MFS - The Other News

                    Morning Posting.

• Updated !Earthquakes in the last 24 hours in the world seismic activity situation Mexico 4.3!More info here.

• Japan : For the most accurate info on the nuclear disaster go to : Paul Langley's Nuclear History Blog.Here.

• Canary Islands - El Hierro earthquake and volcano eruption – Update 21.  here , Live webcams here and here.

• Egypt LiveBlog: Déjà Vu All Over Again . Here.

• Miami-protest spokesman led 'Nuke Israel' rally, Mohammad Malik was director of CAIR's South Florida chapter.(WND).By Aaron Klein.The recent executive director of the controversial Council on American-Islamic Relations' South Florida chapter is a founder and spokesman of Occupy Miami, WND has learned. Mohammad Malik currently is as an activist with several other Islamic groups. He has led hate-filled anti-Israel protests in which participants were filmed wearing Hamas paraphernalia while chanting "Nuke Israel" and "Go back to the oven" – a reference to Jews being killed in the Holocaust. Malik has been widely quoted in the Florida news media in recent weeks speaking for Occupy Miami. The Miami Herald identified Malik as one of the organizers of Occupy's Miami's downtown campsite headquarters."We've established that we can be here," Malik told the Herald, speaking as one of the first Occupy Miami organizers. "People said we were stupid amateurs who don't know what we're doing. ... But we did it. We've survived and we're growing." Last week, the Florida Independent reported Miami police had asked Occupy activists to temporarily leave their camp digs. The Independent quoted Malik, identified as protesting with the group since the beginning, as stating there were "a lot of cops" in the area, but protesters were "trying to figure out the situation so that it doesn't escalate." The Independent previously quoted Malik as an "unemployed Miami native who has worked with the ACLU and is the current spokesperson for Occupy Miami." In September 2010, Malik was appointed as the director of CAIR's South Florida chapter, covering the region of Broward, Palm Beach and Miami-Dade counties.In March 2010, Malik organized a CAIR dinner in Miami. The keynote speaker was Siraj Wahhaj, who was named as an unindicted co-conspirator in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. Wahhaj has also defended the convicted WTC bomb plotters and has urged the Islamic takeover of America. Malik departed CAIR several months ago. He previously worked for ACLU Florida, coordinating its Racial Justice and Voting Rights Projects. He did not return email and phone requests for comment. Nezar Hamze, the current director of CAIR-South Florida, told WND yesterday that Malik departed his Islamic group under friendly terms. "He left several months ago, maybe almost a year ago," said Hamze. "He got a better position, I think, at the ACLU," he said. Malik has served as coordinator of several other Islamic groups, such as the South Florida Palestine Solidarity Network, through which he has organized hate-filled protests; the American Muslims for Emergency Relief; and Students for Justice in Palestine. Malik himself was the principal organizer of numerous anti-Israel rallies.  A rally in March was titled "Miami's Third Intifada Rally for Palestine."  During the demonstration, protesters reportedly chanted a slogan often used by Hamas and other Palestinian radicals calling for the destruction of Israel: "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free." A Malik-led rally in December 2008 reportedly drew 200 to 300 rowdy supporters, with some screaming for Jews to "go back to the ovens." The Florida Sun-Sentinel featured a picture with the caption "Malik incites the crowd." YouTube video and Internet pictures from the protest depict rally-goers wearing Hamas logos on hats and scarves. The Florida Jewish Voice newspaper reported Malik's rally began as the Islamic crowd squared off against Israel supporters outside the First Baptist Church in downtown Ft. Lauderdale. One protester reportedly shouted, "Your mother is a wh*re," then broke into, "Nuke, nuke Israel. Nuke, nuke Israel," followed by, "Go to hell; go to hell; go to hell!" Another woman, wearing a headscarf, shouted: "Go steal other lands. Go! Murderers! Go back to the oven! You need a big oven." Malik himself was quoted calling Israel's actions ''collective punishment," accusing the Jewish state of "fuel[ing] terrorism." Wahhaj, brought in to keynote Malik's CAIR dinner last year, repeatedly has urged the U.S. to accept Islamic law. Discover the Networks notes Wahhaj in 1991 predicted America will fall unless it "accepts the Islamic agenda." The next year, he stated, "Hear what I'm telling you well. The Americans are not your friends. ... The Canadians are not your friends. ... The Europeans are not your friends. Your friend is Allah, the Messenger and those who believe."  Also, in a 1992 address to an audience of Muslims in New Jersey, Wahhaj expressed his desire to replace the U.S. government with an Islamic caliphate.  "If we were united and strong," Wahhaj said, "we'd elect our own emir (leader) and give allegiance to him. ... [T]ake my word, if 6-8 million Muslims unite in America, the country will come to us." In 1995, Wahhaj was named by U.S. Attorney Mary Jo White as an unindicted co-conspirator to the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center. He objected to that designation, noting in his defense that he had eaten "dinner with Secretary of State [Madeleine] Albright – after the list" of co-conspirators had been released. Discover the Networks notes that in the summer of 1999, Wahhaj testified as a character witness for convicted terror mastermind Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman. Wahhaj stated, on the record, that he considered it an honor to have had an opportunity to host Abdel-Rahman at his mosque, describing him as a "respected scholar ... bold ... [and] a strong preacher of Islam." Read the full story here.

