A Manifesto Against Islamic Totalitarianism

Jyllands-Posten has published a beautiful manifesto against Islamic totalitarianism. Here is the English translation by Agora:

Together facing the new totalitarianism

After having overcome fascism, Nazism, and Stalinism, the world now faces a new totalitarian global threat: Islamism.

We, writers, journalists, intellectuals, call for resistance to religious totalitarianism and for the promotion of freedom, equal opportunity and secular values for all.

The recent events, which occurred after the publication of drawings of Muhammed in European newspapers, have revealed the necessity of the struggle for these universal values. This struggle will not be won by arms, but in the ideological field. It is not a clash of civilisations nor an antagonism of West and East that we are witnessing, but a global struggle that confronts democrats and theocrats.

Like all totalitarianisms, Islamism is nurtured by fears and frustrations. The hate preachers bet on these feelings in order to form battalions destined to impose a liberticidal and unegalitarian world. But we clearly and firmly state: nothing, not even despair, justifies the choice of obscurantism, totalitarianism and hatred. Islamism is a reactionary ideology which kills equality, freedom and secularism wherever it is present. Its success can only lead to a world of domination: man’s domination of woman, the Islamists’ domination of all the others. To counter this, we must assure universal rights to oppressed or discriminated people.

We reject « cultural relativism », which consists in accepting that men and women of Muslim culture should be deprived of the right to equality, freedom and secular values in the name of respect for cultures and traditions. We refuse to renounce our critical spirit out of fear of being accused of "Islamophobia", an unfortunate concept which confuses criticism of Islam as a religion with stigmatisation of its believers.

We plead for the universality of freedom of expression, so that a critical spirit may be exercised on all continents, against all abuses and all dogmas.

We appeal to democrats and free spirits of all countries that our century should be one of Enlightenment, not of obscurantism.

12 signatures

Ayaan Hirsi Ali
Chahla Chafiq
Caroline Fourest
Bernard-Henri Lévy
Irshad Manji
Mehdi Mozaffari
Maryam Namazie
Taslima Nasreen
Salman Rushdie
Antoine Sfeir
Philippe Val
Ibn Warraq

I originally wrote that Muslims will lose the cartoon war because the press will not stand for limitations on their freedom. For the following month, as I saw most US media outlets refuse to publish the cartoons (despite their obvious news value) I have feared that I was wildly optimistic. The world has been abandoning Denmark.

This manifesto is a proper response to the immature and absurd riots that have broken out, meant to show Muslims are not totally impotent. The West needs to understand the threat posed by political Islam and Islamism.

Let us hope that other newspapers have the guts to publish and support this.

Muslim riots, 1934-36

There is truly nothing new under the sun.

Muslims have staged deadly riots over stupid things way before Denmark ever became this year's target of flag-burning.

(All of these articles are taken from The Palestine Post archives.)

In 1934, Muslims started rioting over a book that supposedly insulted Mohammed:

A very similar case happened a year later. A Hindu wrote a book, allegedly insulting Mohammed. He was promptly murdered. When his killer was executed, the Muslims in India rioted, killing 20:

In Lahore, some Sikhs decided to demolish an abandoned mosque. Only four were killed, so this was considered a very minor riot.

Again, a similar scenario played out in 1936 in Bombay when the Muslims felt that a Hindu temple was being built too close to their mosque:

To be fair, Hindus living with the Muslims were disposed towards violence as well over silly reasons:

But for Muslims to riot against Jews, they didn't even require a Jewish antagonist. Just like today, any old reason would do to riot against the Jews/Zionists/Americans, no matter how tenuous the connection is to the alleged insult:

These are not the only Muslim riots during this three-year period, of course. There were others that started for political reasons, especially in Lebanon as well as the usual riots against Palestinian Jews. But these are more similar to today's riots in the fact that they were over stupid issues and they show how cheap human life is to the rioters.

They also show that the much lauded "Muslim tolerance" towards other religions is a myth, and has been for quite some time.

Teach Your Children

I wonder if this is what CSN&Y were referring to?

You who are on the road
Must have a code that you can live by
And so become yourself
Because the past is just a good bye.

Teach your children well,
Their father's hell did slowly go by,
And feed them on your dreams
The one they picked, the one you'll know by.

Don't you ever ask them why, if they told you, you would cry,
So just look at them and sigh and know they love you.

And you, of tender years,
Can't know the fears that your elders grew by,
And so please help them with your youth,
They seek the truth before they can die.

(Can you hear and do you care and
Cant you see we must be free to
Teach your children what you believe in.
Make a world that we can live in.)

Teach your parents well,
Their children's hell will slowly go by,
And feed them on your dreams
The one they picked, the one you'll know by.

Don't you ever ask them why, if they told you, you would cry,
So just look at them and sigh and know they love you.

Pakistani boy, covering his face with headband thatsays ''There is no God but God.,Muhammad is the Prophet of God',' takes part in a rally against the publication of cartoons depicting Islamic Prophet Muhammad printed by some Western newspapers, Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2006 in Karachi, Pakistan. (AP Photo/Shakil Adil)

Pakistani children carry a mock coffin wrapped with a U.S. flag, wearing yellow headbands that says, 'There is no God but God.,Muhammad is the Prophet of God,' during a rally against the publication of cartoons depicting Islamic Prophet Muhammad printed by some Western newspapers, Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2006 in Karachi, Pakistan. (AP Photo/Shakil Adil)

Pakistani boy brandishes a dagger during a rally tagainst the publication of cartoons depicting Islamic Prophet Muhammad printed by some Western newspapers, Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2006 in Karachi, Pakistan.

Riots over Mecca playing cards

Kashmiri Muslim youths burn copies of an Indian magazine in Srinagar February 28, 2006. Dozens of Kashmiri youths on Tuesday took to the streets in Srinagar to protest against an Indian magazine for publishing a picture of a playing card showing an image of the Mecca. REUTERS/Danish Ismail

Say what? Further research found this:

Life in the historic Lal Chowk and Budshah chowk, the nerve centre of the summer capital, was disrupted after youths took to streets, protesting against the publication of pictures of Muslim holy places of Mecca and Medina on a pack of cards.

As the news spread that picture of the holy places had appeared on playing cards, youths forced closure of shops and pelted stones damaging vehicles at Lal chowk, Budshah Chowk, Maisuma and Court Road.

It was however, not immediately known who has published the pictures. But youths were seen holding a paper depicting the pictures.

The demonstrators were raising slogans against the US, alleging a conspiracy to hurt the sentiments of the Muslims.

It looks like there is a market out there for offensive media, if only so crazed Muslims could burn them.

Anyone up for a game of poker?

Tradition ain't what it used to be

This is a funny video.

("When the first Japanese production of Fiddler was produced, the composers Harnick, Bock and Stein went to Japan. They were all very nervous. ‘How’s a New York interpretive Jewish musical is going to work in Japan? During production they are all anxiously biting their nails. At the end the Japanese producer comes over to them and says: I don’t understand, I don’t know how this piece can work so well in New York. It’s so Japanese!' ")

The religious war from Qatar

Like the UAE, Qatar is considered a great ally in our "war on terror." It seems that the current administration is havin a hard time in distinguishing between friends and enemies.

