How (not) to fight Islamic extremism

Melanie Philips reports today on various aspects of Government lunacy regarding pandering to the Islamists. One example is allowing the massive funding from Saudi Arabia of Islamic Studies departments in UK Universities, despite the overwhelming evidence that this always results in an obsessive and ferocious anti-Israel agenda (the example at Oxford University being one I know well).

Well, at least the money pouring in to Universities to fund Islamic extremism is mainly being provided by the (foreign) extremists themselves. Unfortunately we can't say the same about the initiative that Home Secretary Jacqui Smith is set to announce according to the report here.

Basically, it appears that the Home Secretary's answer to the problems of Pakistani imams indoctrinating congregants in their mosques with Islamic extemism is to ... pay to import even more Pakistani imams. Here is what the article says:

This week the Home Secretary will step up the government's "Prevent" campaign—its battle against Islamic extremists who preach hate and indoctrinate potential jihadi recruits.

On Wednesday she will announce a new deal she struck with the Pakistani government on a visit last week. It will allow respected moderate Islamic clerics to be brought over from Pakistan to help British imams combat extremism in the Islamic communities.

Mrs Smith explained: "The vast majority of British Muslims have a Pakistani heritage. If we work with the government there we can win the arguments.

"We need to do more to tackle those places where radicalisation is developing—in prisons, schools, higher education—so that people are getting the right messages about what it means to be a British Muslim."

Remember that when they talk about "respected moderate Islamic clerics" the most celebrated such 'moderate' is none other than our old friend al-Qaradawi - the anti-semitic, homophobic, misogynist who issued the fatwa permitting the murder of Israeli children and who not only encouraged Muslim women to become suicide bombers, but also allowed them to disguise themselves in Western clothes to do so.

Oh, and of course, I still have not received any response from Jaqui Smith to my letter asking why she allowed in Islamic terrorist supporters but banned Israeli members of Parliament under the new anti-terrorism legislation.

UK Government hypocrisy over who it allows in

I've posted the following self-explanatory letter to the Home Secretary:


Jacqui Smith MP
The Secretary of State for the Home Department
Home Office
Direct Communications Unit
2 Marsham Street
London SW1P 4DF

16 March 2008

Dear Ms Smith,

Excluding the wrong people from the UK

When the government introduced its legislation (following the Islamist terrorist bombings of London) to bar from the UK anybody responsible for fomenting or justifying terrorist violence, most sensible people assumed that the target of this ban would be the many Islamic fundamentalists who preach hatred of the West, work for the destruction of the State of Israel, and glorify suicide bombings.

But in fact it turns out that you have used the legislation to ban the very victims of terrorist incitement rather than those doing the incitement. I refer to your banning of an Israeli politician (Moshe Feiglin) who had not even applied to enter the UK, at the same time as Islamic fundamentalists are allowed in to preach their hatred and justify terrorism. In case you are not aware of it, the Israelis have been and continue to be the number one victims of Islamic terrorism, so the irony here is somewhat tragic.

In fact in the same week that you made your bizarre unilateral decision to exclude Mr Feiglin a spokesman (Ibrahim Mousawi) for the proscribed terrorist organisation Hezbollah was allowed in to the UK for a speaking tour. This is the organisation whose leader has vowed to kill every Jew in the world. Perhaps you can explain how Ibrahim Mousawi’s entry into the UK (even Ireland had banned him) was likely to do anything other than foment and justify terrorist violence?

But it certainly does not stop with Ibrahim Mousawi. The UK hosts many notorious Islamists who foment and justify terrorist violence in the furtherance of world-wide Islamic domination. I understand, for example, that the UK has hosted many visits by Sheikh Faysal Mawlawi, vice president of the European Council for Fatwa and Research, a Dublin-based organisation of Muslim Brotherhood clerics. He issued a fatwa that legitimises and encourages the killing of any and all civilians in Israel. Sheikh Faysal Mawlawi's teachings go well beyond those of Feiglin. Moreover, he is a cleric who, unlike Feiglin, is specifically targeting his rulings at Muslims living in Europe. The argument for banning him, and every other member of the European Council of Fatwa and Research is surely compelling.

