Amazing Facts About Qaradawi, Qatar and Palestinian Leaders

Nadene Goldfoot
Hamas took over Gaza's rule in 2007.  Khaled Meshal is their leader, but the spokesman for the Palestinians has been Fatah's leader, Mahmoud Abbas from Judea-Samaria (West Bank). They have joined together and are both very strong against Israel.

Both Meshal and Abbas have been living in Qatar.  In the mid-1950s, Abbas became heavily involved in underground Palestinian politics, joining a number of exiled Palestinians in Qatar, where he was Director of Personnel in the emirate's Civil Service."  "The eldest son of Mahmoud, Mazen Abbas, ran a building company in Doha and died in Qatar of a heart attack in 2002 at the age of 42.

Not surprisingly, Khaled Meshal has had a house in Qatar for many years and has been seen in the capital, Doha since Hamas organizers were forced to leave Syria in early 2012.  What happened was that Meshal had been living in Damascus but when Syria wanted to have some indirect peace talks with Israel, Meshal objected.  The result was that Syria asked him to leave.  Meshal then went to Sudan.  Meshal had been living in Syria because he had been kicked out of Jordan 10 years prior.

 Qatar's Emir Hamad bin Khalifah Al Thani just visited Gaza and made the the gift of $400 million.  Immediately, the effect of that gift has been a bombardment rocket attack on Israel.  By visiting Gaza, he has in effect put an end to any chance of peace agreements between the Hamas-Fatah union and Israel.  Now Abbas is game enough to go to the UN on the 15th or 29th of this month to ask for recognition.  He's doing so against the advice of the USA and of course, Israel.  He's liable to lose their money, but who needs it when he as Qatar behind him.

Gaza had been fortified with money from Syria, who are a mixture of Sunnis and Shi'as and who are an extension of Iranian Shi'a Muslims.  In fact, it was Iran's money which was going to Hamas.  Hamas stopped supporting Syria, so Iran stopped supporting Gaza.  That's where Qatar stepped  in.

 Iran's terrorist group is Hezbollah,  Shi'as who plot and scheme out of Lebanon. They were trained by Iranian Revolutionary Guards. So Lebanon is really an arm of Iran, just like Syria.

  Abbas, who represents Judea-Samaria (West Bank) , is a little grumpy about Meshal's strong connection with Qatar saying, "no one should deal with Gaza as a separate entity from the Palestinian territories and from the Palestinian Authority", which he represents.

Qatar is supporting the rebels in Syria. Qatar also are the power-people in Egypt, Libya and Tunisia. Qatar  houses Qaradawi, the Egyptian religious leader who leads the Muslim Brotherhood.   Syria's President Bashar al-Assad is supported by Iran. So Qatar and Syria are now at odds.

The relationship of the Arab countries is not all sweetness and light.  Sunnis and Shi'as fight like enemies when is suits them though both are Muslims.

Qatar(Sunni)  with a population of only 744,029 is taking on Iran (Shi'a) with a population of 76,923,300.  Qatar follows the  Hanbali fiqh of Sharia law while Iran follows the Jafari fiqh.  Qatar has been buttering up the USA while Iran only ignores the USA and is contemptuous.  Qatar and Iran share the world's largest gas field which is why Qatar has so much money.  Iran stooped low and starting attacking and stealing equipment from Qatari gas rigs.  They pretend to be nice to each other but Qatar is making Iran mad.  What will the outcome be here?  Qatar houses Qaradawi, the Egyptian religious leader who leads the Muslim Brotherhood.   Iran has the Ayatolla Khomeini.  I see a brawl over not only oil power but religious power as well.  Both Qatar and Iran want all Jews dead according to their respective leaders, Qaradawi and Ahmadinejad.  .

This gets so convoluted.  Here is the line up of countries involved and the oil they produce and keep in reserve.  .


1. Iran -Shi'a-  2nd largest oil reserve  136.3 billions of barrels
2. Iraq-Shi'a and Sunni-3rd larges oil reserve  115.0 billions of barrels
3. Syria-Shi'a and Sunni- 15th largest oil reserve  2.5 billions of barrels
4. Lebanon-Shi'a and Sunni- no oil
5. Qatar-Sunni- 8th largest oil reserve 15.2 billions of barrels
6. Eygpt-Sunni- 13th largest oil reserve  3.7 billions of barrels
7. Sudan-Sunni-12th largest oil reserve  5.0 billions of barrels
8. Saudi Arabia-Sunni  Has the most oil 262.3 billions of barrels in reserve
9. Libya-Sunni- 6th largest oil reserve 41.5 billions of barrels
10. Jordan-Sunni- no oil
11. Israel-Jewish-no oil  -oil found, may be in production by next year.

The result is that these two Palestinian leaders have spent much time living in Qatar.  The larger neighboring countries have been pouring money into Gaza to gain power.

Resource: http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/10/25/why_is_qatar_mucking_around_in_gaza?page=full
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahmoud_Abbas
http://www.haaretz.com/news/hamas-leader-meshal-leaves-syria-for-sudan-1.253064

Revenge of 18 Rockets Attacking Israel; Israel Needs Bomb Shelters

Nadene Goldfoot

Today since midnight, southern Israel was hit by 18 rockets  by Hamas's Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades  in revenge, they say, after a retaliatory raid by Israel got one of their men, Suleiman Kamel al-Qara,  in an IAF air raid.  Hamas said they aimed at 5 military locations in southern Israel.  It just happens that these 5 locations are civilian communities so their information is wrong.  They always manage to hit civilian areas.  

The Hamas terrorists even posted a poorly-made video showing them launching 9 rockets early in the morning.

Israel had carried out two late-night air strikes which according to Arab sources, did not cause any injuries.  

Southern Israel has been hit with a barrage of 80 missiles, then 60 missiles, and right now the count is at 18 for today.  All this comes about since Qatar's Emir visited them promising more money for various enterprises.  I doubt if any of it will ever be used for a new hospital.  

Israel needs more bomb shelters.  United With Israel tells us that :

UPDATE FROM ISRAEL: NEARLY 100 ROCKETS WERE FIRED INTO ISRAEL LAST WEEK. GRAD ROCKETS FROM GAZA EXPLODING IN BEERSHEBA... SCHOOLS ARE CLOSED. The residents of southern Israel - men, women and children have been traumatized by the terror of ongoing rocket attacks. With only 15 seconds to find cover, lives are in jeopardy. Nearly 1 million residents are within striking range of missles from Gaza. There is an immediate need to protect the people of Israel. Portable shelters can be moved to where they are needed most. Over 12,000 Kassam Rockets have been fired into southern Israel in the last 10 years, deliberately targeting Israeli civilians, causing chaos, destruction and death. An entire generation of children has been raised to live in fear of rocket attacks. Israeli cities such as Sderot, Ashkelon and Beersheba continue to be in real danger. As Hamas' Kassam Rocket stockpiles continue to increase, this is a war on terror that needs your support. More shelters are needed today!