Qatar is where the infamous Sheikh Yousef Al-Qaradhawi resides, and he is given many opportunities to spew hate on Qatar TV - not against Zionists but against Jews as well as Christians, Americans and whoever else is on his radar screen that week. Here's his latest:

Our war with the Jews is over land, brothers. We must understand this. If they had not plundered our land, there wouldn't be a war between us."
[...]
"We are fighting them in the name of Islam, because Islam commands us to fight whoever plunders our land, and occupies our country. All the school of Islamic jurisprudence - the Sunni, the Shi'ite, the Ibadhiya – and all the ancient and modern schools of jurisprudence – agree that any invader who occupies even an inch of land of the Muslims must face resistance. The Muslims of that country must carry out the resistance, and the rest of the Muslims must help them. If the people of that country are incapable or reluctant, we must fight to defend the land of Islam, even if the local [Muslims] give it up.

"They must not allow anyone to take a single piece of land away from Islam. That is what we are fighting the Jews for. We are fighting them... Our religion commands us... We are fighting in the name of religion, in the name of Islam, which makes this Jihad an individual duty, in which the entire nation takes part, and whoever is killed in this [Jihad] is a martyr. This is why I ruled that martyrdom operations are permitted, because he commits martyrdom for the sake of Allah, and sacrifices his soul for the sake of Allah.

"We do not disassociate Islam from the war. On the contrary, disassociating Islam from the war is the reason for our defeat. We are fighting in the name of Islam."
[...]
"They fight us with Judaism, so we should fight them with Islam. They fight us with the Torah, so we should fight them with the Koran. If they say 'the Temple,' we should say 'the Al-Aqsa Mosque.' If they say: 'We glorify the Sabbath,' we should say: 'We glorify the Friday.' This is how it should be. Religion must lead the war. This is the only way we can win."
[...]
"Everything will be on our side and against Jews on [Judgment Day]; at that time, even the stones and the trees will speak, with or without words, and say: 'Oh servant of Allah, oh Muslim, there's a Jew behind me, come and kill him.' They will point to the Jews. It says 'servant of Allah,' not 'servant of desires,' 'servant of women,' 'servant of the bottle,' 'servant of Marxism,' or 'servant of liberalism'... It said 'servant of Allah.'

"When the Muslims, the Arabs, and the Palestinians enter a war, they do it to worship Allah. They enter it as Muslims. The hadith says: 'Oh Muslim.' It says 'oh Muslim,' not 'oh Palestinian, Jordanian, Syrian, or Arab nationalist.' No, it says: 'Oh Muslim.' When we enter [a war] under the banner of Islam, and under the banner of serving Allah, we will be victorious."

Also out of this great friendly land comes Dr. Ali Al Quradaghi, who claims that the Christians and Jews are uniting to fight against Islam:

Jews and Christians were now preparing to wage the third world war with Muslims as the target, Doha-based Islamic scholar Dr Ali Al Quradaghi, said here on Thursday. Muslims of the world, he said, should unite against such forces that try to denigrate the great Islam faith, he added.

Funny that no one but Muslims noticed.

The Qatar newspaper also lightheartedly describes Qatar and Bahrain-based Muslim Brotherhood sheikh Wajdi Ghunaim in these terms:

For a Muslim, Friday sermons are a serious business, but a Doha-based Egyptian cleric makes the devout laugh with his witty remarks.

Wajdi Ghunaim is an independent scholar (not attached to the Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs) and is occasionally invited to deliver Friday sermons and lead prayers.

Last Friday, he delivered the sermon at Bukhari Mosque in Al Hilal area, pulling large crowds.

Ghunaim, who frequently appears on Arabic TV channels, told a local Arabic daily in an interview yesterday that while (the Israeli Premier) Ariel Sharon can enter Egypt, he cannot, despite Egypt being his home country.

A member of the feared Islamic outfit Muslim Brotherhood, Ghunaim says he suspects he may be put in jail if he lands in Cairo.

What a riot! Guess what he says about Jews?

In 1998, CAIR and the American Muslim Council (AMC) cosponsored a rally at Brooklyn College, which included a diatribe by Wagdi Ghuniem, an Egyptian extremist. Ghuniem led 500 people in singing a ditty with the chorus: ‘No to the Jews, descendants of the apes.’

So, these are the sorts of people on Qatari TV, written about in glowing terms by the mainstream English-language Qatari media. And all of them are popular and clearly describe their conflict in purely religious terms, not political.

We are still looking for moderate Muslims from Qatar who denounce their hate. After all, they are our close allies.

And another

A banner day for the cartoon protesters!

Tolerance and justice all rolled up into one.

Incitement!

The pictures keep coming!

Funny thing - according to these mental midgets, imams calling for jihad against the West is not incitement to violence, but making fun of their religion is. And it is not incitement to the West to wage war against Islam, but it is incitement to Muslims to burn, pillage and kill.

Once again, the truth comes out from those lowest on the Islamic totem pole - here they say almost explicitly that they cannot be held responsible for their actions when they feel slighted. In other words, that they cannot act like normal adults. They can't help it!

I wonder what their reaction would be if a European would point out that their sign hurt her feelings. Obviously, this must be a major crime in their culture, judging from their signs.

Insane Muslim protesters of the day

This young (or perhaps old) woman (or perhaps man) has something important to say:

Cutting off hands for robbery? I can handle that!
Walking in desert heat with my entire body covered up except for a slit for my eyes? No problem!

Iran building nuclear weapons so they can destroy the Western menace? Go for it!
Hijacked planes crashing into buildings? Hand out the candy!
But if you dare publish a cartoon in an obscure Danish newspaper that pisses me off, well, you just crossed the line!

Honorable mention:

Yes, it is true. Muslim extremism is chopping off heads of infidels; Western extremism is publishing a stick-figure picture of Mohammed.

Formally renounce Oslo

Let's revisit the letter that the lying murderer Yasir Arafat sent to Yitzchak Rabin that started the entire Oslo fiasco:

September 9, 1993

Yitzhak Rabin

Prime Minister of Israel

Mr. Prime Minister,

The signing of the Declaration of Principles marks a new era in the history of the Middle East. In firm conviction thereof, I would like to confirm the following PLO commitments:

The PLO recognizes the right of the State of Israel to exist in peace and security.

The PLO accepts United Nations Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338.

The PLO commits itself to the Middle East peace process, and to a peaceful resolution of the conflict between the two sides and declares that all outstanding issues relating to permanent status will be resolved through negotiations.

The PLO considers that the signing of the Declaration of Principles constitutes a historic event, inaugurating a new epoch of peaceful coexistence, free from violence and all other acts which endanger peace and stability. Accordingly, the PLO renounces the use of terrorism and other acts of violence and will assume responsibility over all PLO elements and personnel in order to assure their compliance, prevent violations and discipline violators.

In view of the promise of a new era and the signing of the Declaration of Principles and based on Palestinian acceptance of Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338, the PLO affirms that those articles of the Palestinian Covenant which deny Israel's right to exist, and the provisions of the Covenant which are inconsistent with the commitments of this letter are now inoperative and no longer valid. Consequently, the PLO undertakes to submit to the Palestinian National Council for formal approval the necessary changes in regard to the Palestinian Covenant.

Agreements are, by definition, between two parties. Notwithstanding that the PLO never lived up to even one part of this agreement, just their pretense of accepting Israel was enough for Israel to give them money, land and sacrifice over a thousand lives.

For some reason, the world now understands that the Palestinian leadership has no interest whatsoever in recognizing Israel or in living peacefully with her, yet Israel is still expected to provide money, aid, electricity, jobs, water and everything else needed for the Palestinian Arabs to continue to stage attacks against her.