Then we have Abd al-Bari Atwan, the editor of the London based Al-Quds Al-Arabi. I note, for example, in his lead article last Sunday, he glorified the terrorist killing of eight teenage students in Israel, and said the celebrations in Gaza that followed symbolized the "courage of the Palestinian nation." He added that the recent violence in Gaza might "mark the countdown to Israel's destruction." Atwan has already been banned from Australia as a result of his declaration, last year, on Lebanese TV that "If the Iranian missiles strike Israel, by Allah, I will go to Trafalgar Square and dance with delight.” I trust, therefore that you will never give him the opportunity to go to Trafalgar Square again by deporting him.

Yours

BBC's Jeremy Bowen - beyond the pale

Following on from my complaint to LBC this morning I have now sent one to the BBC:

The BBC's anti-Israel bias in the reporting of the massacre of young Israeli students is simply beyond the pale. In particular I refer to the following quote in the article which comes under the bizarre subheading "Settler stronghold"

"The BBC's Middle East editor Jeremy Bowen says that the school was no ordinary seminary. It was the ideological cradle of the settler movement in the West Bank, which could be the reason it was targeted."

This statement by Bowen is not only inflamatory and irrelevant, but is completely nonsensical. Has Bowen looked at a map of Jerusalem to see where the seminary is? It is in West Jerusalem in an area that was never part of the "occupied territories" and with no connection to "settlers" or the "West Bank". According to Bowen's twisted logic any Israeli is a valid target for massacre.
I expect to see a full apology for this appalling rubbish.

How LBC reported the massacre in Jerusalem

This is how LBC Radio this morning presented the news of the
massacre of Jewish students by a Palestinian terrorist.

“8 people have been killed in a religious school in Jerusalem when a gunman opened fire. It came days after Israel fired rockets into Gaza.”

In a later broadcast the newsreader added the comment

“It was the first militant attack in Jerusalem for 4 years.”

I have made a complaint to LBC about their reporting. Here is what I said to them:

If you knew little of the details of the Israel Palestine Situation (like 99% of the public) you would have assumed from the report that the 8 dead were probably Palestinians and that they were killed as a direct result of some rocket attack by the Israelis. For those who found out from other sources that the dead were Jews and the killer was a Palestinian terrorist then the later broadcast would have assured them that this kind of thing has not happened for a long time.

As a news channel LBC ought to report the news in a clear and understandable way, not in a way that is deliberately misleading and biased. LBC also ought to be aware that it is the Palestinians who have been firing rockets into Israel not the other way round as stated. In fact over 8,000 have been fired against civilian targets in southern Israel since Israel withdrew completely from Gaza in 2005. Of course, LBC has never once reported on these attacks, nor on the suffering in Israeli cities like Sderot that are attacked every single day. Nor of course did it report on last night’s scenes of wild celebrations by thousands of Palestinians when they heard of the massacre in Jerusalem. And of course they did not report on the Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri declaring it as a ‘heroic attack’.

What LBC has reported of course many times are the previous Israeli responses to rocket attacks. Israel’s responses have, in the main, been pinpointed and accurate strikes against the rocket crews and other terrorists. By focusing only on Israeli responses to Palestinian terrorism rather than on the terrorism itself, LBC in common with other news media are becoming part of the problem. The terrorists are comforted to know that their actions will never be properly condemned and that instead the condemnation is reserved for the very victims of their terrorism. This in turn encourages more terrorism.

And as for the comment about this being the first ‘militant’ attack in Jerusalem for 4 years, this is complete nonsense. As recently as 25 Jan 2008 a Palestinian terrorist attack in Jerusalem result in Israeli killed and six injured in Jerusalem. There were also deadly attacks in Jerusalem on 6 Nov 2006, 8 Oct 2006 and 25 Aug 2005. Moreover, during this period Israeli security forces have stopped dozens of major attacks in Jerusalem.


