By: Yisrael Medad – Los Angeles Times

No one, including a president of the United States of America, can presume to tell me, a Jew, that I cannot live in the area of my national homeland. That’s one of the main reasons my wife and I chose in 1981 to move to Shiloh, a so-called settlement less than 30 miles north of Jerusalem.

After Shiloh was founded in 1978, then-President Carter demanded of Prime Minister Menachem Begin that the village of eight families be removed. Carter, from his first meeting with Begin, pressed him to “freeze” the activity of Jews rebuilding a presence in their historic home. As his former information aide, Shmuel Katz, related, Begin said: “You, Mr. President, have in the United States a number of places with names like Bethlehem, Shiloh and Hebron, and you haven’t the right to tell prospective residents in those places that they are forbidden to live there. Just like you, I have no such right in my country. Every Jew is entitled to reside wherever he pleases.”

We now fast-forward to President Obama, who declared on June 15 in remarks at a news conference with Italy’s prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, that Jewish communities beyond the Green Line “in past agreements have been categorized as illegal.”

I believe the president has been misled. There can be nothing illegal about a Jew living where Judaism was born. To suggest that residency be permitted or prohibited based on race, religion or ethnic background is dangerously close to employing racist terminology.

Suppose someone suggested that Palestinian villages and towns in pre-1967 Israel were to be called “settlements” and that, to achieve a true peace, Arabs should be removed from their homes. Of course, separation or transfer of Arabs is intolerable, but why is it quite acceptable to demand that Jews be ethnically cleansed from the area? Do not Jews belong in Judea and Samaria as much as Palestinians who stayed in the state of Israel?

Some have questioned why Jews should be allowed to resettle areas in which they didn’t live in the years preceding the 1967 war, areas that were almost empty of Jews before 1948 as well. But why didn’t Jews live in the area at that time? Quite simple: They had been the victims of a three-decades-long ethnic cleansing project that started in 1920, when an Arab attack wiped out a small Jewish farm at Tel Hai in Upper Galilee and was followed by attacks in Jerusalem and, in 1921, in Jaffa and Jerusalem.

In 1929, Hebron’s centuries-old Jewish population was expelled as a result of an Arab pogrom that killed almost 70 Jews. Jews that year removed themselves from Gaza, Nablus and Jenin. The return of my family to Shiloh — and of other Jews to more than 150 other communities over the Green Line since 1967 — is not solely a throwback to claimed biblical rights. Nor is it solely to assert our right to return to areas that were Jewish-populated in the 20th century until Arab violence drove them away. We have returned under a clear fulfillment of international law. There can be no doubt as to the legality of the act of my residency in Shiloh.

I am a revenant — one who has returned after a long absence to ancestral lands. The Supreme Council of the League of Nations adopted principles following the 1920 San Remo Conference aimed at bringing about the “reconstitution” of a Jewish National Home. Article 6 of those principles reads: “The administration of Palestine … shall encourage … close settlement by Jews on the land, including state lands and waste lands.” That “land” was originally delineated to include all of what is today Jordan as well as all the territory west of the Jordan River.

In 1923, Britain created a new political entity, Transjordan, and suspended the right of Jews to live east of the Jordan River. But the region in which I now live was intended to be part of the Jewish National Home. Then, in a historical irony, a Saudi Arabian refugee, Abdallah, fleeing the Wahabis, was afforded the opportunity to establish an Arab kingdom where none had existed previously — only Jews. As a result, in an area where prophets and priests fashioned the most humanist and moral religion and culture on Earth, Jews are now termed “illegals.”

Many people insist that settlements are illegal under the Fourth Geneva Convention. But that convention does not apply to Israel’s presence in Judea and Samaria and the Gaza district. Its second clause makes it clear that it deals with the occupation of “the territory of a high contracting party.” Judea and Samaria and Gaza, which Israel gained control of in 1967, were not territories of a “high contracting party.” Jewish historical rights that the mandate had recognized were not canceled, and no new sovereign ever took over in Judea and Samaria or in Gaza.