It is time for Israel to formally say: Enough. Oslo is dead and Israel has no obligation at all to abide by any of its agreements with a partner who does not accept even the barest of responsibilities towards peaceful co-existence.

Unfortunately, Israel's leadership appears to be more interested in votes than in defending their people.

Blog evolution

Soccer Dad reminisces about his early on-line experiences that culminated (so far) with blogging. As a geek, I can't resist the temptation to add my own on-line history.

I was on Usenet as early as 1985. I mostly posted in net.religion.jewish which soon became soc.culture.jewish but occasionally in other places. I mostly stayed away from politics in those days and stuck with religious arguments. It was a simpler time, when people all used their real names....

Only a couple of years later did I discover BBSs. I did a fair amount of time with KesherNet but not for conversations as much as for downloads.

Then I got a Compuserve account. In those days, each network was pretty much independent and only were they just starting to intercommunicate via email - there were gateway systems between different types of networks. Since I was on KesherNet, Compuserve and Usenet, I would forward divrei Torah between different networks.

I seem to remember on Compuserve getting into some political discussions. I also fought against Holocaust deniers who started posting all over Usenet.

In addition, I was an early subscriber to probably the most famous Jewish religious mailing list, mail.jewish, and a very small contributor to its original FAQ. I mostly lurked on there, only posting for specific technical questions that sometimes came up.

I was on the Web around 1994 when Mosaic was the only graphical browser out there, and when protocols like gopher and archie were at least as popular as http. In those days there was very little Jewish content on the Web and no one really had any idea of how it would evolve. One of the earliest Jewish mega-websites was Shamash, which still exists at http://www.shamash.org (at the time it was hosted at nysernet.org.)

The web did grow but I really didn't get too involved in on-line discussiions until one day, probably around 2002, when I stumbled onto Yahoo news message boards. An amazing waste of time, the MBs are one of the last refuges for terrorist-supporters and Nazis to speak freely on a major news site (most other sites simply closed down their message boards after the flame wars began, and many moderate their comments and/or require valid email addresses.)

I spent a few years there, making cyber-friends and seeing the same tired arguments over and over again. I got rather sick of spending time crafting a good post only to see it scroll off in a few minutes from the busier boards.

I started saving some of my posts, and then created a very short-lived Geocities site to keep them around. It was then I discovered blogging and how easy it was to set up Blogger, so here I am, for about 18 months now. My focus has changed a bit since I started here and I am sure it will continue to change in the coming months. I do appreciate everyone who reads this, though. It may be a little egotistical but without an audience there is really no incentive for me to write or repost interesting things I've seen.

Insane Muslim Protester of the Day

My curiosity piqued, I decided to find out what exactly JSO means.

It turns out it is the Jafria Students Organization in Pakistan, which apprently has perhaps one member based on how poor their website is. But it is worth reading anyway, both for content and for style:

Jafria students organization pakistan is pakistani Shia Youth organization working for humain help. if you have any problem about islam and shia, share with me i will try answer you and help you.

n we can help those people's who are very poor

and want to know about islam and shiat ,we can help all who are without islamic knowledge

]we provide largest amount of islamic Books and magzines for reading.

if have you any problem regarding islam and shiat contect with me at the fallowing mailing address and Phone no..

/Hussaini Book shoop

Kashish centre Nuodero

Larkana, Sindh

4074-4047131,4087193,4087199

e-mail:-sayed_mazher2003@yahoo.com

Then it shows a series of pictures of people, some of whom appear to be dead:
If anyone can translate this, I would appreciate it. After all, this is turning into one of my most popular features and I wouldn't want to let down my readership.

Vanity 59

This week Daled Amos hosts Haveil Havalim #59, the latest excellent selection of notable posts in the Jewish blogosphere.

Another excellent collection of articles, including links to blogs that I've never seen before. I don't even have enough time to read all of these blogs, and the amount of time it takes to put HH together must be huge.

I am fortunate that one of my postings was included as well.

So check it out!

The 'Tom and Jerry' Conspiracy

MEMRI does it again:

On February 19, 2006, Iranian TV channel 4 covered a film seminar that included a lecture by Professor Hasan Bolkhari. In addition to being a member of the Film Council of Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB), Bolkhari is a cultural advisor to the Iranian Education Ministry, and active on behalf of interfaith issues.

The following are excerpts from Bokhari's lecture.

Hasan Bolkhari: There is a cartoon that children like. They like it very much, and so do adults - Tom and Jerry.
[...]
Some say that this creation by Walt Disney will be remembered forever. The Jewish Walt Disney Company gained international fame with this cartoon. It is still shown throughout the world. This cartoon maintains its status because of the cute antics of the cat and mouse – especially the mouse.

Some say that the main reason for making this very appealing cartoon was to erase a certain derogatory term that was prevalent in Europe.
[...]
If you study European history, you will see who was the main power to hoard money and wealth, in the 19th century. In most cases, it is the Jews. Perhaps that was one of the reasons which caused Hitler to begin the anti-Semitic trend, and then the extensive propaganda about the crematoria began... Some of this is true. We do not deny all of it.

Watch Schindler's List. Every Jew was forced to wear a yellow star on his clothing. The Jews were degraded and termed "dirty mice." Tom and Jerry was made in order to change the Europeans' perception of mice. One of terms used was "dirty mice."

I'd like to tell you that... It should be noted that mice are very cunning...and dirty.
[...]
No ethnic group or people operates in such a clandestine manner as the Jews.
[...]
Read the history of the Jews in Europe. This ultimately led to Hitler's hatred and resentment. As it turns out, Hitler had behind-the-scene connections with the Protocols [of the Elders of Zion].

Tom and Jerry was made in order to display the exact opposite image. If you happen to watch this cartoon tomorrow, bear in mind the points I have just raised, and watch it from this perspective. The mouse is very clever and smart. Everything he does is so cute. He kicks the poor cat's ass. Yet this cruelty does not make you despise the mouse. He looks so nice, and he is so clever... This is exactly why some say it was meant to erase this image of mice from the minds of European children, and to show that the mouse is not dirty and has these traits.

Writing satire of these guys keeps getting harder and harder when they keep topping themselves.

Insane Muslim Protesters of the Day - German Edition

This stuff is like crack to me.

The latest protests in Hong Kong and Germany have at least been peaceful, but the hypocrisy of the message remains incredible.

This means "Press freedom - yes, press rudeness - no."

And somehow they are referring to relatively mild cartoons about Islam and not the daily demonizing of Jews, America and the West in the Arab press.

'Who insults the Prophet, insults us all' and 'Islam respects all religions'.

As long as they are not Hindus and others who worship multiple gods, Jews who will be destroyed in the final battle, or Christians who must pay their poll tax to live under Islamic domination.

Finally, Reuters has to try to softpedal the insanity by egregiously mistranslating the German here:

Reuters tranlates it as 'The Islam is not the enemy - the enemy is called Bush'. Now, look at the German words, and wonder why the Reuters reporter decided that "Terrorist" means "enemy" in German.

Insane Muslim Protestor of the Day

Who says women in Islam have less rights? Their traditional garb allows them much more advertising space than Muslim men have!

Imagine how much she could get for her forehead rights on eBay...

