יום חמישי, 7 בפברואר 2013

Elder of Ziyon Daily News

Elder of Ziyon Daily News

Link to Elder of Ziyon

PA official says foreign leaders visiting Gaza can "go to hell"

Posted: 06 Feb 2013 10:00 PM PST

From MEMRI:


Following are excerpts from a public address delivered by PA Minister for Religious Endowment Mahmoud Habbash, which aired on Palestinian Authority TV on January 25, 2013:

Mahmoud Habbash: For decades, various regimes, forces, and leaders have tried to drive a wedge between the Palestinians, and to take over the Palestinian decision-making and the PLO, the sole legitimate representative of the Palestine people. They tried, but they were trampled underfoot, and they ended up in the garbage bin of history.

All those who play similar games today, using flashy slogans of humanity and solidarity... Any Arab or Islamic official – even if he is a brother or a friend – who goes to Gaza in a political capacity, thus deepening the Palestinian rift – we will point an accusing finger at him, and declare, unequivocally, that we are against him. Let nobody be angry at us for doing so, for the interests of our people are above all other interests, considerations, and ties. This issue is not open to negotiation or to discussion.

We are the people of the Gaza Strip. To anyone who wants to show solidarity with our people in Gaza, I say: There is only one gateway leading to the Palestinian people – the gateway of the PLO, of the state of Palestine, of its president, and of its government. Anyone who wants to take a different path can go to hell. He and the aid he brings can go to hell. We don't want it!
The PLO is clearly worried that Hamas has already become the de facto leader of the Palestinian Arabs among some segments of the Muslim world.

This speech does not project strength but fear.

The PA is becoming less relevant, and any "unity" deal would help Hamas in the West Bank far more than it helps Fatah in Gaza.

The Iranian space-monkey gets interviewed

Posted: 06 Feb 2013 06:25 PM PST

An Iranian blogger wrote a very funny parody interview with the monkey allegedly shot into space on an Iranian sub-orbital rocket. From MEMRI:
"After many efforts, and after bribing the zoo bouncer... our correspondent managed to interview the Iranian space monkey:
"Is your name Aftab ["sun" in Persian], and can we call you that?
"Aftab the monkey: I was sent into space from a street named The Glory of Islam, at a cost of a billion toman, bringing the blessing of peace to all space aficionados and to Iran, the breeder of martyrs, and also to the leader of the astronauts, the supporters of the space [program of] in the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also to all the monkeys who were martyred on the path to the conquest of the heights of space. [This came] in advance of the 10 days of Fajr [Iranian Revolution Day celebrations] or what people call the 10 days of suffering... You may call me Aftab.
"What made you decide to become an astronaut?
"Aftab the monkey: Truly, we [monkeys] are mistaken in thinking that we want to, or like to, become astronauts and go into space. What does a monkey have to do with space? We belong in the treetops! But after being kidnapped by the sinful soldier brothers of the Imam Zaman [usually referring to the Mahdi; here it is apparently mocking Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei], I was transferred to Evin [Prison], where I spend six months in solitary confinement. After that [came] interrogation by the confession brothers, under the guidance of brother Hossein the interrogator, and I resisted. Ultimately, they brought in a large bear who called me a rabbit. I broke; I volunteered to become an Islamic astronaut in order to destroy the plundering Israel and the imperialist America. I only insisted that they present me as an astronaut who is a member of the Basij. They refused, and I don't know why.
"All in all, how long did it take you to become an astronaut?
"Aftab the monkey: If you count the time I spent in solitary [and in Evin] and in training, I managed to attain this great honor in under a year. Indeed, I [would like to give] special thanks to my brother Mr. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the president of the state and the servant of Imam Zaman, who was my model in carrying out this divine mission."
"Tell us a bit about your training...
"Aftab the monkey: After reciting the morning prayer and the verses, and after the fear, I went to a special room with a very high ceiling. After reciting the prayer of Ja'far Al-Tayyar [a hero from early Islam], I put my legs together in a special place and, with an 'Allah Akhbar,' waved my legs in the air. At first, I couldn't gain [even] a meter [in altitude], but with reminders from the cable and the whip, [wielded by] one of the brothers... I managed to break the record, [attaining] 15 meters and 37 centimeters, with the miraculous aid and prayers of the best of the marjaya and the senior ayatollahs.
"Of course, I fasted every day, and the fast was one of the most difficult and important parts of my training – because in space you can't purify yourself. If, God forbid, overeating causes secretion of filth [i.e. excretion], the entire project will be unclean. Everyone needs to purify themselves in water, according to the Islamic law for the month of Ramadan and every fast day, so that our activity will be pure and untainted, and acceptable to God...  
..."[Share] one memory with our readers.
"Aftab the monkey: My most vivid memory has to do with the time I had doubts about carrying out religious duties in space. Because, as it is written in the Koran and in the precepts of Islam, these tasks are for performing on earth, and a human was designated as the Messenger of Allah on earth; I, as a space monkey, do not belong, and am not obligated by this. This threw me into a spiritual crisis. Via chat, the brothers read me verses [of the ayatollahs] Safi Golpaygani and Makarem Shirazi, in addition to good advice and explanations of the meaning of and punishment for heresy by these two respected [ayatollahs] – and the light of belief again shone in my heart.
"And our final question: What do you plan to do next?
"Aftab the monkey: I have many plans, the most important of which is sending live Muslims into space, and from there to Paradise, and after that to find a planet with all the [necessary] conditions for holding public prayers.
"Thank you. Is there anything you want to tell our readers?
"Aftab the monkey: My words to young people are to keep these slogans at the forefront of their revolutionary lives: 'The road to Jerusalem leads through Mars'; 'War, war, until the sun in space is conquered'; 'Uranus, Uranus, we are coming'; 'Rocket, rocket to victory'; 'God, God, protect [Ayatollah] Jannati to the next galaxy'..."

