Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Indonesian cleric arrested for marrying 12-year old girl

Police arrested a Muslim cleric in Indonesia's Central Java province for marrying a 12-year-old girl in violation of the country's child-protection law, an officer said Wednesday.
Pujiono Cahyo Widianto, 43, revealed in August that he had taken a 12-year-old girl as a second wife in a traditional Islamic wedding ceremony, sparking criticism from child-protection groups.
Police in Semarang, the capital of Central Java, said they had charged Pujiono with sexual exploitation of a child.
The country's child-protection law defines children as people under 18.
'The maximum jail term for such an offense is 15 years,' said Roy Hardi Siahaan, chief detective for the local police.
Pujiono has defended his action, saying he would not consummate the marriage until the girl reaches puberty.
Child rights activists have accused Pujiono of paedophilia and of depriving the girl of an education.
Religious Affairs Minister Maftuh Basyuni also condemned the marriage and demanded it be cancelled.

While it is admirable that Indonesia has arrested the man, an AP report adds a relevant detail:

The cleric's wedding and proclamations that he intended also to marry two other girls, aged 7 and 9, angered many in Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation with more than 210 million believers.

And finally another interesting point from Gulf News:

Pujiono Cahyo Widianto wed the girl before thousands of people in Central Java province last August.

Where was the outrage then? It looks like the real problem was his public intentions to marry the younger girls, not the marriage to the 12-year old.

(photo h/t Andre)

Hamas hates Gazans

In a region filled with ironies, one that flies under the radar of the Western world is the fact that Hamas treats the people of Gaza horribly, and often sacrifices their interests for its own political or military advantage.

From hiding among the people to draw Israeli fire, to diverting needed aid towards Hamas members away from the population, to its utter indifference towards building or maintaining basic infrastructure (most of which is done by PA members nowadays, not Hamas,) to its decision to turn abandoned Jewish communities into terror training camps instead of moving Gazans into real homes, it is clear that Hamas only makes decisions based on what is best for Hamas, not what is best for Gaza.

The latest in this long line of examples happened just in the past few hours.

Ma'an reports:

Egypt reportedly stopped two Hamas officials from returning to the Gaza Strip from Egypt on Tuesday with night-vision goggles and some $900,000 in cash, the Reuters news agency reported.

The report quotes anonymous security officials, and also does not name the Hamas officials involved. Customs agents reportedly [found] 500,000 euros and 250,000 US dollars while searching the officials bags.

The Hamas members were returning from the Egyptian-brokered Palestinian unity talks in Cairo.

As in the past, the items they were trying to smuggle were not meant for Palestinian Arabs but for Hamas itself. Hamas' reaction is even more blatantly anti-Gazan:

The de facto Palestinian government in Gaza refused to open the Rafah border crossing with Egypt on Wednesday in protest of what it called “humiliating regulations” on Palestinian travelers.

The Interior Ministry in the Hamas-led government issued this decision as Egypt said it would open the Rafah border on Wednesday and Thursday. The de facto government however denied that it had received official notification of this.

Egypt planned to open Rafah today for Gazans to cross - and Hamas is stopping them, because of the "humiliation" it suffered by Egypt's seizure of banned items. Hamas has made yet another decision to make Gazans suffer for its own gain.

The irony continues with the hundreds of rallies for "Gaza" that are really demonstrations for Hamas rule - which is anti-Gaza! People who claim to be pro-Gaza must necessarily be anti-Hamas, but the reverse is true. The "Free Gaza" movement members and the George Galloways of the world happily shake hands with Gaza officials and take pictures with a group that is not only anti-Israel and anti-semitic, but anti Gazan.

How many protests have there been for Gazans themselves and against Hamas? What percentage of human rights workers are openly anti-Hamas? How many UN resolutions have been passed against Hamas' treatment of Gazans?

People who advocate boosting Hamas politically are, by definition, against the people of Gaza.

