"Of course the Quran is peaceful. Let me cut out this page and show you!"

KARACHI, Pakistan -- About 5,000 children chanting "Hang those who insulted the prophet" rallied in Pakistan's largest city on Tuesday in the latest protest in the Islamic nation against the publication of cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad.

The children, ages 8 to 12, burned a coffin draped in U.S., Israeli and Danish flags at a traffic intersection in the port city of Karachi as police in riot gear looked on.

The rally was organized by Jamaat-e-Islami, Pakistan's largest Islamic group. The children, some wearing school uniforms and headbands emblazoned with "God is great," were released from schools to take part.

The religious coalition has been leading protests against the cartoons, drawing thousands of people to the streets of the conservative Islamic nation. At least five people died in two Pakistani cities when recent protests turned violent.
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Permanent Link posted by J @ 7:00 pm 6 comments

Transcript (click the picture to watch the video):

Following are excerpts from a program with Sheik Yousef Al-Qaradhawi, aired on Qatar TV on February 25, 2006.

Yousef Al-Qaradhawi: Our war with the Jews is over land, brothers. We must understand this. If they had not plundered our land, there wouldn't be a war between us.

[...]

We are fighting them in the name of Islam, because Islam commands us to fight whoever plunders our land, and occupies our country. All the school of Islamic jurisprudence - the Sunni, the Shiite, the Ibadhiya - and all the ancient and modern schools of jurisprudence - agree that any invader, who occupies even an inch of land of the Muslims, must face resistance. The Muslims of that country must carry out the resistance, and the rest of the Muslims must help them. If the people of that country are incapable or reluctant, we must fight to defend the land of Islam, even if the local [Muslims] give it up.

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

We do not disassociate Islam from the war. On the contrary, disassociating Islam from the war is the reason for our defeat. We are fighting in the name of Islam.

[...]

They fight us with Judaism, so we should fight them with Islam. They fight us with the Torah, so we should fight them with the Koran. If they say "the Temple," we should say "the Al-Aqsa Mosque." If they say: "We glorify the Sabbath," we should say: "We glorify the Friday." This is how it should be. Religion must lead the war. This is the only way we can win.

[...]

Everything will be on our side and against Jews on [Judgment Day], at that time, even the stones and the trees will speak, with or without words, and say: "Oh servant of Allah, oh Muslim, there's a Jew behind me, come and kill him." They will point to the Jews. It says "servant of Allah," not "servant of desires," "servant of women," "servant of the bottle," "servant of Marxism," or "servant of liberalism"... It said servant of Allah."

When the Muslims, the Arabs, and the Palestinians enter a war, they do it to worship Allah. They enter it as Muslims. The hadith says: "Oh Muslim." It says "oh Muslim," not "oh Palestinian, Jordanian, Syrian, or Arab nationalist." No, it says: "Oh Muslim." When we enter [a war] under the banner of Islam, and under the banner of serving Allah, we will be victorious.
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Permanent Link posted by J @ 4:32 pm 10 comments

All the Iraqis fighting and killing each other over the bombing of the 1,200-year-old Askariya shrine in Samarra, Iraq, should all settle down and stop pushing Iraq to the brink of civil war. After all, it was the Jews that blew up the shrine, not radical religious elements within Iraq eager to continue the 1,400-year tradition of Sunni and Shiite Muslims slaughtering each other. At least that is what Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khameini say.

Oh wait, such a large scale, successful, attack could only have been accomplished with the collusion of the good old U.S of "Great Satan" A, chimes in Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah to an assembly of Shiite Muslims in Lebanon fresh back from their latest firebombing of a foreign embassy in their endless struggle to beat back the insidious western plot to conquer the Muslim world through political cartoons and assorted animated characters.

You see, the final stages of the plot have finally been uncovered by Iranian Education Ministry advisor, Professor Hasan Bolkhari, who has discovered that the loveable cartoon characters, Tom and Jerry, are not at all that loveable, but tools of the global Zionist plot to lull good Muslims into equating Jews with the mouse, Jerry, and liking them. Now, the scenario is complete. Tom and Jerry will distract the Iranian defense forces with their madcap antics as Bugs Bunny drives deep behind enemy lines to destroy all the Iranian military's weaponry by intermittently inserting little flags that shoot out with "bang" written on them and exploding small sticks of dynamite down their barrels. Once their defenses are down, Woody Woodpecker will lead a squadron of F-16's on a bombing run on Iran's nuclear facilities, whose locations where revealed by a group of "meddling kids" and their dog, as Superman blows away all of Iran's oil platforms with his super breath. Wonder Woman will provide intelligence from her invisible jet, as Green Lantern... Who can tell what Green Lantern will do? The Green Lantern is a JEW!

However, Pakistani Islamic leader Maulana Hafiz Hussain Ahmad really hits the nail on the head as he proclaims that is was the United States, Israel, AND India who all conspired together to destroy the Iraqi mosque. Makes sense since these are the same three powers that orchestrated the Indian Ocean Tsunami in late 2004 with their deep-sea nuclear weapons tests. Wait, the Tsunami was created by Allah to punish the infidels for celebrating Christmas. Or, was it to punish wayward Muslims for not beating their wives enough? Who knows? But the really important thing to remember is the Muslims are in no way, shape, or form, responsible for any of the problems that afflict them.

