Islamism: Dirty little secrets

I thought this rather provides a clarity to the idea of 'Islamism'. A good read, and extremely provoking to most Muslims at forums around the 'net.

Islamism: Dirty little secrets
From: The Toronto Sun

In the latter half of the 20th century, the struggle for Islam's soul turned most bloody and relentlessly continues that way. The seeds for this were sown in the first half of the last century, when most Arab-Muslim lands were under European rule. It was then that many Muslim enthusiasts for reconciling traditional Islam with the scientific and democratic values of the modern world embraced the doctrines of nationalism in their most reactionary form, as found in post-1914 Germany.

The result reduced Islam into a nationalist identity for Arabs and Muslims. Many Muslim fundamentalists later incorporated this reactionary nationalism for their own purpose of constructing totalitarian states. The pernicious effect of such a fusion of nationalism with religion was to empty Islam of its transcendent message of faith in a supreme God as the common ground of unity among all people.

In India, for instance, Islamic nationalism generated the whirlwind of communal carnage in the 1947 partition of the subcontinent. Wounds of that bloody division remain today. But it was in the Middle East where nationalism fused with Islam into a political ideology - Islamism - whose effects have brought ruin to the region - and beyond.

The dirty secret apologists for this tragedy in North America and elsewhere refuse to address is how Muslims have suffered as a result of Islamism, have been driven from their homes, tortured and killed across the Arab-Muslim world. There has been no systematic collection of this horrible data over the past five decades, but the numbers run into millions.

It matters little within the larger context of the struggle for Islam's soul whether Muslims have been primarily the victims of tyrannical authority in Muslim majority states, or of Islamists waging battles against corrupt power elites. No one in the Arab-Muslim world during this period exceeded the bloody-mindedness of Iraq's fallen despot, Saddam Hussein, who blended a Nazi-type nationalism with his version of Islamism into a sheer hell for Iraqis.

The world also witnessed many Islamists and Muslim apologists rallying to Saddam's defence with contorted arguments of anti-imperialism in all of its variations. The other dirty secret is the continuing victimization of Palestinians by many of their fellow Arabs, and of their being used as pawns in the war of Islamists against Jews and Israel.

Neither Islam, nor Muslims, have any quarrel with Jews and Israel. The conflict between Palestinian Arabs and Israelis was, and remains, a nationalist contest over land. This contest could have been avoided, or settled at any time since the full reality of the Holocaust became known, if Arab Muslims in a position to lead had chosen to live by the principles of Islam.

Instead, they opted for the German model of nationalism in opposing Jewish demands for a homeland in historic Palestine. Amin al-Husayni, the Mufti of Jerusalem, was the leader of the Palestinians during the years between the world wars of the last century. His embrace of the German fuehrer, Adolf Hitler, during World War II was not a whimsical choice.

Islamists deliberately incorporated the racist doctrine of the Nazis into their thinking and politics, and brazenly propagated anti-Semitic literature as a tool in their war against the Jews and Israel. Consequently, the damage Islamists have done to the very legitimate grievances of Palestinians is immense.

Moreover, many Muslims, in supporting Palestinian rights without repudiating the rabid anti-Semitism of the Islamists, have contributed to the undermining of Islam as a religion of peace and coexistence and sabotaged their moral authority to speak of justice in Palestine, or elsewhere.

This internal conflict raging among Muslims during the past 50 years was bound to spill over into the outside world with devastating effects on 9/11.

Now America has become involved in the heart of the Arab-Muslim world as never before. Ironically, or by providential design, the future of Islam and of Muslims if they are to be free of the fanaticism of the Islamists, is bound to America's success in this war on terrorism.

(Salim Mansur is a professor of political science at the University of Western Ontario. )


http://www.paktoday.com/mansur20.htm

I noticed that the people at Jihad Watch picked it up as well.

More on the Death of Slobodan Milosevic

from Mary Mostert, who has been investigating the ICTY and this trial from the beginning, comes this article entitled:

The convenient death of Slobodan Milosevic

Slobodan Milosevic, the last communist head of state for the former Yugoslavia, after four years of a trial conducted by the ICTY (International Criminal Tribunal for Yugoslavia), died in his cell at the Hague, unattended and after much debate with his captors over his health problems. His trial for his alleged crimes has been going on for four years and was supposed to be coming to an end in a matter of weeks.

http://www.renewamerica.us/columns/mostert/060314

see also my article on this issue here

Thoughts on the upcoming Israeli elections

Aaron Lerner says simply what seems so simple that it shouldn't even need to be said; and yet, Olmert is poised to win in the coming elections.

Weekly Commentary: Thinking through retreat

Aaron Lerner Date: 23 March 2006

What happens if Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert succeeds next week in getting enough votes to put together a stable "retreat coalition"?

According to Olmert, once Israel determines that the absence of a Palestinian partner renders the Roadmap irrelevant (a determination that can be made in 60 seconds) his team would negotiate and implement an Israeli retreat from most of the West Bank.

These talks would take place both within Israeli society and with various foreign countries out of an interest in imbuing the retreat line international recognition.

Mr. Olmert has been careful not to specify where the retreat lines will be but has indicated that some major settlement blocs would be retained by Israel.

This is not the first time that the Israeli public has been assured that the reward for retreat would be international recognition of the "settlement blocs."

The Sharon team claimed that the major pay back for retreat from the Gaza Strip was American recognition of Israel's right to retain the "settlement blocs" when in fact the "reward" was only the suggestion by the United States that, contrary to the Palestinian position, those blocs were legitimate negotiating chips that could be expected to have some value in final status talks.

As a legitimate negotiating chip, for example, the United States might expect Israel to be able to trade them, for Ramat Eshkol, French Hill and other Jewish neighborhood beyond the Green Line in Jerusalem.

But, as America made clear repeatedly, they made these observations as kibitzers on the sideline - not negotiators.

To repeat: the "reward" for retreating from Gaza was not an American commitment to support Israel's retention of the major settlement blocs but instead only the remark from the sidelines that America thinks Israel might be able to get something in return for relinquishing them to the Palestinians - but that it is ultimately up to the Palestinians to decide.

While the Sharon team insisted that this wasn't the case, the route of the separation fence serves as a clear indication that they were well aware of the true meaning of the American remarks.

Here was Prime Minister Ariel Sharon at the very apogee of world support thanks to his retreat plan and he couldn't put the Ariel bloc within the fence.

What then can be expected to be the dynamics of the "retreat talks"?

Internally, the Olmert team would negotiate with either official or unofficial representatives of the Israeli West Bank communities (there are some who joined the Kadima Party in the expectation that this would somehow put them in a more effective negotiating position) to reach ostensibly "consensus" retreat lines.

The area within these retreat lines would then be whittled down as the Olmert team sought foreign recognition of the retreat with each interlocutor seeking to take credit for inducing Israel to deepen its retreat even further both geographically and functionally.

Some retreat proponents claim that Israel would bulldoze the communities beyond the fence but still retain its military presence but the issue of military presence is exactly the kind of functional question that Israel would be pressed to yield on as it seeks foreign support for the retreat.

By the same token, one can expect considerable pressure on Israel to yield on such issues as the establishment of some kind of land link between the West Bank and Jordan (following the Rafah model that stripped Israel of control) and even possibly an air corridor.

But would this then ultimately mean retreating to internationally recognized final borders?

Hardly.

At best it means retreating to lines that would ultimately serve as the opening point for Arab-Israeli final status talks.

There is, of course, another element in the picture. The Hamas dominated PA.

The goal of the Olmert retreat is ostensibly to reduce Israeli casualties by retreating from areas where there is considerable "friction".

And since the contours of the Olmert retreat would also be driven by "friction avoidance" it follows that the Palestinians would do everything in their power to apply "friction" to induce greater withdrawals.

Put simply: the Olmert team would reward Palestinian terror with ever deeper retreats.

