LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
May 02/12

Bible Quotation for today/Mercy
Proverb21/13: "Whoever stops his ears at the cry of the poor, he will also cry out, but shall not be heard".

Latest analysis, editorials, studies, reports, letters & Releases from miscellaneous sources
Rejectionists in Egypt/By Abdul Rahman Al-Rashed/Asharq Al Awsat/May 01/12
Muslim Brotherhood Wants the Bakery, Not the Pita/by David P. Goldma/May 01/12
Elias Bejjani: Press release addressing a conversation with Canada's Foreign Affairs Minister, John Baird in regards to political stances adopted by the Maronite Patriarch, His Beatitude Bchara Al Raei, who is paying a pastoral visit to Canada next month/30.04.12/Arabic & English/ Click Here

Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for May 01/12
United States Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Jeffrey Feltman. to Arrive in Beirut to Meet Senior Officials
Israeli National Security Adviser heads to EU for 'sensitive' talks on Iran
Bombings spread in Syria as Al Qaeda seizes control of rebel factions
Barak Says Israel Cannot Afford to be 'Duped' by Iran
Iran Says U.S. F-22s in UAE Imperil Regional Security
Syrian Judge Releases Activist Yara Shammas on Bail
Abbas: I choose Netanyahu as my partner for peace
Iran Says May Reciprocate over Canada Visa Closure
Ex-Arab League boss vows reform, dismisses Mubarak link
Free Syrian Army Accuses Syrian Regime of Being behind Intercepted Arms Smuggling Ship
Geagea Says to Sue Bassil for 'Misleading Investigation' into Assassination Bid
Opposition Criticizes Visit of Iranian Delegation to Lebanon, Says it 'Embarrasses' Cabinet
Roux Says He Seeks to Meet with Concerned Officials in Order to Inform them of Defense Office’s Role
Aoun on Jumblat: We May Forget His Thefts but Won't Accept Theft of Our Freedom via Electoral Law
Jumblat: Adopting Proportional Representation in Electoral Law Will Reproduce Period of Hegemony
The head of the General Labor Confederation Ghassan GhosnConfirms May 3 Strike: We Won’t Stay Silent over Govt. that is Seeking to Impoverish its People
Arab Tawhid Party slams Feltman’s upcoming visit to Lebanon
Kataeb welcomes Sleiman’s initiative on expatriates’ voting
Bassil: Investigative commissions must not be based on ‘rumors’
Sleiman and Clinton discuss latest developments
Hariri launches Labor Day broadside against cabinet
Nine from one family among 10 dead in Syria, says watchdog  

The Lebanese Canadian Coordinating Council (LCCC)
Press Release From Elias Bejjani
April 30/2012
As was previously scheduled, in my capacity as a Canadian Lebanese human rights activist and Chairman for the LCCC, I discussed today with the Honorable John Baird, Canada's Minister Of Foreign Affairs, our opposing stand regarding all political stances adopted by His Beatitude the Maronite Patriarch Bchara Al Raei who is paying a pastoral visit to Canada next month. The discussion revolved on the contents of our letter addressing Al Raei’s political stances in question that was sent to Minister Baird, as well as to the Honorable Jason Kenny, Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism, Prime Minister Stephen Harper, and all Canadian provincial Ministers and MPs. His Beatitude’s political Stances does not represent many Lebanese communities in both Canada and Lebanon.It is worth mentioning that Al Raei's declared and documented positions concerning the Hezbollah terrorist organization, the Syrian revolution, the Arab Spring, and Syria's al-Assad regime totally contradict all of Canada's foreign policies and standpoints.We conveyed to Mr. Baird our full support for the Canadian Government's clear and courageous foreign policy towards global terrorism, equality, freedoms, human rights and peace, and extended to him our gratitude for listening to our concerns and stances.

United States Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Jeffrey Feltman. to Arrive in Beirut to Meet Senior Officials
Naharnet/01 May 2012/Conflicting reports has surfaced on Tuesday on the scheduled visit of United States Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Jeffrey Feltman.Local newspapers reported that Feltman will arrive in Lebanon on Wednesday to meet with top Lebanese officials.However, Progressive Socialist Party press department said in a statement that the U.S. official will hold a meeting with its leader MP Walid Jumblat at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday night. Feltman is expected to hold meetings with President Michel Suleiman, Speaker Nabih Berri, and Prime Minister Najib Miqati. An Nahar newspaper reported that MP Butros Harb will host a dinner banquet in honor of Feltman in the presence of several March 14 forces figures. U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton telephoned on Monday Suleiman to laud his call to implement democracy in political practice and expressed her country’s support to such an end. She also revealed that her envoy Feltman will travel to Lebanon to follow up on the situation in the Arab world. Suleiman and Clinton’s talks addressed local and regional developments and ways to bolster bilateral ties. Presidential sources told As Safir newspaper that the meeting was an opportunity to discuss the ways to enhance the bilateral ties between Lebanon and the U.S. Meanwhile, An Nahar reported that a senior U.S. congressman will arrive on Wednesday in Lebanon and will head to the northern Lebanese border to check the situation along the Lebanese-Syrian border.

Geagea Says to Sue Bassil for 'Misleading Investigation' into Assassination Bid
Naharnet/30 April 2012/Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea on Monday announced that he will sue Energy and Water Minister Jebran Bassil for “misleading the investigation” into the recent attempt on his life, accusing the Free Patriotic Movement and Hizbullah of practicing “psychological terrorism.” “There is a ‘machine’ comprising high-level officials from Hizbullah and the FPM and I call it a machine of terrorism and oppression. Whenever an incident happens, they do the same thing by casting doubt on it and its motives,” Geagea said in an interview on Future TV. “We will file a lawsuit against Jebran Bassil accusing him of misleading the investigation and he should have asked the ministers of interior and justice, the army and the security forces” about the authenticity of the assassination attempt, Geagea added.
The lawsuit will be filed on Tuesday or Wednesday, he said.  In a recent interview with al-Akhbar newspaper, Bassil questioned whether the supposed attempt on Geagea’s life had really happened.
“Given the fact that the case was publicized by Geagea and is revolving around him, that makes our concerns bigger, because he was the one who announced” he was the target of an assassination attempt, Bassil told al-Akhbar. “The biggest concern is that these remarks might be aimed at justifying assassination operations similar to those that happened after the year 2005,” Bassil said, noting that “every time they want to cover up for something, an assassination happens.”Bassil stressed that he had the right to raise questions until security agencies announce the results of their probe.“Hizbullah and the Aounist leadership are practicing direct psychological and political terrorism against the Internal Security Forces, the army and its officers and all the people,” Geagea charged.“I don't know anything about the progress of the probe into the attempt on my life and I thank the justice minister who telephoned me immediately and quickly launched investigations,” the LF leader said.Geagea accused the rival camp of casting doubt on “every assassination crime against figures belonging to the Cedar Revolution.”He charged that the political system in Lebanon has turned into a “veiled dictatorship.” “All things are being influenced by the oppression machine. Does anyone doubt that had it not been for this machine, (President Michel) Suleiman, (Prime Minister Najib) Miqati and (Speaker Nabih) Berri would have different stances?” Geagea added.Asked whether the LF had any links to the arms depot recently discovered in Ashrafiyeh, Geagea said: “I don't know how it was discovered and I don't know the identity of its owner. Investigations are still ongoing and the other camp is full of liars.”Slamming the other camp’s stances on the Syrian crisis, Geagea said: “Their negative, malicious theories are aimed at keeping the current regime in Syria.” “The replacement of the current regime would be a pluralistic, democratic regime and Christians would not benefit from the survival of this Syrian regime,” he noted.

Roux Says He Seeks to Meet with Concerned Officials in Order to Inform them of Defense Office’s Role
Naharnet/01 May 2012/The head of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon Defense Office Francois Roux stated that he holds talks with various government officials whenever he visits Lebanon, reported the daily An Nahar on Tuesday.He told the daily that he is open to meeting other political officials in order to explain to them the role of the Defense Office and STL.
He made his statement in response to a question on whether he intends to meet with Hizbullah officials during a future trip to Lebanon. Four Hizbullah members have been accused of being involved in the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri Roux stressed that he always seeks to explain the role of his office and the STL, whether to politicians or civilians, adding that lawyers must be informed of the rules of international tribunals.This is the message that he sought to relay during various meetings he held in Switzerland, England, France, and Lebanon, he revealed.
Asked if he will be visiting Lebanon any time soon, he replied that he is in constant contact with Lebanese officials.On whether the Defense Office had received files on the investigation from the Prosecution, Roux responded that such a matter is not part of his jurisdiction, adding that the Defense Office does not receive them, but the defense teams do.The office however does all it can than they are delivered to the teams by providing them with technical, logistic, and technical support, he explained.
The teams hope to obtain all the documents they need, Roux added.

The head of the General Labor Confederation Ghassan GhosnConfirms May 3 Strike: We Won’t Stay Silent over Govt. that is Seeking to Impoverish its People
Naharnet/01 May 2012/The head of the General Labor Confederation Ghassan Ghosn confirmed on Tuesday the general strike scheduled for May 3 in protest against the government policies regarding living conditions in Lebanon.He announced on the occasion of Labor Day: “We will no longer remain silent over a government that is seeking to impoverish its people.”“Labor Day this year goes beyond celebrating the occasion, but it is a day to struggle for human dignity and social justice,” he declared.“We chose this day to confirm the strike in order to demand our rights from the government, which has distanced itself from the people’s concerns,” he added.Ghosn said that the people are “teetering on the edge of poverty because of the rise in prices of consumer goods.”“Their salaries are being eaten up by the high fuel prices … despite the GLC’s demands that the oil sector be released from the grips of monopolization and unjust taxes in order to limit the negative impact of the rise in global prices,” he continued.He accused the government of granting private sector employees a wage hike, while those of the public sector have been excluded.He accused the government of “disassociating itself from its social responsibilities and turning a blind eye to the selling of spoiled food.”“We will no longer remain silent over a government that is spreading corruption and permitting bribes,” Ghosn said.
“We will no longer remain silent over the government’s squandering of public funds and failure to restore the country’s maritime territory,” he stated.He announced that the GLC will reject any proposal aimed at increasing the Value Added Tax, warning the government against “repeating tragic measures that led to the weakening of the people’s consumer capabilities.”“The government’s unjust policies have severely impacted various sectors, especially the industry, agricultural, financial, and real estate fields,” he noted.Such policies have only helped increase unemployment in Lebanon, he said.
He therefore called on the government to “return to its ministerial statement, especially its pledge to change the economic situation to make it more productive.”

Aoun on Jumblat: We May Forget His Thefts but Won't Accept Theft of Our Freedom via Electoral Law
Naharnet/30 April 2012/ Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun on Monday accused the opposition March 14 camp of “practicing obstruction” and slammed Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat over his rejection of an electoral law based on proportional representation.“The parliamentary minority is practicing obstruction in collusion with some of the executive authority, and we will not remain silent over this issue even if some people launched verbal attacks,” Aoun told reporters after the weekly meeting of the Change and Reform parliamentary bloc in Rabiyeh.
“I support a proportional representation law and turning Lebanon into a single electorate and those who have another point of view must voice it in parliament,” Aoun said.
Criticizing Jumblat without mentioning him by name, Aoun said: “We are not obliged” to boost his political clout. “We might forget about the thefts … but we will not tolerate the theft of our freedom,” Aoun added.Commenting on the issue of the arms ship seized on Friday by the Lebanese navy, Aoun said “it is an attack against Lebanese territory and Lebanese sovereignty, as well as an attack on a brotherly state, Syria.”According to media reports, the navy intercepted three containers of heavy machineguns, artillery shells, rockets, rocket launchers and other explosives destined for Syrian rebels on a ship originating in Libya.“The policy of self-dissociation must be applied by both the government and the people and those trafficking arms are harming the ties with a brotherly state,” Aoun noted.
Addressing the ongoing financial row, the FPM leader said: “The ‘era of prostitution’ is over and we have embarked on forming a panel together with some MPs for the sake of financial accountability from 1993 until now.” “The objective is improving administration and the financial situation, but some parliamentary committees have started obstructing the step,” he added.
“We are ready to go to court ... and should we be convicted in a single case, we pledge that we would quit politics. Where are your evidences?” he said, addressing his movement’s political rivals.
Asked about the imminent visit to Lebanon by Jeffrey Feltman, assistant U.S. secretary of state for near eastern affairs, Aoun said: “He is coming to support the corruption he used to support when he was (an ambassador) in Lebanon.”

Jumblat: Adopting Proportional Representation in Electoral Law Will Reproduce Period of Hegemony
Naharnet/30 April 2012/Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat questioned on Monday the insistence to adopt proportional representation in the parliamentary electoral law.
He noted in his weekly editorial in the PSP-affiliated al-Anbaa magazine: “Such a law will, in one way or another, help reproduce the era of hegemony in Lebanon, which will therefore be rejected by all the Lebanese people.”“The period of hegemony was rife with political assassinations against national, media, and intellectual figures,” he continued.He added that a proportional representation law will help create a parliament that will be loyal to a foreign “axis that claims to support defiance against Israel and that is on its way to be eliminated.”Such a parliament will also help elect a president who does not enjoy consensus, remarked the Druze chief.“Any attempt to restore the era of hegemony will be met with rejection because the Lebanese people refuse to turn back the hands of time, especially when Arab peoples are in revolt against oppressive and dictatorial regimes,” said Jumblat.
Furthermore, the MP added that he was the first to propose proportional representation three decades ago, “before the formation of the current political powers.”He explained that he had made the suggestion at the time as part of a complete package that would help achieve “real reform in the country’s political system.”The current proposal of proportional representation is only aimed at “silencing the other,” he stressed. “Has it become so unbearable for them to tolerate the centrist voices that are seeking to prevent the country from heading towards strife?” asked Jumblat. “Weren’t centrists the ones who affirmed political principles that called for protecting the resistance’s arms?” he wondered. “Weren’t they part of the national consensus over the Special Tribunal for Lebanon during the 2006 national dialogue?” he continued.“If only some powers in the majority and others in the minority would exercise humility in order to reasonably tackle issues instead of getting embroiled in daily disputes that don’t even spare the president, who is burdened by the fact that he was elected through consensus instead of being provided with the suitable conditions to be elected,” he remarked.
The PSP leader questioned the campaign against President Michel Suleiman, which he said may be linked to his refusal to hand over Syrian refugees to their country, “where they will be surely executed.”
He also speculated that the campaign may be aimed at preventing the president from expressing his views on the administrative and judicial appointments.Disputes have recently emerged between Suleiman and Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun over the appointments of civil servants and a $5.9 billion extra-budgetary spending bill, which the president is being pressured to sign. The March 8 camp has advocated the adoption of proportional representation for the electoral law, while Jumblat has said that such a law is aimed at limiting his political weight.

Free Syrian Army Accuses Syrian Regime of Being behind Intercepted Arms Smuggling Ship
Naharnet/01 May 2012/A senior official in the Free Syrian Army denied that the army has any links to the ship that was intercepted by the Lebanese navy on Friday on suspicion that it was smuggling arms to Syria, reported the pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat on Tuesday. The unnamed officer instead blamed the Syrian regime for being behind the ship. He told the daily: “We consider the ship part of the Syrian intelligence’s fabrications in order to embarrass the international community.”It is employing the arms shipment in order to justify its military campaign against the Syrian people, he added.
Furthermore, the officer stressed that the Free Syrian Army’s sole source of weapons is the Syrian army, whose members sell them some light arms. He stressed that an international or Arab decision to provide the Free Syrian Army with weapons has not been taken yet. “The equation on the ground would have changed had we been provided with arms,” he explained.The Lebanese army over the weekend confirmed the interception of the vessel, Lutfallah II, which it said was transporting three containers loaded with arms. “The ship was intercepted and the 11 crew members of various Arab and foreign nationalities were detained,” an army statement said, adding that the military police opened an investigation under the supervision of the competent judicial authority.The ship was stopped by the navy off Lebanon's northern coast on Friday and towed to a port near the city of Batroun.

ISF Arrests Gang Accused of Forging Visas to Europe
Naharnet/01 May 2012/The Internal Security Forces intelligence bureau detained on Tuesday a four-member gang on charges of providing people with fake visas to European countries from Lebanon.
The ISF launched a probe to expose all those who are involved in the case in order to refer them to the competent judiciary.
Investigations with the four members are underway.

Aoun on Jumblat: We May Forget His Thefts but Won't Accept Theft of Our Freedom via Electoral Law
Naharnet/30 April 2012/Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun on Monday accused the opposition March 14 camp of “practicing obstruction” and slammed Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat over his rejection of an electoral law based on proportional representation. “The parliamentary minority is practicing obstruction in collusion with some of the executive authority, and we will not remain silent over this issue even if some people launched verbal attacks,” Aoun told reporters after the weekly meeting of the Change and Reform parliamentary bloc in Rabiyeh.
“I support a proportional representation law and turning Lebanon into a single electorate and those who have another point of view must voice it in parliament,” Aoun said.
Criticizing Jumblat without mentioning him by name, Aoun said: “We are not obliged” to boost his political clout. “We might forget about the thefts … but we will not tolerate the theft of our freedom,” Aoun added.Commenting on the issue of the arms ship seized on Friday by the Lebanese navy, Aoun said “it is an attack against Lebanese territory and Lebanese sovereignty, as well as an attack on a brotherly state, Syria.”According to media reports, the navy intercepted three containers of heavy machineguns, artillery shells, rockets, rocket launchers and other explosives destined for Syrian rebels on a ship originating in Libya.“The policy of self-dissociation must be applied by both the government and the people and those trafficking arms are harming the ties with a brotherly state,” Aoun noted.
Addressing the ongoing financial row, the FPM leader said: “The ‘era of prostitution’ is over and we have embarked on forming a panel together with some MPs for the sake of financial accountability from 1993 until now.” “The objective is improving administration and the financial situation, but some parliamentary committees have started obstructing the step,” he added.
“We are ready to go to court ... and should we be convicted in a single case, we pledge that we would quit politics. Where are your evidences?” he said, addressing his movement’s political rivals.
Asked about the imminent visit to Lebanon by Jeffrey Feltman, assistant U.S. secretary of state for near eastern affairs, Aoun said: “He is coming to support the corruption he used to support when he was (an ambassador) in Lebanon.”

Rejectionists in Egypt
By Abdul Rahman Al-Rashed/Asharq Al Awsat
The most popular word in the Egyptian arena is “no”. The word no is uttered dozens of times every day with regards to local issues: No to military trials, no to remnants [of the former regime], no to the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), no to presidential elections before a constitution is in place, no to the constituent assembly, no to the electoral commission and no to disrupting the presidential elections.
The word no is also used prominently when it comes to overseas issues: No to borrowing from the World Bank, no to US aid, no to exporting gas to Israel, no to preventing civil society organizations, and so on. The newest is “no to Saudi Arabia”, because of the Egyptian named Ahmed al-Gizawi arrested at Jeddah airport in possession of narcotics.
Of course, the Egyptian citizen can say no as many times as they want to their own government, but they cannot impose their opinion outside their own country. Egypt can close its embassy in Riyadh, prevent its Egyptian citizens from travelling to Saudi Arabia, prevent the Saudis from entering Egypt, and cut all bilateral relations with Saudi Arabia. These stances can all be emphatically represented by the word no. However, Egypt cannot prevent a foreign state from arresting an Egyptian, in accordance with the laws of that state, and cannot prevent the punishment that he is sentenced to.
Those who call for Egypt to cut ties with the state with the greatest overlapping interests, i.e. Saudi Arabia, or to withdraw Egypt’s labor force from there, want to impose their demands at the expense of other Egyptians whom they did not consult.
If the Egyptians want to say no to all these interests, that is their business and their right, but the question that remains is: Who is authorized to say yes or no for the Egyptian people? Demonstrators, parliamentarians or the expected president? Sovereign Egyptian decisions should be issued by the Egyptian state, not through television talk shows or demonstrations.
The world has been waiting for about a year for the Egyptians to decide upon their state project. A year ago Qatar promised to give the Egyptians US$ 10 billion, but only after a president was elected. The UAE made a similar pledge. The World Bank has refused to provide aid whilst it awaits Egypt’s political birth. The new Egyptian regime is still in a state of formation, whereby almost half of it has been completed with the elections of both houses of parliament; the People’s Assembly and the Shura Council. What remains is the constitution, the election of the president, and subsequently the government. Then the Egyptians will be able to make their own crucial decisions with regards to foreign affairs, but at the moment we are witnessing a state of competition, with each party seeking to humiliate others and gain popularity and emotional weight, and most of the time when they say no it has no logic behind it.
For example, those who say no to borrowing from the World Bank to secure Egypt’s critical financial situation perhaps are unaware that countries such as Spain, Romania, Greece and others are all now standing in a queue in front of the IMF and World Bank, and there is no sense of a loss of dignity for them. Likewise, those who want to cancel Egypt’s foreign aid, like that it receives from the United States, are ignoring that this aid is part of a complex relationship and mutual interests. Most countries in the region aspire to receive annual US aid such as that granted to Egypt, to the value of around US$ 1.5 billion, which exceeds the aid granted to all other Arab countries combined.
As for the battle of the accused Egyptian Ahmed al-Gizawi in Saudi Arabia, if it was true that that Saudi Arabia had an agenda against him, then he would have been refused a visa immediately and thus prevented from entering the country. Secondly, al-Gizawi is a non-factor for many people, particularly the Saudis, compared to the dozens of other famous Egyptian critics or supporters. Thirdly, Saudi Arabia contains the largest Egyptian community in the world outside their own country. Interestingly, this community is ranked second in Saudi Arabia in terms of living standards, citing the least issues or problems. Fourthly, the Saudi work regulations, which some people are complaining about, apply to all communities and nationalities, and are not an exception targeting the Egyptians.
The Saudis, and anyone else concerned about what is currently being issued from Egypt, must realize that Egypt today is a ship in a rough sea without a captain, awaiting the results of the long Egyptian marathon.
I am confident that matters will work out in their natural course, and Egypt’s foreign relations will not change greatly whether the next regime is a civil one, or consists of retired military figures, or the Brotherhood, or the Nasserites. Saudi-Egyptian relations have remained for nearly three quarters of a century, and they have withstood the most trying of circumstances. The Egyptian monarchy fell in 1952 and relations continued with the new regime. The late Egyptian President Anwar Sadat was enraged when Saudi Arabia refused to support him in his agreement with Israel in 1979, but relations were then restored, as happened previously with the late President Jamal Abdul Nasser.
The truth is that the new Egypt, regardless of the forces that will administer its policies in the future, will grow increasingly interconnected with Saudi Arabia given the circumstances. Egypt boasts the third highest gross production in the region, after Saudi Arabia and the UAE, which means that Egypt’s economy is larger than that of Qatar, Kuwait, Iraq and Libya combined, in terms of economic strength. But Egypt cannot activate this strength without good relations with the major economic countries in the region, such as Saudi Arabia.
Those who threw bricks at the Saudi Embassy in Cairo were actually throwing them at the Egyptians in Saudi Arabia, already concerned about the chaos on the Egyptian street and the conflicts between various political forces to rule the country. Some may be shocked to learn that many of the 1.5 million Egyptians in Saudi Arabia declined to transfer their savings to their home country last year, fearing the consequences that the chaos may pose for their earnings, such as the devaluation of the Egyptian pound, the bankruptcy of Egyptian banks, or the anarchical political and security situation.
Those who undertook the Egyptian revolution must preserve their country’s gains, and not mix between them and the gains of the former regime.

Olmert: I don't trust Netanyahu on Iran issue
Attila Somfalvi /Ynetnews
Former PM tells CNN's Amanpour Iran aware of nuclear program's ramifications, but Israel must 'create capacity' to defends itself
Former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said he does not trust Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to reach the right decision for Israel regarding Iran's nuclear program.
In an interview with CNN's Christiane Amanpour, which will be aired Monday night, Olmert said, "The Iranian regime has not gone beyond a certain line of developing (its) nuclear program. That shows that they are at least thoughtful, which means that they are not rushing, but they are calculating their steps – being aware of the possible ramifications of what they do to Iran itself – which is what we want them to understand. "At the same time, we have to create a capacity to defend ourselves in the event that they will not (halt the nuclear program)," he told Amanpour. "And at the same time we have to encourage the international community, quietly by the way, without talking so much, (…) to take measures, sanctions (…) but also not to rush (to) certain military actions which are not essential at this point."
Olmert told CNN that according to many Israeli intelligence estimates, Iran would retaliate to an Israeli strike. Attacking at an inopportune time could be a terrible mistake, the former PM said, while hinting that he does not trust Israel's current leaders to make the right decision. Addressing US-Israel relations, Olmert accused Netanyahu of failing to effectively cooperate with US President Barack Obama

Bombings spread in Syria as Al Qaeda seizes control of rebel factions
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report April 30, 2012/Around the first anniversary of the death of al Qaeda’s iconic leader Osama bin Laden at the hands of US special forces, the jihadist movement is making an operational comback in the Arab world and Africa. The suicide bombings hitting Damascus and Idlib in the last 24 hours were the work of Al Qaeda in Iraq – AQI, whose operatives have been pouring into Syria in the last two weeks, debkafile’s counter-terror sources report./
Washington has not asked Iraqi premier Nouri al-Maliki to stem the outward flow, realizing he is glad to see the backs of the terrorists and waving them across the border into Syria. Our sources report from Western agencies fighting al Qaeda that several thousand operatives have arrived in Syria to fight the Assad regime, most entering the country from the north. They come fully armed with quantities of explosives. Among them are hundreds of Saudis, Egyptians, Lebanese, Palestinians, Iraqis and Sudanese.
They quickly join up with the hundreds of al Qaeda fighters from Libya present at Free Syrian Army-FSA training camps in southeast Turkey. There, they are instructed in the geography of Syrian government, army and security forces locations, led across the border and transported to their targeted locations by special guides. Monday, April 30, the day after Norwegian Maj. Gen. Robert Hood took command of a painfully inadequate force of UN UN truce supervisors, al Qaeda let loose with a spate of bombings in Damascus and the northeastern flashpoint town of Idlib. I
In the capital, they bombed the Syrian central bank with RPG grenades, ambushed a police patrol in the town center and blew up a bomb car against a Syrian military convoy driving through the Qudsiya district. Two days earlier, a suicide bomber blew himself up at the Zain al-Abideen mosque of Damascus, killing at least 9 worshippers. These attacks were followed later Monday with three bomb blasts in Idlib at security and intelligence centers in the town, killing some 20 people, most of them security personnel. One command center was destroyed and hundreds were injured by the force of the blasts.
The Syrian ruler Bashar Assad keeps on complaining that his regime is under assault by terrorists and many of the fatalities reported are members of his army and police. But his own brutal methods against dissidents have deafened the West to these complaints and the world addresses its demands to halt the violence to him and him alone.
There is nothing new about the refusal in the West to heed the fact that al Qaeda infiltrators are increasingly responsible for violence in the various parts of the Arab Revolt. In Libya too, Muammar Qaddafi warned repeatedly that his overthrow would result in al Qaeda-linked groups seizing control of the country and commandeering his vast arsenals of weapons.
In the seven months since the Qaddafi regime was destroyed, Washington, London and Paris have turned a blind eye to the impossibility of establishing a stable government in Tripoli because rebel factions and militias identified with al Qaeda which control Libya’s main towns are too busy running the biggest arms smuggling network ever seen in North Africa.
Rockets, explosives and every kind of weapon is reaching al Qaeda elements and affiliates in abundant quantities across northern Africa and the Middle East, including their offshoots in Egyptian Sinai and the Gaza Strip. Groups identified with al Qaeda have seized control of large parts of Mali and directly threaten the stability of the Algerian government.
debkafile’s counter-terror and Washington sources report fears that Syria might go the same way as Libya. Syrian officers and agents who have deserted from Syrian military and security agencies have made their way to Washington to implore administration officials to abandon the US policy of non-intervention in Syria. They warn that the rebel Free Syrian Army is falling into the clutches of al Qaeda. It won’t be long, they say, before these jihdist terrorists not only wreak mayhem in Syria, but turn that country into their haven and base for cross-border attacks against Turkey, Lebanon, Israel, the West Bank and Jordan.
Their pleas have not moved the Obama administration. Our military sources note that so long as the Americans stay out of involvement in Syria, France, Turkey and Arab League nations will also stand aside, because the US alone is capable of establishing combined commands and infrastructure for coordinating an operation with multiple air support on the scale required for Syria.
By opting out of action in Syria, the West and the Arab League not only give Assad free rein to continue slaughtering his people but leave the door open for al Qaeda to move in on the various Syrian rebel movements and add the element of terror to the ongoing carnage.









 

Muslim Brotherhood Wants the Bakery, Not the Pita
April 28, 2012
by David P. Goldman
On April 28, Saudi Arabia closed its embassy and most consulates in Egypt following demonstrations and “attempts to storm and threaten the security and safety of Saudi and Egyptian employees, raising hostile slogans and violating the inviolability and sovereignty,” as the Saudis explained in recalling their ambassador from Cairo. This turn of events should come as no surprise. The Muslim Brotherhood hopes to use Egypt as a power base to replace the corrupt monarchies of the Persian Gulf with a modernized, quasi-Leninist breed of Islamic radicalism, and the Saudis have made public their alarm about the Muslim Brotherhood for months. As I wrote April 10 in this space, the Egyptian Islamists want economic chaos in order to consolidate their power at the street level and replace the doddering and feckless military government.
The proximate cause of the anti-Saudi demonstrations is the case of Ahmed el-Gezawi, an Egyptian lawyer, whom Saudi judges last week sentenced to a year in prison and 20 lashes for “insulting” Saudi King Abdullah. The Saudis claim that he was smuggling Xanax into the kingdom. Just who started the demonstrations against Saudi embassies and consulates is unclear, but the Muslim Brotherhood is holding a net to catch the fallout. As Reuters reported today,
In a statement, the Muslim Brotherhood’s political party said the protests at the Saudi embassy showed “the desire of Egyptians to preserve the dignity of their citizens in Arab states”.
Analysts point to the rise of the Brotherhood as a cause of Saudi concern about the direction of the post-Mubarak Egypt.
“It’s no secret that Saudi Arabia is very concerned about losing one of its closest Arab allies and the rise of the Brotherhood,” said Shadi Hamid, a political analyst at the Doha Brookings Center.
Attacking the Saudis drastically reduces Egypt’s chances of avoiding economic catastrophe, as we’ll explore after the page break.
As Matt Bradley wrote today in the Wall Street Journal, “Saturday’s flap comes during a precarious moment for Egypt’s economy”:
Egypt needs financial assurances from its wealthy Arab neighbors to both shore up its $11 billion budget deficit and to help underwrite a $3.2 billion loan Egypt is negotiating with the International Monetary Fund.
The IMF loan will be crucial to repairing the damaged perception of the Egyptian economy among foreign investors and forestalling a currency devaluation. If Egypt can gather the domestic and regional political support necessary to secure the loan in the next few months, economists expect the country can avoid a disorderly collapse of the Egyptian pound.
AdvertisementEgyptian financial authorities rejected the loan last summer, in part because of expectations that Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil producer, would follow through on its commitment to lend Egypt $3.75 billion. Except for $500 million sent last summer, Egypt has yet to see the rest of the cash. But last week Saudi Arabia agreed to deposit $1 billion in aid with Egypt’s central bank.
The IMF repeatedly has said that Egypt will need “adequate external financing from Egypt’s international partners,” a phrase that economic analysts understand to mean in-kind loans from European, American and particularly Persian Gulf Arab donors who hold extensive business, political and cultural connections to Egypt.
In short, if the Saudis don’t underwrite the IMF loan, the whole house of cards will collapse, and Egypt will run out of cash to buy food. Its cash reserves have fallen by two-thirds since Hosni Mubarak was ousted and barely cover two months’ worth of imports. That’s not good for a country that imports half its caloric consumption. The difference between Egypt and a banana republic is, no bananas. Guess who will ration bread at street level? The Muslim Brotherhood. That’s how Leninists or Nazis take power.
The Muslim Brotherhood wants to blame the likely collapse of Egypt’s pound and ensuing economic chaos on the military and establish a totalitarian Islamist state. Its anthem will be: “Today Egypt, tomorrow, the Gulf.”
I repeat the recommendation I gave in this space April 18: “What should the United States do about it? The answer is: Make things worse. If the Brothers are taking power in Egypt because the military can’t rule, we should undertake to make it impossible for the Brothers to rule.”
UPDATE, April 29: Egypt’s Salafist party, the extreme Islamists, have withdrawn support from the Muslim Brotherhood presidential candidate and backed instead a more liberal ex-Brotherhood figure, Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh. Why would the Salafists break with the Brotherhood? Probably because they are funded by the Saudis, who are rightly alarmed by the Brotherhood. The Saudi Ambassador to Egypt has denied funding the Salafists. No-one believes him. Welcome to Arab politics.


 

Question: "Why did Jesus teach in parables?"
Answer: It has been said that a parable is an earthly story with a heavenly meaning. The Lord Jesus frequently used parables as a means of illustrating profound, divine truths. Stories such as these are easily remembered, the characters bold, and the symbolism rich in meaning. Parables were a common form of teaching in Judaism. Before a certain point in His ministry, Jesus had employed many graphic analogies using common things that would be familiar to everyone (salt, bread, sheep, etc.) and their meaning was fairly clear in the context of His teaching. Parables required more explanation, and at one point in His ministry, Jesus began to teach using parables exclusively.
The question is why Jesus would let most people wonder about the meaning of His parables. The first instance of this is in His telling the parable of the seed and the soils. Before He interpreted this parable, He drew His disciples away from the crowd. They said to Him, "Why do You speak to them in parables?" Jesus answered them, "To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been granted. For whoever has, to him more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him. Therefore I speak to them in parables; because while seeing they do not see, and while hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. In their case the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled, which says,
‘Hearing you will hear and shall not understand, And seeing you will see and not perceive; For the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, And their eyes they have closed, Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, So that I should heal them.’ But blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear. For truly I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it" (Matthew 13:10-17).
From this point on in Jesus’ ministry, when He spoke in parables, He explained them only to His disciples. But those who had continually rejected His message were left in their spiritual blindness to wonder as to His meaning. He made a clear distinction between those who had been given “ears to hear” and those who persisted in unbelief—ever hearing, but never actually perceiving and “always learning but never able to acknowledge the truth” (2 Timothy 3:7). The disciples had been given the gift of spiritual discernment by which things of the spirit were made clear to them. Because they accepted truth from Jesus, they were given more and more truth. The same is true today of believers who have been given the gift of the Holy Spirit who guides us into all truth (John 16:13). He has opened our eyes to the light of truth and our ears to the sweet words of eternal life.
Our Lord Jesus understood that truth is not sweet music to all ears. Simply put, there are those who have neither interest nor regard in the deep things of God. So why, then, did He speak in parables? To those with a genuine hunger for God, the parable is both an effective and memorable vehicle for the conveyance of divine truths. Our Lord’s parables contain great volumes of truth in very few words—and His parables, rich in imagery, are not easily forgotten. So, then, the parable is a blessing to those with willing ears. But to those with dull hearts and ears that are slow to hear, the parable is also an instrument of both judgment and mercy.
**Recommended Resource: Parables of Jesus by James Montgomery Boice.