Showdown in Egyot

The Egyptian shodown can rnd in an army dictatorship or an Islamist dictatorship. Democracy is pobably not in th cards.It never has been in Egypt. What should "we" do? Nothing. We cannot influence evets now, unless we are Eqyptians. The best we can do is shut up. How will it end? Different "experts" have different opinions. See Revolution in Egypt for one attempt an analysis.

 

Anti-Mubarak protesters massing up in Cairo; defense chief seen at Tahrir Square

Tens of thousands of anti-government demonstrators gather in Tahrir Square, Cairo, on Friday in an attempt to drive out President Hosni Mubarak after a week and half of pro-democracy demonstrations. (AP) 1 of 3
By HAMZA HENDAWI | AP
Published: Feb 4, 2011 12:05 Updated: Feb 4, 2011 14:28

CAIRO: Protesters are pouring into Cairo's Tahrir Square with supplies of food and water in an attempt to drive out President Hosni Mubarak with a massive protest after a week and half of pro-democracy demonstrations.

State TV says Defense Minister Hussein Tantawi and senior army officials have visited the square, leading to speculations that a dialogue is under way.

The Obama administration says it is in talks with top Egyptian officials about the possibility of Mubarak immediately resigning and the formation of an interim government that could prepare the country for free and fair elections this year.

Soldiers are checking IDs and performing body searches at entrances to the square. Then human chains of protesters perform secondary searches. The atmosphere is relaxed.
Pro-Mubarak crowds that have attacked demonstrators and foreign journalists do not have a visible presence in or near the square Friday morning.

On Thursday, menacing gangs backing Mubarak attacked journalists and human rights activists as government opponents pushed supporters out of Cairo's main square. The new vice president, widely considered the first successor Mubarak has ever designated, fueled anti-foreign sentiment by going on state television and blaming outsiders for fomenting unrest.

The government has accused media outlets of being sympathetic to protesters who want the president to quit now rather than serve out his term, as he has vowed to do.

EU leaders urge dialogue

In Brussels, Belgium, European Union leaders called for a "national dialogue" between the government and opposition in Egypt amid escalating violent protests.

But they shied away on Friday from supporting the Obama administration's effort to persuade Mubarak to step down.
EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said it was essential that the government and people "move forward together." Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said it would be "gratuitous and arrogant" to call for Mubarak's resignation.

The European Union has had close relations with Cairo as part of its partnerships with Mediterranean nations. It has been criticized for being too timid in supporting pro-democracy demonstrations and for trailing behind the US in distancing itself from the regime.

Options

The creation of a military-backed caretaker government in Egypt is one of several ideas being discussed as anti-Mubarak protests escalate in the streets of Cairo and other Egyptian cities, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive diplomatic talks that are continuing.

Among those options is a proposal for Mubarak to resign immediately and cede power to a transitional government run by Vice President Omar Suleiman.
White House and State Department spokesmen would not discuss details of the discussions US officials are having with the Egyptians.
"The president has said that now is the time to begin a peaceful, orderly and meaningful transition," said White House national security spokesman Tommy Vietor on Thursday night. "We have discussed with the Egyptians a variety of different ways to move that process forward."
Mubarak, 82, told ABC television in an interview that he was fed up and wants to resign. But he said he can't for fear the country would sink into chaos. He said he was very unhappy about the two days of clashes in Tahrir Square.
"I do not want to see Egyptians fighting each other," he was quoted as saying.
The violence that had been concentrated in Tahrir spread around the city of 18 million, with a new wave of arson and looting.
Soldiers, mainly protecting government buildings and important institutions, remained passive as they have since replacing police on the streets almost a week ago. Few uniformed police have been seen around the city in that time, and protesters allege some of them have stripped off their uniforms and mixed in with the gangs of marauding thugs.
"When there are demonstrations of this size, there will be foreigners who come and take advantage and they have an agenda to raise the energy of the protesters," Suleiman said on state television.
Pro-government mobs beat foreign journalists with sticks and fists Thursday. The Committee to Protect Journalists said 24 reporters were detained in 24 hours, including representatives of The Washington Post and The New York Times. Twenty-one journalists were assaulted, including two with Fox News.
One Greek journalist was stabbed in the leg with a screwdriver, and a photographer was punched in the face, his equipment smashed. The Arabic news network Al-Arabiya pleaded for the army to protect its offices and journalists, and Al-Jazeera said four of its correspondents were attacked. The BBC's foreign editor said security forces had seized the network's equipment in a hotel to stop it broadcasting.
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs denounced reports of "systematic targeting" of journalists and the State Department described it as a "concerted campaign to intimidate." "I think we need to be clear that the world is watching the actions that are taking place right now in Egypt," Gibbs said.
Human rights activists were also targeted. Military police stormed the offices of an Egyptian rights group as activists were meeting and arrested at least 30, including two from the London-based Amnesty International, Amnesty spokesman Tom Mackey said. New York-based Human Rights Watch said one of its activists was also among those arrested.
Amnesty's secretary-general Salil Shetty demanded their immediate release saying they should be allowed "to monitor the human rights situation in Egypt at this crucial time without fear of harassment or detention." Mubarak's top ally, the United States, has pressed him to quickly transition to a democratic government but has said his earlier gestures, including forming a new government, were insufficient.
The crisis that began on Jan. 25 when protesters launched the biggest challenge ever to Mubarak's 30-year rule has grown perilous. The day after Mubarak went on television late Tuesday and refused to step down, thousands of his supporters attacked anti-government protesters in Tahrir Square, where they had held a peaceful vigil for days.
The Mubarak supporters started fierce battles with firebombs, machetes and chunks of pavement that lasted throughout the night and all day Thursday.
After nightfall, the fighting died down with protesters' hold on the square and nearby streets unbroken. Nearly 10,000 remained, some dancing and singing in victory as others — battered and bandaged — lay down exhausted to sleep or drank tea in the center of the rubble-strewn roundabout. Throughout the day, they gained in numbers and got supplies of food and medicine.
"Thank God, we managed to protect the whole area," said Abdul-Rahman, a taxi driver who was among thousands who stayed in the square through the night, hunkered down against the thousands besieging the entrances. "We prevented the pro-Mubarak people from storming the streets leading to the square." He refused to give his full name.
At least eight people have been killed and about 900 injured in the two days of fighting around Tahrir.
Many of the square's defenders had cotton padding and grubby bandages dangling from their faces, arms and legs.
Others had chunks of rock stuck to their hair and clumps of dust in their beards. Many had the trimmed beards of Muslim conservatives, a sign of the Muslim Brotherhood's role in the fight. The Brotherhood is the country's largest opposition group but secular groups have led the protests.
Under an onslaught of international condemnation for Wednesday's assault on protesters by pro-Mubarak rioters, the government offered more concessions to the protesters, but that did nothing to calm the fury.
The anti-Mubarak movement has vowed to intensify protests to force the president out by Friday. The Facebook page that started the protest movement said supporters should gather at noon Friday on all Egyptian squares "so that we can put the last nail in the regime's coffin, and declare the victory of the Jan. 25 revolution." Friday is the weekend in Egypt and millions attend prayers at noon in thousands of mosques across the city.
The top US military officer, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mike Mullen, told Jon Stewart's "The Daily Show" on Comedy Central that he has spoken to his military counterparts in Egypt ahead of Friday's rallies and was reassured they have no intention of firing on their own people.

