Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Sunday, May 06, 2012

...And all that jazz

From the NYT:

Over the last 15 years, Israel has produced and exported so many serious young musicians that the jazz landscape is hard to picture without their influence, particularly in New York and especially now.

Last week the Anzic label released a pair of albums that illustrate the point: “Suite of the East,” by the bassist Omer Avital, and “Songs and Portraits,” by the collective known as Third World Love, which consists of Mr. Avital, the trumpeter Avishai Cohen, the pianist Yonatan Avishai and the drummer Daniel Freedman. (The label also released “Bamako by Bus,” by Mr. Freedman, the only member of the collective who wasn’t born in Israel.) And over the next week and a half, a different contingent of musicians will take part in Jazzrael, a festival of jazz and world music presented by the Israeli Consulate in New York.

The festival begins on Sunday night at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, with a trio led by Omri Mor, an articulate young pianist from Jerusalem. Its closing event, at Joe’s Pub on May 16, will feature the multireedist Amir Gwirtzman and the singer Nurit Galron, both traveling from Israel for the occasion.

Elsewhere on the schedule are Israeli musicians now residing in New York, like the pianist Alon Yavnai, who leads a big band at Joe’s Pub on Tuesday. A concert next Saturday at Temple Israel of the City of New York, on East 75th Street, will feature Mr. Mor, the flutist Hadar Noiberg and the accordionist Uri Sharlin, among others.

The recent outpouring of musical talent from Israel represents a different strain of Jewish jazz, one less concerned about connecting with a distant heritage. Even with a population under eight million, Israel has both the polyglot cultural mix and the educational infrastructure that are conducive to training in jazz.

Yes, the BDSers are really calling it "jazzwashing."

This also happens to be the 82nd anniversary of this:

Constantinople, May. 6 (JTA) –
Following a two week's run at a local theatre the American moving picture, "The Jazz Singer," starring Al Jolson, has been banned because it contains "Jewish religious propaganda."

But I thought Jews weren't discriminated against in Muslim countries! I thought they were only angry at "Zionists"! Hmmm...Al Jolson must have been a Zionist. Yeah, that must be it.

Is the analogy between those who boycott Israeli jazz today and those who boycotted a Jewish jazz story eight decades ago too obvious?

(The Turkish ban was lifted two months later. The Nazis were not enamored with the movie either.)

Jordanians rally against peace with Israel

From Jordan Times:

Hundreds of activists hit the streets in some urban centres in the country demanding an end to the Kingdom’s ties with Israel.

In protests organised by Islamists, leftists and youth activists, participants called on decision makers to scrap the 1994 Wadi Araba Peace Treaty, which they described as a “disaster”.

In a downtown Amman rally, some 200 leftists and youth activists called on authorities to expel the Israeli ambassador, burning US and Israeli flags and chanting: “Wadi Araba is not peace, Wadi Araba is surrender.”

Meanwhile, the Muslim Brotherhood’s youth wing rallied in downtown Amman’s Al Nakheel Square, criticising the government for maintaining ties with Tel Aviv despite Israel’s refusal to honour the agreement.

Addressing the rally of some 300 Islamists, former Muslim Brotherhood overall leader Salem Falahat criticised Amman for supporting policies of normalisation with Israel during an ongoing occupation of Palestinian lands.

Meanwhile, in a series of demonstrations held by governorate-based popular movements, hundreds of citizens rallied in Karak, Tafileh, Ajloun and Irbid, calling for an end to “normalisation” with Israel and protesting against rising prices of basic commodities.

Activists said Friday’s protests were a direct response to the appointment of Prime Minister Fayez Tarawneh, a leading figure in the 1994 peace process, who recently stated that if given a second chance, he would still support the treaty, pointing out that Jordan has used the peace pact as a tool to help Palestinians and other Arabs.

Are they still considered "peace activists" when they rally against peace?

A parade in Gaza

The Nasser Saladin Brigades of the Popular Resistance Committees held a parade in Gaza on Satuday:

Hamas won't allow rallies or demonstrations that they disagree with, for example for unity with Fatah.

But this parade by a supposedly independent military force is fine, complete with weapons.

Just more proof that Hamas is encouraging the terrorists while it pretends to be comparatively "moderate" - a ploy that Yasir Arafat used to be the expert at.