Obama has made his objections to Israeli settlements known. But other U.S. presidents have disagreed. President Reagan’s administration issued a declaration that Israeli settlements were not illegal. Support for that position came from Judge Stephen M. Schwebel, former president of the International Court of Justice, who determined that Israel’s presence in Judea and Samaria did not constitute “occupation.” It also came from a leading member of Reagan’s administration, the former dean of the Yale Law School and former undersecretary of State, Eugene Rostow, who asserted that “Israel has a stronger claim to the West Bank than any other nation or would-be nation [and] the same legal right to settle the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem as it has to settle Haifa or West Jerusalem.”

Any suggestions, then, of “freezing” and halting “natural growth” are themselves not only illegal but quite immoral.

By: WorldNetDaily

The leader of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church today backed off on a much-anticipated announcement about the Ark of the Covenant — the ancient container holding the Ten Commandment — which he claims to have seen.

But no other evidence or, indeed, even any announcement, was made public today when word had been expected.

Ark hunters and Bible enthusiasts have been buzzing for two days on the report from the Italian news agency Adnkronos that Patriarch Abuna Pauolos, in Italy for a meeting with Pope Benedict XVI this week, said, “Soon the world will be able to admire the Ark of the Covenant described in the Bible as the container of the tablets of the law that God delivered to Moses and the center of searches and studies for centuries.”

He had suggested the possibility the artifact might be viewable in a planned museum.

“I repeat (the Ark of the Covenant) is in Ethiopia and nobody … knows for how much time. Only God knows,” he said in the Adnkronos report available online.

The report said Pauolos reported the artifact “is described perfectly in the Bible” and is in good condition.

“The state of conservation is good because it is not made from man’s hand, but is something that God has made,” Pauolos said, according to the report.

The agency had reported an announcement would be made at the Hotel Aldrovandi in Rome, and a hotel spokeswoman told WND Pauolos had been in residence there, but no news conference or event was scheduled.

“The Ark of the Covenant is in Ethiopia for many centuries,” said Pauolos in the report. “As a patriarch I have seen it with my own eyes and only few highly qualified persons could do the same, until now.”

Bob Cornuke, biblical investigator, international explorer and best-selling author, has participated in more than 27 expeditions around the world searching for lost locations described in the Bible. A man some consider a real-life Indiana Jones, he has written a book titled “Relic Quest” about the Ark of the Covenant and participated in History Channel production called “Digging for Truth.”

Next week, Cornuke will travel to Ethiopia for the 13th time since he began his search for the Ark. He told WND he believes it is possible Ethiopia could have the real artifact.

“They either have the Ark of the Covenant or they have a replica that they have believed to be the Ark of the Covenant for 2,000 years,” he said.

Cornuke said, if it is genuine, there’s a plausible explanation of how the Ark may have come to the Church of Our Lady Mary of Zion in Ethiopia.

“The Ark could have been taken out of the temple during the time of the atrocities of Manasseh,” he said. “We have kind of a bread crumb trail that appears to go to Egypt, and it stayed on an island there for a couple hundred years called Elephantine Island. The Ark then was transferred over to Lake Tana in Ethiopia where it stayed on Tana Qirqos Island for 800 years. Then it was taken to Axum, where it is enshrined in a temple today where they don’t let anybody see it.”

Cornuke said he traveled to Tana Qirqos Island and lived with monks who remain there even today.

“They unlocked this big, four-inch thick wood door,” he said. “It opened up to a treasure room, and they showed me meat forks and bowls and things that they say are from Solomon’s temple. When the History Channel did this show, they said it was one of the largest viewed shows. People were fascinated.”

He said Ethiopians consider the Ark to be the ultimate holy object, and the church guards the suspected artifact from the “eyes and pollution of man.”

“In Ethiopia, their whole culture is centered around worshipping this object,” Cornuke said. “Could they have the actual Ark? I think I could make a case that they actually could.”

Want to know more about the ancient box holding the Ten Commandments? Get “Exploring the Ark of the Covenant” – a two-DVD set!

But according to a statement delivered to WND by the webmaster for the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, there is no chance that the religious leaders and people in the nation will give up their custody of what they believe is the Ark.

“I think Abba Pauolos must be out of his mind. … An (artifact) should not be shown or touched other than the clergies but to put it on display is a reckless comment let alone doing it,” the statement said. “Not only the local clergies but the people of Ethiopia won’t allow it and it is not going to happen.”

The webmaster noted there were artifacts moved from Ethiopia to Britain over the years, and even those are not allowed to be displayed.

