Thanks, CW...
Oh, and by the way, what is good for the goose is good for the gander. The goose is not only Huma and the gander you can imagine who: the goose is Egypt, and the gander is Israel.
Showing posts with label Egypt. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Egypt. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 31, 2013
Message to Obama and Americans, from Egypt - Hello, Huma, are you hearing that?
Thanks, CW...
Oh, and by the way, what is good for the goose is good for the gander. The goose is not only Huma and the gander you can imagine who: the goose is Egypt, and the gander is Israel.
Monday, February 7, 2011
Egypt follow-up: thought you'd find this interesting; I do!
(Israelnationalnews.com) For days now, the mainstream and leftstream media have been telling us that the Muslim Brotherhood is not dangerous, not radically Islamist—but that even if they are Islamist that they are popular amongst the people. Western leftists view the Brothers as engaged in a Hamas-like form of soup kitchen social work/theocratic totalitarianism, but who nevertheless have earned the right to be democratically voted into power by the people. They have been invited to join the negotiations with Mubarak's regime.
Short-sightedly, they claim that if we are serious about standing for democracy and the vote, that we have no choice but to support what may turn out to be an even worse tyranny than that of Mubarak’s.
Such journalists also claim that the Egyptian people in the streets are not “political,” that they are impoverished, broken, barefoot warriors who have heroically risen up for jobs, food, and an end to corruption and tyranny. Indeed, the people may not be “political”—but their heroism may end up benefiting those who, unlike themselves, are already organized militarily, economically, and ideologically—like the Muslim Brotherhood.
On the other hand, unorganized though they may be, the people may still have views and beliefs. According to a June, 2010 Pew opinion survey of Egyptians:
Fifty nine percent said they back Islamists. Only 27% said they back modernizers. Half of Egyptians support Hamas. Thirty percent support Hizbullah and 20% support al Qaida. Moreover, 95% of them would welcome Islamic influence over their politics….Eighty two percent of Egyptians support executing adulterers by stoning, 77% support whipping and cutting the hands off thieves. 84% support executing any Muslim who changes his religion…When this preference is translated into actual government policy, it is clear that the Islam they support is the al Qaida Salafist version.
When given the opportunity, the crowds on the street are not shy about showing what motivates them. They attack Mubarak and his new Vice President Omar Suleiman as American puppets and Zionist agents. The US, protesters told CNN’s Nick Robertson, is controlled by Israel. They hate and want to destroy Israel. That is why they hate Mubarak and Suleiman.
Is this Pew Center survey really true? What other indicators might we rely upon?
In the last week, we have seen massive coverage of the street uprising in Cairo on every major television channel and in print and Internet media of all political persuasions. No one has commented upon what the photos are showing us. Some say that a picture speaks a thousand words—and so it does. Follow along with me.
First, view these photos of Cairo University graduates in 1959, 1978, 1995, and 2004. Clearly, there is a progression—a regression really, in terms of women’s rights. Former women's gains have, increasingly, been washed away.
As you can see, despite the size of the picture, the female graduates in 1959 and 1978 had bare arms, wore short sleeved blouses, dresses, or pants, and were both bare-faced and bare-headed. By 1995, we see a smattering of headscarves—and by 2004 we see a plurality of female university graduates in serious hijab: Tight, and draping the shoulders.
Class of 1959
Class of 1978
Class of 1995
Class of 2004
Now, let’s look at the recent Cairo uprising photos through my eyes. No one has, as yet, commented upon the photos that they have chosen to run.
First, most photos show us mobs of mainly men marching, men at prayer, men shooting, running, falling, wounded in hospitals, standing atop tanks. These could be scenes from Saudi Arabia or Afghanistan. I am not suggesting that women rush out to join a promised American Nation of Islam style “Million Man March”—as women, they are horribly endangered among groups of men, which is why Muslim men argue that “their” family women must be veiled, sequestered, kept in purdah, strictly supervised, accompanied wherever they go by a male protector.
Muslim men know how licentious they truly are, what their view of all women (who are not their mothers) truly is, and how sexual repression, forced marriage, polygamy (a shortage of available wives for poor men), affects men who have been fired up by a mosque sermon or by a holy war to seize state power.
Women are also shorter, weigh less, and have rarely been trained in boxing, martial arts or weapons training compared to most men; most women cannot hold their own against one angry and determined man, certainly not against thousands of such men.
Yes, there are some female faces in the Cairo mob scenes, but understandably, they are in the minority.
While there are some—very few—female faces that are bare-faced and bareheaded, most women are wearing serious hijab: Pulled low and tight on their foreheads, tied under their chins, covering their necks, draping down to their shoulders.
And, yes, we also see women in niqab, face masks, dark, heavy-looking, with only a slit for their eyes. Were it not for that mere slit, she would be wearing an Afghan burqa or chadri, or a full Saudi covering.
My reading of these photos suggests that Egyptian women have already been Islamified. Whether they have done so to please their loving (or abusive) families or a favorite mullah, whether it was peer pressure from girlhood on that did it; or whether it was the teachings of the Muslim Brotherhood being preached in every mosque, on every media channel, and in school that did it, the fact is:
It is done. Women are veiled. Such women—and their fathers, brothers, husbands, and sons, will vote for the Muslim Brotherhood to run their country.
I wonder why no media have looked—really looked—at what the photos they themselves are running really tell us about who the “people” in the streets really are.
Prof. Chesler is an Emerita Professor of Psychology and Women's Studies at City University of New York. She is the author of 15 books and appears often in international media interviews. She lives in New York City.
Some commentators' remarks on the situation in Egypt:
Was the attack against the Sinai gas pipeline done by Terrorists, the Muslim Brotherhood or the Egyptian Security Services?
Last week, just days after the demonstrations to reform or overthrow the Egyptian government got underway, Muslims in the south of the country took advantage of the general chaos to break into two homes belonging to local Coptic Christians and butcher every man, woman and child they could find.
The Muslim assailants massacred eleven people and seriously wounded four others. Two whole families were destroyed.
According to survivors of the attack who spoke to AINA, the Assyrian International News Agency, the attackers were aided by the Christians’ Muslim neighbors. Killed in the attack were a 15-year-old girl, an 8-year-old boy, a 4-year-old boy and a little girl only three years old.
There is spreading fear that if Egypt falls into the hands of the radical Muslim Brotherhood, godfather of extremist groups across the region, the 10 million Coptic Christians in Egypt will face severe persecution, or worse.
There is already evidence that the Christians of Egypt are in for a very bumpy ride going forward. On Sunday, the Muslim Brotherhood-led opposition agreed to sit down and talk with newly-appointed Vice President Omar Suleiman. The Christians were not invited to the table, despite being part of the original demonstrations demanding reform.
It seems 40+ years and a lifetime of diplomatic headaches have not been enough to teach the West its lesson when dealing with uprisings and democracy in the Middle East.
In 1979, Iranians rose up against the repressive but stable rule of the shah, Mohammed Reza Pahlavi. America and Europe felt it was in the best interests of everyone involved to move the shah out of the way and throw open the doors to Western-style democracy. What they did was lay the groundwork for the Islamic Revolution and the rise to power of an even more repressive regime that now threatens the entire region.
And they are repeating the same mistake in Egypt.
When the demonstrations first began in Cairo on January 25, they were led by a large group of students with a list of specific demands. Having himself clearly learned the lesson of the shah’s overthrow, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak subsequently agreed to most of those demands, most importantly the demand that this be his last term in office and that he not establish a dictatorial dynasty with his son taking over next.
A Christian source in Cairo (whose name is being withheld for his own safety) says the uprising should have died down then and there.
“As we followed the unfolding of events including the announced change in government and president Mubarak’s speech, we wondered why the international news media is focusing only on the thousands in Tahrir Square who are escalating their demands and refusing dialogue,” said the source.
According to this man, something changed in the uprising after the first few days, after Mubarak had already agreed to most of the reforms demanded by the original protestors.
