Elder of Ziyon Daily News

Hamas' reign of terror covered by - NPR!
Tuesday Links Part 2
Richard Falk freaks out on UN Watch in official UN report (updated)
IDF to re-enact Six Day War - on Twitter
Tuesday Links Part 1
The window of opportunity for peace is closing, said the US Sec'y of State. In 1991. And 2003.
Palestinian Arab parents - and teachers - beat their kids. Men beat and rape their wives. No one reports it.
Egypt closes 5 NGOs, sentences 43 NGO workers to prison, including 19 Americans
Morsi said dancing violates sharia law in 2005

Hamas' reign of terror covered by - NPR!

Posted: 04 Jun 2013 08:02 PM PDT

A rare NPR piece that blames someone besides Israel for something in the Middle East:

Life was already grim in the Gaza Strip when fighting raged between Israel and Hamas last November. Then Khulud Badawi got unexpected bad news about her husband.

"I was at home when my son came in and said, 'Mom, they killed Dad.' I said, 'Who?' He said, 'Hamas.' I asked him, 'Where?' He said, 'Next to the gas station,'" she recalls.

Badawi's husband, Ribhi Badawi, was in prison in Gaza City. He was supposed to go to court that day for a final appeal of charges that he had collaborated with Israel against Hamas, which runs the Gaza Strip.

But Ribhi Badawi was taken from prison and executed in public, along with five other inmates. They were all accused of being collaborators, or informants, working for Israel.

"In this case, what was remarkable was that these men were not executed in anything resembling legislative authority or the penal authority of the Hamas government, but by armed men," says Sarah Leah Whitson, who directs the Middle East division of Human Rights Watch.

Wow - how could that have happened?

Hamas, which has been in control of Gaza since 2007, has executed people judged to be collaborators. But in the six deaths last Nov. 20, the Hamas-run government said it was not responsible.

"What happened was against the law," Islam Shawan, a spokesman for Gaza's Interior Ministry, says. "We had a high-level committee investigate, and it handed down tough punishments to security officials who failed to do their jobs."

Shawan won't name names, give ranks or offer any other information, but he claims that four people working in the prison system were punished. One was fired, one was transferred, one was jailed and one lost any chance at promotions.

He has no progress to report on tracking down the people who actually did the killings, but he does claim progress in cracking down on collaboration.

This puzzle gets harder and harder to solve. I mean, Hamas says they are working to find the people responsible for the murders, and the murderers haven't yet been caught, so they must be very, very smart.

For some reason I am reminded of OJ Simpson and his "investigation" into the murderer of his wife.

(h/t D)

Tuesday Links Part 2

Posted: 04 Jun 2013 04:00 PM PDT

From Ian:

Church of Scotland Shreds Bible Canonizes Palestinian "Scripture," Flunks Exams

Thanks in part to immigration, for the first time since John Knox there are more worshipers on a Sunday in Roman Catholic churches than in the Kirk (Church of Scotland). The Church of Rome, despite its recent travails, retains the advantage that it would never publish a document that had not been vetted by serious theologians.
The State of Israel, on the other hand, is doing very well, thank you, and need not care two hoots what the Church of Scotland thinks about it. Israel's GDP is higher than Scotland's.

The Palestinian 'Popular' Violent 'Resistance'

A new report from the Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center shows how Abbas encourages the perpetration of steady low-level violence in the West Bank as part of his effort to stay in power. His calls for on-going "low-level" violence help him and the PLO to compete for Palestinian violence with the U.S.-designated terrorist Hamas organization.
Congress should inquire why this Administration is set on rewarding this violent group that also threatens the political stability of Jordan. Considering the bloody results of U.S. "tacit" support to other allegedly popular resistance movement in the region, such as the "reform" minded Muslim Brotherhood, it's time we stop funding any violence advocating group, first and foremost with the PA. Additional U.S. support would only fuel more of the same. It's time to acknowledge what the Palestinians have been telling us all along; they will not budge an inch unless they can –as the map hanging in Abbas' office – and Arafat before him — shows, take over the Jewish state.

