October 2010 Archives

Again: Contrasting ideals of martyrdom on stark display, as several attackers subsequently detonated suicide vests.

Those ideals have clear and far-reaching implications for the character of their respective cultures, societies, and civilizations, where giving one's life for what is believed to be a noble cause is a supreme form of sacrifice and personal attainment. Many priorities fall into line from there, for better, or much, much worse.

And of course, nothing says "peace" and "tolerance" quite like barging into a Mass and later shooting the priest in cold blood. "Baghdad church hostage drama ends in bloodbath," from BBC News, November 1 (thanks to Lokar):

The BBC's Jim Muir in Baghdad says that the full death toll remains unclear

More than 30 people have been killed as Iraqi security forces stormed a Catholic church in central Baghdad to free dozens of hostages being held by gunmen there, security sources say.

Seven members of the Iraqi security forces and at least five attackers were among the dead but officials said most hostages were rescued.

About 100 people had been inside Our Lady of Salvation for an evening Mass.

The gunmen had reportedly demanded the release of jailed al-Qaeda militants.

The local TV station, al-Baghdadiya, said it had received a phone call from someone claiming to be one of the attackers, who said they were from the Islamic State of Iraq, a Sunni militant umbrella group to which al-Qaeda in Iraq belongs.

Reports said the attackers were not Iraqis, but foreign Arabs.

The raid came two days after a suicide attack on a cafe in Diyala province left 21 people dead.

'Priest killed'

Residents of Baghdad's Karada district, where the attack took place, first heard a loud explosion at about 1700 (1400 GMT), followed by gunfire.

Police said a group of armed men began by attacking the Iraq Stock Exchange building, and then took over the Catholic church just across the road, clashing with guards and killing some of them.

Security forces later surrounded the church and sealed off the area, with helicopters hovering overhead. Then they stormed the building.

Witnesses nearby said they then heard two explosions from inside the church and more shooting.

One eyewitness, who was inside the church, was quoted by the AFP news agency as saying that the gunmen "came into the prayer hall and immediately killed the priest".

The witness, who declined to give his name, said the people in the church had huddled into the main prayer hall when the gunbattles began with the security forces.

The gunmen reportedly threw grenades and blew their suicide vests....

In Islamic law, blood money, or diyya is less for non-Muslims than for Muslim lives. It is just one such indication of how, under Sharia, infidel blood is cheap. "At least 7 hostages killed in rescue from Iraq church," by Waleed Ibrahim and Muhanad Mohammed for Reuters, October 31:

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - At least seven Iraqi Catholics died on Sunday when police stormed a Baghdad church where gunmen were holding dozens of parishioners hostage, threatening to kill them if al Qaeda prisoners were not released.

The U.S. military said between seven and 10 hostages and seven members of the Iraqi security forces, as well as five to seven attackers, were killed in the rescue operation.

Witnesses reported seeing many bodies inside the church after the gunmen wearing suicide vests threw grenades or blew themselves up as Iraqi forces stormed the building.

The insurgents laid siege to one of Baghdad's biggest churches as more than 100 parishioners attended Sunday mass in a central district near the heavily fortified Green Zone, home to embassies and the Iraqi government.

U.S. military officials watched the rescue operation from cameras in hovering helicopters.

Two very different ideals of martyrdom meet:

Lieutenant Colonel Eric Bloom, a U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad, said three militants detonated suicide vests as Iraq forces entered the church. He said a total of 120 hostages were held by the assailants, adding that 30 people were wounded.

Colonel Kadhim Basheer Saleh, an Iraqi civil defense spokesman, said 15 civilians, four policemen and eight attackers were killed.

Al Qaeda's Iraqi affiliate, the Islamic State of Iraq, claimed responsibility for the attack on "the dirty place of the infidel which Iraqi Christians have long used as a base to fight Islam." [...]

In the jihadist mindset, the non-Muslims do that simply by continuing to exist.

Iraqi security officials said they had been warned of possible attacks against large gatherings, especially churches.

Did they care to tell the churches that before now?

"We expect attacks will continue and increase in the coming days," said Lieutenant General Hussein Kamal, Iraq's deputy interior minister.

As Sunday's operation unfolded, military helicopters flew low overhead and gunfire rang out through the densely populated residential area. Streets around the Assyrian Catholic church were quickly cordoned off.

A Christian woman who was held hostage in the Our Lady of Salvation Church told Reuters there were many bodies inside.

"While I was trying to find my way out, in the dark, I walked over bodies," she said, asking not to be identified. "There are many bodies there."

Our Lady of Salvation, one of Baghdad's largest churches, was one of five churches in Baghdad and Mosul hit in coordinated attacks in August 2004 in which 12 people were killed.

Christians number about a 1.5 million out of a total Iraqi population of about 23 million, the vast majority of them Muslims. Christian denominations include Chaldeans, Copts, Roman and Melkite Catholics, Maronites and Greek Orthodox.

"Yemen is like a bus station -- we stop some terrorists, and we send others on to fight elsewhere ... We appease our partners in the West, but we are not really helping." - Yemeni political analyst Murad Abdul Wahed Zafir, 2008.

This, once again, shows Yemen's lack of seriousness or a sense of urgency about the jihadists operating freely in Yemeni territory. An update on this story. "Yemen frees parcel bomb suspect conditionally: relative," from Reuters, October 31:

SANAA (Reuters) - Yemen freed on Sunday a female suspect detained in connection with explosive packages sent from Yemen and bound for the United States on condition that she appears when summoned for questioning, a relative said.

Asked if the woman had been released, a family member who refused to be identified, replied: "Yes."

What if something had gone wrong? We know the bombs were powerful enough to bring down a plane. There would have been outrage at Muslim casualties, and the sense in the Mideast that something must be done about such slaughter. Maybe even Yemen would show some sense of urgency. And heaven knows, someone would find a way to blame Israel.

What if the bomb had made it to its destination at an American synagogue and caused the same amount of slaughter? There would be celebration throughout the Muslim world, as well as tacit approval or rationalization. The people who danced in the streets on 9/11 would be partying like it's 1399.

For all too many, the difference between lamenting the "terrorists" who defied Allah's will, killing believers by taking the risk with the passenger jets, and celebrating the muhajedin who carried out Allah's will by killing unbelievers would have been where the bomb went off. "Dubai bomb was flown on passenger plane," from BBC News, October 31:

One of the two bombs posted from Yemen last week was transported on two passenger planes before being seized in Dubai, Qatar Airways says.

The device was carried on a Qatar Airbus A320 from the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, to Doha, the company confirmed.

There it was transferred onto another Qatar Airways plane to Dubai, where it was seized by police

The bomb used PETN explosive, which is difficult to detect using normal airport security screening.

A second device was found at East Midlands Airport in the UK. Both bombs were hidden inside printer toner cartridges.

Until now it had been thought that both devices had been transported using cargo planes.

The firms UPS and FedEx had been used to post the devices, which were addressed to synagogues in the US.

The British authorities says the bomb seized in the UK was believed to have been designed to go off during the flight.

It's absurd enough that this would happen once, but it's not the first time. And Saudi Arabia is up for a supporting role.

When apologists for Islam defend Sharia's deplorable record on women's rights and human rights in general, they often cite marginal improvements that Islamic law may have introduced in the seventh century and soon thereafter, despite the misogyny that pervades Muhammad's comments on women: according to authoritative ("Sahih," or "sound") Islamic sources, he said they are "deficient in religion and intellect" (Sahih Bukhari 1.6.301), and destined to be the majority among souls consigned to hell (Sahih Bukhari 4.54.464). Not to mention the Qur'anic endorsement of beating (yes, beating) women "from whom you fear disobedience" (4:34).

No, whatever slight relief Islam may claim to have introduced almost one and a half millennia ago is but a testament to the fact that the rest of the world has long since passed Sharia by, where it was not already ahead before Sharia's introduction.

But Iran and Saudi Arabia still want a pat on the back for providing what comparatively little they believe divine fiat provided in terms of women's rights, and nothing more, lest they be accused of bida, or innovation, and wind up in hell where Muhammad said all those morally and intellectually deficient women would be.

"Iran close to a seat on UN agency that promotes equality for women," from Asia News, October 29:

Tehran (AsiaNews/Agencies) - The United States Government and human rights groups reacted forcefully yesterday to news that Iran is close to gaining a seat on a new UN agency to promote equality for women.

The body, UN Women, is intended to promote women's rights, but the nomination of Iran has caused outrage, particularly in light of the case of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, the 43-year-old mother of two sentenced to death by stoning for alleged adultery.

"UN Women is tasked with promoting gender equality and women's empowerment worldwide. We and many other countries are concerned by the negative implications of Iran's potential board memberships, given its poor record on human rights and the treatment of women," said Mark Kornblau, spokesman for the US mission to the United Nations.

Under a General Assembly resolution, four UN agencies are being merged into one 41-member body. Regional groups nominate 35 countries with a further six donor nations to be included.

The Asian group has proposed an uncontested ten-nation list that includes Iran.

Saudi Arabia's nomination as one of the donor countries has also caused concern. Women are not allowed to drive in the kingdom and segregation of the sexes is strictly enforced by the country's religious police.

In both countries, women are routinely harassed and can face severe punishment, including jail and lashings, for behaviour or dress deemed immodest.

UN Women will be headed by the former Chilean President, Michelle Bachelet, an appointment that has been applauded by all.

The planning for this jihad attack evidently involved more than just a few people in Yemen. "Chicago Synagogue Cites Web Visits From Egypt," by Lauren Etter for the Wall Street Journal, October 30 (thanks to Choi):

A rabbi at one of the synagogues allegedly targeted by explosive-laden packages from Yemen said that the group's website was visited dozens of times recently by individuals located in Egypt.

Rabbi Michael R. Zedek from Chicago's lakeside Emanuel Congregation also said that he was told by a source that there were actually four bombs targeting Chicago's synagogues instead of the two originally reported.

Emanuel Congregation was allegedly not the specific target of the bomb, but Congregation Or Chadash, a sister synagogue housed within Emanuel was thought to be a target, according to Zedek. Or Chadash is a gay-and-lesbian synagogue that shares space with Emanuel Congregation and the Chicago Jewish Day School for children.

Or Chadash Rabbi Larry Edwards said in an interview that he only learned yesterday through Rabbi Zedek that his congregation might have been a target. "We're rather puzzled at how a little congregation like ours would get on the radar as a target for somebody," said Rabbi Edwards. "I'm hoping for more information."...

On Saturday, about 20 congregants for Shabbat services in Emanuel's round stone chapel on the shores of Lake Michigan. After a morning of song and prayer, Zedek talked with congregants about the alleged bomb plot.

He said he learned this morning that Emanuel's web administrator recently discovered that the congregation's website had been visited 83 times on one day by somebody in Egypt. Zedek was immediately wary and questioned why anybody in Egypt would be interested in visiting Emanuel Congregation's site. "I think we're interesting, but not that interesting," he said....

Osbourne and Yusuf Islam: Take off that cross, you uppity kaffir

This is an example of the Leftist/Jihadist Alliance, or perhaps of the cluelessness of the Left, or perhaps of its indifference to the freedom of speech that Islamic supremacists wish so ardently to extinguish. Take your pick. "Stewart-Colbert 'sanity' rally draws thousands," by Hope Yen and Calvin Woodward for the Associated Press, October 30 (thanks to Weasel Zippers):

WASHINGTON -- In the shadow of the Capitol and the election, comedians Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert entertained a huge throng Saturday at a "sanity" rally poking fun at the nation's ill-tempered politics, fear-mongers and doomsayers. [...]

Ozzy Osbourne and Yusuf Islam, formerly known as Cat Stevens, engaged in something of a battle of the bands as the heavy-metal rocker barged in on the folkie's hit, "Peace Train," in a mock clash of music and cultures....

"Cat Stevens Gives Support To Call for Death of Rushdie," by Craig R. Whitney in the New York Times, May 23, 1989:

TONDON [sic], May 22 -- The musician known as Cat Stevens said in a British television program to be broadcast next week that rather than go to a demonstration to burn an effigy of the author Salman Rushdie, ''I would have hoped that it'd be the real thing.''

The singer, who adopted the name Yusuf Islam when he converted to Islam, made the remark during a panel discussion of British reactions to Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini's call for Mr. Rushdie to be killed for allegedly blaspheming Islam in his best-selling novel ''The Satanic Verses.'' He also said that if Mr. Rushdie turned up at his doorstep looking for help, ''I might ring somebody who might do more damage to him than he would like.''

''I'd try to phone the Ayatollah Khomeini and tell him exactly where this man is,'' said Mr. Islam, who watched a preview of the program today and said in an interview that he stood by his comments....

Yes, now he denies having said it. But considering that he has been an ardent orthodox believer ever since his conversion, and that all the schools of Islamic jurisprudence do mandate a death penalty for blasphemy, I find his denials unconvincing.

I have previously linked to the video of Yusuf Islam saying what he now denies, but this morning I found this notice where it had once been at YouTube: "This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by Yusuf Islam." Interestingly enough, however, old Joe Islam doesn't seem troubled by YouTube postings trampling on the copyright for his jahiliyya hippie songs.

UPDATE: Here is the video, thanks to Evan Mark:

A medical student. See? Poverty causes terrorism! "Bomb was designed to explode on cargo plane - UK PM," from the BBC, October 30 (thanks to Pamela Geller):

Prime Minister David Cameron says the device in a package sent from Yemen and found on a US-bound cargo plane was designed to go off on the aircraft.

But Mr Cameron said investigators could not yet be certain about when the device, intercepted at East Midlands Airport, was supposed to explode.

A second device containing explosives was found on a cargo plane in Dubai. The US suspects al-Qaeda involvement.

In Yemen, police have arrested a woman suspected of posting the packages.

She was detained in the capital, Sanaa, after being traced through a telephone number she had left with a cargo company, officials said.

The unnamed young woman, described as a medical student and the daughter of a petroleum engineer, was arrested on the outskirts of the city, a security official told AFP news agency. Her mother was also detained but was not a prime suspect, the arrested woman's lawyer said.

President Ali Abdullah Saleh said the US and the United Arab Emirates had provided Yemen with information that helped identify the woman and pledged that his country would continue fighting al-Qaeda "in co-operation with its partners".

"But we do not want anyone to interfere in Yemeni affairs by hunting down al-Qaeda," he added, as heavily armed troops patrolled Sanaa....

Feel the love. "US-bound bomb could have brought down plane," from AP, October 30:

A bomb found on a U.S.-bound cargo plane was powerful enough to bring down an aircraft, British authorities said today, as forces in Yemen searched for suspected al Qaeda militants behind a plot to bomb Jewish targets in Chicago.

"I can confirm the device was viable and could have exploded. The target may have been an aircraft and had it detonated the aircraft could have been brought down," British Home Secretary Theresa May said.

Two parcels sent from Yemen and containing explosives were intercepted in Dubai and Britain on Friday, triggering broad travel disruptions and a massive international investigation.

Officials said the parcel bombs had the hallmarks of al Qaeda, and in particular al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, and appeared to include the same explosives used in a failed attempt to blow up a U.S. jetliner on Christmas Day last year....

Sometimes Maher shows a glimmer of common sense. No, Bill, you shouldn't have to apologize, but you may be made to anyway.

(Video thanks to Weasel Zippers.)

Turkish secularism steadily eroding away. "Turkish army chiefs boycott ceremony over Islamic headscarf," from AFP, October 30:

ANKARA -- Turkish army chiefs boycotted an official ceremony at the presidential palace because the president's wife wore an Islamic headscarf, the press reported Saturday.

The army's top brass were conspicuous by their absence late Friday at a banquet thrown by President Abdullah Gul to commemorate the creation of the modern, secular Turkey in 1923.

The military organised a separate reception at the same time to give the generals an excuse not to accept the president's invitation, the reports said.

The secularist main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) also declined Gul's invitation.

Turkey's First Lady has worn the hijab, which covers the head and neck, since adolescence.

The boycott was criticised by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose wife also wears the headscarf.

The army's generals, who see themselves as custodians of the Turkish republic, regard the headscarf as a threat to the state's secular traditions and are against any relaxation of the ban on wearing them in schools and government buildings....

Erdogan, who has led the Islamist-rooted conservative government since 2002 reproached the generals, saying "the armed forces should have been present" at the presidential palace....

Gul, a former AKP cadre, has been pressing for a lifting of the ban on veils since he took office.

The ban on headscarves on university campuses was recently eased by the Higher Education Board (YOK), which used to be a bastion of secularism but is now headed by an Erdogan supporter.

A new film is coming from the great Pierre Rehov:

SUICIDE KILLING - PROLIFERATION

Billions have been invested by Saudi Arabia in US universities in the last years. At the same time, our western values have been eroded by moral relativism. This leads an entire generation to believe in new mythologies such as: a genocide is perpetrated against Palestinians, Suicide Killers are kamikazes, or freedom fighters, Cho, Eric and Dylan, the murderers of Virginia Tech and Columbine are a typical product of our repressive society, the US army is an occupation force in Iraq, and many other relativist revisions of history, leading to a path to darkness.

Pierre Rehov's latest film "Suicide Killing - Proliferation" has led him to investigate those mythologies, and takes us to Japan, to meet with WW2 former kamikazes, to Iraq, where he was embedded in the US Army's 4th Cavalry, into Gaza and the West Bank. And for the first time, he documents the step by step religious brain washing of a candidate to suicide-terrorism, including the rituals preceding his criminal act, and much more. Pierre also has a close encounters with families of suicide killers, and local Imams.

Following the acclaimed "Suicide Killers", "SUICIDE KILLING - PROLIFERATION " will take us for a journey deeper into the mind of terrorists, while debunking the dangerous mythologies propagated among our new generation.

Max Boot's words here in the reliably dhimmi and consistently wrongheaded Commentary illustrate the problem with the enterprises in Iraq and Afghanistan in general: the analysts who pushed for American military action in both had no idea of the nature of Islam, and particularly of the central role of Sharia as a political system within it. They assumed, with titanic ethnocentrism, that the people in Iraq and Afghanistan both desired "freedom" and conceptualized it in exactly the same was as most Americans do.

They further assumed that Islam is a Religion of Peace that could fit easily into the Western-style framework of a Constitutional republic with no established religion. And that assumption led them to the additional assumption that terms current in Judaism and Christianity meant exactly the same thing when used also in Islam.

The conceptual and policy errors that follow these wrong assumptions are endless. Books could be and should be filled with them.

"A Counter View to Fouad Ajami's Skepticism Regarding Afghanistan," by Max Boot in Commentary, October 27 (thanks to Andy McCarthy):

I believe there is just as much nobility to the war in Afghanistan as to the one in Iraq.

I actually agree with Max Boot about that: there is just as much nobility to the war in Afghanistan as to the one in Iraq -- i.e., none. They are futile wars with no purpose, no goal, no end in sight.

We are, after all, fighting to make good on our post-9/11 promises to drive the Taliban out of power and establish a representative government in Afghanistan that will not sponsor terrorism or abuse its own people. The Taliban are as cruel as they come and sparing the people of Afghanistan from their misrule is a noble cause. So too is honoring the memory of America's 9/11 shaheeds (martyrs) -- the victims of al-Qaeda and their Taliban facilitators.

These words ring especially hollow in light of Karzai's repeated threats to side with and overtures to the Taliban. Is there a dime's worth of difference between them?

But above all, the Americans murdered by Al-Qaeda and the Taliban are not shaheeds. Islamic martyrdom is not the same thing as Christian martyrdom, or even the modern Western secular concept of martyrdom as dying for any cause. Islamic martyrdom is primarily the act of a Muslim who kills and is killed for Allah, as per Qur'an 9:111. Thus while Islamic martyrdom need not always contain the element of murdering infidels that that verse contains, the word is primarily used today in the Islamic world of suicide bombers and others who kill infidels. And no sect or school of Islam would ever call any non-Muslim a martyr.

Thus Boot, in his ignorance and wishful thinking, is essentially equating America's war dead with mass murderers. It is astoundingly myopic and offensive, but par for the course for the increasingly ridiculous Commentary.

Here is yet another example of how the Muslims who are supposed to have twisted and hijacked the peaceful teachings of Islam self-consciously use Islamic terms and language to explain and justify their actions -- and only such terms and language. In other words, the ones who are supposed to have gotten Islam all wrong are simultaneously those who are most explicitly devout. The learned analysts have never bothered to offer any explanation for this, or even to acknowledge the fact. More on this story. "Authorities: NY suspect left radical Web roadmap," from the Associated Press, October 29 (thanks to all who sent this in):

[...] In Shehadeh's case, the NYPD investigators discovered that he had created a radical roadmap with websites that posted speeches by al-Qaida leaders including Abu Yahya Al-Libi and Ayman al-Zawahiri, authorities said.

A criminal complaint says he also put up a photo of himself wearing a keffiyeh headdress, another snapshot of a man holding a sign reading "Jihad is Our Way," videos of Osama bin Laden and a recording titled "Benefits of Jihad in Our Times." One of his sites had "a montage of still images of jihadist fighters under the heading, 'What is the least we can do?'" the complaint said.

In one militant missive, investigators say he wrote: "My brothers of the revolution of Islam, I am with you as long as you keep struggling. Trust me, there are many brothers and sisters in America that are ready to speak up. They just need a push."

The investigators followed Shehadeh's Internet footprints to business records showing his site emanated from two Staten Island addresses. In June 2008, members of the joint FBI-NYPD terror task force went to one of addresses to interview him. The complaint said Shehadeh told them he had tried to travel to Pakistan to "study Islamic law."

Four months later, Shehadeh showed up at a Times Square military recruiting station and tried to sign up, authorities said. An unidentified friend he had worshipped with later told investigators Shehadeh had hoped the Army would deploy him to Iraq, where he could desert and join insurgent forces....

Anjem Choudary must be some kind of Islamophobe: "This is something, you know, the Muslims around the world, I don't think would differ with. They may say one thing to you in front of CNN. But I can assure you behind your backs, in every masjid and every community center, they are standing with their Muslim brothers and sisters saying, We hope the Americans and British are pushed out of our countries, and we can implement the Sharia."

Qur'an 3:28 warns believers not to take unbelievers as "friends or helpers" (َأَوْلِيَا -- a word that means more than casual friendship, but something like alliance), "unless (it be) that ye but guard yourselves against them." This is a foundation of the idea that believers may legitimately deceive unbelievers when under pressure. The word used for "guard" in the Arabic is tuqātan (تُقَاةً), the verbal noun from taqiyyatan -- hence the increasingly familiar term taqiyya. Ibn Kathir says that the phrase Pickthall renders as "unless (it be) that ye but guard yourselves against them" means that "believers who in some areas or times fear for their safety from the disbelievers" may "show friendship to the disbelievers outwardly, but never inwardly. For instance, Al-Bukhari recorded that Abu Ad-Darda' said, 'We smile in the face of some people although our hearts curse them.' Al-Bukhari said that Al-Hasan said, 'The Tuqyah [taqiyya] is allowed until the Day of Resurrection." While many Muslim spokesmen today maintain that taqiyya is solely a Shi'ite doctrine, shunned by Sunnis, the great Islamic scholar Ignaz Goldziher points out that while it was formulated by Shi'ites, "it is accepted as legitimate by other Muslims as well, on the authority of Qur'an 3:28." The Sunnis of Al-Qaeda practice it today.

(Video thanks to Brian.)

Mask starting to slip

Islamic supremacist pseudo-moderate Reza Aslan is a clown, and the only proper response to clowns is laughter, but if any of the multitudes of useful idiots and dupes in Washington heed his advice, it could be lethal: he is also a Board member of a group that is widely regarded as an apologetic vehicle for the Islamic Republic of Iran, and is now calling upon the U.S. to negotiate with the jihad terrorists of Hamas.

In "Obama's Middle East policy Is a Failure," which is part of a dialogue entitled "The Middle East Peace Process: Opposing Views" at the Huffington Post, October 29, Aslan says this:

All is not necessarily lost. The president still has an opportunity, particularly after the midterm elections, to reinvigorate the Middle East peace process. It means breaking from the Bush-era policy of pitting Hamas and Fatah against each other and instead using intermediaries to bring Hamas into the negotiations.

It is important to recall why Hamas is on the terror list in the first place: consider the "Glory Record" that used to be on its website. You can still see it here, via the Wayback Machine. Just in case that is not accessible, here are some excerpts in which Hamas considered attacks on Israeli civilians something that gave it "glory":

Hamas operations -The Glory Record

[...] 3. Boureen Operation: The militant Hamdan Hussein Al:najar, a member of Hamas, killed the Israeli settler Ya'coub Berey using a big rock as his weapon. The militant was shot down as a martyr after he had ambushed an Israeli patrol using the dead settler's weapon.

[...] 6. Bus No. 405 Operation: Militant Ahmed Hussein Shukry, a member of Hamas, was able to lead an Israeli soldier to a secluded place in Tel Aviv where the militant hit the soldier with a chisel and killed him on 8 September 1989. The following day, the militant got on bus No. 405 and stabbed the driver to take over the bus; however, the passengers were able to stop the militant.

[...] 12. Keryat Youval Operation: The militant Mohammed Mustafa Abu Jalala stabbed four Israelis and injured another at a bus station in Keryat Youval in Jerusalem before he was arrested by the Israeli forces.

13. Askalan Road Operation: While driving a taxi, the militant Jameel Ismail Al:baz, a member of Hamas, ran over a group of Israelis waiting on this road on 19 July 1991. He was able to kill corporal Nadaf Der'ey and injure another soldier. Then the militant was able to escape but he was later arrested by the Israeli forces.

[...] 15. Shailou Operation: A military group belonging to Al Qassam Brigades attacked an Israeli bus carrying some settlers on their way to Tel Aviv to participate in demonstrations organized by the extremist party Likud against the peace process. The bus was completely destroyed; two Israelis were killed and five more were injured.

[...] 17. Eid Al-maskhara Operation: The militant Ra'ed Al:reefy attacked an Israeli crowd in Jaffa on 17 March 1992. He was able to kill 2 and injure 21 Israelis who gathered to celebrate Eid Al:maskhara, also known as Al:boureem.

18. Beit Lahya Operation: On the third anniversary of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin's arrest, a group belonging to Al Qassam Brigades attacked an Israeli settler at Beit Lahya and shot him down then withdrew safely.

[...] 21. Carlo Factory Operation: Four militants belonging to Al Qassam Brigades broke into a citrus packing factory (Carlo) near Nahal Oaz at 2:30 p.m. on 25 June 1992. Three militants stabbed two Israelis while the other was guarding. The Hamas members wrote some slogans and considered this operation as a gift for Yitzhak Rabin on the occasion of winning the Israeli elections.

[...] 26. Al Haram Al-Ibrahimy Operation: Two militants belonging to Al Qassam Brigades attacked an Israeli group near Al Haram (the Shrine) in Hebron. One of the militants attacked the group while the other was on guard. The Israeli forces admitted that only one Israeli was killed and another was injured although the Israeli authorities were shocked by this audacious and well-planned operation. Thereafter they arrested many members of Hamas.

[...] 49. Martyr Hatem Al:muzein Operation: Despite the intensive existence of the Israeli forces, the Curfew and the military siege, a member of Al Qassam Brigades stabbed a 38-year-old Israeli settler, Sha'ya Doytch, from Kfar Yam, a settlement of Ghosh Qateif at 7:00 a.m., while he was working at his greenhouse west of Jan Oar. He was taken to Sarouka Hospital in Beir Sheiba'a, but he died one hour later.

[...] 56. The Revenge Operation: As soon as the Israeli forces announced the execution of the six heroes, Al Qassam Brigade militants put explosives in a 15-storey shopping centre in Tel Aviv on 16 May 1993. The building was completely destroyed and several Israelis were killed and others injured. The Israeli forces admitted that one Israeli had been killed and 40 were injured as a result of a gas bottle explosion in order to cover up the operation.

[...] 61. The Two Martyrs, Hatem Al-muhtaseb and Ya'coub Mutaw'e Operation: It was a violent clap for Rabin when a commando group belonging to Al Qassam Brigades hijacked a bus on HI-25 west of Jerusalem at 7:30 a.m. on 1 July 1993 during the rush hour. The group was able to penetrate the security siege and reached the target bus from 100 metres from the Israeli police headquarters. However, the passengers were able to leave the bus because something wrong happened and so the group engaged in battle with the Israeli forces. Meanwhile, the militants Maher Abu Srour and Mohammed Al-hindy hijacked another car driven by an Israeli lady after the militant Othman Saleh had been injured. They bombed the car and all three were killed in addition to another Israeli soldier and lady that were on the bus. The militant Othman Saleh was taken captive although he was unconscious and kept saying "Allahu Akbar" while the Israeli forces were investigating him. A manifest was found on him with the following demands:

A. The bus must be driven to the Lebanese borders.
B. Al:sheikh Ahmed Yassin must be safely released immediately.
C. Fifty captives belonging to Hamas, 50 belonging to the other Palestinian formations such as Fateh, Al:jehad Al:Islamy and the Democratic Front, etc., must be released.
D. Al-sheikh Abdelkareem Obeid must also be released.

[...] 67. Downtown Hebron Operation: During these serious conditions in which the disgraceful peace treaty was signed, the militants belonging to the Martyr Abdallah Azzam group ambushed an Israeli bus at the Hebron-Keryat Arba'a junction on Sunday, 12 September 1993. The militants shot the soldiers down and took their papers and weapons, including an M-16 rifle and a Klashenkoff after which they withdrew safely.

[...] 69. Askalan Operation: Al Qassam militants were quite active in the 1948-occupied territories when the militant Ala'a Al-kahlout stabbed an Israeli bus driver while travelling from Askalan to Asdoud on Sunday, 12 September 1993. The militant detonated all the explosives he had on the bus causing injuries to several Israelis. One of the passengers was able to shoot the militant down who was later martyred. The Israeli forces admitted that the bus driver was killed and three Israeli passengers were injured.

[...] 77. Beit Kahel Operation: In revenge for the bloodshed caused by the Israeli aggression and attacks on the Palestinian towns, villages and camps, Al Qassam Brigade militants ambushed Rabbi Haim Drucman's car, a prominent chief of the racial Zionist movement, Gosh Amunim and an ex-member of Parliament. They fired at his car near the Beit Kahel junction at 8:30 a.m. on Sunday, 7 November 1993. The driver was killed but the Rabbi, who is responsible for the settlement process, was seriously injured.

78. Hebron Operation: As part of the war waged by Al Qassam Brigades against the Israeli settlers, a group belonging to the battalion attacked a vehicle belonging to an Israeli settler near Hebron on Monday, 6 December 1993. Two settlers were killed and three were injured.

79. Hamas Operation: Two militants belonging to Al Qassam Brigades used a car to drive over an Israeli vehicle near Beitonia, southwest of Ramallah, at the industrial zone on Wednesday, 22 December 1993. They killed two and injured three other Israelis from Doulb, who were also in the car.

[...] 82. Al-khdeireh Operation: During the Israeli memorial day celebrations of the Israelis killed in the Arab-Israeli wars and one week after the revenge operation, the militant Ammar Amarneh, a member of Al Qassam Brigades, blew up an Israeli bus belonging to Eaged working on line 8 at Al:khdeireh, northwest of Tulkarm, on 31 April 1994. Five Israelis were killed and more than 32 were seriously injured.

[...] 85. Dezenkov Street Operation: In an immediate reaction to the previous operation, the militant Saleh Abdelraheem Sawy bombed an Israeli bus at Dezenkof Street in downtown Tel Aviv on 19 October 1994. The explosion was rather violent, leaving 22 Israelis dead, 47 injured and seriously damaging many shops. Israelis were confused and shocked by this operation, causing Yitzhak Rabin to shorten his visit to London.

Reza Aslan merits the contempt of all free people.

In "Offensive Jihad: The One Incontrovertible Problem with Islam" in Pajamas Media (via RaymondIbrahim.com), October 28, our friend Raymond Ibrahim discusses an Islamic doctrine that Islamic spokesmen in the West hardly ever seem to get around to mentioning:

[...] Worse, offensive jihad is part and parcel of Islam; it is no less codified than, say, Islam's Five Pillars, which no Muslim rejects. The Encyclopaedia of Islam's entry for "jihad" states that the "spread of Islam by arms is a religious duty upon Muslims in general ... Jihad must continue to be done until the whole world is under the rule of Islam ... Islam must completely be made over before the doctrine of jihad can be eliminated." Scholar Majid Khadurri (1909-2007), after defining jihad as warfare, writes that jihad "is regarded by all jurists, with almost no exception, as a collective obligation of the whole Muslim community."

Even that chronic complainer Osama bin Laden makes it clear that offensive jihad is the root problem: "Our talks with the infidel West and our conflict with them ultimately revolve around one issue... Does Islam, or does it not, force people by the power of the sword to submit to its authority corporeally if not spiritually? Yes. There are only three choices in Islam... Either submit, or live under the suzerainty of Islam, or die."

Clearly, then, it is in the Muslim world's interest to keep the West ignorant of the fact that, irrespective of all Muslim grievances -- real or feigned -- nothing less than Islamic law itself mandates a state of constant hostility. Indeed, if the implications of offensive jihad were fully embraced, humanity might be compelled to view the Muslim world as a perpetual, existentialist threat, in need of preemptive containment. That said, and considering the willful ignorance of the West's political elite -- who are guided less by objective facts and more by their "feel-good" ideals -- Muslim talk of offensive jihad, no matter how loud or ubiquitous, will likely continue to fall on deaf ears.

Read it all.

Comments: David G. Littman - representative of Association for World Education (AWE) and World Union for Progressive Judaism (WUPJ) at United Nations-Geneva:

Invited to a special Commemoration in Geneva for Henri Dunant: "honoring his life and humanitarian work" on the 100th Anniversary of his decease (30 October 1910), I felt a need to commemorate his centenary at the Human Rights Council Review session. We had already reminded the Council of the pertinent advice given in 2003 by High Commissioner for Human Rights Sérgio Vieira de Mello, murdered in Baghdad with 20 colleagues four months later.

I was told by the NGO secretariat that a brief 'In Memoriam' commemoration to a pioneer of human rights, the founder of the Red Cross and 1st Nobel Peace Laureate would be out of place under item 3, but I could always try to find a way to introduce it the next day under item 4.

I took this advice seriously and - encouraged by a key NGO at the UN whom I shall not name - I prepared a serious text in the firm belief that, in view of the personality involved ('Henri Dunant'), a way would be found (via the 'rules of procedure') to justify our In Memoriam intervention - this time speaking on behalf of the World Union for Progressive Judaism.

On Thursday afternoon I arrived before the meeting had opened and handed my written text to the HRC secretary who promised to give it to the friendly Thai HRC president for eventual approval. An hour later, the president left for another engagement and the Chair was taken by his colleague, the friendly vice-president, Ambassador Ms Bente Angell-Hansen of Norway.

As the general debate continued, I was then informed the vice-president had read my text, but considered it 'off the subject' and it should not be delivered at the Review session. I asked the Norwegian delegation to check if the ambassador had read our text and it was confirmed; on learning this I expressed my astonishment, adding that I could not stay silent on this matter.

What struck me as 'revealing' was that the key NGO who had recommended me to persist in my request to commemorate Henri Dunant's centenary was surprised when he saw the last paragraph in my statement that I had given in for the secretariat and the president to read:

At the same period when he initiated the Red Cross, he spoke out against what was then called: "Jew-hatred" (Judenhass in German) in all its perverted forms, soon after this obsession become known as Antisemitism [1880] - today as Judeophobia. Dunant was also an active member of the Alliance Israélite Universelle in Paris after its foundation in 1860.

My NGO colleague felt that this conclusion would be considered as a 'political' statement and would almost certainly result in very negative reactions and a 'refusal'. His words rang bells, but did not convince me to remove that hidden truth of Henri Dunant's lifelong humanitarian struggle - and I decided to add a paragraph on his 'Christian Zionism' if I was given the floor.

Finally, I was informed at the very last moment that the vice-president would not censure me, but that I would be requested, if I spoke, to keep to the subject and if I didn't I would then be gavelled by the Chair. I was the last NGO speaker at 5:45pm, being interrupted twice before I felt obliged to stop - with a Parthian shot. Below is my exact circulated text, indicating where I stopped - and including the crucial passage on Henri Dunant as a lifelong Christian Zionist.

* * * * *

WORLD UNION FOR PROGRESSIVE JUDAISM

United Nations Human Rights Council Review - Working Group (25-29 October 2010)
Chairperson: Vice-President Ms Bente Angell-Hansen, Ambassador of Norway to the UN
Statement by David G. Littman - Thursday (5:450pm) 28 October 2010
Agenda & framework for Programme of Work, Methods of Work, Rules of Procedure (Item 4)

Madam, we thank you for allowing us exceptionally - under the rules of procedure of item 4 - to make a public In Memoriam remembrance, on this unique occasion, to Henry Dunant, whose centenary will be commemorated in Geneva on Saturday, 30 October - the date of his death in 1910. It is fitting to recall - in this Alliance of Civilizations Room - that great 19th century visionary, founder of the Committee of Five in 1863, which became the International Committee of the Red Cross and his initiative in 1864 known as the 1st Geneva Convention.

It is 150 years since Henry Dunant saw with his own eyes a bloody military tragedy, where nearly 40,000 wounded, dying and dead remained on the battlefield with little attempt to provide care for them; it motivated him to act promptly.

Later in his book, Un Souvenir de Solférino in 1862, he penned those memorable lines:

L'ennemi, notre véritable ennemi, c'est n'est pas la nation voisine, c'est la faim, le froid, la misère, l'ignorance, la routine, la superstition, les préjugés. [The enemy, our real enemy, is not the neighbouring country, it is hunger, the cold, poverty, ignorance, the routine, the superstition and prejudices.]

* * * * *

[The speaker was here interrupted politely a second time and asked by the chairperson, as warned: "to stick to the subject of the agenda item." He then ended his statement with the words: "Madam, if the centenary of Henri Dunant cannot be commemorated here, then all we can say is that such a 'routine' speaks volumes here." Thus, the remaining text below was not pronounced.]

Totally engaged by his fervent humanitarian ideas, Dunant then experienced a disastrous personal bankruptcy which obliged him to leave Geneva, never to return. It was only 30 years later that he received public attention from a Swiss journalist, which led to his becoming six years later in 1901 the First Nobel Peace Laureate, with all due recognition by the Nobel Committee, whose moving words are worth recalling on this occasion.

There is no man who more deserves this honor, for it was you, forty years ago,
who set on foot the international organization for the relief of the wounded on the battlefield. Without you, the Red Cross, the supreme humanitarian achievement of
the nineteenth century would probably have never been undertaken.

We would humbly request that the centenary of such a pioneer of peace and human rights - in the true, humanitarian sense of that word - would well merit a sign of commemoration on this occasion, in an appropriate manner to be decided by you, Madam, as President of this Human Rights Council now under its first Review.

In conclusion, Madam vice-president, the World Union for Progressive Judaism wishes to evoke a little-known, aspect of Henri Dunant's lifelong humanitarian struggles. At the same period when he initiated the Red Cross, he spoke out strongly against what was then called: "Jew-hatred" (Judenhass in German) in all its perverted forms - soon after it become known as Antisemitism [in 1880], today as Judeophobia. He was also an active member of the Alliance Israélite Universelle in Paris.

Sir, a last reminder on Henry Dunant - in 1866 he recommended a detailed project for "le repeuplement de la Palestine par le people juif." [the repopulation of Palestine by the Jewish people], which was to become, eighty years later, the basis of Israel's 'Law of Return'. Four years before becoming the 1st Nobel Peace Laureate in 1901, he attended the First Zionist Congress in Basle (1897), where Theodor Herzl publicly honoured him as a "Christian Zionist".

These Remembrances of Things Past deserve full recognition here at this Council.

More on the jihad plot out of Yemen, targeting Chicago synagogues. "Interesting Details Surrounding the Al Qaeda Cargo Plane Plot Out of Yemen," by Erick Stakelbeck at CBN, October 29:

[...] Here are a few interesting details on Yemen that I became aware of this afternoon after speaking with an intelligence source who actually flew out of Sana'a, Yemen to Dubai yesterday, around the time the explosives were found.

1) The source noticed several things which seemed strange or outright alarming at Sana'a International (El Rahaba) airport in Yemen. For one, according to my source, pre-teen boys were pulling bags out of x-ray machines and essentially acting as porters, complete with uniforms. And you thought TSA had problems.

2) The source noticed a good deal of large bags, "30 or 40 of them," being brought by porters (grown adults, this time) to the personal baggage terminal, rather than to the cargo terminal, which seemed odd. Given the conditions my source described, it obviously isn't very hard to imagine a suspicious package making its way onto a plane flying out of Yemen.

It also isn't difficult to imagine that Al Qaeda may have sympathizers or operatives actually working at the airport who would help facilitate getting explosives onto flights....

There is more. Read it all.

Dear Old Dad

Decent Fellows Update: "Terror suspect described as quiet, suburban father," from Dawn, October 29 (thanks to Digital Nihilism):

BALTIMORE: Farooque Ahmed, the Pakistani-born Virginia man accused of plotting to bomb Washington-area subway stations, lived in middle-class suburban comfort with his wife and their infant son. They held steady jobs in northern Virginia's technology industry and mostly kept to themselves.

They got along with neighbours, sometimes even cooking saffron rice and chicken for them. Ahmed enjoyed fishing, and his English-born wife, Sahar Mirza-Ahmed, was part of a group of "Hip Muslim Moms." Both were on social-networking sites.

Yet Ahmed had a burning desire to join the global jihad, according to federal authorities. Beyond his alleged terror plot, which involved scouting Metro stations that he believed al-Qaeda would bomb, authorities said he wanted to travel to Afghanistan to kill American soldiers.

Ahmed, 34, emigrated around 1993 to the United States and later became a citizen, according to an FBI affidavit. He lived in Staten Island, NY, and earned a bachelor's degree in computer science in 2003 from the College of Staten Island before he moved to Virginia....

He worshipped at the All Dulles Area Muslim Society Center, a mosque with several branches in northern Virginia, coming to prayers occasionally by himself, said Robert Marro, a member of the board of trustees. The ADAMS Center, as it's known, issued a statement Wednesday expressing outrage at Ahmed's alleged plot. It also urged people to alert authorities if they know about Ahmed's activities or see any suspicious behaviour.

"He comes in just for prayer services and then leaves right after," Marro said.

Imam Mohamed Magid said cases like this make Muslims worry about how they are perceived by the larger community.

"In northern Virginia, people are very understanding," Magid said. "They know that the act of one person like this does not represent Islam and Muslims."...

He had money in the bank, according to the affidavit, which said he spoke about sending $10,000 to foreign terrorists -- in $1,000 increments to avoid arousing suspicion. But when he made an initial appearance in federal court, he said he could not afford a lawyer....

Mirza-Ahmed wasn't the most outgoing, but she was well-liked, said Bani, who was "shocked and shaken" by the allegations.

"They're a regular, everyday family," Bani said. "That's why it's very shocking to hear this."

It was unclear where Ahmed worshipped. Imams at two large mosques in the area said they had no records of Ahmed and they were quick to condemn his alleged actions.

Of course. They almost never know these guys -- the ADAMS Center above admitting some acquaintance with Ahmed is unusual. But how is it unclear where he worshipped if he was known to have attended the ADAMS Center?

In any case, in general it's funny how these self-proclaimed devout Muslims never seem to have darkened the door of a mosque. Or could it be, just possibly, that their arrest provokes amnesia down at the local House of Peace?

This perhaps indicates that the same jihadists are behind both attempted attacks. Anyone seen Al-Awlaki lately? "Sources: Explosive may be same as Christmas attack," by Eileen Sullivan and Matt Apuzzo for The Associated Press, October 29 (thanks to Weasel Zippers):

WASHINGTON -- U.S. officials say they believe two packages bound for the United States contained the same powerful explosive used in the failed Christmas Day airline bombing.

The officials said full testing has not been completed but initial indications are the packages contained PETN, a chemical that was also a component of shoe bomber Richard Reid's explosive in 2001....

Yemen has promised to look into it. An update on this story. "Suspicious packages 'contain explosive material,' Obama says," from CNN, October 29:

Suspicious packages found in at least two locations abroad that were bound for the United States "apparently contain explosive material," President Barack Obama said Friday, calling the discovery "a credible threat against our country."

The packages led to increased searches of cargo planes and trucks in several U.S. cities, said law enforcement sources with detailed knowledge of the investigation.

U.S. officials believe that al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, commonly referred to as AQAP, is behind the incident.

Obama confirmed that the packages originated in Yemen -- the stronghold of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.

"We also know that al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula continues to plan attacks against our homeland, our citizens, and our friends and allies," he said during a press briefing on the incident.

One suspicious package, found in the United Kingdom, contained a "manipulated" toner cartridge and had white powder on it as well as wires and a circuit board, a law enforcement source said. A similar package was discovered in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates, the source said.

Both packages were bound for the United States, "specifically two places of Jewish worship in Chicago," Obama said.

"Initial examination of those packages has determined they do apparently contain explosive material," he said.

Authorities were looking for about 13 other packages shipped from Yemen, a law enforcement source said. Some of them had been found and an investigation of those had not indicated they are a threat, the source said.

There is no specific intelligence indicating the other packages are a threat or that they are in the United States, the source said, but authorities want to check them as a precaution.

A Yemeni diplomat in Washington said his government has opened a full-scale investigation into the incident but it was too early to speculate or reach any conclusions....

Along with Chad, which is 53% Muslim, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Who will these child soldiers in Sudan and Yemen be fighting against? Will they be participating in the Sudanese government's jihad against non-Arab Muslims in Darfur and Christians in the southern part of the country? Will they be participating in jihad activity in Yemen? The administration is saying that this waiver is designed to give them more time to change their practices, but that seems counterintuitive: if Obama wants them to change their practices, why is he making it easier for them not to do so? And how is this conceivably in the "national interests of the United States"? Obama-Is-Not-A-Muslim, But-He-Sure-Is-Working-Hard-To-Make-Us-Think-He-Is-One Alert: "US waiving penalties for use of child soldiers," from AP, October 29 (thanks to Weasel Zippers):

WASHINGTON (AP) -- In a move criticized by human rights organizations, the Obama administration has decided to exempt Yemen and three other countries that use child soldiers from U.S. penalties under the 2008 Child Soldiers Prevention Act.

In a memorandum to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, President Barack Obama said he had determined that "it is in the national interest of the United States" to waive application of the law to Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan and Yemen. He instructed Clinton to submit the decision to the Congress with a written justification for the move.

Obama's memo, released by the White House on Monday, did not include the justification. Administration officials have said, however, that cutting off military aid to those four countries as required by the law would do more harm than good. And they have said that continuing close cooperation with them can be a more effective way of changing their practices.

Jo Becker, children's rights director at Human Rights Watch, said Obama had supported the legislation when he was in the Senate....

No doubt from a small, secretive band of extremist Methodists hiding out in Yemen. "High alert in U.S. after suspicious packages found in UK," from CNN, October 29 (thanks to all who sent this in):

(CNN) -- Cargo planes and trucks in several U.S. cities were inspected Friday after investigators found suspicious packages in at least two locations abroad, law enforcement sources with detailed knowledge of the investigation said.

