Chair of UN Human Rights & U.S. ally set to behead 3rd teenager

"Al-Zaher is the third youth to face execution in the past several months." "In September, the U.S. State Department said it “welcomed” the news that Saudi Arabia would be heading a U.N. human rights panel, noting “We’re close allies.” "

attacks against Muslims in the US

"In recent years, there has been an average of 12.6 suspected hate crimes against Muslims in the United States a month, based on F.B.I. data analyzed by the research group.  But the rate of attacks has tripled since the attacks in Paris on Nov. 13 by Islamic State operatives, with 38 attacks regarded as anti-Islamic in nature, according to the analysis, which was based on reports from the news media and civil rights groups. Eighteen of the episodes have come since the shooting in San Bernardinoon Dec. 2 by a Muslim couple who were supporters of the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, which left 14 people dead. The frequency of the recent attacks has not reached the levels seen in the immediate aftermath of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, when there were hundreds of attacks on Muslims, and some Sikhs mistaken for Muslims, but Mr. Levin said they were similar types of hate-crime attacks."

Objective reporting about Russian bombing in Syria

I would not mind to such a language if only it is applied also to US and French bombing in Syria and Iraq: "Residents say they distinguish Russian planes that fly at high altitudes in sorties from Syrian helicopters that mainly drop indiscriminate barrel bombs at much lower heights." (thanks Basim)

When Western countries show racism and bigotry, the New York Times always call that: "grappling with identity"

"These novels have captivated a country grappling with its identity and its vexed history as a colonial power,"  Imagine if an article in the Times celebrates four books or more which offend Jewish people.  

A US military assessment of the Syrian "moderate" opposition

From Butros: ""A former senior adviser to the Joint Chiefs told me that the document was an ‘all-source’ appraisal, drawing on information from signals, satellite and human intelligence, and took a dim view of the Obama administration’s insistence on continuing to finance and arm the so-called moderate rebel groups. By then, the CIA had been conspiring for more than a year with allies in the UK, Saudi Arabia and Qatar to ship guns and goods – to be used for the overthrow of Assad – from Libya, via Turkey, into Syria. The new intelligence estimate singled out Turkey as a major impediment to Obama’s Syria policy. The document showed, the adviser said, ‘that what was started as a covert US programme to arm and support the moderate rebels fighting Assad had been co-opted by Turkey, and had morphed into an across-the-board technical, arms and logistical programme for all of the opposition, including Jabhat al-Nusra and Islamic State. The so-called moderates had evaporated and the Free Syrian Army was a rump group stationed at an airbase in Turkey.’ The assessment was bleak: there was no viable ‘moderate’ opposition to Assad, and the US was arming extremists."

This is a BS story: "Exclusive: U.S. glossed over Oman's human rights record during Iran talks"

As if before the talks, the US was paying attention to human rights violations in the Sultanate. And as if, the US pays attention to human rights violations in neighboring Gulf countries. " As the United States negotiated this year’s nuclear pact with Iran, the State Department quietly agreed to spare the Gulf sultanate of Oman from an embarrassing public rebuke over its human rights record, rewarding a close Arab ally that helped broker the historic deal."

This Saudi writer was placed in a mental hospital and now has been sentenced to four years in jail for calling for constitutional government

sexual harassment and Israeli politicians

You don't read about that in the US press: hell, you don't read anything damaging to Israeli PR image in the US press.  But even Israeli press talk about the rampant problem of sexual harassment by Israeli politicians.  And typically, they rarely get more than slaps on the wrist, if that.  Even financial "irregularity", never gets more than light sentences.  Israel is an occupation entity where there is little accountability for politicians.

Los Angeles Times is looking for a Middle East correspondent: job description--kid you not

"The Los Angeles Times is looking for a seasoned reporter to cover the Middle East.

This correspondent will anchor our coverage of the ongoing conflicts in Iraq and Syria, as well as monitoring the turbulent progress of “democracy” in Egypt, North Africa and the Gulf. But more than that, we are looking for an accomplished writer who is capable of plunging into these ancient and dazzling cultures, capturing their mesmerizing variety, deep intellectual history, turbulent social upheaval and — from ISIS insurgents to entrenched dictators — their capability for brutish violence."  Who wrote this?  Raphael Patai?

