"ANTI-ZIONISM IS THE NEW ANTI-SEMITISM" - SAYS DR. PHYLLIS CHESLER
BY: FERN SIDMAN
Israel National News caught up with frequent op-ed contributor, Dr. Phyllis Chesler, as she delivered remarks at a first-of-its-kind conference in Toronto entitled, "When Middle East Politics Invade Campus" on February 16th. No stranger to the lecture circuit or to controversy, Dr. Chesler's appearance at this seminal intellectual forum served as the epicenter of the conversation on the continued and increasingly hostile demonization of Israel, both on the college campus and in the media.
FS: Today, you addressed the escalating hatred of Israel in the realm of the Western academy. Can you tell us your observations of this phenomenon since your book, "The New Anti-Semitism" came about some years ago?
PC: As I first wrote in 2001-2002, the new anti-Semitisim also consists of a rather frightening, genocidal anti-Zionism. The global demonization of Israel has gathered such speed and force that it could, potentially – it is certainly meant to – delegitimize and destroy the Jewish state. In 2005, Iran’s Ahmadinejad said that Israel must be “wiped off the map.” In 2006, he said that the Middle East would be better off “without the existence of the Zionist regime” and that Israel would “soon be wiped out.”
In 2011, Many signs and placards in Cairo, including the many effigies of Hosni Mubarak, all bore Stars of David; Mubarak was accused of being a Zionist—the worst epithet imaginable. Predictably, on February 11, 2011, the anniversary of the so-called 1979 Iranian revolution, President Ahmadinejad congratulated the triumphant Egyptians. He said: “Despite all the West’s complicated and Satanic designs…a new Middle East is emerging without the Zionist regime and U.S. interference, a place where the arrogant powers will have no place.” Israel is under the most profound, even existential siege.
On February 13, 2011, the Israeli government urged Israelis to return home from the Sinai for fear “that the peninsula will become a launching pad for terror attacks as Egyptian police abandon their posts.” Thus, Israel is now surrounded by Hamas in Gaza, Iran’s Hezbollah in Lebanon, potentially the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, and the various Islamist and jihadist groups on the West Bank. In addition, let’s not forget that in the early years of the Intifada, Israeli civilians were murdered and maimed in huge numbers. Had the equivalent happened in the United States it would have instantly launched World War IV.
FS: Do you think the Egpytian people will eventually embrace a civilian government that is predicated on secular, democratic principles?
PC: Please remember that the women in Tahrir Square were mainly wearing serious hijab and even niqab. They are already pro-Islamist. According to a June 2010 Pew Research opinion survey of Egyptians, it stated that, “Fifty nine percent said they back Islamists. Only 27% said they back modernizers. Half of Egyptians support Hamas. Thirty percent support Hizbullah and 20% support al Qaida. Moreover, 95% of them would welcome Islamic influence over their politics….Eighty two percent of Egyptians support executing adulterers by stoning, 77% support whipping and cutting the hands off thieves. 84% support executing any Muslim who changes his religion."
What will it mean that such a population can vote? Will the vote be any different than the vote which elected Hamas in Gaza? Without the necessary precursors: the rule of law, a constitutional system of checks and balances, the separation of mosque and state, freedom of religion, a free press, education, women’s rights, human rights, a modern economic base, etc. the vote does not mean that true democracy exists.
FS: Many speakers here today have spoken of the inherent danger of defending Israel against such accusations of the kind of racism that apartheid represents. You have, on many occasions, addressed audiences on various campuses about this very issue. Can you tell us your experience in doing so?
PC: The campuses have become increasingly and aggressively anti-Israel and pro-Islam. Today, anti-Zionism is the new anti-Semitism. “Brownshirt” behavior rules the day. Muslim and ex-Muslim dissidents are met with menace, if they are invited to speak at all and pro-Israel truth tellers are not even invited to speak. Israel is not an apartheid nation. Muslim countries persecute non-Muslim minorities. The Arab Middle East is “judenrein,” Arab Christians are under siege. Say this on most campuses, as I have, and you will be jeered, booed, possibly physically menaced, certain demonized afterwards as a “racist” and “Islamophobe.” You will lose your publishing contacts and your former feminist political world. You will not be invited to speak by Women’s Studies programs. My work on Islamic gender apartheid has been attacked in these quarters.
FS: You mentioned today that your former feminist associates have shunned you for documenting the horrors of Islamic gender apartheid. You also mentioned their reluctance to speak out on this issue. Why do you think that is the case?
PC: Islamic gender apartheid is a human rights violation and cannot be justified in the name of cultural relativism, tolerance, anti-racism, diversity, or political correctness. The battle for women's rights is central to the battle for Europe and for Western values.
FS: Do you have any statistics on the number of Israelis who have lost their lives due to the forces of radical Islam?
PC: Based on an American population of approximately 310 million, the Israeli civilian death count is the equivalent of 48,700 Americans killed by terrorists on our own soil, in pizza parlors, on buses, at Passover sedorim, in our beds. According to the Israeli Foreign Ministry, between 2001 and 2007, 8,342 Israelis were wounded by terrorist attacks, including 5,676 civilians. This is the equivalent of 340,000 wounded Americans.
FS: Do you believe that there are any Muslims who would publicly oppose the forces radical Islam if given the opportunity?
PC: Yes, moderate, radical, and extremely brave anti-Islamist Muslims do exist. They are endangered in their birthplaces and mainly live in exile where Western governments do not call upon them for their views. Governments instead prefer the views of Islamists and terrorists whom they refer to as “moderates.”
FS: In your opinion, who is in the forefront of disseminating the ubiquitous myths about Israel?
PC: The politically correct line is that Israel, tiny Israel, is the “Nazi, Apartheid state.” Only Orwell would understand this misuse of language, this reversal of logic, which is meant to confuse and brainwash people. Such brainwashing has worked. Sixty years of Soviet and Arab League activism and Saudi monies have accomplished the unbelievable. Israel is not only the “bad guy,” it is the “very worst bad guy” in the entire universe.
FS: What is your message for those who are indifferent to the growing scourge of Islamic propaganda and terrorism?
