thisisbabylon.net

Religious coercion is ugly. It can take the most benign of facades, or be carried out by the most sadistic militants. In Israel there has been a surge of missionary activity, as Evangelicals continue their ultra-Zionist push for all Jews to go to Israel, and have already, in some instances, expressed their willingness to take up arms and fight for Israel. This pro-Israeli push is often combined with thinly veiled attempts to get more missionaries in contact with more Jews, in hopes of finally getting them to abandon the Torah and halacha and to begin to become churchgoing Hebrew Christians.

Following the baptism of a young man in Arad, Rav Shalom Dov Lifshitz's Yad L'Achim began to launch protests countering the missionary activity. Perhaps due to the fact that a born-again Christian is in the White House, or perhaps due to financial concerns, the missionary groups have been largely successful in getting Israeli government assistance in preventing counter-missionary protests.

Yes, religious coercion is digusting. But, regardless I'm still torn about today's story.

A girl was taken from her father's house in Tulkarm by Yad L'Achim. Arutz Sheva called it a rescue of a girl from her Muslim father's home. The Jerusalem Post called the girl Palestinian and acknowledged that she was "in fact, Jewish". And the Australian Melbourne Herald-Sun said the girl was "taken" by "Jewish gunmen".

I feel very torn. I don't know what to feel.

On the one hand, this girl has a Jewish neshama. To save a Jewish child from being "captured among the nations" of the world is a huge mitzva. But I can't just look at this like a regular tinok she'nishba/captured child:

The girl's father was quoted in Ma'ariv as saying that he and the girl's mother met seven years ago, fell in love and married.

The mother converted to Islam and moved to Tulkarm where he had another wife and five children.
Together they had a daughter who was raised as a Muslim.

The mother told Yad L'achim that her husband had pretended to be a French-American Jew, the organisation said.

She said she hadn't known that her husband was already married and that after their wedding, she wasn't allowed to leave the house.

How were they married? Under a chuppah? His "pretending to be a Jew" couldn't have lasted that long. How can one pretend to be a Jew to one's own spouse?

I place part of the blame on the mother. Especially after getting married -- and presumably she spoke Arabic. This isn't a child who was captured by the nations, this is a child of a mother who went to live among the nations and then changed her mind. While I applaud her teshuva -- and hope that the little girl grows up to be a Torah-observant eshet chayil one day -- this is, regrettably, more complex than just that.

Now this little girl -- who may or may not have fond memories of her father -- has grown up in Palestinian schools. We know what she already probably has heard about Jews.

Now here come a group of Jews who capture her and her father at gunpoint and take her back to a place she doesn't remember, after telling her she is Jewish. On the other hand, "eye opening dialogue" is much easier in New York than in Tulkarm.

I can't really say either way. I'm quite torn. I pray G-d heals the hearts of all involved.

Posted by Y-Love at 02:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

The far right NPD party, starting to get a foothold in some more far-flung German provinces, used to "shy away from the Internet", Der Spiegel reported today. Now they are taking their message of "Germany for the Germans" to the mass media. They have created their own online news show (recently pulled from YouTube) and intends to launch its own "critical" (i.e., Nazi) news show.

As Der Spiegel Reports:

The image (above) is strikingly reminiscent of "Tagesschau," the popular evening news show on ARD, one of Germany's two national TV channels. The anchor's wood desk resembles the one from "Tagesschau," as does the show's captioning. The only thing that seems out of place is the logo that appears in the top right corner.

Instead of the stylized numeral one familiar to "Tagesschau" viewers, this broadcast features the so-called "black sun" as its logo, a symbol from Nazism's bizarre neo-Germanic mythology. SS-leader Heinrich Himmler, still popular with neo-Nazis today, was especially fond of the symbol.

Until Wednesday evening, the faux news show was to be seen on the Internet video site YouTube. Now, though, all that's left are ongoing forum discussions -- YouTube took the videos down.

The YouTube news show, which had been available online since Sept. 10, was seen as just a trial run by the NPD extremists. The two instalments put together by Wöll are seen as prototypes to a proper NPD-TV channel. "Soon, we'll transmit over the Internet a weekly news show from our party headquarters," party spokesman Klaus Beier told SPIEGEL ONLINE.

On Tuesday of this week, in fact, several high-ranking party functionaries gathered at the party's Berlin headquarters to discuss how to move the TV project forward. They decided that Wöll should be replaced by a woman. They also want the show to "take a stance on all possible current affairs topics, with a focus on politics," explained Beier.

Beier also said party leader Udo Voigt will appear regularly on the show. But Beier -- who, as the party's press spokesman and "Secretary for New Media," will effectively run NPD-TV -- doesn't want to say too much about the project.

He does confirm that preparations are in full swing. NPD-TV will probably be "fully online" by the NPD's annual party congress in mid-November, Beier says.

Posted by Y-Love at 02:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Thank you, Mr. David Lindorff:

Ordinarily one would say that the real sign of an imminent attack would be a convening of Congress to consider a use of force authorization, or perhaps an attempt in the United Nations to win endorsement for an attack from the UN Security Council, but clearly this is not happening.

And for good reason.

Bush would never succeed in winning Security Council approval for a military action against Iran, particularly after embarrassing and insulting the council members by the massive lying that he did the last time he sought such a vote--for an attack on Iraq--in 2003.

Nor would he likely be given the go-ahead by Congress this time around, with all of the House and a third of the Senate facing re-election on November 7 by an electorate that has grown weary of war, angry at a half trillion dollars wasted, and sick at heart about the thousands of flag-draped coffins and broken GIs returning home, with nothing to show for it all but two dysfunctional, war-torn former countries in the Middle East.

Another Bush War? Is it more sickening or frightening? I can't even fathom another budgetary catastrophe as such. I couldn't have said it better than Mr. Lindorff.

Posted by Y-Love at 04:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

What Arutz Sheva reported (and its subsequent update) is just a shame. 20-year-old Eliyahu Kleinman was arrested at the Kotel (Western Wall) on Rosh Hashanah for blowing the shofar, the ram's horn observant Jews blow in a series of tones to evoke repentance for the New Year.

While Arutz Sheva is known to have a right-wing spin on Israeli current events, who else could one quote for a story like this? Most news outlets in Israel, sadly, omit many of these types of stories from their pages:

The incident occurred around 7:30 in the morning, at the northern-most section of the accessible Western Wall - a little-known area called the Kotel HaKatan, the Small Wall. It is considered to have extra sanctity, as it stands opposite the presumed spot of the Holy of Holies of the Beit HaMikdash.

Yesterday morning (Sunday), a group of some 10 men and two women gathered at the site, as they have done for several years on Rosh HaShanah, for early-morning prayers. The holiday prayers feature the blowing of the shofar (ram's horn) at several different times. Towards the end of the first shofar sounding, a Border Guard policeman came in, made an unclear motion with his hand as if to ask what was going on, and then left. He said nothing.

Shortly afterwards, Eliyahu K., the 20-year-old prayer leader, blew the shofar a second time, in the midst of his silent prayer (in accordance with Sephardic custom).

A peaceful silent prayer going on at the Kotel ha'Katan, a few meters into the Old City, parallel to the Temple Mount (not, Heaven forbid/chas v'shalom, on the Mount itself).

What happened next should NEVER happen in anywhere that bills itself as a Jewish anything.

Policemen came in once again and began trying to pull him away. However, Eliyahu was in the midst of reciting the Amidah - a long passage during which one must stand in one place without moving - and he therefore did not move.

The policemen informed their supervisors by radio that he was praying and refused to move, and reinforcements were soon sent - no fewer than 20 policemen, according to several witnesses.

They then started dragging him out, and when they stopped for a moment, he got up and resumed his prayers. They then began to drag him away again, and shortly afterwards again stopped for a moment - and again he resumed his prayers. At this point, the policemen allowed him to complete his prayers.

In the meanwhile, the other members of the prayer group came out and tried to prevent the policemen from taking Eliyahu away.

At this point, the policemen started swinging their clubs violently; no one was hospitalized, but "it was a big brawl," in the words of one witness, with many people being dragged around and beaten while wearing their prayer-shawls and Sabbath suits.

One witness related, "It's not only that they stopped him from blowing the shofar, but rather the fact that the police beat us up very harshly. I was on my way to the Wall for prayers when I saw 5-7 policemen going with Eliyahu and protecting him very closely. I walked after them, and then a few of his friends came, and then the violence started. We asked the policemen to return the shofar, and they started kicking us and punching us."

The worshipers said that the police had apparently been called by an Arab woman who said the sound of the ram's horn disturbed her children.

Instead, it's straight to the violence. The thuggery. The great equalizer.

The police response?

The police response to the events of Rosh HaShanah at the Kotel HaKatan (Small Wall, pictured above) in the Old City of Jerusalem is: They didn't happen.

Jerusalem Police spokesman Shmulik Ben-Ruby told Arutz-7 that the shofar-blower was not in the middle of prayers and "had already blown long enough" when he was ordered to stop. When confronted with the fact that many eye-witnesses say he was clearly in the middle of prayers when he was stopped and dragged away, Ben-Ruby insisted that his version was the correct one - but agreed to "check again."

Posted by Y-Love at 02:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Yet another example of what I have been screaming about. The vandalism at a synagogue in Khabarovsk, Russia is believed to be the work of the same people who were behind mosque vandalism: skinhead-styled nationalists (as we know the actual skinhead movement is not comprised of neo-fascist thugs) --

On Saturday night, an evening service at a mosque in Yaroslavl marking the beginning of the Ramadan fast was interrupted by a group of young people who threw stones and flaming bottles at the mosque and broke windows in cars parked nearby. No one was hurt in the attack, and the attackers were not caught.

That same night in Khabarovsk, a synagogue was attacked by a group of young men, who peppered the building with bricks and pieces of asphalt, breaking several windows, while chanting anti-Semitic slogans.

I don't think more need to be said. Ha'mavin yavin v'yaskil.

Posted by Y-Love at 09:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

In Basingstoke, England, a mosque was defaced on the eve of the beginning of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan:

A MOSQUE in Basingstoke has been targeted by racist graffiti yobs.

A wall of the Albirr Masjid mosque in Sarum Hill was daubed with foot-high letters on Saturday night - the eve of the Muslim festival of Ramadan.

Officers are still investigating an arson attack on the mosque earlier this year that they believe was also racially motivated. As reported in The Gazette on August 14, emergency services were called to the mosque in the early hours of August 12 after a neighbour reported seeing flames and smoke at the rear of the building. A small fire was discovered to have taken hold in the roof space and a total of 16 firefighters spent two hours tackling the blaze, which caused some damage inside the building. No one was in the mosque at the time of the incident.

Unidentified assailants threw gasoline bombs at mosque in a central Russian city early Sunday, The Associated Press reported citing the country’s main Muslim organization.

The incident occurred in the city of Yaroslavl about 240 kilometers (150 miles) northeast of Moscow a day after the country’s Muslims began observing the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, the Council of Muftis said in a statement posted on its Web site. The statement said the attackers smashed the mosque’s windows and then threw Molotov cocktails at the building. Several cars parked nearby were also damaged, it said.

The Interfax news agency cited the chairman of the city’s Islamic organization as saying that a prayer service was underway when the mosque was attacked, but no one was injured.

Vandals scrawled swastikas and racist slogans on the walls of two mosques in France and set fire to one of them on Sunday, the day French Muslims started celebrating Ramadan.

In the town of Quimper in western France, 6 swastikas were painted in green on the walls of the Penhars Mosque.

"The community is well known and well integrated," he said, adding that several dozen people regularly attended prayers in the mosque.

French television and radio reported that racial insults and swastikas were also scrawled on the walls of a mosque in Carcassonne in southern France.

Swastikas were painted on the walls of two mosques in France on the weekend, and one was set alight in disturbing instances of racist vandalism, police said on Sunday.

The mosque which was torched, in the northwest town of Quimper, suffered damage from the flames. Six swastikas were painted on the outside of its walls.

Posted by Y-Love at 05:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Examine these pictures of the pope protests outside of London's Westminster Cathedral as a result of the current papal row.
Canada Free Press.com described the scene as follows:

Last Sunday, Catholics going to Holy Mass in London's Westminster Cathedral were confronted by Christophobic Muslims, carrying hate posters such as "Pope go to hell," "Benedict watch your back," "May Allah curse the Pope," "Jesus is the slave of Allah, "Islam will conquer Rome," and the like.

Granted, the column is filled with "I call it like I see it"-defended Islamophobia such as:

Perhaps it can be argued that Islam is in agony, and that this is precisely the reason why Muslims reacted so sensitively to twelve, mostly inoffensive, Danish cartoons earlier this year...

It looks as if Muslims cannot cope with an open society and the modern globalized world. Should we interpret their aggression --­ the result of their inability to cope with the world -- as a token of strength...?

The term was actually coined by Catholic scholar George Weigel. Weigel began investigating the phenomenon after being struck by the European Union's fierce resistance to any mention of the continent's Christian origins in the draft versions of the new, and still unratified, European constitution. Originally it was used to describe anti-Christian prejudice among secularists.

New Zealand's Scoop News columnist Jason Miller expresses his fear over the advent of what he terms "Anglo-Christophobia" but puts it in context:

Here are but a few recent examples of the United States’ own flagrant human rights abuses:

1. carrying out quite a number of its own executions in a manner recently discovered to inflict a great deal of suffering on the victim

2. routinely torturing and suspending justice for suspected “enemy combatants”

3. funding the Israeli Apartheid and ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians

4. occupying a nation where it has killed over a million Iraqi civilians since the Gulf War invasion (through brutal economic sanctions and military actions).

5. funding the Israeli devastation of Lebanon

6. supporting numerous ruthless and murderous regimes (as long as they are friendly to US corporations)

7. having cynically embraced Saddam Hussein as an ally (knowing of his crimes against humanity) when it furthered US interests and invading Iraq preemptively to topple him when he ceased to be useful.

8. having kept the House of Saud in power for years despite its harsh practice of Sharia (i.e. thieves’ hands are severed and adulterers are stoned).

9. maintaining the largest prison population in the world through a legal system so unjust that 50% of those incarcerated are Black when Blacks comprise 14% of the general population.

10. engaging in numerous outright massacres of civilians (i.e. Haditha, Fallujah)

In light of the above, how long will it be before a significant portion of the Muslim population falls prey to an extreme prejudice against all Westerners called Anglo-Christophobia? Let’s hope it does not happen any time soon.

George Weigel listed a number of reasons for the advent of the prejudice he adapted the term for. The Washington Post had one more reason to add, though, for the "Christophobic" sentiment in Europe:

To this I would add one more: Europe's present associations of "religiosity" with "America," and in particular with George W. Bush, who still scores reliably high negatives in opinion polls across the continent.

What precisely are we doing to improve our image?

Posted by Y-Love at 05:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Columnist Andrew Wagner, writing his vivid article for the Jerusalem Post, decried this week the advent of a new video. This new video, "Herzl", in the words of Mr. Wagner:

Shofar's CD is a professionally produced two-hour attack on secular Zionism that labels Herzl, Revisionist Zionist founder Ze'ev Jabotinsky, writer Joseph Haim Brenner, and prime minister David Ben-Gurion as anti-Semites who hated their own religious tradition.

But Herzl is singled out as a Hitlerian figure. In the video, Israelis, apparently chosen at random in Ramat Aviv's Mall, are asked to read out loud excerpts from Herzl's diary in which he advocates "encouraging anti-Semites to destroy Jewish property." The people are then asked to guess who wrote the entry. One after another they reply, "Hitler."

What Mr. Wagner's article leaves conspicuously omitted is that Herzl advocated not only the mass conversion of Jews to Christianity as a way of escaping anti-Semitism, but Herzl's vision of Israel -- as even related by the Jewish Virtual Library, consisted of a "socialist utopia...a new society that was to rise in the Land of Israel on a cooperative basis utilizing science and technology in the development of the Land." One source notes, Herzl's visions "were visions of a Jewish state to be populated by European Jewry".

Herzl, as the Wikipedia tells us, "envisioned a Jewish state that was devoid of most aspects of Jewish culture. He did not envision the Jewish inhabitants of the state being religious, or even speaking Hebrew."

Herzl did, however, speak of G-d in his plans for Israel, at least in passing:

By means of our state, we can educate our people for tasks which still lie beyond our horizon. For [G-d] would not have preserved our people for so long if we did not have another destiny in the history of mankind. (Herzl, Briefe und Tagebuecher, vol. 2, pp. 128- 129)

David Ben-Gurion also had a vision of Israel involving secular "cultural identity", much of which leaves Mizrachi/Sephardi Jews sorely underrepresented in terms of goals and appropriation.

All of this is designed to bring out a point. One can not expect the adherents of Torah Judaism, simply by virtue of being in Israel, to get behind the teachings of a Herzl or a Jabotinsky.

Especially not when their ideals get trampled on, their schools get ripped off, and they are told to automatically feel this responsiblity to pay homage to people whose disciples subjugated their ancestors and rendered them second-class inhabitants of shanty towns. Zionism simply has not paid off for all Jews. MK Zevulun Orlev and (perhaps especially) Yuli Tamir need to check themselves when they say these edicts such as that "the CD was aimed at undermining the Zionist foundation of the state" and asking Tamir to "warn school principals."

The extent to which Israel bases its "foundation" on secular Zionism is the extent to which many religious people will continue to feel alienated by it.

R' Amnon Yitzhak is a ga'on, and I have no question in my mind that it is not on the Rav's agenda to bring about the demise of any group of people or entity. But, at least in the eyes of SHOFAR program directors, the point of view needed to be expressed that the "Jewish State" is Jewish largely despite the actions and visions of its pioneers.

R' Yitzhak is an advocate of kiruv and teshuvah, of secular people reaffirming their ties to the Jewish spiritual heritage and observance thereof. He is one of the pioneers of the chazara b'tshuvah (returning to G-d) movement in Israel, through which thousands of Israelis have discovered/rediscovered a connection to Torah. A far cry from the " haredi fire-and-brimstone preacher" Mr. Wagner portrays in his article, R' Amnon Yitzhak is doing a huge spiritual service to Israel.

Not that I agree with everything he says. But were this to be a rise in Sephardic anti-Zionism, one would understand. Sha"s is already becoming more non-Zionist (calling for cease fires in Lebanon, et al.), and friction between gedolei Yisra'el and secular Zionist nationalists has long been known.

History gives us the big picture, it is not Photoshop.

Posted by Y-Love at 04:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

This week's Canadian Jewish News introduced me to Rabbi David Rosen. Rabbi Rosen is a personality I knew nothing of before this, but I am so thankful to Hashem for showing me.

Rabbi David Rosen is the President of IJCIC, the International Jewish Committee on Interreligious Consultations, which represents World Jewry in its relations with other world Religions. He is Director of the Department for Interreligious Affairs and Director of the Heilbrunn Institute for International Interreligious Understanding of the American Jewish Committee. He is a founder of the Interreligious Coordinating Council in Israel, which embraces about 70 organizations involved in interfaith relations.

Rabbi Rosen is also an international president of the World Conference of Religion for Peace, which incorporates 15 religions in over 50 countries. He is Honorary President of the International Council of Christians and Jews (ICCJ), the umbrella organization for more than thirty national bodies promoting Christian-Jewish relations (the ICCJ’s Abrahamic Forum promotes dialogue between Muslims, Christians and Jews) and serves as a member of the Executive Committee of the World Congress of Imams and Rabbis.

A rabbi after my own heart, one would think that, like most names and personalities we find attached to Jewish interreligious dialogue, that this person would be affiliated with some liberal stream of Judaism or the Reform Israel Religious Action Center.

Far from it. Baruch Hashem. Rabbi Rosen is a clear voice standing for coexistence from the Torah Orthodox world. A former Chief Rabbi of Ireland for six years, he was also the Senior Rabbi of the largest Jewish congregation in South Africa and rabbinic judge on the Ecclesiastical Court (Beth Din).

The Canadian Jewish News reports:

“There is a tendency to see religion as part of the problem and, therefore, to have nothing to do with it… They say you religious people keep away, you only make problems and mess things up,” said Rabbi David Rosen, president of the Jerusalem-based International Jewish Committee on Interreligious Consultations, the umbrella organization that represents Jews in their relations with other religions.

In an interview a few weeks ago with the Australian ABC, Rabbi Rosen said regarding coexistence:

Well, let me give you an example. We brought together the heads of the religious communities in the holy land in Alexandria a couple of years ago, and this was thanks to the initiative of the then archbishop of Canterbury, Lord Kerry, ensuing a very important declaration, signed by all three communities condemning violence in the name of religion and the desecration of religion...the leaders of the Muslim community, the chief rabbis, the patriarchs of the Holy Land.

And even though its significance was limited because violence continued at the time, it was the beginning of some very important spin-offs. We've had now two world congresses of Imams and rabbis, in which sheikhs and rabbis are the vast majority of whom are never met a member of another faith, have come together.

I think that's done a great deal to overcome stigmas and prejudices. Of course, it's only a drop in the ocean, but it's a very significant beginning of one.

But something that's happened of more significance in terms of the local context as a result of the Alexandria meeting is the establishment of a Council of the Religious Institutes of the Holy Land, that bring together the Palestinian shari'a courts, the chief rabbinate and the patriarchates in Jerusalem.

I don't believe for the reasons I explained that religion itself can bring about a breakthrough in this conflict, precisely because it is not independent of political structures, at least not Islam and Judaism which are the key components here, religious components.

But nevertheless, I do believe that if political initiatives, which have to be of ... which are of course the key, take place without the religious dimension, they will not have the psycho-spiritual glue to hold together.

But, as Rabbi Rosen alluded to, any of those plans are destined to eventually disintegrate as they do not take into account the deeply spiritual nature of the region. By affirming our connections to G-d and text, we affirm the connection to the words IN those texts and to the worldview that emanates from them.

By doing such -- without prejudice but with the only goal of increasing Divinity in the world -- one moves closer to peace faster than a Katyusha.

Posted by Y-Love at 03:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Everyone who's anyone should already know about Prussian Blue, the blonde, blue-eyed Nazi girl duo originally from Bakersfield, CA.

What may not be known is precisely how much of this band is an invention of their mother's twisted racist mind, or how much is the invention of marketing personnel intent on making a mass-marketable Aryan product.

As news analyst Earl Ofari Hutchinson notes in his article for New America Media, old school KKK rhetoric has fallen incorrigibly out of vogue, and most of the public eschews the more drastic forms of hate speech. A more palatable version had to be created if the "message" was going to be disseminated:

They market their songs through record labels and websites.

The twins’ cleverly mix personal giggly teen chatter in their lyrics, along with patriotic appeals to fight for freedom, all to a stomp down, toe tapping rock beat. That appeals to the musical tastes of many youth. The songs can easily be slipped into an MP3 player and listened to away from the prying ears of adults.

White supremacist groups quickly spotted a good thing in Prussian Blue. A critic on the National Vanguard website gushed over the release of the group’s second album, “The Stranger.” He hailed it as the first white nationalist album that appeals to young (white) girls.

The potential tap of the mainstream alternative rock market potentially could translate into millions of listeners.

The twins’ lyric deception is crucial in selling their race baiting ideology to teens. Much of the public frowns on the crude racism and anti-Semitism of the old Klan. Racial and gender slurs and assaults against minorities, women, gays and feminists are considered publicly impolite. And white supremacist groups have adjusted to the times. They borrow the techniques politicians perfected during the past quarter century to win white votes. They use racial and gender-inferred double speak, code words and code concepts.

The fact remains -- now these people are using marketing techniques. Look, for instance at the aesthetic chasm between KKK.bz, the Klan website and a populated Stormfront.org -- some of whose categories have 300,000+ posts. Nazi sites like NSM88.com and clothing stores like AryanWear show -- hearts are being won over.

Is there a sufficient set of voices to the contrary?

Posted by Y-Love at 04:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

One of the more dynamic speakers in the area of Muslim outreach on MySpace.com, Sheikh Isa maintains a blog giving one Muslim man's point of view on world events and politics.

Incensed by the current papal row igniting anti-Christian sentiments in the Muslim world, Sheikh Isa writes:

Currently, around the world, there are a handful of people who claim to be muslim, yet are violating Islamic law. Yes, violating the Qur'an, pushing the Sunnah aside, disregarding Shariah. Does this make them non-muslims. I cannot answer that, only Allah can judge the intentions of Man. However, what I can do is state unequivocally, that what they are doing is not Islam.

You think that Allah is going to reward you with Jannah because you killed a nun?!? Subhanahu Allah, you just broke three commands in one shot there. You think you can firebomb a church, and not have to answer for it?
Do you think this is Jihad, when you are not even living your life according to the Sunnah, and you just listen to someone telling you to kill innocents?

One who fights jihad is, in Arabic, a mujahid, one who fights holy war. One who is a religious hypocrite, calling out for actions not in line with shari'a under the pretense of Islam, is exhibiting nifaq, and is called munafiq. I think Sheikh Isa would, along with this author, decry the blurring of the two categories.

Sheikh Isa concludes:

To my non-muslim friends. The actions of these fricking idiots is NOT what Islam teaches. A) It is forbidden to kill priests, rabbis, monks. B) It is forbidden to destroy churches. C) It is forbidden to harm the women, children and eldery.(sic) D) It is forbidden to engage in physical Jihad without just cause, and without a threat to Islam.

A refreshing voice of Qur'an in a growing sea of media spin. Voices like these, which unequivocally stand for the peaceful sublime essence of their faiths while clinging wholeheartedly to their holy texts, actually serve the cause of coexistence, rather than the cause of global warfare.

Peace is Pax is Shalom is Sala'am. What kind of problem could you have with that?

Posted by Y-Love at 04:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

Ynet reported today, albeit in not the most positive tone of voice, about a new gezeirah being disseminated throughout Charedi communities: strengthen the hands of those businesses which are Sabbath-observant.

Rabbis: Buy only from Shabbat observing firm

In ad published in ultra-Orthodox newspapers last week, haredi rabbis urge marketing chains, public to refrain from buying paper products manufactured by companies which work on Shabbat

A committee of rabbis called on ultra-Orthodox consumers to buy paper products such as toilet paper, napkins, paper towels, and tissues, only from the Shaniv Paper Industries company, which observes the Shabbat.

Shaniv turned out to be the only paper product manufacturer in Israel that fits the description, according to an ad published Friday in the haredi newspapers. Haredi rabbis published the ad, urging marketing chains and private consumers to purchase paper products exclusively from Shaniv.

The ad said that "the Shaniv factory keeps Shabbat, with all its machinery completely halted on Saturdays and holidays…"

This is not punishing secular businesses. On the contrary, this is haredi people putting our money where our mouths are. All of us who believe in the divinity of the Torah believe that G-d wants, especially in the land of Israel, that the Sabbath be kept, not only by Jews but also by Jewish companies and things under Jewish auspices. The Orthodox Jew believes that commandments observed in the Land add to the Land's spiritual character. This added spirituality adds to the Land's security and lifeblood and, in turn, allows for the keeping of more commandments.

Why would one not want to give a financial "pat on the back", a monetary "yasher koach", to those who trust in G-d enough to put their entire business on hold for Him?

I think encouraging Sabbath-observant businesses is a trend which more Orthodox people need to jump on. Throughout the Islamic world, shariah-compliant investments are touted. Why should an Orthodox person be wrong for wanting to put his or her money where their faith is?

Trading with ticker symbol SHAN on the TA Stock Exchange, Shaniv's stock price jumped up to 450 NIS following the gezeirah,after being in a 3-month slump.

Posted by Y-Love at 01:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Hat tip to Dina from MySpace for turning me on to this.

In the sweltering Middle Eastern heat, hundreds of thousands of Gazan people are still without power after the main power plant in Gaza (providing 140 mW of electricity) was bombed in an Israeli air strike.

The UN's Office for Humanitarian Affairs notes:

“I am going crazy without electricity. There is even a shortage of candles now – I had to use the two my wife and I had received from our marriage. I worry about [starting a] fire,” said the 36-year-old from Beit Lahiya.

For the past two months, Gaza residents like Aqdeir have lived without a regular supply of electricity after the Israeli military bombed Gaza’s only power station on 28 June.

The lack of electricity means sewage cannot be treated, increasing the risk of disease spreading, and hospitals cannot function normally. It means ordinary Gazans cannot keep perishable food because their fridges do not work.

At night, they are plunged into complete darkness when the electricity cuts off. They rely on candles and paraffin lamps. Many residents have also been left with an irregular water supply as they need electricity to pump water up from nearby wells or from ground floor level to higher floors in blocks of flats.

It's times like this that the UN's humanitarian efforts are most needed. However, the UNRWA (UN Relief and Works Agency) has complained that due to a lack of access, they can not provide these basic necessities to the people in Gaza:

Every two months, the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) gives out food to Palestinian refugees living in the Gaza Strip, a Palestinian-administered area bordering Israel and Egypt.

Its latest food delivery has been delayed by a lack of access. "Food distribution will not start until we can get our products into Gaza. The 830,000 refugees we feed will not have any food from us," said John Ging, UNRWA's Director of Operations in Gaza.

UNRWA usually brings food supplies through the Karni Crossing, a cargo terminal on the eastern end of a barrier between Israel and the Gaza Strip. But Israel has closed the crossing, saying it discovered a tunnel that could be used to attack its border personnel.

"We had to close the checkpoint because we have civilians working there and we don't want them killed by the Palestinians," said Shlomo Dror, spokesman for Israel's Government Coordination Office, which monitors the humanitarian situation in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Dror told IRIN that Israel had offered to open other border crossings such as Sufa, which is farther south - but said the Palestinian authorities had refused.

"We are dependent on this border opening up," said Ging. "We have no alternative. The local market cannot supply us with the quantities [of food] that we need. We tried to source two weeks' supply of lentils locally. We needed 200 tonnes, only half that was available.

Is there no way to provide for human life without sacrificing security? Is there anyone even looking into finding it?

Posted by Y-Love at 08:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Ha'aretz reported today about a problem which seems to continually plague the Palestinian people.

A set of politicians who get fame for themselves while ignoring the plight of average citizens. Lest we forget, Hamas came to power largely because of discontent with the culture of political corruption which had come to plague the Arafat regime. (Even a former interior minister of Arafat's didn't know where $5 billion had gone.)

Now Hamas seems to be doing the same thing:

A survey by Near East Consulting (NEC) on Sunday showed that about 65 percent of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza live below the poverty line, a reflection of deepening hardship since the Hamas-led government was formed in March.

There has been an average monthly increase of 3 percent in poverty since Hamas came to power," said Jamil Rabah, director of NEC.

The survey defines poverty as a monthly income below NIS 2,000 for a family of four adults and two children.

According to the report, some 38 percent of Palestinians live in extreme hardship, defined as a monthly income below NIS 1,000 for a similar household.

The international community cut off aid to the Palestinian Authority after Hamas, an Islamic militant group sworn to Israel's destruction, formed a government after winning a general election in January.

More than 165,000 Palestinian government employees have gone largely unpaid since March and began an open-ended strike for wages last week.

Counting both the West Bank and Gaza, Palestinian unemployment now stands at 50 percent.

Can one place the full blame on economic sanctions? If this is all because of the lack of aid from the US and Europe, then I would question Hamas' ability to drive economic development in Palestine. Palestinians need jobs, not Qassams. Nationalistic pride does not put the khubz on the table.

How can any employee -- civil or private -- be expected to live without a paycheck for six months? This is not the fault of any Zionist entity. One writer for Islamic Relief says explicitly, "Travel restrictions have caused over 50% unemployment." Why is there a sui generis need for Palestinians to be employed by Israeli companies? Where is the business community of Ramallah -- and if it does not exist, where is the investment? Ahmadenijad is keen on economic development in Venezuela, moving production of its autos to a plant there. Are there no qualified Palestinians?

Palestine needs investment and jobs. Otherwise, who's to stop the next demagogue from raising the banner of "the Jews are responsible for your poverty"? Oh wait...

Posted by Y-Love at 01:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Today Reuters reported the closing of the Baghdad office of UAE-based TV station Al-Arabiya, accusing it of inciting sectarian violence between Sunnis and Shias.

"We have noticed the clear intention of your channel in inciting sectarianism and promoting violence," a statement from the cabinet of U.S.-backed Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said, adding the station's Baghdad bureau would be closed for a month.

Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh, in remarks broadcast on state television, said: "Closing Al Arabiya for one month is a warning for the unprofessional conduct of their correspondents in covering events in Iraq."

Although most Iraqis watch the local, U.S.-sponsored broadcast television station, which doesn't require a satellite dish, Iraqis in the poll say the Arab satellite networks are the most trusted and break the hottest stories.

US-sponsored, US-funded broadcasters such as Springfield, Virginia-based Al-Hurra, a division of the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) like Voice of America.

I find it hard to believe that a government as US-controlled as Nouri al-Maliki's fledgling Iraqi one is acting without some sort of American "go-ahead". Especially considering that the US General Accounting Office just released a scathing report about al-Hurra's market share:

"[W]e were unable to determine the accuracy of MBN's [Middle East Broadcasting Network, parent agency of al-Hurra, division of the BBG] reported audience size and program credibility estimates due to weaknesses in MBN's methodology and documentation."

The US spent $62 million in 2004 to create al-Hurra. As LA Times columnists Lieven and Chambers note, this leaves President Bush with a bit of egg on his face:

President Bush has requested a 13% spending increase for Al Hurra. Yet, according to a recent Zogby poll, only 1% of Arab viewers watch it as their first choice. Al Hurra claims 21.3 million viewers, but it will not publish the Nielsen survey that supposedly supports this figure...

Because these stations opposed and strongly criticized the U.S. invasion of Iraq, and have given prominence to negative stories about U.S. policies, they and the Arab media in general have been treated as enemies by the Bush administration, the U.S. media and many U.S. politicians.

It's all about the ratings, it's all about the propaganda. And make no mistake, just like with al-Hurra in Egypt, this is propaganda:

From the beginning, al-Hurra's operation in Egypt was subject to the covert control of the security services, a fact that is not always apparent to those who oversee the station from Washington. The services have close ties to some of the station's directors and handpick many correspondents. They even have final say over which guests appear on programs.

Now we're going to make sure that our message gets through. As soon as American-controlled media came in, al-Jazeera had to leave. Now al-Arabiya has to leave. This is even more fair and balanced than FOX News!

(cross-posted from Jewschool)

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A 19 year old man from Portsmouth, NH was charged with criminal threatening after threatening to kill a local rabbi and burn down the synagogue. When they read his charges, he smiled.

July was a record-setting month in Australia for anti-Semitic incidents:

ECAJ immediate past president Jeremy Jones told the AJN that the July figure of 141 incidents, a five-fold increase on the number of incidents in an average month, was not yet finalized and “can go up or down.”

Often using "criticism of Israel" as a pretext, British MPs are speaking of an explosion of anti-Semitism throughout the UK:

Anti-Semitic incidents have risen threefold following the start of the conflict in Lebanon, said Gardner, a spokesman for the CST, an organization whose roots stretch back to the 1930s battles with Oswald Mosley's British Union of Fascists in London's East End. July was the third-worst month on record.

In Montreal, following the firebombing of the Hasidic school this past Shabbat in the haredi neighborhood of Outremont, fears of anti-Semitism are on the rise:

"Historically, we know there is often a connection between tension in Canada and what is happening elsewhere," said Rabbi Reuben Poupko, a member of the city's Jewish community security council. But "it's a fair question to wonder whether or not the gathering of 15,000 Quebecers under the flag of Hezbollah, unfortunately further legitimized by the presence of politicians, whether that creates an atmosphere where fanatics draw the conclusion that violence against Jews is somehow acceptable."...

The number of reported anti-Semitic incidents more than tripled this July compared to the same month last year.

While three French teens were being sentenced for the brutal beating of a Jewish teenager last August, simultaneously a bomb was placed in front of a synagogue in Bastia, on the French island of Corsica. The Corsican Jewish community is one of the smallest in Europe, only 15 members.

And of course we already know about the mandatory classes in Russian Orthodox Christianity being implemented in Russian schools -- sending waves throughout the Jewish communities there as well.

More proofs of the eternal truth of the words of the Passover Haggadah, b'chol dor va'dor, omdim aleinu l'chaloteinu -- in every generation, people rise up and try to destroy the Jews.

And G-d saves us from them. May we merit His continuing to do so.

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The Catholic The Universe reports:

The Catholic Association for Racial Justice (CARJ) has warned of the insidious broadening of the remit or racism whereby it has been able to spread fear and intimidation among people of all ethnicities in the UK.

Speaking on Racial Justice Sunday, the Chair of CARJ Margaret Ann Fisken told how "migrants, refugees and asylum seekers, gypsies and travellers all continue to be marginalised and devalued.

"We live in a time of fear and uncertainty," she said. "We must be careful not to encourage or endorse a culture of xenophobia. We must understand that racism will not disappear from our Church or our society without a concerted and sustained effort to oppose its every manifestation."

[...]

"As individuals, as a Church and as a society, we must address these complex issues that have the potential to divide us. We are one human family. We are one race, the human race."

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Now I'm on my soapbox. Anti-haredi prejudice is everywhere and I, for one am sick of it. The entire term ultra-orthodox implies "too" Orthodox, too fanatical, not liberal enough.

One would hope that Israel would differ in some way.

A row has erupted over Israeli Education Minister Yuli Tamir's new education budget for the upcoming 5767 (2006-2007) school year.

After implementing long school days in public (i.e., secular) kindergartens, she "informed the Education Committee that she has no intention of funding long school days for private kindergartens." This means no money for the charedi religious school systems, no funding for talmud Torahs.

Indeed, as former Deputy Education Minister Avraham Ravitz said in Yediot Aharonot:

We must end the "war" of the individual and society against Judaism and those who carry its banners, as it created a huge gulf between Israeli society's various parts.

[...]

Finally end the open and hidden discrimination against ultra-Orthodox education that manifests itself through educational facilities and regular budgets. Respect the parents' desire to provide their children with Torah and religious education as was done in previous generation.

Indeed, as Yuli Tamir herself said last month:

"The ultra-Orthodox sector worries me. In 20 years, 25 percent of all the pupils will be ultra-Orthodox and an additional 30 percent will be from the Arab sector. Both do not identify with the country. The solution found for the ultra-orthodox sector is according to the best Israeli tradition of 'known yet not official.' This is becoming a great part of the system and we do not know what is going on there. I will find a legal way to shut down private schools."

The Haredim must also scramble to build their schools, often operating for years out of trailer caravans. Since everyone wants to be so fair and liberal, how about paying the Haredim back for every school and classroom for which they have had to go collecting?

Discrimination IS disunity.

Yediot Aharonot continues with some recent background:

A relatively recent, blatant example of the phenomenon is the Nutrition Law. In May 2004, a related pilot project was set to include twenty-two thousand students countrywide, including five thousand students from the haredi city of Beitar Illit. Eventually, however, the Education Ministry decided not to include students from haredi institutions, and, as a result, the Beitar Illit municipality petitioned the High Court of Justice. Justice Mishael Cheshin postponed the hearing, thus further enraging the haredim.

According to Yisrael Tik, director of Beitar Illit’s educational department, the court’s ruling only enforced haredim’s perception of injustice. “Justice Cheshin said that whoever wants the Torah must also bring the flour,” he notes almost bitterly. “And this is the attitude that causes us to feel discriminated against. We think that the Torah is a foundation stone for the Nation of Israel, a foundation stone for the State of Israel, and the Torah is not for whoever wants it. The Torah is the heritage of the entire Jewish nation, and the Jewish nation, during thousands of years of exile, fought for this Torah. And in the place where we dance with it and embrace it, we’re told: ‘Whoever wants the Torah – should also bring the flour.’ Later, when the law was introduced, it was drafted such that there was no way that the haredi public could participate.”

Posted by Y-Love at 02:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Canada.com reports:

At two minutes past midnight Saturday, the tapes show, the man lit a Molotov cocktail on the sidewalk in front of the Skver-Toldos Jewish Boys School and approached the classroom's window, immediately west of the school's main entrance.

He cocked his arm as if to fire the Molotov through the glass - but hesitated, possibly noticing a window screen visible only at close range. The man instead turned to the school's main entrance, a few steps away.

He launched the still-burning Molotov through a glass panel next to the main doors and fled as light flared from the explosion. The attack caused damages initially estimated in the range of $20,000 to $60,000 - and sent shudders through Montreal's Jewish community and elsewhere.

"Such hateful acts cannot be tolerated by our society," said Canadian Jewish Congress Quebec Region President Jeffrey K. Boro.

"It is a sad day for all Quebecers when we witness, in a province so well known for its commitment to tolerance and vigilance in the fight against all forms of racism, the violent targeting of a religious building ," Boro said in a written statement.

He called on Quebecers to stand up and "decry this anti-Semitic act."

Children in the school are set to receive counseling as a result.

Oh yeah, 69 percent of Montrealers polled have a "positive opinion of Jews".

B'nai Brith Canada operates an anti-Hate hotline at (in Canada) 1-800-892-2624.

Posted by Y-Love at 01:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Another story showing the macabre crossroads of Anti-Semitism and Islamophobia in Europe.

A set of videos was released on the Internet by a far-right extremist group in the UK. The videos, posted between August 11 and 19th on YouTube, threaten to behead Muslims.

The clips show three white British men, wearing black masks and brandishing knives, clubs and weapons, The Sunday Times reported on September 3.

In one video a balaclava-clad man with a Welsh accent tells Muslims to "go home" or risk being burnt alive.

"We are going to rip the life out of you. I am going to tear your guts out. I’ll cut your head off," he said brandishing a foot-long hunting knife with a serrated blade.

[...]

In another video a man with a London accent wonders what should be done to "fight the so-called religion of peace known as Islam."

Noting that the alleged plot to blow up US-bound planes in midair has resulted in "no retaliation" against Muslims, he said: "Well, wake up. I am calling on England, Ulster, Scotland and Wales to stand and defend the island that we love."

Massoud Shadjareh, chairman of the Islamic Human Rights Commission, said the videoed threats were extremely worrying.

"There is no question there has been an increase in attacks on mosques and Muslims," he told The Sunday Times.

The release of the videos coincides with reports of a rise in the number of attacks on mosques, said the paper. Islamophobia gained momentum in Britain, especially after the alleged terror plot.

Simultaneously, in Britain, anti-Jewish incidents are skyrocketing. UPI reports:

Anti-Semitic attacks have become so widespread in Britain that a parliamentary inquiry is set to declare them endemic.

Recent attacks on British Jews and vandalism of area synagogues due to Israel's conflict with Hezbollah in Lebanon were detailed in a recent all-party parliamentary meeting, which will call for immediate action to be taken, the Times of London reported.

"It is usually a small number responsible for a large number of attacks, but these were very widespread across the country and included graffiti attacks on synagogues in Edinburgh and Glasgow," said Mark Gardner of the Community Security Trust.

In July, 92 anti-Semitic incidents occurred -- the third-highest amount in a month for Britain. Many officials said the ongoing violence in Lebanon is the trigger to such occurrences.

Who could even begin to think that the minds of 1.2 billion Muslims -- a fifth of humanity -- are unanimously rallied around people like Hezbollah? Or Al-Qaida (if it exists)? Or Hamas? How could one even think -- when "two Jews, three opinions" is a proverb known to most cultures which contain Jews -- that millions of Jews hold a united front standing steadfastly behind every single action of every single Israeli prime minister?

People are being held "responsible" for the actions of people they have never met before. Why? Because the mind of the racist connects them.

A 12 year old girl in London was beaten unconscious on a bus when a group of kids asked her what her religion was and she replied "Jewish". Fresh from her bat mitzvah what Zionist PAC was she donating to that made her crime so heinous that she has to get beaten down in public?

As the British Times Online notes:

On Thursday an all-party parliamentary inquiry will state that anti-Semitic violence has become endemic in Britain, both on the streets and university campuses. The report will call for urgent action from the Government, the police and educational establishments.

"The Board of Deputies of British Jews submitted evidence to the inquiry that anti-Semitism in Britain was at its worst level."

I hope that at some point people begin to look at how to defeat their common enemy -- bigotry -- instead of fueling it.

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