יום שלישי, 16 ביולי 2013

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The Churban underneath the Mount (Tisha B'Av 2013)

Posted: 15 Jul 2013 06:00 PM PDT

Monday night and Tuesday are Tisha B'Av, a fast day that commemorates the destruction of the Jewish Temples and other catastrophes.

I won't be posting until Tuesday afternoon, but meanwhile, here is something appropriate for the day.

 In 1996, the Israeli government gave permission to open a temporary mosque in the area of Solomon's Stables, a Herodian-era structure that was built underneath an extension to the Temple Mount. The Waqf made it permanent, and during those days of Oslo, (and right after deadly Muslim riots over the opening of the tunnels next to the Kotel) the Israeli government caved:

Muslim authorities angered Israelis on Wednesday with plans to open a new underground prayer hall at Al Aqsa mosque, on the site revered by Jews as Temple Mount and beside the Israeli tunnel project that set off rioting last month.

Hassan Tahboub, the Palestinian minister of Islamic affairs, said the hall would open in two days.

Tahboub refused to comment Wednesday on the timing, saying only that the hall was not Israel's "responsibility or property."

The previous Israeli government gave permission in January for the chamber to be used for prayers during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and during rainy periods when worshipers cannot pray in the courtyard of Al Aqsa. But Israel did not authorize the Muslims to use it on a permanent basis.

Right-wing Israelis called for the renovated prayer hall to remain closed, saying it violates the delicate status quo over the site and that renovations might damage it.
The mosque was given the name Marwani, and Muslims claimed ex post facto that it existed since the seventh century.

That wasn't the end of the story. From Archaeology, March/April 2000:
Construction at a mosque within Jerusalem's Temple Mount has sparked a fierce controversy between archaeologists, the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA), and the Israeli government.

According to Jerusalem District archaeologist Jon Seligman, the Waqf, the Muslim religious trust that oversees public works in the religious complex, determined last autumn that an emergency exit in the Marwani Mosque was necessary. (The New York Times had previously reported that construction of the exit was urged by Israeli police.)

Israeli archaeologists were angered at the Waqf's use of bulldozers to reopen a twelfth-century Crusader entrance for use as an emergency exit for the mosque. "It was clear to the IAA that an emergency exit [at the Marwani Mosque] was necessary, but in the best situation, salvage archaeology would have been performed first," Seligman told Archaeology.

While the Israel Antiquities Authority has expressed concern over damage to Muslim-period structures within the Temple Mount, other archaeologists have charged that archaeological material dating to the First Temple Period (ca. 960-586 B.C.) was being destroyed. A group of archaeology students examined Temple Mount fill dumped by the Waqf in the nearby Kidron Valley and recovered ceramic material an d architectural fragments dating to this period and later.

"The IAA to a large extent is helpless due to political considerations," says Aren Maeir, a professor of archaeology at Bar-Ilan, "I suppose they do not want this in any way to affect the peace process with the Palestinians."

Sources in the Israeli government have told Archaeology that what was originally intended as a simple emergency exit has become more of a 'refurbishment," with two large entrances under construction. In January, the Israeli High Court of Justice rejected a petition to halt all construction by the Waqf on the complex, arguing that the matter was political and should be left up to the government. Responding to a petition filed with the High Court in December by Yehuda Etzion, however, on February 2 the IAA gave the court a list of recovered artifacts.

Waqf head Adnan Husseini stated that the Israeli government had no right to demand a halt to construction at the complex. "We never asked for permission from the occupation," Husseini said.
Salon in 2001 reported on the issue, making it sound like the Jews were making a big deal over nothing, with some help from the Israel Antiquities Authority:

For the past few years, the main drama up there has focused not on people but on dirt — big piles of dirt, excavated from the compound with a bulldozer by Muslim authorities, dumped into a nearby valley and methodically surveyed by anxious Israelis, looking for artifacts from ancient Jewish civilizations.

According to Jon Seligman, the Jerusalem regional archeologist for the Israeli Antiquities Authority, the rubble contained "bits of buildings, ceramics, coins. Nothing spectacular."