Pauolos in the Adnkronos report said any display would need the approval of the supreme court of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church.

A spokesman for a U.S. branch of the church, Mehereto Belete of Los Angeles, told WND he had been given no word of any major change in the status of the Ark.

“It is news for us just as it is for you,” he said.

Cornuke explained that a special guardian lives inside the church which reportedly holds the Ark and never leaves. Once a guardian is appointed, he stays until he dies and another man replaces him.

“We know for a fact that there have been 30 guardians in history who have never left that enclosure,” Cornuke said. “I know the guardian. When CNN and BBC went over there, he wouldn’t see anybody but me. So I went and talked to him, and he’s getting very aged. He told me they have the real Ark and he worships 13 hours a day in front of it. When he gets through, he is covered in sweat and he’s exhausted.”

He said he met a 105-year-old man who claimed to have seen the Ark 50 years ago when he was training a replacement guardian.

“It frightened him to death when he got a glimpse of it.”

Cornuke said he also met with the president of Ethiopia nearly nine years ago and had a one-on-one conversation with him in his palace. He asked if Ethiopia had the Ark of the Covenant.

According to Cornuke, the president responded: “Yes, we do. I am the president, and I know. It’s not a copy. It’s the real thing.”

However, Grant Jeffrey, host of TBN’s Bible Prophecy Revealed and well-known author of “Armageddon: Appointment With Destiny,” does not believe claims that the Ark is in Ethiopia. He told WND he spoke extensively with Robert Thompson, former adviser to former Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie.

Jeffrey said Thompson told him the Ark of the Covenant had been taken to Ethiopia by Menelik, purported son of the Queen of Sheba and King Solomon. When Menelik became emperor, he claims royal priests entrusted him with the Ark of the Covenant because King Solomon was slipping into apostasy. A replica was then left behind in Israel.

“The Ethiopian royal chronicles suggest that for 3,000 years, they had been guarding the ark, knowing that it had to go back to Israel eventually,” Jeffrey said.

He claims that after the Ethiopian civil war, Israel sent in a group of commandos from the tribe of Levi and the carried the Ark onto a plane and back to Israel in 1991.

“It is being held there secretly, waiting in the eyes of the religious leaders of Israel, for a supernatural signal from God to rebuild the temple,” he said. “They are not going to do it before that. When that happens, they will bring the Ark into that temple.”

But author and Bible teacher Chuck Missler, founder of Koinonia House, told WND the theory of Menelik obtaining the Ark is not biblical, though he believes there is a possibility that the Ethiopians may have the real deal.

“The fact that the Ethiopians may have been guarding the Ark of the Bible is very possible,” he said. “They cling to a belief that is clearly not biblical in terms of how the Ark got down there. But that doesn’t mean they don’t have it.”

Missler said there is no biblical basis for the Menelik account, and he believes there was a reason for that version of events.

“What everybody overlooks is that there’s a reason that particular story was cooked up in early times,” he said. “It was to give their kings Solomonic descent. There’s reason why they would try to sell that. But just because the official belief in how it got down there is not biblical, doesn’t mean they don’t have it.”

Tennessee historian and “Time is the Ally of Deceit” author Richard Rives, searched for the Ark and participated in excavations beneath Mount Moriah outside the walls of ancient Jerusalem. His group was trying to verify claims by relic hunter Ron Wyatt that he actually saw the Ark there several decades ago after tunneling through a small passageway.

While they found Roman ruins from the first century, Rives told WND they were unsuccessful in confirming Wyatt’s account. Nonetheless, Rives does not believe the story of Menelik obtaining the artifact or that Ethiopia ever had the real Ark.

“God’s presence was on the mercy seat. That was the throne of God,” he said.

If the account were accurate, Rives said God would have been dwelling on an Ark replica in Jerusalem.

“I just don’t believe they could have persuaded him to sit on a fake Ark of the Covenant,” he said.

Many theories exist about the ultimate fate of the Ark, including that it has been hidden in a still unknown location, it was destroyed by enemies of the Israelites, taken by Egyptian invaders to Egypt or removed by divine intervention.

The quest for the artifact received additional publicity in 1981 when actor Harrison Ford searched for it in Steven Spielberg’s “Raiders of the Lost Ark.”

