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Contents: Weekly Quotes | Short Takes | On Topic Links
New Christian Arab Party Seeks to Change Face of Israeli Society: Dror Eydar, Israel Hayom, July 9, 2013
Key Witness Missing from Hearing on Iranian Terror Network: Guy Taylor, The Washington Times, July 9, 2013
Gulf States Embrace Post-Brotherhood Egypt: Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi , Al-Monitor, July 10, 2013
Completing the 118-Year-Old Puzzle of the Cairo Genizah: Abigail Klein Leichman, Israel 21C, July 10, 2013
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EGYPTIAN MILITARY TAKEOVER – THE FINAL CONVERSATION
(Front Page Magazine, July 9, 2013)
The final conversation between Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi and Defence Minister and Egyptian military head, General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, took place on Tuesday July 2 a few hours before Morsi’s final speech to the Egyptian people. It was published by El Watan (“the nation”), one of Egypt’s most popular newspapers. It is presented here in its entirety as translated by Raymond Ibrahim.
“Morsi: What’s the military’s position concerning what’s going on? Is it just going to stand by watching? Shouldn’t it protect the legitimacy [of the presidency]?
Sisi: What legitimacy? The entire army is with the will of the people, and the overwhelming majority of people, according to documented reports, don’t want you.
Morsi: My supporters are many and they won’t be silent.
Sisi: The army will not allow anyone to destroy the nation, no matter what happens.
Morsi: What if I don’t want to leave?
Sisi: The matter is settled and no longer up to you. Try to leave with your dignity and tell those whom you call supporters to go back to their homes in order to prevent bloodshed, instead of threatening the people through them.
Morsi: But this way it will be a military coup, and America won’t leave you alone.
Sisi: The people concern us, not America. And since you’ve started to talk this way, I’ll talk to you candidly. We have evidence to condemn you and to condemn many governmental officials of compromising Egypt’s national security. The judiciary will have its say and you will all be judged before the whole people.
Morsi: Okay, can you permit me to make a few phone calls and then afterwards I’ll decide on what to do?
Sisi: You are not permitted; but we can let you check up on your family only.
Morsi: Am I imprisoned or what?
Sisi: You are under arrest from this moment.
Morsi: Don’t think the Brotherhood is going to stand by if I leave office. They will set the world on fire.
Sisi: Just let them try something and you’ll see the reaction of the army. Whomever among them wants to live in peace, he’s more than welcome; otherwise, [if they try anything] we will not leave them alone. We will not single anyone out, and the Brotherhood is from the Egyptian people, so don’t try to use them as fuel for your disgusting war. If you truly love them, leave office and let them go to their homes.
Morsi: Anyway, I’m not going, and the people outside of Egypt are all with me, and my supporters are not going.
Sisi: Anyway, I’ve advised you.
Morsi: Okay, but take care—I’m the one who hired you as minister and can remove you.
Sisi: I became minister of defense due to the military’s will and not yours—and you know this very well. Moreover, you can’t remove me; that’s it—you no longer have any legitimacy.
Morsi: Okay, if I agree to be removed, will you allow me to travel abroad and promise not to imprison me?
Sisi: I can’t offer you any promises. It’s the justice [department] that will pass its verdict.
Morsi: Okay, if that’s the case, I’ll make it war, and we’ll see who will prevail in the end.
Sisi: Naturally the people will win.” (Front Page Magazine, July 9, 2013)
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“What is important for Israel is a stable Egypt. I don’t see the Muslim Brotherhood there swallowing the blow and waiting another 80 years to try to return to power. The story is not over, despite the fireworks in Cairo.” — Shaul Shay, a former deputy head of Israel’s National Security Council.