Mysterious disappearance
Last Friday, there were fierce clashes between protesters and police after prayers. The hated police largely disappeared from the streets of Cairo after the clashes for reasons that remain mysterious. Mubarak, his new vice president and prime minister all promised to get to the bottom of their disappearance.
The attorney-general indicated that the former interior minister, Habib el-Adly, who was in charge of the police force when they left the streets, is a suspect in the investigation. He ordered an asset freeze and travel ban against el-Adly and the former housing and tourism ministers, who were among the unpopular millionaire businessmen who dominated the government Mubarak dissolved early Saturday.
In the capital on Thursday, a new wave of looting and arson began, after easing since the weekend. A fire raged in a major supermarket outside Sheikh Zayed, a suburb of the capital, and looters ransacked the building. A residential building neighboring a 5-star hotel on the Nile River corniche burned blocks away from Tahrir. Other fires erupted in the Cairo district of Shubra, north of the center, security officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.
The military and the security forces appeared to be doing little to stop the looting or the Tahrir clashes. In the interview, Suleiman said without elaborating that the police had "lost some of its capabilities" and that the army was struggling to fill the void.
Protesters accuse the regime and the ruling party of organizing a force of paid thugs and police in civilian clothes to attack them Wednesday afternoon, sparking the violence that raged until Thursday night.
The prime minister apologized for Wednesday's assault and acknowledged it may have been organized, though he said he didn't know by whom. Suleiman promised that Mubarak's son Gamal would not run in presidential elections in September.
Before the protests, Mubarak was widely expected to try to pass his power to his son in a hereditary succession, despite significant public opposition.
Suleiman also offered to hold negotiations on the country's future even with the regime's biggest domestic enemy, the Muslim Brotherhood. But he also accused the Brotherhood of inciting the violence.
Mubarak's regime has long rejected any talks with the Brotherhood, which calls for an Islamic state in Egypt, and has arrested thousands of its members in the past. The Brotherhood is among the many disparate anti-Mubarak groups organizing the protests, though secular activists have so far dominated the movement. All have rejected any dialogue with the government before Mubarak steps down.
During Thursday's fighting, bands of Mubarak supporters moved through side streets around Tahrir, trading volleys of stone-throwing with the protesters and attacking cars to stop supplies from reaching the protest camp. One band stopped a car, ripped open the trunk and found boxes of juice, water and food, which they took before forcing the driver to flee.
An exodus of foreigners, meanwhile, continued for another day Thursday with the UN evacuating much of its staff.
The vice president said 1 million foreign tourists have fled the country, costing $1 billion in lost revenues from one of Egypt's most important industries

Prophetic Copt letter to President Obama

This letter states:

"To put it bluntly, I fear that something very bad is going to happen to this community in the very near future."

A few days after the letter was written, there was a massacre of Copts in Egypt. Please do your best to make certain Americans and others are aware of the plight of Copts.

Egypt get ver generous American military aid.

The letter seems to indicate that the violence against Copts was not a totally uncontrolled and unforeseen phenomenon. It was part os a carefully orchestrated campaign

Ami Isseroff

Friday, December 24, 2010

Letter from a Coptic Christian

Mike, a Coptic Christian who has immigrated to the United States, has asked Restrain the Blade to publish this letter to President Barack Obama. Out of concern for his safety, only the author's first name is made public.