Cornuke said Ethiopians claim their purported Ark is kept in a large stone sarcophagus lined in ornately hammered silver. The Ark itself is made of acacia wood and laminated with a thin veneer of gold. The mercy seat sits atop the Ark and is made of pure, hammered gold and includes two cherubim facing one another.

Whether the artifact is real or simply a copy, Cornuke said an unveiling might leave the world with more questions than answers.

“We have only typology to go on,” he said. “We could probably have some people analyze the wood samples and come up with some kind of dating protocol on it because it is acacia wood to see if that is it.”

Rives said a close inspection of the Ten Commandments would be necessary to ensure they are in accordance with true text and not later versions of the Ten Commandments.

Cornuke said experts would also need to determine whether the artifact itself fits biblical description and trace its path to Ethiopia.

“We are peeking behind the veil of history,” he said. “We’re taking a glimpse of an artifact that could be a very holy object.”

* U.S., Iraqi experts developing plan to preserve Babylon, build local tourism industry The remains of what was once the greatest city in the world occupy a vast site on the bank of the Euphrates River.

* Russia Holds Major War Games In Caucasus Thousands of troops, backed by hundreds of tanks, artillery and other heavy weaponry, began rumbling through the North Caucasus on Monday.

* US soldiers leave Iraq’s cities US troops have withdrawn from towns and cities in Iraq, six years after the invasion, having formally handed over security duties to new Iraqi forces.

* Iraqi oil for sale in TV auction BP and China’s CNPC have won a contract in the televised auction for contracts to run oil and gas fields in Iraq.

* Pakistani militants abandon deal A wing of the Taliban based in a Pakistani tribal area bordering Afghanistan say they have scrapped a peace deal with the government.

* Obama’s ‘Outreach to Muslims’ Prompts Mass Koran Distribution The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), whose officials in the past have been convicted for being associated with Muslim terrorist groups, said it will announce at a news conference Tuesday that it is launching an “education campaign”.

* Iran confirms Ahmadinejad victory Iran’s top electoral body, the Guardian Council, has confirmed the victory of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the presidential election after a partial recount.

* Investment Houses: Israel the Land of Economic Promise Three international investment houses have issued a rosy forecast for the Israeli economy, which one firm says is at the beginning of a decade of constant growth following this year’s recession.

* German court gives conditional green light to new treaty Germany’s highest court on Tuesday ruled that the EU’s new treaty is compatible with German law, so long as the role of the national parliament in EU decision-making is strengthened.

* ‘Stop selling uranium ores to Iran’ President Shimon Peres met his Kazakhstani counterpart Nursultan Nazarbayev on Tuesday morning and urged him to act to stop his country’s sale of uranium ores to Iran.

* Hark! Where’s the Bible Ark? Ethiopia’s Orthodox patriarch cops out on revealing plan for public viewing

* Baghdad set for US pullback party Iraq is preparing for a giant party in a Baghdad park and a special holiday as US troops approach their deadline to quit cities and towns.

* Israel approves 50 settler homes Israel has approved the construction of 50 new housing units in a Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank.

* Syria again threatens war over Golan Syrian officials reiterated their threat to forcefully take the Golan Heights from Israel unless an agreement between the two countries is reached soon.

* World Bank to Fund Dead Sea-Red Sea Canal Test Project The World Bank has agreed to fund a pilot program of what could turn out to be one of the most ambitious water projects in the world – the Dead Sea Canal Project.

* Nato resumes Russia military ties Russia and Nato have agreed to resume co-operation on security issues, after nearly a year of difficult relations.

* U.S. and Russia Differ on a Treaty for Cyberspace The United States and Russia are locked in a fundamental dispute over how to counter the growing threat of cyberwar attacks that could wreak havoc on computer systems and the Internet.

* In defense of the settlements Jews belong in Judea and Samaria as much as Palestinians who stayed in Israel.

* Palestinian support for Hamas waning Hamas support among Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza is waning, according to a survey.

* EU denounces arrest of UK embassy staff in Iran The European Union said it would have a “strong and collective response” to any harassment of diplomats in Iran, in solidarity with the Britain, which saw eight of its embassy staff arrested.

* Ahmadinejad vows to toughen stance toward West Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad vowed on Saturday to toughen Iran’s stance toward the West during his new term in office, the official news agency IRNA reported.