Wednesday links: Flying shoes, the EU and Hezbollah, South Korea loves Israel

Posted: 06 Feb 2013 03:30 PM PST

From Ian:
Suit: Money funneled by former 'Ground Zero' mosque imam to finance lavish lifestyle
Imam Feisel Abdul Rauf pocketed money for trips, real estate and a fancy car, the suit charges
"The ex-"Ground Zero" imam, his pockets stuffed with donations given to Islamic nonprofits, splurged on a high-flying lifestyle that included expensive trips with a New Jersey gal pal, a stunning new lawsuit charges.
The married Feisal Abdul Rauf fleeced the Malaysian government for $3 million and a Westchester County couple for $167,000, according to a lawsuit filed by the couple, businessman Robert Deak and his wife Moshira Soliman.
The money was given to help Rauf's two nonprofits, the Cordoba Initiative and the American Society for Muslim Advancement, which work to combat anti-Islamic sentiment".
Instead, the controversial imam used some of the cash to provide lavish gifts and getaways to a woman identified as Evelyn Adorno, who shared "a personal relationship with Rauf," said Deak's attorney, Jonathan Nelson.

Mali Reveals the Media's Gaza Bias
"Yet when it comes to Islamists in Gaza, suddenly all moral clarity disappears in an avalanche of clichéd images and headlines ignoring the most basic truths. France can launch military attacks about 2,000 miles south of its border in response to an Islamist threat that endangers nobody in France, but Israel is vilified if it responds militarily to deadly rocket attacks targeting its civilians from two miles to its south."

What brings Obama to Israel?
As observers scratch their heads and wonder why the US president would make the trip, the simple answer may be: because he said he would

Honest Reporting: A Super Bowl of Silly BDS Coverage
The Guardian joins BDS nitpicking over a SodaStream factory's West Bank location. The "sizzle" is that SodaStream happened to advertise during the Super Bowl.
Is every single BDS press release a story for The Guardian?
US condemns Turkey's 'inflammatory comments' on Syria
Washington says FM Davutoglu's call for Syria to retaliate for alleged Israeli airstrike doesn't help resolve civil war
"The US State Department on Tuesday said it lodged a complaint with Ankara for inflammatory statements made Saturday by the Turkish foreign minister calling on Syria to retaliate against last week's alleged Israeli strike.
Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters that the US was very troubled by the "inflammatory comments" made by Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on Saturday."

