Atheist arrested, Christians threatened in Egypt

Ah, the sweet smell of spring:

[Alber] Saber was originally arrested over claims that he published the anti-Islam film “Innocence of Muslims” on Facebook, but when it emerged that there was no evidence to support the claim, he was later charged on the basis of an atheist video that he had made.

Two days after protests and clashes between security forces and protesters broke out over the film near the US Embassy on 11 September, neighbors of Saber claimed that he shared the anti-Islam YouTube video “Innocence of Muslims” on his Facebook account, which led an angry mob to storm Saber’s house in Marg district, kicking out Saber and his mother.

Kariman Meseha, Saber’s mother, told journalists attending a press conference at the Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression yesterday that she called the police to protect her son, but once police arrived, it was Saber who was arrested, not those who attacked his home.

“Police forces told me that he would be taken to the police station to protect him from the angry mob, and that I could come by the police station the next day to receive him,” Meseha said, adding that the next day, she discovered that he was arrested on blasphemy charges.

AFTE lawyer Ahmed Ezzat said police incited the prisoners against Saber, claiming that he was an atheist and insulted the Prophet Mohamed; one of the prisoners injured him in the neck with a razor blade.

“If the blade was sharper, it would have killed Alber,” Ezzat said.

Ezzat said investigation records stated that residents of Saber’s area filed a complaint accusing him of sharing the blasphemous content. Yet the records do not state clearly who had filed the complaints, which is a violation of laws that oblige someone filing a complaint to reveal their identity.

“The records also did not specifically point out what kind of blasphemous content Saber shared,” Ezzat said, adding that prosecution accused him of religious blasphemy after finding a movie on a CD of Saber, including some comparative religion material, as well as criticisms of both Islamic and Coptic religious leaders and institutions.

And at the same time:

Christian residents of Egyptian border towns Rafah and Al-Arish have so far refused to leave the city, as a local church had advised, after they received leaflets containing messages threatening to blow up their property if they do not leave within 48 hours.

Rev. Gabriel Habib, priest at the Church of the Virgin Mary and the Archangel Michael in Al-Arish, said Christian residents had refused to leave temporarily to avoid fulfilling the extremists’ goal of forcing them out of their city.

Habib added that some Christians told him, “Even if we die, we are not better than the martyrs who sacrificed their lives for the sake of their homeland and religion,” adding that they will stay with their Muslim neighbors.

Seven Christian families saw leaflets posted on the walls of their shops or homes, commanding them to leave within 48 hours or else have their property destroyed.
Habib said, “The church of Rafah was destroyed during the January revolution [of 2011] and has not been renovated yet.” He added that “prayers have stopped there, because of the security situation in the Sinai.”

"Because of the security situation"? Does that mean that mosques have also closed in the same area? Must be. He couldn't mean "because our Muslim neighbors might kill us if we decided to publicly pray."

Remember when the Western media was convinced that the Egyptian revolution was being led by jeans-wearing Google employees dedicated to freedom of expression? Good times.

(h/t Ian)

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Monday links

From Ian:

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'UK, France, Germany urge EU to up Iran sanctions'

Britain, France and Germany called on the European Union to impose fresh sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program, AFP reported late Sunday, citing diplomatic sources.

Koch Faults Obama on Israel and on Libya Attack

"In an interview with the New York Post columnist Michael Goodwin, Mr. Koch deemed as “unacceptable” Mr. Obama’s decision not to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel while Mr. Netanyahu is in the United States this week for the meeting of the United Nations General Assembly."

Both President Obama and Ahmadinejad Liken Israeli Concerns Over Nuclear Iran to “Noise”

"In an interview airing tonight on CBS’s 60 Minutes, President Obama likens Israel’s expressions of concern over a nuclear Iran to noise he tries to ignore, according to AFP.

New York Post Attempts to Deliver Jewish Themed Welcome Basket to Ahmadinejad

“The rejected package included a $125 ticket to off-Broadway play “Old Jews Telling Jokes” which was booked in his name, Gold’s Borscht, Manischewitz Gefilte Fish and a brochure for the Museum of Jewish Heritage: A Living Memorial to the Holocaust. “The Holocaust denier might want to learn something about the subject,” writes the Post.”

Border shootout proves mettle of mixed-gender IDF unit
The Caracal battalion, comprised of 60 percent women, patrols the volatile Israeli-Egyptian border

Jerusalem - In Photos: Hundreds Attend Funeral For Soldier Killed Near Egypt

Shame of Spanish football's anti-Israel boycotters

Many in Europe should take note of the eerie parallels with the Jewish experience of boycotts in Europe during the 1930s and the even older history of persecution of Jews in Spain in the Middle Ages

CIF Watch: Jewish reaction to thousands of antisemitic Arab cartoons: No riots, no injuries, no deaths

PMW: PA hypocrisy: Don't defame religion (unless it's Judaism)

Mahmoud Abbas: "Insulting religions, faiths, or religious symbols cannot in any way be a part of freedom of belief or freedom of expression."
Religious lesson in official PA daily: "The struggle between truth and falsehood is as ancient as life upon this earth... The conflict between us and the Jews is not a conflict about land and borders, but rather a conflict about faith and existence."

