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Egyptian-American journalist Mona Eltahawy was arrested yesterday in New York for spray-painting over advertising put up by the anti-Muslim American Freedom Defense Initiative, led by Pam Geller.

via The NY Post

An Egyptian-born activist was arrested Tuesday for spray-painting subway billboards that call enemies of Israel "savages" — amid a wave of vandalism unleashed on the inflammatory ads, which have divided the city.

Mona Eltahawy, a self-described "liberal Muslim," strolled up to one of the signs at the crowded 1/2/3 train mezzanine at the Times Square station and sprayed pink paint on the ads.

Strangers stopped and watched Eltahawy — in a bright pink coat just a few shades darker than the paint — in amazement.

But Pamela Hall, a Manhattan mom who supports the message of the ads, was so infuriated, she rushed to stop Eltahawy.

Hall tried to physically block Eltahawy, bobbing back and forth like a basketball forward while the angered activist shot bursts of paint around her.

"If you don't want paint, you should get out of my way," Eltahawy said before spraying Hall.

Hall then poked Eltahawy with her video camera stick.

That infuriated Eltahawy, who blurted out, "Fuck you!"

Eltahawy seemed stunned when an NYPD officer and an MTA cop arrived momentarily after and put cuffs on her.

Here's the complete unedited version of the altercation. Apparently Pam Hall, like thousands of others, had read Ms Eltahawy's twitter feed where Eltahawy made it well known what she was going to do, and were waiting for this moment.

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Journalist Mona Eltahawy recounts her horrifying ordeal last night at the hands of the Egyptian security forces. Eltahawy ended up with a broken arm and hand, and was sexually molested.

via ABC News:

Acclaimed Egyptian-American columnist Mona Eltahawy, released today in Cairo, said Egyptian security forces sexually assaulted and beat her so severely that an arm and hand were broken during her overnight detention.

"I AM FREE," she wrote on her Twitter page just after noon local time. "12 hours with Interior Ministry bastards and military intelligence combined. Can barely type -- must go xray arms after CSF [Central Security Forces] pigs beat me," she tweeted.

Shortly before dawn today, Eltahawy wrote a cryptic tweet that read: "Beaten arrested in interior ministry."

Eltahawy said that while she was in custody "5 or 6 surrounded me, groped and prodded my breasts, grabbed my genital area and I lost count how many hands tried to get into my trousers."

"They are dogs and their bosses are dogs. F*** the Egyptian police," she tweeted.

A defiant Eltahawy tweeted after she was released:

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Inviting Egyptian-born writer and activist Mona Eltahawy to J Street's Conference this past weekend may have been seen by some as a provocative move but seen in context is entirely consistent with their stated aims "to promote American leadership to end the Arab-Israeli and Israel-Palestinian conflicts peacefully and diplomatically" and [J Street] "supports a new direction for American policy in the Middle East – diplomatic solutions over military ones"

If anyone was concerned beforehand they needn't have worried. She was greeted with a standing ovation, as was Sara Benninga of East Jerusalem's Sheikh Jarrah Solidarity movement the night before.

Eltahawy gets standing ovation when she calls on peaceful revolution to come to Israel and Palestine

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Eltahawy's closing challenge was that just as the Arab dictators responded late and stupidly to the demands of the people, Israel and Obama and its friends are responding late to the political movement afoot. They were completely tone-deaf to Gaza, she said; as Arabs everywhere watched Palestinians being "torn apart." It was a "massacre," she said twice. Great to hear that from a Jewish pulpit.

"My question to J street and to Israel, do you want to be ten days too late, do you want to be like these dictators that [Netanyahu]... loves so dearly… the people have outpaced the Obama administration…Here’s my challenge to you--"

Just as Egyptians and Tunisians "have managed to get rid of the unriddable…" without burning one foreign flag, "the best of Gandhi and Martin Luther King combined," it is time "to march for the freedom and dignity of our Palestinian brothers and sisters, and we will.

"Make that call, I will be with you. It’s about time, and it’s something that everyone is thinking about."

She added, "This is not something that is supposed to scare you.. Embrace.. nonviolence. Millions of Arabs peacefully dismantled dictatorships ....Embrace them and reach out to them, and we too will march for the freedom and dignity of Palestinians.. Cll for that nonviolent revolution for freedom and dignity for Palestians, and I will be there."

Wild cheers.

The clip above is an excerpt from her opening remarks. A complete version is here. Full video of the panel discussion (moderated by Steve Clemons) can be seen here [90 min].

Via CBS Sunday Morning. Her cheeky commentary turns more stereotypes on their heads.

Mona Eltahawy comments on how Egypt's peaceful 18-day revolution didn't just bring down a dictator, it also toppled stereotypes about Arabs, who are often seen as violent and as a people who crave an iron-fisted strongman.

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(transcript)

"Hello, I'm an Arab and I toppled two dictators in one month!"

Those were the words of a young Arab celebrating on Friday the resignation of Hosni Mubarak, who ruled Egypt for 30 years. Mubarak stepped down just weeks after an uprising in Tunisia toppled Zine Al Abidine Ben Ali's dictatorship.

But Egypt's peaceful 18-day revolution didn't just bring down a dictator.

It toppled stereotypes about Arabs, who are often seen as violent and as a people who crave an iron-fisted strongman.

And it's helping to topple media portrayals that perpetuate those stereotypes. Those very same strongmen - such as Mubarak - often use those stereotypes to ensure the silence of western allies. They would argue only they could control their violent population.

In Tahrir Square was Alaa, a blogger friend who took me to my first protests in Cairo in 2005. He returned to Egypt from South Africa for the revolution. Also marching were Egyptian-American friends. They all did me proud!

