Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Wednesday, February 02, 2011

Omar Barghouti's lies in HuffPo

In the Huffington Post, Omar Barghouti argues against an earlier article by Bernard-Henri Levy in order to justify the anti-Israel BDS movement.

It doesn't take very long before one sees that the truth is not exactly Barghouti's strong suit.

The fact is the BDS Call was launched by a great majority in Palestinian civil society on July 9, 2005, as a qualitatively new phase in the global struggle for Palestinian freedom, justice, and self-determination. More than 170 leading Palestinian political parties, trade union federations, women's unions, refugee rights groups, NGOs, and grassroots organizations called for a boycott against Israel until it fully complies with its obligations under international law.

Do the organizations behind the boycott really represent the majority of Palestinian society?

I found the list of organizations that signed on to BDS on the website he cited, and a good number of them are not based in "Palestine" but rather in Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Europe and North America. As far as I can see, there is not a single political party on that list. And if all the 170 organizations signed on in 2005, as the website says, then that means that not too many have signed on since then!

The Palestinian Arab organizations that signed onto BDS are a motley crew of trade unions, highly anti-Israel organizations like "Al-Awda" which agitates to destroy Israel completely, and some pseudo-"human rights" organizations like Addameer which inflates the number of Arabs arrested by Israel by at least a factor of a hundred.

Apparently, lying comes naturally to all BDS supporters!

However, the Palestinian Authority does not support BDS. Most Palestinian Arabs consume Israeli goods. I daresay that one will be able to find plenty of Israeli products in the offices of most of the West Bank and Gaza organizations listed.

Not only that, but most Palestinian Arab trade unions don't support BDS! In fact, the Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions (PGFTU) is explicitly against BDS. (h/t Zach N)

The BDS movement tries to represent itself as being far larger than it is, but if you want a laugh, look at the "Achievements Calendar" on the BDS Movement website.

It is, as far as I can tell, completely empty!

He goes on:

"Rooted in a century-old history of civil, nonviolent resistance ..."

I always laugh when I see this claim made. The liars who say that the Palestinian Arab "resistance" movement was nonviolent usually point to the beginning of the 1936-9 riots, which started with a strike. Of course, that didn't last long, and by the time it was over there were thousands of casualties - most of them Arab, and many of them injured and killed by other Arabs - for not adhering to the strike!

Palestinian Arab terrorism has evolved since then, to airplane hijackings, suicide bombings and shooting rockets at women and children. All of which are supported, implicitly or explicitly, by many of these same "civil society" organizations listed.

Even today, when Palestinian Arabs talk about "non-violent resistance," they include throwing large rocks through the windshields of cars belonging to civilians who happen to pass by the wrong neighborhood.

[T]he BDS National Committee (BNC) [is] anchored in deep respect for international law and universal human rights...

The entire point of the BDS initiative is to deny and destroy the right of the Jewish nation to self-determination. That is its entire raison d'être. To say that is based on human rights is a very bad joke - yet this lie is one that is used repeatedly.

The BDS movement, being strictly rights-based, has consistently avoided taking any position regarding the one-state/two-states debate, emphasizing instead the three basic rights that need to be realized in any political solution. Ending the Israeli occupation that started in 1967 of all Arab territories, ending Israel's system of legalized and institutionalized discrimination against its own Palestinian citizens, and recognizing the UN-sanctioned rights of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes of origin are the three basic principles of the movement.

There is no UN-sanctioned right for the Palestinian Arabs to "return.' The 1949 UNGA Resolution 194 that they love to use has phraseology that limits this "right," it does not extend to the descendants, it was a General Assembly resolution with no legal weight, and it was roundly rejected by the Arab world anyway. It is simply a BDS and Palestinian Arab lie to take portions of one of its fifteen paragraphs as the holiest of holies while utterly disregarding the rest of the resolution.

Mr. Levy completely misrepresents my position on the matter. Citing a 2003 article of mine, he outlandishly claims that I endorse a "two-Palestines" solution....For more than 27 years, I've consistently and openly advocated a secular, democratic state in the entire area of historic Palestine.

Either way, the point of the BDS movement is to destroy the Jewish state. No two ways about that.

And when Barghouti says "historic Palestine" he is ignoring history and betraying the fact that the BDS movement is only interested in the portions of "historic Palestine" that happens to be controlled by Jews.After all, portions of Jordan were once considered "eastern Palestine" yet not one BDSer will ever insist that Jordan give up its portion of historic Palestine!

The BDS movement against Israel could not care less whether it is a Jewish, Muslim, Catholic or Hindu state; all that matters is that it is a colonial oppressor that persistently denies the Palestinian people their basic rights. Is this too difficult to understand?

If that was remotely the case, then the BDS movement would boycott every single Arab country - because every one of them has discriminatory laws to disallow Palestinian Arabs from becoming fully naturalized citizens of their states. Where are the boycotts of Lebanon? Saudi Arabia? Even Jordan has been systematically taking away Jordanian citizenship from their citizens of Palestinian origin.

Yet the BDS movement is silent on the matter.

The fact that they only call for sanctions against Israel indicates - actually, it proves - that anti-semitism is the root of the entire movement. Not that all of its members consciously realize it or not, but there can be no other explanation.

How Congress can help Egypt

From VOANews:

Even before Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's announcement that he will not seek reelection, U.S. senators were speaking of his departure from power as a given. Senators from both major political parties said Tuesday that U.S. aid to Egypt has been money well spent, and showed no inclination to alter or cut off that aid - at least for now.

Hours beforeMr. Mubarak's statement, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, John Kerry, said Egyptians have "moved beyond" their president. The Massachusetts Democrat said that declining to run for reelection should be but a first step for the Egyptian leader.

"To go even further - to move to put together a caretaker government over these next months in order to avoid violence and help transition Egypt to the future that its people want and deserve," he said.

For decades, Egypt has been one of the biggest recipients of U.S. foreign aid, totaling more than $1.5 billion a year during the past decade.

Connecticut Independent Senator Joseph Lieberman says it is money well spent.

"It did support a government which, over the years, has been very instrumental in maintaining stability in the Middle East," said Lieberman. "The second thing is, a lot of the money goes to the Egyptian military. And I think even in this moment of crisis, we see that the military is playing a critically important role in unifying the country."

Lieberman says now is not the time to threaten Egyptians or their military with a cut-off of U.S. aid.

Indiana Senator Richard Lugar, the ranking Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, agrees.

"I think it would be inappropriate to be having that discussion while the Egyptians themselves are attempting to formulate appropriate governance," said Lugar.

Fellow Republican Senator Susan Collins of Maine also says U.S. aid to Egypt has been constructive for both nations and the Middle East as a whole. But she hesitates when asked whether she would guarantee future American assistance to Egypt.

"I think it is premature to make that conclusion," said Collins. "For example, if somehow the Muslim Brotherhood gained control of the country, then clearly we would not be giving any aid to Egypt."

In fact, I just received a draft email from a pro-Israel PAC, meant to be sent to members of Congress, that makes a much better suggestion:

As we all know, Foreign aid should never be viewed as an entitlement. Rather, it is for the promotion of values, which are at the core of American and indeed all western civilization. Foreign aid should be awarded to encourage and protect the establishment of democratic institutions, the preservation of human rights, and the formulation of productive economic planning.

Unfortunately, Egypt though often characterized as a moderate Arab country, has evinced a pronounced hostility toward these American values. Egypt regularly undermines American policy goals. It is now clear that Egypt is suffering the consequences of its decades of repression and with an educational system and state media steeped in the policies of racism and hate, will likely have a government takeover by the Muslim Brotherhood, the founder of the Islamic Terrorism movement.

Moreover, despite having received about $60 billion in foreign aid since 1979, most Egyptians are destitute. The grinding poverty has been exacerbated by poor economic planning, government corruption, and an affinity for massive military expenditures.

Given its lack of cooperation with America, its persecution of religious minorities, lack of human rights, and anti-western state sponsored media we question whether Egypt deserves any material amount of foreign aid. Our concern is elevated by the fact that the aid is used primarily to continue building a massive Egyptian war machine. We are arming to the teeth a totalitarian government in an unsteady region of the world. There is only one use for this kind of arms buildup. We fear it would be used against the only democratic country in the region, our chief ally, Israel or against America should the government change hands.