“What is happening now has nothing to do with this original protest. What is happening right now is a conspiracy to topple Mubarak from outside the country,” he said. That change coincided with the more visible participation in the uprising by the Muslim Brotherhood, a radical Islamic group with ties to extremists across the region.
But this Christian source suggested the situation is far more grave, and more methodical than just a handful of Brotherhood provocateurs entering the crowds.
“Only a few people (hundreds?) are still there from the original protesters,” he noted. “They have been slowly replaced by other highly organized groups that all carry the same model of cell phones and have the same blankets.”
There are even reports that these groups may not be Egyptians at all, with some eye witnesses saying they clearly do not speak Arabic with an Egyptian accent or in the local dialect.
“This is typical of the Muslim Brotherhood, and everybody on the streets of Cairo knows this. We heard people on the streets saying that the plot to take over the country is now clear,” revealed the source. “The escalation of violence…is because of this. Egyptians who love Egypt, the millions that took to the streets yesterday, want this to end.”
The West is afraid of the “Arab street” and is only being fed in that approach by the mainstream media. After all, violence and revolution make a much better story than compliance and smooth reform. In the meantime, average Egyptians like this Christian man and his family are ignored while the radical Islamists are given a global podium.
“Where are those, like myself, that want change and reform, but accept the changes that Mubarak is proposing, and want a peaceful transition through elections in September?” he wondered fruitlessly.
This man reported that over a million people had gathered last week in Cairo expressing acceptance of Mubarak’s proposed reforms and dialogue regarding the outstanding issues. And he said similar demonstrations had been held around the country. Over the weekend, the Mubarak government further complied with protestor demands when the old corrupt leaders of the president’s party all resigned.
“The cry of the people of Egypt is being totally ignored by the international news media,” he said, questioning, “Is this on purpose?”
If the Muslim Brotherhood does take over in Egypt (and it would do so by installing a sympathetic puppet like Mohammed ElBaradei), Israel would find itself direct neighbors with a new Islamic Republic that would dwarf the threat of Hizbullah rule in Lebanon.
Israeli officials are furious at the way the US and Europe are handling the situation.
“I think the Americans still don’t realize the extent of the catastrophe into which they have pushed the Middle East,” Labor Party leader and former Defense Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer told Army Radio.
Ben-Eliezer slammed the Obama White House’s inability to learn from the past:
“We learn from history. We remember what was said when Carter proposed that the Shah of Iran give up nicely and allow Khomeini to take his place. In Gaza, too, when the Americans came in, they supervised the democratic elections [via which Hamas came into power]. If there are elections in Egypt the way the Americans want, I will be surprised if the Muslim Brotherhood does not win. This will be a new Middle East - radical, Islamic and extremist.”
Likud lawmaker Ayoub Kara told visiting Republican presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee that “it needs to be understood that if the Egyptian government will fall, the Muslim Brotherhood will take its place.” Kara said that Obama should also be learning from the mistakes in Iraq, where an American-style democracy has led to a “saturation of terror.”
A leading columnist for Israel’s largest daily newspaper, Yediot Ahronot, was even harsher, blasting Obama for “selling Mubarak for a pot of lentils,” and “not understanding the Middle East.”
“Our conclusion in Israel needs to be that the man sitting in the White House is liable to ‘sell’ us over night,” concluded the columnist. “The thought that the US might not stand by our side in the day of need causes chills. God help us.”
Former Mossad chief Danny Yatom lamented that the Obama Administration had actually missed a golden opportunity. Yatom told Israel Radio that the situation was ripe for pressure on Mubarak to finally implement real reform, but the US should have worked with the Egyptian leader, not pushed him out of the way and opened the door to chaos. Now, said Yatom, Washington is going to get someone they can’t work with at all.
Short-sightedly, they claim that if we are serious about standing for democracy and the vote, that we have no choice but to support what may turn out to be an even worse tyranny than that of Mubarak’s.
Such journalists also claim that the Egyptian people in the streets are not “political,” that they are impoverished, broken, barefoot warriors who have heroically risen up for jobs, food, and an end to corruption and tyranny. Indeed, the people may not be “political”—but their heroism may end up benefiting those who, unlike themselves, are already organized militarily, economically, and ideologically—like the Muslim Brotherhood.
On the other hand, unorganized though they may be, the people may still have views and beliefs. According to a June, 2010 Pew opinion survey of Egyptians:
Fifty nine percent said they back Islamists. Only 27% said they back modernizers. Half of Egyptians support Hamas. Thirty percent support Hizbullah and 20% support al Qaida. Moreover, 95% of them would welcome Islamic influence over their politics….Eighty two percent of Egyptians support executing adulterers by stoning, 77% support whipping and cutting the hands off thieves. 84% support executing any Muslim who changes his religion…When this preference is translated into actual government policy, it is clear that the Islam they support is the al Qaida Salafist version.
When given the opportunity, the crowds on the street are not shy about showing what motivates them. They attack Mubarak and his new Vice President Omar Suleiman as American puppets and Zionist agents. The US, protesters told CNN’s Nick Robertson, is controlled by Israel. They hate and want to destroy Israel. That is why they hate Mubarak and Suleiman.
Is this Pew Center survey really true? What other indicators might we rely upon?
In the last week, we have seen massive coverage of the street uprising in Cairo on every major television channel and in print and Internet media of all political persuasions. No one has commented upon what the photos are showing us. Some say that a picture speaks a thousand words—and so it does. Follow along with me.
First, view these photos of Cairo University graduates in 1959, 1978, 1995, and 2004. Clearly, there is a progression—a regression really, in terms of women’s rights. Former women's gains have, increasingly, been washed away.
As you can see, despite the size of the picture, the female graduates in 1959 and 1978 had bare arms, wore short sleeved blouses, dresses, or pants, and were both bare-faced and bare-headed. By 1995, we see a smattering of headscarves—and by 2004 we see a plurality of female university graduates in serious hijab: Tight, and draping the shoulders.
Class of 1959
Class of 1978
Class of 1995
Class of 2004
Now, let’s look at the recent Cairo uprising photos through my eyes. No one has, as yet, commented upon the photos that they have chosen to run.
First, most photos show us mobs of mainly men marching, men at prayer, men shooting, running, falling, wounded in hospitals, standing atop tanks. These could be scenes from Saudi Arabia or Afghanistan. I am not suggesting that women rush out to join a promised American Nation of Islam style “Million Man March”—as women, they are horribly endangered among groups of men, which is why Muslim men argue that “their” family women must be veiled, sequestered, kept in purdah, strictly supervised, accompanied wherever they go by a male protector.
Muslim men know how licentious they truly are, what their view of all women (who are not their mothers) truly is, and how sexual repression, forced marriage, polygamy (a shortage of available wives for poor men), affects men who have been fired up by a mosque sermon or by a holy war to seize state power.
Women are also shorter, weigh less, and have rarely been trained in boxing, martial arts or weapons training compared to most men; most women cannot hold their own against one angry and determined man, certainly not against thousands of such men.
Yes, there are some female faces in the Cairo mob scenes, but understandably, they are in the minority.
While there are some—very few—female faces that are bare-faced and bareheaded, most women are wearing serious hijab: Pulled low and tight on their foreheads, tied under their chins, covering their necks, draping down to their shoulders.
And, yes, we also see women in niqab, face masks, dark, heavy-looking, with only a slit for their eyes. Were it not for that mere slit, she would be wearing an Afghan burqa or chadri, or a full Saudi covering.
My reading of these photos suggests that Egyptian women have already been Islamified. Whether they have done so to please their loving (or abusive) families or a favorite mullah, whether it was peer pressure from girlhood on that did it; or whether it was the teachings of the Muslim Brotherhood being preached in every mosque, on every media channel, and in school that did it, the fact is:
It is done. Women are veiled. Such women—and their fathers, brothers, husbands, and sons, will vote for the Muslim Brotherhood to run their country.
I wonder why no media have looked—really looked—at what the photos they themselves are running really tell us about who the “people” in the streets really are.