Most of the debris was from the period that followed the Islamic conquest of Jerusalem in the seventh century when the site, in ruins since the Romans destroyed King Herod's Temple in 70 A.D., was transformed into a Muslim sanctuary.

Despite Seligman's assessment and numerous police reports that minimize the importance of the work carried out, many Israelis are convinced that Muslims are deliberately destroying significant artifacts from the periods of the First and Second Jewish Temples in order to erase 3,000 years of Jewish history — and, by extension, Israel's connection to the land.

The rumors are difficult to check. ...Although Israel claims Jerusalem as its eternal and indivisible capital, in practice Israeli archeologists have no authority to control or prevent work on the site. Inaccessible and majestic, the mount is a natural habitat for conspiracy theories.

...Whether construction work in the southeastern corner of the 35-acre compound amounts to a real loss for historical understanding is hotly debated. The Wakf of course denies that any harm was done. Pointing to photographs of his work, Awwad said that the dirt removed to accommodate a staircase was simply filling, mixed up over the centuries and impossible to analyze layer by layer. Meir Ben-Dov, an Israeli archeologist familiar with the area of the mount, also believes the accusations made by the committee are "a big lie." But dissenting voices have been lost in the brouhaha.
Of course, the conspiracy theorists were proven correct. Thousands of priceless artifacts have been recovered from the dirt dumped by the Waqf. Haaretz described it already in 2006:

The project of sifting layers of Temple Mount dirt has yielded thousands of new artifacts dating from the First Temple period to today. The dirt was removed in 1999 by the Islamic Religious Trust (Waqf) from the Solomon's Stables area to the Kidron Stream Valley. The sifting itself is taking place at Tzurim Valley National Park, at the foot of Mount Scopus, and being funded by the Ir David Foundation. Dr. Gabriel Barkai and Tzachi Zweig, the archaeologists directing the sifting project with the help of hundreds of volunteers, are publishing photographs and information about the new discoveries in the upcoming issue of Ariel, which comes out in a few days.

The bulk of the artifacts are small finds - the term used for artifacts that can be lifted and transported, rather than fixed features. The dirt was removed in the course of excavating the mammoth entrance to the underground mosque built seven years ago in the southeastern corner of the Temple Mount. The Waqf and Islamic Movement in Israel separated dirt from stones, then used the ancient building blocks for rebuilding, in case the police barred construction materials from being brought in.

Most of the finds predate the Middle Ages. The finds include 10,000-year-old flint tools; numerous potsherds; some 1,000 ancient coins; lots of jewelry (pendants, rings, bracelets, earrings and beads in a variety of colors and materials); clothing accessories and decorative pieces; talismans; dice and game pieces made of bone and ivory; ivory and mother of pearl inlay for furniture; figurines and statuettes; stone and metal weights; arrowheads and rifle bullets; stone and glass shards; remains of stone mosaic and glass wall mosaics; decorated tiles and parts of structures; stamps, seals and a host of other items.

Here is the Marwani mosque - a section of the Temple Mount that Jews would be allowed to visit under Jewish law, since it was part of the Herodian extensions, but Muslim bigotry and Israeli acquiescence ensures that Jews will not be allowed there anytime soon:



Here is video of the basement under the Al Aqsa mosque itself. I'm not sure what direction these tunnels run so I don't know if they go towards the Dome of the Rock or not. The person who uploaded it to YouTube says that "underneath the masjid are caves which go further down."



This is just a little bit of the desecration happening every single day on - and within - the Temple Mount.

I wish all who observe Tisha B'Av an easy and meaningful fast, and may this be the last time we mark this as a day of mourning.

Some of my previous Tisha B'Av articles:

2005: A sad anniversary
2006: A reason to keep mourning on Tisha B'Av
2007: Tisha B'Av, 1948
2008: Weeping over the ruins of Jerusalem
2009: The Kotel, 1912
2010: A reason to cry
2011: Judaism's holiest site is being desecrated today
2012: Documentary on Israel's disengagement of Gaza

Mondoweiss pretends to be against antisemitism - and then defends a blood libel

Posted: 15 Jul 2013 04:00 PM PDT

Usually they try not to be so hypocritical in the same posting.