In discussing this position with a number of Congressional offices, we have found some concern about resulting instability of the Egyptian government that cutting aid might cause. We are thus proposing that members of Congress look to change the nature of the aid to Egypt from military credits to economic and social credits. This is a win for America, a win for American allies in the area, and a win for Egypt. The massive military buildup in Egypt is destabilizing. With the acknowledged precarious nature of Egypt's government and the ever-present danger of its growing fundamentalist movement, it is far more in America's interest to attend to the political, social, and economic needs of the Egyptian people so our country can help create a less desperate situation.

The economic impact to America is neutral, since the money comes in the form of credits to buy US goods. It would be better to let the Egyptian people buy our cars, our computers, our construction equipment, and other American goods. This policy would encourage peace and a more stable Egypt. It would also produce demand for American products beyond the scope of foreign aid.

Makes sense to me.

Wikileaks: Evidence of Syria's chemical weapons program

From Wikileaks, a cable dated December 30, 2008:

The U.S. has obtained information indicating that a Syrian institution with connections to the country’s chemical and biological weapons programs is attempting to acquire Australia Group-controlled glass-lined reactors, heat exchangers and pumps from the Indian firms XXXXXXXXXXXX and XXXXXXXXXXXX . Both firms are believed to have received visits from the Syria institution in the past 3 months and may be close to concluding their respective deals.

We would like to alert the GOI to this information. The GOI has a general obligation as a Chemical Weapons Convention State Party to never, under any circumstances, assist anyone in the development of chemical weapons. The U.S. also has publicly stated its belief that India is a strong partner on nonproliferation issues. We therefore seek the GOI’s assistance in investigating this activity and taking all steps necessary to prevent Indian entities from providing CBW equipment to Syria. We also want to remind the GOI that the Iran, North Korea, and Syria Nonproliferation Act requires us to report to Congress transfers of goods, services and technology on multilateral control lists, such as the Australia Group, to Syria. Sanctions may be imposed against individuals and entities identified in such reports.

What lovely, peaceful neighbors Israel has!

Not everyone who is protesting is pro-democracy

From Daylife:

A group of Israeli-Arabs and Palestinians organised a demonstration in front of the Egyptian Embassy in Tel Aviv on Tuesday. The event was held in solidarity with the revolts in Tunisia and Egypt. Tel Aviv, Israel. 01/02/2011

Because Nasser was such a wonderful example of freedom and democracy....

Muslims visit Auschwitz...but who are they? (updated)

From Al Arabiya:

Prominent Muslims joined Jews and Christians at the former Nazi death camp of Auschwitz on Tuesday in a gesture of interfaith solidarity designed to refute deniers of the Holocaust such as Iran's president.

About 200 dignitaries from across the Islamic world, from Israel, European countries and international organizations such as UNESCO took part in the visit, which included a tour of the site and prayers in Arabic, Yiddish, English and French.

"We must teach our young people in mosques, churches and synagogues about what happened here," Bosnia's Grand Mufti Mustafa Ceric told Reuters.
"This awful place should stand as a reminder to all people that intolerance and lack of understanding between people can result in... such places as Auschwitz."

Some 1.5 million people, mostly Jews, perished at Auschwitz during the Nazi German occupation of Poland in World War Two.

Organizers said Tuesday's visit was mainly aimed at rejecting the view, that the Holocaust never really happened.

"We chose to give priority to representatives of the Arab and Muslim world and the reason for this is clear," said Anne-Marie Revcolevschi of the Aladdin Project which works to build ties between Jews and Muslims.

"It is mainly from some of these countries that the speeches and documents come that serve as a vehicle for denial (of the Holocaust), hatred and anti-Semitism," she said, in comments delivered ahead of the visit to Auschwitz.

"There also exists in these countries currents and people who do not support these outbursts of hatred. We think the time has come to gather them and to let their voices be heard."

In a speech at the ceremony, Bosnia's Muslim Grand Mufti Mustafa Ceric said it was essential to fight genocide denial in all its forms.

"I am here to say to those who deny the Holocaust in Auschwitz, and who deny the genocide in Srebrenica, that they are themselves committing genocide," Ceric said, referring to the 1995 massacre of 8,000 Bosnian Muslims by Bosnian Serb forces during his nation's civil war.

The chief rabbi of Tel Aviv, Israel Meir Lau, echoed that comment, saying: "When a spiritual leader of the Islamic world, comes here to see with his eyes and to know and to feel the atmosphere here, of this greatest cemetery of mankind in history, this will help to deny those who deny the Holocaust."

Egyptian members of the delegation were unable to attend Tuesday's commemoration because of the political turmoil sweeping their country, the organizers said. Some guests from Tunisia, Algeria and elsewhere were also unable to attend.

I don't want to minimize this beautiful gesture, but I cannot find any accounts of this that specifically mention the names of any Arabs who attended. The article says that some Arabs from Algeria, Egypt and Tunisia couldn't attend because of the protests. But who were the ones that did attend?

I also could not find any mention of this news in the Arabic-language media. (Al Arabiya's Arabic version has been unavailable for the last couple of days because of the heavy traffic.) The Project Aladdin page does not give any details on the participants either.

If the Arab participants do not want their names publicized in their own countries, then doesn't that indicate that this laudable effort did not accomplish its goals? Besides Iran, the epicenter of today's Holocaust denial and anti-semitism is the Arab world and if this visit is not noticed in that sphere then it ends up only being a "feel good" exercise.

UPDATE: YNet has a more in-depth story, and includes the names of a few Arabs who were there. (h/t Challah Hu Akbar)

Violence in Egypt; turns out freedom isn't a cakewalk

From The Lede:

Thousands of demonstrators for and against President Hosni Mubarak, some on horses and camels, fought running battles in and around Cairo's Tahrir Square on Wednesday, despite a call from Egypt's powerful military for the president's opponents to "restore normal life."

The pro-government supporters had arrived in their thousands, but were outnumbered by Mr. Mubarak's opponents.

Their confrontations, which were descending into rock-throwing clashes, injected a new and perilous element into the eight-day standoff between anti-government protesters and Mr. Mubarak, hours after he offered to step down in September and President Obama urged a faster transition....

On Wednesday, Mr. Mubarak's supporters arrived in larger numbers than had been seen before. Hours before, antigovernment protesters had been chanting: "We are not going to go; we are not going to go."

In counterpoint, demonstrators supporting Mr. Mubarak chorused on Wednesday: "He's not going to go; he's not going to go."

Volleys of rocks flew between the two groups and many protesters were led away with bleeding head wounds. The clashes erupted close to the Egyptian Museum housing a huge trove of priceless antiquities.

Plumes of smoke, apparently from tear gas, rose as the rival crowds surged back and forth.

"Where's the Egyptian army?" anti-government demonstrators chanted.

Mackey also quotes Sandmonkey's tweets:

Watching the egyptian media now is driving me insane. Propaganda & Stupidity overdose!

The TV just annunced that there is a Pro Mubarak million-man-march. This will be hilarious. They managed to get 1000 today.

Clashes in Tahrir square. The egyptian TV claims that hundreds of thousands of protesters are Pro Mubarak.

Clashes, Pro Mubarak people attacking protesters. Tear Gas thrown. Very violent. No Army intervention so far.

Twitter won't work from my phone. Everything else works.

egyptian army is not seperating the people, they r holding the egyptian flag&urging egyptians- who r beating each other- to unite.

Twitter down on all mobiles. web still works.

Camels and Horses used by Pro Mubarak protesters to attack Anti-Mubarak protesters. This is becoming literally a circus.

You can't even make up a movie that would equal this level of insanity.

Ok, it is official, my @Mobinil line has twitter and facebook blocked on it. They work fine on my etisalat line....

This means the regime knows who I am and where I live. My life is now officially in danger.

people are showing on TV holding police ID's from the protesters they just clashed with.

Mubarak has proven to be smarter than all of us, he will not leave. Just watch.

The aim of this is to evacuate the Tahrir square & justify never having protests there Friday, where 1 is scheduled, or ever again.

Authoritarian regimes, watch Mubarak and learn from the master.... Ben Ali must be so jealous he didn't think of this psychotic brilliant plan.

There are reports that CNN's Anderson Cooper was punched in the head ten times by pro-Mubarak supporters/secret police.

It looks like Egypt is in for a lot more chaos and violence before this calms down - one way or another.

And the Islamists are happily waiting to take advantage of that.

