November 2011

Egypt's Massacre of Christians: What the Media Does Not Want You To Know / Raymond Ibrahim

October 31, 2011
Western media coverage of the recent massacre of Coptic Christians in Cairo, Egypt—in which the military killed dozens of Christians and injured some 300—was, as discussed earlier, deplorable. It merely repeated the false propaganda of the complicit state-run media, without checking facts. Since then, further proofs of the lies and brutality surrounding the massacre have emerged; they are compiled in the following report which consists of facts and videos from Arabic sources—many of which have not appeared in the Western media.

Mahmoud Abbas's Empty Threats / Khaled Abu Toameh

November 1, 2011
‪According to senior Palestinian officials in Ramallah, Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas is considering dismantling the Palestinian Authority if the UN Security Council does not approve his application for full membership of a Palestinian state in the international organization.

Ron Prosor Tells the UN A Thing or Two / Ray Cook

30 Oct 2011
I just loved this statement to the the UN Security Council by former Ambassador to the UK, Ron Prosor (and the present Israeli Ambassador to the UN).

In a few sentences it starkly exposes the UN for what it has become, an instrument of anti-Israel sentiment which is seriously failing to address properly many of the world’s most urgent conflicts and problems because of this obsession with one country and one conflict.

I cannot resist quoting it virtually in full because it says almost everything that needs to be said

Thank you, Mr. President.

The Good Old Days When Turkey Liked Israel / Prof.B.Rubin

The Good Old Days When Turkey Liked Israel and the NY Times Liked Me; Now: Turkish Rulers’ Ambitions Take a Hit
October 30, 2011
Yes, there was a time not so long ago when Turkey wasn’t ruled by Islamists and the New York Times wasn’t ruled by far leftists.

Turkey has just had a major earthquake. Israel offered help; the Turkish government refused. Yet it was Israel’s generous help at the time that was the breakthrough event for the close relationship between these two countries.

This is from the 1999 New York Times:

The U.S Counter Terrorism Policy / Boaz Ganor

The U.S. Counter Terrorism Policy – The Calm before the Storm

Obama Believes he can Tame The Islamists / Prof.B.Rubin

Why Obama Believes He Can Tame the Islamists and Why He's Dead Wrong
01 Nov 2011
What does theocracy look like? This is what theocracy looks like! *

Many people find it hard to comprehend what the Obama Administration thinks it’s doing in the Middle East. But it’s really very simple if you know the history of the arguments, read carefully administration speeches and documents, watch their actions, and talk to some of those involved.

BBC News Website Mideast Desk is Surely Beyond Pale / Ray Cook

01 Nov 2011
This is a short blog just to demonstrate the complete one-sided and biased reporting that is being spewed from the BBC website.

This is what passes for journalism on the UK’s premier news site. A brilliant website which I use a lot, but something has to be done about this crude anti-Israel propaganda that passes for balanced comment.

Here is the headline from Sunday:

New Israeli air strike into Gaza after ‘ceasefire’

Now what to you think that implies?

Hizbullah War Plans Against Israel / DR.Shimon Shapira

November 2 2011
Hizbullah Discusses Its Operational Plan for War with Israel:Missile Fire on Tel Aviv and Conquest of the Galilee

In recent weeks Hizbullah leader Hasan Nasrallah held a series of meetings with his top-level military command as well as field commanders responsible for preparing for war with Israel. According to a source close to Hizbullah, Nasrallah's operational directive was that in the next military conflict with Israel, Hizbullah will hit Tel Aviv with missiles at the outset of the war, while also dispatching forces to conquer the Galilee.

Naive West:2 Smart Egyptians Fear Future / Prof.B.Rubin

Muslim Brotherhood Makes Fools of Naive West
November 1, 2011
Can you imagine this? The Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood lied! And can you imagine this: the two civilians who are Egypt’s greatest hope for avoiding an Islamist dictatorship are very worried.

Let’s start with the Brotherhood. First, it promised to run candidates for only one-third of the parliamentary seats, saying this would proof of its moderation and willingness to share power.