Resource: Arutz Sheva news@israelnationalnews.com Daily Humiliation Continues:  18 Rockets since Midnight by Gil Ronen 

United with Israel, www.unitedwithisrael.org  bomb shelter campaign

Gaza's Weapons Store is Sudan: Mysterious Attack On It

Nadene Goldfoot
Sudan, in Africa, is the 8th largest Muslim-majority country in the world with 43,939,598 people who happen to have 70% of the population as Sunni Muslims following the Maliki fiqh like most African states.  Islam is not considered the state religion, though.  Way back in 1885, the Mahdi "compelled" Jews and Christians there to convert to Islam.  Sudan had a Jewish community  dating from the end of the 19th century, but few if no Jews live there today. In 1991 Sudan became the vanguard of Islam revolution  on the African continent with Hasan al Turabi's help.  From 1992-1996 he invited  al-Qaeda which was  then based here.

After a coup d'etat by Colonel Omar al- Bashir who executed it for the sake of Muslim values, bin Laden helped Sudan by setting up businesses and camps.  According to Pakistani Ijaz, the Sudanese government offered Madeline Albright chances to arrest bin laden which she wanted to do, but Susan Rice and Richard Clarke were against the idea.

Weapons have been going from the Sudan, defined as a hostile state by Israel,  to Gaza to use against Israel.  Sudan's government have accused Israel of attacking their convoys in 2009 and last December 2011.  Last Spring they accused Israel of targeting a car carrying a high-ranking Hamas official there.  It has become a transit spot for weapons smuggling, going through Egypt to get to Gaza.  Also,Sudan  has become a center for al-Qaida terrorists.

Sudan is threatening to strike Israel over a recent bombing on Wednesday of a weapons factory in Khartoum. Two were killed in the attack.   By doing this they are admitting to making weapons.  They say they have the right to strike back, remarked their Information Minister Ahmed Belal Osman on Wednesday. They immediately asked the US Security Council to condemn Israel.  Their complaint cited that the attack was a violation of peace and security.  How do you like that?

To top it off, our present US government thinks that Sudan is a partner in the War on Terror and thinks they cooperate with us.

Because of the violence in Sudan, 2 million people were displaced and 450,000 have died.  By 2004 the American Jewish World Service was there helping out in camps in Sudan and Chad.  A complication has been the tens of thousands of refugees that swarmed into Israel from 2005 on  because of all the fighting from a civil war going on there. Refugee status has been given to 650.   In 2008 4,000 infiltrated into Israel through Egypt of which 1,200 alone came from Darfur.  The rest of the refugees were Christians from southern Sudan. Not all were found to be political refugees.   The flood has continued but in February of this year, the conditions changed for the better in Sudan so that Israel told them they must repatriate,  go back home.  Israel would give each $1,300 and a plane ticket back or risk being deported. Most have been refusing to leave.  This is certainly a situation that Israel hadn't thought of in the midst of all their other threats to their existence.

Resource:  The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia
http://www.jta.org/news/article/2012/10/25/3110286/sudan-threatens-to-strike-back-at-israel
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Qaeda, Sudan section
http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2012/10/25/iran-al-qaeda-and-obamas-farcical-blood-on-his-hands-defense-policy/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rebecca-tinsley/our-friends-and-enemies-i_b_1947510.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sudanese_refugees_in_Israel
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4233020,00.html
http://ajws.org/where_we_work/africa/sudan/
http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Columnists/Article.aspx?id=255335

Anti-Israel Demonstration at Edinburgh U in Scotland

Nadene Goldfoot
Waving lots of Palestinian flags Wednesday night tells me who was organizing this anti-Israel group. The "Justice for Palestine group" wrote to the university objecting to the invitation asking the man to speak to this school known for its public research.  The Israeli ambassador to the UK was trying to speak at Edinburgh University, the "Athens of the North",  and there they were, all the protesters waving those flags.  Even though Daniel Taub had been invited to speak by the Edinburgh University Politics and International Relations Society, these protesters disrupted by chanting and waving their flags.

Luckily there was the university security group there.  The ambassador had his own protection unit with him as well, and finally the audience must have come under control, but Taub wasn't able to have private meetings as planned with Jewish students.

It was felt that most of the students in the hall wanted to hear the ambassador.  A few weeks ago they had carried out a referendum on whether or not to boycott G4S, a Danish-British security firm that operates in Israel.  The votes were 538 for and 410 against.  The motion needed 1500 votes to pass. " The Scottish trade union movement has pursued a policy of boycotting Israel despite a dialogue with the Jewish community aimed at understanding both sides of the conflict."

Ambassador Daniel Taub is a British born Israeli who attended schools in Britain such as Oxford.  He is currently the ambassador of Israel to the Court of St. James's which is the royal court of the UK.  "Taub is a much sought after lecturer on Middle Eastern issues, international law and negotiation theory. He is frequently invited to appear on television and radio, and lectures widely in universities and policy institutes in Israel and abroad."

Edinburgh is the capital of Scotland.  The university is one of the most prestigious universities in the world.  It ranks 6th and 7th in Europe and 21st in the world.  An important ambassador speaking at such a well thought of university's speaking engagement  turned out to be downright dangerous.  It's a sad state of affairs when ambassadors have to travel with their own guards.  At least he had them.

About 30,000 Muslims  live in Glasgow which is about 42 miles away from Edinburgh.  Jews are a smaller group than Muslims in Scotland.  Most Jews lived in Glasgow, also.  Only the Sikhs are smaller than the Jewish group.  The main religious group of Scotland is the Church of Scotland.  The largest non-Christian groups are atheists and then agnostics.  Muslims come next.  Jews number 18,000 in 1950 but have emigrated, leaving about 10,000 there today.  There are about 1,000 Jews living in Edinburgh.

An interesting book out by Elizabeth Caldwell Hirschman, "When Scotland Was Jewish" goes into history showing that many of Scotland's heroes were Jews from France and Spain who had immigrated to Scotland in the 1100's.  DNA might show that many of today are related to  Jewish families.  Those that stood with the Palestinian anti-Israel group might have had dna of Jews living in Israel today.  This might not make any difference to them, but it is too bad that they are not getting the unadulterated history of the Middle East in a highly rated university..  

Is there an improvement?  "Worse still, in 2010, a student at the University of Oxford shouted “Itbach Al-Yahud [Slaughter the Jews]” at Danny Ayalon, Israel’s then Foreign Minister."  Protesters were holding up signs saying, "Stop the Occupation!"  They don't even know that Israel is really not occupying Gaza, Judea or Samaria.  They're all under Hamas and Fatah.  Well, they could have heard all the particulars but chose to just yell and shout.  By me, they're not students in any way shape or form. 

Reference: http://www.algemeiner.com/2012/10/25/anti-israel-groups-protest-israeli-ambassador-to-the-uk/#
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHyIpoR-1ts
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/161337
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Court_of_St_James%27s
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Taub
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Edinburgh
http://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-media/product-gallery/0786428007/ref=cm_cmu_pg_setImg?ie=UTF8&action=setImg&currentImageID=moXPSEJQRE5ZQA&currentImagePage=0&currentImagePageOffset=5&isremote=0&page=0&pageSize=7&sort=rating&totalImages=6
http://jcpa.org/article/scotlands-jews-community-and-political-challenges-2/
http://weareallhanashalabi.wordpress.com/2012/10/22/edinburgh-sjp-call-for-invitation-of-israeli-ambassador-to-be-withdrawn/
http://www.studentrights.org.uk/article/1985/breaking_israeli_ambassador_shouted_down_by_anti_israel_activists

Raining 80 Rockets in Southern Israel Again

Nadene Goldfoot
Tuesday seemed to start a barrage of 80 rockets and mortars hitting Israel that lasted through Wednesday night.  If citizens were living within 10 km (6.21 miles) of the Gaza border, they had to take cover in bomb shelters within 15 seconds, or at least be inside their own homes.  School was cancelled.  5 homes were damaged.  One received a direct hit with the bedroom of the daughter being the target.  Luckily, the girl was in Jerusalem visiting and was not there.  The miracle continues with her parents having breakfast and not being able to hear the siren giving people a 15 second warning so that they were still at the table and shrapnel went flying, but didn't hit them.  The pieces veered off in the opposite direction of where they were sitting.

