Canary In The Coal Mine

Senate Distinguishes Between Palestinian Refugees and Descendants

From: JTA.org | May 24, 2012

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WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee approved language that would distinguish between Palestinian refugees alive in 1948 and their descendants.

The amendment to the foreign appropriations bill, initiated by Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) and passed Thursday, requires the State Department to report within a year on approximately how many people are receiving assistance from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency "whose place of residence was Palestine between June 1946 and May 1948 and who were displaced as a result of the 1948 Arab-Israeli conflict; and who are descendants" of those people.

The State Department had expressed concerns about the language in the amendment, but Kirk prevailed.

"This will have major implications for future negotiations over final status issues with regard to refugees," said a senior Senate aide involved in shaping the amendment.

Should the Obama or any subsequent administration heed the new requirement, it would deliver a diplomatic blow to Palestinian efforts to leverage their refugee status in peace talks with Israel by aligning U.S. policy with Israel on the matter.

Palestinian negotiators have spoken of a "right of return" of refugees to Israel, and have suggested they would concede this in exchange for a final status package.

UNRWA, the main body assisting Palestinians, unlike other U.N. agencies assigns refugee status to descendants of Palestinians who fled the area during the 1948-1949 war, although in its definition it is careful to distinguish between the two populations. As a result, 5 million Palestinians are currently eligible for UNRWA services.

An estimated 30,000 Palestinians would fit the stricter definition of refugee.

The United States is a major UNRWA funder.

Source: http://www.jta.org/news/article/2012/05/24/3096476/senate-distinguishes-between-palestinian-refugees-and-descendants

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Islam’s Cultural Revolution

by Giulio Meotti  |  FrontPageMag.com  |  May 24, 2012

 

Mao’s Cultural Revolution was one of the darkest chapters of the 20th Century: communist zealots, known as “the Red Guards,” attached revolutionary messages to Buddhist statues; seventeen professors from the Shanghai Music Conservatory committed suicide; intellectuals were harassed in public trials during which they had to confess their “sins,” kneeling on makeshift rostrums; thousands of churches, temples and monasteries were demolished; ancient libraries went up in smoke; imperial ceramics were smashed and religious relics melted down. Millions of people were killed.

A new Cultural Revolution is now taking place in the Middle East, where Islam’s Red Guards are obliterating the non-Muslim heritage. If Mao’s Guards took inspiration from the “red book,” Islamic zealots have the Koran. Their targets are Jewish shrines, Christian churches, ancient monuments and  cultural masterpieces.

A few days ago in Timbuktu, Mali, Islamists destroyed the tomb of a Sufi saint, Sidi Mahmoud Ben Amar. Timbuktu is known as “the city of the 333 saints”, classified as Unesco World Heritage Sites. Sufism is a mystical dimension of Islam, but extremists believe Sufi shrines are “sacrilegious.” The UN cultural body didn’t raise its voice against this Islamic iconoclasm.

A few weeks before, Abdulaziz ibn Abdullah Al al-Sheikh, the grand mufti of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, issued a religious fatwa, saying it is “necessary to destroy all the churches in the Arabian Peninsula.” The most important Muslim cleric in the land that gave birth to Islam called for the destruction of churches without his rule attracting any global condemnation.

While in Libya Jews have been throw out again after trying to restore Tripoli’s ancient synagogue, Egyptians are planning to block Israelis from making the pilgrimages to the tomb of a Jewish saint, Yaakov Abuhatzeira.

An Islamic mob destroyed the Institute of Egypt in Cairo, founded by Napoleon and containing 192,000 books and documents from as far back as the XIX century. Now, it’s gone. Napoleon’s legendary “Description de l’Egypte” is also lost (in 1822 Jean-François Champollion used this document to unveil the mistery of the hierogliphycs). Unesco, again, stood silent. As it stood silent when Egypt’s former cultural minister, Farouk Hosni, said he “would burn Israeli books in Egyptian libraries”.

