Monday, February 28, 2011
YNET: Don’t count on democracy; Despite talk about Mideast democracy, what we see is brutal violence, rising Islamism, by Guy Bechor
Many festive words had been written and uttered this past month in respect to “democracy” and “popular uprisings.” We were told about the downfall of Middle Eastern tyrants as if this is the 1989 Eastern Europe. A more realistic view may seek new democracies yet discover anarchy, death, aggressive rulers and radical political Islam waiting to take over.
There is not even one beginning of democracy in any of the “revolutions” we are seeing around us.
People are talking about Facebook and Twitter, yet in practice we have violent tribes competing for oil, as is the case in Libya, vengeful sects like in Bahrain, hostile regions that seek to disengage in Yemen, as well as wounded military establishments and severe violence.
The current regimes are not giving up easily and are putting up a fight, also in Sudan, Kuwait, and of course in Iran. So we are indeed seeing social networks, but also brutality and terrible repression of human rights. It is in fact the old Middle East that is speaking up.
Some will say that the revolution won in Egypt, yet this is a superficial view of reality. Mubarak was forced to step down, yet the military establishment that has been ruling Egypt for dozens of years now continues to rule it – and has now taken front stage, rather than staying backstage as it did in the past.
What we had in Egypt was a military revolution that put an end to an uprising on the street. Not even one opposition figure had been brought into the government thus far. One wonders when Egyptian protestors will realize that for the time being they’ve been fooled. The army indeed promised elections in six months, but for now it has all the time in the world to fix the results. Moreover, no dates for the vote had been announced yet.
Tunisian seculars wake up
If there is one change in Egypt, it has to do with the blunt emergence of the Muslim Brotherhood, which mocks democracy. The Islamists are already feeling like the state’s future masters.
The provocative return of the Egyptian Khomeini, Sheikh Yusuf Qaradawi, was meant to grant this revolution a face and an identity; an Islamist identity. Qaradawi was the one who issued the call for Israel’s destruction last week in his appearance before hundreds of thousands (and possibly millions) of Egyptians in Tahrir Square. He opposes the United States and the Shiites, and is of course in favor of a religious Islamic regime in Egypt. This is a grave blow to anyone who thought that Egypt is moving towards democracy; it is also a sign of things to come.
Just like in Iran in 1978, secular leftist protestors fought to topple the Shah and in favor of Khomeini’s return, yet once he arrived he simply pushed them out of the way. The same is happening in Tunisia. Last week, we saw seculars protesting there after they suddenly realized what they did: With their very own hands they are paving the way for the rise of radical Islam in the country. Preacher Rashid Ghannouchi, who rushed to return to Tunis just like the Egyptian Qaradawi, is organizing the previously banned Islamist party ahead of the “democratic elections.”
The common perception is still about the “domino effect” – that is, tyrants shall be toppled with the click of a button. Another “Like” on Facebook, and we’ll have democracy. However, there are no suckers in the Middle East, and nobody will be giving up easily.
Many observers claimed recently that the warnings uttered by Arab rulers regarding the dangers of radical Islam are meant to keep these regimes in power. Maybe, but nonetheless they may be right. After all, radical Islam is the only organized alternative to the authoritarian regimes and has a solution for every problem: “Islamic law is the solution.”
The Middle East this year is just like what we saw in Iraq in 2003, in Iran in 1979, or in the Palestinian Authority in 2006: Nice talk and theories about liberalism and democracy, yet in practice what we have is anarchy and violence, terrible death, and Islamic autocracy waiting down the road.
Teachers Physically Assaulted by Islamists
Classroom topics ranging from ham to the Holocaust have been known to inspire complaints, demands, and legal threats by offended Muslims, but sometimes even violence can erupt.
Consider the case of Gary Smith, head of religious education at Central Foundation Girls' School in the Islamist stronghold of Tower Hamlets, a borough of London, England. Recent court proceedings illuminate an incident from last July, when four men attacked Smith with a knife, a metal rod, and a cement block as he walked on the street, leaving him with significant injuries. Why? "They did not approve of him teaching religion to Muslim girls," the Daily Mail reports:
Detectives made secret recordings of the gang's plot to attack Mr. Smith prior to the brutal assault.The covert audio probe captured the gang condemning Mr. Smith for "teaching other religions to our sisters," the court heard.
"The evidence from what was said on the probe points overwhelmingly to a religious motive for this attack," the prosecutor concluded. The men pleaded guilty and will remain in custody until sentencing. Police have denied knowing of the gang's intentions beforehand.
This is not the first example of a teacher in Europe being physically assaulted because his or her benign words or actions at school had distressed Muslim sensibilities:
- Two years ago in Denmark, Rabih Abou Khamis, an ethnic Palestinian Muslim, pummeled and bit an instructor who had shaken his nine-year-old daughter's hand at the start of a parent-teacher meeting. In the words of a police superintendent, the father insisted that the educator's behavior had been "indecent" and "gone too far and offended his honor." Khamis was convicted and sentenced to prison time.
- Last year in France, a teacher claimed that a student had sprayed her and an assistant with "teargas" during a lesson on 9/11. She stated that "he stood up and declared that al-Qaeda is not terrorist and that neither is the Taliban," before pulling out a canister and dousing them. According to a Dutch news item, the student is of North African origin. IW has been unable to determine the outcome of the criminal complaint filed against the teen.
Non-Muslims commit the vast majority of violence suffered by teachers in the West, but what of religiously motivated violence targeting educators? Robust statistics are lacking. However, combining the above cases with the paucity of comparable incidents sparked by teachers' perceived insults to religions other than Islam, there is reason to suspect that in this genre of faith-driven brutality, Islamists once again account for a disproportionate share of assailants.
One thing is certain: sooner or later, the supremacist ideology of radical Islam spawns outbreaks of violence. Minimizing such violence must begin with combating the ideology at its core.
Muammar Gaddafi - Zenga Zenga Song - Noy Alooshe Remix -Israeli song has gone viral amongst Libyan rebels
"Zenga Zenga," musician Noy Alooshe remixes Gaddafi's speech with a hip-hop song and bikini-clad dancers.
"Zenga Zenga," a YouTube clip, has gone viral amongst Libyan rebels in the past few days. What many of those opposing Libyan ruler Muammar Gaddafi don't realize is that the video, a mash-up of Gaddafi's speech and the hip-hop song "Hey Baby," is from Israel.
The clip shows Gaddafi's speech on a balcony in Tripoli, and uses autotune to turn his words into a song. In the chorus, the Libyan dictator "sings" that he will clean Libya "inch by inch, house by house, room by room, alley by alley." It also features bikin-clad women shaking their hips in time to the music.
The video, which had nearly 400,000 hits on its original version and another 40,000 in the bikini-free version, was created by Israeli musician Noy Alooshe.
Nearly all of the comments on the video are in Arabic, with viewers debating in the talkbacks whether it is permissible to enjoy humor from an Israeli.
"The Arab world is crazy about it," Alooshe told Channel 2 News. "The opposition [in Libya] is using the clip to make Gaddafi look ridiculous." Alooshe added that the clip was featured on Libyan rebels' websites.
Alooshe is a member of the Israeli techno group "Chovevey Tzion," whose biggest hit "Rotze Banot" set Hebrew words to the Swedish dance song "Boten Anna."
The clip shows Gaddafi's speech on a balcony in Tripoli, and uses autotune to turn his words into a song. In the chorus, the Libyan dictator "sings" that he will clean Libya "inch by inch, house by house, room by room, alley by alley." It also features bikin-clad women shaking their hips in time to the music.
The video, which had nearly 400,000 hits on its original version and another 40,000 in the bikini-free version, was created by Israeli musician Noy Alooshe.
Nearly all of the comments on the video are in Arabic, with viewers debating in the talkbacks whether it is permissible to enjoy humor from an Israeli.
"The Arab world is crazy about it," Alooshe told Channel 2 News. "The opposition [in Libya] is using the clip to make Gaddafi look ridiculous." Alooshe added that the clip was featured on Libyan rebels' websites.
Alooshe is a member of the Israeli techno group "Chovevey Tzion," whose biggest hit "Rotze Banot" set Hebrew words to the Swedish dance song "Boten Anna."
Translation: I will clear Libya from one end to the other, in the desert, and in the towns, from the streets, from the houses, and each Alley (Zenga-Zenga). For you who don't understand why the girl with the bikini, Kaddafi was always surrounded by good looking women as body guards, and that's how he is going to liberate Libya.
A good day for Libya, a wonderful day for man kind, this video is what freedom is all about, and the Libyans just got a little taste of it.
A good day for Libya, a wonderful day for man kind, this video is what freedom is all about, and the Libyans just got a little taste of it.
Friday, February 25, 2011
Why Do ACLU Leaders Support Students Who Would Censor Israeli Speakers? Alan Dershowitz
There is a growing international campaign to prevent pro-Israel advocates, who have been invited to speak at universities, from delivering their speeches. The method used to silence these speakers and preclude their audiences from hearing their message is exemplified by a now infamous event at the University of California at Irvine.
Michael Oren -- a distinguished scholar and writer, a moderate supporter of the two-state solution, and now Israel's Ambassador to the United States -- was invited to speak. The Muslim Student Union set out to prevent him from delivering his talk. Here is the way Erwin Chemerinksy, Dean of the law school, described what the students did:
The Muslim Student Union orchestrated a concerted effort to disrupt the speech. One student after another stood and shouted so that the ambassador could not be heard. Each student was taken away only to be replaced by another doing the same thing.
Chemerinsky understates what happened, as anyone can see by watching a video of the event, available online. This was more than a "concerted effort to disrupt the speech." It was a concerted effort to stop it completely -- to censor Oren's right to speak and his audience's right to hear him. The efforts to disrupt succeeded; the effort to stop ultimately failed. Moreover, Chemerinsky fails to mention what happened both before and after the concerted effort. There is undisputed evidence that there was a well-planned conspiracy to censor Oren's talk, and then to lie about it, which the students did after the event.
The students were disciplined by the university for their actions, though the nature and degree of the discipline has been kept confidential. Campus sources have characterized it as a "slap on the wrist." Since the students were arrested, the District Attorney, quite understandably, commenced a criminal investigation. After learning of the careful planning that went into the concerted effort to prevent Oren from speaking and the subsequent cover-up, the DA filed misdemeanor charges against those who were involved.
This decision resulted in an outcry by radicals, many of whom favor censorship of pro-Israel speakers. In a letter to the DA signed by many well-known anti-Israel zealots, the incident was described as merely a protest: "The students nonviolently and verbally protested..."
Then, in an effort to blame the victims, the letter pointed the finger at pro-Israel students who wanted to listen to Oren speak claiming -- quite falsely -- that the Muslim Student Union censors "conducted themselves in less of a disruptive manner than some of the counter-protestors..." This is simply a lie, as anyone can see by viewing the video. Moreover, the intent of the so-called "counter-protestors" was simply to hear the speaker, whereas the intent of the Muslim Student Union was to censor the speaker.
The fact that radical anti-Israel zealots would support censorship of a pro-Israel speaker comes as no surprise. But the fact that the letter of support was signed by two ACLU leaders should shock all civil libertarians and supporters of the ACLU. I have been a supporter of the ACLU for half a century and was a national board member. I supported the right of Nazis to march through Skokie and I defend the right of the most virulent anti-Israel speakers to participate in the marketplace of ideas. The ACLU policy has always been to oppose concerted efforts to prevent speakers from delivering their remarks. While supporting sporadic heckling and jeering that merely demonstrates opposition to the content of the remarks, the ACLU has always condemned concerted efforts to silence invited speakers.
Yet signatories of the letter -- which never once criticizes the censoring Muslim Union students while condemning those who wanted to hear the speaker -- include "Chuck Anderson," who identifies himself as President ACLU Chapter, Orange County and Chair, The Peace and Freedom Party, Orange County;" (a hard left anti-Israel group), and "Hector Villagro," who identifies himself as "Incoming Executive Director, ACLU of Southern California."
Dean Chemerinsky, while also opposing criminal prosecution, made a point to condemn the censoring students:
The students' behavior was wrong and deserves punishment. There is no basis for the claim that the disruptive students were just exercising their First Amendment rights. There is no constitutional right to disrupt an event and keep a speaker from being heard. Otherwise, any speaker could be silenced by a heckler's veto. The Muslim students could have expressed their message in many other ways: picketing or handing out leaflets outside the auditorium where Ambassador Oren was speaking, making statements during the question and answer period, holding their own events on campus.
The ACLU leaders, on the other hand, seem to be justifying the actions of the censoring students while limiting their condemnation to the pro-Israel students who wanted to hear the speaker.
After being criticized for supporting censorship, Villagro sought to justify his signing the letter by the following "logic:"
The district attorney's action will undoubtedly intimidate students in Orange County and across the state and discourage them from engaging in any controversial speech or protest for fear of criminal charges.
The opposite is true. If these students are let off with a slap on the wrist from the University, that will encourage other students around the nation and the world to continue with the efforts to prevent pro-Israel speaker from delivering their speeches. The ACLU should be supporting a clear line between occasional heckling and outright censorship. The ACLU leaders who signed the letter are on the wrong side of that line and should not be speaking for the ACLU.
Jihadists View Upheaval in Egypt as Opportunity, Call for Military Organization in Sinai
The upheaval in the Arab world, especially the events in Tunisia and Egypt, both of which resulted in the resignations of these countries' leaders, is being followed closely by jihadi operatives, ideologues, and online supporters. The jihadists welcomed the ouster of president Hosni Mubarak, whom they considered a tyrant and apostate, and responded by discussing the role they are to play in Egypt's future. Their responses can be divided into two main categories: political-ideological and operational. The following report will address the operational opportunities the jihadists see in the new situation in Egypt.
Some in the global jihad movement consider the upheaval in Egypt an opportunity to promote global jihad and to elevate the war against the Arab regimes to a new level. Specifically, they consider the anarchy in Egypt to be a chance for jihad groups to establish a presence there, after a long absence of such groups following an extensive crackdown by the regime. The numerous jihad operatives reported to have been released from prison in the wake of Mubarak's ouster, as well as those rumored to have escaped in the midst of the chaos, may well avail themselves of this opportunity.[1]
More importantly, the global jihadists see the instability in Egypt as propitious to the establishment of operational jihad organizations, especially in rural areas, particularly the Sinai, in light of the security vacuum there resulting from the military's preoccupation with keeping general order.
ISI to Jihadists in Egypt: Jihad is Open for Business in Your Country
The global jihad movement's hopes to harness the upheaval in Egypt were expressed in an open letter from the Islamic State of Iraq's (ISI) so-called Ministry of War, the organization's operational wing, to jihadists in Egypt. In the letter, published on jihadi websites, the ISI appealed to jihadists and their sympathizers in Egypt, urging them to form jihad groups, choose leaders, and amass arms. The letter said that jihad is a duty incumbent on all Muslims: "Allah commanded his monotheist worshippers [to wage] jihad for his sake... In the ummah's current state, fighting the enemies of Allah and supplying [the mujahideen] with men and funds is incumbent upon every capable man among you. Jihad is open for business... in your country, and the gates of martyrdom are open... Know that the one who is strong and armed is the one whose voice will be heard above all others..."[2]Some in the global jihad movement consider the upheaval in Egypt an opportunity to promote global jihad and to elevate the war against the Arab regimes to a new level. Specifically, they consider the anarchy in Egypt to be a chance for jihad groups to establish a presence there, after a long absence of such groups following an extensive crackdown by the regime. The numerous jihad operatives reported to have been released from prison in the wake of Mubarak's ouster, as well as those rumored to have escaped in the midst of the chaos, may well avail themselves of this opportunity.[1]
More importantly, the global jihadists see the instability in Egypt as propitious to the establishment of operational jihad organizations, especially in rural areas, particularly the Sinai, in light of the security vacuum there resulting from the military's preoccupation with keeping general order.
ISI to Jihadists in Egypt: Jihad is Open for Business in Your Country
Sheikh Abu Walid Al-Maqdisi: Form Military Groups in Sinai and Upper Egypt
In a fatwa published on the jihadi website Minbar Al-Tawhid Wal Jihad, Abu Walid Al-Maqdisi, a prominent Salafi-jihadist cleric and head of the Gaza-based Jama'at Al-Tawhid Wal Jihad, advised Salafi-jihadists in Egypt to join ranks under a unified jihad organization, in order to take on a leading role in shaping events in the country. Furthermore, he urged jihadists in Egypt to take advantage of the security lapse caused by the political upheaval in the country, and to establish operational jihad groups in Sinai and Upper Egypt. It should be noted that in the past, Abu Walid Al-Maqdisi and other prominent figures have repeatedly voiced the opinion that a jihad front can and should be established only where an organized jihad group with a strong military and religious leadership already exists. Following are excerpts from the fatwa:
"We must take the initiative and keep abreast of the events. This is an opportunity that might never come again... The only way for the monotheists [i.e., the Salafi-jihadists] to [play a leading role in Egypt's future] is to assemble as one group, unite, and meld together, so that they can lead and direct the [Egyptian] masses, rather then be led and directed by them. [The monotheists] must hurry and seize the opportunity before it is too late, and not stand by idly waiting to see how the events will develop.
"This can only be achieved through organized collective work. If it is too hard [at present] to carry this matter out on a wide scale – as we would have it – [then] a small number of youth and scholars, if they arrange themselves and coordinate between them, will soon be capable of leading hundreds. This [needs to be done in the central areas of Egypt], notwithstanding the role of devoted Muslims in other areas, such as the Sinai and Upper Egypt, who can close ranks in an organized manner and on a larger scale. They need to organize their ranks militarily and powerfully – taking advantage of the current security lapse, [which enables] them to carry these activities out freely – so that, in the future, they will be able to topple the entire tyrant's regime.
"I urge Egypt's righteous and devoted sheikhs to rise up from their slumber and take action toward leading the young masses. The people have started to act, and [the sheikhs] must take advantage of this. The revolution is a popular one, and has swept the masses. This is not the revolution of any one sector...
"It will not do the monotheist brothers any good to continue following and watching [the events] on television or the internet, without taking a significant role [in them]. This is not what is expected of them. They are the ummah's hope for the future... Do not disappoint the ummah's hope in you."[3]
Online Jihadi Cleric: Follow the Example of Al-Zarqawi in Iraq
In a Q&A session, Sheikh Hussein bin Mahmoud, a prominent cleric who writes often on the jihadi forums, recommended that the mujahideen begin establishing a clandestine presence in Egypt:
"Q: [What is your stance regarding the] calls for the announcement of an Al-Qaeda branch in Egypt?"
"A: We have been dreaming of this for a long time. However, it is my view that such an announcement should not [yet] be made. Instead, the brothers should assemble and organize their ranks, and prepare inconspicuously. This is what Emir [Abu Mus'ab] Al-Zarqawi did in Iraq, at the beginning of the war there: he entered Iraq and began organizing the ranks of the mujahideen, gained supporters, and carried out high quality operations, and only then was the announcement [of an Al-Qaeda branch] made.
"[The mujahideen in Egypt] should do what they need to do covertly, at least for the time being. Perhaps the first thing they should do is launch attacks on the prisons and release [their] prisoners, and then eliminate the heads of the intelligence services and the officers who tortured [these] Muslim prisoners and defiled their honor, in order to make an example of them to others."[4]
Prominent Writer on Jihadi Forum: "Your Revolution will Persevere Only on the Fields of Jihad"
A prominent writer on the Shumukh Al-Islam forum going by the name Al-Mu'taz Bidin Allah Al-Mahdi explained the opportunity the jihadists see in the events in Egypt:
"O my rebellious ummah,... your sons, the bearers of the torch of monotheism, the mujahideen in Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, the Arabian Peninsula, North Africa, the Caucasus, Nigeria, and Al-Sham have paved the path of glory with their pure souls, and lit the path for those who want the best of this world and the hereafter. They have proven that the only way to achieve security, an honorable life, glory, victory, and strength is jihad for the sake of Allah. The revolution and its torch of sacrifice have brought forth courage and boldness, opened the gates of sacrifice and martyrdom, and broken the shackles of fear and submission...
"Great missions and challenges lay ahead of us that demand we leave the squares of the revolution, and hurry to the fields of jihad. The goal that motivated you in Qasrin, Tallah, Suez, and Cairo is the very same goal that motivated your leaders and sons, and those who care about you most, the lions of monotheism and the knights of shari'a... Your revolution for freedom, honor, and an honorable life, if it is sincere, will persevere only on the fields of jihad..."[5]
Endnotes:
[1] A member of the Shumukh Al-Islam forum calling himself Silsilat Al-Tajdid, for instance, reported that Egyptian authorities had released several "lions of Al-Qaeda." He also supplied the names of those released, but these were later erased by the website's administrators. An Egyptian daily reported that 109 prisoners from Salafi organizations, among them Al-Gama'a Al-Islamiyya, the Egyptian Islamic Jihad and others. See JTTM Report, Egypt Releases over 100 Members of Islamist and Jihadist Organizations; Member on Jihadi Website: Over 70 Al-Qaeda Fighters Were Released, February 20, 2011.
[2] See JTTM Report, ISI Message to Egyptians: Wage Jihad, February 9, 2011.
[3] Minbar Al-Tawhid Wal Jihad, February 22, 2011.
[4] Shumukh Al-Islam, February 16, 2011.
[5] Shumukh Al-Islam, February 15, 2011.
YouTube Jihad: Wannabe Terrorist Gets Five Years in Infidel Jail
An armchair video Shaheed is off to Her Majesty’s Prison Paradise – and all the more incentive to support and help Undhimmi/Smackdown Corps/MyPetJawa campaign to get the terrorists off YouTube:
A ‘YouTube terrorist’ who put Islamic extremist videos online is jailed for five years.
Videos included images of Osama bin Laden, bodies of children and a coalition Jeep being blown up
Police say conviction is one of the first for spreading terrorist publications via the internet
Police say conviction is one of the first for spreading terrorist publications via the internet
A law student dubbed the ‘YouTube terrorist’ who posted Islamic propaganda on the internet after becoming radicalised was jailed for five years today.
Mohammed Gul was ‘pouring petrol on the fire’ and his actions could have spurred others to commit acts of terror, the Old Bailey heard.
Gul, 23, of Hornchurch, Essex, who has since graduated, was found guilty of five counts of disseminating terrorist publications following a retrial at the Old Bailey.
Judge David Paget said his sentence had to be a deterrent to others and reflect the seriousness of the crime.
He told Gul: ‘I am in no doubt that you have become thoroughly radicalised.
He told Gul: ‘I am in no doubt that you have become thoroughly radicalised.
‘One can only express sympathy to your family that this has happened. ‘You are an intelligent young man who had a good law degree from a good university. ‘It is a tragedy that you have thrown it all away.’
The charges related to 30 videos placed on You Tube and on the Anti-Imperialist Forum website between March 2008 and January 2009
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The judge praised anti-terrorist police who, he said, ‘had a Herculean task’ in reviewing the huge amount of material on Gul’s laptop.
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The judge praised anti-terrorist police who, he said, ‘had a Herculean task’ in reviewing the huge amount of material on Gul’s laptop.
It had involved the biggest review of data ever undertaken by the anti-terrorist branch of Scotland Yard and involved 30 officers and took six months, he said.
Off to Infidel Jail with you: Mohammed Gul, YouTube JihadistTimothy Moloney QC, in mitigation, said the offences were committed when Gul was 19 or 20.
He added: ‘He is ashamed of the comments he made and he regrets them and wishes he hadn’t said them.’
Sean Larkin QC, prosecuting, told the trial: ‘These were glorifying terrorism.
He added: ‘He is ashamed of the comments he made and he regrets them and wishes he hadn’t said them.’
Sean Larkin QC, prosecuting, told the trial: ‘These were glorifying terrorism.
‘Mr Gul became more and more involved in extreme views. He spent more and more time in internet forums and chatrooms with people who expressed extreme views.
‘He asked for footage showing sniper attacks, vehicle explosions and other terrorist attacks in places of conflict.
‘He became more and more radicalised. He decided to make these videos and upload them.
‘He became more and more radicalised. He decided to make these videos and upload them.
‘For people interested in this sort of thing, people with a grievance against coalition forces, he was pouring petrol on the fire.’
Gul was studying law at Queen Mary University in east London in February 2009 when police raided his home. He used clips from al Qaida, the Taliban and Iraqi media sites and added jihadi songs. One showed an image of Osama bin Laden along with words from a poem which praised him.
Other sections showed the bodies of children and images of conflict, including a coalition Jeep being blown up, the court heard.
Mr Larkin suggested Gul started to show an interest in Bin Laden in 2007 and the offences followed the December 2008 attack on Gaza by Israeli forces which resulted in 140 deaths.
Gul told the jury he did not support terrorism but acted out of curiosity and his political beliefs.
Deputy Assistant Commissioner Stuart Osborne, senior national co-ordinator for counter terrorism, said: ‘The clips graphically showed acts of terrorism and the logos of known terrorist groups.
Deputy Assistant Commissioner Stuart Osborne, senior national co-ordinator for counter terrorism, said: ‘The clips graphically showed acts of terrorism and the logos of known terrorist groups.
‘This is one of the first successful prosecutions relating to disseminating terrorist publications via the internet.’
We’re proud to be part of a small band of bloggers, who are working tirelessly to expose the terror recruiting network promoted and profited from by Google/YouTube.
Thousands upon thousands of hateful and often appallingly violent video images are hosted for free on the site – which somehow manages to ensure that no pornography gets past their filters, yet cannot do the same for Jihad terrorist war porn.
Perhaps that has something to do with the fact that, as there is no concept of copyright in Sharia law, the jihadis won’t exactly be lawyering up as the pornographers and media moguls do, when they want their content taken down from YouTube.
That, and the fact that G/YT can and do receive revenue from layering ads over the shaheeds and snipers.
Thus, this copying and free redistribution of their grisly wares by wannabe terrorists and laptop Jihadis, facilitated by greedy suits pretending to be hippies makes the real terrorists smile.
Israel’s ‘partners for peace’ have now turned against America; In these new and trying times, our leaders must shed their failed concepts of statecraft based on weakness and adopt new ones founded on strength, by CAROLINE B. GLICK
On Wednesday night, Israelis received our first taste of the new Middle East with the missile strikes on Beersheba. Iran’s Palestinian proxy, the local branch of the Muslim Brotherhood known as Hamas, carried out its latest war crime right after Iran’s battleships entered Syria’s Latakia port.
Their voyage through the Suez Canal to Syria was an unadulterated triumph for the mullahs.
Their voyage through the Suez Canal to Syria was an unadulterated triumph for the mullahs.
For the first time since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Iran’s warships sailed across the canal without even being inspected by the Egyptian, US or Israeli navies.
On the diplomatic front, the Iranian-dominated new Middle East has had a pronounced impact on the Western-backed Fatah-led Palestinian Authority’s political posture towards the US.
The PA picked a fight with America just after the Obama administration forced Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to surrender power.
Mubarak’s departure was a strategic victory for the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and for its sister branch Hamas in Gaza.
As part of his efforts to neutralize the threat the Muslim Brotherhood posed to his regime, Mubarak sealed off Gaza’s border with Egypt after Hamas seized power there in June 2007.
The Gaza-Sinai border was breached during last month’s revolution. Since Mubarak’s forced resignation, the military junta now leading Egypt has failed to reseal it.
The revolution in Egypt happened just after the PA was thrown into a state of disarray. Al- Jazeera’s exposure of PA documents indicating the leadership’s willingness to make minor compromises with Israel in the framework of a peace deal served to discredit Fatah leaders in the eyes of the Israel-hating Palestinian public.
In the wake of the Al-Jazeera revelations, senior PA leaders escalated their anti-Israel and anti- American pronouncements. The PA’s chief negotiator Saeb Erekat was forced to resign.
The shift in the regional power balance following Mubarak’s fall has caused Fatah leaders to view their ties to the US as a strategic liability.
If they wish to survive, they must cut a deal with Hamas. And to convince Hamas to cut a deal, they need to abandon the US.
And so they have. Fatah’s first significant move to part company with Washington came with its relentless bid to force a vote on a resolution condemning Israeli construction in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria at the UN Security Council. In an attempt to avert a vote on the resolution that the US public expected him to veto, Obama spent 50 minutes on the phone with Mahmoud Abbas begging him to set the resolution aside. Obama promised to take unprecedented steps against Israel in return for Abbas’s agreement to stand down. But Abbas rejected his appeal.
Not only did Abbas defy the wishes of the most pro-Palestinian president ever to occupy the White House, Abbas told the whole world about how he defied Obama.
Abbas’s humiliation of Obama was only the first volley in the Fatah leader’s campaign against the US. Abbas, Salam Fayyad and their PA ministers have sent paid demonstrators into the street to protest against America. They announced a boycott of American diplomats and journalists. They have called for a boycott of American products. They have scheduled a “Day of Rage” against America for Friday after mosque prayers.
While excoriating Obama and the US, the PA is actively wooing Hamas. On Wednesday, the PA accepted the legitimacy of Hamas control over Gaza. Three-and-a-half years after Hamas wrested control over Gaza from Fatah in a bloody coup, on Wednesday Fayyad said that the PA is willing to end its objection to Hamas control over the area if Hamas agrees to participate in the general elections Abbas has scheduled for September.
At the same time as he publicly beseeched Hamas to join forces with Fatah, Fayyad announced that the PA is willing to forgo US financial assistance if that assistance continues to come with political strings attached. The only real string attached to US aid is the stipulation that no US financial assistance can be used to finance Hamas.
THE PA’S announced willingness to end its receipt of US aid is by far its boldest move to date. With the Arab world going up in smoke, Fatah officials know they cannot expect to receive any significant funding from Arab states for the foreseeable future. That makes them entirely dependent on US and Europe.
And make no mistake, the PA budget is entirely a creation of foreign aid. The PA is the largest foreign aid recipient in the world. Last year, it received $1.8 billion in foreign assistance.
US direct assistance accounted for $550 million, or nearly a third of that amount. The US gave the PA another $268m. in indirect assistance through UNRWA. UNRWA is the UN agency devoted exclusively to providing welfare benefits to the Palestinians while subordinating itself to the Palestinian political agenda.
Without US assistance, the PA would cease to be a political factor in the region. So by offering to forgo the aid, Fayyad, Abbas and their colleagues are essentially threatening to commit political suicide.
The Palestinians’ declared readiness to forgo US aid is all the more remarkable when compared to Israel’srefusal to countenance the thought of forgoing or even cutting back the assistance it receives from the US. Whereas the Palestinian economy will collapse without US assistance, were Israel to forgo the $3b. in military assistance it receives every year from Washington, the move would have little impact on the economy.
Economic analyses of US military assistance have noted that several factors degrade the value of the aid. The US requires Israel to spend 75 percent of the assistance in the US. Israel’s inability to open its purchases to competitive bidding in the world market has forced it to pay inflated prices for much of what it buys.
So, too, by buying US weapons systems, Israel has harmed its own military industries, which are blocked from selling or developing systems for the IDF contractors.
Moreover, because the US has tied its aid to Egypt to its aid to Israel and justified its military aid to Jordan and Lebanon through its military assistance to Israel, by accepting the aid, Israel is enabling its neighbors to upgrade their military capabilities. Their upgraded military capabilities in turn force Israel to invest still more resources in its defense budget to maintain its qualitative edge against its US subsidized neighbors.
With all the hidden costs the military assistance entails, it is reasonable to discount the actual value of the aid by 50%. That is, the actual value of annual US military assistance is about $1.5b.
The direct military cost of the Second Lebanon War is estimated at $2.2b. The direct military cost of Operation Cast Lead is estimated at $1.4b. The actual costs of both wars to the Israeli economy were several times higher.
Those who claim that Israel cannot manage without US military aid ignore the fact that neither of these wars had any discernible impact on the economy.
The political cost Israel has paid for US military assistance has been astronomical. As a recent study of US military assistance by the Jerusalem Institute for Market Studies demonstrated, the psychological impact of the US aid on Israeli and American leaders alike has had a disastrous impact on the relations between the two states and impaired their ability to understand the actual strategic rationale of their alliance. Israeli leaders have developed a subservient mentality towards the Americans and the Americans have forgotten that a strong Israel is the US’s most valuable strategic asset in the region.
THE PALESTINIANS’ expressed willingness to forgo their assistance from the US is no doubt a bluff. And Congress would do well to call their bluff and cancel US assistance to the PA.
Yet their behavior presents Israel with an important lesson about the fundamentals of diplomacy that appear lost on our leaders.
The Palestinians understand the rules of diplomacy far better than Israel does. Israel believes that diplomacy is about getting other governments to be nice to us. Palestinians understand that diplomacy is a nonviolent means of weakening your enemies and expanding your own power. They also understand that the starting point for any effective diplomatic strategy is a reality-based assessment of other government’s interests.
As the revolutions throughout the region show, in the real world, the Arabs do not care about the Palestinians. Europeans and leftist Americans care about the Palestinians. European leaders need to support the Palestinians for domestic political reasons. US leaders support the Palestinians to maintain good relations with Europe and with the American Left.
Recognizing this, the likes of Abbas and Fayyad understand that no matter what they say or do, the West will probably not abandon them. Europeans need them to continue carrying out their political war against Israel because that is what their constituents demand. US leaders will continue to support them because they follow Europe’s lead.
On the other hand, given their newfound power, PA leaders have to bend over backwards to appease Hamas and Iran if they wish to survive.
Since they rightly assess that the West needs them more than they need the West, not only are the Palestinians unwilling to pay any price for maintaining Western support for them.
They are willing to initiate ugly confrontations with the US and humiliate Obama in order to win the approval of Hamas and Iran.
Facing this reality, Israel’s best bet is to initiate a few confrontations of its own to demonstrate its strategic importance to the US and Europe.
With the conflagrations raging in the Arab world essentially making its argument that a strong Israel is imperative for the West, Israel should be going on the offensive against the Palestinians and the international Left that supports them.
But instead of pointing out the truth, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and his colleagues maintain their posture as supplicants to Washington, making concession after concession in exchange for further abuse in the hopes of avoiding a confrontation.
For instance, Netanyahu has defied his own party and broken his word to the public by maintaining an undeclared freeze on Jewish building in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria. Since January 2010, Netanyahu has systematically denied Jews building permits in the area in the hopes of appeasing Obama.
And how has Obama repaid Israel for our government’s willingness to deny Jews their civil rights? The Obama administration has branded all Jewish communities in post-1967 Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria as “illegitimate,” and blamed Israel for the absence of peace in the region.
As our region is consumed by the flames of rebellion and revolution, the challenges and threats Israel faces multiply by the day. In these new and trying times, our leaders must shed their failed concepts of statecraft based on weakness and adopt new ones founded on strength.
On the diplomatic front, the Iranian-dominated new Middle East has had a pronounced impact on the Western-backed Fatah-led Palestinian Authority’s political posture towards the US.
The PA picked a fight with America just after the Obama administration forced Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to surrender power.
Mubarak’s departure was a strategic victory for the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and for its sister branch Hamas in Gaza.
As part of his efforts to neutralize the threat the Muslim Brotherhood posed to his regime, Mubarak sealed off Gaza’s border with Egypt after Hamas seized power there in June 2007.
The Gaza-Sinai border was breached during last month’s revolution. Since Mubarak’s forced resignation, the military junta now leading Egypt has failed to reseal it.
The revolution in Egypt happened just after the PA was thrown into a state of disarray. Al- Jazeera’s exposure of PA documents indicating the leadership’s willingness to make minor compromises with Israel in the framework of a peace deal served to discredit Fatah leaders in the eyes of the Israel-hating Palestinian public.
In the wake of the Al-Jazeera revelations, senior PA leaders escalated their anti-Israel and anti- American pronouncements. The PA’s chief negotiator Saeb Erekat was forced to resign.
The shift in the regional power balance following Mubarak’s fall has caused Fatah leaders to view their ties to the US as a strategic liability.
If they wish to survive, they must cut a deal with Hamas. And to convince Hamas to cut a deal, they need to abandon the US.
And so they have. Fatah’s first significant move to part company with Washington came with its relentless bid to force a vote on a resolution condemning Israeli construction in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria at the UN Security Council. In an attempt to avert a vote on the resolution that the US public expected him to veto, Obama spent 50 minutes on the phone with Mahmoud Abbas begging him to set the resolution aside. Obama promised to take unprecedented steps against Israel in return for Abbas’s agreement to stand down. But Abbas rejected his appeal.
Not only did Abbas defy the wishes of the most pro-Palestinian president ever to occupy the White House, Abbas told the whole world about how he defied Obama.
Abbas’s humiliation of Obama was only the first volley in the Fatah leader’s campaign against the US. Abbas, Salam Fayyad and their PA ministers have sent paid demonstrators into the street to protest against America. They announced a boycott of American diplomats and journalists. They have called for a boycott of American products. They have scheduled a “Day of Rage” against America for Friday after mosque prayers.
While excoriating Obama and the US, the PA is actively wooing Hamas. On Wednesday, the PA accepted the legitimacy of Hamas control over Gaza. Three-and-a-half years after Hamas wrested control over Gaza from Fatah in a bloody coup, on Wednesday Fayyad said that the PA is willing to end its objection to Hamas control over the area if Hamas agrees to participate in the general elections Abbas has scheduled for September.
At the same time as he publicly beseeched Hamas to join forces with Fatah, Fayyad announced that the PA is willing to forgo US financial assistance if that assistance continues to come with political strings attached. The only real string attached to US aid is the stipulation that no US financial assistance can be used to finance Hamas.
THE PA’S announced willingness to end its receipt of US aid is by far its boldest move to date. With the Arab world going up in smoke, Fatah officials know they cannot expect to receive any significant funding from Arab states for the foreseeable future. That makes them entirely dependent on US and Europe.
And make no mistake, the PA budget is entirely a creation of foreign aid. The PA is the largest foreign aid recipient in the world. Last year, it received $1.8 billion in foreign assistance.
US direct assistance accounted for $550 million, or nearly a third of that amount. The US gave the PA another $268m. in indirect assistance through UNRWA. UNRWA is the UN agency devoted exclusively to providing welfare benefits to the Palestinians while subordinating itself to the Palestinian political agenda.
Without US assistance, the PA would cease to be a political factor in the region. So by offering to forgo the aid, Fayyad, Abbas and their colleagues are essentially threatening to commit political suicide.
The Palestinians’ declared readiness to forgo US aid is all the more remarkable when compared to Israel’srefusal to countenance the thought of forgoing or even cutting back the assistance it receives from the US. Whereas the Palestinian economy will collapse without US assistance, were Israel to forgo the $3b. in military assistance it receives every year from Washington, the move would have little impact on the economy.
Economic analyses of US military assistance have noted that several factors degrade the value of the aid. The US requires Israel to spend 75 percent of the assistance in the US. Israel’s inability to open its purchases to competitive bidding in the world market has forced it to pay inflated prices for much of what it buys.
So, too, by buying US weapons systems, Israel has harmed its own military industries, which are blocked from selling or developing systems for the IDF contractors.
Moreover, because the US has tied its aid to Egypt to its aid to Israel and justified its military aid to Jordan and Lebanon through its military assistance to Israel, by accepting the aid, Israel is enabling its neighbors to upgrade their military capabilities. Their upgraded military capabilities in turn force Israel to invest still more resources in its defense budget to maintain its qualitative edge against its US subsidized neighbors.
With all the hidden costs the military assistance entails, it is reasonable to discount the actual value of the aid by 50%. That is, the actual value of annual US military assistance is about $1.5b.
The direct military cost of the Second Lebanon War is estimated at $2.2b. The direct military cost of Operation Cast Lead is estimated at $1.4b. The actual costs of both wars to the Israeli economy were several times higher.
Those who claim that Israel cannot manage without US military aid ignore the fact that neither of these wars had any discernible impact on the economy.
The political cost Israel has paid for US military assistance has been astronomical. As a recent study of US military assistance by the Jerusalem Institute for Market Studies demonstrated, the psychological impact of the US aid on Israeli and American leaders alike has had a disastrous impact on the relations between the two states and impaired their ability to understand the actual strategic rationale of their alliance. Israeli leaders have developed a subservient mentality towards the Americans and the Americans have forgotten that a strong Israel is the US’s most valuable strategic asset in the region.
THE PALESTINIANS’ expressed willingness to forgo their assistance from the US is no doubt a bluff. And Congress would do well to call their bluff and cancel US assistance to the PA.
Yet their behavior presents Israel with an important lesson about the fundamentals of diplomacy that appear lost on our leaders.
The Palestinians understand the rules of diplomacy far better than Israel does. Israel believes that diplomacy is about getting other governments to be nice to us. Palestinians understand that diplomacy is a nonviolent means of weakening your enemies and expanding your own power. They also understand that the starting point for any effective diplomatic strategy is a reality-based assessment of other government’s interests.
As the revolutions throughout the region show, in the real world, the Arabs do not care about the Palestinians. Europeans and leftist Americans care about the Palestinians. European leaders need to support the Palestinians for domestic political reasons. US leaders support the Palestinians to maintain good relations with Europe and with the American Left.
Recognizing this, the likes of Abbas and Fayyad understand that no matter what they say or do, the West will probably not abandon them. Europeans need them to continue carrying out their political war against Israel because that is what their constituents demand. US leaders will continue to support them because they follow Europe’s lead.
On the other hand, given their newfound power, PA leaders have to bend over backwards to appease Hamas and Iran if they wish to survive.
Since they rightly assess that the West needs them more than they need the West, not only are the Palestinians unwilling to pay any price for maintaining Western support for them.
They are willing to initiate ugly confrontations with the US and humiliate Obama in order to win the approval of Hamas and Iran.
Facing this reality, Israel’s best bet is to initiate a few confrontations of its own to demonstrate its strategic importance to the US and Europe.
With the conflagrations raging in the Arab world essentially making its argument that a strong Israel is imperative for the West, Israel should be going on the offensive against the Palestinians and the international Left that supports them.
But instead of pointing out the truth, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and his colleagues maintain their posture as supplicants to Washington, making concession after concession in exchange for further abuse in the hopes of avoiding a confrontation.
For instance, Netanyahu has defied his own party and broken his word to the public by maintaining an undeclared freeze on Jewish building in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria. Since January 2010, Netanyahu has systematically denied Jews building permits in the area in the hopes of appeasing Obama.
And how has Obama repaid Israel for our government’s willingness to deny Jews their civil rights? The Obama administration has branded all Jewish communities in post-1967 Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria as “illegitimate,” and blamed Israel for the absence of peace in the region.
As our region is consumed by the flames of rebellion and revolution, the challenges and threats Israel faces multiply by the day. In these new and trying times, our leaders must shed their failed concepts of statecraft based on weakness and adopt new ones founded on strength.
The PA is playing a bad hand wisely.
We are playing a good hand foolishly.
We are playing a good hand foolishly.
Arrow 2 missile defense successfully tested; Missile defense system tested off California coast, destroys simulated Iranian missile; Barak calls development a milestone.
It was the 18th test of the Arrow, and the second in which the modified Arrow 2 was tested in its entirety, along with the Green Pine radar manufactured by Israel Aerospace Industries.
The test was conducted jointly by the IAF, the Defense Ministry’s Homa Missile Defense Agency and the US Missile Defense Agency. The Arrow is a project developed in cooperation by the IAI and Boeing.
The Arrow interceptor was launched at around 10:30 p.m. Pacific Standard Time from a US Navy base along the California coast and intercepted a missile fired from a nearby navy vessel. Defense officials said the “enemy” missile impersonated a “future threat that Israel could one day face in the region.”
Defense officials lauded the successful launch as another indication of Israel’s defense capabilities in the face of ’s continued quest for a nuclear weapon. They said that the Arrow system could protect Israel from all of the missiles in Iran’s arsenal.
The Green Pine Radar – an integral part of the Arrow missile defense system – detected the enemy missile and, after identifying it, related the information to the Arrow battery, which launched the missile interceptor.
Arieh Herzog, head of the Homa Missile Defense Agency, said the Arrow system worked as designed and completely destroyed the target.
The interceptor used in the test incorporated new software that will now be installed in all of the Arrow interceptors currently in IAF use.
“This test is important for Israel as it prepares to counter the ballistic missile threat in the region,” Herzog said. “This test proves the success of the system after it underwent new upgrades.”
Defense Minister said the test was an important milestone in the Israel’s development of missile defense systems. Last week, the IAF successfully tested the Iron Dome counter-rocket defense system ahead of its planned deployment in southern Israel.
The US Missile Defense Agency released a statement saying that the success provided confidence in Israel’s operational capabilities to defeat the developing ballistic missile threat.
Israel and the US are also jointly moving forward with the development of Arrow 3, which will be called Reshef (Flash) in Hebrew. The first flyout test of the Arrow 3 is scheduled for later this year and the system is expected to become operational in 2015.
Palestinians to ‘boycott US’ over Security Council veto; Palestinian local councils boycott American officials, journalists; Fayyad says he would give up any aid that is dependent on political conditions
At the request of Fatah, several Palestinian local councils in the Jerusalem area announced that they would boycott the US in protest against the veto.
The boycott includes US government officials and American journalists.
Palestinian Authority and Fatah officials have also called for a “day of rage” against the US and President Barack Obama on Friday.
On Tuesday, Fatah supporters staged a demonstration in east Jerusalem in protest against the Security Council veto. Similar demonstrations have taken place in a number of Palestinian cities, where Fatah supporters chanted slogans denouncing Obama as a “despicable” man.
The local councils said that they would boycott American aid groups and the US Consulate-General in Jerusalem.
Hatem Abdel Kader, a senior Fatah official and former PA minister for Jerusalem affairs, told The Jerusalem Post that he has called on Hamas and other Palestinian factions to join the anti-US boycott.
Abdel Kader said that the protests would continue until the US administration changes its position regarding the Palestinians. He also demanded that Obama publicly apologize to the Palestinians for voting against the anti-settlement resolution.
PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad announced that he would be prepared to give up US aid that was dependent on political conditions.
He said that in 2010, the US gave the PA $223 million in financial aid to cover its deficit of $1.145 billion.
This did not include US aid to UNRWA, he said.
Fayyad said that his government has succeeded in reducing by one-third dependence on outside aid for its annual budget. He expressed hope that by 2013 the PA would be in a position that would allow it to completely give up financial aid.
Fayyad said he was ready to go to the Gaza Strip to talk with Hamas about the formation of a Palestinian unity government. Last week, PA President Mahmoud Abbas entrusted Fayyad with establishing a government that would include representatives of as many Palestinian groups as possible.
Meanwhile, the Palestinian National Council, the PLO’s parliament-in-exile, called on Palestinians to stop viewing the US as the only broker in the peace talks with Israel.
The call came in a statement issued by the council, which also strongly condemned the US veto.
My Israel
“Discrimination is built into Israel.” Zionism “has at its core the replacement of one people with another.”
These were two claims I heard at a law school panel discussion on “boycotting the Israeli occupation” which was coincidentally held on a Friday evening, when many Jews would be observing the Sabbath through prayer and a family-style meal. As the speakers attempted to ascertain the best practices for attacking and dismantling the State of Israel, I thought back to the four years I spent there before starting law school last fall.
The Israel I experienced differed starkly from the fascist dystopia of which the panelists spoke. That Israel, my Israel, hopes for peace with its neighbors and respects the rights of minority groups, sometimes to a greater extent than the U.S. does.
My military service as a dual citizen gives me great respect for Israel’s deep yearning to co-exist with its Arab neighbors. I served in the Coordinator for Government Activity in the Territories, the Ministry of Defense agency responsible for liaising with the Palestinian Authority, a quasi-sovereign and internationally recognized government entity through which the Palestinian people exercise a great deal of authority over their communities in the West Bank en route to full realization of their national hopes (for which even the conservative Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has announced his support).
As part of my service, I visited hospitals in Jerusalem where Palestinian children, with Israeli military coordination, receive critical dialysis treatments several times a week (such treatment is unavailable in the West Bank). I saw a Jewish Israeli surgeon, an Apache pilot in the Israel Defense Forces reserves, treat Palestinian, Iraqi, and African children in an intensive care unit. At the crack of dawn I welcomed Palestinian workers to the Israeli community of Qedar outside Jerusalem, where they worked with their Israeli neighbors for much higher wages than they would earn in a Palestinian city.
The upshot here is that Israel doesn’t have to let thousands of Palestinians, many of whom still deny Israel’s basic right to exist, into its communities for medical care or work (as happens every day). But Israel does. These actions, along with Israel’s full, painful withdrawals from the Gaza Strip in 2005 and the Sinai Peninsula in 1982, speak louder than words to Israel’s deep desire to get along with—not replace—its neighbors.
Living in Jerusalem and Tel-Aviv exposed me to a cosmopolitan diversity that would give many world cities a run for their money. Both cities, one renowned for piety and the other for partying, host gay pride parades that run the gamut from uniformed (and sometimes armed) soldiers fresh from an on-base stint to gay and lesbian Arab-Israelis who enjoy a level of freedom unparalleled in the Middle East (homosexuality is a capital crime in Iran, Saudi Arabia, and several other Muslim countries). I saw same-sex couples walking the streets hand in hand, something I rarely see here in liberal Cambridge. Gay Israelis may sponsor their same-sex partners (including Palestinians) for immigration rights, something currently impossible in the U.S.
Arab-Israelis make up about 20 percent of Israel’s population and participate in Israeli democracy at all levels. Justice Salim Joubran, an Arab Christian, sits on the country’s Supreme Court, which has not shied away from confronting other branches of government to advance human rights. Arab men and women continue to vote in elections for and serve in the Knesset, Israel’s parliament. Out of respect for the complexity of Arab-Israeli identity, Arab citizens are exempt from the compulsory military service that has secured the accomplishments of Israeli democracy.
I know personally that Jews and Arabs in Israel, rather than locking themselves in a self-defeating downward spiral of discrimination and resentment, often come together under the aegis of scholarship. I studied at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem with numerous Arab students who seemed quite content to learn with their Jewish compatriots at the highest-ranked Middle Eastern institution according to international rankings. After a year of study, I went to work for the non-profit Hand in Hand, which runs four bilingual, multicultural schools throughout Israel where Jewish and Arab youth study together in both Hebrew and Arabic (both of which are official languages). Where else in the Middle East would I have heard an Arab adolescent talking about attending his best-friend’s bar-mitzvah—and understanding the Hebrew far better than most American Jews?
As a young democracy that recently celebrated its 60th birthday, Israel is not perfect. Many agree that Israel should play a greater role in helping Palestinian national aspirations find their proper realization. But obfuscating basic truths about Israel’s diverse society and longstanding desire for peace is counterproductive and will only serve to inflame an already polarized discourse.
SJP protest video - The Remix
As an update to the continuing disruptions of Israel events on campus by 'Students for Justice in Palestine,' the pro-Israel students at the University of Pittsburgh did a little editing of the 'Students for Justice in Palestine' video of their own heroics.
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Muslim Brotherhood says Camp David already null and void
Last week, a Muslim Brotherhood spokesman tried to allay fears that the group would rip up the Camp David agreement:
"The decision on the treaty does not belong to the Brotherhood, it belongs to the entire Egyptian people," said Essam al-Erian, a spokesman for the Islamist group, in an interview with Al Arabiya.To Iran, however, MB leaders are singing a different tune:
"The important thing is the position of the Egyptian people and not the Brotherhood," Erian said. "The Brotherhood will not impose their vision on the Egyptian people. The Brotherhood are part of society that accepts what the Egyptians accept and nobody can wipe out a treaty with a pen," he added.
A senior member of Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood said there is virtually no peace agreement with the Zionist regime following the recent developments in the country, adding that any treaty not approved by the Egyptian nation must be abrogated.But of course the hard-line statements are simply posturing and the more moderate-sounding statements are the correct ones. Because it has to be that way in order for the media to continue with their memes of a progressive, socially-active, uninfluential, non-political Muslim Brotherhood.
The Egyptian nation considers as null and void any agreement between the toppled regime and the Zionist regime which has no respect for justice and rights of the Egyptian people.
He said the world was witnessing massive changes. “People worldwide want to see unjust laws scraped. It is no surprise for the Egyptians to want the same,” he said.
Halbavi then touched on the dismantling of Berlin wall, adding that following the dismantling, many previously signed treaties were abrogated.
He said the time was over for surrender to treaties which have brought humiliation to the Egyptian nation.
Halbavi also called for permanent opening of Gaza crossing and said the closing of the crossing has been a joint conspiracy by the US, Zionist regime and Mubarak’s regime.
PMW: Abbas: $460 million in US aid "does not mean they dictate to us whatever they want" - PA leaders and official media attack Obama and the US following US veto of UN resolution
Palestinian Authority leaders and its official media have attacked the US with a barrage of anti-American statements. This follows the US veto of a UN Security Council resolution last week on the issue of Israeli building in Jerusalem and the West Bank.
These verbal attacks come in spite of the continued substantial financial aid the PA receives from the US. A few weeks before the UN vote, Mahmoud Abbas already announced that US financial support of the Palestinian Authority will not allow the US "to dictate to us whatever they want." Abbas cited two examples of requests by the Obama administration that he personally had rejected:
Since the UN vote, the Palestinian Authority has stepped up its verbal attacks directed at President Obama personally and the United States in general.
(Bold emphasis added by PMW)
From op-ed in official PA daily:
Jibril Rajoub, Deputy Secretary of the Fatah Central Committee:
Hafez Barghouti, editor of official PA daily:
Mahmoud Abbas, Palestinian Authority Chairman:
It should be noted that not only is the US under the Obama administration a major financial supporter of the PA, but since its establishment in 1993, the PA has received more financial aid from the United States than any other country. According to the World Bank report in 2004, the US was the single largest supporter of the Palestinians, giving more than $1.3 billion to the PA and NGOs. By 2007, the amount was more than $1.5 billion, and US aid has continued at high levels since. Most of the Palestinian infrastructure has benefited from US aid, including schools, hospitals, universities, water systems, road development, sports and more.
The following are detailed examples of PA leaders' statements and articles in the official PA daily in response to the US veto:
Article in official PA daily:
Op-ed in official PA daily
Hafez Barghouti, editor of official PA daily:
These verbal attacks come in spite of the continued substantial financial aid the PA receives from the US. A few weeks before the UN vote, Mahmoud Abbas already announced that US financial support of the Palestinian Authority will not allow the US "to dictate to us whatever they want." Abbas cited two examples of requests by the Obama administration that he personally had rejected:
Mahmoud Abbas: "The US is assisting us in the amount of $460 million annually. This does not mean that they dictate to us whatever they want, because we do what we view as beneficial to our cause. I recall that they said, 'Don't go to the Arab Summit in Damascus,' but we went. They demanded that we should not sign the Egyptian reconciliation document [between Fatah and Hamas], but we sent Azzam Al-Ahmed to sign it."
[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Jan. 24, 2011]
Since the UN vote, the Palestinian Authority has stepped up its verbal attacks directed at President Obama personally and the United States in general.
(Bold emphasis added by PMW)
From op-ed in official PA daily:
"[Headline] "Yes, we can"
"President Obama attaches no importance to values, morality, the principles of human rights, or international law. All that matters to him is his own interest and the interests of his country. He forgets that the world is changing, and is no longer a hostage to American interests."
"All he [Obama] can do is bow before Netanyahu and Lieberman... President Obama is bowing before Israel."
"The Arab nations will soon begin to chant their old slogans, including'America is the head of the snake.'"
"Our [Arab] nations have held back for a long time, but they will rise up, rebel, [bring about] change, and answer, 'Yes, we can.'"
"President Obama attaches no importance to values, morality, the principles of human rights, or international law. All that matters to him is his own interest and the interests of his country. He forgets that the world is changing, and is no longer a hostage to American interests."
"All he [Obama] can do is bow before Netanyahu and Lieberman... President Obama is bowing before Israel."
"The Arab nations will soon begin to chant their old slogans, including'America is the head of the snake.'"
"Our [Arab] nations have held back for a long time, but they will rise up, rebel, [bring about] change, and answer, 'Yes, we can.'"
[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Feb. 20, 2011]
Jibril Rajoub, Deputy Secretary of the Fatah Central Committee:
The US veto "contradicts the values of freedom" and is "dictatorial behavior of the first order."
"The American administration has chosen unilateral aggression against human rights."
"The American administration has chosen unilateral aggression against human rights."
[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Feb. 20, 2011]
Hafez Barghouti, editor of official PA daily:
"We understand very well that the protests and revolutions blazing in the Arab countries have economic and social roots, and that they are related to corruption and social injustice. However, this is a result of police states which enforced oppression, first and foremost for the sake of their ties with the Americans. Every corrupt Arab has a foreign or Israeli partner, and the most corrupt and the richest in Egypt have partners in Israel in the field of gas and the like. Therefore, the rebellion against oppression and corruption must be directed towards the godfathers of the thieves of natural resources and the oppressors of nations, not only against their agents."
[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Feb. 20, 2011]
Mahmoud Abbas, Palestinian Authority Chairman:
"The American veto will not stop our activity in relation to the international institutions."
[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Feb. 20, 2011]
It should be noted that not only is the US under the Obama administration a major financial supporter of the PA, but since its establishment in 1993, the PA has received more financial aid from the United States than any other country. According to the World Bank report in 2004, the US was the single largest supporter of the Palestinians, giving more than $1.3 billion to the PA and NGOs. By 2007, the amount was more than $1.5 billion, and US aid has continued at high levels since. Most of the Palestinian infrastructure has benefited from US aid, including schools, hospitals, universities, water systems, road development, sports and more.
The following are detailed examples of PA leaders' statements and articles in the official PA daily in response to the US veto:
Article in official PA daily:
"President Mahmoud Abbas said that he believes that the fact that 14 countries voted in favor of the proposed resolution is a 'real victory of Palestinian diplomacy, despite the American veto'... For his part, PLO Secretary General Yasser Abd Rabbo told Agence France Presse: 'Our decision right now is to turn to the UN General Assembly to pass a UN resolution against settlements, denouncing them and emphasizing that they are illegal. Thereafter we will once again raise the proposal [i.e., proposed resolution] denouncing settlements before the Security Council... The American veto will not stop our activity in relation to the international institutions, nor will it cause us to stop wanting freedom and independence.'...
A senior Fatah member said that the American veto 'represents a strategic threat to US interests in the Middle East region'. Deputy Secretary of the Fatah Central Committee, Jibril Rajoub, told Agence France Presse: 'The veto contradicts the values of freedom promoted by the American administration in our region, and the values of the American people concerning respect for human rights. We view it as dictatorial behavior of the first order, and a blow to the resolutions of international legitimacy and to international and humanitarian law... The American administration has chosen unilateral aggression against human rights.'"
A senior Fatah member said that the American veto 'represents a strategic threat to US interests in the Middle East region'. Deputy Secretary of the Fatah Central Committee, Jibril Rajoub, told Agence France Presse: 'The veto contradicts the values of freedom promoted by the American administration in our region, and the values of the American people concerning respect for human rights. We view it as dictatorial behavior of the first order, and a blow to the resolutions of international legitimacy and to international and humanitarian law... The American administration has chosen unilateral aggression against human rights.'"
[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Feb. 20, 2011]
Headline: "Palestinians burned again by the American veto fire..."
"Secretary of the Fatah movement in Nablus, Mahmoud Ashtiyeh, told Al-Hayat Al-Jadida that the American veto represents a mark of Cain on the forehead of the Barack Obama administration, which boasts of extending its patronage to the peace process. Ashtiyeh stated that it isimpossible to trust the American administration as the patron of the peace process following its declared agreement to continuation of construction in the settlements and in the occupied city of Jerusalem. He noted that for decades the American position has been the same, unchanging position, always leaning towards Israel's benefit."
"Secretary of the Fatah movement in Nablus, Mahmoud Ashtiyeh, told Al-Hayat Al-Jadida that the American veto represents a mark of Cain on the forehead of the Barack Obama administration, which boasts of extending its patronage to the peace process. Ashtiyeh stated that it isimpossible to trust the American administration as the patron of the peace process following its declared agreement to continuation of construction in the settlements and in the occupied city of Jerusalem. He noted that for decades the American position has been the same, unchanging position, always leaning towards Israel's benefit."
[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Feb. 20, 2011]
Headline: "American veto destroys the negotiations"
"Secretary of the PLO Executive Committee, Yasser Abd Rabbo, announced that the leadership will re-examine the entire negotiations in the wake of the American veto at the [UN] Security Council... He emphasized that 'we shall re-examine our commitment to the entire process of the negotiations as a whole, because the American position is not balanced.'"
"Secretary of the PLO Executive Committee, Yasser Abd Rabbo, announced that the leadership will re-examine the entire negotiations in the wake of the American veto at the [UN] Security Council... He emphasized that 'we shall re-examine our commitment to the entire process of the negotiations as a whole, because the American position is not balanced.'"
[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Feb. 19, 2011]
Op-ed in official PA daily
Headline: "Yes, we can"
"Contrary to the campaign slogan upheld by President Obama in order to achieve the Presidency, 'Yes, we can', he has shown - by instructing that veto [power] be employed at the Security Council - that all he can do is bow before Netanyahu and Lieberman... President Obama is bowing before Israel, which steals the rights of the Palestinian people, because he has begun planning for the campaign to extend his term of office in 2012.
Therefore he applied pressure to President Mahmoud Abbas in a conversation that lasted 50 minutes, by using threats to force the Palestinian leadership to withdraw the [proposed] resolution condemning the settlements and emphasizing their illegality... President Obama attaches no importance to values, morality, the principles of human rights, or international law. All that matters to him is his own interest and the interests of his country. He forgets that the world is changing, and is no longer a hostage to American interests... The Palestinian people, with its long history of resistance, knows that the Arab nations will soon begin to chant their old slogans, including, 'America is the head of the snake.' The Arab masses will emphasize that they are rising up not only against poverty and corruption, but also against degradation and humiliation [and seek] to restore their glory and their dignity. The symbol of the glory and dignity of the Arab masses is the conflict with Israel and its allies, following their escape from regimes which oppressed them, impoverished them, starved them, and which acted as a barrier between them and the stopping of the Zionist enterprise. All the sacrifices are insignificant, if the alternative is degradation and humiliation. Our nations have held back for a long time, but they will rise up, rebel, [bring about] change, and answer, 'Yes, we can.'"
"Contrary to the campaign slogan upheld by President Obama in order to achieve the Presidency, 'Yes, we can', he has shown - by instructing that veto [power] be employed at the Security Council - that all he can do is bow before Netanyahu and Lieberman... President Obama is bowing before Israel, which steals the rights of the Palestinian people, because he has begun planning for the campaign to extend his term of office in 2012.
Therefore he applied pressure to President Mahmoud Abbas in a conversation that lasted 50 minutes, by using threats to force the Palestinian leadership to withdraw the [proposed] resolution condemning the settlements and emphasizing their illegality... President Obama attaches no importance to values, morality, the principles of human rights, or international law. All that matters to him is his own interest and the interests of his country. He forgets that the world is changing, and is no longer a hostage to American interests... The Palestinian people, with its long history of resistance, knows that the Arab nations will soon begin to chant their old slogans, including, 'America is the head of the snake.' The Arab masses will emphasize that they are rising up not only against poverty and corruption, but also against degradation and humiliation [and seek] to restore their glory and their dignity. The symbol of the glory and dignity of the Arab masses is the conflict with Israel and its allies, following their escape from regimes which oppressed them, impoverished them, starved them, and which acted as a barrier between them and the stopping of the Zionist enterprise. All the sacrifices are insignificant, if the alternative is degradation and humiliation. Our nations have held back for a long time, but they will rise up, rebel, [bring about] change, and answer, 'Yes, we can.'"
[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Feb. 20, 2011]
Hafez Barghouti, editor of official PA daily:
"We, as Palestinians, have to turn to our youth for them to make contact with their Arab peers via Facebook and warn them of the American and Western attempts to reap the fruits of the protests [going on in the Arab countries] and [their attempts] to appoint leaders over the youth to act for the sake of the American agendas, in order to establish subservience following the collapse of the regimes which served the American policy for many decades. The Palestinian leadership has succeeded in exposing American hypocrisy and the unbounded discrimination in favor of the occupation, as expressed in the use of its veto against the condemnation of settlements. This alone shows the essence of the American colonialist policy, which is hostile towards the Arab nation, and especially the Palestinian nation, and its aspirations for freedom, dignity and justice. We understand very well that the protests and revolutions blazing in the Arab countries have economic and social roots, and that they are related to corruption and social injustice. However, this is a result of police states which enforced oppression, first and foremost for the sake of their ties with the Americans. Every corrupt Arab has a foreign or Israeli partner, and the most corrupt and the richest in Egypt have partners in Israel in the field of gas and the like. Therefore, the rebellion against oppression and corruption must be directed towards the godfathers of the thieves of natural resources and the oppressors of nations, not only against their agents."
[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Feb. 20, 2011]
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