Co-Founder of Egyptian Salafist party met with Tzipi Livni
The co-founder of the Egyptian Salafist party, a group of extremist Muslims,
met with former Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni at Harvard in April according to a report in Egyptian media (Hat Tip:
MFS - The Other News).
Alwaght- Egyptians were shocked when the Arabic
language newspaper, Youm7, revealed that the co-founder of Egypt’s
Salafist Nour Party has met with the Israeli Regime's former foreign
minister.
The influential daily revealed on the weekend that
extremist Nour Party's Nader Bakkar has hold secret meeting with
notorious Tzipi Livni in April at Harvard University.
The meeting that was reportedly held at Bakkar’s request has sparked a storm of controversy in Egyptian media.
...
Salafism is an ultra-conservative movement within Sunni
Islam that advocats a return to the traditions of the "devout
ancestors". The doctrine can be summed up as taking "a fundamentalist
approach to Islam".
The Nour Party's co-founder and deputy chairman, Bakkar,
Bakkar was awarded a scholarship to pursue a master’s in public
administration at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.
Muslim Brotherhood accused the aspiring young politician of
unjustly winning a fellowship to attend the prestigious Harvard
University in return for his party’s betrayal of former President Mohamed Morsi in 2013.
The Salafi party sided with the Armed Forces against the
Brotherhood during Morsi’s ouster, and since then has continued to
support President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s administration.
...
A few months before his graduation, however, Livni visited
Harvard on 16 April to give a lecture on the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict.
Sources reportedly told the Egyptian newspaper that after
finding out that Livni was coming to speak, Bakkar contacted the society
to arrange a closed meeting with Livni.
She agreed and the meeting took
place inside the university after her lecture.
According to Youm7, Nader Bakkar’s meeting with Tzipi
Livini lasted around 40 minutes, in which Bakkar talked about the
strength of the Nour Party and its popularity, that he was the main
reason for the (Muslim) Brotherhood’s success after the 25 January
revolution…
Livni- who has reportedly conducted sexual relations with
Arab officials during her years as a Mossad agent in an attempt to
entrap them- did not reveal the meeting at the time, but sources close
to her confirmed to the Israel Broadcasting Authority (IBA) that the
meeting took place.
You gotta love Alwaght's style "Israeli Regime" and "Livni- who has reportedly conducted sexual relations with
Arab officials during her years as a Mossad agent in an attempt to
entrap them..." as if they were totally defenseless against her, even if you assume it's true (For many reasons, I don't believe Livni did this, and I won't allow comments discussing it).
And you thought Livni hated religious people... oh... wait... it's only
religious Jews she hates.
But yes, I do believe Livni met with Bakkar. I doubt anything came of it. Much ado about nothing.
Labels: Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, Egypt, Egyptian regime change, Egyptian Revolution, Harvard University, Mohammed Morsy, Mossad, Salafists, Tzipi Livni
It's come to this: Egypt asks Israel to keep Turkey away from Gaza
Egypt is worried - really worried - about the prospect that Turkey will have a role to play in Gaza, and with 'reconciliation talks' between Israel and Turkey ostensibly taking place, the Egyptians have asked Israel to ensure that
Turkey will stay away.
Senior officials in Jerusalem told Haaretz that Egypt expressed its reservations regarding granting Turkey a role in the Gaza Strip, and asked whether Israel had committed to any easing of restrictions in the closure imposed on Gaza.
These officials, who asked to remain anonymous due to the delicate diplomatic nature of the issue, stated that what caused the Egyptian government’s displeasure was Israeli media reports from a few weeks ago, according to which a breakthrough had been reached in reconciliation talks with Turkey, as well as reports in the Turkish media that Israel had agreed to take significant steps in easing the maritime siege on Gaza.
Senior Egyptian Foreign Ministry officials met with Israel’s ambassador Haim Koren and asked if these reports were correct and whether Israel and Turkey are indeed close to reconciling. The temporary chargé d’affaires at the Egyptian embassy in Tel Aviv delivered similar messages in a recent meeting with senior Foreign Ministry officials in Jerusalem. Egypt expressed its opposition to any Israeli concessions to Turkey with regard to the Gaza Strip.
Egypt has two concerns: Turkey's support for Mohammed Morsy's Muslim Brotherhood regime in Egypt, and Turkey's close relations with Hamas.
Last week, Erdogan said that as part of the negotiations with Israel over the agreement, Turkey is interested in sending a ship that would arrive directly in Gaza, providing electricity and delivering construction materials. He noted that Israel has told Turkey that it would lift the siege if aid to Gaza goes through Turkey.
Last week, the Turkish Hürriyet Daily News reported that Turkey demanded that Israel grants it “unlimited access” in providing aid to the Gaza Strip. The report noted that senior Turkish officials said that if Israel allows this, Turkey will consider it a fulfillment of its condition that Israel lifts its siege.
Haaretz's Barak Ravid reports that the tensions between Egypt and Turkey are holding up any Israeli reconciliation with Turkey. Well, good.
Labels: Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, Egypt, Egypt-Turkey alliance, Gaza, Gaza blockade, Hamas, Mohammed Morsy, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey
Hillary Clinton's 'special relationship'
This is
not a Purim joke.
