Recently in Jihadist intimidation and thuggery Category

Once again, Islamic supremacist intimidation and thuggery works: the stores promised to stop selling alcohol. "7-Eleven, Indomaret Raided Over Alcoholic Beverages," from the Jakarta Globe, May 11 (thanks to Jerk Chicken):

Dozens of members of the Tangjungduren Islamic People’s Association raided two minimarts in Grogol Petamburan, West Jakarta, on Friday for selling alcoholic beverages.

The mob, who failed to meet the owners of the two establishments, a 7-Eleven and an Indomaret, decided to enter and confiscate all of the minimarts’ alcoholic beverages from their refrigerators.

“We have since March warned them not to sell alcoholic drinks. But these stores kept on selling the beverages freely,” Khalid, the coordinator of the mob, said as quoted by Beritajakarta.com.

Members of the Jakarta Public Order Agency (Satpol PP) were on location, but they remained on the sidelines during the incident, which caused a traffic jam along Jalan Tanjung Duren Raya.

Representatives from the stores promised the group that they would stop selling alcohol.

Khalid demanded that Satpol PP and the police take strict action against minimarts that openly offer alcoholic beverages.

Grogol Petamburan subdistrict head Denny Ramdhani said that out of the 12 minimarts operating in his area, only the 7-Eleven and the Indomaret continue to deal booze.

“If in the future they still sell alchol [sic], we will … revoke the permits of the two stores,” Denny said.

Tanjung Duren Police chief of prevention Adj. Comr. Purnomo said that the police would facilitate a dialogue between the owners of the minimarts and residents of the area at the subdistrict chief office.

Clearly the Jews were chairophobes. Islamic Tolerance Alert from Jerusalem: "Muslim Cleric Probed Over 'Throwing Chairs at Jews' in Jerusalem," from Israel National News, May 8 (thanks to Twostellas):

Israeli police were questioning Jerusalem's most senior Muslim cleric on Wednesday for suspected involvement in a disturbance on the Temple Mount, a spokesman said.

Mufti of Jerusalem Mohammed Hussein was taken from his home by detectives and was being questioned at a police station "on suspicion of involvement in a disturbance that took place yesterday (Tuesday) on Temple Mount," police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said.

"Some chairs were thrown at a group of Jews on the Temple Mount," which Muslims refer to as Al-Haram Al-Sharif, Rosenfeld told the AFP news agency of the previous day's incident....

Pamela Geller notes: "Meanwhile, the convicted terrorist and airline hijacker Leila Khaled, who is known as the 'poster girl of Palestinian militancy,' is scheduled to speak at the University of British Columbia (UBC). Khaled has been convicted of terrorism for participating in airline hijackings for the Palestinian Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a terrorist group. She is scheduled to speak via Skype this Saturday, May 4, at a conference hosted by a group supporting the Palestinian jihad."

That alone demonstrates that this isn't about opposing "hate crimes" in the name of "diversity, equity and inclusion." Leila Khaled can spew her antisemitic hate, Tariq Ramadan can air his soothing, complacency-inducing deceptions, but Pamela Geller can't speak up in defense of the freedom of speech, the freedom of conscience and equality of rights for all people. This is not about opposing "hate"; it's about Islamic supremacists in Canada moving to shut down a foe of jihad and Islamic supremacism, so that the jihad can proceed unimpeded, and dhimmi police eagerly complying.

Here's the thing: Islamic supremacists in the U.S. and Canada are desperately afraid of Pamela Geller, and of me, and of everyone who stands up against jihad and Islamic supremacism. That's why they move to shut us down wherever and whenever they can. That's why Islamic supremacist spokesmen in the U.S. such as Reza Aslan, Ahmed Rehab, Omid Safi and so many others run from debate from me. They know that what we say is true. They know they can't answer us.

"York Regional Police threaten rabbi's role as chaplain over Pamela Geller speech," by Terry Davidson for the Toronto Sun, May 1 (thanks to Pamela Geller):

TORONTO - York Regional Police threatened to remove a rabbi as one of the force’s chaplains if he hosted a controversial anti-Islamist speaker at his Thornhill synagogue.

Insp. Ricky Veerappan, of the force’s diversity, equity and inclusion bureau, confirmed he and officers from the service’s hate crimes unit met with Rabbi Mendel Kaplan of the Chabad Flamingo Synagogue on Tuesday.

They expressed concern about an upcoming talk to be given by Pamela Geller, a vocal critic of radical Islam. She protested past plans to build a mosque near Ground Zero in New York City, and has posted anti-Jihad messages in that city’s subway system.

Subsequent to his meeting with police, Kaplan cancelled Geller’s May 13 talk, which was sponsored by the Jewish Defence League (JDL) — a hard-line advocacy group that had rented space in Kaplan’s synagogue for the event.

“I think the police are turning a blind eye to who they should be keeping an eye on,” said the JDL’s Meir Weinstein, referring to radical Islamists. Weinstein said another location will be chosen for Geller’s appearance.

Veerappan said he told Kaplan that Geller’s speech “would not be endorsed by York Regional Police” and that the rabbi’s role as a force chaplain would be thrown into question if he were to permit the event.

“If he did (host Geller), then we’d have to reassess our relationship with (Kaplan),” Veerappan said. “We serve the needs of the entire community. Some of the stuff that Ms. Geller speaks about runs contrary to the values of York Regional Police and the work we do in engaging our communities.”

Veerappan said a member of York Region's Muslim community, whom he wouldn’t identify, brought Geller’s scheduled talk to the attention of police.

York Regional Police enlist eight chaplains of different faiths to counsel police officers and their families. Among them is a Muslim chaplain, Imam Abdul Hai Patel.