• Cairo rally: Muslim Brotherhood One day we'll kill all Jews.(YNet).Arab hate: Muslim Brotherhood rally in Cairo's most prominent mosque Friday turned into a venomous anti-Israel protest, with attendants vowing to "one day kill all Jews." Some 5,000 people joined the rally, called to promote the "battle against Jerusalem's Judaization." The event coincided with the anniversary of the United Nation's partition plan in 1947, which called for the establishment of a Jewish state.However, most worshippers who prayed at the mosque Friday quickly left it before the Muslim Brotherhood's rally got underway. A group spokesman urged attendants to remain for the protest, asking them not to create a bad impression for the media by leaving. Speakers at the event delivered impassioned, hateful speeches against Israel, slamming the "Zionist occupiers" and the "treacherous Jews." Upon leaving the rally, attended were given small flags, with Egypt's flag on one side and the Palestinian flag on the other, as well as maps of Jerusalem's Old City detailing where "Zionists are aiming to change Jerusalem's Muslim character." Propaganda material ahead of Egypt's parliamentary elections was also handed out at the site.Spiritual leader Dr. Ahmed al-Tayeb charged in his speech that to this day Jews everywhere in the world are seeking to prevent Islamic and Egyptian unity. "In order to build Egypt, we must be one. Politics is insufficient. Faith in Allah is the basis for everything," he said. "The al-Aqsa Mosque is currently under an offensive by the Jews…we shall not allow the Zionists to Judaize al-Quds (Jerusalem.) We are telling Israel and Europe that we shall not allow even one stone to be moved there."Muslim Brotherhood spokesmen, as well as Palestinian guest speakers, made explicit calls for Jihad and for liberating the whole of Palestine. Time and again, a Koran quote vowing that "one day we shall kill all the Jews" was uttered at the site. Meanwhile, businessmen in the crowd were urged to invest funds in Jerusalem in order to prevent the acquisition of land and homes by Jews. Throughout the event, Muslim Brotherhood activists chanted: "Tel Aviv, Tel Aviv, judgment day has come." Speaking to Ynet outside the mosque following the prayer, elementary school teacher Ala al-Din said that "all Egyptian Muslims are willing to embark on Jihad for the sake of Palestine." "Why is the US losing in Afghanistan? Because the other side is willing and wants to die. We have a different mentality than that of the Americans and Jews," he said.Hmmmm.....The 'People' the Obama regime donates $ 2.57 Billion.Read the full story here.