President Barack Obama
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington D.C.

Dear President Obama,

I am writing to you as Coptic Christian who immigrated to the United States in the late 1970s.

I am an American citizen.

I have grave concerns about what is going in Egypt regarding the Copts.

To put it bluntly, I fear that something very bad is going to happen to this community in the very near future.

Coptic Christians have been the victims of systematic abuse and oppression in Egypt for a long time. On November 17, 2010, the U.S. Department of State recently issued a report on religious freedom in Egypt that details the abuses they suffer on a daily basis. January of this year, six Coptic Christians were murdered outside their church after celebrating Christmas.

Sadly, I fear another attack will happen again sometime in the near future.

The tendency of blaming the State of Israel for every problem in Egypt, and linking it to the Copts, is on the rise, especially in the past a few months. By associating the Copts with the Jewish state, extremists and government officials are inciting hostility toward a beleaguered, defenseless minority.

The anti-Israel polemic is fairly well known. One official accused recent shark and jellyfish for attacks on swimmers at Sharm el-Sheikh on the Mossad. The alleged goal was to kill the tourism season.

What is less well known is that Muslim Imams throughout the Middle East are demonizing Coptic Christians in Egypt. One oft-repeated claim is that Israel is using Coptic churches to store all kinds of weapons to attack Muslims. Such accusations lead to threats of violence.

For example, Sheik Wagdi Ghoneim recently said in a video message from the State of Qatar "I swear by God, you will not have time stay alive until America and the West arrive, this is for your own good, if you understand. Do you think the Muslims inside Egypt will say thank you and may Allah give you health? "No, by God."

And on September 16, 2010 Mr., Muhammad Salim Al-Awa, Secretary-General of the International Union of Muslim Scholars announced on Al-Jazeera TV (Qatar): Copts Amass Weapons in Egyptian Churches and Are "Preparing for War against the Muslims".

Copts are even being blamed for the violence perpetrated against them by Muslim extremists in Egypt. For example, after a mob of 5,000 Egyptians recently attacked a Christian service building, President's Mubarak former assistant, Dr. Mustafa El- Feki from Ain Shams University stated that Israel and the Copts were at fault for the attack and the two deaths that resulted from it. Dr. El Feki stated that Israel was behind the subsequent protests: ""It is almost certain that the Mossad is involved in these events. The State is dealing with dangerous events that could not have succeeded without external intervention with Israel at its head."

Here, it is important to note why the mob attacked the building in the first place. While the Egyptian government does not allow Christians to build churches, it does allow them to build "service buildings" where social services can be provided to the elderly and to young people in the Coptic Christian community. The mob attacked this service building after hearing rumors that the building itself was going to be used as a church and not merely to provide social services to its members.

Mr. President, in light of numerous acts of incitement and previous acts of violence, I fear that Coptic Christians in Egypt are going to have a very tough Christmas season. I implore you to use your good offices to insist that the Egyptian government protect the rights of its Christian citizens.

For reasons of my own safety, I can only sign my first name, but nevertheless, I offer wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

I ask that you use your influence to make sure Christians in Egypt can celebrate their holidays in safety.

Michael
Dec. 24, 2010

Christians for Fair Witness on the Middle East Strongly Criticizes Rabbinical Ruling in Israel

Christians for Fair Witness on the Middle East Strongly Criticizes

Rabbinical Ruling in Israel

Christians for Fair Witness on the Middle East strongly criticizes a recent ruling issued by dozens of Israeli Orthodox rabbis against selling or renting property to non-Jews and praises the Israeli government for joining in that criticism.

"In a moment in history when we are all hoping that peace is finally coming to the Israelis and Palestinians, this sort of racist commentary is most unfortunate," according to Msgr. Dennis L. Mikulanis, STD, Vicar for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs for the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego and Fair Witness Executive Committee member.

"We were therefore deeply heartened by the immediate and overwhelming outcry from so many sectors of Israeli society," said Rev. Dr. Bruce Chilton, Bernard Iddings Bell Professor of Religion at Bard College, also a member of the Executive Committee of Fair Witness. "Not only the expected Israeli civil rights groups are outraged. PM Benjamin Netanyahu himself blasted the ruling, making it clear that it was inconsistent with democratic values and contrary to Israeli policy. Israeli Minority Affairs Minister Avishay Braverman called on the attorney general to launch an investigation into incitement to racism and the attorney general's office is indeed looking into possible criminal charges. Other rabbis have joined in the protest. The President of Tzohar, an organization of Orthodox rabbis in Israel, made clear that discrimination had no place in the Jewish state. Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv, the top rabbinic authority for many ultra-Orthodox Jews, also weighed in against it."

"Thankfully this rabbinic ruling is not the law in Israel, and we would like to believe that its disturbing intolerance is not reflective even of the wider ultra Orthodox community," said Rev. Dr. Peter A. Pettit, Director of the Institute for Jewish-Christian Understanding at Muhlenberg College and Fair Witness member. "We are equally mindful of the fact that a combination of laws in the Palestinian legal system make it unlawful to sell property to Jews, with a possible penalty of death for violations. Particularly at this point in history, both Israeli and Palestinian political leaders must take strong and courageous steps to lessen the level of fear generated by any such expressions of racism or intolerance among their people."

