Judges 15). In another part of the mosaic, two human (apparently female) faces flank a circular medallion with a Hebrew inscription that refersto rewards for those who performgood deeds.

“This discovery is significant because only a small number of ancient (Late Roman) synagogue buildings are decorated with mosaics showing biblical scenes, and only two others have scenes with Samson (one is at another site just a couple of miles from Huqoq),” said Magness, the Kenan Distinguished Professor in the department of religious studies in UNC’s College of Arts and Sciences. “Our mosaics are also important because of their high artistic quality and the tiny size of the mosaic cubes. This, together with the monumental size of the stones used to construct the synagogue’s walls, suggest a high level of prosperity in this village, as the building clearly was very costly.”

The University of North Carolina describes a different Samson mosaic; I'm not sure if it is from the same site or the one nearby:

Very high resolution image; click to see detail

In summer 2012, a mosaic showing Samson and the foxes (as related in the Bible’s Judges 15:4) was discovered in the synagogue’s east aisle. This summer, another mosaic was found that shows Samson carrying the gate of Gaza on his shoulders (Judges 16:3). Adjacent to Samson are riders with horses, apparently representing Philistines. Although he is not described as such in the Hebrew Bible, Samson is depicted as a giant in both scenes, reflecting later Jewish traditions that developed about the biblical judge and hero.

Biblical scenes are not uncommon in Late Roman synagogue mosaics, but only one other ancient synagogue in Israel (at Khirbet Wadi Hamam) is decorated with a scene showing Samson.

“The discovery of two Samson scenes in the Huqoq synagogue suggests that it was decorated with a Samson cycle — the first such cycle known in Israel,” said Magness. “A cycle is a series of scenes about Samson, in which different episodes relating to Samson are depicted.”

Another portion of mosaic discovered in the synagogue’s east aisle preserves a scene that includes several male figures and an elephant. Below that is an arcade, with the arches framing young men arranged around a seated elderly man holding a scroll. The strip below shows a bull pierced by spears, with blood gushing from his wounds, and a dying or dead soldier holding a shield.

This mosaic differs in style, quality and content from the Samson scenes, Magness said.

“It might depict a triumphal parade or perhaps a martyrdom story based on Maccabees 1-4, in which case it would be the first example of an apocryphal story decorating an ancient synagogue,” she said. “Apocryphal books were not included in the Hebrew Bible/Jewish canon of sacred scripture.”

(h/t L. King)

7/04 Links Part 2: Israeli Arab Christian Soldiers, Mandela and the Jews, Sabra dips into the NFL

From Ian:

Arab Christians: Israel only state worth fighting for

Arab Christian residents of Nazareth who proudly serve in the Israeli army and encourage their children to do the same are coming under increasing attack, and Israel is starting to take notice and come to their aid.
For a number of years now, a group of Nazareth Christians who are officers in the Israeli army have been actively recruiting young local Arabs to follow in their footsteps and serve the Jewish state. (h/t Zvi)

Mandela and the Jews

Jewish lawyers were prominently involved in defending Mandela in the various political trials in which he was involved, among them Isie Maisels (later a member of the governing body of the Jewish Agency), Arthur Chaskalson, Joel Joffe and Sidney Kentridge. He also worked closely with the journalist Benjamin Pogrund, who later made aliya and in addition to promoting Israeli- Palestinian dialogue has been a staunch defender of Israel in the propaganda war against it.
After Mandela’s release from prison in 1990, he and the mainstream Jewish leadership forged a cordial relationship and many leading Jewish businessmen were brought on board to assist in addressing the legacy of poverty and inequality left by the apartheid system.

IDF chief visits UK for first time in a decade

Following Israel’s assassination of Palestinian arch-terrorist Salah Shehadeh in 2002, pro-Palestinian groups spurred efforts to have Israeli military and political figures arrested in Britain for alleged war crimes committed abroad, exploiting a loophole in British law enabling universal jurisdiction.
In 2011, however, the law was amended so that Britain’s director of Public Prosecutions would be required to give his consent if a group calls for an arrest warrant to be issued on the grounds of universal jurisdiction, effectively closing the loophole. Livni eventually visited Britain in 2011 to meet with British Foreign Secretary William Hague.

ADL Raises Alert for White Supremacist ‘Freedompalooza 2013'

The event, “Freedompalooza 2013" is a gathering of white supremacists, anti-Semites, anti-government extremists and conspiracy theorists, according to the ADL.
Scheduled for the July 4-6 weekend, it is being organized by Paul Topete, an extremist lead singer of the band “Pokerface,” and sponsored by the “American Free Press,” published by Willis Carto.
The list of invited speakers includes two former members of Congress, both of whom have a history of hatred against Israel. Cynthia McKinney has long promoted anti-Israel rhetoric, and accused the pro-Israel lobby of sabotaging her political career.

‘Christian Century’ Under Fire for Ties With Editor From Magazine Accused of Anti-Semitism

The Christian Century, a mainline Christian magazine based in Chicago, has come under fire from the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA) for its ties to James M. Wall, an associate editor at the controversial Veterans News Now (VNN),who appears on The Christian Century’s masthead.
According to CAMERA, VNN is a magazine that “traffics in ugly anti-Semitic tropes and imagery,” including several recent pieces that highlighted “Jesus’ Aryan identity” and a pro-Iran piece titled “Abraham is Not My Father.” On the front page ofVNN on July 3, an article titled “Earth’s alpha predator: Zionist Mafia” argues that the American public has been “brainwashed by lies” from the Zionists.

Dumb and Dumber About Antisemitism in Germany

Really, what could be antisemitic about picturing Israel as an ugly greedy monster with horns? Why on earth would anybody take offense to see Israel caricatured like this as illustration for an article recommending two books highly critical of the Jewish state in one of Germany’s most influential newspapers?

Egypt’s ‘biting’ wrestler suspended

Wrestling’s governing body says it suspended an Egyptian athlete who allegedly bit her Israeli opponent during a bout.
Enas Moustafa Youssef Khourshid also reportedly disrespected wrestling protocol by refusing to shake the hand of Ilana Kartysh of Israel before or after their semifinal match at a Grand Prix event last month in Sassari, Italy.

Remembering Howard Grief

On 2 July, the stone-setting for Howard Grief took place in Jerusalem, and I should like to pay tribute to this extraordinary man, and the unique legacy he left to the Jewish people in his book, “The Foundation and Borders of Israel under International Law“, published in 2008 —– the product of more than 20 years of research.
It is a work of profound scholarship, yet the documentation of the Jewish legal rights to the land set in a historical narrative, make it a compelling read. Each titled chapter within it is a stand-alone, with the first being the most important.

StandWithUs Launches New Pro-Israel Campaign

Pro-Israel advocacy and education group StandWithUs has launched an advertising campaign for the month of July on San Francisco’s Muni bus system to counter the latest round of anti-Israel ads.
“Anti-Israel groups attempt to misinform the public in order to undermine American support for Israel. Their ads typically demonize Israel and blame it for the lack of peace. They ignore context including the continued deadly actions and ideology of Palestinian terrorist groups like Hamas,” Roz Rothstein, CEO of StandWithUs, said in a statement reported by the JNS news service.

Satire: Yet another modest proposal for a Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign

In a move widely expected to spark considerable controversy, one of the UK’s leading university unions, the National Union of Teachers, Trainers and Education Research Staff (known cheekily by some rebels within the union as ‘NUTTERS’) will announce a proposal that Britain’s university teachers and researchers take the unusual step of boycotting themselves.
A spokesperson for the union told CiF Watch the following:
“We realise this may seem drastic, but the gravity of the crimes being committed in the name of UK universities leaves us no choice. We have reliable information that several UK universities have collaboration programmes with educational facilities in such anti-democratic, misogynistic and apartheid states such as Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Qatar. We also know of several other British institutions which have received substantial donations from such puppet organisations as the Qatari Foundation and the King Faisal Institute.

