Dagelijks archief: 12 augustus 2012

Village council: Israel confiscating livestock in Tubas

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A view of the Jordan valley.

TUBAS (Ma’an) — Israeli forces have been confiscating livestock from shepherds in the Jordan valley and imposing high fines on owners, a local village council said Saturday.

The village council of al-Maleh and al-Madareb told Ma’an that Israeli forces recently confiscated livestock from shepherds and farmers and imposed a fine of 15,000 NIS for them to be returned.

Adel Eilan said that Israeli forces fined him and his brother and then did not return the full number of confiscated livestock.

Israel is taking livestock and equipment from farmers and shepherds to force them to leave the area, the village council added.

An Israeli police spokesperson did not answer calls seeking comment.

The villages of al-Maleh and al-Madareb lie in an area of Israeli control in the Tubas governorate.

In March, Bedouin village council head Aref Daraghmeh said that Israel’s Nature Authority was threatening Palestinian residents with fines of more than 5,000 shekels for picking tumbleweed in the area.

(www.maannews.net / 12.08.2012)

Israel tests SMS missile alerts as Iran chatter grows

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Israeli soldiers watch as a missile is launched from the Iron Dome defence system in the southern Israeli city of Beer Sheva in March 2012. Israel on Sunday began testing an SMS system for warning the public of an imminent missile attack as chatter over a possible strike on Iran dominated the Israeli press headlines.

Israeli soldiers watch as a missile is launched from the Iron Dome defence system in the southern Israeli city of Beer Sheva in March 2012. Israel on Sunday began testing an SMS system for warning the public of an imminent missile attack as chatter over a possible strike on Iran dominated the Israeli press headlines.

AFP - Israel on Sunday began testing an SMS system for warning the public of an imminent missile attack as chatter over a possible strike on Iran dominated the Israeli press headlines.

As testing began, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel had chalked up “a significant improvement” in its home front defence capabilities, mentioning its highly-vaunted anti-missile systems such as Iron Dome and Arrow 2.

“There has been a significant improvement in our level of defence capacity on the home front: with Iron Dome, with the Arrow, in terms of protection and shelters, in advanced warning systems and in other areas,” he said at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting.

“But all the threats which are directed towards the Israeli home front are dwarved by another threat — different in both its scope and its essence. And so I repeat: Iran must never be allowed to get nuclear weapons.”

With front page stories in two papers suggesting Tehran had made progress towards the manufacture and assembly of a nuclear warhead, Israel’s Home Front Command began final tests of the SMS warning system which is expected to be operational by September.

“The Home Front Command will today start conducting nationwide testing of the ‘Personal Message’ alert system, which will end on Thursday,” said a statement indicating that SMS texts in Hebrew, Arabic, English and Russian would be sent to subscribers on Israel’s three main networks: Cellcom, Pelephone and Orange.

The idea is that the SMS system could be used to warn the population of an imminent missile attack by Iran or Lebanon’s Hezbollah militia if Israel strikes Tehran’s nuclear facilities which it believes is a front for developing a bomb.

In recent days, talk of a possible strike on Iran has dominated the headlines, largely coming from unsourced officials quoting intelligence reports, none of which it was possible to verify.

“Iran has made progress toward nuclear warhead,” was the headline in the Haaretz newspaper.

“The Iranians greatest progress recently is in the manufacture and assembly of a nuclear warhead,” the paper said, quoting the official who was drawing his information from an intelligence report which an Israeli newspaper said was recently presented to US President Barack Obama.

Although US officials declined to comment on the report, Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak referred to it directly last week, saying it “brings the American assessment much much closer to ours” and makes the Iranian issue “a bit more urgent.”

“Not prepared for war” was the headline in Yediot Aharonot, which questioned Israel’s readiness to both mount a decisive military strike and to cope back home with the expected fallout.

“Will those preparations be enough to deal a crushing blow to Iran’s nuclear facilities and allow Israel to cope with the repercussions of such an attack?” it said. “It is not at all clear that that is the case.”

It quoted statistics saying 700,000 civilians did not have bomb shelters, only half of Israel’s population of 7.8 million people had gas masks, and that work to fortify 70 percent of the country’s hospitals would not be completed until 2015.

Although Israel charges that its arch foe Iran is driving for a nuclear bomb, the US intelligence services say only that they suspect it is seeking a weapons capability but that no decision has been taken on actually making one.

Israel is widely suspected to have the region’s sole, if undeclared, nuclear arsenal.

(www.france24.com / 12.08.2012)

Israel’s human right violations entail sanctions: British MP

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It amounts to psychological warfare because what you’re doing is undermining somebody and punishing them because of their beliefs and this is just wrong. Well, the prison system is wrong. The imprisonment of Palestinians is wrong by an occupying power and then to insult them in that way breaks any kind of code or convention you could think of.”

British MP Jeremy Corbin

Israel’s religious intolerance and mistreatment of Palestinian prisoners during the holy month of Ramadan is “appalling,” a British lawmaker tells Press TV.

Persecution of vast number of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli custody during Ramadan flies in the face of the UN and the European Conventions on Human Rights, Jeremy Corbin said in an exclusive interview with Press TV on Saturday.

“The amount of food and liquid that those poor prisoners are getting on the basis of the report, we just heard, is the equivalent of being on a hunger strike, like an enforced starvation. Goodness knows what their condition is going to be like at the end of Ramadan if that is all they’re getting to eat and all the liquid they’re getting. It is a very hot time of the year. The conditions are pretty bad. This is disgraceful,” he added.

