Prosecutors in Fort Dix jihad case challenge move by defense to purge "jihad" and "al-Qaeda" references

The defense says references to jihad and al-Qaeda would be "inflammatory" -- never mind establishing motive.

"US: Don't drop jihad references from charges," from the Associated Press, July 18:

MOUNT LAUREL, N.J. (AP) - Federal prosecutors say they should not be forced to drop references to al-Qaida and jihad from the indictment of 5 men accused of plotting to attack soldiers on Fort Dix.

Lawyers for the men last month asked a judge to delete such language, saying it was "inflammatory" and was included in earlier court filings to incite prejudice against the defendants.

In a response filed Friday, government lawyers said the terms in question are central to the case, arguing that jihadist principles caused the defendants to undertake the criminal conduct.

The five men were charged in May 2007. An attack was never carried out.

In other court papers filed Friday, the government said the trial should not be moved from Camden. It's scheduled to start in October.

The men, all foreign-born Muslims in their 20s, have spent much of their lives in the Philadelphia area. They are being held in the Federal Detention Center in Philadelphia.

Hamas children's show tackles amputation for theft

Everybody's mom and dad have a portrait of Sheik Yassin on the night table.

Now, didn't Bert and Ernie have this same discussion once? "Hamas Children's Show Discusses Severing Hands As Punishment for Theft," by Steven Hoffer for Fox News, July 17:

A popular Hamas children's television program shows a giant bunny character who is lured into stealing money � and then is sentenced by a child host to have his hand chopped off.

In the July 11 installment of "The Pioneers of Tomorrow," which aired on Al-Aqsa TV, the recurring character "Assud the Bunny" creeps away from his napping father with a handful of cash. Assud begins to second-guess his decision to steal his father's money, but Satan successfully encourages him to go through with the petty theft.

Assud then discusses his "crime" with child TV host Saraa, and a young girl is heard saying, "The Prophet Muhammad said: 'If my daughter Fatima had stolen, I would have chopped off her hand. If you were in Saudi Arabia now, they would chop off your hand.'"

A heated debate follows between Saraa and two young viewers, who discuss whether Assud deserves to have his hand chopped off. (Under strict Sharia law, a person caught stealing is subject to having his hand amputated.)

In the end, Assud vows never to repeat his sin and pleads with his young counterparts until they consider his repentance, according to The Middle East Media Research Institute, a media monitoring group that provided a translation of the show.

Luckily, Saraa has just the right compromise to resolve the conflict.

"Well, if we don't chop off his hand, maybe we should chop off his ear?"

While such children's programs are considered shocking for U.S. audiences, they are widespread and popular in Arabic culture. Other characters on the network have included a "Farfour the Mouse," a militant Mickey Mouse look-alike who martyrs himself fighting Israel, and "Nahoul the Bee," designed to inspire future homicide bombers....

Say, Assud's been on the air for a while. Better stay tuned for the season finale.

Muslim "judge" rules kidnapped Christian girls "converted to Islam and cannot return home"

Update about the adolescent girls who were kidnapped and forced into conversion. Seems they did so "voluntarily." "Kidnapped Christian girls, judge ratifies marriage and conversion," by Qaiser Felix, for Asian News, July 16:

The district of Muzaffargarh rules in favour of the Muslims, rejecting the request from the family that wants to bring home the two sisters - 13 and 10 years old - kidnapped last June 26. Christian associations charge that they could end up as prostitutes.

Islamabad (AsiaNews) - District judge Mian Muhammad Naeem, of the section of Muzaffargarh, has ruled that the two Christian sisters "have converted in a legitimate manner to Islam", and for this reason they cannot be "restored to their family of origin". Setting aside the request from their father to regain custody of his daughters, the judge also admitted the "validity" of the marriage of the girls to two Muslims.

Saba Younas, aged 13, and her sister Anila [aged 10] were kidnapped last June 26 in the village of Chowk Munda, in the province of Punjab, where they had gone to visit their uncle, Khalid Raheel. This is the same uncle who in recent days reported their kidnapping, asking for help from news organisations and human rights groups. According to Raheel's account, a Muslim fruit vendor named Muhammad Arif Bajwa kidnapped the girls, and then handed them over to a friend, Falak Sher Gill, who then organised the marriage between his own son and the older of the Christian sisters, Saba. In court, moreover, father and son both stressed the "complete willingness of the girl to contract marriage".

The girls' uncle does not conceal his preoccupation, and denounces to AsiaNews that the Muslims involved in the kidnapping are acting as a "gang", recruiting the girls in order to "make them work in a bordello". This alarm has also been heard by the Catholic commission for justice and peace (NCJP) in the country, which confirms the words of Khalid Raheel: the kidnappers are believed to be human traffickers linked to prostitution, known to the police and under the protection of some local politicians. "For these unscrupulous people", charges Naeem Asghar, local coordinator of the NCJP, marriage is a pretence in order to control the girls, run their lives and exploit them for their own business purposes".

"We are here to prevent a symbol of Milanese sport from being transformed into a mosque"

More Muslims not fitting in; more Europeans not taking it. Nor can this be credited to "Islamophobia" since the mosque in question has already been accused of terrorist ties, including with al-Qaeda. "Evicted Milan Muslims pray at stadium 'mosque,�� from Earth Times, July 18:

Milan, Italy - Italian police were out in force Friday at a Milan stadium converted into a makeshift mosque by Muslims who were forced to abandon their previous place of worship, a downtown garage which has been linked to Islamist terrorism.

Organizers of the Friday prayers, said they expected some 5,000 Muslims at the Vigorelli velodrome which also contains a disused cycling track.