A Geller speech scheduled for early April at the Great Neck Synagogue in Long Island, N.Y., was also cancelled.

In March, the University of Toronto hosted controversial Muslim lecturer Tariq Ramadan, who has also spoken in Toronto at the annual Islamic faith conference, Reviving the Islamic Spirit. In October, Pakistani politician Imran Khan, a controversial critic of the U.S. war on terror, spoke in Brampton. Leila Khaled, a Palestinian revolutionary from the 1970s, is set speak at University of British Columbia on May 4.

More interfaith dialogue from the Religion of Peace. "Islamic radical threatens Catholic high school," by Robby Soave for The Daily Caller, April 24 (thanks to JMK):

Police are investigating an anonymous forum poster who praised Boston bombing suspects Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and later made a threat against a Catholic high school in Fairfax, Virginia.

The online poster goes by the handle “Prophet Muhammad” and has made several disturbing statements on the Fairfax Underground website in the last month. On Friday, he posted a threat against Paul VI Catholic High School:

“Inshallah, Paul VI High School will be the scene of another massacre. Allahu akbar!”

“Inshallah” is an Arabic phrase that means “God willing.” “Allahu akbar” means “God is the greatest.” Both sayings are commonly associated with the Islamic faith.

The Diocese of Arlington, which oversees the high school, took the threat seriously. Police searched school grounds over the weekend using bomb-sniffing dogs, according to a spokesperson for the diocese.

“No threat was discovered,” said Michael J. Donohue, director of communications for the diocese, in an interview with The Daily Caller News Foundation.

The online poster had already caught the attention of police by writing threatening statements concerning law enforcement officers. Police are trying to track the origins of the comments....

No one who stands against the jihad and Islamic supremacism goes untargeted. "Turkey Lawyer In Christians Killing Case Facing Death Threats," from BosNewsLife, April 12 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):

ISTANBUL, TURKEY (BosNewsLife)-- A lawyer supporting relatives of three Christians killed in southeastern Turkey remained in life danger Friday, April 12, after receiving death threats, rights activists said.

Erdal Dogan, a human rights defender, has played a key role in the trial against those suspected of murdering Turkish citizens Necati Aydin and Ugur Yuksel and Tillman Geske, a German citizen.

They were tortured and killed April 18, 2007, at the offices of Zirve Publishing House, a Christian publisher in Malatya, by five young Muslims, according to investigators.

The Norwegian Helsinki Committee (NHC) Freedom of Belief Initiative urged Turkish authorities "to take all necessary measures to provide protection and ensure the safety of Mr Dogan" after one of the defendants in the trial, Varol Bulent Aral, allegedly threatened him during a hearing last month.

“This is not the first threat I have received as a result of this case. But this one is significantly different from the other ones and seemed to be an imminent danger,” the lawyer reportedly said about the March 8 hearing....

Worth killing for

Can you imagine trying to murder this woman because of this photo? Islamic supremacist rage and death threats come to Canada -- but remember, it's only "hate" if you disapprove of the Muslim intimidation and thuggery. "Controversial conversation continues due to cultural art," by Taylor Rocca for The Omega, April 11:

Unfamiliar pill bottles have become all too familiar to Sooraya Graham. Anti-depressants and anxiety medication have found a home in her life where they were previously unwelcome and unneeded.

Graham sits at home, wondering what she ever did to deserve such a fate.

Kamloops, the city she once called home, is now just a memory. While Graham wishes it were a more distant one, this memory remains very much at the forefront of her life. Living more than 800 kilometres from Kamloops is enough to remind her on a daily basis. Citing safety reasons, Graham requested her specific location not be revealed.

Apart from being uprooted and reliant on medications just to get by, Graham is also slowly giving up her religion, that until the past year, was an integral part of her.

All of this is a direct result of one innocent but provocative piece of artwork.

In March 2012¸Graham went through one of the most trying experiences any budding artist can experience.

Graham — a Canadian Muslim — was, at the time, a fourth-year fine arts student at Thompson Rivers University (TRU).

After composing a breath-taking photograph intended to foster a societal discussion about women — particularly Muslim women and the niqab, or face veil — Graham put her artwork on display as part of a class project for TRU fine arts professor Ernie Kroeger.

“I was trying to create a discussion point for Muslim women, for veiled women and to kind of just show light of how we are just normal women,” Graham said in a March 2012 interview in The Omega.

The reaction that followed was beyond anything she had ever imagined.

According to Graham, her artwork was stripped down from its display and taken away by then TRU World international student advisor, Sahar Alnakeb.

“They weren’t willing to give it to me if I was going to put it back on the wall,” Graham said in March 2012. “They were holding it hostage, I guess you could say.

“We’re always told that our voice is important and that we can say something with our art. It is shocking when someone tries to silence that.”

Alnakeb, also a female Muslim, left her business card on the wall in place of Graham’s work. She would eventually return the work to Graham, after which it would was put back on display. TRU also compensated Graham for damage to the piece.

Alnakeb would issue an apology to Graham via email.

“As an International Student Advisor I do apologize for removing your picture, at that time I was aiming to support my female Muslim students who have found it offensive [to] students but now I see it was a mistake. Sorry for the inconvenience,” was all that Alnakeb wrote to Graham on Wednesday, April 11, 2012.

The two never met in person after the incident.

Alnakeb refused to comment when approached for the purposes of this story.

While it might have been the end, it was only the beginning of the Sooraya Graham story.

A media frenzy would follow, with CBC and Huffington Post just two of the media outlets bringing national and international attention to the story.

“You know, that 15 minutes of fame, I wanted it to be literally 15 minutes and done,” Graham said. “I wanted the injustice to be solved because when Sahar did that, she pushed so many boundaries.”

