01 Monday Apr 2013
Tags
culture, human rights, Islam, states, testimony, women's rights
While the event hosting these speakers — “Profiles in Courage: Human Rights Defenders in the Struggle to End Violence Against Women” — took place in New York City early last month, the testimony tells of atmospheres in which women live (meaning in which everyone lives) in several of our world’s muddied and persistently dimmed quarters. Continue reading
17 Thursday Jan 2013
Tags
arms race, conflict, debate, deterrance, Iran, Israel, nuclear arms, nuclear war, political, war
Reference: http://fora.tv/2013/01/16/Israel_Can_Live_With_a_Nuclear_Iran
When I was a little iddle boy, debates like the one at the address above would have fallen into the category that is “thinking about the unthinkable”. These days, that unthinkable has to be thought about around the world, not only on the Korean peninsula or around Kashmir in the completely absurd India vs. Pakistan debacle or other now old nuclear armed regions but in the middle east as well, and there not only Israel (perhaps) vs. Whoever (this playing the anti-Semites line of rant) but Whoever vs. Whoever.
During the above debate, those who tune in will hear description of the thinking that would be at work in a “poly-nuclear”middle east.
Try not to cringe.
09 Wednesday Jan 2013
Mohamed Morsi: These futile [Israeli-Palestinian] negotiations are a waste of time and opportunities. The Zionists buy time and gain more opportunities, as the Palestinians, the Arabs, and the Muslims lose time and opportunities, and they get nothing out of it. We can see how this dream has dissipated. This dream has always been an illusion. Yet some Palestinians, who erroneously believe that their enemies might give them something… This [Palestinian] Authority was created by the Zionist and American enemies for the sole purpose of opposing the will of the Palestinian people and its interests.
03 Thursday Jan 2013
Tags
Google search “Arab anti-Semitic cartoons”
Nature would seem by nature anti-monoclonal. It is elaborate and vigorous in invention, and perhaps “the survival of the fittest” refers not only to niche competitions among species over time but “survival of all that fits!”
In anthropology, culture, language, and religion, a great variance fits (and as great a legacy has been buried by time and left to recovery by scholars).
Wikipedia. “List of religions and spiritual traditions”.
The World Atlas of Language Structures Online – Sub-page “Languages”
One God, perhaps; many voices, most definitely!
As a Jew, I believe in God in two dimensions: Tevye’s, to whom one may speak, and Einstein’s, the presence of which in every aspect of the universe fills one with awe.
Be that as it may, the world’s confrontation with Islam, which shimmers in perceived scale and threat, looming large at times when violence against any of its avatars’ endless array of targets has made it the news focus of the day, growing small in the company of Muslim associates and friends facing the same foe, comes freighted with an unseemly anti-Semitic streak, a fair part of it supported by officials in Muslim-majority states. Herewith a haphazard assembly of excerpts and links to more on the lowest standard of all: the quiet acceptance of the promotion of anti-Semitic bigotry (which usually belies other prejudices as well) in the Arab sphere.
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First, however, a paragraph of rose colored counterpoint:
“Amongst the politicians elected in Egypt’s first democratic elections, one still hears the occasional anti-Semitic remark. Fayza Abul Naga, a secular 61 year-old woman who is a holdover from the Mubarak regime, recently claimed that Freedom House, an American NGO that conducts research into democracy advocacy, was ‘a tool of the ‘Jewish lobby.”’
This is ugly and regrettable, but not, I think, insidious — and not because there are almost no Jews left in Egypt, but rather because Jew hatred is a relatively new, imported phenomenon that has little history in Egypt and does not seem to run very deep.”
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“Whatever you do, don’t accuse the person of being Jewish. That may cause an irrevocable breach, and could even provoke violence.
“Anti-Semitism, the socialism of fools, is becoming the opiate of the Egyptian masses. And not just the masses. Egypt has never been notably philo-Semitic (just ask Moses), but today it’s entirely acceptable among the educated and creative classes there to demonize Jews and voice the most despicable anti- Semitic conspiracy theories. Careerists know that even fleeting associations with Jews and Israelis could spell professional trouble.”