Israel "more loathsome" than Nazis: PA daily

Three recent articles in Al-Hayat Al-Jadida claim that Israel's behavior is worse than that of the Nazis. The articles use such terms as "loathsome," "dangerous and criminal" and "despicable" to describe Israel's treatment of Palestinians and Arabs.

’Hamas official confirms: Mashaal to step down'

California Students Respond to ‘Undemocratic’ Anti-Israel Resolution

After being caught off guard by a resolution condemning a measure intended to defend their state’s campus communities against anti-Semitism, pro-Israel students at the University of California-Berkeley have responded by highlighting what they call the resolution’s undemocratic nature.

‘Homeland’ captures four Emmys
US show, based on Israeli series ‘Hatufim,’ sweeps prestigious television awards

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Also:
Expanded trailer for the UN Me movie:


Oxymoronic Islamic Logic: Call me Violent and I’ll cut out your tongue at Augean Stables

Max Boot: Does the Mideast Want an Isolationist U.S.? at Commentary (h/t Zach)

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Egypt continues its crippling siege on Gaza

Mohammed Abadleh, a spokesman for a Gaza petroleum consortium in the Gaza Strip, warned of a crisis in the Gaza Strip as Egypt is preventing the smuggling of diesel through the tunnels in Rafah.

Starting yesterday, Gaza fuel stations started rationing diesel to residents of the sector.

Egypt cracked down on smuggling tunnels again a few days ago after the attack by Sinai militants on an Israeli patrol at the border.

No word yet from "human rights" organizations about Egypt's "crippling siege" of Gaza.

As this is happening, Israel has been slowly increasing the number of trucks of materials being sent to Gaza. 324 trucks arrived yesterday along with 181 tons of fuel.

Meanwhile, the PA news agency WAFA published a working paper about building a free-trade zone between Gaza and Egypt that was supposedly prepared by Hamas. The introduction to the paper waxes poetic about the historic ties between Gaza and Egypt and how a free trade zone would benefit both sides.

The idea has been floating around for a few months, but I have not yet heard any positive response to it from Egypt.

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Islamic Jihad inaugurates a new "battalion"

To celebrate the anniversary of the founding of Islamic Jihad, the terror group introduced a new "battalion" and paraded through the streets of Gaza City.

Keep in mind that Hamas, the ruling authority in Gaza, fully approves of Islamic Jihad parading through Gaza City with weapons.

Those Hamas apologists in the West who claim that the group is abandoning terror don't usually talk about how Hamas is deliberately allowing other terror groups to flourish - and, when they want, to attack Israeli civilians. This is how Hamas maintains their barely-plausible deniability while still encouraging the smuggling of tons of weapons and explosives to these groups.

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Egyptian army: Egypt will "cut off the hand" of Israel

Egyptian media are reporting today that a member of Egypt's Supreme Council of Armed Forces has issued a warning to Israel that they will "cut off the hands" of Israel if it decides to go after terrorists in the Sinai.

Egypt newspapers reported today that a member of the Supreme Council of the Egyptian Armed Forces issued a warning to Israel of the "consequences of challenging Egypt." According to his statements "Egypt is conscious of reports from Israel about the desire of Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu for a military operation in the Sinai to liquidate militants who pose a threat to Israel. " The paper quoted an Egyptian official emphasizing that "it will be cut off any external or internal aggressor; we will not allow harm to a single grain of sand from the land of Sinai."

Given that they can't stop their own citizens from attacking Israel, it sounds like they prefer Islamist terror groups to control the Sinai than having Israel defend itself.

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Feel good about yourself. Donate to EoZ!

It is time for my autumn appeal.

The blog has weathered my losing free time in my new job. Readership is continuing to be strong, averaging some 150,000 pageviews per month.

EoZ is growing in influence. In just this past quarter I have been quoted by The Jerusalem Post, The Algemeiner,  Tablet, Israel Today, Chicago Now, CAMERA (twice), The Jewish Press, The Jewish Week, Arutz-7, Public Service Europe, and Commentary, to name a few.

My posts include news scoops, satire, infographics, posters, cartoons, media bias exposure, original videos, contests, history, research, exclusive interviews and analysis. I try not to be boring.

I also need to thank Ian for sending me an excellent daily linkdump. The linkdumps ensure that every major story about Israel gets covered on the blog even if I don't have time to go in depth on some issues.

One imminent milestone: Some time this week I will publish my 15,000th post!