The decision by Milan's town hall to allow Muslims to use the facility on a temporary basis has triggered protests from local residents, raising concern of possible attempts to disrupt the prayer session.

On Friday, around a several dozen protesters, including far-right political leader, Daniela Santanche, gathered near the stadium.

"We are here to prevent a symbol of Milanese sport from being transformed into a mosque," Santanche, who leads the opposition party, The Right, said.

Earlier this month, Italy's centre-right government ordered the closure of the so-called Jenner mosque - the converted garage where for over 20 years, thousands of Muslims in Italy's financial capital attended prayer sessions.

Interior Minister Roberto Maroni said the decision was based on public order and health concerns - worshippers often spilled out on the street - and complaints from local residents.

Maroni, a member of the anti-immigration Northern League, drew sharp criticism for the move, with one a prominent Catholic cleric, Monsignor Gianfranco Bottoni, who deals with inter-faith issues in Milan, describing it as "fascist".

The Jenner mosque, which takes its informal name from the street where it was situated - had come under the spotlight several times for alleged links to extremism.

Investigators have suggested it may have served as an international clearing-house for al-Qaeda ahead of the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States.

A Muslim cleric, Abu Omar, at the centre of an alleged "rendition" case involving US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) agents, says he was kidnapped on his way to the mosque in 2003 and then transferred to Egypt, where he was tortured.

Twenty-six suspected CIA agents and several Italian intelligence officials are currently on trial in Milan over his alleged rendition.

Jihadis around the world, unite: in Afghanistan

Afghanistan, always overlooked, always forgotten, seems to also always be the rallying point for jihadis, at least since the Soviet era. "Al Qaeda luring recruits to fight in Afghanistan," from the Associated Press, July 18:

A fresh influx of jihadi fighters is being drawn to Afghanistan from Turkey, Central Asia, Chechnya and the Middle East, one more sign that al Qaeda is regrouping on what is fast becoming the most active front of the war on terror groups.

More foreigners are infiltrating Afghanistan because of a recruitment drive by al Qaeda, as well as a burgeoning insurgency that has made movement easier across the border from Pakistan, U.S. officials, militants and experts say. For the past two months, Afghanistan has overtaken Iraq in deaths of U.S. and allied troops, and nine American soldiers were killed Sunday at a remote base in Kunar province in the deadliest attack in years.

Islamic charity leader gets year in slammer for lying to the FBI

He met a leading jihadist in Afghanistan, and then lied about it. The Justice Department said he "abused the tax system to send money to organizations that have since been branded by the government as terrorists." There is a lot of talk here about whether or not the jihadists in question were considered terrorists at the time of his trip. If the U.S. government had the fortitude and realism to talk about "jihad" rather than "terrorism," this problem would never arise.

"Muntasser gets jail for lying to FBI: Muslim charity founder sentenced in U.S. court," by Lee Hammel for the Worcester Telegram & Gazette, July 18 (thanks to Tom Syseskey):

WORCESTER� The founder of a Muslim charity was sentenced yesterday in U.S. District Court to a year in prison and fined $10,000 for lying to an FBI agent when he denied traveling to Afghanistan in 1994-1995.

In sentencing Emadeddin Z. Muntasser, former president of Care International Inc., a defunct Boston charity, Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV doubled the maximum amount of prison time and the fine called for under the federal advisory sentencing guidelines. Mr. Muntasser, 43, is a former Worcester resident and Worcester Polytechnic Institute graduate living in Braintree. He must report for his prison sentence within four weeks.

The U.S. attorney�s office called for a five-year prison term, saying the case is being watched around the world to see how the United States will treat someone the Justice Department said abused the tax system to send money to organizations that have since been branded by the government as terrorists. But Mr. Muntasser�s lawyers pointed out that guidelines called for a sentence of between zero and 6 months and that the U.S. Probation Department recommended a sentence within that range on a simple false statement case.

Mr. Muntasser was detained Jan. 11, the day a federal jury convicted him in Boston on charges of conspiracy to defraud the United States and scheming to conceal material facts as well as lying to a federal agent. But expectations that Mr. Muntasser might be freed on a sentence of time served were raised after Judge Saylor reversed the jury verdict on the two most serious charges and freed Mr. Muntasser June 13 on conditions to await sentencing yesterday.

Judge Saylor also reversed all of the convictions against Samir Al-Monla of Brookline, another Care former president, but left all except one of the convictions intact against a third defendant in the case, Muhamed Mubayyid of Shrewsbury, a former treasurer of Care International. Mr. Mubayyid is scheduled to be sentenced today.

All of them had been charged with conspiring to get or keep tax-exempt status from the Internal Revenue Service by concealing Care�s support for Islamic Holy War and those who fight it and that it was an outgrowth or successor to Al-Kifah Refugee Center, which had been tied in news accounts to the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center in New York.

Judge Saylor called this conviction �a serious offense, not a garden variety� false statement. He said the FBI might have gained some useful information about the Afghan warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, whom Mr. Muntasser met with in Afghanistan, as well as whether the government of Pakistan helped him gain passage through the dangerous frontier bordering Afghanistan....

Judge Saylor said Mr. Muntasser showed many charitable and other worthy attributes. The judge said he was having trouble reconciling that with the views showing support of suicide bombings and other violence in the newsletter, Al Hussam, published by Care.

That's because he knows nothing about the Islamic jihad ideology.

Islam had been brought into the trial numerous times, Judge Saylor noted, but there are millions of Muslims who do not support violence.

Judge Saylor has learned his PC Catechism well, but the existence of millions of Muslims who do not support violence does not change the fact that those Muslims who are committing acts of violence and working for the supremacy of Islamic Sharia in other ways are doing so in accord with traditional teachings of the religion. As long as this goes unrecognized by the politically correct establishment, this will continue. Only by recognizing it can non-Muslim authorities formulate effective ways to resist the jihad threat in all its forms.

