Sunday, October 29, 2006
A masked Palestinian boy holds a toy gun during a rally in support of the Palestinian Hamas government in the West bank city of Hebron, October 27, 2006. (Stringer/Reuters)
The Associated Press version of this appalling photo has an even more ridiculously deceptive caption. (Hat tip: Killgore Trout.)
A boy wears a face mask made from an Islamic flag and holds an toy rifle with live rounds attached to it, as he poses for the photographers, during a rally of thousands of Hamas supporters in the southern West Bank city of Hebron, Friday Oct. 27, 2006.(AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)
A Palestinian boy makes a victory sign while another one holds a toy gun as they try to catch a glimps of European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana, not pictured, as he visits a school and health center in the West Bank town of Nablus, Friday Oct. 27, 2006. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)
It’s always a special moment when the BBC tries to claim they’re not overwhelmingly slanted toward multicultural doublethink: BBC ‘not crammed full of soft liberals’ says deputy chief.
Oh, how we laughed. Then we remembered it really isn’t very funny to see the instruments of public information hijacked by self-loathing morons.
One of the BBC’s most senior executives has defended the corporation against accusations that it is “crammed full of soft liberals” obsessed with pushing a politically correct agenda.
In an exclusive interview, Mark Byford, the deputy director-general, has hit back at suggestions that the broadcaster is too sensitive to the feelings of Muslim viewers and that it has an inbuilt anti-Christian bias.
Mr Byford, 48, who has overall responsibility for the corporation’s news division, refused, however, to rule out the possibility that a Muslim woman could read the news wearing a veil.
He also said he was “proud” of the BBC’s decision to include an interview with the Taliban in an item about the conflict in Afghanistan.
“Our job in journalism is to communicate to the audience effectively the information we are delivering to them,” he said. “As far as the issue of dress is concerned, it must not get in the way of the audience being able to receive the information in a clear and effective manner.”
Asked specifically about the issue of a Muslim newsreader wearing a veil, he said: “The key is, if it does not hamper our primary obligation to deliver the news and information to our viewers and listeners then we would be respectful of that.
“The key is that we would look at every single case and see it under that criterion. If the face is covered completely by the veil, then that is a different issue to something else. That’s why we can’t be that clear on it.”
He added: “Do I believe that the BBC favours Islam compared to Christianity? Absolutely not. We absolutely recognise that the BBC has to reflect all faiths which are relevant within the UK.”
Notice Byford’s refusal to say that the BBC will not have a Muslim woman read the news while wearing a radical Islamic face mask. This strongly suggests that such a thing is already in the planning stages, and we should expect it to be a reality soon. The Beeb will probably wait until the current furor over the veil cools off, but don’t be surprised to see a veiled newsreader within the next few months.
UPDATE at 10/29/06 8:24:16 am:
Notice also how Byford doesn’t even mention the BBC’s coverage of Israel, or Judaism—perhaps because it’s impossible to defend. Melanie Phillips had a post a few days ago about an astoundingly anti-Jewish episode of the BBC series “Spooks,” showing how insane things have gotten: The British Bigotry Corporation.
Anti-Zionism may be unremarkable on the Beeb, but this skidded well over into antisemitism. The take-home message was that Al Qaeda are a bunch of amateurs and can be managed as a law-enforcement problem but the real danger are those devious, murderous, all-too-clever Jews. The main plot involves a group of ruthless Mid-East hijackers who take over a London embassy and shoot people every hour. They turn out (of course) to be Jews in disguise. We have a Jewish traitor in high places with dialogue invoking the classic ‘can’t serve two masters’ accusation: ‘I asked which side he would fight on in a war between Britain and Israel. He just gave me his answer.’ The plot also relies on the same argument as the 9/11 conspiracy theory that Mossad blew up the twin towers because Muslims aren’t smart enough: MI5 realise the baddies must be Jewish because they’re too clever for their own good (and merciless and self-serving, naturally). The Jews in this episode may not be drinking the blood of Christian children but they are certainly bloodthirsty. There is even a fat, heavy-featured Mossad officer looking evil and inscrutable as he mouths ’shalom’. Plus the ringleader gets a cathartic booting at the end from the hero which had me in mind of Kristallnacht.
In an interview on Arabic radio two weeks ago, rape-supporting Australian mufti Sheikh Taj Din al-Hilali made his connections to the Muslim Brotherhood very clear, praising Sayyid Qutb (lgf: search) and calling for jihad against Australian troops overseas: Sheik Hilali praises Iraq jihadists.
TAJ Din al-Hilali has praised militant jihadists in Iraq and Afghanistan, calling them men of the highest order for fighting against coalition forces - which include Australian soldiers - to “liberate” their homelands.
In an interview on Arabic radio two weeks ago, the imam based at Sydney’s Lakemba mosque said he was opposed to terror attacks in Madrid, London and New York but strongly endorsed fighters in the Palestinian territories, Iraq and Afghanistan.
