Tuesday, November 04, 2014

Trick of language

The accumulation of history in the Middle East can lead to some strange conjunctions. One current one is the Al Qaeda group with the Hebrew name. That would be the Sinai peninsula-based Ansar Beit al Maqdis (about whom surprisingly little is known) -- its name comes directly from the Hebrew word for the temple (yes, that temple). If you're not careful with translations, you can end up thinking that the Egyptian government thinks that the group is actually run from Jerusalem. They don't, right?