$9 Million Lawsuit against Airline That Removed Sikh, Muslim Passengers.

Shan Anand

$9 Million Lawsuit against Airline That Removed Sikh, Muslim Passengers. (NDtv).

A Sikh man along with his four friends were kicked out from an American Airlines flight allegedly because their appearance made the captain uneasy, claims a $9 million lawsuit against the airline.

Shan Anand, a Sikh, along with three other friends, were ordered off the Toronto -New York flight from last month based upon their perceived race, colour and ethnicity, according to a CNN report.

Mr Anand's other friends - a Bangladeshi Muslim and an Arab Muslim - were identified only by their initials WH and MK.

Mr Anand and his friend Faimul Alam switched seats with strangers after boarding, so they could sit next to WH and MK.

Several minutes later, a white woman flight attendant asked WH to get off the plane, according to the lawsuit, which was filed yesterday in Brooklyn Federal Court.

When they asked the flight crew why they were being removed, the flight attendant told them to exit "peacefully" and "demanded" they return to the gate and await further directions, the lawsuit said.

"It basically made me feel like a criminal," WH said, adding: "It was like I was put on a pedestal where everyone is pointing at you. I was frightened that they were frightened."

It was only after the plane took off that an airline agent told the men "they could not board because the crew members, and specifically the captain, felt uneasy and uncomfortable with their presence on the flight and as such, refused to fly unless they were removed from the flight," the report said.

The flight took off, leaving the four men behind. "They said it was protocol," Mr Anand said.

Report: American Airlines Dropped Israel Due To Alliance With Arab Carriers.

Report: American Airlines Dropped Israel Due To Alliance With Arab Carriers. (Matzav).

Aviation industry sources claim that the recent American Airlines decision to cease flights to Israel is the result of the U.S. carrier’s ties with Arab airlines.

The airline had announced that it would stop its flights from Philadelphia to Tel Aviv beginning in January 2016 due to financial considerations.

Casey Norton, a spokesman for American Airlines, told Bloomberg News that the carrier has lost $20 million last year on the route alone.

But aviation sources told the Israeli newspaper Haaretz that the actual reason for the route’s impending closure is the airline’s participation in the OneWorld alliance, whose members include Arab airlines like Qatar Airways and Royal Jordanian as well as Malaysia Airlines (Malaysia is a Muslim-majority nation).

“Profitability wasn’t a problem. The past year hasn’t been easy for the airline industry in general, but that’s far from saying that the route wasn’t profitable. No one would have operated a money-losing route for so many years,” an anonymous industry source said, Haaretz reported.

American Airlines Set to Fire Some 13,000 Employees.

American Airlines Set to Fire Some 13,000 Employees.(PTv).The third-largest American carrier has reportedly planned to fire nearly 13,000 employees to radically cut its costs in order to stay afloat.
Senior officials of the American Airlines have met with union representatives to detail the plans for the layoffs which are aimed at cutting costs by 20 percent.
American Airlines and its parent company, AMR Corporation, filed for bankruptcy protection back in November, 2011.“All workgroups will have total costs reduced by 20 percent, including management," AMR Chief Executive Tom Horton said in a letter to the corporation's employees Wednesday."While the savings from each work group will be achieved somewhat differently, each will experience the same percentage reduction,” he added.Reports say the AMR will cut 1,400 management and support staff, 400 pilots, 2,300 flight attendants, 4,600 maintenance workers and 4,200 fleet service employees.Horton said that the airline needed to save $1.25 billion a year from employee-related costs.Read the full story here.

MFS - The Other News

                    Morning Posting.

• Updated !Earthquakes in the last 24 hours in the world seismic activity situation Philipines 5.0 !More info here.

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

• As polls close in Egypt, clashes erupt in Tahrir.(BikyaMasr).CAIRO: Scuffles erupted in Cairo’s Tahrir Square on Tuesday evening as voting in the second day of parliamentary elections came to a close.Hundreds of protesters, currently conducting a sit-in at the iconic square, clashed with street vendors after the vendors, who allegedly brought in “thugs” to aid them attacked the activists.“The square and Abdel Moneim Riyad [Square] are under attack from thugs who are firing randomly,” Ahmed, a young protester who was trying to organize traffic not far from the square, told Bikyamasr.com.“There are many injured and we are doing the best we can to stay strong,” he added.An unknown number of people have been injured in the violence, with a heavy presence of ambulances seen moving the wounded from the area.The clashes, which involved gun shots, Molotov cocktails and even large gas containers, started when the volunteers guarding the entrances of the square, tried to remove the vendors.The protesters accused them of trying to sell drugs to the people in the square, in addition to sexually harassing women.The activists have constructed a barricade out of metal sheets around Tahrir Square to keep the attackers out.The protesters in the square are accusing the military of being behind the attacks, saying that the sudden appearance of “thugs” came after the election was complete and people busy with election news.Read the full story here.

