Wednesday, February 02, 2011

  • Wednesday, February 02, 2011
  • Elder of Ziyon
While rags like the New York Daily News still build up El Baradei as if he is Lech Walesa, it appears that this young woman, Asma Mahfouz, was really one of the people who started it all.

The original video was posted January 18th, calling on Egyptians to come to Tahrir Square on January 25.


(h/t Yerushalimey)

Tuesday, February 01, 2011

  • Tuesday, February 01, 2011
  • Elder of Ziyon
Here are three security camera angles of a Grad rocket slamming near a wedding reception in Netivot, Israel, on January 31:



JERUSALEM, Israel - Palestinians in the Gaza Strip targeted two southern Israeli cities with longer-range Grad-type rockets on Monday night.

Wedding guests celebrating in a residential neighborhood in the town of Netivot, nine miles east of Gaza, ran for cover as the explosion drowned out the music.

"There was music, then we suddenly heard a loud blast," one of the guests said. "Everyone - little children and men - ran for cover. People fell over one another. It's a miracle no one was hurt," she said.

The rocket damaged a parked car and the paved road, and four people were treated for shock.

Moments later, another Grad exploded in a open area in the community of Ofakim, about 15 miles from the Gaza Strip.

"It was terrifying. We heard a boom [that sounded like] a nuclear bomb. We thought it was thunder. There was smoke and explosions," one resident said.

Another resident said she was making a cup of coffee when the explosion cracked the kitchen window.

"I'm traumatized and afraid of sleeping. We are at God's mercies. I don't even have a protected space here," she said, adding that the IDF needed to "reenter Gaza and launch another operation."

(original video from YNet)
  • Tuesday, February 01, 2011
  • Elder of Ziyon
Palestine Press Agency reports that a man has been sentenced to prison for selling land to an Israeli.

The regional court in Nablus ruled on Tuesday against the Salfit man, sentencing him to ten years in prison for selling land to Israelis.

The accused is 70 years old, and he sold the land in 1981.

He violated the Article 114 of the [Jordanian] Penal Code of 1960 number 16, which prohibits selling land to "the enemy," with "the enemy" specifically defined elsewhere as "any man or judicial body [corporation] of Israeli citizenship living in Israel or acting on its behalf."

After Jordan's peace treaty with Israel, this law was revised, but the Palestinian Arabs still use the 1960 Penal Code - even though they have a draft law to replace it with a similar law mandating the death penalty for anyone selling land to "the occupier."

It is interesting that the Palestinian Arab court system still legally defines Israel as "the enemy."
Because of this story....





From the LA Times:
The Obama administration said for the first time that it supports a role for groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood, a banned Islamist organization, in a reformed Egyptian government.

The organization must reject violence and recognize democratic goals if the U.S. is to be comfortable with it taking part in the government, the White House said. But by even setting conditions for the involvement of such nonsecular groups, the administration took a surprise step in the midst of the crisis that has enveloped Egypt for the last week.

Monday's statement was a "pretty clear sign that the U.S. isn't going to advocate a narrow form of pluralism, but a broad one," said Robert Malley, a Mideast peace negotiator in the Clinton administration.
Which makes this so much easier to swallow:
A leading member of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt told the Arabic-language Iranian news network Al-Alam on Monday that he would like to see the Egyptian people prepare for war against Israel.

Muhammad Ghannem reportedly told Al- Alam that the Suez Canal should be closed immediately, and that the flow of gas from Egypt to Israel should cease “in order to bring about the downfall of the Mubarak regime.” He added that “the people should be prepared for war against Israel,” saying the world should understand that “the Egyptian people are prepared for anything to get rid of this regime.”
The original Al-Alam article is here.

(h/t Qumran Qumran  and Avi B.)
From this Russia Today video, starting around 2:15, interviewing a Muslim Brotherhood member:



Mohammed El Baltagy: "We didn't choose El Baradei. We chose him only for a short period of change. He's only temporary."