Judicial Watch also announced late
Wednesday that it has filed a new FOIA suit seeking "any and all
communications – including emails – from then-Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton and her chief of staff Huma Abedin with Nagla Mahmoud, wife of
ousted Egyptian president Mohammad Morsi, from January 21, 2009 to
January 31, 2013."
Mahmoud was reported by an Egyptian media outlet to have
threatened"to expose the special relationship between her husband and
Hillary Clinton, after the latter attacked the ousted [president],
calling him a simpleton who was unfit for the presidency. Sources close
to Nagla confirmed that she has threatened to publish the letters
exchanged between Morsi and Hillary."
Oh my....
Labels: Hillary Clinton, Mohammed Morsy, US presidential campaign 2016
Video report on Mubarak acquittal
Here's a CBS News report on the acquittal of former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.
Let's go to the videotape.
More from Ed Morrissey
here.
Labels: Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, Cairo, Egyptian Revolution, Hosni Mubarak, Mohammed Morsy, Muslim Brotherhood, Tahrir Square
Abu Bluff and Egypt's foreign ministry both deny Sinai land offer
It took several hours, but both '
moderate' '
Palestinian' President
Mahmoud Abbas Abu Mazen and Egypt's
foreign ministry are denying a story I reported earlier today that has Egypt offering Abu Mazen 1,600 square kilometers of the Sinai for a 'Palestinian state' and Abu Mazen
turning down that offer. This is from the next-to-law link.
Israeli statesmen responded favorably to reports of an Egyptian-led
proposal aimed at establishing a Palestinian state in the Sinai
Peninsula in order to resolve the issue of refugees.
Earlier in the day, Egypt's Foreign Ministry denied reports of the
initiative, which claimed President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi presented
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas with the proposal. The ministry
added that the proposal was actually made in the past by ousted
President Mohammed Morsi.
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Fat chance!
Arutz Sheva
adds:
Al-Tayyib Abd Al-Rahim, Secretary-General of Abbas's office, told the Palestinian Arab Ma'an News Agency that the reports were "fabricated."
Al-Rahim added that Abbas would not accept any alternative to a
"Palestinian state" on the 1949 Armistice lines with eastern Jerusalem
as its capital.
"This news is completely false and the proposal is an old one
suggested by former head of the Israeli National Security Council Giora
Eiland, who suggested to establish a Palestinian state in Gaza and parts
of Sinai with autonomy in the West Bank," al-Rahim said.
Abbas's representative further claimed that Egypt shares the PA's
position calling for a "two state solution" based on the 1949 Armistice
lines.
My guess is that Sisi made the offer, Abu Bluff said no, and that the Egyptian foreign ministry is afraid that disclosing the fact that the offer was made will lead to rioting in the streets, and possibly to Egypt being expelled from the Arab League as happened after Camp David. Egypt is
extremely anti-Semitic.
Labels: Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, Abu Mazen, Egyptian anti-Semitism, Mohammed Morsy, Palestinian refugees, Palestinian state, Sinai
Change! Editor in Chief of Egypt's Al-Ahram: 'We don't have an alliance with the US'
Yet another example of how President Hussein Obama has 'fixed' the United States' relations with the Arab world. In an interview on Russia Today, the editor in chief of al-Ahram, Egypt's largest newspaper (which I believe is government-owned) says that Egypt does not have an alliance with the United States.
Let's go to the videotape.
Obama has sure fixed the United States' relations with the Arab world, hasn't he? Blame it on Bush!
Labels: Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, Barack Hussein Obama, Egypt, George W. Bush, Mohammed Morsy, Muslim Brotherhood
A 'win-win'... for Hamas
Although largely defeated militarily, Hamas has succeeded in attacking Israel and using it to drive an even
deeper wedge between the Jewish state and its 'most trusted ally.' This is David Horovitz.
It becomes ever harder to understand what the
US administration thinks it is doing in the Middle East. Its influence
is waning across the region. It appears insufficiently robust — to put
it mildly — when dealing with the region’s most dangerous regimes,
notably Iran. Its ill-judged lack of enthusiasm for Abdel-Fattah
el-Sissi — apparently blamed by Washington for ending an elected Muslim
Brotherhood presidency, even though president Mohammed Morsi would
likely have ensured no further elections — is pushing Egypt ever closer
to Russia. And now ties with the region’s only democracy are fraying.
Some in the administration appear to labor
under the delusion that if only Benjamin Netanyahu — described by some
US officials in Thursday’s Wall Street Journal as “reckless and
untrustworthy” — could be weakened and eased aside, Israelis might elect
a leadership more inclined to follow its thinking and consider
territorial compromise in the cause of a rejuvenated peace process with
the Palestinians. The fact is, of course, that an Israel attempting to
de-fang Hamas, concerned at the possibility of rising tensions in the
West Bank, aware that Hezbollah in Lebanon is many times more powerful
than Hamas is, and watching Iran working to outwit the West on its route
to nuclear weapons, is as likely to veer left as Hamas is to
voluntarily disarm. Far from being the most obdurate prime minister,
Netanyahu is the most moderate that Israel can be expected to choose in
the foreseeable future.
