| "There's no place for Jews in Libya" Posted: 09 Oct 2011 09:07 PM PDT From JPost, in a further followup to this and this: A few hundred angry protesters gathered in central Tripoli on the eve of Yom Kippur on Friday, calling for the deportation of a Libyan Jew who has been trying to reopen a synagogue sealed since ousted Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi expelled the country's Jewish community in 1967.
The protesters carried signs reading, "There is no place for the Jews in Libya," and "We don't have a place for Zionism."
The crowds tried to storm Italian Libyan Jewish psychoanalyst David Gerbi's Corinthia Hotel in central Tripoli. There was also a demonstration in Benghazi in the east of the country.
According to Gerbi, the crowd wanted to forcibly remove him from the hotel.
"They were impeded by hotel and Libyan security and government officials," he said.
Gerbi said that National Security Adviser Abdel Karim Bazama, rebel leader Mustafa Saghezli, Interior Minister Ahmed Dharat and Justice Minister Muhammad Allaghi were among the government officials present at the hotel.
"The Tripoli crowd dispersed after Allaghi warned that any use of force on the part of the protesters would immediately result in strong international condemnation," Gerbi said.
"He [Allaghi] reassured them the 'problem' would be resolved within 48 hours."
The demonstrations were ignited by an attempt by Dr.Gerbi to clean the debris and pray in Tripoli's abandoned Dar Bishi Synagogue. Dr. Gerbi had joined the National Transitional Council (NTC) rebel group last spring, first as a volunteer at the Benghazi Psychiatric Hospital and then joining and helping the rebels themselves.
"This incident has served to expose the dangerous reality simmering beneath the surface," he said.
On Sunday, after a personal meeting with Libyan and Italian diplomatic representatives, he agreed to return to Rome on Tuesday by military plane in order to ease the tension. To me, the most remarkable part of this story is that a protester actually tried to translate "There's no place for Jews in Libya" into Hebrew just for a protest sign. The poster behind it says "Libya for the Libyans - not for the Jews" with "Jews" crossed out. And the protesters in this photo are women. (h/t Israel Awareness) 
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| Video and updates of clashes between Copts and cops in Egypt Posted: 09 Oct 2011 06:49 PM PDT Al Masry al Youm has some additional news from Cairo: 10:45 pm: An eye-witness reports that protesters attempting to move from Abdel Moneim Riad Square to Tahrir Square were charged by a police pick-up truck travelling at high speed. The pick-up truck emerged from behind military police, who were blocking the entrance to Tahrir. Small groups of protesters continue to attempt to re-group in the surrounding streets.
(Arabic edition quotes a witness as saying they ran over five protesters. Video here:) (The video caption says that Copts took weapons from the security forces.) 10:45 pm: Hundreds of thugs attack the Coptic Hospital in Ramses, where scores of injured are currently being hospitalized. The thugs smashed cars in the street but were unable to gain entry to the hospital.
10:50 pm: Prime Minister Essam Sharaf states on his Facebook page: "What is happening now is not clashes between Christians and Muslims. Rather, it is an attempt to sow chaos and strife."
11:26 pm: A fierce street battle continues on Ramses Street, near the Coptic Hospital between two groups in civilian clothes. A number of cars are on fire as the groups throw molotov cocktails and stones back and forth.
11:43 pm: A group of men march up Qasr al-Ainy Street in downtown Cairo chanting, "Islamic, Islamic!," a common slogan of Islamist groups. State TV has announced that a curfew is in place from 2:00 am until 7:00 am.
11:50 pm: State TV announces that the death toll from the clashes has reached 23. There are no specifications of how many of the dead are soldiers or police and how many are protesters.
11:55 pm: Further confirming speculation of a crackdown on independent media, Randa Abul Azm, a journalist with the pan-Arab satellite channel Al-Arabiya tells Al-Masry Al-Youm that earlier in the evening a group of plainclothed men tried to break into their building after they spotted a camera on the balcony. The landlord then told the Al-Arabiya producers to stop filming or he would turn off the electricity. "This is very reminiscent of 2 and 3 February," when the Mubarak regime cracked down on independent media ahead of the "Battle of the Camel" attacks on protesters.
12:00 am: Prime Minister Essam Sharaf writes on the cabinet's Facebook page that "invisible hands are plotting to partition Egypt."