Iran's International Battle Heats Up

Nov.3 2011
The conflict between Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his rivals within the Iranian government has come out into the open. This past week accusations that Iran's Treasury Minister, a close ally of Ahmadinejad, was complicit in Iran's largest ever banking scandal, was brought before the Iranian Parliament. A faction of the Iranian Parliament attempted to have the Treasury Minister removed from office.

Will Their Armies Save (some ) Arab States from Islamism / Prof.B.Rubin

November 2, 2011
Caption: Soldiers of Turkey’s once-secular army holding official prayers as the Islamist regime transforms it into a reliable Islamist force.

Nowhere in the world is Mao Zedong’s dictum that political power grows out of the barrel of a gun truer than in the Middle East.

Syria:Murderous Secular Regime or Islamic Fundamentalists / Khaled Abu Toameh

November 4, 2011
As Syrian dictator Bashar Assad continues to slaughter his people, there are growing indications that the Islamists are increasing their efforts to replace his regime.

What started as a secular Facebook revolution against the Assad regime is now beginning to look more like a jihad [holy war] led by Muslim fundamentalists.

The Muslim Brotherhood is clearly seeking to hijack the anti-Assad protests, in both the political and military fields.

Egypt: The Army Strikes Back - A Turning Point / Prof.B.Rubin

November 4, 2011
This is of tremendous importance. Only hours ago I wrote about how the Egyptian military felt forced by circumstances to play a bigger, longer political role in order to stem anarchy and prevent Egypt from becoming an Islamist state. Now there’s more evidence of that happening.

In an editorial that reflects also the Obama administration’s position, the Washington Post explained that the army having political power is bad and civilian rule is good:

Hizbullah Plans Conquest of the Galilee / DR.Simon Shapira

Hizbullah Discusses Its Operational Plan for War with Israel: Missile Fire on Tel Aviv and Conquest
November 2 2011
In recent weeks Hizbullah leader Hasan Nasrallah held a series of meetings with his top-level military command as well as field commanders responsible for preparing for war with Israel. According to a source close to Hizbullah, Nasrallah's operational directive was that in the next military conflict with Israel, Hizbullah will hit Tel Aviv with missiles at the outset of the war, while also dispatching forces to conquer the Galilee.

With U.S Troops Leaving Iraq / Aymenn J.Al - Tamimi

With U.S. Troops Leaving, Is Iraq a Democratic Country Now?
November 2, 2011
As the U.S. troop presence in Iraq continues to diminish, it is worth examining what sort of political system has been left behind. Is Iraq really a democracy as many officials in the Bush administration hoped it would be? Sadly, the answer to this question cannot be in the affirmative.

BBC, The Provocatilla and the Manipulation of the News / Ray Cook

06 Nov 2011
Yesterday the Israeli navy intercepted two yachts trying to break the naval blockade of Gaza.

This blockade has been declared legal by the Palmer Report into the Mavi Marmara incident last year when IDF soldiers killed 9 Turkish ‘activists’ leading a convoy to bring aid to the Gaza Strip.

The two yachts were the rump of a second flotilla which tried unsuccessfully to sail from Greece earlier this year.

This time they decided to sail from Turkey.

As often happens with the BBC website, it is constantly updating its stories as events unfold.

The Arab Political Left and the Islamist Drive for Power / Prof. B.Rubin

November 6, 2011
In the “good old days” of Stalinist Communism, the Left would have called the Islamists, “clerical fascists.” These forces, the party line would have surely explained, were attempts by the bourgeoisie to fool the masses, using religion to distract them from their “true interests” of having socialism.

Thus, there would have been no doubt that the Left would have opposed the Islamists, indeed might have been the most ferocious of their enemies. After all they have totally different views on social issues and they are also competing for state power.

Finnish Delusions / Prof.Efraim Karsh

November 7, 2011
Finnish Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja has done it again. No sooner did this 1960s radical ease himself back into the foreign minister's seat after four years in the opposition than he unveiled again his anti- Israel prejudice.

