Family Ties

According to Israel's Haaretz:

Mubarak signals Egypt succession by taking son to Washington

Gamal Mubarak, long presumed heir to the ageing president, will meet Israeli delegates to peace summit - and maybe even Netanyahu himself.

"Gamal Mubarak, son of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, will accompany his father to this week's Washington peace summit in what may be the clearest sign yet that he is being groomed for the succession.

Gamal has long been the center of speculation that he will replace his ageing father - but until now the 82-year-old president has kept his presumed heir at arm's length during high-profile international engagements." -more

And this from the Irish Times:

Campaign under way in Egypt for son to succeed Mubarak

"The effort to ensure that Hosni Mubarak, Egypt’s president for nearly 29 years, is succeeded by his younger son is being conducted by no fewer than three well-organised groups seeking to pre-empt the decision of the ruling party on a candidate for next year’s presidential poll.

Posters showing Gamal Mubarak against the background of the national flag have appeared on the streets of Cairo and other Egyptian cities.

Some posters call the businessman connected to Egypt’s wealthiest citizens the “dream of the poor”, while others bear the Arabic inscription, “No God but God”, with the aim of attracting the devout.

Leaders of the “Yes to Gamal” campaign are also circulating a petition urging the ruling National Democratic Party to choose him as its presidential candidate.

The effort is apparently designed to cultivate popular backing for the younger Mubarak, who has not yet committed himself to run. Recent polls showed his approval rating is low." -more

And the TIMESonline of South Africa adds:

Brotherhood not ready to rule Egypt, says official

Egypt's largest opposition group is not yet ready to take power in the country, a prominent supporter of the banned Muslim Brotherhood said in a newspaper interview ahead of parliamentary elections in October.

"I think it's not time yet for Islamists to be in power," Muntasser al-Zayat, a Muslim Brotherhood activist and lawyer, told Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper.

"Of course, the Brotherhood is the most experienced Islamist group to play a role in Egypt's political life, but I think it is a blessing from God that no Islamist faction reached power in Egypt," he added, referring to previous election efforts by the group.

He told the paper that opponents of the Brotherhood were seeking to watch it fail and the Islamists needed to be in a better position before seeking power.

The Brotherhood is technically banned in the country, but has members in parliament who ran as independents. -more

Talking About Talking (1980)

Today's Golden Oldie is a Dry Bones cartoon done 30 years ago in September of 1980.

Now, as then, talks about talks are going on.
Just for a sense of reference, when I did this cartoon Barack Obama was 19 years old and had just graduated from high school the year before.

Israeli September

One of the pleasures of my life is the enjoyment of Israeli culture.

The constant propaganda war against us hides the realities and entertaining quirks of Israeli life. In response, I feel the need to do battle against those who malign and try to delegitimize our wonderful, creative, amazing, and brave little land and its people.

But every now and then it's fun to take the time to reveal what it's like to live here. What it's like to be at home.

Like in today's cartoon about trying to deal with a local repair man in the days ahead.

Divestment (2004)

Today's cartoon is only six years old. I came across it but did not remember doing it. And I was struck by the point it made. Especially in light of the growing BDS movement. I decided to do some research. Here's what I found.

"During the mid-1970's the United States adopted two laws that seek to counteract the participation of U.S. citizens in other nation's economic boycotts or embargoes. These "antiboycott" laws are the 1977 amendments to the Export Administration Act (EAA) and the Ribicoff Amendment to the 1976 Tax Reform Act (TRA), [which is found in Section 999 of the Internal Revenue Code]."

Primary impact:

The Arab League boycott of Israel is the principal foreign economic boycott that U.S. companies must be concerned with today. The antiboycott laws, however, apply to all boycotts that are unsanctioned by the United States.

Who is covered by the laws?

The antiboycott provisions of the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) apply to all "U.S. persons," defined to include individuals and companies located in the United States and their foreign affiliates. These persons are subject to the law when their activities relate to the sale, purchase, or transfer of goods or services between the United States and a foreign country. This covers U.S. exports and imports, financing, forwarding and shipping, and certain other transactions that may take place wholly offshore. -more

* * * So is the cartoon correct? Are they getting away with possibly illegal secondary boycotts by calling them divestments?

Changing Sides?

"Arab Israeli Unity"?!!
Arabs and Israelis standing together against a common threat?!!
Is it a possibility?

* * * Recent events are moving quickly. Here's a current assessment from the Asia Times Online:

The great chess game of the Middle East
Aug 28, 2010

it is hard to avoid the fact that despite all threats on the Jewish state, Israel profits to a certain extent from Iran's belligerent posture.

. . . "The countries of the Arabian Peninsula are infinitely more interested in the threat from Iran than in the existence of Israel and, indeed, see Israel as one of the buttresses against Iran."

For the first time since its creation, Israel finds itself in the same camp as many Arab states, and for better or for worse, having a common enemy is perhaps the best way to make friends in the Middle East.-more

And a "hot off the press" news item just reported by the Palestinian Maan News Agency.

Egypt: 3rd weapons cache found in 48 hours
Aug 29, 2010
Al-Arish– Ma'an
– Egyptian State Security discovered a third weapons storehouse within 48 hours on Tuesday, security sources said.

Egyptian forces were informed that smugglers were attempting to transfer explosives and weapons to a storehouse in the Sinai peninsula, sources told Ma'an.

Forces raided the area south of the Al-Arish port city and discovered 65 anti-aircraft missiles, 35 anti-tank missiles, as well as large quantities or ammunition, the sources added.

Egyptian security forces said they discovered weapons and explosives on Monday, hidden in the border city of Rafah, prepared for smuggling into Gaza through tunnels.

Security sources told Ma'an that Egyptian forces raided a cemetery in Rafah, 3 kilometers from the Gaza border, and found a weapons cache including anti-tank land mines.

A second weapons store was found in the Al-Ahrash border area, which included machine guns and ammunition, also prepared for smuggling into Gaza, sources said. -more

Your thoughts?

More Hitler in Hell

I've decided to turn the Hitler in Hell cartoon of two days ago into a series.

Here's some positive news as reported in the Forward:

JCPA Taking Direct Aim at Anti-Israel Boycotters

"With anti-Israel boycott, divestment and sanctions efforts gaining visibility, the Jewish community’s main public-policy coordinating body is for the first time confronting the BDS movement as a specific and stated priority.

At its recent annual plenum, the Jewish Council for Public Affairs passed a resolution stating that BDS should now “be regarded with the utmost seriousness and urgency.”

“This is a very serious matter,” JCPA’s executive director, Rabbi Steve Gutow, told the Forward. “We need to wake up, whether we are on the right, left or center.”

The JCPA, an umbrella body representing Jewish community relations councils across the country and more than a dozen leading national Jewish groups, adopted the anti-BDS resolution at its plenum in Dallas on February 23. Gutow said that JCPA member groups are planning to create a permanent body that would respond to the activities of the BDS movement.

While efforts to promote boycotts, divestment and sanctions targeting Israel are nothing new, an international BDS movement embracing a shared platform emerged only in 2005, in response to a call from Palestinian NGOs. Thus far, the BDS movement has taken various forms in different places, pushed forward by decentralized groups of activists around the world with the aim of branding Israel as an international pariah, drawing inspiration from efforts against apartheid South Africa. In the United States, the movement has launched boisterous public demonstrations, such as those that have greeted the Israel Ballet on its current American tour." -more

Palestinian Statehood (1988)

Today's Golden Oldie is a Dry Bones cartoon of Yasser Arafat (in fatigues, sunglasses, and signature 5 o'clock shadow). It was done 22 years ago this month!

Back in August 1988, King Hussein of Jordan called PLO chieftain Yasser Arafat's bluff by saying that he'd recognize a Palestinian State as soon as it was declared.

The decades slip by, the "Palestinian" leadership continues to threaten a unilateral declaration of statehood ...and never does! So what's going on?

I'm ready to hear your opinion as to why the terrorist leadership of the Arab populations of the West Bank and Gaza have never declared statehood.

Nu?