• Congressmen ask for probe into Palestinian use of US funds.(JPost).Florida Democratic Congressman Ted Deutsch and New York Democratic Congressman Steve Israel have asked US Comptroller-General Gene Dodaro to investigate the Palestinian Authority’s use of American funding.The request this week came three weeks after MK Moshe Matalon (Israel Beiteinu) had sent a letter to the budget committees of the US Senate and House of Representatives, informing them of PA President Mahmoud Abbas’s policy of paying freed Palestinian prisoners who had been convicted of murder $5,000 and building them new homes.Matalon received a copy of the congressmen’s letter on Thursday.“Many of the released prisoners were convicted of orchestrating and carrying out Hamas-sponsored terrorist attacks in Israel, including the bombing of a Tel Aviv nightclub that killed 21 people, the attack on a Netanya hotel that killed 29 people, and the bombing of a Sbarro Pizzeria that killed 15 people,” Deutsch and Israel wrote.The two congressmen explained to Dodaro that they “are troubled by reports of President Abbas’ use of Palestinian Investment Fund (PIF) funds to provide housing for these convicted terrorists.”According to the letter, the US contributed to the PIF after PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad founded it in 2002 “under a framework of transparency and accountability.” However, recently there has been “ambiguity surrounding the amount of US taxpayer dollars contributed to the PIF,” Deutsch and Israel wrote.Aside from the issue of Abbas building houses for convicted terrorists, Deutsch and Israel “are concerned about the increasing lack of transparency for the PIF as well as reports that Prime Minister Fayyad is no longer overseeing the fund and that Hamas has taken control of PIF assets in Gaza.”The letter also requested that the US Government Accountability Office, which Dodaro heads, investigate whether US Economic Support Funds (ESF) given to the PA were used to fund Abbas’s trips around the world “on his misguided attempt to unilaterally declare statehood at the United Nations... efforts that are in direct contravention of US policy.”The congressmen said US ESF should not be used “to fund Mr. Abbas’ extensive lobbying to achieve a Palestinian state by any means other than direct negotiations with Israel.”They added that “the US must be unequivocally committed to ensuring that American taxpayer dollars are used to serve the interests of the US and our allies around the world.”In his letter three weeks ago, Matalon had written that Abbas was rewarding “unrepentant terrorists.”“At the ceremony Abbas held [in honor of released prisoners] in Ramallah, he is reported as having praised these individuals for their ‘courage and sacrifice,’” the Israel Beiteinu MK wrote. “The atrocities referred to by Abbas as acts of ‘courage’... include the murders of scores of innocents, including women and children.He continued: “I feel it incumbent upon myself to present these facts to you, as a fellow parliamentarian, not as interference in your parliamentary activities, but rather in order to ensure that the full facts are before you, as you deliberate on whether to continue extending financial assistance to the Palestinian Authority.”Hmmmm......"Obama Administration Defends US Aid to Palestinian Territories "?Read the full story here.

• Medvedev takes aim at US missile shield, targeting also Israel's missile defenses.(Debka).After deploying three warships in Syrian waters, Moscow continues to beat war drums against the United States followed closely by Tehran. Wednesday, Nov. 23, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev told state television: "I have ordered the armed forces to develop measures to ensure if necessary that we can destroy the command and control systems" of the planned US missile-defense system in Europe. These measures are appropriate, effective and low-cost."Iranian Supreme Leader's top advisor for military affairs Major General Yahya Rahim Safavi came next. He said: "The Iranian Revolutionary Guards controls the identity and destination of every US warship which intends to pass through the Strait of Hormuz."debkafile's military sources report that the US missile shield's command and control systems which the Russian president spoke of destroying are linked directly to Israel's missile defense network against Iranian, Syria and Hizballah missiles and the X-Band radar station located in the southern Israeli Negev.Medvedev's threat to American "command and control systems" was therefore comprehensive. It referred not just to the US anti-missile shield facilities planned for Europe, but also to preparing measures for use ("if necessary") - in the course of a possible American or Israeli attack on Iran or Syria - for striking the US missile defense systems in Europe before they can intercept Iranian missiles.Knocking out the European shield would leave Israel completely exposed to Iranian missile attack.In a very few terse words, the Russian president has made it clear that the Kremlin will not allow Iran and its Middle East allies be prevented from missile retaliation in the event of war. That threat also explains why at least two of the three Russian naval vessels moved into Syrian territorial waters last week were equipped for surveillance and electronic warfare, exactly what is needed for a Russian operation to destroy US missile shield command and control centers near the Syrian border, such as the one stationed in Turkey.In another part of his announcement, President Medvedev also threatened to opt out of the new START arms control deal with the United States and halt other arms control talks if the US proceeds with the missile shield without meeting Russia's demand for it to be managed jointly, which NATO has rejected.The Iranian General Savavi's assertion of the IRGC's exclusive control of the Strait of Hormuz was in direct response to the crossing of two US carriers, the USS Stennis and USS Bush, through the strait to take up position opposite the Iranian coast.This was reported exclusively by debkafile Monday, Nov. 21.Read the full story here. 