After the story quieted down within the media, things did not follow suit in Graham’s life. She received death threats via email, hate messages were stuck on her car windshield and the front door to her home, the tail light on her car was broken and she was followed around campus by other Muslim students who disapproved of her art. She wasn’t comfortable going to, from or within school without travelling in a group.

“I didn’t feel safe on campus. I went to a counsellor and told her about it and I was stressed,” Graham said. “I tried to express it. But at the same time, I had no proof. They just said, ‘Oh, you’re just being paranoid.’”

According to Graham, she relayed these concerns to Doug Buis, fine arts advisor, as well as Duane Seibel, director of judicial and student affairs.

Buis was unavailable for comment. Seibel maintains Graham never presented these concerns to him.

“The office of judicial and student affairs has been in touch with Ms. Graham as recently as January 21 in preparation for the release of documents as part [of] the freedom of information request made by The Omega,” said Christopher Seguin, vice president advancement.

It wasn’t only on campus and online where the issue confronted Graham. She recalled an incident in Sahali Mall, where she said she was minding her own business picking up groceries and was confronted by a man who yelled at her in the middle of the grocery store.

Eventually, Graham’s parents would convince her to pick up and leave TRU and Kamloops. Not only was she leaving behind her city and her university, she was leaving behind four years of studies towards her fine arts degree, which she has still been unable to complete. Now she doesn’t even know if she wants to finish her degree and has come to the conclusion that she certainly does not want to pursue a career as an artist, as she once did.

“In our discussion, Ms. Graham had mentioned that she moved [to a new location] and that things had become uncomfortable for her in Kamloops but there was no mention of safety concerns,” Seguin said. “If Ms. Graham spoke to a faculty or other staff member, it was not brought to the attention of staff in student affairs, as we would have taken any safety concerns very seriously. It was our understanding that the decision to move related to other unrelated issues.”

Things did not improve upon leaving Kamloops.

“When I first moved here, I didn’t leave my house for the first 13 weeks,” Graham said.

“I’ve gone to mental health tons of times. I’m on antidepressants, which I’ve never been on. I have to take anxiety pills. It’s just over that one thing. It’s pretty messed up.”

As a direct result of the incident, Graham has found herself slowly losing touch with her religion, something that was once so important to her. She is no longer allowed to travel to places in the Muslim world like Saudi Arabia, Qatar or Dubai due to the danger she faces after her artwork and story circulated the international Muslim community.

“As a Muslim, what do I do about Mecca? That’s gone for me now. Permanently,” Graham said. “It’s an R.E.M. song. I’m losing my religion. It’s changed me. At this time, maybe it’s a good thing.”...

Muslim Women Against Femen claims that Femen's protest against the oppression of Muslim women tarred all Muslims as either oppressors or oppressed. Their Leftist allies even claim that Femen was being "racist." Note that they're using in this case exactly the same tactics that Islamic supremacists and Leftists use against Pamela Geller and me, and any foe of jihad and Islamic supremacism who dares to speak out against Sharia-justified oppression: that we're "painting all Muslims with a broad brush," that we're "racist," etc. No one who speaks out will be exempted from this treatment -- as the atheist writer Sam Harris recently found out when, after fastidiously distancing himself from all the supposedly "right-wing" and supposedly "fascist" and supposedly "Christian extremist" foes of jihad and Islamic supremacism, he found himself charged with exactly the same things they're charged with. No one, no one, will be spared.

"Muslim women who enable sisters' oppression," by Pamela Geller in WND, April 9:

A group of courageous women have come out against the oppression of women under Islamic law – and Muslim women are siding with their oppressors.

Last week I reported deep concern for a young Tunisian Muslima who had disappeared after she posted topless photos of herself to protest the Shariah oppression and subjugation she suffered as a Muslim girl. One controversial image showed the young Muslimah, Amina Tyler, smoking a cigarette, baring her breasts, with the message in Arabic written across her chest: “My body belongs to me, and is not the source of anyone’s honour.”

A Muslim cleric in moderate Tunisia called for her stoning death. Tunisian newspaper Kapitalis quoted preacher Almi Adel, who heads the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, saying: “The young lady should be punished according to Shariah, with 80 to 100 lashes, but [because of] the severity of the act she has committed, she deserves be stoned to death.” And: “Her act could bring about an epidemic. It could be contagious and give ideas to other women. It is therefore necessary to isolate [the incident]. I wish her to be healed.”

There were rumors that her family had her locked up in an asylum. Amina now fears for her life.

Such is the life of millions of Muslim girls who want to be free in Islamic society. Thankfully, Amina’s story went viral and gained international attention. One of the more outrageous reactions was from the Ukraine-based feminist group, Femen, which staged a Topless Jihad Day to stand in solidarity with Amina. It’s not what I would do, but I loved the moxie and in-your-face action to call worldwide attention to misogyny under Muslim rule. These feminist activists held “International Topless Jihad Day” in major European cities, including Berlin, Kiev and Paris. They painted their bodies with slogans such as “bare breasts against Islamism,” and they protested outside of mosques in various cities.

“We’re free, we’re naked, it’s our right, it’s our body, it’s our rules, and nobody can use religion, and some other holy things, to abuse women, to oppress them,” Femen member Alexandra Shevchenko said during a demonstration outside a Berlin mosque on a freezing day.

Finally, a well-publicized response to the crushing subjugation of women under the Shariah. But what happened next was … unforgivable. Reminiscent of the Muslim women who hold down their daughters for FGM (clitoridectomy), a group of Muslim women came out against the Amina Tyler supporters. “Muslim Women Against Femen” was formed to show that Femen “does not speak for all members of their community.”

