Video - Egyptian Cleric 'Alaa Said Slams School Textbook for Teaching Religious Tolerance.

Egyptian Cleric 'Alaa Said Slams School Textbook for Teaching Religious Tolerance.Following are excerpts from an interview with Egyptian cleric ‘Alaa Said, which aired on Al-Rahma TV on October 3, 2012.:

‘Alaa Said holds a school textbook in his hands and points at a page

‘Alaa Said: Take a look at the cover of this book – it says: “No to sectarianism.” See?

Read what it says on page 64 – and this is what they are teaching our children. Read what it says in this inset: “Anyone who converts from his religion is…”

Interviewer: “to be respected.”

‘Alaa Said: Oh what a catastrophe! The hadith of the Prophet Muhammad, in the Al-Bukhari collection, as narrated by Abdallah Ibn Abbas, says: “Anyone who converts from his religion is to be killed.” But the book says: “Anyone who converts from his religion is…”

Interviewer: “to be respected.”

‘Alaa Said: “Anyone who converts from his religion is to be respected.” And this is what they are teaching our children! Oh Muslim girls, “Anyone who converts from his religion is to be respected.” One day you can be Muslim, and that’s fine, another day, you can be Christian, and that’s fine too, yet another day, you can be Jewish, and that’s fine as well, then you can be an atheist, and that’s fine. Anyone who converts from his religion is to be respected and honored.

What about someone who doesn’t convert? Anyone who converts is to be respected… and anyone who doesn’t should be derided? These are the very words that are written here and will be taught to our children: “Anyone who converts from his religion should be respected.” Source: Memri.

Video: Egypt - Unveiled Women Barred from Voting on Constitution.

Video: Egypt - Unveiled Women Barred from Voting on Constitution.(INN).Women without veils complained they were not allowed to vote for the new Egyptian anti-secular constitution. Mass protests on Tuesday.
Egypt's opposition is calling for mass protests on Tuesday over alleged polling violations after Islamists backing Muslim Brotherhood President Mohamed Morsi claimed victory in the first round of a referendum on a new charter.
Thousands of women complained they were not allowed to vote because they were not veiled, and Christian women also said they were turned away.
A low one-third turnout fueled charges of forged ballots, campaigning inside polling stations and judges being replaced by civilians favoring the Muslim Brotherhood.
A group of top judges announced on Monday it would boycott supervision of the second round, and Germany said it has postponed debt relief for Egypt because of concerns over the country's commitment to democracy.
Adding to the complications for Morsi, the prosecutor general named by the president as he temporarily assumed sweeping powers last month handed in his resignation, a judicial source told AFP.
The opposition coalition, the National Salvation Front, urged Egyptians to "take to the streets on Tuesday to defend their freedoms, prevent fraud and reject the draft constitution" ahead of the second round.
It claimed "irregularities and violations" marred the initial stage of the referendum last weekend across half of Egypt that Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood said resulted in a 57 percent "yes" vote, according to its unofficial tally.
On the legal front, the State Council Judges Club, whose members took part in overseeing the first round as required by law, said it would boycott next Saturday's vote because the authorities had failed to live up to their promises.
The association has demanded that a "siege" of the Supreme Constitutional Court by Brotherhood supporters be lifted. But the action has continued without any intervention by the authorities, it said.
In Germany, a spokesman for the overseas development ministry said a plan to forgive up to 240 million euros ($316 million) of Cairo's debt had been delayed indefinitely.
Germany's Development Minister Dirk Niebel said earlier he had serious reservations. "There is the danger that the dictatorial system of ousted president (Hosni) Mubarak is returning," he told the daily Berliner Zeitung.Hmmmm....Obama says the Koran teaches that, "Be it man or woman, each of you is equal to the other."Read the full story here.

"Whoever Fights Us, Fights Islam"

"Whoever Fights Us, Fights Islam".(MiddleEastForum).By Raymond Ibrahim. Gatestone Institute.
 December 14, 2012.

In the ongoing conflict between those Egyptians who strongly oppose a Sharia-based constitution—moderates, secularists, non-Muslim minorities—and those who are strongly pushing for it, Islamists are currently evoking the one argument that has always, from the very beginnings of Islam, empowered Islamists over moderates in the Muslim world.
Examples are many. According to a December 1 report from El Fagr, Gamal Sabr, former campaign coordinator for the anti-freedom Salafi presidential candidate Abu Ismail, made the division clear during an Al Jazeera interview, where he said that "whoever disagrees with him, disagrees with Islam itself," and that many Egyptians "are fighting Islam in the picture of President Muhammad Morsi and in the picture of the Islamists," clearly implying that the latter are one with Islam, and to fight them is to fight Islam.
The logic is simple: Sabr, as well as those millions of Egyptians who want Sharia, only want what Allah wants—that Egypt be governed according to Sharia law. According to this position, any and all Muslims who disagree, who do not want to be governed by Sharia, whatever their arguments and rationale, are ultimately showing that they are at odds with Islam itself.
Sabr is hardly the only Egyptian Muslim making use of this age-old argument. A Dostor report, also appearing on December 1, quotes Tarek Zomar making the same point. A leader of the infamous Gam'a Islamiyya (Islamic Group), who was formerly imprisoned for his role in the assassination of President Anwar Sadat, released with the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak, and is now a member of the Shura Council of Egypt's Parliament, Zomor asserts that whoever votes against the Sharia-based constitution that Morsi is trying to enforce "is an infidel"—an apostate enemy to be slain in the cause of Allah.
Others like Sheikh Abdullah Badr—who earlier said that anyone who opposes or rejects the Sharia will have their tongues cut out—after describing protesters as "mischief makers" said they would be "hung on trees," a distinct allusion to Islamic crucifixion, as proclaimed in Quran 5:33: "The punishment of those who wage war against Allah and His messenger and strive to make mischief in the land is only this: that they should be murdered or crucified or their hands and their feet should be cut off…"
Even Ahmed Morsi, President Muhammad Morsi's son, accused the many demonstrators in Tahrir Square who object to his father's attempts to impose Sharia on them of belonging to the "former regime"—code for secularist-minded people, who are opposed to the totality of Sharia law. Writing on his Facebook account, he asserted that "all the people in Tahrir Square are remnants of the old regime," adding that "my father will eliminate them soon."
Such is the difficulty encountered by moderate Muslims, past and present: how can they justify their rejection of Islamic teachings, as captured in the Quran, hadith—teachings and doings of Muslim prophet Muhammad—and the words of the Islamic scholars throughout the ages, all of which constitute the "Sharia" of Islam, a word that simply means the "way" of Islam?
History offers insightful parallels and patterns. A few decades after Islamic prophet Muhammad died, during the First Fitna—whence the Sunni-Shia split emerged—a group of extremely fanatical Muslims, known as the Kharajites, based on a word that literally means "those who go out" (of the Islamic fold), rejected both Sunni and Shia leadership claims and deemed themselves the "truest" Muslims. Accordingly, they engaged in takfir, that is, randomly accusing any Muslim not upholding the totality of Islam's teachings of being infidels, often killing them.
Today's radicals and Islamists are similar; in fact, that is the primary way more moderate Muslims portray them, as "Takfiris" who themselves sin by judging fellow Muslims, when that is Allah's prerogative alone.
Due to the impossibly high standards the Kharajites set—to sin even once was to be deemed an apostate and executed—mainstream Islam eventually rejected their approach, to the point that merely saying the Islamic profession, or shehada—"there is no god but Allah and Muhammad is the prophet of Allah"—is usually enough to safeguard someone as a Muslim.
Yet it is not that simple today. The Kharajites of the 7^th century were truly extreme—ritually slaying even Muslim women and children for not being Islamic enough—whereas the Islamists of today are merely insisting that Sharia law be enshrined in the constitution and enforced in Egypt. From a historical point of view, this is not an "extreme" position and only seems so to those "globalized" Muslims who espouse enlightened and rationalistic principles.
Hence why these secular, moderate, or liberal Muslims—so long as they define themselves as Muslims—are destined to lose the debate with their more radical brethren, who will always say, "True Muslims support Sharia: if you reject this, then you are no Muslim, you are an apostate, an infidel, and thus an enemy."