Notice how el-Baltagy phrases it, as if the Muslim Brotherhood is calling the shots of the current uprising and using players as pawns to gain leadership.

El Baltagy is a major figure in the Muslim Brotherhood.

Much of the rest of the video is about Egyptian skepticism over El Baradei, making some would-be analysts look like complete fools.
  • Tuesday, February 01, 2011
  • Elder of Ziyon
From AFP:
Arsonists set fire to a synagogue in the southern Gabes region of Tunisia, a leader of the local Jewish community said Tuesday.
"Someone set fire to the synagogue on Monday night and the Torah scrolls were burned," Trabelsi Perez told AFP, criticising the lack of action by the security services to stop the attack.
"What astonished me was that there were police not far from the synagogue," added Perez, who is also head of the Ghriba synagogue on the island of Djerba, the oldest synagogue in Africa.
(h/t T34)

UPDATE: Another member of the community denies it was an attack on Jews but rather it was simple vandalism. (Ibid.)
  • Tuesday, February 01, 2011
  • Elder of Ziyon
From YNet:
After weeks of opposition protests demanding change, Jordan's King Abdullah II on Tuesday sacked his government and asked his former ex-military advisor Marouf Bakhit to form a new cabinet, an official said.

According to the palace, the king named Bakhit as prime minister with orders to carry out "true political reforms".

Bakhit's mission is to take practical, quick and tangible steps to launch true political reforms, enhance Jordan's democratic drive and ensure safe and decent living for all Jordanians."

King Abdullah's move came after thousands of Jordanians took to the streets –inspired by the regime ouster in Tunisia and the turmoil in Egypt – and called for the resignation of Prime Minister Samir Rifai who is blamed for a rise in fuel and food prices and slowed political reforms.
Ammon News adds:
Bakhit told Ammon News that he began consultations to form a new government, expressing that his focus is to fulfill the directives and aspirations of King Abdullah and the Jordanian people.

The New Prime Minister stated that it will take a few days to finalize his selection for the new cabinet.

In Ammon News' congratulations to the new Prime Minister, Bakhit replied "Say may God help me," and hinted that his government will be from "an older generation," and the interests of Jordan and Jordanians will be "our target."
  • Tuesday, February 01, 2011
  • Elder of Ziyon
A "Day of Rage" of protests in Syria has been called for Saturday.

Even though Facebook is banned in Syria, there were over 5000 members of Facebook groups calling for the protests yesterday with more joining every hour (here's one with 2500 members now.) One Twitter group is called "AngrySyriaDay."

The protests are planned for Damascus and Aleppo.

Meanwhile, protests are planned in Yemen on Thursday, meant to mirror the Egyptian and Algerian protests. They are planned for Sana'a and other provinces, organized by opposition groups.
  • Tuesday, February 01, 2011
  • Elder of Ziyon
The Shalit family is concerned that the events in Egypt could further delay any release for Gilad.

Three Grad rockets were shot from Gaza to Israel, causing damage. Four treated for shock.

FAQ on US aid to Egypt (h/t Israel Matzav)

Barry Rubin on ElBaradei's deceptions concerning the Muslim Brotherhood.

Akiva Eldar in Ha'aretz really, really wants another intifada. So does Hamas, at least in the West Bank, apparently setting up Facebook groups for people to revolt against the PA.

Meanwhile, Hamas is arresting and beating journalists, but no one is calling for an uprising in Gaza.

Daphne Anson on an Israel hater who is loved by the British media.

Are Christian shops being targeted in Egypt looting?
  • Tuesday, February 01, 2011
  • Elder of Ziyon
Some sites are pointing to videos taken last week of a strange light that appears to hover above Jerusalem, then suddenly come down atop the Dome of the Rock, stay there for a while, and then fly fast back up into the sky.

This one was taken from a distance and shows a flash of light before the light ascends:



This one is close up in the Old City, but I don't see the flash:



And here's a different one from a distance, which shows lights flashing in the sky afterwards (that the first video seems to refer to but is not visible.)



Is this an elaborate hoax? The two videos from a distance have the exact same timing.

The second video looks like it may be a hoax, though. It really does look like a photograph in the background.(h/t Al.)

One thing is certain: whatever it is, it must be Israel's fault.

Coverage here, here and here.
  • Tuesday, February 01, 2011
  • Elder of Ziyon
From Zvi:

I don't see much possibility of a constructive outcome from any of this.

At home, Mubarak's regime is a nasty, brutish and repressive "mediocracy". The people on the streets do have a right to be heard and they do have a right to replace a government that is much more interested in power than in working for the betterment of Egyptians as a whole. There are many decent Egyptian people who really do want to build a better Egypt and who have no broader agenda - though many have beliefs about their Jewish neighbors to the east that have been twisted through propaganda into something paranoid and nasty.

Mubarak's regime is also responsible for officially supporting and encouraging anti-Semitism and has made no attempt to present a realistic picture of Egypt's Jewish neighbors. Mubarak's regime is directly responsible for a major portion of the virulent anti-Semitism that infests Egyptian public arena today. It could have taken a very different path.

But the other side of things is that the regime's systematic repression - and, to be fair, the tepid irrelevance and ineptitude of various opposition forces - has left no strong power center outside of the regime, the army and the Muslim Brotherhood. The fall of Mubarak's regime in favor of some junta drawn from the armed forces would mean the exchange of one thuggish regime for another - with the new regime much less stable and experienced than the current one. The fall of Mubarak's regime in favor of the Muslim Brotherhood would mean discarding a sane despot in exchange for lunatics who care more about destroying Israel and the west than they care about the lives of Egyptians - a disastrous result indeed.

The fact that the Arab League's Chief Thug (Amr Moussa) and the Atomic Wuss (El Baradei) are being presented as realistic alternatives to Mubarak by the western media shows just how ignorant the western media really is, and I'm quite afraid that western leaders will actually buy into this crazy alternative and compel Egyptian leaders to make insane choices based on such delusions. There is no better way for the Muslim Brotherhood to take over than for a complete idiot like El Baradei - a person with no constituency in Egypt and a weak or misguided idiot who coddled Egypt's Iranian enemies when he was in a position of authority in the IAEA - to end up in charge.

I suppose that somehow, by walking some tortuous, mine-strewn path that is not clear to me today, the Egyptian people could pull off a miracle and upgrade their increasingly unstable state from its current shabby authoritarian model to a free and open democracy, or at least something that tends in that direction - and they could double the miracle at the same time by managing not to be led into an insane war against Israel. But this would take more miracles than anyone has the right to expect.

Even with the best will in the world, with the wisest heads in the world leading, Egypt is in a very dangerous place now. Aside from the anger of the street, which can easily capsize the boat of wisdom, Egypt sits astride vital geopolitical fault lines, and there many countries will meddle, perceiving their interests threatened and believing, in their inexperience or cold calculations, that they know better than the locals how to stabilize Egypt.

The fault lines are many. For example, Egypt controls the Suez Canal, a key trade route of the modern era. Egypt has a basically pro-western Sunni government, which makes it a target of those who would damage the west. Egypt has kept the peace for over three decades, which has imposed a ceiling on the violence of Israel-Arab conflicts and ensured that every few years, thousands of Arab and Israeli kids don't have to march off to war and be killed; those who would fight Israel to the last drop of someone else's blood have every reason to target Egypt.

I really do wish the Egyptian people the best. I just don't expect it. I would love to see them surprise me in a good way. But it would have to be one heck of a surprise.

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This blog may be a labor of love for me, but it takes a lot of effort, time and money. For over 19 years and 40,000 articles I have been providing accurate, original news that would have remained unnoticed. I've written hundreds of scoops and sometimes my reporting ends up making a real difference. I appreciate any donations you can give to keep this blog going.

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