******************************************************

I received the following response (very fast I must say):



----- Original Message ----
From: LBC Complaints LBC Complaints
To: Davidson Edgar
Sent: Friday, 7 March, 2008 5:20:02 PM
Subject: Re: Write Your Complaint or Feedback Here ENTRY

Dear Mr Edgar

I'm sorry you were unhappy with our news coverage. We always strive to be fair and balanced, obviously you feel we failed in this case. It's a shame you also didn't hear James O'Brien this morning between 10 and 1 who presented an excellent hour on the conflict in which both sides put across constructive words about the terrible situation with the aim of discovering if there could be a solution. I found that debate refreshing because it offered hope.

Kind regards,



Jonathan Richards
Programme Director
LBC 97.3

***********************************************************************

And here is my follow-up reply:


Jonathan

Thanks for replying.

I did not hear the James O'Brien show, but even if I had that hardly excuses the appallingly misleading, inaccurate and blatantly anti-Israel presentation of your main morning news (which I assume is the part of the programme the vast majority of your listeners would have heard). There is no doubt that whoever was responsible for the text provided to your newsreaders this morning spent considerable time massaging the words to ensure that listeners were not aware that:

a) the victims were Jews
b) the attacker was a Muslim Arab terrorist
c) the attack took place inside Israel
d) the attack was supported (and indeed later claimed) by the Hamas government of Gaza
e) the attack sparked scenes of wild celebration by many thousands of Palestinians.

All of these facts are crucial to the story and all were provided by other news agencies as long as 10 hours earlier (even the notoriously anti-Israel BBC managed to give relevant information). Yet somebody at LBC made the very deliberate and conscious decision not only to doctor the story, but to introduce the false and irrelevant point about Israel firing rockets into Gaza. In other words somebody at LBC has a very clear and spiteful anti-Israel agenda and I find that unacceptable.

Edgar Davidson

Anti-semitism in the UK

Today's Sun contains a chilling story about Chelsea's Israeli manager Avram Grant receiving anti-semitic death threats from Chelsea fans. The article says:

One package was found to contain white powder and a chilling note warning it was lethal.
The ground was sealed off and staff put in isolation as experts tested the powder.
Special Branch were then called in after cops read the sickening antisemitic threats against Israeli Grant, 52, and his TV star wife Tzofit, 43.
One note read: “You are a back-stabbing Jewish b*****d.
“When you open this letter you will die a very slow and painful death.”
A second message made twisted sexual threats against his wife Tzofit, adding: “Then she will die.”
Dad-of-two Grant was subjected to racist abuse after replacing Jose Mourinho as manager last September.
Many fans thought Grant – a close pal of Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich – was to blame for Mourinho’s axeing.

I checked the BBC News and Sport, Sky News and Sport, BBC teletext news and Sport and ITV teletext news and sport. None of them made any mention at all of this news item. I also looked at Google News UK and Yahoo News UK. Not a mention. [Update: some later news bulletins did mention the story briefly]. Can you imagine the outrcy if anti-Islamic death threats had been made against such a public Muslim figure. There is no doubt it would have been the lead story on the BBC News. But hey, it's only a Jew so it doesn't matter.

New spate of terrorist attacks the direct result of Western apologists

I was thinking about the conclusions that could be drawn from the following brief news item from Israel tonight (and like most attacks against Israelis it will not be reported on any mainstream British News outlet):

**************************************************************************
Two Palestinian terrorist attacks near Jerusalem leave one Israeli dead, six Israelis injured

Thursday night, Jan. 24. Palestinian gunmen opened fire on an Israeli border checkpoint near Shuafat on the old road to Pisgat Zeev, Jerusalem. One border guard was killed, and his female partner left in serious condition from shots in the chest. The two gunmen escaped before Israeli forces arrived on the scene and set up a manhunt.
At Gush Etzion, southeast of Jerusalem, two Palestinian gunmen clad in Israeli uniforms burst into the Makor Haim yeshiva (school). Wielding guns and knives, they injured three Israelis, one seriously. In a shoot-out in one of the buildings, the two gunmen were shot dead.
*******************************************************************************

What conclusions can be drawn from this news? Recently my MP quoted body counts as the ultimate 'proof' of Israeli brutality and responsibility for 'the cycle of violence'. More Palestinians are killed than Israelis, so ispo facto the Israelis are the guilty party. In tonight's attacks only one Israeli dead (known so far), but two Palestinians dead. So Palestinian dead outnumber Israeli dead by two to one. The Israelis are therefore twice as brutal as the Palestinians. Do you think my MP might start to see the problem with his logic? Don't hold your breath.

