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Iran's Hanging Revolution

The Iranian regime announced their plan on Tuesday to hang nine more men convicted of being mohareb - enemies of God. This follows the execution of two other dissidents who were hanged last week because of their alleged involvement in the unrest that gripped Iran after the dubious June 12 presidential election.

Last week's hangings marked the first known executions relating to the disputed presidential poll. An estimated 4,000 people including journalists and reformist politicians were arrested in the weeks following the June election, while official figures show that more than 1,000 protesters were detained following the more recent opposition demonstrations on December 27 during the Shiite commemoration of Ashura.

On February 11, Iran will mark the revolution's 31st anniversary with an annual rally. According to opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi, Tehran's repression proves that the 1979 Islamic revolution "had not achieved its goals."

By Samara Greenberg  |  February 5, 2010 at 2:14 pm  |  Permalink  |  Submit a Comment

Egypt Arrests 25 for Terror Plot

Egyptian officials announced the arrest of some 25 men on Sunday suspected of plotting attacks against Israeli targets in Egypt and US ships in the Suez Canal. The men are being held on charges of stockpiling weapons and explosives, some of which they were planning to ship to Hamas.

In response, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak announced that his forces will "quash" Islamist groups that threaten his state's stability. Mubarak also defended Egypt's metal barrier currently in construction along its border with Gaza, saying it will stop militants from crossing.

As Khairi Abaza noted in the fall 2007 issue of inFOCUS, Egypt will improve border security "not because America seeks it, but because of its own national security interests."

By Samara Greenberg  |  February 3, 2010 at 1:57 pm  |  Permalink  |  Submit a Comment

Bin Laden Goes Green

The Arab TV network Al Jazeera released an audiotape of Osama bin Laden on Friday where he condemned the US and other industrial economies, holding them responsible for global warming. In an attempt to inflict harm on the American economy, bin Laden concludes that the global economy should immediately abandon its reliance on the American dollar.

While authorities have yet to confirm the tape's authenticity, bin Laden's announcement seemingly comes too late. Last November, hundreds of emails were stolen from England's University of East Anglia's Climatic Research Unit, indicating that scientists manipulated climate data to hide information that cast doubt on the causes of global warming.

As S. Fred Singer notes in the fall 2009 issue of inFOCUS, climate data over the years has shown "no continuous increase in temperature." Singer continues, "The earth's climate varied —both warming and cooling—long before humans used fuels, and even long before humans inhabited the earth."

By Samara Greenberg  |  February 1, 2010 at 12:41 pm  |  Permalink  |  Submit a Comment

Anti-Semitism Highest in 2009 since WWII

2009 saw the most anti-Semitic incidents than any other year since World War II, according to a Jewish Agency report released Sunday. France recorded the largest increase; worldwide, eight people were killed.

The report considered acts that sought to delegitimize Israel as anti-Semitic. According to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, anti-Semitism in its current form "is mixed with a new intention of trying to deny the Jewish state the right to self-defense."

Kenneth Marcus first noted this changing face of anti-Semitism in the spring 2008 issue of inFOCUS. As Marcus explained, anti-Semitism has mutated into a political ideology that now justifies verbal and physical attacks against the Jewish state of Israel.

By Samara Greenberg  |  January 29, 2010 at 10:03 am  |  Permalink  |  Submit a Comment

Israel to Adopt Haitian Orphans

Israel may adopt dozens of Haitian children orphaned by the devastating earthquake that crippled the country on January 12, Ynet News reported Saturday. Over the next few days, Israel will form an adoption team to look into the issue "in order to offer help in the face of this terrible distress."

Over the weekend, Haiti's government called off its search for survivors. Since the quake hit, a total of 132 people were rescued from collapsed buildings. To date, more than 110,000 people are confirmed dead, and tens of thousands remain unaccounted for.

According to Israeli Welfare and Social Services Minister Isaac Herzog, "Haiti was one of the countries that supported us on November 29, 1947 [during the UN vote on the establishment of the State of Israel] and now it's our turn to support them."

By Samara Greenberg  |  January 24, 2010 at 9:15 am  |  Permalink  |  Submit a Comment

For Hummus Sake

Earlier this month, more than 50 Arab and Jewish Israeli chefs in Abu Ghosh, Israel came together and whipped up 8,992.5 pounds of hummus, breaking the Guinness World Record for the biggest serving of hummus previously set by Lebanon.