The beginning of a recent Mondoweiss post  by its founder himself says:
One of our efforts at this website is to do to Islamophobia what was done to anti-Semitism over the last century: making its expression unacceptable in American mainstream culture. And while I can claim no position of leadership on this issue-- I've had to be educated-- some of our readers are leaders...
Weiss goes on to claim that the relative lack of Ramadan food articles in mainstream media is evidence of Islamophobia!

Setting aside that ridiculous claim, in the comments we see:


Expressing antisemitism is quite acceptable in Mondoweiss' conception of mainstream American culture, it appears.

(h/t Ethan)

7/15 Links Part 2: No Reports of Jewish Riots After Vile Khaybar Series Airs, Europe's Secret GONGO's

Posted: 15 Jul 2013 02:30 PM PDT

From Ian:
NGO Monitor: Europe's secret NGO wars: Who is anti-democratic?
When is a non-governmental organization (NGO) actually an arm of state power and interest, masquerading as a non-political do-good civil society group? For starters, this absurd category, known as a GONGO – a governmental non-governmental organization – applies to the dozens of Israeli and Palestinian advocacy groups that are funded primarily by the European Union, its member states, as well as Norway and Switzerland.
For Europe, NGO funding is a major form of promoting state interests, with goal of changing Israeli policy through the political activities of these organizations.
CIF Watch: No reports of Jewish riots after grossly antisemitic show begins airing on Arab TV
Though a prominent pro-Israel blogger, Elder of Ziyon, initiated a passionate campaign to draw attention to the series, the act of racist incitement has been ignored by major human rights organizations – characteristic of the silence by such self-described "humanitarian" groups in the face of poisonous anti-Jewish animus which is commonplace throughout Arab and Muslim countries.
Additionally, whilst the Guardian published over 100 reports and commentaries after the Muhammad cartoons controversy in 2005, and a similarly large volume of stories on the row last year over a brief trailer for an anti-Islamic film posted on YouTube called 'Innocence of Muslims', there has been nothing published at the Guardian or 'Comment is Free' about Khaybar.
Arab TV stations air anti-Semitic show over Ramadan
An anti-Semitic television series is being broadcast throughout the Arab world for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
"Khaiber," which is being shown on the satellite network Dubai TV, the Algerian 3 station and Dream TV, dramatizes the battle between Muslims and the Jews of the town of Khaiber in Arabia and depicts Jews as the enemy of Islam.
BBC manipulation of public opinion
Neither the BBC nor B'tselem appear to be particularly interested in the fact that the parents of a child of five years and nine months old allowed him to be out on the streets alone throwing stones, or in the human rights of the people travelling along that road which those stones endangered. That, of course, is nothing new: the BBC systematically avoids reporting even the most serious stone-throwing attacks as well as other kinds of violence and terror activity in Judea & Samaria.
Muslim Extremists Force Jews From Temple Mount
Hundreds of Jews came to the Temple Mount Monday in honor of Tisha B'Av, the anniversary of the destruction of the two Jewish Temples by the Babylonian and Roman empires respectively.
But their visit was cut short as Muslim worshippers physically blocked them and appeared to be preparing a riot.
Outrage as Culprit in Hevron Massacre to Manage Holy Site
Taysir Abu Sneina, a terrorist who was involved in the murder of six Jews in Hevron on May 2, 1980, is the man whom the Palestinian Authority has appointed to manage the Muslim side of the Cave of Machpela (known in English as the Cave of the Patriarchs).
The Hatzala Yosh organization reported Sunday that Abu Sneina participated in the terror attack on the building known as Beit Hadassah, on May 2, 1980, in which six students from the Nir Yeshiva in Kiryat Arba were murdered.
Christians should not be classified as Arabs
Father Gabriel Nadaf, a Greek Orthodox priest from the area of Nazareth, continues to make headlines in the Israeli press for advocating a new alliance between local Jews and Christians in service to the State of Israel.
In an interview with Israeli website News1, Nadaf said that Christians are tired of living as dhimmis (second-class citizens) in the Muslim world, and are starting to understand that the Jewish state is their ticket out of that situation.
US lawmakers call for penalizing Argentina over Iran ties
Each letter cites Argentina's recent improvement in relations with Iran, particularly its recent agreement with that country to resolve the issue of the 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish community center through a truth commission.
The bombing killed 85 people and wounded hundreds.
"We find it extremely troubling that Argentina would be aiding and abetting any process designed to allow Iranian senior officials to rewrite history and disavow the findings from extensive judicial investigations and indictment of senior officials for their role in the 1994 AMIA bombings," said the July 10 letter to Kerry.
Thai university slammed for Hitler superhero mural
The Simon Wiesenthal Center condemned Thailand's Chulalong University and its faculty Friday for displaying a mural depicting Adolf Hitler along with a group of superheroes on the wall of one of its buildings.
The huge mural, featuring Hitler prominently along with the likes of Superman and Batman, is outside the University's Faculty of Fine and Applied Arts building. It has become something of an attraction in recent days with passersby getting their picture taken in front of it, some while performing a Nazi salute.
EU Awards BGU with Nat'l European Studies Center
The European Union has chosen Ben Gurion University to create Israel's only National Jean Monnet Center of Excellence in European Studies.
It is the first time in history that an Israeli university has been honored with a National Jean Monnet Center of Excellence, named after one of the founders of the European Union.
Israeli Teens Win Medals at Global Computer Science Olympiad
Four Israeli teens won gold, silver and bronze medals at the International Olympiad in Informatics, held over the course of four days in Brisbane, Australia. Following its performance, Israel was ranked eighth in the world out of 80 participating teams.
The 25-year-old event highlighting the achievement of youths in computer science was initiated by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), along with olympiads in mathematics, chemistry, physics and biology.
Israel's National Library Exhibits 30 Ancient Koran Manuscripts to Celebrate Ramadan
Israel's National Library has curated a special digital display of 30 rare Koran manuscripts that date from the 9th through the 19th centuries to mark the start last week of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
The manuscripts are part of the NLI collection, which includes 2,400 manuscripts in the Arabic script, and over 100 manuscripts of the Koran.
In Barcelona, echoes of long-lost Jews
In the narrow alleys behind Barcelona Cathedral where the city's Jewish community was centered in the mid-14th century, an English guide is showing a small group of American tourists the limited vestiges of Jewish life before the Inquisition.
Travel website ranks Yad Vashem among top museums
Yad Vashem was ranked fourth in the top 25 museums in the world by the travel website TripAdvisor.
Yad Vashem, Israel's Holocaust memorial and museum, also was awarded the website's 2013 Certificate of Excellence, given to sites that consistently receive outstanding traveler reviews.