Sure must be nice. It is almost as though those who espouse to the Islamic faith have somehow been bestowed with a mantle of perfection which not just prevents them from ever doing wrong, but protects them from all criticism and scrutiny of their behavior as well. They must indeed be a super race.

The problem is the super race seems to assailed from all quarters by groups of evil, malicious, groups who have nothing better to do than make life harder for the people of a bunch of countries half of them never heard of before. Led by the most useless, nefarious, group of beings ever to set foot on the planet: the Jews.

So, is your country a virtual open cesspool of poverty, corruption, and violence led by a petty dictator or religious guru who lives in opulence as you boil rocks to eat? Blame the Euro-Anglo-Zionist "Keep Middle-Eastern People Poor Despite Giving Them a Bazillion Dollars a Year in Oil Revenue and Foreign Aid" plot.

Are you being forced to deal with the consequences of electing savage, terrorist thugs to replace the last bunch of savage, terrorist thugs you elected in the last time you voted to run your government? Blame the American/Israeli "For Some Reason Innocent Civilians Don't Like Getting Blown Up on a Bus" plot.

Earthquake? Blame the Germans. Domestic riots? Blame the English. Leaves blow back into your yard just after you finished raking them? Blame the international "Keep Your Front Yards Messy" conspiracy. But, above all else, blame the Jews. After all it was the Jews who fought back after being repeatedly attacked and threatened with extermination. It was the Jews who... Well, not much else, but they are still there so you are allowed to hate them.

No matter what Islamist defenders try to claim about the wrongs the United States and Israel have inflicted on the Palestinians and Islamic world as a whole, the current idiocy of concocting one conspiracy theory after another and blaming Western civilization for all of the travails that impact them is nothing more than the current flavor of the day for the Muslim world.

Jews were blamed for the fall of the Ottoman Empire in 1924, and the accusation that Jews used the blood of children for religious rituals appeared in Damascus, Syria, around 1840, 50 years prior to the Balfour Declaration and a full century before the foundation of Israel, are just two recent examples of the endemic anti-Semitism that some Muslims have harbored for centuries. And, conspiracy theories themselves have played a prominent role in the Muslim worldview almost since the birth of the faith with the assassination of the third Muslim Caliph Othman bin 'Affan during the original schism between the Sunni and Shiite branches of Islam.

The bottom line is the Islamic world has the habitual characteristic of blaming others for their own problems. Usually, they blame the group they currently hate the most, but there is always a scapegoat other than them for any problem. This is a fundamental weakness in Muslim society, and, as time goes on, will be an increasing impediment to the interrelations between Islam and the other cultures of the world.

If Muslims are ever going to integrate into the modern world, and if there is ever to be true peace between our civilizations, the Muslim world must stop making excuses and grow up.
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Permanent Link posted by J @ 1:30 pm 4 comments

Authorities in Tajikistan have started demolishing the country's only synagogue in order to make way for a new presidential residence, an official said Friday.

The century-old synagogue on government land in the ex-Soviet republic's capital Dushanbe will be completely torn down by June "as part of the plans to build a new presidential palace," said city administration spokesman Shavkat Saidov.

Last month, city authorities demolished the synagogue's ritual bathhouse, classroom and kosher butchery, the Norway-based international Forum 18 religious rights group said.

Tajikistan's Jewish community, mainly made up of Bukharan Jews, is mostly elderly and poor and cannot afford to build a new synagogue. About 280 Jews live in Dushanbe, of about 480 across the country.

The International Sephardic Leadership Council expressed "dismay" that the city of Dushanbe in Tajikistan has started to destroy what is described as "an active and functioning synagogue -- the only synagogue in the entire country. The 150 members of the Jewish community, mainly made up of Bukharian Jews, is elderly and poor and cannot afford to build a new synagogue."

The synagogue was built by the Jewish community a century ago. It was earmarked for demolition under plans for construction of a "Palace of Nations" (the Tajik president's new residence). Between January 7-20, 2006 the city authorities demolished the mikva (ritual bathhouse), classroom and kosher butchery of the synagogue.

While the government claims the synagogue technically belongs to the state, Rabbi Mikhail Abdurakhmanov of Dushanbe told a human rights group, "By rights the synagogue ought to belong to the Jews who paid for its construction about 100 years ago." He reported then that the authorities had offered a plot of land some distance from central Dushanbe, where the community could build a new synagogue. Yet, there was no way the mainly elderly congregation could afford to build a new synagogue.

Shamsuddin Nuriddinov, head of the Dushanbe Religious Affairs Department was quoted by a human rights group. He stated the government has no intention of offering financial compensation for the demolition of the synagogue. "Religion is separate from the state here in Tajikistan ... If the Jews want to have a synagogue, let them pay for it out of their own funds." Shelomo Alfassa, director of the International Sephardic Leadership Council stated:

It is "an ominous message for a Jewish community," the ISLC said, "that while living under a government that is attempting to rebuild its economic, political and social image -- it starts by wiping out the only synagogue in its country. The international Jewish community must do everything it can to help the remaining elderly and poverty-stricken Jews there, this includes considering emigration."