From tech savvy young people, to businessmen, to scientists and farmers - thousands upon thousands joined pro-democracy demonstrations that told Mubarak and the entire world something Americans will still remember from Election 2008: Yes we can, too!

Mubarak tried everything to push them back home but they served him notice - we're not scared of you anymore.

He sent thugs, water cannons, tear gas, and still they came out. More than 300 died and hundreds more were injured, and still they came. And just as importantly their demonstrations were filled with "Selmeyya, Selmeyya" - that's the Arabic word for "peaceful."

By toppling Mubarak they have shown fellow Arabs that it's possible to bring about change through non-violence.

Now it's sexy and cool to be an Arab revolutionary! What an intoxicating message for a part of the world where the majority is younger than 30.

And now the entire region is captivated by our freedom rally. The baton started in Tunisia, which handed it to Egypt, which is now ready to hand it to the next candidate.

Who's next?

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As Susie already noted, there are protesters out in Algeria now defying the government ban and taking to the streets anyway. And as CNN's Wolf Blitzer noted, the government there decided that shutting down Internet communications and social networking sites was a smart way to deal with the civil unrest there along with a heavy police presence cracking down on protesters. Egyptian journalist Mona Eltahawy weighed in on whether every dictator in the Middle East ought to be worried about the possibility of facing the same fate of those in Egypt and Tunisia.

BLITZER: Let's bring in the Egyptian journalist, the Arab Affairs Analyst Mona Eltahawy, she is joining us once again.

Mona, the protests in Tunisia led to a revolution there. In Egypt led to a revolution there. Today we are seeing in Algeria, some major demonstrations going on. What's going on in the region?

MONA ELTAHAWY, ARAB AFFAIRS ANALYST: It sounds to me, Wolf, like everyone is catching freedom fever. I've been Tweeting about this and comparing to a rally, like some kind of rally race, where the baton started in Tunisia and handed it to Egypt, and now Egypt is kind of going, OK, who wants it next, guys?

As you said, Algeria, we saw protests in Algeria today and interestingly the Algerian authorities shut down Facebook and they did the Internet -- I think it was Facebook, mostly. But if you'll remember, Hosni Mubarak also tried to quell "unrest"-- quote/unquote-- in Egypt by shutting down the Internet. I just don't think that these dictators are getting it. That it's not about shutting down Facebook and the Internet, it is about listening to your people. I think that's what the freedom fever is.

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As Mona Eltahawy was listing off how momentous an event Egypt's uprising has been, and how it may signal a change in the way the United States approaches the Arab countries in the Middle East, siding with the peoples of that region rather than the dictators, the CNN pundits throw some cold water on such idealistic notions.

GLORIA BORGER: Well I'm not so sure about that. There's always going to be realpolitik in U.S. foreign policy.

...and she lists off the relationships with Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and Syria as evidence. Ever helpful Candy Crowley chimes in that the "experts" she talks to in the State Department have told her that the conditions in Egypt were unique and not likely to be replicated elsewhere in the region. Oddly enough though, those same experts never saw Tunisia or Egypt becoming anything like they have. Funny about that.

Full transcript via CNN below the fold.

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via WNYC Radio:

During a special Brian Lehrer Show in WNYC's Greene Space, journalist and activist Mona Eltahawy reacts to the breaking news that Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak resigned. This video is from minutes after the announcement.

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Bill Maher tried out his best Bill O'Reilly impersonation last night on Real Time with guest Mona Eltahawy, Egyptian-born journalist and a leading advocate for the current uprising. While O'Reilly Maher trotted out a list of pseudo-"facts" underlining the "reality" of the Arab world to someone who was born there, Eltahawy smacked his arguments down one by one, saying at one point "I didn't think we were going to get into Fox News sparring matches". She declared that what we're seeing now with this uprising is nothing less than the demolition of these myths about the Arab world, for example the need for the strong man as leader, and that the people are inherently passive and lazy.

Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY) was impressed enough to say: "Sister's on message. She does not flinch. You're exactly right," as she detailed where the money and support comes from that allows dictators like Hosni Mubarak to stay in power for so long.

The segment above was from the Overtime portion, which was not aired but appears on the Real Time website. The full segment which aired is seen below the fold.

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Mona Eltahawy on Democracy Now this morning, discussing the Egyptian uprising.

AMY GOODMAN: You have called Mubarak the Berlin Wall.

MONA ELTAHAWY: Absolutely, because, as you remember, in 1989, when the Berlin Wall fell, you saw revolution—revolutions and freedom movements across Eastern Europe. Mubarak is our Berlin Wall. When Tunisia had its revolution and toppled Ben Ali, everyone thought, "Beautiful little Tunisia, you’re so brave. But it’s never going to happen anywhere else." Now it’s happening in the traditional leader of the Arab world. Egypt is a country of 80 million people. Once Mubarak falls—and he will fall; I mean, he’s crumbled. Several days ago, as far as I was concerned, he was done. Once Mubarak falls once and for all, you will see what will happen in the Arab world. This is going to—every Arab leader is watching right now in terror, and every Arab citizen is elated and cheering Egypt on, because they know the significance of this.

AMY GOODMAN: Mona Eltahawy, I want to thank you very much for being with us, Egyptian-born columnist and speaker on Arab issues, based here in New York. Al Jazeera English, by the way, is now reporting up to two million people in and around Tahrir Square. And, of course, there are protests all over Egypt.

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Egyptian journalist Mona Eltahawy joined The Dylan Ratigan Show for his daily rant to explain why America should support the protests in Egypt.