We lost an IDF soldier Tuesday night when he evidently touched a gate close to the border in which was hidden an explosive bomb.  This was near the Kibbutz Ein Hashlosha.  6 people were seriously inured in the attack, 3 of them being foreign workers from Thailand. Dozens of others were treated for shock.

The terrorists were not only Hamas's Al-Qassam Brigade men but also the PFLP (Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine).  They seemed to work separately but under the same time frame and goal of hitting southern Israel.

As usual, we hit Gaza after being hit, and then they hit Israel after being hit in retaliation, and so it goes.  Israel managed to get in an air strike from 7:00pm to 7:30pm on Wednesday.  When Israel didn't retaliate, they just kept pounding away, anyhow.  The Gazans' terrorists have been told. : You hit Israel and we will hit back.

Ashkelon, Portland's sister city, was to be hit with 7 rockets aiming towards it, but was missed.  With all this furor hitting Israel, it looks like Qatar's Emir's money does nothing to quell Hamas's need for peace.  It probably has the opposite effect in emboldening them.  They may now think they have a partner.   This might cause Israel to  rethink Operation Cast Lead.  This deluge was a lot to bear.

Resource:  http://www.jpost.com/Defense/Article.aspx?id=289059
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/161289#.UIgltG_A9GY
http://rubinreports.blogspot.com/2012/10/hamas-launches-new-rocket-offensive.html

A 60 Rockets Week in Southern Israel

Nadene Goldfoot
Southern Israel has had 60 rockets rain down on them this week, ending the week on Shabbat at 7:30 pm during dinner with sirens going off in Netivot.  Two grad missiles landed.  One woman suffered shock so badly that paramedics had to be called.

These rockets and missiles from Gaza get to the terrorists from Egypt through tunnels.  The usual type are 122mm Grad rockets with a range of about 25 miles.  This type of artillery has been used since the days of Viet Nam  in the 1960's to today in Southern Israel and Syria. A 5 man crew is needed for some types and there are those that have a range of 251 miles.  

This is not the first time Netivot has been hit this year. Earlier a rocket fell near a school.   They have been targeted  since 2008.  This city of 26,700 lies between Beersheva and Gaza. Beersheva is the 7th largest Israeli city of 194,300 people and lies in the Negev desert.  The distance between Gaza and Beersheva is only 15.8 miles.   Beersheva is only 59 miles from Tel Aviv or 52 miles from Haifa. It's only 34 miles away from Jerusalem.   Everything is close in Israel.

Reference: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/160819#.UHhlwm_A9GY
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BM-21_Grad
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netivot
http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/distances.html?n=676
http://www.happyzebra.com/distance-calculator/Gaza-to-Beersheba.php
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beersheba

Simcha Torah Observed Despite Mortars and Missles Raining

Nadene Goldfoot
This has been the joyous season of  our High Holidays concluding with Sukkot on October 2nd and then Simchat Torah (Rejoicing of the Law from Moses) on the 9th, Tuesday. This was the time that reading of the Pentateuch in the synagogue was completed and the reading will start over again from the beginning.

For Southern Israel, it also meant the attack of 50 kassam rockets and mortars raining down.  Early that day 2 rockets fell, one at 6 am to start the morning off with and then another in the afternoon.  The city of Netirot was hit with one while the others fell without harming anything.  That night 3 Kassam rockets rained down.  That was it.  The IAF retaliated that night and hit a tunnel used by the Hamas terrorists.

50 kassam rockets and mortars rained down on Southern Israel.  Goats were killed on a kibbutz that belonged to the children.  The barrage came at 5:50 am.  That was in retaliation to Israel's retaliation of hitting 2 Jihad terrorists on motorcycles in Gaza.

Though Egypt told Hamas to cut it out, the terrorists ignored their directive and continued to attack anyway.

Resource: Arutz Sheva, IAF Hits Terror Tunnel in Gaza by Elad Benari

Arutz Sheva: Report: Egypt Orders Gaza Terrorist Ceasefire with Israel

by Chana Ya'ar 

Drone Over Israel Downed: Possible Hezbollah-Iran Financed Terrorism

Nadene Goldfoot
A drone, possibly from the Lebanese Islamic militant group, Hezbollah, was sited over Israel on Saturday.  Israeli fighter jets shot it down.  That was the first time in the past 6 years that a hostile aircraft got into Israel's airspace.

Hezbollah is backed by Iran.  they are known to have sent drones over Israel before.  Right now Iran and Israel are at odds over the Iranians creating uranium to service A bombs which would be used on Israel.  Iran has threatened Israel saying they are going to destroy her and drive her into the sea and other nasty expletives.  After calling Israel every horrible name imagined and then some, they have the audacity to say that their program is for peaceful reasons only like medicine.

At the same time, Iran is having to deal with their very angry citizens who find the value of their money is shrinking quickly.  Iran is trying to placate international concerns over their nuclear program which has brought about restrictions on Iran and is starting to hurt them.  They say they have converted more than 1/3 of their most enriched uranium into a powder for a medical research reactor.  They say that this stuff would be hard to reprocess to make atomic weapons.  The goal for them now is to restart nuclear talks with the world powers and soften demands by the US and others to stop their top-level uranium enrichment.

The USA and allies want them to stop the 20% production and ship the rest outside the country.  Iran is adamant that they will never give up the capacity for this enrichment program.  Sanctions need to continue and the Iranians need to keep being vocal about their situation in order to change Tehran's leadership to finally make a deal.

Iran has almost 419 pounds of 20% enriched uranium produced.  They have made U308-uranium oxide from 157 pounds of it.  Experts say that it's not good material for making weapons.  Just how much of it do they need for medical research?  We're talking about the remainder of the 262 pounds they have ready to go into death dealing atomic weaponry.

Resource: Oregonian Sunday paper 10/7/2012 page A 11: Israeli jets down drone that had entered airspace, AP
page A12 Iran makes move to ease fears over nuke program by Ali Akbar Dareini, AP 

Anti-Semite Terrorist in France Killed

Nadene Goldfoot
Last month on September 19th an anti-Semite terrorist threw a grenade into a kosher grocery shop in Sarcelles, near Paris.  Yesterday the French police found the culprit through DNA results plus past history and raided his apartment.  Jeremie Louis-Sidney, 33, fired at the police with a a.357 Magnum pistol when they entered his apartment in Strasbourg and they shot back, killing him.

The police were busy that night, raiding around Paris, Nice and Cannes and rounding up 11 suspects.  They even found a list of Paris-area Israeli associations during the raid to be used by radical Islamists who recently converted to Islam.  Jeremie had been under the police radar since last spring as he had been sentenced to prison for 2 years in 2008 for drug trafficking and converted to Islam while in jail.

