Hey Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, "Don't Tear Down This Wall!"

 by Barry Rubin

“You have always yearned for this chance and now you have it. A wind is blowing from paradise sweet with the smell of martyrdom.” — Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood’s leader Hasan al-Banna, December 10, 1947 \

“The world will see it is impossible to beat Arabs by force.” — Arab Summit Declaration, December 24, 1947

“Before I built a wall I’d ask to know
What I was walling in or walling out,
And to whom I was like to give offence.
Something there is that doesn’t love a wall,
That wants it down!” — Robert Frost, “Mending Wall”

How is Egypt’s revolution different from a real democratic revolution, as in Eastern Europe? Here’s a symbolic way to remember it.

The most famous line, at least from an American, on the road to Eastern Europe’s transformation cane from President Ronald Reagan: “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” Eventually the East German people did the job. The tearing down of the wall was a symbol of opening the borders, letting in the light of the outer world, throwing out the old totalitarian ideas that had sat on the people’s heads and pecked at their brains for decades.

While the tearing down of a wall in Berlin signaled a democratic and liberating revolution in Eastern Europe, it symbolizes the decision to make the Egyptian revolution the basis for a new dictatorship of hatred, blindness, and destruction.

Consider Robert Frost’s 1914 poem about walls. Its often-misunderstood theme is that his stubborn neighbor insists on the fence being repaired, explaining, “Good fences make good neighbors.” Frost wants a peace process up in New Hampshire. It’s a lot of work for him to maintain the wall, natural forces keep subverting it, and there’s really no threat that requires it. Of the two properties the fence divides, Frost complains:

“He is all pine and I am apple orchard.
My apple trees will never get across
And eat the cones under his pines….”

Frost’s poem is so popular because it expresses a very common Western idea so often deployed in discussions in the Middle East: There’s no real problem! Can’t we all be friends? Who needs walls that divide people? Conflicts that are irrational, that give no material benefit to either side, can and must be quickly terminated.

Frost describes his stubborn wall-repairing neighbor in the way that many Western politicians, “experts,” and media describe Israel, “like an old-stone [age] savage armed,” so backward and paranoid as to still want to keep up fences in our enlightened age. Enemies are illusions, or at the least of our own making. Defending yourself is an act of aggression, of primitivism. The September 11 attacks were thus caused by America’s sins.

Thus, they say, Israel doesn’t need defensible borders when it can have a perfectly good piece of paper ensuring that all problems go away.

But Frost, being a good poet and a farmer who didn’t learn everything he knows about reality in a classroom, also explains one reason his own wall kept crumbling — a never-quoted section of the poem corresponding to the kinds of things the mass media usually leaves out:

“The work of hunters is another thing:
I have come after them and made repair
Where they have left not one stone on a stone,
But they would have the rabbit out of hiding,
To please the yelping dogs.”

Gorbachev’s fences were to keep in oppressed people; our fences are to keep out those inciting “the yelping dogs” in their murderous rage. Sometimes you need a fence when your neighbor really is trying to kill you. And he doesn’t want that fence there because it’s in the way of his homicidal goal.

Let me insert here a metaphor for understanding contemporary Arab politics. Arab nationalists have been hitting their heads against a stone wall for 60 years, trying to destroy Israel, defeat the West, and reestablish a great empire. The few moderate pragmatists propose to stop this madness. Instead, the Islamists explain that the way to piety, glory, and total victory is to spend 60 years more battering their heads against that stone wall much harder. Guess who is winning the debate?

One such wall, a flimsy fence actually, marks the Egypt-Israel border. A group of terrorists recently cut through it so they could attack and kill Israeli civilians on a nearby road inside Israel.

Since the terrorists sought to exterminate Israel and stage a revolution in Egypt, this was the kind of event that should bring neighboring countries to work together against a common threat. That would have happened during the Mubarak regime. Now, however, with that government gone, a junta fearful of the mob, partly sharing its views, and denied the tools of repression stands aside.

It is generally forgotten, but a neglected verse of a certain American song, written in September 1814, almost two hundred years ago to this day, shows a time when the United States knew precisely that kind of threat of national destruction:

“And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
…A home and a country [they] should leave us no more!”

Well, in Israel’s case that band is located in Egypt, the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, Lebanon, Iran, and in several other places (including a surprising number of Western university campuses) and is now opening a new franchise in Turkey.

Some other walls and murderous bands are within Egypt itself. These include protective walls built by Christians around churches. Mobs of Egyptian Muslims attack these walls as police or soldiers stand by and don’t intervene, albeit ready to spring into action to shoot or arrest the Christians defending themselves. There is a word in Jewish history for such situations: pogroms.

The underlying basis of these attacks is Sharia, Islamic law, that mandates no synagogue or church can be built anew or repaired in lands (or, as we are starting to see in Europe, even urban neighborhoods) ruled by Islam. Why? Because the Sharia’s “tolerance” is merely a form of patience: let the non-Muslim places of worship crumble; those people will lose their religion, and eventually become Muslims.

Of course, such Sharia laws have often gone unenforced over the centuries, or were circumvented by bribes. That’s why there are still lots of churches despite the Sharia’s dictates. Why is today different? Not because Islam is eternal, unchanging, and inevitably oppressive. but precisely because a “modern” systematic ideology called Islamism insists that Sharia must be interpreted and enforced in a consistent, intransigent manner. And have no doubt that in an Egypt largely dominated by the Muslim Brotherhood those laws will be enforced. An actual Muslim individual can be flexible due to different interpretations, pragmatism, sloth, liberality, ineptitude, or venality; an Islamist Muslim cannot.

Now, the wall around the Israeli embassy, undefended by the police and security forces, fell to the assault. The mob’s minimal goal, a symbolic target or a preface to what they intend to do to Israel itself — was to tear down Israel’s flag. Americans know something about the significance of such situations. They even incorporated one into their national anthem:

“Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?”