The “cruel and unusual punishment” of Palestinian prisoners and the deliberate mistreatment of them is “completely unnecessary because the Palestinian prisoners are celebrating a religious festival,” Corbyn noted.

According to Palestinian lawyers, Palestinian detainees are currently not being given enough water or food in between their fast during Ramadan.

“It amounts to psychological warfare because what you’re doing is undermining somebody and punishing them because of their beliefs and this is just wrong. Well, the prison system is wrong. The imprisonment of Palestinians is wrong by an occupying power and then to insult them in that way breaks any kind of code or convention you could think of,” the British MP went on to say.

Corbyn touched upon Britain’s double-standard policy on Israel’s violation of human rights in Palestine, saying London is turning a blind eye to Israel’s punitive measures against Palestinians, including occupation, imprisonment of elected Palestinian leaders, and denial of basic rights to the prisoners.

“Israel is doing all of that it should be condemned for all of that. So my view is that we should be applying sanctions against Israel and those sanctions ought to be the suspension of the EU trade agreement because it’s in violation of the humanitarian and human rights aspects, which are part of every European trade agreement,” he continued.

Corbyn stressed that the mass imprisonment of Palestinians is actually part of a much bigger political game, in which prisoners are being used as bargaining chips in political debate and discussions.

“Corporal Gilad Shalit (the Israeli trooper, formerly imprisoned by Hamas) apparently equals the lives of a very very large number of Palestinian people,” he concluded.

According to Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics and prisoner advocacy groups, there are currently over 6000 Palestinian prisoners, including legislators, in Israeli jails, many of whom have been rounded up without charge or trial. Independent sources put the number of the inmates at 11,000.

(www.presstv.ir / 12.08.2012)

Prophet Muhammad: Role Model of Tolerance, Compassion, and Forgiveness

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By Raya Shokatfard at OnIslam.net

Allah has always chosen prophets with the best of characters, morals and spirits.

Since Allah is All-Knowing, All-Wise, and has ordained human’s destiny before their birth, it is feasible to think that He has already chosen His Prophets before even their entrance to the world.

Prophet Muhammad was not an exception. Allah bestowed on him the best of characters, one of which was his exceptional tolerance which is manifested in his life and teachings:

وَإِنَّكَ لَعَلَىٰ خُلُقٍ عَظِيمٍ

Verily, you are of a great moral character.

[Surah Al-Qalam 68:4]

We will examine some examples of his tolerance at the advent of Islam and during its expansion process. In the next article, we will examine his treatment of non-Muslims.

In Mecca

During the first thirteen years of his life in Mecca, he and his followers faced much persecution. Muslims were not ordered by Allah to fight back due to the fact that they had no military strength yet due to the small following which gradually increased. It was only in Medina when his following and military power rapidly grew that fighting to protect themselves and the new religion was allowed.

When the Prophet’s opponents greatly increased their persecution, his companions asked him to curse them. At this the Prophet replied:

إِنِّي لَمْ أُبْعَثْ لَعَّانًا وَإِنَّمَا بُعِثْتُ رَحْمَةً

Verily, I was not sent to invoke curses, but rather I was only sent as a mercy.

[Sahih Muslim, Book 32, Number 6284]

His opponents continued to treat him and his companions unjustly and cruelly, but he always prayed for them.

He once decided to personally visit the village of Ta’if, to the east of Mecca, to invite its inhabitants to Islam. The people rejected him, stoned him, ejected him, and made him to bleed. Angel Gabriel came to him and said, “Allah has heard your people’s saying to you and how they have replied. Allah has sent the Angel of the Mountains to you that you may order him to do whatever you wish to these people.” The Angel of the Mountains greeted him, and said, “O Muhammad, order what you wish. If you like, I will let the mountains fall on them.” The Prophet, peace be upon him, said:

بَلْ أَرْجُو أَنْ يُخْرِجَ اللَّهُ مِنْ أَصْلاَبِهِمْ مَنْ يَعْبُدُ اللَّهَ وَحْدَهُ لاَ يُشْرِكُ بِهِ شَيْئًا

No, I hope that Allah will bring from their descendants people who will worship Allah alone without associating partners with Him.

[Sahih Bukhari, Book 54, Number 454]

In the early Meccan period when the enemies of the new religion far exceeded the Prophet’s companions in number, it often happened that when the Prophet would stand to pray, his foes would come near him and whistle and clap in order to disturb him, but the Prophet would not even once show his anger at such acts. He always opted for the policy of tolerance and avoidance of confrontation.

In one instance when the Prophet was praying at the Ka’bah while his enemies were watching his every move and action, one of his adversaries put on his back the intestine of a slaughtered camel during his prostration. The Prophet did not react and stayed in that position. His daughter, Fatimah, rushed to take the filth off his back and cleaned him up.

In Medina

Later, when Prophet Muhammad and many of his companions migrated to Medina, again his great character in dealing with his companions and enemies was further manifested. In Medina, the Muslims were in the process of establishing the new Islamic state. Yet, their enemies in Mecca did not spare much time to wage war against them and pursue them even in Medina.

In the battle of Uhud, when his Makkan enemies attacked the Muslims, Prophet Muhammad suffered head injury and his front teeth got smashed. When the blood started to seep from his head, he swabbed it saying, “If a drop of my blood fell on the earth, those disbelievers will be destroyed by Allah.” Umar told him, “O Messenger of Allah, Curse them!” The Prophet, peace be upon him, replied:

أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ إِنَّمَا أَنَا رَحْمَةٌ مُهْدَاةٌ

O people, verily, I am a mercy and a guide.