U.S. must recognize Israel's control of the Golan
Syrian civil war should prompt U.S. to change its policy
"As the crisis in Syria intensifies, Israel's appreciation for the Golan will go beyond the sentimental to an actual real-time appreciation for the security it provides.
The time is ripe for the United States to show tangible support for its closest ally in the Middle East. The time is ripe for the United States to help maintain the Golan as an Israeli safe space for Arabs and Jews away from the brutal carnage of the nearby Syrian civil war. Now more than ever, it is time for the U.S. to recognize the Golan for what it is: Israeli."

Analysis: EU treats Hezbollah with its own logic
Political interests of some EU states dictate organization's stand on Hezbollah, which won't change because of Bulgarian report.
".. when it comes to Hezbollah, the EU has a logic all its own. An example of this came last month when the EU-observer, an online newspaper devoted to EU politics, reported that the union's top counterterrorism official, Gilles de Kerchove, said responsibility for that blast will not necessarily qualify Hezbollah for the terror blacklist.
"There is no automatic listing just because you have been behind a terrorist attack," he said in a comment that forces a double-take."

Kerry to Europe: Cut Funding to Hizbullah
U.S. Secretary of State urges Europe to cut off funding to Hizbullah after Bulgaria blames the terror group for the Burgas bus bombing.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Tuesday urged Europe to cut off funding to the Hizbullah terror group, after Bulgaria blamed Hizbullah for an attack that killed five Israeli tourists in July.
"We strongly urge other governments around the world -- and particularly our partners in Europe -- to take immediate action to crack down on Hizbullah," Kerry said, according to AFP.

Bystander chucks his shoe at Ahmadinejad during Cairo visit VIDEO



4 arrested in Egypt after shoe thrown at Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
"Egypt's security arrested four men who were protesting outside a Cairo mosque, where the Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was praying.
The men, including a Syrian, belong to the ultra-conservative Sunni Salafist movement.
One man threw a shoe at Ahmadinejad, a Shiite, who was never in any danger."

Despite sanctions, Ahmadinejad offers loan to Egypt
During 1st trip to Egypt by an Iranian leader in 34 years, Ahmadinejad offers Morsi "credit line" to cash-strapped leader.
"Iran has offered to lend money to cash-strapped Egypt despite being under international economic sanctions itself over its nuclear program, visiting President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was quoted on Wednesday as saying.
The two countries do not have diplomatic relations but Egypt's first Islamist president, Mohamed Morsi, gave Ahmadinejad a red-carpet welcome on Tuesday when he became the first Iranian leader to visit in more than 34 years."

Democracies must care for Pakistan's minorities
Governments of the world's leading democracies still continue to gloss over Pakistan's minority rights violations
"Hell-bent on creating a feudal, irrational order based on the fanatic Wahhabi-Deobandi version of Islam, these obscurantist, reactionary forces have increasingly prevailed upon the state to resort to policies that would make the lives of people of all other faiths and values living in the country miserable.
In the process, the plight of Pakistan's minorities has gone from bad to worse over the years. Most of the minorities in Pakistan – Hindus, Sikhs, Christians, Baha'i, Buddhists, Zoroastrians (Parsis), Ahmadis, Shi'ites and Mohajirs – non-Muslims and non-Sunni Muslims both – have either resorted to exodus or conversion."

Living with hope in the shadow of the bomb
Like Israel with Iran, South Korea faces a hostile neighbor closing in on nuclear weapons. Unlike Israel, however, it's not talking about military intervention
"Many Koreans believe that Jews win more Nobel Prizes than others because of the wisdom hidden in the Talmud. That's why an abridged version of the Talmud can be found "in every household" in South Korea, the country's Ambassador to Israel Kim Il-Soo said during a recent interview.
"That makes our two nations understand each other better," he said.