Hanukkah: The pride & the pity

The traditional Hanukkah story is a source of pride for the Jewish people. We are taught that a small army of freedom fighters, the Maccabees, led by the heroic priestly family of Mattathias and his seven sons, successfully resisted the cruel pagan tyranny of the ancient Greco-Syrian Seleucid dynasty. This is not untrue, but it's only part of the story.

We are usually not taught the far more complex reality that the Maccabean war of liberation was also a civil war between rural “fundamentalist” religious adherents of the old order and the more educated and cosmopolitan Hellenized Jews of the city, who voluntarily and eagerly embraced the Greek culture of the Syrian empire. The Maccabees surely killed many of these “liberal” Jews in their struggle.

It is ironic that the Hasmonean family— the Maccabees’ ruling dynasty— within one generation of their victory for Jewish values over Hellenism, was taking Greek names, speaking Greek and transforming Judea into a Jewish Hellenistic kingdom. These rulers alienated the masses of the Jewish people by extreme acts of cruelty and debauchery. Their military prowess ultimately undermined their rule, as conquered peoples were converted to Judaism by the sword; Herod emerged from one such Judaized people to marry his way into the Hasmonean clan and murder them into extinction. Herod’s disastrously bloody reign led to Judea’s disintegration as an independent state and its domination by Rome.

Nevertheless, the Maccabees were brave and valiant warriors who did in fact win great victories over a powerful and authoritarian foreign enemy. But to take this snapshot in time as the whole picture is to accept a one-dimensional myth. For some of the reasons mentioned, Rabbinic Judaism accorded Hanukkah a minor religious status. (For example, although obligated to light the Menorah for eight nights, there is no requirement for religious Jews to refrain from work.)

When considered within its historic context of bloody Jewish civil wars and despotic rule, both embedded within the Hanukkah story and in the eventual downfall of Judea within its wake, Hanukkah provides a cautionary tale. Fifteen years after the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin, we should be warned against the dangers of fratricidal hatred, of demonizing our political foes, and of failing to understand the need at times for compromise and accommodation. Enjoy the holiday, but please make note of this history.

Glenn Beck, Soros & political paranoia

For such a small minority, it is amazing that Jews figure prominently on all sides of great economic and political debates.  We've got Murray Rothbard and Ludwig von Misses on the laissez-faire right; we've got Jewish neocons; we've got Alan Greenspan and Ben Bernancke at the Federal Reserve; and Bob Rubin and Larry Summers left over from the Clinton administration--with Robert Reich, also a Clinton alum, on their left flank. Then of course, we've got the old-line Jewish banking families, like Rothschild, Lehman, Goldman, Schiff, Warburg, Loeb and a few others.  Not to mention the Jewish commies like Trotsky, Luxembourg (and Marx, of course, at least at his birth). 

Since these Jews are of all colors (politically speaking), shouldn't this refute Jewish conspiracy theorists? Instead, it likely reinforces antisemitic notions of Jews as all-powerful.  And antisemitic tropes are again seeping into anti-Federal Reserve and anti-Wall Street attitudes.

Glenn Beck's analysis is quite nutty and inadvertently borders on antisemitism (I believe it's inadvertent).  His attacks on the "demonic" influence of George Soros are truly idiotic, and his notion that this boyhood survivor of the Holocaust worked with the Nazis is outrageous.  For one thing, Jewish collaborators were virtually all eventually murdered anyway (it was just a matter of when for the Nazis).  For another, what on earth could a mere boy do for them anyway?

Haaretz columnist Carlo Strenger has just posted a new piece on the Huffington Post that addresses right-wing populist conspiratorial thinking.  While focusing upon Beck's obsession with Soros, Strenger also touches upon other international manifestations, including Avigdor Lieberman in Israel.

The "Rogue Israel" debate that should never have taken place

This is sort of cross-posted or rather excerpted and adapted from Israel News.  I know others wrote about Gabriel Latner and the "Israel is a rogue state" debate, but I think they missed the main point, didn't they? The fact that the question was put to a debate at all, and came close to being accepted, is prett frightning  

 

 

The rogue debate about Israel

The bad news about 19 year old Gabriel Latner is that he is not a gentleman. It seems he didn't play fair in a debate about the proposition "Israel is a rogue state" held by the Cambridge University Cambridge Union in the UK. The proposition itself is ungentlemanly of course. It rather like holding a debate on "How often do you beat your wife?"

Gabriel Latner argued against the proposition, even though he had enlisted as a supporter. Supposedly that is not what got him barred from the Cambridge Union. He is reported to have told his opponent Lauren Booth, "I am going to nail you to the fucking wall up there." After the debate, he refused to apologize to her. If he really did all that, then he is no gentleman, of course.  Booth is Tony Blair's sister-in-law, a convert to Islam, a journalist and avid supporter of Hamas. We should always treat bigots and advocates of genocide with courtesy.

Part of the good news is that the proposition was defeated, a rarity in UK academia. YNET reported the event. The win was probably due to the skill of the pro-Israel team and not to Latner's efforts. In the UK, a proposition that Israel is a rogue state is a close call that requires the best British brains to examine whether Israel is better or worse than Iran under Ahmadinejad for example, or Sudan or Libya. The proposition was only defeated narrowly, 53 to 47%, by reports.

