This week's episode of Saudi Vice

In this week's episode of Saudi Vice...

Muslims like to point out that in Mecca, it doesn't matter what race you belong to or what country you are from; there is a beautiful feeling of unity with all other Muslims worldwide for the pilgrims who travel there from near and far. As Ummah.net describes it:

Although Makkah is always filled with visitors, pilgrims wear special clothes: simple garments which strip away distinctions of class and culture, so that all stand equal before God.

Peace is the dominant theme. Peace with Allah, with one's soul, with one another, with all living creatures. To disturb the peace of anyone or any creature in any shape or form is strictly prohibited.

Muslims from all walks of life, from every corner of the globe assemble in in response to the call of Allah. There is no royalty, but there is loyalty of all to Allah, the Creator....It is also to remember the great assembly of the Day of Judgement when people will stand equal before Allah.

A group of eight pilgrims from the US and Britain of Iraqi descent visited Mecca last week with the intention of participating in this holy rite where all are equal before Allah.

But they were Shi'ite.

When they tried to perform a Shi'a - flavored version of the holy ritual while circling the holy Kaaba stone, they were arrested by our heroes, the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice.

As was described by an infidel newspaper:

“While in police custody we were handcuffed and savagely beaten with chairs, bats, sticks, shoes and police radio communication devices,” 24-year-old pilgrim Amir Taki said.

He said they were refused food, water, medicine and access to toilets. One was told they would be “killed and thrown to the dogs”.

The group, aged between 16 and 26, said they were not allowed to contact their embassies or relatives.

However, using a cell phone hidden by one of the pilgrims, they were able to contact family members and were released after intervention from the embassies.

The Shi'ite infidels may have won this round, but the Commission (known as the Muttawa) will be ever vigilant to make sure that the sanctity and holiness of Mecca is unsullied by the infidels again.

Last week's episode is here.

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Watching the Watchers

For the past two weeks, posts of mine have been nominated to the weekly Watcher of Weasels list of the best posts of the week (for non-Council members.) While I didn't win. I didn't expect to - when up against serious heavyweights from serious on-line sources and authors like Newsweek or Michael Totten.

Thanks to Soccer Dad who nominated me and to those who voted for me or just read the nominated articles: the article I wrote on the "Grim Milestone" (which has to date received roughly 5000 hits) and "The Extremism and Bigotry of PA 'Moderates' " from last week.

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Mustafa Barghouti condemns Jews daring to stay alive

From Arutz-7:

Shortly after 11 AM not far from the Old City of Jerusalem's Jaffa Gate, an Arab terrorist grabbed the gun of a guard in a building belonging to Yeshivat Ateret Cohanim. The Arab managed to shoot at the legs of the guard, while another guard opened fire and killed the Arab. Nine other passersby were hurt in the incident as well, some by bullet grazings and others as they fell while running away. The guard and two passersby sustained moderate wounds.

So of course, we need to hear from "Dr." Mustafa Barghouti, one of the more moderate members of the PA government (autotranslated from Palpress:)

MP Dr. Mustafa Barghouti, Secretary General of the National Initiative, denounced the Israeli crime perpetrated by a Jewish extremist (this) afternoon, and led to the martyrdom of the Palestinian people and injuring eleven others wounded in the old town of Jerusalem.

Al-Barghouthi feet to guard Jewish extremist killed in a Palestinian neighborhood of Jerusalem Christians and wounded 11 others suffered light to moderate volume and the viciousness of the Israeli crimes and shed Palestinian blood on the hands of the occupation.

You see, according to our allies in the PA that we are giving millions of dollars to, the Jewish guard should have just let himself be killed. This is considered the natural order in the Arab world - Jews cower in fear for their Arab superiors and they are forbidden to do anything to defend themselves. If, Allah forbid, they actually try to stop themselves from being murdered in cold blood, then they are clearly violating the rules that have been passed down in Arab tradition from time immemorial.

Thus we have the conflict in a nutshell. Even the most moderate, anti-corruption, educated, suit-clad Palestinian Arab will never allow any Jews to live in a position of power in the Middle East if he can help it. They claim that every Jewish activity is offensive - building a wall, immigrating, building a synagogue - every single activity that is not done from a position of dhimmitude is automatically deserving of condemnation. The very existence of guards to protect Jews in Jerusalem is thoroughly offensive to these bigots.

They would much prefer to see all the Jews slaughtered, because that would herald a return to the good old days of Muslim rule.

These are the people we are showering with millions of dollars because of their moderation, pragmatism and pro-Western thinking.

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Moderate PA tortures Hamas member to death in prison

You will no doubt have noticed the screaming headlines worldwide condemning Mahmoud Abbas for allowing torture in his prisons. But in the tiny chance you missed them, here are the details:

Hamas have said that Palestinian security sources in the West Bank have confirmed the death of a Hamas member they claim was tortured in a Palestinian security prison.

Twenty-two-year-old Mou'aiad Bani Odeh in an Israeli hospital, from Tamon in the north of the West Bank Tobas, died in an Israeli hospital after he was transferred from Al Junied Jail in Nablus.

The Palestinian media centre said that according to Palestinian sources, "Bani Odeh died after he was severely tortured in Al Junied Jail, which is run by the Palestinian Authority.

Bani Odeh's family are blaming the Palestinian security services for their son's death.

In a news conference Hamas said that this is an example of the torture their members are facing in Palestinian Authority jails.

The PalArab self-death count rises to 505 for the year.

UPDATE: It was apparently a fake-out; Fatah put the man on TV and he claimed he was a Hamas member and a collaborator with the Shin Bet. Back down to 504.

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Hollywood takes honor killing out of movie; leaves in anti-semitism

An amazing article from Debbie Schlussel.

As Robert Avrech points out, Hollywood producers don't have to worry about being killed when they bash Jews or Christians. The crude Muslim version of censorship - claim "Islamophobia" while subtly hinting that violence may happen to break out and threaten the set or the producer - works quite well, even in America.

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The 6000 stranded PalArabs are down to 30 Hamas members

Remember the 6000 Arabs stranded in Rafah because the EU no longer monitored that crossing from Egypt to Israel? The PalArabs, especially Hamas, whined incessantly about the humanitarian crisis, about how they were sick and dying, and how Israel must open that crossing point.

Israel, meanwhile, made a deal with Egypt for them to cross through Israel into Gaza, and over the past week, that's what has been happening.

Now there are only 30 left - all of them refusing to go to Gaza because they know Israel will arrest them as being terrorists:

ARISH, Egypt -- The last batch of 6,000 Palestinians stranded in Egypt since Hamas took control of Gaza in June returned home Thursday, leaving behind 30 Hamas supporters who cannot travel via Israel.

The final group of 400 Palestinians crossed the Oja (Nizana) checkpoint, near the divided town of Rafah on the Egypt-Gaza border, before continuing to Gaza via the Jewish state, a Palestinian source at the border said.

Rafah, the usual crossing point between Egypt and the Gaza Strip, has been closed since Hamas militants violently took over the territory June 15, stranding thousands in dire conditions in the Egyptian desert.

"These 30 Palestinians would rather stay in Egypt until the Rafah terminal is opened, and they refuse to cross via Oja," an Egyptian border source said. "They know they're down as belonging to or sympathizing with Hamas and fear being arrested by the Israeli authorities," he said.

"They don't have any choice but to wait for the Rafah crossing point to open, because either they're wanted by Israel or because the Zionist enemy won't allow them in," Hamas MP Moushir Masri said Tuesday.

"We demand that the Rafah crossing point be opened and reject any Israeli involvement" in controlling who crosses, said Masri, himself stranded in Egypt.

When open, Rafah is operated in close cooperation by Egypt, European Union monitors, Israel, and the Palestinians, and can be closed if any one party refuses to participate.

Here we have a classic case of erstwhile "leaders" of Palestinian Arabs who are willing to allow thousands of their people to suffer for their cause. Hamas did everything they could to not allow the stranded people to come to Gaza - and they continue to blame Israel, when the hated Zionist entity worked so hard to help out the Palestinian Arabs stuck in the desert.

Once again, Israel shows more concern for the welfare and well-being of Palestinian Arabs than their own leaders do.

Once again, Israel was vindicated in its reasoning of why the Rafah crossing needed to be monitored to begin with - because known, wanted terrorists were freely crossing between Gaza and the rest of the world via Egypt.

And once again, a few weeks ago the world media had a field day with suffering PalArabs that could (erroneously) be blamed on Israel, but now when Israel helps those people despite their own leaders' objections and Hamas is still fuming that their human pawns have disappeared, the story is almost impossible to find.

UPDATE: Look how the Palestinian Arab English propaganda press is spinning this story to make Israel look as bad as possible. Orwell is alive and well at IMEMC.org.

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Hamas blaming internal fighting deaths on Israel?

The Palestine Press Agency, which is rabidly pro-Fatah, anti-Hamas but also rabidly anti-Israel, is reporting that Hamas is hiding deaths from internal clashes and then, if any Israeli activities happen anywhere in Gaza, they claim the deaths came from Israel.

I'm still on the fence about how accurate Palpress.com is, but on the other hand it is clear from many examples that there is no independent press in the PA that is willing to report objectively about Hamas because of death threats against reporters and a general atmosphere of intimidation (the public relations director of Shifa Hospital, who said that medical supplies in Gaza were running low, was arrested overnight by Hamas.)

My working policy on counting PalArabs being killed by PalArabs is that if the news source mentions names, I regard it as legitimate. And this story names the victims. Also, one of the commenters corroborates that Hamas indeed does things like this. On the other hand, the IDF does confirm that they killed two armed men in Gaza yesterday and then Hamas announced that they were Hamas members, and named them.

The auto-translation is a little difficult but this is interesting:

Sources close to Hamas martyrs of the Qassam Hamas claimed today cites the impact of a military confrontation with the Zionist occupation forces were only two dead fell following internal clashes occurred yesterday between leaders of the executive power lawless and banned street Palestinian Qassam around Disagreement over the loot that had been looted from the headquarters of the Palestinian National Authority in the wake of the bloody coup carried out by Hamas against the organs and the PA offices and the two deceased were killed in the west of Gaza City supporters.

The same sources "that the two deceased were Fadi Fawaz Arkic 22 general, Mohamed Subhi Batunaiji 24, both from the Shajaiyeh neighborhood east of Gaza, Hamas has had to transfer their bodies to a nearby site of the Al-Mintar and conceal the fate of deaths for fear of detection daily crimes occurring between gangs and Qassam militia force operational sharing the Palestinian people and the property sold and divert funds to personal accounts.

The source continued that the Qassam Brigades took Bomb occupation soldiers mortar, which is the first time the bombing by Hamas rallies after the coup on the Israeli Palestinian legitimacy and to work to lure the occupation forces to respond to the bombing scene to show picture engineered by Hamas that targeted or killed in military operation against the Israeli occupation forces.

The source confirmed that the explosion which occurred near the towers of Sheikh Zayed northern Gaza days ago, which claimed the lives of the family Zulkiparneh Tefilin is the result of leaving the Hamas elements of explosive devices and ready-Bina children, which exploded after tampering (packaging belonging to Hamas)

This is known that Hamas had lied to the methods and falsifying many to justify its crimes against our people growing in the Gaza Strip, and the sons of the Fatah movement in particular.

And the commenter adds:

God give wrong evil-doers ... that the statement in the news is true ..

And I live very close to the compound supporters and the Office brother President Abu Mazen and heard heavy firing light and medium weapons and was clear that the clash lasted about a quarter of an hour and saw many ambulances and heard many screams in the place .. and assured me that there were dead and wounded the day before yesterday I met one of the businesses in the ER section of Shifa Hospital, told me that he had seen the dead and wounded .. When asked by a member of the so-called operational reason, I keep silent answer is not to do with you .. and this happened last Sunday evening, and God on what to say a martyr ... and that the firm also of those killed yesterday allegedly at the al-Mantar crossing is not right, did not kill them

There were killed because of missing two days before the announcement of the killing, and this Aydhahussb many of the witnesses and relatives Alkateliokadd heard this from some of their relatives ... have revealed all their papers and found enclosed in their misrepresentations and deceit everyone I, Banat Hamas for what God .. unmasking them violin and violin .

I knew the violins were important!

In the light of the IDF statement, I will not count these - I can't see how Hamas could fake the deaths of two already-dead people. In all likelihood, Palpress.com is not adhering to any journalistic standards in its anti-Hamas zeal and is willing to believe anything.

Even so, it is interesting that there are a couple of photos of the dead PalArabs - in Hamas colors - but no omnipresent wire service photos of grieving relatives at those two funerals.

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Now, Olmert is alienating American Jewish donors

I've heard of tone-deafness, but this is ridiculous:

By Brad A. Greenberg, Staff Writer

[JERUSALEM, Aug. 8] "You are not to directly quote the prime minister," Ehud Olmert's press handler told a group of American Jewish journalists I've been traveling with this week.

This directive came as we sat in a conference room in the leader of Israel's Jerusalem offices. It seemed a ridiculous request, but the prime minister's fears made more sense once the meeting was over.

When Olmert walked confidently into the conference room, he shook some hands, said 'Shalom' and posed for a photo with a few journalists. Dressed in a navy suit and red tie, he sat tall, speaking in fluent English as he cracked jokes and invited our questions -- and that's when the meeting went south.

Asked about the hundreds of millions of dollars sent by American Jews to help Israel during and after last summer's war with Hezbollah, Olmert responded that the donations were very important -- but not necessary.

If a giver wants to give and the receiver wants to get, Olmert said, God bless that situation.

And as we've seen this week, God -- or human resourcefulness -- has blessed a quick reconstruction of northern Israel. But Olmert's comments seemed particularly ungrateful because he spoke not only to the American journalists, but also to some top officials of the United Jewish Communities (UJC).

Through the UJC's Israel Emergency Campaign last summer, North American federations sent $360 million to Israel. UJC is also the sponsor of this media trip, which was designed to show reporters and editors how American donations have been used. UJC officials have shuttled our group, including editors and writers from major Jewish publications in Washington, New York, Philadelphia and L.A., to show us the pain inflicted by war.

They arranged this forum with the prime minister to allow him to speak to the most philanthropic Diaspora community -- and this is what he says?

...Olmert has been heavily criticized for myriad mistakes in last summer's war, and even now, 12 months after the ceasefire, he appears oblivious to the situation on the ground.

I've spent the past three days in Northern Israel, near Haifa, Nahariya, the Galilee - and most everyone I've met has talked at some length about the lingering and traumatic affects of having been bombarded by Katyusha rockets for 34 days last summer.

Take, for instance, Shiri Havkin, who lives in the town of Rosh Pina. Havkin runs a small business, Drora's Herb Farm, out of her home; it was started by her mother, the Israeli singer Drora Havkin, and the younger Havkin took over when her mother died in 1995. She nearly lost it all last summer when tourism stopped -- her savings shriveled and she bounced so many checks the bank froze her activity.

She only stayed afloat thanks to a low-interest loan from a small-business development center that was supported by UJC. Another war, though, might be enough for Havkin to give up on the Galilee.

"If there will be another war, I will have to sell my house," she said. "I'm sorry to say but I cannot stand another war."

Olmert dismissed such sentiments as isolated and insignificant.

There is no trauma, he said: Nothing is collapsing; the north is booming; income is higher than ever; employment is higher than ever.

And, in fact, his claims are partially true. Israel's economy is once again going gangbusters. People have returned to the north, and the most visible remnants of war are a few blackened trees on the hillsides close to the border. Nahariya's streets and boardwalk are filled day and night with young revelers.

But that doesn't account for the emotional wreckage inside many Israelis.

Numerous psychologists and social workers told our group that post-traumatic stress disorder is a public-health crisis in northern Israel. Rami Benbenishty of Hebrew University said he'd found that 10 percent to 11 percent of children in Nahariya are in "critical, immediate need" of psychological treatment. They suffer not from war fatigue, but concussion paranoia. Debilitating fear is literally a sneeze away for some.

But what did the leader of Israel say when told many psychologists would not agree with his analysis of how war has affected his citizens?

He said it was time to change the psychologist.

We've seen leaders in history who didn't care about what their people thought. We've seen leaders who felt that they knew what was best for the nation in the face of facts and reason. We've seen leaders who spat in the face of their citizens when they pointed out the problems.

But I am not aware of any democracy that has ever had a leader who acted with such smugness, such dismissiveness, when his approval rating was in the single digits. The disconnect between what is in Olmert's head and reality is a gaping canyon. And yet, because of the peculiarities of Israel's parliamentary system, he has no reason to fear being voted out any time soon - by which time the amount of damage he can do to Israel is unimaginable.

Olmert is now acting as a king, not a servant of the people. And his reign is not just a mistake - it is a catastrophe.

UPDATE: See this article at Human Events.

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Ahmadinejad: Newscasters' "holy war" - plus why censorship is important to Iran

See how objective Iranian news is?

IRI President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said here Wednesday during his visit to the country's official news agency, IRNA, "Today our duty is proper informing to enable the people to adopt proper decisions."

Addressing IRNA staff, the president added, "Your mission for proper and in time news dissemination is a sacred one, and you should with your strong will push aside the oppressors' news networks." He reiterated, "The oppressors' front takes advantage of news and information dissemination at the service of inducting their policies and their programs in the hearts and minds of the world nations." According to IRNA Political Desk, Ahmadinejad who was visiting IRNA on the occasion of Iran's Reporters Day, added, "Today, proper information dissemination equals presence at the frontline of a holy war to liberate the mankind, and a liberating confrontation." He added, "The reporters are precious assets of our nation and revolution, and the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) has qualified personnel at its disposal that are valuable assents for our nation and our revolution."

He added, "We need to take advantage of the idealist, brave, and pious reporters, analysts, and professional news people, and the country's information dissemination networks as a huge capital, in order to enter the international scenes."

Ahmadinejad referring to the psychological war launched by the world oppressors media through news making, said, "Today the entire media, news agencies, news production and newspapers of the country must leave their defensive status and let the world nations hear the message of divine messengers of God, and the message of mankind's grandeur."
He added, "Today the oppressors' front tries to keep the people under the influence of inappropriate news dissemination, but when some of these people travel to Iran they experience a great mental evolution."

The President of the Islamic Republic of Iran emphasized, "One of the reasons why US is opposed to the visits of American nationals to Iran is that they have been bombarding our nation with their news weapons, and when they visit Iran and witness the cheerful people, or the advancement and positive developments in Iran, their viewpoints on Iran are altered."
Ahmadinejad referred to the point that the oppressors news agencies, resorting to words, report the news on criminal acts of the Zionist regime in a way that the oppressors are introduced as the oppressed, and vice versa. He reiterated, "The majority of the public that are not opposed to hearing the truth, when they are exposed to proper news dissemination find their proper way, and today our duty in the world is proper news dissemination."

Elsewhere in his remarks the president stressed the need to broadcast "useful news" in the country, arguing, "There might be lots of news that are authentic, but they should not be broadcasted, because they would disturb the peace of mind of the society." Stressing that we are not pro-censorship, Ahmadinejad said, "Censorship was invented by those who also devise standards for news dissemination, defining the news and the reporters in a way to match their standards and propagate their policies in the world." Addressing the IRNA reporters, he said, "My dear fellows, you shoulder a heavy responsibility today, because news work and news dissemination is a divine occupation, and the job of holy prophets." The president emphasized, "If we are to be witness to the occurrence of a positive event, we need to remember that one of the main pillars for it is proper news dissemination."

Ahmadinejad added, "You should know that your message is the message of divine prophets, the message of real liberation, justice, brotherhood, love, and kindness."

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Dutch MP calls for banning the Koran

Get ready for more deadly riots...

The leader of the Netherlands' right-wing Freedom Party, Geert Wilders, has called for a ban on the sale and distribution of the Qur'an. He would also outlaw the book’s use in the mosque and at home. Mr Wilders says the Qur'an (Koran) is a fascist book which promotes violence and is similar to Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf.

Geert Wilders with finger raised

In a letter-to-the-editor in today’s de Volkskrant newspaper, Wilders argues that the Qur'an should only be permitted for research at an academic level.

However, the MP - who is known for his controversial statements about Islam - says he knows his proposal doesn’t stand a chance of being approved by parliament. His Freedom Party has nine seats in the 150-seat Dutch lower house of parliament.

A warning
Geert Wilders says he wants his proposal to serve as a warning to radical Muslims who misuse the Qur'an to justify the use of violence. His statement comes in response to the recent attacks on Ehsan Jami, founder of the Committee for Former Muslims. He says the perpetrators use the Qur'an as an excuse for the attacks. Wilders writes that“The book incites hatred and killing and therefore has no place in our legal order.”The jurist, commentator and co-member of the Committee for Former Muslims, Afshin Ellian also thinks that the Qur'an “possesses extremely violent passages with regard to women, Jews and non-believers”. However, he is against a ban. Mr Ellian says you should take measures against the people who abuse the Qur'an, not the book itself:

“It’s a religious book which of course can be read and discussed. What we really should fight are the radical imams and mosques which use the Qur'an to spread hatred. We must take firmer measures against them.”

Hitler
Geert Wilders compares the Qur'an with Mein Kampf, which was written by Adolf Hitler in 1924. In his book, Hitler explained his theories about National Socialism, anti-Semitism and the superiority of the Aryan race.

The sale of Mein Kampf is outlawed in the Netherlands, but owning or trading old copies is permitted. However, Mr Wilders’ proposal to ban the Qur'an is more drastic than the ban on Mein Kampf because it would also outlaw the possession of the book.

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Hamas: Early release for prisoners who memorize Koran

From Ma'an:

Gaza – Ma'an – The administration of Gaza's central jail, As Saraya, which is controlled by the Hamas-operated Executive Forces, announced on Tuesday that it will reduce any prisoner's sentence by one year if they are able to memorise five parts of the holy Qu'ran.

The director of the prison complex, Abu Al Hamid, affirmed that he wants to encourage the prisoners to learn the Koran by heart.

The Executive Force's website reported that Al Hamid has formed a committee that will monitor the prisoners' progress.

The EF has been in control of the complex after Hamas established control over the Gaza Strip. Since then, at least 850 prisoners are said to have escaped.

Presumably, the escaped prisoners already knew the Koran by heart so it is all good.

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3500 Hamas terrorists "accidently" got paid

Looks like life in Gaza just got a lot easier - if you are a murderous thug dedicated to wiping out all Jewish existence from the Middle East:

A well-informed source in Ramallah confirmed that the new Palestinian ministry of finance in the caretaker government mistakenly transferred one year's salary to 3,500 members of Hamas' Executive Force in the Gaza Strip.

The source added "it was a mistake in the computer, as the Fatah employees were surprised that their salaries were not transferred to the banks in Gaza, but the salaries of the EF were."

Ma'an's correspondent in Gaza confirmed that Prime Minister Salam Fayyad's government paid not just one month of the salaries; but an entire year's earnings.

Spokesperson of the Executive Force, Sabir Khalifa, confirmed to Ma'an that 3,500 members of the force received salaries for 12 months. He added that it is almost half of the force that received their salaries.

Khalifa said "this is an official recognition from [Palestinian President] Abbas and Fayyad that the force is legitimate and legal."

The remainder of the EF, who did not receive their salaries, said that half of the force received a grant from deposed Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh. The unpaid force members said that they expect that they will be paid by Haniyeh's government in the future.

The best numbers I can find for average PA worker salary is about $375 a month.

This means that nearly $16 million just got transferred from the EU and USA-funded PA coffers to Hamas.

Given that there have been consistent reports of attempts to bring Hamas back into the PA, one may very well wonder how "accidental" this "computer error" was.

UPDATE: Pro-Hamas Palestine Today claims that it was no mistake and Fayyad meant to pay Hamas for past paychecks, and they claim that a Fatah official confirmed it.

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No violins in Islam

The BBC published an article about life in Gaza. One of the interviews was very interesting:

I lead a group of 26 musicians - we play traditional Palestinian music. But for the last two months we haven't been able to work.

This group, Hamas, believe they are the leaders of Islam. The violin, piano, flute, all these instruments are banned. Only the drum is allowed. They say any other instrument is not mentioned in the Koran.

Hamas have already beaten one of my singers for singing for Fatah.

Far be it from me to try to interpret the Koran. But if Hamas says that believing Muslims must stay away from anything not mentioned in the Koran, may I suggest a few other things that would also be haraam:

AK-47s
Bomb belts
"Homemade" rockets
The Internet
Electricity
Gasoline
Jerusalem

Better be careful. Allah knows best.

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Bat Mitzvah girl donates $100K for playground in Israel

This is amazing:

Samantha Resnick had only one item on her bat mitzva wish list. Unlike most girls her age, who cross their fingers for anything in a powder-blue Tiffany's box, Resnick set her sights on something a bit bigger than a ribbon fit around: $100,000 worth of donations to build a brand-new playground in Israel.

About a year-and-a-half before Resnick's bat mitzva, her father, Josh, sat his precocious, curly-haired daughter down for a talk.

"I said 'You've always had everything you've needed and you've also had everything you've ever wanted. Do you really want people to buy gifts for you or do you want to do something special for kids in Israel?'"

Without a moment's pause, Resnick agreed to the idea. "I was really proud of her," said Josh.

Over 500 friends and relatives received an unusual invitation for Resnick's bat mitzva last September: Included in the envelope was a small card requesting that donations be made to the Jewish National Fund (JNF) in lieu of gifts. Every family invited to the event contributed to assemble one of the largest bar or bat mitzva donations the JNF has ever received.

On Monday, in Israel for the first time, Resnick and her parents formally opened the playground that is attached to Sapir Park in the Arava Valley. The playground is designed to accommodate children who have special needs alongside those who do not.

Resnick, whose mother, Debbie, is a language and hearing therapist in the Pittsburgh public school system, explained why it was important to her to include special-needs children in the project.

"I feel so upset when you see all these kids playing and a mentally challenged kid is left out," she said. "You see them thinking 'I wish I could go and play, too.'"

Though content to be a 14-year-old philanthropist for the moment, Resnick has plans to expand the park.

"I want it to be huge," she said, adding that she hopes to emulate a park near her own home in Fox Chapel near Pittsburgh. She described her dream park with the matter-of-fact certainty of being a kid who knows exactly what a kid would want. "There's a slide of course, because everyone loves slides... and there are tire swings because I wanted to bring some stuff from America."

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I'm getting Instalanched

Instapundit's Glenn Reynolds picked up on the "grim milestone" of 500 PalArab self-deaths I've counted this year.

So have Soccer Dad, Meryl Yourish, Yid with Lid, Boker Tov Boulder, Daled Amos, Seraphic Secret, Fiery Spirited Zionist, Discarded Lies and Protein Wisdom.

But in the hour since Glenn Reynolds posted his link, I've gotten about 1200 hits - and he only posted it an hour ago.

Welcome to all the new people visiting - I hope you get a chance to check out some of my other postings!

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