“It’s good that the Muslim Brotherhood has gone. If they had stayed in power for another two or three years, they’d have taken control of the military and everything else, and Egypt would have become like Iran.” — Zvi Mazel, a former Israeli ambassador to Egypt. (New York Times, July 6, 2013)
“It is a disaster. It is a hard blow to the entire Islamist movement. The dismal performance by [President] Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood undermines the Islamist image, standing and narrative throughout the region, in Egypt, in Jordan and even in Turkey. It raises questions about their competence, their ability to manage. Everything in Egypt is worse as a result of Morsi’s policies. His authoritarian ways, his economic mismanagement…clearly they don’t have ideas. It is basically an emperor with no clothes. The Islamist movement is naked. This will have major implications for movements in the region.” — Fawaz Gerges, professor of Middle Eastern politics at the London School of Economics. (National Post, July 6, 2013)
“It’s time to remove those rose tinted spectacles and see the world as accurately as it is, changes come by the bullet alone; NOT by the ballot….” [The Muslim Brotherhood] “should perhaps learn a little from the lessons of history and those democratically elected in Algeria [where an Islamist electoral victory led to a brutal military crackdown] or even Hamas [whose election in Gaza let to a boycott by world governments]….When will the Muslim Brotherhood wake up from their deep slumber and realize the futility of their efforts at instituting change.?” — leaders of al-Shabab, the Somali Islamist terrorist group, responding to the deposing of President Morsi by the Egyptian military, on their Facebook page. (Globe and Mail, July 5, 2013)
"It's a military coup so we think it has no legitimacy. It's the worst kind of bullying. What's happening here is that we are a punch-bag for the police and the military. We've been at it for 86 years and never as much as thrown a stone at a policeman who came to arrest us….We can only control the conduct of the Muslim Brotherhood itself and its members. We have a high level of discipline and are a non-violent organization but we have a lot of sympathetically-minded organizations around us who are saying democracy has failed and we told you so. We are not coming up with good arguments to reply to them." — Jihad al-Haddad, a British-educated foreign media spokesman for the Freedom and Justice party, the Brotherhood's political wing.
"I have a message for the army; it's our army not [Abdul-Fattah] al-Sisi's army. Our [Muslim Brotherhood] leadership are restraining us while they have a discussion with themselves. Many of our young men have fighting experience in Kosovo, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Chechnya and other places."— Same Ahmad, 30, an English speaking engineer interviewed by The Telegraph. (The Telegraph, July 4, 2013)
“We were disciplined, and we have the weapons. That’s what’s on the market right now. Do you see any other solid institution on the scene?” — a ranking Egyptian army officer speaking anonymously to the New York Times. (National Post, July 4, 2013)
“Washington gave him [President Morsi] a pretty good shot at proving the Brotherhood was going to govern democratically, reach out to the opposition and hold parliamentary elections soon after. Morsi failed on all counts. He proved to be not adept at doing any of these things.” — Daniel C. Kurtzer, a former U.S. ambassador to Egypt, to the New York Times.
“Real democracy requires inclusiveness, compromise, respect for human and minority rights and a commitment to the rule of law. Morsi and his inner circle did not embrace any of these principles and instead chose to consolidate power and rule by fiat.” —Representatives Ed Royce of California, the Republican chairman, and Eliot L. Engel of New York, the ranking Democrat, on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, in a statement. (New York Times, July 5, 2013)
“[The blast] requires the highest level of awareness and vigilance in the face of dangers that surround the country and the entire region, especially while facing attempts by the Israeli enemy to push [Lebanon] to strife by organizing terrorist attacks, as happened today.” — Saad Hariri former prime minister of Lebanon, as quoted in the Lebanese newspaper The Daily Star, blaming Israel for the recent bombing in a Hezbollah-controlled Shi’ite neighbourhood of Beirut. (Jerusalem Post, July 10, 2013)
