More than 3,000 people packed Al-Azhar Mosque, the most prominent institution in the Sunni Arab world, for prayers and a demonstration organized by the Egyptian government's top rival, the Muslim Brotherhood.

"Rulers of Arab countries, start holy war! God is great!" men shouted, their voices ringing through the rafters of the 1,000-year-old building...

Police agreed not to arrest protesters if they remained inside the mosque, said Abdel-Galil el-Sharnoubi, a member of the Brotherhood's political bureau.

A top security forces commander said before the march that his officers did not intend to make any arrests but wanted to ensure there were "no disturbances." He spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of his dealings with the banned Brotherhood.

Authorities frequently arrest Brotherhood members at protests, and more than 600 are behind bars. - from this article

"only 3k show up for a protest against Israel..."
-- from a reader

The reason for this is not sweetness-and-light, but rather the appearance, in force, of the Egyptian police. Why? Because the rally-cum-mosque-attendance was sponsored by the Ikhwan, the Muslim Brotherhood, and if others had been allowed to appear outside the mosque, which was full, it might have lead to disturbances, chiefly against the corrupt, and therefore "Infidel" Mubarak, and Mubarak has no desire to let these crowds get out of hand. He must remember May 1967. Nasser whipped the crowds up, and then the crowds whipped Nasser up.

What if tens or hundreds of thousands of people started to demand action by the Egyptian government? Can that government admit that "we aren't strong enough to attack Israel yet"? Would a maddened crowd accept that as a reason?

No wonder they are keeping a lid on things. And the same is true in other Arab states. They don't dare let things get out of hand -- the regimes will be the first to go.

It was a military coup that brought Nasser, Naguib, and others first to power. It was a military defeat that caused Nasser's loss of face and premature death. It was the Ikhwan that killed Sadat. It is the Ikhwan now enraged at the Family-and-Friends Plan of Mubarak. What would you do, if you were Mubarak? You'd keep those demonstrations to a minimum.

In Jordan, the same thing. Abdullah was assassinated. Hussein survived many attempts; his autobiography bore the title "Uneasy Lies the Head." Remember the assassination of Prime Minister Wasfi el-Tal, with his murderers bending down to lick his blood? How many other attempted murders and coups have been attempted in Jordan? If you were King Abdullah, wouldn't you keep those demonstrations to a minimum?

In Saudi Arabia, where a single family, the Al-Saud, has been steadily stealing much of the country's oil wealth for the past half century, and where it now faces domestic terrorism (that the Saudis call "hirabah" and then others, whose enthusiastic pushing of such a word for use by the Americans -- such as M. Jim Gerard -- want that word used to describe Muslim attacks on Infidels,not merely Muslim attacks on corrupt Muslim regimes), they can't allow such gatherings, for in the end the crowds, if they were to be allowed, would end up denouncing the the princes, princelings, and princelettes of the House of Saud.

But that does not mean that the hysteria and hate is not there. It is. It won't go away. Nothing can make it go away, for the Infidel state of Israel is simply intolerable. But of course, so too are all the Lands of the Infidels that remain as yet unsubmissive to Islam. But Da'wa and demographic conquest, may succeed where terror cannot. Unless, of course, the Western world, or a sufficient number of people in that world, come to their senses in time.