| Muslims attacking Copts in Egypt over false rumor Posted: 03 Mar 2013 02:00 PM PST From Al Ahram: A rumour has spread in the Upper Egyptian city of Kom Ombo that a divorced Muslim woman in her mid-30s has been kidnapped by the Coptic Church and converted to Christianity. In an area socially divided across tribal loyalties and religion, the story managed to fuel violence against the area's Christian minority.
The city's most central and largest church, Mar Girgis, has been under attack for the past three days from what residents described as "unknown assailants." Mostly in their teens, hundreds of young boys and men have been surrounding the church, showering it with rocks and Molotov cocktails.
With Central Security Forces (CSF) trucks and soldiers fighting the assailants with teargas grenades, the church was relatively protected, although Molotov cocktails and rocks managed to reach its roofs and its open central courtyard.
A field hospital was set up in one of the corners of the courtyard while many of the injured sat inside the church resting, others praying. One young man in the church had obviously burned skin on his arms and back, which he said he suffered from one of the Molotov cocktails thrown at the church.
"The missing woman is not in this church as you can see … Her family never claimed she was," Priest Abanob Wahid of the Mari Girgis Church of Kom Ombo told Ahram Online.
The violence is not only limited to the church. Seventeen-year-old Copt Abanob, whose arm was covered with medical bandages, explained he was attacked by a young man also in his teens who had first asked him whether or not he was Christian.
"'Yes, I am a Christian! What's your problem?' I exclaimed before he followed me accompanied by a friend of his and took out a pocket knife. He aimed for my face but cut my arm instead, which I quickly raised to cover my face in an attempt to protect myself," Abanob told Ahram Online.
...Despite denials made by the family, church figures, and influential men of both religions that the woman had been kidnapped by the church, violence continues against Kom Ombo's Copts for a third day.
Since the missing woman disappeared a week ago, rumours have continued to spread and change without their sources ever being confirmed.
The latest widespread belief was that the room of the missing woman, who is also a well known school teacher in the area, was left full of crosses and Christian texts. Some say her ex-husband has kidnapped her; others claim she escaped with her Coptic lover and converted in a place far from Kom Ombo.
In recent years, Egypt had witnessed several attacks on churches, especially in Upper Egypt where sectarian tensions are more commonplace.
Clashes over alleged forced religious conversions have also been common in recent years. Most alleged instances centred on Christian women converting to Islam and believed held captive by the Coptic Church. The best known case was that of Camelia Shehata, the wife of a Coptic priest who was allegedly detained by the Church after she converted to Islam.
Copts have frequently complained that young Coptic women have been kidnapped by Muslim men and forced to convert for the purposes of marriage.
While conversion from Islam to Christianity is legally recognised, the opposite is not.  |
| Sunday Links Part 2 Posted: 03 Mar 2013 12:30 PM PST From Ian:
Rand Paul: It's not Our Business Where Israelis Build The senator spoke at The Iron Dome Congressional Tribute, a celebration of the U.S.-Israel alliance. Several hundred Jewish leaders from across the U.S. journeyed to the capital to offer their gratitude to members of the United States Senate and House of Representatives for their staunch support of the U.S.-Israel relationship. Nearly two dozen Members of Congress, ranging from ultra-conservative to extremely liberal in their political ideologies, put partisanship aside and participated in this special program in order to stand united with the State of Israel.
Senator Rand Paul, a Republican from Kentucky, spoke about his trip to Israel and how much he enjoyed being there. He told the crowd how he sang Hebrew songs together with a group of rabbis at the Western Wall, even though he had no idea what the words meant. However, the statement that received thunderous applause was, "It is not our job to tell Israelis where they can or cannot build." Kerry Commended for Defending 'Bedrock' of Jewish People Simon Wiesenthal Center commends Sec. of State Kerry for directly confronting Turkish PM Erdogan's slanderous accusation against Zionism. The Simon Wiesenthal Center commended U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Friday for directly confronting Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's slanderous accusation in which he called Zionism a "crime against humanity".
