Bloodthirsty Liberal

Poor, poor Tom Friedman. Try as he might, we’re still not more like China, as he’s always wished (though give Obama credit for trying). His public shilling for the Saudi Mideast, ahem, “peace” plan somehow fell short of producing the desired result (the annihilation of Israel for the Saudis; we’ll be charitable and allow that Friedman, idiot that he is, hoped for peace).

And now this (NY Times piece if you’re counting):

After the onset of the Arab awakenings, it was reasonable to be, at worst, agnostic and, at best, hopeful about the prospect of these countries making the difficult transition from autocracy to democracy. But recently, looking honestly at the region, one has to conclude that the prospects for stable transitions to democracy anytime soon are dimming. It is too early to give up hope, but it is not too early to start worrying.

Lord knows it is not because of the bravery of the Arab youth, and many ordinary citizens, who set off these awakenings, in search of dignity, justice and freedom. No, it is because the staying power and mendacity of the entrenched old guards and old ideas in these countries is much deeper than most people realize and the frailty or absence of democratic institutions, traditions and examples much greater.

First of all, Egypt got exactly what it wanted: Islamist rule. Certainly, the military still has too big a say, but didn’t I just see a headline that the religious parties wound up taking 80% of the seats?

But this is nothing like what Friedman once envisioned last May:

May I suggest a Tahrir Square alternative? Announce that every Friday from today forward will be “Peace Day,” and have thousands of West Bank Palestinians march nonviolently to Jerusalem, carrying two things–an olive branch in one hand and a sign in Hebrew and Arabic in the other. The sign should say: “Two states for two peoples. We, the Palestinian people, offer the Jewish people a two-state solution based on the 1967 borders–with mutually agreed adjustments–including Jerusalem, where the Arabs will control their neighborhoods and the Jews theirs.”

If Palestinians peacefully march to Jerusalem by the thousands every Friday with a clear peace message, it would become a global news event. Every network in the world would be there. Trust me, it would stimulate a real peace debate within Israel–especially if Palestinians invited youth delegations from around the Arab world to join the marches, carrying the Saudi peace initiative in Hebrew and Arabic. Israeli Jews and Arabs should be invited to march as well. Together, the marchers could draw up their own peace maps and upload them onto YouTube as a way of telling their leaders what Egyptian youth said to President Hosni Mubarak: “We’re not going to let you waste another day of our lives with your tired mantras and maneuvering.”

I told you he was a shill!

He also said this:

“[Arabs] know their own human potential and it was not being in any way developed,” Friedman said. “If I got to write the ‘bill of particulars’ for all these Arab regimes, they would be guilty of the worst crime I can think of: the soft bigotry of low expectations about their own people.”

The revolution in Egypt carried particular significance, given its size and stature in the Arab world. Friedman spoke about his experiences covering the downfall of its former president, Hosni Mubarak, and the challenges still facing the country. He characterized the current transition of moving from “Middle East wholesale” to “Middle East retail.”

Whatever the [bleep] that is supposed to mean.

Friedman is the preeminent bull[bleep] artist in journalism today. That’s saying something, needless to say, as he’s got stiff competition on the Times op-ed page on his off days. But I’d say Krugman is merely a pretender, and who reads Maureen Dowd anymore?

I offer a $5 reward to the first person who can provide proof that this jerk ever once knew what he was talking about. So sure am I of my position, I’m already lighting a victory cigar with a five-dollar bill.

Ladies?

Ladies…?

For all of the much-ballyhooed “change” in Egypt the country’s “revolutionaries” have wrought over the past year, little is different for women in Cairo’s Tahrir Square.

At least two articles published Thursday morning in Arab media described vicious, sexual attacks on women during celebrations of the protests that one year ago toppled the 31-year regime of former President Hosni Mubarak.

…

She came forward to report the attack after subsequently seeing an eyewitness report on Twitter social networking website about another foreign woman who was “stripped, groped and assaulted” by another mob of men in the square.

…

Last month, some 10,000 women marched Tuesday from Cairo’s Tahrir Square to the nearby Press Syndicate building chanting “Egyptian women are the red line,” according to local media reporting on military brutality against female protesters. The protest was provoked by an image published in media around the world of soldiers violently stripping a Muslim woman during protests two days earlier. They dragged her through the street, her robes yanked up and her blue bra bared for all the world to see. The image was flashed around the world and posted on social media pages, including Twitter and Facebook.

…

“People need to know what goes on,” Heather said — even though she was warned not to talk about it because it would “hurt the image of the Revolution.”

No chance of that!

US President Barack Obama plans to accelerate the pace of American aid to Egypt, a top State Department official said on Wednesday, as the most populous Arab nation reaches a critical stage in its uncertain transition away from autocratic rule.

Undersecretary of State Robert Hormats, part of a US delegation that held unprecedented talks last week with Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood, said Washington wanted to provide “more immediate benefits” to Egyptians, who earlier this month conducted their first democratic elections in decades.

“During this period, we want to be as supportive as we can. This is an historic moment. Egypt’s a country of enormous importance,” Hormats said.

Toga! Toga! Toga!

Fear not, friends of human liberty. There is good news out of Araby: the death toll in Syria has stopped rising.

The United Nations has stopped compiling a death toll in Syria’s crackdown on protests because it is too difficult to get information, UN human rights chief Navi Pillay said on Wednesday.

AFP reported that after meeting ambassadors from the UN Security Council, Pillay said the death toll in Syria had risen but added, “We are experiencing difficulties because of the fragmentation on the ground.

Pillay, who in December said the death toll in the Syria crackdown stood at 5,000, noted, “Some areas are totally closed such as parts of Homs, so we are unable to update that figure but in my view 5,000 and more is a huge figure and should really shock the international community into taking action.”

With all due respect, Mme Pillay, the fragmentation on the ground was the protesters, or what was left of them.

Great news, all, huh?

That must be one of the funniest things I’ve read in a long time—even if it wasn’t intentionally funny:

Following are excerpts from a sermon delivered by Kuwaiti preacher Sheik Nayef Hajjaj Al-Ajami, which aired on Kuwait TV on November 25, 2011:

Read the Koran, where Allah says: “Never will the Jews or the Christians be satisfied with you until you follow their creed,” so that you may know what the Jews conceal within their hearts.

Read what Allah says: “Strongest among men in enmity to the believers you will find the Jews and the polytheists…”

Brothers and sisters, you should read history books, so you my know the history of this people, and so you may know that the Jews of the past were evil, and the Jews of today are even worse.

They are ungrateful, they distort the word [of Allah], the worshippers of the golden calf, the slayers of the prophets, the enemies of the divine prophecies, the scum of mankind, who incurred the curse and wrath of Allah, and whom Allah transformed into apes and pigs and into taghut worshippers.

That’s a Kuwaiti preacher. Any response, Egypt?

Following are excerpts from an address delivered by Egyptian child preacher Assem Al-Askari, which aired on Al-Rahma TV on November 25, 2011:

We’d like to convey a message to the next president or ruler: Be warned, and look around you. Haven’t you seen that among the kings and presidents, one was executed by the occupation, another was kidnapped by his own people, yet another fled, leaving his people behind, and another was imprisoned by his people’s decree?

Know that the day will come when you will face Allah, and you will be asked about every deed, great or small.

[…]

[We must] thwart the civil strife, which the Jews and the Americans are constantly plotting against a fine and fearless people.

But if you think the Arabs hate Jews (and I fear they do), you should hear how they talk to each other:

Following are excerpts from a debate on the Jordanian JoSat TV channel on the crisis in Syria, including Muhammad As’ad Bayoudh Al-Tamimi, a Palestinian-Jordanian politician of the Umma movement, and Mahmoud Al-Bastanjani, a member of the Jordanian Ba’th Party. The debate aired on November 29, 2011 and was posted on the Internet.

Interviewer: Brother Najib, thank you for your call. You’ve made your point clear.

Muhammad As’ad Bayoudh Al-Tamimi: People have lost their mind…

Interviewer: I will let you respond… Brother Mahmoud, go ahead.

Mahmoud Al-Bastanjani: First of all, let me apologize to my viewers for stooping so low as to accept the invitation to this show, the level of which…

Interviewer: C’mon, that’s enough…

…

Muhammad As’ad Bayoudh Al-Tamimi: Man, you are such scum… Listening to such scum makes me nauseated… He is the kind of scum that has destroyed this nation. You belong in a garbage bin, man. You are a piece of scum, man.

Interviewer: I beg you, brother Muhammad…

Muhammad As’ad Bayoudh Al-Tamimi: You are such a lowlife scum. You idiot!

Interviewer: Brother Muhammad, this is unacceptable…

Muhammad As’ad Bayoudh Al-Tamimi: You are a collaborator with the regimes, a collaborator with the sectarianists… He is defending the people who are slaughtering children…

Mahmoud Al-Bastanjani: It is beneath me to sit next to someone like you…

Muhammad As’ad Bayoudh Al-Tamimi: Man, you are a piece of scum…

…

Mahmoud Al-Bastanjani: He was born a lowlife, raised as a lowlife, lived as a lowlife, and will die as a lowlife. His birth was despicable, his upbringing was despicable, his life is despicable, and his death will be despicable.

Interviewer: Just one minute… By God…

Muhammad As’ad Bayoudh Al-Tamimi: This is a spy…

Interviewer: Never mind, never mind. Just one moment…

Muhammad As’ad Bayoudh Al-Tamimi: Man, you are a lowlife piece of scum… You are a worn-out shoe…

Mahmoud Al-Bastanjani: A worn-out shoe?! I’ll show you a worn-out shoe!

The two get up and start fighting, and the TV crew enter to break them up

Q: Please rate from best to worst.

Ape
Pig
Scum
Shoe (well-worn)

- Aggie

Or has it?

You’re just too good to be true,
Can’t take my eyes off of you.
It’s hard to sign a truce pact
With this knife in my back

Efforts to achieve reconciliation between Fatah and Hamas have stumbled over the formation of a Palestinian unity government and the reconstruction of the Palestinian Authority security forces, representatives of the two rival parties said over the weekend.

Hamas, meanwhile, denied a report that claimed that it has agreed to abandon the “armed struggle” against Israel in favor of a peaceful and popular “resistance” against settlers and IDF soldiers.

Hamas did not make any pledge to suspend the armed struggle against Israel, said Hamas legislator Salah Bardaweel. “These reports [in the Arab media] are untrue,” he said.

…

[O]ver the weekend it transpired that differences between the two parties remained almost the same as they were before the summit.

In addition to the ongoing dispute over the make-up of the proposed unity government, Fatah and Hamas have failed to solve their differences over the reconstruction of the security forces and the release of detainees in the West Bank and Gaza Strip being held by both sides.

But I thought this time was going to be different!

If the Republicans held debates like this, I might watch:

Following is an excerpt from a debate on Syria between two Lebanese politicians, which aired on Murr TV on November 14, 2011.

…

Mustafa Allouch: I heard it, but I don’t believe him.

Fayez Shakr: Who?

Mustafa Allouch: Bashar Al-Assad.

Fayez Shakr: You don’t believe him?

Mustafa Allouch: No, I don’t.

Fayez Shakr: Who are you to not believe President Al-Assad?

Mustafa Allouch: Speak with respect. Keep your calm.

Fayez Shakr: I’m calm, but it’s a disgrace that you don’t believe him.

Mustafa Allouch: Shame on you for calling it a disgrace. Shame on you…

Fayez Shakr: No, shame on you for not believing him…

Mustafa Allouch: I don’t believe him because he is a liar.

Fayez Shakr: You are a liar, and your boss is a liar too.

Mustafa Allouch: Speak with respect. Look, son…

Fayez Shakr: Don’t call me “son”…

TV host: Dr. Fayez… Dr. Mustafa…

Mustafa Allouch: I won’t let someone who works for the secret service talk to me that way.

Fayez Shakr: I work for the secret service?! My shoe commands more respect than you.

Fayez Shakr throws a glass of water at Mustafa Allouch, which lands on the TV host Mustafa Allouch jumps up and grabs a chair, about to throw it at Fayez Shakr

TV host: No, no… Guys, guys…

TV host restrains Mustafa Allouch, and Fayez Shakr makes his way towards them

Fayez Shakr: Your sister…

TV host: Guys, guys…

TV crew members come on the set to help separate the two politicians

Cut to commercial break

I could see Ron Paul losing it like this, and I’ve more than once thought of Michele Bachmann drenched with a glass of water, but otherwise our debates are pretty dull affairs.

I realize this hate crime doesn’t rise to the level of glancing furtively at a swarthy young man at an airport boarding gate, but I think it warrants a mention:

Alaa Alsaegh says that two cars followed him as he drove on Compton [in St. Louis, MO]. The drivers cut him off and Alsaegh says he pulled over. That’s when two men got out of a car, armed with a handgun. They got into Alsaegh’s car and attacked him with a knife.

Alsaegh showed us a photo that his friend took at the hospital. More than a month later, Alsaegh still has scars. News 4′s camera captured the outline of the Star of David, visible on Alsaegh’s back.

Alsaegh is a Muslim from Iraq. He says he recently posted a poem, online, expressing support for Jewish people in Israel. Alsaegh says that his attackers told him not to publish any more poems.

St Louis Police confirm that officers responded to a call for help around 10:45 a.m. on August 14th. The department referred News 4 to the local FBI office. Spokeswoman Rebecca Wu responded via email saying, “The FBI cannot comment”.

He posted a video of his poem on the Arabs for Israel website, which claims to be the voice of “Arabs and Muslims who Support the State of Israel and the Cause of Peace in the Middle East”. That’s nice, but there have been only five posts there in the last two years.

I suppose we’re lucky there were that many.

Who better than Bernard Lewis to slap us across the face and tell us that our Western sensibilities are nonsensical to those who don’t share them?

Bernard Lewis, the renowned Islamic scholar, believes that at the root of the protests sweeping across our region is the Arab peoples’ widespread sense of injustice. “The sort of authoritarian, even dictatorial regimes, that rule most of the countries in the modern Islamic Middle East, are a modern creation,” he notes. “The pre-modern regimes were much more open, much more tolerant.”

But Lewis regards a dash toward Western-style elections, far from representing a solution to the region’s difficulties, as constituting “a dangerous aggravation” of the problem, and fears that radical Islamic movements would be best placed to exploit so misguided a move. A much better course, he says, would be to encourage the gradual development of local, self-governing institutions, in accordance with the Islamic tradition of “consultation.

Saddam Hussein “won” his “elections”, with 99% of the “vote”. Who are we to call them fraudulent?

The Arab masses certainly want change. And they want improvement. But when you say do they want democracy, that’s a more difficult question to answer. What does “democracy” mean? It’s a word that’s used with very different meanings, even in different parts of the Western world. And it’s a political concept that has no history, no record whatever in the Arab, Islamic world.

In the West, we tend to get excessively concerned with elections, regarding the holding of elections as the purest expression of democracy, as the climax of the process of democratization. Well, the second may be true – the climax of the process. But the process can be a long and difficult one. Consider, for example, that democracy was fairly new in Germany in the inter-war period and Hitler came to power in a free and fair election.

We, in the Western world particularly, tend to think of democracy in our own terms – that’s natural and normal – to mean periodic elections in our style. But I think it’s a great mistake to try and think of the Middle East in those terms and that can only lead to disastrous results, as you’ve already seen in various places. They are simply not ready for free and fair elections.

What he suggests instead is a little foreign to us, but more familiar to them:

In genuinely fair and free elections, [the Muslim parties] are very likely to win and I think that would be a disaster. A much better course would be a gradual development of democracy, not through general elections, but rather through local self-governing institutions. For that, there is a real tradition in the region.

If you look at the history of the Middle East in the Islamic period, and if you look at their own political literature, it is totally against authoritarian or absolutist rule. The word they always insist on is consultation. This is not just a matter of theory. There’s a remarkable passage, for example, in the report of a French ambassador to the sultan of Turkey a few years before the French Revolution.

The French ambassador was instructed by his government to press the Turkish government in certain negotiations and was making very slow progress. Paris said angrily, “Why don’t you do something?”

The ambassador replied that “you must understand that here things are not as they are in France, where the king is sole master and does as he pleases. Here, the sultan has to consult with the holders of high office. He has to consult with the retired former holders of high office. He has to consult with the merchants, the craft guilds and all sorts of other groups.”

This is absolutely true. It’s an extraordinarily revealing and informative passage and the point comes up again and again through the 19th and 20th centuries.

You have this traditional system of consultation with groups which are not democratic as we use that word in the Western world, but which have a source of authority other than the state – authority which derives from within the group, whether it be the landed gentry or the civil service, or the scribes or whatever. That’s very important. And that form of consultation could be a much better basis for the development of free and civilized government.

And as for the Muslim Brotherhood and the future of the Arab World:

To say that they’re secular would show an astonishing ignorance of the English lexicon. I don’t think [the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt] is in any sense benign. I think it is a very dangerous, radical Islamic movement. If they obtain power, the consequences would be disastrous for Egypt.

I’m an historian. My business is the past, not the future. But I can imagine a situation in which the Muslim Brotherhood and other organizations of the same kind obtain control of much of the Arab world. It’s not impossible. I wouldn’t say it’s likely, but it’s not unlikely.

And if that happens, they would gradually sink back into medieval squalor. Remember that according to their own statistics, the total exports of the entire Arab world other than fossil fuels amount to less than those of Finland, one small European country. Sooner or later the oil age will come to an end. Oil will be either exhausted or superseded as a source of energy and then they have virtually nothing.

There’s a whole heckuva lot more. We like to think in binary terms, but it’s not a binary world.

Right up there with other oxymorons like Military Intelligence and Jumbo Shrimp:

Egypt has declared a state of emergency on its border with Gaza, the Ma’an news agency reported on Saturday.

According to the report, which cited Egyptian defense officials, Cairo learned of a Palestinian plan to break out of the blockaded Strip. Four days earlier, four Palestinians were killed and six were wounded inside a smuggling tunnel under that same Sinai-Gaza border.

Hamas accused Egypt of using poisonous chemicals to gas the smugglers.

Egypt denied the allegation, saying it routinely blows up the mouths to the tunnels to seal them off, and that the blast and an ensuing fire could quickly use up all the oxygen in the confined space, suffocating people inside.

…

Palestinian officials in Gazan Rafah said Egypt has stepped up a crackdown on smuggling in recent months, blowing up numerous tunnel entrances on its side of the border, setting up checkpoints in the area and confiscating contraband. Since December, Egypt has also been building an underground steel wall to block the tunnels.

I’m glad to see Egypt’s name cleared of this despicable charge, and herewith offer my apology for passing it along earlier. Egypt did not gas the Palestinians. They merely suffocated them. Which is not the same thing.

Just one question: you’ve probably not heard this story anywhere but here—but what if Israel had dynamited the tunnel and caused the death of Palestinian smugglers?

It is the prerogative of any sovereign state to defend its borders as it sees fit, so I would defend Israel as I here defend Egypt. (I would just note that Israel would also follow a moral prerogative, and see that the tunnels were clear first—as they have repeatedly.)

PS: In other Egyptian border news:

An Egyptian security official said border guards fatally shot two African migrants and arrested 11 others trying to cross illegally into Israel.

The official said the guards fired warning shots in two separate incidents Sunday to stop them from crossing the border south of Rafah. One of killed migrants was Eritrean and the other was unidentified.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media, said the 11 migrants – six Eritreans, four Ethiopians and a South African – were in two groups and detained further south.

Only two deaths out of 13 aliens: Egypt’s humanitarian record is improving!

It’s a pity reader Chris has crawled back under that rock, because he would have been filled with righteous indignation over this story:

[Israeli] authorities will set a new mechanism for shipping international aid to the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, following anger over recent aid convoys for Gaza, [Israeli] Foreign Minister Ahmad Abu Al-Gheit told [Israeli] news sources Friday.

The new mechanism requires all aid for delivery to the Gaza Strip to be handed over to the [Israeli] Red Crescent at the Al-Arish terminal. The aid will be processed by the Red Crescent and handed over to the Palestinian Red Crescent in Gaza following an inventory, Abu Al-Gheit explained in the [Israeli] paper Ash-Sharq Al-Awsat.

The decision came after riots broke out at the Rafah border when a convoy of international activists staged a demonstration calling on [Israeli] officials to open the Gaza border and allow 500 Gaza supporters and 220 vans of aid into the besieged Strip. The demonstration, joined by Hamas supporters on the Gaza side of the border, broke out into violence and lead to the shooting death of an [Israeli] soldier.

[Israeli] security forces in Cairo struggled earlier in the week with a second delegation of internationals who arrived in Cairo hoping to carry out a Freedom March in Gaza on New Years Eve. The more than 1,300 supporters were denied entry into Gaza, and a series of protests organized in [Israel] were quashed. [Israeli] law prohibits public gatherings of more than six people.

Oh, dang it, what happened to my spell-checker? For every Israel and Israeli, read EGYPT and EGYPTIAN.

EGYPT is restricting aid to the Palestinians, EGYPT is building a wall, EGYPT is demolishing and gassing tunnels—and EGYPT restricts freedom of assembly.

Human rights organizations and the United Nations could not be reached for comment. (Neither could Chris.)

PS: Tiresome, I know, but let me reiterate:

Since the end of the IDF operation in Gaza (18 Jan 2009), 703,224 tons of aid and 105,600,128 liters of fuel have been delivered to the Gaza Strip.

At the Cabinet meeting of 22 March 2009, the Government of Israel instructed the bodies dealing with the matter, to enable the entry – without restriction – of foodstuffs to the residents of Gaza from all relevant sources, after it has been verified that they are indeed foodstuffs, and this in the framework of the humanitarian efforts. The Government directed that the foregoing be scrupulously implemented.

Note: Gas for domestic use (cooking and heating) is supplied according to Palestinian demand and is not subject to any limitation by Israel. However, the fuel depot at Nahal Oz has been forced to limit its operations due to constant security threats. Work is being done to adapt Kerem Shalom crossing to the transfer of fuel. In addition, a new gas line is being built that will double the capacity to transfer gas for domestic use.

Compare with above.

We get criticized here occasionally for not showing enough sympathy to the plight of the Palestinian people (I know, right?).

Let the word go forth, from this time and place, to friend and foe alike—we do not think Palestinians should be slapped across the face.

By other Palestinians:

The Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) condemns measures taken by the security services in Gaza against activists of Fatah Movement in the Gaza Strip to prevent them from commemorating the 45th anniversary of the establishment on the movement on the 1st of January. Security services in Gaza arrested dozens of activists of Fatah movement during the last week of December 2009. A number of detainees were violently beaten and were subjected to inhuman and degrading treatment.

…

They confiscated kefiyehs (mufflers) and mobile phones from a number of students. Dr. Riad al-’Eila, Dean of Students’ Affairs, and Dr. Jaber al-Da’our, Deputy President of the University, intervened to in an attempt to persuade security officers to such attacks, but the security officers moved towards the campus of female students to storm it. When Dr. al-’Eila intervened again, a security officer insulted and slapped him on the face.

…

“On 31 December 2009, the police arrived at my home and arrested me accusing me of possession of flags of Fatah Movement. They took me to a police station in al-Shati refugee camp. When I arrived there, they covered my head, and a police officer hit me on my head. When I resisted him, many police officers kicked me and violently beat me using sticks and gun butts until I fainted. I woke up when they sprinkled cold water over my body. They then took me to an interrogation room, where they ordered me to take off my upper clothes. They questioned me about the possession of flags of Fatah Movement. They violently beat me on the feet and thighs. The interrogation and beating lasted for an hour, after which they tied me and beat me again. At midnight, they took me to al-Nazara (a fenced space area that is used as a detention place). They detained me there naked although the weather was so cold. On the following day, I was subjected to several rounds of interrogation about the same issue. The interrogation continued until midnight, after which they forced me to sign a pledge not to participate in activities of Fatah Movement, to comply to decisions of the government in Gaza and to abstain from violating order, otherwise I would pay a fine of 3,000 NIS. They then released me.”

…

On 02 January 2010, the police investigation bureau summoned a number of students from Hayel ‘Abdul Hamid Secondary School in Beit Hanoun town in the northern Gaza Strip. The students, aged 16, were interrogated about the distribution of a statement of Fatah Movement at school. During the interrogation, they were violently beaten. One of the students sustained a fracture to the right hand and bruises throughout the body, and another one sustained bruises throughout the body.

…

On 03 January 2010, the spokesman of the Ministry of Interior, Eihab al-Ghussain, stated that the Ministry did not prevent any local activities in the Gaza Strip related to the 45th anniversary of the establishment of Fatah Movement.

Of course not. Anyhow, they all got off easy:

Fatah supporters light candles to celebrate the anniversary of the movement because the security services in Gaza prevent them from organizing celebrations on this occasion. A dispute arose between the policemen and the victim’s sons Sami, 40, ‘Amer, 27, and Mohammed, 22; the policemen beat the three civilians and arrested Mohammed and ‘Amer. In his testimony to PCHR, Sami al-Sweirki stated: “When she saw my two brothers in the jeep, my mother – who was in the shop – tried to pull them out of the jeep. My mother suffered from a heart disease and from high blood pressure and diabetes. One of the policemen hit her on the back and another policeman pulled her into the jeep. Then they drove away at a very high speed.”

‘Amer al-Sweirki testified: “My mother began to suffocate and told my brother and me to take her to hospital. The policemen did not respond to her appeals and continued to drive to al-Tufah Police Station. She began to lose consciousness. Then the policemen took her to al-Shifa Hospital in the jeep. Her condition continued to deteriorate until she died before arriving at the hospital.”

That’s terrible.

Sympathetic enough for you?

And let us be the first in Bloodthirstan to wish Fatah a Happy Birthday. Forty-five, and lookin’ good!