In the interview, Sheik Hilali pays tribute to Sayyid Qutb, the ideologue of the Muslim Brotherhood and intellectual mentor of Osama bin Laden and al-Qa’ida.
“Jihad of the liberator of Palestine, that’s the greatest and cleanest and highest ... jihad which lifts our heads in pride in south Lebanon,” Sheik Hilali says in the October 17 interview.
He tells broadcaster Abrahim Zoabi that he endorses jihad for liberation. “We are talking about ... jihad of liberating our land, jihad of Muslim Afghanis in their land - that’s jihad.
“Jihad of Iraqi Muslims is jihad, but not when Sunnis and Shias are killing each other - that’s not jihad.”
The revelation comes as a neighbouring cleric from Sydney’s Bankstown accused Sheik Hilali of supporting military Islamic jihad against the West and called on imams from around the country to band together to force the mufti to step down.
Sheik Ibrahim El-Shafie said yesterday Sheik Hilali was a follower of the Egyptian Islamic scholar Qutb, one of the founding fathers of modern jihad, whose teachings are used by al-Qa’ida and Jemaah Islamiah.
In the radio interview, Sheik Hilali says Qutb interpreted the Koran in the “finest manner”. “Sayyid Qutb is an intellectual man ... who gave up his soul in 66 for Islam.”
Saturday, October 28, 2006
The brownish haze in the air is from the wildfires burning near Palm Springs:
The forces of radical Islam are getting very bold in Malaysia; an American couple was subjected to a humiliating, terrifying 2 am khalwat inspection by “religious enforcement officers:” Couple in khalwat raid may drop second home plan. (Hat tip: LGF readers.)
LANGKAWI: Retired American policeman Randal Barnhart, who was subjected to a 2am raid by religious enforcement officers, is reconsidering his plan to make Malaysia his second home.�
“After that unpleasant episode two weeks ago, I do not feel like making Malaysia my second home. It is a pity because both my wife and I really love Langkawi,” he said.�
On Oct 12, Barnhart, 62, and his wife Carole, 61, were in their rented condominium in Kuah when enforcement officers continuously knocked on their door at 2am, accusing them of committing khalwat (close proximity).�
He said the officers demanded to see his marriage certificate, although he had told them that they were Christians and should not be subjected to Islamic law.�
“We find it difficult to forget the unpleasant episode. My wife was so terrified by the incident that she fears sleeping in that condominium,” he added. �
Banhart said the officers were rude and insisted on “seeing the woman” when he opened the door.�“My wife had to show herself despite only having a sarong on at that time. We felt humiliated for being treated this way,” he said.�
He said he had to send his wife back to the United States on the next available flight because she feared people might return to the condominium to terrify her in the middle of the night. She flew home on Wednesday. �
“I want the religious department to apologise to me and my wife in writing,” he added.
Under shari’a law, khalwat is the crime of being in close proximity to someone of the opposite sex who is neither a spouse nor a relative.
 Today’s ride: 47.45 miles, on a somewhat meandering but fairly high-paced undisclosed route that involved 1,922 feet of climbing, an average speed of 16.0 mph, a maximum speed of 38.7 mph, an average temperature of 80.6 degrees Fahrenheit, and a wind speed of 8.6 mph from the south-southwest. The wind direction meant a most excellent tailwind on the return trip, not at all fascist or hegemonic, except maybe in a good way.
The person who sent this via our contact form used an ISP in Egypt, and the email address ikhwanweb2005@gmail.com, so it’s the real thing. Apparently, LGF is now on at least one Muslim Brotherhood watch list; he came to the site through our RSS feed.
It’s the standard denial. This comes from the political and public relations wing of the global jihad. No need for them to threaten. When someone in their network goes too far, they’ll back down and pretend they had nothing to do with it. They’re in this for the long haul.
Note that there is no mention of their connection to the Muslim American Society, who issued the fatwa reported in this Star Tribune piece from last Thursday. As I wrote then: “Expect serious seething, now that their rock has been turned over.”
The Muslim Brotherhood (MB) denied completely any involvement in the current dispute caused by a group of Somali Muslim cab drivers at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, U.S.A, who are refusing to pick up drunk passengers or those carrying alcoholic beverages claiming that Islam prohibits them from driving passengers with Alcohol. Dr. Mohamed Habib, the first Deputy Chairman of the Muslim Brotherhood, affirmed that Muslim Brotherhood has nothing to do whatsoever with what these Muslim cab drivers believe or view mistakenly as religious decree. Dr. Habib described the cabbies’ position as “absurd” and added “Muslims must respect and comply with the laws and regulations of the countries they live in and be a good example for their fellow citizens”
Dr. Habib stated that these drivers are free to believe in whatever they think is right or wrong, however, he strongly condemned them for “trying to impose their own personal believes on society” and stated that those drivers must transport passengers anywhere, “those who are refusing to transport certain passengers are indeed breaking the laws and the regulations sanctioned by the local authorities which prohibit discrimination in any form or shape. These drivers are ought to look for a different type of work which they feel more comfortable with and which can accommodate their own personal believes without causing hardships for others”. The cab drivers had requested that dispatchers exempt them to pick up passengers heading to liquor stores and bars.
