TORCHED! Muslim Brotherhood Offices Set On Fire All Across Egypt
Nov 23rd
Arab Spring meets the winter of discontent
Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi defended his latest decree granting himself sweeping powers before supporters in Cairo as anti-Morsi demonstrators set fire to Muslim Brotherhood offices in cities across Egypt on Friday.
Protesters storm an office of Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood Freedom and Justice party and set fires in the Mediterranean port city of Alexandria. State TV says Morsi opponents also set fire to his party’s offices in the Suez Canal cities of Suez, Port Said and Ismailia. Photograph: Amira Mortada/AP
As enraged demonstrators torched Muslim Brotherhood offices in several Egyptian cities, a defiant Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi defended his recent decree granting himself sweeping powers before a crowd of supporters outside the presidential palace in Cairo Friday.
“Political stability, social stability and economic stability are what I want and that is what I am working for,” said Morsi. “I have always been, and still am, and will always be, God willing, with the pulse of the people, what the people want, with clear legitimacy” he said from a podium before thousands of supporters.
Morsi’s speech came a day after he issued a presidential decree stating that any challenges to his decrees, laws and decisions were banned.
Reacting to the decree, thousands of demonstrators gathered in Cairo’s Tahrir Square on Friday, responding to calls by Egyptian opposition leaders for a “million-man march” to protest against what they called a “coup” by the Islamist president.
Reporting from Tahrir Square, FRANCE 24’s Alexander Turnbull said the crowds started pouring into Cairo’s most symbolic square in the afternoon and that the numbers kept swelling as the Friday noon prayers ended.
‘Furious’ crowds
“They’re furious about Morsi’s new far-reaching powers,” explained Turnbull. “They accuse him of placing himself above the judiciary.”
At the same time, supporters of the Egyptian president gathered outside Cairo’s Heliopolis Presidential Palace, some of them holding photographs of Morsi.
The rival demonstrations – which took place in several Egyptian cities Friday – exposed the deep divisions in the world’s most populous Arab nation five months after Morsi was elected with a 51% sliver of a majority.
Clashes between pro-and anti-Morsi demonstrators broke out in the northern port city of Alexandria, as well as Port Said and Ismailia. Offices of the Freedom and Justice Party – the political wing of the Muslim Brotherhood – were attacked in several cities – including the second-largest city of Alexandria. source – France 24
Hail Pharaoh! Protests Rock Egypt After Morsi Seizes Sweeping New Powers
Nov 23rd
Egypt slowly starts to realize they traded one dictator for another
FLASHBACK: NTEB showed you the true nature of the Arab Spring and Obama’s connection to it as far back as May 20,2011
Demonstrators storm Muslim Brotherhood HQ in Alexandria, pelt Port Said office with stones, and call for Egyptian president’s ouster in Cairo after he is called “pharaoh,” the new Mubarak for seizure of new powers.
Egyptians protest in the streets of Alexandria after realizing they were duped into trading one dictator, Murbarak, for a much worse one in Morsi. PHOTO: REUTERS
Protesters stormed the headquarters of the Muslim Brotherhood’s party in Alexandria on Friday, throwing chairs and books into the street and setting them alight, after the Egyptian president granted himself sweeping new powers.
Supporters of Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi and opponents also threw stones at each other near a mosque in the city, Egypt’s second largest, a witness said.
Two cars had glass smashed as the clashes moved away from the area.
In Port Said, another port on the Mediterranean, hundreds of protesters gathered outside the Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice party headquarters and pelted it with rocks. Some tried to storm it but did not enter, another witness said.
In Cairo, thousands demonstrated against the decree issued on Wednesday night.
Morsi called “pharaoh” for seizing new powers
Morsi’s decree exempting all his decisions from legal challenge until a new parliament was elected caused fury amongst his opponents on Friday who accused him of being the new Hosni Mubarak and hijacking the revolution.
Morsi’s aides said the decree was to speed up a protracted transition that has been hindered by legal obstacles but Morsi’s rivals were quick to condemn him as a new autocratic pharaoh who wanted to impose his Islamist vision on Egypt.
“Morsi a ‘temporary’ dictator,” was the headline in the independent daily Al-Masry Al-Youm and hundreds of protesters in Tahrir Square, the heart of the 2011 anti-Mubarak uprising, demanded Morsi quit, accusing him of launching a “coup”.
Buoyed by accolades from around the world for mediating a truce between Hamas and Israel, Morsi on Thursday ordered that an Islamist-dominated assembly writing the new constitution could not be dissolved by legal challenges.
