The full video, in two parts, of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's speech on Monday to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee:
NETANYAHU: My friends, before I talk about things about Israel, I want to say something about the scenes on television that I saw today and you have been seeing as well. When tragedy strikes America, Israel -- Israel feels an immediate identification.
s time progresses we're reminded that the most difficult battle in this war we call a revolution wasn't the battle to bring down Mubarak, but rather the battle to bring to an end the corruption in society itself. Not corruption in the sense of embezzling money, but rather the corruption of our political, social and cultural values that has sadly been instilled in all of us over the past half century.
And as the weeks go by we see more and more obstacles arising. People call us the chained dog –-- a dog tied up for many, many years whose only desire is to break free of the chain, but when he does he just runs round and round and doesn't know what to do.
Egypt, Hosni Mubarak, Noor Ayman Nour Monday, May 23, 2011 at 23:23 | Scott Lucas in Africa, EA Global, EA Middle East and Turkey, Middle East and Iran 1806 GMT: A source in Syria provides us with these videos, both taken today. The first shows demonstrators gathering in Kafr Nabl, in the Idlib region of Northwestern Syria.
The second video has the title "Demonstration is always free to women in Syria."
Photo: ReutersWe were usually awaken during this time of the night to observe soldiers torture newly arrived (naked) prisoners.
During detention, an army officer called me a son of a whore. I asked him to leave my mum out of it and he kicked me in the face.
Everyone with long hair or beard was called a homosexual. Everyone who wore a Kuffeieh was called a "Palestinian faggot".
1530 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Mousavi campaign activist Reza Safavi has been arrested in a raid of his home by six agents, with his computer and other items confiscated.
1515 GMT: Ahmadinejad Watch (cont.). More on the unusual interview in which the President's son-in-law tears apart the President's advisors....
Mehdi Khorshidi says that the leader of "deviant group" --- presumably Presidential Chief of Staff Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai --- never studied theology but dares to comment on religious matters. Indeed, Rahim-Mashai is so arrogant that he challenges Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi, who is esteemed by the Supreme Leader and has 30 years of experience.
Khorshidi continues that Rahim-Mashai has endeavoured to sabotage and eliminate useful people around Ahmadinejad, replacing them with his cronies.
And Khorshidi's reference to the "deviant group" splashing out money on "problematic" people such as actors? Well, in January, Hojatoleslam Mohammad-Taqi Rahbar, the head of the clerical faction in Parliament, noted Rahim-Mashai’s meeting with an Iranian actress, Hedyeh Tehrani, at the Presidential office:
Anyone with a bit of Principlist zeal will not approve of the lowly acts of the Head of the Presidential office. All Principlists especially the President’s true supporters are ashamed that such a character is running the office of the president.....I don’t know what an actress’s [photograph] exhibition has to do with the head of the presidential office that he has to fund it with $80,000 from the Treasury. These loans are handed out by him [Mashai] at a time when many farmers are struggling with repeated droughts and are starving. Yet the government refuses to give them a $1,000 loan.
UPDATE 1220 GMT: Manal al-Sharif has reportedly been sentenced to five days in prison for bypassing rules and regulations, driving a car within the city, enabling a journalist to interview her while driving a car, deliberately disseminating the incident to the media, inciting Saudi women to drive cars, and turning public opinion against the regulations.
Al-Sharif's lawyer has not confirmed the sentence.
Human rights activist Waleed Abu Alkhair, has posted a petition to King Abdullah on al-Sharif's behalf.
Last week we noted this brief documentary, noting outrage amongst some Iranian media that Sabra Jafarzadeh, the daughter of an employee of the Iranian Interests Section in Washington --- although she does not appear in the clip --- has been photographed without hijab (see bottom of article).
Readers have requested that we re-post the video, noting that the message has an importance beyond the specific story of Tehran's reaction to Jafarzadeh.
Hijab, Sabra Jafarzadeh 
Taliban militants assaulted the headquarters of Pakistan’s naval air force, battling on Monday security forces in the most brazen attack in the unstable, nuclear-armed country since the killing of Osama bin Laden, killing eight people, injuring 16 others and blowing up at least two military aircraft.
The dead include seven navy officials and one Ranger.
Blasts rang out and helicopters hovered above the PNS Mehran base near Shahrah-e-Faisal almost 12 hours after more than 20 Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militants stormed the heavily guarded building with guns and grenades, blowing up at least one aircraft and casting doubt on the military’s ability to protect its installations.
Sunday, May 22, 2011 at 19:55 | Scott Lucas in EA Middle East and Turkey, EA USA, Middle East and Iran, US Foreign Policy President Obama's speech today to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee --- the statement in joined in progress, during the President's acknowledgement of guests in the audience:
PART 1
Mehdi and Fatemeh Karroubi2115 GMT: The House Arrests. A further note on the statement from 130 clerics calling for the release of Mir Hossein Mousavi, Zahra Rahnavard, and Mehdi and Fatemeh Karroubi from house arrest (see 1810 GMT)....
Most of the signatories are followers of the late Grand Ayatollah Montazeri, the former heir-apparent to Ayatollah Khomeini who was ostracised and then put under house arrest by the regime from the late 1980s. Ahmad Montazeri, the Grand Ayatollah's son and one of the signatores, called upon Iranian leaders to implement reforms "before it is too late".
2045 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch (Baha'i Edition). Security forces have shut down a science and research centre operated by the Bahai’i Institute of Higher Education (BIHE) at Iran’s Open University and arrested at least 12 staff and faculty members.