Jihadists plotted to kill Bush in Israel

By shooting down his helicopter. No one, however, had the bright idea to try to shoot down his appeasement-minded "peace-processing." "Israel makes arrests in alleged plot against Bush," from Reuters, July 18:

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel accused six Arabs on Friday of trying to set up an al Qaeda cell in Israel and said one of them had proposed attacking helicopters used during a visit by President George W. Bush.

Israel's Shin Bet counter-intelligence agency said one of the suspects had used his mobile phone to film helicopters at a sports stadium in Jerusalem that was used as a landing site for Bush's delegation.

The suspect then posted queries on Web sites frequented by al Qaeda operatives, asking for guidance on how to shoot down the helicopters, the agency said in a statement....

The Shin Bet identified four of the suspects as Palestinian residents of Arab East Jerusalem and two as Israeli Arabs.

Wahhabi cleric complains about religous intolerance

Taqiyya in full-swing in Madrid. "Attempts to impose views lead to conflicts," by Badea Abu Al-Naja for Arab News, July 18:

MADRID: Sheikh Hassan Al-Saffar, a prominent Saudi Islamic scholar, expressed his hope that the World Conference on Dialogue in Madrid would help defeat instigators of wars and conflicts as well as proponents of a clash of civilizations.

Read: help defeat all who speak the truth about Islam, revealing its most troubling doctrines.

Speaking to Arab News on the sidelines of the conference, Al-Saffar said the move to impose one�s ideology over others was the main factor that threatens peaceful coexistence of people of different faiths.

�Some people think that it�s their right to impose their views on others as they believe that only their religion is correct and others are wrong.This attempt to dominate over others undermines coexistence and human relations,� said Al-Saffar. �Those who want to propagate their ideas should present them in a decent manner and give the public the choice to accept or reject them. This will encourage free thinking and generate respect for the views of others.�

Really now, coming from a �prominent Saudi scholar��in other words, a radical wahhabi�and unless he is specifically talking about Muslims, how can anyone take such talk seriously? While everything he said is true, of course, he, as well as all objective students of Islam, Muslim and non-Muslim, know that the only religious group that�s in the bad habit of �imposing� its view on others, attempting to �dominate� them, �propagate� their ideas, and undermining �coexistence,� all while �believ[ing] that only their religion is correct and others are wrong, are�drum roll please�Muslims. History unequivocally portrays this; while Islam�s sacred texts�from Koran to Hadith�command it. Koran 9:29 alone (said to abrogate the more tolerant Meccan verses) commands Muslims to do all those things he descried: "Fight against such of those who have been given the Scripture [Jews and Christians] as believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, and forbid not that which Allah hath forbidden by His messenger, and follow not the Religion of Truth, until they pay the tribute readily, being brought low."
[�]

Al-Saffar said religions like Judaism, Christianity and Buddhism have undergone changes during the past several centuries, like the changes that have taken place in Islamic thought. �We cannot draw a picture of another religion based on an old book that was written centuries ago.�

Huh? So if Judaism, Christianity, and Buddhism (why no mention of Hinduism, incidentally?), had undergone absolutely no changes, would that then make them bad? And what, exactly, is so troubling about the messages of their �old books�? No where in these books, unlike the Koran and Hadith, are believers commanded to hound, persecute, and subjugate others. Oh yea, the Hebrews purged Canaan: not the same thing. The commandments given the Hebrews to fight and slay the Canaanites were of a temporal quality, then and there, whereas Islam's commandments are transcendent and apply at all times.

Of course, al-Saffar may have been specifically talking about Muslims; but if he was, he would not be a "prominent Saudi cleric." He would probably be facing apostaty charges.

NPR: No jihad here

NPR, predictably, loves the new Administration guidelines on Speak No Jihad, Hear No Jihad, See No Jihad. "What Does 'Jihad' Really Mean?," by Jamie Tarabay for NPR, July 17 (thanks to all who sent this in):

Morning Edition, July 17, 2008 � After years of using the word "jihadist" to describe terrorists who carry out attacks against civilians and the U.S. military, the Bush administration has finally realized that doing so actually pays those groups a compliment in the eyes of some Muslims.

Since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the Bush administration has relied on terms like "jihadist" and "Islamic extremists." But jihad has very positive connotations in the Islamic world. It is akin to religious duty: when someone wants to better themselves, they embark on a jihad. Whether it's to quit smoking, pray more, and in some cases, fight off anyone preventing them from practicing their religion.

"Just like you wouldn't call Josef Stalin a hero of the revolution, you don't want to call Osama bin Laden a jihadist. He loves it," says Duncan MacInnes, a spokesman for the State Department's Counterterrorism Communication Center.

Tactically, that might possibly be an effective tool. But as a manifestation of political correctness, and of a fear of offending peaceful Muslims who allegedly reject violent jihad and Islamic supremacism, it is suicidally stupid, for it takes away the one key we have to understand why these people are fighting us, and what they might do and not do.

The State Department has issued a memo to all its employees cautioning them against using Islamic references whenever condemning terrorist attacks. The Department of Homeland Security has also advised its employees to avoid those same mistakes.

Great. So the only people making Islamic references in connection with terrorist attacks will be Islamic terrorists. And this one part of the puzzle, dismissed as irrelevant or offensive or both, is the only piece that reveals the actual motives and goals of these terrorists.

Mohammed Magid is imam of ADAMS Center, a collective of seven mosques in Virginia. He says the changes are late but welcome. When officials criticize the word jihad, they offend Muslims, Magid says. "You isolate so many people by using that. We need to discredit terrorism."

