"Tunisian security busts kidnap ring targeting Jews" (updated)

UPI Arabic quotes Tunisian media sources as reporting yesterday that Tunisian security authorities managed to break up what was described as a 'dangerous terrorist cell that was aimed at kidnapping Jews in the city of Zarzis in the extreme south-east of Tunisia.

The weekly newspaper Al Hassan reported that they learned and confirmed from sources that units of the Tunisian Guard managed to dismantle this terrorist network. Sit said that their aim was to kidnap of Tunisian Jewish nationals living in the city of Zarzis to demand ransom and to force the Jews or Zarzis to leave Tunisia.

The Tunisian mastermind of this plot is works as a security guard for Tunisian Jews in the south of Tunisia, where he recruited some young people to do the job. He acquired a car and weapon to get the plan going before he was caught.

The plot was to kidnap Jews as they take their weekly stroll on a seaside promenade every Friday night.

Members of the Jewish community in Tunisia have been concerned with the growing Salafist influence there who have been known to chant "kill Jews."

I have not yet seen this reported anywhere in English.

(Slight update with promenade details 10/31)

Guns don't kill people. Electric cables shot down by guns at Saudi weddings kill people.

From Reuters:

Celebratory gunfire at a wedding party in eastern Saudi Arabia on Tuesday night brought down an electric cable, killing 23 people, a local civil defense official said.

"At the wedding, the cable fell on a metal door and the 23 people who died were all electrocuted," Eastern Province official Abdullah Khashman said by phone.

A photograph of the aftermath of the accident, published on local newspapers' websites showed a large courtyard strewn with fallen chairs and a pole in the middle supporting cables carrying lightbulbs.


All those killed were from the same tribe, Khashman said. Thirty others were injured in the incident near Abqaiq, a center of the Saudi energy industry.

Saudi Arabia banned the shooting of firearms at weddings, a popular tradition in tribal areas of the conservative Islamic kingdom, last month.

Guns only kill one or two people at a time at Arab weddings, so they are clearly not the problem. Non-bulletproof electric wiring is obviously the real danger to people at weddings.

(h/t Ian, Ronald)

Administrivia and Wednesday links

Power has returned to the Elder Manor, but not phone/internet/cable. As a result, I am surfing and blogging with a very, very slow connection through a cell phone, so blogging will remain lighter than usual - especially since I need to do my regular day job through that same slow connection.

Here's one tree that fell nearby. There seem to be at least one or two trees toppled on every block.



Meanwhile, here are today's links from Ian:

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Israeli strike on Iran would be a relief to the Middle East, Netanyahu tells French paper

Prime minister in France to discuss Iranian nuclear threat, attend memorial ceremony for Toulouse shooting victims
'Iran is not popular in the Arab world, far from it, and some governments in the region, as well as their citizens, have understood that a nuclear-armed Iran would be dangerous for them, not just for Israel,' he said.

The storm that united a nation by Rabbi Shmuley Boteach

We are capable of being positive and unified, even while we contest some of the great political issues of our day. We can be one people while we entertain vastly different opinions. And we can have one heart even when we are of a different mind.
May G-d watch over America always, and may those who have suffered in Hurricane Sandy find solace and a blessing.

Meanwhile: Hurricane Sandy a 'divine slap on the face of U.S. arrogance,' Toronto Islamist website declares
'Heroic' Iran, 'resistive' Syria behind Sandy, pro-Assad group claims

Washington's Failure to Rein in UNRWA

General Assembly resolution 194 of December 11, 1948, offers two options, repatriation and resettlement, to achieve the reintegration of the Palestinian Arab refugees 'into the economic life of the Near East.' Yet, U.S. Department of State documents from 1949 through the early 1950s reveal that despite the lip service paid to repatriation, Washington and its allies effectively equated reintegration with the resettlement of the refugees in the neighboring Arab states.

Ha'aretz Poll roundup:
The Haaretz Poll Travesty, NIF Funding, and the Durban Strategy
Journalistic Sham: Haaretz Acknowledges Misleading 'Apartheid' Survey Report
Haaretz changes tack on major story that alleged widespread 'apartheid' attitudes in Israel

The case for President Obama's reelection By Alan Dershowitz
The Obama administration has strongly supported Israel's security by helping to construct the Iron Dome, by backing Israel's responses to rocket attacks from Gaza and by coordinating closely with its military.

[I think I made my thinking clear! - EoZ]

Lévy: Jews of Diaspora and Israel are under attack
Prominent French-Jewish intellectual says the Jewish people are facing a twin threat of anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism.

UK Jews complain to Church of England over 'anti-Semitic' vicar

"Reverend Stephen Sizer is 'an avid reader and publicizer of websites that are openly and virulently anti-Semitic, and Rev. Sizer has himself descended into making anti-Semitic statements,' according to the complaint, lodged by the Board of Deputies of British Jews, the community's main representative organization."

CIF Watch: Glenn Greenwald admits that 'anti-Semitism plays a role in some hostility toward Israel'.

PMW: PA TV visits family of terrorist prisoner Ibrahim Hamed, responsible for murder of 46

'PLO leader backs Jordan annexation of W. Bank'
New proposal suggests establishment of a Palestinian-Jordanian confederation, Kaddoumi tells 'Al-Quds Al-Arabi.'
A repeat of 1985? The Hussein-Arafat Accord, 11 February 1985

Gaza Rocket Attacks Close Beersheba Schools for a Day

Economist reporter: GAZA economy fastest growing in the world
For example in 2011 the Gazan economy grew by a whopping 27 % , that makes it the fastest growing economy in the world.

Senior Bahrain official to visit Gaza, open new schools
Royal Charity Organization head Mustafa al-Sayed to lead delegation to Strip this week; visit follows Qatari emirate's visit last week

End of the Line for HLF
The United States Supreme Court has decided not to accept appeals from the five Holy Land Foundation officials convicted of illegally funneling more than $12 million to Hamas, essentially concluding the case.

Syria Rebels 'Clash with Army, Palestinian Fighters'
Fierce clashes broke out before dawn Tuesday in a major Palestinian refugee camp south of Syria's capital, pitting rebels against troops backed by pro-regime Palestinian fighters, activists and a watchdog said.

Egyptian court dismisses suit against president to amend peace accord with Israel
Complainants had claimed Egypt's revolution obligates leaders to review all previously signed agreements
Three members of Egypt's revolutionary youth movement filed a lawsuit Monday against President Mohammed Morsi, Prime Minister Hisham Kandil, and foreign minister Muhammad Kamel Amr, demanding the leaders amend the Camp David Peace accords with Israel. But the case was swiftly dismissed in an Egyptian court on Tuesday.

Women's council demands authorities find girl 'kidnapped' in Matrouh
Egypt's National Council for Women calls on Interior Ministry and security forces to locate missing 13-year-old who was allegedly married off; denounces child marriages

Somali comedian shot dead after poking fun at al Shabaab
Gunmen assassinated a well-known comedian and musician who poked fun at al Qaeda-linked Shabaab insurgents in the Somali capital Mogadishu, police and colleagues said Tuesday.

Rome provincial council calls to ban websites promoting Jew-hatred
Move, in cooperation with Jewish community, follows anti-Semitic attacks on neo-Nazi website

'Forward' Cartoon Mocks Zionism Through Anne Frank DNA Experiment

Dutch soccer fans to be punished for anti-Semitic songs
FC Utrecht director says racism will not be tolerated; ADO Den Haag banned eight fans banned in April for 'Hamas, Jews to the gas' chants

A would-be new leader of Israel's Arabs urges full integration with Israel
Bedouin politician Aatef Karinaoui launches a Knesset bid, slamming Arab MKs and calling for an 'Arab Spring' to provide a fresh direction for his community
It is hard to envisage an Arab Knesset member declaring that 'if something were to happen to Israel, this democracy that protects everyone, the whole Middle East would be doomed.'

Israel's Technion, iCreate to jointly incubate start-ups
Having signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU), Israeli university Technion and the International Centre for Entrepreneurship and Technology (iCreate) of India are now set to jointly incubate few start-ups from both the countries.

High-tech diplomacy puts Israel and UK on the same page
The UK is very keen to promote relationships between Israeli start-ups and British entrepreneurs, ignoring the politics that usually frame the relationship between the two countries

Qaradawi hospitalized

Sheikh Yusuf Qaradawi, one of the most prominent Islamic leaders who supports suicide bombings but it considered a "moderate," is in a hospital in Jeddah for undisclosed reasons.

His aide asked that his followers pray for him.

Qaradawi, 86, is the president of the World Federation of Muslim Scholars and his Friday speeches are televised to tens of millions of Muslims. He has called to "cleanse Palestine" from Jews.

One of his most famous fatwas was this one:

Question: I would like to ask about the ruling of Palestinian women carrying out martyr operations. Fulfilling this mission may demand that they travel alone, without a mahram,[5] and they may need to take off their hijab, the matter which may expose part of their 'awrah.[6] Would you please comment on this? I'd prefer Dr. Qaradawi to answer this urgent question, if you please.

Dr. Qaradawi answers: The martyr operation is the greatest of all sorts of jihad in the cause of Allah. A martyr operation is carried out by a person who sacrifices himself, deeming his life [of] less value than striving in the cause of Allah, in the cause of restoring the land and preserving the dignity. To such a valorous attitude applies the following Qur'anic verse: "And of mankind is he who would sell himself, seeking the pleasure of Allah; and Allah hath compassion on (His) bondmen." (Qur'an, 2: 207)

...Martyrdom is a heroic act of choosing to suffer death in the cause of Allah, and that's why it's considered by most Muslim scholars as one of the greatest forms of jihad.

When jihad becomes an individual duty, as when the enemy seizes the Muslim territory, a woman becomes entitled to take part in it alongside men. ...A woman should go out even without the consent of her husband, a son can go too without the permission of his parent, a slave without the approval of his master, and the employee without the leave of his employer....I believe a woman can participate in this form of jihad according to her own means and condition. Also, the organizers of these martyr operations can benefit from some, believing women as they may do, in some cases, what is impossible for men to do.

As for the point that carrying out this operation may involve woman's travel from [one] place to another without a mahram, we say that a woman can travel to perform Hajj [pilgrimage to Mecca] in the company of other trustworthy women and without the presence of any mahram as long as the road is safe and secured.

Concerning the point on hijab, a woman can put on a hat or anything else to cover her hair. Even when necessary, she may take off her hijab in order to carry out the operation, for she is going to die in the cause of Allah and not to show off her beauty or uncover her hair. I don't see any problem in her taking off hijab in this case.

To conclude, I think the committed Muslim women in Palestine have the right to participate and have their own role in jihad and to attain martyrdom.

Hamas sent out women suicide bombers after this fatwa.

So prayers might indeed be in order - to finally rid the world of this evil man.