Morsi, an Islamist whose roots are in the Muslim Brotherhood party, also gave himself sweeping powers that allowed him to sack the unpopular general prosecutor and opened the door for a retrial for Mubarak and his aides.
The president’s decree aimed to end the logjam and push Egypt, the Arab world’s most populous nation, more quickly on its democratic path, the presidential spokesman said.
“President Morsi said we must go out of the bottleneck without breaking the bottle,” Yasser Ali told Reuters.
The president said any decrees he issued while no parliament sat could not be challenged, moves that consolidated his powers but look set to polarize Egypt further, threatening more turbulence in a nation at the heart of the Arab Spring.
“The people want to bring down the regime,” shouted protesters in Tahrir, echoing one of the chants that was used in the uprising that forced Mubarak to step down.
UN concerned Morsi hurting human rights
The decree is bound to worry Western allies, particularly the United States, a generous benefactor to Egypt’s army, which effusively praised Egypt for its part in bringing Israelis and Palestinians to a ceasefire on Wednesday.
The West may become concerned about measures that, for example, undermine judicial independence. But one Western diplomat said it was too early to judge and his nation would watch how the decree was exercised in the coming days.
“We are very concerned about the possible huge ramifications of this declaration on human rights and the rule of law in Egypt,” Rupert Colville, spokesman for the UN Human Rights Commissioner Navi Pillay, said at the United Nations in Geneva.
“The decree is basically a coup on state institutions and the rule of law that is likely to undermine the revolution and the transition to democracy,” Mervat Ahmed, an independent activist in Tahrir protesting against the decree, said. “I worry Morsi will be another dictator like the one before him.”
Leading liberal politician Mohamed ElBaradei, who joined other politicians on Thursday night to demand the decree was withdrawn, wrote on his Twitter account that Morsi had “usurped all state powers and appointed himself Egypt’s new pharaoh”. source – JPost
Egypt’s Morsi Seizes Unprecedented Power Moves Country Towards Dictatorship
Nov 23rd
The sham ‘revolution’ shows it’s true face now
FLASHBACK: NTEB showed you the true nature of the Arab Spring and Obama’s connection to it as far back as May 20,2011
From Yahoo News: CAIRO (AP) — Egypt’s Islamist president unilaterally decreed greater authorities for himself Thursday and effectively neutralized a judicial system that had emerged as a key opponent by declaring that the courts are barred from challenging his decisions.
Riding high on U.S. and international praise for mediating a Gaza cease-fire, Mohammed Morsi put himself above oversight and gave protection to the Islamist-led assembly writing a new constitution from a looming threat of dissolution by court order.
But the move is likely to fuel growing public anger that he and his Muslim Brotherhood are seizing too much power.
In what was interpreted by rights activists as a de facto declaration of emergency law, one of Morsi’s decrees gave him the power to take “due measures and steps” to deal with any “threat” to the revolution, national unity and safety or anything that obstructs the work of state institutions.
Morsi framed his decisions as necessary to protect the revolution that toppled Hosni Mubarak nearly two years ago and to cement the nation’s transition to democratic rule. Many activists, including opponents of the Brotherhood, criticize the judiciary as packed with judges and prosecutors sympathetic to Mubarak. Brotherhood supporters accuse the courts of trying to block their agenda.
“He had to act to save the country and protect the course of the revolution,” said one of Morsi’s aides, Pakinam al-Sharqawi, speaking on Al-Jazeera. “It is a major stage in the process of completing the January 25th revolution,” she said, alluding to the starting day of last year’s uprising against Mubarak.
In a nod to revolutionary sentiment, Morsi also ordered the retrial of Mubarak and top aides on charges of killing protesters during the uprising. He also created a new “protection of the revolution” judicial body to swiftly carry out the prosecutions. But he did not order retrials for lower-level police acquitted of such killings, another widespread popular demand that would disillusion the security forces if carried out.
Liberal politicians immediately criticized the decrees as dictatorial and destined to divide a nation already reeling from months of turmoil following Mubarak’s ouster. Some said they exceeded the powers once enjoyed by Mubarak.
“Morsi today usurped all state powers & appointed himself Egypt’s new pharaoh,” pro-reform leader Mohamed El Baradei wrote on Twitter. “A major blow to the revolution that could have dire consequences.”
El Baradei later addressed a news conference flanked by other prominent politicians from outside the Brotherhood, including two presidential candidates who ran against Morsi, Amr Moussa and Hamdeen Sabahi.
