November 2009 Archives

"He was convicted in Egypt in absentia in 1999 for offenses relating to the Vanguards of Conquest's activities and sentenced to 15 years imprisonment." He should be given a sumptuous flat next door to the home of this Canadian federal court judge. "Canadian court frees Egyptian terrorist," from AFP, November 30 (thanks to all who sent this in):

OTTAWA -- A federal court on Monday ordered the release of an Egyptian man convicted of terrorism in his home country and who was later detained in Canada for eight years as a possible national security threat.

"The court is satisfied that the threat Mr. (Mohamed) Mahjoub poses to national security or the safety of any person can be neutralized by the imposition of conditions on his release from detention," said the ruling.

Mahjoub came to Canada in 1995 and was granted refugee status the following year.

He was detained in 2000 under a rarely-used security measure that permits secret court hearings and indefinite jailing of foreigners suspected of terror ties, without charges.

The Canadian Security Intelligence Service alleged Mahjoub was a high-ranking member of an Egyptian Islamic terrorist organization, the Vanguards of Conquest -- a radical wing of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad or Al Jihad.

He was convicted in Egypt in absentia in 1999 for offenses relating to the Vanguards of Conquest's activities and sentenced to 15 years imprisonment.

In 2007, Canada's Supreme Court ordered his release after quashing the anti-terrorism measure used to detain him, as unconstitutional....

The execrable CAIR tool and libelblogger Charles Johnson has posted a self-righteous laundry list purporting to explain why he betrayed all his principles, friends, and associates: "Why I Parted Ways with the Right."

You can find it here -- the adolescent libelblogger has blocked direct links from this site, but you can paste this in to your address bar:

http://littlegreenfootballs.com/article/35243_Why_I_Parted_Ways_With_The_Right

The thuggish libelblogger incites his sycophants and whips them into a frenzy of hate with three lies about me and Pamela Geller:

9. Anti-Islamic bigotry that goes far beyond simply criticizing radical Islam, into support for fascism, violence, and genocide (see: Pamela Geller, Robert Spencer, etc.)

Of course, he does not, and cannot, produce a shred of evidence to support any of these libelous claims, but that is par for the course at this point for this man, who has long since kissed goodbye to the last shreds of his integrity.

One can only wonder what sickness of soul would lead this man to devote so much time and effort to lying about other people and trying to destroy them.

UPDATE: It is interesting that Johnson's hate list appeared just hours after I spoke at length with a New York Times reporter -- excited by his move leftward, they're doing a big story on Johnson. Coincidence? Of course!

While the world waxes indignant over the Swiss minaret ban, it is useful to put things into perspective. In Egypt, Christians are persecuted. In Pakistan, construction of new churches is severely restricted. In Saudi Arabia, it isn't allowed at all. So why is a ban on minarets -- not on mosques -- so much more terrible than that?

"Will Saudi Arabia allow construction of Cathedrals to challenge Swiss ban on minarets?," by Nazir Bhatti for the Pakistan Christian Post, December 1 (thanks to Andreas) -- reproduced as printed:

Karachi: November 30, 2009. (PCP) Dr. Nazir S Bhatti, President of Pakistan Christian Congress PCC expressed surprise on statement of Pakistani representatives in UNHRC expressing concern on Swiss vote ban on construction of minarets on mosques and other Islamic institutions in Switzerland when construction of new Churches in Pakistan has to follow strict government guidelines which prohibits one furlong from existing mosque and use of loudspeakers.

Nazir Bhatti said " Christ The King processions and other open rituals have been banned in public places from decades but not any Muslim human right activists have raised voice against government actions to damage true spirit of religious freedom in Pakistan but their protests in name of human right against Swiss government vote to ban minarets is index of substandard"

In a statement released by PCC Central office here today also urged Saudi Arabia to allow construction of Churches in kingdom to challenge Swiss ban on minarets.

"The Human Right activists around world shall raise voice to press upon Saudi Arabia and other Islamic countries in Middle East to permit construction of Cathedrals and ensure religious freedom for Christian minorities" added Nazir S Bhatti...

They know the Muslims will just trash them again. However, true to form, the authorities are on the side of the jihadist thugs. "Egyptian Christians Refuse to Open Stores After Muslim Riot," by Ethan Cole for the Christian Post, November 30 (thanks to Maxwell):

Copts - the Christian community in Egypt - said they will not be coerced into overlooking the mass riot that left reportedly 65 Christian shops damaged, as reported by Assyrian International News Agency on Sunday. Instead, they are uniting to make authorities recognize what happened and punish perpetrators.

Authorities, however, reportedly are putting pressure on the Coptic Church in Nag Hammadi, which is under the same governorate as Farshoot, to tell the victims to accept extrajudicial reconciliation and reopen their businesses without compensation. Police in Farshoot are also reportedly refusing to issue police reports to victims, forcing them to travel 37 miles away to make a report with the Attorney General in Qena, the capital of the governorate. Authorities have also not carried out an estimated loss investigation despite requests the church has made for a week.

"There will be no reconciliation before full financial compensation has been paid to the Coptic victims, and the criminals are brought to justice, so that safety and security can be restored to the district," said Bishop Kirollos of the Nag Hammadi Diocese, according to AINA.

Kirollos told activist Wagih Yacoub of the Middle East Christian Association that the victims have no money to clean up, restock items and reopen their stores.

Reports estimate that 10 pharmacies and 55 shops and businesses in Farshoot and several nearby villages were vandalized, torched or damaged during the few days of riots which began on Nov. 21. In Farshoot alone, about 80 percent of Coptic businesses were destroyed, which translates to about over $1 million in damages.

The riot, which drew hundreds of angry Muslims, was due to a rumor that a Coptic young man kidnapped and raped a 12-year-old Muslim girl. However, an investigating officer told a Farshoot pastor that the girl said she was only sure that her attacker wore a black jacket and nothing else....

More indication of just how thoroughly the Organization of the Islamic Conference has the UN within its power. "UN marks November 29 'day of mourning,'" by Yitzhak Benhorin for Ynet News, November 30 (thanks to James):

WASHINGTON - The UN is currently marking the historic date of November 29 1947, the day in which it approved the partition plan separating Israel into two states - Jewish and Arabic. But while in Israel the date is celebratory, as it marks the end of the British mandate and the beginning of independent rule, the UN headquarters in New York and Geneva are holding ceremonies of mourning and solidarity with the Palestinian people.

The General Assembly in New York has embarked on a two-day marathon of anti-Israeli debates and votes, during which it plans to focus on the promotion of the Palestinian issue. Hearings will be held on subjects such as sovereignty over Jerusalem and the Golan Heights.

Israel has traditionally boycotted the debates due to their one-sidedness, but in recent years has changed its tune. Israel's ambassador to the UN, Gabriela Shalev, is scheduled to speak before the assembly Tuesday and condemn the UN tradition of memorializing the date on which Israel was given a state as a day of mourning.

The Palestinian Maan news agency reported that the Palestinian observer at the UN, Riyad Mansour, is expected to announce a "new diplomatic strategy" and ask the Security Council to define the 1967 borders as the new borders of a Palestinian state.

Last year the former president of the General Assembly, Miguel d'Escoto, accused Israel of apartheid during a speech before the UN....

Dhimmi tool.

Classic and typical jihadist evasion and displacement of responsibility. It's more disturbing that Barack Obama seems to agree, at least from the looks of his Cairo speech -- in which the only causes for tension between the West and the Islamic world that he mentioned were the fault of the West.

"Hezbollah blames U.S. for all terrorism," from CNN, November 30 (thanks to Bill):

Beirut, Lebanon (CNN) -- Hezbollah's chief on Monday announced the group's new "manifesto," which calls on all countries to "liberate Jerusalem" and declares the United States a threat to the world.

"American terrorism is the source of every terrorism in the world," Hassan Nasrallah said in a televised speech from an undisclosed location.

It was his first address since a unity government formed in Lebanon this month, ending a crisis that had left the country with no government since June's parliamentary elections.

Hezbollah, a political party in Lebanon, is listed as a terrorist organization by the United States and Israel. Nasrallah does not appear in public amid concerns for his safety.

"We invite and call on all Arabs and Muslims and all countries keen on peace and stability in the world to intensify efforts and resources to liberate Jerusalem from Zionist occupation and to maintain its true identity and its Islamic and Christian sanctities," Nasrallah said....

Is Ahmad Ibrahim Fares-Hammad yet another misunderstander of Islam, hoping to strike terror into the hearts of the enemies of Allah (Koran 8:60) or just a jihad prankster trying to make a point in a perverse way about "racism" and "Islamophobia" ("You think because we are Arab we will blow people up. I won't blow you up.")? We will probably never know, because one thing is certain: authorities and the mainstream media will not ask the right questions.

"FBI: UTEP student made false bomb threat, said 'it is fun to blow people up,'" by Joe Villasana for KVIA.com, November 25 (thanks to Joe):

EL PASO -- An electrical engineering student at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) appeared before a U.S. Magistrate Judge Wednesday on charges he allegedly made a bomb threat to a UTEP employee.

According to the criminal complaint, Ahmad Ibrahim Fares-Hammad "maliciously" made the false bomb threat to an administrative assistant at the Biological Science building on November 18, 2009 and told her "it is fun to blow people up."

The FBI agent investigating the incident said the employee claimed Fares-Hammad walked into the department's office carrying a small device with short metal poles that had yellow, red and blue wires.

The employee told the investigator she had never seen Fares-Hammad inside the building and addressed him in regards to the device. "What's that," the employee asked," it looks scary."

Investigators said Fares-Hammad answered, "It is a remote control used to blow people up." The employee then remarked, "That is mean and not very nice." Fares-Hammad then told her, "It is fun to blow people up," according to the FBI investigator who interviewed the employee.

Fares-Hammad then asked the employee for water and she directed him to a water tank. Fares-Hammad noticed there were no water cups attached to the tank and told the employee he needed a cup. At that point, he told her, "You think because we are Arab we will blow people up. I won't blow you up," according to the FBI investigator. The employee then asked him, "You think I'm flattered by that?" Fares-Hammad replied, "You should be flattered," according to the investigator....

Wednesday, Fares-Hammad appeared in federal court to hear the charges against him. He is charged with "maliciously making false information concerning alleged attempts to injure, kill, or unlawfully damage or destroy a building by means of explosive," according to the criminal complaint....

"Vengeance, boycotts, retaliation ... this clash with Islam could cost dearly." Don't resist Islamic supremacism! It might make the Islamic supremacists angry!

More on this story. "Europe unites to deplore Swiss ban on minarets," by Charles Bremner for Times Online, November 30 (thanks to Kris):

The Swiss and European establishment united today in deploring yesterday's decision by Swiss voters to outlaw the construction of minarets but conservative leaders warned that the referendum showed genuine fear over Islam on the continent.

Swiss officials, media and business leaders voiced shame over a vote that they say will stigmatise the country's 400,000 Muslims and stain Switzerland's name in the Muslim world. In contrast, hard right leaders in France, Austria, Italy and the Netherlands hailed what they depicted as a triumph for the people against the elite.

Le Temps, Geneva's establishment newspaper, said: "The vote was inspired by fear, fantasies and ignorance." Damage to the country's international standing would be spectacular, it said. "Vengeance, boycotts, retaliation ... this clash with Islam could cost dearly."...

In other words, roll over.

Pamela has more on the European, Swiss and Muslim reactions: Intifada Switzerland Begins.

Act of war. "Five British sailors taken hostage in Iran," from the Daily Mail, November 30 (thanks to Kris):

Five British sailors are being held hostage in Iran.

The Foreign Office confirmed that a racing yacht owned by Sail Bahrain and crewed by five British sailors was detained by the Iranian Navy on November 25.

The yacht had been on its way to Dubai and, according to the Foreign Office, may have 'inadvertently', strayed into Iranian waters.

If confirmed, the detention of the British sailors will dramatically increase tensions between Iran and the West....

No kidding, really?

But wait! I thought all the learned analysts had assured us that there is no death penalty for apostasy in Islam! Isn't that right, Dr. Bassiouni? Mr. Kruse? Ms. Heagney?

"Turkey: Iranian Atheist Risks Death Penalty If Repatriated," from ANSAmed, November 30 (thanks to Insubria):

(ANSAmed) - ANKARA, NOVEMBER 30 - Turkish authorities will be announcing their decision in the coming days over whether or not to repatriate an Iranian citizen who - having escaped from her country after publicly declaring she was an atheist - could be sentenced to death for apostasy if sent back. Negar Azizmoradi, Iranian leader of the controversial International Raelian Movement, was arrested just over a week ago in Istanbul on her arrival in the city with an "irregular" passport, and since then has been held in a refugee centre in the Turkish metropolis. Raelians are part of a sect founded in 1974 by the former sports journalist Claude Vorilhon, 63, as known as Rael. His followers believe that human beings were created on Earth by extraterrestrials with biogenetical engineering, and therefore consider themselves to be atheist and support human cloning, which they believe to be the key to eternal life. Appeals to help the thirty-something Iranian woman have been launched by both the Raelian movement and Iranian refugee groups abroad. In them, Turkish authorities have been asked to release the woman - who reportedly has caught a lung infection in jail - and allow her to go to a European country.(ANSAmed).

So says Pamela Geller in an interview with Jamie Glazov of FrontPage magazine today on the Rifqa Bary case -- the girl who converted from Islam to Christianity and then fled her home in fear for her life.

Everyone is watching to see what happens to Rifqa. She has become a test case for everyone. The Muslims, the Islamic supremacists, want to prove that a young girl cannot break free, cannot break out of their web, even in America. More importantly, it is a case being watched by every subjugated Muslim dying to break free of the shackles of Islam. If Rifqa can do it and is protected, so can they. This is why it is so critical that she be broken by the Islamic machine.

It's a test case for free people, and for America also. Will American courts knuckle under to Islamic intimidation and implement Sharia provisions for the isolation of female apostates? Will we stand up and defend religious freedom? Do Muslim girls in the same situation as Rifqa have any hope? Rifqa's case will show the answer.

Read it all.

There Is No Fun In Islam* Alert as the glories of Sharia come to Gaza: "Hamas Bans Women Dancers, Scooter Riders in Gaza Push (Update1)," by Daniel Williams for Bloomberg, November 30 (thanks to Donald):

Nov. 30 (Bloomberg) -- The Islamic Hamas movement banned girls last month from riding behind men on motor scooters and forbade women from dancing at the opening of a folk museum. Girls in some public schools must wear headscarves and cloaks.

Signs of Hamas's creeping Islamization are everywhere in Gaza, the Mediterranean coastal enclave that Hamas has run by itself since 2007. Gaza is already politically divided from the West Bank, the Palestinian territory administered by the secular Fatah movement.

"Ruling by itself, Hamas can stamp its ideas on everyone," said Mkhaimar Abusada, a political science professor at Gaza's al-Azhar University. "Islamizing society has always been part of Hamas strategy."...

Some of the efforts are meeting resistance. When Supreme Court Justice Abdel Raouf Al-Halabi ordered women lawyers on July 26 to wear headscarves and caftans in court, attorneys contacted satellite television stations including Al-Arabiya to protest. On Sept. 6, Hamas's Justice Ministry rescinded the directive.

Hamas officials say they have no plans to impose Islamic law. "What you are seeing are incidents, not policy," said Younis al-Astal, a Hamas legislator. "We want Islamic law to be the standard, but we believe in persuasion."

In an Oct. 13 speech, Abbas said Hamas was establishing an "emirate of darkness" in Gaza. Abbas's Fatah movement has long viewed itself as a secular nationalist movement open to Muslims and Christians.

At the immigration office at Gaza's border with Israel, a sign warns that alcoholic beverages, forbidden under Islam, will be poured out "in front of the owner."

The government's Islamic Endowment Ministry has deployed Virtue Committee members to preach at public places to warn of the dangers of immodest dress, card playing and dating.

Dancing Ban

The opening of the Palestinian Heritage Museum on Oct.7 was meant to include a rendition of the dabke, a line dance performed by girls and boys. Except that no girls were allowed.

What fun!

Black-shirted men from Hamas carrying AK-47s appeared at the gates of the museum, on Gaza's waterfront, said Jamal Salem, the curator. They said girls shouldn't dance because it wasn't religiously proper. Nor could they share the stage for the inaugural speeches, said Salem.

"They are trying to take Palestinian culture and make it all their own," Salem said. "They say our traditions are against the law. Their law."

In August, headmasters of several schools ordered girls to don white head scarves and black cloaks called jilbabs. They sent several girls in jeans home, according to Gaza press reports. The Education Ministry later said the orders were unauthorized acts of individual school officials.

No Defiance

"The episodes had an effect anyway," said Eyad Sarraj, a psychiatrist and human rights campaigner. "What parent wants to be seen to defy Islamic rules?"

Abusada, the Gaza political science professor, said Hamas only retreats from overt Islamization for fear of "provoking" such secular-ruled Arab countries as Egypt, with which it competes for support with Abbas.

"At the same time, Hamas is under pressure from some of its own members as well as even more radical groups to implant a purist version of Islam," he said.

Hamas is also wary of openly pressing for rule by religious edict because it undermines the group's claim to legitimacy under Palestinian civil law, which set guidelines for the 2006 legislative vote, said Subhia Juma, a lawyer at the Independent Commission for Human Rights in Gaza.

"Hamas backs off when it looks like they are governing under Islamic law and people complain," she said.

Israel, the U.S. and the EU say Hamas is a terrorist organization.

Swimming in Pants

In June, black-clad constables approached journalist Asmaa al-Ghoul, 27, and friends on a north Gaza beach, al-Ghoul said. Her offense: swimming in trousers and a blouse, not robes.

Male companions, including her brother, tried to defend her. Al-Ghoul said she phoned the government spokesman, who called off the police.

Hamas police spokesman Rafik Abu Hani said the crackdowns were abnormalities.

"Even here, we don't make everyone wear Islamic-style beards," he said, pointing to a clean-shaven aide.

Everyone backs alcohol prohibition, Abu Hani said, and the motorcycle restriction is a safety issue.

Al-Astal, the Hamas legislator, said it wasn't a coincidence that youth were the principal targets of the push.

"We are working on young people, the next generation, to be more correctly Islamic," he said. The older generation "is lost."

And as for motorcycles: "A girl has to hold onto a boy's waist to ride in the back. Things can happen. You know what I mean," he said.

You know what I mean? Say no more say no more! Nudge nudge wink wink!

* The Ayatollah Khomeini said that.

They've already told us. My column in Human Events this morning:

With the Obama administration moving the trial of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and the other masterminds of 9/11 to New York City, many have pointed out that the defendants are likely to use the trial as a platform to spread their views on jihad, the U.S., and the war on terror. That's most likely true -- and we already know what they will say.

They told us last year, when they wrote a six-page document they filed with the military commission at Guantanamo: an "Islamic Response to the Government's Nine Accusations."

"With regards to these nine accusations that you are putting us on trial for," they explain, "to us, they are not accusations. To us they are badges of honor, which we carry with pride." Their pride is explicitly and proudly rooted in Islam: "Many thanks to God, for his kind gesture, and choosing us to perform the act of Jihad for his cause and to defend Islam and Muslims." With unusual forthrightness, they declare that "killing you and fighting you, destroying you and terrorizing you, responding back to your attacks, are all considered to be great legitimate duty in our religion. These actions are our offerings to God."

That said, however, they view the conflict between the West and the Islamic world is all the West's fault. This is a view that Barack Obama apparently shares. In his landmark June 2009 speech in Cairo he explained the conflict solely in terms of what the West had done to Muslim countries: "In addition, it is the imposed reality on Muslims in Palestine, Lebanon, Afghanistan, Iraq, in the land of the two holy sites [Mecca and Medina, Saudi Arabia], and in the rest of the world, where Muslims are suffering from your brutality, terrorism, killing of the innocent, and occupying their lands and their holy sites."

Answering charges that they violated the rules of warfare by killing civilians, they frame the question in terms of Islamic law, claiming that it is the U.S. that is the lawbreaker: "Who is breaking the law of war in this world? Is it us, or is it you? You have disobeyed all heaven and earth's laws of war, to include your own laws. You have violated the law of war by supporting the Israeli occupation of Arab land in Palestine and Lebanon, and for displacing five million Palestinians outside their land. You have supported the oppressor over the oppressed and the butcher over the victim."

The remedy for our ills, according to the plotters, is Islam: "So, you are the first class war criminals, and the whole world witnesses this. You have no values and ethics and no principles. You are a nation without a religion. On the other hand, we are a great nation, with a great religion, values, ethics, and principles, which we comply with and follow, and we invite people to following [sic] our ways."

However, the plotters stopped their blame game long enough to acknowledge that Islam mandates offensive jihad warfare against unbelievers, simply because they are unbelievers - a concept that policymakers and law enforcement officials have steadfastly ignored since 9/11: "Nevertheless, it would have been the greatest religious duty to fight you over your infidelity. However, today, we fight you over defending Muslims, their land, their holy sites, and their religion as a whole."

The plotters quote the Koran to justify their jihad war against the American Infidels. "In God's book," asserts the letter, "he ordered us to fight you everywhere we find you, even if you were inside the holiest of all holy cities, The Mosque in Mecca, and the holy city of Mecca, and even during sacred months. In God's book, verse 9 [actually verse 5], Al-Tawbah [the Koran's 9th chapter]: Then fight and slay the pagans wherever you find them, and seize them, and besiege them and lie in wait for them in each and every ambush."

