Monday, March 06, 2006

  • Monday, March 06, 2006
  • Elder of Ziyon
A very good article on the same theme from National Review Online:

Prior to and during Sunday night’s Academy Awards, Hollywood luminaries were busy patting themselves on the back for their courage in honoring films depicting two gay cowboys as star-crossed lovers, a gay writer as a soulful artist, a transsexual as a responsible parent, a Palestinian suicide bomber as a thoughtful, conscience-driven activist, greedy oil company executives as, well, greedy oil company executives, and Senator Joe McCarthy as (gasp) a threat to American civil liberties. As George Clooney, who had a hand in both the oil-industry-bashing Syriana and the McCarthy-bashing Good Night, and Good Luck, recently noted, “People in Hollywood do seem to be getting more comfortable with making these sorts of movies now. People are becoming braver."

No doubt about it. Hollywood is now ready to tackle any subject. With that in mind, I’d like to propose a handful of titles for next year.

Che, the Later Years: Following on the success of The Motorcycle Diaries, this sequel would pick up with Che Guevara’s life after he joined forces with Fidel Castro in Cuba. It would include scenes of Che presiding over firing squads after the overthrow of the Batista government and setting up Cuba’s labor-camp system, which was used to imprison not only enemies of the revolution and political dissidents but homosexuals and (later) AIDS victims. The film would also highlight Che’s literary growth from a casual diarist to a political theorist: “Hatred as an element of struggle, unbending hatred for the enemy, which pushes a human being beyond his natural limitations, making him into an effective, violent, selective, and cold-blooded killing machine — this is what our soldiers must become . . .”

The Jihad Momani Gesture: The film would cover one week in the life of the unfortunately named Jordanian newspaper editor, who, during the Islamic cartoon riots earlier this year, was fired for reprinting the offending images of Mohammad: “I was trying to calm [the rioters] down,” he explained, “to tell them these cartoons are not the end of the world, that insults have happened before and will happen again. The cartoons are silly. They don’t deserve such an intense reaction.” Two days after his firing he was arrested. He currently faces three years in prison for violating Jordan’s press law, which outlaws insults to Islam.

Brokeback Sharia: This would be a tearjerker about true love in the face of social conformity and family pressure in the grand Hollywood tradition of Titanic and, well, Brokeback Mountain. It would recount the doomed affair of two gay Iranian teenagers who fell in love in the summer of 2005, were arrested by the religious police, then publicly hanged to death for the crime of homosexuality.

The Uneasy Rest of Jesse Dirkhising: A graphic horror film, along the lines of Silence of the Lambs and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, it would tell the story of the last hours of young Jesse’s life — a life that ended in September 1999 when he was abducted by two gay men, Joshua Brown, 22, and David Don Carpenter, 38, who drugged the 13-year-old, bound him with duct tape and gagged him with his own underwear, sodomized him with foreign objects, and repeatedly raped him. They administered an enema of Brown’s urine, then took a break and went to the kitchen for sandwiches. The seventh grader stopped breathing while they snacked. He died of suffocation.

Ambush at Gush Katif: This film would dramatize the 2004 roadside attack in Gaza on a car driven by Israeli social worker and expectant mother Tali Hatuel. Two Palestinian gunmen rushed the vehicle and discovered that the driver was a pregnant woman — whereupon they pumped bullets into her stomach and face . . . and then pumped bullets into the face of her 11-year-old daughter . . . and into the face of her nine-year-old daughter . . . and into the face of her seven-year-old daughter . . . and into the face of her two-year-old daughter. The attackers were eventually shot and killed by Israeli soldiers. The next day, two Palestinian organizations, Islamic Jihad and the Popular Resistance Committee, both claimed credit for the attack, and the official Voice of Palestine Radio called it a “heroic operation.” As an epilogue, the film would segue to the funeral for Hatuel and her daughters — which was interrupted when two more Palestinian gunmen, disguised as women, made it to the perimeter of the cemetery and opened fire on the mourners, including women and young children, who were sent scrambling behind parked cars and concrete barriers. Both gunmen were again shot dead by Israeli soldiers on hand to protect the crowd . . . and Islamic Jihad again claimed credit for the incident.

True, none of these films would likely be a runway box-office hit. But that shouldn’t matter to a courageous artist like George Clooney. They’d be truthful. And that’s what really counts, isn’t it?

So how about it George? Ready to break out the checkbook for any of these babies?

  • Monday, March 06, 2006
  • Elder of Ziyon
This is one of the more novel defenses of insane Muslim cartoon rioting I've seen so far: (from MEMRI, of course!)
Following are excerpts from an interview with Saudi cleric Sheik Muhsen Al-'Awaji, aired on Ein TV on February 26, 2006.

Sheik Muhsen Al-'Awaji: Before Islam, the Arabs fought for 40 years to defend the honor of a female camel. This was in the Busous War. A female camel was humiliated, and a 40-year war ensued to defend its honor. So what about the honor of the Prophet?

Interviewer: Are you proud of this?!

Sheik Muhsen Al-'Awaji: I am proud that honor and nobility always characterized the Arabs, and then came Islam to reinforce these traits. I'm not saying I'm proud of a war over a female camel's honor, or that I would call to wage a war to defend the honor of a female camel... But since this was done for the honor of a female camel, do not rebuke someone who would do anything to defend our beloved Prophet Muhammad.


But then again, who wouldn't defend a noble beast with such incredible medicinal properties?
  • Monday, March 06, 2006
  • Elder of Ziyon
The New York Times really supports free speech, except when it is certain kinds of speech.
The polemics and outrage in the theatrical community last week after the New York Theater Workshop postponed its production of "My Name Is Rachel Corrie" might have been as intense as the uproar the company feared had it actually presented the play.[...]But what made it a more volatile act was that by declining for now to offend with the play, the theater violated the most sacred principles of our artistic temples.

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

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

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

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

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

Sunday, March 05, 2006

  • Sunday, March 05, 2006
  • Elder of Ziyon

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

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

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

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


And yes, all of these idiots are still protesting some cartoons published in an obscure Danish newspaper last September.
  • Sunday, March 05, 2006
  • Elder of Ziyon
Life-of-Rubin hosts this weeks Haveil Havalim #60, featuring the week's best JBlogosphere postings.

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

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

Check it out!

Saturday, March 04, 2006

  • Saturday, March 04, 2006
  • Elder of Ziyon
Tehran, Iran, Mar. 04 – A representative of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Tehran University declared on Friday that Islam must “conquer the world” by defeating the West.

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

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

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

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

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

Hat tip: Val

Friday, March 03, 2006

  • Friday, March 03, 2006
  • Elder of Ziyon

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

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

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

'It looks like the test was meant to see if the separation and guidance systems were working,' an intelligence source said."
According to on-line distance databases as well as eyeballing a map, this means that almost all of Europe is in range of Iranian missiles, and in a short time, of Iranian nuclear bombs. Even if the estimate is off by a few hundred kilometers, if you assume that Syria would gladly host Iranian missiles then all of Europe is still in range. (Parts of Spain and Ireland may be out of range.)

But I'm sure the UN will take serious measures against Iran real soon now. Maybe even a non-binding resolution. That'll show them!
  • Friday, March 03, 2006
  • Elder of Ziyon


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




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


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

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


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

Go Bush!

Thursday, March 02, 2006

  • Thursday, March 02, 2006
  • Elder of Ziyon
Unrelated to the manifesto against Islamic totalitarianism, this one is more religious-oriented and quite sensible. How many Muslims hold by the beliefs written therein is the $64,000 question.

Either way, it is good to see some Muslims taking the problem of extremism seriously.
A Muslim Manifesto
By Mustafa Akyol & Zeyno Baran

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

Recently, the disrespectful cartoons about Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) published in Jyllands-Posten resulted in an extreme reaction among many Muslims worldwide. While we understand the feelings of our co-religionists, we strongly urge them to refrain from rage and violence.

A zeal for Allah is rightful only when it is expressed in an enlightened manner, since Allah himself has ordained a restrained response. When the early Muslims were mocked by their pagan contemporaries, the Koran ordered not a violent backlash, but rather a civilized disapproval: "When you hear Allah's verses being rejected and mocked at by people, you must not sit with them till they start talking of other things." (Koran 4:140) The Koran also describes Muslims as "those who control their rage and pardon other people, [because] Allah loves the good-doers." (3:134) Therefore all demonstrations against the mockery of Islam should be peaceful. All critiques of Islam should be countered not by threats and violence, but by rational counter-argument.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


Unfortunately, there is no web site at the muslimmanifesto.org address yet.
  • Thursday, March 02, 2006
  • Elder of Ziyon
From Jerry Falwell's website:
Earlier today, reports began circulating across the globe that I have recently stated that Jews can go to heaven without being converted to Jesus Christ. This is categorically untrue.
[...]
While I am a strong supporter of the State of Israel and dearly love the Jewish people and believe them to be the chosen people of God, I continue to stand on the foundational biblical principle that all people — Baptists, Methodists, Pentecostals, Jews, Muslims, etc. — must believe in the Lord Jesus Christ in order to enter heaven.
Damn it!
  • Thursday, March 02, 2006
  • Elder of Ziyon
The cartoon protests seem to be slowly dying down, but people have to protest against something, right?

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

  • Thursday, March 02, 2006
  • Elder of Ziyon
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said in remarks published on Thursday there were signs of an al Qaeda presence in the Gaza Strip and West Bank.

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

'The last security report I received was three days ago,' he told the London-based al-Hayat newspaper. 'This is the first time that I've spoken about this subject. This is a very serious matter.'"
On the same day:
Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas intends to transfer broad security powers to the future Hamas government, including the national defense branch, preventive security, the civilian police and civil defense, he said on Tuesday.

The national defense branch, which consists of 25,000 policemen, is the largest branch and is defined as the Palestinian army. The other three are subject to the Palestinian Interior Ministry.
Chris Rock could learn from his sense of timing. At the risk of ruining the joke by too much analysis (it is Adar, after all):

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

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

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

Ba-da-bum!

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

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

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

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

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

Wednesday, March 01, 2006

  • Wednesday, March 01, 2006
  • Elder of Ziyon
This is better than I thought, but considering how many of these are college newspapers and the like, it is not all that impressive.
COPENHAGEN: Cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad first published in Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten last year, have been reprinted in 143 newspapers in 56 countries, a study showed on Wednesday.

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

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

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

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

  • Wednesday, March 01, 2006
  • Elder of Ziyon
A top Islamic Jihad leader was killed last night when his car exploded in an apparent "work accident." Israel, which is not shy about admitting when it kills terrorists, denied that they were behind this attack.

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

Israel Kills Top Jihad Leader, Arrests Hamas MPs (Islam Online)
Israel kills Islamic Jihad leader in airstrike (KHON-TV, Hawaii)
Israeli air strike kills top military commander of Islamic Jihad: police (News 1130, Canada)
Israeli air strike kills top military commander of Islamic Jihad: police (CBC News, Canada)
Jihad leader killed in Israeli missile attack in Gaza City (People's Daily Online, China)
Palestinian militant chief killed in Gaza strike (Zee News, India)
Israeli air strike kills top military commander of Islamic Jihad: police (MacLeans, Canada)
Israel kills Jihad leader (The Sun, UK)
  • Wednesday, March 01, 2006
  • Elder of Ziyon
While surfing through the flotsam and jetsam of rabid Israel-bashing and Jew-hatred on the web, I came across this paragraph from a British writer on a Jordanian news site:
No alien polity has so successfully penetrated the British government and British institutions during the past ninety years as the Zionist movement and its manifestation as the state of Israel. From the Balfour Declaration of November 2, 1917, in which the British Foreign Secretary said his government “view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people,” (before Britain had taken possession of Palestine from the Ottomans), through the twenty-six year history of Zionist exploitation of the British Mandate at Arab (and British) expense, to Britain's scuttle from Palestine in 1948 and the creation of Israel and the catastrophe for the Palestinians, and up to present-day connivance by the United Kingdom government with America's unremitting political and media support for Israel and its daily violation of international laws and conventions on Palestinian lands, the Zionists have manipulated British systems as expertly as maestros, here a massive major chord, there a minor refrain, the audience, for the most part, spellbound.

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

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

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

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

I wonder how Mr. Llewellyn justifies the British complicity as an accessory to genocide while believing his theory of the Elders of Zion manipulating the British government?
  • Wednesday, March 01, 2006
  • Elder of Ziyon
UC Irvine:

Tuesday, February 28, 2006

  • Tuesday, February 28, 2006
  • Elder of Ziyon
Jyllands-Posten has published a beautiful manifesto against Islamic totalitarianism. Here is the English translation by Agora:
Together facing the new totalitarianism

After having overcome fascism, Nazism, and Stalinism, the world now faces a new totalitarian global threat: Islamism.

We, writers, journalists, intellectuals, call for resistance to religious totalitarianism and for the promotion of freedom, equal opportunity and secular values for all.

The recent events, which occurred after the publication of drawings of Muhammed in European newspapers, have revealed the necessity of the struggle for these universal values. This struggle will not be won by arms, but in the ideological field. It is not a clash of civilisations nor an antagonism of West and East that we are witnessing, but a global struggle that confronts democrats and theocrats.

Like all totalitarianisms, Islamism is nurtured by fears and frustrations. The hate preachers bet on these feelings in order to form battalions destined to impose a liberticidal and unegalitarian world. But we clearly and firmly state: nothing, not even despair, justifies the choice of obscurantism, totalitarianism and hatred. Islamism is a reactionary ideology which kills equality, freedom and secularism wherever it is present. Its success can only lead to a world of domination: man’s domination of woman, the Islamists’ domination of all the others. To counter this, we must assure universal rights to oppressed or discriminated people.

We reject « cultural relativism », which consists in accepting that men and women of Muslim culture should be deprived of the right to equality, freedom and secular values in the name of respect for cultures and traditions. We refuse to renounce our critical spirit out of fear of being accused of "Islamophobia", an unfortunate concept which confuses criticism of Islam as a religion with stigmatisation of its believers.

We plead for the universality of freedom of expression, so that a critical spirit may be exercised on all continents, against all abuses and all dogmas.

We appeal to democrats and free spirits of all countries that our century should be one of Enlightenment, not of obscurantism.

12 signatures

Ayaan Hirsi Ali
Chahla Chafiq
Caroline Fourest
Bernard-Henri Lévy
Irshad Manji
Mehdi Mozaffari
Maryam Namazie
Taslima Nasreen
Salman Rushdie
Antoine Sfeir
Philippe Val
Ibn Warraq

I originally wrote that Muslims will lose the cartoon war because the press will not stand for limitations on their freedom. For the following month, as I saw most US media outlets refuse to publish the cartoons (despite their obvious news value) I have feared that I was wildly optimistic. The world has been abandoning Denmark.

This manifesto is a proper response to the immature and absurd riots that have broken out, meant to show Muslims are not totally impotent. The West needs to understand the threat posed by political Islam and Islamism.

Let us hope that other newspapers have the guts to publish and support this.
  • Tuesday, February 28, 2006
  • Elder of Ziyon
There is truly nothing new under the sun.

Muslims have staged deadly riots over stupid things way before Denmark ever became this year's target of flag-burning.

(All of these articles are taken from The Palestine Post archives.)

In 1934, Muslims started rioting over a book that supposedly insulted Mohammed:


A very similar case happened a year later. A Hindu wrote a book, allegedly insulting Mohammed. He was promptly murdered. When his killer was executed, the Muslims in India rioted, killing 20:


In Lahore, some Sikhs decided to demolish an abandoned mosque. Only four were killed, so this was considered a very minor riot.


Again, a similar scenario played out in 1936 in Bombay when the Muslims felt that a Hindu temple was being built too close to their mosque:



To be fair, Hindus living with the Muslims were disposed towards violence as well over silly reasons:


But for Muslims to riot against Jews, they didn't even require a Jewish antagonist. Just like today, any old reason would do to riot against the Jews/Zionists/Americans, no matter how tenuous the connection is to the alleged insult:

These are not the only Muslim riots during this three-year period, of course. There were others that started for political reasons, especially in Lebanon as well as the usual riots against Palestinian Jews. But these are more similar to today's riots in the fact that they were over stupid issues and they show how cheap human life is to the rioters.

They also show that the much lauded "Muslim tolerance" towards other religions is a myth, and has been for quite some time.
  • Tuesday, February 28, 2006
  • Elder of Ziyon
I wonder if this is what CSN&Y were referring to?
You who are on the road
Must have a code that you can live by
And so become yourself
Because the past is just a good bye.

Teach your children well,
Their father's hell did slowly go by,
And feed them on your dreams
The one they picked, the one you'll know by.

Don't you ever ask them why, if they told you, you would cry,
So just look at them and sigh and know they love you.

And you, of tender years,
Can't know the fears that your elders grew by,
And so please help them with your youth,
They seek the truth before they can die.

(Can you hear and do you care and
Cant you see we must be free to
Teach your children what you believe in.
Make a world that we can live in.)

Teach your parents well,
Their children's hell will slowly go by,
And feed them on your dreams
The one they picked, the one you'll know by.

Don't you ever ask them why, if they told you, you would cry,
So just look at them and sigh and know they love you.


Pakistani boy, covering his face with headband thatsays ''There is no God but God.,Muhammad is the Prophet of God',' takes part in a rally against the publication of cartoons depicting Islamic Prophet Muhammad printed by some Western newspapers, Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2006 in Karachi, Pakistan. (AP Photo/Shakil Adil)

Pakistani children carry a mock coffin wrapped with a U.S. flag, wearing yellow headbands that says, 'There is no God but God.,Muhammad is the Prophet of God,' during a rally against the publication of cartoons depicting Islamic Prophet Muhammad printed by some Western newspapers, Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2006 in Karachi, Pakistan. (AP Photo/Shakil Adil)

Pakistani boy brandishes a dagger during a rally tagainst the publication of cartoons depicting Islamic Prophet Muhammad printed by some Western newspapers, Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2006 in Karachi, Pakistan.
  • Tuesday, February 28, 2006
  • Elder of Ziyon

Kashmiri Muslim youths burn copies of an Indian magazine in Srinagar February 28, 2006. Dozens of Kashmiri youths on Tuesday took to the streets in Srinagar to protest against an Indian magazine for publishing a picture of a playing card showing an image of the Mecca. REUTERS/Danish Ismail

Say what? Further research found this:
Life in the historic Lal Chowk and Budshah chowk, the nerve centre of the summer capital, was disrupted after youths took to streets, protesting against the publication of pictures of Muslim holy places of Mecca and Medina on a pack of cards.

As the news spread that picture of the holy places had appeared on playing cards, youths forced closure of shops and pelted stones damaging vehicles at Lal chowk, Budshah Chowk, Maisuma and Court Road.

It was however, not immediately known who has published the pictures. But youths were seen holding a paper depicting the pictures.

The demonstrators were raising slogans against the US, alleging a conspiracy to hurt the sentiments of the Muslims.

It looks like there is a market out there for offensive media, if only so crazed Muslims could burn them.

Anyone up for a game of poker?

Monday, February 27, 2006

  • Monday, February 27, 2006
  • Elder of Ziyon
This is a funny video.

("When the first Japanese production of Fiddler was produced, the composers Harnick, Bock and Stein went to Japan. They were all very nervous. ‘How’s a New York interpretive Jewish musical is going to work in Japan? During production they are all anxiously biting their nails. At the end the Japanese producer comes over to them and says: I don’t understand, I don’t know how this piece can work so well in New York. It’s so Japanese!' ")
  • Monday, February 27, 2006
  • Elder of Ziyon
Like the UAE, Qatar is considered a great ally in our "war on terror." It seems that the current administration is havin a hard time in distinguishing between friends and enemies.

Qatar is where the infamous Sheikh Yousef Al-Qaradhawi resides, and he is given many opportunities to spew hate on Qatar TV - not against Zionists but against Jews as well as Christians, Americans and whoever else is on his radar screen that week. Here's his latest:
Our war with the Jews is over land, brothers. We must understand this. If they had not plundered our land, there wouldn't be a war between us."
[...]
"We are fighting them in the name of Islam, because Islam commands us to fight whoever plunders our land, and occupies our country. All the school of Islamic jurisprudence - the Sunni, the Shi'ite, the Ibadhiya – and all the ancient and modern schools of jurisprudence – agree that any invader who occupies even an inch of land of the Muslims must face resistance. The Muslims of that country must carry out the resistance, and the rest of the Muslims must help them. If the people of that country are incapable or reluctant, we must fight to defend the land of Islam, even if the local [Muslims] give it up.

"They must not allow anyone to take a single piece of land away from Islam. That is what we are fighting the Jews for. We are fighting them... Our religion commands us... We are fighting in the name of religion, in the name of Islam, which makes this Jihad an individual duty, in which the entire nation takes part, and whoever is killed in this [Jihad] is a martyr. This is why I ruled that martyrdom operations are permitted, because he commits martyrdom for the sake of Allah, and sacrifices his soul for the sake of Allah.

"We do not disassociate Islam from the war. On the contrary, disassociating Islam from the war is the reason for our defeat. We are fighting in the name of Islam."
[...]
"They fight us with Judaism, so we should fight them with Islam. They fight us with the Torah, so we should fight them with the Koran. If they say 'the Temple,' we should say 'the Al-Aqsa Mosque.' If they say: 'We glorify the Sabbath,' we should say: 'We glorify the Friday.' This is how it should be. Religion must lead the war. This is the only way we can win."
[...]
"Everything will be on our side and against Jews on [Judgment Day]; at that time, even the stones and the trees will speak, with or without words, and say: 'Oh servant of Allah, oh Muslim, there's a Jew behind me, come and kill him.' They will point to the Jews. It says 'servant of Allah,' not 'servant of desires,' 'servant of women,' 'servant of the bottle,' 'servant of Marxism,' or 'servant of liberalism'... It said 'servant of Allah.'

"When the Muslims, the Arabs, and the Palestinians enter a war, they do it to worship Allah. They enter it as Muslims. The hadith says: 'Oh Muslim.' It says 'oh Muslim,' not 'oh Palestinian, Jordanian, Syrian, or Arab nationalist.' No, it says: 'Oh Muslim.' When we enter [a war] under the banner of Islam, and under the banner of serving Allah, we will be victorious."
Also out of this great friendly land comes Dr. Ali Al Quradaghi, who claims that the Christians and Jews are uniting to fight against Islam:
Jews and Christians were now preparing to wage the third world war with Muslims as the target, Doha-based Islamic scholar Dr Ali Al Quradaghi, said here on Thursday. Muslims of the world, he said, should unite against such forces that try to denigrate the great Islam faith, he added.
Funny that no one but Muslims noticed.

The Qatar newspaper also lightheartedly describes Qatar and Bahrain-based Muslim Brotherhood sheikh Wajdi Ghunaim in these terms:
For a Muslim, Friday sermons are a serious business, but a Doha-based Egyptian cleric makes the devout laugh with his witty remarks.

Wajdi Ghunaim is an independent scholar (not attached to the Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs) and is occasionally invited to deliver Friday sermons and lead prayers.

Last Friday, he delivered the sermon at Bukhari Mosque in Al Hilal area, pulling large crowds.

Ghunaim, who frequently appears on Arabic TV channels, told a local Arabic daily in an interview yesterday that while (the Israeli Premier) Ariel Sharon can enter Egypt, he cannot, despite Egypt being his home country.

A member of the feared Islamic outfit Muslim Brotherhood, Ghunaim says he suspects he may be put in jail if he lands in Cairo.
What a riot! Guess what he says about Jews?
In 1998, CAIR and the American Muslim Council (AMC) cosponsored a rally at Brooklyn College, which included a diatribe by Wagdi Ghuniem, an Egyptian extremist. Ghuniem led 500 people in singing a ditty with the chorus: ‘No to the Jews, descendants of the apes.’
So, these are the sorts of people on Qatari TV, written about in glowing terms by the mainstream English-language Qatari media. And all of them are popular and clearly describe their conflict in purely religious terms, not political.

We are still looking for moderate Muslims from Qatar who denounce their hate. After all, they are our close allies.
  • Monday, February 27, 2006
  • Elder of Ziyon
A banner day for the cartoon protesters!



Tolerance and justice all rolled up into one.
  • Monday, February 27, 2006
  • Elder of Ziyon
The pictures keep coming!



Funny thing - according to these mental midgets, imams calling for jihad against the West is not incitement to violence, but making fun of their religion is. And it is not incitement to the West to wage war against Islam, but it is incitement to Muslims to burn, pillage and kill.

Once again, the truth comes out from those lowest on the Islamic totem pole - here they say almost explicitly that they cannot be held responsible for their actions when they feel slighted. In other words, that they cannot act like normal adults. They can't help it!

I wonder what their reaction would be if a European would point out that their sign hurt her feelings. Obviously, this must be a major crime in their culture, judging from their signs.
  • Monday, February 27, 2006
  • Elder of Ziyon
This young (or perhaps old) woman (or perhaps man) has something important to say:


Cutting off hands for robbery? I can handle that!
Walking in desert heat with my entire body covered up except for a slit for my eyes? No problem!
Iran building nuclear weapons so they can destroy the Western menace? Go for it!
Hijacked planes crashing into buildings? Hand out the candy!
But if you dare publish a cartoon in an obscure Danish newspaper that pisses me off, well, you just crossed the line!

Honorable mention:

Yes, it is true. Muslim extremism is chopping off heads of infidels; Western extremism is publishing a stick-figure picture of Mohammed.
  • Monday, February 27, 2006
  • Elder of Ziyon
Let's revisit the letter that the lying murderer Yasir Arafat sent to Yitzchak Rabin that started the entire Oslo fiasco:
September 9, 1993

Yitzhak Rabin

Prime Minister of Israel

Mr. Prime Minister,

The signing of the Declaration of Principles marks a new era in the history of the Middle East. In firm conviction thereof, I would like to confirm the following PLO commitments:

The PLO recognizes the right of the State of Israel to exist in peace and security.

The PLO accepts United Nations Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338.

The PLO commits itself to the Middle East peace process, and to a peaceful resolution of the conflict between the two sides and declares that all outstanding issues relating to permanent status will be resolved through negotiations.

The PLO considers that the signing of the Declaration of Principles constitutes a historic event, inaugurating a new epoch of peaceful coexistence, free from violence and all other acts which endanger peace and stability. Accordingly, the PLO renounces the use of terrorism and other acts of violence and will assume responsibility over all PLO elements and personnel in order to assure their compliance, prevent violations and discipline violators.

In view of the promise of a new era and the signing of the Declaration of Principles and based on Palestinian acceptance of Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338, the PLO affirms that those articles of the Palestinian Covenant which deny Israel's right to exist, and the provisions of the Covenant which are inconsistent with the commitments of this letter are now inoperative and no longer valid. Consequently, the PLO undertakes to submit to the Palestinian National Council for formal approval the necessary changes in regard to the Palestinian Covenant.

Agreements are, by definition, between two parties. Notwithstanding that the PLO never lived up to even one part of this agreement, just their pretense of accepting Israel was enough for Israel to give them money, land and sacrifice over a thousand lives.

For some reason, the world now understands that the Palestinian leadership has no interest whatsoever in recognizing Israel or in living peacefully with her, yet Israel is still expected to provide money, aid, electricity, jobs, water and everything else needed for the Palestinian Arabs to continue to stage attacks against her.

It is time for Israel to formally say: Enough. Oslo is dead and Israel has no obligation at all to abide by any of its agreements with a partner who does not accept even the barest of responsibilities towards peaceful co-existence.

Unfortunately, Israel's leadership appears to be more interested in votes than in defending their people.

Sunday, February 26, 2006

  • Sunday, February 26, 2006
  • Elder of Ziyon
Soccer Dad reminisces about his early on-line experiences that culminated (so far) with blogging. As a geek, I can't resist the temptation to add my own on-line history.

I was on Usenet as early as 1985. I mostly posted in net.religion.jewish which soon became soc.culture.jewish but occasionally in other places. I mostly stayed away from politics in those days and stuck with religious arguments. It was a simpler time, when people all used their real names....

Only a couple of years later did I discover BBSs. I did a fair amount of time with KesherNet but not for conversations as much as for downloads.

Then I got a Compuserve account. In those days, each network was pretty much independent and only were they just starting to intercommunicate via email - there were gateway systems between different types of networks. Since I was on KesherNet, Compuserve and Usenet, I would forward divrei Torah between different networks.

I seem to remember on Compuserve getting into some political discussions. I also fought against Holocaust deniers who started posting all over Usenet.

In addition, I was an early subscriber to probably the most famous Jewish religious mailing list, mail.jewish, and a very small contributor to its original FAQ. I mostly lurked on there, only posting for specific technical questions that sometimes came up.

I was on the Web around 1994 when Mosaic was the only graphical browser out there, and when protocols like gopher and archie were at least as popular as http. In those days there was very little Jewish content on the Web and no one really had any idea of how it would evolve. One of the earliest Jewish mega-websites was Shamash, which still exists at http://www.shamash.org (at the time it was hosted at nysernet.org.)

The web did grow but I really didn't get too involved in on-line discussiions until one day, probably around 2002, when I stumbled onto Yahoo news message boards. An amazing waste of time, the MBs are one of the last refuges for terrorist-supporters and Nazis to speak freely on a major news site (most other sites simply closed down their message boards after the flame wars began, and many moderate their comments and/or require valid email addresses.)

I spent a few years there, making cyber-friends and seeing the same tired arguments over and over again. I got rather sick of spending time crafting a good post only to see it scroll off in a few minutes from the busier boards.

I started saving some of my posts, and then created a very short-lived Geocities site to keep them around. It was then I discovered blogging and how easy it was to set up Blogger, so here I am, for about 18 months now. My focus has changed a bit since I started here and I am sure it will continue to change in the coming months. I do appreciate everyone who reads this, though. It may be a little egotistical but without an audience there is really no incentive for me to write or repost interesting things I've seen.
  • Sunday, February 26, 2006
  • Elder of Ziyon


My curiosity piqued, I decided to find out what exactly JSO means.

It turns out it is the Jafria Students Organization in Pakistan, which apprently has perhaps one member based on how poor their website is. But it is worth reading anyway, both for content and for style:

Jafria students organization pakistan is pakistani Shia Youth organization working for humain help. if you have any problem about islam and shia, share with me i will try answer you and help you.

n we can help those people's who are very poor

and want to know about islam and shiat ,we can help all who are without islamic knowledge

]we provide largest amount of islamic Books and magzines for reading.

if have you any problem regarding islam and shiat contect with me at the fallowing mailing address and Phone no..

/Hussaini Book shoop

Kashish centre Nuodero

Larkana, Sindh

4074-4047131,4087193,4087199

e-mail:-sayed_mazher2003@yahoo.com


Then it shows a series of pictures of people, some of whom appear to be dead:
If anyone can translate this, I would appreciate it. After all, this is turning into one of my most popular features and I wouldn't want to let down my readership.
  • Sunday, February 26, 2006
  • Elder of Ziyon
This week Daled Amos hosts Haveil Havalim #59, the latest excellent selection of notable posts in the Jewish blogosphere.

Another excellent collection of articles, including links to blogs that I've never seen before. I don't even have enough time to read all of these blogs, and the amount of time it takes to put HH together must be huge.

I am fortunate that one of my postings was included as well.

So check it out!
  • Sunday, February 26, 2006
  • Elder of Ziyon


MEMRI does it again:
On February 19, 2006, Iranian TV channel 4 covered a film seminar that included a lecture by Professor Hasan Bolkhari. In addition to being a member of the Film Council of Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB), Bolkhari is a cultural advisor to the Iranian Education Ministry, and active on behalf of interfaith issues.

The following are excerpts from Bokhari's lecture.

Hasan Bolkhari: There is a cartoon that children like. They like it very much, and so do adults - Tom and Jerry.
[...]
Some say that this creation by Walt Disney will be remembered forever. The Jewish Walt Disney Company gained international fame with this cartoon. It is still shown throughout the world. This cartoon maintains its status because of the cute antics of the cat and mouse – especially the mouse.

Some say that the main reason for making this very appealing cartoon was to erase a certain derogatory term that was prevalent in Europe.
[...]
If you study European history, you will see who was the main power to hoard money and wealth, in the 19th century. In most cases, it is the Jews. Perhaps that was one of the reasons which caused Hitler to begin the anti-Semitic trend, and then the extensive propaganda about the crematoria began... Some of this is true. We do not deny all of it.

Watch Schindler's List. Every Jew was forced to wear a yellow star on his clothing. The Jews were degraded and termed "dirty mice." Tom and Jerry was made in order to change the Europeans' perception of mice. One of terms used was "dirty mice."

I'd like to tell you that... It should be noted that mice are very cunning...and dirty.
[...]
No ethnic group or people operates in such a clandestine manner as the Jews.
[...]
Read the history of the Jews in Europe. This ultimately led to Hitler's hatred and resentment. As it turns out, Hitler had behind-the-scene connections with the Protocols [of the Elders of Zion].

Tom and Jerry was made in order to display the exact opposite image. If you happen to watch this cartoon tomorrow, bear in mind the points I have just raised, and watch it from this perspective. The mouse is very clever and smart. Everything he does is so cute. He kicks the poor cat's ass. Yet this cruelty does not make you despise the mouse. He looks so nice, and he is so clever... This is exactly why some say it was meant to erase this image of mice from the minds of European children, and to show that the mouse is not dirty and has these traits.
Writing satire of these guys keeps getting harder and harder when they keep topping themselves.
  • Sunday, February 26, 2006
  • Elder of Ziyon
This stuff is like crack to me.

The latest protests in Hong Kong and Germany have at least been peaceful, but the hypocrisy of the message remains incredible.

This means "Press freedom - yes, press rudeness - no."

And somehow they are referring to relatively mild cartoons about Islam and not the daily demonizing of Jews, America and the West in the Arab press.

'Who insults the Prophet, insults us all' and 'Islam respects all religions'.

As long as they are not Hindus and others who worship multiple gods, Jews who will be destroyed in the final battle, or Christians who must pay their poll tax to live under Islamic domination.

Finally, Reuters has to try to softpedal the insanity by egregiously mistranslating the German here:

Reuters tranlates it as 'The Islam is not the enemy - the enemy is called Bush'. Now, look at the German words, and wonder why the Reuters reporter decided that "Terrorist" means "enemy" in German.

Friday, February 24, 2006

  • Friday, February 24, 2006
  • Elder of Ziyon
Who says women in Islam have less rights? Their traditional garb allows them much more advertising space than Muslim men have!

Imagine how much she could get for her forehead rights on eBay...

Thursday, February 23, 2006

  • Thursday, February 23, 2006
  • Elder of Ziyon
Soon, in Muslim lands, you will not be allowed to whisper the word "cartoon" because the very word will whip up he listener into a murderous frenzy.

Don't believe me? Then listen to the saga of the New Straits Times, a Malaysian newspaper.

Malaysia is about 60% Muslim, and the NST is quite on board with the whole "blame the West for insulting the Prophet" nonsense.

The newspaper also publishes Non-Sequitur, a comic strip by Wiley Miller that is syndicated worldwide.

Here was the Non-Sequitur comic strip from Monday, and the New Straits Times agreed to run it:



No caricatures of Mohammed, nothing remotely making fun of Mohammed.

Of course, the Islamists went crazy.
After the cartoon was published in the New Strait Times, police received complaints from Malaysia's Islamic opposition party (Parti Islam SeMalaysia) and three nongovernmental organizations. The Times got a show-cause letter from the Internal Security Ministry and was given three days to explain in writing why action shouldn't be taken against it for running the cartoon, which the ministry said breached the conditions of the newspaper's publishing permit.

"Once again, it seems the ironically challenged have just validated
the point of the satire," said Miller, when reached today by E&P.
The New Straits Times' defense is hardly a stirring call for freedom of speech:
If this cartoon were to mock Islam and the Prophet, then, certainly, the newspaper that publishes it, in this case the New Straits Times, its executives responsible should be held accountable. Just as the editors and publishers of the Sarawak Tribune and Guang Ming were held accountable.
The reference here is to two other Malaysan newspapers - one published the cartoons but blurred them out, and the other published a photo of someone reading a newspaper with the cartoons.

And both newspapers got shut down.

Now the NST is fighting for its own rights, such as they are in the backwards nation of Malaysia.
  • Thursday, February 23, 2006
  • Elder of Ziyon
I can't get enough of these.

These charming young Pakistani women are very upset. After all, a Danish newspaper published a couple of cartoons and some Sunni Muslims in Iraq bombed a major shrine.

So, naturally, they must protest against America.

Humorously enough, while the signs say "Down with America" in English, in Arabic and Urdu they helpfully elaborate it as "Death to America."

And then there are the Mohammed groupies just dying to show their great love for their prophet:

Can't you feel the love?
  • Thursday, February 23, 2006
  • Elder of Ziyon
I wish I could read the trenchant political humor that these wild Pakistani college girls came up with. (Although the one in the middle looks like a guy in drag to me. Who knew they were so progressive?)

The best I can see is that a dog, representing Europe and called George, ate something bloody that may or may have not been Muslim pride and is still hungry. The physics of the gravity force on the drops of blood elude me, but perhaps it has something to do with relativity.
  • Thursday, February 23, 2006
  • Elder of Ziyon
The "united front" against a Hamas-led PA continues to crumble, only weeks after the election and without Hamas doing anything remotely peaceful. It is truly an amazing scenario and one that is more pessimistic than I expected - even without Hamas having to lie about being interested in peace, the innate Jew-hatred and sympathy for those who want to wipe out all Jews continues unabated.

The new terrorist supporters barely even attempt to address Hamas' own explicit statements of how they will never accept Israel and will continue terror and war. In the absence of any Hamas lies to hang their arguments on, they simply make up their own:
It is worth noting that Hamas has maintained a ceasefire, which means no suicide bombings or other attacks on Israel, for a year. Such control over its own militants might be seen as a hopeful sign, alongside its anti-corruption stance, but only the Russians, who have invited Hamas officials to Moscow, seem to see the opportunity rather than the danger. They have offered a "long-term ceasefire", just as Sharon suggested an interim solution before the creation of a Palestinian state, but this too is dismissed.

In the meantime Hamas is combing the Muslim world for funds. On Monday its political leader, Khaled Mishaal, was in Tehran meeting Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, who will happily plug the financial gap if Hamas adheres to his anti-western agenda. "Palestinian people knew that their vote for Hamas meant the fight against the Zionist occupier regime," he said. (In fact, most people I met in Gaza last month voted Hamas because they were angry with the corrupt Fatah leadership. "Ideology accounted for less than 15 per cent of votes," said the Gazan psychologist Eyad Serraj. "People voted on corruption and social issues.")

Last week, this magazine revealed Foreign Office plans to engage with "political Islam" in the form of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, a close ally of Hamas. This acknowledges reality without endorsing terror. Hamas is not about to become the Liberal Democrats, but it came to power in a legitimate election. It may yet descend into corruption or return to violence, but right now there is all to play for.

I left Gaza through the Erez crossing. Palestinians lined up in concrete corridors and the voices of teenage Israeli conscripts ordered them, through loudspeakers, to wait, turn around and put their hands above their heads. More security, more humiliation. Now Israel talks of closing Erez, too, cutting off Gaza completely, as punishment for the election of Hamas. Such measures will radicalise Palestinians further, as the Americans endorse the Israeli line and Europe misses a chance to challenge US policy and gain credibility in the Arab world.

Lindsey Hilsum is international editor for Channel 4 News
Amazing!

First, the explicit lie: Hamas has been responsible for fatal attacks in Israel during the "cease fire." Not to mention the dozens of rocket attacks that luckily weren't fatal. The fact that this terror-apologist chooses to ignore facts and prop up murderers shows a complete disregard for truth as well as human lives. (But Palestinians standing in line are a major crime against humanity, according to the sickening logic of this idiot.)

Then comes the usual worthless comparisons between Hamas and Sharon, to try to justify the bizarrely untenable pro-terror position.

Then the implicit threat that if the West doesn't fund Hamas, then Iran will! As if Hamas will act differently with Western money.

Following that comes the crazy illogic that, "sure, it is a gamble to trust people who explicitly call for genocide, but it is worth a shot." As long as the potential victims are Jews, that is. Somehow I doubt that the writer would extend the same courtesy to Al Qaeda, which incidentally hasn't killed many British recently.

This insane train of thought continues with the notion that while Palestinian Arabs electing a government based on terror is meaningless, but withholding money from them will radicalize them and turn them into terrorists.

Finally, we get to the good part: all of this twisting of facts and calling to fund terror is meant to increase Europe's fading influence and to stick it to America. And if supporting terror is the price that has to be paid to atain this noble goal, well, what are a few dozen more dead Jews?

Wednesday, February 22, 2006

  • Wednesday, February 22, 2006
  • Elder of Ziyon
Thanks to MEMRI:
Following are excerpts from an interview by Al-Quds Al-Arabi Editor-in-Chief Abd Al-Bari Atwan, aired on ANB TV on February 16, 2006.
Abd Al-Bari Atwan: When the Oslo Accords were signed, I went to visit [Arafat] in Tunis. It was around July, before he went to Gaza. I said to him: We disagree. I do not support this agreement. It will harm us, the Palestinians, distort our image, and uproot us from our Arab origins. This agreement will not get us what we want, because these Israelis are deceitful.

He took me outside and told me: By Allah, I will drive them crazy. By Allah, I will turn this agreement into a curse for them. By Allah, perhaps not in my lifetime, but you will live to see the Israelis flee from Palestine. Have a little patience. I entrust this with you. Don't mention this to anyone. Always remember this. Sometimes, when I would criticize him strongly, he would say to me: Do you remember the promise I made, Abd Al-Bari?

He was very amicable, and had a great capacity to forgive. I never let him down in crucial moments. For example, when the Americans tried to force Abu-Mazen on him as prime minister, and to take away all his authorities, I stood by Yasser Arafat. I was convinced, because of what he entrusted with me, and because I knew him, that he would not betray [the Palestinians], and would not make concessions.

That is why I knew that it was he who founded and armed the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, in order to redress the balance with the historic mistake of the Oslo Accords.
This is the "peace process" that the West worships more than any deity. The entire Oslo farce was meant as a means to wage war, not peace, on the part of the Palestinian Arabs against Israel.

And it has been successful. Israel has, from the Arab perspective, abandoned land to terrorists because of the good cop/bad cop pairing of Oslo and terror, both of which had the same goal - the destruction of the Jewish state.

The West still thinks that the "peace process" is a desirable state of affairs, when it is in fact one of the biggest misnomers in history, one whose goal from the Arab side is anything but peaceful.
  • Wednesday, February 22, 2006
  • Elder of Ziyon
Isn't unity wonderful?
Muslims across the Middle East – Sunnis and Shiites alike – largely ignored sectarian divides today to unite in condemnation of the the bombing that destroyed of the golden dome that graced one of Iraq’s holiest Shiite shrines.

King Abdullah II, the Jordanian monarch, call it “a heinous attack … (that) has greatly angered us and has provoked our strong feelings as direct descendants of the Prophet Mohammed.”

Radical Iraqi Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who was touring the region, cut short a visit to Lebanon to return to his troubled homeland.

At a news conference when he reached Damascus, Syria, al-Sadr laid blame either with the Americans or the Iraqi government.

“If responsibility is not in the hands of the Iraqi government, then I consider the responsibility for this event lies with the occupation forces which should either leave immediately or according to a timetable,” the firebrand cleric told reporters.

Influential Egyptian Sunni cleric Sheikh Youssef al-Qaradawi said the blast was “a very dangerous action that kindles the fires of sedition.”

He refused to accept that fellow Sunnis were behind the bomb blasts that ripped apart the golden dome of the Askariya shrine in Samarra, about 60 miles north of Baghdad.

We cannot imagine that the Iraqi Sunnis did this. So who did do it? Who planned with such slyness and precision and got away without being arrested?” he said.

No one benefits from such acts other than the US occupation and the lurking Zionist enemy.

Lebanon’s powerful Shiite militant Hezbollah organisation blamed the US.

“We call upon Muslims everywhere, and especially in Iraq, to avoid falling into a major trap of sedition designed for them by the American occupation and their agents inside Iraq,” Hezbollah said in a statement.
  • Wednesday, February 22, 2006
  • Elder of Ziyon
What exactly are the limits of free speech?

Many Muslims are convinced that there is a double-standard in the West: while Holocaust denial and hate speech are illegal in some countries, making fun of Mohammed is not.

A recent LA Times editorial says that the Austrian laws against Holocaust denial are counterproductive:
Free speech, even if it hurts
# Protecting the rights of a Holocaust denier ultimately protects us all.

By Michael Shermer, MICHAEL SHERMER is the publisher of Skeptic magazine, a monthly columnist for Scientific American and the author of "Denying History: Who Says the Holocaust Never Happened and Why Do They Say It?"

That Irving has been, and probably still is, a Holocaust denier is indisputable. In 1994, I interviewed him for a book on Holocaust denial, and he told me that no more than half a million Jews died during World War II, and most of those because of disease and starvation. In 2000, Irving lost his libel suit in Britain against an author, and the judge in the case called him "an active Holocaust denier … anti-Semitic and racist." And in April 2005, I attended a lecture he gave in Costa Mesa at an event sponsored by the Institute for Historical Review, the leading voice of Holocaust denial in the U.S. There he joked about the Chappaquiddick line and, holding his right arm up, boasted: "This hand has shaken more hands that shook Hitler's hand than anyone else in the world."

The important question here is not whether Irving is a Holocaust denier (he is), or whether he offends people with what he says (he does), but why anyone, anywhere should be imprisoned for expressing dissenting views or saying offensive things. Today, you may be imprisoned or fined for dissenting from the accepted Holocaust history in the following countries: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Israel, Lithuania, New Zealand, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Switzerland.[...]

Austria's treatment of Irving as a political dissident should offend both the people who defend the rights of political cartoonists to express their opinion of Islamic terrorists and the civil libertarians who leaped to the defense of University of Colorado professor Ward Churchill when he exercised his right to call the victims of 9/11 "little Eichmanns." Why doesn't it? Why aren't freedom lovers everywhere offended by Irving's court conviction?

Freedom is a principle that must be applied indiscriminately. We have to defend Irving in order to defend ourselves. Once the laws are in place to jail dissidents of Holocaust history, what's to stop such laws from being applied to dissenters of religious or political histories, or to skepticism of any sort that deviates from the accepted canon?

No one should be required to facilitate the expression of Holocaust denial, but neither should there be what Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis called the "silence coerced by law — the argument of force in its worst form."

Call David Irving the devil if you like; the principle of free speech gives you the right to do so. But we must give the devil his due. Let Irving go, for our own safety's sake.

His arguments are eloquent, and as a believer in free speech I am sympathetic. (Even Deborah Lipstadt, the Holocaust researcher who won a lawsuit against Irving, does not believe that he should be in jail.)

However, to give a famous example, free speech does not give you the right to yell "Fire!" in a movie theatre. Incitement to violence is not covered under free speech.

There are serious Holocaust researchers who cast doubt on certain details. Some "facts" about the Holocaust have been shown to not be true by real historians. As in other cases, one must apply a reasonable standard for the intent of the speaker when determining whether his words are meant as a call for truth or a call for genocide.

It is a reasonable assumption that the people who deny the Holocaust happened are the people who most want it to happen again. As such, their denial is nothing more than window dressing for their desire for a world that is Judenrein.

The cartoons of Mohammed were in no way, shape or form an incitement to violence against Muslims. The only violence that occurred in the wake of the cartoons were by Muslims, not against them.

The level of offensiveness should not affect free speech. If speech is restricted by how much people are offended, then everyone has veto power over everything. The intent of the offender is all that matters, not the thinness of the skin of the offended.

The line is still blurry between free speech and incitement, but the editorial above didn't even consider the possibility of Holocaust denial as incitement to rid the world of Jews. And that is the fundamental issue that needs to be addressed.

Tuesday, February 21, 2006

  • Tuesday, February 21, 2006
  • Elder of Ziyon
This animation was on Hamas' website: (hat tip LGF)

  • Tuesday, February 21, 2006
  • Elder of Ziyon


It is interesting how Muslims use the Crusades as a club to beat the West with. I wonder how tolerant they would be if prominent leaders would claim that they were a myth created to justify Islamist expansionism and warmongering.


  • Tuesday, February 21, 2006
  • Elder of Ziyon
Soccer Dad asks a good question from me: what exactly is this military exercise that Palestinian "policemen" are doing?

This other picture, however, gives the answer:


Obviously, because of how inconsistently their paychecks have been arriving, they are starting a circus! This will help cheer up the poor Palestinian Arab children and will of course be underwritten by the EU.

The circus will show Palestinian Arab policemen doing death-defying acts, and the part that makes it interesting is how often death wins! I'm sure that AbbaGav can give a more detailed description of this circus...
  • Tuesday, February 21, 2006
  • Elder of Ziyon
I've been seeing news stories that seem to suggest that the reason why the West should continue to fund the Palestinians in the wake of the Hamas victory is because if we don't, Iran and Saudi Arabia will.

This makes no sense. While in a very broad outline, Western money has some strings attached to ensure that the money ends up going towards specific programs, in the end all it does is free up money for Palestinians to blow up Jews.

And the idea that somehow Western money influences the Palestinians to have more Western attitudes is simply false. After all, they still elected the party of suicide bombers. One lesson of the cartoons is that you cannot buy respect from those who are pro-terror - Denmark was the most tolerant and pro-Palestinian Arab nation in Europe, and now their flag is burned in every Muslim capital.

Hamas is firmly tied to Iran ideologically, and no amount of Western money will change that. And Iran will fund Hamas regardless.

In the end, it is Western money that funds Saudi Arabia and Iranian-sponsored terror anyway. If we are going to use our economic might to make a difference, it needs to be against the true monetary sources of terror - the Saudi-funded madrassas, the terror "charities," Iran. Any other plan is just playing games and congratulating ourselves that we added an extra step in the inevitable money trail from our pockets to those who want to kill us.
  • Tuesday, February 21, 2006
  • Elder of Ziyon
Mrs Naeem, a 37-year-old social worker at the Islamic University in Gaza City and a mother of four, is one of six women elected to parliament on the Hamas ticket in the Islamist party's landslide victory last month....

Women played a crucial role in getting out the vote for Hamas, knocking on doors and often getting a sympathetic hearing. Hamas's strategy to build political support through its social programmes - the provision of health clinics, nurseries and food for the poor - sealed the loyalty of many Palestinian women.

Shortly before the election, Hamas launched a women's armed wing and pictured its members brandishing guns and rocket-propelled grenades in its campaign posters. But the women MPs say their priority is reform, not armed struggle.
[...]
Many of the male leaders of Hamas favour the extension of sharia to cover civil as well as criminal codes. Some have said they want to segregate schools, others favour a ban on the sale of alcohol. They also want to see women dress in accordance with Islam.

Mrs Naeem says changes should come only after Hamas has taken time to explain the benefits of religious law. "Our sharia is great if it's practised according to its values. It's not like they say about only cutting off hands," she said.

"It's not going to be forceful but anybody who believes in the religion has to be educated in it. At the end, what matters is fighting corruption, not what people wear."

Then there is an issue unlike any other. The most controversial of the newly elected Hamas women is Miriam Farhat, known as the "Mother of Martyrs" after losing three sons fighting Israel. Her campaign video included a scene of her bidding a son goodbye before he died killing five people in a Jewish settlement. Mrs Farhat said later that she wished she had 100 sons to sacrifice as "shaheeds" - Muslims who die in a holy war.

Mrs Naeem, who named her youngest child after a Hamas leader assassinated by Israel, says there is nothing illegitimate about suicide bombers. "[The Israelis] bomb our neighbourhoods with high explosive. What kind of weapons do we have against F16s?" she asked. But would she encourage her own 16-year-old son to die killing Israelis? "Yes, as soon as his homeland calls for it. I am preparing him to be a shaheed," she said.


How pragmatic and forward thinking!

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This blog may be a labor of love for me, but it takes a lot of effort, time and money. For 20 years and 40,000 articles I have been providing accurate, original news that would have remained unnoticed. I've written hundreds of scoops and sometimes my reporting ends up making a real difference. I appreciate any donations you can give to keep this blog going.

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