Abbas: PLO Charter Reflects What Palestinians Want

At an event marking the 49th anniversary of the PLO's founding, Abbas (according to a translation by the Palestinian news agency Ma'an) declared that PLO founder Ahmad Shuqueiri "was asked to figure out what the Palestinians wanted, and he returned with the convention for the PLO." In other words, according to Abbas, the PLO's founding document is an accurate reflection of what Palestinians want. And lest anyone has forgotten the contents of that 1964 document, still available on the website of the PLO's UN mission, here are a few choice quotes:

NPR Romanticizes Child's Attacker

Indicative of the sharp bias is the story's focus. On the occasion of the release from intensive care of a Jewish child severely injured in a stone-throwing attack by Palestinians, NPR turns not to the dangers faced by Jews under threat from such lethal violence but to extensive, sympathetic treatment of the grievances of the Palestinian perpetrator, Tareq Hammed, and his mother. A brief introductory reference to the child, Adele Bitton, is followed by lengthy commentary devoted to the complaints of the Palestinians, to such things as Hammed being arrested late at night, soldiers shouting at, handcuffing and blindfolding him – and his not having time to change clothes. Hammed's mother is given a platform to lament that she'd also been witness to her husband's arrest by Israeli soldiers, the implication being not that father and son were two of a kind, assaulting the innocent, but that they were a family of courageous resistance fighters.

Experts Join Forces in New Book to Combat Online Hate

Two of the U.S's leading experts on bigoted speech and the Internet have joined forces as authors of a new book that lays out a blueprint for governments, industry leaders and societies to take proactive steps to stem the tide of hate speech on the Internet.
Abraham H. Foxman, the National Director of the Anti-Defamation League and a longtime leader in the fight against anti-Semitism and bigotry, and Christopher Wolf, ADL Civil Rights Chair and one of the nation's leading practitioners in the field of Internet and privacy law, outline the challenges posed by online hate and propose a series of solutions in their new book, Viral Hate: Containing Its Spread on the Internet.

German seminary to probe Nazi jokes claim

A Catholic seminary in Germany says it is investigating claims that trainee priests made anti-Semitic jokes, played far-right music and gave Nazi salutes.

Last of Boston Marathon bombing victims leaves hospital

A 29-year-old preschool teacher who lost most of her left leg in the Boston Marathon bombing left the hospital Monday, saying she was excited to head home to the Baltimore area so she could hug loved ones, eat steamed crabs and spend time with her students.
"I just want to sit on the floor with them and read them a story," Erika Brannock said of students at Trinity Episcopal Children's Center in Towson, Md.

Remembering the Way-to-Go War

The name "Six-Day Dar" instantly conjures up Israel's lightning victory over Syria, Jordan and Egypt in 1967. However, if some citizens had had their way, Israelis could instead be marking the 46th anniversary of the War of the Boulders this week.
According to a report in Yedioth Ahronoth, there are several letters in the IDF archives at the Defense Ministry which propose various civilian suggestions for the name of the war.

Jewish community mourns passing of Sen. Frank Lautenberg, a 'true friend'

The US Senate lost its oldest member, its last surviving WWII veteran, and one of its staunchest pro-Israel advocates early Monday morning with the death of 89-year-old Senator Frank Lautenberg.
Lautenberg succumbed to pneumonia at a New York hospital just after 4 a.m.

WHO approves Israeli-developed circumcision device

The World Health Organization approved an Israeli-developed non-surgical circumcision device that could soon be used throughout Africa to help control AIDS.
PrePex, a disposable and easy-to-use device made of rubber bands that obviates the need for anesthesia, stitches or a sterile setting, received WHO approval on Friday, The New York Times reported.