[Al-Mustadarak, Book of Faith, Number 107, Hasan]

And he also said:

رَبِّ اغْفِرْ لِقَوْمِي فَإِنَّهُمْ لاَ يَعْلَمُونَ

My Lord, forgive my people, for they do not know.

[Sahih Muslim, Book 19, Number 4418]

Allah confirms his blessed character by saying:

وَمَا أَرْسَلْنَاكَ إِلَّا رَحْمَةً لِّلْعَالَمِينَ

We have not sent you except as a mercy to the worlds.

[Surah Al-Anbiya 21:107]

The Prophet, peace be upon him, once said:

الْمُسْلِمُ مَنْ سَلِمَ النَّاسُ مِنْ لِسَانِهِ وَيَدِهِ وَالْمُؤْمِنُ مَنْ أَمِنَهُ النَّاسُ عَلَى دِمَائِهِمْ وَأَمْوَالِهِمْ

The Muslim is the one from whose tongue and hand people are safe, and the believer is the one with whom the people’s lives and wealth are trusted.

[Sunan An-Nasa'i, Book 47, Number 4998, Sahih]

He manifested these words with action and was not fast to revenge or rebuke a wrong doer. A Bedouin once entered the mosque and started to urinate in it. Mosques at that time had no walls and carpeted floors and the ceilings were palm leaves held up by palm stems. The people ran to prevent and restrain him. The Prophet, peace be upon him, asked for a pitcher of water to be poured over the place of urine, and he said:

إِنَّمَا بُعِثْتُمْ مُيَسِّرِينَ وَلَمْ تُبْعَثُوا مُعَسِّرِينَ

Verily, you were sent only to make things easy, and you were not sent to make things difficult.

[Sunan At-Tirmidhi, Book of Purity, Number 147, Sahih]

One of the famous sayings of Jesus, peace be upon him, is:

Love your neighbor like yourself.

[Matthew 19:19]

Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, complimented this by saying:

وَاللَّهِ لَا يُؤْمِنُ وَاللَّهِ لَا يُؤْمِنُ وَاللَّهِ لَا يُؤْمِنُ

By Allah, he is not a believer! By Allah, he is not a believer! By Allah, he is not a believer!

It was said, “Who, O Messenger of Allah?” He said:

الَّذِي لَا يَأْمَنُ جَارُهُ بَوَايِقَهُ

Him whose neighbor is not safe from his evil.

[Sahih Bukhari, Book 73, Number 45]

This includes tolerance for actions they may do that is not pleasing to one.

It is reported that one of the Prophet’s neighbors was a Jew who hated the Prophet. Each day he would throw trash on his way. The prophet never rebuked him. One day, the Jew did not show up. The Prophet asked about him, and was told that he was sick. So, he went to visit him and inquire about his health with kindness. Upon seeing this, the Jew embraced Islam.

The enmity of his worst enemy toward his most beloved was also met with awesome goodness.

Hamza was among the Prophet’s most beloved uncles. During one of the battles, Hend, the wife of Abu Sufyan, the arch enemy of the Prophet, had ordered her slave to find Hamza and pierce him with his arrow. Upon seeing him dead, she rushed to his body and cut out his liver and started chewing on it while filled with rage. Upon the conquest of Mecca, the Prophet did not seek revenge on her and accepted her and her husband as new converts and gave them full protection.

Anas ibn Malik, who served the Prophet for ten years, said that he never rebuked him:

خَدَمْتُ النَّبِيَّ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ عَشْرَ سِنِينَ فَمَا قَالَ لِي أُفٍّ وَلَا لِمَ صَنَعْتَ وَلَا أَلَّا صَنَعْتَ

I served the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, for ten years. By Allah, he never even said to me “Uff!” and he never said harshly for anything, “Why did you do that?” or, “Why did you not do that?”

[Sahih Bukhari, Book 73, Number 64]

Such manners of tolerance gained him the respect even of his enemies, and his followers stood by him through all kinds of hardship and misfortune.

Although his worse enemies were the Meccan Arabs at the beginning, but in Medina, the Jews did not spare any effort to conspire against him, even after treaties were signed with them. However, he tried to be as fair with them as possible and only waged war against them when they broke treaties which caused much loss of life of Muslims.

Once, when the Prophet was sitting at a place in Medina, along with his companions, a funeral procession passed by. On seeing this, the Prophet stood up. One of his companions remarked that the funeral was that of a Jew. The Prophet replied:

أَلَيْسَتْ نَفْسًا

Was he not a human being?

[Sunan An-Nasa’i, Book 21, Number 1922, Sahih]

Since Prophet Muhammad wished to avoid war at all costs, he strove to bring about a peace agreement between him and the Meccans. After great efforts on his part, the non-Muslims agreed to a ten-year peace treaty, which was drafted and signed at Al-Hudaybiyyah, a place outside Mecca.

During this important meeting, the Meccans insisted on a number of extremely provocative acts. For instance, the agreement mentioned the Prophet’s name as “Muhammad the Messenger of Allah.” They insisted to replace by “son of Abdullah.” The Prophet accepted peacefully and deleted the appellation. Similarly, they made the condition that if they could lay their hands on any Muslim they would make him a hostage, but if the Muslims succeeded in detaining any non-Muslim, they would have to set him free. The Prophet even relented on this point for establishment of peace in the region. He was clearly setting examples of fairness and tolerance while exposed to injustice and intolerance.