“Our main problem that threatens us, that is more dangerous than Israel, America or political fighting…is that the Iranian plateau is becoming uninhabitable … groundwater has decreased and a negative water balance is widespread, and no one is thinking about this. I am deeply worried about the future generations. There has been livelihood in Iran for 7,000 years.… All the bodies of natural water in Iran are drying up…If this situation is not reformed, in 30 years Iran will be a ghost town….”— Issa Kalantari, former agriculture minister under Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani’s presidency and current member of the advising committee to help form President-elect Hassan Rouhani’s cabinet, speaking to the Ghanoon newspaper. (Al-Monitor, July 9, 2013)
“I hope [Edward] Snowden’s revelations [of NSA secret surveillance] will spark a movement to rescue our democracy, but he could not be part of that movement had he stayed here…. Snowden believes that he has done nothing wrong. I agree wholeheartedly. More than 40 years after my unauthorized disclosure of the Pentagon Papers, such leaks remain the lifeblood of a free press and our republic. One lesson of the Pentagon Papers and Snowden’s leaks is simple: secrecy corrupts, just as power corrupts.” — Daniel Ellsberg, author of “Secrets: A Memoir of Vietnam and the Pentagon Papers”, was charged in 1971 under the Espionage Act as well as for theft and conspiracy for copying the Pentagon Papers. The trial was dismissed in 1973 after evidence of government misconduct, including illegal wiretapping, was introduced in court. (Washington Post, July 7, 2013)
"The U.S. acted like a criminal thug. But above all, the tragedy refers to the comprehensive failure of Pakistan to detect the presence of OBL (Osama bin Laden) on its territory for almost a decade or to discern the direction of U.S. policy towards Pakistan that culminated in the avoidable humiliation of the people of Pakistan." — Pakistan’s Abbottabad Commission report into the U.S. assassination of Osama bin Laden on Pakistani soil. (Reuters, July 9, 2013)
“We have to learn from experience. All the concessions in the past were pocketed. Freezing [settlement construction] last time was a big mistake. There must be reciprocity. If we freeze construction, the Palestinians also have to. There won’t be unilateral steps. Because foreign policy has to be based on reality and not dreams, those who want a Palestinian state need to explain why such a state could work when countries in the region with decades of history are coming apart and why we should make a deal with a Palestinian leader who could not win an election.” — Uzi Landau, Israel’s Tourism Minister, in an interview with The Jerusalem Post, in a warning to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to make concessions to the Palestinians just to get them to negotiate. (The Jerusalem Post, July 8, 2013)
EGYPT ORDERS ARREST OF MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD LEADER — (Cairo) Egypt's prosecutor ordered the arrest on Wednesday of the leaders of ousted President Mohamed Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood, charging them with inciting violence that saw 55 of their members shot dead. A week after the army toppled Egypt's first democratically elected leader, the bloodshed on Monday has opened fissures in the Arab world's most populous country, with levels of bitterness unseen in its modern history. Brotherhood spokesman Gehad El-Haddad said the announcement of charges against leader Mohamed Badie and several other senior figures was a bid by authorities to break up a vigil by thousands of Morsi supporters demanding his reinstatement. The leaders were charged with inciting the violence which began before dawn, when the Brotherhood says its followers were fired on while peacefully praying. The army says terrorists provoked the shooting by attacking its troops. (Jerusalem Post, July 10, 2013)
CAR BOMB HITS HEZBOLLAH STRONGHOLD IN BEIRUT; DOZENS HURT— (Beirut) A massive car bomb ripped through a Beirut stronghold of Lebanon's Hezbollah militant group that has been fighting alongside President Bashar Assad in Syria's civil war, wounding 53 people on Tuesday.None of those hurt were seriously wounded, Health Minister Hassan Khalil told Reuters, and there were no fatalities. Sectarian tensions in Lebanon have been high following the intervention of the Shi'ite Muslim Hezbollah in support of Assad's forces fighting a two-year revolt led by Syria's Sunni Muslim majority. (Jerusalem Post, July 9, 2013)