Like in Mao’s China, Islamic salafists are trying to ban ancient statues that dot Egypt and suggested that the pagan treasures “could be covered with wax”. The sirens that embellish the fountain of Zeus in Alexandria have already been deemed “inappropriate” by the Salafist party, which decided to “veil” them completely with a sheet. Salafi leaders are also terrifying liberal intellectuals by calling for banning the novels written by Naguib Mahfouz, the only Arab Nobel Prize laureate for Literature who has been called “Egypt’s Balzac”, because his works “encourage drinking alcohol and using drugs”. Mahfouz’s novel “Awlad Haretna” is labelled as “atheistic”. Islamists also want to ban the greatest masterpiece of oriental literature, “One thousand and one arabian nights”, because it’s “depravity” and “offensive to the public good”.

In Israel, Palestinian Muslims are erasing any Jewish trace on the Temple Mount, Judaism’s most holy site. In 2005 thousands of Arabs torched the synagogues in Gaza’s Katif Bloc. It was an orgy of hate, like that of the Red Guards. Twelve years ago, Arabs destroyed Joseph’s tomb, Judaism’s fourth holy site, smashing the stone structure and ripping it apart, brick by brick, as the Red Guards did with Tao’s temples. The arson attack on the Shalom al Yisrael synagogue in Jericho and the continuing gunfire at Rachel’s Tomb in Bethlehem are two other examples that come to mind in the Israelo-Palestinian conflict.

Islam’s cultural revolution began when the Taliban destroyed the two wonderful Buddhas in Bamyan, Afghanistan. It was a turning point for a proto-Nazi ideology bent on the physical eradication of its enemies and their religious symbols. If Mao’s Red Guards destroyed the imperial Chinese heritage, Islam’s Red Guards want to cancel any non-Muslim trace in the Middle East. It’s a Koranic Inquisition.

 

Source: http://frontpagemag.com/2012/05/24/islams-cultural-revolution/

The African BDS Disgrace

by Debra Mankowitz  |  Ynetnews.com  |  May 24, 2012

 

Op-ed: As South African case shows, BDS replaces healthy debate with totalitarian way of thinking.

The recent cancellation by University of KZN of the invitation to Israel’s Deputy Ambassador to South Africa Yaakov Finkelstein to freely address students and staff of smacks of racism of the worst kind. Surely, an academic institution is a place where minds should be able to hear all points of view

Instead, students are now being coerced into witnessing official representatives from Israel being singled out for opprobrium and sanction, with only insidious disinformation and the proselytizing anti-Israel campaign of the BDS movement available to them.

Does BDS tell the students that the territories were won in defensive wars against Israel? Did BDS inform the students that it is unprecedented in history that a country is obliged to give up land taken in a defensive war? Both Japan and Germany lost land as a result of their aggressions in WWII.

This self-same BDS movement is now trying to force South Africa through the Department of Trade and Industry to label goods made in the disputed territories of Judea and Samaria as being manufactured in the “Occupied Palestinian Territories,” unless of course Israel withdraws back to 1948 lines.

This demand is ludicrous and ignorant in the extreme. What are the 1948 lines anyway? Do they form part of the 1947 Partition or are these the armistice lines after the War of Independence? So Israel at the insistence of BDS is going to give up its towns and cities and go back to Auschwitz- type borders, or otherwise "Ahava" will have a new label.

This would be laughable if it were not so tragic that a bunch of deluded individuals who actually don’t give a damn about Palestinian rights or their future can honestly believe that Israel, a sovereign United Nations member, will capitulate to their new demand, which smacks of arrogance, delusion and racism.

Is this organization even representative of Palestinian interests? I don’t think so. Do they know, or even care, that 13,000 Palestinians and their families may lose their jobs if companies are forced to relocate because of the campaign against Israel?

BDS has not helped the Palestinians one iota but has given free, unexpected and very welcome publicity to "Ahava." Their profits internationally are growing exponentially.

Ignoring global atrocities

BDS claims to be humanistic in its outlook but from what one can see only has selective humanism towards one conflict in the world, while conveniently ignoring atrocities in Syria, massive human rights violations in China, endless torture and detentions without trial in Iran. The list is endless. Is this because it is acceptable for Muslims to kill Muslims, and for dissident Chinese and activist Tibetans to be incarcerated and tortured by these respective countries?