Despite all the concessions Prophet Muhammad made with the Meccans, the later violated the same treaty they signed earlier. It was then that the Prophet finally marched with his huge army to Mecca and without any resistance conquered the city which was once the abode of his worse enemies.

As mentioned earlier, the Prophet and his followers suffered a great deal during their thirteen years of living in Mecca and after their migration to Medina. His own tribesmen and even family members continue to oppose him in not only in Mecca but rose to fight him in Medina for over 20 years. They did not spear any effort to inflict the worse humanly possible hardship on them. In Mecca, it included, torture, sanctions, taking their lives’ belonging, separating family members and slaughtering them where ever they could find them. With Allah’s help and his and his companions’ steadfastness in Medina and upholding the message of Islam, they finally conquered Mecca. Its leaders came to him fearing that he would kill them as all conquerors do. But instead, he said:

يا معشر قريش ما ترون أني فاعل فيكم؟

O Quraish, what do you think I will do to you?

They said, “You are a brother, the son of a noble brother.” He said:

اذهبوا فأنتم الطلقاء

Go, you are all free.

[Seerah Ibn Hisham 412, Fath ul-Bari 612, Sunan Al-Kubra 17714]

Prophet Muhammad’s mercy and tolerance did not exclude his worst enemies. Such tolerance awed his enemies who were now the newly converted Muslims. The end result is a clear history that is registered to this day. Message of Islam spread across the world, to include on fifth of the global population.

These are only a few among many examples of the Prophet’s tolerance and noble character. Aisha, the wife of the Prophet was asked regarding the character of the Prophet, peace be upon him. She said very simply that:

أَلَسْتَ تَقْرَأُ الْقُرْآنَ فَإِنَّ خُلُقَ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ كَانَ الْقُرْآنَ

Have you not read the Quran? Verily, the character of the Messenger of Allah was the Quran.

[Sunan Abu Dawud, Book of Prayer, Number 1342, Sahih]

Clearly, the Prophet molded his own life in accordance with the ideal pattern of life that he presented to others in the form of the Quran revealed to him by Allah. He never beat a servant, or a woman, or anyone else. He did, of course, fight for what was right. When he had to choose between two alternatives, he would take the easier course, provided it involved no sin. No one was more careful to avoid sin than he. He never sought revenge on his own sake for any wrong done to him personally. He was tolerant.  Only if Allah’s commandments had been broken would he meet out retribution for the sake of Allah. It was such conduct which gained the Prophet universal respect.

Scholars further explain about the Quran being his character:

يعني أنه كان يتأدب بآدابه ويتخلق بأخلاقه فما مدحه القرآن كان فيه رضاه وما ذمه القرآن كان فيه سخطه وجاء في رواية عنها قالت كان خلقه القرآن يرضى لرضاه ويسخط لسخطه

What this means is that he followed its etiquette and adopted its attitude. Whatever was praised in the Quran, he was pleased with, and whatever was condemned in the Quran he hated. It says in one report that Aisha said his attitude was the Quran, whatever it was pleased with he was pleased with and whatever it hated he hated.

[Ibn Rajab, Jami Ulum wal-Hukam 16]

One may say, since he was the last Prophet and messenger to mankind, no other can ever be quite like him. This is true because none shall ever have to shoulder a fraction of the responsibilities he had to bear. However, we, as his followers, have the easy part which is to seek and adopt his gentle qualities and high moral standards into daily practice; for the Prophet’s life was divinely chosen to function as a practical manual of how one should better himself.

Prophet Muhammad’s character and qualities are not only for the Muslims to follow, but the sincere seekers who learn about him, praise his noble character and wish to follow it.

Goethe, a famous German writer, artist, and politician of the 1800s, marveled over the achievements and status of the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, saying:

“We Europeans with all our concepts and ideas have not yet attained that which Muhammad attained, and no one will ever surpass him. I searched in history for the loftiest example for man to follow, and I found it in the Prophet Muhammad. Thus the truth must prevail and become supreme, because Muhammad succeeded in subjugating the whole world by means of the message of Divine Oneness.”

Success comes from Allah, and Allah knows best.

(www.faithinallah.org / 12.08.2012)

Mursi takes Egypt from generals, but raises fears of new dictatorship

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Egypt’s President Mohamed Mursi (R) observes as Egypt’s new Defence Minister Abdel Fattah al-Sissi receives his orders at the presidential palace in Cairo, August 12, 2012. Mursi ordered Egypt's two top generals to retire, including Hussein Tantawi who led the nation after Hosni Mubarak was ousted,

Egypt’s President Mohamed Mursi (R) observes as Egypt’s new Defence Minister Abdel Fattah al-Sissi receives his orders at the presidential palace in Cairo, August 12, 2012. Mursi ordered Egypt’s two top generals to retire, including Hussein Tantawi who led the nation after Hosni Mubarak was ousted,

Egyptian President Mohammed Mursi’s decision to remove defense minister Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, Army Chief-of-Staff Sami Annan and several other commanders from their posts has brought full civilian rule to the country but raised fears of possible abuse of power and a return to dictatorship.

Mursi’s decision to also annul a constitutional amendment that gave the generals sweeping powers was another sign he was seeking to restore the president’s authorities over the powerful military.

Omar Ashour, an Egyptian analyst and visiting scholar at the Brookings Doha Center, said Mursi’s decisions “will enter history as a significant shift in civil-military balance of power towards the civilian side.”
“This is the first time in Egypt’s political history that an elected civilian politician overrules the decisions of the heads of the military establishment,” he said.