Sabra Hummus is the Official Dip of the NFL

Rejoice, hummus lovers (and football fans), because Monday Night Football will never be the same. That’s because hummus is now the official dip of the National Football League—Sabra hummus, that is, from the PepsiCo-owned Sabra Dipping Co.—and soon the entirety of this great country will finally know what you’ve known all along: that hummus is delicious.
Bloomberg reports that the sponsorship comes at the same time that the company approved its first U.S. television commercials, presumably part of a wider campaign to make the Middle Eastern spread more palatable to the American masses:

Pictet attracted by Israel's 8,500 millionaire families

In November 2012, Pictet & Cie executives prepared the gala opening of the Swiss bank's Israeli branch. These were the early days of Operation Pillar of Defense in Gaza, and for a moment, Tel Aviv was a city under missile attack. Rebuffing instructions from the Swiss Embassy, Pictet Wealth Management Israel manager Karen Schwok, went ahead with the event. "We opened under conditions of uncertainty, just when missiles began to fall here. All of the bank's eight partners and senior executives came to Israel for three days. We held meetings and events, and every time we all ran to the stairwell," she told "Globes" in an interview. (h/t Zvi)

Hebrew U, Singapore U Create Joint PhD Program

The National University of Singapore (NUS) and The Hebrew University of Jerusalem are launching a Joint Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree program in biomedical science beginning in August 2013.
Prof. Tan Eng Chye, Deputy President (Academic Affairs) and Provost at National University of Singapore, and Prof. Menahem Ben-Sasson, President of the Hebrew University, signed the joint degree agreement at NUS, in the presence of Ambassador of Israel to Singapore Her Excellency Amira Arnon and 30 invited guests.

Intel Considering $10 Billion Investment in Israel

Intel, the world’s top computer chip manufacturer, is in talks with the Israeli government about a $10-billion (U.S.) investment in Israel, a senior government official told the Hebrew-language Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper on Tuesday.

Archaeology news 2: Possible evidence of the Mishkan at Shiloh

From Israel HaYom:

The Tabernacle or Tent of Meeting -- which, according to the Bible, housed the Ark of the Covenant -- was a temporary structure made of wooden beams and fabric, not materials cut out for thousands of years of survival.

Nevertheless, undaunted, archaeologists have searched for evidence of the Tent of Meeting for years, which they posited would be found in ancient Shiloh (next to the settlement of Shiloh in the Binyamin region). Now it appears their efforts have borne fruit, yielding assumptions that the Tent of Meeting indeed stood there.

The findings, which will be presented at a conference of the Shiloh Association scheduled to take place this week in ancient Shiloh, include the discovery of holes carved into the ground which could have held the beams of a temporary structure.

Because the Tent of Meeting and Ark of the Covenant were portable, archaeologists are considering the possibility that the Tent of Meeting stood there. The Tent of Meeting served as a place of prayer and sacrifice until the First Temple in Jerusalem was built by King Solomon.

Near the holes, in the northern part of Tel Shiloh, structures were unearthed that correspond to the dates when Joshua first settled the land of Israel until the period of King David's reign.

One of these structures was found to contain ceramic vessels as well as three large taboon clay ovens.

"This is not something that was common in private residences and therefore we do not believe these structures served as family dwellings," explained Hananya Hizmi, staff officer for archeology in the Civil Administration of Judea and Samaria.

Keep in mind that the Mishkan (tabernacle) was in Shiloh for 369 years.

Archaeology news 1: Indirect proof of Esther?

From JPost, an interesting article that might be indirect proof for the story of the Book of Esther:

Just a hundred years ago, they were searching for it desperately. German, French and Italian archaeological expeditions were mounted to comb the lower stretches of Elephantine Island in the Nile River, in southern Egypt, but without success. They had been activated by the publication in 1911, two years earlier, of papyrus documents from the area that contained personal stories of members of a Jewish military colony in the area from the 5th century BCE. According to the document, there had been a temple in their midst of the colony. But where, exactly? Was it real or a myth ? Where was the colony, exactly, and why was it there at all? With the advent of World War I in 1914, the search was called off. It resumed after 1918, but again without success.

The papyrus scrolls were specific. The Jewish colonists lived in peace with their Egyptian neighbors, and they kept the Jewish laws. In fact, the Persian Emperor Darius II had commanded them to keep the Passover feast of unleavened bread in 418 BCE and not to drink beer for seven days after Nissan 14, according to one of the papyri. The area at the time was under Persian control; it had been captured by Cambyses in 525 BCE, and the Jewish colony was under Persian jurisdiction.

They occupied a whole row of mud-brick houses, some of them married Egyptian wives, some did not, and altogether they lived their lives in peace and quiet. Why were they there? They were a military unit serving there to guard Egypt’s southern border. They were on Elephantine Island, opposite Aswan on the mainland, and it was here, at the first cataract of the Nile, that Egypt had always had to defend itself against infiltrators from the south, where the poorer nations were desperate to enter and enjoy the riches of their wealthy neighbors.

Why would Darius II, a Persian king, instruct Jews to keep Passover?

Maybe because many scholars identify Darius II was the son of Queen Esther!

7/04 Links Part 1: A ‘P’alestinian Inconvenient Truth, Egypt Roundup and Assad's Hypocrisy

From Ian:

A ‘P’alestinian Inconvenient Truth

In the ongoing “battle of the narratives” between Israel and the Palestinians, one minor, but telling, detail rarely gets mentioned: the Arabic alphabet, the abjad, lacks the letter “P.” Until the “P”alestinians, no people in history had ever adopted a name for themselves, or for their country, that cannot be written in their own language. By itself, this detail establishes that the “P”alestinian national narrative is a wholly modern invention.
In Arabic, the “P”alestinians call their country “Filastin” and themselves “Filastiniyun,” but this doesn’t validate their narrative; in fact, it underscores the simple truth about “P”alestine that the world ignores.

PM: Palestinian leaders think its possible to destroy Israel

Speaking at a memorial session marking the 73rd anniversary of Jabotinsky’s death, Netanyahu said the Irgun and Betar founder’s realism should be kept in mind today.
“The obstacle to peace between us and the Palestinians is not just fundamentalist terrorist organizations, but the belief that it is possible to destroy the State of Israel,” the prime minister explained.
“These organizations, states and leaders plant hopes in their nations that we can be beaten by sword, gun and bomb. We cannot be defeated by any those means or any others.”

Analysis: Hamas grows stronger in Gaza, again

Eight months after the IDF’s Operation Pillar of Defense in Gaza, events in Syria, Egypt and Lebanon have turned the Strip into an arena of secondary importance for many observers.
Despite the relative quiet in the Gazan arena, much is taking place there. Hamas is entrenching itself further as the sovereign, and rearming itself with rockets. It once again has thousands of short-range rockets – around 5,000 of them – and possesses medium-range rockets which can strike greater Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.
Hamas’s rocket arsenal places 70 percent of Israelis within range.

UN calls for end to Israeli restrictions on Gaza

Israel’s Foreign Ministry brushed aside the criticism and laid the blame at the doorstep of the Hamas rulers of the Gaza Strip.
“As soon as Hamas reaches out to Israel and asks to sit with us to coordinate lifting the restrictions, we will be able to say what is possible and what is not,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor told The Times of Israel. “As long as Hamas continues to speak about Israel only as the target of rockets, speaking of lifting restrictions sounds particularly hollow.”

Israelly Cool: Hamas Would Rather Their People Suffer Than Benefit From Israeli-Produced Goods

Hamas has closed a gas canister factory in Gaza.
The crime? Selling canisters of the same color as Israeli-produced canisters.

4 Hamas operatives arrested in Cairo

Four Hamas operatives were arrested at their home in a Cairo suburb on suspicion of planning a terror attack, Egypt’s Al-Ahram reported early Wednesday.
Security forces found explosives in the apartment, as well as military and police uniforms.

Barry Rubin: Obama Administration Middle East Policy: See What I've Been Trying to Tell You?

A self-interview
First, I want to apologize that I have often used intemperate language to describe U.S. policy and the people making it in the last 4.5 years. Perhaps I have put off some of you who would otherwise have been persuaded that something is very wrong. Therefore, I have tried to do another version of this approach. Remember, I'm not responsible for the way the questions are phrased here.