Prof. Chesler is an Emerita Professor of Psychology and Women's Studies at City University of New York. She is the author of 15 books and appears often in international media interviews. She lives in New York City.
Some commentators' remarks on the situation in Egypt:
- From Emanuel Winston:
Was the attack against the Sinai gas pipeline done by Terrorists, the Muslim Brotherhood or the Egyptian Security Services?
Who attempted to assassinate Egypt’s newly appointed Vice President Omar Suleiman? He was in a motorcade last Monday, January 31st. He was unharmed but 2 of his bodyguards were killed.
Mubarak’s government has been fired or quit but, the protesters across Egypt are still in the streets for the 12th day. They say that it is time to turn up the pressure. People on the streets are only able to continue by donations of food. Who is busing them in from outlying areas.
Now there are organized protests in American cities as well as Europe and South America.
We saw the organized calls by Facebook for demonstrations in the other Muslim countries circling the Mediterranean. They have laid out their plans precisely in “Facebook” with ‘pretty pictures’: DAYS OF RAGE to be held in YEMEN, February 3 and 11; BAHRAIN: February 14; LIBYA: February 17; ALGERIA: February 4 and 17. The “Social Networks” have done a good job for their purposes of creating chaos. They are correct historically. From out of chaos they expect to overturn governments.
Who will take over? Right now it seems that the Muslim Brotherhood is in the background. But, are they the puppeteers? Or will they march to power when the ordinary brave protesters are worn out, starved out or beaten up and go home?
- From A.M., who contributed the following articles:
It’s starting already!
Either unnoticed – or deliberately unreported – by the Western “news” media, the change in Egypt from an autocratic citizen of the world, to a “democratic” islamic totalitarian system, is in full swing.
The signs of implementation of the Ikhwan’s repeatedly-stated platform are all there: kill the infidels who reject Allah (Christians, Jews, Animists, etc.); break all binding international treaties which do not improve the position of the jihadis; create the world-wide caliphate; and so on.
Israeli leaders fear that Obama might “sell out” Israel as they did Mubarak, and that Washington might find that Mubarak’s replacement is someone with whom they can’t deal at all. Others opine that Obama actually WANTS an “uncontrollable power” to run Egypt and eliminate Israel, so that no blame for the destruction of the hated Jews can be placed on our amateur president hisself. Cover your tracks at all costs!
For some shocking unreported news and analysis, please read the DEBKAfile report, below. Wonder why it’s “unreported?”
Christians Slaughtered In Southern Egypt
Sunday, February 06, 2011 | Ryan Jones | IsraelToday.Co.IlLast week, just days after the demonstrations to reform or overthrow the Egyptian government got underway, Muslims in the south of the country took advantage of the general chaos to break into two homes belonging to local Coptic Christians and butcher every man, woman and child they could find.
The Muslim assailants massacred eleven people and seriously wounded four others. Two whole families were destroyed.
According to survivors of the attack who spoke to AINA, the Assyrian International News Agency, the attackers were aided by the Christians’ Muslim neighbors. Killed in the attack were a 15-year-old girl, an 8-year-old boy, a 4-year-old boy and a little girl only three years old.
There is spreading fear that if Egypt falls into the hands of the radical Muslim Brotherhood, godfather of extremist groups across the region, the 10 million Coptic Christians in Egypt will face severe persecution, or worse.
There is already evidence that the Christians of Egypt are in for a very bumpy ride going forward. On Sunday, the Muslim Brotherhood-led opposition agreed to sit down and talk with newly-appointed Vice President Omar Suleiman. The Christians were not invited to the table, despite being part of the original demonstrations demanding reform.
Egypt's Western-assisted slide toward Islamic Revolution
Sunday, February 06, 2011 | Ryan Jones | IsraelToday.Co.IlIt seems 40+ years and a lifetime of diplomatic headaches have not been enough to teach the West its lesson when dealing with uprisings and democracy in the Middle East.
In 1979, Iranians rose up against the repressive but stable rule of the shah, Mohammed Reza Pahlavi. America and Europe felt it was in the best interests of everyone involved to move the shah out of the way and throw open the doors to Western-style democracy. What they did was lay the groundwork for the Islamic Revolution and the rise to power of an even more repressive regime that now threatens the entire region.
And they are repeating the same mistake in Egypt.
When the demonstrations first began in Cairo on January 25, they were led by a large group of students with a list of specific demands. Having himself clearly learned the lesson of the shah’s overthrow, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak subsequently agreed to most of those demands, most importantly the demand that this be his last term in office and that he not establish a dictatorial dynasty with his son taking over next.
A Christian source in Cairo (whose name is being withheld for his own safety) says the uprising should have died down then and there.
“As we followed the unfolding of events including the announced change in government and president Mubarak’s speech, we wondered why the international news media is focusing only on the thousands in Tahrir Square who are escalating their demands and refusing dialogue,” said the source.
According to this man, something changed in the uprising after the first few days, after Mubarak had already agreed to most of the reforms demanded by the original protestors.
“What is happening now has nothing to do with this original protest. What is happening right now is a conspiracy to topple Mubarak from outside the country,” he said. That change coincided with the more visible participation in the uprising by the Muslim Brotherhood, a radical Islamic group with ties to extremists across the region.
But this Christian source suggested the situation is far more grave, and more methodical than just a handful of Brotherhood provocateurs entering the crowds.
“Only a few people (hundreds?) are still there from the original protesters,” he noted. “They have been slowly replaced by other highly organized groups that all carry the same model of cell phones and have the same blankets.”
There are even reports that these groups may not be Egyptians at all, with some eye witnesses saying they clearly do not speak Arabic with an Egyptian accent or in the local dialect.
“This is typical of the Muslim Brotherhood, and everybody on the streets of Cairo knows this. We heard people on the streets saying that the plot to take over the country is now clear,” revealed the source. “The escalation of violence…is because of this. Egyptians who love Egypt, the millions that took to the streets yesterday, want this to end.”
The West is afraid of the “Arab street” and is only being fed in that approach by the mainstream media. After all, violence and revolution make a much better story than compliance and smooth reform. In the meantime, average Egyptians like this Christian man and his family are ignored while the radical Islamists are given a global podium.
“Where are those, like myself, that want change and reform, but accept the changes that Mubarak is proposing, and want a peaceful transition through elections in September?” he wondered fruitlessly.
This man reported that over a million people had gathered last week in Cairo expressing acceptance of Mubarak’s proposed reforms and dialogue regarding the outstanding issues. And he said similar demonstrations had been held around the country. Over the weekend, the Mubarak government further complied with protestor demands when the old corrupt leaders of the president’s party all resigned.
“The cry of the people of Egypt is being totally ignored by the international news media,” he said, questioning, “Is this on purpose?”
If the Muslim Brotherhood does take over in Egypt (and it would do so by installing a sympathetic puppet like Mohammed ElBaradei), Israel would find itself direct neighbors with a new Islamic Republic that would dwarf the threat of Hizbullah rule in Lebanon.
Israeli officials are furious at the way the US and Europe are handling the situation.
“I think the Americans still don’t realize the extent of the catastrophe into which they have pushed the Middle East,” Labor Party leader and former Defense Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer told Army Radio.
Ben-Eliezer slammed the Obama White House’s inability to learn from the past:
“We learn from history. We remember what was said when Carter proposed that the Shah of Iran give up nicely and allow Khomeini to take his place. In Gaza, too, when the Americans came in, they supervised the democratic elections [via which Hamas came into power]. If there are elections in Egypt the way the Americans want, I will be surprised if the Muslim Brotherhood does not win. This will be a new Middle East - radical, Islamic and extremist.”
Likud lawmaker Ayoub Kara told visiting Republican presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee that “it needs to be understood that if the Egyptian government will fall, the Muslim Brotherhood will take its place.” Kara said that Obama should also be learning from the mistakes in Iraq, where an American-style democracy has led to a “saturation of terror.”
A leading columnist for Israel’s largest daily newspaper, Yediot Ahronot, was even harsher, blasting Obama for “selling Mubarak for a pot of lentils,” and “not understanding the Middle East.”
