Abdel Bari Atwan endorses Eilat attacks

Fri. 26 Aug. 2011 @ 12.14 - 

Prominent media commentator endorses fatal attacks in Eilat, stating that they 'corrected the course' of the Arab Spring and 'refocused' it on 'the most dangerous disease' in the Middle East. 

Abdel Bari Atwan, the editor of the London-based Arabic newspaper Al-Quds Al-Arabi, is reported to have endorsed the attack on Israelis in Eilat last week. According to Memri's translation of an editorial from his newspaper, Atwan argued that the attack successfully 'corrected the course' of the Arab Spring : 

'The Eilat operation, as I see it, corrected the course of the Arab revolutions and refocused them on the most dangerous disease, namely the Israeli tyranny. This disease is the cause of all the defects that have afflicted the region for the past 65 years...' 

Atwan is a prominent media commentator who regularly provides high-profile commentary on developments in the Arab world. For example, he appeared on the BBC's Newsnight earlier in the year to debate Western intervention in Libya, while The Guardian's print edition included an op-ed by him as recently as last week - the fifth time he has appeared in print in the broadsheet this year. 

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Guardian Downplays Jewish Connection To Temple Mount

Just Journalism Media Analyst Chris Dyszyński discusses The Guardian's recent coverage of the religious significance of the Temple Mount for The Commentator. 

Thursday 26 August 2010 

Jerusalem, as any bog-standard tourist guide will tell you, is revered as holy by adherents of three major faiths - Jews, Christians and Muslims.

Visitors to Israel's capital are often struck by the sheer religiosity of the place, with the city looming so large in the collective consciousness that some people even come down with 'Jerusalem Syndrome' (note: a recognised medical condition) and believe themselves to be the reincarnation of some Biblical figure or other.

Despite their often fraught history, relations between the three religions remain civil, helped by a laissez-faire climate where the various institutions are free to administer to their respective flocks, uniting only to issue collective denunciations of whichever gay pride event is being planned for that year.

Given both the importance of the city and the necessity for maintaining calm, you can understand why The Guardian's Jerusalem Correspondent, Harriet Sherwood, would report on the frightening prospect of a bull holding a mass rally in the china shop. 

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Muslim Brotherhood: Tourist industry under threat

Fri. 26 Aug. 2011 @ 15.02 -   

Representatives of the Egyptian travel industry have criticized comments by the Muslim Brotherhood suggesting that freedoms of tourists would be restricted. 

The Egyptian news outlet Al Masry Al Youm has reported that representatives of Egypt's tourism industry have criticised suggestions by the Muslim Brotherhood that the freedom of foreigners would be restricted in the future. 

'International travel agencies reject Brotherhood statements on tourism' notes that travel industry representatives responded to the comments by Mohamed Saad al-Katatny, secretary general of the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party, who is reported to have said that: 

'"Beach tourism must take the values and norms of our society into account. We must place regulations on tourists wishing to visit Egypt, which we will announce in advance," he continued suggesting that the regulations concern bathing suits and bikinis.' 

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