Category Archives: Reforming Caliphate

Cairo agrees to host Hamas headquarters, Arabic daily says

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Times of Israel:

A year after leaving Damascus, Islamists reportedly find a new home

By September 11, 2012, 2:58 pm 0
Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi meets Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh in Cairo, July 26 (photo credit: MOHAMMED AL-OSTAZ/Flash 90)
Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi meets Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh in Cairo, July 26 (photo credit: MOHAMMED AL-OSTAZ/Flash 90)

Less than one year after closing its headquarters in Damascus, Hamas’s “outside” leadership has found a new home in the Egyptian capital of Cairo.

Hamas leaders are split between Gaza, where they took violent control in 2007, the West Bank, where they seek to gain control, and elsewhere in the region.

London-based daily Al-Hayat reported Tuesday that Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood administration has agreed to open a Hamas office in eastern Cairo and establish a joint committee with Hamas to discuss issues of security along the Gaza-Egypt border.

Hamas’s Gaza Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh will meet with his counterpart Hisham Kandil in Egypt on Thursday, the daily said.

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Tunisian Spring Is Turning Into a Jewish Winter

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Tunisian Spring Is Turning Into a Jewish Winter

Published: September 1st, 2012
Latest update: September 2nd, 2012
Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Silvan Shalom is Urging Tunisian Jews to leave while they can.
Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Silvan Shalom is Urging Tunisian Jews to leave while they can.
Photo Credit: Tsafrir Abayov/Flash90

Back in December, Tunisia-born Vice Prime Minister of Israel Silvan Shalom called on the Jews still living in Tunisia to immigrate to Israel. That call was rejected with much derision by the remnants of Tunisia’s once thriving Jewish community.

But with new legislation being proposed in the Islamist Ennahda led government, Tunisian Jews may need to rethink their loyalty to a country that no longer wants them.

The Tunisian Parliament is working to pass a law that will prohibit the import of religious books, kosher food, and even visitors from Israel.

The Jews of Tunisia are working to reach a compromise with the government to prevent the parliament from passing the law in a few months time.

In an interview with Makor Rishon, Rav Haim Biton, Chief Rabbi of the Jewish community in Tunisia said, “Today, the government lets us bring in food, medicine, religious and educational books from Israel. If this law passes, our condition will completely change.”

He continued on to say that they are trying to explain to the government that if the law passes, in a few months from now, their relatives from Israel won’t be able to visit, they will not have much needed kosher food items, and, of course, they won’t be able to bring in religious and educational materials.

Other community members were less optimistic as they believe this is the government trying to cut off Jews from their culture. “Behind this law to prohibit the import of kosher products and visiting relatives is their desire to cut off our connection to Israel,” they said.

In November, Tunisia passed a separate law limiting NGOs to importing medicine only from foreign sources in with diplomatic ties with Tunisia, which, obviously, excluded Israel.

Despite the fact that the new proposed law hasn’t yet been passed, Israeli citizens who have requested permission to visit Tunisia recently have been repeatedly turned down, while eight months ago, they could visit.

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We now have the chance to turn all schools into religious schools, says AKP deputy

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Hurriyetdailynews

Istanbul:

Hürriyet archives

Hürriyet archives

The ruling party now has the chance to transform all schools in Turkey into imam hatip religious schools thanks to recent educational reforms, Justice and Development Party (AKP) Deputy Ali Bo?a said, private broadcaster NTV reported.

Bo?a was attending the homecoming celebrations of Mu?la ?mam Highschool when he stated that Turkey was “now past the times when it was forbidden to read the Quran.”

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Barry Rubin: What happened in Egypt

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This is a really good concise analysis. The time to take a good hard critical look at Obama and the state of the world right now has come.

 

What Happened in Egypt

By Barry Rubin

A short history of democracy in Egypt. In February 2011 the Mubarak regime fell. There was going to be a parliament elected in Egypt. The parliament was elected. Its election was invalidated. Today there is no parliament in Egypt.

The Muslim Brotherhood said it would want to run one-third of the candidates for seats. Then they ran one-half. Then they ran all. Then they said they would not run a president. Then they did and elected a president. And they and the Salafists elected 70 percent of the parliament. But now there is no parliament.

The Parliament was going to pick a constituent assembly but to write a Constitution. But now there is no Constitution. There are no restrictions on presidential powers.

And then there was a Supreme Council of the Armed Forces but that was supposed to restrain the Muslim Brotherhood president. And it was supposed to be restrained by the Egypt-Israel peace treaty and by the hope of getting U.S. military aid. But the president got rid of it and fired the two top people and put in his own generals. And there is no restraint.

And we were told that the Egyptian government had promised to adhere to the Egypt-Israel peace treaty. But when it wished the regime simply violated the treaty and sent forces into the eastern Sinai. And it announced an alliance with Hamas which openly declared its desire to go to war with Israel and destroy it. And Cairo did not demur.

The Egyptian regime did more economic damage to Israel by violating its contract on natural gas shipments than any other Arab regime in the history of the country because Israel had to spend billions of dollars replacing that lost fuel. That is why Israeli taxes are going up and social spending must decline. The U.S. government did not lift a finger to help.