Raymond Ibrahim is a Shillman Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center and an Associate Fellow at the Middle East Forum.

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Egypt's National Salvation Front calls for protests against rigged referendum.

Egypt's National Salvation Front calls for protests against rigged referendum.(AO).Egypt's opposition umbrella group, the National Salvation Front, calls for mass protests to take place on Tuesday in objection to the "numerous violations" witnessed in Saturday's referendum on the constitution. In a press conference held Sunday, the Front blames the Supreme Elections Commission (SEC), headed by Zaghloul El-Balshi, for the violations seen throughout the country. Just hours after the polls closed on Saturday, the Front stated that it had detected "unprecedented rigging," including 750 violations across all 10 governorates participating in the first phase of the referendum. Violations include unstamped voting papers (which makes them invalid), the names of deceased persons on voting lists, the absence of observers at polling stations and delays in opening polling stations. They also claimed to have detected at least 120 "fake" judges supervising at polling stations. 
Many voters on Saturday complained of painfully slow queues; some waited for several hours and were still not able to cast their vote. In response, the Front demands that Saturday's results be cancelled and to re-run the first phase of the elections. Furthermore, they specify voters should get two days to vote: this referendum was allotted only one day, whereas traditionally any vote in Egypt is given two consecutive days.
The SEC should ensure the second phase of the referendum on 22 December - where the remaining 17 governorates will vote - is under full judicial supervision, especially in light of Saturday's violations, charges Abdel-Ghaffar Shukr, a member of the Front. The general assembly of the Judges' Club had refused to supervise the referendum on the constitution, uneasy with a decree that Morsi had issued on 22 November that gave himself more powers at the expense of the judiciary, although the decree was revoked. The Front says El-Balshi should hold a press conference to address the violations that have been recorded by human rights organisations. They also request he meet with the Front in preparation for the second phase. Rights organisations on Sunday recorded that overall approximately 7,400 violations were reported, which include 1,500 police reports against the violations.Read the full story here.

Video - Senior Egyptian Judge Ahmad Al-Zind in Favor of Implementing Islamic Punishments.

Senior Egyptian Judge Ahmad Al-Zind in Favor of Implementing Islamic Punishments.Following are excerpts from an interview with Ahmad Al-Zind, chairman of the Egyptian Judges Club, which aired on Dream 2 TV on November 26, 2012:

Ahmad Al-Zind: The judges have a burning desire to instate shari’a laws regarding Islamic hudud punishments and the diya indemnity. The UAE has resolved this issue without problems and in a simple way – the first article of its penal code states that shari’a law will be implemented with regard to the hudud and diya. When shari’a laws are implemented, they leave no room for bargaining. Any country that refrains from implementing these punishments is lacking in many ways. People should not fear the implementation of the hudud punishments, because this could be more lenient to the accused then ta’zir punishment [in which the judge has discretion].

Interviewer: How come?

Ahmad Al-Zind: Let’s consider, for example, the punishment for theft. For you to be able to apply the hudud punishment for theft, the thief must have stolen a certain amount, measured in gold… The value of the stolen goods must reach a certain amount. The crime must have been committed in a locked place. If someone leaves their gold or money in the living room and the maid takes it, she is not subject to the hudud punishment, because the money is considered to have been left unattended. The person who is sentenced to such punishments must have been provided with work and livelihood by society, so that he would not have to steal from others. After all that, if he still steals, his hand is chopped off.
Take, for example, the hudud punishment for fornication. Proving this crime in our time is practically impossible.

Interviewer: You need four witnesses…

Ahmad Al-Zind: Credible ones! Yet people terrify you with talk about the hudud.
There is no backwardness in Islam, and people who claim otherwise are backward themselves. Allah’s mercy towards His servants is evident in the fact that the person administering lashings places a notebook in his armpit, preventing him from inflicting pain by raising his arm too high, lest the notebook should fall. Source: Memri.

Video - Egyptian Child Preacher Muslim Sa'id: Instating Shari'a Law Will Solve All Our Nation's Problems.