Former UC president comes out openly as Israel lobbyist

"In his talk, Yudof railed against the growing divestment campaigns on college campuses and asserted that the “delegitimization of Israel is an ongoing problem.” Three years earlier, Yudof had changed the university’s policy to make it much harder to divest. Had his policy been in place a generation ago, it would have prevented the university divesting from apartheid South Africa, as it did in 1986." (thanks Amir)

More on Samir Quntar's coverage in US media

1) Basically, US media believe that Hizbullah has no right to militarily intervene in Syria but that Israel has all the right to intervene militarily in Syria, Lebanon, Sudan, and anywhere else it chooses.  2) It isn't that all US media cover the Israeli perspectives on all affairs Middle Eastern, but that they don't even bother the other point of view. I am yet to hear one newspaper mention that Quntar's consistently denied the Israeli terrorist propaganda version of what happened in occupied Nahariya back in 1979, when Quntar was not even 17.  3) Western media, especially Anne Barnard, don't mention that Syrian "activists" that they love to mention have been attacking Quntar for being....Druze.  Sectarianism is the key ingredient in the social media activism of those opposition types (not all of them, but the ones favored by US correspondents in the Middle East and by Saudi regime).

This is how Israeli terrorists assassinate: they flattened a whole residential building in Damascus to kill one man (Samir Quntar)

Your guy, Anwar Sadat and his love for Bin Laden's Islam

 Headline of Al-Ahram (probably from 1979 or 1980): "Sadat to Afghan rebels: We shall stand with you with all the force of Islam".  That is the kind of Islam that Western governments and Israel stand for.

This proves once again that beauty pageants still draw a large percentage of bimbos

""All what Muslims have done is provided oil & terrorize this country & many others!!!!" she wrote. "There's NO comparison between Jews, Christians & Muslims. Jews nor Christians have terrorizing agendas in their sacred books.""

Anne Barnard and the token Arab at the New York Times on Samir Qantar

Now Anne Barnard and the token Arab at the Times has a story on Samir Quntar.  Of course, the story of Samir Quntar's operation in occupied Palestine (when he was 17 years old) is told only from the perspective of the Israeli terrorists.  There is a whole massive book on Quntar's story (which the Zionist free speechers will ban in this country) which is titled Qissati written by Hassan Az-Zayn (who is a critic of Hizbullah, incidentally) but Anne Barnard and her Arab pro-March 14 stringers would never even bother to read.  2) notice that she only cited an Israeli expert and her choice of one commentator on Facebook who supports Israel.  All the tributes to Quntar on Facebook (in language that Anne Barnard does not understand or in a language that she understands) are ignored so that ONE Syrian commentator on FB carries the day on behalf of all Arab opinion. 3) she does not mention that scores of civilians were killed in the bombing that flattened a building. 4) she does not mention that Quntar who is Druze born joined in the 1970s a Marxist-Leninist organization. 5) she lies when she says that Quntar's work in Syria has been in support of the Syrian army when he has been exclusively devoted to building up a resistance movement in the Golan heights.

PS Of course, Anne Barnard would not bother say that Palestinian political organizations eulogized Quntar, and that even Hamas issued a statement in this regard.

Americans: who do you hate the most?

Groups Americans like best 1 Jews 2 Catholics 3 Evangelicals 4 Buddhists 5 Hindus 6 Mormons 7 Atheists 8 Muslims

Diaa Hadid: can basically produce the Zionism of Israelis, but with an Arabic name: When the occupied have "relative freedoms" under occupation

Now we know the mission of Diaa Hadid, and her ilk, at the paper.  They are allowed to basically vomit Zionist propaganda by with Arab bylines. They must be proud.  "The idea, analysts say, was to make it clear to the Palestinians not to take for granted the relative freedoms they have in East Jerusalem."

When Palestinians are killed, the killers are not known, according to the Times

Look at this paragraph: "Since the uprising began in October, Palestinians have killed 18 Israelis and an American citizen. More than 115 Palestinians have been killed in the same period."  So the paper says that Palestinians kill Israelis, but in the case of (more) Palestinians killed by Israelis the paper phrase the killing simply as "they have been killed".  By whom? We don't know.  

Look at this monumental "correction" in the Times: it is not even a correction but a Zionist addendum to the article

"Correction: December 17, 2015 

An earlier version of this article referred imprecisely to access to the mosque compound. The Israeli authorities have recently allowed nearly all Palestinian residents of Jerusalem to visit, not most Palestinians in general. (Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip generally cannot visit the compound without a permit to enter Jerusalem.) The earlier version of the article also omitted attribution for a statistic about the 115 Palestinians killed since the uprising began. According to estimates from the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, from Oct. 1 through early December, 60 Palestinians have been shot dead while attacking Israelis or being suspected of doing so. Other human rights organizations and news agencies have a slightly higher estimate of attackers killed, based on when they started counting the deaths."  This is an actual lie (the words in bold, for example): the Palestinian center never said that some were killed because "they were suspected of doing so".  This is another fabrication in the Times.  And how do Israeli killers know the intentions of Palestinians before they even perpetrate an act?  Guessing?