Jews with minds so open, their sense falls out

The Washington Post reports on the anti-semitic Caryl Churchill play, "Seven Jewish Children," being performed at...the Jewish Community Center of Washington:

As a work of art, "Seven Jewish Children" is "deftly constructed, evocative, elusive and provocative," says Ari Roth. He is the artistic director of the Jewish Community Center's Theater J in Northwest Washington, where staged readings of the play will be offered on March 26 and 28. (Collaborator Forum Theatre in Northeast Washington will house the play on March 27 and 29, as Theater J does not have Friday performances and Forum has put on Churchill's works before. )

Some have argued that the play is also something insidious. Consider these lines of dialogue: "Tell her they live in tents. Tell her this wasn't their home." And then, "Tell her they don't understand anything except violence." And then, "Tell her they're filth." And finally, the jarringly brutal, "Tell her I wouldn't care if we wiped them out."

When the play premiered in London this year, some theater critics called the work anti-Semitic. The Spectator labeled the play "an open incitement to hatred" and a "ten-minute blood-libel."

In British media, Churchill has denied charges of anti-Semitism; Roth wonders whether an American audience will have a reaction so vehemently negative. "The idea is to give the play a hearing, to approach it in the spirit of inquiry," Roth says. "We're not going to take a right-wing British journalist's word that it's blood-libel."

This statement is so stupid it stretches credulity. Does one have to watch a play to see what it states, or can one perhaps accomplish that by reading the script?

Instead, the two Washington theaters, both of which frequently hold issue-based discussion groups, will present the play as an opportunity for dialogue, holding forums after each performance. Theater J will also follow "Seven Jewish Children" by debuting a response play, "Seven Palestinian Children," which New Jersey playwright Deb Margolin wrote after reading Churchill's work.

I am insulted that the magnum opus I composed yesterday is not being considered as an appropriate response.

Although Margolin's play also features some controversial language -- "Tell him: When old men die, it is expected; when young men die, it is sacred" -- she argues that her play comes from a humanitarian perspective. "What I want to speak to is that moment when one human being is incapable of seeing the humanity in another," Margolin says. She is Jewish and says distress over some of Churchill's generalizations about the Jewish community caused Margolin to write her own play.

Unfortunately, this misses the point. The problem with "Seven Jewish Children" is a gentile, who is clearly antipathic towards Zionists/Jews, is lying about how Jews think and dramatizing those lies. A response play is not the proper way to put lies in context; lies have no context. They should be demolished or dismissed, but not taken, even for a moment, as fact.

"My druthers would be to critique this play dramaturgically, not politically," Roth says. But separating art from politics in a work as fraught as "Seven Jewish Children" might be a nearly impossible task, even for sophisticated theatergoers. The play brings up issues that prompt immediate emotional responses, however you perceive Churchill's intent.

The Washington Post understands the problem more than the Jewish art director of the JCC.

Roth believes that there are many rational ways to interpret "Seven Jewish Children." It's a quick play, he says, "that accomplishes an awful lot."

Oh, please. It isn't Shakespeare. There is only one rational way to interpret it, and it is to make Jews look like hypocritical, bloodthirsty usurpers of peaceful Arabs.
(h/t jh in the comments)

UPDATE: I wanted to point out another absurd part of this story:

"My druthers would be to critique this play dramaturgically, not politically," Roth says.

By Roth's logic, if someone would write a catchy pop song called "Kill the Jews," the proper response would be to write a competing song called "Please Don't Kill Us" and play both of them in the interests of "debate."

Simcha Open Thread

I guess that since I am at a wedding and can't blog, this is again a good time for an Open Thread.

Play nice, guys.

The majority of Palestinian Arabs are immoral

Buried in the results of the latest PSR poll of Palestinian Arabs and Israelis comes this tidbit:

54% of the Palestinians support and 42% oppose armed attacks against Israeli civilians inside Israel.

Once again, a majority of Palestinian Arabs support terror attacks - not only against "settlers" but against ordinary Jews living in Israel. All of the people that keep telling us that Palestinian Arabs want peace are, simply, wrong. They want to see Jewish women and children killed.

This is nothing new. A similar percentage answered the same in June 2008 (before the Gaza op); last April a majority specifically supported suicide bombings against Israeli civilians; a different poll showed 68% of Palestinian Arabs supported terror attacks in Israel in April 2007, and in September 2006 the percentage was calculated to be 57%, with 63% supporting rocket attacks.