PC: We, the world’s civilians, are now all Israelis. The same world which refused to stop the airplane hijackings and suicide killers which blew up countless Israeli civilians has now inherited this whirlwind. As they say: It may start with the Jews but it never ends there.
Seems like no one saw the genesis of a global Islamist insurrection on the political horizon. Not the talking heads on cable TV and certainly not those in the know at the State Department or the White House. If they did, they assumed a reticent posture concerning precisely what was percolating behind the scenes in Egypt.
Gaining inspiration from the most recent and highly successful grass roots revolution against the draconian regime in Tunisia, tens of thousands of Egyptians have taken to demonstrating in the streets of Cairo, Alexandria and Luxor over the last week to do the same. Fulminating over the abject poverty, rampant unemployment and thinly veiled government corruption that both permeates and cripples their lives, these young and tech savvy Egyptian activists have created an international stage in which to further their agenda of achieving democratic and political reforms in a country that has little familiarity of such lofty concepts.
Subsequent to the assassination of former Egyptian president Anwar Sadat in 1981, Hosni Mubarak was catapulted to power, and his imprimatur has been actualized by his autocratic and heavy handed governance of Egyptian society. Having ruled for 30 years without allowing for a change in national leadership through legitimate elections, it is little wonder that he is characterized as a despot and a cynical dictator. Further emboldening this megalomanical image are his feckless attempts at quelling the uprisings by terminating the use of the internet, cell phones and other modalities of transmitting news and data.
Having said that, let us also remember that Egypt is a key strategic player in US-Middle East relations and is being bankrolled to the tune of $1.5 billion annually in US military and economic aid. As such, Egypt, under the leadership of Mubarak has promulgated a pro-Western and pro-American stance and has maintained the long standing peace agreement with Israel, albeit a "cold" peace, made by his predecessor.
As complete anarchy and bedlam breaks loose in Egypt, as manifested in pervasive rioting, bellicose looting and indiscriminate acts of violence, we have learned that the burgeoning opposition has turned a deaf ear to any gestures by Mubarak to address the grievances of his people through radical changes in the composition of his government. Terrified of losing power, Mubarak is acting swiftly on US orders, but time is on the side of those who demand his complete ouster.
Let's make no mistake about it. What is happening here is a gargantuan development in the Middle East narrative and the perpetual imbroglio that has come to define this region of the world. Arguably, it can even be considered bigger than what occurred in 1979 when backers of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, with a push from Jimmy Carter, overthrew Iran's Shah Mohamed Reza Pahlavi in one of the most tragic and unfortunate international developments of the late 20th century. We, in the West, have been paying the price for it ever since. What is particularly outstanding in the midst of a revolution of this kind is the inevitable political vacuum that it creates, leaving a terrifying scenario in which radicalized Islamic elements are poised to seize power.
Leading the charge both in Iran in 1979 and in the Egypt of 2011 is the notorious Muslim Brotherhood which has been outlawed in Egypt. Yes, the very same organization that was responsible for assassinating Mubarak's predecessor, Anwar Sadat, charging him with the "ultimate sin" of making peace with Israel It is they who have been subtlely orchestrating and fomenting unrest and managing the day-to-day particulars required for another radical Islamic victory. Working with the aid and encouragement of Teheran, the tentacles of this nihilistic theocratic movement stretch far and wide. As the leader of Jordan's powerful Muslim Brotherhood, Hammam Saeed, warned over the weekend, the unrest in Egypt will spread across the Mideast and Arabs will topple leaders allied with the United States.
The front man for the opposition in Egypt is none other than Mohammed ElBaradei; Nobel Laureate and former head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Fragments of the opposition group including the Muslim Brotherhood have grouped behind ElBaradei, who has often been thought of as a potential Egyptian leader should Mubarak lose power.
Malcolm Hoenlein, executive vice-president of the Conference of Presidents of American Jewish Organizations said in a recent interview with Yeshiva World News that, "A myth is being created that ElBaradei is a human rights activist – he is a stooge of Iran". He added that, "When he was the head of the nuclear watchdog International Atomic Energy Agency, for which he got a Nobel Prize, he distorted reports…and covered for Iran. After he left, his successors said earlier reports were not accurate.” That speak volumes about ElBaradei's true allegiances.
Egypt is the most populous and important Arab country in the Middle East. For decades now it has been at relative peace with its neighbor, Israel. How long will that last if Mubarak is replaced with a Muslim Brotherhood leader? It is time for President Obama and Secretary Clinton to wake up and smell the putrid stench of Islamic radicalism and the existential dangers that it represents to the free world and Western civilization as we know it. The United States can ill afford an explosion of violence, revolution and instability through the Middle East and the Islamic world, but that appears to be just what is coming.
Hate preacher Abu Hamza last night began yet another expensive legal fight against the taxpayer - this time to retain his British passport.
His appeal against a Home Office decision to remove his UK citizenship is expected to cost tens of thousands of pounds.
This is in addition to the estimated £3.5million the fanatic has already cost the public purse, including £1.1million in legal aid.
Home Secretary Alan Johnson says Hamza, who has joint UK and Egyptian nationality, is unfit to keep his British passport.
But 51-year-old Hamza claims this is unfair.
He is currently in a high security jail fighting attempts to extradite him to the U.S. on terror charges.
That case will come before the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg later this year.
His lawyer, Amanda Weston, told a preliminary hearing of the Special Immigration Appeals Commission that her client wanted the citizenship case heard while he was still in the UK and 'able to participate in proceedings'.
James Strachan, for the Home Office, said the case should be put off until after the Strasbourg ruling.
Hamza, who for years preached hate at the Finsbury Park Mosque in North London, is using every possible means to stay here.
If he wins both his extradition case at the European Court of Human Rights and his citizenship appeal, he could not be sent to the U.S. or any other country.
Hamza came here from north Africa in the early 1980s on a student visa and acquired a British passport through marriage. He was jailed for seven years in February 2006 for inciting murder and race hate.
Attempts to take his passport away were launched in 2003 but delayed by other legal actions against him.
Revoking his citizenship might allow the authorities to deport Hamza if his court fight against extradition is successful.
A preliminary hearing date was set for February 9.