California prisons

"Guards at a rural California prison use other prisoners’ possessions to reward inmates who assault each other, discriminate against black and Latino inmates, and routinely engage in unnecessary force, according to a California inspector general report released Wednesday."

Ben Hubbard: judging Russian intervention in Syria

Why is it that only after weeks of Russian military intervention in Syria, all Western Zionist media say in unison that 1) they only kill women and children (I am sure that Russia kill women and children but probably far less than US/EU kill women and children in the Middle East in many places where they drop bombs; 2) that the Russian intervention has failed (I am sure that it will fail but why not declare the failure of US intervention which has lasted far longer than Russia's intervention?  Google "Putin's gambit" and then see how many articles in comparison to US gambit in Syria.

An Israeli in the New York Times teaches American how minorities should be treated

If there is a worse example of chutzpah more than this Israeli advocate preaching the Israeli model of affirmative action, in an occupation country where the 20% Arabs of the population can't even get 1% of the tenured faculty of Israeli occupation universities?

Defending national security or national race? US Radio

US propaganda outlet in Persian, Radio Farda, purposefully mistranslated the words of Wilayeti and made him say that Iran is in Syria to defend the national race--not national interest.

Norway teaches immigrants respect for women

Why not teach native Norwegians first respect for women. Domestic violence in Norway affects one in every four women.

Loyalty tests for Muslims

"Frank Luntz, the moderator, asked us the most demeaning questions like "Are you an American or a Muslim first?" To which I found insulting and shouted back, "Well, are you an American or Jewish first?""  Neither question should be asked.  (thanks Nader)

Of all those who wish to preach morality

What is ironic in living in the West is that the loudest voices in preaching morality and peace are the champions of Israeli terrorism in the West.  Those who never encounter an Israeli massacre which they don't bless and justify and rationalize.  

Before there was Israel there was Palestine and even Palestinian airlines: 1934 in Lydd Airport

Samir Al-Quntar, killed by Israeli terrorists

The story of Samir Quntar in the West is told--typically--from the standpoint of Israeli killers.  Israeli killers shape, determine, and mould the entire narrative of every aspect of the Palestinian question.  Thus, innocent people become terrorists and Israeli terrorists are transformed into heroes.  George Carlin used to do a bit on that.  Samir Quntar grew up at a time in Lebanon when posters of Palestinian martyrs filled the walls of Beirut and other cities and villages in Lebanon.  Palestinian resistance groups were perpetrating operations inside occupied Palestine, and Israeli killers do what they have always done: kill the fighters and then kill Israeli hostages--if there are hostages--and then lie and fabricate and pretend that the Palestinians were the ones who killed innocent people.  This is the pattern of Israeli terrorism from before the founding of the state, until the last Israeli terrorist war on Gaza.  The story of Quntar as a killer of children was refuted during the trial in Israel.  I have talked to freed Palestinian prisoners who were with Quntar in jail and they all refute the Israeli lie.  I asked Quntar himself and if you meet him, you believe him just as you know from seeing Netanyahu that he is a congenital liar--and this is something that his friend, Sarkozy and Obama agree on.  I met Quntar once in 2010 and he impressed me as someone who was sincere in his defense of the Palestinian cause, and as someone who would never ever commit the crime that Israeli fabricators and liars attributed to him.  He did not care about anything in the world except Palestine and its liberation.  As a boy, Samir Quntar used to write on his school notebooks "martyr Samir Quntar".  He could not wait to graduate high school to join a Palestinian organization and to visit Palestine and participate in the liberation of Palestine.  Zionist media in the US will tell a different story and if you were to meet Quntar you would know that he is a truthful person.  He became Palestinian by choice: his accent is Palestinian (he told me that his Lebanese wife--and she was sitting with us--was urging him to erase his Palestinian accent.  I told him to disregard her wish in that case) and in jail, he settled disputes among Palestinian factions in jail.  He was consumed with the dream of the liberation of Palestine. I talked him about Hizbullah and its domestic Lebanese policies and its blunders and he said: I never care about the "politics" of Hizbullah. He told me that ever since he was freed from jail, he made it clear to Hizbullah leadership that he only cared about "resistance" against Israeli occupation.  Nothing else mattered to him.  Yes, he agreed to fight in Syria alongside the lousy Syrian regime, but he did so--and you don't have to agree with his perspective--purely from the standpoint of serving the Palestinian cause--as he saw it.  If his reading of the Palestinian cause dictated that he fought in Chechnya, he would have fought in Chechnya. That is the person that he was.  But he was not killed by Israeli terrorists because he was fighting in Syria. He was killed because he was active in resistance against Israeli occupation.  Israel never kills the likes of Mahmoud Abbas or Yasir Abed Rabbu, it only kills those who are active and effective in resisting Israeli occupation and terrorism.  Make no mistake about it: this is why Quntar was killed.  The Syrian regime, typically, failed to protect him: it is a regime which protects thieves, killers, murderers, mafias, and henchmen. It does not protect resisters against Israel.  This is a regime which surrendered what it called "strategic arsenal" only to reassure Israel.  Samir Quntar did not wait to "determine the time and place of the battle with Israel"--the language of the lousy Ba`th party. He himself determined the time and place of the battle with Israel. No resistance fighter anywhere should ever trust the Syrian regime. This is a regime which sold resistance fighters and strugglers in its history for a price from Israel and from US.  This is the regime which surrendered Ocalan, and would sell resistance fighters against Israel for a price. There are some in the Arab world (who work for Qatari and Saudi regime media) who are taking the occasion to mock the Russian government and its anti-air missiles.  Of course, Putin can't be trusted on Palestine and the rhetoric of Syrian regime propaganda about Putin has been nauseating.  But while Putin has reached an agreement with Israel to allow Israel to commit crimes and atrocities and massacres in Syria and Lebanon without Russian intervention, you can't accuse Putin of being closer to Netanyahu than the latter is to US/EU and GCC regimes.  I mean, Israel is closer, far closer, to that camp.  But those who are active in resistance against Israeli occupation and terrorism should never ever trust the intentions of Russia--or the lousy Syrian regime for that matter. Lastly, this murder of Quntar is a breach of an agreement for the exchange of prisoners with Israel. Arabs should learn once and for all, that the terrorist enemy that is Israel never ever respects its signature and never ever respects its commitments, agreements, or promises.  Similarly, Arabs should learn to never ever respect agreements they reach with Israel.  The terrorist Israeli enemy trample on international laws to commit its massacres and to steal lands, and Arabs should learn to act with Israel as it acts itself: in bad faith.  They may reach prisoners exchanges with Israel, but after the release all bets should be off, just as the terrorist Israel acts.  