“Our conclusion in Israel needs to be that the man sitting in the White House is liable to ‘sell’ us over night,” concluded the columnist. “The thought that the US might not stand by our side in the day of need causes chills. God help us.”
Former Mossad chief Danny Yatom lamented that the Obama Administration had actually missed a golden opportunity. Yatom told Israel Radio that the situation was ripe for pressure on Mubarak to finally implement real reform, but the US should have worked with the Egyptian leader, not pushed him out of the way and opened the door to chaos. Now, said Yatom, Washington is going to get someone they can’t work with at all.
Sinai Gas Pipeline Blast. Cairo Diverts Supplies To Israel, Jordan For Domestic Use
DEBKAfile Exclusive Analysis February 5, 2011, 6:11 PM (GMT+02:00)
DEBKAfile Exclusive Analysis February 5, 2011, 6:11 PM (GMT+02:00)
Egypt's suspension of gas supplies to Israel after the North Sinai pipeline was blown up Saturday, Feb 5 has suddenly cut Israel off from 25-30 percent of its gas needs and 80 percent of Jordan's. A few hours after the blast, Egyptian Prime Minister Ahmad Shafiq announced the gas supplied to both countries under contract would henceforth be diverted to domestic requirements.
With Egyptian gas cut off for the foreseeable future, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu went into hasty non-stop consultations with ministers and energy military and security officials. Alongside the emergency declared by Israel's electricity corporation, those consultations centered on three additional facets of the crisis: The expanding occupation of North Sinai by Palestinian Hamas extremists from Gaza and anti-Egyptian Bedouin tribesmen, culminating in the gas pipeline explosion; the failure of joint Israeli and Egyptian military efforts to contain it and, thirdly, concerns that Hamas may cross into Israel and sabotage Israeli power stations or fuel reservoirs to bring about the collapse of Israel's electrical power system.
The pipeline supplying Egyptian gas to Israel and Jordan was blown up near the North Sinai town of El Arish early Saturday Feb. 5. Egyptian state TV reported "terrorists" had carried out the attack which caused a huge explosion and fire. Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu conferred urgently with Infrastructure Minister Uzi Landau and energy firms over the abrupt cutoff of 25 percent of Israel's gas needs and ordered security beefed up at energy installations.
The Egyptian and Israeli accounts are contradictory.
An Israeli official spokesman said the explosion was nowhere near the Israeli section of the pipeline and closer to the Jordanian branch. The Egyptian spokesman spoke only of supplies to Israel which he said had been suspended as a precaution because there had been several smaller explosions along the pipe.
The Israeli Infrastructure Ministry spokesman reported that Egyptian gas, which covers 25 percent of Israel's needs, had been cut off at 0900 Saturday morning. He did not foresee regular power supplies being disrupted.
debkafile's counter-terror sources report that the attack on the El Arish gas facility was planned on military lines by a special Hamas team which infiltrated Sinai from Gaza last week. It was a major Hamas operation against on Israel (which incidentally supplies most of the Gaza Strip's power), and blatant Palestinian interference in Egypt's domestic unrest. It was also a fiasco for the joint IDF-and Egyptian military effort to police Sinai during the turbulence in Egypt and secure this strategic peninsula against destabilization by terrorists.
Muslim Brotherhood spokesmen in Cairo were quick to attach responsibility for the pipeline attack on disaffected Bedouin – a clumsy attempt, say debkafile's sources, to clear their offshoot, Hamas, of blame for a well-planned act of which they must have had prior knowledge.
Jordan is badly hit by the loss of Egyptian gas which covers 80 percent of its energy consumption. The Hashemite kingdom will have to resort to the far more expensive heavy oil and diesel to keep its power supply running and raise fuel prices after the king yielded to Islamist-back protesters' demands to reduce prices.
The close rapport between the Muslim Brotherhood and the Palestinian and Lebanese terrorist organizations came to light earlier in the Hezb’Allah-led operation to release Lebanese Hezb’Allah, Palestinian Hamas and Egyptian Brotherhood convicts from Wadi Natrun jail north of Cairo Sunday, Jan. 30, first revealed by debkafile.
While the Hamas and Hezb’Allah escapees headed for Sinai and Gaza, the MB activists made straight for the hubs of disturbance in Egypt. (Click here for this story.)
The embattled Mubarak administration in Cairo may well find it politic to indefinitely put off repairing the pipe and restoring supplies to Israel for two reasons:
1. The incident will support Mubarak's argument that his immediate departure as demanded by Obama would throw Egypt into chaos – and not only Egypt, but resonate devastatingly across the entire region. Not just Israel, but its second peace partner, Jordan, is badly hit too by the loss of Egyptian gas which covers 80 percent of its energy consumption. Amman will have to convert to the far more expensive heavy oil and diesel to keep its power supply running. Fuel prices will have to be raised shortly after the king dropped them to quell the Islamist-back protests shaking the kingdom.
2. Some of the opposition factions backed by the US for a role in future government, such as the Muslim Brotherhood, are fiercely opposed to Egypt's peace relations with Israel which he has promoted for 32 years. The sale of Egyptian gas to Israel has come under constant attack in the street, which has accused the government of undercutting world prices and defrauding the Egyptian treasury.
The Mubarak regime and Egyptian army may want to show they respect popular opinion and are not American or Israeli pawns by not repairing the pipeline and keeping the gas supply to Israel cut off.
debkafile reports that the Israeli Infrastructure Ministry's assurance that no power disruptions were foreseen glosses over the serious repercussions of the loss overnight of a quarter of Israel's gas consumption for manufacturing electricity and its lack of gas reserves.
Israel's power stations will have to switch immediately from gas to heavy oil or coal, a complicated technical process that will have a bad effect on the environment. Energy officials told debkafile Saturday that the power stations affected are Hadera, Haifa (which is partly gas-fueled) and the Tel Aviv Reading facility which was only recently converted to gas. All Israel's emergency electricity stations are also powered by gas
Therefore, the Infrastructure Ministry's assurance may have been premature.
Copyright 2000-2011 DEBKAfile. All Rights Reserved.Sunday, February 6, 2011
First-hand account of a Cairo "vacation". Think it couldn't happen here?
Egyptian police to Bloomberg reporter: "You will be lynched"
Friday, February 04, 2011
Having a policeman say he wanted to kill me wasn't my most frightening moment yesterday in Cairo. That came when police and civilians smashed our car windows -- with the five of us inside it -- jumped up and down on the roof, spat on us, pulled my hair, beat my friends and dragged us into a police van.
The five of us were lucky: We emerged from our confrontation with President Hosni Mubarak's police and operatives alive and relatively healthy. Violence over the past 11 days, much of it in Cairo's Tahrir Square, has killed as many as 300 people in Egypt, according to the United Nations.
But it was a day I never dreamed could occur in my native city. It happened not because I was a reporter, a Sudan-based contract journalist for Bloomberg News returning to Cairo for vacation. The friends giving me a ride downtown were just trying to take food and first-aid supplies to those injured the previous night in clashes with pro-Mubarak protesters.
We got out of the car when we arrived at about 11:30 a.m. in Talaat Harb square near Tahrir, our planned transfer point for the medical supplies. We felt somewhat safe, as one of the demonstrators had told us it was a secure entrance. When I left the night before, it was controlled by anti-Mubarak protesters.
In less than a minute, a mob of about 40 civilian men surrounded our car, banging on the vehicle and grabbing our bags. They looted 1500 Egyptian pounds ($256) worth of medical supplies and 800 pounds worth of food and drinks, uninterested in our explanation of whom it was for.
Smashed Window
I held onto my backpack, with my Egyptian ID card, as a group of 20 men tried to tear it from me. We managed to get back into the car and sped toward downtown. As we were driving away, one of the mob smashed a side window with a metal rod.
Then we saw an army tank. It was the army that permitted the massive march on Feb. 1 by promising not to fire on demonstrators. And it was the army that told people to return home the next day.