Reuters' abridged history of Jews in Tunisia leaves out a lot

Reuters has an article about the upcoming annual Lag B'Omer pilgrimage of Jews to Djerba, Tunisia. The article says as background:

Tunisia’s Jewish community once numbered 100,000 people. But fear, poverty and discrimination prompted several waves of emigration after the creation of Israel in 1948. Many left after the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. Most went to France or Israel.

Is that an accurate description? Here is how it is described elsewhere:

After Tunisia gained independence in 1956, a series of anti-Jewish government decrees were promulgated. In 1958, Tunisia's Jewish Community Council was abolished by the government and ancient synagogues, cemeteries and Jewish quarters were destroyed for “urban renewal.”

The increasingly unstable situation caused more than 40,000 Tunisian Jews to immigrate to Israel. By 1967, the country's Jewish population had shrunk to 20,000.

During the Six-Day War, Jews were attacked by rioting Arab mobs, and synagogues and shops were burned. The government denounced the violence, and President Habib Bourguiba apologized to the Chief Rabbi. The government appealed to the Jewish population to stay, but did not bar them from leaving. Subsequently, 7,000 Jews immigrated to France.

Since 1948, 99% of Tunisia's Jews emigrated. Such a mass emigration does not come about because of vague fears or because of poverty - it comes from very specific threats to the entire community. And characterizing mob attacks on Jews and burning of synagogues "discrimination" is absurd.

While the Tunisian government has been keen on protecting its remaining Jews over the past couple of decades, it is irresponsible for Reuters to downplay the very real reasons Jews were forced to flee.

Links (Ian)

What the Palestinians Want by Khaled Abu Toameh
“The Palestinians want the US to endorse all their demands and force Israel to give them everything. Palestinians are reminded almost every day that the US, which has been providing them with billions of dollars, is a foe rather than a friend, although no one seems to ask how come a foe is so generous. US aid should be conditioned not only on transparency and accountability, but also on an end to the campaign of hatred and incitement, as officially agreed in the Oslo accords, but never implemented.”
“Many Palestinian journalists who were invited to cover the event also decided to stay away. Their representatives accused the US of supporting Israel and working toward "normalizing" relations between Israelis and Palestinians.”

Hollywood Group Takes on Music Industry Anti-Israel Boycotters
“We’ll see. But in the meantime, CCFP is determined to fight back. As Steve Schnur, worldwide head of music for Electronic Arts (EA) video games, put it: “Musicians that play there don’t have to agree with the current or previous policies of the Israeli government — but they can go there and speak toward it or against it. Where else in the Middle East can an artist do that?”

Red Hot Chili Peppers In Hot Water With BDSers
(They are playing in Lebanon as well this year, but no "pro-Palestinian" protester seems to have a problem with them playing in a country that has laws discriminating against Palestinians.)

Breaking the silence on Jewish property rights
“In 1876 Ashkenazi and Sephardi communities in Jerusalem jointly purchased the site next to Shimon Hatzaddik’s tomb. They built dwellings for the pilgrims on part of the site. The Jewish residents of some 100 homes were among the first to be expelled when hostilities broke out at the end of 1947. Arab families moved into the empty Jewish homes. From 1949 to 1967 Jews could not visit the holy sites under Jordanian rule — a violation of the 1949 armistice agreement.”

Jewish and Israeli students attacked at Toulouse university event
“Toulouse - The president of the French Jewish student organisation has called on the University of Toulouse to combat antisemitism after a talk by Israeli students last week was disrupted by protesters shouting abuse, making threats and singing antisemitic chants.”
"Security had to intervene – it was very upsetting," said Mr Reingewitz. "The protesters were saying 'get out of here' and they sang an antisemitic slogan in Arabic: Khaybar Khaybar is Yahud, Jaysh Muhammad sawfa ya'ud" (Khaybar, Khaybar, O Jews, the army of Muhammad will return)."

Two Egyptian Presidential Candidates Endorsed Jihad Against US

Red Ken is off to a career at PressTV
“Ken Livingstone announces retirement from politics after losing London Mayor election to Boris Johnson”

Vacation

I am going on a vacation this week, and am traveling today, so there will be fewer posts than normal this week. I'm queuing up what I can.

On the bright side, I should get a tan!

Israel's Bedouin out of control (JPost editorial)

This is much worse than I was aware of:

The Knesset Committee on the Status of Women last week turned its attention to Israel’s Beduin. The emergent picture was no less than shocking. Most Israelis wouldn’t imagine such repression within our enlightened country.

