Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Roundup of world reaction to Syrian state crimes (Zvi)

From Zvi:

Given that the US government claims to be still waiting for a global consensus (what's that, you say? A stunning display of non-leadership?) I thought that I would enumerate the positions that various government, NGOs and others have expressed regarding the ongoing bloodbath in Syria.

Syrian people (broad consensus):

* Assad must go.

* Islamists: "No Iran, no Hezbollah, we want Muslim rulers who fear Allah"

(While Iran may, for political reasons, say that Alawites are Muslims, most Sunnis disagree. Syrian Alawites will truly screwed if the Syrian regime falls)

* "One and all in the opposition to Bashar's rule are convinced that Hezbollah fighters and cadres of the
Iranian Revolutionary Guard have made their way to Syria to aid in the grim work of repression. There are even local reports that Iran has offered a large subsidy to bail out Damascus from the economic fallout of the rebellion." [wsj]

(These reports are NOT unfounded rumors. [tel])

Arab League:

* Called for an "immediate halt" to violence

Bahrain:

* Recalled ambassador

Brazil:

* Protects Syrian regime in UN as it continues to massacre its own people.

China:

* Protects Syrian regime in UN as it continues to massacre its own people.

* China is a strong opponent of "humanitarian" intervention in any country by world powers.

Egypt:

* Grand imam of Al Azhar called on the Syrian rulers to stop facing unarmed protesters with "live bullets and iron and fire." [wsj]

* Demonstrators in Cairo: Assad must go.

GCC:

* attacked Syrian regime's brutal repression (last week)

Hamas:

* Leaders remain in Damascus (probably very frustrated)

* But Gazan columnists, even in pro-Hamas papers, are writing things like: “is extremely hostile to the aspirations and rights of its people” [bloom]

Human Rights Watch:

* "It's a continuation of a deliberate policy of the military crushing the protest movement," said Nadim Houry, Human Rights Watch's senior researcher for the Middle East and North Africa. "We've seen it now in so many cities." [1]

* Urged the Arab League to hold an emergency meeting on the bloodbath in Syria. [2]

India:

* Protects Syrian regime in UN as it continues to massacre its own people.

Iraq:

* PM Al-Maliki (historical ties to Assad regime) is allied with the al-Assad regime, an arranged wedding brokered by Iran last year. [kurd]

* Iraqi Kurds and the majority Sunni Iraqiya Party have vehemently criticized the Syrian regime. [kurd]

* Iraq is once again engaged in a heated dispute with Kuwait and is increasingly leaning on Iran.

Jordan:

* PM: “World anger and rejection of the bloodshed in Syria are growing.” [cnn]

* PM: urged "immediate halt to military operations", adoption of meaningful reforms
* A Jordanian citizen was killed by sniper in Homs on Sunday. [jord]

* A member of the regime's secret police, who fled to Turkey, claims that Syria is using Iranian snipers [scot]

Kuwait:

* Recalled ambassador

* Mulling cutting off aid, loans [kuwait]

* Huge investor in Syria, and Kuwaiti companies hold over 10% of Syrian insurance market [boyc]

Lebanon:

* Government, dominated by Hezbollah, humiliatingly defending Assad regime in UN

* Future Movement: accusing Syrian regime of crimes against humanity

* Walid Jumblatt (Druze): abandoning Syria and aligning with Turkey. As a Druze leader, Jumblatt tends to align with the "strong horse." Given that the Assads killed his father, Jumblatt will never love them. But he complies with their wishes as long as he FEARS them. [jumblatt]

* Lebanese Druze: worried by Syrian accusations that Leb Druze are arming the Syrian Druze. I would be worried too.

* Syrian-backed PFLP has stationed rocket launchers on Mt. Lebanon, near Aley. Jumblatt is furious. "According to Jumhouriaya sources Jumblatt understood that from his Syrian visit that the developments on 888 hill were a message to him in response to his calls on Syrian president Bashar al Assad to immediately implement the reforms he promised."

* Hezbollah: continued support for Syrian regime, but trying to lower the profile. Support for HA in Arab street is mostly gone.

Maldives:

* Maldives calls for end to state-sponsored violence against civilians in Syria [mald]

* Foreign minister urges UNHRC to refer the issue in its upcoming session

* (Maldives is one of the freest of the "Muslim countries", though still rated only "partly free"; its Freedom House scores are close to those of Turkey)

Morocco:

* "The kingdom of Morocco, which has traditionally refrained from interfering in the internal affairs of other countries, expresses today its strong worries and deep concern over the sad events rocking
Syria," [asiaone]

OIC:

* Accused Syria on Saturday of using "excessive armed force" and called on Damascus to stop the bloodshed. [reut]

PA:

* Abed Rabo: accused regime of crimes against humanity [latimes]

* Abu Rudaineh: called on Syria to protect Palestinians in Syria [jpost]

* Permitted hundreds of demonstrators in Ramallah to call for Syrian regime's overthrow [jpost2]

Pakistan:

* Pakistan's Bhutto family has historical ties to the al-Assad regime. [tribpk]

* Silent on regime atrocities. [tribpk]

* Supported Syrian regime at UN [tribpk]

Palestine Solidarity Campaign (and other BDS groups):

* - silence -

Qatar:

* Recalled ambassador (a month ago) [boyc]

* A huge investor in Syria. One large electrical project has been frozen after Syria retaliated for Al Jazeera coverage of the slaughter by refusing a permit. [boyc]

Russia:

* Maintains naval presence in Latakia and Tarsus. Were the Russian sailors sitting idly by, watching Syrian gunboats pound Latakia?

* Protects Syrian regime in UN as it continues to massacre its own people.

Saudi Arabia:

* Recalled ambassador (last Sunday)

* King Abdullah called on Assad to stop the "killing machine."

Spain:

* Offered Assad asylum in July [haaretz]

Turkey:

* Increasingly strident "ultimatum" language. Today, FM Davutoglu issued what it called its "final words" to the Syrian regime.

* FM in Saudi yesterday. Guess what they talked about? [arabiya]

Archbishop Desmond Tutu, a vocal attacker of Israel:

* - silence -

UNHRC:
* Dictators R Us!

* Pretty much silent, although they have held special sessions. They tried to cover their silence with a team of independent experts who called for an end to violence.

UNRWA:

* Latakia: "The situation is very bad. There are more than 10,000 residents of the camp, and half of them left out of fear of incoming fire from the land and sea. We don't know where they are, and we're the ones responsible for them. We're just desperately trying to find out where everyone is."

(Try looking in the stadium, where 1000s have been rounded up, stripped of cell phones and IDs and are being held indefinitely. Which should worry people.)

UNSC:

* Let's see how little we can accomplish, as slowly as possible.

UN Secretary General:

* Multiple futile condemnations of Syrian atrocities.

Misc. media:

* Jakarta Post editorial: "So much for the UN principles of Responsibility to Protect... . How many deaths will it take for the world to know that too many people have died?" [jakp]

* TIME: "Syria's City of Graves: Hama and its History of Massacres" [time]

By the way, definitely read the Time piece, one of the very few first hand reports from Syria and an excellent example of real reporting.

Where's the Palestinian Arab Spring?

Khaled Abu Toameh writes in Hudson-NY:

Last March, when it seemed as if the popular uprisings in a number of Arab countries had arrived in the Palestinian territories, thousands of Palestinians took to the streets as part of a Facebook-orchestrated campaign to demand an end to Palestinian "divisions."

Inspired by the Egyptian demonstrators in Tahrir Square, the Palestinian protesters staged sit-in strikes in the center of Ramallah and Gaza City.

Although the Palestinian protesters were careful not to attack the Palestinian Authority and Hamas, they quickly found themselves facing policemen and thugs belonging to the two rival parties.

Palestinians are also reluctant to come out in large numbers against the two governments because they still do not see a better alternative to the Palestinian Authority and Hamas: Over the past few years, both governments have had a common interest in suppressing the emergence of a strong and charismatic third party.

Since then, Palestinians have stopped trying to copy the tactics used by anti-government demonstrators in the Arab world.

With both the Palestinian Authority and Hamas, the violence achieved its goal and brought about a swift end to what could have evolved into a Palestinian spring.