If the flag had come down over Fort McHenry, the British could perhaps have conquered America entirely, the treaty of recognition they had signed a quarter-century earlier might have been torn up. But Egypt is not at war with Israel. Under international law, the Egyptian authorities are responsible for defending the embassy but didn’t do so because that is unpopular with the mob. After the elections, the mob will be in charge.

As part of their attack on Israel’s embassy, the demonstrators broke pieces from the nearby statue “Egypt’s Awakening.” The symbolism is perfect. Egypt’s Awakening is equated with killing the Jews, yet it is in fact Egypt’s Awakening being sacrificed in the obsessive, ultimately suicidal, hatred against Israel.

According to Raymond Stock, who pointed out the statue’s role in the assault, an apparent secular liberal, who said that he had participated personally in the action, remarked on Facebook that he was glad this iconic work of art could serve the cause. Israel, he said, is my enemy, while the Muslim Brotherhood is a piece of cake — i.e., no obstacle to a democratic future. Revenge and blind hatred overwhelm even supposedly cool-headed, hi-tech Facebook types.

This reminds me of the U.S. Supreme Court decision in the 1857 Dred Scott case upholding the legality of slavery. The chief justice explained that those with black skin were “So far inferior that they had no rights which the white man was bound to respect.”

Unfortunately, that is how Jews and Christian minorities are seen in Egypt and the other lands in the region: they have no rights that a Muslim or Arab is “bound to respect.” Those who make peace with Israel, and the agreements themselves, are by definition illegitimate, to be overturned as soon as possible, with any gains used legitimately to wipe Israel off the map. The land must always remain Muslim and Arab.

Such views are not completely inevitable but they are extraordinarily powerful. Moderate Arabs or Muslims can reject that view — as King Hussein of Jordan and Presidents Sadat and Mubarak did — but moderates nowadays are few in number and even fewer in power. And no matter what their pretense or Western gullibility, no populist regime or Islamist can defy the lynch mob.

As Egyptian mobs assault the walls protecting Christian churches and Israel’s embassy, the “international community” assaults the borders and policies protecting Israel. How can anyone still seriously claim that there will be a two-state solution, all strife will end, and everyone will live happily ever after? The dream of prosperity, social progress, peace, or better lives for one’s children — none of these things can withstand the demand for revenge, raw hatred, denial of any rights to the “other.” What you in the West think matters nothing — look with your eyes, listen with your ears, and see what the reality is.

Surely, it is best to have peace between timber men and apple-growers. Undoubtedly, it is wonderful to need no fences. But when things are otherwise, having bad neighbors do necessitate having good fences.


Barry Rubin is director of the Global Research in International Affairs (GLORIA) Center, editor of the Middle East Review of International Affairs (MERIA) Journal, and Middle East editor and featured columnist at PajamasMedia http://pajamasmedia.com/barryrubin/. His latest books are The Israel-Arab Reader (seventh edition), The Long War for Freedom: The Arab Struggle for Democracy in the Middle East (Wiley), and The Truth About Syria (Palgrave-Macmillan). GLORIA Center site is http://www.gloria-center.org.His articles published originally outside of PajamasMedia are at http://www.rubinreports.blogspot.com> 

That Horrible Day in September: The Munich Olympic Massacre 39 Years ago Today

(Note: There are two videos in this post one at the beginning and one at the end, If you cannot see them, please click here)

Thirty-nine years ago. Yassir Arafat sent five Palestinian Terrorists into an Olympic Village dedicated to peace and international cooperation. Their successful mission was to shock the world by kidnapping and killing the Israeli Olympic team. This was the first terrorist tragedy played out live and worldwide on TV. We all remember the picture of the Ski-masked terrorist on the balcony.

Eleven innocents died that day. And the terrorist's won. Sure Golda Meir sent out a hit squad and killed most of the murderers behind the attack. But it was followed up by a world-wide effort to legitimize the terrorist Arafat which directly lead to the Oslo Accords and the second intifada. They say that those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it. That is an apt description of the most of the governments of the western world, they have returned to appeasing terrorists as if nothing ever happened.  Below is an account and a video of that horrible September day to help ensure that we don't forget:

The Munich Massacre By Mitchell Bard


It was 4:30 in the morning on Sept. 5, 1972, when five Arab terrorists wearing track sweat suits climbed the six-foot six-inch fence surrounding the Olympic Village. Although they were seen by several people, no one thought anything was unusual since athletes routinely hopped the fence; moreover, the terrorists' weapons were hidden in athletic bags. These five were met by three more men who are presumed to have obtained credentials to enter the village.


The Palestinians then used stolen keys to enter two apartments being used by the Israeli team at 31 Connollystraße.Israeli wrestling referee Yossef Gutfreund heard a faint scratching noise at the door of the first apartment. When he investigated, he saw the door begin to open and masked men with guns on the other side. He shouted “Hevre tistalku!” (Hebrew — Guys, get out of here!) and threw his nearly 300-lb. (135-kg) weight against the door to try to stop the Palestinians from forcing their way in. In the confusion, coach Tuvia Sokolovsky and race-walker Dr. Shaul Ladany escaped and another four athletes, plus the two team doctors and delegation head Shmuel Lalkin, managed to hide.

Wrestling coach Moshe Weinberg, attacked the kidnappers as the hostages were being moved from one apartment to another, allowing one of his wrestlers, Gad Tsobari, to escape. The burly Weinberg knocked one of the intruders unconscious and stabbed another with a fruit knife before being shot to death. Weightlifter and father of three Yossef Romano, 31, also attacked and wounded one of the intruders before being killed. The Arabs then succeeded in rounding up nine Israelis to hold as hostages.