A vote for Kadima isn't a vote over nuance. It isn't a vote over personalities. A vote for Kadima is a vote for retreat to temporary lines that will only invite Palestinian terror to induce further retreats.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dr. Aaron Lerner, Director IMRA (Independent Media Review & Analysis)
(Mail POB 982 Kfar Sava)
Tel 972-9-7604719/Fax 972-3-7255730
INTERNET ADDRESS: imra@netvision.net.il
Website: http://www.imra.org.il
--------------------------------------------
IMRA - Independent Media Review and Analysis
Website: www.imra.org.il

Duke 1, Harvard 0

This is an great article recommended by CAMERA, who called it 'an excellent analysis of the Walt-Mearsheimer report' ("The Israel Lobby and US Foreign Policy") by Best of the Web's James Taranto. I liked it particularly because the paragraph that Taranto analyzes so clearly epitomises contemporary "anti-Zionist" so-called "thinking", and because Taranto takes them to the cleaners in just a few sentences, lol.

Duke 1, Harvard 0

With Yale struggling to control the damage owing to its admission of an unrepentant onetime Talib as a student (John Fund has the latest), Harvard now finds itself in a similarly embarrassing situation. It's the sort of Ivy League rivalry that causes "prominent alumni" of third-tier Western universities to break into a slightly guilty smile. The New York Sun reports on the latest trouble in Cambridge:

A paper recently co-authored by the academic dean of Harvard's Kennedy School of Government about the allegedly far-reaching influence of an "Israel lobby" is winning praise from white supremacist David Duke.

The Palestine Liberation Organization mission to Washington is distributing the paper, which also is being hailed by a senior member of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist organization.

But the paper, "The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy," by the Kennedy School's Stephen Walt and John Mearsheimer of the University of Chicago, is meeting with a more critical reception from many of those it names as part of the lobby. The 83-page "working paper" claims a network of journalists, think tanks, lobbyists, and largely Jewish officials have seized the foreign policy debate and manipulated America to invade Iraq. Included in this network, the authors say, are the editors of the New York Times, the scholars at the Brookings Institution, students at Columbia, "pro-Israel" senior officials in the executive branch, and "neoconservative gentiles" including columnist George Will.

Duke, a former Louisiana state legislator and one-time Ku Klux Klan leader, called the paper "a great step forward," but he said he was "surprised" that the Kennedy School would publish the report.

Now of course, just because Duke endorses Walt and Mearsheimer doesn't mean they endorse him. Indeed, we suspect they're as mortified by this praise as Yale is by the criticism it has received over Sayed Rahmatullah Hashemi. Yet without ascribing to them any invidious motives, it seems fair to say that their views dovetail disturbingly with those of unquestioned anti-Semites.

Walt and Mearsheimer argue that "neither strategic nor moral arguments can account for America's support for Israel," and therefore the only possible explanation is "the unmatched power of the Israel Lobby." The premise is plainly false; the "Israel Lobby" in fact makes many strategic and moral arguments in its own favor. Walt and Mearsheimer merely disagree with them, and they spend the opening paragraphs of the paper explaining why.

We'll pass over their strategic arguments. We find them wrongheaded, but we will stipulate that one can in good faith take the position that the costs to the U.S. of supporting Israel outweigh the benefits.

Their rejection of the moral arguments, however, is highly problematic. They write:

[Israel's] backers . . . argue that it deserves unqualified support because it is weak and surrounded by enemies; it is a democracy; the Jewish people have suffered from past crimes and therefore deserve special treatment; and Israel's conduct has been morally superior to that of its adversaries. On close inspection, none of these arguments is persuasive.

Let's take these points one by one:

*Israel is weak and surrounded by enemies. To the contrary, they say, Israel is by far the strongest regional power. Further, "Egypt and Jordan have signed peace treaties with it, and Saudi Arabia has offered to do so." This gives the Saudis far too much credit. True, as we noted in 2002, then Crown Prince Abdullah (now king) told the New York Times' Thomas Friedman that he was amenable to establishing full diplomatic relations, conditioned on Israeli withdrawal from the disputed territories (occupied by Egypt and Jordan before 1967 and Israel since). But Riyadh quickly made clear that it was unwilling even to talk to Jerusalem until after such a withdrawal. As we wrote then, "The Saudi position, in other words, amounts to: Give us land now, and maybe we'll give you peace later." It is true that Israel is the regional superpower, and that Cairo and Amman have signed peace treaties with the Jewish state, but it seems undeniable--and Walt and Mearsheimer do not deny it--that none of this would be true absent U.S. support for Israel. Thus their reasoning is circular: Israel doesn't deserve U.S. support because it has received U.S. support.

*Israel is a democracy. This they concede, but they also claim that "some aspects of Israeli democracy are at odds with core American values." In particular, they claim that Arab citizens of Israel "are treated as second-class citizens" and note that "a recent Israeli government commission found that Israel behaves in a 'neglectful and discriminatory' manner towards them." Yet even acknowledging that Israeli democracy is flawed, its political system is still vastly superior to those of its adversaries. Israeli Arabs enjoy more political and civil liberties than citizens of just about any Arab country; and the only Arab lands that come anywhere close to being democracies are Lebanon, Iraq and the disputed Palestinian territories--the last two only because of American intervention. That the Israeli government criticizes its own treatment of Arabs is a testament to its democracy; can anyone imagine, say, the Saudi regime offering similar criticisms of its treatment of Shiites, non-Muslims or women? American democracy, too, is not without its flaws. During World War II, for instance, black Americans were still disfranchised, and innocent Japanese-Americans were rounded up and put in camps. It does not follow that America was no better than Nazi Germany.

*Jews deserve a homeland because of their past oppression. Walt and Mearsheimer go so far as to allow that Israel's creation "was undoubtedly an appropriate response to the long record of crimes against Jews." But, they say, "it also brought about fresh crimes against a largely innocent third party: the Palestinians." They lay the plight of the Palestinians entirely at Israel's door, failing to acknowledge the Arab states' vast culpability. The Arabs rejected the 1947 U.N. partition of Palestine, which would have created a Palestinian Arab state including territories beyond the present-day West Bank and Gaza strip. The Arabs immediately declared war on the nascent Jewish state--a war in which Israel gained more territory--and they waged war again in 1967 and 1973. All Arab states except Jordan refuse to allow Palestinians to become citizens, preferring to let them linger as stateless refugees. Nor do the authors acknowledge that since the creation of Israel many Jews who settled there were fleeing persecution in Arab lands and (since 1979) Iran. Whereas Israel has 1.3 million Arab citizens, no Arab country except Morocco has more than a handful of Jewish ones.

*Israel is morally superior to its adversaries. Here they cite various alleged abuses by Israel during its war of independence and claim that "Israel's subsequent conduct has often been brutal, belying any claim to moral superiority." Even if we concede all the criticisms of Israel, they do not belie "any claim to moral superiority," only to moral perfection. Evaluating which side is morally superior would require a comparative analysis; the only thing Walt and Mearsheimer say about Arab misconduct is that "the Palestinian resort to terrorism is wrong but it isn't surprising. The Palestinians believe they have no other way to force Israeli concessions." No such excuses are offered for Israel's purported misdeeds.

Walt and Mearsheimer's method of analysis presumes Israel's guilt. Every past or present Israeli transgression is evidence of its wickedness, whereas Arab ones, if they are acknowledged at all, are "understandable." This approach paints a highly misleading picture. It is anti-Semitic in effect if not in intent.

Which brings us back to David Duke. His endorsement no doubt is anathema to Walt and Mearsheimer, but it is telling that he finds their ideas congenial.

Their brand of anti-Israel prejudice is much more common and respectable in Europe than in America (indeed, their paper was published in the London Review of Books), a fact that they would no doubt attribute to the mighty "Israel Lobby." But here is another difference between Europe and America: In many European countries, David Duke would not be allowed to speak because of postwar prohibitions on Nazi propaganda. Passing these laws surely was an act of prudence, and it may be that they are still necessary for the protection of European democracy.