Syria's Muslim Brotherhood poised for action

We saw in Egypt that the Muslim Brotherhood was not the instigator of the protests but quickly took advantage of the potential power vacuum to position itself as the largest and best organized opposition group.

Déjà vu time.

After a series of independent calls on Facebook and elsewhere to hold a "day of rage" in Syria this Saturday, some of which attracted thousands of members, the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood had put out its own call for protest, calling for a ten part plan to reform Syria.

Just as in Egypt, their public position is not overtly religious but couched in terms of democracy and freedom (the single reference to religion is a call to have Syria rid itself of Iranian Shiite influence.)

Hamas, PA crack down on solidarity protests

From Ma'an:

Police in the Gaza Strip shut down a demonstration Monday in support of the uprising in Egypt.

Activists said six women and eight men were arrested at a park in Gaza City, where a few dozen demonstrators had gathered.

The women were released after a few hours. It was not immediately clear when the men were freed because they were separated, one of the protesters said.

Asmaa Al-Ghoul, a Gaza-based journalist and writer, was among those detained.

"Hamas police arrested me with group of demonstrators in Gaza in solidarity with Egyptian people," she wrote on Twitter. "Women's police beat me violently" and detained other young women.

They were standing in solidarity with the Egyptian uprising, Al-Ghoul added.

A day earlier, Palestinian Authority security forces shut down a demonstration in front of the Egyptian embassy in Ramallah, after calling in one of the organizers for questioning multiple times a day earlier.

Forces pushed demonstrators and a man who identified himself as a police commander said the demonstrators were in a "security area" and would have to disperse, they said.

The PA banned a similar demonstration in solidarity with the uprising in Tunisia last week.

Some interesting Egypt analysis links

A really good description of the events in Egypt from an Egyptian student's viewpoint, at American Thinker. (h/t Israel Matzav)

Yossi Klein Halevi describes Israel's worries in a NYT op-ed. (h/t SoccerDad)

And, while already slightly dated. Spengler at Asia Times has some very good insights. (h/t JL)

The woman who helped start a revolution

While rags like the New York Daily News still build up El Baradei as if he is Lech Walesa, it appears that this young woman, Asma Mahfouz, was really one of the people who started it all.

The original video was posted January 18th, calling on Egyptians to come to Tahrir Square on January 25.

(h/t Yerushalimey)

Video of Grad rocket barely missing wedding feast in Israel

Here are three security camera angles of a Grad rocket slamming near a wedding reception in Netivot, Israel, on January 31:

JERUSALEM, Israel - Palestinians in the Gaza Strip targeted two southern Israeli cities with longer-range Grad-type rockets on Monday night.

Wedding guests celebrating in a residential neighborhood in the town of Netivot, nine miles east of Gaza, ran for cover as the explosion drowned out the music.

"There was music, then we suddenly heard a loud blast," one of the guests said. "Everyone - little children and men - ran for cover. People fell over one another. It's a miracle no one was hurt," she said.

The rocket damaged a parked car and the paved road, and four people were treated for shock.

Moments later, another Grad exploded in a open area in the community of Ofakim, about 15 miles from the Gaza Strip.

"It was terrifying. We heard a boom [that sounded like] a nuclear bomb. We thought it was thunder. There was smoke and explosions," one resident said.

Another resident said she was making a cup of coffee when the explosion cracked the kitchen window.

"I'm traumatized and afraid of sleeping. We are at God's mercies. I don't even have a protected space here," she said, adding that the IDF needed to "reenter Gaza and launch another operation."

(original video from YNet)

Arab sentenced to prison for selling land to Jews

Palestine Press Agency reports that a man has been sentenced to prison for selling land to an Israeli.

The regional court in Nablus ruled on Tuesday against the Salfit man, sentencing him to ten years in prison for selling land to Israelis.

The accused is 70 years old, and he sold the land in 1981.

He violated the Article 114 of the [Jordanian] Penal Code of 1960 number 16, which prohibits selling land to "the enemy," with "the enemy" specifically defined elsewhere as "any man or judicial body [corporation] of Israeli citizenship living in Israel or acting on its behalf."

After Jordan's peace treaty with Israel, this law was revised, but the Palestinian Arabs still use the 1960 Penal Code - even though they have a draft law to replace it with a similar law mandating the death penalty for anyone selling land to "the occupier."

It is interesting that the Palestinian Arab court system still legally defines Israel as "the enemy."

ElderToons: Aliens land in Jerusalem

Because of this story....

MB leader wants to ready Egyptians for war with Israel

From the LA Times:

The Obama administration said for the first time that it supports a role for groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood, a banned Islamist organization, in a reformed Egyptian government.

The organization must reject violence and recognize democratic goals if the U.S. is to be comfortable with it taking part in the government, the White House said. But by even setting conditions for the involvement of such nonsecular groups, the administration took a surprise step in the midst of the crisis that has enveloped Egypt for the last week.

Monday's statement was a "pretty clear sign that the U.S. isn't going to advocate a narrow form of pluralism, but a broad one," said Robert Malley, a Mideast peace negotiator in the Clinton administration.

Which makes this so much easier to swallow:

A leading member of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt told the Arabic-language Iranian news network Al-Alam on Monday that he would like to see the Egyptian people prepare for war against Israel.

Muhammad Ghannem reportedly told Al- Alam that the Suez Canal should be closed immediately, and that the flow of gas from Egypt to Israel should cease “in order to bring about the downfall of the Mubarak regime.” He added that “the people should be prepared for war against Israel,” saying the world should understand that “the Egyptian people are prepared for anything to get rid of this regime.”

The original Al-Alam article is here.

(h/t Qumran Qumran and Avi B.)

Muslim Brotherhood on El Baradei: "He's only temporary"

From this Russia Today video, starting around 2:15, interviewing a Muslim Brotherhood member:

Mohammed El Baltagy: "We didn't choose El Baradei. We chose him only for a short period of change. He's only temporary."

Notice how el-Baltagy phrases it, as if the Muslim Brotherhood is calling the shots of the current uprising and using players as pawns to gain leadership.

El Baltagy is a major figure in the Muslim Brotherhood.

Much of the rest of the video is about Egyptian skepticism over El Baradei, making some would-be analysts look like complete fools.

Synagogue torched in Tunisia (updated)

From AFP:

Arsonists set fire to a synagogue in the southern Gabes region of Tunisia, a leader of the local Jewish community said Tuesday.

"Someone set fire to the synagogue on Monday night and the Torah scrolls were burned," Trabelsi Perez told AFP, criticising the lack of action by the security services to stop the attack.

"What astonished me was that there were police not far from the synagogue," added Perez, who is also head of the Ghriba synagogue on the island of Djerba, the oldest synagogue in Africa.

(h/t T34)

UPDATE: Another member of the community denies it was an attack on Jews but rather it was simple vandalism. (Ibid.)

Jordan's king sacks government

From YNet:

After weeks of opposition protests demanding change, Jordan's King Abdullah II on Tuesday sacked his government and asked his former ex-military advisor Marouf Bakhit to form a new cabinet, an official said.

According to the palace, the king named Bakhit as prime minister with orders to carry out "true political reforms".

Bakhit's mission is to take practical, quick and tangible steps to launch true political reforms, enhance Jordan's democratic drive and ensure safe and decent living for all Jordanians."

King Abdullah's move came after thousands of Jordanians took to the streets –inspired by the regime ouster in Tunisia and the turmoil in Egypt – and called for the resignation of Prime Minister Samir Rifai who is blamed for a rise in fuel and food prices and slowed political reforms.

Ammon News adds:

Bakhit told Ammon News that he began consultations to form a new government, expressing that his focus is to fulfill the directives and aspirations of King Abdullah and the Jordanian people.

The New Prime Minister stated that it will take a few days to finalize his selection for the new cabinet.

In Ammon News' congratulations to the new Prime Minister, Bakhit replied "Say may God help me," and hinted that his government will be from "an older generation," and the interests of Jordan and Jordanians will be "our target."

Protests planned in Syria, Yemen

A "Day of Rage" of protests in Syria has been called for Saturday.

Even though Facebook is banned in Syria, there were over 5000 members of Facebook groups calling for the protests yesterday with more joining every hour (here's one with 2500 members now.) One Twitter group is called "AngrySyriaDay."

The protests are planned for Damascus and Aleppo.

Meanwhile, protests are planned in Yemen on Thursday, meant to mirror the Egyptian and Algerian protests. They are planned for Sana'a and other provinces, organized by opposition groups.

