Blogger: Point of no return
Article: Publicity might endanger Jews remaining in Iran
Originaly Posted On: 2007-12-27 07:05:00

The recent arrival of 40 olim from Iran was well publicised in the world’s media - even attracting Arab interest. But could the publicity endanger those Jews still living in Iran? The Jerusalem Post reports.

“Israel’s decision to publicize the arrival of a group of 40 Iranian immigrants Tuesday was intended to send a message to Iranian Jewry that they are wanted here, and that if emigration from Iran were one day prohibited, no one could say they did not have a chance to come to Israel, The Jerusalem Post has learned.

“The decision to publicly reveal the Iranian Jews’ arrival - something that has been kept secret in the past - was made in consultation between the Jewish Agency and other governmental bodies to send a message to the remaining Iranian Jews that the sooner they decide to leave Iran the better, the Post was informed.

“Not everyone, however, was happy with the decision. One source involved with the Iranian Jewish community expressed concern that publicizing the group’s arrival, at a time when Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was saying that Israel’s Jews should be sent to Canada or Alaska, could complicate matters for those 25,000 Jews still in Iran.

“According to this source, the decision had less to do with sending a message to Iran’s Jews, and more to do with gaining positive publicity for the Jewish Agency and the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, the organization granting a $10,000 gift to each of the immigrants.

“Another source said there was concern that the publicity could lead to an increase in surveillance of the Iranian Jewish community. The source said the publication also served to counter recent statements made by Iranian Jews declaring how good life was for the Jewish community there.

Read article in full

Meanwhile, the Iranian regime has reacted by marching out the community’s leaders to do their PR damage control: see Karmel Melamed’s post

Blogger: Chaldean Thoughts
Article: The Shepherds’ Prayer, The Audio Book
Originaly Posted On: 2007-12-27 17:26:00

I’ve been very busy at work lately. So, I decided to try an audio book. I can listen to the audio on my way to and from work. It worked well, and I enjoyed the experience.

Dec. 28th is the Feast of the Holy Innocents. According to St. Matthew:

Herod perceiving that he was deluded by the wise men, was exceeding angry; and sending killed all the men children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the

Blogger: The Muslim Network for Baha’i Rights
Article: Message from the Universal House of Justice concerning Baha?i rights in Iran
Originaly Posted On: 2007-12-29 20:09:31

The following message is from the Universal House of Justice, it’s beautiful, refreshing, and very encouraging. Please do read it. For your convenience they are also available in PDF format, one in English and the other in Farsi. You may find the links below the letter:

To the followers of Baha’u’llah in the Cradle of the Faith

Dear Baha’i Friends,

For the past three decades you have weathered storms of persecution with the heartfelt conviction that such tribulations are, ultimately, “the precursors of that Era of blissful felicity which is to incarnate God’s ultimate purpose for all mankind.” Religious and government authorities, who have always been the instigators of the cruelty meted out to you and your forebears, continue to deny you your God-given rights. They prohibit you from responding to the calumnies they spread about you and your beliefs while maintaining a climate of intimidation that severely threatens those who would come to your aid. Throughout, the international community and your fellow Baha’is from around the world have come to your defense. But now, justice-seeking, fair-minded Iranians from every walk of life in your homeland and abroad have begun to raise their voices in your defense and, in growing numbers, want to know the truth about the Faith.

Across your nation, in cities and towns, from neighbourhoods, schools, and university campuses, business establishments, government offices, and even from prison cells, more and more of your well-wishers are coming forward. School administrators, teachers, parents, and pupils have registered their outrage at the shameful treatment of young Baha’i school children; friends and neighbours have refused to allow government officials illegal entry to Baha’i homes; university students and faculty members have publicly and privately asserted their disapproval at the wrongful denial of access to higher education to Baha’is; civil servants have responded sympathetically to your efforts to secure your rights; journalists have displayed frustration at their inability to publish the truth of your case, and there are indications that enlightened clergy are willing to see your situation redressed.

Elsewhere in the world, where there is freedom to do so, Iranian intellectuals frequently express anger and dismay at your treatment; Iranian mass media recount your story and demand that the civil rights of all Iranians be safeguarded; countless members among the Iranian Diaspora sympathize with you, laud your courage, and seek to learn more about the principles that animate your lives.