Dr. Habib also stated that these cabbies by transporting drunk passengers are indeed protecting society had these passengers driven their own cars and gotten into accidents that might result into the loss of innocent lives.
Meanwhile, Dr. Habib praised the Metropolitan Airports Commission, which regulates taxi service at the airport, for its patience while for two years has been discussing this issue with cab drivers trying to accommodate them. The commission had earlier agreed to let cabbies use lights on top of the cabs to identify drivers who won’t transport alcohol so airport employees could direct passengers with alcohol to a willing driver, but later dropped that proposal after many Muslims themselves denounced the cabbies position.
Several organizations and media outlets in the U.S, driven by their own hatred towards the Muslim Brotherhood, have been engaging in a smear campaign and trying disparately to link the Muslim Brotherhood to the current controversy, which the MB has nothing to do with it. These laughable and despicable reports have capitalized on the controversy they helped to create in the first place and frantically panicked about what they called “the Muslim Brotherhood project to islamize the U.S by imposing the Sharia Law on Americans”, which is utterly ridiculous.
The Muslim Brotherhood views and opinions can only be obtained through its official channels and should not be held responsible for other individuals or entities that might try to associate themselves with the group.
The Muslim Brotherhood follows and promotes a moderate interpretation of Islam, and do not condone radical views. In the contrary, the MB has been always a staunch advocate of tolerance and coexistence among Muslims and people of other religions or cultures.
About Ikhwanweb:
IKhwanweb is the Muslim Brotherhood’s only official English web site. The Main office is located in London, although Ikhwanweb has correspondents in most countries. Our staff is exclusively made of volunteers and stretched over the five continents.
The Muslim Brotherhood opinions and views can be found under the sections of MB statements and MB opinions, in addition to the Editorial Message.
Items posted under “other views” are usually different from these of the Muslim Brotherhood.
Ikhwanweb does not censor any articles or comments but has the right only to remove any inappropriate words that defy public taste Ikhwanweb is not a news website, although we report news that matter to the Muslim Brotherhood’s cause. Our main misson is to present the Muslim Brotherhood vision right from the source and rebut misonceptions about the movement in western societies. We value debate on the issues and we welcome constructive criticism.
UPDATE at 10/28/06 8:31:54 pm:
I’m sure the Star Tribune has also been contacted by the Ikhwan. It should be interesting to see how they respond.
UPDATE at 10/28/06 8:35:52 pm:
Heh.
Zombie’s new report, with MP3 recordings, covers The “What Are Americans Voting For?” panel discussion at UC Berkeley, with Markos “Screw Them” Moulitsas, Joan Blades (co-founder of MoveOn.org), and the ridiculous “progressive” philosopher George Lakoff and his GOP-Daddy theories.
Few things in life evoke the gag reflex with such rapidity as listening to the genius boast that “we got [Lieberman’s] ass out of the Democratic Party.”
I’d call this a brainstorming session, but that would require brains. I’d call it a meeting of the minds, but that would require minds.
UPDATE at 10/28/06 6:37:20 pm:
“GOP-Daddy” Lakoff was first mocked at LGF in November 2003: Berkeley Prof Tries to Figure It Out. And I’m sure it will come as no surprise to learn that Lakoff is an admirer of Noam Chomsky.
French “youths” expressing their disenchantment have seriously injured a woman in a Molotov cocktail attack on a bus in the city of Marseille: Woman hurt as vandals set fire to French bus. (Hat tip: No Pasaran!)
PARIS (Reuters) - A woman in the southern city of Marseille suffered severe burns when vandals set fire to a bus she was traveling on, a police source said on Saturday.
The attack occurred as France marked the first anniversary of riots that scarred the country’s poor suburbs, inhabited largely by immigrants.
Vandals have set at least six buses on fire in suburbs around Paris this week in an upsurge of violence ahead of the anniversary, but there have been no injuries.
The police source said an unknown number of people forced their way on to the bus in Marseille at about 9.00 p.m. (1900 GMT) and set fire to it before a 26-year-old woman could escape. “The woman’s life is in danger,” the source said.
Three other people needed treatment for smoke inhalation.
Here’s some information about Hizballah’s organized effort to militarize civilian Lebanese houses that has gone almost completely unnoticed by mainstream media, except for this piece by James G. Zumwalt in the Washington Times: Deadly Hezbollah chess match. (Hat tip: Carl in Jerusalem.)
When the recent Israeli-Hezbollah war ended, the United Nations’ newly organized human rights council, pressed by its Islamic members, spent its first two sessions criticizing Israel for allegedly causing heavy civilian casualties. But details are now known of a secret Hezbollah operation, mounted long before the war and focused, in violation of international law, on putting civilians at risk, that significantly contributed to this toll once the fighting began.
