"The new Tunisian government is gearing up to ratify a new constitution, and its language condemns Zionism and rules out any friendly ties with Israel... Foreign Ministry officials were considering recruiting Western countries, to offer and apply economic sanctions and incentives to pressure Tunisia to drop the anti-Israel clause. One channel being considered is the OECD, of which Tunisia is a member."
Tunisia's new constitution to oppose Zionism, ties with Israel | Israel Hayomwww.israelhayom.com
"Israeli officials are concerned that government-sponsored hatred of Israel in Tunisia will spread to other Middle East countries, such as Egypt."
Posted on 29 November 2011
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Tunisia's Islamist guru Rashid Ghannouchi has landed in DC, to woo the think tanks. If you see him, ask about these:
• Thanks moms of Palestinian suicide bombers
http://on.fb.me/v4CQd1 • Says Gaza is "the model of freedom today"
http://on.fb.me/uEsmFW • Urges centuries of resistance to eliminate state of Israel
http://on.fb.me/v87PtH • Predicts "germ of Israel" will disappear before 2027
http://on.fb.me/vJXlth
Ghannouchi à Washington pour les «Top 100 Global Thinkers of 2011» du magazine Foreign Policy | webdwww.webdo.tn
"Durant ce voyage dans la capitale américaine, Ghannouchi fera, vendredi, un speech au prestigieux Woodrow Wilson Center sur invitation de Jane Harman, une ancienne congresswoman (députée) de Californie."
Posted on 29 November 2011
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Rachid Ghannouchi, Tunisia's "moderate" Islamist who's in deep with Hamas, is headed for Washington, if he isn't there already. This item says he's being honored by the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, but they aren't commenting, and I doubt it's true (although he's speaking at a closed session there on Friday). He's also doing other think-tanks. More to come.
Rached Ghannouchi to Visit the United States by Hend Hassass | Tunisia Livewww.tunisia-live.net
"The media representative for Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars could not be reached for comment and the Center website did not mention the event."
Posted on 28 November 2011
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Woozy Juan Cole. Excerpts: "The castigation of the Children of Israel in the Qur'an is of the same sort you see in the Hebrew Bible... In colloquial Arabic, Israelis are referred to as 'al-Yahud,' 'the Jews’ … It is silly to fight over territory. Tel Aviv is only 20 meters above sea level, and global warming will almost certainly produce a sea level rise of greater than that within two or three centuries." Sigh.
Did the Muslim Brotherhood Threaten to Kill "All Jews"? by Juan Cole | Informed Commentwww.juancole.com
Cole in the comments section, re: the Temple: "I don't know if it existed at all, much less where."
Posted on 27 November 2011
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Daoud Kuttab says Abbas shouldn't take US funds for Palestinian security services, "while schools and nurseries are not completed. Palestinians would see the aid as analogous to the 30 pieces of silver that were accepted by Judas Iscariot when he delivered Jesus—a position Abbas does not want to be in." Well, 96% of West Bank Palestinians are Muslims, and Judas and Jesus definitely won’t pop up in their minds.
Why the Palestinians might reject U.S. aid by Daoud Kuttab | Washington Postwww.washingtonpost.com
"Aligning with one side in the Middle East peace process not only erodes the United States' diplomatic leverage but also plants the seeds of doom for the United States in a sensitive region."
Posted on 25 November 2011
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Prof. Mark LeVine (d'Irvine) insinuates (and perhaps even claims) that instances of policy brutality in America have been inspired by... yes, Israel! He must have slept through his American history class in high school. The only inspiration at work here is the influence on LeVine of conspiracy thinking, Middle Eastern-style (although conspiracy-think has a long American tradition too). Fit only for Al Jazeera.
Americans get a Shabak education by Mark LeVine | Al Jazeerawww.aljazeera.com
"With an increasingly militarized police culture whose members are literally trained to see people as obstacles to be overcome rather than citizens to be protected, the American landscape has been prepared for the spread of a Shabak education to the general populace."
Posted on 25 November 2011
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Hussein Ibish takes to task "a motley crew" who "carry water" for Bashar Assad's regime, and names names: Joshua Landis, Alistair Crooke, Joseph Massad, and Ed Husain. (In particular: "The Council on Foreign Relations needs to ask itself some serious questions about its role in promoting Husain, one of the most zealous Western opponents of the quest for freedom in Syria.") The list could be lengthened.
Bashar's Western water carriers by Hussein Ibish | NOW Lebanonwww.nowlebanon.com
"Crooke, Massad and Husain have joined the notorious Landis in arguing that the Syrian people should be left to the tender mercies of their regime. The alternatives are worse, they say, and Assad's leadership isn't really as bad as people think."
Posted on 24 November 2011
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Musical chairs: "Now that Dennis Ross is out of the picture, Aaron David Miller finds himself on a very short list of State Department alums who might be under consideration by the White House. The two frontrunners are Dan Kurtzer who endorsed Obama's candidacy in the 2008 primaries and Martin Indyk, a close associate of Hillary Clinton. The question is: who will be willing come on in an election year?"
No support for Israel in the White House? by Yitzhak Benhorin | Ynetnewswww.ynetnews.com
"Rahm Emanuel is now a mayor, Dan Shapiro Ambassador to Israel and Dennis Ross resigns during election year. Obama's White House is left empty of anyone who truly understands Israel."
Posted on 22 November 2011
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"Three American students at the American University in Cairo [AUC] were arrested and accused of participating in violent protests in the Egyptian capital." The clip shows them in detention and, earlier, in the street mob, their faces partly covered. They're 19-year-old political tourists in a foreign fight. Does AUC have a policy prohibiting US students from demonstrating? If not, why not?
3 Americans Arrested in Cairo by J. David Goodman | The Lede | NYTthelede.blogs.nytimes.com
"A spokesman for the Justice Ministry, Adel Saeed, said the men were arrested by police 'for throwing Molotov cocktails from atop the AUC building' near Tahrir Square."
Posted on 22 November 2011
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More misery in Egypt: "Egypt's Case 30 index has shed 44.7% of its value since the start of the year... Foreign reserves are down to $22bn and falling. That's enough to cover only five months of imports; three months is widely seen as a minimum safe level. Yields on 9-month government debt are hovering at 15%… Egypt will remain protest-prone, while the macroeconomic matrix will also likely continue to deteriorate."
Egypt: certain uncertainty by David Keohane | FT.comblogs.ft.com
"Egypt erupted into deadly protest this weekend and investors are feeling nervous as uncertainty grips the country once again."
Posted on 21 November 2011
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