MidnightWatcher – Prophecy in Motion

By Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu – “Egypt is becoming the new Iran, ‘whether you accept it or not,’ says a general in the Iranian Revolutionary Guards.

As the radical Islamic Muslim Brotherhood movement waits for an expected victory in the long and drawn-out legislative electins in Egypt, Iran is looking forward to Egypt being its next cog in the Islamic Empire that it hopes for and wants to head.

‘A number of major (new) Irans have been born in the region today. Egypt is a (new) Iran, whether you (the US-led West) accept it or not,’ reported the Iranian semi-official Fars News Agency, quoting Guards commander Major General Qassem Soleimani.

Speaking to a reported crowd of 50,000 Basij forces, he addressed the United States and added, ‘Know that today Libya, Yemen and Bahrain are also (new) Irans. [These] great nations will stand together against the threat’ of western powers, he said.

He also expressed his wish to die if enemies try to assassinate him, a suggestion posed by conservative experts testifying in the U.S. Congress. ‘To those who think threats will spread fear amongst us, I will say this: that I ask God to grant me martyrdom at the hands of the enemy,’ Soleimani said.” Read more.

Egypt: Muslim Brotherhood Takes Lead in Vote Count While An Even MORE Radical Islamist Party Takes Second Place – “The Muslim Brotherhood’s party appeared to be leading Egypt’s elections on Wednesday after 90 percent of the votes in a number of cities and provinces were counted, according to Al Jazeera. Egypt’s Al Nour party, considered a radical Islamic party, appeared to be in second place behind the Muslim Brotherhood, and the centrist party is only in third place… The results show that the Muslim Brotherhood have become the strongest political force in the country since the fall of Hosni Mubarak…” Read more.

‘Arab Spring’ Contagion Strikes Morocco: Islamist ‘Justice’ Party Wins Vote in Election – “Morocco’s moderate Islamist PJD party won the most seats in the country’s parliamentary election, final results showed Sunday, in the latest sign of a resurgence of faith-based movements since the Arab Spring uprisings. The victory for Morocco’s Justice and Development Party came a month after Tunisia handed power to a previously-banned party of moderate Islamists. Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood is also expected to do well in an election starting Monday.” Read more.

Flashback: Libya Heading Towards the Dominant Political Force in the Country: Islamism – “Amid all the debate as to what lies in store for Libya, it is becoming increasingly apparent that Islamism will be the dominant political force in the country. Indeed, this trend should already have been clear in the treatment of David Gerbi, a Libyan Jew residing in Italy who returned to his ancestral homeland in the summer to fight alongside the rebels against Gaddafi. Yet when he tried to rebuild and reopen the abandoned and desolate synagogue in Tripoli, he faced death threats, intimidation and protests, such that he was eventually deported.” Read more.

Flashback: ‘A New Cycle of Civilization’: Tunisia’s Islamists Hail Arrival of the ‘Sixth Caliphate’ – “The Islamist politician likely to become Tunisia’s first democratically elected prime minister has alarmed liberals and secularists by claiming the arrival of the ‘sixth caliphate’, a controversial term for a Muslim empire. Hamadi Jebeli, secretary-general of Ennahda, the moderate Islamist party which romped to victory in last month’s elections, told a rally in the city of Sousse: ‘My brothers, you are at a historic moment in a new cycle of civilisation, God willing. We are in sixth caliphate…” Read more.

The ‘Islamic awakening of the regional nations’ sounds awfully familiar. I wonder what he’s referring to? …

By David Lev – “The reason the U.S. and other Western countries seek to punish Iran is not directly connected to its nuclear program, top Iranian clerics say; it’s because they fear the rise of Islam, and are doing their utmost to fight it. Nevertheless, they will fail; Islam will emerge victorious.

Speaking at a press conference Wednesday, Iranian Parliament speaker Ali Larijani said that the charges by the U.S. that Iran was involved in terrorism, and allegations about its human rights record, were just a smokescreen for its fear of Islam. ‘The reason for their fear will be found in another place, which is the Islamic awakening of the regional people. It should be known that the West is upset because of the Islamic awakening of the regional nations,’ Larijani said.

Larijani pointed to the catalog of uprisings in the Islamic world in recent months, including the revolutions in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, and Yemen, all of which overthrew dictators associated with the West. In each of those countries – as well as in Morocco – Islamists have, or are expected, to take key roles in leadership. Meanwhile, in countries that have not yet experienced revolutions, Larijani said – including Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia – leaders were taking a heavy hand against groups seeking a greater role in running their countries. Leading the groups in those countries as well, said Larijani, were Islamists.” Read more.

Should the West be worried?  Yes, and for good reason …

Flashback: Iran: The Mahdi will bring final victory for Islam and will reign over the whole world – “The Iranian government has produced a bone-chilling documentary that claims that Ayatollah Khamenei, President Ahmadinejad, and Hassan Nasrallah are talked about in Islamic prophecy as leaders who will wage war to bring about the arrival of the Hidden Imam​, which the film says is ‘very close’ to happening… The purpose of the film is to make the case that Iran is prophetically destined to lead the war against Islam’s enemies, which is as a prelude to the appearance of the Hidden Imam, also called the Mahdi, who brings the final victory for Islam and reigns over the whole world…” Read more.

Flashback: Iran’s Link to Al-Qaeda: The 9-11 Commission’s Evidence – “The following are excerpts from the 9/11 Commission Report, an unclassified version of which was released to the public on July 22, 2004. The commission interviewed more than 1,000 people in ten countries and conducted an unprecedented review of U.S. intelligence. Among its findings, excerpted below, was evidence of a significant and continuing relationship between al-Qaeda and the Islamic Republic of Iran.” Read more.

Flashback: Why Iran’s Top Leaders Believe That the End of Days Has Come – “… Iranian leaders may, in fact, have a motive to accelerate direct attacks on the U.S.: Shia Islamic eschatology, or ‘End Times’ theology. Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad are convinced that the End of Days has come. They believe the Shia messiah known as the ‘Twelfth Imam’ or the ‘Mahdi’ will appear soon to establish a global Islamic kingdom known as the caliphate. What’s more, they believe the way to hasten the coming of the Twelfth Imam is to annihilate Israel …” Read more.

Flashback: Islamic Militants Calling Themselves ‘The Unknown Soldiers of The Hidden Imam’ Threaten to Hunt Down and Execute Christians Who Flee Iran – “Islamic militants with suspected ties to Iranian security forces have been terrorizing evangelical Christians with threats to ‘repent’ or die, it was reported Sunday. Christian Solidarity Worldwide has reported that 11 Iranian Christians who fled Iran in the wake of a government campaign against Christianity have received threats via email to ‘repent’ or face extrajudicial execution, from a group identifying itself as the ‘The Unknown Soldiers of The Hidden Imam.’ … although the recipients have left Iran, they have not escaped the ‘acute eyes of the unknown soldiers.’” Read more.

Flashback: Iran is Determined to Eradicate the ‘Infectious Tumor’ of Israel, ‘Will Never Withdraw’ From This Policy – “Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said that Iran was determined to eradicate Israel, ISNA news agency reported Thursday. ‘Iran believes that whoever is for humanity should also be for eradicating the Zionist regime (Israel) as symbol of suppression and discrimination,’ Ahmadinejad said in an interview with a Lebanese television network, carried by ISNA. ‘Iran follows this issue (the eradication of Israel) with determination and decisiveness and will never ever withdraw from this standpoint and policy…” Read more.

Flashback: Iran: Ahmadinejad Threatens to Send the United States and Israel ‘To The Morgue’ – “Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has threatened to destroy the United States and Israel if put on the defensive. ‘Resistance will continue until Iran sends its enemies to the morgue,’ he said on his website, making a reference to the US and Israel who he said are ‘on the verge of collapse and gasping for their last breathes.’” Read more.

The beginning of Egypt’s fall is well under way. I expected the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood to take the lead in Egypt, but an even more radical Islamic group in second?  That I did not consider.  This sort of voter sentiment does not bode well for Israel, nor for Egypt’s Christian minority …

By Anshel Pfeffer and Avi Issacharoff – “The Muslim Brotherhood’s party appeared to be leading Egypt’s elections on Wednesday after 90 percent of the votes in a number of cities and provinces were counted, according to Al Jazeera.

Egypt’s Al Nour party, considered a radical Islamic party, appeared to be in second place behind the Muslim Brotherhood, and the centrist party is only in third place, according to Al Jazeera.

The results show that the Muslim Brotherhood have become the strongest political force in the country since the fall of Hosni Mubarak, although it is still too early to announce whether they will enjoy the solid victory that has been expected, or whether they will see even greater success at the polls, as there are still votes to be counted, and this is only the first stage of Egypt’s three-part elections.

The figures released by the judges responsible for the ballot boxes reveal that the Muslim Brotherhood have a clear majority among voters in Egypt’s capital Cairo, in Luxor, Port Said, and in the area of the Suez Canal.

The elections for 498 seats in the lower house of the Egyptian parliament, will be voted on in three stages, each lasting two days, with the final stage taking place in January.

The first stage of elections saw high voter turnout and finished with relative calm on Tuesday, when many people came out to vote for the first time in their lives.

Nadin Halled, a volunteer for one of the candidates near a voting booth in Cairo’s Zamalek Quarter told Haaretz: ‘50% of the early voters had come the day before. I guess those who have showed up think the army will determine the elections results anyway or just prefer to enjoy their day off.'” Source – Haaretz.

By YAAKOV KATZ – “Iran is developing an advanced low-flying cruise missile that could potentially carry a non-conventional warhead, Arieh Herzog, director of the Defense Ministry’s Homa Missile Defense Agency, said on Wednesday.

Herzog, who will step down from his post in the beginning of the year, spoke at the annual International Aerospace Conference in Jerusalem.

Earlier this month, close to 20 Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps officers, including the architect of Iran’s long-range ballistic missile program, were killed in a mysterious explosion at a missile base near the city of Bid Kaneh. The officers were reportedly working on the development of a new missile when the explosion took place.

‘The Iranians are developing a capability that within several years, they will have cruise missiles that can fly at low altitudes and carry non-conventional warheads,’ Herzog said.

Herzog said that Israel’s missile defense capabilities were drawn from the Iranian’s development of missiles.

Israel currently has three Iron Dome counter rocket defense batteries deployed throughout the country in additional to two Arrow batteries to defend against long-range ballistic missiles.” Read more.