In past years, the secular led Tajikistan government has been accused of tolerating the presence of training camps for Islamic militants, an accusation which it has strongly denied.

A local citizen reported that when a Jewish member of the synagogue filmed the destruction, officials threatened to break his video-camera. Reports have circulated that members of the community indicate that they have been threatened by government officials for raising their voices.

Tajikistan, west of China and north of Afghanistan, became independent in 1991 following the breakup of the Soviet Union and has now completed its transition from the civil war that plagued the country from 1992 to 1997. Today, the country is 90% Muslim.

Bukharian Jews have lived in Tajikistan for over 1,000 years without experiencing anti-Semitism. They were joined by a small Ashkenazi presence following World War II.

In 1995, the Dushanbe synagogue and several Jewish homes were broken into and ransacked. From this event, fear caused many Jews from Dushanbe to emigrate. About 10,000 Tajik Jews have fled to Israel since 1989. In 1992, there was a little-known but successful airlift operation to bring Jews out of Tajikistan and into Israel.
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Permanent Link posted by J @ 1:21 pm 2 comments

Following are excerpts from an interview with Arab-American psychologist Wafa Sultan. The interview was aired on Al-Jazeera TV on February 21, 2006

Wafa Sultan: The clash we are witnessing around the world is not a clash of religions, or a clash of civilizations. It is a clash between two opposites, between two eras. It is a clash between a mentality that belongs to the Middle Ages and another mentality that belongs to the 21st century. It is a clash between civilization and backwardness, between the civilized and the primitive, between barbarity and rationality. It is a clash between freedom and oppression, between democracy and dictatorship. It is a clash between human rights, on the one hand, and the violation of these rights, on other hand. It is a clash between those who treat women like beasts, and those who treat them like human beings. What we see today is not a clash of civilizations. Civilizations do not clash, but compete.

[...]

Host: I understand from your words that what is happening today is a clash between the culture of the West, and the backwardness and ignorance of the Muslims?

Wafa Sultan: Yes, that is what I mean.

[...]

Host: Who came up with the concept of a clash of civilizations? Was it not Samuel Huntington? It was not Bin Laden. I would like to discuss this issue, if you don't mind...

Wafa Sultan: The Muslims are the ones who began using this expression. The Muslims are the ones who began the clash of civilizations. The Prophet of Islam said: "I was ordered to fight the people until they believe in Allah and His Messenger." When the Muslims divided the people into Muslims and non-Muslims, and called to fight the others until they believe in what they themselves believe, they started this clash, and began this war. In order to start this war, they must reexamine their Islamic books and curricula, which are full of calls for takfir and fighting the infidels.

My colleague has said that he never offends other people's beliefs. What civilization on the face of this earth allows him to call other people by names that they did not choose for themselves? Once, he calls them Ahl Al-Dhimma, another time he calls them the "People of the Book," and yet another time he compares them to apes and pigs, or he calls the Christians "those who incur Allah's wrath." Who told you that they are "People of the Book"? They are not the People of the Book, they are people of many books. All the useful scientific books that you have today are theirs, the fruit of their free and creative thinking. What gives you the right to call them "those who incur Allah's wrath," or "those who have gone astray," and then come here and say that your religion commands you to refrain from offending the beliefs of others?

I am not a Christian, a Muslim, or a Jew. I am a secular human being. I do not believe in the supernatural, but I respect others' right to believe in it.

Dr. Ibrahim Al-Khouli: Are you a heretic?

Wafa Sultan: You can say whatever you like. I am a secular human being who does not believe in the supernatural...

Dr. Ibrahim Al-Khouli: If you are a heretic, there is no point in rebuking you, since you have blasphemed against Islam, the Prophet, and the Koran...

Wafa Sultan: These are personal matters that do not concern you.

[...]

Wafa Sultan: Brother, you can believe in stones, as long as you don't throw them at me. You are free to worship whoever you want, but other people's beliefs are not your concern, whether they believe that the Messiah is God, son of Mary, or that Satan is God, son of Mary. Let people have their beliefs.

[...]

Wafa Sultan: The Jews have came from the tragedy (of the Holocaust), and forced the world to respect them, with their knowledge, not with their terror, with their work, not their crying and yelling. Humanity owes most of the discoveries and science of the 19th and 20th centuries to Jewish scientists. 15 million people, scattered throughout the world, united and won their rights through work and knowledge. We have not seen a single Jew blow himself up in a German restaurant. We have not seen a single Jew destroy a church. We have not seen a single Jew protest by killing people. The Muslims have turned three Buddha statues into rubble. We have not seen a single Buddhist burn down a Mosque, kill a Muslim, or burn down an embassy. Only the Muslims defend their beliefs by burning down churches, killing people, and destroying embassies. This path will not yield any results. The Muslims must ask themselves what they can do for humankind, before they demand that humankind respect them.
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Permanent Link posted by J @ 6:15 pm 1 comments

The alleged "Barbarian" killer who masterminded the grisly murder of a young French man this month has confessed to the crime, The investigators has said Today in Ivory Coast where he was arrested.

A French source close to the investigation said "he has begun to confess" while an Ivorian police officer said his participation in the gruesome torture and murder of 23-year-old telephone salesman Ilan Halimi was "proven".