Unlikely Coupling: Iranian-Israeli Rita to Perform at UN (VIDEO)
Rita, the Israeli-Iranian singer who has been a cultural bridge between the otherwise diametrically opposed nations, will be appearing at the UN on March, 5. The show will be titled "Tunes for Peace" and seeks to "build bridges, foster inner-cultural dialogue, and connect people to people," according to a flier for the event. The performance will take place in the General Assembly Hall.

Israel's OurCrowd spreads investment joy, and risk
Crowdfunding is quickly becoming a popular model for start-up fundraising, and an Israeli group has taken the model and run with it

IDF Saves Life of 13-Year-Old PA Boy
An IDF medical team on Sunday saved the life of a 13-year-old Palestinian Authority dialysis patient.
"An IDF medical team on Sunday saved the life of a 13-year-old Palestinian Authority dialysis patient whose life was in danger due to the worsening of his condition.
"We received a call around nine in the morning from the Chief Medical Officer of the Judea and Samaria Division informing us that there was a boy hospitalized in the Jenin hospital in need of further intensive care," said Lt. Abed Rabah, Medical Officer of the Menashe Regional Brigade in the Judea and Samaria Division, according to the blog of the Israel Defense Forces."

Also:

Ha'aretz Admits 'Land Grab' Story Unfounded

Europe OK with Occupation – and With Hezbollah (h/t Bill)

JPost: (h/t Josh)
A university professor who believes Israel created Hamas and argues that it is a victim of dehumanization by Israel, rather than the other way around, was supposed to provide an unbiased opinion on Israeli textbooks?

British Philosemite Julie Burchill: "Israel is the perfect country in every way. My only criticism is that it could stand to be quite a bit bigger."

Egyptian PM: "Women's dirty breasts cause diarrhea"

Posted: 06 Feb 2013 01:50 PM PST

From The Daily Mail:

The Egyptian prime minister has blamed a diarrhoea epidemic sweeping through rural areas on women not keeping their breasts clean.

Prime Minister Hisham Qandil said he had witnessed children suffering from diarrhoea immediately after they had been breastfed because their mothers hadn't cleaned themselves probably.

He added that many women in rural Egypt don't even bother to clean their breasts at all before feeding their youngsters.

Qandil was speaking about the spate of recent epidemics in Egypt's rural communities during an address at a cabinet meeting.
Women members present were noticeably uncomfortable as Qandil made the comments, according to an online report from International Business Times.

Qandil previously caused widespread anger by offering a bizarre solution to Egypt's power crisis.

He urged the Egyptians to wear cotton clothes and gather in a single room to conserve power.

Qandil, 50, is the youngest Prime Minister of Egypt in the last five decades. He served as the Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation before being appointed by President Mohammed Mursi.
I think Qandil misunderstands the concept of "talking dirty."

Nevertheless, this kind of scientific rigor is what makes Egypt the successful country it is today, and the leader of the Arab world.

(h/t jzaik)

Muslims want a seat at the Security Council

Posted: 06 Feb 2013 12:30 PM PST

From Arab News:
The 56-member Organization of Islamic Conference, the largest Muslim organization in the world, should have a seat on the UN Security Council, said Prof. Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, its secretary-general.

"One of the important objectives for which I have been exerting a lot of efforts was to have a seat for OIC in the Security Council to represent 1.5 billion Muslims in the world," Ihsanoglu told reporters in Cairo.

Speaking about the challenges facing the Islamic Ummah, he said they include poverty, lack of economic integration, Jewish settlement in occupied Arab territories, and Judaization of Jerusalem (Al-Quds).
Yes! Fully half of the problems in the Islamic world have to do with the existence of Jews on their homeland!

Forget the terrible state of education in Muslim countries. Forget that women are second-class citizens whose every actions are controlled by male-dominated culture. Forget the problems of oil drying up. Forget the huge class differences between wealthy sheikhs and the rest of society. Forget Islamic extremism and terrorism in the name of Allah.

No, the Islamic Ummah is fixated on Jews!

Of course, one explains the other.