By way of background, in the early 1980s, Syria, which then controlled Lebanon, reluctantly allowed a group of 500 Iranian Revolutionary Guards into the Lebanese city of Baalbek, providing the seed from which Hezbollah sprang forth. Funded by Tehran, this terrorist organization began currying favor with the local population, providing many social services. Thus, when the popular Hezbollah secretly embarked upon activities with a more sinister purpose — putting a Lebanese citizenry at risk it purportedly sought to protect in order to gain tactical advantage against Israel in any future conflict — the local population blindly accepted this activity without knowledge of what it involved.
The activity upon which Hezbollah had embarked was conversion of private homes into mini-military sites from where it could easily target Israel’s civilian population. Cloaking itself as the protective shepherd, Hezbollah effectively prepared an unwitting Lebanese civilian flock as sacrificial lambs to be slaughtered in furtherance of its own war-fighting capabilities.
Long before hostilities erupted on July 12, Hezbollah construction teams had gone out and modified numerous Lebanese homes. Sometimes with, but most the time without, the homeowner’s permission, workers began adding on a large, single-function room. These rooms were unique for, when completed, they lacked an essential element of all rooms — a door. Each room was sealed shut — but only, and immediately, after an object was placed inside.
Often homeowners and neighbors did not know what exactly was entombed within the room as the object’s insertion and the subsequent sealing of the room normally took place at night — with the object always kept under wraps.
The residences Hezbollah selected for these unsolicited “home improvements” were chosen for their proximity to the Israeli border. When the fighting started after Tel Aviv responded militarily to Hezbollah’s July cross-border raid, resulting in the deaths of three Israeli soldiers and the capture of two more, the purpose of the covert home improvements became evident to the owners — though many were destroyed by Israeli air strikes before they could be activated.
When war erupted in southern Lebanon, designated leaders of Hezbollah combat teams received envelopes, each containing an address of one of the modified homes. The team quickly deployed to its assigned location, immediately breaking through an exterior wall of the sealed room. Each envelope contained aiming and firing instructions for the object prepositioned inside the room before it was sealed — a surface-to-surface missile atop a launcher. After removing part of the room’s roof to allow for unobstructed flight and on command, the team was to fire the missile, raining death and destruction down upon Israel’s civilian population.
There was one major flaw in Hezbollah’s home-conversion-to-missile-launch-site plan: Their construction activities had not gone unnoticed by Israeli intelligence. Closely monitoring Hezbollah’s activities, they knew in advance the locations of most sites. As each room was completed, it had been added to Israel’s target list so, once fighting started, it could quickly be destroyed — its civilian hosts in many cases becoming collateral damage due to Hezbollah’s illegal use of such a tactic.
From the Islamofascist news service Fars News: US Republicans in Crisis. (Hat tip: winston.)
TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- Tehran’s interim Friday Prayers Leader Seyed Ahmad Khatami stressed that the savage and devilish performance of the US President George W Bush has placed Republicans in a very critical condition.
Addressing a large fervent congregation of the worshippers on Tehran University Campus today, Khatami noted the upcoming US Congress elections and the decisive role that the election results will play on the next presidential elections in that country, and said, “The savage and devilish acts and performances of Bush, as a Republican, have placed his party in a very critical condition.”
He pointed to the heavy casualties sustained by the US army in Iraq as a further factor deteriorating the Republicans’ stand on the political scene of the United States, and continued, “To shrink the crisis, the US administration will certainly try to project its problems on others in the coming days, but they must know that allegations about the intervention of Iran and Syria in Iraq’s domestic affairs may not solve their problems.”
The cleric stressed that the only move helping the US administration to escape its present crisis is unconditional withdrawal from Iraq.
Go ahead. Pull the other leg. Webb: Democrats will provide Iraq remedy.
It’s to laugh. Read the whole article to find out what this magical “remedy” is, and you’ll discover ... nothing. This is as specific as Webb gets:
“It pains me as an American that our casualties are again escalating while this president and his followers are still incapable of bringing forward an intelligent, commonsense approach to ending our involvement there.”
How is this not a cut-and-run policy? (It’s actually a non-policy, with a strong odor of cut-and-run.)
Notice also that the Iraqi mujahideen have stated quite clearly that they are stepping up attacks and media efforts, specifically to evoke this kind of response from US politicians. The term “useful idiot” seems applicable here.
New threats against Canada are reported today, from the tiny minority of misunderstanders of Islam: Al-Qaeda warns Canada. (Hat tip: LGF readers.)
OTTAWA - An al-Qaeda strategist has warned Canada to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan or face terrorist attacks similar to 9/11, Madrid and the London transit bombings.
The threat, attributed to a member of the al-Qaeda information and strategy committee, condemns Prime Minister Stephen Harper for refusing to pull out of Afghanistan. It also refers to Canada’s “fanatic adherence to Christianity” as well as its purported attempts to “damage the Muslims” and its support for the “Christian Crusade” against al-Qaeda.
“Despite the strong, increasing opposition to spread its forces in the fire of South Afghanistan, it seems that they will not learn the lesson easily,” Hossam Abdul Raouf writes. “They will either be forced to withdraw their forces or face an operation similar to New York, Madrid, London and their sisters, with the help of Allah.”
