Free Republic

http://news.yahoo.com/nphotos/slideshow/photo//090104/481/0c6f73d8856d4995b2938583e29d4f5f/http://d.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/ap/20090104/capt.0c6f73d8856d4995b2938583e29d4f5f.indonesia_israel_protest_jak103.jpg?x=400&y=269&q=85&sig=4uegUWFKDQbcB_ccAcKtHA--World reacts to U.S. electionMuslim protesters wearing masks of, from left, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and U.S. President-elect Barack Obama, take part in a rally against Israeli air strikes on Gaza, in Jakarta, Indonesia, Sunday, Jan. 4, 2009

CAIRO: More than 50 men were arrested on Monday, the first day of Eid Al-Adha, in downtown Cairo for alleged acts of sexual harassment targeting women in the street. Fearing a repeat of acts that tend to happen on the first day every Eid, the Interior Ministry ordered a campaign to crack down on any further incidents, which led to the arrests. The 50 were taken in and police reports filed against them for various offences including verbal harassment and catcalling, according to the local press. The men are currently in custody and will soon be referred to the prosecutor’s...

But we are Semites ourselves!" That is what an urbane Egyptian journalist will likely reply to the charge that the Egyptian media is rife with anti-Semitism. But there are few places where Jews are blamed for so many of the world's ills, from carcinogenic pesticides to the war in Iraq. More distressing is that much of the pointing is being done by Egypt's self-described liberals -- the pro-democratic and anti-Islamist crowd on which the country's hopes for a more tolerant future supposedly rest. The most recent episode began on Oct. 2, when the Anti-Defamation League issued a press release reporting...

Poor Lieberman. A few months back, his aides contacted me about testifying in front of him and Congress regarding the Muslim Brotherhood. During our conference call, his aides seemed to have determined that my characterization of the Brotherhood was not very "nuanced" (evinced by the incessant question, "But some of the Brotherhood are ok, right?" to which I would always answer "No.") Anyway and as expected, that settled that, and I was never re-asked to testify. But even though they took all these "safeguards," here Lieberman is: accused by Muslims of being, in essence, an Islamophobe. "Arab Americans want Lieberman...

Arabized media in the west, the CNN case     Bombarding propaganda   Qatar is one of CNN's major financier, you are getting sick of the repeated advertisement of Arab media tools how so hypocritically they show you their "equality" for everyone, covering the awful truth about oppressing all minorities, all those that are not Arab in the middle east who the supremacists Arabs think its' all "theirs".     'Inside the middle east'   For years, the Syrian born Hala Gorani was going up ranks her "inside the middle east" is still going strong. 'Inside the middle east' is basically an...

Colin Powell’s predicted and expected endorsement of Barack Obama was transformed into big news by the pro-Obama media. But Arab propaganda channel Al-Jazeera’s intervention in the U.S. presidential contest is also extremely significant. Al-Jazeera, a mouthpiece for enemies of the United States, aired a Moammar Gadhafi speech praising Obama and followed with a story depicting supporters of Sarah Palin as white racist Christians. The channel is subsidized by the oil-rich Sunni Muslim plutocracy/dictatorship in Qatar. The Al-Jazeera “reporter” who did the hit piece on Palin was Casey Kaufmann, who surfaces in Federal Election Commission (FEC) records as a $500 contributor...

Zogby says, "When push comes to shove this will be a landslide. You have a big middle in this election, and a big middle that is unhappy. That middle is going to tilt this election one way or another." Zogby says Obama's 4 point lead is crucial. Both former Democratic candidates John Kerry and Al Gore sharing the same number in previous elections and both lost. But can Obama keep on pace? Dick Lockwood, an Obama supporter, says "They all said it was Hillary's to lose and she lost it. Now I'm afraid to say it's Obama's to lose but...

Barack Obama Holds Lead Among Arab American Vote Historic Shift Toward Democratic Party Continues WASHINGTON - September 18, 2008 - Democratic candidate Barack Obama holds a substantial 21 point lead over Republican John McCain among Arab American voters. This was one of the findings of a poll of Arab American voters conducted by Zogby International for the Arab American Institute.

US Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama may be struggling to nudge ahead of his Republican rival in polls at home, but people across the world want him in the White House, a BBC poll said. All 22 countries covered in the poll would prefer to see Senator Obama elected US president ahead of Republican John McCain. In 17 of the 22 nations, people expect relations between the US and the rest of the world to improve if Senator Obama wins. More than 22,000 people were questioned by pollster GlobeScan in countries ranging from Australia to India and across Africa, Europe...

Senator Joseph Lieberman claims he is an independent Democrat; I claim he is neither a Democrat nor an independent. He is an Israeli Senator in the US Senate. He has always voted against the interest of Arabs and Muslims; he has always voted in favor of Israel, even when it was occupying, killing and carrying out a Nazi-like terrorist policy. Lieberman is not one of this kind. There are thousands others who have turned the US, a leading nation in human rights and a beacon for democracy and freedom, into the most hated country in the world. Even the Europeans...

Open letter to President Obama Change we can believe in is needed as much at the international level as at the US national level, writes Hassan Nafaa* -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dear Mr President, I am aware that the presidential campaign is not over and that surprises are to be expected, but I have no doubt that, all things being equal, you will be the future president of the United States of America. My reasons for saying so are many, and I do not need to go into them in detail here, as I did just that in an article entitled, "What if?"...

Palestinian brothers inside the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip are listed in government election filings as having donated $29,521.54 to Sen. Barack Obama's campaign. The donations would violate election laws, including prohibitions on receiving donations from foreigners and guidelines against accepting more than $2,300 from one individual during a single election, Bob Biersack, a spokesman for the Federal Election Commission, told WND in response to a query. The contributions also raise numerous questions about the Obama campaign's lax online donation form, which apparently allows for the possibility of foreign contributions. Last week, the Atlas Shrugs blog outlined a series of donations in...

“Is the Obama thing real? Does he really have a chance? Will the American people ever elect a black president?” During my recent travels to several Arab countries, I encountered these questions from all sides. For many, the outcome of the Democratic primaries delivered a clear answer: Yes, Barack Obama actually has a shot at the presidency. Most Arabs anticipate that the upcoming presidential election will have a negligible impact on US policy toward the Middle East. Partisan politics aside, they believe the overall tone of American foreign policy will remain unchanged; no politician can single-handedly revolutionize the political constraints...

There is already a widespread consensus that Barack Obama will say whatever he has to say to get elected. His own pastor, Jeremiah Wright, said that he understood why Obama had to distance himself from him to avoid unfavorable attention. Obama also put on an American flag pin (perhaps for the first time) along with an Israel flag pin to talk to AIPAC, but he would probably wear a Palestinian flag pin if he spoke to the International Solidarity Movement. We also recall Yassir Arafat’s technique of saying in English what he wanted the West to believe while using Arabic...

Eight out of 10 people in the Arab world have a negative view of the US, according to a new poll. By extension, governments supported by the US are unpopular, found the survey, which was released in Washington. A recent BBC World Service survey found views of the US had started to improve by 4% globally, although they remained negative in the Arab world. Only 6% of Arabs believe the US troop surge in Iraq has worked, according to the latest poll. It was carried out by the University of Maryland and Zogby International. A majority of Arabs believe that...

Bilal Hussein, an Iraqi photographer who had a hand in The Associated Press’s 2005 Pulitzer Prize for photography before being jailed without charges by the United States military, finally had a day in court last week. But his story, which highlights the unprecedented role that Iraqis are playing in news coverage of the war, is really just beginning. snip A spokesman for the military said that Mr. Hussein had been detained as “an imperative security threat” and that he has persistently been “treated fairly, humanely and in accordance with all applicable law.” In a lengthy e-mail message, the spokesman said...

There is a menace growing rampant right in our midst — the increasing numbers of overstayers and illegal aliens who have taken to the streets and neighborhoods to pursue the art of beggary without fear of being caught and deported. More visible in Jeddah than in any of the major cities of the Kingdom, these illegals have flagrantly taken their art of panhandling to practically every street corner in full view of the people charged with the task of detaining them. Another army of such people can be spotted rummaging through trash bins in search of anything of value that...

Muslims throughout the world celebrate Eid Al-Fitr today marking the end of the fasting month of Ramadan. Ramadan is not only abstaining from food and drink; it is a time of intense spiritual renewal for those who observe it in a truly Islamic way. The same spirit should inform and illuminate our celebration of Eid too. This means we should spend the day and those following it in enhanced piety and with a sense of fellowship, brotherhood and unity. True, we should make our friends and relatives happy, but without forgetting those who are less fortunate. Eid should be celebrated...

It's clearly necessary to begin thinking about what form deterrence will take against future terrorist attacks on the U.S. At least 5 such attacks have been prevented at the operational stage by Bush administration policies over the last six years. What is needed is more serious consideration of the value of policies that deter such attacks. This is likely to become a more pressing concern, as America's ability to interrupt such attacks, if a Democrat becomes President, will be severely eroded. The Democrats are profoundly indifferent to national security, and have even managed to convince themselves that terrorism is some...

We could see it coming when, upon a recent visit to Palestine, a young Palestinian child asked me if I was with Fatah or with Hamas, the two rival and politically irreconcilable groups in the Palestinian territories. I answered, spontaneously, that I was simply a Palestinian -- to which the young man seemed bewildered. The Palestinian people, we are being told, no longer have Israel's 40-year-old occupation as a common enemy, but a bloody and almost tribal war to decide who should speak for the Palestinians. What we are witnessing is a civil war in Palestine. But it is civil...