12:18 am: Eyewitnesses in downtown Cairo report that groups of thugs are attacking Christian-owned businesses, including a liqour store on Mahmoud Bassiouni St., near Abdel Moneim Riyadh Square, which was the center of clashes earlier in the evening.
12:45 am: Prime Minister Essam Sharaf announces that he will host an emergency meeting with the "ministerial crisis management committee" on Monday to discuss this evening's events. Al Arabiya has the death toll at 24. 
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| At least 22 killed in clashes between Copts and Egyptian security Posted: 09 Oct 2011 01:56 PM PDT From Al Arabiya: At least 19 people were killed and dozens were wounded as death toll surged in clashes between Coptic Christians and Egyptian security forces on Sunday near the state television building, known as Maspero in Cairo, Egypt's interior ministry said.
Al Arabiya TV's correspondent, whose office buildings are in the area, said there was heavy gunfire in the clashes as protesters seized weapons from torched military vehicles. She said she saw bodies outside the building but did not know if they were just wounded.
The clashes were prompted by an attack on a Coptic Christian church in Merinab village in Aswan on Sept. 30 by Muslims who said the church did not have the proper license to build a dome.
State television said the church was attacked after Aswan governor Mustafa al-Seyyed was reported as saying Copts had built it without the required planning permission.
"Down with the marshal," the demonstrators chanted on the march to Maspero, referring to Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi who took power in February after president Hosni Mubarak's ouster in the face of mass street protests.
"We were marching peacefully," Talaat Youssef, 23-year old Christian trader told Reuters at the scene.
"When we got to the state television building, the army started firing live ammunition," he said, adding army vehicles ran over protesters, killing five. His account could not be immediately confirmed.
"The army is supposed to be protecting us," Youssef said. Al Masry Al Youm quotes Al Jazeera as saying the death toll has reached 22. Here is a graphic photo of four of the dead Christian protesters (from Twitter). (h/t Sophie) 
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| Wikileaks endangers remaining Iraqi Jews Posted: 09 Oct 2011 12:54 PM PDT From McClatchy: BAGHDAD — An Anglican priest here says he's working with the U.S. Embassy to persuade the handful of Jews who still live in Baghdad to leave because their names have appeared in cables published last month by WikiLeaks.
The Rev. Canon Andrew White said he first approached members of the Jewish community about what he felt was the danger they faced after a news story was published last month that made reference to the cables.
"The U.S. Embassy is desperately trying to get them out," White said. So far, however, only one, a regular confidante of the U.S. Embassy, according to the cables, had expressed interest in emigrating to the United States.
"Most want to stay," White said. "The older ones are refusing to leave. They say: 'We're Iraqis. Why should we go? If they kill us, we will die here.'"
The U.S. Embassy said it would take steps to protect the individuals whose names appear in the cables and suggested in a statement that should any wish to leave, the U.S. would help relocate them.
"Protecting individuals whose safety is at risk because of the release of the purported cables remains a priority. We are working actively to ensure that they remain safe," the embassy said.
It slammed WikiLeaks for releasing the cables. "Releasing the names of individuals cited in conversations that took place in confidence potentially puts their lives or careers at risk," the statement said.
A furious White also hit the website for publishing the cables. "How could they do something as stupid as that?" he said. "Do they not realize this is a life and death issue?"
WikiLeaks did not respond to a request for comment. Previously, WikiLeaks has said that it had no choice but to make its copies of the cables public after the publication in a book of a password that opened an encrypted version of the cables already available on the Internet.
"We had to warn them of the danger and tell them that we want them all to leave," White said. "I never wanted the Jews to leave Iraq. They belong here."
If White persuades Baghdad's remaining Jews to leave it will mark the end of a 2,700-year presence that dates to the Assyrian conquest of the Judean Kingdom. It is very easy to find the relevant Wikileaks cables. Here's part of one from 2007 that describes the Rev. White and one of the fearful Jews of Baghdad: XXXXXXX married YYYYYYYYY in October, 2005 in a synagogue in Amman, Jordan. After returning to Baghdad, XXXXXXXXX received a phone call on December 19, 2005 from someone claiming to be from Al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI), who said that his group had kidnapped her husband and would not release him unless the Government of Jordan freed an AQI captive (reportedly named Sajidah), and Coalition Forces left Iraq. XXXXXXX said that the captor yelled anti-Semitic slurs at her, roughly translated as "Down with the Jews." XXXXXXXX offered to pay ransom, which the group refused, and then they threatened to cut her husband's head off and mail it to her. She has not heard again from the captors or her husband.