* N. Korea: We’ll intercept Japanese jets North Korea threatened Saturday to shoot down any Japanese planes that enter its airspace, accusing Tokyo of spying near one of its missile launch sites.

* Blair sees Middle East deal if Israel acts Quartet envoy says deal on a two-state solution could be within reach if Jerusalem compromises on issues such as halting settlement expansion.

* Syria threatens to take back Golan by force Syrian officials threatened on Saturday to take back the Golan Heights by force if a peace agreement involving the return of the strategic plateau is not reached with Israel, Army Radio reported.

* Turkey to ‘never give up’ EU bid Turkey has urged France and Germany to back its bid to join the EU, rejecting calls for a special partnership rather than full membership.

* Hariri named as Lebanon’s new PM Lebanon’s President Michel Suleiman has named Saad Hariri as the country’s new prime minister, following parliamentary election earlier this month.

* Iran’s security council tells Moussavi to back off Members of Iran’s influential National Security Council have told opposition leader Mir Hossein Moussavi that his repeated demands for the annulment of the June 12 election results are “illogical and unethical,” state media reported.

* Iraqi PM Calls for National Unity Following Deadly Bombings Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has called for national unity, following a spate of deadly bombings just days before U.S. forces are set to withdraw from Iraqi cities.

* Medvedev says first African tour came just in time Russian President Dmitry Medvedev returned from his trip to Africa on Saturday, declaring that such a visit should have been made sooner but it was not too late for Russia to play a role on the continent.

* European leaders mark Iron Curtain fall in Hungary European leaders marked the 20th anniversary of the symbolic fall of the Iron Curtain, often described as the first crack in the Berlin Wall and one of the key episodes leading to the end of communism in Eastern Europe, in Budapest on Saturday.

* Holy Ark Announcement Due on Friday An Ethiopian church leader says Friday, June 26, marks the right time to unveil the Biblical Ark of the Covenant, which he says has been hidden in his church for centuries.

* G8 urges Israel to halt W. Bank settlement construction Foreign ministers of Group of Eight countries urged Israel to halt all settlement construction in the West Bank Friday.

* Hamas leader: Obama must do more for peace Hamas political leader Khaled Meshaal on Thursday called on the United States to take a more active role in the Mideast peace process “so that America and the rest of the world can take a break from the headache of the region.”

* Lieberman slams Obama’s Iran policy Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman lambasted American policy of engagement with Iran and the US demand that Israel halt natural growth in the West Bank settlements.

* U.S. providing weapons to Somali government, officials say The United States is providing weapons and ammunition to Somalia’s transitional government as it fights al Qaeda-linked Islamic militants.

* US hopes to start Mideast talks soon US envoy George Mitchell said on Friday that the United States hoped Israelis and Palestinians would soon begin “meaningful and productive” peace negotiations.

* Iranian Cleric: Protesters at War With God A senior Iranian cleric has called on the government to punish the leaders of the country’s post-election protests cruelly and without mercy.

* Palestinians want to build settlements The last thing that Abu Mohammed al-Najjar wants is for Israel to succumb to US and European pressure and halt construction in the West Bank settlements.

* Kurdistan prime minister rejects Iraq oil auctions The prime minister of Iraq’s largely autonomous Kurdistan region condemned on Friday plans by the Oil Ministry to auction six fields in a June 29-30 tender for service contracts.

* Hariri set to become Lebanon PM, meets with Nasrallah A majority of Lebanon’s parliament will nominate U.S.-backed Saad al-Hariri for the post of prime minister.

By: –

European institutions, especially the European Commission, should be given more power, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said on Friday (19 June), in a foretaste of his upcoming EU reform proposals.

“I am really for a strong European Commission, a strong Council [the institution representing EU member states] and a strong European Parliament,” Mr Sarkozy said at a press conference following a two-day meeting of EU leaders in Brussels.

“For the parliament, it’s done. For the council, I hope that with the Lisbon [treaty] it will be done. I really think we can have a win-win system for the three big institutions.”

According to the president, the European Commission at the moment is too weak, mainly due to its size – it has 27 commissioners, one from each member state and a large number of “smaller portfolios.”