By contrast, America's ability to tolerate the likes of Duke demonstrates the health of our body politic. It may be that Duke's presence even enhances that health. Think of him as a sort of vaccine that helps immunize us against more insidious forms of bigotry.

Best of the Web

Always doubting Israel

by Robert Fulford
from National Post (Toronto)

By well-established tradition, most journalism in Europe and North America considers Israel guilty until proven innocent.

On Wednesday the headline over a front-page Globe and Mail story from Jericho said, “Israeli siege of prison ignites violence,” conveying in just six words a universe of misunderstanding. It implied that Israel had caused grief and chaos by destroying a Palestinian prison and seizing certain prisoners. As a result, Palestinians were setting fires, vandalizing offices, and briefly kidnapping foreigners chosen at random. They seized a Korean journalist, for instance — an eccentric way to punish Israel but well within the inscrutable mindset of enraged Palestinians.On Thursday the Globe had another story, under another one-sided heading, with a text written almost entirely from the Palestinian side. The BBC reported that the Israeli raid “brings a dangerous new tension to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict,” leaving the impression that the region would be peaceful if only the Israelis had left the prison alone. Reuters and Agence France-Presse picked up comments from European politicians: Josep Borrell of Spain, President of the European parliament, said storming the prison was useless and unfair, and Daniel Cohn-Bendit, leader of the Greens, said Israel had sacrificed “the future of this region.”

Why in the world would Israel do such a thing? Aljazeera.com insisted it was to help Kadima win the March 28 election, which is what we would expect from Aljazeera.com. It was a little more surprising to see the New York Times editorial on Thursday speculating that the motive was “election-season muscle-flexing.”

That charge can’t be proven either way, but there’s a serious case to be made that the raid was an understandable, even inevitable response to circumstances. Since 2001, Israel has wanted to try Ahmed Saadat for planning the assassination of the Israeli tourism minister, Rehavam Zeevi — a not unreasonable desire, considering that the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine claimed responsibility and Saadat heads the Popular Front.

Before the Israelis could arrest him, Yasir Arafat’s Palestinian Authority took Sadaat into protective custody. He and his confederates were kept safe in Arafat’s Ramallah compound, which Israel then blockaded. (The Palestinians put four men on trial for the assassination, not including Saadat; they were convicted and given mild sentences.)

In May, 2002, the Americans and the British brokered a deal: Israel would lift the siege of Ramallah if Saadat and the others were imprisoned under American and British supervision. Sent to the Jericho prison, they remained there, apparently in exceptional comfort, until Hamas won the Palestinian election in January. Hamas, the terrorist party dedicated to Israel’s destruction, now promises to release Saadat and friends. In a moment of madness, the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, endorsed that idea.

Inside the prison, the atmosphere was poisoned. The soon-to-be-freed prisoners took charge and the British and American monitors no longer felt safe. They several times threatened to leave, and this week they did. Since their departure voided the 2002 agreement, Israel sent the army.

It’s hard to see what other course Israel could have followed, given that the principal killer of a Cabinet minister was about to be given his liberty. Meanwhile, the news services have quietly upgraded Saadat. For years no one questioned his guilt, but this week Reuters, the BBC, etc. began calling him merely “accused”; CNN says he “allegedly” ordered the killing.

The journalistic handling of these events demonstrated once more the bitter anti-Israel feeling that colours most coverage in the West. When a controversial issue arises, Israel never gets the benefit of the doubt. Israel’s enemies, who are often also the West’s enemies, are offered much more tolerance. Hamas (with help from Abbas) created this week’s current mess but much of the world now probably believes otherwise.

On Wednesday newspapers and TV carried pictures of Palestinian prisoners surrendering in their underwear. Immediately, this became another Israeli crime. As the New York Times said, “Israeli Army officials ordered inmates to strip to their underwear, which many did, marching out with clothing on their heads, an embarrassing and completely unnecessary provocation that trampled the dignity of any Palestinian watching that spectacle.”

That could only have been written by a journalist who perversely chose to ignore the dangerous life of Israelis. Many of the prisoners were terrorists and having them take off their clothes ensured that they couldn’t explode a bomb in the midst of Israeli soldiers. The soldiers would have been foolish to handle it any other way, But their ordinary common sense made them, once more, a target for the wilfully uninformed.

© National Post 2006

Shamelessly lifted from Israpundit

Halabja

I wonder how many people know what Halabja or the Anfal campaign is? This is one of the reasons to feel good about having helped to overthrow Saddam. I hear people complaining that since there were no WMDs in Iraq that we were wrong to have 'regime change'. And then I remember GWB and all his talk about Saddam's 'gassing his own people' as justification and I remember Halabja.

''On 16 March, 1988, the Saddam Ba'ath regime began chemical bombing of the town of Halabja, south and east of Silêmanî, close to the border with Iranian-occupied Kurdistan. Halabja has become the symbol of the Anfal campaign to genocide the Kurdish people, although it was not only Halabja that was attacked during the following 72 hours, but the entire area around Halabja was attacked in the same way. The immediate deaths were estimated at 5,000 men, women, children. The animals died.

Those who could, fled, trying to make it through the mountains and across the Iran border. Many died on the way and were later buried in the Zagros. There are a lot of mass graves in and around Halabja. ''

It really wasn't reported that much at the time, and leftists often point their fingers that the US did not agree to a UN motion to censure Saddam at the time, and while we may not have done the right thing at the time, though God knows that UN censure is ridiculous anyway, usually they get the wrong guy. But we did go in a few years later... and we provided a no-fly zone for the Kurds... and also bypassed Saddam with respect to the sanction money.

But unsurprisingly, if one thinks about it... the effects of that gas went well beyond the immediate deaths of 5000 innocent humans. In fact, the survivors in the area around Halabja are today suffering effects that could easily have been expected from poison gas exposure -- congenital malformations, cancers of all sorts, blindness -- young children dying of leukemias and lymphomas. This has been known at least since 1998, along with the fact that absolutely nothing was done or is being done, to help these people medically, either before the article was written or since!

Saddam should be on trial for this, for what is happening, or not happening, today in Halabja, and we should be giving our tax dollars toward helping these people, the Kurdish, our friends, who have suffered so at the hands of a Hitler-like murderer! -- rather than to the murderers and terrorists that make up the Palestinian terror-tories!

I point you here to read: HALABJA, 18 YEARS ON

Reflections on the Death of Milosevic

The death of Slobadan Milosevic reminded me of a long story I read a while back in The Emperor's New Clothes which was a huge story which was extremely plausible, but I recognized it as a "conspiracy theory." Thus because I heard nothing more about it, I dismissed it "with prejudice." But with the death of Milosevic; my friend rodders put up several posts at MEIC, one of which include this link. I missed it when it came out a year ago. It seems the 'conspiracy theory' may well be the God's honest TRUTH.


A Jewish Albatross: The Serbs:

"A Jewish Albatross: The Serbs
By Julia Gorin
FrontPageMagazine.com March 16, 2005

Imagine that a country is fighting domestic terrorism by Muslim militants who are carrying out attacks against police, government officials and citizens in a bid to carve out their own state, hoping to provoke a response from the government that will alarm the international community. Imagine that the world duly intervenes, and a peacekeeping force is sent in, paralyzing the nation’s ability to defend itself, and effectively doing the militants’ bidding even as attacks against the non-Muslim population continue. Finally, imagine the intervening internationals severing this nation’s Jerusalem from it and handing it to the provocateurs.

It sounds like a worst-case scenario for the Israeli people, but it is a fate that actually befell the Serbian people, who this year may lose Kosovo as the deadline approaches for determining the status of the province, where Christian churches, monasteries and homes were burned to the ground in pogroms in March of last year. They will lose Kosovo to Albanian Muslims, whose fates are now entirely in the hands of the international Islamist factions with whom they, and we, cast their lot. As a reprisal of last March looms on the horizon (Kosovo Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj stepped down when he was indicted for war crimes last week, and the UN Mission in Kosovo was promptly bombed), the reticence about butchered Serbian octogenarians, children and other civilians--alternating with dismissal of these atrocities, even six years later, as “revenge killings”--intimates that terrorized Serbs are an even bigger yawn than terrorized Israelis. That’s why I am calling upon my fellow Jews to break their own conspicuous silence."