Philip Weiss of Mondoweiss reflexively attacked Latner as a "neoconservative," par for the course, and tried to blame the win on Latner's tactics. His headline read, "Cambridge debate on Israel is undermined by wily neocon (is that redundant?)." It never occurred to Philip Weiss that the proposition "Israel is a rogue state" ought to be defeated in any debate not held in a closed ward. In a reasonable world, respectable academics would not even raise the question, and people like Booth would not be invited to debate it. Perhaps Latner's tactics helped, or maybe they hurt.

Israel bashers are not known for telling the truth, Latner did not necessarily win the debate for the pro-Israel side, and he is not a neo-conservative.

Another bit of  good news is that Phillip Weiss fell into his own trap. So sure was he that Latner must fit the Weiss stereotype of the religious fanatic conservative warmonger Zionist, that he invited him to an email debate and, after mauling them as best he could by removing paragraphing and probably by selective quotes, Weiss  actually published the answers and the text of Latner's remarks at the debate. Next step for Weiss is to get Latner drunk in a bar and then film his answers to touchy questions about Israel. Not very gentlemanly, but that is the sort of thing Mondoweiss does.

Despite Weiss's probable mauling of Latner's words and obvious cheap journalistic tricks, Latner came through rather well.

Latner is a 19 year old Canadian agnostic with a life long attachment to Israel and Zionism. He is precisely the sort of young Jewish academic Zionist that Philip Weiss, Mondoweiss and the Israel basher lobby claim does not exist. Zionists, by the received Gospel according to Mondoweiss and company, are all superannuated religious fanatic and conservatives.

Here is Latner in his own words, as reported by Mondoweiss:

"I am not a neocon. I have absolutely no patience for any ideology that promotes the use of military force in any situation where the preservation of human life does not demand it."

Weiss's comment on this is worthy of the prosecution in a Nazi trial of a Jew:

Latner's defense is like someone who volunteered for Heidi Fleiss saying that they believe in abstinence.

A Zionist must be guilty by definition, no matter what he says. Heidi Fleiss is a well-known madam. What does that make Weiss?

Weiss also obsessed about the fact that Latner was a volunteer with Sar-El, an organization which supports the IDF. The IDF has to be bad, right?? It defends Israel. Weiss has no problem, presumably, with Booth's support of the genocidal Hamas terrorists. We can be sure they are not Zionist, and Booth is not a Zionist, right? Nobody went into the minutiae of Weiss's past and his various public positions, in the way that he questioned Latner, but I bet that would make interesting reading. It would probably be irrelevant.  That sort of argument is called ad hominem.  It is dirty pool. Not gentlemanly.

Here is why Latner supports Israel, in his own words:

As for my attachment to Zionism, that's harder to answer. I'm not sure how 'attached' a person can be to an ideology (I'm not being sophistic here, I'm just not very good at philosophy). I did go to a non-sectarian Jewish school for three years. I was dubbed an 'apikoros' by the staff. [free-thinker] I was raised by fairly secular Jewish parents in Reconstructionist Judaism. I'd consider myself 'Jewish' as a matter of culture and heritage…

My personal beliefs on 'Zionism' are fairly simple: I believe Israel has a right to exist, and to secure itself. I believe the Palestinians, Tibetans, Taiwanese, Kurds, and every other stateless population has the right to a homeland. I think that the last 150 years of conflict in the Middle East (let alone the last four or five millennia) is far too complicated for anyone but a scholar to understand. I think there is enough blame to go around. Israel is wrong when it permits settlements to be built. I think it made a mistake when it kept the Gaza Strip after '67. I was happy when Israel pulled out of the occupied territories. Then again, I am constantly afraid for my friends in family living there. Israel does face a serious threat. But I think every time Israel overreacts, new extremists are born. So yes, I could be considered a 'Zionist', but I think that term has been hijacked to a degree. I'm pro-Israel, pro-Palestinian, and pro-Peace.

Latner let down the side here  (maybe he did not, what did Weiss hide in the ellipses??). But he can't duck the accusation: He is a Zionist. Guilty as charged.

Weiss also reported , or claims to have reported, Latner's debate remarks. He admits that he mauled the remarks by removing paragraphs, using this lame excuse:

I lose paragraphs when I transfer copy from one program to another and don't have the time to stick them in

Would you believe this? With all the resources of "The Nation" magazine at his command, Weiss can't find software that will not maul someone's text. Funny thing, but all us mendicant bloggers never lose any paragraphing unless we want to do so. Weiss would not allow this to be done to his own text, of course. He is telling us, "The computer ate my homework." Some other things might have been "lost" in this way...

[ Read The rogue debate about Israel at Israel News for Latner's debate remarks.]

Latner used reasonable arguments, though he could possibly have found more in the Israel Advocacy Handbook.

That is hardly the point. Can anyone believe this proposition was ever debated??? It is certainly hard to believe that the proposition, "Israel is a rogue state," almost won. At any rate, the incident proves that there really are young liberal Zionists, though Weiss and company would have us believe they do not exist, and though the word "Zionism" has been hi-jacked as Latner notes.

Here is the really bad news: The campaign for delegitimization of Israel has been a resounding success if the proposition  "Israel is a rogue state" can be debated seriously in a western university. The proposition that Iran is a rogue state would not even come up for debate.

The brainwashing propaganda of Mondoweiss and "The Nation" magazine and the other Hamas groupies  has scored a great success if someone like Latner thinks he has to use subterfuges to defend Israel, and has to apologize for being a Zionist. Weiss and his Hamas groupie friends have made Zionism into a dirty word, haven't they? Weiss and Lauren Booth don't think they have to apologize for supporting the Hamas. Isn't that strange?? Genocide and racism are respectable, but Zionism is not.

Hat tips: Elder of Ziyon wrote about this as Why Israel is a Rogue State (Gabriel Latner). The Balfour Street blog just called it "Why Israel is a Rogue State" and Ray Cook called it "Gabriel – arch, but no angel. How a Cambridge student defended Israel."

Ami Isseroff

Iran: Human rights for Bahai

Human rights violations against Bahai in Iran began in earnest after the Islamist coup of the Ayatollah Khomeini. They continue under President Ahmadinejad.

They include destruction of holy places, hanging of schoolteachers, denial of higher education to Bahai as well as the many rights violations documented below.

Ami Isseroff

Bahai in Iran

Last updated: 28 October 2010

Note: This report is provided as a service to news media and others desiring current information about the Baha'is in Iran. All details have been verified by the Baha'i International Community.

Words in italics have been altered or added since the previous update on 16 September.

The Baha'i community of Iran, numbering about 300,000 people, is the largest non-Muslim religious minority in the country.

---

Summary of latest news

• International Reaction: Governments, organizations and influential individuals around the world are continuing to condemn the harsh prison sentences given to the seven Iranian Baha'i leaders. In a report issued on 14 October, the Secretary General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon expressed strong concern over Iran's ongoing human rights violations, including its persecution of Iranian Baha'is. Britain's most prominent heads of religion have also called for the release of the seven Baha'i leaders. A statement describing the sentencing of the seven as a "gross violation of the fundamental human right to freedom of religion" – was signed by, among others, the Archbishop of Canterbury – who is the head of the worldwide Anglican communion; the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Westminster; the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth; and the Assistant Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Great Britain. The governments of Australia, Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, United Kingdom and United States of America, as well as the European Union and the President of the European Parliament, earlier condemned the sentences received by the seven.

• No formal announcement on reduction of prison sentence: Lawyers representing the imprisoned seven Baha'i leaders were informed orally on 15 September that the 20-year jail terms they had each received had subsequently been reduced to ten years on appeal. Iranian authorities have so far made no formal announcement on either the initial or reduced sentences. 20 year jail terms were initially reportedly handed down to the seven after they faced charges of propaganda activities against the Islamic order and the establishment of an illegal administration, among other allegations, all of which were categorically denied.

• Arrests and convictions: Since August 2004, some 329 Baha'is have been arrested in Iran. There are about 43 Iranian Baha'is currently in prison because of their religion. To date, the cases of some 271 Baha'is are still active with authorities. These include individuals in prison, those who have been released pending trial, those who have appealed their verdicts, those awaiting notification to begin serving prison sentences, and a few who are serving periods of internal exile. Thousands more have been deprived of education, questioned, threatened, denied their pensions, or debarred from earning a livelihood.

Further details

International reaction

Governments, organizations and influential individuals around the world are continuing to condemn the harsh prison sentences given to the seven Iranian Baha'i leaders.

The Secretary General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon expressed strong concern over Iran's ongoing human rights violations, including its persecution of Iranian Baha'is. In a report issued on 14 October, Mr. Ban highlighted his continuing concerns over Iran's use of torture and the death penalty, its poor treatment of women, and repeated violations of due process of law and of freedom of assembly, speech and religion. The report also took note of the trial and reported sentencing of the seven Baha'i leaders, observing that the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has expressed "deep concern" over the absence of international observers and the lack of due process in that trial, which concluded in June. "The High Commissioner voiced grave concern that the criminal charges brought against the above-mentioned individuals appeared to constitute a violation of the Islamic Republic of Iran's obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, in particular those of freedom of religion and belief and freedom of expression and association," said the report.

Britain's most prominent heads of religion have also called for the release of the seven Baha'i leaders. A statement by the United Kingdom's religious leaders – describing the sentencing of the seven as a "gross violation of the fundamental human right to freedom of religion" – was signed by, among others, the Archbishop of Canterbury – who is the head of the worldwide Anglican communion; the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Westminster; the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth; and the Assistant Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Great Britain.

Three of the United Kingdom's most distinguished lawyers also expressed their serious concern about the lack of due process accorded to Iran's seven Baha'i leaders during their trial. Dame Rosalyn Higgins QC, former President of the International Court of Justice, joined Linda Lee, President of the Law Society, and Mark Muller QC, Chair of the Bar Human Rights Committee, in signing a letter published in The Guardian newspaper. "The charges and the sentences appear to be motivated solely by the fact that [the seven] are members of the Bahá'í faith. We urge the authorities to respect Iran's obligations under international law…" the lawyers wrote in the letter.

In Spain, the City Councils of Bailén and Guarromán – in the Spanish province of Jaén –unanimously approved separate institutional declarations stating concern over the deprivation of rights and systematic persecution faced by the members of the Baha'i community in Iran. They called upon the Spanish Government and the institutions of the European Union to urge Iran to ensure that due legal process is applied to the imprisoned seven Bahai leaders jailed solely for their religious beliefs.

