That’s Our Girls!
IDF Karakal unit in training
Photo credit: IDF
Intifada Against Iran, Anyone?
“Israeli Occupation”, “Free Palestine”, “Palestinian refugees”, “Evil Zionists”…anyone who’s following the Israeli-”Palestinian” conflict might get an impression that the way Arab Muslim countries conduct themselves in their conflict with Israel is the typical way they react when they think someone stole their land. The reality is, however, different.
There is an old tilt between Iran and UAE over the alleged Iranian occupation of the islands of Abu Musa and the Greater and Lesser Tunbs in the Persian (or as the Arabs
it “Arabian”) Gulf. UAE regards it as a stolen land, and liberation of these islands from the Iranian occupation was one of the objectives (in his own words) of the war between Iran and Iraq launched by Saddam Hussein. UAE even took their claims to the UN in 1980.
From Wikipedia:
The island had been a part of Iran from antiquity until the early 20th century,[6] when Britain annexed the island, administering it along with the other British-controlled islands in the Persian Gulf, including what is today the UAE. In the late 1960s, Britain transferred administration of the island to the British-appointed Sharjah, one of the seven sheikdoms that would later form the UAE. After Britain announced in 1968 that it would relinquish its hegemony in the Persian Gulf, Iran moved to reattach the island politically to the mainland.
Yet, no demonstrations against the Iranian occupation of the islands, no buses with children are blown in Iran, no condemnations are being issued 24/7 by the Arab countries as they do against Israel, no Arab “commentator” sitting in some European capital is foaming his mouth on CNN, BBC and Al Jazeera, justifying the murder of the Iranian civilians over this occupation, and no UN Security Council session is called to discuss the issue.
What is taking place is a gentle diplomatic lamentation and begging by the Arab league to end the occupation of the islands:
Damascus: The Arab Summit wound up here on Sunday with a renewed call to Iran to end its occupation of the UAE islands of Abu Mousa, the Greater and Lesser Tunbs.
The summit, which was presided over by Syrian President Bashar Al Assad, also condemned the incessant Iranian attempts to create a fait accompli by way of building settlements on the occupied islands.
“The continued attempts by Iran to build settlements and conduct wargames in the territorial waters, air space, economic zones and coral reefs of the occupied islands, are all acts that constitute a gross violation of the UAE sovereignty and territorial integrity,” said a communique issued at the end of the summit.
The summit urged Iran to cease such acts of provocation, saying they amounted to unwarranted interference in the internal affairs of a sovereign state.
“Moreover, such acts cannot help in building confidence but would rather jeopardise regional stability and security,” it said.
The summit called on Iran to rethink its current position in favour of a negotiated settlement, either through serious and direct talks or through international arbitration.
Isn’t that sweet? Cute little bunnies, playing polite and diplomatic? “Could you please if you please be so kind please give us our islands back…pretty please?”
What happened to “In spirit and blood we will redeem Abu Musa and Tunbs!!!” (replace the names of the Islands with “Palestine” or “Jerusalem” or “Al Aqsa” and you’ll get the usual text that is being screamed, chanted and ranted during the demonstrations against Israel in the West Bank and Gaza)?
A few words of advise to the Arab League: FILE FOR PATENT IN HYPOCRISY
Saudi Cleric Orders To Kill Writers
When we in the Western world discuss the need in the dialogue between us and the world of Islam, we are often given reality check by political and religious leaders from the other side.
As much as we’d like to ignore the calls for the violent actions against those Western individuals or institutions who “insulted Islam”, they are too many to turn a blind eye on and to brush aside as “radicals”, “understandable”, “culture differenced”, etc. We dismiss these calls mainly because we often think that it is our fault (Danish “Mohammad Cartoons”, “Fitna” movie by Dutch MP Geert Wilders) and we are those who provoked a bunch of deranged children in the early stages of mania depression into throwing their regular tantrums of jumping in frenzy, torching flags and effigies and screaming “death” to everything and everyone non-Muslim.
Every society is examined and tested first and foremost by how it treats its own members. And here is a clear example of how difference of opinions, self criticism and free speech is dealt with in Saudi Arabia
One of Saudi Arabia’s leading clerics has said in a fatwa issued last week that two Saudi journalists should be tried for apostasy and put to death if they do not repent, Reuters as well as several Arab media have reported.
The fatwa by Wahhabi cleric Sheihk Abdurrahman al-Baraak came in response to articles written by journalists Abdullah bin Bijad Al-Otaibi and Yusuf Abu al-Khayl in Al-Riyadh newspaper, in which they questioned the point of view that Christians and Jews should be considered unbelievers.
Bin Nijad’s article was entitled, “The Islam of the Sharia and the Islam of Struggle,” Abu al-Khayl’s article was called, “The Other in the Islamic Balance.”
The fatwa describes the two journalists as defectors, demanding their repentance.
The most dangerous part in the fatwa is probably the incitement to the killing of the two journalists, for the scholar went on to say that “those who are against the Islam should be judged to repent, otherwise they should be killed and denied the burial rituals.”
