CAMERA Top Ten MidEast Media Mangles of 2012 - Sarit Catz (CAMERA)

Egypt
Egyptian Lawyers Accuse Muslim Brotherhood Of Taking $1.5 Billion From Obama (AL-MASRY AL-YOUM/Worldcrunch)Report: Egyptian Forces Capture American-Made Anti-Tank, Anti-Aircraft Missiles Headed for Gaza - Joshua Davidovich (Times of Israel) Egyptian Minister Said Sacked for Opposing Iranian Influence - Adiv Sterman (Times of Israel)Egyptian President Morsi: I Want Abdel-Rahman to Be Free - Wolf Blitzer (CNN)


India
MEMRI's South Asia Studies Project Director Tufail Ahmad On Impact Of Democracy On Indian MuslimsThe Role Of The Mumbai-Based Raza Academy In Promoting Islamism- Dr. Mirza A. B. Baig (MEMRI)


Israel
How Will Israel Protect Its Offshore Gas Rigs? - Arie Egozi (Israel Defense)


Mexico
Hizbullah Partners with Mexican Drug Cartels - Eldad Beck (Ynet News)


Palestinians - Hamas, Fatah, Brigades of National Unity, etc.
Abbas Reinstates a Radical Political Doctrine - Lt. Col. (ret.) Jonathan D. Halevi (Institute for Contemporary Affairs-Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs)Press Freedom Group Shocked at Hamas Ban on Israeli Media(Guardian-UK)Arab Media Back Charges of Palestinian War Crimes (Strategy Page)The Palestinian "Holy Trinity": Jesus, Arafat and Abbas - Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik (Palestinian Media Watch)PA Nabs Members of Group that Declared Intifada - Khaled Abu Toameh (Jerusalem Post)


Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia Detains Dozens for "Plotting to Celebrate Christmas"  (Al-Akhbar-Lebanon)


Syria
Jabhat al-Nusra, a Leading Islamist Group Fighting Assad in Syria - Noman Benotman and Roisin Blake  (Quilliam Foundation)Report: Hizbullah Sent 5,000 Fighters to Help Assad - Elhanan Miller (Times of Israel)


Turkey
Turkey Will Not Accept Iran Possessing Nuclear Weapons (Zaman-Turkey)


United States
Cables Show State Department Disregarded Muslim Brotherhood Threat - John Rossomando (IPT News)

There will no update later this week as I will be away on vacation. ME Update will resume on Friday, January 11.

Wishing you very Happy Holidays!

Letter From Kabul: Ever More Extreme Kind Of Suicide Bomber Targets Spy Chief - Jean-Paul Mari (NOUVEL OBSERVATEUR/Worldcrunch)

Bombs in bellies and turbans!

Report: Poison Gas Kills 7 in Homs (Ynet News)

Israel's Nightmare is Beginning to Materialize - Amir Rapaport (Israel Defense)

Christianity Close to Extinction in the Middle East - Edward Malnick (Telegraph-UK)

Gaza: Palestinian Rockets Unlawfully Targeted Israeli Civilians  (Human Rights Watch)

Close but no cigar: Human Rights Watch mentions launching weapons from civilian areas in Gaza but does not term it war crime or cite manufacturing and storing weapons - Dr. Aaron Lerner (IMRA)

Obama Gives Cold Shoulder to Egyptian Secular Democrats  - Michael Meunier (Special to IPT News)

House Letter Calls on Obama to Shut PLO Office (JTA)

A weekly blog about issues and news in the middle east.

I urge you to read the recently declassified CIA file on Jonathan Pollard.
Just in case you missed it...

Hitherto unreported insider attack in Afghanistan raises questions - Lisa Lundquist (Long War Journal)

Egypt Democratically Adopts an Anti-Western Dictatorship - Barry Rubin (PJ Media)

European-funded Palestinian NGO glorifies plane hijackings, terror, and hatred of Israel and the US - Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik (PMW)

 

Did Iran Bomb AMIA in Argentina? The Evidence Is Clear - Matthew Levitt (Jewish Chronicle-UK)

Israel to UN: What about Israel's Contiguity? - Yitzhak Benhorin (Ynet News)

Jordan's King Abdullah Warns Against "Extremist" Arab Alliance - Tamer al-Samadi (Al-Hayat-Al Monitor)

Where's the Outrage Against Hamas? - Frida Ghitis (Miami Herald)
Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal has done us a great service by drawing an incandescent line between those who want peace and coexistence, and those who categorically reject negotiations, seeking only to destroy the enemy. When Meshaal spoke in Gaza a few days ago, calling for Israel's destruction, the entire world should have spoken out in outrage. But Meshaal's words did not make a lot of waves. The world doesn't really blink when someone calls for Israel's destruction.
    Reaction to the horrifying speech was rather muted, particularly in Europe. But nothing could be worse for Palestinians than embracing a position that rejects coexistence with Israel. Anyone who wants to do a small part for peace between Israelis and Palestinians should speak out in support of those who want coexistence, and condemn in the strongest terms those who reject the other one's right to exist.

U.S. Proposes Boundary for Israel, Lebanon Maritime Gas Deposits - Nicholas Blanford (Christian Science Monitor) 

NYT Just Can't Help It (CAMERA)

State Department's Continued Outreach to Radicals - Abha Shankar (IPT)

CIA: Pollard got life sentence due to his Jerusalem Post interview with Wolf Blitzer - Gil Hoffman (Jerusalem Post)

Brazil

Palestine in Porto Alegre – Wiesenthal Center Monitors World Social Forum Anti-Israel Hatefest (Simon Wiesenthal)

Egypt

On Israeli Tip, Naples Police Seize Arms Bound for Egypt (Israel Hayom)

Egypt to Allow Iranian Aid Convoy into Gaza (Ma'an News-PA)

Europe

Czech Envoy: Israel, 1938 Czechoslovakia Are "Similar" - Herb Keinon (Jerusalem Post)

Jews Warned Not to Wear Religious Symbols in Denmark (AFP)

Four EU States Tried to Foil Condemnation of Hamas Leader's Hate Speech - Ilan Ben Zion (Times of Israel)  Israel Radio reported Wednesday that Denmark, Finland, Portugal and Ireland opposed an official EU condemnation of Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal's incitement-filled speech last weekend, seeking to solely condemn Israel over settlement construction plans at a meeting of European foreign ministers Monday. In the end, the statement included a brief rebuke of Hamas' call for Israel's destruction, after an 11th-hour intervention by Germany and the Czech Republic. 

Wiesenthal Center Denounces Call by Anti-Semitic Hungarian MP for Registration of Jewish Members of Parliament and Government Officials - (Simon Wiesenthal)

Art Exhibit Showing Art Made From Ashes Of Holocaust Victims Closes After International Protest - (Simon Wiesenthal Center)

Iran

Iran Names Israel as Its Long-Range Missile Target (Fars-Iran)

Israel

Video: Indivisible Jerusalem (The Jerusalem Center)

Nigeria

Is Boko Haram More Dangerous Than Ever? - Scott Stewart (Stratfor)

Palestinians

New Fatah logo erases Israel - Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik (PMW)

Hamas: 25 Facts For 25 Years - Simon Plosker (Honest Reporting)

Fatah glorifies Hamas' rockets from Gaza against Israel and supports armed conflict - Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik  (PMW)

Radical and Moderate Palestinians - Khaled Abu Toameh (Gatestone Institute) The real threat to the two-state solution is Hamas and the unwillingness of many Palestinians to accept Israel's right to exist.

Syria

Syrian jihadists, including al Qaeda's Al Nusrah Front, form Mujahideen Shura Council - Bill Roggio (The Long War Journal)
Syrian National Coalition urges US to drop Al Nusrah terrorism designation - Bill Roggio (The Long War Journal)

Turkey

Turkey, Palestine to Coordinate Legal Steps Against Israel - Abdullah Bozkurt (Zaman-Turkey)

Sudan

Report: Sudan to Allow Iran to Establish Red Sea Base - Joanna Paraszczuk (Jerusalem Post)

United States

FBI Figures: Still No ‘Wave of Islamophobia’ (CAMERA)

U.S. Denies Holding Backchannel Talks with Hamas (U.S. State Department)

Palestinian UN Vote Was a Calamity - Adam Garfinkle (American Interest) Embedded in the UN General Assembly resolution on making Palestine an observer-status state are statements about borders and the status of Jerusalem that represent maximalist Palestinian positions. It specifies the borders of Palestine as those of the West Bank and Gaza before the June 1967 war. It also designates east Jerusalem as the capital of this state.

    This means that it will be harder for any future Palestinian leader to accept less than the UN resolution text has staked out. The same goes for Jerusalem. If these two issues are essentially taken off the table as items for discussion and compromise, it makes the ultimate prospect of a deal that much more remote.
    The simplest way to interpret PA motives here is to conclude that it isn't interested in a final peace settlement with Israel, but would rather pursue incremental tactical advances in a patient overall strategy aimed at first delegitimizing and ultimately destroying Israel. What the Palestinians have done is very likely to persuade ever more Israelis that they are not serious about peace. The writer is the editor of the American Interest.
 

Legal Implication of the UN Resolution on Palestine - Alan M. Dershowitz (Gatestone Institute) The General Assembly vote declaring that Palestine, within the pre-1967 borders, is a "state" would have nasty legal implications if it were ever to be taken seriously by the international community. It would mean that Israel is illegally occupying the Western Wall (Judaism's holiest site), the Jewish Quarter of old Jerusalem (where Jews have lived for thousands of years), the access road to the Hebrew University and other areas necessary to the security of its citizens.
    It would also mean that Security Council Resolution 242, whose purpose was to allow Israel to hold onto some of the territories captured during its defensive 1967 war, would be overruled by a General Assembly vote - something the UN Charter explicitly forbids. It would be the first time in history that a nation was required to return all land lawfully captured in a defensive war. The writer is a professor at Harvard Law School.  As per a recent UN tour, we were told that the General Assembly makes suggestions, the Security Council makes law.   

Protecting the Contiguity of Israel: The E-1 Area and the Link Between Jerusalem and Maale Adumim - Nadav Shragai (ICA-Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs) 

Another Map Disproving E-1 Contiguity Claims (CAMERA)
 
Hamas Tells Fatah: Let's Fight Israel Together - Khaled Abu Toameh (Jerusalem Post)

Human Rights Watch can't decide if Iran's calls for Israel's destruction are "incitement" or "advocacy." (Honest Reporting)

Egyptian Presidential Candidates Accused of "Zionist Plot" Against State (Al Arabiya)    Three former Egyptian presidential candidates have been accused of espionage and plotting against the state, according to a complaint referred by Egypt's public prosecutor on Tuesday. Mohammed ElBaradei, Hamdein Sabahy and Amr Moussa are allegedly embroiled in a "Zionist plot" to overthrow the Islamist-led government of Mohammed Morsi, Egypt's al-Masry al-Youm reported.

    Earlier this week, all three declared their support of the ongoing sit-in in Cairo's Tahrir Square until Morsi's constitutional decree is revoked. The complaint was filed by Hamed Sadek, a lawyer, claiming that the opposition leaders "secretly met Israel's former foreign minister Tzipi Livni to drum up domestic turmoil and bring the country to its knees."