It is frankly astounding to the overwhelming
majority of Israelis that Israel is being blamed for and pressured to
end a war it manifestly sought to avoid — against a terrorist-government
sworn to its destruction that repeatedly breaches the ceasefire efforts
Israel consistently accepts. That the conflict is widely
misrepresented, and that hostile governments are critical, is bad enough
for Israel. Far, far graver is that key allies, to one degree or
another, are turning upon it.
...
Rather than criticizing Israel for seeking to
protect its civilians from Hamas, and moving now to limit its capacity
to do so, the US, UK and the rest of the international community should
be emphatically backing Israel in its struggle against the cynical Hamas
— for the sake, too, of the civilians of Gaza. They should be insisting
that Hamas disarm. And they should be making clear that they share
Israel’s and Egypt’s concern that lifting the blockade is not tenable so
long as any easing of restrictions would be exploited by Hamas.
They would thus be underlining the message to
Gazans that Hamas is not fighting for their freedom, as it claims, but
is, through its pursuit of war against Israel, denying them their
freedom.
They would also be giving Israel reason to
believe that when it finds itself in crisis — in good part, it can be
argued, because it undertook a territorial withdrawal widely urged by
the international community — the world will stand shoulder-to-shoulder
with it. Right now, the sense in Israel is quite the reverse — not
support, but abandonment.
From Hamas’s point of view, it must be a
source of immense delight to witness the strains, and practical fallout,
in the relationship between Washington and Jerusalem. It wins an
election in which the US insisted it be allowed to take part, even
though it has never renounced terrorism. It murders its way to control
of Gaza. It diverts Gaza’s resources to turn the Strip into one great
big terrorist bunker. It hits Israel, over and over and over again. It
intimidates international journalists to not report on and film its
attack methods. And the international community condemns Israel, the UN
sets up inquiries into Israeli war crimes, and Israel’s allies limit its
arms supplies.
All it needs to do, Hamas can only conclude,
is keep firing at Israel’s towns and villages, forcing Israel to
respond, confident that this will bring still more criticism down on
Israel as well as growing restrictions on Israel’s ability to defend
itself. Wow, the Hamas leaders must be thinking, the free world is just
so dumb.
John Podhoretz
adds regarding the US block on Hellfire missiles to Israel:
Simply put: It’s a gigantic hissy fit, an expression of rage against
Bibi Netanyahu, by whom the administration feels dissed. The quotes in
this article are almost beyond belief. In the annals of American foreign
policy, no ally has ever been talked about in this way.
EXAMPLE: A senior U.S. official said the U.S. and Israel clashed
mainly because the U.S. wanted a cease-fire before Mr. Netanyahu was
ready to accept one. “Now we both want one,” one of the officials said.
This is also transparently absurd. Netanyahu didn’t want this war,
and is transparently eager for any way to extricate Israel from a long
struggle. What he can’t accept is a cease-fire that leaves Hamas with
sufficient firepower and with intact tunnels—which is something you’d
think the United States would similarly support.
EXAMPLE: “It’s become very personal,” an official tells the Wall
Street Journal. Yeah, no kidding. That’s a great way to make policy.
For five and a half years now, some Israel advocates have been
attempting to make the case to others that there is something new and
dark in the Obama administration’s perspective on Israel—that there is
an animus as pronounced as the one during the administration of the
Elder George Bush, which was so self-evident the Jewish vote for Bush in
the 1992 reelection was a staggeringly low 11 percent.
This Wall Street Journal article should now leave no illusions. In
its transparent hostility—not to mention the cowardice of hiding behind
anonymity to issue its repugnant bitch-slaps—the Obama administration is
worse than the Bush 41 administration. It’s the worst since
Eisenhower. Were it not for Iron Dome, it would be the worst ever. And
given the decision to hold up weaponry during wartime, it may yet
surpass Eisenhower.
And Eisenhower
came around to
support Israel in his second term.
Labels: Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, Barack Hussein Obama, Binyamin Netanyahu, Dwight Eisenhower, Egypt, Gaza, Hamas, IDF, Mohammed Morsy, Muslim Brotherhood
12 ways Obama has screwed Israel... in the last year
I don't agree with everything he writes and David Horovitz doesn't even mention Turkey (okay, that was March 2013), but this is a devastating piece that lists
12 ways in which Obama has screwed Israel over the last year (David would never put it so coarsely). Here's a summary:
You might think the above list is the least that Israel might reasonably
expect from the US administration. But no. The peace process has
collapsed and Israel is getting a disproportionate amount of the blame.
Hamas, committed under its own charter to the obliteration of Israel, is
now part of an internationally recognized Palestinian government. And
the P5+1 nations, led by the US, are working toward a deal that will
enshrine Iran’s uranium enrichment capabilities. Israel may not be a
perfect ally, but we deserve better than this.
But what gets me about this is that David Horovitz - who once told me that he could not live in Israel without hope for peace - still holds out hope and even more importantly still cannot see that Obama and his wing of the Democratic party are Israel's enemies.
Unfortunately, however, such lapses and failures are not the exception
when it comes to the US-Israel alliance of late. This administration has
worked closely with Israel in ensuring the Jewish state maintains its
vital military advantage in this treacherous neighborhood, partnering
Israel in offensive and defensive initiatives, notably including missile
defense. It has stood by Israel at diplomatic moments of truth. It has
broadly demonstrated its friendship, as would be expected given
America’s interest in promoting the well-being of the region’s sole,
stable, dependable democracy. But the dash to recognize the Fatah-Hamas
government was one more in a series of aberrations — words and deeds
that would have been far better left unsaid or undone, misconceived
strategies, minor betrayals.
Actually, it's Congress that's been partnering Israel and forcing Obama to go along. Obama has abandoned Israel each time he has felt able to do so. '
Stood by Israel at diplomatic moments of
truth?
Really?
Labels: Abu Mazen, anti-Israel obsession, Barack Hussein Obama, David Horovitz, Iranian nuclear threat, Middle East peace process, Mohammed Morsy, Palestinian terrorists, settlement freeze, Syrian uprising
Egyptian woman's anti-Obama rant goes viral
This video in Egypt has gone viral.
Let's go to the videotape.
Obama has really repaired US relations with the Arab world, hasn't he? Heh.
Labels: Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, Barack Hussein Obama, Egypt, Mohammed Morsy
Massive explosion rocks Cairo police headquarters
At least three people were killed and dozens injured from a
massive car bomb outside Cairo's police headquarters on Friday morning. (The picture is from a previous incident).
The Egyptian capital of Cairo has been shaken by a massive explosion.
The blast, originating from a car bomb detonated right next to the
city's police headquarters, was powerful enough to destroy much of the
structure of the building.
Egyptian media reports at least 3 killed and dozens injured.
The bombing, which took place at 6:30 a.m., left the center of Cairo enveloped in smoke, reports Al Arabiya. Gunshots were also reported to have been heard in nearby buildings following the explosion.
The attack comes on the heels of a constitutional referendum
that passed overwhelmingly last Thursday, which promised a "democratic
transition" by the interim military government, and which was boycotted
by ousted President Mohammed Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood.
Hmmm.
Labels: Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, Egypt, Egyptian regime change, Mohammed Morsy, Muslim Brotherhood
Ouch: Kedar tells 'Bibi' to find some backbone
Mordechai Kedar challenges Binyamin Netanyahu: Does 'Bibi' really have the guts to stand up to Obama? Or is he all bluff?
Kedar does so using the example of Egypt, where army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has forced US President Hussein Obama to blink and meekly accept the fact that Mohammed Morsy and the Muslim Brotherhood are not coming back - to power or otherwise - for the foreseeable future. In fact, argues Kedar, Sisi could have Morsy executed (after a 'trial' of course), and there is nothing Obama can do about it.
If Sisi can stand up to Obama, argues Kedar, so can 'Bibi' (Hat Tip:
Memeorandum).
The events in Egypt prove that Obama
and his team of aides are helpless against the determination of Middle Eastern
countries. That’s how it is with Iran, with Iraq and with Syria. They can not
enter into a confrontation with governments that are determined and firm in
their positions, and ultimately Obama accepts the decisions of Middle East
regimes, even if he does not agree with them.
What Netanyahu can and must
conclude is that it is not at all necessary to come to an agreement with the
Palestinians. Kerry can come again and again, can raise a thousand and one
ideas, but cannot take away the Jewish people’s right to the Land of Israel,
that was granted to it thousands of years ago, and again in 1920 in the San Remo
Conference.
Obama and Kerry cannot assure Israel that a Palestinian state
with territorial contiguity would not at some point become another Hamas state
like that which arose six-and-a-half years ago in the Gaza Strip, and therefore
Israel must relate to their demands exactly as Sisi relates to
them.
Giving in does not lead to agreement, but rather to determination.
Israel must do what Israeli interests – not American interests – dictate, and in
this phase of history Israel’s immediate interest is to bring the Palestinian
Authority to an end, and to continue what Hamas began: to establish the
Palestinian Emirates on the ruins of the PA, based on the Arab cities in Judea
and Samaria. Israel must maintain forever the rural expanse and offer Israeli
citizenship to its residents.
A Palestinian terror state with territorial
contiguity would be an existential threat to Israel, and therefore Israel should
assert its right – it can and must say to Obama and Kerry: No! If Netanyahu is
as determined as is Sisi, he will succeed against Obama and Kerry, exactly as
Sisi has.
Read the whole thing. If only Netanyahu can find the backbone to take Kedar's advice....
Labels: Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, Binyamin Netanyahu, Egypt, Mohammed Morsy, Mordechai Kedar, Muslim Brotherhood, Palestinian Authority, Palestinian state RIGHT NOW syndrome, two-state solution
Egypt revoking citizenship from Hamas leaders
Egypt is
revoking citizenship that was granted to Hamas leaders during the rule of Mohammed Morsy.
Under Morsi’s rule, the Egyptian authorities granted Egyptian
citizenship to thousands of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, including
top Hamas officials.
One of the Hamas leaders who received an Egyptian passport was Mahmoud Zahar, who was born to an Egyptian mother.
The
Palestinian daily Al-Quds reported that the Egyptian authorities have
taken effective measures to revoke the citizenship of Zahar and many
other Palestinians from the Gaza Strip.
The paper quoted an
Egyptian source as saying that the latest measure targeted Palestinians
who are “affiliated with certain Palestinian political parties or those
who are connected to outlawed groups in Egypt.”
The source
pointed out that Egyptian law prohibits those who obtain Egyptian
citizenship from engaging in political activities or membership in
political parties in the first five years.
Palestinian sources
claimed last year that the Egyptian authorizes had agreed to grant
citizenship to more than 50,000 Palestinians who were born to Egyptian
mothers.
I'm fine with this so long as it's limited to 'Palestinians' who live in Gaza. You might recall that Jordan's King Abdullah
revoked citizenship from 'Palestinians' living in Jordan in order to ensure that they don't 'give up' their 'right of return.' If Egypt behaves similarly, that would be troublesome. But in the context of the Egyptian government's dispute with the Muslim Brotherhood, I can't really see a problem with what they're doing now.
Labels: Egypt, Gaza plenty, Hamas, Mahmoud al-Zahar, Mohammed Morsy, Muslim Brotherhood
US suspends some aid to Egypt
You would hope that at least a move like this would have some connection to the current budget crisis in the United States. But of course it doesn't. It's pure politics. President Hussein Obama so misses his friend, Muslim Brotherhood chair Mohammed Morsy, that he is
partially suspending aid to Egypt.
To signal its displeasure at the Egyptian military’s bloody crackdown on
the Muslim Brotherhood, officials said, the United States would
withhold the delivery of several big-ticket items, including Apache
attack helicopters, Harpoon missiles, M1-A1 tank parts and F-16
warplanes, as well as $260 million for the general Egyptian budget.
But in a sign of how the administration is balancing its interests,
senior officials said the United States would continue aid for
counterterrorism programs as well as for Egypt’s efforts to protect its
borders and secure the Sinai, which has become a haven for extremists.
In announcing the decision, administration officials reiterated that the
Egyptian military’s brutal repression of supporters of the ousted
president, Mohamed Morsi, was not acceptable. But in explaining their
specific steps, American officials sounded as if they were reaffirming a
valuable relationship rather than delivering a rebuke.
...
The announcement laid bare the underlying calculations that have shaped
the United States’ effort to respond to the upheaval in Egypt ever since
the crackdown began in July, leaving more than 1,000 people dead.
American officials have long doubted that cutting back military aid
would have any effect on the behavior of Egypt’s military-backed
government. The United States also does not want to jeopardize security
interests in Egypt, notably counterterrorism efforts, the stability of
the Sinai Peninsula and the 1979 peace treaty between Egypt and Israel.
Israeli officials were
critical of the suspension.
Prior to the official announcement of the aid withdrawal on Wednesday, The New York Times quoted an Israeli official as warning that the US was "playing with fire."
The
official reportedly stated that US aid to Cairo is part of Israel's
1979 peace treaty with Egypt and is also an important element of the
United States' standing in the Arab world.
"If America is seen to
be turning its back on Egypt, an old ally, how will it be seen? People
will see it as the United States dropping a friend,” the Times quoted the official a saying.
You mean they'll see it like US treatment of Israel, but the Arab world will react differently than Israel does. Right?
Jennifer Dyer writes that the aid cutoff is the wrong move:
Obama is already seen by too many in the Middle East as backing the Muslim Brotherhood. This latest move will only reinforce that dangerous perception. Unfortunately, it also throws into question America’s current attitude toward the investment we made in the 1979 peace treaty between Egypt and Israel, in which control of the Sinai Peninsula was returned to Egypt and the two nations agreed to demilitarize it and observe confidence-building forms of consultation over its security.
A key element of that agreement, proposed in the consultations at Camp David in 1978, was the U.S. investment in the military posture of both nations. Washington doesn’t arm Egypt just because we like Egyptians and think they’re great, although of course we do. We arm Egypt as part of our commitment to the regional-stability vehicle that is the peace between Egypt and Israel.
The 1979 peace accord is a core element of our policy in the region: a foundation, a base, a pillar, a first principle, a sine qua non. Like our investment in the Organization of American States, like our investment in NATO, like our investment in our alliances with our Far Eastern allies, our investment in the 1979 peace accord is policy bedrock for the United States. We do things just because of it: because it’s still our policy, and it’s our policy for good reason. Because it keeps the peace.
What Obama has chosen to withhold in the partial suspension of aid to Egypt is precisely the list of major weapon systems that we supply as our investment in the Egyptian peace accord with Israel: the F-16 fighter jets, the Apache helicopters, the Harpoon missiles, the upgrade kits for M1A1 Abrams tanks. The counterterrorism aid that will not be interrupted is not significant to Egypt’s security posture vis-à-vis Israel; what matters is the major, conventional weapon systems.
...
I can never quite tell if what we’re seeing from the Obama administration is ineptitude coupled with a peculiar, triangulated ideological moralism, or if it’s something else (it’s hard to even say what). It seems unlikely to me that there was no one – no one at all – involved in the administration’s deliberations on this who understood the ramifications for the 1979 accord and Middle East stability in general. But if there was someone, how did things get done in this careless, haphazard manner?
Exit question: how much longer can any semblance of a status quo in global security hold, with the United States government exercising no care to at least observe its forms?
Exhaustion is setting in, so all I will add is that Obama felt he had to do
something, so he did the wrong something again.
Labels: Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, Barack Hussein Obama, Egyptian Revolution, Mohammed Morsy
2011 Egyptian revolution orchestrated by Hamas, Hezbullah... and Obama?
Writing in
The National, a daily newspaper published in the United Arab Emirates, Bradley Hope attaches much importance to the role of the heretofore largely ignored prison escape of Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohammed Morsy in the 2011 Egyptian revolution. Hope reports that escape was orchestrated by Hamas and Hezbullah, and that the revolution started from pro-democracy NGO's financed by the United States, and was then
hijacked by the Islamists.
According to the testimony by Omar Suleiman, the powerful former
director of Egypt's national intelligence directorate, the Wadi Natroun
prison break may have been part of a well-planned operation to liberate
jails across the country, carried out by Egyptian Bedouins with the help
of Islamists in Egypt and abroad.
Testifying on September 14, 2011, in the trial of Mubarak on charges
of complicity in the deaths of protesters during the 2011 uprising,
Suleiman said Egypt's spy agencies started monitoring communications
between members of Hamas and Bedouins in Sinai on January 26, 2011 - one
day after mass protests broke out.
"Hamas communicated with the Bedouins and agreed that they would
provide them with ordnance in exchange for assistance in freeing their
comrades from Egyptian prisons," said Suleiman, according to a
transcript of his court testimony.
The Al Qassam Brigades, the militant wing of Hamas, "created a
diversion so that the border guards would not pursue the smuggled
ordnance. Thus the weapons, ammunition and explosives were successfully
smuggled and given to the Bedouins," he said.
With up to 90 Gaza-based members of Hizbollah, Hamas militants then
entered Egypt illegally and led the assaults on prisons across the
country, said Suleiman, who died in July last year.
...
In his court testimony, Suleiman, acknowledged that unequal income
distribution, unemployment and other legitimate grievances of Egyptians
brought about Mubarak's downfall. He insisted, however, that external
actors exploited these wrongs to help bring his former boss down.
This view is now being taken further by some Egyptians as they seek
to explain their country's zigzag course back to a state of emergency,
one of the most reviled pillars of Mubarak's rule. The role of foreign
influences, including United States funding for civil society groups in
Egypt, looms ever larger in their attempts to explain and justify it.
To many former members of Mubarak's National Democratic Party such as
Ali El Dean Hilal Dessouki, it seems increasingly plausible to suggest
that foreign Islamists, with the aid of the Brotherhood, infiltrated the
protests and hijacked the revolution, setting Egypt on a path that
culminated with the military's intervention on July 3.
This "second revolution", as the coup against Mr Morsi is sometimes
referred to, is more meaningful and legitimate than the first, he said.
It is, Mr Dessouki said, the first "exclusively internal Egyptian uprising."
Asked why the Mubarak regime collapsed so quickly, he said it was too
soon to know for certain. But he pointed to many signs of foreign
intervention, including the prison break and foreign funding of
non-government organisations.
Read the whole thing.
Undermining Mubarak's rule in the hope of turning Egypt into a democracy was the sort of naive action that we have come to expect from the Obama administration. It's why they've gotten the Middle East all wrong from the beginning (recall their insistence on the
Muslim Brotherhood attending Obama's Cairo speech in 2009). And given the opportunity, he will compound his mishandling of the Middle East by creating a state of 'Palestine.'
Labels: Barack Hussein Obama, Egyptian democracy, Egyptian Revolution, Hosni Mubarak, Mohammed Morsy
Sharp decline in turnout for Muslim Brotherhood protests in Egypt
Asharq al-Awsat reports a
sharp decline in turnout for Muslim Brotherhood protests in Egypt (Hat Tip:
IMRA).
The Muslim Brotherhood’s attempts to organize protests to demand the
reinstatement of ousted president Mohamed Mursi on Friday ended quietly
as the total number of protesters declined markedly from previous weeks.
The small turnout prompted speculations over a drop in the group’s popularity among Egyptians.
Pro-Mursi protests were met with public condemnation across Egypt,
and anti-Brotherhood protesters reportedly attacked Islamists and tore
down their placards.
Those overseeing the situation in Egypt attributed the small turnout
to the absence of communication among Brotherhood members and protest
organizers, as well as the heightened security measures.
...
Marches did go through the streets of Cairo, with protesters
denouncing defense minister Abdel-Fatteh El-Sisi as a ”traitor.” They
also chanted: “It is not about the Brotherhood. . . . It’s a war against
Islam.”
But despite fewer protesters taking to the streets, Egypt witnessed
several acts of violence on Friday. At least one Mursi supporter was
reported killed and 25 injured in scuffles between pro- and anti-Mursi
demonstrators.
In Al-Sharqia Governorate, violence broke out as Mursi supporters
were pelted with stones and empty glass bottles for shouting slogans
against Sisi.
In the Suez Governorate, explosives experts detonated a hand grenade, a security source told Asharq Al-Awsat.
Law and order can be restored when the authorities want badly enough that it be restored. It's kind of like 'yes, there is a military solution' in a different context.
Labels: Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, Egyptian army, Egyptian Revolution, Mohammed Morsy, Muslim Brotherhood
'Palestinian' journalists to stage sit-down strike to protest assaults by 'security forces'
The 'Palestinian Authority' is working on the democracy thing. They understand that deposed Egyptian President Mohammed Morsy is not a democrat. They
understand think that the Americans will not be pleased with them if the 'Palestinians' come out
en masse to support Morsy. They know that Hamas supports Morsy and therefore they must oppose him - my enemy's enemy is my friend. But they think that the way to get there is to beat up journalists who cover pro-Morsy protests. As a result, there will be a
sit-down strike of journalists in Ramallah on Sunday.
The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate in the West Bank called
on its members to participate in the protest and condemned the attacks as an
assault on freedom of expression.
The syndicate called on the PA
leadership to punish security officers and policemen who assault
journalists.
The latest protest follows an incident during which PA
security officers beat a number of journalists during a rally in Ramallah last
Friday in support of deposed Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi.
The
journalists complained that the officers also confiscated their cameras and
deleted footage of the rally.
The assaults came as anti-riot policemen
used force to break up the rally, which the PA said was organized by
Hamas.
Keep fooling yourselves, Obami, that if God forbid there is ever a state of 'Palestine' it will be a democratic one. It is far more likely that it will look like Syria or Egypt or Lebanon than that it will look like Israel.
What could go wrong?
Labels: freedom of the press, Hamas, Mohammed Morsy, Muslim Brotherhood, Palestinian Authority, Palestinian democracy, Palestinian state
Erdogan looks for hug from Obama
Turkish Prime Minister
whined on Saturday over
American comments about his
blaming Israel for the overthrow of the Muslim Brotherhood regime in Egypt. This is from the first link.
On Saturday, Erdogan said the US should not
have responded to his comments, adding Washington’s reactions had
“saddened” him, as the remarks were aimed at Israel and not at the US.
“When I said that, an answer came from the
White House. I was saddened. Because the interlocutor [of the comments]
was not the White House. I did not mean the United States, but Israel,”
Erdogan told the crowd during a ceremony in his hometown Rize.
“What is it to the White House that it should
respond? It should not have mentioned it, it should not had reacted like
this. As two members of NATO, that one ally shows this kind of approach
to the other is not appropriate,” Erdogan said.
Asked to comment about Erdogan’s statement, an Israeli government official responded with one word: “Nonsense.”
The Egyptian interim government rejected Erdogan’s statement as
“baseless,” irrational and “very bewildering,” saying its patience was
running thin with Turkey, one of the biggest critics of the July 3
military coup. “Its purpose is to strike at the unity of Egyptians,” the
government said in a statement.
The end of Erdogan as a world power? Heh.
Labels: Barack Hussein Obama, Egyptian Revolution, Mohammed Morsy, Muslim Brotherhood, Recep Tayyip Erdogan
Last Jews in Egypt happy with army takeover
My grandmother a"h (peace be upon her) was in Israel in 1980 while I was studying in yeshiva. In the post-Camp David euphoria, she suggested that we visit Egypt together during my Pesach vacation. And so, we did. We flew Tel Aviv to Cairo on El Al, spent three days staying in the Sheharezade Hotel along the banks of the Nile (right near the 6th of October bridge you've all seen in the news and probably not far from Tahrir Square), spent a day in Cairo, flew to Luxor one day to see the tombs of the kings (50 degrees Celsius in March - my grandmother dehydrated in the heat), and then were taken by a driver to Alexandria on the third day. Everywhere we went (and we had private tour guides for the entire trip), my grandmother begged them to take us to a synagogue. So we saw the outside of Cairo's main synagogue and the outside of the Rambam (Maimonides) synagogue, and we drove past a Jewish square in Alexandria. The only Jew we met was the caretaker at the Maimonides synagogue.
I mention all this because I was surprised to discover that there are still 14 Jews - all women - left who live in Cairo. Not surprisingly, they are all
happier to have the army in charge than the Muslim Brotherhood.
Haroun, the president of the Egyptian Jewish community, doesn’t enjoy
hearing anti-Semitic slurs on the street. She gets nervous when she
hears Egyptians are burning the churches of Coptic Christians, a much
larger religious minority than the country’s tiny Jewish community.
She
assumes that most of her compatriots have forgotten there are any Jews
left in Egypt.
But when protesters filled Cairo’s Tahrir Square at
the end of June calling on President Mohamed Morsi to step down, she
was right there with them.
“The amount of people in Tahrir was
breathtaking,” Haroun told JTA. “The unity between people was
breathtaking. Some of the people recognized me because I was on TV. They
were shaking my hand and telling me, ‘God bless you. You are a real
Egyptian.’ ”
Haroun, 61, is the youngest of the 14 women who make
up Cairo’s dwindling Jewish community. Most are now in their 80s, living
off charity and rental income from properties the community has owned
for generations.
But though small in number, Haroun says the
community is proud of its country and, like many Egyptians, supportive
of the army’s campaign to quell Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood.
...
Jews have lived in Egypt for millennia. Around the time of Israel’s
founding in 1948, the community was estimated to number 75,000, but in
the decades that followed the vast majority fled.
Those that
remain are happy to call Egypt home, Haroun says. Although she has
relatives in several European countries, she vows to “never, never,
never” leave.
“I’m very proud to be here,” she said. “I want to do
whatever I can to help. We are a strong people. I am very happy now
that people [are] in the street. Instead of talking about football, they
are talking politics. There is more awareness about the importance of
our country.”
On Tuesday, CNN reported that the White House was
withholding some military aid to Egypt in protest of the military’s
violent crackdown on Morsi supporters. But for Haroun, the army’s
assertion of control is a welcome development she sees as “fighting
terrorism.”
Haroun says the Jewish community thus far has not
experienced any anti-Semitism as a result of the fighting — probably,
she says, because it’s so small.
Under Morsi’s rule, however, it was a different story.
Read the whole thing.
Labels: Cairo, Egypt, Egyptian army, Egyptian regime change, Islamic anti-Semitism, Jews, Mohammed Morsy, Muslim Brotherhood
Heh: 'Palestinian Authority' arrests Tulkarm man for selling perfume called 'Morsi'
A 27-year old 'Palestinian' man from Tulkarm has been arrested by the 'Palestinian' intelligence services for selling a perfume called '
Morsi' (link in Arabic, Google translation
here).
Ramallah
/ Sama / arrested Palestinian Intelligence, on Tuesday, the young
اسلامبولي Riad Badir (27 years) from the city of Tulkarem, and
confiscated perfume made and dubbed Egyptian President orphaned "Mercy".
Said
Abdel Fattah monastery, the brother of the detainee اسلامبولي, the
elements of the intelligence agency stormed, Tuesday morning, replaced
his brother on the sale of perfumes in Tulkarem, and conducted inside
inspections minutes, and confiscated a computer his own, also
confiscated bottles of perfume prepared by his brother, dubbed "Mercy . "
...
It is noteworthy that the young اسلامبولي monastery, An-Najah National University graduate majoring engineering building.
Mercy or Morsi? Heh.
Labels: Mohammed Morsy, Palestinian Authority
What's realistic and desirable in Egypt?
In the Wall Street Journal, Bret Stephens
has it right.
Releasing deposed President Mohammed Morsi and other detained
Brotherhood leaders may be realistic, but it is not desirable—unless you
think Aleksandr Kerensky was smart to release the imprisoned Bolsheviks
after their abortive July 1917 uprising.
Restoring the dictatorship-in-the-making that was Mr. Morsi's elected
government is neither desirable nor realistic—at least if the millions
of Egyptians who took to the streets in June and July to demand his
ouster have anything to do with it.
Bringing the Brotherhood into some kind of inclusive coalition
government in which it accepts a reduced political role in exchange for
calling off its sit-ins and demonstrations may be desirable, but it is
about as realistic as getting a mongoose and a cobra to work together
for the good of the mice.
What's realistic and desirable is for the military to succeed in its
confrontation with the Brotherhood as quickly and convincingly as
possible. Victory permits magnanimity. It gives ordinary Egyptians the
opportunity to return to normal life. It deters potential political and
military challenges. It allows the appointed civilian government to
assume a prominent political role. It settles the diplomatic landscape.
It lets the neighbors know what's what.
And it beats the alternatives. Alternative No. 1: A continued slide
into outright civil war resembling Algeria's in the 1990s. Alternative
No. 2: Victory by a vengeful Muslim Brotherhood, which will repay its
political enemies richly for the injuries that were done to it. That
goes not just for military supremo Abdel Fattah Al Sisi and his
lieutenants, but for every editor, parliamentarian, religious leader,
businessman or policeman who made himself known as an opponent of the
Brotherhood.
Question for Messrs. Graham, Leahy and Paul: Just how would American,
Egyptian, regional or humanitarian interests be advanced in either of
those scenarios? The other day Sen. Paul stopped by the Journal's
offices in New York and stressed his opposition to any U.S. policy in
Syria that runs contrary to the interests of that country's Christians.
What does he suppose would happen to Egypt's Copts, who have been in
open sympathy with Gen. Sisi, if the Brotherhood wins?
...
It would be nice to live in a world in which we could conduct a foreign
policy that aims at the realization of our dreams—peace in the Holy
Land, a world without nuclear weapons, liberal democracy in the Arab
world. A better foreign policy would be conducted to keep our nightmares
at bay: stopping Iran's nuclear bid, preventing Syria's chemical
weapons from falling into terrorist hands, and keeping the Brotherhood
out of power in Egypt. But that would require an administration that
knew the difference between an attitude and a policy.
Read the whole thing.
Labels: Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, Barack Hussein Obama, Egypt, Egyptian army, Lindsey Graham, Mohammed Morsy, Muslim Brotherhood, Rand Paul
