THE INFORMATION DISCLOSED BELOW DEMONSTRATES A TROUBLING TREND
IN OUR COUNTRY. EUROPE NOW FINDS ITS ANTISEMITISM STIMULATED
THROUGH THE MUSLIM AGENDA. HERE WE SEE GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS
GIVING CREDENCE TO AN ANTI-JEWISH AGENDA.
BELOW ARE THE NAMES AND INFORMATION REGARDING GOVERNMENT
OFFICIALS WHO OUGHT TO BE ASKED WHY THEY ARE SUPPORTING AN
ANTI-AMERICAN ORGANIZATION. AND SHOULDN'T WE WONDER ABOUT AN
ARMED CAMP PROXIMATE TO BINGHAMTON?
//////////////////////
Matthew T. Ryan
Mayor
38 Hawley Street, 4th Floor
Binghamton, NY 13901
(607) 772-7001
(607) 772-7079 fax
mayor@cityofbinghamton.com
Andrew Block
Executive Assistant to the Mayor
awblock@cityofbinghamton.com
Rebecca Browne
Secretary to the Mayor
rbrowne@cityofbinghamton.com
Robert Weslar
Council Member, 1st District
(607) 772-7200
district1@cityofbinghamton.com
Martin J. Gerchman
Council Member, 2nd District
(607) 772-7232
district2@cityofbinghamton.com
Teri Rennia
Council Member, 3rd District
(607) 772-7165
district3@cityofbinghamton.com
Lea Webb
Council Member, 4th District
(607) 772-7236
district4@cityofbinghamton.com
Sean Massey
Council Member, 5th District
(607) 772-7134
district5@cityofbinghamton.com
Charles Kramer
Council Member, 6th District
(607) 772-7237
district6@cityofbinghamton.com
Edward M. Collins
Council Member, 7th District
(607) 772-7234
district7@cityofbinghamton.com
John Cox
Comptroller / Finance Director
38 Hawley Street
Binghamton, NY 13901
(607) 772-7011
(607) 772-7106 fax
finance@cityofbinghamton.com
Charles Pearsall
Deputy Comptroller
(607) 772-7011
(607) 772-7106 fax
finance@cityofbinghamton.com
Michael Dervay
Purchasing Agent
(607) 772-7025
(607) 772-7106 fax
purchasing@cityofbinghamton.com
Pauline Penrose
City Treasurer
(607) 772-7027
(607) 772-7015 fax
treasurer@cityofbinghamton.com
THESE FOLKS NEED TO BE ASKED THE HARD QUESTIONS ABOUT
THEIR COZY RELATIONS WITH THE HATERS. THE MORE THE
BETTER.
As part of Mayor Ryan's award-winning Blight Prevention Initiative,
the Code Enforcement Office was integrated back into the Building
and Construction Office in December 2007 in order to create a
centralized office for building inspection services
United Muslim Christian Forum "Walks" With Binghamton Mayor
Wednesday, 20 May 2009 00:00
Attention: open in a new window. PDFPrintE-mail
BINGHAMTON, Ny – The United Muslim Christian Forum (UMCF) was
recently invited to be a part of a tour of Binghamton hosted by
Mayor Matthew T. Ryan, to review accomplishments of his past years
in office and to discuss his future plans should he be re-elected
joining a small crowd that chanted, “Four more years!”
“I think UMCF presence made a big statement for the Muslim community
as a whole by being there,” noted a representative of the group.
“Upon arrival, there were only about 30 people in attendance, so they
were able give our congratulations and support to the Mayor directly
before talking with other supporters.”
Mayor Matthew Ryan led the one mile walk around Binghamton which started
at the Perry building (a historical site in Binghamton), passing by
Abu’s House of Halal, and ended at the Regency Hotel. There the Mayor
gave a press conference to announcing his running for another Mayoral
term of four years.
“Jawad and Ahmad Muhammad, had the opportunity to stand next to Mayor
Matthew Ryan as he delivered his speech.” By this time total number in
attendance to this event went from 30 to 150 people.
As the day concluded the Mayor spoke with members of the United
Christian Muslim Forum extending his gratitude for their attendance.
The mayor was the guest speaker at the recent UMCF parade.
homelearnactdonatelocal chaptersContact Congress
ACT! for America
Visit our News page
Another example of “interfaith dialogue”
Remember: ACT! for America’s new TV program premieres Feb. 5th at 2:30 PM ET on Family Net and Feb. 6th at 4:00 PM ET on ALN
Efforts by various Islamic organizations to engage Christians in “interfaith dialogue” are increasing. As you might guess, such efforts are typically selective in what they present about Islam and how they present it.
See the latest below. (Note: we believe the first sentence has a typo, in that it should read “January 8, 2011,” rather than “January 8, 2001.”)
Muslims of the Americas’ New Target: Gullible Christians
Posted By Ryan Mauro On January 23, 2011
On Saturday, January 8, 2001, a nice-sounding organization called the United Muslim Christian Forum [1] (UMC) held an event in Binghamton, New York, for members of both faiths to “share, in unity, their love and admiration for Jesus, son of Mary (peace be upon him).” Gullible Christians and officials have supported the event, unaware or unconcerned that it is a front for the anti-Semitic extremist group Muslims of the Americas [2] (MOA) and its leader in Pakistan, Sheikh Mubarak Ali Gilani.
There is no excuse for those who have embraced the UMC, as its website says it was founded by Sheikh Gilani and no effort is made to disguise UMC’s status as an MOA front. The UMC website also spouts the same ideology. At a 2008 event, the leadership proclaimed [3] that “…we will no longer be duped or manipulated by a ‘hidden hand’ into fighting, or going to war with each other.” The write-up on the event, which claims 3000 Muslims and Christians attended, then argues that the 9/11 attacks were an “inside job” by the U.S., UK, Israel and international bankers. It describes the attacks as “Stage One of getting the Western world, on behalf of the Jews, to go to war with the Arab world.”
The UMC’s website also carries a letter [4] to President Obama asking him to stop an anti-Muslim conspiracy within the United States. It warns of a “hate campaign, within our own borders, against the American Muslims, [that] MUST come to an end. This campaign is an integral part of the nefarious scheme to bring this nation to its knees by those who have no love for humanity.”
The UMC is an affiliate of the MOA, whose extremism is thinly concealed and well-documented. Sheikh Gilani has called [2] Jews an “example of human Satans.” Even his outreach to Christians is based on anti-Semitism, as he says that “the Jews tried to murder Jesus, son of Mary.” Sheikh Gilani and MOA, like their UMC, blame a Satanist-Zionist conspiracy for 9/11 and not Osama bin Laden, whom Gilani describes [5] as a “Saudi activist.”
In 2009, the Christian Action Network [6] released a film about the use of the MOA’s compounds, some of which are dozens of acres large, for guerrilla warfare instruction. Since then, a law enforcement source has given me a secret MOA videotape [7] showing female members in military attire receiving paramilitary training that included simulated combat with knives and swords and firing guns into a lake at the group’s “Islamberg” headquarters in Hancock, New York. We have also received videotape with the sound of gunfire coming from the MOA’s compound in York County, South Carolina. This is the group that runs UMC.
The spokesman claims that at least 500 people attended this month’s event, including Dr. Diane O’Heron of Broome Community College and a representative of Binghamton Mayor Matthew T. Ryan who said [8] “events like these enrich our community.” Mayor Ryan has also spoken at UMC events where and he is seen on the group’s website holding their sign. A local news report states [8] that members from the 22 MOA “villages” around the country and even as far away as Canada, Pakistan, and Venezuela came to the event.
One of the speakers at the January 8 event was Dr. Ali Mazrui [9], director of Binghamton University’s Institute of Global Cultural Studies. He said in 2002 that “there is … suspicion that some members of the Bush administration in collusion with Israel are more than ready to plunge the Middle East into turmoil in the hope that the final outcome would be to the territorial advantage of Israel and the strategic advantage of the United States. All this is part of the emerging sadism of the United States, a readiness to hurt others abroad.”
Dr. Mazrui also wrote an article in April 2002 titled “Is Israel a Threat to American Democracy?” in which he says that “Israeli neo-Nazism” and “militarism” is what caused the creation of Hamas, al-Qaeda, and other terrorist groups. He accuses Israel of committing “ethnic cleansing” and being the “most effective war machine since Nazi Germany.”
The UMC is just another trick used by MOA to present itself as a moderate group with the help of incredibly naïve officials. In August 2008, the New York State Police and FBI gave awards [10] to members of the MOA’s Muslim Scouts of America in Islamberg. In 2005, an FBI Special Agent sent [11] them a note of appreciation, and in the previous year, FBI Special Agent in Charge Leslie Wieser spoke [12] at the graduation ceremony for the scouts at the York County site. Also in attendance were Mayor Eddie Lee, the York County sheriff, and three other FBI Special Agents.
The inclusion of Dr. Mazrui, the publicly available information about MOA, and the extremist rhetoric readily available on the UMC’s website should have been enough to stop any public official, especially Mayor Ryan, from supporting the event. Any official involved with this group is guilty of negligence of an unthinkable magnitude. The community of Binghamton and the surrounding areas need to let Mayor Ryan and other officials know that their participation in the UMC’s events is unacceptable.
________________________________________________
http://pajamasmedia.com
------------------------------------------------
Make sure you receive all of your messages from ACT for America. Add actforamerica@donationnet.net to your address book as an approved email sender. If you found this message in your "Bulk" or "Spam" folder, please click the "Not Spam" button to notify your provider that these are emails you want to receive.
------------------------------------------------
ACT for America
P.O. Box 12765
Pensacola, FL 32591
www.actforamerica.org
ACT for America is an issues advocacy organization dedicated to effectively organizing and mobilizing the most powerful grassroots citizen action network in America, a grassroots network committed to informed and coordinated civic action that will lead to public policies that promote America’s national security and the defense of American democratic values against the assault of radical Islam. We are only as strong as our supporters, and your volunteer and financial support is essential to our success. Thank you for helping us make America safer and more secure.
The news items, blogs, educational materials and other information in our emails and on our website are only intended to provide information, news and commentary on events and issues related to the threat of radical Islam. Much of this information is based upon media sources, such as the AP wire services, newspapers, magazines, books, online news blog and news services, and radio and television, which we deem to be reliable. However, we have undertaken no independent investigation to verify the accuracy of the information reported by these media sources. We therefore disclaim all liability for false or inaccurate information from these media sources. We also disclaim all liability for the third-party information that may be accessed through the material referenced in our emails or posted on our website.
HOW CAN I TELL OTHERS ABOUT YOUR ORGANIZATION?
Send a personalized version of this message to your friends.
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
THE ADVENT OF AMERICAN UNIONS
MY MOTHER ARRIVED IN AMERICA AT THE AGE OF 16 ALL BY HERSELF. IT WAS 1910 AND SHE WAS A SEAMSTRESS. I WAS NEVER TOLD WHERE SHE WORKED, BUT I AM CERTAIN IT WAS AT LEAST NEARBY.
////////////////////////////////////////
Jews and Labor
In March 1911, a fire broke out at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in New York City. Locked doors kept the immigrant workers in while a shoddy fire. escape and elevators left the 8th floor windows the only escape from the blaze. Almost 150 young immigrants died that day and the Triangle Shirtwaist factory became a rallying cry for the international labor movement. This March, almost exactly one century later, a leading voice in the American labor movement, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, will join the JCPA Plenum to reflect on that pivotal event and the deep engagement of American Jews in the labor movement that spawned from it. Over the last 100 years, the collaboration between the Jewish Community and the Labor Movement has been integral to important reforms in this country’s working conditions, promoting civic and economic equality. With this unique opportunity to speak with such a prominent American labor figure, attendees at the JCPA Plenum will be given the chance to examine where that relationship should head next.
SCHOOLS: AMERICANS KNOW HOW TO THROW MONEY AWAY
Daily Policy Digest
Education Issues
February 1, 2011
Stop Federal Spending on Education
While Washington spends huge sums on things that are education-related, the riches produce almost nothing of educational value. If anything, the feds keep stuffing donuts into an already obese system, says Neal McCluskey, associate director of the Cato Institute's Center for Educational Freedom.
* In 1970 Uncle Sam spent an inflation-adjusted $31.5 billion on public K-12 education; by 2009 that had ballooned to $82.9 billion.
* On a per-pupil basis, in 1970 the feds spent $435 per student; by 2006 -- the latest year with available data -- it was $1,015, a 133 percent increase.
* Real, overall, per-pupil spending (federal, state and local) rose from $5,593 in 1970 to $12,463 in 2006.
What do we have to show for this?
* Since the early 1970s, scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress have been stagnant for 17-year-olds.
* In 1973 the average math score was 304 (out of 500); in 2008 it was just 306.
* In reading, the 1971 average was 285; in 2008 it was up a single point, hitting 286.
In the 2008-09 academic years, Washington spent roughly $83 billion on K-12 education and $37 billion on higher education. Add those together and you get $120 billion, a sum that's doing no educational good and, therefore, leaves no excuse for not applying it to our $14 trillion debt, says McCluskey.
Source: Neal McCluskey, "For the Nation's Sake, Cut Education Spending," Cato Institute, January 25, 2011.
Education Issues
February 1, 2011
Stop Federal Spending on Education
While Washington spends huge sums on things that are education-related, the riches produce almost nothing of educational value. If anything, the feds keep stuffing donuts into an already obese system, says Neal McCluskey, associate director of the Cato Institute's Center for Educational Freedom.
* In 1970 Uncle Sam spent an inflation-adjusted $31.5 billion on public K-12 education; by 2009 that had ballooned to $82.9 billion.
* On a per-pupil basis, in 1970 the feds spent $435 per student; by 2006 -- the latest year with available data -- it was $1,015, a 133 percent increase.
* Real, overall, per-pupil spending (federal, state and local) rose from $5,593 in 1970 to $12,463 in 2006.
What do we have to show for this?
* Since the early 1970s, scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress have been stagnant for 17-year-olds.
* In 1973 the average math score was 304 (out of 500); in 2008 it was just 306.
* In reading, the 1971 average was 285; in 2008 it was up a single point, hitting 286.
In the 2008-09 academic years, Washington spent roughly $83 billion on K-12 education and $37 billion on higher education. Add those together and you get $120 billion, a sum that's doing no educational good and, therefore, leaves no excuse for not applying it to our $14 trillion debt, says McCluskey.
Source: Neal McCluskey, "For the Nation's Sake, Cut Education Spending," Cato Institute, January 25, 2011.