Israel still tops in tech, says start-up expert

There are many active high-tech scenes but few that are truly pioneering, according to a Silicon Valley entrepreneur who is on a mission to map, catalog, and analyze the world's start-up ecosystems. And Israel, he says, is one of those few.
"True innovation is really rare," Bowei Gai told The Times of Israel at the Israel-Asia Summit, held last month at the Peres Peace Center in Jaffa.

Israel helped design Intel's new Haswell processor

Intel Corporation (Nasdaq: INTC) has unveiled its fourth-generation microarchitecture-based Intel Core processor, codenamed Haswell, at the Computers expo in Taiwan. The new processors, designed for ultrabooks and tablets, were partly developed in Israel. The Haswell is manufactured by 22-nanometer process. Intel says that it extends work station's battery life by 50% compared with the third generation processors, which will give ultrabooks more than nine hours working time.

Richard Falk freaks out on UN Watch in official UN report (updated)

Posted: 04 Jun 2013 01:52 PM PDT

Richard Falk, the terror-supporting and constantly lying UN special rapporteur who used to support Ayatollah Khomeini, who believes in bizarre 9/11 conspiracy theories and who has justified the Boston bombings as "retribution" has written the latest of his regular anti-Israel reports for the UN.

Hilariously, he goes way off topic in a crazed rant in the introduction to the document to attack UN Watch, which has meticulously documented his unsuitability for his position.

The Special Rapporteur wishes to raise another concern regarding the independence, credibility, and effectiveness of this mandate. Since the Special Rapporteur assumed this position, "UN Watch" – a "pro-Israel" lobbying organization accredited as an NGO to ECOSOC, has issued a series of defamatory attacks demeaning his character, repeatedly distorting his views on potentially inflammatory issues. This smear campaign has been carried out in numerous settings, including at the Human Rights Council, as well as university venues where the Special Rapporteur gives lectures in his personal capacity on subjects unrelated to the mandate. The lobby groups' smears have been sent to diplomats and United Nations officials, including the Secretary-General, who has apparently accepted the allegations at face value, issuing public criticism of the Special Rapporteur. It is disappointing that such irresponsible and dishonest attacks have been taken seriously, with no effort to seek the views of the Special Rapporteur or verify the accuracy of the allegations. To set the record straight, the Special Rapporteur proposes that UN Watch be investigated to determine whether it qualifies as an independent organization that operates in accord with its name and stated objectives, and is not indirectly sponsored by the Government of Israel and/or other "pro-Israel" lobbying groups affiliated with the Government, as well as whether its programme of work is of direct relevance to the aims and purposes of the United Nations.1 Even a superficial review of their website confirms their preoccupation with character assassination, and the absence of an organizational agenda that corresponds to its claim to exercise oversight over United Nations activities. Despite its efforts to discredit the Special Rapporteur, UN Watch has never offered substantive criticisms or entered into any serious discussion of the Special Rapporteur's reports. Such defamation of a special rapporteur is detrimental to the independence and substantive intention of any mandate. It diverts attention from the message to the messenger, and shifts public interest away from the need to protect human rights in contexts that have been identified by the Human Rights Council as of particular concern. The Special Rapporteur recommends that this issue be viewed in relation not only to his mandate, but also as a matter of principle relating to ensuring a responsible role for NGOs within the United Nations system. In like manner, it seems important to encourage a greater willingness on the part of senior United Nations officials to defend special rapporteurs subject to such diversionary attacks, or at the least, not to be complicit.

It looks like Falk is feeling the heat for his outrageous statements and he is lashing out. His crazed viewpoints on justifying even the most horrific terror acts are finally seeing the light of day, and Falk can no longer hide his ugliness from the very organization that gives him legitimacy. (Notably, even Human Rights Watch recently expelled Falk from one of its committees because of the embarrassment of being associated with him.)

He is a despicable man and it is nice to see that his world is crashing down around him.

(h/t Gidon Shaviv)

UPDATE: To give an idea of Falk's sick mentality, in this very report he seems to care as much about the fate of rocket launchers meant to target Israeli civilians as is does about human beings:

[During Pillar of Defense,] on the Gazan side, casualties to police and militants were greatly reduced by avoiding targeted facilities and taking secure shelter, and damage to rocket launchers was reduced by greater mobility and use of underground launching sites.