Pro forma, we have progressive laws that are enforced vigorously and equitably. However, beneath this enlightened surface lurks a reality so unseemly that it’s hardly inaccurate to speak of another country-with-the-country, where our system of justice is plainly absent.

That country-within-the-country is mostly located in the Negev, but not exclusively so. It thrives wherever Beduin populations congregate. In those areas our laws appear all but irrelevant.

The statistics speak for themselves. More than 70 percent of all Beduin women in Israel are wed by coercion.

Their preferences or aversions are never taken into account.

According to an exhaustive two-year survey conducted by the Itach (Women Lawyers for Social Justice) NGO, 85% of Beduin women report that they are subjected to severe physical and/or psychological violence. Of these, 90% were openly battered in public.

The researchers believe that the true situation is considerably worse because the respondents were visibly frightened and reluctant to answer questions.

It gets worse. Abused women in Beduin communities are the least likely to enlist outside help. Of them, 67% admitted that they refrain from involving outsiders in their misfortune for fear of a backlash from their families, as well as of escalated brutality, ostracism and the loss of their children.

Additionally, these women don’t on the whole have monogamous marriages. The law notwithstanding, Beduin society practices unbridled polygamy. Official Israel’s only input appears in the form of generous child allotments paid to uncontrollably outsized family frameworks, whereby a man can boast 40 or more offspring.

Such social settings do not augur well for women’s welfare.

But the abandonment of these women to a cruel fate right under our noses is only one facet of the conspiracy of silence that envelopes the Beduin enclaves. The result is large areas to which the state opts to turn a blind eye and where it doesn’t exercise its authority.

For years Negev residents have been calling their region the Wild South. The appellation stuck, and has become common also in police and political parlance, and with good reason.

There’s no denying the state of anarchy especially in Beersheba and its vicinity. Beduin operate protection rackets in broad daylight; their victims fear for their lives.

Theft and robbery are daily occurrences. Numerous homeowners pay protection fees to uninvited Beduin “guards.” The protection-providers’ threats are so potent that victims shrink from testifying. Those who stop paying face penalties. Homes are broken into and ransacked and in one case boiling tar was poured throughout the premises.

In Beersheba’s Emek Sarah industrial zone, stores are raided openly and without hesitation during business hours. Pickup trucks are driven through showroom windows and loaded with merchandise before backing out.

Some establishments have suffered numerous attacks.

Most popular are electrical appliance and building supplies outlets.

Insurance firms frequently refuse their services to local entrepreneurs. Businessmen accuse the police of apathy.

The Mekorot national water company installed hidden cameras in its many Negev installations and discovered photographic evidence of gangs dismantling pumping equipment, loading it onto trucks and then engaging in wanton sabotage of what was left, before disappearing down dusty trails. The police often prove helpless. Pumping stations are rebuilt with the clear knowledge that it is only a matter of time before they are again destroyed.

Farmers feel abandoned. Everything – from irrigation equipment to ripe produce packed for distribution – is stolen.

Thousands of illegal Beduin buildings proliferate throughout the Negev while the courts appear dormant.

The conclusion that official Israel has abandoned all authority in and around Beduin communities is inescapable. This extends to all aspects of life – from the sad status of women to drug-smuggling, human-trafficking and tax evasion.

We mustn’t lose sight of the risk that disrespect for the law might spread to other segments of society. Ignoring a problem may be easy but won’t prevent it from mushrooming.

Yet when Israel tries to enforce even the most basic of laws in the Negev, anti-Israel activists claim that they are engaging in ethnic cleansing.

See also my previous post here.

(h/t Sophie)

Egyptian women's group take on MP who supports mutilating girls

From Bikya Masr:

Azza el-Garf

Egypt’s New Women Foundation said they are suing Islamist Parliament member Azza al-Garf over her pro-female genitals mutilation (FGM) statements. The women’s rights foundation sent a letter to the speaker of parliament Saad al-Katatny, informing him of legally going after Garf and asking for his permission to be allowed to take the MP to court.

The parliament needs to lift immunity for an MP in order for them to be held accountable in a court of law.

Garf was reported saying that FGM is an Islamic practice and that the anti-FGM laws should be amended. Garf is a Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) member, the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt.

“We are on our way to sue Garf to preserve our rights and the gains of Egyptian women,” said the open letter to the speaker.

