These photos are not something independent of the protest movement that started these demonstrations. The group commonly known as the April 6 youth movement ovement originated on Facebook and generated the initial excitement for the current protests. A year ago the New York Times profiled the university students behind the April 6 organization and reported that the movement’s first large-scale public action was a protest against the Mubarak regime during Israel’s incursion into Gaza in late 2008/early 2009. These demonstrators criticized Mubarak for not intervening on behalf of Hamas and against Israel. “(M)ore than 2,000 protesters marched through the streets of downtown Cairo, carrying Palestinian flags.” In today’s Islamic world being pro-democracy has no impact on whether you hate Israel or buy into dark anti-Jewish conspiracy theories.
And all of this–the rest of the Egypt story–is now being ignored by the press here and in Europe.