At 9:30, the terrorists announced that they were Palestinians and demanded that Israel release 200 Arab prisoners and that the terrorists be given safe passage out of Germany. The Palestinians were led by Luttif Afif (“Issa”), his deputy Yusuf Nazzal (“Tony”), and junior members Afif Ahmed Hamid (“Paolo”), Khalid Jawad (“Salah”), Ahmed Chic Thaa (“Abu Halla”), Mohammed Safady (“Badran”), Adnan Al-Gashey (“Denawi”), and his cousin Jamal Al-Gashey (“Samir”).

After hours of tense negotiations, the Palestinians, who it was later learned belonged to a PLO faction called Black September, agreed to a plan whereby they were to be taken by helicopter to the NATO air base at Firstenfeldbruck where they would be given an airplane to fly them and their hostages to Cairo. The Israelis were then taken by bus to the helicopters and flown to the airfield. In the course of the transfer, the Germans discovered that there were eight terrorists instead of the five they expected and realized that they had not assigned enough marksmen to carry out the plan to kill the terrorists at the airport.

After the helicopters landed at the air base around 10:30 p.m., the German sharpshooters attempted to kill the terrorists and a bloody firefight ensued. At 11, the media was mistakenly informed that the hostages had been saved and the news was announced to a relieved Israeli public. Almost an hour later, however, new fighting broke out and one of the helicopters holding the Israelis was blown up by a terrorist grenade. The remaining nine hostages in the second helicopter were shot to death by one of the surviving terrorists.

Hostages killed at the airport

(middle row, L-R) wrestling referee Yossef Gutfreund, age 40; American-born weightlifter David Berger, 28; wrestler Mark Slavin, 18; and weightlifting judge Yacov Springer, 51.

(bottom row, L-R) weightlifter Ze'ev Friedman, 28; track coach Amitzur Shapira, 40; wrestler Eliezer Halfin, 24; shooting coach Kehat Shorr, 53; and fencing coach Andre Spitzer, 27.


At 3 a.m., a drawn and teary-eyed Jim McKay, who had been reporting the drama throughout the day as part of ABC's Olympic coverage, announced: “They're all gone.”


Five of the terrorists were killed along with one policeman, and three were captured. A little over a month later, on Oct. 29, a Lufthansa jet was hijacked by terrorists demanding that the Munich killers be released.


The Germans capitulated and the terrorists were let go, but an Israeli assassination squad was assigned to track them down along with those responsible for planning the massacre. According to George Jonas in Vengeance: The True Story of an Israeli Counter-Terrorist Team, eight of the 11 men targeted for death were killed. Of the remaining three, one died of natural causes and the other two were assassinated, but it is not known for sure if they were killed by Israeli agents

Meanwhile, the mastermind of the massacre remains at large.Abu Daoud was shot thirteen times on July 27, 1981 in a Warsaw hotel coffee shop, but survived the attack. Daoud was allowed safe passage through Israel in 1996 so he could go to a PLO meeting convened in the Gaza Strip to rescind an article in its charter that called for Israel's eradication. In 1999, Abu Daoud admitted his role in the massacre in his autobiography, Memoirs of a Palestinian Terrorist.

Daoud, who lives with his wife on a pension provided by the Palestinian Authority, claims his commandos never intended to harm the athletes and blamed their deaths on the German police and the stubbornness of then-Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir. On December 27, 2005, Daoud reiterated that he had no regrets about his involvement in the Munich attack.


Bassam Abu Sharif, a member of the PFLP at the time, said the motive for the operation in Munich was to attract publicity for the Palestinian cause and to win the release of Palestinian prisoners.

The Olympic committee did not feel the massacre of 11 Israeli athletes were important enough to cancel or even delay the Olympic games, after all, they were only Jews.

“Incredibly, they're going on with it,” Jim Murray of the Los Angeles Times wrote at the time. “It's almost like having a dance at Dachau.”

The mastermind of the Munich attack Abu Daoud, claims that the future Palestinian President  Mahmoud Abbas provided the funds to carry out the Black September attack. Yes the same Mahmoud Abbas who is considered a "moderate" terrorist. Daoud made that charge in his 1999 French language memoir, "Palestine: From Jerusalem to Munich," and again in an interview last August with Don Yaeger of Sports Illustrated magazine.

Abu Daoud said he was angered by the dozens of Palestinian terrorists allowed to return to the Palestinian territories as a result of the Oslo process while he remained persona non grata to Israel and the United States. Abu Mazen, Daoud complained, is now considered "respectable" even though he also was involved in the Munich attack.

In his book Abu Daoud states:

"After Oslo in 1993, Abu Mazen [Mahmoud Abbas] went to the White House Rose Garden for a photo op with Arafat, President Bill Clinton and Israel's Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres.


"Do you think that ... would have been possible if the Israelis had known that Abu Mazen was the financier of our operation? I doubt it."

When Abu Daoud died last year, Abbas has eulogized Abu Dauod, the mastermind of the massacre  at the Munich Olympics “He is missed. He was one of the leading figures of Fatah and spent his life in resistance and sincere work as well as physical sacrifice for his people's just causes,” said Abbas.

This is the man Obama wants Israel to spend time negotiating with.

Even more than ever the words of  Ze'ev Jabotinsky ring true:

It is incredible what political simpletons Jews are. They shut their eyes to one of the most elementary rules of life, that you must not "meet halfway" those who do not want to meet you.


--Ze'ev Jabotinsky, The Iron Wall November 4, 1923

New Libya. An Islamic Caliphate Supporting Terror?

Now that it appears that the rebels have pushed out Qaddafi we may be on the verge of a new Libya.  The big question is what shape will this new Libya take. There is much evidence pointing toward a new government supporting terrorism and imposing Shariah law.

