« Two Tales of the Past | Main | The Kesher with Kesher »
June 20, 2007
The Rupture
Gaza, The Brotherhood, The Dogs of War
Until 1967, Gaza was part of of Egypt. The Arabs who lived in Gaza considered themselves, get this, Egyptians. The Muslim Brotherhood was active and quite popular in Gaza—and outlawed by the Egyptian government.
It's important to be aware of The Muslim Brotherhood for they paved the way for today's brew of transnational Islamic jihadists. The Brotherhood laid the basic groundwork in Gaza for today's popular and genocidal Hamas.
In fact, Al Quada's number two man Ayman Muhammad Rabaie al-Zawahiri, got his murderous start with the Muslim Brotherhood.
The Brotherhood are dead serious about overthrowing Hosni Mubarak's regime, and will do everything in their power to make sure that Hosni's son Gamal, 41, does not get daddy's job.
Apparently Hosni's wife Suzanne wields considerable power behind the throne—an Egyptian Lady Macbeth—and she's making brass-knuckle moves to make sure that junior inherits the Presidency: for life. Gee willikers, if those crude gangsters in Syria can pull it off surely it should be easy as pie for the glorious Egyptians.
The only real competition are Defense Minister Field Marshal Muhammad Hussein Tantawi and intelligence chief Omar Suleiman. Look for The Brotherhood to throw their support, provisionally, behind either of these two men. It's a toxic brew, a deal with the devil, but that's business as usual in Arab/Muslim countries.
Egyptian President for Life (in the Arab world is there any other kind?) Mubarak is 79-years old. He's sick, has just returned from Germany for a "medical review." In short, he's fading fast. The shake-out should be, um, interesting—and bloody. The Brotherhood will be major players when Mubarak kicks the bucket, and the dogs of war will be let loose.
Jordan, Mini-skirts, and Big Lies
Judea & Samaria, known as The West Bank, were part of Jordan until five Arab nations launched and lost the 1967 Six Day War.
Pop Quiz
Pre 1967, what did the Arabs in Judea & Samaria call themselves?
1. Brooklynites
2. Klingons
3. Jordanians
4. Palestinians
5. Ron Paul
Okay, time's up, please put down your Number Two pencil.
If you answered #4, that means you probably read the N.Y. Times far too often—and believe what you read. Or you watch Hizbullah's Al Manar TV and believe what you see. Not a lot of difference between the two organizations at this point.
The correct answer is, what a shock, #3.
Anywhoo!
The Muslim Brotherhood was not big in Judea & Samaria.
Three reasons:
1. The Jordanian security services, staffed exclusively by officers loyal to the Hashemite Kingdom are brutal beyond words. They did not and do not tolerate The Brotherhood; nope, don't give a single inch.
2. The Hashemite kingdom has a much smaller population than Egypt, thus it's easier for the ruthless Jordanian security services to penetrate and smash any dissenting organizations.
3. And let's be honest, the Hashemites have always been far more comfortable in western society than in the sands of Arabia. The Jordanian fellahin, peasants, secretly mock the current king's funny Arab accent. His cool Oxford English is far better.
We need to take this into account: Jordanian society has recently morphed into a far more open and secular culture than any other in Arab society, even rivaling Beirut, the Paris of the middle east. Hang out in Amman and you'll see babes in mini-skirts, and men in coffee shops, hunched over sleek lapstops surfing blogsites from Israel. They may hate Jews, but they are endlessly curious about these blood-thirsty creatures. And oh boy, do they love pictures of IDF female soldiers, it's all the rage.
With all that, Jordan does have a budding jihadist insurgency in The Islamic Action Front, an outgrowth of the Muslim Brotherhood. It remains to be seen if this group will gain traction in the tightly controlled Hashemite kingdom.
The notion that so-called Palestinian society is one united culture has always been a big lie perpetuated by the chimera of a society built on big lies. The gulf between Gaza and Judea & Samaria is vast and unbridgeable.
It was always just a matter of time before they started executing each other in the streets of Gaza before wailing wives and children, torturing each other to death in filthy basements, flinging one another off high-rise buildings.
It was always just a matter of time before the Christian Arab minority would be mercilessly persecuted, their churches plundered, torched, and their congregations forced into perpetual exile.
Well aware of this, ahem, cultural divide, Egyptian-born terrorist leader Yassir Arafat binded so-called Palestinian society together through a false narrative based on victimhood and malignant Jew-hatred. There is no great or minor literature, no art, no music, no common history—only a vast tissue of lies, and denial of Jewish history.
Persia in Gaza, Jihad Everywhere
Now, the pot has finally boiled over, ruptured, and this will continue as Gaza fractures into even smaller cantons as clans vie for their slice of the pie, and crime families battle for their share of the drug and smuggling operations; and of course don't forget the U.N. and their endless corruptions—the heart and soul of the welfare state that the world has so carefully structured.
This rupture will, I guarantee, spill over into Judea & Samaria. There are too many state and non-state actors in the volatile mix—each with their own strategic goals.