• American woman and partner attending family wedding in Pakistan murdered in suspected honour killing.(DailyMail).A Scottish businessman and his American wife were gunned down in the street in a suspected honour killing while on holiday in Pakistan.Glasgow-based Saif Rehman, 31, and Uzma Naurin from New York, 30, were shot dead when their car was ambushed in the north-eastern city of Gujrat following a shopping trip.The couple had been about to start a new life together in the U.S. after their trip to Pakistan for Mr Rehman’s brother’s wedding.It is understood the couple were accompanied by a driver, Mr Rehman’s sister and her two-year-old daughter, but the other passengers were unharmed.The group of four gunmen stopped the car, opened fire and killed Mr Rehman before bundling his wife into their vehicle and killing her at a spot nearby – then dumping her body by the roadside.Pakistani police are probing claims that there had been tension between the couple’s in-laws over their marriage three years ago.They were married in Manchester but another, fuller ceremony involving both sides of the family took place in Glasgow in June, when it appeared that the differences might have been resolved.Sources close to the dispute last night suggested Mr Rehman’s relatives had been happy with the marriage, but it had caused upset among some of his bride’s relatives.Saif Ali, 30, of Cumbernauld, Dunbartonshire, who runs a mobile phone repair company, met Mr Rehman – who ran a similar firm called GSM Communications in Glasgow – three years ago.He said: ‘It was a long-distance relationship between Saif and Uzma but they made it work really well. Saif had just got a visa to go to the U.S., so they were on the brink of a new life together when this happened.I found out from Saif’s brother when the killings happened on November 1 and couldn’t believe it – I was shocked, angry and devastated because we were very close. Saif had been in Glasgow for six years and met Uzma at a friend’s wedding four or five years ago.’Describing their murder, Mr Ali added: ‘They were going back home and basically, all of a sudden, their driver just stopped the car. ‘Four people were in a different car which stopped in front of them. They pulled Saif, his sister, her daughter and his wife out of the car and, as soon as he was pulled out of the car, they shot him without saying anything.’Mr Ali said that ‘no words were exchanged’ between Mr Rehman and any of the people who shot him. He added: ‘Five minutes up the road they basically killed her (Uzma Naurin) as well. She wasn’t found until quite a bit of time later.‘Probably about three or four hours later, she was found, as they had basically put her in the shrubs somewhere, just on the side of the road.’Mr Ali said Uzma Naurin worked in sales for Costa Coffee and was based in New Jersey.Her father, a taxi driver in New York, had relatives in Gujrat and the driver of the car the couple were in when they were shot is said to have been employed by his Pakistani relatives.  The Foreign Office cannot become involved as Mr Rehman was a Pakistani national and his wife was a U.S. citizen.Read and see the full story here.

• Natural gas pipeline bombed in Sinai for the eighth time.(BikyaMasr).CAIRO: Saboteurs from an Al-Qaeda affiliated group have bombed a gas pipeline just outside of the Egyptian town of Arish on Friday, according to reports from Egypt’s Al-Ahram newspaper.The bombing is reported to have done little damage to the pipeline because gas was not flowing through it at the time of the bombing. Its use had been shutdown for repairs on damages sustained from a previous attack.Today’s attack mark’s the eighth pipeline attack since the ousting of former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.Several pipelines are being targeted because they transport natural gas to Israel.Israel receives nearly 40 percent of its natural gas from Egypt since signing the 1979 Camp David Peace Accord, which included a natural gas package.Read the full story here.