Highly recommended reading.

Understanding the Arabs

This article is

Understanding the Arabs: Cross Cultural Communications With the Arab World:
"Learning to Think like an Arab Muslim:
a Short Guide to Understanding the Arab Mentality"

Dealing with terrorism, especially Islamic Fundamentalists, requires an intimate knowledge of terrorism, terrorist operations, and especially the key cultural features that makes up the Arab psyche. An understanding and detailed background knowledge of the Arab mentality is critical to performing accurate threat analysis. Understanding Arab culture can provide valuable insights into the changing nature of Post 9-11 terrorism, and how to rank and prioritize potential threats. To outsmart our clever and elusive Islamic terrorist foes, one must first understand what makes him tick. This paper is based on years of experience in the Middle East, and is dedicated to helping the reader understand the Arab mentality."

Read this to get a better understanding of the Arab Psyche. (Thanks again to Mîzgin from Rastîbini)

here she is a little later

looking the image of her g-granddaughter, lol!

This is a picture of my mother

of course she is the one on the right....

Do We Have a Problem Here?

"North Carolina Tar Heel Terror "

Here is a longer version of the article that appears in FrontPage today by Joe Kaufman on the Chapel Hill jihad:

Saturday night, the University of North Carolina (UNC) was abuzz with joy, as its Tar Heels men’s basketball team defeated its arch-rival and number one-ranked Duke. But this huge win only temporarily masked the pain of an event that happened just a day earlier. On Friday, Iranian-born Mohammed Reza Taheri-azar, a 22 year-old UNC graduate, tore through a lunchtime crowd at one of the university’s popular gathering spots with a Jeep Grand Cherokee, hitting nine people, of whom six were hospitalized with injuries.

Taheri-azar was arrested and charged with nine counts each of attempted first-degree murder and assault with a deadly weapon. According to Derek Poarch, the chief of the university police department, the attacker told investigators that he wanted to “avenge the deaths or murders of Muslims around the world.” A paperback copy of the Quran was found in Taheri-azar’s room, along with a book calling for the United States to “confront state sponsors of terrorism.” He was shown, on news video footage, handcuffed and being led into a car sporting a giant grin.

At the court hearing on Monday, that same smile was ingrained on his face. Like Zacarias Moussaoui, whose trial coincided with Taheri-azar’s hearing, Taheri-azar stated that he wanted to represent himself. And like Moussaoui, who proudly proclaimed, “I’m Al-Qaeda,” Taheri-azar used the courtroom forum to voice his Islamist ideology. Clad in orange jumpsuit and leg shackles, he stated, “I am thankful you are going to hear this trial to learn more about the will of Allah, the creator.” And in response to a reporter’s question, he confirmed that, “Yes,” it was his intention to murder those he hit with the SUV he had just rented. In the 9-1-1 call he had made after the attack, he told the operator that he did this “to punish the government of the United States.”

Continue reading "North Carolina Tar Heel Terror", at Jihad Watch. ... via JihadWatch.

Are our Universities a problem? Ask this professor from Columbia:


"All those in the Arab world who deny the Jewish holocaust are in my opinion Zionists."

Columbia University professor of Modern Arab Politics and Intellectual History Joseph Massad interpreting Arab Holocaust denial as a form of Zionism, December 15, 2004. (link to source)

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, call home!

Check Out Rastî

to read :

"THE THREE STOOGES VS. THE EVIL EMPIRE
OR HOW WE LEARNED TO STOP WORRYING AND LOVE THE BOMB "

Lots of interesting news is coming out of the Evil Empire these days. No, I don't mean Russia; I mean the Islamic Republic of Iran.

First of all, the Evil Empire finally admits to duping the West. I suppose that this will only be of interest to Europeans, since they appear to be the ones who have been duped. Indeed, they are stupid enough to be duped, particularly the Three Stooges: France, Germany and Britain. Former Head Liar for the Evil Empire's nuclear negotiating team, Hassan Rowhani, admits that he did what Iranians do best--lied--to the Three Stooges.

As usual Mizgin's cool satirical analysis tells it like it is...
read it all

Hamas

Commentary to be found here:
http://www.coxandforkum.com/archives/000785.html

On Hamas

Should Israel Worry? What is Hamas, really?

This link following reprints the 'Covenant' written in 1988: link -which originally came from the Avalon Project at Yale Law School, which is a marvelous piece of work. To really understand what Hamas is all about one has to read the Covenant. Then read the following, in case you thought that they have changed their tune since then:

Hamas election video calls for armed struggle till Israel's annihilation --
Itamar Marcus and Barbara Crook, December 15, 2005
with permission of Palestinian Media Watch.

Hamas women by a "map" of Islamified Israel (AP file)

In a new Hamas pre-election video, the terror organization again declares that it will not give up its armed struggle until Israel is destroyed.

The Hamas message likewise celebrates its love of death as superior to the Israeli love of life. It also expresses support for those Israeli Arabs that wish to destroy Israel "from the interior." Hamas looks forward to a day when its flag will fly over not only Jerusalem, but over all Israeli cities, including Acre and Haifa.

The release of the new video on the Hamas website, reiterating its goal of destroying Israel, coincides with two polls this week showing Hamas turning into a major political force, with between 32% and 45% of Palestinians saying they will vote for Hamas in January's parliamentary elections. What are the implications for peace, should nearly 50% of the Palestinian Authority parliament be open supporters of Israel's destruction?

It will be interesting to see if the continuing Hamas election campaign calling for Israel's destruction will prompt a change in United States or European Union policy. The US State Department has made clear that while it continues to transfer hundreds of millions of dollars of support to the PA, it will make no demands on it to prevent the Hamas from participating in the upcoming elections. The EU and United Nations have also agreed that Hamas can participate in the elections.

The following are the words on the new Hamas video:

"We succeeded, with Allah's grace, to raise an ideological generation that loves death like our enemies love life. We will not abandon the way of Jihad and Shahada [Martyrdom] as long as one inch of our holy land is in the hands of the Jews.

"Congratulations to our people of 1948 [Israeli Arabs] on the liberation of Gaza. You wish to destroy them [the Israelis] from the interior. We will never forget you, and never leave you. A day will come when our flag will fly above all the quarters of our land. Our flag will fly on the minarets of Jerusalem, and the walls of Acre, and the quarters of Haifa."

[Hamas website, December 12, 2005] Source

But, they are working on a better version:

Hamas working on 'new charter'
-------------------------------------------------------------
Orly Halpern, THE JERUSALEM POST,

Feb. 16, 2006
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At closed meetings in hotel suites in Beirut and Damascus, Hamas has been developing a new charter that is designed to showcase a more moderate and non anti-Semitic face, one of those advising on its content has told The Jerusalem Post.

Appearances are everything. Read all about it at the Jerusalem Post.

Here is the real Hamas:

The Hamas Brand of 'Armed Resistance' -- Jerusalem, 2003
from: Mediacrity

....and finally, a little extra background for perspective.

Hamas was founded by Islamic militant extremists in the Gaza Strip in 1988, shortly after the first intifada broke out. The word Hamas is an acronym for the Arabic words for "Islamic Resistance Movement." The organization is devoted chiefly to the obliteration of Israel. Its charter states, "Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it." The charter further states, "There is no solution for the Palestinian question except through Jihad. Initiatives, proposals and international conferences are all a waste of time and vain endeavors."

Hamas is responsible for 24 murders before the Oslo Accords, 156 more before the Oslo War began in September 2000, and at least another 377 since then - a total of at least 557.

The organization's first mass attack was a car bomb that blew up at a bus stop in Afula in April 1994, murdering 8 and wounding 51. Among the most horrific Hamas attacks were the following:

22 people murdered and 56 wounded in a suicide bombing attack on the No. 5 bus on Dizengoff Street in Tel Aviv in October of 1994.

26 murdered by suicide bomber on a #18 bus near the Jerusalem Central Bus Station in February of 1996.

16 murdered in the Machane Yehuda open market in Jerusalem in a double suicide attack in July of 1997.

23 dead and 115 wounded when a Hamas suicide bomber blew himself up on a No. 2 bus line coming from the Western Wall in Jerusalem in August of 2003.

45 murdered within the space of five days in March 2002: a suicide Hamas terrorist blew himself up in a Haifa resturant, killing 15, and another one did the same in the Park Hotel in Netanya during a Passover Seder, murdering some 30 and wounding 144.

The ten worst Oslo War Hamas attacks, in which a total of 186 were murdered, also included the following:

June 1, 2001 - Dolpinarium in Tel Aviv, 21 murdered - mostly new-immigrant teenagers from the Soviet Union.

August 9, 2001 - Sbarro's Pizzeria in Jerusalem, 15 murdered

December 2, 2001 - Haifa bus, 15 murdered

May 7, 2002 - Rishon Letzion hall, 16 murdered

June 18, 2002 - #32 bus from Gilo, Jerusalem 19 murdered

March 5, 2003 - #37 bus in Haifa, 15 murdered

June 11, 2003 - #14 bus, Jerusalem, 17 murdered

And the list goes on.

from: http://www.danielpipes.org/comments/33208

and on, and on...

Al-Dura & Pallywood

While we are kifing movies from J. at Justify This! there are two other excellent movies to be found there. Click the photo below to see Birth Of An Icon - Documentary Exposing The Al-Dura Fraud

and don't miss this one, either. Click on the photo below to see :




PALLYWOOD - - Children Fake Injuries, Doctors Coach Women To Claim They Were Forced To Give Birth At Checkpoints, People Rise from the Dead, And Other Scenes Staged by "Palestinian" Muslims For the Benefit of Western News Media!

Both videos can be seen at The Second Draft, a most unusual website!

A Woman Who Knows What She is Talking About!

THIS IS MUST-SEE TV. These are excerpts from an interview with Arab-American psychologist Wafa Sultan. Click on the picture to hear and see the video. The interview was aired on Al-Jazeera TV on February 21, 2006. --To read the transcript, go to MEMRI at this link or visit Justify This! at this link.

Jewish "Anti-Semitic" Cartoons

A Danish paper publishes a cartoon that mocks Muslims. An Iranian
paper responds with a Holocaust cartoons contest -
- Now a group of Israelis announce their own anti-Jewish cartoons contest!

The full details here: www.boomka.org/ or click here.

ps. Not for the faint of heart. Thanks to Tom and Shirley for this tip.

Great Analysis of the 'Situation' with Iran

Can be found at VILLAGERS WITH TORCHES
Please read the article entitled Friends and Enemies but only if you don't suffer from insomnia.

What If?

IF LEONARDO DA VINCI CAVED IN TO RELIGIOUS EXTREMISTS LIKE 21ST CENTURY NEWSPAPERS

What Is a Hudna? Is It A Truce?

HUDNA

According to Islamic law, a hudna can only be agreed to in order to allow the Muslim forces to gather strength.

http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/004085.php


For the traditional Islamic understanding of a hudna, which Sheikh Hassan almost certainly had in mind, doesn’t consider a truce a foundation for peaceful coexistence, but a temporary measure to allow Muslim forces to gain strength. The Shafi’i school of Islamic jurisprudence stipulates that there must be “some interest served in making a truce other than mere preservation of the status quo.” The only “interests that justify making a truce are such things as Muslim weakness because of lack of numbers or materiel” — which the time of the truce would allow the Muslim forces to remedy — “or the hope of an enemy becoming Muslim” (‘Umdat al-Salik, o9.16).

http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/004189.php

...[Arafat] likened the Oslo accords, once again, to the 10-year truce made by the prophet Muhammad in A.D. 628 with the Arabian tribe of Quraysh. The Islamic forces used the peace to become stronger over a couple of years, then defeated the Quraysh tribe. The parallel re-emphasizes that Arafat sees Oslo not as a pledge to work for a permanent reconciliation between Arabs and Israelis but as a temporary and tactical maneuver. Why else have thousands paraded in Gaza with signs saying "We worship Allah by killing Jews"?

Source: http://www.qchillel.org/news/122198.htm
Mortimer Zuckerman, Editor-in-Chief, US News Editorial 12/21/98



The media and some political leaders portray a hudna as a truce or a cease-fire designed to bring peace. Though the term hudna does refer to a temporary cession of hostilities, it has historically been used as a tactic aimed at allowing the party declaring the hudna to regroup while tricking an enemy into lowering its guard. When the hudna expires, the party that declared it is stronger and the enemy weaker. The term comes from the story of the Muslim conquest of Mecca. Instead of a rapid victory, Muhammad made a ten-year treaty with the Kuraysh tribe. In 628 AD, after only two years of the ten-year treaty, Muhammad and his forces concluded that the Kuraysh were too weak to resist. The Muslims broke the treaty and took over all of Mecca without opposition.30

A modern-day hudna is not a form of compromise, rather it is a tactical tool to gain a military advantage. Hamas has used it no fewer than 10 times in 10 years.31

The hudna declared by Islamic terrorist organizations in 2003 was no different. The Hamas charter openly rejects the notion of a peaceful solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict, and the group did not change its views. On the contrary, Hamas spokesmen said they would not give up their weapons, that they would continue to resist “illegal occupation,” and that they believed the “violent awakenening from a few weeks or months of quiet” will “reaffirm Palestinians' belief in the intifada as the only option for them.”32 Even the hudna declaration asserted “the legitimate right to resist the occupation as a strategic option until the end of the Zionist occupation of our homeland and until we achieve all our national rights.” Hamas contends that all of Israel is occupied territory.33 This is why Secretary of State Colin Powell called Hamas an “enemy of peace” just before the hudna was declared, and said “the entire international community must speak out strongly against the activities of Hamas.”34
Jewish Virtual Library


See also:
Beware of Hudna --(in relation to HUDNA and Hamas) at Powerline Blog :
Christians beaten to Death by Muslims over cartoons a terrific analysis over at Euphoric Reality.Net


--------------------------------------------------------

On a lighter note (?) my friend from NYC sent me this link to a must-see video about the shhh!!! CARTOONS. You may need broadband, but turn your speakers up and enjoy this fun link

Is it Time for Israel to Embrace PKK?

Here is something from AP on Kurdistan Observer, which I got from Mizgîn at Rastibini .

I will put it up in its entirety because I think it is an interesting question. There are some who feel that PKK could be better analogized to the Irgun, early Zionist freedom fighters.

I would appreciate any comments.

It Is Time For Israel To Embrace PKK

Turkey Rejects Israeli Criticism Over Hamas
Associated Press
Feb 18, 2006

A visit by the exiled political leader of Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas, to the Turkish capital has triggered a new diplomatic rift between US allies Israel and Turkey, two years after the Turkish premier accused Israel of engaging in state terrorism against Palestinians. Turkey yesterday rejected Israeli criticism of the visit of Khaled Mesha'al and said an Israeli spokesman's comparison of the Palestinian group to Kurdish guerrillas in Turkey was an "unfortunate statement."

Mesha'al met Thursday with Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul, prompting Israel's government spokesman Ra'anan Gissin to condemn the visit in an interview with Turkey's private NTV television. "How would you feel if we got together with Abdullah Ocalan?" Gissin asked NTV, referring to the imprisoned leader of the outlawed Kurdish guerrilla group fighting for autonomy in Turkey's southeast.

Turkey's Foreign Ministry said yesterday that the Israeli spokesman had made "an unfortunate statement." "We think the comparison in this statement is totally baseless and wrong," the ministry said. "We relayed our discomfort and dissatisfaction with this statement to Israel yesterday." The ministry also suggested that the Israeli remarks were prompted by Israeli "domestic political concerns."