A case in point:

A young political activist in the Gaza Strip has been arrested, members of his group feared Monday after he had been missing for two days.

Abu Yazan, leader of the Gaza Youth Breaks Out movement, was returning from a trip to France, where he was invited to hold talks about the situation in Gaza, GYBO said.

He was arrested after being summoned twice for interrogation, the group said in a statement.

"Abu Yazan is a leading voice in the movement that is representing a growing number of Gazan youth," the statement said. GYBO was active in the March 15 pro-unity movement.

"He also was denied visits by his family and a lawyer," the group said.

"We call on the authorities to abide by the law."

Another member of the group, who identified himself only as Abu Ghassan, told AFP that Abu Yazan had been missing since he went to try to retrieve his laptop and mobile phone from the headquarters of Gaza internal security services.

"There was a threat that he would be arrested and he had to turn over his laptop and mobile phone to the internal security before he went to France," Abu Ghassan said.

"He went to get his laptop and mobile phone back two days ago and since then he hasn't been seen or heard from.

Gaza Youth Breaks Out has a webpage and Facebook page. They are pretty much angry at everyone, as their original manifesto started with:

Fuck Israel. Fuck Hamas. Fuck Fatah. Fuck UN. Fuck UNWRA. Fuck USA!

In their Manifesto 2.0, they expand on their anger at Hamas:

Yes we voted for Hamas government. We all did. We were tired of Fatah government’s corruption, wanted a change and hoped Hamas would be that change. That PRECISELY gives us the right to shout our anger at them, because they are responsible of us, responsible of our well-being, our security. Fatah in the West Bank arrests Hamas affiliates, Hamas in Gaza arrests Fatah affiliates, while everywhere in Palestine you can find family members from different factions living united. Yes we denounce our politicians – note that words; POLITICIANS – because their mutual hatred divided them even during the commemoration of the first anniversary of Cast Lead massacre, while a crowd of Palestinians from all factions stood united by martyrdom, grief, and love for Palestine.

Whether you want to admit it or not, believe it or not, corruption exists, and it’s our right as Palestinians to denounce it, because we are tired of it. Internal change has not only internal parameters. Change will come only if people outside realize that they need to take into consideration the fact that corruption does exist, and that it needs to be stopped if we want unity back. So if it takes us to shout it to the world for our political leaders to hear us and care to unite for us, we’ll do it a hundred times.

So it is predictable that Hamas would arrest Abu Yazan, and the nascent anti-government protest movements in both Gaza and the West Bank will always be viciously attacked by the "democratically elected" governments.

Hamas last night also arrested a journalist, Thaer Abu Warda, and confiscated his computer.

We see here, again, what a Palestinian Arab state would look like. It would look a lot like Mubarak's Egypt, at best. And no one seems to have a problem with this.

What's missing from this CNN story?

Here is an entire story from CNN:

Airstrikes wound three in Gaza

At least four airstrikes hit Gaza early Tuesday, leaving two people critically wounded and a third on life support, Palestinian medical and security sources said.

All three injuries occurred in a strike east of Gaza City, where a group of Palestinian militants had gathered, the sources said. The other strikes targeted a training field for the military wing of Hamas, the Palestinian faction that controls Gaza, east of the city, and a site outside Khan Younis that militants recently used to fire rockets out of the territory into Israel, the security sources said.

A fourth strike hit near the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, but no details were immediately known.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military on the strikes, which occurred shortly after 2 a.m. (8 p.m. Monday ET).

So what's missing?

Just the fact that a Grad rocket was fired from Gaza to Beersheva a couple of hours earlier.

In fact, CNN has nothing on that story, nor have they updated this with the IDF statement confirming that this was the reason:

Overnight, IAF aircraft targeted four targets in the Gaza Strip. Direct hits were confirmed.

These sites were targeted in response to the firing of a rocket from the Gaza Strip at the city of Be’er Sheva.

In a separate incident, IDF soldiers identified a squad of terrorists planning to fire rockets at Israel. IAF aircraft thwarted the attempt, confirming a hit.

The IDF will not tolerate any attempt to harm Israeli civilians and IDF soldiers, and will respond with determination to any attempt to use terror against the State of Israel. The IDF holds the Hamas terrorist organization solely responsible for any terrorist activity emanating from the Gaza Strip.

The person who was killed in Gaza was a Hamas terrorist.

(h/t Dan)

There's still one more flotilla ship in the Med - but they are broke

From the Free Palestine Movement:

Dear Friends and Supporters,

Please accept our apologies for the long delay in reporting to you on developments concerning the Free Palestine Movement and its participation in the Gaza Freedom Flotilla with our partners in the International Committee to Break the Siege of Gaza (ICBSG). Until now, our partners asked us to say nothing about our ship, and they were right to do so, because our silence allowed the ship to quietly leave Greece with the hope of placing the passengers on board at another location.

The Nour al-Haqiqa (Light of Truth), is a fine vessel, the largest in the Flotilla (not including the Mavi Marmara). It is approximately 40 meters in length and licensed to carry 120 passengers and crew for overnight travel.

The Nour is currently berthed in a secure location where it can receive fuel, provisions and servicing. Unfortunately, however, we have been unsuccessful until now in finding a country in the Mediterranean that will allow our passengers to go on board. In addition, there is a technical matter (not mechanical) to be resolved, which makes it difficult to move the vessel.

These difficulties are similar to those encountered by other boats in the Flotilla. There is, in effect, an international conspiracy to deny boats the freedom to sail to Gaza, regardless of who is or is not on board or what the boats may or may not be carrying, however harmless.

We're broke!

Our share of the boat purchase ($6000 per person), plus all the other costs of organizing and bringing our delegation to Athens has completely exhausted our funds. In the past, donors have quickly replenished our coffers after we set to sea and began to report on our experiences.

This time we have had no such opportunity - yet - and we don't even have enough funds to attend strategy meetings, much less to send a delegation if and when the opportunity arises. We don't even have operating funds for more than two weeks, which affects other projects besides the Flotilla.

Please help to keep us going. We're trying to raise at least $20,000 for operating costs until the end of the year, but will use part of it to send a delegation to the Nour if the opportunity arises, in which case we will also do a special appeal for that purpose.

Thank you for your support for our work. Please click here to make a donation.

About our delegation

Ambassador Sam Hart, American Indian Movement spokesperson Jimbo Simmons, Sister Patricia Chaffee, USS Liberty veteran and survivor Joe Meadors, FPM founder Paul Larudee and FPM Coordinator Deppen Webber returned to the US on or about July 10. Since then, we have all been engaged in speaking and writing about our experiences, and if the Nour sails, most of us will again try to be on it.

If you wish to schedule a speaking presentation by any of us in your area, please let us know. We would be happy to come.

Donate Raffle Prizes

Can you donate an item for the upcoming FPM fundraising raffle? We will be accepting donations from business owners and individuals to be listed as prizes on our raffle website and flyers. The drawing will be held in Pacifica on December 3, 2011 and we hope to have the prizes finalized in 2 weeks. Some popular items in previous raffles were air tickets, vacation accommodations, dinners, and massages. To donate an item please call +1 510-232-2500 or send email to info@freepalestinemovement.org The value of your donation is tax deductible.

I think I'll offer a mug from my store for their raffle.

Hey - it's tax deductible to donate to a ""charity" that supports Hamas, as this photo of FPM founder Paul Larudee shaking hands with Ismail Haniyeh shows:

(h/t Leonard)

What politician said this about Syria?

"This is our final word to the Syrian authorities, our first expectation is that these operations stop immediately and unconditionally. If these operations do not stop, there will be nothing left to say about the steps that would be taken. We have been in contact and have repeated our demands and have emphasized our expectations. In the context of human rights this cannot be seen as a domestic issue."

Who said this?

Answer after the jump.

Wasted weather post open thread

Yesterday, there was a record set in New York City for the amount of rainfall in a single day.

Also yesterday, there was a very unusual summer rain in Israel.

It seems to me that whenever there is a heat wave in the East Coast of the US, there seems to be higher than normal temperatures in Israel, and similarly the cold spells seem to coincide. In the winter, it feels like every time there is a major snowstorm in New York there is rain in Israel.