The grocery attack happened last month and the poorly made anti-Islamic video's reprisals just happened recently though about 8 minutes of the video has been online for several months already.  Cartoons had been published in a French satirical magazine of centering on Islam.    These are not reasons for any reprisals other than looking into themselves in some sort of  self evaluation.  There was no reason for picking on harming Jews other than plain old anti-Semitism that still hangs on.

Resource:  Oregonian Sunday newspaper, page A9, French cops kill gunman during anti=terrorism raid by Steven Erlanger, NY Times

Large Terrorist Attack Cost an IDF Death'

Nadene Goldfoot
A large terrorist attack which would probably have resulted in a killing spree either inside Israel or along the border was stopped by the IDF who were ambushed.  What were the IDF soldiers doing?  They had been giving water to a group of African migrants who had arrived at the border trying to cross into Israel.

As they were doing that good deed, a heavily armed terrorist cell from the Sinai Peninsula opened fire on them, killing Netanel Yahalomi, age 20, and injuring another.    The shots came from a distance of 100 meters.  Netanel was killed immediately with a bullet wound to his head.  The soldiers instantly returned fire and shot and killed 2 of the terrorists.  A group of Border Patrol soldiers also responded, gave chase and killed the 3rd.

One of the terrorists was wearing a suicide bomb belt and it went off.  Shrapnel from that injured one soldier enough to rush him to Be'ersheba where he was operated on.  IDF sappers recovered a lot of firearms and explosives after the incident including an RPD machine gun and a rocket propelled grenade, Kalashnikov guns, ammunition, grenades and personal equipment.  They were dressed as civilians.

Of course it happened along the border where the fence hasn't yet been completed.

"Border security incidents have increased over the past 18 months as a wave of lawlessness has gripped the Sinai since the overthrow of veteran Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak."

http://www.jpost.com/LandedPages/PrintArticle.aspx?id=285809
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/israel-kills-3-egypt-border-averts-major-attack-104458419.html

How Are Egypt and Israel Getting Along During This Rioting?

Nadene Goldfoot
At least Mubarak was continuing the peace treaty between Egypt and Israel, something Sadat previously had established.  Israelis were even tourists happy to see Egypt for the first time.  I missed the chance of doing so in 1981 and opted to study for my year end exam in Hebrew instead during my Spring break.  Today, I wouldn't do it out of fear for my life.

So what's going on now that Morsi, a Muslim Brotherhood Makha, is at the helm?  I found out that as far back as 2007 when Condoleeza Rice was Secretary of State, the USA had the US Army Corps of Engineers in Egypt making plans to improve the security on the border.  The USA has a $23 million dollar project which has seismic sensors there to alert others about invaders through tunnels, etc.  They have another $50 million dollar project to promote development in the region as they feel it takes more than alarms to secure the region.  So America has invested money into Egypt to keep the peace through both Bush and Obama.

Now, just since August 11, we have brought in 700 American soldiers in the region.  16 Egyptian soldiers were killed by 35 masked gunmen in the Sinai. Then they "barreled" into Israel in a truck they stole and an armored vehicle.   Egypt has been getting $1.5 billion per year in arms and military assistance, but it didn't keep out the terrorists on the border.  Morsi must now realize that it's to both Israel and Egypt's good to keep out terrorism.  The question is whether or not Israel will make be forced to make concessions in modifying a 33 year old peace treaty to allow for a more "aggressive Egyptian military presence."  Israelis see Morsi as one who supports the international system of states.  There are people in Egypt who are tying to challenge this.  Since Morsi is a head Muslim Brotherhood person, and this group is all for jihad, I see it is causing difficulties for him to make a decision as to which path to take.

An APC or armoured personnel carrier 

Egypt needs to become sharper and more efficient concerning terrorism. Morsi traveled to the Sinai with his defense minister, intelligence chief and interior minister.  They blame militants in Sinai who were aided by Palestinians in Gaza.  Here again, is the wrench in the works.  The Muslim Brotherhood said in a statement on the Web that Israel had sought to "thwart Egypt's revolution and could be responsible for the attack and that the attack highlighted the need to reconsider the peace treaty with Israel which restricts the number of troops Egypt can station in Sinai.

Israel shut down Kerem Shalom, the one commercial crossing into Gaza.  Egypt closed Rafah where goods and people pass through.  Hamas blocked the tunnels which everything goes through that are smuggled out of Egypt.  The Gazans wound up in long lines to load up on gas and food out of fear of higher prices.

Since then we have had the explosion of anti-American riots where Egypt's American Embassy was the first to be hit.  The security forces did not stop the American flag from being taken down from the outer wall and replaced with a Muslim one.  Somebody there has a talent for scaling walls.  This rioting has spread to over 20 other Muslim countries with religious leaders egging the masses on.

There are foreign peacekeepers in the Sinai today made up from a Multinational Force and Observers base who were just attacked by armed Islamist militants out of the latest protests sweeping the Muslim world.  They threw hand grenades and fired rocket-propelled grenades and had entered the peacekeepers camp and of course raised a black Islamist flag.  5 officers were wounded; 2 Egyptian military officers, 2 Colombians and a British fire chief.  Americans were also there. and they were all part of the 1979 peace treaty between Egypt and Israel.  This happened on Friday at 4:30 Cairo time on September 14, 2012.  Militant had set tires on fire outside the base.  The wounded were evacuated to Israel.  American and fijian troops are now responsible for securing the camp.

What did the Egyptian military do about it?  They sent 4 armored personnel carriers there and sent reinforcements 2 hours later.  They have 12 Egyptian military APCs surrounding the base.  Base officers think local tribal elders were at the base convincing attackers to retreat before the Egyptian military arrived.

Resource:  http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/12/world/middleeast/egypt-and-us-step-up-talks-on-security-assistance.html?pagewanted=all&_moc.semityn.www
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Middle-East/2012/0914/Peacekeepers-attacked-in-Egypt-s-Sinai-Peninsula-foreigners-injured

Payback For Hitting Sderot

Nadene Goldfoot
This week the UN wrote such a pathetically terrible report, inaccurate and unbalanced as usual on Gaza that Israel's ambassador, Ron Prosor, wrote a sharp letter to the Security Council's President Gerard Araud "that a group of researchers on the moon could have produced a more accurate and balanced report than this one on Gaza.  This week, Israel's children started their school year with the all-too-familiar sounds of sirens and explosions as terrorists in Gaza fired 6 more rockets into their communities," he wrote as a starter.

This week southern Israel suffered rocket fire from several rockets, one of which had hit a home in Sderot early Friday morning, so the Israel Air Force (IDF) identified the cell responsible and identified an accurate strike.  At least 3 Palestinians were killed and one injured.  It was near the border.  The wounded were rushed to a local hospital by ambulances.  Three targets in Gaza were struck for the rocket fire on Sderot and the surrounding area.  Two weapons production sites and a weapons warehouse were hit in northern Gaza in the retaliation.

The terrorists should know by now that when they hit Israel, it's a sure thing that they'll get it back in return.

Resource: http://www.jpost.com/LandedPages/PrintArticle.aspx?id=283988#

Counterterrorism in Gaza: AQAP Saudi Cell Caught With Poison Chemicals

Nadene Goldfoot
Last Sunday, August 26, 3 rockets hit Sderot, Israel which lies just a few miles from the Gaza Strip border.  This time 2 workmen were injured.  On the very same day, 2 terrorist cells were captured in Riyadh and Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.  Both were created by Al Qaeda of the Arabian Peninsula  This group, AQAP, has ordered its Sinai cells and the Egyptian and Palestinian branches to step up their attacks from Sinai and the Gaza Strip.  AQAP is an al--Qaeda group who revere Osama bin Laden of Yemen and Saudi Arabia.  The Saudi government evidently chased them into Yemen, whose government is also against them.

