Israel: Egypt In Violation Of 1979 Peace Treaty, Trying To Set Precedent For Future Modifications To Peace Deal

Associated Press – “JERUSALEM – Israeli officials said Tuesday that Egypt is violating the historic 1979 peace treaty between the two countries by deploying tanks in the demilitarized Sinai desert near the Israeli border.

The officials said they have relayed their objections to the Egyptians directly and through American mediators. An Egyptian border official confirmed that his Israeli counterparts had voiced concerns.

Egypt has been building up its military presence in the lawless area since Islamic militants there attacked an army post on Aug. 5 and killed 16 soldiers.

Under the peace accord, Egypt was only allowed to have lightly armed policemen in the zone along the border with Israel. Limited numbers of tanks were permitted only in a zone on the far western side of the peninsula, within 30 miles (50 kilometers) of the Suez Canal.

Israel, which also views the Islamic militants as a threat, agreed last year to exceptions to the treaty allowing Egypt’s military to deploy troops with heavier weaponry into the most sensitive zone of eastern Sinai close to the border.

Egyptian troops moved in after the Aug. 5 attack, backed by armored personnel carriers and attack helicopters, in coordination with the Israelis. However, the Israeli officials alleged that the deployment of heavier M60 battle tanks went further than agreed and violated the accord. The Israelis say they should have been consulted.” Read more.

Flashback: Egypt: Morsi ‘To Make Changes In Camp David Accords’ To Exercise Full Sovereignty Over Sinai Peninsula – “Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi will discuss, in coming days, making changes in the Camp David Accord signed with Israel. The changes will allow Egypt ‘to implement its full sovereignty over the Sinai Peninsula.’” Read more.

Flashback: Egyptian Warplanes Patrol Sinai Without Israel’s Consent, ‘We Do Not Need Permission to Increase Our Forces On Our Land’ – “Egypt’s air force chief said on Thursday that Egyptian warplanes are patrolling Sinai without Israel’s consent, despite a 1979 peace treaty limiting Egypt’s military presence in the peninsula. ‘Sinai is our land, and we do not need permission to increase our forces on our land,’ General Reda Hafiz told the official MENA news agency.” Read more.

Flashback: ‘Egypt Will Never Be the Friend, Partner or Ally of the Zionist Entity, The First Enemy of Egypt’ – “It’s amazing what ‘freedom’ has brought to Egypt. Rejecting $1 billion in US aid would almost be laughable, if the possible implications were not so serious. Last month the Muslim Brotherhood had apparently come to the conclusion that it was Halal to extort the United States by threatening, for all intents and purposes, to wage war against Israel if America cut off aid to Egypt. Now they’re threatening to reject it all together, and all this while making it loud and clear that Egypt will ‘never be the friend, partner or ally of the Zionist entity’ …” Read more.

Iran Begins Construction Of $300 Million Anti-Aircraft Missile Base, Upgrades ‘Conqueror’ Ballistic Missile

By Ron Friedman and AP, The Times of Israel – “Amid increasing talk of a possible Israeli strike on its nuclear facilities, Iran has begun construction of a new, state-of-the-art, anti-aircraft missile base.

The new base, located near the city of Abadeh, in southern Iran, will cost $300 million, be home to 6,000 personnel, and host seven battalions, Iran’s Fars news agency reported Tuesday.

The Deputy Commander of the Khatam ol-Anbia Air Defense Base, Mohammad Hosseini, said the base, the largest of its kind in Iran, will also include one of the most important military training centers in the country.

Last month, a senior Iranian air defense commander asserted that all Iranian air defense units and systems are fully prepared to repel possible enemy air raids.

Also on Tuesday, Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad unveiled an upgraded version of a short-range surface-to-surface ballistic missile just weeks after it was test-fired, Iranian state media reported.

At the ceremony unveiling the Fateh-110, or Conqueror, Ahmadinejad told a group of defense officials that Iran wants to advance its defense technology ‘not in an aggressive context, but as a deterrence.’…

The official IRNA news agency reported Tuesday that the new version of Fateh-110 has a quicker launch capability, a longer life and can be used in adverse weather conditions, but gave no other details. The missile has been in service in Iran over the past decade.” Read more.