"Secretary Kerry is to be commended for publically objecting to Erdogan's outrageous attack against Zionism, the bedrock of the Jewish people's historic narrative," said Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean of the leading Jewish human rights organization. "If our Turkish NATO ally wants to contribute to peace the first step would be for the Turkish prime minister to stop his verbal assaults against the Jewish state and her supporters around the world." UN Watch: Germany Condemns Turkish PM Erdogan for "Hurtful and Unacceptable" Remarks
Full Transcript: Kerry calls Erodgan remark "objectionable"
World Leaders Condemn Turkey's Erdogan over Zionism Slur No way out For Muslims, there is no escape from anti-Semitism Muslim anti-Semitism has become historically genetic. It is fed into them with their mother's milk.
It is inculcated at all levels, family, religious, cultural and political. It demands a high level of personal resolve and courage for an individual Muslim to break out of this festering prison of Jew-hatred. Yet to do so leaves that individual open to ridicule, hatred and retribution if he or she remains in that environment. This is the worrying swamp which, for many, there is no escape. MEMRI: Inspire X "Open Source Jihad" Calls To Assassinate Top U.S., British, And French Heads Of State And Politicians "If you think you are unable, then you have easy targets like [G.W.] Bush, Bill Clinton, Colin Powell, or Condoleezza Rice. Of course, you can also kill Sarkozy and Tony Blair. It is now easy to reach these guys, especially [now] that they aren't in office anymore." Sanctioned sex club events and Israeli Apartheid Week have some university students angry over what their money funds "It was one of those clear examples of crossing that line from legitimate criticism of Israel into hate and anti-Semitism," says Mr. Gilboord. "Am I gonna cry at night? … No, but I think on campus we're supposed to have a more academic atmosphere."
Mr. Gilboord said one of the speakers quipped that Israeli Defence Forces kill Gazans six days a week out of seven. "I guess they take the Sabbath off," said the speaker, according to Mr. Gilboord. When he and a handful of other pro-Israel students in attendance left near the end of the event, their departure was cheered by others in the crowd. All of this despite the equity statement commonly read at student meetings about ensuring a safe, inclusive space free from intolerance. Jewish Students at Cornell Respond to Anti-Israel Defacement of Flyers on Campus More than 20 posters that showed a defaced promotion for a Cornell Hillel event that brought Israeli soldiers to speak on campus were left scattered in a university rec center last week . The posters, which were marked up with red ink, denounced the "exclusively Jewish" soldiers — asserting that they engaged in "war-crime[s]," not "combat," and served in "massacres," not "missions."
The Cornell Daily Sun reported that on Sunday Students for Justice in Palestine, an organization that describes itself as being dedicated to "raising awareness of the Palestinian experience," took credit for making the posters. SJP claimed it produced the posters to "condemn the nature of Hillel's event." Finnish police find 'Jew list' at neo-Nazi's home Man arrested for stabbing had compiled information about Jewish teens JTA — Finnish police have informed several members of the country's Jewish community that a neo-Nazi activist has been gathering information about them.
Police sent a letter to an undisclosed number of individuals after finding details about Finnish Jews on a USB stick in the possession of a man arrested two months ago, according a report Friday in the Israeli daily Ma'ariv. Google opens Campus Tel Aviv startup space The newest pin on the Google-Israel map aims to contribute toward future Israeli tech innovation. Google opened its Tel Aviv offices in 2006. Currently, 270 developers work in this creatively designed eight-floor headquarters in the 45-story Electra Tower.
Another 80 employees churn out new products and technologies at Google's Haifa R&D lab. "We also have a business operation here working with advertisers in Israel, Europe and Africa to build online businesses," says Solomon.  |
| EoZNews: Interview with Alex Safian of CAMERA Posted: 03 Mar 2013 10:30 AM PST When I was in Israel I had the opportunity to meet with many of the people working for CAMERA, the Committee for Accuracy in Middle east Reporting in America, as well as representatives of their sponsored blogs CiFWatch and BBCWatch. We had a good discussion of media bias and strategy. (Yes, conspiracy theorists, I will discuss strategy with fellow pro-Israel advocates. Scary, isn't it?) Here is an exclusive EoZNews interview with Alex Safian, Associate Director of CAMERA, about media bias, the "apartheid land policy" claim that got him involved in the field, and other topics.  |
| Sunday Links Part 1 Posted: 03 Mar 2013 09:00 AM PST From Ian:
Syrian Rebels Hang 'Palestinian Refugees' who Aided Assad Syrian rebels hanged two Arabs registered as "Palestinian refugees" on suspicion of aiding the Assad, says a rights watchdog. "Rebels in the Yarmouk camp executed two men accused of cooperating with the regime by identifying targets that were bombed last week," the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
"They were hanged from trees in the camp," added the Observatory, which relies on a network of activists and medics on the ground to collect information. It provided a picture illustrating the hangings, reported AFP. Assad accuses UK of bullying, vows to hit back at Israel Speaking to Sunday Times, Syrian president blasts London for trying to send arms to rebels, says Damascus always retaliates against Israel Speaking about a reported Israeli airstrike in January on Syrian soil, which had allegedly damaged a chemical weapons site, Assad vowed to hit back as he said his country always had, though he said it might not be an overt counterattack.