French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, speaking on French television hours after Youssouf Fofana was arrested in Ivory Coast, said he expected the suspect to be extradited quickly. The 25-year-old convicted petty criminal is of Ivorian origin. He styles himself -- in English -- as the "Brain of Barbarians" and is believed to have fled to the west African country last week.

Arrested overnight Wednesday, he was in the hands of two French police detectives early Thursday. "Police investigators are there so we think that he could be repatriated to France in the next hours," Villepin told Canal television. In a sign of the attention the crime has attracted in France, President Jacques Chirac and Villepin were to attend a Jewish memorial ceremony for Halimi in Paris on Thursday.

"This is a horrible drama so it is important that justice can be done very rapidly," the prime minister said. Ivorian police said Fofana had denied any anti-Semitic motives amid anger in the French Jewish community, where many believe Halimi was targeted because of his religion.

Halimi went missing in late January after being apparently lured into a sex-trap. He was held and tortured for three weeks in a poor multi-ethnic suburban Paris apartment estate by a gang that sent ransom demands to his family. He died shortly after being dumped by a railway line on February 13. Twelve suspects have been placed under judicial investigation in France, of whom six could face charges of being motivated by religious hatred. Several others were still being questioned, including the concierge of the apartment building where Halimi was held.
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Permanent Link posted by J @ 9:47 am 2 comments

Dominique de Villepin, the Prime Minister, and his ministers promised that justice would be done after the parents of Ilan Halimi, 23, who was held captive for three weeks on an immigrant estate, accused the police of playing down the anti-Semitic motives of his kidnappers.

M Halimi, who worked in a telephone shop, died shortly after being found ten days ago naked and bound on a suburban roadside. Police denied any racial aspect in the kidnapping and ransom demands, but on Monday investigators added racial hatred to the kidnapping and murder charges that six men and a woman in police custody are facing.

The kidnappers are alleged to have referred to M Halimi's Jewish background in their telephone and e-mail demands to the family for ransom, and one of the young torturers was reported by accomplices to have stubbed out a cigarette on M Halimi's forehead while voicing his hatred for Jews.

The seven are alleged to be part of a loose gang of young estate-dwellers who had already made six unsuccessful kidnap attempts against residents of Paris. Nicolas Sarkozy, the Interior Minister, told Parliament yesterday that four out of the six were Jewish.

Two officers flew yesterday to Ivory Coast in pursuit of Yussef Fofana, 25, the alleged ring-leader who calls himself "Brain of the Barbarians", who flew out of Paris after M Halimi was found. The gang had used women to entrap their victims by chatting them up and arranging dates with them.

One intended victim, a 50-year-old Jewish man identified as Michael, told how he had been lured to an estate and knocked out with a blow to the head from a pistol butt. He had been saved after residents called police, but spent a week in hospital. According to unconfirmed reports in the Jewish community of Paris, at least one family has recently paid a ransom for the release of a kidnapped child.

As M Sarkozy visited M Halimi's parents yesterday, the Simon Wiesenthal Centre sent him a message saying: "These acts are a test for Europe. Jihadi violence, hatred and anti-Semitism must be prevented from taking root in French soil."

Ruth Halimi said that her son might still be alive had the police not evaded the nature of his kidnapping as they were negotiating over ransom.

"We told the police that there had been at least three other attempted abductions of young Jews, but they persisted in considering the motives purely criminal because they are afraid of reviving a clash with the Muslims," she said.

Police said that the gang appeared to have been driven by greed and the crude racial stereotypes that prevailed on the estates. Feuj, slang for Jew, is a common insult in the ghetto-like estates. The group had been influenced by television, particularly the Abu Ghraib torture pictures, officers said.

In Parliament, M Sarkozy played down the kidnapping as a religious or political act. "These thugs acted first of all out of sordid criminal motives in a search for money, but they were convinced that 'Jews have money'," he said.

M de Villepin was reported yesterday to have reprimanded Pascal Clement, the Justice Minister, for quoting one of the accused kidnappers as saying M Halimi had been abducted "because he was Jewish, and Jews are rich". His discretion reflects official fear of stirring the anger that drove thousands of young men from Muslim-dominated estates to a frenzy of fire-bombing last autumn.
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Permanent Link posted by J @ 12:15 am 0 comments

Ilan Halimi, the 23-year-old man kidnapped and murdered near Paris

According to an informed source, the head of the gang has been identified as the 26-year-old Youssef Fofana, a Black Muslim who is calling himself "brain of the barbarians."

Picture taken 17 February 2006 rue Prokovief in Bagneux, an outer southern suburb of Paris, of the cellar of a building, where Ilan Halimi, 23 is believed to have been held and tortured.French police were hunting Friday for the mastermind of a kidnapping ring suspected of using sexual advances to lure a young man to his death, following the arrest overnight of twelve suspects, aged 17 to 32, in Bagneux, and a 13th in Belgium. They are suspected of abducting Halimi, and subjecting him to horrific tortures before dumping his naked and mutilated body in the street near a suburban train station on Monday. Handcuffed, gagged and covered in burns and torture marks, he died on the way to hospital.