Only one way to find out!

So I just wasted a couple of hours trying to dig up temperature statistics for Tel Aviv and New York to see if I can find any correlation.

I found some really interesting coincidences, for example, look at the peaks and troughs in high temperatures in January and especially February this year:

But the other correlations were disappointing. Late March/early April were a lot of correlated rainstorms, but besides that not too much.

If I would have found a mathematically significant correlation, then I could have changed the entire world of meteorology. Hey, when you swing for the fences, you tend to strike out every once in a while.

It might still be worth doing a more mathematically sound study to see which diverse areas of the world have the most coincidental daily weather, but I don't quite care that much. If anyone wants to tackle 2010, feel free!

If you want to play with the numbers yourself, it took a while but I found that Weather Underground has the best historical data for most world cities, although it doesn't give precipitation totals for Israel, only whether there was rain or storms.

Meanwhile, consider this an open thread.

Egyptian kiddie TV: Mubarak infected Egyptians with Zionist cancer

From MEMRI:

Excerpts:

Following are excerpts from a TV puppet show, featuring children as the prosecutors in a mock trial for Hosni Mubarak, portrayed by a puppet. The show aired on Al-Hekma TV on August 14, 2011.

Mubarak puppet: Brothers and sisters, I have spent my life serving this country. As I stand before you today, I tell you that I will not comply with these demands. I tell you... If anyone has a question, go ahead.

Children (in unison): There is no god but Allah, the martyr is loved by Allah.

There is no god but Allah, Hosni Mubarak is the enemy of Allah.

...
Child prosecutor: The trial has begun. We are now in session.

2nd child prosecutor: You fought against Islam and the Muslims.

Mubarak puppet: If we leave the Islamists to their own devices, they will reach power. Everybody will have to wear the niqab, and there will be anarchy.

[...]

Child prosecutor: You made the West affront the Prophet Muhammad – Denmark and other countries...

Child prosecutor: You are Israel's best friend. Israel was the country most saddened by your fall and your trial, because you were helping them to kill the Palestinians and to occupy their lands.

Mubarak puppet: As long as the Israelis occupy Palestine, we must treat them well. These Jews have always been good people. In the Jewish quarter here, we have always known that they keep their word.
...

2nd child prosecutor: You brought cancer upon the Egyptian people.

Mubarak puppet: Brothers and sisters, I have spent my life serving this country. My fellow citizens, the population is huge, and I didn't know how to feed them, so I brought cancerous pesticides from Israel for them. You've seen grapes the size of watermelons, watermelons the size of buffaloes, and buffaloes the size of chicks. There are 80 million people, praise the Lord. How is one to feed them?

[...]

Child prosecutor: You treated the vegetables and fruits with all kinds of hormones coming from Israel, in order to inflict the Egyptians with cancer, but God was lying in wait for you, and He gave you a taste of your own medicine, inflicting you with cancer.

Children in unison: Hosni Mubarak, you devil, you inflicted cancer upon your people.

The Golan Druze, caught between two worlds

Die Welt (German) has a very interesting article about the Druze of the Golan Heights:

Israel has controlled the Golan Heights since the Six Day War in 1967 when it captured the area from Syria; in 1981 Israel annexed the area - a move that neither Syria nor the international community have ever acknowledged. Even the residents of Majdal Shams to describe themselves as Syrians today. "We are Syrians, our ancestors were Syrians and as Druze our loyalty is to our country - and that is Syria," says Hamdani Tahrir, an apple farmer who supplements his income by renting two small cabins as vacation homes to Israeli tourists.

His Syrian self-identity has not prevented him from learning Hebrew well. "I have nothing against the Israelis," he tried to explain. "They are a democracy, and this is the best form of government," says Tahrir.

This is a strange answer because no one really wanted to know from him what he thought the best form of government is. When asked how he stands as to the brutal actions of the Syrian government against its own people, he turns away. "There are not many Druze in the world," he said then. "We need to take care of ourselves."

...While their co-religionists in the Israeli heartland have always participated in army service and by and large maintain good relations with the Jewish majority, the Druze in the Golan Heights sits between two stools.

On the one hand, in an anonymous survey, 75 percent of students said they wanted to remain in Israel if the Golan should one day be part of Syria as part of a peace agreement. On the other hand, fewer than 1,000 Druze have accepted the offer of Israeli citizenship. The majority are defined as "undefined nationality." It is the same in their travel documents.

There is one reason why they themselves often mention the principle of the Druze loyalty towards their home country - in this case, Syria. Tangible threats do the rest. Thus some religious leaders have called for a boycott of any Druze with an Israeli passport. One should not marry this man nor do business with them. Also many would rather not know what the Syrian regime has in mind for alleged collaborators under a return of the Golan.

Nihad is as a collaborator. The young man with the wrinkled face of his surprisingly blue eyes hidden behind mirrored sunglasses has accepted Israeli citizenship and is not afraid to be called by his real first name.

"Before the Syrian army sets foot on this territory, I'm going to escape with my family," he says, determined. He had already put out feelers in the Druze in the Galilee. There, one is quite prepared to admit him in an emergency. "I was born in 1979," said Nihad. "I've never lived in Syria, but only in Israel. And here I have it actually quite good." Unfortunately, many Druze are caught in the tradition, he says. Caution had become second nature to them. This is hardly surprising, because life is a religious minority in the Middle East is always difficult.

The entire article is good, including a history of Druze and the fact that there are more female experts on the religion than men.

(h/t Missing Peace)

Syrians forcing Palestinian Arabs to flee camps

Now Lebanon quotes Shaam News Network:

The Syrian army is calling on residents in Latakia’s refugee camps in and in the Raml and Saknatouri neighborhoods to evacuate the region. They are threatening to consider everyone that remains an opponent.

So the PalArabs are running for their lives:

Thousands of Palestinians fled their refugee camp in Latakia, AFP cited UNRWA as saying.

And some were killed:

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency, UNRWA, is gravely concerned about reports of heavy gunfire from Syrian security forces into the Palestinian refugee camp situated in the El Ramel district and surrounding areas of Latakia, including heavy fire from gunboats. Reports from various sources indicate deaths and casualties among the Palestinian refugee population, although poor communications make it impossible to confirm the exact number of dead and injured.

All of this is happening among Syria's larger assault on Latakia and, today, Homs.

The irony of Arabs forcing their Palestinian brethren to flee their homes is being lost on the Arab people, apparently.

Some 42 civilians have been killed over the past day in Syria.

Iran sort of cooperating with Israel on synchrotron project

The story of SESAME:

The notion of scientists from Israel meeting in Jordan with counterparts from countries such as Iran, Bahrain, Egypt, Pakistan and Turkey seems like something out of a fantasy novel.

Yet such meetings have been occurring - most recently in November last year - for about 15 years, as a conglomerate of Middle East countries hammers out the details of a major scientific project to benefit scientists from across the region. The project, too, seems like something out of a sci-fi thriller.

SESAME, an acronym for Synchrotron-light for Experimental Science and Applications in the Middle East, will provide regional scientists with a multifaceted look at everything from proteins to archeological finds.

Eliezer Rabinovici, director of the Institute for Advanced Studies in Jerusalem and one of the founders of SESAME, explains to ISRAEL21c that a synchrotron "is like an enormous x-ray machine" that rapidly turns electrons until they radiate light that allows scientists to study the structure of substances, even tiny ones such as proteins, in more depth than ever before. Synchrotron studies are useful in chemistry, molecular biology, environmental science, pharmaceuticals and nanotechnology. Archeologists and art historians may also find uses for a synchrotron.

Though SESAME is sometimes erroneously referred to as a particle accelerator, it's not the same, Rabinovici explains. Both operate on principles of high-energy physics. However, particle accelerators smash atoms to provide a unique look into the composition of the material world at its most basic level. In a synchrotron, "there are no collisions. In order to study proteins, you don't have to smash them to pieces," he says.

Supported by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), SESAME is under construction in Allaan, Jordan - just 30 km from Amman. Many components are already in place inside the $10 million building begun in 2003. "You need a special, stable building to house this because the Jordan Valley is very seismic," says Rabinovici.