Anyway, let's see what sort of agenda the OIC would have if it joined the UNGC:

From 2009:
The Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) has called for an urgent meeting on Israel's frequent violations against the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in the occupied East Al-Quds. The world's largest Islamic organization urged UN Security Council and Russia "to request an emergency meeting on Zionist regime violations of international law in Al-Quds (Jerusalem) ... and aggressions against the holy places".

The Organization has already cautioned Israel of 'dangerous consequences' for acts of sacrilege in the holy compound emphasizing that any damage to the mosque could lead to "unpredictable consequences" for international peace and security.
From 2010:
Mahmoud Erol Kilic, Secretary-General of the Parliamentary Union of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) in a statement Sunday condemned the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolution 1929 imposing sanctions on Iran.

In a strongly worded statement, Erol Kilic, described the move as politically-motivated aimed to prevent the country from vindicating its legitimate rights on peaceful use of nuclear energy.
From 2012:
The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has called on the UN Security Council to assume its responsibility vis-à-vis the Israeli expansion of settlement activity in occupied Jerusalem.

The OIC Secretary General Akmaluddin Ihsan Oglu said in a press release on Thursday that the Israeli settlement activity was a serious violation of international resolutions.

He charged that the settlement expansion aims at isolating occupied Jerusalem from its Palestinian surroundings and Judaizing it.
And what does the OIC think about other major world players joining the Security Council?
Observer Islamic Countries opposed a permanent seat for India in the UN Security Council, saying it would be an injustice with the Muslim World. A permanent Security Council seat in the UN for India means a major injustice with 1.90 billion's Muslim of world said Faisal Muhammed.
They sound like remarkably mature diplomats interested in world peace, don't they?

(h/t Ian)

Food and medicine can't get past the blockade of Palestinian areas. In Syria.

Posted: 06 Feb 2013 10:45 AM PST

Did you hear about the blockade of Palestinian Arabs where they can't receive critical supplies?

You know, it's been all over the news.

OK, I'm lying. Because this blockade is against the entire Yarmouk camp in Syria, which normally houses some 150,000 Palestinian Arabs. Most have fled but there are still tens of thousands in the camp.

This siege is not at all like Israel's "blockade" of Gaza where residents can get medical aid, food, school supplies, cars, building materials, fuel and hundreds of other items, not to mention that they can export vegetables and move lots of goods via Egypt.

The Yarmouk blockade, in contrast, is total.

In the very end of an Arabic article about the murder of an elderly Palestinian in Yarmouk by Assad's forces - another story you won't read about in the media - we learn this:

The Syrian security forces continue to impose a crippling blockade on the camp, preventing entry of medical supplies and basic needs of the refugees; [the blockade] has been in place more than a month.

I missed this story, and for good reason. Only two news sources mentioned the Yarmouk blockade over the past month, one from UPI on January 7 and one from Allvoices on January 9th. Middle East Monitor had earlier  indicated that the siege began around December 23rd so it is now in its seventh week.

No UN resolutions.
No NGOs issuing press releases and glossy reports.
No news coverage of any sort for nearly a month.
No flotillas.
No convoys.
No op-eds.
No Twitter hashtags.
No Facebook pages.
Nothing from "human rights" groups.
Total silence from "pro-Palestinian activists."

No, if you want to read about Palestinian Arabs suffering in Syria, you have to read a Zionist blog.

Now you need to ask yourself why that is.

Great article on media watchdogs (EoZ included)

Posted: 06 Feb 2013 09:00 AM PST

No, that's not me.
The Jerusalem Report has a really nice article by Tibor Krausz about media watchdogs that look for anti-Israel bias. It can also be read in the Jerusalem Post.

It discusses most of the major players - CiFWatch, BBCWatch, Honest Reporting, Barry Rubin (although, inexplicably, not CAMERA) - and me:
Members of Fatah or Hamas known for their past involvement in terrorism and openly genocidal anti-Semitic views are often labeled "moderate" as long as they pay lip service to "the peace process."

Meanwhile, Israelis who insist on reciprocal concessions from Palestinians in the land-for-peace scheme may end up being labeled "right-wing."