The commission president “does not have enough authority over his commissioners,” Mr Sarkozy said, stressing he was not referring to Mr Barroso personally, but rather to the presidential office in the organisation.

He said all three institutions should be equally strong in order to avoid “imbalance.”

“If there is one that is stronger than the other, this introduces imbalance into the system,” the French leader explained.

The remarks foreshadow Mr Sarkozy’s speech on Monday, when he is to address both chambers of the French parliament, outlining his vision for reforms in the EU in the aftermath of the European elections.

The president did not confirm French press reports that he supports former Spanish socialist prime minister Felipe Gonzalez to become the first EU president if the Lisbon treaty enters into force. The treaty creates the new position and may come into life after a second Irish referendum in autumn.

Mr Sarkozy declined to put forward any names, but said the person in the new job should be “strong and ambitious [for Europe].”

The candidate’s nationality and political affiliation would also play a part. “Whether he is from a small or a big member state, his experience and his European engagement,” will count, the French leader indicated.

“One political family cannot have all the posts,” he said.

Mr Sarkozy expressed support for Polish ex-premier Jerzy Buzek to become the new European Parliament president. Mr Buzek is competing for the post with Italy’s Mario Mauro, but is believed to have greater support.

“I think he would be an excellent candidate,” the French president said. “[It would] send a very positive signal to our friends from eastern Europe.”

By: –

The past two weeks have been an eye-opener for a lot of people, including Arab and Muslim communities around the world. While most Middle East analysts and those familiar with Iranian politics knew that the Iranian theocracy did not enjoy the support of the country’s 70 million people, this was news to many in the West. In fact, Iranians are more westernized, in their values and lifestyle, than we might think from viewing most news stories about Iran. The majority of Iranians have far different values from those ruling them at gunpoint.

The global impact of the Iranian rejection of theocracy on Muslim activism has started to be noticed. There is a sense of confusion and despair among many recipients of Iranian government funding around the world. The links between Iran and the movements it supports will become more visible as its beneficiaries try to find their place in the chaos. In fact, while uncorroborated like most news coming out of Iran now, we’ve even heard about a brief appearance of Lebanese Hizbullah and Palestinian Hamas on the streets of Teheran and Mashhad. It is understandable that at any given time there will be groups belonging to Hizbullah and Hamas training in Iran, but it was rather unusual to hear of their deployment and willingness to fight the people of Iran in the streets of their cities. People there actually try to chat up the police and Basij Militia to see whether they even speak Farsi.

Muslim theocrats observing one of their main supporters in this holy movement being challenged must be unsettling in a culture not used to such actions. That the majority of Iran’s population is questioning the theocracy and the sense of fairness of the supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei puts the livelihood of some commentators in question. For example when CNN reports that Abdel Bari Atwan, editor of the London-based Al-Quds Al-Arabi, a pan-Arab newspaper, defending the actions of the Iranian government and blaming the democracy seekers in Iran, the reason probably lies in self-preservation.

Iran spends billions of dollars in different regions for various causes. Iran is the second-largest source of funds in the world, exceeded only by Saudi Arabia, for Islamic causes. From Somalia to Lebanon’s Hizbullah, from Hamas to the Egyptian Shiite movement, Iranian support – whether through direct funding or military and training – will be jeopardized if the theocrats are unseated. So would Iran’s support as a major donor to various proactive Muslim organizations in Europe, North America, and South America. The Iranian government’s role in supporting, training and facilitating the Sudanese Holocaust in Darfur is significant, with only the Chinese playing a larger role.

So when Abdel Bari Atwan expresses his dismay with Mir Moussavi and millions of Iranians who are no longer interested in being ruled at gunpoint by Ayatollah Khamenei and President Ahmadinejad, it is a telling sign that the global theocracy movement is worried and distressed.

THE HISTORY of the Iranian government’s support for exporting Muslim ideology and activism goes back to the early ’80s, when it contributed financially to Iranian foreign students funds in different countries in return for wearing the hijab. Then they became savvy and provided funding and moral support for other organizations across the globe. Today, there are private Muslim schools in North America and Europe that wouldn’t exist if it were not for direct or indirect monetary assistance from the Iranian government. The number of organizations receiving funding and support from Iranians is probably in the hundreds, if not the thousands.