To these are now being added Iranian organizations of civil society within and outside Iran, as well as a number of Iranian political parties. In this respect, in a recent development, certain political parties have publicly expressed concern over the persecution of the Baha’is in Iran, in one instance calling for the Baha’i Faith to be officially recognized as a religious minority. The Baha’i International Community, on behalf of the Baha’is worldwide, has formally conveyed appreciation to two such groups for their actions.

These are fate-laden days. The storms of tests and trials continue, but however dark clouds may be, they cannot dim the light appearing on the horizon. In response to such propitious developments, may you, with “fixed resolve and perfect confidence,” and avoiding involvement in partisan politics, seize every opportunity to join your fellow citizens in promoting ideals conductive to the prosperity of your cherished homeland, assured of our supplications at the Sacred Threshold that your noble endeavors may be richly confirmed.

Letter in PDF, English version
Letter in PDF, Farsi version

Blogger: Point of no return
Article: After long dispute, Kfar Shalem residents evicted
Originaly Posted On: 2007-12-26 09:06:00

The residents of the southern Tel-Aviv neighbourhood of Kfar Shalem - most of who came to Israel from Yemen - finally lost their fight to stay in their homes. It is not clear from this Haaretz article by Meron Rapoport whether they are receiving any compensation.

“Police evacuated roughly 30 families from the southern Tel Aviv neighborhood of Kfar Shalem Tuesday morning, after a long legal dispute over land slated for a housing project.

“The disputed section of the neighborhood lies between Mahal Street and Moshe Dayan Street. A bulldozer was brought in to begin demolition.

“Dozens of social activists were at the scene protesting the evacuation. Police arrested a total of seven people - two protesters and five residents.

“Hadash MK Dov Khenin called on Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai to stop the evacuation immediately. “It’s impossible to accept the expulsion of people from apartments they have lived in for years for the benefit of real estate entrepreneurs. The mayor must remember his duty to the city’s residents,” he said.”

Read article in full

Kfar Shalem Yemenites win stay of eviction

Blogger: Ihsan
Article: left-liberal Islamophobia watch (III): the case of Iran
Originaly Posted On: 2007-12-24 02:19:00

Almost every day, left-liberal publications slam Iran on something or the other - some of these articles are based on faux Iranian dissidents’ initiatives, others are just straight up Islamophobic - and use the term “theocracy” pejoratively to describe the Islamic Republic. Yet other articles are written by liberal-imperialists (often including academic Muslims) who only differ with the neo-cons on the question of tactics, not with the goal of overthrowing the Islamic Republic, and replacing it with something called “democracy.”

Yes, I know, these articles, on the face of it, do not call for a military attack on Iran, but they do characterize Iran in a neo-conish light, that makes the country’s government out to be a monster that must be overthrown - they then add the caveat “by its own people.” This is the kind of psuedo-intellectual acrobatics that quickly falls on its face, and ends up discrediting the liberal-left in the eyes of many Muslims.

All of these articles circulate the (often Islamophobic) North American left-liberal groups, and helps to create a monstrous image of Iran - rarely, if ever, does one read anything that gives facts and figures about Iran, what gains the country has made since the Islamic Revolution, and where the country might still have some work to do… And it is absolutely beyond any of the left-liberalists to actually understand the role that Iran has played in influencing Sunni Muslim majority countries to improve their treatment of the Shi’a minorities.

What is interesting about all of this is that the gains Iran has made since the Islamic Revolution is not hidden, infact much of the data is readily available from the site of the World Bank (of all places) and the various United Nations data banks. Infact, most recently the World Bank recognized Iran as being #1 in the middle east and north africa, for creating a positive working environment for women. Why is it that the imperialists are willing to be more objective in the data that they present, while the liberal-left refuses to consider these numbers, as a way to counter the extremist right wing? I think this is just an extension of Islamophobia, and more generally an anti-religion attitude that blinds the left-liberalists.