Top Iran Official: If Israel Attacks, It Will Bring About Its Own ‘Annihilation’ – “An Israeli attack on Iran will lead to Israel’s ‘annihilation,’ a senior Iranian official told the country’s state-run TV station Press TV on Monday, ahead of the Non-Aligned Movement summit due to take place in Tehran later this month. The comment, by former head of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Mohsen Rezaei, came after, last week, the head of the Revolutionary Guard’s air force said that a possible Israeli airstrike against his country’s nuclear facilities is ‘welcome’ because it would give Iran a reason to retaliate and ‘get rid of’ the Jewish state ‘forever.'” Read more.

Pakistan: Down Syndrome Girl Accused Of Blasphemy, Muslim Mobs Burn Christian Homes, Attack Churches, Thousands Of Christians Flee

By Stefan J. Bos, BosNewsLife – “Muslims torched Christian homes and ‘destroyed’ a church in a slum area of Islamabad while suspected militants shot at another church outside Pakistan’s capital, after the jailing of a mentally handicapped Christian girl for ‘blasphemy’, witnesses said Tuesday, August 21.

‘Our staff and a few [other] Christians went into [Islamabad’s] colony of Meherabadi [late Monday local time ],’ added Farrukh H. Saif, executive director of Pakistani rights group World Vision In Progress (WVIP).

‘We found that five houses were burned and one church was destroyed,’ he told BosNewsLife. ‘Bibles [have been torn] to pieces and a [church] cross is broken’, the official said.

Elsewhere in Pakistan’s southern city of Karachi the Catholic St Matthew’s Church was ‘attacked by unknown extremist at 2 a.m. local time,’ added Saif, citing investigators.

‘They opened fire at the Church building which damaged the front of the building,’ in Karachi’s Pehlwan Goth neighborhood, he explained…

Police jailed the girl Friday, August 17, after at least hundreds of Muslim protesters demanded that she face charges under Pakistan’s blasphemy laws.

A local cleric had said she burned pages of the Noorani Qaida, a religious textbook used to teach the Koran to children, said Saif…

Muslim mobs have been pressuring the girl’s Christian neighbors and others to flee Saif and other rights activist said…

Thousands of Christians were still outside the slum area where the alleged burning incident happened, fearing for their lives, human rights workers said.

There were concerns late Tuesday, August 21, that at least several will have no place to return to, amid reports of burning homes.” Read more.

Pakistan: 11-Year-Old Christian Girl Accused of Blasphemy – “An 11-eleven-year old Christian girl was accused of blasphemy and arrested for allegedly burning pages of a Noorani Qaida, a booklet used to learn the basics of the Holy Quran. Officials of the Ramna Police Station told The Express Tribune that the girl, named Rifta Masih, had burned a Noorani Qaida on August 16 and threw it in garbage after putting it in a plastic bag… Soon after the incident, residents of the area had gathered to lodge their protest. The protesters also allegedly beat up the girl and her mother … The news emerged when a website called ‘Christians in Pakistan’ reported the incident. The report alleges that Rifta has Down syndrome and was falsely accused of burning 10 pages of the Holy Quran.” Read more.

UK: Tens Of Thousands Of Dead Fish Found In River Weaver, So Many ‘I Could Have Walked Across The Water On Them’

By Matthew Taylor, Winsford Guardian – “VAST concentrations of dead fish have surfaced along the River Weaver in Winsford.

Eyewitnesses report thousands have perished along the water course, from the flashes down to Newbridge.

The Environment Agency (EA) has classed the incident as Category 1– its highest degree of severity.

The EA is awaiting laboratory results on water samples from the affected area to determine what caused the rapid de-oxygenation of the river…

The water at Newbridge would usually read between 50 to 100 per cent oxygenation.

An early reading by the EA returned a reading of just 2 per cent…

Guy Humphreys, fisheries manager for WDAA described the moment he discovered the dead fish.

He said: ‘I got a call about a tree that was down, overhanging the water. I went to have a look and noticed in the river there were all these dead fish.

‘There were so many dead or dying that I could have walked across the water on them. There’s tens of thousands of fish have been killed.’

Mr Humphreys promptly phoned the EA.

Meanwhile, people back up the river in Winsford began to witness the grizzly scene at the flashes.