15th century Islamic work describes the Temple of Jerusalem

Posted: 15 Jul 2013 12:00 PM PDT

As we have seen numerous times in recent years, Muslims (and their useful idiots) are trying their hardest to say that the Temple Mount never housed either Jewish Temple.

However, a 15th century book by Jalal-addín [or Shams al-Dîn] al Síútí, translated in 1836 by James Reynolds, shows that Muslim tradition believed without a shred of doubt that the Al Aqsa mosque was built on the spot of both Jewish Temples.

The title of the book is "The history of the Temple of Jerusalem." It is some 600 pages long. It is filled with Islamic distortions of Jewish traditions, as can be expected, but it leaves no doubt that the Temple preceded the Al Aqsa Mosque.

Here are a few excerpts:
Know that there are many names, all expressive of the Glory of the place in question. Thus, to use the words of the author of the ' Descriptive Characters of the Mosques,' for forming a judgment upon mosques — " I have collected seventeen names of this Temple, all bearing upon the precious privileges (and pre-eminence) attached to the Masjidu- l-Aksa. It is called Al Aksa, because it is the most distant mosque towards which pilgrimage is directed.....Moreover, it is called the Consecrated House, (Baitu-l-Mukaddas,) ... signifying a pure place, sacred from idols. [Note the similarity between Baitu-al-Mukaddas and Beit Ha-Mikdash, the Hebrew term.]