Dr. Wafa Sultan, the controversial critic of radical Islam that Time Magazine called one of the most influential women of 2006, took the Landmark Forum and mentioned it in a 2006 article in The Kurdistan Times, in which she credits the Landmark Forum for helping her remove past fears. The article describes some of her personal experiences, and is reprinted in an English translation at length below.
Where are the women of Egypt?!
Is there no woman in Egypt who has a shoe? I swear with the dearest that I have that if Sheikh Tantawi had spoken to my daughter like that, even if it cost me my life, I would have thrown my shoe at him, and even if it did not cut off his head, it would have blown his turban away between heaven and earth! Sheikh Tantawi, the Grand Mufti of Egypt, entered a classroom, pretending to be the Voltaire of Muslims at the expense of a child who is barely twelve years old, and shouted at her, ordering her to take off her veil: You look like that and you are veiled; what would you have done if you were beautiful?! Then, and indulging in blowing his empty drums at the expense of her mental and psychological wellbeing, he continued: “I am more knowledgeable than your parents!”
Does this insane man realize the scope of the psychological damage he has caused the girl?!
Suffice it what he has done to her burqa, and he came to plant the bullet of his treachery in a dead body, indulging in his distortion! A child will not accept to remove her head scarf unless she is forced to, or if she is convinced that her body is a disgrace and she must hide it, and both cases are sufficient to destroy her emotional and mental energies!
Tantawi did not want to leave the girl’s energies intact; he wanted his harsh words that are devoid of any feelings to wipe out the effects, descending the girl to the level of an ugly creature that does not deserve to be looked at by anyone! His insult to her in front of her female colleagues and teacher will leave in her deep subconscious a wound that will be difficult to heal with time, unless scientifically qualified people interfere to treat that wound! Even when specialists can treat it, a scar must be left behind that will cause her pain in her life from time to time….
I have never been a lover or amateur of belly dancing, because in short, I see in shaking the belly and the rear a banal and cheap art that is not worthy of watching. But I am fond of watching dances like Dabke, especially by the Syrians and the Lebanese, and I dream that I will be able one day to join a Dabke ring when I am invited to a wedding or an Arab celebration here in America.
I think that my desire to enjoy this art stems from the collective spirit of joy, which prevails over everyone when hands join and the rhythm of the feet intertwine in harmony. It is a collective spirit that is rare to see among Arabs outside the Dabke area! But the problem that stands between me and Dabke is that I have a phobia – a severe fear – of the dance floor, and I avoid passing near the stage.
The roots of the problem go back to the day that I had to leave my table for any reason at any celebration. I was a five-year old child at most, and I was with my family celebrating a wedding of a relative. I think my grandmother wanted to leave the wedding for some reason and she tried to persuade me to leave with them. She came close to the dance floor and picked me from my arm and pulled me as she said: come… stop dancing, everyone is laughing at you! My grandmother killed at that moment my desire to enjoy this art forever…!
Last year I was visiting a friend, a Syrian doctor living in Arizona. He invited me to a party hosted by “The Middle East Club” in the state to celebrate the graduation of the children of Arab families from high school. During the celebration, people started dancing the Dabke and things heated up, and my friend and his wife tried to convince me to participate in vain.
During the break, we chatted and I told them the story of my grandmother and my fear of Dabke circles. He smiled and said: I will rescue you and save myself and all my family, and went on to say: Is there an Arab man carrying a trace of a scar from suffering of the past?! I did not understand what he meant by saving me, but when I returned to California several days later, a woman contacted me and presented herself as a representative of the Landmark Education Institute and explained that Dr. such-and-such has paid subscription fees to the Institute and wants me to join one of his lecture series, a three-day stretch from eight in the morning until ten at night, and then explained to me the nature of the lectures and their desired objective, so I accepted the gift and called my friend in gratefulness….
The battle which began in Egypt in December over a ban on the niqab in universities continues, with female students opposing the measure by Higher Education Minister Hani Helal alternating defeat and victory.
As it had done on January 3 for 55 petitioners, on Saturday in Cairo the State Council Administrative Court once again sided with the ministry against the appeal filed by 17 students, though on Friday the Mansoura (Nile Delta) court instead sided with that by 42 others.
The Egyptian daily Al Masri Al Yom reported that the Mansoura judges issued their sentence on the basis of Article 2 of the Constitution, which establishes Islam as the state religion and Sharia (Islamic law) as the main source of laws.
They added that neither the Koran nor the Sunna state in any explicit manner the need not to cover hands and face. Therefore, the use of the niqab, in their opinion, is not prohibited.
They noted that a ban on it is therefore incompatible with the personal freedoms guaranteed in other Articles of the Constitution. It is a sentence that seems to give weight to the thesis expressed by Egyptian intellectual Nasr Abu Zayd, who said that if the debate has now shifted to the niqab, it is because the hijab - the veil covering only women's hair - is "a religious order" now taken for granted.
In his opinion, this is in part the direct responsibility of the Al Azhar University - the highest Sunni religious authority - despite the fact that the Grand Imam Mohammed Sayyed Tantawi has said that the niqab does not come into play as concerns religion, prohibiting it in schools linked to the institution.
On the other hand, Abu Zayd has also asked, "why is individual freedom only spoken of in terms of the niqab? I am prepared to stand up for it as such in Europe, where human rights are guaranteed and forcing a girl to get married - to take an example - is a crime. But here in Egypt it is a different situation."
An Egyptian daily newspaper has published an article praising Israel for preventing Iran from completing its proposed nuclear facilities.
The article claims the Israeli intelligence service Mossad has carried out assassinations and acts of sabotage in recent years to prevent the facilities being completed.
The daily newspaper Al-Ahram, in its Saturday edition, says Mossad chief Meir Dagan has led the charge against Iran, and without him the Islamic Republic's nuclear plants would have been completed years ago.
"Over the past seven years, he has worked in silence, away from the media," the op-ed article says. "He has dealt painful blows to the Iranian nuclear program, he is the Superman of the Jewish state."
The Egyptian newspaper cited assassinations, inciting of opposition protests, the carrying out of acts to embarrass Iran's leaders, and covert attacks against nuclear facilities, among the list of achievements by the Mossad chief.
