| An Egyptian "expert" explains that the seven branch menorah has nothing to do with Judaismnoreply@blogger.com (Unknown), 04 Apr 04:45 AM It's Ramada | | It's Ramadan, and that means thirty-part Ramadan TV series being broadcast throughout the Arab world. One series that appears to be very popular in Egypt is the supernatural thriller Al- Maddah 2: The Legend of the Valley. In this series, a man suffers from strange dreams that affect his real life and will eventually bring him to war with a demon (jinn.) The show includes many puzzles and clues as to where it is going, and Egyptians are parsing it to figure out what every word or image means. In episode 1, this was seen: Fans of the show are curious about whether this means that some Jewish magic or something is involved in the show. So Al Masry al Youm went to their local Jew-hating professor to ask what he thought it might mean. Dr. Magdi Shaker, chief archaeologist at the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities, said that the seven-branched candlestick is one of the oldest symbols of the Children of Israel, as it says after historical accounts that the seven-branched candlestick is one of the symbols and connotations of the hidden secrets of the children of Israel, including, of course, the arts of magic. Shaker explained, in exclusive statements to Al-Masry Al-Youm, that the inscription of the menorah or the menorah with seven or nine branches, which the Jews took as their emblem, has no historical basis, and while the menorah was mentioned in the...Read More |
There really is a cycle of violence, but it isn't what the media says it is. Here are excerpts from a couple of Arabic articles over the past couple of days. Jordan's Ad Dustour has an op-ed, also in its print edition: On the anniversary of Palestinian Land Day: All indications confirm the demise of the Zionist entity The overwhelming joy with which the Palestinians in particular and the free people of the world in general received yesterday evening news of the operation carried out by the son of the city of Jenin al-Qassam Diaa Hamrasheh in the heart of Tel Aviv is the constant truth that many parties are trying to hide, meaning that the Zionist occupier will not be safe from the weapons of any resistance. On the night of the Palestinian Land Day, Diaa did not only kill five Zionists, but also raised the morale of the Palestinians to the highest level. He also struck terror in the hearts of the settlers who had usurped the Palestinian land, which had been occupied by Jewish Zionist gangs for nearly seventy-four years. Global Zionism is working to prolong its life through a security...Read More |
From Ian: Ruthie Blum: Jihad by Any Other Name In his column in Haaretz on Thursday, Gideon Levy bemoaned that terrorism "is the only way open to the Palestinians to fight for their future … the only way for them to remind Israel, the Arab states and the world of their existence. If they don't use violence, everyone will forget about them." Levy was reacting to the killing spree in Israel that claimed the lives last week of 11 innocent people and left many others either physically wounded or psychologically traumatized. He failed to point out that two of the deadly attacks were committed by Arab citizens of Israel, not Palestinians, who had pledged allegiance to ISIS. Though Levy has an extremely dim view of the Jewish state, he is well-versed in its history and current events. His failure to make the above distinction, then, was not due to ignorance or oversight. No, the reason that he left out the identity of the perpetrators of the attacks in Beersheva and Hadera was that neither could serve as an example of the so-called ills of Israeli "occupation." And he certainly wasn't going to rethink his position on the Islamist angle to the story. Instead, he was able to imply a natural affinity of Arab Israelis to their Palestinian brethren. And while at it, he — like his left-wing colleagues — could allude that Israel is at fault not only for a lack of a Palestinian state, but for abuse of its Arab...Read More |
Qantara, a German site meant to act as a bridge between the Western and Muslim worlds, interviews Hamburg lawyer Eugen Balin who visited the UAE as a member of the World Jewish Congress' Jewish Diplomatic Corps late last year. I returned from this delegation trip transformed. For the first time ever I was in a country outside of Israel where I could move around completely freely with a World Jewish Congress delegation, without any security precautions. Over the past twelve years this has never happened to us in any other country in the world. There we were in the market in Dubai, wearing our kippahs, recognisable as Jews and not in any danger at all. We spoke Hebrew, were cheerful and sometimes even loud. And we were greeted by vendors in a friendly manner and sometimes with "shalom". Israelis are not used to anything like that. In Germany, France and other countries, it is not possible to travel openly as a Jew without putting yourself at risk. All over Europe, Jews are at risk. In the United Arab Emirates, on Shabbat, Friday evening and Saturday morning, we walked from our hotel to the synagogue for prayer. Wearing kippahs, some even wore their prayer shawls openly through the streets of Dubai, without security. In the mall, prayer in the synagogue was signposted, the doors were open. To experience this in an Arab country.... our preconceptions...Read More |
Yair Rosenberg writes in his Atlantic "Deep Shtetel" column that a Tablet magazine piece he wrote in 2018 about how writer Alice Walker spouts crazed antisemitic conspiracy theories went viral and ended up, to some extent, "canceling" her. Now she is about to release her last 50 years of journals, and Rosenberg is ambivalent about his role on sort-of but not really "canceling" Walker: In essence, the public has responded to her prejudice by either completely sidelining her over her bigotry or completely ignoring that bigotry. I don't think either of these approaches is constructive, and not just in this case. What would a better response look like? It would start by recognizing two principles. First: Human beings are complex and broken, and can rarely be reduced to their best or worst attributes. This means that great wisdom can coexist with great ignorance, and we should try to access the former while discarding the latter. Second: Accountability requires actually confronting the offense, rather than avoiding it. In practice, this means that organizations and outlets should not deplatform Walker. Instead, they should refuse to give her an uncritical platform. Every time she appears...Read More |
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