Egyptian Child Preacher Muslim Sa'id: Instating Shari'a Law Will Solve All Our Nation's Problems.Following are excerpts from a video featuring child preacher Muslim Sai’d, which was posted on the Internet on November 2, 2012:

Muslim Sa’id: Yusuf said at the end of Sura Yusuf: “Oh my Lord! Thou hast indeed bestowed upon me some power, and taught me the interpretation of dreams and events. Oh Creator of the heavens and the earth, you are my protector in this world and the world to come.”

I’d like to know what you think about instating the shari’a. Instating the shari’a is the solution to all the problems of our Islamic nation. When, Allah willing, the shari’a is instated, it will provide solutions to all the problems.

People say that the shari’a is about lashing, stoning, and chopping off hands. I’d like to tell them that the shari’a is like a very beautiful garden, and the Islamic hudud punishments constitute the walls around this garden, keeping out the thieves.Source: Memri.

The Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and Its True Intentions Towards Israel.

The Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and Its True Intentions Towards Israel.(IMRA).By Dr. Liad Porat.

"America ... Perhaps... should look more closely at the Brotherhood’s true intentions before providing future aid."

BESA Center Perspectives Paper No. 192, December 10, 2012

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: When speaking to the Western world, the Egyptian government led by the Muslim Brotherhood preaches its commitment to the peace treaty with Israel. To its own countrymen, however, the Brotherhood, led by President Mohamed Morsi, has made no secret of its desire to cancel the treaty.
The Brotherhood sees Israel as a strategic threat and has aggressively lobbied Morsi to strengthen Egyptian military presence in Sinai. While a military conflict with Egypt is not likely in the near future, the anti-Israel rhetoric emanating from senior Brotherhood leaders must be taken seriously.
Although the Muslim Brotherhood has not changed its hostile position towards Israel, it has sent mixed messages since rising to power in Egypt. On one hand, the political leaders, such as President Mohamed Morsi, speak of Egypt’s intentions to abide by its international treaties. On the other hand, these leaders emphasize that they will do so only when the treaties serve Egypt’s national interests. They argue that Egypt’s treaty with Israel harms the Egyptian national interest and intend on bringing it to a national referendum, with the ultimate intention of cancelling the treaty. The Brotherhood’s contradictory stance should raise alarms in the West regarding the organization’s true intentions.

President Mohamed Morsi’s Rise to the Top

The Muslim Brotherhood was founded in Egypt in 1928 and is the world’s largest political Islamic organization. Morsi joined the party in the late 1970s when opposition to the peace treaty with Israel was a main topic of discussion within the organization. He quickly became the head of the regional committee dedicated to opposing the “Zionist Project,” and was later appointed chairman of a similar committee on the national level. 
He was elected in 2000 to Parliament as an independent representative of the Brotherhood (since under President Hosni Mubarak the Brotherhood was banned), and remained in that role until 2005, when he was promoted to a position in the Brotherhood’s Guidance Office. In 2011 he was chosen as the head of the official Brotherhood political party, the Justice and Freedom Party. Brotherhood candidates ran under this party in the local and national elections held in the wake of the revolution. In the period immediately after Mubarak’s ouster, the Brotherhood declared that it would not enter a candidate in the race. However, nearly two months before the elections the organization changed course. It claimed that its intervention was designed at combating forces that were allegedly trying to disrupt the election process and the democratic nature of the state. Its initial candidate, longtime leader Khairat El-Shater, was released from jail a short time after Mubarak was deposed; however, allegations of embezzling Brotherhood funds derailed his candidacy. Morsi was selected to replace him, won the election, and became Egypt’s new president in June 2012.

The Brotherhood’s Policy on Sinai and Israel

According to the Brotherhood, Sinai is Egyptian and Islamic territory upon which the country has not yet exercised its full sovereignty. It believes that the region must be “freed” from international agreements and treaties, specifically the peace deal with Israel that declares Sinai a demilitarized zone. Development of Sinai was a major issue on the Brotherhood political platform during the elections, on a much greater scale than the development of other needy areas in Egypt. The Brotherhood demands that the government develop Sinai in all aspects, including building civilian infrastructure, creating industry, and strengthening its internal and military security. The organization recognizes the importance of securing Egypt’s border with Israel and wants to see more troops deployed to the region. In essence, its desire to develop Sinai is only in the context of its conflict with Israel.
The Brotherhood defines Israel as an enemy state and does not officially recognize it. “Palestine” is viewed as holy Islamic land, and Hamas, a Brotherhood-affiliated organization, is seen as the spearhead in the battle to liberate the land and Jerusalem. 
The Brotherhood acknowledges that this battle must be fought gradually and that it must be patient and careful in trying to achieve this goal.
In recent months, Brotherhood Supreme Leader Mohammed Badie referred to Israelis as “rapists” and called on Muslims to liberate Jerusalem through jihad. He defined Palestine and Jerusalem as holy Muslim land and said that any means used to liberate those lands are acceptable. He did permit Jews to live as minority citizens in any other country, as long as they do not have their own state. On November 22, 2012, the day after Morsi brokered a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, Badie again declared that jihad was “obligatory” for all Muslims and said that Israel “knows nothing but the language of force.”

Conclusion

In addition to the Brotherhood’s control of the regime, it has influenced the Egyptian street to think that Israel is no longer a stabilizing factor in the region. The Brotherhood has convinced the Egyptian public that a treaty with Israel harms Egyptian national security and threatens internal Egyptian stability. This thought process goes against the spirit of the peace treaty signed between the two nations.
The Brotherhood recognizes Israel’s military and technological advantage and doesn’t want to start a war. In its move to take over Egypt, the Brotherhood has acted with near-precision and has until recently made almost no mistakes. Regarding foreign policy and security, however, it has no experience. Therefore the possibility of a security threat emanating from Egypt in the near future cannot be dismissed.
America has an interest to financially assist Egypt as an actor that is still considered moderate in the Middle East and is officially registered as a democracy. Perhaps it should look more closely at the Brotherhood’s true intentions before providing future aid.