Remember the United States committed to helping these rebels before even knowing who they were.  Back in March, Admiral James Stavridis, NATO’s supreme allied commander, said in testimony before Congress that U.S. intelligence suggested there may be “flickers” of al-Qaeda and Hezbollah in the rebels.

We have seen flickers in the intelligence of potential al-Qaeda, Hezbollah — we’ve seen different things. But at this point, I don’t have detail sufficient to say that there’s a significant al-Qaeda presence or any other terrorist presence in and among these folks.

 Flicker's? What the heck does that mean? Did we help a group of rebels take over Libya who will use it as a terrorist staging ground? Did we trade in an anti-American Libyan government that could be controlled for an anti-American Libyan government that could not be controlled.

It certainly looks that way, many of the leaders of the Libyan rebel fighters have admitted past allegiances to al-Qaeda. One of the rebel leaders Abdel-Hakim al-Hasidi, even fought for al-Qaeda against US troops in Afghanistan till he was arrested in 2002.

In an interview with the Italian newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore, Mr al-Hasidi admitted that he had recruited "around 25" men from the Derna area in eastern Libya to fight against coalition troops in Iraq. Some of them, he said, are "today are on the front lines in Adjabiya".

Mr al-Hasidi insisted his fighters "are patriots and good Muslims, not terrorists," but added that the "members of al-Qaeda are also good Muslims and are fighting against the invader".

His revelations came even as Idriss Deby Itno, Chad's president, said al-Qaeda had managed to pillage military arsenals in the Libyan rebel zone and acquired arms, "including surface-to-air missiles, which were then smuggled into their sanctuaries".

Mr al-Hasidi admitted he had earlier fought against "the foreign invasion" in Afghanistan, before being "captured in 2002 in Peshwar, in Pakistan". He was later handed over to the US, and then held in Libya before being released in 2008.

US and British government sources said Mr al-Hasidi was a member of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, or LIFG, which killed dozens of Libyan troops in guerrilla attacks around Derna and Benghazi in 1995 and 1996.

Even though the LIFG is not part of the al-Qaeda organisation, the United States military's West Point academy has said the two share an "increasingly co-operative relationship". In 2007, documents captured by allied forces from the town of Sinjar, showed LIFG emmbers made up the second-largest cohort of foreign fighters in Iraq, after Saudi Arabia.

The WSJ reported that two former Mujahedeen in Afghanistan and a terrorist who spent 6-years in  Guantanamo Bay  were training and recruiting rebel forces.

The presence of Islamists like these amid the opposition has raised concerns, among some fellow rebels as well as their Western allies, that the goal of some Libyan fighters in battling Col. Gadhafi is to propagate Islamist extremism.

Think about this for a second, on one hand our heroes overseas are fighting against al-Qaeda in the war against terrorism, on the the other hand we are backing an al-Qaeda related group of Islamist terrorists in Libya.  Am I missing something here?

But for some reason the US is turning a blind eye to Al Qaeda’s involvement with the rebels. In addition to supporting the rebels at war through NATO the US has allowed the Libyans rebels to take over Libya’s embassy in the US. Holy Cow! We now have a al-Qaeda ambassador to the United States.

As you look at the videos of the cheering rebels entering Tripoli proclaiming freedom from Qaddafi understand that the Libyan people may have traded one despot for another.  The Heritage Foundation got a hold of the draft constitution created by the rebels (embedded below).  While it contains nice sounding elements like rule of law, freedom of speech and religious practice, and a multi-party electoral system it begins with a very ominous clause.



The highlighted area reads: 

“Islam is the Religion of the State, and the principal source of legislation is Islamic Jurisprudence (Sharia).” Under this constitution, in other words, Islam is law.

Putting it all together we have a rebellion connected to  al-Qaeda, aiming to install Sharia Law on its people.  Something tells me that long-term both the United States and the citizens of Libya are going to regret supporting this rebel movement.

 62823350 Libya Draft Constitutional Charter for the Transitional Stage

UPDATED: Al Qaida Attack In Israel! Eight Dead, Terrorists Infiltrated From EGYPT

Southern Israel was attacked by four different terrorist cells today resulting in at least seven dead six were civilians (two young children aged 6 and 4) and one was a soldier (Staff Sergeant Moshe Naftali, a 22 year-old soldier from Ofra). At least another 40 have been injured.

The coordinated terrorist attack hit buses taking vacationers to the Israeli resort city of Eilat It is believed that the attack originated from Gaza but the terrorists infiltrated from Egypt an indication that unlike the Mubarak government, it is open season on terrorists using the Sinai peninsula as a terrorist staging ground. In fact some of the murderers were wearing Egyptian Army uniforms.

According to sources inside of Israel the attacks began when gunfire was opened at an Israeli bus. 14 people were injured as a result and evacuated to nearby hospitals. Simultaneously, fire was opened on an additional bus and two civilian vehicles, injuring several people.

Another terrorist was wearing a homicide belt, blew himself up near IDF soldiers arriving at the scene a short while afterwards, injuring several of them.



Apparently (according to the Prime Minister's office) the purpose of the attack was to kidnap an Israeli solder.

The Popular Resistance Committee (PRC)  has claimed credit for the attack. The  PRC,  is a terrorist group which calls for a worldwide Islamic Caliphate.  Its actions have at times been funded by  al-Qaeda, which in recent times has created a presence in Gaza and the West Bank and the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt

Below is a chronology of the terrorist incursion (in Israeli time)

12 p.m. – At least three terrorists open fire at Egged Bus 392 traveling on Road 12 between Eilat and Mitzpe Ramon. The terrorists, apparently infiltrated into Israel from Egypt and wore what appeared to be military uniforms. Some 14 people are injured.

