Showing posts with label Islam. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Islam. Show all posts

Wednesday, February 07, 2024


Disclaimer: the views expressed here are solely those of the author, weekly Judean Rose columnist Varda Meyers Epstein.

Robert Werdine was my friend. He was also a Rhodes Scholar, historian, ardent defender of Israel, serious music lover, and a devout Muslim. Robert died too soon from complications of diabetes and was buried as a Catholic, his father’s faith, but he was undeniably Muslim. Through our three years’ worth of correspondence, Robert left me with a wealth of material on Islamic thought as it relates to Jews, Judaism, and Israel. These were subjects he cared about and wrote about, but never published.

More than once, Robert alluded to being in bad odor with certain family members over his stance on Israel. He detailed an incident in which his uncle, a member of Hamas, roughed him up when he found out that Robert was writing blogs at the Times of Israel, an Israeli publication. Which is actually how I met Robert. We were both blogging there in 2012, the year that TOI was launched.

Robert also mentioned that his mother was afraid for him to say in his blogs that he was a Muslim. She didn’t know what, if any repercussions there would be for him, and for the family as a whole. After some back and forth, Robert’s mom came to see it his way, and agreed that he should no longer hide his Muslim identity or his strong affection for Israel.

Since Robert died in 2017, I haven’t known what to do with the prodigious material he sent me—brilliant material, meticulously researched. These papers should be published. And I believe that is why he sent them to me. He knew he wasn’t going to live much longer. I think he hoped I would do something with his work after he died. Yet, all this time I haven’t been sure I should.

I’m still not certain it’s the right thing to do—publish Robert’s work without his permission. But I think he felt he could not publish them while he was alive, and trusted that I would make a decision about what to do with his work, and that it would be the right decision. All of this came to mind last week during an exchange yet another confrontational antisemite on Quora.

The exchange began, as usual, with a “question” I was asked to answer, that as per usual, was some gross, not-so-thinly-veiled anti-Israel propaganda: “Why does Israel have the right to occupy land where the Palestinian have lived?”

This was my answer:

“Israel builds in very few areas where Arabs once might have lived. In those areas, the Arabs either left of their own volition, at the behest of Arab leaders preparing to extinguish the fledgling Jewish State, or the land was retaken during the course of a defensive war, in which case, it is perfectly legal.

“The Jews expelled from Arab countries were absorbed by tiny Israel, while the 22 Arab states in the region, which cover an enormous breadth of territory, refuse to absorb the Arabs who fled Israel in 1948 (and their descendants).

“It is normal for a population exchange to occur as a result of war. The shameful aspect of what happened here is the Arab refusal to absorb and resettle their brethren.”

Naturally, there were confrontational comments. One particular commenter, Esmailjee Mohamed Ali, wrote: "How can there be Judhas or Jews in Palestine when they lived in Europe for 2000 years from the time they were created by the Romans in 69BC.

It was from EUROPE after the Second World War, 5MILLION Judhas or Jews migrated to America and another 6Million was brought landed and in PALESTINE by the British Empire and the League of Nations on creating the State of Israel in 1948CE."

“It was the British Empire that was upto [sic] all the mischief. Allah wiped out the British Empire because of all their cruel acts. Today, unfortunately the PALESTINIAN PEOPLE are suffering at the hands of the Poor downtrodden criminals who came from EUROPE because of the British Empire.”

Well, I couldn’t leave that alone, now could I? So I said, “Funny, because that’s not what the Quran says,” said I thinking of all the Quranic references to the Bani Isra'il.

To which Mr. Ali took umbrage, responding, “Do not misinterpret the QURAN.”

As I am so often wont to do in these situations, I went to my Robert Werdine gmail folder to see what my dear late friend had to say on the subject. I was looking for what he had said about Muslims living under non-Muslim rule. Because really—why did the Arabs have to kick up a fuss over the establishment of the Jewish State or be in denial about Jewish history, detailed in their own holy book? The Arabs didn’t have to leave, nor did they have to “suffer” at the hands of the Jews. They could have—and would have—been perfectly happy and prosperous under Jewish rule. Instead they were turned—by their own people—into perpetual refugees, filled with hate and blood lust. And their own people didn’t—and don’t—want them.

None of this had anything to do with the British Empire. Nor did it relate to “downtrodden criminals from Europe” supposedly brought to the region by the Brits.

It had to do with Muslims who are ignorant of what their own holy books and commentators have to say on the subject. They should have stayed. They would have been free to practice their religion under the Jews, and they would have led happy, content lives. And of course, the October 7th Massacre would never have happened. What happened on that Black Sabbath was in fact, proscribed by Islam. 

I found what I needed in my “Robert Werdine” email treasure chest, and it was so perfect I quoted it word for word. I knew Robert would forgive me. And I never heard a peep back from Mr. Ali:

The Shafi’i jurist, Imam Abu Zakariyya Muhyi ’l-Din al-Nawawi (1233–1277) [stated]: 

If a Muslim is able to declare his Islam openly and living therein (in a land dominated by non-Muslims), it is better for him to do so […] because by this it becomes Dar al-Islam […] (Al-Nawawi, rawda al-talibin, (Beirut: Dar ibn Hazm, 2002), p. 1819)

Al Nawawi also stated: 

Where a Muslim is able to protect and isolate himself, even if he is not able to proselytize and engage in combat, in such case it would be incumbent upon him to remain in this place and not emigrate. For such a place, by the fact that he is able to isolate himself, has become a dar Islam

The opinions of al-Ramli, al-Mawardi, and al-Nawawi are all consistent with prophetic practice in the authentic Sunnah. Two Hadiths, one from Sahih Bukhari and one from Sahih Muslim attest that the prophet would refuse to attack any non-Muslim entity that allowed for the practice of the Muslim religion by Muslims living there. Here is the Sahih Bukhari (Vol. 4, Book 52, #193):  

Narrated Anas: Whenever Allah's Apostle attacked some people, he would never attack them till it was dawn. If he heard the Adhan (i.e. call for prayer) he would delay the fight, and if he did not hear the Adhan, he would attack them immediately after dawn.

Nawawi interprets the Hadiths as follows: 

In this narration is evidence that verily the call to prayer forbids invading (yamna‘) a people of that area, and this is an evidence of their Islam.

This is only one tiny fragment of the material I have from Robert. Some of what he wrote was conversational. I’d ask him questions, and he’d answer. Once, for example, I asked him how he felt about the word “Palestinian.” What did he, Robert, call the Arabs who call themselves “Palestinians?”

He wrote (May 20 2015), I'm not sure what to call the you-know-who. I call them the Nowhere People; they came out of nowhere and they're going nowhere, fast. I generally call them Palestinian, but I don't remember my grandfather using that term. He just called them Arabs and refugees. Probably "Arabs" is the best word to use, or Palestinian Arabs, either word refers to the customarily delusional, intransigent, and recklessly self-destructive people whose leaders will continue the long, hard slog of hatred, violence, and deligitimization of a people who have shown them more humanity and compassion than their own Arab brethren ever will.”

Robert knew more than Islam. He ate, drank, and slept history and was always happy to share with me what he learned—especially if there were a reference to Jews. On May 27, 2015, he wrote: “I’m reading Robert Markus’ biography of Pope Gregory the Great. What a phenomenal figure. He was almost an exact contemporary of Muhammad. Gregory was a great reformer. He also wrote a six-volume commentary on the Book of Job. He was a font of wisdom, integrity and able statesmanship. The chants that bear his name are the earliest music that is written on record, and still haunts the monasteries of Italy, France, and Germany. 

“He was also a great protector of the Jews. He forbade compulsory conversions that so many popes of the past had winked at, and he gave them full rights of equal citizenship—a true rarity in that day and age.  When he learned that the bishops in Palermo had appropriated the local synagogues, he ordered that they make full restitution. Here is what he wrote to the Bishop of Naples: 

“‘Do not allow the Jews to be molested in the performance of their services. Let them have full liberty to observe and keep all of their festivals and holydays, as both they and their fathers have done for so long.’’’ 

Sometimes I wonder what Robert would have said about October 7. I know that he was sickened by Arab terror against the Jews of Israel. On September 23, 2015, he wrote, “My mother and I were talking the other day about what it would be like for us to know that there were people living in the next county who would be only too happy to murder us and all our love ones, and celebrate the deed afterward. How could we help from hating such people filled to the brim with such murderous hatred for us, and who demonstrate such hatred in deeds of unmentionable horror day after day? It's a sobering thought to ponder.”

By ironic coincidence, on October 7 (!), 2015, he wrote to me in regard to the murder of Eitam and Na’ama Henkin in front of their four young children, one of them a four-month-old infant, only one week earlier:

“Your feelings after that savage murder of the Henkin couple are completely natural and understandable. How would any person of conscience react to an act of such naked savagery?  In their evil they could not be more evil. The hysterical glee that they show whenever Jewish blood is shed is like something out of a nightmare. The one, true accomplishment of the Palestinians is their societal normalizing of savagery as a virtue to be emulated: murders celebrated like weddings, streets and village squares named after suicide bombers. These people are sick. I mean: SICK.” 

People don’t believe me when I tell them about Robert. They think he was pulling the wool over my eyes. That he was deceiving me the Sunni Muslim way with taqiyya. But I know that he was good. And that the scholarly works he sent me should be read by more than one person (me). Robert did not agree with the idea of “Islamic reform.” He believed that the violent, Jew-hating form of Islam all too unfortunately practiced by too many Muslims the world over, was due to ignorance of what Islam actually preached.

Believe me, I am no apologist for Islam. But I also know that it doesn’t need to be practiced in the violent way it is currently practiced by way too many ignorant, blood-crazed cretins. I would like others to at least see and wrestle with Robert Werdine’s writings.

So now I would like to ask a question of regular readers of this column: would you like to read these works sitting and doing nothing in a Gmail folder? Shall I post them here in weeks to come? Or should I keep them hidden, buried away where no one will ever see them?

I honestly seek your opinions. And I’m guessing that Robert, were he able to weigh in, would hope that you’d view the idea with favor. He wished with all his heart that more people were open to the Islam that he saw and believed—an Islam that respects the rights of people of all faiths to follow their beliefs in peace.



Buy the EoZ book, PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism  today at Amazon!

Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424. 

Read all about it here!

 

 

Monday, May 01, 2023




Al Shiraa, a news website that appears to be based in Lebanon, has some earth shattering archaeological news.

What is the truth about the manuscripts of Wadi Qumran, and what was their content, and why did the Jews hide them?

...When these manuscripts appeared, the investigators and scholars began to publish them, and the publication was very slow. Then, what was expected happened. The Israeli authorities worked to prevent access to these manuscripts, and after many attempts, the Israeli authorities allowed access to these manuscripts only to whomever they deem appropriate among the qualified scholars. From the point of view of the Israeli authorities, there were eight, most of them Jews, and they stipulated that none of them should publish a picture of a manuscript or display its text, but only that he could publish his conclusions or publish some paragraphs approved by the Israeli authorities .
If this indicates anything, it indicates that they hide what is behind these manuscripts, so only God Almighty knows it . But by the grace of God, the truth is shining, no matter what they do, the manuscripts contain their hidden books, such as Aknon, Thalil, the commandments of the Twelve Fathers, the commandment of Levi, in addition to the commandment of the Essenes, the system, and it represents the beliefs of this Jewish sect.

This book has two appendices. The first is entitled The War Between the Children of Light and the Children of Darkness. In these manuscripts there is also what is called the Damascus Document, and it talks about hardships that surround the teacher of righteousness. In addition to that are the two books of commandments and hymns of praise and thanksgiving, and some explanatory manuscripts of the Book of Habaquq and the Psalms, and it mentions the hardships that will befall, and there are many fragments and manuscripts Others, such as the manuscript of Lamac, which is written in the Aramaic language of nineteen columns, contain instructions for conducting war between the sons of light and the sons of darkness.

Antiquities experts say that these manuscripts are important because they contain the oldest written text of the Torah and the Jewish religion. Fundamental differences have been revealed between it and what is currently known, and this is the secret that made the government of Israel work to hide many manuscripts, in addition to the manuscripts containing something that destroys the religion into Judaism . and the specifications of the teacher of righteousness , who is supposed to be the central figure of this sect, and it will become clear that he is the Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, whom they denied along with his first gospel.

Consequently , it will show the dominance of Islam and that it is the true, final religion for all religions. 
The scholars that hold onto the texts were indeed very slow in releasing them publicly - up until about 1990. They did report to the Israel Antiquities Authority but they were left alone. After a number of controversies, the IAI finally fired the head of the team (a non-Jew) and replaced him with a scholar from Hebrew University, who published all the remaining scrolls by 2002.

 In other words, the Jews were the ones who allowed the world to see the Scrolls, all of which are now catalogued and nearly all available digitally online. There are no secrets, and Israel is not hiding anything from the public.





Buy the EoZ book, PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism  today at Amazon!

Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424. 

Read all about it here!

 

 

Friday, February 24, 2023




The Muslim paranoia about something that doesn't exist remains high.


The new "Abrahamic religion"... a threat whose goal is to destroy Islam 
 Ali Demir23/02/2023

Intellectuals, preachers, and academics are raising their voices to warn of the danger of the new so-called “Abrahamic religion,” pointing out that its goal is to destroy the Islamic religion with attempts that will end in failure.

According to observers, the sources of the promotion of this religion are huge and mysterious research centers that have recently spread around the world and called themselves "centers of spiritual diplomacy", funded by the largest and most important international bodies such as the European Union, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the United States of America.

Observers warned that “the apparent vision and message of these research centers depends on the assertion that religions are the main and fundamental reason for igniting the most violent conflicts throughout the ages, and the reason for not accepting the other is because of the lack of understanding of the texts of their religion.”

And the “spiritual diplomacy centers” that work within the framework of spreading love and tolerance have taken upon themselves the task of inviting the senior clerics of the three Abrahamic religions, in order to find general common values ​​between religions such as “love, tolerance, equality, coexistence and acceptance of the other” and other good values, and then proceed to broadcast it, especially among the new generations, in order to instill a hidden hatred for the religions they follow and create a tendency towards embracing the new Abrahamic religion. And the “spiritual diplomacy centers” have already begun to implement their plans on a large scale, according to observers.

Warnings were raised that “what is taking place is a process of brainwashing with the aim of preparing generations to accept the adoption of the new Abrahamic religion when it is presented in the near future as the global public religion, and then the research centers will turn into sacred places and shrines that will replace the temple, church and mosque.

The preacher and researcher, Mustafa Ibrahim, criticized the advocates of the so-called Abrahamic religion, stressing that “Abraham was Muslim according to what was confirmed by the Holy Qur’an."

Ibrahim added that “all the messengers sent by God Almighty were Muslims and called to Islam, and this matter is mentioned and confirmed in many verses in the Holy Qur’an, including the words of God Almighty on the tongue of Jacob, peace be upon him.

And he continued, “The advocates of the Abrahamic religion want to dilute Islam and mix the three heavenly laws of Islam, Judaism and Christianity into one religion in order to open the door to normalization with the Israeli occupation, and to end the cause of Palestine and honorable Jerusalem."

For his part, the doctor in comparative jurisprudence, Muhammad Musa al-Dali, said in a post on his Facebook account, “The people of falsehood claimed that there is a religion that includes Islam, adding to it what they call Judaism and Christianity, and that this religion is the Abrahamic religion in relation to the true Muslim, the Prophet of God Almighty, Abraham, upon him....This is a false claim, and a pure slander, because the Prophet of God, Abraham, may God’s prayers and peace be upon him, is a Muslim according to the text of the Qur’an, God Almighty denied that he was a Jew or a Christian."
Sounds like a Jewish plot!





Buy the EoZ book, PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism  today at Amazon!

Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424. 

Read all about it here!

 

 

Friday, November 18, 2022

Today, according to Arab websites, 60,000 Muslims visited the Al Aqsa Mosque complex on the Temple Mount.


If you walk there on a weekday, it is far less crowded, but there are always hundreds of Muslims that can be seen there.

Here's what it looked like on Thursday, August 11, 1960, under Jordanian rule.




The visitor, a Christian, noted a few people inside the Al Aqsa mosque, saying that more would show up at prayer times. He was told that the mosque could hold as many as 5,000 people.

Even if we assume on holidays that 5,000 people showed up - okay, double it and make it 10,000 - there is no way that there were ever 60,000 people on the Temple Mount at any time under Muslim rule. If there were so many visitors, there wouldn't be weeds between the pavement stones.

During Ramadan, Muslim authorities sometimes claim as many as half a million Muslims on the site, although I don't think it can fit more than 150,000. Either way, it is indisputable that far more Muslims have visited Al Aqsa under Jewish rule than ever did under Jordanian, Ottoman or any other Muslim (or British) rule.  (The entire Muslim population of Jerusalem was 54,000 in 1967.)

If the Jews are oppressing Muslims so much, then please explain why far, far more Muslims visit the Temple Mount on an average Friday under Jewish rule than ever visited before 1967?




Buy the EoZ book, PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism  today at Amazon!

Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424. 

Read all about it here!

 

 

Friday, September 23, 2022




Top Hezbollah official Ali Damoush gave a sermon today filled with antisemitic rhetoric.

He started off with a brief history of how Jews lied to and fought against Mohammed, but he adds that they were aided by Arabs  who were on the Jews' side. 

One of the most dangerous things that the Prophet faced during his journey and his preaching was the movement of hypocrisy that emerged within the Islamic community and which took a hostile position towards Islam no less dangerous than the hostile position taken by external forces, paganism, Judaism and others.

These people were pretending to support Islam and patriotism, but in reality they were plotting and conspiring against Muslims and believers, and they disrupted, incited, stirred up strife, struck the unity and cohesion of Muslims, frightened people, discouraged them and paralyzed their will, spread rumors, launched accusations, skepticism, and sabotage from within.

Perhaps one of the most prominent actions they have done is to deal with the Jews and support them in their wars and conspiracies against Islam and Muslims.

He then predictably draws a line between the Jews and Israel today. But his analogy from the "hypocrites" is a little surprising - it is not the Abraham Accords countries, but people in Lebanon who oppose Hezbollah!

Here in Lebanon, we are afflicted with models of hypocrites, tools, and followers of embassies who put their hands in the hands of the enemies and prioritize the interests of the outside over the national interests.

Yes, this is a political speech pretending to be a sermon. Hezbollah's political rivals in Lebanon are as bad as Jew-lovers,

Damoush, who is on the designated list of terrorists by the US, says that Mohammed, in his wisdom, didn't act against the "hypocrites" militarily.  Similarly, Damoush says that those "hypocrite" Muslims need to be taught the correct Shiite way. And instead of having Lebanese officials look to the West for help in fixing their problems, Damoush wants Lebanon to enter the Axis of Evil:

Opening the doors to Iran, China, Russia and even Syria will guarantee real solutions to the crises that Lebanon and the Lebanese suffer from. In this difficult and critical stage

What a coincidence that the Quran can be interpreted in exactly the manner needed!

Even though the Jewish part was peripheral to his sermon, the antisemitism is unmistakable - except for those who refuse to see it. 




Buy the EoZ book, PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism  today at Amazon!

Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424. 

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Wednesday, September 21, 2022


Arabic media is reporting:

Aram Ezzat, Chairman of the Council of the Jewish Religion in the Kurdistan Region, announced his joining the Islamic religion and pronounced the two testimonies in front of the journalists' lens, stressing that his step is embodied in "striving to obtain God's pleasure and the love of the Noble Messenger."  

Ezzat said in a press statement that he informed his Jewish colleagues and friends of his decision and that he handed over the sect's representation to his colleagues to decide to choose his successor after 6 years of holding the position.

He added, "I have other personal reasons, but I have not been subjected to any threat or pressure, and I am not the type who succumbs to threats and everyone knows me."    
This story seems bogus.

I cannot find any mention either of Aram Ezzat or of the "Council of the Jewish Religion" in Kurdistan.

The main self-described leader of the Jewish community in Kurdistan is supposedly Sherko Abdallah, according to an AFP article on Jews of Kurdistan from 2020. He was appointed Kurdistan's official Jewish representative.

That article said that many Kurdish Jews converted to Islam under pressure and while some of them practice Judaism in secret there are very few left.

However, according to the National Association of Jews from Kurdistan in Israel, there are absolutely no native Jews left in Kurdistan (and even Abdallah, the official Jewish representative, is not Jewish:)

Currently, there are no Jews remaining in the Kurdistan Region, except for very few expatriates... When Jews were expelled from Kurdistan in the 1950s, the Jews living in Kurdistan left in their entirety. No Jewish family remained. Because of the very close nature of the Jewish communities, this was never under any doubt, as all members knew each other and were closely attached to their community leaders.

Since the 2010s, a new but rare phenomenon has occurred of a small handful of impostors who claim to represent long-lost Jews, usually in order to obtain some personal advantage, solicit money, or get a position. This is dishonest, degrading, and connected to antisemitism. Impostors serve nothing except usurping goodwill toward Jews, by attempting to gain personal benefits through inserting themselves into the public consciousness about the Jews from Kurdistan. Three examples of such impostors are,
- Mr. Sherzad Omar Mamsani and Mr. Sherko Othman Abdullah. Both men defrauded an earlier Kurdistan Region administration into roles as local Jewish representatives, before the National Association renewed efforts to advise on Jewish concerns.
- Mr. Ranjdar Abdulrahman, under the alias “Ranj Cohen”, whose attempts to displace the authentic Kurdish Jewish community’s role in Kurdistan are reprehensible.
It sounds like this Aram Ezzat is not Jewish, but is trying to somehow scam people by saying he was. Apparently, some Kurds believe that either Jews hid money, or that they can claim reparations from Iraq as Jews, and they are claiming to be part of a community that completely disappeared from Kurdistan and Iraq.
  






Buy the EoZ book, PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism  today at Amazon!

Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424. 

Read all about it here!

 

 


Saturday, August 06, 2022




When Mohammed was starting his new religion, the Arabian peninsula had many Jewish tribes. A 2012 Aish article by Sarah Yocheved Rigler explains:

According to Dr. Hagai Mazuz, an Orientalist specializing in Arabic language, Islam, and Islamic culture, “The Jewish community of northern Arabia was one of the largest ancient Jewish communities in the history of the Jewish people.”

They were powerful and wealthy. They were respected by the local Arabian tribes for their religion, culture, erudition, and literacy. They built castles on mountaintops and developed productive plantations. They had military prowess, horses, and advanced weaponry. And they were almost totally annihilated in the short span of a few years.

The Jews of Medina were divided into three groups: The Banu Qaynuqa were blacksmiths, weapon wrights, and goldsmiths. The Banu Nadir had date plantations. The Banu QurayUa were wine merchants. These groups often quarreled. Sometimes the hostility among them broke out into actual fighting.

When Mohammed fled from Mecca in 622, he went to Medina. At first, he entered into an alliance with the Jews. He studied in their study halls and adopted many of their customs into his incipient religion (e.g. not eating pork). But when, after two years, Mohammed could not convince the Jews to accept him as a prophet and convert to his religion, his attitude turned toward open hostility. He instructed his friends to murder and decapitate Ka’b Ibn al-Ashraf, a renowned Jewish poet and chief of the Banu Nadir (date farmers tribe), and ordered his followers, “Kill every Jew you can.” 
I had never heard that quote before, and the article points to an article in a popular Jewish history magazine. But I researched this and it is indeed a true quote from an Islamic source,  Ibn Hishām’s biography of Muḥammad, quoted in this academic paper:
Ibn Isḥāq said: The Apostle of Allāh said: “Kill every Jew you can lay your hands on (man ẓafirtum bihi min rijāl yahūd fa-qtulūhu).” Whereupon Muḥayṣṣa b. Masʿūd attacked and killed Ibn Sunayna, one of the Jewish merchants that used to associate and do business with them. 
The Aish article continues:

Mohammed then besieged the Banu Qaynuqa (blacksmith tribe), knowing that the other two Jewish tribes would not come to their aid. Although the Banu Qaynuqa were proficient warriors, the lack of food and water due to the siege weakened them to the point of surrender.

 The other two Jewish tribes did nothing to save the Jewish blacksmiths. After the surrender, Mohammed wanted to slaughter the vanquished tribe, but his ally Abdullah Ibn Ubayyy prevented the massacre, and instead they were exiled to Edri (now in Jordan).

Mohammed confiscated their considerable assets. Strengthened by captured Jewish wealth, one year later Mohammed turned his attention to the next Jewish tribe, the date growers. To ensure that the tribe of the wine merchants would not come to the rescue of their fellow Jews, Mohammed made an alliance with the wine merchants.

Mohammed’s forces laid siege to the strongholds of the Jewish date farmers in 625. Like the previous Jewish tribe, they succumbed to the siege. Again Abdullah Ibn Ubayyy intervened, and instead of slaughtering the vanquished Jews, Mohammed exiled them to the city of Khaybar, which, according to Muslim tradition, was inhabited by descendants of the Jewish priestly tribe.

Three years later Mohammed conquered Khaybar, the wealthiest city in northern Arabia. Because the Muslims did not know agriculture, Mohammed permitted most of the Jews to live as dhimmis, officially second-class citizens who had to pay exorbitant taxes. Eventually the second Caliph banished the Jews of Khaybar, in obedience to Mohammed’s policy that permitted no religion other than Islam to be practiced in Arabia.

Back in Medina, the wine merchant tribe had only two years to relish their position as the sole surviving Jews. Then, in 627, Mohammed, with 3,000 soldiers, laid siege to their fortress. The Jewish tribe had only 450 trained warriors. Because Abdullah Ibn Ubayyy had died a few months before, the Jews knew that no one would intercede on their behalf. The leader of the besieged Jews proposed that they either convert to Islam or, similar to Masada, kill their own women and children to prevent their being ravished and enslaved, and then fight the Muslims to the death. The Jews rejected both options and offered to surrender and leave Medina.

Mohammed rejected their offer. The vanquished wine merchants tribe, who had twice refused to help the other besieged Jewish tribes, suffered the worst fate. The children were sold as slaves; the women were given to the victorious soldiers “for the Muslims to use,” and the men (except for three who agreed to convert to Islam) were decapitated in the marketplace. According to Muslim tradition, the blood of the decapitated Jews flooded the marketplace of Medina.

A large, powerful, affluent Jewish community was destroyed in just three years. Was it destroyed by Mohammed’s forces or was it destroyed by its own divisiveness?
This is a stunning perspective. If the Jews of Medina had just put aside their differences, Mohammed would have been defeated and history would look quite different.

The traditional Jewish view is that the Temples were destroyed because of baseless hatred between Jews. How many lives could have been saved if it wasn't for the baseless hatred of the Jews in Arabia against each other?

May Jewish unity only get stronger so we will transform Tisha B'Av from a day of mourning to a holiday.

Illustration: Detail from miniature painting The Prophet, Ali, and the Companions at the Massacre of the Prisoners of the Jewish Tribe of Beni Qurayzah, illustration of a 19th century text by Muhammad Rafi Bazil.



Buy the EoZ book, PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism  today at Amazon!

Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424. 

Read all about it here!

 

 

Monday, July 18, 2022


This doesn't happen often, but Amad published a column by Abdulaziz Al Zayed that emphasizes that Palestinians should hate Zionists, not Jews.

Is Judaism really an insult? I say: “Wake up the nation of Islam, for this is not from the religion of Muhammad.” I say: “Wake up my people, for your blame on the Jews is a mistake that must be corrected."

So why blind hatred against Jews and Judaism? Judaism is a divinely respected religion in Islam, and the Jews are our brothers among us. And they have many commonalities and ties.... Is the Islamic religion really a religion of tolerance and kindness? So why blind hatred against Jews and Judaism? Judaism is a divinely respected religion in Islam, and the Jews are our brothers among us. 

Unfortunately, there are thinkers who have overstepped their position and floated in the balance, and did not do justice to the Jews from themselves, and the Qur’an threatens by saying: (Woe to the delinquents), when will we sheath the sword of grudges? And when will we raise the banner of love? 
Of course, Zionists should be loathed. But this is a very rare article that calls out Muslim antisemitism. 



Buy the EoZ book, PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism  today at Amazon!

Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424. 

Read all about it here!

 

 

Friday, July 01, 2022

Rabbi Allen Miller is a Reform rabbi who retired in 2006. Lately he has been a prolific writer for Eurasia Review, trying to find commonalities between Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
I have no problem with such a quixotic quest. But in order to convince his audience, he adopts Muslim terminology and legends as fact. 

In one recent article, he notes the similarity between Hajj and the three annual pilgrimage festivals in the Torah, fixating for some reason on Sukkot. This isn't news - much of Muslim tradition is based on Jewish tradition. But his language is jarring for a rabbi:

The Ka’ba is the original center of Hajj. Destroyed in the days of Noah, it was rebuilt by Prophets Abraham and his son Ishmael. After several centuries it was desecrated by later generations of idol worshippers. During the many centuries when the Ka’ba was desecrated, Prophet Solomon built a Temple as a center for Haj on the site where Prophet Abraham bound his son Isaac as an offering.

...Most of the many thousands of Jews from foreign lands outside the Land of Israel; and the tens of thousands of Jews from all over the Land of Israel outside the city of Jerusalem; who used to came each year to celebrate the week of Sukkot in Jerusalem at Bait ul-Muqaddas, the furthest sanctuary; ceased coming.
...
For Muslims, the Furthest Sanctuary is located in Jerusalem. “Glory to He Who carried His servant by night, from the Holy Sanctuary to the Furthest Sanctuary, the precincts of which We have blessed. so that We might show him some of Our signs. Surely He is All-Hearing, All-Seeing. [Qur’an 17:1]

It is significant that the ruins of the Jerusalem Temple was the site of Prophet Muhammad’s ascension—miraj– up to the heavens.

One might say the destruction of the Furthest Sanctuary center of monotheistic pilgrimage in Jerusalem by the pagan Romans was, five and a half centuries afterward, overcome by Prophet Muhammad’s ascension—miraj up to the heavens, and the soon to be realized removal by Prophet Muhammad of the 360 idols from the paganized Ka’ba in Makka.

Not only did the Prophet rid the Ka’ba of all its impurities, but he also reinstated all the rites of Hajj which were established by Allah’s Permission, in the time of Prophet Ibrahim
If you are going to call yourself a rabbi, at least stick to Jewish terminology - King Solomon, Beit HaMikdash, Avraham Avinu. 

And while Miller tries to pretend he can attract Muslims by shamelessly adopting their legends as fact, the Muslim world is regarding the visit by American rabbis to Saudi Arabia as a "scandal."






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Wednesday, January 12, 2022



The Council on American-Islamic Relations, which recently defended one of its officials who labeled virtually every organized synagogue in America "enemies," just issued a report on "Islamophobia in the mainstream."

The main point of the report is identifying "26 Islamophobia Network groups (that) spread misinformation and conspiracy theories about Muslims and Islam."

The members of this supposed "Islamophobia network" include Americans for Peace and Tolerance, CAMERA, Foundation for Defense of Democracies, Gatestone Institute, Investigative Project on Terrorism, Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) and The Lawfare Project.

The idea that this is an "Islamophobia Network" is insane. 

But then they go into actual antisemitism. They identify some of the funders of these supposedly Islamophobic groups, and - surprise, surprise - they find Jews!

The Adelson Family Foundation, Arie and Ida Crown Memorial, Combined Jewish Philanthropies
of Greater Boston, Hochberg Family Foundation, Irving I Moskowitz Foundation, Jewish Communal
Fund, Jewish Community Federation of SF, the Peninsula, Marin and Sonoma Counties, Jewish Community Foundation of the Jewish Fed. Council of Greater L.A., Kovner Foundation, Mirowski Family Foundation, Mitzi and Warren Eisenberg Family Foundation, and the The Jewish Community Foundation, plus others. All major Jewish charities or charities that give heavily to Jewish causes are..."Funders of Anti-Muslim Bigotry!"

Those irresponsible, bigoted Jews!

CAIR defines Islamophobia as "closed-minded prejudice against or hatred of Islam and Muslims." So it should be simple for them to identify how, exactly, these organizations are Islamophobic, right?

Not one of the organizations I am familiar with fits their own definition of Islamophobic.

Here's how they describe CAMERA, the watchdog organization that points out anti-Israel bias in the news media: "This organization serves as a lobbying and media-monitoring group that spreads misinformation pertaining to Muslim Americans. Its overall mission is to undermine the credibility of Muslim American individuals and organizations. "

Good to know that CAIR knows CAMERA's mission better than CAMERA does!

They say the Foundation for Defense of Democracies is a "neoconservative lobbying group [that] encourages the Islamophobic “war on terror” narrative and policies." They say the phrase "war on terror" is Islamophobic. George W. Bush, who coined the term, must be an Islamophobe too.

Gatestone Institute is "an anti-Muslim hate group." 
Investigative Project on Terrorism is a "hate group." 
The Middle East Forum is "an anti-Muslim policy center that produces and perpetuates hate speech, propaganda, and misinformation." 
The Lawfare Project is an  "anti-Muslim hate group."

In none of these cases can they find evidence that supports their definition of Islamophobia. In a couple of cases they dig up old contextless quotes from members of these organizations that they claim are Islamophobic, but even those do not fit their own definition. 

Their description of MEMRI is particularly absurd: "MEMRI is a pseudo-research organization that carefully selects and purposefully inaccurately translates news from Muslim-majority organizations to
provide justification for anti-Muslim propaganda. The organization’s translations have been widely criticized for inaccuracy and inflammatory representation. "

MEMRI's translations are accurate, full stop. I couldn't find a single criticism of the thousands of MEMRI translations that is less than ten years old. This academic paper criticizing MEMRI from a native Arabic speaker at a UAE university admits MEMRI's "accurate translations on a linguistic level." 

The only thing these organizations have in common is that they do not support CAIR's antisemitism and its historic support for terror groups. That is CAIR's real definition of "Islamophobia."

The ADL - which somehow is not on CAIR's list - describes the organization and its founders:

Some of CAIR’s current leadership had early connections with organizations that are or were affiliated with Hamas. Hamas is designated as a foreign terrorist organization (FTO) by the United States and is also viewed by the EU as a global terrorist organization.

In addition, some of CAIR’s leadership have used inflammatory anti-Zionist rhetoric that on a number of occasions has veered into antisemitic tropes related to Jewish influence over the media or political affairs.

Key CAIR leaders have frequently expressed vociferous opposition to Israel and Zionism, claiming at times that Zionism and Zionists are fundamentally racist. (See below: Key CAIR Staff on Israel and Zionism).

Antipathy towards Israel has been a CAIR staple since the group was founded in 1994 by several leaders of the Islamic Association for Palestine (IAP), a now defunct organization that was once described by the U.S. government as part of “Hamas’ propaganda apparatus.” Nihad Awad, who was IAP’s Public Relations Director, became CAIR’s first Executive Director, a position he retains today. IAP was active in the U.S. from 1981 until about 2004, and categorically rejected a peaceful resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, writing in a December 1989 communique: “The only way to liberate Palestine, all of Palestine, is the path of Jihad…Hamas is the conscience of the Palestinian Mujahid people.”  In 1987, immediately following the establishment of Hamas, IAP began to print and distribute Hamas literature, including Hamas communiqués and the Protocols of the Elders of Zion.

 In response to CAIR’s involvement with the Holy Land Foundation, the Federal Bureau of Investigation distanced itself from the organization. In the past, the FBI had interacted with CAIR representatives regarding community outreach activities, civil rights complaints and criminal investigations. However, in 2008, the FBI issued an instruction to its field offices that they should sharply curtail “non-investigative interactions” with CAIR.This instruction was elucidated in an April 2009 letter to the Subcommittee on Terrorism, Technology, and Homeland Security, in which the FBI explained that it would cease to liaise with CAIR “until [they] resolve whether there continues to be a connection between CAIR or its executives and Hamas.” To our knowledge as of this writing, the FBI has not retracted this protocol.

 CAIR has supported and advocated for Rasmea Odeh, who was convicted by an Israeli court in 1970 for her role in a 1969 bombing of a supermarket that killed two Israeli students, and who was later released as part of a prisoner exchange. 
Israel-haters love to say that Zionists falsely accuse critics of Israel of antisemitism. As usual, this is projection. This report proves conclusively that CAIR falsely accuses critics of Islamic terrorist organizations of being "Islamophobic."

 






Sunday, January 09, 2022

Both Western Leftists and Palestinian Arabs agree that they would love to see a single state from the river to the sea. 

Neither of them admit aloud how different their visions of such a state are.

When speaking to Western audiences, the Left - whether they are Jews like Peter Beinart or prominent Palestinian Leftists like Leila Khaled - describe a socialist utopia where Jews would ostensibly be treated equally with Arabs under the law, but the state would be strictly secular. 

Palestinian Arabs, however, favor an Islamist state run by Sharia law. To them, the Palestinian Authority is too secular already.

The last time Pew did a survey of Muslims worldwide, it found that 89% of Palestinians would want Islamic law - Sharia - to be the law of the land. This was the third highest in the world, behind only Afghanistan and Iraq.


A vast majority of Palestinians would like to see corporal punishment for crimes like theft and stoning as a punishment for adultery. A majority would like their state to give the death penalty for those who leave Islam. Most Palestinians say that it is a bad thing that their current laws do not adhere closely to sharia law.

There is nothing in common between these two views of what a single Palestine would be. The majority of Palestinians have no interest in the secular paradise that you see described in the pages of Open Democracy and The Guardian and Jacobin. Most Palestinians say that their end goal is not one state with equal rights for Jews but one Palestinian state from the river to the sea where Jews are, at best, tolerated second class citizens - and many openly advocate for deporting any Zionist from the country altogether.

Polls show that a mere 10% of Palestinians want a state with equal rights between Jews and Muslims. The latest political polls show that socialist parties like the PFLP and DFLP would only get 2% of the vote in any election held now. 

Palestinians hate socialism. They prefer Islamism. 

Palestinians do not want equal rights for Arabs and Jews. They want an Islamic state.

Everything written about a one-state solution in the pages of the Washington Post and the New York Times is fiction. The Western Leftists will trot out people with Arabic-sounding names who write passionately about a single state with equal rights for all as if they represent Palestinian public opinion.

Only rarely does the Left admit that the idea of equal rights for Jews in a majority Arab state is problematic. Edward Said, the intellectual father of the one state idea, admitted in 2000 that he couldn't see how Jews would be treated equally in his solution. "It worries me a great deal. The question of what is going to be the fate of the Jews is very difficult for me. I really don't know."

The socialist fantasy and Palestinian reality cannot co-exist. A single state would become a nightmare for Jews. Everyone knows it. 

Which goes to prove that the Leftists who make their one-state argument in the West - and who do not make the same argument in Arabic-language media - are only paying lip service to equal rights for Jews. They want to see Israel destroyed, and they are willing to partner with their Islamist ideological opponents to make that happen. They paper over their differences and hoping that no one notices that they are supporting a Muslim ethnostate where Jews are tolerated if they behave like good dhimmits and persecuted if they demand their own rights.  

There is only one reason the socialist Left and the Palestinian Right support each other: their shared antisemitism. 






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