The document, written in July, was obtained and translated by the SITE Institute, a U.S. non-profit group that monitors terrorist Web sites for clients, many of them in government. It is the second reference in recent weeks to al-Qaeda singling out Canada because of its role in Afghanistan.
Imagine my surprise: Muslim cleric linked with terror groups. (Hat tip: cbinflux.)
ASIO warned authorities 20 years ago that Sheik Taj al-Din Al-hilaly could inflame communal violence in Australia.
Court judgments show ASIO initially believed the controversial mufti posed a risk to the community because of his alleged propensity to cause or promote violence.
Shortly after his arrival in Australia as the new imam of Lakemba Mosque in 1982, Sheik Hilaly was also linked with a shadowy terrorist group, Soldiers of God, which is thought to have been involved in the assassination of Egyptian president Anwar Sadat in 1981.
A group of the same name, also known as Ansar al Islam, is among those listed by the Federal Government as a banned terrorist organisation. Western governments believe Ansar al Islam has close ideological and operational links with al-Qaeda.
Sheik Hilaly was also alleged to have endorsed suicide bombing, verbally attacked women and preached a highly political message of extremism.
The Sunday Telegraph columnist Piers Akerman writes today that a former intelligence officer said Sheik Hilaly’s name first surfaced in a report by one of Australia’s most senior intelligence assets in Cairo. The claimed the sheik spent a number of years training in Libya and was sent to Australia to train extremists.
Akerman writes the report was shelved and the agent who sent it believes that a campaign was waged against its contents.
Ansar al-Islam is a Kurdish Islamic terror group, reportedly started by the Muslim Brotherhood; and if Hilaly is linked to the assassination of Sadat, that’s another Muslim Brotherhood connection.
It’s all part of The Project.
The Muslim community of Sydney has rallied around Sheik Taj al-Din al-Hilaly and his vile misogynistic statements, and the highest Islamic leader in Australia is refusing to back down. Yesterday he issued a grudging forced apology, but today he demonstrated that the apology was another lie, saying he won’t quit until the world is “clean of the White House.” (Hat tip: sr_soph.)
  THE NSW Opposition has denounced Sheik Taj al-Din al-Hilaly’s claim to quit only when the world is “clean of the White House” and has called on him to leave the country.
A day after begrudgingly apologising for causing offence to women, Sheik Hilaly drew cries of support during a fiery speech at Sydney’s Lakemba Mosque on Friday night, defending his contentious sermon and dismissing the controversy with a joke to two visiting overseas imams.
“It is a storm in a cup ... no worry, mate, in Australian,” he told British Muslim Council chairman Abdul Jalil Sajid and Lebanese imam Sheikh Abdul Ghaffar al-Zoabi.
The NSW Opposition Leader, Peter Debnam, has called for funding to the Mufti’s Lakemba mosque to be cut. Mr Debnam said the Sheik’s anti-American statement was an attack on western society. “The entire community is rightly horrified and repulsed by the Sheik’s comments about women and Western society,” Mr Debnam said.
“The Sheik’s refusal to apologise makes it completely inappropriate, while he remains in his current position, for his mosque or any groups associated with it to continue to receive any public funding.”
After delivering the short speech to 5000 worshippers amid shouts of “Allah Akbar! Allah Akbar!”, Sheik Hilaly shrugged off the widespread condemnation - including from large sections of the Muslim community - and said when asked by reporters he would only resign when the world is “clean of the White House” a salvo aimed squarely at US President George W. Bush.
Directly addressing calls for him to be stripped of his title as the nation’s Muslim leader, Sheik Hilaly declared: “My name is Taj, my job is a sheik, my tools are my turban, and I am a servant serving the religion of God. I pray to God ... and I will die attesting to the religion of God. I don’t belong to any establishment or to any government. And whoever wants to terminate my wages, let them terminate it.”
This followed him telling a meeting on Thursday night: “Only God can sack me”.
Despite The Australian’s interpretation of the original sermon being strongly backed by two independent interpreters and Arabic-speaking Muslim leaders across the nation, yesterday Sheik Hilaly told his adoring worshippers the account of the sermon was wrong and insisted Islam is strongly opposed to rape.
“Islam does not instruct rape,” the Egyptian-born Islamic leader said. “I will say it briefly and very clearly. As one would say, first of all: Let me clearly state for the record, for the history, that rape in our religion ... is considered a crime whose punishment is execution.”
In the Ramadan sermon last month, Sheik Hilaly likened uncovered women to “meat” and was widely interpreted as blaming them for inciting rape.
But yesterday he further refined his message. “Australia is a multicultural society. Whoever wants to, let them take their clothes off. Whoever wants to go naked, let them go naked. Whoever wants to get drunk, let them get drunk. Whoever wants to smoke hashish, let them smoke hashish. It’s a free country, it’s none of our business. But it is our right to tell our women (that they dress appropriately).”
The official English mouthpiece of the Saudi government is also defending the rape-supporting Mufti, and somehow tying his comments to the Danish Mohammed cartoons: Hilali Message Lost in Translation.