U.S. officials believe that al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, commonly referred to as AQAP, is behind the plot.

One suspicious package, found in the United Kingdom, contained a "manipulated" toner cartridge but tested negative for explosive material, the source said. It led to heightened inspection of arriving cargo flights in Newark, New Jersey, and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and a UPS truck in New York.

The package had white powder on it as well as wires and a circuit board, a law-enforcement source said; someone shipped it from Sanaa, Yemen, with a final destination of Chicago, Illinois. A similar package has been discovered in [modern, moderate -- RS] Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates, the source said.

Investigators were looking for a "possible nexus to terrorism," a U.S. official said

"We are taking this very seriously," the official said.

Some Jewish religious leaders in Chicago were alerted Friday, said Linda Haase, spokeswoman for the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago.

"We were notified about this earlier this morning," she said. "We are taking appropriate precautions and we are advising local synagogues to do the same."

Lucille Price, a receptionist at Anshe Emet Synagogue, said Chicago police made them aware of the reports and asked them to keep an eye out for suspicious packages among any deliveries that arrived Friday.

But congregation leaders at two prominent Chicago synagogues, Temple Sholom and Chicago Sinai Congregation, told CNN they were not made aware of any attempts to ship bombs or hazardous material to them....

But no, really, they want peace! Only on their exact terms, and only after they have everything they think they are entitled to have. So they are interested in "peace," but under the same conditions that Hitler's Germany and Imperial Japan were: peace as a last resort just as soon as they've run out of things to fight over.

And that could be a while. If the worst came to pass and Israel fell, they would then turn on each other, as already happened between Hamas and Fatah after Israel left Gaza. "Big rally by Islamic Jihad in Gaza, joined by Hamas," by Nidal al-Mughrabi for the Associated Press, October 29:

GAZA (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of supporters of the militant Islamic Jihad movement rallied in the streets of Gaza on Friday, chanting "Death to America" and "Death to Israel."

Young men and boys wearing white T-shirts with a slogan in the shape of a rifle bore portraits of militants killed in combat, under the black flags of Islamic Jihad.

Ramadan Shallah, the group's exiled chief in Damascus, sent a recorded message marking the anniversary of the assassination of the group's leader Fathi Shiqaqi in Malta in 1995, by presumed Israeli secret agents.

"Israel will not bring peace to the region, it will only bring war and destruction and therefore, the slogan of all should be that Israel must be wiped out of existence," said Shallah, who is on a United States wanted list.

Senior leaders of the ruling Islamist group, Hamas, joined the open-air gathering, the largest for years in honor of Islamic Jihad with up to 100,000 attending according to its organizers.

Hamas allowed the group to use city terrain it usually reserves exclusively for its own rallies, and Hamas forces provided security for the parade by its smaller rival....

It has to be there, you see, because otherwise it would not be a triumphal mosque. Here again Rauf's intransigence belies his snake-oil claims to be working for peace and harmony. An update on this story. "Imam unmoved by Saudi criticism of NYC mosque," by David B. Caruso for the Associated Press, October 29 (thanks to Weasel Zippers):

NEW YORK (AP) The imam co-leading a drive to build an Islamic community center near the World Trade Center has politely brushed aside a suggestion by one of his past benefactors that the project be moved to a different spot.

"While we respect the points of view of other interested observers, we plan to build the community center in this location because we have been part of Lower Manhattan for decades and we want to better serve the needs of our neighbors of all faith traditions," Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf said Thursday in a statement e-mailed to The Associated Press.

Rauf was responding to a request for comment on remarks by Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, one of the world's richest men, who told a magazine based in the United Arab Emirates that he was against putting the center and mosque close to ground zero....

Prince Alwaleed's opinions on the project are of note partly because his huge charitable organization has contributed to Rauf's activities in the past. In recent years, Alwaleed's Kingdom Foundation has helped pay for academic conferences run by two nonprofit groups affiliated with Rauf....

Rauf said the center, dubbed Park51, had received "overwhelming support from our local community, as well as from civic and political leaders throughout New York City."...

Not from the American people, but they can just drop dead as far as Rauf is concerned.

Here is the video about which Marisol wrote here. The marriage celebrant has now been arrested. One does wonder, however, how many other marriages he has celebrated. Mocking the kuffar is good fun until it could start having a negative impact upon the tourism industry. "Maldives arrest marriage celebrant after 'hate' ceremony," from AFP, October 29 (thanks to Ima):

COLOMBO (AFP) - Police in the Maldives have arrested a marriage celebrant who abused a foreign couple as "swine" and "infidels" during a luxury ceremony in the holiday paradise, an official said.

Maldivian police spokesman Ahmed Shiyam said the celebrant, who conducted the ceremony in the local language at an upmarket resort fringed by white sand and turquoise water, had been arrested with another hotel employee on Thursday.

A video of the ceremony, during which the hapless couple are taunted and subjected to a series of insulting and religious-tinged abuse, was posted on YouTube and has sparked fears for the country's tourism-dependent economy....

"You are swine," the couple were told. "The children that you bear from this marriage will all be bastard swine.

"Your marriage is not a valid one. You are not the kind of people who can have a valid marriage. One of you is an infidel. The other, too, is an infidel and, we have reason to believe, an atheist."

The wife, wearing a white dress and carrying a bouquet, and her husband smile shyly through the ceremony, which was to renew their marriage vows at a cost of 1,300 dollars.

In front of a table decorated with incense sticks, the English-speaking couple bow their heads in prayer through the torrent of accusations, curses and swearing from the celebrant.

At the end of the 15-minute routine, they exchange rings as the staff clap, before heading onto the beach to plant a coconut tree in the sand.

The Islamic republic of the Maldives, a nation of palm-fringed islands scattered in the Indian Ocean, is one of the world's most exclusive honeymoon destinations and its economy relies heavily on tourism.

Maybe jihadis are motivated by the Qur'an's injunction to Muslims to slay the idolaters wherever they find them (9:5) and to war against and subjugate Jews and Christians (9:29)? Pah! It's discrimination! It's inbreeding! The mainstream media and government authorities continue their never-ending search for the real cause of Islamic jihad terrorism, because the one thing that everyone knows is that it couldn't be...the doctrines of Islamic jihad. "Psychologist critical of Muslim 'inbreeding' informed expert's opinion on Khadr," by Colin Perkel for The Canadian Press, October 27 (thanks to Chris):

GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba - A Danish psychologist who believes Muslims are raised to be aggressive and that inbreeding has damaged their genes informed a damning expert opinion of the risk Omar Khadr poses to public safety, court heard Wednesday.

Under cross-examination by defence lawyers, Dr. Michael Welner said he talked to Nicolai Sennels before coming to the conclusion that the Canadian-born Khadr was "highly dangerous" -- an opinion he gave Tuesday on the first day of Khadr's sentencing hearing.

Welner, a witness for the prosecution, said he admired Sennels for his work trying to help young Muslim inmates in Denmark and found him informative.

Sennels, who is based in Copenhagen, has written extensively on Muslims, including one article introduced into evidence Tuesday.

"If a Muslim does not react aggressively when criticized he is seen as weak, not worth trusting and he thus loses social status immediately," Sennels wrote.

In another article, Sennels, 34, attributed a host of problems within the Islamic world to intermarriage among first cousins.

"Massive inbreeding within the Muslim culture during the last 1,400 years may have done catastrophic damage to their gene pool."

Sennels has also stated that Muslim integration into western societies is not possible, a view Welner called "political."...

Testifying for a second day, Welner found his credibility under attack as the defence hammered him for being selective in his depictions of Khadr.

Welner had testified on Tuesday that Khadr was only interested in the Qur'an, and had shown little interest in western literature.

However, during testy exchanges with defence lawyer Maj. Matthew Schwartz, Welner conceded Khadr had indicated little interest in the Qu'ran before being shipped to Guantanamo.

He also testified Khadr had in fact read books by South African President Nelson Mandela, U.S. President Barack Obama, and even romance writer Danielle Steele....

Oh, well, then! If he read books by Mandela, Obama, and Steele, then he couldn't have been influenced by the Book of Peace!

"Discrimination, not Islam behind violent youths: FRA," from Indian Express, October 27 (thanks to Fjordman):

Young Muslims are no more likely to be violent than non-Muslims, a report by the EU's Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA) found on Wednesday, citing discrimination however as a key differentiating factor.

In a survey of 3,000 Muslim and non-Muslim youths in Britain, France and Spain, FRA found that young people across the board were more likely to turn to violence if they had suffered discrimination.

"Young people who are discriminated against and feel socially marginalised, and those who have been a victim of violence are more likely to use violence towards others," noted FRA director Morten Kjaerum.

"There are no indications that Muslim youth are more or less likely to resort to actual violence than non-Muslims," added the report, which was published today....

No indications, that is, other than a few thousand burned cars in Paris, and otherwise lethal gangs of "youths" all over Europe.

The prospects for a democracy to succeed in upholding human rights and a free society are ultimately only as good as the values that inform those who participate in it. An update on this story. "Kerala man accused of chopping hand wins poll," from the Press Trust of India, October 28 (thanks to GS):

Thiruvananthapuram: Contesting from prison, an accused in the sensational case of chopping off the hand of Thodupuzha Newman college lecturer TJ Joseph, has won from a block panchayat division in Ernakulam in the civic body elections.

Anas won from the Vanchinad division of Vazhakkulam block in Ernakulam district on a ticket of Socialist Democratic Party of India (SDPI), political arm of Popular Front of India (PFI), whose activists were allegedly behind the attack on Joseph for preparing a question paper containing blasphemous references to Prophet Mohammed.

First, whose prophet? And Joseph was then fired in addition to being maimed.

Anas, now in judicial custody and lodged in the Viyyur central jail in connection with the case, won from the division defeating the nearest UDF candidate by a margin of more than 1,000 votes, while the LDF candidate came third.

The accused, who contested the seat after getting permission of the local court, could neither campaign for the poll nor cast his vote. Anas is the 47th accused in the case.

The problem, of course, is predominantly found in Muslim communities. Germany's efforts follow those of Britain, which has implemented measures of its own to attempt to protect against the practice in recent years. "Germany moves to outlaw forced marriages," by Michelle Martin for Reuters, October 27 (thanks to Twostellas):

Chancellor Angela Merkel's government moved on Wednesday to outlaw forced marriages against a backdrop of a growing debate about immigration and integration in the country that is home to some four million Muslims.

Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said forced marriages would be treated as a criminal offence with a jail term of up to five years if the law is passed by parliament. Forced marriages are currently treated as a form of coercion.

"Forced marriage is a problem in Germany and we must take it seriously," de Maiziere said. He added it would be wrong to tolerate forced marriage and merely consider it a tradition belonging to other cultures.

The law would give affected parties more time to annul forced marriages.

There have been several high profile cases in Germany of forced marriages in Germany's Turkish community. But the government said the problem is not limited to Islamic circles.

The government also revealed plans to put tougher demands on immigrants to better integrate them into German society.

Authorities will, for example, have to check whether immigrants have taken compulsory "integration courses" before extending their residency permits. Those who fail to take the courses may find their applications are rejected.

The proposals come after weeks of heated debate about integration in Germany -- a sensitive issue in the country that saw minorities persecuted under Hitler and now tries to present itself as a tolerant, liberal society as a result.

The debate started when German central banker Thilo Sarrazin made controversial remarks about the failure of many Muslim immigrants to integrate in a book -- "Deutschland schafft sich ab" (German does away with itself).

President Christian Wulff encouraged Germans to accept that "Islam also belongs in Germany," which also stirred the debate.

Merkel said earlier this month that multiculturalism had "utterly failed" in Germany. She told Muslims they must obey the constitution rather than Sharia law if they wanted to live in Germany.

An update on this story, which had earlier generated controversy over a witness' intention to testify in a full face veil. "Muslim school director Anwar Sayed guilty of fraud," from the Australian Associated Press, October 28 (thanks to Twostellas):

The director of a Muslim school in Perth has been found guilty of falsifying student numbers to fraudulently obtain state and federal government grants.

In the District Court in Perth, Anwar Sayed was found guilty by a jury on two counts of fraud.

The 50-year-old was accused of falsifying student numbers at the Muslim Ladies College of Australia in Kenwick, in Perth's south, to fraudulently obtain part of $1.125 million in state and federal government grants.

The school received about $164,000 from the state government and about $961,000 from the federal government. Sayed, from Canningvale in Perth's south, is the director of Muslim Link Australia, which runs the school.

The court heard that he signed a declaration that, in the 2006/07 census year, more than 180 students were enrolled in the school when there were 80 to 100 fewer than that.

Sayed was remanded in custody to be sentenced on November 30.

The case became notorious in August when Judge Shauna Deane ruled that a Muslim woman giving evidence for the Prosecution to the jury must remove her naqib, or burqa, the tradtional veil covering her face....

It's only a matter of time now, folks: Sharia, the death of free speech, the death of free society, and the oppression of non-Muslims and women are sure to follow along in due course. Islamization of Britain Update: "Mohammed is most popular boys' name in England," from AFP, October 27 (thanks to all who sent this in):

LONDON (AFP) - Mohammed was the most popular name for newborn baby boys in England and Wales in 2009, according to official data released Wednesday.

But 12 different spellings of the name, each listed separately, meant that Oliver officially topped poll.

The name, given to 7,364 children, ended Jack's 14-year reign at number one, with Harry, Alfie and Joshua rounding out the top five in the figures published by the Office for National Statistics.

The two most common spellings of the Muslim name came in at 16th and 36th place, a total of 7,549 baby boys, making it the most popular name overall.

The most common spelling, Mohammed, was the number one name in its own right in the West Midlands region of central England which includes the city of Birmingham, and number four in London....

Comments by David G. Littman, NGO Representative to the United Nations -- Geneva: Association for World Education (AWE) / World Union for Progressive Judaism (WUPJ)

* * * * *

Robert Spencer's revealing piece provides useful data on the dhimmitude mindset of many Eastern Christian clerics, fearful of Jihadist attacks against their vulnerable communities.

In our January 16, 2009 piece: "Jihad ISESCO (OIC) propagates Dialogue & Judeophobia in two books while celebrating the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights at the UN-Geneva, we provided, inter alia, a glaring example of the 'thinking' of the then-Archbishop of Baalbek, now Eparch of Newton, Cyril Salim Bustros -- maybe soon to become the new Archbishop of Beirut.

I feel sure that Jihad Watch readers will appreciate rereading the Archbishop's words on Jerusalem (Al-Quds), Ibrahim/Abraham, Jews, Judaism, Israel, delivered in Rabat, Morocco at an International Conference (June 7-8, 2002) on: "Protection of Islamic and Christian Holy Sites in Palestine". It was published in 2004 with the texts of participants, including that of King Muhammad VI of Morocco, by ISESCO - the cultural arm of the OIC, which has cultural links to UNESCO since 1984, including a detailed joint programme of cooperation for 2008-2009 that was signed just before these 'Proceedings' and a similar book (2007) were displayed outside the Alliance of Civilizations Room at the Palais des Nation in Geneva during a full day's OIC event. "The OIC Inter-Institutional Forum on Universal Shared Values: Challenges & New Paradigms" was sponsored by the "Permanent Observer Mission of the OIC in Geneva and Vienna" on Dec. 19, 2008, with the participation of OIC Secretary-General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, HCHR Neva Pillay and then Human Rights Council President, Nigerian Ambassador Martin I. Uhomoibhi.

A 'Public Complaint' was sent on January 12, 2009 by AWE and WUPJ to UNESCO's Director and the HCHR with a detailed Human Rights Council written statement [A/HRC/10/NGO/29]. We have still not received an acknowledgment, let alone a satisfactory response after nearly two years, even though we raised the matter several times - and in a joint oral statement with the WUPJ on 24 April 2009 at the Durban [II] Review Conference concluding with a simple request:

We await firm action by UNESCO - and by all UN bodies - denouncing all such UN-related publications that can increase xenophobia, racial and religious hatred and tensions. Here is the time to begin.

That same day we were frogmarched out of the main UN Assembly Hall for simply handing our oral and written statements to three Western delegates and to the OIC delegate who asked for a copy. Quoting from our written statement six weeks earlier had led to another UN scandal when our condemnation of ISESCO/OIC's defamation of Judaism and Jews was wrongly ruled "off the subject" at the Council by the Canadian Vice-President, advised by the Secretary on the podium.

UNESCO inaction over such a grave public complaint, with full documentation, should be compared to the recent Orwellian decision by UNESCO to organise a World Philosophy Day on November 21, 2010 in Teheran. It was in Teheran, nearly 21 years ago, that the OIC's 'Declaration of Human Rights in Islam' (adopted on 5 August 1990 in Cairo) originated; this human rights document is totally dependent on Islamic Sharia (art. 24-25) in total contradiction with the Universal Declaration.

* * * * *

Here is the extract from Eastern Catholic Archbishop Cyril Salim Bustros's presentation on 7 June 2002 at the OIC-ISESCO International Conference in Rabat.

We have added his opening words which are meaningful in such a context and worth meditating.

First Axis: History of Islamic and Christian Holy Sites in Palestine

Presentation by Archbishop Cyrille Salim Bustros, the "Archbishop of Baalbek and its sub-ordinates of the Catholic Church - Chairman of the Middle Council of Churches"

Al-Quds in Christian Thought

In the name of God the Everlasting, the God of peace and Justice, ladies and gentlemen, Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatu Allah wa barakatuh

Today, Al-Quds is one of the international grave issues at both the civil and religious levels. This situation has become even weightier when the Israeli government decided to establish Al-Quds as the capital of the State of Israel, a decision that has deeply affected us, Arab Christians and Muslims. (*)

[...] Al-Quds, the city of holiness, in the hands of the Zionists, has become today a trading centre where Arab Christians and Muslims are expelled and substituted with Jews. Al-Quds, which should be a house of prayer for all nations, has become in the hands of the Zionists a den of thieves where innocents and whoever claims a right and justice is killed.

Today, the Jews allege that Al-Quds belongs to them only. They have made it the capital of their Zionist state, arguing that it is the land of their ancestors since Ibrahim. If only they followed the example of this ancestor, who accepted to sacrifice his own son for the love of God. Instead, they have no qualms about killing the children of the others for the sake of their racist ambitions. John the Baptist, the great prophet who prepared for the advent of Jesus and called people to repent their sins to God, told the Jews: "O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repent-ance, and think not to say within yourselves. We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham"[Matthew 3: 7-8]. (p. 37)

The sons of Ibrahim are those who believe in the God of Ibrahim, namely in the One God, Creator of all humans, and acknowledge all people as their brothers with no discrimination and no distinction, for all people are creatures of Allah, the Cherisher and Sustainer of the worlds, as Muslims say, and sons of the One God, the Father and Commander, as Christians say. The sons of Ibrahim are those who accept to sacrifice what is most precious to them in faith and in obedience to His commands. God does not order us to murder the fellow humans he created in His shape and model. He does not order us either to exterminate and enslave people who hail from a different race and religion. He rather enjoins us to be merciful, humane, just and peace loving. (page 37)
----------------
* As Bat Ye'or has written, art. 21 of the 2008 OIC Charter designates Al-Quds as its future permanent seat, replacing Djeddah. It also calls on UNESCO to halt all Israeli excavations.]

At least one accomplice -- he may have had more. So many Misunderstanders of Islam! Why is the Muslim community worldwide such an abysmal failure at communicating the peaceful nature of its religion to its own people? "A federal law enforcement official said there are multiple investigations of radical Muslims who are believed to have received training or direction from Pakistan-based terrorist groups in order to carry out attacks here." "Alleged DC Terror Plotter Had At Least One Associate," from IPT News, October 28:

Farooque Ahmed, the man arrested Wednesday in connection with a plot to attack the Washington, D.C., subway system, had at least one associate who remains at large, an FBI agent indicated in an affidavit released Thursday.

Ahmed, a native of Pakistan who is now a U.S. citizen, first came to the FBI's attention in January when Ahmed and an unnamed associate "were inquiring about making contact with a terrorist organization in order to participate in jihad by traveling overseas to fight coalition forces in Afghanistan and/or Pakistan," FBI agent Charles Davoub said in the affidavit.

That unknown associate also traveled with Ahmed in July as he rode on the Washington Metro in northern Virginia to scout sites for a potential terrorist attack, Davoud wrote. "FBI agents later observed them returning to the Arlington Cemetery Metrorail station and boarding a train," Davoud's affidavit says.

Ahmed, the document says, believed he was working with operatives of al-Qaida, the terrorist group responsible for the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

The arrest of Ahmed, 34, comes as federal and international law enforcement officials are tracking what they consider signs of increased terrorist activity. IPT News reported Thursday that a federal law enforcement official said there are multiple investigations of radical Muslims who are believed to have received training or direction from Pakistan-based terrorist groups in order to carry out attacks here.

Davoub's affidavit does not specify how the FBI learned Ahmed and his associate were inquiring about contacting a terrorist organization in order to fight overseas. Once the FBI learned of Ahmed's interest, however, agents contacted him in April and told him he could "meet an individual that Ahmed believed to be a representative of a terrorist organization at a hotel near the Washington-Dulles International Airport on April 18, 2010."

The FBI affidavit also says an unnamed operative passed a Qu'ran with coded messages in it to Ahmed.

Desecration! Cue riots in Pakistan!

Beyond scouting a series of northern Virginia Metro stops frequently used by military personnel for potential attacks, he was also casing an unnamed Washington hotel for another attack, the affidavit says. Ahmed said the Arlington Cemetery, Courthouse and Pentagon City subway stops and the hotel were "good targets that contained many people."...

Again and again over the years we have noted here how Islamic supremacists will never take any responsibility for any wrongdoing by Muslims, and often claim victim status and accuse their foes of the very evils of which they themselves are guilty. Here our good friend Raymond Ibrahim discusses that phenomenon in regard to the Copts in Egypt. "Islamists Accuse Egypt's Christians of Behaving Like...Islamists?," by Raymond Ibrahim for Hudson New York via RaymondIbrahim.com, October 28:

The persecution of Egypt's Coptic minority is taking an ironic, and dangerous, turn: Islamist leaders are now projecting the worst traits of radical Islam onto Egypt's Christians. A psychological phenomenon first described by Sigmund Freud, "projection" is defined as "the attribution of one's own ideas, feelings, or attitudes to other people." As such, consider how the following excerpt from this recent report is a perfect example of projection:

In the last month various fundamentalist groups held ten demonstrations [in Egypt], each after coming out of mosques following Friday prayers, against the 86-year-old ailing Coptic Pontiff, in which he was accused of being a US agent, an abductor and torturer of female Muslim converts from Christianity, of stockpiling weapons in monasteries and churches to carry out war against Muslims, and of plans to divide Egypt to create a Coptic State.

All of these accusations are as ludicrous to apply to the Coptic Church as they perfectly apply to Islamists. Let us first examine the context of these charges:

"Abducting and torturing female Muslim converts from Christianity." Context: The wife of a Coptic priest, Camelia Shehata, was reportedly kidnapped by Islamists, but then returned to her family. In response, Islamist leaders began saying that she had willingly runaway and converted to Islam, and, in fact, has been "re-kidnapped" by the Coptic Church, which has trapped her in a monastery where she is being "tortured" and "re-indoctrinated" to Christianity.

In fact, the opposite scenario -- kidnapping Christian women and forcing them to convert to Islam -- is a well documented and notorious phenomenon in Egypt. So now the Coptic Church is being accused of behaving identically -- not just kidnapping, but torturing, brainwashing, and forcing women to convert. Moreover, that Camelia has appeared on video fervently affirming her Christian faith and denying that she ever converted to Islam has been ignored, no doubt because Islam's ingrained notion of taqiyya, or deceit, is also being projected onto the Copts. Finally, little wonder this charge jibes well with Muslims: their own sharia mandates that Muslim women who apostatize must be incarcerated and tormented until they return to Islam, such as in the recent case of Nagla Imam.

"Stockpiling weapons in monasteries and churches to carry out war against Muslims." Context: On September 15, leading Islamic figure Dr. Muhammad Salim al-Awwa appeared on Al Jazeera and, in a wild tirade, accused the Copts of "stocking arms and ammunitions in their churches and monasteries"-- imported from Israel, no less, since "Israel is in the heart of the Coptic Cause" -- and "preparing to wage war against Muslims." He warned that if nothing is done, the "country will burn," inciting Muslims to "counteract the strength of the [Coptic] Church." Awwa further charged that Egypt's security forces cannot enter the monasteries to investigate for weapons (an amazing assertion, considering that Coptic monasteries are not only at the mercy of the state, but easy prey to Islamist attacks, with monks tortured and crucifixes spat upon).

Needless to say, such charges are preposterous: in a nation and society where Islam is supreme; where sharia (which mandates subjugation for non-Muslims, a la Koran 9:29) is part of the Constitution; where Copts have been conditioned over centuries to be happy just being left alone -- is it reasonable to believe that these selfsame, down-trodden Christians, who make up 12-15% of the population, are planning a violent takeover of Egypt? It is easy to see, however, why such charges resonate with Muslims; after all, Islamists are constantly arming and stockpiling weapons -- a Koranic charge -- including in mosques, as they prepare to violently seize power across the nations, Egypt being an especially coveted target. Indeed, at one point, Awwa himself ceded that "Muslims are arrested every day [in Egypt] for extremism and the possession of arms."...

Read it all.

Prince Alwaleed is the unfathomably rich Saudi prince who owns part of Fox News, and whose check to New York City after 9/11 was famously returned by Rudolph Giuliani after he made remarks suggesting that he thought America's foreign policy was to blame for the attacks. He also funds pseudo-academic propagandist John Esposito's Prince Alwaleed Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at Georgetown. Who knows what else he funds -- the mainstream media, in its frenzy to track and sensationalize the comparatively minuscule sums that anti-jihadists are taking in to sustain their operations, shows no interest in that.

In light of all that, his statements here are remarkable and welcome. Notice also that he doesn't say anything to the effect that it is not at Ground Zero and is not a mosque: he no doubt knows that those are just propaganda lines fed to the useful idiots. (In case you're just tuning in, the mosque will be built upon part of the attack site of Ground Zero: the Burlington Coat Factory building it will replace was severely damaged when the landing gear from one of the 9/11 hijacked planes crashed into its roof -- that is the attraction of the site for those who want to build a triumphal mosque a la the Dome of the Rock on the Temple Mount. And yes, it is a mosque: it will contain a mosque, and no one is going around saying that mega-churches that contain swimming pools and tennis courts are not churches, because they contain more than just a worship space.)

"WORLD EXCLUSIVE: Prince Alwaleed 'against' Ground Zero mosque," by Anil Bhoyrul for Arabian Business, October 28 (thanks to Pamela Geller):

Saudi Arabia's Prince Alwaleed has said he is against the construction of a mosque close to the site of the 9/11 terror attacks in New York. In an exclusive interview with Arabian Business to be published on Sunday, His Royal Highness also said he had no part in financing the controversial project.

In his first public comments on the issue, he said: "I heard and saw a lot of news about me being associated with it and this is all wrong. We did not finance this thing.

"I say that I am against putting the mosque in that particular place. And I'll tell you why. For two reasons: first of all, those people behind the mosque have to respect, have to appreciate and have to defer to the people of New York, and not try to agitate the wound by saying 'we need to put the mosque next to the 9/11 site'.

"The wound is still there. Just because the wound is healing you can't say 'let's just go back to where we were pre-9/11'," he said. "I am against putting the mosque there out of respect for those people who have been wounded over there."

Prince Alwaleed added: "More importantly, the mosque is not in the best location, the mosque has to be in a dignified location. It can't be next to a bar or a strip club, or in a neighbourhood that is not really refined and good. The impression I have is that this mosque is just being inserted and squeezed over there. So I am personally against putting the mosque over there..."

"I believe that Christians have the right to build churches where they want and Jews have the right to put synagogues where they want and Muslims have the right to put a mosque where they want. But you have to take care and respect the dignity of those New Yorkers who have been hit badly. Ten years ago is nothing when you talk about history."...

"Christians have the right to build churches where they want and Jews have the right to put synagogues where they want." Great, Prince! So when can we start construction on that church and synagogue in Mecca?

Funny, there will be no Christian riots. No streets blocked and piles of tires burned in faraway places. No protests to the U.N. to impose itself on other nations to stop criticism of Christianity. That proves it can be done: insults protested, but allowed to pass non-violently. Imagine that.

Or is self-control just for the kuffar, as it so often appears to be similarly reserved for women?

"Muslim students in Malawi desecrate New Testaments," from Catholic Culture, October 28 (thanks to Twostellas):

Muslim students attending a Catholic primary school in Malawi tore up New Testaments that were being distributed by the Gideons International organization, which promotes the distribution of Bibles.

"Although the school's director had made it absolutely clear that no New Testaments were to be given to the Muslim pupils and that in no way was any student obliged to take a copy of the book, there was a subsequent uproar on the part of some Muslim youths, who tore up the New Testaments, threw them, howling at their teachers, and then threw the torn-up pages out onto the streets," Aid to the Church in Need reported.

"The behavior of the youths has been an indicator of a danger in our midst," said Father Medrick Chimbwanya, the parish priest. "Normally, the primary school youth in Malawi would not have the courage to tear up any book in the presence of their teacher, let alone a holy book. My conclusion is that there must be some awful training given to these youths which if left unchecked, means that we may have dangerous militants in Malawi in the near future."

28% of Malawi's 13.2 million residents are Catholic, according to Vatican statistics; 52% are Protestant, and 13% are Muslim.

It has been observed in the media before that jihadist groups like the Taliban, al-Shabaab, and the former Islamic Courts Union in Somalia bring "law and order" and work quickly to "resolve" cases that take longer in other court systems. The catch, of course, is living under brutally arbitrary tyranny with due process subject to the whims of those who were given carte blanche to restore "order" under Sharia law, and sentences intentionally carried out too hastily to allow appeals or protests.

These are the consequences. "Two teenage girls executed by Somali militants," from CNN, October 28 (thanks to Robin):

(CNN) -- A Somali militant group publicly executed two teenage girls Wednesday after accusing them of being spies for the Somali government, according to the group, eyewitnesses and a relative of one of the girls.

"Those two girls were evil and they were spies for the enemy (the Somali government), but the mujahedeen caught them and after investigation, they admitted their crime, so they have been executed," said Sheikh Yusuf Ali Ugas, commander of Al-Shabaab in Beledweyne, a town in central Somalia.

The teens were blindfolded with their hands behind their backs against a tree, and shot, according to a local journalist.

A resident of Beledweyne told CNN that Al-Shabaab called on the town's residents to come out and watch the execution.

"Hundreds of people came out to watch the execution," he said. "It was very bad ... the girls looked shocked and were crying but [no one] could help."

But, Alhamdulillah!, the onlookers weren't watching soccer or listening to music!

A relative of one of the teens denied they were spies.

"My cousin, Ayan Mohamed Jama, was just 16 years old and she was absolutely innocent," said the relative, who did not want their name used out of fear of retribution from Al-Shabaab. "And Al-Shabaab caught her and the other girl between El-gal and Beledweyne and simply accused them of what they were not."

The other girl, said the relative, was 15. Al-Shabaab refused their families' request to see the teens while they were in detention, "and they executed them at a public gathering, so this is inhumane and cruelty."

The El-gal area has been the scene of heavy fighting recently between Somali government forces and Al-Shabaab.

"Ayan didn't have any contact with the government and even in her life, she never had a mobile [phone] so we can't understand how she could be accused of being a spy," the relative said.

Last year, Al-Shabaab stoned a teenage girl to death in Kismayo, a town in southern Somalia.

Here is a report of a 2008 stoning in Kismayo, of a 13-year-old girl who came to report that she had been raped.

Al-Shabaab is waging a war against Somalia's government in an effort to impose a stricter form of Islamic law, or sharia....

Sharia is a comprehensive set of laws designed to address every facet of human existence.

Now, if you say that with a smile and stop there, you're well on your way to a fruitful career in lobbying or the mainstream media. Not so much if you continue with the observation that Sharia's existence as a package deal that does not lend itself to compartmentalization is a profound liability, because of the many provisions in the law that are regressive, unjust, discriminatory, and unreasonable. Those include the areas of women's rights (see below, last paragraph), the subjugation of non-Muslims and restrictions on the open practice of their religion, the death penalty for apostasy, cruel and unusual punishments like amputation and lashes, and the doctrine of jihad to advance the cause of Islam.

Obviously, the clerics have a personal, vested interest in ensuring the political power of Islam for its own sake. They would have a major piece of the action. But the acceptance of Sharia in principle sets the stage for the assertion of more severe implementation of the law, as well as for perpetual and possibly bloody conflict over "how much" Sharia is "enough," when purportedly divinely-issued laws do not lend themselves to an a la carte treatment, and the purpose of jihad itself is to impose Islamic law.

If they want to see such a ticking time bomb in action, they need only look at the constitution of Afghanistan, the laws already passed, and demands made for Sharia's most severe punishments, which would be perfectly constitutional. Or Aceh, where galloping Sharia infringes ever more on citizens' rights in public and private, all of which was likely once met with a chorus of "oh, that won't actually happen here."

"Muslim groups urge boycott of Niger vote," from Reuters, October 27:

Oct 27 (Reuters) - Muslim groups in junta-led Niger urged voters on Wednesday to boycott a weekend referendum on a new constitution setting the terms of a return to civilian rule, complaining that it neglected Islam.

Sunday's vote is the first in a series of elections due to end in the swearing-in of a new civilian leader by April next year, replacing the leaders of February's coup against former president Mamadou Tandja.

The new constitution seeks to undo new presidential powers that Tandja had awarded to himself before being deposed, and to improve governance in the mining sector of a country which is nuclear-power France's top uranium-supplier.

It also formalises a separation of powers between the secular state and Islam in a country 98 percent of whose 15 million citizens are Muslim.

The fact that they're trying something new tends to suggest something wasn't working.

"Separating state and religion means quite simply that Allah does not figure as a priority in this state funded by the money of Muslims -- that you can govern Nigeriens with all sorts of atheistic, anti-religious ideologies and ideas," said Harouni Fodi of the Islamic association Anassi.

The country's Muslim groups are seen as influential, having either blocked or forced changes in a number of planned reforms on family law or women's rights in recent years

Where would he get that sort of thing? Well, the Qur'an, which calls unbelievers the "vilest of creatures" (98:6), and even portrays them as apes and swine (2:63-66, 5:59-60, 7:166). "Unwitting Western couple mocked as 'infidel' and 'swine' by 'minister' during foreign language wedding ceremony at luxury Maldives resort," from the Daily Mail, October 29 (thanks to JRG):

A luxury resort in the Maldives has sparked outrage after a video appeared on You Tube showing members of staff abusing and mocking their guests using a language they were unable to understand.

Employees at the Vilu Reef Beach and Spa resort can be seen calling an English-speaking couple 'infidel' and 'swine' and calling their guests' marriage illegal in their native Dhivehi tongue throughout the 15-minute wedding ceremony.

According to the Maldive news service Minivan News, the video which was uploaded to You Tube 'as a joke' shows an employee named Hussein Didi conducting a service as a 'celebrant' - a person who is empowered to perform a religious ceremony.

The document he uses, of which there is a brief close-up in the video, has absolutely no relation to marriage laws in the Maldives. Words that are legible on the document refer to 'staff employment', suggesting that it is a document relating to employment regulations.

Asking the couple and other 'officials' to raise their hands as is customary for Muslim prayers, the 'celebrant' begins his marriage vows.

'Fornication has been legalised according to Article six, 1.11 of the Penal Code', he chants in a tone favoured by religious scholars. 'That is, frequent fornication by homosexuals. Most fornication is by males,' he continues.

'You are swine. The children that you bear from this marriage will all be bastard swine,' he says to his guests.

'Your marriage is not a valid one. You are not the kind of people who can have a valid marriage. One of you is an infidel. The other, too, is an infidel - and we have reason to believe - an atheist, who does not even believe in an infidel religion.'

The hapless couple remain oblivious as the 'celebrant', surrounded by 10-15 employees, calls for the marriage to be enshrined in Islamic law, followed by further personal insults against the couple.

None of the employees attempts to stop the 'ceremony' and several take photographs....

But a little pious violence to deny people freedom of conscience? Why, that just keeps society sparkling and lemony-fresh. "Christian Family in Bangladesh Attacked, Charged with Crime," from Compass Direct News, October 27:

LOS ANGELES, October 27 (CDN) -- Muslim neighbors of a Christian family in Bangladesh scheduled to be baptized last month beat them and filed a false charge of attempted murder against them and other Christians, the head of the family said.

Foyez Uddin, 62, told Compass that his neighbor Nazrul Islam and Islam's relatives told him, his wife and his two adult children that as Christians they were "polluting" society and beat them on Sept. 17 in Joysen village in Rangpur district, some 300 kilometers (186 miles) north of Dhaka. Islam is a policeman.

Islam's uncle, Abdul Mannan Miah, then filed false charges against Uddin, his family and three others, accusing them of trying to kill Miah's niece, Uddin said by telephone after his release on bail on Oct. 8. The village is under Pirgacha police jurisdiction.

Uddin said his family was fishing at his pond on Sept. 17 when eight to 10 Muslim neighbors led by Islam appeared and began speaking abusively about their Christian faith.

That's Nazrul Islam, but the puns all but write themselves.

"Nazrul told us, 'You are polluting society by deviating from Islam. Come back to Islam, otherwise we will not allow any Christian to live here in this village,'" Uddin said.

He told them that his family would not return to Islam, Uddin said.

"I replied, 'Invite Islamic scholars, and if they can satisfy us in light of the Quran, then we will go back to Islam. Otherwise nothing can affect our unshakeable faith in Christ,'" Uddin said. "They beat me, my wife and two sons for objecting to their proposal to come back to Islam."

The angry neighbors then broke into his home and burned two Bibles, tore two others and ripped four hymnals, he said, and they also damaged some furniture and chairs. Their home serves as a worship venue, and Uddin said the villagers also hacked with a machete the sign board of their house church, Faith Bible Church of God.

Apostates are lawful for slaughter under Islamic law according to Muhammad's own command. That raises very real concerns that the violence here may escalate even further.

The pastor of the church, Lavlu Sadik Lebio, told Compass that he went to a nearby police station to complain about the attack, but officers did not respond to him. He said he only went to inform police, not file a case, but even so officers were unresponsive.

"Intentionally burning Bibles was the most sacrilegious attack on our faith - how can a member of the police department do that?" Pastor Lebio said. "Those people should have kept in mind how an announcement of burning a copy of the Quran in the U.S. stirred up the anger, discontent and hatred of Muslims all over the world."

But the nature of their status as subjugated peoples, or dhimmis, under Islamic law precludes reciprocity of respect and rights for non-Muslims, to say nothing of apostates, who have no such scheme of "protection."

Taken into police custody on Sept. 18, Uddin said he and his family were unable to be baptized as planned....

"U.S. Attorney Neil MacBride said in a statement that it was 'chilling that a man from Ashburn is accused of casing rail stations with the goal of killing as many Metro riders as possible through simultaneous bomb attacks'."

Say, what are folks "misunderstanding" in Ashburn? "Man charged with D.C.-area subway bomb plot," from MSNBC, October 27 (thanks to all who sent this in):

WASHINGTON -- A Pakistani-born American was arrested Wednesday and accused of casing Washington area subway stations in what he thought was an al-Qaida plot to bomb and kill DC area commuters.

The bombing plot was a ruse conducted over the past six months, the FBI said, but 34-year-old Farooque Ahmed readily handed over video of northern Virginia subway stations, suggested using rolling suitcases rather than backpacks to kill as many people as possible and offered to donate money to al-Qaida's cause overseas.

The public never was in danger because FBI agents were aware of Ahmed's activities and monitored him throughout, the agency said. And the people that Ahmed thought were al-Qaida operatives were actually individuals who worked on behalf of the government, according to a federal law enforcement official who requested anonymity to discuss details of the case.

Ahmed was indicted under seal by a federal grand jury in Alexandria, Va. on Tuesday, and the charges were made public Wednesday. He is accused of attempting to provide material support to a designated terrorist organization, collecting information to assist in planning a terrorist attack on a transit facility, and attempting to provide material support to carry out multiple bombings to cause mass casualties. Ahmed, a naturalized citizen, lives in Ashburn, Va., outside Washington.

U.S. Oath of Citizenship: "I hereby declare, on oath that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen; that I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I will bear arms on behalf of the United States when required by law; that I will perform noncombatant service in the Armed Forces of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform work of national importance under civilian direction when required by the law; and that I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; so help me God."

During a brief court appearance in federal court in Alexandria, Ahmed did not enter a plea and was ordered held without bond. He told U.S. Magistrate Judge John Anderson he couldn't afford to hire a lawyer. Prosecutors said they planned to use some classified information as evidence in the case.

U.S. Attorney Neil MacBride said in a statement that it was "chilling that a man from Ashburn is accused of casing rail stations with the goal of killing as many Metro riders as possible through simultaneous bomb attacks."

Ahmed's arrest comes as the U.S. has been struggling with an uptick in Americans plotting terrorist attacks in the past 18 months....

It's been done. Indeed, there has been a general rise in the number of threats against France, and counterterror activity in response to them.

Those in the West who would object to the burqa ban as "causing" this round of threats by "radicalizing" Muslims are submitting to the jihadist mindset that the ban is as severe a provocation as they claim, and that attacks are the logical or even natural response to being so "provoked."

But consider the set of priorities. Think of all the "human rights" one could strive for in the name of a just society. Which one did the jihadists pick? The "right" of a woman (assuming it's even her choice) to shroud her face in public in the name of Islamic piety, with all of the symbolism the burqa and niqab carry for Islamic supremacism, and the utter subjugation and objectification of women.

"Bin Laden threatens to launch terrorist attacks in France over move to ban burkas," from the Daily Mail, October 27 (thanks to all who sent this in):

Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden threatens in a new audio tape to kill French citizens to avenge their country's support for the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan and a new law that will ban face-covering Muslim veils.

In the tape, obtained by satellite television station Al-Jazeera and then posted on its website on Wednesday, Bin Laden said France was aiding the Americans in the killing of Muslim women and children in an apparent reference to the war in Afghanistan.

He said the kidnapping of five French citizens in the African nation of Niger last month was a reaction to what he called France's oppression of Muslims.

'How can it be right that you participate in the occupation of our lands, support the Americans in the killing of our women and children and yet want to live in peace and security?' said Bin Laden, addressing the French.

'It is a simple and clear equation: As you kill, you will be killed. As you capture, you will be captured. And as you threaten our security, your security will be threatened....

Or, as we ban burqas and niqabs, apparently we'll be in line for all of the above: killing, capturing, and threats. Quite the proportionate response there, Osama.

One double standard leads to another: wherever there is a segment or multiple segments of society who are second-class citizens (women, dhimmis), those classes bear an unfair burden to mollify their overlords by showing that they know their place. Then, to have been involved in a disturbance with a member of the privileged class -- in this case, Muslim men -- is to have gotten out of line, because they enjoy greater rights in the first place.

That doesn't make this consensus among reader comments to this story any less disturbing: Women provoke harassment by not observing proper hijab restrictions. Self control? Self restraint? Personal responsibility? Of course not, these guys been provoked!

Where have we seen that before?

Here is the actual story, which is filed under "Life & Style / Offbeat" at Arab News. "Harrasmap: A counter to web of women's harassment," by Maggie Hyde for the Associated Press, October 26 (thanks to Steffen):

CAIRO: It's a problem nearly every woman in the Egyptian capital has experienced -- leering, whistles, groping or other sexual harassment on Cairo's thoroughfares and backalleys. Soon they'll be able to instantly speak out on the Internet when it happens.

A planned website, Harrasmap, will allow women to quickly report instances of harassment via text message or Twitter, to be loaded onto a digital map of Cairo to show hotspots and areas that might be dangerous for women to walk alone.

The data will be shared with activists, media, and police.

"The whole idea is to have user-generated information," said Engy Ghozlan, one of the volunteer activists organizing the program, which is set to launch in the coming months. Simply feeling that she is not alone, Ghozlan said, can help a woman who is feeling powerless.

"It's actually encouraging to know that," she said.

The map could also give a graphic depiction of the extent of a problem that women say is pervasive in Egypt, but which authorities are only starting to acknowledge. A 2008 survey by the Egyptian Center for Women's Rights found that 83 percent of Egyptian women and 98 percent of foreign women living in Cairo said they had been harassed in some way -- and 62 percent of men admitted to harassing.

But until recently, the issue was rarely dealt with publicly. Only after Web videos of women being molested in the street by crowds of young men during a holiday four years ago did media begin discussing the problem. Since then, a bill outlining criminal punishment for sexual harassment has gone to parliament, though it has yet to vote on it.

There are numerous theories as to why harassment is so common in Cairo. Some attribute it to a growing conservatism spreading the idea that women should stay out of the public sphere. Others cite widespread unemployment among the youth, leaving them bored, frustrated and unable to marry. Many Egyptians see a broader breakdown of courtesy and morals, a malaise from Egypt's poor economy and political stagnation.

Organizers of Harassmap say the problem is not being overblown, effecting [sic] women whether or not they wear the headscarf and reaching the point were women avoid the streets.

And now, readers weigh in. Not all are so callous, but there is a clear majority.

MS - Oct 26, 2010 - 03:54 Not just Cairo. Hyderabad, a metro city in India too has a similar problem. These guys form gangs, and turn onto you if you object. Having two sisters, I've had endless fights with these thugs. Unfortunately, this menace is more prevalent in Muslim suburbs than in Hindu suburbs - what a shame on us as Muslims in general and as men in particular!

It's downhill from here.

ADIL SHAKEEL - Oct 26, 2010 10:45 - The Problem is not with Guys it is with Modernism girls or womens should strictly follow Proper hijab

SHAKEEL - Oct 26, 2010 10:47 - Follow hijab

AZ - Oct 26, 2010 20:40 - Result of not following what islam teaches us about hijab. For sure if any girl wears such tight clothings & walks in public by only covering her head with a tiny scarf for a sake of formality, any guy on the road would like to have a feast for his eyes & gains momentum for his lust. Girls who wears hijab certainly will not experience the same. Check it out...

KHAN - Oct 26, 2010 21:12 - The picture is giving the answer to the problems... Salaam to Prophet Mohammed PBUH, that he says..women should not wear attractive dress, should not so tight that revealed the figure, should not be transparent, should not wear as a dress of opposite sex...

And one from further down the list:

IROSPTZ -Oct 26, 2010 23:53 - if i see girls like these ( in this photo ) i'll will be also in one of the guys who harassing these girls. So girls first try to behave and dress yourself .... i'm giving 100% surety to you that you can go anywhere without the disturbances from these guys.......

There is more.

What better subterfuge than to accuse your enemy of what you yourself have engaged in for years? As far back as 1976, Coptic Pope Shenouda III noted that "there is a practice to convert Coptic girls to embrace Islam and marry them under terror to Muslim husbands." Our own archives are full of seven years' worth of stories of kidnappings of Coptic girls and women. Here's one. And another. And another. And still another, where Muslims tried to claim the conversion of a priest's wife.

But the accusations of Christian abductions of Muslims -- intentional projections that they are of Egyptian Muslims' behavior -- are part of a new campaign of libel to incite and justify violence against this non-Muslim population whose presence predates the Islamic conquest of Egypt, and which so rudely insists on continuing to exist. And we know which side Al-Jazeera is on.