There have been conflicting reports on whether Mursi had discussed the decisions with Supreme Council of Armed Forces (SCAF) prior to announcing them.

Ashour said the decision was “negotiated with some members of the SCAF, most notably General Abd al-Fattah al-Sisi, now defense minister and former head of military intelligence.”

“The appointment of al-Sisi is a very clever choice…al-Sisi, being head of military intelligence, has enough information on the army’s internal factions. This will be of enormous use to the President.” Ashour added.

However, Egyptian political analyst Hani Nesira feared the surprise moves were part of a coup that dangerously put all powers in the hands of President Mursi.

“He is becoming even more powerful than Hosni Mubarak used to be,” Nesira told Al Arabiya English.

“I think this is part of the Muslim Brotherhood’s strategy that has targeted the media by shutting down a newspaper and a television station. Now it has annulled the constitutional amendments previously demanded by many revolutionary and nationalist powers, including member of the parliament itself,” Nesira said.

Mursi’s decisions have opened doors for a new conflict between the Brotherhood movement and other political factions, or could also be later rejected as unconstitutional, he added.

However, Farrag Ismail, veteran Egyptian journalist and political analyst, played down the fears Mursi is trying to tighten his grip on power. The president was only “temporarily holding sweeping powers” until a new legislative body is elected, he said.

(english.alarabiya.net / 12.08.2012)

BREAKING: Egypt’s Morsi issues new Constitutional Declaration

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President Mohamed Mursi

President Mohamed Morsi issued a new Constitutional Declaration on Sunday granting the elected president all the authorities listed in Article 56 of the 30 March 2011 Constitutional Declaration.

The powers Morsi enjoys under this declaration include full executive and legislative authority, along with the power to set all public policies in Egypt and sign international treaties.

The declaration further gives Morsi the right to draw up a new Constituent Assembly mandated with drafting a new Egyptian constitution should any future developments prevent the current assembly from carrying out its responsibilities.

(en.aswatmasriya.com / 12.08.2012)

Egypt’s president sacks defense minister Tantawi and Chief-of-Staff Annan

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Egypt’s new Islamist President Mohamed Mursi (C) speaks with Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi (L) and Egyptian Armed Forces Chief Of Staff Sami Anan during a soldier graduation ceremony. (Reuters)

Egypt’s new Islamist President Mohamed Mursi (C) speaks with Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi (L) and Egyptian Armed Forces Chief Of Staff Sami Anan during a soldier graduation ceremony.

Egyptian President Mohammed Mursi on Sunday sacked Defense Minister Field Marshall Hussein Tantawi and Army Chief-of-Staff Sami Annan and canceled the military-declared constitutional amendments that gave top generals wide powers.

As crowds gather in Cairo’s Tahrir Sqaure in support of the moves, Mursi gave a televised speech at Al-Azhar University, saying that the actions completed the work of last year’s street demonstrations that toppled the regime of President Hosni Mubarak.

“The revolution achieved some of its goals and we are resolved to realize the rest,” Mursi said in the Sunday evening speech. “We seek to restore security stability and development of the country.”

“My decisions are not directed to individuals or meant to embarrass institutions,” he added.

“I didn’t mean to send negative messages to anyone, but was seeking the interest of the nation. There are great challenges facing the Egyptian people.”

The constitutional amendments that he revoked where issued shortly before the elections by the Supreme Military Council, which ruled the country during the transitional period after Mubarak’s ouster.

The much-criticized addendum had expanded the military council’s power and gutted that of elected officials. It had put military leaders in control of the right to declare a state of war, and also gave them the ability to appoint a new Constituent Assembly tasked with drafting a new constitution if the current one had been dismantled.

In his sweeping moves, Mursi also ordered the retirement of the commanders of the navy, air defense and air force. The retired navy commander, Lt. Gen. Mohan Mameesh, was named as chairman of the Suez Canal, the strategic waterway linking the Red Sea and the Mediterranean and a major source of revenues for the country.

Presidential spokesman Yasser Ali said told a news conference aired on state TV that Mursi named a career army officer, Lt. Gen. Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, to replace Tantawi and Lt. Gen. Sidki Sayed Ahmed to replace Annan.

It was not immediately clear whether the decisions had the military’s blessing. But Egyptian General Mohamed el-Assar told Reuters that the decision to sack Tantawi “was based on consultation with the field marshal and the rest of the military council,” In a reshuffle of the top brass announced on Sunday, Assar was appointed deputy defense minister.

President Mursi said Tantawi and Chief of Staff Annan had been “ordered to retire” and would become advisers to the president.

Imad Jad, member of Egypt’s dissolved parliament, told Al Arabiya that Tantawi and Annan’s appointments as presidential advisors were part of a tradition in Egyptian politics. “When Egypt’s heads of state want to remove an unwanted powerful figure, they remove him from his post and give him an honorary position.”

Farrag Ismail, veteran Egyptian journalist and political analyst, said Mursi’s decisions restored the full powers of the presidency. “Today, the military council is finished…the president is the commander-in-chief.”

Referring to a possible military rebellion, Ismail said, “If there is no reaction against Mursi’s moves within hours, we can consider his decisions final.”

The move comes as Egypt’s freshly-elected government faces criticism for unrest in the northern Sinai region, where militants attacked a border post last week, killing 16 troops.

Field Marshal Tantawi, who served over 50 years in Egypt’s military, had been considered a possible contender for the country’s presidency last year, when former president Hosni Mubarak was ousted in a popular uprising.