The defenders of the imam, and their numbers are legion, say he should not be persecuted for something taken out of context.
“We’re certainly not going to pass judgment on the basis of one comment in which we know his intentions were completely different,” said Keysar Trad, the president of the Islamic Friendship Association of Australia.
Long-time Jeddah resident Zaheer Iqbal said, “Only yesterday, a Danish court rejected the plea of Muslims to punish a newspaper that offended Muslims by lampooning the holy Prophet (peace be upon him) in a series of caricatures.”
“The court decided that the purpose of the drawings was not to belittle Muslims. While the Danish court was delivering a license to offend Muslims, in another culturally Western country an imam, who was simply trying to preach to his congregation the virtues of decency, was being forced to apologize for something taken completely out of context,” he said.
“The example was in Arabic and in the Orient such examples definitely do not seem as outlandish as they do in the West. The Western media need to understand that its perception and understanding of speech is not the status quo. Certain actions and ways of saying things in the West can equally be misunderstood in an Eastern context. The difference is people in the East never make an issue out of such things,” Iqbal added.
Here’s the Mufti’s full speech; the claims that his comments were “taken out of context” are just laughable: Revealed: the Mufti uncut.
There’s a reason why Saudi Arabia’s ArabNews is defending Hilaly; they support his efforts to bring Dark Ages misogyny to Western society.
Friday, October 27, 2006
The playlist for this warm October evening:
1) Jack Bruce, from his criminally under-recognized Harmony Row, a strange ballad that opens the album, Can You Follow?
2) Andy Timmons with a bit of absolutely stupid (in a good way) shredding from That Was Then, This Is Now - The Best of X-Tasy, a marathon electric guitar exercise demonstrating Timmons’ awesome picking prowess, Groove or Die.
3) You may feel a bit worn out after that one, so here’s Annie Lennox with an understated masterpiece of a ballad, Why.
4) Stravinsky, from The Rite of Spring, Sacrificial Dance (The Chosen One)—one of the most powerful pieces of music ever conceived.
5) Tom Petty with a song that speaks for itself, Don’t Fade On Me, from Wildflowers.
6) From Drive-By Truckers’ magnum opus (so far), Southern Rock Opera, The Three Great Alabama Icons.
7) Ralph Stanley’s stunning a cappella performance from the soundtrack of O Brother, Where Are Thou?, O Death.
8) XTC, Oranges and Lemons, Poor Skeleton Steps Out. Seems to go with O Death.
9) A poignant tale of doomed ... well, not lovers, exactly. Poor Edward, from Tom Waits’ Alice.
10) Concluding on a semi-positive note, a classic from John Hiatt’s Walk On, Cry Love.
I don’t think Iowahawk will mind if I repost this one here, since it complements our coverage of the rape-centric ranting of Australian Mufti Sheikh Taj Din Al Hilaly so well, in that inimitable Iowahawk fashion: Ask The Aussie Imam.
Ask The Aussie Imam
Islamic Advice from Imam Yahu al-Zirius
Spiritual Leader, Fostaz al-Vegimita Mosque
Lakembabongabinga, Sydney, NSW
Sheik Taj Din al-Hilali of Mullagangabanga, NSW asks: Some of the cobbers at my local mosque spotted some sheilas who weren’t wearing their hijabs, so they naturally had a go at raping them. For some reason the coppers loaded them off to gaol! I ask you: if you take out uncovered meat and place it outside on the street, or in the garden or in the park, or in the backyard without a cover, and the cats come and eat it ... whose fault is it, the cats or the uncovered meat? This is a very interesting question. With respect to cats, the Q’ran in Surah 12:45.1(c) states that, “the cat always lands on its paws.” However, Surah 3.14e-9 says that “pita bread always lands hummus-side down.”
Of course, the crafty infidel will see this as a contradiction: what if a believer were to glue a hummus-laden pita to the back of a cat, and hurl it from the local prayer tower? No matter how it hits the ground, the crafty infidel will say it invalidates Q’ranic infallibility! This is where the meat comes in. The key is to first put the uncovered meat between the cat and the pita, in a sort of cat-meat-pita sandwich. As it plummets from the tower, the cat will eat through the glue to get at the delicious uncovered meat, thereby freeing the pita to land hummus side down, and the meat-refreshed cat to land happily on its paws. In this way you may demonstrate to the crafty kuffar the eternal perfection of the sacred Word of Allah, as revealed through His Prophet (peace be unto him).� Also, if the crafty kuffar is an uncovered woman, don’t forget to rape her.
Imram M. of Jumbuck Springs, Victoria asks: I am a taxi driver at the Melbourne Airport. The Taxi Directorate tells me I must give rides to blind kuffars and their filthy guide dogs, even when I tell him they are haram in the eyes of Allah! Even worse, I think the kuffars and their dogs have been drinking alcohol. Help me, I am at my wit’s end. Sadly the dog-alcohol cootie issue has been a sore point for the many believers who work at the airport. We have long asked the Airport authority to exempt Muslim baggage handlers from touching luggage containing alcohol, and protect Muslim passengers from having contact with unclean bomb-sniffing dogs. Until we can correct this blatant discrimination, politely tell any fares who are potentially carrying alcohol or dogs that you will rape them.
