MidnightWatcher – Prophecy in Motion

By David Blair – “This deployment defied explicit Iranian threats to close the waterway. It coincided with an escalation in the West’s confrontation with Iran over the country’s nuclear ambitions.

European Union foreign ministers are today expected to announce an embargo on Iranian oil exports, amounting to the most significant package of sanctions yet agreed. They are also likely to impose a partial freeze on assets held by the Iranian Central Bank in the EU.

Tehran has threatened to block the Strait of Hormuz in retaliation. Tankers carrying 17 million barrels of oil pass through this waterway every day, accounting for 35 per cent of the world’s seaborne crude shipments. At its narrowest point, located between Iran and Oman, the Strait is only 21 miles wide.

Last month, Admiral Habibollah Sayyari, commander of the Iranian navy, claimed that closing the Strait would be ‘easy,’ adding: ‘As Iranians say, it will be easier than drinking a glass of water.’

But USS Abraham Lincoln, a nuclear-powered carrier capable of embarking 90 aircraft, passed through this channel and entered the Gulf without incident yesterday. HMS Argyll, a Type 23 frigate from the Royal Navy, was one of the escort vessels making up the carrier battle-group. A guided missile cruiser and two destroyers from the US Navy completed the flotilla, along with one warship from the French navy.” Read more.

Fars: Iran ‘definitely’ closing Strait of Hormuz over EU oil embargo – “Tensions in the Gulf could reach a breaking point as a senior Iranian official said Iran would ‘definitely’ close the Strait of Hormuz if an EU oil embargo disrupted the export of crude oil, the semi-official Fars news agency reports. The announcement came in response to a decision by the European Union on Monday to impose an oil embargo on Iran over the country’s alleged nuclear weapons program. ‘The pressure of sanctions is designed to try and make sure that Iran takes seriously our request to come to the table,’ EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said. However, with Washington’s decision to deploy a second carrier strike group in the Gulf, the EU’s attempt to pressure Iran economically could greatly increase the likelihood of all-out war in the region.” Read more.

By Moran Azulay – “After recent reports of a meeting between MK Hanin Zoabi and a Hamas official it is now revealed that two United Arab List-Ta’al MKs had met with the figure earlier.

Masud Ganaim and Ibrahim Sarsur visited the home of Hamas parliamentary speaker Aziz Dwaik, 64, to offer their support after he was released from an Israeli prison in June 2009. Dwaik was arrested again on Thursday.

The Hamas man was first arrested in August 2006 by IDF forces in Ramallah as part of a series of arrests in the wake of the abduction of Gilad Shalit. A geography professor, Dwaik was convicted of membership in a terrorist organization in 2008. He was sentenced to three years in prison, two years of probation and was ordered to pay a NIS 5,000 fine (roughly $1,318).

After his release, and several days prior to Zoabi’s visit, the Hamas leader met with Ganaim and Sarsur as well as former Rahat council head and senior official in the Islamic Movement’s northern branch Jumaa Qsasi.

The MKs are claiming the meeting was legitimate as the people concerned were ‘political figures fighting against the occupation.’ MK Ganaim said, ‘We visited the house together with several other members of the Palestinian council. Hamas was legally and legitimately elected in what the whole world admitted were just elections and we went to visit the officials after they were released from jail.’

Referring to claims they were in contact with figures who were jailed for aiding terror, Ganaim said: ‘As political figures they should never have been arrested. Our arrival there was not in violation of the law. I, as a Knesset member or a private person, am allowed to visit a person who was wrongly arrested. It has never been proven they were involved in the alleged activity. They have a right as occupied individuals to fight for life in dignity.’

Likud MK and chairman of the Knesset house committee Yariv Levin said in response: ‘The Arab MKs are competing who is the greatest traitor and terrorist sponsor while using the weakness of the legal system. The Attorney General must take a firm hand and put an end to the parade of MKs spitting in the State’s face and protect Israel and the Knesset from the terror sponsors amongst us.'” Read more.

Member of Israel’s Knesset, Ibrahim Sarsur, Supporting Terrorism (Video):

Israeli Knesset Member Sarsur: “The faith sprouted in Mecca. The Caliphate and the end of days will sprout from Jerusalem and in the land of Palestine… This will be the center of the Caliphate. And more than that, this land will be the land of resurrection… Yes, there is a force in Southern Lebanon that proudly raised its head to challenge; the call for rebellion against the American and Israeli supremacy, the project that carries the seeds of dignity, the project that is based on Islamic pillars and foundations and has a vision to manage the war with the enemy Israel…”

Here’s an update on this story (which Obama has so far been silent on). As for the anti-Semitic Mufti, his response to criticism was the same as that of all Islamic supremacists: His words were “taken out of context”. Because we’re not presently in the “end of days”. Yet. Seriously, that was his response. He was merely quoting the reliable Hadith telling us about a new genocide of Jews that was coming. Soon. According to Mufti Mohammed Hussein, perhaps the “end of days” won’t officially begin until next week. No word yet, however, on whether or not the declaration that Jews were “descendants of the apes and pigs” was also taken out of context …

By DIAA HADID – “JERUSALEM (AP) – The Palestinians’ top Muslim cleric faced sharp Israeli criticism Sunday for a speech in which he quoted a religious text that includes passages about killing Jews in an end-of-days struggle.