The AQAP have been found with not only weapons and explosives, but chemical substances for loading into explosive charges.  This type of evidence was found in 2002 when a bomb was found packed with poison chemicals and was detonated by a Palestinian suicide killer in Jerusalem.  It is feared that those weapons may also now be in the Sinai.

The result was 3 Qassam missiles fired into the industrial zone of Sderot-Shear Hanegev.   This started an even stronger anti-Israel offensive from Gaza.  The group in Gaza shooting is the Shura Council that is actually from the East Jerusalem area who are a 6,000 force of well-armed terrorists commanded by an Egyptian, Hisham Saydani.  Al Qaeda calls him Abu al-Walid al-Maqdisi.  His lieutenants and he serve as liaisons between the Sinai cells and the AQAP in Yemen.

Hamas terrorists who rule Gaza were holding Saydani in a special security prison cell until 2 weeks ago when they let him go.  He set up the Shura Council's attack near Rafah.  They killed 16 Egyptian soldiers and rammed the Kerem Shalom crossing barrier into Israel.    Egypt demanded that Hamas find and arrest them. The 3 missile strike on Sderot was warning Hamas to stay away from Saydani and his new group or they'd keep striking Sderot until the IDF would attack Hamas's areas.

Hitting Eilat, Israel on August 17 was also a warning to Cairo to stop looking for the Salafi terrorists in Sinai or else southern Israel would continue to be hit, bringing out the IDF strikes.

Resource:  Debka@thejmg.com  Al Qaeda targets Saudi Arabia, Israel, Saudi cell found with chemicals, special report
http://atlanticsentinel.com/2012/08/saudis-arrest-al-qaeda-cells-with-links-to-gaza-sinai/  very thorough
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Qaeda_in_the_Arabian_Peninsula

Sderot Home, Family Hit Twice in 5 Years

Nadene Goldfoot

School started in southern Israel and the children were greeted by more rockets raining on their countryside from Gazan terrorists.  The IDF retaliated by hitting a munitions depot on Tuesday in response to the shelling.

Rockets from Gaza terrorists have been raining on southern Israel almost daily since 2001.  Since January of this year, 450 rockets have fallen into southern Israel.   It happened again just this morning.  The town most hit is Sderot, which is just a few miles away from the Gaza Strip border.  Sure enough, the Timsit family's home was hit 5 years ago in 2007, and again this morning.  The house was damaged and the woman in the house at the time was traumatized.  I would be too, if a rocket hit the roof of my house and came through.

An Al Qaeda affiliated group were the attackers, the Mujahedeen Shura Committee, who are spread out in the Sinai and in Gaza.  They are retaliating, they said.  I can't figure that one because what Israel does is go after the sources after an attack on Israel.  This group had also attacked with a  rocket barrage earlier this week as well.  They take responsibility for previous attacks, too.   They just keep on shelling and there aren't excuses they can hide behind except their unreasonable hatred for Israel.

A second rocket, causing the red alert alarm to cry out, fell in an open field.  On Thursday evening a rocket landed in the Ashkelon area north of Sderot.

Resources: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/159494#.UEDVRcFlTxo
http://www.jpost.com/Defense/Article.aspx?id=283346
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/gaza-rocket-hits-home-in-sderot-causes-damage-to-property-1.461899

Shock and Awe Over "Breaking the Silence" Group

Nadene Goldfoot
If ever there was a state of individualistic thinkers, it's Israel.  This is a more democratic state than others professing to be one.  Like Chaim Weizmann said to an American president in conversation; he was the president of 2 million presidents.

Jews have been taught to think for themselves in Yeshivas and in their homes and not be swayed by mass opinions.  Israel was created on democratic principals and is sticking to their decision.  Lately, a group of 30 former Israeli soldiers wrote about their experiences in the treatment of Palestinian children during operations and arrests in occupied territory as well as disclosing events about checkpoints which they themselves did not understand the rules they had to follow.  This was published by "Breaking the Silence."  Where this more likely would have been the topic of conversation with a guidance counselor in an AA group in the states,  it's made the press.  I have a feeling that their well developed sense of what is right and what is wrong brought about this admission.

We have our Peaceniks and parades of people in Israel marching for the left.  When lives were in jeopardy and even they were worried, the right gained momentum.  Everybody always has an opinion of their own.

One thing for sure; we don't cover up facts or gloss over them.  We are a people with ideals from the extreme left to the extreme right.  Where Egypt just erased (not an easy thing to do on stone walls) the presence of some Pharaoh who lost his following, we let it all hang out, like the escapades of King David and Bathsheba.  Even the story of how Joshua entered Eretz Yisrael is told in detail.  Our Tanakh sometimes reads more interestingly than today's soaps do with all our heros'  foibles because people are exposed with their frailties as well as their achievements.  .

Now I'm afraid that this will be fodder for Arabs and people like Goldstone to bash over Israel's heads.  Most soldiers try so hard, at the expense of their own lives even, to be more than fair with their dealings with the Palestinians.  Like American soldiers, sometimes this has not been the  case.

One thing I noticed was their disagreement at a checkpoint on the stringent Israeli rules that if someone's great grandfather had thrown rocks at Israelis, they couldn't get into the land to work.  That told me that these things are not forgotten and are on record.  I know that Israel has to take extreme care not to let anyone in who might either be a terrorist or who has terrorist connections.  I'm much older than this young soldier who in the sunlight and beautiful scenery might not feel the same way when greeted by some Palestinian needing a job in the Jordan Valley.  The fact that we've been at war with Palestinians for 64 years now makes this modern day soldier look at throwing things as not a big deal.

One thing to realize is that theseare the confessions of just 30 soldiers over the past 64 years where a state has had to have all their citizens be drafted into the army.  It's a very small % that have stories such as these.  What is important is the freedom of the press, and that freedom of speech is not suppressed.

 This would not happen in  a Palestinian state where Jews will not even be allowed to live.  It's already been planned that the future Palestine is to be Judenrein, (no Jews allowed.).  Judea and Samaria and Gaza use school books calling Jews all sorts of animals and debased creatures.  The hatred they have towards Israel has been well developed through horrible brain-washing techniques.  Yet Israel must stick to their principals of  not treating others as they wouldn't want to be treated.  The Golden Rule must be carried out, even under these outlandish circumstances.  

America's Discrimination Problems Enter Israel

Nadene Goldfoot
"The State of Israel is a democratic state and  an enlightened state.

That is what makes us unique in the environment around us and this will continue to make us unique. I hope that one day our environment will change as well. But we will be persistent in our complete opposition to racism and violence.

We are not prepared to tolerate racism in Israel. Neither are we prepared to tolerate the combination of racism and violence."  These are words spoken by Prime Minister Netanyhu  when he signed a document encouraging the integration of Ethiopian immigrants and against discrimination and racism.

Lately Israel has had some acts of discrimination  towards the Ethiopian immigrant communities and 3 Arab teenagers in Jerusalem which have included violence.  When Israel comes across acts like these, the entire state and all of its leaders come out together against such actions, and they will continue to do so.  It is not to be tolerated.

