Qatar to be stripped of 2022 World Cup?
A whistle blower who is living in the United States under FBI protection believes that FIFA President Sepp Blatter will attempt to save his position by
stripping Qatar of the 2022 World Cup.
Phaedra Almajid says the weight of evidence of wrongdoing from her and others will be so overwhelming that FIFA will be left with no option but to find another host.
Almajid has been under protective custody of the FBI and she fears her safety will be compromised further if the tournament is taken away from the tiny oil-rich state, who shocked the world by winning the right to stage the 2022 event in 2010.
While hoping justice is done, Almajid admits that the prospect ‘scares me a lot’ because some ‘extremists’ may feel she played a role in that happening.
She said: ‘There are people who are p***** off with me [for speaking out], and what really p***** them off is that I’m a female, Muslim whistleblower.’
Another consequence of recent events, Almajid believes, is that outgoing FIFA president Sepp Blatter may try to take 2022 from Qatar as part of a radical reform agenda designed to win him praise ‘and save his skin.’
...
Almajid, an Arab-American now based in the US, worked for Qatar’s 2022 bid team until early 2010.
She told the Mail on Sunday last year that a subsequent retraction of her allegations was coerced. In fear of her safety for herself and her family - she has two children, one of them severely disabled - she was taken into the protective custody of the FBI.
The FBI are leading the investigation which has led to 14 arrests, with even more expected. ‘The FBI have everything,’ she said.
Almajid also co-operated fully with a FIFA-funded probe led by Michael Garcia, a former US attorney for New York.
Read the whole thing.
Labels: corruption, FIFA, Qatar, World Cup
Islamic State to host 2026 World Cup
After Qatar (2022), what did you expect? The Islamic State terror group will be
hosting the 2026 World Cup.
The bid was decided at a star-studded ceremony in Zurich, after what
observers termed a “ruthlessly well-organised, take-no-prisoners style
campaign”. FIFA President Sepp Blatter has defended the selection,
noting that ISIS government policy, while ‘not perfect’, meets FIFA’s
required ethical standards.
“At FIFA we believe that football is a truly global game,” he said.
“That’s why we’ve chosen ISIS, an up-and-coming nation in the Middle
East, to host the game.”
Alleged flaws in the human rights record of ISIS have made the choice
highly controversial. One spot of contention has been the safety of
Western football fans, who will, in the words of one ISIS spokesman, be
‘politely but firmly’ taken hostage and then killed regardless of
religion. Blatter has suggested that these fans should stay at home.
It is also unclear whether air strikes will still be in operation
against some of the venues. And Islamic State have yet to field an
international team in football. “Their extremely radical interpretation
of Islam doesn’t look kindly on playing football against non-Muslims,”
explained one Sharia law expert. “They do have a strong local militant
league with a growing youth squad, so they could be ones to watch in the
future. Plus they’ve got lots of British-born talent going out there
now to play.”
Can't wait to see the riots. Heh.
Labels: humor, Islamic State, soccer, World Cup
'Club Med for terrorists'
In the New York Times, Israel's ambassador to the United Nations, Ron Prosor, refers to Doha, Qatar as '
Club Med for terrorists.'
Since Israel disengaged from Gaza in 2005, Hamas has dragged us into
three rounds of major assaults, and more than 14,800 rockets have been
fired into Israel by the group or its proxies. The discovery of dozens
of tunnels packed with explosives, tranquilizers and handcuffs that end
at the doorsteps of Israeli communities should be enough to convince
anyone that Hamas has no interest in bringing quiet to Gaza or residing
alongside Israel in peace.
It says a great deal that Hamas’s
former Arab backers, which historically have included Egypt, Syria and
Saudi Arabia, long ago abandoned the terrorist group. Only a few nations
still stand by Hamas. Among the most prominent is the tiny Persian Gulf
emirate Qatar.
In recent years, the sheikhs of Doha, Qatar’s capital, have
funneled hundreds of millions of dollars to Gaza. Every one of Hamas’s
tunnels and rockets might as well have had a sign that read “Made
possible through a kind donation from the emir of Qatar.”
...
This hasn’t stopped the Persian Gulf monarchy from serving
as a Club Med for terrorists. It harbors leading Islamist radicals like
the spiritual leader of the global Muslim Brotherhood, Sheikh Yusuf
al-Qaradawi, who issued a religious fatwa endorsing suicide attacks, and the Doha-based history professor Abdul Rahman Omeir al-Naimi, whom the United States Department of Treasury has named as a “terrorist financier” for Al Qaeda. Qatar also funds a life of luxury for Khaled Meshal, the fugitive leader of Hamas.
Mr.
Meshal’s uncompromising stance — he has vowed never to recognize Israel
— has long been an obstacle to reaching a peace deal. But behind Hamas,
Qatar is pulling the strings. According to a report last week in the
pan-Arab daily newspaper Al Hayat, Qatar even threatened to expel Mr.
Meshal if Hamas accepted Egyptian proposals for a long-term cease-fire
in Gaza. All because Doha wants a starring role in any cease-fire
agreement between Hamas and Israel.