Goldberg, Jeffrey. “In Egypt, Anti-Semitism is Back in Fashion.” Bloomberg, August 6, 2012.
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“During World War II, the leader of the Palestinians lived in a Berlin villa, a gift from a very grateful Adolf Hitler, who clearly got his money’s worth. Haj Amin al-Husseini, the grand mufti of Jerusalem and as such the titular leader of Muslim Palestinians, broadcast Nazi propaganda to the Middle East, recruited European Muslims for the SS, exulted in the Holocaust and after the war went on to represent his people in the Arab League. He died somewhat ignored but never repudiated.”
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“The cartoons in this compilation are consistent with anti-Israel and anti-Semitic caricatures regularly appearing in the Arab and Muslim world depicting Jewish and Israeli power over the international community, demonic imagery to stereotype Jews – including big noses, black coats and hats Ð blood libels and animal references Ð snakes and spiders – to sinisterly portray Israel.”
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“In the run up to the 2012 US presidential elections, media outlets across the Middle East have been featuring cartoons depicting the candidates – President Barack Obama and Governor Mitt Romney – as well as the Democratic and Republican parties and the US electorate as subservient to Israel and the Jews.”
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Out of Syria recently:
“We have to build a society of respect and brotherhood in accordance with the Prophet’s commandments,” he told me in Urdu. “We will treat non-Muslims kindly, but we have a big fight against the Jews ahead of us. We will take that up, God willing.” This manifesto for the future was identical – almost word for word – to what Yahya Mujahid, a senior leader of the Lashkar-e-Taiba, the Pakistan-based outfit charged with carrying out the Mumbai attacks in November 2008, told me in Lahore in 2009: that the LeT would take up the “fight” with the Jews after “liberating” Kashmir from Indian rule.”
Komireddi, Kapil. “Rebels with an anti-Semitic cause.” Haaretz, September 21, 2012.
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“The purported “Franklin Prophecy” has been an anti-semitic staple since it was created in the 1930s. The version quoted in Al Madinah is similar to this:
There is a great danger for the United State of America. This great danger is the Jew. Gentlemen, in every land the Jews have settled, they have depressed the moral level and lowered the degree of commercial honesty. They have remained apart and unassimilated; oppressed, they attempt to strangle the nation financially, as in the case of Portugal and Spain.
The Elder of Ziyon Blog. “Today’s anti-Semitism out of Saudi Arabia.” November 1, 2012. EZ will go on in his article to note, “There are anti-semitic articles in the mainstream Arab media every day. And not once have I seen any backlash, corrections or apologies.”
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“Several years ago, there was a survey (methodology unknown) that asked Saudi school children what they thought of Jews. Now, none of these children had actually met a Jew. They were uniform in their reactions, though: they should be spat upon or chased away with stones or simply killed. That reaction did not spring unattended from the minds of these children: it was put there.”
Crossroads of Arabia Blog. “Saudis and Antisemitism.” April 23, 2009.
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“Despite a promise to the USA in July of 2006 to undertake a program of textbook reform by eliminating all passages that disparage or promote hatred toward any religion or religious groups,” the report finds that “the encouragement of violence and extremism remains an integral part of Saudi Arabia’s national textbooks. As before, there continues to be a great preoccupation throughout the texts with Jews and with Israel. Rank antisemitism saturates the curriculum. Repeatedly, Jews are demonized, dehumanized, and targeted for violence.”
Directly related and something of an update:
“The Saudi justice minister said that the Protocols is treated as part of Islamic culture because it is a book that has long been found in plentiful supply in Saudi Arabia (one of the relatively few non-Muslim books to be so), and was a book that his father had in his home.”
Shea, Nina. “Major Publishers Protest Saudi Textbook Content.” Hudson Institute, October 17, 2012.