• UK embassy stormed in Tehran, British flag burned, Iranian raised.(RT).Several dozen Iranian students have stormed the UK embassy in Tehran, chanting “death to England” and bringing down the British flag.A group of students has reportedly clashed with riot police, as they rushed into the building and started throwing documents from the windows.This siege comes two days after Iran downgraded the diplomatic and trade ties with UK. That was done in response to earlier UK government’s decision to tighten economic sanctions against Tehran over its nuclear program.Read the full story here.More details here from AlArabiya.Updated - (VIDEO, PHOTOS) here.

• Updated - Turkish Newspaper claims  Iranian protesters took 6 people hostage in British embassy.(HurriyetDaily).The Iranian protester have just taken 6 people as hostages in the British embassy compound in Tehran, Reuters reported.ranian protesters had enetered the embassy earlier today and had removed the mission's flag, replacing it with an Iranian one, an AFP journalist at the scene reported.The dozens of protesters were also shown live on Iranian state television throwing stones at embassy windows, breaking them, and one was seen climbing the wall with a looted portrait of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II.Read the full story here.Updated -
  TEHRAN - Iranian police on Tuesday secured the release of six employees of the British embassy compound in northern Tehran who had been taken hostage by hardline students earlier in the day, the semi-official Fars news agency reported.
  "Police freed the six people working for the British embassy in Qolhak garden," Fars said.

• Exclusive: Obama in 2006: I ‘stole’ book title ‘Audacity of Hope’ from Rev. Wright, ‘my pastor’ [VIDEO].(DailyCaller).Video obtained exclusively by The Daily Caller shows Illinois Senator Barack Obama, then campaigning for Democrats before the 2006 midterm elections, praising Reverend Jeremiah Wright and telling an audience that he “stole” the title of his book “The Audacity of Hope” from Wright’s sermon of the same name, which he “loved.” Obama also referred to Wright as “my pastor.”Hmmm....I wonder if he also found his 'love'for Israel and America there?Read the full story here.

• Obama vows to allow America becoming a second-rate military power.(Examiner)."Our smallest ground force since 1940..."With the failure of the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, popularly known the Congressional "Super Committee," to agree on $1.5 trillion in spending cuts over the next ten years, automatic triggers for spending cuts are now in effect.Embedded in the $1.2 trillion in automatic cuts is a scheduled $500 billion to be slashed from the US Armed Forces.The Department of Defense is already slated to have $465 billion cut within the next ten years, totaling almost $1 trillion cut from the military.Yet Barack Obama has vowed to veto any Congressional move to "get rid of those automatic spending cuts to domestic and defense spending." (See video,  here). Pre-WWII Levels...In a press release from House Armed Services Committee member Florida Representative Thomas J. Rooney (FL-16), warns of "Devastating Consequences".The Congressman also quotes a number of Pentagon officials in regards to the funding cuts.Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta has stated that the cuts "would end most of our ship and construction projects. We would be left with our smallest ground force since 1940, the fewest ships since 1915 and the smallest Air Force in its history."The "spending clause " of the Constitution, Article I, Section 8, Clause 1, gives Congress the power of the purse to influence matters regarding our common defense.The President is well recognized as our Commander-In-Chief under Article II, Section 2, Clause 1 of the Constitution. The Oath of Office Clause in Article II, Section 1, Clause 7 requires the President to swear to support and defend the Constitution. Hmmmm.....I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes. ~ Thomas Paine, December 23, 1776.Read the full story here.