The members of Muslim Women Against Femen encouraged other self-defeating supporters to participate in Muslimah Pride Day. They are posting pictures of themselves on social media, declaring that they are not oppressed. Well, bully for them. Are they really that selfish? Self-absorbed? Inhuman?

If they are not oppressed, then this campaign has nothing to do with them.

Millions of women under Muslim rule are oppressed like Amina Tyler and suffer unspeakable brutality under the honor violence code of Islam. What about them? How can these Muslimahs turn their back on their sisters?

“Muslim Women Against Femen” may very well choose to wear the niqab or burka or hijab, but that is their choice. They can wear purple hair for all we care. But what about the millions of Muslimahs who are forced to wear it? What about the millions of Muslimahs who are forced into marriage, beaten or honor-killed?

The utter disregard of these Muslimahs for the fate of their sisters in other lands is either a depraved lack of humanity or a strange Stockholm syndrome. The mission statement of these supremacists is: “We are making our voices heard and reclaiming our agency!” This exclusive self-reference, typically encountered among adolescents, accounts for the scorched-earth policy of Islamic supremacists. These Muslim women have no interest in the fate of Muslimahs victimized by the Shariah, because what happens to those unfortunate Muslimahs has no impact on the daily life or goals of Islamic imperialists.

Why are these Muslim women fighting those who wish to help Muslim women? Femen was not demanding Muslimahs remove their cloth coffins or head pieces. They were trying to help the oppressed.

Here’s the thing – this whole “Muslim Women Against Femen” is based on a false premise. Nobody is stopping these girls and women from wearing head and body coverings. But what about women who don’t have the liberty to choose? That’s the point.

This isn't surprising, given the state of the world today. No one has the guts to stand up to Islamic supremacists. No one.

Pamela Geller has the story:

The British are enforcing Islamic law. If you read this account without knowing it was the UK, you would be inclned to think that this was Cairo or Islamabad. This is sharia harassment of infidels who refuse to submit. Tommy Robinson, the UK's most effective counter-jihad leader and my colleague on the SION President's Council, was arrested when armed Muslims came to his house and terrorized his family:

Armed Islamic Supremacists Attempt to Terrorize Englishman’s Family At His Home – Police Arrest Englishman Posted on April 10, 2013 by Zilla

On Monday night, an armed mob of islamic supremacist thugs showed up at the home of Tommy Robinson in an attempt to terrorize him and his family. British police showed up on the scene and without even bothering to search or question the armed mob of islamic supremacist thugs, they arrested their intended victim.

Zilla has the whole thing, tweets and all, here.

They will get their way one way or another. They will smear, defame and lie about their foes. They will intimidate those who support those foes until they drop their support. And if you keep crossing them, they will break your bones and try to kill you.

"Islamists storm Tunisian school after it bars veiled student," by Tarek Amara for Reuters, April 10 (thanks to Twostellas):

TUNIS (Reuters) - Radical Muslims burst into a Tunisian school on Wednesday and assaulted its chief after he barred entry to a teenage girl wearing a face veil, or niqab, teachers said, an incident that underlined rising Islamist-secularist tensions.

Since secular dictator Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali was toppled in the first "Arab Spring" uprising two years ago, Tunisia has seen mounting strife between secularists who long held power and Islamists whose influence is increasing.

Moderate Ennahda Islamists who won a free election now head the Tunis government. But hardline Salafists are pushing for Islam to be made the law of the land, raising secularist fears for a loss of individual freedoms, women's rights and democracy.

Murad Ben Hamouda of the teachers' union at Manzel Bouzelfa secondary school said Salafists stormed into the compound, smashed a few cars and "tried to kill the director for refusing the entry of a schoolgirl dressed in niqab into the classroom".

School superintendent Abdelwahed Sentati was beaten with sticks and stones, suffering several broken bones, Hamouda said, and the assailants then fled. There have been no arrests, and interior ministry police had no immediate comment....

After fierce and extended debate, the education ministry decided last year to preserve a classroom ban on women wearing the full face veil of strict Muslims....

In another sign of growing Islamist-secularist friction, Habib Kozdhogli, head of the arts faculty at Tunis university, will go on trial later this month charged with slapping a veiled student who insisted on entering a class last year.

Last year, hundreds of Islamists demanding segregated school classes and the right of women to wear full-face veils at university clashed with secular students near Tunis.

Tunisian police blamed Salafists for the assassination of secular opposition politician Chokri Belaid on February 6, which provoked the biggest street protests in Tunisia since the overthrow of Ben Ali in January 2011.

Salafists prevented concerts and plays from being staged in several Tunisian cities last year, declaring that they violated Islamic principles. Hardline Islamists also ransacked the U.S. Embassy in September during worldwide Muslim protests over an Internet video they said insulted the Prophet Mohammed.

The precedent that was set by the cancellation of my talk in March in Worcester, Massachusetts, under pressure from the Leftist media and Islamic supremacists, and other cancellations in the past under similar pressure, has been reinforced once again: the Great Neck Synagogue on Long Island has caved in to heavy pressure from the same thuggish foes of the freedom of speech, and has cancelled a Pamela Geller speaking engagement that was scheduled for Sunday morning.

Synagogue officials have been subjected to an unrelenting barrage of defamation, lies and smears of Pamela Geller, and until tonight have stood firm -- and their statement is as noteworthy for what it does not say as for what it does:

As the notoriety and media exposure of the planned program this Sunday have increased, so has the legal liability and potential security exposure of our institution and it's [sic] member families. In an era of heightened security concerns it is irresponsible to jeopardize the safety of those who call Great Neck Synagogue home, especially our children, even at the risk of diverting attention from a potentially important voice in the ongoing debate. Accordingly, the Great Neck Synagogue Men's Club will no longer be sponsoring the appearance of Pamela Geller this coming Sunday, and no event will be taking place in our facility.