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Recommended: Stav, Arieh. Peace: The Arabian Caricature: A Study of Anti-Semitic Imagery. PDF Available.
02 Wednesday Jan 2013
Tags
It’s easy commenting off the web — there is so much material to dredge up and look over; however, it has been for me and much remains journalism’s “second row seat to history”: someone else has to report off the street for one to have anything new to offer, and “the street” is not yet adequately digital, at least not without a budget and lot of ways of paying for — and vetting — information!
Today, Facebook boasts a “Free Ahmed Meligy” public page, and there are other networks, but there’s no getting “an official says” from them.
And what to do with this sort of chatyping sequence?
Thread #1: “Dear Friends we also opened an official Facebook page for Ahmed because we think that publicity is the best tool to save him… but we still need more information . . . .”
Thread #2: “To All: We have word that, pending an investigation, Ahmed will be released within 2-6 weeks. We can give you no further information, other than he is in custody and asks that we not do anything to jeopardize this process . . . .”
One flustered Facebooker noted, “I am confused, other pages are asking us to contact human rights groups and get him help . . . .”
A sea captain might say, “Bilge talk,” and that’s where Facebook’s curious on this matter may be stuck.
News of blogger Ahmed Meligy’s arrest has not been the least confined to his circle of Facebook buddies. The Jerusalem Post has posted the story [1] and repeated it in a separate story [2]; I’m not the only personality to blog on it; and, of course, word gets around in the human rights and free press communities.
Once the “cat’s out of the bag” it doesn’t go back in, so while today’s story may be mumbling around the swamps of assertions, rumors, and suggestions, it will come out.
In the meantime, dig this statement from one of the Egyptian president’s aids:
“There will be no such thing as Israel,” he continued, “instead there will be Palestine which will be home to Jews, Muslims and Druze and all the people who were there from the start.
“Those who want to stay will stay as Palestinian citizens. Those who conquered Palestine will have to go back to their countries,” he added.” [3]
Lord have Mursi!
The Ayatollah has competition.
1. The Jerusalem Post. “‘Post’ blogger in Egypt reportedly arrested.” December 31, 2012.
Bresky, Ben. “Egyptian Activist: “We Were Taught to Hate Israel.” Arutz Sheva, June 20, 2012.
Facebook. “Free Ahmed Meligy”.
Meligy, Ahmed. “Egypt: Divided We Fall.” The Jerusalem Post, November 30, 2012.
Meligy, Ahmed. Egypt’s Missing Peace Blog, The Jerusalem Post.
01 Tuesday Jan 2013
“I am being arrested now, they took me from my house without telling me why . . . I am at the police car now . . pray for me” Ahmed Meligy, December 31, 2012. [1]
A writer with a blog in a national newspaper online, also an affable personality with scads of Facebook friends, has today a presence in the world. When news involving the same of a world, or a small portion of it, gone awry, of an errant arrest, an injustice and insult done to that person, word gets around.
At the moment, it looks like Egypt’s brand new egalitarian, liberal, modern, and peaceful and thriving democracy — do you need the two winks? — has arrested peace activist, brave blogger, and ever friendly Facebook personality Ahmed Meligy.
Here is how this brave good soul started a recent blog post in The Jerusalem Post:
The main motivational belief that drives all the members and supporters of the Islamic groups like the Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafists is that Allah (swt) is on their side. They all believe that the Arab spring was the reward from God for their patience and struggle over the years. After dominating the power now they feel and act invincible against the whole world. This is why Hamas had no problem escalating the conflict with Israel by firing at Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. [2]
For as long as I’ve known of him, Meligy has worked for peace diligently, earnestly, honestly. For that, he is somewhere in chains today in Egypt.
***
My add to a related Facebook post: “Ahmed climbed a new kind of hill, sent a new kind of message from it, and built a new kind of audience. His Facebook buddies want to know where he is and that he’s well.