From a February 2008 report: "Another D.C.-area mosque, the ADAMS Center, was founded and financed by members of the Muslim Brotherhood, and has been one of the top distributors of Wahhabist anti-Semitic and anti-Christian dogma."

But there are critics of the change in policy.

Author Tawfik Hamid was once a member of Egypt's Jemaah Islamiyah, which is considered a terrorist organization by the U.S. and other governments.

After breaking from the group, Hamid has become an outspoken critic of Islamic fundamentalism. He says some Islamic legal books still continue to define "jihad" in its most violent contexts.

"When these books change the meaning of jihad into a pure and peaceful meaning and stop the other violent ones, then and only then the Western countries should say jihad is only peaceful," Hamid says.

Tawfik Hamid is right -- and it isn't just "some" Islamic legal that "still continue to define 'jihad' in its most violent contexts. But as long as even "some" of them "continue" to do this, and jihad groups continue to gain recruits among peaceful Muslims on this basis, we are foolish to pretend as if the term has no violent or supremacist connotations for Muslims, and to restrict ourselves from using it or exploring its meaning in Islam as a way to understand what the jihadists are doing and why.

Spencer: De uitvinding van de Islam

Dutch-speaking readers of Jihad Watch may be interested in picking up the latest issue of Academy magazine, which contains my essay "De uitvinding van de Islam."

Free speech in an age of jihad

On Thursday, April 10, I was one of the speakers at a conference at the Princeton Club in New York, co-sponsored by The New Criterion and the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies: "Free Speech in An Age of Jihad: Libel Tourism, 'Hate Speech,' and Political Freedom.�

Now The New Criterion has published a special pamphlet of the same name, including essays by Mark Steyn, Roger Kimball, Andrew McCarthy, Stanley Kurtz and me, along with responses by a variety of luminaries, including Ibn Warraq and Steven Emerson. While many of these essays correspond closely or exactly with the speakers' addresses at the conference, mine doesn't -- it is an essay I prepared for the occasion, but in the moment I decided to depart from my prepared remarks. It is, however, on topic and you may find it worth reading. You can order the pamphlet here.

Chertoff: "European terrorists" trying to enter the U.S.

Conspicuously absent from this story is any mention of the ideology driving this group of "terrorists" and why it is present in Europe, aside from passing mention of al-Qaeda in the third paragraph. Yes, anyone reading will know Chertoff isn't talking about a band of disgruntled Lichtensteiners, but the unwillingness to call jihadists "jihadists" (or even "Islamists" or other variations) reflects a more general mindset that misdirects efforts in both foreign policy and national security. And of course, it also puts the remarks in the article in line with current DHS policy.

"Chertoff: European terrorists trying to enter US," by Eileen Sullivan for the Associated Press, July 18:

WASHINGTON - European terrorists are trying to enter the United States with European Union passports, and there is no guarantee officials will catch them every time, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said Thursday.

Chertoff's comments on Capitol Hill comes as the country is entering a potentially vulnerable period with the presidential nominating conventions coming up next month; the presidential election in November; and the transition to a new administration in January � all of which may be attractive targets for terrorists.

In his last scheduled appearance before the House Homeland Security Committee, Chertoff said that the more time and space al-Qaida and its allies have to recruit, train, experiment and plan, the more problems the U.S. and Europe will face down the road.

"The terrorists are deliberately focusing on people who have legitimate Western European passports, who don't appear to have records as terrorists," Chertoff told lawmakers. "I have a good degree of confidence we can catch people coming in. But I have to tell you ... there's no guarantee. And they are working very hard to slip by us."

Chertoff and other intelligence officials have delivered similar warnings before, and he offered no new information about specific threats or an imminent attack.

Chertoff reiterated his concern that terrorists could sneak radiological material into the country on small boats or private aircraft. This material could be used to create an explosive device known as a "dirty bomb."...

Morocco to send "moderate" Muslim preachers to Europe to fight "extremism" in Moroccan communities during Ramadan

Where did the "immoderate" ones come from? And what, again, constitutes moderation?

Tiny Minority of Extremists Alert. "Morocco sends moderate Muslim preachers to Europe," from the Associated Press, July 17:

RABAT, Morocco - Morocco plans to send scores of moderate Muslim preachers to Europe during the holy month of Ramadan to help fight extremism in the Moroccan community abroad, the ministry for religious affairs said Thursday.

The government will send 167 men and nine women preachers to address Moroccan immigrants during Ramadan, which runs during September this year. Muslims traditionally fast and attend sermons at mosques during the holy month.

The preachers are instructed to "answer the religious needs of the Moroccan community abroad, to protect it from any speeches of extremism or irregular nature, and to shelter it from extremism and fanaticism," said a statement from the religious affairs ministry in Rabat, the Moroccan capital.

Abdellatif Begdouri Achkari, the religious affairs minister's chief of staff, said Morocco has been sending preachers to minister to expatriates for many years but hand-picked the latest batch to make sure they specifically address extremism.

"The needs of the Moroccan community abroad may vary from one community to another, and these needs evolve with time," Achkari told The Associated Press.

Islam is Morocco's state religion and King Mohammed VI is officially "the commander of the believers."

But the country's official, moderate practice has faced a growing wave of extremism in recent years. Security officials have voiced concerns about terrorist links among Moroccans and dual Moroccan-European citizens. Suicide bombers killed dozens of people in attacks in Casablanca in May 2003.

The religious affairs ministry said 100 preachers would go to France and Belgium, while Italy and Germany would get 10 each, and Spain and the Netherlands seven. The rest will head to Scandinavia and Britain, while one preacher will go to Canada.