Cart00ns

Soon, in Muslim lands, you will not be allowed to whisper the word "cartoon" because the very word will whip up he listener into a murderous frenzy.

Don't believe me? Then listen to the saga of the New Straits Times, a Malaysian newspaper.

Malaysia is about 60% Muslim, and the NST is quite on board with the whole "blame the West for insulting the Prophet" nonsense.

The newspaper also publishes Non-Sequitur, a comic strip by Wiley Miller that is syndicated worldwide.

Here was the Non-Sequitur comic strip from Monday, and the New Straits Times agreed to run it:



No caricatures of Mohammed, nothing remotely making fun of Mohammed.

Of course, the Islamists went crazy.

After the cartoon was published in the New Strait Times, police received complaints from Malaysia's Islamic opposition party (Parti Islam SeMalaysia) and three nongovernmental organizations. The Times got a show-cause letter from the Internal Security Ministry and was given three days to explain in writing why action shouldn't be taken against it for running the cartoon, which the ministry said breached the conditions of the newspaper's publishing permit.

"Once again, it seems the ironically challenged have just validated
the point of the satire," said Miller, when reached today by E&P.

The New Straits Times' defense is hardly a stirring call for freedom of speech:

If this cartoon were to mock Islam and the Prophet, then, certainly, the newspaper that publishes it, in this case the New Straits Times, its executives responsible should be held accountable. Just as the editors and publishers of the Sarawak Tribune and Guang Ming were held accountable.

The reference here is to two other Malaysan newspapers - one published the cartoons but blurred them out, and the other published a photo of someone reading a newspaper with the cartoons.

And both newspapers got shut down.

Now the NST is fighting for its own rights, such as they are in the backwards nation of Malaysia.

Insane Muslim Protester Bonus!

I can't get enough of these.

These charming young Pakistani women are very upset. After all, a Danish newspaper published a couple of cartoons and some Sunni Muslims in Iraq bombed a major shrine.

So, naturally, they must protest against America.

Humorously enough, while the signs say "Down with America" in English, in Arabic and Urdu they helpfully elaborate it as "Death to America."

And then there are the Mohammed groupies just dying to show their great love for their prophet:

Can't you feel the love?

Insane Muslim Protesters of the Day

I wish I could read the trenchant political humor that these wild Pakistani college girls came up with. (Although the one in the middle looks like a guy in drag to me. Who knew they were so progressive?)

The best I can see is that a dog, representing Europe and called George, ate something bloody that may or may have not been Muslim pride and is still hungry. The physics of the gravity force on the drops of blood elude me, but perhaps it has something to do with relativity.

Hamas terror-apologists increase in Europe

The "united front" against a Hamas-led PA continues to crumble, only weeks after the election and without Hamas doing anything remotely peaceful. It is truly an amazing scenario and one that is more pessimistic than I expected - even without Hamas having to lie about being interested in peace, the innate Jew-hatred and sympathy for those who want to wipe out all Jews continues unabated.

The new terrorist supporters barely even attempt to address Hamas' own explicit statements of how they will never accept Israel and will continue terror and war. In the absence of any Hamas lies to hang their arguments on, they simply make up their own:

It is worth noting that Hamas has maintained a ceasefire, which means no suicide bombings or other attacks on Israel, for a year. Such control over its own militants might be seen as a hopeful sign, alongside its anti-corruption stance, but only the Russians, who have invited Hamas officials to Moscow, seem to see the opportunity rather than the danger. They have offered a "long-term ceasefire", just as Sharon suggested an interim solution before the creation of a Palestinian state, but this too is dismissed.

In the meantime Hamas is combing the Muslim world for funds. On Monday its political leader, Khaled Mishaal, was in Tehran meeting Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, who will happily plug the financial gap if Hamas adheres to his anti-western agenda. "Palestinian people knew that their vote for Hamas meant the fight against the Zionist occupier regime," he said. (In fact, most people I met in Gaza last month voted Hamas because they were angry with the corrupt Fatah leadership. "Ideology accounted for less than 15 per cent of votes," said the Gazan psychologist Eyad Serraj. "People voted on corruption and social issues.")

Last week, this magazine revealed Foreign Office plans to engage with "political Islam" in the form of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, a close ally of Hamas. This acknowledges reality without endorsing terror. Hamas is not about to become the Liberal Democrats, but it came to power in a legitimate election. It may yet descend into corruption or return to violence, but right now there is all to play for.

I left Gaza through the Erez crossing. Palestinians lined up in concrete corridors and the voices of teenage Israeli conscripts ordered them, through loudspeakers, to wait, turn around and put their hands above their heads. More security, more humiliation. Now Israel talks of closing Erez, too, cutting off Gaza completely, as punishment for the election of Hamas. Such measures will radicalise Palestinians further, as the Americans endorse the Israeli line and Europe misses a chance to challenge US policy and gain credibility in the Arab world.

Lindsey Hilsum is international editor for Channel 4 News

Amazing!

First, the explicit lie: Hamas has been responsible for fatal attacks in Israel during the "cease fire." Not to mention the dozens of rocket attacks that luckily weren't fatal. The fact that this terror-apologist chooses to ignore facts and prop up murderers shows a complete disregard for truth as well as human lives. (But Palestinians standing in line are a major crime against humanity, according to the sickening logic of this idiot.)

Then comes the usual worthless comparisons between Hamas and Sharon, to try to justify the bizarrely untenable pro-terror position.

Then the implicit threat that if the West doesn't fund Hamas, then Iran will! As if Hamas will act differently with Western money.

Following that comes the crazy illogic that, "sure, it is a gamble to trust people who explicitly call for genocide, but it is worth a shot." As long as the potential victims are Jews, that is. Somehow I doubt that the writer would extend the same courtesy to Al Qaeda, which incidentally hasn't killed many British recently.

This insane train of thought continues with the notion that while Palestinian Arabs electing a government based on terror is meaningless, but withholding money from them will radicalize them and turn them into terrorists.

Finally, we get to the good part: all of this twisting of facts and calling to fund terror is meant to increase Europe's fading influence and to stick it to America. And if supporting terror is the price that has to be paid to atain this noble goal, well, what are a few dozen more dead Jews?

A small Oslo history lesson

Thanks to MEMRI:
Following are excerpts from an interview by Al-Quds Al-Arabi Editor-in-Chief Abd Al-Bari Atwan, aired on ANB TV on February 16, 2006.

Abd Al-Bari Atwan: When the Oslo Accords were signed, I went to visit [Arafat] in Tunis. It was around July, before he went to Gaza. I said to him: We disagree. I do not support this agreement. It will harm us, the Palestinians, distort our image, and uproot us from our Arab origins. This agreement will not get us what we want, because these Israelis are deceitful.

He took me outside and told me: By Allah, I will drive them crazy. By Allah, I will turn this agreement into a curse for them. By Allah, perhaps not in my lifetime, but you will live to see the Israelis flee from Palestine. Have a little patience. I entrust this with you. Don't mention this to anyone. Always remember this. Sometimes, when I would criticize him strongly, he would say to me: Do you remember the promise I made, Abd Al-Bari?

He was very amicable, and had a great capacity to forgive. I never let him down in crucial moments. For example, when the Americans tried to force Abu-Mazen on him as prime minister, and to take away all his authorities, I stood by Yasser Arafat. I was convinced, because of what he entrusted with me, and because I knew him, that he would not betray [the Palestinians], and would not make concessions.