It is time for the
world to wake up and smell the gas fumes. Qatar has spared no cost to
dress up its country as a liberal, progressive society, yet at its core,
the micro monarchy is aggressively financing radical Islamist
movements. In light of the emirate’s unabashed support for terrorism,
one has to question FIFA’s decision to reward Qatar with the 2022 World
Cup.
Qatar’s continued sponsorship of Hamas all but guarantees that, whatever
happens in this round of hostilities, the terrorist group will rearm
and renew hostilities with Israel. The only way forward is to isolate
Hamas’s last major backer. Given Qatar’s considerable affluence and
influence, this is an uncomfortable prospect for many Western nations,
yet they must recognize that Qatar is not a part of the solution but a
significant part of the problem. To bring about a sustained calm, the
message to Qatar should be clear: Stop financing Hamas.
Indeed.
Labels: Emir of Qatar, FIFA, Hamas, Khaled Meshaal, Qatar, Ron Prosor, World Cup
Technion medical student celebrates kidnapping and murder
The tweet above was posted by one Murad Abu Elheja, a medical student at the Technion (an Israeli university) in Haifa.
In response, the Technion reports that the student has been summoned for 'disciplinary action.' I would bet on him not being expelled, and that one day he will be a doctor in an Israeli hospital.
Please send this to the Technion (email addresses below) and urge that this 'Palestinian' scum be expelled. Especially if you are a Technion donor or alum.
More
here (link in Hebrew).
Here are the email addresses of the Dean and the senior administrative staff:
'lilil@techunix.technion.ac.il'; 'naomic@tx.technion.ac.il';
'djoseph@tx.technion.ac.il'; 'apelmane@tx.technion.ac.il';
'ereza@tx.technion.ac.il'; 'shaleve@tx.technion.ac.il'
Labels: Arab celebrations, kidnapping, murder, Palestinian terrorism, Technion, World Cup
Argentinean soccer star Lionel Messi wears kidnapped Israeli teens at world cup
I don't think this is a photoshop (although some of the commenters - in French - seem to think that it is).
Argentinian soccer star Lionel Messi, who plays for Spain, wore
this shirt at the World Cup tournament in Brazil. Or did he?
Labels: Brazil, kidnapping, Palestinian terrorism, soccer, Spain, World Cup
Israel headed to the 2014 World Cup?
Senators Mark Kirk (R-Il) and Dan Coates (R-In) sent a letter to FIFA requesting
that Russia be barred from the World Cup in Brazil as punishment for its
takeover of Crimea.
As the third place finisher in Group F qualification, Israel would take Russia's place.
More
here.
Labels: soccer, World Cup
Hezbullah's American arms
Hezbullah in Lebanon has American weapons. Where did they come from? They surely didn't come from Fast and Furious in Mexico. And since the US has not yet given arms (or did they?) to the Syrian rebels, they didn't come from there either. So what's the source?
Here's Soccer Dad's Middle East Media Sampler for Thursday, July 11.
1) Where did Hezbollah get American arms
Last month Lee Smith attempted to clarify if the administration had sent
army to the Syrian rebels as it said it would, or not. All he (or
anyone) got
was studied ambiguity:
In fact, it’s still not clear what the White House is doing.
In a June 13 conference call with reporters ostensibly rolling out the
new policy, deputy national security adviser for strategic
communications Ben Rhodes failed to provide any details. Reporters asked
several times what kind of aid the administration had in mind, and
whether Obama was actually going to arm the rebels. “We’re just not
going to be able to lay out an inventory of what exactly falls under the
scope of that assistance,” said Rhodes.
Last week, Obama himself addressed the Syria issue, without providing
any more clarity than his point man for strategic communications. In an
appearance on the Charlie Rose show, the commander in chief told his
host, “I’ve said I’m ramping up support for both the political and
military opposition. I’ve not specified exactly what we’re doing, and I
won’t do so on this show.”
Maybe someone in the White House is advising Obama that obfuscation and
ambiguity make a president look presidential. His administration is
stealthy and indirect—instead of communicating with the public through
press conferences, it prefers leaking to the media via unnamed
officials. Accordingly, it was through several press reports that the
“inventory,” as Rhodes repeatedly called it, was laid out. The White
House will send the rebels small arms and ammunition—lethal aid, to be
sure, but hardly game-changing, or even likely to tilt the balance of
power on the ground in Syria.
Citing expert, Phillip Smyth,
USA Today reported, though, that Hezbollah has been boasting of somehow acquiring American arms:
U.S. and Western weapons have been reaching Iranian-backed
Shiite militias fighting to keep Bashar Assad's forces in power in
Syria.
Analysts say it's unclear if the weapons were captured, stolen or bought
on the black market in Syria, Turkey, Iraq or Libya. Propaganda
photographs from Shiite militias posted on dozens of websites and
Facebook pages show the weapons were acquired in new condition, said
Phillip Smyth, an analyst for Jihadology.net, a site affiliated with the
Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
Many of the weapons are things the militias "shouldn't really have their
hands on," Smyth said. Iranians love to show "they have weapons and
systems that are very close to the Americans."