Strict criteria were applied in choosing the candidates. Besides being well-versed in the Quran and knowledgeable about theology, they must be "known for their good reputation, devout beliefs and high moral standards," the ministry said.

There are an estimated 3.3 million Moroccans living abroad, 10 percent of the total Moroccan population. Most live in Spain, France and Belgium or the Netherlands.

Hamas: Egyptian negotiators too pro-Israeli; we'll see if Germany can get us a better deal for Schalit's release

Emboldened by the assymmetrical swap with Hizballah, Hamas wants more. "Hamas: Germany will get us a better deal on returning Schalit," by Khaled Abu Toameh for the Jerusalem Post, July 18:

In the aftermath of Wednesday's prisoner swap between Israel and Hizbullah, there are increasing calls in Hamas to replace the Egyptian mediators with German intermediaries in the talks on abducted IDF soldier St.-Sgt. Gilad Schalit.

Several Hamas officials have been quoted over the past 24 hours as expressing deep disappointment with the way the Egyptians have been handling the Schalit mediation effort.

"The Egyptians have proved that they are unable to put enough pressure on Israel to accept our demands," one Hamas official reportedly said.

Another Hamas official said his movement was under the impression that the Egyptians "were on Israel's side more than on our side."

It may not be so much that Egyptians are trying to cut a great deal for Israel's sake as it is that they stand next in line after Israel to lose the most from a stronger, bolder Hamas movement in the Gaza Strip. Hamas has smuggled weapons continuously from the Egyptian side of the border, and has already blown open a border crossing with Egypt once. For that matter, an increase the stature of Hamas, which is itself an Muslim Brotherhood offshoot, could energize the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and add to the threat to the current regime (which, of course, is no prize either).

Hizballah now moving into Lebanese towns without Shi'ite majorities

Not only has the Lebanese government shown it won't challenge Hizballah's increasing presence, it has allowed the group veto power in governmental decisions, and has shown the depth of its support for Hizballah's jihad by giving Samir Kuntar a hero's welcome, even in Beirut. If it is trying to liquidate any and all international sympathy it garnered due to the Hariri and Gemayel assassinations, its efforts to shake off Syrian influence, and its brief resistance to Hizballah in May, it's doing a fine job.

"Hizbullah moves into 'every town'," by Yaakov Katz for the Jerusalem Post, July 18:

Hizbullah is bolstering its presence in south Lebanon villages with non-Shi'ite majorities by buying land and using it to build military positions and store missiles and launchers, The Jerusalem Post has learned.

The decision to build infrastructure in non-Shi'ite villages - where Hizbullah has less support - is part of the group's post-war strategy under which it has mostly abandoned the "nature reserves," forested areas in southern Lebanon where it kept most of its Katyusha rocket launchers before the Second Lebanon War.

Behind the change is the mandate given to UNIFIL by the United Nations after the war in 2006. According to the mandate, the peacekeeping force can patrol freely throughout southern Lebanon but cannot enter villages or cities without being accompanied by soldiers from the Lebanese Armed Forces, which regularly tips off Hizbullah ahead of the raids.

News of the change in Hizbullah strategy came as Israel is trying to persuade the UN to strengthen UNIFIL's mandate to give it the right to patrol the villages freely.

"Hizbullah is moving into every town that it can," a senior defense official told the Post. "This is in order to evade UNIFIL detection."

On Thursday, Lebanese complained they were receiving recorded phone messages from Israel promising "harsh retaliation" for any future Hizbullah attack. The automated messages also warn against allowing Hizbullah to form "a state within a state" in the country....

Update: Altruist turned terrorist motivated by "childhood anger"

So now his original story has changed. He didn't go to Pakistan to "help earthquake survivors," as he first claimed. No, now the real reason he went to Pakistan (only to return with enough information "that would have enabled him or others to carry out terrorist attacks here or abroad in a variety of ways") is "childhood anger." Odd that---especially considering his "hobbies" are "Islamic history, jurisprudence, warfare - contemporary, historical and classical warfare - books on jihad in the past, jihad today." We've a classic chicken-or-the-egg conundrum here. Did "childhood angers" lead him to the study of jihad (which only validated them) or did the study of jihad lead to his "childhood angers"? Or is he simply another jihadist trying to exploit the Western proclivity to sympathize with angry children? "Anger fuelled jihad interest," from the Yorkshire Evening Post, July17:

A MUSLIM caught with computer files about weapons, explosives and poisons, told a court how childhood "anger" fuelled his interest in "jihad".

Officers found the material on a laptop hard drive in Aabid Khan's luggage when they arrested him at Manchester Airport on his return from Pakistan two years ago.

He is in the dock at London's Southwark Crown Court alongside three co-accused, including Hammaad Munshi, 18, from Saville Town, Dewsbury, who were detained during raids in West Yorkshire and London.

The 23-year-old, of Otley Road, Undercliffe, Bradford, said by the age of 12 he was so concerned about the suffering of fellow believers overseas he regularly accessed internet news bulletins about them.

The four accused, which also includes Sultan Muhammad, 23, of Hanover Square, Manningham and Ahmed Sulieman, 30, from south-east London, variously deny 13 counts of possessing articles for a purpose connected with terrorism and making a record of information likely to be useful in terrorism between November 23 2005 and June 20 2006.

Freed Lebanese jihadists vow to continue fighting Israel

Gee, didn't see that coming. "Freed Lebanese prisoners vow to fight Israel," by Zeina Karam for the Associated Press July 17:

BEIRUT, Lebanon - Five militants freed in a prisoner swap with Israel prayed and laid wreaths at the grave of a slain Hezbollah commander Thursday, vowing to fight Israel as supporters showered them with rice.