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1. https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=394140054008075&set=a.394140034008077.98511.393695887385825&type=3&theater and relative to public page https://www.facebook.com/pages/Free-Ahmed-Meligy/393695887385825
Meligy, Ahmed. Egypt’s Missing Peace (Blog), The Jerusalem Post.
The Jerusalem Post. “‘Post’ blogger in Egypt reportedly arrested.” December 31, 2012.
13 Thursday Dec 2012
Posted in Egypt, Islamic Small Wars, Middle East, Politics
Tags
2012, December, despotism, dictatorship, Egypt, freedom of speech, human rights, Morsi, Muslim Brotherhood, political, politics, torture, tyranny
Middle East journalist Jeffrey Fleishman’s November 27 header in the Los Angeles Times has a poetry in it for the ages: “Morsi may have misjudged Egypt’s tolerance of authoritarianism.”
A moment’s reflection may remind that all regimes labeled autocratic involve by definition the imposition of power, and while there may be elections, the story will also contain some combination of reports of bribery, intimidation, suppression, theft (of whole businesses, not mere wallets), and murder.
Organizations like the “Muslim Brothers” and leaders like President Morsi waste no time in organizing their challengers and rivals for neutralization even though they may not get all they want all at once.
For Morsi specifically, the distance between inauguration and the sacking of Mubarak’s army chief Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi was one month, mid-June to mid-August, and while overhaul of the military was arguably a first order of business, Morsi would go on to conduct assaults, essentially, on Egyptian freedom of speech, human rights and rule of law, and, of course, on the courts.
“The torture process starts once a demonstrator who opposes President Mohammed Morsi is arrested in the clashes or is suspected after the clashes end, and the CSF separate Morsi’s supporters from his opponents. Then, the group members trade off punching, kicking and beating him with a stick on the face and all over his body. They tear off his clothes and take him to the nearest secondary torture chamber, from which CSF personnel, members of the Interior Ministry and the State Security Investigations Services (SSIS) are absent.”
The revelation and publicity may have been developed as a message to intimidate Egyptians who had believed they had a shot at freedom and modernity.
The truth is Egyptians have to find their own way out of the darkness and hell in which despots and thugs keep from them the freedom to inquire and speak broadly and openly about many things, to have recourse to court and security systems that are truly their own and working for them equally, and far more than either of those paths toward freedom and security, to choose for themselves between what is balanced, good, and kind, and what is cruel, dangerous, inhuman, and mad.
About three hours ago, the Associated Press reported that, “Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter’s center said . . . it will not deploy monitors for Egypt’s constitutional referendum.”
If it stinks too much for “Jimmuh” and his outfit, imagine, but one need not leave judgment with notice of the Carter Center’s disinterest in monitoring a state-defining referendum: today, The Algemeiner reported that since early 2011, more than 100,000 Egyptians have sought asylum in the United States.
I’ve gone loosely chronological with this listing as I track but don’t plug stories on a daily basis. In a way, reading down the headlines tells the story. This set starts, close enough, with “Morsi may have misjudged Egypt’s tolerance of authoritarianism” and ends (close enough — I revise as I go) with “Al-Masry Al-Youm Reports on Brotherhood Torture Chambers.” Think about that.
Fleishman, Jeffrey. “Morsi may have misjudged Egypt’s tolerance of authoritarianism.” Los Angeles Times, November 27, 2012. Note to readers: authoritarianism is never tolerated but always imposed.
Reuters. “Slideshow: Protests in Egypt”.
Fox News. “Clashes between rival protesters in Cairo kill 3, wound hundreds”. December 6, 2012.
Jarehi, Mohammad. “Al-Masry Al-Youm Reports on Brotherhood Torture Chambers.” December 7, 2012.
The Independent. “Morsi gives Egyptian army right to arrest civilians.” December 10, 2012.
Friedman, Thomas L. “Can God Save Egypt?” The New York Times, December 11, 2012: “What has brought hundreds of thousands of Egyptians back into the streets, many of them first-time protesters, is the fear that autocracy is returning to Egypt under the guise of Islam. The real fight here is about freedom, not religion.