If you think this blog is valuable, please consider donating an amount comparable to what you might pay for a subscription to a newsmagazine or newspaper. I especially appreciate those who use the Subscription link who send me an amount every month.

The Donate and Subscription links are in the upper right corner of the main blog page, or click on the appropriate link here:

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I can't promise anything, but I am told that those who donate to this blog have an easier time fasting on Yom Kippur. :)

Thanks as always for your support! I am always humbled by how many people - young and old, conservative and liberal, male and female - read and enjoy this blog, and I hope to be able to continue to provide quality content to everyone in the future. (And thanks also to those who retweet, "Like", "+1", Reddit and otherwise spread my posts around the Web.)

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PA finance minister tells donors there will be war without more money

Blackmail, Palestinian Arab-style:

The Palestinian Authority finance minister warned on Sunday that if the government's fragile financial situation persists, the peace process between Israel and Palestinians is at risk.

Nabil Kassis was addressing a meeting of donors to the PA, the Ad-Hoc Liaison Committee, in New York.

The Palestinian Authority says that shortfalls in foreign aid pledges are compounding its financial crisis. The World Bank and International Monetary Fund both urged immediate donor action in their reports to the meeting, as well as the lifting of Israeli restrictions which harm economic growth.

Kassis told the meeting that financial problems would undermine the sustainability of a Palestinian government, social cohesion and a sense of security in Palestine. Recent weeks saw mass strikes and rallies across the West Bank protesting the rising cost of living, that increasingly focused on criticism of the government.

"No doubt, if the status quo is allowed to persist, it will have dire consequences to the international enterprise of peace making in the Middle East," Kassis said.

In other words, Palestinian Arabs are naturally violent, and the only way to keep them artificially peaceful is to shovel more money towards the PA.

Left unsaid is that the PA budget includes tens of millions of dollars that are earmarked for terrorists in Israeli jails as a reward for their attempts to kill Jews, not to mention the lifetime annuities to families of suicide bombers.

Also left unsaid is that about half of the PA budget goes to Hamas-controlled Gaza, most of which pays "employees" not to work.

Another thing left unsaid is that Israel continues to bend over backwards to provide economic help to the PA while their Arab brethren are increasingly withholding funds.

But, no, you know who the PA will blame.

And the lies continue:

He stressed that Israel's stranglehold on the 60 percent of the West Bank designated 'Area C' in the Oslo Accords blocks any possibility to implement economic development.

Then why was the PA's economy booming in the years before the second intifada, when they didn't have access to those lands either?

And the lies continue:

"The greater part of Palestinian lands is being gradually emptied of its Palestinian inhabitants in order to provide room for more colonization by Israel," he said.

Is Area C really being emptied of its Palestinian Arab inhabitants?

In 2002, the Arab population of Area C was reported to be 40,000. This year it was reported to be 56,000.

But look at the EU report in that last link to see how easy it is to lie about statistics when you want to pillory Israel:

The EU heads of mission report - seen by EUobserver - notes that between 200,000 and 320,000 Palestinians used to live in the Jordan Valley, most of which is in Area C, in 1967, but demolition of Palestinian homes and prevention of new buildings has seen the number drop to 56,000.

The higher number is not the population of the Jordan Valley under "occupation"! The vast majority of inhabitants of the area fled during and mostly after the 1967 war because they did not want to live under Jewish rule. They fled quite voluntarily. Jordan tried to encourage them to return but most refused. Israel did not expel anyone from their homes.

So instead of reporting that the Arab population of Area C has increased an astounding 40% in the last decade, the EU report (and the PA) is taking irrelevant population numbers from before Israel took over an area in a conflict that Jordan started.

This is the type of mendacity that is seen every day in the fantasyland of the PLO and those willing to swallow the anti-Israel line.

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Iranian general says Iran might attack Israel, US "pre-emptively"

From Reuters:

Iran could launch a pre-emptive strike on Israel if it was sure the Jewish state was preparing to attack it, a senior commander of its elite Revolutionary Guards was quoted as saying on Sunday.

Amir Ali Hajizadeh, a brigadier general in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, made the comments to Iran's state-run Arabic language Al-Alam television.

"Iran will not start any war but it could launch a pre-emptive attack if it was sure that the enemies are putting the final touches to attack it," Al-Alam said, paraphrasing the military commander.

Hajizadeh said any attack on Iranian soil could trigger "World War Three".

"We can not imagine the Zionist regime starting a war without America's support. Therefore, in case of a war, we will get into a war with both of them and we will certainly get into a conflict with American bases," he said.

"In that case, unpredictable and unmanageable things would happen and it could turn into a World War Three."

"The Zionist entity is militarily incapable of confronting Iran ... the circumstances of the region do not enable it to wage war tomorrow or even in the near future," Hajizadeh said.

"Our response will exceed their expectations," he said. "Their assessment of our missile capabilities is wrong. Our response will not only be missiles."