The article also lauds Dagan for his, "many bold victories," against Syria, Hezbullah, Hamas and Islamic Jihad, and praises the Israeli intelligence service's wisdom for not admitting its involvement in the various acts it orchestrated.
The Palestinian/ Israeli debate is an issue that I feel like is too complex for me to truly understand. It is an issue where in my opinion both sides are simultaneously fundamentally wrong and fundamentally right.
Recently, Egypt has jumped once more into that breach by fortifying the system of underground tunnels that run beneath the border between Egypt and Gaza. Egypt is reportedly doing this because in addition to the goods, and humanitarian supplies that are smuggled through the pathways to Gaza, the tunnels are being used to smuggle arms to militants in the region. The video below explains it in more detail.
Now, I’m no expert but I feel like generally people can agree that the arms trade in the Middle East in general -- and in Gaza in particular, is a pretty bad thing. But ever since Israel instituted a blockade on Gaza in an act of self-defense, Palestinians have been limited in their ability to get the supplies and goods necessary to sustain themselves. However, as the video points out, Israel ships needed supplies into the area.
It has been a longstanding norm to frame the conflict in this region as a tension between Israel’s need to protect itself from the existential threat of Palestinian terrorism and the Palestinian desire to reclaim what they deem to be Israeli occupied territories. It would be a colossal understatement to say this description is a gross oversimplification but hey it’s gonna have to do.
I submit that the tension in this particular instance is between Israel’s need to protect themselves from the existential threat of terrorism and the need for Gazans to, you know, survive the siege.
First off, let’s address this notion that the blockade is somehow categorically justified because Israel is shipping in supplies.
If I were to keep 30 puppies in a single room, without letting them leave for any reason. Feed them only what someone who hates puppies and also pays for the food decides according to their whim, and give only most of them shots. That wouldn’t really be cool right? It’s kind of like that. Substitute puppies with human beings,“someone who hates puppies” with a significant cross-section of Israelis, and “food/shots” with well, food and shots (humanitarian supplies) and hopefully you see my point.
Next up is Egypt. Jews for Justice for Palestinians has a really detailed analysis of this topic. The piece points out that if Hamas were allowed to join its ideological allies in Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood, they could gain political power that would threaten Hosni Mubarak. You should check out the whole thing but I think this paragraph summarizes some of the other motives behind Egypt’s decision to fortify themselves against Hamas nicely:
"But two other factors seem to have been decisive in convincing Cairo to bend to American and Israeli pressure and close the vice on Gaza’s Palestinians, along with those who support them. The first was a US threat to cut hundreds of millions of dollars of aid unless it cracked down on arms and other smuggling. The second is the need for US acquiescence in the widely expected hereditary succession of Mubarak’s ex-banker son, Gamal, to the presidency. So, far from protecting its sovereignty, the Egyptian government has sold it for continued foreign subsidy and despotic dynastic rule, sacrificing any pretence to its historic role of Arab leadership in the process.”
So the threat from Hamas towards Egypt has more to do with them as a political organization than it does with them as a terrorist organization.To steal a phrase from Henry Kissinger, The U.S./Egyptian interest in eliminating terrorism has become for the people of Gaza, little more than a “dictatorship of the virtuous".
ISRAEL will build a security fence along the length of its border with Egypt, stretching across the Sinai desert from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu approved the $500 million fence on Thursday with the aim of thwarting drugs and people-smuggling rackets that operate across the border.
''In the end, there will be no choice but to close off the state of Israel by a fence on all sides,'' Mr Netanyahu was quoted as telling his cabinet.
''The state has to be fenced off completely on all sides. Why? Because Israel is the only country in the First World to which people can walk on foot from Third World countries and Africa,'' Mr Netanyahu said.
''If we don't fence ourselves off, Israel will be flooded by hundreds of thousands of foreign workers and illegal residents,'' he said.
Israel's borders with Syria and Lebanon are already sealed with fences and concrete walls and wire fences surround the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
The border with Egypt however has been relatively porous.
According to the new plan to seal the border, the barrier will consist of two parallel barbed-wire fences designed to delay anyone trying to cross it until the arrival of border police.
The fences will be built along either side of a 180-kilometre stretch of natural barrier that separates Israel and Egypt.
Radar systems and other detection devices will be installed along the border to warn of potential infiltrators, along with increased border patrols.
Construction of the fence is expected to take about two years.
Egyptian security officials were reported as saying that Israel had not notified Cairo of its plan to build a fence between the two countries.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit was expected to issue a statement today.
Meanwhile, violence around the Gaza Strip was escalating last night as Palestinian militants continued to fire mortar shells and home-made Qassam rockets at targets in southern Israel.
Since last Friday, Palestinians have fired about 30 mortar shells and Qassam rockets into Israeli territory.
All landed in open territory, causing no damage or injury.
On Sunday, the Israeli air force attacked several targets in Gaza on Sunday, killing three Palestinian fighters believed to be members of the extremist Islamic Jihad group.
The three were said to be engaged in preparations for firing a rocket or mortar shells at Israel.
Islamic Jihad issued a statement claiming two of the operatives as its members.
The third was believed to have been a member of Hamas.
Israeli military officials said last night that Israel had spotted the Palestinians in the act of preparing to fire rockets at Israel.
''The air force spotted, in two different instances and just moments before launch, terrorist cells firing rockets and took advantage of that in order to attack,'' a military spokesman said.
''We have no intention of using restraint in response to launches of any kind.
''Any attempt to harm the civilians of the state of Israel or IDF troops will receive a clear response. They had better not think that we're blinking,'' the spokesman said.
[Note: This is the latest segment in an ongoing series about Code Pink and its co-founder Jodie Evans. Click here to read earlier articles.]
Fresh on the heels of their Hamas-protected trip to Gaza, the so-called feminist, American antiwar group Code Pink, co-founded by top Obama funder Jodie Evans, is running banner advertisements on the English language version of the official Web site of a terrorist sympathizing group, the Muslim Brotherhood, one of which invites the Muslim Brotherhood to “join us in cleansing our country.”