Can someone explain the wisdom of a "peace process" with people who desire the death of their "peace partners?"

This is not a poll of Hamas members. This is not a poll of only Gaza. This is the mainstream Palestinian Arab opinion, and it has been how they felt for years. Going back to 1995 - pre-Intifada, during the golden years of Oslo when Palestinian Arab employment was at record highs - the proportion that supported terror attacks well outnumbered those who opposed terror by 12 percentage points (although then was a pluraity, not a majority.)

At what point do we say that the real obstacles to peace are the people who openly and joyously support the murder of innocents? When will the world realize that we are pouring billions of dollars towards a people who are repeatedly and consistently pro-terror? How long do we have to wait before people realize that it is way past time for Palestinian Arabs themselves to take responsibility for their beliefs, their opinions and their actions?

It sounds harsh, but the polls have proven, time and time again, that a majority of Palestinian Arabs are immoral. They support terror. They support the wanton murder of innocents. Is there any other way to spin this?

And you cannot claim that Palestinian Arabs are only theoretically supportive of terror, and are aghast when it actually happens. Last year, an astonishing 84% of Palestinian Arabs supported the Mercaz Harav massacre of teenagers.

Why does the world still support a people who not only tolerate evil but celebrate it?

Protocols of the Drinkers of Coffee (Melanie Philips)

From Melanie Philips:

From Egypt, further evidence that the Islamist hatred of the Jews is not caused by Israel’s behaviour or even its existence. It’s caused by... hatred of the Jews. Here, Egyptian cleric Muhammad Hussein Ya’qoub raves:

If the Jews left Palestine to us, would we start loving them? Of course not. We will never love them. Absolutely not. The Jews are infidels – not because I say so, and not because they are killing Muslims, but because Allah said: 'The Jews say that Uzair is the son of Allah, and the Christians say that Christ is the son of Allah. These are the words from their mouths. They imitate the sayings of the disbelievers before. May Allah fight them. How deluded they are.’ It is Allah who said that they are infidels.

Your belief regarding the Jews should be, first, that they are infidels, and second, that they are enemies. They are enemies not because they occupied Palestine. They would have been enemies even if they did not occupy a thing. Allah said: 'You shall find the strongest men in enmity to the disbelievers [sic] to be the Jews and the polytheists.' Third, you must believe that the Jews will never stop fighting and killing us. They [fight] not for the sake of land and security, as they claim, but for the sake of their religion: 'And they will not cease fighting you until they turn you back you’re your religion, if they can.'

This is it. We must believe that our fighting with the Jews is eternal, and it will not end until the final battle – and this is the fourth point. You must believe that we will fight, defeat, and annihilate them, until not a single Jew remains on the face of the Earth.

Egypt, let us not forget, is a ‘moderate’ Arab state that has a peace agreement with Israel. It is nevertheless a major source of barking-mad Jewish demonisation in the Arab world. Here is Egyptian Cleric Salama Abd Al-Qawi warning Muslims against the Protocols of the Elders of Zion – the notorious Czarist forged claim that the Jews covertly rule the world -- and many US companies :

They [the Jews]began conspiring to annihilate the Islamic and Arab nation, to plunder its resources, and to destroy its youth. Regretfully, the plots they hatched are being implemented today in detail. One of their conspiracies, which stemmed from their black hatred, was to gain control over the entire global economy, bringing the world under their thumb. So they founded huge companies, which, like spiders, send their webs all over the world. The main goal of these companies was to erase Islamic identity.

... Many basic products, which may be found in many Muslim households, like the Ariel, Tide, and Persil laundry detergents, are made by Zionist companies. The Coca Cola and Pepsi companies and all their products – Seven Up, Miranda, Fania, and all these products, all the carbonated beverages, with very few exceptions that don't bear mention... Almost all the carbonated beverages are Zionist-American products.