In the Arabic reports, Hajizadeh says that Iran considers US bases in Bahrain, Qatar and Afghanistan to be US soil: "We definitely will target U.S. bases because we see these as part of U.S. territory and not Bahraini or Afghan territories."

He also said that if Iran doesn't benefit from the Strait of Hormuz, then they will ensure that nobody benefits from it.

In related news, Le Monde reports:

According to informed sources, [Iran and Syria have a] mutual defense agreement signed in 2006 and strengthened by a secret additional protocol in 2008: Damascus is committed to open a second front in the event of an Israeli attack against Iran, in exchange for "unlimited" support by Tehran for Bashar al-Assad that he remains in power.

(h/t Mohammed the Teddy Bear, Yoel)

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How Muslims treated Jews in Algiers, 1818

Here is yet another account of how Jews were treated in Muslim countries many decades before modern Zionism arose, again disproving the Muslim lie that Jews were treated with respect.

From NARRATIVE OF A RESIDENCE IW ALGIERS by Signor Pananti, 1818:

Of Jews, there is an immense number scattered all over the coast of Barbary. The city of Algiers contains about eight thousand, most of whom have swerved considerably from the belief of their ancestors, following the Talmud and Kabbala, with the exception of those called free, who generally come from Leghorn to this place, and are allowed entire liberty in their movements. The unhappy sons of Israel, so badly treated in other countries, can expect little indulgence from the barbarians ; consequently there is no species of outrage or vexation to which they are not exposed. They are prohibited from writing or speaking Arabic, to prevent their being able to read the divine Koran. They cannot ride on horseback, but are obliged to go on mules and asses ; the first being too noble an animal for them. When passing a mosque, they are obliged to go bare-footed. They dare not approach a well or fountain, if there be a Moor drinking there ; or sit down opposite a Mahometan. Their clothing Is obliged to be black ; which colour is held in contempt by the Moors. The Jewish women are only permitted to veil a part of their features. The indolent Moor, with a pipe in his mouth and his legs crossed, calls any Jew who is passing, and makes him perform the offices of a servant. Others amuse themselves by smearing the hands, visage, hair, and clothes of the Jewish boys, with paint or mud ; while the Turkish soldiers often enter their houses, insulting the females, without the heads of the family having the privilege of desiring them to retire.

It is the business of Jews to execute all criminals, and afterwards bury their bodies. They are also employed to carry the Moors on their shoulders, when disembarking in shoal water. They feed the animals of the seraglio, and are incessantly exposed to the scoffings and derision of the young Moors, without the possibility of resenting it. Frequently beaten by their persecutors, if they lift a hand in their own defence, agreeable to the lex talionis of the Moors, it is taken off. But that which is still more irksome, is the never ending contributions levied on them : the weekly sum of two thousand dollars is exacted as a general tax upon the whole tribe, besides various other individual assessments, particularly whenever any Moorish festival takes place. The Turks insist on borrowing money even by force ; and contrary to the European maxim, it is not he who forgets to pay, that is incarcerated, but the man who refuses to lend! A Jew cannot leave the regency without giving security to a large amount for his return. If any of the sect become bankrupts, and there happens to be a Turkish creditor, he is almost invariably accused of fraudulency and hung. Woe to those, who attempt to complain on such occasions : which is no trifling aggravation of their sufferings. There was once an imposition laid on fountains; upon which a poet wrote the following address: " You are loaded with imposts like us; but more happy than we — you are at least allowed to murmur."

It is, however, astonishing with what stoical fortitude all this is borne by the followers of Abraham ; many of whom, underan appearance of the greatest poverty, accumulate large fortunes. " It is true," said a Jew, on my asking how he could remain in a country, where he suffered so many vexations; " we suffer a great deal; but then what money we make!!"

On one side this extraordinary race suffer innumerable vexations and acts of injustice, together with the most cruel servitude ; while on the other, their talents and industry, place them as the directors and proprietors of commerce, manufactures, and even the mint. The taxes immediately within the regency are all collected by Jews, and persons of this persuasion are the principal landholders. They serve as interpreters and secretaries, being frequently employed both as counsellors and agents, in affairs of the greatest delicacy. And either from the influence of their money, or persevering flexibility of their character, they often exercise an unlimited sway in the divan and palace of the Dey. The Turks look with hatred and contempt upon the Jewish financiers, while they secretly envy their riches.

See also:
Arab and Muslim attacks against Jews, 1907-1915
Jews and Arabs living peacefully together
That age old respect Islam had for Christians and Jews
Jewish relations with Muslims in Palestine in the 1850s
The richest Jew in Damascus, 1816

(h/t Callen)

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Israeli feminists freak over gas field names

This is too funny:

"We regret that the people who picked the names 'Myra' and 'Sarah' imagined in their minds women when they thought of land for drilling. I am sorry to have to surprise you, but our names and our bodies are not for drilling, and the giving of such nicknames strengthens the perception of women as objects for penetration and drilling," said a group of women's organizations.