When he was forced to resign on February 11, 2011, Mubarak transferred authority to the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, headed by the Tantawi, making him the de facto head of state until elections brought the President Mursi’s Muslim Brotherhood to power this year.

Annan, the second-in-command of the military and the number two member of the 18-man Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, had been viewed as more friendly to Western governments than Tantawi, but also favored by the Muslim Brotherhood.

(english.alarabiya.net / 12.08.2012)

Obscene: Using the Holocaust to Justify War With Iran

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The drums of war with Iran will be beating loudly in the three months leading up to AIPAC’s policy conference early next March. The Republican candidates for president (with the exception of Rep. Ron Paul) will try to outdo each other in professing devotion to Israel coupled with calls to inflict more “crippling sanctions” on Iran while pledging to keep the war option “on the table.”

The White House will dispatch deputies throughout the country to assure Democratic donors that the president is as hawkish on Iran as any Republican and that the war option is on his table, too.

The AIPAC conference itself, with more than half the Congress in attendance, plus the president, will be all about the Iranian threat. Speaker after speaker will claim that Iran is on the verge of possessing nuclear weapons that would be used to finish the work Hitler began. (See this typical AIPAC speech by House Majority Leader Eric Cantor which hits heavily on the Iran/Holocaust theme).

As I noted in a column a few weeks ago, the Iran war claque is comprised almost entirely of neoconservatives/right-wing “pro-Israel” activists and opinion leaders (from AIPAC and its associated organizations) joined by politicians seeking campaign contributions.

For a politician, being an Iran hawk can be very lucrative while favoring diplomacy is a sure ticket to AIPAC purgatory. (Every candidate for the House and Senate must fill out an AIPAC questionnaire on attitudes toward Iran and the Palestinians. Providing the “wrong” answers or not responding means trouble).

Writing in Salon last week, Gary Kamiya, long-time executive editor of the publication, noted that the people promoting war with Iran are many of the same people who led the charge into Iraq.

Kamiya asks how it is that anyone would pay any attention at all to people who not only were wrong about Iraq but fixed the intelligence (e.g, Undersecretary of State Douglas Feith) to get the bloody result they wanted. Of course, Kamiya knows the answer.

If American politics did not contain an enormous blind spot, no one would pay any attention to what these discredited ideologues have to say. The Iraq war they championed turned out to be one of the biggest foreign-policy disasters in U.S. history. Their ignorant and Islamophobic view of the Middle East is as breathtaking as their bland willingness to commit America to yet another ruinous war against a Muslim country, this time one four times larger than Iraq and with more than twice as many people. They have a demonstrated track record of complete failure.

Yet these incompetent militarists are still taken seriously. And the reason is simple: They purport to be supporters of Israel. In American politics, you can get away with even the most cracked war-mongering as long as you claim to be “pro-Israel.” And the ultimate get-out-of-jail-free card for anything having to do with Israel is the Holocaust.

Kamiya also addresses the awful irony in the pro-war claques’ using fear of a second Holocaust as a rationalization for war. That is because there is no evidence whatsoever that Iran’s development of a nuclear arsenal would physically jeopardize Israel while a regional war sparked by an attack on Iran almost certainly would.

After all, no country in history has ever committed suicide in order to destroy another. And Israel, with 200 nuclear weapons and air, sea and land launchers, could easily destroy Iran if it was attacked.

Listening to Prime Minister Netanyahu’s rhetoric and watching the mysterious explosions that keep occurring near Iran’s nuclear sites, it has to be clear to the Iranian leadership that a nuclear attack on Israel would destroy Persian culture forever, not to mention the lives of tens of millions of innocent Iranian people. Against that is the absurd argument by neocons that Iranians are innately suicidal, driven mad by their faith.

The Holocaust argument is absurd and offensive. Israel is here to stay and Iran knows it. It also knows, as we need to learn, that Israel’s ostensible fear of an Iranian nuclear attack is simply the understanding that a nuclear armed Iran would limit Israel’s regional hegemony. At the moment, Israel has a free hand to do whatever it wants, whenever it wants to (like kill Iranian scientists with impunity or blow up suspected nuclear sites). But it would not be able to do all of these things, at least not as easily, if Iran has a nuclear arsenal.

As for a Holocaust, the main threat to Israel from Iran would come from the regional war that would inevitably follow any Israeli (or U.S.) attack on Iran. Every major Israeli city is within range of Hezbollah’s missiles and it has tens of thousands of them. How many innocent Israelis would die in a missile onslaught produced by Netanyahu and Barak’s obsession with maintaining Israeli hegemony? How many is it worth?

A war with Iran would end any possibility of Israel ever achieving either peace with the Muslim world or any semblance of security. Forever. The dream of a secure Jewish homeland, a dream that took 1900 years to achieve, would be over.

It is hard to imagine that any Jew would wish that on Israel. But clearly some do.

I’ll let Kamiya conclude this piece:

It is understandable that a people who suffered one of the most horrific genocides in human history would commemorate it, and vow never to allow it to happen again. But history is filled with ugly ironies, and sometimes the reaction to a trauma ensures that it keeps happening again.A young Polish Jew named Ruth Grunkraut and her mother were shipped to Bergen-Belsen. Grunkraut’s mother died just six days before the Allies liberated the camp. Before she died, she told her daughter, “You must live. You must live for me.”

The annals of the Holocaust are filled with this same message: You must live.