It is very interesting that it is not acceptable for Jews in the only Jewish state in the world to defend themselves in what is now a 100 year old terror-war against the Arabs. Despite an intractable conflict and numerous peace overtures to uncompromising neighbors who do not want peace, these same eight million Jews, Muslim Arabs, Druze, Bedouin, Circassians and Christians too - all Israeli by the way - have contributed in unparalleled ways to the upliftment of the world.

South Africa too has benefited enormously from Israeli innovations in agriculture, medicine and technology. Is South Africa now going to ban the use of all these marvelous inventions for a misplaced and propagandist ideology that serves no-one, least of all our needy population?

Who cares about the Kashmiri dispute or millions of Zimbabweans struggling and suffering on the other side of the border? Who cares about Eritrean and Sudanese people who, in attempting to flee from some of the worst atrocities perpetrated on them, run to pariah Israel which does not shoot them, torture them or incarcerate them like Egypt does, but allows them to live freely and even feeds them and sends their children to school? Many of them are black Muslims, hated by their fellow more lighter-skinned Muslims. Talk about racism!

Sadly the reality is that Israel’s case dates from time immemorial. It fits in comfortably with popular Jew-prejudice, it is fashionable to pick on Jews and the only Jewish country in the world – in truth, it is a soft target and few besides the Jewish people care enough to take a stance.

It is undoubtedly the BDS campaign that has prevented Israel’s deputy ambassador from stating his country’s position. Could it be that something frightens them? Could it be that he will speak the truth, enough of the truth to change the mindset of impressionable young minds?

BDS is doing all it can to destroy healthy debate and replace it with a totalitarian way of thinking that smacks of intimidation and Apartheid-style tactics. That is not democratic; it is not just; and in the end, it will be defeated, for history has proven that the truth will out, no matter what.

 

Source: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4233847,00.html

Video: Pennsylvania Textbooks Blatantly Lie About History, Promote Islam

From: FamilySecurityMatters  |  May 24, 2012

 

 

 

 

Source: http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/blog/detail/pennsylvania-textbooks-blatantly-lie-about-history-promote-islam

 

 

Video: Female Egyptian Writer Speaks Out On 'What's Really Happening' In Middle East To Women

From: FamilySecurityMatters.org  |  May 24, 2012

 

 

 

Source: http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/blog/detail/female-egyptian-writer-speaks-out-on-whats-really-happening-in-middle-east-to-women

 

Stakelbeck on Terror Video: Will Iran Strike New York City on 9/11 Scale?

by Erick Stakelbeck, CBN News Terrorism Analyst  |  CBN.com  |  May 16, 2012

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

New York City: It's the center of the U.S. financial system and for many people, the capital of the world. That's why the Big Apple remains a top terror target.

From the 1993 World Trade Center bombing to 9/11, and more recently, the Times Square bomber, terrorists have repeatedly targeted Manhattan.

Now Iran, the world's largest state sponsor of terror, is reportedly taking aim.

A recent warning about the threat posed by Iran and its terror proxy, Hezbollah, came from lawmakers on Capitol Hill.

"We know Hezbollah operatives are here," Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y.,  told a House committee on homeland security in March.

"The question is whether these Hezbollah operatives have the capacity to carry out attacks on the U.S. homeland and how quickly they can become fully operational," he said.

King said hundreds of operatives are here and that some Iranian diplomats stationed at the United Nations are much more than they appear.

"Several of their comrades in the U.N. mission in New York were sent back to Iran after the NYPD caught them photographing the city's rail systems in the years since 9/11," he said.

According to one NYPD official, there have been at least five other instances of what he called "hostile reconnaissance" against New York City by Iranian agents.

"They see that attacking New York or threatening the facilities in New York will destabilize the financial markets and automatically harm the U.S. economy," former CIA double agent Reza Kahlili told CBN News.

Kahlili was once a member of Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps. His book, A Time to Betray, lays out Iran's potential plots against America.