Egypt per BBC
PREDICTION: ALL EGYPT WILL SOON BE MESMERIZED BY THE ISLAMIC HATE OF IRAN. THE MORE THE USA AND EUROPEANS ASK FOR DEMOCRATIC REFORMS THE CLOSER THEY WILL BECOME AN IRANIAN STYLE ISLAMIC STATE.
//////////////////////
JANUARY 28, 2011
1812GMT: German Chancellor Angela Merkel has joined those urging the Egyptian government to allow peaceful protests. The stability of Egypt is extremely important, she says, "but not at the price of freedom of expression".
1.
1806: After fleeing a police charge in Cairo, elderly protester Mohammed Taha tells Reuters news agency: "This protest is not going to stop. They won't and can't trick the people again and give us some lame concessions. Hosni has to go. I am 70 years old, I am going to die, but these people have to fight to live."
2.
1804: There are unconfirmed reports of army personnel clashing with police in Cairo, according to al-Jazeera TV.
1815: Daniel Hussey tweets: "Egypt is the pivotal country for the region... Egypt goes, and the rest will follow." We'll be keeping an eye out for your messages and #jan25 tweets, so do get in touch if you have views to share.
1655: White House spokesman Robert Gibbs tweets: "Very concerned about violence in Egypt - government must respect the rights of the Egyptian people&turn on social networking and internet."
1432: Dr Maha Azzam, an associate fellow at Chatham House in London, tells the BBC World Service: "I think this is going to lead to the fall of the Mubarak regime. He has never been challenged in this way before. It may take time - the military, army are still backing him. We don't know how long that's going to last. We also don't know if divisions have already been created within the army."
/////////////////////
US to reconsider aid to Egypt
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/01/201112915194130323.html
//////////////////////
JANUARY 28, 2011
1812GMT: German Chancellor Angela Merkel has joined those urging the Egyptian government to allow peaceful protests. The stability of Egypt is extremely important, she says, "but not at the price of freedom of expression".
1.
1806: After fleeing a police charge in Cairo, elderly protester Mohammed Taha tells Reuters news agency: "This protest is not going to stop. They won't and can't trick the people again and give us some lame concessions. Hosni has to go. I am 70 years old, I am going to die, but these people have to fight to live."
2.
1804: There are unconfirmed reports of army personnel clashing with police in Cairo, according to al-Jazeera TV.
1815: Daniel Hussey tweets: "Egypt is the pivotal country for the region... Egypt goes, and the rest will follow." We'll be keeping an eye out for your messages and #jan25 tweets, so do get in touch if you have views to share.
1655: White House spokesman Robert Gibbs tweets: "Very concerned about violence in Egypt - government must respect the rights of the Egyptian people&turn on social networking and internet."
1432: Dr Maha Azzam, an associate fellow at Chatham House in London, tells the BBC World Service: "I think this is going to lead to the fall of the Mubarak regime. He has never been challenged in this way before. It may take time - the military, army are still backing him. We don't know how long that's going to last. We also don't know if divisions have already been created within the army."
/////////////////////
US to reconsider aid to Egypt
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/01/201112915194130323.html
Abbas: Yes to war against Israel
Abbas makes contradictory statements:
No to violence, yes to war against Israel
http://www.palwatch.org/main.aspx?fi=157&doc_id=4559
by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik
PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas in recent days has made contradictory statements concerning violence and war against Israel. To the English speaking audience Abbas said he would never turn to violence; in Arabic he said he would join Arab states in a war against Israel.
Abbas to Western audience:
"'I am committed to peace, but not forever,' Mr. Abbas said. 'I don't mean I will turn to violence - never. In my life, I will never do it. But I cannot stay in my office forever doing nothing.'"
Abbas to Arab audience:
"I have said more than once that if the Arabs want war - we are with them."
Abbas made the statement against violence in an interview with Bernard Avishai writing for the New York Times Magazine. The statement was intended for an international audience and reported in the New York Times on January 27, 2011.
Abbas made the second statement not ruling out war in a meeting with Egyptian and other Arab journalists. This statement was meant for an Arab audience and reported in the official Palestinian Authority daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida on January 24, 2011.
Abbas stressed that he is against violence now because the Palestinians are unable and because the international community opposes it. He did not denounce violence as a tool:
"We do not wish to turn to armed struggle, because our [lack of] capabilities and the international atmosphere do not allow for it."
PA leaders' depicting non-violence against Israel as a necessary current strategy was exemplified recently during the 2010 peace talks. PA leaders repeatedly used apologetic language when explaining the rationale behind the non-violence to Palestinians.
Nabil Shaath, MP, member of Fatah Central Committee and former PA Foreign Minister, made a series of speeches justifying the cessation of violence, which he stressed was due to current conditions: "At the present time [the armed struggle] is not possible, or is not effective," he said. He noted "the inability to engage in the armed struggle," and pointed out that: "[it] has become undesirable now," and "international conditions do not permit us." Shaath also stressed the "right to return to the armed conflict whenever we view that as our people's interest." (Full quotes below.)
Abbas has repeated this willingness to join an all-out Arab war three times in the last year: First, to the Arab League in March, then in July, and now again:
The following are excerpts from the statements by Mahmoud Abbas (emphasis added):
Jan. 24, 2011, meeting with Egyptian and other Arab journalists:
"The President [Abbas] emphasized that in September the Palestinian leadership will pass a resolution which no-one will have dreamed of, if the available options concerning the peace process fail... President Abbas made it clear that the Arab Peace Initiative is the ideal solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict... He noted that the Palestinian Authority published the Peace Initiative in the Israeli media and on the 'streets', in order to bring it to the attention of the Israelis.
He emphasized that he supports the options that the Arab [state]s will choose, and added: 'I have said more than once that if the Arabs want war - we are with them. I cannot fight alone. We tried military action during the Second Intifada and during the attack on Gaza at the end of 2008 and the beginning of 2009, after the [Hamas] refusal to renew the ceasefire, and it brought destruction upon us. 25% of the homes in Gaza are still in ruins.'He noted that he opposes military action and that he believes that popular operations resisting settlement and the [security] fence lead to clear positive results for the Palestinian cause. He noted that 50% of the participants in these demonstrations are Israelis, while 25% are foreigners. He added: 'We are determined to continue this activity, and we do not wish to turn to armed struggle, because our [lack of] capabilities and the international atmosphere do not allow for it."
[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Jan. 24, 2011]
July 6, 2010, in the home of PA Ambassador to Jordan, to writers and journalists:
"'We are unable to confront Israel militarily, and this point was discussed at the Arab League Summit in March in Sirt (Libya). There I turned to the Arab States and I said: 'If you want war, and if all of you will fight Israel, we are in favor. But the Palestinians will not fight alone because they don't have the ability to do it.' ... 'The West Bank was completely destroyed and we will not agree that it will be destroyed again,' in addition to 'the inability to confront Israel militarily.'"
[Abbas, at meeting with writers and journalists in the home of the Palestinian Ambassador to Jordan,
Al-Hayat Al-Jadida (Fatah), July 6, 2010]
The following are excerpts from the statements by Palestinian MP Nabil Shaath, (emphasis added):
MP Nabil Shaath (1): "... the armed struggle, which has become undesirable now"
"MP Dr. Nabil Shaath, member of Fatah Central Committee and Commissioner of Foreign Relations... emphasized that the Fatah's stated strategy for the struggle is to adopt the growing popular and 'non-violent' struggle against Israel, because of the inability to engage in the armed struggle, which has become undesirable now, although it is the right of the Palestinian people, which all international treaties and resolutions have guaranteed... Shaath emphasized that the non-violent struggle is no less honorable than the armed struggle, and that it does not signify submission to Israeli demands."
[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, May 20, 2010]
MP Nabil Shaath (2): "the armed struggle at the present time... is not effective"
"The current distancing from the armed struggle does not mean its absolute rejection... He noted that the difficulty of the conflict required the Palestinian people to diversify its activities of struggle - along with an emphasis on the importance of the armed struggle, which laid the basis for the existence of the state and contributed to maintaining the right and presenting it to the world - especially since the armed struggle at the present time is not possible, or is not effective, because of to the difficulties with which the Palestinian people contends."
[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, May 21, 2010]
MP Nabil Shaath (3): negotiations are "tactical" and "temporary"
"Dr. Nabil Shaath, Commissioner of International Relations and member of the Fatah Central Committee... stated that the decision to renew negotiations was a tactical decision, i.e., a temporary, defensive decision... and it is dependent upon the possibility of attaining tangible results for the Palestinians. He concluded: 'Even the resistance uses defensive tactics in order not to miss opportunities.'"
[Al-Dustur (Jordan), June 10, 2010]
MP Nabil Shaath (4): Palestinians will return to violence when it is "our people's interest."
"Dr. Nabil Shaath, member of the Fatah Central Committee... emphasized that 'the Palestinian people has the right to defend itself, and it has the right to act in the way of the armed struggle. We have acted in this way for 100 years. Fatah led it (the armed struggle) for 23 years, and Hamas adopted it for 15 years. We are proud of all of our Shahids (Martyrs), and it is our right to return to the armed conflict whenever we view that as our people's interest.'"
[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, June 7, 2010]
The following is the article in New York Times quoting Mahmoud Abbas:
Olmert Memoir Cites Near Deal for Mideast Peace
By Ethan Bronner
JERUSALEM - Ehud Olmert, the former prime minister of Israel, says in new memoirs that he and Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, were very close to a peace deal two years ago, but Mr. Abbas's hesitation, Mr. Olmert's own legal troubles and the Israeli war in Gaza caused their talks to end. Shortly afterward, a right-wing Israeli government came to power...
In a separate interview, Mr. Abbas confirmed most of Mr. Olmert's account...
Mr. Avishai's article is scheduled to be published in The Times Magazine next month...
"I am committed to peace, but not forever," Mr. Abbas said. "I don't mean I will turn to violence - never. In my life, I will never do it. But I cannot stay in my office forever doing nothing."
He said Washington needed to play an active role, or "hopes for peace will collapse and the region will be controlled by extremists."
[The New York Times, Jan. 27, 2011]
CHINA: A BIG QUESTION
Phyllis Schlafly
Re-evaluating Free Trade With China
Email Phyllis Schlafly | Columnist's Archive
Get America by Heart by Sarah Palin FREE!
The voters who elected the new Congress expect it to cast off unconstitutional and discredited policies such as Keynesian big-spending and judicial grabbing of legislative prerogatives. We also hope Congress will shake itself loose from the dishonest, anti-American trade policies of other countries, especially communist China.
Although China is called a major trading partner, it treats U.S. companies like suckers, cheating them coming and going. China even intimidates U.S. businessmen so they don't dare to criticize China's unfair trade tactics.
Take, for example, the attitude of CEO Jeffrey R. Immelt of General Electric, the company now laying off hundreds of U.S. workers and giving those jobs making light bulbs to Chinese workers. He won't comment about the current U.S. case in the World Trade Organization accusing China of giving illegal subsidies to Chinese wind-turbine makers.
A few years ago, GE caved in to the Chinese government's demand that it build a large wind-turbine factory in China . Since GE owns a crucial patent for wind turbines, this demand was based on the Chinese anti-free trade policy called indigenous innovation (which China expert James McGregor calls "a blueprint for technology theft on a scale the world has never seen before").
China then developed its own wind-turbine manufacturers and is now directing purchasers to buy from those Chinese firms instead of from GE. That's the reality in what free traders naively believe is the world's fast-growing market for U.S. goods.
China wants to be the world's biggest exporter based on stealing U.S. know-how and subsidizing local manufacturers. China blatantly violates international trade laws and has no plans to be a market for U.S. products; China's principal imports are and will continue to be U.S. jobs.
When asked about China's cheating of GE. on wind turbines, Immelt responded by saying that GE will fine-tune its competitive tactics to adapt to Beijing policy. The New York Times quoted a California lawyer specializing in Asia deals, Judy Lam, as explaining that his reaction translates as, "I understand my place" and big American corporations are "willing to suck it up -- that will win them points."
Although the Obama administration filed a wind-turbine complaint with the World Trade Organization, no U.S. company joined to defend itself. WTO disputes take up to three years to come to a decision, which usually turns out to be against U.S. interests.
The United Steelworkers Union has dared to complain about China's cheating practices on alternative energy products such as wind turbines, solar panels and batteries, filing a 5,800-page petition under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974. Google said it might shut down its China-based Internet search engine if Chinese censorship continues.
The Chinese government passes short laws on complex industrial and financial subjects while leaving unlimited discretion to bureaucratic regulators (like the Obama administration). In authentic socialist practice, the regulators can use their discretion to advantage their friends and punish their enemies.
China has a long record of disciplining companies that fail to conform to Chinese regulatory demands. Chinese regulations presume to dictate ordinary managerial decisions of non-Chinese companies such as what equipment may be bought and from whom.
China has a communist government, so the Communist Party is in the driver's seat. China can violate with impunity all international law and trade agreements, slap taxes and regulations on U.S. plants in China, compel U.S. corporations to give their trade secrets and manufacturing know-how to Chinese competitors and force Americans to keep silent about the unfairness of it all.
GE's Immelt was gung-ho for trade with China in 2002. He then told GE managers: "I talk China, China, China, China, China. You need to be there. I am a nut on China." But GE got only half the China market that Immelt was counting on.
In 2010, after GE had handed over technology in everything from rail locomotives to antipollution equipment in order to gain access to the Chinese market, Immelt was singing a different tune: "I really worry about China. I am not sure that in the end they want any of us to win, or any of us to be successful."
After major U.S. corporations, including our biggest technology companies, gave away their most valuable industrial secrets, they are asking themselves: Was it all worthwhile?
Some people foolishly call our relationship with China "free trade." But there is nothing free or fair about it. It is trade war between an aggressively protectionist communist government and a U.S. that is shackled by foolish and out-of-date illusions about free trade.
Re-evaluating Free Trade With China
Email Phyllis Schlafly | Columnist's Archive
Get America by Heart by Sarah Palin FREE!
The voters who elected the new Congress expect it to cast off unconstitutional and discredited policies such as Keynesian big-spending and judicial grabbing of legislative prerogatives. We also hope Congress will shake itself loose from the dishonest, anti-American trade policies of other countries, especially communist China.
Although China is called a major trading partner, it treats U.S. companies like suckers, cheating them coming and going. China even intimidates U.S. businessmen so they don't dare to criticize China's unfair trade tactics.
Take, for example, the attitude of CEO Jeffrey R. Immelt of General Electric, the company now laying off hundreds of U.S. workers and giving those jobs making light bulbs to Chinese workers. He won't comment about the current U.S. case in the World Trade Organization accusing China of giving illegal subsidies to Chinese wind-turbine makers.
A few years ago, GE caved in to the Chinese government's demand that it build a large wind-turbine factory in China . Since GE owns a crucial patent for wind turbines, this demand was based on the Chinese anti-free trade policy called indigenous innovation (which China expert James McGregor calls "a blueprint for technology theft on a scale the world has never seen before").
China then developed its own wind-turbine manufacturers and is now directing purchasers to buy from those Chinese firms instead of from GE. That's the reality in what free traders naively believe is the world's fast-growing market for U.S. goods.
China wants to be the world's biggest exporter based on stealing U.S. know-how and subsidizing local manufacturers. China blatantly violates international trade laws and has no plans to be a market for U.S. products; China's principal imports are and will continue to be U.S. jobs.
When asked about China's cheating of GE. on wind turbines, Immelt responded by saying that GE will fine-tune its competitive tactics to adapt to Beijing policy. The New York Times quoted a California lawyer specializing in Asia deals, Judy Lam, as explaining that his reaction translates as, "I understand my place" and big American corporations are "willing to suck it up -- that will win them points."
Although the Obama administration filed a wind-turbine complaint with the World Trade Organization, no U.S. company joined to defend itself. WTO disputes take up to three years to come to a decision, which usually turns out to be against U.S. interests.
The United Steelworkers Union has dared to complain about China's cheating practices on alternative energy products such as wind turbines, solar panels and batteries, filing a 5,800-page petition under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974. Google said it might shut down its China-based Internet search engine if Chinese censorship continues.
The Chinese government passes short laws on complex industrial and financial subjects while leaving unlimited discretion to bureaucratic regulators (like the Obama administration). In authentic socialist practice, the regulators can use their discretion to advantage their friends and punish their enemies.
China has a long record of disciplining companies that fail to conform to Chinese regulatory demands. Chinese regulations presume to dictate ordinary managerial decisions of non-Chinese companies such as what equipment may be bought and from whom.
China has a communist government, so the Communist Party is in the driver's seat. China can violate with impunity all international law and trade agreements, slap taxes and regulations on U.S. plants in China, compel U.S. corporations to give their trade secrets and manufacturing know-how to Chinese competitors and force Americans to keep silent about the unfairness of it all.
GE's Immelt was gung-ho for trade with China in 2002. He then told GE managers: "I talk China, China, China, China, China. You need to be there. I am a nut on China." But GE got only half the China market that Immelt was counting on.
In 2010, after GE had handed over technology in everything from rail locomotives to antipollution equipment in order to gain access to the Chinese market, Immelt was singing a different tune: "I really worry about China. I am not sure that in the end they want any of us to win, or any of us to be successful."
After major U.S. corporations, including our biggest technology companies, gave away their most valuable industrial secrets, they are asking themselves: Was it all worthwhile?
Some people foolishly call our relationship with China "free trade." But there is nothing free or fair about it. It is trade war between an aggressively protectionist communist government and a U.S. that is shackled by foolish and out-of-date illusions about free trade.
ALL IMPORTANT ABOUT THE MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbV7h8XL-Og
Unrest in Egypt: Who is the Muslim Brotherhood?
http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?a=njJXL5PNIpIWKeJ&s=feIOKSOwGiKRLUOsFoF&m=chJMK1NFLbJMJ8I
Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood: In Their Own Words
Jonathan D. Halevi - Jereusalem Center for Public Affairs, Vol. 10, No. 27, February 6th, 2011
* The Muslim Brotherhood has taken a greater role in organizing the protest against the Egyptian regime as it unfolds its independent political agenda. Rashad al-Bayumi, the Brotherhood's second-in-command, announced in an interview with Japanese TV that the group would join a transitional government in order to cancel the peace treaty between Egypt and Israel, as it “offends the Arabs' dignity and destroys the interests of Egypt and other Arab states.” He further stressed that Egypt does not need American aid.
* The Muslim Brotherhood does indeed participate in political activity and defend the democratic process. That is not, however, because it has accepted the principles of Western democracy, but rather because the democratic process can be exploited to establish an Islamic regime which will then render democracy unnecessary.
* Muslim Brotherhood Supreme Guide Muhammad Mahdi ‘Akef told the Egyptian daily Al-Karama in 2007 that only Islam was the expression of true democracy. “Islam and its values antedated the West by founding true democracy, exemplified by the Shura [the advisory council under the Caliphs].”
* The Brotherhood's official website notes that jihad is Islam's most important tool in effecting a gradual takeover, beginning with the Muslim countries, moving on to reestablishing the Caliphate over three continents in preparation for a conquest of the West, and finally instituting a global Islamic state.
* The Muslim Brotherhood's step-by-step plan dictates its supposed “moderation,” which will gradually vanish as its achievements increase and its acceptance of the existing situation is replaced by a strict, orthodox Muslim rule whose foreign policy is based on jihad.
Muslim Brotherhood to Join a Transitional Government
The Obama administration is discussing with Egyptian officials a proposal for President Hosni Mubarak to resign immediately and turn over power to a transitional government headed by Vice President Omar Suleiman with the support of the Egyptian military, administration officials and Arab diplomats told the New York Times on February 3. According to the American proposal, the transitional government will include members from a broad range of opposition groups, including the Muslim Brotherhood.
The Muslim Brotherhood, a global movement with Hamas as its Palestinian branch, has taken a greater role in organizing the protest against the Egyptian regime as it unfolds its independent political agenda, defying both the American administration and Israel. Rashad al-Bayumi, the Muslim Brotherhood's second-in-command, announced in an interview with Japanese TV (and cited by al-Hayat) that the group would join a transitional government in order to cancel the peace treaty between Egypt and Israel, as it “offends the Arabs' dignity and destroys the interests of Egypt and other Arab states.” He further explained that his animosity to the American administration stems from its support for Israel, stressing that Egypt does not need American aid.
Democracy Is Islam's Entryway to Power
The Muslim Brotherhood does indeed participate in political activity and defend the democratic process. That is not, however, because it has accepted the principles of Western democracy, but rather because the democratic process can be exploited to establish an Islamic regime which will then render democracy unnecessary, as was made evident by its platform in the 2007 Egyptian parliamentary elections. The organization claimed to be participating in the elections because “the Muslim Brotherhood preaches the path of Allah…[and therefore it is participating] to fulfill Allah's commands in peaceful ways, using existing constitutional institutions and a decision determined by the ballot box.” That is, democracy is Islam's entryway to power.
The Muslim Brotherhood platform also noted that “the rule in [Egypt] must be republican, parliamentary, constitutional and democratic in accordance with the Islamic Sharia,” and that “the Sharia ensures liberty for all.” The organization does not accept the principle of the separation of church and state, and the Islamic rule they aspire to is, for them, a realization of democracy.
Interviewed on September 17, 2007, by the Egyptian daily newspaper Al-Karama, Muslim Brotherhood Supreme Guide Muhammad Mahdi ‘Akef said that the organization's campaign slogan would be: “Sharia is the Solution” and that human rights and democracy would be included under Sharia rule. He devoted his May 12, 2007, weekly missive to an exposition of democracy as seen through Muslim Brotherhood eyes. He said that only Islam, which was given to men by Allah, was the expression of true democracy. He wrote that
Islam preceded…doctrines and ideologies devised by men. The final, absolute message from heaven contains all the values which the secular world claims to have invented….Islam and its values antedated the West by founding true democracy, exemplified by the Shura [the advisory council under the Caliphs] and Islam's respect for the equality of other religions….With regard to liberty, Islam reached a goal which secular preachers have not, for the liberty promised by Islam is genuine in every way, even in faith and religion….As to the claim that Islam does not recognize civil authority, the authority of Islam is democratic…it is genuine liberty, it provides equality in practice and is transparent, it neither oppresses nor robs any man of his rights….It is on that foundation and with those values that the Muslim Brotherhood calls for justice, equality, and liberty.
‘Akef has never equivocated regarding his views on Western democracy. On April 30, 2005, he told the Egyptian daily newspaper Al-Ahram that the Muslim Brotherhood opposed American democracy because it was “corrupt and serves the American agenda….The Muslim Brotherhood has held demonstrations against foreign intervention and against any democracy that serves the Americans….[American] democracy is corrupt because it wants to destroy the [Islamic] nation, its faith and tradition.” He told the BBC that Western democracy was “unrealistic” and “false.”
One of ‘Akef's examples of America's “corrupt values” is the attempt to stop female circumcision in Africa. On July 12, 2007, he wrote that “[the Americans] spend billions of dollars and endlessly plot to change the Muslim way of life, they wage war on Muslim leaders, the traditions of its faith and its ideas. They even wage war against female circumcision, a practice current in 36 countries, which has been prevalent since the time of the Pharaohs.”
The Importance of Jihad
According to the Muslim Brotherhood, jihad, that is, holy war against the infidels, is one of the fundamental elements spread by the Muslim Brotherhood. The organization's ideology, as it appears on its official website, regards “the Prophet Muhammad as its leader and ruler, and jihad as its path.” Jihad has a global strategy beyond self-defense; it is the unceasing attack on every infidel rule, intended to widen the borders of the Islamic state until all mankind lives under the Islamic flag.
Clicking the links “The Goals of the Muslim Brotherhood” and “Muslim Brotherhood Measures” leads to explanations of jihad based on the writings of Muslim Brotherhood founder Hassan al-Banna. Jihad, it is noted, is Islam's most important tool in effecting a gradual takeover, beginning with the Muslim countries, moving on to re-establishing the Caliphate over three continents in preparation for a conquest of the West, and finally instituting a global Islamic state. The organization's website states:
We want a Muslim individual, a Muslim home, a Muslim people, a Muslim government and state that will lead the Islamic countries and bring into the fold the Muslim diaspora and the lands robbed from Islam and will then bear the standard of jihad and the call [da'wah] to Allah. [Then the] world will happily accept the precepts of Islam….The problems of conquering the world will only end when the flag of Islam waves and jihad has been proclaimed.
The goal is to establish one Islamic state of united Islamic countries, one nation under one leadership whose mission will be to reinforce adherence to the law of Allah…and the strengthening of the Islamic presence in the world arena….The goal…is the establishment of a world Islamic state.
And if prayer is a pillar of the faith, then jihad is its summit…and death in the path of Allah is the summit of aspiration.
The Muslim Brotherhood does not hide its global aspirations and the violent path it intends to follow to achieve them. The Brotherhood is meticulous in its step-by-step plan, first to take over the soul of the individual and then the family, people, nation and union of Islamic nations, until the global Islamic state has been realized. The principle of stages dictates the Muslim Brotherhood's supposed “moderation.” However, that “moderation” will gradually vanish as Muslim Brotherhood achievements increase and its acceptance of the existing situation is replaced by a strict, orthodox Muslim rule whose foreign policy is based on jihad.
For the Muslim Brotherhood, jihad is at the center of the struggle against the United States, the West, Israel, and other infidel regimes. The supreme leader of the Muslim Brotherhood regards Islam as waging “a battle of values and identity” against the forces of “imperialism” and the “Anglo-Saxons” attacking the Arab-Muslim world “on the pretext of spreading democracy, defending minority rights, and opposing what they call terrorism.” He advises Muslims to adopt “the culture of resistance against the invasion,” explaining that Allah gave “the occupied, oppressed nations jihad and resistance as a means of achieving freedom.” He added that “the culture of resistance to invasion and occupation have intellectual, military, and economic aspects. Experience in Palestine, Iraq, and Afghanistan have proved that resistance is not imaginary or fictitious or impossible, but rather it is possible when the [Islamic] nation presents a united front and uses its weapons and faith to face an imperialist, whether he comes with arms or inundates us with his ideas, values, or obsolete morality.” Akef's successor, Mohammad Badi', maintains the same platform.
Note
A comprehensive analysis of the Muslim Brotherhood's agenda may be found in Jonathan D. Halevi, “The Muslim Brotherhood: A Moderate Islamic Alternative to al-Qaeda or a Partner in Global Jihad?”
Lt. Col. (ret.) Jonathan D. Halevi is a senior researcher of the Middle East and radical Islam at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs. He is a co-founder of the Orient Research Group Ltd. and is a former advisor to the Policy Planning Division of the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
/////////////////////////////////////////////////
Christians slaughtered in southern Egypt
Ryan Jones - Israel Today, February 6th, 2011
Last week, just days after the demonstrations to reform or overthrow the Egyptian government got underway, Muslims in the south of the country took advantage of the general chaos to break into two homes belonging to local Coptic Christians and butcher every man, woman and child they could find.
The Muslim assailants massacred eleven people and seriously wounded four others. Two whole families were destroyed. According to survivors of the attack who spoke to AINA, the Assyrian International News Agency, the attackers were aided by the Christians’ Muslim neighbors. Killed in the attack were a 15-year-old girl, an 8-year-old boy, a 4-year-old boy and a little girl only three years old.
There is spreading fear that if Egypt falls into the hands of the radical Muslim Brotherhood, godfather of extremist groups across the region, the 10 million Coptic Christians in Egypt will face severe persecution, or worse.
There is already evidence that the Christians of Egypt are in for a very bumpy ride going forward. On Sunday, the Muslim Brotherhood-led opposition agreed to sit down and talk with newly-appointed Vice President Omar Suleiman. The Christians were not invited to the table, despite being part of the original demonstrations demanding reform. AND WHY DO WE REMAIN SILENT?
/////////////MORE ON ISLAMISTS//////
http://www.uc4i.org/news/?p=6337
///////////////////////////////////
Some very savvy writers who know what the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt is
all about, (think Hamas with a bit more guile ) believe it would be an
enormous strategic mistake for the United States to help push President
Mubarak out the door, if what follows him is any government that includes
a major role for the Muslim Brotherhood or a key role for Mohammed El Baradei,
the former nuclear inspector, who assured the world that Iran was doing nothing
anyone should be concerned about, and who by the way, is no fan of Israel.
For his performance in working for" nuclear non-proliferation" (which I
guess means that Iran did not complete its nuclear weapons project on his
watch), he won a Nobel peace prize. An Egyptian government run by the
Muslim Brotherhood would likely try to cancel the 31 year old peace
agreement with Israel, which would increase the prospects for war between
Israel and Egypt, which occurred 4 times between 1948 and `1973, but not
since. A transition to a new government run by the military, with a
gradual opening up of the society, is far preferable to accepting that
El Baradei and the Muslim Brotherhood speak for the people.
Several by Barry Rubin:
The Muslim Brotherhood is not moderate: http://tinyurl.com/6dwvoak
Backing the regime, is not the same as sticking with Mubarak. At age 82,
his days were numbered in any case.
http://tinyurl.com/6zjzfuu
Interview with Rubin: http://tinyurl.com/6ccycja
Andrew McCarthy: http://tinyurl.com/4ljakpd
Ron Radosh: http://tinyurl.com/5uq7rlk
So far, I have not seen a lot of anti-Israel signs among the demonstrators
in Cairo (you see more at pretty much any left wing rally in the U.S). .
Is this the beginning of international food price driven revolutions?
Maybe we should shift even more corn production to ethanol, and drive prices up even faster .
http://tinyurl.com/6h3t2l2
Unrest in Egypt: Who is the Muslim Brotherhood?
http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?a=njJXL5PNIpIWKeJ&s=feIOKSOwGiKRLUOsFoF&m=chJMK1NFLbJMJ8I
Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood: In Their Own Words
Jonathan D. Halevi - Jereusalem Center for Public Affairs, Vol. 10, No. 27, February 6th, 2011
* The Muslim Brotherhood has taken a greater role in organizing the protest against the Egyptian regime as it unfolds its independent political agenda. Rashad al-Bayumi, the Brotherhood's second-in-command, announced in an interview with Japanese TV that the group would join a transitional government in order to cancel the peace treaty between Egypt and Israel, as it “offends the Arabs' dignity and destroys the interests of Egypt and other Arab states.” He further stressed that Egypt does not need American aid.
* The Muslim Brotherhood does indeed participate in political activity and defend the democratic process. That is not, however, because it has accepted the principles of Western democracy, but rather because the democratic process can be exploited to establish an Islamic regime which will then render democracy unnecessary.
* Muslim Brotherhood Supreme Guide Muhammad Mahdi ‘Akef told the Egyptian daily Al-Karama in 2007 that only Islam was the expression of true democracy. “Islam and its values antedated the West by founding true democracy, exemplified by the Shura [the advisory council under the Caliphs].”
* The Brotherhood's official website notes that jihad is Islam's most important tool in effecting a gradual takeover, beginning with the Muslim countries, moving on to reestablishing the Caliphate over three continents in preparation for a conquest of the West, and finally instituting a global Islamic state.
* The Muslim Brotherhood's step-by-step plan dictates its supposed “moderation,” which will gradually vanish as its achievements increase and its acceptance of the existing situation is replaced by a strict, orthodox Muslim rule whose foreign policy is based on jihad.
Muslim Brotherhood to Join a Transitional Government
The Obama administration is discussing with Egyptian officials a proposal for President Hosni Mubarak to resign immediately and turn over power to a transitional government headed by Vice President Omar Suleiman with the support of the Egyptian military, administration officials and Arab diplomats told the New York Times on February 3. According to the American proposal, the transitional government will include members from a broad range of opposition groups, including the Muslim Brotherhood.
The Muslim Brotherhood, a global movement with Hamas as its Palestinian branch, has taken a greater role in organizing the protest against the Egyptian regime as it unfolds its independent political agenda, defying both the American administration and Israel. Rashad al-Bayumi, the Muslim Brotherhood's second-in-command, announced in an interview with Japanese TV (and cited by al-Hayat) that the group would join a transitional government in order to cancel the peace treaty between Egypt and Israel, as it “offends the Arabs' dignity and destroys the interests of Egypt and other Arab states.” He further explained that his animosity to the American administration stems from its support for Israel, stressing that Egypt does not need American aid.
Democracy Is Islam's Entryway to Power
The Muslim Brotherhood does indeed participate in political activity and defend the democratic process. That is not, however, because it has accepted the principles of Western democracy, but rather because the democratic process can be exploited to establish an Islamic regime which will then render democracy unnecessary, as was made evident by its platform in the 2007 Egyptian parliamentary elections. The organization claimed to be participating in the elections because “the Muslim Brotherhood preaches the path of Allah…[and therefore it is participating] to fulfill Allah's commands in peaceful ways, using existing constitutional institutions and a decision determined by the ballot box.” That is, democracy is Islam's entryway to power.
The Muslim Brotherhood platform also noted that “the rule in [Egypt] must be republican, parliamentary, constitutional and democratic in accordance with the Islamic Sharia,” and that “the Sharia ensures liberty for all.” The organization does not accept the principle of the separation of church and state, and the Islamic rule they aspire to is, for them, a realization of democracy.
Interviewed on September 17, 2007, by the Egyptian daily newspaper Al-Karama, Muslim Brotherhood Supreme Guide Muhammad Mahdi ‘Akef said that the organization's campaign slogan would be: “Sharia is the Solution” and that human rights and democracy would be included under Sharia rule. He devoted his May 12, 2007, weekly missive to an exposition of democracy as seen through Muslim Brotherhood eyes. He said that only Islam, which was given to men by Allah, was the expression of true democracy. He wrote that
Islam preceded…doctrines and ideologies devised by men. The final, absolute message from heaven contains all the values which the secular world claims to have invented….Islam and its values antedated the West by founding true democracy, exemplified by the Shura [the advisory council under the Caliphs] and Islam's respect for the equality of other religions….With regard to liberty, Islam reached a goal which secular preachers have not, for the liberty promised by Islam is genuine in every way, even in faith and religion….As to the claim that Islam does not recognize civil authority, the authority of Islam is democratic…it is genuine liberty, it provides equality in practice and is transparent, it neither oppresses nor robs any man of his rights….It is on that foundation and with those values that the Muslim Brotherhood calls for justice, equality, and liberty.
‘Akef has never equivocated regarding his views on Western democracy. On April 30, 2005, he told the Egyptian daily newspaper Al-Ahram that the Muslim Brotherhood opposed American democracy because it was “corrupt and serves the American agenda….The Muslim Brotherhood has held demonstrations against foreign intervention and against any democracy that serves the Americans….[American] democracy is corrupt because it wants to destroy the [Islamic] nation, its faith and tradition.” He told the BBC that Western democracy was “unrealistic” and “false.”
One of ‘Akef's examples of America's “corrupt values” is the attempt to stop female circumcision in Africa. On July 12, 2007, he wrote that “[the Americans] spend billions of dollars and endlessly plot to change the Muslim way of life, they wage war on Muslim leaders, the traditions of its faith and its ideas. They even wage war against female circumcision, a practice current in 36 countries, which has been prevalent since the time of the Pharaohs.”
The Importance of Jihad
According to the Muslim Brotherhood, jihad, that is, holy war against the infidels, is one of the fundamental elements spread by the Muslim Brotherhood. The organization's ideology, as it appears on its official website, regards “the Prophet Muhammad as its leader and ruler, and jihad as its path.” Jihad has a global strategy beyond self-defense; it is the unceasing attack on every infidel rule, intended to widen the borders of the Islamic state until all mankind lives under the Islamic flag.
Clicking the links “The Goals of the Muslim Brotherhood” and “Muslim Brotherhood Measures” leads to explanations of jihad based on the writings of Muslim Brotherhood founder Hassan al-Banna. Jihad, it is noted, is Islam's most important tool in effecting a gradual takeover, beginning with the Muslim countries, moving on to re-establishing the Caliphate over three continents in preparation for a conquest of the West, and finally instituting a global Islamic state. The organization's website states:
We want a Muslim individual, a Muslim home, a Muslim people, a Muslim government and state that will lead the Islamic countries and bring into the fold the Muslim diaspora and the lands robbed from Islam and will then bear the standard of jihad and the call [da'wah] to Allah. [Then the] world will happily accept the precepts of Islam….The problems of conquering the world will only end when the flag of Islam waves and jihad has been proclaimed.
The goal is to establish one Islamic state of united Islamic countries, one nation under one leadership whose mission will be to reinforce adherence to the law of Allah…and the strengthening of the Islamic presence in the world arena….The goal…is the establishment of a world Islamic state.
And if prayer is a pillar of the faith, then jihad is its summit…and death in the path of Allah is the summit of aspiration.
The Muslim Brotherhood does not hide its global aspirations and the violent path it intends to follow to achieve them. The Brotherhood is meticulous in its step-by-step plan, first to take over the soul of the individual and then the family, people, nation and union of Islamic nations, until the global Islamic state has been realized. The principle of stages dictates the Muslim Brotherhood's supposed “moderation.” However, that “moderation” will gradually vanish as Muslim Brotherhood achievements increase and its acceptance of the existing situation is replaced by a strict, orthodox Muslim rule whose foreign policy is based on jihad.
For the Muslim Brotherhood, jihad is at the center of the struggle against the United States, the West, Israel, and other infidel regimes. The supreme leader of the Muslim Brotherhood regards Islam as waging “a battle of values and identity” against the forces of “imperialism” and the “Anglo-Saxons” attacking the Arab-Muslim world “on the pretext of spreading democracy, defending minority rights, and opposing what they call terrorism.” He advises Muslims to adopt “the culture of resistance against the invasion,” explaining that Allah gave “the occupied, oppressed nations jihad and resistance as a means of achieving freedom.” He added that “the culture of resistance to invasion and occupation have intellectual, military, and economic aspects. Experience in Palestine, Iraq, and Afghanistan have proved that resistance is not imaginary or fictitious or impossible, but rather it is possible when the [Islamic] nation presents a united front and uses its weapons and faith to face an imperialist, whether he comes with arms or inundates us with his ideas, values, or obsolete morality.” Akef's successor, Mohammad Badi', maintains the same platform.
Note
A comprehensive analysis of the Muslim Brotherhood's agenda may be found in Jonathan D. Halevi, “The Muslim Brotherhood: A Moderate Islamic Alternative to al-Qaeda or a Partner in Global Jihad?”
Lt. Col. (ret.) Jonathan D. Halevi is a senior researcher of the Middle East and radical Islam at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs. He is a co-founder of the Orient Research Group Ltd. and is a former advisor to the Policy Planning Division of the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
/////////////////////////////////////////////////
Christians slaughtered in southern Egypt
Ryan Jones - Israel Today, February 6th, 2011
Last week, just days after the demonstrations to reform or overthrow the Egyptian government got underway, Muslims in the south of the country took advantage of the general chaos to break into two homes belonging to local Coptic Christians and butcher every man, woman and child they could find.
The Muslim assailants massacred eleven people and seriously wounded four others. Two whole families were destroyed. According to survivors of the attack who spoke to AINA, the Assyrian International News Agency, the attackers were aided by the Christians’ Muslim neighbors. Killed in the attack were a 15-year-old girl, an 8-year-old boy, a 4-year-old boy and a little girl only three years old.
There is spreading fear that if Egypt falls into the hands of the radical Muslim Brotherhood, godfather of extremist groups across the region, the 10 million Coptic Christians in Egypt will face severe persecution, or worse.
There is already evidence that the Christians of Egypt are in for a very bumpy ride going forward. On Sunday, the Muslim Brotherhood-led opposition agreed to sit down and talk with newly-appointed Vice President Omar Suleiman. The Christians were not invited to the table, despite being part of the original demonstrations demanding reform. AND WHY DO WE REMAIN SILENT?
/////////////MORE ON ISLAMISTS//////
http://www.uc4i.org/news/?p=6337
///////////////////////////////////
Some very savvy writers who know what the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt is
all about, (think Hamas with a bit more guile ) believe it would be an
enormous strategic mistake for the United States to help push President
Mubarak out the door, if what follows him is any government that includes
a major role for the Muslim Brotherhood or a key role for Mohammed El Baradei,
the former nuclear inspector, who assured the world that Iran was doing nothing
anyone should be concerned about, and who by the way, is no fan of Israel.
For his performance in working for" nuclear non-proliferation" (which I
guess means that Iran did not complete its nuclear weapons project on his
watch), he won a Nobel peace prize. An Egyptian government run by the
Muslim Brotherhood would likely try to cancel the 31 year old peace
agreement with Israel, which would increase the prospects for war between
Israel and Egypt, which occurred 4 times between 1948 and `1973, but not
since. A transition to a new government run by the military, with a
gradual opening up of the society, is far preferable to accepting that
El Baradei and the Muslim Brotherhood speak for the people.
Several by Barry Rubin:
The Muslim Brotherhood is not moderate: http://tinyurl.com/6dwvoak
Backing the regime, is not the same as sticking with Mubarak. At age 82,
his days were numbered in any case.
http://tinyurl.com/6zjzfuu
Interview with Rubin: http://tinyurl.com/6ccycja
Andrew McCarthy: http://tinyurl.com/4ljakpd
Ron Radosh: http://tinyurl.com/5uq7rlk
So far, I have not seen a lot of anti-Israel signs among the demonstrators
in Cairo (you see more at pretty much any left wing rally in the U.S). .
Is this the beginning of international food price driven revolutions?
Maybe we should shift even more corn production to ethanol, and drive prices up even faster .
http://tinyurl.com/6h3t2l2
Exclusive Video Interview: Egypt & Beyond: What's Next?
http://www.wiesenthal.com/site/pp.asp?c=lsKWLbPJLnF&b=6555125
A Simon Wiesenthal Center Exclusive Interview
Egypt & Beyond: What's Next?
February 9, 2011
In this first in a series of exclusive interviews, watch one of the world's foremost experts on Arab Affairs, Ehud Yaari, give an in-depth look into what is going on in Egypt today, Mubarak's legacy, the transfer of power, the role of the Muslim Brotherhood, next week's potential trouble spots in Iran, Libya, Jordan and more...
*Grainy Video Quality Due to Recording Live Via Skype
Support the Work of the Simon Wiesenthal Center
© Copyright 2011 Simon Wiesenthal Center 1399 South Roxbury, Los Angeles, CA 90035. (310) 553-9036
Your privacy is important to the SWC. Please review SWC's online Privacy Policy.
To prevent mailbox filters from deleting mailings from Simon Wiesenthal Center, add enewsletter@wiesenthal.com to your address book.
A Simon Wiesenthal Center Exclusive Interview
Egypt & Beyond: What's Next?
February 9, 2011
In this first in a series of exclusive interviews, watch one of the world's foremost experts on Arab Affairs, Ehud Yaari, give an in-depth look into what is going on in Egypt today, Mubarak's legacy, the transfer of power, the role of the Muslim Brotherhood, next week's potential trouble spots in Iran, Libya, Jordan and more...
*Grainy Video Quality Due to Recording Live Via Skype
Support the Work of the Simon Wiesenthal Center
© Copyright 2011 Simon Wiesenthal Center 1399 South Roxbury, Los Angeles, CA 90035. (310) 553-9036
Your privacy is important to the SWC. Please review SWC's online Privacy Policy.
To prevent mailbox filters from deleting mailings from Simon Wiesenthal Center, add enewsletter@wiesenthal.com to your address book.
IS "PC" BENEFICIAL FOR AMERICAN SECURITY?
February 02, 2011
Groups slam Islam hearings as modern-day McCarthyism
http://www.politico.com/blogs/glennthrush/0211/Groups_slam_Islam_hearings_as_modernday_
McCarthyism_.html
A band of civil-rights, community and faith groups called Rep. Pete King (R-N.Y.) a modern-day Joe McCarthy in a letter to House leaders, for his plans to single out Muslims during hearings later this month on extremism which will examine the "radicalization of Islam."
In a letter to House Speaker John Boehner and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, the group Muslim Advocates, along with 50 groups that co-signed, demanded that King, the chair of the House Homeland Security committee, tone down his rhetoric and hold "fair and objective" investigations that examine "all forms of violence motivated by extremist beliefs."
"Singling out a group of Americans for government scrutiny based on their faith is divisive and wrong," the groups wrote in the letter. "These hearings will almost certainly increase widespread suspicion and mistrust of the American Muslim community and stoke anti-Muslim sentiment."
If King zeroes in on Muslims, group leaders said in the letter dated Tuesday, he'd be following in the footsteps of figures like former Sen. Joe McCarthy.
"That dark chapter in our history taught us that Congress has a solemn duty to wield its investigatory power responsibly," the letter states.
King, who's pushed terrorism investigations since the Sept. 11 attacks, has pointed to instances of violence by Muslim-Americans as a reason for looking into whether Muslim-Americans have been indoctrinated against the United States. He often cites the 2009 shooting at Fort Hood, Texas, when a Muslim- American Army major shot and killed 13 people and wounded 30 others.
But after the shooting in Arizona last month that left Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) injured and six dead, the ranking Democrat on the panel, Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) called for King to expand his focus. The alleged shooter, Jared Lee Loughner, is not Muslim.
"Attacks are just as likely to come from lone-wolf extremists - like James Wenneker von Brunn, the Holocaust Memorial Museum shooter, or Jared Lee Loughner, who is charged with the tragedy in Tucson, Ariz. - as they are from Muslim extremist groups," he wrote in a Politico op-ed last month.
THE FLAMES OF HATE & DESTRUCTION ARE DOING WELL
http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Columnists/Article.aspx?id=206121
Date: Tuesday, February 1, 2011, 2:35 PM
Unity Coalition for Israel
Editor's Note: Tuesday February 01, 2011
JERUSALEM ONLINE
Your Link to IsraelWatch Jerusalem on Line
Esther Levens
The staff of UCI, invite you to leave a congratulatory message to our Founder and CEO, Esther Levens. Esther, along with her late husband Vrem, are being honored with the Mordechai Award, in recognition of their strong advocacy of the State of Israel, on Sunday, February 13, 2011. For ticket information, please contact Barry Rubin.
Contents: (summaries below)
1. Our World: Clueless in Washington, The Jerusalem Post, Caroline Glick
2. Netanyahu Tries to Play Egyptian Military Card..., DEBKAfile, DEBKA
3. Muslim Brotherhood: Prepare Egyptians for War With Israel, The Jerusalem Post, Yaakov Lappin
4. Jordan's King Fires Cabinet Amid Protests , Associated Press, Jamal Halaby
5. Moscow Airport Bomber Identified From Caucasus, The National, Associated Press
6. Iran Could Have Nuclear Weapon by 2012, Reuters.com, Reuters
7. North Korea Has More secret Nuclear Sites - UN report, BBC News Asia-Pacific, BBC Staff Reporter
Our World: Clueless in Washington
Caroline Glick
The Jerusalem Post, February 01, 2011
Does the US fail to understand what will happen to its strategic interests in the region if the Muslim Brotherhood is the power behind the throne of the next regime?
The Egyptian multitudes on the streets of Cairo are a stunning sight. With their banners calling for freedom and an end to the reign of President Hosni Mubarak the story these images tell is a simple one as old as time.
On the one hand we have the young, dispossessed and weak protesters. And on the other we have the old, corrupt and tyrannical Mubarak...
What has most confounded Israeli officials and commentators alike has not been the strength of the anti-regime protests, but the American response to them. Outside the far Left, commentators from all major newspapers, radio and television stations have variously characterized the US response to events in Egypt as irrational, irresponsible, catastrophic, stupid, blind, treacherous, and terrifying.
They have pointed out that the Obama administration’s behavior – as well as that of many of its prominent conservative critics – is liable to have disastrous consequences for the US’s other authoritarian Arab allies, for Israel and for the US itself.
The question most Israelis are asking is why are the Americans behaving so destructively?...
http://www.uc4i.org/news/?p=6313
Netanyahu Tries to Play Egyptian Military Card...
DEBKA
DEBKAfile, February 01, 2011
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday, Jan 31 he feared Egypt could end up with a radical Islamic regime as in Iran that would "grind human rights to dust" and go against the interests all the peoples of the region share for peace and stability. "Our main care is to preserve the peace," he stressed in his first comment on the Egyptian crisis at a joint conference with visiting German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
The Israeli prime minister's words were widely interpreted as support for President Hosni Murakak, for three decades faithful defender of peace with Israel, rather than a reference to the tidal changes overtaking Egypt and potentially other authoritarian regimes in the Middle East.
He also made the gesture of allowing the first Egyptian 800 troops to enter Sinai since the military since the 1979 peace treaty demilitarized Sinai - as first disclosed by debkafile.
The troops arrived Monday, Jan. 31, to back up Egyptian special police units under attack from Hamas intruders from the Gaza Strip, who were acting on orders from the Muslim Brotherhood in Cairo.
The Israeli prime minister repeated the same old mistake of leaning on the Egyptian military, in the person of the former intelligence minister - now Vice President - Omar Suleiman to sort out the Hamas threat from the Gaza Strip and Sinai.
Equally true to form, Hamas hit back Monday night by shooting two long-range Grad rockets against the towns of Netivot and Ofakim, damaging a building and leaving a number of shock victims.
For helping the dying regime, Hamas' parent, the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, punished Israel from the Gaza Strip...
http://www.uc4i.org/news/?p=6314
Muslim Brotherhood: Prepare Egyptians for War With Israel
Yaakov Lappin
The Jerusalem Post, February 01, 2011
A leading member of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt told the Arabic-language Iranian news network Al-Alam on Monday that he would like to see the Egyptian people prepare for war against Israel, according to the Hebrew-language business newspaper Calcalist.
Muhammad Ghannem reportedly told Al- Alam that the Suez Canal should be closed immediately, and that the flow of gas from Egypt to Israel should cease “in order to bring about the downfall of the Mubarak regime.” He added that “the people should be prepared for war against Israel,” saying the world should understand that “the Egyptian people are prepared for anything to get rid of this regime.”
Ghannem praised Egyptian soldiers deployed by President Hosni Mubarak to Egyptian cities, saying they “would not kill their brothers.” He added that Washington was forced to abandon plans to help Mubarak stay in power after “seeing millions head for the streets.”
http://www.uc4i.org/news/?p=6319
//////////////////////////////////
The Muslim Brotherhood is the Enemy
Posted by Frank Gaffney Jan 30th 2011
http://bigpeace.com/fgaffney/2011/01/30/the-muslim-brotherhood-is-the-enemy/
Suddenly, Washington is consumed with a question too long ignored: Can we safely do business with the Muslim Brotherhood?
The reason this question has taken on such urgency is, of course, because the Muslim Brotherhood (or MB, also known by its Arabic name, the Ikhwan) is poised to emerge as the big winner from the chaos now sweeping North Africa and increasingly likely to bring down the government of the aging Egyptian dictator, Hosni Mubarak.
In the wake of growing turmoil in Egypt, a retinue of pundits, professors and former government officials has publicly insisted that we have nothing to fear from the Ikhwan since it has eschewed violence and embraced democracy.
For example, Bruce Reidel, a controversial former CIA analyst and advisor to President Obama, posted an article entitled “Don’t Fear Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood” at the Daily Beast. In it, he declared: “The Egyptian Brotherhood renounced violence years ago, but its relative moderation has made it the target of extreme vilification by more radical Islamists. Al Qaeda’s leaders, Osama bin Laden and Ayman Zawahiri, started their political lives affiliated with the Brotherhood but both have denounced it for decades as too soft and a cat’s paw of Mubarak and America.”
Then, there was President George W. Bush’s former press spokeswoman, Dana Perino, who went so far on January 28th as to tell Fox News “…And don’t be afraid of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. This has nothing to do with religion.”
One reason we might be misperceiving the MB as no threat is because a prime source of information about such matters is the Muslim Brotherhood itself. As the Center for Security Policy’s new, best-selling Team B II report entitled, Shariah: The Threat to America found: “It is now public knowledge that nearly every major Muslim organization in the United States is actually controlled by the MB or a derivative organization. Consequently, most of the Muslim-American groups of any prominence in America are now known to be, as a matter of fact, hostile to the United States and its Constitution.”
In fact, for much of the past two decades, a number of these groups and their backers (including, notably, Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal) have cultivated extensive ties with U.S. government officials and agencies under successive administrations of both parties, academic centers, financial institutions, religious communities, partisan organizations and the media. As a result, such American entities have been subjected to intense, disciplined and sustained influence operations for decades.
Unfortunately, the relationships thus developed and the misperceptions thus fostered are today bearing poisonous fruit with respect to shaping U.S. policy towards the unfolding Egyptian drama.
A notable example is the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR). A federal judge in the 2008 Holy Land Foundation trial – which successfully prosecuted the nation’s largest terrorism financing conspiracy – found that CAIR was indeed a front for the Ikhwan’s Palestinian affiliate, Hamas. Nonetheless, Fox News earlier today interviewed the Executive Director of CAIR’s Chicago office, Ahmed Rehab, whom it characterized as a “Democracy Activist.”
True to form, Rehab called for the removal of Mubarak’s regime and the institution of democratic elections in Egypt. This is hardly surprising since, under present circumstances, such balloting would likely have the same result it did in Gaza a few years back: the triumph of the Muslim Brotherhood and the institution of brutally repressive theocratic rule, in accordance with the totalitarian Islamic politico-military-legal program known as shariah.
An important antidote to the seductive notions being advanced with respect to the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt – and, for that matter, in Western nations like ours – by the Ikhwan’s own operatives, their useful idiots and apologists is the Team B II report. It should be considered required reading by anyone who hopes to understand, let alone to comment usefully upon, the MB’s real character and agenda.
For example, Shariah: The Threat to America provides several key insights that must be borne in mind in the current circumstances especially:
* “The Muslim Brotherhood was founded in Egypt in 1928. Its express purpose was two-fold: (1) to implement shariah worldwide, and (2) to re-establish the global Islamic State (caliphate).
* “Therefore, Al Qaeda and the MB have the same objectives. They differ only in the timing and tactics involved in realizing them.
* “The Brotherhood’s creed is: ‘God is our objective; the Koran is our law; the Prophet is our leader; jihad is our way; and death for the sake of Allah is the highest of our aspirations.’”
* It is evident from the Creed, and from the Brotherhood’s history (and current activities)…that violence is an inherent part of the MB’s tactics. The MB is the root of the majority of Islamic terrorist groups in the world today.
* The Muslim Brotherhood is the ‘vanguard’ or tip-of-the-spear of the current Islamic Movement in the world. While there are other transnational organizations that share the MB’s goals (if not its tactics) – including al Qaeda, which was born out of the Brotherhood – the Ikhwan is by far the strongest and most organized. The Muslim Brotherhood is now active in over 80 countries around the world.
Of particular concern must be the purpose of the Brotherhood in the United States and other nations of the Free World:
* “…The Ikhwan’s mission in the West is sedition in the furtherance of shariah’s supremacist agenda, not peaceful assimilation and co-existence with non-Muslim populations.”
* “The Ikhwan believes that its purposes in the West are, for the moment, better advanced by the use of non-violent, stealthy techniques. In that connection, the Muslim Brotherhood seeks to establish relations with, influence and, wherever possible, penetrate: government circles in executive and legislative branches at the federal, state and local levels; the law enforcement community; intelligence agencies; the military; penal institutions; the media; think tanks and policy groups; academic institutions; non-Muslim religious communities; and other elites.
* “The Brothers engage in all of these activities and more for one reason: to subvert the targeted communities in furtherance of the MB’s primary objective – the triumph of shariah.”
In short, the Muslim Brotherhood – whether it is operating in Egypt, elsewhere in the world or here – is our enemy. Vital U.S. interests will be at risk if it succeeds in supplanting the present regime in Cairo, taking control in the process not only of the Arab world’s most populous nation but its vast, American-supplied arsenal. It is no less reckless to allow the Brotherhood’s operatives to enjoy continued access to and influence over our perceptions of their true purposes, and the policies adopted pursuant thereto.
Jordan's King Fires Cabinet Amid Protests
Jamal Halaby
Associated Press, February 01, 2011
AMMAN Jordan (AP) -- Jordan's King Abdullah II fired his government Tuesday in the wake of street protests and asked an ex-prime minister to form a new Cabinet, ordering him to launch immediate political reforms.
The dismissal follows several large protests across Jordan- inspired by similar demonstrations in Tunisia and Egypt - calling for the resignation of Prime Minister Samir Rifai, who is blamed for a rise in fuel and food prices and d political reforms...
When he ascended to the throne in 1999, King Abdullah vowed to press ahead with political reforms initiated by his late father, King Hussein. Those reforms paved the way for the first parliamentary election in 1989 after a 22-year gap, the revival of a multiparty system and the suspension of martial law in effect since the 1948 Arab-Israeli war.
But little has been done since. Although laws were enacted to ensure greater press freedom, journalists are still prosecuted for expressing their opinion or for comments considered slanderous of the king and the royal family.
Some gains been made in women's rights, but many say they have not gone far enough. Abdullah has pressed for stiffer penalties for perpetrators of "honor killings," but courts often hand down lenient sentences.
Still, Jordan's human rights record is generally considered a notch above that of Tunisia and Egypt. Although some critics of the king are prosecuted, they frequently are pardoned and some are even rewarded with government posts...
http://www.uc4i.org/news/?p=6318
Moscow Airport Bomber Identified From Caucasus
Associated Press
The National, January 30, 2011
MOSCOW // The suicide bomber who killed 35 people and wounded 180 at Moscow's largest airport was a 20-year-old man from the volatile southern Caucasus region, Russian investigators said Saturday.
Breaking a five-day silence over the investigation, federal investigators also said foreigners were deliberately targeted, marking an ominous new tactic in Russia's losing battle with extremism.
Islamist rebels from the Caucasus, a group of mountainous Russian provinces that are beset with an entrenched separatist insurgency, had been widely suspected in the attack at Domodedovo Airport.
Saturday's statement from federal investigators confirmed a suicide blast involving a bomb containing shrapnel. While authorities say they know the identity of the perpetrator, they suggested they still don't know who masterminded the attacks.
"Despite the fact that we know the name of the terrorist, we won't name him today ... since investigative searches are ongoing to identify and detain the organisers and accomplices of the terrorist act," the statement said....
The violence stemming from the predominantly Muslim Caucasus region originates from two bloody separatist wars in Chechnya in the past 15 years. Federal forces wiped out the large-scale resistance, driving the insurgency into the mountains and into neighbouring provinces. The rebels seek an independent Caucasus emirate that adheres to Shariah law....
http://www.uc4i.org/news/?p=6317
Iran Could Have Nuclear Weapon by 2012
Reuters
Reuters.com, January 31, 2011
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad gestures while speaking in Rasht, 323 km (200 miles) northwest of Tehran January 23, 2011. REUTERS/President.ir/HandoutLONDON (Reuters) - Western powers should work on the assumption that Iran could have a nuclear weapon by next year and an Israeli intelligence assessment of 2015 could be over-optimistic, British Defence Secretary Liam Fox said on Monday.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad gestures while speaking in Rasht, 323 km (200 miles) northwest of Tehran January 23, 2011.
Credit: Reuters/President.ir/Handout
But Fox, answering questions in parliament, said Dagan was "wrong to insinuate that we should always look at the more optimistic end of the spectrum" of estimates of Iran's nuclear capability.
"We know from previous experience, not least what happened in North Korea, that the international community can be caught out assuming that things are more rosy than they actually are," he said.
He did not say whether his statement was based on any intelligence assessment available to Britain, a close U.S. ally and one of six powers that made no progress in talks with Iran this month on its nuclear programme."
We should therefore be very clear that it is entirely possible that Iran may be on the 2012 end of that spectrum and act in accordance with that warning," he said...
http://www.uc4i.org/news/?p=6315
North Korea Has More secret Nuclear Sites - UN report
BBC Staff Reporter
BBC News Asia-Pacific, January 31, 2011
Yongbyon nuclear site
UN experts believe North Korea has at least one hidden nuclear site, according to leaks of a UN report.
The report relies on evidence from US scientist Siegfried Hecker who visited a secret site in November last year.
He told the UN's panel of experts that the centrifuges he saw probably came from other hidden facilities, say reports quoting unnamed diplomats.
The panel's report, which has not yet been published, was handed to the Security Council last week.
North Korean officials showed Mr Hecker, from Stanford University, an apparently fully functional uranium enrichment plant at the Yongbyon complex in November...
http://www.uc4i.org/news/?p=6316
Please support Today's News Summaries, our URGENT ACTION ALERTS, MEDIA ALERTS, and other projects with your tax-deductible donation.
We encourage you to forward our newsletters to your friends and other interested individuals and organizations/
by voices@israelunitycoalition.org
WHO IS INTERESTED IN ADVOCACY FOR THE PA?
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/141876
Published: 01/22/11, 11:22 PM / Last Update: 01/22/11, 11:14 PM
PA Continues to Glorify Arch-Terrorist Who Killed 13 Children
by David Lev
The Palestinian Authority continues to incite against Israel, using its media to broadcast calls for Israel's destruction, anti-Semitic “historical documentaries,” and glorifications of terrorists who succeeded in killing Jews. In that latter category is the ongoing promotion of Dalal Mughrabi, the female terrorist who was leader of the gang of terrorists that carried out the worst attack in Israel's history. In 1978, Dalal and a group of terrorists sailed from Lebanon to Israel and hijacked a bus on the Coastal Road, killing 37 Israelis. That act has gone down in PA history as one of the most significant in its war against Israel.
In just the past year, Palestinian Media Watch has documented dozens of reports in the PA media describing ways the Authority has glorified this arch-terrorist. Public squares, summer camps, school buildings and streets have been named for Mughrabi, and in the latest round of praise for this “martyr,” the PA, in honor of the 45th anniversary of Fatah's establishment, has produced two music videos showing her “heroism” in murdering Jews.
The videos, which have been broadcast on PA TV, were monitored by PMW, which translated them. In one of the videos, well-known PA singers praise the terrorists as "heroes... who shook the land, brought down mountains," and how "the coast was stormy with the glory of Dalal Mughrabi." The other video describes Mughrabi and her gang as having "no fear of death or the darkness of prison." Both videos show a reenactment of the massacre, with actors sailing in rubber boats, going ashore on a beach.
On March 11, 1978, after landing in Israel south of Haifa, the gang proceeded to the Coastal Road, stopping on the way to kill Gail Rubin, an American Jewish photographer who was taking photos of the sea. When they reached the highway, they opened fire on several vehicles, eventually stopping and boarding a bus. They directed the driver to continue and stopped the bus, hijacking a second one and moving the hostages from the first bus to the second one. IDF troops eventually stopped the bus and a long shooting battle ensued. Eventually the terrorists blew up the bus, killing 37 people, including 13 children, and injuring 72. Three days later, Israel began Operation Litani, the first military operation conducted by Israel against PLO terrorists in south Lebanon.
In one of the videos, singers recite “we [PLO squad] set out on patrol from Lebanon; with no fear of death or the darkness of prison.On the coast [Dalal] Mughrabi's blood was shed, the color of [red] coral on [white] lemon flowers.” In the other, the singers say “the coast was stormy with the glory of Dalal Mughrabi.On the [Israeli] coast the heroes landed, who shook the land, brought down mountains.Dalal declared the birth of the [Palestinian] Republic, the birth of the Republic.”
(IsraelNationalNews.com)
Related Links:
* ►ISA Head Diskin: Some Jerusalem Arab Areas Are De Facto PA
* ►PA Promises of Peace, Reality of Hate
* ►PA Incitement against Israel On the Rise
* ►PA Teaches Children to Fight, Not Learn
* //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////The following is an excerpt of a Marwan Barghouti's document:
Marwan Barghouti: "I address special greetings to the great Palestinian nation, initiator of revolutions and Intifadas, with a legendary history of resolve facing the worst and most abominable enemy known to humanity and modern history; the enemy which does not refrain from carrying out massacres, continuing aggression, theft of land, establishment of settlements and expanding them, and to Judaize Jerusalem - the city of cities and the jewel in the crown of the [Arab] nation - and continues with a policy of detention against the members of a defenseless people. I take this opportunity to emphasize once again what we have always said: Israel and its various governments have never made a strategic decision about peace, and the wait to achieve national independence with the approval of the Israeli government is nothing but an illusion. The national independence of nations is seized, through sacrifice, resistance, resolve, and struggle. National independence is seized; one does not wait for it. The gamble on the US will be of no benefit, because it [the US] is not the patron of peace, but rather the patron of the Israeli occupation, aggression, and settlement. In order for our people to be able to seize our national rights, the first step must be an end to the destructive, shameful and wretched split [between Fatah and Hamas]... We must continue on the path of resistance, and act for further achievements and recognition for the establishment of the state. We must continue to act to isolate Israel further on the international, official, and popular level, and on all levels and in all spheres, as well as continuing the campaign to boycott all Israeli goods, not limiting it to settlement goods exclusively."
[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Jan. 24, 2011]
Published: 01/22/11, 11:22 PM / Last Update: 01/22/11, 11:14 PM
PA Continues to Glorify Arch-Terrorist Who Killed 13 Children
by David Lev
The Palestinian Authority continues to incite against Israel, using its media to broadcast calls for Israel's destruction, anti-Semitic “historical documentaries,” and glorifications of terrorists who succeeded in killing Jews. In that latter category is the ongoing promotion of Dalal Mughrabi, the female terrorist who was leader of the gang of terrorists that carried out the worst attack in Israel's history. In 1978, Dalal and a group of terrorists sailed from Lebanon to Israel and hijacked a bus on the Coastal Road, killing 37 Israelis. That act has gone down in PA history as one of the most significant in its war against Israel.
In just the past year, Palestinian Media Watch has documented dozens of reports in the PA media describing ways the Authority has glorified this arch-terrorist. Public squares, summer camps, school buildings and streets have been named for Mughrabi, and in the latest round of praise for this “martyr,” the PA, in honor of the 45th anniversary of Fatah's establishment, has produced two music videos showing her “heroism” in murdering Jews.
The videos, which have been broadcast on PA TV, were monitored by PMW, which translated them. In one of the videos, well-known PA singers praise the terrorists as "heroes... who shook the land, brought down mountains," and how "the coast was stormy with the glory of Dalal Mughrabi." The other video describes Mughrabi and her gang as having "no fear of death or the darkness of prison." Both videos show a reenactment of the massacre, with actors sailing in rubber boats, going ashore on a beach.
On March 11, 1978, after landing in Israel south of Haifa, the gang proceeded to the Coastal Road, stopping on the way to kill Gail Rubin, an American Jewish photographer who was taking photos of the sea. When they reached the highway, they opened fire on several vehicles, eventually stopping and boarding a bus. They directed the driver to continue and stopped the bus, hijacking a second one and moving the hostages from the first bus to the second one. IDF troops eventually stopped the bus and a long shooting battle ensued. Eventually the terrorists blew up the bus, killing 37 people, including 13 children, and injuring 72. Three days later, Israel began Operation Litani, the first military operation conducted by Israel against PLO terrorists in south Lebanon.
In one of the videos, singers recite “we [PLO squad] set out on patrol from Lebanon; with no fear of death or the darkness of prison.On the coast [Dalal] Mughrabi's blood was shed, the color of [red] coral on [white] lemon flowers.” In the other, the singers say “the coast was stormy with the glory of Dalal Mughrabi.On the [Israeli] coast the heroes landed, who shook the land, brought down mountains.Dalal declared the birth of the [Palestinian] Republic, the birth of the Republic.”
(IsraelNationalNews.com)
Related Links:
* ►ISA Head Diskin: Some Jerusalem Arab Areas Are De Facto PA
* ►PA Promises of Peace, Reality of Hate
* ►PA Incitement against Israel On the Rise
* ►PA Teaches Children to Fight, Not Learn
* //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////The following is an excerpt of a Marwan Barghouti's document:
Marwan Barghouti: "I address special greetings to the great Palestinian nation, initiator of revolutions and Intifadas, with a legendary history of resolve facing the worst and most abominable enemy known to humanity and modern history; the enemy which does not refrain from carrying out massacres, continuing aggression, theft of land, establishment of settlements and expanding them, and to Judaize Jerusalem - the city of cities and the jewel in the crown of the [Arab] nation - and continues with a policy of detention against the members of a defenseless people. I take this opportunity to emphasize once again what we have always said: Israel and its various governments have never made a strategic decision about peace, and the wait to achieve national independence with the approval of the Israeli government is nothing but an illusion. The national independence of nations is seized, through sacrifice, resistance, resolve, and struggle. National independence is seized; one does not wait for it. The gamble on the US will be of no benefit, because it [the US] is not the patron of peace, but rather the patron of the Israeli occupation, aggression, and settlement. In order for our people to be able to seize our national rights, the first step must be an end to the destructive, shameful and wretched split [between Fatah and Hamas]... We must continue on the path of resistance, and act for further achievements and recognition for the establishment of the state. We must continue to act to isolate Israel further on the international, official, and popular level, and on all levels and in all spheres, as well as continuing the campaign to boycott all Israeli goods, not limiting it to settlement goods exclusively."
[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Jan. 24, 2011]
A SUPERB SERMON
Subject: powerful, frightening and well expressed
VERY VERY LONG BUT IT IS A MUST READ... WE ARE SLEEPING AND WE MUST WAKE UP....
This sermon, delivered by Rabbi Lewis a couple of weeks ago is exceptional - prophetic -- insightful. It's well worth reading.
First Day of Rosh Hashanah 2010
Sermon delivered by Rabbi Schlomo Lewis of Atlanta
I thought long and I thought hard on whether to deliver the sermon I am about to share. We all wish to bounce happily out of shul on the High Holidays, filled with warm fuzzies, ready to gobble up our brisket, our honey cakes and our kugel. We want to be shaken and stirred – but not too much. We want to be guilt-schlepped – but not too much. We want to be provoked but not too much. We want to be transformed but not too much.
I get it, but as a rabbi I have a compelling obligation, a responsibility to
articulate what is in my heart and what I passionately believe must be said
and must be heard. And so, I am guided not by what is easy to say but by
what is painful to express. I am guided not by the frivolous but by the
serious. I am guided not by delicacy but by urgency.
We are at war. We are at war with an enemy as savage, as voracious, as
heartless as the Nazis but one wouldn’t know it from our behavior. During
WWII we didn’t refer to storm troopers as freedom fighters. We didn’t call
the Gestapo, militants. We didn’t see the attacks on our Merchant Marine
as acts by rogue sailors. We did not justify the Nazis rise to power as our
fault. We did not grovel before the Nazis, thumping our hearts and
confessing to abusing and mistreating and humiliating the German people.
We did not apologize for Dresden, nor for The Battle of the Bulge, nor for El
Alamein, nor for D-Day.
Evil – ultimate, irreconcilable, evil threatened us and Roosevelt and Churchill had moral clarity and an exquisite understanding of what was at stake. It was not just the Sudetenland, not just Tubruk, not just Vienna, not just Casablanca. It was the entire planet. Read history and be shocked at how frighteningly close Hitler came to creating a Pax Germana on every continent.
Not all Germans were Nazis – most were decent, most were revolted by the Third Reich, most were good citizens hoisting a beer, earning a living and tucking in their children at night. But, too many looked away, too many cried out in lame defense – I didn’t know.” Too many were silent. Guilt absolutely falls upon those who committed the atrocities, but responsibility and guilt falls upon those who did nothing as well. Fault was not just with the goose steppers but with those who pulled the curtains shut, said and did nothing.
In WWII we won because we got it. We understood who the enemy was and we knew that the end had to be unconditional and absolute. We did not stumble around worrying about offending the Nazis. We did not measure every word so as not to upset our foe. We built planes and tanks and battleships and went to war to win….. to rid the world of malevolence.
We are at war… yet too many stubbornly and foolishly don’t put the pieces together and refuse to identify the evil doers. We are circumspect and disgracefully politically correct.
Let me mince no words in saying that from Fort Hood to Bali, from Times Square to London, from Madrid to Mumbai, from 9/11 to Gaza, the murderers, the barbarians are radical Islamists.
To camouflage their identity is sedition. To excuse their deeds is contemptible. To mask their intentions is unconscionable.
A few years ago I visited Lithuania on a Jewish genealogical tour. It was a stunning journey and a very personal, spiritual pilgrimage. When we visited Kovno we davened Maariv at the only remaining shul in the city. Before the war there were thirty-seven shuls for 38,000 Jews. Now only one, a shrinking, gray congregation. We made minyon for the handful of aged worshippers in the Choral Synagogue, a once majestic, jewel in Kovno.
After my return home I visited Cherry Hill for Shabbos. At the oneg an elderly family friend, Joe Magun, came over to me.
“Shalom,” he said. “Your abba told me you just came back from Lithuania.”
“Yes,” I replied. “It was quite a powerful experience.” “Did you visit the Choral Synagogue in Kovno? The one with the big arch in the courtyard?”
“Yes, I did. In fact, we helped them make minyon.” His eyes opened wide in joy at our shared memory. For a moment he gazed into the distance and then, he returned. “Shalom, I grew up only a few feet away from the arch. The Choral Synagogue was where I davened as a child.”
He paused for a moment and once again was lost in the past. His smile faded. Pain filled his wrinkled face. “I remember one Shabbos in 1938 when Vladimir Jabotinsky came to the shul” (Jabotinsky was Menachim Begin’s mentor – he was a fiery orator, an unflinching Zionist radical, whose politics were to the far right.) Joe continued “When Jabotinsky came, he
delivered the drash on Shabbos morning and I can still hear his words burning in my ears. He climbed up to the shtender, stared at us from the bima, glared at us with eyes full of fire and cried out. ‘EHR KUMT. YIDN FARLAWST AYER SHTETL – He’s coming. Jews abandon your city.’ ”
We thought we were safe in Lithuania from the Nazis, from Hitler. We had lived there, thrived for a thousand years but Jabotinsky was right -- his warning prophetic. We got out but most did not.”
We are not in Lithuania. It is not the 1930s. There is no Luftwaffe overhead. No U-boats off the coast of long Island. No Panzer divisions on our borders. But make no mistake; we are under attack – our values, our tolerance, our freedom, our virtue, our land.
Now before some folks roll their eyes and glance at their watches let me state emphatically, unmistakably – I have no pathology of hate, nor am I a manic Paul Revere, galloping through the countryside. I am not a pessimist, nor prone to panic attacks. I am a lover of humanity, all humanity. Whether they worship in a synagogue, a church, a mosque, a temple or don’t worship at all. I have no bone of bigotry in my body, but what I do have is hatred for those who hate, intolerance for those who are intolerant, and a guiltless, unstoppable obsession to see evil eradicated.
Today the enemy is radical Islam but it must be said sadly and reluctantly that there are unwitting, co-conspirators who strengthen the hands of the evil doers. Let me state that the overwhelming number of Muslims are good Muslims, fine human beings who want nothing more than a Jeep Cherokee in their driveway, a flat screen TV on their wall and a good education for their children, but these good Muslims have an obligation to destiny, to decency that thus far for the most part they have avoided. The Kulturkampf is not only external but internal as well. The good Muslims must sponsor rallies in Times Square, in Trafalgar Square, in the UN Plaza, on the Champs Elysee, in Mecca condemning terrorism, denouncing unequivocally the
slaughter of the innocent. Thus far, they have not. The good Muslims must place ads in the NY Times. They must buy time on network TV, on cable stations, in the Jerusalem Post, in Le Monde, in Al Watan, on Al Jazeena condemning terrorism, denouncing unequivocally the slaughter of the innocent – thus far, they have not. Their silence allows the vicious to tarnish
Islam and define it.
Brutal acts of commission and yawning acts of omission both strengthen the hand of the devil.
I recall a conversation with my father shortly before he died that helped me understand how perilous and how broken is our world; that we are living on the narrow seam of civilization and moral oblivion. Knowing he had little time left he shared the following – “Shal. I am ready to leave this earth. Sure I’d like to live a little longer, see a few more sunrises, but truthfully, I’ve had it. I’m done. Finished. I hope the Good Lord takes me soon because I am unable to live in this world knowing what it has become.”
This startling admission of moral exhaustion from a man who witnessed and lived through the Depression, the Holocaust, WWII, Communist triumphalism, McCarthyism, Strontium 90 and polio. – Yet his twilight observation was – “The worst is yet to come.” And he wanted out.
I share my father’s angst and fear that too many do not see the authentic, existential threat we face nor confront the source of our peril. We must wake up and smell the hookah.
“Lighten up, Lewis. Take a chill pill, some of you are quietly thinking. You’re sounding like Glen Beck. It’s not that bad. It’s not that real.”
But I am here to tell you – “It is.” Ask the member of our shul whose sister was vaporized in the Twin Towers and identified finally by her charred teeth, if this is real or not. Ask the members of our shul who fled a bus in downtown Paris, fearing for their safety from a gang of Muslim thugs, if this is an exaggeration. Ask the member of our shul whose son tracks Arab terrorist infiltrators who target – pizza parlors, nursery schools, Pesach seders, city buses and play grounds, if this is dramatic, paranoid hyperbole.
Ask them, ask all of them – ask the American GI’s we sit next to on planes
who are here for a brief respite while we fly off on our Delta vacation package. Ask them if it’s bad. Ask them if it’s real.
Did anyone imagine in the 1920’s what Europe would look like in the 1940’s.
Did anyone presume to know in the coffee houses of Berlin or in the opera halls of Vienna that genocide would soon become the celebrated culture?
Did anyone think that a goofy-looking painter named Shickelgruber would go from the beer halls of Munich and jail, to the Reichstag as Feuhrer in less than a decade? Did Jews pack their bags and leave Warsaw, Vilna, Athens, Paris, Bialystok, Minsk, knowing that soon their new address would be Treblinka, Sobibor, Dachau and Auschwitz?
The sages teach – “Aizehu chacham – haroeh et hanolad – Who is a wise person – he who sees into the future.” We dare not wallow in complacency, in a misguided tolerance and naïve sense of security.
We must be diligent students of history and not sit in ash cloth at the waters of Babylon weeping. We cannot be hypnotized by eloquent-sounding rhetoric that soothes our heart but endangers our soul. We cannot be lulled into inaction for fear of offending the offenders. Radical Islam is the scourge and this must be cried out from every mountain top. From sea to shining sea, we must stand tall, prideful of our stunning decency and moral resilience. Immediately after 9/11 how many mosques were destroyed in America? None. After 9/11, how many Muslims were killed in America? None. After 9/11, how many anti-Muslim rallies were held in America? None. And yet, we apologize. We grovel. We beg forgiveness.
The mystifying litany of our foolishness continues. Should there be a shul in Hebron on the site where Baruch Goldstein gunned down twenty-seven Arabs at noonday prayers? Should there be a museum praising the U.S. Calvary on the site of Wounded Knee? Should there be a German cultural center in Auschwitz? Should a church be built in the Syrian town of Ma’arra where Crusaders slaughtered over 100,000 Muslims? Should there be a thirteen story mosque and Islamic Center only a few steps from Ground Zero?
Despite all the rhetoric, the essence of the matter can be distilled quite easily. The Muslim community has the absolute, constitutional right to build their building wherever they wish. I don’t buy the argument – “When we can build a church or a synagogue in Mecca they can build a mosque here.” America is greater than Saudi Arabia. And New York is greater than Mecca. Democracy and freedom must prevail.
Can they build? Certainly. May they build? Certainly. But should they build at that site? No -- but that decision must come from them, not from us. Sensitivity, compassion cannot be measured in feet or yards or in blocks. One either feels the pain of others and cares, or does not.
If those behind this project are good, peace-loving, sincere, tolerant Muslims, as they claim, then they should know better, rip up the zoning permits and build elsewhere.
Believe it or not, I am a dues-paying, card carrying member of the ACLU, yet from start of finish, I find this sorry episode disturbing to say the least.
William Burroughs, the novelist and poet, in a wry moment wrote – “After one look at this planet, any visitor from outer space would say – “I want to see the manager.”
Let us understand that the radical Islamist assaults all over the globe are but skirmishes, fire fights, and vicious decoys. Christ and the anti-Christ. Gog U’Magog. The Sons of Light and the Sons of Darkness; the bloody collision between civilization and depravity is on the border between Lebanon and Israel. It is on the Gaza Coast and in the Judean Hills of the West Bank. It is on the sandy beaches of Tel Aviv and on the cobblestoned mall of Ben Yehuda Street. It is in the underground schools of Sderot and on the bullet-proofed inner-city buses. It is in every school yard, hospital, nursery, classroom, park, theater – in every place of innocence and purity.
Israel is the laboratory – the test market. Every death, every explosion, every grisly encounter is not a random, bloody orgy. It is a calculated, strategic probe into the heart, guts and soul of the West.
In the Six Day War, Israel was the proxy of Western values and strategy while the Arab alliance was the proxy of Eastern, Soviet values and strategy. Today too, it is a confrontation of proxies, but the stakes are greater than East Jerusalem and the West Bank. Israel in her struggle represents the civilized world, while Hamas, Hezbollah, Al Queda, Iran, Islamic Jihad, represent the world of psychopathic, loathesome evil.
As Israel, imperfect as she is, resists the onslaught, many in the Western World have lost their way displaying not admiration, not sympathy, not understanding, for Israel’s galling plight, but downright hostility and contempt. Without moral clarity, we are doomed because Israel’s galling
plight ultimately will be ours. Hanna Arendt in her classic Origins of Totalitarianism accurately portrays the first target of tyranny as the Jew.
We are the trial balloon. The canary in the coal mine. If the Jew/Israel is permitted to bleed with nary a protest from “good guys” then tyranny snickers and pushes forward with its agenda.
Moral confusion is a deadly weakness and it has reached epic proportions in the West; from the Oval Office to the UN, from the BBC to Reuters to MSNBC, from the New York Times to Le Monde, from university campuses to British teachers unions, from the International Red Cross to Amnesty International, from Goldstone to Elvis Costello, from the Presbyterian Church to the Archbishop of Canterbury.
There is a message sent and consequences when our president visits Turkey and Egypt and Saudi Arabia, and not Israel.
There is a message sent and consequences when free speech on campus is only for those championing Palestinian rights.
There is a message sent and consequences when the media deliberately doctors and edits film clips to demonize Israel.
There is a message sent and consequences when the UN blasts Israel relentlessly, effectively ignoring Iran, Sudan, Venezuela, North Korea, China and other noxious states.
There is a message sent and consequences when liberal churches are motivated by Liberation Theology, not historical accuracy.
There is a message sent and consequences when murderers and terrorists are defended by the obscenely transparent “one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter.”
John Milton warned, “Hypocrisy is the only evil that walks invisible.”
A few days after the Gaza blockade incident in the spring, a congregant happened past my office, glanced in and asked in a friendly tone – “Rabbi. How’re y’ doing?”
I looked up, sort of smiled and replied – “I’ve had better days.”
“What’s the matter? Is there anything I can do to cheer you up?” he inquired.
“Thank you for the offer but I’m just bummed out today and I showed him a newspaper article I was reading.
“Madrid gay pride parade bans Israeli group over Gaza Ship Raid.” I explained to my visitor – “The Israeli gay pride contingent from Tel Aviv was not allowed to participate in the Spanish gay pride parade because the mayor of Tel Aviv did not apologize for the raid by the Israeli military.”
The only country in the entire Middle East where gay rights exist, is Israel. The only country in the entire Middle East where there is a gay pride parade, is Israel. The only country in the Middle East that has gay neighborhoods and gay bars, is Israel.
Gays in the Gaza would be strung up, executed by Hamas if they came out and yet Israel is vilified and ostracized. Disinvited to the parade.
Looking for logic?
Looking for reason?
Looking for sanity?
Kafka on his darkest, gloomiest day could not keep up with this bizarre spectacle and we “useful idiots” pander and fawn over cutthroats, sinking deeper and deeper into moral decay, as the enemy laughs all the way to the West Bank and beyond.
It is exhausting and dispiriting. We live in an age that is redefining righteousness where those with moral clarity are an endangered, beleaguered specie.
Isaiah warned us thousands of years ago – “Oye Lehem Sheh-Korim Layome, Laila v’Laila, yome – Woe to them who call the day, night and the night, day.” We live on a planet that is both Chelm and Sodom. It is a frightening and maddening place to be.
How do we convince the world and many of our own, that this is not just anti-Semitism, that this is not just anti-Zionism but a full throttled attack by unholy, radical Islamists on everything that is morally precious to us?
How do we convince the world and many of our own that conciliation is not an option, that compromise is not a choice?
Everything we are. Everything we believe. Everything we treasure, is at risk.
The threat is so unbelievably clear and the enemy so unbelievably ruthless how anyone in their right mind doesn’t get it is baffling. Let’s try an analogy. If someone contracted a life-threatening infection and we not only scolded them for using antibiotics but insisted that the bacteria had a right to infect their body and that perhaps, if we gave the invading infection an arm and a few toes, the bacteria would be satisfied and stop spreading.
Anyone buy that medical advice? Well, folks, that’s our approach to the radical Islamist bacteria. It is amoral, has no conscience and will spread unless it is eradicated. – There is no negotiating. Appeasement is death.
I was no great fan of George Bush – didn’t vote for him. (By the way, I’m still a registered Democrat.) I disagreed with many of his policies but one thing he had right. His moral clarity was flawless when it came to the War on Terror, the War on Radical Islamist Terror. There was no middle ground – either you were friend or foe. There was no place in Bush’s world for a
Switzerland. He knew that this competition was not Toyota against G.M., not the Iphone against the Droid, not the Braves against the Phillies, but a deadly serious war, winner take all. Blink and you lose. Underestimate, and you get crushed.
I know that there are those sitting here today who have turned me off. But I also know that many turned off their rabbis seventy five years ago in Warsaw, Riga, Berlin, Amsterdam, Cracow, Vilna. I get no satisfaction from that knowledge, only a bitter sense that there is nothing new under the sun.
Enough rhetoric – how about a little “show and tell?” A few weeks ago on the cover of Time magazine was a horrific picture with a horrific story. The photo was of an eighteen year old Afghani woman, Bibi Aisha, who fled her abusive husband and his abusive family. Days later the Taliban found her and dragged her to a mountain clearing where she was found guilty of
violating Sharia Law. Her punishment was immediate. She was pinned to the ground by four men while her husband sliced off her ears, and then he cut off her nose.
That is the enemy (show enlarged copy of magazine cover.)
If nothing else stirs us. If nothing else convinces us, let Bibi Aisha’s mutilated face be the face of Islamic radicalism. Let her face shake up even the most complacent and naïve among us. In the holy crusade against this ultimate evil, pictures of Bibi Aisha’s disfigurement should be displayed on billboards, along every highway from Route 66 to the Autobahn, to the Transarabian Highway. Her picture should be posted on every lobby wall from Tokyo to Stockholm to Rio. On every network, at every commercial break, Bibi Aisha’s face should appear with the caption – “Radical Islamic savages did this.” And underneath – “This ad was approved by Hamas, by Hezbollah, by Taliban, by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, by Islamic Jihad, by Fatah al Islam, by Magar Nodal Hassan, by Richard Reid, by Ahmanijad, by Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman, by Osama bin Laden, by Edward Said, by The Muslim Brotherhood, by Al Queda, by CAIR.”
“The moral sentiment is the drop that balances the sea” said Ralph Waldo Emerson. Today, my friends, the sea is woefully out of balance and we could easily drown in our moral myopia and worship of political correctness.
We peer up into the heavens sending probes to distant galaxies. We peer down into quarks discovering particles that would astonish Einstein. We create computers that rival the mind, technologies that surpass science fiction. What we imagine, with astounding rapidity, becomes real. If we dream it, it does, indeed, come. And yet, we are at a critical point in the history of this planet that could send us back into the cave, to a culture that would make the Neanderthal blush with shame.
Our parents and grandparents saw the swastika and recoiled, understood the threat and destroyed the Nazis. We see the banner of Radical Islam and can do no less.
A rabbi was once asked by his students….
“Rebbi. Why are your sermons so stern?” Replied the rabbi, “If a house is on fire and we chose not to wake up our children, for fear of disturbing their sleep, would that be love? Kinderlach, ‘di hoyz brent.’ Children our house is on fire and I must arouse you from your slumber.”
During WWII and the Holocaust was it business as usual for priests, ministers, rabbis? Did they deliver benign homilies and lovely sermons as Europe fell, as the Pacific fell, as North Africa fell, as the Mideast and South America tottered, as England bled? Did they ignore the demonic juggernaut and the foul breath of evil? They did not. There was clarity, courage, vision, determination, sacrifice, and we were victorious. Today it must be our finest hour as well. We dare not retreat into the banality of our routines, glance at headlines and presume that the good guys will prevail.
Democracies don’t always win.
Tyrannies don’t always lose.
My friends – the world is on fire and we must awake from our slumber. “HER KUMT.”
Jabotinsky
A Tribute to Herb Zweibon
Moshe Phillips - Israpundit, January 25th, 2011
A true giant of pro-Israel activism in America is gone. Herb Zweibon, the founder and president of Herbert ZweibonAmericans For A Safe Israel / AFSI, died on Tu B’Shevat, January 19, 2011. It seems extremely appropriate that someone who focused so much of his energy, money and time dedicated to bringing peace, security and prosperity to the Land of Israel should have his life forever connected to a holiday that has at its core the themes of Israel’s agriculture and land, the centrality of Jerusalem and the importance of contributing to charity.
Herb Zweibon was born and raised in an extended family that was one of the leading pillars of the Jabotinsky movement in America since the 1940s. He was a successful businessman, was a loving family man and was a highly patriotic American who served in the U.S. military in World War Two. Perhaps those things were all a direct result of his personal internalization of Jabotinsky’s teaching of concepts such as Hadar, self-respect and self-discipline.
No American did more in the last 20 years to make sure that Jabotinsky’s memory was perpetuated than Herb Zweibon. Here are just a few of the concrete things Herb brought to life to memorialize Jabotinsky:
– Under Herb’s direction AFSI organized and sponsored the annual Manhattan memorial event for Jabotinsky. The keynote speaker at the 2010 event was Douglas Feith and his speech drew significant media attention.
– In 2010 AFSI distributed a biographical booklet about Jabotinsky called Jabotinsky – The Man And The Vision written by AFSI’s Jerusalem representative William Mehlman. It can be found online in its entirety at http://www.afsi.org/pamphlets/JabotinskyPamphlet20100714.pdf.
– Herb was one of the key financial supporters who enabled Israeli Shmuel Katz to research and write his groundbreaking 1996 two volume biography of Jabotinsky Lone Wolf. Katz wrote in his Introduction that Herb was “first among” the “group of friends” that provided “generous assistance” to him.
– Herb’s dedication to Lone Wolf didn’t stop there. He had AFSI continue to sell and distribute Lone Wolf and Katz’s other classic books even after Katz’s death in 2008.
Herb also wanted to make sure that Jabotinsky was taught to the young people of Israel too. He conceived of a nationwide essay contest for Israeli high school students and was involved in every detail of this highly successful initiative. The inaugural contest was 2010’s which marked the seventieth anniversary of Jabotinsky’s death. The Jabotinsky National Essay Contest had 15 winners and hundreds of competitors with an awards ceremony held in the Knesset.
In addition to memorializing Jabotinsky Herb led AFSI in continuing to focus on key issues that his teacher himself would have concentrated on too had he been alive.
Jerusalem remained a central issue for Herb. The Outpost monthly newsletter published by AFSI always featured a front page column by Herb and very often he wrote about the importance of Jerusalem’s security.
AFSI always stood against any Israeli retreat from Judea and Samaria (the West Bank) and Gaza. The Jewish communities in Gush Katif had no more committed friends in America than Herb and AFSI. And that support did not end after the so-called Disengagement. Herb’s aim was to make sure that Israeli Settlers never felt abandoned or alone. AFSI remained steadfastly opposed to the creation of a Palestinian state and sponsored speaking tours featuring Israeli spokespeople who articulated the danger that a PLO/Fatah state would mean to Israel and America.
During Israel’s Operation Peace for Galilee campaign in Lebanon in 1982 AFSI made defending Israel against defamation in the mainstream media a key objective. Before CAMERA (the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America) became a national organization and before Honest Reporting was launched, there was AFSI fighting for truth. Under Herb’s direction AFSI produced an hour long documentary video called “NBC in Lebanon: A Study of Media Representation.” The Institute for Palestine Studies published book American Jewish Organizations & Israel by Lee O’Brien called the video “widely distributed” and they were right. No pro-Israel organization in the U.S. had ever produced anything like it.
AFSI executive director at the time, Peter Goldman, was responsible for the NBC exposé. He followed the video up with a 1986 book he co-wrote with Stephen Karetzky titled The Media’s War Against Israel: The Full Expose No One Dared Publish that featured an introduction by Jack Kemp.
Under Herb’s leadership AFSI over the last several years seemed more vital than ever. As the organization approached the 40th anniversary of its founding last year many news plans were underway. Chapters were initiated and re-organized. The website was revamped at http://www.afsi.org/. An Israeli grassroots website called Maspik Vedai (“Enough, already!”) was given full support in 2009 and it can be seen at:
http://www.maspikvedai.co.il/. A website was launched in 2008 in order to spread the teachings and writings of Shmuel Katz. Visit the website at www.shmuelkatz.com. In 2010 a blog with the title Lessons For Today was added to the website in order to apply Katz’s teachings to today’s events. And Herb’s guiding hand was behind it all.
Herb’s enemies were frequently forced to acknowledge the success of AFSI. Herb pioneered the idea of working with Evangelical Christians in the U.S. to support the Jewish State. Israel basher Grace Halsell noted in her 1986 book Prophecy and Politics, The Secret Alliance Between Israel and the U.S. Christian Right that AFSI pioneered outreach to the Evangelical community. “…the actual credit for making (the late Senator Jesse) Helms do the flip flop (and become an ardent Israel supporter goes to) a conservative Israeli lobbying group, called Americans For A Safe Israel, (they) did that…”
Herb served on the board of directors of the Freeman Center for Strategic Studies based in Houston. Bernard Shapiro, the director of the Freeman Center wrote the following about Herb the day of the funeral: “Jabotinsky and Shmuel Katz were his intellectual and ideological teachers, but Herb was mine.” Herb Zweibon was an excellent teacher to us all. He left an indelible imprint on pro-Israel activism. Our own and future generations were immeasurably enriched by the gift of his long and creative life. May his example and teachings endure, enlighten and inspire for many years to come.
Moshe Phillips - Israpundit, January 25th, 2011
A true giant of pro-Israel activism in America is gone. Herb Zweibon, the founder and president of Herbert ZweibonAmericans For A Safe Israel / AFSI, died on Tu B’Shevat, January 19, 2011. It seems extremely appropriate that someone who focused so much of his energy, money and time dedicated to bringing peace, security and prosperity to the Land of Israel should have his life forever connected to a holiday that has at its core the themes of Israel’s agriculture and land, the centrality of Jerusalem and the importance of contributing to charity.
Herb Zweibon was born and raised in an extended family that was one of the leading pillars of the Jabotinsky movement in America since the 1940s. He was a successful businessman, was a loving family man and was a highly patriotic American who served in the U.S. military in World War Two. Perhaps those things were all a direct result of his personal internalization of Jabotinsky’s teaching of concepts such as Hadar, self-respect and self-discipline.
No American did more in the last 20 years to make sure that Jabotinsky’s memory was perpetuated than Herb Zweibon. Here are just a few of the concrete things Herb brought to life to memorialize Jabotinsky:
– Under Herb’s direction AFSI organized and sponsored the annual Manhattan memorial event for Jabotinsky. The keynote speaker at the 2010 event was Douglas Feith and his speech drew significant media attention.
– In 2010 AFSI distributed a biographical booklet about Jabotinsky called Jabotinsky – The Man And The Vision written by AFSI’s Jerusalem representative William Mehlman. It can be found online in its entirety at http://www.afsi.org/pamphlets/JabotinskyPamphlet20100714.pdf.
– Herb was one of the key financial supporters who enabled Israeli Shmuel Katz to research and write his groundbreaking 1996 two volume biography of Jabotinsky Lone Wolf. Katz wrote in his Introduction that Herb was “first among” the “group of friends” that provided “generous assistance” to him.
– Herb’s dedication to Lone Wolf didn’t stop there. He had AFSI continue to sell and distribute Lone Wolf and Katz’s other classic books even after Katz’s death in 2008.
Herb also wanted to make sure that Jabotinsky was taught to the young people of Israel too. He conceived of a nationwide essay contest for Israeli high school students and was involved in every detail of this highly successful initiative. The inaugural contest was 2010’s which marked the seventieth anniversary of Jabotinsky’s death. The Jabotinsky National Essay Contest had 15 winners and hundreds of competitors with an awards ceremony held in the Knesset.
In addition to memorializing Jabotinsky Herb led AFSI in continuing to focus on key issues that his teacher himself would have concentrated on too had he been alive.
Jerusalem remained a central issue for Herb. The Outpost monthly newsletter published by AFSI always featured a front page column by Herb and very often he wrote about the importance of Jerusalem’s security.
AFSI always stood against any Israeli retreat from Judea and Samaria (the West Bank) and Gaza. The Jewish communities in Gush Katif had no more committed friends in America than Herb and AFSI. And that support did not end after the so-called Disengagement. Herb’s aim was to make sure that Israeli Settlers never felt abandoned or alone. AFSI remained steadfastly opposed to the creation of a Palestinian state and sponsored speaking tours featuring Israeli spokespeople who articulated the danger that a PLO/Fatah state would mean to Israel and America.
During Israel’s Operation Peace for Galilee campaign in Lebanon in 1982 AFSI made defending Israel against defamation in the mainstream media a key objective. Before CAMERA (the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America) became a national organization and before Honest Reporting was launched, there was AFSI fighting for truth. Under Herb’s direction AFSI produced an hour long documentary video called “NBC in Lebanon: A Study of Media Representation.” The Institute for Palestine Studies published book American Jewish Organizations & Israel by Lee O’Brien called the video “widely distributed” and they were right. No pro-Israel organization in the U.S. had ever produced anything like it.
AFSI executive director at the time, Peter Goldman, was responsible for the NBC exposé. He followed the video up with a 1986 book he co-wrote with Stephen Karetzky titled The Media’s War Against Israel: The Full Expose No One Dared Publish that featured an introduction by Jack Kemp.
Under Herb’s leadership AFSI over the last several years seemed more vital than ever. As the organization approached the 40th anniversary of its founding last year many news plans were underway. Chapters were initiated and re-organized. The website was revamped at http://www.afsi.org/. An Israeli grassroots website called Maspik Vedai (“Enough, already!”) was given full support in 2009 and it can be seen at:
http://www.maspikvedai.co.il/. A website was launched in 2008 in order to spread the teachings and writings of Shmuel Katz. Visit the website at www.shmuelkatz.com. In 2010 a blog with the title Lessons For Today was added to the website in order to apply Katz’s teachings to today’s events. And Herb’s guiding hand was behind it all.
Herb’s enemies were frequently forced to acknowledge the success of AFSI. Herb pioneered the idea of working with Evangelical Christians in the U.S. to support the Jewish State. Israel basher Grace Halsell noted in her 1986 book Prophecy and Politics, The Secret Alliance Between Israel and the U.S. Christian Right that AFSI pioneered outreach to the Evangelical community. “…the actual credit for making (the late Senator Jesse) Helms do the flip flop (and become an ardent Israel supporter goes to) a conservative Israeli lobbying group, called Americans For A Safe Israel, (they) did that…”
Herb served on the board of directors of the Freeman Center for Strategic Studies based in Houston. Bernard Shapiro, the director of the Freeman Center wrote the following about Herb the day of the funeral: “Jabotinsky and Shmuel Katz were his intellectual and ideological teachers, but Herb was mine.” Herb Zweibon was an excellent teacher to us all. He left an indelible imprint on pro-Israel activism. Our own and future generations were immeasurably enriched by the gift of his long and creative life. May his example and teachings endure, enlighten and inspire for many years to come.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)