[...] Some restaurants, I'm sad to say, are teeming with Muslim youth, and their safes are full of the money of Muslims... McDonalds is Jewish-Zionist, Kentucky Fried Chicken is Jewish-Zionist, Little Caesar, Pizza Hut, Domino's Pizza, Burger King... By the way, all these products, which I have mentioned... In addition, there is a new type of coffee these days... All these are pure Zionist products, especially what is known as Starbucks, the well-known coffee. It is Zionist.

Ah yes, Starbucks: home of the Zionist genocidal apartheid bean. In January, Egyptian Cleric Safwat Higazi brought viewers of al Nas TV urgent news about the Starbucks logo:

Has any of you ever wondered who this woman with a crown on her head is? Why do we boycott Starbucks? ... The girl on the Starbucks logo is Queen Esther. Do you know who Queen Esther was and what the crown on her head means? This is the crown of the Persian Kingdom. This queen is the queen of the Jews. She is mentioned in the Torah, in the Book of Esther. The girl you see is Esther, the queen of the Jews in Persia...

Can you believe that in Mecca, Al-Madina, Cairo, Damascus, Kuwait, and all over the Islamic world, hangs the picture of beautiful Queen Esther, with a crown on her head, and we buy her products.[...]We want Starbucks to be shut down throughout the Arab and Islamic world. We want it to be shut down in Mecca and in Al-Madina. I implore King Abdallah bin Abd Al-‘Aziz, the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques: It is inconceivable that in Mecca and Al-Madina, there will be a picture of Queen Esther, the queen of the Jews.

As anyone can see, however, the female figure in the Starbucks logo (pictured above) has two fish tails. This is a clue that she is not Esther, queen of the Jews in Persia. She is instead a twin-tailed siren of Greek mythology. This is because the company is apparently named in part after Starbuck, Captain Ahab’s first mate in the book Moby Dick.
What we are up against within the Islamic world is quite simply a wholesale negation of reason; nothing less.

All I want to know is, how come KFC and Pizza Hut isn't kosher (outside of Israel)?
(h/t EBoZ)

Saudi/Gulf news roundup

A Saudi newspaper was shut down after publishing an article critical of the religious police.

Two "youths" - it is unclear if they are minors - were sentenced to 30 lashes each for pointing a laser pointer at security patrol. The sentence cannot be appealed.

A two-year old was taken to three doctors in Saudi Arabia over the course of a week before they realized he had a battery stuck in his nose. By that time, the battery acid was already burning a hole in his cartilage.

A Saudi minister has determined that the "ideal" price for oil is between $60 and $75 a barrel. Higher than that and Westerners will work harder for alternative fuels, lower and they don't make money. (My explanation, not his.)

Dubai - that model for Gulf modernity - gave a new set of rules of behavior in the emirate. According to a Saudi newspaper:

The Arabic-language daily Al-Emarat Al-Youm said the Dubai Executive Council has urged residents of Dubai, where foreigners make up more than 80 percent of the population, to respect the customs of the country and avoid inappropriate behavior.
The rules, which apply to all public places, include a ban on all forms of nudity, playing music loudly and dancing, exchange of kisses between men and women — and even on unmarried couples holding hands.
Any breach of the guidelines, by nationals or expatriates, carries a possible prison penalty, the paper said.
The guidelines also stipulate that anyone caught under the influence of alcohol — even small amounts — outside designated drinking areas is liable to being fined or imprisoned, the paper added.

Not much today, sorry

I really feel guilty when I have no time to blog, but ...I have no time to blog. A full work-day and a social event tonight. If I can carve out a little time I will. Sorry!

Dawah

Here are two recent examples of Islamic "outreach," known as dawah, where Muslims knowingly lie about the Quran in order to get Westerners more interested in Islam.

The first one is almost comical. A pamphlet written some thirty years ago by a French "scholar" and more recently updated purports to show that the Quran had a deep knowledge of modern science:

On the 9th of November, 1976, an unusual lecture was given at the French Academy of Medicine. Its title was "Physiological and Embryological data in the Qur'an". I presented the study based on the existence of certain statements concerning physiology and reproduction in the Qur'an. My reason for presenting this lecture was because it is impossible to explain how a text produced in the seventh century could have contained ideas that have only been discovered in modern times.