What seems to have happened in Jerusalem was a Palestinian boy flirting with a Jewish girl who told her friends which brought about a mob attack and sent some young Arabs to the hospital.  Ethiopians are having problems getting flats rented in all white centers.  Hiring practices and segregation in schools are also problems creeping up and brought to the attention of the citizens.

Things like the Kassam rocket that hit a building in Sderot fired by Gaza terrorists Sunday doesn't help to calm the environment and steady people's nerves.  One person was wounded and a second treated for shock.  Terrorists from Gaza have attacked Southern Israel since Jews were expelled from Gush Katif by Israel in order to bring about peace between Israel and "Palestinians" in 2005.  Over 12 Israelis have been killed, hundreds injured and thousands have suffered from shock and trauma.

Then there's the immediate threat of an atomic bomb crashing into Israel from Iran with the constant talk of having to take out their manufacturing center and what that will ensue.  There's also Syria with their stash of chemical or biological warfare getting into the wrong hands.

One difference that is noticeable between Israel and the USA is that all children go into the army at age 18.  It's compulsory.  Girls serve for a shorter period then boys.  So far, the only way to avoid this is to be a yeshiva student, and this may be changed.  It's something parents must face and must be difficult for them.  Many parents in the states planned to send their children to Canada to avoid any possible draft.  No parent wants to put their children in harm's way,  whether they live in Israel or the USA.  It's enough to make people high-strung.

When I lived in Israel from 1980-1985, the biggest thing I noticed that shook us all up was the devaluation of the shekel.  People drove erratically on the highways, a sign of nerves on edge.  Everyone rushed to banks to see what the value of the shekel was at that moment.  Outside attacks were not on my mind then.  Ethiopians were just moving into Safed and the community was busy rounding up clothing for them, as they arrived on the planes wrapped in white sheets and were barefooted and some were ill.  They were going through a huge culture shock.  I remember going to an art show where they showed off their wares.  I was extremely impressed by their talent and glad they were in our town, an art colony, really.  That's why I had wanted to live in Safed.  I indulged in oil painting and loved to do portraits.

Americans have problems, but nothing like what faces their friends in Israel.  Americans have discrimination over racial problems as well without the same violence threatened on them by outside neighbors.  It's taken years since the Civil War of the 1860's to get around to behaving like just and moral people.  It took the USA over 100 years to face the problem squarely.   Netanyahu and the Knesset know of  America's history and are dealing with Israel's new situation well.   Israelis have been too long the brunt of discrimination themselves, and won't  allow it to happen to others.    It seems that people will get away with unsuitable behaviors that suit their personal feeling until brought up short and shamed a little.  It will stop like pinching out the flame of a candle.

Resource: Stand For Israel http://blog.standforisrael.org/articles/rabbi-eckstein-pm-netanyahu-sign-pact-against-racism?s_src=EN3&s_subsrc=EN41208XXEXXX
http://www.theworld.org/2012/08/israel-attack-arabs/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cP4oZrON4HI

Egypt Enters Sinai

Nadene Goldfoot
After the 1973 war with Egypt, we had a peace treaty in 1979 and Israel agreed to withdraw its troops and citizens from the Sinai and return it to Egypt in return for normal relations and a restriction on the number of Egyptian troops to enter Sinai, especially near the border with Israel.

Cairo, Egypt has just  moved  aircraft and tanks in the Sinai for the first time since the 1973 war with Israel.  The reason for this was to chase Islamist militants involved in the August 5th attack.

Egypt's defense minster, General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi telephoned Ehud Barak and talked about coordinating with Israel on these Sinai military operations.  This was reported through Al- Hayat, the Arabic-language news agency.  Sisi affirmed their commitment to keeping the peace treaty with Israel in the phone call.

Speculation was whether their relations could break down or not with this military build-up for the counter-terror operations.  President Morsi of Egypt  is of the Muslim Brotherhood, and they're not hep on being peaceful with Israel.

A big rally has been going on in Tahrir Square questioning the Muslim Brotherhood. On August 12th, Morsi dismissed top generals who were obstructing his orders, Morsi said.  Journalists were insulting him, so the claim goes, and they are in trouble.

Former Israeli Military Intelligence Chief Amos Yadlin feels that what they are doing is that they are showing a significant effort to deal with terrorists, and this he approves of.

This move into the Sinai comes after an attack earlier on Egyptian border guards that left 16 dead.  They were also trying to breach the border with Israel.  Israel knew about the plans before it even happened and had warned Egypt about it.  Then Israel agreed to their sending in more troops to control the terrorists.

Secretary of state Hilary Clinton added that it was most important to produce transparency on these military moves in the Sinai.  After all, she backs up her statements  with money.  It would be reassuring if this was not necessary, but I don't think it would happen without this carrot.  Perhaps future practice will eventually become natural and one day will happen without such bribes.  It's nice to not have to hurry into war for both sides.  There are enough problems .

Resource:  http://www.jpost.com/LandedPages/PrintArticle.aspx?id=282434#
http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?ID=282484&R=R1
http://globalpublicsquare.blogs.cnn.com/2012/08/24/morsi-vs-egypts-pres/

Fighting Words of Abbas Over Jerusalem, City of Peace

Nadene Goldfoot
President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Arabs simply will not recognize that there is known history about Israel's most important city and capital, Jerusalem.  In denying this important history, he shows he is simply a denier, like Ahmadinejad is about the Holocaust.  The reason is far more reaching than Abbas's personal outlook on the Middle East, however.  It has to do with the Islamic grand scheme of things.

He was quoted as saying on Tuesday, "Jerusalem is a Muslim and Christian city, and there will be neither peace nor security until the Israeli occupation, settlements and settlers leave the city."  Note that Israel is not an occupier and cities and towns are not settlements which are things we had in the West of the USA in the 1800's.  The population living in these cities are not "settlers."  These are political words used to give a mental picture which is wrong.

He carried on with, "Jerusalem's identity is Arab, and the city's and Christian holy sites must be protected from Israeli threats."  Nobody has worked harder than Israel in protecting all religious places.  This didn't happen at all under Jordan's domain before 1967.  Jerusalem was built by King David, the Jewish king in 1,000 BCE , and it's identity has always been a Jewish one.  Jews have prayed for 2,000 years every day that we should not forget Jerusalem.  It's been part of our history for over 3,000 years now.  It is the heart and soul of Judaism and is where the 2 Temples were built for G-d.   What Abbas rants causes nausea for me.

Abbas ended with the threat that "there will be no peace or stability before our beloved city and eternal capital is liberated from occupation and settlement."  It's not and never has been Islam's eternal capital.  Mecca and Medina are the 1st and 2nd holy cities for Islam and they lie in Saudi Arabia.  Only the story about Mohammed going up to heaven on his horse is set in Jerusalem, so they say.  Jerusalem is  mentioned 0 times in the Koran but at least 600  times in our Tanach (Old Testament).  The city of Jerusalem is never mentioned by name in the Islamic Koran.  Islamists think it is referred to with just the words like city or town without a name attached. If anyone finds it in there, you should inform  Daniel Pipes who was offering a million dollars to anyone who could.  