Deputy mayoress of Winsford, Hilary Kennedy, said: ‘I was on the high Street walking the dog when a friend of mine came towards me from the direction of the flashes and stopped to talk.

‘She told me that she was shocked to see there were a lot of dead fish in the water around the marina, the Town Bridge and all along the river.

‘She said that there were policemen there and a heck of lot of other men, plus someone in a canoe.’

The river has a rich diversity of species, including bream, roach, silver fish, carp, tench, perch and pike…

‘It takes 15-20 years to get stocks back up to the way they were. It’s soul destroying. It’s not just fishing either, there’s the knock on affect on all wildlife in the area.'” Read more.

Is Israel Planning An EMP Attack On Iran?

By F. Michael Maloof – “WASHINGTON – Analysts say because Israel now believes diplomacy has failed to halt Iran’s nuclear program and the Jewish state’s very survival is at stake, Israelis have not ruled out a Jericho III missile launch to detonate a single electromagnetic pulse warhead at high altitude over central Iran…

Given that Iranian sites may be hardened against a conventional military attack, several Israeli and foreign sources believe that Israel has a nuclear device to create an electromagnetic pulse, or EMP, that would produce little radiation on the ground but could knock out all of Iran’s electronics.

Israel also is assessed to be able to launch nuclear-tipped ballistic missiles from its German-supplied Dolphin electric submarines that could carry a one-kiloton or more device and explode over Iran, effectively neutralizing all of Iran’s electronics.

This would include Iran’s command and control capabilities and its ability to launch ballistic missiles in retaliation to a pre-emptive Israeli attack on Iran’s nuclear sites, which Western intelligence has assessed is a cover to make nuclear weapons.

Sources say that an Israeli EMP attack also would effectively halt Iran’s ability to launch its forces to block the Strait of Hormuz, which the Islamic republic has threatened to do if it is attacked, along with targeting a number of U.S. military facilities in the region, as well as Israel.

An electromagnetic pulse occurs following a nuclear weapon exploded at a high altitude, creating a very strong electrical field that can overwhelm all electronics, knocking out or seriously damaging any electronic devices connected to power sources or antennas, including communications equipment, computers, electrical appliances, automobile and aircraft ignitions systems. Experts say it also can adversely affect a person’s implanted heart pacemaker device…

Another scenario discussed among some Israeli leaders is the detonation of an EMP over the entire Middle East, including Israel, whose military infrastructure has been hardened against such attacks. This would allow Israel to fly its jets directly to Iran without concerns about detection. Though it would also turn out the lights in Israel, sources there say the Jewish state could bring power back for civilians in a matter of days. A detonation at an altitude of up to 250 miles not only would affect all electronics in Iran but could damage electrical systems from the Middle East and much of Europe, these experts add. Such an EMP event also would dramatically affect all U.S. military facilities in the region.

An EMP attack on the United States, for example, from a 30-kiloton nuclear weapon exploded at an altitude of 62 miles, or 100 kilometers, effectively would knock out 70 percent of electrical systems up to a thousand miles in every direction. A similar explosion at a higher altitude of some 250 miles would virtually affect all electronics from Boston to Los Angeles and from Chicago to New Orleans, according to experts.

Consequently, a detonation limited to Iran would have to be at a much lower altitude to avoid such far-ranging effects on the electronics in the region and beyond.” Read more.

Syrian Author On Palestinian TV: Israeli Society Is Rotten From The Inside Like A Worm-Infested Tree

Pathogenic ocular dissonance. It never ceases to amaze the extent to which the ideology of Islam obfuscates the perceptive reality of those who should otherwise be highly intelligent thinkers. Once more, it is only when we rightly replace “Israeli” with “Islamic” that the words of this Syrian author begin to make any logical sense whatsoever. And to suggest that there is no Jewish history in the land of Israel only serves to yet again drive home the point that to be bound by Islam is to be blind to reality …

Hassan Hamid on PA TV: “I see Israeli society as rotten from the inside. Carpenters or wood craftsmen would say it’s worm-infested wood. For 60 years, they’ve been looking for pottery, glass, for a brick or a handful of sand that would put back something resembling history to them, but they haven’t found it.”

Could Hurricane Isaac Wreak Havoc For Republican Convention In Florida?