But a couple of years ago the project was in danger of losing funding:

In recent years, researchers decided it would be better to upgrade the older machine to a more sophisticated "third-generation" light source capable of delivering energies of 2.5 gigaelectronvolts. Llewellyn Smith, who took a leading role in the project in 2008, has supported the upgrade. "If it's good for doing science, the political aim of getting people together will follow," he says.

But building a world-class machine, even with recycled parts, costs money. A new estimate led by Llewellyn Smith, who has overseen projects such as the Large Hadron Collider, shows a $35 million gap in the construction budget. Foreign donors such as the European Union and the United States have been reluctant to get involved without a clear commitment from regional governments.

So Israel stepped up:

[In March 2010] Rabinovici talked Israel into pledging $1 million a year for five years—but only if four other members also do so. Two members have signed on already, and Sir Christopher Llewellyn-Smith, president of the SESAME council, is optimistic that others will also join in soon. Nadji says he’ll continue to push his team to finish the job. ”We’ve come this far,” he says. ”I have to believe we’ll get there.”

And guess who has matched Israel's pledge?

From FARS News:

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iran's envoy to the International Centre for Synchrotron-Light for Experimental Science Applications in the Middle-East Seyed Mahmoud Aqa-Miri underlined Iran's determination to maintain its prominent role in SESAME.

"Iran insists on its participation in SESAME and we have reached a good level scientifically and technologically," Aqa-Miri stated, adding that Iran's non-participation in the project would give the Zionist regime of Israel the chance to gain control over the SESAME.

He also described the SESAME as "Israel's backyard", but meantime underlined that Iran's participation in the project doesn't mean that it has recognized the Zionist regime.

"As we have officially and repeatedly announced, we have not and will not recognize the Zionist regime," Aqa-Miri reiterated.

Iran contributes a major role in the implementation of the SESAME project in the region.

Iran ranks first in terms of scientific participation in the major project of SESAME in the region.

Iran has pledged to pay 5 million dollars for the SESAME project.

Iran has set conditions to pay one million dollar every year for 5 years for the SESAME project to advance.

The country has called for the supply of facilities for training its experts and receiving visas for its scientists in return for the financial help.

It has also said that its aid should be only used for providing facilities.

It isn't direct, but Iran is clearly matching Israel's offer.

There's another wrinkle in the pseudo-cooperation between Iran and Israel on the project. Two of the Iranian physicists working on SESAME have been assassinated.

Majid Shahriari, who attended only a single SESAME meeting, was a quantum physicist who specialized in neutron transport, a phenomenon that lies at the heart of nuclear chain reactions in bombs and reactors. "According to Ars Technica, Majid Shahriari was the top scientist and senior manager of Iran's nuclear program." His assassination may have been by Israeli or American spies and seems not to be connected to SESAME.

But Masoud Alimohammadi, a particle physicist at the University of Tehran, as killed by a bomb in January 2010. He was not a nuclear researcher and seemed to be apolitical but he leaned towards Iran's reformist movement. He definitely spoke with his Israeli counterparts on the project. It seems unlikely that he was killed by Israeli or American agents.

Could he have been killed for his cooperation with Israel in SESAME?

Video of Gaza's latest luxury hotel

Unedited, from the Al Mashtal website:

(h/t Israel Matzav)

New round of Shalit talks in Cairo

From YNet, in a story being widely reported in Arabic media:

A second round of indirect talks between Israeli and Hamas teams negotiating the release of kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Shalit has been scheduled to begin Monday in Cairo, the London-based al-Hayat has reported.

Accordnig to the report, the first round of talks, mediated by Egyptian officials, took place last week, effectively ending a lengthy stalemate.

Al-Hayat reported that the teams sat in separate rooms in an Egyptian intelligence building, with mediators acting as messengers passing on "suggestions and ideas".

Last week, reports stated that Ahmed Jabari, known as the head of Hamas's military wing, led a delegation to Cairo to discuss a prisoner exchange deal with intelligence officials.

David Meidan, a Mossad official recently appointed to head the talks on Israel's side, also visited the Egyptian capital last week. Following these developments, Egypt has decided to host the negotiations once again.

A senior Egyptian official told the paper that there had been no breakthroughs in talks so far, but was hopeful both sides would be flexible.

He added that Hamas had given Jabari full authority to finalize a deal with Israel.

Another source cited by al-Hayat said that there were visible signs of progress. "If there is true desire to strike a deal and if Israel displays willingness to pay the price for Shalit, there will be an agreement," he said.

There have been other negotiations in the past, always very unsuccessful, but there is a little hope that this round might work.

Hamas feels sidelined by the entire unilateral UN stunt the PLO is planning and would like to appear heroic for getting a thousand prisoners released. Netanyahu is feeling pressure from the tent protests as well and a Shalit release could distract from domestic issues. And Egypt would love to broker a successful agreement to increase its prestige post-revolution.

Not a perfect storm, but at least a little reason to keep an eye on the story.

"Hollywood seeks Zionist world domination via disaster movies"

From Iran's ABNA agency:

Hollywood uses art as one of the major means for influencing the audience and makes end-of-time movies seeking world domination.

This is according to cinema expert Seyyed Hashem Ghasemi speaking at a forum on “End of Time in Zionist Cinema”. The session was held Saturday night, August 13, at the 19th International Holy Quran Exhibition.

He said God’s main purpose of creation would be realized when the final chapter of the book of existence happens and the end-of-time prophet or Imam would reappear.

The cinema expert said there are many differences in the views of Shia Muslims and Christians concerning the end of time and that Christians try to convince people about their own version of savior.

“Here the importance and power of a medium like cinema is used by the west to influence the audience’s mind. There is a saying in the west that a picture is worth a thousand words. This signifies how important the role of picture and cinema is in captivating the audience.”

He added that the west uses cinema to introduce its own version of the end of time as the truth and the only truth.

Ghasemi then referred to the different types of end-of-time movies, saying there are five types of the genre including mythical, natural, technological, science fiction, and religious. “The religious end-of-time movies are the most ominous because they attack ideas that are usually the bases of a religion. They generally have an anti-human approach. Examples of such movies include “Terror”, “The Omen” and “I Am Legend”.

Since I control Hollywood, I commissioned a micro-disaster movie that doesn't destroy the whole world, but only one unimportant part of it.

2009 State Dept cable: "Syrian officials, at every level, lie."

A fascinating 2009 memo released by Wikileaks as President Obama was actively trying to re-engage Syria shows that the White House has not been listening to State Department advice on how Syria acts diplomatically.

Excerpts:

As the U.S. continues its re-engagement with Syria, it may help us achieve our goals if we understand how SARG officials pursue diplomatic goals. Syrian President Bashar al-Asad is neither as shrewd nor as long-winded as his father but he, too, prefers to engage diplomatically on a level of abstraction that seems designed to frustrate any direct challenge to Syria's behavior and, by extension, his judgment. Bashar's vanity represents another Achilles heel: the degree to which USG visitors add to his consequence to some degree affects the prospects for a successful meeting. The SARG foreign policy apparatus suffers from apparent dysfunctionality and weaknesses in terms of depth and resources but the SARG punches above its weight because of the talents of key individuals. SARG officials generally have clear, if tactical, guidance from Bashar and they are sufficiently professional to translate those instructions into recognizable diplomatic practice. But in a diplomatic world that is generally oiled by courtesy and euphemism, the Syrians don't hesitate to be nasty in order to achieve their objectives. The behaviors they employ as diplomatic "force-multipliers" are the hallmarks of a Syrian diplomatic style that is at best abrasive and, at its worst, brutal.

SARG officials are sticklers for diplomatic protocol, although they are not experts on the international conventions from which it is derived. The SARG places a high value on protocolary forms that ensure respectful treatment of state officials (despite bilateral
differences) because such forms guarantee that the President and his representatives are shown proper courtesies by a world that is often at odds with Syria. (This focus on protocol underlies the continuing Syrian unhappiness over the absence of a U.S. ambassador.) Protocol conventions also reinforce the notion of equal relations between sovereign states and the SARG insists that communications between it and foreign embassies comply with traditional diplomatic practice.