The ad, titled “Arrest the War Criminals” with a subhead that contains the invitation to “join us in cleansing our country” links back to a Code Pink site that calls for the kidnapping of former President George W. Bush, his wife Laura and other former members of his administration through ‘citizens arrests’ for defending America against terrorists in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks by Al Qaeda.
The Jawa Report first reported the advertising in a post this morning (January 11, 2010).
A check by Big Government of the front page of www.ikhwanweb.com. on Janaury 11, 2010 showed three Code Pink banner ads. One near the top, one in the middle and one at the bottom of the Muslim Brotherhood’s official English language Web site.
The top one is pink-colored and promotes Code Pink’s “Women Say NO to War!” campaign and features a subhead of “Gaza Peace Delegations & More!”
The middle ad features pink handcuffs to promote Code Pink’s “Arrest the War Criminals” campaign.
The bottom ad promotes Code Pink’s “Gaza Freedom March” and features a sepia-toned photograph of a forlorn-looking child with a message about the march that concludes with the phrase, “Lift the Siege of Gaza!”
The middle ad links directly back to Code Pink’s official Web site, codepinkalert.org, while the other two link back to Code Pink created Web sites that bear the names of the respective campaigns, womensaynotowar.org and gazafreedommarch.org.
The Muslim Brotherhood published a statement by Code Pink issued in May to promote Code Pink’s trip to Gaza that month. In December, the Muslim Brotherhood published an open letter to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak by Code Pink and the Gaza Freedom March decrying the Egyptian government’s refusal to allow the group passage into Gaza.
Discover the Networks provides background on the current status of the Muslim Brotherhood:
In recent years, the Brotherhood has attempted to forge a reputation as a moderate and reformist Islamic group that has renounced its violent past. Lending plausibility to this reputation has been criticism of the organization by radical Islamist groups, who have condemned the Brotherhood’s willingness to participate in the political process as heretical. These groups have also criticized the Brotherhood for supposedly abandoning violent struggle as a means of establishing an Islamic empire.
However, numerous statements by the Brotherhood’s leadership belie its moderate posture. Ali Sadreddine Bayanouni, the leader of the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood, has repeatedly disavowed violence while concurrently pledging his support for the terrorism of Hamas and Hezbollah.
Muhammad Mahdi Othman Akef, a prominent leader of the Brotherhood, has expressed his support for suicide bombings in Israel and Iraq “in order to expel the Zionists and the Americans.” He has also denounced the United States as a “Satan,” saying: “I have complete faith that Islam will invade Europe and America, because Islam has logic and a mission.”
Many other leaders of the Brotherhood have likewise justified terrorism against Israel and the United States, with many defending the September 11 terrorist attacks against America.
Jews are another common object of the Brotherhood’s hatred. Of the Jewish people, Sheik Yousef Al-Qaradhawi, the spiritual leader of the Brotherhood, has written: “There is no dialogue between them and us other than in one language — the language of the sword and force.”
Even as it is deemed insufficiently militant by some Islamist groups, the Brotherhood has had a discernible influence on contemporary jihadist terrorism.
Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the architect of 9/11, was a member of Muslim Brotherhood. More prominently still, Abdullah Azzam, a Palestinian Muslim Brotherhood preacher, was a mentor to al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.
A recent sympathetic article on the Muslim Brotherhood was published by the Christian Science Monitor.
Jodie Evans and Code Pink attempted to destabilize the Egyptian government by provoking a crisis last month over the government’s refusal to allow all 1362 ‘Gaza Freedom’ marchers to enter Gaza through Egypt.
It would appear that Jodie Evans and Code Pink found an ally in Egypt in their opposition to the Mubarak government.
This is how Jodie Evans repays the kindness showed by First Lady Suzanne Mubarak who came to Code Pink’s aid after Jodie Evans sent her a letter asking for help delivering the ‘humanitarian aid’ to Hamas-controlled Gaza.
Code Pink’s involvement with radical Islamic terrorists and terrorist sympathizers in the Middle East would be troubling enough without Jodie Evans’ close ties to President Barack Obama and his administration.
Does CIA Director Leon Panetta know that a close ally of the president he serves is asking a radical Muslim group with terrorist sympathies to join them in “cleansing our country”?
A Middle Eastern country is building a massive thick steel wall as a barrier between themselves and a Palestinian regime.
The country is being condemned for its actions across the Arab world, denounced by Islamist figures like Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah, and facing angry demonstrations at its embassies around the world.
Signs with the president’s face daubed with a Star of David are waved, and furious slogans are chanted.
The new construction project, written about critically in the world press as “choking” Gaza, has been dubbed the “iron wall” and the “wall of shame.”
Sound familiar? Nothing new? In fact, the situation is very new. The country that is being berated and condemned is not Israel.
The wall is being build by the Egyptian government to separate territory controlled by Egypt and the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.
Israel is routinely charged with inhumanely and heartlessly fencing off Palestinian Gazans in a “prison,” despite the fact that Egypt’s official crossing to Gaza is also clamped shut, with the exception of a few days each month.
But with the construction of this new wall, Egypt is taking some powerful hits from within the Arab world.
The wall being constructed is designed to stop the flow of smuggling between Egypt and Gaza through the border town of Rafah, an underground economy that is not limited to — but certainly includes — major weaponry and ammunition being stockpiled for terrorist attacks and to help Hamas rearm for the next war between Gaza and Israel.
Along with the weaponry brought in to replace the stockpiles decimated in Operation Cast Lead, millions of dollars worth of other commerce flows through the tunnels on a daily basis. Everything from food, to gasoline, to machinery, to farm animals. The tunnels are a major source of revenue for Hamas, which charges a premium for the construction and use of the tunnels and puts a tariff on any goods that are brought in.
The planned 10 kilometer-long wall will include steel sheets that will reach 60 meters underground — an attempt to cut off the tunnels and the commerce that flourishes there. In addition to weaponry, the tunnels are also a conduit for terrorists, both reasons that the tunnels themselves were targeted in Operation Cast Lead.
Construction of the wall began in early December, with the Egyptian government doing its best to keep news of it quiet for as long as possible. By mid-December, it became impossible to hide such a massive project, and news of the construction broke and began to spread. Even as reports began appearing in the media, Egypt refused to acknowledge its existence.