Following are some charts based on the World Bank data that shows some of the remarkable gains Iran has made since the Islamic Revolution:

Literacy Rate

Life Expectancy:

Immunization

Child Mortality

Contraceptive availability and Birth Rate

see also left-liberal Islamophobia watch (I) and (II)

Blogger: Baha’i Faith in Egypt
Article: Another Year Passes With No Solution for Egypt’s ID Crisis
Originaly Posted On: 2007-12-26 10:56:00

International Herald Tribune’s “Daily News Egypt”, the country’s only independent English-language daily, has just published a story regarding yesterday’s postponement of the two cases involving Egyptian Baha’is who are attempting to obtain their basic civil rights. Because of “Internet Explorer” incompatibility with the newspaper’s website, the entire article is re-posted below:

BAHAI TRIAL POSTPONED FOR THE FIFTH TIME

By Alexandra Sandels
First Published: December 25, 2007

CAIRO: The Cairo Court of Administrative Justice postponed Tuesday its verdict in the two Bahai trials to Jan. 22, citing “continuing case deliberations.”

Postponed for the fifth time in a row, the verdict would determine whether Bahais could obtain official documents without affiliating themselves to a religion different than their own.

Many members from the Bahai community along with journalists and activists turned up for the session, which many believed would deliver the final decision.

“I’m disappointed. The plaintiffs are ready for the case to be closed. It’s been ongoing since 2004,” Hossam Bahgat, director of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR), told Daily News Egypt.

Shady Samir, a Bahai activist, said that “he’s become used to it” at this point.

“There seems to be a lot of debate about the case. Perhaps that’s why they haven’t been able to make a decision yet,” Samir told Daily News Egypt.

The first suit involves 14-year-old twins Emad and Nancy Raouf Hindi who have been unable to obtain birth certificates. Prohibited from enrolling in school without official documents, their father Dr Raouf Hindi had to send them to a British School in Libya.

The second lawsuit concerns Hosni Hussein Abdel-Massih, a Bahai student who has been ordered to leave his university studies since he cannot obtain a national ID card.

In order to obtain any kind of official documents in Egypt — including birth certificates, identity cards and marriage licenses — one must state their religious affiliation. Currently, authorities only recognize Islam, Christianity and Judaism. Passports are the only exception, and do not require citizens to list their religious faith.

Citizens cannot enroll in school, receive medical treatment, take bank loans, or buy a car without government documents such as identity cards and birth certificates. Young children cannot receive vaccinations against diseases without a birth certificate.

Bahais want to either write their faith as is or leave a blank space on the religion entry in official documents.

Blogger: Point of no return
Article: Rabbi who revived Tunisian Judaism dies
Originaly Posted On: 2007-12-21 08:52:00

While the Jewish population of Tunisia plummeted from 105,000 to 2,000 one dedicated Chabad rabbi stayed on, under steadily worsening conditions, for the few who remained. The Chabad-Lubavitch website printed this tribute to Rabbi Nissim Pinson (z”l).

“”Rabbi Pinson and his wife Rochel created much of the Jewish educational infrastructure that saw Tunisia’s Jewish population through very tumultuous years and continues its work until today. Rabbi Pinson performed circumcisions and produced kosher meat. Elie Attoun, who attended Chabad’s schools in the ‘80s, recalled Rabbi Pinson’s work to re-establish and build “all the mikvahs of Tunisia, in Tunis, Djerba, Zarzis where the Jewish community remained.”

“”Shortly after arriving in Tunis in 1960, Chabad-Lubavitch opened Tunisia’s first school for Jewish girls, Bet Rivkah, and built up the boys’ school there. At their peak, the schools had student body of 300. Mrs. Pinson, now in her late seventies and living with her children in France, flies in to Tunis each month to run teachers’ meetings, hire staff and keep tabs on the school she shepherded for decades.

“Along with students, the schools nurtured its teachers into leaders. A former Talmud teacher, Rabbi Meir Mazuz now heads Kisse Rahamim yeshiva in Bnei Brak, Israel.

“Yeshiva Oholei Yosef Yitzchak Lubavitch, the boys’ school and Chabad synagogue in Tunis, was open seven days a week, the beating heart of Chabad’s work in the country. After school hours, boys from local public schools studied with Rabbi Pinson, moving from basic Hebrew phonics to Talmud and advanced Jewish philosophy texts. On Shabbat afternoons, they stayed after services, singing, listening to the rabbi’s teachings, developing a desire to continue Jewish traditions.

“During the summer, the Pinsons hosted a summer school at their home.“In 1960, when the Jewish community was dying, Rabbi Pinson filled the vacuum when people thought we would disappear,” said Daniel Brami, a psychologist from Tunis now living in France. “It was a revolution to create a Talmud Torah.”