• Sinai forces on high alert over Jihad threat.(YNet).While tens of thousands of protesters are amassing in Cairo's Tahrir Square, the Sinai Peninsula is heating up. Egyptian security forces on Friday raised the alert level to an unprecedented level in the al-Arish area in northern Sinai after they received information that Jihad members are planning on carrying out an attack on the local security headquarters, the Ma'an news agency reported Friday.According to the information they received, some 2,500 Jihad and additional radical faction members were equipped with "unconventional weapons" and had gathered large quantities of ammunition. The operatives prepared a plan to attack the al-Arish security directorate, the central prison and other official buildings. The purpose of the attack, according to the report, was vengeance on Egyptian authorities for thwarting a previous plan to attack Sinai and drive away security forces. The reports come after saboteurs blew up a gas pipeline 60 km (37 miles) west of the Egyptian town of al-Arish in northern Sinai earlier on Friday, the latest in series of attacks, state news agency MENA reported.The blast caused little damage and did not start a fire because little gas was flowing through the pipeline at the time due to repair work from a previous attack, MENA said. The pipeline, which supplies gas to Egypt and Jordan, was last attacked on Nov. 10. The latest was the seventh since the revolt that ousted President Hosni Mubarak on Feb. 11, although the pipeline was first attacked a few days earlier. No group has claimed responsibility for the sabotage.Egypt has a 20-year deal to export natural gas deal to Israel. It is unpopular with the Egyptian public and critics say Jewish state was not paying enough for the gas.Read the full story here.

• Acid attack victim sues judges in Iran after she was denied compensation for showing mercy to her attacker.(DailyMail).She was offered the chance to exact retribution on the man who blinded her with acid in the same horrific manner.But, at the last minute, Ameneh Bahrami, 34, refused, preferring her attacker, a former university classmate, to be spared. What happened next, though, has enraged her.For Iranian authorities have declared Ms Bahrami no longer has a right to the compensation Majid Movahedi was ordered to pay by the courts. She needs the money to pay for more plastic surgery to her disfigured face and body.She now says she was cheated, and is now suing Iran's judiciary, the Independent reports.Ms Bahrami, suffered severe injuries to her eyes, face and hands when Movahedi threw acid in her face in 2004 after she spurned his hand in marriage. In November 2008, a criminal court in Tehran ordered Movahedi to be blinded in both eyes under the country's application of the sharia code of 'qisas', which allows retribution for violent crimes.But in July, he was given an eleventh hour reprieve when Ms Bahrami exercised her right to pardon him.Prison officials had been preparing to drop acid into his eyes when the pardon was delivered.Miss Bahrami said the international interest in the case was one reason for deciding to drop her demand for the sentence to be carried out: 'It seemed like the entire world was waiting to see what we did.'The case attracted international media attention, and the human rights group Amnesty International urged Iran not to inflict the retributive form of punishment.After being pardoned, Movahedi's sentence was reduced to 10 years in prison. It is as a result of this new sentence that judiciary figures now say he no longer has to pay compensation.'Even though I agreed to pardon Mr Movahedi, I didn't think I was surrendering my right to compensation,' Ms Bahrami told the Independent.She said her request for compensation was recognised at the time as legal by judiciary officials.'But then the deputy prosecutor said he had made a mistake and that my request for compensation had no legal grounds,' she added.Ms Bahrami says she needs the money to pay for further surgery. She has already spent more than £150,000 – partly funded by the Iranian state – on treatment but more is needed.After being told she was no longer entitled to compensation, Ms Bahrami says she was persuaded by Tehran's deputy prosecutor to sign a document limiting her claim to injuries to her hands and face.Now she has been told by a lawyer that the prosecutor's ruling is in fact unlawful.She has responded by opening legal proceedings against the deputy prosecutor for abuse of trust and depriving her of her legal rights.'If Majid Movahedi walks out of prison without paying the compensation money for my eyes, it means I have been subjected to injustice,' she said.Read the full story here.