• Breaking - Broadcast of 'anti-Pakistan' foreign news channels like BBC to be shut down: Pakistan Cable operators.(Tribune).LAHORE: The All Pakistan Cable Operators Association declared Tuesday that they will shut down all foreign news channels airing “anti-Pakistan” content from tomorrow. The decision to shut the channels comes after a media uproar both locally and abroad following a Nato air strike that killed 24 Pakistani troops near the Afghan border.During a media conference in Lahore, the operators named BBC News as one of the channels to be closed down, citing their documentary “Secret Pakistan” as one of the reasons for the decision.The two part documentary series which aired in Pakistan explored accusations by CIA officials and western diplomats that Pakistan was failing to live up to its alliances in the war on terror.President of the All Pakistan Cable Operators Association Khalid Arain also demanded that Pemra revoke the landing rights of any foreign news channel that was running “anti-Pakistan propaganda”.“We want to send them a strong message to stop this. If they don’t stop this, then it is our right to stop them,” Arain said.The cable operators declared that no foreign anti-Pakistan channel will “ever” be broadcast in the country.They called on local media to tackle the ongoing negative propaganda by foreign news channels by presenting Pakistan’s viewpoint.Hmmm...Don't you love the way they act after giving $20 Billion?Read the full story here.

• RED ALERT: Deputy A.G. behind 'Fast and Furious' met with President Obama four times during the height of the operation.(DougRoss).In early 2010, Gary Grindler was intimately involved in all aspects of Operation Fast and Furious. During the height of the operation, Grindler visited the President on four separate occasions in only two weeks -- his only documented meetings with the president at the White House.So my question is this:What did President Obama know -- and when did he know it?Read and see the full story here.

• Developing ! AMR, American Airlines file for bankruptcy.(Yahoo).(Reuters) - AMR Corp, the parent company of American Airlines, filed for voluntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in a New York court on Tuesday to restructure debt.AMR also named Thomas Horton as its chairman and chief executive, replacing Gerard Arpey, who retired, the company said in a separate statement.The company listed assets of about $24.72 billion, while it has liabilities of $29.55 billion. The company said it has $4.1 billion in cash.AMR said both American Airlines and American Eagle are expected to fly normal schedules throughout the Chapter 11 process."We plan to initiate further negotiations with all of our unions to reduce our labor costs to competitive levels," CEO Horton said.Labor costs are a big headache for American. Wages and benefits for its union workers are generally higher as a percentage of operating expenses than at rivals that restructured in bankruptcy in the last decade.It remains the only major airline that still must fund worker pensions.AMR's top rivals, UAL Corp and Delta Air Lines, which both used bankruptcy protection to slash costs, have since found merger partners. Delta bought Northwest Airlines and UAL Corp bought Continental Airlines to form United Continental Holdings.The company said the bankruptcy has no direct legal impact on operations outside the U.S. and that it is not considering debtor-in-possession financing.It said Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP is lead counsel on the case.Hmmm.....More "CHANGE".Read the full story here.

• Apparantly "One flew over a cuckoo's nest"?Anders Behring Breivik ‘not accountable for attacks’.(Telegraph).Anders Behring Breivik ‘not accountable for attacks’ Psychiatrists have found that Anders Behring Breivik was insane at the time of the crime, the VG daily reported Tuesday on its website.If confirmed, this would mean that the right wing extremist who killed 77 people four months ago cannot be sentenced to prison but must undergo psychiatric care.“The court-appointed psychiatrists have concluded that Anders Behring Breivik was sick when he killed 77 people,” VG writes, without revealing its sources.The two psychiatrists, Synne Serheim and Torgeir Husby, delivered their finding to the Oslo district court on Tuesday morning. A press conference is due at 1:00pm (1200 GMT).Breivik, 32, was suffering from a “psychosis” – a mental state that could alter his judgment leading up to and at the time of the attacks, VG writes.Their report still needs to be examined by a legal medical commission to ensure that it fulfils all the professional requirements.Read the full story here.

• Did you miss the Thanksgiving White House visitor log document dump?(MichelleMalkin).Just like clockwork, the Obama administration never misses an opportunity to unload thousands of records it hopes no one will ever bother sifting through during the holidays.On Black Friday, the White House released more visitor log info — trumpeting disclosures it has fought tooth and nail.I’ve started looking through the data.A few things that jumped out at me:This August 5, 2011 visit to the president by MSNBC host Rachel Maddow and her party of 7 : She made no mention of the visit on her Aug. 5 show. What did she and POTUS discuss? Just wondering…Fun fact: According to the White House logs, this was Maddow’s fifth trip to the White House — and fourth to see the president personally.Another busy bee: Convicted felon, Huffington Post/Alinskyite agitator, and husband of Illinois Democrat Rep. Jan Schakowsky, Robert Creamer.According to the newly released records, Creamer was at the White House five times in August 2011 meeting with various officials, including Jon Carson, Cecilia Munoz, and Stephanie Cutter. He’s listed nearly 60 times in visitor logs since the start of the administration.Corruptocrats of a feather. Hmmm....Occupy White house?Read and see the full story here.