“Sustaining that revolution in the sixties demanded a serious measure of self-sacrifice. “I remember peeking from behind the curtains of my father’s office, watching the mob surround the school,” said Faige Hecht, Rabbi Pinson’s daughter, today a Chabad representative in Nice, France, remembering a traumatic day in 1967, after Israel’s stunning victory in the Six Day War.

“They attacked the great synagogue, desecrated the Torah scrolls and burnt them.” Students had to be evacuated stealthily from the school. “They wanted to burn my father’s car. I remember seeing them open the car door, turning the pages of my father’s Jewish books in the car, looking at the Rebbe’s picture. My father, every inch a chossid with his beard and his hat, opened the door and tried to calm them down.”

“The school survived, but the community’s matzah bakery was left in cinders. Machine made matzahs could be imported from France, where many Tunisians Jews immigrated after those harrowing days, but handmade matzahs could not. Dana still savors Rabbi Pinson’s passion for performing the mitzvah. The rabbi personally oversaw the harvest, koshered and retrofitted an industrial coffee grinder to turn the wheat into flour, and built a matzah oven. Weeks before Passover, drifts of flour coated the desks, and the school became the matzah bakery.

“The only way to get handmade matzah in Tunisia was through Lubavitch. ” Dana reminisced. “We knew what he did was for the sake of heaven. He did not have a support system, and he stayed because he was sent by the Rebbe to sustain and revive Judaism in Tunisia.

”Stoking the flame of Jewish life meant being unafraid in an increasingly uneasy environment, despite government’s official cordial stance toward Tunisian Jews. The government underwrites the salary of the Grand Rabbi (not Rabbi Pinson) and finances the cost of restoration and maintenance for synagogues. Yet, when Egypt’s Pres. Nasser died days before Rosh Hashannah, the Jewish New Year, the Jewish community moved to cancel public services lest the holiday traditions and services be misinterpreted as a celebration of the leader’s passing. That year, Chabad stayed open, shofars blowing, without incident.

Rabbi and Mrs. Pinson stayed, but they did not expect their community to embrace the hardships of Tunisia where small problems – like the paucity of kosher products – competed with larger ones like when the PLO set up headquarters in Borj Cedria near Tunis in 1982 or when Al Queda-claimed 2002 bombing of the ancient Ghirba synagogue on Djerba.

“The people who still have businesses in Tunisia and the well-to-do will stay for the time being. It is hard to foresee what will be with the rest of the community,” Mrs. Pinson told Lubavitch.com.

“Transplanted Tunisians now living in France and Israel still turn to the Pinsons for leadership. They flock to the homes of the Pinsons’ sons on days that are significant to Tunisian Jews.Rabbi Yossef Yitschok Pinson>, Chabad representative in Nice, returns to Tunisia several times a year to lead community gatherings. Jewish life continues in Tunisia, mainly in Djerba, and thousands of Tunisian Jews return each year to celebrate Lag B’Omer.”

Read article in full

Blogger: Chaldean Thoughts
Article: No Christmas in Basra
Originaly Posted On: 2007-12-15 11:08:00

Source: Ankawa Online
Basrawi Christians and Muslims attend the funeral of Maysoon, 42, and Osama, 45, Fareed At Mar Afram Chaldean Church in Basra, Iraq. The two siblings were killed by members of the Shia Militias on Sunday, Dec. 9, 2007.

By Queen Amidala
Basra, Iraq

Dear all,

With great sorrow, I bring sad news. The militias struck again. This time, they killed a brother and sister. […]

Blogger: Point of no return
Article: Timeline to disaster for the Jews of Iraq
Originaly Posted On: 2007-12-18 16:12:00

Misinformation about how and why the Jews of Iraq were forced to leave abounds on the Internet. A favoured myth is that Jews and Arabs lived in harmony until the creation of Israel. Another is that ‘the Zionists’ set off bombs to scare the Jews into leaving in 1950. This timeline extracted from The Jews of Iraq: a forgotten case of ethnic cleansing by Carole Basri clearly shows, however, that persecution and insecurity dogged the Jews as early as the 1930s.