"Many cells are present here. And they have their eyes set on our power plants, water supply, food distribution, bridges, tunnels -- anything that could create fear and also disrupt the daily life of Americans," he warned.

One Iranian naval commander said recently that Iran's forces can move within three miles of New York City if they so choose.

Kahlili said an attack against Iran's nuclear facilities could be the trigger.

"They believe that an attack on Syria or Iran would be sufficient to trigger a response, which would be terrorist attacks on the world stage against U.S. and Israeli interests, an attack on Israel and attacks on U.S. soil," Kahlili said.

Iran shocked many analysts with last year's plot to attack foreign diplomats in Washington, D.C. A nuclear-armed Iranian regime would likely become even bolder.

"You can tell that Iran gets more aggressive the closer they get toward a nuclear weapon," Ryan Mauro, a national security analyst for RadicalIslam.org, told CBN News.

"Rather than international pressure making them restrain themselves, it's actually making them act more and more aggressively," he said.

Iran and Hezbollah already have an extensive network in Latin America, which they could use to strike at the United States. And according to Kahlili, Iranian agents also have a presence in some American mosques.

 

 

 

Source: http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/us/2012/May/Iran-Plotting-Next-911-Intel-Says-Yes/

Report: Russia Shipping Arms to Assad

From: IsraelNationalNews.com  |  May 24, 2012

 

A Russian ship with arms intended for forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad is expected to dock at the Syrian port of Tartus on Saturday, according to a Thursday afternoon report by Al-Arabiya. Russia has a naval base there.

The West has accused Russia of helping the Assad regime survive, while the Moscow government says the United States is equipping opposition forces to overthrow the Damascus government.

 

Source: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/Flash.aspx/240827

Iran’s Grand Strategy

by Ryan Mauro  |  FamilySecurityMatters.org  |  May 16, 2012

 

The Iranian regime believes what it says and can achieve its stated objectives. That's the blunt truth that few can accept.

To determine Iran's strategy, we must determine its goals and ideology. President Ahmadinejad consistently states that he acts in order to "hasten the arrival" of the Mahdi, also called the Hidden Imam, who is to appear during the End Times to bring victory over the enemies of Islam. Since at least July 2010, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei has been telling his inner circle that he has met the Mahdi, who promised him an imminent return.

A number of voices opposed to a potential Israeli strike on Iran's nuclear facilities reassure us that the regime is a rational actor and we should not take this rhetoric seriously. Former Mossad director Meir Dagan went so far as to say Iran is "very rational." The statement made headlines but their simplicity is misleading. Dagan actually said that Iran is "not exactly our rational." What Dagan likely meant is that the regime weighs costs and benefits. It rationally pursues goals that we'd consider irrational.

Eight Christian leaders are among those that want the U.S. to embrace a policy of containment towards a nuclear-armed Iran. On March 5, the director of the Presbyterian Church (USA)'s Office of Public Witness co-wrote a letter to Congress, urging that resolutions ruling out such a policy be shot down.

It said the resolutions "sets a dangerously low threshold for war" and compares Iran to the Soviet Union.

A little-noticed documentary titled "The Coming is Upon Us" was produced by Ahmadinejad's office last year and it lays out the regime's beliefs and planned path forward, much like Mein Kampf did. And it debunks the notion that the U.S.S.R. and the Iranian regime are equivalent. The film makes the case that the regime's leaders are the incarnations of specific End Times figures foretold in Islamic eschatology.

Iran is the "nation from the East" that paves the way for the Mahdi's appearance. Supreme Leader Khamenei is Seyed Khorasani, "the preparer" who comes from Khorasan Province with a black flag and a distinct feature in his right hand. Khamenei's right hand is paralyzed from an assassination attempt. Khorasani's commander-in-chief is Shoeib-Ebne Saleh, who the film says is President Ahmadinejad. Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah is the incarnation of Yamani, a commander with a Yemeni ancestry who leads the Mahdi's army into Mecca.