An AP article dramatically described the construction in the same judgmental terms normally reserved for accounts of Israel’s building of barriers:
A jackhammer pounded large steel beams side by side into the sandy soil on the Egyptian side of Gaza’s border, putting in place an underground wall that could shift the balance of power in this volatile area. Once completed, the steel barrier would cut off blockaded Gaza’s last lifeline.
In the wake of the media attention, demonstrations condemning the Egyptian action have ensued, beginning in Jordan, where an organization of unions and professional associations protested construction of the wall.
Some 150 people gathered outside the Egyptian embassy in Amman earlier this month and burned photos of President Hosni Mubarak. The photos depict Mubarak with a Star of David stamped on his forehead.
Egyptian authorities have announced that all aid convoys travelling to Gaza will be banned from travelling across Egypt after a riot broke out at the Rafah border crossing earlier in the week.
Ahmed Abul Gheit, Egypt's foreign minister, said in remarks published on Saturday that members of Viva Palestina, the last convoy allowed through, had "committed hostile acts, even criminal ones" on Egyptian soil.
"Egypt will no longer allow convoys, regardless of their origin or who is organising them, from crossing its territory," he told government-backed newspaper Al-Ahram.
More than 50 people were wounded during a clash between Egyptian authorities and international members of the convoy on Tuesday after Egypt decided to allow 139 vehicles to enter Gaza, but said a remaining 59 vehicles would have to pass via Israel.
The Rafah border is the only crossing point into the Palestinian territory not controlled by Israel.However, both Rafah and the Israeli-controlled crossings have largely remained sealed since 2007, when the Palestinian group Hamas gained control of the Strip.
George Galloway, the British MP leading Viva Palestina, was himself deported by the Egyptian government on Friday.
The politician was picked up by Egyptian officials at Rafah and driven to Cairo, the capital, where he was placed on a flight back to London.
The Egyptian foreign ministry said Galloway had been declared "persona non grata" and would not be allowed to return to the country, accusing him of incitement over his criticism of the government.
Arrest warrants were also issued for seven other members of the convoy after being accused of inciting riots in El-Arish, the Mediterranean port town where Viva Palestina entered the country.
The Respect Party MP has been vocal in his criticism of Egyptian authorities in recent days.
"It's always been a badge of honour to be deported by a tin-pot dictator and that's what happened," he said after arriving at London's Heathrow airport.
Abul Gheit, who spoke to Al-Ahram during a visit to Washington, said future aid convoys will have to turn their supplies over to El-Arish's Red Crescent chapter.
The relief organisation would then be responsible for transferring the aid to its Palestinian counterpart.
Israel and Egypt have severely restricted travel to and from the Gaza Strip, and only very basic supplies are allowed in.
Aid organisations say the siege has placed Gazans in a dire situation, made worse by the Israel's offensive last year that reduced much of the territory to ruins.
George Galloway, the British MP leading the Viva Palestina international aid convoy to the Gaza Strip, has been declared 'person non grata' by the Egyptian government and deported from the country.
The politician was picked up by Egyptian officials at the Rafah border crossing on Friday and driven to Cairo, the capital, where he was placed on a flight back to London.
On arriving at Heathrow airport, in the UK capital, Galloway said: "It's always been a badge of honour to be deported by a tin-pot dictator and that's what happened this morning.
"Having crossed the border from Gaza into Egypt ... my friend and I were bundled into a car, 25 officers, accepting no dissuasion, drove us straight to the airport, basically forced us onto the plane."
Galloway said that at the steps of the plane a representative of the foreign ministry in Egypt had told him he had been declared 'persona non grata,' was being deported and was not welcome to return to Egypt.
The Respect Party MP has been vocal in his criticism of Egyptian authorities in recent days after their decision not to allow the convoy of about 200 vehicles to arrive in Egypt through the port at Nuweiba.
Cairo insisted that the aid be sent back through Syria and then by ferry to the port of El-Arish on the Mediterranean.
Egypt's foreign ministry later issued a statement on Friday confirming Galloway had been declared 'persona non grata' and would not be allowed to return to the country, accusing him of incitement over his criticism of the government.
An Egyptian police officer maintained that security personnel had only escorted Galloway for his own protection. Seven other members of the Viva Palestinian convoy have also been ordered arrested after being accused of inciting riots in El-Arish.
The decision by the attorney-general in North Sinai means the activists could be detained after passing through the Rafah border crossing from Gaza.
It was not clear if they were in Egyptian custody on Friday.
Late on Tuesday, more than 50 people were wounded during a clash between Egyptian authorities and international members of the convoy.
The protests were sparked by an Egyptian decision to allow 139 vehicles to enter Gaza through the Rafah crossing, but requiring a remaining 59 vehicles to pass via Israel.
Afterwards, clashes between Egyptian security forces and Palestinians waiting for the aid convoy led to the death of one Egyptian policeman.
Israel and Egypt have severely restricted travel to and from the Gaza Strip since Hamas seized power there in June 2007, after winning Palestinian legislative elections in 2006.
The blockade currently allows only very basic supplies into Gaza.
The siege has severely restricted essential supplies and placed Gazans in a dire situation, made worse by Israel's military assault last winter that reduced much of the territory to ruins.
Gaza's Hamas rulers have suffered back-to-back setbacks with Israel's successful test of a rocket shield and Egypt's push to block smuggling tunnels.
The Iron Dome rocket defense system, reportedly to be deployed near Gaza in May, would deprive Hamas of its main leverage against Israel – the threat of rocket salvos.
Egypt's underground anti-tunnel barrier of steel beams, now under construction, could eventually cut Hamas' supply of cash and weapons.
The looming double squeeze is poised to limit Hamas' options and change the rules of engagement on Gaza's volatile, blockaded borders.
However, the Islamic militants remain firmly entrenched in the territory they seized from their Western-backed Fatah rivals in 2007.
Hamas has already struck back against the steel wall by trying to rally public opinion against Egypt and experts warn Hamas could attempt to renew suicide attacks in Israel if rockets are intercepted.
