Islamists to West: Put Up Your Hands and Hand Over Your Property!

Barry Rubin

Here’s the perfect parable for understanding not just the contemporary Middle East but the wider world today. So far, it’s only being covered in the Finnish media which, I assume, means nobody outside that country knows about it.

Two unarmed Finnish soldiers assigned to the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO) were observing along the Israel-Syria border from the Syrian side.  Armed men stopped their car. While the two Finns didn’t speak Arabic they were quickly made to understand that the men wanted their UN vehicle and their other possessions.

Similar things have happened to Belgian and Italian soldiers in the UNIFIL force in southern Lebanon.

And The Seas Go Dry

Sultan Knish

THE BEST DEFENSE IS A DUMB LOOK ON YOUR FACE

The former mayor of Bell, California, was too stupid and uneducated to know his $100,000 salary for the part-time city job was illegal, his lawyer argued today.

Oscar Hernandez is illiterate, has no high school degree and didn’t even finish elementary school

Dem Mayor Claims He Was Too Stupid To Know Stealing is a Crime




FORWARD TO DEFEAT

During the Bush administration there were only two American commanders of the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan. Under Obama there have so far been five. There has been a new ISAF commander nearly every single year that Obama has been in office. The only exception is 2012 when Obama was too busy trying to win an election to bother further sabotaging a losing war.

General McKiernan’s firing was put down to the need for fresh ideas. McKiernan was deemed too “old school” because he wanted to fight an old-fashioned war against the Taliban while Obama Inc. believed that the war couldn’t be won by beating the Taliban, but by winning the hearts and minds of Afghans. It was a fashionable and doomed strategy that required sacrificing the lives and limbs of thousands of American soldiers to political correctness.

The old-school general who had once said, “I don’t understand ever putting your men and women in harm’s way, without their having the full ability to protect themselves. That also means operating on actionable intelligence to defeat insurgents, and protect your forces. That’s how you keep your soldiers alive,” was clearly not the man for that job.

Group pre-emptively asks court to ensure cops protect freedom of speech, not sharia at Dearborn Arab Festival

creeping
So this is what it’s come to in areas of the United States where Muslims are a majority?
via Home | AFLC Asks Federal Court to Enjoin Wayne County Sheriff from Restricting Christians’ Right to Freedom of Speech at 2013 Arab Festival in Dearborn, Michigan | AFLC – American Freedom Law Center.

On February 19, the American Freedom Law Center (AFLC) filed a motion for a preliminary injunction in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, requesting that the court issue an order preventing the Wayne County Sheriff and his deputies from restricting a group of Christian evangelists from displaying banners and signs with Christian messages on the public sidewalks during the 2013 Arab Festival to be held in Dearborn, Michigan.

The motion is part of a federal civil rights lawsuit that AFLC filed against Wayne County, the Wayne County Sheriff, and two Wayne County Deputy Chiefs on behalf of Bible Believers, a Christian organization; Ruben Israel, the leader of Bible Believers; and two other members of the organization.  Bible Believers and its members engage in street preaching and other First Amendment activities, including displaying signs and banners with Christian messages, throughout the United States.

American Muslim Jurists: Offensive Jihad -- Not Just Yet

Ryan Mauro

Assembly of Muslim Jurist of America logoThe Assembly of Muslim Jurists of America (AMJA) opposes offensive jihad in the West, but for reasons that may surprise you. In an Arabic fatwa (religious decree) that doesn’t appear on its English website, it states that “the Islamic community does not possess the strength to engage in offensive jihad at this time [emphasis added].”
This doesn’t mean that all jihad is to be abandoned. “With our current capabilities, we are aspiring towards defensive jihad, and to improve our position with regards to jurisprudence at this stage. But there is a different discussion for each situation,” it said.

It is important to notice that it was issued in Arabic on the website of its Secretary-General, Salah Al-Sawy. Even though AMJA is based in Sacramento and its mission is to serve their American Muslim audience, it decided against issuing this fatwa in English. If it wasn’t translated by the Translating Jihad blog and reported by Andrew Bostom in 2011, we probably wouldn’t know about it.

Palestinians Plan Violence to Force the US to Extract Concessions from Israel

Khaled Abu Toameh

The Palestinian leadership is hoping that anti-US demonstrations and uprisings will scare Obama and force him to exert even more pressure on Israel.

There are many signs that the Palestinian Authority is seeking to escalate tensions in the West Bank ahead of US President Barack Obama's visit to the region next month.
Although the Palestinian Authority probably does not want an all-out confrontation between Palestinians and Israelis at this stage, some Palestinian Authority officials in Ramallah believe that a "mini-intifada" would serve the Palestinians' interests, especially on the eve of Obama's visit.
The officials hope that scenes of daily clashes between Israeli soldiers and Palestinians in the West Bank will prompt Obama to exert pressure on the Israeli government to make far-reaching concessions to the Palestinian Authority.

The Rape Epidemic in Morsi's Egypt

Raymond Ibrahim

 

CBS correspondent Laura Logan in Tahrir Square on the night of Morsi's victory. moments before being surrounded by a mob and sexually assaulted.Since the “Arab Spring” came to Egypt and the Muslim Brotherhood assumed power, sexual harassment, abuse and rape of women has skyrocketed. This graph, which shows an enormous jump in sexual harassment beginning around January 2011 when the Tahrir revolts began, certainly demonstrates as much.
Its findings are supported by any number of reports appearing in both Arabic and Western media, from both Egyptian and foreign women.

AP: "The cradle of the Arab Spring is increasingly looking like the birthplace of jihadists"

FP

Top News: The southern Indian city of Hyderabad was hit on Thursday by a double bombing that killed at least 13 people in a busy shopping area. The bombs were planted on bicycles and detonated about ten minutes apart. On Twitter, Prime Minister Manmohan Sing wrote, "This is a dastardly attack, the guilty will not go unpunished." It was India's first major terrorist bombing since 2011.
The Associated Press reports that police are focusing on a group known as the Indian Mujahideen, which is thought to have links with militants in neighboring Pakistan. The Pakistani foreign ministry also condemned the attack.
The blasts came two days after government security agencies sent out an advisory urging states to tighten security in the wake of the recent executions of convicted terrorists Ajmal Kasab and Mohammed Afzal Guru. Kasab had been the long surviving gunman from the 2008 Mumbai attack while Guru, a Kashmiri, was convicted of playing a role in the 2001 attack on Parliament that killed 14 people.
Egypt: President Mohamed Morsi has called for parliamentary elections to begin on April 27. The vote will be held in four staged ending in late June.

---

Europe

• The European Commission says the eurozone recession will persist into 2013.
• Britain convicted three men for a 2005 bombing plot in Birmingham.
• The U.S. ambassador to Russia warned Moscow officials against exploiting the death of an adopted child in Texas.

Middle East

• The opposition Syrian National Coalition says President Bashar al-Assad cannot be a party to any peace settlement.
• Tunisia's president has asked the country's former interior minister to form a government.
• A new IAEA report found that Iran is speeding up its production of enriched uranium while also capping its fuel stockpiles.

Africa

• Iran has denied allegations that it organized a spy cell in Nigeria.
• France's defense ministry says Malian troops, assisted by French soldiers, killed 15 Islamist insurgents in Gao.
• Rwanda admitted it is holding more than 280 army deserters on an island in Lake Kivu.

Asia

• Japan has asked China to explain a series of buoys placed near disputed islands in the East China Sea.
• Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is due to meet with President Obama in Washington today.
• Gunman attacked an Indonesia military helicopter in Papua.

Americas

• Judges have ordered former Haitian leader Jean-Claude Duvalier to appear in court to face human rights charges.
• The United Nations rejected a compensation claim from Haiti over the cholera outbreak that killed nearly 8,000 people.
• Guatemala is investigating reports that the infamous Mexican drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman may be dead.

Why the CIA Director is Wrong: Rethinking al-Qaida

Barry Rubin

It’s time, a dozen years after September 11 and following Islamist coups in the Gaza Strip; Islamist electoral revolutions in Egypt, Tunisia, Lebanon, and Turkey; and a probable Islamist victory during the next year in Syria--to rethink completely our view of al-Qaida.

First, al-Qaida wasn’t involved in any of these events and several more big developments we could list. Second, al-Qaida hasn't disappeared, contrary to the Obama Administration's claims. And third, the American homeland is now demonstrably well-protected from terrorist attacks so consequently while success on this front remains important it need not be the top U.S. strategic priority.

So let me propose a new way of looking at things:

Aside from being a problem of counter-terrorism—that is, of law enforcement—al-Qaida is no longer important. It certainly isn’t strategically important nor is it important for the biggest and most essential U.S. national interests. That doesn't mean al-Qaida should be ignored yet combatting it is relatively manageable.

Food server fired for serving Muslim children non-halal meat…at “multi-faith” school

creeping

Taxation for Islamization in Londonistan. Clearly multi-faith schools are like inter-faith dialog with Muslims: a one way street where dhimmi leaders subject non-Muslim students to sharia-compliant food without a say in the matter. via Dinner lady sacked for serving Muslim children with non-Halal meat at multi-faith school | Mail Online.

A dinner lady has been sacked for accidentally serving non-halal meat to Muslim students at a multi-faith school.

The incident outraged parents at the ‘halal-only’ Moseley School in Birmingham, and they have forced the headmaster to apologise for ‘insulting’ their faith.

The member of staff has been dismissed after the ‘unintentional error’ on December 12 last year recently came to light.

All 1,400 students at Moseley school are served halal meat, regardless of their religion.

It has not been specified what type of meat was served, but the person responsible for serving the food was dismissed following a disciplinary hearing last Monday.

Parents were informed of the mistake this month, and reacted with outrage, forcing headteacher Carl Jansen to apologise for the ‘unintentional error’.

However, Muslim parents are demanding others be held accountable for the mistake, which they say call ‘an insult to our faith’.

‘The school have failed the children,’ one parent said yesterday. ‘How did this meal get into the school system to be fed to the children?

The school has failed the children. The non-Muslim children.

Netanyahu’s Political Cynicism will backfire

Isi Leibler
February 22, 2013
http://wordfromjerusalem.com/?p=4498

Without doubt, many Israelis share my disgust as they observe the deceitful and cynical machinations of those we elected to represent us in the Knesset.

Understandably, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu was disappointed with the dramatic erosion in support of Likud-Beiteinu at the recent elections. Yet he remained the unchallenged leader of the nation and was uniquely positioned to create a broad coalition which could have enjoyed the support of the vast majority of the nation.

The Collapse of Iran's Rial

by Steven Plaut

The Iranian banking system is rife with corruption and embezzlement. Of loans to public entities, over 90% are non-performing. The Ayatollahs seem to understand that the real threat to their hold on power comes from Iranians on the street and in the bazaar – people who understand that the government, not sanctions, has ruined the country's economy.

"Wealth comes like a turtle and goes away like a gazelle." -- Persian Proverb
The Iranian economy has been imploding, at times even nudging news of Iran's nuclear program off of the front pages. In the first ten months of 2012, the Iranian currency, the rial, lost more than 80% of its exchange value. In a single day, on October 1, 2012, it dropped by 15%, and, after a brief reprieve, resumed its trend downwards in early 2013. At least one commentator has compared Iran's economic meltdown with that in Zimbabwe.[1]

Israel's Underground Blood Bank

Nurit Greenger

Rockets flying over Israel is a frightening scene. Thus far the rockets and missiles that have hit Israel from Iraq, Lebanon and recently from Gaza did not do extensive damage, but they can and probably will one day.

Magen David Adom (MDA) provides a rapid and skilled emergency medical response, including disaster, ambulance, and blood services to Israel's 7.8 million people. It is responsible for 100% of the blood supply for the IDF and for 90% of the blood supply for the nation.

The blood bank of MDA is located in the Dan region. The Gazan rockets already proved to be able to reach Tel Aviv and thus put the blood bank in great danger.

To get a better understanding of what could happen to the central blood bank of Israel please watch:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2hZ6SlSqq0&feature=youtu.be This week, at the lovely home in Beverly Hills, of the hospitable Shahin and Isaac Eshaghpour, American Friends of Magen David Adom (AFMDA) hosted, Professor Eilat Shinar, Magen David Adom (MDA) Blood Bank Director and Advisor to Israel's Ministry of Health.

"Purim"

Purim will be celebrated Saturday night and Sunday here, as elsewhere in the world, except for walled cities such as Jerusalem, where Shushan Purim will be celebrated on Sunday night and Monday.

The story of Purim is one of a threat to the existence of the Jewish people, overcome against great odds because of the determined actions of Mordecai and Esther.  God's name is not mentioned anywhere in the Megillat Esther.  We are to understand, however, that God is present, working behind the scenes.

The lessons -- that we must trust in God, even when we cannot see his hand., and that we must act decisively on behalf of our people -- are of paramount importance today.   It should not escape us that the story of Esther takes place in Persia, which is the modern Iran.  Nor should we forget that Mordecai refused to bow down to the wicked Haman.

Let's Protest the Real Apartheid State

Mitchell G. Bard

Posted: 02/21/2013 

With the Middle East in turmoil, as Arabs from North Africa to the Persian Gulf seek to escape decades of authoritarian rule and the denial of their civil and political rights, students around the world will spend a week in March denouncing the one democracy in the region that offers equal rights to all -- Israel. Through films, lectures and demonstrations students will attempt to smear Israel with comparisons to the discriminatory policies of South Africa in what has become an annual campus hate fest directed at Jews and Israel. Israeli policy has nothing to do with South Africa's; however, if the demonstrators were really interested in human rights, they'd be campaigning against every Arab regime and, especially, apartheid Saudi Arabia.

BREAKING: Syrian Opposition Forces Reportedly Bomb Hezbollah Compounds, As Hezbollah Goes All-In On Syria

 Avi Issacharoff | 02.21.13 
Thanks to OMR
 

Sources in the Free Syrian Army, the main armed group fighting to overthrow the regime of Bashar al-Assad, are announcing that its soldiers have bombed two Hezbollah compounds, one in Syria and another in the Lebanese town of Hermel. If confirmed the development may mark a critical turn in Syria’s two-year war, bearing out fears that the increasingly sectarian conflict would spill over across Syria’s borders.

Yesterday FSA Chief of Staff Gen. Salim Idris gave Hezbollah an unprecedented ultimatum: withdraw its forces from Lebanon within 48 hours or face attack.

Turkey’s Anadolu news agency reported that Hezbollah put its forces on high alert in eight villages near the Syrian-Lebanese border, while opposition sources told the Al-Arabiya satellite station that fighting between the FSA and Hezbollah continued today.

Why It’s In Everyone’s Interests that the Hagel Nomination Be Defeated

By Barry Rubin

It seems certain that Chuck Hagel will be confirmed by the U.S. Senate as the next secretary of state. But it shouldn’t be. For the Hagel issue is the perfect symbol of the dilemmas faced by America today.

The first problem is the willingness of all too much of the mass media and the Democratic Party to be a doormat for President Barack Obama even though this stance is against their own interests. Many Democratic senators resent the fact that they are so pressured to vote for Hagel even though it makes them look foolish and might endanger their reelection chances.

Their willingness to vote for Hagel, however, shows the triumph of partisanship and ideology over national interest. Obviously, there are times when those factors will prevail, especially if the question is more marginal. But when a clearly unqualified man who has made a fool of himself in public hearings is going to take a post that involves the very lives of so many, that’s where you should draw the line.

The speech that sent Galloway packing...

Jonathan Hoffman February 21, 2013

I am proud to be the first (I believe) to publish the speech by Oxford student Eylon Aslan-Levy that sent George Galloway on his bike last night. The motion was that Israel should leave the West Bank now. Galloway had proposed, Aslan-Levy was opposing.

Mr Speaker, thank you for inviting me here tonight.
To the audience – thank you for coming.
Mr Galloway –
I was disappointed, but not surprised, to learn that you had promised the press that you would “annihilate” me—
[Here Galloway interrupts and accuses me of libelling him for repeating a statement made to the Oxford Student Newspaper: http://oxfordstudent.com/2013/02/14/galloway-says-he-will-annihilate/]
Let me make it clear where I stand. This debate is not about whether Israel should withdraw from most of the West Bank upon the signing of a treaty that would guarantee the Jewish and Palestinian nations peace and prosperity within the safe and secure borders of their respective states.
That is a point of consensus in Israel. I believe that the Occupation must end. I am devastated when Israelis are murdered in suicide bombings and rocket attacks; and I am deeply distressed by heavy price that the Palestinians have paid for this conflict, including the tragic loss of innocent life. I want peace and I want it now.
This debate, however, is about whether Israel should withdraw immediately. Overnight. Unilaterally. Without any guarantees from the Palestinians to match such dramatic concessions by calling an end to this century-old conflict. The burden on the proposition today is to make precisely that case.

After Afghanistan

Sultan Knish

Some wars are lost in a matter of moments, others stretch on indefinitely. The defeat in Afghanistan crept up silently on the national consciousness and even though we are negotiating with the Taliban, the "D" word is hardly used by anyone.

According to Obama, in one of his interminable speeches which all run together and sound the same, there really isn't a war, just a mission, and the old mission is now becoming a new sort of mission, and the missions, all of them, whether in Afghanistan or Iraq, have been successful which is why we are wrapping them up, except that we aren't really. And that's about as clear as the message from the big white building with the neatly mowed lawn out front gets, except for the part about how its occupant singlehandedly parachuted into Pakistan, killed Bin Laden, and then stopped off for some curry and a humanitarian award.

Islamic Assassination: Silencing Freedom Fighters

Raymond Ibrahim

FrontPage Magazine
Tunisia, one of the most secular Arab countries in modern times—and the first country to experience the “Arab Spring”—was also recently the first Arab country to experience a high level political Islamic assassination since the Arab Spring began.  The BBC explains:

Tunisian opposition politician Chokri Belaid has been shot dead outside his home in the capital, Tunis.  Relatives say Mr Belaid was shot in the neck and head on his way to work.  He was a prominent secular opponent of the moderate [sic] Islamist-led government and his murder has sparked protests around the country, with police firing tear gas to disperse angry crowds.

A Medieval painting of the assassination of Nizam al-Mulk by one of the Hashashin

"A Regrettable Turn of Events"

Regrettable. Pathetic. Many adjectives apply to what took place here in Israel last night at the political level:

 

A party, the very first to do so, signed on to the coalition PM Netanyahu has been working to form: Tzipi Livni's party, Hatnua.  Not only has this left-wing party -- with six mandates -- joined, Livni herself will be Justice Minister AND will be responsible for negotiations with the Palestinian Arabs, reporting to the prime minister himself.  Netanyahu will lead a ministerial committee on the peace process that will include Livni and the defense and foreign ministers. 

 

Amir Peretz, of Hatnua, will reportedly be given the Environmental Protection portfolio.