Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By simmons on June 16, 2015

I looked forward to Amsterdam; meeting up with my friend Laura, and attending to unfinished business.

We met at Schiphol Airport, or shit pool, as she called it. It was a relief to see Laura. The last five weeks of traveling, had been a challenging, and I longed for familiarity, and people who spoke English.

Before I left for Amsterdam, I got an email from my mother. "Dani, have fun and don't smoke too much dope." Where do I begin with that?

I first visited Amsterdam when I spent a semester abroad studying in Paris, when I was in college. School was a breeze, and it didn't require a great deal of studying, so I was able to travel every weekend. For six months I took full advantage of my time in Europe. One weekend I decided to go to Amsterdam.

I arrived at the architecturally impressive train station in the city of legal drugs, legal prostitution and cheese. I stayed at Bob's Youth Hostel, which at the time was a popular backpacker hangout. By coincidence, I ran into a couple of girls from my program back in Paris. They invited me to hang out with them, or I invited myself, I can't remember. They were partiers. I was not. They wanted to lounge in coffee shops, and smoke dope. I did not. I wanted to go to the Van Gogh Museum and to The Anne Frank House--they did not.

Actually, I didn't either but my father sent me off to Europe with a list of recommended places to see, and I didn't want to disappoint him, so I made sure that I ticked each and every one the list before I returned home. Taking the list literally dispels any mystery as to why I spent a good part of my entire adult life in therapy.

I went out to dinner with the girls, and ate a space cake. The details are foggy at best, but suffice it to say that the girls continued on to other coffee shops, and I went back to Bob's to throw up. I hurled all through the night, which must have been a real treat for the forty other fellow travelers sharing the room with me.

I felt better in the morning so I went to the Van Gogh museum. When one acts for the sole purpose of checking off a list, chances are, one is not going to remember much, as it was in my case. I have zero recollection of what was in the museum; I assume some Van Gogh pieces.

I was still feeling okay, so I walked over to the Anne Frank house. I waited in line, bought my ticket and went inside. Just as I was midway up the attic staircase, a sudden wave of nausea washed over me. Please, no. Any place but the attic! I quickly did an about face, and bolted down the one-way staircase the wrong way. It was too late. There wasn't time to find the actual exit.

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Posted By simmons on June 16, 2015

May. 23, 2015

World Bank report finds Gaza's economy is near collapse due to 2014 war with Israel, border restrictions and dysfunctional government; cites conflict between Gaza's Hamas rulers and Palestinian Authority Pres Mahmoud Abbas as reason for delay in reconstruction efforts, and notes unemployment rate stands at 44 percent, world's highest level. MORE

Pope Francis, during meeting at Vatican, calls Palestinian Authority Pres Mahmoud Abbas 'angel of peace'; Vatican reiterates hope that Palestinians and Israel will find lasting solution to regional conflict. MORE

Palestinian Authority owes $430 million in electricity bills to Israel, and debt is at center of latest deterioration in relations with Israel; two sides cannot agree on how much energy is used, how bills should be calculated or how payments should be made. MORE

Israel agrees to transfer some $470 million in tax revenue collected on behalf of Palestinians, resolving months-long dispute over issue; money was accrued since Israel suspended payments in response to Palestinian move to join the International Criminal Court. MORE

Diplomatic conflicts between Israel and Palestinians endanger relative stability and peace West Bank has experienced in recent years; Palestinian Authority threatens to scale back its shared security responsibilities with Israeli military, but both sides appear to have interest in preventing outbreak of violence. MORE

Palestinians join the International Criminal Court, making most significant and controversial step yet toward seeking statehood; Palestinian Authority hopes to use membership to increase international pressure on Israel and to hold it accountable for policies and actions that Palestinians charge are war crimes; stops short, however, of calling for immediate investigation of Israeli officials. MORE

Palestinians are becoming increasingly dissatisfied with Palestinian Authority Pres Mahmoud Abbas, highlighting divisions that could impede progress toward statehood. MORE

Israeli Prime Min Benjamin Netanyahu, in attempt to ease tensions with Palestinians and United States, will release 90 days worth of tax revenues to Palestinian Authority; funds have collected since Israel began withholding them in response to Palestinian attempt to join International Criminal Court. MORE