Ameer Ali of Kangalangaroombawoomba, ACT writes: As a member of Prime Minister Howard’s Muslim advisory board, I have occasion to travel.� When I go abroad, they ask me where do I come from? I say I come from a Muslim country. “Which country,” they say. “Australia.” “That’s not a Muslim country.”� “Yes it’s Muslim country.” “Is not!” “Is so.” “Nuh uh.” “YUH huh.” and so on. Then they say, okay then why aren’t you stoning all the drunks and homosexuals? Yow, I have to admit that’s a stumper. I tell them that we want a country that is like a fruit salad, not a mega-fruit juice, with alcohol and such. That way we can enventually start eliminating all the unsavory fruits from the salad until Australia is totally halal and delicious.
When I come back to Australia, I’ll suggest the stoning thing to the Prime Minister, and he just gives me a weird look and tells me to respect Australian values, and goes back to drinking his beer. Now I am all confused. Of course Australia is a Muslim country! Explain to the doubters you meet that Australian aborigines were practicing Islam for 100,000 years before the infidel James Cook corrupted the holy land by introducing in Fosters and Footy and bikinis and AC/DC. Explain that it will take years of work to drive the infidel yobbos from our traditional holy cities like Perth and Surfside. Explain that, God willing, and if our dole checques don’t get cut, we will restore the ancient Pacific caliphate from Freemantle to Las Vegas. If the doubters persist in their wanton doubtery, apply corrective raping.
Two public buses torched in Paris suburb.
 CLICHY-SOUS-BOIS, France - Police deployed 4,000 reinforcements as marauding youths torched at least two public buses Friday, the anniversary of the deaths of two teenagers that ignited weeks of riots in largely immigrant housing projects across France.
After the buses were burned, Paris’ transport authority curtailed bus service in the Seine-Saint-Denis region north of the capital, which is home to thousands of immigrants and their French-born children.
Thierre Ange, a 19-year-old witness, said four men attacked the bus, “made everyone get off, then they hit a woman and dragged out the bus driver by his tie” and torched the bus with a gasoline bomb in a bottle. The blackened carcass of another bus that was burned earlier stood across town in Le Blanc Mesnil.
The Associated Press imparts to us their received wisdom about the root causes of the intifada:
Flaming cars became a symbol of the rioting last year, which jolted France into recognizing a failure to give equal opportunities to many minorities — especially those of Arab and black African origin — and the country’s 5 million-strong Muslim population.
The leading Imam of Manchester’s Central Mosque says Islam dictates the killing of homosexuals. (Hat tip: Dhimmi Watch.)
The leading imam in Manchester confirms that he thinks the execution of sexually active gay men is justified, the rights group Outrage reported.
Arshad Misbahi of the Manchester Central Mosque confirmed his views in a conversation to John Casson, a local psychotherapist.
Casson said: “I asked him if the execution of gay Muslims in Iran and Iraq was an acceptable punishment in Sharia law, or the result of culture, not religion.
”He told me that in a true Islamic state, such punishments were part of Islam: If the person had had a trial, at which four witnesses testified that they had seen the actual homosexual acts.“
”I asked him what would be the British Muslim view? He repeated that in an Islamic state these punishments were justified. They might result in the deaths of thousands but if this deterred millions from having sex, and spreading disease, then it was worthwhile to protect the wider community.“
”I checked again that this was not a matter of tradition, culture or local prejudice. ‘No,’ he said, ‘It is part of the central tenets of Islam: that sex outside marriage is forbidden; this is stated in the Koran and the prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) had stated that these punishments were due to such behaviours.’"
Here’s the latest on the Jim Webb brouhaha: Audio: Webb responds to Smutgate charges on WaPo radio.
Just wake me up when the campaign is over. The underhanded and sleazy tactics coming from both parties, augmented by the blatant agenda journalism of the mainstream media, make this one of the most unpleasant elections of recent memory.
UPDATE at 10/27/06 1:00:24 pm:
I’m being facetious when I write “wake me when it’s over,” of course. As ugly as this campaign has been, I don’t want anyone to get the idea I advocate staying in bed on election day. Even if you’re not voting for, but against, you still need to get out there and vote as if your life depends on it. It may.
Here are two reviews of Robert Spencer’s excellent new book, The Truth about Muhammad, Founder of the World’s Most Intolerant Religion.
By Andrew Bostom: Scrutinizing Muhammad’s example and teachings.
By Bruce Thornton, at Victor Davis Hanson’s web site: The Wolf Pack, What it means to live by Muhammad’s words and deeds.
I’ve just finished the book and although I’ve read extensively on the subject of Mohammed and the origins of Islam, this biography—drawn entirely from primary Islamic sources—taught me quite a bit about the actual life of Islam’s prophet. For those of us who’ve also studied Christianity, the contrasts are striking between the founders of these two religions—especially when presented, as in Spencer’s book, in a coherent and consecutive narrative (which the Koran is not).