=====================

Dr. Liad Porat is a lecturer of Middle East history at Haifa University and a research associate at the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies.
BESA Center Perspectives Papers are published through the generosity of the Greg Rosshandler Family.

"ARAB WINTER" - IMF postpones $4.8 billion loan to Egypt, PM calls for ‘social dialogue’.

"ARAB WINTER" - IMF postpones $4.8 billion loan to Egypt, PM calls for ‘social dialogue’.(AA).The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has postponed a $4.8 billion loan to Egypt after linked economic belt-tightening steps were suspended.
Meanwhile, Egypt’s Prime Minister Hesham Qandil defended President Mohammed Mursi’s recent decision not to increase taxes and called for a “social dialogue” on the tax measures.
The IMF deal delay will be a blow to the government as it was seen as vital to reassuring investors and donors about the country’s economic plans.
The IMF board was scheduled to meet to discuss approving the loan on Dec. 19 after a preliminary agreement was reached during a visit by an IMF team to Cairo last month. The IMF had said Egypt must keep policy steady for the loan to go through.
"In light of the unfolding developments on the ground, the Egyptian authorities have asked to postpone their request for a Stand-By Arrangement with the IMF," a Fund spokeswoman told Reuters in a statement.
"The Fund remains in close contact with the authorities, and stands ready to continue supporting Egypt during the ongoing transition and to consult with the authorities on the resumption of discussions regarding the Stand-By Arrangement," the spokeswoman said.
"He said the delay would give officials time to explain an economic reform package after media criticism prompted the government to postpone measures that were part of the program.
In a televised speech on Tuesday, Prime Minister Qandil, who criticized the media’s “erroneous” reporting over Mursi’s tax scrap said a “social dialogue” meeting will take place next week to explain the government’s tax project.
There are two pillars that will decide the upcoming project, according to the minister. These pillars, he said, are “never to affect those with limited income” and “achieve social justice.”
He emphasized that prices of basic goods such as bread, gas, sugar and tea will not see any hikes.
Two days ahead of mass rallies to protest a draft constitution the president had put for vote on Dec. 15, Mursi scrapped measures to raise sales taxes on a wide range of consumer goods such as cigarettes, soft drinks, oil, beer, cement and fertilizer, mobile calls and water.
Mursi’s tax raise decision in a time of political turmoil stunned even the closest of his allies.
Some critics said that the suspicion of the tax hike could lead to the cancellation of the $4.8 billion IMF loan Egypt is waiting for.
They also criticized the government for not consulting with business associations such as the Federation of Chamber of Commerce and Egyptian Tax Association that have expertise about the issue.
The Freedom and Justice party, the political arm of Mursi’s Muslim Brotherhood movement said in its “permanent position” was to reject any economic policies that would increase the burden on low-income groups.Hmmmm..........How's that 2 billion dollar financial package Turkey and Egypt agreed on coming along?Read the full story here.

Anti-Mursi protesters breach presidential palace barricades, Egypt Judges Club rejects to oversee referendum.

Anti-Mursi protesters breach presidential palace barricades, Egypt Judges Club rejects to oversee referendum.(AA).Protesters opposed to Egyptian President Mohammed Mursi on Tuesday breached concrete barricades built outside the presidential palace in Cairo on Tuesday, forcing back the soldiers manning it.

There was no violent confrontation. The protesters pulled apart a high metal gate bar by bar and toppled concrete blocks with chains.
Soldiers, who had erected the barrier on the weekend to block access roads following violent clashes in the area last week, fell back closer to the palace, which is surrounded by a high brick wall. Six tanks were stationed close to the compound.
The protesters were part of a crowd expected to swell to tens of thousands through Tuesday night to denounce a referendum proposed by President Mursi on a draft new constitution written up by his Islamist allies. Earlier, nine people were hurt when gunmen fired at protesters camping in Cairo’s Tahrir Square, according to witnesses and Egyptian media.
Supporters of the Islamist leader, who want the vote to go ahead as planned on Saturday, were also gathering in the capital, setting the stage for further street confrontations in a political crisis that has divided the Arab world’s most populous nation.
Police cars surrounded Tahrir Square in central Cairo, the first time they had appeared in the area since Nov. 23, shortly after a decree by Mursi awarding himself sweeping temporary powers that touched off widespread protests.
The upheaval following the fall of Hosni Mubarak last year is causing concern in the West, in particular the United States, which has given Cairo billions of dollars in military and other aid since Egypt made peace with Israel in 1979.
The Tahrir Square attackers, some masked, also threw petrol bombs which started a small fire, witnesses said.
“The masked men came suddenly and attacked the protesters in Tahrir. The attack was meant to deter us and prevent us from protesting today. We oppose these terror tactics and will stage the biggest protest possible today,” said John Gerges, a Christian Egyptian who described himself as a socialist.
The latest bout of unrest has so far claimed seven lives in clashes between the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood and opponents who are also besieging Mursi’s presidential palace.
The elite Republican Guard which protects the palace has yet to use force to keep protesters away from the graffiti-daubed building, now ringed with tanks, barbed wire and concrete barricades.
The army has told all sides to resolve their differences through dialogue, saying it would not allow Egypt to enter a “dark tunnel”. For the period of the referendum, the army has been granted police powers by Mursi, allowing it to arrest civilians.
The army has portrayed itself as the guarantor of the nation’s security but so far it has shown no appetite for a return to the bruising front-line political role it played after the fall of Mubarak, which severely damaged its standing. Mohamed ElBaradei, a prominent opposition leader and Nobel prize winner, called for dialogue with Mursi and said the referendum should be postponed for a couple of months due to the chaotic situation.
“This revolution was not staged to replace one dictator with another,” he said in an interview with CNN.Hmmmm......Obama sure was a whole lot faster to tell Mubarak to go.Read the full story here.

Raw Video - Pro-Muslim Brotherhood goons w Qaeda flag lay siege to liberal TV station in Egypt & flex muscle.Morsi's version 1935 Brown Shirts?

HT: TarekFatah.

Egypt’s draft constitution a “ticking bomb” for women’s rights.