• Iran's Khamenei presents war scenarios.(YNet).In an unusual step that comes on the heels of Iran's threats and warnings to the US and Israel over the consequences of a possible strike on its nuclear facilities, the official website of Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei published an analysis written by Dr. Amir Mohebian, a senior political commentator.The article details three possible war scenarios Iran could be faced with if Israel or the US proceed with a strike:

1. An all out war of attrition that would combine aerial and ground forces attack.
2. Limited war as a preparatory action for political proceedings. This would include hitting Iran’s control centers for the purpose of disrupting the stability of the Islamic regime. The best case scenario here would be that war leads to the regime's fall; the worst case would see Iran surrendering at the negotiating table.
3. A war on specific targets with the aim of destroying the regime's assault capabilities, especially against the "Zionist regime."The Iranian commentator goes on to assess the possibility of likelihood of each scenario. He believes the feasibility of the first option is due, among other things to the fact that "the western countries' capabilities to carry out such a complex operation are very limited and nearly nonexistent."

Mohebian also mentioned the upcoming US presidential elections and the fact that the west doesn't have sufficient intelligence on Iran. In light of these problems Mohebian believes that the chances of an all out war against Iran are close to nothing. He goes on to point out the main problems of the second and third scenarios: The Iranian regime is prepared for an attack on its centers of power, the Iranian response to such an attack could be unexpected, the attack could turn the regime to an even more extreme path and encourage it to set the Middle East on fire, which would endanger the western world. Mohebian claims that even the third and most likely scenario has a relatively small likelihood of happening. He notes that the scenario's execution would be complicated. It would be impossible to attack all of the country's nuclear facilities due to its size; a limited war could develop into a regional war. For example, an attack on Bushehr could lead to harsh ecological consequences for the region. Attacking only certain nuclear sites would not lead to a complete shutdown of Iran's technological nuclear capabilities. Meanwhile, it would seem that Israel is also preparing for every possible scenario. Yedioth Ahronoth on Friday revealed that "a friendly country" has in the past few weeks secretly sent Israel anti-aircraft Patriot missile batteries that also serve as a missile defense system.The new battery arrived at the Ashdod Port, the first Patriot missile battery to arrive in Israel in eight years. Nevertheless, the IDF claims there is no connection between the current shipment and recent talk of the possibility of a strike against Iran's nuclear sites. Read the full story here.

• Thousands of Egyptians demands immediate end to military rule.(AlArabiya).Massive crowds demanding an end to military rule in Egypt converged on Cairo’s Tahrir square on Friday in what activists say will be the biggest day yet of protests in a week of violence that has seen at least 41 people killed.The generals who have governed Egypt since people power-toppled President Hosni Mubarak on Feb. 11 are facing a major challenge to their authority.The grand imam of al-Azhar, Sunni Islam’s highest authority, on Friday expressed support for protesters in Cairo’s Tahrir Square and wished them success, a senior aide said.“The grand imam (Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayyeb) backs you and is praying for your victory,” Hassan Shafie told the protesters during a visit to the square.The cleric’s words of sympathy were unprecedented for the head of the prestigious al-Azhar who is appointed by Egyptian presidents and who rarely issues remarks that contradict the government’s position.Earlier, the imam leading tens of thousands of worshippers in prayer at the square called on the ruling military to hand power to a national salvation government.Sheikh Mazhar Shahin said protesters would remain in the square -- the symbolic heart of rallies that toppled Mubarak -- until their demands were met. He called for the creation of a national salvation government to take over from the military council in charge of the country since Mubarak was toppled in February.“There is no option but a national salvation government with the powers of a president.”The charismatic Shahin, nicknamed the “preacher of the revolution” after leading prayers throughout the January-February revolt that ousted Mubarak, said the revolution should drive Egypt’s political future.“The revolution is the one that thinks, the revolution is the one that decides, it is the one that judges,” Shahin said. “Our revolution was a body without a head. Today, the revolution will have a head.”Activists who accuse the army of trying to cling to power have once again turned Tahrir into center of mass demonstrations, producing scenes similar to the uprising that toppled Mubarak.Since last Saturday, streets near Tahrir have become battle zones with stone-throwing protesters fought police firing tear gas, pellets and rubber bullets, although a truce on Thursday calmed the violence in the past 24 hours.Activists sought to bring a million people into the streets of the capital on what they have dubbed “the Friday of the last chance”. The weekly Muslim prayer day has traditionally produced the biggest demonstrations of the Arab Spring revolts sweeping across the Middle East.The ruling military council had appointed Kamal Ganzouri, who served as prime minister under Mubarak from 1996-99, to head an interim cabinet. Prime Minister Essam Sharaf’s government resigned this week.The military rulers say they will transfer power to civilians, but the process should not be rushed to avoid chaos.Read the full story here.

