December 2011 Archives

Dabah "Debbi" Almontaser sent me this tweet a few hours ago, hoping I'd get a DWI on this New Year's Eve. No such luck, Dabah, but it is revealing in its open hatred from an Islamic supremacist who ordinarily strikes a pose of "peace" and "tolerance" and pretends that those who are fighting for freedom and equality of rights are "bigots" and "hatemongers" -- when actually it is only she and her comrades who fit that definition.

Almontaser later removed this tweet, thereby revealing that it embarrassed her, but alas, I had already retweeted it and thus was able to get the screenshot above. Those who may be unfamiliar with her may be interested to know that Dabah Almontaser was the principal of Khalil Gibran Academy, the Arabic public school in New York City, until she endorsed the "initifada," the violent jihad against Israel. Later she appeared at a demonstration in favor of a Muslim Brotherhood mosque in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn. The Muslim Brotherhood is dedicated in its own words to "eliminating and destroying Western civilization from within."

Yet despite these unsavory and traitorous ties, Dabah Almontaser has the ear of the political elites in New York -- while this vile hatemonger wishes evil upon freedom fighters.

Happy New Year, Dabah. May there be justice for you and for all of us in 2012.

The jihad goes up in smoke, as Nasrallah gets richer and richer. The Taliban has long financed its activities through drugs as well. More on this story. "Report: Hizbullah Laundered Drug Money in US Banks," by Chana Ya'ar in Israel National News, December 29 (thanks to Pamela Geller):

The Hizbullah terrorist organization is in hot water over a scheme to launder hundreds of millions of dollars in multi-national drug trafficking revenues.

According to a report published by the World News Tribune, the Lebanon-based terrorist organization is using American banks and other financial institutions to process money earned from trafficking in South America.

The complaint filed by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and the Department of Justice, charges Hizbullah with using the money to buy used cars in the U.S. for transport to West Africa, where they are then sold, mostly in Benin....

However, some intelligence sources are questioning how much of the funds are actually being used for the day-to-day operations of the terrorist organization, and how much is going to line the pockets of its leader, Hassan Nasrallah....

Here is an excerpt of the latest post over at Liberated:

...I think you guys need to go back and read my posts again. I have mentioned it pretty clearly that I am a very new apostate, just been over two months now when I actually gave up Islam, and you guys expect me to pack my bags and escape to the United States or Canada or whichever country offers me asylum? Do you think it is that easy to wind up your 25 years of life living in the same country in just 2 months? To give up my job where I have been working for 11 years in a blink of an eye? To go to my bank and tell them I won’t be able to pay the interest free loan that they have given me to buy my car and that they can probably take the car and sell it themselves? I cannot just wake up one morning and run away from my existence. It needs proper planning and execution and it will happen at the right time, but for the time being, I am happy being just what I am – A closeted Apostate.

What about when I land in America or Canada? What then? Where will I live? Where will I work? Who will help me in getting a job and a legal status? There are far too many illegal immigrants in those countries as it is, and there is no way I am going to add one more to the list.

Besides that, what will I tell my family? Besides my parents, brothers and sister, I have a huge extended family, including grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins. I have 3 nieces and 2 nephews who love me to bits. Can I live with the fact that my brothers and sister would tell them that their favorite aunty is dead to them? That would be so devastating for me and even for them. I do not want to lose my family, and that is why I can never come out in the open with my apostasy....

Read it all.

A crime. Not just unwise, or ill-advised, or imprudent. A crime.

What fun it will be when Sharia comes to Bergdorf's and Rodeo Drive. "Saudi Mufti Says Women Selling Female Accessories Is Crime: Hayat," by Donna Abu-Nasr for Bloomberg, December 31 (thanks to Block Ness):

Employing women in shops selling female accessories is a crime and disrespectful, Al-Hayat reported, citing Saudi Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdulaziz al-Sheikh.

Al-Sheikh’s remarks came at a sermon yesterday at a mosque in Riyadh, the newspaper reported.

Saudi Arabia’s Labor Ministry issued a directive in July demanding that lingerie and cosmetics stores replace salesmen with women.

The earlier report we posted on "confidence building measures" noted that the U.S. "has asked representatives of the Taliban to match that confidence-building measure with some of their own. Those could include a denunciation of international terrorism and a public willingness to enter formal political talks with the government headed by Afghan President Hamid Karzai."

According to that account, we could be pledging American actions -- big, risky ones -- in exchange for words from the Taliban. What could possibly go wrong? After all, the Taliban don't want Fazl and the other detainees back in Afghan custody just to visit: in Afghan custody, they stand to benefit from any number of "sudden" security lapses and inside help, as has occurred in the massive Kandahar prison break last year.

"U.S. mulls transfer of Taliban prisoner in perilous peace bid," by Mark Hosenball, Missy Ryan and Warren Strobel for Reuters, December 29:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration is considering transferring to Afghan custody a senior Taliban official suspected of major human rights abuses as part of a long-shot bid to improve the prospects of a peace deal in Afghanistan, Reuters has learned.

The potential hand-over of Mohammed Fazl, a 'high-risk detainee' held at the Guantanamo Bay military prison since early 2002, has set off alarms on Capitol Hill and among some U.S. intelligence officials.

As a senior commander of the Taliban army, Fazl is alleged to be responsible for the killing of thousands of Afghanistan's minority Shi'ite Muslims between 1998 and 2001.

According to U.S. military documents made public by WikiLeaks, he was also on the scene of a November 2001 prison riot that killed CIA operative Johnny Micheal Spann, the first American who died in combat in the Afghan war. There is no evidence, however, that Fazl played any direct role in Spann's death.

Senior U.S. officials have said their 10-month-long effort to set up substantive negotiations between the weak government of Afghan President Hamid Karzai and the Taliban has reached a make-or-break moment. Reuters reported earlier this month that they are proposing an exchange of "confidence-building measures," including the transfer of five detainees from Guantanamo and the establishment of a Taliban office outside of Afghanistan.

Now Reuters has learned from U.S. government sources the identity of one of the five detainees in question.

The detainees, the officials emphasized, would not be set free, but remain in some sort of further custody. It is unclear precisely what conditions they would be held under.

In response to inquiries by Reuters, a senior administration official said that the release of Fazl and four other Taliban members had been requested by the Afghan government and Taliban representatives as far back as 2005.

The debate surrounding the White House's consideration of high-profile prisoners such as Fazl illustrates the delicate course it must tread both at home and abroad as it seeks to move the nascent peace process ahead.

One U.S. intelligence official said there had been intense bipartisan opposition in Congress to the proposed transfer.

"I can tell you that the hair on the back of my neck went up when they walked in with this a month ago, and there's been very, very strong letters fired off to the administration," the official said on condition of anonymity....

As noted in the previous posting on developments in the Maldives, "the way Sharia's proponents tend to talk about brothels and prostitution as a scare tactic, you'd think every other house on the block was a whorehouse." Searching our archives on the term "prostitutes" or "whores" turns up these stories, Malaysia's "Obedient Wives Club," and warnings that this or that defiance of Sharia will let a thousand brothels bloom.

In all likelihood, it is the mixed company of men and women that suffices to get many such outfits branded as brothels in the current move to shut down all spas and health centers in resorts. One can't rule out the existence of a "massage parlor" of the wink-wink nudge-nudge variety, but the "threat" here seems deliberately overstated in order to shut down an entire sector of businesses.

"Concern over Maldives spa 'prostitution' closures," from BBC News, December 30 (thanks to Gl):

Tourism operators in the Maldives have expressed concern over a government order to shut down all spas and health centres in resorts.

The ban followed allegations by an opposition Islamist party that spas were being used for prostitution.

Tourism is a key foreign exchange earner for the Maldives.

The islands are a popular destination for wealthy honeymooners and celebrities where luxury rooms can cost up to $12,000 (£7,748) a day.

The Maldives Association of Tourism Industry said the ban would harm the economy. It has appealed for a resolution of the issue.

The tourism ministry on Thursday instructed all resort hotels across the hundreds of islands that make up the Maldives to shut down spas and health centres offering beauty treatments and massages with immediate effect.

Last week the opposition Adhaalath party, a conservative religious movement, staged a protest in the capital Male against such spas, arguing that they were being used as brothels.

"An Islamic party has been agitating against spas hoping to embarrass the government," a senior government figure told the AFP news agency....

The constitution defines Malays as Muslims in one fell swoop (Article 160 (2)). For a Christian to criticize Malay supremacism as enshrined in Article 153 is to criticize Islamic supremacism. Therefore, this Christian leader is in trouble twice: for defying his second-class status as a non-Malay, and all the more for defying his second-class status as a non-Muslim.

"Christian Malay leader could be charged with sedition," by Michael Ireland for Assist News Service, December 30 (thanks to Twostellas):

An evangelical Christian leader in Malaysia may face charges of sedition following a statement he made about a section of the country's constitution this past weekend.

TheMalaysianinsider.com reports Datuk Ibrahim Ali, leader of the Perkasa movement, saying that in order to safeguard national security, Malaysian authorities must charge with sedition those who question Article 153 of the constitution - as he claims Christian leader Rev Dr Eu Hong Seng did on Christmas Day.

"We demand the government use the Sedition Act on anyone who makes statements like this from now on and charge them in court," the Perkasa chief told reporters December 27.

Ibrahim Ali was referring to a statement made on Saturday by National Evangelical Christian Fellowship (NECF) chairman Eu, who likened Article 153 to "bullying" for only protecting the rights of one group.

According to the newspaper story, Article 153 of the Malay Constitution states that it is the king's responsibility "to safeguard the special position of the Malays and natives of any of the States of Sabah and Sarawak and the legitimate interests of other communities in accordance with the provisions of this Article".

Calling Eu's statement "irresponsible provocation", Ibrahim said use of the Sedition Act would deter further attempts to question the provision and preserve racial harmony.

Disputing the article would only lead to civil strife as it was part and parcel of an established social contract that could not be amended without consent from the Malay rulers, he said.

The Malay rights leader also cautioned Christians against repeating statements similar to Eu's in light of past controversies like the Damansara Utama Methodist Church (DUMC) raid earlier this year, as this would only give the impression that Christians wished to make enemies of Muslims.....

"A fool and his money are soon partying" - Steven Wright

Hizballah is reportedly going broke, but Nasrallah is said to be livin' large. "Hezbollah's Nasrallah worth $250M?" by Doron Peskin for YNet News, December 29:

American intelligence officials estimate fortune of Shiite organization's leader, senior members totals some $2 billion, which are scattered in hundreds of bank accounts across the world

Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah is worth some $250 million, a Saudi newspaper reported recently, quoting American intelligence officials.

According to the report, the fortune of Nasrallah's deputy, Sheikh Naim Qassem, and other senior organization members amounts to as much as $2 billion.

The anonymous intelligence sources believe the funds have been deposited in hundreds of bank accounts across the world, including in Europe, using fabricated or fake names.

Two Western sources are quoted as saying that the Hezbollah leaders from time to time channel millions of dollars from their bank accounts or their wives' bank accounts to senior members of the Revolutionary Guards in Iran, who are responsible for transferring money to the Shiite organization from the office of Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

According to the report, Iranian parliament members are aware of this corruption, are unhappy with it but are avoiding discussing it.

Straw companies

A British security source who worked at the embassies in Saudi Arabia and Lebanon in the 1990s is quoted as saying that the West has figured out Hezbollah's money laundering method.

According to the source, the Shiite organization's common method is setting up straw companies in Arab or African countries, which sell cars or large amounts of goods.

See also: the recent identification of a ring of over 30 U.S. auto businesses implicated in funneling almost half a billion dollars to Hizballah.

The organizations also operate small cells of six to 10 people who specialize in stealing cellular phones, personal computers or credit cards, and open fake bank accounts using the victims' details.

According to the report, the Hezbollah members also specialize in stealing passports, which are used by the organization operatives to travel around the world for commerce purposes, among others.

By setting up companies, mainly in Eastern European countries and in Soviet republics in central Asia, Hezbollah provides all the financial needs of the organization members in Lebanon.

According to a recent report among many on the organization's financial situation, senior Iranian officials are furious over an internal report pointing to corruption among Hezbollah's highest ranks.

Another report says the Iranians were "amazed" to learn of the flamboyant life led by the organization members, mainly during their visits abroad.

The military is on alert for New Year's attacks, but the security forces cannot be trusted to prevent them. They mysteriously withdrew one hour before the Alexandria church bombing on last New Year's Eve. "Egyptian Bishop Warns of Another Massacre in Nag Hammadi," by Mary Abdelmassih for the Assyrian International News Agency, December 29:

(AINA) -- Bishop Kyrillos, the Coptic Orthodox bishop of Nag Hammadi, received last week several threats of attacks to be carried out on churches in Nag Hammadi, either on New Year's Eve or Christmas Eve on January 6. "I do not want another Nag Hammadi Massacre to happen again," he said in an interview on the Egyptian independent TV Channel Al Tahrir. On January 6, 2010 6 Copts were killed and more than 15 injured in a drive-by shooting of worshippers as they left church after celebrating the Coptic Orthodox Christmas Eve's mass, which falls on January 6 according to the Julian Calender (AINA 1-7-2010).

Festivities for the Orthodox observance of Christmas are also affected:

The Nag Hammadi diocese will cancel all festivities for New Year's Eve and Christmas Eve, and will end the midnight service early and not after midnight as is the norm.

"I have reported to the police all the threats received and asked for protection. I told them that I am ready to ask our youth to organize committees to protect the churches," said Bishop Kyrillos. "Yesterday I sent an appeal to Field Marshall Tantawi, head of the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, the prime minister and the interior minister, asking them to secure Nag Hammadi, which has experienced repeated acts of violence."

At the end of 2009, despite warnings by local church authorities in Nag Hammadi of possible violence during the Coptic festivities in January 2010, police had not bolstered security for Christmas.

Bishop Kyrillos believes that the reason behind these new threats is his unwavering support for the Copts of his diocese, who are plagued by an escalating series of kidnappings. The Bishop councils his parishioners not to give in to the kidnappers by paying the ransoms, but instead to report the crime to the police. "I cannot and will not stay inactive while I see the terrified Coptic families paying all what they have, and sometimes what they do not have, to get their children back."

The leader of the kidnapping gang, Ahmed Saber, who lives in Samasta village in Bahgoura, threatened to carry out a massacre in Nag Hammadi after the security forces attempted to arrest him and his gang, but were not successful.

From August 11 until December 24, eleven kidnappings took place in Nag Hammadi and neighboring Farshout and Bahgoura, part of the parish of Nag Hammadi, and this has "escalated recently to the extent that not one week passes without kidnapping, sometimes even taking place at mid-day," said Bishop Kyrillos. "Some families report the kidnapping to the police, some are returned without paying ransoms and some families pay huge sums of money for their loved ones."

Only in 4 out of the 11 cases did families recover their children without paying ransom. Some ransoms went as high as 630,000 Egyptian pounds, paid for the release of a physician and a pharmacist, while 17-year old friends Girgis and Mina Dawood, kidnapped together on December 24, were released yesterday for a smaller ransom. "Contrary to my advice, their families paid a ransom of 130,000 for both lads." He said he does not believe the kidnappers would slaughter the children as they threaten, but they do it for the high ransoms they are demanding and eventually getting.

Bishop Kyrillos is very pessimistic regarding the threats of attacks on churches. The Nag Hammadi Massacre of 2010, was one in a series of attacks on churches during the Coptic festivities. A similar incident took place in April 2009 when Muslims opened fire on worshipers as they left the prayer service on Easter Eve in the village of Higaza, Qena Governorate, resulting in the death of Amir Stephanos (36), Ayub Said (22), and the injury of Mina Samir (35).

On New Year's Eve 2011, a bomb detonated outside the Two Saints Church in Alexandria, killing 23 and injuring 96 parishioners who were attending a New Year's Eve Mass.

Egypt's military is the last thing standing between it and Sharia rule. Thus it is also the last protection for the country's Christians. "Egypt's military: On alert for New Year's attack on Christians," from NBC, December 30 (thanks to Kenneth):

Update at 6:25 p.m. ET: Facebook has apparently taken down the account of at least one group threatening a New Year's attack on Egyptian Christians. An Arab-language Facebook page (not linked to in the story but monitored by msnbc.com reporters) no longer loads.

Original post: The Egyptian military said Friday that it was increasing security at churches across the country before the anniversary of a deadly New Year's attack on Coptic Christians in Alexandria.

The heightened state of alert before New Year's celebrations and the Coptic Christmas season came as anonymous threats against the Copts circulated on Facebook.

One of those on Friday threatened a suicide bombing of an unnamed church in Egypt and said that the church's name would be posted at 11:50 p.m. local time Saturday just before the attack. A spokesman for Facebook said it was aware of the threat "and is investigating it."

The Alexandria attack occurred just after midnight Jan. 1 as worshippers left a New Year's Mass. More than 20 people were killed, making it the worst violence against the Christian minority in Egypt in a decade....

Bloomberg insists that the NYPD's counter-terror actions were entirely legal. And do these Muslim leaders really think that a leader so completely in their power such as Bloomberg, errand boy for the Ground Zero Mosque, would circumvent the law to the slightest degree where they are concerned?

This is a naked attempt to intimidate the already compliant Bloomberg into dropping the last vestiges of anti-terror efforts in New York City.

"Muslims boycott Mayor Bloomberg's interfaith breakfast," from the BBC, December 30 (thanks to all who sent this in):

Islamic leaders in New York City have boycotted Mayor Michael Bloomberg's annual interfaith breakfast, in protest at reports of surveillance on Muslims.

They declined their invitations to the annual meeting in a letter outlining their concerns.

The Associated Press news agency first reported in August that the city police department had tried to infiltrate Muslim neighbourhoods and mosques.

Mr Bloomberg has insisted the city's counter-terrorism efforts are legal.

Fourteen Muslim leaders and a number of other community figures - including rabbis, a Roman Catholic nun and Protestant pastors - signed the letter boycotting the Friday breakfast, which is meant to celebrate the city's diversity.

Rabbi Michael Weisser, however, said beforehand that he would attend the breakfast after Muslim friends urged him to use the opportunity to raise their concerns with the mayor.

Rabbi Weisser told the Associated Press he had no problem with the police department following leads, but objected to any official targeting of Muslim organisations.

"From a Jewish perspective, it reminded me of things that were going on in the 1930s in Germany," Rabbi Weisser said.

Does Rabbi Weisser have any idea what was really going on in the 1930s in Germany? The "Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service" of April 7, 1933 barred Jews from civil service jobs. Are Muslims barred from civil service jobs in New York or anywhere in the U.S.? No. That same month, the Nazis restricted the number of Jewish students at German schools and universities. Are Muslims restricted in number at American schools and universities? They are not. Then in September 1935, the Nuremberg Laws stripped Jews of German citizenship and forbade marriage between Jews and Germans. Are Muslims able to become American citizens and marry American non-Muslims? Yes. In 1937 and 1938, Jewish doctors were forbidden to treat non-Jews, and Jewish lawyers disbarred. Are Muslims able to practice medicine and law in the U.S.? Yes, they are.

In short, Muslims are not, nor should they be, subject to restrictions that are remotely comparable to those that Jews suffered in Nazi Germany in the 1930s. Weisser's comparison is monstrous, both for its trivialization of the suffering of Jews in Nazi Germany, and for its libelous slur against the NYPD.

"We don't need that in America. We can't be painting a whole group of people with the same broad brush."....

Mr Bloomberg has previously won praise from the city's Muslim leaders for strongly defending proposals to build an Islamic prayer and cultural centre near the former World Trade Center site.

But reports that the NYPD collected information on people who were neither accused nor suspected of wrongdoing have led to a sense of betrayal among some in the community.

According to AP, undercover officers gathered information through chatting with shop owners and patrons and playing on cricket teams, as part of a surveillance programme designed by a CIA officer.

DUBAI: Being gay in the Middle East is taboo. Crackdowns in Arab countries against homosexuals is common and swift, with many countries employing the death penalty against convicted homosexuals.

Now, a new report published by Identity, a gay magazine in Kenya, reveals that gay Kenyan men are being trafficked into the Gulf as sex slaves for the wealthy.

The report alleges that gay and bisexual men are lured from university campuses – particularly from Kenyatta University – with promises of high-paying jobs and then transported to labor as sex workers for men in the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

According to the magazine, due to Kenya’s soaring unemployment rate, the men are easily fooled into this trap.

The publication interviewed one Kenyan victim who was promised a job in Qatar but ended up suffering sexual abuse.

Qatar specifically, has no laws against human trafficking, which has made cracking down on the practice nearly impossible.

“Qatar is a transit and destination country for men and women subjected to trafficking in persons, specifically forced labor and, to a much lesser extent, forced prostitution,” the US State Department stated in a recent report.

“Men and women from Nepal, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, the Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Ethiopia, Sudan, Thailand, Egypt, Syria, Jordan, and China voluntarily travel to Qatar as laborers and domestic servants, but some subsequently face conditions indicative of involuntary servitude. These conditions include threats of serious physical or financial harm; job switching; the withholding of pay; charging workers for benefits for which the employer is responsible; restrictions on freedom of movement, including the confiscation of passports and travel documents and the withholding of exit permits; arbitrary detention; threats of legal action and deportation; false charges; and physical, mental, and sexual abuse.”

In the Emirates, while being openly gay is illegal, the community has blossomed in recent years. Mark, a gay Canadian man, told Bikyamasr.com that “the community has increased dramatically and people are more willing, and accepting, of the LGBT community here.”

But he said the report that Kenyan men are being used as sex slaves is “not surprising.”

“We have seen a lot of the elite and super wealthy want to be gay, but that would go against their traditions, so instead they often marry and then hire or do this kind of thing, to have their real desires met. It is a problem of society not opening up to the gay lifestyle and forcing it to the background,” he argued.

Will the Islamophobia never end? "Nigeria: Gunmen kill 2 in restive NE; death toll rises to 42 in Xmas attacks blamed on sect," from the Associated Press, December 30 (thanks to Twostellas):

LAGOS, Nigeria — Gunmen killed two civilians in a northeast Nigeria town plagued by attacks from a radical Muslim sect, an official said Friday, as a hospital official said one more person died from Christmas attacks blamed on the sect, raising the toll to 42.

Military spokesman Lt. Col. Hassan Ifijeh Mohammed told The Associated Press that the attack occurred after Friday afternoon prayers in a market near a mosque in the city of Maiduguri. Mohammed said the gunmen wounded a third person.

He said authorities believe the incident could either be a robbery attempt or another attack by a feared radical sect known as Boko Haram which has carried out a series of attacks and assassinations in the area....

A spokesman for the National Emergency Management Agency reported 37 deaths as of Thursday evening in the blast near Abuja.

Four more people were killed in other Christmas violence blamed on a radical Muslim sect that wants to impose Shariah law in Africa’s most populous nation.

The Boko Haram sect claimed responsibility for the coordinated Christmas Day attacks launched across Africa’s most populous nation.

Here's the latest from the Liberated One:

...As I have mentioned in my previous profile, I moved to the Middle East when I was 10 years old, with my parents and 3 other siblings. My dad used to work in a bank and retired as an Assistant Manager after working there for 20 years. It has been around 5 years since my dad retired, and he moved back to Pakistan with mom, and now they are happily staying in our ancestral home with my grandparents. My married sister also stays in Karachi close to my parents with her 3 children, whereas both my brothers are still over here in the Middle East with their families. As for me, I am a 35-year-old woman working in a bank and living in a very comfortable 2-bedroom apartment which I share with a smart dynamic & independent divorced woman. Since she is not a Muslim, I do not have to worry about my computer and internet privacy. In any case, she has her own laptop and I have my own. My parents are very orthodox and very devout Muslims but they are not fanatics, and that is precisely why I had mentioned in one of my previous posts that they might not kill me for apostasy but they will surely disown me.

So you see, I am very independent. I have my own privacy to do whatever I want, go wherever I want and read whatever I want…I drive a 2011 BMW X5 which I purchased in December 2010, so even financially I am pretty comfortable. I am not here to ask anyone for financial aid, as someone suggested yesterday. The only freedom which is NOT AVAILABLE to me in this country is changing my religion and announcing my apostasy....

Read it all.

What is your first thought when you see something offensive? It's probably not to get together with a few dozen of your closest friends and burn stuff. As has been the case in similar incidents, the ease of the transition to violence here all but suggests a rampage waiting for an excuse.

Then comes the collective punishment. "Muslim villagers burn houses of Christian family Upper Egypt," from Al Masry Al Youm, December 30:

Dozens of residents of the village of Baheeg in Assiut, Upper Egypt, burnt three houses owned by a Christian family after a Christian villager allegedly published cartoons mocking Islam on his Facebook account.

Cartoon alleged to offend Islam = three houses on fire. This mindset threatens a future of poverty and instability for Egypt, as no one is going to invest in a country where assets can be destroyed in a fit of rage at the drop of a hat.

There can be no prosperous society without stability, and no stability without a sense of priorities and self control on the individual, familial, and societal level. Stable self-government, as Egypt is said to want, depends on the government of the self.

A number of Muslim students attacked their Coptic classmate for posting the cartoons, a Muslim student told Al-Masry Al-Youm.

The Muslim students attacked the Coptic student on Thursday at Monqebad Secondary School in Assiut. Eyewitnesses said the military intervened to break up the fight and escorted the Coptic youth and his family away from the village. Later, Muslim villagers set fire to the family’s houses.

Firefighters extinguished the blaze and armed forces and police imposed a security cordon around the site of the incident.

Major General Mohamed Ibrahim, director of security in Assiut, said security forces are attempting to coordinate with Muslim clerics to calm citizens and contain the situation....

The fact that it takes this much to settle the situation speaks volumes.

You might think Islam in the Silicon Valley would be extra progressive and tolerant. In this prominent case of "one of the largest Muslim communities in the US," you'd think wrong.

Remember how often our comment-box apologists tell us they've never heard of the books discussed below, or that we're cherry-picking one or two titles to tar Islam with one broad brush. Is the MCA cherry-picking titles to give Islam a bad name? "Silicon Valley Sharia," by Kamala at WetPaint, December 27:

Apple. Google. Facebook. Sharia?

Silicon Valley has become synonymous with modernity and innovation.

And naively, one might expect Islam in Silicon Valley to share the same traits: an advanced, forward-thinking interpretation.

Presumably, the Muslim Community Association (MCA) of the San Francisco Bay Area would serve as the stewards of such a perspective. Billing itself as "one of the largest Muslim communities in the US," the MCA proudly proclaims that its members are "well-educated, well-traveled, and earn higher than average incomes in the San Francisco Bay Area." Even the mayor of Cupertino (Apple's hometown) recently visited an MCA Open House.

Yet the MCA's own web site makes it clear that Silicon Valley Islam is anything but innovative. Their online bookstore, which features a small but revealing set of "authentic" books about Islam, yields an interpretation of Islam that is draconian and unbending: an Islam dedicated to bringing Sharia to the world.

One book, Man-Made Laws vs. Shari'ah, by Abdur-Rahmaan ibn Salih al-Mahmood, makes the case that Sharia is the only acceptable set of laws for mankind, arguing that anyone that believes otherwise is a disbeliever.

Muslim apologists repeatedly tell non-Muslim audiences that Sharia is full of vague benefits, such as drivel about "the protection of human dignity," or the aim to "develop and sustain a moral and just society." Sharia supposedly "aims toward ideals of justice, fairness, and the good life." It's a "myth" that "The Shariah is repressive and against American values." It's "simply a set of rulings by which Muslims choose to draw closer to God."

There's not enough boldface font in the world for the next two paragraphs:

These apologists never seem able to reference any actual documentation of the specific rules and details of Sharia. They cite Sharia's "tremendous diversity." According to liar Reza Aslan, Sharia is "understood in thousands of different ways." He's even so bold as to claim that "there's really no such thing as just Sharia." A US State Department spokeswoman, when asked about the steady march toward Sharia in Tunisia, Libya, and Egypt, responded that Sharia "has a broad application and is understood differently in different places and by different commentators.”

Sharia, you see, is so amorphous, so varied, so nuanced that it's just too difficult a task to even write it down.

Indeed. The moment a concerned non-Muslim notices an unpleasant tenet of Sharia, Sharia becomes a shapeless jellyfish, impossible to be grasped, where no one can say. Really, how that is supposed to be reassuring does not make sense either: if we don't know what we're getting, why blindly accept an (allegedly) unknown quantity?

Yet somehow, the MCA has no problem helping its members learn all about the specifics of Sharia

Their online bookstore promotes precisely two books on Sharia. Each is filled with over 1000 pages of detailed rules and laws. Both books are written in clear, simple English, both translated from Arabic by Muslims. Both books take pride in their attention to accuracy, consistently citing the Qur'an and other authentic Islamic sources. And despite apologists' talk of diversity and justice for all, both books lay out a remarkably consistent, matter-of-fact – and ruthless – definition of Sharia.

The books are:

- Minhaj Al-Muslim, by Abu Bakr Jabir Al-Jaza'iry, and

- Reliance of the Traveller, by Ahmad ibn Naqib al-Misri

Reliance of the Traveller, though it sounds like a country album or bluegrass standard, is actually certified by none other than Al-Azhar University as a reliable guide to the Shafi'i school of Islamic jurisprudence. There sure is a lot of "misunderstanding" of Islam going on in high places.

As will be covered in detail here, both books agree on the following, non-negotiable rules:

- jihad as obligatory, perpetual warfare against non-Muslims until they convert, die, or submit to second-class status under Islam

- death for homosexuals

- death for those who leave Islam – where even mocking Islam constitutes apostasy

Read it all. The scans of the texts themselves are particularly valuable.

They already have quite a few friends there. Along with the havoc they can wreak within Libya, it would be a handy forward operating base for striking in Europe, noting that one of the major figures named below has already spent time in the United Kingdom. This development may also be a chance to bolster ties with the North African franchise, Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. "Source: Al Qaeda leader sends veteran jihadists to establish presence in Libya," by Nic Robertson and Paul Cruickshank for CNN, December 29:

(CNN) -- Al Qaeda's leadership has sent experienced jihadists to Libya in an effort to build a fighting force there, according to a Libyan source briefed by Western counter-terrorism officials.

The jihadists include one veteran fighter who had been detained in Britain on suspicion of terrorism. The source describes him as committed to al Qaeda's global cause and to attacking U.S. interests.

The source told CNN that the al Qaeda leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri, personally dispatched the former British detainee to Libya earlier this year as the Gadhafi regime lost control of large swathes of the country.

The man arrived in Libya in May and has since begun recruiting fighters in the eastern region of the country, near the Egyptian border. He now has some 200 fighters mobilized, the source added. Western intelligence agencies are aware of his activities, according to the source.

Another al Qaeda operative, of dual European-Libyan nationality, was arrested in an unnamed country on his way to Libya from the Afghan-Pakistan border region.

The individual now trying to establish a bridgehead for al Qaeda in Libya is known as "AA." His name has not been made public because of UK law on terrorist suspects who are detained but not charged.

"AA" has been close to Ayman al-Zawahiri since the 1980s and first traveled to Afghanistan in the early 1990s to join mujahideen fighting the Soviet occupation -- as did hundreds of Arab fighters.

"AA" later moved to the United Kingdom, where he began spreading al Qaeda's ideology to younger Muslims. He was an admirer of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who emerged as leader of al Qaeda in Iraq after the U.S. invasion and who led an especially brutal campaign that targeted civilians and promoted sectarian hatred between Sunni and Shia Muslims.

After the terrorist attacks in London in July 2005, heightened concern about terrorist activities in the UK led to the arrest of a number of Libyans resident in England.

"AA" was detained under what was termed a "control order," a mechanism used to detain terrorist suspects -- usually under home arrest -- without charging them. Control orders have been used in dozens of cases where the government does not want to reveal evidence in court for fear of compromising security sources. Those subject to control orders are not named by authorities.

"AA" also spent some time in Belmarsh high-security jail in the UK in 2006-07, possibly because he was seen as a flight-risk. It is also possible, according to the source, that he was resisting legal moves to have him deported to Libya. At the time, relations between the Gadhafi regime and the United Kingdom were improving, and Libyan authorities were seeking the deportation of opponents.

At some point the control order lapsed, and "AA" left Britain late in 2009 and went back to the Afghan-Pakistan border area -- taking two teenagers with him. One was subsequently killed.

Western intelligence agencies have voiced concern in public and privately about the potential for Islamist extremists and especially al Qaeda to gain a foothold in Libya....

Haniyeh is trying to look more statesman-like with this regional tour. There is, curiously, not a peep in this report about Bashir's status as a war criminal wanted by the International Criminal Court for genocide in Darfur. Then again, Bashir is consistently protected by the OIC and the Arab League. In this regard, Haniyeh is following the party line, and Hamas also has its own long-standing presence in Sudan, as noted below.

If an Israeli makes a face at a Palestinian, it is an urgent matter for the UN. But Bashir's history? Not a word. "Gaza premier, Hamas leaders meet Sudan's Bashir," from Agence France-Presse, December 29:

Gaza's Hamas premier Ismail Haniya held talks with Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir Thursday on his first official regional tour since the Islamists' 2007 power seizure in the Palestinian enclave.

Haniya, who arrived in Khartoum on Tuesday, was joined in the meeting by other high-ranking Hamas leaders -- the first time they had met as a group with Bashir, whose country has close ties with Hamas.

The Palestinian group has long maintained a base in Sudan, where its exiled chief Khaled Meshaal is a frequent visitor.

Meshaal joined the hour-long talks with Bashir, as did key Hamas figures Mahmud Zahar, a former foreign minister, and Mussa Abu Marzuk.

"From the Arabs and Islamic countries we want finance and political support to confirm that Jerusalem is the capital of the Palestinian state," Haniya told reporters after the meeting.

He also came to Khartoum for the Al-Quds Forum, an annual gathering which focuses on Jerusalem, the eastern sector of which was occupied by Israel during the 1967 Middle East war and annexed shortly afterwards....

The language is notably forceful here as it all but orders people to exercise their "choice" not to celebrate. How long will it be a choice? The Islamic Community tells people not just to avoid celebrating, but to "turn off the lights early and let everyone see you're boycotting everything happening on that night." It is imperative to be seen and judged as being in compliance, and not doing something Allah hates.

"Bosnia's Muslims urged to 'boycott New Year'," from B92, December 28:

SARAJEVO -- The Islamic Community in Bosnia-Herzegovina has called on Muslims in that country to boycott the upcoming New Year celebrations.

By taking part, said the organization, they would "violate Allah's boundaries, and do something their master hates and despises".

The Islamic Community statement on Wednesday quoted from a book by Almir Dumica, entitled, "Pearls of the Sunnah in the Mosaic of Time":

"On that night, turn off the lights early and let everyone see you're boycotting everything happening on that night. Do not fear anyone's objections. Don't you have a right to choose? Do not say, 'how can I do that, I will change nothing, most people do it... I will be declared a black sheep'."

Muslims are taught that by this behavior they can change a lot, and firstly demonstrate to themselves that the love for their master is much stronger and greater than the fear of objections made by people, said the quote.

What if you want to stay up and watch Matlock?

"On that night go to bed on time, happy and satisfied that the Allah gave you many benefits that you do not consider often, and which you would become aware of only if you lost them," the Islamic Community release further said.

"Think about your health and family... the peace and security you enjoy. Then, each night of the year will be much more dear to you than the New Year's night is to any of those who eagerly await it all year, while a blessed feeling of triumph will overcome your soul and body, because piousness and reason will have won over passions and ugly customs," the message concluded....

As I noted here, Dean Obeidallah is making a film about the trumped-up concept of "Islamophobia," and he would really like to interview me for it. So after I wrote this yesterday, we had another exchange, and I thought there might be an opportunity for some honest dialogue. So I asked Obeidallah to answer these questions, and told him I'd be interviewed for his film if he did so:

1. True or false: No comedy show, no matter how clever or winning, is going to eradicate the suspicion that many Americans have of Muslims. This is because Americans are concerned about Islam not because of the work of greasy Islamophobes, but because of Naser Abdo, the would-be second Fort Hood jihad mass murderer; and Khalid Aldawsari, the would-be jihad mass murderer in Lubbock, Texas; and Muhammad Hussain, the would-be jihad bomber in Baltimore; and Mohamed Mohamud, the would-be jihad bomber in Portland; and Faisal Shahzad, the would-be Times Square jihad mass-murderer; and Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad, the Arkansas military recruiting station jihad murderer; and Naveed Haq, the jihad mass murderer at the Jewish Community Center in Seattle; and Mohammed Reza Taheri-Azar, the would-be jihad mass murderer in Chapel Hill, North Carolina; Ahmed Ferhani and Mohamed Mamdouh, who hatched a jihad plot to blow up a Manhattan synagogue; and Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the would-be Christmas airplane jihad bomber; and many others like them who have plotted and/or committed mass murder in the name of Islam and motivated by its texts and teachings -- all in the U.S. in the last couple of years.

2. True or false: The fact that there are other Muslims not fighting jihad is just great, but it doesn't mean that the jihad isn't happening. This comedy show simply doesn't address the problem of jihad terrorism and Islamic supremacism.

3. What do you make of the fact that Islamic supremacists from the Muslim Brotherhood invented the term "Islamophobia" in order to deflect attention away from jihad violence and Islamic supremacism, and intimidate opponents thereof?

4. What do you have to say about the fact that FBI statistics show that there is no "Islamophobia"?

5. What do you have to say about the fact that many "anti-Muslim hate crimes" have been faked by Muslims, and that Jews are eight times more likely than Muslims to be the victims of hate attacks.

6. True or false? Since the Muslim Brotherhood is dedicated in its own words to "eliminating and destroying Western civilization from within," one easy way to do that would be to guilt-trip non-Muslims into being ashamed of resisting jihad activity and Islamic supremacism, for fear of being accused of "Islamophobia."

7. True or false: Negin Farsad, with her "eye-catching mini dresses," etc., has more to worry about from observant Muslims than she does from "Islamophobes."

8. What do you think of this: When you call Geller (and by implication, me) a "Muslim hater," I believe that you are ascribing people's legitimate concerns about jihad and Islamic supremacism to "hate," and that the only effect of this will be to make people who have those legitimate concerns to be even more suspicious of Muslims, which will only lead to more of what you call "Islamophobia."

9. Is there a plan behind your demonizing and smearing of all anti-jihadists? Do you want to create "Islamophobia" in order to claim privileged victim status for Muslims and exempt them from reasonable law enforcement scrutiny?

10. What kind of work have you done to raise awareness about the escalating persecution of non-Muslim minorities in Muslim societies, which is far worse in Egypt, Pakistan and elsewhere than Muslims have it here? Why not?

11. On what basis do you imply that those who are defending freedom against jihad are "exhibiting behavior which is less than consistent with the values of this nation"? What have you done to resist the Muslim Brotherhood's stated agenda of "sabotaging" this nation "from within"?

12. Aside from the murder of a Sikh by an idiot shortly after 9/11, what evidence do you have of any backlash against Muslims to which you refer so off-handedly in the WaPo? Where are Muslims suffering violence, discrimination, harassment of any kind? Even you expected far worse than you got when you went to the South -- and the level of harassment you did get was no worse than what I get in my email every day. So why the overblown claims about it?

13. And yes, what do you think about these recommendations?

Do Negin Farsad and Dean Obeidallah really want to eradicate "Islamophobia"? As long as Islamic jihad and supremacism continue, a comedy tour will never do the trick. But here is an easy way. They can call on Muslims in the U.S. to do these things:

1. Focus their indignation on Muslims committing violent acts in the name of Islam, not on non-Muslims reporting on those acts.
2. Renounce definitively, sincerely, honestly, and in deeds, not just in comforting words, not just "terrorism," but any intention to replace the U.S. Constitution (or the constitutions of any non-Muslim state) with Sharia even by peaceful means. In line with this, clarify what is meant by their condemnations of the killing of innocent people by stating unequivocally that American and Israeli civilians are innocent people, teaching accordingly in mosques and Islamic schools, and behaving in accord with these new teachings.
3. Teach, again sincerely and honestly, in transparent and verifiable ways in mosques and Islamic schools, the imperative of Muslims coexisting peacefully as equals with non-Muslims on an indefinite basis, and act accordingly.
4. Begin comprehensive international programs in mosques all over the world to teach sincerely against the ideas of violent jihad and Islamic supremacism.
5. Actively and honestly work with Western law enforcement officials to identify and apprehend jihadists within Western Muslim communities.

Obeidallah refused to answer the questions. And so I put it to you: why not? Is there something wrong with them? Why do Islamic supremacists and their enablers and allies always refuse to engage in an actual give-and-take with people with whom they disagree?

UPDATE: Dean Obeidallah has just contacted me full of threats of lawsuits, demanding that I put up his full response to my request that he answer the questions above and take down the "Islamic supremacist" label as applied to him. While his genuine libels of Pamela Geller (see question 8, above) don't seem to trouble him, I am happy to comply: I've added "and their enablers and allies" to the paragraph above, as in fact I am not sure which category Dean Obeidallah fits into, and here is his email, below. It is, as you'll see, a claim that he is too busy to answer my questions and that he will meet me to discuss them privately. I am happy to meet him to discuss them privately, but I do not intend to be cast as the villain in some bogus "Islamophobia" victimhood presentation without getting public answers from the producers:

Robert - I dont have the time to answer all ur questions in the midst of editing a film and all the other projects Im working on - in fact I didnt even finish reading all of them.

You dont know me but Im a rather direct person so so let me make this easy: If you are interested in being interviewed for our film, I can assure you that we will not quote u out of context or play any games with you- we will ask u straightforward questions - most of which Im sure u have been asked before.

If ur interested then lets please lock in a date when u will be in NYC and conduct the interview. If you're not interested then lets not waste any more of each other's time-I know we are both busy people.

Thanks
Dean

Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi has been praised by Saudi-funded dhimmi pseudo-academic John Esposito as a champion of a “reformist interpretation of Islam and its relationship to democracy, pluralism and human rights.” But numerous statements of Qaradawi demonstrate that he anything but a “reformist” or a genuine champion of “democracy, pluralism and human rights” – and is, in fact, positively Hitlerian in his Jew-hatred and bloodlust.

During the uprising against the Mubarak regime, a Muslim website published a chapter from Qaradawi’s book Laws of Jihad, including this passage: “One of the forms of jihad in Islam is jihad against evil and corruption within [the Islamic lands]. This jihad is crucial in order to protect society from collapse, disintegration, and perdition — for Muslim society has unique characteristics, and if these are lost, forgotten or destroyed, there will be no Muslim society.”

Qaradawi also enjoys a reputation as a moderate beyond just Esposito: the former Ground Zero mosque imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, who is himself widely assumed to be a “moderate” despite evidence to the contrary, has hailed Qaradawi as a “very very well known Islamic jurist, highly regarded all over the Muslim world.” And another Muslim leader whose moderate bona fides have been questioned, the vaunted “Muslim Martin Luther” Tariq Ramadan, wrote a foreword to one of his books in 1998, and former London Mayor Ken Livingstone welcomed him to the city in 2004 and praised him repeatedly, despite the fact that during that visit Qaradawi explained to the BBC that suicide attacks against Israelis were not actually suicide at all, but “martyrdom in the name of God.” (Qaradawi has since been banned from Britain, as well as from the U.S.)

And the things that Qaradawi tells the millions of Muslims that he reaches are anything but moderate. In January 2009, during a Friday sermon broadcast on Al-Jazeera, he prayed that Allah would kill all the Jews: “Oh Allah, take this oppressive, Jewish, Zionist band of people. Oh Allah, do not spare a single one of them. Oh Allah, count their numbers, and kill them, down to the very last one.” He also declared: “Throughout history, Allah has imposed upon the [Jews] people who would punish them for their corruption. The last punishment was carried out by [Adolf] Hitler.”

And now he is a mediator for the U.S. Government.

"Report: Radical Sheikh a Key Mediator in U.S.-Taliban Talks," from IPT News, December 28 (thanks to Pamela Geller):

Radical Islamist cleric and longtime Muslim Brotherhood spiritual guide Yusuf al-Qaradawi serves as a "key mediator in secret talks between the U.S. and the Taliban," according to unnamed government sources referenced in a report published late Wednesday in The Hindu.

In early December, the report said, "Qaradawi helped draw a road map for a deal between the Taliban and the United States, aimed at giving the superpower a face-saving political settlement ahead of its planned withdrawal from Afghanistan." The United States is expected to begin pulling out of Afghanistan in 2014.

The Qaradawi-brokered deal calls for significant American commitments, including "the release of prisoners still held by the United States at Guantanamo Bay, the lifting of United Nations sanctions on its leadership and its recognition as a legitimate political group." In return, the Hindu's sources say, the Taliban would be "expected to sever its links to transnational organisations like al-Qaeda, end violence and eventually share power with the Afghan government."

If true, the report raises significant questions about American strategy in the talks and the enhancement of a radical cleric's stature.

Qaradawi repeatedly has lashed out against Jews, glorifying violence against them and calling for Allah to "count their numbers, and kill them, down to the very last one." In 2009, he prayed for the chance to kill a Jew before dying. He has readily encouraged suicide bombing as "the greatest of all sorts of Jihad in the Cause of Allah." And, perhaps most troubling when considering the nature of the talks, Qaradawi actively supported the killing of U.S. servicemen and women, writing in 2003:

"Those killed fighting the American forces are martyrs given their good intentions since they consider these invading troops an enemy within their territories but without their will…Although they are seen by some as being wrong, those defending against attempts to control Islamic countries have the intention of Jihad and bear a spirit of the defense of their homeland."

Here on Jihad Watch, it seems that not a few days pass without a new story of Boko Haram jihadi attacks on Nigeria's Christians. Despite all this documentation, a New York Times report appearing soon after the Christmas Day church attacks absurdly informs us that "Boko Haram, until now mostly targeted the police, government and military in its insurgency effort, but the bombings on Sunday represented a new, religion-tinged front..."

The report also engages in other apologetics and obfuscations -- for instance, the canards that poverty-causes-terrorism and "heavy-handed" governments provoke jihad.

I discussed all this yesterday in a Hudson NY article (via RaymondIbrahim.com), an excerpt of which follows:

Several churches in northern Nigeria were bombed December 25, in what has been described as "Nigeria's blackest Christmas ever." The attacks, perpetrated by the Muslim militant group Boko Haram, killed at least 39 people, "the majority dying on the steps of a Catholic church [in Madalla near the capital of Abuja] after celebrating Christmas Mass as blood pooled in dust from a massive explosion." Charred bodies and dismembered limbs lay scattered around the destroyed church.

As usual, the world offered the requisite, if perfunctory, condemnations. Of note, however, is the word so many Western leaders, from the White House to the Vatican, used to characterize this latest Muslim attack on Christians—"senseless"—a word that implies no motive, no goal, no rhyme, no reason.

Although Boko Haram has been bellowing its straightforward and far from "senseless" goals for a decade—enforcing Sharia law and, in conjunction, subjugating if not eliminating Nigeria's Christians—one can see why so many are decrying the Christmas Day bombings as "senseless": the mainstream media's coverage offers little by way of context or continuity concerning the attacks.

