Hillary Clinton hopes Egyptian protests aren't hijacked by 'extremists'
Hillary Clinton hopes that the new Egyptian protests aren't hijacked by 'extremists,' and that we don't see the return of dictatorial rule, because after all the Muslim Brotherhood is oh, so 'moderate' and 'democratic.'
Let's go to the videotape (Hat Tip: Shy Guy via Jawa Report).
Keep this one in case she tries to come back in four years and run for President....
There are a lot of resources at the website, but what ought to be of particular interest would be sections devoted to Historical Documents and Recollections from Arab Countries. I believe that these two sections, especially, give context that is so often missing from modern reporting and analysis.
During the past year (or more) the New York Times has published articles about criticisms coming from former Israeli intelligence officials such as Meir Dagan and Yuval Diskin criticizing Israel's political leaders (specifically PM Netanyahu and Defense Minister Barak) for being too anxious to attack Iran. These stories have a breathless quality to them, as if they are revealing a major schism in Israeli leadership.
Current Chief of Staff, Benny Gantz though put a damper on the importance of the statements of the former officials (h/t Israel Matzav):
While discussing Israel's current security situation at a meeting of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Gantz said that in regard to a potential attack on Iran, "Only a very few people know what is and is not possible. Many people claim to know, but don't really know, and there are those that knew at one time, but don't know today." The chief of staff's comments appeared to be directed at former Mossad chief Meir Dagan and Former Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) chief Yuval Diskin, who have publicly questioned Israel's current leadership for threatening an attack against Iran's nuclear facilities and suggested that such an attack would not be effective in seriously curbing Iran's nuclear program.
This is important. While the New York Times has (and other news organizations have) an interest in sensationalizing a story, especially one that pits "sober" former officials speaking out against "reckless" current government officials, intelligence changes fast. The former officials may once have been correct and may have once been fully informed. But the situation isn't static. Their knowledge is now outdated.
Last month's coalition agreement that brought Shaul Mofas into the government is probably more important than the statements of Dagan and Diskin. Mofaz wsa known to be skeptical of an attack on Iran, so his agreement suggests that Netanyahu was able to convince him that he wasn't about to launch a reckless raid on Iran.
3) Free and open debate
I had seen a few of these news stories and thought of putting them together, but I see that Elder of Ziyon has seen many more stories and combined them into a single post, Muslims suppressing freedom of expression worldwide.
How to discuss an honor killing without mentioning the "M" word
In Canada last week, a father, his wife and their son were convicted of the 'honor killing' of three teenage sisters and a 'co-wife.' The killers are adherents of the religion that cannot be criticized. But I'm sure it's all just a coincidence.
First the AP report on the MSNBC site which does mention a religion but not the one you think:
KINGSTON, Ontario — A jury on Sunday found an Afghan father, his wife and their son guilty of killing three teenage sisters and a co-wife in what the judge described as "cold-blooded, shameful murders" resulting from a "twisted concept of honor."
The jury took 15 hours to find Mohammad Shafia, 58; his wife Tooba Yahya, 42; and their son Hamed, 21, each guilty of four counts of first-degree murder in a case that shocked and riveted Canadians from coast to coast. First-degree murder carries an automatic life sentence with no chance of parole for 25 years.
A religion is finally mentioned in the report but only the one in which is politically correct to do so:
The prosecution said her parents found condoms in Sahar's room as well as photos of her wearing short skirts and hugging her Christian boyfriend, a relationship she had kept secret....
NBC didn't do any better with it. Let's go to the videotape.
Gee - what religion are they? I know, I know, that religion doesn't teach those things. It's sheer coincidence that nearly every incident you hear like this one happens to involve its adherents.
And to my reader who always objects to posts like this one: Does your male guardian know that you read this blog and write comments on it?
And for the rest of you, please think about the implications of the fact that the media is so politically correct that they won't even name the religion that inspires this sort of thing. What do you think that says about how you get your news?
On its website, the U.K. Islamist group Muslims Against Crusades posted a notice titled "Is the Assassination of Obama Legal?" The notice, which is dated October 3, 2011, features a photo montage of Osama bin Laden, Anwar Al-Awlaki, a masked gunman, and President Obama with what appears to be a bullet wound on his forehead, and includes U.K. phone numbers for "media enquiries" and "general enquiries."