Hamas "can adjust to any new circumstances," said Ahmed Yousef, a political adviser to Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, without giving specifics. He said more pressure on the movement would only make it more popular.
Following IDF's cast lead operation in Gaza a year ago to stop the daily barrages, rocket and mortar fire ebbed but did not stop. Meanwhile, basic goods, cash and weapons kept coming in through tunnels from Egypt, in addition to limited humanitarian supplies Israel lets through one of its crossings into Gaza.
Israel's Iron Dome and Egypt's steel wall could change the equation, analysts said.
This "weakens the position of Hamas in the strip and confronts them with a challenge, on ... the Egyptian and the Israeli front," said Ephraim Halevy, former chief of the Mossad. "They will now have to devise a strategy to face up to these new developments."
Israel announced Wednesday that it successfully tested the Iron Dome system, which intercepts short-range missiles of the type fired from Gaza and Lebanon.
Developed at a cost of more than $200 million, it shoots down incoming rockets within seconds of their launch, the Defense Ministry said. The system is so sophisticated that it can almost instantly predict where a rocket will land, changing its calculations to account for wind, sun and other conditions in fractions of a second.
Security officials acknowledged the system is expensive and will probably not be able to stop every rocket. Nonetheless, they said it is an important development in protecting Israelis and will strike an important psychological blow to Hamas.
The first battery is to be deployed in May to shield the town of Sderot near Gaza, the most frequent target of rocket attacks in recent years.
Uzi Rubin, a former top Defense Ministry official who was in charge of the long range anti-missile Arrow project, said changes will be profound. "Until now, we were totally exposed to anyone in Gaza who had a rocket to shoot at Israel," he said. "The ability (of Hamas) to cause losses and casualties in Israel will be greatly diminished."
Abu Obeida, spokesman for Hamas' military wing Izzedine al Qassam declined comment on Iron Dome.
A Hamas security officer in Gaza City, who is not linked to the military wing, shrugged off Israel's shield, saying it would be very expensive to shoot down every rocket. He refused to be quoted by name, in keeping with Hamas practice.
Ted Postol, an expert on missile defense at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said he was not familiar with all the details of Iron Dome, but believed it could help protect small communities from direct hits.
However, he said it was not clear if the system could stop a massive rocket barrage, and the high cost could also be a problem.
A homemade projectile costs less than $200, he said, while intercepting one would cost around $100,000. However, experts say the cost will drop once the system is in mass production.
Rubin, the former Defense Ministry official, said the shield is worthwhile anyway, citing the high human and economic cost to communities that live under rocket threat.
For now, cross-border friction typical of the recent years still plays itself out.
On Wednesday, Hamas loyalists clashed with Egyptian troops over Egypt's border wall. An Egyptian border guard was killed and seven Gazans were wounded in a brief exchange of fire.
Egypt's Foreign Ministry issued a stern warning, saying it would not stand for another violent protest on the border. Some, meanwhile, have questioned the effectiveness of the steel wall, saying tunnel smugglers could simply dig deeper.
Khaled Hroub, a Hamas expert and lecturer at Cambridge University, said he believes the recent developments will restrict Hamas' military options, but not its control over Gaza.
An update on this story. "At Least 7 Killed After Coptic Christmas Mass In Egypt," from the Associated Press, January 6
Three men in a car sprayed automatic gunfire into a crowd of churchgoers in southern Egyptian as they left a midnight Mass for Coptic Christmas, killing at least seven people in a drive-by shooting, the church bishop and security officials said.
Egypt's Interior Ministry said the attack Wednesday just before midnight was suspected as retaliation for the November rape of a Muslim girl by a Christian man in the same town. The statement said witnesses have identified the lead attacker.
Prior reporting described the accusation of rape as a rumor. Nonetheless, riots ensued.
The attack took place in the town of Nag Hamadi in Qena province, about 40 miles from the famous ancient ruins of Luxor. A local security official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media, confirmed that seven were dead and three seriously wounded.
Bishop Kirollos of the Nag Hamadi Diocese told The Associated Press six male churchgoers and one security guard were killed. He said he had left St. John's church just minutes before the attack.
"A driving car swerved near me, so I took the back door. By the time I shook hands with someone at the gate, I heard the mayhem, lots of machine gun shots," he said in a telephone interview. He said he saw five bodies lying on the ground when he first looked at the site of the shooting, about 600 yards where he was.
The bishop said he was concerned about violence on the eve of Coptic Christmas, which falls on Thursday, because of previous threats following the rape of the 12-year-old girl in November.
He got a message on his mobile phone saying: "It is your turn."
"I did nothing with it. My faithful were also receiving threats in the streets, some shouting at them: 'We will not let you have festivities,"' he said.
Because of the threats, he said he ended his Christmas Mass one hour early.
He said Muslim residents of Nag Hamadi and neighboring villages rioted for five days in November and torched and damaged Christian properties in the area after the rape.
"For days, I had expected something to happen on Christmas day," he said. The bishop said police have now asked him to stay at home for fear of further violence. [...]
Clashes between Muslims and Christians are not uncommon in southern Egypt and in recent years have begun seeping into the capital. An Amnesty International report said sectarian attacks on the Coptic Christian community, comprising between 6 million and 8 million people in Egypt, increased in the year 2008. Sporadic clashes between Coptic Christians and Muslims left eight people dead.
Vendetta killing is also common among southern Egyptians, and is usually over land or family disputes.
The bishop said he had an idea of who the attackers were, calling them "Muslim radicals."
"It is all religious now. This is a religious war about how they can finish off the Christians in Egypt," he said.
At least 55 people have been injured in clashes between Egyptian police and pro-Palestinian activists who were trying to deliver aid into the Gaza Strip, eyewitnesses say.
Some 520 activists broke down the gate at the port in al-Arish late on Tuesday in protest against an Egyptian decision to ship some of the goods through Israel, medical workers and protesters said.
The protests were sparked by an Egyptian decision to allow 139 vehicles to enter Gaza through the Rafah crossing, about 45km from the port in al-Arish, but requiring a remaining 59 vehicles to pass via Israel.
Around 40 members of the convoy had minor injuries while over a dozen policemen were hurt in the clashes with protesters, who also blocked the two entrances to the Sinai port with vehicles, medical workers said.
The Viva Palestina convoy, led by George Galloway, the British MP, had already been delayed by more than a week, after he and a delegation of Turkish MPs failed to persuade the Egyptians to change their mind.
The convoy of nearly 200 vehicles arrived in al-Arish on Monday after a dispute with Cairo on the route.
But the arrival came after a bitter dispute between its organisers and the government, which banned the convoy from entering Egypt's Sinai from Jordan by ferry, forcing it to drive north to the Syrian port of Lattakia.
The convoy with 210 lorries full of medicine and other supplies set out from the UK nearly a month ago.
Israel and Egypt have severely restricted travel to and from the Gaza Strip since Hamas seized power there in June 2007, after winning Palestinian legislative elections in 2006.
The blockade currrently allows only very basic supplies into Gaza.
The siege has severely restricted essential supplies and placed Gazans in a dire situation, made worse by Israel's military assault last winter that reduced much of the territory to ruins.
Hamas has accused Egypt of reinforcing the siege imposed.
Fawzi Barhoum, a spokesman for the group, told Al Jazeera on Wednesday that Egypt's moves to ban the Gaza aid convoy from reaching the enclave and to build an underground steel wall are deliberate policies that reinforce its participation in the siege.
He said that such practices are unjustifiable and frustrating for Palestinian expectations from the Egyptian side.
In other Gaza-related news, a Palestinian fighter was reportedly killed and four others wounded in an Israeli air attack on Tuesday in the city of Khan Younis, according to a security source.
An Israeli military spokeswoman said Israel had launched the raid against fighters "planning to fire rockets at southern Israel".
The armed wing of a group called the Popular Resistance Committee said its members had been targeted by the attack.
A court in Egypt has ruled in favour of the government's decision to ban students from wearing the face veil (niqab) while taking university examinations.
But female students who had appealed the ban when it was originally imposed by the government last October have vowed to appeal the verdict.
The students said the ban on niqab infringed on their religious rights.
"We had never hoped to see such a verdict issued by our fair Egyptian judicial system. Our rights are being raped. What freedom would we have after this? Where is freedom in Egypt?," one student told Al Jazeera after Sunday's verdict.
Nizar Ghorab, the lawyer of the students, said the ban "supports rape and sexual harassment".
"It forces a woman to expose part of her body she doesn't want exposed. It is soul-crushing for these women," he told Al Jazeera.
The government said it banned the niqab in part because students, male and female, were attending exams disguised as other candidates by wearing a face veil.
Sunday's administrative court ruling will not necessarily be definite because such cases can be appealed and refiled many times in Egypt's legal system.
"We will hold on to our right and we will go to a higher court. They claim we are the ones who are backward, then they turn around and ban us from our education," a student told Al Jazeera.
Some of the students were in tears at the news but vowed they would not be fazed or put off by the decision.
"I will go to my exams anyway, and if they prevent me from entering and expel me, I swear by God, I will never forgive this," another student said.
"I swear, I will sue every person who prevents me from sitting my exams. I will never take off my niqab. Never."
Full facial cover was also outlawed from the dormitories of public universities in October but the court overturned that ban in mid-December saying it violated the constitutional right of freedom to practice faith.
The number of women wearing various grades of hair- and face covers have increased in Egypt in recent years, and so has the controversy around the garb.
Al Jazeera's Rawya Rageh, reporting from the Egyptian capital, Cairo, said the trial reflected a divide in the Egyptian society
"It highlights the intensifying divide between the government’s brand of moderate Islam and a population increasingly turning to stricter interpretations of the religion.
"For some, covering up has even been a tacit defiance against the system."
In 2007, a court ruled that the American University in Cairo, seen as a bastion of Western liberal education in Egypt, was wrong to bar a female scholar from using its facilities for wearing a niqab. The court cited personal and religious freedom as grounds for its ruling.
A majority of Islamic scholars say they believe wearing a headscarf is a must, while few consider the niqab obligatory.
Egyptian Christian shop owners in the eastern town of Farshoot where a Muslim riot recently occurred refused to reopen their stores until the government compensated them for damages.
Copts – the Christian community in Egypt – said they will not be coerced into overlooking the mass riot that left reportedly 65 Christian shops damaged, as reported by Assyrian International News Agency on Sunday. Instead, they are uniting to make authorities recognize what happened and punish perpetrators.
Authorities, however, reportedly are putting pressure on the Coptic Church in Nag Hammadi, which is under the same governorate as Farshoot, to tell the victims to accept extrajudicial reconciliation and reopen their businesses without compensation. Police in Farshoot are also reportedly refusing to issue police reports to victims, forcing them to travel 37 miles away to make a report with the Attorney General in Qena, the capital of the governorate. Authorities have also not carried out an estimated loss investigation despite requests the church has made for a week.
“There will be no reconciliation before full financial compensation has been paid to the Coptic victims, and the criminals are brought to justice, so that safety and security can be restored to the district,” said Bishop Kirollos of the Nag Hammadi Diocese, according to AINA.
Kirollos told activist Wagih Yacoub of the Middle East Christian Association that the victims have no money to clean up, restock items and reopen their stores.
Reports estimate that 10 pharmacies and 55 shops and businesses in Farshoot and several nearby villages were vandalized, torched or damaged during the few days of riots which began on Nov. 21. In Farshoot alone, about 80 percent of Coptic businesses were destroyed, which translates to about over $1 million in damages.
The riot, which drew hundreds of angry Muslims, was due to a rumor that a Coptic young man kidnapped and raped a 12-year-old Muslim girl.
However, an investigating officer told a Farshoot pastor that the girl said she was only sure that her attacker wore a black jacket and nothing else.
Moreover, the girl’s family had agreed with the church to wait for a police investigation and did not incite or join in with the mob that burned and looted Coptic-owned properties.
Christian business owners in Farshoot whose shops were undamaged have closed their businesses in solidarity with fellow Coptic business owners whose stores were damaged.
Bishop Kirollos has sent letters about the violence in Farshoot to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarek, Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif, Egypt’s People’s Assembly and the Shura Council asking for quick financial compensation for the Coptic victims.
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