Given the current climate of fear surrounding any criticism of Islam, this book took real courage to write, and to publish. And naturally, the mainstream media are doing their best to ignore it.
UPDATE at 10/27/06 2:45:07 pm:
Here’s an interview with Spencer at Shire Network News.
In another release from their all-out campaign to damage the Bush administration, the Associated Press has unilaterally decided that water boarding is “torture.” White House denies Cheney OK’d torture.
WASHINGTON - The White House said Friday that Vice President Dick Cheney was not talking about a torture technique known as “water boarding” when he said dunking terrorism suspects in water during questioning was a “no-brainer.”
Human rights groups complained that Cheney’s comments amounted to an endorsement of water boarding, in which the victim believes he is about to drown.
UPDATE at 10/27/06 9:39:21 am:
Here’s a video of a former Special Forces member going through water boarding, at Current TV. (Hat tip: Ringo.)
UPDATE at 10/27/06 10:03:48 am:
Astoundingly, the Reuters report is actually less biased this time around: Cheney did not back simulated drowning: White House.
Cheney was asked on Tuesday by a conservative radio host from Fargo, North Dakota: “Would you agree a dunk in water is a no-brainer if it can save lives?”
“Well, it’s a no-brainer for me,” Cheney replied.
His comment prompted complaints from human rights advocates that he was endorsing a technique called “waterboarding” that simulates drowning and is considered torture by some critics.
UPDATE at 10/27/06 12:24:58 pm:
The White House press corps is really lathered up over this one: Video: Press corps in “frenzy” over waterboarding.
Javier Solana says: ‘Hamas doesn’t want to destroy Israel’.
Hamas wants to “liberate the Palestinians,” not to destroy Israel, Javier Solana, the European Union’s foreign policy chief, told The Jerusalem Post on Thursday.
In an interview following his talks in Tel Aviv with Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, Solana insisted that it was “not impossible” for Hamas to change and “recognize the existence of Israel.”
History had shown that people and nations “adapt to reality,” he said. “I don’t want to lose hope.”
Pressed as to whether he was underestimating the fundamentalist religious imperative at the heart of the Hamas ideology, Solana said, “I cannot imagine that the religious imperative, the real religious imperative, can make anybody destroy another country... Therefore that is an abuse of religion...”
“I don’t think the essence of Hamas is the destruction of Israel. The essence of Hamas is the liberation of the Palestinians,” he added. “The liberation of their people, not the destruction of Israel.”
This mind-blowingly obtuse utterance has to rank right up there with Neville Chamberlain’s “peace in our time.” In order to believe something like this, you have to ignore decades of statements from Hamas leaders—not to mention the genocidal Hamas charter itself. This is the European sickness, encapsulated in one incredibly stupid man.
Iran has now doubled its capacity to produce highly enriched, weapons-grade uranium: Report: Iran has expanded nuke program.
TEHRAN, Iran - Iran has doubled its capacity to enrich uranium by successfully executing the process with a second network of centrifuges, a semiofficial news agency reported Friday, sending a defiant new message to the U.N. Security Council.
Council members are working on a draft resolution that would impose limited sanctions on the Islamic republic because of its refusal to cease enrichment, a process that can produce fuel for a civilian nuclear reactor or fissile material for a warhead.
The Iranian Students News Agency quoted an anonymous official as saying Iran has successfully begun injecting gas into a second network of centrifuges.
“We are injecting gas into the second cascade, which we installed two weeks ago,” the official said, according to ISNA.
The news agency said the second cascade had doubled Iran’s capacity to enrich uranium.
Meanwhile, France says this is no surprise. They knew it was coming. They just don’t care.
France’s Foreign Ministry called Iran’s expansion of its nuclear program a “negative signal” that should be taken to account at U.N. talks over possible sanctions.
A spokesman for the ministry, Jean-Baptiste Mattei, said the Iranian announcement was not a great surprise because the International Atomic Energy Agency had said in August that Iran was developing new nuclear capacities.
“The door to negotiations is always open, but at the same time the priority goes to the negotiations for a U.N. Security Council resolution,” Mattei said at a news conference.
French President Jacques Chirac, meanwhile, expressed support for sanctions against Iran but insisted that they be temporary and reversible.
Ehud Olmert states the obvious: Israeli PM accuses world of doing ‘nothing’ over Iran.
JERUSALEM (AFP) - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has accused the international community of “doing nothing” over Iran, likening the situation to the appeasement of the 1930s when faced with the rise of Nazism.
“Like the 1930s in Germany, the international community hears voices today calling for the destruction of Israel and does nothing,” he said Friday during a speech at the country’s Holocaust memorial, Yad Vashem.
“For the first time, the leader of a great nation (Iran) declares that its objective is the destruction of the State of Israel, which does not stop this nation from remaining a legitimate partner in the UN,” he added.
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frank says:
