Pamela Geller's Blog, page 18

At least 205 Christians Killed by Muslim in Benue State, Nigeria

But it's my ads that are the problem (the above ad ran on the back of New York City buses).

At least 205 Christians Killed by Fulani Herdsmen in Benue State, Nigeria by Voice of the Persecuted, (thanks to Claude)

OS, Nigeria (Morning Star News) – Reports of Christians attacked in central and northern Nigeria draw more attention, but in more southerly Benue state Islamic extremists killed at least 205 Christians in the last six months alone, sources said.

In the southeastern part of Nigeria’s middle belt, Benue state’s Agatu Local Government Area saw deadly attacks on Christian farmers by Muslim, ethnic Fulani herdsmen from May through November that displaced an estimated 10,000 people, Christian leaders said.

As in attacks in Plateau state, several of the assailants appeared to be mercenaries from outside the area rather than herdsmen, and locals questioned how the Fulani became so heavily armed. In some of the attacks a herdsmen spokesman alleged stolen cattle as the reason for the bloodshed, but frequently the Nigerian press asserted that motives for the attacks were unknown.

Christian leaders, however, said they had no doubt the Muslim assailants aimed to demoralize and destroy Christians.

“These attacks on Christian members of our churches have disrupted church activities, as Christians can no longer worship together in their congregations,” the Rev. David Bello, bishop of the Anglican diocese of Otukpo, told Morning Star News.

The Rev. Michael Apochi, Roman Catholic bishop of Otukpo Diocese, added that attacks by Muslim Fulani gunmen have devastated Christian communities.

“Life has become unbearable for our church members who have survived these attacks, and they are making worship services impossible,” Apochi told Morning Star News by phone.

The two Christian leaders called on the Nigerian government to urgently take measures to curb unprovoked attacks on Christians in rural areas of the state.

In the early hours of Nov. 9, Muslim Fulani gunmen killed 25 Christians in seven villages, said area Christian leader Sule Audu.

“Seven Christian communities were completely ravaged by the rampaging Muslim Fulani gunmen,” Audu said. “The previous Thursday, Nov. 8, two Christian communities of Ikpele and Okpopolo were attacked by the Muslim Fulani herdsmen in a raid that resulted in the killing of three persons, injuring many others, and the displacement of about 6,000 Christians.”

The attacked villages were Ello, Okpagabi, Ogwule-Ankpa, Ogbangede, Ekwo, Enogaje and Okpanchenyi, he said.

Another area Christian leader from Agatu, John Ngbede, confirmed the attacks.

“It is true that Agatu is under attack by Muslim Fulani herdsmen at the moment,” he told Morning Star News. “Many of our Christian brethren have been killed. The Muslim gunmen that are attacking our Christian communities are numerous; they are so many that we can’t count them. They are spread across all the communities and unleashing terror on our people without any security resistance.”

Most of the 6,000 Christians fleeing for their lives have taken refuge at neighboring Apa Local Government Area and at Obagaji, he said.

“We are tired of these unending bloodbaths being carried by the Fulanis,” Ngbede said. “Moreover, we would also want the Nigerian government to step into the matter by beefing up security and extending assistance to the victims of these attacks in the affected communities.”

In all, Christian leaders in Benue State said that the Muslim Fulani gunmen invaded seven Christian communities in one week in November, killing and maiming members of the communities.

Daniel Ezeala, a deputy superintendent of police and the Benue state police spokesman, said the attacks have continued.

“Seven Agatu Christian villages are currently under heavy attacks from armed gunmen believed to be Fulani herdsmen,” Ezeala said on Dec. 11. “We can’t confirm the exact number of causalities now. However, we are on top of the situation.”

Christians believe Islamic extremist groups have increasingly incited Fulani Muslims to attack them in Plateau, Kaduna, Bauchi, Nasarawa and Benue states. They suspect that Fulani herdsmen, with backing from Islamic extremist groups, want to take over the predominantly Christian areas in order to acquire land for grazing, stockpile arms and expand Islamic territory.

Christians make up 51.3 percent of Nigeria’s population of 158.2 million, while Muslims account for 45 percent. Those practicing indigenous religions may be as high as 10 percent of the total population, according to Operation World, so the percentages of Christians and Muslims may be less.

On Oct. 12, gunmen killed 30 Christians in Oguchi-Ankpa, Christian leaders said. Apochi and Bello said the Christians were killed in their sleep after Muslim Fulani herdsmen broke into their homes. Houses, church buildings and other property were destroyed in the attacks, they said.

On Oct. 4, Muslim Fulani gunmen attacked Ejima, killing three Christians, according to Stephen Dutse, chairman of Agatu Local Government Council. Three days prior, Christian and community leaders in the area had declared a month of fasting and prayer in the face of unceasing attacks on them, he said.

“It has become necessary to seek God’s intervention in the face of the frequent attacks on Christian communities here by Muslim Fulani herdsmen,” Dutse said by phone. “Not less than 60 Christians have lost their lives in three attacks by Muslim Fulanis within the last two months, November and December, while over 10,000 Christians have been displaced and church activities been suspended.”

On Sept. 29, Muslim gunmen killed 13 Christians in the Agatu area in the early hours of that Sunday morning as they began worship services.

On July 1, Christian leaders said, Muslim Fulani gunmen attacked Christians in Okpanchenyi village, killing 40 people.

On June 8, Muslim Fulani gunmen attacked a Roman Catholic Church farm at Ichama Christian community of Okpokwu Local Government Area of Benue state. Juliana Obeta, chairperson of the Okpokwu Local Government Council, said the assailants killed one Christian. Others were wounded and treated at St. Mary’s Catholic Hospital in Okpoga, she said.

“The Muslim Fulani herdsmen attacked our communities on June 7 and 8, killing one person, and carted away 40 cattle belonging to the Catholic Diocese at Ichama,” Obeta said. “Many Christians, mostly children and women, have been forced out of their villages as their homes were destroyed.”

On June 2 and 3, about 45 Christians were killed by armed Muslim Fulani herdsmen in Agatu Local Government Area, Christian leaders said.

On May 12, armed Muslim Fulani herdsmen in the Okpanchenyi and Ekwo Christian communities of Agatu killed 45 Christians. Church leaders said a massive number of Muslim Fulani herdsmen invaded the area on the Sunday night and killed 38 people, while the others were killed in another attack in the early hours of the next day.

Later, authorities reportedly discovered that some of the assailants were dressed like Fulanis but were apparently hired assassins from out of state. Armed with AK-47s, the assailants invaded several communities, including an attack on a funeral, killing Christians and burning houses and church buildings, Christian leaders said.

Audu said that in the May attack, his village was destroyed.

“About 38 bodies of Christians murdered were recovered by us,” Audu said.

“Armed Muslim gunmen numbering over 700 invaded the communities, setting fire on houses in about five villages. They overpowered security men and started killing our people, and thousands of our people have been displaced.”

Ngbede, the Agatu Christian leader who is also state Commissioner for Works and Transport, reportedly described the attacks as unprovoked and “an attempt to eliminate the people of the area.”

In response, Garus Gololo, secretary of the state Miyetti Allah Cattle Rearers Association, reportedly said the herdsmen attacked in order to recover about 550 cows he claimed the Agatu people had stolen.

Morning Star News

Please include those suffering in Nigeria in your prayers.

 

 

Young Moderate Muslims Misunderstand: Young Tunisians Embrace Jihad, Raise Tension at Home

Young Tunisians? Those young, moderate madcap Muslims are..... misunderstanding the Quran? Jihad? You don't say.

As is the case with all of these articles, the writers are Muslims -- read with that in mind. The bias and the edit is always the same. These violent jihadists are "casualties" of jihad recruitment (as if they could get you or me to behead anyone or strap on a homicide bomb).

The article lays blame in a lot of places, but never on the Islamic texts and teachings that command this monstrous holy war.

Ansar al Shariah gained strength partly because the government turned a blind eye to the group as it became increasingly militant.

You mean like Obama turns a blind eye to jihad?

Young men are recruited in Tunisian mosques, then sent to training camps. Mosques must be surveilled.

"Young Tunisians Embrace Jihad, Raise Tension at Home," By Maria Abi-Habib, Afef Abrougui contributed to this article, Wall Street Journal, December 17, 2013

Concerns Widen About Regional Impact of Syria's Civil War

TUNIS— Aymen Saadi's parents assumed their 18-year-old son was fighting in Syria after he didn't come home in August, a casualty of the sophisticated jihadist recruitment network in Tunisia and growing radicalization.

Word of their son came in October, in a breaking radio news report: He had returned to Tunisia and tried to blow himself up in Sousse, a resort popular with Western tourists, as part of a double suicide bombing. Although security intercepted Aymen, his partner detonated his explosive vest on a beach filled with Western tourists—Tunisia's first suicide bombing in more than a decade. No one else was hurt.

That incident marked a dramatic escalation by Islamic militants who have emerged in Tunisia since the country's 2011 revolution. The government blamed the attack on Ansar al Shariah, a militant group running a sophisticated jihadist recruitment network in mosques and charities across Tunisia in collaboration with an affiliate in Libya.

In Tunisia, Ansar al Shariah gained strength partly because the government turned a blind eye to the group as it became increasingly militant. Ennahda, the party that dominates Tunisia's government, was an ally of the group until this year.

Over the weekend, Ennahda and opposition parties agreed on a new prime minister to form a caretaker government until elections next year. Ennahda agreed to relinquish power in part over opposition pressure over Ansar al Shariah's growing power.

The journey of jihadists like Aymen has crystalized Western and Arab concerns about how Syria's war is drawing young men from the region and the potential dangers once these fighters return home.

Syria's war is becoming what Afghanistan's was in the 1980s: a place for ideologues to meet and become more radicalized before returning home to challenge their governments and destabilize their countries.

Across Tunisia, students aren't showing up for university and sons are disappearing from their homes—new recruits for Syria's war. As many as 2,000 Tunisians are fighting in Syria, government officials said, joining al Qaeda branches including the Islamic State of Iraq and al Sham and Jabhat al Nusra. Young men are recruited in Tunisian mosques, then sent to training camps in Darna and Benghazi in eastern Libya run by Ansar al Shariah's Libyan branch, Western and Tunisian officials said. The camps churn out well-trained fighters and ship them off to safe houses in southern Turkey, where they prepare to cross the border.

"They have occupied Darna…and turned it into a training facility, some going to Syria, others staying here," said a Libyan official.

Some Tunisian families complain that their government has done little to help win the release of their sons who have joined the fight.

Abdelaziz and Fathi, who asked that their surname not be used, said their son Hussein, 25, has been in a Syrian jail since he was captured trying to cross the border. The parents said the Syrian government told them and families of other detainees that theTunisiangovernment must investigate jihadist recruitment networks at home to secure their sons' release.

Fathi, Hussein's mother, said she returned to Tunis and transmitted the demand, issued in a formal letter on official government letterhead, to the Tunisian Foreign Ministry.

"We've received no response," she said.