That is why I knew that it was he who founded and armed the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, in order to redress the balance with the historic mistake of the Oslo Accords.

This is the "peace process" that the West worships more than any deity. The entire Oslo farce was meant as a means to wage war, not peace, on the part of the Palestinian Arabs against Israel.

And it has been successful. Israel has, from the Arab perspective, abandoned land to terrorists because of the good cop/bad cop pairing of Oslo and terror, both of which had the same goal - the destruction of the Jewish state.

The West still thinks that the "peace process" is a desirable state of affairs, when it is in fact one of the biggest misnomers in history, one whose goal from the Arab side is anything but peaceful.

Sunnis destroy major Shiite mosque; blame Jews and Americans

Isn't unity wonderful?

Muslims across the Middle East – Sunnis and Shiites alike – largely ignored sectarian divides today to unite in condemnation of the the bombing that destroyed of the golden dome that graced one of Iraq’s holiest Shiite shrines.

King Abdullah II, the Jordanian monarch, call it “a heinous attack … (that) has greatly angered us and has provoked our strong feelings as direct descendants of the Prophet Mohammed.”

Radical Iraqi Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who was touring the region, cut short a visit to Lebanon to return to his troubled homeland.

At a news conference when he reached Damascus, Syria, al-Sadr laid blame either with the Americans or the Iraqi government.

“If responsibility is not in the hands of the Iraqi government, then I consider the responsibility for this event lies with the occupation forces which should either leave immediately or according to a timetable,” the firebrand cleric told reporters.

Influential Egyptian Sunni cleric Sheikh Youssef al-Qaradawi said the blast was “a very dangerous action that kindles the fires of sedition.”

He refused to accept that fellow Sunnis were behind the bomb blasts that ripped apart the golden dome of the Askariya shrine in Samarra, about 60 miles north of Baghdad.

“We cannot imagine that the Iraqi Sunnis did this. So who did do it? Who planned with such slyness and precision and got away without being arrested?” he said.

“No one benefits from such acts other than the US occupation and the lurking Zionist enemy.”

Lebanon’s powerful Shiite militant Hezbollah organisation blamed the US.

“We call upon Muslims everywhere, and especially in Iraq, to avoid falling into a major trap of sedition designed for them by the American occupation and their agents inside Iraq,” Hezbollah said in a statement.

Free Speech

What exactly are the limits of free speech?

Many Muslims are convinced that there is a double-standard in the West: while Holocaust denial and hate speech are illegal in some countries, making fun of Mohammed is not.

A recent LA Times editorial says that the Austrian laws against Holocaust denial are counterproductive:

Free speech, even if it hurts
# Protecting the rights of a Holocaust denier ultimately protects us all.

By Michael Shermer, MICHAEL SHERMER is the publisher of Skeptic magazine, a monthly columnist for Scientific American and the author of "Denying History: Who Says the Holocaust Never Happened and Why Do They Say It?"

That Irving has been, and probably still is, a Holocaust denier is indisputable. In 1994, I interviewed him for a book on Holocaust denial, and he told me that no more than half a million Jews died during World War II, and most of those because of disease and starvation. In 2000, Irving lost his libel suit in Britain against an author, and the judge in the case called him "an active Holocaust denier … anti-Semitic and racist." And in April 2005, I attended a lecture he gave in Costa Mesa at an event sponsored by the Institute for Historical Review, the leading voice of Holocaust denial in the U.S. There he joked about the Chappaquiddick line and, holding his right arm up, boasted: "This hand has shaken more hands that shook Hitler's hand than anyone else in the world."

The important question here is not whether Irving is a Holocaust denier (he is), or whether he offends people with what he says (he does), but why anyone, anywhere should be imprisoned for expressing dissenting views or saying offensive things. Today, you may be imprisoned or fined for dissenting from the accepted Holocaust history in the following countries: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Israel, Lithuania, New Zealand, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Switzerland.[...]

Austria's treatment of Irving as a political dissident should offend both the people who defend the rights of political cartoonists to express their opinion of Islamic terrorists and the civil libertarians who leaped to the defense of University of Colorado professor Ward Churchill when he exercised his right to call the victims of 9/11 "little Eichmanns." Why doesn't it? Why aren't freedom lovers everywhere offended by Irving's court conviction?

Freedom is a principle that must be applied indiscriminately. We have to defend Irving in order to defend ourselves. Once the laws are in place to jail dissidents of Holocaust history, what's to stop such laws from being applied to dissenters of religious or political histories, or to skepticism of any sort that deviates from the accepted canon?

No one should be required to facilitate the expression of Holocaust denial, but neither should there be what Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis called the "silence coerced by law — the argument of force in its worst form."

Call David Irving the devil if you like; the principle of free speech gives you the right to do so. But we must give the devil his due. Let Irving go, for our own safety's sake.

His arguments are eloquent, and as a believer in free speech I am sympathetic. (Even Deborah Lipstadt, the Holocaust researcher who won a lawsuit against Irving, does not believe that he should be in jail.)

However, to give a famous example, free speech does not give you the right to yell "Fire!" in a movie theatre. Incitement to violence is not covered under free speech.

There are serious Holocaust researchers who cast doubt on certain details. Some "facts" about the Holocaust have been shown to not be true by real historians. As in other cases, one must apply a reasonable standard for the intent of the speaker when determining whether his words are meant as a call for truth or a call for genocide.

It is a reasonable assumption that the people who deny the Holocaust happened are the people who most want it to happen again. As such, their denial is nothing more than window dressing for their desire for a world that is Judenrein.

The cartoons of Mohammed were in no way, shape or form an incitement to violence against Muslims. The only violence that occurred in the wake of the cartoons were by Muslims, not against them.

The level of offensiveness should not affect free speech. If speech is restricted by how much people are offended, then everyone has veto power over everything. The intent of the offender is all that matters, not the thinness of the skin of the offended.

The line is still blurry between free speech and incitement, but the editorial above didn't even consider the possibility of Holocaust denial as incitement to rid the world of Jews. And that is the fundamental issue that needs to be addressed.

More pragmatism from Hamas

This animation was on Hamas' website: (hat tip LGF)

Insane Muslim Protester of the Day

It is interesting how Muslims use the Crusades as a club to beat the West with. I wonder how tolerant they would be if prominent leaders would claim that they were a myth created to justify Islamist expansionism and warmongering.

Today's Palestinian Police Phunnies XXIV

Soccer Dad asks a good question from me: what exactly is this military exercise that Palestinian "policemen" are doing?

This other picture, however, gives the answer:


Obviously, because of how inconsistently their paychecks have been arriving, they are starting a circus! This will help cheer up the poor Palestinian Arab children and will of course be underwritten by the EU.

The circus will show Palestinian Arab policemen doing death-defying acts, and the part that makes it interesting is how often death wins! I'm sure that AbbaGav can give a more detailed description of this circus...

The money source fallacy

I've been seeing news stories that seem to suggest that the reason why the West should continue to fund the Palestinians in the wake of the Hamas victory is because if we don't, Iran and Saudi Arabia will.

This makes no sense. While in a very broad outline, Western money has some strings attached to ensure that the money ends up going towards specific programs, in the end all it does is free up money for Palestinians to blow up Jews.

And the idea that somehow Western money influences the Palestinians to have more Western attitudes is simply false. After all, they still elected the party of suicide bombers. One lesson of the cartoons is that you cannot buy respect from those who are pro-terror - Denmark was the most tolerant and pro-Palestinian Arab nation in Europe, and now their flag is burned in every Muslim capital.

