Excerpts: Egypt's Jewish community leader Carmen Weinstein's death. Saudi
mixed results for terrorist rehab April 19, 2013

+++SOURCE: Egypt Daily News 19 April ’13:”The ‘Iron Lady’ of Egypt’s Jews:
Carmen Weinstein, 1931-2013

SUBJECT: Egypt’s Jewish community leader Carmen Weinstein’s death

QUOTE:”Notably.President Morsi paid homage to the the Jewish community
leader on the announcement of her death”

FULL TEXT:Egypt Jewish community leader;s Carmen Weinstein, the president of
Cairo’s small Jewish community, died Saturday,13 April, at the age of 82.
Weinstein, who passed away in her central Zamalek apartment, had been
suffering ill health for some time.

“I saw Carmen a few hours before she died. She had knee problems and
terminal bronchitis,” explained her dear friend of 23 years, Egyptian
historian Samir Rafat, who describes Carmen’s failing health as worse than
ever during their last encounter.

Admiringly, in spite of her ill health, Weinstein remained active, still
attending official functions such as Passover on 25 March. A day prior to
her death, she went to Maadi Synagogue to inspect current renovations.

“Ironically, it was her greatest joy that precipitated her sudden
departure,” suggested Rafat in reference to her 12 Griffon dogs — Kimo
being her favourite. A scratch from one of her dogs had infected her leg,
which as doctors had warned, led to a fatal blood clot, says the historian.

Weinstein will be buried Thursday in the Bassatine Cemetery which since 1978
she had dedicated her time to preserving. It was notably one of Carmen’s
biggest triumphs: safeguarding Cairo’s sole and Egypt’s largest and most
renowned Jewish cemetery. Weinstein through her hard work successfully
ensured the preservation of a small part of the cemetery, the rest of which
has become a slum to thousands of poor, a waste disposal site, and an area
seized by entities interested in relics.

"She was a very courageous woman who fought to keep the Jewish heritage
intact," Magda Haroun — the new president of Cairo’s Jewish community, who
was elected on 15 April by a small committee — stated with great admiration.
Her unwavering enthusiasm towards her Jewish faith and heritage did not,
however, affect her patriotism and loyalty to Egypt.

Weinstein, a proud Egyptian patriot, had written on the community website,
"Bassatine", that Jews who escaped European persecution and remain in the
Cairo cemetery verify Egypt’s hospitality. A number of Weinstein and Haroun’s
family members are buried in Bassatine.

Though a proud Egyptian, Weinstein freely voiced her discontent with the
current state of affairs in the country she so loved.

“I lived through revolutions. They are not easy. Changes don’t happen
overnight. Things will not change for the better; you will regret what has
come,” she often told her friend Rafat. Notwithstanding her evident
discontent with the political situation, the ardent patriot refused to leave
Egypt. Notably, Egypt’s President Morsi paid homage to the Jewish community
leader upon announcement of her death.

Amongst her other campaigns, Weinstein fought to ensure Jewish artefacts,
including sacred Torah scrolls and ancient manuscripts in danger of being
smuggled abroad, remained in Egypt. Weinstein convinced the Egyptian
government to categorise them as Egyptian ancient artefacts, prohibiting
their sale abroad.

It was following the mass Jewish exodus from Egypt, which commenced in 1948,
that Carmen devoted herself to protecting her heritage. Determined to
restore Cairo’s decrepit synagogues (of which 15 remain) and encouraging
strong communal ties, she kept the spirit of the tiny community alive.
Haroun, like many, admiringly recounts her success at uniting the few
enduring Egyptian Jews, insisting they celebrate religious events at the
synagogue

+++SOURCE: Naharnet (Lebanon) 19 April ’13:”Saudi Opens Luxury Rehab Center
for Qaida Militants”, Agence France Presse
SUBJECT: Saudi mixed results for terrorist rehab

QUOTE:” ‘Just under 3,000 (Islamist prisoners)will have to go through one of
these centers before they can be released’ “

FULL TEXT:Saudi Arabia is hoping to wean jailed al-Qaida militants off
religious extremism with counseling, spa treatments and plenty of exercise
at a luxury rehabilitation center in Riyadh.

In between sessions with counselors and talks on religion, prisoners will be
able to relax in the center’s facilities which include an Olympic-size
indoor swimming pool, a sauna, a gym and a television hall.

The new complex is the work of the Prince Mohammed bin Nayef Center for
Counseling and Care, a body set up seven years ago to rehabilitate
extremists jailed during a Saudi crackdown on the local branch of al-Qaida.

"Just under 3,000 (Islamist prisoners) will have to go through one of these
centers before they can be released," interior ministry spokesman General
Mansour al-Turki told Agence France Presse during a tour of the new center.

Another center has already opened in the western port city of Jeddah, and
three more are planned for the north, east and south of the desert kingdom.

The new facility in Riyadh, however, is the first to offer inmates a taste
of luxury as an incentive to moderate their beliefs.

The centers bear the name of the current interior minister, who spearheaded
the government's crackdown on al-Qaida following deadly attacks by the group
between 2003 and 2006 in which more than 150 Saudis and foreigners were
killed.

Al-Qaida jihadists, many of them trained in Afghanistan, had targeted Saudi
Arabia for allowing U.S. troops to set up bases in the kingdom during the
Gulf War and to stay on afterwards, until they eventually withdrew in 2003.

During the crackdown, many militants fled from Saudi into Yemen's lawless
southern and southeastern regions where the network formed al-Qaida in the
Arabian Peninsula in January 2009 -- classified by the United States as the
jihadists' deadliest branch.

Prince Mohammed himself survived a suicide attack by a jihadist in August
2009 when a bomber managed to infiltrate the prince's security. The prince
suffered only superficial injuries.

The Riyadh centre spreads over an area equivalent to around 10 football
pitches and is designed to accommodate 228 prisoners from the "deviant
group," the term used by Saudi authorities to refer to al-Qaida.

Each of the 12 buildings at the flagship facility will host 19 prisoners,
who will have access to special suites where they can spend time with
visiting family members.

Good behavior could earn them a two-day break with their wives.

During the day, the prisoners will attend seminars on religious affairs,
aimed at steering them away from thoughts of jihad.

"In order to fight terrorism, we must give them an intellectual and
psychological balance... through dialogue and persuasion," said the director
of the rehabilitation centers, Said al-Bishi.

He said a total of 2,336 al-Qaida prisoners have now been through Saudi
rehabilitation schemes.

"The percentage of those who rejoin the deviant minority does not exceed 10
percent," Bishi said, a proportion he described as "encouraging".

AFP tried to speak to several former al-Qaida prisoners who had been
released after going through rehabilitation but they declined to be
interviewed about their experiences.

Not everyone is convinced, however. There have been some high-profile
returns to the ranks of the jihad, such as Saeed al-Shehri, who became
deputy leader of al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula after supposedly being
rehabilitated.

Liberals are particularly critical of the religious content of the program
which they say draws on an ultra-conservative version of Islam not so
different from al-Qaida's own.

"We cannot know if the program will succeed in eradicating terrorism and
extremism," social scientist Khaled al-Dakheel told AFP.

"To treat the problem at its root, one should challenge jihadist thought
with an enlightened philosophy, not just with other Salafist ideas that are
only slightly less extreme," he said.

"There must be pluralism and an acknowledgement of the rights of others to
be different."

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Sue Lerner - Associate, IMRA