"We retaliated in our own way, and only the Israelis know what we mean. Retaliation does not mean missile for missile or bullet for bullet. Our own way does not have to be announced," he said. Three Syrian Mortar Shells Strike Golan Heights Three mortar shells exploded Saturday afternoon in the southern Golan Heights, near Ramot Magshimim. No one was hurt and no damage was caused.
The defense establishment believes that the shells were stray ones, which were fired in the course of the civil war in Syria, on the other side of the border. Israel to renew apple exports to Syria Thousands of tons of Israeli apples will be exported to Syria later this week in a renewal of an arrangement that was halted last year due to the civil war across the border.
The apples, grown by Druze farmers on the Golan Heights, are transferred between the two countries with the coordination of the United Nations and the International Red Cross.
This year is set to be the largest ever export since the arrangement began several years ago. Some 18,000 tons of apples will pass through the border crossing at Quneitra over the next three months. Plague of locusts afflicts Egypt Swarm of Biblical proportions surprises local authorities and blankets the ground near Giza An enormous swarm of locusts is plaguing Egypt in a development that agricultural authorities admitted they failed to predict.
Egyptian Agricultural Minister Salah Abad Almoman said the swarm, comprising an estimated 30 million insects, descended on Giza, near southern Cairo, where it is causing great damage, Maariv reported on Sunday.
"The armed forces and the Egyptian border units are trying to battle the swarm with various means at their disposal," Almoman said, but the report did not detail what action was taken. The minister appealed to local residents to refrain from attempting to deal with the ravenous horde themselves. Islamic Cleric Charges: Morsi is a 'Zionist' An Islamic cleric who opposes the Muslim Brotherhood described Egyptian President as a "Zionist" who shares security interests with Israel. An Islamic cleric who opposes the Muslim Brotherhood described Egypt's Islamist President Mohammed Morsi on Friday as a "Zionist" who shares security interests with Israel, Al Arabiya reports.
Speaking to protesters in Cairo's Tahrir Square, Sheikh Mohammed Abdullah Nasr, leader of the Front "Ozharyoun with civil state," said U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry was coming to Egypt to support "Morsi the Zionist." Egypt, two Coptic Orthodox children aged 9 and 10 risk jail on blasphemy charges Yet another case of violence and abuse against Coptic Christians. On 26 February, the Court of Bani Suef (Upper Egypt) dismissed the appeal of the families of the two children Rzik Nagy, aged 10, and Mina Farag, 9, accused of desecrating the Koran. They have been detained in a juvenile prison since April 2012. The case has attracted a lot of criticism in the country. Many claim the trial was illegal and devoid of any logic. 100 Copts Arrested In Libya Voice of the Copts strongly condemns the round-up, detention and presumed torture of Egyptian Copts in Benghazi, Libya being held for allegedly proselytizing Christianity which is illegal in that country. Evidence of such offense is yet unsubstantiated as facts cited by the arresting body keep changing. Furthermore, the charges are highly suspect given they follow recent attacks on a Coptic church. Seized Chinese Weapons Raise Concerns on Iran Among the items aboard the dhow, according to a review of factory markings on weapons and their packing crates, were 10 Chinese heat-seeking antiaircraft missiles, most of them manufactured in 2005.
The missiles were labeled QW-1M and bore stencils suggesting that they had been assembled at a factory represented by the state-owned China National Precision Machinery Import and Export Corporation, sanctioned by the United States for transfers of missile technology to Pakistan and Iran. Comedy Central: Jon Stewart Letter Backing Anti-War Protest Group is Counterfeit Code Pink published a letter "from" Stewart backing their anti-drone campaign; Comedy Central says the note is bogus. Code Pink, the organization known for screaming and streaking during their public protests, published and sent to its email list a letter purported to be from The Daily Show host on Wednesday; it claimed his support for the group's request that the senate releases documents about the drone campaign.