Hamas is firmly tied to Iran ideologically, and no amount of Western money will change that. And Iran will fund Hamas regardless.

In the end, it is Western money that funds Saudi Arabia and Iranian-sponsored terror anyway. If we are going to use our economic might to make a difference, it needs to be against the true monetary sources of terror - the Saudi-funded madrassas, the terror "charities," Iran. Any other plan is just playing games and congratulating ourselves that we added an extra step in the inevitable money trail from our pockets to those who want to kill us.

Hamas feminism again

Mrs Naeem, a 37-year-old social worker at the Islamic University in Gaza City and a mother of four, is one of six women elected to parliament on the Hamas ticket in the Islamist party's landslide victory last month....

Women played a crucial role in getting out the vote for Hamas, knocking on doors and often getting a sympathetic hearing. Hamas's strategy to build political support through its social programmes - the provision of health clinics, nurseries and food for the poor - sealed the loyalty of many Palestinian women.

Shortly before the election, Hamas launched a women's armed wing and pictured its members brandishing guns and rocket-propelled grenades in its campaign posters. But the women MPs say their priority is reform, not armed struggle.
[...]
Many of the male leaders of Hamas favour the extension of sharia to cover civil as well as criminal codes. Some have said they want to segregate schools, others favour a ban on the sale of alcohol. They also want to see women dress in accordance with Islam.

Mrs Naeem says changes should come only after Hamas has taken time to explain the benefits of religious law. "Our sharia is great if it's practised according to its values. It's not like they say about only cutting off hands," she said.

"It's not going to be forceful but anybody who believes in the religion has to be educated in it. At the end, what matters is fighting corruption, not what people wear."

Then there is an issue unlike any other. The most controversial of the newly elected Hamas women is Miriam Farhat, known as the "Mother of Martyrs" after losing three sons fighting Israel. Her campaign video included a scene of her bidding a son goodbye before he died killing five people in a Jewish settlement. Mrs Farhat said later that she wished she had 100 sons to sacrifice as "shaheeds" - Muslims who die in a holy war.

Mrs Naeem, who named her youngest child after a Hamas leader assassinated by Israel, says there is nothing illegitimate about suicide bombers. "[The Israelis] bomb our neighbourhoods with high explosive. What kind of weapons do we have against F16s?" she asked. But would she encourage her own 16-year-old son to die killing Israelis? "Yes, as soon as his homeland calls for it. I am preparing him to be a shaheed," she said.

How pragmatic and forward thinking!

Dhimmi Carter says to give Hamas lots of money

Another predictable idiotic op-ed piece by Jimmy Carter supporting terrorists in the name of democracy.

Don't Punish the Palestinians

[...]
The role of the prime minister was greatly strengthened while Abbas and Ahmed Qureia served in that position under Yasser Arafat, and Abbas has announced that he will not choose a prime minister who does not recognize Israel or adhere to the basic principles of the "road map." This could result in a stalemated process, but my conversations with representatives of both sides indicate that they wish to avoid such an imbroglio. The spokesman for Hamas claimed, "We want a peaceful unity government." If this is a truthful statement, it needs to be given a chance.

During this time of fluidity in the formation of the new government, it is important that Israel and the United States play positive roles. Any tacit or formal collusion between the two powers to disrupt the process by punishing the Palestinian people could be counterproductive and have devastating consequences.

Unfortunately, these steps are already underway and are well known throughout the Palestinian territories and the world. Israel moved yesterday to withhold funds (about $50 million per month) that the Palestinians earn from customs and tax revenue. Perhaps a greater aggravation by the Israelis is their decision to hinder movement of elected Hamas Palestinian Legislative Council members through any of more than a hundred Israeli checkpoints around and throughout the Palestinian territories. This will present significant obstacles to a government's functioning effectively. Abbas informed me after the election that the Palestinian Authority was $900 million in debt and that he would be unable to meet payrolls during February. Knowing that Hamas would inherit a bankrupt government, U.S. officials have announced that all funding for the new government will be withheld, including what is needed to pay salaries for schoolteachers, nurses, social workers, police and maintenance personnel. So far they have not agreed to bypass the Hamas-led government and let humanitarian funds be channeled to Palestinians through United Nations agencies responsible for refugees, health and other human services.

This common commitment to eviscerate the government of elected Hamas officials by punishing private citizens may accomplish this narrow purpose, but the likely results will be to alienate the already oppressed and innocent Palestinians, to incite violence, and to increase the domestic influence and international esteem of Hamas. It will certainly not be an inducement to Hamas or other militants to moderate their policies.

The election of Hamas candidates cannot adversely affect genuine peace talks, since such talks have been nonexistent for over five years. A negotiated agreement is the only path to a permanent two-state solution, providing peace for Israel and justice for the Palestinians. In fact, if Israel is willing to include the Palestinians in the process, Abbas can still play this unique negotiating role as the unchallenged leader of the PLO (not the government that includes Hamas).

It was under this umbrella and not the Palestinian Authority that Arafat negotiated with Israeli leaders to conclude the Oslo peace agreement. Abbas has sought peace talks with Israel since his election a year ago, and there is nothing to prevent direct talks with him, even if Hamas does not soon take the ultimately inevitable steps of renouncing violence and recognizing Israel's right to exist.

It would not violate any political principles to at least give the Palestinians their own money; let humanitarian assistance continue through U.N. and private agencies; encourage Russia, Egypt and other nations to exert maximum influence on Hamas to moderate its negative policies; and support President Abbas in his efforts to ease tension, avoid violence and explore steps toward a lasting peace.

Carter is so incredibly willfully blind, so unbelievably wrongheaded as to make it remarkable to conceive that he was once President of a great country.

Is he completely unaware that Abbas is also the leader of Fatah, which is responsible for scores of terror attacks? Is he clueless about the Palestinian Arab "policemen" who are nothing but terrorists in uniform? Does he really consider money that others pump into the Palestinian economy for free "their own money?" Can he really believe that after seeing the lies of the PA over the past decade that the "peace process" has any value to anyone? Can he not read the Hamas charter in black and white? Why does he believe an anonymous Hamas spokesman who doesn't even say anything remotely peaceful over the explicitly anti-semitic and genocidal statements of Hamas in Arabic?

Perhaps the most clueless and dhimmified part of the article is the part that is unwittingly bigoted towards Arabs. Yes, Jimmy Carter is a bigot against Arabs. He holds them to a much lower standard than human beings , and he justifies their terrorism as a natural part of their personalities. How else can he say that withholding money from them is an incitement to violence? What exactly is the genetic psychological condition that Palestinians evidently have that means that if we don't do what they want, they are justified in killing Jews?

No, according to the liberal mindset typified by Dhimmi Carter, all of their violence is our fault. Somehow when the Mafia threatens violence when they don't get their "protection money" it is a crime, but when Hamas does exactly the same thing it is reason to bow before Allah and submit to an Islamic 'ummah.

And now Hamas doesn't even have to make that threat explicit. President Jimmah will do it for them, in the pages of the Washington Post.

Wine and cheese

From Denmark:

Kosher Wine and Cheese.

Haveil Havalim #58 has arrived

The grand-daddy of Jewish blog carnivals is back with HH58 hosted by Soccer Dad himself! Lots of new (to me) blogs to check out and a great job, as always.