We pleaded with the soldiers on the tank to protect us: One plainclothes man had followed us in a car from Talaat Harb square, accompanied by others on foot. The soldiers did nothing and we drove quickly on.
Our next potential saviors appeared: a group of uniformed policemen, dressed in winter black pullovers. We approached them in the car, asking for protection. Then the man who followed us from Talaat Harb arrived and accused our driver, my friend Mahmoud, of running over seven people as we left the square. It wasn't true.
Traitor Accusations
A policeman took away the car key, and about 50 men in plainclothes and five policemen started pounding on our car. They asked our nationality -- we were all Egyptians -- and accused us of being Palestinians, Americans and Iranians. And, they said, traitors to Egypt.
For about 30 minutes, though it seemed more like an hour, the crowd grew, reaching between 100 and 200. They smashed the back windshield, shattering glass all over the car and in our clothing. Men got onto the roof of the car, jumping and yelling. We tried to hold it up with our hands so it wouldn't fall on us.
Then uniformed policemen took our ID cards and searched the car, our bags and our pockets. They took both my mobile phones and Mahmoud's Blackberry, promising to give them back.
Finger Across Neck
A policeman looked me in the eye and said: "You will be lynched today," running his finger across his neck. Others spat on us. They hit the two men in our group in the face through the broken windows, scratching Mahmoud and punching my other male friend. Someone pulled my hair from the back.
An army officer was standing right next to the car as well. Several of us screamed during the hail of blows and grabbed his hand, asking for protection. He just looked at us and told us not to be afraid.
Two soldiers were also present, one of them standing on the trunk of our car. He fired two gunshots in the air in what seemed to be an attempt to disperse the crowd. When it proved futile, he did nothing.
The attack appeared to be orchestrated between the plainclothes men and the uniformed police. At times the police forces would yell "Cordon," and the mob would hold hands and form a circle around the car. When they were told to sit on the ground, they again obeyed.
Then a police van arrived and the officers told us to get out of our car and enter the van one by one. At the same time, though, the non-uniformed men were crying, "If you leave your car, we will kill you." We screamed and asked the army soldiers to open a safe passage; a soldier said he would protect us.
Dragged Into Van
The van pulled up right next to the car. A policeman opened our car door and dragged us one by one into the van as people watched down from their apartment windows, in shock.
Inside the van, three policemen armed with rifles were sitting at the back. The policeman who appeared to be the leader sat by us. "Look down, look down," he yelled. "We haven't slept since Friday because of you."
They searched our bags again and claimed in phone conversations with their superiors that we were carrying "leaflets," a very dangerous accusation in Egypt. They later acknowledged they had found nothing.
As we drove, I saw about 20 foreigners sitting on the pavement next to one of the roadblocks, surrounded by policemen and army tanks. It wasn't clear whether they were journalists. Inside, I could see the marks of the attack: Mahmoud's face was scratched and my other friend's two teeth appeared to be broken.
Cairo Vacation
The van stopped at the Abdeen police station downtown. A plainclothes policeman sitting in front asked us each our names, jobs, age and addresses. When I said I was a journalist, I was asked only whom I worked for. I told him, adding that I had come to Cairo for a holiday.
Then the police offered us water and tea, in the van. One asked why we were in Tahrir Square. We explained, and he said good citizens like us should stay at home and be safe, away from the troubles.
"You have no idea," he said. "We arrested Israelis, Americans, Palestinians, Iranians and even Pakistanis in Tahrir. What were they doing in Tahrir? They want to destroy Egypt."
"We were told you were a group of Palestinians. We were told we would arrive at the car to probably find you dead," he said, according to my memory of his comments.
Not All Policemen
We asked who the people who attacked us were and he said they were just Egyptians fed up with the demonstrations. "We don't want you to think that all policemen are bad," he said. "They were banging on the car just to pretend they are also angry with you, or else these people would have killed the policemen themselves."
"Now you should go home," he continued. "Go on Facebook and tell your friends the streets are not safe, and that they shouldn't come to Tahrir. You were lucky to get out of there alive."
They returned our bags, empty for the most part. They advised us to get new ID cards and to forget about our phones. And they said Mahmoud's car, a 2010 Champagne Kia Cerato that cost 120,000 pounds ($20,488), was completely destroyed after we left -- even though as we drove away policemen still surrounded the car.
After a long chat, the police escorted us to the edge of downtown, where a friend's relative met us with a car and took us back to our homes. It was 4:30 p.m. Our ordeal had lasted five hours.
To contact the reporter on this story: Maram Mazen in Cairo at mmazen@bloomberg.net.
Having a policeman say he wanted to kill me wasn't my most frightening moment yesterday in Cairo. That came when police and civilians smashed our car windows -- with the five of us inside it -- jumped up and down on the roof, spat on us, pulled my hair, beat my friends and dragged us into a police van.
The five of us were lucky: We emerged from our confrontation with President Hosni Mubarak's police and operatives alive and relatively healthy. Violence over the past 11 days, much of it in Cairo's Tahrir Square, has killed as many as 300 people in Egypt, according to the United Nations.
But it was a day I never dreamed could occur in my native city. It happened not because I was a reporter, a Sudan-based contract journalist for Bloomberg News returning to Cairo for vacation. The friends giving me a ride downtown were just trying to take food and first-aid supplies to those injured the previous night in clashes with pro-Mubarak protesters.
We got out of the car when we arrived at about 11:30 a.m. in Talaat Harb square near Tahrir, our planned transfer point for the medical supplies. We felt somewhat safe, as one of the demonstrators had told us it was a secure entrance. When I left the night before, it was controlled by anti-Mubarak protesters.
In less than a minute, a mob of about 40 civilian men surrounded our car, banging on the vehicle and grabbing our bags. They looted 1500 Egyptian pounds ($256) worth of medical supplies and 800 pounds worth of food and drinks, uninterested in our explanation of whom it was for.
Smashed Window
I held onto my backpack, with my Egyptian ID card, as a group of 20 men tried to tear it from me. We managed to get back into the car and sped toward downtown. As we were driving away, one of the mob smashed a side window with a metal rod.
Then we saw an army tank. It was the army that permitted the massive march on Feb. 1 by promising not to fire on demonstrators. And it was the army that told people to return home the next day.
We pleaded with the soldiers on the tank to protect us: One plainclothes man had followed us in a car from Talaat Harb square, accompanied by others on foot. The soldiers did nothing and we drove quickly on.
Our next potential saviors appeared: a group of uniformed policemen, dressed in winter black pullovers. We approached them in the car, asking for protection. Then the man who followed us from Talaat Harb arrived and accused our driver, my friend Mahmoud, of running over seven people as we left the square. It wasn't true.
Traitor Accusations
A policeman took away the car key, and about 50 men in plainclothes and five policemen started pounding on our car. They asked our nationality -- we were all Egyptians -- and accused us of being Palestinians, Americans and Iranians. And, they said, traitors to Egypt.
For about 30 minutes, though it seemed more like an hour, the crowd grew, reaching between 100 and 200. They smashed the back windshield, shattering glass all over the car and in our clothing. Men got onto the roof of the car, jumping and yelling. We tried to hold it up with our hands so it wouldn't fall on us.
Then uniformed policemen took our ID cards and searched the car, our bags and our pockets. They took both my mobile phones and Mahmoud's Blackberry, promising to give them back.
Finger Across Neck
A policeman looked me in the eye and said: "You will be lynched today," running his finger across his neck. Others spat on us. They hit the two men in our group in the face through the broken windows, scratching Mahmoud and punching my other male friend. Someone pulled my hair from the back.
An army officer was standing right next to the car as well. Several of us screamed during the hail of blows and grabbed his hand, asking for protection. He just looked at us and told us not to be afraid.
Two soldiers were also present, one of them standing on the trunk of our car. He fired two gunshots in the air in what seemed to be an attempt to disperse the crowd. When it proved futile, he did nothing.
The attack appeared to be orchestrated between the plainclothes men and the uniformed police. At times the police forces would yell "Cordon," and the mob would hold hands and form a circle around the car. When they were told to sit on the ground, they again obeyed.
