BY JEFF JACOBY, BOSTON GLOBE— In the first round of Egypt’s parliamentary elections, the hardline Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party won 36.6 percent of the vote — a plurality — and the even harder-line Salafist party, Al-Nour, won 24.4 percent. The Egyptian Bloc — a coalition of liberal, social-democratic, and secular parties — drew only…
BY CAROLINE GLICK, JPOST— With vote tallies in for Egypt’s first round of parliamentary elections in it is abundantly clear that Egypt is on the fast track to becoming a totalitarian Islamic state. The first round of voting took place in Egypt’s most liberal, cosmopolitan cities. And still the Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafists received…
BY AMANDA MIKELBERG, NY DAILY NEWS— A Muslim revival at Cairo’s most prominent mosque Friday that drew 5,000 worshippers reportedly turned into a hate-fueled rally, complete with repeated vows to “one day kill all the Jews.” Led by the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt’s largest and best-organized political party, the crowd that gathered at the al-Azhar Mosque…
BY REUTERS— Saboteurs blew up Egypt’s gas pipeline to Jordan and Israel on Monday, witnesses and security sources said, a few hours before the country holds its first free election since president Hosni Mubarak was toppled in February. The explosion was set off west of El-Arish in Sinai, witnesses said. There was a second consecutive…
BY JOSEF FEDERMAN, AP Israel expects a “grave erosion” in its peace agreement with Egypt and is even preparing for the possibility of the historic deal collapsing altogether, a Cabinet minister said Wednesday, in the first official assessment of the unrest rocking Israel’s southern neighbor. The comments by Matan Vilnai, the minister for civil defense…
BY REUTERS– Police backed by the army used batons and teargas on Sunday to charge protesters in Cairo’s Tahrir Square demanding Egypt’s ruling generals swiftly hand power to civilians, in some of the worst violence since the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak. Medical sources said as many as 11 died in Sunday’s violence. With little more…
BY BARRY RUBIN, PAJAMAS MEDIA— In a speech, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton asks: “Why does America promote democracy one way in some countries and another way in others?” Here’s how the question should be rephrased: Why does America subvert the chances for democracy one way in some countries and another way in others? Here’s…
BY JEFF JACOBY, BOSTON GLOBE— Have you ever seen a pogrom? Sarah Carr has. “The Coptic Hospital tried its best to deal with the sudden influx of casualties,” wrote Carr, a Cairo-based journalist and blogger, in her firsthand account of Sunday’s deadly attack on Christian protesters by the Egyptian military. “Its floors were sticky with blood…
BY RON BEN-YISHAI, YNET— The military impasse, the stands taken by the Shin Bet and the Mossad, Hamas elasticizing its stance, the Arab Spring and the Palestinian bid in the UN – all of these contributed to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision to present the cabinet with the current Shalit deal, which would bring about…
BY CAROLINE GLICK, JPOST— On Sunday night, Egyptian Copts staged what was supposed to be a peaceful vigil at Egypt’s state television headquarters in Cairo. The 1,000 Christians represented the ancient Christian community of some 8 million whose presence in Egypt predates the establishment of Islam by several centuries. They gathered in Cairo to protest…