Look at the caption for this picture in the New York Times

"Girls at a Gaza school were stunned to find it closed."  No, you smart people of the Times.  They are stunned obviously to see all that destruction.

Gaza girls cleaning up after Israeli terrorism

stating the obvious: not all Syrians are with the rebels

"Isn’t that what the rebels also claim?

Mustapha: No. You know, the rebellion is not a movement as popular as you might think. The Muslim brothers are the ones who tried to knock the regime over. If it's still in place today, it means that the Syrian people made the decision not to follow them. These radicals have got full support from Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Western countries.
Khaled: Just read the names of most of the rebel groups. They’re all Islamic names, not a single one is not related to religion.

Don't you think Syrian people only wanted to follow the path of countries like Tunisia or Libya?
Mustapha: Apart from the Muslim brothers, most of the rebels are not even from Syria. I come from Aleppo, so let’s take my city as an example. The German weekly newspaper Die Welt published a note by the BND – the German secret service – estimating that 95 percent of the rebels occupying the city came from Turkish rear bases where Islam fighters from all over the world gather before going to war.
Wissam: Take a look at what’s currently happening in Antakya, where my father was born. Foreign fighters financially supported by various Arabic businessmen are invading the city. The people can't handle it anymore."

The US does not like Shaykh `Ar`ur

""Another example is Sheik Adnan Mohammed al-Aroor, an extremist cleric from Hama who receives money from Saudi Arabia and appears often on Arab television. He is said to have undercut the military councils’ coordination in northern Syria. The United States have urged the Saudis to cut support for Aroor, but activists say that his followers remain potent on the ground."" (thanks Sultan)

PS I remember when groupies of the Syrian "revolution" in the West were telling me that `Ar`ur had no influence and no ties to people in Syria.  Kid you not. 

A Labor MP and Ahmad Mua`dh Al-Khatib

A reader sent me this: 

 "I’m a long time reader of your blog and thought I would share an experience you might enjoy. I go to University in Hull (a small city in England near Leeds) and on Friday the local Labour MP Diane Johnson came to the University to give a short speech on the Middle East and in particular to mention a recent visit to Jordan, I should mention in the room of about 20 people the vast majority were Zionists. So you almost know what to expect by now, she mentioned when she met King Abdullah who she thought was ‘impressive’ (read speaks English and wears a suit), she claimed he wanted ‘democracy’ and a ‘vibrant civil society’ with ‘flourishing ideas’ but it was his advisers who were subverting this and then said that the King is broadly popular within the country and thus reform was all that is needed within the country.

Anyway MP Johnson went on to talk about Syria and she stated that she wanted Britain to do more to help the ‘Syrian revolutionaries’. She was largely preaching to the choir at this point and then several audience members asked if maybe Britain could assist in cyberwarfare, delivering weapons and the such to aid the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad. The audience and the MP almost egging each other on, except one Zionist who mentioned the Salafi presence within the opposition but this was almost brushed off as a minority of the opposition.

At this point I had an urge to shock the Zionist members of the group and asked if she knew who the Syrian National Coalition of Revolutionary and Opposition Forces were and then preceded to enlighten the group to what Ahmad Ma’adh Al-Khatib had previously said, at this point I relayed the points you made on your blog and mentioned how he claimed masturbation causes tuberculosis, called facebook a US-Israeli intelligence plot, called for jihad to rescue the Ummah and then I saved the two best for last, him calling Zionism a ‘cancerous racist movement’ and the virtues of Saddam Husayn being that ‘he terrified the Jews’. The tone in the room changed all of a sudden and now I had begun to see concern on the Zionists who were now non-plussed and had just been encouraging the killing of Syrians by both sides but mention anti-Zionism suddenly they become concerned!

Now that I had shown he was anti-Semitic and, previously at least, anti-Zionist there was now concern about the opposition and MP Johnson was shocked and could barely reply asked me for the quotes and now seemed quite concerned and said she will try and forward them to Foreign Office and William Hague. I went to ask how she could hypocritically support peaceful reform in Bahrain, Jordan, Yemen and Morocco while she favoured violent ‘revolution’ in Syria, again as every good (or is it bad?) politicians does she evaded the question mentioning that from what she saw King Abdullah was popular."

Okinawans are tired of hosting American soldiers

From a reader:  ""The U.S. military's long-strained relationship with the people of Okinawa is more tense than usual now that two American servicemen are being prosecuted for gang-raping a Japanese woman in mid-October. Okinawans, who are tired of hosting more than 20,000 American soldiers—half of the 47,000 American servicepeople stationed in Japan—still remember the gang rape of a 12-year-old Japanese girl in 1995."

"Two more U.S. servicemen were arrested in Japan on Friday, police said."

The US is spreading democracy, damn it

""According to a Congressional Research Service report, between 2008 and 2011, the U.S. delivered $116.8 billion worth of weapons into the Middle East, and most of that to the Gulf states.""

This is intellectual passes as an intellectual argument in the US

""Karl Marx once called on workers of the world to unite across national boundaries. He told them that they had more in common with each other than with the ruling classes that oppressed them in the name of nationalism. Marx exhorted workers to throw off the "false consciousness" of national identity. Today’s Karl Marx is Iran.""  How dumb is that? (thanks Amir)

Sons of Zayid

"Dubai, famed for its mega-projects before it was hit by the global financial crisis, on Saturday announced a new development to open the world’s biggest mall and a park larger than London's Hyde Park. The ruler of the Gulf desert city state, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, announced the plan for a “new city within Dubai,” according to an official statement, naming it after himself. No cost was stated for “Mohammed bin Rashid City,” to be carried out by his Dubai Holding and the publicly-listed Emaar Properties, which developed many of Dubai's prestigious projects, including Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest tower."

Caliph Mursi

Basim sent me this: "You should remind your readers that you referred to Mursi from day one as "the Caliph, Muhammad Mursi Mubarak.""

Bassam Mroue wants to show the White Man that he can be as biased for Israel as he

Souheil sent me this:  "So many enraging statements in this Bassem Mroue article

These 2 pearls:
"Hezbollah, like Hamas and other Gaza militant factions, maintains a rocket arsenal and regularly threatens to use it. It fought an inconclusive 34-day war with the Jewish state in 2006 that left 1,200 Lebanese and 160 Israelis dead." (emphasis mine)

and the horrible equivalency here:
"In the Gaza conflict, Israeli aircraft launched some 1,500 strikes on targets linked to the Palestinian territory's Hamas rulers and other groups, while Gaza militants fired roughly the same number of rockets into Israel."

PS I don't mind describing the July 2006 war as inconclusive, but the notion that there is a qualitative or quantitative equivalence between Gaza rockets and the missiles of Israel is just plane wrong.  Mr. Mroue does not know (or wants to pretend that he does not know) that every Israeli "strike" entails many missiles and bombs.  

Who is more qualified to teach about democracy and human rights than propagandists for Saudi princes?

I mean, really.  No one is more qualified to preach about democracy than House of Saud's propagandists. (thanks "Ibn Rushd")

This is the question that matters: not freedom or democracy

""But that raises an even more intriguing question going forward — whether Morsi, having shown himself, for the moment, to prefer being more Deng Xiaoping than Ayatollah Khomeini, has any inclination to also be Anwar Sadat, that is, to use his clout to forge an Israeli-Palestinian breakthrough so that Egypt isn’t caught in this vice again."" (thanks David)

PS What vice?

Free Syrian Army exploits

From Akram:  "In a previous post, I mentioned the efforts of the FSA gangs to destroy the Syrian air defense capabilities. The last week witnessed another chapter of this devastating story when the Free Syrian Army gangs announced destroying the radar station in Marj al-Soultan (East Ghouta). The radar station mentioned by the FSA is more than a simple radar. It's actually, a major aerial reconnaissance station and is one of three major aerial reconnaissance stations covering the Syrian territory and compose the backbone of the country's air defense system. Its main mission was tracking the warplanes taking off from the Israeli air bases and updating the Syrian air defense battalions with its instantaneous location. With this operation, Syria became totally blind against any potential Israeli air attack. More on this story can be read here (Arabic)"

Gaza and its wall

From Geoff:  "check out friedman's column today in which he says Hamas erected it's own barrier with Israel!! According to Mr T, Gaza chose closed borders and rockets instead of open borders and computers! i ask you angry arab to explain how is it that arabs became so hateful and destructive and hidebound? is mr t right, that they feel humiliated? or is it that they are so consumed with hatred that they don't love their own children? "

Dumb Feminism II

"At one demonstration in Beirut women prominently displayed a blue bra on a protest banner."  Wow. How radical.  How feminist.  How audacious.  But are you sure that the bra was not green?  Are you really sure?  Also, I was wearing a blue sock yesterday, is that feminism or radical or communist?  Please let me know.  Where is the White Man to be impressed. 

Most important honor that can be bestwoed on a man or woman

The Saudi King was chosen by an Islamic organization in Jordan (funded by House of Saud) as the most influential man there is.  Please wake up the kids and release the pigs from the barn.  They would be delighted to the news.  (thanks Gabriel)

Dumb Feminism

There is a genre of--let me call it--Dumb Feminism--that native fake liberals produce to please the White Man and to sustain funding for lousy liberal NGOs that dot our Middle East landscape.  This silly piece is an example of this Dumb Feminism.  Look at this:  "nudity expresses the will to wage a non-violent struggle of ideas."  Every time you take your cloths off to take a shower, remember that you are unwittingly waging a non-violent struggle of ideas--what ideas? We don't really know.  The authors of this dumb feminism piece are too profound to explain to us.

PS I just removed my socks.  Man. It sure does feel like I just engaged in non-violent struggle of ideas.

limited US role in the formation of the National Coalition of Syrian Revolutionary Forces

I love the word limited in this sentence:  "(There was a limited US and European intervention in the process that led to the formation of the National Coalition of the Syrian revolutionary and opposition forces").

 لقد كان هنالك تدخّل أميركيّ وأوروبيّ محدود في عملية التوصل لإنشاء الائتلاف الوطنيّ لقوى الثورة والمعارضة السوريّة.

PS What is hilarious is that neither the US government nor the US media were shy in talking about the US role in this whole process.  

Arabic tribute to Petraeus

Read this tribute to David Petraeus that was published first in An-Nahar (the dying Lebanese right-wing, racist, sectarian Christian newspaper) and then on the site of Al-Arabiyyah (the news station of King Fahd's brother-in-law) and wonder whether it was literally a paid political advertisement.  When I read it I remembered about the contracts by the Pentagon with the Lincoln Group which drafted articles that were favorable to US wars in the Middle East, and then translated them and had them published (for a fee) in Arabic newspaper.  Read this passage and let me know if it is possible that this was not a PAID political advertisement inserted in the Arabic press:
(What happened with Petraeus should not remove from memory what he did for Lebanon, as he sought to improve the capabilities of the the Lebanese state and its institutions and apparati, through the supply of support for the Lebanese Army and the security forces in order to meet the challenge that is constituted in the trend toward the formation of "state-within-a-state [sic] regional extensions, and what he aimed at in order to extricate the republic from the logic of "followership, guardianship, and hegemony.  And Petraeus also contributed to the official effort aiming at fightign extremism and terrorism and to limit the spread of fundamentalist currents.  And lastly, Petraeus was concerned about the protection of minorities in the region, as part of his belief in its role in spreading the values of moderation, tolerance, democracy, freedom and human rights and the establishment of the "righteous states).

"ما حصل مع بترايوس لا يُغيِّب من الذاكرة ما فعله من أجل لبنان، إذ سعى إلى تعزيز قدرات الدولة اللبنانية ومؤسساتها وأجهزتها، عبر توفير الدعم للجيش اللبناني والقوى الأمنية، لتتمكّن يوماً من مواجهة التحدّي المتمثّل في الجنوح نحو إقامة "دولة ضمن الدولة" امتداداتها اقليمية، وما هدف إليه كي تَخرُج الجمهورية من منطق "التبعية والوصاية والهيمنة". كما ساهم بترايوس في الجهد الرسمي الهادف إلى مكافحة التطرّف والإرهاب والحدّ من انتشار التيارات الأصولية. أخيراً، حرص بترايوس على حماية الأقليات في المنطقة، إيماناً منه بدورها في نشر قيَم الاعتدال والتسامُح والديموقراطية والحرّيات وحقوق الإنسان وبناء "دول الحق"."

like many Syrians

"Like many Syrians, she faults the West, accusing it of a moral failure for not interceding. She said the West had not acted because Syria lacks oil and Israel wants to see it shattered."  Like many Syrians? If this is the view of "many Syrians" why don't we read about this view in the New York Times? If anything, we read in Kristoff and other writers that the Syrians love America and Americans and dance the dabke once they hear that someone is visiting from the US.

speaking in Arabic

"she said, speaking in Arabic over coffee in a Midtown Manhattan hotel".  I am sure that you spoke to her through an interpreter because you can't conduct a conversation in Arabic.  But why did you leave that out of the account?

Stop the presses, please. Neil MacFarquhar found a fiar-skinned Syrian and is besides himself

"Ms. Yazbek, who has the fair complexion of many coastal Syrians".

Sectarian Oscillation

"Ms. Yazbek, a novelist, oscillates between embracing the Alawite label and rejecting it".  So she is a sectarian of convenience? Or is she a good sectarian who is not like bad sectarians?

Behind the picture on Gaza

"A photograph may be worth a thousand words, but even at its most revealing it never tells an entire story. It is the capture of a single moment, a split-second version of the truth. But if it is an effective photograph, it moves the viewer toward a larger truth.
That’s certainly the case for a front-page photograph published Nov. 15, an image of a man’s anguish as he held the shrouded body of his 11-month-old son, who was killed in a bomb strike on the man’s house in Gaza.
That the man is Palestinian — not a terrorist but a journalist — and that the bomb was dropped by Israelis, to my mind, is almost beside the point. This photo depicted loss and pain, the horrific cost to innocents on both sides of the violence in the Middle East.
But many Post readers saw it differently. Jewish groups and American Jews in large numbers wrote to the ombudsman and to Post editors, protesting the photo as biased.
MaryAnne Golon, The Post’s director of photography, explained to me that the purpose of any front-page photo, regardless of subject, is to move the reader, whether through its beauty, sentiment or drama.
“When we looked at the selection that night of Middle East photos from the wire services, this photo got everyone in the gut,” Golon said. “It went straight to the heart, this sobbing man who just lost his baby son.”
Post staff then authenticated and verified the facts behind the Associated Press photo. The dead baby was real. The bombing was real.
Many readers asked why The Post didn’t balance the photo of the grieving father with one of Israelis who had lost a loved one from the Gaza rocket fire. That’s a valid question.
The answer is that The Post cannot publish photographs that don’t exist. No Israeli civilian had been killed by Gaza rocket fire since Oct. 29, 2011, more than a year earlier. The first Israeli civilian deaths from Gaza rocket fire in 2012 did not take place until Nov. 15, when Hamas, the group that controls Gaza, began firing more accurate and deadly missiles in response to the Israeli offensive that had begun the day before. There were no recent photos of Israeli casualties to be had on the night of Nov. 14." (thanks Michele)

Acceptable Arab-Americans who agree to sit at the children's tables at dinner parties

"After issuing a disgraceful statement on Gaza on behalf of his one-man outfit Zogby appeared on MSNBC with his good friend and Zionist fanatic Martin Indyk to have a friendly chat about what the US should be doing. There were no condemnations and no mention of the unconditional US support of Israel’s war crimes."

House of Saud Zionism: this is a new feature about Wahhabi Zionism

This is a headline from Al-Arabiyya (the website of the news station of King Fahd's brother-in-law) "Gaza schools reopen after cross-border conflict".

morality police in Syria: confirmed

From Akram, the Angry Arab's correspondent in Syria:  "Regarding the disturbing news about the increased radicalization of the armed groups, especially in northern Syria:

• In my latest post about the new Mukhabarat agency created by the Syrian rebels, I referred to a photo indicating the presence of a Saudi-like moral police. I was then sure of the authenticity of the photo and that it wasn't fake. But for more confirmation, here and here are some opposition links (in Arabic) confirming the news where you can see the same scene taken from different angles.

• Meanwhile, an opposition group, called the Revolutionary Transitional Council of Aleppo, denied "strongly" issuing a statement banning women from driving cars in Aleppo, adding that it adheres "strictly to the women rights and to all public freedoms recognized worldwide" (Arabic)"

When Israeli terrorists kill a Palestinian and injure nine the New York Times gives it this headline: "Tension and Confusion Linger in Gaza Strip After Cease-Fire"

"Mr. Qudaih’s cousin Anwar Qudaih, 20, was killed, and nine others were wounded, Health Ministry officials here in Gaza said."

Human Rights Watch has finally spoken on Gaza: here is a summary of their findings

Just compare the language of condemnation of Palestinians versus the language about Israeli war crimes

 Mouin sent me this:  

"Since November 14, Palestinian armed groups have launched approximately 1,500 rockets towards population centers in Israel, the Israeli government stated. Rockets killed three Israeli civilians and wounded 219 others, including at least three seriously, according to OCHA and media reports, while a mortar shell fired from Gaza killed a fourth Israeli civilian. Launching rockets that cannot distinguish civilians from military targets, or deliberately launching rockets at or otherwise targeting civilians, are serious violations of the laws of war.

...

From November 14 to noon on November 21, Israeli aerial and artillery attacks killed at least 90 Palestinian civilians in Gaza, including 26 children and 12 women, OCHA reported. The Gaza Health Ministry reported at 10 p.m. on November 21 that those wounded included 381 children under age 17, including 119 under age 5, as well as 186 women, and 88 people older than 60. Israeli attacks on presumptively civilian structures, including media buildings, civilian government buildings and police stations, raise concerns that the laws of war were violated;

rabid fanatics

""The textbook calls Muslims "rabid fanatics" with "savage beginnings" and characterizes the Prophet Muhammad as a "rabid Jew-hater," according to the organization's letter.""

neutron bomb

""A Labour former defence minister stunned peers by suggesting that a neutron bomb could be used to create a "cordon sanitaire" in troubled border regions such as the one between Afghanistan and Pakistan.""

Israeli terrorism against Gaza: the context

"The Israeli government has referred to its siege policy as a form of “economic warfare.” In a Nov. 2008 cable from the US embassy in Tel Aviv released by WikiLeaks, US officials wrote, “As part of their overall embargo plan against Gaza, Israeli officials have confirmed . . . on multiple occasions that they intend to keep the Gazan economy on the brink of collapse without quite pushing it over the edge” with the aim of having Gaza’s economy “functioning at the lowest level possible consistent with avoiding a humanitarian crisis.” This was achieved through an Israeli-imposed blockade that ended all normal trade.  The result has been high and persistent unemployment, which stood near 30 percent by June 2012, according to the International Monetary Fund. Approximately 39 percent of Gaza’s people lived below the poverty line in 2011. The figure would be far greater without donor aid.  Gaza’s economic decline is seen in the near collapse of its agricultural sector. One factor is the destruction of around 7,800 acres of agricultural land during Cast Lead. Consequently, approximately one-third of Gaza’s total arable land is out of production. Furthermore, Israeli-imposed buffer zones — areas of restricted access — now absorb nearly 14 percent of Gaza’s total land and at least 48 percent of total arable land.  Similarly, the sea buffer zone covers 85 percent of the maritime area promised to Palestinians in the Oslo Accords, reducing 20 nautical miles to three, where waters are fouled by sewage flows in excess of 23 million gallons daily.  Another critical constraint is water. Gaza’s aquifer has been ruined by prolonged over-pumping and sewage and contaminant infiltration.
Almost all of Gaza’s municipal wells used for drinking water are seriously polluted. Due to the breakdown of Gaza’s sanitation infrastructure, particularly after 2008, this infiltration has led to elevated levels of nitrates and chlorides in the groundwater and soil — far above World Health Organization safety levels — posing a dangerous health risk to humans and livestock.
Israel’s blockade policy restricts the entry of materials needed to repair, maintain, and upgrade Gaza’s sewage and wastewater treatment infrastructure. Save the Children reported in 2011 that Israeli airstrikes destroyed water and sanitation infrastructure valued at $1.3 million.
The impact on health is clear: Just under 10 percent of Gazan children under five suffered from chronic malnutrition in 2010. According to Save the Children, “Diseases of poverty and conflict combined with a degenerating health care system are claiming growing numbers of Gaza’s children.”"

All that you have done to our people is registered in notebooks

Names of Palestinian children murdered by Israeli military terrorists written on their desk.

PS Look in their eyes and realize why Israel's years are numbered.   

PPS  THe picture to the left is from a previous Israeli terrorist war on Gaza.  

limits on freedom of the press in the West

""Article 10.ii of the European convention on human rights lays down that the press may be regulated "in the interests of national security, territorial integrity or public safety, for the prevention of disorder or crime, for the protection of health or morals, for the protection of the reputation or rights of others, for preventing the disclosure of information received in confidence, or for maintaining the authority and impartiality of the judiciary"."

wealthy Gulf men

"" "Wealthy gulf men come here and tell us that they want to take care of our daughters and our families, but we all know what they really want: a good time," said Abu Hamad, a member of a Zaatari camp committee formed to fend off would-be grooms."" (thanks Amir)

Hamas, torn apart

""Qatar has sought to use its vast wealth to win over Hamas with investments and humanitarian aid and encouraging Arab partners to do the same — part of the hyper-rich U.S. allied nation's broader campaign to bring under its wing Islamist movements that have risen to power in the region the past two years. Qatar's influence with Hamas could edge it away from armed action toward diplomacy. Iran, meanwhile, is invigorating its longtime role as the builder of the rocket arsenal for Hamas' military wing. For Hamas, there are benefits in both directions — and it's happy to play both sides.""

Zionist morality: they can die, but what about their cats (remind me of Hitler's love of animals)

"@sharonudasin stalks the wards of Shifa hospital in #Gaza. "Doctor, with all these people injured or dead, who will feed their cats?"" (thanks Steve)

Syrian rebel morality police

Do people have confirmation to stories about the formation of a Saudi-like moral police in some districts under the control of the FSA and other rebel groups?  What about the story that women are banned from driving cars in Aleppo in areas under Salafite control? Any confirmation?

Syrian former leftists

A critique of Syrian former leftists.

Another death in the House of Saud

My shovel is on the ready for the House of Saud.  I have not been able to catch up.  Mojtahed is reporting a health complication for the Saudi king after his back surgery.  His death should really open the door for more intense conflict in the family. 

Nabatiyyah camp: erased by Israeli bombs

It occurred to me yesterday that we should have a special website to chronicle all Israeli crimes from the beginning of the Zionist colonization of Palestine.  And just yesterday I thought about the Nabatiyyah refugee camp that does not exist anymore.  This was a refugee camp near the city of Nabatiyyah in South Lebanon which housed thousands of Palestinian families who were kicked out from their homeland in 1948.  In 1974-1975, the labor government of Shimon Peres and Itzhak Rabin ordered massive bombing raids against the camp and the bombing raids were so incinerating that it was bombed out of existence, literally.  In December 1975, Israeli fighter jets bombed the camp and there was nothing left whatsoever.  This is the other history of Israel that most Americans are ignorant about. 

This is an Israeli dove, mind you

"Les habitants de Gaza participent à la guerre contre Israël : nous avons retirés les colons, nous sommes partis [en 2005, Israël a effectué un retrait unilatéral de la bande de Gaza], pourquoi continuent-ils à nous tirer dessus ? Ce sont les habitants de Gaza qui ont élu le gouvernement du Hamas, qui – je le répète – est un gouvernement responsable de ses actions" (thanks Houari)

Accoriding to Ian Black of the Guardian, Israel occupied the Goland heights in 1973

(thanks Yago)

Prince Hamzah of Jordan

Hani sent me this:  "Your earlier post linking the New York Times Article makes more sense since Hamzah married a Jordanian from Canada - I guess to appease to the Jordanian nationalists

The link is found here".