Then a police van arrived and the officers told us to get out of our car and enter the van one by one. At the same time, though, the non-uniformed men were crying, "If you leave your car, we will kill you." We screamed and asked the army soldiers to open a safe passage; a soldier said he would protect us.
Dragged Into Van
The van pulled up right next to the car. A policeman opened our car door and dragged us one by one into the van as people watched down from their apartment windows, in shock.
Inside the van, three policemen armed with rifles were sitting at the back. The policeman who appeared to be the leader sat by us. "Look down, look down," he yelled. "We haven't slept since Friday because of you."
They searched our bags again and claimed in phone conversations with their superiors that we were carrying "leaflets," a very dangerous accusation in Egypt. They later acknowledged they had found nothing.
As we drove, I saw about 20 foreigners sitting on the pavement next to one of the roadblocks, surrounded by policemen and army tanks. It wasn't clear whether they were journalists. Inside, I could see the marks of the attack: Mahmoud's face was scratched and my other friend's two teeth appeared to be broken.
Cairo Vacation
The van stopped at the Abdeen police station downtown. A plainclothes policeman sitting in front asked us each our names, jobs, age and addresses. When I said I was a journalist, I was asked only whom I worked for. I told him, adding that I had come to Cairo for a holiday.
Then the police offered us water and tea, in the van. One asked why we were in Tahrir Square. We explained, and he said good citizens like us should stay at home and be safe, away from the troubles.
"You have no idea," he said. "We arrested Israelis, Americans, Palestinians, Iranians and even Pakistanis in Tahrir. What were they doing in Tahrir? They want to destroy Egypt."
"We were told you were a group of Palestinians. We were told we would arrive at the car to probably find you dead," he said, according to my memory of his comments.
Not All Policemen
We asked who the people who attacked us were and he said they were just Egyptians fed up with the demonstrations. "We don't want you to think that all policemen are bad," he said. "They were banging on the car just to pretend they are also angry with you, or else these people would have killed the policemen themselves."
"Now you should go home," he continued. "Go on Facebook and tell your friends the streets are not safe, and that they shouldn't come to Tahrir. You were lucky to get out of there alive."
They returned our bags, empty for the most part. They advised us to get new ID cards and to forget about our phones. And they said Mahmoud's car, a 2010 Champagne Kia Cerato that cost 120,000 pounds ($20,488), was completely destroyed after we left -- even though as we drove away policemen still surrounded the car.
After a long chat, the police escorted us to the edge of downtown, where a friend's relative met us with a car and took us back to our homes. It was 4:30 p.m. Our ordeal had lasted five hours.
To contact the reporter on this story: Maram Mazen in Cairo at mmazen@bloomberg.net.
Monday, January 31, 2011
A few interesting views worth contemplating on the Egyptian mayhem, and some up-to-date info from Israel
- From Jin Sinclair's Mineset
Posted: Jan 30 2011 By: Jim Sinclair Post Edited: January 30, 2011 at 12:47 pm
Filed under: Jim's Mailbox
Jim Sinclair’s Commentary
CIGA Pedro clearly outlines how the demise of the dollar is the demise of much more. Greenspan gave away more than anyone knows.
Gold is your only insurance policy against things we cannot control regardless of the wild fluctuation of the price. We must be our own central bank.
Inflation Inflation Everywhere and Not a Drop to Drink
At last, the doubters have nowhere to hide. The world is starkly revealed as an interconnected political economy force, and not as a disparate grouping of various nations, some authoritarian, some choosing democratically agreed upon policies, creating policy choice and thereby shaping of political outcome. Greece, Ireland, Tunisia, and now, the fulcrum of the Arab world, Egypt, stand as testimony. They are countries caught up in the machinations of a monetary policy to debase the world’s reserve currency.
All “he” wanted was some inflation, a little inflation to get America and the west out of the deflationary spiral caused by the failure of financial instruments (a.k.a. OTC Derivatives) and un-payable government debt – but he can’t get it. Everywhere it rages, but the place he wants it – home. So it erupts in global food prices and manifests itself in the attempts to bail out stone dead banks on the backs of the marginal economic player – post-destruction of the middle class. Most of the world has no savings to get through difficult times. Most of the world cannot “hedge” inflationary outcomes. Those outcomes appear quickly and change realities violently. The inflationary reality is their reality – the difference between starvation and survival. The result? Global upheaval, leading to where, we are not sure… but probably nowhere nice. Think American monetary policy was a uniquely sovereign, American affair? Think again. You are watching QE II live on television. American monetary policy and the global “race to debase” is that raging crowd you see on the television from Ireland to Greece and Egypt. It is that nascent force which Chinese leaders awake in terror, wondering what a billion plus people might do if faced with stark choices. If you can’t make the connection between the monetary policy and the political reality, you need to change the causal way you look at the world.
Nations hold dollars in reserve to meet the demands of running an economy. When debasement takes place, the marginal economic player gets hit first. This is what we see now. But there is another, geo-political aspect many are missing. The western attempts to control multiple political outcomes and a global geo-political/military order rests on the ability to finance and control that order. When the money gets degraded, the ability to finance that order goes with it. Degradation of currency inhibits foreign force projection, both militarily and politically. Nobody in Egypt believes America is capable of controlling political outcomes, as they did from Suez to Mubarak. That era has passed. It passed with the Shah of Iran, and the death of the widely despised (in Egypt) Anwar Sadat. The Mubarak intermezzo is over. In the Arab world, what happens in Egypt doesn’t stay in Egypt. The potential for “regime change” in Saudi Arabia is growing. Now we find that the financial necessity for Dollar debasement wasn’t as politically benign as people in Washington thought. Instability rages across a region that could usher in an era of global conflict.
People say, “be careful what you wish for” when you talk about the end of western hegemony, but while the political hegemony is dying by the hour, the monetary hegemony is currently intact and its results are evident. When those results swing full circle and return to the west, currency upheaval will be guaranteed. Global system breakdown, which made its debut in 2008 is now back for its main act. Money printing didn’t quite work out the way it was supposed to. This time, a rush to the security of Treasury instruments is unlikely to be the fallback position for global capital that now sees Fed monetary policy as a destructive boomerang cutting inflationary swathes across the planet… en route to its place of origin.
CIGA Pedro
- From Wikileaks:
- From Moshe, a respected Jewish activist, Torah scholar and historian:
this was all planned by the slime 30 yrs ago... force isr to make peace and give up the sinai and then for them to bring nazi-ally from ww2 muslim brotherhood to power in egypt to completely surround israel just when either iraq or iran was given nuke capabilities... begin took care of iraq and so that set the slime back 30 yrs or so... but now they are ready...
they are not slowed down by any computer virus that degraded their nuke progress to the bomb... this is an abject lie to cover their asses in front of the world as to why they... the u.s. or isr whose gov'ts both follow slime orders... as to why they haven't yet launched an attack and an invasion to stop iran... more than this... the u.s. (cia) could have toppled iran anytime they wanted to over the last 20 yrs or so... especially this lasttime with the corrupt election which brought the whole country out into the streets in protest and easily iran was ripe for overthrow... but for these reasons i'm saying here they never did so... bec they are in league with them... they are working for the slime interests so the slime running the u.s. make sure american policy is to leave them alone... a trictly "hands off policy..."
after the war the muslim brotherhood was passed over to the bloody brits who turned over this hot potato to the americans... we (they the slime ruling here) took over control of them as their assets and sent ex-nazis to the middle east under cover as russian agents to help arab world come up to speed with israel militarily...
the muz brohood morphed into the plo and then later after all the other spin-off groups from the plo they became al qaeda... and together with the elite slime of this world they brought about the iranian revolution and now this egyptian one... peace is a sham... it is all about destroying isr and having isr destroy the arabs at the same time... a mutual destruction implosion to trigger and kick-start ww3...
tell your readers to go check out threeworldwars.com and see the scenarios... the slime who brought communist russia to power also brought israel to power and just like they made communism self-destruct they have plans to make the zionist movement they created and gave birth to self-destruct as well... right on cue... as soon as they are set to launch ww3... the circumstances of how this came to light staed on this site is a hoax barry chamish says... this was all done by design to cover their slime tracks... and so that very few people would ever believe this "conspiracy theory" and that is as they like it... as they want it to be...
but while all of this is absolutely true... still the best place to hide a secret is in plain view and thus this is how they have rigged this sick ploy and ruse... and i say while the story is fabricated... albert pike et al... the stuff it reveals is absolutely true...and so i say the info and data and historical precedent set in motion after the civil war to slowly but surely bring the nwo/owg illuminati/masonic plan to reality is true and has been in motion ever since and these wars... 1&2 are exact as to how they went about orchestrating them, conducting them and in the aftermath what they set out to accomplish... and if all of this is so by those 2 first conflagrations then so is it going to be true G-d forbid.... by the next one... ww3... will go off when they want it to... unless Hashem steps in w/moshiach... it will be the big one... gog u'maygog... armaggedon... etc....