We constantly hear that to speak about the jihad doctrine and Islamic supremacism as rooted in Islamic texts and teachings is to "side with the extremists." All right -- then why doesn't a moderate Muslim go through this court filing and refute this use of the Koran? It would be most interesting to see Ibrahim Hooper of CAIR or some other vaunted moderate Muslim reply to the Islamic beliefs and assumptions manifest here. Now would be a perfect time to delineate in specific terms the differences that moderate Muslims have with this approach to Islam, wouldn't it?

And we're going to see more, because -- as I also said to Dorell -- no one is challenging the Muslim community on their bland evasions of responsibility, or calling upon them to do anything about the roots of this phenomenon in Islam. I sent Dorell the legal justification for honor killing in Islamic law -- the stipulation that there is no penalty for a father who kills a child -- but somehow that didn't make the cut. "'Honor killings' in USA raise concerns," by Oren Dorell in USA TODAY, November 30 (thanks to James):

Muslim immigrant men have been accused of six "honor killings" in the United States in the past two years, prompting concerns that the Muslim community and police need to do more to stop such crimes.

"There is broad support and acceptance of this idea in Islam, and we're going to see it more and more in the United States," says Robert Spencer, who has trained FBI and military authorities on Islam and founded Jihad Watch, which monitors radical Islam.

Honor killings are generally defined as murders of women by relatives who claim the victim brought shame to the family. Thousands of such killings have occurred in Muslim countries such as Egypt, Jordan, Pakistan and Palestinian territories, according to the World Health Organization.

Some clerics and even lawmakers in these countries have said families have the right to commit honor killings as a way of maintaining values, according to an analysis by Yotam Feldner in the journal Middle East Quarterly.

In the USA, police allege the latest "honor killing" was that of Noor Almaleki, 20, who died Nov. 2 after she and her boyfriend's mother were run over in a Peoria, Ariz., parking lot. Prosecutors charged Almaleki's father, Faleh Almaleki, with murder, saying the Iraqi immigrant was upset that his daughter rejected a husband she married in Iraq and moved in with an American.

"By his own admission, this was an intentional act, and the reason was that his daughter had brought shame on him and his family," says Maricopa County prosecutor Stephanie Low, according to The Arizona Republic....

There follows the usual denial and evasion from a Muslim leader, this time Salam al-Marayati of MPAC, but in something we don't usually see in a mainstream media story, he doesn't get the last word.

Ali Gomaa is the statue-hatin', wife-beatin', Hizballah-supportin', Muhammad's-urine-drinkin' Mufti of Egypt, who some time ago denied reports that he had rejected the traditional Islamic death sentence for apostates. The delirious Dinesh D'Souza has praised him as a "traditional Muslim" with whom American conservatives should cultivate an alliance.

And now Ali Gomaa's poor little feelings are hurt. "This proposal...is not considered just an attack on freedom of beliefs, but also an attempt to insult the feelings of the Muslim community in and outside Switzerland."

"Egypt mufti says Swiss minaret ban insults Muslims," from AFP, November 29 (thanks to Maxwell):

CAIRO -- Egypt's Mufti Ali Gomaa denounced a vote to ban new minarets in Switzerland on Sunday as an "insult" to Muslims across the world, while calling on Muslims not to be provoked by the move.

A solid majority of Swiss voters chose in a referendum to ban the construction of new minarets, the towers attached to mosques from which the call to prayers is announced.

"This proposal...is not considered just an attack on freedom of beliefs, but also an attempt to insult the feelings of the Muslim community in and outside Switzerland," Gomaa, the Egyptian government's official interpreter of Islamic law, told the state-run news agency MENA.

He encouraged Switzerland's 400,000-strong Muslim community to use "dialogue" and legal means to contest the ban, which he described as "provocative behaviour."

The rightist Swiss People's Party (SVP) -- Switzerland's biggest party -- had forced the referendum after collecting a mandatory 100,000 signatures from eligible voters within 18 months.

Gomaa also called on Muslims not to be affected "by this provocation," adding that Islam "considers humanity a single family."

Provocation.

Dominos. "Al-Shabaab rebels seize town close to Kenyan border," from the Daily Nation, November 29 (thanks to Maxwell):

Somalia's al-Shabaab insurgents have captured a key town close to the border with Kenya. The al Qaeda linked rebels are said to have driven out combatants of Hizbu-Islam, another Islamist group opposing the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia (TFG), to take control of Dhobley, the border town.

Sheikh Hassan Yakoub Ali, a resident, said that Hizbu-Islam fighters had crossed the border into Kenya, adding that the rebels held talks with Kenyan officials. With this victory, al-Shabaab appears to have consolidated its presence in the strategic Juba region....

So far, Hizbu-Islam has not issued a statement on the issue. Meanwhile, al-Shabaab leader Sheikh Mukhtar Abdurahman Abu Zubayr has rejected any reconciliation offers by the government.

He said that unless foreign forces leave the country and an Islamic state is established, his movement would intensify attacks. Over 5,000 African Union peacekeepers, made up contingents from Uganda and Somalia, are in the country.

Aiding the jihad and being victimized by it almost simultaneously. Iran is believed to be aiding the Chechen jihad. Of course, Russia is not the only country that is doing that. From our bulging Suicidal Short-Sightedness File: "Russia, Iran agree on new gas, oil projects," from the Tehran Times, November 30 (thanks to Maxwell):

TEHRAN - The Russian energy minister and officials from the Iranian Oil Ministry have agreed on a gas swap, the implementation of 15 new oil and gas projects, the construction of a oil refinery near the Caspian Sea, and the establishment a joint oil company.

The agreements were made as Russian Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko arrived in Tehran on Sunday to attend the eighth meeting of Iran-Russian Joint Economic Commission.

The visiting Russian minister also held talks with Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki on expanding cooperation in various other fields.

At the meeting Iran and Russia expressed satisfaction over the holding of the joint commission meeting, which would help bolster bilateral cooperation in the fields of transportation, telecommunication, energy, commerce, economy and banking.

Foreign Minister Mottaki said this is a very good opportunity for both sides to further exchange views and broaden mutual relations and cooperation.

Iran and Russia play a very significant role in regional and global developments, the Iranian foreign minister added....

Islamic Tolerance Alert. While the article does not elaborate, the fact that he was apparently active in some capacity as an advocate for the Sikh community -- and thus an undesirably uppity dhimmi -- likely singled him out to be targeted as an example to others. "Pak Sikh thrashed for not converting," by Yudhvir Rana for the Times News Network, November 29 (thanks to all who sent this in):

AMRITSAR: A Sikh advocate in Pakistan was reportedly thrashed and threatened with dire consequences recently if he did not convert to Islam, forcing his family to run for safety to a gurdwara in Hassanabdal near Rawalpindi.

While the victim, Anup Singh, was yet to regain consciousness, the incident has left the Sikh community in Pakistan rattled and insecure. Talking to TOI from Islamabad, Anup's brother, Ravinder Singh, recalled horror of November 21. ''A group of at least eight men kidnapped my brother from his office and took him to Mohammad Amin's residence, where he was stripped and photographed with Amin's wife.''

Undergoing treatment for fractures and severe head injuries in Holy Family Hospital, Ralwalpindi, where doctors said it might take a few months before Anup could start leading a normal life, the advocate was reportedly assaulted for fighting a separation case for Amin's wife, Safina Kanwal. ''The goons made my brother sign on a blank paper, after which they cut his hair, beard, moustaches and threatened him to convert to Islam if he wanted to live in Pakistan.''

Asking too many questions would likely be "Islamophobic." And everyone knows it's "Islamophobia" that "radicalizes" people. Hidden threat from al-Qaeda sleeper cells," by Duncan Gardham for the Telegraph, November 27 (thanks to Virgil):

Counter-terrorism police and Whitehall officials believe dozens of extremists could have arrived here by posing as students or legitimate visitors.

They are concerned both by the relatively lax checks that are made on the visitors before they arrive and by the ease with which they can outstay their visas without anyone noticing.

As many as 13,000 visa applicants may have entered the country from Pakistan in a seven month period since October last year without any checks on their supporting documentation.

The security services fear that because most do not mix with home grown terrorists, they are able to operate under the intelligence radar, acting as sleeper cells until ready to launch attacks in Britain.

Every year around 100,000 visitors arrive in Britain from Pakistan alone, which has been described by the Prime Minister as being part of a "crucible of terror" along with Afghanistan.

They are supposed to be checked by Home Office visa staff working in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates.

But according to an official watchdog, the Independent Monitor for Entry Clearance, many visa officers do not have "enough time to go through applications carefully".

The security services are also worried about arrivals from Somalia, Yemen and North Africa.

MI5 have got 2,000 domestic extremists under surveillance across the country but is becoming increasingly concerned about the threat from abroad.

Similar concerns are felt in the police and one senior counter-terrorism officer told the Daily Telegraph: "There is a lack of control and supervision at our borders in the broadest sense.

"The problem is not confined to Pakistan, terrorists could arrive from anywhere, and we simply have no idea how many extremists may be here."

Police have discovered that the leader of an alleged plot to blow up shopping centres in Manchester last Easter ran a visa advice service in Peshawar, Pakistan.

He is thought to have helped other alleged members of his terrorist cell to arrive from Pakistan under the cover of student visas.

At least one arrived to attend a course at a "bogus college" that had already had its accreditation withdrawn.

The discovery of the group based in Manchester and Liverpool earlier this year set off alarm bells among counter-terrorism officials who believed the threat was coming under control....

Read it all.

After all, no one's actually tried to stop them yet. As elementary psychology observes, behavior that gets rewarded gets repeated. "Iran authorizes 10 new nuke plants, state media say," from CNN, November 29:

(CNN) -- Iran's Cabinet has authorized the construction of another 10 uranium enrichment plants, its state news agency announced Sunday, further defying international calls to halt its production of nuclear fuel.

The Iranian Cabinet approved existing plans for five more facilities similar to its current plant at Natanz and ordered planning for five more to begin, the Islamic Republic News Agency reported. The dispatch quoted Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as saying that the new plants will be used to produce fuel for civilian nuclear power stations.

The move comes two days after the International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N. nuclear watchdog, passed a resolution demanding that Iran stop construction on a previously secret nuclear facility at Qom.

The proximity to Qom is significant on more than one level: first, it reflects Ahmadinejad's obsession with the return of the Mahdi according to the Shi'ite tradition. But also, if Western powers were to attack the nuclear site, any collateral damage would be trumpeted as an act of brazen "Islamophobia" and used to drum up outrage and calls for revenge from Iran and the broader Islamic world.

The IAEA also repeated calls for Iran to stop its uranium enrichment program. The agency said it would not comment on Sunday's announcement.

Iran has said its uranium enrichment program is aimed at producing fuel for civilian power plants. But the United States and other countries have accused Tehran of working toward a nuclear bomb, and the IAEA's Friday resolution stated that Iran's refusal to comply with international demands "does not contribute to the building of confidence."

Nor does the IAEA's track record of minimal, largely symbolic action.

The title of this naive and silly New York Times puff piece is "Three Clergymen, Three Faiths, One Friendship," but from the looks of it, these "amigos" have one faith, not three -- "the spirituality of interfaith relations." At least Sheik Jamal Rahman is honest enough to acknowledge that there is a problem with the "Verse of the Sword" -- Koran 9:5 -- although he retails the same old tired glib dismissal that we have heard a thousand times before, that it is "taken out of context."

What context would render it acceptable is seldom explained, although Islamic apologists in the West do often attempt to claim that it doesn't apply to today or to any situation beyond the life of Muhammad, but rather refers narrowly to a time when the early Muslims were threatened with annihilation and had to fight back strongly in order to survive. The problem with this interpretation -- which goes counter to the mainstream understanding of Islamic scholars in any case -- is that instead of closing off the possibility of this verse (and other supporting verses) being used to justify jihad violence today, it plays right into the hands of the jihadists. For if this verse only applies to situations in which Muslims are in grave danger, such that Islam itself may not survive, they would argue -- and do argue -- that that is precisely the situation that prevails today. Accordingly, the interpretation that is supposed to mollify and reassure Westerners actually only opens the door for more jihad.

And of course Islamic jihadists are acting upon the Koran's imperative to violence against unbelievers all over the world, with little resistance from their peaceful coreligionists.

"Three Clergymen, Three Faiths, One Friendship," by Laurie Goodstein for the New York Times, November 23 (thanks to The Blogmocracy):

[...] What distinguishes the "amigos," who live in Seattle but make presentations around the country, is a unique approach to what they call "the spirituality of interfaith relations." At the church in Nashville, the three clergymen, dressed in dark blazers, stood up one by one and declared what they most valued as the core teachings of their tradition The minister said "unconditional love." The sheik said "compassion." And the rabbi said "oneness."

The room then grew quiet as each stood and recited what he regarded as the "untruths" in his own faith. The minister said that one "untruth" for him was that "Christianity is the only way to God." The rabbi said for him it was the notion of Jews as "the chosen people." And the sheik said for him it was the "sword verses" in the Koran, like "kill the unbeliever."

"It is a verse taken out of context," Sheik Rahman said, pointing out that the previous verse says that God has no love for aggressors. "But we have to acknowledge that 'kill the unbelievers' is an awkward verse,' " the sheik said as the crowd laughed. "Some verses are literal, some are metaphorical, but the Koran doesn't say which is which."....

Debra Burlingame, courageous and outspoken cofounder of 9/11 Never Forget US, calls Holder and Obama to account for their irresponsible decision to give the 9/11 masterminds a civilian trial -- and platform for dawah -- in New York.

"We must rise up against the trial: It's time for 9/11 families to fight Holder's dangerous move," by Debra Burlingame for the New York Daily News, November 29:

[...] The attorney general has glibly, and most insensitively, called the perverse spectacle he wants to invite on this city and this nation, the "trial of the century." Well, Mr. Attorney General, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed has put you on notice. He's going to give it to you. His trial will be lawyer-assisted jihad in the courtroom.

We understand that to the terrorists, jihad is more than spilling American blood, it is forcing us to change our lives, divert our limited resources. When we spend hundreds of millions of dollars on rooftop snipers, kevlar vests and armored vehicles, that's jihad. When we barricade our buildings, lock down our streets, and close our transportation systems, that's jihad. When we grant a confessed war criminal access to platinum due process, so that he can use it to rally his fellow terrorists to kill more of our citizens and target our military, that's jihad.

Mr. Attorney General, this doesn't have to happen. You have called the military commissions system "lawful, fair, and effective" and "consistent with our highest standards as a nation." We agree. We think that is far more than these sworn enemies of America deserve.

Indeed.

Watch here. The page is in Hebrew but the video is in English. (Thanks to Joshua.)

UPDATE: Jan has kindly sent in the YouTube link above -- it is the same video. It turns out that the video is not new, but from 2007. Apologies for that -- generally I do not post archival material, but it was represented to me as new and I could find no further info. In any case, new or old, it is a great video.

Leftist/Jihadist Alliance Update: the campus Left and the campus jihadists succeeded in getting freedom fighter Nonie Darwish's talks canceled at Columbia and Princeton. And the Socialist Workers couldn't be more pleased.

It would be tempting to write this off as the ravings of the radical fringe, but of course they have a friend in high places.

Because they symbolize a "political-religious claim to power" -- which, of course, they do.

"Exit polls show Swiss will accept minaret ban: TV," from AFP, November 29 (thanks to Inexion):

GENEVA -- Exit polls show that Switzerland will accept a far-right call for a blanket ban on the construction of minarets, Swiss public television reported Sunday, describing the result as a "great surprise."

Partial results from the poll which closed at mid-day (1100 GMT) indicated that the German-speaking canton of Lucerne accepted the ban, while French-speaking cantons Geneva and Vaud voted against.

The Swiss People's Party (SVP) -- Switzerland's biggest party -- had forced a referendum under Swiss regulations on the issue after collecting 100,000 signatures within 18 months from eligible voters.

It claims that the turrets or towers attached to mosques from where followers are called to prayer symbolise a "political-religious claim to power."

But deep down, they really, really want peace! This is nothing that a few chats with Obama won't cure! "Iran MPs allocate millions to probe US, British 'abuses,'" from Agence France-Presse, November 29 (thanks to Alexandre):

TEHRAN-- Iran's parliament approved a 20-million-dollar budget on Sunday to expose alleged US and British human rights abuses, state media reported.

The sum will be spent on "alerting the international community to numerous human rights abuses by these two countries and supporting progressive movements standing against illegal acts of the US and British governments."

It would also target US and British "conspiracies" against the Islamic regime, the parliament said, adding that the intelligence ministry would be in charge of the initiative....

Some of the money will go to groups waging jihad against the West.

Her father tried to assault her after he learned that she had converted to Christianity. One may hope that Ohio authorities handling the Rifqa Bary case are taking careful note of this case. "Judge: Christian's 'arranged' Islamic marriage invalid: Muslim father allegedly assaulted daughter after learning of her conversion," by Bob Unruh for World Net Daily, November 28:

A judge in Ohio ruled a marriage arranged by a Muslim father for his 17-year-old daughter who now has converted to Christianity isn't valid, clearing her of accusations she made false statements in applying for a marriage license with the man who now is her husband.

The little-reported case developed in Ohio, where Larry Crain, senior counsel for the American Center for Law and Justice, argued on behalf of his client, identified only as "Nishan."

Nishan was married last month to a man she began dating this year when she converted to Christianity, the ACLJ said.

She didn't reveal her conversion to her "devout Muslim family members" until just before the marriage because she feared what they might do.

When her father discovered her plans, he allegedly tried to assault her and then filed a claim that she had falsified her marriage-license application because of the earlier arranged marriage.

The ACLJ explained, "Nishan's marriage was arranged by her father during a trip to Karachi, Pakistan, in May 2007 following her graduation from high school. Three days after the 'nikah' ceremony, Nishan and her father returned to the United States.

"She remained confused about the ceremony conducted during her trip to Pakistan and later took precautionary steps to annul her vows by preparing an affidavit for the U.S. consulate in Pakistan in August of 2007," the legal team said. "She gave her affidavit to her father who assured her he would send the necessary paperwork to the consulate. Her family never again mentioned her alleged Paksitani husband and Nishan believed that all necessary steps had been taken to annul any alleged marriage vows."

However, her father's anger over her conversion to Christianity and her marriage included the statement she had falsified her marriage-license application in the U.S.

"The fact is that Nishan never knowingly or intentionally misstated her marital status on her application ... the fact is that even if Nishan's own attempts to nullify her Pakistani marriage were insufficient, her conversion to Christianity in 2009 effectively annulled her partial marriage pursuant to Islamic law, which provides that if either spouse leaves Islam ... and the two never consummated their union, the 'nikah' is immediately annulled," the team explained....

Read it all.

At this point these facts are well known, but here is more confirmation. I've received the message from a doctor and former classmate of Nidal Hasan:

He was an outspoken jihadist. He stated publicly that Shariah Law came before the Constitution that he swore an oath to uphold. He did off topic presentations in public health classes on how the War on Terror was a war on Islam. Other courses, he justified suicide bombing.

We complained to faculty, but the PC climate in the military prevented any action that might have been taken against him. Now there are 13 people dead and scores more wounded.

They're actually halting voluntary cooperation with the IAEA. The poor genocidal dears feel as if they're being picked on. "Iran to halt voluntary cooperation with IAEA," from the Tehran Times, November 29:

TEHRAN - Iran officially announced that it will cease its voluntary cooperation with the IAEA after the agency's Board of Governors adopted a resolution against Iran on Friday under pressure by Western countries.

Iran said the drafters of the anti-Iran resolution made a historic mistake and advised the West to discard its policy of confrontation with Tehran.

"To show its goodwill, the Islamic Republic of Iran has so far taken steps beyond its commitments, but this resolution will cause Iran to cooperate with the agency only within the framework of the NPT (nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty)," Ali Asghar Soltanieh, Iran's ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency, said on Friday.

"The Board of Governors' resolution will disrupt the current atmosphere of cooperation and will cause Iran to discontinue its voluntary cooperation which went beyond its commitments," Soltanieh told the Mehr News Agency.

Twenty-five members of the 35-nation board, including Russia and China, voted in favor of the resolution. The resolution criticized Iran for beginning construction of a new uranium enrichment facility at Fordo, which is near Qom, and demanded that it immediately halt its construction. It also criticized Iran for defying a UN Security Council call for it to suspend uranium enrichment.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry also issued a statement on Friday saying Iran sees no need to commit itself to voluntary cooperation with the agency since its fundamental rights as an NPT signatory are not being observed.

The Foreign Ministry called the adoption of the resolution a futile attempt to impose pressure on the Islamic Republic.[...]

"The adoption of this resolution is not only unhelpful for improving the current situation, but it will jeopardize the conducive environment vitally needed for success in the process of the Geneva and Vienna negotiations, expected to lead to a common understanding," Soltanieh told the IAEA meeting. [...]

He added, "We are sure that the authors of the anti-Iran resolution made a historic mistake and will soon discover their mistake."

The ambassador said, "The Westerners must have learned (something) from their previous behavior toward Iran, and they must know that they will receive a negative response if they use aggressive language with Iran."

Iranian aggressive, genocidal rhetoric toward Israel is just fine, mind you. Just don't start complaining about it.

The "rebels," of course, are Islamic jihadists -- holding to the same ideology and belief-system as the Iranians whom the Russians have been foolishly and short-sightedly aiding. "Murder on the Nevsky Express," by Matthew Campbell and Anna Voutsen in the Sunday Times, November 29:

The first sign of something wrong as the Nevsky Express raced through the night came when the train began to "tremble". Then the carriage gave a violent lurch to the left and Igor Pechnikov was hurled from his seat.

He was one of the lucky ones. At least 30 other passengers aboard the luxury express from Moscow to St Petersburg were killed and scores more injured when a bomb went off, derailing the last three carriages, including Pechnikov's, at 130mph.

"I flew through half of the carriage," he said yesterday after being led from the twisted wreckage.

Rescue workers searching the mangled debris for 18 people still unaccounted for escaped injury when a second bomb partially detonated nearby yesterday afternoon.

There was no claim of responsibility but suspicion immediately fell on rebels fighting Moscow's rule over the mountainous republic of Chechnya in the northern Caucasus region. They have carried out similar attacks....

In a photo on the steaming pile of holiday cheer that he served up last year over at the Human Rights Tribune, but which just came to my attention tonight, CAIR's Honest Ibe Hooper is looking suspiciously like...I did six years ago.

Lookin' sharp, Ibe!

Israel's Deputy Foreign Minister notes the Islamic bloc's control of the UN, and the difficulties Israel accordingly faces from the stealth jihad against it there. Video thanks to Perry:

On the eve of the 62nd anniversary of United Nations General Assembly Resolution 181 (the Partition Plan for Palestine to create a Jewish and an Arab state), Danny Ayalon, Deputy Foreign Minister of Israel said "If there was a vote to admit Israel to the United Nations today, there is no doubt in my mind that we would not get in." Ayalon also said that in 1949, when Israel was admitted, two-thirds of the nations represented at the United Nations were democratic, whereas today the opposite is true. "Many of these nations are dictatorial and human-rights abusers who form an automatic majority against us which is formed by political expediency and group-think," Ayalon said. "If the Arabs or Palestinians wanted to pass a resolution claiming that the earth is flat, this would be assured of a majority." The Deputy Foreign Minister also talked about how Israel has to make creative strategies to counter this situation. He made the comments at a forum sponsored by Hadar: Israel Council for Civic Action, at the Menachem Begin Heritage Center in Jerusalem.

I'm a bit late with this, but it is still worth noting. The Islamic Feast of Eid al-Adha commemorates the end of the pilgrimage to Mecca, the Hajj, and Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son -- Ishmael in the Muslim version.

In thinking of Abraham, most Americans think of the Biblical figure. In Genesis 22:15-18, Abraham is rewarded for his faith and told he will become a blessing to the nations: "by your descendants shall all the nations of the earth bless themselves, because you have obeyed my voice."

But the Muslim audiences that Obama addresses here do not read Genesis. They read the Koran, in which Allah says that Abraham is an "excellent example" for the believers when he tells his pagan family and people that "there has arisen, between us and you, enmity and hatred for ever, unless ye believe in Allah and Him alone" (60:4). The same verse relates that Abraham is not an excellent example when he tells his father, "I will pray for forgiveness for you."

Thus the Koran, in its picture of Abraham, the man Obama invokes as a symbol of the common elements of the three faiths, holds up hatred as exemplary, while belittling the virtue of forgiveness. Obama therefore reinforces a worldview that takes for granted the legitimacy of everlasting enmity between Muslims and non-Muslims -- and does so while attempting to build bridges between Muslims and non-Muslims.

This demonstrates once again how crucial it is for American policymakers to have a detailed understanding of Islam's theological and cultural frame of reference, and of the actual teachings of the Koran. For lack of this understanding, careless statements continue to be made, and policy errors keep multiplying.

"Obama greets Muslim pilgrims," by Foon Rhee for the Boston Globe, November 25 (thanks to all who sent this in):

President Obama continued his outreach to the world's Muslims today, sending greetings to pilgrims to Mecca.

He also noted that his administration is assisting Saudi authorities in preventing the spread of swine flu.

"Michelle and I would like to send our best wishes to all those performing Hajj this year, and to Muslims in America and around the world who are celebrating Eid-ul-Adha. The rituals of Hajj and Eid-ul-Adha both serve as reminders of the shared Abrahamic roots of three of the world's major religions," Obama said in a statement.

"During Hajj, the world's largest and most diverse gathering, three million Muslims from all walks of life - including thousands of American Muslims - will stand in prayer on Mount Arafat. The following day, Muslims around the world will celebrate Eid-ul-Adha and distribute food to the less fortunate to commemorate Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son out of obedience to God," the president added in the statement, translated on the White House website into Arabic, Persian, Dari, Urdu, Pashto, Russian, and French.

"This year, I am pleased that the Department of Health and Human Services has partnered with the Saudi Health Ministry to prevent and limit the spread of H1N1 during Hajj. Cooperating on combating H1N1 is one of the ways we are implementing my administration's commitment to partnership in areas of mutual interest.

"On behalf of the American people, we would like to extend our greetings during this Hajj season - Eid Mubarak."

Eurabia Alert. Missing as usual is any discussion of the ideological basis for this proliferation of "misunderstanders" of Islam. Present as usual is the hope that the tide may be turned, if we could just find some "moderates" to engage the "misunderstanders." "Germany home to 90 combat Islamists: report," from The Local, November 28:

There are about 90 combat-trained Islamists in Germany moving among underground networks, Focus magazine reported Saturday, as intelligence agencies and police prepare to overhaul the country's anti-terrorism approach.

Some 30 of them have actual fighting experience through clashes with US or Pakistani soldiers, the magazine reported, citing German security sources.

In total, 185 Islamists trained in terrorist camps in central Asia had lived or worked in Germany in the past 10 years, the sources said.

New, young radicals were no longer recruited only through mosques, but also in universities, prisons and sports clubs, the report said.

The security sources wanted Germany to take a stronger stance in the future towards deradicalising young Islamists.

According to a separate report in magazine Der Spiegel, the Joint Terrorism Defence Centre (GTAZ) - a co-operation between various German police and intelligence agencies - will hold a forum in December to overhaul the country's anti-terrorism strategy and come up with fresh approaches.

The efforts would be aimed at native German converts to Islam, as much as radicals with immigrant backgrounds.

Until now, anti-radicalisation measures had been piecemeal across Germany's states, ranging from educational comic books to one-on-one conversations with violence-prone Islamists, the Spiegel report said.

The forum, organised by the Interior Ministry, would also study Jihadists who had already been convicted and imprisoned, as they posed their own danger in jail, where they could radicalise other prisoners.

To fight this problem, moderate Imams and Islamic organisations could be brought into counter the influence of radicals in jails, the Spiegel report said.

Just as soon as a meaningful definition of "moderate" is agreed upon.

The proliferation of czars is a Constitutional issue, but aside from that, the jihadis worldwide must be extraordinarily happy over Obama's consistent anti-Israel line. "Anti-Israel lobbyist appointed to anti-Semitism post: J Street pick hints Jewish state to blame for hatred against its people," by Aaron Klein for WorldNetDaily, November 26:

President Obama's new anti-Semitism czar serves on the board of a controversial Israel-lobby group accused of working against the Jewish state, while her writings suggest Israel's policies are to blame for anti-Semitism.

Hannah Rosenthal, a former Health Department regional director under the Clinton administration, started her position earlier this week as the State Department's new special envoy to monitor and combat anti-Semitism. She previously headed the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, an umbrella U.S. Jewish organization.

Rosenthal, however, serves on the board of J Street, a lobby group that is mostly led by left-leaning Israelis and that receives funds from Arab and Muslim Americans.

J Street brands itself as pro-Israel. It states on its website it seeks to "promote meaningful American leadership to end the Arab-Israeli and Israeli-Palestinian conflicts peacefully and diplomatically."

J Street, however, also supports talks with Hamas, a terrorist group whose charter seeks the destruction of Israel. The group opposes sanctions against Iran and is harshly critical of Israeli offensive anti-terror military actions.

Even the Israeli government has been distancing itself from J Street, with its ambassador to Washington, Michael Oren, refusing to attend its annual dinner last month. Israeli Embassy spokesman Yoni Peled told the Jerusalem Post his government has some "concern over certain [J Street] policies that could impair Israel's interests."...

Hamad al-Majed can see it. Is it only Americans who can't perceive the disaster that the post-American President is already? And it is doubtful that he will improve.

"Saudi Columnist: Obama Will Be President of the 'United Collapse of America,'" from MEMRI, November 25 (thanks to all who sent this in):

In a November 16, 2009 op-ed in the London-based Saudi daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, Hamad Al-Majed, founder of the Saudi National Human Rights Association and a lecturer in education, mourns the U.S.'s military, political, and economic collapse. He pointed out that the U.S.'s failures are affecting many countries, and that the countries fighting terror should be particularly concerned.

Al-Majed writes that Barack Obama is the first black president of the United States of America, but may also soon be president of the "United Collapse of America."

Following are excerpts from Al-Majed's op-ed:

"The acknowledgement, in a survey [by] the U.S. military, that the morale of its troops fighting on the Afghanistan front is plummeting does not surprise me. It would be surprising if morale were not plummeting. The hardest thing for any army in the world is to convince its soldiers and brigade commanders of the benefit of the war.

"Such a survey is a good indication that these troops are not sufficiently convinced [of the justice] of the war. This is why the Taliban's morale is higher and its fighting is better than those of the alliance led by the U.S. The number of volunteer fighters in the Taliban's ranks has doubled... as has the number of their attacks...

Why should they be convinced of the justice of the war? They're fighting for one Sharia entity against another -- and meanwhile Obama is trying to make concessions to the enemy Sharia entity. It's madness.

"As the morale of the American troops [in Afghanistan] falls, the morale of the American troops in Iraq rises - not because their fighting situation is any better, but because the U.S. government has informed the troops in Iraq of the beginning of a gradual withdrawal from [that country]. [...]

"On the economic level, several American banks collapsed recently and declared bankruptcy. These banks join several more respectable American banks that went bankrupt as Obama began his term in office. Also, the unemployment rate [is evidence of] collapse - so much so that it looks to the observer like a car with no brakes going [down a slope].

"If the U.S. sneezes, the entire world catches a cold. Its political collapse in its war on terror, together with its economic collapse, have made the entire world sink into a political and economic quagmire. No one knows how our star will emerge from the maelstrom.

"The failures of the U.S. in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Somalia will have an impact on the countries that are fighting terrorism and extremism. These countries must prepare for the stage that follows these collapses and retreats - because there is no critical American/Western victory on the horizon in the fight against [extremism and terrorism].

"Obama fought tooth and nail to be the first black president of the U.S., and he was successful at it. But in the future he may also gain the title of 'President of the United Collapse of America.'"

Why wouldn't the Post-American President allow this? After all, he already plans to try the CIA members who interrogated jihadis at Gitmo, and Navy Seals who captured a top jihadist. Why should he have any problem with this?

"Prosecuting American 'War Crimes': The International Criminal Court claims jurisdiction over U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan," by Daniel Schwammenthal in the Wall Street Journal, November 26 (thanks to all who sent this in):

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton expressed "great regret" in August that the U.S. is not a signatory to the International Criminal Court (ICC). This has fueled speculation that the Obama administration may reverse another Bush policy and sign up for what could lead to the trial of Americans for war crimes in The Hague.

The ICC's chief prosecutor, though, has no intention of waiting for Washington to submit to the court's authority. Luis Moreno Ocampo says he already has jurisdiction--at least with respect to Afghanistan.

Because Kabul in 2003 ratified the Rome Statute--the ICC's founding treaty--all soldiers on Afghan territory, even those from nontreaty countries, fall under the ICC's oversight, Mr. Ocampo told me. And the chief prosecutor says he is already conducting a "preliminary examination" into whether NATO troops, including American soldiers, fighting the Taliban may have to be put in the dock.

"We have to check if crimes against humanity, war crimes or genocide have been committed in Afghanistan," Mr. Ocampo told me. "There are serious allegations against the Taliban and al Qaeda and serious allegations about warlords, even against some who are connected with members of the government." Taking up his inquiry of Allied soldiers, he added, "there are different reports about problems with bombings and there are also allegations about torture."

It was clear who the targets of these particular inquiries are but the chief prosecutor shied away from spelling it out.

Asked repeatedly whether the examination of bombings and torture allegations refers to NATO and U.S. soldiers, Mr. Ocampo finally stated that "we are investigating whoever commits war crimes, including the group you mentioned."

The fact that he avoided a straightforward "I am looking into possible war crimes committed by American soldiers" showed that Mr. Ocampo is aware of the enormity of crossing this legal and political bridge. Appointed in 2003 for a nine-year period, the 57-year-old Argentinian has--so far--established a record of cautious jurisprudence....

The glorious fruit of giving the 9/11 plotters civilian trials is already beginning to appear. Watch for these guys to walk -- after wasting a few taxpayer millions, that is. "Mental State Cited in 9/11 Case," by Jess Bravin in the Wall Street Journal, November 27 (thanks to Elisa):

WASHINGTON -- When five defendants are brought before a New York federal judge to face charges for the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the first question may be whether some of them are competent to stand trial at all.

Military lawyers for Ramzi Binalshibh, an accused organizer of the 9/11 plot, and Mustafa al-Hawsawi, the conspiracy's alleged paymaster, say their clients have mental disorders that make them unfit for trial, likely caused or exacerbated by years of harsh confinement in Central Intelligence Agency custody.

The issue already has arisen in military-commission proceedings at the military's detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. According to an August ruling by a military judge, prosecutors have made an "apparent concession" that Mr. Binalshibh "suffers from a delusional disorder-persecutory type" disorder. Mr. Binalshibh has been prescribed "a variety of psychotropic medications used to treat schizophrenia and/or bipolar disorder, including Haldol, Abilify, risperidone and Ativan," according to commission records.

In October 2008, a military medical board reported Mr. Binalshibh may suffer from "severe mental disease" that could "impair his ability to conduct or cooperate intelligently in his defense."...

What efforts will be taken to ensure that the recruits are not jihadi infiltrators? Why, none. "CIA goes hiring in heart of Arab America," by Soyoung Kim for Reuters, November 27 (thanks to all who sent this in):

DEARBORN, Michigan (Reuters) - At Tuhama's Lebanese deli in Dearborn, and at bakeries and barbershops throughout town, it's no secret the CIA is looking for a few good spies.

"There is a lot of talk, and nobody likes it," said Hamze Chehade, a 48-year-old Lebanese-American, taking a bite of his chicken shawarma.

In dire need of agents fluent in Arabic, the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency has made an unusual public show of its recruiting effort in Dearborn -- a city of 100,000 with the densest Arab population in the United States.

The agency has bought full-page ads in Arabic-language newspapers and it is rolling out TV ads aimed at luring Arab-Americans and Iranian-Americans to spycraft.

But despite a weak economy and high unemployment, the CIA will find it hard to hire here, residents say. Many see U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East as misguided and anger over the perceived mistreatment of Arab-Americans runs deep.

Reuters doesn't mention it, of course, but there is also the idea that it is wrong for Muslims to fight other Muslims (cf. Koran 4:92), and wrong to work for an Infidel polity.

It won't be easy to win hearts and minds here, they say.

"If anyone goes, they would be just going for the money, not following the heart," said Chehade, a cabinet-maker who immigrated from Lebanon 21 years ago.

CIA recruiters said the agency sorely needs speakers of Arabic and other languages due to the intensifying insurgency in Afghanistan and the continuing U.S. occupation of Iraq.

"Obviously, with the wars going on in the Middle East, that's really on America's radar," said Henry Medina, who is in charge of CIA recruiting in the Midwest....

One TV spot showed a dinner party at an Arab-American home, with a narrator intoning, "Your nation, your world. They're worth protecting. Careers in the CIA." The camera zooms out to show the party taking place in a modern high-rise building, then a view of the United States from outer space....

"People have been told, 'Your name is Mohammed; your name is Ahmed; you must be a terrorist," said Osama Siblani, Lebanese-born publisher of the Dearborn-based Arab American News. "How do you bring people into the government when they have been subjected to a great deal of discrimination?"

He added: "You have to believe that what you are doing is the right thing, otherwise you are just a gun for hire."

The problem here, of course, is that Osama Siblani and his ilk have done nothing to root out jihadis from their ranks. Then they try to claim victim status.

Siblani, whose newspaper runs CIA recruiting ads, met CIA Director Leon Panetta during a September visit to Dearborn. "I said, treat us like Americans," he said. "We love America but does America love us?"

What exactly has Siblani done to show he loves America? Islamic groups have generally opposed every anti-terror effort, and have concentrated on claiming to be victimized rather than done anything to demonstrate their loyalty to Constitutional principles and freedoms.

Dawud Walid, head of the Michigan branch of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, agreed that many Arab-Americans were torn between feelings of patriotism and resentment of U.S. government policy at home and abroad.

"I think transparency will do a lot more than airing TV commercials. There's a large amount of fear and mistrust with the government," Walid said....

There no doubt is, but there should be even more mistrust for CAIR, an unindicted co-conspirator in a Hamas terror funding case that has never seen an anti-terror initiative that it liked.

On Warren Avenue, where signs in Arabic outnumber those in English, other residents said they doubted the CIA would find many willing recruits in Dearborn.

"It's not lack of patriotism. It's questioning of wrong policy," said Mohammed, a 24-year-old graduate student of Libyan descent who asked not to use his last name.

Inside Tuhama's, Chehade said he would warn his adult sons to consider the consequences of signing on with the CIA.

"People are going to hate you," he said.

Now, why exactly is that?

For the second year in a row, I've come out a winner in the Infidel Blogger Awards voting -- this year as "Best Overall North American Infidel Blogger."

Heartfelt thanks to all who voted, especially my friends currently interred in Chicago cemeteries, without whom this would not have been possible. As my second term approaches, I promise a chicken in every pot, a car in every garage, a New Frontier, a Great Society, and more truth about Islamic jihad and Islamic supremacism. And Tyler too.

Imperiled

Islam, of course, forbids representational art. And we all saw what happened to the Buddhas of Bamiyan. More on this story. "Taliban trying to destroy Buddhist art from the Gandhara period," from Asia News, November 27 (thanks to C. Cantoni):

Islamabad (AsiaNews/Agencies) - Pakistani and foreign archaeologists have set off the alarm bell, warning that the Taliban are destroying Pakistan's ancient Gandhara heritage, which includes some of the oldest representations of the Buddha. Because of violence, tourists shy away from the country's northwest and local works of art are increasingly at risk of going the way of the Bamiyan Buddha statues, which the Taliban destroyed in 2001.

"Militants are the enemies of culture,' said Abdul Nasir Khan, curator of Taxila Museum, home to one of the premier archaeological collections in Pakistan, some 20 kilometres south of Islamabad.

As one of the foremost archaeological sites in Pakistan, Taxila possesses some of the most important artefacts from the Gandhara civilisation, which peaked between the 5th century BC and the 2nd century AD.

Emerging in the wake of the conquests by Alexander the Great, the Gandhara kingdom blended Indian traditions and Hellenistic culture, with representations of the Buddha taking on human forms that resemble Greek divinities, especially the god Apollo.

"'Even in Taxila we don't feel safe. The local administration has warned us about a possible attack on this museum. We have taken some extra security precautions but they aren't sufficient and we lack funds," Khan said.

"For weeks we don't get even a single foreign visitor. If visitors don't come, if sites are not preserved and protected, if research stops, what do you think will be the future of archaeology?'" he noted.

Good question for Europeans to ponder.

The learned analysts have repeatedly assured us that Sharia provisions do not apply to non-Muslims.

Sharia Alert: "Christian girl, 16, gets 50 lashes for wearing 'indecent' knee-length skirt in Sudan," from the Daily Mail, November 27 (thanks to Alexandre):

A 16-year-old Sudanese girl was lashed 50 times after a judge ruled her knee-length skirt was indecent, her family said today.

The mother of Christian teenager Silva Kashif said she is to sue police and the judge who imposed the sentence under Islamic shariah law.

Saying she only learned about her daughter's conviction after she had been lashed, mother Jenty Doro said the family's religion should have been taken into account.

Kashif, whose family comes from the south Sudanese town of Yambio, was arrested while walking to the market near her home in the Khartoum suburb of Kalatla last week, Doro told Reuters.

'She is just a young girl but the policeman pulled her along in the market like she was a criminal. It was wrong,' said Doro....

In many ways.

Not long ago Robert Spencer and another speaker were attempting to elucidate, for an audience in New York, the ideology of Islam, that ideology that explains, without much trouble, the behavior of many Muslims, and the real attitudes of many more. Someone in the audience caused a stir, and while the security guards ran to deal with it, from an unsecured side door out rushed two people bearing pies that they flung at Spencer (who successfully dodged the pie meant for him) and his associate, Mr. Elan Journo, who was not quite so quick, and was hit. These were pies, and pie-throwing may make us think of the late Soupy Sales, and campus shenanigans that are supposed to be hilarious but somehow never are.

But in this case, the pie-throwing was no joke, because what the speakers were speaking about was Islam, and in many countries many death threats have been delivered, and some of those death threats acted upon, in many different places. A Japanese translator of Salman Rushdie was stabbed to death; a Norwegian translator was attacked but survived. Political figures, such as Pim Fortuyn in the Netherlands, have been killed. Cultural gadflies, who dared to deal with Islam as they dealt with Christianity or Judaism or the monarchy or anything else, such as Theo van Gogh, were killed. Wafa Sultan must live in hiding. Geert Wilders, and Ayaan Hirsi Ali, and Magdi Allam, in Europe, must all travel with a constant escort of armed guards, and Wilders, at least, must frequently move from house to army base to house.

Nonie Darwish was scheduled to speak at two famous American universities. She was invited not by the universities themselves, but by student groups. And it was by student groups that she was dis-invited, groups that were responding to enormous pressure from Muslims on campus. Is this purely a private matter, in which university administrations have no role to play? Are they simply to observe, with disinterest, the spectacle all over the country of those who wish to speak about Islam in terms other than flattering, being hounded, harassed, having pies thrown at them, enduring campaigns of vilification before, during, and after their few appearances, or even -- as in the just-concluded dismal spectacle involving Nonie Darwish, never having a chance to present their views, no matter how well-informed or well-reasoned.

Is there, then, a positive duty to seek to protect free speech by taking a special interest in speakers who, because of the nature of their subject matter, should be heard most of all? Their subject matter, currently, has caused recent American governments to spend between two and three trillion dollars. And if many more people could achieve the right understanding of Islam, I believe that they would sensibly endorse policies that would not require the expenditure of two-three trillion dollars. Surely the presidents of American universities have a stake in helping our benighted rulers to find more effective, cunning, and less expensive ways to deal with the problem of Islam and those of its adherents who take their Islam straight up, not on the rocks, modified by time, custom, perceived present self-interest. Few in the West are willing, right now, to rock the boat too violently, as they may be willing when their numbers, and power, increase.

"The military has been following attempts to carry out attacks through the 'U-route', where Gazan terrorists travel to Egypt, then turn back upon reaching Sinai and infiltrate Israel via the more penetrable Israel-Egypt border."

"Terror attack foiled as troops chase away man carrying bomb," by Yaakov Katz for the Jerusalem Post, November 26:

An IDF bomb squad detonated a 15-kilogram explosive seized during a search conducted along the Egyptian border on Thursday.

Late Wednesday night, IDF troops on a routine patrol of the border area spotted a suspicious figure carrying a bag containing what was later discovered to be a 15-kilogram bomb.

The soldiers ordered him to stop and fired several shots in the air. However, the man fled the scene back into Egypt, dropping the bag in his haste.

IDF sources said it was possible that the suspected terrorist was from the Gaza Strip and had crossed into the Sinai Peninsula with the intention of then crossing into Israel to carry out an attack.

The military has been following attempts to carry out attacks through the 'U-route', where Gazan terrorists travel to Egypt, then turn back upon reaching Sinai and infiltrate Israel via the more penetrable Israel-Egypt border.

Channel 10 quoted security officials as assessing the device was either meant to be used in Eilat, Israel's southernmost city, or in another major Israeli city to which the suspect would have been driven, in order to perpetrate a multiple-casualty attack.

OC Southern Command Maj. Gen. Yoav Galant praised the soldiers' alertness and quick response.

You know Iran's shell game is getting absurd when even El Baradei is starting to sound serious. However, the consequences for Iran will likely be limited to yet another deadline from the bottomless bag of meaningless gestures toward eventually holding Iran accountable... but not right away. And all it does is buy Iran more time. "Iran warned over nuclear 'dead end' by UN's El Baradei," from BBC News, November 26:

Investigations into Iran's nuclear programme will reach a "dead end" unless Tehran starts to co-operate, the UN nuclear chief has warned.

Mohamed El Baradei told governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that there had been no movement on issues that needed to be clarified.

He said he was "disappointed" with Iran's rejection of a deal that would see its uranium processed overseas.

He spoke ahead of an IAEA vote on a resolution critical of Iran.

In September Iran was revealed to have a second uranium enrichment facility, deepening Western fears about the nature of its nuclear ambitions.

Iran says its nuclear programme is for peaceful energy purposes, but the US and other nations say its is seeking nuclear weapons.

'Outstanding issues'

Addressing IAEA governors in Vienna, Mr El Baradei said his inspectors had made no progress on areas which needed to be clarified in order to verify the peaceful nature of Iran's nuclear programme.

"It is now well over a year since the agency was last able to engage Iran in discussions about these outstanding issues," he said.

"We have effectively reached a dead end, unless Iran engages fully with us."

Tehran's late declaration of a second nuclear fuel enrichment facility had, he said, reduced "confidence in the absence of other nuclear facilities under construction in Iran which have not been declared".

And he called Iran's failure to agree to a US-backed plan under which its low-enriched uranium would be shipped overseas for processing into fuel disappointing....

At the holiest time, at the holiest place, this is what springs to their minds. I wonder what Obama's grandmama thought if she heard it. Feel the love: "Iran pilgrims stage hajj protest," by Adel Zaanoun for AFP, November 26 (thanks to dsinc):

ARAFAT, Saudi Arabia -- Iranian hajj pilgrims carried out a peaceful protest without incident on Thursday as millions of Muslims amassed for the peak of the world's largest annual pilgrimage.

Ignoring Saudi warnings against political activity, the Iranians chanted for Muslim unity and against the "enemies" of the faith in their camp at Arafat outside of Mecca.

"Death to America, death to Israel," thousands of Iranians chanted inside a huge tent on the Arafat plain.

No Saudi security forces were evident as Ayatollah Muhammed Rishari, the representative of Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, led the Iranian delegation.

"We need to be purified from our wrongdoings in this hajj," he said in a statement.

"We need all Muslims, Sunni and Shiite, to be unified and focus on important issues: Al-Aqsa (mosque in Jerusalem), the occupation of Palestine, the problems in Iraq, the Afghan occupation, and the fighting between brothers in Yemen. We need be purified from all infidels."...

Salah Sultan, formerly of the Noor Mosque in Columbus, Ohio, (before he himself was barred from entering the United States), and Anwar al-Awlaki, Nidal Hasan's jihadist imam, led a Hajj trip together in 2002.

Patrick Poole, who has done superb research work on the Noor Mosque, has the details here (thanks to Pamela).

Yet we are told that Rifqa Bary won't be in any danger, as a convert from Islam to Christianity, if she is returned to her father, who attends this mosque and who she says threatened to kill her.

The willful ignorance of the authorities on the Rifqa Bary case continues, despite mounting evidence that the girl is in grave danger. Do join us for another Rally for Rifqa on December 22 in Columbus. That's the day of her dependency hearing, and she could be sent back to her family. The only thing we can do is continue to shine a light on her situation and the questionable actions of the authorities involved. Join us. And ask your favorite "conservative" blogs why they're saying nothing about this poor girl, who has become a symbol of religious freedom -- and our declining national will to preserve it.

Be thankful that you are breathing.

Jihad attacks and attempted attacks inside the U.S. have sharply increased. In response, the entire government and media establishment hastens to assure the world that the root cause is not the root cause. And the President of the United States rushes to make more concessions to the jihadis and their sponsors and allies. Eight years after 9/11, and fewer people than ever know or care about what we are really up against.

But...you are alive. You are breathing. You can read this. You are not beaten.

Be thankful. Be thankful that you understand freedom and are determined to defend it. Be thankful that you understand Islamic supremacism, and are determined to resist it.

For therein lies your victory, and mine, and that of every free individual. The game is far from over. Be thankful for that.

And act.

Islam In Europe has the story.

Surprised? Surely these Muslim antisemites must have misunderstood their Religion of Tolerance, no?

Well, consider this Koranic exposition from IslamOnline (captured here):

Dear Sheikh! As-Salam `Alaykum. What, according to the Qur'an, are the main characteristics and qualities of Jews?

Answer: [...]

As regards the question you posed, the following is the fatwa issued by Sheikh `Atiyyah Saqr, former Head of Al-Azhar Fatwa Committee, in which he states the following:

"The Qur'an has specified a considerable deal of its verses to talking about Jews, their personal qualities and characteristics. The Qur'anic description of Jews is quite impartial; praising them in some occasions where they deserve praise and condemning them in other occasions where they practice blameworthy acts. Yet, the latter occasions outnumbered the former, due to their bad qualities and the heinous acts they used to commit.

The Qur'an praises them on the verse that reads: " And verily We gave the Children of Israel the Scripture and the Command and the Prophethood, and provided them with good things and favored them above (all) peoples." (Al-Jathiyah:16) i.e. the peoples of their time.

Among the bad qualities they were characterized with are the following:

1. They used to fabricate things and falsely ascribe them to Allah. Allah Almighty says: " That is because they say: We have no duty to the Gentiles. They speak a lie concerning Allah knowingly." (Al-`Imran:75) Also: "The Jews say: Allah's hand is fettered. Their hands are fettered and they are accursed for saying so. Nay, but both His hands are spread out wide in bounty. He bestoweth as He will." (Al-Ma`idah:64)

In another verse Almighty Allah says: "Verily Allah heard the saying of those who said, (when asked for contributions to the war): "Allah, forsooth, is poor, and we are rich! We shall record their saying with their slaying of the Prophets wrongfully and We shall say: Taste ye the punishment of burning!" (Al-`Imran:181)

2. They love to listen to lies. Concerning this Allah says: "and of the Jews: listeners for the sake of falsehood, listeners on behalf of other folk" (Al-Ma'idah: 41)

3. Disobeying Almighty Allah and never observing His commands. Allah says: "And because of their breaking their covenant, We have cursed them and made hard their hearts." (Al-Ma'idah: 13)

4. Disputing and quarreling. This is clear in the verse that reads: "Their Prophet said unto them: Lo! Allah hath raised up Saul to be a king for you. They said: How can he have kingdom over us when we are more deserving of the kingdom than he is, since he hath not been given wealth enough?" (Al-Baqarah: 247)

5. Hiding the truth and standing for misleading. This can be understood from the verse that reads: "...distort the Scripture with their tongues, that ye may think that what they say is from the Scripture, when it is not from the Scripture." (Al-`Imran: 78)

6. Staging rebellion against the Prophets and rejecting their guidance. This is clear in the verse: "And when ye said: O Moses! We will not believe in thee till we see Allah plainly." (Al-Baqarah: 55)

7. Hypocrisy. In a verse, we read: "And when they fall in with those who believe, they say: We believe; but when they go apart to their devils they declare: Lo! we are with you; verily we did but mock." (Al-Baqarah: 14) In another verse, we read: "Enjoin ye righteousness upon mankind while ye yourselves forget (to practice it)? And ye are readers of the Scripture! Have ye then no sense?" (Al-Baqarah: 44)

8. Giving preference to their own interests over the rulings of religion and the dictates of truth. Allah says: "...when there cometh unto you a messenger (from Allah) with that which ye yourselves desire not, ye grow arrogant, and some ye disbelieve and some ye slay?" (Al-Baqarah: 87)

9. Wishing evil for people and trying to mislead them. This is clear in the verse that reads: "Many of the People of the Scripture long to make you disbelievers after your belief, through envy on their own account, after the truth hath become manifest unto them." (Al-Baqarah: 109)

10. They feel pain to see others in happiness and are gleeful when others are afflicted with a calamity. This is clear in the verse that reads: "If a lucky chance befall you, it is evil unto them, and if disaster strike you they rejoice thereat." (Al-`Imran:120)

11. They are known of their arrogance and haughtiness. They claimed to be the sons and of Allah and His beloved ones. Allah tells us about this in the verse that reads: "The Jews and Christians say: We are sons of Allah and His loved ones." (Al-Ma'idah: 18)

12. Utilitarianism and opportunism are among their innate traits. This is clear in the verse that reads: "And of their taking usury when they were forbidden it, and of their devouring people's wealth by false pretences." (An-Nisa': 161)

13. Their impoliteness and indecent way of speech is beyond description. Referring to this, the Qur'anic verse reads: "Some of those who are Jews change words from their context and say: "We hear and disobey; hear thou as one who heareth not" and "Listen to us!" distorting with their tongues and slandering religion. If they had said: "We hear and we obey; hear thou, and look at us" it had been better for them, and more upright. But Allah hath cursed them for their disbelief, so they believe not, save a few." (An-Nisa':46)

14. It is easy for them to slay people and kill innocents. Nothing in the world is dear to their hearts than shedding blood and murdering human beings. They never give up this trait even with the Messengers and the Prophets. Allah says: "...and slew the prophets wrongfully." (Al-Baqarah: 61)

15. They are merciless and heartless. In this meaning, the Qur'anic verse explains: "Then, even after that, your hearts were hardened and became as rocks, or worse than rocks, for hardness." (Al-Baqarah: 74)

16. They never keep their promises or fulfill their words. Almighty Allah says: "Is it ever so that when ye make a covenant a party of you set it aside? The truth is, most of them believe not." (Al-Baqarah: 100)

17. They rush hurriedly to sins and compete in transgression. Allah says: "They restrained not one another from the wickedness they did. Verily evil was that they used to do!" (Al-MA'idah:79)

18. Cowardice and their love for this worldly life are their undisputable traits. To this, the Qur'an refers when saying: "Ye are more awful as a fear in their bosoms than Allah. That is because they are a folk who understand not. They will not fight against you in a body save in fortified villages or from behind walls. Their adversity among themselves is very great. Ye think of them as a whole whereas their hearts are divers." (Al-Hashr:13-14) Allah Almighty also says: "And thou wilt find them greediest of mankind for life and (greedier) than the idolaters." (Al-Baqarah:96)

19. Miserliness runs deep in their hearts. Describing this, the Qur'an states: "Or have they even a share in the Sovereignty? Then in that case, they would not give mankind even the speck on a date stone." (An-Nisa':53)

20. Distorting Divine Revelation and Allah's Sacred Books. Allah says in this regard: "Therefore woe be unto those who write the Scripture with their hands anthem say, "This is from Allah," that they may purchase a small gain therewith. Woe unto them for that their hands have written, and woe unto them for that they earn thereby." (Al-Baqara: 79)

After this clear explanation, we would like to note that these are but some of the most famous traits of the Jews as described in the Qur'an. They have revolted against the Divine ordinances, distorted what has been revealed to them and invented new teachings which, they claimed, were much more better than what has been recorded in the Torah. It was for these traits that they found no warm reception in all countries where they tried to reside. Rather, they would either be driven out or live in isolation. It was Almighty Allah who placed on them His Wrath and made them den of humiliation due to their transgression. Almighty Allah told us that He'd send to them people who'd pour on them rain of severe punishment that would last till the Day of Resurrection. All this gives us glad tidings of the coming victory of Muslims over them once Muslims stick to strong faith and belief in Allah and adopt the modern means of technology."

Jihadis and their allies continue their Alinskyite strategy of marginalizing their opponents -- and their thuggish attempts to silence them. And dhimmi university officials are all too happy to oblige them. Free Speech Death Watch Alert: "Free Speech Silenced at Columbia and Princeton," by Pamela Geller in The American Thinker, November 24:

Nonie Darwish, the executive director of Former Muslims United and author of Cruel And Usual Punishment: The Terrifying Global Implications of Islamic Law, was scheduled to speak at Columbia and Princeton Universities last week, but both events were canceled under pressure from Muslim groups on campus.

Remember, we are talking about Columbia University, where Ahmadinejad was welcomed like a returning king.

Just hours before Darwish was scheduled to speak at Columbia, the groups that had invited her to both universities, the Whig-Clio Student Debate Society and Tigers for Israel, succumbed to demands from student Muslim groups and canceled her speaking event. Tigers for Israel, my eye. Their name mocks them. The Whig-Clio Society is the oldest debating society in the U.S., founded by James Madison in 1765. These are the students who are supposed to be the leaders of the future. What a joke.

Look how the cancellation went down at Princeton. Look at the systematic bullying. This is the state of freedom of speech in the age of jihad. Arab Society president Sami Yabroudi and former president Sarah Mousa issued a joint statement, claiming: "Nonie Darwish is to Arabs and Muslims what Ku Klux Klan members, skinheads, and neo-Nazis are to other minorities, and we decided that the role of her talk in the logical, intellectual discourse espoused by Princeton University needed to be questioned."

KKK? Neo-Nazi? Nonie Darwish was scheduled to speak about Sharia law and Israel, about standing up for human rights against jihad....

As Weasel Zippers says: "What a disgrace. The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) has been responsible for the ethnic cleansing of Christians in the areas it controls, beheadings, numerous terrorist attacks etc. not that this would bother Obama...."

"Obama sends letter to Philippine Muslim rebel leader," from Deutsche Presse Agentur, November 14 (thanks to Weasel Zippers):

Manila - US President Barack Obama has sent a letter to the leader of the main Muslim rebel group in the Philippines, a guerrilla official said Saturday.

The letter to Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) chairman Murad Ibrahim was delivered to rebel peace negotiators by Deputy Assistant State Secretary Scot Marciel, according to Muhammad Ameen, chairman of the MILF secretariat.

Ameen said Marciel and two other US diplomats met MILF peace negotiators headed by Mohagher Iqbal on November 6.

Ameen did not disclose the contents of the letter but said it was a response to a letter Murad sent to Obama after he won the election last year.

On Friday, US State Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton urged the Philippine government and the MILF to conclude a peace deal before the end of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's term next year....

And it did not do so out of fear of being accused of "Islamophobia." More bitter fruit of political correctness: "Threat of jihad infiltration did not factor into U.S. Army's screening process," from the World Tribune, November 23 (thanks to Mackie):

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Army, fearing political repercussions, refused to consider the prospect of infiltration by Al Qaida supporters.

A former senior army official told Congress that the military service drafted guidelines on a range of scenarios, including racism. But the army, despite the recruitment of thousands of Muslims, many of them converts, failed to examine prospects of infiltration by Al Qaida and other Islamists.

"Clearly we don't have specific guidelines in dealing with jihadist extremists," [Ret.] Gen. John Keane, former army vice chief of staff, told the Senate Homeland Security Committee.

Of course not. We hardly even admit they exist.

Christian women in Lebanon ought to have advocates to defend them. Muslim women ought to as well, but it is more difficult for them because of the divine sanction given to wife-beating (Koran 4:34).

"Violence Against Women: Lebanon; 90% Victim Of Abuse," from ANSAmed, November 25 (thanks to Insubria):

(ANSAmed) - BEIRUT, NOVEMBER 25 - At least 90% of women in Lebanon are, or have been in the past, victim of physical or psychological abuse. This statement was made on the occasion of the tenth international day for the elimination of violence against women, by the Lebanese Council to Resist Violence Against Women (LCRVAW). "Only very few of these crimes are reported, because in Lebanon it is considered normal that a woman is beaten by her husband or a relative; therefore judges and policemen often underestimate the problem" said to ANSA Raghida Ghamlush, head of the LCRVAW office in Beirut. Despite the election of a woman as finance minister, "the situation in Lebanon" Ghamlush continued "is not good: the crime of domestic violence is not provided for in the penal code". For the Lebanese law, cases of maltreatment and abuse are part of family law, and are therefore handled directly by the confessional communities. "Only if injuries are reported by a doctor" the NGO leader said, "they can take legal action, but the chances of success are slim". Even worse, according to Dalal Chehade, head of the Lebanese NGO Najdeh, is the situation of women in the Lebanese refugee camps. "They are discriminated twice as much because they are refugees and because they are women", he told ANSA. Considered foreigners by the Lebanese Sate, "in case of abuse, before reporting their aggressor they must turn to the peoplés committee that handles these reports with the Lebanese authorities. This obstacle is sufficiently high for most crimes to remain unpunished", he concluded. (ANSAmed).

Why the deception? And who was behind it? AP? The Obama camp? Someone else? What was its purpose?

AP, March 5, 2008:

"In the world of today, children have different religions from their parents," she said. She, too, is a Christian.

Is she really?

"Saudi Arabia: Obama's grandmother in Mecca for 'Hajj' ceremony," from AKI, November 25 (thanks to C. Cantoni):

Mecca, 25 Nov. (AKI) - The grandmother of US president Barack Obama has arrived in Saudi Arabia for the 'Hajj' or Islamic pilgrimage to the holy cities of Mecca and Medina, a Saudi daily said on Wednesday. Sarah Obama, 87, is being accompanied by a nephew and Obama's cousin, Omran.

On Wednesday Sarah Obama was in the valley of Mina with an African delegation, according to the Saudi daily Okaz.

Obama, the mother of the American president's father, lives in a village in Kenya and is one of the many guests of Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz al-Saud....

It was Islamic jihadists again, oddly enough. Everyone knows that all religions have their fanatics and extremists and they're all equally dangerous, yet those Christian beheaders remain inconveniently quiet. "Russian officials beheaded in N. Caucasus-Ifax," from Reuters, November 24 (thanks to Islam In Europe):

MOSCOW, Nov 24 (Reuters) - A police investigator and a court bailiff were found beheaded in a car trunk in Russia's mainly Muslim region of Kabardino-Balkaria, Interfax said on Tuesday, underscoring spreading violence on Russia's southern flank.

The killings follow a spate of attacks on power stations and police posts in Kabardino-Balkaria, which is close to the Ingushetia region where rights group say Islamist militants and government forces are effectively at war.

The two beheaded men were discovered in a Mercedes late on Monday in the town of Chegem, about 10 km (six miles) north of the regional capital Nalchik, the news agency reported, citing law enforcement services....

Omar Bin Laden, news reports tell us, would like a job at the U.N. This isn't a case of someone wishing to further terrorism. By all accounts, he does not approve of his famous father.

But that is not the only reason to give Omar Bin Laden a job at the U.N. In fact, it would clarify matters considerably if Omar Bin Laden, who remains a Muslim, if not nearly as fanatical and violent a Muslim as his father, were to be given the post of Secretary General. No Muslim has yet held that post. Isn't it time?

It would be perfect.

Consider the last few Secretaries-General of the U.N.

This is like sentencing to death Carnac the Magnificent. Sharia Alert from the Kingdom of the Two Holy Places: "TV Presenter On Death Row For Witchcraft," from Sky News, November 24 (thanks to Peter):

A man has been sentenced to death in Saudi Arabia for witchcraft because he makes predictions on television.

Ali Sibat is not even a Saudi national. The Lebanese citizen was only visiting Saudi Arabia on pilgrimage when he was arrested in Medina last year.

A court in the city condemned him as a witch on November 9.

The only evidence presented in court was reportedly the claim he appeared regularly on Lebanese satellite issuing general advice on life and making predictions about the future.

The case is causing outrage among human rights campaigners but has made little news elsewhere despite the ludicrous nature of the charges and the extraordinary severity of Sibat's sentence.

"Saudi courts are sanctioning a literal witch hunt by the religious police," said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch.

"The crime of witchcraft is being used against all sorts of behavior, with the cruel threat of state sanctioned executions."...

"Men shall take full care of women with the bounties which God has bestowed more abundantly on the former than on the latter, and with what they may spend out of their possessions. And the righteous women are the truly devout ones, who guard the intimacy which God has guarded. And as for those women whose ill-will you have reason to fear, admonish them; then leave them alone in bed; then beat them..." (Koran 4:34)

Of course, that's taken wildly out of context. Every last Muslim in the world, especially in modern, moderate, secular Turkey, knows that that verse is not to be taken literally.

"Turkey: 42% Pct Of Women Targets Of Violence, Survey," from ANSAmed, November 24 (thanks to Insubria):

(ANSAmed) - ANKARA, NOVEMBER 24 - Forty-two percent of women in Turkey become targets of physical or sexual violence, a staggering statistic which along with others will be the focus of events held on the occasion of tomorrow's International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. As Today's Zaman reports quoting data by the Directorate general on status of women, one of every four married women who are targets of violence is injured to the point of requiring medical attention. One of every three women who face violence from a husband or boyfriend attempts suicide. One in every five women, married and single, face violence from their relatives or peeple [sic] at school or the workplace. In recent years, some changes to the country's human rights laws have been made as Turkey inches along it its bid to join the European Union, but for many women who for various reasons end up in custody or behind bars, the situation is desperate. In the past 12 years, 74 women have been raped while in custody, and with allegations that have not yet been proved, this number climbs to over 300. In the past year only 15 women have complained of sexual abuse while in custody. There have been positive developments in recent years regarding this topic with sexual abuse gaining legal status as a crime, the range of the laws on rape being expanded and the sentencing deductions for "honor" killings and killings as part of tribal feuds abolished. (ANSAmed).

The poor jihadi had a bloody lip!

Yet another Which Side Is Obama On Alert: "Navy SEALs Face Assault Charges for Capturing Most-Wanted Terrorist," by Rowan Scarborough for FoxNews, November 24 (thanks to Mackie):

Navy SEALs have secretly captured one of the most wanted terrorists in Iraq -- the alleged mastermind of the murder and mutilation of four Blackwater USA security guards in Fallujah in 2004. And three of the SEALs who captured him are now facing criminal charges, sources told FoxNews.com.

The three, all members of the Navy's elite commando unit, have refused non-judicial punishment -- called an admiral's mast -- and have requested a trial by court-martial.

Ahmed Hashim Abed, whom the military code-named "Objective Amber," told investigators he was punched by his captors -- and he had the bloody lip to prove it.

Now, instead of being lauded for bringing to justice a high-value target, three of the SEAL commandos, all enlisted, face assault charges and have retained lawyers.

Matthew McCabe, a Special Operations Petty Officer Second Class (SO-2), is facing three charges: dereliction of performance of duty for willfully failing to safeguard a detainee, making a false official statement, and assault.

Petty Officer Jonathan Keefe, SO-2, is facing charges of dereliction of performance of duty and making a false official statement.

Petty Officer Julio Huertas, SO-1, faces those same charges and an additional charge of impediment of an investigation.

The three SEALs will be arraigned separately on Dec. 7. Another three SEALs -- two officers and an enlisted sailor -- have been identified by investigators as witnesses but have not been charged.

FoxNews.com obtained the official handwritten statement from one of the three witnesses given on Sept. 3, hours after Abed was captured and still being held at the SEAL base at Camp Baharia. He was later taken to a cell in the U.S.-operated Green Zone in Baghdad.

The SEAL told investigators he had showered after the mission, gone to the kitchen and then decided to look in on the detainee.

"I gave the detainee a glance over and then left," the SEAL wrote. "I did not notice anything wrong with the detainee and he appeared in good health."...

Defiant and victorious

Marcel Efroimski, a 13-year-old Israeli chess prodigy, yesterday became the Girls' Under-14 World Chess Champion when she won the Gold Medal for her age group at the World Youth Chess Championships held in Turkey. This in itself is not of any interest to Jihad Watch -- except that during the awards ceremony, the malignant (if not turban'd) and increasingly Islamic supremacist Turkish authorities refused to play the Israeli National Anthem, as is required at such ceremonies. However, young Marcel would not play the dhimmi. She stood on the podium and raised her trophy with an expression of defiance -- as you can see from the photo, in which she stands in front of an image of the malignant and unturban'd Ataturk.

Kudos, Marcel. With that, you became more than just a winner. You became a hero.

Details here and here.

The following letter was sent to FIDE, President Kirsan Ilumzhinov and Vice President Israel Gelfer.

Dear Mr. President,

I write to you with great concern following what seems as a serious incident that occurred .Today during the closing ceremony of the world junior championships held in Turkey. Happily our girl junior player, Marcel Efroymsky, has won the world title and the gold medal. As customed in such events, the delegations prepared to stand and salute the national anthem of the winner's country. Astonishingly and without any warning, the organizers decided to cancel the playing of the winners anthem. The Turkish organization has offered a ridiculous explanation that they do not have the time to spend on such event.

This excuse is absurd in light of the same venue hosting this event two years ago where all winner anthems were played! In there actions, the organizers demonstrated disrespect to the junior winners, their federation and their countries. As chairman of the Israeli Chess Federation, I herby urge you to investigate this incident. I must say that this kind of boycott (if such occurred) strikes as a another example of how politics interferes with chess. I call you as president of the FIDE, for which the tournament carried your flag, to investigate this issue and if the information appeared to be accurate, then to denounce this disrespectful conduct if the information.

My feeling is, that such events hurt chess in general and send the wrong message the children who dream to become chess champions taking pride in representing their countries.

Yours truly,

Aviv Bushinsky
Chairman of the Israeli Chess Federation

In response the president of the Turkish Chess Federation merely repeats the time excuse.

"Young Americans" who doubtless despise America and pray for its downfall. "Charges Detail Road to Terror for 20 in U.S.," by Andrea Elliott for the New York Times, November 24 (thanks to all who sent this in):

Federal officials on Monday unsealed terrorism-related charges against men they say were key actors in a recruitment effort that led roughly 20 young Americans to join a violent insurgent group in Somalia with ties to Al Qaeda.

With eight new suspects charged Monday, the authorities have implicated 14 people in the case, one of the most extensive domestic terrorism investigations since the Sept. 11 attacks. Some of them have been arrested; others are at large, including several believed to be still fighting with the Somali group, Al Shabaab.

The case represents the largest group of American citizens suspected of joining an extremist movement affiliated with Al Qaeda, senior officials said. Many of the recruits had come to America as young refugees fleeing a brutal civil war, only to settle in a gang-ridden enclave of Minneapolis.

The men named on Monday face federal charges including perjury, providing material support to a terrorist organization and conspiring to kill, maim, kidnap or injure people outside the United States.

Law enforcement officials are concerned that the recruits, who hold American passports, could be commissioned to return to the United States to carry out attacks here, though so far there is no evidence of such plots....

The disclosures are the government's first public account of a recruitment operation that it says has largely focused on Somali-American men from the Minneapolis area. Those young men included Shirwa Ahmed, 26, who carried out a suicide attack in northern Somalia in October 2008, becoming the first known American suicide bomber. Since then, at least five other recruits have been killed in Somalia, relatives and friends say, and four defendants have entered guilty pleas.

The court documents, which included unsealed indictments and criminal complaints, provide chilling details about the experience of the recruits, who began to enlist in Al Shabaab in September 2007. They attended training camps in Somalia run by Somali, Arab and Western instructors, who taught them to use machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades and indoctrinated them with anti-American and anti-Israeli beliefs, according to one complaint. Two of the Minneapolis recruits took part in an ambush against Ethiopian troops, and many others were involved in combat, according to the documents.

One of the fighters, Cabdulaahi Ahmed Faarax, later returned to Minneapolis and emerged as a recruiter, officials said. A 32-year-old cab driver and divorced father of two, Mr. Faarax had sustained a leg injury while fighting with Al Shabaab, a senior law enforcement official said.

A cab driver named "Cabdulaahi"? Come on.

In the fall of 2007, he attended a meeting at an unnamed Minneapolis mosque in which participants spoke by telephone with co-conspirators in Somalia about the need for fighters, according to the complaint.

Mr. Faarax told potential recruits he had experienced "true brotherhood" while fighting in Somalia, that to "fight jihad will be fun" and "not to be afraid," according to the complaint.

He is estranged from his family, a close relative said in an interview, and "seemed to have developed another family at his place of worship."

Another man accused of recruiting, Abdiweli Yassin Isse, encouraged others to join the fight in Somalia, raising money for their travel through a fake charity, according to the complaint.

A third man, Mahamud Said Omar, is accused of helping to finance the recruitment. Officials said Mr. Omar, who was arrested in the Netherlands on Nov. 8, conspired with nine of the recruits, paying for trips to Somalia and providing some of the Minneapolis men with hundreds of dollars to buy AK-47 rifles.

Most of the young Somali-American men suspected of joining Al Shabaab had come to the United States as small boys or teenagers, after the 1991 collapse of Somalia's last fully functioning government....

Friends of the men who left described them as having been driven by a mix of nationalist and religious fervor. Some wanted to defend their country against foreign invaders; other [sic] saw this "defensive jihad" as their religious duty, the friends said....

Since then, four of the other Minneapolis recruits have also died, including a 27-year-old convert to Islam, said friends of the recruits who received phone calls informing them of the deaths....

The friend, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the F.B.I.'s investigation had made an underdog out of Al Shabaab, which is aiding recruitment.

"They are reinforcing it," the friend said.

Sure. Resist jihad, and you get more jihad. But if you don't resist jihad, you get more jihad also. The "friend," like many others before him, says this hoping that it will cause the resistance to cease. And it just might. But not here.

"If you are here, I could not leave you alive."

"Don't dismiss honour killing claim: judge," by Kenyon Wallace for the National Post, November 24 (thanks to Kim):

A Federal Court judge has ordered the Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration to consider the credibility of a woman's claim that she will be the victim of an "honour killing" if deported to her home country of Pakistan.

Justice Michael Kelen found that an immigration officer reviewing evidence in the case of Roohi Tabassum, a 44-year-old Mississauga hair stylist who has been fighting to stay in Canada since 2001, made a mistake by characterizing as "not threatening" letters purportedly from Ms. Tabassum's husband in which he promised to "finish" Ms. Tabassum if she returned to Pakistan.

According to documents submitted to Citizenship and Immigration obtained by the National Post, Ms. Tabassum claims her husband, Faisal Javed, thought to be living in Dubai, began sending her letters and emails in 2006 in which he threatens to kill her for "dishonouring" his family by touching other men's hair while working at a Mississauga salon.

She also claims her husband and his family have become erroneously convinced that she is living with another man in Canada, after a friend's husband answered the phone at her apartment one night.

"What you are doing there, does it look better to you and does your religion allow you to touch other men? It is better to die hungry," says one 2006 letter translated from Urdu and allegedly written by Mr. Javed.

"Tell me everything true otherwise you know that I can do anything for my honour. Do you know how much I believed in you? Other than this you are also aware that your life is seriously in danger in Pakistan.... Everybody is against you. I am also very combative to you. If you are here, I could not leave you alive."

After asking her husband for a divorce, Ms. Tabassum received another letter dated February 2007 in which Mr. Javed alledgedly writes: "My doubts about you are real and right but keep this in mind that now I will finish you myself."...

The judge referred the case to another officer and suggested a hearing to "determine if these documents containing the threats are credible, or self-serving documents created by persons close to the applicant to buttress her case to be allowed to remain in Canada."

If the letters are found not to be credible, Ms. Tabassum will be deported.

What? Happy Eid al-Adha? Not "Happy Holidays"? Suddenly Best Buy has found a holiday it can actually mention by name without fear of censure from the Politically Correct Police? (Thanks to Joe.)

But they sincerely, deep down, want peace! "Mideast: Hamas Offers Award For Captured Israeli Troops," from ANSAmed, November 24 (thanks to Insubria):

(ANSAmed) - GAZA, NOVEMBER 24 - While the exchange of prisoners with Israel and the release from Gaza of Corporal Ghilad Shalit seem to be on the way to a solution - after three and a half years of indirect negotiations -, Hamas is already thinking ahead and is planning to kidnap more Israeli troops. "Our strategy is simple," a member of the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, told ANSA. "We offer money to anyone who manages to capture an enemy soldier". The movement offers one million Jordanian dinars per prisoner, the equivalent of USD 400 thousand, enough for an entire family to live a very comfortable life. (ANSAmed).

Where are they getting this money? Maybe from American aid packages?

"Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, nor hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger, nor acknowledge the religion of Truth, (even if they are) of the People of the Book, until they pay the Jizya with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued." -- Koran 9:29

"Scholar: Christians Fighting More Than Iraqi State: Archbishop Says Social System Is Root of Persecution," by Jesús Colina for Zenit, November 17 (thanks to John):

ROME, NOV. 17, 2009 (Zenit.org).- The problems faced by Christians in Iraq are not caused by the state, but the very social system, says one representative of the Catholic community there.

Archbishop Jules Mikhael Al-Jamil, procurator of the Syrian Catholic Patriarchate in Rome, presented this analysis at a press meeting organized at the Italian Chamber of Deputies.

The prelate, 71, said that in Iraq's social system, Christians have no supports to defend themselves, thus becoming easy victims of common criminals or terrorist groups.

He said their situation can be called a "religious persecution" caused by a social system that is inspired by a view of the Quran, according to which Islam and its followers must dominate and regard believers of other religions as citizens with fewer rights.

The archbishop, expert in Arab culture and literature, explained that according to the Quran, Islam is a religion that is above all others.

In the past in Iraq (and some still hold this view), "Christians who were under a Muslim regime or doctrine were free to believe in Islam, to leave their land, or to pay a tax to live in peace," he said.

Nevertheless, Archbishop Al-Jamil noted, Christians used to be a quite influential minority. They made a decisive contribution to the country's culture in, for example, the creation and development of the first University of Baghdad. These contributions, the prelate explained, allowed them to "enjoy respect."

"But this doesn't mean that they enjoy the same rights" according to certain interpretations of the Quran, he continued. "A Christian cannot rule over a Muslim" in a Muslim regime. "A general of the army cannot be a Christian."

Now that Christians have lost their political weight and social influence, and many have abandoned their land, they suffer the persecution of a dominant social system that keeps them defenseless, Archbishop Al-Jamil said....

"What about the many Muslims who have served and now the 20,000 who currently serve in the armed forces, those that fought and died in Afghanistan and Iraq? Are they influenced by their religion in their willingness to serve, fight and die for their country? Courageous Muslims like Kareem Rashad Sultan Khan, praised by Colin Powell in his endorsement speech of Barack Obama, gave his life for his country, and was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart, Bronze Star and the honor of being buried in Arlington cemetery." -- from a piece by John Esposito in The Huffington Post

John Esposito would have you believe that one of a handful of examples, the example of Kareem Rashad Sultan Khan, is merely one of many. I think perhaps he is the only example of a Muslim (not Nation-of-Islam, but honest-to-goodness real Muslim) soldier who died fighting in the American army, not in the ranks of Muslims being fought. It is the very same example that was used by Colin Powell when he wanted to make his silly, because ignorant-of-Islam remarks, in defense of Muslims.

Remember?

Well, you will find those remarks, and comments by me on them, as well as on other aspects of the ability of Muslims to exhibit loyalty to an Infidel nation-state and to take part, as all others are expected to take part, in the military efforts of that Infidel nation-state, in the following excerpt from an article I posted at Jihad Watch last year:

Maybe Obama is hoping that those chimerical "moderate Taliban" of whom he is so fond will end up running these provinces, and give up their desire to win the rest. "Afghan Source: The U.S. Has Offered the Taliban Control in Return for Quiet," from MEMRI, November 22 (thanks to all who sent this in):

An Afghan source in Kabul reports that U.S. Ambassador in Afghanistan Karl Eikenberry is holding secret talks with Taliban elements headed by the movement's foreign minister, Ahmad Mutawakil, at a secret location in Kabul. According to the source, the U.S. has offered the Taliban control of the Kandahar, Helmand, Oruzgan, Kunar and Nuristan provinces in return for a halt to the Taliban missile attacks on U.S. bases.

Source: Al-Watan (Saudi Arabia), November 22, 2009

Anything to make a buck. "Belgian in US court admits Iran arms dealing," from AFP, November 23 (thanks to all who sent this in):

AFP - A alleged Belgian arms dealer on Monday pleaded guilty to charges of conspiring to export fighter jet engines and parts to Iran, US justice officials said.

The US Justice Department said in a statement Jacques Monsieur now faced a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a 250,000-dollar fine following the guilty plea at a court in Mobile Alabama.

Monsieur was arrested in August after he arrived in New York. He faced six counts of smuggling, conspiracy, money laundering, and violating weapons trafficking laws and export controls in relation to a US trade embargo on Iran.

An Iranian national named in Monsieur's indictment, Dara Fotouhi, remains at large. According to statements from Monsieur and documents filed in the case, the two men are experienced arms dealers who have worked closely with the Iranian government to procure military items....

Jihad or copycat -- in any case, an enemy of diversity. "Suspicious Note and Package at Fort Benning," by Ashley Ball for WRBL.com, November 23 (thanks to Matt):

Fort Benning investigators are launching an investigation into a suspicious note and package found last week on post.

News 3 spoke to a post representative Sunday night, they say the note and box were found Thursday morning outside a motor pool belonging to the 197th.

Officials could not release any more information, but the Army Times is reporting the box was full of twenty hollow point shells and the note threatened a re-enactment of the massacre at Fort Hood....

We've covered the dawah buses that appeared in various cities a few months ago, but has anyone seen anything like this white truck? In "A Different Kind of Ice Cream," November 23, the estimable Baldilocks recalls a strange visitor to her Los Angeles neighborhood:

[...] At midday, I was in the back of the house in my office--blogging, of course. At some point, a noise entered my consciousness. It was a voice, a tinned one and, as I listened I became aware of three things: that the voice was male, that it was coming out of a bullhorn and that it was repeating the same phrase over and over again. However, I could not make out the words at first. [...]

The voice was coming from speakers attached to the type of truck that is sometimes used by ice cream vendors. The truck was spotlessly clean and gleaming white except for the design on the side: the huge blood-red star-and-crescent symbol of Islam.

The occupant had been exhorting the residents of this neighborhood using a two-sentence phrase, most of which I have blocked out of my memory. But I do remember one part and, really, it's the only relevant part. The occupant was advising us to...

"Embrace Islam."

By the time I gained the presence of mind to grab a camera, the gleaming white truck had moved on. I haven't seen it since.

From the time that it came to light the Major Nidal Malik Hasan basically warned the FBI and the Army of what he was--if not of what he was about to do--I've been thinking of that "ice cream" truck and what that particular vendor was selling. Aren't Jihadis required to warn their infidel foes and invite them to convert before any attack?

"Embrace Islam," he said. Left unspoken was the alternative.

Read it all.

Mamoun Fandy doesn't discuss the Koranic roots of taqiyya (3:28; 16:106), which make this something that is sometimes used by Sunnis as well as Shi'ites, and he seems to continue to be a bit naive about trusting Iran, but this is nevertheless an unusually full discussion of a concept that the mainstream media usually ignores or denies outright.

"The real reason Iran can't be trusted: As they confront Iran's nuclear aims, negotiators must mind the Shiite doctrine of deceit called 'taqiyya,'" by Mamoun Fandy for the Christian Science Monitor, November 20 (thanks to Joseph):

Can Iran be trusted?

In Iran, the teachings of Shiite Islam govern all aspects of society. And taqiyya - dissimulation and concealment - is one of the key elements of the Shiite faith. While many outsiders are surprised by Iran's concealment of its nuclear installations, those who study the Shiite faith and recognize the signs of taqiyya are not.

Many governments lie about strategic secrets, especially secrets about nuclear weapons. Witness Israel's concealment of its nuclear capabilities. And former Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping counseled his country to "hide its brightness" - for strategic reasons.

Iran's approach to its nuclear ambitions, however, is a different form of deception and denial. Certainly states do not need a religious edict to lie or obfuscate. But it helps if a state has one already in place.

What can the West do?

Western negotiators must be mindful, not only of the technical side of Iran's nuclear program, but the historical evolution of taqiyya. Such context sheds critical light on the insecurities of the Iranian regime and that of the Shiite community at large.

Taqiyya doesn't mean the West should give up all negotiations with Iran, or that Iran can never be trusted. Tehran's concealment is a means to an end: It wants nuclear weapons to provide security for the clerical regime and the Shiite community. So long as Iran feels threatened, it will deceive. But if the West can ease Tehran's anxiety with strong assurances, then negotiations will be more truthful.

How a doctrine of deceit developed

Taqiyya requires the faithful to be deceitful at times of weakness. The history of Shiites in their conflict with Sunnis is a history of the downtrodden. They have been the underdogs in Islamic history, and have had to protect both their communities and their faith from being overrun by the more numerous Sunnis. Taqiyya emerged as a response.

Taqiyya offers a license to violate the strict rules of the faith in cases of extreme pressure or threat of extinction - something not unusual in Sunni-Shiite history. The doctrine allows dissimulation in the service of self-preservation, practiced by the faithful.

Our old friend Raymond Ibrahim explains the Islamic doctrines in play in Nidal Hasan's jihad at Fort Hood, and the cost of ignoring them. "Nidal Hasan and Fort Hood: A Study in Muslim Doctrine," by Raymond Ibrahim for Pajamas Media via Middle East Forum, November 18:

One of the difficulties in discussing Islam's more troubling doctrines is that they have an anachronistic, even otherworldly, feel to them; that is, unless actively and openly upheld by Muslims, non-Muslims, particularly of the Western variety, tend to see them as abstract theory, not standard practice for today. In fact, some Westerners have difficulties acknowledging even those problematic doctrines that are openly upheld by Muslims -- such as jihad. How much more when the doctrines in question are subtle, or stealthy, in nature?

Enter Nidal Malik Hasan, the psychiatrist, U.S. Army major, and "observant Muslim who prayed daily," who recently went on a shooting rampage at Fort Hood, killing thirteen Americans (including a pregnant woman). While the media wonders in exasperation why he did it, offering the same old tired and trite reasons -- he was "picked on," he was "mentally unbalanced" -- the fact is his behavior comports well with certain Islamic doctrines. As such, it behooves Americans to take a moment and familiarize themselves with the esotericisms of Islam.

Note: Any number of ulema (Muslim scholars) have expounded the following doctrines. However, since jihadi icon and theoretician Ayman Zawahiri, al-Qaeda's number two, has also addressed many of these doctrines in his treatises, including by quoting several authoritative ulema, I will primarily rely on excerpts from The Al Qaeda Reader (AQR), for those readers who wish to source, and read in context, the following quotes in one volume.

Wala' wa Bara'

Perhaps best translated as "loyalty and enmity," this doctrine requires Muslims to maintain absolute loyalty to Islam and one another, while disavowing, even hating (e.g., Koran 60:4), all things un-Islamic -- including persons (a.k.a. "infidels"). This theme has ample support in the Koran, hadith, and rulings of the ulema, that is, usul al-fiqh (roots of Muslim jurisprudence). In fact, Zawahiri has written a fifty-page treatise entitled "Loyalty and Enmity" (AQR, p. 63-115).

One of the many Koranic verses on which he relies warns Muslims against "taking the Jews and Christians as friends and allies ... whoever among you takes them for friends and allies, he is surely one of them" (Koran 5:51), i.e., he becomes an infidel. The plain meaning of this verse alone -- other verses, such as 3:28, 4:144, and 6:40 follow this theme -- and its implications for today can hardly be clearer. According to one of the most authoritative Muslim exegetes, al-Tabari (838-923), Koran 5:51 means that the Muslim who "allies with them [non-Muslims] and enables them against the believers, that same one is a member of their faith and community" (AQR, p. 71).

Sheikh al-Islam, Ibn Taymiyya (1263-1328), takes the concept of loyalty one step further when he tells Muslims that they are "obligated to befriend a believer -- even if he is oppressive and violent towards you and must be hostile to the infidel, even if he is liberal and kind to you" (AQR, p. 84).

In ways, Hasan's life was a testimony to loyalty and enmity. According to his colleague, Dr. Finnell, Hasan "was very vocal about the war, very upfront about being a Muslim first and an American second." If his being "vocal about the war" is not enough to demonstrate unwavering loyalty to Islam, his insistence that he is first and foremost a Muslim is. Other evidence indicates that the primary factor that threw him "over the edge" was that he was being deployed to a Muslim country (Afghanistan) -- his "worst nightmare."

According to a fellow Muslim convenience store owner who often spoke with Hasan, the thought that he might injure or kill Muslims "weighed heavily on him." Hasan also counseled a fellow Muslim not to join the U.S. Army, since "Muslims shouldn't kill Muslims," again, showing where his loyalty lies. Tabari's exegesis comes to mind: the Muslim who "allies with them [non-Muslims] and enables them against the believers, that same one is a member of their faith and community," i.e., he too becomes an infidel (AQR, p. 71).

Another source who spoke with Hasan notes that "in the Koran, you're not supposed to have alliances with Jews or Christian or others, and if you are killed in the military fighting against Muslims, you will go to hell."

At any rate, surely none of this should come as a surprise. In April 2005, another Muslim serving in the U.S. Army, Hasan Akbar, was convicted of murder for killing two American soldiers and wounding fourteen in a grenade attack in Kuwait. According to the AP, "he launched the attack because he was concerned U.S. troops would kill fellow Muslims in Iraq."...

There is much, much more. Read it all.

But in the article's eleventh paragraph we learn that there is an "Islamic insurgency" in the area. Fit to print -- but just barely! "21 Filipinos Are Reported Dead in Election Violence," by Carlos H. Conde for the New York Times, November 23 (thanks to Bill):

MANILA -- In one of the worst incidents of election- related violence in the Philippines in recent memory, a group of more than 40 people -- including lawyers, journalists and relatives of a local politician -- were kidnapped by armed men Monday, and military officials said 21 of them had been killed.

Lt. Col. Romeo Brawner, a military spokesman in Manila, said 21 bodies had been recovered in Maguindanao, a province on the island of Mindanao in the southern Philippines that has often been wracked by election violence. Thirteen of the dead were women, according to the military.

Maj. Gen. Alfredo Cayton, a security official in the province, said in a radio interview that the victims had been shot. But relatives of most of the victims said at least 30 abductees had been killed and many of them beheaded by a group of about 100 men.

The victims were reportedly stopped on their way to an election office to file candidacy papers for Esmael Mangudadatu, the vice mayor of the town of Buluan, who plans to run for governor of Maguindanao. Mr. Mangudadatu said on ABS-CBN television that his wife, his sister and several other female relatives had been in the group and that he had received confirmation that they had been killed.

He said they had been filing his candidacy documents in the hope that women would not be attacked. Lawyers and reporters accompanied the group, although the military did not identify the bodies they had recovered.

"We believe more bodies are buried," Colonel Brawner said, according to Reuters. "Unfortunately, the killing happened before our troops got there."...

Attacks on candidates and supporters during campaign periods are common throughout the Philippines. In 2007 local elections, nearly 100 people were killed in such attacks.

Election violence is more extreme in Maguindanao, where an Islamic insurgency and decades-old clan wars complicate the security situation. Loose firearms, many of them in the hands of criminal groups and political warlords, have worsened the situation in this and other areas....

Giving out the wrong message. Absurd Britannia Alert: "Spared jail, the forced marriage case father who told wife: 'I'll cut out your tongue,'" by James Tozer in the Daily Mail, November 19 (thanks to all who sent this in):

A muslim who threatened to kill his wife and cut out her tongue after she blocked an arranged marriage for their daughter has been banned from seeing his family.

In the first prosecution of its kind, Aurang Zeb has been convicted of breaching a Forced Marriage Protection Order taken out to stop him taking Rozina Akhtar out of Britain to marry.

But despite his chilling threats he escaped imprisonment and was given community service. Last night campaigners condemned the sentence, saying it sent out the wrong message.

'There's clear evidence that this man threatened to kill his wife, so how can he be given community service?' said Shazia Qayum of Karma Nirvana, a group which helps victims of forced marriage.

'He should have been locked up. The law just isn't strong enough at the moment, and it's time the Government made forced marriage a criminal offence.'...

Yes, and there is much more to be done as well.

With Obama in the White House and Holder at the Justice Department, the Danes are on their own, and they know it. "Danish Politicians Want Stricter Checks on American Travelers," from Politiken via Spiegel, November 20 (thanks to Joel):

Although Danish police are currently able to require airlines to provide passenger lists, the Danish People's Party wants a more intensive cooperation with American authorities.

Two parties in Denmark's parliament are calling for stricter checks on American travelers to the country out of terrorism concerns. Danish Justice Minister Brian Mikkelsen agrees that restrictions may be necessary.

The conservative Danish People's Party and leftist Social Liberals in Denmark are calling for increased checks on Americans wishing to travel to Denmark, including the introduction of visa requirements and pre-travel disclosures.

"We have had to admit that the Americans have not been as effective in their anti-terrorism efforts as we thought and that the threat against Denmark has grown," says Danish People's Party Justice Spokesman Peter Skaarup.

According to Visit Denmark almost 500,000 Americans visit the country each year. One of those who twice this year availed himself of easy entry into the country was a man recently arrested in Chicago on charges of conspiracy to carry out an attack on the Jyllands-Posten newspaper....

Obama is on the run. He has spent the past year in many separate, long trips all over the place. In Great Britain, he gave Gordon Brown some DVDs and Michele Obama in chummy fashion -- nobody here but us queens -- put her arm on the Queen's shoulder. In Russia, Obama decided to hold a Town Meeting to which both dissidents and members of the government, that is, of the K.G.B., were invited. He thus effectively shut up the dissidents and appalled all Russian liberals, who were distinctly unimpressed with his understanding of their situation.

In China, he received nothing for all his attempts at "dialogue" with others far more worldly and ruthless than he -- not once did he suggest, for example, that the American government, or American consumers, could stop buying Chinese goods in an organized fashion, if China did not cooperate on Iran and North Korea, though that conceivable threat should have been an obvious one to slyly make.

Then of course he went to Cairo, where he delivered a speech on Islam. Though that speech contained more grotesque misinformation about Islam -- its texts, its tenets, its attitudes, its atmospherics -- than any speech by any non-Muslim leader in history, it did not even have the intended effect. The intended effect was to win over Muslims. Yet they are -- our "allies" that is, never mind our declared enemies -- just as intransigent, just as corrupt, just as determined to use us and inveigle as much aid as they can, just as unwavering in their desire to create the conditions that will inexorably lead to the disappearance of the tiny non-Muslim nation-state of Israel.

International pressure sometimes works. Some unexpected good news in an update on this story: "Freedom for imprisoned Christian 'apostates,'" by Chelsea Schilling for WorldNetDaily, November 19 (thanks to all who sent this in):

After millions of prayers and numerous petitions from around the world, two Iranian women jailed for no other reason than being Christian were released from a Tehran prison today.

Maryam Rustampoor, 27, and Marzieh Amirizadeh, 30, were imprisoned for 259 days - since March 5. They were repeatedly told to recant their faith and that they would be executed as "apostates," solely because they are Christians.

But now Open Doors USA has confirmed the women have been released from the notorious Evin prison with no bail, a rarity for Christians released from prison in Iran. [...]

Compass Direct News noted that the women may still face charges of proselytizing and "apostasy," or leaving Islam.

An Iranian source told Compass the Iranian government faced intense public pressure for imprisoning the women.

"It was from the international pressure, and also the government couldn't handle it anymore," said the source. "Already their detention was illegal. At the same time, the government wasn't ready to prosecute them for apostasy. They already have many headaches. They cannot handle everything."

According to Facebook groups that support the women, Rustampoor and Amirizadeh had been participating in religious gatherings and handing out Bibles prior to their detention. Iranian security officials searched their apartments in March, confiscated their Bibles and arrested them.

As WND reported, Rustampoor and Amirizadeh appeared before a court in Iran and were charged with "crimes of apostasy, and propagation of the Christian faith." In a display of raw courage, they told a government prosecutor that not only are they Christian, it is up to God, not a bureaucrat, to whom He talks.

According to Elam, a dramatic part of the hearing came when they refused to deny their Christian faith.

They explained that God had convicted them through the Holy Spirit.

"It is impossible for God to speak with humans," Haddad, a deputy prosecutor identified only by his surname, stated.

"Are you questioning whether God is Almighty?" Amirizadeh asked him.

To which Haddad then replied. "You are not worthy for God to speak to you."

"It is God, and not you, who determines if I am worthy," she said.

Haddad earlier had asked if the women were Christian.

"We love Jesus," they replied.

"You were Muslims and now you have become Christians," Haddad stated.

"We were born in Muslim families, but we were not Muslims," the women said.

The deputy prosecutor asked about their regrets, and they said, "We have no regrets."

"You should renounce your faith verbally and in written form," he warned.

They refused....

Free speech panel at Restoration: McCarthy, Emerson, Spencer

Andrew McCarthy, with whom I had the pleasure and honor of participating in a panel discussion on free speech along with Steve Emerson yesterday at Restoration Weekend, explains why moving the trial of the 9/11 masterminds to New York is so wrongheaded. "How Obama is courting danger: Civilian trials set back the war on terror," by Andrew C. McCarthy in the New York Daily News, November 22:

The prosecution team I led in 1995 convicted the notorious Blind Sheikh and 11 others for conspiring to wage a terrorist war that included the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and attempting (unsuccessfully) to attack New York City landmarks.

Consequently, some observers seem puzzled that I'm a vocal critic of civilian trials for our terrorist enemies. But they are confusing litigation success with national-security success. So is the Obama administration in deciding to transfer Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and four other 9/11 plotters to federal court in Manhattan.

We certainly can convict terrorists in civilian court. We've done it too many times for that to be a serious issue. It's also indisputable that the U.S attorney's office in Manhattan, where I was privileged to work for 18 years, is without peer in the expertise needed for such complex prosecutions. I have every confidence the Justice Department could convict KSM & Co.

The problem on this ride is not the destination; it's the journey.

We are in a hot war, overwhelmingly authorized by Congress, against vicious enemies still plotting attacks that could dwarf the carnage of 9/11. To deal with war crimes, Congress in 2006 endorsed military commission trials, which have a rich pedigree in our history, are fully consistent with our Constitution, and better enable us to withhold intelligence methods and sources.

Indeed, the Obama administration concedes that military commissions are sound: Attorney General Eric Holder has announced that the bombers of the warship Cole will face one.

From a legal standpoint, it makes no sense to try the Al Qaeda quintet in civilian court. Eleven months ago, these men were prepared to plead guilty in their military commission and proceed to execution. Yet the Obama administration pulled the plug on that commission. This was a transparent sop to the left, which wants to judicialize war-fighting and is repulsed by the intelligence-centric, prevention-first counterterrorism strategy that has protected us for eight years from a reprise of the 9/11 atrocities.

Now, our enemies will be given a full-blown civilian trial with all the rights of the American citizens they are sworn to kill. They will get a year or more to sift through our national defense secrets. They will have wide latitude to turn the case into a trial of the Bush administration - publicizing information about anti-terrorism tactics that leftist lawyers will exploit in their quest for war crimes prosecutions in foreign courts against current and former U.S. officials.

In the military system, we could have denied them access to classified information, forcing them to accept military lawyers with security clearances who could see such intelligence but not share it with our enemies. In civilian court, the Supreme Court has held an accused has an absolute right to conduct his own defense. If KSM asserts that right - as he tried to do in the military commission - he will have a strong argument that we must surrender relevant, top-secret information directly to him. And we know that indicted terrorists share what they learn with their confederates on the outside....

Read it all.

Here is video of the main presentation and the question-and-answer session of Saturday's panel at Restoration Weekend on the Rifqa Bary case, featuring Pamela Geller of Atlas Shrugs and me. (Video thanks to Pamela.)

Rifqa's inexcusable isolation continues. Show her you care: send her a Christmas card. Details here.

Of course they do. An update on this story. "Sept. 11 Defendant Seeks a Trial, and a Platform," by Scott Shane for the New York Times, November 21:

The five men the Justice Department has said will be charged in the attacks of Sept. 11 intend to plead not guilty so they can express their political and religious views during a trial, the lawyer for one of the men said on Saturday.

The lawyer, Scott L. Fenstermaker, said that during a meeting at the Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, prison on Tuesday, his client, Ali Abd al-Aziz Ali, expressed the desire for a trial despite his intention to admit his role in the attacks and seek "martyrdom" through execution.

"He acknowledges that he helped plan the 9/11 attacks, and he says he's looking forward to dying," Mr. Fenstermaker said of Mr. Ali. But he said he expected Mr. Ali and his co-defendants to plead not guilty "so they can have a trial and try to get their message out."

Mr. Ali, also known as Ammar al-Baluchi, is a nephew of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the chief organizer of the 2001 plot. Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. announced on Nov. 13 that Mr. Mohammed, Mr. Ali and three other alleged 9/11 plotters would be tried in federal criminal court. Mr. Fenstermaker said Mr. Ali told him all five men would seek a trial.

The report of Mr. Ali's comments may add to complaints from critics of Mr. Holder's decision who favored military trials in Cuba and have said a criminal trial will provide terrorists with a propaganda platform. Defenders of the move say military commissions, too, would have given the defendants a public showcase for their views.

The Justice Department did not respond to a request for comment.

Mr. Fenstermaker, who represents Mr. Ali in a civil case challenging his detention and visited him for three days last week, gave The New York Times a translation from Arabic of a two-page letter written by Mr. Mohammed, Mr. Ali, and a third 9/11 defendant, Walid Muhammad Salih bin Attash to the military court at Guantánamo in September.

The letter was written to say that the men had no objection to a 60-day continuance in military commission proceedings. But the three men used it to condemn the United States' military presence in Muslim countries and its support for Israel, a preview of the kind of thing they might be expected to say in court.

"We were arrested in 2003 and we spent three years moving around between the black sites in the 'Dark Ages' of Bush, then we were transferred to the island of oppression, torture and terror, Guantánamo, in 2006," the letter said. The phrase 'Dark Ages' was in English in the original, the translator noted.

The letter goes on to excoriate President Obama, describing the current era as "the black ages of Barack" and calling him "a liar." The three men offer greetings to Osama bin Laden; his deputy in Al Qaeda, Ayman al-Zawahiri; and the head of the Afghan Taliban, Mullah Mohammed Omar.

Since their first appearances in military court at Guantánamo, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and the other 9/11 defendants have indicated that they would admit their role in the terrorist plot and seek to be executed. But when they are indicted and brought to New York City for arraignment, as expected sometime in the next two months, they will have the option afforded any criminal defendant of pleading not guilty and standing trial....

An update on this story. "Four charged with terror offences," from BBC News, November 22:

Four men have been charged with terror-related offences after raids last week, Greater Manchester Police have said.

Four men have been charged with terror-related offences after raids last week, Greater Manchester Police have said.

Israr Malik, 21, of Fallowfield, Manchester, has been charged with intending to commit acts of terrorism, namely violent jihad.

Huh. The semantics police let one slip by.

Three others face charges of intending to assist others to commit terrorism.

They are Munir Farooqi, 52, of Longsight, Haris Farooqi, 26, of Levenshulme, both in Manchester, and Matthew Newton, 27, of Stalybridge.

Munir Farooqi, the father of Haris Farooqi, was also charged with three counts of soliciting or encouraging another to murder on 6 July, 15 October and 16 October this year.

'Low-key'

All four are due to appear at City of Westminster Magistrates' Court in London on Monday.

A fifth man, aged 62, from Deane, Bolton, was released without charge. He is understood to be a Muslim cleric.

Unarmed officers from the North West Counter Terrorism Unit detained the men in what was described as a "low-key operation", following a 15-month investigation into alleged terrorist activity overseas.

About 120 people took part in a protest over the raids outside Greater Manchester Police's headquarters on Sunday.

A force spokesman said it recognised the community had some concerns regarding the investigation.

The track record of the two appointees, taken together with the administration's own ability to distinguish "moderates" from "extremists" inspires anything but confidence. After all, the Fort Hood jihadist was himself a member of a panel advising the incoming Obama administration.

At the heart of this issue are the politically correct articles of faith that few dare blaspheme, which insist that there is nothing problematic about Islam's core texts and teachings regarding warfare and the rights of women and unbelievers, and that there exists a well-defined "moderate" Islam that the West can work with. The problem is, no one ever stops to define "moderate," for fear that articulating actual standards may cause offense.

"Devout Muslims In Key Homeland Security Posts," by Judicialwatch via Right Side News, November 22:

Days after a devout Muslim terrorized a U.S. Army base in Texas several news reports remind that two key Homeland Security posts are occupied by equally devout Muslims, one of them a former Los Angeles deputy mayor who eliminated a crucial program that tracked terrorist activities in the city.

Earlier this year President Obama appointed Arif Alikhan to be the nation's Assistant Secretary for Policy Development at the Department of Homeland Security and Kareem Shora to the agency's influential advisory council, which provides recommendations and advice directly to the Secretary of Homeland Security.

Alikhan, who leads a Homeland Security team responsible for developing policy issues to secure the country against terrorism, has referred to the renowned terrorist organization Hezbollah as a "liberation movement" and was responsible for killing a Los Angeles Police project that monitored terrorist activities in the city's notoriously radical mosques. The defunct Muslim terror tracking plan was designed to identify hotbeds of extremism in an area where several locals offered the September 11 hijackers support.

Shora was the head of a well-known Arab organization whose officials refer to anti-U.S. jihadists as heroes. As executive director of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), Shora had close ties to radical Ivy League professor Rashid Khalidi, a Palestinian terror supporter who has reportedly worked on behalf of the extremist Palestine Liberation Organization....

Cultural genocide is a consequence of jihadist warfare, as the supremacist impulse to impose Islamic law cannot tolerate any competition, especially from the non-Islamic past, or time of jahiliyyah. Ensuring submission requires extinguishing a populace's attachment to -- or curiosity about -- its prior existence, unless it can be subsumed in a narrative leading inevitably to Islam.

Hence the Orwellian drive here, and in the destruction of shrines in Saudi Arabia and Somalia, and among those eager to rewrite the history of the Temple Mount, to erase the past when it so rudely contradicts the party line.

"Taliban suffocate Pakistan Buddhist heritage," by Sajjad Tarakzai for Agence France-Presse, November 22:

TAXILA, Pakistan -- Archaeologists warn that the Taliban are destroying Pakistan's ancient Gandhara heritage and rich Buddhist legacy as pilgrimage and foreign research dries up in the country's northwest.

"Militants are the enemies of culture," said Abdul Nasir Khan, curator of Taxila Museum, one of the premier archaeological collections in Pakistan.

"It is very clear that if the situation carries on like this, it will destroy our culture and will destroy our cultural heritage," he told AFP.

Taxila, a small town around 20 kilometres (13 miles) south of Islamabad, is one of Pakistan's foremost archaeological attractions given its history as a centre of Buddhist learning from the 5th century BC to the 2nd century.

Violence is on the rise in Pakistan as Taliban bombers and gunmen strike with increasing frequency and intensity in the cities of North West Frontier Province and around the capital Islamabad.

"Even in Taxila we don't feel safe. The local administration has warned us about a possible attack on this museum. We have taken some extra security precautions but they aren't sufficient and we lack funds," said Khan.

"For weeks we don't get even a single foreign visitor. If visitors don't come, if sites are not preserved and protected, if research stops, what do you think will be the future of archaeology?" he said.

In March 2001, Taliban militants in neighbouring Afghanistan blew up two 1,500-year-old Bamiyan Buddha statues in defiance of international appeals.

The Islamist militia has since spread into Pakistan. Their opposition to music, art, dance, girls' education and idolatry makes archaeologists fear that Pakistani Buddhist relics are in the eye of the storm.

Italian archaeologists were active in Pakistan's northwest Swat valley from 1956 until they reluctantly discontinued work in 2007 after Taliban fighters led by radical cleric Maulana Fazlullah rose up demanding sharia law.

"It is not planned to carry on any research activity," Luca Olivieri, co-director the Italian archaeological mission in Pakistan, told AFP by email.

After 17 years as curator in Swat, Khan took no risks. With the Taliban killing and bombing their way through the valley, the museum closed in 2008 and he evacuated the most priceless antiquities.

That September, the Taliban twice tried to blow up 7th century Buddhist relics -- damaging a rock engraved with images of Buddha that for centuries had been a pilgrimage site....

Read it all.

Maybe these are the sort of dolls Muhammad's pre-pubescent wife was playing with:

"Narrated 'Aisha: I used to play with the dolls in the presence of the Prophet, and my girl friends also used to play with me. When Allah's Apostle used to enter (my dwelling place) they used to hide themselves, but the Prophet would call them to join and play with me. (The playing with the dolls and similar images is forbidden, but it was allowed for 'Aisha at that time, as she was a little girl, not yet reached the age of puberty.)" -- Bukhari 8.73.151

"It's Barbie in a burkha: World-famous doll gets a makeover to go under the hammer for 50th anniversary," from the Daily Mail, November 21 (thanks to all who sent this in):

One of the world's most famous children's toys, Barbie, has been given a makeover - wearing a burkha.

Wearing the traditional Islamic dress, the iconic doll is going undercover for a charity auction in connection with Sotheby's for Save The Children.

More than 500 Barbies went on show yesterday at the Salone dei Cinquecento, in Florence, Italy.

Makers Mattel are backing the exhibition which is the work of Italian designer Eliana Lorena.

The auction is part of Barbie celebrations for her 50th anniversary this year. The UK's biggest Barbie fan Angela Ellis, 35, has a collection of more than 250 dolls....

Acting upon a rumor. "Egypt Muslims burn Christian shops: police," from AFP, November 21 (thanks to Mackie):

CAIRO -- Hundreds of Muslim protesters on Saturday burnt Christian-owned shops in southern Egypt and attacked a police station where they believed a Christian accused of raping a Muslim girl was being held, a police official said.

Police repelled the demonstrators in the town of Farshut using tear gas and also arrested 60 people during the clashes in which seven Coptic Christian-owned shops were destroyed, the official said.

The protesters hurled stones at the police station after they heard that a Coptic Christian man accused of kidnapping and sexually assaulting a 12-year-old Muslim was being held there, he said....

One would have thought that the Vast Majority of Peaceful Muslims would rise up and not allow Saeed to preach. But once again, no such luck. Tiny Minority of Extremists Alert: "'Mastermind' of Mumbai attack preaches at mosque in Lahore," by Zahid Hussain in The Times, November 21 (thanks to Kris):

Come Friday prayers in Lahore, it is not hard to find the alleged mastermind of the Mumbai attacks.

Hafiz Mohammed Saeed is neither in hiding nor in jail. The founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba is instead delivering a sermon to thousands of devoteees at the Jamia al-Qadsia mosque -- one of the biggest in the city.

"God has promised to make Muslims a superpower if we follow the right path," Mr Saeed told his followers, who listened in rapt silence.

Outside, policemen with machineguns stood guard and bearded security men frisked all those entering. "Our rulers are the slave of America and have sold their conscience for a few dollars," continued the diminutive former university teacher, his long beard dyed red with henna.

In imitation of Muhammad.

Timothy Roemer, the US Ambassador in Delhi, backed Indian calls this week for Pakistan to bring Mr Saeed and six other Mumbai suspects to justice. "We need to see actions and results from Pakistan," he said after India handed Pakistan a seventh dossier of evidence on the Mumbai attacks.

Analysts say that the problem lies with Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency, which backed Mr Saeed when he founded Lashkar-e-Taiba in 1990 to fight Indian rule in the disputed region of Kashmir. Under pressure from the US, Pakistan banned the group in 2002, but it continued to operate under the banner of Jamaat-ud Dawa, which Mr Saeed also founded and calls a charity organisation....

Pakistan's #1 export takes root in Italy. "Mumbai attack suspects arrested by Italian police," from BBC News, November 21:

Italian police have arrested two Pakistanis suspected of providing logistical support for last year's attacks in Mumbai.

The father and son were detained in an early morning raid in the northern city of Brescia, police said.

They are accused of supplying cash from their money transfer agency to pay for an internet phone account used by people in contact with the attackers.

More than 170 people, nine of them gunmen, died in the November attacks.

Mohammad Yaqub Janjua, 60, and Aamer Yaqub Janjua, 31, are accused of aiding and abetting international terrorism as well as illegal financial activity.

They were identified after leads from India and the FBI, police said....

Last Tuesday, while I was speaking at NYU, Leftist students created a diversion and threw pies at me and the other speaker, Elan Journo (they missed me, but got Journo on the shoulder).

In brief:

1. This is assault.
2. This shows the utter intellectual bankruptcy of the Left. They can't answer arguments, so they try to shut down the speakers instead.
3. This shows the Left's thuggery and lack of commitment to free speech and free inquiry.
4. The choice of pies as weapons is intended to ridicule the victims, even if the pies were filled with noxious and/or poisonous substances, thus accomplishing not only the disruption of the event but the portrayal of the victim as a clown, not worth taking seriously (which of course is one of the Alinsky rules).

Here are two accounts of the event (thanks to James):

"NYC: Racist Warmonger Gets Pied," from Infoshop News, November 21:

NYU students disrupted a university event this evening featuring Robert Spencer from "Jihad Watch" and Elan Journo from the "Ayn Rand Institute for Individual Freedom." Students called out the panelists for their Islamophobic, warmongering hate-rhetoric, shouting and launching pies at the speakers. One student was detained, and several were escorted out of the building.

Ironically enough, the "Islamophobic, warmongering hate-rhetoric" that prompted the little Stalinist to stand up and start shouting was my quoting Maulana Maududi, the internationally influential Pakistani jihad theorist.

The event, entitled "The Jihad Still Threatens America," encouraged viscous Islamophobia and promoted aggressive military intervention in majority Muslim nations.

"Viscous" Islamophobia, as opposed to the usual clear and thin Islamophobia.

Speaker Elan Journo actively promotes devastating attacks on Iran, claiming that "victory in World War II required flattening cities, firebombing factories, shops and homes, devastating vast tracts of Germany and Japan.... Victory today requires the same: smashing Iran's totalitarian regime and thus demoralizing the Islamist movement and its many supporters, so that they, too, abandon their cause as futile." Fear-mongering comments such as these promote the expansion of US imperialism, and contribute to the wave of anti-Muslim hate that is sweeping our nation....

Where? What anti-Muslim hate? And note that Muslim hate and terror appears to be just fine with these guys.

While it is disturbing to see hate being expressed on such institutional levels on our campuses, the students' refusal to be silent is an inspiration to us all.

Yes, violence in the name of suppressing free speech sure is an inspiration.

Here is the other, apparently mocking the self-contradictory stance of the "tolerancemongers":

"NYU Tolerancemongers Attack Intolerance With Pie," by Hamilton Nolan for Gawker, November 19:

Last week, Forbes columnist and NYU professor Tunku Varadarajan won our Outrage-off for his column about crazy Muslim murderers lurking amongst us. NYU radicals have struck back with a revolutionary pie-ing of Varadarajan's Islamaphobic allies!

A member of the NYU revolutionary vanguard alerted us to the pie-ing, and her note is reprinted in full below. The victims were Elan Journo of the Ayn Rand Center for Individual Rights, and Robert Spencer from "Jihad Watch," both of whom were there to talk about how there is apparently a Jihad, threatening America? Did you know about this?

Anyhow the kids were not about to let this intolerance of opposing viewpoints stand, so they interrupted the guys with a pie assault. Spencer himself writes about his close brush with whipped cream here. One eyewitness account says the two speakers "ended up largely unscathed." Our tipster tells us that the revolutionary cameraperson assigned to film the pie-ing for propaganda purposes "was tackled by security at the very beginning and didn't get any footage."

How are we supposed to repel the Jihadists if our military-age youth can't even stage a proper pie attack? Very troubling indeed....

The bill is full of tolerance, however: it allows non-Muslims to worship in private homes.

This is one of those stories where it becomes bitterly ironic -- those who report on this will be called "Islamophobic," but no one will particularly mind that the Maldives is systematically stamping out the freedom of religion in the name of Islam.

Islamic Tolerance Alert: "Islamic President requests ruling on non-Muslim worship," by Ahmed Naish for Minivan News, November 21:

President Mohamed Nasheed said yesterday he would seek advice from religious scholars on Islam's position on allowing non-Muslims to worship in an Islamic community.

In his radio weekly address, the president said the constitution was "very clear" that laws contrary to Islam could not be made or enacted.

"It has become very important for me to find out what Islamic sharia says about not allowing foreigners who want to worship other religions in the Maldives," he said.

"When this bill comes from the People's Majlis for the president to ratify, the question before me will be what is the ruling in Islamic sharia on people of other religions living in an Islamic community to worship?"

The president said he needed an answer to the question before ratifying the bill. "When I know, it will be easier for me to make a decision on ratify the bill before it becomes law," he said.

Banned

Last week, a bill proposed by independent MP Ibrahim Muttalib Fares-Maathoda on outlawing places of worship for non-Muslims was sent to committee for further review with unanimous consent of all MPs who participated in the vote.

At the sitting, Muttalib said he learned that inquiries had been made with the government on establishing places of worship for expatriates and there was no law to forbid it.

"The other thing we have to think about today is that the government is considering establishing wedding tourism in the country and this will indirectly set up churches in the country," he said.

Horror of horrors!

While the bill states that foreigners or expatriates will be allowed to worship in the privacy of their homes, involving Maldivians or encouraging them to participate will be an offence.

The bill specifies a jail term of three to five years or a fine of between Rf36,000 (US$2,800) and Rf60,000 (US$4,669) for those in violation of the law.

Several MPs called for longer jail terms and higher fines, while others said foreigners in violation of the law should be deported.

But, some MPs argued the law was unnecessary as the constitution states that Islam shall be the basis of all laws and non-Muslims cannot be citizens.

Most MPs said laws were needed to seal off all avenues to freedom of religion being established in the Maldives.

Rights for Muslims

Mohamed Shaheem Ali Saeed, state minister for Islamic affairs, told Minivan News today the president's office had not officially asked for the ministry's advice.

"But the matter has been sent to the Fiqh academy and they will issue a decree on it," he said. Shaheem said he believed laws should be made to protect Islam and strengthen Maldivians' faith.

"Right now, Muslims aren't getting their rights," he said. "For example, there's no way for students to pray at schools, you can't get some jobs if you wear the burqa and there are some jobs where you can't grow beards."

He added the ministry had drafted regulations under the Religious Unity Act of 1994 together with the police and sent it to the president's office.

The regulations will be published in the government gazette next week, he continued, and would provide a legal framework to protect Islam.

Speaking to Minivan News today, Abdullah bin Mohamed Ibrahim, president of religious NGO Salaf Jamiyya, said he believed the bill was necessary to safeguard Islam.

"What the president said doesn't match what was in the bill," he said. "The bill is about making it illegal to build places of worship for non-Muslims. It doesn't make it illegal for foreigners to pray in their rooms or houses."

Abdullah said the association had information that Christian missionaries were trying to infiltrate the country and proselytize in the Maldives.

"I believe the bill is essential because the constitution does not forbid building places of worship," he said.

Another update on this story. "Sears Tower bomb plot leader Narseal Batiste jailed," from BBC News, November 20:

The leader of a group which plotted to blow up the Sears Tower in Chicago has been sentenced to 13-and-a-half years in prison.

Narseal Batiste, 35, also planned to bomb FBI offices, along with four other men who have already been jailed.

Prosecutors said the men conspired to provide material support to al-Qaeda but defence lawyers said the plot was never serious.

Prosecutors in Miami had sought the maximum 70-year sentence for Batiste.

But he maintained he only went along with the plot to seize the $50,000 (£30,000) offered by an undercover FBI agent posing as an al-Qaeda operative.

The men, most of whom have Haitian backgrounds, were arrested in Miami in 2006.

They had been caught on tape by the FBI informant discussing plans to cause an anti-government insurrection.

Batiste was heard on audio and video tape saying they should start a "full ground war" that would "kill all the devils".

'No threat'

Sentencing Batiste, US District Judge Joan Lenard said: "You've done great harm to yourself, your family, the young men who were your followers, and you've violated the trust of your country."

Batiste apologised for the plot in court, saying he had "wanted respect"....

Fiend, er, Friend and Ally Update. "EXCLUSIVE: Taliban chief hides in Pakistan," by Eli Lake, Sara A. Carter, and Barbara Slavin for the Washington Times, November 20 (thanks to Alan):

Mullah Mohammed Omar, the one-eyed leader of the Afghan Taliban, has fled a Pakistani city on the border with Afghanistan and found refuge from potential U.S. attacks in the teeming Pakistani port city of Karachi with the assistance of Pakistan's intelligence service, three current and former U.S. intelligence officials said.

Mullah Omar, who hosted Osama bin Laden and other al Qaeda leaders when they plotted the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, had been residing in Quetta, where the Afghan Taliban shura -- or council -- had moved from Kandahar after the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in 2001.

Two senior U.S. intelligence officials and one former senior CIA officer told The Washington Times that Mullah Omar traveled to Karachi last month after the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. He inaugurated a new senior leadership council in Karachi, a city that so far has escaped U.S. and Pakistani counterterrorism campaigns, the officials said.

The officials, two of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the topic, said Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency, the ISI, helped the Taliban leaders move from Quetta, where they were exposed to attacks by unmanned U.S. drones.

The development reinforces suspicions that the ISI, which helped create the Taliban in the 1990s to expand Pakistani influence in Afghanistan, is working against U.S. interests in Afghanistan as the Obama administration prepares to send more U.S. troops to fight there.

Bruce Riedel, a CIA veteran and analyst on al Qaeda and the Taliban, confirmed that Mullah Omar had been spotted in Karachi recently.

"Some sources claim the ISI decided to move him further from the battlefield to keep him safe" from U.S. drone attacks, said Mr. Riedel, who headed the Obama administration's review of policy for Afghanistan and Pakistan last spring. "There are huge madrassas in Karachi where Mullah Omar could easily be kept."

Mr. Riedel also noted that there had been few suicide bombings in Karachi, which he attributed to the Taliban and al Qaeda not wanting to "foul their own nest."

A U.S. counterterrorism official said, "There are indications of some kind of bleed-out of Taliban types from Quetta to Karachi, but no one should assume at this point that the entire Afghan Taliban leadership has packed up its bags and headed for another Pakistani city."

A second senior intelligence officer who specializes in monitoring al Qaeda said U.S. intelligence had confirmed Mullah Omar's move through both electronic and human sources as well as intelligence from an unnamed allied service....

After this post, I decided to write to Umar Lee (with whom I've had some interaction in the past) and ask for an interview. Here is our exchange, in which he endorses the death penalty for apostasy in principle, just not at the moment in America. At very least, his honesty about Islamic teaching is a refreshing departure from the deceptions and diversions of Honest Ibe Hooper, Brave Ahmed Rehab, and their ilk:

1. Spencer to Umar Lee:

Umar

How you doing? It's been a long time. I hope you're well.

I've read your post on Muslims in the military with great interest, and am posting about it now at Jihad Watch.

Would you be up for an interview with me on this and related issues?

I look forward to hearing from you.

Your friend as ever,
Robert Spencer

2. Umar Lee to Spencer:

Mr. Spencer, i do not have time to grant interviews at this time. Regarding my position on muslims in the military i stand by the fatawa posted on my blog and that is why i encorage all muslims in america to not join. My feelings on the ft hood shooting and brother nidal hassan will be in the next edition of muslim quarterly magazine in an article titled why the fort got hood.

3. Spencer to Umar Lee:

Thanks for your kind and informative note. I respect the fact that you base your position on Sharia norms as delineated by the Qur'an and Sunnah. In line with that, I was wondering about what you thought on a tangential but related matter: in light of all the publicity that the Rifqa Bary case has gotten, and the many statements by Muslim leaders in the U.S. denying that Islam mandates death for apostates, do you uphold the traditional death penalty for apostasy as taught by Muhammad and by all the madhahib?

Thanks and regards
Robert

4. Umar Lee to Spencer:

Im not that up on that case. What i do know is we live in a very imoral society and teens are bombarded with negative messages. Any teen girl who is not a serial fornicator is seen as square and if she has good muslim parents making sure she is not acting like a ho she may rebel. I am not a scholar but the ruling on apostacy is clear. In an ideal world the apostate would face death but there is no authority to implement the shariah in america so no she shouldnt be killed and besides this girl may very well be making the whole thing up.

Ace videographer Dave Miles kindly sent along these superb videos from the Rifqa Rally for human rights and religious freedom, Columbus, Ohio, November 16.

The identity of the masked gunman is not yet known, but the number of threats against Fr. Sysoyev that already existed because of his work among Muslims is itself noteworthy. And Russian prosecutors are also proceeding with the theory that "religious motives" are behind the murder.

"Russian Priest Gunned Down in Church," by Alexander Marquardt for ABC News, November 20 (thanks to all who sent this in):

A Russian Orthodox priest known for his missionary work among Muslims was gunned down in his Moscow church, Russian officials said Friday.

Thirty-four-year-old Daniil Sysoyev was shot at least four times at in the head and chest in the Church of St. Thomas by a masked gunman Thursday night, according to the Prosecutor General's Investigative Committee. The assailant also wounded the church's choirmaster, Vladimir Strelbitsky.

Sysoyev died on the way to the hospital. Strelbitsky is in critical condition.

"The main theory is that religious motives are behind the crime," a prosecutor's office spokesman told reporters.

Sysoyev routinely denounced Islam and actively reached out to Muslims and various religious sects to convert them. In a recent interview with a Russian newspaper, Sysoyev boasted that he had baptized 80 Muslims.

But with his ambitious missionary work came death threats.

"They've threatened to cut my head off 14 times," Sysoyev told Komsomolskaya Pravda in the interview. "The FSB [Federal Security Service] got in touch with me a year ago to say they had uncovered a murder plot against me."

He told a television interviewer in February 2008 that he considered it a sin not to preach to Muslims, according to the Interfax news agency.

Sysoyev was originally from the Russian Republic of Tatarstan, where a large majority of the population is Muslim. He published books titled "An Orthodox Response to Islam" and "Marrying a Muslim," which criticized the faith and drew fierce responses from Muslim organizations.

'No Reason to Kill'

Russia's Council of Muftis strongly denounced the murder Friday, saying differences should be worked out in a civilized way....

Still another "misunderstander" of Islam. Funny how that keep happening. "Sixth area Somali man is indicted in probe," by James Walsh, Richard Meryhew and Allie Shah for the Star Tribune, November 20:

A 24-year-old local Somali man has been indicted in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis on charges of conspiring to provide support to terrorists.

Omer Abdi Mohamed, an unemployed employment counselor and father of a 2-month-old boy, was indicted on charges of conspiracy to "kill, kidnap, maim or injure" people in foreign countries, according to an indictment filed Tuesday but made public Thursday.

Mohamed, of Minneapolis, is the sixth Somali man with local ties to be charged in connection with a two-year-old federal counterterrorism investigation aimed at finding out who recruited as many as 20 area men of Somali descent to return to their homeland and train and fight with the terrorist group, Al-Shabaab. The probe is considered to be one of the most sweeping international counterterrorism investigations since Sept. 11, 2001.

When asked if investigators allege that Mohamed was a recruiter, Peter Wold, his attorney, said: "In the end, I think you'll see that certainly wasn't the case."

The indictment released Thursday provides few details, but it links Mohamed to a broad conspiracy involving other men who returned to Somalia to fight or train with terrorists, including Shirwa Ahmed, a 26-year-old Minneapolis man believed to be the first U.S. suicide bomber.

According to the indictment, others connected to the conspiracy include: Salah Osman Ahmed, Kamal Said Hassan, Ahmed Ali Omar, Abdifatah Isse and Khalid Mohamud Abshir -- all of whom left the United States in December 2007 with a final destination of Somalia. Ahmed, Hassan and Isse all have pleaded guilty to the same charges Mohamed faces.

Wold said after the hearing Thursday that his client knew the other men through the mosque where they prayed. Isse Hussein, Mohamed's cousin, said Mohamed prayed "a lot" at Abubakar as-Saddique Islamic Center in south Minneapolis. [...]

A Minneapolis woman who described herself as an acquaintance of Mohamed said he was known by the nickname "Galeyr" and was good friends with Salah Ahmed. She said Mohamed also was related to Adarus Abdullah Ali, 25, who admitted in federal court this month to lying to a grand jury about knowing men who went to Somalia to fight.

The woman, who was close friends with Mohamoud Hassan, a local Somali who was killed in Mogadishu in September, said Mohamed and Ahmed and some of the other men who left Minnesota for Somalia often spent time at Abubakar, the largest Somali mosque in the state. [...]

The woman said she doesn't know for certain why all the men left for Somalia, but said she believes it's rooted in a combination of patriotic feelings toward the Somali homeland and religious fervor. [...]

Minneapolis has been at the center of the international counterterrorism investigation since the first of up to 20 young Somali men from Minnesota began quietly leaving to return to their homeland. In most cases, the men left without telling their families or friends of their plans.

The focus of the investigation has been uncovering the identities of those who recruited the men and financed their return to Somalia to train and fight.

The men are believed to have been recruited by Al-Shabaab, which has been designated by the U.S. State Department as a terrorist organization with links to Al-Qaida.

Since October 2008, five of the Minnesotans who left have died. A sixth man, a Muslim convert from Minneapolis, also is thought to have been killed.

It's not the whole truth. It's not "Fort Hood massacre was jihad," although even that word comes up. It's not an acknowledgment that the attack was motivated by the same murderous ideology that took down the Twin Towers and that threatens Israel and other free nations around the world every day, but it's a step.

"Senators say Fort Hood shooting was terrorism: Several lawmakers and terror experts at Senate hearings on the Fort Hood shooting Thursday called the incident a terrorist attack, and warned of the danger of homegrown jihad," by Patrik Jonsson for The Christian Science Monitor, November 19:

The Senate Homeland Security Committee Thursday began its probe into the Nov. 5 Fort Hood shooting with few details about what everyone really wants to know: the true motives of alleged shooter Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan.

Nevertheless, several lawmakers at the hearing called the rampage a terrorist attack.

That label was supported by most of the terror experts who testified at the Senate hearing. Addressing questions about how red flags were missed in the lead-up to the rampage, experts pinpointed a rise in homegrown terrorism and expressed the need for the government to establish, in the words of retired Army Gen. John Keane, "clear specific guidelines as to what is jihadist extremist behavior, how do you identify this behavior, and how does it manifest itself?"

Uh, yeah. One would think that such a thing would have been in place for years now -- long enough for clear-eyed and clear-minded people, i.e., those more interested in truth than in political correctness, to realize that there was nothing "extremist" about Hasan's actions from the standpoint of the Koran and Sunnah. But of course nothing like this is in place at all. CAIR and its allies, with their campaign of intimidation and obfuscation, have made sure of that.

The Fort Hood shooting, like no other incident, has "fueled discussion about the spectre of violent extremist ideology in our midst," said Juan Zarate, the former Deputy National Security Advisor for Combating Terrorism.

"There is no smoking gun that reveals Hasan's true motivations and signaled intent, so the patchwork of data points and behavioral clues in light of the incident ... appear to point to a path of violence," he added. "The question then is whether the data points were seen and evaluated properly."...

No smoking gun. He passed out Korans on the day of the shooting and shouted "Allahu akbar" as he shot, but really, it all could have been about the poor quality of the food available at Fort Hood.

News reports have detailed the failure of the military to report up the chain of command the disturbing and delusionary behavior Hasan exhibited. Some have suggested this was partly because of the fear of appearing to be targeting a Muslim.

"Political correctness played a role," according to Keane. "It shouldn't have to be an act of moral courage on behalf of a soldier to report behavior that we should not be tolerating within the military; it should be an obligation."

Yep.

If you have been paying attention - and even if you have not - by now you know that something is going on in Yemen. You have heard about the "Houthis" - that is, a group of Shi'a, who have named themselves after a leader of one of their tribes, and who live in the northern part of Yemen, where they constitute a majority of the population. They also perhaps constitute as much as 40% of the total Yemeni population. And you know that these Shi'a are not quite like the Shi'a of iran, but nonetheless, they are Shi'a, and so, to the Wahhabis of Saudi Arabia, they are considered to be nearly Infidels.

That didn't keep the Saudis, more than forty years ago, from supporting tribes, including "Zaidi" or Shi'a tribes, in the north of Yemen, against the dangerously "Marxist" southerners of Yemen. But that word "marxist" is treacherous. As J. B. Kelly has written, the casual application of the word "Marxist" in the context of an Arab Muslim country is misleading, for beneath that "Marxism" is Islam. The dictatorship of the proletariat, and the collective ownership of the means of production, is not exactly on the minds of Muslim tribesmen; "Marxism" has been a phrase used by one set of would-be seizers of the national wealth against whatever prior seizers of the national wealth are currently in power.

Yes, in the mid-1960s Yemen, a country that contains a larger population than its immediate northern neighbor, Saudi Arabia, was the site of what so many are content to call a "proxy war" between Nasserist Egypt (representing not so much the "Marxists" - as the American State Department appeared to think, as those who were less fanatical, and slightly more secular, in their reception of Islam) and Saudi Arabia, said to be backing people called "the Royalists." That proxy war in Yemen has no significance whatsoever save that it helped to occupy and preoccupy Saudi Arabia and Egypt, and to weaken the forces of both - an outcome that should be remembered as we try to think about Yemen today.

Secretary Gates, I can save you a lot of time and trouble: no one reported Nidal Hasan because they were afraid of the repercussions that would come to them in this politically correct age. They were afraid of being accused of being racists, bigots, hatemongers, etc. They were afraid of showing up in the next Council on American-Islamic Relations Action Alert.

But it will be interesting to see what creative fiction your investigators come up with in lieu of admitting that.

"Gates orders Army inquiry after Fort Hood killings," from the BBC, November 19 (thanks to Hildegard):

A review of US Army and Pentagon policies has been ordered by the defence secretary in the wake of a shooting at a military base.

The review will include Pentagon medical and personnel programmes, and US military base security.

Defence Secretary Robert Gates appointed a former Army secretary and an ex-Navy chief to report in 45 days.

The review is in addition to others into the Fort Hood shooting in which 13 people were killed.

Army psychiatrist Nidal Malik Hasan, 39, was shot by police during the incident on 5 November, and remains in hospital. He has been charged with 13 counts of murder.

"The shootings at Fort Hood raise a number of troubling questions that demand complete but prompt answers," Mr Gates said at the Pentagon....

Former US Army secretary Togo West and former chief of naval operations, Admiral Vernon Clark will oversee the review.

US President Barack Obama has already ordered a review of the way intelligence agencies handled information about the major.

US intelligence authorities revealed they knew Maj Hasan had been in contact with a cleric sympathetic to al-Qaeda.

An FBI-led task force monitoring the e-mail of Yemen-based US cleric Anwar al-Awlaki said he had communicated with Maj Hasan - a US-born Muslim and army psychiatrist - on 10 to 20 occasions.

However, it was decided that further investigation was not needed, as the content of the messages did not advocate or threaten violence.

They're doing it, of course, under the cover of criminalizing "blasphemy," but the real agenda here is to compel the West to adopt Sharia norms forbidding criticism of Islam, including analysis of the jihad terrorists' motives and goals. This, of course, would leave us mute and defenseless before them.

AP thinks that the free nations of the West will oppose this. But with Barack Obama in the White House, that isn't actually certain. After all, he made sure that the U.S. not only supported, but cosponsored (with Egypt) a similar initiative at the United Nations not too long ago.

Wait a minute. I thought only greasy Islamophobes believed that there was any problem with Muslims in the military. Will Honest Ibe Hooper of CAIR denounce Umar Lee as an "Islamophobe"?

Glossary: Kaafir, kufr = Infidel. Deen = religion. Ummah = global Islamic community. Ulamaa = Islamic scholars. Al wala wal bara = "Love and hate," i.e., love for Muslims and hatred for non-Muslims.

"Is It Permissible To Join A Kaafir Army?," by Umar Lee, November 19:

In the years since 9/11, we have seen a serious re-defining and whitewashing of what our deen is and is not. Since the Ft Hood shootings, and even before that, we have seen many Muslim organizations refer to US troops which are occupying Muslim lands, as "our troops". They have celebrated Muslims that have gone over to fight and kill other Muslims. We see Muslim spokesmen saying that the Muslims must abandon the concept of "Ummah". We are seeing Muslims and Muslim Organizations calling for American citizenship to be put above their loyalty to other Muslims around the world. This is a very strange thing as prior to 9/11 the ulamaa of Islam had many fatwas that said just the opposite, especially with regards to a Muslim joining a kufr army and going to fight other Muslims.

We find the people nowadays saying that it is perfectly permissible and even praiseworthy to join the kufr army. This is in contrast to what we saw in the past from the scholars. I would like to know what our friends at Muslim Matters have to say about the following fatwas from such scholars as Sh Ibn Uthaymeen and Sh. Al Munajid. What do they think the scholars would say about al wala wal bara (something completely forgotten about and not taught these days)?

This first fatwa is from Sh Al-Munajjid:

I work in the army of a non-Muslim state, and there are wars between them and the Muslims. What is the ruling if they send me with a division of this army to wage war against the Muslims? As a Muslim, my feelings are that I never want to fight against Muslims in any war. What should I do? What is the ruling if I go...?

Praise be to Allaah.

If you are sent to wage war against the Muslims, then it is not permissible for you to take part at all. Helping the kaafirs against the Muslims is a form of major kufr which puts one beyond the pale of Islam. Allaah says concerning one who supports the mushrikeen (interpretation of the meaning):

"And if any amongst you takes them (as Awliyaa', i.e., friends), then surely, he is one of them"[al-Maa'idah 5:51]

With regard to how you may get out of this situation, and what excuse you can give to get out of this dilemma if it happens, we ask Allaah to help you, and we suggest that you consult some Muslims who have relevant knowledge or experience.

We want to emphasize to you the necessity of finding other employment and of leaving service in the army of the kaafirs, because that implies helping them, strengthening them and increasing the numbers of their fighters and supporters - unless your work can bring some benefits to the Muslims, such as giving information and secrets of the kaafirs to the Muslims so as to help the Muslims, or if your work is purely da'wah, such as giving khutbahs and leading prayers for the Muslims in the kaafir army whilst also advising them to avoid any work that will strengthen the kaafirs. We ask Allaah to keep you safe from temptation and to give you a good end in this world and in the Hereafter.

This one is from Sh Ibn Muhammad Saalih al-Uthaymeen, May Allah have mercy upon him:

What is the ruling on Muslims serving in the military of non muslim country ? What is the evidence for its permissibility or prohibition? And lastly, what is the status of a Muslim working to help those in the military to fulfill their obligations to Allaah while serving in the Army, Navy, or whatever?

Praise be to Allaah.

We put this question to Shaykh Muhammad ibn Saalih al-'Uthaymeen, may Allaah preserve him, who answered as follows:

"Praise be to Allaah, the Lord of the Worlds. Military matters are problematic, because they involve helping these kuffaar to wage war against the Muslims or those who have entered into a treaty with the Muslims. If no such thing is involved, it may be advantageous for Muslims to work in these armies so as to learn their secrets and be aware of their potential evil. In other words, if working in these armies could be of benefit, it may be permissible, otherwise it is not allowed."

On this basis, if a person works as a preacher or daa'iyah or imaam or muezzin, serving the Muslims and calling non-Muslims to Islam, then there is nothing wrong with this.

And for good measure, here is one more fatwa

So can the brothers find me a fatwa from a repudible scholar of the sunnah (not one that quotes from his desires) that says that it is permissible to put citizenship above our Islam and join the kafir army and to fight against Islam and the Muslims? It is permissible to join an army that calls for the men to shave their beards, salute the kufr flag and judge by other than what Allah revealed?

The evidence is clearly against those who are saying that these things are permissible.

Here is a question:

If a group of Muslims in Mecca attacked the United States and the US Army wanted to retaliate by taking the haram, would it still be permissible to join the kufr army?

Since the UN, with its OIC-driven agenda, is simply the other side of bin Laden's coin, this would be a perfect fit. "Britain: Bin-Laden's son wants to work for the UN," from AKI, November 19 (thanks to C. Cantoni):

New York, 19 Nov. (AKI) - The son of Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden, Omar, has told a British magazine that he would like to promote peace and work for the United Nations. His comments were published on Thursday in New Statesman magazine.

"I do not believe that I would be a good politician - I have a habit of speaking the truth, even when it does not serve me well. But I would like to be in a position to promote peace. I believe that the United Nations would be ideal for me," said Omar Bin-Laden.

So do I, Omar!

Last year in November, Omar requested asylum in Spain, but his application was refused.

He was travelling on a Saudi Arabian passport and was detained at Madrid's Barajas Airport after arriving on a flight from Egypt.

In the interview, Omar told New Statesman that he would seek God's advice in whether to report his father if he knew where he was hiding.

"If such a time comes, God will guide me to the correct path. But any child on earth would have difficulty with such a situation."...

Interviewed by ex-Muslim Nabil Qureshi at the Rifqa Rally, November 16, Columbus, Ohio. (Thanks to David.)

Interview from November 6 (thanks to James).

If someone in America points out that such punishments are part of Sharia, he is derided as an ignorant "Islamophobe." But the Koran is clear: "As for the thief, both male and female, cut off their hands. It is the reward of their own deeds, an exemplary punishment from Allah. Allah is Mighty, Wise." -- Koran 5:38

And it is also clear that this verse is taken literally and seriously by all the schools of Islamic jurisprudence. And so this imam is saying something that is only controversial to those who are ignorant (whether willfully so or not).

"What's wrong with chopping off thieves' hands, Imam asks," by Christian Peregin for the Times of Malta, November 19 (thanks to Twostellas):

Imam Mohamed El Sadi, the Muslim leader in Malta, believes chopping off the hands of thieves is a "deserving punishment".

Mr El Sadi made the statement during Monday's television programme Bondiplus, where he defended Sharia law, a judicial system used in some Islamic states and which can involve severe corporal punishments.

Contacted yesterday, Mr El Sadi stood by his comments and added the world was incurring the "wrath of God" through its permissiveness and destruction of spiritual and moral values, namely through the acceptance of "same-sex marriages, homosexuality, adultery and abortion".

Under Sharia law, such things are considered crimes that may even be punishable by death. When asked if he agreed with such punishments he said: "Yes, of course. I agree with everything Islamic."...

Mr Bondì then asked whether religion should dictate the laws of the country, through, say, Sharia law.

"What is wrong with Sharia law? If someone steals, he is taking from the country or the poor, so why is it wrong to cut off his hand?" the Imam replied.

Mr El Sadi said the punishment should terrify thieves and criminals, "not the good people".

When speaking to The Times about his remarks, the Imam said: "Why don't you concentrate on what is common rather than pick on what is controversial?"

He said he was not proposing this system for Europe because it would be undemocratic. But it was also undemocratic for Muslim countries not to use it because most Muslims wanted it....

He conceded there were different kinds of Muslims who thought of Sharia differently. "But whoever denies this is not a Muslim," he said, adding the law of God was perfect.

He said there were many safeguards to ensure Sharia law was applied justly, through a court system that depended on having several witnesses. "This does not apply to thieves who are poor or hungry. This is for people who have everything and want more; people who are greedy... The point is to frighten criminals."

Fr Renè Camilleri, who was also a guest on the programme, said he was "shocked" by the Imam's comments.

"I tried to insist violence is unacceptable. The concept is horrific to me. It is equivalent to the death penalty. I know it is what Sharia law dictates but, coming from him, such a moderate and tolerant person, I was shocked," he said, adding he never considered the Imam to be a fundamentalist....

Free Speech Death Watch Alert from Pamela at Atlas Shrugs:

Apostate Nonie Darwish, author of "Cruel And Usual Punishment; The Terrifying Global Implications of Islamic Law". and executive director, Former Muslims United, was scheduled to speak at Columbia University today and Princeton University tomorrow, and both events were canceled.

Columbia, where Ahmadinejad was welcomed like a returning king.

Just hours before she was scheduled to speak, the groups (the Debate Society and Tigers of Israel) succumbed to student Muslim groups and canceled her speaking event. Nonie called me from her NY taxi, shocked that just weeks after an Islamic attack on a military base on US soil, the largest in US history, that activists who speak the truth about Islam are being shut down and marginalized.

There is much more. Read it all.

Pat Robertson said: "If we don't stop covering up what Islam is. Islam is a violent...I was going to say religion but it's not a religion...it's political system; it's a violent political system bent on the overthrow of the governments of the world and world domination."

I disagree. I don't think Islam is not a religion. A religion purports to relate human beings to a deity, and Islam does purport to do that. But is Islam a political system that teaches world domination?

Don't take Pat Robertson's word for it, or mine. Let's go to Majid Khadduri, an Iraqi scholar of Islamic law of international renown. In his book War and Peace in the Law of Islam, which was published in 1955 and remains one of the most lucid and illuminating works on the subject, Khadduri says this about jihad:

The state which is regarded as the instrument for universalizing a certain religion must perforce be an ever expanding state. The Islamic state, whose principal function was to put God's law into practice, sought to establish Islam as the dominant reigning ideology over the entire world....The jihad was therefore employed as an instrument for both the universalization of religion and the establishment of an imperial world state. (P. 51)

Don't believe Khadduri? Very well. How about Imran Ahsan Khan Nyazee, Assistant Professor on the Faculty of Shari'ah and Law of the International Islamic University in Islamabad. In his 1994 book The Methodology of Ijtihad, he quotes the twelfth century Maliki jurist Abu al-Walid Muhammad ibn Ahmad Ibn Rushd: "Muslim jurists agreed that the purpose of fighting with the People of the Book...is one of two things: it is either their conversion to Islam or the payment of jizyah." Nyazee concludes: "This leaves no doubt that the primary goal of the Muslim community, in the eyes of its jurists, is to spread the word of Allah through jihad, and the option of poll-tax [jizya] is to be exercised only after subjugation" of non-Muslims.

Don't believe Nyazee, either? How about Iran's Thug-In-Chief Mahmoud Ahmadinejad? Of course, he is no Islamic scholar, but he is a devout Muslim, and he learned Islam not from greasy Islamophobes but from...Islamic scholars. And he has said: "Have no doubt... Allah willing, Islam will conquer what? It will conquer all the mountain tops of the world."

Don't believe Ahmadinejad? How about a Shafi'i manual of Islamic law endorsed by the most prestigious institution in Sunni Islam, Al-Azhar University in Cairo? It says that the leader of the Muslims "makes war upon Jews, Christians, and Zoroastrians...until they become Muslim or else pay the non-Muslim poll tax," and cites Koran 9:29 in support of this idea: "Fight those who do not believe in Allah and the Last Day and who forbid not what Allah and His messenger have forbidden-who do not practice the religion of truth, being of those who have been given the Book-until they pay the poll tax out of hand and are humbled." ('Umdat al-Salik o9.8)

Evidently all these people are misunderstanders of Islam. Will CAIR denounce them? How about it, Honest Ibe? Or do you believe, Mr. Hooper, that it is just fine for Muslims to say this sort of thing anytime and anywhere, and it only becomes "hate speech" when Robertson says it?

CAIR Deception and Hypocrisy Alert: "CAIR asks McDonnell for more on Robertson, as Connolly weighs in," by Rosalind Helderman in the Washington Post, November 18 (thanks to herr Oyal):

Gov.-elect Bob McDonnell continues to face calls for him to publicly repudiate donor and ally Pat Robertson today, even after a statement issued Tuesday evening in which his spokesman commented generally about the importance of the Muslim community to Virginia.

A spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations said Wednesday that McDonnell's comment "a good statement as far as it went," but said he did not believe it went far enough in directly disavowing Robertson's remarks.

Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for CAIR, said the national group is working with Muslims in Virginia to decide how to proceed on the issue. But he said he continues to believe McDonnell needs to make a clear statement indicating he does not agree with Robertson's stand on Islam. Robertson said last week that Islam is "not a religion" but a "violent political system" and called for Muslims to be treated like communists or members of a fascist party.

"[McDonnell's] sending the message that he wants it both ways--he wants the support of a Muslim-basher. And he wants to work with Virginia Muslims. I think those two things are incompatible," Hooper said.

Meanwhile, the political implications of the Robertson remarks are growing. U.S. Rep Gerry Connolly (D) has put out a statement Wednesday calling on Robertson to apologize for his comments. Connolly said he has heard from hundreds of constituents, both Muslims and others, offended by Robertson's comments, which came in response to the Fort Hood shootings on an episode of the 700 Club last week.

"My feeling is that if public officials don't speak out about this, our silence might be misconstrued," Connolly said. "I, for one, am not going to be silent in the face of that kind of unbridled intolerance."...

What courage!

Quoth the intrepid Obama in response: "... as a consequence we have begun discussions with our international partners about the importance of having consequences."

Yeah. Take that! "U.S. warns Iran of consequences over standoff," by Patricia Zengerle and Manny Mogato for Reuters, November 19:

SEOUL/MANILA (Reuters) - World powers could have a package of measures against Iran "within weeks", U.S. President Barack Obama said on Thursday, warning Tehran of consequences for its failure to respond to an offer of a nuclear deal.

But Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki dismissed talk of further punitive sanctions, saying the West had learnt from past failures.

Not much of a plan in the first place:

Iran on Wed