1918,19 and 20: Fearful of local Muslim rule, Jews petition the Civil Commissioner for Baghdad for British citizenship, but are refused it.
1932: Iraq declares minority rights would be protected, but declines to appoint observer to supervise minority guarantees. Some 600 Assyrians massacred in 1933.
1932: German Charge d’affaires, Fritz Grobba, publishes instalments of Mein Kampf in Arabic daily newspaper. Radio Berlin begins Arabic broadcasts.
1934 - 36: 600 Jewish clerks dismissed from government
1934: regulation introduced requiring Jews to deposit £50 to travel abroad.
1935: state secondary schools impose quotas on Jewish students. Hebrew and Jewish history instruction forbidden. Only the Bible can be read without translation.
1936: government-licensed Jewish businesses must have a Muslim partner.
1939: Iraqi public school system begins to follow a Nazi education model.
1936: Three Jews murdered in Baghdad, one in Basra. Bomb thrown into synagogue on Yom Kippur.
1936 - 39: despite the Chief Rabbi officially dissociating himself from Zionism and a condemnation of Zionism signed by 33 Iraqi Jewish leaders, seven murders of Jews and six bombings take place.
1941: In the interregnum following a pro-Nazi coup, 179 Jews are killed and 911 houses looted in the Farhoud pogrom.
1947: Iraqi Foreign minister threatens expulsion of Jews as part of coordinated Arab League plan if Partition of Palestine goes ahead.
1948: state of emergency declared; 310 Jews court-martialed.
1948: Jews receiving letters from Palestine accused of Zionism.
September 1948: Shafik Ades, Iraq’s richest Jew, hanged.
May 1948 - Dec 1949: 800 - 1,500 Jews dismissed from public service. Jewish banks lose their foreign exchange trading licences. Restrictions on high school and university students.
Jewish community ‘donates’ 113,000 dinars to war effort against Israel. Fines collected from Iraqi Jews: $80 million. Travel ban on Jews and on buying and selling property. Retroactive tax on Jews. Property of all Jews who had emigrated since 1933 confiscated. Government ceases to service Jewish areas. Property of Jewish prisoners impounded. Jewish newspapers shut down.
Feb and March 1949: 100 Jews tried for connections to Zionism.
March 1950: Iraqi Parliament Ordinance permits Jewish emigration upon forfeiture of citizenship. Some 120,000 Jews register to leave.
March 1951: Law no. 5 deprives all stateless Iraqi Jews of their property.

Blogger: Baha’i Faith in Egypt
Article: Egypt Moves Forward in the Path of Human Rights
Originaly Posted On: 2007-12-14 16:55:00

This week, in the English version of Egypt’s semi-official newspaper Al-Ahram Weekly, Gamal Nkrumah wrote an article about Egypt’s celebration of Human Rights Day. Al-Ahram newspaper is the voice of Egypt’s government.

Below are a few selected paragraphs quoted here for their relevance. In order to read the entire article, please click here….

Egypt celebrated International Human Rights Day this week, drawing attention to the country’s mixed record, writes Gamal Nkrumah.

On Monday, a ceremony took place at Al-Ahram organised by the Human Rights Capacity Building Project (BENAA, or “Building” in Arabic), during which prizes were distributed to journalists whose writings promote human rights.

Among the topics raised in the winning articles were the role of Internet blogs in enhancing public awareness of human rights, as well as violence against women, the issue of street children and the prickly subject of torture.

“We based the NCHR’s third annual report, the Human Rights Situation in Egypt 2006/2007, on complaints received from citizens from all walks of life. We took into consideration infringements and violations of their rights as provided for in the Egyptian constitution, national laws and legislation, and in the international Charter on Human Rights,” Boutros-Ghali explained.

He stressed that the focus of the NCHR was to “identify the most serious infringements of human rights.”

Ghali also noted that particular problems faced by religious minorities, such as Coptic Christians and Bahaais, had been carefully examined. “However, many Muslims also complained about what they saw as infringements of their human and social rights,” Boutros-Ghali added.

“The violation of the rights of one citizen is as important as the collective violation of the rights of many citizens,” Boutros-Ghali said.

He said that in the case of the Bahaais, the NCHR had recommended that the religious identity of individuals should not be written on identity cards. This, he noted, was of particular importance to Bahaais and to people who had changed their religious affiliations.

“Religion should be a private matter,” Boutros- Ghali insisted. “No citizen should be discriminated against because of his or her religion, gender, race or political affiliation.”