Hashem did not interrupt wws 1&2 for His reasons... hopefully He ill intervene this time and put a stop to it... but only if we deserve it... (more on this point next time)... got to run for shabat...
all i'm saying is true and is falling into place... do tshuvah, daven, learn, do the mitzvot... but get educated... the stuff is about to hit the fan in the next 2-3 yrs or so... mosh.out...Mubarak Succumbs to Pressure, Appoints First-Ever Vice President
Shevat 24, 5771, 29 January 11 08:55
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu, INN Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has succumbed to fears of a revolution and announced Saturday the appointment of intelligence chief Omar Suleiman as his first-ever vice president. He also dismissed his cabinet.
Suleiman has been a prominent figure in diplomatic ties with Israel and often has acted as a broker in talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority and between the Fatah and Hamas factions.
Mubarak, who has ruled Egypt since 1981, also named his air force commander and aviation minister, Ahmed Shafik, as prime minister.
The addition of new faces to his regime is aimed at calming the new protest movement, which has been attacked by riot police using the same tactics that are a root cause of the opposition. Egypt has been listed by Amnesty International as one of the worst violators of human rights.
Mubarak said in a televised speech Friday that he would also introduce new political and economic reforms.
Until Mubarak’s dramatic political appointments Saturday, his son Gamal has been considered the prime candidate to succeed his father, who is reportedly suffering from cancer. Gamal Mubarak and his mother and daughter fled last Wednesday to London, according to an Arab news sources, as previously reported by Israel National News. Other sources, including Al Jazeera, confirmed the report on Saturday but then backed off.%ad%
The new positions of Suleiman and Shafik put two military men in top positions as Mubarak tries to avoid a repeat of the revolution in Tunisia, where the army helped overthrow the old regime.
“I think Mubarak is acting on the orders of the military establishment, who clearly value the country’s stability more than they do their president,” John R. Bradley, author of “Inside Egypt: The Land of the Pharaohs on the Brink of a Revolution,” told Bloomberg news service.
The military “will soon offer Mubarak a face-saving way- out, perhaps by announcing that he’s ill again and that Suleiman is to take over until new presidential elections take place,” he said.
In Israel, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has told Cabinet ministers not to comment on the crisis in Egypt, but Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, who left the Cabinet in the Labor party shake-up last week, said he thinks calm will return to Egypt.
The protest movement could directly affect Israel if Hamas supporters in Gaza take to the streets to protest against Mubarak, whose government has been increasingly critical of the terrorist organization’s sponsoring or allowing rocket and mortar attacks on Israel’s western Negev.
Egypt reportedly took most of its forces away from the sensitive Rafiah border, a center of smuggling of drugs and weapons into Gaza from the Sinai Peninsula. Part of the wall between Gaza and Egypt reportedly has been dismantled.
Suleiman has been a prominent figure in diplomatic ties with Israel and often has acted as a broker in talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority and between the Fatah and Hamas factions.
Mubarak, who has ruled Egypt since 1981, also named his air force commander and aviation minister, Ahmed Shafik, as prime minister.
The addition of new faces to his regime is aimed at calming the new protest movement, which has been attacked by riot police using the same tactics that are a root cause of the opposition. Egypt has been listed by Amnesty International as one of the worst violators of human rights.
Mubarak said in a televised speech Friday that he would also introduce new political and economic reforms.
Until Mubarak’s dramatic political appointments Saturday, his son Gamal has been considered the prime candidate to succeed his father, who is reportedly suffering from cancer. Gamal Mubarak and his mother and daughter fled last Wednesday to London, according to an Arab news sources, as previously reported by Israel National News. Other sources, including Al Jazeera, confirmed the report on Saturday but then backed off.%ad%
The new positions of Suleiman and Shafik put two military men in top positions as Mubarak tries to avoid a repeat of the revolution in Tunisia, where the army helped overthrow the old regime.
“I think Mubarak is acting on the orders of the military establishment, who clearly value the country’s stability more than they do their president,” John R. Bradley, author of “Inside Egypt: The Land of the Pharaohs on the Brink of a Revolution,” told Bloomberg news service.
The military “will soon offer Mubarak a face-saving way- out, perhaps by announcing that he’s ill again and that Suleiman is to take over until new presidential elections take place,” he said.
In Israel, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has told Cabinet ministers not to comment on the crisis in Egypt, but Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, who left the Cabinet in the Labor party shake-up last week, said he thinks calm will return to Egypt.
The protest movement could directly affect Israel if Hamas supporters in Gaza take to the streets to protest against Mubarak, whose government has been increasingly critical of the terrorist organization’s sponsoring or allowing rocket and mortar attacks on Israel’s western Negev.
Egypt reportedly took most of its forces away from the sensitive Rafiah border, a center of smuggling of drugs and weapons into Gaza from the Sinai Peninsula. Part of the wall between Gaza and Egypt reportedly has been dismantled.
- debkafile reported earlier Sunday:
Gunmen of Hamas's armed wing, Ezz e-Din al Qassam, crossed from Gaza into northern Sinai Sunday, Jan. 30 to attack Egyptian forces and drive them back. They acted on orders from Hamas' parent organization, the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, confirmed by its bosses in Damascus, to open a second, Palestinian front against the Mubarak regime. The Muslim Brotherhood is therefore more active in the uprising than it would appear.
debkafile's military sources report that Hamas gunmen went straight into battle with Egyptian Interior Ministry Special Forces (CFF) in the southern Egyptian-controlled section of the border town of Rafah and the Sinai port of El Arish. Saturday, Bedouin tribesmen and local Palestinians used the mayhem in Cairo to clash with Egyptian forces at both northern Sinai key points and ransack their gun stores.
Sunday, Hamas terrorists aim to follow this up by pushing Egyptian forces out of the northern and central regions of the peninsula and so bring Egypt's border with the Gaza Strip under Palestinian control. Hamas would then be able to break out of the Egyptian blockade of the enclave and restore its smuggling routes in full. Officials in Gaza City confirmed Sunday, that Hamas's most notorious smuggling experts, including Muhammad Shaar, had broken out of the El Arish jail and were headed for Gaza City.
Our military sources further report that the Multinational Force & Observers (MFO), most of whose members are Americans and Canadians, are on maximum alert at their northern Sinai base, while they wait for US military transports to evacuate them to US bases in Europe.
Our military sources further report that the Multinational Force & Observers (MFO), most of whose members are Americans and Canadians, are on maximum alert at their northern Sinai base, while they wait for US military transports to evacuate them to US bases in Europe.
This force was deployed in Sinai in 1981 for peacekeeping responsibilities and the supervision of the security provisions of the 1979 Peace Treaty between Egypt and Israel under which the peninsula was demilitarized except for Egyptian police. Ending the MFO's mission in Sinai after thirty years knocks down a key pillar propping up the relations of peace between Egypt and Israel.