Ocalan's rebels have been fighting for autonomy in the largely Kurdish southeast since 1984 in a war which has claimed more than 37,000 lives. Both Ocalan's Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, and Hamas are branded as terrorist organizations by the US State Department.
Turkey, which has close ties with both Israel and the Palestinians, has been urging Hamas - which won a landslide victory in legislative elections last month - to reject violence as it assembles a new Palestinian government. The US and the European Union have threatened to cut off aid to the Palestinians unless Hamas - which has called for Israel's destruction and killed hundreds of Israelis in suicide bombings - recognizes Israel and renounces violence. Hamas has given no indication it will change its ideology, but has said it would stick to a long-term cease-fire if Israel reciprocates.

Turkey said Thursday it had urged Mesha'al to meet international expectations and adopt a more conciliatory and flexible attitude. Israel and Turkey, an overwhelmingly Muslim state, have long had strong military ties and important trade links. But relations grew strained in 2004 when Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose party has its roots in Turkey's Islamic movement, accused Israel of state terrorism in an interview with Israel's Ha'aretz newspaper.

Asked whether he considered Israel's actions against the Palestinians "state terrorism," Erdogan responded: "How else can you interpret it?"
Relations thawed after both Gul and Erdogan visited Israel last year, expressing hope that Turkey could act as a mediator between Israel and the Muslim world.

But Deniz Baykal, leader of the main opposition Republican People's Party, said yesterday that the visit by the Hamas delegation would damage Turkey's image severely. "It would lead to questioning of Turkey's determination against violence and terrorism in the world," Baykal told a news conference. "It would have grave consequences for Turkish foreign policy."

Ilnur Cevik, editor in chief of The New Anatolian newspaper, said Turkey should have kept its contacts with Hamas silent and avoided contact with Mesha'al. "But it seems someone in Ankara couldn't resist the temptation to conduct the contacts with Hamas so openly and thus win points with the conservative masses of Turkey, who have deep sympathies for the Palestinian cause," Cevik said

The Foreign Ministry on Thursday said the Hamas delegation was allowed to visit Turkey "as the representatives of a group which won elections," as part of Turkey's efforts to further peace process. "If Turkey doesn't get the clout of the EU behind itself and can't arm itself with the consent of the US and Israel, then how it can perform the function as 'interlocutor valuable'," asked Cengiz Candar, a political analyst with The New Anatolian.

"It, all of a sudden, may find itself in the awkward position of promoting Hamas rather than playing such a role."

http://kurdistanobserver.servehttp.com/feb06/19-2-06-tky-israel-hamas.htm

Fans of the "Situation" in the Middle-East -- MUST READ

The Covenant of the Islamic Resistance Movement – Hamas

In view of the recent victory of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) in the Palestinian Authority Legislative Council elections, it is important to make the Hamas covenant [1] available in English for English speaking readers. The English version which is currently posted in a number of websites is not satisfactory, and therefore MEMRI is providing here a closer, more accurate translation.

In the name of Allah the Merciful and the Compassionate Palestine, Muharram 1, 1409 A.H./August 18, 1988. In the name of Allah the Merciful and the Compassionate

"You are the best nation that has been brought out for mankind. You command good and forbid evil and believe in Allah. If only the people of the Book [i.e., Jews and Christians] had believed, it would have been well for them. Some of them believe, but most of them are iniquitous. They will never be able to do you serious harm, they will only be an annoyance. If they fight you, they will turn their backs and flee, and will not be succored. Humiliation is their lot wherever they may be, except where they are saved from it by a bond with Allah or by a bond with men. They incurred upon themselves Allah's wrath, and wretchedness is their lot, because they denied Allah's signs and wrongfully killed the prophets, and because they disobeyed and transgressed." (Koran, 3:110-112).

"Israel will exist, and will continue to exist, until Islam abolishes it, as it abolished that which was before it." [From the words of] The martyr, Imam Hasan al-Banna', Allah's mercy be upon him. [2]

"The Islamic world is burning, and each and every one of us must pour water, even if it be a little, to extinguish whatever he can extinguish, without waiting for others." [From the words of] Sheikh Amjad Al-Zahawi, Allah's mercy be upon him. [3]

In the name of Allah the Merciful and the Compassionate

Preamble

Read it all here: http://www.memri.org/bin/opener_latest.cgi?ID=SD109206 You owe it to yourself.

"None Can Say Muslims Insult Other Religions"

This is the latest Muslim sword being throw:

"None can say Muslims insult other religions . "

Is this true?
A quick Google search brings up the following pictures:



















I think NOT.





Published in 2001, this cartoon from the Egyptian daily Al Ahram depicts an Arab being flattened as two Jews drink the blood.

Checking out MEMRI for its huge reference database, looking for evidence of Muslim anti-Christian sentiment:

Sheikh Abd Al-Aziz Fawzan Al-Fawzan, a professor of Islamic law at Al-ImamUniversity, who frequently appears on Saudi TV recently made anti-Christian comments on Saudi Al-Majd TV. He told his audience to hate anyone "who worships Christ, son of Mary" and added that "whoever says 'I don't hate him [i.e. a Christian]' is not a Muslim..."

He went on to explain that such an attitude "is not racism" since the Christian is not hated "because of his color, gender, blood, country, or because he is American, European, Chinese, or Asian," and stipulated that this hatred should be "positive hatred" that guides and reforms.

TO VIEW THIS CLIP, VISIT MEMRI HERE , or read the transcript HERE

Check out the requirements to build a Christian church in Egypt. You won't believe it! But I imagine it is even harder if legal at all, in Saudi Arabia, lol.

MEMRI distinguishes between mainstream Muslims and Islamists:

While mainstream Islam considers both Jews and Christians to be "People of the Book" – i.e., non-Muslims who may be offered the choice of living under Muslim rule as dhimmis while retaining their religion – the Islamists tend to accuse Jews and Christians of being no better than idolaters. In his Qur'an commentary Fi Zilal Al-Qur'an, Sayyid Qutb states that the Jews and Christians claim that Allah has offspring, which makes them not only infidels but polytheists. Friday sermons across the Arab world are rife with references to Christians and Jews as enemies of Allah.

[...]

"The Jews are the objects of Allah's [promised] wrath, while the Christians deviate from the path of righteousness… The Qur'an described the Jews as a nation cursed by Allah, a nation at which he was angry – some of whom he turned into apes and pigs…" [5]

In a sermon at a Mecca mosque, preacher Sheikh Adnan Ahmad Siyami told worshippers, "[Islam] believes that only Islam and the Camp of Kufr exist, and that there is no way to reach Paradise and be delivered from Hell except by walking in the path of our Prophet Muhammad and joining Islam. Any other way leads to Hell… In light of this, my believing brethren, how can it be claimed that Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are all paths leading to Allah?!…

read it here

Check out the tolerant Muslims at The Infidel Bloggers Alliance














And this picture under the banner of Hamas, the gun and the Koran:















Please let me know any further examples of Muslim 'intolerance' to other religions. Drop in links if you would. Feel free to use my examples whereever you like, as they are all stolen anyway. :>)

Arab Lessons, lol: Jihad, Kitman, Taqiyya and TuQuoque

Now that we understand that all the furor over the cartoons was/is really a staged, forged, and manipulated event (RENT-A-RIOT ABCS by Amir Taheri) we can begin to work at understanding the Muslim mind-set that would create such an event for the benefit of the Western world.

It is false that Mohammed's likeness cannot be shown, as I have pointed out in an earlier thread. And that makes this article by Fitzgerald: Islam for Infidels, Part One with his discussion of Taqiyya and Tu-Quoque and Kitman, so fascinating. Fitzgerald's article is on www.jihadwatch.org. Jihadwatch is must-reading for anyone who wants to know what is happening in the Muslim Jihad against the West--or would it be the 'Rest'?--on a daily basis.

Here are a few of the paragraphs that rang my bell and I think the original article deserves reading more than once.