The article cites Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, who fears that in the future
similar weapons were captured from rebels.
Does that mean that United States has been arming the Syrian rebels? Not
necessarily. Another expert, Nic Jenzen-Jones, says that a likely
source of these American weapons is
Lebanon.
Given the degree to which
Hezbollah has co-opted the Lebanese army this would not be a surprising result.
2) Who's isolated now?
A few years ago a mantra among Israel's critics was that Israeli by
fighting terrorists on the Mavi Marmara and building apartments in
Jerusalem had isolated itself internationally. Israel had needlessly
alienated moderate Islamist Erdogan in Turkey and moderate autocrat
Abbas in Ramallah. Worse Netanyahu had alienated Israel's best friend,
President Obama in Washington.
It's useful to remember this background when reading Thomas Friedman's
Morsi's Moment from last November.
It is impossible not to be tantalized by how much leverage
Morsi could wield in the peace process, if he ever chose to engage
Israel. Precisely because he represents the Muslim Brotherhood, the
vanguard of Arab Islam, and precisely because he was democratically
elected, if Morsi threw his weight behind an Israeli-Palestinian peace
deal, it would be so much more valuable to Israel than the cold peace
that Sadat delivered and Hosni Mubarak maintained. Sadat offered
Israelis peace with the Egyptian state. Morsi could offer Israel peace
with the Egyptian people and, through them, with the Muslim world
beyond.
Ironically, though, all of this would depend on Morsi not becoming a
dictator like Mubarak, but on him remaining a legitimately elected
president, truly representing the Egyptian people. That is now in doubt
given Morsi’s very troubling power grab last week and the violent
response from the Egyptian street. President Obama has to be careful not
to sell out Egyptian democracy for quiet between Israel and Egypt and
Hamas. We tried that under Mubarak. It didn’t end well. ...
So, as you can see, the unresolved Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the
future of Egyptian democracy and the U.S.-Israel-Arab struggle with Iran
and Syria are now all intertwined. Smart, courageous leadership today
could defuse the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, advance Egyptian
democracy and isolate the Iranian, Syrian and Hamas regimes. Weak or
reckless leadership will empower all three. This is a big moment.
Friedman makes some assumptions here. He presumed that Morsi could be
swayed to democracy and ignored the authoritarian nature of the Muslim
Brotherhood. He presumed that the Palestinians want an agreement with
Israel, which they don't. And most of all he presumed that Israeli
leader would act as he wanted them to act ("smart, courageous").
In subsequent months, Iran and its proxies have continued to alienate
themselves from the Sunni world. The Muslim Brotherhood, at least in
Egypt, managed to do the same.
Erdogan after briefly flirting politically with Assad, then turned
against him. And his much vaunted moderation was shown to be a sham once
he turned his troops violently against protesters. Abbas can't keep a
functioning government together.
Smart Israeli leadership waited this events out and didn't proceed
recklessly as Friedman advised.
Barry Rubin provides an overview of recent events in the Middle East and
how they enhanced Israel's posture.
A couple of them are:
Hamas: With Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood thrown out of office,
Hamas poses much less of a threat. Instead of having Egypt as a patron,
Egypt is now a greater enemy than it was under Mubarak. That then
breaks up the issue of a Brotherhood Egypt, Hamas, and Syria.
Egypt: And speaking of Egypt, the transformation for Israel’s strategy
almost approaches the victory of the 1967 war except this is not a
victory over Egypt but a tremendous enhancement of cooperation. The
threat of the dissolution of the peace treaty and a potential new war
has been replaced by a prospect of deeper peace and more strategic help.
The draining of terrorist resources and energies. Syria is now a target,
as well as Iraq, for Sunni terrorists; and now Egypt is, too.
Would Israel have been better off it had made deal that would have
passed muster with the now deposed Morsi? (Assuming that one was
possible.) Should Israel have given in to the
extremist, Erdogan's demands? Once again Israel is considering making a
confidence building gesture
to bring Mahmoud Abbas back to negotiations. Given Abbas's record and
rhetoric, it's hard to believe that he will respond positively.
Friedman's reading of the Middle East is seen solely through his rose
colored glasses of Arab moderation. Events of the past months have
proven him wrong.
3) Ozymandias in the Gulf?
Martin Kramer comments on Qatar's latest grandiose plans:
Well, Deloitte reports that Qatar is spending $200bn—yes,
that’s billion—for infrastructure to host the FIFA World Cup in 2022,
including six stadiums (http://usat.ly/1atXzNV). In the distant (or not-so-distant) future, Doha will make a splendid ruin. It will draw tourists for millennia.
Labels: Abu Mazen, Free Syrian Army, gestures, Hezbullah weapons, Lebanese Armed Forces, Mavi Marmara, Middle East Media Sampler, Nusra Front, Qatar, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Soccer Dad, Syrian uprising, World Cup
Flashback: Obama election to boost US World Cup bid
Remember when Barack Obama's election was going to
boost American chances of hosting the World Cup? Heh (Hat Tip:
Jeff Jacoby via Twitter).
Labels: Barack Obama, Qatar, World Cup