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If I ran the OIC, how would I use that to influence the UN?

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Well we already know how the Organization of Islamic Cooperation is using the UN to destroy freedom of speech, most importantly the freedom to criticize, and be free from, irrational religious authority, specifically Islamic through the Istanbul process.

But how more directly?

Well. Let’s say that Muslims had an ongoing campaign of murder, terror and tactical attacks against a neighboring non-Muslim area or nation. Lets say that they were slowly gaining ground and forcing out the indigenous people, or subjugating them to Islamic will and laws. Then I would make sure the UN did not see this as a conflict that required their attention and make sure it continued. However once the Islamic forces made some real headway and had established themselves to a degree and once the locals finally figured that the cost of fighting back was lower than the cost of doing nothing or waiting for authority, even the perceived costs, then I would insist that the UN step in and guarantee the new Islamic dominance of that area.

Anyway just some idle thoughts about what I would do if I ran the OIC.

Meanwhile, in Thailand:

From The Bangkok Post:

South ‘may be lost if UN intervenes’, army general warns

Thailand might lose the deep South if the United Nations is allowed to intervene and help end the violence in the region, deputy army chief Daopong Rattanasuban said on Friday.

“We have not lost our land yet, but if we’re complacent and let the UN intervene and hold a referendum, then we’re finished,” Gen Daopong said.

“We won’t let this happen and we’ll fight it to the death, but our Muslim brothers and sisters have to understand us because we’re fighting against a small percentage of people who are using guerrilla warfare tactics.”

Gen Daopong Rattanasuban (File Photo)

The insurgents wanted to get villagers on their side by telling them that the government and Thai Buddhists are evil, discriminating and unjust and that officials are using excessive force, he said.

However, 90 per cent of the two million Thai Muslims were well aware of the situation.

The problem in the South was sensitive because it involves religion. Officials needed to be patient and have a good understanding. Fortunately, Thai Muslims understand and the army is trying to gain their trust, he said.

The southern militants, after failing to mislead the villagers, tried to instill fear by setting off bombs and murdering security officers at random, he said.

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Far-flung foreign jihadists enter Syrian fray

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France 24:

Far-flung foreign jihadists enter Syrian fray

When a Dutch journalist was kidnapped in Syria last month, he discovered his captors hailed from countries as far-flung as Britain. An increasing number of foreign jihadists are setting up operations in Syria.

Comedies about British lads with working class Birmingham accents playing jihadists in some exotic Muslim land have been made in the past. Except this time, it was real, not remotely funny, and it happened in Syria — just as Syrian President Bashar al-Assad predicted.

For Dutch photographer Jeroen Oerlemans, the absurdist nightmare began on July 19, shortly after he crossed the border from Turkey into Syria along with British photographer John Cantlie.

The two journalists were kidnapped by a group of men and taken to a jihadist camp in northern Syria. But very quickly, Oerlemans realised there was something odd about their kidnappers.

“Almost immediately we realised they were not from Syria,” said Oerlemans in a phone interview with FRANCE 24 days after he was released. “Some of them said they were from Bangladesh, some of them were from the UK and they had Birmingham accents, while others may have been from Pakistan. They were a real mix. ”

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Muslim Brotherhood establishes militia inside Syria

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Telegraph.Uk

h/t Taffy in Canada

 The Muslim Brotherhood has established its own militia inside Syria as the country’s rebels fracture between radical Islamists and their rivals, commanders and gun-runners have told The Daily Telegraph.

Syria: Assad regime launches new offensive against rebels as the UN talks

Image 1 of 4
Syrian refugees at the Turkey- Syria border in Hatay Photo: EPA

By , Richard Spencer in Beirut

6:48PM BST 03 Aug 2012

Calling itself the “Armed Men of the Muslim Brotherhood”, the militia has a presence in Damascus as well as opposition hot spots like Homs and Idlib. One of their organisers, who called himself Abu Hamza, said that he started the movement along with a member of the Syrian National Council (SNC), the opposition alliance.

“We saw there were civilians with weapons inside, so we decided to co-operate with them and put them under one umbrella,” he said.

Hossam Abu Habel, whose late father was in Syria’s Muslim Brotherhood in the 1950s, said that he raised $40-50,000 (£25,000-£32,000) a month to supply Islamist militias in Homs province with weapons and other aid.

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Ezra and an economist do an unusually lucid analysis of the Arab Spring and consequences to Egyptian economy because of increased Islam there.

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This is really quite good.

Over the evening there is more SUN TV coming. This material is courageous and superb. I hope that all of you within Canada who can, subscribe to this station, buy Mr. Coren’s books and support these people in any and every way possible. The fact is, this is the only broadcast media with the courage to actually report on real events and consequences of policies that until very recently, we were not allowed to even speak about, as much from fear of our own government agencies as from Mustard retaliation.

Having a team on TV actually dealing with reality and promoting genuine liberal democracy, while once it was the default, is now a brave and rare commodity. We need to make sure they know it is appreciated.