Abbas was definitely not trying to make points with Israel's Knesset.  Everything he says is an affront to Jewish senses.  Somebody is living in the twilight zone if they think that Jews are going to pick up and leave Jerusalem.  Only the Jews have talked about having peace with these outlandish neighbors which must contain some reasonable people who wish for the same thing, but peace certainly hasn't even started with the table-talk.  There are 1.4 million Arabs, the majority being Muslim, no doubt, who are already citizens of Israel and I pray who have higher goals in life than fighting with Israelis.

Our thoughts and hope are reflected in Ha-Tikvah, Israel's National Anthem with these few lines: "The hope of two thousand years---to be a free people in our own land---In the land of Zion and Jerusalem."  My prayer this lovely Friday, Erev Shabbat is "So let it be."

Resource: http://frontpagemag.com/2012/ronn-torossian/as-un-head-travels-to-iran-abbas-pledges-no-jews-in-jerusalem/?utm_source=FrontPage+Magazine&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=f77897a2cd-Mailchimp_FrontPageMag
http://www.keyway.ca/htm2002/jerfacts.htm
http://www.danielpipes.org/blog/2012/02/claiming-jerusalem-is-in-the-koran

How Qatar's Outlook Affects Jews, the USA and Even London

Nadene Goldfoot
Sheik Yusuf. Al-Qaradawi has a most mixed attitude towards Jews. He is the Islamic spokesman in Qatar.   and has recently put out a fatwa against all Jews, but had made comments in the past that were more accepting of our religious people.

 He came into my spotlight not too long ago when Qatar was the sponsor for Arabic classes in our local Portland high school, Lincoln High.  This classroom  teacher was responsible for bringing in a hip-hop Palestinian group whose degradation of Israel caused Jewish students at Lincoln to be quite upset.  Come to find out, Qatar is in the education business among other things, and had sponsored another school here as well as in other spots throughout the USA.  Their religious leader is the Egyptian who sought refuge in Qatar, Sheik Yusuf Al-Qaradawi, who happens to be a radical Muslim Brotherhood organizer and who broadcasts over al-Jazeera TV.

As long as you don't advocate the existence of Israel, you're an okay Jew in his eyes.  This was shown in May 2008 when he spoke with the visiting rabbis from Hareda, the anti-zionist Neturei Karta sect.  Qaradawi said, ".There is no enmity between Muslims and Jews...Jews who believe in the authentic Torah are very close to Muslims."  He said he believed that our relations became strained with the emergence of Zionism and the establishment of Israel and said that Muslims are against the expansionist, oppressive Zionist movement, not the Jews.  I wish somebody could explain to him that Jews are only trying to live on the speck of land granted to them through much hard with with the British Empire who held the responsibility of the land.   In fact, 80% of what was decided to be the Jewish Homeland was turned over to the Arabs.   In fact, according to Islamic goals, it is Islam who is trying to regain another Islamic Empire again.  For starters, they advocate taking Jerusalem and refuse to even see our Jewish connection with the city.

Qaradawi was forced to leave Egypt in 1961 and went to Qatar then.  He is viewed by many as the #1 spiritual leader of the Muslim Brotherhood.  He has been banned from the the USA since 1999, UK in 2008 and France in 2012.

Emir Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani is the King of Qatar. His father was Khalifa bin Hamad al-Thani and mother was Sheikha al-Atiyyah.  In 2011 when visiting the White House he made it known that the issue important to him was to establish a Palestinian state.  This small country or state has 744,029 citizens.  Workers that immigrated to work there are not counted.  77.5% are Sunni Muslims of the fiqh Hanbali in this Muslim  state.  Many of their college aged people study in the states and we have people there studying as well.   Qaradawi has written many fiqhs of his own, such as az Zakat and al Jihad.

Qatar just made the news because the Qatari monarchy, who seems to be made up of the relatives of al-Thani, just bought 1/5 of BAA.  This means he bought a piece of Europe's busiest airport.  Seems as if London's Heathrow Airport is the busiest of any airports anywhere in Europe or the USA.  Their operator is BAA Limited who operates many airports in the UK.  They include 2 in London and 2 in Scotland.

Qatar's royal family has many faces shown to the USA.  Khalid Sheikh Mohammed has been found to have plotted attacks against the USA and the Sheikh al-Thani allowed him to continue.  He was the mastermind of 9/11.  He had been behind the coordination of the mass air bombing plot with his nephew, Ramzi Yousef, who was behind the World Trade Center attack.  The big secret just revealed is the connection Qataris have with Al-Qaeda, the terrorist group.  Jihadists are even reporting that they trained in Qatar.  Bin Laden was hosted by Sheikh Abdullah bin Khalid al-Thani before the Khobar Towers bombing that killed 19 Americans in Saudi Arabia  on June 25, 1996.  .

I'm wondering if Qatar might now be more interested in making a profit than using airports to assist terrorists and destroy airplanes.  They're not just into oil, but are high rollers with Harrods,  Barclays, the London Stock Exchange,Canary Wharf, the Shard, a new pyramidal glass skyscraper over London.  In fact, they may have now replaced the House of Windsor as the monarchy with the money.

They even have competition with Abu Dhabi's royalty.  When you start with oil, you can invest big time.


Resource: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yusuf_al-Qaradawi
http://frontpagemag.com/2012/daniel-greenfield/al-qaeda-allied-qatar-buys-into-europe%E2%80%99s-busiest-airport/?utm_source=FrontPage+Magazine&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=88eb597e80-Mailchimp_FrontPageMag
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khobar_Towers_bombing

Egypt: Life Before the Muslim Brotherhood

Nadene Goldfoot
Egypt was a secularist state in the 1920's. They received their independence from Great Britain on February 28, 1922.   They were in the majority, but existed without any such organization like the Muslim Brotherhood had started simply because they were the majority in their outlook about religion.  Some were even agnostics and didn't care about Islam or any other religion.  They believed in the separation of religion and state and they believed in the freedom of religion within the state.  What happened?

So far, they weren't different in their philosophy of the United States.  They were people that believed in the importance of Islamic culture.  Even the Christian Copts didn't disagree with this.   Islam was identified with all aspects of their life.  Atheists said they were also Muslims, just like they said they were Egyptians.  All shades of believers cooperated with each other.  Secularists could ignore Islam, practice it privately in their own homes, but no one believed in imposing it on the nation of Egypt. Omar Sharif was a well known movie actor who starred with Barbara Streisand once. He was a Christian Lebanese-Syrian who was born in Alexandria and remained an Egyptian. Of course he had a major role in "Lawrence of Arabia."  

One well known secularist living between the World Wars I and II was Taha Husayn b: 1889).  He was a blind genius, educator and humanitarian educated at Azhar and France.  He rejected religious fundamentalism and the colonialists (British) desire to dominate the Middle East.  He returned from France to Egypt in 1919, advocating the use of critical methods in research and had a love of Western thought.  He became a threat and was soon branded as a heretic, since he advocated liking the civilization of Europe.

Another secularist was Ali Abd al-Raziq (b: 1888-d: 1966).  The 1920's found Islamic world  in an uproar because the Turks had exiled the Ottoman sultan and abolished the caliphate.  He thought the caliphate had been harmful for them and claimed that Muhammad was not into creating government, but had started an ummah (community).  He stated that Mohammed was a prophet, not a political leader and that different governments weren't a concern of G-d.  Governments should be judged by human reason, so that it wasn't necessary for all Muslims to be members of one state, have the same government or ruled by one caliph.