Egypt’s draft constitution a “ticking bomb” for women’s rights.(BM).CAIRO: Egyptian women’s groups have again lashed out at the draft constitution to go to a referendum on December 15, saying it is a “ticking bomb” that threatens the very nature of equality and women’s rights in the country.
The movements have called the referendum “void” as it “crashes the aspirations of the people and the principles of the revolution”.
The local feminist organization, Baheya Ya Masr, has said that by pushing the constitution forward without widespread national consensus is a threat to women in the country.
The group said they feared that the constitution would pave the way for “political Islam,” which they argued would leave out most basic principles of democracy and transparency.
The group said in a statement published on Tuesday that they have observed through reading the draft that it will leave women on the outside of their basic rights.
The group said that the draft constitution includes some “ticking bombs” for women and children, slamming articles 2, 4, 219 which maintain that Islamic law as the main source of legislation and grants Al-Azhar the power of jurisdiction.
They are not the only women’s group that has spoken out against the constitution.
The Egyptian Association for the Assistance of Juveniles and Human Rights added that Article 70 also does not prohibit child trafficking and sexual exploitation.
The NGO decried the assembly’s failure to specify the age of children in the charter, particularly when Egypt was one of the first signatories of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) which clearly declares anyone below the age of 18 as a minor.
The minimum age for marriage set by the Personal Status Code in 2008 was 18, which is not the case under the new constitution.
According to Amnesty International, Egypt’s draft constitution does not shield minors from early marriage and permits child labor.
Ultra-conservative Salafists – Islamic puritans – have been calling for the marriage age to be reduced, and under the new constitution, it could very well see the gross exploitation of the country’s young girls.
“It is permissible for the girl at the age of 9 or 10 to marry,” Yassir Barhami said in discussing a woman’s sexual reproduction and his interpretation of Islam during a September interview.
The Salafist preacher claimed that under Islam when a girl begins to ovulate she is ready for marriage. He added during a television debate on Dream TV that “marriage of a girl would not be a supplement for education,” but added that it “was better” to marry a girl young “than falling into sin with customary marriage.”
He is a member of the constituent assembly that was tasked with drafting the constitution.
The cleric cited the Qur’an in arguing that any girl who is menstruating should be married and begin having children.
At the same time of advocating the marriage age be dropped to 14-years-old, he argued that the Salafist Constituent Assembly is also pushing for a law that denies “slavery against women” in the new constitution.
Manal al-Taibi, a now resigned member of the Constituent Assembly, said that this call is the promotion of child marriage and is akin to rape.
She has resigned her position on the assembly in protest to the overuse of Sharia law, or Islamic law, permeating the drafting process.
On top of the marriage issue, women’s rights as a whole have been removed, and the clause on equality has been left out.
The Egyptian Center for Women’s Rights (ECWR) said in a statement that the cancellation of a number of women’s rights clauses is “planned aggression against Egyptian women” and demanded that women and their rights are protected in the new constitution.
“In the light of intimidating the Egyptian women and seeking to attack their rights by some dominant mainstream in the constituent assembly of the constitution, the Egyptian society was shocked due to the announcement, on behalf of some members of the committee, on the cancellation of article 68 from what is known as the draft of constitution,” ECWR said in their statement.
Article 68 had guaranteed the rights and equality of women and men in all sectors of society, including political, cultural, economic and social life “and all other fields without prejudice to the provisions of Islamic Shari’a.
“The State provides the services of motherhood and childhood for free. The state ensures the women’s health care, social and economic rights and the right of inheritance and reconcile with her duties towards the family and her work in the society. The state provides protection and special attention of household, divorced, and widowed women and others of women who most in need,” read Article 68.
The rights group urged the constituent assembly to abide by the understanding that men and women are equal under Egyptian law.
“The need to include specific references aiming at establishing the principle of equality between women and men, addressed ‘women and men’, instead of the signals or ambiguous and general words such as ‘personals and citizens or individuals’. The reference of women or men in the preamble reinforces the idea that says women and men are equal in the constitution and both of them have the same rights and duties, and they are treated equally without any discrimination,” ECWR continued.
Women’s rights have become a major focal point in the new constitution, with a number of conservatives on the assembly pushing to revoke many of the gains achieved in the years leading up to the Egyptian uprising, including divorce rights, economic rights and the age of marriage.Hmmmm.......NO American President has approved of these kind of laws.....until now.Read the full story here.

Egypt - Salafist preacher warns of 'Islamic revolution' if opposition attempts coup.

Egypt - Salafist preacher warns of 'Islamic revolution' if opposition attempts coup.(AO).Leading member of the Salafist Call in Alexandria Saeed Abdel-Azim warned on Monday of an "Islamic revolution" if Egypt's political opposition "attempted to overthrow" the country's elected president, Mohamed Morsi. "If secularists try to topple President Morsi or storm the presidential palace, we will not stand still," Abdel-Azim declared at a Monday conference in the coastal city of Alexandria.
"We will organise a massive Islamic revolution in Egypt involving unprecedented numbers." The popular Salafist preacher also accused leaders of Egypt's political opposition of "receiving foreign funds" and of being influenced by the US, which, he alleged, was trying to sow chaos in Egypt for Israel's sake. 
"They are the enemies of Islam," Abdel-Azim said of certain opposition leaders. He went on to voice his displeasure with the cancellation of President Morsi's 22 November decree, which, he said, had served to "protect the president's decisions [from a hostile judiciary] so he might combat widespread corruption." It was not the first time for Abdel-Azim to make such statements. On Saturday, he made a similar statement at a press conference held by Egypt's Islamic Coalition, attended by several Islamist figures including Muslim Brotherhood number-two Khairat El-Shater. At the conference, Abdel-Azim accused opposition leaders – especially reform campaigner Mohamed ElBaradei – of standing against the implementation of Islamic Law in Egypt, which, he said, was "non-negotiable." "The hostility towards Islam is clear, but a constitution that does not represent Islamic Law is unacceptable," he said. Hmmm....."Salafi-jihadi sheikh Abu Mundhir Al-Shinqiti said: "Sheikh Hazem [Abu Isma'il] will never be able to implement Allah's shari'a by means of these elections that perpetuate democracy, and I believe that many of the sheikhs who ruled [that people must] vote for him would agree with us that democracy and Islam are incompatible."Read the full story here.