Also, according to that MP's logic the only reason for Palestinian terrorism are the roadblocks and checkpoints which prevent their freedom of movement. Therefore the Israelis should lift all the checkpoints and everyone will live happily ever after. But the problem with that logic is that it is ONLY the roadblocks and checkpoints that are preventing massacres against Israeli citizens every hour of every day.

In truth the Palestinians have become emboldened in their terrorist actions precisely because of apologists like my MP and the media in the West. It is the same reason why they bombard Israeli cities from Gaza with total impunity because the media turns a blind eye to it and expects the Israelis to grin and bear it. In the rare cases where Palestinian terrorism is reported in our media the apologists do not issue unequivocal condemnation, but rather seek to 'explain' and 'justify'.

Despite what the apologists for Palestinian terrorists want to think, the basic problem is not Israeli 'occupation' (the dispute and Palestinian terrorism existed long before 1967), it is not the Israeli response to Palestinian terrorism and its attempts to quell it, it is not even the Palestinian violence itself. The basic problem is the complete refusal of the Palestinians to recognize the right of the Jews to have a Jewish State in any part part of the Jew's historic homeland. And because of apologists like my MP they will continue to kill Jews because they will never be be aware that it is simply WRONG to do so.

Reflections on the Gaza situation

Naomi Ragen captured the bitter irony of the Gaza situation very well

Picture this: the electric plant which supplies 70% of electricity to the Palestinians in Gaza is in Ashkelon. The Palestinians in Gaza have been shooting kassam rockets at the
plant ever since the "disengagement" i.e. the abandonment of Gush Katif. Now, Palestinians are crying that they don't have enough electricity. They are complaining about Israeli sanctions against them. They are going to the U.N.

The truth is, Israel has not stopped supplying electricity to Gaza. Not only that, but Israeli electric company employees are risking their lives to do so.

Mickey Tsarfati, head of the union of electrical workers, said: "It is unbelievable chutzpah for them to complain. We have not stopped supplying them with electricity for a minute. And they have not stopped logging bombs at us for a minute." Many of the workers who fix the lines to Gaza daily are residents of Sderot. It has happened more than once that bombs fell next to their homes as they were fixing the lines to supply electricity to the bombers.

Now the U.N. and the Quartet, and the Arab League are all getting demands to stop Israeli "sanctions" against the Gazans....

You tell me what other country would be supplying electricity to people who are bombing their children on a daily basis, and risking their lives to do so.

The situation is indeed unprecedented in the history of the world. One country A under brutal, unprovoked and continual attack from a neighbouring country B whose government is committed to killing or expelling every citizen of A. Yet A is not allowed to defend itself, and also has to supply its enemy B with the means for their further continued attacks. And the whole world has sympathy only with country B.

Even if you try to think of analogous situations in history it is impossible to come up with anything as far fetched. The closest I could think of was 1940 Britain: No longer with any forces on mainland Europe. No active allies. All alone against the Nazis who occupy the whole of Western Europe including France next door from where they threaten to invade. Night after night German bombers blitz London. Now imagine that, when the RAF sent up its brave pilots to confront the Nazi planes, there was an outcry from the rest of the world about Britain using disproportionate force and about it 'creating a cycle of violence'. Even this analogy does little justice ot Israel's comparative plight. For a start, unlike Britain, Israel is completely surrounded by deadly enemies, so for the analogy to work you would have to imagine that Ireland, Scotland and Wales were in the hands of the Nazis. And you would also have to imagine that there was no British Channel separating Britain from France. Moreover, it would have had to be the case that Britain supplied the fuel for the Nazi warplanes and that the rest of the world condemned Britain when it threatened to withhold that fuel from the Nazis. And you would also have to imagine that the rest of the world (including countries like the USA, Canada, and Australia) were openly rooting for the Nazis even though they were not involved in the fighting.

But the worst shame about where the analogy breaks down is that Israel has no Churchill to lead them. Someone who, above all else knows that there can never be any compromise with the Nazis.

BBC now even attributes Hamas murders to Israel

Today Hamas claimed responsibility for the killing of a foreign volunteer in a western Negev kibbutz. The Jerusalem Post reports that 20-year-old Carlos Andres Muscara Chavez from Quito, Ecuador, was working in a potato field in Kibbutz Ein Hashlosha, when he was shot by a Palestinian sniper.

But if you read the BBC report about this murder of an innocent civilian, you will be led to believe that it was the Israelis who killed him. In the report here the headline says "Israeli Gaza City raid kills 16" and the first paragraph reports:

• "At least 16 Palestinians, including at least 13 militants, have died in an Israeli raid in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, reports say. Medical sources and witnesses said the deaths came after Israeli tanks pushed into eastern suburbs of Gaza City. A farm worker in southern Israel was also killed by sniper fire from Gaza. "

Since the report only refers to the "Israeli raid" (and of course says nothing about the barrage of rockets into Israel that preceded the raid and which injured a woman and 7-year-old child) the implication is that the sniper must have been Israeli. In common with BBC reporting on Israel, as analysed by Honest Reporting, today's story again uses explict headlines involving "Israelis kill Palestinians" but when Palestinians kill Israelis the prepetrators (and often even the victims) are never mentioned explicitly. The BBC today have managed to provide both examples of the bias identified by Honest Reporting in the same story.

Our Palestinian friends

I found this image (of a Palestinian 'infomer' being mutilated after a public execution by Islamic Jihad) on the Winds of Jihad website, and further references to it on Atlas Shrugs. Both sites refer to an Islamic website that boasts the picture and proudly proclaims

"This is a picture of a Palestinian mother stepping on the corpse of her son who betrayed the Muslims by helping the Israelis. If all mothers were like this, Our lands would be liberated in no time."

However, I do NOT believe the woman is the mother. After some digging it appears the woman is the mother of an Islamic Jihad member and she was invited to crush the head of the executed man. What is certain is that this took place with hundreds of people watching in Jenin (which is of course under the control of our friends the Palestinian Authority) in 2006. More information about it can be found in this video (the video lasts about 5 minutes and the relevant bit is near the end, but you should watch the whole video anyway). Please note that because the video shows graphic evidence of Muslim violence it is likely to be removed by YouTube at any time (the Islamists are well organised in complaining in numbers to YouTube to get any video they do not like removed and YouTube, who are happy to host the most vicious anti-semitic and pro-Jihadist videos, usually succumb to their demands).

Fun and games at terrorist's funeral

Interesting story from Gaza today (also reported here). Note that the terrorist whose funeral it was belonged to Abbas's Fatah movement. These are the people who Israel is negotiating peace with while they fire rockets into Israel. And I was especially intrigued by the joyful chap who accidentally blew up the bomb he had around his waist while he was singing songs on top of a car. I mean doesn't everybody wear a bomb around their waist at a funeral?

Just checked to see if the BBC had this story on their teletext service. What a surprise - not a whisper about it. Yet they are running a story about the Red Cross making an unprecedented complaint about how Israel is making life unbearable for the Palestinians.

Does this make you want to vote Tory?

An item on the LGF website about the Conservative Muslim Forum should be compulsory reading for anybody contemplating voting for Cameron's Tories in the next election. In a nutshell these 'enlightened' Muslims are advising the Tories to ditch any support for Israel and to support a nuclear Iran. While there are plenty of ferociously anti-Israel MPs in Labour's ranks there is no doubt that if, push comes to shove, Gordon Brown's instincts will always be to support Israel. Anybody who thinks the same is true of the slimy Cameron is deluding themselves. For one thing, he simply does not understand anything about the Middle East and Israel's situation. Moreover, his Foreign Secretary-in-waiting, William "Israel must be condemned for using disproportionate force against Hezbollah" Hague has nailed his colours firmly to the "appease fundamentalist Islam" mast. Setting up a Muslim forum, which peddles the usual fundamentalist Islamic message, to advise him is even more deeply worrying.

Also worth reading the report on Harry's Place about who is really behind the "Islam is Peace" campaign going on at the moment ad nausea. No suprise to me that it's the same old fundamentalists behind this. The first time I heard a spokesman talk about this campaign they came out with the same "if only the government did not support Israel there would be no problems blah blah". Yeah, just like Israel was the root cause of the massacre of 130 Muslims by other Mulsims in Pakistan yesterday. Where is the Muslim outrage about that?

Islamafascists walk through centre of London demanding Israel's destruction

A demonstration of about 400 Islamafascists - organised by the Iranian Government sponsored "Islamic Human Rights Commission" marched through central London today calling for death to Israel. Waving banners of Ayatolla Khomeini and Hezbollah flags, the Islamafascists were 'celebrating' Al Quds Day, which was introduced by Khomeini as an annual day where all Muslims demand the 'liberation of Jerusalem' and the destruction of Israel. The Islamafascists were joined by the inevitable group of Neturei Karta 'Jews' and a small handful of useful idiots from the far left (who would be sure to be among the first to be exterminated under an Islamic regime).

We joined a counter-demonstration at Eros (Piccadilly Circus) that consisted mainly of Iranian dissidents opposed to the Islamic regime. The march was supposed to come past Eros at 12.00 but was delayed. A couple of us decided to take a walk down Piccadilly to see what was going on. We eventually came to the start of the march just past Green Park station. What amazed me was that, on what should have been a lovely Sunday afternoon for London's tourists and shoppers alike to enjoy the centre of town, the police not only allowed this demonstration but actually closed the whole of Piccadilly and the streets around it for what turned out to be several hours. Anyway, when we got to the demonstrators we held up some Israeli flags; the police told us to put them away (although, to be fair, they did tell us that there was a counter-demonstration we could join). But it is a bit ironic that the Islamafascists are allowed to carry Hizbollah flags and placards inciting terrorism (all funded by a regime that is killing British soldiers in Iraq) but the police would not allow an Israeli flag to be held up for 'fear of inciting them'. I cannot begin to describe how disgusting were the scumbags on this march. Their contempt for Western values and hatred of Israel, was accompanied with a barrage of vicious anti-semitic abuse. Make no mistake this lot (despite the Neturai Karta idiots walking alongside them) were openly calling for death to Jews (not just Israel). They chanted "Kill, kill kill the Jews at us when they saw us with the Israeli flags.

We decided to return to the counter-demo at Eros. Although the Islamafascist demo was organised by an Iranian funded organisation, its sole message was anti-Israel, so it was a bit disappointing that the only other counter-demonstrators there were those who wanted to get across their anti-Iranian government message (and nothing else). If ever there was a cause for the entire Jewish community to be out in force it was this one. In many respects what happened today characterised everything that is wrong with the Western approach to Islamafascism:

1. The fact that, presumably in the 'interests of free speech', the authorities allowed this disgusting hate-fest to take place. We the taxpayers had to pay for its policing, and thousands of ordinary Londoners and tourists were massively inconvienced by the disruption.
2. That the authorities seem to think that the freedom to call for the death of millions of non-muslims is important; and that the offence that this causes in the streets of London is irrelevant. After all it's the Muslims' 'right' to incite hatred - but nobody has the right to even slightly upset Muslims.
3. The fact that these people were simply allowed to walk through our streets spewing their hatred totally unchallenged. The thousands of non-political passers-by presumably think it is normal for people to be demanding the destruction of Israel. It is just another part of the process of deligitimisation of Israel.
4. The fact that a march like this (focusing uniquely on the destruction of Israel) can take place with a total absence of any organised Jewish opposition. Nothing from the Zionist Federation; nothing from any of the Youth Groups or students; not even a mention in the Jewish Chronicle that it was happening.

Update: another report at Harry's Place and a couple of videos here.

Palestinians - how much lower can they stoop?

There are people who argue that the Palestinians are very evil. OK they did support Hitler, they did introduce terrorism into the modern world, and they were the first to blow up airplanes. They were the first to directly and specifically target schoolchildren for their terrorist attacks (Maalot 1973), and they came up with real novelties like massacring athletes at the olympics, hijacking boats and throwing elderly wheelchair-bound passengers into the sea. They did give the world suicide bombers and they were also the first to use suicide bombers to maximise civilian casualties. They were also the first to use suicide bombers against such diverse targets as buses, restaurants, hospitals, and snooker halls. They were the first to use both women and children as suicide bombers and they even introduced to the world the granny suicide bomber. Oh and of course, while they were not the first to brainwash all their children they were the first who explicitly decided to brainwash all their children that there was no higher aim in life than to become a suicide bomber to murder Jews.

While they were also the first to use animals (such as donkeys) as unknowing suicide bombers, they have today claimed another unique first. They have inserted a 10kg bomb inside a lamb in order to carry out a terrorist attack. Read about it here along with today's attack against a kindergarten in Sderot. You certainly won't read about it in the Guardian.

"We can’t interfere in any way with a mosque unless they are shooting at us"

Western (i.e. civilised) fighting forces like the US, Brits, and Israelis just don't seem to understand that you cannot fight the Islamafascists with one hand tied behind your back. All over the Muslim world MUSLIMS are bombing mosques and mosques are used as the nerve centre for weapons caches and terrorist activity. Yet western forces have rules of engagement that forbid them to even enter a mosque. In Michael Totten's excellent report of his embedding with a group of US soldiers in Baghdad searching for a senior Al Quaeda operative includes the following dialoge (when four terrorists are spotted on the roof of a mosque):

“They have a little bunker up there,” he continued. “You can’t see it from here, but it has sand bags and sniper netting around it.”

“What are you going to do?” I said.

“Nothing,” he said. “It’s a mosque.”

“They’re violating curfew,” I said, “and stalking us in the dark from a militarized mosque. And you aren’t going to do anything?”

“Our rules of engagement say we can’t interfere in any way with a mosque unless they are shooting at us,” he said.

We left our stalker with his “co-workers” and walked away.

And people wonder why the Americans aren't winning in Iraq!

Burka Brigade: incitement with anonymity

This protest in London yesterday was against the sentencing (for incitement to murder and race hate among other offences) of some Jihadists at a previous 'demonstration' outside the Danish embassy. There is clear incitement here also, but it seems the burka provides 'anonymity'. What is really significant about this is that none of the Danish embassy protesters were actually arrested at the demonstration itself. The police made a decision that it was in the public interest not to do so. Instead they were arrested some time later after the police identified the most serious offenders from photographic and video evidence of the protest. How do they intend to do the same for this mob? Why is it allowed?

A Tale of Two Sieges

Days after Hamas committed the despicable massacre of 32 elderly Jews celebrating the Passover feast on 27 March 2002 at the Park Hotel Netanya, Israeli forces sought out those responsible. When dozens of the most vicious Islamic terrorists (including 13 who had been directly involved in killing civilians) decided to hole themselves up in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem a few days later the whole world was outraged ---- at Israel for having the audacity to attempt to arrest the terrorists in a holy site. The day-by-day account on the BBC website makes clear their total sympathy for the terrorists. As the report itself notes on 20 April "The Greek Orthodox Church calls for international intervention to end the siege and says it holds Israel responsible." and on 2 May it reports "About a dozen international peace activists dash into the church under the Israeli guns, delivering supplies. They tell harrowing stories of conditions inside."

In fact the siege ended with all Palestinians being freed and the 13 most wanted being allowed to go to Cyprus, where they received a hero's welcome. The most serious damage done to the Church was later found to be caused by a fire deliberately started by the terrorists.

But international condemnation of Israel was, as usual unanimous.

Now fast forward to today's siege of the Red Mosque in Islamabad Pakistan. Again dozens of Islamists were holed up. And a pretty nasty bunch they were too, although unlike the known killers in the case of the Palestinians in Bethlehem, the ones here appear to have been guilty only of mounting a political campaign to install Sharia law which at its most extreme involved some kidnappings (with those kidnapped being released fairly quickly). But compare both the Pakistani military response and the media response to it. No pussy footing around like the Israelis to ensure no-one was killed. A massive assault with tanks and multiple bombs resulting in many dozens dead despite many women and children being in the compound. And the media reaction? Total sympathy with the Pakistani military action such as on the very same BBC news website.

Anyone for a double standard?

When in doubt blame the Israelis

The Lebanese army continues to bombard the Palestinian 'refugee' camp at Nahr al Bared in Northern Lebanon. It did not take long for some of them to pin the blame on Israel even for this.

The report here is an interview with a woman looking after relatives who have fled the camp. It contains the following :

• She shows me the children's drawings from the past few days: a hotch-potch of damaged buildings and military hardware that already reveal signs of disturbance. " The children from Nahr al Bared are drawing from their experience of violence," she says. "But it's better for them to bring it out." Intriguingly, the pictures also feature Israeli rockets and military aircraft not part of the fighting at Nahr al Bared. "They are confused," explains Hoda. "They mix everything together because they see the news and they see what happens in Gaza."

Oh yes - I wonder why they get confused. I am sure it has nothing to do with the pathalogical anti-semitism and anti-Zionism which is force fed into every Palestinian from birth - even those who, like these, have never lived in the 'occupied territories' and who have never seen an Israeli in their lives.

Any friends going to Dubai?

Dubai not only welcomed Ahmadinejad yesterday but also gave him a platform to do his anti-Israel and anti-America thing in front of thousands of adoring fans. The friendly message below (found at the excellent Religion of Peace website) was displayed in Iran. Something for the thousands of British (and Jewish) tourists to think about as they relax in their 7-star hotels in Dubai.

Our friendly neighbours

A few things have caught my eye lately.

This video about Arabs' views of Jews is revealing; not only is the dialogue 'Borat-like' (except unfortunately this is real) but it even has a Borat look-alike presenter.

This interesting compilation video of Islamic indoctrination and abuse 0f children has some especially interesting Iranian cartoons for children. Whereas in 'western' goodies versus baddies cartoons the baddies die and the goodies live it is interesting to note that here not only do all the 'baddies' (Israelis) get killed but so too do all the 'goodies' (Palestinians). The message is quite clear: the goal of every Islamic child must be to die as a suicide bomber or in Jihad. Only by dying in this way do you go to heaven. The subtext presumably also is that Iran would be more than happy to sacrifice every one its citizens (and indeed every Muslim in the world) if it meant killing all the Jews. Not very comforting given their nuclear ambitions.

This article in the Catholic Herald suggests that our Islamic friends are prepared to be just as barbaric to Christians as they are to Jews - this reports on a baby being kidnapped, beheaded, and returned to its mother roasted and served on a bed of rice. Nice people.

This brilliant 'chat show' dialogue. It's a bit slow to load but bear with it.

This article by Noah Pollack about Lebanon is more upbeat but note his description of his flight from Amman to Beirut. The Jordanians are supposed to be 'peace partners' of Israel and they have full diplomatic relations but it appears that in practice they refuse to acknowledge that Israel even exists.

There is no such thing as a 'moderate' Palestinian

That Mahmoud Abbas is simply another Yasser Arafat in slightly more Western clothes is becoming more evident by the day. His recent pronouncement (in Arabic of course) imploring all Palestinians to turn their guns against Israelis, and his duplicity over the Eilat suicide bombing (which he condemned to the Western media, but which was carried out by members of his own Fatah organisation) are just two of many examples. I doubt if many people in the West (or even in Israel) realise that the constitution of the Fatah movement, which Abbas leads, still calls for the total annihilation of Israel (even I was under the impression that this had been removed from their constitution after the Oslo peace process). This document is every bit as chilling as the Hamas charter which assserts that "Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it." For a really excellent article on this subject read this one by Andrew C. McCarthy.

And if you need any more evidence that the anti-Israel media obsession is fuelling anti-semitism then read about the latest survey on anti-semitic attacks on the UK. We already know that, despite the media's obsession about Islamaphobia, it is Jews who are four to five times more likely to be attacked than Muslims in the UK. Now it turns out that Muslims are responsible for a totally disproportionate number of attacks on Jews (Asians and Arabs account for 37% of all attacks even though they make up just 4% of the population).