They pledged to cooperate to force Morsi to rescind his assumption of greater powers. “We will work together as Egyptians until we achieve the goals of our revolution,” said ElBaradei, a former director of the U.N.’s nuclear agency and Nobel peace laureate.
They called for mass protests Friday to demand the dissolution of the declarations. The audience interrupted the press conference, chanting “Down with the Guide’s rule,” referring to the Supreme Guide of Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood group, Mohammed Badie.
The prospect of large rival protests involving Morsi’s opponents and supporters in Cairo on Friday raises the likelihood of clashes. Thousands from the rival camps were already out on the streets of Cairo late Thursday in an increasingly charged atmosphere.
A crowd of Brotherhood supporters massed outside the Supreme Court building and offices of the prosecutor general — whom Morsi removed in Thursday’s edict. They chanted slogans for “the cleansing of the judiciary,” shouting, “The people support the president’s decisions.” Leading Brotherhood member Mohammed el-Beltagi, attending the rally, singled out several critics of Morsi from among the ranks of the judiciary for criticism.
Meanwhile, blocks away near Tahrir Square, hundreds of demonstrators held a fourth straight day of protests against Morsi and the Brotherhood. “Brotherhood is banned from entry,” declared a large banner at the protest.
Wael Ghonim, an icon of the anti-Mubarak uprising, rejected Morsi’s decisions, arguing the president could have protected the revolution without concentrating so much power in his hands.
“The revolution was not staged in search for a benign dictator, there is a difference between revolutionary decisions and dictatorial decisions. God is the only one whose decisions are not questioned.”
The Egyptian leader decreed that all decisions he has made since taking office in June and until a new constitution is adopted and a new parliament is elected cannot be appealed in court or by any other authority. Parliamentary elections are not likely before next spring.
The decree also barred the courts from dissolving the controversy-plagued assembly writing the new constitution. Several courts have been looking into lawsuits demanding the panel be disbanded.
The Brotherhood and Morsi allies who dominate the assembly have pushed to give the draft an Islamist slant that opponents fear would marginalize women and minority Christians, infringe on personal liberties and even give Muslim clerics a say in lawmaking. Liberal and Christian members withdrew from the assembly during the past week to protest what they say is the hijacking of the process by Morsi’s allies.
Morsi on Thursday extended by two months, until February, the deadline for the assembly to produce a draft, apparently to give members more time to iron out their differences.
He also barred any court from dissolving the Islamist-led upper house of parliament, a largely toothless body that has also faced court cases.
The president made most of the changes Thursday in a declaration amending an interim constitution that has been in effect since shortly after Mubarak’s fall and has over time become a ramshackle patchwork. The military, which took power after Mubarak, set the precedent for the executive unilaterally issuing constitutional changes, which it did several times during its 16-month rule.
The moves come as Morsi basks in lavish praise from President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton for mediating an end to eight days of fighting between Israel and Gaza’s Hamas rulers. Clinton was in Cairo on Wednesday, when she held extensive talks with Morsi.
Morsi not only holds executive power, he also has legislative authority after a previous court ruling just before he took office on June 30 dissolved the powerful lower house of parliament, which was led by the Brotherhood. With two branches of power in his hands, Morsi effectively took away many prerogatives of the third, the judiciary.
The provision for a retrial of Mubarak appeared to be a gesture to public opinion. The decree called for “new investigations and trials” against those who held “political or executive” positions in the old regime and who are accused of killing protesters.
Mubarak was convicted in June to life in prison for failing to stop the killing of protesters during last year’s uprising against his rule, but many Egyptians were angered that he wasn’t convicted of actually ordering the crackdown and that his security chief, Habib el-Adly, was not sentenced to death. Several top police commanders were acquitted, and Mubarak and his sons were found not guilty of corruption charges.
But the decree would not mean retrials for the dozens of lower-level police officers who have been acquitted or received suspended sentences in trials for killing protesters — verdicts that have outraged many Egyptians. That exclusion will guarantee Morsi the loyalty of the powerful but hated police force.
Morsi on Thursday also fired the country’s top prosecutor, Abdel-Maguid Mahmoud. A Mubarak-era appointee, Mahmoud has faced widespread accusations that his office did a shoddy job collecting evidence against Mubarak, el-Adly and the police in trials.