...Al Makatil observes, In the land of the Baitu- l-Mukaddas did God call David and Solomon (peace be with both !) unto repentance. In the Baitu-l-Mukaddas God sent his angel to Solomon ; in the Baitu-l-Mukaddas God announced joyful tidings to Zacharias and to John ; in the Baitu-l- Mukaddas the angels showed a descriptive paint ing of the Tower to David ; in the Baitu-l-Mukad das God put all that walked the earth, or flew in the air, under subjection to David ; in the Baitu-l- Mukaddas, the prophets (God's peace and blessing be with them !) offered sacrifice ; upon the Baitu- l-Mukaddas the angels (peace be with them!) descend every night ...

Now we are told by Ibn Almubarak, from Othman, When God commanded David (with whom be peace !) to build this Temple, he said, O Lord, where shall I build it ? Who said, Where thou shalt see the angel with a drawn sword. David then did see the angel in that place. David there fore fixed the corner-stones of its foundation, and raised the walls ; but when the walls were raised, they were pulled down again. David then said, O Lord, thou didst command me to build a house for thee ; and now that I have raised the walls, thou dost pull them down. Then he said, O David, it is because I have not appointed thee my vicegerent among created beings; nor must thou alienate the place from its possessor without a price. As to that building, a man of thy sons shall construct it. Again, it has been said that the meaning of the building being pulled down after it had been raised, was, that the place be longed to the whole community of the children of Israel, every one of whom had a right in it.

...All this happened when he had reigned eleven years : but he died before he had accomplished the building, and enjoined his son Solomon (peace be with him !) to build it ; which he did, and built it in nine years : and when he had finished it, the children of Israel feasted therein upon twelve thousand oxen. It is again said, that the cause of this was, that David (peace be with him !) saw angels, with flaming swords, ascending by a golden ladder from the Rock unto heaven. Then said David, This is a place whereon it is fitting that a Mosque should be built to God Almighty. Thus therefore he built it ; but,dying before it was completed, he enjoined Solomon to build it ; who built it, and finished it.

...Again, by another tradition, Solomon, when he had built the Consecrated House, and finished it, closed up the gates, and fastened them, lest they should open : nor were they ever opened until he said, after the words of the prayer of his father David, " Open ye the gates ! let the gates be opened ! " Also, Solomon constituted ten thou sand companies of Readers of the children of Israel; five thousand for the day, and five thousand for the night; that there might not be one moment, by night or by day, wherein God was not adored....

Also, from the beginning of the building by David, unto the destruction by Nebuchadnezzar, and the overthrow of the dynasty of the sons of Israel, elapsed 454 years. Again, from Abu Abdallah Almubarek, the Temple re mained in ruins until it was built by a Persian king, named Kushak ; for Al Baghooee says Kooshan-Ibn-Kushak-lbn-Achundash, built it seventy years after its demolition by Nebuchadnezzar. Then certain weak kings conquered Syria; the kings of Rome giving them the government thereof. These kings caused Syria to embrace their Christianity, until God brought Islam. Among these kings was Jabil-Ibn-Al-Ayham. And God gave the Moslem an entrance into Syria, at the time of Omar-Ibn-Al-Khattab, (God rest content with him !). Then the Temple was surrendered to Omar by capitulation, and continued in the hands of the Moslem from the Omarian conquest until the Franks seized upon it, and wrested it from the hands of the Moslem, and ruled over it, under the dynasty of the Fa- themites, until God again opened Syria to the hand of the Sultan of Islam and of believers, Salah-ud-din, (God show mercy to him !) according to the victories and the great events which will be accurately embodied (please God!) in a chapter of this book, which is to follow.
The translator is unsure of the exact identity of the author, but apparently he is a well-regarded commentator on the Koran.

Al Ahram claims Gaza tunnel owners shoot rockets to protect their investment

Posted: 15 Jul 2013 10:30 AM PDT

Al Ahram has an article claiming to uncover the "secrets" of the smuggling tunnels between Egypt and Gaza.

According to this report, in June 2008 Hamas and Israel joined in  cease fire, and one of the parts of the deal was that if the calm held, Israel would increase the number of items allowed into Gaza.

Although rocket fire decreased, the article claims that the militant groups in Gaza held by the deal. The rockets that were shot were not launched by Hamas or Islamic Jihad - but by the tunnel owners themselves!