Video - Egyptian Americans protest, urge White House to stand against Mohammed Morsi.

Video - Egyptian Americans protest, urge White House to stand against Mohammed Morsi. (Examiner).By: Don Baxter. Hundreds of Egyptian Americans protested in front of the White House and marched through the streets of Washington, D.C. Saturday, urging President Obama to stand against newly elected Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi. The protest came as Morsi sought to ease tensions in Egypt by removing part of the decree that awarded him near-absolute control.
After a contentious election process, many in Egypt were suspicious that Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood sought to be the dominant political power. Morsi soon took steps to solidify that political dominance.
Aside from a Dec. 6 call to Morsi, President Obama has largely been silent on the uprising in Egypt. During the call, Obama urged all political leaders in Egypt to denounce violence. He also urged an open dialogue between Morsi and his opposition, but stressed that the dialogue should occur without preconditions.
Protesters in front of the White House urged President Obama to do more.
Historic slogans in Washington DC. Egyptian Americans shouting:

“MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD ARE FASCISTS”…

Revolutionary signs displayed during the courageous Egyptian American demonstration that took place Saturday from in front of the White House to the Egyptian embassy. The chanting and the slogans as well as the signs were historic.
Among them “Muslim Brotherhood are fascists.” And “why do you side with the Islamists, President Obama.” Note that the majority of the participants were moderate Muslim Egyptians and some Copts as well. There were no CAIR operatives to be seen on the scene, and the charge of Islamophobia was destroyed into pieces in front of the Administration’s advisors, Middle East studies academia and Islamist lobbies in the US.
This demonstration showed that the Islamist lobbies are a minority of militants funded by Petrodollars and are now being exposed for their lies. Most Egyptians in the US and in Egypt are against the Muslim Brotherhood, even though the latter can steal elections and would steal the next referendum. Hmmmm.......Obama's actions are reminiscent to his behavior last year in December when Coptic churches were under attack......"The silence of the president".Read the

Opposition dismisses Mursi’s U-turn as inadequate.

Morsi building his "Cairo Wall"

Opposition dismisses Mursi’s U-turn as inadequate.(GN). Cairo: Egypt’s opposition leaders on Sunday said President Mohammad Mursi’s annulment of a controversial decree that expanded his powers, was a manoeuvre and an inadequate concession to defuse a violent crisis in the country. Mursi late Saturday cancelled the November 22 decree, but kept a December 15 referendum on a draft constitution condemned by the opposition as flawed.
“We have broken the barrier of fear. We will bring down the [draft] constitution that aborts our rights and freedoms,” the Nobel laureate Mohammad Al Baradei, wrote in a tweet in his first comment on Mursi’s move. Al Baradei and other opposition leaders had shunned talks held on Saturday between Mursi and several low-profile politicians and public figures. Al Baradei leads the National Salvation Front, which also includes former presidential contenders Amr Mousa and Hamdeen Sabahi. They have repeatedly demanded the draft constitution be suspended and a new assembly be instituted to “reflect diversity of Egyptian society”. In a new constitutional declaration issued by Mursi late Saturday, his decisions are no longer above judicial oversight. If the voters rejected the draft charter, a new election will be held in three months for a new 100-member assembly to write a new constitution. The document will be readied six months after the panel is elected.
The April 6, a movement that played a major role in the uprising against Hosni Mubarak almost two years ago, dismissed Mursi’s latest move as “misleading and procrastinating”. 
“The drama of deception continues in the name law and legitimacy,” said Mahmoud Afifi, the group’s spokesman. Thousands of protesters on Sunday continued camping in Tahrir Square and outside the presidential palace in eastern Cairo against what they see as Mursi’s dictatorial practices. “We reject this prevarication. We will work for the cancellation of the draft constitution and the creation of a new balanced constituent assembly,” said Khalid Ali, a former presidential candidate.
Mursi’s deputy Mahmoud Mekki has said that constitutionally the president does not have the right to delay the date of the constitution referendum set for December 15. However, observers say a key aim of Mursi now is to rush the draft charter through the referendum, making use of the ability of his powerful group, the Muslim Brotherhood, to mobilise the public. “The double aim of Mursi’s new constitutional declaration is to expedite voting on the constitution and secure the judges’ supervision of the referendum,” said Nour Farhat, a legal expert. Under Saturday’s declaration, Mursi’s decisions are no longer immune to judicial review. The referendum would be illegal without judicial supervision, say legal experts. The Islamist president’s U-turn came hours after the army warned that it would not allow the dispute, triggered by Mursi’s measures, to turn into a “confrontation” that the military said would lead to “catastrophic results”.Hmmmm......Meanwhile he's building his "Cairo Wall".Read the full story here.

Egypt TV presenters march on Tahrir to protest Islamist media 'domination'

Egypt TV presenters march on Tahrir to protest Islamist media 'domination'.(AO).Around 200 Egyptian television presenters and producers on Sunday afternoon marched to Tahrir Square from state broadcasting headquarters in Cairo's nearby Maspero district to protest what they perceive as Islamist attempts to "dominate" state media.
Protesters marched around the square chanting "Free presenters say the media will be free" and "Free media is the property of the people." Marchers planned to return to Maspero Sunday evening to continue their demonstration.
Sunday's protest came in response to a sit-in staged since Friday by hundreds of supporters of Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi outside Media City in Cairo's 6 October district to demand the "purge" of Egyptian media from what they describe as elements still loyal to the ousted Mubarak regime.
The Egyptian Radio and Television Union is currently under the custodianship of Information Minister Salah Abdel-Maksoud, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood.
Maspero presenters and producers have staged several protests since last year's Tahrir Square uprising to defend the freedom of public media, which was closely controlled by the state during the Mubarak era.
Head of Egypt's state broadcaster, Essam El-Amir, resigned on Thursday to protest Morsi's controversial 22 November constitutional declaration. El-Amir tendered his resignation following Wednesday's clashes between supporters and opponents of the president, which left six dead and 450 injured, according to health ministry figures.Hmmmm.....“Withholding information is the essence of tyranny. Control of the flow of information is the tool of the dictatorship.” ~ Bruce Coville.Read the full story here.