A victory for young revolutionaries, but not for democracy

But for Hamas, the news out of Cairo Wednesday night was especially grim. The Palestinian organization is losing its most substantial ally, one that gave it vital political support. The Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas’s parent organization and in many ways its “Godfather,” lost its power to a military establishment that is hostile to the Palestinian group’s goals.
Hamas, which has clashed with Syria and Iran over the course of the last year, now finds itself nearly isolated in the Arab sphere. Perhaps the new reality in which it finds itself will lead the weakened Hamas to conclude its reunification with Fatah.

Morsi’s fall is a blow to Mideast Islamists

Egypt was the centerpiece of the Islamist movement’s vault to power in the Arab world’s sweeping wave of uprisings. Winning election after election here, the Islamists vowed to prove they could govern effectively and implement their vision of political Islam, all while embracing the rules of democracy.

Police raid Brotherhood as new leader calls for inclusion of Islamists

Adly Mansour sworn in as president; Police seeking Muslim Brotherhood head, have already arrested Morsi and 300 other senior party members; ElBaradei heads list to lead interim government

Morsi role at Syria rally seen as tipping point for Egypt army

Mr Morsi himself called for foreign intervention in Syria against Mr Assad, leading to a veiled rebuke from the army, which issued an apparently bland but sharp-edged statement the next day stressing that its only role was guarding Egypt’s borders.

At Pro-Morsi Rally, Supporters Chant Anti-Jewish Slogans Threatening Massacres

Pro-Morsi protesters at Cairo University – which was the scene of bloody clashes overnight – were heard chanting an anti-Semitic slogan threatening massacres against Jews:

“Pro-Morsy protesters at Cairo University chant the anti-Jewish slogan: "Khaybar, Khayber, O Jews, the army of Mohamed will return."
The chant is a reference to the 7th century events around the oasis of Khaybar in modern-day Saudi Arabia, in which Muslims massacred and expelled the town’s Jewish population.

Revenge: Coptic Church Set Aflame for Morsi

True to their vows, pro-Morsi Muslims are attacking Egypt’s Christians for participating in the anti-Morsi protests. The St. George Coptic Christian Church in a village in al-Minya, Egypt, has just been set on fire by “pro-Morsi” forces. Copts are reported to be in a state of “fear and panic.”
Days earlier, a letter was circulated in al-Minya, which has a very large Coptic population, calling on Copts not to join the protests, otherwise their “businesses, cars, homes, schools, and churches” might “catch fire.”

American Islamists Rally Behind MB Amid Egypt Protests

Millions of Egyptians are in the streets demanding the ouster of President Mohamed Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood regime in Egypt for their totalitarian theocratic policies. But many of America's leading Islamists are sticking by Morsi and condemning the protesters on social media.

Syria's Assad says political Islam being defeated in Egypt

Relishing the possible downfall of one of Assad's most vocal critics, Syrian television carried live coverage of the huge street demonstrations in Egypt demanding the departure of President Mohamed Mursi.

Turkey’s Ruling Party, Opposition Unite to Condemn Egypt Coup

In a rare show of unity, both Turkey’s ruling AK Party and its opposition Republican People's Party have condemned Wednesday's overthrow of Egypt's President Mohamed Morsi following protests by millions that led to a military coup d'etat.
AKP spokesperson Huseyin Celik told reporters that the coup was a sign of "backwardness," and accused some Western nations of having supported the overthrow.

Saudi Arabia Congratulates New Egyptian Ruler, West ‘Concerned’

Saudi Arabia’s king has already congratulated Egypt’s new transitional head of state, while Western leaders express concern and call for “dialogue.”
Saudi King Abdullah sent a message of congratulations to Supreme Constitutional Court chief justice Adly el-Mansour on Wednesday immediately following his appointment as the new head of Egypt’s transitional government by Egyptian Army Commander General Abdel Fattah el-Sisi in the hours after the overthrow of Muslim Brotherhood-backed President Mohamed Morsi.

Catholic priest NOT among three beheaded on video by Syrian rebels, says head friar

A Catholic priest was not among three men graphically filmed being beheaded in Syria last week a friar overseeing the Franciscans in the Middle East has told CNN.
Father Francois Mourad, a Syrian originally named as victim of a merciless mob, was instead shot eight times on June 23 when a group of rebels stormed his monastery, said Friar Pierbattista Pizzaballa, head of the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land. He was buried that same day.

Hanging Out With Hezbollah

The intervention—Hezbollah’s first full-scale battle to reinforce Assad in Syria—suggests a new direction in the war and has seemingly prompted the U.S. to rush supplies to the rebels. It has also fanned fears that Hezbollah’s involvement will drag Lebanon deeper into the Syrian quagmire and possibly ignite a sectarian civil war between Sunnis and Shiites within Lebanon itself.
But the idea that this may be treacherous territory isn’t foremost in the mind of the Hezbollah commander. To him this is opportune training ground. “What we are doing in Syria in some ways is a dress rehearsal for Israel,” he says.

Gulf States Slam Hezbollah for Syria Fighting Conducted “Under The Banner” of Iran

Gulf states are again slamming Hezbollah over the Iran-backed terror group’s role in bolstering the regime of Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad:

Chechen terror leader calls for attacks on Winter Olympics

A Chechen Islamist leader, described in Russia's media as the country's most wanted man, has issued a dramatic video broadcast threatening "maximum force" to disrupt the Winter Olympic games next year in the Russian resort town of Sochi.
Doku Umarov, leader of the so-called Caucasus Emirate group which has killed dozens in high profile bomb attacks at airports and metro stations, sought to rally his supporters and allies, saying:

Note the photo behind him

On Al Jazeera, the screenwriter of the "Khaybar" miniseries that will be aired this month in many Arab countries described its antisemitic motifs in detail.

Yusri al-Jindi tells the network that "Khaybar" raises two issues.

The first is that the Mohammed set up a state with equality between citizens, including Jews. The Islamic state is the finest with respect to equal rights and, what he would say, is "democracy," in ways that modern man can learn lessons from.

The second issue is that despite these civil rights, the Jews didn't respond with equal goodwill. Instead, the Jews greeted the benign Muslim rule with with treachery and intrigue, and outright treason.

Al-Jindi notes that the series emphasizes that Jews are Jews, still practicing their treasonous nature throughout the centuries, and they have wrought havoc in every society they have lived. They were the first to fight against this "civil Islamic state", and stand now against the restoration of the Umma for its civilization and glory.

The Jews have been consistent with this opposition to their hosts, such as in Babylon, with the Romans in the Levant, in Tsarist Russia, in Arab states and in Hitler's Germany.

The current crisis experienced by the Arab world is, he says, the best witness to this fact, and here the series takes its modern meaning.

Once again, it is clear that "Khaybar" is meant to incite Arabs against Jews today.

Please "like" our "Condemn Khaybar" Facebook page and sign the petition urging Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International to condemn this series before it goes on the air.

Hamas columnist blames Egyptian coup on..The Jews!

You knew this had to happen.

In Hamas' newspaper Felesteen, Dr. Fayez Abu Shamala (they are always "doctors" for some reason) spins a worldwide conspiracy theory to take down Egypt's democratically elected government, and - as usual - the Jews are central to the plot.

Shamala states that the coup was not done by the Egyptian people who are united and hate division, but rather "what is happening on the land of Egypt is a purely Zionist initiative with a Jewish seal and laminated by America," where they managed to find some Egyptian puppets to help Israeli sabotage against Egypt's energy industry (I guess to create long lines for fuel.)

This is especially funny since Egyptians damaged the gas pipeline to Israel many times!

The writer goes on:

What is happening on the land of Egypt is an intercontinental conspiracy, and the results go beyond the borders of Egypt, to affect the Arab Middle East as a whole, this is not only an Egyptian affair but Arabic and Islamic, which has an effect on each region. Israeli Knesset member Ben-Eliezer when he spoke to Israel Radio, said: "Egyptian society was a secular society with songs, movies and tourism, and suddenly someone comes along trying to turn the clock back by 400 years."

The Jews have lost this bet, and the Zionists lost the battle in Egypt, because the Egyptian society is a Muslim society that lives on dignity and chivalry and has high motivations, a community that clings to Arab morals, and is proud of its place of leadership in Islamic history, and is pouring all his energies to the next stage. Egypt will triumph, and will emerge from the crisis, and move beyond the trap installed by Jews towards Arabs and Muslims on the land of Egypt. ..Egypt will not retreat backwards again, and will not put Zionist restrictions on its wrist again.

Palestinian jihadist group takes "credit" for deadly Arizona fires

From The Long War Journal:

A Palestinian jihadist group, Masada al Mujahideen, recently claimed credit for ongoing wildfires in Arizona in a statement posted to jihadist forums today. The statement, titled "Masada al-Mujahideen Fulfilled its Promise and Attacked America Again After the Expiration of the Period with Fires that Achieved Historic Results," was obtained and translated by the SITE Intelligence Group.

"We had previously announced an unconventional war against the occupation state of Israel, and then we escalated this war to reach its main supporter, America, so that it receives a major share of it, which will destroy their flora and fauna, with permission from Allah and then with our hands," the group said.

The statement further said that the group targeted the United States "in order to make it clear and to make it know we can reach it when we warn it, and to make it certain that our hands don't just reach it but also strike it."

The group warned that the attacks "will not be the last...if America does not respond to our demands." The statement boasted that 19 firefighters had been killed in the fires.

Contrary to the claims of Masada al Mujahideen, authorities have said that they believe the fires were started as a result of lighting.

Today's statement was not the first highly dubious claim by the jihadist group related to fires in the US. In January 2012, the group claimed credit for wildfires in Nevada.

According to SITE, in addition to claiming responsibility for fires in the US, the jihadist group has claimed credit for more than a dozen fires in Israel since 2010.

The Masada al Mujahadeen statement also, unsurprisingly, has a lot about Jews.

They described the Arizona fires as a "holy conquest," saying "we will demolish, God willing, the edifices of obnoxious Jewish occupation to send the Jews back where they came from," adding that these "attacks" will continue "until America responds to our demands," and that the fires represent a "repudiation of the Jewish occupation of large parts of the land of Palestine."

Egyptian army shuts down pro-Morsi TV channels

I'm no fan of the Muslim Brotherhood, but isn't it strange that the world is celebrating a military dictatorship replacing a democratically elected government - and then doing exactly what critics accused that government of doing?

From Times of India:

Egypt's military-led authorities shut down three Islamist-run TV stations on Wednesday including one operated by the Muslim Brotherhood after President Mohamed Morsi was toppled by the army, drawing a statement of concern from a press freedom watchdog.

The security forces also raided the offices of Al Jazeera's Egyptian news channel and detained at least five of its staff, said Karim El-Assiuti, one of its journalists. Four of them were later released, the channel said.

The channel, Al Jazeera Mubasher Misr, was prevented from broadcasting from a pro-Morsi rally in northern Cairo and its crew there was also detained.

The Brotherhood's Egypt25 channel was forced off air and its managers arrested shortly after General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, head of Egypt's armed forces, announced a plan for a new political transition, the state news agency MENA reported.

The authorities also shut down two other Islamist-run stations, Al-Hafiz and Al-Nas, security sources said. Both are affiliated to the strict Salafi Islamist movement.

"We are concerned by reports that authorities are shutting down television coverage based on political perspective," said Sherif Mansour of the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists. "We urge the military not to deprive Egyptians of information sources at this important juncture."

Muslim site explains why hating Jews is important

This site seems to be newly indexed by Google News, although it appears to be more a Muslim Sunni religious site than a news site. I'm not even sure what country it comes from.

Anyway, a new article on the site explains why Jews must be hated.

The Muslim Ummah these days suffers from difficult conditions and painful events, and the largest is what Jews in the land of Palestine do to the Muslims; they kill their men and their children, and terrorize their wives and their children, and burn their mosques and demolish their homes...

The Muslim must start his vision and judgment on the events of the Quran and Sunnah, and to us with these events remind us and of our way and how to prepare for our enemy.

Why do we hate the Jews?!

We hate Jews for the Lord, and Nbgdahm in God because they insulted God and killed prophets....

[This is followed by many Koranic and other quotes, including the claim that Jews say that Ezra was the son of God, that God is irritable and lies, that Jews consider themselves above angels, and that they consider rabbis to be as exalted as God.]

..A non-Jewish woman is [considered] a beast [in Judaism.]

- Jews have the right to rape non-Jewish women.

- Adultery with non-Jews is not punished because they [the non-Jews are considered] descendants of animals.

...They wrapped a pig's head in the pages of the Koran and wrote on it "Mohammed" and threw it into the Al-Aqsa Mosque to tease Muslims...

[A litany of other absurd "crimes" like shooting bullets at the heads of 100 Muslims, culminating in:]

And they put chemicals in the drinking water of the reservoirs in Palestine to sterilize Muslim women...

But the article ends off on a high note, since Allah doesn't do things that are totally bad, there are some "positive phenomena" in Palestine. For example:

...
- There is now a great conviction among the Muslim masses that the only way to defeat the Jews is Jihad for the sake of God and the establishment of this duty is the pinnacle of Islam.

- All the ideologiesand revolutionary nationalism and democracy are all roads of ignorance, there is no god but Allah to help Muslims.

- This brought about the rise of Islam, as the only ideology capable of fighting the Jews. This is manifest in the Islamic battle cry "Khaybar, Khaybar, oh Jews, the army of Muhammad will return", which is painful for the Jews to hear.

-Uniting the Umma.

- Normalization of relations with Israel has stopped or at least slowed down, since those Muslims/Arabs who called for peace have finally seen that the Jews break all the peace accords, as it is written in the Koran.

...Finally, we ask Allah to save the vulnerable from the faithful, and to humiliate the Jews and the idolaters, and expel the Jews from the Holy House, and peace be upon our Prophet Muhammad and upon his family and companions.

(h/t Ibn Boutros)

Hamas is the big loser in the Egyptian coup

Al Monitor reports:

Hamas stands to be the major loser in the latest popular revolt in Egypt, which pits millions of Egyptians against now deposed President Mohammed Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood.

When opponents of the Morsi regime announced mass protests demanding Morsi’s resignation, anti-Hamas sentiment escalated with rumors that Hamas militants would be infiltrating from Gaza to help keep Morsi in power. The rumors caused the Egyptian government to ratchet-up its efforts to close the Rafah tunnels between Gaza and Egypt to control the movement of people and to put the rumors to rest.

Despite these efforts, the rumors implicating Hamas in propping up the Morsi regime continued to circulate, prompting additional Egyptian attempts to close the tunnels and restrict movement, a process that is causing severe shortages in the blockaded Gaza Strip.

Whatever the truth regarding Hamas’ involvement or lack thereof, perceptions in the streets and squares of Egypt put the Hamas movement in the same corner with Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood. Because of this, now that Morsi has fallen, one of the first groups to pay the price will be Hamas.

This comes at the worse possible time for the Islamist movement, which recently lost its base in Syria and financial support from Iran as a result of its decision to oppose former ally and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and join the rebels in trying to bring him down.

Even friendly Qatar might discontinue its political and financial support of Hamas. The change in leadership in Doha, with the transfer of power to Prince Tamim, is said to be the result of a yet undeclared policy to moderate Qatar’s foreign policy. When the pro-Qatari Islamist ideologue Yusuf al-Qaradawi traveled to Egyp t this week, he went out of his way to point out that he had not been deported from Qatar.

Typical of the antipathy that Egyptians have for Hamas could be seen in this Asharq Alawsat article from a couple of days ago talking about how the Muslim Brotherhood was giving millions to Hamas while Egypt suffered.

Hamas slammed a Fatah official who called for an Egyptian-style uprising against Hamas in Gaza.

But Hamas is not taking any chances. Reports say that Hamas has increased the number of military parades in Gaza as a show of force - and intimidation - against any citizens who might plan to protest the regime. A Hamas prosecutor also recently said that there will be more executions in Gaza, and the media might be invited - another way to dissuade any dissent.

7/03 Links Part 2: Entebbe 37 Years On, Buycott Week and an Indian Kibbutz

From Ian:

There is no place the IDF can’t reach, says Netanyahu

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday reminded the world of the IDF’s capabilities, speaking during a Knesset ceremony marking the 37-year anniversary of Operation Yonatan, the raid on Uganda’s Entebbe airport to free over 100 passengers held hostage after a terrorist hijacking.
“The threats upon us for the past 37 years continue,” said Netanyahu. “But the example of Entebbe shows we can overcome them, and today, too, I say that there is no place that the IDF’s long arm will not reach in order to defend the state of Israel.”

With Eye on Iran, U.S. to Provide Israel with Special Forces-Friendly Tiltrotor Airplanes

The Osprey “is the ideal platform for sending Israeli special forces into Iran,” says Kenneth Pollack, a former CIA analyst now at the Brookings Institution’s Saban Center for Middle East Policy. The aircraft could help solve Israel’s inability to breach Iran’s uranium enrichment facility buried under a granite mountain at Fordow. It might be impregnable to even the heaviest conventional bunker-busting munitions in the U.S. arsenal, Pollack said. Israeli military planners have been brainstorming how to conduct an effective operation, Pollack said, citing conversations with senior Israeli military officers.

Shoppers told to buy Israeli goods in new campaign

British shoppers will be encouraged to buy Israeli products next week as part of an initiative to counter boycott campaigns.
Dates, fruit, olives and wines are expected to be among the items that Israel supporters add to their shopping trolleys and baskets.
It is hoped that Buy Israeli Goods Week, starting on Monday, will nullify the efforts of anti-Israel activists who are expected to lobby Sainsbury’s next month in an attempt to see Israeli products removed from the chain’s stores.
The pro-Israel scheme — dubbed a “buycott” — has been co-ordinated by Stand With Us, the Zionist Federation, the Board of Deputies and the Fair Play Campaign Group.

Most Israelis, Palestinians support 2 states

The majority of Israelis and Palestinians support a two-state solution, a new survey released by the Hebrew University’s Truman Institute and the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research has found. On both sides, however, respondents are pessimistic over the prospects of “an independent Palestine” being formed in the next five years.
Nearly two-thirds of Israelis — 62 percent — support a diplomatic solution based on two states, while only 33% oppose it, the survey said. In contrast, 46% of the Palestinians said they were against the idea, as opposed to 53% who replied that they were in favor of it.

New Data Shows 99% Drop in Illegal Entry

Multiple developments have been credited for the dramatic change. One is the new security fence which covers the 230 kilometers (144 miles) of border between Israel and Egypt.
Another is a law which went into effect in June 2012 under which illegal entrants to Israel who do not have refugee status are arrested.
The IDF has also bolstered its presence on the southern border in response to political instability in Egypt and increasing terror in the Sinai Peninsula, providing another obstacle to would-be illegal entrants.

Is Greece’s New Democracy party whitewashing neo-Nazis?

A longtime member of New Democracy, Greece’s ruling party, called for collaboration with neo-Nazi party Golden Dawn at a July 1 conference, sparking a debate whether his party has become, as critics suggest, a laundering facility for neo-Nazi politicians.
According to Athens-based daily Greek newspaper Kathimerini, former minister and parliamentary speaker Vyron Polydoras proposed new cooperation measures between New Democracy and Golden Dawn, “as part of a ‘broader consensus’ to defend the nation.”
The report continues with a response from the New Democracy spokesperson saying Polydoras’s suggestion was “strange.”

German daily slammed for depicting Israel as Moloch

The Simon Wiesenthal Center denounced a German newspaper on Tuesday for running a cartoon depicting Israel as a hungry monster lying in bed, fork and knife in hand, being waited on by a woman.
The “Süddeutsche Zeitung,” Germany’s largest broadsheet daily, published the visual with the caption, “Germany is serving. For decades now, Israel has been given weapons, in parts for free. Israel’s enemies think it is a ravenous Moloch. Peter Beinart deplores this situation.”
Peter Beinart is a liberal American Jewish journalist who has become a vocal critic of Israel’s policies after writing favorably about the Jewish state for years.

U.S. Student Says He was Refused Entry Into U.K. Over Israeli Passport Stamps

A Kansas City student who was denied entry into the United Kingdom late last month and was detained for more than nine hours by U.K. customs officials, before being put on a plane back to the U.S., believes he was targeted because he is Jewish and had traveled to Israel.
Louis Cantor, 23, arrived in the U.K. and waited in line to go through customs. He was detained after a customs agent saw two pages in his passport with Israeli stamps. Cantor says he was never told why he was being denied entry. He was told his photo and fingerprints have now been placed in a database that will make it difficult for him to obtain entry into the U.K. or any other European Union country.

Italy Looks to Israel to Build ‘Start-Up Nation’

Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta, making his first trip outside Europe since taking office in April, expressed admiration for Israel’s culture of innovation by saying Monday in Jerusalem that he wanted to learn “how to build a start-up nation” from Israel.
It was a “very important signal” that Letta’s first trip as prime minister outside Europe was to Israel, he said, Israel Hayom reported.

Israeli Terror Survivor Competes in European Wheelchair Basketball

“I waited a long time for this moment,” said Shabo in an exclusive interview with Tazpit News Agency. “It’s been a long emotional, physical, and mental journey for me to get to this point.”
When Shabo was nine-years-old, a Palestinian terrorist broke into his family’s home in the Itamar community and murdered his mother and three brothers in a brutal gun attack on June 20, 2002. Asael, who was watching TV together with his five-year-old brother, Avishai, was badly injured while his younger brother was killed in the attack. A sister, Aviya, was also injured.

IMI unveils new long-range guided rocket

Israel Military Industries Ltd. (IMI) has completed development of its MARS long-range precision air-launched guided rocket. The multipurpose rocket weighs half a ton. IMI says that it has successfully undergone a series of tests at training grounds, with good hits on the targets predefined in the mission planning stage.
IMI's Rocket Systems Division has been developing the MARS system for several years. It is based on analysis of future battlefield needs, and will soon be offered to the IDF and other armies, subject to obtaining export permits from the Ministry of Defense.

Indian student to build innovative orphanage using Israeli permaculture techniques

For 33-year-old Joshua Godfrey, studying the farming models of Israel’s kibbutzim firsthand has provided the framework he needs to open a permaculture orphanage back home – on the outskirts of Chennai, southeastern India.
“I am developing a project where I could demonstrate that permanent agriculture could support orphan female children and elderly women,” Godfrey told The Jerusalem Post during a recent interview in Tel Aviv. “The concept is to bring the two communities together to tailor them as a single-parent family.”
Godfrey decided to focus on girls, rather than on boys or both genders, because girls still tend to face many more social problems in rural India compared to their male counterparts, he explained.

Israel Daily Picture: Celebrating July 4th in the Holy Land 100 Years Ago.

The founders of the American Colony in Jerusalem in 1881 were proud of their American roots. The group of utopian, millennialist Christians were later joined by Swedish-American and Swedish believers.
The American Colony set up clinics, orphanages, cottage industries and soup kitchens for the poor of Jerusalem, earning favor with the Turkish rulers of Palestine. Their concern for all citizens of Jerusalem was evident in the shelter and assistance they provided to destitute Yemenite Jews who arrived in Jerusalem in 1882.

The Jewish-Thai conspiracy to stop Turkey's - space program?

Hurriyet's Burak Bekdil is withering in his attack on Turkey's leaders:

Egypt’s deeply troubled president, Mohamed Morsi, proved to be too uncreative compared to his Turkish brothers in arms when he blamed the mass protests against his Muslim Brotherhood regime on foreign countries only. He could have been better inspired by his Turkish comrades. Even Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Beşir Atalay was able to add some (well, the usual) sauce on his "evil foreign powers recipe": The Turkish unrest had been sparked by the Jewish diaspora.

So, where, President Morsi, in your assessment of "Tahrir Square – Revisited," are the Jewish conspirators, Western capitals, financial lobbyists, global capitalists, BBC, CNN International, the Economist, Kemalists, Syrian Baathists, Iranian intelligence, the intergalactic forces, and Michael Rubin?

Yes, Mr. Rubin. The zealously, passionately government-friendly press in Turkey discovered weeks ago that the anti-government protests in nearly 80 Turkish cities were the result of a plot hatched at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), and the plotters are, of course, Jews, including the intergalactic chieftain Mr. Rubin who, in a posting he called “A little bit of crazy from Turkey,” confessed to the global cabal:

“Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan can’t even get Jewish conspiracies right: Doesn’t he know that on Sundays, we control the banks. On Mondays, we control the newspapers. On Tuesdays, we think about how we can stage terrorist attacks and blame al-Qaeda. On Wednesdays, we attend meetings with George Soros to discuss interest rates. On Thursdays, we plan atrocities and then order the international media to broadcast cooking shows so no one need see the violence. On Fridays, we hunt Christian children so we can use their blood to make matzoh. On Saturdays, exhausted, we rest.”

But the plot that pushed tens of millions of Turks and Egyptians out to the streets to protest the Turkish and Egyptian Muslim brothers is not confined merely to Mr. Rubin and the AEI (secretly known as “Abraham’s Evil Israel”). I have found on-the-record evidence of Thai collaboration in the big game. Yes, Thai. But no, not avatars disguised as tuk-tuk drivers. Juthaporn Remgronasa, a senior official from the Tourism Authority of Thailand, said that the former Siam country saw potential opportunities in penetrating German and other European markets to draw more tourists to Thailand, and openly confessed to the plot: “Turkey’s political problems will benefit Thailand.”

Earlier, a Turkish Cabinet minister unveiled the big game. Economy Minister Zafer Cağlayan said (financial) speculators, lobbyists and bankers were united in a coalition against Turkey. Without these lobbies, he said, Turkey would now have built and launched its own spaceship.

The situation is very serious: All the dark forces of the intergalactic lobbyists, Abraham’s Evil Israel, Mr. Rubin and Thailand’s Union of Tuk-Tuk Drivers have joined their forces to stop the supreme Turkish engineering from building a spaceship which, who knows, could one day save the world from an alien attack. Of course, a more plausible interpretation could be that the dark forces are trying to stop the Turkish spaceship to prevent possible casualties in case the Sultan I crashed into the kitchen of a Bolivian farmer. And I feel guilty because I was the first journalist to reveal Turkey’s plans to build a spaceship (“We’ll make fighter jets! And spaceships too...” this column, Dec. 16, 2010).

In the meantime, it might be a better idea if Mssrs. Erdoğan and Cağlayan devoted less time and efforts to spaceships and intergalactic conspiracy theories and more to making Turkey a better place to live in. Turkey has just ranked last among 34 nations according to the OECD’s Better Living Index (based on 11 selected criteria including health, education, environment, personal security and income). Unless of course Abraham’s Evil Israel, Mr. Rubin, the tuk-tuk lobby and Turk-hating avatars have already taken control of the OECD.

(h/t Gidon Shaviv)

Iranian news reports Kate Middleton is Jewish!

I know that there is big news in Egypt and Syria and Turkey, but - hold the presses - the future British monarch will be Jewish!

From Iran's Mehr "News" Agency:

It still remains a question for many people in the UK as how a “flight attendant” could marry Queen’s grandson; a fact that although hushed and ignored by British mainstream media, did not manage to skip some media’s attention.

The truth is that the Royal Family’s new bride is a Jew. Although in the wedding ceremony it was pretended that Kate Middleton is Christian but this lady’s family roots show that she is considered a Sephardic Jew from her mother’s side. Moreover the timing of the wedding and the way it was held which was based on Jewish culture verify the evidences.

Kate’s mother was surnamed Goldsmith before marrying Kate’s father. According to Jewish laws if a mother is a Jew, her children will be Jews, too. Therefore Kate Middleton is a Sephardic Jew and her children will be Jews based on the Jewish law.

We are then told that Princess Diana was Jewish as well, so William's and Kate's kid will be full blooded Jews!

Not that there's anything wrong with that. Well, if you are an antisemitic Iranian, maybe there is.

A lot of this seems to be based on this HuffPo piece in 2011, which found the claims to be highly implausible.

(h/ t EBoZ)

UPDATE: More here.

Military coup reported in Egypt

WaPo:

As huge crowds of pro- and anti-government protesters massed in the streets of Cairo Wednesday afternoon and the army deployed armored vehicles, a top adviser to embattled Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi declared that a military coup was underway and warned that “considerable bloodshed” could ensue.

Dozens of armored vehicles were deployed at eastern Cairo’s Rabaa Adawiya Mosque and outside Cairo University, where hundreds of thousands of Morsi supporters gathered. The president’s supporters and opponents were waiting to see whether Egypt’s powerful army would take action, as promised, once its deadline for Morsi and his opponents to forge a political agreement had expired.

There were unconfirmed reports, meanwhile, that Morsi and the top leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamist movement that constitutes the president’s main base of support, were being banned from travel.

Two top Brotherhood officials reached by phone on Wednesday dismissed rumors that Morsi and his aides had been put under house arrest or barred from leaving the country. “This is not true. This is all empty talk,” said Abdullah Shehata, a prominent Brotherhood member. “Everything is fine.”

Al Ahram English has nothing on this so far.

Al Jazeera adds:

Egypt's embattled President Mohamed Morsi has proposed a consensus government as a way out of the country's crisis, as an army deadline urging him to meet the protesters' demands expired.

"The presidency envisions the formation of a consensus coalition government to oversee the next parliamentary election," his office said on Wednesday in a statement on Facebook.

The statement reiterated that Morsi held opposition parties responsible for obstructing a political initiative that would also set up a panel to prepare amendments to the constitution passed into law last December.

Egypt is bracing for a showdown between the military and Morsi, who has rejected the army ultimatum to end a political crisis with his opponents, who have called for his resignation.

Things are still very fuzzy. Chances are I won't be able to live blog this, but just a heads-up.

7/03 Links Part 1: Palestinian Political Persuasion, Egypt Deadline and Dreaming of Lebanon at Peace.

From Ian:

Khaled Abu Toameh: Political Persuasion, Palestinian Style

His article enraged Abbas and his top aides in Ramallah. But instead of responding to the charges raised by Abu Zayda's article, Abbas's office issued a statement on behalf of the "Palestinian security establishment" threatening and condemning the Fatah representative.
"This statement is an assault on public freedoms," remarked Abu Zayda. "It would have been preferable had the [Palestinian] security establishment tried to uncover the identity of those behind the shooting attacks instead of preoccupying itself with a political essay."
Those who fund autocratic regimes apparently do not care about the long-term repercussions, so long as short-term stability can be secured. The consequences in the long-term are disastrous: they embolden the radicals and help raise new generations of Arabs and Muslims on hatred and anti-Western sentiments.

Palestinians: Abbas Honors Terror Leader

Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas has awarded the "highest order of the Star of Honor" to arch-terrorist Nayef Hawatmeh. This is a continuation of the policy followed by Abbas and the PA to glorify terrorists responsible for murdering Israelis, as documented by Palestinian Media Watch.
Nayef Hawatmeh is the leader of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP). The DFLP carried out many deadly terror attacks, including the killing of 22 schoolchildren and 4 adults after taking them hostage in Ma'alot, the killing of 9 children and 3 adults in an attack on a school bus, the killing of 7 in a Jerusalem bombing, the killing of 4 hostages in an apartment building in Beit Shean, all of which took place in the 1970's. In addition, the DFLP has participated in and claimed responsibility for dozens of other terror attacks, including a suicide bombing near Tel Aviv that killed 4 in 2003.

Financing Terror: Islamic Relief Worldwide

Islamic Relief Worldwide [IRW] is the poster-child of an exemplary Islamic charity. Headquartered in the UK, and given tens of millions of dollars by Western governments, the United Nations and the European Union, IRW consists of a "family of fifteen aid agencies" which "aim to alleviate the suffering of the world's poorest people." New information, however, indicates that IRW -- which counts Islamic Relief UK and Islamic Relief USA as its most important branches -- is an extremist organization with a pro-terror agenda. IRW has worked with a significant number of organizations linked to terrorism.
IRW's accounts show that it has partnered with a number of organizations linked to terrorism and that some of charity's trustees are personally affiliated with extreme Islamist groups that have connections to terror.

Times of Israel, Egypt Live Blog: Egyptian army begins making moves as ultimatum nears

The military’s deadline for Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi and opposition protesters to come to an agreement expires at either 4 or 5 p.m. Egypt time (reports vary). Millions have taken to the streets to protest Morsi over the last four days, with the army finally vowing to step in and present its own roadmap for the state, which would involve establishing an interim leader,and dissolving the constitution and parliament. Stay tuned to the Times of Israel’s live blog for all the developments in Egypt.

Egyptian army takes over state TV as military, opposition heads meet

Egypt’s leading democracy advocate, Mohamed ElBaradei, and top Muslim and Coptic Christian clerics met Wednesday with the army chief to discuss a political road map for Egypt only hours before a military ultimatum to the Islamist president was set to expire.

Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood Leaders Arrested, Army Moves In

Egyptian sources report that senior officials in the Muslim Brotherhood have been placed under house arrest and the military is securing strategic facilities across the country.
The Islamist group that backed President Mohamed Morsi in last year’s successful bid to win the nation’s first democratic election is also now being scrutinized for corruption in the ranks.

Analysis: Dying for the cause

On the likelihood of an Islamist retaliation if Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi is forced out of power, the Muslim Brotherhood’s motto says it all: “Allah is our objective. The Prophet is our leader. The Koran is our law. Jihad is our way. Dying in the way of Allah is our highest hope.”
The BBC quoted a senior official of the Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party, Muhammad al-Beltagi, as stating on Facebook that “preventing this coup may call for martyrdom.”

Israel nervously watches Egyptian crisis

Israeli officials are warily watching the mass protests in neighboring Egypt, fearing a collapse of the Islamist government could threaten the historic peace treaty between the two nations.
While Israeli leaders have been careful not to take sides in Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi’s struggle with protesters, many fear extremist Islamic groups could take advantage of chaos to launch attacks from either Egypt or the Gaza Strip.

Jordan Joins Middle East in Crackdown on Journalists

Jordan has joined other Muslim nations in the region in cracking down on journalists and media outlets in the country.
The Hashemite Kingdom announced Tuesday that it had blocked 254 “unlicensed” news web sites, including 16 this week alone.

Michael Totten: Dreaming of a Lebanon at Peace with Its Neighbors

Since then, however, the Sunnis in Lebanon have quietly moved on from the conflict with Israel, just as Sunni Arabs have moved on pretty much everywhere else. For them, the war ended with the PLO’s last stand in 1982. As for the rest of the region, not a single Sunni Arab government has actively participated in a full-blown war against Israel since the 1973 Yom Kippur War. Lebanon’s Sunnis, in moving on, are hardly unique. Indeed, they have even more reason to move on than do Sunnis in places like Tunisia and Morocco, because Tunisia and Morocco don’t get torn to pieces when the rocket launchers are fired up. Contrary to popular belief in some quarters, most Lebanese people do not enjoy getting blown up and shot at.
“The most recent study we commissioned,” Khoury said, “and it was thorough, we surveyed 4,000 people, showed that 95 percent of the Sunnis don’t care about Salafism or the Arab-Israeli conflict anymore. They’re interested in other things. You have to remember that Saad Hariri’s party is by far the most popular movement among the Sunnis.”

Turkish Defense Purchases From China, Troubling Behavior Stirs Turkey-NATO Tensions

Turkey is reportedly planning to purchase air defense systems from China, an announcement that has been met with consternation, and along with troubling authoritarian conduct at home, is raising questions about Turkey’s true intentions, and increasingly about its suitability as a NATO ally:

Turkish Jew Affirms Deputy PM's Remarks Anti-Semitic

Turkey's Jewish community has rejected a claim by Deputy Prime Minister Besir Atalay that an anti-Semitic accusation against Jews was “taken out of context.”
Istanbul-based Turkish Jewish journalist Denis Ojalvo told Arutz Sheva in a phone interview Wednesday morning that if Atalay’s remarks were taken out of context, then “in what context were they?”

Hassan Rouhani and the Myth of ‘Moderation’

It remains to be seen how Rouhani will conduct his term in office. But if the past is precedent, then the United States can ill-afford to sugarcoat the truly evil propensities of the Ayatollahs and of Rouhani. Doing so harms, rather than advances America’s national security interests in the Middle East.
Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird has it right. In a recent interview with the Times of Israel, Mr. Baird said, “There’s always a reason to [delay action] another two or three months.” If the Iranian clerics want to demonstrate that they are operating in good faith “they can make meaningful progress [with the West],” he said. “These people don’t deserve the benefit of the doubt.”

Iran Exploits Sanctions Loophole, Buys High-Grade Alumina Ore

The sanctions imposed by the EU and U.S. against Tehran targeted steel and other metals. However, the alumina ore – typically used to produce aluminum – did not fall in the category of sanctioned or banned items.
Particularly shocking was the fact that Iran was importing the substance from numerous European countries, including Germany and France.

Al-Qaeda Inspired Terror Plot Foiled in Canada

Police in Canada have arrested two residents of the province of British Columbia in an alleged Al-Qaeda-inspired terror plot that involved placing pressure cooker bombs at the B.C. legislature in Victoria during Canada Day celebrations.

Terror leader Awlaki paid thousands for prostitutes in DC area, documents show

On the eve of an infamous presentation Anwar al-Awlaki gave at the Pentagon in 2002, the Al Qaeda operative was busy preparing -- with a prostitute he paid $400 for at a Washington hotel.
It was one of more than a half-dozen liaisons Awlaki had with prostitutes between late 2001 and early 2002, while he was under FBI surveillance, according to documents obtained by Judicial Watch and reviewed exclusively by Fox News.

Libyan cleric "We don't want women's soccer! We want more floggings!"

Well, floggings would get better ratings.

Following are excerpts from a Friday sermon delivered by Sheik Salem Jaber, in Benghazi, Libya, which aired on Libya Al-Hurra TV on June 7, 2013:

Salem Jaber: Every day, I hope to hear on TV that from now on, anybody who drinks wine will receive 40 or 80 lashes, or that a fornicator – male or female – will receive 100 lashes, in accordance with the explicit word of the Koran.

So it came as a surprise to me to hear the news that a sports team was being established at the university. Is it for youth who are failing in their studies? Or is it for outstanding youth? No, it is for neither. Tall, young, and beautiful girls were picked for the team. Just what our country needed... A woman's soccer team.

Is this what our country needs? What about Islamic universities? What about Islamic punishments? What about judges? What about rights and duties? What about the fear of Allah? What about implementing the punishments decreed by Allah?

Whose daughters are these? Are they the daughters of Jews, of Christians, or of Zoroastrians? Are they the daughters of heretics? Of Communists? It is written in their fathers' ID cards that they are Muslim.

But today, these girls are exposing their heads. Is this to be allowed? In a few months' time, they will be exposing their legs. The day they joined [the soccer team], exposing what should be hidden, these girls sold out their honor, and soiled the honor of their families with the filth of nudity and shamelessness.

I take that back. The ratings for nude and shameless women's soccer, populated exclusively by "tall, young, and beautiful girls," would go through the roof!

Hamas investigates itself, finds itself innocent

From Ma'an:

An inquiry committee tasked to investigate the death of a member of Islamic Jihad during a shootout with Hamas police on Tuesday acquitted the officers on any wrongdoing.

Hamas' interior ministry commissioned the inquiry last week following the death of Raed Qassim Jundeyeih, a member of Islamic Jihad's militant wing, the Al-Quds Brigades, who died after being shot by Hamas police officers.

The inquiry concluded that there was shooting from both police officers and Jundeyeih, and that police were firing warning shots and did not intend to kill or injure him.

It is likely that Jundeyeih was killed by a stray bullet, the report said.

CSI:Hamas has solved another case!

Morsi critic goes crazy in TV studio (video) (UPDATE - Translation)

This video is making the rounds on Arabic websites. It shows lawyer and political activist Ihab al-Kholi commenting during the anti-Morsi demonstrations and becoming more and more agitated as he screams at the top of his lungs about how evil the Egyptian president is, as the hostess of the show tries to calm him down worried that he will have a stroke (Updated - here is now MEMRI's version with translation):

Some of the stuff he is blaming Morsi for? His closeness to America - and Israel! He railed against Morsi's diplomatic letters to Israel's president that put him in hot water in Egypt.

Hate for Israel and Jews is a given, no matter who is in office in Egypt.

(Apparently, so is sexual assault of women - but the latter, unlike the former, gets attention from HRW.)

Can Islam be reformed? (Daniel Pipes)

This is a very thought-provoking article by Daniel Pipes, behind Commentary's paywall but also on his website. Here are excerpts:

My argument has two parts. First, the essentialist position of many analysts is wrong; and second, a reformed Islam can emerge.

To state that Islam can never change is to assert that the Koran and Hadith, which constitute the religion's core, must always be understood in the same way. But to articulate this position is to reveal its error, for nothing human abides forever. Everything, including the reading of sacred texts, changes over time. Everything has a history. And everything has a future that will be unlike its past.

Only by failing to account for human nature and by ignoring more than a millennium of actual changes in the Koran's interpretation can one claim that the Koran has been understood identically over time. Changes have applied in such matters as jihad<>, slavery, usury<>, the principle of "no compulsion in religion," and the role of women. Moreover, the many important interpreters of Islam over the past 1,400 years—ash-Shafi'i, al-Ghazali, Ibn Taymiya, Rumi, Shah Waliullah, and Ruhollah Khomeini come to mind—disagreed deeply among themselves about the content of the message of Islam.

However central the Koran and Hadith may be, they are not the totality of the Muslim experience; the accumulated experience of Muslim peoples from Morocco to Indonesia and beyond matters no less. To dwell on Islam's scriptures is akin to interpreting the United States solely through the lens of the Constitution; ignoring the country's history would lead to a distorted understanding.

Put differently, medieval Muslim civilization excelled and today's Muslims lag behind<> in nearly every index of achievement. But if things can get worse, they can also get better. Likewise, in my own career, I witnessed Islamism rise from minimal beginnings when I entered the field in 1969 to the great powers it enjoys today; if Islamism can thus grow, it can also decline.

Key to Islam's role in public life is Sharia and the many untenable demands it makes on Muslims. Running a government with the minimal taxes permitted by Sharia has proved to be unsustainable; and how can one run a financial system without charging interest? A penal system that requires four men to view an adulterous act in flagrante delicto is impractical. Sharia's prohibition on warfare against fellow Muslims is impossible for all to live up to; indeed, roughly three-quarters of all warfare waged by Muslims has been directed against other Muslims. Likewise, the insistence on perpetual jihad against non-Muslims demands too much.

To get around these and other unrealistic demands, premodern Muslims developed certain legal fig leaves that allowed for the relaxation of Islamic provisions without directly violating them. Jurists came up with hiyal (tricks) and other means by which the letter of the law could be fulfilled while negating its spirit. For example, various mechanisms were developed to live in harmony with non-Muslim states. There is also the double sale (bai al-inah) of an item, which permits the purchaser to pay a disguised form of interest. Wars against fellow Muslims were renamed jihad....

While the medieval synthesis worked over the centuries, it never overcame a fundamental weakness: It is not comprehensively rooted in or derived from the foundational, constitutional texts of Islam. Based on compromises and half measures, it always remained vulnerable to challenge by purists. Indeed, premodern Muslim history featured many such challenges, including the Almohad movement in 12th-century North Africa and the Wahhabi movement in 18th-century Arabia. In each case, purist efforts eventually subsided and the medieval synthesis reasserted itself, only to be challenged anew by purists. This alternation between pragmatism and purism characterizes Muslim history, contributing to its instability.

...If Islamism is to be defeated, anti-Islamist Muslims must develop an alternative vision of Islam and explanation for what it means to be a Muslim. In doing so, they can draw on the past, especially the reform efforts from the span of 1850 to1950, to develop a "modern synthesis" comparable to the medieval model. This synthesis would choose among Shari precepts and render Islam compatible with modern values. It would accept gender equality, coexist peacefully with unbelievers, and reject the aspiration of a universal caliphate, among other steps.

Here, Islam can profitably be compared with the two other major monotheistic religions. A half millennium ago, Jews, Christians, and Muslims all broadly agreed that enforced labor was acceptable and that paying interest on borrowed money was not. Eventually, after bitter and protracted debates, Jews and Christians changed their minds on these two issues; today, no Jewish or Christian voices endorse slavery or condemn the payment of reasonable interest on loans.

Among Muslims, however, these debates have only begun....

Reformist Muslims must do better than their medieval predecessors and ground their interpretation in both scripture and the sensibilities of the age. For Muslims to modernize their religion they must emulate their fellow monotheists and adapt their religion with regard to slavery and interest, the treatment of women, the right to leave Islam, legal procedure, and much else. When a reformed, modern Islam emerges it will no longer endorse unequal female rights, the dhimmi status, jihad, or suicide terrorism, nor will it require the death penalty for adultery, breaches of family honor, blasphemy, and apostasy.

Already in this young century, a few positive signs in this direction can be discerned. Note some developments concerning women:

Saudi Arabia's Shura Council has responded to rising public outrage over child marriages by setting the age of majority at 18. Though this doesn't end child marriages, it moves toward abolishing the practice.

Turkish clerics have agreed to let menstruating women attend mosque and pray next to men.

The Iranian government has nearly banned the stoning of convicted adulterers.

Women in Iran have won broader rights to sue their husbands for divorce.

A conference of Muslim scholars in Egypt deemed clitoridectomies contrary to Islam and, in fact, punishable.

A key Indian Muslim institution, Darul Uloom Deoband, issued a fatwa against polygamy.

The Saudi government abolished jizya (the practice of enforcing a poll tax on non-Muslims).

An Iranian court ordered the family of a murdered Christian to receive the same compensation as that of a Muslim victim.

Scholars meeting at the International Islamic Fiqh Academy in Sharjah have started to debate and challenge the call for apostates to be executed.

Pipes' ideas for helping these changes occur seem a bit too simplistic to me - he advocates Muslim reformers find a way within Islam to implement their ideas, and non-Muslims should "support" the reformers, whatever that means.

In general, though, I believe that outside pressure can and does have an effect on Islam.

To me, the key is to take advantage of the honor/shame mindset and continually shame the Muslims into increasing human rights. The examples that Pipes gives of slowly increasing human rights for women in Saudi Arabia and elsewhere, for example, is only happening because Muslims were embarrassed to be seen as backwards by the West. On the flip side, the reason that there has been a rise in Islamism lately is because Muslims were shamed by the idea that they weren't adhering to the religion properly enough by the radicals. In both cases, it is shame that is the driving factor.

Similarly, it was only twelve years ago that Al Jazeera was making Bin Laden into a hero; that changed over time as the network wanted to be accepted as a proper new outlet worldwide. It simply was too ashamed to keep the same editorial position while seeking the approval of the West.

Pipes shows how Islam can reform itself given enough incentive. I think that using shame is the most effective leverage the West has to change Islam today. Unfortunately, it is a lever that many Westerners are too frightened to pull, because of fears of acting like elitists. This needs to change. Human rights applies to all humans and giving a free pass to some because they say their religious beliefs trump those rights does no one any favors.

(h/t MtTB)