Note that they don't say "We finally realized that Geller was just as bad as they say" or some such. They say: "In an era of heightened security concerns it is irresponsible to jeopardize the safety of those who call Great Neck Synagogue home, especially our children, even at the risk of diverting attention from a potentially important voice in the ongoing debate." In other words, the Leftist and Islamic supremacist thugs made it clear that the synagogue would be in danger if the event went on.

And so the goons know: make threats, issue smears, and decent people will cave. It is a terrible precedent for the future of the freedom of speech, and for America.

Jihad Watch reader Gravenimage notes: "The attackers were recognized as 'militant Shi'ites.' Their main 'grievance'? At one newspaper, they complained that the paper had accused Shi'ite Cleric al Sarkhi of trying to dominate the 'Holy City' of Karbala. Well, of course! What is more likely to disabuse people of the notion that you are trying to dominated an area than to send armed goons after those who dare mention it?"

Indeed. But these Shi'ites have a grievance, and in the U.S., it is our cultural custom to satisfy Muslims who have grievances. A dedicated team of pro-jihad, pro-Islamic supremacist journalists, including Christiane Amanpour, Spencer Ackerman, Manya Brachear, Bob Smietana, Kari Huus, Dave Weigel, Michael Kruse, Eli Clifton, Alex Kane, Adam Serwer, Max Blumenthal and others, should relocate to Baghdad. Then Mahmoud al-Sarkhi and all other Islamic supremacist leaders could be assured of warmly favorable coverage.

"Gunmen raid 4 newspaper offices in Baghdad," by Qassim Abdul-Zahra and Diaa Hadid for the Associated Press, April 2 (thanks to Gravenimage):

BAGHDAD (AP) — Gunmen suspected of being Shiite militiamen burst into the offices of four independent newspapers in Baghdad, smashing their equipment, stabbing and beating employees, and even hurling one reporter from a roof in the most brazen attack against journalists in Iraq this year, said staff and officials on Tuesday.

Two editors said they believed their assailants were members of a Shiite militia, saying the raids came after their newspapers published stories criticizing their hardline cleric-leader. It underscored the dangers facing the media in Iraq, one of the most dangerous places in the world for reporters.

"The message of the assailants was to shut mouths," said Bassam al-Sheikh, editor of one of the attacked newspapers, Al-Dustour. "This is a dangerous precedent."

A government spokesman condemned the attacks.

Some 50 assailants participated in Monday's attacks, according to a notice left on one of the newspaper's websites and according to al-Sheikh and Ali al-Daraji, the editor of another of the newspapers, Al-Mustaqila.

It appeared to have been sparked when the Baghdad-based dailies published stories saying that a Shiite group lead [sic] by cleric Mahmoud al-Sarkhi was trying to dominate the holy city of Karbala.

The city, 90 kilometers (55 miles) south of Baghdad, is home to two revered Shiite shrines. In the last decade it has witnessed power struggles between Shiite militias.

Al-Sarkhi's group was not available for comment.

A group of men initially entered the office of the small Al-Parliman newspaper, demanding to meet the editor, the paper said in a statement posted on its website.

The men identified themselves as loyalists of al-Sarkhi and demanded to know why they published a report saying their leader was trying to take over communal Friday prayers at one of the holy shrines of Karbala.

The editor tried to mollify them, saying he believed the report was even-handed, the statement said.

It didn't satisfy the men.

As they left the editor's office, they appeared to signal to another group of men waiting outside. They smashed through the building's front door, shattering windows as they went through the building, Al-Parliman said.

They attacked reporters with batons, shoved computers onto the floor and tried to smash furniture, said the statement. They dragged one reporter to the building's roof and hurled him off, breaking both his legs, it said.

Editors al-Sheikh and al-Daraji offered similar accounts, except, they noted, the assailants also attacked them with knives.

Television footage following the attack on the Al-Mustaqila office showed computers strewn on the floor, the windows smashed. "The newspaper of lies, baseless claims and lies," was scrawled on a wall.

"It was so horrifying that we could not do anything," al-Daraji told The Associated Press.

A health official said five newspaper staffers were hospitalized, four with stab wounds. Al-Parliman said the fifth person was their staffer, pushed from the building's roof.

The health official spoke anonymously because he wasn't authorized to speak to the media.

Al-Sheikh said he also recognized the attackers as militant Shiites belonging to al-Sarkhi's group. Al-Daraji said they had run a similar story, but also published a response from the Shiite cleric's office.

It was not immediately possible to obtain comment from the fourth newspaper attacked, Al-Nas.

The four newspapers are considered modestly sized. The largest, al-Dustour, claims a run of 12,000 copies daily.

In response to the attacks Tuesday, blue-khaki clad police set up checkpoints through the middle-class Karradeh neighborhood, snarling traffic.

Iraq is ranked among the most dangerous places in the world for journalists, according to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists. At least 150 reporters and 54 support workers were killed in Iraq from the start of the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003 to the pullout of foreign troops in December 2011.

They did not have immediately updated figures for 2012.

Such attacks have been less common of late. The last major attack on reporters was the slaying of a television presenter Ghazwan Anas in July 2012, who worked for a channel in the predominantly Sunni northern city of Mosul.

The New York-based group said in a March statement that Iraq has never charged a person for killing a reporter. The "impunity rate . is the worst in the world. It is 100 percent," the statement said. "Even today, as Iraq has moved beyond conflict, authorities have shown no interest in investigating these murders."

Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Moussawi condemned the attack. "Security forces have taken action and some of the (assailants) have been arrested and we are interrogating them," he said.