An army of apologists for Islam, both Muslim and non-Muslim, is abroad in the land today, yet many Infidels seem not to be following the script. Some appear determined to educate themselves, rather than rely on the Outreach Programs of local imams in local mosques or, for that matter, on National Public Radio.
...
And finally, not content with reading Qur’an and Hadith and sira, those Infidels have embarked on learning about the history of Jihad-conquest of those vast lands where, far more numerous, settled, wealthy, and advanced populations, of Christians, Jews, Zoroastrians, Hindus, and Buddhists all lived and, upon conquest, when not killed or forcibly converted at once to Islam, were permitted to live as "dhimmis," as non-Muslims under Muslim rule were called, subject to carefully elaborated financial, legal, political, and social disabilities that made life for them one of humiliation, degradation, and physical insecurity.
...
The idea that "Jihad" is primarily a "spiritual struggle" would cause laughter everywhere in the world’s mosques and madrasas, for Muslims know that this definition is flatly contradicted by their texts and their entire history. Yet, the same imam who gives a fiery speech about Jihad can show up at an Interfaith Rally and, with seemingly complete conviction, assure his Infidel audience that, of course, "Jihad" refers only to "a spiritual struggle." This kind of thing is second nature.
....
"War is deceit," Muhammad said, and those who regard him as al-insan al-kamil, the Most Perfect of Men, have become past masters at the art of deceit. It is nearly impossible to find a Muslim who will admit to the full truth of what Islam teaches about Infidels, though occasionally it happens.

On National Public Radio be sure to check out CAMERA's coverage.

All you ever wanted to know about Muslim history can be found here.

And from the Qur'an or Koran :

[29] Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, nor
hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger, nor acknowledge the Religion of Truth, from among the People of the Book, until they pay the Jizya with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued.

[30] The Jews call 'Uzair a son of Allah, and the
Christians call Al-Masih the son of Allah. That is a saying from their mouth; (in this) they but imitate what the Unbelievers of old used to say. Allah's curse be on them: how they are deluded away from the Truth!

Subdued? It will be a cold day in Hell!

The Cartoon Jihad

Those whom the gods wish to destroy, they first drive mad. Euripides 480-406 BC

And these must be the maddest of times. For those who wish to see the cartoons, they may be seen here as well as many other places on the net. The Robert Lindsay blog does have an excellent objective summary of the situation with links.

Another interesting point is the other depictions of Mohammed to be seen at the Mohammed Image Archive Islamic Paintings and Miniatures Showing Mohammed in Full

Medieval Muslim artists often created paintings and illuminated manuscripts depicting Mohammed in full. Several examples are presented here. Other artists of the era drew Mohammed but left his face blank so as to technically comply with the Islamic ban on depicting the Prophet; these images are shown in the second section.

Unfortunately the site is busy and broadband is definitely recommended, but the point is well taken. Much ado about nothing, and half the world is bowing down obsequiously.

Here is a painting pointed out by PhilinFl who also added the comment following.

Why hasn't every library between Moscow and Ireland been torched for offering this rather insensitive Gustave Doré picture of the Prophet in HELL (as a "sower of discord")?

I thought the coverage was interesting and different at IRIS, who calls it a Cartoon Intifada, and as always I like Daniel Pipes, who tells us who is standing and who is bowing. Also see Pipes' article here on the Cartoon Jihad, and read the letters at Salon to find out how the Liberals are taking it. Do check out Jihad Against Danish Newspaper from the Brussels Journal, whose motto is "We are all Danes Now" , and who remind us that this is really no laughing matter, as people are being killed, threatened and intimidated. Cartoonists and publishers have been shot in the face in England, arrested in Jordan. Read JustifyThis! for more on the violence and ugliness that isn't in the daily news.

Meanwhile in Brussels a young Muslim immigrant published a poster depicting the Virgin Mary with naked breasts. Though the picture has drawn some protest from Catholics (though not from Western embassies, nor from the bishops), this artist need not fear being murdered in the street. On the contrary, he is being subsidised by the Ministry for Culture. --from the Brussel's Journal

This way madness lies.

Back Home

We are back home, after having spent a week at La Laguna de Santa Maria del Oro, at the campground there. We stayed here and if you go see it you will see how lovely it is.

Here are a dozen reflections on the experience:

1) Mexico has modernized considerably in the last 7 years or so.
2) Better roads, if horribly expensive
3) 'Immigration' was expensive and the paperwork and bureaucracy of the experience, excruciating.
4) The people were decent and hardworking as always.
5) This time we did not have to pour one bucket of water into a toilet, as each toilet we visited flushed properly. Last time, a good half of all toilets always had a bucket of water beside it.
6) Bathrooms still did not have hot-water faucets
7) Almost no toilets allow you to put used toilet paper in the john. Each had a wastebasket for that purpose. I can't help but think that that is a serious way to spread disease. That to me is the number one evidence that Mexico is still a 3rd world country.
8. We found out that Wal-Mart is the #1 employer in Mexico AND they have clean toilets.
9. We went to Burger King. It was not so hot (figuratively speaking) in Mexico
10. We went to VIPS -- which is much like a Denny's Mexican-style, with salsas instead of ketchup, and tortillas instead of bread. Muchas expensive.
11. Nescafe is still the major form of coffee.
12. There is such a thing as "Strawberry Cappucino" -- which is NOT recommended.

In Patzcuaro

It is possible to get the International Herald Tribune if one gets to the square early enough. They are always sold out by 11:00 AM. Nasty day on the stock market today!

Now in Patzcuaro, Morelia, Mx

This is beautiful old Mexico, and I write this in an internet place on one of the main squares. There are some tourists here but nowhere near the numbers in SMA. Today we went to Tzintzantzun, a pre-hispanic ruin nearby:

Tzintzantzun means `home of the hummingbirds`. It is a lovely place. We will visit Uruapan tomorrow, and walk through the beautiful park.

Where the ´mummies´ go

This is a photo from the ´Jardin´ ie the ´garden´in the center of San Miquel. There are lots of ´gringo´retirees here, gringos who came here after WWII when the prices were so cheap. They are not so cheap any longer, though. The expression ´mummies´comes from the locals in discussing these elderly (many of them with facelifts galore) who sit in the Jardin and read the English newspapers. It also refers to the ´mummies´in Guanajuato immortalized in the memorable Ray Bradbury short story titled "Next in Line."

A famous ex-resident of SMA is Jack Kerouac, famous beatnik and writer of On The Road. His sidekick, Neil Cassady, is noted here for having gotten so drunk he fell asleep on the railroad tracks and was killed. The tracks run right by the campground here, and the young caretaker, Pedro, did the same thing some years ago, but was fortunate to lose only his arm, not his life.

Greetings from San Miquel de Allende, GTO, Mexico

Visiting old haunts in Mexico and will be sporatic with the blog. San Miquel is much dustier and the air dirtier and muchas more people than last time we were here. There is twice the population as before. It is as beautiful and dysfunctional as ever, although there is a new water treatment plant down by Lago Dorado Campground, where we are camped out.

Great Jewish Kurdish music can be heard
Here

The Jews of Kurdistan

From right to left: Abraham Iny Ben-David,
Abraham (Sa'at) Shafir Yitzhaq Sa'at
and sitting Saleh Sabha.Arbil 1935.

History of Judaism in Kurdistan

Much, if not most, of this information has been passed to me via Mizgin, whose blog about Kurdish and current events in the middle east is highly recommended. Be prepared to have your comfortable theses challenged there!

The history of Judaism in Kurdistan is ancient. The Talmud holds that Jewish deportees were settled in Kurdistan 2800 years ago by the Assyrian king Shalmaneser Ill (r. 858-824 BC). As indicated in the Talmud, the Jews eventually were given permission by the rabbinic authorities to convert local Kurds. They were exceptionally successful in their endeavor.

[...]