He was nice enough to link to this article of mine.

If you haven't yet seen this weekly collection of the best of the J-Blogosphere, read it now!

Insane Muslim Protesters of the Day

In my previous posting, I reproduced a sign from some New York City protesters that appear to show death threats against people who have upset Muslims.

The sponsors of that poster are from the "Islamic Thinkers Society" whose webpage is currently down. But thanks to Google's cache, we can find a lovely recent picture of a protest by these people in Europe, threatening to "butcher" anyone who disagrees with them:

It also shows them threatening the US recently at Ground Zero, with the picture of an Islamic flag over the White House:

Islamist supremacism and death threats in NYC

The insane Muslims are in the US as well:

The pictures that I recognize on the placard are Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a critic of Islam who helped make the film about women in Islam called Submission with Theo Van Gogh who was murdered because of it; and Flemming Rose, who published the pictures in Denmark. (The picture on the right, Michael Leunig, is a different story and it is very unclear why he is being targeted - he penned a cartoon comparing Israel to Nazi Germany which was not published in Australia and someone else submitted it to Iran's Holocaust cartoon contest under his name.)

Look carefully at the pictures: they have what appear to be gunshot wounds drawn in to the foreheads of Hirsi and Rose:

So, in the United States, today, Muslims apparently threatened to assassinate people who disagree with them.

And if you are unclear as to what these people ultimately want, just have a look-see at this lovely sign:

New cartoon insanity in Toronto

TORONTO -- A student newspaper at Canada's largest university is drawing criticism for publishing a cartoon depicting the Prophet Muhammad and Jesus embracing.

The University of Toronto student union says it's received several complaints about the Strand, published by Victoria College.

The cartoon, submitted by a student, was published Wednesday alongside an editorial addressing the debate on whether to publish controversial Danish cartoons that have sparked protest around the world.

It depicts a man resembling Jesus embracing another figure with his back turned with a turban and a tattoo of a crescent moon and star.

Student union president Paul Bretscher says the editors should pull the cartoon and issue an apology.

The part that bugs me about this story isn't the absurd political correctness, the abject dhimmifying of the Student Administrative Council at the U of T, or even the fact that the cartoon is not very funny or illuminative.

The part that bugs me is that many newspapers are picking up on this story without a single one printing a copy of the actual cartoon - one that doesn't even show Mohammed! (This one came from the student newspaper itself.)

The mainstream news media in North America is showing complete and utter submission to the threat of Islam, which means that it is no longer the place to get news.

Cross-burning in Iran

Iranian Sunny Muslim protesters burn a cross during a demonstration against the publication of caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad outside the Danish embassy in Tehran, on Friday Feb. 17, 2006. The drawings, first published by a Danish newspaper, sparked at times violent protests in Muslim countries. (AP Photo/Hasan Sarbakhshian)

Well, well. It sure appears like they are attacking one of the religions they claim to respect.

UPDATE: On the hypocritical front:

Tehran, Feb 17 (ISNA)-Iran's Judiciary first deputy highlighted that Iran knows insulting religious beliefs as a prosecutable charge in internal and international courts and to the rich texts of Islamic resources, internal and international laws, this matter can be investigated and charged.

The Arab Parallel Universe

I just stumbled onto a brilliant set of posts by Sandmonkey and his commenters, which together explain Arab actions with a small set of rules.

The term APU, or Arab Parallel Universe, was coined by Jeffrey to describe the phenomenon where Arabs never lose wars - they either win, become an Arab Champion or are heroically martyred.

Egyptian Sandmonkey followed up with his own set of 7 Rules of the APU, which are as hilarious as they are accurate. In short:

1) Arabs never make mistakes, and they rarely lose wars.
2) The Zionists and the Americans are always to blame for everything that is wrong in the APU.("Drug use rise in Egypt? Israel is shipping drugs free to Egypt to destroy our naïve helpless youth! STD levels rising? STD & HIV infected Israelis moussad girls who come here to infect our virile Egyptian men with AIDS are to blame. The Egypt air plane that captain Batouty committed suicide with and plunged in the ocean? The Americans shot it down.")
3) If there is any credit at all that can be contributed to Arabs in any way, they will take it. ("Even though this whole 911 thing was a jewish conspiracy anyway, if it turned out that arabs were behind it, then u have to admit that it was greatly planned and flawlessly executed and that its good to give America a lesson every now and then.")
4) Good leadership is inversely related to how US-friendly a leader is!
5) Any media that is not the official state-owned media is filled with Zionist, Jewish, American, Christian, imperialist, anti-arab influences and they LIE ALL THE TIME!
6) There is really no need for elections in the APU, because Presidents and rulers are presidents and rulers for life.
7) The only viable alternative candidate to the current leader or president is this current leader or president’s son.

It is worth reading the whole thing.

More recently, another commenter Elengil posted a beautiful additional rule:

Collective punishment is wrong. But only against us. If we decide to collectively punish you, then that's ok because you all deserve it. But don't you dare generalize all of us, no matter how much we generalize you. Oh and by the way, an attack on one Arab country is an attack on all Arab countries.. but please don't assume that means an attack BY one Arab country means an attack by all Arab countries cause that would be a logical falacy. Somehow.

So remember:
Generalizations of us by you: Wrong
Generalizations of you by us: Right

And don't you dare criticize our violence, cause then we'll kill you, and that'll just prove how peaceful we really are! Take that you american and zionist pig-dogs and your Democratically elected leaders that we hate and have caused the world to turn on you. But don't you dare criticise *our* democratically elected terrorist organization, because they were elected, so you have to like them, no matter how much we hate your democratically elected leaders - it's right to assume that the whole of America supported everything Bush stood for since as many as 50% voted for him, but it would be wrong to assume that every Palestinian supports everything Hamas stands for since only around 80% voted for them."

Very well said!

technorati tags: apu, arabs, cartoons, sandmonkey

Insane Muslim Protester of the Day

Today's nutcase comes from Hong Kong.

And as a bonus, here is an incoherent letter to the editor in a Bangladeshi newspaper:

Curtail freedom of speech!
Mohammad Abdul Hannan, University of Dhaka

Desecration of the religious icon of Islam can in no way be justified on the pretext of freedom of speech, for freedom of speech is meant for serving the greater interest of mankind. But this publication of cartoon on the prophet of Islam has undermined humanity as a whole and just added fuel to the fire of continued clashes between Muslims and Jews as the Muslims perceive that the disgraceful portrayal of their prophet was masterminded by the Jewish high command. In the last few weeks the world has become turbulent with protests being carried out by Muslims all over the world. The protest in some places claimed innocent lives as the law enforcing agencies intervened to control the height of the flame of the agitated Muslims. The UN Secretary General as well as the world community has already called upon the governments to tackle the violent protests.

Now the west should realise what harm they have done to the world in the name of so called practice of freedom of speech. They have increased the already existing hatred in the Muslim mind for the west manifold which permanently ensures the making of harmony among the religious races totally impossible. I request the world community particularly the westerners who claim to be the exponents of democracy and freedom of speech to take lesson from the consequences of this callous act and apply sense of proportion about the practices that have the potential to create controversy and fracas.

In other words, when we act like animals, it's your fault. Islamist logic in a nutshell.

On the cover of the Rolling Stone

Above the masthead (February 23rd issue):

METALLICA * YELLOWCARD * MATISYAHU

Maybe we really do rule the media.

