Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Monday, March 06, 2006

The NYT and Hollywood: ya gotta laugh

The New York Times really supports free speech, except when it is certain kinds of speech.

The polemics and outrage in the theatrical community last week after the New York Theater Workshop postponed its production of "My Name Is Rachel Corrie" might have been as intense as the uproar the company feared had it actually presented the play.[...]But what made it a more volatile act was that by declining for now to offend with the play, the theater violated the most sacred principles of our artistic temples.

Those principles are: Thou shalt offend, thou shalt test limits, thou shalt cause controversy. If there is an artistic orthodoxy in the West, it is that good art is iconoclastic and provocative, and that any pull back from this orthodoxy is cowardly and craven. In this distended context, the New York Theater Workshop's act was heretical.

Isn't it wonderful to know that the New York Times is courageous enough to defend a play that promotes someone who supported terrorists and insulted America publicly?

Somehow, the "newspaper of record" cannot find the newsworthiness of some cartoons that spawned months-long deadly riots to actually show what the Muslims are rioting against - but that's not heretical, that's being "sensitive."

Sort of like the Oscars last night congratulated themselves incessantly on taking on important social issues, being brave enough to stand up to a Republican administration that they accuse of censorship but not once mentioning Theo Van Gogh, a real filmmaker who was really killed for actually making a film that was really important - and even feminist. You see, bravery against fictional censorship is to be celebrated, but actually sacrificing your life for an ideal that Hollywood does not currently support is not worth mentioning.

It's easy to be brave and to defend free speech when there is no real threat to you for speaking your mind. Stay in your circle of same-thinking pals, trade stories about how you each faced down the leashed barking poodles and congratulate yourselves on your fearlessness. Maybe in a few decades they'll show a film montage about you in front of a room of people in tuxedos and evening gowns who consider themselves brave.

Insane Muslim protestors of the day (3/5)

Hate Denmark!
Love Prophet!
Crush America!
Save Islam!

All catchy slogans. "Crush America" is my favorite because it fortuitously allows the entire expression to be stressed on every other syllable, making it easier to chant mindlessly when joining thousands of other drones in pretending to defend the honor of a man who died 1400 years ago.

I particularly like the woman whose glasses appear to be on top of her burqa. The woman next to her, showing her face in merely a chador, is of course doomed to eternal hellfire.

Reuters loved this rally so much, it decided to go for a Pulitzer by doing some photo manipulation to make a mass of morons look cool:

And yes, all of these idiots are still protesting some cartoons published in an obscure Danish newspaper last September.

HH LX

Life-of-Rubin hosts this weeks Haveil Havalim #60, featuring the week's best JBlogosphere postings.

My post on Muslim riots in the 1930s is on the list. Soccer Dad asked me to also nominate my link to the video of the Japanese version of "Tradition" from Fiddler on the Roof. I didn't see it there but it is fun to watch, anyway. (Also, I need to give a hat tip to Junior Elder who found that for me.)

The Haveil Havalim is very good, and is worth it just for the single link Chaim threw in to this video. I had frankly never made the connection between MBD and Genghis Khan before, and Daughter of Ziyon is anxious to learn an entirely new set of dance steps to a classic "Jewish" song.

Check it out!

Iranian cleric: "We intend to conquer the world"

Tehran, Iran, Mar. 04 – A representative of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Tehran University declared on Friday that Islam must “conquer the world” by defeating the West.

Hojjatol-Islam Alireza Panahyan, who was delivering the pre-sermon speech at this week’s Friday prayers in the Iranian capital, said that the West was trying to put fear into the hearts of Muslims through “torture and nuclear weapons”.

“We intend to conquer the world without [nuclear] weapons. Such weapons are not needed to set the stage for the return of the [Shiite messiah] Mahdi”, Panahyan said.

He called on Muslims to overcome their fear of the West’s might.

“If you do not fear and take a stance, they will not be able to say anything and will try not to get into a fight with you, because they know that they will lose”, he said.

It is not always fun being right.

When Islam goes out of the religious sphere and into geo-political Islamo-fascism, it is a threat to the entire world and should be treated as such by the entire world.

Hat tip: Val

Iranian missiles now can reach all of Europe

LONDON [MENL] -- Iran has launched a missile designed to have a range of 4,000 kilometers.

Western intelligence sources said the Defense Ministry presided over the launch of an intermediate-range missile in January 2006. The sources said the launch was the first of what they termed a Shihab-4 ballistic missile based on a Soviet-origin platform.

The missile was fired and reached a distance of nearly 3,000 kilometers. The sources said the missile was destroyed in mid-flight, but the trajectory indicated that the projectile could have reached a distance of 4,000 kilometers.

'It looks like the test was meant to see if the separation and guidance systems were working,' an intelligence source said."

According to on-line distance databases as well as eyeballing a map, this means that almost all of Europe is in range of Iranian missiles, and in a short time, of Iranian nuclear bombs. Even if the estimate is off by a few hundred kilometers, if you assume that Syria would gladly host Iranian missiles then all of Europe is still in range. (Parts of Spain and Ireland may be out of range.)

But I'm sure the UN will take serious measures against Iran real soon now. Maybe even a non-binding resolution. That'll show them!

I'm sure glad that they told me that they are holding a "peace rally" because I might have thought otherwise, based on things like this at the same rally:

Or maybe "peace" has a different meaning in Arabic.

More fun photos from cartoon protests/rallies around the world:

Doesn't it look like she's saying she loves "alll Jews"?
She loves us! How sweet! Just make sure that she stays away from the mullahs who don't like seeing red hearts on Valentine's Day.

Finally, here are some fans of George Bush in Pakistan:

Go Bush!

A Moderate Muslim manifesto

Unrelated to the manifesto against Islamic totalitarianism, this one is more religious-oriented and quite sensible. How many Muslims hold by the beliefs written therein is the $64,000 question.

Either way, it is good to see some Muslims taking the problem of extremism seriously.

A Muslim Manifesto
By Mustafa Akyol & Zeyno Baran
"Who are the moderate Muslims, and why do they not speak up?" After being asked this question over and over again since 9/11, particularly after the Danish cartoon crisis, we decided to propose the following Muslim Manifesto:

Recently, the disrespectful cartoons about Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) published in Jyllands-Posten resulted in an extreme reaction among many Muslims worldwide. While we understand the feelings of our co-religionists, we strongly urge them to refrain from rage and violence.
A zeal for Allah is rightful only when it is expressed in an enlightened manner, since Allah himself has ordained a restrained response. When the early Muslims were mocked by their pagan contemporaries, the Koran ordered not a violent backlash, but rather a civilized disapproval: "When you hear Allah's verses being rejected and mocked at by people, you must not sit with them till they start talking of other things." (Koran 4:140) The Koran also describes Muslims as "those who control their rage and pardon other people, [because] Allah loves the good-doers." (3:134) Therefore all demonstrations against the mockery of Islam should be peaceful. All critiques of Islam should be countered not by threats and violence, but by rational counter-argument.

We also believe that terrorist acts can never be justified or excused. None of the challenges Muslims face, such as oppression or military occupation, can justify attacks against non-combatants. In the Holy Koran, Allah orders Muslims to "never let hatred of anyone lead you into the sin of deviating from justice." (5:8) The true Islamic sense of justice is well-established in the traditions of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh); even in time of war — let alone peace — Muslim soldiers should never "kill the old, the infant, the child, or the woman." Those who do so are not martyrs, but cold-blooded murderers.

Supported by the Koran's affirmation that "there is no compulsion in religion" (2:256), we cherish religious liberty. Every human has the right to believe or not to believe in Islam or in any other religion All Muslims furthermore have the right to reject and change their religion if desired. No state, community or individual has a right to impose Islam on others. People should accept and practice Islam not because they are forced to do so, but because they believe in its teachings.

We support and cherish democracy — not because we reject the sovereignty of the Almighty over people, but because we believe that this sovereignty is manifested in the general will of people in a democratic and pluralistic society. We do not accept theocratic rule-not because we do not wish to obey Allah, but because theocratic rule inevitably becomes rule by fallible (and sometimes corrupt and misguided) humans in the name of the infallible God.

We accept the legitimacy of the secular state and the secular law. Islamic law, or sharia, was developed at a time when Muslims were living in homogenous communities. In the modern world, virtually all societies are pluralistic, consisting of different faiths and of different perceptions of each faith, including Islam. In this pluralistic setting, a legal system based on a particular version of a single religion cannot be imposed on all citizens. Thus, a single secular law, open to all religions but based on none, is strongly needed.

We believe that women have the same inalienable rights as men. We strongly denounce laws and attitudes in some Islamic societies that exclude women from society by denying them the rights of education, political participation and the individual pursuit of happiness. Like men, women should have the right to decide how they will live, dress, travel, marry and divorce; if they do not enjoy these rights, they are clearly second-class citizens.

We believe that there is no contradiction between religious and national identities. Any Muslim should be able to embrace the citizenship of any modern secular state while maintaining feelings of spiritual solidarity with the umma, the global Muslim community.

We regard Christianity and Judaism as sister faiths in the common family of Abrahamic monotheism. We strongly denounce anti-Semitism, which has been alien to Islam for many centuries but which unfortunately has gained popularity among some Muslims in recent decades. We accept Israel's right to exist, as well as the justified aspiration of the Palestinian people for a sovereign state and hope that a just two-state solution in Israel/Palestine will bring peace to the Holy Land.

In short, we strongly disagree with and condemn those who promote or practice tyranny and violence in the name of Islam. We hope that their misguided deeds will not blacken our noble religion — which is indeed a path to God and a call for peace.

We encourage Muslim political, social, community and business leaders to contact us at info@muslimmanifesto.org to sign onto the Manifesto so that the authentic peaceful and civilized message of Islam will be heard.

— Mustafa Akyol is a writer and journalist based in Turkey; Zeyno Baran is director of International Security and Energy Programs at The Nixon Center.

Unfortunately, there is no web site at the muslimmanifesto.org address yet.

I guess I'm going to hell

From Jerry Falwell's website:

Earlier today, reports began circulating across the globe that I have recently stated that Jews can go to heaven without being converted to Jesus Christ. This is categorically untrue.
[...]
While I am a strong supporter of the State of Israel and dearly love the Jewish people and believe them to be the chosen people of God, I continue to stand on the foundational biblical principle that all people — Baptists, Methodists, Pentecostals, Jews, Muslims, etc. — must believe in the Lord Jesus Christ in order to enter heaven.

Damn it!

Insane Muslim protestors of the day 3/2

The cartoon protests seem to be slowly dying down, but people have to protest against something, right?

Here are some interesting veiled women who call Bush a terrorist but think Osama is just dandy!

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said in remarks published on Thursday there were signs of an al Qaeda presence in the Gaza Strip and West Bank.

'We have indications about a presence of al Qaeda in Gaza and the (West) Bank. This is intelligence information. We have not yet reached the point of arrests,' Abbas said.

'The last security report I received was three days ago,' he told the London-based al-Hayat newspaper. 'This is the first time that I've spoken about this subject. This is a very serious matter.'"

On the same day:

Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas intends to transfer broad security powers to the future Hamas government, including the national defense branch, preventive security, the civilian police and civil defense, he said on Tuesday.

The national defense branch, which consists of 25,000 policemen, is the largest branch and is defined as the Palestinian army. The other three are subject to the Palestinian Interior Ministry.

Chris Rock could learn from his sense of timing. At the risk of ruining the joke by too much analysis (it is Adar, after all):

In the first article, he broadly implies, with a broad wink, that the PA would consider arresting Al Qaeda terrorists found in the territories.

Only some in the audience get that joke, because some of them think that Fatah with all its "policemen" actually enforces law and order and is against terrorism.

So he waits a beat, and then tells the audience that Hamas is going to be in charge of the group that would (pretend to) consider arresting Al Qaeda members!

Ba-da-bum!

Even the most dense audience member can see that there is no difference between Hamas and Al Qaeda! Both spring from Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, both advocate a worldwide Islamic state under Islamic law, both advocate the genocide of Jews and the murder of millions of Americans. The idea that Hamas would do anything against Al Qaeda terror is hilarious! Hell, Hamas invited Al Qaeda to Gaza!

I am not so sure that the world audience gets the joke, though. Since the unrepentant Hamas is quickly gaining legitimacy and tacit backing from the free world (as well as the thugocracies of Islamism) it looks like the West is bending over backwards to explain exactly what the difference is between Hamas and Al Qaeda that the former gets millions of dollars (without a single concession) and the latter remains beyond the pale.

And the only difference is one that is squarely George Bush's fault: his years of pressing for democracy (without pressing for freedom) has made Hamas legit. (A more cynical explanation may be that Hamas primarily targets Jews and Israeli targets, not other Westerners.)

As long as the West is willing to pretend that there are significant differences between Fatah, Al Qaeda, Hezbollah, PIJ, the Iranian regime and the Muslim Brotherhood, the terrorists can manipulate us at will, all the while meeting with each other openly and planning our demise.

A good joke cuts through the bull and shows the truth in an unexpected way. Mahmoud Abbas just made a very good joke. But only those who know the truth can appreciate it.

Cartoons printed in 143 newspapers so far

This is better than I thought, but considering how many of these are college newspapers and the like, it is not all that impressive.

COPENHAGEN: Cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad first published in Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten last year, have been reprinted in 143 newspapers in 56 countries, a study showed on Wednesday.

One or several of the 12 controversial cartoons have appeared either in print editions or online, according to the study done by eJour, the online magazine of the Danish School of Journalism.

Most of the reproductions have appeared in Western countries, including 70 newspapers in Europe, 14 in the United States, three in Canada and New Zealand, two in Australia and one in Japan.

But the drawings have also been printed in eight Muslim countries: Algeria, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Egypt, Indonesia, Jordan, Malaysia, Morocco and Saudi Arabia.

In the United States, no national newspaper has published the cartoons, but 14 regional and local publications have, according to the study conducted in February.

Hat tip: Val

Lying headline watch

A top Islamic Jihad leader was killed last night when his car exploded in an apparent "work accident." Israel, which is not shy about admitting when it kills terrorists, denied that they were behind this attack.

So why do so many "news" organizations say that Israel did it (or credit the Palestinian Arab "Police" with telling the truth)?

Israel Kills Top Jihad Leader, Arrests Hamas MPs (Islam Online)
Israel kills Islamic Jihad leader in airstrike (KHON-TV, Hawaii)
Israeli air strike kills top military commander of Islamic Jihad: police (News 1130, Canada)
Israeli air strike kills top military commander of Islamic Jihad: police (CBC News, Canada)
Jihad leader killed in Israeli missile attack in Gaza City (People's Daily Online, China)
Palestinian militant chief killed in Gaza strike (Zee News, India)
Israeli air strike kills top military commander of Islamic Jihad: police (MacLeans, Canada)
Israel kills Jihad leader (The Sun, UK)

Another British terror supporter. Ho-hum.

While surfing through the flotsam and jetsam of rabid Israel-bashing and Jew-hatred on the web, I came across this paragraph from a British writer on a Jordanian news site:

No alien polity has so successfully penetrated the British government and British institutions during the past ninety years as the Zionist movement and its manifestation as the state of Israel. From the Balfour Declaration of November 2, 1917, in which the British Foreign Secretary said his government “view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people,” (before Britain had taken possession of Palestine from the Ottomans), through the twenty-six year history of Zionist exploitation of the British Mandate at Arab (and British) expense, to Britain's scuttle from Palestine in 1948 and the creation of Israel and the catastrophe for the Palestinians, and up to present-day connivance by the United Kingdom government with America's unremitting political and media support for Israel and its daily violation of international laws and conventions on Palestinian lands, the Zionists have manipulated British systems as expertly as maestros, here a massive major chord, there a minor refrain, the audience, for the most part, spellbound.

The writer, Tim Llewellyn, is normally quoted on the Web as a "former BBC reporter." He also writes for the Guardian.

What is not normally mentioned is that he is an executive member of the Council for the Advancement of Arab British Understanding (CAABU).

This type of idiocy is normal for the far-left genteel Jew-haters, with their description of the secretive Zionist cabal manipulating world governments that is indistinguishable from the way Hitler described Jews. Others have documented Llewellyn's hatred for the very existence of Israel. (Notice how he regards British Zionism as an "alien polity." Sound familiar?)

My only question is: if the Zionists were such brilliant puppet-masters of the British govenment during the British Mandate, why did Britain deny tens of thousands (maybe hundreds of thousands) of Jews the right to save their lives by fleeing to Palestine in the 1930s? The entire world knew what Hitler planned to do during that decade, and the persecutions of Jews began way before the Holocaust. The British could have saved untold numbers of lives.

I wonder how Mr. Llewellyn justifies the British complicity as an accessory to genocide while believing his theory of the Elders of Zion manipulating the British government?

Insane Muslim Sign of the Day

UC Irvine:

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.