“We are suing her for going against Egyptian laws that criminalize sexual harassment and FGM, practices that goes against women rights and human rights.

“We completely refuse Garf’s statements and announce that she does not represent us.”

Garf gave similar statements on her Twitter account last month, calling for lifting the laws that criminalize FGM. The statements stirred criticism, which led to the FJP to announce that Garf has no account on Twitter and no comments were made by Garf herself.

Rights surveys in the country put the number of women who go through FGM to be around 86 percent. Current Egyptian law bans the practice and gives prison sentences to any medical staff who performs the surgery. However, many families go to underground clinics to get their daughters the procedure, risking permanent scares or even death.

In 2010, a 13-year-old girl died after a local doctor in the Nile Delta region’s Menoufiya governorate failed in the operation.

It will be interesting to see if the speaker of parliament will lift diplomatic immunity against Garf. I somehow doubt it.

The bad news: As of this writing, a full week after the petition went online and over a day after this article was published, less than 200 people had signed the petition. That's literally nothing.

Which means that women's rights are in serious trouble in Egypt.

Weekend Links, part 2 (Ian)

From Ian:

Honest Reporting replies to the Guardian
Tel Aviv is Israel's Capital (According to the Guardian)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DyMRUyRmvk0

Co-op bans settlement produce in Israel boycott
But the JC can reveal that at least two of the four companies with which the Co-op is now refusing to do business - Arava Export Growers and Mehadrin - had no contracts to sell produce to the UK
group before the boycott.

Mehadrin's Rami Hesel said: "We were not dealing withthe Co-op, even before the boycott. We had no business with them and didn't sell them anything. For us it is irrelevant.

"We have many Arab workers with us in the fields and packing houses. There are families who have been with us for many years. Any attempt to harm us harms the Palestinians, too."

http://www.thejc.com/news/uk-news/67113/co-op-bans-settlement-produce-israel-boycott

Daphne Anson points out

'Despite the Co-op’s claims that they are applying their policy even-handed, goods from Occupied Northern Cyprus, for example, may still be sold in Co-ops and labelled as “produce of Turkey”.

"Produce Of Turkey": The Co-op, The Boycott, & Double Standards

http://daphneanson.blogspot.com.au/2012/05/produce-of-turkey-co-op-boycott-double.html

Released bin Laden papers show Al-Qaeda with Israel in its sights

“Al-Qaeda considered the use of drugs to infiltrate Israel’s borders and security infrastructure, thought of the Arab Spring as a positive development, called on Christians in Israel to convert to Islam, and slammed the Mubarak regime for its relations with Israel in newly declassified papers found by US
commandos in Osama bin Laden’s Pakistan compound.”

AQ Received funding from Iran and Fatah
http://www.timesofisrael.com/released-bin-laden-papers-show-al-qaeda-with-israel-in-sights/

Letter Excerpts: What al Qaeda Thought of Fox News, CNN, ABC
http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2012/05/03/media-strategy-what-al-qaeda-thought-of-fox-cnn-abc/

Al Qaeda Loves Keith Olbermann, Hates Fox
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Journalism/2012/05/03/Al-Qaeda-Loves-Olbermann-Hates-Fox

Revealed: How bin Laden plotted to bring down Air Force One to kill Obama and replace him with 'totally unprepared' Biden

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2138851/Osama-bin-Laden-files-reveal-plot-bring-Air-Force-One-kill-Barack-Obama.html#ixzz1tpy6pQdq

More shameful BBC propaganda against Israel
The BBC has now sunk to pinning its stories against Israel on people who refer to the Jewish state in terms of Nazism and Apartheid
http://www.thecommentator.com/article/1172/more_shameful_bbc_propaganda_against_israel

DOJ Refuses to Prosecute Palestinian Terrorists
Tamimi was released even though she has admitted – on television – that she participated in the Sbarro terrorist bombing. In the interview, she even expressed her delight at the number of children among the dead.
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Peace/2012/05/03/DOJ-Refuses-to-Prosecute-Terrorists

Former Egyptian PM Says He'd Visit Israel
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Peace/2012/05/03/Former-Egyptian-Prime-Minister-Israel

Hamas denies Israeli report on contact with Olmert
http://www.timesofisrael.com/hamas-denies-israeli-report-on-contact-with-olmert/

