The Muslim Brotherhood’s Missed Opportunity to Rule Egypt

Exclusive: IDF – ‘Our Mission is to Enlist as Many Israeli Arabs as we can’

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Antiquities Trade: Game of Chance is Illegal

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The Muslim Brotherhood’s Missed Opportunity to Rule Egypt www.majalla.com

Editorial Ten years ago, the Islamist group of Muslim Brotherhood had the opportunity to rule Egypt, in a historic turn of events after the popular uprising of 25th of January. One year later, their subsequent dramatic failure and hard fall can be felt for decades after they lost their once-in-a-generation opportunity.

Our writer Dalia Ziada revisits the one-year rule of the political Islamists and how their “unexpected rise led to a series of bad decisions, unwise alliances, short-lived goals, and success only in reminding the country why it had for so long avoided theocratic government.”

Suzan Quitaz writes about a campaign by the IDF to recruit more Arabs and people of different backgrounds to its ranks. She interviews a number of officers and officials to talk about their experience in the army.

This week also Jiwan Soz interviews a former Syrian prisoner who spent more than two years in Assad regime’s custody. The interview provides an eye-witness account of the torture and brutality the prisoners faced while some of them died.

In our culture section, a report covers the return of Tutmania over a VR National Geographic exhibit in commemoration of the historical discovery of Tutankhamun’s grave a century ago. Also writing about Egyptian artifacts, Youssef al-Khatib explores the world of antiquities trade, and how businessmen, people of influence fell into the trap of stealing pharaohs’ buried treasures.

In the Art section, Mohammed Rouda reviews the new Avatar movie and rounds up a number of the new movies released recently.

Read these articles and more on our website eng. majalla.com. As always, we welcome and value our readers’ feedback and we invite you to take the opportunity to leave your comments on our website.

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A Weekly Political News Magazine

38 For How to Live and Die, Look No Further

Issue 1912- July- 08/07/2022

28 Assad Regime, Opposition Accused of Exploiting Detainees’ Agenda

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Pentagon’s Credibility, From Vietnam and Afghanistan to Ukraine

48 The New Avatar is Ready

54 Back to Nature

42 Another ‘Tutmania’

58 Should You Read Your Doctor’s Notes?

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Saudi Arabia’s holy city of Mecca Muslim worshippers around the Kaaba at the Grand Mosque in Saudi Arabia’s holy city of Mecca on July 5, 2022. - One million people, including 850,000 from abroad, are allowed to participate in this year’s hajj -- a key pillar of Islam that all able-bodied Muslims with the means are required to perform at least once -- after two years of drastically curtailed numbers due to the coronavirus pandemic. / AFP

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Us Auction Dinosaur An art handler looks at a Gorgosaurus Skeleton measuring 10 feet tall (3.04 meters) as it is unveiled at Sotheby in New York, on July 05, 2022. - The Specimen is the highlight of Sotheby geek week sale series and is estimated at $ 5 to 8 million. / AFP

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SAU

LEBANON

EGYPT Once known as a graveyard for tanks, an Egyptian mudflat east of the Suez Canal is being reclaimed for what its backers hope will be a vast industrial zone producing goods for export and the domestic market.

The East Port Said Industrial Zone sits on the Mediterranean Sea, 7 km (4 miles) away from the city whose name it bears. It is one four such zones under construction along the Canal, a transit route for about 15% of global shipping traffic.

Egypt runs a large trade deficit and has struggled to develop an industrial base.

Many of the industrial parks it has so far tried to create lie semi-vacant, partly because they are far from urban areas where workers live, economists say.

Lebanon’s prime minister on Monday criticised as risky and unacceptable any unofficial dealings over its sea border row with Israel, after the powerful Hezbollah movement sent three drones towards an Israeli gas rig that were shot down.

Hezbollah launched its operation on Saturday following long-standing but so far fruitless U.S.-mediated efforts to agree on a maritime border between the two countries near an area where Israel has made large natural gas discoveries.

“Lebanon considers that any action outside the framework of the state’s responsibility and the diplomatic context in which the negotiations are happening is unacceptable and exposes (Lebanon) to unnecessary risks,” a statement by the office of Prime Minister designate Najib Mikati office said.

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It is a scene Muslims aro One million amassed on Saudi Arabi marking the coronavirus — a key pill The hajj is a physically a which takes the Prophet Pilgrims spe intended to That include Kaaba, the h the Grand M thousands o

UDI ARABIA

e that stirs hope — and relief — for ound the world. n pilgrims from across the globe n Thursday in the holy city of Mecca in ia to perform the initial rites of the hajj, e largest Islamic pilgrimage since the s pandemic upended the annual event lar of Islam. a once-in-a-lifetime duty for all Muslims and financially able to make the journey, s the faithful along a path traversed by t Muhammad some 1,400 years ago. end five days carrying out a set of rituals o bring them closer to God. es praying around the cube-shaped holiest shrine in Islam. At the center of Mosque’s courtyard on Thursday, of unmasked pilgrims circled the Kaaba.

UAE As prices of basic commodities balloon around the world, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates — which have both benefited massively from the spike in energy prices — have allotted billions of dollars in new spending to shield their citizens from the rising prices.

IRAQ Amid a push by the US and the Israeli regime to build an anti-Iranian coalition in the region, a report suggests that a number of Arab countries are against such an alliance.

Washington and Tel Aviv are pushing Arab countries for the realization of a military pact to counter alleged threats from Iran.

Citing unnamed sources, Reuters said the plan is on the agenda of US President Joe Biden’s upcoming visit to the occupied territories and Saudi Arabia in mid-July.

According to the sources, the plan seeks to “build a network of radars, detectors and interceptors between Saudi Arabia, Oman, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Iraq, Jordan and Egypt, with the help of Israeli technology and US military bases.”

IRAN

A British Royal Navy vessel seized a sophisticated shipment of Iranian missiles in the Gulf of Oman earlier this year, officials said Thursday, pointing to the interdiction as proof of Tehran’s support for Yemen’s Houthi rebels in the embattled country.

The British government statement was striking in that it provided some of the strongest findings to date that Tehran is arming the Houthis against the Saudi-led military coalition with advanced weapons smuggled through the Persian Gulf.

The U.K. Embassy in the United Arab Emirates described the seizure of surface-to-air-missiles and engines for land attack cruise missiles as “the first time a British naval warship has interdicted a vessel carrying such sophisticated weapons from Iran.”

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A WEEK ACROS CANADA.

U.S. Last week calls from Texas began flooding into a national abortion assistance hotline with Spanish-language operators: One woman called afraid to fly to New Mexico because of her immigration status. Another woman said she would have to keep her pregnancy because she feared deportation if she crossed state lines. A third worried that she would be detained by immigration authorities if she used public transportation to travel.

A report issued Thursday by the Royal Bank of Canada says the country is headed towards a recession in 2023, but it will be short-lived and not as severe as prior downturns.

RBC economists said that soaring food and energy prices, rising interest rates and ongoing labor shortages will push the economy into a “moderate contraction next year.

“We see growth slowing into the end of this year, but remaining positive, then we expect two quarters of declining GDP in Q2 and Q3 of 2023, RBC economist Nathan Janzen said in an interview. “It’s become the more likely base-case assumption.

Canada will also see unemployment drift slowly higher and then slightly faster into next year, he said.

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,

UK.

Scandal-ridden Boris Johnson announced on Thursday he would quit as British prime minister after dramatically lost the support of hi ministers and most Conservative lawmakers, but said he would stay until his successor was chosen.

Bowing to the inevitable as more t 50 ministers quit and lawmakers s he must go, an isolated and power Johnson said it was clear his party wanted someone else in charge, b that his forced departure was "eccentric".

SS THE WORLD

d r he is

y on

than said rless y but

UKRAINE. CHINA.

Foreign ministers from the Group of 20 leading rich and developing nations are gathering in Indonesia’s resort island of Bali for talks bound to be dominated by the conflict in Ukraine despite an agenda focused on global cooperation and food and energy security.

The one-day gathering will take place on Friday on the mostly Hindu “island of the gods” in the majority Muslim archipelago nation.

Underscoring the backdrop of tensions hanging over the meeting, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Russia’s top diplomat Sergey Lavrov stopped in various Asian capitals on their way to Bali, drumming up support and fortifying their ties in the region ahead of the talks.

China and Russia have maintained normal exchanges and promoted cooperation in various fields and cast aside any "interference", showing the "strong resilience" and "strategic resolve" of their relations, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said.

China will also support all efforts conducive to the peaceful resolution of the Ukraine crisis, Wang told Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in a meeting on the sidelines of a G20 summit in Bali, Indonesia, according to a statement from the Chinese foreign ministry on Friday.

INDIA. Indian investigators said Thursday they have searched dozens of offices of the Chinese-owned VIVO Mobiles India Private Limited as part of an investigation focusing on allegations of money laundering by the smartphone maker.

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The Muslim Brotherhood’s Missed Opportunity to Rule Egypt

By Dalia Ziada

By their very nature, once-in-a-generation opportunities occur rarely, but their consequences are often felt for decades. Such has been the case with the Muslim Brotherhood’s one year in power in Egypt, which began ten years ago.

The prize – to rule over 86 million Egyptians – was as great as the Brotherhood’s fall was hard. From the comfort of hindsight, historians can now show how their unexpected rise led to a series of bad decisions, unwise alliances, short-lived goals, and success only in reminding the country why it had for so long avoided theocratic government.

Arguably, the Brotherhood’s leaders dug their own grave,

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chiefly by placing their Islamist identity above the nationalist identity, one that Egyptians dearly embrace. They then made a bad situation worse by inciting violence against state security personnel from their followers, who were led to believe that they were fighting for Islam. Even in exile, the Brotherhood leaderships decisions have been damaging, instigating needless internal battles over financing and direction while offering their supporters in Egypt no protection. The result has been the group’s splintering into a thousand pieces.

THE OPPORTUNITY

Supporters of Muslim Brotherhood›s presidential candidate Mohamed Morsi celebrate his victory at Tahrir Square in Cairo, June 2012 ,24. (Reuters)

How did it come to pass? Ten years ago, the Brotherhood’s future seemed bright, as did that of Mohamed Morsi, who - before becoming president in 2012 – was unknown to most Egyptians, including to the Brotherhood’s own supporters. His marginal victory with 51.7 percent against Ahmed Shafik, the former military aviator and last prime minister under former president Hosni Mubarak, marked a significant plot twist in the decades-long rivalry between the Brotherhood and the Egyptian military.

At the time, that victory was celebrated by western commentators and academics, who saw it as a first step towards containing Egypt’s Islamists within an organized political system, with Turkey often cited as a similar example. Yet inside Egypt, the feeling was quite different. There was a heightened sense of shock and defeat, especially among liberals and prodemocracy activists. Those who helped overthrow Mubarak just months earlier had not expected to see their country take a turn towards being an Islamic theocracy, yet that was the fear in the latter half of 2012, with the presidency held by the Brotherhood and the extreme Salafist movement riding high in Parliament.

The mood was difficult. Neither the military nor the liberal base dared challenge the results of the elections. The military simply could not risk civil war by not accepting the new reality of Islamists in power. Likewise, pro-democracy activists had to respect a democratic decision. Despite being ideologically opposed to the winners, they did not want to risk the alternative: letting Egypt fall back into the sludge of dictatorship in the hands of one of Mubarak’s associates. The chaotic aftermath of the Arab Spring had offered up the perfect conditions for this hellish scenario.

As the months passed, Egyptians grew ever fearful for the loss of secular Egypt to a creeping Islamization of the state by the state’s new rulers. In reaction, they chose to quietly retreat into their safe caves of apathy.

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The Brotherhood’s leaders dug their own grave, chiefly by placing their Islamist identity above the nationalist identity, one that Egyptians dearly embrace.

Thus, the term ‘couch party’ was born, and used by analysts to describe the phenomenon of Egyptians’ sudden withdrawal from public political life.

Meanwhile, the Islamists’ political ascendance was instigating a realignment in the dynamics between proponents of political Islam, the military, and the Egyptian public. Barely a year earlier, the celebrated Arab Spring had ushered in democracy and hope. But just a few pages into this new chapter, things were turning ugly. Those empowered citizens now began to reconsider the revolution that ousted Mubarak, even the viability of the resulting democracy, if it came at the expense of Egypt’s security and stability.

THE MISTAKE The Brotherhood aided its downfall in part because it was in no mood for meeting opponents halfway.

They did not address citizen’s concerns about the threat to secularism. They did not they extend a hand to the country’s defeated liberals, either pragmatically or symbolically. They did not even try to negotiate a political deal with Egypt’s powerful military generals. Instead, they seemed to set about marginalizing all those with different political or religious ideologies, while choosing the ultraconservative Salafists as their only political allies.

In alienating themselves, the Brotherhood stirred up popular anger and resentment, yet worse was to follow.

Of the more striking decisions, perhaps, was the Brotherhood’s early targeting of Egypt’s most decorated military generals. In the first week of August 2012, just a month into Morsi’s presidency, the new man fired the two most popular leaders of the Armed Forces: Defense Minister Field Marshal Mohammed Tantawy and Army Chief of Staff General Sami Anan. Together, Tantawy and Anan had run the military for years. Both commanders were highly respected by the Egyptian public and by militaries around the world. Their ouster sent shockwaves throughout the region. Yet, in a stroke

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of irony, the Brotherhood’s bold step to control the military later backfired spectacularly, because the new defense minister that Morsi appointed - Abdel Fattah El-Sisi – played a vital role in overthrowing Morsi within the year.

In Parliament, the actions of the Brotherhood’s allies – the Salafists – not only shocked the public but threatened the same liberal and democratic values that motivated the young activists who led the revolution that brought the Islamists to power. Despite the country’s economic woes, Islamist Members of Parliament seemed less worried about employment and inflation than they were about legalizing child marriage, allowing the return of the horrific practice of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), and prohibiting women from working in certain fields that they felt should be reserved exclusively to men.

In almost every area, the Salafists picked needless fights, and marginalized Egypt’s Coptic Christians, disregarding their needs for individual freedom and

security. Sure enough, it was women and Coptic Christians who formed the rump of El-Sisi’s electoral constituency and supported the overthrow of the Muslim Brotherhood regime from power in 2013.

Others jointed, too. The minds of some Egyptians were made up by the sight of Islamist parliamentarians refusing to stand to honor the Egyptian flag during the national anthem (they claimed that this practice was un-Islamic), or of them disrupting parliamentary proceedings by standing up without permission and loudly reciting the Islamic ‘Azan’ (call for prayer) and then leaving the room in groups.

A sense of hypocrisy grew when the Brotherhood began tolerating the discriminatory practices of the

The Brotherhood was in no mood for meeting opponents halfway. They did not they extend a hand to the country’s defeated liberals, either pragmatically or symbolically.

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Muslim Brotherhood›s senior member Mohamed El-Beltagi sits behind the bars during a court session in Cairo, Egypt, December 2018 ,2. (REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh)

Mohamed Hussein Tantawi in 2012. Egypt’s defense minister for two decades under Hosni Mubarak, he briefly led the nation after Mr. Mubarak’s ouster in 2011 after the Arab Spring uprising. (Reuters)

Protesters against Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi react in Tahrir Square in Cairo July 2013 ,3.

(REUTERS/Suhaib Salem)

Egypt’s former president Mohammed Morsi sits in the defendant’s cage during a court hearing in Cairo, Egypt, November 2014 ,3.

(AP/Mohammed al-Law)

Salafists against women and non-Muslim citizens, in order not to lose the support of their grassroots followers, despite the Brotherhood having recently invested time and effort in ending its own discriminatory rhetoric against women. This had led, for the first time ever, to female members of the Brotherhood being allowed to take up leadership positions inside the party. Even if the candidates tended to be the wives and daughters of the group’s leaders, this represented a huge shift.

Islamists emerged victorious in the elections of 2012 in part because they manipulated Egyptians’ religious piety and their hunger for democratic change.

THE DOWNFALL If there had been hypocrisy, some felt, there

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had also been manipulation. Islamists emerged victorious in the elections of 2012 in part because they manipulated Egyptians’ religious piety and their hunger for democratic change. There is no better illustration of this than the slogan used by Salafists in the parliamentary elections: “We are your way to Allah’s Heaven.” In other words, a vote for political Islam is a vote for Allah. It was cynical and deceptive, commentators said, but Egyptians were not deceived for long. As polls show, people soon realized that they had made a ballot box mistake.

A series of surveys by the Ibn Khaldun Center for Democratic Studies between July 2012 and June 2013 show how the Islamists’ popularity and credibility dropped off a cliff in a short space of time. In July 2012, a month after Morsi was elected, more than 40 percent of Egyptians said they were satisfied with his performance, after he spent the first few weeks promising economic improvements,

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women’s empowerment, and the political inclusion of religious minorities (despite these being in a clear contradiction to the Brotherhood’s ideology and principles). By November 2012, however, disquiet was growing palpably, public rallies were taking place around the presidential palace, people were protesting government failures, and the Brotherhood was reacting by sending its militia out to instigate violence. Sure enough, citizen satisfaction surveys of Morsi’s performance dramatically dropped to 8.5 percent approval.

By the end of June 2013, coinciding with Morsi’s first anniversary in power, Egyptians had finally decided that the Brotherhood’s time was up. People simply wanted them out. Resistance to the Brotherhood was non-violent and grew from several small-scale protests to the huge nationwide rallies that eventually toppled the Morsi government.

Towards the end of 2012, people in the big cities, especially Cairo, started hanging banners outside their houses and shops that portrayed the Islamists

A series of surveys between July 2012 and June 2013 show how the Islamists’ popularity and credibility dropped off a cliff in a short space of time.

as Machiavellian manipulators. Soon, a movement under the name ‘Tamarud’ (Rebellion) launched a petition calling for Morsi to resign. Started by young liberal democratic activists, Tamarud sought to mobilize the so-called ‘couch party’ citizens. It succeeded. In less than three months, in early 2013, the petition had gained 22 million signatures - more than the number of people who voted for Morsi in the presidential elections.

On the street, young liberal activists organized Friday protests outside the Presidential Palace and Brotherhood HQ. When police chiefs and army officers refused to use violence to control the protesters, the Brotherhood’s leadership sent out its own form of protection. Clashes ensued.

Yet the decision not to obey presidential orders to violently repress protests did not go unnoticed.

On the contrary, it proved hugely popular. It even stirred the public’s desire to see the military back in power. By March 2013, the protesters incorporated slogans in their banners calling for military’s return to office. People once again began chanting the revolutionary slogan: “The people and the military are one hand.” With a renewed sense of confidence, Minister of Defense Abdel Fattah El-Sisi told the military to side with the people against the Brotherhood.

Matters came to a head several weeks later. On 1 July, as the protests calling for Morsi’s resignation multiplied and expanded, El-Sisi told Morsi publicly that he had 48 hours to resign, in compliance with the people’s demands. The next day, Morsi gave a televised speech rejecting the demand, outlining his electoral legitimacy, and asserting his willingness to

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Protesters who wanted to see Mohammed Morsi out of the Egyptian presidency hold a poster featuring the head of Egypt›s armed forces, Gen. Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, in Tahrir Square in Cairo, July 2013 ,3. (REUTERS/ Mohamed Abd El Ghany)

Egypt›s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi speaks during a joint statement with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, and Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades after a trilateral summit between Greece, Cyprus and Egypt, in Athens, Greece, October 2021 ,19. (Reuters)

A woman holds up a defaced poster of Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi outside the presidential palace in Cairo. (Keith Lane / McClatchy-Tribune)

defend it, even if that meant “shedding blood.”

Within minutes, violence broke out between the Brotherhood’s supporters and anti-Morsi protesters across Egypt, resulting in fatalities. On 3 July, ElSisi announced the removal of Morsi from office and transfer of presidential powers to the president of the constitutional court until a new constitution could be written and new presidential elections held. Exactly one year later, El-Sisi – a retired Major General - was sworn in as the new president, rewarded by voters for his role in ridding the country of the ruling Islamists.

THE POLARISATION Egyptians look back on this anniversary in different

ways. To some, it was the day when the Egyptian people rose up and rallied nationwide to protest the rule of the Muslim Brotherhood and call upon the military to intervene. El-Sisi’s candidacy focused on restoring security and stability, and many saw him as being able to deliver, because the military backed him. In his inauguration speech, he was careful to promise only what he felt he could achieve, adding that his main task was to save Egypt from “people of evil”. In this, he asked Egyptians to help him, and millions were ready to do so.

On the flip side, the Brotherhood’s members and sympathizers remember the anniversary as a coup d’état against a democratically elected government that derived its legitimacy from the constitution and the will of the people who voted it in.

In the middle, the pro-democracy activists - who led the Arab Spring revolution against Mubarak’s autocratic rule before supporting the uprising against the Muslim Brotherhood for fear of a religious theocracy - were left wondering whether they had done the right thing. With a sense of guilt, they asked, in the aftermath, whether they had recklessly wasted Egypt’s rare once-in-a-generation opportunity for genuine democracy when they cheered the Brotherhood’s purge. Almost a decade on, they are still asking. * Dalia Ziada is an Egyptian author and Director of the Liberal Democracy Institute. Her work covers military affairs, political Islamism, and geopolitics in the Middle East and North Africa. Tweets at @ daliaziada.

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Exclusive: IDF – ‘Our Mission is to Enlist as Many Israeli Arabs as we can’ Statistics Reveals the Campaign is Working

By Suzan Quitaz It is early morning in the Negev desert, a battalion of soldiers crawls across the desert sand with assault rifles cocked. It’s a routine military exercise, but these are no ordinary combatants - they are Arabs who have voluntarily chosen to fight and even sacrifice their lives in order to protect the State of Israel.

These young men, and some women too, are proud to be part of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). One of these young men

is sergeant Emad, who proudly says “It’s an honor, to hold in one arm the assault rifle and on the other arm the holy Koran, to defend my homeland, Israel” There is a massive misconception in the mainstream media about the Israeli Army. Most people believe it’s predominately Jewish, and it was at its early inception. When Israel’s independence was declared, there were a number of armed Jewish defense organizations like the Haganah, Palmach, Lehi and Irgun. Israel’s first Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion,

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decided to establish a single, and unified armed force loyal to the government of the State of Israel: The Israel Defense Forces was created on 26 of May 1948.

The IDF is unique amongst the militaries of the world due to its being a conscript army. Since its formation, mandatory military draft applies to both Jewish men and women.

Today, it is one of the largest and most influential institutions in Israeli society due to its influence on the country’s economy, culture, and political scene. But one noticeable change that should not be overlooked, is the IDF has changed greatly in the decades since it was born. Today, the IDF represents the whole nation, ‘the people’s army,’ in which Israeli Jews, Druze, Muslims, Arabs, Bedouins and Christians all are brothers in arms.

DRUZE – IDF’S HIGHEST ENLISTMENT IN ENTIRE ISRAEL

A general photo of IDF Muslim, Christian and Jewish soldiers giving their oath of allegiance to Israel and IDF - each according to his religion during The Golani Swearing in Ceremony Western Wall, Jerusalem May 2022. (Supplied)

The Druze, an Arabic-speaking minority of about 150,000, roughly 2% of Israel’s population, mostly live in the northern regions of the Galilee, Carmel and the Golan Heights.

In 1956, Druze leaders signed a ‘covenant of blood’ with the Israeli government, conscripting the community into the IDF making it as the only non-Jewish minority serving, though Druze women are exempt. Serving at the IDF has ever since been part of Druze identity and source of pride, love and loyalty to Israel.

In fact, above 80% percent of Druze men enlist in the IDF, the highest enlistment percentage of all communities and sectors of Israeli society, including Israeli Jews.

Twfiq from Qalansum, in northern Israel tells Al Majalla, “I was youngster when I enlisted, I was looking for a proper career and IDF offers so many development opportunities. Early in my service I was attached to a battalion in which most of the guys didn’t know much about the Druze, their culture and history. And here, I had the opportunity to teach them about my community. I see Israel as our homeland, it is a tiny state in the Middle East, and we are all obliged to defend it. Defending Israel was the main reason why I joined and stayed in the IDF for 25 years. Any Druze citizen you may come across will tell you that they are proudly patriotic and will share with you the love they feel towards this land. During my service I was never treated differently than my Jewish Israeli fellow-soldiers. On the contrary IDF is one of the few institutions where everyone is treated equally and fairly. Most IDF teams would have a mix of Jews, Muslims, Christians and Bedouins. We were all equal, and career progression was based on one’s potential and merits and not if he is Jewish or not” Dr Anan Wahabi served in the IDF for 30 years. Today,

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Israeli Arabs are integrated in the Israeli workforce and represented in every sector of the society including the highest political echelons and in the Israeli Defense Forces. among other things, he teaches at the International Institute for Counter Terrorism in Herzliya. He says, “The IDF, for me on a personal level, was the institution that took me out from my village and helped me progress on the career ladder and become the person I am today. I am from the sixties generation, my generation grow up with two flags: the Druze and the Israeli one, they both are part of my identity and I am proud to wave both of them. Tell me, where in the Middle East is there a minority in the national army that is allowed to be proud of its ethnicity and wave its flag? The Israeli flag, is my flag and I fought in many wars defending what this flag stands for.”

THE ARAB SOCIETY IN ISRAEL In 1957, the Israeli government designated the Druze as a distinct ethnic community separate from Palestinian Muslims and Christians who live inside Israel. The Arab citizens of Israel, also known as Israeli Arabs, among whom are those who call themselves Palestinian citizens of Israel, are descendants of the 160,000 Palestinians who remained in their towns and villages after the State of Israel declared independence in 1948. Arab citizens of Israel represent one-fifth of the total population and they form the overwhelming majority of Israel’s 20% percent nonJewish demographic.

Israel has a population of about 10 million – of those 74.3% identify as Jewish, followed by Muslim about 17.9%, Christian 1.9%, the Druze roughly 2% and some other religions under 4%, e.g., followers of the Bahai faith.

Like the Druze and other minorities living in Israel, they possess the same rights as Jewish Israelis under the law.

Israeli Arabs are integrated in the Israeli workforce and represented in every sector of the society including the highest political echelons and in the Israeli Defense Forces.

Despite the fact that Israeli law does not force Israel’s Arab Muslims, Christians or Bedouins to join the IDF, the

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past few years have seen a sharp and steady increase of young men and women from Israel’s Arab society joining the IDF in great numbers compared to a decade ago.

PRESIDENT ISAAC HERZOG “YOU ARE OUR TRUE PRIDE. I SALUTE YOU” Those Al Majalla spoke with expressed that their sense of belonging and loyalty to state of Israel is what made them join the IDF. “Why did I decide to enlist?” asks Sergeant Sami Heib, a 20-year-old Bedouin who is been with the IDF over two years, “Because this is my homeland, I am part of this country and I want to contribute.” He continued, saying that “many relatives of mine already serving in the IDF and my parents support my decision and are very proud of me.” He told Al Majalla that the IDF made him feel at home, “the fact I am come from a minority group

The coronavirus crisis did play a significant role to help the IDF to gain more recruits and the army was to be perceived differently by the Arab public in Israel.

is probably the reason why the IDF is treating me more special, because they want me to feel that I belong here.”

This year, on 5 May, 2022, President Isaac Herzog hosted the annual Independence Day Ceremony at his official residence. Among the VIP guests were Prime Minister Naftali Bennet, Minister of Defense Benny Gantz and IDF Chief of Staff Aviv Kochavi. The ceremony was to honor and hand out ‘Commendations of Excellence Service’ to 120 IDF soldiers and officers from a diverse set of units in the military. To the 120 soldiers and officers, President Herzog said “You are our true pride. I salute you. I have read your stories. I was moved by your stories. Truly, by each and every one. You are here thanks to who you are, and thanks to who we are — thanks to you! Thank you very much! I extend the same gratitude to you, dear parents and families. We are proud of your children, and we are excited together with you.”

A number of Israeli Arab officers were among those who received ‘Commendations of Excellence Service.’ One of them is Anas Safedi, “I was brought up on Islamic values, and those values taught me that loyalty towards one’s homeland is sacred and an obligation. This why I carry my weapon to defend Israel.”

ELLA WAWEYA AND THE MAKING OF THE IMPOSSIBLE POSSIBLE Ella’s story is an extraordinary one – she was born in 1989 in the Israeli Arab town of Qalansawe, a few miles from the city of Netanya. She joined the IDF in 2013 and com-

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Christian IDF soldier during The Golani Swearing in Ceremony - Western Wall, Jerusalem May 2022.

(Supplied)

Diversity in IDF. (Supplied)

pleted her training as an exemplary soldier and participated in many operations. In 2015 she received the President’s Outstanding Medal. In September 2021 Ella was promoted to the rank of Major in the Israel Defense Forces and became the first Arab Muslim woman to attain this rank.

Al Majalla met up with Ella in the city of Tel Aviv. The first thing one noticed, is how proud she is of her multiidentity as a woman, Arab, Israeli and Muslim, and proudly bears her rank in the army. It could not have been easy for a young Arab girl to go against the norms of familial

“The majority of Israeli Arabs who join the army are doing it because of one reason and that is they want to be part of the state.” and societal expectations of what women can and can’t do, and on the top of that joining an army that often portrayed extremely negatively in Arabic media and circles.

She tells us that “For the first 18 months, I kept it secret that I joined the army, but during home leave on a weekend my mother came into my room without knocking and found my IDF uniform. She looked at the uniform, turned her gaze to me and began to cry, but quietly so that no would hear her.” Eventually, when it became known in her hometown that she works for the IDF, Ella was to become subject to negative reactions with some people choosing to distance themselves from her. But this brave confident woman took it all in stride.

It took Ella’s father almost a year and half to forgive her for joining the IDF. But eventually he accepted her choice, and he was proudly telling people that his daughter is in the army. Sadly, her father died of coronavirus before getting the chance to see his daughter becoming the first

Senior IDF Official from Manpower Directorate.

(Supplied)

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Arab woman IDF Major. Her mother attended the ceremony when Ella got her major’s bar. “I am proud of her, of course. My daughter, praise be to God, did nothing wrong … she built herself with her own hands,” her mother said.

Today, Ella is the Deputy Head of the IDF’s Arab Communications Department, her target audience is the hundreds of millions of Arabic speakers in the Middle East and around world. To Arabic social media surfers, she is known as “Captain Ella,” the face and voice of the Israel Defense Forces.

Since late 2019, Ella no longer holds back from telling the whole world that she works for the IDF, “The Israeli flag gives me a sense of excitement, belonging and love,” she proudly says.

There are thousands of people like Ella, officers and soldiers who are proud of working for the IDF. Three decades ago, it was almost impossible for an Israeli Arab to even consider enlisting. A decade later, many of those Israeli Arabs who joined the army were afraid to reveal their IDF service publicly. However, times have changed and many young Israeli Arabs now see themselves more broadly and are proud to say ‘I am an Arab and an Israeli.’

“What are people looking for? Equality between an Arab and a Jew, a Bedouin, a Druze and a Christian. The path to equality passes through the IDF, the Ministry of Defense, and the police. That’s how its starts,” said Ella.

Recently, the Israeli Police released its recruitment report and it showed that more than 20% of the newly enlisted in the Israeli police force in the past year are Muslims and Bedouins.

Statistics provided by a “Senior IDF Official from the Manpower Directorate” to Al Majalla, show the number of Arab Israeli draftees has been on the rise for the past a few. This Senior Official (not authorized to reveal his name) says he heads a unit that is in charge of the inclusion of minorities and different populations in the IDF. He says “our unit doesn’t just deal with recruitment but also is responsible for liaising between the military and the minority groups who serve in it. We ensure that each recruit is supported in terms of wellbeing and given the same professional progression like any other new enlistee.”

Dr Anan Wahabi and Twfiq

THE IDF AND ITS WELL-STRUCTURED RECRUITMENT APPROACH

The past few years have seen a sharp and steady increase of young men and women from Israel’s Arab society joining the IDF in great numbers compared to a decade ago.

Major Ella Waweya

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Druze and Jews in IDF. (Supplied)

The unit is divided into four-sub sections/divisions with each section dealing with enlistees from Israel’s Arab minority groups: Bedouins in the South; Bedouins in the North; and, Christians and Muslims living in villages and towns. He says “our mission is to enlist as many Israeli Arabs as we can.”

He says that over the past few years the IDF has seen a sharp rise in the number of Israeli Arabs volunteering to serve in the IDF. But he explains the numbers are higher in some sub-divisions then others. Within the Christian-

Muslim IDF soldier during The Golani Swearing in Ceremony - Western Wall, Jerusalem May 2022.

(Supplied)

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sector the IDF is annually managing to recruit between 130-150 soldiers; Bedouins from the South roughly about 150 a year; Bedouins from the North between 300-350. In regards to ‘other’ Muslims, he says “it’s quite hard to pin an exact figure, because like the Bedouins, they are Muslims too. But through our contact with schools and community centers we are recruiting about 40-100 soldiers from various Muslims towns and villages.”

However, he does point out that the numbers are not a 100% exact as in some periods the number of new recruits is average and in other periods they sharply go up. One of these periods, had a monumental upsurge during the coronavirus outbreak.

The coronavirus crisis did play a significant role to help the IDF to gain more recruits and the army was to be perceived differently by the Arab public in Israel. He explains why “during the pandemic, IDF soldiers were deployed to deliver food and medicine to elderly and sick people. They took part in the coronavirus awareness campaigns and later helped with setting up vaccine centers and so on. The IDF efforts were greatly appreciated by the Muslim citizens living in those villagers and towns. You can say the fear factor was broken, as people were able to see with their own eyes how tirelessly the IDF was working to look after all residents of Israel.”

When asked about why the IDF recruitment for Bedouin in the North is much more successful in comparison with the recruitment drives of Israeli Christians or Muslims, he explains “that the people who live in northern Israel are more accustomed or open to the IDF. You see, every fam-

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ily, they would either have a son, a brother, a husband, an uncle, a relative or a next-door neighbor who is already serving in the IDF.” He adds “that Bedouin towns and villages in the north are modern and the number of people in higher education is greater than the South (Negev area).

So we are getting volunteers who are educated and wish to pursue a career in the IDF or use the IDF as a pathway to later get a job with other law enforcement agencies, like the border police. The Bedouin youngsters in the south are not as open minded like the ones we see from the north.”

About 75% of Bedouin IDF soldiers come from the north.

The low rate of the recruits from the South, might be also connected to the time-to-time tension between authorities and the government, e.g., illegal building expansions

“The fact I am come from a minority group is probably the reason why the IDF is treating me more special, because they want me to feel that I belong here.”

which often result in a governmental order of demolition, crime, and the increased political strength of radical Islamists among other factors.

The army believes that the significant increase in the number of enlisted Muslims (which is primarily among the Bedouin population) is related to a large recruitment campaign and personal invitations that were sent to thousands of young people to enlist in the army.

The “Senior IDF Official from the Manpower Directorate” also says “that times have changed, young Israeli Arabs are more aware of what the IDF is and what it can offer them in terms of career opportunities within the army itself or further education post-army life. People want to join the army to better their circumstances and at the same time they want to contribute and strengthen the security of their country, Israel.”

The IDF and the Defense Ministry are planning to soon host a large recruitment drive, sending thousands of invitation letters to young members of the Bedouin community, also reaching them via Instagram and various social media platforms instead of standard recruitment notices in community centers. At the same time, Bedouin reserve soldiers will take part in additional activities that are part of the campaign.

Besides the increase in the number of Israeli Arabs who have been drafted into the IDF, the number of Israeli Arabs soldiers who left the service early shrank by 7%. In 2019, the drop-out rate was 30%, as opposed to 23% in

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Muslim and Jewish soldiers praying together. (Supplied)

Hassan Kaabia a former IDF Lieutenant Colonel and his son Captain Asef

2021. The IDF’s goal for the coming year is to get the number down to 20%. In addition, in the past year, there was also a 10% decrease in the amount of time Muslim soldiers were away from their service without authorized leave. IDF officials believe that all the statistics indicate a high motivation to continue to serve.

“SEVERING THE OCCUPATION” Enlisting is still controversial in some Arab communities in Israel and there are those who have voiced their anger and concerns. They claim among other things that the enlisting of Israeli Arabs is a ‘politically motivated,’ that the IDF is aiming to divide the Arabs of Israel.

One of those critics to the enlistment drives is Hanin Zoabie, an Arab Israeli Knesset Member. She claims that “Israel is after people to serve in the army who are poor and have no work.” Zoabie continued, saying, “Ninety per cent of the Arabs who serve in the Israeli army don’t have equality with Israelis. Israel does not need them to protect its security, it’s a political issue - first to divide and rule.”

Al Majalla has asked Mr Hassan Kaabia to comment on MK Zoabie’s assertion. Kaabia is an Israeli Arab and a former Lieutenant Colonel who served in the IDF over two decades and currently works as the spokesman for the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This is what he had to say – “The IDF is the only institution where there is no

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discrimination and there is a total equality and inclusion. It is not true that they are joining because of economic factors. The majority of Israeli Arabs who join the army are doing it because of one reason and that is they want to be part of the state. They want to integrate in the civil society and also get better career opportunities, as most companies prefer candidates who done their military service.” Kaabia adds that “Zoabi has a political agenda that has resulted in some not wanting to be integrated in the Israeli society.

But it’s fine for her to work in the Parliament and get a very high salary from the government of Israel, who also pays for her car, office and so on.”

Mr Kaabia’s son, Captain Asaf, decided to follow in his father’s footsteps and joined the IDF a few years ago.

MK Zoabi’s argument of only ‘poor men with no jobs’ is getting even thinner when you consider that Mohammed Zoabi, her very close relative, joined the IDF. Al Majalla also asked the “Senior IDF Official from the Manpower Directorate” to comment on MK Zoabi. His reply “listen, I say we are not holding a stick and forcing people to join. We have enough soldiers in the IDF who are more than capable to protect Israel. Israel is for all Israelis – Jews, Muslims, Bedouins, Christians, Druze and so on. The IDF is here to serve all the people of Israel. We see the IDF as a home, a family where everyone should made to feel welcomed and included. Israel is a multi-faith and cultural society with many minorities. The IDF can be a great platform to connect all of to us to our homeland, Israel.”

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Assad Regime, Opposition Accused of Exploiting Detainees’ Agenda

Former Prisoner to Majalla: They Tortured me, I Witnessed the Death of Other Detainees

By Jiwan Soz – Qamishli The Assad regime’s security authorities have inflicted largescale torture against detainees who were arrested during the popular protests that took place in mid-March 2011. The many international and UN reports that frankly and directly condemned the regime, yet they did not stop. There are also the shocking videos documenting scenes of torture against thousands of detainees who were imprisoned during the past years that followed the popular protests, which later turned into a brutal war that saw international and regional parties taking arms.

Majalla tells the story of Shiar Khalil, the Syrian journalist and

human rights activist who resides today in the French capital Paris, having had spent two years and three months in the prisons of the Syrian regime before being released later along with a number of journalists and activists following pressure by international human rights organizations on the Assad regime.

KHALIL RECALLS THE TORTURE MARKS

Khalil, 37, recalls the scars of cigarette burns and torture marks that are still visible on his body. He says, “These effects are normal and can be treated, which means that they might fade away with time. However, it is the internal scars, and by that, I mean the emotional and mental backlash of imprisonment that

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will remain, to always remind us that we were and still are demanding our freedom and dignity. The regime stands in the face of these calls and this is the price we pay.”

The journalist, who is originally from the Syrian city of Afrin, northwest of the country, continues to narrate his suffering in the Syrian prisons and security branches: “After three months of investigations, torture, humiliation and insults, I was transferred with some of my colleagues to Adra Central Prison in Damascus. There, we were allowed to contact our relatives and I was able to tell my family where I was. However, I was only able to meet them when I got out of the prison after two years and three months.”

Khalil adds, “They had my external hard disk, which contained many videos that I filmed in opposition areas where I documented the social and political life there, in addition to battles between the regime forces and the armed opposition at the time.”

WHAT HAPPENED AT THE CRIMINAL SECURITY BRANCH?

Khalil spent two years and three months in Assad prisons, he was released due to pressures by international organizations.

Khalil had been forcibly disappeared in Syrian prisons and no one was aware of his fate, even his family, who learned of his whereabouts after he was transferred to Adra Central Prison.

Before being transferred again to the Criminal Security Branch in Bab Musalla, the Terrorism Court in Damascus accused him of committing “terrorist” acts, especially since many of the activists arrested with him confessed during interrogation and under torture that they had connections with him.

The Syrian journalist also narrates the events that took place at the Criminal Security Branch in Bab Musalla, after being detained for two months, where he sustained brutal torture by Lieutenant Muayyad al-Massouti, Head of the Criminal Investigation Department. Khalil explains: “After they were done with the wearisome torture and investigation, I was asked to appear on the regime’s TV station to admit that I was a terrorist and to express regret. At first, I refused, but I ended up agreeing due to torture. I was dictated my words in the presence of an officer from the Ministry of Interior. Then came the filming part of the unravelling of a terrorist cell affiliated with the Free Syrian Army, noting that I was not affiliated with any political or military parties. I was left open-mouthed facing the photographer who turned out to be my colleague back during college, and was now a regime loyalist.”

SINGLE ACCUSATION HAUNTS DETAINEES

Khalil recalls with sorrow and pain the scenes of torture and the sounds he heard at the Criminal Security Branch, as well as in the Palestine Branch, as he continues narrating: “Many were tortured in front of me, including my friends.

Detained women were also tortured before our eyes, and I

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“Many were tortured in front of me, including my friends.

Detained women were also tortured before our eyes, and I witnessed many detainees who lost their lives as a result of severe torture.” witnessed many detainees who lost their lives as a result of severe torture.”

In complete contrast to the discrimination that the Kurds were subjected to in Syria over the past decades, Khalil was not subjected to additional discrimination in detention being a Kurd. He says, “There was no distinctive discrimination; everyone was a terrorist, and they had to prove the opposite, which is impossible in Syrian prisons. However, at the Palestine Branch, an officer stuffed his shoes in my mouth and told me sarcastically: Why are you in Damascus calling for a democratic state, you bastard? ... Go to Qamishli and demand the establishment of Kurdistan.”

He adds, “After those words, I felt that as if the malice was double against the Kurds. I sensed from the words of the office that I am naturally a terrorist because my origins are Kurdish.”

“I EYE-WITNESSED TORTURE”

Khalil also narrates the scenes of torture at the Criminal Security Branch, where he was hung on the ceiling and hit hard with a stick until he started bleeding from different parts in his body. He recalls the words of the First Assistant Abu Ammar, who was under Massouti’s supervision, as if they were enunciated today, “This was how the Iraqi President Saddam Hussein tortured the Kurds,” which further aggravated the pain of arrest and oppression, as he put it.

He adds, “It is a different life out there in the regime’s detention facilities, which have nothing to do with the wellknown prison systems elsewhere in the world. Most of the accusations are random and groundless, and the defendants have nothing to do with them. They also have their own torture methods that are their specialty, and they have caused the death of thousands of innocent people.”

The young man noted that he learned to draw in prison, and started writing and thinking about the reasons behind the Syrian revolution growing weaker, politically and militarily, while getting to know Syrians from different regions, all joined together by a suppressing regime keen in its murderous nature on stripping their dignity away.”

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It should be noted that Khalil was released along with a group of civil activists as a result of pressure from international organizations specialized in the field of defending human rights, which he associates with “luck.” He says: “Fortunately, I was in contact with several international and human rights organizations specialized in this regard, and they saved me from prison and possibly death. Unfortunately, however, we left behind many detainees, who suffer to this day from the injustice and criminality of the regime.”

NUMBERS OF DETAINEES ARE SHOCKING!

After this arduous journey marred with torture and brutal memories, Khalil moved to France, where he and a group of activists, journalists and jurists are working for the cause of Syrian detainees, by introducing their case through lectures and seminars on freedom of opinion and expression in Syria, and talking about detainees held by the regime

“After they were done with the wearisome torture and investigation, I was asked to appear on the regime’s TV station to admit that I was a terrorist and to express regret.”

and the parties involved. They also hold other activities with international organizations to document the regime’s violations, and work with the United Nations and its affiliated institutions in following up on the situation of Syrian detainees and pressing for their release.

Thousands, perhaps tens of thousands, of detainees who were imprisoned for participating in anti-Assad protests more than a decade ago are in the prisons of the Syrian regime. There are conflicting statistics about the accurate numbers. The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights indicates that the number of detainees held by the regime is 152,713, including 41,312 women. The documentations of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights indicate that more than 105,000 detainees have died under the effect of torture in the prisons of the Assad regime since the start of the Syrian revolution in 2011, including more than 83% who were liquidated and killed inside the detention centers in the period between May 2013 and October 2015. During this period, Iranian officers had supervised the Syrian detention centers, according to the Observatory.

TAKING ADVANTAGE OF THE DETAINEES’ AGENDA

Khalil expresses his regret that thousands of detainees continue to be detained in the regime’s facilities, and that their case has been drained by the regime and the opposition alike.

In this regard, he says: “Unfortunately, the issue of detainees has become merely a number in the calculations of the opposition and the regime years after the Syrian revolution and the war that followed it and are being used as a negotiation card over the swap of war and military detainees between both sides, under Russian and Turkish supervision.

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A still photo from the regime’s video in which Shiar Khalil was forced to admit he was a terrorist. “At first, I refused, but I ended up agreeing due to torture.

I was dictated my words in the presence of an officer from the Ministry of Interior,” he told Majalla.

Shiar Khalil is currently residing in Paris.

He adds, “The issue of detainees is beyond negotiation and immediate measures must be taken without involving the political aspect. The regime and its opposition insist on drawing the political card at the expense of Syrian civilians who are still waiting the return of thousands of their sons. This is why the international bodies concerned with human rights should strive to open the doors of the regime and the opposition’s prisons and detention centers as soon as possible in order to release all detainees, and then move on to other solutions related to negotiations and political quotas between the two sides.”

The Syrian security authorities released hundreds of detainees about three months ago, after Assad issued an amnesty for the “terrorist crimes” committed and for which Syrians were convicted before the issuance of the decree on April 30, 2022, which excluded amnesty for those convicted of “terrorist” crimes that led to the death of a human being.

The exact number of prisoners who were included in the presidential pardon is not known, but the Syrian Observatory and other human rights organizations documented the release of hundreds of prisoners, among whom were people who were arrested 10 years ago and were languishing in Sednaya Prison. Amnesty International described this facility as the “human slaughterhouse” after it documented the execution of about 13,000 prisoners between 2011 and 2015.

It seems that issuing an amnesty law for terrorist crimes that did not lead to the death of a human being is an attempt by the regime to polish its image and evade the serious violations it committed in its prisons for more than a decade. This comes in line with the successive international reports and the pressure of humanitarian and human rights

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“They had my external hard disk, which contained many videos that I filmed in opposition areas where I documented the social and political life there.” organizations on the issues of torture and serious human rights abuses that took place in prisons and detention centers. Data by the Syrian Observatory reveal that more than 105,000 detainees have been killed under torture inside the prisons of the Assad regime since the beginning of the Syrian revolution in 2011.

The presidential pardon was issue days after The Guardian published a lengthy investigation into the killing of dozens of people at the hands of members of the regime forces.

One of the dozens of videos dating back to 2013, and published weeks ago, showed a member of the regime forces asking people who were handcuffed and blindfolded to run, only to shoot them as they fell into a hole where the bodies had piled up in the Tadamon neighborhood in the southern Damascus countryside. As a result, this video that documented the crime became known as the “Tadamon Massacre.” * Jiwan Soz is a researcher and journalist who focuses on Syrian and Turkish affairs and minorities in the Middle East. He is also a member of Syndicat National des Journalistes (National Syndicate of Journalists [SNJ]). He tweets at @JiwanSoz1

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Pentagon’s Credibility, From Vietnam and Afghanistan to Ukraine

American Pundits Criticize US Defense Rosy Assessment of the War

By Mohammad Ali Salih – Washington Last week, the Pentagon’s spokesman Todd Breasseale, again and again, refused to answer reporters’ questions about details of the war between Russia and Ukraine, particularly the losses

by Ukrainian forces as the Russian forces continue to advance.

“We are simply not going to do” the battle damage assessment, or intelligence work for Russia, Breasseale said. Adding that “We are not providing an unintended assessment that Putin can use to his advantage.”

Last week, “The Washington Post,” in a front-page unflattering report, said that U.S. officials have downplayed the Russian gains, and high-lightened the numbers of their military fatalities. “But the Ukrainians have also sustained heavy casualties … Tens of thousands of soldiers killed and wounded,” the newspaper added.

The Pentagon’s spokesman was criticized not only by reporters, but also, by some academicians, historians and even members of Congress whose support of Ukraine seems to have recently lessened.

There have been reckonings of the Pentagon’s past rosy and inaccurate assessments of wars, as during the Vietnam War (1975-1965) and the Afghanistan War (2021-2001). Such inaccuracies have made the end of the two wars dramatic as the enemies appeared to have suddenly won the war (and the Americans have unexpectedly lost) because of the Pentagon’s rosy assessments during earlier years.

Last week, during a press briefing at the Pentagon, Breasseale said: “I think we have discussed what we can, when it is knowable ....” Some reporters joked that that was what former Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, used to say to reporters when asked about details of the Iraq War. Once Rumsfeld said: “There are

known knowns — there are things we know we know … We also know there are known unknowns — that is to say, we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns, the ones we don’t know we don’t know.”

Following are three opinions critical of the Pentagon because of its rosy assessment of the war between Russia and Ukraine, excerpts from their tweets, websites and statements to the media: First, “as rosy as the Pentagon assessments of the war in Afghanistan,” compared Kori Schake, director of foreign and defense policy at the Washington-based conservative American Enterprise Institute.

Second, “We need honest assessments,” said Benjamin Friedman, a policy director at the Washington-based Defense Priorities Group.

Third, “Let us declare victory and quit,” said Ro Khanna, a progressive Democratic Congressman from California.

KORI SCHAKE: “AFGHANISTAN AGAIN” “This scrutiny is fueled by U.S. government assessments of other wars, notably in Afghanistan, where officials habitually glossed over widespread dysfunction and corruption and sidestepped questions of whether battlefield successes were not only achievable but sustainable.

Successive administrations insisted Afghan forces were ‘in the lead’ even as their performance was often deeply flawed and their survival depended on U.S. logistical support and air power …

With Ukraine, as opposed to Afghanistan, the Pentagon lacks the incentive to perennially say the military that it is supporting is turning a corner. There are no known American troops involved in the conflict, limiting the government’s interest in making such

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Kori Schake

Benjamin Friedman pronouncements …

But we are now watching Pentagon officials congratulating themselves about the type and number of weapons they are providing, while leaving out that the United States could send more weapons faster. Our sense of self-satisfaction and complacency and confidence is actually a disservice to Ukraine … This complacency is practically and morally suspect …”

BENJAMIN FRIEDMAN: “NEED HONEST ASSESSMENTS” “The stated objective of Ukraine to push Russian forces out seems increasingly unrealistic. And the Biden administration must do more to press Ukraine to negotiate with Russia and strive for a political settlement …

Nobody wants them to cede territory, or hardly anyone wants them to cede territory. But you have to assess the situation honestly and say that you’re trading peace for territory.

I think we should be doing more to pressure them. And I think we’re sort of doing a disservice not just to regular Ukrainians, but to a lesser extent Americans and everyone else who is suffering economic problems because of the war …

U.S. government is spinning for Ukraine for the obvious reason that we are rooting for them. A blunter assessment of Ukrainian losses or liabilities might assist Russia. Because it is natural not to criticize the people you’re fighting with, and certainly not in public …”

KHANNA: “SAY WE WON” “While I applaud the Biden’s administration’s objective in stopping Russia from seizing Kyiv, the United States cannot

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Ro Khanna

“With Ukraine, as opposed to Afghanistan, the Pentagon lacks the incentive to perennially say the military that it is supporting is turning a corner.” resign itself to a prolonged never-ending conflict that is wreaking havoc on the American economy and the global economy …

I believe we should declare victory for the president’s efforts in standing up for a sovereign Ukraine. We should say we won. The Russians lost. They did not achieve their fundamental objective …

We Democrats are not resigned to supporting Ukraine at all costs.

People don’t want to see a resigned attitude that this is just going to go on as long as politicians and the military want. People don’t want to economically suffer because of a war in a faraway place …

Ukraine has the moral high ground. We can impose sanctions, and speak out clearly against Putin aggression. But our national security requires us not to get significantly entangled in a conflict that would weaken us vis a vis China. I support (Secretary of State Anthony) Blinken in de-escalation …

I disagreed with Bush suggesting Ukraine should be part of NATO. But I don’t think that in itself explains or justifies Putin’s immoral decision to invade. The question now though is how do we de-escalate and have some agreement to bring peace …”

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“Here I am, O Allah”

Gamal Abdul-Mabud

Muslim and Arab nations are celebrating Eid alAdha, may Allah return it many times with all its blessings. It is the anniversary of sacrifice, and a vivid representation of Islam’s message since Allah created earth and Adam to populate it and worship Him. The message of Islam is the same message carried by all messengers and prophets, even if they lived in different places and times, and spoke different languages.

Difference is an everlasting rule of the universe, that’s why Allah the Almighty tells us, “That (we) may get to know one another.”

This is the origin of our lives, but wars, conflicts, animosity and hatred among sons and daughters of Adam have originated due to envy and greed. The rule is to live in harmony and submit to Allah, the Lord of all worlds. No wonder, Allah quoted Prophet Abraham describing us as the ones who submit (which means “Muslims” in Arabic). The three Scriptures, Torah, Gospel and Quran, are mainly the embodiment of this submission to the Lord of the worlds, the One, the Sustainer, with whom we should not worship any other gods. We should believe in the transcendent Creator whom we should worship with sincere devotion, even to the dismay of the disbelievers.

Definitely, the life story of Abraham (Peace be upon him) is not narrated for entertainment, but for the moral lesson it provides for people of reason. This story cannot be a fabrication. Allah chose Abraham for the title Al-Khalil (Allah’s close friend) because of his honest resolve. Abraham kept his unwavering call for the truth at any price. He faced the gravest afflictions with patience and devotion to communicate Allah’s message. His trials were multiple in time, place and faith. In his faith, he was tested with the idea of worshipping the sun and planets until they faded by Allah’s will, so he cried that he would not be guided unless Allah led him to the truth.

Abraham was also afflicted with being thrown in fire, which could not burn him and remained cold and calm for him. Allah was able to put it out for him, but

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Abraham was destined to be thrown into the smoldering fire to show how his belief was unwavering. Allah made it cold and calm for his faith and resolve.

Abraham was also afflicted with the migration from his homeland in Ur to Harran, then to the Levant, then to Egypt, then to the land of Canaanites. He then headed south to Hejaz where he faced his major affliction when he had to leave his only son Ismail, who was born to old Abraham from Hajar, the Egyptian handmaiden of his barren wife Sarah. It was a great sacrifice by Sarah to offer her husband to marry her maid in order to bring him an offspring who would inherit prophecy.

Prophet Abraham had to leave Ismail and Hajar in the barren wilderness. It was an unmatched sacrifice

by Hajar who had deep belief in Allah’s wisdom that He would never abandon her and her son. When her husband told her it was Allah’s order, her eternally famous reply was, “Allah will not forsake us” to testify to her strong faith. Then, the Zamzam well would spring to attract birds and convoys to where Hajar and Ismail were. The tribe of Jurhum would ask Hajar’s permission to reside nearby, and the tribe of Amalek would do the same until the barren wilderness would become a strategical location for convoys to pass by.

Another test Abraham had to go through was to raise the foundations of the House (Kaaba), when he supplicated to Allah, “Our Lord, accept [this] from us. Indeed You are the Hearing, the Knowing.”

Then the most difficult test came when Allah ordered Abraham to sacrifice Ismail. He went to obey the order, and when Satan came to dissuade him, Abraham stoned him. It was one of a series of sacrifices that Al-Khalil had to give. Allah sent a big sheep as a ransom to Ismail, who was true to his promise and would become a prophet for Muslim nation and an embodiment of sacrifice.

Allah does not look for the flesh or the blood being sacrificed, but the piety in our hearts, which is the most comprehensive meaning of sacrifice. Prophet Abraham would announce, “Indeed, my prayer, my

Muslim worshippers and pilgrims (white) pray around the Kaaba, Islam›s holiest shrine, at the Grand Mosque in Saudi Arabia›s holy city of Mecca on July ,6 2022 during the annual Hajj pilgrimage. (Photo by AFP) rites of sacrifice, my living and my dying are for Allah,” so Muslims would follow the rites of their father Abraham.

Life was prolonged for the grandchildren of Ismail so they lost their way. Amr Ibn Luhay brought idols to Kaaba and ordered people to worship them in order to bring them closer to Allah. However, the rituals of Hajj continued and were inherited by the grandchildren of Ismail a generation after the other.

Quraysh tribe, especially Abd Manaf clan, gained high profile as they were responsible for Rifada, Hijaba, Siqayah and all maintenance and services provided for pilgrims. It was not surprising that seeds of animosity were sowed between Banu Hashem and Banu Abd Shams, when the later was excluded from serving pilgrims. That was the main root of the great sedition that took place after the assassination of Uthman Ibn Affan and the pledge of allegiance to Ali Ibn Abi Talib, as a representative of Banu Hashem. Mu›awiya, of Banu Abd Shams, refused this pledge of allegiance just to prevent Banu Hashem from acquiring both glories of prophecy and caliphate. Banu Abd Shams were people of worldly life and politics while Ali was one of the people of religion. At that time, politics was on the rise, while religion was backsliding, so Mu›awiya

prevailed leaving an incurable wound on the Sunnah and Shia divisions against a political backdrop with a philosophical flavor.

As years go by, the meaning of sacrifice as represented

by Prophet Abraham remains evident and maintains a value that encourages self-denial and submission to Allah, who sent Abraham and other prophets to establish Allah’s religion as the savior of justice across the ages.

Philosophy attempted to fulfill this role, as philosophers imagined Utopias and visualized roads for justices.

When powerful followers of these bright philosophical views came to apply their doctrines, injustice and corruption prevailed in the name of justice, piety and truth. On the other side, faith succeeded in what philosophy failed to do, because faith is from Allah who created our souls while philosophy is the result of reasoning by people who have changing minds and don’t perceive but material values. They can not perceive how Abraham was Hanif nor understand his sacrificial faith which Muslims observe every year in commemoration of the rites performed by the father of the Prophets, the origin of Abrahamic religions.

Now let the calls of “Labaik” and “Here I am, O Allah” resonate in Makkah.

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As years go by, the meaning of sacrifice as represented

by Prophet Abraham remains evident and maintains a value that encourages self-denial and submission to Allah .

A Weekly Political News Magazine

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Rowan Atkinson: New Series Man vs.

Bee Features A ‘Return of Mr. Bean’ www.majalla.com

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For How to Live and Die, Look No Further

The remarkable life of Dame Deborah James can teach us something

By Luisa Markides

Do you ever wonder how your life might end, when your time will run out, or what you will leave this world? Do you consider how much time you have left and what you want to do with it? Have you ever asked yourself: ‘What’s the reason for my existence?’ ‘What am I achieving by being here?’

Life is a mystery, a gift passed to us from our parents, but it is also a challenge. Often, it can only be through darkness that we learn to reach the light. Life’s challenges are an inevitability; it is how we deal with them and cope with them, often at moments of crisis, that define us and ultimately strengthen us. For reasons unknown – God, perhaps, or the nature of the universe – we tend not to be given more than we can handle. That can be a heart-warming thought when all hope seems lost, when we think we cannot cope.

All of this brings us neatly to one of life’s true heroes, an example like no other: English bowel cancer campaigner, Dame Deborah James.

Some time ago I wrote about palliative care and dedicated part of it to her. A happily married teacher and mother of two, after being told her illness was terminal she became a journalist, podcaster, author, and charity campaigner, to raise awareness of the early signs and symptoms of bowel cancer – signs that could save lives.

Dame Deborah truly embraced both her

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life and her destiny. When she learned that the cancer had spread, that her body was struggling, and that she now had incurable Stage 4 bowel cancer, she created the ‘Bowelbabe’ Fund for Cancer Research UK, to raise money through online fundraising. Her JustGiving page had topped £7.3 million for the charity at the time of writing.

The brave Dame’s life came to an end on 28 June, at the tender age of 40. Across the UK, her death was met with great sadness.

She may have been young, but she touched the lives of millions through her work and was hailed as a true inspiration. Originally from London, she spent her last years fighting to raise awareness of what she like to call “the glam cancer”, always approaching her illness and struggles with a sense of humor, while speaking openly - and in cruel detail - about her experience of with living with a life-limiting and incurable illness. Due to her, many more people now know to watch for the symptoms, such as “pooing blood”.

One of the biggest obstacles to this potentially life-saving knowledge, she said, is that “we aren’t frank enough”. She sought to change that be being as frank as possible.

She knew that we live in a society in which bowel cancer - and everything related to it – can be taboo. Likewise, she knew that this could mean that the people affected by bowel cancer do not go to the doctor until it

Dame Deborah

is too late, because they feel embarrassed.

Dame Deborah had a huge impact not just in life but in dying. She achieved more in her last five years than most people achieve in a lifetime. In so doing, she taught the world far more than just the signs of bowel cancer. She taught people how to live life to the max, and ultimately, how to die.

She was brutally honest about her destiny and faced death in the eyes. Until her dying breath, she demonstrated that life is worth living to its fullest and that achievements are possible right up to the end. As her family said when announcing her death: “Deborah shared her experience with the world to raise awareness, break barriers, challenge taboos and change the conversation around cancer.”

Her final two months were a whirlwind. She was given a damehood by Prince William. She published her second book. She was the star of the RHS Chelsea Flower Show. She created her own fashion label from which 100 percent of the profits go towards her BowelBabe fund (more than £1m so far). She even released a white rose under her name – the “Deborah James Rose” for which a share of the sale goes to her charity. She continued living, too. Together with her

husband, she went to the Glyndebourne Festival Opera one last time. It was here, exactly five years earlier, that she had received her Stage 4 diagnosis.

In the very same spirit of honesty, she spoke of being “scared” of what was to come, and of “taking things one day at the time”. Her final words, movingly, urged people to “find a life worth enjoying, take risks, love deeply, have no regrets, and always, always have rebellious hope. Finally, check your poo. It could save your life”.

Rebellious hope is truly what got Dame Deborah through the last five years. A few weeks before dying, she said she felt grateful to be able to enjoy a moment of sunshine on her face. It was about trying to find the diamond moments, the diamonds in the rough, which - if you looked hard for - you found were still there. Now that she is no longer here, her family have been left with hope and comfort, fuelled by her life-saving legacy, and a desire to continue her work, to keep her marvellous spirit alive She inspired the world to live with courage and keep a sense of rebellious hope through the darkest moments and biggest challenges. This is what a genuinely fulfilled life is all about.

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It is how we deal with Life’s challenges, often at moments of crisis, that define us and ultimately strengthen us .

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Rowan Atkinson: New Series Man vs.

Bee Features A ‘Return of Mr. Bean’

By Majalla Illustration by Jeannette Khouri We’ve known Rowan Atkinson’s supremely subversive silliness for over 40 years, as he has famously played extraordinary fools happily.

Rowan Atkinson’s career has the structure of a joke: a grave, shy man fated to make others laugh. It’s a good joke. Atkinson is Britain’s most successful comic actor since Peter Sellers and Dudley Moore. His global franchises, Johnny English and Mr. Bean, have grossed billions of pounds.

With Mr. Bean, he almost single-handedly resurrected physical comedy. He created the best British sitcom character of our lifetimes with Blackadder - he calls it The Blackadder- and Blackadder is very talkative. But, as he points out, all comedy is subjective. He is 67 years old and has been famous for over 40 years.

Rowan Sebastian Atkinson, an English actor, comedian, and screenwriter, was born on January 6, 1955 in Consett, County Durham, England. In a 2005 poll of fellow comedians, Atkinson was named one of the 50 funniest actors in British comedy

and one of the top 50 comedians ever by The Observer.

At The Queen’s College, Oxford, Atkinson earned a master’s degree in electrical engineering. Atkinson began writing and performing his first sketches while studying at Oxford. He made his Edinburgh Festival Fringe debut in Oxford revues. Later, he began performing in theatre clubs and on BBC Radio 3 comedy shows.

He was a movie buff. He was the president of the school film society and once saw Jacques Tati’s Les Vacances de Monsieur Hulot four times in one day. He, too, enjoyed mending: he carried a screwdriver in his top pocket, tinkered with tractors, and learned how to rewire a house.

“Even with the advances in technology since the last century,” he says, he can still rewire a house. He repaired the photocopier in the fringe office at the Edinburgh Festival.

He achieved success in TV roles such as Not the Nine O’Clock News (1979-82), Blackadder (1983-89), and The Thin Blue Line (1995-96), but Atkinson rose to international prominence by writing and starring in the TV sitcom Mr. Bean (1990-95).

Mr Bean, as described by Atkinson, is a character who is “a child in a grown man’s

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body.” Mr. Bean’s series has helped him secure a place in the popular culture of several countries.

Mr. Bean is a slow-witted, sometimes ingenious, selfish, and generally likeable buffoon who brings unusual schemes and connivance to everyday tasks.

Throughout his more than 40-year career, 66-year-old Atkinson has been recognized for his contributions to film and television.

He was awarded the CBE in 2013 for his contributions to drama and charity.

The screenwriter and actor has also received BAFTA and Olivier nominations.

Atkinson struggled with fame: “As a private individual, I much prefer to keep my cards very close to my chest,” he says. “I don’t really want to be known as a person.” I want to be remembered for my work, not for who I am or what I believe.”

“Man vs. Bee,” Atkinson’s new Netflix series, premiered on June 24. The comedian plays Trevor, a bumbling father who gets a new job as a house sitter at a luxurious mansion filled with priceless artwork, classic cars, and a dog named Cupcake.

When a bee enters the house and forces Trevor to pull out all the stops to get rid of it, shenanigans and chaos ensue.

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Another ‘Tutmania’

King Tut’s VR Avatar Continues to Enchant NatGeo Exhibit Guests

By Majalla – Washington The museum of the “National Geographic” magazine in Washington opened in June a long-awaited exhibition, “Beyond King Tut: The Immersive Experience”, in another wave of American “Tutmania,” to mark the 100th anniversary of the discovery of Pharaonic King Tutankhamen’s tomb – and as a “revenge” for “National Geographic” itself.

In 1922, British aristocrat George Herbert, who financed fellow British archeologist Howard Carter who discovered the tomb, re-

fused to allow Maynard Williams, correspondent of the “National Geographic,” to enter the crypt when it was opened to rich international personalities. Herbert, to profit from the discovery, sold the rights to report the excavation to “The Times” of London, and excluded other publications, even the Egyptian ones.

The coverage would have been a scoop for “National Geographic” (a leading world-wide magazine since before that time) to cover what was inside the tomb: about 5,000 items, including couches, chests, thrones, shrines, scattered around the goldenmade coffin and a golden dagger on the body.

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Last June, a 100 years later, “National Geographic” mentioned Herbert’s financial greed, and reminded the visitors to the exhibition that Herbert died during the excavation, inspiring speculations that the tomb was cursed.

The exhibition, which will continue until the end of the year, is almost entirely virtual-reality, amid a high-tech show of sound and light, partly to compensate for the absence of real relics from Tut’s tomb which are no longer available for display outside Egypt.

But, half-a-century earlier, the real relics were shown during Tut’s first major exhibition in the US that started the “Tutma- popular and commercial aspects of the 1970’s tour that continnia”. It was estimated that ten million Americans visited the ex- ued until the present time, for the benefit of both Americans and hibition as it toured major American cities.

Egyptians.

The “Chicago Tribune” wrote about the exhibition there, under “The Washington Post”, commenting on the “National Geothe title “The Treasures of King Tutankhamun”, and about people graphic” exhibition, said that the 1970’s tour was part of then“waiting in long lines (sometimes overnight) to enter the dimly President Anwar Sadat’s policy to open up to the West, after lit corridors lined with ancient Egyptian artifacts. They emerged decades of Egypt’s alliance with Russia during the rule of his into a larger room holding the gold sarcophagus of the ruler who former boss, Gamal Abdul-Nasser. And that, now, the revival had died at age 19, King Tut”. of “Tutmania” is expected to attract more Western tourists to the The newspaper added that visitors Egypt of President Abdul-Fattah Al-Sisi “exited through the gift shop, leaving who has been facing political, economic the museum with scarves, (Tut) bags, and security problems -- and a decrease prints, and books emblazoned with his in money-loaded tourists. Especially beimage. And if they had a little extra cause, now, Tutankhamun’s treasures cash, they walked home with expen“are unlikely ever again to leave the sive replicas of what they’d just seen.”

Cairo region, where they will dwell in In Chicago alone, almost two million the Grand Egyptian Museum, set to open people visited the exhibition which later this year”. was part of a six-city U.S. tour, “the Thanks to the power of American media, first time anything from the tomb had films, documentaries and commercial come to America, and the whole thing products about King Tut will continue had a rock star quality to it”. (It was to spread around the world. Tut’s gloves, part of a world-wide tour that continpendants and T-shirts, in addition to films ued for about ten years). that started before World War II, brightAmerica’s capitalism and Egypt’s ening the dawn of Hollywood films inpharaonic civilization combined and dustry, like “Carter The Great” and “The made a profitable industry; not only for Kiss of Pharaoh”, to recent ones like “The the museums that showed the exhibiCurse of King Tut’s Tomb”, and TV setions, but also, for the film, television ries, like “Tutankhamun”.

In the tomb of the Eighteenth Dynasty king and souvenirs industries.

Tutankhamun (c.1327–1336 BC), only the walls Early this year “The New Yorker” maga“If I had known they’d line up just to see of the burial chamber bear decorations. (Website zine wrote about “Why King Tut is Still him, I would have taken all my money of Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities) Fascinating”, saying that he “was a minor and bought me a museum,” said Ameripharaoh, and the excavation of his tomb can actor and singer Steve Martin when he played a leading role was a disreputable affair. But, a century later, there is more to in the film “King Tut” in 1978, and his accompanied song, with learn”. the same name, became a hit single that sold more than a million The report started with the author’s own story: “Not long ago, in record within one year. The song was a parodic commentary on my sister’s elementary-school classroom, I met a second grader “Tutmania”, as those exhibitions became the most popular mu- who seemed well on his way to a doctoral degree in Egyptology. seum show in US history.

He described the mummification process in fascinating detail: Part of the song’s lyrics: “King Tut, when he was a young man. why the brain was removed through the nose, and how exactly He never thought he would see. People stand in line to see King natron dried out the rest of the body. He drew an elaborate cartouTut … Dancing by the Nile. The ladies love his style. Rockin’ for che with the hieroglyphs used to spell my name. He then proceeda mile. He ate crocodile meat …” ed to tell me more about the pharaoh Tutankhamun than most of A phrase in the song, “He gave his life for tourism,” illustrated the other students could tell me about their own grandfathers …”

The exhibition, which will continue until the end of the year, is almost entirely virtual-reality, amid a high-tech show of sound and light.

Zahi Hawass (back, 3rd L), head of the High Council for Antiquities, supervises the removal of the mummy of King Tutankhamen from his stone sarcophagus in his underground tomb in the Valley of the Kings in Luxor in this November 2007 ,4 file photo. REUTERS/Ben Curtis/Pool/Files

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Antiquities Trade: Game of Chance is Illegal

Businessmen, People of Influence Fell into Trap of Stealing Pharaohs’ Buried Treasures

By Youssef al-Khatib - Cairo The antiquities trade is the illegal game of chance that might either lead its perpetrator to vaults of wealth or end their careers and lives in a tragic way. With Egypt housing beneath its grounds a pool of treasures stretching in all directions and extending to all ancient and modern times, many from inside and outside the country (which they enter under the pretense of excavation scientists) give up to their whims in search of excavating these treasures despite the dangers surrounding them.

Officials and businessmen overpowered by the passion to search for antiquities, end up behind prison bars.

How did these artifacts get out of the country? The most notorious smuggling means and hiding them away from the security services across all media: land, sea, and air. Also, who is in charge of the smuggling operations?

It is a global mafia and an international trade. Its villains are men of influence in Egypt and abroad and they have many tricks to smuggle their goods in the hope of winning the lottery.

One of the most famous and safest means of smuggling antiquities is hiding them in diplomatic luggage. The major smugglers resort to some diplomatic personnel who are obsessed with acquiring and selling antiquities to facilitate these operations, whether in exchange for a percentage of the deal’s value, or for even obtaining some of the antiquities.

The present still reminds us of the major antiquities case that was unraveled a few years ago when the Italian authorities were able to seize a lot of artifacts (21,000 pieces smuggled in a diplomatic container belonging to an Italian diplomat.) This was done with the help of the Egyptian smuggler, Raouf Ghali, descendant of a famous family of ministers, the last of whom was the former Minister of Finance.

There are also shipments of furniture in which large and valuable

pieces of antiquities are hidden inside. This was the case when the Kuwaiti authorities managed to uncover a huge Pharaonic tomb inside a large wooden sofa.

As for small pieces, they are often smuggled inside ordinary travel bags among clothes. The most famous incident took place in 1980, when the Cairo Airport detectives seized a number of valuable artifacts dating back to 1500 BC with one of the travelers.

As for the strangest cases of smuggling, the owner of an import and export company in the Egyptian coastal city of Damietta put in a large container a large quantity of hookahs, and included statues from the Pharaonic, Greek and Roman eras, and tried to smuggle them for the benefit of businessmen.

THE ADVENTURE OF EXCAVATION While the smugglers embark on a difficult and criminal adventure, there are experts in illegal excavation who have grown addicted to taking this risk. They hope to reach the end of the tunnel and pick up a valuable piece to eventually reach the international auction halls or to deliver to wealthy, major collectors of antiquities. The dangerous thing is that Egypt cannot recover these pieces because they are mostly unregistered and were excavated illegally.

Estimates vary about the smuggled or looted antiquities of Egypt.

However, official data issued by the concerned ministry and responsible authorities indicate that during the last fifty years, the country has lost about 32,638 antiquities, including what is documented and stolen from various stores and museums across the country. The January 2011 revolution and the chaos that pervaded the country were behind the theft of about 3,000 documented pieces, and the authorities are searching for them.

Aside from this official statistic, experts believe that the actual numbers of smuggled artifacts may be double the announced

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A visitor looks at exhibits inside the Egyptian Museum in Cairo April 2010 ,7. REUTERS/ Tarek Mostafa

numbers, as most of the thefts are through illegal excavations.

Experts estimate the number of Egyptian artifacts in museums and among collectors of precious statues at about one million pieces.

Egypt managed between 2010 and 2018 to retrieve 975 artifacts from 10 different eras, all of which were registered and carried internationally proven numbers.

The past few years have also witnessed intensive efforts by the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Antiquities, which resulted in the recovery of a large number of artifacts that were looted from Egyptian museums and warehouses.

Five thousand artifacts were recovered from the USA, which were on display at the Museum of the Bible in Washington. They comprised manuscripts and papyrus with writings in Coptic, hieratic and demotic scripts, manuscripts in Greek, Christian religious prayers in Arabic and Coptic, a couple of heads of stone and bronze statues, and a number of funeral masks.

From London, three illegally smuggled pieces were recovered, which are statues dating back to the Pharaonic and Greek eras.

They were offered for sale in an auction hall.

A statue of a priest from the Pharaonic era, Nikaw-Ptah, was recovered which was up for sale in an auction house in the Netherlands.

From Belgium, two statues from the Pharaonic era were recovered, which were up for sale in an auction hall without identification papers of origin.

Israel also handed over 95 artifacts to the Egyptian government that had been smuggled across different time intervals.

From Spain, and after consultations between the two countries’ Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Antiquities in the two countries, Egypt recovered 36 artifacts at the end of last year, most of

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One of the most famous and safest means of smuggling antiquities is hiding them in diplomatic luggage. which were pharaonic stone and bronze statues that were smuggled during 2014 by a businessman in Alexandria.

From France, 114 archaeological pieces were recovered, most notably the statues of Amenhotep III and Horus and another group dating back to different periods of prehistory, the middle and modern Egyptian state, two statues of the gods Bastet and Apis, in addition to pots, pottery pieces and some ornaments.

DEPUTY OF THE JINN AND ORCS AND BUSINESSMEN Despite the announced penalties and the successive discovery of antiquities’ smuggling gangs, the series of illegal excavations continues. What is strange in recent cases is that most of those involved are actually wealthy men who have commercial establishments or relevant jobs, to the extent that some describe them as addicts of smuggling and adventure that almost takes their lives.

The legal advisor, Dr. Mohamed Bakhit, indicates that the latest amendment to the Egyptian Antiquities Law in Article 41 stipulates that “anyone who stole an antiquity or part of it, whether it was registered or excavated by legal or illegal methods, shall

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be punished with life imprisonment and a fine of no less than EGP1 million and up to LE10 million, in addition to confiscating the antiquity,” provided that this crime of theft or smuggling is associated with another crime, which is the illegal trafficking of antiquities.

Archaeologists believe that the legal solution alone is not sufficient, and that it is necessary to raise community awareness of the cultural value of antiquities and ancestral heritage, as well as the economic value to the country in terms of tourism. The experts also called for encouraging people to hand over the discovered antiquities or those found by chance to the state in return for financial rewards and other incentives such as invitations to visit internal or external tourist attractions at the expense of the state.

UNESCO also got involved by launching an initiative to return the stolen antiquities to their countries of origin, and allocating rewards for that.

The case that led to the fall of former parliamentarian Alaa Hassanein, who was called “deputy of the jinn and orcs” and his partner, the well-known businessman, Hassan Ratib, was sensational considering the fame of the two involved men.

Deputy Hassanein was a guest on several television programs claiming that he was able to use jinn and orcs to treat diseases, before he partnered with Ratib in the hope of harnessing the jinn to unearth the archaeological treasures hidden in the ground.

The parliamentarian was arrested, along with his brother and 22 others, and in their possession were 201 pieces of antiquities.

They were accused of leading the formation of a gang to excavate, steal and hide antiquities in one of their dens in Old Cairo.

Ratib, meanwhile, was charged with financing drilling and exploration operations for his partner. The court issued its sentence to imprison Alaa Hassanein and four others for 10 years, and imprison the Ratib for five years.

ZAMALEK APARTMENT AND ALI BABA TREASURE Coincidence played its role in discovering an important archaeological treasure that contains hundreds, if not thousands, of artifacts from all ages and different eras, manuscripts from artistic

Archaeologists believe that the legal solution alone is not sufficient and that it is necessary to raise community awareness of the cultural value of antiquities and ancestral heritage.

paintings to jewelry and valuable collectibles in an apartment in Zamalek. It was an “Ali Baba’s Cave” by all means which was opened after a court order following a financial dispute between the heirs of the owner of the apartment and the owner of the property, and led to the discovery the great treasure. The heir of the owner of the apartment confirmed that the contents found are from his ancestors’ heritage, and he has all the documents that prove the ownership by legitimate means. The state has seized the apartment’s belongings and they are under the inspection of experts. It is certain, however, that the contents are a treasure of a value too immense to be counted.

TREASURES UNDER HOUSES In the north of the capital Cairo, in Ain Shams area in particular, built on the ruins of Heliopolis, which was considered a scientific epicenter for the country’s capital at that time in the Pharaonic era, eight people were caught digging under a property to excavate antiquities under it, also with the help of a charlatan. When the police raided the property, they found an ancient tomb containing a coffin of a Pharaonic king.

In the same area, three people were arrested in possession of artifacts, a large painting and a number of stone statues of various shapes and sizes, which they found under a house, and they were going to sell them to a merchant.

In Assiut and Sohag, the two southern cities rich in antiquities, a worker was arrested in possession of 54 Pharaonic artifacts that were found when digging under his house. In Sohag, another worker found 30 pieces of pharaonic stone statues while also digging under the wall of a property he owned.

Coincidence also had its role in the discovery of a Roman-era tomb in the archaeological al-Tal area of Sohag, consisting of two rooms, complete with inscriptions and drawings, and containing three mummies. Through a video of a driver, clips and photos of traces appeared inside a cemetery, and after his arrest, he admitted that he and some of his partners found them by chance during an excavation.

One of the funniest cases was what happened in the Nazlet alSamman area near the Giza pyramids, when two newlyweds took advantage of their wedding night and the noise around their house to excavate 30 artifacts from a tomb that discovered below the house. The joy was not complete, however, as they were arrested and the seizures were confiscated.

ADVENTURES AND ENDINGS If some of the adventurers succeeded in reaching the treasure, there were also those who had bad luck and a tragic ending. Major General Amin Ezz al-Din, former assistant interior minister for Alexandria, believes that many adventurers are taken away by their dreams, or a charlatan deceives them in the hope of reaching an important discovery. Ezz El-Din says: “The great tragedy is that there are many who venture into illegal excavations, the

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In the past few years, intensive efforts by Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Antiquities resulted in the recovery of a large number of artifacts that were looted from Egyptian museums and warehouses.

excavations collapse on their heads and they suffocate inside the basements. As for those who survive, they do not find a way to export their goods and get arrested.”

An example of this is what happened in 2009 when four people died while excavating a pharaonic antiquity under a property.

They all fell into a hole eight meters deep and then the excavation remnants collapsed on them while they were inside a rocky cavity in an area near the pyramids. In the southern city of Fayoum, three bodies of workers were recovered from a deep pit they fell into while excavating antiquities in a village near Lake Qarun. Two workers in the Old Cairo area dug a seven-meter-deep hole next to the wall of their home and died of suffocation.

International archaeologist Dr. Zahi Hawass believes that the legend of the curse of the pharaohs has protected the antiquities for many years. He points out in his autobiography “The Guardian” that the looted antiquities during the events of the January 2011 revolution mostly returned by chance. One of the incidents he narrated goes as follows: A 16-year-old boy who was among the demonstrators found the statue of Akhenaten, which is one of the most important monuments of the Egyptian Museum, in a rubbish bin and took it to his home in Maadi, but his family returned the statue.

He also reveal: The Antiquities Inspector Muhammad Abdul Rahman met by chance with one of the demonstrators, who told him that he had found a group of artifacts and wanted to know

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their value. The inspector called the police and an ambush was prepared. The man was arrested in possession of a large bag full of antiques, which was returned to the museum.

A maintenance supervisor at the Ministry of Antiquities also succeeded in returning a valuable group of antiquities looted in the January events, the most important of which is a statue of Tutankhamun written upon with gold leaf, a wood statue of Tutankhamun and a set of gold and bronze vessels.

The maintenance supervisor said that he was sitting in a cafe next to the Ministry of Culture and overheard an argument among people over their dispute over a group of artifacts stolen from the museum.

THEFT OF ANTIQUITIES ON THE SCREEN Because artifacts smuggling is an ongoing issue, it has not shied away from the screen, whether in films or TV series. The actor Hani Ramzi starred in the movie “Nems Bond” where he played the role of a police officer investigating a murder case that eventually led him to a large gang smuggling antiquities. The series “El Halal Mountain” starring Mahmoud Abdel Aziz, revealed the extent of the addiction of businessmen, despite their wealth and influence, to the illegal work of excavating and smuggling antiquities. Finally, the series “Taye’e” revealed that influential figures in society smuggle antiquities through diplomatic bags and through influential men.

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The New Avatar is Ready

Director Cameron Warms Up for Another Great Success

By Mohammed Rouda Thirteen years have passed since Canadian director James Cameron premiered his superb movie Avatar in 2009. At that time, the director had transitioned from the action films that spawned “The Terminator,” “Aliens” and “True Lies”, to a new level of production and drama when he directed “Titanic” in 1997.

“Titanic”, the movie, was the size of “Titanic”, the ship, but while the ship sank as a result of colliding with a snowy mountain, the film came out safe and sound from a critical financial adventure, as it’s cost at the time amounted to 200 million dollars.

The film could have drowned in a sea of failure, but it survived and grossed $2.2 billion internationally.

Cameron’s next adventure was even bigger: action-adventure set on a planet which the audience had never seen before, in idea, design and execution.

“Avatar” had a budget of 237 million dollars, and its global revenues reached 2.8 billion dollars which is the largest in movie history.

April and preparation required three years of technical preparations and production designs.

When the many elements were completed, the director started filming on September 25, 2017.

The new challenge was not only achievement, but rather a continuous action until the movie was released on cinema screens on December 14, 2022.

The film bears a larger title than its predecessor, “Avatar: The Way of Water.”

But many of those who appeared in that first

part reappear in Part Two (and also Part Three), including Sigourney Weaver, Zoe Saldana, Sam Worthington, Giovanni Ribisi, and Stephen Lang.

On the other hand, the new part featured a few actors who had not previously participated, including Kate Winslet, Michelle Yeoh, and Oona Chaplin.

The new part talks about the family of Sully (Worthington), who fell in love with the space creature Nighteri (Saldana) when they met in the previous part.

OLD AND NEW Today, Cameron faces a new challenge. A second part of “Avatar” has not yet announced its budget, but work began on it in 2011 when the director developed the idea and started treating it as a scenario in 2013.

The following year, filming pre-work began in

James Cameron

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Now they are a married couple with children and living happily until they discover that the people of Earth are back to expand their control and occupy new lands on that beautiful planet.

The family’s only destination is to escape to the sources of water, where they meet other inhabitants of the planet, who will study how to confront the people of the Earth.

UNDERWATER Two months ago, Cameron delivered a message at the CinemaCon conference in Las Vegas, showing excerpts from the new movie.

In his message, he said: “This film is coming two years behind schedule due to the Covid-19 pandemic, which prevented us from working for many months.

“But it also comes to draw attention to the fact that here in American cinema, we need huge fantasy films. Films that make billions of dollars and are shown on big screens without time limits.”

He also mentioned that the second part will address the problem of environmental pollution.

“In the film, we will find that humans are still indifferent to what will happen to the world if its environment is polluted. They will practice on the distant planet what they did here on Earth.”

When someone asked him if he would make another underwater movie (such as The Abyss in 1989 and Deep Sea Challane in 2014, he said:

Zoe Saldana as she appears in “Avatar: The Way of Water”.

Cameron’s adventure was even bigger: actionadventure set on a planet which the audience had never seen before, in idea, design and execution.

“I didn’t have time to make underwater movies anymore, so I brought water to ‘Avatar 2.’ We made a deep and big swimming pool

Sam Worthington on the wings of a bird

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that reflects the depth and size of the ocean and filmed many events in it. The title in turn bears the word water because it is everything in this life.”

In this regard, news from the production offices (the film was financed by 21st Century Fox and distributed by Disney Studios, which had bought Fox in a multi-billion-dollar deal nearly two years ago) revealed that many of the scenes shot in that vast pool did not win the director’s approval.

This necessitated redesigning the aquarium and reusing computer graphics to create the illusion that Worthington, Winslet and the others were swimming without breathing aids for long periods of time.

The experiments were not successful, and Cameron ordered the cancellation of all previous arrangements and the use of technology to a large extent in favor of live photography.

His explanation for this is that the scenes filmed using computer graphics methods seemed to him to be artificial.

After seeing them, he said to the people who were waiting for his opinion, “It’s not going to work. It’s not going to look real.” This is what prompted him to ask the actors to actually dive into the water without breathing masks or special effects.

The result was satisfactory and Cameron, in his meeting at the Las Vegas convention, stated that Sigourney Weaver was able to stay underwater for six minutes (an excellent figure for an actress over seventy).

Winslet, 46, was underwater for more than 7 minutes. “Let me tell you, nothing is better

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A screenshot from “Avatar: The Way of Water”

than live underwater photography.”

The above is only a limited part of what one would expect to see on screen. Cameron never negotiated his requirements and how he wanted to accomplish each scene, no matter how strange. He did not retract a decision except on the basis of an experience that did not win his approval and he did not accept the word “impossible” at the same time.

TALE OF A LAND This principle is what prevailed in “Avatar” 13 years ago, especially since this previous movie will land in cinemas again about a month before the screening of “Avatar: The Way of Water” as a prelude and to warm the atmosphere.

The first part offered insights that no other film had before. It portrayed a world that the cinema screens had not shown before and achieved great success in all its fields, from drama to characters, and from new technologies to innovative designs, without which the world of Avatar would have no value.

To restore the memory of that movie, it must

As Cameron sets out to draw inspiration from the past, the strength of his film is represented in technology consisting of innovative achievements in various fields. be noted that its events take place in the year 2145 on the surface of a planet called Pandora.

At the beginning of the film, we are introduced to a joint scientific/military ground operations base.

There, American soldier Jake Sully (Worthington) donates to take the place of his twin brother, who died during an operation to transform his human form into that of the original citizens of the planet.

Sully is a paralyzed person who can’t walk, but that doesn’t prevent him from being re-

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cruited and transformed into a plant-like creature called Navai, in an attempt to get into the plans of those people and convince them to flee peacefully from their land of great wealth that the humans want to extract.

When the move is done, Sully can use all his abilities physically without any obstacles, but he returns to his previous nature as a seat when the rule brings him to it between every mission and another.

The problem facing the humans (represented

by Americans only) is that the Navai people do not intend to give up their land, and this worries Operation Chief Parker (Giovanni Ribisi) and his military commander Norm (Stephen Lang), who are more than willing to resort to a military solution if the peaceful experiment fails.

When Sully meets Princess Neytiri (Saldana), he continues to spy on her people. She is the daughter of the chief of the tribe, whom he does not trust.

Sully relays what he observes and experiences to the American base. However, real transformations begin to occur with him when he begins to understand the reality of the position of

Sigourney Weaver as she appeared in the first part.

the citizens of the planet and the reality of the harm that the evil of the earth is preparing.

In the beginning, Sully does what is required of him in the best way, conveying to the base the secrets, the quality of life and the characters he deals with. But gradually he begins to understand the position of the citizens of the planet and alignment with them.

This understanding, as well as his great emotional feelings for Naytiri, her people, and perhaps the pure ecological life of the planet, prepare him to be a good advocate for the rights of that people.

In this respect, you can compare him to Captain Smith (Colin Farrell) in Terence Malik’s “New World” and (in particular) compare Nayteri with Pocahontas (as played by Q’orianka Kilcher) in the same movie.

When Sully accepts the change in his life that forces him to stand with the people who are about to be uprooted from their land, you can compare him to Officer Dunbar (Kevin Costner) in Dances with the Wolves.

Then later, in the heat of the great battle towards the end of the film, a common line can be drawn between the head of the military

The new challenge was not only achievement, but rather a continuous action until the movie was released on cinema screens on December 2022 ,14. force in this film represented by Colonel Miles (Lang) and the role of George Armstrong Custer, as played by Robert Shaw in Robert Siodmack’s film “Caster of the West” (1967).

Cameron pulled from the past of the relationship between the white American and the Native American settlers the tales of his previous film and the tales that follow.

What these three previous films have in common is that they are all Western and they do not present the future of man in isolation from his past.

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But as Cameron sets out to draw inspiration from this past, the strength of his film is represented in technology consisting of innovative achievements in various fields: from threedimensional photography to animation graphics, to the designs of half-human creatures and monsters and the accuracy of their detailed and general movements, and from designs and drawing a new world, its waters, trees, and rocks which are completely different from our expectations, to everything that is included in the composition of computer graphics, to not forgetting details such as the movement of an ear, a tail, or the blink of an eye.

Besides that, replaying the old “Avatar” before the start of the second season is aimed at some kind of static animation. It is of course an occasion to pump a few hundred million more on top of what that movie has previously accomplished.

Of course, what is announced is that it is an opportunity for the audience to regain some of their memories of the events and characters of that movie. In any case, it is a heating process for a giant view of fantasy, content and cinema magic.

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NEW MOVIES

By Mohammed Rouda

“A Weekly Roundup of Screenings at Movie Theatres Around the World” RED JUNGLE ★

◆ Directed by: Juan Jose Lozano ◆ Genre: Animation (Switzerland, Spain) ◆ Screening in Annecy International Animation Film Festival

There are two men called Raul Reyes. One of them was US Air Force colonel for 22 years, while the second was a prominent figure of the revolutionary FARC movement in Colombia. The first man (luckily) has nothing to do with this movie. The second one is the hero of the animation that mostly used rotoscope technique, which means photographing live actors and project them to a graphic system in order to produce an animated version. The technical result is not the single point of weakness. In fact, there was no need to transform the live action into animation, it would have been better if it wasn’t transformed. The movie shows the last weeks in the life of this leader and his companions before their location in a jungle was bombarded by the Colombian forces with the help of US intelligence. Given that the movie starts with the day he was killed and turns into a flashback, suspense is over just after the first three minutes.

and very little value. The problem with the New Zealander director who is lucky in Hollywood is that he rushes into dumbing down events with jokes, funny anecdotes and scenes that has no value.

Only Christian Bale (acting Gorr) somehow performed well.

◆ Final judgement: for people who enjoy movies based on superhero comics.

MINIONS‪:‬ THE RISE OF GRU ★★‬‬

◆ Directed by: Brad Ableson‪,‬ Johnathan Del Val‬‬ ◆ Genre: Animation ◆ International commercial screenings

◆ Final Judgement: A Failure in all aspects.

THOR‪:‬ LOVE AND THUNDER ★★‬‬

◆ Directed by: Taika Waititi ◆ Genre: Action, Fantasy (United States) ◆ International commercial screenings In this installment of Thor’s story, the movie’s protagonist who came from the Viking era (Chris Hemsworth) cooperate with his old friend (Natalie Portman) to confront the most dangerous and mischievous evil. What’s new? There’s some love, more of thunder

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A possible question if you watched the movie: what is the actual story amid all the tangled threads throughout 88 minutes of sometimes funny and other times boring events? The events take place in the 1970s, with Gru at its center. He is trying to be an outstanding villain, but he fails when the gang he wants to lead rejects him. The movie revolves around the main character (comedian Steve Carell), so whenever he’s out of screen, the film becomes boring.

◆ Final Judgement: entertaining for kids, boring for adults.

THE FORGIVEN ★★★

◆ Directed by: John Michael MacDonagh ◆ Genre: Thriller (US) ◆ Commercial screenings need for it. There’s also sweet talk, and some funny jokes.

◆ Final judgement: Suitable for tissue advertising and nothing more.

THE REEF‪:‬ STALKED ★★‬‬

◆ Directed by Andrew Taucki ◆ Genre: Thriller (US) ◆ Screening in the Gulf

The movie is an insightful perspective of a dilemma lived by a man and his wife (Ralph Fiennes and Jessica Chastain). One night, the husband runs down a Moroccan man in a rural area in Morocco.

Traditionally, the men of the tribe would have to seek revenge, but the movie provides more than a story of revenge. The couple were drunk when the accident took place, and quickly the husband finds himself the sole person responsible while the wife is seduced by another young man. This is a movie about different cultures and environments, and a man who finds himself confronting everything on his own.

◆ Final judgement: Good in more than one aspect.

Bahibak ★

◆ Directed by Tamer Hosni ◆ Genre: Romance, Drama (Egypt) countries

◆ Screening in Arab

“One word said in a second can affect a whole life,” says Tamer Hosni who wrote, directed and starred this movie about a man who had to choose between two girls. When he did, tears burst out over a possible breakup, or perhaps because the actors realized the trouble they got in when they joined that movie. There’s a lot of singing, dancing, eating, and more definition of love and mankind’s

Since Steven Spielberg released “Jaws” in 1975, the film industry has sought to revive the same horror. This movie is another successful trial as a thriller, although it doesn’t offer anything new.

Four girls go in a coastal trip to an island in the Atlantic. All they want is to enjoy the sea, quietness and beauty of the place, but the problem is that a shark unleashed from other movies wants to catch them one after the other.

◆ Final judgement: entertaining for fans of this genre.

Ratings: ★ Weak or average | ★★: Mediocre with merits| ★★★: Good | ★★★★: Excellent | ★★★★★: A masterpiece 53

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Back to Nature

Egyptian Women Rebel at Inflated Cost of Cosmetics

By Maryam Raafat Since ancient times the world has known that the ancient Egyptian woman used many natural recipes which included the elements available in her environment to take care of her beauty.

Many pharaonic statues showed the keenness of women in ancient Egypt to preserve their beauty.

For example, the milk bath was the most famous for the skin care since the era of the pharaohs and was used to purify the skin and increase its softness.

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The ancient women were also using a scrub for their skin from salts extracted from the Dead Sea. These salts have the ability to renew cells and also remove negative energy from the body.

Nowadays, it seems that the ancient women’s granddaughters are going back to nature.

Many women resorted to use perfumery ingredients to manufacture natural recipes as an alternative to skin care and cosmetic products after their prices increased by more than 45%, following the repercussions of the dollar exchange rate crisis and its impact on the prices of the imported products.

The perfume shops witnessed a remarkable turnout, especially in the low income areas, despite the relatively high prices of these products.

Credit: (Wikimedia Commons)

“The tendency to buy ingredients that go into making natural skin care recipes has increased significantly, after the recent increase in the prices of skin products, especially since the increase in the price of perfumery products does not match the significant rise in skin care products,” Nagah Ibrahim, the owner of one of the downtown perfumery shops, said to Majalla.

The increase in cosmetics prices has created a state of anger among many girls, who have decided to reduce their use of make-up and cosmetics. ing the “primer” and using aloe vera gel instead, especially after a rise of primer prices ranging from LE600 to LE2000.

The primer is used before applying makeup to fix it for a longer period, and protect the skin from external factors that cause wrinkles.

“Aloe vera gel contains the benefits of a primer, and works to moisturize and nourish the skin, especially when a lot of cosmetics are used. It also helps to renew skin cells, and remove traces of skin irritation,” Jihad said to Majalla.

A SPECIALIST’S ADVICE

The high prices of skin care and cosmetic products caused a decline in consumer demand, and so many women tend to dispense with some products such as sunscreen creams.

There are expectations that prices of goods are going to increase by even higher percentages in the coming months, according to economists.

Reham Jihad, a cosmetic expert, suggested replac-

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Andrew Magdy, a pharmacist in one Milk and Honey of the Heliopolis pharmacies, advises women to take care of their skin while they are looking for cheaper alternatives.

“Regardless of the financial cost, women should take care of what kind of product quality they are using, and they should also deal carefully with the natural recipes because every skin has its own type and they should check with a specialist,” Magdy told this magazine.

Skin care products are one of the basic things for every woman, but sometimes she discovers that she has spent a lot of money on buying them.

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Almond Oil and Castor Oil

“It is important for every woman to understand what her skin needs from cosmetics and she can find alternatives among the natural recipes, while paying attention to moisturizing the skin on a daily basis, because this helps it maintain its vitality and youth,” Magdy added.

Shaimaa Hussien, 30, said to Majalla.

Hussein confirmed that girls started to circulate the recipes of natural herbs through social media, and it became a great resonance among girls.

The increase in cosmetics prices has created a state of anger among many girls, who have decided to reduce their use of make-up and cosmetics.

“The delayed release of cosmetics at Customs Authority due to red tape, and intermittently stopping import and export, is what exacerbated the crisis,” said Saeed Taha, Head of the Beauty and Cosmetics Division at the Alexandria Chamber of Commerce.

“Many girls and I resorted to making cosmetics and using natural oils and herbs, and we boycotted cosmetics because of their new high prices,”

It is expected that prices of goods are going to increase by even higher percentages in the coming months, according to economists.

DIFFERENT REASONS

Many local factories raised the prices of their products because of greed, and not due to the high prices of raw materials.

Many of the locally made products are very poor in quality, and are not authorized by the Ministry of Health.

“The lack of regulation as well as any legislation to address this greed gave an opportunity for many merchants to take advantage of the consumer,” Taha concluded.

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Olive Oil Soap Painting from the tomb of Nakht depicting three women. Credit: (Google images)

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H

ealth

Should You Read Your Doctor’s Notes?

The Information Can Help You Manage Both Health and Illness

By Heidi Godman Every time you see your health care providers, they jot down notes about the visit. The notes describe your symptoms, physical examination, test results, their diagnosis, and their plan (tests and treatments they have ordered). But until recently, that information was difficult for you to obtain.

“Notes had been carefully hidden from you by invisible walls in your computerized ‘electronic medical record.’ Now the walls have been taken down,” says Dr. Tom Delbanco, the John F. Keane & Family Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and a physician at Harvard-affiliated Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. He and his colleague Jan Walker, an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, founded the OpenNotes initiative, which has led to the sharing of notes, or “open notes,” to become the standard of care.

IT’S THE LAW In the spring of 2021, the 21st Century Cures Act began requiring that almost all of your health information be made available to you, typically through your patient portal, without charge and without delay. That information must include the notes of any doctors or other experts who have cared for you, including interpretations of medical test results and summaries of your care in a hospital.

There are exceptions. For example, information prepared for civil or criminal proceedings may be excluded. The same is true for some psychotherapy notes.

But over all, if your health care providers won’t share notes

with you, and you file a complaint, they can be fined. You can learn more about which notes you’re entitled to, and how to file a complaint, by visiting OpenNotes (www.opennotes. org).

THE BENEFITS OF READING NOTES Is it a good thing for you to have access to all this information? Before it was required, many doctors and even some patients weren’t so sure. However, many studies over the past 10 years have indicated that reading your health care provider’s notes has solid benefits.

“You can go home, sit on a couch, and review what happened and what your doctor wrote down,” Dr. Delbanco says.

“You can remind yourself why you’re taking medications, and which ones you really need to take. You can go over your treatment plans and whether you have to send in any specimens, take any tests, or make appointments with specialists before your next visit.”

Reviewing the notes can also - answer questions you have after an appointment - help you manage your health with greater confidence - enable you to share important medical information with family members or caregivers - build trust with your doctor, nurse, or other clinicians - give you the chance to catch mistakes.

“In one study, 25% of doctors said their patients picked up an important mistake in a record. Sometimes it’s the wrong patient’s record in the chart. Or it might be a missed x-ray

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Credit: (TNS)

finding or an inaccurate description of a knee problem,” Dr. Delbanco says.

RISKS FROM READING NOTES Reading your health care provider’s notes may also have some risks. You may feel scared or anxious about what you see.

And some people find a doctor’s shorthand offensive. “We have our own abbreviations and language,” Dr. Delbanco says. “To me, SOB means ‘shortness of breath,’ but to a patient it may mean something else. Also, doctors tend to use language that comes across as judgmental. For example, we were taught to say, ‘The patient denies chest pain.’

You’re not denying it, you’re just saying you don’t have it.

Obesity is another tricky word. To me, it’s a technical term referring to body mass index, but referring to a patient as ‘obese’ may sound like a criticism. In one study, 10% to 15% of patients who read their notes felt they contained offensive language, and that’s bad.”

But doctors are learning to change the way they write notes.

“We just got a grant to introduce ‘open notes’ into the Harvard Medical School curriculum, focusing in particular on how both medical students and their teachers should learn to address racial, socioeconomic, and language differences,” Dr. Delbanco says.

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Many studies over the past 10 years have indicated that reading your health care provider’s notes has solid benefits.

CONFRONTING YOUR DOCTOR What should you do if you find information that’s wrong or offensive? “Don’t be afraid to point out mistakes. Call your doctor’s office. And if you’re offended, bring it up at your next appointment,” Dr. Delbanco says. “The fear is that the doctor will be angry. Hopefully, you have a good relationship with your doctor and can say, ‘I think you got this wrong,’ and then enter into a productive discussion of a potentially tricky issue.”

If your doctor isn’t providing notes in your patient portal, and you’d like to see them, speak up. “You’re supposed to have access,” Dr. Delbanco says. “If your doctor says it’s not in your best interest, you can disagree. Remember, there are teeth behind the law.”

This article was originally published by Harvard Health.

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pinion

Islamic Banks, a Superior Model?

By Saif Al-Abri

The allure of Islamic banks and the associated market is that “they hold more capital, are more profitable than conventional banks, and performed better “ .

Islamic finance encompasses Islamic securities (Sukuk), banking, leasing, Islamic insurance (takaful) and financing.

Islamic financial markets have been a subject of talks for the past decade. This is because Islam constitutes %25 of the world’s population and is the fastestgrowing religion. As such, the Islamic financial market has been experiencing rapid expansion. In 2003 Islamic financial assets were worth US200$ billion; in 2019, this number increased to US$ 2.88 trillion. This is a %14 growth from the year before (2018), which is “the highest recorded growth for the industry since the global financial crisis.”

The allure of Islamic banks and the associated market is that “they hold more capital, are more profitable than conventional banks, and performed better,” according to Professor Lewis from the university of south Australia.

They have even outperformed conventional banks during periods of crisis, such as the global financial markets, without the need to get bailed out by taxpayers› money. This is because Islamic banks avoided and didn’t trade subprime lending and toxic derivative and held more capital. It even led to some discussion about whether the global crisis would’ve occurred if the world followed the Islamic banking model.

The Islamic banks follow the Islamic sharia, the ethical principle and laws that guide Muslims to lead a fulfilled ethical life. It is based on two primary things: the Quran and the Sunnah (Prophet Muhammed practices). Not going into details, there are several things that a Muslim must avoid in business and finance-related conduct. These are

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interest (riba), rewards without risk, Gharar (uncertain transactions such as sale of items not yet present), Maysir (money without labor, such as gambling, possibly speculation), and trade of haram things. Islam in business stresses that an individual must bear risk. The primary mode of financing that tries to follow sharia is Murabaha (bank buys an asset and sells it with a mark-up), leasing and Islamic bonds.

If we revisit the financial crisis, multiple factors have led to it, misleading contracts, greed, speculation, and poor governance. As we›ve seen, Islamic banks are against misleading contract Gharar, don’t allow speculation, and is opposed to greed and extravagance.

The Islamic financial model stresses the prohibition of usury and lending what is not there, as you expect a fixed future return bearing no risk. Sharia boards are put in place to apply the sharia principle in different circumstances emphasizing the real productive economy over the financial one. As such, it doesn’t divorce the financial from the productive economy as we›ve seen with modern finance.

Now whether Islamic finance is even Islamic has been a topic of debate.

Some have said it›s just mimicking the financial market with an Islamic shell, a critique of Hassan Heikal, an Egyptian banker who founded EFG Hermes.

However, the financial collapse made it clear that there was something to them.

Currently, Islamic finance bears a very low percentage of financial assets. As such has a long way to go to prove itself.

For this article am indebted to Professor Lewis›s lecture on the rise of Islamic finance.