Consider the New York Times' coverage, as reported by Adam Nossiter, in an article titled "Nigerian Group Escalates Violence With Church Attacks":

The sect, known as Boko Haram, until now mostly targeted the police, government and military in its insurgency effort, but the bombings on Sunday represented a new, religion-tinged front, a tactic that threatens to exploit the already frayed relations between Nigeria's nearly evenly split populations of Christians and Muslims…

This sentence is fraught with problems. For starters, Boko Haram has been terrorizing Nigerian Christians for years, killing thousands of them, and destroying hundreds of their churches. Considering that just last Christmas Eve, 2010, Boko Haram bombed several churches, killing nearly 40 Christian worshippers, the New York Times' characterization of these latest attacks as "represent[ing] a new, religion-tinged front" is not only unconscionable, but unprofessional....

Here is the latest from Shakila, the Liberated One, over at her blog. She is very concerned, as you'll see, that some Islamic supremacists are saying that she is a fictional character of my creation. While I appreciate her concern, it is not necessary: as we have seen here again and again and again, Islamic supremacists have no interest in the truth whatsoever, and will say anything to exonerate Islam from the natural consequences of its texts and teachings.

...Someone has commented on my last post that why don’t I share it with my parents instead of writing about it on the blog? I think either that guy is mentally challenged or he is just a sadist who wants to read about yet another honor killing in the Muslim world. My parents are really staunch Muslims. My dad prays in the mosque five times a day and my mom wears the burqa and prays 6 times a day, 5 obligatory prayers and then an additional one called Tahajjud. There is no way I can share with parents or my siblings or any of my relatives, and not even with my Muslim friends or colleagues. If my family ever finds out, they might not kill me, but they will definitely disown me for life.

The only reason I am writing this blog is because I need to release my pent up frustrations and this is the only way I can do it, an anonymous blog. None of you can understand my predicament unless and until you also happen to be an ex-Muslim. Even now, I get nightmares every night where I am either fasting or praying or circumambulating around that black square object in Mecca. I get panic attacks each time I pass by a mosque or hear or see people praying.  I have spent 35 years in an evil cult and it is so difficult to get over it or put it behind me. Sometimes, I even feel suicidal because I just cannot take it anymore, I feel extremely lonely and disconnected from the people around me. I feel totally alienated from my own family and I feel this suffocation inside me which is really killing me.

When I was in school, we were taught Islamic studies right from kindergarten till grade 12, and even during my graduation, Islamic studies was a compulsory subject. We were taught a whitewashed version of Mohammed’s biography which depicted him as a saint, a kind hearted and loving prophet of God who wanted a Utopian society where everyone believed in one God. He was a poor orphan who lost his mother at the age of 6 and then was brought up by his grandfather and uncle, then married a woman 15 years older than him. He defended this people from the enemy and the wars that he fought were only defensive. This was what I knew all my life until recently when I read the truth behind his benevolent demeanor, when I was exposed to books such as Understanding Muhammad, The Truth about Muhammad, The Cult of the Moon God, Why I am not a Muslim and several other similar books. One day, I want to write a book as well, about my past life and a typical Muslim woman’s life, the challenges she faces on a day to day basis. In fact, I already got an offer to co-write a book, and I am seriously considering the possibility of doing it.

Read it all.

This case demonstrates one of the many problems with curtailing "offensive" free speech and criminalizing hurt feelings. Simply expressing a belief at variance with Islam can be seized upon as "blasphemy," or as "offending religious sentiments," and simply being visible in daily life as an adherent of a non-Islamic faith can be seized upon as "proselytizing." It is all in the eye of the overlord/beholder.

The move against this station is just a higher-tech extension of Sharia's traditional ban on the display of crosses, ringing of bells, preaching in public, and of course, evangelization. "Egypt Muslim group orders Christian TV station off air: report," from the South African Press Agency and Deutsche Presse Agentur, December 29:

An offshoot of Egypt's top religious institution, Al Azhar, has called on the government to take a Christian television station off the air, allegedly for offending Muslims, the semi-official Al-Ahram newspaper reported Thursday.

The Islamic Research Centre, which made the demand, is headed by Ahmed al-Tayeb, the sheikh of Al Azhar, which is the Sunni Muslim world's oldest seat of religious learning.

It is based in the U.S. They can't shut it down, but they might attempt to block it or get its transmission arrangement canceled:

The centre accused US-based Christian broadcaster Al Karma (Vineyard) of insulting Islam and inciting sectarian divisions in Egypt, at a meeting late Wednesday, the newspaper reported.

Al Karama transmits its programmes via the Egyptian state-run satellite NileSat.

Christians, who make up around 10% of Egypt's population, often complain of being treated as second-class citizens and feel marginalised by the predominately Muslim population...

Funny how that keeps happening. "I'm allowed to kill infidels, man tells judge," by Haneen Dajani for The National, December 29:

ABU DHABI // A mentally disturbed man who stabbed a witness to death in court told an appeals court judge yesterday that as a Muslim he was entitled to kill "infidels".

Insanity defenses sure are popular.

The judge told BAM, an Egyptian, that he should exercise his rights by using the law, "and not go around killing people".

BAM first appeared in court last year, accused of causing a permanent injury to a Nepalese man, LK. Released on bail, he then stabbed LK to death in his room.

Later he took the murder weapon to court and killed another Nepalese man who was giving evidence on behalf of LK.

Abu Dhabi Criminal Court of First Instance found him guilty, and ordered that he receive psychiatric treatment.

Prosecutors appealed on the ground that BAM was not mentally ill but knew perfectly well what he was doing. They pointed out that while claiming he killed the two men because they were infidels, he chose to kill only people who were giving evidence against him in a criminal court case.

The Court of Cassation returned the case to the Court of Appeals.

"I'm an Arab Muslim and in an Arab Muslim country," BAM told the court yesterday. "Those infidels are killing Muslims all around the world … there was a Muslim doctor just killed in Germany and when her husband wanted to defend her they attacked him as well."

The judge said he was not concerned with what happened in other countries, and that justice would be served.

He said it was never part of Islamic law, even in an Islamic state, to kill people because of their beliefs, or to take revenge....

All of the Arabian Jews in Medina wholeheartedly agreed. All 0 of them.

Priorities: this is "under investigation." If you do your Sharia amputation homework with one of these, can you still get credit? "How did Israeli pencils reach Saudi chain?" by Ofer Petersburg for YNet News, December 29:

Saudi authorities are investigating how Israeli pencils reached one of the kingdom's biggest retail chains. The Kravitz chain, which markets the pencils in Israel, was surprised to hear about the affair stirring up the Gulf kingdom.

It turns out that Abu Rialin, a Saudi chain which offers all of its items for two riyals, is selling one of Kravitz's most popular products – a set of 12 pencils with an eraser.

The pencils are sold with the Kravitz logo in Hebrew and without any attempt to conceal the fact that they are made in Israel.

Kravitz learned about the incident following a report published by Saudi website Jazan. The reporter noted that Kravitz was the biggest manufacturer of office supplies in Israel and asked how the Saudi Ministry of Commerce could overlook such a thing.

"Where are the Saudi kingdom's supervision authorities?" the reporter asks, calling for an investigation into the apparent marketing of an Israeli product in Saudi Arabia....

I recently received this heartfelt email from a Pakistani who has converted from Islam to Christianity. It is like many others that I have received, and vividly illustrates the plight of apostates from Islam in Muslim countries -- a group whose human rights no one cares about, as the world continues to devote attention to the chimera of "Islamophobia."

This man told me to publish his name but I have decided not to do so, as doing so could get him killed. However, he is asking for help, help that I have no resources to give him, so if anyone reads this and can offer him some kind of assistance, please contact me at director[at]jihadwatch.org. (I have edited the grammar and spelling in the letter a bit for clarity.)

Dear sir,

I am a Pakistani who is a convert to Christianity, but I belong to a very strict religious family. My brother is Hafiz-e-Quran, my sister is alma fazla of Quran, and my dad and bro have beard, and my bro has a sound system business which he uses only for religious programs, not for songs or marriages.

I attend many Islamic programs with him, and from there I feel a bit strange when I see how big big religious people who talk about Islam in front of 1000's of people behave when they are alone backstage, and what their true face is, and how they fight with one another and talk shit about one another, and do not even care about Islam, which is their own religion -- and they are supposedly responsible for this religion.

So this forced me to think about many things, about religion. And in Lahore where I live, there is a big Christian community. Some friends with whom I grew up and studied belong to Christian families.

I talked with some friends in Europe who are Christian, and I talked with them about Christianity and Islam, and I have seen some videos, too, in which Christian scholars talk with Muslim scholars about religion, and the Muslim scholars cannot answer about many things that are written about in the Bible.

And it's true: once my dad saw me coming out of a church in Lahore with a Christian friend, and he was so angry, and he punished me. I ran away from my family. I have some relatives in Greece, my uncle and some cousins, and my dad's cousins. There are around 15 family members here, but even in Greece it was hard to practice my new religion openly because I was living with them, and in a new country with a new language. The situation in Greece is that they cannot protect us, because Greece is full of Muslim immigrants, and my relatives have been living here for 10 or 15 years, and thousands of people know them, and know me too. They know my family background and that I am a Muslim, so I kept my new religion secret and I tried to apply for asylum -- if I could get some papers, I can study and can go to any other place. But my uncle was with me when I applied, so I didn't tell them about my Christianity. And for 6 years I have had nothing.

Today I was reading your website, and I felt some relief, that there was someone who could understand my situation and could help me. I am making up my mind to go back to Pakistan, because life in Greece is the same as it is in Pakistan: no jobs, no freedom, no protection. I don't know what to do here; I feel as if I am imprisoned by my Muslim relatives. But in Pakistan it will be even harder for me to show my faith in Jesus.

I don't know what to do or where to go, or what kind of religion I was born into. I feel as if I am less near to God but more in fear of death, as I live in some demon's castle. I wrote some emails to the British and Canadian high embassies in Pakistan, and am writing to you, too.

I am scared to practice my new religion openly. I am not even a convert openly. I am just reading the Bible. My wish is to practice my beliefs as a Christian openly, but it's not possible because of my family and Islamic law. My own family and even the people of Pakistan will kill me, as they have killed the governor of Punjab. His own policeman killed him because the governor was helping a Christian woman.

I am educated, 28 years old. I need help from you if you know some church where I can live and study, and can covert openly. I don't know if you can help me or not, but some friends told me that I could write to some countries such as Canada and the USA, or European countries that can help Christians, and I do not know any one in Pakistan who will be able to help me.

I don't even know if you will read this email or not, but I wish Jesus would help me, and if I got a kind answer from you, I would be thankful. Or if you can refer me to some church, some Christian NGO. I want to write my feelings more and some black secrets of those Islamic mullahs, but i guess my email is so long and you have very precious time. God bless you, and I will wait for your kind answer.

As I have said many times in the context of many similar incidents in Iraq and Afghanistan, there is no reliable way to distinguish a peaceful Muslim from a jihadist. This is yet more fruit of the unwillingness to make even a cursory attempt to take that fact into account.

And every few weeks (the last time was November 10), I find the paragraph above in the archives and post it again.

"Rogue Afghan soldier kills 2 French soldiers," by Ernesto Londoño for the Washington Post, December 29 (thanks to D.):

KABUL — A man wearing an Afghan army uniform fatally shot two French service members in eastern Afghanistan on Thursday, military officials said, the latest in a string of similar attacks that the Taliban claims to have masterminded.

Hours later, a roadside bomb killed 10 Afghan police officers in southern Helmand province, an attack that authorities said was among the deadliest against Afghan security forces this year.

“It was the work of the enemies, the Taliban, who have suffered a defeat in face-to-face fighting and only resort to planting mines like these," said Dawood Ahmadi, a spokesman for Helmand’s governor.

Doesn't Dawood Ahmadi know that the Taliban aren't the enemy? Joe Biden said so!

The two attacks marred what has been a relatively quiet winter in Afghanistan, a season during which violence tends to ebb because the snow and cold temperatures limit mobility.

Still, sporadic attacks continue, including the suicide bombing outside a funeral in northern Afghanistan on Sunday that killed 20 people, including a member of parliament.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the shooting of the French soldiers in a statement, which said a rogue soldier named Ibrahim joined the “puppet army” for a “specific purpose.” The statement said Ibrahim shot the French troops on a base in Kapisa province.

“He was shot and martyred by the invaders in exchange of fire,” the Taliban statement said....

Dear freedom lover:

Sinister Islamic supremacist groups like Hamas-linked CAIR and the group behind the Ground Zero Mosque, the American Society of Muslim Advancement (ASMA), are making huge end-of-the-year fundraising pushes. CAIR just sent out a call for a December fundraising goal of $240,000 to fight “Islamophobia.” Daisy Khan of ASMA is asking for money to combat “the likes of Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer.”

The enemies of freedom are well funded and determined to shut down everyone who tells the truth about jihad and Islamization. By contrast, those who dare to stand against the Islamic supremacists are – contrary to their false claims – few in number and short on resources.

Yet we have accomplished so much. In 2011 the American Freedom Defense Initiative’s Stop the Islamization of America project did all this and more:

• We stopped the Ground Zero Mosque, an insult to all free people, in its tracks – initial plans announced by Daisy Khan to break ground on September 11, 2011 have been postponed indefinitely;
• We fought and will continue to fight Muslim Brotherhood rabats in neighborhoods and small towns across America;
• We dedicated the Aqsa Parvez Memorial Grove in Jerusalem, in memory of victims of honor killings worldwide. This was the first-ever recognition by anyone in the West that we would not allow the barbaric practice of Islamic honor killing to spread in free societies;
• We prevailed in our eighteen-month struggle against Detroit’s SMART Transit after they refused to run our ads offering help to those threatened with death for leaving Islam. Don’t they have a right to live, also?
• We filed suit against the NYC MTA in our pro-Israel, free speech legal battle after CBS Outdoor and the New York City Transit Authority approved an anti-Semitic ad campaign to run in over 1,000 subway cars but refused our pro-Israel campaign to counter this Jew-hatred and historical revisionism;
• We exposed the dirty little secret of the meat industry: a large portion of the meat being sold is halal, but is not labeled as such. AFDI is currently working on a petition to get the labeling laws changed;
• We alerted Americans all over the country to what the Ground Zero Mosque project is all about and who is behind it with our documentary film on the Ground Zero Mosque to packed houses all over the country.

No one is doing the work we are doing and accomplishing what we are accomplishing. No one else is putting the Islamic supremacists on the defensive and calling attention to the human rights abuses that they’re excusing and justifying the way we are.

Yet we have done all this and much more on a shoestring. We don’t have a lavish budget. We don’t have big foundations or generous endowments behind us. We don’t even draw salaries. For every initiative, we have to go begging to the few donors who see the value of our work for freedom.

Please think about the work SIOA has done, and all the things we would be able to accomplish if we only had the resources. Please consider giving something – anything – to help our work keep going. Donate through Paypal to writeatlas@aol.com or director@jihadwatch.org (tax-deductible).

We are fighting for America. We are fighting for freedom. We are fighting for you. Please join us.

Yours in liberty

Pamela Geller, Executive Director
Robert Spencer, Associate Director
American Freedom Defense Initiative/Stop Islamization of America

Actually it looks as if the perps were Sunni Wahhabis. Odd. We hear so much more about "Islamophobes," and yet those who are accused of that particular trumped-up malady never seem to do any acts of violence to rival those committed by Islamic jihadists.

"Shia Islamic Boarding School Torched, Police Do Nothing: Allegation," from the Jakarta Globe, December 29:

A Shia-run Islamic boarding school was set ablaze by an a group from a rival branch of Islam in East Java on Thursday.

The Islamic boarding school (pesantren), Tajul Muluk in Sampang district, was destroyed but there are no reports of injuries. The pesantren houses about 100 male and female students.

“We suspect the incident was carried out by a group of Wahabis who are also suspected of burning the house of one of the school’s teachers two weeks ago,” said Ahmad Hidayat, the secretary general of Islamic organization Ahlul Bait Indonesia.

In the previous incident, the attackers locked the door of the home shut before setting the house on fire, with the occupants lucky to escape with their lives.

Ahmad said security forces had failed to act after the first attack.

Moh. Hadun Hadear, another member of ABI, told BeritaSatu that a prior to the latest attack there had been rumors of the looming incident and despite appeals to the police for help, nothing had been done.

National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Saud Usman Nasution denied allegations that police had let the attacks occur.

“The police have tried to visit the location. But we were intercepted by a mob,“ Saud said....

Uh huh.

No comedy show, no matter how clever or winning, is going to eradicate the suspicion that many Americans have of Muslims. This is because Americans are concerned about Islam not because of the work of greasy Islamophobes, but because of Naser Abdo, the would-be second Fort Hood jihad mass murderer; and Khalid Aldawsari, the would-be jihad mass murderer in Lubbock, Texas; and Muhammad Hussain, the would-be jihad bomber in Baltimore; and Mohamed Mohamud, the would-be jihad bomber in Portland; and Faisal Shahzad, the would-be Times Square jihad mass-murderer; and Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad, the Arkansas military recruiting station jihad murderer; and Naveed Haq, the jihad mass murderer at the Jewish Community Center in Seattle; and Mohammed Reza Taheri-Azar, the would-be jihad mass murderer in Chapel Hill, North Carolina; Ahmed Ferhani and Mohamed Mamdouh, who hatched a jihad plot to blow up a Manhattan synagogue; and Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the would-be Christmas airplane jihad bomber; and many others like them who have plotted and/or committed mass murder in the name of Islam and motivated by its texts and teachings -- all in the U.S. in the last couple of years.

The fact that there are other Muslims not fighting jihad is just great, but it doesn't mean that the jihad isn't happening. This comedy show simply doesn't address the problem of jihad terrorism and Islamic supremacism.

As David Horowitz and I show in our pamphlet Islamophobia: Thoughtcrime of the Totalitarian Future, the term "Islamophobia" is a politically manipulative coinage designed to intimidate critics of Islamic supremacism and jihad into silence.

Claire Berlinski explains how Islamic supremacists from the Muslim Brotherhood devised it for precisely that purpose:

Now here's a point you might deeply consider: The neologism "Islamophobia" did not simply emerge ex nihilo. It was invented, deliberately, by a Muslim Brotherhood front organization, the International Institute for Islamic Thought, which is based in Northern Virginia. If that name dimly rings a bell, it should: I've mentioned it before, and it's particularly important because it was co-founded by Anwar Ibrahim--the hero of Moderate Islam who is now trotting around the globe comparing his plight to that of Aung San Suu Kyi.

Abdur-Rahman Muhammad, a former member of the IIIT who has renounced the group in disgust, was an eyewitness to the creation of the word. "This loathsome term," he writes,

is nothing more than a thought-terminating cliche conceived in the bowels of Muslim think tanks for the purpose of beating down critics.

And in fact, FBI statistics show that there is no "Islamophobia." In fact, many "anti-Muslim hate crimes" have been faked by Muslims, and Jews are eight times more likely than Muslims to be the victims of hate attacks.

The Muslim Brotherhood is dedicated in its own words to "eliminating and destroying Western civilization from within." One easy way to do that would be to guilt-trip non-Muslims into being ashamed of resisting jihad activity and Islamic supremacism, for fear of being accused of "Islamophobia." I doubt these comics are aware of this program, but they're useful tools for it.

"Muslim American comics’ tour and documentary," by Tara Bahrampour in the Washington Post, December 27 (thanks to James):

Beware, America. The Muslims are coming, and they look and act suspiciously like you.

Sheesh. No one says they aren't. This is just a straw man designed to demonize opponents of jihad.

Negin Farsad, an Iranian American stand-up comic from California, wears eye-catching mini dresses, curses liberally and has awkward sex talks with her mother (though hers sound more like alien encounters. Actual quote: “You had intergender flesh relations without the security of external safety product?”).

Then she has more to worry about from observant Muslims than she does from "Islamophobes."

Such conversations, painfully private in traditional Muslim societies, are public fodder for Farsad and three other Gen X and Gen Y Muslim comics with whom she traveled to the deep South this past summer.

The tour, which later extended to Western states and included other Muslim comics, will form the backbone of “The Muslims Are Coming!,” a documentary film about Islamophobia in America that Farsad is working on with Palestinian Italian American comedian Dean Obeidallah.

This is going to be the usual victimhood-mongering and deflecting of attention from the real causes of suspicion of Muslims in the U.S. Obeidallah contacted me and asked me to be interviewed for the piece, and assured me he would give me a fair hearing. But then he went on Twitter and called Pamela Geller a "Muslim-hater" -- echoing the deceptive Islamic supremacist claim that fighting for free speech and equality of rights for all people is "hate." His true agenda thus revealed, I bowed out of the interview.

The documentary, which includes interviews with comics such as Jon Stewart and Louis Black and commentators including CNN’s Soledad O’Brien, explores freedom of religion and what it means to be a minority in America.

Note the implication: that minorities have it so tough in America. No mention will be made, no doubt, of the far more precarious position of non-Muslim minorities in Muslim societies.

Muslim American stand-up comedy is a relatively new phenomenon, the domain of second-generation immigrants who are American enough to satirize the Muslim American experience, said Obeidallah, who lives in New York City.

“We’re confident enough to do this,” he said. “An immigrant would be less confident to use comedy to try to challenge perceptions of who we are. We’re confident enough in being Americans and knowing what that means, that we can push against those who are exhibiting behavior which is less than consistent with the values of this nation.”

Note that in Obeidallah's world, the people who are "exhibiting behavior which is less than consistent with the values of this nation" are those fighting for freedom and Constitutional rights, not Brotherhood-related groups dedicated to bringing to the U.S. elements of a legal system that denies freedom of speech, freedom of conscience, and equality of rights for women and non-Muslims.

A major factor driving Muslim Americans toward comedy was the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. “There were no Middle Eastern comics before 9/11 that anyone knew about,” Obeidallah said. “The phenomenon really grew in the last 10 years, because of the [anti-Muslim] backlash.

There was no backlash, of course. Innocent Muslims are not being victimized in the U.S. Muslims live better here than in many Muslim countries. Obeidallah -- clueless or complicit? You be the judge.

I think a lot of people in our community started doing it as a form of political activism.” As they started appearing on national television, he said, “it spurred other Middle Eastern comedians to get involved.” Now, he said, there are about 10 full-time professinals and a growing number of aspiring professionals.

Going to the South, where anti-mosque demonstrations and anti-immigrant sentiment has made some Muslims feel unwelcome, the comedians hoped to break through some of the cultural walls that have arisen since Sept. 11.

The point was to see “how would people in the heartland take to us?” Obeidallah said. “Would we encounter angry people going, ‘Get out of here, you Muslims,’ or would they understand?”

Traveling through Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and Tennessee, they gave free performances in cafes, community centers and theaters. They set up tables in public places, with scripture-related guessing games and the opportunity for people to “Ask a Muslim” anything they wanted.

“I could kind of like Muslims, but why do you guys like terrorism so much?” some asked. “What do you think of 9/11?” was another common question.

How horrible! They got asked uncomfortable questions! Oh, the "Islamophobia"!

On the whole, the public response was encouraging. While a few people drove by and yelled, “Go back to your country!” the one-on-one encounters tended to be positive.

Oh, the horror! They encountered some rude jerks! Almost as bad as being Christians in Nigeria, eh?

“Most people are more open-minded and not that concerned about Muslims,” Obeidallah said. “It’s really the fringe that’s driving that narrative.”

Maysoon Zayid, one of the comics on the tour, said people were surprised to see that “I’m such a Jersey girl, I’m so accessible. . . . I think they are really surprised that I wasn’t this oppressed woman trying to convert people.”

The comedians acknowledged that they were unlikely to win the hearts of the most fervent anti-Muslim types.

“A show called ‘The Muslims Are Coming’ — people self-select to come see it,” Farsad said. “We’re never going to be able to touch the extreme haters. . . . We’re trying to affect the people in the middle, people with questions, the ‘persuadables.’ ”

Do Negin Farsad and Dean Obeidallah really want to eradicate "Islamophobia"? As long as Islamic jihad and supremacism continue, a comedy tour will never do the trick. But here is an easy way. They can call on Muslims in the U.S. to do these things:

1. Focus their indignation on Muslims committing violent acts in the name of Islam, not on non-Muslims reporting on those acts.
2. Renounce definitively, sincerely, honestly, and in deeds, not just in comforting words, not just "terrorism," but any intention to replace the U.S. Constitution (or the constitutions of any non-Muslim state) with Sharia even by peaceful means. In line with this, clarify what is meant by their condemnations of the killing of innocent people by stating unequivocally that American and Israeli civilians are innocent people, teaching accordingly in mosques and Islamic schools, and behaving in accord with these new teachings.
3. Teach, again sincerely and honestly, in transparent and verifiable ways in mosques and Islamic schools, the imperative of Muslims coexisting peacefully as equals with non-Muslims on an indefinite basis, and act accordingly.
4. Begin comprehensive international programs in mosques all over the world to teach sincerely against the ideas of violent jihad and Islamic supremacism.
5. Actively and honestly work with Western law enforcement officials to identify and apprehend jihadists within Western Muslim communities.

If Muslims do those five things, voila! "Islamophobia" will evanesce!

The Qur'an sanctions sex with captive and slave women: "And all married women (are forbidden unto you) save those (captives) whom your right hands possess. It is a decree of Allah for you" (4:24). Al-Shabaab is acting barbarically, but as far as they are concerned, they are acting within their rights and not forbidding what Allah has made lawful. They are not at all alone among Muslims in endorsing or engaging in this behavior.

"For Somali Women, Pain of Being a Spoil of War," by Jeffrey Gettleman for the New York Times, December 28 (thanks to Bill):

MOGADISHU, Somalia — The girl’s voice dropped to a hush as she remembered the bright, sunny afternoon when she stepped out of her hut and saw her best friend buried in the sand, up to her neck.

Her friend had made the mistake of refusing to marry a Shabab commander. Now she was about to get her head bashed in, rock by rock.

“You’re next,” the Shabab warned the girl, a frail 17-year-old who was living with her brother in a squalid refugee camp.

Several months later, the men came back. Five militants burst into her hut, pinned her down and gang-raped her, she said. They claimed to be on a jihad, or holy war, and any resistance was considered a crime against Islam, punishable by death.

“I’ve had some very bad dreams about these men,” she said, having recently escaped the area they control. “I don’t know what religion they are.”

Somalia has been steadily worn down by decades of conflict and chaos, its cities in ruins and its people starving. Just this year, tens of thousands have died from famine, with countless others cut down in relentless combat. Now Somalis face yet another widespread terror: an alarming increase in rapes and sexual abuse of women and girls.

The Shabab militant group, which presents itself as a morally righteous rebel force and the defender of pure Islam, is seizing women and girls as spoils of war, gang-raping and abusing them as part of its reign of terror in southern Somalia, according to victims, aid workers and United Nations officials. Short of cash and losing ground, the militants are also forcing families to hand over girls for arranged marriages that often last no more than a few weeks and are essentially sexual slavery, a cheap way to bolster their ranks’ flagging morale. [...]

Somalia is a deeply traditional place, where 98 percent of girls are subject to genital cutting, according to United Nations figures. Most girls are illiterate and relegated to their homes. When they venture out, it is usually to work, trudging through the rubble-strewn alleyways wrapped head to toe in thick black cloth, often lugging something on their back, the equatorial sun burning down on them. [...]

At the same time, aid workers and United Nations officials say the Shabab, who are fighting Somalia’s transitional government and imposing a harsh version of Islam in the areas they control, can no longer pay their several thousand fighters the way they used to. Much as they seize crops and livestock, giving their militants what they call “temporary wives” is how the Shabab keep many young men fighting for them.

But these are hardly marriages, said Sheik Mohamed Farah Ali, a former Shabab commander who defected to the government army.

“There’s no cleric, no ceremony, nothing,” he said, adding that Shabab fighters had even paired up with thin little girls as young as 12, who are left torn and incontinent afterward. If a girl refuses, he said, “she’s killed by stones or bullets.” [...]

“You have no idea how difficult it is for them to come forward,” she said. “There’s no justice here, no protection. People say, ‘You’re junk’ if you’ve been raped.”...

A more "honest" Santa?

If it weren't for the stonings, beheadings, amputations, declarations of imminent conquest, suicide bombings, and all the rest of it, these guys would be great comedians. "Turkish imam says Santa Claus 'dishonest,'" from RIA Novosti, December 28 (thanks to Twostellas):

The imam of the Turkish town of Kuzan has issued a warning to Muslims about Santa Claus, who he called a dishonest person, Italy's Corriere della Sera wrote.

Imam Suleiman Eniceri said it was suspicious that Santa Claus brings presents into a house by climbing down a chimney or through windows. “If he was an honest person he would come through the door as we do,” the imam said. The imam cited a passage in the Koran that calls on the faithful to enter houses through doors.

“Christmas is not our festival,” he said, and warned Turkish Muslims against drinking alcohol....

I don't know -- sounds as if Imam Suleiman Eniceri has been knocking back a few on the sly...

After all, the only thing the label of "moderate" guarantees is that one is somehow less "extreme" than the next guy. Still, according to this report, even this decision is a logistical one. The prison lacks the facilities to carry out the stoning, they say, though perhaps that claim aims to mollify those who would tolerate no retreat under pressure from the stoning sentence.

But just as fast as this story came out, there was also a denial and claims the official was misquoted. Time will tell.

An update on this story. "Iran Fails to Silence Critics by Changing Woman's Death Sentence From Stoning to Hanging," by Perry Chiaramonte for Fox News, December 28:

Iranian officials, already under fire for sentencing a woman to death by stoning, has done little to diminish international outcry by instead pursuing an execution by hanging.

Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, 44, was convicted back in 2006 for an “illicit relationship outside of marriage” and sentenced to death by stoning. The execution was delayed after protests across the globe, and Ashtiani has been detained in prison ever since.

On Sunday, the head judiciary, Malek Ajdar Sharifi said the prison does not have the “necessary facilities” to carry forth with the stoning and that they are considering hanging as an alternative.

Sharifi told the Isna News Agency that an investigation is being conducted to see if it is legally and religiously possible to execute Ashtiani by hanging and that once a determination is made, the sentence will be carried out...

The above caricature, which first appeared on CagleCartoons.com, has been making the rounds on the Arabic blogosphere, and points to how democratic elections are serving to Islamize Egypt: average women enter the ballot box—“overseen” by the Muslim Brotherhood—only to emerge thoroughly veiled, thoroughly Islamized.

Speaking of veils and the Brotherhood, here’s an interesting video of Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser (1956-1970), showing just how much times have changed.

Speaking before a large assembly, Nasser told of how back in 1953 he wanted to cooperate with the Muslim Brotherhood, and met with its leader. (Nasser eventually learned that the only response to the Brotherhood is suppression, not cooperation, a lesson John Kerry and others in the current administration would do well to consider.)

According to Nasser, the very first demand of the Brotherhood leader was for the hijab to return to Egypt, “for every woman walking in the street to wear a headscarf.”

The audience erupted in laughter at this, then, ludicrous demand; one person hollered “Let him wear it!” eliciting more laughter and applause.

Nasser continued by saying he told the Brotherhood leader that if they enforced the hijab, people would say Egypt had returned to the dark ages (to more laughter), adding that Egyptians should uphold such matters in the privacy of their own homes.

But the Muslim Brotherhood leader informed him that, as Egypt’s president, Nasser himself must enforce the hijab, to which Nasser replied:

Sir, I know you have a daughter in college—and she doesn’t wear a headscarf or anything! [laughter] Why don’t you make her wear the headscarf? [laughter] So you can’t make one girl, your own daughter, wear it, and yet you want me to go and make ten million women wear it?!” [burst of laughter and applause]

Gamel Abdel Nasser and wife Tahia, back in an era when the idea of institutionalizing the hijab provoked laughter and ridicule

Half a century later and none of this is a laughing matter: the hijab, if not the full burqa, is commonplace in Egypt, even as the Muslim Brotherhood—who for decades were banned and imprisoned for trying to return Egypt to an Islamic dark age—are now poised to govern the nation, all under U.S. tutelage.

As Sheikh Osama al-Qusi recently said, the great “mistake” of Nasser’s successor, president Anwar Sadat, was

not that he released these groups [Muslim Brotherhood] from the prisons after Gamal Abdel Nasser had incarcerated them; but rather for giving them the green light to work in all fields of Egyptian society, thinking he would use them to get rid of his Socialist and Communist opponents. So he permitted them to work in trade unions, school unions—giving them every opportunity to hold official positions [Emphasis added].

In other words, Sadat’s great mistake—which cost him his life—is that he conferred a degree of legitimacy on the Muslim Brotherhood, thereby allowing them to worm their way into Egyptian society.

Such is the way of time: left unchecked, what was once ludicrous to suggest—for instance, the Brotherhood’s 1953 request “for every woman walking in the street to wear a headscarf”—slowly and gradually becomes part of the culture.

It is for this reason that Sharia poses a threat to the West—not because it will be imposed on Westerners, but rather because, little by little, decade after decade, aspects of it may gradually worm their way in.

Raymond Ibrahim is a Shillman Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center and Associate Fellow at the Middle East Forum.

Including, he says, some who preached jihad violence at mosques. This should be investigated, and the mosques in question shut down if it proves to be true. "S.I. jihadi Abdel Hameed Shehadeh rats out a big roster of plotters," by John Marzulli for the New York Daily News, December 27:

A TERRORIST wanna-be from Staten Island ratted out dozens of people he called pro-jihadists in New York and Hawaii after he was arrested by the FBI-NYPD Joint Terrorist Task Force, it was revealed Tuesday.

Abdel Hameed Shehadeh was a fount of information when lawmen interrogating him last year in Honolulu showed him more than 40 photos of possible evildoers, according to court papers filed in Brooklyn Federal Court.

Shehadeh’s lawyer is seeking to suppress the 22-page FBI report in which Shehadeh spills his guts.

The alleged rogues’ gallery he describes includes Brooklyn teachers of the Islamic orthodoxy Salafism, a livery cab driver, an Ethiopian Muslim in the U.S. Army and a College of Staten Island student who attended a fund-raiser at Brooklyn College for a terrorist.

Others he ID’d had delivered pro-jihadist speeches at mosques or ranted in online chat rooms, he said, and included a reputed member of the terror group Hamas who lives in Syracuse.

Most bizarre is the homeless husband-and-wife — she comes from a wealthy family and he drives a luxury BMW sedan — who watched a beheading video with Shehadeh, according to an FBI report.

Shehadeh recalled attending a lecture at the Brooklyn Islamic Center in 2008 with someone named “Omar” and a second man who peddled pro-jihad T-shirts. “Almost everything [Omar] and his friend . . . talked about was jihad,” the report states.

The names of the persons of interest are being withheld by the Daily News because Shehadeh’s claims could not be independently confirmed.

Shehadeh’s lawyer publicly filed the FBI report as part of a motion to suppress his client’s post-arrest snitching and statements about his own radicalization.

Shehadeh signed an affidavit claiming he was tricked into waiving his constitutional right against self-incrimination.

The Brooklyn-born Shehadeh, 22, is charged with lying to the feds about a failed attempt to travel to Pakistan and join the Taliban....

Would you buy a used car from these jihadis? They're doing this in Tennessee and Tulsa, too. "Lansing used car dealership investigated in terror scheme," by Niraj Warikoo for the Detroit Free Press, December 28 (thanks to Kenneth):

A Lansing car dealership is named among 30 around the country in a federal investigation into an alleged $480 million money laundering scheme tied to Mideast terrorist group Hezbollah, federal prosecutors said.

According to a federal lawsuit filed in New York City, Oussama Salhab, the owner of Cybamar Swiss, a Redford Township transport company, "is a Hezbollah operative" who was part of an effort to funnel part of the proceeds from car sales to the Lebanese group.

The 66-page complaint lists a Lansing company called A&J Auto Sales Inc. as one of the dealers in Michigan - along with eight in and around Detroit.

However, the used car dealers are not accused in the federal complaint of being aware that they were part of a money laundering scheme and may have been unwitting participants.

It's unclear who owns A&J Auto Sales Inc. A business search turned up no results in Lansing, and the U.S. attorney's office referred to the complaint in lieu of comment.

The suit seeks the forfeiture of the assets of Cybamar.

In addition, federal officials sought the forfeiture of used car dealerships in Detroit, Dearborn Heights, Lansing and Redford Township that sold vehicles whose proceeds may have ended up going to Hezbollah.

Salhab bought vehicles from at least two of the dealerships, and his Redford company shipped many of the used cars overseas....

The complaint, filed Dec. 15, is the latest U.S. effort to target Hezbollah, a group based in Lebanon that the U.S. State Department classifies as a terrorist group and says has Iranian support. U.S. authorities say the group was behind bomb attacks against the U.S. Embassy and Marine barracks in Lebanon in 1983 and 1984.

"We are putting a stranglehold on a major source of that funding by disrupting a vast and far-flung network that spanned three continents," said Preet Bharara, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York.

The complaint says that banks and money exchanges in Lebanon tied to Hezbollah purchased cars from 30 car dealers - eight of them in metro Detroit - and sent them to west Africa. Cybamar in Redford was often used to ship the cars.

"Between 2008 and 2010, used cars valued collectively at over $1 billion were shipped from the United States to Benin (in Africa)," the complaint says. "Cybamar is ... frequently used by the car buyers."

Proceeds from car sales ended up in Lebanon, with some of the cash going to Hezbollah. Drug smuggling also was involved in some parts of the operation, the complaint said.

Salhab, who lives in Lebanon and the African country of Togo, tried to enter the U.S. in November 2009 through Metro Airport.

He was sent back after inspectors found images on his laptop of Hezbollah "Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah; audio of the Hezbollah national anthem; images of Hezbollah militants stomping on an Israeli flag," the lawsuit says.

It is ironic, but perhaps not unforseeable, that societies which are increasingly obsessed with "feelings," both as an inviolable matter of respect and as a motivation to act or believe, have at the same time become increasingly brutish and crass. Perhaps it is because everything is a bigger deal and in need of a reaction. It is fashionable to be "traumatized" by this or that and wear it as a badge of honor, at once puffing oneself up with pride for the arduous climb to the summit of the mountain one has made out of a molehill, and demanding "respect" and restitution for the trouble.

Combining that complex with a supremacist political agenda creates an explosive mix.

The other major consideration here is that Turkey's entrance into the EU has not been relegated to its proper place, in a priority spot in the "round file." This is how Turkey is behaving even without full membership in the EU. If it joins the EU, it will continue to attempt to make the EU's protections a suicide pact toward its own purposes.

There are more red flags than a May Day parade, but will the EU heed them? "Turkish court accepts online blasphemy case, ECtHR ruling precedent," from Today's Zaman, December 27:

A Turkish court has accepted an indictment filed against a man who allegedly insulted Islamic values online by a prosecutor who cited an earlier ruling by the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR).

The lawsuit was filed against A.M.S. over his remarks allegedly insulting Islamic beliefs on Ekşi Sözlük (Sour Times), a website on which contributors share their comments on various issues and incidents in Turkey. In the indictment she prepared over a criminal complaint filed against A.M.S. by an individual, İstanbul prosecutor Nurten Altınok referred to a 1994 decision of the ECtHR in the Otto-Preminger-Institut v. Austria case. The case concerns an application by the Austria-based Otto-Preminger-Institut at the European court over the ban of a movie by the Austrian government in 1985, on the grounds that it insulted the Christian religion.

The applicant claimed a violation of their freedom of speech under Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which provides the right to freedom of expression. The court, however, found no violation of the convention and said the interference with the applicant association's freedom of expression was prescribed by law but the seizure and forfeiture of the film were aimed at “the protection of the rights of others” -- namely, the right to respect for one's religious feelings, and at ensuring religious peace. The court assessed the conflicting interests of the exercise of two fundamental freedoms guaranteed under the convention and concluded that the Austrian authorities did not overstep their margin of appreciation.

Prosecutor Altınok, who says the suspect went beyond the limits of freedom of speech by ridiculing Muslim prayer rituals and the Islamic belief that the universe was created by God, seeks up to one-and-a-half years in jail for A.M.S., who said in his testimony that he did not intend to commit a crime nor to target a group or individual with his comments.

The practice of any faith other than Sunni Islam is already illegal there, which only supports the drive to legislate accordingly. Indeed, the gradual implementation of stricter and stricter Sharia reaches a tipping point as one rule leads to another: if we are enforcing this rule, why not that? And that, and that? Hence the "jurisdictional creeping" seen in Britain's Sharia courts.

As even Imam Rauf knows, Sharia is a package deal. There can always be more enforcement, and there will always be someone who will demand more as the condition for a ruler's legitimacy, and be willing to fight and overthrow governments to see it implemented.

An update on this story. "Maldives 'considering' complete ban of alcohol and pork," from Haveeru Online, December 28 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):

The government yesterday revealed its plan to completely ban alcohol and pork in the Maldives following the demands made by religious protestors on Friday.

The President's Press Secretary Mohamed Zuhair told journalists that the government is considering imposing a nationwide ban on alcohol and pork in response to the demands made by religious protestors on Friday.

"As you are aware of, more than 400 locals are living in some large resorts whereas the population of an island consists of only 200-300. Therefore, the government is looking into ways to completely ban the sale of alcohol and pork throughout the Maldives," he said.

Five demands were put forward at the protest organised by the civil society coalition and opposition parties on Friday.

The demands include removing the SAARC monuments in Addu, condemning UN human rights chief Navi Pillay's comments about Islamic Sharia, not allowing Israeli airlines to operate flights, closing down the brothels in Male and a reversed decision on declaring areas of inhabited islands uninhabited in order to permit alcohol sales.

The way Sharia's proponents tend to talk about brothels and prostitution as a scare tactic, you'd think every other house on the block was a whorehouse.

Zuhair said the government will close down massage parlours in the country as such places are suspected of being run as brothels.

"Those places are not operated with a special permission from the government, but the government has now begun inspecting and classifying those places," he said.

Zuhair noted that the government will not obstruct any decision made by Addu City Council to remove the SAARC monuments set up in Addu.

Referring to the demand made to President Mohamed Nasheed to condemn the comments made by UN human rights chief Navi Pillay in Maldives, Zuhair said no controversial statements were made during the "courtesy call" she paid to the President.

He said the parliament could only respond to the comments she made at the parliament on flogging of women convicted of extra-marital sex, as the government did not arrange her to speak at the parliament.

The Press Secretary further stressed that the businessmen involved in the tourism sector will have to play a major role in preventing Israeli national airline from commencing operations to the Maldives.

"When tourists want to come they will first book the resort before booking the airline and if the resorts cancel their bookings they will not come to the Maldives. The airline will stop operations because it cannot run the business if there won't be any passengers to travel," he said.

This is a major U-turn on prior attempts to re-write the official account of Shahbaz Bhatti's death to make him the victim of a random crime, or even a dispute between Christians, rather than the target for assassination for criticizing the blasphemy law.

It is all the more exceptional considering the source, the interior minister, Rehman Malik, who has been one of the most vociferous defenders of the blasphemy law and an enemy of any and all speech that could at all be construed as "un-Islamic." Honestly, it seems too good to be true that this would be the end of the shell game in the "investigation" of Bhatti's death, but time will tell. If anyone deserves a break for once, it is Pakistan's Christians, by far.

"Muslim terrorists killed Shahbaz Bhatti, interior minister says," by Jibran Khan for Asia News, December 27:

Islamabad (AsiaNews) – Those who murdered Minority Affairs Minister Shahbaz Bhatti, a Catholic, belong to Sipah-e-Sahaba, a Muslim terrorist organisation, Interior Minister Rehman Malik said during a Christmas event at Islamabad’s Fatima Church. In cooperation with Interpol, Pakistani authorities are making all possible efforts to bring them back to Pakistan after they fled to Dubai. Paul Bhatti, brother of the slain minister and national harmony advisor to the prime minister, praised the Interior minister’s statement. "Rehman Malik`s statement will bring an end to the rumours that have been surfacing regarding Shahbaz Bhatti`s murder,” he said.

Police sources in Islamabad said the two suspects, Zia-ur-Rehman and Malik Abid, are already in Pakistan. Some local newspapers claimed instead that the murder was due to a dispute among relatives over assets and properties.

During some pre-Christmas events, Paul Bhatti called on the Water Ministry not to cut power to Churches during the Christmas period in Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Attock, Chakwal and Jehlum, to allow Christians to celebrate christmas [sic] according to tradition without hindrance or problems. The ministry had planned a number of blackouts to save energy.

In Rawalpindi, the national harmony adviser visited disabled children at the St Joseph’s Hospice, bringing gifts. “I want to carry on my brother’s mission to serve humanity in order to create an atmosphere of peace, love and stability in the country since I do not seek political status or monetary benefits", Dr. Paul said.

This development, of course, does nothing about the blasphemy law. The final paragraph is included below because it could be enough to get an ordinary Pakistani Christian hauled in for blasphemy. After all, all Asia Bibi did was defend her faith.

“The core truth that makes Christmas such an extraordinarily special time is that God became a human being and, precisely because in the limitless vastness of his glory, he became one of us, his experience of our limitations has changed our experience of what it is to be human or better, has revealed what it is to be truly and fully human,” Mgr Rufin Anthony, bishop of Rawalpindi-Islamabad, said in his christmas [sic] message. “Because God became human, we can embrace our humanity fully, in ourselves and others. Because God became human, we can love without fear and forgive without recompense Because in becoming human, God has shown us that love is possible, that it works.”

In FrontPage this morning I examine the Saudi textbooks that have been making news again, and wonder why everyone is so excited about them.

Catherine Herridge of Fox News reported last week that “despite Saudi Arabia’s promises to clean up textbooks in the kingdom, recent editions continue to raise alarms in the West over jihadist language.” The story of the Saudis’ supposed duplicity has been circulating widely, but what is more surprising than the contents of the Saudi textbooks is that anyone would be surprised by them. The Saudi textbooks teach Islam. What else did anyone expect?...

But there is nothing in the least unusual about what the Saudis are teaching given the fact that the official religion of the Kingdom is Islam. For example, Al-Ahmed explained that tenth-grade textbooks “show students how to cut [the] hand and the feet of a thief.”

Why not? The Qur’an says: “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” (5:38). Is the problem that tenth graders are too young to learn this sort of thing? But why should anyone be too young to learn the ins and outs of the eternal and perfect law designed by the supreme being for all human societies in all times and places?

Al-Ahmed also noted that a ninth-grade text called on Muslims to kill Jews in order to bring about the hour of judgment: “The hour [of judgment] will not come until the Muslims fight the Jews and kill them. … There is a Jew behind me come and kill him.”

Here again, why is anyone surprised? The hadith collection that Muslims consider most reliable, Sahih Bukhari, quotes Muhammad saying this: “Allah’s Apostle said, The Hour will not be established until you fight with the Jews, and the stone behind which a Jew will be hiding will say. ‘O Muslim! There is a Jew hiding behind me, so kill him’” (4.52.177).

Should Saudi ninth graders not be learning about what they must do in order to bring about the blessed day and hour in which all things will be consummated and the golden age will dawn? Yes, it’s genocidal, anti-Semitic and monstrous, but then again, so is the original statement attributed to Muhammad. To condemn the Saudi textbooks is to condemn Muhammad and Islam. Yet the mainstream media stories that wrung their hands over the Saudi textbooks never pointed out that the noxious elements of those textbooks came straight from the Qur’an and the Islamic prophet.

Instead, the media reports pretended that the Saudis had cooked all this up themselves. That would certainly be a comforting thought, for then the problem could – at least theoretically – be isolated and contained, and one would hope that cooler heads would prevail in Riyadh and genuine reform ultimately undertaken. Reality is much less comforting, because of one central fact that no one wishes to acknowledge or consider in its implications: anywhere and everywhere Islam is taught, this kind of hatred and violence could be taught....

When a reporter offered to show the Prince quotes from the textbooks, Faisal replied with the Zen-like “There are many quotes.” Then he hurried away.

Prince Faisal could have done nothing else, short of saying, “Of course the textbooks teach hatred of and warfare against the filthy kuffar. What did you expect?” But no Islamic spokesmen, with the notable exception of Anjem Choudary and a few others, are so brutally frank. And why should they be? The kuffar are ever credulous, ever eager to swallow their smooth, smiling deceptions. So it will be in this case: the Saudis will promise yet again to clean up their textbooks, and as soon as this present firestorm blows over, they will go back to raising up the next generation of jihadis.

And the fat, foolish West will never see them coming.

There is more.

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia is profoundly shocked and saddened at the bombing of two churches in Nigeria on Christmas Day, said Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Anifah Aman.

He said Malaysia remained consistent with its firm stand against terrorism in all forms and manifestations, especially involving civilians, irrespective of location, including in Nigeria, Syria and Iraq.

"The taking of innocent lives and infliction of serious injuries constitute an unforgivable and inhuman act. The commission of such an act against a place of worship and during a mass congregation to mark a day of religious significance is even more deplorable," he said in a statement here Wednesday.

He added that Malaysia extended its condolences and sympathies to the bereaved families and the victims of injuries, respectively.

It was reported that at least 40 people lost their lives in the two incidents. - Bernama

They state their aspirations quite openly, but Western authorities remain determined to ignore them. "Hamas leader Haniyeh: Goal is destruction of Israel in stages," by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik for Palestinian Media Watch, December 27 (thanks to all who sent this in):

At a ceremony marking the 24th anniversary of the founding of Hamas, Hamas leader in the Gaza Strip Ismail Haniyeh said that Hamas may work for the "interim objective of liberation of Gaza, the West Bank, or Jerusalem," but that this "interim objective" and "reconciliation" with Fatah will not change Hamas' long-term "strategic" goal of eliminating all of Israel:

"The armed resistance and the armed struggle are the path and the strategic choice for liberating the Palestinian land, from the [Mediterranean] sea to the [Jordan] river, and for the expulsion of the invaders and usurpers [Israel]... We won't relinquish one inch of the land of Palestine."

Click to view

In his speech, Haniyeh also promised that Hamas will "lead Intifada after Intifada until we liberate Palestine - all of Palestine, Allah willing. Allah Akbar and praise Allah."

Two days later, contradicting Haniyeh's statements, PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas said that Hamas leader abroad Khaled Mashaal had agreed that:

- "There will be no military resistance."
- "The permanent solution is on the '67 borders."

According to Abbas, Hamas agrees to a permanent solution on the '67 borders. However, Haniyeh said that Hamas agrees to a temporary solution on the '67 borders as a first stage only.

For many years, the PLO promoted a "stages plan" that would first create a Palestinian state on the 1949 - 1967 armistice lines, and then work from that position to destroy Israel.

Senior Fatah official Abbas Zaki recently stated that this remains the goal for Fatah as well, but that "you can't say it to the world. You can say it to yourself."...

And the world is willingly fooled.

After all, they can't have any subversive macaroni art getting out on the streets.

Incidents like this are shows of force, but they are not shows of strength. The regime's paranoia betrays a sense of fragility. If this is what threatens them, that speaks volumes. "Iran Detains Sunday School Kids Celebrating Christmas," by Anugrah Kumar for the Christian Post, December 26:

Iranian authorities raided a church that was celebrating Christmas and detained everyone in the building, including children attending Sunday school, a U.K.-based Christian charity said.

Officials in the southern town of Ahwaz raided an Assemblies of God-affiliated church last week and herded the entire congregation into two buses, according to the Christian Solidarity Worldwide.

While the majority of the members were “interrogated, threatened and eventually released,” the church’s senior pastor, identified only as Farhad, remained in detention, along with his wife and some church leaders, at press time.

CSW noted that the authorities raided a church that is not a part of the house church movement, but is an official and long-established church. Its membership largely consists of former followers of John the Baptist [Mandeans - ed.] who converted to Christianity. Pastor Farhad had been detained on several occasions earlier and warned not to allow Muslim converts into his church.

Raids and detentions during the Christmas season are not uncommon in Iran, a Shi’a-majority country that is seen as one of the worst persecutors of religious minorities.

CSW Chief Executive Mervyn Thomas pointed out that the arrests follow Speaker of the Iranian Parliament Ali Larijani’s recent message to Pope Benedict congratulating Christians on the “auspicious anniversary of the birth of Jesus Christ” and stating that the world’s ills were caused by ignoring ethics and justice.

“Mr. Larijani’s Christmas message may have been well intentioned, but it is entirely undermined by these arrests, which violate the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and Iran’s own constitution,” Thomas said.

Larijani was speaking in code. He hoped Christians would project their own beliefs about the birth of Jesus, and their own ideas about ethics and justice onto the glowing generalities. But underlying the platitudes are Islam's extremely different beliefs about Jesus, and Sharia's idea of ethics and justice.

Iran’s claim that they make arrests only when someone’s actions threaten public security falls flat on its face given that children attending Sunday school were detained, Thomas added. Are legitimate Christmas celebrations and the children a threat to the government or the public, he asked.

“It increasingly appears as if the Iranian regime has decided to deem every act of Christian worship a threat to national security,” he said. “If this is indeed the case, then the right to freedom of religion or belief is gravely under threat in Iran.”

CSW is asking for cards of encouragement to be sent to the children, who may have been traumatized by their ordeal.

There are roughly 70 registered churches in Iran apart from house churches. A leader of house churches, Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani, is facing death penalty for converting to Christianity. Arrested in October 2009, the young evangelical pastor from the city of Rasht in northern Gilan Province remains in jail. Iran’s judiciary allegedly intends to keep him in custody for another year to allow authorities to coerce him to convert to Islam before his review petition is decided....

Aziz Yazdanpanah, a Muslim, didn't like his daughter's non-Muslim boyfriend and was exhibiting stalker behavior. “She couldn’t date at all until she was a certain age, but when he was going to let her date she couldn’t date anyone outside of their race or religion.”

Again and again we have seen honor killings in which fathers kill daughters who are dating non-Muslims or have supposedly besmirched the family honor by some sexual indiscretion. Lt. Todd Dearing says that motive isn't important -- which is generally only the case when Islam is involved.

"Neighbors horrified at news of family’s slayings in Grapevine," by Gloria Salinas and Scott Goldstein for the Dallas Morning News, December 26 (thanks to Steve):

GRAPEVINE — Aziz Yazdanpanah seemed to be losing control of his life in recent months — his wife left him, his house was in foreclosure, and his 19-year-old daughter was dating a young man he didn’t like.

Even so, the 58-year-old former real estate agent from Colleyville seemed to be holding it together. Neighbors say he would smile and wave as he drove through his middle-class neighborhood. Recently, he was seen raking leaves in his yard.

“He was very friendly, a very good neighbor,” said Carrie Stewart, who lives across the street. “He was out here often doing yard work and he even watched our house for us when we went to Colorado.”

A decent fellow indeed.

Yazdanpanah, a volunteer high school debate coach described as a doting father, is the focus of suspicion a day after a Christmas morning massacre in which a man dressed as Santa Claus killed six relatives and then committed suicide.

Grapevine police arrived at the Lincoln Vineyard Apartment Homes a few minutes before noon and discovered bodies sprawled among opened presents and wrapping paper. The victims were ages 15 to 58....

Citing public records and interviews with friends and neighbors, media reports Monday identified Yazdanpanah and others who had died: his estranged 55-year-old wife, Fatemeh Rahmati, their 19-year-old daughter, Nona Narges Yazdanpanah, and 15-year-old son, Ali Yazdanpanah.

Friends of the family said Fatemeh Rahmati’s 58-year-old sister, Zohreh Rahmaty, and her husband, Hossein Zarei, 59, and daughter Sahra Zarei, a 22-year-old pre-med student at the University of Texas at Arlington, also were killed.

Grapevine police Lt. Todd Dearing said investigators were working to piece together a timeline of the murders, but they may never know exactly what set off the gunman.

“Motive is not really the primary point right now,” Dearing said. “It’s more along the lines of what happened, how it transpired and making sure that who we believe to be the shooter is the shooter. Motive is what comes afterward for us if we can get it.”

He said a neighbor at the apartment complex saw the suspected shooter get out of his white sport utility vehicle dressed in a Santa outfit, including a full coat, pants, boots and belt. Based in part on that witness account, police believe the shootings occurred about the time a 911 call rang into the station at 11:34 a.m. Sunday.

The line was silent....

Grapevine police also searched the Colleyville home where Aziz Yazdanpanah had been living since he separated from his wife last spring. Public records show that the couple had filed for bankruptcy in 2010 and that the property was in foreclosure....

Yazdanpanah said he bought a gun after expressing concern that his daughter’s boyfriend was stalking him. He also insisted on picking up his daughter from her job at a phone kiosk inside Sam’s Club in Grapevine because of concerns about the alleged stalker.

The boyfriend has not been publicly identified.

Neighbors said the family was Muslim but had always hung Christmas lights on their home — except this year.

Terri Baum, who lives three homes down from Yazdanpanah, said she had seen him around the neighborhood in the last couple of weeks.

“They were pretty quiet, but kind, very kind,” Baum said. “They were sweet, good parents, and they loved their kids very much.”

Baum’s daughter, Allison, attended Colleyville Heritage High School with Nona, where the girls were part of an academic team focused on developing business leaders. They graduated together in May.

“Allison would take her to school from here, and then when they moved out she would pick her up from the apartments,” Baum said. “It’s unbelievable because of the people we knew them to be, and their children were good kids, very focused.”

Baum said she was horrified at the possibility the killings had been a murder-suicide.

“All I want to say is, it is so unbelievably shocking because they loved their kids,” Baum said.

Yes, loved them to death.

But a more ominous portrait emerged of Yazdanpanah in interviews with some of his daughter’s other classmates.

“She would come to school crying and telling us her dad was crazy,” said Lacie Reed, 18. “He wouldn’t let her wear certain things. He was always taking her phone away, checking her call history and checking her text messages.”

Friends said Nona’s father had installed cameras all around the home so he could watch the family’s comings and goings. Others said he nailed her bedroom window shut so she could not sneak out at night and see her boyfriend.

“She couldn’t date at all until she was a certain age, but when he was going to let her date she couldn’t date anyone outside of their race or religion,” Reed said.

Yiselle Alvarenga, 18, said Nona’s mother and brother seemed to come to her aid when her father punished her.

“He would take her phone away and her mother would give it back to her and her brother would let her use his phone,” Alvarenga said. “She was doing good. She was just excited that her life was going to start and she was going to have control of it.”...

Here's the latest from the Liberated One:

[...] I have three siblings and I am the eldest. I have two brothers and a sister; all are married and settled except me, not because no one ever proposed to me, but because I just could not make myself do it, I mean sign a lifelong bondage/slavery contract with some fanatic Muslim man. Muslim men are such morons, I swear; they are hypocrites in the first degree. They have a different set of rules for themselves and a different one for their women. Total male chauvinistic pigs... I was always fascinated with the idea of marrying a western non Muslim man who would love, honor and respect me as an equal instead of getting married to some clone of Mohammed. I am sure everyone is aware of his famous words “Women are deficient in their minds” or “I have been to hell and seen it full of women”. These and many other hadeeth and Quranic verses have proclaimed that women are inferior to men and that men have an upper hand on them. I never really liked the teachings of Islam and used to wonder deep down why is Islam so backward and why it could not be progressive like Christianity. I had so many questions but never had the guts to voice my thoughts aloud until recently, when I just had an epiphany one fine day and I knew that I had to do it, do the unthinkable, the impossible: I have to become an apostate. Then the journey began; months of studying and researching accompanied with sleepless nights and mental trauma and affliction which finally lead me to the unspoken truth that Islam is a hoax, a lie, and a make believe religion invented by Mohammed to fulfill his own carnal and self serving desires.

Even though most people have given me their absolute support on my apostasy, there are some who are still in a doubt that if I really exist and wonder if I am just a figment of Spencer’s imagination. Why someone who happens to be a famous, well established and distinguished celebrity like Mr. Robert Spencer need to create an imaginary character like Liberated? It really does not make sense and it really causes me a lot of pain that I am not getting credit where it is due. I have gone through a lot, and whatever I am writing here on this blog comes straight from the bottom of my heart. I am an apostate of Islam but let me make it clear, no one has brainwashed me, as some people like to believe. I am not some stupid, uneducated moron who would just get swayed away by someone. No one forced it on me, no one asked me to leave Islam. I did it on my own because I truly never believed in many of its teachings and backward 7th century doctrine, but I just needed a push in the right direction, which was given to me by my mentor Ali Sina, as well as by some great writers like Mr. Robert Spencer, Mr. Daniel Pipes, Ms. Pamela Geller and Mr. Raymond Ibrahim. These people have exposed Islam to the world like no one has ever done before, and I salute them all for their remarkable efforts....

Read it all.

In Human Events this morning I recap three ways in which the jihad advanced non-violently in 2011:

The cause of freedom is by no means dead, but 2011 was a banner year for Islamic jihadists and supremacists the world over. Their advance was swiftest and most significant in three areas:

1. The “Arab Spring”: Widely hailed in the mainstream media as a flowering of Western-style democracy and freedom, in reality the revolutions across North Africa and the Middle East were from the beginning actually Islamic supremacist in nature. Fueled by the Muslim Brotherhood and other groups of like mind, the “Arab Spring” ushered in governments all across North Africa that are dedicated to the imposition of Islamic law and the eradication of all remaining vestiges of Western notions such as free speech and equality of rights for women and non-Muslims. The governments that are coming to power are certain to be even more virulent anti-American, authoritarian, and violent than the ones they supplanted.

Unsurprisingly, Barack Obama enthusiastically applauded these developments, actively aided them with U.S. military might in Libya, and abetted the false media narrative with some spin of his own. Speaking about the Libyan revolution in March, Barack Obama hailed “the rights of peaceful assembly, free speech, and the ability of the Libyan people to determine their own destiny,” and also praised “the peaceful transition to democracy in both Tunisia and in Egypt.”

Now, as Egypt rushes headlong toward becoming a Sharia state and going to war with Israel, Obama is scrambling to hold at bay the forces he is largely responsible for unleashing.

2. The new domestic anti-terror policy: Meanwhile, at home the Obama Administration brought to its logical culmination a policy of ignoring and downplaying the beliefs, motives and goals of America’s jihadist enemies that began during the Bush Administration. After a series of “exposes” in Leftist media journals about alleged “Islamophobia” (i.e. truthful and accurate analysis of how Islamic jihadists use the texts and teachings of Islam to justify violence and supremacism) in terror training materials used in the FBI and other agencies, aghast Obama Administration officials promised to scrub training materials of anything that connected Islam with Islamic jihad terrorism, and to reeducate agents who had been exposed to such materials.

The suicidal idiocy of this was immediately apparent when several officials were pressed on how they proposed to identify potential terror threats, and they started talking about behaviors associated with Islamic piety. But the mainstream media didn’t press these officials on the obvious contradiction. Nor did anyone ask how Administration terror analysts proposed to deal with the fact that Islamic jihadists often give their groups Islamic names (such as Hamas, which is an acronym for the Islamic Resistance Movement, and Hizballah, the Party of Allah) and explain their actions in Islamic theological terms – other than to stick their fingers in their ears and yell, “La la la, I can’t hear you.”...

There is more.

The "virginity tests" are a sexual assault carried out by the state, designed to intimidate women into staying home. Authorities can then use the supposed "results" of the tests as one way of writing off those who do show up to protest as women of ill repute, and therefore as bad Muslims acting contrary to Sharia's principles, who have thus forfeited their right to protection.

The women victimized by this scheme could be charged with prostitution, or may have their reputations ruined and be set up for rejection by their family and friends, along with possible further violence.

An update on this story. "Egyptian court rules against virginity tests," by Mohamed Fadel Fahmy for CNN, December 27:

Cairo (CNN) -- An Egyptian administrative court issued an order Tuesday banning virginity tests for female detainees, months after several women alleged they were subjected to such examinations following a March protest in Cairo's Tahrir Square.

The ruling comes in the case of Samira Ibrahim, a 25-year-old marketing manager who took the country's military led-government to court in August, alleging she was among those subjected to the test after her arrest during the March 9 protest. She said she faced death threats after bringing the case.

"Justice has been served today," Ibrahim told CNN. "These tests are a crime and also do not comply with the constitution, which states equality between men and woman. I will not give up my rights as a woman or a human being."

But:

Aly Hassan, a judicial consultant affiliated with Ministry of Justice, said the order only affects the use of such tests in military prisons and on women in temporary detention.

"Those tests are not considered a crime or else the file would be in the Criminal Court," Hassan said. "It's the circumstances of the alleged test that may be in question here."

In March, the human rights group Amnesty International reported that Egyptian troops beat, shocked and strip-searched women arrested during the protest in Cairo and forced them to submit to virginity tests.

How many were abused in the custody of the army and police, and were then marked down as no longer being virgins? The treatment of Mona Eltahawy is not likely an isolated incident.

Egyptian authorities initially denied requiring virginity tests, but in May, a senior general who asked not to be identified acknowledged the practice.

The general said the tests were performed as a safeguard against the women accusing authorities of sexual assault, and he defended the tests.

Destroying reputations:

"The girls who were detained were not like your daughter or mine," the general told CNN at the time. "These were girls who had camped out in tents with male protesters in Tahrir Square, and we found in the tents Molotov cocktails and (drugs)."

But Ibrahim said her treatment clearly showed the tests were meant to "degrade the protesters."

Sexual assault by the state:

"The military tortured me, labeled me a prostitute and humiliated me by forcing on me a virginity test conducted by a male doctor where my body was fully exposed while military soldiers watched," she said....

Hamas' own charter describes itself as "one of the wings of the Muslim Brotherhood in Palestine." And Hamas is committed to the destruction of Israel.

Some "role model" for the "moderate" and "largely secular" Ikhwan. Then again, the Muslim Brotherhood has already organized its own rally where participants shouted "One day we'll kill all the Jews."

Hamas, for its part, has made an apparent tactical retreat from some of its more aggressive imposition of Sharia, more in line with the larger Brotherhood's gradualist approach. "Muslim Brotherhood: Hamas is our role model," by Roi Kais for YNet News, December 27:

Gaza's Hamas premier was in Egypt Monday on his first trip outside the blockaded territory since the Islamists overran it in 2007, saying his meeting with his Islamic ideological mentors threatens Israel.

Ismail Haniyeh discussed Mideast politics with the leader of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, which has emerged as the biggest winner in the first parliamentary elections in post-uprising Egypt, capturing nearly half of the seats so far.

Hamas is considered an offshoot of the Brotherhood.

Brotherhood leader Mohammed Badie met Haniyeh at the group's newly inaugurated headquarters in a Cairo suburb.

"The Brotherhood center has always embraced issues of liberation, foremost the Palestinian issue," Badie said, according to Egypt's state Middle East News Agency.

He added that Hamas has served as a role model to the Brotherhood in its reconciliation with the Fatah movement and in closing the recent prisoner swap deal with Israel.

That only happened because Hamas kidnapped Gilad Shalit. Again, some role model.

The Brotherhood renounced violence in the 1970s, but it supports Hamas in its "resistance" against Israel.

Hamas is considered a terror group by Israel, the US and EU, killing hundreds of Israelis in attacks, including suicide bombings. The West insists that before it deals with Hamas, the group must renounce violence, recognize Israel and accept existing peace accords. Hamas has refused.

'Meeting threatens Israeli entity'

Haniyeh described Hamas as the "jihadi movement of the Brotherhood with a Palestinian face." He said his visit to the Brotherhood center would confuse and frighten Israel.

"Our presence with the Brotherhood threatens the Israeli entity," Haniyeh said according to MENA.

Israel has expressed concern that a new Egyptian government under Islamist influence might cancel Egypt's 1979 peace treaty with Israel.

Hamas took Gaza by force in a brief, bloody civil war in 2007, expelling forces of the rival Fatah, led by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Israel and Egypt responded by blockading Gaza. Badie criticized the blockade during his meeting with Haniyeh, according to MENA.

Egypt has been heading efforts to reconcile the two rivals. They came to some agreements last week in talks in Cairo. Hamas was represented by its supreme leader, Khaled Mashaal, who is based in Damascus.

Haniyeh said during his visit to the Arab League that reconciliation with Fatah is a "strategic" matter that should not be hindered by American and Israeli objections. Israel has said the closer Fatah gets to Hamas, the further it moves from a peace deal....

In accordance with Qur'an 5:38. The Saudis didn't make that up themselves. "Nigerian man’s hand amputated for theft," from the Saudi Press Agency, December 26 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):

RIYADH — The right hand of Abdulsamad Ismail Abdullah Hawsawe, a Nigerian national, was amputated here Friday after he was found guilty of the theft of gold, a pistol and a mobile phone and taking part in the theft of a car.

The sentence was carried out as per Shariah law, a Ministry of Interior statement said. The ruling, passed and endorsed by the Criminal Court, Court of Cassation and Supreme Court, was forwarded to the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques who endorsed it according to Islamic Shariah law, the statement said.

Tiny Minority of Extremists Update: the violent jihad murderers of Boko Haram are growing bolder and bloodier by the day, and the Nigerian government does not and apparently cannot move to stop them. "Nigeria lacks the leadership to quell militant threat of Boko Haram," from Reuters, December 27:

ABUJA // Nigeria lacks competent leaders to tackle its security problems, a former military ruler said yesterday, following Christmas Day bomb attacks on churches by Islamist militants that killed more than two dozen people.

Muhammadu Buhari, a northerner who lost the last presidential election in April to incumbent Goodluck Jonathan, said the government was slow to respond and had shown indifference to the bombings.

The Boko Haram Islamist sect, which aims to impose Sharia across Africa's most populous country, claimed responsibility for three church bombings, the second Christmas in a row it has caused destruction at Christian houses of worship.

Security forces also blamed the sect for two explosions in the north and fear is growing that Boko Haram is trying to ignite a sectarian civil war between Christians and Muslims who, for the most part, coexist in peace.

"How on earth would the Vatican and the British authorities speak before the Nigerian government on attacks within Nigeria that have led to the deaths of our citizens?" Mr Buhari said in a statement published by Punch newspaper. "This is clearly a failure of leadership at a time the government needs to assure the people of the capacity to guarantee the safety of lives and property."

He said the government needed to do more than spend more on security to deal with the problem.

Mr Jonathan, a Christian from the south who is struggling to contain the threat of Islamist militancy, called the attacks "unfortunate" but said Boko Haram would "not be (around) forever. It will end one day"....

Good luck, Jonathan.

The Christmas church bombings included one in the central city of Jos, a religious and ethnic region lying in the heart of the divide between the mercantile, largely Muslim pastoralist peoples of the north and the traditionally farming, largely Christians in the south.

Nigeria's 160 million people are split almost evenly between Christians and Muslims, who usually live side by side in peace, but their cohabitation in the "Middle Belt" has sometimes been a source of tensions over land and influence.

Jos in particular has seen many hundreds killed in periodic outbreaks of ethnic and sectarian violence.

The attacks on the churches on one of global Christianity's most important feast days appeared aimed at touching off this latent tinderbox, just as targeted sectarian attacks in Iraq have tried to provoke Sunni-Shiite strife.

In December last year, Boko Haram also claimed responsibility for Christmas Eve bombings around Jos and attacks on churches and clashes that resulted in more than 80 deaths.

The militant movement, whose name means "Western learning is sinful" in the northern Hausa language, is concentrated in Nigeria's more remote northern states. It became active in 2003, with an avowed aim to introduce Sharia across Nigeria.

The latest attacks will fuel the fears of Nigerian and western security experts who increasingly link Boko Haram to a wider violent militant Islamic jihadist threat from North Africa across the Sahara....

Surely there are things the Iranian government has decided it can't afford, but it can find the time and money for a "fashion show." Islamic morality policing is a cheap, lazy political tool with which to look pious and busy, while reminding the public who is boss.

Meanwhile, if the women still run afoul of some future crackdown, the woman hired by the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance to put on the show says "we want to put bar codes on officially approved dresses and provide those wearing them with written permissions in order to prevent them from being arrested."

Gee, there's nothing creepy about that or anything. What if vice police's bar code scanner is on the fritz that day? "Ahmadinejad steps into Iran’s dress-code debate," by Thomas Erdbrink for the Washington Post, December 26:

TEHRAN — In the Islamic republic of Iran, the law requires women to cover their hair and bodies in public. But how to do so remains up to them, and the result is persistent confusion in the streets.

Though leading Shiite Muslim clerics advise women to wear chadors — the traditional head-to-toe cloak, usually black — Iran’s urban fashionistas increasingly prefer tight-fitting coats and scant head scarves.

Now, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is stepping into the dispute. He wants to settle it by promoting government-approved apparel for women, garments intended to introduce an array of clothes that are “Islamic and beautiful” at the same time.

Hard-liners are not amused. They say that the new designs encourage “Western values.” But at a recent government-sponsored fashion show, young women and their mothers gazed approvingly at the plastic mannequins showcasing the new coats and scarves. [...]

To many of those attending the government exhibition, the middle road between the chador and some of the Lady Gaga-like creations that some women make of their obligatory coats and scarves seemed to offer a solution to their fashion dilemmas.

“Oh lord, isn’t this beautiful?” exclaimed Zahra Ranjbar, an expert on Islamic clothing, as she walked passed a mannequin showcasing a brown coat cut well above the knee. Ranjbar was hired by the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, the organizer of the fashion show, to advise young women on proper dresses. She wore a chador herself, but “only because I was told to by the ministry,” she admitted.

Ranjbar said more variations of Islamic dresses are needed to keep women interested in covering up. She fully supports “regulations” to clarify what can be worn and what cannot, she said, arguing that such clarity helps not only women, but also the police who enforce the dress code.

“We want to put bar codes on officially approved dresses and provide those wearing them with written permissions in order to prevent them from being arrested,” Ranjbar said. “We are doing this for the people, in order to protect them.”

But several fashion designers who sell dresses from their homes derided that idea, saying it would add even more permission slips to the already overprotected lives of Iranian women. Besides, they said, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

“Again we will face a situation in which a small group will decide for all women what is allowed and what not,” said Kiana, 26, who makes manteaus costing up to $300 apiece and did not want to be identified by her full name....

Not that a constitution which is said to be merely inspired by Sharia's supremacist and authoritarian principles would be good news. But the Salafists, that supposed Tiny Minority of Extremists that has gotten between a quarter and a third of the vote between the first two rounds of Egypt's elections, intend to make sure Sharia is not merely the basis of legislation, but features in its contents. Indeed, both Islamic parties' strength in numbers ensures that.

A democracy is only as good as the values that inform its participants. "Salafi party forms committee to influence constitution," by Hamdi Dabash Mohamed Abu Elenen for Al Masri Al Youm, December 26:

The Nour Party has formed a legal committee to prepare a new constitution for the country, said Emad Abdel Ghafour, president of the Salafi Nour Party.

“It would be based on previous constitutions and experiences so as to arrive at the best formula,” Abdel Ghafour said, adding that the draft would be presented to the public for discussion.

Party spokesman Yousry Hammad explained that the proposed constitution disposes of the presidential system. “We don’t want power to be in the hands of one person,” he said.

Hammad added that article two of the proposed constitution stipulates that the “provisions” and not the “principles” of Islamic Sharia law are the main sources of legislation. “We shall apply Sharia gradually so as not to cause distortions,” he said.

Applying it all at once might provoke resistance. But the journey of a thousand years' regression of human rights begins with a single step.

But the party has denounced the “Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice Authority” that some of its members have already formed, taking after the Saudi model. “This was an individual endeavor that the party is not responsible for,” said Abdel Ghafour.

The authority’s founders said, in their first statement on Facebook, that they are not working under the umbrella of the Nour Party.

Typical lack of transparency, with an odd twist:

“We assure you that we would not resort to force or violence, but rather to dialogue and advice in applying Sharia,” the statement said, adding that the founders would reveal their identities once they accumulated a sufficient number of members in their Facebook group.

Grover Norquist's numerous unsavory ties to jihadists and Islamic supremacists are abundantly documented in Pamela Geller's expose here. And on the House floor in October, Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA) said of Norquist, "Documentation shows that he has deep ties to supporters of Hamas and other terrorist organizations that are sworn enemies of the United States and our ally Israel.”  He pointed out that “around the years 2000 and 2001, Mr. Norquist’s firm represented Abdurahman Alamoudi, who was convicted two years later for his role in a terrorist plot and who is presently serving a 23-year sentence in federal prison.”

Norquist, reported Wolf, “also associated with terror financier Sami Al-Arian, according to Mary Jacoby’s reporting in March 2003, in the St. Petersburg Times.  Al-Arian pled guilty in 2006 'to a charge of conspiring to provide services to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), a specially designated terrorist organization, in violation of U.S. law,' and is under house arrest, according to a Department of Justice press release.  The Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s ‘paramilitary wing—the al-Quds Brigades—has conducted numerous attacks, including large-scale suicide bombings,’ according to the National Counterterrorism Center.”

As if all that weren't enough, now it comes out that Norquist has been working with a group linked to both Hamas-linked CAIR and the stealth Islamic Republic of Iran lobbying group, NIAC -- a group led by the likes of Trita Parsi and Reza Aslan.

"Iran's Islamist Regime and the American Helping It," by Manda Zand Ervin in Hudson NY, December 26 (thanks to Banafsheh Zand-Bonazzi):

The unelected regime that is currently controlling Iran has a reputation for spending Iranian national assets around the world to buy friends and good will -- a necessary part of its plan to remain in power and continue its unappealing behavior, such as financing terrorism around the world and abrogating its commitment under the nuclear non-proliferation treaty by developing nuclear weapons.

An American Thinker expose recently stated that the Khomeinist regime has been assisted in perpetuating these activities thanks to the support of a Washington lobbyist, Grover Norquist, and his involvement with the American Conservative Defense Alliance (ACDA). ACDA has actively supported the Campaign for a New American Policy for Iran (CNAPI), which in turn is linked both to the Council for American-Islamic Relations [CAIR] and the National Iranian American Council (NIAC).

A recent CBS "60 Minutes" program states that Grover Norquist is "the most powerful conservative man in Washington." If that is true, his support for these groups is troubling. The Iranian American community widely believes NIAC – ACDA's partner in many of its efforts -- to be a Washington lobby group for the Khomeinist regime leadership. NIAC has long advocated unconditional negotiations with Tehran, and the total abandonment of all economic sanctions and military options against the Iranian regime.

NIAC's advocacy appears as a deftly veiled refusal to support the Iranian democracy activists and the Iranian freedom movement. This is not only un-American but contradicts all conservative ideals.

The founder of NIAC, Trita Parsi is an unpopular figure within the Iranian-American community, as can be seen from his high disapproval ratings in a July 2011 poll of over 1800 Iranian Americans taken by the Pro-Democracy Movement of Iran. Senator Jon Kyl has called for an investigation into Trita Parsi and his work. Last month, on November 5, Parsi stated that criticism of Iran should be "punishable."

What these lobbyists recount to Americans such as Norquist and the members of the US government are distortions and lies. The lobbyists claim that the majority of the people of Iran are religious; that they are happy with this blight of a regime, and that economic sanctions only hurt the people. They say that military intervention will only strengthen the resolve of the Iranian people to fight on the side of the regime, and that support for the freedom movement will discourage the Islamic regime from coming to the negotiating table. These statements are simply not true.

In the 32 years that have passed since Iran was hijacked by this regime, every elected U.S. president -- from Jimmy Carter, to President Reagan on down to President Obama -- has tried to negotiate with the Islamic regime. Not only have these negotiations been for naught, they have allowed Iran to buy time to continue building its illegal nuclear weapons program. The latest IAEA report now puts the Iranian Revolutionary Guards nearer completing their nuclear bomb than ever before.

Since the end of the Cold War, the Islamists have historically been a friend to the far left; they are now looking to American conservatives on the right to join them to obtain the further legitimacy they think they require when approaching the government.

Here is what Trita Parsi wrote in emails to CNAPI participants, as quoted in the recent American Thinker expose: "… Grover Norquist offered his support but did not sign‐on. He exemplifies not just a powerful voice in the Republican Party, but also an important figure that can provide transpartisan legitimacy to our efforts. I think it is critical that we do whatever can be done to get him to sign on, especially since his full involvement would give our efforts a tremendous credibility boost."

If Mr. Norquist is supporting these apparently unabashed lobbyists out of a humanitarian concern for the people of Iran, he should know that a large majority of Iranian people have no problem with economic sanctions if they result in the removal of this illegitimate, dictatorial regime, and help the empowerment of the people to establish a government by the people of Iran, for the people of Iran.

As President Obama said: "The people who are on the side of the dictators, are on the wrong side of history."

As a new American and a conservative, I am fighting for the rights of all the deprived men, women and children of Iran.

I wonder if Mr. Norquist would be interested in hearing the true side of the story, or does "The Most Powerful Conservative Man in Washington" know it already -- but not care?

Manda Zand Ervin's contact information for Mr. Norquist is the email form at the website: www.allianceofiranianwomen.org

Pamela Geller has just published this revealing and important message from the Iranian-American human rights activist Arash Irandoost:

Dear Friend,

حرف بس است. متحد شویم. عمل کنیم

It is time to act. Court documents released as a result of a lawsuit filed by NIAC against Hassan Dai paint a very disturbing picture of Trita Parsi and the NIAC. They range from defrauding the federal government, lying to members of Congress, arranging secret meetings between the US and the criminal regime, to recent revelation that Trita Parsi paid Anne Singleton to provide testimony to U.S. Congress.  NIAC has lied about its membership numbers.  It claimed once that it had 33,000 members and now court documents reveal that it has less than 500 members and is not even willing to disclose them, we think the number to be even lower.  As a 501 c3 tax exempt, NIAC refuses to disclose its audit and tax reports. Many credible news organizations have expressed concern about NIAC's activities.  NIAC has falsely claimed that it represents Iranian Americans. While it is shunned from the Iranian-American community and does not even answer questions raised by the Iranian-Americans, a constituency he purports to represent. Have you asked why?

On February 26, 2011, NIAC held a public event in Plano, Texas and claimed that it was sponsored by the Press Club and Dallas and The World Affairs Council.  Since Trita would not let us record the event and our questions were filtered and altered, I called and objected to event sponsors, to my surprise, I was told by both organization (I have documents) that they had not heard of the event and had not sponsored the event. Do we really want such a deceitful organization to represent us? NIAC's stooge Ambassador, Sirros Amoie whose family recently returned to Iran????, falsely claimed that I was a part of the MEK organization.

There is just no limit to Trita's lies and slanders. Much like IRI officials who use Taggiyeh to justify their crimes and hide their nuclear activity, Trita Parsi is adept at Calumniation. Trita falsely charges others with malicious intent, attacks the good name and reputation of others who are opposed to him. Yes Trita lies! Much like its IRI masters! About 5 months ago we had reached more than 2,700 members in a similar cause like this against NIAC but the NIAC Cyber Army was able to deceive the CAUSE administrators and bring the cause down, as it was reported and bragged about by NIAC's Jamal Abdi.

Have you ever wondered why NIAC does not allow comments on its articles, websites or blogs?

Have you asked why Trita Parsi was paid by CIA?

Have you NIAC why Trita Parsi has a Swedish bank account and who were the depositors and why he did not pay taxes on it?

Trita Parsi was intimately involved with the convicted Congressman Bob Ney to help IRI get around the US-Iran sanctions.

Do you know who was behind the Pugwash meetings?

Have you asked why the PARSA Foundation (now closed down) donated thousands of dollars to NIAC?

NIAC held a Leadership Conference in October, many who attended were not even Iranian-Americans, have you asked why they were allowed to roam the Hall of our Nations's Capitol and talk to our representatives?

Trita Parsi is not an Iranian-American, how can he represent our interests.Our grievances against NIAC and Trita Parsi are plenty! For questions are many.

It is our belief that the Obama Administration is working closely with NIAC to appease the Islamic Republic and bring it to the negotiations table, a regime that attempted to assassinate a foreign diplomat on our soil.  We believe that the IRI cannot be reformed and the Islamic Republic have ulterior motives, just look at their own writings and statements:

“Killing is a great Divine gift.”

Ayatollah Khomeini: “Those who say Islam should not kill don't understand [it]. Killing is a great [divine] gift that appears [to man]. A religion that does not include [provisions for] killing and massacre is incomplete. Those who claim that Jesus was averse to killing and war, harm his prophetic mission… Killing is the same as mercy."

“Violence is the heart of Islam.”

Ayatollah Yazdi – Senior Advisor to Ahmadinejad and IRGC Leaders: “We must wipe away the shameful stain whereby some people imagine that violence has no place in Islam… we have decided and are determined to argue that violence is the heart of Islam.”

Examples are many!

Let's choose a candidate that respects and values our opinions.  Obama turned his back when Neda was shot as he has turned his back on us and works with organizations that advocate for policies favorable to the criminal and rapist regime.

It is time to act.  Every member, every call, every fax, every letter, every petition to your representatives counts.  Do your duty for Iran and the United States. Let them know what you think!

Let them know you/we matter!

Sincerely,
Arash Irandoost
Founder,
Pro Democracy Movement of Iran

Geller has more on NIAC in her recent American Thinker article, "Why Obama Betrayed the Iranian People":

Trita Parsi is the president of the George Soros-funded National Iranian American Council (NIAC), a powerful Iranian lobbying group in Washington.  Arash Irandoost of the Pro-Democracy Movement of Iran calls Parsi "an intellectually dishonest regime apologist and an unofficial and unregistered lobbyist for the Iranian regime."  According  to Irandoost, "Trita Parsi contributes to the regime's agenda and serves the interests of those in power in the Islamic Republic of Iran, not the Iranians, nor the Iranian-Americans."

And the Progressive American-Iranian Committee says that when NIAC and Parsi received funding for various projects from the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), "NIAC's projects were approved and welcomed by the Iranian regime."  NIAC coordinated its work inside Iran with Hamyaran, a "government initiated agency incepted, initiated, founded and managed by the Iranian regime."  NIAC and Parsi even lobbied the U.S. Congress to "stop appropriating funds for independent democratic movements and NGOs that were not under Hamyaran or regime's control."

Not surprisingly, Parsi opposes sanctions against the Islamic Republic, claiming that "imposing new sanctions prior to diplomacy having begun will only decrease the chances of successful diplomacy."  The NIAC has opposed sanctions for quite some time.  Iranian dissident Hassan Daioleslam notes that "in 2008, when [the] U.S. Congress was showing some teeth to the Iranian regime," a coalition of Islamic groups, antiwar groups, and others founded the Campaign for New American Policy on Iran to fight against new sanctions against Iran called for by the advisory resolution H.R. 362.  This resolution was not passed, and "NIAC and Parsi," says Daioleslam, "were on top of this event."

And who is on the NIAC Board? Stealth Islamic supremacist Reza Aslan is on the NIAC Board. It is no surprise in light of Aslan's NIAC connection that he has tried to pass off Iran's genocidally-minded President Ahmadinejad as a liberal reformer. He has called on the U.S. Government to negotiate with Ahmadinejad himself, as well as with Hamas -- that is, with two of the most barbaric and murderous adherents of Sharia.

Aslan has even praised the jihad terror group Hizballah as "the most dynamic political and social organization in Lebanon," as well as the Jew-hating, women-hating, kuffar-hating Muslim Brotherhood, which is dedicated in its own words to "eliminating and destroying Western civilization from within." Aslan wrote: "The Muslim Brotherhood will have a significant role to play in post-Mubarak Egypt. And that is good thing." If, in 1932, someone had written that "the National Socialist Party will have a significant role to play in post-Weimar Germany, and that is a good thing," he would have rightly been called a Nazi sympathizer.

Aslan has also spoken at events sponsored by the Muslim Students Association, a Brotherhood group, and at an event co-sponsored by the Los Angeles chapter of the Hamas-linked Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), and moderated by the notorious Edina Lekovic, the Muslim Public Affairs Council flack whom Steve Emerson caught lying on national television, denying she was editor of a Muslim student publication that praised Osama bin Laden as a great mujahid. Emerson produced copies of the rag showing Lekovic's name on the masthead as editor on the very same page on which the praise for Osama appeared.

This case is apparently connected to a larger investigation which found 30 auto businesses in the U.S. that laundered over $300 million in money to benefit Hizballah. Even in Tulsa. "Raid on Wilson auto dealership stuns landlord, neighbors," from The Tennessean, December 24:

A Wilson County car dealer accused of aiding Lebanon-based terrorist organization Hezbollah was born in that Middle Eastern country in 1969 and moved to Tennessee nine years ago, Davidson County court records show.

Khalil Aref Abdelkhalek’s landlord at Cedar Exports Auto Sales and neighboring businesspeople said they were shocked to hear that federal agents had raided the company — along with dozens of other dealerships across the country — as part of a civil money laundering and forfeiture lawsuit seeking nearly half a billion dollars from an alleged massive, international scheme to funnel money to Hezbollah.

Another "decent fellow":

“You could have knocked me over with a feather,” said Tony Moorby, owner of the Dealer Plaza complex where Cedar Exports and 13 other automotive dealers are located. “This chap has been great. He actually comes looking for us to pay his rent. He’s always been happy, courteous, smiling. He’s always been very gracious.

“But I’m sure the feds can’t do this kind of thing without all the consideration that’s due.”

Reached by telephone, Abdelkhalek, 42, referred comment to his lawyer, Nashville attorney Nader Baydoun, who did not return phone messages and emails seeking comment. In an interview with WSMV-TV, Abdelkhalek emphatically denied the government’s charges that he aided terrorists and suggested he may have unwittingly been caught up in the alleged scheme.

“As part of the scheme, funds were wired from Lebanon to the United States to buy used cars, which were then transported to West Africa,” states a news release announcing the civil charges brought last week by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. “Cash from the sale of the cars, along with proceeds of narcotics trafficking, were then funneled to Lebanon through (Hezbollah)-controlled money laundering channels.”...

He was outnumbered, and the cowards attacked him by surprise from behind, deceitfully calling "Pastor, Pastor." They committed quite the "own-goal" if they were trying to show who is "greater." "Suspect in Pastor Mulinde acid attack arrested," from New Vision, December 26 (thanks to Olive):

Three days after a suspected acid attack on Pastor Umar Mulinde of Gospel Life Church, Police has arrested one person in connection with the incident.

Addressing a press briefing on Monday, Police spokesperson, Asuman Mugenyi said one person had been arrested but declined to disclose the details. He confirmed that acid was used in the attack and said the police was carrying out investigations to establish the motive of the attackers.

Unknown people attacked Mulinde on Christmas Eve at about 9:00pm shortly after he returned from a church crusade. The attackers poured acid on him, leaving his face partly disfigured and his right eye is blinded.

His face, neck and arms are covered with deep black scars and his lips are swollen.

Narrating his ordeal to journalists at International Hospital, Kampala (IHK) , Mulinde said he was attacked by unidentified men whose target was to kill him.

“I was attacked by a man who claimed to be a Christian. He called out to me shouting, “pastor, pastor’ and as I turned to see who he was, he poured acid which burnt part of my face,” he said.

“As I turned away from the attacker, another man poured the liquid on my back and ran away shouting ‘Allah Akbar (God is great).”

Pastor Mulinde said he caught a glimpse of the attackers but could not disclose the details as this would jeopardise investigations. He blamed the attack to some people who are opposed to his conversion from the Islamic faith to Christianity.

“I have got threats for a very long time, but didn’t take them serious until now,” he said.

Mulinde was raised in a staunch Muslim family and his father served as the local Imam. He was a sheikh before getting converted to Christianity.

Mulinde said the attack occurred shortly after his church had concluded a seven-day crusade at in which over 300 people gave their lives to the Lord.

“We went back to our church to test the sound equipment and everything was perfect. We had organised a Christmas party for the converts when this happened,” he said. His followers rushed him to Mengo Hospital, where he was referred to IHK.

Efforts to get a comment from doctors about Mulinde’s condition were futile as hospital authorities blocked journalists from talking to them. A source told New Vision that doctors were trying hard to save his sight and contain the acid from spreading to other parts of his body.

For the minority religious group, there is a sense of unease in the wake of rising tensions with Muslims authorities.

KUALA LUMPUR: In every mall and along every main street in Malaysia’s capital, elaborate decorations and loud, blaring carols bring about festive reminders of the season to be jolly.

But beneath the blinking lights and merry making, many Christians will be celebrating Christmas with an undeniable sense of unease due to rising tensions with Muslim authorities.

Malaysia is a secular state as defined in its constitution, but Islam is the official religion and is embraced by 60 percent of the population. Minority Christians make up about 10 percent, followed by Buddhists, Hindus and people of other faiths.

Religious violence is rare in the multicultural society, but minority religious groups have complained that their right to practise freely is increasingly threatened by a Muslim-dominated government.

Christians have always had to be “cautious” in dealing with the government, said Sam Ang, secretary-general of the National Evangelical Christian Fellowship, the country’s largest evangelical group.

“I think there is definitely a sense of Christians feeling threatened much more now, although not so much physically.”

He said the authorities often misinterpret the law according to their own convenience.

“There is always a risk. That is why churches would be wise to always exercise caution,” he said.

An emotional thing

But one major church apparently threw caution to the wind on Aug 3 when it allowed an organisation with Muslim members to use its premises for a celebration.

Throwing 'caution to the wind'? Isn't that just blaming the victims (i.e. Christians) for the aggressive acts of the Muslim religious police?

Islamic religious officers raided the church during the dinner, and later claimed efforts were being made to convert the Muslims who were present.

The Damansara Utama Methodist Church (DUMC) denied the allegations and called the raid illegal. It said accusations of conversion attempts were false and malicious.

Christian leaders condemned the raid, saying the authorities showed no proof or warrant to enter the church premises.

The incident also sparked outrage among Muslim groups that demonstarted against what they claimed were aggressive conversion efforts by Christians. They called on Muslims to “take all necessary actions” to protect the sanctity of Islam.

Outrage seems to be the default Muslim response to every slight, either real or imagined.

In response, the Christian community was placed on alert for fears of a repeat of violent attacks on at least eight churches last year, including one that was gutted by a firebomb.

“Religion is such an emotional thing that I find it hard to be at ease during this season,” said Vivienne Pal, a 33-year-old Christian.

“I’m constantly aware that things can get out of hand in a blink of an eye.”

Unwanted attention

Following the August incident, many major churches around Selangor and Kuala Lumpur re-evaluated their activities, for fear of drawing “unwanted attention”.

“We’ve had to be very careful about whom we help, and how we go about doing it because authorities are paying more attention to church activities,” said a pastor who requested anonymity due to his work among the poor and homeless of Kuala Lumpur.

“It’s sad because we don’t care about a person’s race or religion when we offer help, but now we need to be wise and cautious, so that our work doesn’t bring about unwanted attention and negative repercussions to the entire church,” he said.

“Our situation in Malaysia is not new, and Christians have been facing this although over the past three years, it’s become worse,” evangelical leader Ang said.

In spite of the increasing tension between the church and state, there are many who believe the maturity of believers from both religions will be able to mend the rift.

Mazran Nordin, an ethnic Malay Muslim, said he often visited churches in Europe and had no problem attending weddings in churches.

“I think a lot of it has to do with the maturity of a Muslim believer. If you are confident in your beliefs, why would you be afraid of being converted?” Mazran said.

“Everywhere you go, you can see normal Malaysians of all religions celebrating Christmas together,” said Thomas Philips, president of Malaysia’s Council of Churches.

“I don’t believe there is a distrust, and a feeling of any one religion being threatened. Those are just games the politicians and media play.

“From what we have seen, there is still much hope for people of all religions to live peacefully here,” he said.

"Jameela, Messenger of Allah & Defender of Islam," who threatened me as well as Rep. Peter King and New York State Senator Greg Ball, and who more than once also spammed the comments fields here with reams of abusive Islamic triumphalism and hatred toward Jews and Christians, is dead.

This email she sent me was typical of her rhetoric:

ALLAH is the greatest, ALLAH is ALIVE, but the christian's god is only a partially eaten, jew corpse. ALLAHU AKBAR you rabid, jew-eating, racist, christian MOTHA F U C K A S of extremely low intelligence. I will be sure to tell your hostile jinn aka jew masters what loyal and obedient slaves you christians are. Enjoy your brief and evil life of fairy tales and hokum your evil jew masters have created for you, because the Hell-fire is your final destination. Muslims should kill you corpse-eating, blood-drinking, christian savages and send you to your partially-eaten, jew corpse you call god.

Since she was shot in a struggle with a police officer, I wonder if Islamic supremacist groups like Hamas-linked CAIR will cry police brutality and demand an investigation. Jameela Barnette was such a repulsive character that I would expect them to remain silent about this, but on the other hand, they made a cause celebre out of the killing of the imam Luqman Abdullah in a shootout with the feds in Detroit, even though Abdullah advocated violence and theft and was up to his neck in illegal activity. So Jameela Barnette may indeed become their next ploy to establish Muslim victimhood.

If they try that, I will be ready with the beautiful and moving Islamic essays she left here on many occasions -- not to say that she deserved death for those, but just to show the kind of person the Islamic supremacists are championing as one of their own.

"Georgia woman who threatened 2 New York lawmakers is shot to death by cop," by Oren Yaniv for the New York Daily News, December 26 (thanks to Infidel #1):

A Muslim woman who had been charged with sending fake weapons and a pig’s foot to two New York lawmakers was killed during a struggle with a cop in Georgia on Sunday, authorities said.

Jameela Barnette, 53, of Marietta, was slapped with federal charges last month for sending New York State Sen. Greg Ball (R,C-Patterson) a vial of perfume, a hate-filled letter and a doll of the monkey Curious George wearing two Stars of David.

She had also mailed a pig’s foot to Rep. Peter King (R-L.I.) in response to controversial hearings he held in March on the purported radicalization of American Muslims, Politico has reported.

A spokesman for Cobb County Police said an armed Barnette was shot to death after officers responded to a panic alarm she activated at her apartment at 11 a.m. Christmas Day.

When the cops arrived, Barnette opened the door while wielding a knife and a handgun and assaulted an officer with the blade, the spokesman said.

The unnamed officer shot her, killing Barnette at the scene, police said.

"Despite receiving injuries to his arm, the officer was able to use his service weapon to stop the assault," the spokesman said.

The cop was treated for minor injuries to his arm and placed on administrative leave pending an investigation.

Police said they did not know why Barnette triggered the alarm.

Barnette railed to several media outlets against what she called anti-Muslim congressional hearings last spring. She told a local TV station she sent Ball, who represents Putnam County and parts of Westchester and Dutchess counties, the threatening package because he’s racist toward her faith and supported King’s hearings.

“I knew the Jews were behind the hearings,” she told Politico. “A monkey is a representation of who the Jews are.”

A judge released Barnette without bail after her arrest in November.

Both Ball and King are Catholic.

"... instead of responding to the demands of the Tunisians 'who have sacrificed their lives for freedom, the Constituent Assembly is discussing non-existent problems like identity or the niqab'."

But harping on Islamic morality is an easy way for a government to look piously busy while avoiding more meaningful issues. "Tunisia: revolution betrayed, return of protests, blogger," from ANSAMed, December 22 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):

(ANSAmed) - ROME, DECEMBER 22 - A year after the start of the 'Jasmine Revolution', people in Tunisia will start demonstrating again. This prediction was made by Tunisian blogger and symbol of the revolution, Lina Ben Mhenni.

''One year ago people in Tunisia demonstrated to ask for social and economic reforms and for more freedom, not for another government that tells us how to be good Muslims,'' she said in an interview with ANSA, referring to the Ennahda Islamic party that won the elections in October. ''On the outside it looks like a moderate party, but the truth is different,'' she explains: instead of responding to the demands of the Tunisians ''who have sacrificed their lives for freedom, the Constituent Assembly is discussing non-existent problems like identity or the niqab." And ''people are already organising sit-ins and demonstrations: Ennahda has promised 600 thousand jobs in two years and people are now claiming what was promised for their vote,'' the 28-year-old Nobel Peace Prize candidate continued. Moreover, ''articles that criticise Ennahda,'' the moderate Islamic party in the Tunisian government, ''have started to disappear'' from the social networks and blogs used by Tunisians to breathe life into the Jasmine Revolution.

As regards to the other media, newspapers and television, ''the situation has not changed from the period under Ben Ali'', the President who was ousted in the Tunisian Spring, added the activist. ''Before the elections everybody could say what they wanted, now the lies and manipulations of the truth are back: the media sing praise to the new President and the new power."

Not only are Islamic supremacists absolutely unwilling ever to acknowledge that Muslims have ever done anything wrong; they will also persecute and harass anyone who dares point out that they have.

An update on this story. "Genocide law MP receives death threats," from The Local, December 26 (thanks to Fjordman):

The French parliamentarian who proposed a controversial genocide denial bill has received death threats and had her website attacked.

Valérie Boyer, a member of the governing UMP party, was successful in getting parliamentary approval for a bill that outlawed the denial of a massacre of Armenians by Ottoman troops in 1915.

The bill’s passage unleashed a wave of indignation in Turkey.

Turkish prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said the vote represented “politics based on racism, discrimination and xenophobia.”

Daily newspaper Le Parisien reported that Boyer’s website was attacked on Sunday.

Visitors were redirected to a site showing the Turkish flag and a message attacking the French government and the Armenian community in France.

“You, the Armenian diaspora, are so cowardly that you don’t have the guts to open up the archives and face the truth,” said the message.

In an attack on French politicians the message said “you, the French, are so pitiful and pathetic that you ignore the truth to get votes.”

On Monday morning, the site, valerie-boyer.fr, was still unavailable with a "site indisponible" message being shown.

Boyer said she has received numerous “insults and threats of murder and rape” over recent days on her Facebook page and her Twitter account.

“That such a level of violence is being expressed shows the necessity to punish genocide denial,” she told the newspaper.

“What I’m experiencing is without doubt nothing compared to the experience of the Armenian community."...

Quite so.

Pamela Geller's "Exclusive Interview with Jailed Pakistani Christian Asia Bibi" ran at the Atlas Shrugs on Christmas Day. She was in contact with Asia Bibi through a Pakistani journalist and human rights activist. Her opening points about how restrictions on free speech about Islam are not limited to Pakistan, but are coming here as well in different forms, are very important.

Asia Bibi, a Christian woman, has been sentenced to death under Pakistan's notorious blasphemy law for insulting Islam. She is now in prison. The law is often used to settle grudges, persecute minorities and fan rage of the Islamic devout.

The same thing is coming here. The recent cancellation of my event by a Houston hotel, and the subsequent cancellation of an anti-Sharia conference in Nashville represent the first stage of the application of Islamic blasphemy laws here in America. Where full-on Sharia is enforced, "blasphemers" get the death penalty. Here in America, your character is assassinated.

As part of my work to aid those whose lives are threatened for leaving Islam, I have been in touch with Asia through a Pakistani journalist and human rights activist from the Masihi Foundation, which works for the human rights and education of Pakistani Christians. He recently visited Asia Bibi in prison and asked her questions I gave him. Here are her answers:

Pamela Geller: What happened when you were arrested?

Asia Bibi: When I was arrested, I was assaulted and harassed by the police. I was in a state of shock for many days. I fasted and prayed. My family has been in trouble; they have been moving one place to another. But I have forgiven the Muslims who put me and my family in this situation.

PG: How are you being treated?

AB: I live in a confined cell. I am allowed to go out for only 30 minutes every day, and allowed to meet my family for one hour every Tuesday. I am given raw material to cook for myself, since the administration fears I might be poisoned, as other Christians accused of blasphemy were poisoned or killed in the jail. The security on my duty is polite. Last week, a few hot words were exchanged with the warden over a minute issue, and she tried to strangle me. She has been suspended.PG: What are your expectations for the future?

AB: I pray and fast. I want to be with my family, hug my daughters, kiss them. I am waiting for a date from the Lahore High Court for the appeal regarding my death sentence. Life for All is supporting my family and has hired a lawyer for the case. A petition has been filed at the Lahore High Court asking them to accept the case for hearing. I am hopeful that I will be released, although there is a bounty of about $8,000 offered by the Islamic clerics to anyone who will kill me. I have left everything on God, I will accept His will.

PG: Do you have a message for the Christians of the U.S.?

AB: I request them to pray and do something for the Christians in Pakistan who are suffering and persecuted. There are many other Christians in jails who need help. The Christians in the U.S. can help the human rights organizations who fight for the persecuted, and become the voice of the voiceless.

Be sure to read it all.

Once again, is there still a government in Jakarta? The Yasmin Church of Bogor has a supreme court decision on its side, but the mayor and local thugs have stood in their way with impunity. It is standard operating procedure for Jakarta to turn a blind eye to homegrown abuse of non-Muslims, for that is the path of least resistance.

An update on this story. "Embattled Indonesian Church Forced to Celebrate Christmas in Private Home," by Vento Saudale for the Jakarta Globe, December 26 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):

Bogor. The congregation of the embattled GKI Yasmin church in Bogor was forced to move its Christmas prayers to a member’s house after Islamic groups assembled at the disputed site and threatened to challenge the sermon on Sunday.

The service was slated to start at 9 a.m. in the sealed church on Jalan Abdullah bin Nuh, but the congregants went elsewhere after members of the Indonesian Muslim Communication Forum (Forkami), the Islamic Reform Movement (Garis) and the Bogor Muslim Community (KMB) objected to that plan.

The opposition protestors came to the church in the morning and shouted to guarding police officers and members of the public order agency (Satpol PP) to expel the congregation.

“On December 23, they were given a letter stating that they are banned from holding a prayer here. The letter clearly mentioned they can’t hold the service,” Forkami head Ahmad Iman said.

Garis head Majudien threatened to deploy his members to the location in a mass Muslim gathering known as tabligh akbar should the Yasmin congregation insist on holding the service there.

Police blocked the roads around the church and diverted traffic to other roads for security reasons.

The modest Christmas service was attended by Lily Wahid and Inayah Wahid, sister and daughter of the late president Abdurrahman Wahid, as well as representatives from GP Ansor, the youth wing of Indonesia’s largest Muslim group Nahdlatul Ulama, and the Asian Muslim Action Network.

A number of veiled female Muslims were seen at the scene distributing flowers to express support for religious freedom.

Inayah said the groups who continued to pressure the Yasmin congregation didn’t represent the true spirit of Islam, saying that the Prophet Mohammed himself lived in harmony, side by side with Christians and Jews in Medina.

For as long as he had to.

“Now the diversity of Indonesia can be seen at this small house,” Inayah said.

The letter issued by controversial Bogor Mayor Diani Budiarto ordered Yasmin to move its service to a public building near the contested church, but the congregation refused to obey on the grounds that the building was not a worship venue.

There has been an ongoing ploy to attempt to entice the congregation to give in and move the site.

“It seems that Diani Budiarto issued the letter to confront Yasmin’s congregation against those intolerant mass,” church spokesman Bona Sigalingging said.

The mayor earlier ordered the closure of the church, arguing that the founders had falsified signatures in the process to acquire a city permit.

The Supreme Court has ruled that the mayor must reopen the church, but the city government has continued to deny the congregation access to the building.

The central government has thus far failed to take a clear stance on the dispute.

The case of Sakineh Ashtiani was moved to a back burner after her death sentence drew intense international scrutiny and criticism, not unlike how Youcef Nadarkhani's case is dragging on more quietly after similar international condemnation of his death sentence for apostasy from Islam. In both cases, Iran tried to come up with other excuses to execute them and erode support for them.

The murder charge against Ashtiani, which was applied later, seems to be an afterthought below, and it appears to be the adultery charge on which authorities are moving ahead. An update on this story. "Iranian woman convicted of adultery to be executed by stoning or hanging, official says," by Ali Akbar Dareini for the Associated Press, December 25:

TEHRAN, Iran - Authorities in Iran said Sunday they are again moving ahead with plans to execute a woman sentenced to death by stoning on an adultery conviction in a case that sparked an international outcry, but are considering whether to carry out the punishment by hanging instead.

Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani is already behind bars, serving a 10-year sentence on a separate conviction in the murder of her husband. Amid the international outrage her case generated, Iran in July 2010 suspended plans to carry out her death sentence on the adultery conviction.

On Sunday, a senior judiciary official said experts were studying whether the punishment of stoning could be changed to hanging.

"There is no haste. ... We are waiting to see whether we can carry out the execution of a person sentenced to stoning by hanging or not," said Malek Ajdar Sharifi, the head of justice department of East Azerbaijan province, where Ashtiani is jailed.

"As soon as the result (of the investigation) is obtained, we will carry out the sentence," he said, according to the semi-official ISNA news agency.

The charge of a married woman having an illicit relationship requires a punishment of stoning, he said.

Muhammad participated in and endorsed stonings.

He said judiciary chief Ayatollah Sadeq Larijani ordered a halt to stoning in order to allow Islamic experts to investigate whether the punishment can be altered in Ashtiani's case.

Ashtiani was convicted of adultery in 2006 after the murder of her husband.

She was later convicted of being an accessory to her husband's murder and sentenced to 10 years in prison.

If this seems to happen an awful lot, Muslims commit 91 percent of honor killings worldwide. Here, sadly, is another. "Muslim father beats daughter to death in Sri Lanka," from ColomboPage, December 25 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):

Dec 25, Colombo: A Muslim extremist style killing has been reported from Sammanthurai of Ampara district of Sri Lanka's Eastern Province, police say.

According to the police, a Muslim father has allegedly beaten his underage daughter to death yesterday evening.

The 17-year-old daughter was killed by father allegedly for having a relationship with a person belonged to another religion.

The suspect has been arrested by police.

Samanthurai Police have commenced further investigations into the incident.

Here is the latest from the ex-Muslim known as the Liberated One:

First of all, I would like to say that I am overwhelmed by the positive response that I am getting from all of you. I would like to personally thank all of you who have written such warm and encouraging comments to my post, and a big thanks for defending me so passionately from Kai56. I really cannot blame him, because he is just a typical Muslim who believes that no matter what, Islam is right and Mohammed is the best human being, and Muslims are the best of all nations. It is something which has been instilled in the minds of these people, and it takes a lot of courage and guts to shake it out of your system.

Since I do not want to reveal my identity for obvious reasons, I won't be able to respond to each and every comment personally, as I am not posting on the blog myself. Robert and I both thought it would be much safer if I forward him the articles and let him post them on my blog. This way the crazy fanatics like Kai and Slave of Allah won't be able to trace me down, and unfortunately they won't get the great honor of killing me and going straight to paradise to bang the 72 whores waiting for them there....

Read it all.

Remember when the Salafists were a Tiny Minority of Extremists? They got almost 29% of the second round of voting in Egypt's elections, and depending on the report, about a quarter of the first round. On one hand, they may not be toning their rhetoric down much because they simply don't have to. They have gotten this far on the hard sell.

On the other hand, someone desperate to rationalize their advance is probably bound to plead at some point that Salafism is not a monolith, and there is a Tinier Minority of Extreme Extremists in the Tiny Minority of Extremists.

More on this story. "Jews and Christians are 'infidels,' reiterates Salafist cleric," from Al Ahram Online, December 24 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):

Prominent Salafist cleric Yasser Borhami has reiterated his controversial stance on Jews and Christians, describing both as "infidels".

Borhami or Borhamy appear to be the common spellings of this cleric's name.

Borhami, one of several extremist Salafist sheikhs renowned for eccentric and bizarre statements, said he would not reverse his opinion to seek political gains.

“I hold on to my stance that Jews and Christians are infidels, but they do have rights that Allah has given them,” he stated during a press conference in Dakahliah, north east of Cairo.

And that ain't much. It is not unlike the now-hilarious quotation from the early '80s, apocryphally attributed to Bill Gates, that "640k [of RAM] ought to be enough for anybody." Sharia's regressive, discriminatory "rights" "ought to be enough for anybody," and that's all the dhimmis will ever get, on the condition that they can stay on their overlords' good side.

Borhami, the deputy leader of the Salafist call (Al-Dawaa Al-Salafiyya), was instrumental in forming Al-Nour Party in 2011, commonly viewed today as Al-Daawa’s political arm.

The Nour Party has been thus far the second biggest winner in the ongoing parliamentary elections, behind the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party (FJP).

After the Nour Party’s initial triumph in the ballot, liberals and secularists started to voice fears over the Salafist impact on the political landscape, economy and social freedoms.

Al-Nour Party President Emad El-Din Abdel Gafour and spokesperson Nader Bakar tried to reassure critics through relatively moderate statements, unlike Borhami.

But:

“We would never give up our thoughts for politics,” Borhami added.

Al-Nour’s parliamentary candidate Hazem Shoman is another Salafist sheikh who has made the headlines for his acid tongue and abrasive nature. He also spoke at the conference.

“Deviating from Islamic Sharia is the reason why Egypt was vanquished in 1967 [by Israel] and 2,700 women have committed suicide for being spinsters,” Shoman said.

That's a new one.

The intrepid mujahedin, keeping the world safe from tidings of comfort and joy. "Explosions Rip Through Churches in Nigeria," from the New York Times, December 25:

A series of explosions were reported Sunday across Nigeria, including one at a Catholic Church near the capital that killed at least 25 people, Nigerian authorities said. A radical Muslim sect, Boko Haram, has claimed responsibility.

At least three of the five explosions appeared to target churches during Christmas services, according to media reports. One explosion struck St. Theresa Catholic Church in Madalla, a town about 25 miles north and west of the capital, Abuja.

Rescue workers there recovered at least 25 bodies and officials continued to tally the wounded in various hospitals, said Slaku Luguard, a coordinator with the National Emergency Management Agency.

His agency has acknowledged it did not have enough ambulances immediately on hand to help the wounded. Mr. Luguard also said an angry crowd that gathered at the blast site hampered rescue efforts as they refused to allow workers inside.

“We’re trying to calm the situation,” he said. “There are some angry people around trying to cause problems.”

Witnesses said that St. Theresa’s Church was filled for the Christmas service when the bomb exploded.

“Mass just ended and people were rushing out of the church and suddenly I heard a loud sound ‘gbam’. Cars were in flames and bodies littered everywhere,” Nnana Nwachukwu told Reuters.

Timothy Onyekwere told Reuters that he was in the church with his family when the bomb exploded.

“I just ran out. Now I don’t even know where my children or my wife are,” Mr. Onyekwere said. “I don’t know how many were killed but there were many dead.”

Some said the blast was inside and others thought it came from just outside the church.

A Reuters reporter at the blast site said that the church’s front roof had been destroyed in the blast, as had several houses near it. Five burnt out cars were still smoldering.

A Boko Haram spokesman, who identified himself as Abu Qaqa, claimed responsibility for the attacks in statements to the media. In the last year, Boko Haram has carried out increasingly bloody attacks in its campaign to install strict Shariah or Muslim law across Nigeria, killing at least 491. The same group also claimed responsibility for a series of Christmas Eve bombings a year ago in the northeast city of Jos that left at least 32 dead and 74 wounded.

A second explosion on Sunday struck near the Mountain of Fire and Miracles Church in Jos, a government spokesman, Pam Ayuba, said. Mr. Ayuba said gunmen later opened fire on police officers guarding the area, killing one officer. Two other bombs were found in a nearby building and disarmed, he said....

Rumors have circulated for some time about the mistreatment of Asia Bibi in jail, and this story reports that she is recovering from a beating at the hands of a Muslim prison guard in October. Irfan Masih, another defendant for "blasphemy," is in the hospital after being stabbed.

Barack Obama should know these names. Hillary Clinton should know them. Their plights, that of Hector Aleem, and others, are as emblematic of all that is wrong with Pakistan as bin Laden's location under the nose of the Pakistani military. "Pakistan Refusing Christmas Day Visits To Jailed Christians," by Stefan J. Bos for BosNewsLife, December 25 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):

LAHORE, PAKISTAN (BosNewsLife)-- A Christian mother of five sentenced to death on charges of "blasphemy" against Islam and over a dozen other Christians held in Pakistani jails spent Christmas Day without their families, after authorities refused requests to allow prison visits, well-informed Christians said.

Asia Bibi, 46, "is spending a third Christmas separated from her family as she awaits an appeal" against plans to execute her by hanging for “blasphemy”, Barnabas Fund, an advocacy group assisting her family, told BosNewsLife.

She is held in the high security District Jail Seikhupura, some 35 kilometers (22 miles) northwest of Lahore, the capital of Punjab province.

Bibi, a farm worker, was detained in June 2009 on charges of defiling the name of Islam's Prophet Mohammad during an argument with Muslim co-workers. She has denied wrongdoing.

She refused to convert to Islam.

"She is being kept in isolation for her own safety, and is able to see her children only twice a year because of the security risk to them."

Bibi herself has been recovering in her Pakistani jail after she was allegedly attacked and beaten unconscious by a Muslim prison officer in October, said the Pakistan Christian Congress (PCC) party earlier. Authorities pledged an investigation.

That helps to explain her fragile condition as described in this interview.

Later, a fellow believer held on blasphemy charges, Irfan Masih, was among others being attacked by Islamists on Tuesday, December 20, in a Kasur City jail, Christians said. He was reportedly seriously injured in the knife attack and was believed to be in a Lahore hospital on Christmas Day.

Despite security risks, Bibi's family "had an emotional reunion on December 13, carefully organized by a Christian couple who run the school that Asia’s daughters attend," Barnabas Fund explained.

"When the incarcerated mother saw her children, she naturally wanted to hug and kiss them but was not initially allowed any contact. The school director pleaded with the jail authorities and obtained permission for the family to meet in a separate room."...

In the U.S., Islamic spokesmen insist that the idea that non-Muslims must be offered conversion, subjugation or death (cf. Qur'an 9:29; Sahih Muslim 4294) is "Islamophobic" misunderstanding of Islam. Somehow Kirolos Andraws ran afoul of Islamophobic Misunderstanders of Islam in Egypt, where they appear to abound.

"Egypt's Embattled Christians Seek Room in America," by Lucette Lagnado in the Wall Street Journal, December 24 (thanks to all who sent this in):

Kirolos Andraws had every reason to be excited about the January uprising in his native Egypt, figuring democracy would bring hope for young people like him.

Then one day in February, says Mr. Andraws, a gang of thugs beat him and told him, "you deserve to die." His offense, he says: refusing to convert to Islam.

In late March, Mr. Andraws, a 23-year- old engineer, used a tourist visa to board an Egyptair flight for New York City. He let a room in a friend's apartment, hired an immigration lawyer and applied for asylum. He has survived mainly on wages ...

The whole idea of a uniform is to convey a sense of singleness of purpose, both to those within the organization and to those who encounter members of it. So if one group is allowed variations on the uniform, all other groups should be allowed them as well, and the very purpose of a uniform is destroyed. Hijabs and turbans in the JROTC will create a sense that the wearer has another allegiance and a different purpose from those of the rest of the outfit, rather than being dedicated primarily to the organization's mission and goals.

But what is most disturbing about this story is Leon Panetta's rush, and the Army's rush, to placate the Hamas-linked Muslim Brotherhood group CAIR. Hamas-linked CAIR is an unindicted co-conspirator in a Hamas terror funding case -- so named by the Justice Department. CAIR operatives have repeatedly refused to denounce Hamas and Hizballah as terrorist groups. Several former CAIR officials have been convicted of various crimes related to jihad terror. CAIR's cofounder and longtime Board chairman (Omar Ahmad), as well as its chief spokesman (Ibrahim Hooper), have made Islamic supremacist statements. Its California chapter distributed posters telling Muslims not to talk to the FBI.

An update on this story. "Army to allow hijabs, turbans in Junior ROTC," by Caroline May in the Daily Caller, December 22 (thanks to all who sent this in):

The [Hamas-linked] Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) has announced that the Department of Defense will now allow Muslim and Sikh students participating in Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (JROTC) to wear headscarves and turbans while in uniform.

The decision, announced Thursday, followed an October incident in which Muslim teen Demin Zawity quit JROTC when her commanding officer at a Brentwood, Tenn. high school would not allow her to wear her hijab in the homecoming parade.

CAIR later wrote to Defense Secretary Leon Panetta requesting “constitutionally-protected religious accommodations for the girl and for future Muslim JROTC participants.”

In a letter to the Muslim organization sent on Panetta’s behalf, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army Larry Stubblefield explained that based on the incident that led Zawity to quit JROTC, the Army will now be making more accommodations for religious headwear in the training program.

“Based on your concerns, the Army has reviewed its JROTC uniform policy and will develop appropriate procedures to provide Cadets the opportunity to request the wear of religious head dress, such as the turban and hijab,” Stubblefield wrote in the letter, made public by CAIR. “This change will allow Miss Zawity and other students the chance to fully participate in the JROTC program.”

Army spokesman George Wright confirmed Stubblefield’s letter to CAIR and explained to The Daily Caller that while JROTC is affiliated with the Army, it is not actually a part of the Army. The new procedures will provide JROTC with a exemption method more similar to current Army procedure mandated through the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993.

That law allows soldiers on active duty to apply for religious accommodation if they want to alter their uniforms in accordance with their religious beliefs. The exemptions are applied on a case-by-case basis. Soldiers who are transferred must reapply....

I posted this video, a parody of A Charlie Brown Christmas in which Charlie Brown converts to Islam and becomes a jihadist, here at Jihad Watch on October 29, 2006. It had been posted at YouTube on April 17, 2006. So it is at least five and a half years old, and probably older.

But Gothamist just noticed it, and featured it December 24 in a post entitled "Video: Charlie Brown Converts To Islam In Xenophobic Peanuts Parody." The title says the video is "xenophobic"; the commenters, inevitably, call it "racist." So apparently it is both of those things and more to poke fun at jihadists, and to make even the most comically innocuous recognition of the fact, abundantly documented here day in and day out, year in and year out, that some of the people who convert to Islam end up being violent jihadists.

Xenophobic to oppose jihad. We should instead be welcoming of Islamic supremacists who want to kill, convert or subjugate us. To resist them would be racist. That's the Gothamist's take. And that of many others as well, of course.

Western powers have likely been afraid that defending the rights of Christians in Muslim lands would be interpreted as showing partiality. It would not be partiality, of course, to demand impartiality in the protection of human rights by governments that claim in glowing generalities to have no problem doing just that.

Christians have lost heartbeats and heads while politicians dithered over "hearts and minds."

Christians seem to have been written off as collateral damage for the sake of political expediency and wishful thinking. They have been a consistent casualty of fantasy-based foreign policy that accepts as dogma the "tolerance" of Sharia, whose proponents have been the main beneficiaries of the past year's "Arab Spring." "How can we remain silent while Christians are being persecuted?" by Fraser Nelson for the Telegraph, December 24:

Father Immanuel Dabaghian, one of Baghdad’s last surviving priests, is expecting a quiet Christmas. To join him in the Church of the Virgin Mary means two hours of security checks and a body search at the door, and even then there’s no guarantee of survival. Islamist gunmen massacred 58 people in a nearby church last year, and fresh graffiti warns remaining worshippers that they could be next.

The Americans have gone now, and Iraq’s Christian communities – some of the world’s oldest – are undergoing an exodus on a biblical scale.

Of the country’s 1.4 million Christians, about two thirds have now fled. Although the British Government is reluctant to recognise it, a new evil is sweeping the Middle East: religious cleansing. The attacks, which peak at Christmas, have already spread to Egypt, where Coptic Christians have seen their churches firebombed by Islamic fundamentalists. In Tunisia, priests are being murdered. Maronite Christians in Lebanon have, for the first time, become targets of bombing campaigns. Christians in Syria, who have suffered as much as anyone from the Assad regime, now pray for its survival. If it falls, and the Islamists triumph, persecution may begin in earnest.

The idea of Christianity as a kind of contagion that is foreign to the Arab world is bizarre: it is, of course, a Middle Eastern religion successfully exported to the pagan West. Those feet, in ancient times, came nowhere near England’s mountains green. The Nativity is a Middle Eastern story about a child born to a Jewish mother, whose first visitors were three wise Iranians and who was then swept off to Egypt to escape Roman persecution. [...]

But Islam appropriates Jesus into its own narrative to neutralize claims about his divinity and make room for Muhammad (dying for mankind's sins and rising from the dead are a tough act to follow). It claims Jesus as a Muslim, and posits its own revisionist account as true while rejecting the Gospels' message about Jesus as false.

These dividing lines are now being made into battle lines by hardline Salafists, who are emerging as victors of the Arab Spring. They belong to the same mutant strain of Sunni Islam which inspired al-Qaeda. Their agenda is sectarian warfare, and they loathe Shia Islam as much as they do Christians and Jews. Their enemy lies not over a border, but in a church, synagogue or Shia mosque. The Salafists may be detested by the Muslim mainstream [the vote in Egypt suggests otherwise -ed.]. But as they are finding out, you don’t need to be popular to seize power in a post-dictatorship Arab world – you just need to be the best organised. The West is so obsessed with government structure that it doesn’t notice when power lies elsewhere, and Islamist death squads are executing barbers and unveiled women in places like Basra. [...]

The Foreign Office has been typically slow to recognise the gathering threat, despite repeated warnings. The biggest one of all came a fortnight ago, when the Archbishop of Canterbury opened a gripping debate in the Lords about the widening persecutions, and what the Government ought to do. Lord Patten, the former education secretary, revealed that he spent a year failing to persuade the Foreign Office to help a group of Anglicans in the Anatolian peninsula, who are banned from worshipping in any public place. “'The answer was no,’ he said. 'They would not approach the Turkish government to ask, 'Please can you ease up a bit?’” But when German Catholics were having trouble in the same place, Angela Merkel’s government intervened immediately, working with the Turks to send a Catholic priest to hold public worship.

So why the British reticence? It might be that the Foreign Office sees this as part of a soppy equalities agenda, unworthy of diplomatic attention. Those who have raised the issue directly with William Hague, the Foreign Secretary, say he is unenthusiastic. When Mr Hague visited Algeria recently, he did not raise its ban on any Christian activity outside state-licensed buildings.

When challenged, ministers deplore persecution in general – but, seemingly, not so much that they’d do something like pick up the phone to Ankara. Yet there is plenty Britain can do. Countries could be denied aid until Christians (or Jews, or Sunnis) are allowed to worship freely. British diplomats could be empowered, even instructed, to advocate freedom of religion. When a peer of the realm alerts the Foreign Office to some persecuted Anglicans, a red alert ought to sound. Mr Hague might even publish an annual audit of religious freedom in various countries, making clear its importance to Britain. It might make its own estimate about the scale of the flood of refugees. [...]

Our friends in the Middle East are all waiting to hear from HM Government. Perhaps, in the new year, it might have something to say.

Jihad causes poverty, in Boko Haram's drive to "fix" the country by breaking it. More on this story. "Clashes between sect, police kill 61 in Nigeria," by Jon Gambrell and Ndjadvara Musa for the Associated Press, December 24:

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (AP) — Fighting between a radical Muslim sect and paramilitary forces in Nigeria has killed at least 61 people over several days of violence in the nation's northeast that has left churches bombed and people hiding in fear, authorities said.

In hard-hit Yobe state, where at least 50 people died, the government on Saturday ordered a dusk-till-dawn curfew following attacks by the sect known as Boko Haram. In Maiduguri, the capital of neighboring Borno state, bombs reduced at least three churches to rubble and raised fears of further attacks by a group that claimed Christmas Eve bombings last year that killed dozens.

The fighting began Thursday in the two states, with gunfire and explosions heard into the night and the following day in an arid region that borders Cameroon, Chad and Niger. Damaturu, the capital of Yobe state, and the town of Potiskum bore the brunt of the violence.

In Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state, a mortuary official who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter told The Associated Press at least 11 bodies had been brought in from the violence. Authorities blamed Boko Haram for firebombing at least three churches around the capital, attacks that killed one pastor and his young child.

This is just the latest in a series of bombings over the last year by Boko Haram. The group, whose name means "Western education is sacrilege" in the local Hausa language, wants to implement strict Shariah law across a nation of more than 160 million people that is home to both Christians and Muslims.

Boko Haram claimed responsibility for a Nov. 4 attack on Damaturu, Yobe state's capital, that killed more than 100 people. The group also claimed the Aug. 24 suicide car bombing of the U.N. headquarters in Nigeria's capital that killed 24 people and wounded 116 others.

While initially targeting enemies via hit-and-run assassinations from the back of motorbikes, violence by Boko Haram now has a new sophistication and apparent planning that includes high-profile attacks with greater casualties. The sect is responsible for at least 465 killings in Nigeria this year alone, according to an AP count.

Boko Haram has splintered into three factions, with one wing increasingly willing to kill as it maintains contact with terror groups in North Africa and Somalia, diplomats and security sources say. That, as well as its increasingly violent attacks, have some worried the group will carry out further attacks around Christmas and New Year's.

Last year, a series of Christmas Eve bombings in the central Nigerian city of Jos claimed by Boko Haram killed at least 32 people and wounded at least 74 others.....

Rarely do humor and sad truth come together so well as in this video.

The Byzantine icon above is the work of the 16th-century iconographer Theophanes the Cretan. Many Muslims around the world today would consider it offensive and insulting to Islam. Muslims in the Balkans just a few years ago have entered churches and destroyed icons like this one for precisely that reason.

How does this icon insult Islam? In many ways, including these:

1. It depicts human beings, which violates the traditional Islamic prohibition of images and would be considered idolatrous and blasphemous on its face.

2. It depicts Jesus not as a Muslim prophet, as this does:

Instead, it depicts Jesus in the traditional Christian manner, as the incarnate Son of God: his halo reads ο ων, the One Who Is, a title of divinity derived from the name of God that God gives to Moses in Exodus 3:14), in violation of the oft-repeated Qur'anic injunction that Allah has no Son (4:171; 9:30; 25:2; 39:4; 72:3; etc. etc.).

3. In line with #2, it depicts what Muslims would consider to be idolatry, as the holy child's mother kneels and adores him.

4. In the beam or spear coming from heaven down to the child in the cradle, it depicts the activity of the Divine in the world, assuming the doctrine of the Trinity, which is rejected somewhat imprecisely in Qur'an 4:171 and 5:116.

5. The cradle resembles a casket, foreshadowing the core and heart of Christianity, the redemptive death of Christ, which is denied in Qur'an 4:157.

Now, whether you are a Christian or not, and whether or not you believe all or any of these things, the question that is before us with this Christmas, as every Christmas these days, is whether or not people should be allowed to believe these things freely, without being brutalized or discriminated against, if they live in Iraq, or Egypt, or Pakistan, or Nigeria, or Indonesia -- and whether free people of all creeds and perspectives should defend their right to do so.

In those countries, Christians today are being kidnapped, imprisoned, wrongly arrested, beaten, and murdered -- not because of anything they have done, but because they have dared to believe some of the things I have adumbrated above, beliefs that are considered blasphemous in authoritative Islam. And it is hardly better elsewhere in the Islamic world: nowhere in majority-Muslim countries today do people who believe these things enjoy full equality of rights with Muslims.

We see this at Jihad Watch every day. We see jihadists attacking Christians with increasing fury. We also see the world largely yawning and indifferent as all this goes on. Christianity is a large and multifaceted thing, with so many different and various manifestations, but in the mind of the opinion makers of the West it is Western, white, suburban, wealthy, comfortable, oppressive, and oppressing. Christians are, in the little dramas that play out in mainstream media stories every day, a bit cracked, a bit sinister, a bit dangerous, a bit grasping, and sometimes fanatically jingoistic and xenophobic. They are never victims. Muslims, by contrast, are in the daily mainstream media playlets always cast as non-Western, nonwhite, poor, wise, serene, and oppressed.

And so when it comes to the specter of non-Western, nonwhite Christians being persecuted by Muslims, the mainstream media's circuitry explodes. They can't handle it. They have no paradigm for doing so. It violates every rule in their playbook. So they either ignore it or mask the identity and/or motives of the perpetrators, and try to cast the focus elsewhere.

And so remember this Christmas: if you are a free human being, whether or not you are Christian, those Christians who are being persecuted in Iraq, and the Philippines, and Nigeria, and Egypt, and Pakistan, and elsewhere in the Islamic world, are standing in your place. The jihadis would just as soon attack you as well, and will eventually if they get the chance. Remember that the Islamic supremacist program has you on its list. You may not be a Christian. You may not be a Jew. You may not be a Hindu. You may not wish to pay attention to the jihad at all. But the jihad is universal, and relentless. And you are on its list.

So this Christmas, may all of us whose conversion, subjugation, or death is envisioned by the adherents of Sharia stand together. Let us stand together as Jews, Christians, Hindus, Buddhists, atheists, secularists, what have you, and stand up against those who would kill us or subject us to institutionalized discrimination because they find our beliefs offensive.

For be assured: if we do not stand together, they will prevail. And if they prevail, then all the richest manifestations of the unfettered human spirit, from Theophanes the Cretan above to the fashioners of the Buddhas of Bamiyan, from the Hagia Sophia to the temple of Keshava Rai at Mathura, from the works of Socrates and Aristotle to those of Moses Maimonides and Dante Alighieri and Winston Churchill and Oriana Fallaci, will be trampled into the mud, destroyed, exploded, ruined, effaced. We will all be the poorer. Our children will be the poorer.

It is time to fight for our life.

Merry Christmas to all Christian Jihad Watchers who celebrate the Feast tonight and tomorrow morning.

Weren't the Salafists and their supporters supposed to be a Tiny Minority of Extremists? "Main Islamist parties take 65% of second-round votes," from Agence France-Presse, December 24:

AFP - Egypt's main Islamist parties won 65 percent of votes for party lists in the second round of a historic election for a new parliament after Hosni Mubarak's ouster, the electoral committee said Saturday.

These are the people who will be writing the country's next constitution. A democracy is only as good as the values that inform its participants.

The [Muslim Brotherhood's] Freedom and Justice Party won 36.5 percent of the vote for party lists, with 4,058,498 out of 11,173,818 votes, according to figures provided by the electoral committee for the second round which was held on December 14.

[The Salafists'] Al-Nur won 28.78 percent, with 3,216,430 votes.

In Egypt's complex electoral system, voters cast ballots for party list candidates who will make up two thirds of parliament, and direct votes for individual candidates for the remaining third.

The elections were scheduled over three rounds, with run-offs for individual candidates after each round.

At a news conference on Saturday, electoral chief Abdel Moez Ibrahim announced the winners for the individual vote, but not their affiliations. The official Al-Ahram newspaper reported that the FJP won 40 seats and Al-Nur 13.

The Islamists' liberal rivals fared badly again in the second round, with Al-Wafd -- the country's oldest party -- winning 9.6 percent of the party list vote and the Egyptian Bloc, the main liberal coalition, just seven percent.

After winning almost 65 percent of seats in the first round of the vote, Islamists are poised to dominate the next lower house which will convene on January 23.

The third round of the election will start on January 3, followed by another three-round poll for the senate.

The FJP has said it would have the right to form the next government, but the ruling military and the prime minister it appointed have said parliament could not appoint ministers.

The military, which has faced down days of deadly protests in November and this month, says it will transfer power to civilians after a presidential election is held by the end of June next year.

UPDATE: The Brotherhood now denies making this claim, and says it was false information planted by the regime.

-----------------------------------------------------

Remember, the Brotherhood is "moderate." "Extremists" would have killed 88.

More on this story. "Syria's Muslim Brotherhood claims responsibilty for deadly blasts," from AFP, December 25 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):

SYRIA'S Muslim Brotherhood has claimed responsibility for suicide bombings in Damascus that killed 44 people, saying they were the first step in liberating the capital and that more attacks were to come.

The claim on Saturday contradicted assertions by the regime of President Bashar al-Assad that the blasts, which also wounded 166 people, were the work of al-Qa'ida and of the opposition Syrian National Council that the regime carried them out.

''One of our victorious Sunni brigades was able to target the state security building in Kfar Suseh in the heart of the ... capital Damascus in a successful operation carried out by four of our kamikazes drawn from the best of our glorious men, leaving many dead and wounded from the ranks of the Assad gangs,'' it said on its official website.

''We as defenders of the Syrian people and the sanctity of this nation send a message to Assad's gangs: This is the beginning of the liberation of Damascus and the tip of the iceberg,'' the statement added.

''Hence we warn our fellow citizens and advise them not to approach government centres or security branches ... because our martyrdom brigades are in a state of maximum readiness to carry out quality operations in Aleppo, Damascus, and the blessed land of Syria in the next 10 days.''

The statement was signed by the ''Muslim Brotherhood's media committee inside Syria''.

The bombings, the first against the powerful security services in central Damascus since an uprising against Assad began in March, came a day after the arrival of an advance group of Arab League monitors who are to oversee a deal to end the bloodshed.

After the attacks, Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Meqdad said ''this is the gift we get from the terrorists and al-Qa'ida, but we are going to do all we can to facilitate the Arab League mission''....

Here is a new post over at Liberated, the new blog written by an ex-Muslim:

...During the course of last four months, I have done nothing else but read, read and read. I spend hours a day reading Ali Sina and watching videos of David Wood and others who are trying their best to expose Islam to the world. I read 23 Years by Ali Dashti. The best among them all is Ali Sina's Understanding Muhammad and of course Robert Spencer’s The Truth About Muhammad. These kind of books are banned here, but I managed to find Robert’s book on Ibook, so I purchased it and just finished reading it yesterday....

Last Sunday I went to the church here and attended the mass. Then I went to see the priest and asked him for help. He said that his hands were tied and he really could not do anything to help me, because when they had first gotten permission to built a church in this country, they had to agree to a few terms and conditions with the government here. One of them was not to convert anyone from Islam. He said if anyone finds out, the church would be closed and he would probably end up in jail.

The priest said he could not help me personally, but that I was more than welcome to attend the mass and sit quietly at the back. He said, “Do not talk to anyone or reveal who you are.” It is a good idea, but frankly, I am not sure if I want to do that every week, because last Sunday I saw quite a few police cars circling the church premises, and I am really scared. What if someone checks my ID or something? They would probably close down the church and put me in jail, and maybe even execute me. My life will be in danger if anyone finds out that I have left Islam.

I have a friend, a pretty young girl from Morocco who also lives here and works with me. She too has given up Islam recently but she is also very afraid of her life. This is what Islam does to you. When you are in it, your life is nothing but living in the fear of hell, and once you leave it, it is not less than hell because you are constantly scared to lose your life.

Read it all.

"Freedom of speech means you can curse the prophet, and democracy will protect you."

Cartoon Rage from a Muslim spokesman who must be some kind of Islamophobe.

Video thanks to Answering Muslims.

They were held incommunicado from their families and kept away from school and work for ten days. They have completed their ten-day detention, but are not free. There will evidently be follow-up indoctrination, and they remain under the thumb of authorities.

Is there still a government in Jakarta? One could be forgiven for doubting. The Indonesian government remains content to take the path of least resistance -- that is, of not resisting -- against Islamic supremacism and attempts to impose Sharia. Left unchecked, the brutality of Sharia is gradually consuming the country. Aceh is semi-autonomous, but allowing it to go further and further off the rails without comment will only embolden like-minded movements within the rest of Indonesia.

"Aceh punk rock fans face more indoctrination," from Deutsche Presse Agentur, December 24 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):

Banda Aceh, Indonesia - Punk rock fans in Indonesia's staunchly Muslim province of Aceh were relieved that a 10-day re-education programme finally ended, but further brainwashing efforts may await them.

Sixty-five punk rock enthusiasts on Friday completed a 10-day rehabilitation programme at a police school, aimed at persuading them to do away with their distinctive lifestyles.

Police arrested the 60 males and five females at a concert that authorities said lacked a permit this month.

The prior report linked above said they group had permission from the city. Was this a set-up? Authorities certainly seemed to know exactly what they wanted to do with the detainees.

Officers buzzed off the punkers' mohawks, removed their piercings and dog chains and forced them to bathe in a lake in a traditional cleansing ceremony normally practiced by cadets.

Authorities are considering further rehabilitation programmes for the youngsters, with the aim of converting them into 'Islamic punkers.'

'On Monday, we'll talk about what they need further,' said Illiza Sa'aduddin Djamal, deputy mayor of provincial capital Banda Aceh.

'We'll turn the kids into Islamic punkers,' she said late Friday. 'They are free to express themselves as long as it's within Islamic boundaries.'

She said authorities would conduct a regular patrol to monitor the behaviour of the youths.

At the 'graduation ceremony' on Friday, the youths were asked to perform a rock song on the stage. Many of them cried as they belted out 'Film Murahan.'

One of them, Rian Rizki Ramadan, said he opposed the deputy mayor's proposal.

'We don't need more guidance,' he said. 'Ten days at the police school is enough.'

Junaidi Edward, 19, said he would remain a punker.

'Punk is not dead!' he screamed.

But Wahyu Karamullah, 20, said he was now a better person and was happy to return to his family.

'I learned a lot in the past 10 days,' he said. 'I learned to pray in a congregation and I have become more disciplined.'

One of them claimed he was not a member of punk community and feared he could lose his job in Medan, the capital of neighbouring North Sumatra province.

'What about my job? I don't know if I can get it back,' he said.

'Is it true he's not a punk kid?' the deputy mayor asked.

The group answered in unison: 'No, he's not!' [...]

Aceh imposes a form of Islamic law under special autonomy granted to the province as part of central government efforts to pacify a clamour for independence.

The government signed a peace deal with the Free Aceh Movement in 2005, ending decades of conflict that left more than 15,000 dead.

The blasphemy laws are a supremacist tool aimed at scaring non-Muslims and dissenting Muslims into silence and keeping them in line according to the whims of their overlords, as are all assaults on free speech that aim to suppress criticism of Islam. "Harassment: Three Ahmedis accused under blasphemy laws," by Rana Tanveer for the Express Tribune, December 24 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):

LAHORE: The police have registered cases under the blasphemy laws against a student and his father in Khushab and a headmaster in Gujrat, all three of them Ahmedis.

Morality policing is a cheap way for authorities to look pious and busy. If they are spending resources on this, there is something more constructive they could be doing that they are not doing, like, for example, investigating honor killings.

Sajeel Ahmed, 18, of Khushab was accused of making derogatory remarks about the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) in a first information report (FIR) registered under Section 295-C of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC), which carries the death penalty. The complainant is his classmate Waqas Nadeem, who said that Sajeel had tried to convert other students and made remarks that hurt their religious sentiments.

Sajeel’s father Hakim Jameel was accused of describing his son as a Muslim in his school admission form, an offence under Section 298-C of the PPC with a penalty of up to three years in prison. The complainant in the case is Qari Saeed Ahmed, who submitted that “the Muslims of Khushab are worried about the increasing number and activities of Qadianis in the city”.

That is what this is really about. The Ahmadis commit "blasphemy" by not disappearing.

Mujahid Ahmed, Sajeel’s brother, said that the police had registered the cases under pressure from religious leaders. “They have been making announcements at local mosques against Ahmedis and taking out protest rallies,” he said. He said that Qari Saeed had a long-term dispute with his father over property. He said that Saeed’s own son, a former teacher of Sajeel, had given police a statement in support of Sajeel. Previously, Jameel had said the charges against them were baseless.

Meanwhile in Gujrat, the police registered a case against Basharat Ahmed, headmaster at Government High Schools Kang Chanan, Gujrat, under Section 295-B of the PPC. He is accused of defiling the Holy Quran, an offence that can be punished with life imprisonment.

Ahmed allegedly snatched Arabic books from students who were cheating during exams at his school and threw the books in a pond. The complainant, Qari Mazhar Zargar, accused him of defiling Quranic verses written in those books.

Mubarik Ahmed Chaudhry, the brother of the accused headmaster, said that no one from the school had joined the case against his brother. He said that Zargar was being directed by people who had a property dispute with his brother.

“The teachers have all given statements to the police backing my brother. The police have been put under pressure by clerics here. The case has been registered six days after the alleged incident,” he said.

Sub Inspector Akhtar Shah, the investigation officer for the case, said that the headmaster had been arrested and investigations were ongoing.

A spokesman for the Jamaat-i-Ahmediya said that the community faced “an organised campaign of hatred and persecution” in Pakistan. “The campaign of hatred has reached new heights where even educational institutions are not safe for Ahmedi students and teachers,” he said.

“Such baseless cases against Ahmedis will not deter us,” he said. “This is not the first time that such cases have been registered against Ahmedis and will not be the last one. As in the past, these cases will also be proven false.”

He said that since 1984, 298 Ahmedis had been charged under the blasphemy laws.

Merry Christmas!

Video thanks to Inexion.

From iOwnTheWorld (thanks to Jack).

Indonesia routinely takes the path of least resistance with its homegrown Islamic supremacist thugs, and the path of least resistance is to offer them little to no resistance in response, even offering compromises. But those who persecute Christians, Hindus, Ahmadis, and others with near impunity will eventually turn on the state that has enabled them if they become sufficiently strong.

In the meantime, Bogor continues to be a major center for the persecution of Christians, and the permit system for building houses of worship continues to be the principal vehicle for finding excuses to abuse them.

Indonesia saw many similar cases of harassment and intimidation last Christmas, and this year threatens more of the same. "West Java: Islamic extremist groups threaten Catholics, Christmas celebrations at risk," by Mathias Hariyadi for Asia News, December 23:

Jakarta (AsiaNews) - Islamic fundamentalist groups in Parung, Bogor regency, West Java province, are threatening and "warning" the local Catholic community, victims of attacks in anticipation of the holiday season. At the risk of the celebration of Masses and religious services, especially with regard to the faithful of the parish of St. John the Baptist, long the center of a dispute between Christians and Muslims that revolves around the building construction permit.

They celebrated last year's Christmas Mass in a parking lot.

A statement published by the "Parung Society of Muslim" emphasizes the "strong support" of the stance of the Govenor of Bogor regency, who opposes the plan to build a church for the faithful of the parish of St. John the Baptist. Again, the controversy revolves around the infamous IMB - the Izin mendirikan bangunan - essential for any contrustion in Indonesia and even more difficult to obtain when it comes to a place of Christian worship.

Speaking to AsiaNews Fr Benny Susetyo Pr, Executive Secretary of the Indonesian Bishops Conference (KWI), speaks of "unfriendly methods" of Islamic fundamentalists, who end up "undermining the spirit of Pancasila", the guiding principles of the state that promote religious freedom, multiculturalism and unity in diversity. The priest also points the finger at local government officials, who have never wanted to find an agreement on the matter that concerns the place of worship.

There is also a Pancasila revisionist movement, however, based on the assertion that "The first principle of the Jakarta Charter, which was ultimately incorporated into the preamble of the constitution, was the 'obligation for all followers to observe Shariah law.' It was later changed to 'Belief in the one and only God,' by then-Vice President Mohammad Hatta."

In recent days, members of the Muslim Parung demonstrated against what they call "illegal" construction of a church, which actually has had a permit for six years and is home to the functions of the local Catholic community of the village of Waru. Last year, fundamentalist groups have prevented the celebration of Christmas functions, the faithful have had to move elsewhere to avoid new attacks during the services.

But "Islamic Shariah is equal to peace," they insist, despite the fact that wherever Sharia experiences a resurgence, harassment increases and tolerance decreases. Extrajudicial punishments, vandalism, attempts to silence criticism, and calls for Sharia's most brutal penalties tend to follow. This situation is also unfolding in the already decidedly non-"moderate" Maldives.

More on this story. "Thousands demonstrate in Maldives over Islamic law," from the Associated Press, December 23:

MALE, Maldives (AP) — Thousands in the Maldives protested Friday, calling on the government to halt what they called "anti-Islamic" activities, including a plan to allow direct flights to Israel. More moderate supporters of the president rallied as well as debate swells over the future of the state's religion.

The Indian Ocean archipelago of 300,000 Muslims prohibits practicing any other faith.

Remember this when the president claims to stand for "moderate" Islam below. "Moderate" is a uselessly relative term, ultimately only defining someone who is somehow less "extreme" than the next guy.

The protesters want authorities to stop the sale of alcohol in the islands, shut down brothels operating in the guise of massage parlors and demolish monuments gifted by other countries marking a South Asian summit last month because they see them as idols.

More than 3,000 people heeded a protest call by the opposition Adhaalat, or Justice, Party and several other groups that accuse President Mohammed Nasheed's government of compromising principles of Islam and call for strict Islamic law.

"Islamic Shariah is equal to peace," read some placards carried by protesters.

Though the country is known more for its exquisite island resorts and does not allow stoning or executions, it is under scrutiny for its absence of religious freedom and for punishments such as public flogging.

Debates on religious issues have emerged since a group vandalized a monument gifted by Pakistan marking a South Asian summit last month with the image of Buddha. Buddhism was part of the present Islamic republic's history. An angry protest last month followed a call by United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay for the Maldives to end the punishment by flogging of women who are found to have had sex outside marriage.

That included a Facebook group calling for her death.

Other residents also rallied Friday in support of the president, who said he stands for a brand of moderate Islam traditionally practiced in the country and that it is vital to preserve the country's economic lifeline, tourism....

Boko Haram's jihadists think they can establish paradise under Sharia, just as soon as they can kill enough people standing in their way. "Day of violence in northern Nigeria kills at least 24," from Reuters, December 23:

KANO, Nigeria (Reuters) - Clashes between a violent Islamist sect and security forces in Nigeria's northeastern city of Damaturu have killed at least 24 people in the past day, police said on Friday.

A sustained gun battle broke out between Nigerian security forces and suspected Islamist militants in Damaturu on Thursday, and several explosions were heard.

Then on Friday suspected sect members opened fire on a group of policemen shortly after Friday prayers in the city, killing four, local police officials said. [...]

Confrontations between security forces and the Boko Haram sect have become increasingly frequent in the past couple of weeks, as the north's simmering conflict escalates, though the insurgency remains low level and sporadic.

Boko Haram, whose name roughly translates as "Western learning is forbidden" has been blamed for scores of shootings and bombings in the north, including a spate of attacks in the past few weeks across the region.

Despite many crackdowns, Nigerian security forces have so far been unable to contain Boko Haram violence. This year the group struck in the capital Abuja twice, including a suicide car bomb attack against the U.N. headquarters that killed 26 people.

On Hudson NY (via RaymondIbrahim.com), I compiled November's batch of Christian suffering under Islam, some "highlights" of which follow -- a reminder to appreciate the religious freedom many of us enjoy during this holiday season:

Ethiopia: More than 500 Muslim students assisted by Muslim police burned down a church, while screaming "Allahu Akbar" (and thus clearly positing their attack in an Islamic framework); the church was built on land used by Christians for more than 60 years, but now a court has ruled that it was built "without a permit."

Kenya: A gang of Muslims stabbed and beat with iron rods a 25-year-old Somali refugee, breaking his teeth; he was then stripped naked, covered with dirt, and left unconscious near a church. Although he was raised Christian since age 7, he was attacked on the "assumption that as a Somali he was born into Islam and was therefore an apostate deserving of death."

Nigeria: The Muslim militant group, Boko Haram, executed two children of an ex-terrorist and "murderer" because he converted to Christianity. When still a terrorist, he "was poised to slit the throat of a Christian victim" when "he was suddenly struck with the weight of the evil he was about to commit." After finding he converted to Christianity, "Boko Haram members invaded his home, kidnapped his two children and informed him that they were going to execute them in retribution for his disloyalty to Islam. Clutching his phone, the man heard the sound of the guns that murdered his children."

As I noted here, the whole TSA security apparatus exists because of Islamic jihad terrorists, and yet, as I have pointed out many times, it will never be adequate to stop those jihadists. The TSA is always prohibiting or restricting or searching things pertaining to the method of the previous jihad attack attempt -- shoes, liquids, etc. -- but they have no way to anticipate or head off the method of the next attack. And they waste huge amounts of time, money, and resources by pretending that everyone is an equal threat to launch a terror attack -- Baptist grandmothers in wheelchairs just as much as young Pakistani Muslim males. And now, seizing terrorist cupcakes.

The only answer at this point, and even it is not perfect, would be to institute Israeli-style profiling of air passengers. The Israelis have run an efficient and terror-attack-free air service for years, without all these invasive security measures.

But to emulate them, of course, would mean to recognize in an official way that Muslims are a greater risk to commit terror attacks than Methodists or Mennonites. And in today's politically correct environment, the Obama Administration and the TSA would rather see another jihad mass-murder of American citizens on the scale of 9/11 or worse than do anything to suggest that.

So drop that cupcake.

"Cupcake Deemed 'Security Threat,' Confiscated By TSA," from The Boston Channel, December 23 (thanks to Kenneth):

BOSTON -- A Peabody woman says a cupcake she tried to take on a flight with her sparked a potential security threat this week.

Rebecca Hains says she was going through security at the airport in Las Vegas when a TSA agent pulled her aside and said the cupcake frosting was “gel-like” enough to constitute a security risk.

She said she was able to pass through Logan International Airport security with two cupcakes, but she was stopped on the way back when she tried to return with one of them....

Maybe the TSA guy was hungry when she tried to return.

Hains contacted the cupcake company, Wicked Good Cupcakes of Cohasset, which said it will ship her a new batch free of charge.

“Apparently we're a tasty, terrorist threat. I guess we were also amazed at what can pass through security in one airport, but not in another,” said Brian Vilagie of Wicked Good Cupcakes.

As I quoted Obama in my recent Human Events column: "As he closed the door on American military involvement in Iraq, Barack Obama said: “Everything that American troops have done in Iraq—all the fighting, all the dying, the bleeding and the building and the training and the partnering—all of it has landed to this moment of success....Iraq’s not a perfect place. It has many challenges ahead. But we’re leaving behind a sovereign, stable and self-reliant Iraq with a representative government that was elected by its people.”

"Midnight Masses canceled in Iraq because of growing security concerns," from the Catholic News Service, December 23 (thanks to Pamela Geller):

LONDON (CNS) -- Chaldean Catholic officials have canceled traditional Christmas Eve midnight Masses because of security risks.

Chaldean Archbishop Louis Sako of Kirkuk in northern Iraq told the agency Aid to the Church in Need that Christians will spend Christmas in "great fear" because of the risk of new attacks.

All services and Masses have been scheduled for daylight hours, he said in an interview with Rome-based AsiaNews.

"Midnight Christmas Mass has been canceled in Baghdad, Mosul and Kirkuk as a consequence of the never-ending assassinations of Christians," he said, citing the Oct. 31, 2010, attack on the Syrian Catholic cathedral that left 57 people dead in the Iraqi capital.

Archbishop Sako also expressed concern over the growing conflict between Sunni and Shiite Muslims vying for political power. He said the conflict has led to growing instability, especially in the days since the pullout of U.S. military troops in mid-December....

"When Al Qaeda operatives are released, the Iranian government transfers them to the custody of al-Suri, who then coordinates their travel to Pakistan."

More on an apparent gentlemen's agreement, sans the gentlemen, between Iran and al-Qaeda. "U.S. Offers $10M for Iran-Based Al Qeada [sic] Financier," from NewsCore, December 22:

WASHINGTON – The U.S. State Department offered a $10 million reward Thursday for information that helps authorities find Ezedin Abdel Aziz Khalil, better known as Yasin al Suri, an Iran-based senior financier of Al Qaeda.

Suri, operating under an agreement between Al Qaeda and the Iranian government since 2005, allegedly moves money and recruits through Iran and on to Pakistan and Afghanistan, the department said in its announcement.

He is an important fundraiser for the terrorist network and has collected money from donors throughout the Persian Gulf region, the department said.

Suri, born in Syria in 1982, also is accused of arranging the release of Al Qaeda personnel from Iranian prisons.

"The enemy of my enemy..."

"When Al Qaeda operatives are released, the Iranian government transfers them to the custody of al-Suri, who then coordinates their travel to Pakistan," the State Department said.

The reward was posted under the federal government's "Rewards for Justice Program," which offers millions of dollars for information leading to the capture of some of America's most wanted terrorists.

The program's top wanted terrorist is Al Qeada leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, who's capture comes with the potential for a $25 million reward

Suri is one of three men in the $10 million reward category, the others being Taliban leader Mullah Omar and Abu Dua, leader of Al Qeada in Iraq.

State media blames al-Qaeda, and while anything from Syrian state media ought to be taken with a grain of salt, the methodology is indeed al-Qaeda's. "Suicide bombers kill 40 in Damascus, Syria says," by Erika Solomon for Reuters, December 23:

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Suicide car bombers struck Damacus on Friday, officials said, killing 40 people, gutting buildings and sending human limbs flying in the bloodiest violence to hit Syria's capital in a nine-month-old uprising against President Bashar al-Assad.

The attacks, which state media blamed on al Qaeda, targeted two Syrian security sites and came a day after the arrival of Arab League officials to prepare for a monitoring team that will check whether Assad is implementing a plan to end the bloodshed.

Assad has deployed tanks and troops to try to crush a wave of protest against his rule inspired by other Arab revolts this year. Mainly peaceful rallies are now increasingly eclipsed by an armed insurgency against his military and security apparatus.

But Friday's blasts in central Damascus signaled a dramatic new escalation in violence, which Syrian authorities blame on armed groups they say have killed 2,000 soldiers and security force members since popular unrest broke out in March.

State television said over 150 people were wounded by the explosions. It broadcast footage of mangled bodies being carried in blankets and stretchers into ambulances with sirens wailing.

Television footage also showed bloodied streets littered with human remains, blackened car wrecks and other debris, as well as a row of corpses wrapped in sheets laid along a street.

State television said the attackers zeroed in on a state security administration building and a local security branch.

Syria has generally barred foreign media from the country, making it hard to verify accounts of events from either side....

The Leftist/jihadist alliance has been on abundant display during the Occupy protests. At Occupy DC it is taking an especially sinister turn: "Inside Occupy D.C.," from Bill Gertz's Inside the Ring in the Washington Times, December 21 (thanks to Pamela Geller):

People monitoring the Occupy D.C. movement tell Inside the Ring that the two encampments are fast becoming health hazards. Numerous protesters also recently were sickened with unusual respiratory illnesses.

The major emerging problem for the leftists camped out in tents at McPherson Square and Freedom Plaza is rats. The rodents appear to be moving into the area by the hundreds, and their numbers are increasing daily.

The McPherson camp appears be where more radical leftists are based. An observer familiar with the McPherson camp said one distinctive smell coming from the park area is that of methamphetamine being smoked.

Among the flags being flown by some protesters are those from the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas, the Iranian-backed Hezbollah and al Qaeda.

Cardinal Theodore McCarrick is the Roman Catholic Archbishop Emeritus of Washington, DC.

The Imam Mohamed Magid is with the ADAMS Center. From a February 2008 report: "Another D.C.-area mosque, the ADAMS Center, was founded and financed by members of the Muslim Brotherhood, and has been one of the top distributors of Wahhabist anti-Semitic and anti-Christian dogma."

Also, Magid is the President of the Islamic Society of North America. ISNA has admitted ties to the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas, and is an unindicted co-conspirator in a Hamas terror funding case.

Theophilus Maranga is right. The airlines were negligent to let Abdulmutallab aboard. The responsibility lies, however, with the useless screening processes that focus on how the last jihadi tried to blow up an airplane, while maintaining a politically correct willful blindness that pretends that everyone is equally likely to blow up a plane in the first place.

"Man who foiled 'underwear bomber' sues airlines," from AP, December 22:

NEW YORK - A New York man has sued two airlines for $10 million in damages for injuries he says he incurred when he jumped on a Nigerian man who tried to blow up a Detroit-bound airliner with a bomb in his underwear.

Theophilus Maranga filed the lawsuit Wednesday in federal court in Manhattan. He named as defendants Delta Air Lines, Inc., Air France-KLM and Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who awaits sentencing after admitting he tried to blow up the plane.

Maranga claims the airlines were negligent to let Abdulmutallab aboard. The Wappinger Falls man says he suffered numerous injuries after jumping on Abdulmutallab when he tried to bring down a Christmas 2009 Amsterdam-to-Detroit flight with 290 people aboard....

How exactly are the people in question "Britons" at all? Some or all were born there, and maybe a few like fish and chips or soccer, but in what way is their outlook on life in any recognizable sense "British"? These men are jihadis, plain and simple. Their outlook on life is an Islamic one that disdains national distinctions and non-Muslim jahili polities. But Andrew Mitchell has no conceptual framework in which he can fit such people except ones that are irrelevant for any useful analysis of their motives and goals. A massive paradigm shift is needed among the British and American governing elites, but no such thing is in the offing.

And meanwhile, what is being done in Britain itself to prevent Muslims and converts to Islam from being "radicalized" to the extent that they go to Somalia to wage jihad? Nothing much beyond outreach to stealth jihadi Islamic supremacist groups who pay lip-service to anti-jihad efforts while aiding and abetting such efforts inside mosques and madrassas.

"More Britons terror-training in Somalia: minister," from the Associated Press, December 22 (thanks to Block Ness):

LONDON: Britain’s international development minister says there are now more people from the UK training for terrorism in camps in Somalia than anywhere else in the world.

Andrew Mitchell said Thursday that Somalia poses a major threat, which may now be greater than the risks once posed by camps in Pakistan’s border regions.

Mitchell said “there are probably more British passport-holders engaged in terrorist training in Somalia than in any other country in the world.”...

The Armenian genocide was a fact, and the Turkish refusal to admit its existence is of a piece with the consistent Islamic supremacist tendency never, ever to admit wrongdoing, and to project their faults upon others. As a believer in the freedom of speech, I believe that the antidote to lies is truth, not censorship, and so I oppose France's new law, but there is no doubt that its foundation is correct and its intention is good. And Erdogan's reaction is the quintessential Islamic supremacist response to the truth about Islamic jihad: evasion, finger-pointing, projection, and claiming of victim status.

"Turkey Accuses France of Genocide After Armenian Bill," from Reuters, December 23 (thanks to all who sent this in):

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan accused France of genocide in Algeria in the 1940s and 50s, in his latest response to a French parliament vote to make it a crime to deny that the mass killings of Armenians in Ottoman Turkey was genocide.

Erdogan also said President Nicolas Sarkozy's father might have direct knowledge about French "massacres" in Algeria.

"In Algeria from 1945, an estimated 15 percent of the population was massacred by the French. This is a genocide," Erdogan said on live television.

15 percent of the population? Ridiculous and unsupportable historically -- unlike the Armenian genocide.

"If the French President Mr Sarkozy doesn't know about this genocide he should go and ask his father, Paul Sarkozy.

"His father served in the French Legion in Algeria in the 1940s. I am sure he would have lots to tell his son about the French massacres in Algeria," the Turkish premier said.

Parliamentarians in France's lower house of parliament voted overwhelmingly in favor of a draft law outlawing genocide denial Thursday, which the Senate will debate next year.

If passed, the bill would make it illegal to deny the 1915 mass killing of Armenians by Ottoman Turks amounted to genocide. The issue has caused outrage in Turkey, which argues killings took place on all sides during a fierce partisan conflict.

Erdogan condemned the bill shortly after the vote, recalled Ankara's ambassador to France for consultations and cancelled all joint economic, political and military meetings. Friday, he vowed to take more steps....

"The vote in the French parliament has shown how dangerous racism, discrimination and Islamophobia have become in France and Europe."

Although nearly a century has passed since the killings in the middle of World War One, successive Turkish governments and the vast majority of Turks feel the charge of Armenian genocide is an insult to their nation.

Recently I received an email from a remarkably courageous woman in a Muslim country. Raised a Muslim, she practiced Islam all her life. However, she has now left Islam, and is now -- because of Islam's death penalty for apostasy -- living a precarious existence in her native land. She has now started a blog, Liberated, in which she will detail her journey and keep us up-to-date on her experiences. Please bookmark it and visit it regularly. Here is an excerpt from her first entry, in which her relief and resentment at her longtime intellectual and spiritual bondage are palpable:

[...] After 9/11, I seriously started to doubt my beliefs, but I never had the guts or the courage to face them until I came across my friend, my savior and my mentor Ali Sina just a few months ago. He has changed my outlook of life and he really opened up my eyes to the false and evil cult of Islam, which I had been blindly following for the last 35 years, albeit halfheartedly. It is not that I wasn't aware of the evil of Islam, because I had been fairly well acquainted with the works of accomplished and judicious writers like Robert Spencer, Pamela Geller, Daniel Pipes and Raymond Ibrahim, but they were not Muslims, so somewhere deep down inside, I always ended up giving Mohammed the messenger of Allah the benefit of the doubt. It was only when I suddenly stumbled upon Ali Sina's website and subsequently his book "Understanding Mohammed" that actually made me wake up to this harsh reality. The truth hurts, as they say, so when I realized for the first time that Islam was actually a hoax, it broke me down completely. It took me a while to come to terms with it; I went through several stages like denial and anger, but finally I have come to the acceptance stage....

Read it all.

There are echoes in this story of obstacles faced by women seeking access to health care in places like Afghanistan. But France is not Afghanistan, and Nassim Mimoune was sentenced to six months in jail. As the judge told him, the laws of the republic are not secondary to his demands.

In his mind, the well-being of his wife was also clearly secondary to keeping her covered. "French Muslim jailed for punching nurse who tried to remove wife's burqa during childbirth," by Ian Sparks for the Daily Mail, December 22:

A Muslim man who punched a nurse for trying to remove his wife's burqa during childbirth has been jailed in France.

Nassim Mimoune, 24, had already been expelled from the delivery room for branding the midwife a 'rapist' as she carried out an intimate examination of his wife.

Then through a window he spotted the nurse taking off his wife's burqa as she prepared to give birth.

He smashed open the locked door and hit the woman in the face, demanding she replace the full Islamic face veil.

As his wife delivered a baby boy, Mimoune was ejected from the building by security men from the hospital in Marseille and arrested for assault.

A judge in the southern French port jailed Mimoune for six months on Wednesday, telling him: 'Your religious values are not superior to the laws of the republic.'

Prince Faisal Bin Abdullah Al-Saud, whom this report names as being responsible for the contents of the textbooks, said he didn't know how those ideas got in there.

Qur'an 5:33 prescribes the amputation of hands and feet on opposite sides for "waging war against Allah," and "spreading corruption (or mischief) in the land." Six Saudis were recently sentenced to this punishment. Qur'an 5:38 prescribes amputation for theft.

More on the unending stream of Islamic supremacism and Sharia's brutality found in Saudi textbooks. "Extremist Teachings Remain in Saudi Textbooks Despite Kingdom's Claims of Reform," by Catherine Herridge for Fox News, December 21:

Despite Saudi Arabia's promises to clean up textbooks in the kingdom, recent editions continue to raise alarms in the West over jihadist language.

The recent editions were obtained by the Institute for Gulf Affairs in Washington, D.C., and the translations were first provided to Fox News.

“This is where terrorism starts, in the education system.” Ali Al-Ahmed, director of the Institute for Gulf Affairs, told Fox News. Al-Ahmed, a Saudi national, said the textbooks, made and paid for by the Saudi government, were smuggled out of the kingdom through confidential sources.

In a textbook for 10th-graders, printed for the 2010-2011 academic year, al-Ahmed said teenagers are taught barbaric practices. “They show students how to cut (the) hand and the feet of a thief,” he said. In another textbook, for ninth-graders, the students are taught the annihilation of the Jewish people is imperative. One text reads in part: “The hour (of judgment) will not come until the Muslims fight the Jews and kill them. ... There is a Jew behind me come and kill him.”

Sahih Bukhari 4.52.177: "Allah's Apostle said, The Hour will not be established until you fight with the Jews, and the stone behind which a Jew will be hiding will say. 'O Muslim! There is a Jew hiding behind me, so kill him'."

According to the textbook translations provided to Fox News, women are described as weak and irresponsible. And al-Ahmed said the textbooks call for homosexuals to be put to death "because they pose a danger at society, as the Saudi school books teaches.”

Al-Ahmed say the textbooks are both a Saudi and an American problem. “If you teach 6 million children in these important years of their lives, if you install that in their brain, no wonder we have so many Saudi suicide bombers.”

After the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, there was an intense focus on Saudi Arabia and its educational teachings because almost all of the attackers were from the kingdom. In 2006, Saudi Ambassador to the U.S. Prince Turki al-Faisal told the Chicago Council on Foreign Relationships that the Saudi king was determined to eradicate this ideology of hate.

“In Saudi Arabia, King Abdullah recognizes that above all else education is the key, and he has put forth a program of reforms in this area," al-Faisal said. "In recent years, the kingdom has reviewed all of its education practices and materials and has removed any element that is inconsistent with the needs of a modern education. Not only have we eliminated what is objectionable from old textbooks that were in our system, we have also implemented a comprehensive internal revision and modernization plan."

But the new textbooks, most from the 2010-2011 academic year, show the hateful speech remains.

In Atlanta earlier this month, the Saudi minister responsible for the textbooks talked about the importance of education for woman [sic]. Asked by Fox News about the textbooks, Prince Faisal Bin Abdullah Al-Saud said, “I always say to people, please come. Come, try to see us. But come without a preconceived idea. ... Especially when you want to raise the future, no one is going to introduce violence. Violence is absolutely against - I think this is, I don't know who put in those ideas.”

When Fox News offered to show the quotes to the minister, he said, “there are many quotes” and walked away.

Fox News also asked the Saudi Embassy in Washington D.C., for comment on the textbooks and the translations, but there was no immediate response.

Does Pakistan think it makes its Islamic republic look strong and powerful to persecute this woman and reduce her to this state? Quite to the contrary, it conveys a sense of fear, both that Islam cannot stand on its own merits in the free market of ideas, and of angering violent Islamic supremacists who may turn on the state that has allowed them to run amok.

As with the recent roundup of Ethiopian Christians in Saudi Arabia, Pakistani authorities' display of power here is ultimately a display of weakness.

"Christmas in prison for Asia Bibi, sentenced to death for blasphemy," by Jibran Khan for Asia News, December 20:

Islamabad (AsiaNews) – Her only hope for the future is to return to her family, to embrace her daughters, so she asks for our prayers while praying that other "brothers and sisters" will not go to prison on false charges of blasphemy. It will be another Christmas in jail, away from her loved ones, for Asia Bibi, the Christian mother of five children, locked in the women's prison Sheikpura (Punjab), sentenced to death by the " black law" pending appeal, still awaiting for the High Court of Lahore to set a date. Yesterday a delegation of the International Masihi Foundation, an NGO that deals with the legal protection of women, visited her to exchange greetings on the eve of the festive season. And for the first time since the assassination of Punjab Governor Salman Taseer, who was killed by his bodyguard in January last year, Asia has found herself before a large group of people so far, in fact, she could only speak with her husband and the lawyer during the weekly interview with relatives.

It was Taseer who called the law a "black law" before he was assassinated.

In her isolation cell, looking tired and aged, beyond her 46 years, fragile and very weak, she can barely stand up. Entering the room reserved for meetings escorted by two guards, she appears confused and her eyes run from right to left for the duration of the meeting, about 2 hours and 20 minutes, with alternating emotions ranging from tears to laughter, as well as long periods of silence. Her voice is weak, for the first 10 minutes she can not figure out if the members of the delegation are "friends or enemies." She stops talking when a prison guard enters the room and when they ask how she is treated by the prison authorities she looks away, as if she had not heard the question and closes in a stubborn silence.

Our AsiaNews correspondent attended the meeting with Asia Bibi and spoke with her. Here, below, the responses of a woman who - even in a situation of extreme difficulty –has not lost hope and her desire to fight for her freedom and for her family.

Asia Bibi, on the eve of Christmas, what are your hopes and expectations?

I will answer honestly, I do not know. What do you think will happen? I continue to pray and fast for my family. I wish with all my being to be with my family. I want to hug my daughters. And I still cherish the hope that one day I will be freed.

What message would you like to give to Pakistani Christians and those around the world who pray for you?

Please continue to pray for my return to my family. And I am immensely grateful for the prayers.

Do you have a special day, which breaks the daily monotony of prison?

I lost all sense of celebration, the only day I know, hate and - unfortunately - remember clearly is June 9, the darkest and most painful day of my life when I was arrested. I would not wish even my worst enemy to suffer what I myself have had to endure, what both I and my family have experienced since that terrible June 9. For us it was a nightmare and from then on I lost track of time. In prison you lose track of time, time, day, month. I am illiterate and do not enjoy special concessions in prison, the only thing I can do is participate in Sunday school lessons.

Have you forgiven the people who caused your arrest?

At first no, I could not. And how could I ? [She says this with great anger and then, almost sinks breathing heavily] Although illiterate, I remain deeply Christian and my religion has taught me the value of forgiveness. [she smiles ...] At first, when I was thrown into prison, I was angry and meditated revenge, because I had been ripped from my family. Then I started to pray and fast and it may seem strange, I have noticed that I have forgiven those people who charged me with blasphemy. This is a chapter in my life that I would love to shut behind me and forget.

What do you think of the situation of Christians in Pakistan?

[His [sic] face darkens, then suddenly she begins to speak quietly ...] How many more brothers and sisters are still unjustly accused ... will be mistreated, abused, defendants in mock trials as happened to me.

Asia Bibi understands that the meeting is about to end and seems terrified to see friends leave. "When will you come back again to see me?" And then she asks those present: "What will you do now?". Her voice rises to a pitch, like a cry for help ... "When will I be released ..."

The Saudis apparently fear the international opprobrium that could come upon them if they charge these Christians simply with holding a Christian prayer meeting, which is, in fact, illegal in the Kingdom of the Two Holy Places. This shows again the brittleness of Islamic supremacism: Islamic supremacists cannot stand to be challenged. That's why they have to try to shut down Western freedom of speech. That's why they do not and cannot answer the arguments that anti-jihadists bring forth, but instead sling ad hominems and abuse. And that's why they're hiding the persecution of these Christians behind the fig leaf of "mixing with the opposite sex" charges: the whiff of immorality is something they hope will blunt religious conservatives' outrage at their persecution of Christians.

This brittleness and fear, however, shows that we have to keep pushing. We have to keep speaking the truth and standing for human rights. The Islamic supremacists know they can't defend their positions, and so have to try to hide what they're doing and shout us down. But the more we expose them, the weaker they get.

An update on this story. "Saudi Arabia Arrests Ethiopian Christians For 'Mixing With Opposite Sex,'" from International Christian Concern, December 21 (thanks to Wimpy):

Washington, D.C. (December 21, 2011)-International Christian Concern (ICC) has learned that the Ethiopian Christians who were arrested seven days ago in Saudi Arabia for holding a prayer meeting are now being charged by Saudi officials with mixing with the opposite sex. In Saudi Arabia, it is illegal for men and women (non-family) to be in the same room together.

The six men and 29 women were holding a weekly prayer meeting on December 15 when the Saudi police arrested them. Christian leaders say that the accusation of “mixing with the opposite sex” is only an excuse, and believe that the Christians were arrested for practicing their faith. The Christians have not yet been brought before any court.

“The Saudi officials are accusing the Christians of committing the crime of mixing of sexes because if they charge them with meeting for practicing Christianity, they will come under pressure from the international human rights organizations as well as Western countries. In fact, when an employer of one of the detainees asked for the reason for their employee’s arrest, the Saudi official told him that it was for practicing Christianity,” said a church leader from Saudi Arabia in an interview with ICC....

Robert already posted this MEMRI video of Sheikh Ahmad Abu Quddum, where the latter openly declares the legitimacy of offensive jihad:

When we declare Jihad against Germany, for instance, it is declared against the German state, for refusing to allow Islam to spread to the people of Germany. We give them a choice: Either to convert to Islam, or to pay the jizya and submit to the laws of Islam.

Otherwise, war is the third choice. All well and good; the Sheikh is merely quoting standard jihadi doctrine.

But he did say something that revealed how utterly deluded he is, how he cannot comprehend the full significance of what he himself is preaching. After agreeing that there is a “clash of civilizations” between the West and Islam, he said:

If not for Jihad, Islam would not have reached us and all the other places. Within a quarter of a century, Islam reached most of the ancient world by means of Jihad. The common people want Islam. Anyone who doesn’t can stick to his own religion. Here in the Levant, most of our forefathers were not Muslims, but they converted to Islam because of its goodness and justice.

So, after telling us that Islam does teach jihad—that is, offensive war to spread Islamic hegemony; after telling us that “Islam reached most of the ancient world by means of jihad”; after telling us that those who do not wish to convert to Islam must pay jizya—which, as he well knows, involves much more than merely paying a tax, involves being a second-class dhimmi, whose worth is at best half that of a Muslim, which he alludes to when he says “pay the jizya and submit to the laws of Islam”—after all this straightforward and honest talk, he resorts to fantasy when he adds, “The common people want Islam. Anyone who doesn’t can stick to his own religion. Here in the Levant, most of our forefathers were not Muslims [most were Christian during Islam’s invasion], but they converted to Islam because of its goodness and justice.”

Really, now? Does it not occur to the Sheikh that his ancestors, when confronted by Islamic jihad and forced to decide between either joining the “winning team” or becoming second-class dhimmis, treated contemptuously, abused, and persecuted—as they still are to this very day—does it not occur to him that maybe that’s why many of his ancestors converted, and not “because of its [Islam’s] goodness and justice”?

Does it not occur to him that Islam’s own apostasy law—Islam being the only religion that ensures people remain in its fold by threatening to kill them should they wish to convert to another religion—is a clear substitute for natural appeal?

Of course, Sheikh Quddum’s contradictions are but the latest example of how Muslim sheikhs totally distort history to justify jihad. They have no problem being honest about Islam’s history and doctrines of violence; but they must always frame the jihad as a “good thing” which “liberates” people.

Thus, in the bizarro world of the sheikhs, apparently treating people as second-class citizens if they don’t convert to Islam, and threatening those born into the religion with death if they try to leave it, is proof that “the common people want Islam”—that they “converted to Islam because of its goodness and justice.”

[For more, see this article by Egyptian liberal Khaled Montaser, which exposes the deep set “inferiority complex” infecting the Muslim world regarding the issue of conversion.]

This piece tries to portray the Rockwoods as innocent victims of an FBI setup. Paul Rockwood says that his plot was "all talk," and yet he also admits that "we decided to assassinate certain people." Even the most softball journalistic treatment from the dhimmi LA Times cannot paper over that and make Paul Rockwood a sympathetic character.

"In Alaska, becoming the militants next door," by Kim Murphy, Los Angeles Times, December 22:

Reporting from Fairton, N.J.— A little more than a year ago, he was a weather forecaster at a remote outpost in King Salmon, Alaska, population 442. He and his wife — he with his close-trimmed red beard and shy smile, she with her rosebud cheeks and sweet English accent — lived in a two-story frame house strewn with toys. They were popular dinner companions and regulars at community theater productions.

Now Paul Rockwood Jr. is a convicted terrorist, serving eight years in a federal prison. His wife, Nadia, is exiled on probation in England after her own criminal conviction. Since their arrest in 2010 — accused by the FBI of drafting and delivering a list of targets for terrorist attacks — friends and neighbors have been left in confusion, wondering how the nice young couple could have turned into the terrorists next door.

The possible answer, provided in Rockwood's first interview since his arrest, opens a window on one man's uncertain spiritual journey and radicalization after the Sept. 11 attacks. It also offers a look at the government's increasingly deep dragnet for suspected domestic terrorists.

To federal authorities, Rockwood, 36, is a man who turned from hard-partying bartender and ex-Navy seaman to Muslim militant committed to killing fellow Americans.

To Rockwood, the plot involving targeted assassinations and bombs was a "pure fantasy" created by a government agent he thought was his friend, a common refrain in the nation's burgeoning number of "home-grown" terrorism plots prosecuted since the Sept. 11 attacks.

Rockwood concedes that he drew up a list of people. He thought they should be punished.

"But ... it was all talk," Rockwood said in a small interview room at the correctional facility he has called home since July 2010.

By his account, the events of Sept. 11 stunned and repelled Rockwood and his wife, both raised Catholic. They were living in Virginia, and Rockwood had recently gotten a job as a contractor with the National Weather Service, hoping to eventually land a full civil service position and a more stable future.

"A week later, I was flying back from New Mexico and I was telling my co-workers, 'I'm not getting on the plane if there's Arab or Muslim people on the plane,'" he said. "But as time went on, I started needing to know why somebody would kill themselves, flying a plane into a building."

Rockwood was taking medication for anxiety and Meniere's disease, an affliction of the inner ear that causes vertigo, headaches and nausea. He was also trying to cut back on his partying and had taken a comparative religion class to try to quiet his mind.

He started studying Islam online.

"I was struck by how similar the beliefs in Islam were to Christianity, and at the same time, I guess also the differences made sense to me; it was a straighter path," he said.

Rockwood said he also felt that he was beginning to understand what had driven the Sept. 11 hijackers. "These people felt that they had been under attack," he said. "They kind of saw it as a self-defense response. It was like you'd be impressed if an American soldier jumps on a grenade to save his buddies; it takes a lot of courage to give up your life like that."

In December, only three months after the attacks, Rockwood took the shehada, the Muslim affirmation of faith, and not long after began attending the radical Dar al-Arqam mosque in Falls Church, Va. That mosque had frequently served as a platform for Ali al-Timimi, a radical lecturer who would soon be convicted and sentenced to life in prison on charges of soliciting followers to join the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Here, Rockwood was exposed to the teachings of Anwar Awlaki, a Yemeni American engineer whose entreaties to U.S. Muslims to engage in holy war made him one of the most influential voices of violent, radical Islam in the West. Awlaki was killed in September in a U.S. missile strike in Yemen.

"I held beliefs that were similar to his beliefs," Rockwood said. Among them were outrage over the deaths of innocents, fury over war crimes committed by U.S. troops and a conviction that the Iraq war had been started to lock up new oil supplies for the United States.

Nadia resented the way her husband's newfound religion consumed him, and the couple separated for a time. Eventually, though, she converted to Islam. Not long after, the couple's first child was born, and Rockwood took the job in King Salmon, his civil service entree to the weather service.

Nadia integrated easily into the close-knit social life in King Salmon, but it was harder for Rockwood. "Some of the best people I ever met lived in King Salmon. But it was hard for me not to have other Muslims," he said.

Two years after arriving, and again in 2009, Rockwood traveled to Cairo, hoping to find a way that he and Nadia could move there and enroll their young son in an international madrasa. Nadia, though, didn't want to live in Egypt. So Rockwood did his best to settle into life in King Salmon, relishing the occasional chance to debate politics and the war in Iraq, especially with his then-boss, whom he described as a devout Christian and a fellow military veteran.

His boss, he feels sure, noticed that he was listening to Awlaki sermons and using his personal laptop to visit websites such as Revolution Muslim, which praised Nidal Malik Hasan's deadly 2009 shooting rampage at Ft. Hood, Texas, as a "preemptive attack." It was his boss, he believes, who called him to the FBI's attention, though the government has said its initial tip in the case came from outside Alaska.

By that time, Rockwood was back on prescription drugs to counter a flare-up of his Meniere's disease. He was lonely and thinking again about moving to Egypt.

"I don't know how to express it. I was depressed about everything. I was upset. I wanted to leave the country, but at the same time, I wanted to change the country. I was confused. I'm still confused. I guess to compare it, I'm kind of sympathetic about how the Japanese Americans must have felt in World War II," he said.

* * *

That was when one of the leaders at the mosque in Anchorage asked whether he wouldn't like to meet a potential convert. The gentleman was a state trooper, he was told, and wanted to learn more about the religion. Would Rockwood talk about his own experience?

They met and became, Rockwood thought, fast friends. "Every time I came to Anchorage we would go to the mosque, go out to dinner, he'd ask me for help in how to recite the Koran, how to fast. He actually became a Muslim. He took the shehada. He said the words," Rockwood said, a little incredulously.

"Our conversations for months and months had nothing to do with politics or jihad and the wars. But slowly over time, that was all he wanted to talk about," Rockwood said. "He'd bring up certain things or ask me certain questions to try to get me riled up. Things like atrocities that were committed during the war: Abu Ghraib, the villages, the rapes. Basically, we'd both share our outrage and ask, what should be done about this? Who should be doing something about this?"

The discussions — often carried out at an expensive hotel where the trooper paid to put up Rockwood in a room — began to grow deadly serious.

"We decided to assassinate certain people. We had these conversations. I'm not going to deny it," Rockwood said. "I told him that I'd kept news articles with the names of people that were involved in the atrocities and stuff. He said, 'Great, get me a list of names.' Part of it was a macho kind of thing…. Also, he was offering me money. He said he was going to give me $8,000" to get started on the plan.

Rockwood said the trooper bought cellphones and other electronic devices that purportedly were to be used as remote triggers for bombs.

But at the same time, Rockwood and his wife had been talking about moving to England. His Meniere's disease had become devastating, and the National Health Service there would provide free treatment. He gave notice at work, and the couple had a garage sale to get rid of most of their possessions.

"I knew I was never going to do anything. I knew I was going to go to England and not come back. But I needed the money. It's not a redeeming quality, but I was using him for my own purposes. I didn't realize at the time that he was using me, too."

It all came to a head on the eve of their intended departure when Rockwood talked on the phone with the trooper, who said from Anchorage that he needed the list of names. Nadia was going to Anchorage, so Rockwood gave her the list. When she arrived, she met the trooper at Wal-Mart and was filmed by the FBI handing over the envelope.

Rockwood shook his head. "If it was happening now, when I'm clear-headed, I definitely wouldn't have gone along with it," he said. "All it would have taken was a conversation to wake me up and snap me out of it."

The Rockwoods boarded their flight from King Salmon to Boston, where they planned to visit family before heading to England, but they were stopped by the FBI when the plane landed in Anchorage. They were questioned, ostensibly for an investigation of the activities of the state trooper.

Soon, though, it became apparent that the authorities were interested in Rockwood, not the trooper. Though not under arrest, the couple weren't allowed to leave the city. With Nadia pregnant and all their possessions down to a few suitcases, they stayed first in a nice hotel, then as their funds dwindled, a motel, and finally a homeless shelter.

"I had five cars following me around Anchorage," he said. "I took my son to Chuck E. Cheese, I took him to a children's museum, and they had people following me around with cameras. I can't even tell you how much pressure I was under."

Eventually, faced with the possibility of being charged with terrorism, the Rockwoods pleaded guilty to the only crimes they knew they had committed: making false statements to the FBI during a terrorism investigation. Rockwood said the key was a pledge that Nadia would not have to go to jail.

"I would have said I was the guy on the grassy knoll if it meant keeping her out of prison," Rockwood said. "But I want people to know why I pled guilty. I want people to know what the government is doing, what lengths they're going to, to get these terrorism cases."...

"The suggestion that this was planted in his mind is just false.... He researched the means to select targets, and his looking for people to kill and how to kill them was well before law enforcement got involved," Karen Loeffler, U.S. attorney in Alaska, said in an interview....

Yes, it's true. We beat the mosque. The above tweet by Eboo Patel, an influential Muslim who writes in the Washington Post and elsewhere, shows just how powerful and effective the American Freedom Defense Initiative’s Stop Islamization of America program has been over the past year.

Patel, like many other Islamic supremacists these days, is trying to get Muslims and Leftists to boycott Lowe’s for dropping advertising on the deceptive and misleading All-American Muslim reality TV show. He calls strong-arming American businesses into advertising where they don’t wish to “pluralism.” But most importantly, he warns that “American Muslims will never be Ground Zero Mosque-d again.”

Patel knows that the Ground Zero mosque controversy was a huge defeat for Islamic supremacists in the U.S. And he knows it came at the hands of SIOA. Daisy Khan, wife of the Ground Zero Mosque Imam Faisal Abdul Rauf and one of the chief organizers of the project, said last year:

We were expecting some sort of, um, you know, resistance, but not an organized resistance. We were expecting that some families might need some hand-holding, we might want to speak to them. But what we did not expect is a national coalition of people coming together, the majority of them coming from outside New York. Pamela Geller is a lady, and Robert Spencer -- together the two of them have formed something called Stop Islamization of America, and that is the group that is leading this.

We led the resistance, and we won. 70% of Americans oppose the Mosque. Mosque organizers have dropped plans for a 16-story mega-mosque. They did not break ground for their new building on September 11, 2011, as Daisy Khan initially announced that they would. They’re holding soirees in the old Burlington Coat Factory building that was severely damaged in the 9/11 attacks, and that they had planned to tear down, and are pretending that their “community center” is already open.

But it is nothing like what they had planned. With Obama behind them, and New York Mayor Bloomberg doing everything he could to get them past all legal and procedural hurdles, and with the media and government elites solidly in their corner, we still prevailed. Our rallies (here and here and here) as well as our conferences, Action Alerts, and ongoing protests and information pieces at Atlas Shrugs and Jihad Watch ultimately ground the Islamic supremacist machine to a halt.

They may be back to fight for their Islamic supremacist mosque – and so will we.

We got a great deal more done this year as well. We showed our documentary film on the Ground Zero Mosque to packed houses all over the country. This film informs people like no other resource about what’s really at stake in this controversy. We fought and will continue to fight against the outrages at the 9/11 Memorial and Museum, where they’re planning to place human remains of victims seven stories underground, charge admission to see them, and include lavish profiles of the 9/11 hijackers. Not surprisingly, Daisy Khan is on the Board of the commission putting together the memorial, charged with making sure the Muslim perspective is represented in every aspect of the memorial.

But we will keep fighting.

This year we also continued our work exposing the human rights abuses of Islamic law and putting Islamic supremacists on the defensive in other arenas as well. We went to Jerusalem to dedicate the Aqsa Parvez Memorial Grove in memory of victims of honor killings worldwide. This was the first-ever recognition by anyone in the West that we would not allow the barbaric practice of Islamic honor killing to spread in free societies. We will continue to remember and memorialize the victims, whom their families all too often would prefer to be forgotten.

In line with this, please join us in Dearborn, Michigan on April 29 at a conference dedicated to another victim of honor killing in North America: the Jessica Mokdad Human Rights Conference.

We’re also continuing to pursue our long struggle for our First Amendment right to freedom of speech in the Dearborn and Detroit. in our eighteen-month struggle against Detroit’s SMART Transit after they refused to run our ads offering help to those threatened with death for leaving Islam. Don’t they have a right to live, also? Yet despite the fact that we won our case, Detroit Transit is appealing the ruling and still refusing to run the ads. But here again, we are not giving up.

AFDI/SIOA also started fighting back against the Leftist/Islamic supremacist control of the narrative and manipulative, propagandistic use of the term "hate group" to marginalize organizations that are defending freedom. Our organization created and published the AFDI Threats to Freedom Index. This is the first-ever compilation of groups such as Hamas-linked CAIR, International ANSWER and many others that are working to restrict Americans’ freedoms and enable the imposition of Islamic supremacist and/or authoritarian Leftist restrictions upon our thoughts and behavior.

No one is doing the work we are doing and accomplishing what we are accomplishing. No one else is putting the Islamic supremacists on the defensive and calling attention to the human rights abuses that they’re excusing and justifying the way we are.

Yet we have done all this and much more with almost no resources. Contrary to fallacious and defamatory Leftist media reports, we don’t have a lavish budget. We don’t have big foundations or generous endowments behind us. We don’t even draw salaries from AFDI/SIOA. For every initiative, we have to go begging to the few donors who see the value of our work for freedom.

And make no mistake: the enemies of free speech made great gains in 2011 as well. The lines are being drawn, the walls are closing in, and we have to push harder than ever before, work faster than ever before, and do more work behind the scenes than we ever did before. Otherwise the forces of darkness will certainly prevail, and freedom of speech and resistance to Islamic supremacism will become dim memories in the United States.

Our work influences the culture. You can see it in the Ground Zero Mosque victory, in the attention we have called to the deceptive lack of labeling of halal meat, in the success of our bus and taxi ad campaigns calling attention to Islamic honor killing and Islam’s death penalty for apostates, and so much more.

But we can’t do it without your help.

In this great struggle, we are all the soldiers. There is no army, no law enforcement agency, no government official who is going to save our freedoms for us. We have to do it ourselves. Please think about the work AFDI/SIOA has done, and all the things we would be able to accomplish if we only had the resources. Please consider giving $100 to our work – every bus ad campaign costs $10,000 or more for just a handful of buses, so that is a minimal contribution, but every little bit helps.

We are fighting for America. We are fighting for freedom. We are fighting for you. Please join us. We have plenty more planned. And we need you. Contribute to the fight. Paypal writeatlas@aol.com or director@jihadwatch.org (tax-deductible).

We cannot do anything without your activism and your contributions.

Yours in liberty,
Pamela Geller, Executive Director
Robert Spencer, Associate Director
American Freedom Defense Initiative/Stop Islamization of America

Will the Islamophobia never end? "Heightened terror threat at churches on Christmas," by Asad Kharal for The Express Tribune, December 19 (thanks to all who sent this in):

LAHORE: The police met with Christian leaders to discuss security measures at churches on Monday, after intelligence reports warned of a heightened threat of terrorist attacks on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, The Express Tribune has learnt.

The intelligence report named 20 churches in Lahore as “sensitive”, while describing security at all 433 churches in the city as “inadequate”.

The report said that terrorists planned to target Christian gatherings on December 24 and 25.

The report was forwarded to the capital city police officer (CCPO) and others asking that the police act to secure Christian places of worship, particularly the 20 most vulnerable churches.

DOG (Operations) Ghulam Mahmood Dogar met with Christian leaders later on Monday to discuss security, according to a press release. He said that 2,000 policemen would be deployed to protect the 433 churches in the city and all security arrangements would be finalised by December 22.

The police categorised 38 churches in the city as most vulnerable to attack. The DIG said that each of these ‘category A’ churches would get a deployment of one officer and seven junior personnel including snipers to be deployed on rooftops.

The DIG said that walkthrough gates would be installed at the category A churches and that policewomen and Christian volunteers would search people with metal detectors at A and B category churches.

He said that 39 churches were in category B, 187 in C and 179 in D.

Asked if he was satisfied with the security measures, Reverend Shahid Mehraj of the Lahore Cathedral Church, who attended the meeting, said the country was in a war-like situation and it was a dangerous place.

“Security lapses are always possible,” he said, “but we can’t just blame the government and its agencies for that, it is also the public’s responsibility.”

CCPO Ahmed Raza Tahir said that the police would do their best to ensure “foolproof security” at churches, particularly at those declared vulnerable....

No ad, no matter how clever or winning, is going to eradicate the suspicion that many Americans have of Muslims. This is because Americans are concerned about Islam not because of the work of greasy Islamophobes, but because of Naser Abdo, the would-be second Fort Hood jihad mass murderer; and Khalid Aldawsari, the would-be jihad mass murderer in Lubbock, Texas; and Muhammad Hussain, the would-be jihad bomber in Baltimore; and Mohamed Mohamud, the would-be jihad bomber in Portland; and Faisal Shahzad, the would-be Times Square jihad mass-murderer; and Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad, the Arkansas military recruiting station jihad murderer; and Naveed Haq, the jihad mass murderer at the Jewish Community Center in Seattle; and Mohammed Reza Taheri-Azar, the would-be jihad mass murderer in Chapel Hill, North Carolina; Ahmed Ferhani and Mohamed Mamdouh, who hatched a jihad plot to blow up a Manhattan synagogue; and Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the would-be Christmas airplane jihad bomber; and many others like them who have plotted and/or committed mass murder in the name of Islam and motivated by its texts and teachings -- all in the U.S. in the last couple of years.

If Sabeel Ahmed really wants to stop "Islamophobia," here is an easy way. Muslims can:

1. Focus their indignation on Muslims committing violent acts in the name of Islam, not on non-Muslims reporting on those acts.
2. Renounce definitively, sincerely, honestly, and in deeds, not just in comforting words, not just "terrorism," but any intention to replace the U.S. Constitution (or the constitutions of any non-Muslim state) with Sharia even by peaceful means. In line with this, clarify what is meant by their condemnations of the killing of innocent people by stating unequivocally that American and Israeli civilians are innocent people, teaching accordingly in mosques and Islamic schools, and behaving in accord with these new teachings.
3. Teach, again sincerely and honestly, in transparent and verifiable ways in mosques and Islamic schools, the imperative of Muslims coexisting peacefully as equals with non-Muslims on an indefinite basis, and act accordingly.
4. Begin comprehensive international programs in mosques all over the world to teach sincerely against the ideas of violent jihad and Islamic supremacism.
5. Actively and honestly work with Western law enforcement officials to identify and apprehend jihadists within Western Muslim communities.

If Muslims do those five things, voila! "Islamophobia" will evanesce!

"New ads aim to eradicate Islamophobia," by Delal Pektas for WBEZ, December 20 (thanks to all who sent this in):

Some new TV ads in Chicago are trying to portray Islam in a good light.

The ads will be broadcasted on some cable channels for the next three months. Dr. Sabeel Ahmed, the Director of Gain Peace Project-Chicago, said the commercials are meant to eradicate Islamophobia.

"It's very important for us to realize that by watching these ads, we hope that the viewers could realize that Islam is not a faith to be feared but a faith that cherishes human values, a faith that encourages its followers to reach out to the neighbors and to the community," Ahmed said....

With Hillary Clinton trying to put Humpty Dumpty back together again. "Clinton cleaning up after Obama’s Middle East policy," by Neil Munro in the Daily Caller, December 21:

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is taking on a new role — patching fractures in President Barack Obama’s Muslim outreach policy.

Clinton’s role is highlighted by a new White House policy announced Dec. 19, which makes the roles and rights of women a central element of U.S. foreign policy. The policy is titled “The United States National Action Plan on Women, Peace, and Security.”...

Her new role comes as she and other feminists increasingly voice their worries about the impact on Arab women of the burgeoning Islamist political movements that are religiously committed to the subordination of women.

“We’ve seen this already happening in countries where proposed legislation rolls back women’s rights,” said Jolynn Shoemaker, director of the Women in International Security organization. In Egypt and Libya, “it is a very critical time,” said Shoemaker, who is based at the Center for Strategic and International Studies....

But Obama’s initial outreach policy in 2009 invited the Islamist parties to pay a large role in the region’s politics. For example, he insisted that several members of the Muslim Brotherhood be allowed to attend his much-lauded 2009 speech in Cairo....

This year, however, Obama reacted to the growing role of the Islamists by offering some support for Western ideas. On May 19, for example, Obama declared that peoples’ rights “include free speech, the freedom of peaceful assembly, the freedom of religion, equality for men and women under the rule of law, and the right to choose your own leaders — whether you live in Baghdad or Damascus, Sanaa or Tehran.”

However, in that speech and since then, Obama has focused on pressuring Israel to make further concessions prior to hoped-for talks with Arab and Islamic advocates.

Also, Obama and White House officials have refused to condemn the Islamist parties’ political gains, or their advocacy of policies that subordinate women in the workplace, in politics and in family life....

“The White House warmly applauded the revolutions in Egypt and Tunisia, and actively aided the one in Libya, while brushing aside abundant indications that each was powered largely by Islamic supremacists who would deny rights to women,” said Robert Spencer, an expert on Islam and a best-selling author. “By helping pave the way for pro-Sharia regimes in the ‘Arab Spring’ countries, they’ve become women’s worst enemy,” he said.

Clinton is now stepping into this gap, partly because Obama is focused on his 2012 election, and partly because U.S. policymakers need to influence the newly empowered Islamist governments and movements.

On Dec. 14, for example, Clinton subtly challenged Obama’s conciliatory approach to the Islamist parties.

She used a speech at a department-hosted conference on religious freedom to taunt Islamist advocates and governments about the possible weakness of their religious faith. “Everyone one of us who is a religious person knows there are some who may not support or approve of our religion, but is our religion so weak that statements of disapproval cause us to lose our faith?” she said to attendees, which included numerous officials from Islamic countries in the 57-national Organization of Islamic Cooperation....

Read it all.

The whole TSA security apparatus exists because of Islamic jihad terrorists, and yet, as I have pointed out many times, it will never be adequate to stop those jihadists. The TSA is always prohibiting or restricting or searching things pertaining to the method of the previous jihad attack attempt -- shoes, liquids, etc. -- but they have no way to anticipate or head off the method of the next attack. And they waste huge amounts of time, money, and resources by pretending that everyone is an equal threat to launch a terror attack -- Baptist grandmothers in wheelchairs just as much as young Pakistani Muslim males.

The only answer at this point, and even it is not perfect, would be to institute Israeli-style profiling of air passengers. The Israelis have run an efficient and terror-attack-free air service for years, without all these invasive security measures.

But to emulate them, of course, would mean to recognize in an official way that Muslims are a greater risk to commit terror attacks than Methodists or Mennonites. And in today's politically correct environment, the Obama Administration and the TSA would rather see another jihad mass-murder of American citizens on the scale of 9/11 or worse than do anything to suggest that.

"Smoke Screening," by Charles C. Mann in Vanity Fair, December 20:

Not until I walked with Bruce Schneier toward the mass of people unloading their laptops did it occur to me that it might not be possible for us to hang around unnoticed near Reagan National Airport’s security line. Much as upscale restaurants hang mug shots of local food writers in their kitchens, I realized, the Transportation Security Administration might post photographs of Schneier, a 48-year-old cryptographer and security technologist who is probably its most relentless critic. In addition to writing books and articles, Schneier has a popular blog; a recent search for “TSA” in its archives elicited about 2,000 results, the vast majority of which refer to some aspect of the agency that he finds to be ineffective, invasive, incompetent, inexcusably costly, or all four.

As we came by the checkpoint line, Schneier described one of these aspects: the ease with which people can pass through airport security with fake boarding passes. First, scan an old boarding pass, he said—more loudly than necessary, it seemed to me. Alter it with Photoshop, then print the result with a laser printer. In his hand was an example, complete with the little squiggle the T.S.A. agent had drawn on it to indicate that it had been checked. “Feeling safer?” he asked....

Bruce Schneier’s exasperation is informed by his job-related need to spend a lot of time in Airportland. He has 10 million frequent-flier miles and takes about 170 flights a year; his average speed, he has calculated, is 32 miles and hour. “The only useful airport security measures since 9/11,” he says, “were locking and reinforcing the cockpit doors, so terrorists can’t break in, positive baggage matching”—ensuring that people can’t put luggage on planes, and then not board them —“and teaching the passengers to fight back. The rest is security theater.”

Remember the fake boarding pass that was in Schneier’s hand? Actually, it was mine. I had flown to meet Schneier at Reagan National Airport because I wanted to view the security there through his eyes. He landed on a Delta flight in the next terminal over. To reach him, I would have to pass through security. The day before, I had downloaded an image of a boarding pass from the Delta Web site, copied and pasted the letters with Photoshop, and printed the results with a laser printer. I am not a photo-doctoring expert, so the work took me nearly an hour. The T.S.A. agent waved me through without a word. A few minutes later, Schneier deplaned, compact and lithe, in a purple shirt and with a floppy cap drooping over a graying ponytail.

The boarding-pass problem is hardly the only problem with the checkpoints. Taking off your shoes is next to useless. “It’s like saying, Last time the terrorists wore red shirts, so now we’re going to ban red shirts,” Schneier says. If the T.S.A. focuses on shoes, terrorists will put their explosives elsewhere. “Focusing on specific threats like shoe bombs or snow-globe bombs simply induces the bad guys to do something else. You end up spending a lot on the screening and you haven’t reduced the total threat.”

As I waited at security with my fake boarding pass, a T.S.A. agent had darted out and swabbed my hands with a damp, chemically impregnated cloth: a test for explosives. Schneier said, “Apparently the idea is that al-Qaeda has never heard of latex gloves and wiping down with alcohol.” The uselessness of the swab, in his view, exemplifies why Americans should dismiss the T.S.A.’s frequent claim that it relies on “multiple levels” of security. For the extra levels of protection to be useful, each would have to test some factor that is independent of the others. But anyone with the intelligence and savvy to use a laser printer to forge a boarding pass can also pick up a stash of latex gloves to wear while making a bomb. From the standpoint of security, Schneier said, examining boarding passes and swabbing hands are tantamount to performing the same test twice because the person you miss with one test is the same person you'll miss with the other.

After a public outcry, T.S.A. officers began waving through medical supplies that happen to be liquid, including bottles of saline solution. “You fill one of them up with liquid explosive,” Schneier said, “then get a shrink-wrap gun and seal it. The T.S.A. doesn’t open shrink-wrapped packages.” I asked Schneier if he thought terrorists would in fact try this approach. Not really, he said. Quite likely, they wouldn’t go through the checkpoint at all. The security bottlenecks are regularly bypassed by large numbers of people—airport workers, concession-stand employees, airline personnel, and T.S.A. agents themselves (though in 2008 the T.S.A. launched an employee-screening pilot study at seven airports). “Almost all of those jobs are crappy, low-paid jobs,” Schneier says. “They have high turnover. If you’re a serious plotter, don’t you think you could get one of those jobs?”...

Probably this American went to Yemen to study Islam, and ended up getting involved in jihad warfare. Yet the U.S. Government's official position is that jihad warfare has nothing to do with Islam, and that it is offensive to suggest otherwise.

It's sheer madness. We are ruled by madmen.

"Weeks of clashes in north Yemen kill 200," by Ahmed al-Haj for the Associated Press, December 21 (thanks to Wimpy):

SANAA, Yemen (AP) — Nearly 200 people, among them 15 foreigners, have been killed in clashes over the past few weeks between an ultraconservative Islamist group and former Shiite rebels in northern Yemen, a military official and the leader of the Islamist faction said Wednesday. In Moscow, Russia's Foreign Minister said four Russian citizens were among those killed.

The tension between the Salafi Islamists, who are Sunni, and the former Hawthi rebels, who are Shiite, escalated just as Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh signed in late November a U.S.-backed proposal crafted by powerful Gulf Arab neighbors, under which he transfers power to his vice president in exchange for immunity from prosecution. He agreed to step down after a 10-month uprising against his 33-year authoritarian rule....

Salafi spokesman Surour al-Wadee said 71 Salafi fighters, among them an American and French, Russian, Algerian, Malaysian, Somalian, and Libyan citizens, have been killed in the clashes. A Yemeni military officials said more than 120 Hawthis have been killed. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information.

Many of the foreigners were studying in the Salafi Dar al-Hadith school in Saada, which has attracted students from around the world. It was set up more than 20 years ago as a learning center to counter Shiite Islam in the area. Its funds often flow from Yemen's neighbor to the north, Saudi Arabia.

What? Salafis studying in an Islamic school? But don't the Vast Majority of Peaceful Muslims take them aside and explain to them how they're getting Islam all wrong?

Salafism is a particularly hardline branch of Islam. Some Salafis follow a militant ideology similar to al-Qaida's, but the terror network operates separately. Salafi preachers in Saada have used the pulpit to argue that the killing of Hawthi Shiites is an Islamic duty.

During Yemen's uprising, security has unraveled and al-Qaida and other Islamist militants have tried to exploit the vacuum to gain a firmer foothold in the impoverished country. The al-Qaida branch in Yemen is one of the most active in the world.

In the months leading up to Saleh's signing of the agreement to give up power, security forces appeared to have turned a blind eye to Salafis arming themselves and amassing in greater numbers in Saada province. The Saudi government pressures Saleh to step down as of the group of Gulf states that formulated the plan for him to go.

On Tuesday, the Hawthis and Salafis agreed to a cease-fire brokered by opposition tribesmen, politicians and religious figures. It collapsed less than 24 hours later in part of Saada. According to al-Wadee, eight Hawthis and two Salafi fighters were killed on Wednesday.

Al-Qaida fighters have not attempted a cease-fire with Hawthi Shiites. Instead, leading al-Qaida figures in Yemen have reportedly called on fighters in recent weeks to fight the Shiites.

Russia tracks its citizens who travel abroad for training in Muslim seminaries. The Russian Embassy in Yemen counted 36 Russian citizens living in Saada — students at Dar al-Hadith school for Islamic studies and their families....

Tired of widespread poverty and a government perceived as corrupt and abusive, many Muslims from the Caucasus have traveled to the Middle East and South Asia to study with radical Islamic leaders who challenge the Kremlin-backed Muslim clerics at home.

Study after study has shown that poverty doesn't cause terrorism, but AP will never admit that. And why should they? Just look at all the Haitian suicide bombers!

In 2009, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev called on Russia's Muslim leaders to join forces in an effort to keep young Muslims in Russia and quell recruitment by extremist groups abroad. In May, Alexander Khloponin, Medvedev's envoy to the Caucaus region, said authorities were planning to closely monitor young people who go abroad to study Islam.

Obama better take Medvedev aside and have a word with him: it looks as if he is on the verge of committing "Islamophobia."

Just days ago I wrote in Human Events: "Nothing appears likelier in Iraq’s future than more jihadist persecution of Christians and other religious minorities, more Sunni-Shi’ite jihad, and more jockeying for power by Iran as it continues its jihad to become the leader of the Islamic world."

Meanwhile, Iyad Allawi apparently expected that the Americans would stay in Iraq indefinitely, cleaning up all the messes of sectarian and ethnic strife and political jockeying. But Sunni/Shi'ite and Arab/Kurd enmity are a lot older than the United States, and would never have been eradicated by the U.S., even if we stayed there 1000 years.

"Wave of bombings across Baghdad kills 60," by Qassim Abdul-Zahra for the Associated Press, December 22 (thanks to all who sent this in):

BAGHDAD (AP) — A wave of at least 14 bombings ripped across Baghdad Thursday morning, killing at least 60 people in the worst violence in Iraq for months. The apparently coordinated attacks struck days after the last American forces left the country and in the midst of a major government crisis between Shiite and Sunni politicians that has sent sectarian tensions soaring.

The bombings may be linked more to the U.S. withdrawal than the political crisis, but all together, the developments heighten fears of a new round of Shiite-Sunni sectarian bloodshed like the one a few years back that pushed Iraq to the brink of civil war.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility. But the bombings bore all the hallmarks of al Qaeda’s Sunni insurgents. Most appeared to hit Shiite neighborhoods, although some Sunni areas were also targeted. In all, 11 neighborhoods were hit by either car bombs, roadside blasts or sticky bombs attached to cars. There was at least one suicide bombing and the blasts went off over several hours.

The deadliest attack was in the Karrada neighborhood, where a suicide bomber driving an explosives-laden vehicle blew himself up outside the office of a government agency fighting corruption. Two police officers at the scene said the bomber was driving an ambulance and told guards that he needed to get to a nearby hospital. After the guards let him through, he drove to the building where he blew himself up, the officers said....

Because such a large-scale, coordinated attack likely took weeks to plan, and the political crisis erupted only few days ago, the violence was not likely a direct response to the tensions within the government. Also, al Qaeda opposed Sunni cooperation in the Shiite-dominated government in the first place and is not aligned with Sunni politicians.

The Sunni extremist group often attacks Shiites, who they believe are not true Muslims....

"Ex-Iraqi PM accuses US of leaving job unfinished," from MSNBC, December 22 (thanks to Pamela Geller):

A leading Iraqi politician has accused the country's prime minister of acting like Saddam Hussein in trying to silence opposition, saying he risks provoking a new fightback against dictatorship.

Iyad Allawi -- a former prime minister who leads the Sunni-backed Iraqiya bloc -- also claimed the United States had pulled out its troops "without completing the job they should have finished."

Allawi said that the current premier, Nuri al-Maliki, had used fabricated confessions to demand the arrest of the country's Sunni Muslim vice president, Tareq al-Hashemi.

Al-Hashemi, who has taken refuge in Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region, denies allegations he ordered bombings and shootings against his opponents. The move against him, on the very day U.S. troops left the country, threatens to upset a balance among Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish factions.

Speaking to Reuters two days after the final departure of the U.S. forces that ended Saddam's Sunni-dominated rule, Allawi called for international efforts to prevent al-Maliki, who is a Shiite, from provoking renewed sectarian warfare of the kind that killed tens of thousands in the years after Saddam fell in 2003.

"This is terrifying, to bring fabricated confessions," Allawi said shortly before leaving the Jordanian capital Amman to return to Iraq. "It reminds me personally of what Saddam Hussein used to do where he would accuse his political opponents of being terrorists and conspirators."...

He said he would now try to unseat the prime minister in the legislature: "We have to make a move to bring about stability to the country by trying to find a substitute to Maliki through parliament," said Allawi, who repeated allegations that Shiite Iran is seeking control in Iraq now that U.S. forces have left....

At FrontPage Magazine (via RaymondIbrahim.com), I discuss the plight of Iraq's Christians, who are on the verge of extinction, even as the world silently sits by watching:

A recent Fox News report tells of how "a rash of attacks on Christian-owned businesses in northern Iraq has raised troubling questions about the future safety of the country's shrinking Christian community, particularly as U.S. forces withdraw completely from the nation they've refereed since 2003."

In fact, "questions about the future safety of the country's shrinking Christian community" have been raised ever since the U.S. toppled secular strongman Saddam Hussein, thereby unloosing the forces of jihad previously corked. The report continues:

The attacks, which have received little international attention, raged through northern cities following a sermon last Friday by a local mullah. Video purportedly from the riots posted online shows mobs burning and wrecking businesses, which included liquor stores, hotels and hair salons.

Note the two important facts here that play over and over whenever Christians are persecuted under Islam: 1) Despite their frequency and severity, they "receive little international attention" (indeed, only the most spectacular of terrorist attacks on Christians—such as the 2010 Baghdad church attack which left some 60 dead—ever receive mainstream media attention); and 2) as usual, the attacks followed "a sermon last Friday by a local mullah" (in other words, are Islamic in nature).

As if the situation wasn't bad enough, after pointing out that "Iraqi Christians ... are living in fear," U.S. Rep. Frank Wolf said:

"Now with the [U.S.] forces leaving ... I think the Iraqi Christians are going to go through a very, very difficult time." … He urged the Obama administration to do more to speak up on the issue. "They know this is a problem. Our government ought to be advocating and ought to be pushing."

It ought to, but it's not. After calling the U.S. government's silence concerning the blatant persecution of Iraq's Christians "disturbing," the founder of the Iraqi Christian Relief Council added: "We're on the verge of extinction."...

In order to deflect attention away from jihad activity and try to portray Muslims as victims, so as to shame non-Muslims into not investigating or even being suspicious of further jihad activity, Hamas-linked CAIR and other Muslims have not hesitated to fabricate "hate crimes." CAIR and other groups like it want and need hate crimes against Muslims, because they can use them for political points and as weapons to intimidate people into remaining silent about the jihad threat.

Also, so avid are some Muslims to discredit me and obscure the truths I tell that they were even prepared to blame me for a murder in New Jersey that turned out to be a love triangle that the killer tried to frame as an anti-Muslim hate crime.

Impervious to shame, the Anti-Muslim Hate Crime industry keeps churning out spurious product. In this case it was a HuffPo Leftist pseudo-journalist who was trumpeting the fake hate crime: "Another Huffington Post Hate Crime Fizzles (Aisha Khan Found Safe)," by David Wood at Answering Muslims, December 22:

[...] In a recent Huffington Post article about Islamophobia and the Lowe's controversy, Daniel Tutt drew his readers' attention to two vicious hate crimes against Muslims--clear proof that Islamophobia is rampant and spreading:

In the background of this grassroots work, two tragic events have taken place, which reveal the real world "human impact" of Islamophobia. In Kansas City, a young Muslim college student, Aisha Khan has gone missing after complaining to her family of a drunken man harassing her. In Houston, Texas a Muslim man named Yaqub Bham was severely beaten in what family members are calling a hate crime. These events show the urgency of the problem at hand.

What evidence did Tutt have to support his claims? A Muslim student went missing after a drunken man harassed her. Tutt sees this as clear proof that Khan was abducted by anti-Muslim bigots (probably those who regularly visit Jihad Watch and Atlas Shrugs). And a Muslim man's family is calling an attack a "hate crime." Tutt doesn't bother questioning his assessment at all.

Now for the reality check. Aisha Khan wasn't abducted at all. ABC News reported this morning:

Aisha Khan, the 19-year-old Kansas college student missing for nearly a week has been found safe and unharmed, according to ABC News' Kansas City affiliate KMBC.

Overland Park Police Officer Brian Schnavel said that Khan was not abducted or held against her will, according to KMBC.

Schnavel said no criminal act occurred.

Will Tutt apologize for falsely accusing Americans of a hate crime against a Muslim girl? We can only hope.

Hope all you like, David, but "journalists" like Tutt have no sense of accountability or responsibility. They behave this way all the time, and never backtrack or apologize.

As for Tutt's other example of Islamophobia, the evidence isn't in yet. However, based on the reports so far, the man who committed the attack seems to be insane....

Read it all.

Yet another. This woman is Turkish, not Pakistani. That makes it likely that the only interest she would have in sending money to Pakistan to pay for attacks on U.S. forces was motivated by Islam's jihad doctrine. But that will once again be glossed over or ignored entirely by investigating authorities. "California woman faces terrorism-related charge," from the Associated Press, December 21 (thanks to Kenneth):

LOS ANGELES (AP) – A woman was indicted Wednesday on charges accusing her of sending money to Pakistan to help fund terrorist attacks against U.S. military personnel, authorities said.

Oytun Ayse Mihalik, 39, of La Palma, faces three counts of providing material support to terrorists and one count of making a false statement. If convicted of all counts, Mihalik could face up to 53 years in prison.

Mihalik funneled about $2,000 to a person in Pakistan over a three-week period beginning late last year, knowing the money would be used to prepare for and carry out attacks against the U.S. military and others overseas, federal prosecutors said....

Mihalik, who worked as a pharmacist, has been in federal custody since she was arrested in August after she attempted to board a flight to Turkey, her native country....

Mihalik lied to federal agents during an interview at Los Angeles International Airport following a six-month trip to Turkey by telling them she never used an alias to wire money overseas and she had only sent funds once, authorities said.

She told investigators the money was meant for a family friend who was having financial problems, according to an affidavit. Authorities wouldn't elaborate about how they know the money Mihalik wired overseas was going to be used for terrorist attacks.

However, court documents reveal Mihalik's arrest is "related to national security investigations in other areas of the United States." As of August, Mihalik had been cooperating with investigators, records show.

"The charges are based on the defendant's intent to cause harm to U.S. military personnel," said Thom Mrozek, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office in Los Angeles. "We have not alleged any attacks that may have resulted from the funding because the legal issue is the defendant's intent as to what the money would be used for."...

Hamas-linked CAIR and other Islamic supremacists are once again claiming victim status for Muslims and trying to use that status to deflect law enforcement attention away from Muslims in this country -- this time in New York. If they're successful, jihadists will have a free hand. And now they've got 34 Representatives on board. There is a word for such people.

"34 Congress Members Call For NYPD-CIA Probe," from AP, December 21 (thanks to Pamela Geller):

WASHINGTON (AP) — More than two dozen members of Congress are calling for investigation into the CIA’s relationship with the New York Police Department.

The members of Congress want to know more about the CIA’s collaboration with the police department to monitor Muslims after an Associated Press investigation.

A letter signed by 34 members of Congress was sent to the Department of Justice and House Judiciary Committee asking for a thorough probe.

Rep. Judy Chu, D-Calif., says: “We cannot allow the explicit profiling and targeting of Muslim Americans by the very people who are tasked with protecting and serving their community.”

Earlier this year, the AP revealed that the CIA helped the NYPD build intelligence programs to monitor Muslims after Sept. 11, and a top CIA operative was working at the police department.

I wrote the following article for Christian Solidarity International, “an international, Christian human rights organization, campaigning for religious liberty and human dignity, and assisting victims of religious persecution, victimized children and victims of catastrophe.”

Be sure to sign CSI’s petition urging President Obama to present during his forthcoming State of the Union Address his “administration’s policy to prevent the eradication of the endangered Christian communities and other religious minorities of the Islamic Middle East.”

When the major media reported a few months ago that Iranian Pastor Yousef Nadarkhani was set to be executed for leaving Islam, many Western people were shocked, finding it hard to believe that in the 21st century people are still being persecuted—by their governments no less—simply for being Christian.

The fact is, Muslim persecution of Christians in the modern era has been consistently growing worse. Yet, because only one out of every few hundred or so cases ever receives major attention, few in the West have any idea that it exists.

For instance, around the same time that the case of Pastor Nadarkhani made headlines, 129 Christians in Sudan were imprisoned, and one in Somalia was beheaded—like the pastor, simply for converting to Christianity.

Dozens of other documented cases of persecution were occurring at the same time, none of which received much media attention. These include Christians imprisoned, tortured, and killed for allegedly “blaspheming” Islam; Christian girls abducted and raped because they are “infidels”; churches burned, Bibles confiscated, and crucifixes destroyed—and in one instance, a Christian boy killed for refusing to conceal his crucifix.

To anyone familiar with Islam’s history and traditional teachings, none of this is surprising. Instead, all of these accounts demonstrate 14 centuries of continuity. With Islam’s resurgence and the concomitant upsurge of anti-Christian violence, however, the very existence of Christian and other non-Muslim communities is under threat. The process of religious cleansing could lead to their eradication within a generation [see CSI's Genocide Warning].

So why is there such a lack of awareness concerning this matter in the otherwise “humanitarian” West?…

Read the rest of the article here, and sign the petition here.

Here is Hamas-linked CAIR's "2012 Election Candidate Questionnaire" (thanks to Pamela Geller). Surprise of surprises: the answers it tries to elicit from the candidates all tend toward weakening our defense against the global jihad and Islamic supremacism. What an amazing coincidence!

Note also that CAIR is printing voter guides. They are rolling in cash (and who is looking into where that money is coming from?) -- imagine the work that freedom fighters could accomplish if we had even a tenth of their resources.

(Note: Full answers will be published on the organization's website. The first 200 words of each answer will appear in print voter guides.)

1) Racial and Religious Profiling/Homeland Security: A number of law enforcement agencies use race, ethnicity, national origin, or religion to identify and target individuals for heightened security attention even where there is no indication of wrongdoing. Do you feel relying on these types of characteristics is an effective tactic for protecting America? If not, then what methods do you endorse?

In other words, do not scrutinize young Muslim males any more than octogenarian Iowa grandmothers in wheelchairs, on pain of charges of "Islamophobia."

2) Transportation Security (No Fly List): Many Americans report being subject to additional screening when traveling by air or through U.S. borders as a result being incorrectly placed on one of several government watch lists. Would you provide an effective, expeditious means through which persons placed on a government watch list could have themselves removed?

Note that Hamas-linked CAIR is not asking what candidates might propose to make air passengers safer, and to improve TSA screening procedures. Instead, they're asking about how people can stop being regarded as an object of suspicion. I myself was on a government watch list for years and put up with the nuisance of it because I shared the TSA's commitment to preventing a jihad terror attack, even if I disagreed with their methods. Hamas-linked CAIR, on the other hand, seems to have a different agenda. They want to prevent Muslims from being subject to additional screening or border checks. And what about jihadists who might slip through as a result? Hamas-linked CAIR has nothing to say about them?

3) Immigration Reform: Do you favor an immigration reform package that includes a path to legalization, an increase in family visas, and restrictions on the lengths of detentions? If not, what would you do differently?

How about this: do you favor an immigration reform package that will make even the smallest attempt to determine the level of Muslim immigrants' adherence to the jihad doctrine?

4) International 1 (Afghanistan): What is your plan for bringing our troops home from Afghanistan without sacrificing American prestige and regional stability?

The mission is unclear in Afghanistan, and it's a Sharia state anyway according to the Constitution we underwrote there. How is regional stability being enhanced by our being there now -- to say nothing of American prestige?

5) International 2 (Arab Spring): Popular protests and upheavals across the Middle East and North Africa have toppled authoritarian regimes and provided new hope that democracy will emerge in the region. How will your administration support this ongoing process of regional democratization?

In other words, how much money will you come across with for the new pro-Sharia Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamic supremacist regimes?

6) Healthcare (Insurance Coverage): What is your solution to the twin problems of rising healthcare costs and large numbers of uninsured people?

Why is an Islamic advocacy group asking this question?

7) Government Benefits (Social Security and Medicare): How would you oversee the administration of the nation’s Medicare and Social Security benefits?

Same question as #6. Is this just to solidify their alliance with Leftists?

8) Education: In December 2010, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OCED) released a report that lists our nation’s high school students 25th among industrial world nations in math, 17th in science, and 14th in reading, while China’s Shanghai topped the charts. What is your plan for effectively educating our children and keeping our workforce internationally competitive?

For starters, what will you do to keep the lies and hate of Hamas-linked CAIR and other Islamic supremacists out of schools?

9) Economic Empowerment 1 (National Debt): The United States lost its top-tier AAA credit rating from Standard & Poor's in August 2011, and the national debt stands at $14.71 trillion. Many candidates have stated that they will eliminate the national debt and restore America’s credit rating without cutting government services to the neediest. How will you solve the debt crisis?

See #7.

10) Economic Empowerment 2 (Revitalizing Economy): The current economic downturn, lack of trust in the financial market, and high unemployment rate has left far too many Americans struggling. What is your plan for the revitalizing the economy and reducing poverty in the United States?

How about cutting aid to Pakistan and bringing that money home, for starters?

11) Civil Liberties (Protecting Civil Liberties): Following the February 2011 reauthorization of the USA PATRIOT ACT, and revelations about the FBI and NYPD-CIA respectively carrying out domestic spying programs, civil liberties groups and Members of Congress continue to raise concerns over government intrusiveness into private life and the post 9/11 erosion of civil liberties. What measures will you implement to ensure the protection of the civil liberties enjoyed by Americans?

In other words, when will you stop investigating Muslims for jihad terror activity?

It is rather astounding that hyperdhimmi England moved on this case, as "Islamophobic" as it would be to take any official notice of the risk to this child. But Muslims are responsible for 91 percent of honor killings worldwide, and that is no accident, since Islamic law stipulates no penalty for a parent who kills his child. Apparently sometimes even dhimmi officials can't ignore that. But no worries, mate: the adopting couple is, of course, Muslim as well. Placing the child in any other setting would have overloaded the British officials' "Islamophobia" meter.

"Muslim baby was at risk of 'honour killing,'" from Reuters, December 20 (thanks to Maxwell):

LONDON (Reuters) - A baby at risk of becoming the victim of an "honour killing" because she was born as the result of her unmarried Muslim mother's secret affair must be adopted to keep her safe, the Court of Appeal ruled on Wednesday.

Three senior judges rejected a bid by the one-year-old girl's natural father to have her live with him and his wife.

The child's natural mother is in favour of adoption so that her own family will not find out about the birth.

Lord Justice Munby, Lady Justice Black and Lord Justice Kitchin said in a joint judgment the case involved "exceptionally difficult adoption proceedings," the Press Association reported.

The judges imposed unusually wide reporting restrictions banning the publication of all names and locations linked to the case because of the continuing dangers faced by mother and child.

The appeal court rejected an appeal by the father "F" against a decision last July refusing him a residence order allowing the baby to live with him.

The judge ordered that "baby Q" should be adopted by a couple, also Muslim, from the same country as the mother, but from a different community.

She found there would be "a very significant risk of two and two being put together" if the child went to the father because Q was quite obviously not the child of his wife, who had a child of her own.

If the child's maternal grandfather found out about the affair "it would be a matter of intense almost unimaginable shame to him and his family," said the judge.

The appeal court said on Wednesday: "It was plainly the judge's view that this might provoke action to preserve the family's honour."...

Muhammad said, "Whoever changed his Islamic religion, then kill him" (Bukhari 9.84.57).

Freedom of Religion Update from Modern, Moderate Malaysia: "Hasan Ali says gathering proof of Christian proselytism," by Debra Chong for The Malaysian Insider, December 20 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 20 — Bent on proving Christians were converting Malay Muslims in Selangor, Datuk Hasan Ali said today his research unit has found 41 apostates in Petaling Jaya and will continue to collect more “profound” data to back his case.

The state executive councillor in charge of Islamic affairs told reporters the 41 apostates were mostly women aged between 30 and 60-years old who were from low-income households.

He postulated that the figure was likely only the tip of the iceberg, with the actual number being much bigger.

“It could be hundreds, maybe even thousands,” he said.

“No one has gathered information and made the statistics,” he added, saying he had set up two-and-half months ago a research unit he called “USA”, short for “Unit Selamatkan Akidah (Faith Rescue Unit)”, to collect the data and persuade the apostates to return to Islam.

“We are helping them, hoping they will come back to Islam,” he said.

The ex-PAS state commissioner appeared taken aback when challenged to prove his theory by a foreign news reporter who pointed out that the so-called apostates could have voluntarily embraced Christianity and were not induced to do so as alleged.

“Are you a Malaysian?” he asked. When she answered no, he explained that there were state laws against the propagation of religions other than Islam to Muslims.

When asked if he had pushed for the prosecution of Christian groups or individuals allegedly involved in proselytising their religion to Muslims, Hasan told reporters that he was researching for more “profound evidence”.

This latest disclosure, after a controversial August 3 raid by Selangor Islamic authorities (Jais) on the Damansara Utama Methodist Church (DUMC) in Petaling Jaya, risks further strain to already tense Christian-Muslim ties.

Christian leaders have consistently denied claims that they are attempting to convert Muslims, but relations between the two creeds with roots in the Middle East continue to smoulder in multi-religious, multi-cultural Malaysia where the religion of the federation is Islam as stated in the Federal Constitution.

Last month, Hasan told the Selangor Legislative Assembly that evangelical Christians are using high-tech devices such as solar-powered talking bibles to proselytise to Malay Muslims in the state.

Oh no! Not the solar-powered talking Bibles! Anything but that!

The lawmaker also said Jais is seeking to strengthen the enforcement of the Non-Islamic Religions (Control of Propagation Amongst Muslims) Enactment 1988 as well as the Syariah Criminal Offences Enactment 1995.

Seven and nine years for plotting murder of those they considered enemies of...that great motivator which must not be named, on pain of charges of "Islamophobia" from the Obama federal government. "Brothers in federal terror trial sentenced," by Francine Sawyer for the Sun-Journal, December 20:

Two brothers who said their father had a devastating influence on them, persuading them to take on the jihad cause, were sentenced in U.S. District Court in New Bern Tuesday.

Dylan Boyd, 25, and his older brother, Zakariya Boyd, 22, an Eagle Scout, were sentenced to seven and nine years respectively in federal court.

Not only an Eagle Scout, but younger than his younger brother -- such is the power of a Muslim Eagle Scout!

Each pleaded guilty to conspiracy to provide support to terrorists, which carried a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison....

Both men testified against other defendants regarding a homegrown terrorist cell in a federal trial earlier this year.

The brothers were part of a group of eight men who raised money, stockpiled weapons and trained for jihad attacks against American military targets and others they considered enemies of Islam.

Defense attorneys said the Boyd brothers were influenced by their overbearing father, Daniel Boyd, and his evil radical Muslim views.

Zakariya Boyd’s lawyer said in court that Zakariya Boyd was forthcoming with his interviews with the government as they built their case. He knew his testimony at the trial in February in New Bern would ostracize him from his family and friends, according to the lawyer.

Government prosecutor John Bowler said that Zakariya Boyd was cooperative and forthcoming during interviews with the government in making the case against his co-defendants.

Along with the nine-year sentence, he was fined $3,000.

Zakariya told the court that he was sorry for the time and resources that the court had to use for the case. Crying, he apologized to his family.

“I am sorry for the sorry and tears I have brought you. I regret that I allowed outside influences to take me to this point in my life. I have remorse and shameful regrets,” he said.

He apologized to his family for falling prey to outside influences? It sounds as if his family itself was all the bad influence he needed.

Bowler said that Dylan Boyd had lesser involvement in the terrorist plot.

“He had reservations about the conspiracy,” Bowler said. “He did not endorse the violent jihad.”

Dylan’s lawyer, Joseph Zeszotarski Jr., said that Dylan was more afraid of his father than he was of God.

“The extent of his father’s control and instruction in Dylan’s life was extreme, ruthless and endless,” Zeszotarski said....

Along with his seven-year sentence, he was ordered to pay a $1,000 fine.

The brothers’ mother, Sabrina Boyd, dressed in Muslim garb, a brother and Dylan Boyd’s wife were in court, along with several other friends....

Daniel Boyd has pleaded guilty to terrorist related charges and is expected to be sentenced in the spring. He also testified for the government.

They're working hard in Pakistan to ensure the Muslim world doesn't slip from being responsible 91 percent of honor killings worldwide.

As this report notes, there is no law against domestic violence. Such legislation stalled out in the assembly in 2009 with resistance on Islamic grounds. It would run the risk of prohibiting something Allah made lawful: hitting (yes, hitting) "disobedient" women (Qur'an 4:34).

Islamic law is also inconsistent at best on whether parents face any penalty for killing their children. The relatives carrying out the killings clearly feel they are justified in what they are doing, and are confident they will not only avoid severe penalties, but earn respect for their brutality.

Behavior that is rewarded tends to be repeated. "675 Pakistan 'honour killing' victims: commission," from Agence France-Presse, December 20:

At least 675 Pakistani women and girls were murdered during the first nine months of the year for allegedly defaming their family's honour, a leading human rights group said Tuesday.

The statistics highlight the scale of violence suffered by many women in conservative Muslim Pakistan, where they are frequently treated as second-class citizens and there is no law against domestic violence.

Despite some progress on better protecting women's rights, activists say the government needs to do far more to prosecute murderers in cases largely dismissed by police as private, family affairs.

"A total of 675 women and girls were killed in the name of honour across Pakistan from January to September," a senior official in the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan told AFP.

They included at least 71 victims under the age of 18.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is unauthorised to speak to the media, said figures were still being compiled from October to December, and that a full report would be released in February.

The Commission reported 791 honour killings in 2010 and there was no discernible decrease this year, the official added.

Around 450 of the women killed from January to September were accused of having "illicit relations" and 129 of marrying without permission.

Some victims were raped or gangraped before being killed, he said. At least 19 were killed by their sons, 49 by their fathers and 169 by their husbands.

Rights groups say the government should do more to ensure that women subject to violence, harassment and discrimination have effective access to justice.

Ali Dayan Hasan, Pakistan director at Human Rights Watch, told AFP that the state's inability to enforce rule of law, leaving matters in the hands of tribesmen and local elders, was a major factor.

"We have a system in Pakistan where the state and judicial recourse are absent and the vacuum is filled by local elders," he said.

"A combination of legal reforms, exercise of administrative authority and social awareness can greatly help check the honour killings," he added.

Earlier this month, a Belgian court sentenced four members of a Pakistani family to prison for the murder of their daughter and sister, who defied them by living with a Belgian man and refusing an arranged marriage.

How not to return the favor for being given refuge: trying to turn your host country into Somalia. "Attacks on African Christians surging," by Michael Carl for World Net Daily, December 20 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):

Attacks on Christians are surging in Kenya, and analysts say Islamic radicals are putting a bull's-eye on the community.

International Christian Concern's Middle East specialist Aidan Clay says he recently visited a victim of a Somali mob attack in Kenya.

"When I saw him a month after the incident, he was still badly bruised, could hardly see out of his right eye which was black, and was missing teeth," Clay said.

Clay said the attacks are getting more frequent and more intense.

"Recently, there has been a slight surge of violence targeting Christians inside Kenya, provoked mainly by Somali Muslims, some of whom are likely from the militant group al-Shabaab," Clay said.

"It appears that the Islamist militants are not only targeting crowded areas and tourists, but also narrowed in on a Kenyan Christian community," he said.

Recently, a Somali Christian man living in Kenya was beaten unconscious by Somali mobs inside Kenyan territory.

Christian news agency Compass Direct, which reports persecution of Christians, reported that a gang of seven Somali Muslims accused 23-year-old Ibrahim (his last name was withheld for security) of apostasy, then left him for dead. It happened only a few weeks after a similar attack on his brother.

Reports also say that Ibrahim was raised as a Christian, so the charge of apostasy has no legal grounds.

Clay said the attack victim he saw "was followed home by six Somali Muslims who had overheard the young man saying on the phone that he is Christian."

"They beat him unconscious, nearly killing him, and dropped him off, bleeding and naked, outside a Presbyterian church in Nairobi. The guards outside the church took him to the hospital and his life was spared," Clay said.

The attack that drew the attention of the Barnabas Fund's Prayer Alert was a grenade attack in Garissa.

"One witness said that she heard the attackers say after the explosion, 'It is just the beginning,'" the Barnabas Fund said. "Police said that the attack in the predominantly Muslim town could be religiously motivated and al-Shabaab sympathisers may have been responsible."

Clay agreed that the Garissa attack is the likely work of al-Shabaab.

"On November 5, two people, including an 8-year-old girl, were killed in a grenade attack on the East African Pentecostal Church compound in Garissa in eastern Kenya. The attack was probably committed by al-Shabaab sympathizers," Clay said.

"Though Garissa and much of eastern Kenya is predominantly Muslim, it's rare to see deliberate attacks on churches. And, it appears that Christians are merely one of many groups being targeted in Kenya," Clay said. [...]

But while other attacks are taking place, they are being targeted because they are Christians, not because al-Shabaab and its sympathizers just like to break things. Bottom line:

Racho said "the increasing activities of Islamists poses a threat to the rights of Christians to worship freely in Kenya."

Pushing the trumped-up "Islamophobia" narrative in Bosnia. If Dodik is correct that Cerić is trying to move Bosnia toward Sharia, here again we have expended American blood and treasure for another Sharia state -- like Iraq and Afghanistan, both of which have U.S.-backed Constitutions that enshrine Sharia as the highest law.

"'Bosnia moving toward Sharia law,'" from Večernje novosti via B92, December 20 (thanks to George):

BANJA LUKA -- RS President Milorad Dodik says the leader of Bosnia's Muslims, Mufti Mustafa Cerić, was "the main political figure among Bosniaks (Muslims)".

The president of the Serb Republic (RS) deduced that this was "leading toward a creation of a Sharia state".

"I have nothing against Bosniaks and Islam, I respect freedom of religion, but it is the desire of the Islamic Community in Bosnia-Herzegovina to direct political processes in the country that is completely unacceptable," he said.

The president added that this community was attacking the RS and him personally, "to which I have a duty to react, as president and politician".

This was Dodik's response to announcements that came from the Islamic Community (IZ) in Bosnia-Herzegovina, that they would send a proposal to embassies of Islamic countries to declare him persona non-grata for his alleged activity to "spread Islamophobia".

"The IZ statement is a political pamphlet of the lowest kind. It's proof that Mustafa Cerić is the leading political figure among Bosniaks, which is one step toward creating a Sharia state," Dodik concluded.

Abdullah Faaruuq also said "And I say they call this the land of the free and the home of the brave. And I call it the land of the coward and the home of the slave."

Oh, hey, here's a lost verse from the Sana'a Qur'an manuscripts: "Don't let the door hit you..." "Raising Money for 'Lady Al-Qaida'," by Steve Emerson for Family Security Matters, December 20 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):

A Northeastern University Muslim chaplain, who also is a Roxbury, Mass. imam, hailed a terrorist convicted of attempting to murder Americans in Afghanistan as "brave," while painting the United States as an oppressive nation of infidels.

"They say that she took up a machine gun while they held her captive in the other room and was ready to attack her captives [sic]. What a brave woman she is," Abdullah Faaruuq said at a Dec. 8 fundraiser for Aafia Siddiqui.

Siddiqui, a Pakistani scientist also known as "Lady al-Qaida," is serving an 86-year prison sentence after being convicted of attempting to assault and murder American officers in Afghanistan. Prosecutors say she grabbed an Army officer's M-4 rifle and fired it at another officer and other members of a U.S. interview team at an Afghan police compound in July 2008. She was originally detained by Afghan officials who found in her possession notes about a "mass casualty attack" in the United States, along with a list of New York landmarks.

The fundraiser, "In Support of our Sister, Dr. Aafia Siddiqui," was held at the Islamic Center of Worcester. Speakers repeatedly cast her prosecution and conviction as unjust.

"What a brave woman she continues to be, and how much her bravery and her faith and her belief warrants our support at this time," said Faaruuq, an imam at Roxbury's Mosque for the Praising of Allah. "It is said that we're trying to raise $30,000 tonight. I would say it's better that we've raised your awareness and raised your ire, as your anger against a government who would level the charges that they have against this woman and they say she is guilty. I would say she's only guilty of defending herself."

In addition to lauding Siddiqui's "bravery," Faaruuq also condemned American soldiers, the very people who defend America, as "kafirs," meaning infidels.

"And if my mother was in the same place," he said, "she would have took (sic) her West Indian machete and cut her way through those kafirs."

He repeated an unsubstantiated claim that Siddiqui was abused while in custody. Muslims around the world are "cowering at the hand of the disbeliever," Faaruuq said, "and this one woman locked up deep down, possibly raped and abused, and they're saying that she was a terrorist, afraid of a 100-pound woman. And I say they call this the land of the free and the home of the brave. And I call it the land of the coward and the home of the slave."

The presiding judge who reviewed all the evidence saw things differently. U.S. District Judge Richard M. Berman said "significant incarceration" was called for because Siddiqui's acts were premeditated. In his sentencing, he also noted anti-American statements witnesses said were made by Siddiqui while firing on the soldiers, like "I want to kill Americans" and "Death to America."

It's not the first time Faaruuq has engaged in violent rhetoric while standing up for Siddiqui. Boston-based watchdog of radical Islamists Charles Jacobs wrote in October that Faaruuq sees cases like Siddiqui's as part of an effort to target Muslims in America. Muslims should "grab onto the gun and the sword, go out and do your job" in response, Faaruuq said. [...]

Also coming to Siddiqui's defense at the fundraiser was Imam Siraj Wahhaj of the Masjid Al-Taqwa mosque in Brooklyn, New York. Wahhaj has a history of defending convicted terrorists, listed as an unindicted co-conspirator and having served as a character witness for Omar Abdel-Rahman, the so-called "blind sheik," convicted of conspiring to bomb the World Trade Center in 1993....

Change the channel. There might be an episode of Extreme Home Makeover, Muslim Brotherhood Edition: "Tonight, we'll sabotage someone's miserable house from within!"

More than a little hostility toward music and "songstresses" may also play a role in the indignation discussed here. "Name of Arab talent show stirs controversy, raises religious questions," from Al Arabiya, December 18:

Arab Idol, the name of the talent show broadcast on MBC1, has unexpectedly stirred much controversy as different interpretations of the word “idol” which focused on its religious connotations started surfacing resulting in a fierce campaign against the channel.

Clips posted in the video sharing website You Tube and online articles have slammed MBC1 for using the world “idol” in the title of one of its programs and explained the meaning of the word and its contradiction with Islamic principles in the way it refers to gods worshipped by “heathens.”

This campaign, which has deliberately overlooked the various other meanings of the word as well as the nature of the show that bears this name, is seen as a plan to slander the channel and turn Muslims against the program.

When placed in the right context and seen from the point of view of entertainment industry professionals, it becomes clear that the word “idol” could means a lot of things like “phenomenon,” “role model,” or “example.”

The show, therefore, aims at designating a person who is most popular among Arabs and not one who is being worshipped by them. In this way, the word aims to point out this person’s talent and the way it determines his or her popularity.

It is noteworthy that the program with its different regional and local variations airs in 44 countries around the world and in all of them the word “idol” is never changed. American Idol and British Idol are among the most famous examples.

In addition to this program being a continuation of international versions carrying the same name, the word “idol” was used to be applied to both men and women since the winner can be male or female and using an Arabic word would be difficult to achieve this end.

But, as the network television slogan used to go, if you haven't seen it, it's new to you. This video was apparently only released on Tuesday. "Awlaki video urges U.S. Muslims to join al Qaeda," from Reuters, December 20:

(Reuters) - U.S.-born al Qaeda militant Anwar al-Awlaki, killed in a CIA drone strike in September, posthumously called on U.S. Muslims to join the group in the Middle East in a video released on Tuesday.

Awlaki, identified by U.S. intelligence as "chief of external operations" for al Qaeda's Yemeni branch and a Web-savvy publicist for the Islamist cause, was killed in a remote Yemeni town by missiles fired from multiple CIA drones.

"You have two choices: either hijra (emigration) or jihad (holy war)," Awlaki said in the video, which was posted on Islamist websites.

"I specifically invite the youth to either fight in the West or join their brothers in the fronts of jihad: Afghanistan, Iraq, and Somalia.

"I invite them to join us in our new front, Yemen, the base from which the great jihad of the Arabian Peninsula will begin, the base from which the greatest army of Islam will march forth," said Awlaki, a cleric of Yemeni descent, speaking in English.

Awlaki was implicated in a failed attempt by al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula to bomb a U.S.-bound airliner in 2009, and he had contacts with an American army psychiatrist who killed 13 people at a U.S. military base the same year.

The video included a message to the American people issued by Awlaki in March 2010. But the SITE monitoring service, which tracks jihadist statements, said Awlaki's call to join al Qaeda abroad had not appeared on that tape, although it has since been referred to in an online magazine of al Qaeda's Yemeni wing....

חג חנוכה שמח

...to all Jewish Jihad Watchers.

Stand with Israel! Stand for freedom! Stand against the bloody jihad of Hamas and Hizballah, and against the lies and hate and murder that they direct against Israel every day. Israel's defense and fight for survival is that of all free people against the most repressive and life-destroying ideology on earth: that of the global jihad. "We love death," they say. Indeed. Well, we love life.

I was on the nonpareil Michael Coren's Sun TV show tonight, discussing that alleged bastion of peaceful Islam, modern moderate Indonesia.

Video thanks to Vlad Tepes.

As we tried to tell you. "The terrifying truth behind the so-called Arab Spring," by John R. Bradley for the Daily Mail, December 20 (thanks to Thomas Pellow):

Stripped above the waist — save for her bright blue bra — the protester lies in a street just off Cairo’s Tahrir Square, seconds before a soldier stamps on her naked torso.

She has been dragged around by her arms and beaten by frenzied soldiers wielding metal batons, but still they won’t let her escape to safety.

This brutal scene from Egypt has sent new shockwaves around the West in the past three days, as the military regime has become ever more brutal towards pro-democracy protesters. Ten people have been killed and more than 400 wounded.

For just as much of the uplifting narrative about the Arab Spring was based on wishful thinking in the West, so the protests in Tahrir Square are being hopelessly misinterpreted. [...]

And this process has been helped by the deeply conservative attitudes of most of Egypt’s population. The widespread response to the picture is not anger at the soldiers’ actions, but puzzlement as to why the woman’s family let her join the protest.

There has been little condemnation from the Islamist political parties, led by the Muslim Brotherhood.

That is because the Islamists, no allies of the pro-democracy movement, are playing the long game. Ultimately, what they aim to construct is a Muslim state run according to strict, fundamentalist Sharia law. And they are well on their way to that goal.

In the first round of the recent Parliamentary elections last month, they emerged as the dominant force.

In the second round, currently underway, it looks as though the Muslim Brotherhood, and the even more extreme Salafi Muslim parties, will again win around 70  per cent of the vote — compared with just over 10 per cent for the parties set up by revolutionaries.

As they march along this road towards a Muslim theocracy, the Islamists are happy for the time being to let the military establishment remain in charge.

Imposition

Rule by the generals, which has effectively been the method of governance in Egypt since Gamal Abdel Nasser’s coup in 1952, allows the Islamists to avoid the blame for unresolvable economic and social problems.

More importantly, where the Islamists really want to concentrate their energies is in the imposition of their cultural fascism.

Anyone who wishes to understand where Egypt is heading should take a look at the coastal city of Alexandria. For a century this was an open, thriving cosmopolitan port — almost European in its atmosphere of laid-back tolerance.

But, in the early Eighties, the Islamists made it their base and, ever since, freedom has been in retreat. These days Alexandria resembles nothing so much as totalitarian Saudi Arabia. And be in no doubt, what has happened in Alexandria over the past three decades will be repeated throughout Egypt — only in a much shorter timescale, since the Islamists now have a political mandate.

Last week, they announced they want to ban mixed-bathing, bikinis on the beach, and the consumption of alcohol in popular Red Sea resorts like Sharm El-Sheikh. The same strictures might soon appear across swathes of North Africa.

Already Tunisia and Morocco, both historically renowned for their openness, are becoming dramatically more repressive as the Islamists take control.[...]

Egypt remains in an economic mess, with tax revenues plummeting, debts rising, growth non-existent and crime rates rocketing.

Thanks to the events of the past year, tourism — once the mainstay of the economy — has almost collapsed, with the number of tourists to cities like Luxor and Aswan down by 90 per cent.

Images of semi-stripped women being dragged through the streets by police will hardly help to restore confidence among potential Western holidaymakers.

And although the Egyptian masses crave stability and peace for now, when they can no longer afford basic foodstuffs, when power cuts become a daily occurrence, then they might yet be forced to take to the streets again.

If they do, the military establishment will become the focus of their fury.

And the Islamists, with all their cunning, will exploit the moment to gain supreme power, siding with the people against the army. In the process, the liberals — who helped to spark the January revolution — will truly be crushed into oblivion.

No one is in favor of actual "stereotyping, negative profiling and stigmatization of people based on their religion." The problem is that the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, which is driving this resolution, considers any truthful speech about the global jihad and Islamic supremacism to be "stereotyping, negative profiling and stigmatization of people based on their religion." This is an attempt to quash truth-telling about Islamic jihad so that the West stands mute and defenseless before its advance. And now the Obama Administration, fresh from a secret meeting with the OIC on just this topic, joins in.

Free Speech Death Watch Alert: "U.N. Adopts ‘Religious Intolerance’ Resolution Championed by Obama Administration," by Patrick Goodenough for CNS News, December 20 (thanks to Wimpy):

(CNSNews.com) – The U.N. General Assembly on Monday adopted a resolution condemning the stereotyping, negative profiling and stigmatization of people based on their religion, and urging countries to take effective steps “to address and combat such incidents.”

No member state called for a recorded vote on the text, which was as a result adopted “by consensus.”

The resolution, an initiative of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), is based on one passed by the U.N.’s Human Rights Council in Geneva last spring. The State Department last week hosted a meeting to discuss ways of “implementing” it.

Every year since 1999 the OIC has steered through the U.N.’s human rights apparatus a resolution condemning the “defamation of religion,” which for the bloc of 56 Muslim states covered incidents ranging from satirizing Mohammed in a newspaper cartoon to criticism of shari’a and post-9/11 security check profiling.

Critics regard the measure as an attempt to outlaw valid and critical scrutiny of Islamic teachings, as some OIC states do through controversial blasphemy laws at home.

Strongly opposed by mostly Western democracies, the divisive “defamation” resolution received a dwindling number of votes each year, with the margin of success falling from 57 votes in 2007 to 19 in 2009 and just 12 last year.

This year’s text was a departure, in that it dropped the “defamation” language and included a paragraph that reaffirms “the positive role that the exercise of the right to freedom of opinion and expression and the full respect for the freedom to seek, receive and impart information can play in strengthening democracy and combating religious intolerance.”

The nod to freedom of expression won the resolution the support of the U.S. and other democracies, with the Obama administration and others hailing it as a breakthrough after years of acrimonious debate.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton took the opportunity of the State Department-hosted talks with foreign governments, the OIC and other international bodies last week to stress the importance of freedom of speech in the U.S. She argued that “the best way to treat offensive speech is by people either ignoring it or combating it with good arguments and good speech that overwhelms it.”

Saudi initiative singled out for praise

Nonetheless, the resolution adopted in New York on Monday does contain elements that concern some free speech and religious freedom advocates.

It calls on states “to take effective measures to ensure that public functionaries in the conduct of their public duties do not discriminate against an individual on the basis of religion or belief.”

Governments also are expected to make “a strong effort to counter religious profiling, which is understood to be the invidious use of religion as a criterion in conducting questionings, searches and other law enforcement investigative procedures.”

“Effective measures” to counter cases of religious stereotyping and stigmatization include education, interfaith dialogue and “training of government officials.”

And in the worst cases, those of “incitement to imminent violence” based on religion, the resolution calls on countries to implement “measures to criminalize” such behavior....

All such things are in the eye of the beholder, meaning that the enforcement agency will decide what is offensive and what is incitement, and silence people accordingly.

He became involved in al-Qaeda as he grew more devout and committed to Islam. Law enforcement officials are now required not to notice that or pay it any attention, but actually it is the key to understanding his motivations and actions. "Federal jury in Boston convicts terror suspect Tarek Mehanna of supporting Al Qaeda," by Milton J. Valencia, John R. Ellement, and Martin Finucane for the Boston Globe, December 20 (thanks to all who sent this in):

Sudbury resident Tarek Mehanna was convicted today of conspiring to support Al Qaeda and other charges.

Tarek Mehanna, a young pharmacy college graduate from the leafy Boston suburb of Sudbury, was convicted today of conspiring to support Al Qaeda and other charges for traveling to Yemen in search of terror training in 2004 and then, when he failed to find it, taking to the Internet to try to spread the terror group’s message....

Mehanna, who had become increasingly radical in his views, traveled to Yemen in 2004 seeking terrorism training, so he could carry out jihad, or holy war, against US soldiers in Iraq.

After failing to find training there, he returned to the United States, determined to help Al Qaeda by translating and distributing propaganda promoting jihad on the Internet.

Defense lawyers argued that Mehanna did not provide support to Al Qaeda. They said he was simply expressing his own views in opposition to US foreign policy, particularly to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, activity that was protected by the First Amendment.

They also offered a different story for the Yemen trip. They called Mehanna a budding young scholar committed to his religion, saying he had traveled to that country in search of education -- to further his studies on Islamic law and in the Arabic language.

But a series of Mehanna’s former friends testified against him, saying he had promoted extreme ideology, endorsed the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, and once said he considered Osama bin Laden his “real father.” Together, the former friends recalled, they watched videos glorifying suicide bombings in Iraq.

These two things are only mutually exclusive to someone who believes that Islam is a Religion of Peace. In fact, he went to study Islamic law and became involved with al-Qaeda -- and almost certainly saw no contradiction.

Several FBI agents also told jurors that a search of Mehanna’s computer uncovered countless documents promoting Al Qaeda, including materials that Mehanna had translated into English, for non-Arabic speakers.

One of those documents was “39 Ways to Make and Participate in Jihad,” a call for Muslims to take action that was written by an Al Qaeda member.

Mehanna was convicted of charges of conspiracy to provide material support or resources to a foreign terror organization, conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists, providing and attempting to provide material support to terorists [sic], conspiracy to kill in a foreign country, conspiracy, and two counts of making false statements to federal investigators....

Time and time again, we see how Western concepts, when articulated through an Islamic framework, lead to results antithetical to the West. For instance, “democracy” and “elections”—which in the West suggest “freedom,” “human rights,” “liberty,” etc.—are today being used to bring Sharia law, the antithesis of Western law, to power.

In this recent video, the Muslim Brotherhood’s Dr. Safwat Hegazy, a popular preacher, talks about how he yearns to see Arab nations become “like the United States”—for them to unify into the “United Arab States.” While that may sound like an admirable (or at least neutral) goal, bear in mind what he is alluding to: the resurrection of a caliphate—which by nature exists to expand, including through jihad.

Moreover, Hegazy made clear that his interest in seeing the “United Arab States” has less to do with Arab solidarity (nationalism) and more to do with Islamic allegiance (religion). As he gushed about how wonderful it would be for Arab nations to unite into one bloc, the secular and skeptical host interviewing him reluctantly agreed, “so long as the capital is Cairo,” that is, so long as Egypt’s integrity remains. To this, Hegazy replied: “No, I say the capital is Jerusalem, Allah willing.”

Thus, just as that sacrosanct word “democracy” is being used to establish fascist rule in the Muslim world, so too is the notion of a “United Arab States” fraught with problems—from the elimination of Israel to the establishment of an expansionist caliphate on its remains.

Last week, FrontPage Magazine editor Jamie Glazov interviewed me concerning my recent congressional testimony on the plight of Egypt’s Christian Copts. A snippet of the interview follows:

FP: The suffering of the Christian Copts of Egypt is getting worse, so it's a great thing you were asked to testify at that hearing—and it's a positive thing that they even had a hearing. For starters, while we know of your professional credentials concerning Islam, can you tell us a bit about your Coptic ancestry?

Ibrahim: Sure. Though I was born and raised in the U.S., my parents were both Copts who emigrated from Egypt in the late 1960s. According to them, after Egypt's 1952 revolution, they knew it was time to get going—knew that things would get progressively worse for Christians. And so they have. I believe they understood this, not because they were especially prescient, but rather because what is understood immediately and instinctively on the ground (in Egypt), often take decades to become intelligible thousands of miles away (in the West).

In fact, it's interesting for me to recall, in retrospect, how the things I and others constantly write about in order to get the West to understand Islam, Copts know instinctively—simply because they experience in reality what we know in theory. This disconnect is why a group like the Muslim Brotherhood, the mere mention of which for decades would make Coptic hair stand on end, is now touted as a "largely secular" group by the current U.S administration, which has been complacent, if not complicit, in the Brotherhood's rise to power.

This, by the way, is one of those things that are utterly incomprehensible to Copts and other minorities from the Muslim world—how the West can in any way, shape, or form support Islamic groups like the Brotherhood. Again, this is a reflection of their intimate acquaintance of these groups, their certain knowledge that the Brotherhood is practicing taqiyya merely to dupe their stronger, but naïve, infidel enemies. Likewise, regarding Islam's inroads in the U.S., comments like "So – we left Egypt only to find the same sort of crap we left behind following us here in America!" are common among the diaspora. This, of course, is the sentiment of any number of non-Muslims—not to mention many nominal Muslims—who quit the Muslim world and come to the U.S…

A "terrorist document." The mind reels. What could that be? A document detailing a jihad plot? Or a document inciting to terrorism? Was he perhaps carrying a holy book that exhorts believers to hate, subjugate and kill the infidel -- you know, like the Bhagavad Gita?

"Foreign student, 22, arrested at Brimingham Airport on suspicion of 'carrying terrorist document,'" by Damien Gayle for the Daily Mail, December 20 (thanks to Paul):

A 22-year-old student was arrested last night at Birmingham Airport on suspicion of carrying with him a terrorist document.

Police seized the Pakistani national - who lives and studies in the UK - after he got off a flight from Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates.

A West Midlands Police spokesman said he was held on suspicion of being in possession of a document likely to be of use to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism.

Last night he was being questioned by officers from West Midlands Police's Counter Terrorism Unit....

"I find it sad for the child and the teacher, who may have to redesign her teaching program as a result." Of course. When in Muslim countries, one must abide by Islamic mores. When in non-Muslim countries, one must abide by Islamic mores.

Noting that Islamic law forbids musical instruments and music itself except in some strictly defined circumstances will bring you swift charges of "ignorance" and "Islamophobia." I guess this devout Muslim family is actually made up of ignorant Islamophobes.

Hadith Qudsi 19:5: "The Prophet said that Allah commanded him to destroy all the musical instruments, idols, crosses and all the trappings of ignorance." (The Hadith Qudsi, or holy Hadith, are those in which Muhammad transmits the words of Allah, although those words are not in the Qur'an.)

Muhammad also said:

(1) "Allah Mighty and Majestic sent me as a guidance and mercy to believers and commanded me to do away with musical instruments, flutes, strings, crucifixes, and the affair of the pre-Islamic period of ignorance."

(2) "On the Day of Resurrection, Allah will pour molten lead into the ears of whoever sits listening to a songstress."

(3) "Song makes hypocrisy grow in the heart as water does herbage."

(4) "This community will experience the swallowing up of some people by the earth, metamorphosis of some into animals, and being rained upon with stones." Someone asked, "When will this be, O Messenger of Allah?" and he said, "When songstresses and musical instruments appear and wine is held to be lawful."

(5) "There will be peoples of my Community who will hold fornication, silk, wine, and musical instruments to be lawful ...." -- 'Umdat al-Salik r40.0

"Muslim kindergartener permitted to block out music," from CTV Montreal, December 19 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):

MONTREAL — A kindergarten student in Saint-Michel will be allowed to wear a noise-reducing headset in class, because her parents' [sic] say their religious beliefs don't allow the five-year-old girl to listen to music.

Though music is an integral part of the kindergarten program, the principal of Bienville School decided to grant the accommodation request made by a Muslim family and allow their daughter to block out music at school.

"The principal thinks the family is acting in good faith," said Diane de Courcy, president of the Montreal School Commission. "(They) would have otherwise kept the child at home."

Kindergarten is not mandatory, and teachers say if the student is being sent into the program, barring the new immigrant from certain activities isolates her from the rest of the class.

"I find it sad for the child and the teacher, who may have to redesign her teaching program as a result," said Elaine Bertrand of union the Montreal Teachers' Alliance.

The school and school board felt the decision was a fair compromise to build trust with the family and help the child integrate into the school system sooner.

Nonsense. This isn't about integration. It is just the opposite of integration.

"Once she's in grade one, she'll have to follow the same curriculum as everyone else," said de Courcy.

Unlikely. Does de Courcy really think the demands for Muslim accommodation will end then?

Many teachers argue the issue is not strictly about music or religion, but rather the pressure they feel to reasonably accommodate a variety of demands from health-related issues to religion.

Montreal Teachers' Alliance is asking for stricter guidelines for requests.

Education Minister Line Beauchamp said she instead supports the school's individualized approach.

"It would be impossible to develop a framework to address such a wide variety of reasonable accommodation requests," she said.

Indeed.

This is just a partial video. I am hoping that complete videos that were taken of my talks in Perth and Brisbane will eventually become available. (This video is erroneously labeled as being from Perth, but it is actually the Sydney talk.) Many thanks to Vlad Tepes for this.

See? The Russians are right: the Bhagavad Gita does inspire violence. "Muslims attack Hare Krishna temple in Denmark," from Europe News and Uriasposten, December 15 (thanks to Pamela Geller):

The Hare Krishna temple in Western Copenhagen was recently assaulted by a group of young Muslims, throwing stones and breaking windows. To diminish the risk of confrontations with the Muslim-dominated neighbourhood, the devotees of the temple are from now on requested to not wear their characteristic clothes outside the temple, in order to not provoke similar attacks in the future. Below is the original account of the attacks.

Danish police took a report of the assaults.

(Note: Whitespace added for clarity. Original spelling preserved.)

Dear devotees,

On 6.12.,20.45 the temple in Copenhagen was attacked by a group of gundas with obviously Muslim background. First stones were thrown against the front of the residential temple building, then the window in the mathaji asrama got broken.[TK], the temple president, called police instantly. A single police officer arived, took notice of the dammage and left again. Half an hour later a bigger group of the same attackers arived, again throwing stones, entering the garden, braking this time windows in the Tulasi room, all the bottom windows facing the street. Finaly they tried to brake into the house, seeking direct physical conflict.

It didnt took long to find out the possible background of this attack.

(The temple was never exposed to such an incident before).

The same day two devotees, one of them living directly in the temple and the other outside, were biking closeby when they met on the street a car standing with open door. One passed, the other got blocked by the open door and complained. According to the statement of one of them he was directly attacked by the driver with a tool fetched from the car and as the other one came to his rescue, a fist fight started. Devotees sustained minor injuries. Finaly police arived at the scene and took record of the incident.

As the temple is located in a close Muslim neighbourhood, featuring a Muslim school, etc., it is quite possible that these two incidents are related. The police didnt make sofar this connection,but its obvious.

As matter of fact the involvement of the police was minimal sofar, it took them more a half an hour to arive and after the second attack they didnt come at all. If the attackers would manage to brake into the house, somebody could have been kiled as they were armed with baseball clubs and other weapons. As seeing from the window, most of them could have been even less as 18 years old and some of them couldnt even speak proper denish.

It can be only hoped that this incident was an act of momentarily rage and will not spark a long term enmity and chain of attacks from the local Muslim community. To find the leader of the gang and try to communicate with him is hardly possible. We cannot expect any protection from the police and so once again we are fully depending on the mercy of Sri Sri Goura Nitai and Lord Nrsimhadeva.

Your servant [MD]

P.S. Please, if possible, lets help [TKP] as he will have to deal now with further police investigation, the insurance company and the repairs following this attack.

Further on devotees are requested to change possibly their devotee dress after leaving the temple property, as being seen in the vaisnava dress they may provoke in an uncontroled manner attacks from the local Muslims while walkig on the street. Incidents of this nature do happen. Even this one is based on individual improper behaviour of both parties, the driver and the devotees, the final attack was issued against anybody who could be identified as the memmber of the Hare Krsna movement. Lets hope these attacks will not escalate. Sofar nobody got injured, but it was a close call indeed.

Back by popular demand: the annual Jihad Watch Awards. Nominations are hereby open for the four awards we give annually.

First, the ones few people want but all too many people deserve:

1. American Dhimmi of the Year 2011.
2. Dhimmi Internationale of the Year 2011.

These should, of course, be awarded to those who behaved during the year 2011 in the most spineless, shameless, abject, and/or suicidally, self-servingly stupid ways in the face of Islamic supremacist bullying and intimidation, peaceful and/or violent.

Then we will honor two heroes:

3. American Anti-Dhimmi of the Year 2011.
4. Anti-Dhimmi Internationale of the Year 2011.

Please nominate individuals, not groups, entire nations, political parties, secret societies, blogs, etc. Please also do not nominate me, Marisol Seibold, Raymond Ibrahim, The Anti-Jihadist, Joseph Zaalishvili or Nicolai Sennels: Jihad Watch staff and relatives of staff are not eligible for either the Dhimmi or the Anti-Dhimmi prizes. We are not going to give ourselves our own awards!

Write your nominations in the comments field below. In a few days I will tally up the names most often nominated and put them on ballots for voting in each category.

I hope that this year again we will be able to memorialize the winners in yet another primo cartoon from the world's premier anti-jihad caricaturist, David Washburn.

Here is a list of the previous winners. You can read about the 2010 winners here, the 2009 winners here, the 2008 winners here, the 2007 winners here, the 2006 winners here and the 2005 winners here.

2010:
American Dhimmi of the Year 2010: Barack Obama
Dhimmi Internationale 2010: Tom Schalken
American Anti-Dhimmi of the Year 2010: Pamela Geller
Anti-Dhimmi Internationale 2010: Geert Wilders

2009:
American Dhimmi: Barack Obama
Dhimmi Internationale: Gordon Brown
American Anti-Dhimmi: Rifqa Bary
Anti-Dhimmi Internationale: Geert Wilders

2008:
American Dhimmi: Jimmy Carter
Dhimmi Internationale: Rowan Williams
American Anti-Dhimmi: Mark Steyn (U.S. resident)
Anti-Dhimmi Internationale: Geert Wilders

2007:
American Dhimmi: Jimmy Carter
Dhimmi Internationale: Ken Livingstone and Ehud Olmert
American Anti-Dhimmi: Mark Steyn (U.S. resident)
Anti-Dhimmi Internationale: Ayaan Hirsi Ali

2006:
American Dhimmi: Jimmy Carter
Dhimmi Internationale: Jacques Chirac
American Anti-Dhimmi: John Bolton
Anti-Dhimmi Internationale: John Howard and Geert Wilders

2005:
American Dhimmi: Ramsey Clark
Dhimmi Internationale: George Galloway
American Anti-Dhimmi: Tom Tancredo
Anti-Dhimmi Internationale: Oriana Fallaci

In Human Events this morning I discuss what's next for Iraq now that we have expended our blood and treasure for so many years in a foredoomed attempt to turn it into New Jersey:

As he closed the door on American military involvement in Iraq, Barack Obama said: “Everything that American troops have done in Iraq—all the fighting, all the dying, the bleeding and the building and the training and the partnering—all of it has landed to this moment of success.” He avoided declaring victory outright, but he did say: “Iraq’s not a perfect place. It has many challenges ahead. But we’re leaving behind a sovereign, stable and self-reliant Iraq with a representative government that was elected by its people.”

At the beginning of December in that stable and self-reliant Iraq with a representative government, I received a chilling message from an Assyrian Christian in Iraqi Kurdistan. He wrote: “Today after Friday prayers, Muslim Kurds in Zakho (near Dohuk) attacked and besieged liquor shops, salons, hotels, massages that are owned by Christians. The security didn’t do anything and the rampage has continued till now!” Several hours later he wrote again: “The attacks haven’t stopped, and I just got the word that they are attacking a Catholic Diocesan office. The security is standing still and watching as I am writing this to you. Christian homes are being fired upon as well.”

As captured on video, the Muslim mob shouted “Allahu akbar,” “jihad” and anti-Christian slogans as it rampaged. One Christian liquor storeowner reported that the mob did half a million U.S. dollars’ worth of damage to his businesses—and stole $300,000 from his safe. Another Christian sent me pictures of a small club, destroyed in a fire the mob set, and explained: “This was a small social club for us Christians that we spend our nights. As you see, we live very poorly and humbly. They had no reason to attack us. All we want is to enjoy a beer after a hard day of work. Is that too much to ask? Are Muslim minorities in the West treated like this?”

No, they aren’t, but with all the media hand-wringing about “Islamophobia,” and Hillary Clinton’s closed-door meeting with the Organization of Islamic Cooperation last week to discuss strategies on how to outlaw criticism of Islam in a society that ostensibly protects the freedom of speech, one might be forgiven for getting the idea that Muslims in the U.S. were living in a virtual state of siege. The only besieged people are actually Christians and other non-Muslims in places such as the new, stable and self-reliant Iraq and the new, democratic “Arab Spring” Egypt.

The plight of Christians in Iraq is just one aspect of the chaos we leave behind there. In April 2003, when U.S. troops had been in Iraq for less than two weeks, I wrote in Insight in the News that the “primary opponents” of democratic government in Iraq would be those who held “that no government has any legitimacy unless it obeys the Sharia. Even if they lose in the short run, they will not disappear as long as there are people who take the Koran and Islamic tradition seriously. And that spells trouble for any genuine democracy.”

That has proven true. Post-American Iraq is dominated by Islamic hardline factions, each vying to impose its vision of Sharia upon its recalcitrant fellow countrymen. Just days after the jihad mob attack on Christian-owned businesses and churches, three bombs exploded in a crowd celebrating the Shi’ite feast of Ashura, murdering twenty-two....

That protester stepped out of line, and forfeited her right to "protection." Again: Muslims took to the streets, incited by state media, to "protect" the army from uppity Christians in the October 9 massacre. Now that soldiers have done this to a Muslim woman in an abaya, among numerous other abuses of protesters, how do they like their army now?

First they came for the Christians. More on this story. "Egypt's military lashes out at protesters," by Hamza Hendawi and Maggie Michael for the Associated Press, December 19:

CAIRO (AP) — Egypt's ruling military sought to discredit the pro-democracy movement Monday, portraying a detained protester as a woman of questionable morals, accusing a prominent publisher of incitement and alleging the media is trying to sabotage the country.

Blaming Israel or "foreign hands" is probably not far behind.

The verbal attacks by a member of the ruling military council came hours after troops in riot gear swept through Cairo's Tahrir Square before daybreak, opening fire on protesters and lobbing tear gas into the crowds. At least three people were killed, pushing the death toll from four days of street clashes to 14.

Over the past few days, the military has dealt with the protesters much more roughly than at any other time since the ouster of Hosni Mubarak in a popular uprising 10 months ago. The military took power after Mubarak stepped down.

"The ruling military council doesn't believe in the revolution," said newly elected lawmaker and activist Mustafa el-Naggar.

The crackdown may reflect the military's fury over the activists' distribution of videos showing soldiers bludgeoning women and other protesters. The weak showing of the pro-democracy movement in the parliamentary elections that began last month may have also emboldened the military.

Maj. Gen. Adel Emara, a member of the ruling council, showed videos at a news conference clearly aimed at discrediting those involved in the protest movement.

One image was designed to raise questions about a female detainee's morals. It showed the woman talking about her husband, then later saying she was not married to her partner. Sex outside marriage is considered gravely immoral in conservative, mostly Muslim Egypt.

It is not clear from this report whether the woman pictured above is the one targeted for defamation here.

Another video showed a young man in detention saying that prominent publisher Mohammed Hashem was using his Cairo office near Tahrir as headquarters for an "incitement ring," distributing free food, helmets and gas masks to protesters.

Hashem is a leftist credited with publishing young novelists and poets whose works have become literary landmarks in Egypt. His Merit publishing house is a gathering place for young, left-leaning intellectuals.

Hashem told an online news service that he plans to sue the military for defamation and that he is proud to offer protesters protection against tear gas and bullets.

In footage Emara said was taken by the military, men appeared to be rejoicing over setting a government building ablaze. Other images showed a male protester romantically embracing a young woman as they sat on a sidewalk....

And this justifies stripping and stomping on them?

A power play by the Shi'ite majority, or something more? "Tension rise as Iraq seeks Sunni VP arrest," by Rania El Gamal for Reuters, December 19:

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi authorities issued an arrest warrant for Sunni Muslim Vice-President Tareq al-Hashemi on Monday for suspected ties to assassinations and bombings, a decision likely to fuel sectarian tensions after the U.S. troop withdrawal. The move risks unraveling Iraq's fragile power-sharing deal among Shi'ite, Sunni and Kurdish blocs who have struggled to overcome tensions just a few years after sectarian slaughter drove the country to the edge of a civil war.

Interior Ministry spokesman, Major General Adel Daham, told a news conference confessions by suspects identified as Hashemi's bodyguards linked the vice president to killings and attacks on Iraqi government and security officials.

"An arrest warrant was issued for Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi according to Article 4 of the terrorism law and is signed by five judges... this warrant should be executed," Daham said, waving a copy of the document in front of reporters.

The political struggle between Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and his Sunni rivals in the country's delicate power-sharing deal has intensified during the withdrawal of the last U.S. troops nearly nine years after the invasion.

The ministry showed taped confessions, aired on state-run Iraqiya television and other local media, of men it claimed were members of Hashemi's security detail. The men said they had been paid by his office to carry out killings.

The three men shown on television detailed the assassinations they were told to carry out by Hashemi's aides including planting roadside bombs and driveby shootings of security and government officials.

One man said he was handed $3,000 as a reward by Hashemi himself.

But the identity of the men could not be independently confirmed. Hashemi, who could not be contacted for a response, was in Kurdistan, a semi-autonomous enclave in the north, Kurdish political sources said. Kurdistan has its own government and security forces, making Hashemi's immediate arrest unlikely.

In a statement earlier on Monday, Hashemi accused Maliki's government of "deliberate harassment" after his plane was delayed for three hours at Baghdad airport. He had been heading for the Kurdish city of Sulaimaniya to meet the Iraqi president.

Security forces arrested three Hashemi bodyguards on their way back from the airport, the statement said, adding military forces surrounding Hashemi's house for weeks had been beefed up.

"The vice-president has been very patient and is waiting for a reasonable explanation from the government parties concerned," the statement said.

Fearing a deepening crisis that could push Iraq back into sectarian turmoil, senior Iraqi politicians were holding talks with Maliki and other leaders to contain the dispute....

As this report notes, "the country of 300,000 people forbids practice of religions other than Sunni Islam," and our archives chronicle numerous other abuses. While the president lodges his protest here against stonings and amputations, the country's foreign minister has said that Sharia's punishments such as flogging for adultery are basic Islamic principles not up for debate. No one can argue with Allah, the foreign minister said.

"Maldives president condemns protest call from Islamic groups," from the Associated Press, December 19:

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — The president of Maldives has condemned a protest planned by an Islamic party against what it calls anti-Islamic activities in the country.

A government statement Monday quoted President Mohamed Nasheed as saying that the real goal of the protest is the introduction of Islamic penalties such as stoning, amputations and executions.

Nasheed defended working women and said Maldives should continue to practice a moderate form of Islam that allows recreation, sports and music. [...]

The country of 300,000 people forbids practice of religions other than Sunni Islam.

As this story notes, resistance to stronger legislation against domestic violence has come from "religious parties" -- that is, those who will tolerate no limitations on the reach of Islamic law. Moving against domestic violence threatens to criminalize what Allah made lawful: the principle that a man can hit (yes, hit) a woman in his household from whom he fears disobedience (Qur'an 4:34).

Does the Qur'an say to disfigure one's wife with a razor? No. But this case is a consequence of the culture of tolerance toward and defense of domestic violence: the husband clearly felt he was justified in this act, and liked his odds of getting away with it.

Most tellingly, if he were simply hitting his wife, it would not have made the news. "Man chops off wife's nose and lips," from Agence France-Presse, December 19:

A teenage Pakistani woman on Monday told of her terror as her husband chopped off her nose and lips in a furious marital row, and threatened to kill herself unless the police brought him to justice.

The horrifying case underscores the brutal violence suffered by some women in Pakistan, where a domestic violence bill lapsed in 2009 after being held up in the Senate due to objections from religious parties.

Salma Bibi, 17, said her husband, 22-year-old Ghulam Qadir, subjected her to a beating, then bound her hands and feet with rope and hacked into her face with a razor in a remote village in the southwestern province Baluchistan.

"He repeatedly slapped my face and then went into the room and brought with him a locally made, sharp razor," she told AFP, speaking Baluchi in remarks translated by her uncle from a hospital bed in central Multan city.

"I started shouting in panic. He tied my hands and foot with a rope and chopped off my nose and lips," she added.

The teenager said police refused to register a case when her family complained about the attack, and threatened to kill herself without justice.

"I want justice and if it is not delivered to me, I will immolate myself in front of the Supreme Court.

"I will not sit in peace until my husband is brought to justice and gets punishment for the crime he committed," she added.

Ghulam and Salma married last year and live in the village of Karkana, 475 kilometres (300 miles) southwest of Islamabad.

Local officials insisted they were searching for Ghulam and would arrest him when caught.

"They often had quarrels as the girl used to spend more time with her parents," said Nadir Khan, an administration official in Musa Khel district, part of violence-torn Baluchistan, which borders Afghanistan and Iran.

Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has demanded action in the case, but many cases of violence against women in Pakistan go unpunished.

Human rights groups say Pakistani women suffer severe discrimination and widespread domestic violence, including so-called "honour" killings when a victim is murdered for allegedly bringing dishonour on her family.

Ali Dayan Hasan, Pakistan director at Human Rights Watch, told AFP that domestic violence is a "serious, endemic problem in Pakistan" and called on the government to revive efforts to outlaw domestic violence.

But he praised the current parliament for a "fairly impressive" record on passing other legislation designed to protect women's rights....

What a coincidence: they were on their way to a conference on "Islamophobia" and they got pulled off a flight just for being Muslim! Imagine! And this is such palpable hooey: I fly several times a month, sometimes several times a week, and innumerable times have flown on planes with Muslims in traditional dress. No one gets pulled off a flight solely for being dressed as a Muslim, whatever may be the hysterical charges of the Muslim victimhood industry. "Muslim Men to Sue Airlines After Allegedly Being Kicked Off Flight," from the Associated Press, December 19 (thanks to all who sent this in):

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Two Muslim men who say they were kicked off an airplane in May after the pilot objected to their presence are suing Delta Air Lines Inc. and a regional carrier that operated the Delta Connection flight from Memphis to Charlotte, North Carolina.

According to a suit filed Monday in federal court in Memphis, Masudur Rahman and Mohamed Zaghloul were traveling to Charlotte to attend a conference on anti-Muslim discrimination at the time.

Rahman, who is an adjunct instructor of Arabic at the University of Memphis, has said he was dressed in traditional Indian clothing. Zaghloul, who is a religious leader with the Islamic Association of Greater Memphis, was dressed in Arab garb that included traditional headgear.

The two passed through regular security screening and were waiting at the gate to board when they were pulled out of line and subjected to a second security check, according to the suit. They were questioned about their trip and their luggage and belongings were searched before the men were cleared and allowed to board.

Shortly after the plane pulled away from the gate, the pilot announced the aircraft was returning to the terminal. Once there, according to the suit, the men were pulled off the plane, asked more questions and searched again, this time with a "comprehensive body pat down."

Although they were again cleared to board, the pilot refused to allow them back on the plane, the suit claimed. The plane began to depart without the men when an unnamed airline official called it back and it returned to the gate for a second time.

The suit claims the official then boarded the plane and spoke with the pilot, who said he would not allow Rahman and Zaghloul on the plane because their presence could make other passengers uncomfortable.

According to the suit, the official told passengers that anyone who was apprehensive about the presence of the two men could take a different plane and would be given a generous voucher. There were no takers. The pilot still refused to allow the men to board and they were booked on a later flight, the suit said.

Delta and Atlantic Southeast Airlines Inc., which is owned by SkyWest Inc., issued a statement Monday that read: "Atlantic Southeast and Delta oppose discrimination in any form from any source, and our employees act at all times in the best interest of passenger safety and security. We cannot comment further on pending litigation."...

"Defendants excluded Mr. Rahman and Mr. Zaghloul because of the way they looked," the suit claims. "They had beards, wore traditional Arabic clothing, and were visibly foreign. Defendants unlawfully relied upon these characteristics to conclude that Mr. Rahman and Mr. Zaghloul were security threats, disallowing them from utilizing their purchased tickets."

The suit said the two were traveling to a conference on "`Islamophobia,' and how Muslims religious leaders could help address this issue."

The suit seeks unspecified compensation for the men's losses and injuries as well as punitive damages.

These two expressions of Islam's venerable and celebrated peace and tolerance showed upon the Stop Islamization of America Facebook page.

They show why there is a need for SIOA. Join here.

Biden continues here the Obama Administration's narrow focus on al-Qaeda as the enemy. Not even the Taliban are included anymore, despite their obvious involvement in 9/11 plotting and more. And the ideology that al-Qaeda and the Taliban, as well as many other jihad groups around the globe? Off the table. Cannot and must not be examined.

"Joe Biden On Iraq, Iran, China and the Taliban," by Leslie H. Gelb for Newsweek via The Daily Beast, December 19 (thanks to Wimpy):

On Thursday, Dec. 15, Vice President Joe Biden sat down in his sunlit White House office adjoining the Rose Garden to do what he loves best—talk about foreign policy—with Leslie H. Gelb of Newsweek/The Daily Beast. What follows are excerpts of their exclusive review of the year’s hotspots....

NEWSWEEK: What are our vital interests in continuing to fight a major war in Afghanistan?

BIDEN: We were in Afghanistan for two reasons. One is to deal with, curtail, begin to dismantle, and eventually eliminate al Qaeda. Not only from being able to come back into Afghanistan and control Afghanistan but from the region—to decimate al Qaeda.

NEWSWEEK: Almost an impossible goal to achieve.

BIDEN: No—to fundamentally alter their capacity to do damage to American allies and vital U.S. interests, to fundamentally alter that. We have done that. It doesn’t mean they’re not capable.

NEWSWEEK: It means we’ve done it for the time being, but depending upon who comes to power in Afghanistan in the future, they can come back. I know you don’t favor staying there ad infinitum to prevent that.

BIDEN: I would argue they are not able to come back. I would argue that there has been serious damage done to their infrastructure in a way that the coherence of this thing called al Qaeda and their ability to metastasize has been severely damaged.

NEWSWEEK: So we no longer have to stay in Afghanistan to fight for it?

BIDEN: No, let me finish. That is not fully achieved, it is close. The second reason for us to be in Afghanistan was to make sure that a country with tens of millions of people and nuclear weapons called Pakistan did not somehow begin to disintegrate or fall apart. That is a hell of a lot tougher job....

Great job on that score, Joe. Pakistan is a paragon of anti-jihad Islamic moderation, now, ain't it?

NEWSWEEK: I know you don’t believe we can reshape Afghanistan and make it into a caramelized democracy.

BIDEN: Look, look, Les, let’s posit that your statement is that it’s clear that Pakistan could live with an Afghanistan controlled by the Taliban.

NEWSWEEK: They did.

BIDEN: We could not. We could not because they harbored, sheltered, and supported an outfit that created a real threat to the United States.

NEWSWEEK: And we told them if you stop harboring al Qaeda, we’ll live with you too.

BIDEN: Yes, but they didn’t.

NEWSWEEK: And we can make that deal now.

BIDEN: We didn’t. That is part of what the reconciliation process is about right now. We are not just deciding that all we are doing is supporting a government and building up their military capability. We’re engaged in a reconciliation process. Whether it will work or not is another question. But we are in a position where if Afghanistan ceased and desisted from being a haven for people who do damage and have as a target the United States of America and their allies, that’s good enough. That’s good enough. We’re not there yet.

Look, the Taliban per se is not our enemy. That’s critical. There is not a single statement that the president has ever made in any of our policy assertions that the Taliban is our enemy because it threatens U.S. interests. If, in fact, the Taliban is able to collapse the existing government, which is cooperating with us in keeping the bad guys from being able to do damage to us, then that becomes a problem for us. So there’s a dual track here:

One, continue to keep the pressure on al Qaeda and continue to diminish them. Two, put the government in a position where they can be strong enough that they can negotiate with and not be overthrown by the Taliban. And at the same time try to get the Taliban to move in the direction to see to it that they, through reconciliation, commit not to be engaged with al Qaeda or any other organization that they would harbor to do damage to us and our allies....

In "Hamas High School in Florida?" in the American Thinker today, Pamela Geller details how Hamas-linked CAIR has spread its propaganda in one Florida public school. And there is no telling how many other schools are subjecting their students to the same thing.

Why is a representative of a terror-linked organization, a defender of jihad terror groups and an apologist for Islamic supremacism welcome to speak in public schools?

Back on December 4, I published at my website AtlasShrugs.com the disturbing news of child abuse in Florida public schools: the Hamas-linked Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) was poisoning the minds of high school students. CAIR was crowing about its propaganda putsch in getting their party line into high schools, but did not name the schools or who spoke. This shows that Hamas-linked CAIR knows what they are doing is subversion, and that the schools would be held accountable.

However, now we have been able to identify one school -- Steinbrenner High School -- where a representative of CAIR spoke to students. An informed source tells me it was the notorious Hassan Shibly.

Shibly has a track record of defending jihad terrorist groups and acting as an apologist for the worldwide jihad and Islamic supremacism.

Following the 2006 Israel-Lebanon War, Shibly granted legitimacy to Hezb'allah by characterizing it as a "resistance movement" that provides valued social services to the Lebanese people. "They're absolutely not a terrorist organization," Shibly said, and "any war against them is illegitimate" -- more on that here.

Nonetheless, he was welcomed into the school and spoke to several classes throughout the day, including AP World History, World History, and World Religions.

The email exchanges between CAIR and Steinbrenner High School are revealing. Kelly Miliziano, a World History teacher at Steinbrenner, wrote this in a November 14 email: "Every year I invite a representative from CAIR to speak to our AP World History Students." After CAIR-Tampa responded favorably, Miliziano wrote again: "Over the years I have had many speakers from CAIR come to my classes, and it has been such a good learning experience for the students." She added: "I would prefer to have a speaker for each period of the day so that students can really interact with the speaker and ask questions."

"Every year"? "Many speakers from CAIR"? "Each period of the day"? Hamas-linked groups are regularly talking to high school students? Unindicted co-conspirators in the largest terror funding trial in our nation's history are being given a platform to mislead impressionable teenagers? Miliziano suggested topics that would have given CAIR a magnificent platform to spread their disinformation among the students:

Topics can range from :
The mission of CAIR
Basic beliefs, practices, history of....
Confronting stereotypes and misconceptions (a favorite of students)
Sharia
Why does Islam look differently around the world?
Human Rights and Islam
Women and Islam in different countries
Any other topic you think students should know about.

These are important subjects for students to study, but Hamas-tied CAIR is the last place where they can find out the truth about them. Is this what our public schools are doing with our children -- subjecting them to indoctrination and propaganda? That is child abuse. Where are the counter voices? Where are the voices of freedom?...

Read it all. And Pamela has an action alert here. Politely and courteously register your protest against Hamas-linked CAIR being given a platform in public schools.

Hamas-linked CAIR is an unindicted co-conspirator in a Hamas terror funding case -- so named by the Justice Department. CAIR operatives have repeatedly refused to denounce Hamas and Hizballah as terrorist groups. Several former CAIR officials have been convicted of various crimes related to jihad terror. CAIR's cofounder and longtime Board chairman (Omar Ahmad), as well as its chief spokesman (Ibrahim Hooper), have made Islamic supremacist statements.

And work the phones: Brenda Grasso, Principal email: brenda.grasso@sdhc.k12.fl.us Phone 813-792-5131

Kelly R. Miliziano, Ph.D. (extended the invitation to CAIR) Social Studies Department
Steinbrenner High School - (Rt 2)
5575 W. Lutz Lake Fern Rd.
Lutz, FL. 33558
813 792-5131 Ext. 264
Kelly.miliziano@sdhc.k12.fl.us
813-792-5131 Ext. 264
813-792-5135 (Fax)

Islamic spokesmen in the West are always telling us that only greasy Islamophobes think that Muslims want to restore the caliphate and force non-Muslims to pay the jizya, the tax on the subjugated dhimmis specified in Qur'an 9:29, or be killed. Sheikh Nader Tamimi must therefore be a greasy Islamophobe in disguise who has somehow become mufti of the Palestinian Liberation Army despite his bigotry and hatred and ignorance of Islam, or else he is a simple garden-variety Misunderstander of Islam.

Note also that another Jordanian sheikh, Sheikh Ahmad Abu Quddum, recently misunderstood Islam in exactly the same way. Can one of the smooth and reassuring Muslim spokesmen in the U.S. straighten these guys out and explain to them how they're misunderstanding the Religion of Peace? Honest Ibe Hooper? Boy Reza Aslan? Brave Ahmed Rehab? "Man of Peace" Imam Rauf? Can one of you please go over to Jordan and meet with these two sheikhs and explain to them how the caliphate, jizya, and jihad warfare are relics of the distant past, never to be revived?

Or is that all just blague and guff to fool credulous Infidels?

"Jordanian Sheik Nader Tamimi, Mufti of the Palestinian Liberation Army, to the West: We Will Restore the Caliphate and You Will Pay the Jizya 'or Else We Will Bring the Sword to Your Necks,'" from MEMRI, December 15 (thanks to David):

Following are excerpts from an address by Jordanian Sheik Nader Tamimi, Mufti of the Palestine Liberation Army, which was posted on the Internet on December 15, 2011:

Nader Tamimi: In the Levant, we are involved in a fierce battle, and we will bring about a change in Syria and in the Levant in its entirety. The infidels divided the Levant into four states, and we will reunite them into a single state. The Safavid enterprise that led to Iran occupying Iraq, along with the Americans and the Zionists, will end in the garbage bin of history. The Caliphate in the path of the Prophet will return.

[…]

We await the caliph who will address the leaders of the US and Europe and say: From the Emir of the Believers from Jerusalem…

Crowd: Allah Akbar.

Nader Tamimi: to the rulers of the West, this is the religion of Allah. Either you pay the jizya poll tax, or else you will bring the sword to your necks…

Crowd: Allah Akbar.

Crowd member: Say: "Allah Akbar."

Crowd: Allah Akbar.

[…]

Crowd member: The people wants the restoration of the Caliphate.

Nader Tamimi along with crowd: The people wants the restoration of the Caliphate.

Nader Tamimi along with crowd: The people wants the restoration of the Caliphate.

The Taliban don't want this so they can visit. They know that in Afghan custody, they stand a good chance of seeing the detainees escaping or being released outright. Failing that, they can attempt to organize a prison break of their own, which they did in Kandahar "with inside help."

"Exclusive: Secret U.S., Taliban talks reach turning point," by Missy Ryan, Warren Strobel and Mark Hosenball for Reuters, December 19:

(Reuters) - After 10 months of secret dialogue with Afghanistan's Taliban insurgents, senior U.S. officials say the talks have reached a critical juncture and they will soon know whether a breakthrough is possible, leading to peace talks whose ultimate goal is to end the Afghan war.

As part of the accelerating, high-stakes diplomacy, Reuters has learned, the United States is considering the transfer of an unspecified number of Taliban prisoners from the Guantanamo Bay military prison into Afghan government custody.

It has asked representatives of the Taliban to match that confidence-building measure with some of their own. Those could include a denunciation of international terrorism and a public willingness to enter formal political talks with the government headed by Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

Words from the Taliban must not be accepted as a "confidence-building measure," especially not in exchange for substantive action taken by the U.S. or NATO.

The officials acknowledged that the Afghanistan diplomacy, which has reached a delicate stage in recent weeks, remains a long shot. Among the complications: U.S. troops are drawing down and will be mostly gone by the end of 2014, potentially reducing the incentive for the Taliban to negotiate.

Still, the senior officials, all of whom insisted on anonymity to share new details of the mostly secret effort, suggested it has been a much larger piece of President Barack Obama's Afghanistan policy than is publicly known.

U.S. officials have held about half a dozen meetings with their insurgent contacts, mostly in Germany and Doha with representatives of Mullah Omar, leader of the Taliban's Quetta Shura, the officials said.

The stakes in the diplomatic effort could not be higher.

Failure would likely condemn Afghanistan to continued conflict, perhaps even civil war, after NATO troops finish turning security over to Karzai's weak government by the end of 2014.

Success would mean a political end to the war and the possibility that parts of the Taliban - some hardliners seem likely to reject the talks - could be reconciled.

The effort is now at a pivot point.

"We imagine that we're on the edge of passing into the next phase. Which is actually deciding that we've got a viable channel and being in a position to deliver" on mutual confidence-building measures, said a senior U.S. official....

The White House has said the democratic process is the important thing here. But a democracy's ability to protect human rights and civil liberties is only as good as the values that inform its participants. These elected officials are the people who are set to draft the country's next constitution. "Islamist parties dominate Egypt election," from Agence France-Presse, December 19:

Egypt's largest Islamist parties have claimed the lead in the second round of a multi-stage legislative election, confirming them as front-runners in the first post-revolution parliament.

The second round of elections, which took place in nine provinces over two days, saw a 67 per cent turnout, election commission chief Abdel Moez Ibrahim said.

The ruling military, which took power when Hosni Mubarak was ousted in February, has decided on a complex election system in which voters cast ballots for party lists, which will comprise two thirds of parliament, and for individual candidates for the remaining third of the lower house.

The Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice party (FJP) said it won 39 per cent of votes in the party lists, with no outright winner for their individual candidates who face a run-off on Wednesday.

The Al-Nur party, which represents the more hardline brand of Salafi Islam has claimed over 30 per cent of votes in the lists.

"We have won 39 per cent of the votes so far in the lists," the FJP office told AFP.

Al-Nur confirmed it had gained "over 30 per cent in the lists for the second round".

"The FJP is definitely number one; we have come second," Al-Nur spokesman Mohammed Nur told AFP, adding that most of their candidates will face a run-off on Wednesday.

Voting took place in a third of the country's 27 provinces. However, voting for the party lists was postponed until Wednesday in the Nile Delta provinces of Menufiya and Beheira and in the southern governorate of Sohag.

Islamist parties trounced their liberal rivals in the first round of the elections, which kicked off on November 28, securing about 65 per cent of all votes cast for parties.

The Muslim Brotherhood had been widely forecast to triumph as the country's most organised political group, well known after decades of charitable work and opposition to the 30-year regime of Hosni Mubarak.

But the showing from Salafist groups, which advocate a fundamentalist interpretation of Islam, was a surprise, raising fears of a more conservative and overtly religious 498-member new parliament.

The media would rather say "conservatism" and being religious are the problem than to say it is the imposition of Sharia that poses the threat here.

The results in Egypt fit a pattern established in Tunisia and Morocco, where Islamists have also gained in elections as they benefit from the new freedoms brought by the pro-democracy movements of the Arab Spring.

We tried to tell you.

The so-called "love jihad" continues. "Love jihad sparks hate," from the Times News Network, December 17 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):

BANGALORE: There was pandemonium in the legislative assembly on Friday with ruling and opposition members locked in a heated argument over love jihad (the term used for recent incidents in which Muslim youth have eloped with Hindu girls).

Raising the issue during zero hour, BJP member Mallika Prasad accused the government of not taking steps to tackle this trend in Dakshina Kannada district where Muslim youths won over Hindu girls with promises of marriage and finally converting them. "From January to November this year, 84 Hindu girls have been missing. Of these, 69 confessed they'd been lured by Muslim youths who professed love. The worrying factor is that some girls are pushed into the flesh trade," she said....

According to the detainees who were interviewed, they are missing school, and they cannot contact their parents. Jakarta, which consistently takes the path of least resistance with homegrown "extremism," may or may not be motivated to rein in the proliferating abuses in Sharia-ruled Aceh.

An update on this story. "‘Punk’s Not Dead’ Despite Aceh Arrests," by Nurdin Hasan & Dessy Sagita for the Jakarta Globe, December 17 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):

Banda Aceh. Amid rows of youths dressed in police uniforms, 15-year-old Arismunadar kept his head bowed and answered in brief snatches when questioned about his treatment at the police camp in Lembah Seulawah, Aceh Besar district.

The high school student from Medan, North Sumatra, is among 64 punk music lovers undergoing “re-education” in the camp, about 60 kilometers from the provincial capital, after they were arrested last Saturday night.

They were taken to the camp after spending three nights in the Banda Aceh Police jail, where they were held after being arrested at a punk music charity concert they had organized with permission from city authorities.

A set-up?

Arismunadar said his parents gave him permission to make the weekend trip north to Banda Aceh but he was upset and worried because he could not contact them.

“I don’t know what my parents’ reaction will be when they find out I have been taken here,” he said. “I want to talk to them but I can’t because the police have taken our mobile phones.”

Arismunadar said he was also worried about missing school, for which being taught by police “how to march in line and act politely” was little consolation.

Asked whether he would change his ways after the 10 days of camp detention, Arismunadar said, “I will still be a punk because I like it.”

M. Fauzie, one of the camp’s instructors, said the youths were being taught spiritual, moral and behavioral lessons. “We will teach them to wake up early, how to eat properly and how to behave politely,” he said.

On Friday morning, a Muslim cleric council delegation visited the camp and delivered a religious lecture to the youths, most of them in their twenties. At prayer time, police forced the detainees to don traditional Muslim dress and drove them in trucks to a nearby mosque.

There was little sign of a mass conversion to religious piety after the prayers, however.

They may well teach them to hate prayers, hate religion, hate Muhammad, and hate Allah.

“Punk’s not dead!” shouted Andre, 18, after being forced back onto the truck for the trip back to the police camp.

Andre, from Binjai in neighboring North Sumatra, said he was sick of the “re-education.”

“I’ll still be a punk when they let me go, because it’s my chosen life,” he said, adding that he had lived on the streets since he was young. “They can’t change the path I’ve taken.”

One of the female detainees, 20-year-old Intan Natalia, emphasized the creative spirit of the punk community.

“Punks are not about criminality,” said the Medan native. “Don’t look at us from a negative perspective, because we work, too. We create unique tattoos, T-shirt designs and piercings.”

She said she cried when her long, straight hair was cut in the style of female police officers.

“But what else could I do? If I protested, nobody would listen,” she said. “So I had to take it quietly while my beloved hair was chopped short.”

Intan, who was previously a university student in Jakarta, said she had been a punk since 2009 and enjoyed the feeling of solidarity it engendered. She went to Banda Aceh for the charity concert and said she was shocked when police raided the event.

“While the event was underway, we were suddenly arrested,” she said with a frown. “I don’t know why, because we hadn’t broken any laws.”

Aldi, 17, who makes a living printing T-shirts and stickers, said the “re-education” would not change him.

“After I get out of here I will still be a punk because I like the punk lifestyle,” he said. “I’m not a criminal and stealing is not part of punk ethos. If I was a thief, why would I be a punk?”

Arist Merdeka Sirait, chairman of the National Commission for Child Protection (Komnas Anak), said the detention without charge, the head shaving, the dousing ritual and the military-style treatment of the youths at the hands of the police was a breach of human rights.

“Is there a clause in the criminal code that makes self-expression in the punk style a crime? Then show me! This is too much,” he said.

Speaking in Jakarta on Friday, he said the youths were at risk of lasting trauma.

He also scoffed at a statement by Banda Aceh Deputy Mayor Illiza Sa’aduddin Djamal that punk culture was a social disease that stained Islam’s reputation....

With Chechnya and the Caucasus always simmering with jihad, and Beslan, and jihad attacks and plots in Moscow and everywhere, Russian authorities are waking up to the possibility that religious texts can incite people to violence. And so they're considering banning...the Bhagavad Gita. No kidding.

The Lok Sabha is the lower house of Parliament in India.

"Lok Sabha storm as Russian court decides whether to ban Bhagavad Gita," from NDTV, December 19 (thanks to HJS):

Moscow: The Lok Sabha was adjourned this morning over protests against the demand for a ban on the Bhagavad Gita in a Russian court.

In a Siberian court, state prosecutors have petitioned that the Gita, distributed locally by ISKCON members, is "extremist" literature. The court in Siberia's Tomsk city is scheduled to deliver its verdict today....

Earlier today, Congress MP Milind Deora tweeted, "Absurd to suggest the Bhagwad Gita is even remotely pro-violence! Hope Russian Courts appreciate its intrinsic appeal in a pluralistic India."

The case, which has been going on in Tomsk court since June this year, seeks to get a Russian translation of Bhagvad Gita As It Is written by AC Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, the founder of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), on the Hindu religious text banned in Russia and declaring it as a literature spreading "social discord", apart from rendering its distribution on Russian soil illegal....

The prosecutor's case also seeks to ban the preaching of Prabhupada and ISKCON's religious beliefs, claiming these were "extremist" in nature and preached "hatred" of other religious beliefs.

"They have not just tried to get the Bhagvad Gita banned, but also brand our religious beliefs and preachings as extremist," Das said....

Awwww. "Report: Hezbollah in dire financial straits," from YNet News, December 18:

While Hezbollah General Secretary Hassan Nasrallah appeared to be in high spirits recently during a rare public appearance in a suburb of Beirut, his organization is experiencing a severe financial crisis, French daily Le Figaro reported over the weekend.

According to the article, which was based on information obtained by French intelligence agencies, the civil uprising against President Bashar Assad in Syria has significantly reduced the flow of money to the Lebanese terror group.

Moreover, the report said, Iran has recently cut its financial aid to Hezbollah by 25% due in part to the international sanctions imposed on the Islamic Republic over its nuclear program.

Le Figaro said the financial crisis has led some Hezbollah terrorists to deal drugs in north Lebanon. Just last week US prosecutors indicted a Lebanese national who they said led a massive international drug smuggling ring with links to Hezbollah.

The US Treasury and the FBI have banned American organizations from donating to Hezbollah, which is designated under US law as a terrorist organization.

Last month Nasrallah claimed Hezbollah had unraveled a web of CIA informants and officers in Iran and Lebanon. According to Le Figaro's report, the network caused significant damage to the Shiite group.

Hezbollah's financial woes are also the result of corruption, the report said. According to Le Figaro, the terror group's investment manager had embezzled close to $1.6 billion.

The report said that during a speech in Beirut two weeks ago Nasrallah chastised the organization's female members for becoming, as he put it, too "bourgeois" and spending too much of the organization's money. Le Figaro said this was yet another indication of Hezbollah's dire financial situation.

The French daily claimed that the murder of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri in 2005 was planned by top Hezbollah commander Imad Mughniyeh, without Nasrallah's knowledge.

... and now Egypt's army is turning on the rest of the country. Women, of course, are fair game in Egypt the moment they step out of line and thus forfeit their right to protection, as is shown once again below.

The army's first massive assault on its people was against Christians demanding their rights, and the media incited Muslims to "protect" the army from them, causing mobs of Muslims to take to the streets in pursuit of them.

How do they like their army now?

Image from Reuters.

Video at CNN. There is even more brutality in the wider shot.

If that means we would save our money, I'm all for it.

Tiny Minority of Extremists Update: "Pakistani President Returns From Medical Treatment," by Ashraf Khan for the Associated Press, December 18 (thanks to Wimpy):

[...] More than 30,000 Islamists rallied against the U.S. in the eastern city of Lahore on Sunday, demanding Islamabad cut off ties with Washington. The protest highlighted the ability of hard-liners to bring their supporters into the streets, as well as lasting anger over the attack, which has complicated U.S. efforts to enlist Pakistan's cooperation on the Afghan war.

The U.S. has expressed its condolences for the airstrikes, but this has done little to calm anger in Pakistan's military, which has claimed the attack was deliberate. Pakistan has already retaliated by closing its Afghan border to supplies meant for NATO troops in Afghanistan and kicking the U.S. out of an air base used by American drones.

"All agreements (with the U.S.) should be terminated," Hafiz Saeed, the head of the group that organized Sunday's protest, Jamaat-ud-Dawa, told the crowd. "We say all agreements terminated the day the attack happened."

Jamaat-ud-Dawa is widely considered to be the front group for Lashkar-e-Taiba, a militant organization that was started with help from the Pakistani government to fight archenemy India, but has been officially banned under international pressure.

Lashkar-e-Taiba is blamed for the 2008 attacks in Mumbai that killed 166 people. India has demanded Pakistan crack down on the group, but Islamabad has shown little willingness to go after Lashkar-e-Taiba or Jamaat-ud-Dawa.

Protesters at Sunday's rally shouted, "A friend of the USA and India is a traitor."

Pakistan's alleged tolerance for Islamist militant groups has been one of the main sources of tension with the U.S. Washington has been especially frustrated with Islamabad's refusal to target the Afghan Taliban and their allies and has even accused the country's intelligence agency of supporting the groups.

An all too predictable update on this story. "Hezbollah Prisoner Held by Iraq Faces Minor Charge," from the Associated Press, December 17:

BAGHDAD – A Lebanese Hezbollah commander allegedly responsible for killing four U.S. soldiers in Iraq will be prosecuted for a lesser charge of illegal entry with a forged passport, Iraqi officials said Saturday.

Ali Musa Daqduq was the last American prisoner in Iraq and was handed over to Iraqi authorities on Friday.

On Saturday, two Iraqi officials said Daqduq will be prosecuted for illegal entry with a forged passport -- the only Iraqi charge against him. The charge generally carries a sentence of just over five years in prison. But the officials say an investigative judge will consider U.S. allegations against him. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.

Daqduq has been linked to a brazen raid in which four American soldiers were abducted and killed in the Iraqi holy city of Karbala in 2007.

The soldiers thought they were going to discuss security issues with Shi'ite leaders.

U.S. officials have long feared that the Iraqis would release Daqduq once he had been transferred from American control and U.S. troops left the country. But his case was complicated by issues of international diplomacy and the American political debate over how best to prosecute suspected terrorists.

Under former President George W. Bush, prosecutors had planned to charge Daqduq in a U.S. criminal court. But those plans were scrapped after President Barack Obama took office and lawmakers began restricting his ability to bring terrorist suspects into the United States for trial.

Many Republicans had wanted Daqduq prosecuted before a military tribunal at the Guantanamo Bay base in Cuba. The Obama administration had hoped a compromise would be to prosecute Daqduq in a first-of-its-kind military commission on U.S. soil.

But the Iraqi government would not let the United States take Daqduq out of the country for trial, White House spokesman Tommy Vietor said.

Iraq has had a shoddy record on detainee security. Last year, just a week after the U.S. turned more than 1,000 detainees at its Camp Cropper prison over to Iraqi control, four al-Qaida-linked detainees escaped. An investigation showed that the detainees had inside help.

That had lawmakers worried that Daqduq would return to Hezbollah soon after his transfer. Shortly before the White House announcement, Sen. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., was gathering signatures on a letter to Obama.

Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., vice chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, accused the Obama administration of "once again completely abdicating its responsibility to hold on to deadly terrorists."

"Given Iraq's history of releasing detainees, I expect it is only a matter of time before this terrorist will be back on the battlefield," he said....

The claim of cause and effect does not add up rationally: a Danish caricature of Muhammad leads a successful kickboxer to plot to "kill as many Australians as possible to advance the cause of Islam." There is much more to the story, including Fattal's stint in a Lebanese prison where he appears to have been further indoctrinated.

The cartoon is ultimately an excuse seized upon in the context of a broader grievance culture, an obsession with "honor" (more accurately described as pride), and above all, a sense of entitlement to revenge that threatens to destabilize any society in which it takes hold.

More on this story. "Danish cartoon sparked fanatic's plot to kill Aussies," by Steve Lillebuen for the Sydney Morning Herald, December 18:

Wissam Fattal's descent from champion kickboxer to would-be terrorist appears to have begun at least six years ago, when a Danish cartoon sparked outrage, protests and several deaths across the Muslim world.

It was 2005 and Fattal, an expectant father with five siblings, was already a devout Muslim - but he was certainly no extremist.

At least, not yet.

The Danish cartoons appeared to change that, setting him on a path towards a criminal conviction for plotting to kill as many Australians as possible to advance the cause of Islam.

The cartoon did not throw some automatic switch in Fattal's mind and turn him into a zombie bent on killing. There was a pre-existing context in which he processed his taking offense and decided on appropriate action.

Fattal, now 35, had just returned to his homeland of Lebanon when the cartoons were first published.

He was infuriated by what many Muslims believed was an insulting, offensive depiction of the prophet Mohammed.

What's the body count for the Piss Christ?

A protest he joined against the cartoons that year became chaotic, causing extensive damage outside the Danish embassy in Beirut.

It resulted in his arrest and a jail term of three months.

When he returned to Australia, he had changed noticeably.

"It was during this time in Lebanon that you became what could be described as particularly strong, devoted and fundamentalist in your religion," Victorian Supreme Court Justice Betty King said as she sentenced Fattal to 18 years in prison on Friday.

"You became more religious and more fervent and fundamental in your views as time went on."

Around the same time, he abruptly ended his kickboxing career. He had won several championships across the Middle East, but said his view of the sport had changed.

His religious beliefs became also become more rigid and simplistic.

By 2009, his attitude could be described in a single statement: Australia was at war with Muslims and it was up to devout believers like him to do something about it....

Even in Tulsa. "Terrorism investigation in Tulsa," from Fox23, December 16 (thanks to Kenneth):

A Tulsa auto business is among companies named in a federal complaint that accuses 30 U.S. car buyers of being in league with a money laundering operation that pumped more than $300 million into the financial system to benefit the militant group Hezbollah.

Drug Enforcement Administration spokesman Rusty Payne said that Ace Auto Leasing Inc. was among companies whose businesses were used to help launder drug money that helped finance Hezbollah.

Payne said, "Those moneys were laundered into some exchange houses in Lebanon and have been for a long time."

He added, "This is the perfect intersection of the nexus between drug trafficking and terrorism."

The companies would send cars to west Africa to be sold at a profit, with some money going back to the businesses to buy more cars to ship.

Payne said profits from drug trafficking were laundered into the operation as well, helping fund the militant group. Ace Auto Leasing has recieved more than $20 million from the Lebanon exchange houses.

Payne said, "You have used car dealerships across the country receiving transfers from shady exchange houses that are Hezbollah backed and are working with Hezbollah and the Lebonese Canadian bank."

He added, "When you see a used car lot with 10-50 cars on it, do you think $20 million sent to them is normal?"

Dr. John Swails, director for the Center for Israel and Middle East Studies said this has been boiling under the surface for some time.

He said, "The big surprise is that we've caught so many or they have bungled their attempts."

Dr. Swails added, "I think Hezbollah knew it was happening because they started capturing CIA agents so they may have seen it coming."

While this is not a reason to panic, Dr. Swails and DEA officials say problems like this are not going away.

Payne said, "There's only one more group that has killed more Americans and that's Al-Qaeda. Hezbollah is number two."

Dr. Swails said, "The people who hate the United States are out there and they're coming relentlessly so we have to accept the fact… We have to be on our guard."

The investigation continues. No official charges have been filed.

If Muslim migrants were subjected anywhere in the world to the injustices Christians and other expat workers face in Saudi Arabia, it would be front page news. By contrast, these stories quietly trickle out and go largely unreported.

Even so, behavior like this from the Saudis does not create the image of a strong, confident faith. Their paranoia conveys a sense of fragility and fear. Even by "winning," by trying to show who's boss, they lose. "42 Ethiopian Christians arrested in Saudi Arabia," from Persecution, December 17:

International Christian Concern (ICC) has learned that Saudi security forces arrested 42 Ethiopian Christians at a prayer gathering in Jeddah on Thursday. The location of the detained Christians is unknown.

On December 15, Saudi police and security officers raided an evening prayer meeting at the home of an Ethiopian Christian in the Al-Safa district of Jeddah. Those attending the service were reportedly beaten and threatened before being arrested.

Just for fun, someone should tell authorities that a man of Jewish background has slipped into the country and, according to local reports, is in the habit of joining these gatherings "wherever two or three" come together. It could make for a good all-points bulletin, not to mention the subsequent headline: "Saudis desperate to find Jesus."

“Security officials broke [into] the house and captured . . . beat and threatened them for death. . . They divided the men and the women and they are torturing them [in prison],” an Ethiopian and Eritrean Christian immigrant community living in Europe wrote in an urgent appeal for help to the ambassadors of European embassies in Riyadh on Friday.

Two Ethiopian fellowships in Saudi Arabia informed ICC that they will temporarily postpone services until the situation calms. Christians in Saudi Arabia, most of who enter the country as foreign workers, are not allowed to practice their faith openly. Saudi police have been known to raid private worship gatherings in homes, arrest and deport congregants, and confiscate Christian materials, including Bibles.

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 17 — For Catholic Malaysians, Putrajaya’s latest pick of a Malay-Muslim principal to head the prestigious SMK Convent Bukit Nanas (CBN) underscores a worrying trend to disregard the Church’s contribution and rights in the country.

Archbishop of Kuala Lumpur Tan Sri Murphy Pakiam waded this week into a growing row between the 112-year-old school’s Catholic owners and the Ministry of Education (MOE) after its new principal Datin Seri Zavirah Mohd Shaari’s surprise arrival at its doorstep.

“The appointment of the principal of CBN is not only contrary to the government policy of maximum consultation but has given the impression that it is the government’s strategy to take over the mission schools in total disregard for the status, ethos and special character of mission schools, especially CBN,” Pakiam (picture) said in a statement published earlier this week in Catholic paper The Herald.

He was appealing to Education director-general Datuk Seri Abdul Ghafar Mahmud to reconsider the ministry’s decision and pick a suitably qualified person nominated by the school owners under the Infant Jesus (IJ) Sisters order. The school is considered among the top convent schools in the country.

The case comes on the heels of a recent drama over the police’s extra conditions for carolling permits on two South Klang churches less than two weeks ago.

Earlier this year, right-wing Malay-Muslim groups triggered a national uproar over persistent rumours that churches are on a campaign to convert their own and pushing unfounded allegations of a secret political plot to install a Christian prime minister in the next general election.

Christians say such issues are an attempt to erode their religious rights in Muslim-majority Malaysia.

Erode the rights of Christians? Who's doing the 'eroding', exactly, and why are they doing it?

CBN, which has produced notable personalities such as Bersih 2.0 chief Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan and former International Trade Minister Tan Sri Rafidah Aziz, is one of 60 convent schools in Malaysia, Sister Rosalind Tan told The Malaysian Insider.

Tan is the mother provincial of the IJ Sisters and the person in charge of the order’s administration in the country.

She related that the school’s board of governors were taken aback when Zavirah reported for duty last week because there was no prior notice from the Education Ministry.

The previous head, Ann Khoo, retired last month. 

Tan said this was not the first time the ministry had acted without consultation, saying the issue had been going on for decades.

She said the order, as the school’s rightful owners, had a responsibility to ensure the school head abided by its founding ethos even though the operations were now managed by the federal government.

“We have no qualms about race or religion of the principal posted to our mission schools,” she said in an interview this week.

She said that Zavirah was not school’s first lay principal, or the order’s first non-Christian school head; but expressed disappointment that its nominees had been sidelined by the ministry.

“What we want are principals who know what the mission school is and stands for,” she stressed.

In his statement, Pakiam highlighted that Zavirah had not been on a list submitted by the mission school authority.

He said the decision breached a previous government policy in the 1970s for “maximum consultation” with Christian mission schools nationwide in a revised report by the Royal Commission on the Teaching Services, West Malaysia.

The metropolitan archbishop added that former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who was the education minister in 1976, had repeated and affirmed the pledge in 1998 in a trip to Kota Kinabalu, to consult mission school authorities over the choice of school heads and teachers.

The Malaysian Insider understands there are over 400 Christian mission schools nationwide.

Catholics, who make up nearly one million of the country’s 28 million total population, have founded more than 250 such schools, including Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s alma mater, St John’s Institution, which neighbours CBN.

The tendency to recognize so-called "Islamic democracies" even when the regimes in question are something else altogether did not begin today, with the "Arab Spring." About 15 years ago, the Bill Clinton administration recognized the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. This is not paid due attention in the part of the world where I live.

For some reason, the Taliban were not considered evil. Jihadists and jihad were considered progressive forces. Leaders of many states tried to establish good relationships at the beginning of the regime, thinking that they could control Islam.

In 1996, after one of my trips to the North Caucasus, I met with the military attaché at the U.S. Embassy in Georgia. The reason for this meeting was the interview that I recorded with two representatives of the Chechen jihad. They flaunted in front of the camera U.S. military ranger clothing and accessories. When I asked where the Chechen Mujahideen obtained the ranger clothing, they said that America was helping them, and not just with ranger clothing.

I chuckled when I heard this answer, but returned to Georgia and asked for a meeting with the military attaché at the U.S. Embassy. He said that the policy of the administration was moral support for the Chechen rebels.

And after some time, Secretary of State Madeleine Allbright said that the U.S. would recognize the Taliban regime.

In my view, a similar policy continues now.

The administration of President Barack Obama (a Democratic administration in the U.S.) like the Clinton administration before it, is looking for ways to establish relationships with jihadists of all kinds. This includes the Muslim Brotherhood, the Taliban, and other organizations from which terrorists come.

Many people keep asking why this is happening, but to find an answer to this question is not easy. I will try, based on personal experience and knowledge, to give an example of why this happens.

Jihadists whom I interviewed at the time were convinced that the Clinton administration supported them. Without exception, they all hated Jews, but they separated non-Muslims into two groups: Jewish Zionists and the people who supported the Zionist state of Israel and funded it, and those infidels (non-Muslims) who were opposed to the Zionists and the State of Israel.

They controlled the oil business and other businesses in Islamic countries, and tried to sell or donate their goods to support anti-Zionists, feeding their finances.

They established links with political leaders, in order to show them that the financial well-being and stability of these states was in direct proportion to their good relations with jihadists.

Earlier on Jihad Watch, I wrote that by controlling the oil prices the Islamic countries are blackmailing the rest of the world, and it's not only oil, but also other businesses.
The fact is that elections are always associated with high finance, and probably in the U.S. even more than elsewhere. So now is the time to consider why the Obama administration, liberals, and other politicians around the world recognize the "democratic Islamic regimes."

Stealth jihad becomes an open war for Islamic finance.

A Christian businessman recounts how Muslim teachers told their students to destroy churches and Christian businesses. Previous Jihad Watch coverage here, with links there also to earlier posts.

"A Christian Businessman Recalls Zakho Riots," by Sulaiman Alikhan and Kawar Barwari for Rudaw, December 18 (thanks to Nahro Farid):

DUHOK, Iraqi Kurdistan -- Fahmi Yusef Mansour is the owner of Iraq’s biggest beer supply in the village of Seji near Duhok city in Iraqi Kurdistan.

Mansour’s beer storage was stormed and torched by an angry mob during the riots in the province earlier this month.

Following Friday sermons people in the cit [sic] of Zakho attacked liquor stores, massage parlors and hotels.

Mansour, a Christian, said he had received messages threatening to burn down his business. He said he had informed the local mayor and security officials about the threats, but was reassured that nothing would happen.

“We also did not expect anything to happen because this is a Christian place and there are no Muslims,” Mansour told Rudaw.

Mansour was in Dohuk the day his store was attacked. He rushed back and tried to protect his business with the help of some relatives carrying guns. According to Mansour around 2,000 people, the majority of them teenagers had attacked his beer storage.

Mansour believes some school teachers are responsible for instigating the young people against Christians.

“Many teachers encourage student [sic] to oppose Christians and their places of worship,” he said, adding that a number of teenage students had thrown stones at the local church.

Two students detained by the security forces have allegedly confessed that their teacher had incited them to attack the church.

“This kind of culture did not exist in Kurdistan’s society and should not be allowed,” said Mansour.

Mansour maintained that his businesses sustained approximately half a million dollars of losses in addition to US$ 300,000 stolen from his safe.

Liquor stores are mainly owned by Duhok province’s Christian families. According to Mansour the livelihood of around 500 Christian and Muslim families who rely on the liquor business was affected by the riots....

She supported the "transition to democracy." She's the Secretary of State -- she must have known that the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamic supremacists were driving that transition. And now she is surprised?

"Clinton says women sidelined in Egypt transition," from AFP, December 16 (thanks to EH):

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Friday that women were being sidelined in the hoped-for transition to democracy in Egypt, including during the current parliamentary elections.

"In Egypt, women have been largely excluded from the transition process and even harassed in the street," Clinton said in prepared remarks for a speech on women, peace and security.

"The best-organized political parties supported few women candidates in the recent elections," she added, referring to the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party.

"And the positions of these parties on women's rights remain ambiguous at best."

The Brotherhood and other Islamists, who won more than two thirds of the vote in the first round, are projected to win all three stages of the country's first elections since a popular uprising ousted president Hosni Mubarak in February. The second round ended this week.

"They should recognize that Egypt's revolution was won by men and women working together, and its democracy will only thrive by men and women working together," Clinton said.

In July, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces that has been running the country since Mubarak's overthrow announced that the women's quota in parliament established by the deposed leader would be abolished....

Not that they said so outright, of course. Missing as usual from the report below is any mention of the Islamic texts that serve to explain the persistence of a cruel and unusual practice and the opposition to abolishing it.

Qur'an 5:38 prescribes amputation for theft. Qur'an 5:33 prescribes amputation of the hand and foot on opposite sides, among other punishments, for those who "wage war against Allah" or "spread corruption in the land."

The Qur'an and Sunnah are the "constitution" of Saudi Arabia according to its Basic Law. To abolish these practices would require amending the "constitution." That would be daunting enough if it were a secular document, but resistance in this case stems from the belief that the creator of the universe is commanding these punishments in the Qur'an.

But for all one would know in this report, the Saudis made it all up. Denying the extent and origin of the problem sets the stage for half-hearted, cosmetic responses to masquerade as "reform." "Saudis urged to stop amputation sentence," from Sky News, December 17:

Human rights watchdog Amnesty International has urged Saudi King Abdullah to commute amputation sentences handed down against six men convicted of highway robbery in the ultra-conservative Muslim kingdom.

The sentences to chop off the right hands and left feet of the six Saudis is currently before the Supreme Court for approval and could be carried out within days if ratified by the king, the London-based group said on Friday.

It said they were forced to confess.

''Cross amputation' is a strikingly cruel form of punishment that amounts to torture and should have no place in a criminal justice system,' said the watchdog's Middle East and North Africa interim director, Philip Luther.

'We are urging the king to use his authority to urgently commute these sentences and spare these men this horrific punishment,' he added.

Amnesty said the men are Barzan bin Raheel al-Shammari, 29; Amer bin Eid al-Jarbaa, 26; Mohammad bin Ali al-Shammari, 25; Mohammad bin Dhiyab Maddhi, 27; Abdullah bin Dhiyab Maddhi, 30; and Bandar bin Abbas al-Asadi, 22.

The bedouin men were arrested in October 2010 in Riyadh, accused of 'highway robbery' and taken to Malaz prison in the capital. All were allegedly beaten and forced to confess to the charges against them, Amnesty said.

Jarbaa was reportedly beaten for eight days and told that if he did not confess, his three brothers would be arrested.

'It appears that he signed a confession without knowing its contents and was later held in solitary confinement for 33 days,' it charged.

The men were tried before the General Court in Riyadh with no legal representation and were sentenced in March 2011 to 'cross amputation', it said, adding that an appeal court upheld the sentences in October.

Saudi Arabia enforces amputation of the right hand as a punishment for theft, while cross amputation is imposed in cases of highway robbery, Amnesty said.

Armed robbery can be punishable by execution in the desert kingdom. Rape, murder, apostasy and drug trafficking also carry the death penalty under Saudi Arabia's strict interpretation of Islamic sharia law.

At Max Brenner Chocolate Shop with Vickie Janson of the Q Society

Leftists and Islamic supremacists have picketed Max Brenner's chocolate shop in Australia, and called for a boycott, because it supplies chocolate to the IDF. So while I was in Australia for a speaking tour recently, I was proud to stand with Max Brenner against the jihad.

Give the one you love Max Brenner chocolate this Christmas: I just did! Go here. (Thanks to Mary.)

Doing this work day in and day out can seem like shouting into the whirlwind, so it is gratifying to see some ideas that began with me or here at Jihad Watch gaining wider currency.

Recently Frank Gaffney of the Center for Security Policy wrote a piece for the Washington Times that used the phrase "stealth jihad" in the title. The term originated with my 2008 book Stealth Jihad, which chronicled non-violent efforts to bring elements of Islamic law to the West and assert its primacy over American law. Frank also referred in his piece to "Islamist supremacism," which is a fairly close approximation of another term I coined, "Islamic supremacism."

My friend and colleague Pamela Geller also makes reference to "Islamic supremacism" and other terms I've originated, just as I borrow freely from her many memorable turns of phrase, including "Truth is the new hate speech" and her term for the jihad against the truthful expression of what we are facing: the "war on the truth." William Murray of the Sharia Action Awareness Network and Brigitte Gabriel of ACT for America have referred to dhimmi Americans "self-enforcing Sharia" -- another term that Pamela coined.

The professor of medicine and sometime anti-jihad researcher Andrew Bostom makes frequent use of another term I coined: "Islamorealism." And even James Taranto of the dhimmi Wall Street Journal a couple of years ago used the term "Islamic supremacy," which, like Frank's usage, is close enough.

In short, the truth is getting out, and spreading. And that is every reason to be hopeful -- as Pamela says, we will win because our ideas are better. The more these terms get into the mainstream dialogue, the more people will begin to understand what we are really up against, and be be equipped to frame an effective defense of our Constitutional freedoms.

The three comments above are on the video of my recent appearance on Fox's "Follow the Money."

Then there was this tweet I got the other day:

You got to hand it to these Islamic supremacists: their analyses are always so keen and incisive.

Anyway, while I do not actually have the honor of being Jewish, it is noteworthy that Islamic supremacists assume that all of their opponents must be Jewish -- because the Qur'an says that the Jews will be the worst enemies of the Muslims (5:82). Islamic supremacists are fantastic haters, but their hatred burns more intensely against Jews than against any other group. And this is all the more reason why it is imperative for all free people to stand with Jews and Israel against the oppressive and bloody ideology.

Fashion plate Rehab in unaltered image from his website (since removed!)

All you really need to read is the headline: "Let's Face it: It's the Radical Right, not Islam, that is the Greatest Threat to the American Way," by Ahmed Rehab of Hamas-linked CAIR in the Huffington Post, December 16 (thanks to T.T.). From the headline alone you can fill in the rest: whining, victimhood posturing, and no hint whatsoever that any Muslims are waging jihad against the United States.

And obviously Rehab is right. Just look at the Radical Right-wingers who have perpetrated or attempted to perpetrate violent attacks against innocent Americans: there was Naser Abdo, the would-be second Fort Hood right-wing mass murderer; and Khalid Aldawsari, the would-be right-wing mass murderer in Lubbock, Texas; and Muhammad Hussain, the would-be right-wing bomber in Baltimore; and Mohamed Mohamud, the would-be right-wing bomber in Portland; and Faisal Shahzad, the would-be Times Square right-wing mass-murderer; and Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad, the Arkansas military recruiting station right-wing murderer; and Naveed Haq, the right-wing mass murderer at the Jewish Community Center in Seattle; and Mohammed Reza Taheri-Azar, the would-be right-wing mass murderer in Chapel Hill, North Carolina; Ahmed Ferhani and Mohamed Mamdouh, who hatched a right-wing plot to blow up a Manhattan synagogue; and Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the would-be Christmas airplane right-wing bomber; and many others like them who have plotted and/or committed mass murder in the name of the Radical Right and motivated by its texts and teachings.

And then there were all these right-wing declarations of imminent right-wing takeover in the U.S.:

"We reject the U.N., reject America, reject all law and order. Don't lobby Congress or protest because we don't recognize Congress. The only relationship you should have with America is to topple it. . . . Eventually there will be a Muslim in the White House dictating the laws of Shariah." -- Muhammad Faheed, Muslim Students Association meeting, Queensborough Community College, 2003

"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." -- CAIR cofounder and longtime Board chairman Omar Ahmad, 1998 (denial noted and full story explained at link)

"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." -- CAIR spokesman Ibrahim "Honest Ibe" Hooper, 1993

"If only Muslims were clever politically, they could take over the United States and replace its constitutional government with a caliphate." -- prominent American Muslim leader Siraj Wahhaj, 2002

No, wait --

Anyway, this deflection strategy from Rehab should come as no surprise. 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.

In saying this, Ron Paul parrots the Islamic supremacist line that defending against the global jihad is not a matter of standing for freedom against tyranny, or working to preserve and protect the freedom of speech, freedom of conscience, and equality of rights for all people. Instead -- they claim -- it is just a matter of "hate."

When Islamic supremacists such as Dalia Mogahed, Daisy Khan, Ibrahim Hooper or Reza Aslan say this, their agenda is clear: they want to stigmatize resistance to jihad so that that resistance collapses, and the jihad against the West can proceed unimpeded. Branding the defenders of freedom as hatemongers and bigots is for such people a tactic in their war.

But what's Ron Paul's excuse?

"Ron Paul on Bachmann: ‘She hates Muslims. She hates them. She wants to go get them,’" by Jeff Poor for The Daily Caller, December 17:

In an appearance that lasted three segments on NBC’s “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” on Friday, Republican presidential candidate Texas Rep. Ron Paul gave a wide-ranging interview about his vision and how we would handle certain issues.

However, at the end of his interview, the Texas congressman gave his thoughts on some of his competitors, with some less-than-flattering words for his Republican colleague Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann.

Leno named off several of the candidates and Paul gave his opinion of each....

Michele Bachmann: “She doesn’t like Muslims. She hates Muslims. She hates them. She wants to go get them.”...
Rick Santorum: “Gay people and Muslims.”...