Middle East

"After prophecy and righteousness there is no status Allah has exalted more than Shahada (Martyrdom)... ''And think not of those who have been killed in Allah's way as dead. Nay, they are alive (and) are provided sustenance from their Lord.'
...'The Shahid - his sins are forgiven with the first gush of his blood from his wound... The Shahid advocates on behalf of 70 members of his family, and saves them all from hell. The Shahid lives together with the prophets and the righteous ones.'"
[Official PA TV, Nov. 8, 2013]

Yesterday, in light of the possibility of punitive action against 3 Arab MK's who visited parents of Palestinian Terrorists, I posted about the question Are These Israeli Arab MK's No Less Deserving of Expulsion Than If They Were Congressmen?

Today, a decision was reached by the Knesset Ethics Committee to take action as Knesset Suspends Arab MKs for Meeting Palestinian Terrorists’ Families. Of the 3 members of the Balad Party, Hanin Zoabi and Basel Ghattas were suspended for 4 months and Jamal Zahalka for 2 months. While they are banned from participating in Knesset committee meetings and plenum discussions, they will be allowed to vote in them.


Hanin Zoabi, Basel Ghattas and Jamal Zahalka -- suspended for their meeting
with parents of Palestinian terrorists. Credit: Yonatan Sindel, Flash90
The Balad Party is part of the Joint Arab List, which condemned the suspension as ‘miserable, anti-democratic’, accusing Netanyahu of a "campaign of incitement"

Somehow, however, the 3 MK's neglected to address their own incitement of hatred and terrorism. the Balad MK's deny that their visit to the families was a show of support:
Zahalka claimed the visit was not a show of support for the families. He said that he and the other MKs condemned the violence committed by the dead assailants. “We went to hear from the families about the issues of transferring the bodies. That’s it. There was nothing else in this visit.”

Asked why the MKs had observed a minute of silence at the meeting on Tuesday in memory of the dead killers, Zahalka said many meetings among Palestinians begin with a minute of silence “in memory of all Palestinian dead” and that the lawmakers were not honoring the terrorists themselves. “We stood in silence for a minute,” he said. He denied a report that the MKs had called the dead terrorists “martyrs.”Itamar Marcus of the Palestinian Media Watch presented documentation to the Ethics committee that contradicted Zahalka's claim that they did not call the terrorists "Shahids"- Martyrs. In addition to the Balad Party and Ghattas calling the terrorist murderers "Shahids," the Joint Arab List did so as well, with a post on its Facebook page that referred to the murderers as "Shahids" three times.

There is more than an emotional issue here -- their use of the word "Shahid" touches upon a point of law involved as well.
This may prove to be very significant, since the very act of calling terrorist murderers "Shahids" actually fulfills one of the requirements of a criminal offense. Assistant Attorney General Ron Nizri, also at the Knesset session, referred to Israeli law, explaining that in order for a person's action to be a criminal offense of incitement, it needs to meet two conditions:

1. There must be call to commit acts of violence or terror, or praise or glorification of an act of violence or terror
2. There must be a real possibility that what is said will lead to the perpetration of an act of violence or terror

Using the term "Shahid" for a terrorist fulfills the first demand of the law: "praise or glorification of an act of violence or terror."Here are the references from Facebook:

Joint Arab List calls terrorist murderers term of highest honor - "Shahid":
"The Joint [Arab] List condemned the wild and racist incitement campaign against Balad Party legislators as a result of their national and humanitarian attention to the issue of the
Shahids' bodies being held by the Israeli government. The Joint List stated that the fascist incitement campaign against the Balad delegates Jamal Zahalka, Hanin Zoabi, and Basel Ghattas is not only a hasty response shrouded in emotions and nationalist and racist tendencies, but also a pitiful attempt by the occupation government to hide the crime of holding the bodies... It noted that it is important to increase the official and non-governmental efforts to release the Shahids' bodies.

The Joint List noted that in everything connected to the Shahids' bodies, Israel is violating international law and the conventions, treaties, and norms of human rights, which emphasize the need to honor the dead and to consider rituals of their religion during burial, according to the Fourth Geneva Convention."
[Joint Arab List Facebook page, Feb. 6, 2016]
Arab MP Basel Ghattas calls terrorist murderers term of highest honor - "Shahid":
"I say to all the hesitating [Israeli Arabs], or the embarrassed, or all of those who have begun to be scared so that according to what they say they were confused and began to make apparent criticisms such as: 'better to be smart than right,' or direct criticisms such as 'What do we have to do with the return of the bodies' and 'The meeting with the Shahids' families was a mistake': The day we begin to refrain from meeting with the Shahids' families to help them regain their sons' bodies due to fear of the Israeli racist incitement campaigns, we become politically, morally, and humanly unacceptable, and will lose our right to represent the people and lead them. We in [the] Balad Party are good at connecting our citizens' rights, for which we work day and night, and our national rights, as an indigenous group. We will not give up one bit of our honor, [national] affiliation, and identity for crumbs that some people who are deluding themselves dream of achieving."
[Balad Facebook page, Feb. 6, 2016]
In an interview with Channel 2 News on Israeli TV, one of the points Itamar Marcus emphasized is that there was no attempt by Balad to maintain any sort of balance, project any sort of sympathy with the victims of the terrorist attacks:



While the Ballad MK's were not accused of actual incitement of terrorism, their clear and one-sided sympathy for the families of the perpetrators was provocative.

While the Joint List noted that "it is important to emphasize that burying the dead is a human and religious commandment in the three religions, Islam, Judaism and Christianity" -- it is unfortunate that they neglected to mention that "Thou Shalt Not Kill" is a commandment as well.

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Technorati Tag: Israel and Balad and Palestinian Terrorism.

There was an uproar when it was reported that members of the Balad Party visited the parents of 10 Palestinian terrorists who had attacked Israelis.

The three MKs who made the visit were Jamal Zahalka, Haneen Zoabi and Bassel Ghattas, and among the parents they met was the the father of Baha Alian, who, along with an accomplice, stabbed and shot to death three people on a bus last October.The MK's rebuffed Netanyahu's criticism of their visit by claiming that their goal was a humanitarian one -- to push for the return of the bodies of the terrorists to their families.


Lawmakers from the Joint Arab List stand in front of the Dome of the Rock
during a visit to the compound in Jerusalem's Old City, July 28. (photo credit:REUTERS)
At issue is the degree to which the MK's exceeded their supposed humanitarian concerns and made a point of empathizing with the terrorists -- and their goals.
The Balad Facebook page, brought to light by Palestinian Media Watch, called the terrorists shaheeds (martyrs) and featured a video of Alian’s father calling the meeting “warm and productive.” Ma’an, a Palestinian news agency, said the MKs took part in a moment of silence for the terrorists.Among the possible punishments mentioned:

• Suspensions of up to six months from all Knesset activity but voting – which is a punishment that was already meted out to Zoabi when she made comments sympathizing with Hamas during Operation Protective Edge
• Docking their salaries.
• If the attorney general finds their actions to be criminal, the Knesset House Committee could vote to remove their immunity, and they could be put on trial.

Considering recent claims that Israel is abandoning democracy when attempting to hold NGOs responsible to reveal foreign influence, what are the chances that again there will be an outcry that punitive measures to punish these Arab members of the Knesset who sympathize with terrorists are undemocratic?

The point was raised when Netanyahu compared Israeli MK's with US Congressmen:
"We invest great [efforts] into integrating Arab citizens in Israeli society, and they do the opposite. They build walls of hatred. I'm trying to imagine what would have happened in the British Parliament or the U.S. Congress if members would stand at attention in memory of those who had murdered British or American citizens. There would be a great outcry, and it would be justified."In fact, the punishments suggested for the Arab MK's actions are no more than what the US Constitution allows. According to Article 1 Section 5 Clause 2:
Each House may determine the Rules of its Proceedings, punish its Members for disorderly Behaviour, and, with the Concurrence of two thirds, expel a Member.In fact, while the Constitution requires a two thirds majority in order to take action, suspending members of the Knesset requires three quarters (90 out of 120 legislators).

It remains to be seen how far Israeli government is willing to go to punish the Arab MK's -- and how ready others may be willing to go to defend their actions.

Hat tip: AB

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Technorati Tag: Israel and Balad and Palestinian Terrorism and Knesset.

In a recent article countering media bias in general and New York Times bias in particular, Stephen Flatow invites us: Let’s play the ‘blame Israel game’ with The New York Times, examining on how the game is played by Steven Erlanger. Erlanger focuses on Sa'ir, a Palestinian Arab town where 12 Palestinian Arabs have been killed, a town where he claims Anger in a Palestinian Town Feeds a Cycle of Violence

Here is one of Erlanger's examples that Flatow examines:
Erlanger describes a recent funeral for another local fatality: Moyyad Jabarin, 19, who was “killed at the Beit Anoun checkpoint after trying to stab a soldier.” The Times reporter then quotes Sakit Jaradat, father of the aforementioned Raed, saying that his son and the others were angry because “they have lost hope and dignity, they are humiliated at the checkpoints, and now we are afraid.” Erlanger notes that Palestinian leaders see “the young dead as martyrs to the cause of Palestinian resistance to Israel’s occupation of the West Bank.”Flatow then breaks down the convenient memes journalists unquestioningly parrot (emphasis added):

They have “lost hope”? But Raed was “an accounting student from a well-to-do family” (as Erlanger notes in passing). And Jabarin was a gainfully employed plumber. They were not impoverished, desperate, unemployed men driven by their poverty to commit murder. Their futures were entirely hopeful — if they had opted to lead normal lives.

They are “humiliated at the checkpoints”? Since when it is “humiliating” to be checked for bombs? Millions of airline passengers are checked for bombs as they pass through checkpoints every day in airports around the world, and that experience does not inspire them to stab people.

“We are afraid”? Afraid of what — being shot while trying to murder Israelis? Well, here’s a radical idea: stop committing murder, and you won’t have anything to be afraid of.

“Israel’s occupation”? But Sa’ir is under the occupation of the Palestinian Authority, not Israel. Way back in 1995, Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin withdrew from the areas where 98 percent of the Palestinians reside. That includes Sa’ir. The “Israeli occupation” line is a myth.Sa'ir, in the "West Bank." Credit: Bryan Denton, New York TimesThese memes are unquestionably accepted, repeated and are an expected part of what passes for media analysis of the Palestinian Arab situation.

Another aspect of journalistic laziness is contained in a fifth meme,  addressed by Seth J. Frantzman who writes in his Terra Incognita column that it is time to Stop Pretending Terror Attacks Don't Target Jews. He points out that Palestinian terrorist attacks are sanitized by ignoring admissions that "I sought to kill Jews," with the media helpfully translating these into attacks on "settlers". The Palestinian media then picks up on this and refers to stabbing attacks in Tel Aviv and Beit Shemesh as “the process of attacking settlers” and “the martyr so-and-so stabbed settlers in Beit Shemesh” -- despite that neither place is located in the West Bank. Why? Because the Palestinians have picked up on the distinction the West has handed them: Jews become acceptable targets when they are "settlers".

The common use by Palestinian cartoons of Orthodox Jews to depict Israelis illustrates Frantzman's point that more than targeting Israelis or "settlers," the Palestinian terrorists are targeting Jews:







Frantzman makes it clear:
It is obvious that the stereotypical depiction of Israelis is as Orthodox Jews. Many Palestinians who seek to target Israelis therefore will try to choose targets that they think symbolize Jews or Israel the most. Sometimes that is soldiers in the West Bank. If soldiers were the only target, then the commentators who claim it is only “resistance”, might be correct. But the vast majority of Palestinian attacks are not against soldiers, they are against others. Often these attacks have targeted Orthodox Jews.The whitewash by the West and the media, claiming that it's all about "settlers" allows Palestinian terrorists off the hook -- and lets the West off the hook as well, seeing how skittish the West is about putting any pressure on the Palestinian Arabs to stop killing Jews.

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Technorati Tag: Israel and Media Bias and Antisemitism and New York Times.

Shulamit Lando has overcome Multiple Sclerosis and, through her success, has learned how to help others:
32 years after the original diagnosis, (and the traumatic aftermath of both, the actual diagnosis and the symptoms of the devastating illness) I have no symptoms whatsoever and I am totally functional. Since then I wanted to learn how to help others with challenging situations.

I became passionate about helping people in distress, those who felt lost and “paralyzed” in their lives. I help them learn how to overcome any challenge through understanding our essence and purpose, our drives, needs and emotions; and essentially, not giving up! Together we learn to trust that doing the best you can is always good enough.

By using the different tools that I have learned in my own journey towards recovery and growth, I am able to inspire, assist, guide and cheer people to achieve whatever they want in their lives.



Read testimonials here.

Now, Shulamit Lando has written a new book: Hope Beyond Illness: A Guide To Living Well With A Chronic Condition:
HOPE BEYOND ILLNESS -- A Guide to Living WELL with a Chronic Condition, is a gripping memoir. Shulamit Lando recounts her experience with Multiple Sclerosis, MS, a serious, debilitating, and allegedly incurable disease. She describes how she refused to let conventional medicine dictate its depressing message to her and how she used her body and her mind as a healing laboratory to combat the illness. After every chapter, valuable tips give you the most effective tools from different therapeutic approaches.

Through her guidance and experience you learn many ways to deal with overwhelming feelings and be able to allow calm and healing into your life.

This guide will:

• Empower you with hope
• Find the steps that are best suited to your recovery
• Give you the support you need to make your journey to wellness
• Present "Pearls of Wisdom" to help you heal
• Give you tools to affect mind, body and spirit
• Help you achieve a creative, functional, meaningful life, despite chronic illness.

Before you read the first chapter of her book, embedded below, here is the interview I was fortunate to have with Shulamit Lando via email. Here are my questions and her responses:

You write that you learned about "the mind-body connection" because of MS. What were your interests and goals before your bout with MS?

I was a theatre actress, I was in a play actually, in a national theatre company in Mexico City, when the first symptoms started and was not able to continue.

You write that at heart you are an artist. What kind of artistic qualities do you have that have helped your development as a therapist?

I love this question. Before this whole journey with the MS started I was an actress, a dancer, a singer/song writer. Somehow the integration of what these activities require—the discipline, the coordination, the memorization, it is all about the brain's plasticity. Today I am much more than a "therapist" as such; I became a very creative integrative healer, coach, medical coach and therapist. I used to write songs and now, after so many years, I became an author too. So my songwriting is part of what now also helped me become an author. I call myself a TheraCoach.  All those artistic qualities have been essential in the whole development of who I became.

You note that humor is a great healer -- in what way, and why do you think that is?

Humor is a great healer indeed. As the saying goes: “Angels can fly because they take themselves lightly.” Even in the Old Testament we're told: “A merry heart doeth good like a medicine.”

Physiologically speaking we know that laughter reduces pain, because when we laugh our bodies produce endorphins which is a pain-killing hormone. It also strengthens immune function because of the production of T-cells, interferon and immune proteins that are secreted in the body when we have a good belly laugh. Laughing decreases stress because it significantly lowers the cortisol (stress hormone) after which the body is able to relax easier.

But mainly, I say it because humor impacts our attitude so much! This in turn affects our intellectual and emotional functioning. Isn’t it true that when we laugh we are able to put our life’s problems and suffering into a healthy perspective? It somehow makes you feel that your problems are smaller and therefore, more manageable.

Also, when we laugh we are better able to overcome fear. This to me is a huge one! Besides laughing triggers our creativity.

There is a lot of research that supports laughter therapy, that is one of the reasons why hospitals accept clowns to visit and play around with patients, and why Medical Clowning has become such an accepted and growing health profession.

You use a variety of different strategies with the people you help -- what do you do to keep proficient and knowledgeable in all of them?

I study all the time. I learn, I constantly am taking some courses. Thanks to the Internet I have kept up with the most advanced research and therapeutic modalities and healing options. As I mentioned before, part of my strict discipline as an artist in the past became more of a way of being, a pastime of always being interested in something new. If it isn’t because I have symptoms then someone else does. Besides I am all about growth and I am always hungry for more and new things that inspire and stimulate my mind's health process.

What have you found most helpful for yourself in coping with MS?

This is a huge question! I wrote a whole book just to be able to answer it! But if I have to shrink it all, I would say that since the process is inside out, since it implies an integration of body/mind/emotions/spirit, then doing whatever works for you to keep all these elements nurtured and aligned would be the answer. I can tell you that I meditate daily and that is a given, a must. I try to have a healthy diet as much as I can, I exercise some (slow pleasurable exercise) a few times a week. It is more a matter of quality rather than quantity. There is really no one answer and certainly not one that fits all especially with such an individual and capricious illness as MS. That is precisely what I do in my professional work, I help the person discover what would work for him or her in each area and help them create a program or a formula to apply in a way that they can find and keep a balance between it all.

You write, "My highest joy is to help people get out of their own way!" In what way do people get in their own way?

Oh, sadly, in so many ways! We judge ourselves, we dismiss ourselves, we put ourselves down… all those things have a huge effect in our minds, emotions and body all the way down to the cellular level. Every time I say "this is horrible" or "I will never get out of this" the mind hears it as a hypnotic suggestion, an order really, and acts accordingly—keeping things just as they are. We have to become aware and change our self-talk in order to change our life around.

An important and huge way we get in our way is when we double guess ourselves. Through regularly doing this, our intuition's voice is quieted down. So if my intuition is telling me how to deal today with this particular situation and I double guess it and doubt it all the time, there is no access to our own inner doctor and we become 100% dependent on someone else's opinion or theory. And sadly, the others don’t know much about our own particular way to heal.

Do you have a particular program that you use for all, or is each case different?

Just like the uniqueness of the illness, each of us is unique in their healing. But we all have the ability to contact that "inner doctor" (to call it somehow). What I do with people, is that by basing myself on my own life's experience and my own inner journey and backed up and supported by the many techniques that I have studied, along with the client, we make a tailored-made suit. I am able to perceive in each moment and each session what is what your inner wisdom is asking from me and with what tool your body wants it. That's what I apply with each one.

Is there an average number of therapy sessions that people require?

There is no "average" in illness, just as no "average" in people either. We are all individual in our needs and in this case too. But I must say, what I do is not an endless battery of sessions like the old school psychotherapies. What I offer is effective, and how long and how many sessions depends not only on me or on the tools we use but also —and probably even mainly— on the commitment and drive of the person's will to turn their life around. I put my whole mind, soul and intention on it and it took me some time but I went from living my whole life around my symptoms to literally forgetting I have anything going on in my brain.

Do you have any final thoughts you would like to share?

I would love for people to read the book. I know it will be hugely beneficial to anyone that is dealing with any physical discomfort and is open to new perspectives. I would also love people to read it because it is my memoire, my legacy. I know I came to this life in order for me to go through this experience with illness, to let it transform me, and tell the tale for others to use and get inspired. I deeply believe that it is that transformation what really healed me. What I learned about life, about spirit, about who we really are in this life… all that is what I knew I had to share with people. In this book I spilled my guts out. It is very original since most of the story happened when I was living in Mexico and I had access to very unique an even strange therapies and I went for it all… it is also entertaining so hopefully it's a good read. But most of all, I share so much for people to try, to experiment on their own, so much to learn online for themselves, easy concrete steps, so many easy creative tips in that guide that I hope it gets to every pair of eyes and heart that may benefit from it. That is my highest wish.

The first chapter of Lando's book is now available for free.

Take a look at it for yourself and see what you think.
Hope Beyond Illness: A Guide To Living Well With A Chronic Condition (Chapter 1) by Shulamit Lando

Thank you, Ariella Brown, of Write Way Productions, for her help in assembling the questions for the interview.

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Technorati Tag: Multiple Sclerosis and Chronic Illness and Shulamit Lando.

Looks like it was all just a simple misunderstanding, as the BBC reports that Lebanon returns Israeli vulture cleared of spying:
A huge vulture detained in Lebanon on suspicion of spying for Israel has been returned home after UN peacekeepers intervened, Israeli officials said.

The bird, which has a 1.9m (6ft 5in) wing span, flew over the border from an Israeli game reserve and was caught by Lebanese villagers on Tuesday.

They became suspicious as the griffon vulture had a tracking device attached to its tail.

It is part of a conservation project to reintroduce raptors to the Middle East.
The vulture is now being treated at a wildlife clinic near Tel Aviv for minor injuries.
Credit: AFP
According to the report, the vulture was being treated for "minor injuries" -- a result of its grueling interrogations?

Of course, this is not the first animal accused of spying for Israel. Besides the vulture accused of spying by Saudi Arabia in 2011, there have been dolphins, sharks and a stork accused of being enlisted by Israel. And let's not forget about the time, back in 2007, that Iranians arrest 14 squirrels for spying, an accomplishment Iran justifiably bragged was "thanks to the alertness of our intelligence services."

Credit: scoopempire.comBut getting back to our vulture, surely the vulture was about to retire anyway, what with the advancements Israel has made in drone technology!?

But then again, in view of recent news of the US and the UK spying on Israeli drones for years, perhaps Israel will be rethinking that move and will instead bring the vultures (if not also the dolphins, sharks, storks -- and squirrels) out of retirement:
@daledamos @BBCWorld now probably kicking themselves, though, because it was harder for US, UK spooks to read minds of vultures— Citizen Wald (@CitizenWald) January 31, 2016Time will tell

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Technorati Tag: Israel and vulture and dolphin and shark.

“We are not oppressing people and people can speak loudly, can criticise the government, can criticise Hamas. We never put anyone in jail who criticizes Hamas or write something against Hamas. We have different organisations, political parties, even writers, they have full freedom to write what they want.”
Hamas deputy foreign minister, Ghazi Hamed, January 2014
And of course, if Hamas says it -- it must be so. After all, how often do we read or hear in them media about any human rights abuses by the Hamas terrorist group. If the media is inclined to not report on Hamas rocket attacks until after Israel retaliates, what is it supposed to take before the media will report on Hamas humanitarian rights abuses?

That is what makes it so unusual to read in The Times about Three nights of torture: the price for criticising Hamas:
Two Palestinian journalists who were vocal critics of Hamas have told how they were arrested and tortured by the group in an apparently successful attempt to silence them.

“I was blindfolded and forced to sit down on a tiny chair for three nights in a row. It was extremely cold and I was denied sleep,” Ramzi Herzallah, 27, told The Times. He and another Gaza-based journalist, Ayman al-Aloul, were held for more than a week this month.

Mr al-Aloul, who is editor-in-chief of the Arab Now Agency, said that he was beaten, blindfolded and forced to sit all day long during his captivity. He joked that he would now focus on sports, food, literature and fashion reporting. “I’ve decided not to talk about the general situation any more,” he said, adding that Hamas had accused him of harming “the resistance” against Israel.Ayman al-Aloul was held for more than a week MAHMUD HAMS/ Getty Images
The article goes on to note a correlation between Hamas's crackdown on the media and signs of broader public protest. Both journalists had criticized Hamas on domestic issues such as tax increases and blackouts as well publishing pictures of Gazans looking for food in garbage dumps. Herzallah reported that he "was told to shut up because the Hamas government has enough to worry about.”

The domestic problems of Hamas are the result not only of its own misgovernance,but also as a result of its deliberate terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians, without regard for the safety of its own Gazan civilians.

While the media has not held Hamas responsible for precipitating war with Israel, at least we have an instance here of the media holding Hamas responsible for intimidating and torturing journalists.


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Technorati Tag: Human Rights Abuses and Gaza and Hamas and Freedom of the Press.

Remember those heady days of the Arab Spring in Egypt in 2011?
Do you recall the pictures of protests in Tahrir Square and the promise of democracy and change made possible with Facebook and Twitter?

Demonstrators on Army Truck in Tahrir Square, Cairo Date: 29 January 2011
Photographed by: Ramy Raoof
Things did not quite turn out the way they were supposed to.

The Muslim Brotherhood was able to co-opt the popular protests and in June 2012, Morsi became president of Egypt.

The Egyptian Revolution began in January 2011 -- but by the November of that same year when disillusioned protesters reappeared in Tahrir, the effectiveness of social media in general and Facebook and Twitter in particular, was being questioned.

At the time, The Atlantic asked about: What the New Protests in Egypt Mean for the 'Twitter Revolutions'
The past several days have been hard ones for those who cheered the fall of Hosni Mubarak less than a year ago. More than 30 people have been killed protesting the continued rule of the military council, and the Egyptian cabinet has tendered its resignation. Tahrir Square, once a symbol of the possibilities for a new Egypt, has now become a stage for the revolution's unraveling. These developments (and others since last February) have provoked a simple thought: What if the combination of social media and mobile devices does make revolutions more likely, but do not in turn make republican governing any more possible? What then?

Of course, it's not been settled that these new communications technologies do make revolutions any easier. It never will be. Fast-forward to today and it looks like in Egypt they have practically given up on asking the question.

Ih Al Ahram Weekly, Mohamed Abdel-Baky asks why social media appears to have lost its power to mobilise large demonstrations:
Five years after 25 January Revolution, social media may still play a role in political life but its ability to mobilise anti-government supporters has been eroded, particularly in the last two years.

As the fifth anniversary of the uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak approaches, popular social networks like Facebook and Twitter have seen limited activity, most of it focussed on calling for the release of detainees. Online demands for massive demonstrations to return to Tahrir Square have been few and far between, and the online response muted.

The Twitter hashtag #Ragain lel maidan (“We are back to the square”) attracted a few thousand Egyptian users but interest quickly waned.

“There is a lot of activity on Facebook and Twitter demanding the release of detainees and complaining about the way the revolution’s goals have been abandoned but it is far from turning into a mass movement on the ground,” says Ahmed Ragab, a researcher at the Egyptian Centre for Public Policy Studies.
Back in 2011, social media seemed to give Egyptians the kind of power and voice they lacked at the ballot box. Just five years later, social media just isn't playing as strong a role.

Ahmed Ragab, a researcher at the Egyptian Centre for Public Policy Studies, is quoted giving 2 reasons for this:

• In 2010 a majority of social networkers opposed the Mubarak regime. However today, the Al-Sisi administration has millions of supports on both Facebook and Twitter.
  
  
• Egyptins have lost confidence in the ability of protests to achieve political and social change.

But is that confidence in achieving political and social change any stronger back here in the United States? After all, the US is a real democracy. In the US, we have a real voice through the ballot box.

Right?

The answer may not be so enthusiastic, according to Glenn Reynolds, who writes in USA Today of a Forecast of distrust with a chance of revolution. Noting that Americans have more faith in the military than in the "political class", Glenn writes:
According to a recent Associated Press poll, the public lacks confidence in government. And by “lacks confidence,” I mean “really lacks confidence.” Specifically, “More than 6 in 10 respondents expressed only slight confidence — or none at all — that the federal government can make progress on the problems facing the nation in 2016.”

And this isn’t just Republicans in a sour mood after seven years of Obama. As the AP noted, “Perhaps most vexing for the dozen or so candidates vying to succeed President Barack Obama, the poll indicates widespread skepticism about the government's ability to solve problems, with no significant difference in the outlook between Republicans and Democrats.”Reynolds traces this to a variety of US failures. To name a few:

• Middle East chaos
• Putin's increased influence in in eastern Europe and Syria;
• Saudi Arabia desire for nuclear balance with Iran
• Seven years of economic “recovery” and record deficits.
• The IRS scandal
• The botched ObamaCare rollout

Reynolds adds to the list "a seemingly endless array of similar screwups. When they’re not crooks, our leaders all too often seem to be incompetents."

And if there is no longer any confidence that the Republicans are up to fixing the problems -- if voters are not confident they can vote themselves out of this mess, then, as Reynolds notes, people will look to other solutions. Suddenly, Americans are as disillusioned with the ballot box as Egyptians are with social media. It's tough when the public consensus if being consistently frustrated.

Which may go much further than voting for Donald Trump.

Reynolds points to a YouGov poll from last fall that found that 29% of Americans could imagine supporting a military coup and Newser reported: “Some 71% said military officers put the interests of the country ahead of their own interests, while just 12% thought the same about members of Congress.“

Suddenly, The political situation in the United States doesn't seem so different from from Egypt.


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Technorati Tag: Egypt and United States and Social Media and Elections2016.

It was less than 2 years ago that we read that Ban Ki-moon Admits United Nations Anti-Israel Bias, going so far as to say, "Unfortunately, because of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Israel has been weighed down by criticism and suffered from bias and sometimes even discrimination."

It should not be surprising that Ban shows the same bias when he claims It Is 'Human Nature' to React to Occupation:

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon commented Tuesday on the recent wave of violence between Israelis and Palestinians, saying it was part of "human nature" to react to an occupation.

Addressing the UN Security Council's periodic Middle East debate, Ban condemned rocket fire from militant groups in Gaza into Israel and called for an end to incitement, but said that "As oppressed peoples have demonstrated throughout the ages, it is human nature to react to occupation."Ban Ki-moon. Credit: World Economic Forum [CC BY-SA 2.0 ],
via Wikimedia CommonsThis is no so different than the claim that "one man's terrorist is another man's freedeom fight" -- a silly statement that tends to overlook the fact that the only place where you find the killers of unarmed civilians extolled as freedom fighters is among the Palestinian Arabs.

As Netanyahu points out, Ban's excuses stoke Palestinian terrorism:
“There is no justification for terrorism. The Palestinian terrorists don’t want to build a state; they want to destroy a state, and they state that proudly. They want to murder Jews everywhere and they state that proudly. They don’t murder for peace and they don’t murder for human rights.”Yesh Atid party leader Yair Lapid notes the double standard between treatment of Palestinian Arabs and others with hard lives:
There are millions of people in the world whose lives are harder than those of the Palestinians. In Africa, in Asia, in the Middle East. There are hundreds of millions of people in the world for whom the UN didn’t create a special body and to whom the UN didn’t send billions of dollars (and then stood to one side while a corrupt government stole it).

“For some reason those people don’t think there is anything, anything at all, which gives them license to take a knife and stab a mother of six. To take a knife and stab a woman who is five months pregnant. To take a knife and stab a wonderful 23-year-old woman who had never harmed anyone.Terrorism against innocent civilians can not be justified. No-one should provide excuses for it, especially not the UN Secretary General. Terrorism against innocent civilians is the result of nothing except the murderous insanity of the perpetrators.”If the best that Ban can do is caution both sides equally and refuse to acknowledge the incitement of hatred and violence by Abbas and the Palestinian Authority, then both Ban Ki-moon and the United Nations have once again proven  that their incompetence is exceeded only by their anti-Israel bias.

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Technorati Tag: Ban Ki-moon and Palestinian Terrorism and United Nations.

On December 9, 2015, Facebook Founder Mark Zuckerberg posted on the need for Muslims to feel welcome on Facebook:
I want to add my voice in support of Muslims in our community and around the world.

After the Paris attacks and hate this week, I can only imagine the fear Muslims feel that they will be persecuted for the actions of others.

As a Jew, my parents taught me that we must stand up against attacks on all communities. Even if an attack isn't against you today, in time attacks on freedom for anyone will hurt everyone.

If you're a Muslim in this community, as the leader of Facebook I want you to know that you are always welcome here and that we will fight to protect your rights and create a peaceful and safe environment for you.

Having a child has given us so much hope, but the hate of some can make it easy to succumb to cynicism. We must not lose hope. As long as we stand together and see the good in each other, we can build a better world for all people. It is hard to argue with Zuckerberg's sentiments -- but his double standard is an issue.


It is all well and good for him to declare that Muslims "are always welcome here and that we will fight to protect your rights and create a peaceful and safe environment for you."

The question is: why don't Facebook in general and Zuckerberg in particular feel the same way about protecting the rights of Jews and creating "a peaceful and safe environment" for them?

Just how peaceful and safe an environment can Facebook be when there is a community dedicated to propagating the blood libel of "Jewish Ritual Murder"?

Why does Facebook propagate the blood libel of "Jewish Ritual Murder"? Credit: snapshot
This is more than just an issue of free speech. Shurat Ha-Din recently revealed that Facebook's double standard when it comes to Muslims also applies to the Israeli-Arab conflict:



In covering the experiment, Arutz Sheva reported that Facebook discriminates against Israelis:
The two Facebook pages, "Stop Palestinians" and "Stop Israelis", were opened by members of Shurat Hadin on December 28, 2015, the group said in a statement Monday. The next day, on December 29, posts with similar content began to appear on both pages simultaneously.

...[After Shurat Ha-Din reported both pages] The results were not long in coming and Facebook's management worked quickly indeed. That same day, Facebook shut down the page which incites against the Palestinians, and even thanked the complainants for the report. Members of Shurat Hadin who ran the page received a message from Facebook which said the page had been taken offline because it published abusive, threatening and violent content which “violates Facebook’s community standards".