• Netanyahu worried over peace treaty; Iran commander says Egypt turning into ‘new Iran'.(Alarabiya).Israel’s peace with Egypt is a regional bulwark that both countries are working to protect, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday as protesters in Cairo kept up demands for a swift transfer from military to civilian rule, as an Iranian commander said the revolutionary fervor sweeping Egypt and other Arab countries has given birth to “new Irans.”The remarks underscored concern in an increasingly isolated Israel that Egypt’s interim military rulers could be succeeded by a popular, Islamist-dominated opposition that resents Cairo’s three-decade-old relations with the Jewish state.“This peace ensures the stability of the heart of the Middle East. It ensures orderly movement on what might be the world's most important shipping lane,” Netanyahu told reporters, referring to the Suez Canal, over which Israeli and Egyptian forces frequently battled before their 1979 peace treaty.“It ensures economic stability and the potential for economic prosperity -- both of Egypt and of Israel, as well as of other countries in the region. It guarantees quiet,” Netanyahu said, according to Reuters.“We are acting together with Egypt to maintain the peace. We know that there are a great many elements which are trying to violate the peace, even as we speak.”Israel has been alarmed by the “Arab Spring” of revolts that swept the long-serving leaders of Tunisia, Egypt and Libya from power this year.Meanwhile, the commander of Iran’s elite Quds force said Thursday the revolutionary fervor sweeping Egypt and other Arab countries has given birth to “new Irans” that share anti-US sentiment. “A number of major (new) Irans have been born in the region today. Egypt is a (new) Iran, whether you accept it or not,” Major General Qasem Soleimani told a gathering of 50,000 Basij militia members in the southern city of Kerman in a rare appearance, the Fars news agency reported.The Quds force is the shadowy special operations unit of Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards which operates abroad. The United States has accused Soleimani and other Quds members of being involved in an alleged plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to Washington.Soleimani’s remarks came after deadly clashes in Cairo’s Tahrir Square, where protesters were holding renewed pro-democracy demonstrations.He drew parallels between the upheaval in several Arab countries and Iran’s 1979 Islamic revolution, telling arch-foe the United States: “Know that today Libya, Yemen and Bahrain are also (new) Irans.”These “great nations will stand together against the threat” of Western powers, he was quoted as saying, according to AFP.Tehran has portrayed the Arab spring as being inspired by its own Islamic revolution.U.S. officials, however, have said they see it as a new movement that could yet spread into Iran and topple the regime there.Soleimani has long been under scrutiny by U.S. officials, who accuse him of supporting Iraqi militias hostile to the U.S. presence in Iraq.The Quds chief also responded to comments by two neo-conservative military experts in Congress suggesting, in a hearing in late October, that the United States should assassinate senior Revolutionary Guards commanders, including Soleimani.“To those who think threats will spread fear amongst us, I will say this: that I ask God to grant me martyrdom (death) at the hands of the enemy,” he said.“I do not see (an assassination) as a threat but rather giving, helping along an old desire,” he was quoted as saying. Read the full story here.

• Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon: Israel will defend Greek oil drilling in Cyprus.(JTA).ATHENS, Greece -- Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon said in Greece that Israel will defend Greek oil drilling in Cyprus.Asked at a news briefing Tuesday what Israel's reaction is to a threat by Turkey regarding drilling in Cyprus, Ayalon said, “If anyone tries to challenge these drillings, we will meet those challenges.”Ayalon, the first foreign official to visit Greece since the formation of its new government, added that he did not think that Turkey would challenge any drilling in the southeast Mediterranean. Turkey said last month it would send naval forces to protect its drilling rights.The briefing was held at the residence of Israeli Ambassador to Greece Arie Mekel. Ayalon is on an official visit to Greece.Greece's deputy foreign minister, Dimitris Dollis, stressed in his meeting with Ayalon that Israel-Greece relations upgraded in the past year would continue and be strengthened in the near future. Dollis said the ties would not be affected by the change of government in Greece.“These are not meetings that are held just so we can get together," he said. "They are meetings that will help us to jointly promote the issues we are dealing with and, naturally, provide an institutional framework -- and thus continuity -- for this conference.”The two officials agreed to convene in Greece members of the Jewish and Greek diasporas from countries such as the United States, Canada, Australia, France and Britain. The meeting is planned to take place in the spring in Salonika.Ayalon and Dollis discussed cooperation among Israel, Greece and Cyprus concerning the subject of natural gas. A trilateral memorandum of understanding on the issue, as well as the management of water resources, has been drafted and is due to be signed soon. The deputy foreign ministers noted that Greece and Israel have common strategic interests in energy and energy security, and immense prospects for collaboration in that area.On Wednesday, Ayalon met with the new Greek foreign minister, Stavros Dimas, and defense minister, Dimitris Avramopoulos, to discuss strengthening relations between the two countries.Next week, the Greek minister for the environment, energy and climate change, Giorgos Papakonstantinou, will visit Israel.Hmmmm.....Speak softly...carry a big stick?Read the full story here.

• Antisemitic French Comedian Dieudonné M'bala M'bala To Release Iran-Produced Film, 'The Anti-Semite'.(Memri).On April 7, 2010, antisemitic French comedian Dieudonné M'bala M'bala discussed his new children's song "Shoananas," or "Holocaust Pineapple," in an interview with Iran's Press TV. In the interview he also claimed that "most slave traders were Jews" and that there is more freedom of speech in Iran than in France.Since then, Dieudonné has been working on two new films: The Black Code, on black slavery, which aims to show that most slave traders were Jews, and The Anti-Semite. Dieudonné found no sponsors for his films in France, but did obtain funding in Iran.Below are excerpts of Dieudonné's Press TV interview, followed by a summary of Dieudonné's recent antisemitic film and stage activity.Dieudonné Tells Iranian TV About His New Children's Song "Holocaust Pineapple," Claims Most Slave Traders Were Jews  "[The Jewish Lobby] Has Taken France Hostage, and We Are In the Hands Of Ignorant People Who Know How To Structure Themselves Into a Mafia-Like Organization" Dieudonné: "What I am trying to say is that in France, for example, we commemorate only one of the events that have caused suffering for people – the Holocaust. Other events where mankind has suffered injustice are completely overlooked. For example, slavery in French colonies, the Algerian war, and many other events are never mentioned. The Zionist lobby imposes an unequal competition, a hierarchy in the sufferings of different communities, which is completely obscene. "But it is no surprise, coming from a type of individual with an immoral or unfair character, who...Read the full story here.

• Tehran Times Article Refuting Holocaust Relies On 'Protocols of the Elders of Zion,' Well-Known Holocaust Deniers.(Memri).A lengthy article titled "Refutation of the Holocaust Myth," published by the Iranian daily Tehran Times and authored by one Saleha Khan, makes familiar Holocaust-denial claims: Anne Frank's diary is a fake, the actual number of Jews in Europe before and after World War II make it impossible for six million of them to have been killed, Hitler encouraged Jews to emigrate but did not put them in concentration camps – which "were used for the detention of political opponents and subversives, mainly liberals, Social Democrats and Communists of all kinds, of whom a proportion were Jews " and so on. According to the bibliography, in writing the article the author relied on "The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion," works by well-known Holocaust deniers Robert Faurisson and David Irving, and a book published by the Historical Review Press."(1.a) The world Jewish population"In order to question the truth regarding the Holocaust, one must first take into account the Jewish population in Europe during the 1940s. It should be noted that statistics relating to the Jewish populations are not known in precise detail. Approximations for various countries differ widely. Furthermore, it is unknown exactly how many Jews were deported and interned at any particular time between the period of 1939—1945. The reliable statistics available, especially those relating to emigration, are sufficient to show that it is not possible for six million Jews to have...Read the full story here.