• U.S. Muslim Public Affairs Council's (MPAC)Proud to Host Radical Tunisian Leader who called for the destruction of Israel.(TIP).A radical Tunisian Islamist leader, denied an entry visa into the United States during the 1990s, is scheduled to make two appearances on Capitol Hill Tuesday.Rachid Ghannouchi, leader of Tunisia's Ennahda Party, will attend a forum on the Arab Spring at the Cannon Office Building, an announcement from the event's sponsor, the Muslim Public Affairs Council's (MPAC) said. He'll also attend a special dinner Tuesday evening.Ghannouchi's Ennahda Party recently won the majority in the first free parliamentary elections since the ouster of Tunisia's longtime ruler, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. Though hailed as a pro-democratic and moderate party by several media outlets and political figures, Ennahda, and its leader, have provided ample evidence to the contrary.In a May interview with the Al Arab Qatari website, for example, Ghannouchi called for the destruction of Israel and expressed optimism that the Jewish state would disappear in the very near future.The Arab Spring "will achieve positive results on the path to the Palestinian cause and threaten the extinction of Israel," Ghannouchi said. "I give you the good news that the Arab region will get rid of the bacillus of Israel. Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, the leader of Hamas, said that Israel will disappear by the year 2027. I say that this date may be too far away, and Israel may disappear before this."Ghannouchi has also blessed the mothers of Palestinian suicide bombers, defended rocket attacks carried out by Hamas against Israeli civilians and "martyrdom operations," and called for Muslims to fund and provide logistical support for Hamas.Similar sentiments prompted the U.S. State Department to deny Ghannouchi a visa in 1994, when he was invited to speak to audiences in America, including a forum in Tampa organized by a think-tank run by Sami Al-Arian, who was a member of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad's governing board. The State Department did not immediately return a call seeking comment.MPAC's promotion of the event lauded Ghannouchi as "One of the most important figures in modern Islamic political thought and theory.""Confirmed! MPAC hosting Rachid Ghannouchi on Tuesday evening for a forum on Islam, Democracy and the Arab Spring in Washington DC!," boasted Haris Tarin, director of MPAC's Washington DC office, on his Facebook page. "Ghannouchi is an [sic] modern intellectual giant on Islam and governance. BIG TIME! If you are in DC and want to come, hit me up!"Ennahda's platform declares "the need to challenge the Zionist colonial attack" and refers to Israel as an "alien entity planted in the heart of the homeland, which constitutes an obstacle to unity and reflects the image of the conflict between our civilization and its enemies."MPAC is certainly no stranger to controversy and has made countless radical statements of its own. Its embrace of Ghannouchi, whose party is predicting the rise of the 6^th Caliphate, further calls into question the wisdom of government partnerships which legitimize MPAC as mainstream.Read the full story here.

• Air Force Tells Reporters: You’re Not Welcome at Our Drone Base Anymore.(Wired).When the Air Force activated its first unmanned aircraft wing in 2007, the military invited journalists out to Creech Air Force Base in Nevada to come take a look at the robotic future taking off.Today, that kind of openness would be unthinkable. The Air Force began to limit press access to Creech in 2009. In the last six months, they’ve closed it off almost entirely, turning down every American media request to visit the drone pilots. The only visit approved during that period was from a British outlet, involving Creech’s UK drone squadron, Air Force officials tell Danger Room.Drones are the signature weapon in America’s wars, from Afghanistan to Yemen to Pakistan. Their employment has become one of the world’s most sensitive political issues. But, thanks to the near-blackout of the media, the public knows less and less about the drones — and the people who operate them.Hmmm....The most transparant administration Evah.Read the full story here.