The tunnel owners were making millions on their illegal smuggling, and the idea is that if they would shoot rockets to Israel then Israel won't allow as many goods into Gaza, protecting their investment.

This is somewhat possible. While Israel's responses to rocket fire would often include bombing the very tunnels that these traders were supposedly trying to protect, it is true that at the time, there were a number of attacks at the crossings themselves, and Israel would respond by closing them for safety.

Also, clearly the smugglers would have easy access to rockets and mortars.

So while I doubt that the bulk of rocket attacks in the second half of 2008 came from smugglers, I can believe that some of them did.

Al Ahram goes on to discuss how the tunnel trade was hurting Gaza's economy, as ordinary people were investing in tunnel building rather than putting their money somewhere comparatively safer. Some even sold their homes to fully invest in the tunnels in hopes of striking it rich, and many lost everything during Cast Lead or to unsavory tunnel operators who would take their money and then claim that it was all gone.

As always in the Arab media, one must look at why such a story is being published when figuring out how true it is. Al Ahram is following the Egyptian people's pulse in being against Hamas and Gaza, as many Egyptians believe that the smuggling of fuel and goods to Gaza are adding to shortages in Egypt. (This is almost certainly true where there were fuel shortages in the Sinai.) The Egyptian army, the most popular institution in Egypt, has been shutting down hundreds of tunnels in recent weeks.

There is no love lost between Egyptians and the Gaza tunnel owners, and this article is part of the propaganda against Gaza that has been circulating in Egypt since the latest revolution.

7/15 Links Part 1: Hamas Rockets Threaten Tel Aviv, Destabilizing Jordan, Ramadan Suspended for Jihad