An attack on Iran will be carried out in the name of the victims of the Holocaust. But that attack, rather than saving the Jewish state, will sound the death knell for it. Israel and its American supporters owe more to the millions of human beings whose last prayer, before their deaths, was that their children live.

In the name of the victims of the Holocaust and, even more, of their descendants, this war must be prevented.

(MJ Rosenberg / www.huffingtonpost.com / 12.08.2012)

American police now “Israeli-DHS trained,” precursor to dictatorship

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The door to this foreign influence in America was thrown open by the Department of Homeland Security and, in particular, Michael Chertoff, an Israeli citizen who was, in particular, most instrumental as former Director of DHS in implementing policies challenged as unconstitutional, policies the new “Israeli trained” American police are tasked with stopping opposition to.”

Slowly, every police department in the United States, at the behest of the Department of Homeland Security, is being trained by Israeli groups.

As part of this training, there is an increased move to use of military uniforms, armored vehicles, heavy weapons, illegal surveillance, lying to the people, press and courts and systematic interference in the electoral system.

They are becoming “Israeli.”

The door to this foreign influence in America was thrown open by the Department of Homeland Security and, in particular, Michael Chertoff, an Israeli citizen who was, in particular, most instrumental as former Director of DHS in implementing policies challenged as unconstitutional, policies the new “Israeli trained” American police are tasked with stopping opposition to.

“Israelization” of American police is a simple process:

- Total militarization of police, military tactics, utter disrespect for civil law, the constitution, civil liberties, freedom of speech and the unbridled growth of centralized power under unlimited corruption; government by money and organized crime.

- Systematic suppression of dissent

- Systematic use of intimidation to control the electoral process at every level of government

- Seamless coordination with military and “internationalist” groups to prepare for mass internment of sectors of the population, numbering in the millions

- Coordinated use of full military power including but not limited to bombing, strafing, heavy artillery and summary executions, the same methods Israel uses on a daily basis

- Even more control of the press, based on the Israeli model, with two “controlled” views, on pro-government and the second, “controlled opposition.”

Infiltration

It is absolutely necessary to differentiate between Israeli companies and those working tied to quasi-governmental organized crime in America. It is also necessary that citizenry, in particular Americans of Jewish background, recognize that a systematic campaign of controlled and revised history and, more seriously, orchestrated “incidents” are coordinated with groups misrepresenting themselves as defending the Jewish people.

These groups, several come to mind, are, in actuality, Israeli “psyops” groups that actually work on an active basis with terrorists. What are we saying?

90% of terrorism, worldwide, including many of the mass killing incidents, all show a pattern of involvement by intelligence organizations. Almost all “terror threats” and “staged announcements” are traced to groups tied directly to the same people who show up at our door with the “cure” to a disease they themselves create.

“While in Abuja, Nigeria, 3 weeks before the attack on the national police station, I met with Chief of Security Gordon Obua, a close friend and told him this:

“We have identified the Headquarters of the National Police as a potential target. It has an unguarded gate and parking facility and is close to the presidential palace. We predict that a car bomb will be exploded there, followed by one other bombing attack.

At these attacks, you will be approached by a security company that will offer you, not only protection by a massive bribe.”

The meeting was in the presidential suite of the Transcon Hilton in Abuja, witnessed by my legal team. The attack as described happened exactly 3 weeks later and the company that came with a suitcase of cash and a promise to turn Abuja, a beautiful city into “Fortress Abuja” is among those now training American police.

The same group is also suspected in the bombing of a Christian Church in Alexandria, Egypt, on January 1, 2011, another car bomb. Similarly, recent bombings in Cameroon, Kenya and Tanzania have the same “fingerprints.”

The same group “ran” the Detroit “Crotch Bomber.”

The Israeli handlers who worked with Abdullah Mohamed in Yemen and walking him onto a plane to the US with a bomb, no ticket, no passport and no visa, as witnessed by two Detroit area lawyers, Kurt and Lori Haskell, also train American police.

We see this over and over, police, government and terrorists, all the same thing.

Of course, few Americans are aware that the “spokesman” for the group called “al Qaeda” is actually an American named Adam Perlman whose grandfather helped found the ADL (Anti-Defamation League)

To some, terrorism is a business, and like a tire store that leaves nails in the road nearby, some “counter-terrorism” companies have more experience in building car bombs than finding them.

Why America?

Israeli security companies, primarily made up of active Mossad and former Israeli military members, began working across Africa. Israeli expertise in wiretapping on behalf of ruling parties was what opened the door. Their expertise, as shown in Britain by the Murdoch/News of the World scandals, is excellent.

They were even able to wiretap the 3 prime ministers, members of the royal family, heads of police and national security agencies, key members of legislative bodies and a hand full of celebrities. The equipment for this costs millions, can only be brought into the country by diplomatic pouch and its use is considered espionage as it foments broad unregulated and unauthorized wiretapping, totally unaccountable.

Hundreds of such units are with America police departments, as advised by the Department of Homeland Security, to keep track of group they feel require observation, despite recent court rulings that have overturned FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) as unconstitutional.

Among the groups watched are veteran’s organizations, the Tea Party, Christian, Muslim and Jewish religious groups, labor unions, professional organizations and members of government, police officers and members of Federal law enforcement and anti-drug organizations.

Former American military, even the crippled and maimed, now head every “terror watch list.”

Corruption

The truth is, America has a long reputation for corrupt police organizations. Every few years there is, in every major city, an investigation with the police commissioner and many senior officers imprisoned.