• IDF to hold exercises simulating WMD attacks.(JPost).Israel will hold a series of exercises over the coming months preparing the country for potential biological, chemical and radioactive attacks. One of the exercises, called “Dark Cloud,” will be held in January and will be the first time the Israeli defense establishment and emergency services simulate a radioactive “dirty bomb” attack in northern Israel.The exercise will be held in Haifa and will simulate a radioactive dirty bomb attack in the city and will involve the IDF’s Home Front Command, Israel Police and other emergency services. Road blocks will be setup throughout the city and hospitals will also be tested for their level of preparedness for such an attack.Later this week the Defense Ministry will hold its annual “Orange Flame” exercise simulating a biological terror attack against Israel. The drill will be held in the North and will involve hospitals in Tiberias, Afula and Nazareth. Mock patients will arrive at the hospitals with various symptoms and doctors will need to diagnose and determine the biological agents that caused the symptoms.The Defense Ministry has a special branch responsible for preparing the country and its emergency services for a non-conventional terrorist attack.These exercises are part of the ministry’s annual training regimen, but there is concern among Western countries and Israel that terrorist groups are working to obtain chemical and biological agents, possibly from unstable Middle Eastern countries such as Libya and Syria .Syria is reported to have a significant arsenal of chemical weapons such as mustard gas, sarin and VX gas.Libya was also discovered to have an arsenal of chemical weapons, but those are believed to be under government control.Read the full story here.

• The Muslim Brotherhood Prepares for Power.(Spiegel).The Muslim Brotherhood was founded in 1928 as a charity organization, but the group was forbidden in Egypt for much of Mubarak's rule due to its Islamist leanings. Its followers and sympathizers faced constant state persecution. Today, the group is the most important representative in the country of political Islam -- though it remains unclear exactly what political goals they are pursuing. It is one of the peculiarities of this election that it will likely be won by a party that seems not to quite know what it stands for.Many have suggested that the Muslim Brotherhood might seek to emulate the Justice and Development party of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, which combines Islamist leanings with a market economy -- a model prized in many Muslim countries in North Africa.But Mahmoud Ghoslan, a spokesman for the Muslim Brotherhood, told SPIEGEL ONLINE that they aren't interested. "No, we don't want the Turkish model," Ghoslan said. "In Turkey, women may go to university without a headscarf. They have adultery and homosexuality. We will not allow that in Egypt. Egypt is a Muslim country. The Sharia, the Muslim legal framework, must be the foundation for everything."Sharia, though, isn't enough of a party platform -- and the Muslim Brotherhood have yet to provide convincing answers to questions as to how they plan to stabilize the country. Instead of explaining how his group intends to revive Egypt's stalled economy, Ghoslan complains about Western prejudice. "Everyone says that we are hardliners. But we are wise, even-tempered and moderate. Of the nine members of our leadership council, five of them received their Ph.D. in the US. We are open-minded," Ghoslan says.Despite follow-up questions, Ghoslan declines to provide details. Egypt isn't Iran, he insists, and Hamas is only an offshoot of the Brotherhood -- and not one they want to emulate. "We will develop our own model," he says.Hmmm.....Turkye's model to easygoing' leaves only Iran's model ?Read the full story here.

• Yemenis attack Egypt’s “Nude Blogger” Facebook page.(BikyaMasr).CAIRO: In continued antagonism and attacks, the Facebook page of Aliaa Mahdy, the Egyptian blogger who posted a full-frontal image of herself on her blog, was attacked by Yemeni activists. The hackers claimed they were supporting the Egyptian revolution.The vast majority of Egyptian society, from liberals to conservatives, lashed out at the young blogger over the nude image.The page was defaced by Yemeni hackers, who put an X over her image. It was somewhat praised on Twitter, with a number of online activists posting news about the hack.The “Nude Photo Revolutionary” image has sparked a legal case against her, with some calling for the full implementation of Islamic law against the young woman and her boyfriend, Kareem Amr – also a blogger who spent time in jail for his views.Mahdy’s nude pictures triggered an uproar in Egypt and was condemned from conservatives and liberals alike. While liberals criticize her of casting a damning light on them ahead of the elections on November 28, fundamentalist Islamists accuse her of “violating morals, inciting indecency and insulting Islam.”Mahdy received threats and harsh criticism for her actions. On Thursday the first legal move against her revolutionary pictures have occurred. The coalition of Islamic law graduates filed a case against her and her boyfriend and blogger, Kareem Amer.The Coalition of Islamic law graduates filed a case against activist Aliya Magda al-Mahdy and her boyfriend, and blogger, Kareem Amer, on Thursday accusing them of “violating morals, inciting indecency and insulting Islam.”The report, which was submitted to the general prosecutor, said the activist published a nude picture of herself “trying to spread her obscene ideology through the nude pictures.”The report was published in full on the coalition’s Facebook page, called for Mahdy and Amer to be punished according to Islamic law.“The old constitution and the new declarations of the new one says Islamic law is the source of governing, therefore we asked for Islamic law penalties to be executed on the two bloggers,” Ahmed Yehia, coordinator of the coalition told Bikyamasr.com.“It is an insult to the revolution as these two persons who pretend to be one of the revolutionists and asking for sexual freedoms, they are giving the uprising a bad name,” he continued.Read the full story here.