Posted: 15 Jul 2013 09:00 AM PDT

From Ian:
Khaled Abu Toameh: Islamists' Scheme To Destabilize Jordan
Like Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who is undoubtedly hoping that Morsi's ouster will undermine his rivals in Hamas, Jordan's King Abdullah sees the newest revolution in Egypt as a blow to his political foes in the Jordanian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood.
Hamas and Jordan's Muslim Brotherhood indeed appear to have suffered a major setback as the result of the loss of their patrons in Egypt.
King Abdullah and his loyalists now apparently fear that Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood is currently working on a plan to stir unrest in Jordan in order to undermine, or possibly overthrow, the monarchy there in retaliation for the ouster of Morsi.
UN Watch: "No such thing as Islamic terrorism," delegate tells UN confab on religious sensitivities
In a debate on the implementation of Paragraph 5 (e) of Resolution 16/18, Ambassador Ömür Orhun, the Permanent Representative of Turkey to the OSCE, regretted use of the term "Islamic terrorism" by the Western media following terrorist attacks like the 2005 London bombings. "There is no such thing as Islamic terrorism," he said.
US Ambassador Kozak responded that terrorists are often labeled as such in Western countries precisely because this is what they term themselves. Most "Islamic terrorists" are self-proclaimed as such. To successfully disassociate Islam from terrorism, the OIC would need to address such issues.
Israel launches information war against Hezbollah
The website is the product of Israel's new interactive media branch, a spin-off from the IDF Spokesman's Unit. Lieutenant Colonel Avital Leibovich, the head of the new branch, says some 30 soldiers work there, and put out content in English, Hebrew, Arabic, French, Spanish and Russian. Two of the soldiers, she says, are native Egyptians who moved to Israel about seven years ago. IDF – Hezbollah Site
Bennett: I would not free one murderer for the right to sit with Abbas
Economy and Trade Minister Naftali Bennett on Sunday responded to reports that Israel is considering releasing Palestinian security prisoners as a gesture to restart peace talks, saying that he would "not free one murderer in exchange for the right to sit with Abu Mazen [Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas]."
Israeli Arabs to Protest Approval of Bedouin Land Grab
The High Follow-Up Committee for Arab citizens of Israel has called for a general strike among Israeli Arabs on Monday, in protest over the approval of the law which legalizes pirate Bedouin settlement in the Negev.
The plan, which was proposed by former Minister Benny Begin just before the last elections, will add more Bedouin settlements to the list of those that will receive official recognition, and increase the amount of land that will be handed over to Bedouin as part of an agreement.
Hamas manufacturing rockets that threaten Tel Aviv
Speaking to a joint conference of the Defense Ministry and the Manufacturers Association of Israel, Gantz explained that the terror organization, which controls the Gaza Strip, is producing its own 200 millimeter caliber missiles, known as the M-75, which can strike to about 80 kilometers (50 miles).
Egypt: Govt Demolishes 805 Tunnels to Smuggle Fuel to Gaza
The Egyptian army targeted on Sunday a number of tunnels on the Rafah border in the Sinai Peninsula which were used to smuggle fuel to Gaza.
Army sources said that 80 percent of all tunnels have been demolished, amounting to about 805 tunnels.
Terrorists open fire on Israel from Sinai border
Two masked gunmen fired on Israeli soldiers from across the Egyptian border on Sunday evening.
No injuries were reported and the gunmen escaped into the Sinai desert in an all-terrain vehicle.
Barry Rubin: Egypt: Out of the Frying Pan into the Frying Pan
First, as Westerners continually misunderstand what might be called the power of power. People go with the winner. Whoever governs is popular until things just get beyond toleration, as happened in Iran and Syria. That process takes a long time to build up.
Second, the Muslim Brotherhood, it is hard to put this in polite Western terms, is either going to be craven or murderous. It remembers what happened in the 1950s—when the regime crushed it, sent its leaders to concentration camps, and hung some of them. The Brotherhood may snarl but it is frightened of the army.
Egypt Freezes Assets of 14 Top Islamists
The United States later joined Germany, calling on the Egyptian military and interim leaders to free Morsi for the first time since he was detained over a week ago.
The asset freeze announced Sunday is part of an investigation ordered by public prosecutor Hisham Barakat which affects nine Muslim Brotherhood leaders, including the group's general guide Mohamed Badie, and five Islamists from other groups including ex-militant faction Gamaa Islamiya, judicial sources told AFP.
Brotherhood chief suspends Ramadan fast for anti-coup 'jihad'
The Muslim Brotherhood's spiritual leader ruled on Monday that protesters against the ouster of President Mohammed Morsi may break the fast of Ramadan, since they were in a "state of jihad" and would soon wage a battle for control of Egypt.
In a series of tweets, Mohammed Badie compared the struggle against the June 30 military coup, centered around a sit-in at Cairo's Rabia al-Adawiya Mosque, to the Battle of Badr, a decisive battle waged between the Prophet Muhammad and his adversaries from the tribe of Quraish in the year 624.
UNHCR says over 604,000 Syrian refugees in Lebanon
Lebanon has frequently called on the UN Security Council and International donors to help it shoulder the burden of hosting the Syrian refugees, who are expected to cross the threshold of one million by the end of the year.
UN Higher Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres said in a report last month that refugees in Lebanon have surpassed 25 percent of its own population and are inflicting a huge burden on the state and people of Lebanon.
Syria Denies Latakia Strike Occurred; Israeli TV Releases Satellite Footage of Site (VIDEO)
Qassem Saadeddine, spokesman for the Free Syrian Army's Supreme Military Council, told Reuters that the rebels' intelligence network had identified missiles being stored in the depots which were hit. "It was not the FSA that targeted this," Saadeddine said. "It is not an attack that was carried out by rebels. This attack was either by air raid or long-range missiles fired from boats in the Mediterranean." Syrian rebels described hearing and seeing huge blasts, the ferocity of which was beyond the firepower available to the FSA.
Russia Today: Report: Turkey helped Israel target weapons in Syria
Russia Today reports that Israeli jets used Turkish military base to launch an airstrike on an arms depot in Latakia earlier this month to avoid entering Syrian airspace PM Netanyahu: I'm not in the habit of saying what we did or didn't do.

Jewish Yemeni woman tells Muslims why she would never convert

Posted: 15 Jul 2013 07:21 AM PDT

Najat Nahari is a Yemeni Jewish writer who seems to have achieved a measure of popularity for her writings. Her family moved to Israel when she was young and she says she experienced discrimination there, so she went to college in Cairo and now works in Beirut.

