"U.S. tests Iran's reaction to spy planes; then complains about unprofessional Iranian behavior"

From a reader: "At some point during the flight, the Iranian military warned the two aircraft to change course or risk getting shot down. The US military planes ignored the warning and continued flying in international airspace, although close to Iranian territory, the officials told Fox. “We wanted to test the Iranian reaction,” one US official told Fox News when asked why the US jets were flying close to Iran." "The official said the Iranian behavior was characterized as “unprofessional.” "

Muslim woman set on fire in New York City

"A Muslim woman had her blouse set on fire outside an upscale boutique in Manhattan, police sources told The New York Daily News. The 36-year-old woman was wearing traditional Muslim attire and was able to douse the flames herself, in what appears to be the latest anti-Muslim attack in New York City."

Google & the Pentagon

"Eric Schmidt, the former chief executive officer of Google, will head a new Pentagon advisory board aimed at bringing Silicon Valley innovation and best practices to the U.S. military, Defense Secretary Ash Carter said on Wednesday." (thanks Amir)

"Facebook Is Collaborating With the Israeli Government to Determine What Should Be Censored"

"Having just resolved that censorship effort, Facebook seems to be vigorously courting another. The Associated Press reports today from Jerusalem that “the Israeli government and Facebook have agreed to work together to determine how to tackle incitement on the social media network.” These meetings are taking place “as the government pushes ahead with legislative steps meant to force social networks to rein in content that Israel says incites violence.” In other words, Israel is about to legislatively force Facebook to censor content deemed by Israeli officials to be improper, and Facebook appears eager to appease those threats by working directly with the Israeli government to determine what content should be censored.  The joint Facebook-Israel censorship efforts, needless to say, will be directed at Arabs, Muslims, and Palestinians who oppose Israeli occupation. The AP article makes that clear: “Israel has argued that a wave of violence with the Palestinians over the past year has been fueled by incitement, much of it spread on social media sites.” As Alex Kane reported in The Intercept in June, Israel has begun actively surveilling Palestinians for the content of their Facebook posts and even arresting some for clear political speech. Israel’s obsession with controlling Palestinians’ use of social media is motivated by the way it has enabled political organizing by occupation opponents; as Kane wrote: “A demonstration against the Israeli occupation can be organized in a matter of hours, while the monitoring of Palestinians is made easier by the large digital footprint they leave on their laptops and mobile phones.”  Notably, Israel was represented in this meeting with Facebook by Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked, an extremist by all measures who has previously said she does not believe in a Palestinian state. Shaked has “proposed legislation that seeks to force social networks to remove content that Israel considers to be incitement,” and recently boasted that Facebook is already extremely compliant with Israeli censorship demands: “Over the past four months Israel submitted 158 requests to Facebook to remove inciting content,” she said, and Facebook has accepted those requests in 95 percent of the cases...While the focus here is on Palestinians’ “incitement,” it’s actually very common for Israelis to use Facebook to urge violence against Palestinians, including settlers urging “vengeance” when there is an attack on an Israeli. Indeed, as the Washington Post recently noted, “Palestinians have also taken issue with social-media platforms, saying they incite violence and foster an Israeli discourse of hatred, racism and discriminatory attitudes against Palestinians.”  In 2014, thousands of Israelis used Facebook to post messages “calling for the murder of Palestinians.” When an IDF occupying soldier was arrested for shooting and killing a wounded Palestinian point blank in the head last year, IDF soldiers used Facebook to praise the killing and justify that violence, with online Israeli mobs gathering in support. Indeed, Justice Minister Shaked herself — now part of the government team helping Facebook determine what to censor — has used Facebook to post astonishingly extremistand violence-inducing rhetoric against Palestinians. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his other top ministers have done the same. As Al Jazeera America detailed in 2014:

The hate speech against Arabs that gathered momentum on Facebook and Twitter soon spilled out onto the streets of Jerusalem as extremist Israelis kicked up violence and caused chaos. This violence then made its way back online: YouTube and Facebook videos show hundreds of angry Israeli mobs running around chanting, “Death to Arabs,” and looking for Palestinians to attack. A video of an Israeli Jew attacking a Palestinian on a public bus shouting, “Filthy Arabs, filthy Arab murderers of children,” emerged from Tel Aviv. And more video footageshowing Israeli security forces using excessive force on a handcuffed Palestinian-American boy further called into question who was really inciting this chaos." (thanks Ali)

No way: "Fire at Orlando gunman’s mosque was ‘set intentionally,’ authorities say"

"“Unfortunately, within the past year, we’ve seen an unprecedented rise in bigotry in our society,” he said Monday, adding: “It’s becoming a great concern to the American Muslim community.” Michael Parsons, whose parents live across the street from the mosque, told the Associated Press that since the shooting, “a lot of people have been driving by hollering and yelling expletives at the church or mosque or whatever they call it.”"

A long feature about Theresa May in the Washington Post

But it is about her attire and shoes in particular.  Kid you not.

US forgotten war in the Philippines

"In opposing the U.S. military presence in the southern Mindanao region, Duterte cited the killing of Muslims during a U.S. pacification campaign in the early 1900s, which he said was at the root of the long restiveness of minority Muslims in the largely Catholic nation's south."

Shihab Al-Din Al-Nuwayri's The Ultimate Ambition of the Arts of Erudition

This is a beautiful new book (newly published by Penguin) translated ably and accurately by Elias Muhanna of Brown University.  It captures those most interesting and encyclopedic aspects of Arabic heritage which remains unknown to Western readers.  I really love the translations but preferred the prose to the poetry as I wished the translations of poetry were more poetic.  Some terms needed annotations and explanations (like the dishes which appear on p. 230).  The other thing is that it was not easy for me to refer from the book to the original Arabic work: not sure how the divisions and sections correlate to the original despite the note on page xxii: and not sure I agree on the translations of funun, aqsam, and abwab (so what is ajza'?).  Maybe I am missing a key here.  Finally, I wish the book was less abridged and more expansive: the original is so beautiful in its scope.  But the efforts for this small volume--I know--was not small.  Highly recommended.

PS I so disagree with the translation of Adab as erudition.  

cease fire in Syria

Do you notice how upset supporters of the Syrian "revolution" (including Western journalists) get when a cease-fire is announced in Syria? They get really sad.

"the book’s headline revelation was that the CIA was very likely responsible for the widespread introduction of “conspiracy theory” as a term of political abuse"

"The author of Conspiracy Theory in America was Prof. Lance deHaven-Smith, a former president of the Florida Political Science Association. Based on an important FOIA disclosure, the book’s headline revelation was that the CIA was very likely responsible for the widespread introduction of “conspiracy theory” as a term of political abuse, having orchestrated that development as a deliberate means of influencing public opinion."

"Says who? I think the BBC just makes this stuff up"

"Israel is known as the "start-up nation". Its technology sector is considered by many to be second only to Silicon Valley ..." (thanks Basim)

Arabs who can inspire you

According to the silly list, the Jordanian potentate can inspire you because Jordan hosts Syrian refugees when Lebanon and Turkey also hosts Syrian refugees (Lebanon hosts the most per its population).

When it comes to propaganda, Liz Sly could care less about accuracy

According to Liz Sly, this is a barrel bomb in Syria.  

The understatement of the year about Israel

"Although Israel is not known as a bastion of religious tolerance...." Yes, Israel tolerates the Burkini only out of deference to Orthodox Jewish woman and have nothing to do with acceptance of manifestation of Islamic conservatism.

US-backed coalition bombings kills at least 21 civilians

From a reader: ""At least 21 civilians were killed in two separate air strikes by the Saudi-led coalition in northern Yemen on Saturday, residents said on Sunday, as fighting intensified in the country before the Muslim Eid al-Adha feast."

 These photos of western-backed carnage in Yemen will not be published by the mainstream media"

Israeli lawmaker says Israel is helping al-Qaida in Syria

"An Israeli lawmaker is accusing Israel of directly aiding the Syrian rebel group formerly known as the Nusra Front in the battles on the Syrian side of the Golan Heights. The group has recently changed its name to Jabhat Fateh al-Sham after splitting from Al-Qaida." “We have gotten information from all fronts and from people who are responsible within the village that the Nusra Front is operating with unprecedented support from Israel, because the organization’s fighters are advancing in those places where the Israel Defense Forces had previously bombed Syrian positions and the organization is holding those positions, in addition to the logistical and medical assistance it’s getting from Israel.” Citing eyewitnesses, Hasson said that the Jabhat Fateh al-Sham fighters have advanced technological equipment that gives them an advantage over Assad’s forces. “To date dozens have fallen and the fighting continues, all with Israeli support,” he wrote." (thanks Amir)

Larry David on Palestinian chicken

I got to watch Larry David's episode from Curb Your Enthusiasm about the Arab-Israeli question, titled Palestinian Chicken.  It was quite grotesque.  It reminds me of Bill Maher when he is criticized for his anti-Islam bigotry and he defends himself by saying that he attacks other religions but the quality of attacks is substantially and qualitatively different.  It is like when Raphael Patai wrote the racist book The Arab Mind and when he was criticized he came out with his book the Jewish Mind in which he lamented the excessive alcoholic drinking among Jews.  In the episode of Palestinian chicken, all (secular) expressions of Palestinian nationalism (on the walls of the restaurant) were conflicted with repugnant anti-Semitism.  It was assumed throughout the episode that Palestinians don't like Israel because they hate Jewish people and wish them all ill.  He never bothered to interrogate the Palestinian narrative.  As for the pro-Israeli Jewish side in the episode, they were only mocked for being annoying.  And the Canadian woman playing Palestinian woman was quite awful a character: that the only way she can recruit supporters to her side was by offering he body (and the body of her sister).  It is like the sleazy imagination of Leon Uris in the Hajj.  And Larry David, as you can glean from his character, is a Nation magazine reading American liberal.  But these are the limits of American liberalism.  Lastly, the way the chicken was prepared in the episode was clearly not the way Arab prepare chicken if you care about cultural accuracy, but who cares when it comes to Arabs in the Hollywood imagination?  

Western media are so dumb when it comes to news stories about North Korea: or they just receive orders

"“One state security official personally organised a meeting to alert local residents to potential ‘hostile actions’ by internal rebellious elements,” a source in Jagang Province told Radio Free Asia’s Korean Service.  “The main point of the lecture was ‘Keep your mouths shut.’”"  Well, this kind of documentation would have been strictly unacceptable about say a beloved country, like the Israeli occupation state.  But on North Korea, standards and professionalism are out of the window.  A source told a propaganda Radio station and then it becomes a news story with a headline? Also, it is illegal to mock the leader in Syria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Egypt, UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, and Sudan.  So where is the uniqueness of this, and where is the outrage over repression in pro-US tyrannies?

Do you think that the director of Human Rights Watch will ever dare to refer to Israeli killing as "slaughter"?

Kenneth Roth (@KenRoth)

9/10/16, 6:13 PM Nothing like another Syria accord for Assad and Putin to unleash another round of slaughter.

This man's credibility on human rights is equal to Saudi king's credibility on feminism.

Jordanian youth have been mocking this story all day today

"He cited the warning from Mudar Zahran, the president of Jordanian opposition".  This is how the Israeli propaganda elevates the status of a handful of Arab fools who seem to not dislike Israel.  People were really laughing to tears over the designation of this buffoon as "president of the Jordanian opposition".

Israeli Online Attack Service ‘vDOS’ Earned $600,000 in Two Years

"vDOS — a “booter” service that has earned in excess of $600,000 over the past two years helping customers coordinate more than 150,000 so-called distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks designed to knock Web sites offline — has been massively hacked, spilling secrets about tens of thousands of paying customers and their targets. The vDOS database, obtained by KrebsOnSecurity.com at the end of July 2016, points to two young men in Israel as the principal owners and masterminds of the attack service, with support services coming from several young hackers in the United States." (thanks Ali)

The Chechnya conference on Islam

So the pro-Putin Chechnya government held a world-wide conference on Islam to define "who is a Muslim" (posing the question in itself is un-Islamic if you ask me).  But the conference basically excluded Salafites and included Sufis. Saudi regime supporters and clerical kooks were furious (some 100,000 tweets were devoted to denouncing it) and it infuriated them that AlAzhar Shaykh was in attendance. The demagogue, Yusuf Al-Qaradawi first supported the conference and then denounced it.  I have not seen much about the controversy in the Western press.  

US approved terrorists

"Under a deal brokered by the United States and the United Nations refugee agency, almost 2,000 dissident Iranians have been resettled in nearly a dozen European countries since the start of 2016. Until a few years ago, PMOI, also known by its Farsi name Mujahideen-e-Khalq Organization (MKO), was listed as a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union." "The group has offices in the United States and Europe."

British role in destruction of Yemen

"Notwithstanding growing disquiet on both sides of the Atlantic over how Saudi Arabia is deploying its expensive western weaponry in Yemen, the months tick by while the list of Yemeni civilians killed grows ever longer. And of course, UK arms continue to flow into Saudi Arabia’s war machine." (thanks Amir)

In one day, the US attacks six countries: it is a coincidence that they all happen to be Muslim-majority countries

"While Americans savored the last moments of summer this Labor Day weekend, the U.S. military was busy overseas as warplanes conducted strikes in six countries in a flurry of attacks. The bombing runs across Asia, Africa and the Middle East spotlighted the diffuse terrorist threats that have persisted into the final days of the Obama presidency — conflicts that the next president is now certain to inherit. In Iraq and Syria, between Saturday and Monday, the United States conducted about 45 strikes against Islamic State targets. On the other side of the Mediterranean, in the Libyan city of Sirte, U.S. forces also hit fighters with the militant group. On Sunday in Yemen, a U.S. drone strike killed six suspected members of ­al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. The following day, just across the Gulf of Aden in Somalia, the Pentagon targeted al-Shabab, another group aligned with ­al-Qaeda. The military also conducted several counterterrorism strikes over the weekend in Afghanistan, where the Taliban and the Islamic State are on the offensive."

mimicking the French in Beirut: bigotry

"The Seven Sisters Bar and Grill in Beirut reportedly barred entry (link) for a couple with a veiled woman despite being told, before coming to the place, that they would be allowed to sit at the bar if they arrived between certain hours, which the couple had done." (thanks Bassel)

Repression by a U.S. ally

"The Gulf monarchy Bahrain, a close U.S. ally, “is a country that has subjected its people to imprisonment, torture and even death for daring to desire democracy,” Rajab wrote. “No one has been properly held to account for systematic abuses that have affected thousands.” "As Salon previously reported, Bahrain is a close U.S. ally. It is home to the Navy’s Fifth Fleet and has a free trade agreement with the U.S. The State Department calls the repressive Gulf monarchy “a vital U.S. partner in defense initiatives.” "

A reader wrote to me: "I always remember what you wrote about Adel Jubeir speaking in cliches"

"If there's a freeze, Saudi Arabia will go along with it and we are hoping there could be a meeting of the minds when this comes together," Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir told reporters in London."

March 14 and the Syrian people

The irony is that March 14 Movement folks in Lebanon love the Syrian "revolution" but hate the Syrian people. They write and say the most racist things about Syrian refugees.

Airline employees increasingly refusing to say the word "Israel"

True story. Experienced travelers are in an international airport in a major European city preparing to board flight # 816 bound for Tel Aviv, Israel. The boarding pass reads Gate C-3. Experienced travelers that they are, they watch the board for the inevitable gate changes and keep an ear tuned towards announcements that come over the PA system. Gates change all the time. They hear an announcement. It is repeated three times in a row. A voice is saying: “flight # 816 to Palestine boarding at Gate C-3” The Israeli ambassador to Serbia was notified ..." (thanks Basim)

Jordan royal (UN "High" Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra`ad Al-Husayn) tells the world that he has white skin, which makes him a better Muslim

"I am a Muslim, who is, confusingly to racists, also white-skinned".  By the way, Human Rights Watch director on Twitter carries remarks by this guy day and night, around the clock.  Notice that this Jordanian regime diplomat (who got into his position by virtue of Israeli approval) only takes on governments and organizations which are on bad terms with the US government.  How brave of him.

Nuclear tests by country and year

This is how the US ignited the Lebanese civil war II

My weekly article in Al-Akhbar: "This is how the US ignored the Lebanese Civil War: Lebanon as a Police on behalf of Israel".

The New York Times is as ignorant of Syria as the Libertarian Party candidate

"Correction: September 8, 2016 
An earlier version of this article misidentified the de facto capital of the Islamic State. It is Raqqa, in northern Syria, not Aleppo.

Correction: September 8, 2016 
An earlier version of the above correction misidentified the Syrian capital as Aleppo. It is Damascus." (thanks David)

Zionist lies and distortions: the Pavlovian invocation of anti-Semitic charge when Israeli occupation and war crimes are criticized

Look at this crazy article: the headline and the article are lies and decption--i.e., standard Zionist practices and mode of operation.  You read the syllabus and it is nothing like what is being described. Also, what the writer does not know is that at UC, Berkeley undergraduates can teach courses if people are willing to take them. This is what it is.

Saudi regime banns Huffington Post (Arabic and English)

Huffington Post (in the US and Arabic Qatari regime versions) is banned in Saudi Arabia.  

The only Arab media TV station allowed in Israeli prisons is Al-Arabiyya (news station of Muhammad bin Salman)

A prisoner in Israeli jail explains what channels are permitted by Israeli repressive regime. Aljazeera is still banned.

An important day in the history of the Saudi-Zionist alliance: the Israeli lobby in DC has come out in full support of Saudi tyranny

The article by Dennis Ross on behalf of the Zionist lobby in full support of the Saudi regime is historical.  As you know, Dennis Ross visited for a few days Saudi Arabia as part of a delegation from the Israeli lobby in Washington, DC. They were received by the Saudi potentate and by other unelected members of the Saudi royal family.  After few days in the Kingdom, Ross was ready to declare that a revolution is underway in Saudi Arabia (of course, he was citing the language of a Saudi official).  But Zionists are to revolution is what Hillary is to socialism.  But what is interesting is that Muhammad Bin Salman assured the Zionist delegation that House of Saud has no ideology and yet toward the end of the article Ross talks about their anti-Iranian ideology.  Subscribing to the Saudi-Israeli policies in the region is the crux of non-ideology.  The Israeli lobby has now officially and publicly came out in full support of the agenda of the House of Saud.  It took Ross a few days in the kingdom meeting with only officials of the regime to give the readers of the Post an "informed" assessment of what is going on in the kingdom.

PS My favorite part of the article is Dennis Ross, not noted for his feminism, remarking that he saw women in Saudi Arabia, thereby implying that women in the kingdom are free because some of them were allowed to see a delegation from the Israeli lobby in DC.

Conspiracy theory? ISIS 'minister of war' is a US-trained sniper

"ISLAMIC State has reportedly appointed a US-trained sniper to the position of minister of war as it steps up its campaign of terror."

U.S. arms sales to Saudi Arabia top $115B

"Since taking office in January 2009, the Obama administration has offered over $115 billion worth of weapons to Saudi Arabia in 42 separate deals, more than any U.S. administration in the history of the U.S.-Saudi relationship."

Leaked report on British arms sales to Saudi Arabia

"Stephen Doughty: We've taken evidence from a range of non-governmental organizations and experts operating in the region who have amassed a significant amount of evidence of strikes that have targeted civilian areas, hospitals, and even humanitarian operations. Obviously, that gives us a great deal of concern about whether the UK is upholding its international law obligations and its own domestic law about arms exports." (thanks Amir)

Sudanese cartoonist comments on the Israeli protection of Sudanese tyrant

The transformation of Hillary

Watch here.

"Israel’s systematic targeting of Palestinians since 1947 has been referred to as “incremental genocide”

"Israel’s systematic targeting of Palestinians since 1947 has been referred to as “incremental genocide” – a term used by historian Ilan Pappe and echoed by Michael Ratner, a human rights lawyer and CCR’s former president, who died earlier this year. “It’s been going on for a long time, the killings, the incredibly awful conditions of life,” Ratner said during Israel’s assault on Gaza in July 2014, referring to the expulsions of Palestinians from hundreds of towns and villages starting in 1947. “It’s correct and important to label it for what it is,” he added." (thanks Amir)

Leftists leaving Israel?

I read this "Many leftist Israelis are leaving Israel." You mean all three of them?