• The Rules of War apply only to Israel‏.(DocsTalk).By Ted Belman.Guess what, Iran: We’ll fire 150,000 missiles at Israel if attacked. OUCH.Most of these missiles will be directed to Israel’s major cities along the coast. These are not military targets but civilian targets. The civilian casualties will be enormous. And I am not talking about “collateral damage”. I am talking the intentional killing of civilians. This is a war crime. But no where have I read that such an attack would be considered a war crime and that it will result in prosecutions. No western nation, that was quick to embrace the Goldstone Report, will say so. Nor will any nation quick to condemn Israel for using disproportionate force or being unconcerned with causing collateral damage, be so bold as to point out that the intentional killing of civilians by these Muslim forces will be prosecuted as war crimes.Even if Israel attacks Iran’s nuclear facilities and the army defences, it will in no way justify using these rockets to kill civilians.This is the new definition of Asymmetric warfare. The rules of war apply only to Israel.Ead the full story here.

• Kurds, a proud people without a nation.(Arabnews).No one wants them to be in their territory, yet no one wants to give them their own territory.The Kurdish people have enjoyed the highest form of freedom for thousands of years. They mainly lived in northern Syria, east of Turkey, west of Iran and north of Iraq. They enjoyed the ability to move from place to another without any restrictions. They were one people, one language and one form of life. The number of Kurds all over the world is over 30 million. But, they don't have a nation. Before World War I, they didn't need one. They were free to wander around. They are Muslims. But not Arabs. And it should have made no difference. Islam has no nationality. But, the Kurdish people are different. No one wants them to be in their territory, yet no one wants to give them their own territory.With my humble knowledge, I will only talk about the Kurds in Turkey, Iraq, Syria and Iran; not the Kurds scattered all over the world. Books will be needed if you write about the Kurds. They were subjected to relocations and they were considered a lower class in all the nations they lived in. The Turkish territories are the most beautiful part of these countries. After the World War I and the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, new nations were created. No one single piece of territory was given to the Kurdish people. And the Kurds couldn't move through the borders of these new nations. And even though the 1920 Treaty of Sevres was intended to introduce new states including one for the Kurds, it never saw the light. And after the takeover of Turkey by Kamal Attaturk, the Kurds were not even allowed to speak their language. It was a crime to say the words Kurd or Kurdish. And it wasn't until the 1990s when the Turkish people heard the word Kurds. The highest number of Kurds in any one nation is Turkey. There are about 15 million Kurdish people. Why they are considered a minority if they 15 million people? The Kurds in Turkey were in an open war with the Turkish government for many years and to this day.In Syria, the Kurds are not even recognized in any way. It is like they don't even exist. They live in Syria, but without the simplest form of rights. It was only two months ago that President Bashar Assad declared that Kurds will be given the status of citizens. Why now and not 80 years ago? And in Iran, there was a call for a “holy war” against the Kurdish areas. The Kurds helped the Iranians overthrow the Shah in 1979. But, they weren't given a single seat in the newly formed Majlis. The irony is that the Mullahs threw the Shah out to bring equality among all Iranians. And to this day people ask the Iranians, how can a Muslim country initiate a “holy war” against Muslims (the Kurds).What really surprises me about Iran, Turkey, Syria and Iraq is, every government official in those four countries knows who is the Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. And what is his health status during his capture. But, not one of these four countries ever revealed the number of dead and injured Kurds. We see the United Nations spend billions of dollars to save ten thousand people from an earthquake, disease and flooded cities. But, we never heard of even a speech talking about more than 30 million Kurds. With all the vast area in the Middle East, not one piece of territory was given to the Kurds. The Kurds can make the territory more beautiful and more productive. Just look at Iraq's Kurdistan and you will see how sophisticated and hard working the Kurds is. Why not give them a chance to cultivate, build and modernize their own territory? We saw the United Nations listen to the voice of the Southern Sudanese. And they were given their own country. The United Nations even divided Sudan for the Southern Sudanese. But, we never heard anyone speak about the right of 30 million Kurds to have a place they could call home.Hmmmm......Perhaps it's time for Israel to recognise  Kurdish autonomy?Read the full story here.

• Egypt ‘Virginity test’ victim waits for her verdict.(BikyaMasr).CAIRO: Samira Ibrahim, one of the 13 Egyptian women who was forced to take a “virginity test” in the military prison in Hikestep after attending a protest in Cairo in March, has to wait till December 27 to hear her verdict.“The prolongation of her case can be seen as another step by the military to bear down attempts of women to speak up and fight against the military’s misuse of power, especially with regard to human right violations,” Neveene Edeid, working at the New Woman Foundation (NWF), stated.“A postponement of such an urgent case bears evidence that it is not taken seriously enough. It is a bad sign of trying to manipulate her case,” she continued.“However, on the other hand,” Edeid added, “having time till December gives us the possibility to build up more pressure as at the moment everybody is so enthusiastic about the ongoing election process.“We need human right groups, the youth and women activists for her case but at the moment their thoughts circle around the election.”Ibrahim, who was electrocuted and forced to take a “virginity test” after attending a protest in Cairo in March in Tahrir Square, was the only out of 17 women who filed an official complaint with the military prosecution to pursue criminal action against her alleged abusers, and registered a case with the State Council Administrative Court to appeal the use of ‘virginity tests’ in all military facilities.Her verdict, which was supposed to take place on Tuesday, November 30, was expected to be either a “monumental day for women’s rights in the Middle East, or if history repeats itself, […] a shameful day for women’s rights.”With the postponement of her case to December 27, the latter might come true. “I know the odds are against me” but “I have to speak up about this and fight for justice,” Ibrahim said.Human Rights Watch interviewed Ibrahim and another victim, Salwa al-Hosseini, and reviewed the testimony of two others obtained by doctors at the Nadim Centre for the Rehabilitation of Victims of Torture.All four concurred in their statements that on the morning of March 10, two officers went into the prison cell holding the 17 women and asked them who among them was married and who was not. “Then they told the seven of us that they were going to examine us to see if we were really virgins. They took us out one by one. When it was my turn they took me to a bed in a passageway in front of the cell.”“There were lots of soldiers around and they could see me. I asked if the soldiers could move away and the officer escorting me tasered me. The woman prison guard in plain clothes stood at my head and then a man in military uniform examined me with his hand for several minutes. It was painful. He took his time. It was clear he was doing it on purpose to humiliate me.”“I was beaten, electrocuted, and forced to strip naked in front of male officers,” Ibrahim told Human Rights Watch.The official complaint before the Administrative Court states that Ibrahim “was exposed to the ugliest forms of humiliation, torture and a violation of the sanctity of her body.”In a court hearing on October 25, the State Council lawyer denied this allegation and called for the dismissal of the case based on lack of evidence.At the moment, five human rights organizations are supporting her case, including the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, the Nadim Center for the Rehabilitation of Victims of Violence and Torture, the Hisham Mubarak Law Center, the New Woman Foundation, Nazra for Feminist Studies, and the No to Military Trials Group.A verdict for Ibrahim could be a remarkable victory not only for Ibrahim, but also for all Egyptian women subjected to sexual assault as most of rape and sexual assault cases in Egypt go unreported.This is not at least evident by the fact that while Ibrahim’s battle has received adequate attention in international press, local Egyptian media has given the 25-year-old little to no coverage.“It breaks my heart that international outrage over my case is stronger than that of my fellow Egyptians,” Ibrahim says.Violations against women are therefore hugely underreported in Egypt – one recent report from 2003 found that as many as 98 percent of rape and sexual assault cases are not reported to authorities.Hmmmm........Volume 1, Book 9, Number 490:  Narrated 'Aisha:  The things which annul the prayers were mentioned before me. They said, "Prayer is annulled by a dog, a donkey and a woman (if they pass in front of the praying people)." I said, "You have made us (i.e. women) dogs".  Read the full story here.

• Columnist in Jordanian Daily: Jews and Peace Are Incompatible; 'The Protocols of the Elders of Zion' Is 'Proof That They [Work] To Prevent Peace'.(Memri).In a column in the Jordanian daily Al-Arab Al-Yawm, As'ad Al-'Azouni wrote that Jews and peace are incompatible, because the Jews do not believe in peace and, furthermore, are responsible for all the wars and conflicts in the world. He added that the West supports the Jews only because it is afraid they might return there from Israel and spread corruption and licentiousness, as they did in the past.The following are excerpts from the article:"Israel is a peace rejectionist. That much is obvious. But what people don't know is the reason for this – namely, that Jews and peace are generally incompatible.

"[The Jews] are the epitome of corruption, and this is what caused the Christian West to commit inhuman acts [against them] and to violate international laws. I am referring to the [West's] scheme to expel the Palestinians from their land and hand it over to the Jews as their national homeland..."The Christian West was repulsed by the Jews, their plots, their licentiousness and their [practice of exacting] usury, and decided to get rid of them, not knowing that they would encircle the whole West in a Christian-Zionist noose, bind everyone in shackles of humiliation and control, and pass freedom-limiting laws, such as the law [against] antisemitism."None of the wars and conflicts in the world would have started if it weren't for the Jews, who scheme in the darkness to start fires in [various] countries and instigate conflict among people. What is written in The Protocols of the Elders of Zion is perhaps [the best] proof that they [work to] prevent peace from prevailing between the ruler and his subjects. They form groups that establish ties with both sides and incite each against the other, warning the ruler against his citizens and [at the same time] urging the citizens: 'rise up against your oppressive ruler.'""It Was The Jews Who Invented the Position of Secretary – In Order To Create a Buffer Between Bosses and Their Subordinates.... They Are Behind All [Forms Of] Corruption"Israel "Knows That the West, Terrified Of the Possibility That the Jews Might Come Back, Will Meet Its Demands" Read the full 'story' here.

• "From the U.S. with tears?" Egypt imports 21 tons of tear gas from the US, port staff refuses to sign for it.(BikyaMasr).Cairo: The arrival of 7 and half tons of tear gas to Egypt’s Suez port created conflict after the responsible officials at the port refused to sign and accept it for fear it would be used to crackeddown on Egyptian protesters.Local news sites published documents regarding the shipment that shows that the cargo, which arrived in 479 barrels from the United States and was scheduled to be delivered to the ministry of interior.The reports also mentioned in the documents that a second shipment of 14 tons of tear gas was expected, making the total 21 tons, in one week.The importing of tear gas comes after thousands of tear gas canisters were fired at Egyptian protesters last week as clashes raged in downtown Cairo, just off from the iconic Tahrir Square, where thousands of protesters had gathered.The gas used has angered activists, who say the effects of exposure has yet to wear off, with a number of protesters telling Bikyamasr.com that they have coughing fits, chest pains, blurred vision and their arms often shake. According to the Journal of Royal Medicine, the use of CS Gas – the most common choice of Egypt’s police last week – can have lasting symptoms for over one year.The al-Shorouk newspaper reported that upon the arrival of the shipment, massive disapproval broke out between employees, where five employees refused to sign for the shipment, one after the other.The five, being dubbed by activists as the “brave five”, will be refereed to a investigative committee as to why they refused to perform their duties.The news about the shipment’s arrival stirred the Twittersphere, after it was consumed all day with the country’s first post-revolution elections, and activists mocked the reinforcement of weapons that is being used against them.Many commented, saying that “gas bombs are definably more important than importing wheat to make bread.”Read the full story here.

• Iranian Ayatollah Cheers Murder of Journalist Who Had Death Fatwa On His Head For Criticizing Mohammed.(Azerireport).November 28, 2011: The Iranian Ayatollah Sheikh Mohammed Fazel Lankarani welcomed the murder of the Azerbaijani writer and journalist Rafig Tagi. This sensational news appeared on the sheikh’s website on the morning of November 28.The statement called the murder an execution and just sentence of Rafig Tagi, who he described as an apostate. The ayatollah congratulated the Azerbaijani people with Rafig Tagi’s murder and expressed joy that “the hand of God appeared among the Muslims and sent to hell the wicked man, who had insulted the Prophet.”“Without a doubt, the man, who performed the sentence and pleased the Muslims, will receive a great gift from the Almighty. Let the enemies of Islam know that decent young people will not allow anyone to humiliate Islam’s holy values and realize the intrigues of world imperialism and Zionism, and will punish those who betray their religion for their shameful acts.I congratulate the Muslim world and, above all, the people of Azerbaijan and the memory of Ayatollah Uzma Lankarani — the man, who issued a death fatwa (sentence) on the ungodly,” the statement said.Read the full story here.