"Egyptian Muslims accuse Christians of complicity with Israel," from Spero News, October 26:

Fears for the safety of Egyptian Christians are growing after a series of false allegations, violent threats and mass demonstrations against Christians in Egypt, according to the Barnabas Fund - an advocacy and charitable organization based in the United Kingdom.

According to a news release, Muslim anger was ignited in September 2010 last month when entirely unfounded accusations were made on Al-Jazeera TV that Egyptian Christians were aligned with Israel and stockpiling weapons in preparation for waging war against Muslims. Tensions were also fuelled by baseless rumours circulated by Islamist leaders that Christians were kidnapping and torturing women who had converted to Islam.

Why bring Israel into it, beyond the standard conspiracy paranoia? The Qur'an says Jews and Christians are "friends and protectors" to each other, and Muslims should not befriend them (5:51).

In a separate controversy, a senior church leader [Coptic Pope Shenouda III] was compelled to apologise publicly "if our Muslim brothers' feelings were hurt" after another church leader questioned at an internal meeting a verse in the Qur'an that accuses Christians of being "infidels". Egyptian Christians' rights were subsequently threatened by the Supreme Council of Islamic Affairs, a government body, which confirmed Egypt to be an Islamic state where "the citizenship rights of non-Muslims were conditional to their abiding by the Islamic identity of the State".

At least ten mass demonstrations involving thousands of Muslims have since taken place against Christians, with the previously unknown group "Front of Islamic Egypt" promising them a "bloodbath".

Barnabas notes that Egyptian authorities have been accused of complicity for political reasons in the escalating sectarian crisis ahead of next month's national election for the lower house of Parliament and the 2011 Presidential election. Christian human rights activists said that the Egyptian authorities may be trying to use Islamic radicalism as a means to channel against the Christians the escalating social discontent in the country.

Dr Patrick Sookhdeo, International Director of Barnabas Fund, said "I am greatly concerned about events in Egypt over the last few weeks. We must pray that the hostility towards the Church does not descend into outright violence against Christians - as we have seen before."

Barnabas Fund supports a range of projects that help Christians in Egypt. The country has the largest Christian population of any Muslim nation in the Arab world, estimated at six to ten million. They regularly face discrimination, human rights violations and sectarian hostility.

Miserable, eh? That's why Western-born Muslims are leaving home and flocking to Islamic countries in droves, arriving by plane, train, and boat to find a better life and take advantage of generous social welfare systems -- no, wait...

The "revolting geek" described himself as such some years ago, and the "miserable suburbs" quote comes from the Fox affiliate in Detroit linked from this story. "Al Qaeda Video Asks Detroit-Area Muslims to Act," from Fox News, October 25:

An Al Qaeda call-to-arms video released in Detroit by a U.S. intelligence agency hints that terror attacks may be coming to the U.S. and parts of Europe, MyFoxDetroit reports.

Adam Gadahn, Al Qaeda's American-born spokesman, posted a 40-minute video on terrorist Web sites on Sunday, looking to attract local Muslims in sparking terrorism attacks.

Gadahn urged Muslims living "in the miserable suburbs of Paris, London and Detroit" to stage religiously motivated attacks on targets in Europe and the United States.

"It is the duty of everyone who is sincere in his desire to defend Islam and Muslims today, to take the initiative to perform the individual obligation of jihad," Gadahn said in Arabic in the video.

Detroit is the only U.S. city mentioned by Gadahn, who, in the video, also gives praise to the suspect involved in the attempted airplane bombing at Detroit Metro Airport.

Abdulmutallab, the underwear jihadist.

The video, which asks Al Qaeda followers to individually stage attacks, has been condemned by Muslim leaders in the Detroit area, including Imad Hamad, the Regional Director of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee.

"It makes us stronger, it makes us more united," Hamad said in the video, adding that "we all have a responsibility to be vigilant and not take anything for granted when it comes to our safety and security."

"It's a war between the evil and the good. I think we are on the good side, so far I think we are winning our fight against terrorism."...

But to take issue with "terrorism" alone is still to sidestep jihad as the heart of the matter, as it would also be to hide behind the notion of "defensive jihad," which amounts to jihad waiting for an excuse.

The tyranny of the mahram, or "male guardian" turns women into perpetual minors at any age. To artificially limit the rights of adult women in this way is to render them second-class citizens, in keeping with Muhammad's declaration that women are "deficient in religion and intellect" (Sahih Bukhari 1.6.301).

Stories like this are the consequences of such provisions in Sharia, as the inherent injustice and absurdity of such rules set the stage for further abuses. "Saudi woman jailed for disobeying father freed," from Middle East Online, October 26 (thanks to Twostellas):

JEDDAH - A Saudi woman jailed for disobeying her father has been freed after more than six months in prison, her lawyer said on Tuesday.

Samar Badawi, who was thrown in prison without formal charge or trial by a Jeddah judge, was released on Monday after a 12-day concerted media and internet campaign on her behalf by human rights activists inside and outside Saudi Arabia, said lawyer Waleed Abu Alkhair.

The activists had petitioned for King Abdullah to intervene in the case, which they said was an example of the abuses of the country's rigid guardian system for women.

Repeating from the introductory comments above: "The inherent injustice and absurdity of such rules set the stage for further abuses."

"The release came after judges saw the 12-day campaign, which made a lot of people pay attention to the case," Alkhair said.

Badawi was released into the guardianship of her uncle but was seeking hospital treatment for an unidentified ailment, the Jeddah-based lawyer added.

"She told me, 'if you didn't write about me in the newspapers and internet, I would still be in jail,'" he said.

Under the guardian system, a Saudi woman must have the permission of her official "mahram" or male guardian -- her father, husband, son, or another male relative -- for matters such as travel, work and marriage.

It is enforced by the kingdom's uniformly male judges, clerics who enforce the kingdom's strict version of Islamic sharia law with broad powers to set charges and punishments.

Badawi, a 32-year-old divorced mother, had filed her own case asking the court to remove her father as her guardian, saying he had mistreated her since childhood and had denied her permission to remarry.

Badawi had fled her father and lived in a shelter for women.

The judge instead accused her of being disobedient to her father and sent her to prison on April 4.

She remained in jail despite the governor of the Mecca region Prince Khaled al-Faisal having written to the courts three months ago asking for Badawi's release and recommending her uncle become her guardian, Alkhair said.

While Badawi's own case is finished, Alkhair said the activists have petitioned the court for an investigation into the judges who summarily threw her into jail.

The disturbing question: how many in the same area sympathize with the Khadrs? This is what the cocky war criminal will come home to after a paltry 8-year sentence for killing a Special Forces medic with a grenade. And his folks must be so proud.

"Doctor brands Omar Khadr 'highly dangerous,' cites strong ties to radical family," from the Canadian Press, October 26:

GUANTANAMO BAY, CUBA Omar Khadr is an angry, bitter and remorseless jihadist with strong ties to his "al-Qaeda family," a prosecution psychiatrist told a sentencing hearing Tuesday for the newly convicted Canadian-born war criminal.

Khadr's mother, brothers and sister, who live in Toronto, have all expressed support for violent jihad, Dr. Michael Welner told the court as he described Khadr as the "white sheep" of the family.

During eight years in custody at the U.S. military's infamous Guantanamo Bay prison, Khadr has "marinated in radical jihadism" and grown more devout, Welner said.

"He's highly dangerous. It is his belief that he should not have been here for a day ... and that it is everybody else's fault that he is."

The jurors also heard that the "charming" and "very gracious" Khadr is considered a religious leader by other inmates at Camp 4, where he is housed.

"He murdered," Welner said. "He murdered an American soldier, which is the ultimate prize in Camp 4."

The testimony capped a day in which court heard how, in the midst of a firefight in Afghanistan in 2002, a 15-year-old Khadr -- convinced he was about to die -- decided to try to kill as many Americans as he could.

The seven U.S. military officers listened intently as U.S. prosecutor Jeff Groharing read into the record the 50-paragraph agreed statement of facts that form the underpinning of Khadr's guilty plea the day before.

The statement described how Khadr, with U.S. soldiers on his doorstep, tossed a Russian-made F1 grenade from behind a wall, dealing a mortal head wound to Sergeant First Class Christopher Speer, who succumbed to his injuries 12 days later.

"Khadr threw the grenade with the specific intent of killing or injuring as many Americans as he could," Groharing read.

The Toronto-born Khadr, now 24, was holed up with other members of a terrorist cell in a compound that was coming under American attack. They made a "pact" that they would sooner die than surrender to their western enemies. He was shot twice by a U.S. Special Forces soldier, and found badly wounded in the rubble of the compound, which had been hit by two 500-pound bombs. He was also blinded in one eye by shrapnel during the attack.

Khadr -- who pleaded guilty Monday to five war-crimes charges, including Speer's murder -- admitted to being "happy" at the news that he had killed an American soldier.

Khadr also admitted to receiving terrorist training throughout his late childhood and early teens during travels with his father, an associate of Osama bin Laden, in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The jury will decide what sentence Khadr deserves, although he won't serve more time than the eight years set out in the plea-bargain. The panel hasn't been told of the cap.

Part of that deal is that Khadr would be allowed to apply for a transfer to a Canadian facility after one more year in U.S. custody, something Welner said was problematic.

"There is no deradicalization program in Canada," he said.

When this kind of thing comes West, it will certainly liven up many courtroom proceedings. The existence of jinn is taken for granted in the Qur'an, so they are an integral part of the worldview that is advancing steadily Westward. In The Caliph's House, Tahir Shah's marvelous account of his adventures moving his family to Morocco and buying and refurbishing a home in Casablanca, Shah is repeatedly amazed by the belief of the locals (including Westernized Moroccans whom he believes to be sophisticated) in the existence of jinn, the mischievous spirit beings who interfere in human affairs. And their invariable reply to his astonished inquiries is "It's in the Qur'an."

"Genie interrogated before 'Magic Committee,'" from the Saudi Gazette, October 20 (thanks to Weasel Zippers):

MADINA: A licensed "ruqya" reciter of the Qur'an has entered the drama surrounding the Madina judge charged with accepting money to pass verdicts through his court and who claims he was "under a spell" at the time of the alleged acts of corruption.

Ruqya practitioner Fayez Al-Qathami told Okaz/Saudi Gazette that he questioned what he said was a "jinni"- or "genie", as traditionally rendered in English - that spoke in the voice of the judge in a ruqya session conducted in the presence of the "Magic Committee" from the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice.

Al-Qathami said that Sheikh Fahd Al-Muhaimeed, the president of Madina Court, asked him to prepare a document detailing "the information provided by the genie during interrogation", including the offences the judge committed and information concerning a real estate broker who the judge claimed put a spell on him.

The judge told investigators that the broker had "taken control of his thoughts" and made him rule on cases "without being conscious of committing any illegal act." The broker is also a suspect in the case but has fled justice, while the judge said he was later cured by ruqya Qur'anic recitation....

In FrontPage this morning I take the Leftist media's campaign against my colleague Pamela Geller as a case study in how the Left -- and the Right -- operates:

Over the last year, as I have been working with Pamela Geller on various initiatives in defense of human rights against Islamic supremacism, I have witnessed her rise to becoming one of America's foremost and most prominent voices for freedom on the scene today. In response, the Leftist media establishment has mounted an all-out assault against her, with hit pieces coming virtually every day, following classic Alinskyite tactics. Her treatment in the media has been a textbook case of how the Left follows Rules for Radicals author Saul Alinsky's playbook to destroy its most formidable opponents. And the response from the Right? Silence -- raising larger questions of how such a fractious group can ever achieve victory.

"Pick the target," Alinsky directs, "freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it." Because of her work in raising awareness of Islamic honor killing and the death penalty for apostates, and above all in opposing the Ground Zero mega-mosque, Pamela Geller's public presence increased swiftly. She appeared on the Hannity Show and other Fox shows, as well as on 60 Minutes, CNN, Joy Behar's show, and numerous other Left-leaning media outlets in the U.S. and Europe. She was the subject of a lavish but slyly contemptuous profile in the New York Times. And as her notoriety grow amidst all this, she was picked as the target.

First, the hard-Left self-styled media watchdog Media Matters drew up a dossier full of distortions, half-truths, and outright lies about Geller. They directly and explicitly challenged media outlets, as the Times profile noted, "to stop presenting her as an expert" - but they did so "ineffectually." Ineffectual or not, however, some of the Media Matters farrago was featured in that same Times piece, including material Geller herself remarked upon in delineating the Times' spin-by-omission:

Here is credentialed journalism: they say without explanation that I "posted doctored pictures of Elena Kagan, the Supreme Court justice, in a Nazi helmet [1]." They don't bother to mention that the Kagan photoshop came after it was revealed that Kagan had cited in her thesis a German Marxist who became a Nazi when Hitler took power [1]. They claim that I said that "a young Barack Obama slept with 'a crack whore,'" [2] without mentioning that in that post [2] I was making a point about unfair journalists (like these Times writers), constructing a reductio ad absurdum about media bias.

This casual acquaintance with the truth became a hallmark of the attacks against Geller, which began coming virtually every day as her role solidified as the national leader of the movement against the Ground Zero mosque. Oft-repeated were wholly false claims that she supported white supremacists and neo-Nazis, which depended on willful misreadings of what she had actually written, along with previously constructed Leftist propaganda about various groups or individuals about which she had spoken favorably. Another staple of the attack plan was the charge that she had declared Barack Obama to be the illegitimate son of Malcolm X; never repeated was the two-year-old disclaimer on Geller's Atlas Shrugs website, explaining that that claim was made as part of a larger presentation written by someone else, which Geller believed had merits aside from that claim, and moreover, wrote Geller, "I do not believe that Barack Obama is Malcolm X's love child, and never did."

The general haste to advance the false claim that Geller believed Malcolm X to be Obama's father, and the utter indifference to her explanation to the contrary, recalled another Alinsky rule: "Ridicule is man's most potent weapon. It is almost impossible to counteract ridicule. Also it infuriates the opposition, which then reacts to your advantage." Hit pieces in The Guardian, Salon, The Atlantic, Talking Points Memo, and elsewhere among the Leftist mainstream media tried their best to portray Geller as ridiculous, even affecting a faux puritanical streak ("she filmed a video blog wearing a bikini!") to try to make the characterization stick. Abetting this were Islamic supremacists such as Reza Aslan, a Board member of a group widely regarded as an apologetic organization for the bloody Islamic regime in Iran, the National Iranian American Council. Aslan, out of apparently deliberate malice, misrepresented Geller's call for a boycott of Campbell's Soup for working with the Hamas-linked Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) as a hysterical claim that halal soup meant the imminent imposition of Sharia in America.

But above all, the attempt to portray Geller as ridiculous, and to "freeze" and isolate her as a result, depended upon a refusal to engage her actual arguments. When Jeffrey Goldberg in The Atlantic enlisted the help of his friend, Islamic scholar Reuel Gerecht, to attack Geller, Gerecht did so by setting up straw men and responding to them rather than dealing with what she actually said. For example, Gerecht and Goldberg took Geller's quite reasonable observation that translations of the Qur'an into English often softened the book's roughest edges as a claim that the Arabic Qur'an contained secret messages for Muslims calling on them to conquer the world - something she had not said or implied. When I refuted Gerecht's substantive points about the Koran and Islam, Gerecht did not reply, and Goldberg resorted again to posting Internet half-truths, distortions, and outright lies about Geller - and again ignoring her explanations and refutations.

Eventually the relentless assault began to bear fruit. When Salon pointed out that Delaware Senate candidate Christine O'Donnell listed Geller among her endorsers, and in the process repeated many of the circulating lies about Geller's statements and associations, O'Donnell unceremoniously and without explanation deleted Geller's endorsement from her website. It was an unfortunate moment for those who had hoped for more integrity and resoluteness in the face of mainstream media dirty tricks from O'Donnell, but it was emblematic of the Right's general response to the smear campaign against Geller.

While Leftists display a notable unity, and rarely betray or abandon one of their own, the nation's conservative voices have generally stood by silently as the Leftist media has savaged Pamela Geller. This may stem from the Left's collectivist bent as opposed to the value the Right places on individualism, but it raises larger issues as well, far beyond the particular case of Pamela Geller: if conservatives are not going to defend their own, and stick up for their own, then Alinskyites will pick us off one by one, and never themselves be exposed.

Leftists in the mainstream media and their Islamic supremacist allies are wholly intellectually bereft -- and so they cannot engage their opponents on the level of ideas, but must instead bludgeon them into silence. The treatment of Pamela Geller is a case in point. It is imperative that conservatives stand up for her and for all voices of freedom; otherwise, she will by no means be the last victim of the vicious politics of personal destruction that the Left pursues so assiduously.

Read on for the Rube Goldberg-esque series of events that awaits the accidental divorcée under Sharia (see also: Qur'an 2:229-230) if she wants to remarry her husband.

Surely, she's feeling profoundly "esteemed" and "elevated" right about now. "Talaq joke on Skype ends marriage," by Pervez Iqal Siddiqui for Times News Network, October 27:

LUCKNOW: Talaq is no joke. An e-savvy Qatar resident learnt this the hard way when he typed talaq thrice while chatting with his wife on Skype. He says he did not mean it but Dar-ul-Uloom Deoband has ruled that his nikah stands terminated.

That's not all. For his careless 'chat', the man can remarry his divorced wife only after halaala, a practice under which the woman has to marry and divorce another man before she can marry her previous husband again.

Deoband's fatwa section -- Dar-ul-Ifta (DuI) -- recently received a written request from Qatar, seeking a fatwa on a rather amusing situation. The youth stated that he was recently chatting with his wife on Skype when he typed the word 'talaq' three times, though he did not mean it and asked if his nikah was still valid.

Dar-ul-Ifta shot back that the nikah stands terminated. "When you pronounce talaq three times, it means talaq has taken place, and it does not matter whether the woman has reciprocated or not. Your wife has become 'haraam' for you whether you are aware of the commandment of Islam or not. You neither have the right to take her back nor solemnise new nikah with her without a valid 'halaala'. After the completion of 'iddah' (iddat) period, the woman can marry where she wishes except you," the seminary said.

As per senior Islamic scholars, 'halaala' requires the woman to complete her iddat period of 40 days beginning immediately after talaq. During this period she is supposed to stay away from celebrations and socialising.

At the end of iddat, she would have to marry another man who should then divorce her. She will be required to go through another round of iddat only then would she be eligible to marry her "first husband".

This story is now several days old, but the pitch and content of Semman's rhetoric are instructive. Qur'an 9:5 paves the way for open-ended warfare against unbelievers ("wherever you find them"), while apostates from Islam are marked for slaughter according to Muhammad's own command. "Mauritanian jihadist threatens attacks against France," from Agence France-Presse, October 20:

NOUAKCHOTT--The leader of an Al Qaeda-linked terrorist group on trial in Mauritania used a court appearance on Wednesday to threaten attacks against France and its interests in the northwest African country.

"I want here to promise them, black nights are awaiting France and (President Nicolas) Sarkozy," Khadim Ould Semman, the leader of the Ansarou Allah (Supporters of God) organization, told the court in the Mauritanian capital.

Ould Semman is one of 19 suspected members of the group being tried for the 2008 murder of a policeman. His group is linked to Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), the north African wing of the terrorist network.

The militant singled out France among the "infidels and apostates" who would be physically liquidated in Mauritania by Islamic fighters.

Prosecutors are seeking the death sentence for Ould Semman, who exploited media coverage of a spiritual dialogue in Mauritania's prisons at the beginning of this year by being filmed wearing a tee-shirt on which Al-Qaeda was written.

"I am a mujahideen. I have spent my life on this mission and ask the court to give me the death sentence and cut me into small pieces. This will increase my reward in the after-life," he said....

This story has come out of Sudan. Just days ago, there was a college chapel seized in Pakistan. Wow, did these guys call each other?

No. What is most revealing about such stories is how often the same acts of discrimination (if not violence) against non-Muslims occur, geographically far removed from one another, but with the same intent: to make the unbelievers "feel themselves subdued" (Qur'an 9:29), and to establish and maintain Islamic supremacy by any means necessary.

"Police in Sudan Aid Muslim's Effort to Take Over Church Plot," from Compass Direct News, October 25:

NAIROBI, Kenya, October 25 (CDN) -- Police in Sudan evicted the staff of a Presbyterian church from its events and office site in Khartoum earlier this month, aiding a Muslim businessman's effort to seize the property.

Christians in Sudan's capital city told Compass that police entered the compound of the Sudan Presbyterian Evangelical Church (SPEC) on Oct. 4 at around 2 p.m. and ordered workers to leave, claiming that the land belonged to Muslim businessman Osman al Tayeb. When asked to show evidence of Al Tayeb's ownership, however, officers failed to produce any documentation, the sources said.

The church had signed a contract with al Tayeb stipulating the terms under which he could attain the property - including providing legal documents such as a construction permit and then obtaining final approval from SPEC - but those terms remained unmet, church officials said.

Church leader Deng Bol said that under terms of the unfulfilled contract, the SPEC would turn the property over to al Tayeb to construct a business center on the site, with the denomination to receive a share of the returns from the commercial enterprise and regain ownership of the plot after 80 years.

"But the investor failed to produce a single document from the concerned authorities" and therefore resorted to police action to secure the property, Bol said.

SPEC leaders had yet to approve the project because of the high risk of permanently losing the property, he said.

"The SPEC feared that they were going to lose the property after 80 years if they accepted the proposed contract," Bol said.

SPEC leaders have undertaken legal action to recover the property, he said. The disputed plot of 2,232 square meters is located in a busy part of the heart of Khartoum, where it has been used for Christian rallies and related activities.

"The plot is registered in the name of the church and should not be sold or transfered for any other activities, only for church-related programs," a church elder who requested anonymity said.

The Rev. Philip Akway, general secretary of the SPEC, told Compass that the government might be annoyed that Christian activities have taken place there for many decades.

Sharia is unique in how readily people suppose lapses in enforcement represent its true form, extolling what happens in spite of Sharia as merits of the law itself. But whatever relative tolerance has been observed decades past does nothing to defang Sharia, once its proponents assert themselves. It is at that point that this church now finds itself.

"Muslim groups are not happy with the church in north Sudan, therefore they try to cause tension in the church," Akway told Compass.

The policeman leading the officers in the eviction on Oct. 4 verbally threatened to shoot anyone who interfered, Christian sources said.

He was happy to have discharged his duty in jihad. "Khadr admits throwing deadly grenade," by Colin Perkel for The Canadian Press, October 26 (thanks to Ima):

GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba - In the midst of a deadly firefight in Afghanistan in 2002, a 15-year-old Omar Khadr -- believing his death was at hand -- wanted to kill as many Americans as he could, jurors heard Tuesday as they prepared to pass sentence on the Canadian-born man newly convicted as a war criminal....

The statement described how Khadr, with U.S. soldiers on his doorstep in Afghanistan, tossed the Russian-made F1 grenade from behind a wall, dealing a mortal head wound to Sgt. 1st Class Christopher Speer, who succumbed to his injuries 12 days later.

"Khadr threw the grenade with the specific intent of killing or injuring as many Americans as he could," Groharing said.

The Toronto-born Khadr, now 24, was holed up with other members of a terrorist cell in a compound that was coming under American attack. They made a "pact" that they would sooner die than surrender to their western enemies.

In the statement, Khadr -- who pleaded guilty to five war-crimes charges, including Speer's murder -- admitted to being "happy" at the news that he had killed an American soldier, and would take comfort in it while in custody at Bagram Air Base outside Kabul.

"Khadr indicated that when he would get 'pissed off' with the guards at Bagram, he would recall his killing of the U.S. soldier and it would make him feel good."...

"Khadr considered himself to be an active member of al-Qaida and he shared the same goals as the organization, which are to target and kill all Americans -- whether civilian or military -- anywhere they can be found, and to 'plunder their money,'" the statement read....

...Khadr was "cold and callous" and "almost bragging" when he discussed his role in killing Speer in 2002.

What a surprise.

UPDATE: I owe the Melkite Archbishop Cyril Salim Bustros an apology: when I wrote about his remarks at the recent Vatican Synod, I was relying on incomplete and inaccurate press reports, and did not fully understand his position. He explains his position here.

-----------

Archbishop Cyril (left); Patriarch Emmanuel

Recently two prominent Eastern Catholic bishops have made statements that are not only curious and counter-factual, but apparently contradictory of their earlier statements, or at least not obviously emanating from the same point of view as those earlier remarks. Both cases are indicative of a larger phenomenon regarding the difficulties that Christians in Islamic countries and non-Muslims in Muslim countries in general face.

In 2006, Archbishop Cyril Salim Bustros, Eparch of Newton for the Melkite Greek Catholics in the United States, said: "the doctrines of Islam dictate war against unbelievers." He pointed out that "the concept of nonviolence is absent from Muslim doctrine and practice." And he said that "peace in Islam is based on the surrender of all people to Islam and to God's power based on Islamic law. They have to defend this peace of God even by force."

And yet at the recently concluded Vatican Synod on Christians in the Middle East, he contradicted the teachings of the Catholic Church's Second Vatican Council and echoed Islamic supremacist propaganda by saying that divine promises made to Israel according to Jewish and Christian Scripture "were nullified by Christ. There is no longer a chosen people." He made no mention of the Muslim imperative to bring about "the surrender of all people to Islam" as being a possible contributing cause in the plight of Christians in the Middle East; instead, he blamed Israel only.

In 2007, Emmanuel III Delly, the Patriarch of Babylon of the Chaldeans, head of the Chaldean Catholic Church, said this about the Christians in Iraq: "Christians are killed, chased out of their homes before the very eyes of those who are supposed to be responsible for their safety." In 2008, he said: "The situation in some parts of Iraq, is disastrous and tragic. Life is a Calvary: there is no peace or security... Everyone is afraid of kidnapping."

But on October 15 he said this at the Vatican's Synod on Christians in the Middle East: "The population of this country, crossed by two famous rivers, the Tigris and the Euphrates, is 24 million, all Muslims, with whom we live peacefully and freely....Christians are good with their fellow Muslims and in Iraq there is mutual respect among them."

(Quotes from Patriarch Emmanuel thanks to Robert Moynihan of Inside the Vatican.)

Why these shifts?

There are several possible reasons. One is the Arab nationalist imperative, which was largely an attempt by Christian Arabs to ease the pain of dhimmitude by creating a secular framework upon which Christians could enjoy equal, or almost equal, status with Muslims. Practically this meant the utter co-opting of Christian communities in Arab countries: they became politically, culturally, and socially indistinguishable from the larger Muslim population. This was because for Muslims Islam was always the heart of the Arab identity in any case -- as was succinctly summed up by pioneering Arab nationalist Michel Aflaq: "Arab nationalism is Islam." That is another reason why the statements by Archbishop Cyril in Baalbek years ago and at the Synod more recently are essentially identical to statements that so many Muslim leaders have made about Jews, Jerusalem and Israel. This is the way all too many Middle Eastern Christians have learned to view the world.

In the case of Archbishop Cyril, he is strongly in the running to become the next Archbishop of Beirut, and could be trying to reassure Muslim leaders in Lebanon that his stint in the United States has not tainted him with Zionism, and he is still as anti-Israel as he was as Archbishop of Baalbek, before he came to America. It is a pity that a Christian leader would have to behave this way, and I am not saying he is not doing it out of conviction also, but in any case it is a reflection of the situation on the ground in Islamic countries: Christians who don't echo the Islamic political line face hard going.

Also, according to Islamic law, the "protection" contract between the Muslim community and the dhimmis is violated, leaving the dhimmi subject to execution, if he "mentions something impermissible about Allah, the Prophet, or Islam," ('Umdat al-Salik 011.10(5).) Neither Patriarch Emmanuel nor Archbishop Cyril (if he moves back to Lebanon) live in states that enforce the fullness of Sharia, but it remains a cultural hangover in the Islamic world, such that Christians generally know that if they speak out against the mistreatment to which they are subjected, they will only make matters worse. Historically, dhimmi communities were also kept apart and at odds with one another -- hence the animosity toward Jews. They were communities of fear, living under an ever-ready threat of death if they got out of line. And so mostly, they didn't.

Accordingly, we cannot judge either Patriarch Emmanuel nor Archbishop Cyril harshly. What is remarkable about Patriarch Emmanuel's statements was not that he painted such a falsely positive picture at the Synod, but that he ever spoke out about the persecution of Christians in Iraq at all. Their odd statements of late were almost certainly made in an attempt to protect their communities. The situation of Christians in the Middle East is bad enough, and they may fear they will make it even worse by speaking more honestly about Islamic supremacism and jihad. But Western audiences should note the full reality of the situation, and call all the more loudly for the human rights community to speak out, and for the world to take action, to end the persecution of Christians in Muslim countries -- so that these embattled leaders need exhibit Stockholm Syndrome-like symptoms, or dissemble to protect their people, no longer.

Another lawsuit proceeds according to the principle that American businesses must change the way they operate in order to accommodate Muslims, rather than that Muslims must adapt to American society, laws, and mores. Not too long ago in America, a suit like this would have been laughed out of court, and Vasant Reddy would have been told to find a job that didn't involve his violating his religious principles. No more. Now it is up to the unlucky business where Vasant Reddy chooses to work to change the way it does business in order to suit him.

Stealth Jihad Update: "Civil-rights suit alleges Muslim was fired for refusing to haul beer, though company had agreed to accommodate his religion," by Stephanie Farr for the Philadelphia Daily News, October 22 (thanks to Benedict):

A Muslim man claims he was fired by a trucking company after refusing to transport a load of alcohol, according to a civil-rights lawsuit filed recently in federal court.

Vasant Reddy, 35, of Northeast Philadelphia, said it's against his religious beliefs to "consume, possess or transport alcohol or tobacco," according to the suit.

He claims he told this to his supervisors at the Philadelphia branch of Schneider National Inc. when he was hired in May 2009. They told him they could accommodate his beliefs, but the next month he was assigned to transport a delivery of Miller Lite, said Reddy's attorney, Justin Swidler.

When he complained, Reddy's supervisor told him that his refusal to transport the beer was an "operational violation" and that he would be fired, the suit said.

Reddy said he was assigned another nonalcoholic load that he transported successfully and that another driver moved the Miller Lite shipment, according to court documents.

Two days later, though, Reddy was given a choice: Resign or be fired, Swidler said.

"There is no dispute that he was fired for denying to transport alcohol," Swidler said. "They fired him because they felt like it was an insubordination for him to request such a thing."...

Swidler claims that fewer than 5 percent of Schneider's transports contain alcohol and, therefore, accommodating Reddy's religious beliefs wouldn't have been difficult for the company.

"The law is clear that if it creates an undue hardship, you don't have to accommodate someone," Swidler said. "Clearly, a bar doesn't have to hire someone who is Muslim, but it's different if it's only 1, 3 or 5 percent of your business."

Reza Aslan: Desperate, obsessed, fanatical, mendacious

Islamic supremacist and Iranian regime apologist Reza Aslan spoke in Salt Lake City last night. First, the mainstream media report, followed by a more complete account from Jihad Watch agent Evan Mark.

"Islam in America will survive current turmoil, author says," by Ben Fulton for The Salt Lake Tribune, October 25:

United States history is rife with examples of religious bigotry the nation later outgrew after decades of assimilation with Catholics, Mormons and Jews, said visiting scholar Reza Aslan.

Islam will in time surmount the same obstacles, he said. But the politicized rhetoric against all things Islam means the stakes are much higher this time in the fight against divisiveness and for the American dream....

This is a familiar theme among Islamic supremacists these days. It completely ignores, of course, and hopes you don't notice, the jihad terror attacks committed in the name of Islam in the U.S. (Fort Hood, Little Rock, the Detroit underwear bomber, the North Carolina plot, the Fort Dix plot, the JFK Airport plot, etc. etc. etc.), which have no parallel in the history of Catholics, Mormons or Jews in the United States.

Recounting a recent trip to Europe where he came face-to-face with that continent's unease surrounding Muslims, Aslan said he returned home comforted by the knowledge that such xenophobia "couldn't happen here." Then he saw a TV advertisement sponsored by an organization called GOP Trust attacking the proposed "mosque at ground zero," which, as Aslan noted, was neither a mosque nor proposed for location at ground zero.

Aslan knows better, but he hopes you don't. Regarding the claims, often repeated (indeed, Aslan's talk in Salt Lake City seems to have consisted entirely of recycled talking points from Hamas-linked CAIR), that the mosque at Ground Zero is neither a mosque nor at Ground Zero, in fact it is both. The Burlington Coat Factory building that will be torn down to build the mosque is part of the attack site, as the landing gear from one of the 9/11 planes crashed into its roof and fell five stories to the basement. The building is thus an essential part of Ground Zero itself, which will greatly enhance the mosque's symbolic value in the Islamic world as another triumphal mosque, a la the Al-Aqsa mosque and Dome of the Rock on the Temple Mount, the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul (the grandest cathedral in Christendom for a millennium, converted to a mosque in 1453, now a museum), and thousands of others throughout the Islamic world.

And as for its not being a mosque, it will contain a mosque, and thus it isn't in the least unjustified to call the whole thing a mosque, as did Daisy Khan. No one says that the evangelical mega-churches that contain swimming pools and counseling centers, etc., are not churches because they contain things other than a worship space.

"The word 'They' has become very common nowadays," Aslan said....

Yes, notice how often this oily hypocrite uses it regarding opponents of Islamic supremacism.

Mocking Newt Gingrich's challenge that New York City's Islamic Center should be allowed only when Saudi Arabia allows the construction of churches, Aslan said it saddened him that America has given up "the war of ideas" in the fight against terrorism.

"I had no idea our constitutional freedoms depended on the actions of one of the most draconian nations on earth," Aslan said.

This is outstandingly dishonest, even by Aslan's standards. Gingrich's point is not that the U.S. should become more like Saudi Arabia, but that Saudi Arabia should become more like the U.S. The point would be to call upon the Saudis to offer the same religious freedom to non-Muslims that the U.S. offers to Muslims. Aslan, of course, being a Sharia supremacist, doesn't want non-Muslims to have such freedom in Islamic states, so he twists the argument.

And now here is an eyewitness account from Evan Mark:

Reza Aslan delivered a whitewashed sermon last night to unsuspecting liberals and broken Mormons at the public library in downtown Salt Lake City. Well, less sermon and more fits and torrents of whiny passive-aggressive rage, really... Highlights (paraphrased) include:

"One day we'll look back with the same derision, and scorn, and ridicule at the Robert Spencers and the Pamela Gellers as we do now at those who discriminated against Jews and Catholics..."

He slammed Pamela for her non-existent attack about Barack Obama being the "bastard child of Malcolm X," and slammed you for the halal Campbell's Soup issue, which the room ate up, of course.

This kind of thing shows that Reza Aslan has no interest in the truth whatsoever, and will lie in whatever way he thinks will advance his cause. For if he had bothered to do some fact-checking, he might have found this two-year-old statement from Pamela Geller on the actual post in question: "The 'Atlas says that Barack Obama is Malcolm X's love child' charge has gone viral among leftards and lizards. The only problem with it is that it is false. I am not the author of this post, and I posted it because the writer did a spectacular job documenting Obama's many connections with the Far Left. The Malcolm X claim is one minor part of this story, and was of interest to me principally as part of the writer's documentation that Stanley Ann Dunham could not have been where the Obama camp says she was at various times. I do not believe that Barack Obama is Malcolm X's love child, and never did -- but there remain many, many unanswered questions about his early life and upbringing."

And regarding the halal soup, he misrepresented my position at the Daily Beast a couple of weeks ago, and I responded by pointing out that I had never said that the halal soup was a sign of Sharia coming to America (this was an invention of Leftist pseudo-journalist/propagandist Rachel Slajda), but was troubled only by the Campbell's connection to Hamas-linked ISNA. Did Aslan tell his Salt Lake City audience about ISNA's ties to Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood? Somehow I doubt it.

In any case, I am surprised to hear that he mentioned Pamela Geller and me -- apparently several times. When I speak to public audiences, I don't talk about Reza Aslan. We are, apparently, living in his head, and he is growing desperate about the fact that the truth is getting about him and about the Islamic supremacist agenda in general. But as slick as he is (and that is far less than he clearly thinks he is), he won't be able to stop the truth from coming out.

Evan Mark continues with his paraphrases of Aslan's remarks, and his comments on them (in italics below):

"The problem with radicalization isn't that Muslim aren't going to mosques. In fact, we have a problem with radicalism precisely because there are not enough Muslims going to mosques!"

At this I laughed loudly, vomited a little in my mouth, and had to walk out.

Reza Aslan has got to be the most pretentious, power-hungry little weasel of a human being I think I've ever had the displeasure to hear speak.

"Adherents of the world's great religions -- Christians, Muslims, and Jews, are all the same since they all share historical ties to Abraham."

"Nothing can stop the spread of Islam. There are those who would try, but it simply will not happen. Absolutely nothing can stop the spread of Islam." (He became wide-eyed and fanatical when he said this.)

"I'm being paid to tell you that what will change the world will be ideas and information, but I'm here to tell you that this isn't true. Ideas and information will not change the world because ideas and information don't change people."

I guess that's why he feels so free to lie.

You could sit me down with Bill O'Reilly for 30 minutes and we could have a discussion about Islam and do you think it would change him!?! No way! (Cue uproarious laughter. I wonder how much it would change you, Reza?)

O'Reilly is a clueless empty suit, anyway, and the Islamic supremacists already own him, so why should Aslan bother sitting down with him?

"Some people say we're in a war of ideas, well, I'm here to tell you. There IS no war of ideas. It's a myth."

"What will change the world will ultimately be human relationships."

He is so pretentious! He oozes smugness and arrogance. Listening to him talk is truly painful.

For anyone there who may have been interested in honest analysis, I'm sure it was painful.

This is proof not that the Iranians are playing a double game, but that the Afghan Karzai government is. The Iranians are paying the Taliban, also. An update on this story. "Iran says it funds Afghan government," from AP, October 26 (thanks to Maxwell):

TEHRAN, Iran - Iran acknowledged Tuesday that it has been sending funds to neighboring Afghanistan for years, saying the money was intended to aid reconstruction of the embattled country.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai said Monday that he receives millions of dollars in cash from Iran, adding that Washington gives him "bags of money" too because his office lacks funds. U.S. officials said the money flowing from Tehran was further proof that Iran is playing a double game in Afghanistan - wooing the government while helping Taliban insurgents who are fighting U.S. and NATO forces.

"Iran has provided the country with plenty of help," Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said in his weekly news briefing in Tehran. "Iran has helped construction of Afghanistan and the preparation of its economic infrastructure and it will pursue it in the future, too."...

Karzai's remarks came a day after The New York Times reported that Iran was giving bags of cash to the president's chief of staff, Umar Daudzai, to buy his loyalty and promote Iranian interests in Afghanistan. The Times quoted unidentified sources as saying the cash amounted to a slush fund that Karzai and Daudzai had used to pay lawmakers, tribal elders - and even Taliban commanders - to secure their loyalty.

Karzai told reporters Monday that he had instructed Daudzai, a former ambassador to Iran, to accept the money from Tehran.

The Iranian embassy in Afghanistan dismissed the allegations that the Iranian government was making cash payments to Daudzai, calling them "ridiculous and insulting." The statement, which didn't mention money that Tehran might be giving to the president's office, was issued earlier Monday, before Karzai's comments....

Whoops!

A few days ago I picked up this story from the JTA, claiming that an appeals court had removed the unindicted co-conspirator designation from CAIR and several other Hamas-linked groups. It turns out that the story was false.

The actual ruling is here, and it doesn't bear out the JTA's story, or the story from the Leftist pseudo-news site Politico, upon which the JTA relied. Here is an explanation from Z Street: "Still tainted by terrorism ties," from Z Street, October 25:

[...] You see, the courts did NOT decide that CAIR or its fellow-terrorist-travelers are not actually terrorists or not actually terrorist enablers.

What the courts did was rule that the government should not have made public a document it attached to a brief in May, 2007, which the government then referred to as a list of unindicted co-conspirators in the Holy Land Foundation terrorism financing case. The case determined that the so called Islamic Charity actually existed almost exclusively to support Hamas, the Arab Palestinian terrorist entity.

In fact, thank you so much to CAIR and to ISNA and to NAIT. In the course of trying to get the courts to clear their "good" names, those organizations gave the courts and the government lawyers nearly half a dozen opportunities to point out that the government presented evidence during the trial of the organizations' connections to Hamas. In other words - the fact that there was a violation of the organizations' Fifth Amendment rights because the organizations were publicly named as having close connections to terrorist entities in a document - and the organizations had no opportunity to defend themselves in that document - really didn't amount to a hill of beans because evidence was introduced at trial of those same connections. In fact, the government witness, testifying under oath, referred to CAIR as a Hamas front group....

Pamela Geller has more analysis here.

A real "stand up guy," Joe Kaufman of Americans Against Hate, has this:

FOX NEWS' BILL O'REILLY PRAISES ANTI-SEMITIC REPRESENTATIVE OF HAMAS-RELATED GROUP

CALLS CAIR'S AHMED REHAB A "STAND UP GUY"

(New York, NY) On Monday night, October 25th, popular Fox News television host Bill O'Reilly praised CAIR spokesman Ahmed Rehab, calling him a "stand up guy."

O'Reilly had Rehab on the show to discuss the subject of Muslims.

Not once did O'Reilly challenge Rehab about the Hamas ties of his organization or about Rehab's anti-Semitism.

CAIR or the Council on American-Islamic Relations was founded by Hamas operatives in 1994, under the leadership of then-global head of Hamas, Mousa Abu Marzook. The U.S. Justice Department has linked CAIR to the financing of Hamas.

Rehab, O'Reilly's guest, has refused to condemn Hamas and Hezbollah as terrorist organizations. Rehab has also exhibited anti-Semitic tendencies, claiming that there is a "Jewish control over the media" and that "Jewish film producers... predate on weak minorities by default."...

Who is tonight's guest, Bill? David Duke?

Pamela Geller has some trenchant observations here.

The thuggish Rehab has also spoken up in defense of the Islamic supremacist group Hizb-ut-Tahrir's right to hold its convention in Chicago (Hizb-ut-Tahrir is banned in many countries), while working to suppress the freedom of speech of anti-jihadists.

War Is Deceit, after all. "NYC-born man arrested in Hawaii in terror case," from AP, October 26 (thanks to D. C. Watson):

HONOLULU -- A New York City-born man was ordered to return from Hawaii where he was arrested on charges he tried to join the U.S. military at a Times Square recruiting station so he could he could be deployed to Iraq, desert and fight with anti-American insurgency forces.

Abdel Hameed Shehadeh, 21, was charged with making false statements in the midst of a New York-based terrorism investigation, authorities said Monday....

The complaint said under questioning, he admitted that one of his Web sites was "designed to mirror and reformat the teachings of radical U.S.-born Muslim cleric Anwar al-Awlaki" and "that in the past, he agreed with and sympathized with al-Qaida's violent jihad against the West."

The complaint also alleged Shehadeh attempted to recruit another person to join him to train in Pakistan immediately after the two discussed a sermon by al-Awlaki.

The complaint said Shedaheh insisted he tried to go to Pakistan for religious, not military, training. But witnesses who knew him told investigators that he instructed them that it was the duty of Muslims to fight jihad - and that signing up in Times Square was the best way to achieve his goal.

Shehadeh "informed (one witness) that he hoped to be deployed to Iraq," the complaint said. "At the time he was applying to join the military, Shehadeh told (the witness), when he arrived in Iraq, he intended to commit 'treason' and fight United States soldiers. (He) explained that joining the military was an easier way to join jihad because the military would provide him with training, transportation and a weapon."

The complaint said Shehadeh traveled to Hawaii in April 2009. There, he bought an airline ticket to Dubai in June, but was intercepted by FBI agents who told him he was on a "no fly" list.

In subsequent interviews, he allegedly admitted he had hoped to join the Taliban and receive "guerrilla warfare" and "bomb-making" training, the complaint said.

The genuine pro-democracy movement of free Iranians is on to NIAC. By way of contrast, Islamic supremacist metrosexual Reza Aslan, who fools many into thinking he is "moderate," is a Board member of the Islamic Republic-linked organization NIAC. An update on this story. "Open Letter to Secretary of State-Hillary Rodham Clinton on decision to send Trita Parsi to Saudi Arabia," from the Pro Democracy Movement of Iran (PDMI), October 26 (thanks to Amil Imani):

The Honorable Secretary of State, Hillary Rodham Clinton,

On behalf of the Iranian-American community, I would like to express our outrage and disappointment on your decision to sponsor, Trita Parsi, President of National Iranian-American Council (NIAC), a known lobbyist for the Islamic Republic of Iran and currently under investigation for alleged embezzlement of federal funds, to speak and share his expertise on US-Iranian relations and Iranian politics in Saudi Arabia.

Trita Parsi is not even a U.S. Citizen who is sent by your department to represent America's interests using tax payers' money. Mr. Parsi is disliked by the majority of Iranian-American community and general consensus is that he is a "non-registered foreign agent" representing the interests of the Islamic Republic of Iran and is shunned in Iranian-American circles. Mr. Parsi represents an anti-Semitic and anti-Israel agenda cloaked in dialogue and diplomacy.

Law enforcement experts who have reviewed some of NIAC's internal document released as a result of a lawsuit, offer evidence that the NIAC has operated as an undeclared lobby and may be guilty of violating tax laws, the Foreign Agents Registration Act and lobbying disclosure laws.

Parsi has been the leading lobbyist in America for the Islamic (non)Republic regime and, at least until last year's election, was also an apologist for President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

He has been opposed to US sanctions against the Islamic Republic and by such definition is an outspoken opponent of your own foreign policy toward Iran. This is yet another example of many duplicitous and short-sighted policies of the State Department under your leadership and President Obama's administration. We urgently demand an explanation for the wisdom behind sending such a questionable character with known affiliations with the Islamic Republic of Iran, a regime which your own State Department has classified as a "state sponsor of terrorism" and a threat to America's national security.

In a featured article at Human Events this morning, I discuss the intellectual vacuity and increasing desperation of the Left and its Islamic supremacist allies. That is not to say that they're not powerful. I am only saying that intellectual thuggery is the only weapon they've got left, because they can't deal on the basis of truth and reason:

Juan Williams makes the understandable post-9/11 observation that the sight of Muslims on airplanes makes him nervous, and NPR immediately fires him. Bill O'Reilly states the obvious truth that Muslims attacked the United States on 9/11, and Whoopi Goldberg and Joy Behar walk off the set. These incidents and others demonstrate that the Leftists in the mainstream media and their Islamic supremacist allies are wholly intellectually bereft--and so they cannot engage their opponents on the level of ideas, but must instead bludgeon them into silence.

Examples of this abound. Recently Jeffrey Goldberg in The Atlantic enlisted the help of his friend, Islamic scholar Reuel Gerecht, to attack my colleague Pamela Geller. When I refuted Gerecht's substantive points about the Koran and Islam, Gerecht did not reply, and Goldberg resorted to posting Internet half-truths, distortions, and outright lies about Geller--again, ignoring her explanations and refutations. Islamic supremacists such as Ahmed Rehab of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a group with numerous ties to Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood, and Reza Aslan of the National Iranian American Council (NIAC), a group often criticized for its unstinting practice of running interference for Iran's bloody Islamic regime, traffic in adolescent ridicule and abuse rather than dealing with the real objections their opponents raise.