Thirteen people, all members of a dangerous and extremely violent gang, have been arrested following an investigation into the murder of a young Jewish man in the Paris area, French police announced Friday.

Meanwhile a difference of opinion arose surrounding the motivation for the murder. The Paris public prosecutor declared that "anti-semitism did not appear to be the motive" of the kidnappers of the 23-year-old Ilan Halimi," while family members of the murdered man suspect the contrary.

Trying to calm the Jewish community's emotion and anger, the umbrella group of French Jewish secular organisations, CRIF, issued a statement on Friday calling on the Jewish community "to keep calm, cautious and wait for developments in the investigation."

Among the arrested suspects - aged between 17 and 32- are three women who were used by the gang to attract their prey. They were all arrested in the Paris suburbs.

All these persons come from the city of Bagneux, in the Paris region, where Ilan Halimi has been detained.

A person living in Brussels was also said to be under international arrest warrant.

According to an informed source, the head of the gang has been identified as the 26-year-old Youssef Fofana, a Black Muslim who is calling himself "brain of the barbarians." He is already known to the police services as "extremely dangerous."

Fofana has not yet been arrested but an identikit of him was handed to the press by the Paris public prosecutor, Jean-Claude Marin.

"He knows he is searched," Marin said Friday.

"He insulted Ilan Halimi's family members by calling them yesterday and issuing death threats if they did not pay the ransom," he added.

The investigation by some 200 policemen quickened after Ilan Halimi was found last Monday severely wounded, naked and hand-cuffed along a railway track in the suburb of Saint Genevieve des Bois, 30 kilometres south of Paris. Halimi's body was found three weeks after he was kidnapped by a gang.

A person suspected of having helped the kidnappers was arrested on Tuesday. Police issued a call for witnesses and published two identikit pictures of a "blonde" woman who was used to charm and attract Ilan Halimi, as well as the picture of a suspect with his face mainly masked.

The woman, who felt she had been recognized by friends, later gave herself up to police.

The victim was burnt and cut on 80 percent of his body, died of his wounds as he was taken to hospital.

According to police, Halimi, a cellular phone salesman, was attracted by a young Arab "pleasant" woman who came to his place of work, on Voltaire boulevard, in the 11th arrondissement of Paris, on January 17. The woman apparently charmed him and arranged an appointment.

Ilan Halimi was kidnapped on the night of January 21, when he was supposed to meet the young woman.

After the kidnapping, the gang contacted Ilan's family and demanded a ransom of between 450,000 and 500,000 euros.

Speaking on a Parisian Jewish radio on Thursday, the Paris public prosecutor said that "no element of the current investigation could link this murder to an anti-Semitic declaration or action."

Police even didn't mention the Jewish identity of the victim. "It's out of question to draw a line to the victim's membership of the community," Jean-Claude Marin told French Jewish radio Radio Shalom.

Judiciary police chief Francois Jaspar said that at least three other similar attempted kidnapping have been reported since last December, none were successful.

In each case, one of three young women, a blond, a brunette and an Arab woman, or a young man would attract the victim on a date, during which the victim would be attacked by the rest of the gang. Ilan Halimi was the only victim caught by the gang.

For their part, Jewish community security services and Ilan Halimi's family suspect that the crime may have been motivated by anti-Semitism.

"We think there is anti-Semitism in this affair," Rafi, Ilan's brother in law, told the European Jewish Press.

"First because the killers tried to kidnap at least two other Jews and secondly because of what they said on the phone," he added.

"When we said we didn't have 500,000 euros to give them they answered we should go to the synagogue and get it," Rafi stressed. "They also recited verses from the Koran. We didn’t know what they were saying but the police told us."

"Ilan was the pillar of the family. He was the only man and he protected and supported his two sisters and his mother. He was an extremely honest, mature and cheerful man," his brother-in-law said to EJP.

"We fear that the fact that Ilan was Jewish aggravated his case and caused his kidnappers to behave as Islamists. Why did the kidnappers, once they discovered that Ilan's family was not wealthy, as they had thought, not let him go and instead tortured him to death?," asked Sammy Ghozlan, head of the French Anti-Semitism Vigilance Bureau.

"According to the authorities, it's about a gang from the suburbs whose act was not anti-Semitic in nature and which in the past attempted to kidnap persons who were not Jewish," CRIF added.

A Thousand people attended the burial ceremony of Ilan Halimi Friday morning at the cemetery of Pantin, in the Paris suburbs.

Several shops of the Boulevard Voltaire didn't open Friday in a gesture of solidarity with Ilan Halimi's family.
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Permanent Link posted by J @ 2:22 pm 2 comments

PESHAWAR, Pakistan - A Pakistani cleric announced a $1 million bounty for killing a cartoonist who drew the Prophet Muhammad as thousands joined street protests after Friday prayers. Denmark, which first published the cartoons, temporarily closed its embassy and advised its citizens to leave Pakistan.

Police confined the former leader of an Islamic militant group to his home to prevent him from addressing supporters over the cartoons amid fears he could incite more violence after riots earlier this week killed five people.

Security forces were out in strength, particularly around government offices and Western businesses, as Muslims streamed onto the streets after prayers. More than 200 people were detained, but most gatherings were peaceful.