The Case Against the Cape Town Tribunal / Dan Diker

07 November 2011
World Jewish Congress Secretary-General Dan Diker writes in South Africa's 'Sunday Tribune' (6 November 2011 edition) about the Cape Town Tribunal alleging Israeli 'apartheid' crimes. Diker attended the annual convention of the South African Board of Jewish Deputies in Cape Town.

Israel and the Apartheid Slander / UN Watch

UN Watch Briefing
Nov. 7, 2011
Below is an important New York Times op-ed published by Judge Richard Goldstone against the demonization of Israel. This follows his April retraction in the Washington Post of the core charge of the infamous 500-page U.N. report that bears his name: the accusation that Israeli leaders deliberately targeted civilians during the 2009 war with Hamas.

Not surprisingly, the U.N. Human Rights Council's pro-Hamas Richard Falk, who previously lavished praise on Goldstone, has now launched a vicious personal attack on his former hero.

Charlie Hebdo, Free Speech and Islam / Aymenn J.Al - Tamimi

November 7, 2011
The recent firebombing of the office of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo has once again revived the debate on the relation between free speech and Islam. In this case, the magazine's "crime" was to feature a caricature of Mohammed on its front cover and a "guest editor" role for the founder of Islam, as part of the publication's satirical musings on the Islamist party Ennahda's winning of a plurality of seats in the Tunisian Constituent Assembly elections.

Friendless in the Middle East / Daniel Pipes

November 8, 2011
The Arab upheavals of 2011 have inspired wildly inconsistent Western responses. How, for example, can one justify abiding the suppression of dissidents in Bahrain while celebrating dissidents in Egypt? Or protect Libyan rebels from government attacks but not their Syrian counterparts? Oppose Islamists taking over in Yemen but not in Tunisia?

The THIRD INTIFADA Is Here / Khaled Abu Toameh

November 8, 2011
The third intifada is already here, and it is being waged against Israel not on the streets of Gaza and Ramallah, but in the international arena.

This is a Diplomatic Intifada, aimed at rallying the world against Israel in the hope of forcing it to accept all of the Palestinian Authority's demands, first and foremost a full withdrawal to the pre-1967 armistice lines.

Anti - Semitism, A Growth Industry in Bad Times / Alen Caruba

Nov.7 2011
In bad times, anti-Semitism seems to crawl out of the sewers like a repugnant odor. It is not subject to a rational response. It is pure emotion and a very nasty one at that. Lately we got a whiff of it at some of the Occupy protests.

On November 3rd, the Anti-Defamation League released a nationwide study that found that “anti-Semitic attitudes have risen slightly in America, demonstrating once again that ‘anti-Semitic beliefs continue to hold a vice-grip’ on a small but not insubstantial segment of America.”

A Disgrace to MCgill/ Hillel Neuer

Nov. 8, 201
John Humphrey, the McGill University law professor who drafted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, must be rolling in his grave. By a gross lapse in judgment, the McGill human rights centre that Humphrey inspired is about to lend its platform to Richard Falk, a lifelong apologist for terrorists and a major 9/11 conspiracy theorist.

Before inviting Falk to speak next week, on the subject of U.S. drone killings, did the university do its homework?

UN Security Council Panel Fails to Reach A Consensus on Palestinian Bid

08.11.11
UN Security Council panel fails to reach consensus on Palestinian bid, says draft report
The four-page draft report appears to confirm that the Palestinian move to join the world body as a full member is set to fail due to the council's irresolvable deadlock.
By Reuters
Tags: UN Security Council Palestinians Palestinian state

A draft report by a key UN Security Council committee, obtained by Reuters on Tuesday, declared that members could not reach consensus on whether the Palestinians' UN statehood bid should be accepted.

Lybia Heading Towards Islamism / Aymenn J.Al - Tamimi

November 9, 2011
Amid all the debate as to what lies in store for Libya, it is becoming increasingly apparent that Islamism will be the dominant political force in the country.