12:30 p.m. – An IDF vehicle that arrived at the scene starts chasing after the terrorists who detonated a roadside bomb next to the vehicle, injuring a number of soldiers. Mortar shells and light gunfire follow, possibly fired from terrorists still in Egypt.

1:30 p.m. – Another cell of terrorists fire an anti-tank missile at a civilian vehicle and open fire at another bus. Five people were killed in this attack.

2:00-4:00 p.m. – IDF soldiers and members of the police’s elite YAMAM counter-terror unit located the terrorists and gun battle ensued, during which seven terrorists were killed.

3:00 p.m. – Defense Minister Ehud Barak claims that the terrorists originated in the Gaza Strip and that Israel will respond “forcefully and decisively.”

6:30 p.m. IDF strikes terror targets in Rafah in the Gaza Strip in response to the terror attacks. Three Palestinians reported dead in the air strikes.

7 p.m. One person injured in an additional shooting attack near Eilat.

According to witnesses the driver of the first bus averted a greater tragedy. Benny Belevsky, the 60-year-old driver continued to drive through the hail of gunfire, doing his best to escape the terrorists. Passengers on the bus also reported a few soldiers on board fired back at the terrorists as the bus sped away.

Just before Netafim junction I heard gunfire," the driver told Ynet. "The bullets hit the bus and two of them shattered the window near me, passed just above my head and hit the ceiling. I am experienced enough to know that I should keep driving and that I mustn't stop so that the damage doesn't get worse."

Belevsky added that the passengers panicked, and that some of them were hurt, but he knew he had to get to the IDF checkpoint at Netafim. "It was scary – you never think something like this will happen to you. But I did what I had to do," he said.

The packed bus was filled with passengers, mostly on their way to a pleasant summer vacation. "The driver accelerated and was able to prevent a much more serious outcome," one said.

Witnesses are now saying that those that fired on the buses were dressed in Egyptian Army uniforms! Egypt is denying that they were involved.

An Egyptian security official has denied Thursday that Egypt had any involvement in the terror attacks in the south of Israel. The official, told Egyptian media that the armed terrorists operated from within Israel's borders.
"Egypt was in no way involved in the incident, since it is difficult to penetrate the Egypt-Israel border. Moreover, it is impossible to open fire from the Egyptian side to Israel because of the distance," said the source.

Several mortar shells were simultaneously fired from the Gaza Strip at soldiers conducting routine maintenance work on the security fence on the Israel-Egypt border.

According to Historian and Middle East Expert, Dr.  Barry Rubin :

This isn’t just another terrorist attack—it’s a major escalation, a new phase in the Arab-Israeli conflict in two ways. First, it is the bitter fruit of the U.S.-backed downfall of the government of President Husni Mubarak in Egypt, opening the Egypt-Israel border as a new front in the war. Second, it is probably the first successful al-Qaida attack on Israel. (The Palestinian Popular Committees, a Gaza-based al-Qaida affiliate is the prime suspect.)

Reports are coming in that Israel's "Peace Partners" are already celebrating (H/T Elder of Zion):

Palestine Press Agency, which is a Fatah-leaning site, has commentators saying

"God praise the [Hamas] Al-Qassam Brigades" (they have not taken responsibility)

"Our Lord is with the heroes"

"[I] call for resistance in the Gaza with rocket fire and suicide bombings and the Glory of God and His Messenger"

"Tribute to the Heroes of each attack and no matter what their affiliation"

"God is great and victory is coming"

By far the most popular comment in the Hamas-oriented PalTimes is "God is great."

Firas Press has a numbr of "God is Great" comments as well as one referring to the victims as "monkeys."

The popular Paldf.net forum site has hundreds of messages of praise as well as digging up every possible scrap of rumor they can find.

I have yet to find a single expression of sadness or condemnation for the attack. One person thought that it was "suspicious" and implied it was a Zionist false flag attack to be a pretext for invading Egypt or Gaza; that's the closest I could find to a reservation about the attack. Everyone else is pouring out happiness and congratulations to the heroic terrorists.

An Israeli friend Roni on summer vacation from the Guyus pro-Israel information sharing network wrote,

Democratic elections are yet to be seen in Egypt, but the direct result of the revolution is that anarchy rules in Sinai. The local Egyptian police is afraid of the armed Bedouins that rule the area and the smuggling route to Gaza is open to all.

Such anarchy is the perfect breeding ground for radical Islam. Today's terror attack is proof of that.

The beautiful town of el Arish in Sinai is known for its beaches and luxury resorts. But in the aftermath of the Arab Spring, el Arish is becoming known for something far different from tourism. A well-armed jihadist group is making its presence felt on the dusty streets here, intimidating opponents and demanding Egypt becomes an Islamist state.

If the Egyptian authorities do not move quickly to crush the extremists and regain control, the Sinai Peninsula could soon become a separate Islamic emirate run by Salafis, Hamas and Al-Qaeda.

The Arab revolution is creating fast paced changes in the Arab world. Sadly these fast paced changes will not lead to democracy and freedom for the Arab people.

Instead radical Islamic groups are quick to hijack the winds of change aiming to create Islamic regimes instead of democratic ones.

The United States condemned the attack, but tomorrow our anti-Israel President will most probalby resume his pressure for Israel to make major concessions to these terrorists.

Today's terror attack represents a major escalation in the war to destroy Israel. It is the first successful terror attack by an Al Qaida affiliated organization, and it was an attack where the terrorists infiltrated from Israel. Since the fall of Hosni Mubarak, the Egyptian Army has ceded control of parts of Sinai, unfortunately today's attack is a result of that cession.

A few hours  after the attack, Israeli warplanes attacked suspected terrorist targets in the Gaza Strip . As many as six Palestinians – including the chief of the Popular Resistance Committees – were reportedly killed in the Israeli attack on the Gaza city of Rafa. IDF Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Benny Ganz that Israel targeted that area because it is “where we believe the planners of the attack are based.”



Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu went on Israeli TV at about 1PM EST. He announced the deaths of the people who planned the attack.

Firstly, I would like to express my condolences to the families of the civilians murdered, and to those of the soldiers who fell while responding to today's terrorist attacks.

I share their pain. I know that their lives will never be the same. I also want to express my hopes for a speedy recovery to those injured in these attacks and are currently undergoing treatment in hospital.

We all witnessed today an attempt to escalate the terrorist war against Israel by launching of attacks from the Sinai. If there is someone who thinks that the State of Israel will let this pass, he is mistaken.

I have set out a principle - when the citizens of Israel are attacked, we respond immediately and with strength.  That principle was implemented today.  Those who gave the order to murder our citizens, while hiding in Gaza, are no longer among the living.

I commend the IDF and the security services who eliminated today in Gaza the senior figures of the organization which carried out the terror attacks in the south. I commend the soldiers, police, and members of the security services who acted swiftly, determinately and bravely against the terrorists, and who thereby prevented an even greater tragedy.

If the terrorist organizations believe that they can attack our citizens and get away with it, they will soon learn how wrong they are. We will exact a price, a very heavy price.

UPDATE: 1am Israel time- Hours after  the initial attack , terrorists who had apparently gone undetected attacked again, and a member of an elite police counter-terrorism unit was killed, the eighth Israeli fatality, according to Chief Inspector Alex Kagalsky, a spokesman for the Israel police.

Gunfire continued on both sides of the  border late into the evening. After nightfall, Israel’s “Iron Dome” anti-missile system intercepted a rocket fired by Gaza militants at the city of Ashkelon, the military said.

Mortars have been fired from Egypt and Gaza intermittently through out the day. 

Da Lid On Da Tech Guy Radio Show

This weekend I had the absolute joy of being a guest on Da Tech Guy show our conversation went from Media Matters attack on the Jews, to the budget debate and even a discussion with a moonbat who decided that tea partiers should take responsibility for the horrible terrorist attack that took place in Oslo a few days earlier If   you would like to listen to the fun, it is embedded below. (if you cannot see the video below click here)




Along with being a great radio host, Pete (Da Tech Guy) has a great blog which should a regular read of yours, it is one of the places I go to regularly.

Epic Fail: Obama Supporters Try to Defend His Middle East Policy

By Barry  Rubin

It is remarkable how supporters of Obama’s Middle East policy are forced back onto wishful thinking and total projection based on new evidence. For example, in response to my critique of Obama’s strategy one reader writes:

I have a feeling that Obama will get an acknowledgement from PA to recognize right of Israel to exists and a cease violence so the 2 state solution can go forward.

Note the expression, “I have a feeling.” In other words, a subjective emotion rather than anything that has been observed in the actual world.

The PA, of course, recognized Israel’s right to exist (well, actually the PLO as the framework for creating the PA) 18 years ago in the Oslo agreement of 1993. So getting that wouldn’t be much of an achievement. BUT Fatah leaders have repeatedly stated that their group has not recognized and will never recognize Israel’s right to exist based on the excuse that the PA is the body to do so. But we all know what that means. Moreover, Hamas will never do so and it is now part (perhaps temporarily) of the PA.

Finally, the hope that the PA will agree to “cease violence.” Again, that was the basis of the Oslo agreement and the PA has not implemented it. There was a five-year-long intifada and a series of riots and terrorist attacks promoted by the PA with every means at its disposal.

The problem is not to get the PA to make promises — and it even often refuses to do that — but to implement the promises. Israel’s dilemma is that if it gives a lot of territory and returns close to the 1967 border, Palestine is then a state and can do what it wants. Israel would then be dependent on Obama’s support — a thin reed — and its own military. It would not be better off than it is now and would arguably be worse off.

Another reader writes:


Obama has already been twisting Europe to get up to plate thru NATO…He has given the PA ultimatums about taking their proposal to the UN. He knows Israel is AR only ally in the Mideast.

Let’s consider this:

A. Britain, France, Italy, and Germany all announced they would vote against unilateral independence before Obama did anything. He didn’t twist their arms; they took the lead.

B. There is no evidence that Obama has tried to twist anyone’s arm in Europe on this issue. Quite the opposite, he’s tried to get them to endorse his program of: We’ll get Palestine independence real fast so they don’t need to go to the UN. In other words, it is an appeasement strategy.

C. No, he has not given “ultimatums”; he’s just said he’s against it and will vote against it. In saying that, he’s assuming that it will go to the UN. An ultimatum is when you threaten someone with serious consequences unless they give in. He has not done so.

D. “He knows Israel is [our] only ally in the Mideast.” This is the most interesting sentence of all. No public action Obama has taken demonstrates that in any way. We only have the ritual pro-Israel statements. And such things as continued good military relations are not expressions of Obama’s personal views, but of Defense Department policies and sheer inertia.

In a sense, Obama’s strategy is like that of French President Charles de Gaulle in 1967, turning from a strong bilateral alliance with Israel to a policy of distancing oneself from Israel in a bid to win support from Arabs and Muslims. Of course, Obama cannot go so far as de Gaulle did, but that’s more due to American public opinion and Congress than to anything in Obama’s own psyche.

What fascinates me is that on the rare occasions when Obama supporters defend his policy against real and informed criticism, they cannot come up with anything good. Only by forgetting history, distorting it, or leaving out huge chunks of reality can they make a case.

The only way they can “win” arguments is in media, where the other side is basically not permitted to speak at all.