It is certain that those groups and organizations that might expect their funding to be in danger would start lobbying various governments to turn a blind eye to events in Iran. Whether Western politicians have any stomach for this type of lobbying at this point is another topic of discussion. Indeed the global Muslim theocracy movement is in danger at the hands of the Iranian people not only financially, but also in terms of the legitimacy of theocracy as a political system.

It is too early to say what the long-term impact will be, but it is certain that there has been at least a negative psychological impact on the legitimacy of theocracy as a result of the Iranian protests. There may be those who will try to spin the story and claim that the people of Iran still support theocracy and their beef is only with the election and Ahmadinejad. One can say with certainty that for the first few days the Iranian people tried to manage this evolution leaving some wiggle room for the supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei. But as of last Friday the gloves were off. With Ayatollah Khamenei showing no restraint, people started chanting “death to Khamenei”, a sign of the realization that they could even go further and let the world know what they really want: the abolition of theocracy in Iran.

Whether the brave people of Iran are successful in their aspirations to live without theocratic rule is unknown. However, it can be said with certainty that their efforts have changed the face of the theocracy movement not only within Iran, but also globally.

* Iran’s Mousavi defies crackdown Iran protest leader Mir Hossein Mousavi says he holds those behind alleged “rigged” elections responsible for bloodshed during recent protests.

* NKorea threatens US; world anticipates missile North Korea threatened Wednesday to wipe the United States off the map as Washington and its allies watched for signs the regime will launch a series of missiles in the coming days.

* Iran unrest to dominate G8 talks Unrest in Iran is expected to dominate discussions between foreign ministers gathering in northern Italy to prepare for a G8 summit.

* Somali Islamists cut off hands, feet of thieves In a brazen show of power in Somalia’s capital, Islamist rebels punished four convicted thieves by cutting off a hand and a foot each before hundreds of onlookers who gathered for the bloody spectacle.

* The global Muslim theocracy movement is worried The past two weeks have been an eye-opener for a lot of people, including Arab and Muslim communities around the world.

* Baghdad market bomb kills scores Police said the device went off in a market place in the predominantly Shia area of the Iraqi capital.

* China accuses Google of spreading pornography China accused Google Inc. on Thursday of spreading pornography after Chinese users were unable to connect to the search giant’s Web site.

* Netanyahu, French officials discuss peace efforts Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met France’s prime minister and foreign minister Thursday.

* Major Hamas Speech Awaited on Thursday Following major policy speeches by US President Barack Obama, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, and even the PA’s prime minister Salam Fayyad in the past three weeks, it will now be the turn of Khaled Mashaal of Hamas.

* Jerusalem gay pride parade kicks off The Jerusalem gay pride parade, which regularly riles up religious and haredi city residents, kicked off Thursday afternoon under tight security.

* Iran ‘will not yield’ over poll Iran’s supreme leader has said the nation “will not yield to pressure” over a disputed presidential election.

* Assad- Israeli partner willing to commit to peace doesn’t exist Although tensions between Washington and Damascus may be thawing, it seems the relations between Israel and Syria are as cool as ever.

* US-Israel talks in Paris aborted A meeting between Israel’s prime minister and a senior US envoy has been cancelled amid growing differences over settlement building in the West Bank.

* US ‘to send ambassador to Syria’ Washington is to send an ambassador to Damascus, ending a four-year diplomatic absence in Syria.

* Polls Show Americans Less Pro-Israel Yet Tougher on Iran Two recent polls have shown that while less Americans see themselves as pro-Israel, more Americans support coming to Israel’s aid if Iran attacks it.

* Klaus pledges to be last to sign the Lisbon Treaty Czech President Vaclav Klaus has pledged to be the last in the EU to sign the Lisbon Treaty.

* US, Russia Resume Nuclear Arms talks The United States and Russia have resumed negotiations in Geneva on cutting their nuclear arsenals.

* Israel keeps anxious eye on Iran turmoil Israel is keeping an anxious eye on the turmoil in Iran for any signs on what the crisis may mean for its arch-enemy’s nuclear drive.

* Communists turn to Stalin to fight crisis Russian communists have put up giant billboards of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin in a southern city.

* U.S. contacted Iran’s ayatollah before election Prior to this month’s disputed presidential election in Iran, the Obama administration sent a letter to the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, calling for an improvement in relations.