Eight tractor-trailers loaded with coffins carrying the remains of 199 Lebanese and Palestinian fighters returned by Israel in the swap made their way from south Lebanon to the capital Beirut. Villagers showered rice and rose petals on the coffins wrapped in Lebanese and Hezbollah flags and covered with flowers. A banner on one of the red and yellow trucks read, "The Martyrs of Victory."

The vehicles were stopped often along the route by throngs of supporters, some of them women relatives in black headscarves and clothing who held up pictures of those killed in fighting with Israel over the past three decades.

In Beirut, the five freed prisoners dressed in military fatigues walked a red carpet laid out for them to the grave of Imad Mughniyeh, a shadowy figure Israel and the West accused of masterminding terrorist bombings in the 1980s and 1990s. He was killed in a car bomb in neighboring Syria in February which Hezbollah blamed on Israel. Israel denied it.

"We swear by God ... to continue on your same path and not to retreat until we achieve the same stature that God bestowed on you," said Samir Kantar, who had been the longest-held Lebanese prisoner in Israel.

He referred to Mughniyeh's "martyrdom," saying, "This is our great wish. We envy you and we will achieve it, God willing." [...]

Later in the day, hundreds of people welcomed Kantar in his hometown of Abey, a mountain hamlet 10 miles south of Beirut.

"This time yesterday, I was in the hands of the enemy. But at this moment, I am yearning more than before to confront them," Kantar said.

Obama shuns Michigan Muslims

This is a phenomenon I explained here. "They've met with other communities, so why is the Arab-American, Muslim community out of the loop?'' Because Obama, or at least those around him, recognize that there is real concern about Muslims in America. Whether he recognizes that there are any legitimate grounds for such concern is another question.

"Obama Steers Clear of Michigan Muslims He May Need to Win State," by Heidi Przybyla for Bloomberg, July 16 (thanks to all who sent this in):

July 16 (Bloomberg) -- The cover of this week's New Yorker magazine may explain why Barack Obama isn't reaching out to Michigan's Muslims.

The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee is shown in the Oval Office, wearing a turban and bumping fists with his wife, Michelle, who is in combat boots with a rifle slung over her shoulder. The cartoon, intended as satire, is a reminder of the dangers of any association with Muslims for Obama, who has fought false rumors that his middle name, Hussein, indicates he was born into the Islamic faith.

Muslim- and Arab-Americans represent 4 percent of the vote in Michigan, a battleground in this year's election. Yet Obama, who has held 13 events in the state during the presidential campaign, hasn't visited a mosque or met with Muslim leaders.

Bill Ballenger, editor of the nonpartisan newsletter Inside Michigan Politics, said Obama, 46, has to strike a delicate balance. The Illinois senator ``doesn't have to pander'' to such voters, who are likely to back him anyway, though he can ill- afford to ``dismiss them in an arrogant fashion.''

While Obama is leading in Michigan polls, some politicians said it would be a mistake for him not to actively court the state's Muslim voters, who went for Democrat John Kerry four years ago and Republican George W. Bush in 2000. [...]

``We're not asking for much,'' said Imad Hamad, regional director for the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee in Dearborn. ``We're asking for equal opportunity and equal time and equal respect. They've met with other communities, so why is the Arab-American, Muslim community out of the loop?''

Some Muslim Obama backers said they understood their candidate's motivation in keeping his distance.

``There's an Islamophobic wave,'' said Ron Amen, an Obama volunteer who is also the facility manager at the Arab American National Museum in Dearborn. ``I understand him making an effort to convince people that he's not a Muslim; I don't want to see Obama get saddled with any more baggage as a result of support from Arabs and Muslims.''

UPDATE: Debbie Schlussel says this story is false, and that Obama has been meeting privately with Muslim leaders in Michigan -- including one with ties to Hizballah.

Telling the truth is Islam-bashing?

A question I have often asked.

The courageous Iranian dissident Amil Imani considers it here.

Pakistani clerics: End U.S. involvement in Pakistan, enforce Islamic law

"The West and the Jews are conspiring against Muslims and Islam on a big scale, and are using different strategies to impose a Western system on Muslim nations."

"Clerics: End U.S. Involvement In Pakistan, Enforce Islamic System," from MEMRI, July 16 (thanks to Jeffrey Imm):

A conference of Pakistani clerics has demanded an end to U.S. involvement in Pakistan�s internal affairs and enforcement of shari�a in the country....

The conference was organized by the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (F). According to the newspaper report, Jamiat leader Maulana Fazlur Rahman told the conference that that the struggle to make Pakistan stable and shari�a-compliant should continue.

Also according to the report, Maulana Muhammad Khan Shirani, the Emir of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (F) in the Baluchistan province, said that the West and the Jews are conspiring against Muslims and Islam on a big scale, and are using different strategies to impose a Western system on Muslim nations.

Speaking on the occasion, Jamiat Secretary General Maulana Abdul Ghafur Haidari said that all rulers of a nation (Pakistan) created in the name of Islam have put Islamic teachings on the back burner and have adopted policies to please their Western masters.

Source: Roznama Jang, Pakistan, July 11, 2008

New York: Muslim stabs his sister because she was a "bad Muslim girl"

Avenger of bad Muslim girls

An attempt to add to the rapidly increasing number of Islamic honor killings in the U.S. Is this the kind of society we want to have in America? Are the assumptions that underlie this practice really compatible with Western principles of the rights and dignity of the human being? If our public officials at this point truly had the best interests of American society at heart, they would begin to examine this phenomenon as part of an examination of Muslim immigration into the U.S., with an eye toward ending that immigration. They would be calling upon Islamic groups in America to confront and fight against the assumptions that lead to honor killing.