After Ansar al Shariah members attacked the U.S. Embassy in Tunis in 2012 and assassinated two secular politicians this year, the government designated the group as a terrorist organization in August. But Tunisian and Western officials and parents of jihadists fighting in Syria said the move was insufficient.

"Ansar al Shariah seemed to be doing peaceful activities at first. However, [the Interior Ministry] says they recruited young men, so that's why all activities of Ansar al Shariah were banned," said Yusra Ghannouchi, an Ennahda spokeswoman.

Ms. Ghannouchi said Tunisia's radicalization problems happened after the 2011 revolution when mosques fell into extremists' hands. "Everything is blamed on Ennahda, but we should talk about the whole government's [performance]."

But Ennahda has had trouble getting party members to back the terror designation.

"Under Western pressure, the government has labeled Ansar al Shariah a terrorist organization," said Habib al Lawz, a prominent Ennahda parliamentarian, who doesn't support the designation. But "if young Tunisians feel that they are oppressed, they'll just go to the training camps of Libya."

Mr. Al Lawz was accused of encouraging young Tunisian jihadists, telling a newspaper this year that "If I were younger, I would have gone to fight in Syria." He said the remarks were taken out of context.

After the country's revolution, many of the country's roughly 5,000 government mosques—which were tightly controlled under the dictatorship of Zine el Abidine bin Ali —fell into Ansar al Shariah's hands. Today, just 50 or so mosques remain out of government control, said Minister of Religious Affairs Nourredine Khadmi.

Before his ministerial appointment, Mr. Khadmi was a firebrand preacher at a mosque in downtown Tunis, accused by critics and secular opponents of encouraging Tunisians to fight in Syria.

In an interview, the minister said he never encouraged jihad.

"There's no clear political decision to fight terrorism by the government," said Montassar Materi, who represents Tunisia's unionized security forces.

"There are charities and mosques that have exploited the existence of Ennahda in power to recruit young Tunisians. Even Ennahda members admit openly their support for jihadists in Syria," said Montassar Materi, who represents Tunisia's unionized security forces.

Mr. Materi said the union in May gave the government a 10-point antiterrorism plan that included cracking down on the flow of jihadists to Syria, but said he never got a response. The Ministry of Interior didn't respond to requests for comment.

But for fathers who have lost sons to Syria's war, Mr. Khadmi symbolizes the government's unwillingness to crack down on jihadist recruiters.

In September, Sheik Bilal Sawaysh was given a three-month suspended sentence amid complaints from parents the preacher had radicalized their sons and sent them to fight in Syria. He couldn't be reached for comment.

For Toufic, the father of one jihadist he said Mr. Sawaysh recruited, the sheik got off too lightly. He said his son, Mohammed, was a top student finishing his master's degree in finance, but failed to show up for an exam in January. A few days later, he said, he received a text message from his son that read, "I'm in Syria performing my jihadist duties."

The rare times Mohammed called, the family pleaded with him to return, to no avail.

On Aug. 30, news of his son's death came just as it did to announce his arrival, via text message. "Mohammed is a martyr," read the message from a person who said he fought alongside Mohammed.

Toufic's son is buried in an unmarked grave in northern Syria.

This summer, Toufic and the father of another jihadist fighting in Syria pleaded with Rached Ghannouchi, Ennahda's leader, to clamp down on the jihadist network in the mosques, both fathers said in interviews.

"Ghannouchi said, 'When your son dies, 70 people will go with him to paradise,' " Toufic recalled, a common belief among jihadists that if they are martyred they can chose who enters heaven with them.

Mr. Ghannouchi's office denied the conversation took place or that the Ennahda leader would ever support jihad in Syria.

"I replied, 'Why don't leaders of Ennahda send your own sons then?' " Toufic said, at which point he said Mr. Ghannouchi's security told the men to leave.

 

 

Christianophobe and Anti-semite Reza Aslan's Youtube Video blasphemes Jesus: Have the Christians attacked a US embassy yet? Set fire to Aslan's Publisher? Marauded with Machetes through Muslim villages?

More inter-faith dialogue from a Muslim supremacist who gets $30,000 to make speeches at Ivy League universities that defame and libel decent, freedom loving Americans while getting rich mocking non-Muslim religions:

Reza Aslan Spoofs Nativity Scene to Sell Copies of "Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth" By David Wood,  Answering Muslims, December 17, 2013

Reza Aslan has a new video ad for his recent book, Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth. The video depicts a "wise woman" showing up shortly after the birth of Jesus, offering Joseph and Mary "the greatest Christmas gift ever": a copy of Zealot. Here's the ad:

 


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If this video had been made by someone who wasn't a complete hypocrite, I wouldn't have a problem with it. Reza Aslan, however, routinely condemns anyone who dares offend Muslims or criticize Islam. Indeed, he blames critics of jihad for violence, even when the violence was committed by Muslims. For instance, Shaima Alawadi was honor-killed by her own husband. Yet Reza blamed Robert Spencer and Pamela Geller for the murder (based on the husband's planted "Islamophobic" note telling Alawadi to "Go back to your country, you terrorist"):




Not exactly what we would expect from a self-proclaimed internationally acclaimed "scholar" of religions!

In reality, Aslan is an associate professor of creative writing at the University of California, Riverside. In Zealot, Aslan uses his creative writing skills to get creative with history (just as he often gets creative with his "scholarly" credentials), arguing that Jesus was a failed jihadist, who wanted to slaughter the Romans but just couldn't manage to get the job done.

What about all those Bible passages in which Jesus commands his followers to turn the other cheek, to love their enemies, to pray for their persecutors, etc.? According to Aslan, these passages were either fabricated or massively distorted by later Christians. The "real" Jesus wanted only bloodshed.