Iran has been financing Hamas in Gaza. Most of the Hamas leadership have gone to the mattresses in Tehran, terrified of being kidnapped, tortured horribly and then maybe put out of their misery by "the moderate Fatah," or assassinated by an Israeli drone.
Make no mistake about it, Gaza is now a proxy Iranian state.
The Shia Persians want to be big players in the region, push out the hated Sunni/Wahaabi Saudis and humble the big boys on the block—the Egyptians.
Iranian agents are now making their way, thanks to Nancy Pelosi's buddy Puppy Assad, into Judea & Samaria. The Persians are setting up shop with lots of cash (much of it counterfeit American dollars) and making it known that they are ready to do business, push the Zionist dogs into the sea.
Besides, people conveniently forget that it was not just Gaza that elected Hamas, it was also Judea & Samaria. And so, while Judea & Samaria might be a bit more "moderate" than Gaza, it's really silly measuring one Jew-hater against another.
At this stage, it's no longer a regional conflict, an Arab-Israeli war, it's a world-wide conflagration pitting western values against Islamic jihadists who wish to impose a 7th century caliphite—everywhere.
As one Marine wisely said to me: “In the future there's gonna be only two types of folks: them that recognize the jihadists—and them that are dead.”
Semper Fi.
Here's the equation Israelis and Americans have to keep in mind:
Fatah is Hamas.
Hamas is Fatah.
It's that simple, that complex.
And policy should be based on that satanic equation.
Meanwhile: The Syrians are low-level thugs. This is a regime that stays in power through the perpetuation of conflict with Israel and Lebanon. The last thing they want is peace with Israel, or the return of the Golan Heights. Their army is crap. The Syrian air force is a poor joke. One Israeli jet in a dog-fight with ten Syrian jets is considered a fair fight—by the Israeli pilots. For Syrian pilots; suicide.
An Israeli pilot told me privately that watching Syrian fighters was like watching “grapes on a vine.” Grape is the worst insult one pilot can hurl at another—grapes are there to be plucked. Syrian tanks are rusting Russian hulks lacking minimal spare parts. But the Syrians are spoilers and mischief-makers of the worst sort, and Soprano-like murderers, knocking off their enemies in Lebanon, thereby reminding the regional players that they are willing to play hard ball.
What do they want? To stay in power. Drink fine Scotch. Fill their Swiss bank accounts, keep their pliant non Muslim mistresses in their Paris apartments.
Yup, it's on that level.
At some point, Israel will have to send a squadron of jets over Damascus and drop a considerable payload on Assad's palace, remind the assassin that he can and will be taken out if he doesn't behave. That's the only language this gangster understands.
In fact, it's the only language spoken in the neighborhood.
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at June 20, 2007 09:04 AM
Comments
Seraphic Secret is private property, that's right, it's an extension of our home, and as such, Karen and I have instituted two Seraphic Rules and we ask commentors to act respectfully.
1. No profanity.2. No Israel bashing. We debate, we discuss, we are respectful. You know what Israel bashing is. The world is full of it. Seraphic Secret is one of the few places in the world that will not tolerate this form of anti-Semitism. That's it. Break either of these rules and you will be banned.
Thanks to Sunday's lecture, I know that "chimera" is pronounced "ki-MEER-uh".
Thanks!
Posted by: ralphie at June 20, 2007 12:07 PM
Ralphie:
Never used the word in my life. Now that I know how it's pronounced, watch out.
Posted by: Robert J. Avrech ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.seraphicpress.com/nav-commenters.gif)
at June 20, 2007 12:11 PM
I know that "chimera" is pronounced "ki-MEER-uh".
Blows the old song chim chimera chim chim chiree right out of the water.
Posted by: Jack at June 20, 2007 12:46 PM
Copied your post and emailed to some in my family. It is easier to have them read it themselves than for me to try and tell each about it. Hope that is O.K.
Thank you and I wish our government would read, pay attention and understand.
Posted by: Sue at June 20, 2007 01:13 PM
Female Israeli soldiers the rage? They sell Maxim there?
(I didn't link to any pictures, just a blog post about pictures.)
Posted by: soccerdad at June 20, 2007 01:44 PM
Sue:
No problem. Honored. Re: The American and Israeli govts. They are stuck on dumb.
Posted by: Robert J. Avrech at June 20, 2007 01:45 PM
Soccer Dad:
I know people who have been to Aman, and yes, western magazines have been smuggled into Jordan, and Jordanian men positively drool over IDF girls and their M16's.
In fact, most of the Arab male world secretly drool over Israeli women.
Sad, repressed people—what a shock.
Posted by: Robert J. Avrech at June 20, 2007 01:54 PM
Gee, and here I thought all along it was "CHI mur uh." You learn something new every day.
Should we be happy that the thugs took some time off from killing Jews to kill each other? Or will this just increase the fanaticism of the survivors?
Posted by: Kent at June 20, 2007 02:43 PM
Kent:
Yup, you learn the darndest things at our lectures.
Muslims are always killing each other. That old Shia/Sunni split is good and dependable for much slaughter, plunder and rape.
Muslims are the true Islamaphobes.
But make no mistake about it, they have already returned to their main business business: Jew-killing. Four Katyusha rockets rained down on Kiryat Shmona in Israel from Gaza today, several Jews were wounded.
Imagine if these missiles were coming into the U.S. from Mexico — how would the U.S. respond?
By handing over New Mexico, or California?
Somehow, I doubt it.
Posted by: Robert J. Avrech at June 20, 2007 03:04 PM
how would the U.S. respond?
By handing over New Mexico, or California?
... and Texas and Arizona and Colorado ...
That, in a few words, is the complaint of the Minutemen movement.
Posted by: Jeremiah at June 20, 2007 04:11 PM
Jeremiah:
I stand with the Minutemen.
Posted by: Robert J. Avrech at June 20, 2007 06:17 PM
There are parts of the United States I'd like to give them. If you know what I mean.
Posted by: Kent at June 21, 2007 06:42 AM
Kent:
I'm looking to a city north of yours truly.
Posted by: Robert J. Avrech at June 21, 2007 09:36 AM
Heh.
I lived in Pasadena for five years while attending graduate school. The locals seemed to have this mental picture of New Mexicans wearing tall boots and cowboy hats. And even the ones who largely shared my values sniggered at me for being visibly shocked the first time a couple of men sitting in front of me at a concert started making out. They didn't approve, but it didn't shock them any more.
I'm glad I didn't go to Berkeley.
Posted by: Kent at June 21, 2007 02:01 PM
you are the greatest, Robert. I derive much strength from your political analysis. The truth, when spoken by honest people, is life-affirming.
Posted by: Daniel Wohlgelernter at June 21, 2007 02:50 PM
Kent:
I was in New Mexico and everyone was wearing tall boots, cowbot hats and turquoise jewelry—except for yours truly, though I did pull out my turquoise yarmulke :)
Berkeley, feh, they really should secede and move to Gaza. Oh, wait, their beloved Arab brothers will slaughter the homosexuals, lesbians, transgenders, bisexuals, the Jews, the Communists, the Socialists, the athiests, Buddhists, Hindus, Hare Krishnas—all non-Muslims. Hmm, that about covers the entire population of planet Berkeley.
Okay, just let them secede.
Posted by: Robert J. Avrech at June 21, 2007 03:16 PM
Dr. Daniel:
Thanks so much for the encouraging words. You are one of five people from our community who reads my blog.
Mostly people know me as the weird guy in the fourth row who wears khaki pants and a sweater vest to shul on Shabbos.
Posted by: Robert J. Avrech at June 21, 2007 03:21 PM
About ten years ago we were sitting in a Friendly's restaurant having ice cream when a man wearing a yarmulke came over and asked to see my son's T-shirt.
It had a picture of a fighter jet on it, and said "Don't worry, America--Israel is behind you." I told him I wished I could say that America was solidly behind Israel. The dance with Arafat and his thugs makes me ashamed and angry. I do not understand how people can be blind to the common enemy we face, and how they can continue to pander to such scum.
I too am happy I did not go to Berkeley. I drove through it once. That was enough.
Posted by: Dr.Carol at June 21, 2007 06:32 PM
Dr. Carol:
Unfortunately it was not just America who waltzed with Arafat—Israel danced too. And now Olmert and Co. are signing up for a spot on the Abbas dance card.
It would be funny if it were not so tragic. We have been there before. Practised every move at least a hundred times in the exact same way.
I can write the script in advance. I know the exact moves of every player—and every act ends the same way: Jews make concessions. Arabs grab land. Chaos ensues. Arabs demand even more concessions. Jews hesitate, debate. Enter homicide bombers. Jews die. Jews are blamed for "the endless cycle of violence."
P.S. I like your son's t-shirt.
Posted by: Robert J. Avrech at June 21, 2007 09:33 PM
You are a breath of fresh air. Put me on your map - Baku, Azerbaijan.
I'm glad you are working so hard at this. God bless you and yours.
Posted by: Max at June 28, 2007 04:18 AM
Gaza was never part of Egypt and Gazans were not and are not Egyptians. Egypt never recognized them as such and never gave them Egyptian identity cards or passports. And they were never allowed to live or work in Egypt. They still can't.
Gaza was "under Egyptian administration", as the term of old had it.
The West Bank was annexed by Jordan, but almost no one apart from the British recognized this act. Jordan however did recognize the inhabitants as Jordanian, did give them ID cards and passports (which they still hold) and did let them live and work on the East Bank. They still can.
Posted by: Jeff at July 19, 2007 02:01 PM
Jeff:
There has never been a Palestinian State, hence those Arabs living in Gaza were Egyptians by virtue of Egyptian administration. This fiction of generation upon generation of Arabs being brought up in Lebanon or Syria or Saudia Arabia or Gaza and calling themselves Palestinian, is positively Orwellian.
Posted by: Robert J. Avrech at July 19, 2007 04:22 PM