Instead, we get the boilerplate "this has nothing to do with Islam" statement in this article, and the blaming of "South Asians" again. Yet Amina and Sarah Said were murdered by their father just months ago -- and they were Egyptians, not South Asians. If this practice has nothing to do with Islam, why did Jordan's Parliament quash an attempt a few years back to stiffen penalties for honor killings -- with Islamic politicians leading the way and making their arguments on Islamic grounds? When will American officials call on Muslim leaders in the U.S. to stop the blame-shifting and finger-pointing and take some real action against this practice?

"Henrietta Muslim knifing called 'honor attack,'" by Michael Zeigler for the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle, July 17 (thanks to all who sent this in):

Infuriated because his younger sister was going to clubs, wearing immodest clothing and planning to leave her family for a new life in New York City, Waheed Allah Mohammad stabbed her outside their Henrietta home, prosecutors allege.

Afterward, he told Monroe County sheriff's investigators that he attacked his sister because she had disgraced their family and was a "bad Muslim girl," according to court documents.

Mohammad, 22, is scheduled to appear Friday in Monroe County Court on charges of attempted second-degree murder and first-degree assault in the May 8 attack on Fauzia A. Mohammad, 19.

The case is the second in four years in Monroe County in which an immigrant from South Asia is alleged to have killed or tried to kill a family member over the perceived loss of family honor � an occurrence that is not uncommon in South Asia but is rare in the United States.

Although the defendants in both cases are Muslims, resorting to homicide to restore family honor in mostly Muslim South Asia is a custom that predates Islam, said Aly Nahas, a retired professor of pharmacology at the University of Rochester who is a student of Islamic tradition.

"In my belief, it has nothing to do with Islam," said Nahas, a practicing Muslim. "I know Islam well, and I do not believe it is Islamic. There is nothing in Islam that talks about honor killing."

Nahas said, however, that many Westerners don't accept his assertion.

"And they will not because it occurs in countries that have been Muslim for 1,000 years," he said. "People will ask, 'Why isn't it stopped?' I can't answer that."

According to the United Nations Population Fund, up to 5,000 women are killed each year in South Asia for allegedly disgracing their families. Some of the women are killed after becoming rape victims or rejecting arranged marriages.

Assistant District Attorney Joseph Waldorf, who is prosecuting Mohammad, declined to characterize the case as an "honor attack" or otherwise.

Fauzia Mohammad is recovering from her wounds, Waldorf said....

"As Muslims we have fully integrated into British society, but we have no desire to assimilate to an inferior culture"

Foster Friess, who, among other things, is on a mission to help truly peaceful Muslims, such as Tawfik Hamid, moderate their faith, writes a revealing article in his blog demonstrating the many obstacles on the way to reform: �My meetings with Iraqi Shiite clerics angered me,� by Foster Friess, July 16:

I spent a long weekend in London meeting with a handful of prominent Iraqis, including two leading Shiite clerics. The group�s mission is to memorialize the brutality that existed under Saddam Hussein and to create a museum akin to the Holocaust Museum.
[...]

On a visit to Hyde Park's Speaker's Corner, I engaged a British Imam. Here are a few highlights of that exchange:

Should leaving the Islamic faith be punishable by death? His response, "In Britain, no, but in an Islamic state, yes." In an Isalmic state, conversion to a different religion is considered synonymous with treason.

Some people are concerned about Muslim immigrants not assimilating into the British culture. The Imam's response - "As Muslims we have fully integrated into British society, but we have no desire to assimilate to an inferior culture." Ironically, Britain today has "reverse assimilation" as exemplified by the fact that British police sniffer dogs wear "booties" with rubber soles so as not to offend Muslims.

On the Muslim who was found not guilty of beating his wife in a German secular court because it did not violate Shari'a law, his response was, "Just as we punish our children to reprimand them, so too sometimes it is justifiable to reprimand our wives. It is our duty."

How does a multiculturalist embrace two cultures where one hangs homosexuals as they did the 14-year old boy in Iran last month, while the other protects and advances the rights of homosexuals? Similarly, is multiculturalism possible when we contrast Islam with Christianity?

One says the Quran must dictate the function of government in a theocratic caliphate-type system of government. The western worldview embraces Jesus' comment, �Render unto Caesar what is Caesar's and render unto God what is God�s�... one of the earliest statements on the separation of church and state. How do multiculturalists justify the concept of religious freedom and a culture that kills those who leave the Muslim faith?

Dining at the House of Lords, graciously hosted by Baroness Caroline Cox and Lord Malcolm Pearson, joined by my friend Gerard Batten, who ran for Mayor of London, we discussed the impact of political correctness on British culture. A UK judge recently said that Shari'a law is permissible in domestic relationships, distressing women's rights advocates.

Adding to this, the recent resolution passed by the United Nations, banning criticism of Islam and Mohammed, essentially making it akin to 'hate speech', drives all of us to discern what we can do, as private citizens on both sides of the pond, to maintain the free speech traditions we've enjoyed in western civilization, and for which so many have died.

Fitzgerald: McCain admires "the Islam"

"I admire the Islam [sic]. There are a lot of good principles in it." -- John McCain

This comment is worth holding up for inspection and criticism.

The Republican McCain is still apparently a sentimentalist, because still apparently misinformed, or under-informed, about Islam.

McCain tells us that he admires "the Islam." And he admires it because there are "a lot of good principles in it." What are those "good principles"? And is there anything else in Islam -- in the Qur'an, the Hadith, the Sira -- that might lead non-Muslims to worry, and not just a bit, about the Muslim texts and tenets as they relate to all non-Muslims? Anything at all? And, further, is there anything in the observable behavior of Muslims today, and not just those in Al-Qaeda or a hundred other groups, or ten thousand groupuscules from Pakistan to Great Britain, from Thailand to France, from Algeria to Russia, that should give non-Muslims pause?