XXXXXXX described an intense fear of publicity. She blames a non-governmental organization, the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS), for publishing her name in Arabic on the internet, as well as her mother's name and other identifying information. This information may have exposed her and her husband to danger, she said. She was extremely nervous to meet an American diplomat, and strongly requested that her identity be protected. (NOTE: Time magazine reported July 31 that Reverend Canon Andrew White, an Anglican Chaplain in Iraq, is in contact with eight Jews remaining in Baghdad, and that he has provided the group food and money. White told Time that the Baghdad Jews have not been able to agree to apply to go to Israel together, and one woman regularly goes to a Baghdad synagogue. END NOTE.)
XXXXXXX reported that Baghdad has one remaining synagogue, on Betawin Street. She said that the synagogue is old but has no outer markings to indicate that it is a house of worship, let alone a Jewish synagogue. Inside, XXXXXXXX said, it is very beautiful. She prays there alone, she explained, because the other Jews are too scared to join her. She said that praying in the synagogue helped her to cope with the grief of losing her husband. From 2008, referring to the same woman: At religious services and on other occasions, XXXXXXX met repeatedly with a number of Embassy political, economic, and military officers, earning their trust over time. She reported reliably about local developments in Baghdad, sharing stories of violence and reconstruction in her neighborhood in the Rusafa district. She relayed details about the Jewish community that matched those reported to post from other sources, including Christians in Baghdad and the expatriate Iraqi Jewish community in the U.S., Britain, and Israel. She proved to be a reliable source of information and a generous conduit of support for her community in Baghdad.
She, in turn, appeared to relish the opportunity to pray with others, as she said that none of the other Iraqi Jews will risk visiting Baghdad's only remaining synagogue. After one of her first Shabbat services, she told Embassy officers, "This is the first time I haven't prayed alone in three years." During Passover in April 2008, she delivered matzah to four others. One of them reportedly told her, "This is the first time I've truly celebrated Eid (Passover) in more than 20 years." She said that she has shared with other members of her community numerous other donations sent to them from the U.S., including religious implements and commercial products difficult to find in Baghdad markets. The latter cable lists every member of the community and personal details about them.
(h/t CHA) 
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| Post Yom Kippur, pre-Sukkot open thread Posted: 09 Oct 2011 10:30 AM PDT A busy Sunday between holidays here at Chez Elder so here's an open thread. 
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| Sunday links Posted: 09 Oct 2011 08:55 AM PDT A Jewish couple, trying to reach a Jerusalem hospital while the wife was in labor, was attacked by Arab stone throwers and "nearly lynched"on Yom Kippur. Reports that relatives of the Fogel family murderers told Jews of Itamar " We'll Fogel you" while drawing their fingers across their throats. A Molotov cocktail was thrown at a Jaffa synagogue. Reports that Egypt is demanding 81 prisoners in exchange for Ilan Grapel, and that even the Egyptians admit the case against him is weak. Which means he isn't a prisoner - he is a hostage. The Union of European Football Associations has charged Legia Warsaw after its fans unfurled a massive "Jihad" banner against Israel's Hapoel Tel Aviv. Barry Rubin has a nice roundup of important trends. I don't know how popular it is, but Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has a nice Arabic website. (h/t Kramerica, CHA) 
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| Jerusalem Greek Orthodox archbishop supports Assad Posted: 09 Oct 2011 07:30 AM PDT From Syria's SANA: Archbishop of the Greek Orthodox Church in Palestine and Jerusalem, Atallah Hanna, on Saturday stressed that Syria is the country of amity among all religions where people, Muslims and Christians, live under national unity led by President Bashar al-Assad.
During a reception to a delegation of Arab students who are studying at the U.S. universities, Archbishop Hanna stressed the need to differentiate between the honest reform calls and the calls that imply vandalism and sabotage to Syria.