A Pew survey shows that significantly more Muslims support Hamas and Hezbullah than support al-Qaeda. The differences become more pronounced when the Muslims answering the questions are Arabs.
Extremist groups Hamas and Hezbollah continue to receive mixed ratings from Muslim publics. However, opinions of al Qaeda and its leader, Osama bin Laden, are consistently negative; only in Nigeria do Muslims offer views that are, on balance, positive toward al Qaeda and bin Laden.
Hezbollah receives its most positive ratings in Jordan, where 55% of Muslims have a favorable view; a slim majority (52%) of Lebanese Muslims also support the group, which operates politically and militarily in their country.
But Muslim views of Hezbollah reflect a deep sectarian divide in Lebanon, where the group’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, is threatening violence if a United Nations tribunal indicts Hezbollah members for the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. More than nine-in-ten (94%) Lebanese Shia support the organization, while an overwhelming majority (84%) of Sunnis in that country express unfavorable views.
Note that they have no numbers for Pakistan on al-Qaeda and that Turkey's numbers are quite low on all three groups. I wonder why Turkey's Prime Minister is apparently so much more pro-Hamas and Hezbullah than most of his people. One reason might be that the survey was conducted between April 12 and May 7, which was before the Mavi Marmara incident.
But I would attribute the greater support for Hezbullah and Hamas than for al-Qaeda across the board - and especially in Jordan, Lebanon and Egypt - to the support for 'resistance' against Israel that generally permeates the Arab world.
Even more striking is the percentage of Muslims that believe that Islam should 'play a role' in politics.
The survey also finds that Muslim publics overwhelmingly welcome Islamic influence over their countries’ politics. In Egypt, Pakistan and Jordan, majorities of Muslims who say Islam is playing a large role in politics see this as a good thing, while majorities of those who say Islam is playing only a small role say this is bad for their country. Views of Islamic influence over politics are also positive in Nigeria, Indonesia, and Lebanon.
Turkish Muslims express more mixed views of the role Islam is playing in their country’s political life. Of the 69% who say the religion plays a large role, 45% see it as good and 38% see it as bad for their country. Among the minority of Muslims who say Islam plays a small role in politics, 26% consider this to be good for Turkey and 33% say it is bad.
The survey results are quite long, and if you can you should read the whole thing. But I do want to point out the results of the question about suicide bombing.
Jordanian and Egyptian Muslims express somewhat more support for suicide bombing than they did in 2009, when 12% and 15%, respectively, said violence against civilians was justified in order to defend Islam. Compared with 2002, however, when the Pew Global Attitudes Project began tracking attitudes on this issue, far fewer across the Muslim world now endorse suicide bombings. For example, the percentage of Muslims saying these types of attacks are often or sometimes justified has declined 35 percentage points in Lebanon (74% in 2002), 25 percentage points in Pakistan (33% in 2002), and 23 percentage points in Jordan (43% in 2002).
Support for suicide bombing does not vary consistently across gender, age, education or income lines. And, for the most part, those who favor the death penalty for people who leave the Muslim religion are no more likely than those who oppose it to say violent acts in defense of Islam can be justified. Only in Indonesia and Nigeria is that not the case; 22% of Indonesian Muslims and 39% of Nigerian Muslims who say people who leave their religion should receive the death penalty say suicide bombings are often or sometimes justified, compared with 12% and 29%, respectively, of those who oppose the death penalty for those who leave Islam.
It's too bad they didn't include the 'Palestinian Authority' or Hamastan in the survey. The answers to these questions from those populations would be especially interesting.
I am an Orthodox Jew - some would even call me 'ultra-Orthodox.' Born in Boston, I was a corporate and securities attorney in New York City for seven years before making aliya to Israel in 1991 (I don't look it but I really am that old :-). I have been happily married to the same woman for thirty-five years, and we have eight children (bli ayin hara) ranging in age from 13 to 33 years and nine grandchildren. Four of our children are married! Before I started blogging I was a heavy contributor on a number of email lists and ran an email list called the Matzav from 2000-2004. You can contact me at: IsraelMatzav at gmail dot com