The statement by Adva Center. the Israel Women's Network, Ahoti (My Sister), Ruach Nashit (Women's Spirit), Economic Empowerment for Women, Mahut Center, Women Lawyers for Social Justice, and Supportive Community Women's Business Development Center. The organizations' statement follows the announcement of the start of the Sarah 1 exploratory well, following the dry hole at the Myra 1 well.

The organizations added, "The groups picking the names should immediately stop thinking about using women's names for drilling, and realize that, consciously or not, they are lending a hand to the kind of dialogue that objectifies and demeans women. We regret that the people engaged in critical issues like drilling for natural gas, we are forced to deal with hidden chauvinistic messages in these issues."

However...

The women's organizations have apparently forgotten that the oil and gas exploratory licenses were often named for women family members of the geologists responsible for mapping the licenses. For example, the Tamar discovery is named for the granddaughter of geologist Yossi Langotski, and Myra and Sarah were named for the daughters of Petromed Corporation geologist David Peace.

The women's organizations have also ignored the fact that many licenses are named for men, such as Shimshon, Gal, and Yishai. The licenses of the Leviathan discovery are named for both men and women, including Alon and Ruth.

Sounds like Israeli feminists can give some Muslims a run for their money in finding reasons to be outraged.
(h/t Sophie)

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Sunday links

From Ian:

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NGO Monitor: ‘Investigate UK funding of Palestinian NGOs’

“Professor Gerald Steinberg, president of NGO Monitor, who briefed Jewish organisations on a UK visit, said: “Either the officials who decide on and are responsible for this counter-productive funding for NGOs are completely unaware of the details regarding the use of UK taxpayer monies, or they are consciously using NGO funding to promote Palestinian political attacks under the facade of peace-making.”

Stand with Us: West Bank Communities, and Peace (video)


Romney: PA State Airspace Would Endanger Israel
Airspace is another problem that Israel would face if there ever arose a PLO state next door.

PMW: "By the blood of the youth, Jerusalem will come back to us" - girl sings song on PA TV (video)


iOS6 Apple Maps Feature Shows No Capital City for State of Israel

"Apple’s new operating system iOS6 was released earlier this week, and one of the highly touted features is the addition of Apple Maps, but the new mapping feature fails to list Jersualem as the capital of Israel. In fact, according to the new Apple Maps application, Israel has no capital city."

CAMERA: CNN's "Situation Room" Resituates Israel's Capital

On Sept. 17, "The Situation Room" host Joe Johns (standing in for Wolf Blitzer) and guest Frances Townsend, a formal(sic) U.S. national security advisor, refer to Tel Aviv as Israel's capital.

In wake of border attack, IDF tells soldiers to use caution when dealing with asylum-seekers

Netanel Yahalomi killed on Friday while bringing water to migrants, underscoring lingering lawlessness in Egyptian territory

Honest Reporting: IDF Soldier’s Death Vanishes in UK Media Coverage

See Anti-Semitic Elmo Arrested (Again!) In Times Square

"Adam "Anti-Semitic Elmo" Sandler is at it again! After getting quite a bit of press for harassing tourists in Central Park earlier this summer we hadn't heard much about from the hate-filled Elmo impersonator. But just because we haven't heard much about him doesn't mean he hasn't been out and about, spewing hate. In fact, he was arrested again yesterday."

Syrian rebels: "We have a big fight against the Jews ahead of us"

Hamas: Arab Jews are not refugees, but criminals

Egypt’s Morsi urges ‘full rights’ for Palestinians, affirms Iran’s role in Syria
Tehran ‘part of the solution’ to bloodshed, which ‘goes against all laws, desires, history and humanity,’ president says

Pakistani bounty placed on anti-Islam filmmaker
A Pakistani minister offered $100,000 on Saturday to anyone who kills the maker of an online video which insults Islam, as sporadic protests rumbled on across parts of the Muslim world.

Hamburg mosque may have violated anti-hate contract

"The Imam Ali Mosque in Hamburg, widely considered by experts in Germany and abroad the long arm of Iran’s regime in the Federal Republic, appears to have violated the spirit – and perhaps the terms – of its contractual partnership with the city of Hamburg.
The mosque and its parent organization are said to have mobilized anti-Israel activists to call for the destruction of the Jewish state."

New technique could sniff out malignancies

A Technion scientist has developed a breath test to determine whether a growth is benign or malignant
Breath tests are usually used to test for drunkenness, or perhaps halitosis. But Dr. Hossam Haick of the Technion has found a new use for breath tests – determining whether or not a growth in the lung is benign, or malignant.