Lebanese chefs took the record from Israel in October 2009 with the hopes of reaffirming proprietorship over the Middle Eastern dip. Lebanese businessmen accuse Israel of stealing dishes such as hummus, falafel, and tabbouleh, and marketing them as Israeli. Indeed, in 2008, Lebanon announced it will sue Israel for "premeditated exportation" of their traditional recipes.

Beirut plans to beat the new record in the spring on its border with Israel so that "they can learn how to do hummus." However, the people of Abu Ghosh see the battle as a possible means toward peace. Speaking of Lebanon, restaurant owner Jowdat Ibrahim told the Jerusalem Post, "Next time, we'll do 10,000 kg together."

By Samara Greenberg  |  January 20, 2010 at 6:26 am  |  Permalink  |  Submit a Comment

IDF Rescue Teams Arrive in Haiti

On Friday, a team of IDF medical and rescue personnel arrived in Haiti and set up a field hospital in the capital of Port-Au-Prince. In addition to treating patients inside the makeshift hospital, the IDF is using canines to locate and rescue survivors trapped inside crumbled buildings. To follow the IDF's work in Haiti, click here.

The IDF team plans to spend two weeks in the Caribbean state, treating an average of 500 patients a day. The delegation consists of 121 members, including 40 doctors and five search and rescue teams. According to Brig.-Gen. Shalom Ben-Aryeh, commander of the delegation, there is still hope in finding survivors. "We have experience [from work in India in 2002] that after several days it is still possible to rescue people."

On Sunday, amid the tragedy and destruction, Israeli doctors delivered a healthy baby boy inside their field hospital. The mother named her son Israel.

By Samara Greenberg  |  January 17, 2010 at 5:22 pm  |  Permalink  |  Comments (1)

The Met Drops Muhammad

The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City quietly removed artwork containing images of the Prophet Muhammad from its Islamic collection to avoid offending Muslims, the New York Post reported yesterday.

In Islam, any artistic depiction of the prophet Muhammad is considered blasphemous. Yet, the Met's three ancient pieces were painted before religious authorities banned portraying the prophet.

The museum is most likely trying to escape the type of outcry that Danish cartoons of Muhammad caused in 2006. However, the move ultimately undermines Western values. As Paul Marshall warned in the winter 2007 issue of inFOCUS, Western nations should fiercely resist the Islamic World's calls to cease "insulting Islam" by restricting freedoms of speech, press, and religion.

By Samara Greenberg  |  January 11, 2010 at 3:12 pm  |  Permalink  |  Submit a Comment

US Suspends Transfers to Yemen

The White House announced this week that the US will halt the transfer of Guantanamo Bay detainees to Yemen for the time being. The White House's decision comes on the heals of the attempted Christmas Day attack, which originated in Yemen, and sparked concerns that the country is becoming the next hot-bed of terrorism.

The new policy is long overdue. At least one dozen released inmates have rejoined al-Qaeda to fight in Yemen, The Times (UK) reports. Moreover, according to the latest US government statistics, one in five former Gitmo detainees are suspected of or are confirmed to have returned to terrorist activity - a 6 percent increase since the last report in April 2009.

According to US counterterrorism officials, several of Yemen's top al-Qaeda operatives are former Guantanamo Bay detainees, some of whom were released into Saudi Arabia's government-run rehabilitation program. As Jeff Sessions, the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, notes, the US must also halt sending detainees to Saudi Arabia for 'rehabilitation.' As he concludes, "The list of failed participants in the Saudi program reads like a 'who's who' of Al Qaeda terrorists on the Arabian peninsula."

By Samara Greenberg  |  January 7, 2010 at 10:06 am  |  Permalink  |  Submit a Comment

2009: A Year of Security for Israel

According to Shin Bet's annual report on "victims of terrorism," the number of attacks on Israelis drastically dropped in 2009. For the first year this decade, not one suicide attack was carried out. Furthermore, only 566 rockets were fired from Gaza into Israel, compared to 1,752 in 2008.

However, the quiet may not last long. Shin Bet also notes that Hamas is currently strengthening and preparing for another round of fighting with Israel. Indeed, since Operation Cast Lead, the terrorist group has rebuilt and improved its tunnel system used for smuggling weapons and explosive materials.

As Aaron Mannes and V.S. Subrahmanian note in Palestinian Rocket Report, Hamas' cease-fire since Operation Cast Lead is not "an abandonment of its long-term strategy of war against Israel." Rather, for the time being, Hamas is focusing more on "its short-term strategy to consolidate power among the Palestinians" by supplanting Fatah as the representative of the Palestinian people.

By Samara Greenberg  |  January 4, 2010 at 11:44 am  |  Permalink  |  Submit a Comment