Manhattan jury finds Palestinian Authority and Palestinian Liberation Organization liable for their role in six terrorist attacks in Israel from 2002 to 2004 that killed and injured Americans; award of $218.5 million in damages is tripled under special terrorism law to $655.5 million, ending decade-long legal battle; Palestinian groups say they will appeal. MORE

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Posted By admin on June 14, 2015

Golan Heights,also called Golan Plateau, Arabic Al-Jawln, Hebrew Ramat Ha-Golan or Ha-Golan, hilly area overlooking the upper Jordan River valley on the west. The area was part of extreme southwestern Syria until 1967, when it came under Israeli military occupation, and in December 1981 Israel unilaterally annexed the part of the Golan it held. The areas name is from the biblical city of refuge Golan in Bashan (Deuteronomy 4:43; Joshua 20:8).

Geographically, the Golan is bounded by the Jordan River and the Sea of Galilee on the west, Mount Hermon (Arabic: Jabal Al-Shaykh; Hebrew: Har ermon) on the north, the seasonal Wadi Al-Ruqqd (a north-south branch of the Yarmk River) on the east, and the Yarmk River on the south. As a political unit the boundaries differ; Israel is the suzerain of almost all of the Golan except for a narrow strip in the east that follows the Israeli-Syrian armistice line of June 10, 1967, which was later modified by the separation of forces agreement of May 31, 1974. The Golan extends about 44 miles (71 km) from north to south and about 27 miles (43 km) from east to west at its widest point. It is roughly boat-shaped and has an area of 444 square miles (1,150 square km). The better agricultural land lies in its southern portion; the stony foothills of Mount Hermon in the north, with patches of woodland and scrub, are a stock-raising area. The Israeli portion of the Golan rises to 7,297 feet (2,224 metres) at its extreme northeast point on the Mount Hermon slopes.

In 1894 the French-Jewish banker Baron Edmond de Rothschild bought a large tract of land for Jewish settlement in the Golan; he was followed by other groups in the United States, Canada, and Europe. Jewish colonization was attempted but was frustrated by the hostility of the Arab population and by the Ottoman land laws, which virtually forbade settlement by nonnatives. After World War I the Golan became part of the French mandate of Syria and in 1941 passed to independent Syria. After the Arab-Israeli War of 194849, Syria fortified the western crest of the Golan Heights, which commands the ula Valley, the Sea of Galilee, and the upper Jordan River valley, all in Israel. In these sections many Israeli civilians were killed by Syrian artillery and sniper fire; agriculture and fishing were rendered difficult, and at times impossible.

On the last two days (June 910, 1967) of the Six-Day War, the Israeli armed forces, after defeating Egypt and Jordan, turned their attention to Syria. Under cover of the Israel Air Force, engineer troops built access roads up the steep Golan Heights, which were then frontally assaulted by armoured vehicles and infantry. The Syrian defenders and most of the Arab inhabitants fled, and Syria asked for an armistice; fighting ceased on June 10. The heights were placed under Israeli military administration, and Golan was integrated into the communications and financial framework of Israel. By the late 1970s nearly 30 Jewish settlements had been established on the heights, and in 1981 Israel unilaterally annexed the area.

A disengagement agreement between Israel and Syria, signed following the Yom Kippur War of October 1973, established a United Nations buffer zone in the Golan Heights, monitored by a UN Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF). The UNDOF mandate was renewed every six months thereafter. Negotiations between Syria and Israel, initiated during bilateral talks held in Madrid in 1991, continued intermittently until they broke down in 2000 over the future status of the heights.

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Posted By admin on June 11, 2015

Keyword: golanheights EU's Ashton Adds to 'Settlement' Discrimination EU foreign policy chief pushes introduction

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton is pushing for comprehensive guidelines to introduce separate labeling for products made by Jews in Judea and Samaria, Israeli-daily Haaretz reported on Tuesday. According to the report. Ashton sent a letter to European commissioners urging them to draft the guidelines by the end of 2013. The EU last week published guidelines that forbid the 28 members of the bloc from funding or dealing with Jewish communities in Judea, Samaria, eastern Jerusalem and the Golan Heights, alleging that the areas are illegally occupied.

JERUSALEM, July 22 (Xinhua) -- Ireland, Fiji and Nepal will send hundreds of troops to bolster the UN peacekeeping force in the Golan Heights, Israeli daily Ha'aretz reported Monday. The latest development comes weeks after Austria withdrew its 380 troops from the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force ( UNDOF), citing deterioration of security situation due to the escalation in Syria's unrest. According to the report, Ireland agreed to send a 150-strong well-trained and equipped infantry unit, which was previously part of the UN peacekeeping mission in Mali; Fiji would dispatch about 500 peacekeepers; and Nepal would redirect some 50 peacekeepers,...