These three "preparers" wage war against the Antichrist and "the Imposters"-the U.S., Israel and the West's Arab allies. The film also mentions that a figure named Sofiani will side with Islam's enemies. Former Iranian Revolutionary Guards officer Reza Kahlili, who leaked the film, told me that the full-length version identifies him as Jordanian King Abdullah II.

The film lists various End Times prophecies that have been fulfilled to argue that the Mahdi's appearance is near. The 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran; the invasion of Iraq from the south and subsequent sectarian violence and death of Saddam Hussein; the Houthi rebellion in Yemen; the fall of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and the increasing amount of open homosexuality, cross-dressing, adultery and women taking off the hijab are correlated to specific Islamic prophecies.

There are two signs yet to be fulfilled that will trigger the final grand conflict that the Mahdi will intervene during: An Arab coalition is to unite and rid itself of foreign influence and Saudi King Abdullah, who is 87 years old, is to die. The Muslim Brotherhood's rise is fulfilling the first prophecy,the film says.

The speakers state that Islamic prophecy talks of the Bani Abbas Dynasty ruling modern-day Saudi Arabia during the End Times, which is the Saudi Royal Family. The prophecy is that this dynasty will be ruled by someone named Abdullah, whose death will lead to internal turmoil right before the Mahdi's appearance. It notes that no one named Abdullah has ruled there in the past 100 years.

"For about 10 minutes [in the full-length film], the video lists the names of clerics, including very influential ones like Ayatollah Haeri Shirazi and former Revolutionary Guards chief commander Seyed Yahya Safavi, who affirm their belief that Khamenei is Seyed Khorasani. This isn't propaganda, the regime really believes it," Kahlili told me.

The Iranian regime has a realistic strategy to dominate the Middle East and lead an Arab coalition in taking Jerusalem--the two tasks that will, in its mind, trigger the Mahdi's appearance.

Iran is wisely perfecting all elements of a nuclear-armed missile before creating a bomb. It is working on the nuclear triggering mechanism, a deliverable warhead and is accumulating the supplies and infrastructure necessary to quickly produce an arsenal. Almost everything besides actually putting together a bomb is permitted under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Under Article 10, Iran can announce that it is withdrawing from the treaty in 90 days because of a security threat. Ironically, an Israeli strike could be used as that pretext. Iran could declare that it didn't intend to build nukes, but Israel's actions now force it to. Of course, Iran could just ignore its treaty obligations altogether.

Ayatollah Khamenei's anti-nuke fatwa is conditional and, as Amer Taheri explains, it's never even been published in its entirety. There can easily be an escape clause we don't know about, if the fatwa even exists in the first place. In 2009, Ahmadinejad left the door open to building nukes if the security of his country requires it. Some Iranian clerics and officials are already giving religious justifications for becoming nuclear-armed.

It is wishful thinking to believe that the pro-American Arab states can contain Iran. The governments are already insecure in the wake of the Arab Spring and, in what the Iranians surely see as an act of providence, the Shiites in the Sunni-ruled Arab countries are perfectly positioned to seize the region's oil supplies. Take a look at the map produced by Mark Langfan to see how easily Iran can take effective control of about 56% of the world's oil reserves. About 90% of Saudi Arabia's oil is located in its Shiite-populated Eastern Province. Bahrain is a majority-Shiite state. The oil-rich areas of southern Iraq are in the midst of a Shiite population. Iran can carve out enclaves in these areas through proxies or force the Arab countries to capitulate by stirring up discontent.

If Iran controls the oil and has nuclear weapons capabilities, it is hard to see how the international sanctions and agreements to reduce imports of Iranian oil survive. The European and Asian countries were slow to get on board in the first place. Increasing oil prices, the temptation to accept Iran after it acquires nuclear capability and the political power of the growing Muslim population in Europe will test these countries' commitments.

The key question is how Iran plans to retake Jerusalem and destroy Israel once Saudi King Abdullah dies and this Arab coalition has been assembled. An all-out war is an option. After all, former Iranian President Rafsanjani said in December 2001 that "the use of even one nuclear bomb inside Israel will destroy everything. However, it will only harm the Islamic world. It is not irrational to contemplate such an eventuality." But another option exists: Asymmetric warfare carried out with the protection of a nuclear shield.

President Ahmadinejad recently said that "the destruction of the Zionist regime does not necessitate making war. If countries of the region cut ties with the Zionists and give them dirty looks, it will spell the end of this puppet regime." A regional coalition could isolate Israel and sponsor countless terrorist attacks that wreck the economy and weaken it to the point where direct warfare becomes a viable option. The U.S. could militarily intervene in a conventional war but the U.S. is unlikely to get involved if it is asymmetric, especially if Iran has nuclear weapons.

Iran has been simulating the use of an Electro-Magnetic Pulse. This is the detonation of a nuclear weapon in the atmosphere that destroys electronic components over an extremely long distance. An EMP attack would instantly disable the U.S., bringing the country back to the 1800s. It would be far easier for Iran to do the same to Israel. It is easy to envision millions of martyrdom-seekers pouncing at the opportunity to take part in, what they feel, is a prophetic event.

When you consider the Arab Spring, the region's oil fields' proximity to Shiite populations, the inability to stop Iran's nuclear program and the EMP technology, you can see why the Iranian regime believes it owns the future. Unfortunately, the West dismisses the proclaimed goals of the regime as meaningless bravado that, even if it is genuine, could never come to pass.

The Iranian regime's religious beliefs may be crazy but it isn't crazy for thinking it can win.

This article was sponsored by the Institute on Religion and Democracy.

Ryan Mauro is Family Security Matters' national security analyst. He is a fellow with RadicalIslam.org, the founder of WorldThreats.com and a frequent national security analyst for Fox News Channel. He can be contacted at ryanmauro1986@gmail.com.

 

Source: http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/publications/detail/irans-grand-strategy?f=must_reads

Muslim Brotherhood's Dream: Egypt to Elect Islamic Caliphate

by Chana Ya'ar  |  IsraelNationalNews  |  May 16, 2012

 

Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood is hoping that when the polls open in nine days, voters will bring in the era of the Islamic Caliphate.

"We are seeing the dream of the Islamic Caliphate coming true at the hands of Mohammed Morsi,” said cleric Safwat Higazy, speaking at a rally for the Brotherhood's presidential candidate.

The TV preacher vowed from the podium before thousands at the stadium of an industrial city in the Nile Delta, “The capital of the Caliphate and the United Arab States is Jerusalem, Allah willing.”

In response, the crowd waved green Brotherhood flags, chanting, “The people want to implement Allah's law.”

Morsi himself said at a rally at Cairo University this week, “We will not accept any alternative to Shari'ah... The Qu'ran is our constitution and it will always be so.”

But Morsi is running so far only in fourth place, in a field of 13 candidates whose first challenge will come during the May 23-24 polls. Ahead of him in popularity thus far are two former regime candidates and Abdel-Moneim Abolfotoh, a more moderate Islamist.

Abolfotoh, who was once a member of the Brotherhood, left the organization after he was blocked from running for president. He has said that a Christian has the right to be president, and that books promoting atheism should not be censored, is also supported by the more hard-line Salafists.

The harder-line Muslim Brotherhood leadership, rejected by its Salafist Islamic colleagues, has become much bolder since gaining control over the parliament.

The party demanded as the majority in parliament that the military allow it to form the next government.

The Brotherhood faction also balked at a World Bank loan taken by the parliament to improve the country's broken sewage system, citing the interest involved, forbidden under Shari'a law.

The party has also called on the government to revoke a Mubarak-era law to allow women to seek a divorce from their husbands in Islamic courts.

 

 

Source: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/155872

 

Obama Administration Says It Talked With Muslim Brotherhood to Promote Small Business

By Terence P. Jeffrey | April 25, 2012 | CNSNews.com

The Obama administration says that it has talked with members of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood in order to promote small business.

The Muslim Brotherhood, which was banned in Egypt during the regime of former President Hosni Mubarak, leads the Freedom and Justice Party which, according to the Congressional Research Service, won 235 of the 498 seats (47 percent) in Egypt’s new People’s Assembly, which convened in January. The fundamentalist Islamist Alliance won another 125 seats (or 25 percent of the assembly).

In an online briefing for foreign reporters last week, Undersecretary of State Robert Hormats ( Pictured) said that the State Department is trying to promote collaboration between small and medium-sized businesses in the United States and businesses overseas.

In this context, he said he had talked to members of the Muslim Brotherhood about promoting smaller enterprises. He said he would be having similar discussions this week with leaders from Middle Eastern and North African countries.

“America's a big economy with a number of big companies. We also have a lot of small and medium-sized companies. And we know in many parts of the world, there is an effort to support small and medium-sized enterprise,” said Hormats.

“Just one example: I’ve been spending a lot of time in the Middle East and North Africa in support of the kind of reforms that are now going on in that region,” said Hormats. “And one of the things that I have picked up by people throughout the region is their emphasis on support for small and medium-sized enterprises. American companies would like to buy from and collaborate with small and medium-sized enterprises in North Africa, the Middle East. I’ve had conversations in Egypt, with business people members of the Muslim Brotherhood; the same is true in Tunisia, and other parts of the world.

“So this is not an ideological issue. This is not a political issue,” said Hormats. “This is a practical issue of collaboration between the United States and companies around the world and governments around the world, all of whom want to create jobs, want to work together, and to improve the living standards of their citizens. American business is very supportive of this.

“The State Department is very supportive of American business and of cooperation between American business and businesses in other countries who want to create jobs, who want to innovate, and want to strengthen their global ties in a mutually constructive way,” said Hormats.

A reporter from the Arabic-language newspaper Al Sharq al-Awsat asked Hormats: “Post the Arab Spring, changing nations are struggling. What is the support that is taking place there?” In responding, Hormats said that the Obama administration is interested in supporting Middle Eastern countries "by helping them to deal with opportunities for strengthening small and medium sized enterprises"--mentioning, again, in this context, his meeting with members of the Muslim Brotherhood.

"The United States is strongly committed to supporting the economic and the political reforms that are going on in the region. Each country is in a somewhat different position. They're not all the same. They don't have the same approaches to change," Hormats responded. "But they do have many things in common: the emphasis on dignity, the emphasis on job creation, the emphasis on strengthening opportunity for their people to participate in the political process and participate to a far greater degree in the economic benefits of growth and giving them more opportunities.

"We have had very good conversations," said Hormats. "In fact, over the next few days, I plan to meet with representatives of all of the Middle East-North Africa countries, first in Paris next week, early next week, and then later in that week during the World Bank-IMF meetings. Ive been playing a very active role myself, as have my colleagues here in this building and throughout our government. Secretary Clinton regards this as a very high priority. And of course, President Obama regards this as very important. So we intend to support countries of the region by helping them deal with their financial situations, by helping them to deal with opportunities for strengthening small and medium sized enterprises.

"I mentioned representatives from the Muslim Brotherhood with whom I've had an opportunity to meet, have emphasized that point very substantially," said Hormats. "We agree with that, helping them to take advantage of new export opportunities, export facilitation. How do they take better advantage of generalized preferences, which many of them have? Or in some cases, some of have free trade agreements that we would like to see them be able to take more advantage of technical assistance, education assistance, a whole range of things."

In mid-January, Hormats joined Deputy Secretary of State William Burns on a U.S. delegation to Egypt that included talks with leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood.

According to a Jan. 26 report in Daily News Egypt, Hormats said he believed the Muslim Brotherhood leaders he spoke with were “very pragmatic."

The Daily News Egypt report said: "Hormats described the half-dozen Brotherhood officials he met with as 'very pragmatic. They understand; they're the majority party now in the parliament. They are going to be the primary political party in Egypt. They need to deliver results.' 'And their focus primarily is on small- and medium-enterprise' as generators of job creation, he said."

The Daily News Egypt, which described itself as the only English language daily in Egypt, published its last edition yesterday, Sunday, April 22, 2012.

Source: http://cnsnews.com/news/article/obama-administration-says-it-talked-muslim-brotherhood-promote-small-business