"The future does not belong to those that slander the Muslim Brotherhood?" - Egyptian-American arrested in US after calling Brotherhood leader a ‘liar and a murderer’.

"The future does not belong to those that slander the Muslim Brotherhood?" - Egyptian-American arrested in US after calling Brotherhood leader a ‘liar and a murderer’.(AO). An Egyptian-American activist has been arrested in New York after interrupting a lecture by Muslim Brotherhood leader Essam El-Erian.
El-Erian, a senior member of the Muslim Brotherhood and vice-chairman of its Freedom and Justice Party, had been invited to talk about Egypt's draft constitution at the El-Nour Islamic School.
In a YouTube video of the incident, El-Magd said she lost her temper when El-Erian started praising the constitution.
“He said the US constitution had been changed many times and we could do that in Egypt,” El-Magd said. “Then he started talking about his beautiful constitution and how it would be a role model for the Middle East and Arab World.”
El-Magd said she interrupted the lecture at this point and called El-Erian a “liar and a murderer.”
Brotherhood supporters then attacked her and her husband, she said, and a man wearing an orange pullover hit her on the head.
A video shot by an audience member shows a hysterical El-Magd being thrown out of the hall.
“Get your ****** hands off me,” El-Magd screamed. “Get your people under control and tell them not to touch me.”
Once outside, El-Magd and other Egyptian activists began chanting against El-Erian and the Brotherhood. She was then approached by a police officer who informed her that she was under arrest.
“What [will you arrest me] for,” asked El-Magd. “I have every right to protest. This is my constitutional right. I am an American citizen.”
After she was put in the police car, a policeman explained that he had asked her repeatedly to leave and she had refused.
She was released after spending four hours in custody.
El-Magd said she had also confronted El-Erian before the lecture began: “When he got out [of the car], I told him, you murderer, you are a murderer of Egyptians, your hands are soaked with blood.”
Egypt’s draft constitution was finalised on 30 November and will be put to a national referendum on 15 December.
El-Erian had travelled to New York to attend a United Nations Summit.
The talk was organised by members of the Egyptian community living in New York.Read the full story here.

Video - Egyptian Judge Waleed Sharabi: "The Presidency Must Be Protected Even If It Means Shedding Blood."

Egyptian Judge Waleed Sharabi: "The Presidency Must Be Protected Even If It Means Shedding Blood." Following are excerpts from an interview with Egyptian judge Waleed Sharabi, which aired on Mehwar TV via the Internet on December 5, 2012.

Waleed Sharabi: If I were the president, I would have to protect the institution of the presidency with all my power – not in order to protect my position, but in order to defend the state, which protects us all.
Interviewer: Using all available means?

Waleed Sharabi: Yes, using all available means, regardless of the cost.

Interviewer: Even if it means beating up demonstrators?

Waleed Sharabi: Even if it means shedding blood. We must defend the dignity of the state.

Interviewer: Your honor, I am not with you on that, because I believe that the blood of the Egyptians is more precious than the institution of the presidency.

Source: Memri.

Egypt F-16 fighter jets fly low over Cairo amid calls for protest......Obama plays Golf.

Egypt F-16 fighter jets fly low over Cairo amid calls for protest.......Obama plays Golf.(AA).Egyptian F-16 fighter jets made low passes over the center of Cairo on Sunday in a rare maneuver by the air force over the capital amid high political tension, AFP news agency reported.
At the end of October, jets made similar passes as part of a surprise military exercise.
On Saturday, the army released a statement on political unrest that has killed seven people in the capital, urging supporters and opponents of Islamist President Mohammed Mursi to open talks to stop Egypt descending “into a dark tunnel with disastrous results”.
“That is something we will not allow,” it said.
The Egyptian opposition considered Sunday whether to maintain mass protests against Mursi after the Islamist leader announced a key concession in the political crisis dividing the country.
A Mursi aide said the president had agreed “from this moment” to give up expanded powers he assumed last month that gave him immunity from judicial oversight.
However, in a meeting with other political figures on Saturday, Mursi said he would still press ahead with a Dec. 15 referendum on a controversial new constitution drafted by a panel dominated by his Islamist allies.
Calls for protests started late on Saturday from opponents and supporters of Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi, shortly after the president’s decision to annul a controversial decree.
“We call on Egyptian youth to hold peaceful demonstrations and sit-ins in all of Egypt’s squares until our demands are met,” the National Salvation Front said, in a statement read to media by one of its leaders, Mohamed Abu al-Ghar.
“The will of the people is turning toward a general strike,” Abu al-Ghar added.
The Front’s statement called on Mursi to disband organized militias, to investigate clashes between rival camps that left seven dead and hundreds injured in Cairo on Wednesday and to denounce violence between protester camps.
It reiterated its two core demands that Mursi annul a Nov. 22 decree putting himself beyond judicial review and that he cancel a Dec. 15 referendum on the new constitution.
The Front said it “maintains its offer for serious and objective dialogue” conditioned on those demands.
The Muslim Brotherhood, on the other hand, said it will organize human chains on Sunday to back up the dialogue’s results in front of its main headquarters in Mokattam, Cairo, according to Al Arabiya.
The protest calls follow Mursi’s decision on Saturday to annul a constitutional declaration he issued last month expanding his powers and that puts his decisions beyond judicial review.
However, the effects of that declaration would stand and a referendum on a draft constitution would still go ahead as planned on Dec.15, said Islamist politician Selim al-Awa.
“The constitutional decree is annulled from this moment,” al-Awa said, as he relayed the substance of a meeting between Mursi and political leaders.
The president was legally bound under the constitution to maintain that date and had no choice, al-Awa explained.Hmmmm....Anyone still believing that Obama cares about the Copts or the Egyptian moderates?Read the full story here.

