MidnightWatcher's Blogspot

By Manar Ammar – “CAIRO: As the new school year begins next week in Egypt, school girls and their families are preparing to face yet another year of sexual harassment, this time waiting for the children outside their schools.

Egyptian mothers worry about their young daughters, who are subjected to sexual harassment outside their gated schools and daughters only pray to go home safely after the day has ended.

The phenomena of men waiting outside girls only schools to sneak a view, harass and self-expose themselves has made even school a difficult trip to take on a daily basis. Egyptian girls must join girls-only schools after elementary school in all public education, which has turned the gates of the schools into a pervert magnet.

I went to the Kolyet al-Banat school in Zamalek, an all-girls school from elementary through high school:

Right around the corner from our school is an all boys school similar in age group to ours, so we knew what was out there waiting for us every day after school. But it wasn’t exclusive to naughty school boy behavior, we had adult men who also used to wait for the final bell to ring and the thousands of girls to come out. We had a guy who looked like a father of any one of us, a lawyer or a businessman carrying a briefcase, who used to stand there outside of our school every single day. Once the girls started to leave the school he would swiftly move his briefcase, exposing his penis to us. As children we would run away, some laughing and some crying. But he wasn’t the only one. A building guard, or bowab as they are called in Egypt, who worked in a nearby building, a 60-something old man who wore the traditional male dress and sat on his bench watching the street. Once we passed by him, he would lift up his dress and expose his naked flesh to us. We stopped walking by that building and warned other girls as well.

When the problem became overwhelming and parents started to complain to the school and the police, the authorities and the Qasr al-Nil police station sent a police car that stood there outside of our school everyday during my senior year. Problems were getting out of hand and leaving the school meant being exposed to the worst of human nature. That was in late 1999, but the problem has not improved, not even slightly, since. In fact it became widespread to the point where mothers are hiding horror stories of what happens to their girls in school, fearing the father would prevent them from having an education…

Now sexual harassment is no stranger to the experience of being a female in Egypt; in fact it became a fundamental element of being outdoors. Last week, the National Council for Women (NCW) said that Egyptian women get harassed 7 times every 200 meters, and a 2008 report by the Egyptian Center for Women Rights found that well over two-thirds of Egyptian women are harassed on daily basis.” Read more.

By Lee Kaplan – “Rafic Labboun, an imam from the Shiite Association Bay Area (SABA) Mosque in San Jose, California, has been arrested in Mexico by Mexican immigration authorities working in cooperation with the FBI and Homeland Security.

Labboun was taken into custody with the two known Hezbollah agents from Belize, Justin George Abdallah Elders and Yasser Safa in Merida, a Mexican city located in the Yucatan peninsula. Both men are citizens of Belize. Intelligence agencies in the United States were tracking this group as part of a cell of Hezbollah-linked Arab terrorists who were operating in Mexico and Central America…

Labboun was released this summer from a federal prison, where he had served 27 months for credit card fraud that authorities suspected was linked to fundraising for Hezbollah here in the US…

The money made its way to Lebanon and has never been returned, even though Labboun was required to pay back the money as per the agreement of release and subsequent his three year probationary term. Instead, Labboun fled to Mexico on a false passport from Belize. It is [believed] he was helped by the alleged Hezbollah agents with whom he was arrested…

As RadicalIslam.org reported, the SABA Mosque in San Jose supported Labboun throughout his trial, claiming he was innocent of any wrongdoing and giving him money and food during his trial in a federal court. Once Labboun was freed on probation, the mosque held a welcome home party for him. During his incarceration, a music video was released, referring to Labboun a ‘peace activist’ and calling for his release from prison.

The SABA Mosque maintains it reaches out to the non-Shiite and non-Muslim community for interfaith dialog but undercover recordings and even the mosque’s own website have shown preaching against Jews and Christians is done within the mosque’s walls.

Despite this, the SABA Mosque is still enjoying political assistance from politicians like Democratic candidate for the House of Representatives Mike Honda, who is scheduled to appear at the Mosque for a gathering on September 15 …” Read more.

Los Angeles Police: Terror Plots Linked To Iran And Hezbollah Are Active, May Initiate Attacks If Middle East War Erupts – “Senior police officials on Wednesday warned of potential terrorist attacks in Southern California amid a growing risk of war breaking out overseas… ‘In this region we have active terrorist plots, in this region, right now,’ said Deputy Chief Michael Downing, commanding officer of the LAPD’s counter-terrorism unit.” Read more.

Flashback: Report: There Are Hundreds, Perhaps Thousands, Of ‘Iranian and Hezbollah Terrorists’ Inside the United States – “A recent report by the House of Representatives Committee on Homeland Security states that there are hundreds, perhaps even thousands, people he described as ‘Iranian and Hezbollah terrorists’ in the United States. An alarming part of the officials’ assessments focuses on the apparent surveillance missions that Iranian diplomats and possible Hezbollah operatives have been seen conducting at sensitive targets such as New York City’s subways and bridges, and at nuclear power plants and tunnels elsewhere in the United States in the past 10 years.” Read more.

Flashback: Iran-Sponsored Terrorists Plan US Attack ‘Worse Than The World Trade Center’ From Latin American Countries – “Middle Eastern terrorists have infiltrated Latin American countries—especially Mexico—to plan an attack against the United States, according to an alarming exposé broadcast this week by the world’s largest Spanish news network. The Univision documentary, ‘La Amenaza Irani,’ (Iranian Threat), uses undercover, never-before-seen video footage to illustrate how Iran’s growing political, economic and military ties to Latin America threaten U.S. security.” Read more.

At least that’s the immediate impression I had upon hearing this story. US President Obama refuses to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, but invites Egypt’s Islamist President Morsi? I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: As long as President BO remains in office, something will seriously stink in the White House …

Proverbs 12:15a, “The way of a fool is right in his own eyes …”

By Barak Ravid – “The White House declined Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s request on Tuesday to meet U.S. President Barack Obama during a UN conference in New York at the end of the month.

An official in Jerusalem said that the prime minister’s office sent the White House a message stating that although Netanyahu will spend only two and a half days on U.S. soil, he is interested in meeting Obama and is willing to travel to the U.S. capital specifically for that purpose. The official added that the White House rejected the request and said that at this time Obama’s schedule does not allow for a meeting.

The White House’s response marks a new low in relations between Netanyahu and Obama, underscored by the fact that this is the first time Netanyahu will visit the U.S. as prime minister without meeting the president.

Defense Minister Ehud Barak tried to ease the tension on Tuesday, saying that the differences between the U.S. and Israel should be ironed out ‘but behind closed doors.’

‘We must not forget that the U.S. is Israel’s most important source of support in terms of security,’ he said in a statement.

Earlier on Tuesday, Netanyahu launched an unprecedented verbal attack on the U.S. government over its stance on the Iranian nuclear program.

‘The world tells Israel ‘wait, there’s still time’. And I say, ‘Wait for what? Wait until when?’ Those in the international community who refuse to put red lines before Iran don’t have a moral right to place a red light before Israel,’ Netanyahu told reporters on Tuesday.” Source – Haaretz.

Flashback: Barack Obama Invites Egypt’s ‘Destroy Western Civilization From Within’ Islamist President To America – “United States President Barack Obama has invited his Egyptian counterpart Mohamed Morsi to visit the US for an official visit in September, Deputy Secretary of State William Perez said he delivered the message during his meetings with the president on Sunday. For the Muslim Brotherhood candidate Morsi, this would be the first visit ever to the US by a Brotherhood member in an official capacity. Obama previously congratulated Morsi for his victory in Egypt’s first-ever presidential elections. Obama also confirmed his country’s commitment towards democratic development in Egypt and the economy, offering his country’s support.” Read more.