Through world War II, Egyptians had little political independence.  They thought only about loyalty to Egypt or to Islam or to both.  They weren't Arabs and didn't pay attention to events concerning them.  By 1936 the Anglo-Egyptian treaty was signed, but 3 years later found the British still occupying Egypt.  WWII started in September which caused more troops to enter, and yet Egypt wouldn't declare war on the axis, Germany because they thought Germany would win the war.  So in 1942 the British surrounded the royal Abdin Palace in Cairo with tanks and King Faruq was given the ultimatum to either appoint Nahhas Pasha as prime minister  or leave the country.  He agreed and they cooperated with the British.  There was a lot of corruption in their government.  The German General Rommel was defeated and Americans landed in North Africa.  Today Egypt has 82.2 million people. 90% are Sunni Muslims following Shafi'i fiqh and Islam is the state religion.

Israel was re-born May 14, 1948 and the very next day, 6 neighboring Muslim states attacked her:  Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and Syria.  Israel only had a population of 650,000 and were up against states totaling 40,000,000, which was like a miracle to the Jews.  Jews were fighting for their very existence.  The Arabs felt differently about the whole thing.  The Arabs point out that they had entered the fight with only 70,000 soldiers of which only 10,000 had any good training.  Israel, just a day old, had 60,000 of the Haganah, they figured including 300 British trained officers and 20,000 veterans of WWII and 3,000 Palmach commandos.  The war stopped on February 24, 1949 with 2 cease fires.

Israel did have problems with Egypt after this.  Egypt continued to be belligerent with Israel after an armistice agreement was signed.  They closed the Suez Canal to Israeli shipping.  On August 9, 1949, the UN Mixed Armistice Commission upheld Israel's complaint that Egypt was illegally blocking the canal.  Ralph Bunche, UN negotiator stated that there was to be free movement.  By September 1, 1951 Egypt was ordered to open the Canal to Israeli shipping.  Egypt refused.  By early 1954, Egypt's Foreign Minister, Muhammad Salah al-Din said that "The Arab people will not be embarrassed to declare:  We shall not be satisfied except by the final obliteration of Israel from the map of the Middle East." President Gamal Abdel Nasser imported arms from the Soviets for a confrontation with Israel.  He announced on August 31, 1955, "Egypt has decided to dispatch her heroes, the disciples of Pharaoh and the sons of Islam, and they will cleanse the land of Palestine....There will be no peace on Israel's border because we demand vengeance, and vengeance is Israel's death."  

The heroes turned out to be Arab terrorists, or fedayeen, who were on the border and sometimes infiltrated into Israel and committed acts of sabotage and murder.  These attacks were a violation of the armistice agreement provision that prohibited this.  Escalation continued with the blockade of the Straits of Tehran, and Nasser nationalized it in July of 1956.  Nasser said, " I am not solely fighting against Israel itself.  My task is to deliver the Arab world from destruction through Israel's intrigue, which has its roots abroad.  Our hatred is very strong.  There is no sense in talking about peace with Israel.  There is not even the smallest place for negotiations."  

Not even 2 weeks went by and on October 25, Egypt signed an agreement with Syria and Jordan with Nasser in command.  Israel, backed by Britain and France, attacked Egypt on October 29, 1956.

Egypt didn't give up hope of smashing Israel.  Nasser continued to make speeches threatening war.  Terrorist attacks were happening more frequently.  By May 15, 1967, Israel's Independence Day, Egyptian troops moved into the Sinai massing near Israel's border.  In 3 days the Syrian troops were ready to fight along the Golan Heights.  Nasser told the UN force to leave and they scuttled away.  On May 22nd Egypt closed the Straits of Tiran to all Israeli shipping.  Nasser challenged Israel to fight almost daily.  "Our basic objective will be the destruction of Israel.  The Arab people want to fight..We will not accept any...coexistence with Israel.  Today the issue is not the establishment of peace between the Arab states and Israel...The war with Israel is in effect since 1948."  Egypt, Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon sat on the border with Israel while Iraq, Algeria, Kuwait, Sudan and the whole Arab nation backed them up. The war started June 5 and ended June 10, 1967.     In SIX (6) days, Israel won against 250,000 troops, more than 2,000 tanks and 700 aircraft had ringed Israel.  Though Israel won the battle, 777 of their men were killed and 2,586 wounded.  This is the same proportion as the US lost in 8 years of fighting in Vietnam.

Still, on July 1, 1967 Egypt began shelling Israeli positions near the Suez Canal and on October 21, 1967, Egypt sank the Israeli destroyer, Eilat and killed 47.  Less than one year later they shelled Israeli positions along the Suez Canal.  A War of Attrition went on for 16 months with Israel's deaths of 600 soldiers and 127 civilians.  2,000 soldiers were wounded and 700 civilians were wounded.  Israel also lost 15 airplanes.    

October 6, 1973 on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the year for Jews, when most were attending synagogues asking G-d for forgiveness for their sins, Egypt and Syria attacked Israel.  At least 9 Arab states, including 4 non-Middle Eastern nations, actively aided the Egyptian-Syrian war with men and money.  It looked like the Arabs might win, so nobody tried to stop it like the Soviet Union or the UN.  Israel won again, and it ended on October 25, 1973 and this ended with Sadat visiting Jerusalem on November 29, 1977 for 36 hours, but being assassinated later on October 6, 1981.  He had signed a peace treaty with Israel on March 26, 1979.  Israel has about 7.5 million people, of which 1.4 million are Muslims.

Islam has become the state religion. Mohammed Morsi, of the Muslim Brotherhood has been voted in as President in the state's first experience at democracy on June 24, 2012.    The question we wonder about is if he will keep the peace treaty.  He plans to visit Iran in a few days, Israel's nemesis.  

The Muslim Brotherhood rose because of the colonial occupation by the British.  Devout Muslims felt humiliated to be ruled by Christians.  Another reason was that the Egyptian educated and middle classes had become so secularized so fast, causing the deterioration of Muslim laws (Sharia) and institutions.  Turkey was also another cause, which Egyptians saw in their alterations a de-Islamization there as well.  When the caliphate was abolished, it was like the end of the world to the religious Egyptians.

Militant Muslims were religious people of the fundamentalist Wahhabis of Arabia and the militant Jamal al-Din al-Afghani.  The Muslim Brotherhood, al-Ikhwan al-Muslimin, organized between the 2 wars,  was the largest and most influential of the militant groups.  It had a military zeal and organization similar to a medieval Ismai'li group called the Brethren of Sincerity.  They copied another aIsmai'li organization, the Assassins in its militancy and methods.

Now their charter sounds like all the rhetoric that Egypt had proclaimed and that Iran is now copying.  They had been kept out of politics by Anwar Sadat and Hosni Mubarak in Egypt because they were so extreme.  With the uprising of the Arab Spring, Mubarak was jailed in February 2011.  There is no parliament, no constitution and no restrictions on presidential powers in Egypt right now.

Resource: Textbook: Middle East Past &I Present by Yahya Armajani and Thomas M. Ricks, used at Portland State U.
Myths and Facts, a concise record of the Arab-Israeli-conflict by Mitchell G. Bard, PhD, and Joel Himelfarb
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/19/newsid_2520000/2520467.stm
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Peace/egyptisrael.html
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2012/06/201262412445190400.html
http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Columnists/Article.aspx?id=282067
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anwar_Sadat
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egypt
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omar_Sharif