An unusually warm Washington fall has allowed Obama to golf right up to his Hawaii vacation scheduled for later this month, when he will play constantly.

And we’re keeping score. Since Election Day:

Obama Golf Outings: 4

Meetings with Boehner about the Fiscal Cliff: 1

It’s Obama’s 108th time golfing as president and his 16th time of 2012.HT: WhiteHouseDossier.

Muslim Brotherhood “Machinations”, Or Vox Populi?

Muslim Brotherhood “Machinations”, Or Vox Populi?(AT). Andrew G. Bostom.Vote Compass is an interactive electoral literacy application, originally founded by Clifton van der Linden at the University of Toronto and subsequently applied internationally by political scientists, including within Egypt.

Dutch Political Scientist André Krouwel, working with an academic team of Egyptian political scientists at Vote Compass Egypt, was interviewed for a story published today (12/8/12) in the Vancouver Sun (hat tip Diana West) about data on Egyptian attitudes toward the draft constitution. Despite Egypt’s ongoing political crisis, including violent clashes precipitated by President Morsi’s assertion of executive powers to break the 6-month deadlock which had stalled Egypt’s constitutional draft and referendum process, Krouwel (ostensibly speaking for his Vote Compass Egypt team) acknowledges,

About 70 per cent of the population will vote in favor of the constitution.

This overwhelming support for the draft constitution was registered despite the fact that as my colleague Andrew McCarthy reaffirms today (12/8/12), the charter effectively, “denies freedom of conscience,” and “denies freedom of expression.”

Dating back to within a few days of their publication in April, 2007, I have repeatedly highlighted data from Egypt indicating that 74% of Egyptians favored “strict” application of the Sharia in general. 

As recently as December 2010, Pew polling data revealed that 84% of Egyptian Muslims rejected freedom of conscience in the most ugly terms claiming apostates should be killed (i.e., that percentage would likely be well over 90% if less draconian punishments, such as imprisonment and beating till recantation were queried), 82% favor stoning adulterers to death, and 77% approved of mutilating punishments for theft. 

Moreover, just last week when seven expatriate Copts and Terry Jones were condemned to death for “blasphemy” not a single high profile Egyptian “liberal” or “non-Islamist,” or “authentic moderate reformer” — whatever moniker one wishes to use for such individuals — has forcefully and unequivocally condemned this heinous verdict in the Egyptian public square.

None of this bedrock, totalitarian, liberty-crushing mass Islamic mindset can be blamed on the behind the scenes “machinations of the Muslim Brotherhood (MB)”; it is merely a reflection of Islamic beliefs and mores the MB openly shares with the mass of Egyptians, and has shared since the undercurrent of public longings in the 1920s first lead to the MB’s flowering.

Islamologist James Heyworth-Dunne’s observations, published shortly after his death in 1949, made clear that “…should the ikhwan [Brotherhood] acquire power,” it would impose the orthodox Islamic, Sharia-based restrictions advocated by founder Hasan al-Banna (i.e., such as the compulsory veiling of women; closing “un-Islamic” newspapers and periodicals, and making impossible the purchase of English and French novels; closing bars, restaurants, and cabarets, while forbidding the sale or consumption of alcohol and scourging anyone found consuming alcoholic beverages). However, Heyworth-Dunne added that these restrictions merely represented a “…return to their Islamic customs which, in fact prevailed only 25 years ago.” Thus Heyworth-Dunne (writing prior to 1950) confirms that before 1925 (or earlier, i.e., “25 years ago”) — antedating by at least three years the advent of the MB — their “version” of Sharia and its mores represented in fact a recent, previously longstanding status quo.Hmmmm.........Welcome to A.D. 630?Read the full story here.

Egypt’s ElBaradei says constitution that eliminates rights cannot succeed.

Egypt’s ElBaradei says constitution that eliminates rights cannot succeed.(BM).By Joseph Mayton.CAIRO: Leading opposition figure Mohamed ElBaradei has once again lashed out at the government, this time on a controversial draft constitution that is to go to a public referendum on December 15.
The Nobel Laureate and member of the National Salvation Front (NSF) on Sunday morning that a constitution that removes the rights and freedoms of Egyptians will fall.
“We broke the fear barrier: a constitution that eliminates our rights and freedoms is a constitution we will topple today before tomorrow … our strength is in our determination,” the head of the Constitution Party posted on Twitter.
A referendum on a draft constitution written by an Islamist-dominated assembly will take place on Saturday, despite calls from opposition forces to postpone it.
Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi announced shortly after midnight that the controversial presidential decree that gave him power above judicial review had been revoked.
However, the new decree put in its place will ensure that the constitutional referendum on an equally controversial draft constitution will go forward as scheduled on December 15.
Activists have already stated that this is giving very little. However, others say it is a sign that Morsi is willing to compromise.
But in many ways, the revoking of the decree also means that there will be little time for the country’s top court to rule on the legality of the constituent assembly tasked with drafting the constitution.
A sit-in still remains in front of the top court by Muslim Brotherhood supporters.
It remains to be seen how this will affect the current political impasse currently facing Egypt.
The constitution is now the top issue of contention in Egypt and numerous groups, especially women’s rights organizations have condemned the document, saying it is an attack on women and their rights.
The Egyptian Association for the Assistance of Juveniles and Human Rights added that Article 70 also does not prohibit child trafficking and sexual exploitation.
The NGO decried the assembly’s failure to specify the age of children in the charter, particularly when Egypt was one of the first signatories of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) which clearly declares anyone below the age of 18 as a minor.
The minimum age for marriage set by the Personal Status Code in 2008 was 18, which is not the case under the new constitution.
According to Amnesty International, Egypt’s draft constitution does not shield minors from early marriage and permits child labor.
Ultra-conservative Salafists – Islamic puritans – have been calling for the marriage age to be reduced, and under the new constitution, it could very well see the gross exploitation of the country’s young girls.
That is just one of the many clauses in the constitution, or not in the document, that activists have repeatedly told Bikyamasr.com that they are worried will push the country on a slippery slope toward Islamist rule.Hmmmm........Morsi Obama's newest BFF.Read the full story here.