Early Sunday, the Egyptian army quietly began transferring armored reinforcements including tanks through the tunnels under the Suez from Egypt proper eastward to northern Sinai in effort to drive the Hamas forces back. The Egyptian troop presence in Sinai, which violates the terms of the peace treaty, has not been mentioned by either of the peace partners. Our Jerusalem sources report the Netanyahu government may have tacitly approved it.
Hamas' Gaza leaders do not seem to fear Israeli military action – or even an air attack - to interfere with their incursion of Sinai, although it brings their armed units within easy reach of the long Egyptian border with Israel.- COMMENTARY BY EMANUEL A. WINSTON
Every Intelligence Agency of consequence knew that Hamas is a composition of radical Palestinian Islamists but, Hamas also has a mix of Iranian and Syrian operatives deep in the bowels of Gaza.
The Intel Agencies of Egypt, Israel and all the others know that the Terrorists have set up operations in the Sinai which Israel had surrendered as a major land barrier for a 30 year cold peace with Egypt.
Now the Terrorists out of Gaza have used the rioting in Egypt against President Hosni Mubarak to establish Terror bases in the Sinai Desert from which to launch cross-border attacks against Israel.
These bases would, no doubt, also be the refuge offered to those thousands of prisoners whom the Muslim Brotherhood helped to escape from Cairo prisons to find safety with safe houses, arms, funds, plans, communications, maps, etc. in the Sinai. Many of the escapees are leaders and organizers of Muslim Brotherhood, Al Qaeda and Hamas. From the Sinai they can launch Terror attacks into Gaza, Eilat, further into Israel, even spreading out into countries along and across the Mediterranean Sea – such as Jordan, Lebanon, Italy….
No doubt, Israel will once again be forced to strike back in self-defense, both in Sinai and the rest of Israel. Of course, the world will howl in protest against Israel.
Don’t be surprised to see the Terrorists among the Muslim Palestinians try to take over Jordan which has a 70-80% population of Palestinian Muslims in order to open up a War front with Israel.
- See also Barry Chamish's latest column here:
Elad Pressman, editor of a major Israeli political website, was my guest on my radio show and did he have news! The Daily Telegraph had dug into Wikileaks documents and pieced together a report that convincingly proves the US was behind the violent Egyptian protests.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/
The American Embassy in Cairo helped a young dissident attend a US-sponsored summit for activists in New York, while working to keep his identity secret from Egyptian state police.
On his return to Cairo in December 2008, the activist told US diplomats that an alliance of opposition groups had drawn up a plan to overthrow President Hosni Mubarak and install a democratic government in 2011. He has already been arrested by Egyptian security in connection with the demonstrations and his identity is being protected by The Daily Telegraph.
The disclosures, contained in previously secret US diplomatic dispatches released by the WikiLeaks website, show American officials pressed the Egyptian government to release other dissidents who had been detained by the police.
At least five people were killed in Cairo alone yesterday and 870 injured, several with bullet wounds. Mohamed ElBaradei, the pro-reform leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner, was placed under house arrest after returning to Egypt to join the dissidents. Riots also took place in Suez, Alexandria and other major cities across the country.
The US government has previously been a supporter of Mr Mubarak’s regime. But the leaked documents show the extent to which America was offering support to pro-democracy activists in Egypt while publicly praising Mr Mubarak as an important ally in the Middle East. In a secret diplomatic dispatch, sent on December 30 2008, Margaret Scobey, the US Ambassador to Cairo, recorded that opposition groups had allegedly drawn up secret plans for “regime change” to take place before elections, scheduled for September this year.
The memo, which Ambassador Scobey sent to the US Secretary of State in Washington DC, was marked “confidential” and headed: “April 6 activist on his US visit and regime change in Egypt.”
It said the activist claimed “several opposition forces” had “agreed to support an unwritten plan for a transition to a parliamentary democracy, involving a weakened presidency and an empowered prime minister and parliament, before the scheduled 2011 presidential elections”. The embassy’s source said the plan was “so sensitive it cannot be written down”.
Ambassador Scobey questioned whether such an “unrealistic” plot could work, or ever even existed. However, the documents showed that the activist had been approached by US diplomats and received extensive support for his pro-democracy campaign from officials in Washington. The embassy helped the campaigner attend a “summit” for youth activists in New York, which was organized by the US State Department.
Cairo embassy officials warned Washington that the activist’s identity must be kept secret because he could face “retribution” when he returned to Egypt. He had already allegedly been tortured for three days by Egyptian state security after he was arrested for taking part in a protest some years earlier.
The protests in Egypt are being driven by the April 6 youth movement, a group on Facebook that has attracted mainly young and educated members opposed to Mr Mubarak. The group has about 70,000 members and uses social networking sites to orchestrate protests and report on their activities. The documents released by WikiLeaks reveal US Embassy officials were in regular contact with the activist throughout 2008 and 2009, considering him one of their most reliable sources for information about human rights abuses.
Elad strongly suggested that I investigate who was behind Mohammed ElBaradei. Look what I discovered! Just a few months ago, Mohammed ElBaradei was paraded on the front cover of the Council On Foreign Relations (CFR) rag, Foreign Affairs, with a headline asking if he could be Egypt's savior. What uncanny foresight, for on the second day of Egyptian protests he showed up in Cairo and was named as the negotiator of The Muslim Brotherhood. So where did he come from? It turns out from the board of an NGO run by CFR muckrakers George Soros and Zbigniew Brzezinski.
- Against the regime, the opposition groups - of which there are at least ten - are just as hamstrung by their failure to produce a leader able to stand up and challenge the president. For lack of any representative figure, they picked the retired nuclear watchdog director Dr. Mohamed ElBaradi to speak for them in negotiations over the transfer of power. Hardly anyone in Egypt knows him: He is better known outside the country having spent many years abroad. Yet, at the same time, ElBaradei sits on the board of a Soros/Brzezinski foundation.
- Go to the George Soros/Zbigniew Brzezinski Crisis Groups Website and you will see that the Egyptian clashes have hit surprisingly close to home for them. That's because none other than their own Mohamed ElBaradei, sitting on their board of trustees, is the self-proclaimed leader of the unrest unfolding across the streets of Cairo. The International Crisis Group's recent condemnation of ElBaradei's detention and admission of his membership amongst "the Group" is accompanied by calls for the government to stop using violence against the protesters.
- http://www.crisisgroup.org/en/
about/board.aspx - A few board members:
- G eorge Soros
- Chairman, Open Society Institute
- Mohamed ElBaradei
- Director-General Emeritus, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); Nobel Peace Prize (2005)
- Javier Solana
- Former EU High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy, NATO Secretary-General and Foreign Affairs Minister of Spain
- U.S. President Barack Obama met with members of Egypt's Islamist opposition movement, the Muslim Brotherhood, earlier this year, according to a report in Thursday editions of the Egyptian daily newspaper Almasry Alyoum. The newspaper reported that Obama met the group's members, who reside in the U.S. and Europe, in Washington two months ago.
http://euobserver.com/9/31729/
Rabbi David Rosen, a prominent commentator on religious affairs, has said
that EU diplomats should start talking to Islamic faith leaders in Egypt in
order to keep the revolution on a peaceful path.
Yes, Israel's President thinks it would be terrific to begin negotiations with the Muslim Brotherhood.
Israel's issues are the same as Egypt's but are hidden behind a charade of democracy. This year's figures reveal that 25% of all Israelis, including over 850,000 children, live beneath the poverty line. The middle class has all but disappeared at 15%, leaving a vast number of poor and unemployed to be ruled by a tiny group of immensely wealthy oligarchs. If you thought
Cairo had a big turnout for its protests, Israel with 1/5 of Cairo's population, drew over 200,000 to protest the Oslo "peace" and the evacuation of Gaza's Jews...to no avail. The government had flipped the organizers with names like Wallerstein and Leiberman and the protests were harmless steam blowing.
It's time Israel joined the Middle East. Get those 200,000 back, led by homeless Gazan Jews and joined by all who live in daily fear of the Shabak (Secret Service), the police, the courts and get them to the President's House to physically oust Shimon Peres from his office.
After that, on to the Knesset.
end
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