ISRAEL URGED CANADA NOT TO CUT AID TO PALESTINIANS OVER UN VOTE— (Ottawa) Israeli officials encouraged Canada not to cut its foreign aid to the Palestinian Authority in retaliation for the Palestinians seeking upgraded status at the United Nations last year, new documents show. In advance of the vote, the Conservative government had warned of “consequences” should the Palestinians push ahead with the initiative. In 2008, Canada committed $300 million over five years for various development projects within the Palestinian territories, of which at least $40 million was still waiting to be disbursed at the time of the General Assembly vote. “There have been increasing references in the past months during high-level bilateral meetings with the Israelis about the importance and value they place on Canada’s assistance to the Palestinian Authority, most notably in security/justice reform,” reads the note dated Nov. 2, 2012 and signed by Canadian International Development Agency president Margaret Biggs. “The Israelis have noted the importance of Canada’s contribution to the relative stability achieved through extensive security co-operation between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.” (National Post, July 9, 2013)
SAUDI ARABIA, UAE ANNOUNCE EIGHT BILLION IN AID FOR EGYPT — (Cairo) Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday announced a total of $8 billion in economic aid to help shore up Egypt's military-backed interim leaders after Islamist President Mohamed Morsi was removed in a coup. Saudi Arabia's $5-billion pledge and the Emirates' $3 billion will provide Egypt a much-needed economic lifeline. The Persian Gulf economic giants had eyed the Morsi government warily, worried that the rise of his Muslim Brotherhood movement would bolster Islamic extremists in their own countries. Saudi Arabia’s $5-billion pledge and the Emirates' $3 billion will provide Egypt a much-needed economic lifeline, but analysts said they also would diminish the United States’ already shrinking influence with the new government in Cairo. “It definitely diminishes our leverage,” said Jeffrey Martini, a Middle East analyst at the Rand Corp. in Washington. (Los Angeles Times, July 9, 2013)
EGYPT'S [SINAI] CHAOS AND ITS IMPLICATIONS FOR ISRAEL — (El Arish) The security situation in Sinai is grave and perceived by the top echelon of the Egyptian military to be very dangerous. There are different militias of Salafi Jihadists, Bedouins and volunteers from abroad that are attacking, at will, Egyptian military and security positions in Sinai. We are witnessing a state of semi-open rebellion by many tribes in Sinai, led by Salafi militias who have declared the establishment of a "war council" to fight the Egyptian military. The military is especially worried about the possibility of anti-tank missiles being used against ships in the Suez Canal, and they have taken unprecedented precautions around the canal and oil installations in the city of Suez at the southern end of the canal, following an attempt to fire a Grad missile in the area. The Egyptian army is showing the flag by manning roadblocks and defending sensitive government installations, but this is still mostly talk, and there is no concerted effort to tackle the jihadist militias. (BICOM, July 10, 2013)
ARGENTINA PREVENTS IRANIAN TERRORISM INVESTIGATOR FROM TESTIFYING IN WASHINGTON — (Washington) Argentina refused to let Alberto Nisman, the special prosecutor in the 1994 bombing of a Jewish center in Buenos Aires, testify in Washington on Tuesday about Iranian ties to terrorism in the Western Hemisphere. Nisman's recent 500 page report "underscored a critical issue to U.S. homeland security, showing that Iran was 'the main sponsor' of an attempted attack in June 2007 on American soil to blow up JFK airport in Queens, New York," U.S. lawmakers said Monday as they protested the decision to deny authorization for Nisman to testify before Congress. Rep. Michael T. McCaul (R-Texas), chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, said Nisman's probe of the Buenos Aires bombing has shown "the Iranian presence in the Western Hemisphere is greater than we imagined." "Iranian infiltration within countries in our region presents a clear and present danger to our homeland, as do attempts to silence or downplay this threat," he said. (Washington Times, July 9, 2013)
EGYPT IN THE GALILEE: SPHINX FOUND IN NORTHERN ISRAEL— (Tel Hazor)