Years ago, Aslan condemned the Jyllands-Posten for reinforcing stereotypes and promoting hatred. He concluded:

And that is why as a Muslim American I am enraged by the publication of these cartoons. Not because they offend my prophet or my religion, but because they fly in the face of the tireless efforts of so many civic and religious leaders—both Muslim and non-Muslim—to promote unity and assimilation rather than hatred and discord; because they play into the hands of those who preach extremism; because they are fodder for the clash-of-civilizations mentality that pits East against West. For all of that I blame Jyllands-Posten. We in the West want Muslim leaders to condemn the racial and religious prejudices that are so widespread in the Muslim world. Let us lead by example. (Source)

And yet, despite his calls for tolerance and sensitivity, Aslan has no problem telling Christians that Jesus was a wannabe terrorist, that Christianity is based on myths and deception, and that Zealot is the "greatest Christmas gift ever." Moreover, Aslan finds it amusing to spoof the Nativity scene (during the Christmas season, no less) in order to sell a book that treats the Nativity story as a fiction.

Reza Aslan

Again, I wouldn't have a problem with the video if it were coming from someone who was a bit more consistent. But facts are facts. Aslan certainly didn't make a video about Muhammad's birth in an effort to sell copies of his book No God but God. Indeed, if Robert Spencer had made a video depicting the birth of Muhammad in order to sell copies of The Truth about Muhammad, Aslan would have called him a bigot, a hate-monger, and an Islamophobe (following the inevitable international bloody riots).

Why the double-standards? Because Aslan knows he can get away with it. He knows the media will fawn all over him, even as he desperately tries to make Jesus sound like Muhammad and Muhammad sound like Jesus. And he knows that, no matter how much he insults Christians or their beliefs about Jesus, no Christians are coming to kill him (which, according to Aslan, makes them poor followers of their violent Lord).

Iraq: 'Christians are finished here'

The West must understand that if it means to go into Muslim countries and remove secular governments that protected their religious minorities, that every contingency must be for those minorities. No religious minority is safe from sharia and/or Muslim militias. Ever.

"In Saddam's time, Christians could worship freely, and as long as you avoided politics you could survive," said Mr Esha. "But since the war we have been attacked, robbed, raped and forced out of both Doura and the country."

Either we grant immediate asylum to the Christians and apostates, or we leave a military force dedicated to protecting these communities from Muslim supremacists. This was Bush's great failing. Obama, on the other hand, has actively aided and abetted jihadists from Africa to the Middle East -- Egypt to Libya, Syria to Gaza --- so there is no hope for non-Muslim minorities in those countries.

Iraq's battle to save its Christian souls: 'Christians are finished here' By Colin Freeman in Baghdad, The Telegraph, December 15, 2013

Ten years after the fall of Saddam Hussein, Christians have dwindled from more than a million to as little as 200,000. Colin Freeman reports on attempts to stem the exodus from Iraq's churches

As the last remaining Christian priest in the Baghdad suburb of Doura, Archdeacon Temathius Esha no longer just puts his trust in God's all-seeing eye. Built into the wall of his vestry, amid pictures of Catholic saints, is a 16-screen CCTV monitor, keeping watch on every corner of his church in case of possible attack.

Along with the armed guard outside and concrete anti-blast walls, it makes St Shmoni's feel more like a fortress than a house of worship. And after a decade in which Doura's Iraqi Christian community has been robbed, kidnapped and murdered by Islamist extremists, it finds itself offering sanctuary to an ever-dwindling flock.

"Doura was once one of the biggest Christian communities in Iraq, with 30,000 families," said Mr Esha, as he prepared for an afternoon congregation that barely filled two of the 22 rows of pews. "Now there are only 2,000 left. They feel they are strangers in their own land, and that makes them want to leave. The bleeding from migration is continuous."

Today, St Shmoni is one of just two of Doura's original seven churches still open, casualties of a period in which the area become one of the most notorious al-Qaeda strongholds in Baghdad. In the years that followed the US-led invasion of 2003, two churches were car bombed, while the others closed due to lack of numbers and the kidnapping for ransom of four of Mr Esha's fellow priests, which has left just him and a local monk remaining.

Over the years, his own church has had an improvised explosive device and two car bombs planted outside it. All were fortunately discovered before they were detonated.

The picture in Doura is repeated across Iraq, and indeed the wider Middle East, where the onset of the Arab Spring has ended the protected status that the region's secular strongmen gave to religious minorities. In Iraq, a Christian community that numbered more than a million in Saddam Hussein's time is now thought to have shrunk to as few as 200,000.

Isaac Napoleon, a worshipper at the St Shmoni Church in Dora (JULIAN SIMMONDS)

Those unable to join Iraqi diasporas in Europe and America often fled to sister communities in neighbouring Syria, only to find themselves in similar peril thanks to al-Qaeda's presence in the war against President Bashar al-Assad. In post-Mubarak Egypt, the Christians fear a similar reckoning, and only last month Pope Francis warned that the entire Church was in peril across the region, adding: "We will not resign ourselves to imagining a Middle East without Christians."

Yet with al-Qaeda once again on the rise in Iraq - more than 6,000 people have been killed in 2013, the most in five years - Christian communities such as Doura are already contemplating that very scenario.

Now, though, a last-ditch effort to end the exodus is under way, courtesy of the diminutive form of Louis Sako, appointed as the new Patriarch of Baghdad earlier this year. Before moving to the Iraqi capital he had served in the northern city of Kirkuk, where he had mediated in many kidnapping cases.

At first glance, the 64-year-old cleric is living proof of the Christian adage "blessed are the meek". He speaks with a soft voice, and, at only 5ft 5in, is dwarfed by the armed bodyguards who these days accompany him at all times.

But in his first public address in March, delivered at St Joseph's church in central Baghdad, he broke with the Church's long-standing convention that speaking out about the problems would only make them worse.

Instead, he gave his congregation a blunt but powerful message, rich in historical resonance.

Iraq was their country as much as anyone's and if they left a 2,000-year-old culture would die for ever. "I know your fears," he said. "But you have been here for 2,000 years and are at the origin of this country, together with the Muslims. Why is the little flock still afraid? Do not emigrate, whatever the pressures."

Earlier this month, the Patriarch returned to St Joseph's to ordain six new deacons for Baghdad, the first since the 2003 invasion. As a packed congregation sang a song entitled Peace for Iraq, the white-robed figures knelt before Mr Sako as he cut a lock of hair from each of them into a silver bowl, a traditional symbol of devotion.

The real symbolism of the ceremony, though, was to show that in recruiting new blood to its senior ranks, the Church was digging in for the long term.

The Christian flock that Mr Sako has dedicated himself to saving is mainly Chaldean, an Eastern-rite Catholic faith that is independent of Rome but recognises the Pope's authority. For most of their time in Iraq, they and other Christian sects have co-existed peacefully with their Muslim neighbours. In Saddam's time they specialised as medics, teachers and academics – professions that earned them the trust and respect of the Muslim people.

As such, the invasion of 2003 – portrayed by some as a "Crusade" by fellow Christians – led to little in the way of direct reprisals.

However, in the lawless years that followed, their prosperity made them targets for kidnappers and criminals, who sometimes felt less guilty preying on non-Muslims. Almost uniquely in Iraq, Christians have no tribal structure, depriving them of the blood ties under which other Iraqis bind together in times of trouble.

As such, they have never formed self-defence militias, despite the fact that post-war Iraq offers little reward to those who turn the other cheek.

"Christianity in the Middle East has always encouraged its people to rely on the protection of the law, not the tribe," said Mr Sako in an interview with The Sunday Telegraph. "Right now, the law here in Iraq is very weak."

As al-Qaeda's presence in Iraq has grown, Christians have been targeted deliberately, with sporadic bombings of churches and killings of priests.

In 2010, al-Qaeda gunmen attacked an evening Mass at Our Lady of Salvation Church in Baghdad, taking more than 100 hostages. By the time the security forces stormed the building two hours later, 58 were dead.

A sparsely attended service held at the church (JULIAN SIMMONDS)

[....]

"In Saddam's time, Christians could worship freely, and as long as you avoided politics you could survive," said Mr Esha. "But since the war we have been attacked, robbed, raped and forced out of both Doura and the country.

"Often just psychological pressure has been enough; people will drive past here and fire guns in the air, or leave bullets and threatening messages outside Christian homes. Sometimes Islamic extremism is used as an excuse, sometimes it's just blackmail for criminal purposes."

For most of the past five years, the situation seemed to be on the mend. In 2008, after the US troop "surge" that drove most al-Qaeda fighters out of Baghdad, hundreds of Christian families who had fled Doura began coming back.

Continue reading here.

There is a lot of apologist rhetoric in the Telegraph article, epidemic in journalistic circles, but the facts are the facts despite the dissembling.

UK bans Geller and Spencer but allows speaking tour by Saudi imam who calls Shi'ites "apostates" and says no churches should be allowed in Saudi Arabia

Even god won't save the Queen if they keep this up. Pompous cowards living off Churchillian fumes while abandoning his every moral precept.

The British authorties banned Robert Spencer and me for our opposition against jihad and our support of Israel -- they will reap what they have sown.

"UK allows speaking tour by Saudi imam who calls Shi'ites "apostates" and says no churches should be allowed in Saudi Arabia" By Robert Spencer

While writing about the Leftist dhimmi hate site Harry's Place here I came across this there: the Saudi Sheikh Adel al-Kalbani is about to embark upon a speaking tour of Britain. So evidently it is fine to regard Shi'ites as apostates (which means that under Islamic law they can be killed) and to say that Jews and Christians should be driven from the Arabian Peninsula -- say such things and you'll get right in to Britain. It is not acceptable in Britain, however, to say that there should be equal rights for all people, that Jews and Christians should be allowed to practice their religions even in Saudi Arabia, and that Shi'ites there and everywhere else should be accorded human rights -- for that is what Pamela Geller and I stand for, and we were banned from Britain.

This is no surprise, since the British let in another Saudi hate preacher Mohammed al-Arefe, the week before they banned us. Al-Arefe has said: "Devotion to jihad for the sake of Allah, and the desire to shed blood, to smash skulls, and to sever limbs for the sake of Allah and in defense of His religion, is, undoubtedly, an honor for the believer. Allah said that if a man fights the infidels, the infidels will be unable to prepare to fight."

From that, one must conclude that the British authorities are fine with people thinking that Islam has a doctrine of warfare against unbelievers, as long as one does not oppose that doctrine as Geller and I do, but instead believes in it and preaches it. That they let in al-Kalbani and al-Arefe shows how thoroughly corrupt and compromised Britain has become. And their "foes of jihad" such as Harry's Place energetically campaigned for us to be banned, but merely report without comment that al-Kalbani is getting in -- no petition to keep him out, nothing. No wonder Britain is in the fix it's in.

"First Black Saudi Appointed as Imam of the Haram Mosque in Mecca Accuses Shiites of Apostasy, Discusses the Driving Out of Jews and Christians from the Arabian Peninsula, and Claims: My Apointment [sic] More Significant Than Obama's Election," from MEMRI, n.d.:

Following are excerpts from interviews with Sheik Adel Al-Kalbani, Imam of the Al-Haram Mosque in Mecca, which aired on BBC Arabic on May 5, 2009 and Al-Arabiya TV on February 27, 2009.

BBC Arabic, May 5, 3009:

Interviewer: Do you support those who accuse Shiites of apostasy?

Sheik Adel Al-Kalbani: With regard to the laymen among the Shiites – this is debatable. But their religious scholars – I view them as apostates.

Interviewer: All of them?

Sheik Adel Al-Kalbani: With regard to the religious scholars, yes.

[...]

Interviewer: Are you in favor of allowing religious liberties in general?

Sheik Adel Al-Kalbani: For us, liberty has limits. Would you allow a mosque to be built in the Vatican?

Interviewer: Sheik Adel, the Vatican is the center of the papal church, while the holy places in Saudi Arabia belong to Muslims of all sects and schools.

Sheik Adel Al-Kalbani: But in the Vatican, they do not allow [a church] to be built for the Protestants.

[...]

Interviewer: Where can Christians [pray]?

Sheik Adel Al-Kalbani: Christians are allowed to pray in their homes. We have no problem with them praying where they live. But for the bells to be sounded in the land of the Prophet Muhammad – that [runs counter] to the Prophet's guidance. The Prophet's guidance, by which we act, dictates: "Drive the Jews and the Christians out of the Arabian Peninsula." Driving them out is undoubtedly the prerogative of the ruler, but they should be allowed to live here only if their presence is essential.

Interviewer: But what you are saying runs counter to the interfaith dialogue, doesn't it? On what basis does Saudi Arabia engage in interfaith dialogue with them? Is it just dialogue for the sake of dialogue? Isn't it in order for everybody to get what they are entitled to?

Sheik Adel Al-Kalbani: Yes, but within the limits of the shari'a. We are talking from the perspective of the shari'a, not from a personal perspective....

 

"Malaysia a religious-fascist state, not a moderate one, says ex-minister"

There is nothing new in what this ex-minister says, but it is never said, so that is what is revelatory. We live in an age in which truth is shocking.

The fact is that sharia states cannot be moderate because sharia is the most extreme and brutal ideology on the face of the earth.

What would be revelatory would be a Muslim country that was moderate. Even the iron fist of Ataturk's secularism in Turkey has been amputated *cough* by the imposition of sharia by Islamic imperialist Erdogan.

Islamic rule is incompatible with "moderation."

"Malaysia a religious-fascist state, not a moderate one, says ex-minister" By The Malaysian Insider, December 16, 2013

Malaysia's image as a so-called “moderate” nation has been dismissed by a former minister, who said it was closer to being a “religious-fascist” state.

Datuk Zaid Ibrahim (pic) said the ongoing religious persecution of PAS deputy president Mohamad Sabu and others before him portends a grave future for religious freedom in Malaysia. Zaid said it was up to Malaysians either to allow this trend to continue or to defend religious freedom.

“We are not only denied political freedom (with the media and the electoral process under government control), but also liberty in matters of personal belief.

“We are already witnessing a new wave of attacks against Shias, which are more often associated with the Middle East and Pakistan.

“The Sunni-Shia warfare has turned the Muslim world upside down with senseless killings and now it has arrived on our shores, thanks to our home minister,” he said, referring to charges against Mohamad Sabu, better known as Mat Sabu, who is accused of being a Shia by the Home Ministry.

Zaid also cited the example of Kamariah Ali and her husband, followers of the Ayah Pin sect, who were prosecuted for following a version of Islam which was not acceptable to the state.

“Years ago, when Kamariah Ali and her husband pleaded before the judges to allow them to be the kind of Muslims that they understood God meant them to be, they were denied.

“The judges ruled that the state had the right to define Islam and that only its version was acceptable.

“They went on to say the state had the right to punish those who deviated from its version of Islam.”

He said Kamariah Ali was jailed and when her husband died, the state denied him a proper burial.

“The state obviously did not consider him to be a Muslim who deserved a proper burial, yet it believed it had the power to punish him for being a 'deviant' Muslim.

“The state had its cake and ate it, too: one day it declared a person a bad Muslim who needed to be punished, and the next day, it declared that this person was not a Muslim. And the judges agreed!”

Zaid said few cried foul over this development.

Zaid said what happened to Mat Sabu and others like him would never have come to pass if judges in the country had been brave enough to base their decisions on the law.

“When I first said Mat Sabu should not bother to defend himself when he was accused of being a Shia, my Muslim friends felt he needed to, regardless of the quality of evidence his accusers could provide. They felt that being a Shia was bad for his image.

“If (Home Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad) Zahid (Hamidi) and Jakim (Department of Islamic Development) think Shias are not Muslims, then why not petition the OIC (Organisation of Islamic Cooperation) and the United Nations to bar Iranians from doing the haj.

“Take to the global stage if you truly want to be a Sunni warrior. Do not bully local Muslims like Mat Sabu,” Zaid said.

“It’s up to Muslims in this country to decide for themselves what kind of Muslims they want to be.

“I believe they have that right under the Constitution. I am a Muslim and that’s all there is to it.

“The state may define Islam as the Sunnah Wal Jumaah variety, but that definition cannot supersede Article 8 in the Constitution on religious freedom.

“The state can advise on what variety is 'pure' but it cannot punish Muslims if they prefer a different variety. Punishment is God’s work, not officials’, and that’s central to a country that has a secular Constitution governing matters of faith. And Malaysia is secular.”

Zaid warned that the country could eventually explode like Lebanon and Syria if the prime minister was only interested in high-speed rail link to Singapore and trade agreements.

“We have had many disturbing incidents such as Memali, the Al-Ma’unah movement and other 'deviant groups'. So how do we manage this potentially difficult and dangerous conflict?”

Zaid said the prime minister claimed to be a moderate and if that was the case, “he should speak out a lot more about the subject in Malaysia. He should also have ministers who are moderate and capable of engaging with difficult subjects.” – December 16, 2013.

 

UK: "Laws against inciting hatred: funny how an Islamist hate preacher is never prosecuted"

With no moral compass, no civilization self-esteem, no core values, and no courage, "hatred" becomes a gelatinous, mutable term whose ever changing definition is used to vanquish the the good and sanction evil. Case in point -- the UK:

"UK: Laws against inciting hatred -- funny how an Islamic supremacist hate preacher is never prosecuted" By Robert Spencer

When Pamela Geller and I were banned from Britain (because, as it turned out, of our support for Israel), many people on both sides of the issue invoked Anjem Choudary, saying that if we were banned, he should be, or that since he moved about and spoke freely in Britain, we should be able to as well. The implication was sometimes stated explicitly: if Britain was going to allow "extremists" on one side to speak, "extremists" on the other side had to be allowed to as well (or both banned).

The English Leftist dhimmi hate site Harry's Place (which styles itself as against jihad as long as you're the right kind of foe of jihad and yet advances patently false smear stories about Geller and me) continues to advance this theme, but the article below and the graphic above show how invidious the comparison is, and how it is itself part of the Leftist/Islamic supremacist defamation campaign designed to demonize us and everyone who stands against jihad terror and Islamic supremacism. Pamela Geller and I have never advocated anything remotely approximating Choudary's calls for stoning and lashing, or called for the imposition of a societal system that denies equality of rights to whole swaths of the population and denies the freedom of speech and freedom of conscience. We have never praised murders or called for the restriction of women's rights. Our work is consistently dedicated to defending those freedoms and equality of rights for all people.

That people like Choudary can speak freely in Britain while we are banned shows the deep trouble British society is in today. And that anyone would equate us with him shows the power of Leftist/Islamic supremacist hate propaganda.

"Laws against inciting hatred: funny how an Islamist hate preacher is never prosecuted," by Sean Thomas for the Telegraph, December 17:

And so we return to the case of Anjem Choudary, Britain’s most eminent Hate-Preacher-Who-Also-Lives-On-Benefits. Choudary has hit the news again, just as he intended, this time for marching down Brick Lane threatening shopkeepers with 40 lashes if they don’t stop selling alcohol. At the same time he has gone on record, acclaiming Muslim gangs (who recently attacked drinkers on London’s streets), as “fantastic”.

Now, simple minded souls might wonder whether Choudary was breaking the law here: isn’t it an incitement to violence, when you praise vicious mobs as “fantastic”? Isn’t it criminal, in some way, to menace shopkeepers with “40 lashes”?

Come to think of it, you might wonder why Choudary hasn’t been jailed before, given his record. In 2003 he was investigated for organising terrorist training camps. Around the same time he praised the 9/11 bombers as “magnificent martyrs”.  A few months later he predicted attacks on British soil. In 2005 he refused to condemn the 7/7 slaughters in London.

In 2006 he organised a protest outside the Danish Embassy in London where, notoriously, the protestors carried placards saying “Exterminate those who slander Islam", “Behead those who insult Islam”, and “Be prepared for the real holocaust". Some might imagine this was clearly an incitement to violence and racial/religious hatred, and worthy of jail time – but no. Choudary received a £500 fine, but it was imposed because he failed to inform police of the planned demo.

At various occasions between 2003 and 2011 he also preached to at least one of the men who went on to kill Woolwich drummer Lee Rigby. Choudary has since refused to condemn this slaughter: he has gone on record as saying Rigby is now “burning in hell”; he has praised one of the killers as a “very nice man”.

And now Choudary’s back in East London doing his provocateur shtick, yet again.

So why isn’t Choudary ever banged up for racism, or incitement to racial and religious hatred? Because, as Assistant Met Commissioner Cressida Dick informed MPs, just after the Rigby murder, “offences under the hatred laws” are “difficult to prosecute” and it seems he never crosses the line.

And that’s true, isn’t it? Hardly anyone is jailed for racial or religious hatred, because it is so “difficult to prosecute”.

I mean, off the top of my head, I can only think of 52-year-old Keith Hurdle, just given four months in prison for a racist rant on a Tube train, and Swansea student Liam Stacey, who got 54 days in prison for some racist tweets, and 42-year-old Jacqueline Woodhouse, given 21 weeks for a racist rant on another train, and six Charlton fans, jailed for 18 months for singing racist songs, and 62-year-old David Rowley, locked up for eight months after sending four racist texts, and Anthony Buck given four months for posting Islamophobic remarks on Facebook, and electrician Darren Tosh, who got 16 weeks inside for some more racist texts, and Grimsby man Terence Baker, who got prison time for being Islamophobic on the Internet, and Glaswegian Stephen Birrell, who got eight months for inciting hatred of Catholics on Facebook, and Gareth Hemingway, of Bognor Regis, who got 15 months for uploading racist clips to Youtube, and 34-year-old Emma West, who spent two weeks in jail for shouting at some foreign people on a tram, and Martin Smith, slammed in a cell for having a potentially racist ringtone, and fortysomething Ronnie Hutton, who spent days behind bars after revving his car in a racist manner, and 19-year-old Celtic fan Sean Smith, who got three months in prison for impersonating a monkey in the direction of a Senegalese footballer.

Yes, Anjem Choudary can count himself a lucky man. If only the police weren’t hamstrung by our soft, feeble laws against racial and religious hatred, which are so “difficult to prosecute”, he might be facing a few weeks in one of Her Majesty’s jails.

 

Ottoman Empire Dreams: Turkish PM Erdogan claims Territories of Balkan countries belong to Turkey

More Islamic imperialism from Obama's favorite "and most trusted" foreign "ally," Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has proclaimed, "mosques are our barracks, domes our helmets, minarets our bayonets, Muslims our soldiers. This holy army guards my religion."

Perhaps Obama will send the US army to support Erdogan's jihad in the Balkans, just as Clinton sent the US army to Bosnia for that very thing as well. Same war. The Balkans include Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Macedonia, Montenegro, and the soon-to-be-established independent Islamic state of Kosovo.

17,000 new mosques have been built during Turkish Premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s 10 years of leadership, Milliyet reports. In the same period, the number of public schools remained at 32,000, while the number of mosques has jumped from 76,000 to 93,000. Turkey’s secular opposition has accused Erdogan of having a ”secret plan” to re-Islamisize the nation. What's so secretive about it?

 Turkish PM Erdogan: Territories of Balkan countries belong to Turkey (thanks to Robert Spencer)

Increasingly open neo-Ottoman imperialism from Erdogan, as Turkey rapidly re-Islamizes. "Turkish PM says territories of Balkan countries belong to Turkey (ROUNDUP)," from FOCUS News Agency, December 11 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):

Skopje. Greece rose to its feet as it reacted to comments made by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan that the Turkish territory included the Greek part of Thrace, parts of Macedonia, Bulgaria and Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonian Utrinski Vesnik announced.

“Thrace is Thessaloniki but at the same time it is Komotini and Xanthi,” Mr Erdogan said during a speech delivered as part of the campaign for next year’s local elections.

“It is also Kardzhali [in Bulgaria] and the Vardar River. Going further back, it is Skopje, Pristina and Sarajevo.”

Greece considered this statement anything else, but an expression of friendly attitude of a neighbouring country that Greece made attempts to overcome problems and establish partnership with.

“The Turkish PM tries to expand the Turkish conquests and claims concerning the Balkans,” Tanea.gr informed, while Imerisia.gr wrote: “Erdogan is incredible – Thessaloniki also belongs to Thrace”.

“In this way Erdogan continues with provocations in terms of breathing new life into the old but never forgotten plan to revive the “Turkish Republic of Thrace”, which includes portions of Greece, of southern Bulgaria and of the Central Balkans,” Tanea.gr also wrote.

Bulgaria’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson also today commented on Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s words concerning territories which he stated belonged to Turkey.

The spokesperson stated that Bulgaria’s Foreign Ministry, proceeding from the assumption that Bulgarian-Turkish relations had been traditionally good and that a sitting of the Commission on Unresolved Issues was forthcoming, believed that such statements did not aid the development of bilateral dialogue aiming at efficient and pragmatic solutions [to issues].

The Foreign Ministry also stated that such interpretations connected with the Balkans past had to be handled carefully, having in mind the peculiarities in the history of the Balkan countries and the sensitivity they might invoke.

Prof. Bozhidar Dimitrov, Director of Bulgaria’s National Historical Museum, stated that such statements as the one on the part of Mr Erdogan should not be made, especially as Bulgaria and Greece, two of Turkey’s neighbouring countries, were EU member states.

As it is well known, Turkey is a candidate for EU membership and relies on Bulgarian and Greek support so that it could join the EU.

 

Jihad in Thailand: Drive-by bombing of school

Our man in Thailand, Chai, tells me that thankfully nobody was killed today, but just like the subdued American media, the Thai news media is giving short shrift to four separate Muslim terror attacks:

"Four civilians injured in three separate shootings, and two Army Rangers guarding students injured in a drive-by school bombing. We call that a 'good day' in Southern Thailand. Nobody died."

Two rangers injured by pipe bomb," Bangkok Post, December 17, 2o13

Two rangers were slightly injured by a pipe bomb thrown at them while on security duty at Ban Krachut School in Pattani's Mai Kaen district on Tuesday afternoon.

Pol Col Chalong Sukchan, the Mai Kaen police chief, said the attack occurred about 2.20pm when the two rangers, Kampol Pimol and Kraisorn Sommat of the 42nd Rangers Regiment, were checking out a shelter near the school fence.

Two men drove past on a motorcycle and the pillion rider threw an improvised bomb made of a PVC pipe across the fence into the school.

The two rangers were slightly injured by the explosion.

Obama-backed Syrian Jihadists Demand 1,000-Hostage Swap to Free Kidnapped Nuns

Jihad spokesman Mohannad Abu al-Fidaa said that the nuns "will not be released until several demands have been implemented."

The Storming Of Monastery Near Damascus And Kidnapping Of Its Nuns (thanks to MEMRI)

Earlier this week, reports emerged that a group of a dozen nuns from the historic Christian town of Ma'loula near Damascus were kidnapped by opposition forces. The nuns, according to one report, were held captive by radical opposition groups, believed to be associated with Al-Qaeda, after the latter stormed the monastery where the nuns were located.

 

According to the same report, nuns from the St. Taqla monastery in the town of Ma'loula, north of Damascus, including the monastery's head nun, sister Bilajia Sayyaf, were held captive by opposition forces. The latter were accused of targeting churches in the city, including an orphanage that belonged to St. Taqla. The report added that the Vatican confirmed that 12 Christian Orthodox nuns of Syrian and Lebanese background were forced out of the St. Taqla monastery, located in the middle of the historic city, and that "jihadis" might have transferred the nuns to a different location north of the city.