Al Jazeera: Jewish Satellite TV

From Ya Libnan:

About 100 supporters of Syria’s president, Assad, gathered in front of the Damascus offices of Al Jazeera TV. The crowd accused the satellite TV station of supporting the opposition movement in Syria.

The Qatar network, according to Assad loyalists, broadcasts “lies” and “exaggerates” the nature and the volume of the anti-regime protests.

“Al-Jazeera, Jewish satellite TV”, was written on several banners, while others incited the, “people of Qatar, rebel against the Emir” of Qatar al Khalifa, where the network has its headquarters. .


(h/t Challah Hu Akbar tweet)

Pew Poll: Egyptians Want to Scrap Camp David

Pew poll: Egyptians want to scrap Camp David, prefer sharia law

Posted: 27 Apr 2011 01:49 AM PDT
A new Pew Research poll of Egypt shows some worrying trends.

No dividend emerges for the United States from the political changes that have occurred in Egypt. Favorable ratings of the U.S. remain as low as they have been in recent years, and many Egyptians say they want a less close relationship with America. Israel fares even more poorly. By a 54%-to-36% margin, Egyptians want the peace treaty with that country annulled.

The military is now almost universally seen (88%) as having a good influence on the way things are going in Egypt. Fully 90% rate military chief Mohamed Tantawi favorably.

Egyptians are welcoming some forms of change more than others. While half say it is very important that religious parties be allowed to be part of the government, only 27% give a similar priority to assuring that the military falls under civilian control. Relatively few (39%) give high priority to women having the same rights as men. Women themselves are more likely to say it is very important that they are assured equal rights than are men (48% vs. 30%). Overall, just 36% think it is very important that Coptic Christians and other religious minorities are able to freely practice their religions.

Egyptians hold diverse views about religion. About six-in-ten (62%) think laws should strictly follow the teachings of the Quran. However, only 31% of Egyptian Muslims say they sympathize with Islamic fundamentalists, while nearly the same number (30%) say they sympathize with those who disagree with the fundamentalists, and 26% have mixed views on this question. Those who disagree with fundamentalists are almost evenly divided on whether the treaty with Israel should be annulled, while others favor ending the pact by a goodly margin.

If more than half of those who favor Shari'a law are not sympathetic to "fundamentalists," this means that the Arab definition of "fundamentalist" is much different than the Western definition. After all, wanting to have the nation ruled by religious law is, by definition, a fundamentalist position.

This means that Western journalists and pundits who try to paint the Muslim Brotherhood as outside the mainstream of Egypt are missing the real story.


Only 20% of Egyptians hold a favorable opinion of the United States, which is nearly identical to the 17% who rated it favorably in 2010. Better educated and younger Egyptians have a slightly more positive attitude toward the U.S. than do other Egyptians.

Looking to the future, few Egyptians (15%) want closer ties with the U.S., while 43% would prefer a more distant relationship, and 40% would like the relationship between the two countries to remain about as close as it has been in recent years.

So in what sense is Egypt considered an "ally" of the US again?

Fatah and Hamas sign reconciliation deal

Fatah, the Palestinian political organisation, has reached an agreement with its rival Hamas on forming an interim government and fixing a date for a general election, Egyptian intelligence has said.

In February, Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority and a member of Fatah, called for presidential and legislative elections before September, in a move which was rejected by Hamas at the time.

"The consultations resulted in full understandings over all points of discussions, including setting up an interim agreement with specific tasks and to set a date for election," Egyptian intelligence said in a statement on Wednesday.

More on this from Saree Makdisi, a Palestinian scholar and author of the book "Palestine Inside Out - An Everyday Occupation". He also teaches at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Egyptians Sabotage Gas Pipeline to Jordan, Israel

Saboteurs on Wednesday blew up a pipeline running through Egypt's North Sinai near the town of El-Arish that supplies gas to Israel and Jordan, a security source told Reuters.

"An unknown armed gang attacked the gas pipeline," the security source said, adding that the flow of gas to Israel and Jordan had been hit.

"Authorities closed the main source of gas supplying the pipeline and are working to extinguish the fire," the source said, adding there was a tower of flame at the scene.
--
Neighbouring Jordan depends on Egyptian gas to generate 80% of its electricity while Israel gets 40% of its natural gas from the country. Syria also imports gas from Egypt.

Israel's Leviathan gas field can't go online fast enough.

Elder of Ziyon

Expecting Continued Unilateralism from Israel is Unrealistic

from Jerusalem Post
Dr. Uzi Landau, Israel's Minister of National Infrastructure, warns that in the event of a unilateral United Nations declaration of a Palestinian state, he will call upon Israel to annex the Jordan Valley and large, Jewish populated blocs in the West Bank:

“We'll have to take care of our interests,” Landau told Inside Israel's Mordechai I. Twersky in a wide-ranging interview April 21. “We'll have to take protect ourselves. If such a thing happens, I'm going to suggest to my government to extend out sovereignty over the Jordan Valley and over the highly-populated blocs we have in Judea and Samaria, just to start with.”

The former chairman of the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee invoked the Bush Road Map and a letter of commitment issued by the former president committing to Israel's retention of major Jewish population centers in the West Bank in any negotiated settlement with the Palestinians. If that signed agreement can't be honored, he said, all bets are off.

“If we don't see negotiations, and if we do a policy which basically makes the entire Road Map agreement a hoax, Israel should take care of its own interests,” said Minister Landau.

This is exactly what Netanyahu should be saying. If the PA wants to act unilaterally and abrogate Oslo and the Road Map, they need to understand that Israel is under no obligation to adhere to the same agreements either. And the result will be far, far worse for Palestinian Arabs than if they would have stayed with negotiations.

The world needs to understand this as well. Nations are sympathetic to the idea of a unilateral declaration of a Palestinian state but they are basing it on the assumption that Israel will continue to adhere to its commitments that the PA is ignoring. If they know that Israel will not play a game where it is the only one that has to follow the rules, they would be much less likely to support something that will inevitably destabilize the region and make things worse for everybody.

Right now, under so-called "occupation," there is peace. It is not ideal for anyone but it is stable and getting better every year. If the PA abrogates the peace treaty, that peace will end and the Palestinian Arabs who are supposedly going to be helped by living in "Palestine" will be the real losers. This fact is self-evident but Western nations do not seem to have grasped it.

Landau's other observations are worth reading as well:

Landau said the Arab Spring has brought chaos to the Middle east, and could well spread to the important western allies of Jordan and Saudi Arabia. He questioned the logic of Israel signing a peace deal with a Palestinian leader, whose own future and that of his government, remains tenuous at best.

“Who knows what's going to happen in the future to any agreement we sign with, let's say, another chief of tribe in Judea and Samaria?” asked Minister Landau. “Today it's Abu Mazen (Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas). Who is it going to be in the future?”

Landau said the US Administration's continued insistence that a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinian Authority is key to wider stability in the region – even in the face of spreading Arab unrest – is incomprehensible.

“This is clearly, totally detached from the present reality of the Middle East,” said Landau. “Anyone who lives here clearly understands that this is totally detached from the Middle East reality.”


(h/t Yerushalimey)

Friends of Israel: Bolton and Geller

Whose Plane Intercepted Sudan Smugglers?

From YNet:

A mystery still engulfs the airstrike which took place near the airport in Sudan's main port city of Port Sudan on Tuesday, as the Sudanese media released first images of the strike's scene

According to a state government official, an unidentified plane bombed a car driving in the vicinity of the airport, killing two people. The aircraft flew in from the Red Sea but it was not clear to whom it belonged, Ahmed Tahir, the speaker of parliament in the Red Sea state where the port city is located, told Reuters.

The plane involved in the strike was "foreign", the Sudan media center said later. The report, quoting a member of parliament, said the car was on the road leading to the Port Sudan airport when it was attacked by the plane, which was following it.

In January 2009, a convoy of arms smugglers was hit by unidentified aircraft in Sudan's eastern Red Sea state according to Sudanese authorities, a strike that some reports said may have been carried out by Israel to stop weapons bound for Gaza.

A total of 119 people were killed in that strike near Sudan's border with Egypt, according to state media.

Sudan is a known as a smuggling route exploited by terror groups. Last month, Egyptian security forces claimed that they seized five vehicles transporting weapons to the Gaza Strip. It was reported the weapons were seized along the Sudan-Egypt border and included mortar bombs, grenades, rifles and explosives.

The IDF Spokesman’s Office declined to comment on Tuesday's attack.

Palestine Press Agency indirectly quotes Sudanese intelligence officials as saying that the two killed were a Palestinian Arab - and an Iranian.

Ahmadinejad Backs One Arab Dictator: Assad

Ahmadinejad accused his arch foe the United States and other Western nations of hatching a plot, singling out Tehran's ally Syria which is being rocked by anti-government protests.

"They want to save the Zionist regime (Israel) by interfering in the region aimed at creating discord among the regional nations and governments," he told a news conference.

"America and the Zionist regime want to weaken Syria's resistance by creating discord between the Syrian government and the Syrian nation," said Ahmadinejad

Consistency? Who needs consistency?

Elder of Ziyon

Western Darling El Baradei Defends Gaza

Egypt's Masrawy and other Arabic media outlets are quoting Egyptian presidential hopeful Mohammed ElBaradei as saying that Egypt may go to war if Israel attacks Gaza.

He is quoted as saying that if he becomes President, in the event of any future attack on Gaza he would discuss ways to implement the joint Arab defense agreement, for all Arab atates to respond "in the face of Israeli aggression."

ElBaradei is a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize.

Get Tough with Hamas Now

BY ISI Liebler, Jerusalem Post
These are indeed difficult times requiring painful decisions over issues such as how to placate the Obama administration in order to forestall a breakdown in US-Israel relations and avoid international efforts to force us to revert to the 1949 armistice lines.

But when it comes to matters of defense, there are clear lessons to be learned from the past.

Yet, in addition to Wednesday’s monstrous attack opposite the Jerusalem Central Bus Station, there is a horrible sense of déjà vu as we observe the rapid escalation of Hamas missile launches which had been reduced as a byproduct of Operation Cast Lead.

One is even tempted to compare the current situation with what happened 10 years ago when the crude and limited-range Kassam rockets were first launched against us and contemptuously dismissed by leaders as primitive missiles with little capacity to incur serious damage or casualties.

In a Jerusalem Post column at the time, I predicted that if we avoided tough measures to curtail these “primitive” rocket attacks, the international community would become accustomed to regarding Palestinian missile launches against our civilians as the norm.

When the government would ultimately be obliged to act, a world accustomed to Israeli passivity against such attacks, would accuse us of over-reacting.

Unfortunately, that is precisely what happened. Each time we responded, we were accused of disproportionality.

Moreover, the situation deteriorated to such an extent that we were left with no alternative but to mount a full scale war against Hamas in Gaza for which the international community condemned us.

IT IS thus alarming to observe the government again prevaricating, issuing empty threats and bombing primarily empty buildings in Gaza in response to increasing attacks.

This has climaxed in recent weeks, with 50 missiles raining down over the Negev over the weekend and the deployment of lethal Iranian grad rockets. Israelis living in the southern region were destabilized and a few were even injured.

Moreover, this is the first time that instead of trying to blame “unauthorized groups,” Hamas felt sufficiently confident to brazenly accept direct responsibility for the missile launches.

Yet, according to media reports, the security establishment relates to these outrageous breaches of international law and attacks on Israeli civilians as “low level confrontation” and reassures us that Hamas was not seeking a “major” conflict. And when civilians located adjacent to rocket-launching areas became casualties we once again apologize rather than condemning those responsible.

Obviously, the deterrent established in the wake of Operation Cast Lead “is eroding rapidly and we are again reconciling ourselves to large areas of Israel being subjected to “low level” missile attacks without reacting with tough military responses.

We should be under no illusions. Limiting our responses in order to meet Western expectations of “proportionality” serves no purpose. The lesson learned from Cast Lead was that any action we undertake to defend ourselves will at best be condemned as disproportionate but more likely as war crimes. One need only compare the absence of international criticism to the innocent casualties from Western bombardments in Libya in contrast to the cynical and hypocritical condemnations of Israel during Cast Lead, despite the far greater efforts of the IDF to minimize civilian casualties.

A MAJOR motivation for the attacks by the Iranian proxy Hamas is undoubtedly to divert attention from Iran’s internal problems and its ongoing nuclear project. There is also the desire by Hamas leaders to deflect domestic public opposition to their rule. But above all, Hamas is testing our resolve and seeking to identify to what extent we will remain restrained because of our concern not to antagonize or embarrass the Americans who are pressuring us not to be “spoilers” during this period of turmoil sweeping the Arab world.

This is surely one time when we must demand that our prime minister display decisive leadership, gather his cabinet and insist this will be one of the rare occasions when all ministers must display unity and speak with one voice, proclaiming to the world that failing to employ deterrence is a prescription for disaster.

The opposition should be co-opted to create a united front and there is little doubt that Kadima supporters will demand that the party support such a policy.

Our embassies must be instructed to inform all nations that we will remain neither passive nor act with restraint. If Hamas continues launching lethal missiles against our civilians, we will severely punish them. We should emphasize that we seek quiet and stability on our borders. But if our citizens are targeted once again, not by terrorist splinter groups but by Hamas, which has exclusive jurisdiction over Gaza, it will be made to pay a bitter price. We will resume targeted assassinations and, while endeavoring to minimize civilian casualties, will be obliged to inflict massive reprisals on its infrastructure.

WE MUST make it clear in advance that Israel will no longer adhere to the tit-for-tat formula and that we will respond with overwhelming force, not because we seek revenge but in order to deter future attacks. This is not behaving disproportionately but is rather striving to employ deterrence to protect our civilians and avoid a new full-scale conflict. Such behavior is fully consistent with international law and our obligation to defend our citizens from outright aggression.

The time to bite the bullet is now. If we fail to reinforce deterrence immediately, the long-term price may be far more severe than any worldwide condemnations that will result.

We will be adopting a moral position which will undoubtedly be condemned by those with no love for Israel. But any country seeking to deny our government the right to protect its civilians will stand exposed as malicious hypocrites.

Ideally, this strategy may serve to stabilize the borders and avoid another war. On the other hand, if Hamas has a desire for martyrdom, we will be obliged to once again confront them full on. I am no military strategist, but it would surely be preferable for us to face this situation now, before Hamas manages to acquire more deadly weaponry that will undoubtedly reach Gaza under a future Egyptian regime.

We would also be in a better position to confront the terrorists today, prior to the stabilization of the new Arab governments - which are likely to be even more hostile to us than their predecessors.

What if Arabs had Recognized Israel in 1948?

A Saudi Naval officer asks an interesting question that should be asked a lot more in the Arab world: What would have happened if the Arabs had just recognized Israel in 1948?

If Israel was recognized in 1948, then the Palestinians would have been able to free themselves from the hollow promises of some Arab dictators who kept telling them that the refugees would be back in their homes and all Arab lands will be liberated and Israel will be sent to the bottom of the sea. Some Arab leaders used the Palestinians for their own agenda to suppress their own people and to stay in power.

Since 1948, if an Arab politician wanted to be the hero and the leader of the Arab world, then he has a very easy way to do it. He just shouts as loud as he can about the intention to destroy Israel, without mobilizing one soldier (Talk is cheap).

If Israel was recognized in 1948, then there would have been no need for a coup in Egypt against King Farouq in 1952 and there would have been no attack on Egypt in 1956 by The UK, France and Israel. Also there will be no war in June 1967 and the size of Israel will not be increased and we, the Arabs would not have the need for a UN resolution to beg Israel to go back to the pre-1967 borders. And no war of attrition between Egypt and Israel that caused more casualties on the Egyptian side than the Israeli side.

After the 1967 war, Israel became a strategic ally of the US because before this war, the US was not as close to Israel as people in the Arab world think. The Israelis fought in that war using mainly French and British weapons. At that time, the US administrations refused to supply Israel with more modern aircraft and weapon systems such as the F-4 Phantom.

The Palestinian misery was also used to topple another stable monarchy, this time in Iraq and replacing it with a bloody dictatorship in one of the richest countries of the world. Iraq is rich in minerals, water reserves, fertile land and archaeological sites. The military led by Abdul Karim Qassim killed King Faisal II and his family. Bloodshed in Iraq continued and this Arab country has seen more violent revolutions and one of them was carried out in the 1960s by a brigade that was sent to help liberate Palestine. Instead it made a turn and went back and took over Baghdad. Even years later, Saddam Hussien said that he will liberate Jerusalem via Kuwait. He used Palestinians misery as an excuse to invade Kuwait.

Read the whole thing. I wonder how many other Arabs realize just how badly they messed this up.

Labels: Arab democracy, Arab denial of Jewish history, Saudi Navy

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 1:42 PM

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1 Comments:

At 3:26 PM, Blogger kranky said...

While this officers comments are not only brave, they are largely correct, the arab world as a whole, and the larger muslim world as a whole, would not be able to accept the shame from admitting that they have been wrong.

It takes a special sort of person to realize that a mistake has been made. Its far too easy to cast your faults upon others and use them as a scapegoat. The entire arab and muslim world do this apart from occasional glimpses of sanity, such as from this officer.

Why else would they be unable to admit that the 19 9/11 terrorists were muslim arabs. Why else would they be unable to admit that Osama and his merry mad men are muslims. Take every atrocity that the muslims and arabs commit, and you can find a sizable group denouncing them as not being true muslims, and not acting in accord with the quran.

Denial does nothing to help that society realize the horror it spawns, or to stop it from spawning more. This society values death over life, when you listen to their very numerous, very vocal firebrands. These are not isolated nutjobs, these are the mainstream.

The author is wise, and is correct in all aspects. The arab and muslim world made one terrible mistake after another. They did not miss any opportunity to miss opportunities. This person is likely to be branded unislamic, an apostate, or worse. He is liable to be killed by the followers of the firebrands.

And he is an intelligent, well thought out, well spoken, but isolated, and lonely voice in the wilderness, surrounded by a deep sea of unreason, unthinking, and apoplectic but unwarranted rage. It would be great if we could see more of these people out there. Millions more. And if Israel reached out to him to congratulate him on his courage in voicing this, it would bring about his rapid destruction.

This is a multigenerational problem now. The firebrands and those the author called out have inculcated Israel and Jew hatred so deeply in their society, it will take them numerous generations after they stop incitement, for their society to start to accept Israel and Jews.

POTUS Feels GOP & Israel Ruin His Egypt Plan

Rubin, who writes many blog posts and articles, believes that this is the most important post he has written in a long time. According to Barry, the Obama administration is pursuing a disastrous policy by trying to distinguish between the ‘bad Islamists’ from al-Qaeda and the ‘good Islamists’ from the Muslim Brotherhood.

Now we come to the paragraph I warned about, the explanation for how the administration may be about to plunge into the biggest disaster in U.S. foreign policy of…well, of a very long time.

Here it is:

“The administration is already taking steps to distinguish between various movements in the region that promote Islamic law in government. An internal assessment, ordered by the White House last month, identified large ideological differences between such movements as the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and al-Qaeda that will guide the U.S. approach to the region.”

Get it? Al-Qaeda is bad because it wants to attack U.S. embassies, the World Trade Center, and the Pentagon.

BUT the Muslim Brotherhood is good! Because it merely wants to seize state power, transform Egypt into an Islamist state, rule almost 90 million people with an iron hand, back Hamas in trying to destroy Israel, overthrow the Palestinian Authority, help Jordan’s Muslim Brotherhood overthrow the monarchy, and sponsor terrorism against Americans in the Middle East.

I’m sure you can see the difference. This is the nonsense that the administration has been working toward for two years. It is the doctrine pushed by the president’s advisor on terrorism, elements in the CIA, and White House ideologues. The State and Defense departments are probably horrified.

Not everyone agrees with Obama. Jennifer Rubin (no relation) urges the Obama administration to condition good relations with Egypt on keeping the Muslim Brotherhood out of the government.

The degree to which the U.S. can influence events is unclear, but we might at least start by articulating that good relations with the U.S. are dependent upon movement toward a democratic government, respect for human rights, and maintenance of the peace treaty with Israel. All of that, we should make clear, is put into question by the sort of Islamic regime that the Muslim Brotherhood would dearly love to establish.

That’s also the view of Representative Steve Chabot (R-Ohio), the new Chairman of the House Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia.

The US should condition aid to Egypt – now at around $1.5 billion a year – on whether the Muslim Brotherhood ends up in the government, Chabot said.

“They’re about Shari’a law, they’re about suppressing women’s rights, and I don’t think that we ought to condone that, I don’t think that ought to be any part of the future of Egypt,” he said. “We might not have the power to implement the US program, but I think with our support – financial and otherwise – that we can maybe encourage things that would ultimately be in their best long-term interests, and Israel’s and the United States’.”

That’s obviously not the view of the Obama administration, which is urging Israel not to ‘fear changes’ in the Middle East.

US President Barack Obama told Jewish donors in Miami on Friday that Israel and the United States should not be afraid of changes taking place in the Middle East.

Obama said that the world needs to be “sober” about the current transformation in the region but stressed that the West shouldn’t fear the future.

Speaking at a fund-raising dinner in Miami on Friday night, Obama said he told a group of Jewish leaders at the White House Tuesday: “We can’t be naïve about the changes that are taking place in the Middle East,” but “we should not be afraid of the possibilities of the future.”

…

Obama acknowledged Friday that when it comes to changes in the region, “there are going to be some bumps along the road,” and charting a path forward will mean US participation and a will “to seize that moment.”
“We’re going to have to be engaged and we’re going to have to be involved and we’re going to have to reach out,” he said. “But I’m actually confident that 10 years from now we’re going to be able to look back potentially and say this was the dawning of an entirely new and better era.”

Curiously, John Hinderaker apparently saw an earlier version of the article quoted above, in which Obama goes further and says

All the forces that we see building in Egypt are the forces that should be naturally aligned with the US, [and] should be aligned with Israel.

John says that claim is “far from self-evident.”

Was Obama talking about the Egyptian protesters who shouted “Jew, Jew” as they stripped Lara Logan naked and beat her with poles? Regardless of whether the “building forces” in Egypt “should be” aligned with the U.S. and Israel, I am not confident that they are. Not “all” of them, anyway.

John goes on to cite former CIA analyst Paul Pillar, who reflects the Obama administration’s optimism:

“Not everyone will find it reassuring that the gamut of prospective regimes runs all the way from the Muslim Brotherhood to al Qaeda, a Brotherhood spin-off. But our old friend Paul Pillar, now retired from the CIA, reinforces the Obama administration’s optimism:”

Paul Pillar, a longtime CIA analyst who now teaches at Georgetown University, said, “Most of the people in the intelligence community would see things on this topic very similarly to the president — that is, political Islam as a very diverse series of ideologies, all of which use a similar vocabulary, but all quite different.”

…

“The main challenge President Obama will face is a political challenge from across the aisle, and one reinforced by Israel,” said Pillar, whose portfolio included the Middle East.

One is left speechless. Turmoil in the Middle East promises a set of new regimes; the optimistic scenario, apparently, is that they will be dominated by the Muslim Brotherhood rather than al Qaeda. And the main problem this will pose for the President will come from the Republicans! And, of course–but why?–those pesky Israelis. We can describe this charitably as a remarkably Washington-centric view.

It’s also an Israel-centric view. The problem with potentially Islamist governments – according to the CIA and the Obama administration — is Israel and the Jews. Why didn’t I think of that?
Do you like this story?

Camp David Peace Accord Saves Lives

Number of Egyptians killed in the wars against Israel in the 3 decades prior to Camp David:

* 1948: total Arab casualties were 8000-15000
* 1956: 3000
* 1967: 10000-15000
* WOA 1967-1970: 6000-13000
* 1973: 8000-18500
* And more, killed in 3 decades worth of localized clashes

Number of Egyptians killed in wars against Israel in the 3 decades since Camp David:

* zero

Egyptians Begin to Blame US & Israel for Woes

Egyptian protesters have begun to blame the US and Israel for propping up the Mubarak government.

Egyptians understand that the world is waiting to see if President Hosni Mubarak falls to popular pressure before major leaders decide which side to support. But this is infuriating the demonstrators, who realize that six days of unrest have not accomplished their goal and that they need united international pressure in order to topple the almost-30-year incumbent.

The protests have lacked a clear leader to unite them and provide an alternative to Mubarak, and demonstrators are beginning to focus their wrath not just on Mubarak and the country’s widespread corruption, but also on the United States and, to a lesser extent, Israel. They blame Israel and the US for supporting a government because it is convenient for them, not because it is good for the Egyptian people.

“The USA does not support democracy; they’re supporting Israel, which is like their baby,” said Ahmed, a 26-year-old Cairo resident. “They think Egypt is functional because it’s in favor of their considerations.”

“I don’t care if we have peace [with Israel] or not,” Ahmed continued, echoing the indifference of many demonstrators who don’t have a clear agenda for what they want a future Egypt to look like, as long as it does not include Mubarak. “But will Israel allow us to have a real president? For example, Turkey elected an Islamic government, but it was their choice. Will Israel give us the freedom to make the same choice?” he asked.

Demonstrators are relying on the foreign press to get their message to Obama.

“Isn’t this democracy?” they asked me over and over when I said I was a journalist from America, incredulous that the country held as the pinnacle of world democracy could ignore such widespread popular sentiment.

“Obama has to be on our side. Where is your democracy?” asked Osam L, who works at a foreign bank in Cairo.

“You say Arabs are just donkeys, but the USA is supporting the system, not the people.”

The Jewish community in Cairo and Alexandria both declined to speak with the media, but told The Jerusalem Post that all of its members were safe and going about their daily routine as normally as possible.

I think that's what's called realpolitik, and no, it doesn't always lead to the most moral outcome. But if they're going to make war with us, I won't support them either.

Labels: Barack Obama, Cairo demonstrations, Hosni Mubarak, Politics, realpolitik, World Politics

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 5:42 AM

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2 Comments:

At 7:34 AM, Blogger NormanF said...

My view is increasingly the regime will ride out the storm. The protesters have to eat sometime and work for a living. What the Egyptians lack is a charismatic figure like the Ayatollah Khomeini to rally around. ElBaradei just doesn't excite them. Mubarak will be gracefully eased out after the protests end and my guess would be that Suleiman or some acceptable figure not tainted by a close association with Mubarak will become the country's next President.

At 8:42 AM, Blogger biorabbi said...

Disgusting. Alexandria has been a hotbed of anti-semitism from before Christ! That says something.
It is about secularism versus Islamism. Do you think many of those young brave souls who protested the Shah in 1979 wanted something far different than the Imams? The secular movement in Egypt is limited to a few thousand westernized elite. The masses want the Muslim Brotherhood... and they will get it.

I hope Israel is planning a plan b. Plan b is what will Israel do when Egypt abrogates the Camp David Accords. If they cut off the gas and introduce the military into the Sinai and/or aid Hamas, Israel should retake the Sinai or portions of it. That's plan b.

And another point about Obama fiddling when Mubarak burns... who's next-Jordan or Syria?




Name: Carl in Jerusalem
Location: Jerusalem, Israel

Egyptian protesters promise to destroy Israel

Looks might ugly. And getting uglier. As crappy as that peace accord was, it was .... peace. If all bets are off, does Israel get her land back?
If protesters intend to attack Israel, how will they replace the Aswan dam? Can Egyptians survive for 938 years in a radioactive slag heap?
Over one half of Egyptians suffer from birth defects including mental illness and retardation.

Obama Intends to Cleanse Israel of Jews

Barack Hussein Obama is conceivably the most anti-Israel president the United States has had since the State of Israel was formed, yet American Jews voted in large numbers for him.

In a stunning, shameless act of naked hate and bigotry, Barack Hussein Obama will align with the Organization of the Islamic Conference at the UN to ethnically cleanse Israel of the Jewish people.

This would be the first time a US President did not veto a critical resolution in what is now an interminable stream of Islamic anti-semitic resolutions introduced by an increasingly Islamicized United Nations.

Anyone with even so much as a cursory knowledge of Islam knows that this has nothing to do with a tiny strip of land in the Middle East surrounded by enormous Islamic lands. It has everything to do with Islamic anti-semtism as dictated by the qur'an and Islamic teachings, and annihilationist aspirations as demonstrated by deeds over the past millenium.

Israel Insider: President Barack Obama plans to withhold the US veto from a Palestinian-Arab motion due to be submitted to the UN Security Council condemning Israel for its settlement policy in the West Bank and Jerusalem, DEBKAfile's Washington sources report. If he does, he will be the first US president to let such an anti-Israel motion go through the Security Council. There is a risk that in the wake of such a resolution, if deemed binding, building on the West Bank and even in the forty-year old Israeli suburbs of eastern, southern and northern Jerusalem would become officially illegal and subject to additional sanctions.
Pamela Geller

Egypt Warns Hamas Not to Rocket Israel

Egypt has warned Hamas that if it continues to fire rockets at Israel as it has been doing for the last couple of weeks, Israel will retaliate like it did with Operation Cast Lead two years ago (Hat Tip: Daily Alert).

"Egypt has told Hamas the Gaza situation was similar to that before December 2008," said one source, referring to the start of the three-week war Israel waged in the Hamas-run enclave with the declared aim of halting cross-border rocket strikes.

"Hamas does not want a new escalation unless it is forced into it," the source said.

A Palestinian official said Egypt and another Arab country, which he declined to identify, had discussed the issue with Hamas. Hamas officials declined to comment.

...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, addressing foreign journalists in Jerusalem on Tuesday, said militants in the Gaza Strip would be making "a terrible, terrible mistake" if they continued to "test our will to defend our people".

An Israeli air strike earlier that day killed an Islamic Jihad militant. The Israeli military said he had been planning to carry out an attack against Israel.

What could go wrong?

Labels: Gaza, Hamas, Kassam rockets, Operation Cast Lead

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 2:25 PM

The Guardian Obsessed by Israel

You all knew that London's al-Guardian is obsessed with Israel (the headline is from May 24, 2010), but now it's been proven empirically.

A Guardian blogger has compiled a ranking of countries based on the tags appended to the bottom of each post.

Of the 40,000 or so pieces of content we published this year tagged with one (and in 3,500 cases both) of these tags, 22,500 or so were tagged UK news and 21,000 World news.
Carl in Jerusalem

A New Alliance for Israel?

The Bible warns us to be aware of foreign alliances. Some of Israel's friends warn her that the American superiority won't last forever.
There is no reason why Israel should not pursue such a “hedging” strategy as it recognizes that U.S. military forces are going to disengage from the Middle East in the future and that the U.S.-Israeli alliance is bound to weaken.
Alliances are by nature temporary. Would the Anglo American bond survive a Sharia Law takeover in Britain? Will France put an end to the annual Muslim car bombings? How will the USA curb the Iranian launching pads for missiles aimed at the US from South America?
The newly-ratified START treaty may have some salubrious effects, but who can predict the reactions from North Korea, China and Iran?
Will Israel undergo nuclear disarmament without first knocking out Iran's nuclear capacity? Will all nations surrender their enriched uranium stocks for lower grade ones? Will India and Pakistan reach a peaceful agreement?
The world is a dangerous place not a friendly card game.
Wickileaks exposed some of the delusions and misinformation that cloud so-called foreign relations by the so-called intelligence community.

Ex-President of Israel Convicted of Rape

By ARON HELLER, Associated Press Aron Heller, Associated Press – 58 mins ago

JERUSALEM – Former Israel President Moshe Katsav was convicted Thursday of raping an employee when he was a Cabinet minister, the most serious criminal charges ever brought against a high-ranking official and a case that shocked the nation.

Katsav, 65, faces a minimum of four years and up to 16 years in prison on two counts of raping an employee in 1998 when he was tourism minister. The Tel Aviv District Court also convicted him on lesser counts of indecent acts and sexual harassment involving two other women who worked for him when he was president.

Katsav served as a minister in several right-wing Likud governments before he was elected president in 2000. He claimed he was an innocent victim of a political witch hunt, suggesting he was targeted because he comes from Israel's Sephardic community. Sephardic Jews, of Middle Eastern origin, were for decades an underclass. Katsav was born in Iran and immigrated to Israel as a child.

A somber Katsav left the courtroom without commenting, surrounded by his high-powered legal team. He was ordered to surrender his passport while awaiting sentencing at a date that has not yet been set. His son Boaz vowed his father would clear his name.

"We will continue to walk with our heads high and all the nation ... with God's help, will know that father, the eighth president of the state of Israel, is innocent," he said.

Katsav's case initially broke in 2006, when the then-president complained that a female employee was extorting him. The woman then went to police with her side of the story, detailing a series of sexual assaults and prompting other women to come forward with similar complaints.

According to the indictment, Katsav forced one woman to the floor of his office at the Tourism Ministry in 1998 and raped her. A second time that year, he summoned her to a Jerusalem hotel to go over paperwork and raped her on the bed in his room. The indictment alleged that Katsav tried to calm his victim by saying: "Relax, you'll enjoy it."

The indictment also alleged that he harassed two women during his term as president, embracing them against their will and making unwanted sexual comments.

On Katsav's 60th birthday in 2005, an assistant offered congratulations. He then hugged her at length, sniffing her neck, according to the indictment. She complained to police, and the indictment said Katsav later tried to persuade her to change her testimony, earning him an additional charge of obstruction of justice.

The conviction by a three-judge panel was widely praised as a victory for Israel's legal system and for women's rights — a sentiment reflected in the reaction of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

"The court sent two clear and sharp messages: that everyone is equal and every woman has the full right to her body," he said in a statement. He called the verdict a sad day for Israel and its citizens.

Katsav can appeal the verdict or seek a presidential pardon.

The conviction capped a four-and-a-half year saga that stunned Israelis, both with its lurid details and bizarre twists and turns.

Katsav resigned in 2007, two weeks before his seven-year term expired, under a plea bargain that would have required him to admit to lesser charges of sexual misconduct. He was replaced by elder statesman and Nobel peace laureate Shimon Peres.

But in a dramatic reversal in April 2009, Katsav rejected the deal, which would have kept him out of jail, and vowed to clear his name in court.

Around that time, he held a news conference in which he lashed out at prosecutors and the media and denied any wrongdoing. His behavior, in which he shook in anger and screamed at reporters in the room, was widely criticized.

The president in Israel is head of state but a largely ceremonial post, representing the country at ceremonies around the world. The post, filled by parliament, is traditionally given to an elder statesman as a reward for years of public service.

Katsav's case sparked a high-profile campaign by woman's right groups. On Thursday, hundreds of women stood outside the courtroom holding signs against Katsav and chanting: "The whole nation knows Katsav is a criminal."

Prosecutor Ronit Amiel said the verdict sent a strong message that victims of abuse of power should not keep silent.

"This day is not a happy day. It is not an easy day," she said.

Oren Gazal-Ayal, a professor of criminal justice at Haifa University, called the verdict a "badge of honor" for the country's legal system.

"I think we should be very proud of the Israeli justice system," he said, noting that he knew of no parallel worldwide to such a case.

The conviction was the latest in a series of high-profile cases against Israeli officials.

Former Israeli Finance Minister Avraham Hirchson is currently in prison after being convicted of embezzling more than $600,000 from a workers union. Former Justice Minister Haim Ramon was convicted in March 2007 of forcibly kissing a female soldier. Former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is currently standing trial on corruption charges.