Claire Danes focuses glowing New York Times spotlight on Israel

Actress raves about the visits she’s made to film TV series ‘Homeland,’ offering high praise in cover story and fashion spread for paper’s style magazine.

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Iran: Greatest Threat to Western Civilization (video)

The full-length Iranium movie is online here.

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Hamas: underground prisons, bunkers in WB

From Ma'an:

Palestinian Authority security services spokesman Adnan Dmeiri said that forces on Sunday discovered an underground bunker used by Hamas members in the northern West Bank.

Dmeiri told Ma'an the long tunnel under Urif village, near Nablus, led to a room next to a small bunker containing communication equipment.

He said the room was used as a prison and that Hamas has built secret prisons throughout the northern West Bank, without giving any details.

Dmeiri said several people in charge of the underground bunker had been detained for questioning.

PA security forces have rounded up scores of Hamas supporters this week, in an arrest campaign criticized by human rights groups.

A Hamas statement on Saturday said 120 party members had been arrested or summoned to report to security services since Wednesday.

Bunkers? Secret prisons? Communications equipment?

Oh, just a silent war between Hamas and Fatah in the West Bank, some 18 months after "unity."

And Hamas gets funding from Iran to take over the West Bank.

Nothing to see here. Move along. Just close your eyes, click your heels three times and repeat this mantra until things get clear in your head and consistent with the mainstream media's portrait of the situation:

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The issue of Jewish refugees has been brought up to the UN before

From JPost:

Israel on Friday called on the international community to recognize the suffering of Jewish refugees from Arab countries and their material claims the same way it acknowledges the plight of displaced Palestinians.

Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon, Ambassador to the UN Ron Prosor and World Jewish Congress President Ronald Lauder presented the recently launched diplomatic campaign in a special gathering at the UN before Israeli officials, foreign diplomats, activists and journalists.

“Today’s event is about the past but more importantly about the future,” said Prosor.

“Our purpose is clear and simple: To give justice for one million Jews whose stories have been hidden and left untold.”

He added: “For 64 years the history has been distorted and whitewashed in the UN. Arab countries have never taken responsibility for creating more than 800,000 refugees.

Yet not a single syllable – and listen to this – can be heard in any of the 1,888 UN resolutions on the Mideast.”

Israel was founded on the ethos of being a safe haven for Jews in their historic homeland as a response to the persecution of Jews throughout history and the horrors of the Holocaust in Europe in particular.

The story of its citizens who left, fled or were expelled from Arabic-speaking countries while the Israeli-Arab conflict flared has been relatively neglected, a fact Ayalon acknowledged in his speech.

“For some reason this issue was never raised, never discussed, and without too much mea culpa, this was wrong,” Ayalon said. “But it’s never too late.”

Arabic media have been hysterical over this conference for the past month, with scores of Arabic articles have been written only in the past day. They are uniformly critical of the conference, claiming that there is no such thing as a Jewish refugee, or that any compensation to Jewish refugees is against international conventions, or even that "Zionist terror" is what caused Jewish refugees to flee Arab countries.

But mostly they are claiming that this is a brand-new, contrived attempt to take attention away from Palestinian refugees.

So here is a brief survey of times that Israel or Jews brought the topic up to the attention of the UN:

1951:

The plight of the Arab refugees was the direct result of the hostilities launched by the Arab themselves against Israel to crush her out of existence at birth. The real claim of the refugees lay against the Arab Governments which had sent their armies to invade Israel, in cynical violation of their international obligations. For its part, the Israel Government was willing to make a contribution to the resettlement of the refugees, provided that such an arrangement be mutual. Israel had taken in some 200,000 Jewish refugees from the Arab Governments concerned. His delegation was willing to embark upon a discussion of the question with the Arab States, with a view to finding a constructive overall solution.

Israel was also willing to take up the question of blocked accounts, subject likewise to the understanding that any discussion would include the blocked accounts in Iraq and Jews who had left that country and been admitted to Israel.

1987:

Mr. RAMIN (Israel), speaking in exercise of the right of reply, said that the representatives of the Sudan and the United Arab Emirates had referred to only one side of the refugee problem. A study published by the United Nations Department of International Economic and Social Affairs, entitled Trends and Characteristics of International Migration since 1950, dealt with the Palestine refugees as part of the broader phenomenon of international migration. According to that study, as a result of the partition of Palestine, about 700,000 Palestinian Arabs had left the territory that now constituted the State of Israel, while a large proportion of the Jewish population of the Arab States of Asia and North Africa had moved to Israel, the latter migration extending well into the 1960s. The study indicated that 578,000 Jewish immigrants from Arab-speaking nations had been received by Israel. Both the Palestinian Arabs and the Jewish refugees from Arab countries were dealt with in the study under the same heading.