At the same time, however, the anti-Israel page was not shut down by Facebook, despite the fact that all the content on this page was identical to the anti-Palestinian page. In this case, Facebook's management sent the opposite message, indicating that the page did not violate the social network’s terms of service.While Facebook eventually took down the anti-Israel page as well, there are indications of Facebook's attempts to avoid facing the issue of balance head-on by resorting to deception:
Here’s what’s going on. A number of years ago people reported a page on Facebook called “Jewish Ritual Murder”. It was also know as “The Truth About Jews”. It consistently ran the classical old blood libel that Jews, ordered by their Torah, kill non-Jews (especially children) and use their blood for various invented rituals.

Well this Facebook community did appear to go away. Certainly if you’re in Australia or in Israel, you can’t see their page. But if you’re in most of the Arab world you can. So how is this deception by Facebook helping anyone, when the people most likely to be incited to go out and stab a Jew can still see the lies, while those most likely to report it can’t see it? I don’t know.


Certainly there is no perfect solution -- see Israel seeks international support to force social media giants to be more responsible for a new attempt at a solution.

But as long as Facebook hosts a community that propagates blood libels against Jews, Zuckerberg's promises of a peaceful and safe environment for Muslims will continue to come across as hypocrisy.

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Technorati Tag: Israel and Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg and Antisemitism.

One of the issues in the wake of the labeling of Israeli products from Judea and Samaria ("The West Bank"), is the double standard of the European Union refusal to label products from occupied territories such as Cyprus (occupied by Turkey) and the Western Sahara (occupied by Morocco).

Now we read that Palestine Supports Morocco’s Sovereignty Over Western Sahara:
Palestine reiterated its support for Morocco’s sovereignty over Western Sahara on Thursday at a diplomatic meeting between both countries, held in Rabat.


...USFP leader Driss Lachgar discussed the Moroccan Sahara with Abbas Zaki [Mahmoud Abbas], member of the Fatah Central Committee.

According to the daily, both leaders agreed that “the issue of the Moroccan Sahara and that of Palestine will now be at the center of their diplomatic cooperation.”Abbas meeting with King Mohammed VI of Morocco. Credit: Morocco World News
The United Nations does not recognize the Moroccan attempt to annex the Western Sahara and a report to the UN Security Council in 2006 noted that "no States Member of the United Nations had recognized that sovereignty" (paragraph 37) -- a status that has not changed.

None of this stops Moroccan Minister El Maliki, who assures us that “There is no need to make any comparison between the Palestinian cause and the Moroccan Sahara issue.” -- though he doesn't quite have an explanation as to why no comparison should be made.

Neither the US, nor the EU nor any other democratic state supports Morocco's illegal occupation of the Western Sahara, nor its practice of settling Moroccan settlers in the occupied territory. But it is the hypocrisy of requiring separate labeling of "West Bank" products but not of Moroccan products from the occupied Western Sahara territory that allows this Palestinian hypocrisy to pass without blinking.

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Technorati Tag: Israel and Morocco and Western Sahara and Occupation.

Stephen M. Flatow writes about the Palestinian Authority’s dirty little secret:
A Palestinian terrorist who escaped from an Israeli prison 25 years ago is now being given shelter in the PA’s consulate in Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria.

The terrorist is Omar Nayef Zayed, who was convicted in 1986 of murdering an Israeli yeshiva student. He started a hunger strike in 1990, which resulted in the Israeli authorities admitting him to a hospital in Bethlehem. He escaped from the hospital, slipped out of the country, and made his way to Bulgaria.

Palestinian terrorist Omar Nayef Zayed  is being given shelter in the
Palestinian Authority consulate in Sofia, Bulgaria's capital. Credit: Facebook.
This of course is par for the course. Flatow points out that according to the Oslo II agreement [Annex IV, Article 2, Par.7(f)(1)] that Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and the PA signed in 1995, the PA is obligated to comply with every Israeli request for extradition.

Meanwhile, the expected excuses -- and outright deceptions -- are being utilized on Zayed's behalf.

Zayed's brother makes Omar Zayed's murder out to be a political act:
Zayed is "a political fighter who defended the Palestinian cause" and he "poses no danger" to Israel today, Hamza added.This is a theme that Samidoun, which calls itself the "Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network", goes to town on. Samidoun neglects to mention that Zayed is a murderer:
Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network emphasizes that this is a political attack on former Palestinian prisoners. It should not be seen as an individual case only, but an attempt by the Israeli state to persecute former Palestinian prisoners and invade Palestinian communities throughout Europe. Like all Palestinian prisoners, Omar’s case is a political case and not a “criminal case.” Extraditions for political offenses are not legitimate and should be denied.Whatever excuses apologists for the terrorist Omar Nayef Zayed make, whatever emotional appeals these terrorist sympathizers make, the question still remains: Why it is that around the world and throughout history it is only the Palestinian Arabs who praise and celebrate murderers of unarmed civilians as freedom fighters.


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Technorati Tag: Omar Nayef Zayed and Palestinian Terrorism.