This general refusal to engage their opposition's arguments is a sign that the Leftists and Islamic supremacists feel keenly their own intellectual vacuity. They know that in light of it they can do nothing but ignore, mock, or try to bully people who speak the truth. Even the Soviet Union under Stalin was confident enough that its own people were sufficiently cowed, and that it had enough useful idiots among the intelligentsia abroad, that it was able to mount high-profile show trials of dissenters and Stalin's political rivals in the 1930s.

But by the 1970s and 1980s, the Soviet regime had grown sclerotic, and had lost the assurance that its own people were still terrorized enough to keep silent, or that it could still count on a foreign intelligentsia willfully blind enough to defend the regime. And so instead of mounting flashy show trials, it packed off its opponents to mental hospitals under the cover of darkness. They simply didn't exist any longer. It was an effective tactic in the short run, as it certainly silenced their opponents of the day; in the long run, it was an expression of exhaustion, an admission of defeat.

NPR used essentially the same tactic on Juan Williams: it declared his opinions beyond the pale of decent people and cast him out of polite society, into the outer darkness inhabited by Fox News, far from the politically correct fold. NPR apparently did not anticipate the fury of the American people at the public station's bullying and refusal to countenance reality. Goldberg and Behar tried the same tactic with Bill O'Reilly: in stalking off the stage, they were actually banishing him, along with his claim--as obvious to most Americans as it was outrageous to them--that Muslims killed Americans on 9/11. This is likewise what Jeffrey Goldberg and others who have tried to do to Pamela Geller: render her so radioactive through misrepresentation of what she has said that decent people will turn away.

As they practice these tactics, the implicit admission rings louder and clearer all the time: they have no arguments. They can't really explain why Juan Williams should not be nervous at the sight of Muslims on an airplane. They have no idea how to answer O'Reilly's follow-up question that if it wasn't Muslims who killed us on 9/11, then who was it? And they have no comeback to the arguments from reason, decency, common sense and history that Pamela Geller has adduced against the Ground Zero mosque, and so instead of acknowledging these arguments they try to destroy her personally.

The Leftists who control the media and the Islamic supremacists of whom they provide fawning and mendacious coverage cannot defeat their opponents. They are exhausted. They are finished. The only weapons they have left are feigned moral outrage, defamation, and smear.

And the American people know it. The downfall of the media elite is on the horizon.

It seems wildly unlikely that any Israeli (or American) soldiers would do this, given the tendency for Muslims to react to such incidents, whether real or imagined, with irrational violence. And remember: in this conflict, one side wants to stir up that irrational violence and start a new intifada, and one side wants to maintain peace. Which side, then, is more likely to have barbecued these Qur'ans? "Israeli troops blamed for Korans burned during arrest raid," from AFP, October 25 (thanks to all who sent this in):

JAYYUS, Palestinian Territories (AFP) - A Palestinian woman on Monday accused Israeli troops of burning two Korans when they came to arrest her husband during an overnight raid in the northern West Bank.

Sahar Beida, 40, said the troops confined her and her daughter to a separate room when they detained her husband Ismail in the town of Jayyus near Qalqilya.

"When I came out I was shocked to find our Korans were on the front step and had been burned," she told AFP. "They took the Korans from the house and burned them in the alley.

"We didn't see it happen because my daughter and I were in another room. They locked the door and would not let us talk or move or do anything."

An AFP photographer was shown charred pages from a Koran during a visit to the house....

Comments by David G. Littman, NGO Representative to the United Nations - Geneva: The Association for World Education and the World Union for Progressive Judaism

Unfortunately, I did not have the opportunity to send articles to Jihad Watch over the past three months, as I have been working non-stop to finish a documentary magnum opus in French with Prof. Paul Fenton (L'Exil au Maghreb : La condition juive sous l'Islam, 1148-1912). It will be published next month by the Sorbonne (Paris, 800 p. and 75 ill.) and should clarify many myths.

I intended to convey some of our oral statements and UN videos from the UN Human Rights Council 15th session in September, but this has not yet panned out. However, why not start with the oral statement I was able to deliver, unexpectedly, as the penultimate speaker yesterday.

When creating the Human Rights Council in March 2006, the UN General Assembly decided that its work and functioning shall be reviewed five years after it came into existence. An open-ended intergovernmental working group - on the review of the work and functioning of the Council - was established and the 1st session is currently taking place (25 to 29 October 2010).

I was able to read aloud the moving writing on the wall by referring once again to the very clear declarations - regarding the Commission - made in 2003 by the later High Commissioner for Human Rights Sérgio Vieira de Mello, which apply even more glaringly to the current Council.

ASSOCIATION FOR WORLD EDUCATION
United Nations Human Rights Council Review - Working Group (25-29 October 2010)
Statement by David G. Littman - Monday (5:30pm), 25 October 2010
Item 3: General discussion on the work and functioning of the Human Rights Council

Sir, we appreciate this opportunity to speak out on such a highly crucial subject now. Mr President, we are making available our documented written statement, submitted five years ago to the Commission's 62nd final session, as both its title and contents are still pertinent today: E/CN.4/2006/NGO/1: General comments on the Human Rights Commission and a future Council: "A riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma" (here). Churchill's 'enigma' could easily well be applied to the Council.

Six months ago [23-3-2010], we expressed our homage for the renowned former High Commissioner Sérgio Vieira de Mello, whose bronze bust honours his memory outside the Palais Wilson. [He was killed with 20 members of his staff in the Baghdad Canal Hotel Bombing. (19/8/03)]

It was his Report to the Commission's 59th session in 2003 that stimulated an attempt to improve Human Rights mechanisms, leading to the Commission's demise and the creation of what was hoped would be a Council sensitive to Universal Human Rights rather than obsessed by "selectivity and politicization" - the criticism that former Secretary-General Kofi Annan leveled at the Commission. [HCHR: "Follow-up to the World Conference on Human Rights": E/CN.4/2003/14 of Feb. 2003]

As Kofi Annan declared here at the Assembly Hall a year later: the Commission had been undermined by allowing participation of countries whose purpose was: "not to strengthen human rights but to protect themselves against criticism or to criticize others." His chief of staff Mark Malloch Brown put it even more bluntly: "For the great global public, the performance or non-performance of the Human Rights Commission has become the litmus test of UN renewal." This litmus test is more evident now as the Council completes its fifth year and the reputation of the whole UN human rights system is at stake.

Mr President: "Remember me!" Those parting words by the ghost of Hamlet's father have inspired us to remember Sérgio Vieira de Mello at this key moment of TRUTH.
His memorable message reads:

Membership of the Commission on Human Rights must carry responsibilities. I therefore wonder whether the time has not come for the Commission itself to develop a code of guidelines for access to membership of the Commission and a code of conduct for members while they serve on the Commission. After all, the Commission on Human Rights has a duty to humanity and the members of the Commission must themselves set the example of adherence to the international human rights norms - in practice as well as in law. [Point 5 §4]

International Human Rights cannot mean 'Cultural Relativism', nor 'Complimentary Standards'. He clearly was referring to the International Bill of Human Rights and nothing else. Here is de Mello's conclusion:

Without universal respect for human rights, the vision of the Charter of a world of peace grounded in respect for human rights and economic and social justice will remain an illusion. Let us vindicate the Charter's vision by being faithful to the universal implementation of human rights. In doing so we shall continue in the direction of history, rather than allowing ourselves to be diverted from the course we know to be just. [§ 55]

Sir, in conclusion, we shall reiterate that ancient adage, in which we firmly believe: Truth is powerful and will ultimately prevail /Magna est veritas et praevalebit.

UPDATE: I owe the Melkite Archbishop Cyril Salim Bustros an apology: when I wrote about his remarks at the recent Vatican Synod, I was relying on incomplete and inaccurate press reports, and did not fully understand his position. He explains his position here.

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The Melkite Greek Catholic Archbishop Cyril Bustros and the bishops who supported his position at the Synod were behaving like classic dhimmis: adopting the perspective and agenda of the dominant Muslim majority (including antisemitism), remaining silent about Islamic supremacist persecution of their communities, and hoping thereby to curry favor with the dominant group and ease the sting of that persecution. It's an understandable impulse, but when they have to outrage the truth, deny reality and the teachings of their own church, and acquiesce to injustice and evil instead of standing against it, they're doing more harm than good, and ultimately aren't protecting their communities from anything.

More on this story. "Editorial: The pope must speak up," from the Jerusalem Post, October 25:

Bishops from this region have distorted both church teachings and the facts to sully Israel, while the Vatican has remained silent.

In the name of radical Islamic-inspired nationalism, Mideast Christians of all denominations, including Catholics, have faced devastating persecution for their religious convictions. From the Gaza Strip and Egypt to Iraq to Turkey, Christians have been murdered, had their churches burned to the ground and their holy books destroyed, and have been demoted to secondclass citizens exposed to libels and exploitation by Muslim neighbors.

Ostensibly with the purpose of addressing these injustices and stemming the tide of a dwindling Christian population in the Mideast, Pope Benedict XVI convened a special Vatican Synod in Rome, composed of about 200 bishops mostly from Muslim countries. Yet these bishops hijacked the synod and issued a statement Saturday that all but ignored the plight of Catholics living in Muslim lands while singling out Israel's "occupation" for special castigation.

One of the synod's leaders, Greek Melkite Archbishop Cyril Salim Bustros, even reiterated anti-Semitic theological positions that contradicted official Catholic positions as stated in Nostra Aetate, a groundbreaking interfaith document drafted in October 1965 during the Second Vatican Council that radically revamped the Church's previous negative views of the Jewish people.

Rabbi David Rosen, the American Jewish Committee's International Director of Interreligious Affairs, has now called on the Vatican to issue a clear repudiation of Bustros's "outrageous and regressive comments." We firmly join him in that call.

So do I.

IT IS an undeniable fact that the bulk of Christian persecution in the Mideast is perpetrated in the name of radical Islam....

However, of the top 10 countries on the list, eight are Islamic and three - Iran, Saudi Arabia and Yemen - are in the Middle East. Egypt and Iraq are also listed in the top 20. The "Palestinian Territories" is ranked 47, cited primarily as a conflict zone and also in part due to the strife suffered by all Gazans, Christians included, as a result of the destruction caused by Operation Cast Lead.

Open Doors takes pains to note, however, that even before the offensive, which was directed at Hamas terrorists, not Christians, "Many [Christian] believers had already left, pressured by the growing influence of radical Islam..."

SO, IF radical Islam is the principal persecutor of Christians in the Mideast, why was Israel singled out? Apparently, by bashing Israel, Arab Catholic bishops as a persecuted minority in the Mideast are attempting to go out of their way to prove their loyalty to their Muslim brethren....

Bishops from this region have distorted both church teachings and the facts to sully Israel, while the Vatican has remained silent, in the process turning a blind eye to Christian suffering.

Pope Benedict XVI still has a chance to distance himself from the synod's declarations and make it clear that Bustros's comments deviate from Church teaching. That is the right and necessary thing for the pope to do - not just for Jewish-Catholic relations, but also for the sake of the Middle East's persecuted Christian minority.

As a Melkite Greek Catholic myself, I do hope the pope does this.

Steve Emerson of the Investigative Project was the subject of a nasty mainstream media hit piece in The Tennessean Sunday. Here, he sets the record straight -- as is necessary, since this story is being picked up gleefully by all the mainstream media flacks for Islamic supremacism. One of the worst is TPM Muckraker, where pseudo-journalist/hardcore Leftist ideologue Rachel Slajda titles her version "Jihad Alarmism Proves Lucrative For Leading Anti-Muslim Advocate."

Slajda interviewed me awhile back for a story on the stealth jihad, and also wrote a sneering but inaccurate piece on the Campbell's halal soup controversy.

Slajda's vicious piece on Emerson calls him a "self-proclaimed expert on Sharia law" and accuses him of "jihad alarmism." So I wrote this to her this afternoon:

Rachel Slajda:

I am working on an article about how Leftist "journalists" carry water for Islamic supremacists, and so given the perspective you've displayed in the article below and the others (Campbell's Soup, the stealth jihad threat) that you have written about this topic, I wonder if you'd be so kind as to answer a few questions:

1. Where exactly did Steve Emerson proclaim himself an "expert on Sharia law"? [The IPT website says, accurately, that Emerson is "an internationally recognized expert on terrorism and national security." It doesn't say anything about Sharia.]

2. What investigations are you conducting into the funding sources and salaries of the leading figures of groups with links to Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood, such as CAIR, MPAC, ISNA, MAS, and NAIT?

3. On what basis have you determined that Steve Emerson's work amounts to "alarmism" and not to amassing information about a genuine threat, of which Americans should be aware?

Many thanks for your time and attention to this.

Kindest regards
Robert Spencer

Oddly enough, I haven't heard anything back from this busy "journalist"! I will keep you posted.

"Note to Readers on Tennessean Story," from IPT News, October 25:

In an article in Sunday's Tennessean newspaper of Nashville, Tenn., reporter Bob Smietana made a series of unsupported claims about the nature of the Investigative Project on Terrorism and our work.

There's a price that comes with erroneous reporting and we're seeing it register already. The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) issued a news release calling for an IRS investigation into our status as a non-profit organization. We believe we can withstand any scrutiny.

This isn't a surprise. Groups have been stung repeatedly by our ability to pierce their fog of deception and show their ties to radical Islam, including support for Hamas and other terrorist groups. That's especially true for CAIR. We broke the news that the FBI cut off contact with them because of court evidence tying the organization and its founders to a Hamas-support network. It's in CAIR's interest to deflect attention from that fact and the disclosures which led to it. Trying to discredit the IPT is a sure way to do that.

We won't let them silence us or make us go away. We also realize when you specialize in the work we do, you make enemies. We've earned them the hard way, through diligent research that relies on public documents and what the elements of radical Islam have said publicly. They have hated us for it for years and have found a naïve reporter willing to buy their line.

At issue in the Tennessean story is the relationship between the IPT Foundation, a tax-exempt charity, and SAE Productions, a for-profit company run by IPT Executive Director Steven Emerson. The foundation accepts private donations and contracts with SAE to manage operations. The Tennessean article pays only lip service to the legitimate security issues that dictated this structure and that the IRS has reviewed and approved it.

The article says the foundation's "tax-exempt status is facing questions," implying that someone other than the Tennessean and the paper's hand-picked analysts are raising those questions. This is presented as something that is already happening outside the realm of the newspaper and its talking heads. There is no indication the discussion goes any further.

We provided the newspaper with our 1023 application for tax-exempt status and with our 2008 tax return, most commonly called a form 990. The documents show that we told the IRS we were contracting out our management with a group that did not have tax-exempt status. That was approved. As for the for-profit nature of SAE Productions, the IRS is aware of that as well. That has not been questioned. We say IPTF contracts out with SAE Productions, which files tax returns with the IRS. All of that has been disclosed. [...]

We have continued to pay the price of investigating and combating the threat of radical Islam in the United States, from death threats to being blacklisted to fabricated character assassinations from media apologists for radical Islamic groups. We will not be intimidated and that, with your support, we will continue to expose the danger to our free society posed by radical Muslim groups and the people in the media they manage to fool.

Bravo. There is much more. Read it all.

"What you saw puts a lie to the long-standing argument by some that Omar Khadr is a victim ... He's not. He is a murderer and he is convicted by the strength of his own words."

An update on this story. "Canadian at Gitmo pleads guilty to all charges," by Ben Fox for the Associated Press, October 25:

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba - Eight years after he was taken to Guantanamo as a teenage prisoner, a Canadian pleaded guilty Monday to killing a U.S. Army sergeant during a battle in Afghanistan, in a deal that will send him home in a year to serve his sentence.

Defenders say Omar Khadr, who was 15 at the time of his capture, was a "child soldier" pushed into becoming an al-Qaida fighter by his father, an associate of Osama bin Laden.

The plea deal ends a widely criticized trial that made the United States the first Western nation since World War II to prosecute a child offender for alleged war crimes. The exact terms were not immediately disclosed, but Khadr's sentence was reportedly capped at eight years, in addition to time already spent at the Guantanamo detention camp.

The now 24-year-old prisoner, who was seriously wounded when he was seized in a gunbattle in 2002, admitted to throwing a grenade that killed a special forces medic during a fierce raid on an al-Qaida compound. He also pleaded guilty to building and planting roadside bombs and receiving weapons training from al-Qaida. He is the last Western detainee at Guantanamo.

The Toronto-born Khadr's trial had been scheduled to start Monday and he faced a possible life sentence.

The chief military prosecutor, Navy Capt. John F. Murphy, said the government welcomed the deal, which was initiated by the defense, because it removes any doubt about Khadr's guilt.

"What you saw puts a lie to the long-standing argument by some that Omar Khadr is a victim," Murphy told reporters in an aircraft hangar near the courthouse on the U.S. base in Cuba. "He's not. He is a murderer and he is convicted by the strength of his own words."

Khadr did not explain why he changed his plea, though Dennis Edney, one of his Canadian attorneys, said it was a "very, very difficult" decision made only because Canada agreed to repatriate him after a year.

It came down to a choice between a trial his lawyers called "illegal" trial and going home -- and he chose the latter, Edney said. [...]

Khadr was charged with murder in the death of U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Christopher Speer, a special forces medic from Albuquerque, New Mexico. The U.S. says the Canadian is a war criminal because was not a legitimate soldier. He also faced charges of spying, material support for terrorism, conspiracy and attempted murder. [...]

Another soldier who was blinded in one eye during the firefight said he was pleased Khadr admitted guilt but is concerned the Canadian may not serve a sufficiently long sentence. Several Canadian media outlets, citing anonymous sources, have reported he would serve one year at Guantanamo and seven in his native country.

"It's way too short but I think you probably couldn't give him a sentence that I thought was too long," said Layne Morris, a retired Army sergeant who now lives in a suburb of Salt Lake City, Utah. "We have put him on a track to freedom in the prime of his life."

Imagine the reaction if they had disrupted Muslim prayers on any legal pretext. An update on this story. "Rawalpindi: Police stop mass in front of Gordon College chapel," by Jibran Khan for AsiaNews, October 25:

Islamabad (AsiaNews) - The situation remains tense between Christians and local authorities in Rawalpindi (Punjab) over the illegal occupation of the Christian chapel of Gordon College, a Presbyterian Church University. Yesterday, the police stopped the celebration of a Mass organized by the Protestant community in front of the chapel. To prevent the gathering local authorities applied law 144 / c, which bans any gathering of more than two individuals. More than 20 police trucks arrived on site, dispersing the crowd.

On 19 October, a group of 20 armed men occupied the chapel and have barricaded themselves inside. These are Muslim faithful who have the backing of the local government with false documents claiming ownership of the building.

"Unfortunately there is one thing standing between me and that property: the rightful owners." - Hedy Headley Lamarr, Blazing Saddles

The act has drawn the protests of both Christians and Muslims. In recent days, the All Pakistan Christian Action Committee (Apcac), the local Christian community and non-governmental organizations took to the streets of Rawalpindi to demand justice and freedom of worship for Christians.

Which Muslim groups protested?

Nina Robinson Asghar, head of Apcac, said: "The culprits have made fake documents of the property, they want to demolish the Church and construct a commercial center,but we will never allow this to happen."

The Chapel of the Gordon College was reopened in April 2010 after eight years of closure. It currently belongs to a government trust fund, which should hand it to the Christian community, however, according to Pakistani law, the church could also be sold to third. The illegal occupation is an attempt to steal the building, a similar incident occurred in April, but the police intervened, arresting the culprits.

Of course! Who else could be behind such things? Conspiracy Paranoia Update: "Leader Stresses Religious Centers' Continued Reaction to Anti-Islam Moves," from Fars News Agency, October 25:

TEHRAN (FNA)- Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei called on Muslims, specially clerics, to continue their vigilant and strong reactions to the anti-Islam moves made by arrogant powers and global Zionism.

Addressing jurisprudents, teachers, lecturers and elites of Howzeh Elmiyeh Seminary in Iran's city of Qom on Sunday, Ayatollah Khamenei reminded hostility of the arrogant powers, the US and global Zionism towards the promotion of religion, and cautioned that this hostility should never be underestimated.

"Plots and measures such as the insulting cartoons (against Prophet Mohammad (PBUH)), Quran burning and the other (similar) moves made by the global Zionism signify the depth of the maliciousness of the enemies of Islam and they (these plots and measures) should not be underestimated," Ayatollah Khamenei stressed.

The Leader added that the Islamic Seminaries, specially the one in Qom, cannot keep mum about these hostilities and continue taking wise and strong stances against such anti-Islam moves....

He was, says the Canadian Press, the leader of a "terrorist group." Why did this "terrorist group" want to commit such heinous acts? The Canadian Press does not find that detail fit to print. "Toronto 18 ringleader gets 16 years," from The Canadian Press, October 25 (thanks to Ima):

BRAMPTON, Ont. - The ringleader of the so-called Toronto 18, who admitted to leading a terrorist group with plans to attack Parliament, has been sentenced to 16 years in prison.

Court heard weeks of evidence that Fahim Ahmad, 26, plotted to attack Parliament buildings, electrical grids and nuclear stations, and that he held training camps to assess recruits for his cause.

At one point, police intercepted Ahmad suggesting going to Parliament to "cut off some heads" and "kill everybody.''...

For Allah!

Islamic supremacist metrosexual Reza Aslan is a Board member of the unsavory Tehran-linked NIAC. "State Department Sponsors Saudi Trip of Pro-Iran Apologist," by Barry Rubin, October 25 (thanks to Mark):

There are days when you think: No, this nightmare can't be real! Is the Obama Administration really so bad? Have the policymakers really taken leave of their senses?

And then you see this:

The U.S. Consulate-General in Saudi Arabia "hosted Dr. Trita Parsi, founder and President of the National Iranian American Council.....Dr. Parsi chaired a roundtable luncheon hosted by CG [Consul-General] Tom Duffy. This event was very well-received by the audience, a mix of prominent academics, businesspeople, journalists, and intellectuals. There was significant audience participation and interest in the topic."

According to Parsi's own site, to which the official U.S. site helpfully sends you, "Dr. Parsi was invited to speak and share his expertise on U.S.-Iranian relations and Iranian politics during the first week of October at several events in Riyadh, Dharan and Jeddah." The official U.S. consulate site tries to pretend that Parsi is actually some kind of noted scholar whereas his claim to fame consists almost entirely in convincing the repressive Tehran dictatorship to back him.

The U.S. State Department recently also organized a paid tour for the imam of the "Ground Zero" mosque who rejects U.S. policy toward Hamas, blames America for the September 11 attack, and claims the United States has murdered large numbers of innocent Muslims.

Under what program is all this done?

"As part of the US government's public affairs outreach, the State Department tours prominent US-based experts and academics in the region to provide an opportunity for officials from foreign ministries, academics, journalists, and members of the business community to engage with them."

Parsi has been the leading lobbyist in America for the Iranian Islamist regime and, at least until last year's election, was also an apologist for President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. He worked actively (in partnership with the anti-Israel front group J Street, no less) to stop U.S. sanctions on Iran....

In "Media Capitulation: If Juan Williams Is Fair Game......" in Big Journalism, October 25, Pamela Geller discusses the implications of NPR's kowtowing to Islamic supremacism by firing Juan Williams:

Over the last few days, on the news channels and the net, it has been wall-to-wall coverage of the Juan Williams firing by the tools over at National Public Radio. NPR was serving the hydra-headed, Hamas-supporting Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), which called on them to take action against Williams.

I am grateful for this high-profile incident. Much like with the Ground Zero mosque affair, Americans have suddenly become aware of something quite terrible -- a sea change, a profound transformation of a basic assumption, and a stunning reversal of their very basic unalienable rights. Their sensibilities are shaken. How could such a major seismic shift be kept hidden, kept so secret, until suddenly Juan Williams, a dyed-in-the-wool liberal, gets fired for telling the truth? Is it any wonder that recent polls show that the majority of Americans no longer trust the media? That is a good thing.

To Williams' point, we have an entire government agency, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), dedicated to protecting us from terrorists who are largely Muslim. We have torturous security procedures at every stage of air travel. We bear unfathomable costs in taxpayer dollars, but worse, in the surrender of privacy and individual rights because of Islamic jihad: because of the 9/11 Muslim terrorists; and the British Muslims who planned to blow up seven planes and kill 4,000 Americans and/or British people in the name of Islam in 2006; and because of Richard Reid, the Muslim with the exploding shoes; and the Christmas day bomber, the Muslim with the exploding crotch.

And yet in watching the mainstream media coverage of Juan Williams affair, we witness the fact that the media still cannot face up to its own capitulation. It's all over the airwaves, but no one will discuss what is actually happening -- the loss of the freedom of speech to Islamic supremacism and domination. This is a deadly fight -- Islam in the West and its suppression of free speech.

When the horror of jihad is discussed, it is always in the context of a "fringe" element among Muslims committing violent jihad. The "extremists" are slaughtering people every day across the world in the name of Islam. But aren't those who are destroying our constitutional republic, shutting us down, attacking free speech and demonizing the good and the truth tellers the real extremists and radicals? Isn't CAIR, as well as the Islamic Society of North America, the Muslim Students Association, the Muslim American Society, the Islamic Circle of North America, and the North American Islamic Trust the real extremists? The only difference between them and the military wing of Islam is their weapon of choice. Islamic supremacist groups in Western countries viciously attack our unalienable rights and chip away at our very legal and societal foundations....

Read it all.

They want halal food, and they don't want to be taught about the Holocaust. The report here calls for teachers to reaffirm France's secular principles -- but of course they will encounter a core of Muslims in France who will never accept those principles. Will the French hold firm then, or capitulate? "Religious demands rise in French state schools: study," by Tom Heneghan for Reuters, October 25 (thanks to Elias):

PARIS (Reuters) - Muslim pupils and parents in France are increasingly making religious demands on the state school system that teachers should rebuff by explaining the country's secular principles, according to an official report.

The High Council for Integration (HCI) reported growing problems with pupils of immigrant backgrounds who object to courses about the Holocaust, the Crusades or evolution, demand halal meals and "reject French culture and its values."

"It is becoming difficult for teachers to resist religious pressures," said the report, published in draft form by the newspaper Journal du Dimanche over the weekend. The final report will be presented to the government next month.

"We should now reaffirm secularism and train teachers how to deal with specific problems linked to the respect for this principle," it said....

Teachers often faced objections when they taught courses about world religions, the Holocaust or France's war in Algeria, or discussed events related to Israel and the Palestinians or American military actions in Muslim countries, the study said.

"Teachers regularly find that Muslim parents refuse to have their children learn about Christianity," it said. "Some think it amounts to evangelization."

"Anti-Semitism ... surfaces during courses about the Holocaust, such as inappropriate jokes and refusals to watch films" about Nazi concentration camps, it said. "Tensions often come from pupils who identify themselves as Muslims."

Teachers found they could discuss the transatlantic slave trade but met criticism from pupils when they brought up the history of slavery within Africa or in the Middle East.

Reflecting the promotion of anti-Darwinist thinking in Muslim countries, "evolution is challenged by pupils who posit divine or creationist action without any argument for it."

In some areas with large immigrant populations, many pupils shun school cafeterias for religious reasons, even though most offer alternative dishes when pork is on the menu.

"Demand for halal menus is strong, even for the very young in public creches," it said. "In some cities, there are petitions for halal -- and sometimes kosher -- meals."...

During Ramadan, some Muslim pupils harass others who don't observe the annual daytime fast, it said. Boys who identify themselves as Muslims and reject French values harass girls who do well in class as "collaborators" with the "dirty French."

Some girls ask to be excused from gymnasium or pool sessions because they are not supposed to mix with boys, it added.

The report said French schools must insist on co-education, equal rights and mutual respect. "Being a French citizen means accepting challenges to one's opinions ... this is the price to pay for the freedom of opinion and expression.

"Must we recall that the crime of blasphemy has not existed in France since the French Revolution?" it asked....

And this is the same Hamid Karzai who wants to reconcile with the Taliban -- the same Taliban that is also receiving Iranian support. What a coincidence!

This news only underscores the futility of the American project in Afghanistan, which we have explained here for years. "Karzai admits receiving 'bags of money' from Iran," from AFP, October 25 (thanks to Maxwell):

KABUL (AFP) - Afghan president Hamid Karzai admitted Monday that his chief of staff had received "bags of money" from Iran but insisted the payment was transparent and a form of aid from a friendly country.

Cash payments "are done by various friendly countries to help the presidential office and to help the expenses..." said Karzai at a press conference in Kabul.

The New York Times reported Saturday that Karzai's chief of staff, Umar Daudzai, has been receiving regular cash payments from Iran, which is trying to expand its influence in the presidential palace in Kabul.

"The government of Iran has been assisting us with five or six or seven hundred thousand euros once or twice every year, that is an official aid," said Karzai....

The newspaper, citing unnamed Afghan officials, said the payments total millions of dollars and go into a secret fund that Daudzai and Karzai have used to pay Afghan lawmakers, tribal elders and even Taliban commanders to secure their loyalty.

"It's basically a presidential slush fund," one Western official is quoted by the paper as saying. "Daudzai's mission is to advance Iranian interests."...

And the surrender is complete:

The senior US envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke, said last week that Iran had "a role" to play in Afghanistan and welcomed the Islamic republic's participation in international talks on the situation there held in Rome.

They stole it fair and square, and now they intend to sell it. Islamic Tolerance Alert: "ASIA/PAKISTAN - Christians protest chapel violently taken over by Muslims," from Agenzia Fides, October 22 (thanks to Twostellas):

Rawalpindi (Agenzia Fides) - A nonviolent protest and an outdoor Mass: this is how Christians in Pakistan intend to raise awareness in the national government and public opinion regarding the case of an illegal occupation of the Christian Chapel at Gordon College in Rawalpindi, located near the Presbyterian University in the same city. On October 19, the Chapel was illegally occupied by force by a group of over 20 people who broke into the building and shut themselves inside: they are Muslim faithful who, with the support of some local politicians, are claiming ownership of the building, based on records that Christians consider artifacts. The group has occupied the chapel and, according to information sent to Fides, they intend to seize and sell the building to obtain several million rupees.

The Christian faithful of Rawalpindi, along with civil society associations and NGOs, tomorrow, October 23, will hold a march through the streets demanding justice. The march will also be attended by moderate Muslim organizations, who share the ideals of defending civil rights and religious freedom of Christians.

In addition, in a sign of support and solidarity, on Sunday, October 24, the Christian communities of all denominations will gather in the square in front of the building to celebrate the Sunday liturgy outdoors, asking God for "justice, peace, and freedom for Christians in Pakistan."

The Presbyterian Church has tried to report the case to the police, but has not officially reported anything. In addition, the police did not act in any way to stop the occupants or evacuate the building. Christian lawyers have since brought the case to court, questioning the silence of the police and demanding justice for a violation of the rights of some citizens. An initial hearing on the case is scheduled for October 26.

The pastor of the Presbyterian Church, Iqbal Bhatti, has told the press: "The local parliamentarians of the Muslim League Nawaz Group of the District Administration do not want a church here. They intend to demolish it," while alarmed local Christians say that "in Punjab, since the Muslim League Nawaz has been in power, violence and persecution against Christians has increased significantly."...

It wasn't Islamophobes, it was Islamic jihadists. But given the amount of attention the former group receives from the mainstream media and putatively moderate Islamic advocacy groups, as opposed to the attention the latter group receives from the media and the "moderates," one may be forgiven for assuming. "Bomb kills 5 people at Sufi shrine in Pakistan," by Khalid Tanveer for Associated Press, October 24 (thanks to Twostellas):

PAKPATTAN, Pakistan -- A bomb planted on a motorcycle exploded at the gate of a famous Sufi shrine in central Pakistan during morning prayers Monday, killing at least five people, officials said.

The blast at the Farid Shakar Ganj shrine in Punjab province was the latest in a string of attacks targeting Sufi sites in Pakistan. Islamist militants often target Sufis, whose mystical practices clash with their hardline interpretation of Islam.

The dead from Monday's blast included at least one woman, said Maher Aslam Hayat, a senior government official in the town of Pakpattan where the shrine is located. At least 13 others were wounded in the explosion, he said.

The bombing significantly damaged nearly a dozen shops on either side of the street outside the shrine, leaving large piles of rubble and broken wood. Blood stained the ground and the wall of one of the damaged shops.

Irshad Ali, the owner of a nearby shop that sells beads, rushed to the site after hearing the explosion at around 6:20 a.m. local time....

The motor bike was parked near a group of people eating breakfast at a stall outside the shrine. They were among those killed and wounded in the blast, said Ali, the shopkeeper.

He said a security camera used to monitor the gate was removed a few days ago without explanation.

After the attack, a top Sufi scholar, Mufti Muneebur Rehman, criticized the government for not doing enough to protect the Sufi population. Pakistan is 95 percent Muslim, and the majority practice Sufi-influenced Islam.

"Our rulers are too busy serving foreign masters and have not prioritized protecting the people and sacred places from terrorists," said Rehman.

Earlier this month, two suspected suicide bombers attacked a beloved Sufi shrine in Pakistan's largest city, Karachi, killing at least eight people and wounding 65 others.

A suicide attack in July killed 47 people at the nation's most revered Sufi shrine, Data Darbar in the eastern city of Lahore. That attack infuriated many Pakistanis, who saw it as an unjustified assault on peaceful civilians....

Islamic scholars call for a man to be killed, and no one bats an eye, or pauses for a moment from their repetitions of the mantra "Islam Is A Religion of Peace."

"'Fatwa' justifies Musharraf's killing," from Gulf Today, October 25 (thanks to Twostellas):

QUETTA: Adding to woes of former military ruler Pervez Musharraf, a group of religious scholars has issued a "fatwa" (edict) declaring him "fit to be murdered" while a petition filed in the Supreme Court has sought registration of a high treason case against him.

The Jamhoori Watan Party of Talal Akbar Bugti, the son of Nawab Akbar Bugti, sponsored the conference in which prominent religious scholars and political leaders participated and signed a joint declaration against Musharraf justifying his killing. The theme of the conference was "If Salman Rushdi [sic] deserved to be killed, why not Musharraf, who was responsible for killing innocent people and also of desecration of the Holy Quran at Jamia Hafsa (Red Mosque)."...

Well, then!

As Turkey moves toward Sharia, it also moves toward jihad. "Gaza flotilla was 'Turkish provocation', Livni tells enquiry: Turkey exploitation of a diplomatic vacuum was behind the decision to launch aid convoy raided by Israel, opposition leader says," by Barak Ravid for Haaretz, October 25:

Opposition leader Tzipi Livni testified before a commission probing Israel's raid on a Gaza-bound aid convoy in May, telling the panel that Turkey had exploited the event as a provocation against Israel.

"In the absence of a peace process, with Israel's policies toward the Palestinians unclear, Turkey was able to fill a political vacuum by engineering provocations," Livni told the commission, headed by former Supreme Court Judge Jacob Turkel.

Nine Turkish activists were killed when Israeli naval commandos stormed the decks of the 'Mavi Marmara', the lead ship in the six-boat flotilla, at dawn on May 31. The raid plunged relations between Israel and Turkey, traditionally close military allies, into crisis.

The boats had been trying to break Israel's blockade on the Gaza Strip, imposed in 2007 when Hamas militants seized power from rival Palestinian faction Fatah in a bloody coup, at a time when Livni was foreign minister....

On Sunday Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi testified to the commission for a second time, insisting the killings aboard the Mavi Marmara had been unavoidable.

Ashkenazi said Israeli commandos had fired 308 live bullets aboard the ship to repel passengers who attacked them with lethal weapons, including a snatched Uzi machine pistol.

Ashkenazi told the panel commission that navy commandos who boarded the Mavi Marmara were equipped with riot-dispersal gear, but quickly switched to live fire to confront armed passengers because "if they had not done this, there would have been more casualties".

After all, what did they expect to see in Muslim areas? Evidence of terrorist activity? Pshaw! And now the police have to do extra work to build bridges and restore trust with the Muslim community. Does the Muslim community have any responsibility to demonstrate its loyalty, its renunciation of the elements of Sharia that are at variance with British law, and its rejection of jihad and Islamic supremacism? Pshaw!

"'Mistakes made' over Birmingham surveillance cameras," from the BBC, October 25 (thanks to Bob):

West Midlands Police Authority has admitted mistakes were made in the way 200 surveillance cameras were put up in largely Muslim areas of Birmingham.

The cameras, some of which were hidden, were paid for with £3m of government money earmarked for tackling terrorism.

But the force had to apologise and later commissioned an independent review after angry residents said they had not been consulted.

The report said it put relations with the Muslim community back 10 years.

The scheme, called Project Champion, involved cameras being put up by the Safer Birmingham Project (SBP), made up of the city council, police and agencies in the Washwood Heath and Sparkbrook districts.

Last month West Midlands Police Chief Constable Chris Sims apologised after the report by Thames Valley Police said the force showed "little evidence of thought being given to compliance with the legal or regulatory framework" before the cameras were put up.

And in a statement, Derek Webley, chairman of the West Midlands Police Authority, said: "The authority accepts the findings and recommendations of the report by Chief Constable Sara Thornton of Thames Valley Police.

"We acknowledge that we did not get things right and want to take a positive approach to addressing what the report has found.

"Now, we have the recommendations from the report, we want to move forward in several areas: How we work, how we hold the force to account, how we scrutinise, how we question and how we challenge.

'Rebuild trust'

"The authority wants to work with the community to take this matter forward to a position where we are able to rebuild the trust and confidence of those in the area.

"Without this we know that we cannot deliver the policing that the public want to keep them safe from harm."

Civil liberties groups have threatened legal action if the force does not agree to remove all the cameras in the next two weeks.

All covert cameras have been removed and the remainder have been covered with bags....

Over at FrontPage, Jamie Glazov interviews Pamela Geller about the recent election of Lutfur Rahman as executive mayor of the London borough of Tower Hamlets, and its implications:

FP: Pamela Geller, welcome to Frontpage Interview.

I would like to discuss with your accurate prediction about a London borough becoming an Islamic republic.

What's going on?

Geller: Thanks Jamie.

As I predicted at my website Atlas Shrugs, a vile Islamic supremacist, Lutfur Rahman, has been elected executive mayor of the London borough of Tower Hamlets. And he has accomplished this through massive voter fraud -- isn't this always how they get their way?

FP: It appears to be the case, yes.

Tower Hamlets is the poorest borough in all of Great Britain, yes?

Geller: Yes, Jamie, it is. Nonetheless, as Executive Mayor of Tower Hamlet council, Rahman will have control of over a billion-dollar budget.

And remember, Rahman is an Islamic supremacist with links to jihadist groups. Mind you, Jamie, he was previously dropped from the Labour Party because of these troubling ties. He was elected as an independent. The Telegraph's superb investigative journalist Andrew Gilligan has outlined what he calls Rahman's "deeply problematic two years as council leader until he was removed from that post six months ago." Gilligan explains that after Rahman

"secured the leadership with the help of the IFE, millions of pounds were channeled to front organizations of the IFE, a man with close links to the IFE was appointed as assistant chief executive of the council despite being unqualified for the position and the secular, white chief executive was forced out. Various efforts were made to 'Islamicize' the borough. Extremist literature was stocked in Tower Hamlets' public libraries."

And this election has made matters even worse. The Islamic machine went into overdrive and fraudulently gamed the system.

FP: How did they do that?

Geller: Jamie, Tower Hamlets changed from a conventional leader system to a mayoralty this year, after a successful campaign spearheading this change was waged by an Islamic supremacist organization known as the Islamic Forum of Europe. According to the local laws, just five percent of the electorate can petition a local council to change the system. So early in 2010, Abjol Miah, a Muslim affiliated with the IFE, started gathering signatures for such a petition - and in Tower Hamlets, which is only one-third Muslim, 99.3% of those who signed Miah's petition were Muslim.

And a large number of those were fraudulent. Authorities discovered that almost half of the signatures were invalid. Miah turned in whole pages filled with names and addresses that were all written in identical handwriting - on a petition that was supposed to have been signed by thousands of different individuals. Even more unbelievable, as many as 5,000 of the names were of people whose names were not in the electoral registration records at all.

But the dhimmi court allowed it just the same.

FP: Unbelievable. Why did they want to make this change?

Geller: A leader of the IFE, Abu Talha, said this to an undercover reporter about the new system: "The mayor is going to have a lot more control. That's why we need to get someone, one of our brothers, in there. Which we will do."

And they did....

Read it all.

Once again, I can't stop laughing. Here is part 2 of Big Fur Hat's amazing series. Part 1 is here.

The idea for this series, by the way, comes from here, a comment on this story.

"Muslim husbands can feel relaxed knowing that their wife is safe, where no man is going to be able to see them, and then they can come home and show their beauty. Muslim clients have never experienced this ever. It's a great feeling."

Eurabia Alert from the highlands: "Now it's halal hairdressing: a snip for Scottish Muslims," by Helen McArdle for The Herald Scotland, October 24 (thanks to Weasel Zippers):

With its frosted windows, CCTV cameras, and tightly monitored security entrance, it is going to be one of Aberdeen's most secretive business enterprises.

So, you could be forgiven for wondering if the shop has something to hide.

Well, it does - its customers. Or rather it is the customers who want to remain hidden. For this is Scotland's first 'halal hairdressers' - a beauty salon which conforms to the strict rules of Islam; a place were Muslim women who wear the veil or headscarf can be seen uncovered without the risk of the gaze of men.

Discreet Creative Hairdressing, scheduled to open in three weeks, is the brainchild of 21-year-old Mahida Iqbal and her husband of nine months, Fueb Mieh.

The salon will be a 'man-free zone'. The frosted windows will stop any inquisitive men passing by from gawping at the clients. No-one can get in without passing through a secure buzzer entry system with CCTV. All this means that the Muslim ladies who have come for a new hair-do can remove their headscarves safe in the knowledge that only other women can see them....

"It is somewhere where customers can feel comfortable, feel pampered and relaxed, knowing that no-one is going to come in and disturb them," Iqbal added. "Muslim husbands can feel relaxed knowing that their wife is safe, where no man is going to be able to see them, and then they can come home and show their beauty. Muslim clients have never experienced this ever. It's a great feeling."

Pamela Geller sums it up:

The war against free speech is raging all over the West. Wilders is still on trial. Juan Williams was fired. There is a 10-million-dollar lawsuit against me. And in Austria, Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff, who spoke at our FDI event at CPAC in February 2010, is also facing trial for telling the truth. Get the details here -- and stand with Elisabeth and all freedom fighters.

That's right, a 10 million dollar lawsuit against Pamela Geller -- a crude and obvious attempt to silence one of the nation's most prominent and effective voices against Islamic supremacism today. Pamela has details and background here, including this from AP:

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- A blogger championing the case of a Muslim-to-Christian convert from Ohio says allegedly defamatory comments she's being sued over were protected free speech.

Atlas Shrugs blogger Pamela Geller also says many of the postings singled out in a federal lawsuit could fall into the realm of hyperbole and not defamation.

Geller says in a federal court filing Tuesday that she is a journalist writing about a matter of public interest and is protected by the First Amendment.

Pamela comments: "Tarazi's lawsuit is an embarrassment to the legal profession. Apart from being factually wrong, his emails are riddled with spelling errors. He exhibits little knowledge of procedure and less of rule of law. One has to wonder how these incompetents pass the bar."

Show your support for Pamela Geller's stand against Islamic supremacism and the thuggish attempts to silence her. Contribute to Atlas Shrugs by going here and clicking on the "donate" button on the right sidebar.

UPDATE: I owe the Melkite Archbishop Cyril Salim Bustros an apology: when I wrote about his remarks at the recent Vatican Synod, I was relying on incomplete and inaccurate press reports, and did not fully understand his position. He explains his position here.

-----------

According to this report, the Melkite Greek Catholic Archbishop Cyril Bustros "then escalated the situation by declaring that the original promises made by God to the children of Israel 'were nullified by Christ. There is no longer a chosen people.'"

If this is accurate, then it must be said that in his haste to parrot the jihadist political agenda, Archbishop Cyril contradicts the Catholic Church's teaching that "the Jews should not be presented as rejected or accursed by God, as if this followed from the Holy Scriptures" (Nostra Aetate 4). Moreover, God "does not repent of the gifts He makes or of the calls He issues-such is the witness of the Apostle" (Nostra Aetate 4) -- a reference to Paul the Apostle's statement concerning the Jews that "the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable" (Romans 11:29).

Ever since the beginnings of Arab nationalism, Christian Arabs have identified with Muslims politically and culturally, in what was at least initially an attempt to blunt the force of the jihad against them by creating a foundation for an accord that was not religious, and allowed Christians and Muslims to coexist on equal terms -- a sharp departure from the institutionalized discrimination of dhimmitude.

But as the great historian Bat Ye'or has pointed out, this attempt was foredoomed, and indeed, it has already failed. This was because for Muslims Islam was always the heart of the Arab identity in any case -- as was succinctly summed up by pioneering Arab nationalist Michel Aflaq: "Arab nationalism is Islam." And as long as Islam continued to exist, the imperative to subjugate the Christians would eventually reappear, since it had not been reformed or rejected by any ulama. And so it has.

The Christian Arabs would have been much better off allying with their fellow dhimmis, the Jews. And indeed, only in Israel, alone among Middle Eastern countries, has the Christian population grown since 1948. As this report notes: "Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said it was absurd that the Jewish state had been condemned since Israel is the only country in the region where Christians are actually thriving. According to statistics he provided, there were some 151,700 Christians in Israel last year, compared with 132,000 in 1999 and 107,000 two decades ago."

Yet the bishops in their synod this week single out only Israel for particular criticism, and was relatively silent about the jihad doctrine, the Arab states' support for it, and its cardinal role in sabotaging any peace settlement between Israel and the Palestinian Arabs. It is shameful.

"Israel slams 'political attacks' by Catholic bishops," from AFP, October 24:

JERUSALEM -- Israel on Sunday slammed critical remarks made by Middle East Catholic bishops after a meeting chaired by Pope Benedict XVI as "political attacks" on the Jewish state.

"We express our disappointment that this important synod has become a forum for political attacks on Israel in the best history of Arab propaganda," Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon said in a statement.

"The synod was hijacked by an anti-Israel majority," he added....

"Recourse to theological and biblical positions which use the Word of God to wrongly justify injustices is not acceptable," the synod said.

Archbishop Cyril Salim Bustros, head of the commission which drew up the statement, went one step further, saying: "The theme of the Promised Land cannot be used as a basis to justify the return of the Jews to Israel and the expatriation of the Palestinians."

"For Christians, one can no longer talk of the land promised to the Jewish people," the Lebanese-born head of the Greek Melkite Church in the United States said, because the "promise" was "abolished by the presence of Christ."

Ayalon said he was "especially appalled" at those remarks.

"We call on the Vatican to (distance) themselves from Archbishop Bustros's comments, which are a libel against the Jewish people and the state of Israel and should not be construed as the Vatican's official position."...

I join that call.

It is a very revealing list of disciplines for which Iran's leadership has voiced objections: "law, philosophy, management, psychology, political science ... women's studies and human rights."