In four months as secretary of state, John Kerry has certainly promised great things. Now he has to deliver. In the Middle East, he has raised hopes his solo diplomatic effort can produce a historic breakthrough ending six decades of Arab-Israeli conflict.(continued)

Are the one-man diplomatic stylings of newly-appointed Secretary of State John Kerry perhaps getting a little too grandiose, even for the White Houses liking? So reports the Associated Press, and it is certainly true that, in just the first four months of his tenure, John Kerry has made for himself a schedule that keeps him all kinds of busy traveling hither and yon. Kerrys long-term ambitions for the top job at State were hardly ever a secret, and it sounds like he might be taking himself just a bit too seriously in some White House officials estimation: Since succeeding Hillary...

On a February trip to the Middle East, Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman John Kerry (D-MA) told Qatari leaders that the Golan Heights should be returned to Syria, that a Palestinian capital should be established in East Jerusalem as part of the Arab-Israeli peace process, and that he was "shocked" by what he saw on a visit to Gaza. Kerry discussed the Israeli-Palestinian peace process in a visit to Qatar during separate meetings with Prime Minister Hamad bin Jassim Al Thani and the Emir of Qatar, Hamad bin Khalifa, as revealed by the disclosure of diplomatic cables by the website...

TEL AVIV Thousands of Syrians are currently training in Iran to serve as a force ready to storm Israels northern Golan Heights, according to informed Middle Eastern security officials. The officials said between 3,000 and 5,000 Syrian men were being trained in the event Syrian President Bashar al-Assad decides to open a front against the Golan Heights, which borders Syria. The training is being overseen by the Al Quds Force, the elite unit of Irans Revolutionary Guard responsible for the countrys extraterritorial operations, the sources said.

Austria has begun withdrawing some of its 378 UN peacekeepers from the demilitarised zone on the ceasefire line with Syria and the Israel-occupied Golan Heights. Tuesdays decision comes after opposition rebels briefly seized the Quneitra crossing late last week in an incident that injured two of the peacekeepers. The crossing lies in the demilitarised zone on the Israel-Syria armistice line and is monitored by about 1,000 UN peacekeepers, including the Austrians. Al Jazeeras Sue Turton in the Golan Heights witnessed armoured personnel-carriers transporting the Austrians to the main UN base on the Israeli side of the ceasefire line. She said...

The Kremlin pointedly disclosed Saturday, June 8, that President Vladimir Putin had talked by phone to Binyamin Netanyahu Friday on the Syrian question. It was their third conversation in a month. In his first call on May 6, Putin administered a dressing down to Netanyahu who was visiting Shanghai on Israel's air strike against Damascus the day before. On June 14th, the prime minister flew to Sochi for an abortive attempt to dissuade the Russian president from consigning advanced S-300 missiles to the Syrian army. There was no comment from Jerusalem on this latest conversation. However, the frequent communications between...

VIENNA (Reuters) - Austria will withdraw its peacekeepers from the U.N. monitoring force on the Golan Heights given worsening fighting between Syrian government forces and rebels, it said on Thursday. Austrians account for about 380 of the 1,000-strong U.N. force monitoring a ceasefire between Syria and Israel, and their departure will deal a serious blow to the mission. ... It came hours after Syrian rebels seized a U.N.-manned border crossing linking Syria and Israel on Thursday. Israeli security sources later reported Syrian troops had retaken it after heavy fighting.

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Posted By simmons on June 11, 2015

In this Friday, June 5, 2015 photo, Palestinian children play on a fishing boat as fishermen prepare their fishing nets at the sea port of Gaza City. The Gaza Strip, with a 40-kilometer (25-mile) Mediterranean coastline, was always known for its seafood until Israel restricted the fishing area. As a result, Palestinians have begun importing fish and other seafood from Israel or Egypt and _ in recent years _ building fish farms. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)(The Associated Press)

In this Friday, June 5, 2015 photo, two Palestinian fishermen clean up a fishing net while standing on a boat at the seaport of Gaza City. The Gaza Strip, with a 40-kilometer (25-mile) Mediterranean coastline, was always known for its seafood until Israel restricted the fishing area. As a result, Palestinians have begun importing fish and other seafood from Israel or Egypt and _ in recent years _ building fish farms. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)(The Associated Press)