A number of examples are brought. For example:

The notion of a settled place for the sun is vividly described in chapter Yaa Seen of the Qur'an:

"The sun runs its coarse to a settled place That is the decree of the Almighty, the All Knowing." Qur'an, 36:38

"Settled place" is the translation of the word mustaqarr which indicates an exact appointed place and time. Modern astronomy confirms that the solar system is indeed moving in space at a rate of 12 miles per second towards a point situated in the constellation of Hercules ( alpha lyrae ) whose exact location has been precisely calculated. Astronomers have even give it a name, the solar apex.

Doesn't it sound more like the Quran is saying that the sun will keep traveling - and then stop?

His other examples are no more impressive:

Among the achievements of modern science is the "conquest" of space which has resulted in mans journey to the moon. The prediction of this event surely springs to mind when we read the chapter ar-Rahmaan in the Qur'an:

"O assembly of Jinns and men, if you can penetrate the regions of the heavens and the earth, then penetrate them! You will not penetrate them except with authority."

Qur'an,55:33

Authority to travel in space can only come from the Creator of the laws which govern movement and space. The whole of this Qur'anic chapter invites humankind to recognize God's beneficence.

The author doesn't seem to be bothered by the mention of "jinn", meaning, genies.

For some much more striking counterexamples of Quranic adherence to modern science, see here.

Another recent example of dakwah is a new film being produced that purports to show that the Quran is compatible with modern US values:

"The film talks about the major themes of the Quran, including the most controversial ones, like jihad, women, sex, polygamy, peace and violence," Masudi told AlArabiya.net.

Masudi explained that the documentary places Islam in a modern context and refutes the view that Islam is out-dated by linking the Quran to modern concepts like democracy, charity and diversity.

"There are so many similarities between Islam and the West because the Quran was meant to be for all of mankind, Muslims do not have a monopoly on Islam, on the book or on Allah," Masudi said.

The synopsis of the film on its website shows exactly how objective this film is:

A group of American professors is asked to probe deep into the minds of more than a billion Muslims. To find out what drives them to suicide bombings, multiple wives and religious fanaticism.

The team:

Mark Juergensmeyer: International expert on terrorism in religion and President, American Academy of Religion. Hossein Nasr, Harvard alumni, author of fifty books on Islam and science, and Professor at Washington University. Bruce Lawrence, Abrahamic Pluralist and bestselling author of From Hajj to Hip Hop. Maria Dakake, Editor Harper Collins Study Quran Encyclopedia and Professor, George Mason University. Jonathan A Brown, Omer Mozaffar, and Joseph Lumbard: all fine scholars of comparative religious traditions in prestigious universities of the United States.

The team is asked to find out if The Quran is out of step with modern times. It is directed to disregard traditional clergy, if need be.

Unaware of each others assignments, the panel delves deep into the fountainhead of this most enigmatic Faith: The Quran. It uncovers shocking facts, astonishing revelations and intriguing results about Islam. The findings raise as many questions as they answer.

The panel’s no- holds- barred, hard hitting findings include:

“In Islam, sex is a good thing. Allah is not a Muslim specific God; even Arabic speaking Jews and Christians use the word Allah in their liturgies. Polygamy is a blessing. We are not God and God is not us. It is mandatory for Muslims to revere all the Prophets of Judaism and Christianity. Muslims do not worship Muhammad. Everybody is a born Muslim!”

Congratulations, world. According to these prominent American professors, you have all just retroactively become Muslim.

How £100M Funds Terror

From the Daily Express:

MILLIONS of pounds of taxpayers' money has been spent promoting terrorism and encouraging young Palestinians to hate the West, it emerged yesterday.

Money donated as aid has been used to print textbooks which teach children that "death is not bitter in the mouth of the believers" and that the Iraqi insurgency is a "brave resistance" against Britain and the US, according to a report by the TaxPayers' Alliance.

Last year, Britain sent nearly £100million to the Palestinian territories - more than double what it sent the year before - despite the Government being warned that January that aid money was being spent on promoting terror.

The report, which will be published on Wednesday, found school textbooks encouraging Palestinian children to become suicide bombers were being used in classrooms.

In one book, published by the Palestinian Authority, pupils are taught: "Your enemies seek life while you seek death."
State-owned TV channels and newspapers have also glorified suicide bombers, called for terrorism and urged Palestinians to pick up weapons.

Speaking about Ayat al-Akhras, 18, the youngest Palestinian female suicide bomber, a TV presenter on the Palestinian Broadcasting Corporation said: "You and your cause deserve the greatest respect. In our opinion, Ayat is a hero."

On the same network, history professor Adnan Ayash spoke of "the Jewish disease, the Zionist disease, which is a cancerous disease".

The disclosure that taxpayers' money is being used to fund terrorism drew a furious response from across the political and social spectrum yesterday.

Timothy Kirkhope, leader of the Conservative delegation in the European Parliament, who is hosting the launch of the report, said that no more aid money should be sent to the Palestinian territories unless donations were monitored to ensure they were not used to radicalise young people.

"Money has been misspent in the area before and used to buy weapons. This time they may not be using it on bullets and guns, but they are using it to turn the minds of young people towards militancy.

"The indoctrination and propaganda found by the report is extremely militant in its nature and is the opposite of what we should be trying to achieve in the area."

Liberal Democrat spokesman on international development Michael Moore said: "No British aid should fund people who seek to undermine the British, other allies, or the Israeli state."

The report is here. One excerpt from a textbook:

Translation:
“O heroes, Allah has promised you victory.... Do not talk
yourselves into flight… Your enemies seek life while you seek
death. They seek spoils to fill their empty stomachs while you
seek a Garden [Paradise] as wide as are the heavens and the
earth... death is not bitter in the mouth of the believers. These
drops of blood that gush from your bodies will be transformed
tomorrow into blazing red meteors that will fall down upon the
heads of your enemies." (page 16)

Licensing for "Seven Arab Children"

I suppose to be consistent I need to offer licensing terms for my spoof play as Churchill did. OK, here they are:

The play can be read or performed anywhere, by any number of people. Anyone who wishes to do it should contact Elder of Ziyon, who will license performances free of charge provided that no admission fee is charged and that a collection is taken at each performance for Hatzalah of Yehuda and Shomron.

If the idea that giving money to a medical organization that saves Jewish lives in the "territories" makes you squeamish, perhaps you need to examine your own liberal ideals.

Seven Arab Children

The BBC decided not to air Caryl Churchill's "Seven Jewish Children" play. Not because they disagreed with it, oh no...

But [Radio 4's drama commissioning editor Jeremy]Howe wrote: "It is a no, I am afraid. Both Mark [Damazer, Radio 4 controller] and I think it is a brilliant piece, but after discussing it with editorial policy we have decided we cannot run with it on the grounds of impartiality – I think it would be nearly impossible to run a drama that counters Caryl Churchill's view. Having debated long and hard we have decided we can't do Seven Jewish Children."

Well, I am here to help the BBC out. Since they don't have a poorly written drama available to show "both sides" of the story, I am going to write one right now. I estimate it will take ten minutes.

Seven Arab Children
A play about Palestine

1.
Tell him that we are one big Arab nation
Tell him that we invented algebra
Tell him that we always lived here
Tell him that others can only live here if they agree to be dhimmis
Don't tell him about the Jews who used to live here
Tell him that we live in southern Syria
and that we will never be divided from our brethren
Tell him that all Arabs look out for reach other

2.
Tell him we hate the Jews because they are weak
Tell him that they they started it first
Tell him that Jews shouldn't live in Hebron
Don't tell him that they were there for millennia
Tell him that they attacked Arabs at their Wall
Tell him they wanted to kill all the Arabs
Tell him that he will be rewarded for killing them.

3.
Tell him we are on strike
Don't tell him that Arabs are killing more Arabs than Jews or British
Tell him that the British are pro-Jewish
Don't tell him about the "collaborators"
Tell him that the Mufti will lead us to a state
Don't tell him about the feuds between the clans
Tell him that the hundreds of dead Arabs are the Jews' fault
Tell him that we will never accept compromise

4.
Don't tell him that we ran away
Don't tell him that some Arabs stayed and are not in camps
Tell him that we will still throw the Jews into the sea
Tell him not to forget that he is an Arab
Tell him that we were massacred
Tell him that over and over again
Tell him he must hate the Jews
Don't tell him that our Arab brethren keep us in camps
Don't tell him that they told us to flee
Don't blame them for our troubles
We need to live with them

5.
Tell him that we are "Palestinian"
Tell him not to say "Jews" in English, only "Zionists"
Tell him that the Arabs will help us push the Jews into the sea this time
Tell him we are united
Tell him that we still have a key to our home
Don't tell him to go to Kuwait to find a job
Tell him the UN will take care of us forever
Don't tell him to blame the Arabs for our being stateless for decades
Tell him it is needed for "unity"

6.
Tell him it is not terrorism
Tell him that the martyrs are heroes
Tell him we hate the Jews because they are strong
Don't tell him that we still cannot become citizens
of the Arab nations we were born in
Don't tell him that our brethren kicked us out of Jordan
Tell him Jews massacred us in Lebanon, not Arab Christians
Tell him about Paradise
Don't tell him about Arabs in Knesset

7.
Tell him to become a Shahid
Tell him that we will never compromise
Tell him that the "peace process" is just another means to conquer land
Tell him not to say that out loud
Tell him that a child-killer is a hero for all Arabs
Don't tell him that we killed hundreds of each other in Gaza
Don't tell him we used to have jobs and work together with the Jews
Don't tell him that the intifada was a failure
Tell him to cry on top of rubble if a reporter comes by
Tell him we won all our wars with the Jews
Don't tell him why we still live in camps in Gaza
Tell him we'll be proud of him when he becomes a shahid
Tell him that his family will be taken care of after he dies
Tell him to take as many Jews as he can
Tell him he will be a hero
and we are so proud of him

Israeli group vows to kill released terrorists

From YNet:

The relatives of some Israeli terror victims are preparing for the "day after" a possible Shalit prisoner swap, in an effort to locate and target terrorists freed as part of the deal, Yedioth Ahronoth reported Monday.

The new organization has already started to raise funds and held several meetings in order to formulate its "eye for an eye" policy. The initiative is being led by Attorney Meir Schijveschuurder and his brother Shvuel, who lost their parents and three siblings in the suicide bombing at the Sbarro pizza parlor in Jerusalem in 2001.

The brothers recently started to bring together relatives of terror victims and initiated contacts with donors in Israel and abroad. The new organization aims to prepare an "intelligence dossier" on terrorists with blood on their hands to be released in future swaps and pursue them worldwide.

"We have a file about most of the murderers, including information about their families," Meir Schijveschuurder said "The parents of one of the terrorists involved in the Sbarro attack, for example, own a pizza parlor in Jenin. We have their residential address."

"In addition, there is the female terrorist who organized the terror attack, and she will be the first one for me," he said. "She kept on smiling during the trial, and we shall erase her smile. I am mentally and physically ready to send her to the next world. As to the ones who will remain in Palestinian Authority areas, we will implement against them the customary law there: Eye for an eye."

Schijveschuurder made it clear that he has no qualms with the Israeli government, but added that "the moment it decided to stop punishing them, we will do it as a last result. It would be very worthwhile for those killers to remain in Israeli prisons, with all the benefits and perks. Out of jail they won't be able to sleep well at night. We will pursue them and get to all of them."

Whatever the merits of vigilante justice in these cases, it is amusing to see that the Islamic Jihad newspaper Palestine Today called the group "a Jewish terrorist organization." Of course, they referred to the terror attacks that this group plans to avenge as being "martyrdom operations."

Roger Cohen's "pragmatic" Iran

Roger Cohen gifts us with his wisdom about the Middle East for the fourth consecutive week, in another op-ed to inform us of Iran's pragmatism and his insisting that the US match it:

From Egypt to Algeria to Afghanistan, Islamist movements are radicalized by dreams of establishing everlasting dominion; democracy is feared because it could prove to be their means to power. In Iran, by contrast, life is a daily exercise in compromises that temper Islam with the demands of modern life. Iran is emerging from extremist fervor as clerical absolutism and pluralism spar.

...Pragmatism is also one way of looking at Iran's nuclear program. A state facing a nuclear-armed Israel and Pakistan, American invasions in neighboring Iraq and Afghanistan, and noting that North Korea was not hit, might reasonably conclude that preserving the revolution requires nuclear resolve.

The blindness in these comments is mindboggling.

In one paragraph, he notes that most Islamist movements dream of world domination, but he claims Iran does not follow that model. Then, further down the page, he notes that indeed Iran is developing nuclear weapons and sees that as pragmatic as well.

Let's see. the Iranian revolution was the first successful modern Islamist takeover of an entire country; Iran is racing to join the nuclear club; they are now working furiously to increase the range of their ballistic missiles to threaten all of Europe and they now have a successful space program. Does this imply "pragmatism" or "an Islamist movement radicalized by dreams of establishing everlasting dominion?"

Cohen also defends his characterization of the Jewish community in Iran as proof that Iran is a tolerant society. Somehow, he doesn't seem to be aware of the Baha'is in Iran, who are facing persecution and whose faith has effectively become illegal under this pragmatic, modern regime:

A new embargo on freedom of expression has formally been announced. Iran’s Prosecutor General, Ayatollah Qorban-Ali Dorri-Najafabadi, has declared that the very expression of affiliation to the Bahá’í faith is illegal. This was communicated in a letter to the Minister of Intelligence, Ghulam-Husayn Ejeyee, who needs no encouragement to violate rights. Human Rights Watch named him one of Iran's 'Ministers of Murder' four years ago.
According to the Prosecutor General , everyone is free to have his own belief and faith. “However, no expression or declaration in order to disparage the thought of others, nor any attempt to teach them resulting in deception and agitation of minds is permitted.”

He goes on to determine that “the administration of the wayward Baha’i sect at all levels is illegal and forbidden … their danger to national security is documented and well-established.”

When you look at things from the perspective of a criminal, everything can be justified as "pragmatic." Most people don't do insane things in a vacuum; in their own worldview, things make sense. The problem is when their worldview is itself insane.

Roger Cohen, however, is very willing to accept the worldview of the Iranian mullahs as being just as valid as any Western viewpoint. This moral relativism can also only be described as insane - and one that Cohen is ill-equipped to notice himself, because, after all, this is his own worldview.

Muslim blames American culture for beheading

Last month, in Buffalo, Muzzammil Hassan apparently beheaded his wife days after she asked him for a divorce. The irony was that Hassan founded a TV network intended to counter Muslim stereotypes.

Today, a Muslim writer writes an apologia for Islam in the wake of that event, saying that the Quran does not support such actions as "honor killings" and female genital mutilation.

His last paragraphs, however, reveal more about Islamic culture and thinking than he perhaps intended:

So we can only feel betrayed by this supposedly well-educated, successful Muslim American businessman, who even bought a TV station for dakwah [outreach] purposes. We are betrayed because he reverted to such colossally barbaric behaviour — behaviour that discredits everything he stood and worked for.
In our moments alone, we too may ask, "How can any Muslim really be trusted, if, living in a so-called civilised country like the US, he remains capable of murdering his own wife?"

A prominent Malaysian remarked that in the US these days, it seems that killing people has become almost as casual as having a cup of coffee. And so perhaps Muslims in these Western countries become corrupted by Western values and behaviour, rather than the other way around.

And Allah knows best.

Notice that this Muslim does not characterize the Bridges TV network's purpose as being to defend Muslims from stereotypes, but as an outreach tool to convert Americans to Islam.

He has a feeling of betrayal and a moment of self doubt - can it be that perhaps Muslims are inherently violent and unstable?

But then he realizes the answer - no, it is not Islamic culture that causes a Muslim man to behead his wife - but Western values! Muslims are peaceful, and the violent ones must have become evil because of Western influence!

Now he can sleep well at night, secure in the knowledge that there is no need for introspection over such a gruesome, medieval crime. Islam is clean of corruption, and the only evil is the West. Everything makes sense again.

And Allah knows best.

One can only wonder what this writer would say about this woman in England who converted to Christianity and whose imam father came after her with an axe...