In an article published in May 1975 in the Lebanese daily paper Al-Nahar, a well-known Palestinian Arab scholar had stated that the Jewish refugees from the Arab States had been displaced in the most brutal manner after their property had been confiscated, and that their migration to Israel had had a very direct impact on the Palestinian problem. Lastly, in his memoirs published in Beirut in 1973, a former Prime Minister of the Syrian Arab Republic had admitted that the Arab leaders themselves had encouraged the Palestinians to leave their homes and lands, something which had had disastrous results for 1 million Palestinian Arab refugees.

Also 1987:

That war had caused a large-scale movement of Arabs out of Israeli territory and an increased exodus of Jews from the Arab States where their families had lived for centuries. At that time, there had been about 1 million Jews in the Arab countries, the majority of whom had since found refuge in the Jewish State and within a relatively short time had become self-supporting citizens. With the acquiescence of the Arab Governments, there had been a virtual exchange of population between Israel and the Arab countries, somewhat similar to that between Greece and Turkey in the 1920s and between India and Pakistan in the late 1940s. The search for a possible settlement could not be based on reversing those two parallel movements of large masses of people but must be guided by the successful integration of refugees in other parts of the world.

There had been no discussions in the United Nations about the plight of the Jewish refugees and no relief agencies established to help in their rehabilitation. The Arabs who had left Israel had also found refuge among their own kin, the great majority merely moving from Jewish-controlled areas of Palestine to those under Arab control. Yet they had become wards of the United Nations, and UNRWA had been set up to assist in their rehabilitation. The most striking difference between the treatment of the two groups of refugees, however, had been the attitude of the Arab Governments towards their own brethren. Their misery was to be perpetuated and exploited in the campaign of unabated political and military hostility against Israel. Development plans to resettle them and provide work had been rejected by the Arab Governments, which had also barred emigration to receptive third countries. Attempts by refugees to become self-supporting within the host countries were discouraged. Those facts had been recognized in the January-March 1957 bulletin of the Research Group for European Migration problems, which had stated that the Arab Governments were seeking to prevent any sort of adoption and integration because the refugees were seen as a political means of pressure to obtain the greatest possible number of concessions. A former head of UNRWA in Jordan had said in 1958 that the Arab States wanted to keep the refugee problem as an affront to the United Nations and a weapon against Israel.

1991:

Significantly, the sponsors of this resolution have not suggested at any time that similar steps be taken regarding the confiscated Jewish property in Arab countries. As a result of the 1948 War, approximately 800,000 Jewish refugees from Arab countries were resettled in Israel. The property left behind by these Jewish refugees (estimated to be worth billions of dollars) was expropriated by the governments of the Arab countries in which they lived. There can be no difference in law, justice or equity between the claims of Arab and Jewish property owners. By doing so, the sponsors of resolution 45/73 H are suggesting that Israel's sovereignty is limited or restricted by some provision that does not apply to other Member States of the United Nations.

2001:

DAVID LITTMAN, of the World Union For Progressive Judaism, addressed the question of Jewish refugees from Arab countries in 1947. After the proclamation of independence of the State of Israel, the armies of five Arab countries, with the support of the Arabs of Palestine under British mandate, had invaded the new State. This war was a pretext for the intensification and legitimization of a settling of accounts in Arab countries. The leaders of these countries had forced Jews to abandon their homes and property and take the path to exile. The State of Israel constituted a natural refuge for the great majority of these refugees from the Arab world. These Jewish refugees had been the victims of waves of pogroms and humiliation. These refugees, unlike the Arab refugees of Palestine, did not receive any compensation from the international community, and had not even requested any compensation.

2003, written statement submitted by World Union for Progressive Judaism to the UN:

During the first half of the 20th century thousands of Jewish men, women, and children, the young and the old, were brutally massacred in Arab countries in North Africa, Iraq, Syria, Egypt, Libya, and Aden — even under French and British colonial rule — and also in Palestine by lawless gangs soon after the British conquest in 1918, and throughout the Mandate period.

Already in Iraq (1936, and especially the Baghdad farhud of 1941), Syria (1944, 1945), Egypt and Libya (1945), and Aden (1947), murderous attacks had killed and wounded thousands. All these events occurred before Israel’s independence. Here is a description from the official first-hand report in 1945 by Tripoli’s Jewish community president Zachino Habib on what happened to Libyan Jews in Tripoli, Zanzur, Zawiya, Casabat, Zitlin on 4-5 Nov. 1945: “The Arabs attacked Jews in obedience to mysterious orders. Their outburst of bestial violence had no plausible motive. For fifty hours they hunted men down, attacked houses and shops, killed men, women, old and young, horribly tortured and dismembered Jews isolated in the interior.... In order to carry out the slaughter, the attackers used various weapons: knives, daggers, sticks, clubs, iron bars, revolvers, and even hand grenades.” (6)

A recent example of such terrorist acts was perpetrated on 11 April 2002 when the jihadist bombing of the ancient al-Ghariba synagogue of Djerba in Tunisia killed 17 and badly wounded many others, most of them elderly German tourists. A spokesman for Al-Qaeda claimed responsibility for the bombing. Tunisia’s remaining Jewish community of about 1,000 — a remnant of an indigenous community with roots in the country’s Phoenician past — will probably soon seek security in Israel and elsewhere, as have 99 percent of their co-religionists since the late 1940s.

In 1945 about 140,000 Jews lived in Iraq; 60,000 in Yemen and Aden; 35,000 in Syria; 5,000 in Lebanon; 90,000 in Egypt; 40,000 in Libya; 150,000 in Algeria; 120,000 in Tunisia; 300,000 in Morocco, including Tangiers – a total of roughly 940,000 (and approximately 200,000 more in Iran and Turkey). Of these indigenous communities, less than 50,000 Jews remain today – and in the Arab world their number is barely 5,000, one-half of one percent of the overall total at the end of the Second World War.

Pogroms and persecutions — and grave fears for their future — regularly preceded the mass expulsions and exoduses of these indigenous Jews, whose ancestors had inhabited these regions from time immemorial, over a millenium before the successive jihad waves of Arab invaders from the seventh century. Beginning in 1948-49, more than 650,000 of these Oriental Jewish refugees, stripped of everything, were integrated into Israel's sparse area of 20,000 km2 – even as the new State was being threatened with extinction by neighbouring Arab States. A further 300,000 or so Jewish refugees found asylum elsewhere, in Europe and the Americas.

About half of Israel's 5.2 million Jews — from a population of about 6.5 million, of whom roughly 20% are Arab, Druze, and Bedouin Israelis — is composed of these forgotten refugees and their descendants, who received no humanitarian aid from the United Nations and did not ask for it. It was Israel alone, with the help of Jewish communities just emerging from the Shoah, which achieved their humanitarian survival and integration into a nascent society.

Similar statement from WUPJ to the UN, 2010:

The transfer of populations on a large scale has been a characteristic of human history, particularly in the Orient – deportations, expropriations and expulsion of dhimmis (Jews, Christians and other indigenous peoples) was a constant factor over a long history of dhimmitude – after the Arab jihad-wars of conquest, expropriation and occupation. This policy continues, while a historically-flawed memory systematically spotlights only Arab refugees from a part of Mandatory Palestine as a result of war while forgetting others – particularly dhimmi Jews in their ancestral homeland, expropriated and expelled over the centuries, and their numerous brethren in the Arab-Muslim dar al-Islam. Jews were forbidden to reside in Arabia since the advent of Islam (except for Yemen and a part of the Gulf region), and in the eastern part of Palestine since 1922, when it became the Hashemite Emirate.

The hardship endured by the great majority of these indigenous Jewish refugees from Arab countries has never been examined by UN bodies, nor the loss of their inestimable heritage dating back two and three millennium – nor their vast personal and property rights. This great injustice should be addressed at the United Nations and elsewhere, all within the context of an equitable global solution for a peaceful, international recognition of a two-State solution. A noteworthy document – with references to specific references to Jewish refugees by both President Jimmy Carter and President Bill Clinton was adopted by the U.S. House of Representatives as Resolution 185 on 1 April 2008.

...It should also be allowed under international law for Jews to live in the whole League of Nations area of Palestine (within both the Arab Kingdom of Jordan and the future Arab State of Palestine), just like Arabs, Druze and other non-Jews do in Israel, either as Israeli citizens or foreign residents.

It isn't that the issue of Jewish refugees has never been mentioned at the UN before. The issue is that for 65 years, the issue of Jewish refugees was deliberately ignored by the UN.

By the way, here is a chart of the disappearance of Jews from Arab countries since 1948:

	1948[1]	1958	1968	1976	2001
Aden	8,000	800	0	0	0
Algeria	140,000	130,000	1,500	1,000	0
Egypt	75,000	40,000	1,000	400	100
Iraq	135,000	6,000	2,500	350	100
Lebanon	5,000	6,000	3,000	400	100
Libya	38,000	3,750	100	40	0
Morocco	265,000	200,000	50,000	18,000	5,700
Syria	30,000	5,000	4,000	4,500	100
Tunisia	105,000	80,000	10,000	7,000	1,500
Yemen	55,000	3,500	500	500	200
TOTAL	856,000	475,050	72,600	32,190	7,800
	(Roumani 83)	(AJY 58)	(AJY 69; Yemen: AJY 70)	(AJY 78)	(AJY 01;  AJY 88)

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[1] Estimates based on UN document “Trends and Characteristics of International Migration since 1950 – Refugee Movements and Population Transfers” (UN Department for Economic and Social Affairs, Demographic Study No. 64 ST/ESA/Ser. A/64).

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