Members of the Saudi coalition against terrorism boarding their mission plane

Abu Nidal and his organization, again

The former key aide to Abu Nidal, `Atif Abu Bakr, has been spilling the beans in interviews with lousy Saudi-financed media. I don't know his motives but they are suspicious.  He insists that Abu Nidal was working for Israeli intelligence (which very well may be) but why would you work for him all those years if you think that he was working for Mossad?  Furthermore, he tells the story that two Mossad agents, Mike Harari and David Kimche snuck as photo journalists into the famous Khartoum summit in late 1967 (the 3 Nos summit).  He relies on this picture to make his case: but the picture of both men are available on the internet and they don't resemble them.  Harari (who was considered a hero in Israeli propaganda although he was the one who "keys" a poor Moroccan waiter back in 1974 and insisted that he was Abu Hasan Salamah and was behind the murder of the waiter in front of his pregnant wife) would have been older than the picture, and David Kimche used to visit Lebanon during the reign of Amin Gemayel and his pictures were published in the press: he was bald with a bad toupee over his head.  But I believe Abu Bakr on one thing: that his organization was behind the killing of Zuhayr Mohsin (the head of the pro-Syrian regime, As-Sa`iqah, one of the most thuggish and murderous organizations of the PLO).  Mohsin never posed a threat to Israel and specialized in theft and burglaries in Beirut during the war.  

US government could not blame this one on Russian jets, like they did in Syria

"US airstrike today may have inadvertently killed Iraqi soldiers near Fallujah. Investigation under way."

Saudi Arabia against terrorism

(thanks Laurie)

Um Nasir has died

Um Nasir was a Lebanese assistant to Yasir `Arafat.  In his Lebanese sojourn, Um Nasir was quite influential but she never abused her position.  