Al-Parliman said in its statement that it couldn't issue news Tuesday, because the assailants had smashed all its equipment....

Pamela Geller has the story:

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Islamic supremacist and leftist goons have launched a campaign to intimidate the fundraising site Indiegogo into taking down our AFDI fundraising campaign for our jihad truth ads.

They're asking their fellow fascists to write to Indiegogo here to complain about their hosting our campaign. So please use that same link to implore Indiegogo not to give in to pressure from Hamas-tied Islamic supremacists. Remind them that Hamas-CAIR's Zahra Billoo, who has urged people to tweet complaints about our truth campaign to @indiegogo, has advised Muslims to shun law enforcement and called U.S. troops “terrorists.”

True to form, the anti-freedom thugs have deliberately launched this campaign just as Pesach is about to begin -- when they know that many freedom fighters will be busy with life.

Don't let them get a jump on the lovers of freedom. Again: write to Indiegogo here and tweet to @indiegogo thanking them for allowing voices of freedom to use their service.

I've written several times lately about how today's politically correct culture rewards mediocrities who would never have gotten any notice had they not mouthed the proper opinions and thereby won the approval of the elites. Chief among these is the Islamic supremacist Reza Aslan, who is one of the most prominent, popular and respected Muslim spokesmen on the scene, but has recently been unmasked as a Board member of a front group for Iran's bloody Islamic regime. Aslan is also a Left-fascist who has called for obstruction of our freedom of speech by means of vandalism of our pro-freedom ads.

Aslan employs as his gunsel the dull-witted and violent-minded enemy of freedom Nathan Lean, who has threatened me repeatedly, repeats what he knows to be falsehoods about my record, and has been arrested for shouting obscenities at a city council meeting. Lean has also called on hackers to destroy this site.

In a sane world, people like Reza Aslan and Nathan Lean would be regarded as the vile dregs of humanity that they obviously are, and all free people would regard them with contempt and disdain. In the real world, however, Lean gets space in the Los Angeles Times and New York Daily News to defame me and my colleagues, and to call for restriction of our freedom of speech. Nathan Lean is a stalker who is clearly obsessed and unhinged; but instead of a straitjacket, he gets space in the mainstream media.

"EXPOSED: Aslan Media Editor-In-Chief Nathan Lean is 'Garibaldi' of Loonwatch," from Logan's Warning, March 13:

One of the ugliest weapons in the Islamic supremacist arsenal in the U.S. is Loonwatch, a site dedicated to smearing and defaming everyone who opposes the jihad agenda. The site’s authors carefully guard their anonymity, probably to guard against defamation suits from their targets. But one of their chief writers, “Garibaldi,” has recently outed himself as none other than Nathan Lean, editor-in-chief of Aslan Media and author of a book entitled “The Islamophobia Industry,” which attempts to convince Americans that concern about jihad is the result of fiendish “Islamophobes,” not of 20,000 jihadattacks since 9/11.

Evidence 1:
Recently in writing about Mr. Spencer, Garibaldi wrote this in a comment on his own article about Spencer’s private life: 

GaribaldiOfLoonwatch Mod Leftwing_Muslim_Alliance • 13 days ago

He is not celibate, he’s married. In the course of digging on the internet, I also learned the name of his wife and children, though that isn’t really germane to the discussion so I won’t advertise it.

Who else has dug on the Internet and found the names of Mr. Spencer’s wife and children? Nathan Lean. Spencer has written of Lean: http://www.jihadwatch.org/2012/08/nigeria-jihadists-threaten-countrys-top-spies-by-publishing-their-home-addresses-and-names-of-family.html

Four months after that, he sent Mr. Spencer an email calling him a “dumb fuck” and adding “But, having a look at this, I kind of pity you,” which was followed by a link containing a photo of a woman in the same city. The woman has the same surname Spencer; apparently Lean thought she was his wife.

(Click on image to enlarge, the photo in question has been deleted.)

Evidence 2:

Garibaldi wrote of Mr. Spencer in a comment: 

But the shaggy walrus beard and so forth indicates its him.

Reza Aslan said to Mr. Spencer: http://www.jihadwatch.org/2010/11/the-incredible-reza-aslan-automated-insult-generator.html

I told you. I’m into women not walruses.

Nathan Lean works for Aslan.

Evidence 3:
Garibaldi interviewed Aslan for Loonwatch. Most of the interview was made up of nasty ad hominem attacks on Mr. Spencer: http://www.loonwatch.com/2011/11/exclusive-loonwatch-interview-with-reza-aslan/

Evidence 4:
Jonathan Schanzer wrote a scathing review of Lean’s book for the Wall Street Journal. Loonwatch published a petulant and defensive response piece viciously attacking Schanzer. Who wrote it? Garibaldi.
http://www.loonwatch.com/2013/01/bush-era-neo-con-schmuck-jonathan-schanzer-shills-for-nasty-islamophobia-movement/

Evidence 5:
Nathan Lean has frequently called for opponents of jihad terror to be denied free speech rights:
http://www.jihadwatch.org/2013/01/editor-in-chief-of-moderate-aslan-media-endorses-cyber-terrorism.html
http://www.jihadwatch.org/2012/08/nathan-lean-is-a-thug.html

Garibaldi wrote a piece at Loonwatch celebrating the vandalism of AFDI’s anti-jihad ads:
http://www.loonwatch.com/2012/09/mona-el-tahawy-and-spray-painting-pamela-gellers-hate-ads/

Reza Aslan also called for that vandalism: http://www.jihadwatch.org/2012/09/reza-aslan-calls-for-fascist-vandalism-of-afdi-pro-freedom-ads.html

Nathan Lean, psychotic stalker and hate-filled traitor to America.