"We support reform and see that there is a conspiracy that aims at sabotaging Syria. We call upon Syrians to confront the conspiracy and support the reform program led by President al-Assad", he added Hanna was awarded our 2006 Dhimmi of the Year award for so blatantly disregarding his own religion in favor of Islam. He was fired as spokesman of the Greek Orthodox Church in 2002 for refusing to sign a document condemning terrorism. He also called upon Arab Christians to join Muslims in suicide bombings against Israeli civilians. And he accused Israel of spreading AIDS among Arabs using promiscuous Jewish women. Oh, Hanna was also awarded the " Jerusalem Prize" by the Palestinian Authority Ministry of Culture in late 2004, well after his support for terrorism was widely known. 
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| A mini-resort in Gaza Posted: 09 Oct 2011 06:08 AM PDT A man in Gaza recently developed a plot of land he owned in Khan Younis into a mini-resort with only two hotel rooms - and a pool. He calls it Chalet Gardenia. Just another indication of how Gazans are spending their money. 
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| Christians in Egypt fear more Islamist pressure Posted: 09 Oct 2011 04:35 AM PDT From AP: On her first day to school, 15-year-old Christian student Ferial Habib was stopped at the doorstep of her new high school with clear instructions: either put on a headscarf or no school this year.
Habib refused. While most Muslim women in Egypt wear the headscarf, Christians do not, and the move by administrators to force a Christian student to don it was unprecedented. For the next two weeks, Habib reported to school in the southern Egyptian village of Sheik Fadl every day in her uniform, without the head covering, only to be turned back by teachers.
One day, Habib heard the school loudspeakers echoing her name and teachers with megaphones leading a number of students in chants of "We don't want Ferial here," the teenager told The Associated Press.
Habib's was allowed last week to attend without the scarf, and civil rights advocates say her case is a rare one. But it stokes the fears of Egypt's significant Christian minority that they will become the victims as Islamists grow more assertive after the Feb. 11 toppling of President Hosni Mubarak. It also illustrates how amid the country's political turmoil, with little sense of who is in charge and government control weakened, Islamic conservatives in low-level posts can step in and try to unilaterally enforce their own decisions.
Wagdi Halfa, one of Habib's lawyers, said the root problem is a lack of the rule of law.
"We don't want more laws but we want to activate the laws already in place," he said. "We are in a dark tunnel in terms of sectarian tension. Even if you have the majority who are moderate Muslims, a minority of extremists can make big impact on them and poison their minds."
Habib's experience was startling because in general, Egypt's Christians, who make up at least 10 percent of the population of 80 million, have enjoyed relative freedom in terms of dress and worship. The vast majority of Muslim women in Egypt put on the headscarf, known as the higab, either for religious or social reasons, but there's little expectation that Christians wear it.
The demand that all students wear the higab was a decision by administrators and teachers at the high school in Sheik Fadl, 110 miles (180 kilometers) south of Cairo in Minya province. They said the headscarf was part of the school uniform, necessary to protect girls from sexual harassment.
A top provincial Education Ministry official, Abdel-Gawad Abdullah, said in an interview with CTV, a private Egyptian Christian television network, that the ministry gives schools the right to decide on school uniforms, and that parents during screening and application can either accept or refuse.
"And if the father wants to move his daughter to another school, it is OK," he said. "All the girls, including the Christians, put on the head cover and they have no problem," he added.
Habib was finally allowed to attend last Tuesday.
"I am happy I did what I want and that no one can force something on me. But I am afraid of the students and the teachers," she told AP. "The teachers are not normal with me and I am sure they will give me low grades at the end of the year." The idea that wearing the hijab stops sexual harassment in Egypt has been thoroughly debunked - and some think the veil even attracts unwanted attention! A new poll by Al Ahram says that 70% of Egyptians feel the greatest danger in Egypt is security chaos, while 17.5% feel the greatest danger is an Islamist takeover. Unfortunately, I don't know how many Egyptians in general (without ranking the issues) feel that an Islamist takeover is a concern. One other point: when a wire service like AP releases a story, it gets picked up by newspaper and and other media that subscribe to AP's services. Popular stories can be picked up by hundreds or even thousands of media outlets, depending on how important the editors of the media outlet feel that this story is. This story was republished on websites of only 13 media outlets, according to Google News. (h/t Mike) 
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