(Ironically, I like Metallica and Yellowcard but I'm not really into Matisyahu.)

Score: Islamists 40, Indian Tennis Star Love

More tolerance from the Religion of Peace towards a 19-year old girl.

Indian female tennis player Sania Mirza, 19, who is ranked 39th in the world, announced that she would not play with Israeli up and coming tennis star Shahar Pe’er in the doubles tournament of the Bangalore Open for fear of violent protests by India’s Islamic community.

The two friends were prevented from cooperating in last month’s Australian Open for the same reason.

Mirza initially agreed to play with Pe’er in Bangalore, but later retracted, telling Pe’er “It’s best that we don’t play together this time to prevent protests against my cooperation with an Israeli. There is no reason to arouse their ire (Muslims).”

Mirza, a sports hero in her country, was recently chastised by Muslim groups in India for wearing a sleeveless top and a mini-skirt during her matches. Local Muslim groups claimed that her attire degrades Islam, and some even threatened to kill her.

At the same time, extremists in many cities took to the streets in protest, and the WTA decided to assign bodyguards to protect the star during a tournament in Calcutta.

As a result, Mirza was also stripped of a few advertising campaigns, costing the young tennis player significant income.

Last November Mirza stirred controversy when during a New Delhi conference she spoke of the importance of safe sex; Muslim groups in New Delhi and three other cities held rallies, with protesters carrying signs reading “Mirza is detached from Islam,” claiming she is “corrupting the youth in the country, especially the girls.”

Mirza, in an attempt to ease tensions, said in response “I want to make it clear that I am opposed to pre-marital sex. It is a major sin in Islam, and I believe God would not forgive for such an act.”

Three cheers for the Czechs

I always find it interesting how former Iron Curtain countries understand the threat from radical Islam better than the "enlightened" West.

PRAGUE, Feb 14 (CTK) - Czech Foreign Minister Cyril Svoboda wants the EU to make a clear gesture in support of Denmark that faces pressure from Muslim countries over the publication of cartoons featuring the Prophet Mohammad in the media, the daily Mlada fronta Dnes writes today.

For example, the EU could provide financial compensation to Denmark for the economic loss it has suffered, the paper writes.

'A possible form of help could be financial compensation from the EU for the negative impact [of the controversy] on the export and sale of Danish goods,' Svoboda told the paper.

Svoboda is now seeking his EU colleagues' support for his plan.

Some time ago, Svoboda said on Czech Television that he would push for the EU to take a clear stance towards radical Muslims' violent reactions to the publication of the cartoons.

He called the EU's hitherto reaction reluctant. He said he considers the caricatures tasteless and understands that they have hurt the worshippers, but views the latter's reaction as unacceptable.

At the nearest meeting with his EU counterparts, Svoboda will reportedly ask them to condemn the violent reactions and to express clear solidarity with Denmark, where the controversial cartoons were published for the first time last autumn."

On the other hand, according to IslamOnline, Norway is well on its way to dhimmitude:

The Norwegian parliament has amended the Penal Code to criminalize blasphemy in the wake of the republication of Danish cartoons that lampooned Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) by a Norwegian magazine, Christian and Muslim leaders in Norway said on Tuesday, February 14.

"Law 150-A, which has been approved by parliament, criminalizes blasphemy and clearly prohibits despising others or lampooning religions in any form of expression, including the use of photographs," Norway's Deputy Archbishop Oliva Howika told reporters after a meeting in Doha with Sheikh Yusuf Al-Qaradawi, the head of the International Union of Muslim Scholars.

Howika was among a Norwegian delegation that also included the chairman of the Supreme Islamic Council in Norway, Mohamed Hamdan.

"Under the new law, the crime of blasphemy will be punished either by a fine or imprisonment," Howika said, promising Qaradawi to fax him a copy of the law after being published in the country's official gazette.

technorati tags: cartoons, norway, czech, blasphemy, islam

Symmetry

Insane Muslim Protestor of the Day

Today's nutcases come from the Philippines.

Second Temple virtual model

From the Jerusalem Archaeological Park website.

Arafatization of Hamas, part IV

It looks like Hamas can have its cake and eat it, too.

One of the major differences between Hamas and Fatah is that Fatah consistently and shamelessly lied to the Western media and politicians to achieve its goals, and Hamas keeps its outright lies to a minimum.

What Hamas is starting to learn now is that the media, the EU and much of the liberal "intelligentsia" is so emotionally invested in the idea of "peace" that they will even believe things that Hamas isn't saying. As long as their spokesperson wears a suit and smiles, the gullible West is more than happy to report that Hamas is moderating, Hamas is pragmatic, Hamas is someone that can be dealt with.

And Hamas' mainstreaming is happening at a startling speed, even while they continue to spew hate explicitly in their videos and websites and mosques. The World Bank approved $60 million to the new Hamastan, France and Russia favor talks with the terrorists, the EU's Solana says that aid will continue, the US is hinting that it might reconsider its threats to stop the money flow, China and Spain have said they will talk to Hamas.

And this is all happening while Hamas is gearing up to get the bulk of its aid from Hezbollah, Iran, Saudi Arabia and every other anti-Western entity it can find so it can be independent from US aid.

It appears that Hamas is betting that world Jew-hatred is more powerful than the world's revulsion at Islamist terror. And so far, it looks like it is a safe bet.

Useful idiots of the day: Greenpeace

From Iran's GoozNews:

Given the years a country needs to produce a nuclear weapon and assuming that Iran intends to do so, there is no need to rush in sending Iran's nuclear case to the Security Council, said Paul Horseman, a spokesman for Greenpeace International.

"The International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) decision to report Iran to the UN Security Council will seriously increase the risk of escalating tensions in the region and is counter-productive," added the British peace activist.

In an interview with IRNA on Tuesday, Horseman said that representatives of his organization in different countries are doing all they can to convince governments of the mistake they are making of referring Iran to the Security Council.

"Reporting Iran to the UN has created a vacuum of confidence building, a situation that IAEA head ElBaradei said he was intent on avoiding," said the disarmament campaigner.

"Board members supporting the EU-3 draft resolution have effectively shot themselves in the foot. The Iran crisis has been brought closer to the brink."
Emphasizing on the similar approaches undertaken by the US and UK in the months before the military attack on Iraq in 2003, Horseman said that by rushing into conclusions the international community will not have the chance to resolve the situation through diplomatic means.

Muslims finally find cartoon character to attack

After searching for weeks, Muslims finally found a cartoon character to pour their seething wrath upon. The hapless man was publicly dragged through the streets of Lahore, Pakistan.

The brave victim, a Mr. McDonald, remained calm and silent during his ordeal, which soon took a turn for the worse.

A true hero, Mr. McDonald mocked his attackers with a smile even as body burned in the streets and his attackers beat him repeatedly with sticks.

Sources say that former president Bill Clinton knew Mr. McDonald personally, and was devastated at his death.

The fact that he was killed while defending Western culture assures him a place in Paradise, and his status as a martyr is secure. We will be seeing his name on restaurants, playgrounds and other public squares around the world.

He will not be forgotten, and we can take comfort in the fact that he has unlimited Happy Meals where he is now.
(Hat tip AbbaGav)

The Israeli Anti-Semitic Cartoons Contest

The best idea yet - let Jews run their own offensive cartoon contest! Check out the brilliant logo and the other graphics on the page: