In Srinagar's Zakoorah Khwaja Bagh area, a crowd of 50 has gathered in a makeshift tent.

The audience, made up of women and children, sits cross-legged on carpets. A small woman, fully veiled, sits on a chair, giving a very charged speech.

"You need to protect your daughters," she tells the gathering.

Heads nod in agreement. The anguish on some faces is transparent. One elderly woman wipes her tears.

The speaker is Asiya Andrabi, leader of Kashmir's separatist women's organisation, Dukhtaran-e-Milat, or Daughters of the Faith.

Today's speech, says Ms Andrabi, is to raise awareness among the women about a recent sex scandal that has rocked the Kashmir valley.

'Reform movement'

Ms Andrabi, who has been leading protests against the scandal, is an excellent orator. The daughter of a physician and a housewife, she has had a long career in the limelight.

After graduating in 1981 from Kashmir University, she wanted to go to Dalhousie, in the neighbouring state of Himachal Pradesh, to study chemistry.

But her brother's refusal to let her travel out of Kashmir was the turning point in her life. She says it led her to a book in her father's library about the inner feelings of women.

"When I read it, I was shocked to realise how little I knew about Islam, about the status of women in Islam."

So, she learnt Arabic and studied the holy Koran. And in 1982, she started a part-time school to teach girls the tenets of Islam.

"Dukhtaran started as a reform movement for Muslim women in Kashmir," says the well-known Kashmiri journalist, Shujaat Bukhari.

'A nice militant'

Ms Andrabi's first brush with the authorities came in March 1987. "We took out a procession chanting slogans against nudity and the exploitation of women," she says.

Ms Andrabi and her band of supporters also went around blackening posters and hoardings depicting women. They also demanded separate seats for women in buses.

"That day our office was sealed, documents and books were seized, our landlord was arrested, my parents were threatened and the police raided my house."

Ms Andrabi went underground for 21 days.

When the anti-India movement started in Kashmir in 1989, she was one of the first to offer support.

"I was very glad to see our boys come out to fight with India," she says. "We told them we are with you. If you go for jihad, we'll support your women."

Her group was banned in 1990 for supporting militancy and a year later, she went underground again - this time for 14 years.

In this period, she got married to Mohammad Qasim and bore him two sons. "He was a very nice militant," she says, describing him as a man of principles.

Qasim, a former "commander" of the separatist group Jamiat-ul Mujahideen, is serving a life sentence in Srinagar Central Jail.

Activism and imprisonment

Ms Andrabi is clear that a Hindu "Brahmin India" has no legitimate claims over Kashmir.

"Our strong belief is that Kashmir should be part of Pakistan," she says. "We believe in Muslim unity. There's no nation in Islam, and Muslims shouldn't be divided into countries."

Ms Andrabi is not afraid to be labelled a fundamentalist. "I believe in the basic fundamentals of Islam. You can call me a fundamentalist if you like, I'm proud to be that."

"I don't believe in secularism, I don't believe that all the religions are good and that they're all based on truth."

Over the past two decades, Ms Andrabi has led campaigns against alcohol and prostitution in Kashmir.

She has played an important role in closing down cinemas, accused television channels of corrupting the youth and has raided internet cafes and restaurants for allowing young couples to meet privately.

For her activism, Andrabi has been in and out of jail many times.

Recently, she accused beauty parlours of promoting obscenity, describing them as dens of prostitution. She issued an ultimatum, asking them to shut shop.

"A woman can beautify herself, but only for her husband," she tells me. "My husband says I have beautiful eyes and he loves them when I use kohl."

But I don't use kohl even before my brother. I use it only when I'm with my husband. It's only his right. He alone can tell me what he likes or doesn't like."

'Virtuous Muslim'

It is because of such views that Dukhtaran-e Milat does not have much popular support, despite having been around for 25 years.

"Dukhtaran-e-Milat is an extremist organisation and I think it's base is limited mostly to educated Muslim women in Kashmir," says Shujaat Bukhari.

"Ms Andrabi has a strong, committed group of women who are part of her organisation," he says.

"But they have a presence only in Srinagar - outside in the rural areas we haven't seen much support for them. "

Ms Andrabi says this is because she refuses to dilute her ideology. "I'm not a hypocrite like most politicians. I believe in Islam and we have very strict rules for membership," she says.

"When I'm satisfied a girl is a virtuous Muslim who strongly believes in the oneness of Islam, we take her as a member."

Ms Andrabi has often been accused of using force in her campaigns and although she denies the charge, many in Srinagar say they are afraid to speak about her on record.

A well-known writer and social activist says: "There's no flexibility in her approach."

"She needs a broader perspective. She should lighten up. I've known her for a long time but I'm afraid of her."
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Permanent Link posted by J @ 7:13 pm 0 comments

Take a good look at the picture of Prince Charles [holding the watering can] and it should give you some idea of where the bishop is coming from :

LONDON (Reuters) - A leading Anglican bishop on Saturday attacked the trend towards what he called a multi-faith mish-mash in ethnically diverse Britain, and said it was time to reassert the country's Christian identity.

Bishop of Rochester Michael Nazir-Ali also questioned Prince Charles's desire to be seen as a defender of all faiths, not just Christianity, when he takes over as monarch.

Pakistani-born Nazir-Ali, whose family background is both Christian and Muslim, pitched into an emotive debate about national identity in a country deeply shocked last year when four British Islamic militants killed 52 people in attacks on London's transport system.

The bishop argued that the basis of British society, from the monarchy to its laws, was "Christian constitutionally".

"All our values come ultimately from the Bible," he told BBC radio.

"People of other faiths recognise this and they are not often the ones asking for a multi-faith mish-mash. They recognise the value of Britain being a Christian country," he said.

He has complained that the Church had come under increasing pressure to convert chapels in places such as prisons and hospitals into neutral venues that could be used by people of all faiths.

As the future titular head of the Church of England, Prince Charles has said he would like to be known as "Defender of Faith" rather than "Defender of the Faith."

Bishop Nazir-Ali took issue with the heir to the throne, saying: "The coronation service is such that whoever takes the oaths actually takes oaths to defend the Christian faith."

"You can't defend every faith because there are very serious differences among them," he added.

He stressed that "to be a distinctively Christian country does not necessarily mean that we don't welcome other people".

Reflecting on Nazir-Ali's view, religious commentator Clifford Longley said: "He is an evangelical and they are the ones most reluctant to agree there is anything in any other religion except Christianity."

"I am not saying this is bigotry but this is the core of where he is coming from," Longley told Reuters, arguing that mainstream Anglicanism in Britain demonstrated a more inclusive approach to other religions.
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Permanent Link posted by J @ 11:58 pm 6 comments

Kissinger papers reveal 1970s efforts to reach out to Iraq

WASHINGTON - The United States reached out to hostile Arabs three decades ago with an offer to work toward making Israel a "small friendly country" of no threat to its neighbors and with an assurance to Iraq that the United States had stopped backing Kurdish rebels in the north.

"We can't negotiate about the existence of Israel," then Secretary of State Henry Kissinger told his Iraqi counterpart in a rare high-level meeting, "but we can reduce its size to historical proportions."
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Permanent Link posted by J @ 11:52 pm 1 comments

A Pakistani Christian has been arrested because he sent blasphemous text messages to Muslims from his mobile phone, police say.

Qamar David, a hospital canteen worker, was upset about attacks on churches in Pakistan, a police chief said.

A court in the southern city of Karachi remanded Mr David in custody pending a further court appearance next month.

Blasphemy can carry the death sentence in Pakistan although no-one has ever been executed for the crime.

Arbitrary law

"He was sending blasphemous messages to Muslims and was causing panic," Karachi police chief Niaz Ahmed Siddiqui told news agency Reuters.

"He says he did this as he was upset with attacks on churches in the country."

Police officer Imran Minhas said Mr David confessed to sending insulting messages about Islam and Prophet Muhammad.

Although no-one has ever been executed for blasphemy, human rights groups have criticised the law.

They say the law is often misused to settle personal vendettas and arguments over property or money, particularly against minority communities.

"It's an arbitrary law, which has been badly misused by extremists and should be abolished," activist Asma Jehangir told news agency AFP.
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Permanent Link posted by J @ 8:45 pm 0 comments

THE Chinese government hopes ties with Israel will be unaffected by attendance of Palestinian Foreign Minister Mahmud al-Zahar at the upcoming China-Arab ministerial meeting, said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao yesterday.

The Second Ministerial Meeting of the China-Arab Cooperation Forum will be held in Beijing on May 31 and June 1. Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing and his counterparts or representatives from 22 Arab countries and the Arab League will attend. Liu said China had invited all members of the forum, including a Palestinian envoy, according to forum rules and conventions. He said China values relations with Israel.
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Permanent Link posted by J @ 5:42 pm 4 comments

The Islamic Jihad commander in the Jenin area told Ynet on Tuesday that he was unable to marry an Arab Israeli woman because of pressure exerted by the Shin Bat on her family.

Sheikh Mohammad Saadi, who ranks high on Israel's most wanted list, says his activity with Islamic Jihad is limited to social and political work. The Shin Bet believes he is involved in planning suicide attacks in Israel.
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Permanent Link posted by J @ 2:49 pm 0 comments

Three Asian men have received life sentences for the murder of a black IT worker attack during race riots in the Lozells area of Birmingham last year.

Waqar Ahmed, 26, Azhil Khan, 23, and Afzal Khan, 22, all from the Handsworth area of the city, were told they would each serve a minimum of 25 years in jail for the fatal stabbing of Isiah Young-San during disturbances on October 22.

Sentencing the trio at Birmingham Crown Court, Mr Justice Mackay said the 23-year-old victim had been set upon for no other reason than the colour of his skin.

Mr Justice Mackay said: "The four men (Mr Young-Sam, his brother and two friends) were set upon because they were Afro-Caribbean and for no other reason.

"They had done nothing to these defendants and done nothing to incur or justify hostility.

"What led to the death of Isiah Young-Sam was the colour of his skin."

The judge continued: "(These defendants) were fuelled by the mob violence which they could have resisted, could have turned away from, which they failed to do."

Asking the defendants to stand, Mr Justice Mackay said: "You've been convicted of a most serious offence, the murder of Isiah Young-Sam, a young man with great promise who had done you no harm.

"Your action was racially aggravated and you are also party to the grievous wounding of his companion.

"The sentence for murder is fixed by law and is one of life imprisonment."

The defendants were each jailed for 10 years after being found guilty of a separate charge of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm to Locksley Byfield. These jail terms were to run concurrently.

Mr Young-Sam, 23, was stabbed in the heart as he walked through Lozells with his brother and two friends on the evening of October 22.

The group had decided to take a back route to avoid the trouble - which flared after unsubstantiated rumours were spread about a local West Indian girl being gang-raped by Asian men - when they were pursued by the defendants and attacked.

Mr Young-Sam was set upon by a group of up to six men, who appeared from two or three cars wearing hoodies and bandanas, armed with knives and bats and shouting racist abuse.

It took the jury 12 hours to reach its unanimous verdict on all counts.

There was sobbing in the public gallery as the defendants were jailed and shouts of "they're innocent" from family members.
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Permanent Link posted by J @ 8:13 pm 0 comments

THE slave traders came for 10-year-old Akash Aziz as he played cops and robbers in his dusty village in eastern Punjab.

Akash, still in the maroon V-neck sweater and tie that he had worn to school that day, was a "robber". But as he crouched behind a wall, waiting for the schoolfriend designated as the "cop" to find him, a large man with a turban and a beard grabbed him from behind and clamped a cloth over his nose and mouth before he could cry for help.

He recalls a strange smell and a choking sensation. "Then I fainted," said Akash, a delicate little child from a loving family that takes pride in his enthusiasm for English lessons at school.

Akash woke up in a dark room with a bare brick floor and no windows. The heat was suffocating. As he languished there over the next month, 19 other panic-stricken boys were thrown into the room with him.

The children, all Christians, had fallen into the hands of Gul Khan, a wealthy Islamic militant and leading member of Jamaat-ud Daawa (JUD), a group linked to the Al-Qaeda terrorist network.

Khan lives near Pakistan's border with Afghanistan, but when in the Punjab he stays at the JUD's headquarters in Muridke, near Lahore, where young men can be seen practising martial arts with batons on rolling green lawns patrolled by guards with Kalashnikovs. Osama Bin Laden funded the centre in the late 1990s.

The JUD, which claims to help the poor, says that it has created a "pure Islamic environment" at Muridke that is superior to western "depravity". Khan's activities explode that myth. He planned to sell his young captives to the highest bidder, whether into domestic servitude or the sex trade. The boys knew only that they were for sale.

This is the story of the misery that Akash and his friends, aged six to 12, endured in captivity; of their rescue by Christian missionaries who bought their freedom and tried to expose the kidnappers; and of the children's moving reunions with their loved ones who had believed they were dead.
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Permanent Link posted by J @ 5:17 pm 0 comments

Human rights groups are raising alarms over a new law passed by the Iranian parliament that would require the country's Jews and Christians to wear coloured badges to identify them and other religious minorities as non-Muslims.

"This is reminiscent of the Holocaust," said Rabbi Marvin Hier, the dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles. "Iran is moving closer and closer to the ideology of the Nazis."

Iranian expatriates living in Canada yesterday confirmed reports that the Iranian parliament, called the Islamic Majlis, passed a law this week setting a dress code for all Iranians, requiring them to wear almost identical "standard Islamic garments."

The law, which must still be approved by Iran's "Supreme Guide" Ali Khamenehi before being put into effect, also establishes special insignia to be worn by non-Muslims.

Iran's roughly 25,000 Jews would have to sew a yellow strip of cloth on the front of their clothes, while Christians would wear red badges and Zoroastrians would be forced to wear blue cloth.

"There's no reason to believe they won't pass this," said Rabbi Hier. "It will certainly pass unless there's some sort of international outcry over this."
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Permanent Link posted by J @ 11:41 am 0 comments

Norway on Tuesday said it has granted an entry visa to a Hamas representative and was processing the application of another as part of a planned visit that has angered Israel.

Palestinians Salah Muhammad al-Bardawil and Mohammad al-Rantissi were invited to Norway by the national Palestine Committee. They were originally expected to arrive on May 15, but their visit was delayed as their visa applications were being processed.

The Norwegian Directorate of Immigration said one of them was granted a so-called Schengen visa, which allows free travel in 15 European nations, while the other request was still under review. In keeping with its policy of confidentiality in individual cases, the directorate refused to say which one had been granted a visa.

Earlier this month, Israel warned Norway that giving entry visas to the two Hamas representatives would be considered a "political gesture."

The two were previously denied a Schengen visa by France. Both the European Union and the United States consider Hamas, which won Palestinian elections earlier this year, a terrorist group.

Norway is not an EU member, but is part of the Schengen area.

"The application was presented to the Schengen nations, and there were no objections," the directorate said about the approved visa. "For the other applicant, whose earlier applications for a Schengen visa had been rejected, the deadline for comment lasts a few more days."

The announcement came a day after Atef Adwan, the refugee minister in the new Hamas government, completed a three-day visit to Norway. Norwegian political leaders refused to meet him in keeping with a policy of shunning direct contact with Hamas.

All three visits stirred debate in Norway about whether government members should meet Hamas, and, if so, at what level. The government has said it will not meet any of them at a cabinet level.

A new date for the visit by one or both Palestinians was pending.
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Permanent Link posted by J @ 9:39 am 2 comments

BERLIN, May 17 (UPI) -- German Chancellor Angela Merkel is angry that a minister from militant group Hamas visited Germany on a Schengen visa and met with lawmakers there.

"The chancellor has clearly expressed her anger over this incident," Thomas Steg, Merkel's deputy spokesman, Wednesday told his regular news conference. "This minister is an unwanted person in Germany."

Adwan on Tuesday met with Detlef Dzembritzki, a foreign policy expert of the Social Democrats, Merkel's partners in government, and two other unidentified parliament members, Die Welt writes in its Thursday issue.

Atef Adwan, Palestine's refugee minister, arrived in Germany from Norway on a Schengen visa issued by Sweden, despite Berlin's appeal to the Swedish government not to grant him one, Die Welt said.

A Schengen visa grants its bearer unrestricted travel within the European Union and other countries that have signed the Schengen accord.

Berlin will not establish contacts with Hamas unless it recognizes Israel, renounces violence and agrees to back the roadmap for peace, Steg added.

Adwan has since left Germany, Steg said.
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Permanent Link posted by J @ 11:07 pm 2 comments

If you paid £60,000 for a snog, you would want to make sure you took part, wouldn't you?

Not if you were retail billionaire Philip Green. After winning a bidding war for the kiss at a charity auction, the Bhs boss proceeded to give it away – to his rival Jemima Khan.

Mind you, Mr Green may not have been quite as silly as first appears. Not only did he get to watch the 32- year-old supermodel snog another woman, he also earned Brownie points with his wife, Tina, who was also at the celebrity-studded event.

Green, 54, looked on as the two women locked lips at Central London celebrity hangout Annabel's. One guest said: 'We thought it was going to be a kiss on the cheek but it lasted over 60 seconds.

'A few people were a bit shocked but everybody was laughing afterwards.' Khan's boyfriend Hugh Grant did not seem to mind either, especially after another bidder paid £12,000 for a round of golf with him. A cricket lesson with the 32-year-old's ex-husband Imran was also offered as one of the lots.

The auction raised more than £200,000 for the Hoping Foundation which helps Palestinian refugee children. Guests included Jade Jagger, Sadie Frost and Jerry Hall.
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Permanent Link posted by J @ 7:04 pm 4 comments

The Iranian parliament authorized most of the clauses of the "national uniform law" - one of the government projects suggested by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad before parliament.

According to a report in the London-based Arabic-language newspaper al-Sharq al-Awsat, the law is supposed to replace what is termed "Western" dress from the streets of Iranian cities, and advance "Islamic" dress.

According to the new law, economic relief for local clothing designers will be granted so that they can "concentrate on clothing matching the national and Islamic identity of Iran."

It was also reported that Iranian authorities are expected to establish a joint committee that will include representatives from the Culture and Trade Ministry, the Culture Committee, parliament, and government television, in order to decide how the new clothes will look.

It was also reported that the Iranian Trade Ministry has been ordered to apply additional taxes on imported clothes so that Iranian banks are forced to agree to grant loans and financial benefits to local clothing makers.

Iranian men are today allowed to wear "Western" clothes, except a tie - which is forbidden according to the law. Women must follow far stricter laws, including a mandatory head covering, and a ban on clothes that expose the body.

The Iranian news network IRIB reported that the new law has yet to be presented in its final version and that the Legislative Council, the highest Iranian monitoring body, has yet to approve it.
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Permanent Link posted by J @ 5:48 pm 1 comments

In response to last year's London bombings, ministers want to review the current citizenship classes in schools, in an attempt to make society more unified.

Education minister Bill Rammell hopes a debate about the values shared by all communities across society - such as freedom, fairness, civil responsibilities and democracy - will help to tackle extremism and discrimination.

A second review will look at the teaching of Islam in universities.

Will the measures work?

"This is just another one of those knee-jerk reactions where we're not actually looking at the core problem. What was the reason why these people actually committed these disgusting acts?

"Unfortunately it was our foreign policy, it was the issue of the illegal war, the illegal occupation of Iraq, the war in Afghanistan, the continuing abuses of the Palestinian people, the illegal occupation of Palestine by the Israeli state.

"So I think until the government actually addresses these issues unfortunately we'll keep on having these problems in the UK particularly."
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Permanent Link posted by J @ 1:53 pm 2 comments

Israel's High Court has upheld the government's right to combat the growth of a radicalized Arab fifth column by denying some Palestinian Arabs the right to live within sovereign Israel with their Israeli Arab spouses.

The government first introduced the "family unification" amendment to Israel's Citizenship Law in 2002, at the height of the Oslo War, as a means of thwarting infiltration by terrorist elements.

Despite a rash of petitions by "human rights" organizations, ultra-leftist Jewish and Arab Knesset members, and a number of Israeli-Palestinian couples, a panel of 11 justices voted 6-5 Sunday in favor of keeping the amendment.

Arab MKs immediately issued unfounded cries of "racism!"

But State Attorney Yochi Gansin noted that out of the 146 successful terror attacks executed prior to the implementation of the law, 26 were carried out by Palestinian Arabs who had gained entered to sovereign Israel by virtue of their marriage to local Arabs.

Speaking to Ynet, Gansin said:

"This law is legitimate as a way to deal with this phenomenon."

Justice Mishael Cheshin, the most senior justice to vote in favor of the law, expressed similar sentiment during a debate on the matter in February.

"...are the State of Israel's defensive efforts against terror attacks, against lone individuals carrying out attacks not a sufficient enough reason to prevent their entry?

"Why should we take chances during wartime? Did England and America take chances with Germans seeking their destruction during the Second World War?"

Giving the lie to the Arab MKs' racism charge, the law does not deny the ability to start and grow a family for those whose true desire is to do so. Rather, it bans "Palestinian" husbands under the age of 35 (25 for wives) from seeking Israeli citizenship.

For those who cannot live with these restrictions, Cheshin offered an alternative:

"No one is preventing them from building a family but they should live in Jenin instead of in [the Israeli Arab city of] Umm al-Fahm."

Touching on the true motivation behind the law, Cheshin continued:

"The romance is touching but we are talking about life and death and the right to life takes priority."

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Permanent Link posted by J @ 8:20 pm 1 comments

Preaching hatred to the rhythm of rap...

It's not a joke. Matisyahu - the ultra-Orthodox rapping Rabbi from New York City - is not Sacha Baron Cohen with a new character. He really is a dark robed religous fanatic who won't stage-dive because of fears he might accidentally touch a woman, and sings in a cod Jamaican accent about the need to "return to Zion". (What next, and Amish version of Take That?)

But when I see his posters splattered over London, I feel pinpricks of rage. His songs might sound like pleasantly bland homilies, but in fact they are rallying calls for a particularly nasty misogynistic and homophobic far-Right strain of religous fanatacism. When he sings repeatedly "rebuild the Temple", anybody who has been to the Settlements in Israel/Palestine will know how this is interpreted - demolish the Muslim Dome of the Rock and rebuild the Third Temple on the rubble.

Calls for World War Three are not my idea of a sweet melody.

Ahhh Mr Hari, I wonder if you would ever dare criticise a Muslim singer based on your own hatred rather than facts. Ah, that's right, you can freely bash Jews all you want, but dare insult a Muslim and, well, we know what would happen.

update - it appears as though Mr Hari detests all religion, although it does seem that only Jewish reggae artists are fair game for his anger. (hat tips to the commenters for the info ;)

Permanent Link posted by J @ 7:16 pm 10 comments

European Parliament member Hannu Takkula of Finland has urged Europeans to prevent the visit of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Germany for the opening of the World Cup in June.

In a reference to the Iranian nuclear threat, Takkula, who was speaking at a Europe Day event on Tuesday night said that never before had the fate of Israel and Europe been so inter-connected.

"The same forces that hate Israel, also hate Europe," he said, adding that Europe must remain true to its Judeo-Christian roots by supporting Israel.

The heritage of the European Union was founded on three cities - Athens, Rome and Jerusalem - said Takkula, who conceded that not everyone in the European Parliament shared his enthusiasm about Israel's capital, as illustrated by the absence of any European embassy in Jerusalem.

Comparing what is happening in the world today with events of the 1930s and 40s, Takkula noted that it was significant that European leaders agree that there is no other solution than peace and cooperation. In a sense, he said, it could be said that the EU grew out of the Holocaust.