The rights to free inquiry and dissent have been fundamental to the intellectual freedom that has allowed Western universities to flourish and vault ahead of the Islamic world, which must insistently remind the rest of us of its "golden age" that ended almost a millennium ago, back before they could even blame Israel for that eventuality.

All kidding aside, in the long run, this will be a study in jihad -- the push to impose Islamic law by any means necessary -- causing intellectual and ultimately material poverty through the climate of fear created when coloring outside of the ideological lines leads one to fear for his or her safety.

In that atmosphere of mental self-enslavement, the impulse to innovate dries up, because the price of "failure" has been made artificially and brutally high.

And Iranian authorities may boast of their universities' pious state of arrested development while the rest of the world passes them by. "Iran restricts social sciences seen as 'Western'," by Nasser Karimi for the Associated Press, October 24:

TEHRAN, Iran - Iran has imposed new restrictions on 12 university social sciences deemed to be based on Western schools of thought and therefore incompatible with Islamic teachings, state radio reported Sunday.

The list includes law, philosophy, management, psychology, political science and the two subjects that appear to cause the most concern among Iran's conservative leadership -- women's studies and human rights.

That's one way to get around mentioning Islam's texts and teachings as playing a role in creating this situation. It's just those "conservatives" again.

"The content of the current courses in the 12 subjects is not in harmony with religious fundamentals and they are based on Western schools of thought," senior education official Abolfazl Hassani told state radio.

When "Allah knows best" meets "government knows best":

Hassani said the restrictions prevent universities from opening new departments in these subjects. The government will also revise the content of current programs by up to 70 percent over the next few years, he said.

The decision is seen as a response to concerns expressed last year by Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who said the subjects could lead to religious doubts. Khamenei, who has final say on all state matters in Iran, urged officials to take altering the curriculum into "serious consideration."

Some two million out of 3.5 million Iranian university students are studying social sciences and humanities, according to government statistics.

University students have played a key role in opposition protests in Iran, especially after the country's disputed presidential election last year, which opposition activists say hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won through massive fraud.

Since Ahmadinejad came to power in 2005, he has pushed a revival of the fundamentalist goals pursued in the 1980s under the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, father of the 1979 Islamic revolution in Iran.

In 2006, dozens of liberal university professors and teachers were sent into retirement, drawing strong protests from students. Liberal and secular professors teach at universities around the country, but they are a minority. Most are politically passive and do not identify with either the hard-liners or the liberal camp.

They're simply positioning themselves as well as they can to ride out the next purge.

In 1980, Iran closed down universities for two years to get rid of partisan students of political groups, mostly armed leftist ones.

Lipstick? Eye shadow? You be the judge

Islamic supremacists are wholly intellectually bereft. They cannot answer the arguments of anti-jihadists, since anti-jihadists in general simply explicate what is in the Qur'an and Sunnah, and show how jihadists act upon these texts and teachings. So since they cannot engage their opponents on the level of ideas, they instead try to bludgeon them into silence. They do this either by ignoring us altogether, or by engaging in the Alinsky tactic of ridicule -- which allows them to adopt a posture of superiority, but only reveals their utter intellectual exhaustion and desperation.

Examples of this abound. Most recently, Islamic supremacist metrosexual Ahmed Rehab of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a group with numerous ties to Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood, has responded to my pointing out a lie he told about never ducking debate with adolescent ridicule and abuse rather than substance.

Rehab's refusal to engage his opposition's arguments is a sign that he feels keenly his own intellectual vacuity. He knows that in light of it he can do nothing but ignore, mock, or try to bully people who speak the truth. Even the Soviet Union under Stalin was confident enough that its own people were sufficiently cowed, and that it had enough useful idiots among the intelligentsia abroad, that it was able to mount high-profile show trials of dissenters and Stalin's political rivals in the 1930s.

But by the 1970s and 1980s, the Soviet regime had grown sclerotic, and had lost the assurance that its own people were still terrorized enough to keep silent, or that it could still count on a foreign intelligentsia willfully blind enough to defend the regime. And so instead of mounting flashy show trials, it packed off its opponents to mental hospitals under the cover of darkness. They simply didn't exist any longer. It was an effective tactic in the short run, as it certainly silenced their opponents of the day; in the long run, however, it was an expression of exhaustion, an admission of defeat.

But as Rehab, his fellow Islamic supremacist metrosexual Reza Aslan, and others practice these tactics, the implicit admission rings louder and clearer all the time: they have no arguments. They can't really explain away what's in the Qur'an and Sunnah -- the long-winded "refutations" and "proofs" that Islam is really a Religion of Peace™ are rendered hollow every day by the jihad news worldwide: if "Islamophobes" are really misunderstanding the peaceful teachings of Islam, then coincidence of coincidences, so are innumerable Muslims, including Islamic clerics and scholars, in exactly the same way.

Aslan, a Board member of a group that is often described as an apologist for Iran's bloody Islamic regime, has to lie about what I say in order to mount even the semblance of an argument. And Rehab in this piece has to bluster and sneer, because it is all that he can do.

They are cornered. They know it. They just hope you don't notice.

Ridicule, of course, is not always a sign of intellectual bankruptcy. Rehab and Aslan are ridiculous, and in their self-righteous posturing, preening self-importance, and fronting for moral evil, they richly deserve lampooning. Also, in their self-inflated pomposity, they cannot endure to be mocked. The difference is in whether or not one has substance to back up the ridicule. Aslan offers lies. Rehab offers bluster. There is virtually nothing of substance in Rehab's screed, but he does say: "Spencer, I never agreed to debate you in the first place, and it is highly unlikely that I ever will." Of course, I never said that he agreed to debate me; I merely pointed out that the ALA invited him to do so, and he refused -- as he himself admits here.

Rehab also complains about how I have ridiculed him, claiming that I have made "an allegation" that he wears "lipstick and eyeshadow." Actually, as you can see above, it's not an allegation, it's a photograph, taken undoctored from Rehab's website by Joe Kaufman. Lipstick? Eyeshadow? Looks like it to me.

Remember also that Rehab is a front man for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). CAIR operatives have repeatedly refused to denounce Hamas and Hizballah as terrorist groups. Several of its former officials have been convicted of various crimes related to jihad terror. Two of its other officials have made Islamic supremacist statements. CAIR also was involved in the Flying Imams' intimidation suit against the passengers who reported their suspicious behavior.

CAIR has attempted to intimidate the FBI and JTTF and dictate their choice of speakers, and in doing so retailed numerous false charges, defamation, distortions, and outright lies about me, SIOA, and Pamela Geller.

CAIR has a long record of duplicity and deception. Although it has received millions of dollars in donations from foreign Islamic entities, it has not registered as a foreign agent as required by the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), despite spreading Islamic supremacist propaganda within the United States.

Although it presents itself as a civil rights group, CAIR actually has numerous links to Islamic supremacist and jihad groups. CAIR founders Omar Ahmad and Niwad Awad (who still serves as CAIR's executive director) were present at a Hamas planning meeting in Philadelphia in 1993 where they and other Hamas operatives conspired to raise funds for Hamas and to promote jihad in the Middle East. CAIR has steadfastly refused to denounce Hamas and Hizballah as terrorist groups.

Several former CAIR officials have been convicted of various crimes related to jihad terror:

* Ghassan Elashi, founder of CAIR's Texas chapter, in 2009 received a 65-year prison sentence for funneling over $12 million from the Islamic charity known as the Holy Land Foundation to the jihad terrorist group Hamas, which is responsible for murdering hundreds of Israeli civilians
* Mousa Abu Marzook, a former CAIR official, was in 1995 designated by the U.S. government in 1995 as a "terrorist and Hamas leader." He now is a Hamas leader in Syria.
* Randall Royer, CAIR's former civil rights coordinator, in 2004 began serving a 20-year prison sentence for aiding al-Qaida and the Taliban against American troops in Afghanistan and recruiting for Lashkar e-Taiba, the jihadist group responsible for the 2008 Mumbai jihad massacres.
* Bassem Khafagi, CAIR's former community relations director, was arrested for involvement with the Islamic Assembly of North America, which was linked to al-Qaida. After pleading guilty to visa and bank fraud charges, Khafagi was deported.
* Rabih Haddad, a former CAIR fundraiser, was deported for his work with the Global Relief Foundation (which he co-founded), a terror-financing organization.

In 1998 Omar Ahmad, CAIR's co-founder and longtime Board Chairman, said: "Islam isn't in America to be equal to any other faith, but to become dominant. The Koran should be the highest authority in America, and Islam the only accepted religion on Earth."

After he received unwelcome publicity as a result of this statement, Ahmad denied saying it, several years after the fact. However, the original reporter, Lisa Gardiner of the Fremont Argus, stands by her story.

CAIR's spokesman Ibrahim Hooper once said: "I wouldn't want to create the impression that I wouldn't like the government of the United States to be Islamic sometime in the future."

That's the group Rehab is connected with, and yet he adopts a posture of moral superiority. Only Leftist dupes will be fooled.

And finally, Rehab concludes:

And now for some irony. Spencer, you are claiming you are ready to debate anyone but that alas no one wants to debate you because no one can. But, is this actually true? Does the name Danios of Loonwatch ring a bell Spencer? You may be burying your head in the sand hoping no one will notice, but a simple Google search on "Robert Spencer debate" reveals your hypocrisy. How come you are ignoring an invitation from another blogger who has challenged you numerous times and whose articles shredding your arguments to pieces are all over the web without a peep of a rebuttal from you? Are you conceding defeat? Are you "running away?"

Sorry, I don't debate fictional characters or pseudonyms. "Danios of Loonwatch" can go debate Scot Harvath or Harold Robbins. I use my real name, have received numerous death threats, and cannot appear in public without guards, because so many coreligionists of "Danios of Loonwatch" misunderstand the teachings of his peaceful religion. What is "Danios of Loonwatch" afraid of? He knows that Noam Chomsky and Michael Moore can appear in public with no concern whatsoever, so why does he cower in the shadows?

In any case, "Danios of Loonwatch" has already discredited himself with his windy tu-quoque arguments about Christian doctrines that never existed and that no one has ever heard of, his defamation and outright lies about my owning domain names I never knew existed until he made the charge, and his refusal to acknowledge or correct false information he has posted. Debating such a compromised and dishonest individual would be a waste of time, but nonetheless, since Rehab invokes him and others have referred to his site recently, I am willing: if "Danios of Loonwatch" reveals his real name, finds a university willing to host the debate and contracts an impartial moderator, I'm ready when he is. But I won't be holding my breath.

And as for Rehab, he will no doubt continue to flail. And I will continue to shine the light of truth on him, Reza Aslan, and their unsavory and thuggish associates.

Of course, Kaukab Siddique's views are fairly commonplace on the wastelands of propaganda and indoctrination that are American universities these days. "Pa. prof's anti-Israel remarks concern lawmakers," from The Associated Press, October 22 (thanks to Weasel Zippers):

OXFORD, Pa. -- Two Pennsylvania lawmakers are questioning officials at a state-supported university after a professor publicly called for the destruction of Israel.

In a letter Wednesday to the president of Lincoln University, state Sens. Daylin Leach and Anthony Williams ask if the professor is expressing anti-Semitic views on campus.

Video of a Sept. 3 rally in Washington, D.C., shows tenured literature professor Kaukab Siddique saying Israel must be destroyed, "if possible by peaceful means."

Siddique tells The Philadelphia Inquirer that "I am against Israel - not against Jews."...

Geller and Spencer at the September 11 Rally of Remembrance

Pamela Geller and I will be speaking at a gala event in Fort Worth, Texas on November 12. Get details here. Tickets are going fast, so be sure to reserve a space now!

The organizers of the event say: "With the knowledge of what is happening in our world today under the banner of Islam and dismayed by the inroads it is achieving in our country to destroy our culture, we are proud to bring to Ft. Worth, Texas, two of the foremost fighters against Islamist Jihad in the United States."

And we are proud to be there.

"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." -- Qur'an 5:38

"The Center for Security Policy wants Americans to think that stoning and amputations are around the corner, but the report can't quite explain why stonings are so rare and the streets of Saudi Arabia and Iran are not filled with one-armed thieves." -- Sabria Jawhar, Huffington Post, October 19

Two more this week in Iran, Sabria.

Sharia Alert from the Islamic Republic of Iran: "Thief hand cut off 'before inmates,'" from the UKPA, October 24:

Authorities in Iran have amputated the hand of a convicted thief in front of other prisoners, state radio is reporting.

The report did not identify the 32-year-old convict, whose hand was reportedly cut off in the central city of Yazad, or provide details of his crime.

Iran's judiciary uses a strict interpretation of Islamic law in handing down such sentences. Cutting off the hands of thieves has been rare in the past, but the amputation was the second this month.

A week ago, a judge ordered the same punishment for a man who stole from a sweet shop....

"Wearing police uniforms and burqas" -- again indicating that there is substantial reason to ban the burqa in Western countries: you never know who or what might be under it. "Suicide bombers attack UN office in Afghan city," by Aref Karimi for AFP, October 23 (thanks to Weasel Zippers):

HERAT, Afghanistan -- Four suicide bombers wearing police uniforms and burqas on Saturday attacked the United Nations office in the western Afghan city of Herat, senior police and UN officials said.

There were no casualties among UN workers, Delawar Shah Delawar, deputy police chief of Herat province, told AFP after the raid, which was claimed by the Taliban.

Delawar, who earlier said there were three attackers, said another had been found, shot and killed by police.

"In total four attackers have been killed. One detonated his explosives-packed vehicle at the gate, a second attacker was shot and killed outside the compound, and two other attackers have been shot and killed inside the compound," he said....

Taliban spokesman Yousuf Ahmadi, speaking by telephone from an undisclosed location, said the militant Islamist group was behind the raid.

"We carried out the attack on the UNAMA office in Herat. The attack is still ongoing and so far 12 UNAMA guards and workers have been killed," he said....

In January, the US consulate under construction in Herat came under rocket fire. There were no casualties.

The Taliban said earlier this year that all foreigners -- including troops, diplomats and aid workers -- and Afghans working for them were considered legitimate targets in their war against the Western-backed Kabul government.

In other violence, the spokesman for the governor of Kandahar said an apparent suicide bomber had blown himself up before reaching his target.

"A suicide attacker on a motorbike was on his way to whatever his target was when his explosives detonated prematurely in the centre of the city," he said....

No virgins for you, pal.

And clearly he means military action, not interior spiritual struggle. All the schools of Islamic jurisprudence agree that when a non-Muslim force enters a Muslim land, jihad becomes the individual obligation of every Muslim (fard 'ayn) rather than a collective obligation of the entire umma, from which one is released if others are taking it up (fard kifaya). Bulghah al-Salik li-Aqrab al-Masalik fi madhhab al-Imam Malik ("The Sufficiency of the Traveller on the Best Path in the School of Imam Malik,") says this:

Jihad in the Path of Allah, to raise the word of Allah, is fard kifayah [obligatory on the community] once a year, so that if some perform it, the obligation falls from the rest. It becomes fard `ayn [obligatory on every Muslim individually], like salah and fasting, if the legitimate Muslim Imam declares it so, or if there is an attack by the enemy on an area of people.

The Hanafi, Maliki, and Shafi'i schools of Sunni jurisprudence further declare that jihad, once it is fard 'ayn, is no different from prayer and fasting -- in other words, to engage in warfare with non-Muslims in that case is a religious devotion that cannot lawfully be evaded. Hashiyah Ibn `Abidin, an authoritative text of the Hanafi school, says that jihad is "fard 'ayn if the enemy has attacked part of the Islamic homeland. It thus becomes an obligation like salah [prayer] and fasting which cannot be abandoned."

"Egyptian Islamic Scholar Ibrahim Al-Khouli: We Must Conduct Jihad against the West, Who Are Aggressors against the Land of Islam," from MEMRI, September 25:

Following are excerpts from an interview with Egyptian Islamic scholar Ibrahim Al-Khouli, which aired on Azhari TV on September 25, 2010: [...]

What formula should the Islamic nation adopt in its dealings with America and the West? [...]

Ibrahim Al-Khouli: We must confront them, and say: You are aggressors on the land of Islam. You are occupying our lands. You are exploiting our resources. You are humiliating our people. Unless you stop doing that, and restore our rights, the only path we will take is the path of Jihad, which is an individual duty incumbent upon the nation.

Interviewer: Yes.

Ibrahim Al-Khouli: Forget about Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda. That's not what I'm talking about. I am talking about the Jihad of the entire nation.

Interviewer: Not of individuals.

Ibrahim Al-Khouli: I'm talking about Jihad which is led by the Islamic scholars, and the entire nation will be mobilized for the sake of the supreme Jihad. This will lead us to a confrontation.

[...]

We should follow the example of the young men of the Taliban. A group of several thousands of students have been crushing NATO in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Where are the armies of the Muslims?

Pamela Geller, who is interviewed in this article, comments on it here: "The American people are sick of being deceived and misled. Stop talking, start acting. Let's see Muslim supremacist groups lay down their arms against those of us who are exposing and reporting on jihad, and instead take up the fight against the jihadist 'fringe' that is at war with the West. Why is Geller or Spencer their target? Why aren't the Muslim 'extremists' their target? This is all about the Ground Zero victory mosque. Notice how they all close ranks and make it about 'Islamophobia,' when everyone knows it is a deeply offensive, deliberately provocative act. Opposition to the mosque is not 'Islamophobia,' it's 'Islamorealism' (hat tip to Spencer, who coined that term years ago)."

Indeed I did, and thank you, and I'm glad to see it is getting wider currency lately.

"Mosques Open Their Doors to Neighbors in Effort to Win Over Skeptics," by Lauren Green for Fox News, October 22:

The prayers, the Koran and the people. They're the three things Muslims would like Americans to know about.

To counter negative stereotypes, Muslim leaders nationwide are flinging open the doors to their mosques, hoping to present a positive image of Islam.

"The main thing is to open the doors and to share with people, to clarify who we are so people have no fears, so we can develop stronger relationships overall," says Imam Al-Amin Abdul Latif of the Islamic Leadership Council of New York. [...]

The neighborly hospitality is certainly part of the effort, but its fundamental impetus is to combat widespread opposition to building an Islamic cultural center and mosque two blocks from Ground Zero. And it's a hard task, indeed. A Fox News Opinion Dynamics Poll shows 61 percent - other polls put the figure as high as 70 percent -- oppose building a mosque so close to the site of the worst terror attack on U.S. soil, an attack that was perpetrated by Muslim extremists.

Dr. Hafiz Rehman, who hosted the Long Island event, says, "On 9/11 the planes were hijacked and the religion was hijacked. We want to build close to there so people know Muslims are mainstream Americans also."

It will be an uphill battle.

Pamela Geller, head of Stop Islamization of America, sees a sinister purpose behind the open-house PR campaign: "Dawa, proselytizing to Islam, bringing people to Islam to convert," she says.

"This is not about sensitivity. There has not been one instance that they reconsidered Ground Zero Mosque.... I don't think the American people need an education. I think that the Islamic supremacists need some sensitivity training."...

Indeed. The accommodation is always one-sided. The concessions are always from one side. Yet no one seems to notice, or care.

For fish bombs, of course. He wanted to catch a lot of fish. "Indonesia: Malaysian arrested with 7,000 detonators," from AKI, October 21 (thanks to C. Cantoni):

Jakarta, 21 Oct. (AKI/Jakarta Post) - South Sulawesi police have arrested a Malaysian national for carrying 7,000 detonators as he arrived at the Pare-pare seaport from Nunukan in East Kalimantan.

Pare-pare police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Pratama said on Thursday that the police had been questioning the suspect since arresting him on Monday.

The police, however, have not found evidence the detonators would be supplied to terrorists operating in the country.

Pratama said the Malaysian had wrapped the explosive materials in dozens of sacks he carried aboard a passenger ship connecting the town near the border with Malaysia and the South Sulawesi town.

During questioning he said he brought the explosives into Pare-pare for local fishermen, who would then use the materials to assemble fish bombs.

The police also found a fake Indonesian ID card, which identifies MN as a resident of the South Sulawesi regency of Bone. The man said he obtained the ID card from his relative in Bone.

Why a fake ID card, if he was just selling fish bombs?

And authorities do nothing, since of course they don't want to rile the Muslims. Islamic Tolerance Alert from modern, moderate Indonesia: "Islamic fundamentalists against church named after Mother Teresa," by Mathias Hariyadi for Asia News, October 22 (thanks to C. Cantoni):

Jakarta (AsiaNews) - Anti-Christian intolerance is raising its ugly head again. Islamic fundamentalist groups are increasingly trying to stop the construction of churches in areas where the Catholic Church is present. Government slowness in reacting to such phenomena has come under fire because it effectively adds more fuel to the flames of intolerance fanned by such groups (See Mathias Hariyadi, "Religious intolerance rising among Indonesian Muslims," in AsiaNews 5 October 2010)

The most recent example of this trend involves the Saint Mother Teresa Parish in Cikarang, some 60 kilometres east of Jakarta. The situation here is the more worrisome since Indonesian authorities have shown little or no desire to intervene in the matter, and this despite sharp criticism from inter-faith and human rights groups.

In recent days, some provocative banners opposing plans to build a new church in Cikarang have appeared. "The Islamic Group Ukuwah Islamiyah rejects any plan to construct a church in Bunda Teresa Cikarang," read one banner displayed in front of a local mosque in Taman Sentosa Cikarang.

Another one on Bandung Street, in Cinere, carried the same message but against another Christian place of worship slated for construction only 200 metres from a local police station.

In both cases, it is clear that the lack of action by the authorities against this kind of protests to ensure a spirit of harmony between religions has fuelled intolerance.

Opposition to the Mother Teresa Church in Cikarang started in September when someone began spreading rumours about the potential "Christianisation" of the Bekasi Regency (district), a predominantly Muslim area.

According to the rumour, a church and other buildings would be built that together would constitute the largest Christian centre in Asia.

Opponents to the Church charged that the latter would become a magnet for proselytising, thus threatening the district's Muslim majority....

In recent weeks, Bekasi Regency has seen a number of episodes of intolerance directed at Christians from different confessions. Since 2009, at least six churches have been attacked and several Protestant clergymen have been the victims of assault.

And they accuse city authorities of -- horror of horrors! -- "using invitations to Israelis to attend cultural and intellectual events to normalise relations with the Jewish state." Islamic Tolerance Alert from modern, moderate Morocco: "Morocco: Israeli guests at culture fest rile Islamists," from AKI, October 22 (thanks to C. Cantoni):

Rabat, 22 Oct. (AKI) - Israeli intellectuals, artists and scientists attending a series of conferences in the southern beach resort of Agadir have angered Islamists in Morocco, according to daily al-Tajdid.

The Islamists, many from the country's hardline Justice and Development party accuse Agadir's authorities of "seeking to normalise relations with Israel."

"They are using invitations to Israelis to attend cultural and intellectual events to normalise relations with the Jewish state," the Islamists said in a statement cited by al-Tajdid.

"Meanwhile, the occupation of Palestine continues and cruel crimes are carrried out by the Zionists," the statement continued....

Israeli scientist Naomi Tilzer's attendance at a cactus conference has especially rankled with the Islamists, al-Tajdid said without elaborating.

Last week, a group of Israeli athletes took part in an international meet and a Jewish singer gave a concert in Agadir.

And of course the statue is going to be removed. Islamic Tolerance Alert from modern, moderate Indonesia. "Buddhist Statue Draws Islamists' Ire," by Arientha Primanita, Bilhuda Haryanto and Aidi Yursal for the Jakarta Globe, October 22 (thanks to Larry):

Jakarta. Buddhists are the latest minority religious group to feel the heat, being at the center of a festering row over a large Buddha statue on the roof of a temple in the North Sumatran city of Tanjung Balai.

City council chief Surya Dharma said on Friday the governor and the foundation in charge of the temple had agreed to remove the statue after complaints from an Islamic group.

"The letter of agreement was signed in August and we agreed to relocate the statue to a more respectful location inside the temple," Surya said.

But the offending 6-meter statue continues to sit on top of the three-storey temple in the city center.

"The foundation promised us that the relocation would be conducted by a construction team from Bandung," Surya said.

The relocation was endorsed by the Religious Affairs Ministry's department dealing with Buddhist affairs.

The Forum for United Muslims, a local coalition of Muslim groups, has been agitating for the statue to be removed, holding repeated protests in May and June.

Baharuddin Berutu, of North Sumatra's Islamic Community Council, said it was frivolous to exaggerate the issue. "The mayor decided on the best solution and it was agreed to by the temple," he said.

"By not exaggerating the issue, we have been able to maintain harmony between religious communities."...

Yes, giving in to intolerant Muslim demands is virtually everyone's idea of how to maintain harmony. Just ask Juan Williams.

Islamic supremacists bring the persecution of the Ahmadis -- who are considered heretics and are viciously persecuted in Pakistan and Indonesia -- to the Sceptered Isle. More on this story. "Hardliners call for deaths of Surrey Muslims," by Jerome Taylor in The Independent, October 21 (thanks to Paul):

Islamic extremists have started openly calling for the destruction of a controversial Muslim sect in a major escalation of sectarian conflict within British Islam, an investigation by The Independent has revealed.

Members of the Ahmadiyya Community have seen a significant upsurge in threats and intimidation over the past four months, sparked by an extremist attack on two of their largest mosques in Pakistan earlier this year.

Hardline Islamists in Britain have been distributing leaflets calling for the murder of AhmadiMuslims in Kingston-upon-Thames whilst mosques have been vandalised in Newham and Crawley. Preachers in south London have also been orchestrating a boycott of Ahmadi businesses and Ofcom has had to reprimand an Islamic satellite channel for repeatedly calling the sect "Wajib-ul Qatal" - an Arabic phrase used to describe those who digress from mainstream Islam that translates as "liable for death".

Community leaders say the upsurge in animosity towards Ahmadis is directly linked to violence in Pakistan where local Taliban militants have declared war on sects that they deem to be heretical such as the Ahmadis and the Shi'a.

Although the Ahmadis have been targeted by extremists in the past, the combined attacks on two mosques in Lahore in May was the most brazen assault on their community yet, with 93 worshippers killed as they gathered for Friday prayers, including a number of Britons.

Since the mid 1980s the Ahmadi community has been headquartered in Morden, south London, after their leaders were forced to flee Pakistan, the only country in the world that legally forbids them from declaring themselves Muslims. They claim to have 70 million adherents worldwide although detractors say the number is closer to two million. An estimated 15,000 live in Britain including their spiritual leader Hadhrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad.

The Ahmadi leadership had hoped the attacks in Lahore would prompt an outpouring of sympathy among British Muslims. Instead, they say, it has emboldened a minority of extremists to openly target them in an upsurge in intimidation....

What a surprise!

How much Sharia will he bring to Tower Hamlets? How much will he be able to get away with? A follow-up on this story. Eurabia Alert: "Labour: London borough becomes 'Islamic republic,'" by Andrew Gilligan in the Telegraph, October 22 (thanks to all who sent this in):

Outside the Wellington Way polling station in Tower Hamlets yesterday, as at many other polling stations in the borough, people had to run a gauntlet of Lutfur Rahman supporters to reach the ballot box. As one Bengali woman voter went past them, we heard one of the Rahman army scolding her for her "immodest dress."

That incident is perhaps a tiny taste of the future for Britain's poorest borough now it has elected Mr Rahman as its first executive mayor, with almost total power over its £1 billion budget. At the count last night, one very senior figure in the Tower Hamlets Labour Party said: "It really is Britain's Islamic republic now."

For the last eight months - without complaint or challenge from Mr Rahman - this blog and newspaper have laid out his close links with a group of powerful local businessmen and with a Muslim supremacist body, the Islamic Forum of Europe (IFE) - which believes, in its own words, in transforming the "very infrastructure of society, its institutions, its culture, its political order and its creed... from ignorance to Islam." Mr Rahman has refused to deny these claims.

We have told how the borough's change from a conventional council leader to a mayoral system came about as a result of a campaign led and financed by these two groups - and how the IFE, in its words, wanted to "get one of our brothers" into the position.

We have described in detail, again without complaint or challenge by Mr Rahman, his deeply problematic two years as council leader until he was removed from that post six months ago, partly as a result of our investigations. After he secured the leadership with the help of the IFE, millions of pounds were channelled to front organisations of the IFE, a man with close links to the IFE was appointed as assistant chief executive of the council despite being unqualified for the position and the secular, white chief executive was forced out. Various efforts were made to "Islamicise" the borough. Extremist literature was stocked in Tower Hamlets' public libraries.

We have described, once more without complaint or challenge from Mr Rahman, how he signed up entire families of sham "paper" Labour members to win the party's mayoral nomination - acts which caused him to be sacked as the Labour candidate by the party's National Executive Committee.

Now, however, Mr Rahman has won as an independent - getting more than double the number of votes of the Labour candidate imposed in his place, Helal Abbas. As mayor, he will have far more power than he had as a council leader. And unlike a council leader, no-one can sack him, except the voters in four years' time....

Fascinating. "Israel's Conflict as Game Theory," by Yisrael Aumann, who won the Nobel Prize in Economics in 2005 for his work on analyzing conflicts using game theory. This piece was posted at Israel Defender on October 23:

Two men--let us call them Rick and Steve-- are put in a small room containing a suitcase filled with bills totaling $100,000. The owner of the suitcase announces the following:

"I will give you the money in the suitcase under one condition...you have to negotiate an agreement on how to divide it. That is the only way I will agree to give you the money."

Rick is a rational person and realizes the golden opportunity that has fallen his way. He turns to Steve with the obvious suggestion: "You take half and I'll take half, that way each of us will have $50,000."

To his surprise, Steve frowns at him and says, in a tone that leaves no room for doubt: "Look here, I don't know what your plans are for the money, but I don't intend to leave this room with less than $90,000. If you accept that, fine. If not, we can both go home without any of the money."

Rick can hardly believe his ears. "What has happened to Steve" he asks himself. "Why should he get 90% of the money and I just 10%?" He decides to try to convince Steve to accept his view. "Let's be logical," he urges him, "We are in the same situation, we both want the money. Let's divide the money equally and both of us will profit."

Steve, however, doesn't seem perturbed by his friend's logic. He listens attentively, but when Rick is finished he says, even more emphatically than before: "90-10 or nothing. That is my last offer."

Rick's face turns red with anger. He is about to punch Steve in the nose, but he steps back. He realizes that Steve is not going to relent, and that the only way he can leave the room with any money is to give in to him. He straightens his clothes, takes $10,000 from the suitcase, shakes Steve's hand and leaves the room humiliated.

This case is called 'The Blackmailer's Paradox" in game theory. The paradox is that Rick the rational is forced to behave irrationally by definition, in order to achieve maximum results in the face of the situation that has evolved. What brings about this bizarre outcome is the fact Steve is sure of himself and doesn't flinch when making his exorbitant demand. This convinces Rick that he must give in so as to make the best of the situation.
The Arab-Israeli Conflict

The relationship between Israel and the Arab countries is conducted along the lines of this paradox. At each stage of negotiation, the Arabs present impossible, unacceptable starting positions. They act sure of themselves and as if they totally believe in what they are asking for, and make it clear to Israel that there is no chance of their backing down.

Invariably, Israel agrees to their blackmailing demands because otherwise she will leave the room empty handed. The most blatant example of this is the negotiations with Syria that have been taking place with different levels of negotiators for years. The Syrians made sure that it was clear from the beginning that they would not compromise on one millimeter of the Golan Heights.

The Israeli side, eager to have a peace agreement with Syria, internalized the Syrian position so well, that the Israeli public is sure that the starting point for future negotiations with Syria has to include complete withdrawal from the Golan Heights, this despite its critical strategic importance in ensuring secure borders for Israel.

Read it all.

The first American to be charged with treason since World War II urges his coreligionists to commit mass murder to please their god. "Adam Gadahn, Al Qaeda's American mouthpiece, urges wannabe terrorists to go it alone," by James Gordon Meek for the New York Daily News, October 23:

WASHINGTON - Al Qaeda's American mouthpiece Saturday urged wannabe terrorists in a new video to act alone instead of trying to join cells attempting 9/11-type spectacular strikes.

Californian Adam Gadahn urged individual violent jihad in a 40-minute tape, which endorsed an Al Qaeda ally's call last week for sympathizers to mimic the Ft. Hood killings and attempted bombings over Detroit last Christmas and in Times Square in May.

"My brothers: know that Jihad is your duty," Gadahn ranted in Arabic. "You have an opportunity to strike the leaders of unbelief and retaliate against them on their own soil."

The message is significant because Osama Bin Laden's operational goal has long been to kill hundreds, if not thousands, in simultaneous multiple attacks on U.S. targets with cells of extremists - and Gadahn speaks for Al Qaeda....

"Here you are in the battlefield, just like the heroes before you," said Gadahn, who is under federal indictment for treason.

Wearing a shaggy beard and with an AK-47 rifle within reach, Gadahn hailed Hasan, Abdulmutallab and Times Square bomber Faisal Shahzad, who also acted alone on behalf of the Pakistani Taliban.

Let's see. How good a judge of patriotism is Keith Ellison? Well, as I first noted in December 2008, Ellison's Hajj was paid for with $13,350 from the Muslim American Society.

The Muslim American Society is the Muslim Brotherhood's chief operating arm in the U.S.: "In recent years, the U.S. Brotherhood operated under the name Muslim American Society, according to documents and interviews. One of the nation's major Islamic groups, it was incorporated in Illinois in 1993 after a contentious debate among Brotherhood members." -- Chicago Tribune, 2004, via the Muslim Brotherhood's English-language website, Ikhwanweb.

And the Brotherhood's agenda in the U.S. is subversive: the Muslim Brothers "must understand that their work in America is a kind of grand Jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and "sabotaging" its miserable house by their hands and the hands of the believers so that it is eliminated and God's religion is made victorious over all other religions." -- "An Explanatory Memorandum on the General Strategic Goal for the Brotherhood in North America," by Mohamed Akram, May 19, 1991.

So Ellison takes money from a group dedicated to destroying Western civilization from within, and then he stands in judgment of Juan Williams' patriotism. Give the Congressman credit for chutzpah, and hubris.

The ping pong king

I used to have epic games of ping pong with Peter Kreeft, back when I was his student. Now we will be jousting in a different arena:

The Edmund Campion Debate Society
at the Thomas More College of the Liberal Arts
presents
its third debate of the academic year 2010-11 between two keynote speakers:

Robert Spencer, Director, Jihad Watch
&
Prof. Peter Kreeft, of Boston College
On the topic:

Resolved: That the Only Good Muslim is a Bad Muslim.

Speaking in the affirmative will be Mr. Spencer, director of Jihad Watch, frequent guest on Fox News, ABC, BBC, and many other media, and author of nine books on Islam, including NY Times bestsellers The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades) and The Truth About Muhammad. Spencer will contend that orthodox Islam is intrinsically intolerant of other faiths and incompatible with a free society, such that when individual Muslims grow secularized and less observant, they may become less of a danger to free societies.

Speaking in the negative will be Prof. Peter Kreeft of the philosophy department at Boston College, author of more than 45 books, including the recently released Between Allah and Jesus: What Christians Can Learn from Muslims. One of Mr. Spencer's former teachers, Prof. Kreeft will argue that Catholics and Muslims belong to sister, Abrahamic faiths, and should cooperate to resist the secularization and moral decay that prevail in the postmodern, post-Christian West.

The debate is sponsored by the Edmund Campion Debate Society at Thomas More College, which has previously sponsored student debates on topics such as the morality of the 18th (Prohibition) Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and the "just war" credentials of the American Revolution. Named for the great Jesuit martyr whose forensic skills flummoxed the most articulate Anglican spokesmen in his day, Campion Society student debates follow the Oxford format--extemporaneous, without notes or time limits, conducted in the style of the British parliament. Created to help students gain a deeper appreciation of Rhetoric as a liberal art, the Campion debates supplement Thomas More College's traditional core curriculum, which extends through all four years, covers the Great Books of the Western world, and includes extensive training in Catholic philosophy and theology.

The event is free and open to the public.

Thursday, Nov. 4, 2010, 8 p.m.
Newman Humanities Room
Thomas More College of the Liberal Arts
6 Manchester Street
Merrimack, NH

Brave Sir Ahmed, the debate runner

In the first hour of today's Michael Medved Show, Ahmed Rehab of the unsavory Muslim Brotherhood-linked group Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) claimed that he had "never run away from a debate." (Thanks to Winoceros for the info.)

Ahmed, Ahmed, Ahmed. Allow me to remind you of what I reported here regarding the American Library Association panel that you succeeded in getting canceled:

Informed sources have revealed to me that Ahmed Rehab of CAIR was invited by Myra Appel of the American Library Association to join this panel with me. Rehab refused. Instead of seizing the opportunity to show me up, prove me wrong, and thus severely damage, if not destroy, my reputation, Ahmed Rehab took the coward's and thug's way out, pressuring the other panelists to drop off the panel, and the ALA to cancel the whole thing.

Can't handle the truth, eh, Ahmed? But no worries: I am right here, at director@jihadwatch.org, and ready to meet you in debate anytime, anywhere, at my own expense. If I am so clearly and obviously wrong about jihad and Islamic supremacism, it ought to be easy for you to best me, no? If you can manage to stop cowering under the bed long enough, poor lamb!

Here is a song honor of the brave Rehab, with apologies to Monty Python:

Brave Sir Ahmed ran away.
Bravely ran away, away!
When Spencer reared his ugly head,
He bravely turned his tail and fled.
Yes, brave Sir Ahmed turned about
And gallantly he chickened out.
Bravely taking to his feet
He beat a very brave retreat,
Bravest of the brave, Sir Ahmed!

I'm still ready to debate, Ahmed. Anytime, anywhere. I don't even mind if your wear your lipstick and eye shadow, but I would appreciate it if you wore a shirt.

UPDATE: This JTA report was in error. See here.

This means CAIR is officially "moderate," right?

Well, let's look at the record: CAIR operatives have repeatedly refused to denounce Hamas and Hizballah as terrorist groups. Several of its former officials have been convicted of various crimes related to jihad terror. Two of its other officials have made Islamic supremacist statements. CAIR also was involved in the Flying Imams' intimidation suit against the passengers who reported their suspicious behavior.

CAIR has attempted to intimidate the FBI and JTTF and dictate their choice of speakers, and in doing so retailed numerous false charges, defamation, distortions, and outright lies about me, SIOA, and Pamela Geller.

CAIR has a long record of duplicity and deception. Although it has received millions of dollars in donations from foreign Islamic entities, it has not registered as a foreign agent as required by the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), despite spreading Islamic supremacist propaganda within the United States.

Although it presents itself as a civil rights group, CAIR actually has numerous links to Islamic supremacist and jihad groups. CAIR founders Omar Ahmad and Niwad Awad (who still serves as CAIR's executive director) were present at a Hamas planning meeting in Philadelphia in 1993 where they and other Hamas operatives conspired to raise funds for Hamas and to promote jihad in the Middle East. CAIR has steadfastly refused to denounce Hamas and Hizballah as terrorist groups.

Several former CAIR officials have been convicted of various crimes related to jihad terror:

* Ghassan Elashi, founder of CAIR's Texas chapter, in 2009 received a 65-year prison sentence for funneling over $12 million from the Islamic charity known as the Holy Land Foundation to the jihad terrorist group Hamas, which is responsible for murdering hundreds of Israeli civilians
* Mousa Abu Marzook, a former CAIR official, was in 1995 designated by the U.S. government in 1995 as a "terrorist and Hamas leader." He now is a Hamas leader in Syria.
* Randall Royer, CAIR's former civil rights coordinator, in 2004 began serving a 20-year prison sentence for aiding al-Qaida and the Taliban against American troops in Afghanistan and recruiting for Lashkar e-Taiba, the jihadist group responsible for the 2008 Mumbai jihad massacres.
* Bassem Khafagi, CAIR's former community relations director, was arrested for involvement with the Islamic Assembly of North America, which was linked to al-Qaida. After pleading guilty to visa and bank fraud charges, Khafagi was deported.
* Rabih Haddad, a former CAIR fundraiser, was deported for his work with the Global Relief Foundation (which he co-founded), a terror-financing organization.

In 1998 Omar Ahmad, CAIR's co-founder and longtime Board Chairman, said: "Islam isn't in America to be equal to any other faith, but to become dominant. The Koran should be the highest authority in America, and Islam the only accepted religion on Earth."

After he received unwelcome publicity as a result of this statement, Ahmad denied saying it, several years after the fact. However, the original reporter, Lisa Gardiner of the Fremont Argus, stands by her story.

CAIR's spokesman Ibrahim Hooper once said: "I wouldn't want to create the impression that I wouldn't like the government of the United States to be Islamic sometime in the future."

I wonder whether Judge Solis considered all this.

"Court removes 'co-conspirator' tag from Muslim groups," from the Jewish Telegraph Agency, October 22 (thanks to Abu Lahab):

WASHINGTON (JTA) -- In a decision that could inhibit efforts to stigmatize some Islamic groups, a U.S. appeals court ordered that a lower court's reference to a group's association with Hamas be expunged.

The New Orleans-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit released its decision on an appeal from the North American Islamic Trust on Wednesday. It was first reported that day by Politico's Josh Gerstein.

Last year, Jorge Solis, a U.S. District Court judge in Dallas, ruled that NAIT and 245 other entities and individuals had their Fifth Amendment right to avoid self-incrimination violated when prosecutors listed them as unindicted co-conspirators in the federal case against the Holy Land Foundation, which had been charged with providing material assistance to Hamas.

Among the other groups vindicated by Solis were the Council on American Islamic Relations and the Islamic Society of North America.

The government acknowledged that not sealing the list was an oversight, and further said its intent was to list the groups and individuals as "joint venturers," which suggests a weaker association than "unindicted co-conspirator" and does not imply that the entity had knowledge of the alleged crimes.

NAIT, which owns a number of mosques, nonetheless appealed the decision because Solis ordered the decision sealed -- apparently in a bid to protect the reputation of those on the list. CAIR and ISNA did not join this appeal.

The three-judge appeals panel ordered Solis' decision unsealed and expunged one reference to past NAIT associations with Hamas, but left in another.

By clearing CAIR and ISNA of "unindicted co-conspirator" status, the unsealing of Solis' decision could have political consequences, as a number of conservative and pro-Israel groups had used the label to tar politicians associated with the groups....

This proceeding rewards criminality, reinforces a dhimmi posture on the part of French authorities toward the Islamic community, and hastens France's cultural and societal demise. An update on this story. "2 French police to stand trial in deaths of teens," by Pierre-Antoine Souchard for The Associated Press, October 22 (thanks to Phil):

PARIS -- Two French police officers will stand trial accused of failing to save the lives of two teens whose 2005 deaths sparked weeks of riots around the country, lawyers said Friday.

The officers will face charges of "non-assistance to a person in danger," said a lawyer for the victims' families, Jean-Pierre Mignard. The charge carries up to five years in prison and up to euro75,000 ($95,400) in fines.

Two boys, 15-year-old Bouna Traore and 17-year-old Zyed Benna, died while hiding from police in a power substation in the Paris suburb of Clichy-sous-Bois on Oct. 27, 2005 when they were electrocuted. Another boy with them suffered severe burns.

Local youths blamed the police for the deaths and exploded in anger, setting cars ablaze and smashing store windows. That tapped a deep well of frustration among largely minority youth in poor housing projects nationwide, and fiery unrest spread across the country, raging for three weeks in the nation's housing projects. Tensions between youths and police still plague such neighborhoods....

The lawyer for the police officers, Daniel Merchat, said his clients were "sacrificed on the altar of public opinion" and that there was not enough evidence of a crime....

An internal police review of the electrocutions faulted police officers for their handling of the incident. It confirmed the officers had been chasing the teens before they were killed, which the Interior Ministry and police had initially denied. The report said officers should immediately have notified French energy company EDF that the youths were hiding in the power station.

Klein Verzet has the details here about how Judge Tom Schalken tried to strong-arm the great Islamic scholar Hans Jansen, an expert witness for Wilders.

"Judges told to step down in Wilders trial," from Al-BBC, October 22:

Judges in the hate speech trial of Dutch anti-Islam MP Geert Wilders have been ordered to step down by an independent appeals panel.

The move follows a request by Mr Wilders' lawyers who said they feared the judges were biased against him.

The legal process that began in January must now begin again with new judges. The trial itself started in October.

Mr Wilders faces five charges of inciting hatred and discrimination against Muslims.

If found guilty, he faces a maximum sentence of one year in jail....

He is right, of course, but the likely response, if he isn't ignored, will be calls for him to apologize for his intolerance. "Vatican: Koran encourages 'killing Christians,'" from AKI, October 22 (thanks to Weasel Zippers):

Vatican City, 22 Oct. (AKI) - The Koran is a text that encourages Islam to impose itself with force and permits the killing of Christians, said Lebanon's Catholic Patriarch of Antioch Archbishop Raboula Beylouni, addressing a Vatican meeting of Middle East bishops.

"The Koran gives Muslims the right to judge Christians and kill them with Jihad," he said. "It gives orders to impose religion with force, with the sword. For this reason, Muslims don't recognise the freedom of religion among themselves or others."...

The Muslim scholars, according to this report, repeatedly referred to Christians and Muslims living in harmony in the Middle East for centuries. They don't seem to have mentioned, unsurprisingly, the institutionalized discrimination inherent in the dhimmi status -- Christians lived in harmony with Muslims only when they knew their place, which was decidedly second-class.

The dhimma was abolished in the Ottoman Empire by the Tanzimat reforms of 1856, under Western pressure, but the legal discrimination and harassment of dhimmitude still remains part of Islamic law -- the Islamic law that Islamic supremacists are fighting by violent and non-violent means to implement throughout the world. The great historian Bat Ye'or has documented what it was like to live under the dhimma in her essential and groundbreaking study, The Decline of Eastern Christianity Under Islam. One key element of the "contract of protection" that Christians and other dhimmis were made to live under in the Islamic state was the prohibition on speaking out against the status of the dhimmis, and saying anything critical of Islam or Muhammad.

How seriously that command is still taken, even in states where Sharia is not fully enforced today, was vividly illustrated by Robert Moynihan of the excellent and informative site Inside the Vatican. In an article entitled "Silent Cry of a Hero," Moynihan contrasts the silence of Chaldean Catholic Cardinal Emmanuel III Delly at the present Synod about Muslim persecution of Christians in Iraq with his statements over the last few years about that persecution:

One of the great mysteries of this year's Synod of Bishops is the silence of Cardinal Emmanuel III Delly of Baghdad regarding the suffering of the Catholic Church in his country. In Rome this month he has been saying that things are fine in Iraq. But this is in contrast with his own statements in the past. Why the change?

"The terrorists have destroyed the most beautiful symbol of the Chaldean Church in Iraq."--Emmanuel III Delly, Patriarch of Babylon of the Chaldeans and Primate of the Chaldean Catholic Church, an Eastern Catholic sui juris particular church of the Catholic Church, and now a Cardinal, on July 12, 2004. He was then the head of some 1.5 million Chaldean Catholics in Iraq, and was speaking after the bombing to smithereens of the architecturally splendid bishop's residence in Mosul, in northern Iraq

"Christians are killed, chased out of their homes before the very eyes of those who are supposed to be responsible for their safety." --Emmanuel III Delly, May 6, 2007 (three years later), speaking from the altar of the church of Mar Qardagh in Erbil, Kurdistan (northern Iraq), where he was celebrating Mass. He was then the head of fewer than 1 million Chaldean Catholics in Iraq [...]