Why we don't see more genuine Muslim reformers, part 334,392. Tiny Minority of Extremists Update: "Volunteer who Opposed Dutch Hitler Admirers in Hiding," from Arutz Sheva, March 11 (thanks to Anne Crockett):

The Dutch daily NRC writes that Mehmet Sahin, a doctoral student, has had to go into hiding with his family. The Mayor of Arnhem, Pauline Krikke, advised him to do so after he received death threats. Sahin is a volunteer who tries to re-educate street youths in Arnhem.

A few weeks ago, he interviewed several Dutch-Turkish youngsters on the Nederland 2 TV station. They said that they admired Hitler and the Holocaust and regretted that Hitler had not finished exterminating the Jews. Sahin reprimanded them. Apparently, people in the neighborhood where he lives are collecting signatures to make Sahin leave the area. The municipality has announced that the prosecution is investigating the matter....

Last summer, a Pakistani Muslim cleric said that polio vaccinations were un-Islamic. More recently, the Taliban was murdering people who were administering the polio vaccine in Pakistan. And the quest for Islamic purity continues.

"Fight against polio: Tribesmen fined by militants for vaccinating their children
By Our Correspondent," from Asia News, March 9:

Families which vaccinated their children against polio in Bara, Khyber Agency, have reportedly been fined and threatened by militants.

Salman Afridi*, a resident of Bachi Nehar in Sipah, Bara, said around 20 families in Speen Qabar and Bachi Nehar, Sipah vaccinated their children against polio.

After the vaccination team left the area on Thursday evening, militants of banned outfit Lashkar-e-Islam (LI) arrived in four vehicles and surrounded the area, said Salman. They then took parents of the immunised children to a ground and trussed them up, he added.

According to Salman, a local LI commander, identified as Nazar had warned the tribesmen not to vaccinate their children. Approximately 20 people were tied by Nazar, who demanded Rs20,000 be paid for their release.

Shahbaz Khan Afridi* from Speen Qabar, Sipah said those who paid the fine were released with a warning to refrain from further immunisation, which was deemed “a conspiracy against Islam by infidels”.

Shahbaz said he borrowed the amount to pay for his safe release. “I don’t know where the security and political administration officials were when we were tied and beaten up,” he complained....

In other words, the new pope must not speak the truth about jihad and Islamic supremacism -- or else. The papacy of Benedict XVI offered numerous illustrations of this. "Muslims Seek Dialogue With Next Pope," by Harvey Morris for the New York Times, March 1:

LONDON — As the Catholic Church’s cardinal electors gather at the Vatican to choose a new pope, Muslim leaders are urging a revival of the often troubled dialogue between the two faiths.

During the papacy of Benedict XVI, relations between the world’s two largest religions were overshadowed by remarks he made in 2006 that were widely condemned as an attack on Islam.

Not by rampant, worldwide Muslim persecution of Christians. No, that didn't hurt relations at all. Only Benedict's remarks were at fault.

In a speech at Regensburg University in his native Germany, Benedict quoted a 14th-century Byzantine emperor as saying, “Show me just what Muhammad brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached.”

In the face of protests from the Muslim world, the Vatican said the pope’s remarks had been misinterpreted and that he “deeply regretted” that the speech “sounded offensive to the sensibility of Muslim believers.”

For many in the Muslim world, however, the damage was done and the perception persisted that Benedict was hostile to Islam.

Juan Cole, a U.S. commentator on the Middle East, has suggested that although the pope backed down on some of his positions, “Pope Benedict roiled those relationships with needlessly provocative and sometimes offensive statements about Islam and Muslims.”

Juan Cole, who like Reza Aslan is on the Board of the Iranian mullah-linked National Iranian American Council, doesn't say anything about how Muslims may have "roiled those relationships" with "needlessly provocative" and violent attacks on Christians in Pakistan, Egypt, Iraq, Nigeria, and elsewhere. No, for him, as for all Leftist dhimmi analysts, the burden is always on the non-Muslim party to change what it says and does in order to accommodate Islam and Muslims. Muslims have no responsibility whatsoever to change their behavior to improve relationships with Christians.

In this, Cole and others like him betray an unconscious ethnocentrism that contradicts all their multicultural protestations: they view only non-Muslim Westerners as capable of reasoned action and therefore as bearing responsibility for their actions. Muslims, in their view, are helpless, passive reactors to what non-Muslims do, and are unable to control their actions and thus have no responsibility for them or need to change their behavior.

Despite the Vatican’s efforts to renew the interfaith dialogue by hosting a meeting with Muslim scholars, hostilities resumed in 2011 when the pope condemned alleged discrimination against Egypt’s Coptic Christians in the wake of a church bombing in Alexandria.

Al Azhar University in Cairo, the center of Islamic learning, froze relations with the Vatican in protest.

Muslim persecution of the Egyptian Christians is widespread and increasing, but Al Azhar was infuriated not with that persecution, but with the Pope's daring to notice it. He should have heeded the advice Muhammad Atta gave to the passengers on the plane he hijacked on September 11, 2001: "Stay quiet and you'll be OK." Except they weren't.

Following the pope’s decision to step down, Mahmud Azab, an adviser on interfaith dialogue to the head of Al Azhar, said, “The resumption of ties with the Vatican hinges on the new atmosphere created by the new pope. The initiative is now in the Vatican’s hands.”

Mahmoud Ashour, a senior Al Azhar cleric, insisted that “the new pope must not attack Islam,” according to remarks quoted by Agence France-Presse, the French news agency, and said the two religions should “complete one another, rather than compete.”...

Reem Nasr, writing at the policy debate Web site, Policymic, this week offered Benedict’s successor a five-point program to bridge the Catholic and Muslim worlds.