"One would have thought that events of the Second World War would have taught us lessons for centuries," he said, commenting that today's threats contain the same disturbing rhetoric as those of the 1930s. Attempts to destroy the Jewish state "are nothing more than the same old anti-Semitism," he said.

Takkula said Europe bore some responsibility for Hamas's win in the Palestinian elections. Had Europeans not been so keen to support the previous corrupt government and had, instead, imposed stricter requirements about the use of funds, the situation might be different today, he said. He applauded France for playing a crucial role in preventing members of Hamas from entering the Council of Europe and taking part in the debate.

Takkula also had praise for German Chancellor Angela Merkel for taking a firm stand with regard to Iran.

"The Iranian president is clearly denounced by European leaders," he said.

The Europe Day event was hosted by the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem (ICEJ) on behalf of the European Coalition for Israel.

ICEJ Executive Director Malcolm Hedding, cognizant of voices within the European Union that are trying to make a distinction between the Hamas government and the Palestinian people, insisted that the EU should not differentiate between people and governments.

"Otherwise, what is democracy?" he asked. "At the end of the day, people have to be responsible for the people they put in power."

Moscow-born Israel Beiteinu MK Yuri Shtern, who chairs the Christian Allies Caucus, noted that until 2003, there was no officially registered pro-Israel group in any European Institution. As a native Russian he said, to him May 9, was not so much Europe Day as VE Day, which is celebrated on May 9 in the Soviet Union and countries of the former Soviet Union.

Shtern shared the concern of his Christian colleagues that the message of history was being largely ignored.

"When you read history, everything is so clear," he said. "You can make an immediate forecast about what would happen, because it did happen. Why could they not see it?"

Looking around today, he continued, one could see the same phenomenon not only in Israel and in Europe, but in many other countries.

One of the reasons that Hitler and his cohorts had been able to succeed for so long said Shtern, was because they used anti-Semitism as a tool in promoting German foreign policy. They appealed to the anti-Semitic sentiments of the European masses and European leaders, and in this way were able to disarm them and to take over Europe.

"The challenge for Europe now is exactly the same," asserted Shtern. "Just as Europe was destroyed by anti-Semitism, it may be destroyed again, by anti-Zionism."
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Permanent Link posted by J @ 5:18 pm 1 comments

BERLIN - A serious anti-Semitic assault took place in Berlin last week, when an Israeli medical student was attacked at night by a group of young women after they heard her talking in Hebrew on her mobile phone. The Israeli woman was beaten and wounded.

The incident happened last week after the 26 year-old student attended a party at the house of friends in the Steglitz neighborhood in south-west Berlin, where a large Muslim community resides. At about 2 a.m., the woman, who holds a dual Israeli-German citizenship, decided to walk back to her apartment after she missed the last bus home, Israel's leading daily Yedioth Ahronoth reported.

While she was walking home and holding a conversation in Hebrew with a friend from Israel on her cellular phone, the student passed by a group of young women.

When they recognized the language the student was speaking as Hebrew, one of the girls suddenly walked up to the Israeli woman and slapped her in the face. The other women then joined in, pulled her hair, beat her up and kicked her. The abuse eventually stopped when the attackers thought they heard a police car approaching, and they fled the scene.

The student, who sustained injuries in the attack, received medical treatment and filed a complaint with the police.

The women's identity has not been established thus far, but they were apparently Muslim.

This recent incident is the first anti-Semitic crime to be registered in the German capital in over a year. Ever since the beginning of the second intifada, there have been many cases in which Jews and Israelis suffered attacks, usually at the hands of young Arabs or Turks. The German police have failed to apprehend any of the assailants until now.
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Permanent Link posted by J @ 12:32 pm 7 comments

Historical documents in Britain's National Archives in London show that Nazi Germany attempted to ship arms to Palestinian forces in the 1930s.

A British Foreign Office report from 1939 reports of "news of a consignment of arms from Germany, sent via Turkey and addressed to Ibn Saud (king of Saudi Arabia), but really intended for the Palestine insurgents." Britain's chief military officer in Mandatory Palestine also noted reports "regarding import of German arms at intervals for some years now."

British documents from the same period, and German records photographed by an American spy and sent to the British government, said that a number of Nazi agents were sent to Mandatory Palestine, in order to forge alliances with Palestinian leaders, and urge them to reject a partition of the land between the Jewish and Arab populations.

One Nazi agent, Adam Vollhardt, arrived in Palestine in July 1938, and was reported to have gained strong influence with Arab leaders, meeting with Palestinian leaders throughout 1938. Vollhardt held several meetings with leading Arab politicians and told them "that the Palestine question would be settled to the satisfaction of the Arabs within a few weeks," adding that "it would be fatal to their (Palestinians') cause if at this juncture they showed any signs of weakness or exhaustion."