In this Tuesday, June 2, 2015 photo, a Palestinian worker feeds fish in a pool at Fish Fresh fish farm, in the town of Rafah, southern Gaza strip. The Gaza Strip, with a 40-kilometer (25-mile) Mediterranean coastline, was always known for its seafood until Israel restricted the fishing area. As a result, Palestinians have begun importing fish and other seafood from Israel or Egypt and _ in recent years _ building fish farms. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)(The Associated Press)

In this Tuesday, June 2, 2015 photo, a Palestinian worker feeds fish in a pool at Fish Fresh fish farm, in the town of Rafah, southern Gaza strip. The Gaza Strip, with a 40-kilometer (25-mile) Mediterranean coastline, was always known for its seafood until Israel restricted the fishing area. As a result, Palestinians have begun importing fish and other seafood from Israel or Egypt and _ in recent years _ building fish farms. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)(The Associated Press)

In this Wednesday, June 3, 2015 photo, a Palestinian worker is seen reflected in the water as thousands of small fish swim in a pool at a fish farm, in the town of Rafah, southern Gaza strip. The Gaza Strip, with a 40-kilometer (25-mile) Mediterranean coastline, was always known for its seafood until Israel restricted the fishing area. As a result, Palestinians have begun importing fish and other seafood from Israel or Egypt and _ in recent years _ building fish farms. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)(The Associated Press)

KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip The Gaza Strip, with a 40-kilometer (25-mile) Mediterranean coastline, was always known for its seafood until Israel restricted the fishing area.

As a result, Palestinians have begun importing fish and other seafood from Israel or Egypt and in recent years building fish farms.

Israel imposed a blockade on Gaza in 2006 after Hamas militants captured an Israeli soldier and tightened the closure the following year after Hamas seized control of the territory. Israel says the restrictions are needed to prevent Hamas, a militant group sworn to its destruction, from smuggling weapons into the territory. The sides have fought three wars since the Hamas takeover.

At times of heightened tensions, the fishing zone was barely three nautical miles. Today, it is six miles, still half of the pre-blockade distance.

The fish farms have helped bring down prices of the popular sea bream fish. But another popular item, shrimp, remains extremely expensive, costing up to $25 a kilogram ($11 a pound).

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Posted By richards on June 9, 2015

synagogue,also spelled synagog , in Judaism, a community house of worship that serves as a place not only for liturgical services but also for assembly and study. Its traditional functions are reflected in three Hebrew synonyms for synagogue: bet ha-tefilla (house of prayer), bet ha-kneset (house of assembly), and bet ha-midrash (house of study). The term synagogue is of Greek origin (synagein, to bring together) and means a place of assembly. The Yiddish word shul (from German Schule, school) is also used to refer to the synagogue, and in modern times the word temple is common among some Reform and Conservative congregations.

The oldest dated evidence of a synagogue is from the 3rd century bce, but synagogues doubtless have an older history. Some scholars think that the destruction of Solomons Temple in 586 bce gave rise to synagogues after private homes were temporarily used for public worship and religious instruction.

Other scholars trace the origin of synagogues to the Jewish custom of having representatives of communities outside Jerusalem pray together during the two-week period when priestly representatives of their community attended ritual sacrifices in the Temple of Jerusalem.

Whatever their origin, synagogues flourished side by side with the ancient Temple cult and existed long before Jewish sacrifice and the established priesthood were terminated with the destruction of the Second Temple by Titus in 70 ce. Thereafter synagogues took on an even greater importance as the unchallenged focal point of Jewish religious life.

Literature of the 1st century refers to numerous synagogues not only in Palestine but also in Rome, Greece, Egypt, Babylonia, and Asia Minor. By the middle of that century, all sizable Jewish communities had a synagogue where regular morning, afternoon, and evening services were held, with special liturgies on the Sabbath and on religious festivals.

Modern synagogues carry on the same basic functions associated with ancient synagogues but have added social, recreational, and philanthropic programs as the times demand. They are essentially democratic institutions established by a community of Jews who seek God through prayer and sacred studies. Since the liturgy has no sacrifice, no priesthood is required for public worship. Because each synagogue is autonomous, its erection, its maintenance, and its rabbi and officials reflect the desires of the local community.