 

Barry Rubin is director of the Global Research in International Affairs (GLORIA) Center, editor of the Middle East Review of International Affairs (MERIA) Journal, and a featured columnist at PajamasMedia http://pajamasmedia.com/barryrubin/ His latest books are The Israel-Arab Reader (seventh edition), The Long War for Freedom: The Arab Struggle for Democracy in the Middle East (Wiley), and The Truth About Syria (Palgrave-Macmillan). The website of the GLORIA Center is http://www.gloria-center.org. His PajamaMedia columns are teased and other articles are available at http://www.rubinreports.blogspot.com/.  

NOW YEMEN? Why Is Obama Allowed To Circumvent Congresses Constitutional Power To Declare War?

 The Congress shall have Power....  To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water; To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years; To provide and maintain a Navy; To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces; To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions... Article One, Section Eight of the US Constitution

Last week President Obama narrowly missed suffering a major embarrassment. A privileged resolution introduced by Dennis Kucinich (D-OH)  directing the President, per to the War Powers Act, to remove U.S. armed forces from Libya was pulled from the floor at the last minute by Speaker Bohner when it looked like it would pass. Boehner substituted a resolution that directed the president to explain “in detail” the U.S.’s “security interests and objectives” that justify supporting the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s bombing campaign against Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi. The resolution gave the President two weeks to reply.Boehner's resolution passed the House by a vote of 268 to 145 or else!

The Congressional action was reminiscent of this scene from Team America

At least with Libya, the American people know that something is going on. According the the NY Times the United States is waging a secret covert war in Yemen without a declaration from Congress and without (until now) the knowledge of the American people

The Obama administration has intensified the American covert war in Yemen, exploiting a growing power vacuum in the country to strike at militant suspects with armed drones and fighter jets, according to American officials.

The acceleration of the American campaign in recent weeks comes amid a violent conflict in Yemen that has left the government in Sana, a United States ally, struggling to cling to power. Yemeni troops that had been battling militants linked to Al Qaeda in the south have been pulled back to the capital, and American officials see the strikes as one of the few options to keep the militants from consolidating power.

On Friday, American jets killed Abu Ali al-Harithi, a midlevel Qaeda operative, and several other militant suspects in a strike in southern Yemen. According to witnesses, four civilians were also killed in the airstrike. Weeks earlier, drone aircraft fired missiles aimed at Anwar al-Awlaki, the radical American-born cleric who the United States government has tried to kill for more than a year. Mr. Awlaki survived.

Understand, there is no implication here that the covert operations are right or wrong for this country.  The bottom line is, like Libya, the action in Yemen is goes against the Constitutional provision for Congress to declare war.


Remember this is the President who ran on a "peace" platform, and now he is circumventing the Constitution and the War Powers Act.

Under the War Powers Act of 1973, if a President authorizes military action without approval from Congress, they must terminate the action within 60 days unless they get specific approval from Congress, or unless there is a national emergency due to an attack on the U.S. In the case of Libya, the 60-day period has come and gone without any action from Congress, yet, in a direct violation of the law, U.S. military involvement in Libya continues. In fact, it has now been extended for another 90 days.

Based on the account of the actions in Yemen, the President is somewhere in the middle of the 60 days he has for the Yemen action.

There is little dispute that today Yemen is a major source of al Qaeda activity in the world.  But it is the President's job to make a case to the American people before going after those terrorists.

The question American's have to ask themselves is "Are you comfortable with the President taking it upon himself to wage an undeclared war on a foreign country?" This is not like the action against Bin Laden, that was a "one-shot." Make no mistake about it, the bombings in Libya and Yemen are acts of war.  What is our plan? Are we splitting up our military resources to an extent were they cannot be effective? And why aren't we being told about our activities in Yemen.

Its time for Congress to do its Job!

 The Congress shall have Power....  To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water; To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years; To provide and maintain a Navy; To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces; To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions... Article One, Section Eight of the US Constitution

Last week President Obama narrowly missed suffering a major embarrassment. A privileged resolution introduced by Dennis Kucinich (D-OH)  directing the President, per to the War Powers Act, to remove U.S. armed forces from Libya was pulled from the floor at the last minute by Speaker Bohner when it looked like it would pass. Boehner substituted a resolution that directed the president to explain “in detail” the U.S.’s “security interests and objectives” that justify supporting the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s bombing campaign against Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi. The resolution gave the President two weeks to reply.Boehner's resolution passed the House by a vote of 268 to 145 or else!

The Congressional action was reminiscent of this scene from Team America

At least with Libya, the American people know that something is going on. According the the NY Times the United States is waging a secret covert war in Yemen without a declaration from Congress and without (until now) the knowledge of the American people

The Obama administration has intensified the American covert war in Yemen, exploiting a growing power vacuum in the country to strike at militant suspects with armed drones and fighter jets, according to American officials.

The acceleration of the American campaign in recent weeks comes amid a violent conflict in Yemen that has left the government in Sana, a United States ally, struggling to cling to power. Yemeni troops that had been battling militants linked to Al Qaeda in the south have been pulled back to the capital, and American officials see the strikes as one of the few options to keep the militants from consolidating power.

On Friday, American jets killed Abu Ali al-Harithi, a midlevel Qaeda operative, and several other militant suspects in a strike in southern Yemen. According to witnesses, four civilians were also killed in the airstrike. Weeks earlier, drone aircraft fired missiles aimed at Anwar al-Awlaki, the radical American-born cleric who the United States government has tried to kill for more than a year. Mr. Awlaki survived.

Understand, there is no implication here that the covert operations are right or wrong for this country.  The bottom line is, like Libya, the action in Yemen is goes against the Constitutional provision for Congress to declare war.

Remember this is the President who ran on a "peace" platform, and now he is circumventing the Constitution and the War Powers Act.

Under the War Powers Act of 1973, if a President authorizes military action without approval from Congress, they must terminate the action within 60 days unless they get specific approval from Congress, or unless there is a national emergency due to an attack on the U.S. In the case of Libya, the 60-day period has come and gone without any action from Congress, yet, in a direct violation of the law, U.S. military involvement in Libya continues. In fact, it has now been extended for another 90 days.