In dealing with the U.S., the Syrians see every encounter as a transaction. The level and composition of the Syrian side of any meeting is carefully calculated in terms of protocol and the political message being sent; a lunch invitation must be interpreted as more than just the Arab compulsion to hospitality ) who hosts the lunch is as important as who attends the meetings. When it comes to content, the Syrians seek to gain the highest value deliverable for the lowest price or no price at all. During the re-engagement process, the SARG has attempted to extract high profile USG gestures in exchange for relief of operational constraints on the Embassy. The SARG has been uncharacteristically forward-leaning in allowing discussions on a New Embassy Compound site to develop as far as they have; actual closure on a land deal, owever, is probably contingent on U.S. delivery of a SARG desirable, e.g., the announcement that a U.S. ambassador will be sent to Damascus.

The President's self-image plays a disproportionate role in policy formulation and diplomatic activity. Meetings, visits, trips abroad that enhance his respectability and prestige are pursued; encounters that may involve negotiations or difficult debate are declined or delegated to subordinates. The President responds with anger if he finds himself challenged by visitors, but not until after the meeting. He seems to avoid direct confrontation.

SARG officials at every level lie. They persist in a lie even in the face of evidence to the contrary. They are not embarrassed to be caught in a lie. While lower level officials often lie to avoid potential punitive action from their own government, senior level officials generally lie when they deem a topic too "dangerous" to discuss (e.g., Al-Kibar, IAEA) or when they have not yet determined whether or how to respond (FFN, Hezbollah arms supplies, etc).

Every Syrian diplomatic relationship contains an element of friction. The Syrians are not troubled by discord; they seek an upper hand in any relationship by relying on foreign diplomats' instinctive desire to resolve problems. By withholding a solution, the SARG seeks to control the pace and temperature of the relationship. SARG officials artificially restrict their availability and can engage in harsh verbal attacks to intimidate and rattle foreign diplomats. SARG officials delight in disparaging their interlocutors behind their backs for allowing themselves to be cowed.

When Syrian officials don't like a point that has been made to them, they frequently resort to an awkward changes in subject to deflect perceived criticism. Syrian officials seem to think they've scored a verbal hit by employing a facile non sequitur, usually in the form of a counter-accusation. When the SARG's human rights record is raised with Muallim, for example, he often raises Israel's December-January Gaza operation r, more recently, asks if the U.S. will accept the 1300 Al Qaeda sympathizers in Syrian jails. The non sequitur is intended to stop
discussion of the unwelcome topic while subtly intimidating the interlocutor with the threat of raising a subject that is putatively embarrassing to him or her.

Again, the State Department seems to have a good handle on how to deal with Syria, and the President has refused to listen to the advice of their experts. It seems that the administration's bizarre insistence on upgrading relations by sending an ambassador with Syria played into Assad's hands perfectly. Moreover, the White House's refusal so far to recall him also plays exactly into Syrian diplomatic wishes.

2008 State Dept. memo lists four of Assad's moneymen - but US has not blacklisted them

The US and the EU have put some specific people and institutions fro Syria under sanctions.

The specific list of people that President Obama has sanctioned, as of his Executive Order of April 28, 2011, includes three names:

1. Mahir AL-ASAD [Brigade Commander in the Syrian Army’s Fourth Armored Division, born 1968]

2. Ali MAMLUK [director of the Syrian General Intelligence Directorate, born 1947]

3. Atif NAJIB [former head of the Syrian Political Security Directorate for Dar’a Province]

In addition, the US maintains a list of some 20 individuals who have been sanctioned over the years in Syria/

[T]he President of the United States has imposed financial sanctions on Syrian individuals and entities for involvement in proliferation of weapons of mass destruction; association with al Qaida, the Taliban or Osama bin Laden; or destabilizing activities in Iraq and Lebanon; or benefiting from public corruption. The U.S. Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) administers these sanctions against individuals and entities that operate in Syria by blocking assets and prohibiting U.S. persons to have financial transactions with them.

There are currently 20 individuals in Syria that have been sanctioned and are listed on the OFAC Excluded Parties List (EPL).

However, a 2008 Wikileaks cable released last week gives a very specific list of four prominent individuals who, in the State Department's' estimation, are the people most responsible for Syria's corruption and for propping up the regime:

As Washington policy makers consider ways to pressure the regime, one possibility would be to go after President Asad's money-men. Four individuals Asad uses to make and move money are Zuhair Sahloul, Nabil Kuzbari, Asad's uncle Mohammad Makhlouf, and his father-in-law, Fawas Akhras. Each is important to Asad and each plays a somewhat different role in facilitating regime graft.

Sahloul (AKA Abu Shafic) is the most important black-market money changer in Syria. When the Syrian Pound (SYP) devalued precipitously in the fall of 2005, the SARG gave Sahloul an office in the Central Bank and access to its hard currency reserves so he could intervene in the black market to stabilize the currency....

In addition to being the father of Syria's poster-boy for corruption, Rami Makhlouf, Mohammad Makhlouf has long served as a financial advisor to the Asad family. If Rami is the face of corruption, Mohammad is the brain. When Asad agreed to open the telecom sector to cellphone providers, it was Mohammad that some credit with conceptualizing the deal whereby Rami took over the first provider, SyriaTel, (long Rami's biggest cash-cow), and the second license (originally to SpaceTel, then Areeba 94, and now MTN) went to the first-lady's family...

Because of the Makhlouf's excesses and Asad's inherited propensity to limit the power and influence of his family members, Nabil Kuzbari has played an increasingly important role for the first-family. Known locally as "the Paper King," Kuzbari's base of operations has long been in Vienna. In the last two years, however, he has developed an increasingly collaborative relationship with Rami and Mohammed Makhlouf. Last year he served as Rami's frontman in establishing his holding company, Sham Holding, which brought together 70 of Syria's most-important business families to fund a number of Rami's most ambitious entrepreneurial projects. In addition to lobbying European politicians to engage the Asad regime, Kuzbari reportedly uses his contacts in the Austrian business and banking circles to move regime assets abroad.

In addition to being Asad's father-in-law, Fawas Akhras has been increasingly active in business here in Syria. Akhras is the force behind the Syrian-British Business Council and recently put together a visit to London by a large group of Syrian businessmen. ...Contacts in the banking
sector have commented on the large amount of funds that have begun to move recently through his accounts. A long-time resident of London, he is suspected of being another avenue used by Asad to stash funds abroad.

Post has long advocated moving against individuals, like those listed above, who are intregal to allowing the regime to profit from its corruption. Taking action against those linked to corruption is a win-win proposition: not only does it bring pressure on the regime where it hurts most - its pocketbook, but such a move would also be popular with the average Syrian who is the most common victim of the regime's avarice.

These four people, known for at least 3 years, are not on any list of those being sanctioned by the US.

It's now been four months since the Syrian revolt started. Why are these individuals not on any list of those being sanctioned?

New Israeli Mini-UAV for urban warfare

From Media Line:

Israel has revealed a new mini-rotary drone designed for stealth maneuvering in urban areas while relaying real-time intelligence to ground forces.

Called the GHOST, the 4 kilogram (9 pound) twin rotary UAV is equipped with an automatic vertical takeoff & landing system; and can loiter for up to 30 minutes, according to its developers at the Israel Aerospace Industries.

Experts say the new UAV, which looks surprisingly similar to the Chinhook transport helicopter, is one of a kind and answers a growing demand for vertical takeoff and landing drones.

The developers plan to unveil the GHOST to the public next week at the Unmanned Systems North America exhibition in Washington D.C., sponsored by the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI). The system was designed with twin rotary electrical engines so it can be silent and support day and night special operation missions, IAI said.

"The innovative concepts used to develop GHOST highlight IAI’s goal to do its utmost to support the ground forces. GHOST demonstrates IAI's leading technology and know-how gathered through years of experience in unmanned aerial systems,” said Itzhak Nissan, IAI's President and CEO.

