Free Republic

Egypt’s former foreign minister, Amr Moussa, denied on Monday that he had said that Hamas must recognize Israel, Al Ahram reported. AFP several weeks ago quoted Moussa as having said that Hamas must recognize the existence of Israel in order to make it possible to move forward with a Palestinian state. …

Not only is The New York Times editorial page known for often being thin on facts, it is known for its cheerleading of the Obama administration—especially the administration’s shortsightedness regarding the Middle East. To prove that point, they recently published their March 4 editorial: Egypt Needs to Act. In the course of attempting to make their argument, the Times not only butchered the facts, they praised the terrible decision by the Obama administration to hand Egypt wads of US money. Go figure. They hailed Obama’s decision to send $250 million of hard-earned, taxpayer money to the Muslim Brotherhood of Egypt...

First the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood said it wouldn’t run a candidate for president and would only contest one-third of the parliamentary seats. Then, it said it wouldn’t run a presidential candidate and would contest 50 percent of the parliamentary seats. Even that is misleading, since it could arrange with other Islamist parties not to compete against each other, thus adding 5-10% more Islamists (a majority). Now the Muslim Brotherhood says it will run a presidential candidate who might even conceivably win the election. Oh, but he will run as an independent. One reason for this change is that earlier on,...

The military junta ruling Egypt has announced that parliamentary elections will be held in September. Rather than spending the next five months complaining, those who aren’t supporting the Muslim Brotherhood better get started actually working and organizing. I’ll analyze this a lot more in the coming months but briefly the blocs are as follows: Islamists: The Muslim Brotherhood says it is aiming at getting 30 percent of the seats. I think they’ll succeed. A smaller, moderate Islamist party — whose members split from the Brotherhood because they say it is too extremist — would be lucky to get any seats....

SNIPPET: "Majlis National Security Committee chairman Alaeddin Boroujerdi said that the head of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the Egyptian parliament, Muhammad Al-Fiqi, has authorized the members of the Iranian flotilla, which is to arrive via the Suez Canal, to enter Gaza through the Rafah border crossing. Boroujerdi clarified that this flotilla, which includes Majlis members, is distinct from the one being organized by the Iranian Red Crescent."

Predictably, as tiny, democratic Israel fights again for its life against Islamic terrorists on all sides, the Europeans and the American mainstream press blame the victims. Was Israel threatening Gaza? No; at great cost, it left to the Palestinians a workable territory with many functioning farms and businesses that have now been destroyed by fanatics who want nothing to do with a peaceful and productive life. Was Israel threatening Lebanon? No; not unless you count just being there and occupying the territory mandated by the UN in 1947 as composing a threat. There are two obvious reasons for the upside-down...

The next feud between America's freedom and democracy hawks and old United Nations diplomats will likely develop this week with the release of a much-anticipated report. Ordered by Secretary-General Annan, it was prepared by a panel of 16 former world movers and shakers now in their 70s, who will undoubtedly be hailed at Turtle Bay as wise men, and derided elsewhere as has-beens. Men who held previous posts like Russian foreign minister and Saddam champion Yevgeny Primakov, British U.N. envoy David Hannay, or current Arab League chief Amr Moussa, are not going to excite anyone looking for fresh insights into...

The controversy over the publication of cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed is expanding, as more Muslims join the boycott and protests against Denmark and various European newspapers decide to publish the cartoons, mostly out of solidarity with Jyllands Posten and to make a strong political stand. One issue that puzzles many Danes is the timing of this outburst. The cartoons were published in September: Why have the protests erupted from Muslims worldwide only now? The person who knows the answer to this question is Ahmed Abdel Rahman Abu Laban, a man that the Washington Post has recently profiled as “one...

Hand it to Secretary of State Rice. She knows how to make lemonade out of lemons. When asked on CNN this week her reaction to a communique signed by Iraqi leaders on Monday that recognized a "legitimate right to resistance," she said, "I think what they were trying to do was to get a sense of political inclusion while recognizing that violence and terrorism should not be a part of resistance." 'snip' The State Department, according to Iraqi officials I've spoken with, put tremendous pressure on elected leaders to attend this parley in Cairo. And the see-no-evil reaction to the...

Filed at 3:52 p.m. ET CAIRO, Egypt (AP) -- Arab foreign ministers denounced the Bush administration's handling of the Middle East conflict Saturday, saying U.S. bias was allowing Israel to flout international resolutions, terrorize Palestinians and destabilize the region. They reached no decision on a proposal to cut off oil sales to Israel's allies, but Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa said they didn't rule it out. The emergency meeting of the Arab League was held in Cairo in response to a siege of Palestinian cities, launched by Israel more than a week ago after a wave of Palestinian suicide bombing...