Based on the account of the actions in Yemen, the President is somewhere in the middle of the 60 days he has for the Yemen action.

There is little dispute that today Yemen is a major source of al Qaeda activity in the world.  But it is the President's job to make a case to the American people before going after those terrorists.

The question American's have to ask themselves is "Are you comfortable with the President taking it upon himself to wage an undeclared war on a foreign country?" This is not like the action against Bin Laden, that was a "one-shot." Make no mistake about it, the bombings in Libya and Yemen are acts of war.  What is our plan? Are we splitting up our military resources to an extent were they cannot be effective? And why aren't we being told about our activities in Yemen?

Its time for Congress to do its Job!

UPDATE: My buddy Ed Morrissey of Hot Air fame read the above and feels that I am wrong on the War Powers Act. His feeling is that the AUMF (authorization to use military force) passed by Congress right after 9/11 covers this action in Yemen.  And as usual Ed is absolutely correct.

Section 2 of the 9/18/01 AUMF reads 

This joint resolution may be cited as the `Authorization for Use of Military Force'.

SEC. 2. AUTHORIZATION FOR USE OF UNITED STATES ARMED FORCES.

(a) IN GENERAL- That the President is authorized to use all necessary and appropriate force against those nations, organizations, or persons he determines planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001, or harbored such organizations or persons, in order to prevent any future acts of international terrorism against the United States by such nations, organizations or persons.

The key provision is the  nations, organizations, or persons he determines planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001, or harbored such organizations or persons


Now that we can assume that the President has the power is he still correct in using it?

Since Libya is not covered in the 2001 resolution (it is not part of the War on Terror, we are going after Sadaam) the answer is no!

In Yemen I would argue that Congress still needs more oversight to answer many of the questions above..What is our plan? Are we splitting up our military resources to an extent were they cannot be effective? And why aren't we being told about our activities in Yemen? The American people do not need to know about each mission, but I firmly believe that the President needs to explain to the folks his reasons for expanding the War on Terror.

Read It Now: The Possible/Probable Major International Crisis for 2012

By Barry Rubin

Save this note. Last year I predicted that Egypt's instability might well be the big story of 2011. Why wait until December?

The central scenario for the Middle East in 2012:

Hamas attacks Israel with mortars, rockets, a few missiles, and a few attempts at cross-border attacks. Israel counterattacks into the Gaza Strip.

What does Egypt do?

A. Egypt with President Amr Mousa and parliament with Islamist (Muslim Brotherhood plus Salafist) majority or at least a radical nationalist-Islamist majority.

B. Egypt with President Abdel Moneim Abul Futuh of the Muslim Brotherhood with Islamist majority in parliament or at least a radical nationalist-Islamist majority.

There will be a great temptation for such a government, in either case, to join the war, setting the entire region ablaze.

Why wouldn't Egypt do so?

A. The Egyptian army thinks it would lose. Then persuades the government to keep out. Pragmatism over ideology.

B. The Egyptian government doesn't want to lose U.S. aid money. Pragmatism over ideology.

Problems with these constraints:

A. Radical nationalists and Islamists are not known for putting accurate calculations of military forces or money above ideology. See, for example, Egypt in 1967 starting a war with Israel; Iraq invading Iran and then Kuwait; Iran taking U.S. hostages and thus throwing away U.S. military aid; Afghan Taliban backing September 11 attack, etc.

B. Islamists especially believe in the power of their Allah-allied ideology to overcome any material factors.

C. Even if Egypt lost the war the regime would benefit in terms of popularity.

D. The regime would (wrongly) believe that it would draw in other countries thus changing the balance of forces and beginning a series of wars culminating in Israel's destruction. It would be encouraged by massive pro-Egypt rallies in Damascus, Amman, and other Arab cities. Slogans include, "With blood and fire we redeem you oh Jerusalem!" "Jews remember Khaibar, the army of Muhammad is coming!" And various anti-American slogans. Possible attacks on U.S. embassies.

E. Radical nationalists and Islamists believe America is already their enemy, so what's to lose?

The fact that the Egyptian army's wealth and privileges are largely based on the U.S. aid is the main defense against this scenario. But will it be sufficient?


How would the U.S. government respond?

A. President Barack Obama warns Egypt that breaking the U.S.-guaranteed Egypt-Israel peace treaty would bring a strong military response from America, an immediate aid cut-off, sanctions on Egypt, full U.S. aid to Israel, and possible U.S. military action against Egypt.

What? Oh, sorry, I was daydreaming for a moment. Let's start that section over again....

How would the U.S. government respond?

President Obama would make a speech, call for a solution of the Israel-Palestinian issue, express his admiration for Islam, stress the need for further study, and play golf.

Have I left out anything?

I'm not saying this will definitely happen. Hamas might decide to delay seeking a confrontation; Egypt's government might content itself with letting arms flow to Hamas and Egyptian volunteers flow into Hamas's ranks.


I'm saying this could happen. It is a good idea to plan on how to handle such a crisis. It is even a better idea to stop such a scenario from happening at all.

And here's an Egyptian demonstration outside Israel's embassy. Today.



Don't see any police protecting the embassy, do you?


Barry Rubin is director of the Global Research in International Affairs (GLORIA) Center and editor of the Middle East Review of International Affairs (MERIA) Journal. His latest books are The Israel-Arab Reader (seventh edition), The Long War for Freedom: The Arab Struggle for Democracy in the Middle East (Wiley), and The Truth About Syria (Palgrave-Macmillan). The website of the GLORIA Center is at http://www.gloria-center.org and of his blog, Rubin Reports, http://www.rubinreports.blogspot.com.