"The common media labels include 'Netanyahu is hawkish,' 'Abbas is a moderate,' 'Settlers are all religious fanatics,' 'Palestinians just want to harvest their olives in peace,'" a prolific American Jewish blogger who goes by the pseudonym Elder of Ziyon tells The Report.

..."[Many] journalists' desire for peace often outweighs the evidence in front of them," argues blogger Elder of Ziyon, an IT professional who often dissects news articles and op-eds about Israel on his site. "Hamas's leaders call for the destruction of Israel in Arabic literally every day," he says. "Yet a recent piece in The New York Times argued that they have accepted the two-state solution.

"The reporter didn't have any quote that proved it, only quotes that he felt implied it.

"Journalists' wishful thinking leads them to believe that both sides in the conflict have the same ethics and goals. That assumption is rarely true."
My email interview for this was from last October. I had completely forgotten about it.

(h/t Emet)

PCHR finds a poor person in Gaza, says it is Israel's fault to the UN

Posted: 06 Feb 2013 07:05 AM PST

From PCHR:
On Monday, 4 February 2013, the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) made a written submission, in the form of an Individual Complaint, to Ms. Magdalena Sepulveda Carmona, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights, which draws attention to the case of Ramadan Daoud Hussein Abdel Bari (51) from Gaza city, Gaza Strip (Palestine).

Ramadan Abdel Bari, who lives in Gaza together with his wife, their 8 children, and his sick mother, opened a clothing factory in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, in 1985. His business was forced to shut down in 2005 as a result of the Israeli-imposed movement restrictions inside the Gaza Strip since the beginning of the Second Intifada in 2000. After that Ramadan was unable to find or generate new employment, as the Israeli closure of the Gaza Strip has caused the near total collapse of Gaza's economy, leaving many unemployed and impoverished without a chance of finding a job and generating an income for themselves and their families.

The ruining of Ramadan's business and the subsequent impossibility to find new employment causes him and his family to live in poverty.

PCHR will be submitting either Memorandums or Individual Complaints on a regular basis to UN Working Groups and Special Rapporteurs, to draw attention to human rights issues facing the Palestinian people.
Yes, PCHR plans to send an individual complaint to the UN for every single poor person it finds in Gaza, blaming Israel for every one.

The International Poverty Line applies to people who are living on less than $1.25 a day (PPP). By that standard, the West Bank and Gaza have a rate of only 0.04% of people living below that line - one of the better ones recorded, and far better than every Arab country listed (Egypt is 1.69%, Syria 1.74%, Yemen 17.53%) while many countries have a rate of well over 50%! The number of truly poor people in Gaza is minuscule by nearly every measure.

Gaza has some 38% of people living below the national poverty line, but that number is different for every nation. For comparison, in Israel, some 23.6% of the population live below the national poverty line; in the West Bank it is 18.3%, in the US it is about 15%. In contrast, in poor sub-Saharan countries and central American nations the rates are often above 50%.

Moreover, in Gaza much of the population gets free food, free medical services and free education - because the UNRWA considers them, against all normal definitions of the term, to be "refugees."

PCHR, obviously, doesn't care about poor people in Gaza. The entire exercise, indeed their entire existence, is centered on how to use the concept of "human rights" in order not to improve the situation but to delegitimize Israel. Their legal briefing accompanying the complaint makes this crystal clear.

They even twist the fact that the UN gives free food and aid to Gazans far out of proportion to their need compared to the truly poor of the world, by saying "over 75% of the people are food aid dependent, 80% of the people receive humanitarian aid." Only about 30% of Haitians are food-aid dependent - but they are far poorer than Gazans by any yardstick with 61% below the international poverty line, compared to 0.04% of Gazans.

This is only one tiny example of how relentlessly anti-Israel NGOs are working, night and day, to demonize Israel.

PCHR receives funding for its faux "humanitarian" work from Norway, Denmark, the European Commission, the Ford Foundation and several other international NGOs. And this is where the money goes.

Leading Tunisian opposition figure shot dead. No suspects.

Posted: 06 Feb 2013 05:30 AM PST

From Al Ahram and Reuters:

A prominent Tunisian opposition politician was shot dead outside his home on Wednesday, in a killing the prime minister condemned as a political assassination and a strike against the 'Arab Spring' revolution.

Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali said the identity of the killer of Shokri Belaid, a staunch secular opponent of the moderate Islamist-led government, was unknown.

President Moncef Marzouki cut short a visit to France and cancelled a visit to Egypt scheduled for Thursday after the killing, which brought around 1,000 protesters onto the streets outside the Interior Ministry.

"The murder of Belaid is a political assassination and the assassination of the Tunisian revolution. By killing him they wanted to silence his voice," said Jebali, who heads the government led by the Ennahda party, which won Tunisia's first post-Arab Spring election in 2011.

Belaid, who died in hospital after being shot in the capital Tunis, was a leading member of the opposition Popular Front party.

"Shokri Belaid was killed today by four bullets to the head and chest ... doctors told us that he has died. This is a sad day for Tunisia," Ziad Lakhader, a leader of the Popular Front, told Reuters.
There are protests happening now in response:
10:15 a.m. Demonstrators in front of the Interior Ministry are expressing their solidarity with Belaid and chanting, "We are all Chokri," "O Chokri, O martyr, we will follow your path," and "Terrorism, bullets, Tunisians are fearless."

They are also crying anti-Ennahdha slogans, such as "Ghannouchi (Ennahdha founder), you are a predator," "dégage (get out, in French)," "This will be the last day for this government," and "Bring down the oppressor of the people, bring down the Brotherhood party."

10:30 a.m. "A country controlled by violence… It's a huge shock for Tunisians. Where did all these weapons come from? Our people are peaceful. Once, at the time of Ben Ali, there was violence… He fell and so will this government," said Hazar Trabelsi, a protester on Bourguiba avenue.

"What is this? All he owned was his words. How could that be faced by fire?" said another protester, Zayneb.

10:50 a.m. Another wave of young protesters are coming from Liberté street to join the mass of protesters in front of the Interior Ministry.

11:10 a.m. The Popular Front coalition has joined the protest, which has continued to grow in size.
And more details of the assassination:
In an interview on Tunisian radio Mosaique FM, Minister of Interior Ali Laarayedh said that two suspects were involved in the assassination. One shot Belaid and then took off on the motorcycle of an accomplice, who was waiting for him.
I don't think that the leading Ennahdha party had anything to do with this, but it points out a danger of even "moderate" Islamism.

One of the problems with even "moderate" Islamism is that it moves the political center of the entire country towards Islamic extremism, making things that were formerly extremist to be considered more tolerable, and things that were unthinkable - like assassinating a leading politician - can enter the realm of possibility.

Separate train cars for women in Egypt starting today

Posted: 06 Feb 2013 02:41 AM PST

From Egypt Independent:

The Egyptian Railways Authority is set to enforce women's-only train cars on several popular routes to and from the capital starting Wednesday.

The move is part of its efforts to curb sexual harassment, which is rampant across the country.

According to state-run daily newspaper Al Ahram, the No. 909 train connecting Cairo and Alexandria departing at 9am will host the first women's car.

The No. 957 train to Zagazig and the No. 513 train to al-Qanater al-Khaireyah will also boast exclusive cars for women.

Several rights and women's groups claim the rate of sexual harassment and violence has increased sharply as of late.
So far, the article makes it sound like this is a move purely to protect women, and not an Islamist initiative. But then things get a little fuzzier:
Egyptian women are already afforded private Metro cars in Cairo, which comprise the only public transportation that separates genders.

In 2008, an Egyptian court dismissed a lawsuit filed by two lawyers demanding the end of women's-only cars on the grounds that separating the sexes violates gender equality.

The court ruled that allocating cars to women did not fall under its jurisdiction and added that Islamic law emphasizes respect for women, which obligates the state to protect them.
So are the Islamists now using the epidemic of sexual abuse of women in public as an excuse to further separate the genders? Or is this simply what must be done temporarily until Egyptian laws start taking this abuse seriously?

Unless we see that women activists are demanding the separate train cars, I'm afraid the former is the more likely explanation.
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