"Germany was interested in the settlement of the (Palestine) question on the basis of the Arabs obtaining their full demands," Vollhardt was reported to say to Palestinian leaders, according to a report by the British War Office. Vollhardt also assured Arab leaders that "the Germans could continue to support the Palestinian Arab cause by means of propaganda."

German documents photographed and sent to Whitehall by an American spy revealed that in 1937, German officials had calculated that "Palestine under Arab rule would become one of the few countries where we could count on a strong sympathy for the new Germany."

'Arabs admire our Fuhrer'

"The Palestinian Arabs show on all levels a great sympathy for the new Germany and its Fuhrer, a sympathy whose value is particularly high as it is based on a purely ideological foundation," a Nazi official in Palestine wrote in a letter to Berlin in 1937. He added: "Most important for the sympathies which Arabs now feel towards Germany is their admiration for our Fuhrer, especially during the unrests, I often had an opportunity to see how far these sympathies extend. When faced with a dangerous behaviour of an Arab mass, when one said that one was German, this was already generally a free pass."

A second Nazi agent, Dr. Franz Reichart, was reported to be actively working with Palestinian Arabs by the British Criminal Investigation Division "to help coordinate Arab and German propaganda." Reichart was also head of the German Telegraphic Agency in Jerusalem.

German records show that the Nazis viewed the establishment of a Jewish state with great concern. A 1937 report from German General Consulate in Palestine said: "The formation of a Jewish state is not in Germany's interest because a (Jewish) Palestinian state would create additional national power bases for international Jewry such as for example the Vatican State for political Catholicism or Moscow for the Communists. Therefore, there is a German interest in strengthening the Arabs as a counter weight against such possible power growth of the Jews."

Jewish refugees abandoned

The records also show that the news of increased Nazi-Arab cooperation panicked the British government, and caused it to cancel a plan in 1938 to bring to Palestine 20,000 German Jewish refugees, half of them children, facing danger from the Nazis.

Documents show that after deciding that the move would upset Arab opinion, Britain decided to abandon the Jewish refugees to their fate.

"His Majesty's Government asked His Majesty's Representatives in Cairo, Baghdad and Jeddah whether so far as they could judge, feelings in Egypt, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia against the admission of, say 5,000 Jewish children for adoption... would be so strong as to lead to a refusal to send representatives to the London discussions. All three replies were strongly against the proposal, which was not proceeded with," a Foreign Office report said.

"If war were to break out, no trouble that the Jews could occasion us, in Palestine or elsewhere, could weigh for a moment against the importance of winning Muslim opinion to our side," Britain's Minister for Coordination of Defence, Lord Chatfield, told the British cabinet in 1939, shortly before Britain reversed its decision to partition its mandate, promising instead all of the land to the Palestinian Arabs.
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Permanent Link posted by J @ 5:14 pm 4 comments

NORFOLK - "It's my story. It's my parents' story."

That is how a Norfolk woman, Farideh Goldin, describes "The Forgotten Refugees," a PBS documentary that airs at 10 tonight on WHRO .

The 45-minute film deals with Jews who became refugees from Muslim lands in the years after the state of Israel was founded in 1948. The producers say the story of the Mizrahi Jews is a forgotten story.

"The Jews were forced to leave their birthplaces in the Middle East and North Africa due to intimidation from their governments and their neighbors," according to a news release . "In many cases, the refugees were not allowed to sell their property, businesses or goods before departing. Many Muslim governments profited from their departure, obtaining in many cases large swaths of land and big businesses ."

Goldin, whose family left Iran in 1979 after the Islamic revolution led by the Ayatollah Khomeini ended the reign of the Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi , said her parents lost much upon leaving Iran for Israel.

"Their losses were both material and emotional. They lost their place in the Iranian society and culture," she said.

The film's producers estimate that 600,000 displaced Jews, such as Goldin's family, went to Israel. The others were scattered to other lands. "The plight of these nearly 1 million Jewish refugees from Arab lands has never before been recognized or addressed," said Rafi Finegold, the project manager for the film produced by The David Project and IsraTV.

"The Forgotten Refugees" features interviews with refugees from Egypt, Yemen, Libya, Iraq and Iran. Included are pictures and film that show the exodus of people who, as victims of anti-Semitism, were despised minorities in Muslim nations.

"The refugees have suffered twice. First, in their persecution, and secondly in knowing that their story had been forgotten," said Goldin, who was in her 20s when she left Iran with her parents and sister, all of whom live in Israel.
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Permanent Link posted by J @ 9:39 pm 4 comments

Extract From Transcript :

Mu'ammar Al-Qadhafi: Some people believe that Muhammad is the prophet of the Arabs or Muslims alone. This is a mistake. Muhammad is the Prophet of all people. He superseded all previous religions. If Jesus were alive when Muhammad was sent, he would have followed him. All people must be Muslims.