These included mutual respect, more papal contacts with Muslim leaders and a greater focus on what the religions had in common.

“There has been a long history of mistrust that can be overcome,” she wrote. “No one should give up just yet.”

Indeed not.

The worst aspect of this is the readiness of so many in the mainstream media to kowtow to this thuggery and practice Sharia self-censorship. Some Western "journalists" rush to accommodate this Muslim rage and hate by joining the Islamic supremacists in calling for restrictions on the freedom of speech; here are three recent examples from mainstream media enemies of the freedom of speech: Eric Posner, Sarah Chayes, and Nathan Lean.

"Al Qaeda Mag Publishes 'Wanted: Dead or Alive' List," from the Weekly Standard, March 1 (thanks to Pamela Geller):

"Yes We Can: A Bullet A Day Keeps The Infidel Away."

The latest edition of the al Qaeda English-language magazine Inspire is out today. A digital copy of the magazine, provided by MEMRI (the Washington D.C. based Middle East Media Research Institute), shows a "Wanted: Dead or Alive" feature on page 10 of the new issue:

"Wanted: Dead or Alive for Crimes Against Islam," the page reads. The list includes: Molly Norris, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Flemming Rose, Morris Swadiq, Salman Rushdie, Girt Wilders [sic], Lars Vilks, Stephane Charbonnie, Carsten Luste, Terry Jones, and Kurt Westergaard.

No further reason is provided to explain why these folks were singled out for the hit list, though many are notable critics of radical Islam.

"Yes We Can," the image reads. "A Bullet A Day Keeps the Infidel Away."

"Defend Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him," the image reads.

Why we don't see more genuine Muslim reformers, part 7432. An update on this story. "Suspected terrorist pleads guilty to threatening Dearborn attorney," by Niraj Warikoo for the Detroit Free Press, February 28 (thanks to Kenneth):

A suspected terrorist in Ireland pleaded guilty Wednesday to threatening a Dearborn attorney over the phone because he held an anti-terrorism rally in Detroit. And he's now to be extradited to the U.S. to face separate terrorism charges.

Ali Charaf Damache, a native of Algeria who lived in Ireland for several years, admitted to calling Dearborn attorney Majed Moughni in January 2010 after Moughni held an anti-terrorism rally outside the federal courthouse in Detroit during a hearing for the underwear bomber. Moughni, who is Muslim, wanted to send a message that Islam is against terrorism.

"I would put a bullet in your head ... when I catch you, you will pay," Damache told Moughni over the phone, according to a recording of the call. Moughni had testified via video conference from Detroit earlier in the trial, and was glad to hear of the guilty plea.

"I'm pretty relieved," Moughni said. "We shouldn't be afraid of those who try to silence people who stand up for freedom."...

Ain't that the truth.

The Roman Catholic Bishop of Worcester, Massachusetts, Robert McManus, is so avid for "dialogue" with Muslims that he barred me from speaking at an upcoming conference there, lest by telling unpleasant truths I hurt that "dialogue." Here, some self-described "Soldier off [sic] Allah" demonstrate their own understanding of "Catholic-Muslim dialogue": the Muslims talk, the Christians shut up and listen.

This hyper-PC CTV News story never mentions that the hackers identified themselves as "Muslims, Soldiers of Allah" (actually "Muslims, Soldier off Allah"), but they included a photo (above) that gave away their dhimmi obfuscation.

"Ottawa Catholic School Board hacked by anti-cupid," from CTV News, February 13 (thanks to Blazing Cat Fur):

A hacker took over the Ottawa Catholic School Board's website to rant about Valentine's day.

People visiting the Ottawa Catholic School Board's website, this morning, got an unromantic eyeful.

The website was hacked by someone using the name xCrotz.

The page shows a crossed-out Valentine’s gift and a rant against the romantic day.

The school board took down the website shortly after saying it was down for maintenance....

Muslim thugs are roaming the streets of London, enforcing Sharia by means of threats and intimidation -- harassing people drinking alcohol and uncovered women. After the initial story broke, Muslim groups hastened to disavow the thugs (while doing nothing to stop them) and police promised to put them out of commission. This latest video taunts the police for their inability to do so.

An update on this story. "'Christianity can go to hell' says NEW Muslim Patrol video," from The Commentator, February 4 (thanks to Raheem):

Having been exposed, here on The Commentator in January, the group responsible for the now infamous 'Muslim Patrol' videos has been subject to police action, resulting in five arrests last week.

Since then, however, a seventh 'Muslim Patrol' video has come to light (see [above]).

Though it is not possible to say with certainty that the newest video was recorded after recent media and police interest, the video features a number of comments which would suggest that the latest clip is indeed a reaction to the public backlash:

"Those people attacking Muslim Patrol because of our activities against Western society are clearly misguided away from the understanding of worship of Allah", remarks one particpant [sic].

"Islam is here in London, Mr. David Cameron, Mr. police officer, whether you like it or not. We are commanding good and forbidding evil on this Saturday night, while the police, they try to get us through the media", says another.

Also notable is a subtle difference in style. Specifically, there is less evidence of intimidation and harassment of citizens, and more time dedicated to issuing threats/stated intentions. It should also be noted that the video is replete with firearm and explosive sound-effects.

One anonymous participant, cloaked in a keffiyeh, aggressively suggests,

"The khuffar [sic], you can go to hell; this is not a Christian country. Christianity, you can go to hell."

Before boasting:

"We are in East London, we are in South London, we are in North London... the police cannot stop us, the khuffar [sic] cannot stop us. We are coming to implement Islam immediately."

He continues: "anyone who tries to stop us, we will take their alcohol, we will tell the women to cover up, and we will implement Islam upon your own necks [sic] David Cameron."