However, a representative from Comedy Central has confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter that the letter was not sent by Stewart or anyone at the network.  |
| Accuweather says the Jewish Quarter is in "Palestine" Posted: 03 Mar 2013 07:00 AM PST Last year, CiFWatch noted that the Israeli town of Modi'in is considered to be part of "Palestine" by Accuweather, even though it is within the Green Line. Tweeter "AntiIsrael Douchebag" noticed the same in his mobile app: Not surprisingly, many Jewish communities in the territories are also considered to be within "Palestine" as well by Accuweather, although Jerusalem is still in Israel at the moment... Pisgat Ze'ev, a part of Jerusalem, is also in "Palestine" according to Accuweather. (Interestingly, Har Nof is considered Israeli, and so is Maale Adumim.) Canada Park, owned by the Jewish National Fund, is considered in "Palestine." Here's a full list of "Palestine" cities. As absurd as this is, nothing beats this one I stumbled onto: "Jewich Quarter"? It is a good thing that peace plans aren't drawn up by clueless webmasters at weather sites.  |
| Far more camps/ghettoes in Holocaust than previously thought Posted: 03 Mar 2013 05:30 AM PST From NYT: Thirteen years ago, researchers at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum began the grim task of documenting all the ghettos, slave labor sites, concentration camps and killing factories that the Nazis set up throughout Europe.
The researchers have cataloged some 42,500 Nazi ghettos and camps throughout Europe, spanning German-controlled areas from France to Russia and Germany itself, during Hitler's reign of brutality from 1933 to 1945.
The figure is so staggering that even fellow Holocaust scholars had to make sure they had heard it correctly when the lead researchers previewed their findings at an academic forum in late January at the German Historical Institute in Washington.
"The numbers are so much higher than what we originally thought," Hartmut Berghoff, director of the institute, said in an interview after learning of the new data.
"We knew before how horrible life in the camps and ghettos was," he said, "but the numbers are unbelievable."
The documented camps include not only "killing centers" but also thousands of forced labor camps, where prisoners manufactured war supplies; prisoner-of-war camps; sites euphemistically named "care" centers, where pregnant women were forced to have abortions or their babies were killed after birth; and brothels, where women were coerced into having sex with German military personnel.
...When the research began in 2000, Dr. Megargee said he expected to find perhaps 7,000 Nazi camps and ghettos, based on postwar estimates. But the numbers kept climbing — first to 11,500, then 20,000, then 30,000, and now 42,500.
The numbers astound: 30,000 slave labor camps; 1,150 Jewish ghettos; 980 concentration camps; 1,000 prisoner-of-war camps; 500 brothels filled with sex slaves; and thousands of other camps used for euthanizing the elderly and infirm, performing forced abortions, "Germanizing" prisoners or transporting victims to killing centers.
In Berlin alone, researchers have documented some 3,000 camps and so-called Jew houses, while Hamburg held 1,300 sites.
Dr. Dean, a co-researcher, said the findings left no doubt in his mind that many German citizens, despite the frequent claims of ignorance after the war, must have known about the widespread existence of the Nazi camps at the time.
"You literally could not go anywhere in Germany without running into forced labor camps, P.O.W. camps, concentration camps," he said. "They were everywhere."  |
| Egyptian protesters torch police station Posted: 03 Mar 2013 03:02 AM PST From Al Arabiya: Egyptian protesters torched a police station in Port Said on Saturday, as police used tear gas to disperse crowds in the province of al-Mansura, reported Al Arabiya.
Residents said protesters set a light the police station after a security vehicle ran over demonstrators taking part in a peaceful march, leaving five people wounded.
About 500 protesters threw stones and petrol bombs and then blocked fire engines from approaching the blaze, said the interior ministry.
In Mansura, Egyptian protesters also stormed a police building, amid renewed clashes after a demonstrator's death overnight, the official MENA news agency reported.
They attacked a building that formerly housed the now-relocated regional police headquarters, but where police still have offices.
A security source told AFP police were able to repel them with tear gas. Six officers were also reportedly injured in Port Said as demonstrators attempted to free detainees held inside the car by hurling stones at the vehicle which was on its way to Port Said's courthouse. Here's a video of the smoldering police station: Things are not looking good in Egypt.  |
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