At one point, Bernie Kerik, nominee for head of the Department of Homeland Security and Police Commissioner of the City of New York had actually served as Minister of the Interior of Iraq under the interim US government that ran that country after the 2003 invasion.

Kerik is in prison, originally charged with 16 felonies, some committed while running Iraq and facing a 142 year sentence and millions in fines. In a plea deal, Kerik is only serving 4 years. Kerik, prior to becoming police commissioner, Minister of the Interior of Iraq and nearly taking over the operation of the largest agency in the United States was New York mayor Rudy Giuliani’s driver.

Every major American city and most smaller departments, and there are thousands, are being “retrained,” not to fight corruption but being armed for civil war, trained to work directly with military personnel to police America in accordance with unpublished policies mistakenly announced by Army head, General Odierno, as published in his article for the Council on Foreign Relations in the May/June edition of Foreign Affairs:

“Where appropriate we will also dedicate active-duty forces, especially those with niche skills and equipment, to provide civilian officials with a robust set of reliable and rapid response options.”

As for the Department of Homeland Security, spearheading the Israeli takeover of America’s police, David Rittgers of the Cato Institute has noted:

“A long line of fusion center and DHS reports labeling broad swaths of the public as a threat to national security. The North Texas Fusion System labeled Muslim lobbyists as a potential threat; a DHS analyst in Wisconsin thought both pro- and anti-abortion activists were worrisome; a Pennsylvania homeland security contractor watched environmental activists, Tea Party groups, and a Second Amendment rally; the Maryland State Police put anti-death penalty and anti-war activists in a federal terrorism database; a fusion center in Missouri thought that all third-party voters and Ron Paul supporters were a threat….”

Wikipedia quotes the following on the quality of management and personnel at DHS, a national scandal in itself:

“In July 2006, the Office of Personnel Management conducted a survey of federal employees in all 36 federal agencies on job satisfaction and how they felt their respective agency was headed. DHS was last or near to last in every category including;

- 33rd on the talent management index

- 35th on the leadership and knowledge management index

- 36th on the job satisfaction index

- 36th on the results-oriented performance culture index

The low scores were attributed to major concerns about basic supervision, management and leadership within the agency. Examples from the survey reveal most concerns are about promotion and pay increase based on merit, dealing with poor performance, rewarding creativity and innovation, leadership generating high levels of motivation in the workforce, recognition for doing a good job, lack of satisfaction with various component policies and procedures and lack of information about what is going on with the organization.”

Creating the perfect police state

The visible face of the totalitarian takeover of America is candidate Mitt Romney, sworn to start a world war for Israel, his backers, Sheldon Adelson, gambling boss of Las Vegas and China, the Koch Brothers and the Israel lobby, said to control America’s congress, certainly 100% of the Republican Party.

Gasoline pricing manipulation through terrorism

Gasoline pricing in the world is run by the Koch Brothers who manage the futures market. Fuel prices are unrelated to oil costs but rather manipulated to serve political interests of two Israeli-American billionaires with extremist views.

During the past two weeks, there have been multiple “accidents” in refineries and with pipelines. These have, in fact been terror attacks, cutting refinery output in the US significantly, blocking oil pipelines from the Middle East and inside the US.

None of this, and it is terrorism, has been reported. There is only one cause and that is tied to who benefits from economic problems in an election year, this being Mitt Romney and the Likudist faction in Israel that is advocating war with Iran, not fought by Israel but by the United States, of course.

Patterns

As with the mass shootings, be they Columbine years ago, Gabby Giffords at Tucson or so many others, the anthrax attacks now tied to our own government to the DC sniper, police and federal authorities have given out false press notices, sometimes showed up at crime scenes long after normal response times or may well have been complicit.

Nearly every terrorist act that supposedly occurs in the US involves law enforcement recruiting terrorists or carefully removing key suspects who were actually police officers involved.

The Oklahoma City bombing had several suspects disappear. The Detroit airport bombing attempt had witnesses report multiple arrests but no trials.

9/11 had nearly arrested, 2 on the George Washington Bridge who set off a truck bomb but disappeared the next day, people we suspect of being tied to law enforcement or “training groups” that are, in reality terrorists.

Terrorism is law enforcement

What careful analysis indicates is that the groups that are training our police are, if not exactly the same, are closely related to groups suspected of being terrorists themselves, providing support for terrorists in Africa and the Middle East.

Should our new police cars say?

“Protect and Serve
Trained by Terrorists
Big Brother is Watching”

(www.presstv.ir / 12.08.2012)

Report: Egypt ministry says electricity to Gaza remains constant

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BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — An Egyptian Energy Ministry official said Sunday that fuel deliveries to the Gaza Strip would not affect Egyptian energy consumption, and were not responsible for Gaza’s recent power outages, Egyptian media reported.

An Egypt company, al-Qanal, supplies Gaza with 22 megawatts of electricity according to an agreement signed five years ago to ease Israel’s blockade on the coastal enclave, ministry undersecretary Aktham Abu Ala told Egypt daily al-Youm al-Sabe.

Meanwhile, Egypt’s power capacity is 27,000 megawatts, so the deliveries should not impact Egyptians’ own consumption of electricity, he said.

Widespread power outages in the Gaza Strip this year are the fault of illegal siphoning of fuel and increased consumption in Gaza, he added.

Gaza officials have looked to Egypt to assuage a power crisis that caused severe blackouts in Gaza this spring.

The delivery of Qatari fuel, which began in July, eased the crisis which had caused power cuts of up to 18 hours a day.

(www.maannews.net / 12.08.2012)