Canada's Minister of Foreign Affairs said on 17 September, "I note with regret reports that Iranian authorities have decided to continue the imprisonment of seven Baha'i community leaders, while reducing their sentences from 20 to 10 years. Canada maintains that these individuals appear to have been imprisoned because of their religious beliefs and that therefore they should be released unconditionally and reunited with their families as soon as possible."

The governments of Australia, Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, United Kingdom and United States of America, as well as the European Union and the President of the European Parliament, earlier condemned the harsh sentences received by the seven. Groups focused specifically on human rights have also launched letter-writing campaigns encouraging supporters to call for justice.

(For details of these and many other statements, see separate section on international reaction. Some of the media reports can be viewed here.)

No formal announcement on reduction of prison sentence

Lawyers representing the imprisoned seven Baha'i leaders were informed orally on 15 September that the 20-year jail terms they had each received had subsequently been reduced to ten years on appeal. Iranian authorities have so far made no formal announcement on either the initial or reduced sentences.

20 year jail terms were initially handed down to the seven after they faced charges of propaganda activities against the Islamic order and the establishment of an illegal administration, among other allegations, all of which were categorically denied.

The seven prisoners were moved from Evin Prison after receiving their sentence. They are now held in Gohardasht prison in Karaj. The move has imposed an added burden on their families, who now have to travel outside Tehran to visit the prisoners.

The trial of the seven began on 12 January after they had been incarcerated without charge in Tehran's Evin prison for 20 months. At the first hearing, they denied all charges against them.

A second appearance on 7 February was concerned mainly with procedural issues. The third session on 12 April, which was a closed hearing, was adjourned after the seven – with the agreement of their attorneys – refused to be party to the proceedings because of the presence of nonjudicial personnel. Three final morning sessions took place from 12 – 14 June.

The names of the seven are Mrs. Fariba Kamalabadi, Mr. Jamaloddin Khanjani, Mr. Afif Naeimi, Mr. Saeid Rezaie, Mrs. Mahvash Sabet, Mr. Behrouz Tavakkoli, and Mr. Vahid Tizfahm. Mrs. Sabet was arrested on 5 March 2008 and the others on 14 May 2008.

Until their imprisonment, the seven Baha'is were part of an ad hoc group called the Friends in Iran that, in the absence of formal Baha'i leadership, helped attend to the needs of the 300,000 Baha'is in that country. The Friends group has now been disbanded, as have smaller groups that assisted Baha'is at the local level.

Arrests and convictions

From August 2004 to 24 October 2010, some 329 Baha'is have been arrested in Iran. There are about 43 Iranian Baha'is currently in prison because of their religion.

To date, the cases of some 271 Baha'is were still active with authorities. These include individuals in prison, those who have been released pending trial, those who have appealed their verdicts, those awaiting notification to begin serving prison sentences, and a few who are serving periods of internal exile. Thousands more have been deprived of education, questioned, threatened, denied their pensions, or debarred from earning a livelihood.

Altogether, so far in 2010, detentions have occurred in Babolsar, Isfahan, Karaj, Kermanshah, Marvdasht, Mashhad, Nazarabad, Parsabad, Sari, Semnan, Shahrekord, Shiraz, Tehran, and Yazd. Other cities where Baha'is were arrested last year included Babol, Bushehr, Delijan, Ghaemshahr, Hamadan, Kashan, Kerman, Khorramabad, Khouzestan, Mahforouzak, Miandoab, Najafabad, Qazvin, Tonekabon, and Yasouj.

Most of the detentions followed the familiar pattern of agents of the Ministry of Intelligence showing up at the homes of Baha'is, searching the premises and confiscating items such as computers and books, then arresting the residents.

One family has been particularly affected in the past year or two. Seven relatives of Mr. Jamaloddin Khanjani – one of the seven imprisoned Baha'i leaders– have been detained in three different cities. Those arrested include a son, nephew, grandnephew, grandson, granddaughter, the granddaughter's husband, and a niece's husband. Most of them have gained temporary release by putting up exorbitant amounts of collateral, mainly property deeds, for bail.

Trumped-up charges against Baha'is are used to justify arrests. A Baha'i woman in Semnan was sentenced to 3½ years in prison for, among other things, "membership in anti-regime groups associated with Baha'is."

The number of Baha'is in detention varies as new people are arrested but others released after posting cash, property deeds, or business licenses as collateral.

Distribution of anti-Baha'i propaganda

In recent years, there has been an increase in false portrayals of the Baha'is in the press, on radio, television and even in scholarly publications. Since 2005, for example, the semi-official Kayhan newspaper has run more than 200 false, misleading or incendiary articles about Baha'i teachings, history and activities – an effort that has been echoed on television and radio. The Kayhan articles engage in a deliberate distortion of history, make use of fake historical documents, and falsely describe Baha'i moral principles in a manner that would be offensive to Muslims.

Recently an anti-Baha'i tract, titled "Supporters of Satan", has been widely distributed in the city of Kerman. The tract purveys the usual misrepresentations of Baha'i history and the Faith's principles, falsely asserting that it was a creation of the British and is intimately linked with Zionism.

Homes demolished in campaign to drive Baha'is out of Iranian village

Homes belonging to some 50 Baha'i families in a remote village in northern Iran were demolished as part of a long-running campaign to expel them from the region. The action occurred in Ivel, Mazandaran, when inhabitants – incited by elements inimical to the Baha'i community – blocked normal access to the village, while allowing trucks and at least four front-end loaders to begin leveling the houses. Amateur video, shot on mobile telephones and posted by Iranian human rights activists on the Internet, showed what appeared to be several buildings reduced to rubble as well as fiercely burning fires. The demolitions are the latest development in an ongoing, officially-sanctioned program in the area which has targeted every activity of the Baha'is.