How The Palestinian Authority Fights Corruption by Khaled Abu Toameh

“Palestinians say that the campaign of intimidation and harassment against the media is designed to prevent "negative reporting" about the Palestinian Authority government. The Palestinian Authority does not want anyone to report about corruption and abuse of power out of fear that this would affect financial aid from the US, EU and other countries.”
http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/3043/palestinian-authority-corruption

What about UN crimes?
Op-ed: IDF actions pale in comparison to crimes committed by UN peacekeeping forces
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4223342,00.html

Pat Condell - Hello Saudi Arabia
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnLTHHpKl60

London won't hold minute of silence for 1972 victims
http://www.jpost.com/Sports/Article.aspx?id=268493

USS Cole Commander Slams Obama Adhttp://www.breitbart.com/Big-Peace/2012/05/02/USS-Cole-Commander-Slams-Obama-Ad

Six army battalions called up under emergency orders to meet growing threat on Egypt, Syria borders
http://www.timesofisrael.com/knesset-approves-call-up-of-22-idf-battalions/

American Methodists vote against divesting from Israel
http://www.timesofisrael.com/american-methodists-vote-against-divesting-from-israel/

Also, Barry Rubin's article on new NYT Israel correspondent Jodi Rudoren's romanticizing terrorists who are hunger striking.

Weekend Links, part 1

Camera: Desmond Tutu Assails Israel, Gives Palestinians a Pass (Again)

and Elie Wiesel Challenges President Obama; Washington Post Misses Story

HuffPo: Israel, Canada has Accepted your Friend Request
Deputy Leader of the Islamic Movement in Israel Kamal Khatib: Our Babies Are a Demographic Time Bomb for Israel

WSJ: Inciting Genocide is a Crime (partial paywall but Google search it to read it)

JPost: Egyptian-Jews seek rehearing in Coca-Cola case

BBC: Swastikas daubed on Jewish woman's car in Brighton

Times of Israel: Israeli teacher aims to galvanize Syria fly-in, to highlight need for global intervention

The Commentator: UK ignores Palestinian incitement

NYT interview with "The Dictator" plus the latest trailer

Guess what country was in the top ten Lonely Planet destinations for 2011? Yup - Syria.

(h/t Sophie, John, D., Ian, Joel B, Shmuel)

Lebanon outsourcing education to - Iran!

A couple of months ago I posted about how Hezbollah was imposing its curriculum on all schools in Lebanon by forcing everyone to take a class on "the resistance." Afterwards, I wrote sarcastically, "When will they cut out the middleman and just let Ayatollah Khamanei write the course materials for every class?"

Maybe they read my blog.

Education Minister Hasan Diab expressed hope Thursday that Lebanon would soon sign a cooperation agreement in education with Iran.

“We look forward to signing an agreement in the near future to benefit from the educational experience of Iran,” Diab told reporters after receiving his Iranian counterpart Hamid-Reza Haji Babaee, who is accompanying Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi on an official visit.

Diab said the agreement would help the implementation of the ministry’s “salvation” plan for the sector.

Asked by reporters about remarks that the agreement would amount to a “Persian invasion,” Diab said: “This is untrue ... the Education Ministry is a sovereign ministry and in many aspects, it is crucial for all Lebanese.”

There are many reasons to overthrow Bashir Assad, but one of them not often mentioned often enough: it would weaken Hezbollah and give hope that Lebanon can become independent of Islamist rule again.

And dangerous ideas like having Lebanon depend on the mullahs in Iran to teach their students would not even be considered.

(h/t @JCampbellUKIP)

The PLO's "acceptance" of two states, 1977

From JTA, February 28, 1977:

In London, Said Hammami, the PLO's representative there, said in an interview today in the Observer that the Palestine National Council when it meets in Cairo March 12 cannot amend the charter because it represents ideology rather than a practical program.

However, he said the PLO is ready to accept two states in Palestine "because since 1948 there has been a new factor, the Israeli people, not the Jewish people." But he said that Israel cannot survive in the long run as a Jewish State but will eventually become a Hebrew-speaking corner of the Arab world.

Hammami listed three points that comprise the PLO policy: a demand for complete withdrawal of Israel from occupied territory; that the West Bank and the Gaza Strip be handed over to the Palestinians to form an independent state under the PLO with the option later of deciding whether it wanted to join with Jordan and/or Syria; and the recognition of the right of all Palestinians to return to their homes, although this right might not be exercised "for a number of years."