There is no standard synagogue architecture. A typical synagogue contains an ark (where the scrolls of the Law are kept), an eternal light burning before the ark, two candelabra, pews, and a raised platform (bimah), from which scriptural passages are read and from which, often, services are conducted. The segregation of men and women, a practice that is still observed in Orthodox synagogues, has been abandoned by Reform and Conservative congregations. A ritual bath (mikvah) is sometimes located on the premises.

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Posted By simmons on June 9, 2015

Anti-Semitism is not only the oldest hatred, it is also the most enduring, former Canadian justice minister Irwin Cotler said on a panel on the subject at Sundays Jerusalem Post Conference in Manhattan.

The panel was called The Alarming Rise of Global Anti-Semitism: A Rapidly Gathering Storm, using a term coined by World War II British prime minister Winston Churchill for the rise of Nazi Germany. Moderated by World Jewish Congress CEO Robert Singer, it included Cotler, US Special Envoy of the Office to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism Ira Forman, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum director Sara Bloomfield, and New York University School of Law senior fellow Thane Rosenbaum.

Cotler said he recently testified before the UN and the Canadian parliament, where he remains an MP, about four metrics for the new anti-Semitism, which he said are an assault on the right of Israel to remain part of the family of nations or exist at all. He said there is genocidal anti-Semitism, such as terrorist attacks; demonological anti-Semitism, whose mantra is that Israel is the root of all evil; political anti-Semitism, which aims to deny only the Jews the right to self determination; and finally masking anti-Semitism under universal values.

In the final category, Cotler placed the attacks on Israel at the United Nations, where he said the UN condemns Israel 20 times a year and all other countries combined only four.

Anti-Semitism is being laundered under the struggle against racism, Cotler said.

The worst thing anyone can say about anyone is they are racist. Apartheid is defined as a crime against humanity. To say Israel is an apartheid state is to say it has no right to be, and the international community has an obligation to ensure it has no right to be.

Forman spoke about the dangers of anti-Semitism in Paris, Copenhagen, Buenos Aires, and Turkey. He noted that in Turkey there has been a television show that accuses Jews of a worldwide plot against the country, including non-Jewish Charles Darwin as a Jew in the plot. Forman said it would be funny were it not sad.

If current negative trends continue, certain Jewish communities in Europe that were around 500 years or even 2,500 years will be gone, he said. This is a tragedy.

Forman lamented that, unlike the struggle for Prisoners of Zion when there was one central address at the Kremlin, it is now necessary to confront dozens of countries.

Rosenbaum said Europe is starting to realize it has an Islamic problem, but lamented that rather than confront Islamic anti-Semitism it is leading from behind.

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Posted By simmons on June 9, 2015

By Carol Roach, 8th Jun 2015 | Follow this author | | Short URL http://nut.bz/3v2rflqj/ Posted in Wikinut>Guides>History

Everywhere you go you hear about crimes against humanity. We will be reviewing the life of Anne Frank, a young girl who died in a Nazi concentration camp. Her story has been read by millions of people around the world.

One of the most important figures of the Nazi era was a young girl by the name of Anne Frank. She was just an ordinary teenager and had hopes and dreams like any other teenager of her day and future generations to come.

The only trouble was that she was Jewish during the Nazi era and that fate meant death for many. Death was inevitable for young innocent girls and boys and Jewish people; six million of them who were herded off to concentrations camps, imprisoned, starved, worked to death, and experimented on in the most vilest of ways. Then burned in the furnaces, and discarded like garbage. Human lives, not worth a thing to their Nazi oppressors.

The Jewish people, a fine spirited people, will not let these atrocities fade from human memory. We must never forget the holocaust, we must preserve the sanctity of human life and the health and welfare of all people's of the world. Tikkun o'lam just as Jewish people declare, we must repair the world.

In the grand scheme of things human life is held worthless. There is no real regard for health or dignity.

I was a young girl myself when I read the Diary of Anne Frank, oh how I could identify with Anne and even though I was a Christian teenager and Anne was a Jewish one, we were both innocent young girls who had done nothing wrong. We were innocent young girls who had hopes and dreams for the life ahead of us. I examiner had a chance to make my life; Anne Frank was never given that opportunity.

My life was completely changed once I read that book. Incidentally it was required reading for my Montreal high school 9th grade English class and I was so glad that it was.