Most of the Baha'i homes in Ivel have been unoccupied since their residents fled after previous incidents of violence or as a result of official displacement.

Economic pressure

Economic pressure is acute, with both jobs and business licenses being denied to Baha'is. Numerous cases have been reported of long-time shop owners being forced to surrender business licenses under threat of arrest.

Optical shops owned by Baha'is have been particularly targeted. Two such shops in Tehran recently received warning letters from the Opticians' Trade Union to close down. Earlier, optical shops in Khomein and Rafsanjan were forced to close. In Nazarabad, the operator of one of five optical stores owned by Baha'is– shops that were closed by authorities well over a year ago – managed to get a court verdict allowing her to reopen, but the Ministry of Intelligence prevented her from doing so.

Government jobs are denied to Baha'is, and Muslims often are pressured to fire Baha'is in their employ.

Authorities also use the tactic of arresting Baha'is and demanding huge sums of money, or the equivalent in property deeds for bail, as a method of impoverishing the Baha'is.

Cemetery vandalised

The vandalization of Baha'i cemeteries has become commonplace in 2010. Recently, it was reported that, on more than one occasion, truckloads of construction refuse and soil were dumped on graves in the Baha'i cemetery of Boroujerd.

The Baha'i cemetery in Mashhad was vandalized on the night of 29 May by unknown intruders who used a front-end loader and other heavy machinery. The cemetery's walls, the mortuary, and the place where the prayers were recited were severely damaged.

Harassment over Baha'i burials and the desecration of cemeteries are clear indications that the persecution is based solely on religion and not the result of any threat posed by Baha'is, as officials sometimes claim. In the past year or so, Baha'i cemeteries in Tehran, Ghaemshahr, Marvdasht, Semnan, Sari, and Isfahan have been defaced, bulldozed, or in some way blocked to the Baha'i community. In late April, a small Baha'i cemetery in Gilavand with only four graves was desecrated by intruders using a tractor; all four tombs were destroyed. Earlier, in March, a Baha'i family in Najafabad was prevented from burying a loved one in the Baha'i cemetery there, despite their having secured a permit to do so.

Persecution by educational institutions

Bahai school children at all school levels continue to be monitored and slandered by officials in schools. Secondary school students often face pressure and harassment, and some have been threatened with expulsion. Religious studies teachers are known to insult and ridicule Baha'i beliefs. In a few reported cases, when Baha'i students attempt to clarify matters at the request of their peers, they are summoned to the school authorities and threatened with expulsion if they continue to "teach" their Faith.

Recently in Karaj, the parents of a first-year high school student were told that she would be expelled unless they signed an agreement that would force her to take part in the school's political and religious events.

A Ministry of Education policy now requires declaration of religion on the registration form for the entrance exam for schools for gifted students. In the past, Baha'i pupils were allowed to take the entrance exam but any known Baha'i accepted to one of these schools was later denied admission. The new form only allows students to select between Muslim, Christian, Jew and Zoroastrian.

Universities and other institutions of higher education to a large extent remain closed to Baha'i students. In recent years, those who do manage to get admitted generally have been expelled during the course of their first year.

At Tarbiyyat Moallem University in Tehran, two Baha'is were able to get to their eighth semester but in February were finally expelled; one of them was told openly that by law, Baha'is have no right to post-secondary education.

Other recent expulsions have occurred in Semnan, Zanjan, Yazd, Gonbad, Khoramshahr, and Chabahar. There are continuing reports of youth being denied enrollment in high schools and even primary schools, and of students being harassed by teachers and other officials.

Summary of types of persecution

Harassment of Baha'is is pervasive and includes many incidents of all of the following:

• Arrests and detention, with imprisonment lasting for days, months, or years. In cases where the Baha'i is released, substantial bail is often required.
• Direct intimidation and questioning by authorities, sometimes with the use of high-intensity lights and physical mistreatment.
• Searches of homes and business, usually with Baha'i books and other items confiscated.
• School expulsions and harassment of schoolchildren.
• Prohibition on Baha'is attending universities.
• Court proceedings where Baha'is are accused of promoting propaganda against the government "for the benefit of the Bahaist sect."
• Monitoring of the bank accounts, movement, and activities of Baha'is, including official questioning of Baha'is requiring them to give information about their lives, actions, neighbors, etc.
• Denial or confiscation of business licenses.
• Denial of work opportunities in general.
• Denial of rightful inheritances to Baha'is.
• Physical assaults, and efforts to drive Baha'is out of towns and villages.
• Desecration and destruction of Baha'i cemeteries, and harassment over burial rights.
• Dissemination, including in official news media, of misinformation about Baha'is, and incitement of hatred against Baha'is.
• Evictions from places of business, including Baha'i doctors from their offices and clinics.
• Intimidation of Muslims who associate with Baha'is.
• Attempts by authorities to get Baha'is to spy on other Baha'is.
• Threatening phone calls and letters to Baha'is.
• Denial of pension benefits.
• Denial of access to publishing or copying facilities for Baha'i literature.
• Confiscation of property.