"The situation in some parts of Iraq, is disastrous and tragic. Life is a Calvary: there is no peace or security... Everyone is afraid of kidnapping... Sixteen of our priests and two of our bishops have been kidnapped and released after an extremely high ransom. Some of them belong to the ranks of the new martyrs who today pray for us in heaven: the archbishop of Mosul, Faraj Rahho, Fr. Raghid Ganni, two other priests, and six more young men." --Patriarch Emmanuel III Delly, in Rome on October 14, 2008 (two years ago), in his address to the Synod of Bishops; Delly was then the head of about 750,000 Chaldean Catholics in Iraq, down from 1.5 million five years before

"The population of this country, crossed by two famous rivers, the Tigris and the Euphrates, is 24 million, all Muslims, with whom we live peacefully and freely. In Baghdad alone, the capital of Iraq, Christians have 53 chapels and churches. The Chaldeans have more than seven dioceses in the country, the Patriarch of the Chaldean Church lives today in Baghdad. Christians are good with their fellow Muslims and in Iraq there is mutual respect among them. Christian schools are highly thought of. Today people prefer to attend these schools directed by the Christian institutions, especially those run by the religious orders. Despite all the political and religious situations, and emigration, we now have nearly one million Christians in Iraq out of 25 million Muslims. We have the freedom of religion in our Churches. The Bishop or Priest, religious leader is listened to and respected by his fellow citizens. We have our own seminary, and Chaldean monks and nuns and religious." --Patriarch Delly, remarks to the Synod of Bishops at the close of the day's session Friday, October 15, 2010, five days ago; Delly is now the head of less than 500,000 Chaldean Catholics in Iraq, as more than 1 million, or two-thirds of the entire Chaldean population, has left Iraq since 2003

""Persecution, then, gives rise to a particular technique of writing, and therewith to a particular type of literature, in which the truth about crucial things is presented exclusively between the lines."" -- Leo Strauss, Persecution and the Art of Writing, 1952; Strauss maintained that a man who wishes to tell the truth in times of persecution must conceal the truth to avoid being arrested and executed; only those who can read the concealed meaning "between the lines" will understand that the words a persecuted man is speaking are not what he truly wishes to say. Strauss also theorized that persecuted men would leave "clues" in their writing so that attentive readers would realize that they were trying to get a message across which they could not speak openly....

Exactly so. And so much for these claims from the Muslim spokesmen at the Synod about Christians and Muslims living in harmony. Their claims are historical, of course, not contemporary, but there were plenty of Christians in Delly's position in previous times as well, not daring to speak out openly for fear of making a bad situation even worse.

The quality of their propaganda is no better when it comes to Islamic apostasy law. Al-Sammak says that the Islamic death penalty for apostasy was only enforced "when changing religions meant joining the enemy - it was punished as an act of treason." Now, he says, Muslims recognize that "there is no compulsion in religion, that's what the Koran says." But the Qur'an said that back when "changing religions meant joining the enemy" -- it isn't as if "no compulsion" was added to the book later. And since Islam is or ought to be a state as well as a religion, as Muslim leaders themselves will proudly tell you, it is hard to see how apostasy from Islam and treason against the Islamic state could be separated in any case.

But even more ominous are the comments from the Ayatollah Mohaghegh Damad: "You are free to choose any religion in your heart, because religion is a very, very private matter for everybody, but conversion means something else. If you are no longer a member of your original faith group is an act of unacceptable 'propaganda.'"

In other words, you can leave Islam as long as you do so secretly. If you make your conversion known, that is "unacceptable."

Did any of the Synod Fathers catch the implication of that statement?

"Muslim scholars address Synod of Bishops," by Cindy Wooden in the Catholic Herald, October 20 (thanks to David):

Muslim scholars have told the Synod of Bishops for the Middle East that Islam promotes respect for Christians and Jews and that the entire region will suffer if Christians depart.

Muhammad al-Sammak, Sunni adviser to the chief mufti of Lebanon and secretary general of Lebanon's Christian-Muslim Committee for Dialogue, and Ayatollah Seyed Mostafa Mohaghegh Damad Ahmadabadi, a Shia professor at Shahid Beheshti University in Tehran, spoke at the gathering at the invitation of the Pope.

Mr al-Sammak said Christians are not the only people suffering in the Middle East or tempted to emigrate.

"We share our sufferings. We live them in our social and political delays, in our economic and developmental regression, in our religious and confessional tension," he said.

Did he really say, "We share our sufferings"?

At the same time, he told the Synod, the "new and accidental phenomenon" of Christians being targeted because of their faith is dangerous, and not just for Christians. By attacking Christians, he said, misguided, fundamentalist, politically manipulated Muslims are tearing apart the fabric of Middle Eastern societies where Jews, Christians and Muslims lived side by side for centuries. They also are showing "Islam in a different light than the one it truly reflects" and working against one of the fundamental teachings of Islam: the teaching that differences among people are the result of God's design and part of God's will for humanity, Mr al-Sammak said.

The emigration of Christians makes it difficult for the rest of the region's Arabs to live their identity fully, he said. "They [Christians] are an integral part of the cultural, literary and scientific formation of Islamic civilisation. They are also the pioneers of modern Arabic renaissance and have safeguarded its language, the language of the holy Koran," he added.

Mr al-Sammak told the bishops he hoped the synod would be "something more than the cry of Christian suffering which echoes in this valley of pain", which is the Middle East. He said he hoped the Synod would mark the beginning of "Islamic-Christian cooperation that can protect Christians and watch over Islamic-Christian relations, so that the East - the place of divine revelation - remains worthy of raising the banner of faith, charity and peace for itself and for the entire world."

Ayatollah Mohaghegh Damad said the Koran's view of Christian-Muslim relations is one of "friendship, respect and mutual understanding," even though there have been "dark moments" in the relationship over the past 1,400 years.

But the "illegitimate acts of certain individuals and groups" should not be attributed to the religion to which they belong, he said.

In Iran and most other Muslim countries, he said, "Christians live side by side and in peace with their Muslim brothers. They enjoy all the legal rights like other citizens and perform their religious practices freely."

He said leaders of all religions must recognise that their people no longer live cut off from believers of other faiths, and religious leaders have an obligation to help their faithful understand the respect that is due to the other.

The ideal, he said, "would be the state where believers of any faith freely and without any apprehension, fear and obligation could live according to the basic principles and modes of their own customs and traditions. This right, which is universally recognised, should in fact be practised by states and communities."

Earlier Mr al-Sammak had said the death penalty for apostasy from Islam to Christianity dated from a time "when changing religions meant joining the enemy - it was punished as an act of treason". While some still think converts should be punished, he said the "golden rule" of Islam is that "there is no compulsion in religion, that's what the Koran says".

Ayatollah Mohaghegh Damad said: "You are free to choose any religion in your heart, because religion is a very, very private matter for everybody, but conversion means something else. If you are no longer a member of your original faith group is an act of unacceptable "propaganda".

"You don't want dialogue, sir. You called for punitive action against him."

Not surprising, really. Good thing we're giving Pakistan two billion dollars more, eh? "Indian report: Pakistan spies tied to Mumbai siege," by Ashok Sharma and Ravi Nessman for Associated Press, October 19:

NEW DELHI (AP) -- Pakistan's intelligence agency was deeply involved in planning the 2008 terror attack on Mumbai, going so far as to fund reconnaissance missions to the Indian city, according to a report on the interrogation of a U.S. citizen convicted in the attack.

The attack, blamed on the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba group, killed 166 people, paralyzed India's business capital and froze peace efforts between Pakistan and India.

David Headley, who pleaded guilty in U.S. federal court to laying the groundwork for the attack, told Indian interrogators in June that officers from Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency were deeply intertwined with Lashkar-e-Taiba.

The spy agency provided handlers for all the top members of the group, gave them direction and provided their funding, Headley said, according to the government report on his June interrogation. The report, marked secret, was obtained by The Associated Press late Monday.

"According to Headley, every big action of LeT is done in close coordination with ISI," the report said, using a common abbreviation for Lashkar-e-Taiba....

Temporary marriage is one way in which sexual immorality is cloaked with respectability in the Islamic world by those who scoff at the West's alleged immorality. Even the ridiculously anti-free speech, politically correct and thoroughly compromised NPR was able to run this story, so the abuse must be widespread. "Abuse Of Temporary Marriages Flourishes In Iraq." by Kelly McEvers for NPR, October 19:

The practice of temporary marriage has long been common in Shiite Muslim communities, especially in Iran. The idea is that rather than having an affair, a man who wants to be sexually involved with a woman should marry her -- for a few months, or even, hours -- so the relationship will be legitimate.

In Iraq, the practice was banned under Saddam Hussein but then flourished after the American invasion. Now, though, some men are using the system to take advantage of poor women, and many of Iraq's Shiites say the very religious institutions that sanction such marriages are to blame.

One mother of three, who is so ashamed about what happened to her she doesn't want to give her name, says her husband abandoned her when she found out he preferred men. She had no way to support the family.

A religious figure in her neighborhood promised to help. He brought her to his home, locked the door and had sex with her. He offered her $15.

For the man at least, it was a brief moment of muta'a, the Arabic word for pleasure -- and the Arabic word for temporary marriage.

The woman says the man who had sex with her worked with leading Shiite religious clerics in the Iraqi city of Najaf. It's one of the most revered places in Shiite Islam....

Nagham Kadhim runs a women's rights group in Najaf. She says muta'a marriage is a sensitive subject in the holy city. But she says abuse of the practice is common. "The muta'a marriage happens when there is an economic factor, like when the woman is poor and [does] not have money," she says through an interpreter. "And the religious institution would offer her those job opportunities, through working for a kindergarten, looking after children. And then she would receive like 100,000 dinars."

That's about a $100 a month. Once the women get the job, Kadhim says the institution will host seminars about temporary marriage to convince them the practice is acceptable.

The 'Right Way' To Do A Muta'a Marriage

Aqil al Shammari is a religious scholar who works with a handful of leading figures in Iraq's Shiite community. He explains that muta'a marriage goes all the way back to the Prophet Muhammad, who once told his traveling companions they could purchase a wife with a handful of dates if they were away from their regular wives.

Shammari says he has temporarily married at least five women, while traveling. Each time, he says, he paid them. He made sure they used birth control. He kept his agreement to be married for only a month. And he didn't do anything to sully their reputations afterward....

And there you have it: voila, no immorality, and he and others like him can maintain their posture of moral superiority over the West.

Speaking of the persecution of the Copts, on Wednesday I spoke outside the UN at a rally organized by the American Coptic Association, an organization dedicated to defending persecuted Copts in Egypt. The trouble that the Copts are experiencing in Egypt all results from the doctrines of Islamic jihad; but the world looks the other way. I spoke about how Copts are suffering because of provisions of the same Sharia of which the Ground Zero mosque imam Feisal Abdul Rauf is an open proponent -- but no one seems to be concerned about the implications of that, either.

Some photos from the rally:

Speaking in the last photo is Dr. Monir Dawoud, the president of the American Coptic Association.

The always-sharp Raymond Ibrahim surveys the recent travails of the Copts in Egypt. "Egypt Cuts a Deal: Christians Fed to Muslim 'Lions,'" by Raymond Ibrahim for Hudson New York (via RaymondIbrahim.com), October 18:

For centuries, the Copts -- Egypt's Christian, indigenous inhabitants -- have been subject to persecution, discrimination, humiliation, and over all subjugation in their homeland (etymologically, "Copt" simply means "Egyptian"). In the medieval era, such treatment was a standard aspect of sharia's dhimmi codes, first ratified under Caliph Omar in the 7^th century and based on Koran 9:29. Conversely, during the colonial era and into the mid 20^th century, as Egypt experimented with westernization and nationalism, religious discrimination was markedly subdued. Today, however, as Egypt all but spearheads the Islamist movement -- giving the world Sayyid Qutb, the Muslim Brotherhood, and Aymen Zawahiri in the process -- that is, as Egypt reverts to its medieval character, the Copts find themselves again in a period of severe persecution.

And there appears to be no one to stop it -- not even those most accountable: America's friend and ally, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and his government. Indeed, recent events indicate that the Mubarak regime is intentionally inciting Egypt's Muslims against the Copts.

Consider: on September 15, prominent Egyptian Muhammad Salim al-Awwa, ex-secretary general of the International Union for Muslim Scholars, appeared on accused the Copts of "stocking arms and ammunitions in their churches and monasteries"-- imported from Israel, no less, since "Israel is in the heart of the Coptic Cause" -- and "preparing to wage war against Muslims."

He warned that if nothing is done, the "country will burn," urging Muslims to "counteract the strength of the [Coptic] Church." Al-Awwa further charged that Egypt's security forces cannot enter the monasteries to investigate for weapons -- an amazing assertion, considering that Coptic monasteries are not only at the mercy of the state, but easy prey to Islamist/Bedouin attacks.

Needless to say, these remarks have inflamed Muslim passions (not to mention paranoia) against Egypt's Christians, who make approximately 12% of the population. To make matters worse, right on the heels of al-Awwa's "monastery-conspiracy-theory," Islamist leaders began to circulate baseless rumors that the Church and Pope Shenouda III "kidnap" Coptic women who willingly convert to Islam, and trap them in desert monasteries, "torturing" and "re-indoctrinating" them back to Christianity -- even when the women in question publicly insist they never converted to Islam....

Read it all.

Unbeknownst to O'Reilly, Rauf has already dedicated his mosque to "peace," and has already condemned "what happened here on 9/11." And so I can envision the whole scene right now: O'Reilly appears at the groundbreaking, makes a wry and self-referential speech about "Islamophobia" and Islamic moderation, and then the avuncular, genial Rauf takes the mic and thanks his good friend Bill, and talks about how we have turned a corner in this country against prejudice and intolerance. His support for Sharia will go unmentioned, of course.

I can see this coming still, but as Pamela Geller points out here, Rauf and O'Reilly will have to build a bridge or two first.

"Bill O'Reilly Will Help Build Ground Zero Mosque If Imam Rauf Condemns 9/11 and 'The Jihad' (VIDEO)," by Jeremy Taylor at TV Squad, October 19 (thanks to Pamela Geller):

Bill O'Reilly had Deepak Chopra on 'The O'Reilly Factor' (weekdays, 8PM ET) Tuesday, and during a discussion about O'Reilly's role in the Ground Zero Mosque controversy, Chopra revealed that he knew Daisy Khan, wife of Ground Zero mosque Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf.

O'Reilly had message for Chopra to deliver to Rauf through Khan:

"You tell him this. All Imam Rauf and his crew have to do is say 'we're going to dedicate this mosque -- community center -- to peace. And we are going to condemn what happened here on 9/11,"' O'Reilly stipulated. "(Then) I'll get a hammer and help them down there."

"I'm telling you, they're prepared to do that," Chopra responded.

As it stands, O'Reilly has tasked Chopra with bringing Imam Rauf onto 'The Factor,' where Rauf will presumably do his condemning, and then O'Reilly will presumably make plans to do his building....

Hmmmm. Now why might that be? "Vatican synod sees growing concern over Islam," for the Catholic News Agency, October 21 (thanks to the great Kathy Shaidle):

Vatican City, Oct 21, 2010 / 01:43 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The need for more interfaith dialogue and greater Christian-Muslim understanding has been a key theme in the month-long meeting of bishops at the Vatican to discuss the Middle East....

Participants seem increasingly concerned about the growth of extremist forms of "political Islam" in the region.

Bishops and other experts to address the synod have sought to draw a sharp distinction between "moderate" Muslims and "extremists" who support a radical and political version of Islam.

But for Christians on the ground in Muslim-run countries, such distinctions are often hard to maintain.

Jordanian Father Raymond Moussalli, Protosyncellus of the Patriarchate of Babylon of the Chaldeans said the Church in his country, Iraq, is under attack.

"There is a deliberate campaign to drive Christians out of the country."

Father Mousalli said the agenda is not limited to Iraq. There is evidence of this strategy in all parts of the region.

"There are satanic plans by fundamentalist extremist groups that are not only against Iraqi Christians in Iraq, but Christians throughout the Middle East."...

Impagliazzo said that Muslim majorities in the Middle East must begin to respect the rights of Christians and other religious minorities. In addition, Muslims must demonstrate in more concrete ways "a social and cultural consensus that expresses the will to live all together."...

Yes, everyone is waiting for them to do that, and sure they will start up right away.

Will the Islamophobia never end? "Bomb attack at Pakistani mosque kills two: police," from AFP, October 22 (thanks to JCB):

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AFP) - A bomb attack at a mosque in Pakistan's city of Peshawar killed two people and wounded 11 others as worshippers filed out after the main Friday Muslim prayers, police said.

The nature of the bomb was not immediately clear, but the northwestern city has been on the front line of attacks blamed on Taliban- and Al-Qaeda-linked militants opposed to the government's alliance with the United States....

War Is Deceit, yes, but Sherman was right about it also. "Would-be German jihadists found fighting jihad to be hell in Afghanistan," from ANI, October 19:

German intelligence sources have revealed how some Islamist radicals discovered that the path of Holy War was more difficult than they had originally thought.

The nine would-be terrorists travelled, with two women, from Germany to Afghanistan in 2009 in a bid for glory. Instead they were laid low by diarrhoea, moaned about the food, griped about their training, were forced to buy their own weapons and admitted pining for friends and family....

They had been under surveillance for months because of their attendance at the city's Taiba mosque - where the Hamburg cell of the 9/11 attackers worshipped - which was closed by authorities earlier this year....

Aged 21 to 55, one was a former drug addict, one a failed businessman with a mentally disturbed brother, one a small-time "pothead" with a criminal record for petty theft offences.

Most were jobless and in the winter of 2008, they resolved to go to Afghanistan to fight NATO forces. The reportedly split into four small groups early last year for the journey.

In all, five men and two women made it to a town in Pakistan near the border with Afghanistan. They were upset at having to pay for their food and weapons. Their Taleban masters made them write begging letters home seeking more cash....

In "Does a negative opinion of Islam amount to conclusive evidence of bigotry?," October 20, Michael Medved pierces through today's propaganda fog with some observations that take on a new significance with the Juan Williams imbroglio:

Those who warn of a raging frenzy of American "Islamophobia" base their case on the assumption that anything less than enthusiastic approval of The Religion of Peace automatically qualifies as hate-mongering and ignorance. On ABC News, Christiane Amanpour pointed to recent survey figures on public uneasiness with Islam to prove that Muslim Americans faced an unprecedented tsunami of hostility and discrimination. Actually, the Washington Post/ABC poll she repeatedly cited hardly indicated seething, volcanic anti-Muslim sentiment: less than half the public (49%) held generally "unfavorable" views of Islam, while fully 37% felt favorably disposed toward Koranic values.

Far from reflecting an alarming new surge of groundless hatred, these figures remain virtually unchanged from results of an identical Washington Post/ABC survey from four-and-a-half years ago (March, 2006), which showed 46% unfavorably inclined toward the Muslim faith.

The real question raised by all such expressions of public opinion should confront the nearly 40% of Americans who say they feel positively impressed by Islam and its influence.

What aspect of Muslim teaching and achievement most inspires such respondents? The daily reports of suicidal violence from every corner of the globe, with fellow-Muslims (invariably) as the primary victims? Or the well-known association of Islamic piety with open-hearted respect for the rights of women, homosexuals and infidels? Or is it the sterling record of economic progress, cutting age technology and social justice achieved by precisely those societies (like Saudi Arabia, Iran or Afghanistan) that take Shariah law most seriously? Or would Islam's American admirers cite the record of Muslim charities in the U.S., the most prominent of which (remember the Holy Land Foundation?) have been shut down by the government for their lavish support of murderous terrorist groups like Hamas?

Quite naturally, the people who look favorably on Islam feel unconcerned over its ancient teachings or loathsome perversions in benighted corners of the globe, and focus instead on the law-abiding, patriotic, family-loving Muslims who have established benign communities throughout the United States. But even the decent people who reside in those communities rightly worry that their impressionable off-spring may become too religious, too zealous in their fervent commitment to The Prophet and his teachings.

There is no real parallel to this fear in Christian or Jewish homes. Christian parents may feel embarrassed by their religiously reborn children suddenly studying the Gospels obsessively, or witnessing obnoxiously to family or friends, but they needn't worry about wayward kids blowing up themselves or others in the name of Jesus. Jewish mothers and fathers may hate the scraggly beards and black hats adopted by a suddenly Orthodox generation, or resent the refusal to eat non-kosher food at home, but even the most fanatical of their kids feel scant temptation to travel to remote mountain hideouts as part of an international terror conspiracy.

By contrast, the secularized, prosperous parents of the Christmas Day Underwear Bomber (Umar Farouk Abdulmuttalab), or the would-be Times Square Bomber (Feisel Shahzad), or the Fort Hood Shooter (Nidal Hassan), or European-educated engineering graduate Muhammad Atta (and his eighteen 9/11 accomplices) can testify what happens when even products of sophisticated, privileged families become too deeply entangled in Muslim fundamentalism....

This is what they do to anti-jihadists: they compile a dossier of lies, distortions, half-truths and spurious refutations of their work, circulate it to overworked, careless, and ideologically compromised mainstream media reporters, and use it to pressure groups not to invite anti-jihadists to speak or refer to their work. Their campaign of intimidation and marginalization is in line with the Organization of the Islamic Conference's agenda to choke off the freedom of speech regarding Islam in the West. Free Speech Death Watch Alert: "BREAKING: Conference facility caves to pressure from Islamic groups, bans Mark Steyn from speaking," by Andrew Lawton at Strictly Right, October 21:

Strictly Right sent out a press release earlier today to Canadian media with some rather startling news about the upcoming Mark Steyn speech in London, Ontario that we're putting together. Mark Steyn will be speaking on November 1st in a speech entitled "Head for the Hills: Why everything in your world is doomed." Apparently, London-area Muslims didn't like that idea too much.

Due to capacity constraints at the University of Western Ontario, the original venue for the event, we had booked the London Convention Centre (LCC,) London's premiere conference facility. On Tuesday, I received a phone call from the LCC telling us that our venue had been pulled, and that Mark Steyn would not be permitted to speak there. The reason offered by the LCC was that they had received pressure from local Islamic groups, and they didn't want to alienate their Muslim clients. It's interesting to note that the LCC is owned by the City of London, and is therefore a government operation.

It's interesting that a government-run business decided that freedom of speech was no longer a concept to be upheld, and even more interesting is the fact that the Muslim community in London is applying pressure to a company to not entertain a speaker when only a day earlier they made a statement to the press saying that they didn't care about Steyn speaking and wouldn't do anything to counter it, (except "charity work.")...

Steyn's speech will, however, be going on. See here.

Absurd Britannia Alert, as Britain gallops toward Sharia: "Cafe owner ordered to remove extractor fan because neighbour claimed 'smell of frying bacon offends Muslims,'" from the Daily Mail, October 21 (thanks to all who sent this in):

A hard-working cafe owner has been ordered to tear down an extractor fan - because the smell of her frying bacon 'offends' Muslims.

Planning bosses acted against Beverley Akciecek, 49, after being told her next-door neighbour's Muslim friends had felt 'physically sick' due to the 'foul odour'.

Councillors at Stockport Council in Greater Manchester say the smell from the fan is 'unacceptable on the grounds of residential amenity'.

The fan has been in Beverley's Snack Shack takeaway in the Shaw Heath area of the town for the past three years.

Mrs Akciecek and her husband Cetin, 50, - himself a Turkish Muslim - work more than 50 hours a week buying, preparing and cooking hot and cold sandwiches and hot-pots for their customers.

Today mother-of-seven Mrs Akciecek said she plans to appeal against the decision.

She said: 'I just think it's crazy. Cetin's friends actually visit the shop, they're regular visitors, they're Muslim people, they come in a couple of times a week.

'I have Muslim people come in for cheese toasties. Cetin cooks the food himself, he cooks the bacon.

'When we go to a cafe my husband wouldn't be offended by the smell of bacon. His friends are not offended by it, we have three visitors who come here for a sandwich, friends of my husband, and the smell doesn't offend them at all.

'My brother-in-law doesn't flinch if he comes and we've just taken out three trays of bacon.

'I'm going to find a local councillor. I'm waiting for the letter so I can appeal.'...

Good luck.

Misunderstanders of Islam with deep pockets funding the Taliban. "Taliban: 'Britain is our greatest source of funding,"' by Praveen Swami and Dean Nelson in the Telegraph, October 21:

The Taliban has claimed that Britain is its greatest source of revenue and the group is funded by donations in mosques and Muslim community centres around the country

"We are not like a government, we depend on individuals," a Taliban commander told Sky News. "We get donations from our Muslim brothers in Britain for jihad and they help us. It is the duty of all Muslims to pay towards fighting a jihad. And this is how we get our money and buy our weapons and carry on fighting."

The commander added that an attack on Britain and Europe could happen "at any time"....

It turns out that NPR fired Williams after CAIR sent out a national press release in which CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad said this about Williams' statements: "Such irresponsible and inflammatory comments would not be tolerated if they targeted any other racial, ethnic or religious minority, and they should not pass without action by NPR."

And NPR hurried to appease this thuggish Hamas-linked group.

Everyone's favorite stomach-stapled beekeeper, Ibrahim "Honest Ibe" Hooper of CAIR, was just on Fox, defending his takedown of Williams (while denying that CAIR demanded that he be fired), playing the victim card and hectoring Megyn Kelly, demanding to know if she agreed with Williams. (Kelly stood her ground magnificently.) In the course of things he said, "Everyone is accountable for what they say."

Is that so, Ibe? So I guess you're accountable for saying this, eh? "I wouldn't want to create the impression that I wouldn't like the government of the United States to be Islamic sometime in the future."

Anyway, it's bad enough that NPR would with such alacrity do the bidding of a group like CAIR, but it's even worse that Williams' rather commonplace remarks are being represented as some terrible "demonizing" of all Muslims. He said that he gets nervous on a plane when he sees people in Muslim garb. Even though the 9/11 hijackers and others did not wear Muslim garb, there are many other Islamic jihadists who have worn it, and all of the jihadists have explained and justified their actions by reference to Islamic texts and teachings. No Islamic sect or school of jurisprudence worldwide, meanwhile, has renounced the jihad against unbelievers or the imperative to impose Sharia upon them.

Are there Muslims who are not waging jihad against unbelievers? Of course. But the unwillingness of the Islamic community in the U.S. and Europe to back up its protestations of condemnation of terror with real action to root out the jihad ideology from its ranks makes it impossible to determine whether or not any given Muslim is an Islamic supremacist, or a jihadist.

Is this to "demonize" all Muslims? Of course not. But if Honest Ibe Hooper and his ilk are really not wanting Muslims to be demonized, instead of inviting that "demonization" so they can use it to claim victim status and wring more concessions out of a compliant politically correct media establishment, they could have reacted to Juan Williams' by recognizing that if anyone gets nervous when seeing people in Muslim garb, it is the fault of the Muslims who have committed acts of violence in the name of Islam. And they could begin honest, genuine efforts to root out the jihad doctrine and Islamic supremacism from their communities.

But they don't. Now, why is that?

"NPR Fires Analyst Over Comments on Muslims," by Brian Stelter for the New York Times, October 20 (thanks to all who sent this in):

NPR has terminated its contract with Juan Williams, one of its senior news analysts, after he made comments about Muslims on the Fox News Channel....

The move came after Mr. Williams, who is also a Fox News political analyst, appeared on the "The O'Reilly Factor" on Monday. On the show, the host, Bill O'Reilly, asked him to respond to the notion that the United States was facing a "Muslim dilemma." Mr. O'Reilly said, "The cold truth is that in the world today jihad, aided and abetted by some Muslim nations, is the biggest threat on the planet."

Mr. Williams said he concurred with Mr. O'Reilly.

He continued: "I mean, look, Bill, I'm not a bigot. You know the kind of books I've written about the civil rights movement in this country. But when I get on the plane, I got to tell you, if I see people who are in Muslim garb and I think, you know, they are identifying themselves first and foremost as Muslims, I get worried. I get nervous."

Mr. Williams also made reference to the Pakistani immigrant who pleaded guilty this month to trying to plant a car bomb in Times Square. "He said the war with Muslims, America's war is just beginning, first drop of blood. I don't think there's any way to get away from these facts," Mr. Williams said.

NPR said in its statement that the remarks "were inconsistent with our editorial standards and practices, and undermined his credibility as a news analyst with NPR."...

Zachary Chesser explained to Fox News:

"It's not a threat, but it really is a likely outcome" ... "They're going to be basically on a list in the back of the minds of a large number of Muslims. It's just the reality."...

Gee, what an Islamophobe! An update on this story. "US man guilty of urging attack on South Park writers," from BBC News, October 20:

A US man has pleaded guilty to supporting a Somali Islamist militant group and encouraging attacks on the writers of cartoon show South Park.

Prosecutors said Zachary Adam Chesser, 20, was outraged by the cartoon's perceived mockery of the prophet Muhammad.

Whose prophet?

Chesser sought twice to travel to Somalia to join al-Shabab, which the US designates as a terrorist group.

And oh, by the way here in the fourth paragraph, he's a convert to Islam:

The American Muslim convert faces up to 30 years in prison.

'Solicitation to murder'

Prosecutors said Chesser of Fairfax County in the state of Virginia also posted to an Islamist militant website the personal contact information of people who had joined an "Everybody Draw Muhammad Day" Facebook group.

"Zachary Chesser seriously endangered the lives of innocent people who will remain at risk for many years to come," US Attorney Neil MacBride said in a statement.

"His solicitation of extremists to murder US citizens also caused people throughout the country to fear speaking out - even in jest - lest they also be labelled as enemies who deserved to be killed."

US investigators said Chesser was a follower of radical US-born cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, who is believed to be in Yemen with al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.

Prosecutors said Chesser posted messages online from Mr al-Awlaki in which he called for violent attacks, and posted links to internet forums giving advice on how to plan them.

In addition, Chesser pleaded guilty to urging people to plant suspicious packages in public places in order to "densensitise" police so a real bomb would escape notice....

"An attack authorities say may have been carried out by an extortion gang with links to Muslim militants." Well, extortion of the enemy is not un-Islamic. The jizya tax prescribed in Qur'an 9:29 is essentially that, given the alternatives of abandoning one's beliefs for Islam or facing war. Nothing says "subjugation" like making people fund their own oppression, and that's what "protection" rackets do.

"Bomb on bus in Philippines kills 10, wounds 9," by Teresa Cerojano for the Associated Press, October 21:

MANILA, Philippines - A bomb ripped through a passenger bus Thursday in the southern Philippines, killing at least 10 people and wounding nine in an attack authorities say may have been carried out by an extortion gang with links to Muslim militants.

The bus was traveling with more than 50 passengers when the powerful blast shook the rear of the vehicle from the overhead compartment, police Chief Superintendent Gil Meneses said. The force of the explosion was so strong it decapitated two of the victims, he said.

Ten people, including the bus conductor, died in the blast in Matalam township in North Cotabato province, said police spokeswoman Senior Inspector Joyce Birrey.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the blast. The southern Philippines is home to kidnappers, extortion gangs and a decades-old Muslim insurgency.

President Benigno Aquino III condemned the bombing and ordered police to step up security at possible terrorist targets.

Police and army units interviewed survivors and examined the twisted metal and other debris to determine the type of explosive, Meneses said. An ordnance team said it appeared to be an 81mm mortar round that was remotely detonated using cellular phones.

The driver told police three men who boarded the bus along the highway got off minutes before the blast. Their sketches were being prepared from witnesses' descriptions, Birrey said.

Military spokesman Lt. Col. Randolph Cabangbang said authorities suspect the Al-Khobar extortion gang in the attack, saying the bus company involved in the bombing had been targeted for extortion in the past.

Al-Khobar is the most notorious of the region's extortion gangs, and authorities say it is made up of criminals and former Muslim rebels who have been blamed for attacking businesses that refuse to pay their ransom demands. The group is on a U.S. list of terrorist organizations.

In April last year, two homemade bombs exploded hours apart on one bus, wounding the conductor and five passengers. A bomb exploded at a Cotabato city bus terminal in February the same year, wounding two people.

Troops last year captured a suspected Al-Khobar leader, Mokasid Dilna, who allegedly trained with militants in Afghanistan and Pakistan in the 1990s. Military officials said he provided refuge to foreign militants and acted as a link with two local Muslim groups -- the violent Abu Sayyaf and the larger Moro Islamic Liberation Front, which has been engaged in peace talks with the government.

Mohagher Iqbal, the chief negotiator for the Moro rebels, said his group had no involvement in Thursday's bombing.

"We have forces there, but not along the highway," he told The Associated Press. "We will never get involved in matters like that."

Honor hit man?

Hired hit men for honor. "Brothers arrested over string of recent 'honor killings' in Lod: Police suspect the two were hired hit men in a string of so-called 'honor killings,' offering their services to locals who wanted to attack their family members," by Yaniv Kubovich and Noah Kosharek in Haaretz, October 21 (thanks to all who sent this in):

Two brothers from Ramle, Ramadan and Khaled Musrati, were arrested yesterday on suspicion of involvement in four recent murders in the city of Lod.

Police suspect the two were hired hit men in a string of so-called "honor killings," offering their services to locals who wanted to attack their family members. The investigation has reportedly linked them to the killings of Jawdat Jasus, Amal Halili, Sami Hijazi and Abir Abu Ktifan.

Police now believe that the four victims were actually two couples, with Jawdat Jasus linked to Amal Khalili, and Sami Hijazi, married with two children, linked to divorced Abir Abu Ktifan.

The two brothers are suspected of various offenses, including conspiring to kill Jawdat Jasus, illegal possession of firearms and possession of drugs not for personal consumption. A police source told Haaretz the connection to the three other killings is still being investigated....

Three of Abu Ktifan's relatives - her husband Ghazi, his brother Abdelmati and his nephew Hassan - were also arrested. They are suspected of involvement in the murder of both alleged lovers.

All three of them were remanded until Sunday yesterday. A police officer told the court the three deny any involvement in the murders, but "confirm certain things that are at the heart of the matter, and which have been detailed for the court."...

As this story notes, he stated in his perfunctory apology that "Osama bin Laden is a bad man. I hate terrorism and will have nothing to do with this again."

That is what he said to try and get a reduced sentence (which, unfortunately, he did), after trying to kill -- and fully believing at the time that he was in the process of killing -- up to 2000 people inside a 60-story glass skyscraper, not to mention everyone in the path of the blast and shrapnel. And of course, that statement came after he got caught. That tends to make people really, really sorry.

"Dallas bomber's message to 'beloved' bin Laden," by Rebecca Lopez for WFAA, October 20:

DALLAS -- Hosam Smadi, who was convicted of attempting to blow up a Dallas skyscraper, said during his trial that Osama bin Laden is a "bad man."

But a video released on Wednesday -- after his sentencing -- tells a different story.

Smadi taped a message in Arabic to Osama bin Laden in which he praises the the world's best-known terrorist and proclaims his loyalty. At one point, he glorifies the September 11 attacks.

The video was made with the help of undercover FBI agents.

A translation of the tape was provided by the U.S. Attorney's office. Smadi says:

"May peace, Allah's mercy and blessing be upon you."

The 20-year-old Smadi was praising Bin Laden and eagerly trying to please him.

"Allah has facilitated it for me to join your organization from inside the enemy's midst."

Smadi was living in Ellis County and working at a restaurant when he came to the attention of FBI agents through an Islamic extremist forum. In the tape, Smadi tells bin Laden:

"You are more beloved to me than my father and mother."

On Tuesday, Smadi was sentenced to 24 years in prison for trying to blow up the Fountain Place office tower last year, hoping to become infamous -- like the 9/11 terrorists.

"The date of the blessed strikes, September 11, was a celebration for us. So let us make another date become a celebration for us that history will mark for us."

On the tape, Smadi goes on to bless bin Laden for what he calls "good deeds in the name of Allah."

The U.S. Attorney's office also released e-mails and hundreds of other documents related to this case. Some of those e-mails were sent to undercover agents as Smadi planned his attack.

Often, such claims reach a willing audience: those who want to believe with all their might that the case at hand has nothing to do with Islam. Fixating on mental illness as a possible cause allows courts and the media to sidestep Islamic texts' open exhortations to despise, attack, and kill unbelievers. And undoubtedly, at least some jihadists realize that their mindset is so incomprehensible to uninitiated Western readers and listeners that it may well be worth a try to offer what might seem like a plausible excuse to them. Indeed, many sympathizers end up doing just that: making excuses for acts of jihad, as also seen in the international cases mentioned below.

Here are several cases where the "mental illness" card has been played:

Naveed Haq, who went on a shooting rampage at the Jewish Federation in Seattle, saying he was a "soldier of Islam," and telling the 911 dispatcher he was tired of the Muslim point of view being ignored.

Aafia Siddiqui, though she later made a U-turn, perhaps when it appeared not to be working to her advantage.

Nidal Malik Hasan, who was said early on to be possibly suffering from a hitherto-undiscovered form of second-hand Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Another mental evaluation is pending.

Internationally, there is Murat Altun, whom Turkish authorities immediately insisted was mentally unstable after he stabbed and decapitated Bishop Luigi Padovese, the Catholic apostolic vicar for Anatolia, while shouting "Allahu Akbar!" and "I killed the great Satan!"

And in Yemen, there was the case of Abdul Aziz Yahya al-Abdi, who was let off with a fine as "mentally ill" after murdering a Jewish man and explaining: "I killed the Jew ... I have told them in a letter that they should either convert to Islam or leave Yemen, or I would kill them," and that he had killed "for the sake of Allah."

Now, Hossam Smadi joins these ranks of dubious distinction. More on this story. "Dallas bombing plotter Hosam Smadi sentenced to 24 years in prison," by Jason Trahan for the Dallas Morning News, October 19:

A federal judge today sentenced a Jordanian national who tried to blow up a downtown Dallas skyscraper to 24 years in prison, mostly rejecting defense claims that he was mentally ill and unduly influenced by law enforcement agents.

Hosam "Sam" Smadi faced up to 30 years in prison under a plea agreement accepted by U.S. District Judge Barbara Lynn. He will be deported to Jordan once he serves his time.

"I can't for the life of me figure out what moved you in this direction," the judge said in delivering the sentence.

"You got some encouragement along the way," she added, referring to FBI agents' interactions with Smadi, "but your actions were yours."

Before the sentence was delivered, Smadi was apologetic, addressing the judge in halting English.

"I'm very sorry for my actions." said Smadi, dressed in an orange prison jumpsuit with his hair grown out to shoulder length. "I could not live with myself if I hurt anybody."

The ruling came on the second day of Smadi's sentencing hearing in federal district court. He was arrested on Sept. 24, 2009, by FBI agents who said he dialed a cellphone that he thought would trigger a bomb in the parking garage under the 60-story Fountain Place on Ross Avenue. [...]

"I want you to think about those people in that building whose lives you were prepared to end," she said, referring to the approximately 2,000 people working at Fountain Place on the day he was arrested.

Lynn heard testimony from experts on both sides, including a psychiatrist who reiterated his belief that Smadi was faking symptoms of mental illness, but she ultimately rejected defense claims that he was inapproriately influenced by FBI agents and suffered from schizophrenia.

"I do believe you were vulnerable to influence," she said. "That is not a criticism of law enforcement. I deeply appreciate what law enforcement did."

Defense attorney Peter Fleury said he was disappointed by the sentence but believed the process was fair. He voiced doubts about Smadi's ability to carry out a terror attack.

"I don't think real terrorists would have bonded with him like these agents were able to bond with him," he said.

Fleury said his client has renounced terrorism and is remorseful for his actions.

The psychiatrist who testified today, Raymond Patterson, said Smadi admitted using a prescription drug to get high while in federal custody and claimed to be haunted by auditory hallucinations - including one in which a donkey spoke to him.

But the doctor said he believes that Smadi is not schizophrenic and is faking his symptoms.

"People who have legitimate psychotic symptoms, they hurt," Patterson said. "When he's talking about these things, he's not in distress about it."

As for the donkey, Patterson said he didn't know Smadi could identify an animal by species just from the sound of its voice.

"I don't know how he knows it's a donkey if he can't see it's a donkey," the psychiatrist said.

Patterson, who examined Smadi in behalf of the government, was testifying for the second day. On Monday, he said Smadi functioned well socially, was able to make friends and even married - although authorities say his marriage was just to preserve his immigration status.

He said Smadi's claims of hallucinations were malarkey - that Smadi "makes them up so they will influence examiners that he's mentally ill."

This morning, Patterson told of an appointment he had with Smadi just last month.

He said Smadi was laughing inappropriately and appeared to be intoxicated. When the doctor asked him if he was high, Smadi acknowledged that he was, according to Patterson.

He said Smadi told him that he had persuaded prison doctors to give him 60 doses of buspirone, a drug used to treat anxiety - and that he'd crushed up some of the pills and snorted them.

"This is unusual for anyone in a prison setting to be given a supply of drugs that you can abuse," Patterson testified. He said he alerted prison officials, who immediately discontinued Smadi's access to the prescription drugs.

Why did Smadi get such potentially dangerous special treatment?

A defense psychiatrist, Dr. Xavier Amador, testified Monday that Smadi was schizophrenic. He said Smadi had out-of-body experiences and visions of "jinns", or Arabic spirits, as well as bouts of amnesia, which were made worse by his heavy drug use while living in Italy, Texas, before his arrest in the bombing plot.

The Campbell's Soup/ISNA story keeps getting media attention, and now it has come to light that Campbell's is doing more with ISNA than just getting halal certification: it is partnering with the Hamas-linked group to sponsor an Islamic conference in Montreal.

On the 25th of September 2010, there was in Montreal what "they" have sold as the "Biggest Islamic Conference in Montreal History." Here is an English translation, via Pamela Geller, of "Campbell's Soup se joint à ISNA pour commanditer la conférence islamique de Montréal," from Point de Bascule, September 25:

Campbell's Soup is joining the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) in sponsoring the Islamic Conference in Montreal. Campbell's is lending all of its prestige and reputation to legitimize a conference permeated by the Muslim Brotherhood in association with ISNA, an organization that is nevertheless still linked to the financing of terrorist activities in the United States.

ISNA is on the list of organizations designated unindicted co-conspirators by the U.S. government. Jamal Badawi, one of the featured speakers of the conference, is also designated an unindicted co-conspirator. He appears on the documents the U.S. government as "individuals who have participated in fundraisers for the Holy Land Foundation."...

FDI/SIOA today is calling upon Campbells Corporate to instruct all departments and personnel to undergo mandatory sensitivity training regarding unbelievers, non-Muslims, moderates, Christians, Jews, Hindus, Sikhs, Zoroastrians, et al, and all victims of jihad.

We call upon Campbells to

1. Investigate ISNA;

2. Offer the infidels, kuffar, non-believers, and victims of jihad a formal written apology;

3. Review the documentation and evidence entered into the largest terrorist funding trial in human history, the Holy Land Foundation trial;

4. Participate in FDI's sensitivity and diversity training.

Pamela has more details here.

And if you had questioned the wisdom of inviting him, you would be an "Islamophobe." I've often pointed out that the U.S. Government behaves as if any Muslim who is not actively engaged in lighting a fuse is ipso facto a "moderate." This demonstrates the disastrous short-sightedness of their analysis. "EXCLUSIVE: Al Qaeda Leader Dined at the Pentagon Just Months After 9/11," by Catherine Herridge for FoxNews.com, October 20 (thanks to Anne Crockett):

Anwar Al-Awlaki may be the first American on the CIA's kill or capture list, but he was also a lunch guest of military brass at the Pentagon within months of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, Fox News has learned.

Documents exclusively obtained by Fox News, including an FBI interview conducted after the Fort Hood shooting in November 2009, state that Awlaki was taken to the Pentagon as part of the military's outreach to the Muslim community in the immediate aftermath of the attacks.

Click here to read a portion of the documents.

The incident was flagged by a current Defense Department employee who came forward and told investigators she helped arrange the meeting after she saw Awlaki speak in Alexandria, Va.

The employee "attended this talk and while she arrived late she recalls being impressed by this imam. He condemned Al Qaeda and the terrorist attacks. During his talk he was 'harassed' by members of the audience and suffered it well," reads one document.

According to the documents, obtained as part of an ongoing investigation by the specials unit "Fox News Reporting," there was a push within the Defense Department to reach out to the Muslim community.

"At that period in time, the secretary of the Army (redacted) was eager to have a presentation from a moderate Muslim."

In addition, Awlaki "was considered to be an 'up and coming' member of the Islamic community. After her vetting, Aulaqi (Awlaki) was invited to and attended a luncheon at the Pentagon in the secretary of the Army's Office of Government Counsel."

Awlaki, a Yemeni-American who was born in Las Cruces, N.M., was interviewed at least four times by the FBI in the first week after the attacks because of his ties to the three hijackers Nawaf al-Hazmi, Khalid al-Mihdhar and Hani Hanjour. The three hijackers were all onboard Flight 77 that slammed into the Pentagon.

Awlaki is now believed to be hiding in Yemen after he was linked to the alleged Ft. Hood shooter Major Nidal Malik Hasan, who e-mailed Awlaki prior to the attack.

Sources told Fox News that Awlaki, who is a former Muslim chaplain at George Washington University, met with the Christmas Day bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab in Yemen and was the middle-man between the young Nigerian and the bombmaker. Awlaki was also said to inspire would-be Times Square bomber Faisal Shahzad.

Apparently, none of the FBI's information about Awlaki was shared with the Pentagon. ...

Common sense. "If Islam were treated equally, Mohammed would be fair game," by Lorne Gunter in the National Post, October 20 (thanks to Twostellas):

During the controversy over cartoons of Mohammed that appeared in a Danish newspaper in 2005, I received an email from a reader insisting, "This is about treating Islam equally! I am a Muslim and all we want is for our religion to be treated with the same respect as other religions."

The problem with his demand is that the cartoonists in question did treat Islam in the same way Western culture treats Christianity, Judaism and other faiths. The media typically reserves no special reverence or respect for the major Western religions (including their Prophets). And so if Islam were treated "equally," then Mohammed would be fair game, too.

How many times in the past decades can you remember lib-left media commentators disparaging the way Christian fundamentalists propped up George Bush -- typically in language that implied Christian voters were less intelligent than most? Read the Toronto Star on any day and there will be two or three references to Christians and the Harper government that drip with sneering disdain for the views and brains of both.

Of course there are also Andres Serrano's Piss Christ photograph and Chris Ofili's Holy Virgin Mary, made in part out of dung, among other artworks that have challenged Western notions of faith and perception.

Few Western media outlets would censor cartoon depictions of Christ. Danish publishers merely wanted the same lack of courtesy extended to Islam and its prophet....

If there is any justice in the Netherlands, or enough backbone to defend Western civilization, Mr. Wilders will go free.

Islamic law provides for buying one's way out of killing through diyyah, or blood money, favoring the rich and powerful at the expense of the poor. But Sharia prescribes death for homosexuality (on Muhammad's orders), often in cruelly imaginative ways, at least for those who get caught:

"Gay people should be thrown head first off high buildings and if not killed on hitting the ground, they should be then stoned to death." - Minhaj al-Muslim (The Way of the Muslim)

This case again demonstrates one of the many absurdities and injustices of Sharia law. By contrast, justice was done for the servant in Britain in a way that would never have been possible in Saudi Arabia. An update on this story. "Saudi prince found guilty of murdering servant in hotel," from BBC News, October 19:

A Saudi prince has been found guilty of murdering his servant at a hotel in central London.

Bandera Abdulaziz, 32, was found beaten and strangled in the Landmark Hotel, Marylebone, on 15 February 2010.

The Old Bailey was told the assault by Saud Abdulaziz bin Nasser al Saud had a "sexual element" and he had attacked Mr Abdulaziz many times before.

Al Saud, 34, had admitted manslaughter but denied murdering Mr Abdulaziz. He will be sentenced on Wednesday. [...]

Jurors heard that Mr Abdulaziz was left so worn down and injured - having suffered a "cauliflower" ear and a swollen eye from previous assaults - that he let Al Saud kill him without a fight.

Al Saud then spent hours on the phone to a contact in Saudi Arabia trying to work out how to cover up what he had done. [...]

At the BBC link above, there is disturbing video of Al Saud beating Abdulaziz in an elevator.

In court the prince's lawyers tried to cover up evidence of Al Saud's homosexuality.

If he ever returns to his home country he faces the possibility of execution - not because of the murder, but because being gay is a capital offence in Saudi Arabia.

The verdict means a long jail term for the prince, who is a member of one of the world's richest and most powerful dynasties.

Al Saud, who lived in the Saudi capital of Riyadh, told police his father was a nephew of the Saudi king and his mother was a daughter of the monarch.

Outside court, Det Ch Insp John McFarlane said: "The defendant used his position of power, money and authority over his victim Bandar to abuse him over an extended period of time."

"This verdict clearly shows no-one, regardless of their position, is above the law," he added.

Unlike Saudi Arabia.

Last fall, Hossam Smadi drove away from a gleaming skyscraper in the heart of Dallas believing he was going to kill thousands of people in it. The bomb was inert, and authorities caught him red-handed. He had been under surveillance for months for an expressed desire to "commit violent jihad."

Indeed, this is what he said:

"I truly say it that my dream is to be among God's soldiers, first for the support of Islam and my beloved Sheik Usama, may God give him long life. I don't know what is in me, but I love him as I love my father. I don't want to add to this.

Now, my brother, the point is that thousands of Muslims have been killed at the hand of Jews -- the dogs -- and the silent disloyal backsliders. Those are the Arab kings and, God willing, their end will be the hanging rope and hell. [...]

In the name of God ["bismillah..." - ed], the Gracious and Merciful, this is my vow to you, my brother, that I am ready. And if you were a lover of Jihad as I am, then, by God, I am ready for the Jihadi life. What you will see of me will please you and your commander.

The reign is only for the living and powerful God. I ask Him that he would be our Caliph and Ruler."

"My brother in God, God and His angels are with us. With the permission of the Almighty Lord of the Worlds, we will have victory and allies from God Almighty. He is the powerful and helpful. Victory is coming, is coming to defeat the Romans [i.e., Christians] and for the destruction of the Jews. God is Most Great. We shall attack them in their very homes. Brother, by God, we shall attack them in a manner that hurts, an attack that shakes the world. Oh Brother, let the backsliders know that the time for their destruction has come."

But the judge, not unlike our potty-mouthed friend at the New York Times, can't put two and two together. "Would-be Dallas skyscraper bomber gets 24 years," by Craig Civale for WFAA, October 19:

DALLAS -- Hosam Smadi said he was "ashamed" and "sorry" for trying to blow up a Dallas skyscraper.

Those words may have helped him get a reduced sentence -- 24 years in prison for the crime.

The judge cut him a break, according to a plea agreement reached by both sides. Smadi could have been sentenced to a maximum of 30 years in prison.

Imagine downtown Dallas, had this plan gone through. And he got a break.

There was no response and no reaction from the 20-year-old Jordanian as he learned his fate on Tuesday.

The courtroom drama ended the more than year-long investigation into a plot to blow up the Fountain Place office tower in downtown Dallas.

"He pled guilty; he's remorseful for his conduct; he knows he did something wrong. That he'll have to live with," said defense attorney Peter Fleury.

The remorse was seen in Smadi's own brief statement to the judge in which he renounced terrorism.

"I am ashamed for what I did; I am sorry for my actions," Smadi said, adding: "Osama bin Laden is a bad man. I hate terrorism and will have nothing to do with this again."

But prosecutors argued that Smadi's after-the-fact apologies were a stark contrast to the countless number of e-mail messages and other communications made to undercover FBI agents, including a video investigators say Smadi made for bin Laden prior to the bomb being placed that celebrated the massacre of thousands of innocent people.

"We caught a person who was going to commit the criminal act of murder to advance an ideology," said FBI Special Agent in Charge Robert Casey. "He was given several chances to withdraw from this plan, and he chose not to."

Both sides argued about Smadi's mental health. The defendant's lawyers said he was addicted to drugs and delusional.

While Judge Barbara Lynn sympathized with Smadi's tough upbringing, she summed up her feelings this way: "I can't for the life of me figure out what moved you in this direction."

Once Smadi serves his time, he will be deported back to Jordan. Prosecutors said he was not in the United States legally.

Smadi can get up to 56 days a year credited as time served for good behavior. He also gets to count the year he has already served.

That means Hosam Smadi could potentially be freed in 19 years.

No one at Brown was able to counter this nonsense, but in reality it is easy to find Muslim sources proclaiming that Islam is a total way of life and that Islam "must be a complete and total way of living." But Nancy Khalek doesn't like the implications of that, and so she pretends it's a media invention. "Islam in America panel highlights acceptance," by Morgan Johnson for the Brown Daily Herald, October 20 (thanks to herr Oyal):

A panel of four Brown and Providence experts on the Muslim community addressed the causes of negativity toward Islam in America, offering different opinions on how to combat increasing intolerance, in a mostly full MacMillan 115 Tuesday night.

The panelists cited media coverage, especially from cable news outlets, as a frequent perpetrator of stereotypes about the Muslim community.

The notion that "Islam is a totalizing way of life that accompanies everything a Muslim does" is an example of the media's biased interpretation of Islam, said Assistant Professor of Religious Studies Nancy Khalek.

She said the media capitalize on a common public assumption that Muslims are intolerant of religious and cultural differences. The media imply that if Muslims are permitted to follow Shariah law, she said, the public should be afraid that such laws would be imposed on the rest of the community.

Muslims? Intolerant? How could anyone have ever gotten that idea?

And as for Sharia applying to unbelievers, Sharia proponents haven't hesitated to oblige non-Muslim women to wear the headscarf that Sharia mandates for Muslim women. Perhaps Khalek would say these were Misunderstanders of Islam.

"We must be aggressively undoing what the media is doing," said Sherine Hamdy, assistant professor of anthropology. "You have to work against it. You can't just be passive."

Be aggressive in spreading lies and misinformation!

In a 2005 cartoon contest held by a Danish newspaper, artists depicted the prophet Muhammad in various derogatory illustrations, which incited a slew of angry and at times violent protests from the Muslim community.

"Westerners interpreted this as Muslim intolerance to freedom of speech," Khalek said.

She added that the reality of the situation was quite different. From the Muslim perspective, the protesters were not necessarily critical of the illustrators' rights to free speech, but they wanted to demonstrate that the drawings were highly offensive and injurious.

And they demonstrated it by murdering innocent people. How very intolerant and "Islamophobic" of the West not to see that as an understandable reaction, and curtail the freedom of speech accordingly.

Khalek also critiqued the reaction of the media and the American public toward the recently proposed Islamic community center in the vicinity of Ground Zero.

"It seems to me that what we're really talking about is not whether religion belongs in the public sphere," she said. "What we're talking about is whose sensitivities ought to be respected."

Right. And the sensitivities of non-Muslims regarding Ground Zero are not being respected, and that's just fine with Nancy Khalek, apparently.

Khalek disputed the common argument used against the community center -- that a majority of Americans are not in favor of its construction, according to some polls. Referring to past instances of popular public opinion, such as the strong support of slavery by the American public before the Civil War, Khalek argued that such an argument has no historical or moral validity....

Local Imam Farid Ansari suggested another way to dispel misconceptions is by encouraging people to read the Quran.

"Learn for yourself," Ansari said to those who believe in myths about the Muslim community but take no steps to educate themselves about the religion. "If people are not informed, don't vote, don't take responsibility -- that's going to affect the future in a very negative way."

Read the Qur'an and learn for yourself. Indeed. I couldn't agree more.

Well, they got Capone on tax evasion. "Arlington imam, wife accused of marriage fraud," by Jason Trahan for The Dallas Morning News, October 19 (thanks to all who sent this in):

A prominent Islamic scholar who has battled accusations of extremist beliefs has been arrested along with his wife on federal charges that they married other people to get U.S. citizenship.

Ibrahim Abdelrahman Dremali and Safaa Rashad Eissa were arrested by immigration agents, Arlington police and the FBI on Oct. 6 on a warrant out of Des Moines, Iowa. They were released on their own recognizance after appearing before a federal judge in Fort Worth the same day.

They are scheduled to enter pleas Nov. 12 in Iowa on charges of conspiracy to defraud the United States, which can carry a five-year sentence, and procurement of citizenship or naturalization unlawfully, which can result in 10 to 25 years in prison.

Dremali, who earned degrees in geology and Islamic law in Cairo, immigrated to the U.S. in 1989 and has served as an imam, or Muslim spiritual leader, in south Florida, Iowa and Austin and worked at Islamic schools.

This summer, he and his wife moved to a house on Virginia Lane near the Islamic Society of Arlington, where he helped lead a local Islamic school....

Reached by phone this past week in Arlington, Dremali said he was too sick to talk. He was originally supposed to report to court Wednesday in Des Moines. His attorney, Alfredo Parrish, sought a delay because doctors treating Dremali, who has hepatitis C and is awaiting a liver transplant at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas, said he cannot travel....

After Dremali emigrated to the U.S., he co-founded the Islamic Center of Boca Raton in 1998. In 2000, the Gaza native, participated in a pro-Palestinian rally in Miami that featured the burning of Israeli flags and a mock funeral for Palestinians killed in the Israeli conflict. According to a published report, Dremali told the crowd "not to be sad for those who were martyred, and to not be afraid to die for what they believe in."

After the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Dremali denied making the statement amid criticism from conservative bloggers about his role in the rally and other associations.

In 2002, Adham Hassoun, a Palestinian activist and computer programmer in Florida, was detained on immigration charges. Dremali was one of four people called to speak about Hassoun's "peaceful and generous character" at a hearing, a court record shows.

Hassoun attended the same Fort Lauderdale mosque as Jose Padilla and was thought to have helped convert him to Islam. Padilla was later accused of planning a dirty bomb attack in the U.S., but authorities ultimately convicted him, and Hassoun, of coordinating aid to al-Qaeda.

Ties to terrorists?

Dremali later said he barely knew Hassoun.

"You can judge a person by the company they keep," wrote Joe Kaufman, a conservative activist in southern Florida, in one of several blog posts accusing Dremali of being a radical Islamist. "Will our government sit back and let things happen, or will it begin to take action, so that the next 9/11 never becomes reality?"

Last week, Kaufman said in an interview with The Dallas Morning News that he is not surprised to hear of Dremali's arrest. "Regardless if they prosecute him on terrorism or immigration, I think it's a good thing to take him off the streets," he said.

Kaufman has also highlighted a more than $16,000 donation by Dremali's Islamic Center of Boca Raton to the Global Relief Foundation, one of several Muslim charities shut down by the Bush administration for funding international terrorism.

Dremali has said that he did not know Global Relief had terrorist ties when the donation was made....

What a shock, eh? War Is Deceit Update: "Khadr has never renounced jihad, says expert on evil," by Steven Edwards for Postmedia News, October 19 (thanks to Joel):

NEW YORK -- There is no evidence Omar Khadr has ever independently sought to promote peace with the West and renounce Muslim jihad, the internationally acclaimed psychiatrist who pioneered efforts to quantify evil reveals ahead of testifying about his examination of the Canadian-born terror suspect.

In an exclusive interview, Dr. Michael Welner says Khadr is known to have expressed peace-loving intentions only to "those advancing his public image" from behind the razor wire at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Welner also discounts much-cited comments by some U.S. guards at Guantanamo that the Toronto native is a "good kid" and "salvageable" -- calling them "shallow in their prognostic significance."

"When one leaps to the conclusion about Omar Khadr's future because he is friendly, one might recall that Osama bin Laden has always been described as gentle, likable and charming," New York-based Welner told Postmedia News.

"There is no record of (Khadr's) publicly repudiating al-Qaida, as civilized Muslims should, not even a letter composed for him by Dennis Edney," he added in a reference to one of Khadr's two Canadian lawyers. There is "no call . . . to radical Islamists to mature beyond their elemental intolerance."...

Of course. There never is, not from any of the self-proclaimed "moderates."

He has already been found to be an "Islamophobe," which means someone who says things about Islam that Islamic supremacists would prefer not be known. And the fact of the proceeding itself is enough of an assertion of his guilt by the prosecutors. "Wilders has already been found guilty, says his lawyer in 14 hour speech," from Dutch News, October 19 (thanks to Mackie):

Anti-Islam campaigner Geert Wilders should never have been taken to court on inciting hatred charges because he has already been found guilty, the MP's lawyer Bram Moszkowicz said on Tuesday.

Moszkowicz was outlining the defence's case at the MP's trial in Amsterdam.

The lawyer said Amsterdam appeal court had already found the MP guilty in January 2009, when it ruled in favour of a group of individuals and organisations who wanted to see Wilders prosecuted.

Not guilty

The public prosecution department, which last week said the MP should be found not-guilty on all counts, had decided not to take him to court, saying there was no case against him.

Moszkowicz said that appeal court ruling meant Wilders could not have a fair trial. It is a 'scandal' that the court has already ruled Wilders to be an Islamaphobe, the lawyer said.

'Judges, a previous court has already decided that Wilders' statements are insulting to Muslims,' Moszkowicz, who estimates his full testimony will take 14 hours, said.

Galileo

In addition, Moszkowicz said it is important to note that at least some of the statements made by Wilders are true. He likened the MP to Galileo, who went against established church teachings in the 17th century when he argued the sun did not revolve around the earth.

'Do not shoot the messenger,' Nos tv quoted the lawyer as saying....

At least some of Wilders' statements are true? And this is his lawyer speaking?

What Sharia? No Sharia here!

Sabria Jawhar "is considered one of the leading female journalists in Saudi Arabia." And you can tell. "The Idiocy of the Anti-Sharia Crowd," by Sabria Jawhar at the Huffington Post, October 19:

For those following the idiotic allegations that Sharia is creeping into American society and wonder who speaks for Islam, I think the answer is obvious. Western extremists are now the new hijackers of Islam. They have adopted the language of Islamic terrorists, interpreted the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) into something unrecognizable to Muslims and cherry-pick aspects of Sharia to offer interpretations in a vacuum.

Muslims may think that Osama bin Laden perverted the true meaning of Islam, but Newt Gingrich, Geert Wilders and their slavish sycophants Robert Spencer and Pamela Geller make Al-Qaeda look like amateurs in the art of deception....

Slavish sycophants? The arrogance of this "journalist" is typical of Islamic supremacists, but in any case, her facts are simply wrong. I wrote a book about the stealth jihad several years before Newt Gingrich ever uttered those words. And while I admire Wilders immensely, I was doing this work publicly for several years before he came on the scene.

Jawhar then complains that a recent study of Sharia's spread in America didn't include Islamic scholars. Maybe the organizers of the study didn't want it overwhelmed with fog and detours and diversions from the main point. Then she continues:

These self-proclaimed experts ignore the principles of Sharia that make Islamic values compatible with democratic societies. Indeed, the principles of Sharia are also found in the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights and predate these documents by more than a millennium. These Sharia principles ensure the freedom of religion, the preservation of human life and family, the guarantee of an education and the pursuit of economic security and justice through commerce.

Freedom of religion for non-Muslims in the Islamic state only if they know their place and accept second-class status. Preservation of human life unless you're deemed a kafir harbi, an infidel at war with Islam. Preservation of the family, including polygamous arrangements in which women are essentially commodities.

Rather than focus on what Sharia has in common with American values, the report gives considerable space to a 19-year-old Muslim Brotherhood document that reportedly seeks to implement Sharia in the United States. Although the authors give much credence to this document, most American Muslims view the Muslim Brotherhood in the abstract with little relevance in their lives. The report fails to address the question of how the Muslim Brotherhood, which struggles for credibility in Muslim countries, can have a foothold in Podunk, Idaho.

Well, I don't think Podunk, Idaho exists, but in reality, while Jawhar tries to obscure the Brotherhood presence in the U.S., virtually all of the major Islamic organizations in this country -- CAIR, ISNA, ICNA, MAS, MSA, MPAC, NAIT, etc. -- have some link to the Brotherhood.

The report cleverly addresses the more sensational aspects of Sharia: stoning, amputations, lashings and taqiyya. Taqiyya, according to Western extremists, means that Muslims can lie with impunity to hide their true agenda of global domination. I must admit that this is a clever tactic because anyone believing in this nonsense can conveniently disregard as a lie any Muslim argument that is contrary the western extremist position. Interestingly, the Robert Spencers of the world insist we denounce terrorism and renounce Sharia. Yet their position is that all Muslims are liars, so what's the point of making these futile arguments?

Jawhar is, in a word, lying. I challenge her to produce any statement of mine to the effect that "all Muslims are liars." She can't, because I have never said it. But she is obviously one herself.

Taqiyya refers to a single incident in the Qur'an in which a man concealed his religious faith when forced to renounce Islam while being tortured. If anything, recent history has taught us that anyone will lie under the threat of torture. But we are led to believe that this single incident in this context is the foundation of an Islamic strategy to impose Sharia.

Actually it is not based on an "incident" in the Qur'an at all. It is based on a statement in the Qur'an (3:28) that warns believers not to take unbelievers as "friends or helpers" (َأَوْلِيَا -- a word that means more than casual friendship, but something like alliance), "unless it be that ye but guard yourselves against them." This is a foundation of the idea that believers may legitimately deceive unbelievers when under pressure. The word used for "guard" in the Arabic is tuqātan (تُقَاةً), the verbal noun from taqiyyatan -- hence the increasingly familiar term taqiyya. The great Qur'an commentator Ibn Kathir says that the phrase rendered above as "unless it be that ye but guard yourselves against them" means that "believers who in some areas or times fear for their safety from the disbelievers" may "show friendship to the disbelievers outwardly, but never inwardly. For instance, Al-Bukhari recorded that Abu Ad-Darda' said, 'We smile in the face of some people although our hearts curse them.' Al-Bukhari said that Al-Hasan said, 'The Tuqyah [taqiyya] is allowed until the Day of Resurrection."

While many Muslim spokesmen today maintain that taqiyya is solely a Shi'ite doctrine, shunned by Sunnis, the great Islamic scholar Ignaz Goldziher points out that while it was formulated by Shi'ites, "it is accepted as legitimate by other Muslims as well, on the authority of Qur'an 3:28." The Sunnis of Al-Qaeda practice it today.

The Center for Security Policy wants Americans to think that stoning and amputations are around the corner, but the report can't quite explain why stonings are so rare and the streets of Saudi Arabia and Iran are not filled with one-armed thieves.

Whoops. And whoops again. And here's one from Pakistan.

The Qur'an never mentions stoning as a punishment and there are conflicting interpretations of the Prophet's involvement in implementing it. The most common interpretation is of a woman consumed with guilt over an adulterous affair that resulted in a child. She pestered the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) literally for years for him to wash away her sins with a death sentence. He refused, but when he could no longer find an excuse to send her away, he reluctantly agreed to punish her. What non-Muslim Sharia "experts" fail to mention is that stoning a person who commits adultery requires four eyewitnesses to the actual act of sexual intercourse. This fantastical burden of proof is almost impossible to fulfill. And rightly so. It's designed as prevention, not an actual punishment. Allegations of adultery are easy to make but virtually impossible to prove. Sharia makes stoning extremely unlikely to carry out.

Actually, I've pointed out the four witnesses requirement many, many times, and noted also how it is used against women. I have noted many times that according to Sisters In Islam, a Muslim reform group, there is evidence that most -- up to 75% -- of the women imprisoned in Pakistan are there because of rape. Islamic evidence laws disallow a woman's testimony in such cases, and require testimony from four male witnesses of the act to establish the rape. If such witnesses are not found, as is usually the case, and the accused perpetrator denies the act, as is usually the case, then the woman's very rape charge becomes evidence that she has committed zina -- unlawful sexual activity.

The threat by the Iranian government to stone to death Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani on a conviction of adultery is not based on the evidence of four eyewitnesses, but on a judicial authority determined to inflict fear and intimidation on the Iranian population. It's not Sharia....

Have you ever noticed that whenever a Muslim does something terrible in the name of Islam, Muslims in the West say immediately that he is not a Muslim, although he was to all appearances devout and fervent before he did his terrible deed. And now we have a parallel denial: anything noxious about Sharia is deemed to be not-Sharia -- even Sharia states implementing Sharia punishments.

Of course, non-Muslims may have reason not to believe a word I write. This may be my idea of taqiyya.

The rhetorical tactic at play here is that Jawhar is trying to shame you into thinking that it would be "Islamophobic" to suspect that she is not being honest. But since I know already that she is not being honest, as shown above, this doesn't work on me, and it shouldn't work on you, either. Her hapless Huffington Post readers are another matter.

Pamela Geller weighs in here.

"The promise of moderate Islam is beginning to look decidedly unconvincing," says Janet Albrechtsen, and marshals a good deal of evidence for why that is the case. "The extremes of moderate Islam," by Janet Albrechtsen for The Australian, October 20:

EVEN for supposedly reasonable Muslims, accommodation is a one-way street.

PERCHED high in the verdant mountains of central Java recently, the rural silence was broken five times a day by the Muslim call to prayer. The chanting wafted up from loudspeakers in the local villages as Indonesian Muslims observed longer than usual prayers during Ramadan. I asked a cab driver if he was fasting until sunset during this Islamic month of reflection. Rules are made to be broken, he said with a smile. But not according to the government and police in Indonesia, a country hailed as the world's largest, most moderate Muslim nation.

Local newspapers report an American man being held on suspicion of blasphemy for pulling the plug on a loudspeaker at a local mosque. According to police, Luke Gregory Lloyd pulled out the loudspeaker's cable in Kuta village in central Lombok when he was woken by the Koranic reading.

So how is moderate Islam doing in Indonesia? Not so well if you're that American man facing five years in prison. Perhaps it's all relative. In Saudi Arabia, he may have faced more violent punishment for his cultural insensitivity. That said, the promise of moderate Islam is beginning to look decidedly unconvincing.

Certainly, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has made plenty of promises. In an address at Harvard last year, he described his country as a model for how Islam, modernity and democracy can go hand in hand. He said tolerance and respect for religious freedom forms part of Indonesia's "trans-generational DNA".

Back in Indonesia, the President is quiet about the fact that moderate Islam is not so respectful of religious freedom if you belong to the Ahmadiyah sect. As yet another daily call to prayer began, I read about the ban on this religious sect for propagating its beliefs, including the tenet that Mohammed was not the final prophet. Indonesia's Religious Affairs Minister Suryadharma Ali announced the Ahmadiyah congregation "must be disbanded immediately" for violating a 2008 decree prohibiting the group from spreading its teachings. If this "is considered as religious freedom, then I call it an excessive freedom", Ali said.

Moderate Islam is not so moderate if you are a Christian either. In August, 300 hardline Islamic protesters confronted Christians worshipping in an open field owned by the Christians. The Christians want to build a church. A leader of the hardline Islamic Defenders Front told reporters that the culture of the people will not allow a church. Earlier this year, thousands of Muslim extremists set fire to a Christian community centre in West Java when they suspected the local Christians planned to build a small chapel. According to the Setara Institute for Democracy and Peace, there have been more than 28 attacks on churches since January, a substantial increase since last year.

And how is moderate Islam doing when it comes to freedom of speech? While President Yudhoyono boasts about his country's "increasingly incisive" free press, one the markers of moderate Islam's commitment to democracy, it's too bad if you're the editor of Playboy Indonesia, a magazine consciously remodelled for the local market with no nudity. After being tried and acquitted for public indecency in 2007, Erwin Arnada was found guilty of public indecency last month by a new Supreme Court ruling. Arnada was arrested last week and has commenced a two-year prison sentence. The Indonesian constitution, which guarantees freedom of speech and freedom of the press, is no match for hardline Islamic groups baying for Arnada's blood. Is that moderation?

Move to New York and the fraught debate over the proposed Ground Zero mosque. Muslims demand the mosque be built. And their left-liberal supporters decry opponents of the mosque as bigots. They demonise and scold mainstream Americans who think otherwise. Even New Yorkers believe Muslims should show some sensitivity to the atrocities committed in the name of Islam on 9/11. A poll in The New York Times found that while 67 per cent agree the right to freedom of religion allows the building of the mosque, they believe the developers should find a different site. An editorial by the moralising New York Times would have none of that. Building the mosque would be "a gesture to Muslim-Americans", it lectured. What about a gesture from moderate Muslims?

In recent years the West has fallen over itself to accommodate Muslim sensitivities. In Britain, the BBC boss says Islam should be treated differently from other religions. American publishers pull books that might offend Muslim sensibilities. Television stations censor images of Mohammed. Why does the accommodation always run one way?...

Fear, of course, and the idiotic multiculturalist guilt complex.

He didn't know! He didn't know!

Mohamed Elibiary was one of the speakers at a December 2004 conference in Dallas entitled "A Tribute to the Great Islamic Visionary," Ayatollah Khomeini. When Rod Dreher of the Dallas Morning News called him on this, he threatened Dreher, telling him: "Expect someone to put a banana in your exhaust pipe."

Fox Guarding Henhouse Alert: "Secretary Napolitano Swears in Homeland Security Advisory Council Members," from the Department of Homeland Security, October 15 (thanks to Jeff):

Washington, D.C. - Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano swore in three new members of the Homeland Security Advisory Council (HSAC) during her latest tri-annual meeting with HSAC, which took place at DHS headquarters this week. The HSAC is comprised of experts from state, local and tribal governments, emergency and first responder communities, academia and the private sector who provide recommendations and advice to the Secretary of Homeland Security on a variety of homeland security issues.

The new members include: former New York City Police Commissioner and Los Angeles Police Chief William Bratton, who will join as vice-chair to former CIA and FBI Director Judge William Webster; Massachusetts General Hospital Director of Police, Security and Outside Services Bonnie Michelman; and Freedom and Justice Foundation President and Chief Executive Officer Mohamed Elibiary. [...]

Mohamed Elibiary is the President and CEO of the Freedom and Justice Foundation, and has advised numerous federal, state and local law enforcement organizations including the Texas Department of Safety and National Counterterrorism Center Global Engagement Group on matters relating to homeland security. Recently, Elibiary served on DHS's Homeland Security Advisory Council Countering Violent Extremism Working Group, and currently serves on the Texas Department of Public Safety Advisory Board. In December of 2009 he helped establish the Texas Fusion Center Policy Council to enhance information sharing, analytical capabilities and community relations at the state and local law enforcement levels.

I have met Mohamed Elibiary. He is a slick fellow. You can read here his dancing and obfuscation about deception in Islam and other matters, in a long exchange we had here at Jihad Watch. Read it carefully, noting the questions I ask him and the answers he gives to them, and ask yourself whether he really ought to be on the Homeland Security Advisory Council.

Elibiary once asked me to post his explanation of his appearance at the Khomeini tribute conference. You can read all about that here.

"His wife is believed to be the woman in a full burqa at a post-arrest hearing in Alexandria, Va. The woman declined to speak to media at the time, her eyes welling with tears." And no doubt many kuffar were fooled. War Is Deceit Update: "Wife of 'South Park' Threat Maker Charged," by Mike Levine for Fox News, October 18 (thanks to Urban Infidel):

The wife of the Virginia man who was arrested in July after allegedly threatening the creators of the television show "South Park" and trying to a join a terrorist group in Somalia is being charged with a federal offense herself.

Proscovia Kampire Nzabanita made false statements to investigators, according to charging documents filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.

Her husband, 20-year-old Zachary Chesser, was arrested over the summer for allegedly trying to join the Al Qaeda-linked group Al Shabab in Somalia. Nzabanita is not currently in custody, according to a Justice Department official.

The FBI and others conducted a months-long investigation into at least two alleged attempts by Chesser to join Al Shabab, which has been fighting to establish a strict Muslim state in Somalia and has pledged its allegiance to Usama bin Laden.

Authorities charged Chesser with providing material support to a terrorist group.

His wife is believed to be the woman in a full burqa at a post-arrest hearing in Alexandria, Va. The woman declined to speak to media at the time, her eyes welling with tears.

During the FBI's investigation, agents found a "hand-written document" titled "How to Destroy the West," Justice Department lawyer John Gibbs told the presiding judge at the time. The document, allegedly written by Chesser, discussed ways of attacking the United States and other countries, including cyber-attacks, vehicles filled with explosives, and the bio-agent ricin, Gibbs said.

In addition, Chesser communicated several times with Anwar Awlaki, the U.S.-born cleric tied to several recent terrorist plots inside the United States, prosecutors said. He also posted an array of "extremist" videos, "jihad propaganda" and other potentially dangerous materials online, including a leaked version of sensitive Transportation Security Administration guidelines and a message suggesting the creators of the show "South Park" could face death for their depiction of the prophet Mohammed, according to prosecutors....

Funding Pakistan's double game for another round, even while reports emerge of bin Laden and al-Zawahiri living in Pakistan under ISI protection, and even after years of Pakistan's demonstrable aiding and abetting of jihadists, including the ISI's backing of the Taliban inside Afghanistan.

The U.S. is allowing itself to be blackmailed, sending Pakistan the message that Washington can be leveraged with the choice of the ongoing, duplicitous policy, or losing even the friendly lip service to cooperation, such as the insistence of Pakistan's Foreign Ministry spokesman: "Let me reiterate that Pakistan is committed not to allow its territory for terrorist actions anywhere in the world."

Except when it does. Funny how that keeps happening.

According to Bob Woodward's book, Obama's Wars, the status of U.S. relations with Pakistan was like a "cold shower" for the Obama administration. And yet, Pakistan is in line for another $2 billion funded on the backs of the American taxpayer. "Sources: U.S. finalizing aid package to help Pakistan fight extremists," by Elise Labott for CNN, October 18:

Washington (CNN) -- The Obama administration is putting the final touches on a security assistance package totaling as much as $2 billion over five years to help Pakistan fight extremists on its border with Afghanistan, senior U.S. officials and diplomatic sources tell CNN.

The aid is expected to be announced later this week when Pakistani officials are in Washington to hold high-level talks.

The package aims to address Pakistan's insistence it does not have the capability to go after terrorists, and needs more support from the United States, the sources said. The aid will help the Pakistanis purchase helicopters, weapons systems and equipment to intercept communications.

They need more support, they say, after squandering money financing the jihad against India and propping up jihadist groups in Kashmir.

It falls under the United States' Foreign Military Financing (FMF) program, which provides grants and loans to countries to purchase weapons and defense equipment produced in the United States. It also includes more counterinsurgency assistance to Pakistani troops and a program allowing members of the Pakistani military to study at American war colleges.

The $2 billion package is on top of billions of dollars the United States already gives Pakistan in military aid and a $7.5 billion aid package over five years in non-military counter-terrorism assistance approved by Congress last year.

"They [sic] key is to beef up their ability to go after militants, it can't be diverted to other threats," one senior U.S. official said.

Pakistan has long claimed its military is geared toward defending itself against threats from countries like India, and does not have the kind of equipment it needs to fight insurgents. U.S. officials said they recognize Pakistan's current military hardware is not perfectly suited toward such operations, but made clear the new aid must be directed toward fighting extremists, rather than India....

There is that military adage: "Hope is not a method." What substantive measures is Washington willing to take to avoid funding the jihad with taxpayer money via Islamabad?

Two joyous fellows

I've been predicting this since at least 2006:

June 27, 2006: "Of course, Ahmadinejad may be jumping the gun a bit as far as that is concerned, but he is certainly doing all he can to bring into being a Shi'ite client state in Iraq."

September 13, 2006: "Here we see looming in Iraq the Shi'ite client state of Iran that the U.S. has unwittingly helped put into place with its short-sighted democracy project."

October 31, 2006: "Is al-Maliki on the road to creating the Shi'ite client state that the Iranians have been trying to foster in Iraq for quite some time now?"

February 11, 2007: "Iran continues its efforts to create a Shi'ite client state in Iraq."

June 10, 2008: "Or are U.S. troops the main obstacle to Iraq's becoming a full-fledged client state of Iran?"

November 12, 2008: "Very soon now the President of the United States and the President of Iran will sit down, without preconditions, and hash this out, and clear everything up before Iraq turns fully into the Shi'ite client state that the Iranians covet."

July 1, 2009: "Their goal of creating a Shi'ite client state is closer than ever to being realized."

July 30, 2009: "Was this what we have been fighting for in Iraq all these years? An Iranian Shi'ite client state in Baghdad?"

Yep.

"Iraq PM in Tehran on key political visit," by Ali Akbar Dareini for Associated Press, October 18 (thanks to Maxwell):

TEHRAN, Iran - Iran gave its clearest nod of support to Iraq's prime minister Monday as he seeks to line up backing from key neighbors in his bid to remain in office after a more than seven-month political limbo in Baghdad.

Iran plays a critical role in Iraqi affairs and the Shiite-led coalition of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who is making his first visit to Tehran since Iraq's indecisive March elections.

Iran has the power to sway al-Maliki's political fortunes through its deep ties to Iraq's major Shiite factions, which have dominated government offices and security forces since the U.S.-led invasion toppled Iran's arch foe Saddam Hussein in 2003.

Al-Maliki's coalition is close to securing enough allies for a majority in parliament despite finishing second in March elections behind a Sunni-backed bloc. But al-Maliki is also busy sending out feelers around the region to weigh his support.

The signals from Iran seemed strong.

Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Rauf Sheibani said al-Maliki was "one of the suitable choices" to lead the next Iraqi government -- the clearest indication that Tehran wants al-Maliki to stay in power....

War Is Deceit! "When we talked about 'starvation' we meant plasma TVs and Café Latte," from Tom Gross Media, October 19:

* Time magazine, which previously claimed that Palestinians were "starving," now writes of the Palestinian "multistory villas fronted by ornamental porticos and columns," the "car dealerships selling everything from BMWs to Hyundais," and the "state of the art gyms with the latest equipment, classes in spinning, kickboxing and Pilates, a sauna and even a smoothie bar."

* Leading British newspaper columnist writes from Gaza: "Then there is the use of the word 'siege'. Can anyone think of a siege in human history, from Syracuse to Leningrad, where the shops of the besieged city have been full of Snickers bars and Chinese motorbikes, and where European Union and other foreign aid projects pour streams of cash (often yours) into the pockets of thousands?"

* One by one, the major media of the world are changing their tune on reporting about economic conditions in Gaza and the West Bank. (Although we're still waiting for the world's biggest broadcaster, the publicly-funded BBC - which is under a legal obligation to be balanced - to do so.)...

We'll be waiting a long time for that.

Will the Islamophobia never end? "Chechnya parliament attacked: Islamic suicide bombers, gunman assault government building," by Michael Sheridan for the New York Daily News, October 19 (thanks to all who sent this in):

Islamic rebels crying out "Allahu Akbar" stormed the parliament building in war-torn Chechnya on Tuesday, killing at least three people.

The militants, who have been fighting the Russian-controlled government since the 1990s, used a suicide bomber to blast open the gates then flooded into the building firing weapons that injured more than a dozen people.

The assault was mounted by three men while politicians and government employees arrived for work, according to Reuters.

Strapped with a bomb, one of the three blew himself up giving the others access to the parliament, and wounding several people.

The two remaining gunmen entered the building screaming in Arabic, "God is Great!" The terrorists opened fire, and according to The Associated Press, at least two police officers were killed, along with one parliamentary official....

National Post readers demonstrate that they're not fooled by a fresh steaming pile of Religion-Of-Peace™ Clearing Up Your Misconceptions About Islam material that the paper recently published: "Today's Letters: If Islam teaches peace, its students keep flunking," by Matt Gurney in the National Post, October 19 (thanks to the incomparable Kathy Shaidle):

Re: Islam Wants Peace, letter to the editor, Oct. 18.

Tahira Saliha's disingenuous letter portraying Islam as peace-loving requires response.
She surely knows that even in the most tolerant Islamic societies throughout history, Jews were systematically relegated to dhimma status, a form of second-class citizenship.

In the more "average" Muslim countries, the predicament of Jews especially in the last 50 years was far worse. They were arrested, endlessly persecuted, murdered and ultimately expelled from their host countries.

The situation now is that there are almost no Jews living in any Muslim state and some of these "peace-loving" countries will not even allow a Jew to stand on its soil.

So instead of indulging us in religious platitudes from the Koran, she should examine the current situation in practically all Islamic states, and ask herself where is this so-called "respect (of) people of all faiths" that Islam supposedly teaches.

By the way, I would appreciate if Ms. Saliha would let me know when I, as an ordinary Jew, would have the "right" to visit Saudi Arabia in the same way that she can go to Israel or the Vatican.

Yitzchok Dukesz, Thornhill, Ont.

If, as letter writer Tahira Saliha claims, Islam teaches peace, why do so many of its students flunk?

And after 14 centuries, why haven't its adherents noticed?

Josh Korn, Ottawa.

It is good that Muslim letter-writer Tahira Saliha wants to live peacefully with Jews and people of other faiths. But that is not the case with Islam, which is currently a totalitarian religio-political movement that, since its founding 1,400 years ago, has endeavoured to extend the shariah rule of Dar-al-Islam (the abode of Islam) by jihad over the rest of the world, designated as Dar-al-Harb (the abode of War).

The "peace" that "Islam teaches" is that of submission to the shariah rules that discriminate against non-Muslims, and control Muslims by draconian punishments for blasphemy and apostasy.

If Muslims are required to respect all faiths, why are Muslims who choose to leave Islam and join another faith subjected to capital punishment? Why are other faiths repressed instead of respected in Islamic states such as Saudi Arabia, Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan? How can Islam be considered a religion of peace if it includes the shariah injunctions for political jihad?

Jiti Khanna, Vancouver.

I must disagree with letter-writer's Tahira Saliha's position that Islam wants peace. Where is the evidence to back up such a statement? I see only evidence to the contrary. Nor am I swayed by references to the respect Muslims have for Biblical prophets, such as Moses. Which living Jew do they respect?

It is an accepted principle in Islam that a Muslim may lie "for the cause of Allah." So how do I know when one is speaking truth? I respect many Muslims like Tarek Fatah and ones I know personally, who disavow terrorism and violence, but it is hard to separate the friends from the would-be foes. The letter by Saliha provided no help.

Charles Pedley, Fonthill, Ont.

But deep down, they really, really want peace. And they're starving in the world's largest concentration camp, but somehow they have been able to scrape together enough pennies to buy some food for their families anti-aircraft missiles.

"Netanyahu: Terrorists in Gaza have anti-aircraft missiles," from the Jerusalem Post, October 18 (thanks to Weasel Zippers):

Speaking at a Likud meeting, PM expresses concern over weapons in the Strip "that can take down an aircraft en route to Ben Gurion airport."

Speaking at a Likud meeting Monday afternoon, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu expressed concern that aircraft flying near the Gaza Strip may be exposed to anti-aircraft systems.

"Today we are experiencing difficulty flying near the Gaza Strip since they have in their possession anti-aircraft missiles," explained Netanyahu. "Imagine that there are no security arrangements, and there will be missiles that can take down an aircraft that is en route to Ben Gurion airport."

"I heard Abu Mazen's interview yesterday," Netanyahu said in reaction to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas's interview to Channel 1 on Sunday. "I would rather talk to him face to face. The interview took place seven minutes from here. A direct conversation can advance the resolution to the conflict."

Netanyahu added that, "the discussion on new [settlement] building is only an artificial obstacle." "Even the Palestinians say that the building is insignificant and barely has an effect on a final-status map," explained the prime minister. "I say it has no impact at all."

Netanyahu continued to say that, "If the Palestinians want to continue the conflict, they can find a way. But if they want to solve it, I have ways of doing it. The security problems are real, so the solutions must be real and not just on paper."...

But of course, the Palestinian Arabs don't want to solve the problems. They want to continue the conflict. The jihad doctrine allows for nothing else.

Taliban spokesman says that the Dutch must lie down and do nothing to prevent their own conquest and Islamization -- or else. "Taliban warns Dutch government: newspaper," from Expatica, October 18:

A senior Afghan Taliban official has warned of an attack against the Netherlands if its new government implements the agenda of anti-Islam MP Geert Wilders, the Volkskrant daily reported Monday.

"If the Netherlands maintains or intensifies its anti-Islam policy, it is certain that the Netherlands will be the target of an attack by a jihadist group," Zabiullah Mujahed, a long-time Taliban spokesman, is quoted as having told the newspaper....

"If he (Wilders) succeeds in manipulating the Dutch parliament to pass more anti-Islamic legislation ... there is no doubt that Muslims from other countries will take action to help their Muslim brothers and sisters," Mujahed said.

He added that the Taliban was "very careful in its relations with the Netherlands" because "it was the first country that decided to stop the occupation of our country"....

This morning's Hate Mail Bag entry comes to us from an apparent Texas Rangers fan:

Subject: They will never always Fool

Message: US: Israel is a strategic Ally For the US in the Mid-east, Is
a friend, un-bonding one.

Ok

US: we want to mediate the Zionist and Palestinians????

Very ILLOGICAL........
How can these two things go together.

They have fooled ABBAS....

They cant Fool alwasy.

Spencer and His team will vanish... SOON Inshallah.

Given that my team is down two games to one with A. J. Burnett pitching tonight, I expect that it will vanish fairly soon.

But who is this tough-minded, unfoolable "Alwasy" chap?*

* This is a joke. J-O-K-E. Please do not fill my email box with messages saying it's a typo for "always."

In a featured article at Human Events this morning I discuss new mainstream media attempts to whitewash Sharia:

As Sharron Angle, Newt Gingrich and others have started making Islamic law (Sharia) part of the national debate, and Oklahoma actually moves to outlaw it, there is a new attempt to confuse the American people about the nature of the threat we face. It's a large-scale mainstream media effort to deny both that there is any attempt to bring Sharia to the United States, and that Sharia is anything to be concerned about in the first place. Unfortunately, there is plenty of evidence of attempts to establish the primacy of Islamic law over American law, and much to indicate that Sharia is anything but benign.

Characteristic of the media campaign was a Saturday Religion News Service story by Omar Sacirbey, which asserted that "no one in Oklahoma, Michigan or anywhere else is calling for Shariah -- including and especially Muslims." Sacirbey quoted Ibrahim Hooper of the Hamas-linked Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) - without noting, of course, CAIR's status as an unindicted co-conspirator in a Hamas funding case, the jihad terror convictions of various former CAIR officials, or the Islamic supremacist statements made by Hooper and CAIR co-founder Omar Ahmad. Hooper said: "This is another right-wing fantasy that started on the hate blogs and worked its way into the mainstream media. Where is the evidence of the takeover?"

The RNS story goes on to cite as evidence the New Jersey judge who declined to charge a Muslim with sexual assault on his wife because under Sharia, a woman may not deny sex to her husband at any time under any circumstances. This remarkable introduction of Islamic law into American jurisprudence was overturned, leading those who would dismiss the threat of Sharia to claim that its spread in the U.S. is simply a matter of one lone example. Unfortunately, there are more.

There have been successful attempts by Muslim workers at meat packing plants in Nebraska and Colorado to force their employers to restructure the work schedule to give them special breaks at times for Islamic prayer. These efforts initially met with protests from non-Muslim workers, who complained to no avail that the special breaks given to Muslims forced the non-Muslims to work longer hours, and thus discriminated against them. The result? Muslims in these plants have special privileges that other workers do not have - in accord with the privileged status Muslims enjoy over non-Muslims in Sharia societies.

Another example of Sharia insinuating itself into American life are the footbaths that have been constructed in airports and schools for the ablutions prescribed before Islamic prayers. Imagine the outcry if holy water fonts were being placed in airports for Catholic travelers - but Islamic footbaths have been dismissed as non-religious, on the pretext that anyone can use them. It would be interesting to see what would happen if a non-Muslim tried....

There is more.

Of course, they were already being portrayed as the victims before the verdict was even fully read. The machine is well-oiled and fully operational. "Jurors convict Riverdale bomb plotters on 30 of 32 counts," by Bruce Golding in the New York Post, October 18:

A jury today found four Muslim converts guilty of 30 or 32 counts in the May 2009 plot to bomb two Riverdale synagogues and shoot down military aircraft at Stewart Air National Guard Base in Newburgh.

Prosecutors had accused James Cromitie of hatching the scheme with a paid FBI informant he met at a mosque in Newburgh. They also said Cromitie recruited his three co-defendants -- David Williams, Onta Williams and Laguerre Payen -- to fire heat-seeking missiles at cargo planes.

The informant helped make hundreds of hours of surveillance tapes that were played at the trial. The defense argued the government entrapped their clients.

Payen and Onta Williams were found guilty of attempting to kill officers or employees of the United States, the only counts that went in the defendants' favor....

David Williams began smirking part way through the reading, while Payen rocked nervously in his chair.

After the jury was excused, David Williams' aunt, Bronx community activist Alicia McWilliams-McCollum, began shouting, "There's no f--king justice."...

Cromitie was portrayed as someone who "hated Jews and Jewish people," a government informant testified.

He also "hated the American soldiers and the American government," Shahed Hussain told jurors.

"He was full of hateful against those subjects," the Pakistani immigrant said.

Yes, jihadis are generally full of hateful.

And he says that the Obama Administration is so weak that it can't harm the mullahs. Hard to argue with that. "US will one day 'beg' Iran for ties: Ahmadinejad," from Associated Press, October 18:

Iran's president claims the United States will one day apologize and "beg" Tehran that the two countries resume diplomatic relations. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad also says the U.S. administration has allegedly become so weakened that it can't harm Iran in any way. U.S.-Iran relations broke off after the U.S. Embassy hostage-taking that followed the 1979 Islamic Revolution, which brought Islamic clerics to power in Iran and ousted the pro U.S. shah....

You ain't gonna see THIS every day

After libelblogger Charles Johnson defamed my colleague Pamela Geller in the Guardian last week, Comment Is Free editor Matt Seaton kindly gave me a chance to respond: "Pamela Geller: defamed freedom fighter":

The fury of the attacks upon my colleague Pamela Geller is a measure of her effectiveness in raising awareness about issues relating to the Ground Zero mega-mosque, honour killing, the plight of apostates from Islam, and more. The enemies of free discourse, the free conscience and equality of rights for women cannot refute her, so instead, they try to destroy her personally, rendering her discredited and marginalised - even if they have to twist the truth and lie outright to accomplish this goal.

Charles Johnson's Comment is free article was a prime example. Johnson called her an "extreme rightwing blogger" and claimed, without offering any evidence, that she had "arguably done more than anyone else to incite fear and hatred over the so-called 'Ground Zero Mosque'". And with a puritanical distaste that he would sneer at if it came from any conservative, he claimed that the New York Times profile of her featured a photo of Pamela "posing in her bikini". This, too, was false.

Then, Johnson claims that, when Geller was commenting at his site, Little Green Footballs:

"The target of her rage was usually (but not always) Muslims. And not just militants or terrorists, but all Muslims; Geller was quite clear, and stated often, that she didn't believe in the idea of a 'moderate Islam' at all. (Ironically, this is an opinion she shares with the leaders of al-Qaida, who insist that all Muslims must follow their extreme interpretation of Islam.)"

Johnson here confuses moderate Islam with moderate Muslims. In Ibn Warraq's lapidary formulation, there are many moderate Muslims, but no moderate Islam. In other words, there is no traditional, mainstream sect of Islam or school of Islamic jurisprudence that does not teach warfare against and the subjugation of unbelievers. But that doesn't mean that every Muslim is with that programme, any more than Jesus's teaching means that every Christian turns the other cheek and loves his enemies. There is a spectrum of belief, knowledge and fervour among the adherents of any belief-system; some are very knowledgeable and committed, others are not - and sometimes, the most knowledgeable and the most committed are not the same group. The teachings of a religion are one thing and the way every individual believer puts those teachings into practice is quite another.

This is an elementary distinction, but it seems to elude Johnson and other leftists. In any case, by claiming that Geller's "target" was "all Muslims", rather than Islamic supremacists who wish to destroy the freedom of speech, the freedom of conscience and the equality of rights of women - and particularly, by his vicious equation of her with al-Qaida, Johnson betrays a breathtaking disregard for the facts. Perhaps he hasn't caught any of the numerous media appearances in which Geller explained that it was love for Muslims, but hatred of oppression (the Islamic death penalty for apostasy, the widespread tolerance for honour killing in the Islamic world) that led her to take the stands that she has. Those who doubt the sincerity of this statement should note that human rights organisations the world over have said and done virtually nothing about the plight of apostates from Islam or the Islamic justifications for honour killing. Who loves those victims more: the self-proclaimed human rights activists, or Pamela Geller?...

There is more. Check out also the comments section, which is filled with the expected horde of abusive and fact-challenged Leftists and Islamic supremacists. I left a couple of comments there, at Seaton's invitation, and you may wish to do so also -- although remember that reason and logic are completely lost on some people.

UPDATE: Johnson has replied at his lies-and-hate site Little Green Footballs, accusing me of lying in The Guardian and bringing forth evidence that essentially amounts to claiming that Pamela Geller and I don't mean what they say. Well, I am impressed that Charles Johnson can read souls, but doubt that his "evidence" would pass muster with any sane group that troubled to evaluate it.

Merita Ilo of the Canadian Press thinks that concern about Islamic supremacism can be sneered away. "Soup and nuts: Canadian soup feeding Jihad?," by Merita Ilo in The Canadian Press, October 18 (thanks to all who sent this in):

TORONTO - The controversial Ground Zero mosque in New York and Campbell's Canadian-made tomato soup have nothing in common, one would think.

Yet they're being stirred in the same pot by some conservative bloggers in the U.S., who say Islamic terrorists are behind both projects.

Actually, no one is saying that Islamic terrorists are behind either project. Islamic supremacists and stealth jihadists are not terrorists, although they share the terrorists' goal of imposing Sharia upon non-Sharia states.

Pamela Geller, who runs a widely read anti-Muslim site called Atlas Shrugs, is calling for a boycott of some 15 soups made by the Canadian subsidiary of New Jersey-based Campbell Soup Co..

It is not "anti-Muslim" to stand for human rights -- the freedom of speech, freedom of conscience, and equality of rights of all people before the law -- against the Sharia.

The soups are certified as halal food, meaning they're prepared according to Islamic dietary laws.

Sold in Canada, the soups are certified by the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), which has been certifying halal foods since 1988.

But Geller claims ISNA has ties to terrorist groups, including Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood.

"No one is suggesting they not have halal food. I'm not against halal food any more than I'm against kosher food. My issue is who's doing the certifying," Geller told The Washington Post Sunday.

A number of conservative groups, including JihadWatch.org, have joined Geller's call for the soup boycott. A Facebook page called Boycott Campbell Soup counted more than 3,500 members as of Sunday night.

"But Geller claims ISNA has ties to terrorist groups, including Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood" -- as if she made it up. In reality, in July 2008 federal prosecutors refused to remove ISNA's status as an unindicted co-conspirator in a Hamas funding case. Hamas defines itself as the Muslim Brotherhood in Palestine.

What seems to be lost in the American blogosphere is the fact that Campbell's halal soups are not offered in the U.S., and the company says it's not planning to.

So what?

The company says ISNA was selected after consultations with professionals in the field of Islamic foods and nutrition, and with Islamic scholars.

ISNA has denied any ties to Hamas and has specifically condemned religious extremism and violence, the Washington Post said in a story headlined "A Canadian line of Campbell's soups has activists stewing over Islamic connection."

And the Muslim Brotherhood, a fundamentalist political movement founded in Egypt in the 1920s, is not included in the U.S. State Department's list of foreign terrorist organizations, the report said.

The Muslim Brotherhood "must understand that their work in America is a kind of grand Jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and 'sabotaging' its miserable house by their hands and the hands of the believers so that it is eliminated and Allah's religion is made victorious over all other religions."

That's from "An Explanatory Memorandum on the General Strategic Goal for the Brotherhood in North America," a 1991 presentation by Muslim Brotherhood operative Mohamed Akram.

The New York Times has also published a profile of the 52-year-old mother of four, who critics say is spreading fear of Islam and a dehumanization of Muslims.

Apparently it is now "dehumanization of Muslims" to report on what they say and do. And of course Merita Ilo doesn't think that Nidal Hasan, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, Faisal Shahzad and all the rest had anything to do with spreading "fear of Islam."

According to the NY Times report, Geller's Atlas Shrugs, which gets about 200,000 unique visitors a month, helped draw thousands to protests against the Ground Zero mosque project earlier this summer. She's also the leader of an organization called Stop Islamization of America.

It is not the first time Geller looks north for inspiration.

In 2008, she issued an appeal to raise $4,000 for a headstone for a Muslim-Canadian girl who was killed by her family for refusing to wear a headscarf, the NY Times reported.

Aqsa Parvez, a 16-year-old woman from Mississauga, Ont., was killed by her father and brother after a dispute over her choice of dress, her friends and other issues. The two men were sentenced to life in prison after guilty pleas last June to second-degree murder.

As for the impact the boycott calls have had on Campbell's soup business, the company says it has not noticed any effect on its sales.

Apparently Merita Ilo cares nothing for Aqsa Parvez or others like her. To care for them wouldn't be multicultural.

The source article for this ridiculous Canadian Press piece is "A Canadian line of Campbell's soups has activists stewing over Islamic connection," by Paul Farhi in The Washington Post, October 18. Farhi sneers as well, but not as much as Ilo -- and it's noteworthy that Farhi includes material about the Justice Department designating ISNA an unindicted co-conspirator in a Hamas terror funding case, but Ilo ignores it.

Like his colleague at Hamas-linked CAIR, Ahmed Rehab, Walid has ducked a chance to debate me. So it's time to make the Monty Python song about him:

Brave Sir Dawud ran away.
Bravely ran away, away!
When Spencer reared his ugly head,
He bravely turned his tail and fled.
Yes, brave Sir Dawud turned about
And gallantly he chickened out.
Bravely taking to his feet
He beat a very brave retreat,
Bravest of the brave, Sir Dawud!

And it may be that, like Rehab, Walid ran from the debate because he knew his lies would be exposed. Here are some of those lies: "The Fact-Free World of Dawud Walid," from IPT News, October 18:

It was the dog that set Dawud Walid off. He had been calm and professional throughout a Thursday news conference called to challenge a Justice Department report that found no wrongdoing by FBI agents who shot and killed a Detroit imam last year while trying to arrest him.

The agents all said they fired only when Luqman Abdullah pulled a gun he'd been hiding and pointed it at the FBI dog released to subdue him. The dog was between the agents and Abdullah, placing them in the line of fire. The dog was killed, hit by three bullets from a Glock 9 mm in the chest.

The raid was staged to arrest Abdullah and his followers on charges of conspiring to sell stolen goods, violating weapon laws and other crimes. In briefings, agents were alerted to Abdullah's history of threatening to shoot police officers who may come to arrest him and his instructions that his followers should always be armed.

Walid, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) Michigan chapter, said he pressed DOJ officials to explain why the agents' stories should be believed. Because, he was told, the agent who was the dog's handler recounted the lethal events with tears in his eyes because he loved the dog.

"I'm like, to hell with that dog," Walid hollered. "We're talking about a human being, and he's gonna talk about ... an agent who was involved in the killing of a human being is tearing up because the death of an attack dog. That's what this dog was. It was not a nice little puppy dog."

Since the shooting last October 28, Walid and his organization have demanded independent investigations into what happened. Walid has claimed the FBI shot a peaceful man; that agents released multiple dogs on Abdullah after the imam had tried to surrender. And, even after three separate reviews reached the same conclusion and found no evidence of impropriety, he continues to question whether Abdullah was armed at all.

A lack of information, or the use of bad information, rarely deters Walid, a look at his track record shows (click here to see the IPT's new 16-page profile of Walid). In addition to the baseless "questions" he has raised in the Abdullah shooting, he has mischaracterized the 9/11 Commission Report's assessment about the hijackers' connections with mosques, tried to deny clear Hamas-support references in his own speech, and argued the FBI is recklessly sending informants, whom he calls agent provocateurs, into mosques to entrap Muslims....

There is much more. Read it all.

This justification of wife-beating is not just part of "Shariah law"; it is found in the Qur'an itself: "Good women are obedient. They guard their unseen parts because God has guarded them. As for those from whom you fear disobedience, admonish them and send them to beds apart and beat them." -- Qur'an 4:34

Sharia Alert from the modern, moderate UAE: "Islamic court: OK to beat wife if no marks left: Man in United Arab Emirates was initially fined $136 for hitting spouse, daughter," from MSNBC, October 18 (thanks to Weasel Zippers):

A man can beat his wife and kids as long as he leaves no physical marks, the United Arab Emirates' highest court has found.

The judgment came after a man slapped his wife and kicked and slapped his daughter, according to Abu Dhabi's The National newspaper.

In the case debated by the Federal Supreme court, the daughter was bruised on the hand and knee, while the wife's lip and teeth were injured.

According to the court, the injuries showed that the man had over-stepped his rights under Shariah, or Islamic law, the newspaper reported. He had originally been fined 500 United Arab Emirates dirhams ($136), but appealed the case twice....

According to Shariah law, a man can beat his wife and children as long as he has first tries unsuccessfully to discipline them by admonishing and then abstaining from sexual relations with his wife....

Ain't multiculturalism grand? "Tower Hamlets extremist vote poses Ed Miliband's first big election test," by Andrew Gilligan in the Telegraph, October 17 (thanks to all who sent this in):

A man with close links to Islamic fundamentalism and the backing of prominent racists could this week be elected as the executive mayor of a council, with almost total control over its £1 billion budget.

Lutfur Rahman was sacked by the Labour Party last month as its candidate for mayor of Tower Hamlets amid deep concerns about his links with a Muslim supremacist group, the Islamic Forum of Europe (IFE), and a number of powerful local businessmen.

Mr Rahman also signed up entire families of "sham" paper Labour members - some of whom do not even support the party - to win nomination as Labour's candidate.

Mr Rahman is now running as an independent and his supporters say he is "hopeful" of victory....

In secret filming earlier this year, Abu Talha, an IFE activist, told an undercover reporter for The Sunday Telegraph and Channel 4's Dispatches: "The mayor is going to have a lot more control. That's why we need to get someone, one of our brothers, in there. Which we will do."...

According to one of its own leaflets, the IFE - based at the hardline East London Mosque in Tower Hamlets - wants to change the "very infrastructure of society, its institutions, its culture, its political order and its creed ... from ignorance to Islam."...

Six serving and former Labour councillors told us they had been threatened by a senior IFE official that the group would mobilise its supporters against them if they did not choose Mr Rahman as their leader.

Mr Rahman confirmed that the IFE official had helped run his leadership campaign, though he denied that any threats were made to councillors on his behalf....

During Mr Rahman's two years as council leader, Tower Hamlets channelled millions of pounds of public money to front organisations run by the IFE.

The borough's public libraries stocked large quantities of extremist literature, including taped sermons by the spiritual leader of the 9/11 hijackers, Anwar al-Awlaki. An anti-gay preacher was hosted in the council chamber.

Lutfur Ali, a man with close links to the IFE, was appointed as the council's assistant chief executive, despite headhunters saying he was unqualified for the job.

Mr Ali was also removed after this newspaper's investigation, but he was present at Mr Rahman's campaign launch and is expected to return to the Town Hall should Mr Rahman be elected.

During the campaign, Mr Rahman's supporters have targeted the Bangladeshi community electorate with a blitz of tens of thousands of leaflets falsely claiming that their Labour rival, Mr Abbas, is a "racist", a "wife-beater", and a bankrupt.

One leaflet delivered door-to-door on Friday falsely claimed that Mr Abbas had "obnoxiously" insulted the imam of Mecca, "initiated a physical attack" against his political opponents and was guilty of "racist TV slurs".

"It is a hugely well-financed operation and is making a real impact in the Bangladeshi community," said one Labour councillor. "In a low-turnout election, it could make the difference between victory and defeat."

Mr Rahman, who insists he is paying for his entire campaign out of his own pocket, says he is the victim of "racism" and "unfairness" by the Labour Party.

Wow, who would have expected that that would be his response? Islamic supremacist cries racism! It's unprecedented!

"I won the vote of the membership. The imposition of Cllr Abbas in my place is an insult to the democratic process," he said.

Mr Rahman said that if elected he would "work to bring together our diverse communities". However, one of his leading supporters, Wais Islam, a former Tower Hamlets councillor, recently posted anti-Semitic insults about a local journalist on his Facebook page, though he later apologised for them.

Another prominent Tower Hamlets racist, Abul Hussain - expelled from George Galloway's Respect party for making anti-Semitic remarks - has organised campaign meetings on Mr Rahman's behalf....

Over at News Real Blog, David Swindle examines the Wikipedia biographies of Walid Shoebat, Brigitte Gabriel, Pamela Geller, Daniel Pipes and me, and finds -- surprise of surprises! -- that they're relentlessly biased in order to give readers a negative impression of all of us.

I've written about this before, and it seems worse than ever now. There appears to be a group of people who have become Wikipedia administrators who hover over the bios of enemies of the Left and Islamic supremacism, "correcting" within seconds any changes to the bias and outright defamation that fill these bios now.

Check out Swindle's piece -- you'll see in the bios Ibrahim "Honest Ibe" Hooper of Hamas-linked CAIR and Saudi-funded pseudo-academic John Esposito cited as objective authorities. You'll find in my bio Karen Armstrong's criticism cited, but not even a mention of my point-by-point rebuttal of her claims.

Then, just for fun, go consult the Wikipedia bios of people like Reza Aslan of the Islamic regime apologist group NIAC, Esposito and Hooper. You'll see immediately the total absence of the lengthy "criticism" sections, which are supposedly designed to give the reader an objective view, that are so prominent in the bios of anti-jihadists. Now, why is that, exactly?

In that shame/honor culture, she is lucky she didn't suffer a worse fate. Anyway, this story is of interest because of what it indicates about the ease of divorce for men in Islamic law, and how this jeopardizes women.

"Man divorces wife after she jokingly slaps him," from Emirates 24/7 News, October 18 (thanks to Emad):

A Saudi husband instantly divorced his wife after she tried to joke with him by slapping his face in front of his mother, Kabar newspaper reported on Monday.

The unidentified Saudi wife apparently wanted to show her mother-in-law how happy she was with her husband when his mother visited them at their house in Riyadh, the online Arabic language paper said.

"She slapped him and laughed in front of her mother-in-law... instead of laughing or slapping her back, the shocked husband immediately divorced her," it said.

"He then kicked her out of the house and told her he would never remarry her... the man rejected all reconciliation attempts by relatives and said she could not come back to his house until Doomsday."

Allawi states the obvious about Iran. "Iran Destabilizing Entire Middle East: Former Iraq PM Allawi," from AFP, October 17:

WASHINGTON (AFP) -- Former Iraqi prime minister Iyad Allawi on Sunday accused Iran of trying to "wreak havoc" across the entire Middle East and interfering in Iraq's political process.

In an interview with CNN's "Fareed Zakaria GPS," Allawi said the region was "falling victim" to extremist groups financed by Tehran.

"We know that unfortunately Iran is trying to wreak havoc on the region, and trying to destabilize the region by destabilizing Iraq, and destabilizing Lebanon and destabilizing the Palestinian issue," Allawi said.

"And this is where unfortunately Iraq and the rest of the greater Mideast is falling victim to these terrorists who are definitely Iran-financed and supported by various governments in the region."...

"Definitely in Iraq I can say categorically that Iran is trying even to bring about change to the political process according to their wishes and requirements."...

But he denied that other countries in the region were pressuring him or interfering in Iraq's political wrangling, adding that Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah had offered strong support for an inclusive, representative government.

"So I don't believe that there are leaders in the region who are trying to fuel extremism and bring about sectarianism; unfortunately, only Iran," Allawi said.

Yeah, that's plausible.

Remind me again: which buildings did Wilders take down with those hijacked airplanes? Which Muslim filmmaker's throat did he cut on an Amsterdam street? I keep forgetting.

"Wilders is dangerous, Muslims tell court," from Expatica, October 18:

Muslims told judges trying anti-Islam MP Geert Wilders for hate speech Monday that he was dangerous, dividing a multicultural society that used to cohabit peacefully.

"Mr Wilders is a dangerous ideologist who has divided Dutch society," Naoual Abaida, a trainee lawyer with a native Dutch mother and Moroccan father, told the court.

"I am asking you to protect me as a Muslim and a Moroccan against Mr Wilders," she said, referring to his "Islam-bashing" and "insulting, polarising language"....

The prosecution service asked the court for his acquittal last Friday, saying his criticism, though hurtful, was not criminal...

"We are the daily target of xenophobic statements," Mohamed Rabbae, politician and activist, told the judges as Wilders looked on, occasionally lifting his eyebrows or making faces.

"Our children have become unsure about their future ... in this climate of discrimination, hate and enmity as propagated by Mr Wilders."

This in turn caused "anger, bitterness and a deepening of the divide between Muslims and native Dutch", said Rabbae....

ISI is Inter-Services Intelligence, Pakistan's principal intelligence agency. It is also an epicenter of the Pakistani government's support for the global jihad. "Osama in northwest Pakistan under ISI protection: Report," from PTI, October 18 (thanks to all who sent this in):

WASHINGTON: World's most wanted terrorists Osama bin Laden and his deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri may be hiding close to each other in houses in northwest Pakistan, protected by some members of ISI, a media report said on Monday.

The two top al-Qaida commanders may not be together and are not living in caves as forseen by American experts to evade detection, the CNN reported quoting a top NATO officer based in Afghanistan.

"Nobody in al-Qaida is living in a cave," said the official, who declined to be named because of the sensitivity of the intelligence matters involved, CNN said.

Rather, al-Qaida's top leadership is believed to be living in relative comfort, protected by locals and some members of the Pakistani intelligence services ISI, the official said.

Pakistan has repeatedly denied protecting members of the al-Qaida leadership.

The official said the general region where Osama is likely to have moved around in recent years ranges from the mountainous Chitral area in the far northwest near the Chinese border, to the Kurram Valley which neighbors Afghanistan's Tora Bora, one of the Taliban strongholds during the US invasion in 2001.

Tora Bora is also the region from which Osama is believed to have escaped during a US bombing raid in late 2001. US officials have long said there have been no confirmed sightings of Osama or Zawahiri for several years.

The area that the official described covers hundreds of square miles of some of the most rugged terrain in Pakistan inhabited by fiercely independent tribes.

The official also confirmed the US assessment that Mullah Omar, the leader of the Taliban, has moved between the cities of Quetta and Karachi in Pakistan over the last several months....

Pakistan's interior minister Rehman Malik today said that similar reports of bin Laden and Mullah Omar's whereabouts have proven false in the past.

Malik denied the two men are on Pakistani soil, but said that any information to the contrary should be shared with Pakistani officials so that they can take "immediate action" to arrest the pair, CNN reported....

Oh, yes, that would be just the thing to do.

The lead story in Monday's FrontPage is my piece about the prosecutors recommending that Geert Wilders be found not guilty of the trumped-up Stalinist crimes of which he stands accused:

Friday came the good news: Amsterdam public prosecutors Birgit van Roessel and Paul Velleman declared Dutch freedom fighter Geert Wilders not guilty of discrimination against Muslims and inciting hatred against them. But his trial continues: the prosecutors' decision is not final. A judge will issue a ruling on November 5, and he doesn't have to follow the prosecutors' recommendations. So the freedom of speech still hangs in the balance in the Netherlands, as well as in Europe and the West in general.

Nonetheless, van Roessel and Velleman brought an unexpected bit of common sense to this ridiculous and ominous show trial. Regarding Wilders' much-trumpeted call to ban the Koran, the prosecutors said, according to Dutch News [1], that "comments about banning the Koran can be discriminatory, but because Wilders wants to pursue a ban on democratic lines, there is no question of incitement to discrimination 'as laid down in law.'"

Many of Wilders' critics, and even some who would otherwise support his stand for human rights against the discrimination and oppression of Sharia, have professed to find an inconsistency in Wilders' defense of the freedom of speech and call to ban the Koran. However, in this Wilders was actually calling upon Dutch authorities to be consistent themselves: the Netherlands has "hate speech" laws, under which Mein Kampf is banned. Wilders said in the Dutch Parliament that "the Koran is a book that incites to violence," and that "the distribution of such texts is unlawful according to Article 132 of our Penal Code." If Mein Kampf could be banned under that article, why not another book that manifestly incites its readers to violence and hatred?

I myself don't support "hate speech" laws or the banning of any book. While there is no justification for speech that is genuinely and legitimately hateful -- racial slurs, etc., "hate speech" laws are simply tools in the hands of those who are entrusted with deciding what constitutes "hate speech" in the first place: the powerful can all too easily use them to label their opposition "hateful" and thereby silence dissent. But as long as the Netherlands has such laws, Dutch authorities should not apply them selectively, and Wilders is not self-contradictory in standing up for the freedom of speech while calling for these laws to be applied consistently, not in a self-serving and politically manipulative manner.

Meanwhile, regarding his comparison of the Koran with Mein Kampf, van Roessel and Velleman called it "crude but that did not make it punishable," and generously acknowledged that Wilders had spoken out not against Muslims as such, but against the threat to human rights and Dutch society represented by the growing assertiveness of Islam in Dutch political and social life.

Nonetheless, the judge could still rule against Wilders, sending him to prison or levying a fine upon him. Wilders himself has ably articulated what's at stake: "I am being prosecuted for my political convictions. The freedom of speech is on the verge of collapsing. If a politician is not allowed to criticize an ideology anymore, this means that we are lost, and it will lead to the end of our freedom."...

There is more.

More evidence of the dishonesty and untrustworthiness of the "moderate," "bridge-building" Ground Zero mosque crowd. "More trouble for mosque man," by Kathianne Boniello for the New York Post, October 17 (thanks to Pamela Geller):

The money woes keep growing for a developer of the Ground Zero mosque.

Valley National Bank is suing Sharif El-Gamal and his real-estate company, Soho Properties, seeking $95,778 plus interest for an unrepaid loan. The firm took out a $100,000 line of credit, guaranteed by El-Gamal, from the bank in 2008, but defaulted in early 2009, according to court papers....

El-Gamal moved from the firm's offices in September after his landlord initiated eviction proceedings over $39,000 in back rent.

He also failed to pay his city taxes in January and July, but agreed to a payment plan in September for $270,000, including interest....

Maybe the clerics say nothing because they know that with there being no mandatory retaliation in Islamic law against parents for killing their children, what can they really say against honor killing? "Retaliation is obligatory against anyone who kills a human being purely intentionally and without right." However, "not subject to retaliation" is "a father or mother (or their fathers or mothers) for killing their offspring, or offspring's offspring." ('Umdat al-Salik o1.1-2).

"Blame on Clerics for Prevalence of Honor Killing in Iraqi Kurdistan," by Soran Bahadin at Kurd Net, October 9 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):

ERBIL-Hewlêr, Kurdistan region 'Iraq', -- Shawbo Abdul-Razaq, 20, was talking to an alleged boy by phone as her father came over in one of the poor Kurdish neighborhoods of Erbil. He shot her to death right there, according to a neighbor who witnessed the event.

Shawbo was murdered in Qatewi, a rural neighborhood in the capital of the federal region of Kurdistan in the north of Iraq. The murderer has run away.

Such a killing is often labeled as an extreme case of "honor killing". Honor killing is about killing a woman for having alleged pre-marriage sexual relations or extra-sexual relations with other men in addition to her husband.

While widely perceived as a cultural phenomenon here in the Kurdish society, many people blame religious men for putting a blind eye on it or even justify it.

Hassan Yusuf, a post-graduate student studying sociology at the University of Salahaddin, says that there is a lack of religious support to combat violence against women the region.

"The Mullahs [clerics] have yet to be able to inform people not to kill women. Most people have used religion as a justification after they killed a woman," said Yusuf.

But Mullah Ali Khate, who is a member of Kurdistan's Fatwa Committee- a body that issues religious verdicts-, says most religious preachers have made it clear that nobody has the right to randomly kill someone. He said they have informed the people that the court is the only institution to make such a decision.

"If a married woman or man had adultery in the presence of four witnesses, their punishment would be death by Islam," said Khate. "But this has to be decided by the court."

"However, if a single girl or boy did so, there would be not death sentence." [...]

Mullah Khidr Aziz, a preacher in the Khabat neighborhood in Erbil,www.ekurd.netbelieves that 90 percent of clerics do not talk against honor killing because they are influenced by the culture.

"I asked them why you don't talk about women killing. They said because they are afraid of people's reactions," said Aziz....

Mullah Aziz has his own experience. He said one day a man who was praying next to him. But A few minutes after he had left the mosque, he killed his single sister because he saw her standing next to man home.

According to statistics provided by the Kurdistan Regional Government, 59 women were murdered in the first six months of this year. But local non-governmental organizations say the rate is much higher....

Wait a minute. I thought poverty was supposed to cause terrorism. So how is it that university students, who are well off enough to be there in the first place, are drawn to "Islamic extremism"? Could it be because there is so much in the texts of teachings of Islam that incites to violence and hatred? Naaaah -- to think that would be "Islamophobic"!

"Islamic students at top university 'are preaching hard-line extremism,' terror experts warn," from the Daily Mail, October 17 (thanks to all who sent this in):

Radical Islamic extremism is being openly practised at a leading university campus, a report today claimed.

Think tank Quilliam said they had evidence of hard-line Islamist ideology being promoted through the leadership of the university's student Islamic Society at City University in central London.

The group had intimidated and harassed staff, students and members of minority groups, it was claimed.

The counter-extremism think tank said they had evidence of the president of City University's Islamic Society, (ISoc) openly preaching extremism during prayers held on the campus during the 2009/10 academic year.

They said the president - Saleh Patel, was recorded saying: 'When they say to us 'the Islamic state teaches to cut the hand of the thief', yes it does!

'And it also teaches us to stone the adulterer.

'When they tell us that the Islamic state tells us and teaches us to kill the apostate, yes it does!

'Because this is what Allah and his messenger have taught us and this is the religion of Allah and it is Allah who legislates and only Allah has the right to legislate.'

'When a person leaves one prayer, one prayer intentionally, he should be imprisoned for three days and three nights and told to repent.

'And if he doesn't repent and offer his prayer then he should be killed. And the difference of opinion lies with regards to how he should be killed not as to what he is - a kafir or a Muslim'.

According to students interviewed for the report, the actions of leading members of the ISoc made members of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Society (LGBT) feel 'scared'.

Some Jewish students felt 'intimidated', and the group's actions forced ordinary Muslim students to adopt hard-line Islamic practices which led to some Muslim students publishing an open letter complaining that their religion had been 'hijacked' by the ISoc....

More burqa ban fallout. It was swell of the Saudis to clue the French in about this, wasn't it, after the Saudis have spent so much money fostering just this kind of thing. "Official: New al Qaeda threat targets Europe, 'notably France,'" from CNN, October 17 (thanks to all who sent this in):

Paris, France (CNN) -- Saudi Arabian intelligence services are warning of a new terrorist threat from al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula targeting Europe, especially France, French Interior Minister Brice Hortefeux said in a radio interview Sunday.

"Several days ago the Saudi services alerted their European counterparts that there was a terrorist threat on the continent, notably in France, coming from al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula," Hortefeux told RTL Radio. The message indicated the branch of al Qaeda was active or about to become active in Europe.

"The threat is real and our vigilance is intact," he said. France's terror alert level is at Reinforced Red, the second-highest level below Scarlette Red. "Vigilance is total," Hortefeux said....

It seems that Misunderstanders of Islam abound in the Middle East, and are making life difficult for Christians there by, oddly enough, enforcing elements of the old laws of dhimmitude that only greasy Islamophobes seem to think are still part of Islamic law as any Muslim understands it today. Non-Muslims may not have authority over Muslims, so they're denied certain jobs; the penalty for apostasy is death, and so converts from Islam live in fear; and if anyone speaks up about the plight of non-Muslims, it gets worse, because to complain is to violate the contract of "protection" that is dhimmitude.

"Vatican Bishops Ponder Middle East Christians," by Edward Yeranian for the Voice of America, October 17:

Vatican bishops are going into the second week of a synod to discuss the future of Christians in the Middle East, amid scattered persecution and an ongoing exodus from the region.

The Sunday service at the old Anglican church in Cairo's Garden City was sparsely attended. Sunday is not an official holiday in Egypt and many Christians cannot take time off from their jobs to attend church. Some churches in the Middle East hold worship services on Friday, the Muslim sabbath, instead.

As a Vatican synod enters a second week of deliberations over the thinning ranks of Christians in the Middle East, many Christians say life for them in a Muslim environment is becoming more difficult....

A young man who lives in Beirut's largely Muslim Hamra district, Ziyad Hajjar, says being a Christian in the predominantly Muslim Middle East, is not an enviable position.

"[Muslim] people have the power here in the Middle East and we cannot say anything. We cannot talk about our religion because here it is dangerous. Here, [Muslims] can easily make problems for you if they found out you are Christian."

In Cairo, Samir, a Christian refugee from Sudan, says that Christians are persecuted in Egypt and in his homeland.

He said it is difficult for a Christian to find work because many fields are closed to them. Samir complains that people tell him and other Christians that they will not get jobs if they are not Muslim. He adds that the situation is similar in the Sudan and that Christians often are told they have the choice of converting to Islam or dying of starvation.

Samir says that many families face the stark choice of sending their children to Islamic schools or not sending them to school at all. "Many Christian families," he says, "are thinking of leaving because they do not want to send their children to an Islamic school."

Samir says the worst form of persecution is the killing of converts to Christianity. Some Christians, like himself, have converted to Christianity, but they face an uncertain fate. "Islam forbids conversion," he notes, "and they often kill apostates....

Misunderstanding Islam on a massive scale!

Jihad Watch reader Mike read this post about a New York Times article in which the author, James C. McKinley, Jr., noted that Fort Hood jihadist Nidal Hasan shouted "Allahu akbar" before he started on his mass-murder spree, and then said, "Yet the gunman and his motive remain an enigma."

McKinley did mention the "Allahu akbar," but McKinley ignored the mountain of evidence indicating that Hasan was a jihadist, including Hasan's own PowerPoint presentation delineating Islam's theology of jihad and warning that Muslims should be allowed to opt out of the U.S. military because adverse consequences could ensue if they were made to fight fellow Muslims, and the fact that he passed out Qur'ans on the morning of his mass murders. So Mike wrote this to McKinley at the Times:

J, "The gunman and his motive remain an enigma."

I'm not sure I've ever seen a better example of cultural rot than this sentence.

We live in a bizarre age when not only to traitors and jihadis get full rights of American citizens, but more bizarrely people like you continue to turn yourself into a human pretzel to avoid connecting the religion of Islam to the violence it inspired in Hasan's own words and deeds.

You're just another ass hat working at a newspaper gainfully employed to keep people confused.

Harsh? Maybe. But right. And in a magnificent example of the media elite's contempt for the people it continues to try to fool, McKinley responded with this:

Fuck you

Of course it has. It was based on faulty assumptions: namely, that all cultures essentially share the same values and aspirations for the future. That all cultures are in agreement on some fundamental level on what "freedom," "dignity," "justice," and "human rights" mean, in line with the expectations that Western cultures hold for those terms. That Islamic teachings and laws are fully compatible with Western understandings of the aforementioned terms, or that the differences are nothing that can't be smoothed over with a little "dialogue" and perhaps accommodation.

And lastly, there is the belief that people are really all the same deep down, except for when they're different, and that's always something to celebrate. One who does not buy this bill of goods is branded backwards at best (more "dialogue!"), and hateful at worst.

And that brings us to Europe in 2010. "Merkel: German multiculturalism 'utterly failed'," by Melissa Eddy for the Associated Press, October 17:

BERLIN - Chancellor Angela Merkel's declaration that Germany's attempts to build a multicultural society had "utterly failed" is feeding a growing debate over how to deal with the millions of foreigners who call the country home.

Merkel told a meeting of young members of her conservative Christian Democratic Union that while immigrants are welcome in Germany, they must learn the language and accept the country's cultural norms -- sounding a note heard increasingly across Europe as it battles an economic slump and worries about homegrown terrorism.

The media may blame what but will, but this issue transcends economics and even the threat of terrorism. If there were never another terrorist attack in Europe, the Islamization of the continent and its implications for human rights would still be an issue.

"This multicultural approach, saying that we simply live side by side and live happily with each other has failed. Utterly failed," Merkel said.

Merkel's comments were met with applause by the more conservative members of her party, but some Germans in cosmopolitan Berlin argued Sunday she was out of touch with the country's daily life.

"I think her statement is very black and white and does not reflect honestly the lifestyle people are living here," said Daniela Jonas, a German setting up a flea market in the city's diverse Kreuzberg district, where immigrants and native-born Germans live among each other.

Germany and other European countries have grappled with the idea of themselves as immigration nations and Merkel has long been skeptical of the country's attempts to build a multicultural society that includes its estimated 5 million Muslims.

Many immigrants speak little or no German, work in low paying jobs or live off of government handouts at the same time the country faces an aging population and a shortage of highly skilled workers.

"Germany needs more qualified immigration to maintain its economic advantage and deal with the demographic developments," Volker Beck, a lawmaker with the opposition Greens party said Sunday.

Merkel acknowledged in her Saturday comments that then-West Germany in the 1960s opened its doors to Turkish laborers who helped the nation rebuild from the ruins of World War II. Yet German politicians believed those laborers would eventually return home. Instead, many have stayed and their children's children are now starting families here.

A European Championship football qualifier between Germany and Turkey last week reflected built-up tensions. Star Germany player Mesut Oezil, who is of Turkish heritage, was whistled and booed throughout the game by Turkey fans -- who outnumbered German supporters in Berlin's Olympic stadium.

The 22-year-old Oezil has become Merkel's poster child for successful integration, and Turkish President Abdullah Gul said in an interview Saturday that he supported Oezil's decision to play for Germany instead of his parents' native Turkey.

Gul also called on Turks living in Germany to learn to speak German "fluently and without an accent," but insisted it was up to German politicians to create the opportunities for its Turkish citizens to learn the language and integrate into society.

"That must begin in kindergarten," Gul told the Sueddeutsche Zeitung. "I have told Mrs. Merkel that."

Last week, several German universities launched departments to train imams who would be able to lead prayers in German as well as Turkish. Most imams in Germany are sent from Turkey and speak no German.

As reported here. It would not, however, do anything about the content of Islamic texts and teachings that perpetuate practices inimical to Western standards of human rights and freedom of conscience.

Some argued Sunday that Merkel's comment makes them feel less welcome, and do nothing to encourage integration.

"It's a shame," said a man who gave his name only as Hakim, an immigrant from Morocco. "It is not good for the atmosphere in Germany and it is not a helpful comment."

"Her father called 911 on Wednesday, saying he had 'slapped' his daughter during an argument at their apartment."

Maybe he forgot he was under Canadian law for a moment, as Islamic law is curiously less gung-ho about penalties for parents who kill their children, especially when one stops to think of what's higher on the list for Sharia's punishments. That includes apostasy from Islam, for which the penalty is death, according to Muhammad's own command. That is also of interest here in light of the victim's reported refusal to participate in prayers.

But for children: "Retaliation is obligatory against anyone who kills a human being purely intentionally and without right." However, "not subject to retaliation" is "a father or mother (or their fathers or mothers) for killing their offspring, or offspring's offspring." ('Umdat al-Salik o1.1-2.)."

Apologists will protest that 'Umdat al-Salik is but one book. However, it is one book that was certified as "reliable" as a manual for Shafi Islamic jurisprudence by Al-Azhar University, one of the highest institutions of learning in Sunni Islam. Why, pray tell, didn't Al-Azhar, where one would think "misunderstanding" Islam would be less of an issue, kick it to the curb as un-Islamic, and morally reprehensible in general?

Meanwhile, how many others like Noutene Sidime live in terror in Canada, the U.S., and elsewhere, while the apologists spin and the politically correct maintain their polite silence?

Lastly, note the headline. Note what's important here. "Family rallies around accused father," by Irwin Block for Postmedia News, October 13 (thanks to Patrick):

"MONTREAL - The extended family of a 71-year-old father charged with aggravated assault in the death of his 13-year-old daughter has rallied in support of both victim and accused.

They spoke of Moussa Sidime's commitment to family as they poured out their love for his dead daughter Noutene.

Standing beside a makeshift shrine of flowers and notes from family and friends next to the family's Longueuil, Que., apartment, family spokesperson Mamoudou Kaba read from a statement.

In it, some 13 family members expressed their love for the "beautiful and intelligent" Noutene, who died on Saturday, three days after she was struck and fell into a coma.

Her father called 911 on Wednesday, saying he had "slapped" his daughter during an argument at their apartment.

Some of the girl's neighbours told reporters that there was conflict in the family because Noutene didn't always want to pray with her family, who are Muslim. But several close friends yesterday disputed those statements.

Qur'an 4:34: Allah himself establishes that a man can beat the women under his control if he fears disobedience from them. These are the consequences.

The family, with roots in Guinea, was "devastated" by the loss of the "beloved" teenager, they said.

She was "beautiful, intelligent and a brilliant student, much like her father." Two years ago, she won a math prize and was making plans to follow her sisters academically, hoping to become a lawyer.

Poverty and ignorance can't be blamed here:

The accused, Moussa Sidime, was described as the family cornerstone, an architect with degrees from Columbia University in New York and Universite Laval in Quebec City. Mr. Sidime appeared in a Longueuil courtroom briefly yesterday, where his bail hearing was postponed until Friday. His lawyer, Marie-Josee Duhaime, said, "He is overcome by the situation, he is very sad."

Crown prosecutor Julie Laborde said she is awaiting the results of an autopsy to determine the girl's cause of death and whether a more serious charge should be laid.

If her death is related more directly to any blows received, a charge of manslaughter or second-degree murder is considered a possibility....

This is no surprise, really. Islamic supremacist groups in the U.S. use threats and intimidation against all who challenge them, also -- and so it is no surprise that an Islamic school in Minnesota that is receiving public funding would be trafficking in the same thing with investigators and those who are challenging it in court. These actions reflect the same mindset that is held by those who try to intimidate into silence those who stand for freedom and destroy them personally. And they will increasingly poison the public discourse.

"TiZA vs. the search for truth: The school -- public, mind you -- tries to intimidate all who would challenge it," by Katherine Kersten for the Star Tribune, October 16 (thanks to Pamela Geller, who supplies a good deal of useful background information):

The battle over the role of Islam in a Minnesota public school is heating up again in a federal courtroom in St. Paul. The conflict began in January 2009, when the ACLU of Minnesota sued Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy -- a K-8 charter school with campuses in Inver Grove Heights and Blaine -- for violating constitutional prohibitions against government endorsement of religion.

TiZA since has fought tooth and nail -- erecting procedural barriers to prevent the ACLU from investigating what goes on behind its doors. The school's tactics have gone far beyond the usual rough-and-tumble of lawyers in our adversary system. Its chief tool has been attempted intimidation of all who would draw back the curtain on its secrets.

One of TiZA's first targets was the ACLU itself. A few months after the suit began, the school filed a $100,000-plus defamation claim, citing ACLU executive director Chuck Samuelson's simple statement that "[TiZA is] a theocratic school ... as plain as the substantial nose on my face." The court dismissed the claim.

In January 2010, the ACLU was back in court to seek a protective order, on grounds that intimidation by TiZA was discouraging potential witnesses from appearing. The ACLU filed affidavits by a former TiZA parent and a former TiZA staff member, who described what they interpreted as threats of violence against them. In her affidavit, the female staff member said that Asad Zaman -- TiZA's executive director -- had suggested after she displeased him: "We could just kill you, yeah tell your husband we'll do his job for him." (Zaman has no recollection of making such a statement, he said in an affidavit.) The court barred witness harassment or intimidation by either party.

In June 2010, the ACLU returned to court to quash what it described as yet another TiZA attempt to intimidate current and former employees from speaking about what they had seen at the public school. TiZA's "Staff Handbooks include a secrecy clause, and related threat of legal action for violating it," according to the ACLU's court filings. TiZA "wields [these provisions] as a sledgehammer to keep former employees quiet about what they saw at the school." As a result, "former TiZA employees have expressed fear about speaking to the ACLU."...

There is much more. Be sure to read it all.

"The Islamic sharia laws of Iran lay down amputation as punishment for repeated thefts," says AFP. Do the "Islamic sharia laws" of any other country lay down anything else besides amputation as punishment for repeated thefts? No, they don't, because that part of Sharia is Qur'anic and thus non-negotiable: "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." -- Qur'an 5:38.

Are there Muslim-majority countries that do not prescribe amputation for theft? Yes, but they do so because they have implemented Western-style legal codes in whole or part, not because they have a different version of Sharia.

"Iranian chocolate thief 'to have hand chopped off,'" from AFP, October 16 (thanks to all who sent this in):

An Iranian court has condemned a man convicted of robbing chocolates and cocoa from a Tehran pastry shop to have a hand chopped off, Fars news agency reported on Saturday....

Fars said police arrested him on May 29 and found in his possession 900 dollars worth of cash, three pair of gloves, chocolate and cocoa.

The Islamic sharia laws of Iran lay down amputation as punishment for repeated thefts.

Cases of amputation have been increasing due to a rise in robberies on the back of growing poverty in Iran. Last week, Tehran amputated a hand of a man found guilty of two robberies in the northeastern holy city of Mashhad.

It's not enough for them that he shouted "Allahu akbar!" before he started shooting. After all, they know that Islam is a Religion of Peace™ and that jihad is an interior spiritual struggle. "At Hearing on Fort Hood Attack, Few Clues," by James C. McKinley, Jr., for the New York Times, October 15 (thanks to Sayid):

FORT HOOD, Tex. -- Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, with a blanket draped over his shoulders and a watch cap pulled low over his dark eyes, listened impassively in recent days as several survivors of his murderous rampage a year ago rose and pointed to him as the gunman who had shot them.

No emotion or hint of the defendant's thoughts flickered across his pale features, as more than two dozen other soldiers and civilians spoke under oath about their struggle to survive in the terrifying minutes after he yelled "Allahu akbar!" -- "God is great" in Arabic -- and started shooting. He sank low in his wheelchair -- he is paralyzed from the waist down after the police shot him to end his shooting attack on Nov. 5 -- and stared intensely at the witnesses. At times he made small, precise notes on a legal pad, but he said nothing to his lawyers....

Yet the gunman and his motive remain an enigma. And there were few clues about what sort of defense Major Hasan, a 40-year-old Army psychiatrist, would mount in the face of such overwhelming evidence....

The lead defense attorney, John Galligan, has left open the possibility he might mount an insanity defense, yet he blocked a mental evaluation of his client a week before the hearing, saying that Major Hasan was not given enough notice....

Start acting crazy, Nidal!

Over three days, more than two dozen witnesses at the hearing described how Major Hasan shouted "Allahu akbar!" and then opened fire with a laser-guided handgun at a crowd of soldiers as they waited to see medical staff members before deployment. He gunned down one man who tried to hit him with a chair and chased another soldier out of the building to shoot him, witnesses said....

In one of an apparently endless series of fawning, softball interviews from the mainstream media (just once I'd like to see Sharif El-Gamal get interviewed the way Pamela Geller does or I do on a routine basis), thug Ground Zero mosque developer Sharif El-Gamal actually has the gall to complain about the media treatment he has gotten from some quarters, and claims that the Ground Zero mosque is neither a mosque nor at Ground Zero.

There's just one problem with that very common claim: it contradicts explicit statements made by Daisy Khan, a leader of the Ground Zero mosque initiative and wife of the Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf. I was present at a lower Manhattan Community Board meeting where Daisy Khan said, "There are 200 mosques in New York. What's the problem with another?"

Now Daisy Khan herself also denies that it's a mosque, which shows you what kind of honest brokers we're dealing with here.

El-Gamal also contradicts Rauf himself. In a New York Times article (now scrubbed of these statements about the mosque, interestingly enough) Rauf seems to think that the mosque's location near Ground Zero is very important:

"New York is the capital of the world, and this location close to 9/11 is iconic," said the 61-year-old cleric, who is known for being a longtime critic of radical Islam. Being in a building "where a piece of the wreckage fell," he added, "sends the opposite statement to what happened on 9/11 ... We want to push back against the extremists."

"The Closing: Sharif El-Gamal," by Candace Taylor in The Real Deal, October 1 (thanks to Joan):

What has been the most upsetting thing for you about the response to the project?

There has been a deception by the forces of evil -- I'll just call it that -- saying that this is the "ground zero mosque." One, it's not a mosque. Two, it's not at ground zero. There was a narrative that was built in to provoke and sensationalize a topic that should have not gotten the attention that it got.

Which publications have been the most fair to you?

The New York Times has been pretty good to us. MSNBC, Keith Olbermann, Anderson Cooper, CNN has been pretty fair. Fox has just the most bizarre agenda in the world. The New York Post and the Daily News are just tabloids who will write anything to get a paper sold.

Would you like to set the record straight on anything?

This is going to be a community center. It's going to serve the needs of Lower Manhattan. Today, Lower Manhattan has mushroomed into a residential neighborhood -- there are over 50,000 residents. I saw this as an opportunity to build a center to serve the Muslim community that needs a prayer space, but also at the same time to build a world-class community center like the Jewish Community Center or the 92nd Street Y, with robust programming and phenomenal athletic and recreational facilities. ... There's such an ignorance and misperception of what Islam means. And I hope that this project will start educating people about my faith system and my beliefs.

I think it already has.