In neighboring India, police used batons and tear gas to disperse thousands of angry worshippers who rioted in the southern city of Hyderabad. They burned Danish flags, pelted police with stones, and looted shops. Hundreds more protested in Bangladesh.

In the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar, prayer leader Mohammed Yousaf Qureshi announced the bounty for killing a cartoonist to about 1,000 people outside the historic Mohabat Khan mosque.

He said the mosque and the Jamia Ashrafia religious school he leads would give a $25,000 reward and a car for killing the cartoonist who drew the prophet caricatures - considered blasphemous by Muslims. He also said a local jewelers' association would give $1 million but no representative of the association was available to confirm the offer.

"Whoever has done this despicable and shameful act, he has challenged the honor of Muslims. Whoever will kill this cursed man, he will get $1 million dollars from the association of the jewelers bazaar, one million rupees ($16,700) from Masjid Mohabat Khan and 500,000 rupees ($8,350) and a car from Jamia Ashrafia as a reward," Qureshi said.

"This is a unanimous decision by all imams (prayer leaders) of Islam that whoever insults the prophets deserves to be killed and whoever will take this insulting man to his end, will get this prize," he added.

Qureshi did not name any cartoonist in his announcement and he did not appear aware that 12 different people had drawn the pictures.

A Danish newspaper, Jyllands-Posten, first printed the prophet pictures in September. The newspaper has since apologized to Muslims for the cartoons, one of them showing Muhammad wearing a bomb-shaped turban. Other Western newspapers, mostly in Europe, have reprinted the pictures, asserting their news value and the right to freedom of expression.

In Denmark, a spokesman for the Jyllands-Posten said the newspaper did not want to comment on the bounty offer. But Mogens Blicher Bjerregaard, president of the Danish Journalist Union and spokesman for the cartoonists, condemned it.

"It is totally absurd what is happening. The cartoonists just did their job and they did nothing illegal," he said.

He said the cartoonists - who have been living under police protection since last year - are aware of the reward and are "feeling bad about the whole situation." He did not say whether their security had been stepped up.

In Islamabad, visiting former President Bill Clinton criticized the cartoons but said Muslims wasted an opportunity to build better ties with the West by holding violent protests.

"I can tell you, most people in the United States deeply respect Islam ... and most people in Europe do," he said.

Denmark said it had temporarily closed its embassy in Pakistan and urged Danes to leave the country. Last week, Denmark temporarily shut its embassies in Lebanon, Syria, Iran and Indonesia.

Pakistan, meanwhile, recalled its ambassador to Denmark for "consultations" about the cartoons, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam said.

Unrest over the cartoons has spiraled in Pakistan. Riots in Lahore and Peshawar this week caused millions of dollars in damage. Hundreds of vehicles were burned and protesters targeted U.S. and other foreign-brand businesses, including KFC, McDonald's, Citibank, Holiday Inn and Norwegian cell phone company Telenor.

Intelligence officials have said scores of members of radical and militant Islamic groups, such as Jamaat al-Dawat, joined the protests in Lahore on Tuesday and incited violence in a bid to undermine President Gen. Pervez Musharraf's government, a close ally of the United States.

On Friday, police confined Jamaat al-Dawat's leader, Hafiz Mohammed Saeed, to his home in Lahore to stop him from addressing supporters in the city of Faisalabad, about 75 miles away, his spokesman Yahya Mujahid said.

Saeed used to lead Lashkar-e-Tayyaba, a banned militant group.

A senior police official in Lahore who confirmed Saeed's detention said the government had ordered police to restrict the movement of all religious leaders who might address rallies and to round up religious activists "who could be any threat to law and order."

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.

Friday's protests were mostly free of violence though police used tear gas and batons in isolated incidents. About 7,000 protested in Rawalpindi, 5,000 in the southwestern city of Quetta and 5,000 in Karachi.
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Permanent Link posted by J @ 8:33 pm 2 comments

The Hamas website this week presented the parting video messages of two Hamas suicide terrorists. One message was for Jews, whose blood Hamas promises to drink until Jews "leave the Muslim countries," and the second to a mother, as she helps dress her son for battle prior to his suicide terror mission.

Each terrorist had a separate message for Jews. This first said,

"My message to the loathed Jews is that there is no god but Allah, we will chase you everywhere! We are a nation that drinks blood, and we know that there is no blood better than the blood of Jews. We will not leave you alone until we have quenched our thirst with your blood, and our children's thirst with your blood. We will not leave until you leave the Muslim countries."

The second terrorist said the following:

"In the name of Allah, we will destroy you, blow you up, take revenge against you, [and] purify the land of you, pigs that have defiled our country... This operation is revenge against the sons of monkeys and pigs."

One of the terrorists saw his death as a wedding with the Maidens of Paradise:

"I dedicate this wedding [i.e. death for Allah] to all of those who have chosen Allah as their goal, the Quran as their constitution and the Prophet [Muhammad] as their role model. Jihad is the only way to liberate Palestine - all of Palestine - from the impurity of the Jews."

The message to one of the terrorist's mother was instruction for her to be joyous over his death and his "wedding" with the "Maidens of Paradise."