Archeologists in Israel have made an amazing and unexpected find – the toes and lower feet of an Egyptian Sphinx linked to a pharaoh known for his pyramid construction. The feet, believed to be part of a larger statue, were uncovered at the archeological site at Tel Hazor, north of Tiberias, by a team from the Institute of Archaeology at the Hebrew University, led by Prof. Amnon Ben-Tor and Dr. Sharon Zuckerman. The fragment carries a hieroglyphic inscription mentioning he name of Mycerinus, who ruled Egypt more than 4,000 years ago, and was responsible for the construction of one of the great pyramids in Giza. It is the only known Sphinx of this king discovered anywhere in the world — including Egypt – and the only piece of a royal Sphinx sculpture discovered in the entire Levant area (the eastern Mediterranean). (Jerusalem Post, July 10, 2013)
ISRAEL TO ABOLISH RELIGIOUS DRAFT EXEMPTION— (Jerusalem) Israel’s cabinet approved a draft law on Sunday to abolish wholesale exemptions from military duty granted to Jewish seminary students, stoking ultra-Orthodox anger over the break with tradition. Many Israelis have long bridled over state privileges handed to the conservative believers or “Haredim” – a Hebrew term meaning “those who tremble before God.” The debate heated up when elections in January saw strong performances for two parties who campaigned against the exemptions and created the first cabinet in a decade without ultra-Orthodox members. The new system, which needs parliamentary approval, would reduce the number of exemptions and require ultra-Orthodox men to register for service. It would go into effect in three years. (Globe and Mail, July 9, 2013)
RON DERMER APPOINTED AS ISRAELI AMBASSADOR TO U.S. — (Jerusalem) Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has appointed Ron Dermer as Israel's Ambassador to Washington, replacing outgoing Ambassador Michael Oren. Dermer, 42, a chief advisor to Netanyahu, served in the past as an economic attache to the embassy. He is the co-author, with Natan Sharansky, of the best-seller The Case for Democracy: The Power of Freedom to Overcome Tyranny and Terror. The book became a best-seller and was translated into ten languages. (Ynet News, July 9, 2013)
NEW CHRISTIAN ARAB PARTY SEEKS TO CHANGE FACE OF ISRAELI SOCIETY— (Nazareth) "The New Alliance" party supports national service, including in the military, and recognizes Israel as the home of the Jewish people. "We are completely Israeli, and then comes religion," says party founder Bashara Shlayan of Nazareth. "Israel's first demand, which I support — and which needs to be understood — is that Israel is the home of the Jewish people." The events in the Middle East have unleashed deep sociological and ideological processes, of which we are only seeing the beginning. It is not only political Islam in the eye of the media storm. Throughout the various Arab countries in the region, the bruised and battered Christian community is raising its voice. Israel appears to be the only country in the region whose Christian community does not have a negative emigration ratio as its members flee West in pursuit of a more promising life. (Israel Hayom, July 9, 2013)
New Christian Arab Party Seeks to Change Face of Israeli Society: Dror Eydar, Israel Hayom, July 9, 2013—"The New Alliance" supports national service, including in the military, and recognizes Israel as the home of the Jewish people • "We are completely Israeli, and then comes religion," says party founder Bashara Shlayan of Nazareth.
Key Witness Missing From House Hearing On Iranian Terror Network: Guy Taylor, The Washington Times, July 9, 2013—House Republicans this week accused Argentina of trying to block their investigation into suspected Iranian ties to terrorism in the Western Hemisphere by refusing to let an Argentinian prosecutor testify on the matter Tuesday.
Gulf States Embrace Post-Brotherhood Egypt: Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi , Al-Monitor, July 10, 2013—The ousted Muslim Brotherhood’s mismanagement of Egypt extended into various fields, from the social to the political, but perhaps the area that concerns Egyptians the most is its bungling of the Egyptian economy.
Completing the 118-Year-Old Puzzle of the Cairo Genizah: Abigail Klein Leichman, Israel 21C, July 10, 2013 —Think of it as the world’s oldest and largest jigsaw puzzle: Images of about 200,000 fragments of ancient Jewish documents, held in 67 separate locations across the world, are being matched up digitally by a powerful computer network in the basement of Tel Aviv University.
Ber Lazarus , Publications Editor Canadian Institute for Jewish Research /L'institut Canadien de recherches sur le Judaïsme www.isranet.org Tel: (514) 486-5544 Fax: (514) 486-82843
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