The unique man-machine interface and operational concept is based on the principles of computer games and makes the system extremely intuitive to operate and requires little training. The entire system can be carried in backpacks by two soldiers and includes: two platforms, batteries, and a command-and-control unit with communications. GHOST is suitable for paramilitary and homeland security applications due to its simplicity and ease of operation.

“Because it is so quiet no one can even detect it’s there. It’s designed to be sent in with combat forces and a simple soldier can operate it. Its benefit is that it is quiet and stable,” Arie Egozi, an aviation expert who writes for numerous defense industry publications, told The Media Line.

(h/t Yoel)

Today's variant of the If/Then Fallacy

Last year I wrote about the If/Then Fallacy, the idea that if Israel would do various actions towards peace then naturally the other side would be forced to act in a certain way.

I found a 1988 example from Time magazine (If Israel would put together a serious peace plan then no one could fault Israel if the Palestinian Arabs rejected it.)

Since then we have seen it many other times: If Israel withdraws behind the Blue Line in Lebanon, then Hezbollah has no raison d'etre. If Israel withdraws from Gaza, then Gaza will cease to be a problem for Israel. And so on.

Today, in Israel HaYom, Dan Margalit creates his own version:

Should Israel give up its justified stance that it has the right to be recognized as a Jewish state? This would allow it to tear the mask from Abbas' face and prove that he is not interested in negotiations but only in a unilateral U.N. declaration. It would prove that he is disregarding both Barack Obama and the New York Times which both called on him to refrain from such a move.

In my opinion this is a worthwhile diplomatic gamble. Three years ago Dan Meridor gave Ha'aretz his Camp David journals for publication. They clearly prove that Yasser Arafat torpedoed the Israel-Palestinian agreement and not Ehud Barak. When the protocols of their meetings are made public, it will also emerge that it wasn't Ehud Olmert who subverted the agreement in 2009 but Abu Mazen. That is what will happen, to my sorrow and to the delight of the extreme right, if Netanyahu gives Abu Mazen a little more rope. The world will then see, for the third time in a dozen years, that the Palestinians' diplomatic behavior pattern hasn't changed.

Even according to Margalit, the world has already seen that it was Arafat and Abbas who have torpedoed negotiations - and it has not negatively affected the Palestinian Arab political position one whit.

If the world gave Arafat and Abbas a free pass after showing their dishonorable intentions twice, why would proving it a third time make any difference? The only thing that would be accomplished is that Israel would lose yet another of its negotiating positions, permanently. All to prove a point that would have zero effect on how the world views Israel or the duplicitous Palestinian Arab leadership.

The if/then fallacy is based on the idea that the Palestinian Arabs really want peace - something that was proven false, decisively, with the second intifada as a response to a very serious peace offer (not to mention their refusal to negotiate after Israel's even more generous and foolhardy offer in 2008.)

If the international community doesn't get that basic fact by now, it is not for lack of evidence - it is because the world chooses to ignore it. And no amount of Israeli genuflecting will change that.

On the contrary - every time Israel even hints at such a compromise, it is viewed by others as evidence that even Israel doesn't believe in the justness of its own positions.

Anti-Islamist rally in Tahrir Square fizzles

A week ago I noted that a coalition of Coptic Christians, Egyptian secularists and other Egyptian liberals planned to hold a massive rally in Tahrir Square on Friday, including the world's largest Iftar breakfast at sunset. This was in reaction to the huge Islamist rally the previous Friday in the square.

The protest fizzled, badly:

Protesters from various political groups gathered in Tahrir Square on Friday to break their Ramadan fast.

Several political groups and some Sufi orders decided to organize a Tahrir protest to emphasize their demand for a civil state after Islamists made a show of force in a 29 July protest, calling for an Islamic state.

But the run up to Friday's protest was mired in confusion as those who had organized the "For the Love of Egypt" protest disagreed on whether to hold it then or next Friday.

The head of the 6 April Youth Movement, Ahmed Maher, told Al-Masry Al-Youm that negotiations with the cabinet of Prime Minister Essam Sharaf were behind the confusion.

"The prime minister's office had given promises in exchange for delaying the march, and these were to release a statement supporting a civil state and endorsing the march the following week. They did neither, so we are here today," he said.

Some of the Sufi orders and Coptic Christian groups that had called for the protest also decided to go to the square on 12 August.

This symbolizes why Egypt is in serious trouble. It isn't that nobody opposed the Islamists, but that the Islamists are far better organized than any other group.

Political gains require organization, not just spontaneous passion that can evaporate as quickly as it appears.

Syria updates, videos

From AP:

Syrian gunboats firing heavy machine guns pounded impoverished districts of Latakia on Sunday, killing at least 10 people in a renewed assault on the Mediterranean coastal city, activists said.

As the gunships blasted waterfront districts, ground troops backed by tanks and security agents stormed several neighborhoods. The sharp crackle of machine-gun fire and loud explosions could be heard across the city.

"We are being targeted from the ground and the sea," said a resident of the al-Ramel district, which is also home to a Palestinian refugee camp. "The shooting is intense, many homes have been destroyed and the shabiha (thugs) have broken into shops and businesses."

He said at least three gunboats were taking part in the assault.

A video of one of the warships here.

This is in addition to the 3 killed in Latakia yesterday and 20 killed throughout Syria on Friday.

Here is a video of a young man who walked into the Syrian Airlines offices in London and smashed the portrait of Bashar Assad:

And here is a video, apparently from last week, that shows the minaret of a mosque in Deir al Zour toppling under Syrian fire:

(h/t Fake)

How Israel is out-classing the world in civil disobedience (TechCrunch)

From TechCrunch:

In the four weeks since the social protests have begun in Israel, hundreds of have been killed, dozens of women have reportedly been raped, a number of children tortured, and countless districts have been looted. The authorities have imposed a complete lock-down on all cellular networks. All access to Facebook and Twitter has been blocked. Little information is going in, or out.

Except the absolute, complete opposite.

The social protests in Israel began 4 weeks ago with a national outcry over the rising price of basics such as cottage cheese. They then snowballed into a full-blown national movement by way of a simple act by a then unknown young woman. The act? Striking a tent in Tel-Aviv’s Rothschild Boulevard in protest of high apartment rental costs.

A single tent became the heart and soul of the movement whose main gripe is that the middle-class is bearing the brunt of an imbalanced budgetary spend. “The People Demand Social Justice” is the key chant.

The protests are local, scattered all across Israel, drawing hundreds to hundreds of thousands. Big name musicians volunteer to headline these protests. Barricades and PA systems, all donated. People talk about the movement at every cafe, over every lunch, at every business meeting, at every family dinner.

it’s been four weeks and zero acts of the barbaric, non-discriminatory violence we’ve seen across the middle east, and even in the UK. No shots fired. No stores looted. No form of communication has been shut down. In fact, not only have the Israeli police and army not taken any role other than safeguarding the protests themselves, they have even been applauded, literally, by hundreds of thousands for their efforts.

While in neighboring countries regimes are slaughtering the opposition, in Israel we have complete free speech to criticize our politicians and leaders. As I’m typing this, on the TV is Israel’s version of SNL doing a parody skit of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s mishandling of the situation (they have him wearing a red t-shirt with Che Guevara on it).

(h/t Menachem)

Jews in Egypt, 1840

The myth of harmony between Muslims and Jews is exposed, again, in the 1843 book "The American in Egypt: with rambles through Arabia Petra︠e︡a and the Holy Land, during the years 1839 and 1840" by James Ewing Cooley:

Hated and contemned by the Moslems, they are compelled to pay tribute to the Turks; and they tamely submit to insult and indignity from the meanest Arabs. The animosity of the Moslems toward the Jews is no less proverbial than that of the Jews toward the Moslems. So abominable are the Jews in the eyes of the Turks, that when any of them are condemned to suffer death, they are invariably hanged — lest, should they be beheaded, according to the usual mode of executing criminals in the East, the sword should be defiled by the blood of a Jew! The name of Jew, among the Egyptians, is synonymous with the most opprobrious epithets. The muledrivers, when nettled by the obstinacy of their headstrong animals, after exhausting their strength in whipping them, and their imaginations in endeavouring to find words for an adequate expression of their displeasure, find a consoling revenge by applying to their mules and jackasses the hateful name of Jew!