"My dear mother, you who have cared for me, today I sacrifice my life to be your intercessor [on Judgment Day]. O my love and soul, wipe your tears, don't be saddened. In the name of Allah, I've achieve all that I've aspired. Don't let me see you sad on my wedding day with the Maidens of Paradise. So be happy and not sad, because in the name of Allah, after death is merciful Allah's paradise."

Included in the clip is the farewell scene between the mother and terrorist son while she helps him don his military vest. In the background one can hear the lyrics, "My dear mother, don't cry over us."
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Permanent Link posted by J @ 7:35 pm 1 comments

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Scores of Iranian demonstrators hurled petrol bombs at the British embassy on Tuesday in renewed protests over the publication of cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammad and Western opposition to Tehran's nuclear ambitions.

The protesters, mostly religious seminary students, chanted "Death to Tony Blair", "Death to Britain" and Death to America" while throwing hundreds of stones at the embassy buildings, smashing many windows.

The Danish cartoons have been reproduced by only a handful of British media outlets, but much more widely in other European countries. Violent protests have also taken place outside the Tehran embassies of Denmark, Norway, Austria, France and Germany.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has accused Iran's and Syria's governments of stoking popular anger over the cartoons, but several Iranian officials have in recent days urged protesters not to attack or damage foreign embassies.

Among the crowd outside the British embassy were at least five donkeys draped with the flags of countries such as the United States and Denmark, and a dog wrapped in an Israeli flag. The crowd later burnt the flags.

"Insulting the Prophet disgusts us and nuclear energy gives us dignity," the crowd of about 200 people shouted. The West suspects Iran of trying to build nuclear weapons.

Cheers erupted when a petrol bomb was thrown over the high wall surrounding the embassy compound in central Tehran. Several other petrol bombs struck the wall and the embassy's main gate.

Scuffles broke out between the protesters and dozens of riot police trying to prevent the crowd from surging towards the embassy gates.

Stones and firecrackers were thrown at the nearby German embassy by a smaller crowd of protesters earlier on Tuesday.

"Europe, Europe this is the last warning. Mohammad is the Prophet of compassion, America is the cause of all misery," the crowd of about 50 chanted outside the German embassy.
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Permanent Link posted by J @ 6:24 pm 0 comments

Following are excerpts from comments made by Lebanese journalist 'Uqab Saqr, which aired on New TV on February 6, 2006'

'Uqab Saqr: Whenever we question America's values, we must also question our own values. If we ask any question about the American occupation of Iraq, we must also ask: Was Saddam Hussein anything less than the worst occupier of Iraq? Has America, throughout its history, done anything like Saddam Hussein's acts of burning Iraqis? I can understand how an Iraqi child can be completely burnt in an indiscriminating American bombardment, but I cannot understand how Saddam Hussein could melt half of the Iraqi people in acid, and deport the other half.

[...]

What does identity mean for the Arab and the Muslim? His identity is based on two elements. The first is hostility towards the other. In other words, I define myself as the enemy of so-and-so. The second is entrenching this hostility. When we define ourselves by our hostility towards the other, whether the Americans or the Israelis – or the so-called "Zio-Americanism", in which they include everything that is Western, non-Muslim and non-Arab... When we say we oppose this, what are we creating? We are creating a culture of opposition.

[...]

China did not need to send airplanes to crash into towers, to kill innocent people, and to distort the Chinese culture, in order to be in opposition [to the U.S.]. China has built a strong economy, established a network or relations with the markets, and developed scientific capabilities. Thus, it has managed to challenge the U.S., without declaring its opposition. Japan, too, developed a culture instead of declaring its opposition. How come we in the Arab and Islamic world are regressing, while the West is progressing? Why do we reproduce the culture of hatred? Simply because we lack the ability to develop our own culture, a culture that will move the Arabs and Muslims forward.

[...]

The Americans were not present in Mauritania, Sudan or Somalia, and the Israelis never bordered with these countries. Why have these countries become backward? Have they ever been among the countries encircling Israel? No. It is because the problem is within us.
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Permanent Link posted by J @ 2:49 am 5 comments

ISLAMIC terror bosses have recruited up to a thousand students from Britain's college and university campuses, a leading expert has claimed.

Professor Anthony Glees - who has advised security services on the threat - says academics and students have been placed in our education system by groups like al-Qaeda.

And he claimed these recruiters and their brainwashed followers remain hell-bent on a strike on a major London landmark.

The extent of the threat facing the British public emerged as the Government admitted anti-terror cops have foiled THREE attempts by Islamic maniacs to blitz Britain since the 7/7 attacks on London.

Gordon Brown, who recently announced Britain's fund to fight terrorism will swell to £2billion by 2008, will reveal the potential outrages ahead of Wednesday's Commons vote on new anti-terror legislation.

Downing Street hopes that by highlighting the threat facing ordinary people, backbench opposition to their controversial plans will disappear.

Prof Glees of Brunel University told of a sinister "grooming" process which, he claims, has turned campuses into breeding grounds for religious hatred.

He said the "sleepers" roam college bars and social clubs seeking out potential extremists who may be willing to lay down their lives for Islam.

He said: "The extent to which terrorist organisations have infiltrated the university system is much greater than anyone realised.