Morsi first fired Mahmoud in October but had to rescind his decision when he found that the powers of his office do not empower him to do so. So on Thursday, he decreed that the prosecutor general could serve in office only for four years, with immediate effect on Mahmoud, who had held the post since 2006. Morsi replaced Mahmoud with Talaat Abdullah, a career judge, and swiftly swore him in.
Thursday’s decisions were read on state television by Morsi’s spokesman, Yasser Ali. In a throwback to the days of the authoritarian Mubarak and his predecessors Anwar Sadat and Gamal Abdel-Nasser, the television followed up with a slew of nationalist songs. source – Yahoo News
For 4th Straight Year Obama’s Thanksgiving Day Message Doesn’t Thank God
Nov 23rd
The god of this world
“In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.” 2 Corinthians 4:4
Yet again, President Obama’s Thanksgiving message eschewed any direct reference to thanking God, making this the fourth straight year in which the President of the United States has ignored the central message of the holiday in favor of political grandstanding.
This year, Obama’s central message was that now that he’s been re-elected, Americans should agree with all of his policies. His unity routine sounds strangely empty after a campaign in which he focused on dividing Americans:
But most of all, it’s a time to give thanks for each other, and for the incredible bounty we enjoy.
That’s especially important this year. As a nation, we’ve just emerged from a campaign season that was passionate, noisy, and vital to our democracy. But it also required us to make choices – and sometimes those choices led us to focus on what sets us apart instead of what ties us together; on what candidate we support instead of what country we belong to ….
We’re also grateful that this country has always been home to Americans who see these blessings not simply as gifts to enjoy, but as opportunities to give back. Americans who believe we have a responsibility to look out for those less fortunate – to pull each other up and move forward together.
How are we supposed to move forward together, you ask? Why, with greater government spending, of course!
As for God, here was the only mention – as a throwaway line in a hackneyed aphorism, used constantly by this president for communitarian sloganeering:
“As Americans, we are a bold, generous, big-hearted people. When our brothers and sisters are in need, we roll up our sleeves and get to work – not for the recognition or the reward, but because it’s the right thing to do. Because there but for the grace of God go I. And because here in America, we rise or fall together, as one nation and one people.”
No mention of thanking God. None.
But, of course, we’re used to this. In 2011, there was no mention of God at all. In 2010, Obama was closer, but still missed the mark (“we’ll spend some time taking stock of what we’re thankful for: the God-given bounty of America, and the blessings of one another”). In 2009, Obama didn’t thank God, either.
Compare that to Obama’s Thanksgiving Day proclamations, which he does not read or speak. Those are filled with God – at least for the last three years. In his first year, filled with the vim and vigor of his original election, Obama preferred to eschew any direct thanking of God even in his proclamation.
2012: “On Thanksgiving Day, individuals from all walks of life come together to celebrate this most American tradition, grateful for the blessings of family, community, and country. Let us spend this day by lifting up those we love, mindful of the grace bestowed upon us by God and by all who have made our lives richer with their presence.”
2011: “As we gather in our communities and in our homes, around the table or near the hearth, we give thanks to each other and to God for the many kindnesses and comforts that grace our lives. Let us pause to recount the simple gifts that sustain us, and resolve to pay them forward in the year to come.”
2010: “As Americans gather for the time-honored Thanksgiving Day meal, let us rejoice in the abundance that graces our tables, in the simple gifts that mark our days, in the loved ones who enrich our lives, and in the gifts of a gracious God.”
Of course, nobody sees these proclamations, so Obama doesn’t have to be embarrassed about them.
It’s no wonder that this President’s Democratic National Committee platform tried to remove God.
He’s not a big fan of the Big Guy. Even on Thanksgiving. After all, what need do you have for God when you’ve got the state? source – Breitbart
Evidence Now Suggests Obama Did Not Have Osama Bin Laden Killed
Nov 22nd
Think about it. Osama Bin Laden is the most wanted criminal in our lifetime, hands down, no one else even close. The mastermind behind 9/11. The newspapers tells us that Barack Hussein Obama “gave the order” to have Osama Bin Laden killed, they showed us photos of Obama and his people “watching it in real time”. But when it was done there is no evidence that it actually happened.
In an administration riddled by lies, scandal and massive cover-ups, is this the biggest lie ever told to the American people?
There are no witnesses, no dead body, no photos, no audio recordings, there is nothing to prove it actually happened. Even the emails mentioned in the story below bear no trace of the name of Osama Bin Laden, so any idea that they reference Bin Laden personally must be implied and inferred. Even the members of SEAL Team 6 who were talked about as being part of the Bin Laden raid, where are they? Oh, that’s right, their chopper crashed shortly after the raid took place. How very convenient for the Obama administration.