...Some of the Jews are wealthy; but, fearful of exciting the envious and marauding disposition of the Moslems, they make little display of their riches, except at home. When going into the street, they are careful to change their dress, and to give themselves as shabby and mean an appearance as possible. The Jews of Cairo, as in all other places, have not only a peculiarity in appearance, but their occupations are also peculiar, or such as Jews, wherever situated, are found to engage in. Money-changers, jewellers, gold and silver smiths, pawnbrokers, and old clothes-venders are found in any quantity among the Jews of Egypt. The same spirit of avarice, and the same disposition to overreach in commercial transactions, which distinguish the lower classes of Jews in other countries, where they are less oppressed, act with much stronger force upon the Jews in Cairo; and often bring them into perilous contact with the government, where, frequently, their lives only can atone for indulging their inordinate desires after wealth. A Jew money-changer once lost his life in Cairo for five cents! The Pacha having issued a decree prohibiting the circulation of a certain Turkish coin, called 'adleeyefis, for more than ^fifteen piasters; and a Jew who had demanded and taken sixteen for the same piece of money, being convicted of the offence, was hung forthwith.

The Jews have found Egypt, ever since the death of Joseph, a country of oppression and tyranny toward the people of their nation ; and, with the exception of some brief periods, particularly under the early reign of the Macedonian dynasty, their condition in that country has been little better than was that of their ancestors in the days of Moses. They have existed there only in a state of bondage, degradation, and fear. They have always been tributary to government, and often in a state of literal slavery. Ptolemy Philadelphus, in his reign, ransomed a hundred and twenty thousand Jews who were then slaves in Egypt. When Alexandria fell into the hands of the Saracens, there were forty thousand tributary Jews in that city alone. Their numbers in Egypt have greatly dwindled with the decaying power and declining civilization of that country; while their physical and moral condition cannot be said to have improved. They are generally the first to suffer in case of any sudden outbreak among the people: are frequently plundered, and almost daily insulted. They live in a state of perpetual fear, religiously contemning the Christians, bitterly hating the Moslems, and receive little or no sympathy from any quarter. When the plague breaks out in Egypt, its ravages among the Jews are most appalling. Death sweeps down their ranks, threatening total annihilation to their race in the land. What stronger evidence can be adduced of the truth of Holy Writ, than the present condition of the poor Israelites'.

This is immediately followed by an account of the slave market in Cairo where black Africans were sold.

3 arrested for eating during Ramadan - in Nablus

Three people were arrested for breaking the Ramadan fast in Nablus on Saturday.

Palestine Press Agency reports that the three were caught "red-handed" as they were eating, drinking and smoking cigarettes behind a vegetable market downtown, after a concerned citizen reported them to police.

The director of the police warned against anyone violating the sanctity of Ramadan and warning that they would go to prison.

The report did not mention whether the detainees were Muslim or Christian.

We have yet to hear any complaints from so-called "progressives" about this.

Is a new intifada being planned? (Toameh)

From Khaled Abu Toameh in Hudson-NY:

It is still not clear if the Palestinian Authority leadership will proceed with its plan to ask the UN in September to recognize a Palestinian state along the pre-1967 lines.

But what is clear is that the Palestinian Authority leaders have recently been talking about the need to escalate "popular protests" against Israel.

Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, who says he is opposed to an armed struggle mainly because it would be counterproductive and inefficient, has repeatedly voiced his full support for a "popular intifada" in the West Bank.

Abbas would like to see more Palestinians joining weekly demonstrations against settlements and the security barrier. He and other Palestinians have expressed disappointment over the fact that the number of foreigners and Israeli Jews participating in the protests is higher than the number of Palestinians.

Palestinian Authority representatives would like to see the Palestinian masses march on Israeli military checkpoints and settlements after September, regardless of whether the statehood bid at the UN succeeds or not.

If the UN does vote in favor of the Palestinian state, the Palestinian Authority is hoping that tens of thousands of Palestinians would take to the streets to "celebrate" independence and demand a full Israeli withdrawal to the pre-1967 lines in compliance with the new resolution.

And if the statehood bid fails for any reason, including a possible US veto, the Palestinian Authority still wants Palestinians to take to the streets to protest against the Americans and Israel.

Under both scenarios, clashes will erupt between Palestinians and the Israel Defense Force at checkpoints and entrances to settlements.

The "popular intifada" that the Palestinian Authority is seeking would then quickly deteriorate into an all-out confrontation similar to the one that erupted in September 2000.

A popular uprising means that Palestinians would also be throwing stones and firebombs at soldiers and settlers. It means that Palestinians could get killed if the lives of soldiers or settlers are in danger.

The road from there to the resumption of Palestinian terror attacks is very short. Fatah still has many militiamen who are ready to open fire "to defend Palestinians against Israeli aggression." The Palestinian security forces could also join the fight against Israel once things get out of control.

Then there is Hamas in the Gaza Strip, which is saying that only the armed struggle, and not the UN, will bring the Palestinians a state. Hamas has even mocked at the Palestinian Authority's talk about a peaceful and unarmed intifada against Israel.

In any case, both the Palestinian Authority and Hamas will blame Israel and the US for the next cycle of violence, as they have always done in the past. Israel will be blamed for refusing to accept all Palestinian demands, especially the territorial ones. The US, on the other hand, will be blamed for siding with Israel and thwarting Palestinian efforts to achieve a state.

The only way to avoid such grim scenarios is by making clear to the Palestinian Authority that its statehood bid, which does not even seem to enjoy the support of many Palestinians for various reasons, could plunge the region into a new round of violence and bloodshed. The Palestinian Authority needs to understand that it is taking a big gamble by embarking on this adventure.

A new intifada will not only harm Israel, but also the Palestinian Authority and its leaders. The second intifada, which erupted in 2000, undermined the Palestinian Authority and resulted in the destruction of most of its institutions and security forces. The Palestinian Authority could now be digging its own grave by encouraging Palestinians to launch a new intifada.

That is the key point - the unilateral declaration of a state is a recipe for bloodshed. Toameh's scenario is not fanciful in the least.

The blindness of the Westerners who cannot grasp this is maddening.

Arabic media discovers old Irgun posters showing Jordan in Eretz Yisroel

Firas Press has an expose of how pre-state right-wing Zionists were upset with the first partition of Palestine that carved out Transjordan, and considered the entire area to be Eretz Yisrael:

1935 poster

The walls of the Old City are not the borders of Jerusalem
The Jordan is not the border of our land
The sea is not the border of our people
The Herut Party
(1948 poster)

Then, the article shows some later posters where the expansionist Zionists are no longer demanding Jordan to be part of Israel - they want to give it to Palestinian Arabs:

Gas pipeline between Iran and Turkey blown up, for second time

From RTT July 29:

The supply of natural gas from Iran to Turkey has been disrupted after an explosion damaged a section of the gas pipeline between the two countries, Iranian media said quoting officials on Friday.

From Fox News, today:

Turkey says an explosion at a pipeline has temporarily cut natural gas supplies from Iran.

The governor's office for Agri province, where the explosion occurred late Thursday, says Kurdish rebels are suspected of sabotaging the pipeline. The gas flow was immediately cut and no one was hurt in the explosion.

Looks like this is the new soft target of choice.

The Paris Muslims who saved Jews from the Nazis

From Missing Pages: Stories from World War II:

Si Kaddour Benghabrit

In Paris, a grand mosque built in honour of the 100,000 Muslim soldiers who died fighting for France in the First World War, became a sanctuary for Jews escaping persecution less than three decades later. Si Kaddour Benghabrit was a French Algerian who was deeply loyal to France. During World War I, he was appointed honourary consul-general and served the religious needs of Muslims in the French army. After the war came to an end, he worked in the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs until 1920, when the parliament decided to acknowledge his loyalty by asking him to establish a mosque in Paris. Six years later, the Great Mosque of Paris became a reality and Benghabrit was appointed its rector.

When war broke out in Europe again, and Jewish lives were in danger, Benghabrit used the mosque as a hiding place, issuing each person with a fake certificate of Muslim identity. One North African Jew named Albert Assouline who had escaped from a German prison camp, wrote of his experience hiding in the mosque, “No fewer than 1,732 resistance fighters found refuge in its underground caverns. These included Muslim escapees but also Christians and Jews. The latter were by far the most numerous.” Accounts differ on the number of those saved, yet it remains a shining story of human solidarity.

In tracing the story down it seems that the main witness was Assouline. As described by the American Council for Judaism in a book review of Robert Satloff's Among the Righteous:

According to Assouline, he and an Algerian named Yassa Rabah escaped together from the camp and stealthily traversed the countryside across the French-German border, heading for Paris. Once in Paris they made their way to the mosque, where, evidently thanks to Rabah’s connections to the Algerian community, the two found refuge. Eventually Assouline continued his journey and joined up with Free French forces to continue the fight against the German occupation ... the most fantastic part of the story was his claim that the mosque provided sanctuary and sustenance to Jews hiding from the Vichy and German troops as well as to other fighters in the anti-Fascist resistance.

In a 1983 article for Almanach due Combattant, a French veterans’ magazine, Assouline wrote [that] the senior imam of the mosque, Si Mohammed Benzouaou took “considerable risk” by hiding Jews and providing many (including many children) with certificates of Muslim identity, with which they could avoid deportation and certain death. Assouline recalled one “hot alert” when German soldiers smelled the odor of cigarettes and, convinced that Muslims were forbidden to smoke, searched the mosque looking for hidden Jews. According to Assouline, the Jews were able to escape via sewer tunnels that connected the mosque to nearby buildings.

In Satloff’s view, “Assouline’s stunning story described the mosque as a virtual Grand Central Station for the Underground Railroad of Jews in France...."

Derri Berkani, a French documentary film-maker, of Algerian berber origin, was so moved by the untold story of the mosque that he made the 1991 film “Une Resistance Oubliee: La Mosque de Paris” (The Forgotten Resistance: The Mosque of Paris). ...

Berkani adds many previously unknown details: that Benghabrit had a special button installed that he would push to trigger a warning alarm in the event of a police raid and that, in emergencies, Jews would huddle in the mosque’s main sanctuary, which was known to be off-limits to non-Muslims, including German soldiers. In addition, Berkani provides the testimony of a physician in the municipal department of public hygiene, a man named Ahmed Somia, who tells the story of a young Jewish orphan, 7 or 8 years old, whom Benghabrit hid in the safety of his home. “Si Kaddour felt that we had to do something for this child,” he said. The solution was to provide the boy with a false birth certificate from the mosque that certified him as a Muslim and allowed him to live openly.

Another case is that of Salim (Simon) Halali, a world-renowned singer, who died in Cannes, France in 2005. Born in 1920 to a poor Jewish family in Annaba, near the Algerian-Tunisian border, he made his way to France when he was just 14. It was not long before Halali became France’s most celebrated “oriental” singer. For the next 40 years, he was a fixture of Andalusian music. It seems that he owed his success, and his life, to the mosque of Paris.

Virtually every obituary of Halali, on both sides of the Mediterranean, told the same story: Halali escaped certain deportation and death thanks to the generosity and ingenuity of Benghabrit. French writer Nidam Abdi explained in the Paris newspaper Liberation that the 20-year-old Halali found himself all alone in 1940 after his closest friend joined Radio Berlin, the Nazis’ premier propaganda organ. When Vichy started its pursuit of Jews, Halali turned to the mosque for help. Benghabrit, who had been a fan of Halali’s, evidently provided him with a certificate of Muslim identity. But because Halali was such a public figure, Benghabrit had to go one step further. To lend credibility to Halali’s claim of Muslim roots, Benghabrit arranged to have the name of Halali’s grandfather engraved on an abandoned tomb in the Muslim cemetery on Bobigny.

“For a certain number of Jews living in France — it is impossible to know how many — passing as Muslim was a clever ploy to avoid confiscation, arrest or deportation,” writes Satloff. “This was a particularly useful ploy for Jewish men, since Muslims, like Jews, are circumcised, often the defining test of Jewishness under Vichy rule.”

Satloff met in Paris with Dalil Boubakeur, the current rector of the Paris mosque and president of the governing body of all French Muslims, the Conseil Francais du Culte Musulman (CFCM).

When asked about the mosque’s role during World War II, he said that the reports of Jews being saved were true: “The mosque represented the sensibilities of the Muslims of North Africa toward their Jewish brothers. It was a natural phenomenon. ... What happened then (in the 1940s) was very symbolic but exemplary.”

Boubakeur noted that, “It is true that the mosque provided certificates of Muslim identity to some Jews. This was possible because, especially for North African Jews, the names are very close.” The motive, he said, was selfless, to enable Jews to avoid persecution by providing an acceptable rationale for their circumcision. The opportunity took advantage of a “double game” that, he said, characterized the complex relationship between the German occupation authorities and the Muslim community of Paris.

“The Germans were always pressing the mosque, trying to impose themselves on the mosque to use it for propaganda among Muslims,” he said. “They always wanted to have visitors here; at one point, we feared that Hitler himself would make a visit. We tried to resist but it wasn’t always possible.” Asked by Satloff if it was not courageous for the mosque to risk its status by helping Jews, Boubakeur replied: “Yes, yes, yes. Absolutely, it was courageous. It was very courageous. Courageous and natural at the same time.”

Boubakeur showed Satloff a copy of a document from the French Archives. Dated Sept. 24, 1940, the document was a note to the French minister of foreign affairs from the deputy director of the ministry’s Political Department. In it the writer — a bureaucrat identified by the initials “P.H.” — informed his superior about a certain peculiar action taken by the German authorities in Paris. The brief, typewritten note read as follows: “The occupation authorities suspect the personnel of the Mosque of Paris of fraudulently delivering to individuals of the Jewish race certificates attesting that the interested persons are of the Muslim confession. The imam was summoned, in a threatening manner, to put an end to all such practices. It seems, in effect, that a number of Jews resorted to all sorts of maneuvers of this kind to conceal their identity.”

Far from downplaying the role played by the mosque of Paris in rescuing Jews, Satloff points out that its Web site not only includes praise for the “active role” the mosque played during the war “in saving Jews and resistance fighters,” but there is also reference to “the late friend of the mosque, Abraham Assouline, (who) advanced the figure of 1,700 persons.”

This is a story of heroes that needs to be publicized.

A children's book was written about this episode, and a short film dramatizing it can be seen here.

(h/t Abdullah305 via Twitter)

UPDATE: Bataween at Point of No Return has more details.

Abu Sisi reveals Hamas uses mosques for military training

Yesterday, Yediot Aharonot revealed that Abu Sisi, the Gaza engineer who was kidnapped in the Ukraine, has revealed to investigators a treasure trove of facts about Hamas.

Some of the revelations:

The engineer told interrogators that following Operation Cast Lead Gaza, top Hamas terrorist Mohammed Deif and the group's military wing commander Ahmed Jabari found Hamas' operations to be lacking and decided to make Abu Sisi in charge of establishing the organization's new military academy.

"An analysis of the war with Israel was undertaken. It found that a large number of Hamas activists ran away from their positions. A failure occurred in decision-making coupled with an inability to use arms during the battle – because of fear," he said. "A program of study had to be created, in order to improve the situation."

The new academy was tasked with imparting combat methods and tactics to Hamas terrorists, Abu Sisi said. Hamas men were undertaking their studies at mosques, while passing their final exams in known Gaza universities or in mosques.

"The books and academic materials did not bear the Hamas name or logo," he said. Instructors include university lecturers, education ministry officials, merchants and others.

"I assisted Hamas in developing their missile capabilities, by identifying and handing over mathematical equations that improve the metal pipe's ability to withstand pressure and heat," he said. "I was present when a missile was test-fired at the sea in Khan Younis."

Someone should tell Goldstone that Hamas doesn't seem to distinguish between its military its "civilian" wings.

While the information published is very valuable, the impression that the IDF gave initially was that Abu Sisi was much more important than what we are seeing here. It is unclear whether there is a lot more, far more important information that has not been released. Even so, the characterization of him as being only involved with Gaza's electrical plant has been shown to be false.