Jews remained a populous group in Kurdistan until the middle of the present century and the creation of the state of Israel. At home and in the synagogues, Kurdish Jews speak a form of ancient Aramaic ... and in commerce and the larger society they speak Kurdish. Many aspects of Kurdish and Jewish life and culture have become so intertwined that some of the most popular folk stories accounting for Kurdish ethnic origins connect them with the Jews. Some maintain that the Kurds sprang from one of the lost tribes of Israel, while others assert that the Kurds emerged through an episode involving King Solomon and the genies under his command (see Folklore & Folk Tales).

The relative freedom of Kurdish women among the Kurdish Jews led in the 17th century to the ordination of the first woman rabbi, Rabbi Asenath Bârzâni, the daughter of the illustrious Rabbi Samuel Bârzâni (d. ca. 1630), who founded many Judaic schools and seminaries in Kurdistan. For her was coined the term tanna'ith, the feminine form for a Talmudic scholar. Eventually, MAMA ("Lady") Asenath became the head of the prestigious Judaic academy at Mosul (Mann 1932).

Read more at Kurdistanica
Those of you into contemporary Iraqi events will note the name "Bârzâni", an old and illustrious name in the area even today!


The following excerpt of an article by Josh Goodman of Yale provides more background in relation to Kurdish Jews and also investigates the relationship between Israel and Kurdistan today:

A Fading Generation: The Jews of Kurdistan

By the early 1950s, virtually the entire Jewish community of Kurdistan—a rugged, mostly mountainous region comprising parts of Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Iran, and the Caucasus, where Jews had lived since antiquity—had been completely relocated to Israel. The vast majority of Kurdish Jews, who were primarily concentrated in northern Iraq, left Kurdistan in the mass aliyah (immigration to Israel) of 1950-51, which brought almost all Iraqi Jews to Israel and signaled the end of thousands of years of Jewish history in the lands once known as Assyria and Babylon.


In general, the native language of the Jews of Kurdistan was neither Arabic—like most Iraqi Jews—nor Kurdish. Instead, the Jews (and Christians) of Kurdistan spoke dialects of Aramaic—a Semitic language, similar to Hebrew. Aramaic, the language of the Talmud and parts of the Bible, was the international language of trade and commerce in the ancient Middle East with a status similar to that of English in the modern world. The Kurdish Jews spoke their own unique dialects of the language, however, which possessed many words borrowed from Kurdish.3 The Kurdish Jews in Israel, along with a small number of Assyrian Christians, are among the last remaining Aramaic speakers in the world; many scholars believe the language will disappear as a spoken language within a generation.4

Copyright 2005, Yale Israel Journal

Be sure to check out The Jews of Kurdistan --virtually everything you ever wanted to know about Kurdish Jews, including the articles about the proven genetic closeness between Jews and Kurds. Further articles on the gene connection, and also here .

Click here to see some old photos of Jewish Kurds including the great one at the top of the page.

The End of an Era in Israel

Whatever happens with Ariel Sharon over the next days and weeks, he will clearly not be returning to Israeli politics. It is the passing of an era.

I first became a fan of Sharon when he exercised his right to go to the Temple Mount as a Jew, showing Barak and the world the intolerance of those people, the so-called 'Palestinians' who would (not) share space with the Jews of Israel.

These self-same 'Palestinians' dance with glee and pass out candies over the hopes of Sharon's death. This is no surprise. They would do the same for Netanyahu. They do it with lesser glee over the death of any Israeli, passing out the sweets after a suicide attack. That is one of the things that differeniates them from us.

Netanyahu handed over cities to control of the PA. Sharon took the settlers out of Gaza. Both were actions the Palestinians and virtually the rest of the world, were 'demanding'. Hey, but to quote the late great Rodney Dangerfield "I don't get no respect." The Israelis 'don't get no respect' for their sacrifices for peace. They certainly don't get peace.

Well, anyway, Ariel Sharon has always had my respect, even if I haven't agreed with his vision about everything. He has been a strong and determined leader and always put his people first. Sharon has been a great guardian of the Israeli people. His entire life was dedicated to public service. Our prayers are with him now.

The Kurds from Kurdistan

Until recently, much of the world really knew very little about the Kurdish people. I was one of them. Perhaps that was because the Kurdish have not had a universally recognised country with boundaries called Kurdistan; but to the Kurdish, Kurdistan is very real indeed. This map of the Kurdish people shows where they are mostly located, and what is called 'Kurdistan':


Map of Kurdistan ----------------- Flag of Kurdistan

I won't tell you much about Kurdistan, but on the grounds that pictures are worth a thousand words, here is a gallery of photos that is not to be missed: http://www.saradistribution.com/galeri.htm . You will be amazed at the beauty of the ruins, the land, and mostly the people. They are a very old people, perhaps among the oldest in the world, and certainly among the most neglected.

Politically they are more important then the average American realises because they are a tolerant and fiercely democratic people in one of the most intolerant neighborhoods in the world.

You can find some exciting Kurdish music here: http://www.kurdland.com/main/music/default.asp

I never realised that there were also Jewish Kurds, and tomorrow I hope to do a story about them.

More Photos from The Face of Islamic Terrorism

Another photo of the burning of the Netzarim Synagogue

This is the beautiful Yamit Yeshiva/Synagogue in Neve Dekalim.



These are Palestinians destroying it. On this day the Palestinians burned 25 Synagogues! They have NO SHAME.

PaulaSays

The Face of Islamic Religious Intolerance

I had read about the burning of the synagogues of Gaza, but I had never seen the pictures before. How very distressing! Paula Stern has a lot to say at her site PaulaSays.com.

Sept 5 - Today, as I knew they would, crazed Palestinian mobs are desecrating 25 synagogues in Gaza, setting them on fire and destroying what it took years to build. I have visited almost all of these synagogues, prayed in many of them. I cannot even begin to put into words the pain I feel today, the anger, and the sadness.

The world, as I expected, is silent. The UN’s Kofi Annan was asked to protect the remaining synagogues, but we hear nothing. Empty buildings, they will protest quietly, and what did you expect? Unspoken is the silent Message that while the Christian world and the Jewish world would respect places of worship, the Moslem world cannot be held to the same level of accountability. Did you expect any different? No, I did not, though it would be a mistake to assume that knowing they would destroy these holy places in any way lessens the pain.

We can’t say that we expected no better, of course, because that would be deemed racist and wrong. It would be insulting to the honorable religion of Islam, even though it is the truth. It would imply that their values are different than ours, even though they are. It would suggest that their culture is one that lacks respect for other religions, one deeply embedded in violence and one that cannot tolerate and respect the beliefs of others. We can’t say all that, and so the lie will live on, the destruction go unpunished, the truth left unsaid.

Read it and Weep



This is one of the beautiful synagogues, built by the Jews of Gaza, torched by the Palestinians!

Alleged al-Qaida Aide Said to Fake Death

from AP by way of JihadWatch

ISTANBUL, Turkey - An alleged al-Qaida operative accused of serving as a key link between the group's leaders and suicide bombers hid his tracks so well that even fellow militants thought he was dead.

Loa'i Mohammad Haj Bakr al-Saqa, wanted by Turkey for 2003 bombings in Istanbul that killed 58 people, is said to have eluded intelligence services by using an array of fake IDs, employing aliases even with his al-Qaida contacts and finally faking his death in Fallujah, Iraq, in late 2004.

The Syrian radical didn't surface until last August, when an accidental explosion forced him to flee his safehouse in the Turkish resort of Antalya, police say. Officers reported finding bomb-making materials meant for an attack on an Israeli cruise ship as well as fake IDs and passports from several countries. Police eventually cornered al-Saqa in southeastern Turkey and he is awaiting trial on terrorism charges.

His story is an example of how al-Qaida militants operate in the shadows, changing identities, moving from country to country and covering their tracks to help the loosely organized terror network carry out attacks. Read here or go via Jihad Watch.

I always enjoy a good mystery story. For a great opinion & fact piece on Turkey, US and Kurdish intrigues see Blood Money at Rastî's blog .