Human Rights Watch. “Egypt: Investigate Brotherhood’s Abuse of Protesters”. December 12, 2012.
Fahim, Kareem. “In Cairo Crisis, the Poor Find Dashed Hopes.” The New York Times, December 13, 2012: “We had high hopes in God, that things would improve,” Fathi Hussein said as he built a desk of dark wood for one of his clients, who are dwindling. “I elected a president to be good for the country. I did not elect him to impose his opinions on me.”
“All 49 captives had been beaten, Mr. Khater wrote, and they said members of the Muslim Brotherhood had tried to coerce them into confessing that they had taken money to commit violence. But prosecutors found no evidence that they had done so.
“Even so, Mr. Morsi declared in a televised speech later that night that prosecutors had obtained confessions.”
Youssef, Nancy A. and Mohannad Sabry. “Morsi inaugurated in Egypt.” McClatchy, June 30, 2012.
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13 Thursday Dec 2012
Tags
2012, December, fake pistol, gun, hate, Hebron, ideology, middle east conflict, Mohammed Salaymah, political, political theater, politics, post-Soviet, provocation, replica, training
Yesterday, Mohammed Salayma, 16 or 17 years old and in the vicinity of the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron, took the pistol pictured to the left and raised it to the face of an Israeli border guard. A fellow officer drew her service weapon and shot Salayma three times, killing him.
Salayma’s gun turned out a replica.
Out in the wild, the sale and manufacture of replica guns serve interests from children’s toys to theatrical productions. In the post-Stalinist, post-Soviet drama in which “actions” are planned for effect — or perhaps they just happen that way (sure they do) — perhaps someone had written the headline before arming or criminally failing to educate the victim. As much seems suggested by the above gun replica.
Criminals have used replicas recently to attempt and carry out robberies, e.g., Tanyos, Faris. “Police: Suspect in Plain Pantry robbery carrying replica gun.” KOIN Local 6, December 5, 2012; Fanelli, Joseph. “Convenience store robber with fake gun stopped by employees in East Portland.” The Oregonian, July 26, 2012: “The two employees realized the gun was fake when the man accidentally dropped the gun and it split into two pieces, said Avinash Maskey, 24, who works the morning shift at the gas station.”
Do your own Googling if the subject interests you.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police define a replica as “a device that is not a real firearm, but that was designed to look exactly or almost exactly like a real firearm.”
Look again at that photograph of the pistol that was raised to a guard’s face in the middle east conflict zone.
“Replica firearms are prohibited devices in Canada,” says the Mounties page: Royal Canadian Mounted Police. “Replica Firearms.”
No wonder.
Suicide-by-cop or just plain awesome stupidity (or communal or lonesome but in any case vicious and unscrupulous political ambition), the story will come out as to what directly motivated Mohammed Salayma, an older teenager, to walk up to to a military guard, stick a fake gun in his face, and thereby draw fire.
Salayma’s death alone would be a tragedy, albeit not one unfamiliar to armed conflicts, but in the middle east conflict, riots and worse come from such sparks.
The Jerusalem Post. “IDF, Palestinians clash following teen’s funeral.” December 13, 2012: “Palestinian media reports 5 hurt in clashes before funeral of Palestinian teen killed by Border Police after pulling out fake gun.”
Ma’an News Agency, ever reluctant to put a whole truth (remember: clear, accurate, complete) up top in its articles (here’s the prosaic lead: “An Israeli border guard officer on Wednesday shot dead a Palestinian teenager in Hebron’s Old City in the southern West Bank”), nonetheless winds around to quoting Israel police: “Initial findings are that he had a fake pistol that he pointed at the officers at the time of the incident.” I’ll call that middle-of-the-clip effort a kind of balanced reporting. (Ma’an News Agency. “Israeli forces shoot, kill Hebron teenager”).
Update 12/18/2012/1415H EST
Related Article: http://www.tabletmag.com/scroll/119536/ore-confusion-arrives-in-hebron
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