Over the past 35 years Israel has changed its position drastically towards concessions to the PLO - and the PLO has not changed its position one iota towards peace with Israel.

It still considers Israel a temporary anomaly; it still rejects the idea of a Jewish state or of "two states for two peoples;" it still insists on the "right" to have millions of Arabs immigrate to Israel to destroy it demographically.

The only difference is that 35 years ago they were explicit about their ultimate goal of using the territories as a stage in the ultimate destruction of Israel, and after Oslo they pretend that they really want peace. Yet in Arabic they are still quite clear, and their people know it.

And in the 35 years of Israel giving up land, making unilateral concessions and accepting the concept of two states, it has not moderated the Arabs one tiny bit from their hard-line position of 1977 - which is in fact identical to the infamous 1974 Phased Plan for the destruction of Israel, piece by piece.

Saudi women's only village bans "indecently dressed" and "tomboys"

From Al Arabiya:

An all-female village in Saudi banned women who are not dressed conservatively or dressed like men from entering the village grounds in an attempt to combat “alien” phenomena that violate social traditions and spread negative practices.

The Women’s Village in Sakakah, the capital city of al-Jawf Province in northwestern Saudi Arabia, issued a statement banning the entry of women who are deemed to be “dressed indecently” as well as those who look or behave like men, the Saudi newspaper al-Sharq reported.

The statement, which was sent by the village administration via mobile text messages, was issued after a large number of girls engaging in behavior that contradicts the conservative character of the Saudi society started frequenting the village and taking part in many of its activities.

In several women-only parties, the statement explained, teenage girls dressed in revealing clothes or maintained a manly appearance and some of them performed what was seen as “provocative” dances, considered not in line with social norms of the place.

“Those phenomena are alien to our society and do not reflect its conservative character. That is why they need to combated and have their causes uprooted,” said the statement.

The clampdown on “indecent” behavior is not the first in Sakakah. The village administration had issued an earlier statement banning visitors from entering with mobile phones with cameras and prohibiting events that involve noisy music and dancing.

The implementation of such resolutions is overseen by a team of Saudi security women who are in charge of maintaining law and order in the village and detecting violations committed by visitors throughout the year.

The decision of the Sakakah administration is also not the first to target tomboyish girls as they are also banned from entering public schools and universities together with men who maintain an “effeminate” or “punk” appearance.

So if you are a woman in Saudi Arabia, you cannot even dance in front of other women!

Other articles make it appear that makeup is also prohibited.

I cannot find out much about this women's village; it certainly does not take up the entire town. And since cameras seem to be forbidden, there are no photos except for the outside gate.

I wonder if they built roads for cars in this "women's village"?

Latest Latma

Very "inside" this week.

Death penalty for those who mock God, Koran, prophets in Kuwait

From Al Arabiya:

Kuwait’s parliament on Thursday passed a bill stipulating the death penalty for Muslims who curse or mock God, the Muslim holy book, all prophets and the wives of Islam’s Prophet Mohammed.

The same punishment is applied to those who “describe themselves as new prophets or messengers from God,” the Kuwaiti state news agency KUNA reported.

“But if the accused is a non-Muslim, the punishment would be lowered to jail for no more than 10 years,” the report added, according to the bill.

Forty MPs, including cabinet ministers, voted for the bill in the second and final round of voting, against six opponents who included all five Shi’ite MPs present and liberal MP Mohammad al-Sager.

The bill introduces two new articles to the Gulf state’s penal code specifically to stiffen penalties for such offences.

Defendants who repent in court will be spared capital punishment but will get a jail sentence for five years and a fine of $36,000 or one of them, while repentance by those who repeat the crime is not acceptable, the bill says.

“We do not want to execute people with opinions or thought because Islam respects these people... But we need this legislation because incidents of cursing God have increased. We need to deter them,” opposition MP Ali al-Deqbasi said during the debate.

Nothing says "respect" like threatening to kill someone.

Oh, and the reason that the Shi'ite MPs opposed the law?

Shiite MPs also demanded that the bill impose the death penalty on anyone who curses their sect’s 12 revered Imams, but the Sunni-dominated parliament rejected their request.

But once their amendment was defeated, then they became advocates of freedom of expression:

Shiite MP Abdulhameed Dashti said the bill breaches the Kuwaiti constitution and the principles of Islam.

“Why are we trying to show Islam as a religion of death and blood when it is actually the opposite of that,” Dashti said.