With the centuries-old struggle that the descendants of Ishmael have been waging against the descendants of Isaac, I thought it interesting that of all the named storms of the 2012 hurricane season that had the potential to disrupt the plans of those politicking for America’s future, it had to be “Isaac” — notwithstanding the fact that Israel is, as we speak, considering a storm of its own for its own future survival before the US elections in November …

By Jason Samenow, Washington Post – “For three straight simulations, NOAA’s Global Forecast System (GFS) model has tracked a tropical system right over the Florida peninsula through or close to Tampa just as the Republican National Convention is ramping up. Assuming this system – presently a little swirl in the open Atlantic – strengthens some, it will be named Isaac.

Before anyone gets alarmed or excited, consider forecasts of the path and intensity of tropical systems this far out have essentially no skill. As our tropical weather specialist Brian McNoldy said earlier: ‘In the 5-7 day period and beyond, weather details become fairly unpredictable.’

If this model defeats the long odds against it and is somehow right, organizers say they’re ready for the possibility of a hurricane Isaac during the convention according to a report from ABC News:

The Republican National Convention, Secret Service and federal, state and local authorities have been planning for a “multitude” of hurricane scenarios for “well over a year,” said Bryan Koon, Florida’s emergency management director. RNC spokesman James Davis would not give details of those plans, saying only that they are “focused completely on having a great convention.”

Since 1852, the Tampa area been hit by 27 hurricanes including 6 during the month of August the ABC News report said.

Colorado State University Tropical Meteorology Project has developed a tool that shows the historic probability of a named storm affecting the region around Tampa is 20 percent in any given season. The odds of a direct hit near Tampa is around 3 percent.

Jeff Masters of wunderground, who wrote a detailed blog post on the risk of a storm hitting Tampa during the convention, says the risk of a highly disruptive the storm that would trigger evacuations during the convention itself is smaller:

‘[H]istory suggests that the odds of a mass evacuation order being given during the 4-day period that the Republican National Convention is in town are probably around 0.2%,’ he wrote.

But if powerful hurricane did strike the Tampa Bay region – either during the convention or some other time – the effects could be devastating.” Read more.

Salafi Leader In Egypt: To Conspire Against Islamist President Morsi Is To Conspire Against God

Daniel 2:41a, “Whereas you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter’s clay and partly of iron, the kingdom shall be divided …”

A kingdom divided within a divided kingdom. This Salafi leader certainly puts himself at odds with the Salafist “Army of Islam” …

By Aswat Masriya, allAfrica – “Salafi (ultraconservative) leader and member of the constituent assembly, tasked with rewriting the constitution, Saeed Abdel Azeem, said that conspiring against Egypt’s ruler (President Mohamed Mursi) is equal to conspiring against God.

Describing Egypt’s president as the ‘ruling imam’, Abdel Azeem argued that as Mursi may be unable to apply the law of God fully at this point, the nation must overcome political differences and rally behind him.

He added in his Eid speech on Sunday in Alexandria’s Shohadaa Square that Egypt will return to being ruled by Islam and Prophet Mohamed’s Sunnah and not democracy, socialism or nationalism.

The Salafi politician insisted that all forces must unite in order for God’s law to be applied during an era, he described as, ‘of phenomenons’; where tyrants fall and it is useful to follow those who came before us and not those of modern times.

Abdel Azeem asked worshipers to pay special attention to the Muslims of Syria, Burma and Palestine, arguing that those who neglect Muslim affairs are not true Muslims.

He also urged worshipers to refrain from abandoning mosques following the holy month of Ramadan, advising them not to surrender themselves to politics and news, which he described as an unfit alternative to religious dedication.” Source – allAfrica.com.

Egyptian Cleric Issues New Fatwa: It Is Permissible To Kill Anyone Who Protests Against Islamist President Morsi – “The legitimate president is Dr. Mohamed Morsi, and anyone who goes out to (to protest) on August 24 … will be committing the crimes of hiraba and high treason against the country, against Allah, against His Messenger, and against the believers. Therefore, I convey the following fatwa to the Egyptian people: Confront these people, and if they fight you, fight them… If some of you are killed by them, you will go to Paradise, and if you kill them, no ‘blood money’ will be warranted, because their killing is permissible.” Read more.