[...]

The Muslims were enraged by the defamation of their Prophet. But the people who defamed Muhammad were defaming their own prophet, because Muhammad is the prophet of the people in Scandinavia, in Europe, America, Asia and Africa. But since the holy texts that they read in Scandinavia are forged and call for hatred, they believe Muhammad is not their prophet.

[...]

We expect to see a picture of Jesus with nuclear bombs over his head, because the nuclear bomb was developed by the followers of Jesus.

[...]

They drew Muhammad surrounded by veiled women, because of the veil worn by Muslim women. We expect them to draw Jesus surrounded by naked women, because the followers... because Christian women are naked. In Scandinavia women are naked.

[...]

In any case, the holy texts of the West, of Europe and America, call for hatred, there is no doubt about it. This text is corrupt and inhumane.

[...]

The so-called Old Testament and New Testament are neither Old Testament nor New Testament - because both testaments were superseded, and they are forged. They were written by hand hundreds of years after Jesus.

In the Bible there are things that are inappropriate for both Jesus and Moses. If we want to mend the state of humanity, and live in a global village, because of the globalization, we must search for the true Bible, because the Bible that exists today is a forgery. Today's Bible does not mention Muhammad, whereas our Lord's Bible mentions Muhammad repeatedly.

We must search for the Gospel of Barnabas, of St. Barnabas, because this is the true gospel. This gospel explicitly mentions that Muhammad would come after Jesus.

[...]

Today, we are correcting human history from here, in Timbuktu.

We have fifty million Muslims in Europe. There are signs that Allah will grant Islam victory in Europe - without swords, without guns, without conquests. The fifty million Muslims of Europe will turn it into a Muslim continent within a few decades.

Allah mobilizes the Muslim nation of Turkey, and adds it to the European Union. That's another 50 million Muslims. There will be 100 million Muslims in Europe. Albania, which is a Muslim country, has already entered the EU. Bosnia, which is a Muslim country, has already entered the EU. 50 percent of its citizens are Muslims.

[...]

Europe is in a predicament, and so is America. They should agree to become Islamic in the course of time, or else declare war on the Muslims.

[...]

All people have the right to make a pilgrimage to Mecca, and to circle the Ka'ba.

[...]

The verse says that polytheists are impure, hence they are forbidden from coming near the Haram.

[...]

If the American president comes to make a pilgrimage, they will say to him: You are impure, a polytheist. But he will reply: I am not a polytheist. Nor am I impure. How can you make such serious allegations against me? If I am impure, how come you shake my hand and break bread with me?

[...]

He will pull out the one dollar bill that we use, and he will say: Go ahead, read what's written on it.

Translator: "In God we trust."

Mu'ammar Al-Qadhafi: It says what the translator said: "In God we trust." Here, we have a dollar. Where is it? Read it... "In God we trust."
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Permanent Link posted by J @ 2:58 pm 1 comments

Transcript [original clip here] : Actually my father-bless his soul-did not spare an effort in this regard but it wasn't only him who forbid these things so to speak but it's sharia in general that forbids these things that distract worshippers from their worshipping and distract people from remembering Allah.

Habibi the west made things for us that distract us from our integration, uh, what it put for us? Made us run after a ball habibi...that is like 'eat gargary'* habibi.

What does it mean to see a man, big tall and wide and...Muslim, runs after a ball?

Habibi, you, er, the goal that is the, the 'GOAl' as they say, if you want to run after it, run after a high goal habibi, go you behind high goals that integrate you, not those that lower you. Run after a goal, put it in your mind; everyone draws a road for himself to take and to reach for the satisfaction of almighty Allah.

This is one, the second thing and more important from that; we find that the west, and especially Israel...er, habibi the Jews, have you seen them play football? Ever seen them indulge in games like other indulge and the Arabs indulge?

They left us to waste time of football and other things while they left it...
Ever heard the Israeli team, something be upon it, damn be upon it, reached for example or took the world-cup? Or even America habibi! Except for some other games...

They let us waste time on it...singing, football, and and and smoking and stuff and satellites in forbidden things are used and so on; they left us to do forbidden things and they mostly turned to scientific things and thingy things.

Why habibi? Are they better than us? No, we are better than them.

This is possible, more than that, to another point, there are games favored by the religion, do them, I mean, must you run after a ball!? Why not go swimming? Swimming is encouraged, horse riding, fencing, so and so, these are games you can indulge yourself in; just like that distracts, these distract as well.
Running! Run! Sport! Move your legs move your head move stuff, all organs move. Why everyone runs after a ball habibi?

These are mentalistic things that can be done, and those are non-mentalistic things that cannot be done...

*gargary is the earliest Iraqi version of lollipops, basically sugar cast in animal shapes for kids to suck on.

Permanent Link posted by J @ 2:24 pm 3 comments