So I ask you, dear reader, on what basis do you believe actually it happened?
From Telegraph UK: The emails were released by the Pentagon after a freedom of information request by the Associated Press, but were heavily redacted. They disclosed that the funeral was so secret that none of the crew on USS Carl Vinson witnessed the burial at sea. They confirmed what the administration said at the time that Islamic rituals were observed.
In an indication of the intense secrecy surrounding the operation, senior naval officers referred to the slain terror leaders’s body was referred to as a FedEx package.
The correspondence represents the first public disclosure of government records about the former al Qaeda leader’s burial. They were released on Wednesday by the Pentagon in response to a Freedom of Information Act request by The Associated Press.
One email stamped secret and sent on May 2 by a senior Navy officer briefly describes how bin Laden’s body was washed, wrapped in a white sheet, and then placed in a weighted bag. According to another message from the Vinson’s public affairs officer, only a small group of the ship’s leadership was informed of the burial.
RELATED STORY: Benghazi Embassy 9/11 Attack Cover-up Threatens To Sink Obama White House
Bin Laden was killed on May 1, 2011, by a Navy SEAL team that assaulted his compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. His body was carried out to sea by the USS Carl Vinson.
“Traditional procedures for Islamic burial was followed,” the May 2 email from Rear Admiral Charles Gaouette reads. “The deceased’s body was washed (ablution) then placed in a white sheet. The body was placed in a weighted bag.
“A military officer read prepared religious remarks, which were translated into Arabic by a native speaker. After the words were complete, the body was placed on a prepared flat board, tipped up, whereupon the deceased’s body slid into the sea.”
The email also included a cryptic reference to the intense secrecy surrounding the mission. “The paucity of documentary evidence in our possession is a reflection of the emphasis placed on operational security during the execution of this phase of the operation,” Admiral Gaouette’s message reads.
Recipients of the email included Admiral Mike Mullen, then the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and General James Mattis, the top officer at US Central Command. Admiral Mullen retired from the military in September 2011.
The Obama White House would never lie to us…would they?
Earlier, Admiral Gaouette, then the deputy commander of the Navy’s Fifth Fleet, and another officer used code words to discuss whether the helicopters carrying the SEALs and bin Laden’s body had arrived on the Vinson.
“Any news on the package for us?” he asked Rear Admiral Samuel Perez, commander of the carrier strike group that included the Vinson.
“FedEx delivered the package,” Admiral Perez responded. “Both trucks are safely en route home base.”
Although the Obama administration has pledged to be the most transparent in American history, it is keeping a tight hold on materials related to the bin Laden raid.
In a response to separate requests from the AP for information about the mission, the Defence Department said in March that it could not locate any photographs or video taken during the raid or showing bin Laden’s body.
It also said it could not find any images of bin Laden’s body on the Vinson.
The Pentagon also said it could not find any death certificate, autopsy report or results of DNA identification tests for bin Laden, or any pre-raid materials discussing how the government planned to dispose of bin Laden’s body if he were killed.
The Defence Department also refused to confirm or deny the existence of helicopter maintenance logs and reports about the performance of military gear used in the raid.
One of the stealth helicopters that carried the SEALs to Abbottabad crashed during the mission and its wreckage was left behind. People who lived near bin Laden’s compound took photos of the disabled chopper.
The AP is appealing the Defence Department’s decision. The CIA, which ran the bin Laden raid and has special legal authority to keep information from ever being made public, has not responded to AP’s request for records about the mission. source – Telegraph UK
Obama And Hillary As Advocates For Hamas Score Great Victory
Nov 22nd
A masterful foreign policy
“The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.” Ecclesiastes 1:9
Time and again, since he has ruled America, Obama and Company seem to know exactly the right time to orchestrate events so that the many Muslim nations they ‘protect and serve’ are allowed to not only survive, but to thrive. Obama’s great foreign policy achievement is that of being able to pull Israel back from inflicting permanent damage on their many Muslim nation enemies.
Interesting ring on Obama’s left hand. Read all about it here.
Obama protects Iran
You have heard so often from this White House these words – ” We will never allow Iran to achieve a nuclear weapon”. And they have been spoken with such force and repetition that we have come to believe them without considering them. What do his words actually mean? Well, let’s pause for a second and actually consider what they don’t mean:
1). They don’t refer to nuclear reactors. Obama has repeatedly said that we cannot allow a ‘nuclear Iran’, but is that what he really means? Because Iran has, not one, but multiple nuclear reactors which have come online only after Obama became president. Seems to me that part of preventing a “nuclear Iran” would also entail preventing the reactors which will make the bombs from coming online. Obama had not one word to say when Russia built and brought online Iran’s nuclear abilities.
RELATED STORY: Iran Says Path To Nuclear Bomb Continues Full Speed Ahead
2). They don’t refer to nuclear fuel. A nuclear bomb is not much good without the nuclear fuel it needs to propel it and explode it. Shouldn’t a strategy of stopping Iran from going nuclear also include stopping their ability to create nuclear fuel? You may well think so, but obviously this is not the case from Obama’s perspective as Iran is making tons of fuel night and day.
3). They don’t refer to supporting Israel in a strike to disarm them. Remember this little gem from a few weeks ago?
“The United States has indirectly informed Iran, via two European nations, that it would not back an Israeli strike against the country’s nuclear facilities, as long as Tehran refrains from attacking American interests in the Persian Gulf, Yedioth Ahronoth reported Monday. According to the report, Washington used covert back-channels in Europe to clarify that the US does not intend to back Israel in a strike that may spark a regional conflict.” source – NTEB Archive
But Obama would have you know that he is working night and day for the “safety of Israel“. Iran needs to send Obama flowers on Valentine’s Day and say “thank you” to him for giving them all the time and space they need to create a nuclear bomb(s). I would imagine that those bombs should be all ready to fly by February 14, 2013.
Obama protects Hamas
Now, with Israel’s current conflict with the Hamas terrorists in Gaza, Obama is indeed working quite hard to protect Hamas stop the violence. After Israel repaid Hamas for the hundreds of missiles sent over from Gaza with punishing air strikes, and was just about to send in ground troops to finish the deal. Obama and Company leapt into action and started feverishly brokering a peace treaty of Israel’s enemies by their enemies.
First Obama demanded that Israel delay their Gaza ground operations. Then he dispatched Hillary over to Israel to “show American support” for Israel in her time of need. What did they accomplish? They rapidly hammered out a quickie “peace treaty” as Gaza bombs exploded a bus in Tel Aviv that wounded scores of people. Hamas immediately celebrated this as the ‘great victory’ that it was. And it was a great victory, handed to Hamas by Obama, for rendering the Israelis powerless. Does Israel now get to retaliate against Hamas for this? No, they do not. They just signed the Obama peace treaty.
“Peace in our time” indeed.
You can’t help but watch this video of Neville Chamberlain as he was duped by Hitler in 1938 and think of Obama and Company as they wheel-and-deal now in the Middle East. We will let you draw your own conclusions.
So, far from “protecting Israel from her enemies”, what Obama and Hillary have actually done was to stop Israel from sending in ground troops to destroy Hamas. They did not protect Israel, they saved Hamas and Gaza from utter destruction. It was a masterful stroke of Islamic gamesmanship, and Obama has emerged from this as the victor.
And Israel as the loser.
Hamas Celebrates Tel Aviv Bus Bombing
Nov 21st
TEL AVIV (Reuters) – A bomb exploded on a bus in central Tel Aviv on Wednesday, wounding 15 people in what Israeli officials said was a terrorist attack that could complicate efforts to secure a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
No peace.
Celebratory gunfire rang out across Gaza as the news spread and the territory’s Islamist rulers Hamas praised the bombing, but no one claimed immediate responsibility.
The blast shattered windows on the bus as it drove along a tree-lined street next to Israel’s huge defense ministry headquarters. Israel’s ambulance service said four people suffered moderate-to-severe injuries and 11 were lightly hurt.
Police said it was not a suicide attack and suggested that someone might have left the device on the number 142 bus.
The driver, who escaped largely unscathed, told reporters he had not seen anyone suspicious get on board.
“I felt the explosion … Smoke was everywhere, you couldn’t see a thing,” he said. The blue and white vehicle was not torn apart by the blast, indicating it was a relatively small device.
The bombing happened on the eighth day of an Israeli offensive against the Gaza Strip and coincided with intensive diplomatic efforts to secure a lasting truce.
Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri hailed the explosion.
“Hamas blesses the attack in Tel Aviv and sees it as a natural response to the Israeli massacres…in Gaza,” he told Reuters. “Palestinian factions will resort to all means in order to protect our Palestinian civilians in the absence of a world effort to stop the Israeli aggression.” source – Reuters