Some morning links

The Shalit family is concerned that the events in Egypt could further delay any release for Gilad.

Three Grad rockets were shot from Gaza to Israel, causing damage. Four treated for shock.

FAQ on US aid to Egypt (h/t Israel Matzav)

Barry Rubin on ElBaradei's deceptions concerning the Muslim Brotherhood.

Akiva Eldar in Ha'aretz really, really wants another intifada. So does Hamas, at least in the West Bank, apparently setting up Facebook groups for people to revolt against the PA.

Meanwhile, Hamas is arresting and beating journalists, but no one is calling for an uprising in Gaza.

Daphne Anson on an Israel hater who is loved by the British media.

Are Christian shops being targeted in Egypt looting?

UFO over the Dome of the Rock? (videos)

Some sites are pointing to videos taken last week of a strange light that appears to hover above Jerusalem, then suddenly come down atop the Dome of the Rock, stay there for a while, and then fly fast back up into the sky.

This one was taken from a distance and shows a flash of light before the light ascends:

This one is close up in the Old City, but I don't see the flash:

And here's a different one from a distance, which shows lights flashing in the sky afterwards (that the first video seems to refer to but is not visible.)

Is this an elaborate hoax? The two videos from a distance have the exact same timing.

The second video looks like it may be a hoax, though. It really does look like a photograph in the background.(h/t Al.)

One thing is certain: whatever it is, it must be Israel's fault.

Coverage here, here and here.

Nothing good likely to come out of Egyptian turmoil (Zvi)

From Zvi:

I don't see much possibility of a constructive outcome from any of this.

At home, Mubarak's regime is a nasty, brutish and repressive "mediocracy". The people on the streets do have a right to be heard and they do have a right to replace a government that is much more interested in power than in working for the betterment of Egyptians as a whole. There are many decent Egyptian people who really do want to build a better Egypt and who have no broader agenda - though many have beliefs about their Jewish neighbors to the east that have been twisted through propaganda into something paranoid and nasty.

Mubarak's regime is also responsible for officially supporting and encouraging anti-Semitism and has made no attempt to present a realistic picture of Egypt's Jewish neighbors. Mubarak's regime is directly responsible for a major portion of the virulent anti-Semitism that infests Egyptian public arena today. It could have taken a very different path.

But the other side of things is that the regime's systematic repression - and, to be fair, the tepid irrelevance and ineptitude of various opposition forces - has left no strong power center outside of the regime, the army and the Muslim Brotherhood. The fall of Mubarak's regime in favor of some junta drawn from the armed forces would mean the exchange of one thuggish regime for another - with the new regime much less stable and experienced than the current one. The fall of Mubarak's regime in favor of the Muslim Brotherhood would mean discarding a sane despot in exchange for lunatics who care more about destroying Israel and the west than they care about the lives of Egyptians - a disastrous result indeed.

The fact that the Arab League's Chief Thug (Amr Moussa) and the Atomic Wuss (El Baradei) are being presented as realistic alternatives to Mubarak by the western media shows just how ignorant the western media really is, and I'm quite afraid that western leaders will actually buy into this crazy alternative and compel Egyptian leaders to make insane choices based on such delusions. There is no better way for the Muslim Brotherhood to take over than for a complete idiot like El Baradei - a person with no constituency in Egypt and a weak or misguided idiot who coddled Egypt's Iranian enemies when he was in a position of authority in the IAEA - to end up in charge.

I suppose that somehow, by walking some tortuous, mine-strewn path that is not clear to me today, the Egyptian people could pull off a miracle and upgrade their increasingly unstable state from its current shabby authoritarian model to a free and open democracy, or at least something that tends in that direction - and they could double the miracle at the same time by managing not to be led into an insane war against Israel. But this would take more miracles than anyone has the right to expect.

Even with the best will in the world, with the wisest heads in the world leading, Egypt is in a very dangerous place now. Aside from the anger of the street, which can easily capsize the boat of wisdom, Egypt sits astride vital geopolitical fault lines, and there many countries will meddle, perceiving their interests threatened and believing, in their inexperience or cold calculations, that they know better than the locals how to stabilize Egypt.

The fault lines are many. For example, Egypt controls the Suez Canal, a key trade route of the modern era. Egypt has a basically pro-western Sunni government, which makes it a target of those who would damage the west. Egypt has kept the peace for over three decades, which has imposed a ceiling on the violence of Israel-Arab conflicts and ensured that every few years, thousands of Arab and Israeli kids don't have to march off to war and be killed; those who would fight Israel to the last drop of someone else's blood have every reason to target Egypt.

I really do wish the Egyptian people the best. I just don't expect it. I would love to see them surprise me in a good way. But it would have to be one heck of a surprise.

Hasbara 2.0 - why the Israel haters are winning today

Since it was frustrating trying to figure out what to post here and what to post at my NewsRealBlog gig, I decided to start to document my ideas about Hasbara 2.0 that I spoke about in December.

So I will be running a continuing series on hasbara there.

The first installment, an introduction, is up now.

Check it out!

"Israel shocked at Obama's 'betrayal' of Mubarak"

From Reuters:

If Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak is toppled, Israel will lose one of its very few friends in a hostile neighborhood and President Barack Obama will bear a large share of the blame, Israeli pundits said on Monday.

Political commentators expressed shock at how the United States as well as its major European allies appeared to be ready to dump a staunch strategic ally of three decades, simply to conform to the current ideology of political correctness.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has told ministers of the Jewish state to make no comment on the political cliffhanger in Cairo, to avoid inflaming an already explosive situation. But Israel's President Shimon Peres is not a minister.

"We always have had and still have great respect for President Mubarak," he said on Monday. He then switched to the past tense. "I don't say everything that he did was right, but he did one thing which all of us are thankful to him for: he kept the peace in the Middle East."

Newspaper columnists were far more blunt.

One comment by Aviad Pohoryles in the daily Maariv was entitled "A Bullet in the Back from Uncle Sam." It accused Obama and his Secretary of State Hillary Clinton of pursuing a naive, smug, and insular diplomacy heedless of the risks.

Who is advising them, he asked, "to fuel the mob raging in the streets of Egypt and to demand the head of the person who five minutes ago was the bold ally of the president ... an almost lone voice of sanity in a Middle East?"

"The politically correct diplomacy of American presidents throughout the generations ... is painfully naive."

"The question is, do we think Obama is reliable or not," said an Israeli official, who declined to be named.

"Right now it doesn't look so. That is a question resonating across the region not just in Israel."

Writing in Haaretz, Ari Shavit said Obama had betrayed "a moderate Egyptian president who remained loyal to the United States, promoted stability and encouraged moderation."

To win popular Arab opinion, Obama was risking America's status as a superpower and reliable ally.

"Throughout Asia, Africa and South America, leaders are now looking at what is going on between Washington and Cairo. Everyone grasps the message: "America's word is worthless ... America has lost it."

Although perhaps the quoted Israelis are being slightly too generous to a despot, the larger point is very important: If Middle East leaders, especially Arab leaders, do not believe that the US is behind them anymore, then the idea of a domino effect of Arab regimes being replaced by potentially much worse Islamist regimes becomes much closer to reality.

Not only that, but if Arab leaders no longer perceive the US as protecting them, they will seek another country for them to orbit. Like, say, Iran.

No one is saying that it is easy for the US to publicly support a dictator whose country is now seemingly against him. But now the US is not acting like a leader at all.

Here is one possible idea that would be true to both democratic ideals and minimize the chances for an Islamist takeover of Egypt.

The US should pressure Mubarak to embark on a five-year program of increasing freedoms. Get rid of the "state of emergency" that Egypt has been under since 1967 and start to implement a concrete plan of action to open up Egypt to the marketplace of ideas - with a specific timetable.

Only after five years of freedom can one even hope for an electorate that can sort through the alternatives intelligently. It would also take that long for new political parties to have the chance to grow and get organized, gain supporters and money.

Then the real elections can take place, in a new, democratic Egypt, where no one is afraid that their words can get them killed.

Rushing into uncharted waters now has disaster written all over it. This is a vacuum that the US can fill if it acts skillfully and forcefully. But is there the will?

(h/t Zach N)

UNRWA report on Pal. poverty in Lebanon flies under the radar

On December 31, UNRWA released a major report that goes into detail of the poverty and unemployment for Palestinian Arabs in Lebanon.