She is quite anti-Israel, of course, and her Facebook page features someone holding a sign saying "Anti-Zionism is not anti-semitism."

Nahari says that she does not believe in any religion nowadays.

A recent article of hers was just reproduced in Middle East Online where she says that many Muslims tell her daily that she is going to go to hell for not embracing Islam, but others send her much nicer proselytizing stories, some of which she describes as beautiful.

However, she says, she would never convert to Islam, for three reasons.

One is that there are many strains of Islam, each of which claims to be the only correct interpretation with the adherents of competing Islamic theologies going to hell. She doesn't like the odds that the Islam she would choose would be the "right" one.

The second reason is that Muslims today are fighting each other all over, and have massacred each other in very ugly ways; how could any Jew become a Muslim when Muslims are already killing each other because of religion? She says you never hear of Jews killing each other over religion, on the contrary, Israel has set up an entire country because of religion.

The third reason is that Islam originally promised to provide freedom and justice and deliverance from oppression, ignorance and poverty. But today, what Muslim countries offer these?

Najat says, "To be frank and honest: Most of our Arab and Islamic countries are filled with poverty, ignorance, injustice and human rights violations; lack of development and and lack of economic power... At the same time, states run by Christians and Jews who are regarded by some as infidels are enticing Muslims to migrate to work or live."

Najat clearly respects Islam and it appears that her words hit home at least for some Muslims; this essay (in Arabic) received over 900 "Likes" on Facebook.

Great: Pakistan Taliban join rebels in Syria

Posted: 15 Jul 2013 05:20 AM PDT

From Reuters:
The Pakistani Taliban have set up camps and sent hundreds of men to Syria to fight alongside rebels opposed to President Bashar al-Assad, militants said on Sunday, in a strategy aimed at cementing ties with al Qaeda's central leadership.

More than two years since the start of the anti-Assad rebellion, Syria has become a magnet for foreign Sunni fighters who have flocked to the Middle Eastern nation to join what they see as a holy war against Shi'ite oppressors.

Operating alongside militant groups such as the al Nusra Front, described by the United States as a branch of al Qaeda, they mainly come from nearby countries such as Libya and Tunisia riven by similar conflict as a result of the Arab Spring.

On Sunday, Taliban commanders in Pakistan said they had also decided to join the cause, saying hundreds of fighters had gone to Syria to fight alongside their "Mujahedeen friends".

"When our brothers needed our help, we sent hundreds of fighters along with our Arab friends," one senior commander told Reuters, adding that the group would soon issue videos of what he described as their victories in Syria.

The announcement further complicates the picture on the ground in Syria, where rivalries have already been on the boil between the Free Syrian Army and the Islamists.

Islamists operate a smaller, more effective force which now controls most of the rebel-held parts of northern Syria. Tensions erupted again on Thursday when an al-Qaeda linked militant group assassinated one of Free Syrian Army's top commanders after a dispute in the port city of Latakia.
Look at the bright side. Soon every crazed Shiite and Sunni in the world will be in the same place killing each other.

Elder gets results? Newest Ma'an story on Temple Mount somewhat better

Posted: 15 Jul 2013 02:51 AM PDT

I noted yesterday that Ma'an, which pretends to be an objective news source, had an article on Jews visiting the Temple Mount that was very biased.

Today's is much better:
Dozens of Israelis entered the Al-Aqsa compound on Monday under armed guard, a local foundation said.

The Al-Aqsa Foundation for Waqf and Heritage said the group entered the compound through the Moroccan gate and was accompanied by an Israeli police escort.

Israeli forces deployed at the entrances to the compound and briefly detained two children, the group said.
It still says:
The Al-Aqsa compound, containing the mosque and the Dome of the Rock, is the third holiest site in Islam and abuts the site where Jews believe the ancient Second Temple stood.
Which I noted yesterday was wrong as well as downplays the Jewish connection to the area, but this is still better than it was.

One of this morning's visits was repelled by a throng of chanting Muslims, but other visits went fine. (Video linking from Facebook seems not to be working, go to the links.)

Sheikh Raed Salah warned of "crazy occupation groups" on the Temple Mount and said that their visits will become more frequent even after Ramadan.
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