Eeyore for Vlad

Libya: Sharia should be guiding principle, NTC says

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ANSAMED:

24 hours ahead of first free elections in 48 years

06 JULY, 19:38

(ANSAMed) – JULY 6 – Libya’s National Transitional Council (NTC) urged the constituent assembly that will be elected tomorrow to adopt Sharia law as its guiding principle, just 24 hours ahead of the first free elections in over 40 years.

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Islamists flog demonstrators in Mali and users of alcohol

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An original translation by Michael Laudahn

From NZZ.Ch:

Islamists flog demonstratorsIslamists in Mali try to consolidate their power in the country’s north with a show of force. According to inhabitants, members of the Ansar Dine islamist group went from door to door in the town of Goundam, 100 km west of Timbuktu, detained around 90 people and had them flogged.  Apparently, this measure was meant as a deterrant, after violent protetsts against the islamists had erupted on friday in this town. During these protests, angry inhabitants are said to have destroyed parts of the islamists’ headquarters, according to inhabitants.  According to reports, the protests erupted after a militant islamist flogged a woman with a baby on her arm, because she didn’t wear an appropriate veil, said Hama Cisse, one of the inhabitants. A speaker of the group said the protests were part of a slandering campaign, the baby had remained unharmed.

ANSAMED:

Mali: Drunks get 80 lashes

Timbuktu, 9 July (AKI) – A pair of young male Malians in Timbuktu were lashed 80 times each for being drunk, according to the local press.

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The Islamist Ascendancy

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Post-revolutionary Libya appears to have elected a relatively moderate pro-Western government. Good news, but tentative because Libya is less a country than an oil well with a long beach and myriad tribes. Popular allegiance to a central national authority is weak. Yet even if the government of Mahmoud Jibril is able to rein in the militias and establish a functioning democracy, it will be the Arab Spring exception. Consider:

Tunisia and Morocco, the most Westernized of all Arab countries, elected Islamist governments. Moderate, to be sure, but Islamist still. Egypt, the largest and most influential, has experienced an Islamist sweep. The Muslim Brotherhood didn’t just win the presidency. It won nearly half the seats in parliament, while more openly radical Islamists won 25 percent. Combined, they command more than 70 percent of parliament — enough to control the writing of a constitution (which is why the generals hastily dissolved parliament).

As for Syria, if and when Bashar al-Assad falls, the Brotherhood will almost certainly inherit power. Jordan could well be next. And the Brotherhood’s Palestinian wing (Hamas) already controls Gaza.

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Student murder stokes fears of Egypt’s Islamists

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H/T Hermes

Times of Israel:

Bearded men approached unmarried couple sitting together in a park, demanding they separate, and fatally stabbed the young man

By July 5, 2012, 3:43 am

 

>Boys hold posters of Ahmed Hussein Eid, who was fatally stabbed by three bearded men, during his funeral procession in Suez, Egypt, on Wednesday, July 4, 2012. (photo credit: AP)
Boys hold posters of Ahmed Hussein Eid, who was fatally stabbed by three bearded men, during his funeral procession in Suez, Egypt, on Wednesday, July 4, 2012. (photo credit: AP)

CAIRO (AP) — Three bearded men approached a university student and his girlfriend during a romantic rendezvous in a park and ordered them to separate because they weren’t married, according to security officials. An argument broke out, ending with one of the men fatally stabbing the student.

The June 25 attack has alarmed Egyptians concerned that with an Islamist president in office, vigilante groups are feeling emboldened to enforce strict Islamic mores on the streets.

Islamists, including members of one-time violent groups, were empowered after last year’s ouster of Hosni Mubarak’s secular regime by a popular uprising. They formed political parties and won about 70 percent of parliament seats in elections held some six months ago, although a court dissolved the legislature.

Moderate Muslims along with liberal and women’s groups now worry that Mohammed Morsi’s presidency will eradicate what is left of Egypt’s secular traditions and change the social fabric of the mainly Muslim nation of 82 million people.

Some activists say Islamists already are flexing their muscles in areas outside Cairo and other main cities, taking advantage of the absence of civil society groups and tenuous security in the areas.

They cite reports of efforts to persuade drivers of communal taxis, mostly minibuses that can seat up to 16, to segregate women and men passengers. In some instances, women’s hairdressing salons were told to get rid of male employees or threatened with closure.

“If Islamists are to try and take over the streets and enforce their version of Islam, they will do it in rural areas, at least initially,” said Yara Sallam from Nazra, a women’s rights group.

The security officials said there was no concrete evidence linking the June 25 killing to radical Islamic groups in Egypt, but it still has stoked fears.

Islamist groups, including Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood and the ultraconservative Salafis, denied any link to the murders.

Rights groups say they have sent teams to investigate the Suez killing and establish whether Islamists were behind the attacks.

On the same day, two musicians, who were brothers, were murdered as they were traveling home after performing at a wedding in the Nile Delta province of Sharqiyah, officials said. Radical Muslims consider music “haram” or prohibited, as a distraction from religious duties.

Two ultraconservative Salafi Muslims were arrested, but officials said it was not clear if the killings were religiously motivated.