Barack Obama’s Delivers Reassuring Speech to the Israeli People
This is President Obama’s recent speech to the Israeli people – one of the most reassuring he has made to Israelis during his presidency, explicitly acknowledging their right to a Jewish state living in security next to its Arab neighbours, backed by the strongest country in the world [the USA].
I don’t know what his true vision or policy is, but this will definitely improve his reputation amongst Israelis and American Jews who have been very anxious about him.
My only reservations are his comments insisting that the Palestinian Authority, led by Mahmoud Abbas, is a partner for peace. I am not so sure. To date, I feel that the only difference between the PA and Hamas is their strategy for eliminating Israel.
Hat tip: Israellycool – “President Obama’s Full Speech to the Israeli People”
Female Egyptian Lawyer Advocates Sexual Harassment of Israeli Women
This has to be one of the most sickening things I have see for a while:
In a media interview, a female Egyptian Lawyer, Nagla Al-Imam, recommends that Arab Men Should Sexually Harass Israeli Women, as a tactic to achieve territorial gains in the Arab-Israeli conflict. Nagla Al-Imam actually advises Arab men to tell Israeli Women that they should “leave the land so we won’t rape you”.
See the video here:
http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/1903.htm
This was provided courtesy of the Middle East Media Research Institute’s TV Monitoring project, MEMRI TV, who work tirelessly to translate Middle-Eastern newspapers, radio and television broadcasts into English, so that people in the West can see what people in that part of the world truly think, and not what the cowardly mainstream media choose to report.
I say to Nagla Al-Imam and other fanatics like her: human rights are UNIVERSAL and nobody, regardless of political belief, race or religion deserves to be subject to such humiliating and degrading treatment.
Your actions will only set back the cause of Women’s rights in the Arab-Islamic world and promote hostility towards Arabs in Western countries.
I would expect prompt condemnation of her statements from Human Rights Watch and Feminists groups around the world, but I am not holding my breath.
Arab Squatters Imprisoned After Defying Court Order to Vacate Property
Filed under: International News, Middle-East Affairs
The above could be the alternative headline for the emotionally-charged article written by Fairfax Middle-East correspondent, Jason Koutsoukis – “Crunch time as family fights to keep home from Jewish settlers”
In summary, a Palestinian Arab man, Khalil Hanun, was imprisoned after refusing to vacate a property that a court ruled, was owned by somebody else. Oh, and the other party happened to be Jewish.
In any normal country, when a squatter or bad tenant refuses to leave following an eviction order, would this person not expect to be arrested, fined or imprisoned? And would this normally be considered newsworthy? No it wouldn’t, but standards are different when the action involves Israel.
The only valid, objective questions essential to resolving this matter are:
1. Did the group of Jewish people purchase the property from the Ottoman Turk authorities who were sovereign at the time? Yes or No?
2. Under what law or capacity did the UN Relief and Works Agency act when giving the Palestinian Arabs possession of the land, considering that it was occupied by Jordan at the time?
The answers to these two questions are sufficient to determine the outcome of this case, without introducing emotive racist or nationalist arguments.
But if Mr Koutsoukis were truly interested in balance, he may also have wished to mention the following:
- Jersualem was a united city until one half was captured by Jordan (formerly Transjordan) during the 1948 war, following their decision to take part in the Arab attack on the newly declared state of Israel. Jordan annexed the area in 1949, but this was not internationally recognised, except by Pakistan and Great Britain.
- The area, Sheikh Jarrah, was historically a Jewish neighbourhood until Arab rioters drove them out in the 1920’s. Jordan drove out the Jewish inhabitants from the remaining part of Jerusalem under their control during the 1948 war.
- Israel recaptured Jerusalem at the end of the 6-day war in 1967, many of the neighbourhoods that were rebuilt are in fact former Jewish areas.
I do not know all the facts, so I will keep an open mind. I wish Mr Koutsakis and his ilk would do the same.
Updated 8:09pm, 19-8-2008: Other sources on the net refer to them as the ‘Al-Kurd family’.
Bangladeshi Editor May Be Executed for Advocating Ties with Israel
Filed under: International News, Middle-East Affairs
The Jerusalem Post reports – a Bangladeshi newspaper editor, Salah Choudhury, is on trial for sedition charges, largely for advocating ties with Israel. If he is found guilty, he may face the death penalty.
In November 2003, he was arrested at the airport, as he was leaving Bangladesh on his way to a conference in Israel promoting co-existence between Muslims and Jews, and has been imprisoned ever since.
His has been accused of being “anti-Islamic” and “defaming Bangladesh”. Anti-Israel sentiment is strong in this impoverished country, despite the fact that Bangladesh has little to do with Israel, neither sharing any borders, nor being an Arab country.
I hope those civil rights advocates in the mainstream media who rush to defend the rights of captured Al-Qaida members and other fanatics, may spare just a few words for Mr Choudhury.