Mufti Mohammed Hussein’s comments came at a political gathering of supporters of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. He said his remarks were taken out of context and that he didn’t incite people to kill Jews. But by speaking at the venue, Hussein appeared to be linking the battle to the conflict with Israel.

‘The hour of resurrection will not come until you fight the Jews,’ Hussein told the gathering, citing a hadith, or saying attributed to the Prophet Muhammad. ‘The Jews will hide behind stones and trees. But the trees and the stones will call: oh Muslim, oh servant of God, there is a Jew hiding behind me so come and kill him.’…

The mufti delivered his three-minute speech on Jan. 7 in an Arab neighborhood of east Jerusalem during celebrations of the 47th anniversary of the Palestinian movement Fatah, said Itamar Marcus of Palestine Media Watch, an Israeli watchdog group that tracks incitement.

Marcus’ group posted excerpts of the speech on YouTube last week. The comments drew angry reactions from Israelis on Sunday.

‘We’re talking about a heinous offense that all nations of the world must condemn,’ Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement sent to reporters by text message. He asked the Israeli attorney general to launch an investigation.

It is unclear what authority Israel would have since Hussein is appointed to his position by the Palestinian president. There was no immediate comment from Abbas’ office.

Hussein, who is based in Jerusalem, said his comments were taken out of context.

‘I was speaking about the final signs of the day of resurrection,’ Hussein said. ‘I did not incite, and I did not call for killing. We are not, at present, at the end of days.'” Read more.

By Noha El-Hennawy – “As the Muslim Brotherhood strives to project the image of a moderate and democratic political organization, a book featuring the angry account of a former member has hit the market.

‘The Memoirs of a Former Sister: My Story with the Muslim Brotherhood’ is the testimony of Intissar Abdel Moneim, an Alexandria-based novelist and author. With a compelling style and sharp language, the book takes the reader on a journey exploring the internal politics of the 83-year-old organization, placing special emphasis on discrimination against female members.

Throughout her work, Abdel Moneim decries the sisters’ internalization of oppression as women are socialized in a way that compels them to accept male dominance within the organization — and the household.

Early in the book, Abdel Moneim condemns what could be interpreted as the Brotherhood’s exploitation of the permissibility of polygamy in Islam.

‘One of the areas where the Brothers have exploited the idea of blind obedience and submission is polygamy,’ she writes, adding that a brother would take second and third wives for no valid reason. ‘When the [first] wife complains, a session is held for her where other sisters would remind her of the importance of obedience, patience and submission to God’s will and to [the husband]’s will,’ she writes.

To understand the roots of the subjugation of women, Abdel Moneim unpacks the writings of Hassan al-Banna, the group’s late founder. Here, the author summons her courage and puts forth a vehement critique of the group’s canonized leader, who is rarely questioned, even by the most vocal ex-brothers.” Read more.

Former Muslim woman speaks out against the treatment of women in Islam – “… parents visiting me and my brothers from Pakistan. While they were here staying with me, I could not but help feeling really sorry for them, especially my mother. She covers herself in that black garb and thinks that those women who do not are committing a major crime in the eyes of Allah and Mohammed and those women (actually an indirect insinuation in my direction) will surely be the fuel of the hell fire. I really feel so sorry for my mom and most of my Muslim friends who don the hijab and consider women like us not completely Muslim, and most of the Muslim men consider non-Muslim women and non-hijabi women as mere whores. Believe me when I say that no one suffers as much in this world as the Muslim women, in fact the mother of all believers Ayesha said the exact same words. Islam is heaven for Muslim men, but a hell for the believing women.” Read more.

Flashback: Norwegian Authorities Covering Up Muslim Rapes; Rapist: Women Have No Rights or Opinions in Islam – “There has been a spike in the number of rape charges in Scandinavia in recent years. It has reached near epidemic proportions in Sweden… This trend is not exclusive to Scandinavia. It is the same all over Western Europe wherever we find significant numbers of Muslim immigrants. In fact, the number of rapes committed by Muslim immigrants in Western nations is so extremely high that it is difficult to view them only as random acts of individuals. It resembles warfare. German journalist Gudrun Eussner considers this to be ‘sexuality as a weapon against disobedient and non-Muslim women, both categorized as ‘unbelievers’. Against them jihad is the duty, and what to do with women ‘conquered’ in jihad, this may be read in the Qur’an: they become slaves to be used by the victors.’” Read more.