Before that book I took he peaceful life in Montreal for granted. Afterward I began to see the world outside of my own city and country was not the safe haven I had always thought it was.

The Diary of Anne Frank made me realize that World War II was not about the good guys getting rid of the bad guys as I had previously thought. War was ugly and innocent people got hurt.

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Posted By admin on June 9, 2015

BEIRUT/AMMAN - Rebel fighters captured a major base from the Syrian army in the south of the country on Tuesday, rebels and a monitoring group said, a setback for President Bashar al-Assad reflecting the mounting pressure on him after recent losses elsewhere.

LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - A virtual reality film which guides the viewer through the daily life of a young girl in a Syrian refugee camp aims to engage the public with the plight of some of the world's most vulnerable people, according to its co-creator.

ISTANBUL - A string of bombings targeting Turkey's pro-Kurdish party during its campaign to enter parliament has been linked with Islamic State in Syria, the party's chairman said on Monday.

KRUEN, Germany - Group of Seven leaders believe a window of opportunity for a political deal in Syria may be opening up that would eventually see President Bashar al-Assad step down, giving way to a new coalition government, officials familiar with the discussions at a G7 summit in the Bavarian Alps said.

VIENNA - The U.N.'s nuclear agency is studying a request from Syria to help convert an atomic reactor near Damascus to use lower grade nuclear fuel which would be harder to use in bombs, its head said on Monday.

BEIRUT - Syria's prime minister said on Monday the government would give a monthly bonus of 10,000 Syrian pounds ($37) to soldiers fighting on the frontlines, a significant pay rise that could boost morale after a series of setbacks for the armed forces.

JERUSALEM - A far-right ally of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged world powers on Sunday to recognize Israel's 1981 annexation of the Golan Heights, saying Syria no longer functions as a country that could reclaim the strategic plateau.

AMMAN - The Syrian army said on Sunday it had repulsed a major offensive by Islamic State militants in the northeastern city of Hasaka and driven out fighters who had taken over key installations on the southern edge of the city.

AMMAN - Sunni Islamist groups have overrun Syrian army outposts and villages in the Idlib province, closing on coastal strongholds of President Bashar al Assad's government, rebels and a monitor said on Saturday.

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Posted By admin on June 6, 2015

Story highlights An Egyptian court had ruled Hamas a terrorist organization a few months ago An appeals court overturns that ruling, saying the other court "lacked jurisdiction" Hamas has faced criticism, had some members arrested since military takeover

The appeals court in Cairo threw out the February 28 decision by a lower court because it "lacked jurisdiction to issue the ... ruling," the state-run Ahram Online news outlet reported.

This development could be significant given the makeup of Egypt's current government -- which took over after the military ousted Muslim Brotherhood leader-turned-president Mohammed Morsy -- and Hamas' prominent, controversial place in the Middle East, including its control of the Palestinian territory of Gaza.

Hamas evolved from the Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, having formed in 1987 with a goal of establishing an Islamic state in place of Israel, according to the U.S. National Counterterrorism Center.

That hasn't happened, though Hamas managed to takeover Gaza, while the Palestinian Authority government headed by President Mahmoud Abbas is in charge of the West Bank. Gaza borders Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, which has seen considerable violence -- including the recent killing of three judges and their driver as they headed to a courthouse -- since Morsy's 2013 ouster.

This bloodshed can't all necessarily be pinned on Hamas, which denies interfering in Egyptian internal affairs. One group blamed for the killings of hundreds security personnel in Sinai, Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis, has been tied to ISIS.

Still, Hamas controls Gaza. The Cairo government has accused it of supporting the insurgents, and Hamas -- and especially its military wing, al Qassam Brigades -- has received substantial criticism for allegedly spearheading violence.

When the U.S. State Department created its list of foreign terrorist organizations in 1997, Hamas was one of the first names on it. The Egyptian government has been at odds with the group repeatedly, with longtime President Hosni Mubarak lashing out at the group and refusing to recognize Hamas' rule in Gaza.

The relationship between Hamas and Egypt improved significantly during Morsy's brief time in power, only to deteriorate rapidly when the military took over.

In fact, Morsy was sentenced to death last month for having allegedly collaborated with Hamas and the Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah to break into several prisons across Egypt in January 2011. These actions, at the start of the revolution that spurred Mubarak's fall, facilitated the escape of Morsy and 20,000 others.

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