"There is evidence of older students, student leaders and even academics targeting British-born Muslims and those from overseas. "Sometimes it takes years, but some are won over very quickly. The spark is there just waiting to be lit."
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Permanent Link posted by J @ 3:29 pm 2 comments

GAZA CITY, GAZA STRIP - FEBRUARY 9: Muslim Palestinian artist Omayya Joha shows an array of her political caricatures in her studio on February 9, 2006, in Gaza City, Gaza Strip. Joha, according to her webpage, is regarded the first woman to draw caricature for a daily political newspaper in Palestine and the Arab world.

GAZA CITY, GAZA STRIP - FEBRUARY 9: Muslim Palestinian artist Omayya Joha works on a caricature amongst an array of her political caricatures displayed in her studio on February 9, 2006, in Gaza City, Gaza Strip. Joha, according to her webpage, is regarded the first woman to draw caricature for a daily political newspaper in Palestine and the Arab world

Permanent Link posted by J @ 6:52 pm 4 comments

Anti-terror officers raided the Finsbury Park mosque in January 2003, recovering around 100 stolen and forged passports and driving licenses, blank-firing handguns, chemical warfare suits, camping equipment, a stun gun and a tear gas canister.

"Our assessment was that this was material that had been used in training camps, probably here in the U.K.," the senior anti-terrorist officer said.
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An undated handout photograph released on February 7, 2005 shows knives and camping supplies found by police officers during searches of Finsbury Park mosque in London

An undated handout photograph released on February 7, 2005 shows a gas mask and paramilitary equipment found by police officers during searches of Finsbury Park mosque in London

A photograph released on February 7, 2005 shows blank firing weapons found by police officers during searches of Finsbury Park mosque in London between January 20-23, 2003.

Permanent Link posted by J @ 1:10 am 4 comments

The invaders fled [Gaza]
The army of the Jews was defeated
The home and the homeland is returning through [Palestinian] blood
Not through negotiations, surrender, or promises

Allah the Great, be pleased by the sound of thunder...!
We will never accept the enemies in the land of our fathers...

The invaders fled [Gaza]
The army of the Jews was defeated
The home and the homeland is returning through [Palestinian] blood
Not through negotiations, surrender, or promises...

Let the enemies leave the entire land!
And take their holy books, which are all black!
Our flag was raised and spread out, O Jihad...!

The invaders fled [Gaza]
The army of the Jews was defeated
The home and the homeland is returning through blood
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Permanent Link posted by J @ 6:58 pm 0 comments

Reporter : From a peaceful demonstration under the slogan of "There is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is His Messenger," this march of the National Campaign for Defense of the Prophet Muhammad turned into a bloody Intifada between the Lebanese security forces and the demonstrators, who crossed the line, both in terms of religion and security. The security forces' siege around the Danish consulate in Beirut did not prevent the demonstrators from breaking into it, and setting fire to offices belonging to economic, commercial, and civil companies.

[...]

The demonstrators attacked Christian holy places, and especially the St. Nicholas and St. Maroun churches, and even the building of the Orthodox patriarch in Al-Asharfiya.
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Permanent Link posted by J @ 11:36 pm 1 comments

The Pakistan Medical Association has vowed not to prescribe medicines from firms based in some European countries where controversial cartoons portraying the Prophet Mohammed were published, said Shahid Rao, the body's general secretary for Punjab province.

The association will boycott drugs from Denmark, Norway, Switzerland, Germany and France to protest the 'blasphemous' drawings, Rao said.

'We have taken a unanimous decision and it will be immediately implemented in Pakistan,' Rao told AFP.

Pharmacists have also vowed not to sell such medicines, Rao said.
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Permanent Link posted by J @ 8:25 pm 1 comments

Lebanese protesters have set the Danish embassy in Beirut on fire in protest at the publication of cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad.

Thousands of people rallied outside the building and security forces fired tear gas in an attempt to keep them at bay.

But smoke was later seen rising from the building housing the Danish mission after demonstrators broke into it.
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Permanent Link posted by J @ 12:05 pm 0 comments

The Media Line: What is 'this land' that you are talking about? Are you talking about the whole of Israel?

A-Zahhar: I understand where you are headed, and I will answer you. First of all this Palestinian land, and all the Arabic nation, is all part of the same area. In the past, there was no independent Palestinian state; there was no independent Jordanian state; and so on. There were regions called Iraq or Egypt, but they were all part of one country. That is why it is not permitted to [agree to] establish separate countries, which was the case after the Sykes-Picot Agreement [1916]. Our main goal is to establish a great Islamic state, be it pan-Arabic or pan-Islamic. Therefore, it is not allowed to establish an Arabic state over the land of Palestine alone. Also, remember this land is still occupied. To sum up, the Islamic and traditional views reject the notion of establishing an independent Palestinian state. The European example is clear. Europe's history is filled with wars and blood. Its races are varied, its languages are varied, and nevertheless it established the European Union. The Islamists' view, which Hamas adheres to, is that a great Muslim state must be established, with Palestine being a part of it. Within this state, Israel has no place - its history is different, its language is different, its religion is different, its culture is different, and its security and political affiliations are different. This is the view of Hamas movement.
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Permanent Link posted by J @ 6:13 pm 2 comments