Here are some important parts:

6.6% are extremely poor i.e they cannot meet their essential daily food needs (compared to 1.7% amongst Lebanese).
66.4% of Palestine refugees in Lebanon are poor i.e cannot meet their basic food and nonfood needs (compared to 35% amongst Lebanese).
56% of Palestinians are jobless
38% of the working age population are employed
2/3 of Palestinians employed in elementary occupations (like street vendors, work in construction, agriculture) are poor
Of the 425,000 Lebanese "refugees" registered with UNRWA since 1948, only 260,000-280,000 currently reside in Lebanon. The difference is apparently from some 200,000 who have fled Lebanon, mostly for Europe.

Lebanese vehemently oppose the naturalization of Palestinians into Lebanese. Such Tawteen (naturalization) is also strongly rejected by the Palestinians, who insist on their right to return to Palestine. The Lebanese position on return to Palestine is sometimes used to justify discriminatory policies against the Palestinian refugees, and their legal status even after 60 years remains that of foreigners. This has resulted in restrictive policies with regard to the social, economic, and civil rights of the Palestinians (Hanafi & Tiltnes 2008)

Tawteen is the scarecrow that has been used within sections of Lebanese society to generate public phobia against according civil rights to Palestinians. Indeed through editorials in key Lebanese newspapers (alNahar, al-Akhbar, al-Safīr, and L’Orient-Le Jour), Lebanese political groups accuse each other of promoting Tawteen, an act tantamount to treason. For instance, the front-page headline of the Lebanese daily al-Akhbār, read on 2 July 2007 “The program of al-Barid Camp reconstruction is the beginning of Tawteen”. Others (including religious authorities) consider the mere talk of the Palestinians’ right to work as being the first step towards Tawteen. Any debate about civil and economic rights starts by affirming that the objective should not be Tawteen, to the point that initiatives on according long-term rights to Palestinians come to be substituted with short-term interventions on humanitarian or security grounds.

We discuss below that the recent changes in labor regulations are no exception to this pattern. The only common ground between the various Lebanese political parties is the use of Tawteen as taboo. Throughout this debate the individual Palestinian is invisible. The deployment of bio-politics by humanitarian organizations (regarding Palestinians as bodies to be fed and sheltered without political existence) is one end of the spectrum and the Tawteen discourse is the other end. For those participating in such a discourse, the Palestinians are mere figures, demographic artifacts and a transient political mass waiting for return. Between humanitarian discourse in the zones of emergency on the one hand, and the Tawteen discourse on the other, the rights-based and entitlement approach for the Palestinians as individuals and collectives, as refugees but also as citizen-refugees with civil and economic rights, as well as the right to the city, is lost.

Accounts from Palestinian camp dwellers in Lebanon show that they refer to themselves as the “forgotten people”, feeling that they live in a hostile environment where basic human rights, including the right to work, have no effective means of representation or protection.

The part about how naturalization is strongly rejected by Lebanese Palestinians is a lie, as I have documented that every time a loophole opened up in Lebanese naturalization laws to allow Palestinian Arabs to become citizens, tens of thousands of them rushed to do so. Not only that, but the authors know it to be a lie because they mention one of those circumstances in footnote 18, saying "There were supposedly at least 25,000 Palestinians, the majority Christian, among those who received Lebanese citizenship in 1994. S. Haddad, “Sectarian Attitudes as a Function of the Palestinian Presence in Lebanon,” Arab Studies Quarterly 22 (2000), pp.81-100)"

Even with its flaws, this document is important in that it details exactly how there is endemic discrimination against Palestinian Arabs in Lebanon and the horrid results.

Yet I cannot find any UNRWA press release that summarizes the findings or any public calls to action.

It is almost like UNRWA wants to bury this report for fear of making waves. They only mentioned it peripherally as part of a list of January accomplishments but it never received its own press release, very strange for a report of over 100 pages.

(The paper indirectly damns the Palestinian Authority for not doing something about Palestinian Arabs in camps in the West Bank. It points out that only in the West Bank and Lebanon is there a significant difference in poverty rates between PalArabs living in the camps and living outside, and it attributes this to the fact that only in Lebanon and under the PA are the camps "closed" and not integrated with surrounding towns. This is not the case in Syria and Jordan, where the camps are more like suburbs. In Lebanon, of course, there is also societal discrimination against Palestinian Arabs which partially account for their unemployment and therefore poverty, but the idea that the PA is keeping the Palestinian Arabs who are in camps on a lower social status is something that requires further study - and UNRWA sure won't do it.)

Today's Jew-hatred courtesy of Google News and Veterans Today

At this time, the most anti-semitic site (by far) that is indexed on Google News is called "Veterans Today." (Sorry, I won't link to this trash. But it is easy enough to find.)

Here's a taste of today's entry:

The uprisings in Egypt, Tunisia, Yemen are the inevitable results of the J-factor, which destroys everything. As I was told by a Saudi army general many years ago, all Arab countries are secretly controlled by Israel, including his own. (I hadn’t known back then that the Saudi “royal family” are themselves descendants of converts to Islam from Judaism and my partner didn’t tell me.) It is Jewish control of Arab countries that was the exact reason the Russian Jews were forced into the region following WWI: to destabilize Arabs and eventually control their huge oil resources....

The word “Jew” has become just as odious in the public mind as “kike,” and just as taboo. Jews dislike the use of the word by non-Jews. Jews behave as if they are guilty of something and try to avoid being named in public what they are. They prefer to be called “Jewish,” and that word itself should be spoken softly and reverently. Gentiles, not wishing to offend, obliged them for several decades after World War II for only one reason, and that was the Holocaust (the H-factor). The Jewish position was, if you use the word “Jew” or are disrespectful to us in any way, we assume you harbor sympathies with what the Nazis of Germany did to us. Disrespect would be in tying us to organized crime or to Communism or to any form of disloyalty.

Just as we used to do with the previous record holder of anti-semitism on Google News (The People's Voice) it is time to complain to Google about this site.

The offensive URL is http://www.veteranstoday.com/2011/01/31/76001/ .

Hamas has no problem with movie theatres. Well, maybe a little.

From Ma'an Arabic:

The Minister of Culture in Gaza, Dr. Osama al-Issawi, said that his ministry does not have any objection to the reopening of cinemas in the Gaza Strip, pointing out that there has not been any application to the Ministry to open one so far.

Al-Issawi said in a press statement, "We believe that art is part of the basis of any society, and we encourage arts festivals and special film festivals. We do not have any objection to the reopening of any cinemas."

Then comes the but...

He stressed that [any cinema] should be under the monitoring and control of his ministry to maintain the customs and morals and traditions of Palestinian society.

Which means that al-Issawi wants all movies to be shown in Gaza to look like this classic:

All of Gaza's movie theatres closed in 1987 during the first intifada, and many were burned down.

The Muslim Brotherhood, 1948 (John Roy Carlson)

Last July I linked to some writings by the amazing John Roy Carlson. (Unfortunately, the Google Books link no longer shows large portions of the book I screen-captured.)

Here is a description of the "Moslem Brotherhood" in Egypt that Carlson wrote in 1948, published in the Palestine Post, as part of a larger article about Egypt altogether.

The article goes on to describe Al Azhar University, and ends with the ominous and prophetic words, "The Jew, if left to his own resources in Egypt, is doomed to pogrom and persecution."

The most popular post in my blog over the past few days has not been one of my new posts, but a post from September.

The people viewing that post are finding it from a Google image search for "ElBaradei daughter." (And Google's algorithm for guessing search terms shows that a lot of people are also searching for "ElBaradei daughter swimsuit.")

The September post mentioned that Mohamemd El-Baradei was complaining that Egyptian media was trying to discredit him by publishing pictures of his daughter in a swimsuit and apparently drinking alcohol.

I cannot say why so many people are now doing searches for this image. Is it Muslim Brotherhood supporters who do not want to partner with El Baradei? Is it from El Baradei supporters who want to to discredit the MB? Is it from Mubarak supporters trying to tarnish El Baradei's reputation? I cannot really tell; most of the searches seem to be coming from Europe with a high percentage from German Google.

Headlines from Egyptian media

Tahrir Square protesters say they plan to march Friday to the presidential palace in Heliopolis unless the army makes its stance clear.

Youth-led groups issued a statement calling for all Egyptians to march on the palace, the People's Assembly and the television building, in what they are calling the "Friday of Departure."

They say the army must choose which side they are on: That of the people, or the regime.
---
Al Jazeera reports that six of its reporters have been arrested in Cairo.

The Egyptian government on Sunday forced Al Jazeera's Cairo offices to close and suspended its correspondents' accreditations.

The reporters, who were arrested from their hotel rooms, believe they were arrested on the pretext of reporting without permission.

Dan Nolan, one of the reporters arrested, tweeted that he was being held at an army checkpoint outside the Hilton hotel in Cairo.
---
250,000 protesters in Tahrir Square today, including thousands from trade unions.
---
Egyptian actor Omar Sharif calls on Mubarak to step down.
---
Egypt stopped all its rail services today. Speculation is that part of the reason is to stop escaping prisoners from getting too far....or perhaps to limit the number of people who can attend the major demonstrations.

Whew!

In the first round of the Pro-Israel Blog Off contest, I had chosen a cartoon to compete against articles by my competition, especially an excellent article called Zionist Football by Life Through My Eyes.

Part of my strategy was based on knowing that one of the judges was Yaakov Kirschen, the cartoonist who makes Dry Bones. (Who is not only brilliant but handsome too, just like the other wise and impartial judges. :) )

In the reader votes, which make up 35% of the total score, I was trounced by 20 percentage points. So I spent much of the week wondering if I'd even make it to the second round.

But the judges liked my entry best, and I ended up winning the round.

This week you can vote on the second part of the first round, with three great blogs competing: CiFWatch, Huffington Post Monitor and Divest This!

Morning links

Here is a great interview with Michael Oren from The Daily Caller.

Israel released a video showing that a Jewish resident of the territories shot a Palestinian Arab youth only after repeatedly being stoned by him.

No More Lies shows that while some Egyptian protesters seem to want genuine democracy, others seem to be motivated by hate for Israel.

Bicom analyzed the "Palestine Papers" released so far, and - surprise! - came up with the same conclusions I did, that Al Jazeera and the Guardian are misrepresenting the published materials.

Challah Hu Akbar sums up an interesting story where J Street falsely claimed to be going on a Birthright trip. Some branches still have the lies on their websites.

Iran is claiming to have caught spies based on the website meant to find information about missing Israeli soldier Ron Arad.

Amnesty supports a confessed Hezbollah spy

From TheJC:

Amnesty International has put out a Press Notice "urging the Israeli authorities to end their harassment of Palestinian human rights activists" "after a veteran Palestinian campaigner was jailed for nine years earlier today and given an additional one-year suspended sentence. Ameer Makhoul, a longstanding Palestinian activist, was convicted on various counts of having contact with enemies of Israel and espionage after a plea bargain agreement at his trial. He was originally charged with an even more serious offense, "assisting an enemy in war", which could have carried a life sentence, but that was dropped by the prosecution when he agreed to a plea bargain."

........

"Ameer Makhoul is well known for his human rights activism on behalf of Palestinians in Israel and those living under Israeli occupation. We fear that this may be the underlying reason for his imprisonment."

http://www.ngo-monitor.org/digest_info.php?id=3112#head

The truth is here: "On October 27, 2010 Haaretz reported that Ameer Makhoul, the director of Israeli-Arab NGO Ittijah, “confess[ed] to charges of spying, contact with a foreign agent and giving information to the enemy.” Makhoul, as head of Ittijah, has a background of anti-Israel activities characterized by demonisation and hate rhetoric. For example, an Ittijah email during the Gaza war claimed, “the IDF is turning Gaza into kind of an extermination camp, in the full sense of the word and with the full historical relativity.”

Amnesty International in London has had a succession of Israel-bashing speakers such as Ben White. I have offered them Ruvi Ziegler - an Israeli lawyer studying in Oxford who is an expert on the security fence - but they have stonewalled.

Shame on Amnesty International for its Israel-bashing biased agenda.

A Hebrew article shows that he passed on the names of six potential spies for Hezbollah as well as other information that was encrypted - showing that he had something to hide in his "innocent contacts."

But when someone hates Israel and pretends to care about "human rights," it appears that Amnesty will automatically side with him, no matter who it is.

The other "Palestine Papers" from AFP: Did Obama harden the Palestinian Arab position?

From AFP:

Palestinian delegates to 2010 peace talks rejected out of hand Israel's demand to hold on to swathes of West Bank settlements, documents given to AFP on Saturday show.

A discussion paper prepared by the Palestinian side and made available to AFP on condition of anonymity challenges the Israeli assumption that the large blocs of adjacent enclaves where most settlers live would be annexed to Israel in a deal to set up an independent Palestinian state.

The document, dated May 2010, also shoots down a reported Israeli proposal that the Palestinian state take over some Arab villages currently within Israel in exchange.

"We will not entertain swapping Palestinians on either side of the 1967 border," it said.

"Nor will we engage in land swap discussions that use so-called settlement blocs as the point of reference, let alone accept such areas' wholesale annexation."

The document was one of several given to AFP in the wake of publication of documents by television channel Al-Jazeera, which purported to show Palestinian officials prepared to make sweeping concessions to Israel at talks in September 2010.

They restate long-standing Palestinian positions on the sensitive issues of Jerusalem and the right of return for Palestinian refugees who fled after the creation of the state of Israel in 1948.

The files released by Al-Jazeera contain minutes of discussions between Israel, the United States and Palestinians, in which Palestinian negotiators offered to cede large parts of east Jerusalem to the Jewish state and conceded that only limited numbers of Palestinian refugees would be able to return home.

The documents obtained by AFP on Saturday say that "The Palestinian state must include adequate land within east Jerusalem for the city's own growth and development. East Jerusalem must also have meaningful territorial, economic and other links with the rest of Palestine."

The papers all carry the disclaimer: "This paper is for discussion purposes only, nothing is agreed until everything is agreed."

AFP is not making a copy of this paper available, as far as I can tell, so we have no idea whether the AFP papers aretalking points for before a meeting or minutes of the meeting afterwards, who the meeting was with (in May 2010 there were no peace talks going on, they only happened in September) and, of course, who leaked them.

But if we are to assume that the specific content of both Al Jazeera's and AFP's papers are true (forgetting the context and spin that Al Jazeera and the Guardian have given in misinterpreting the papers) then we can come to some interesting conclusions.

It shows that the Palestinian Arab negotiators were not nearly as serious about reaching an agreement in 2010 as they were in 2008.

Now, what changed between those two dates?

There was a new Israeli government - and there was a new American administration.

Abbas became far more intransigent since Obama entered the White House because he could hardly act more flexible than the most powerful man on Earth was.

And almost certainly this AFP paper was for talks with America, not Israel. While it is difficult to know what Israeli peace proposals were at the time, we can safely assume that they still involved significant concessions if only because Netanyahu has repeated the mantra of "painful compromises for peace" - if he wasn't prepared to offer concessions, it makes no political sense to tell his supporters that they are coming.

Which indicates that it was the White House's actions that hardened the PLO's positions. Certainly it is what caused them to adopt a new strategy adding preconditions before peace talks could resume.

If these papers are true, (which is a big "if,") then the inescapable conclusion is that Obama's initial policy of leaning towards the Palestinian Arab position and publicly pressuring only Israel made peace a far more remote possibility than in was under the Bush administration.

ElderToons: Egypt's choice

Jewish boy kidnapped in Yemen

Wikipedia says:

Moshe Ya'ish al-Nahari (1978 - December 11, 2008) was a Jewish Hebrew language teacher in Raydah, Yemen, who was killed by Abdul Aziz Yahya Al-Abdi, a Muslim Yemenite who accosted him near his home demanding that he convert to Islam. Al-Nahari's attacker subsequently boasted of the killing and the prosecution demanded the death penalty. The court ruled that the attacker was mentally unstable and ordered him to pay damages. In the subsequent appeals case, however, al-Abdi was sentenced to death.

With that background...

From Yemen Post (h/t Jawa Report):

A Yemeni Jewish child was kidnapped from Reda district in Amran province on Saturday, informed source told media outlets.

Yameen Ameran Al-Nahari, 8 years, disappeared while the Jewish community was practicing their religious rituals on the weekend.

Sources said that the kidnapping of the child targeted to pressure the Jewish community to forgive Abdul-Aziz Al-Abdi, who shot dead a Jewish fellow citizen, Mashaa Yehiya bin Yaeesh Al-Nahari, and accept his fine in which he will pay 5.5 million riyals.

Lately, a Yemeni court upheld a death sentence on a Muslim man after being accused of killing a Jewish citizen.

So a Jewish child was kidnapped to allow the murderer of a Jewish man to go free.

Sick.

By the way that imposing sounding figure of 5.5 million Yemeni rials is only equivalent to about $25,000.

Is Hamas about to crack down on Ma'an News Agency?

Once upon a time. Ma'an News Agency tried to build for itself a niche as a professional, Western-style news outlet for Palestinian Arabs.

Then, after the Hamas takeover of Gaza, Ma'an started receiving threats from Hamas - and immediately it changed its coverage to stay away from anything negative about Hamas (unless Hamas denied a story from another source, in which case Ma'an would report the denial, but never the original story in context.)

Other Palestinian Arab journalists in Gaza were beaten and threatened not to report anything bad about Hamas, and for the most part, they obeyed.

Hamas kept a wary eye on Ma'an, occasionally paying "visits" to the agency to make sure that they were toeing the line.

That uneasy dance of Ma'an's self-censorship and Hamas' tolerance of the last Palestinian Arab media outlet in Gaza that was not explicitly pro-Hamas seems to have ended.

Palestine Times, a Hamas mouthpiece, just published an expose of sorts accusing Ma'an employees of Zionism, belonging to Fatah, and of lying in stories about Hamas.

Just a guess, but I have a feeling that Ma'an's days in Gaza are numbered.

No new "Palestine Papers" since Wednesday

Why have The Guardian and Al Jazeera stopped releasing any new memos since Wednesday?

Sunday linkfest

Iran is very happy at the events in Egypt, claiming that it is a natural extension of the Islamic Revolution that toppled the Shah of Iran and installed one of the most repressive regimes in the world.

The prisons in Egypt are emptying as prisoners are rioting and killing guards. Some reports say that thousands of prisoners are now roaming the country. The Muslim Brotherhood is celebrating the escape of its members. There are reports of "dozens of bodies" on the roads near one prison.

Thousands of Jordanians rallied on Friday after prayers demanding a new Prime Minister, and there were additional Islamist rallies on Saturday to support the anti-Mubarak riots in Egypt, warning all Arab leaders who are allied with the US that they will be toppled as well.

Leading Tunisian Islamists are streaming back to Tunisia from their exile in Europe.

Analysis about the events in Egypt from The Muqata, Barry Rubin, TNR.

Khaled Abu Toameh asks "Who are the real peace partners?"

Right after my proof that Amnesty International is inherently biased against Israel, a "human rights activist" that Amnesty praised as a "key human rights defender" been sentenced to nine years in prison for spying for Hezbollah.

Also some delicious irony from Yaacov Lozowick concerning another "peace activist."

Southern Sudan vote results in: 98.83% chose to secede

From Al Arabiya:

Close to 99 percent of south Sudanese chose to secede from the north in a January 9-15 referendum, according to the first complete preliminary results published Sunday.

Updated figures published on the Southern Sudan Referendum Commission's website and accounting for 100 percent of ballots cast in both the north and the south gave secession an overwhelming 98.83 percent of the vote.

Early counting had put the outcome of the ballot beyond doubt only days after voting ended, with partial figures showing southern Sudan had comfortably secured a mandate to secede and become the world's newest nation.

According to the commission website, 3,851,994 votes were cast during an emotional week-long ballot that saw huge lines of dancing and praying voters form outside polling stations long before dawn on the first day of voting.

Five of the 10 states in Sudan's oil-producing south showed a 99.9 percent vote for separation and the lowest vote was 95.5 percent in favor in the western state of Bahr al-Ghazal which borders north Sudan.

Arab League "Conference to Support Jerusalem" postponed indefinitely

Late last year, Qatar undertook to host a "Conference to Support Jerusalem" in February 2011, which was advised at the end of the Arab League conference in Sirte last March.

Some 74 countries were invited to what was planned to be an anti-Israel hatefest.

The conference was meant to show that Jerusalem is not only a Palestinian Arab issue but a pan-Arab issue. Seminars scheduled included how the "Arab" Jebusites built the city and the ancient Israelites intruded, as well as how Israel is violating international law by buying buildings and having Jews live there.

Only last Sunday, plans for the conference were said to be "in full swing" in Qatar.

Today, it was announced that the conference was being postponed "indefinitely."

This appears to be Qatar's retaliation against the insults that the Palestinian Authority hurled at the Emir in wake of the "Palestine Papers" imbroglio.

What Hamas is doing in Egypt

Palestine Press Agency, which is rabidly anti-Hamas but whose reporting has generally panned out as true, is reporting exactly what Hamas is doing to take advantage of the chaos in Egypt:

Special units of the Qassam Brigades of Hamas infiltrated through the tunnels deployed on the border two days ago to the city of Rafah in Egypt and then to the towns of Sheikh Zuwaid and El-Arish to support the Sinai Bedouin attacking the centers of the Egyptian security; [the Bedouin represent] the strategic depth of the Hamas movement in the Sinai.

A number of cars in the Sinai are filled by Hamas with weapons smuggled [from Gaza to Egypt] through the tunnels: mortars, RPGs, and packages of homemade explosives, such as those used in the bombing of Alexandria, in addition to a number of hand grenades, and these are used against the security forces and supporting the Egyptian Sinai Bedouin in the eradication of the ruling system in Egypt.

A large amount of Hamas members in civilian clothes have already passed through the Rafah crossing on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday through to Cairo, with the help of bribed state security officers, where they seek cooperation with the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt to attack the Egyptian prisons, where there are Hamas prisoners. Hamas is a natural extension of the Muslim Brotherhood.

There is talk about an escape of prisoners, including Ayman Nofal [jailed by Egypt in 2008] and others, and Hamas expects to return its prisoners to the Gaza Strip by Monday.

Aa state of overwhelming joy prevails in the ranks of Hamas from the influx of news from Egypt along with cheers and fireworks about the success of its own power to break points of the Egyptian security and access to the heart of Cairo. Hamas considers events in Cairo to end the rule of President Mubarak of Egypt, which they describe as a traitor and they wish the fall of the corrupt system in order for the Brotherhood to ascend to power.

It is worth mentioning the escape of the Palestinian King of Tunnels, nicknamed The Mouse, from the prison of Al-Arish, and his escape to Gaza after bloody battles fought by the Special Unit of the Qassam Brigades in collaboration with the Bedouins of the Sinai against the security forces of Egypt. In addition the al-Qassam Brigades kidnapped 3 Egyptian soldiers who seem to have been freed at the border of the city of Rafah.

Related, from Ma'an:

Palestinian sources say 12 people including Bedouins and Egyptian police officers were killed Saturday in clashes in the Sinai Peninsula, in what appeared to be an attempt by tribes in the region to take control of the swath of land south of the Egypt-Gaza border.

Gunshots were heard in the Egyptian city of Rafah as Bedouins attempted to occupy the border with Israel and the Gaza Strip. Rocket-propelled Grenades were fired at Egyptian soldiers, witnesses said, causing the near-total destruction of one home near the border area, and damage to a sector of the Gaza-Egypt border fence.

Gaza government police were said to have fixed the breach immediately, while eyewitnesses said police forces deployed across the border area on the Gaza side, in an apparent attempt to prevent Gaza residents from entering Egypt.

Armed groups attacked Egyptian police in the cities of Rafah and Sheikh Zweid, set fire to one police station and were behind the slaying of one officer identified as 36-year-old Jum’a Hamid after he was abducted along with two others, security sources said.

Security officials also said Bedouins were behind an earlier attack on an Egyptian security checkpoint, where four officers were killed and four others injured. All were transported to hospital in Al-Arish. Four banks and several state buildings were also reportedly set ablaze and looted.

The two stories are not inconsistent.

PalArabs trying to prove Al Jazeera in cahoots with Israel

The pro-Fatah Palestine Press Agency has a story claiming that Al Jazeera apologized to Israel last Thursday for saying good things about arch-terrorist and baby-killer Samir Kuntar.

While Al-Jazeera did once apologize about its coverage of Kuntar's birthday party, it wasn't last Thursday - it was in 2008.

PalPress published this lie in order to add fuel to the conspiracy theory that al-Jazeera published the "Palestine Papers" at Israel's behest.

No Jews with kippahs allowed at Rutgers anti-Zionist event (updated)

From WND:

Rutgers University campus police tonight barred some 400 Jewish students and their supporters, including some Holocaust survivors, from attending what was billed as an anti-Zionist gathering at the state school tonight.

The student-sponsored event was announced with an open invitation campus-wide, and Rutgers policy is for all student activities to be open to the public.

However, when the sponsoring organizations of "Never Again for Anyone" saw they were outnumbered by Jewish students and their supporters by about 4-to-1, they asked campus policy to bar students wearing kippas – and eventually limited attendance to known supporters of the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network, Americans for Muslims in Palestine and the Middle East Children's Alliance.

Pleas to university officials from the Jewish students and their supporters for access to the event went unheeded.

Rutgers campus police said they could not provide a statement as to why the public event would turn away 400 members of the public. One officer said they were called in late and weren't really sure what was going on.

When the Jewish students, led by Aaron Marcus, were denied entry, they gathered in the lobby and sang religious songs in Hebrew.

"We wanted to protest this event because as the children and grandchildren of victims of the Holocaust we believed it to be absolutely absurd to compare Israeli act of self defense to the viscous, systematic murder of millions of Jews, Catholics, Gays, Gypsies, Russians and others," Marcus said.

Members of the New Jersey branch of Young Americans for Freedom were in attendance to protest the discrimination against Jewish students.

UPDATE: Lots of videos at Challah Hu Akbar.

Wikileaks: US had contact with Egyptian democratic activists

An interesting and somewhat timely Wikileaks cable released today, written in December 2008:

On December 23, April 6 activist XXXXXXXXXXXX expressed satisfaction with his participation in the December 3-5 "Alliance of Youth Movements Summit," and with his subsequent meetings with USG officials, on Capitol Hill, and with think tanks. He described how State Security (SSIS) detained him at the Cairo airport upon his return and confiscated his notes for his summit presentation calling for democratic change in Egypt, and his schedule for his Congressional meetings. XXXXXXXXXXXX contended that the GOE will never undertake significant reform, and therefore, Egyptians need to replace the current regime with a parliamentary democracy. He alleged that several opposition parties and movements have accepted an unwritten plan for democratic transition by 2011; we are doubtful of this claim. XXXXXXXXXXXX said that although SSIS recently released two April 6 activists, it also arrested three additional group members. We have pressed the MFA for the release of these April 6 activists. April 6's stated goal of replacing the current regime with a parliamentary democracy prior to the 2011 presidential elections is highly unrealistic, and is not supported by the mainstream opposition.

XXXXXXXXXXXX expressed satisfaction with the December 3-5 "Alliance of Youth Movements Summit" in New York, noting that he was able to meet activists from other countries and outline his movement's goals for democratic change in Egypt. He told us that the other activists at the summit were very supportive, and that some even offered to hold public demonstrations in support of Egyptian democracy in their countries, with XXXXXXXXXXXX as an invited guest. XXXXXXXXXXXX said he discussed with the other activists how April 6 members could more effectively evade harassment and surveillance from SSIS with technical upgrades, such as consistently alternating computer "simcards." However, XXXXXXXXXXXX lamented to us that because most April 6 members do not own computers, this tactic would be impossible to implement. XXXXXXXXXXXX was appreciative of the successful efforts by the Department and the summit organizers to protect his identity at the summit, and told us that his name was never mentioned publicly.

XXXXXXXXXXXX told us that SSIS detained and searched him at the Cairo Airport on December 18 upon his return from the U.S. According to XXXXXXXXXXXX, SSIS found and confiscated two documents in his luggage: notes for his presentation at the summit that described April 6's demands for democratic transition in Egypt, and a schedule of his Capitol Hill meetings. XXXXXXXXXXXX described how the SSIS officer told him that State Security is compiling a file on him, and that the officer's superiors instructed him to file a report on XXXXXXXXXXXX's most recent activities.

XXXXXXXXXXXX described his Washington appointments as positive, saying that on the Hill he met with Rep. Edward Royce, a variety of House staff members, including from the offices of Rep. Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) and Rep. Wolf (R-VA), and with two Senate staffers. XXXXXXXXXXXX also noted that he met with several think tank members. XXXXXXXXXXXX said that Rep. Wolf's office invited him to speak at a late January Congressional hearing on House Resolution 1303 regarding religious and political freedom in Egypt. XXXXXXXXXXXX told us he is interested in attending, but conceded he is unsure whether he will have the funds to make the trip. He indicated to us that he has not been focusing on his work as a "fixer" for journalists, due to his preoccupation with his U.S. trip.

(C) XXXXXXXXXXXX described how he tried to convince his Washington interlocutors that the USG should pressure the GOE to implement significant reforms by threatening to reveal
information about GOE officials' alleged "illegal" off-shore bank accounts. He hoped that the U.S. and the international community would freeze these bank accounts, like the accounts of Zimbabwean President Mugabe's confidantes. XXXXXXXXXXXX said he wants to convince the USG that Mubarak is worse than Mugabe and that the GOE will never accept democratic reform. XXXXXXXXXXXX asserted that Mubarak derives his legitimacy from U.S. support, and therefore charged the U.S. with "being responsible" for Mubarak's "crimes." He accused NGOs working on political and economic reform of living in a "fantasy world," and not recognizing that Mubarak -- "the head of the snake" -- must step aside to enable democracy to take root.

Hamas criminals escape Egyptian prison, make way to Gaza

Hamas members who have been arrested by Egypt have escaped from the El Arish prison in the riots, and some have made their way back to Gaza.

One particular prisoner, Mohammed Ramadan, known as "the Mouse", is reported to have made it to Gaza. He was known as being the "king of all tunnelers." He was arrested for running smuggling rings. It is unclear if he was smuggling weapons.

Hamas hooking up with Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt? (UPDATE)

From Stratfor, a report that they admit is unconfirmed:

The Egyptian police are no longer patrolling the Rafah border crossing into Gaza. Hamas armed men are entering into Egypt and are closely collaborating with the MB. The MB has fully engaged itself in the demonstrations, and they are unsatisfied with the dismissal of the Cabinet. They are insisting on a new Cabinet that does not include members of the ruling National Democratic Party.

Security forces in plainclothes are engaged in destroying public property in order to give the impression that many protesters represent a public menace. The MB is meanwhile forming people’s committees to protect public property and also to coordinate demonstrators’ activities, including supplying them with food, beverages and first aid.

OlehGirl adds, based on tweets she's been monitoring:

The border between Gaza and Egypt has pretty much ceased to exist, at least as far as armed Hamas militants are concerned. Towns in the Sinai close to the Gaza border have been taken over by Muslim Brotherhood protesters, with Hamas militants from Gaza joining their ranks. The border, according to twitter updates and now more ‘official’ confirmation, is pretty much open season.

As of last evening I’ve been getting twitter reports that the Muslim Brotherhood, backed by local Beduins, have pretty much ousted Egyptian forces from villages such as El Arish along the Gaza/Egyptian border. For the last 8 hours, I’ve gotten twitter updates suggesting that Hamas men from Gaza have been freely crossing the border, now virtually open, to provide reinforcements to the Muslim Brotherhood.

So the US was pouring $1.5 billion into Egypt annually partially to stop stuff like this from happening.

As I wrote in the run-up to Egypt's elections last October:

Any way you look at it, Egyptians have no freedom and no democracy. But before free elections can be held, a few years of true freedom needs to come first, so the people can make truly informed decisions. This means freedom of the press and freedom of assembly, not to mention freedom of religion.

The government might be better than some of the alternatives but it is sacrificing freedom altogether, and the result is that all Egyptians are losing.

And now, the Muslim Brotherhood - which may be the only opposition party that is well organized enough to take full advantage of the chaos - is poised to use the banner of "freedom" to turn Egypt into an Islamist, theocratic nightmare - an even worse situation than it has been under.

UPDATE: A Firas Press article reminds us that the Egyptian army is restricted from some areas of the Sinai, including Rafah, under the Camp David accords - so Hamas can easily help along the anarchy.

Just in case you thought Al Jazeera had any credibility...(corrected)

From Al Jazeera:

According to sources in the Egyptian Embassy in Tel Aviv, Israel is making preparations to welcome Hosni Mubarak into exile after Saudi Arabia rejected overtures.

(h/t Zach)

UPDATE: I hadn't noticed that this was from the crazy AlJazeera.com website, which is not associated with the satellite channel/network (aljazeera.net.) Thanks to the commenters who pointed that out.