Let's blame Israel, No. 54,743

This time, according to the former deputy head of the Egyptian Domestic Security Agency, they're behind the suicide bombings in Dahab, in the Egyptian Sinai peninsula....

Following are excerpts from an interview with General Fuad 'Allam...which aired on Dream 2 TV on April 24, 2006. Fuad 'Allam: It is very possible that Israel is behind this, because... What is peculiar about the operations that took place in Taba, Sharm Al-Sheik, and now in Dahab is that they all targeted locations frequented by Egyptians, perhaps even more than tourists. These were three cafeterias. You asked about a supermarket, but it was in fact a cafeteria adjacent to a supermarket. These three cafeterias are known to be frequented by Egyptians more than by foreigners. The same thing happened in... Maybe Taba was a little different, because the target was the hotel itself, but in Sharm Al-Sheik it was the same: Places crowded with Egyptians were targeted. This makes me tend towards the possibility that a foreign element - the enemies, and maybe the Israeli Mossad - are behind this operation, especially since we cannot ignore the fact that all three operations were preceded by Israeli warnings to the Israeli citizens not to stay in Sinai because of the possibility of terrorist attacks. [...] It is noteworthy that the bombings in Taba, Sharm Al-Sheik, and now Dahab were preceded by Israeli warnings - not to the Egyptian authorities, but to the Israelis. They warn them and say to them: Do not stay in Sinai at this time. There are two possibilities: Either they analyze certain positions and conclude that operations may take place at this time and in this area, or else they are, at the very least, behind these operations. There is a third, unlikely, possibility that they managed to infiltrate some of these organizations or groups, and so they are aware of their plans at this stage.

(via MEMRI TV)

I wonder who General Allam thinks was responsible for 9/11 and the July 7 London bombings?

UPDATE: Oh, and does he also think the Jews are running Guantanamo Bay?

UPDATE UPDATE: Clearly, General Allam is far from being alone in his demented views. Big Pharaoh reports a poll of Egyptians showing that over 48% of respondents to a poll on Egypt's most popular portal site thinks that the Mossad was behind the attacks. He quotes the delusionary rationalizations of one of his best educated friends who argues for this belief. And he adds a heartfelt and bitter critique of the thinking it stands for

"Israeli tourists don't go to Eilat (a southern Israeli resort) anymore. Dahab and Sinai is much more cheaper and so they come to Egypt instead of spending their holidays in Israel" she explained.

"So you're telling me Israel targeted a resort that is frequented by its own people and could have killed Israelis just to stop them from sunbathing in Sinai???" I asked.

"Yes. They could kill a few of their citizens to save the tourism industry there" she shot back.

I wanted to bang my head against a wall!

I have said countless times before that the root cause of the darkness we're living in is our unwillingness to look in the mirror and start criticizing ourselves and the cult of death we allowed to infect our society. We don't want to admit that many of our children are willing to kill themselves in order to massacre others. We don't want to admit that religion needs renewal and reform to suit the year 2006 and not 1006. We don't want to admit anything of that. Do you know why ladies and gentlemen we don't want to do that? We're just busy and in a constant state of denial. We're busy hating America. We're busy blaming Israel.

We are also living in a disgusting state of narcissism. We think we are the best nation handpicked by God. Our nations have the best religion approved by heaven. Nothing wrong can be in us, nothing wrong can be in our culture, and nothing wrong can be in our religious beliefs. It must be the evil "outsiders."

There is no doubt whatsoever that all Egyptians condemned this terrorist attack and were shocked when it happened. Yet I am not really talking about this specific attack. I am referring to our general condition that gave birth to murderers from Bali to New York. Many are to blame here. Our repressive governments, the economic disaster they created, the humiliation millions of youth are feeling, and above all the deadly religious rhetoric that wants to draw us hundreds of years backward.

I thought we'll finally start looking in the mirror once we ourselves get bombed by terrorists. I thought that once we get torn into pieces by suicide bombers we'll realize that the Palestinian suicide bomber will not end up in paradise but in the lowest pit of hell. Unfortunately, I was wrong. We're still so busy to look in the mirror and see the ugly face there.

For once, I feel very sympathetic to an argument about root-causes.

HAT TIP: RD

Comments

[Steve M]

Even worse, Judy, a poll shows that 48.9% of Egyptians believe that Israel was behind the bombings.

Mirror? What Mirror?

[Imshin]

So "Israeli tourists don't go to Eilat (a southern Israeli resort) anymore"?

Last time I was in Eilat (last Shavuot holiday), it was so packed with Israelis on holiday, you couldn't MOVE!

And I'm going there next week with work for three days, so I will be able to tell you if anything has changed.

If anything, it's Sinai that is losing popularity. Eilat may not be nearly as lovely or as cheap or as trendy, but these days you're less likely to come back in a bag.

[Jeroy]

True, Israel muddles along and b'siyatah dimhyasah its enemies do not achieve their aims.Last September, there was allegation after allegation re its president. What was the outcome? It appears to amount to nothing. I think we should now say at least the president is a decent Jew and runs his office with dignity.