The next President should be someone who does not have to learn about Islam, but will have learned already. Neither candidate at this point is satisfactory. Not McCain, with his sentimentalism that echoes that of Bush: the Higher Bomfoggery, in which we are asked to belief that deep beliefs do not matter, that despite what Islam teaches, deep down inside People Are the Same and All Want The Same Things The Whole World Over. It isn't true.

Continue reading "Fitzgerald: McCain admires "the Islam""

Next: a Harry Potter jihadi series?

Just when you thought Harry Potter was a Zionist agent comes this: "Call them the Harry Potter books on Islam," by Syed Ali Mujtaba for the Dinar Standard, July 16:

[A] New Delhi based publisher, Saniyasnain Khan has come up with the splendid idea to bring out a wide range of children�s books on Islam in English. Published under the banner Goodword Books, its popularity is slowly climbing the charts, and distributors call them the Harry Potter books on Islam.

[�]

Originally known as Al-Risala [Arabic for "the Message"], Goodword Books boasts a wide range of children�s products: Islamic children's books, Islamic story books, board games, puzzles, gift packs, coloring books, mazes, crosswords, word searches, Quran stories, seerah stories, and many more exciting and fun-filled ideas and activities. With a hundred distributors in 20 countries its main markets are the UK, USA, India and Pakistan.

[�]

Some of the titles: Tell Me About the Prophet Muhammad, Tell Me About Hajj, Tell Me About the Prophet Musa, Tell Me About the Prophet Yusuf, My First Quran Storybook, and many more are very popular. His books have been translated into French, Danish, Turkish, Urdu, Arabic, Malay, and Uzbek languages.

One can't help but wonder if these themes meet Saudi Arabia's children-textbook standards?

Talking to DinarStandard Saniyasnain Khan says Islam is essentially a religion of peace and harmony but there are two main reasons why some people dislike Muslims and Islam. One is violence that has been associated with it while the other is the perceived bad treatment of women by Muslims.

�I felt that there was a pressing need to educate the new generation about the real Islamic values so that they become little ambassadors of Islamic goodness and they also stimulate them to learn about Islamic ideals as they grow up,� said Mr. Khan, whose first book �Tell Me About Hajj� has sold over 30,000 copies.

"Children get a lot of negative information about Islam. There is a big need to give them the right picture so that they grow up to be peace-loving individuals� said Mr. Khan who often contributes articles on spirituality to the Times of India.

Interesting statement. At first, when Khan says that Muslim children �get a lot of negative information about Islam� it seemed that he was indicating the negative �propaganda� surrounding Islam. But the �big need to give them the right picture so that they grow up to be peace-loving individuals� implies that the �negative information� about Islam isn�t what infidels say about it, but how Muslim adults teach it.

A trustee of CPS International, a non-profit organization working towards peace and spirituality, Khan says �my endeavor is to present books for children that provide a solid foundation of Islamic moral values. The basic purpose of these books is to teach themes carefully chosen from the Quran and other Islamic sources so that the children not only learn its ethical values but also embody them in their lives.�

Why all the "care" when choosing themes, Mr. Khan? Why not represent them all? Surely you don't find some of those "themes" problematic?

[�]

Goodword�s area of specialization is Islamic stories for children based on the Quran and Hadith. There are more than 500 plus titles to its credit. These books are completely dedicated to developing meaningful and wholesome Islamic and moral values.

[�]

Mr. Khan, sums up his dream saying the long term vision of Goodword is to generate the love of Islam in children and young people so that when they grow up they spread its beauty around them.

Saudi king says they're tacking terror's "intellectual roots"; Saudi textbooks still teach jihad against infidels

King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, July 15, 2008, as quoted in "Dialogue will remove mistrust: King," by P.K. Abdul Ghafour for Arab News, July 16, 2008:

We have adopted a comprehensive anti-terror strategy that not only focuses on the security side but also includes preventing financing of terrorism and dealing with its intellectual roots as well as rehabilitating the followers of deviant ideologies after giving them counseling.

Yet these "intellectual roots" of jihad violence remain undealt with:

Center for Religious Freedom of Hudson Institute, "2007-2008 Academic Year Excerpts from Saudi Ministry of Education Textbooks for Islamic Studies: Arabic with English Translation":

When God sent his Prophet Muhammad, He abrogated with his law all [other] laws and He commanded all people, including the people of the book, to believe him and to follow him. The people of the book should have been the first to believe him because they find him in their scriptures. Their prophets had informed them of Muhammad's mission. But most of them denied and rejected him.

The clash between this [Muslim] nation and the Jews and Christians has endured, and it will continue as long as God wills. In this hadith, Muhammad gives us an example of the battle between the Muslims and the Jews.

Narrated by Abu Hurayrah: The Prophet said, "The hour [of judgment] will not come until the Muslims fight the Jews and kill them. [It will not come] until the Jew hides behind rocks and trees. [It will not come] until the rocks or the trees say, 'O Muslim! O servant of God! There is a Jew behind me. Come and kill him. Except for the gharqad, which is a tree of the Jews.�"

Al-Bukhari: 103/6, number 2926. Volume: Jihad; Chapter: Fighting the Jews. But it does not contain "except for the gharqad..." [The hadith is also cited in] Muslim, including said expression: 2239/4, number 2922. Volume: Pertaining to the turmoil and portents of the last hour; chapter: The hour [of judgment] will not come until a man passes by a man's grave and wishes to take the place of the deceased.

Thanks to Paul Green.