Anti - Semitisn and Anti - Israelism in Western Schools / Manfred Gerstenfeld

Nov.1 2011
Anti-Semitism and anti-Israelism in schools or places related to them are significant problems in a number of Western countries. A third related topic concerns Holocaust education in a variety of European schools. When such education is part of the curriculum in some schools, problems may emerge with students.

Obama Administration Kills the Chances for Middle East Democracy / Prof.B.Rubin

How the Obama Administration Helps Kill the Chances for Arab, Turkish, and Iranian Democracy
November 9, 2011
In a speech, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton asks:

“Why does America promote democracy one way in some countries and another way in others?”

Here’ how the question should be rephrased:

Why does America subvert the chances for democracy one way in some countries and another way in others?

Here’s the answer:

Islamists Take Over Egypt / Khaled Abu Toameh

Islamists Take Over Egypt
Library of Alexandria to Be Burned Again; Food for Half-Price
November 11, 2011
The Royal Library of Alexandria in Egypt, the largest and most significant library of the ancient world, is now being targeted by radical Muslims who seek to replace it with a mosque.

Radical Islamic groups claim that the library's art programs, which include music and ballet dancing, spread "depravity" in Egyptian society.

Military Intervention in the Arab Spring / Aymenn J.Al - Tamimi

November 10, 2011
Since the overthrow of Qaddafi in Libya by the NATO-backed forces of the National Transitional Council, many analysts have speculated as to whether this development could ultimately hasten the downfall of two other regimes in the Middle East: namely, Bashar al-Assad's government in Syria and Ali Abdullah Saleh's regime in Yemen.

Gilbert Achcar's Anti - Zionizm of Fools / Cinnamon Stillwell & Rima Greene

November 10, 2011
"Don't expect me to take a pro-Israel view. I'm an Arab."

The UN And Middle East Refugees:Differential Treatment of Arabs and Jews / Stanley A.Urman

IntroductIon

For over half a century, seminal issues in the Arab-Israeli conflict have defied resolution. Negotiations
over security, Jerusalem, refugees, borders, settlements, and so on engender passionate, entrenched
demands and expectations.

There are few international arenas that provide a balanced platform for the discussion of these
contentious issues and in particular, the issue of refugees. This especially applies to the United
Nations and its affiliated entities, where the predominant focus has been on Palestinian refugees.

Islamists in Power:What Could Go Wrong / Prof.B.Rubin

November 12, 2011
The New York Times has run an op-ed entitled, ‘The Overblown Islamist Threat.’ Big surprise: There’s no Islamist threat! They’re all moderates! Just like in 1979 Iran or in Turkey more recently. Do you think we might see an oped in The New York Times entitled, ‘The Islamist Threat is Very Real?’ Of course not.

But the real surprise is the author’s identity. It’s former Jordanian foreign minister Marwan Muasher. Huh? Jordan’s policy on Islamism has been based precisely on the idea that letting them take power would be the end of the regime and a disaster for the country.

Obama Administration Promotes Islamist Regimes: Insists They Are Moderate / Prof.B.Rubin

November 8, 2011
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s speech justifying Obama Administration Middle East policy changes everything. True, it isn’t surprising. I’ve been writing for almost three years about how the current U.S. government thinks this way.

Do not underestimate this speech’s importance. It isn’t a reluctant acceptance that Islamists might win elections and take over coutries. It is an enthusiastic endorsement of that idea.

Middle East Upheavals and Israel / Prof.Efraim Inbar

Middle East Upheavals and Israel
A briefing by Efraim Inbar
October 27, 2011

History and the Palestinian "Right of Return":Rights and Wrongs / Prof.Efraim Karsh

A survey of the history of the Palestinian claim to the right of return to the current borders of the state of Israel.

BY THE early 1990s, most Israelis, on both sides of the political spectrum, had come to embrace a two-state solution to their decades-long conflict with the Palestinian Arabs, a solution based on the idea of trading "land for peace." For these Israelis, and especially for the doves among them, the twilight hours of Ehud Barak’s short-lived government came as a terrible shock.

Iran Signals Its Readiness for Final Confrontation / Lt. - Col. (ret.) Michael Segall

14 November 2011
Since the publication of the November 2011 IAEA report, which explicitly spotlights Iran's plans to build nuclear weapons, senior figures of the Iranian regime and the state-run media have begun to use threatening, defiant, and sometimes contemptuous language toward Israel and the United States.

Le Soulèvement Syrien : Les Implications Pour Israël / Prof.Eyal Zisser

Le soulèvement syrien : les implications pour Israël
17/08/2011
Depuis les années 60, le parti Baath syrien et la dynastie Assad ont réussi à installer une coalition formée de différentes forces dirigées par les Alaouites. Aujourd’hui, pour des raisons sociales et économiques, les composantes de cette coalition se retournent contre le régime.

Europe Underestimates Islamists / Ian Jonson

Nov.8 2011
In early 1959, a small West German intelligence operation stumbled over a sensational find: U.S. collusion with the Muslim Brotherhood. According to the West German sources—two ex-Wehrmacht soldiers who were in Washington's pay but still felt loyalty to their old German bosses—Washington was supporting one of the Brotherhood's top men, the Geneva-based Said Ramadan, son-in-law of the movement's founder Hassan al-Banna, in the hope of using him in the global battle against communism. The U.S. double-agents wanted to know if the West Germans would also help support Ramadan.

The U.S: Out of Iraq and Into Iran? Pinhas Inbari

14 November 2011
Last week the International Atomic Energy Agency‏ (IAEA) published a report that exposed the atomic 'smoking gun' hidden deep inside the Iranian nuclear installations. This report, however, is not the only recent game changer in the ever changing fabric of the Middle East. The withdrawal of American troops from Iraq is another gigantic development, which, combined with the Iranian challenge, will dominate Middle Eastern politics in the near future.

Iran Responds to IAFA By Threatening to Destroy Israel Again / Daniel Meyerowitz - Katz

Iran responds to IAEA by threatening to destroy Israel... again + Australia feels the fallout
Nov 11 2011
As outlined in yesterday's update, the UN's atomic energy watchdog has just released a report that just falls short of definitively stating that Iran has a nuclear weapons program - seemingly the closest that the UN ever comes to an unequivocal condemnation of a country that is not Israel. The report has emerged amid rumours that Israel is gearing-up for an attack on Iran and is busy soliciting support from allies in the UK and the US.

Logique dans l'incohérence de la politique française / Freddy Eytan

02/11/2011
La politique de la France sur la question palestinienne suit une certaine logique et elle n’a pas changé depuis le septennat de Valéry Giscard d’Estaing. Nous ne sommes pas donc surpris par le vote en faveur de l’adhésion de la Palestine à l’UNESCO.

Big Tent Announces Big Hitters / Ray Cook

15 Nov 2011
You’ll forgive me for flying the flag for The Big Tent For Israel but as I am involved you may want to see the latest Press Release below:

PRESS RELEASE

Iran's Nuclear Armageddon / Alan Caruba

Nov.15 2011
During the long years of the Cold War from 1945 to 1991, the U.S. and the former Soviet Union faced off against each other, both having an arsenal of nuclear weapons. Only once, during the Cuban missile crisis in October 1962, did the prospect of a real threat to the homeland arise. After a U.S. naval blockade was imposed, the Russians took their missiles home.

The key factor was that the Russian leaders were not suicidal. They were not crazy. They fully understood what it would mean to actually use nuclear weapons or be on the receiving end of them.

A Saudi Writer Explains the "Muslim Brotherhood Spring" / Prof.B.Rubin

November 16, 2011
It’s always fascinating to read the work of genuine Arab moderates (or that of non-Arab Muslims) to see how much it differs from the Western-celebrated false moderates and radicals so often prominently featured in the mass media and academia. Indeed, people like the following writer can never be found as heroes of the official West because they tell the inconvenient truths about the Middle East.