"Gulf Potentates (spoiled brats) and Mixed Martial Arts"

"Sunni royal families such as the al Khalifas have a bit of an MMA obsession. The Shidokan Jitsu Warriors War event in 2001 was hosted with the help of Kuwait’s ruling House of Sabah. Royals in the UAE and Jordan have spent untold millions supporting elite Brazilian jiu-jitsu coaches of their own. The most prestigious submission grappling competition on Earth, the Abu Dhabi Combat Club Submission Wrestling World Championship, was founded in 1998 by Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed al Nayhan. Tahnoon is the younger brother of United Arab Emirates President Khalifa bin Zayed al Nayhan, and the son of previous president Zayed bin Sultan al Nahyan. Twelve years later, in 2010, Tahnoon got such a taste for combat sports that one of his investment vehicles, Flash Entertainment, bought a ten percent stake in the UFC’s parent company Zuffa LLC."  (thanks Eric)

The Nicholas Blanford school of journalism in reporting about matters relating to Hizbullah

"Several south Lebanon residents whose relatives are fighting in Syria or have undergone training told The Associated Press that an intense recruitment campaign has been underway. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk about Hezbollah's operations, which are kept largely secret.   Once in Syria, the fighters wear pro-government National Defense Forces camouflage uniforms and are asked to speak with a Syrian dialect so they don't attract attention."  Fighters are also asked to sing Syrian songs and to only eat Baraziq and to only chant for Bashshar and to only dance Syrian dances.  (thanks Basim)

Hollywood in Tel Aviv

This article is clearly a pure propaganda piece by a Zionist reporter.  The write strains throughout the article to make the case that indeed Hollywood is moving to Tel Aviv but the evidence is most flimsy. Basically it centers on the fact that Madonna bought an apartment there.  The rest is: one actor visited and another shot a film there, etc.  (thanks Sal)

Ahrar Ash-Sham

The sign says: "Democracy is Polytheism".  No wonder Ahrar Ash-Sham got a front seat in the Syrian opposition meeting hosted by House of Saud.  

Look how nice they are: when the White Man allows the natives to pick literary prizes

"Prominent members of the French society visited Tunisia in October to assist the Tunisian affiliate in selecting candidates for the prize."

Hugh Naylor of the Washington Post on why Syrian rebel bombings are harmless, really

"The latest round of violence appears to have been triggered by rebel groups in the area firing an unusually intense salvo of mortars at government-held areas of the capital. State media said those attacks killed three people and wounded 30."  You can tell he means: attacks killed "only three people and wounded only 30.  Naylor estimates that over four years, Syrian rebels have not killed more than three people according to his citation of "state media".    Of course, according to Hugh Naylor, only terrorists and shabbihah reside in "government-held areas" of the capital, while Syrian rebel-held areas only contain civilians. This is the formula of Washington Post coverage of the Syrian conflict.  

Shib`a Farms

My weekly article in Al-Akhbar: "Shib`a Farms: Will it ever return to you, o Lebanon"?

Sikhs and Muslims

My local paper (the Modesto Bee) has an article by someone who does not know anything about foreign policy about the need to distinguish between Muslims and Sikhs.  He basically wants people to make sure before they beat up a stranger that he is a Muslim and not an innocent Sikh.  The writer also objected to the notion that the word Islam is related to peace--although he does not know Arabic, but since when is the lack of knowledge of Arabic stopped people in US from pontificating about Arabic and Arabs?
PS I have refused for over a decade to speak to anyone from the Modesto Bee and refuse to answer any questions by them for these kind of reasons. 

Nasser on the Saudi-led Islamic Alliance

Gov. Chris Christie said that he can't wait to negotiate peace in the Middle East with Anwar Sadat

He said that he is willing to talk to Nasser if Nasser agrees to meet with him.

How did Palestinian students at the University of Haifa respond when Israeli occupation state brought to them an Egyptian to preach peace with occupation?

Watch video. (thanks Mirvat)

Navy seals

"The three Navy SEALs stomped on the bound Afghan detainees and dropped heavy stones on their chests, the witnesses recalled. They stood on the prisoners’ heads and poured bottles of water on some of their faces in what, to a pair of Army soldiers, appeared to be an improvised form of waterboarding....A United States Army medic standing guard at the base, Specialist David Walker, had expected the men from SEAL Team 2 to put a stop to the abuse. Instead, he said, one of them “jump-kicked this guy kneeling on the ground.” Two others joined in, Specialist Walker and several other soldiers recounted, and along with the Afghan militiamen, they beat the detainees so badly that by dusk, one would die.  The four American soldiers working with the SEALs reported the episode, which has not previously been disclosed. In a Navy criminal investigation, two Navy support personnel said they had witnessed some abuse by the SEALs, as did a local police officer. Separately, an Afghan detained with the man who died provided a detailed account of mistreatment by American troops and Afghan militiamen in an interview with The New York Times...Even before the beatings, some of the SEALs had exhibited troubling behavior. According to the soldiers and Afghan villagers, they had amused themselves by tossing grenades over the walls of their base, firing high-caliber weapons at passing vehicles and even aiming slingshots at children, striking them in the face with hard candy."