Falk is praising Hamas for saving part of its terror infrastructure!

IDF to re-enact Six Day War - on Twitter

Posted: 04 Jun 2013 12:45 PM PDT

Tomorrow is the 46th anniversary of the start of the Six Day War, and the IDF is starting a Twitter account minute-by-minute reconstruction of what happened.

Unfortunately, it is all in Hebrew, so far.

If you want to follow it anyway, the Twitter account is @IDF1967.

If you want to complain to the IDF to have it translated into English, just retweet this.

Alternatively, if you want to spend the next week translating the hundreds of tweets yourself in near real-time and you want to create an English-language Twitter account for that purpose, let me know and I'll publicize that. You can call it Naksa1967 or something like that. It can have the added bonus of upsetting people who are sorry that Israel won.

הסירנות עלולות להישמע בכל רגע #יוני67 vine.co/v/b3vPBaqWruv
— צה''ל בששת הימים (@IDF1967) June 3, 2013

(h/t Gidon Shaviv)

Tuesday Links Part 1

Posted: 04 Jun 2013 11:15 AM PDT

From Ian:

US spills Israeli missile defense secrets

The US government has publicized classified information detailing the location, design and specifications of a launch site to be built from this summer for Israel's new Arrow 3 anti-ballistic missile system. The details, apparently spilled in error, appear to include highly sensitive information relevant to the struggle against Iran's nuclear ambitions.
The material specifies, for instance, that the launch site must be completed by the end of next year, by which time, it says, Israel expects to have the Arrow 3 — a missile defense system crucial to Israel's plans for countering an Iranian nuclear threat — operational.

Hamas man arrested for planning kidnapping, attacks

The Shin Bet emphasized that this incident is the latest in a series of Palestinians released in the Shalit deal returning to terrorist activities, and trying to free other militants. In March 2013, a Palestinian man was arrested for meeting with Amir Dukan, also released in the bargain, who offered him $60,000 to carry out an attack near Nablus.

IAEA Official Stepping Down Over Iran Enforcement Failures

The number two official at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) was forced to step down over disagreements regarding Iran's nuclear program with his boss, the Japanese Director General (DG) Yukiya Amano. Officially it was announced last month that the contract of the Belgian Herman Nackaerts would not be renewed after only three years as Deputy DG and head of the important Department of Safeguards.

U.N. Nuclear Watchdog: Iran Talks "Going Around In Circles," Regime Has Sanitized Nuke Warhead Testing Facility

The IAEA has especially been seeking access to Iran's military facility at Parchin, where Western intelligence agencies and U.N. officials believe that Tehran has conducted work relevant to the development of nuclear warheads. Iran has denied the agency access to the facility to such an extent that IAEA officials have been forced to resign over deadlocked talks. Amano today warned that being granted access now might be meaningless, after Iran spent years sanitizing the site:

Irwin Cotler: Int'l terrorists must be prosecuted, not placated

Argentina should demand that the Iranian gov't extradite suspects who have been formally charged in Argentina.
This June – in sham elections that are certain to be neither free nor fair – eight presidential candidates who have all been authorized to run by the Guardian Council of Iran will "contend" for the office currently held by the incumbent, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Indeed, the résumés of two candidates in particular stand out: Moshen Rezai and Ali Akbar Velayati have both been indicted by Argentinian authorities for their complicity in the 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish Center in Argentina that left 85 dead and more than 300 injured.

Assad: "Arabs Have Forgotten… Real Enemy is Still Israel"

Analysts continue to unpack the implications of an interview given last week by Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad to Hezbollah's al-Manar TV. On some issues – Assad was vague on whether advanced S-300 anti-aircraft missiles had yet been delivered from Russia to Syria. Regarding his desire to have the Arab world focus on Israel, rather than on the Syrian conflict which has now claimed some 100,000 lives, he was far more explicit.

UN rights team sees chemical weapons use in Syria

United Nations human rights investigators said Tuesday they had "reasonable grounds" to believe that limited amounts of chemical weapons had been used in Syria.
In their latest report, they said they had received allegations that Syrian government forces and rebels had used the banned weapons, but that most testimony related to their use by state forces.

4,000 Hezbollah fighters reach Aleppo, says Free Syrian Army

Over 4,000 fighters from the Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah have reached the northern Syrian city of Aleppo as part of military preparations to retake the rebel-held city, a spokesman for the Free Syrian Army told The Daily Star today.
"The number of Hezbollah members who have entered Aleppo has exceeded 4,000," Louay Meqdad, the FSA spokesman, said.

Gulf States to Consider Measures Against Hizbullah

Gulf States will consider taking measures against Hizbullah if it continues its involvement in Syria's civil war.
Arab Gulf States will consider taking measures against Hizbullah if the Shiite terror group continues its involvement in Syria's civil war or interferes in Gulf Arab affairs, the head of their six-member bloc said on Sunday, according to Al Arabiya.

North Korea sends officers to aid Assad?

In another bizarre twist to Syria's tragic civil war, opposition forces are now claiming that officers from the North Korean army are aiding the fight against the rebels in an effort to bolster Bashar al-Assad.

Defense minister confirms field hospital operating on Syria border

Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon, in a wide-ranging presentation to a Knesset defense oversight committee, confirmed on Monday that Israel is operating a field hospital on the Syrian border and transferring severely wounded Syrian nationals to Israeli hospitals for treatment.
"Our policy is to help in humanitarian cases, and to that end we are operating a field hospital along the Syrian border," Ya'alon told the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. "In cases where there are badly wounded, we transfer them to Israeli hospitals. We have no intention of opening refugee camps."

US to deploy Patriot missile battery in Jordan

The US intends to leave an advanced Patriot missile battery in Jordan after an upcoming international military exercise, an American military spokesman said Tuesday. During the regional exercise, dubbed Eager Lion, the American military also plans to use F-16 fighters, according to US Central Command spokesman Oscar Seara.

Jordan cracks down on online media, blocks 304 news sites

Jordan said Monday it blocked unlicensed news websites in a step toward regulating online media widely criticized by the government and readers for sensational reporting.

Reports: Turkish activist brain dead after police brutality

Turkish demonstrators have slammed the domestic and international media for failing to cover the recent wave of protests in Turkey.
While global news agencies are catching up with the situation on the ground in the country, the domestic news agencies are said to be largely ignoring the mass demonstrations and even, some say, the killing of Turkish human rights activist.

The window of opportunity for peace is closing, said the US Sec'y of State. In 1991. And 2003.

Posted: 04 Jun 2013 09:30 AM PDT

From JPost:

In his first address to an American Jewish audience as secretary of state on Monday, John Kerry made a passionate case for renewed peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians, calling on both sides to "summon the courage" to negotiate.

"We are running out of time," Kerry said. "We are running out of possibilities."

While reassuring the pro-Israel crowd that America would always support and defend the Jewish State, Kerry warned the American Jewish Committee that the status quo in the region was unsustainable.

"A stalemate today will not remain tomorrow," Kerry said. "In this conflict, the simple fact is tomorrow is not guaranteed to look like today."

"Let's be clear: If we do not succeed now – and I know I'm raising those stakes – but if we do not succeed now, we may not get another chance. So we can't let the disappointments of the past hold the future prisoner."

Of course, tomorrow's Arab leaders are also not guaranteed to fulfill the obligations of today's Arab leaders. But why worry about that? The goal is signing a paper, not peace!

Anyway, here is today's déjà vu:

"The reason for the trip, quite frankly, was because we don't know how long this window of opportunity might last," Mr. Baker told reporters on his plane before landing here at the outset of the trip for talks in Israel, Egypt, Syria, Saudi Arabia and Jordan,

"We don't think things should be permitted to simply drift," Mr. Baker said. "It's been over three weeks since we were in Israel and almost four since we were in Riyadh, and the President felt, and I felt, that it's time to try and push the envelope a little further if we can and see whether or not we can make some progress."

During Mr. Baker's peacemaking swing three weeks ago, he gently explored with Arab and Israeli leaders whether they might be willing to take some "confidence building" steps to reduce mutual suspicions and pave the way for direct negotiations at some kind of international meeting.

There is one big difference between Baker and Kerry, however. Baker didn't really believe the nonsense he was spouting about the urgency for a solution, but Kerry seems to believe it completely:

At his joint news conference with Mr. Bush in Houston, Mr. Baker seemed to inadvertently reveal his own deep ambivalence about the real prospects for peace. It came through in his tortured answer to a question about what justified his assessment that after the gulf war there was now a "window of opportunity" to settle the Arab-Israel issue.

Mr. Baker answered: "Well, the new factors are generated, of course, by what happened as a consequence of the gulf war. I'm not suggesting that there are any new factors. I'm not suggesting new factors -- there may be some -- that have occasioned this trip."

Pressed by reporters as to why he insists on pursuing such an incremental, step-by-step approach, Mr. Baker said: "Neither the United States nor anybody else can impose peace in the Middle East. And you are not going to get peace in the Middle East unless the parties themselves really want it, and at the most the United States can only serve as a catalyst."

For all of Baker's problems, he at least knew the difference between rhetoric and reality. Kerry does not seem to, and as a result he is digging himself into a credibility hole that he will inevitably topple into.

But he wasn't the most recent Secretary of State to warn that the "window of opportunity" was closing:

Colin L. Powell insisted tonight that this was the right moment to act.

"The president turned his attention to this issue because he sees that there are these new dynamics in the equation," Mr. Powell said on ABC tonight. "And everybody knows we can't stay where we are. The Palestinian economy has been destroyed. The Israeli economy is in difficulty. Israel doesn't want to keep its troops deployed forever in the cities and towns. So I think all the pieces have come together, and we are here at Sharm el Sheik to take advantage of the new elements in the equation and this window of opportunity that has opened."

The funny thing is that things are better now for both the Israelis and Palestinian Arabs than they were ten years ago. All without the "peace process" moving forward an inch.

Palestinian Arab parents - and teachers - beat their kids. Men beat and rape their wives. No one reports it.

Posted: 04 Jun 2013 07:30 AM PDT

Buried in the middle of an April report "Palestinian Children –Issues and Statistics" by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, we see:

Children Exposed to Violence in Educational Institutions

More than one fifth of students aged 12-17 years were exposed to psychological violence at school during the 12 months that preceded July 2011: 21.6% in the West Bank compared to 22.7% in the Gaza Strip. The results indicated that psychological violence was the most common abuse against students by their colleagues or teachers: 25.0% by friends and 27.6% by teachers. Physical violence by teachers was reported by 21.4% compared to 14.2% who reported fellow students.

Parents First to Practice Violence Against Children

In 2011, 51.0% of children aged 12-17 years were exposed to violence inside the household by an individual member of the household: 45.8% in the West Bank compared to 59.4% in the Gaza Strip. Of these children, 69.0% were exposed to psychological violence and 34.4% to physical violence by their parents compared to 66.4% exposed to psychological violence and 34.5% to physical violence by their mothers.

Where was the outcry?

In fact, these numbers are based on a 2011 report by the same source, that also said that

7.3% of the elderly 65 years and over were exposed to one form of violence by one individual of the household in the past 12 months, 8.5% in the West Bank compared to 4.5% in Gaza strip the percentage among males was 6.4% compared to 7.9% females.

Based on the forms of violence that were measured in the survey questionnaire, it became clear that health negligence was the most form of violence that the elderly are exposed to, 17.1%; 18.3% among females compared to 15.5% among males. 11.4% of these individuals were exposed to a psychological violence, 13.2% females compared to 9.3% males.

And:

37.0% of women who ever been married were exposed to one form of violence by their husbands in the past 12 months; 29.9% in the West Bank compared to 51.0% in Gaza Strip. The rate of those who were exposed to psychological violence "at least for one time" among those women out of violated women was 58.6%. 55.1% were exposed to economical violence, 54.8% were exposed to social violence, 23.5% were exposed to physical violence and 11.8% were exposed to sexual violence.

The highest percentage of violence that had been directed against wives by husbands was in Jericho & Al-Aghwar in the West Bank; 47.3% and the lowest percentage was in Ramallah & Al Bireh governorate 14.2% while in Gaza Strip, this percentage reached its highest in Gaza governorate; 58.1% while the lowest percentage was in Rafah governorate; 23.1%.

In contrast, the percentage of women in refugee camps whom had been subjected to violence by their husbands were the highest percentage compared to those women in urban and rural areas; 41.8%, 38.2% and 29.3% respectively.

So how many of the hundreds of NGOs that fill Gaza and the West Bank are concerned with domestic and school violence?

How many of the violent acts in schools occurred in UNRWA schools?

And if violence occurs most often in "refugee" camps that are in the boundaries of British Mandate Palestine - then why on earth haven't these camps been demolished? Why are people who live in their own land being treated as refugees in perpetuity - especially when these camps are breeding grounds for violence?

But it would be unfair to say the Western media ignores Palestinian Arab domestic violence completely. When they can find a way to blame Israel for it, it becomes a very popular topic.

(h/t Irene)

Egypt closes 5 NGOs, sentences 43 NGO workers to prison, including 19 Americans

Posted: 04 Jun 2013 05:15 AM PDT

From Al Ahram:

A Cairo criminal court has sentenced 43 people to between one and five years in prison for working for unregistered NGOs in Egypt.

Twenty-seven defendants, all of whom were tried in absentia, received five-year jail sentences. Eleven received one-year suspended sentences, and five received two-year sentences.

One of the defendants to receive a two-year sentence was Dar Al-Hilal publishing company CEO Yehia Ghanem, who was a consultant for the International Centre for Journalists (ICFJ), one of the NGOs involved in the trial. He was also the managing editor of Al-Ahram International.

The court also ordered the closure of five foreign NGOs operating in Egypt and for their funds to be confiscated. These are the US-based Freedom House, the International Republican Institute, the National Democratic Institute (NDI), and the International Centre for Journalists (ICFJ), and Germany's Konrad Adenauer Foundation (KAS).

Forty-three staffers from NGOs, including 19 Americans, were referred to trial in December 2011 on charges of illegally obtaining foreign funds and failing to register their operations with the Egyptian government. The case sparked a crisis in relations between Cairo and Washington and threatened $1.3 billion in annual US military aid.

These are not fly-by-night NGOs, but some of the most respected human rights organizations around.

Remember - the current Egyptian government is moderate compared to the other Islamists in Egypt.

Morsi said dancing violates sharia law in 2005

Posted: 04 Jun 2013 02:46 AM PDT

From Al Arabiya:

A twirl, a two-step, a shimmy and a whirl. None are likely to win points with Egypt's Mohammed Mursi.

The Egyptian president revealed an early dislike of dance even before he took office, a recently resurfaced video has revealed.

In an interview with Mursi, filmed eight years ago, the then MP said that dance "violates Shariah (Islamic) law."

Mursi also belittled an Egyptian dance school, saying: "What is this school? What is its role? What are its goals?"

"This school, with the known concept of dancing, violates the constitution's article II," Mursi told Egyptian presenter Wael Abrashi on Dream TV 8 years ago.

Mursi can also be heard saying that dancing has a "negative influence on the viewer," adding that the school "violates" Sharia law as well as the Egyptian constitution.

Mursi's old interview has resurfaced almost a week after an Islamist lawmaker threatened to close a ballet school in the country.