I think I heard the case against this point somewhere recently…oh..that’s right - the movie “Fitna”. I wonder what Ban Ki Moon and other appeasers and cowards have to say about this shekh’s rant. But I think I know, they’ll call him “a radical minority” and “does not represent Islam”.
Just a question though: can Ban Ki Moon or anyone else dismissing the calls for the violent acts in Quran be considered a blasphemer? After all, they denounce the words of Quran. So saying that Quran does not permit the killing might actually get you killed…follow the logic? Anyway, read on:
The fatwa has raised much controversy among the media, in addition to the cultural and religious circles, to the extent that al-Arabiya satellite channel consecrated a whole program about it.
Abdullah bin Bijad, who is known for his strong positions against fundamentalism and extremism, said in an interview with Elaph website that those who know al-Baraak’s history also know of his close ties with violent religious movements.
He told al-Arabiya that he will not stop writing and expressing his opinions and thoughts despite the fatwa, which he describes as “coming from the dark ages.”
Bin Bijad said al-Baraak’s statements are in accordance with al-Qaeda’s directions and its leaders’ incitement to kill writers, intellectuals and even political figures it considers as offenders of Islam.
According to the Saudi Information Agency (SIA), “Video tapes captured in Afghanistan and seen by SIA News showed Al-Qaeda training to kill liberal writers and journalists in Saudi Arabia.”
For Bin Bijad, it is nothing new to have a fatwa issued against his person.
“I have had previous fatwas against me,” he said, “but this one is particularly dangerous because of how it is phrased. [But] I won’t allow this to stop me from presenting my thoughts and convictions. I am a writer and my pen is all have.”
As for Yusuf Abu al-Khayl, an expert in Islamic issues, he told Elaph that he is planning to sue al-Baraak.
“I will file a complaint. I have to. Who gave al-Baraak the right to spill my blood and the blood of my colleague Abdullah bin Bijad, calling us ‘offenders’? He is neither a Mufti nor a religious scholar.”
And now a reality check to those who might think that this cleric is a “radical minority” and “does not represent the real peaceful Islam”:
Al-Baraak, 75, is considered the highest Wahhabi Muslim religious authority in the world, and is the teacher of the current Saudi Mufti and most of the Saudi official religious leadership.
Among his previous fatwas was one labeling Shia Muslims as heretics, and another excluding the majority of Sunni Muslims, those adhering to the Ashari doctrine, from the Sunni branch of Islam. He also called for the killing of Danish officials and the enslaving of Danish women following the publication of cartoons of the Prophet Mohamed in 2006.
Al-Baraak is a known supporter of Al-Qaeda, but that didn’t stop Saudi King Abdullah from receiving him several times a year, and extending financial support to him in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, according to SIA News.
US friends, the Saudis…
So, before we debate the necessity of the dialog with the Muslim world, why don’t we take a very good lesson in what this world really is about, and decide whether there IS anyone to debate and discuss with? Those in the Muslim world who actually view the need in the dialogue eye-to-eye with us (left or right alike), THEY are the minority. And until the tables turn and the people like these two brave writers become mainstream, I’m afraid that our aspiration for reaching an understanding between the Western and Muslim civilizaions will remain a dream.
Iran’s Original Way To Fight Unemployment
Iran keeps breaking the boundaries of the unbelievable. While the country’s economy is plunging into medieval ages and the number of poor people is rapidly growing, Iranian terrorist regime decides to turn morals into a matter of national security and toughen the oppression of its civilians even further
Tehran, Iran, Mar. 27 - The chief of Iran’s police vowed on Wednesday to institutionalise the current moral crackdown which is targeting mainly young Iranians, in yet another sign of the recent sharp increase in the repressive atmosphere in Iranian society.
Brigadier General Ismaeil Ahmadi-Moghaddam, the commander of Iran’s State Security Forces (SSF), on Wednesday said that “under no circumstances” will the SSF abandon the “plan to increase national security” and let “circumstances return to their previous state”. His comments were carried by the official news agency IRNA.
On Saturday, Ahmadi-Moghaddam said that the Persian calendar year 1387, which began on March 20, was the year of “institutionalising the plan to increase national security”.
Since April 2007, the SSF has been carrying out a nationwide crackdown primarily targeting youths and women under the guise of combating “trouble-makers” and “mal-veilers”.
Iranian officials often refer to millions of unemployed young men, who are largely beset by frustration and despair, as “trouble-makers” or “hooligans”.
What a great way to fight unemployment, don’t you think? Call the unemployed “criminals” and lock them away.
MILF - Not What You Might Think
Contrary to what you may think, these MILFs are armed and dangerous, and they won’t hesitate to smite your head off if they don’t like you:
Here are MILFs on the march
And here are MILFs waving the red flag (whatever that means)
And this MILFy is resting
Apparently, MILF is abbreviation that stands for Moro Islamic Liberation Front - a radical Muslim separatist group from Southern Philippines.
From Wikipedia
The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) is a Muslim separatist rebel group located in Southern Philippines.[1] The area where the group is active is called Bangsamoro by the MILF and it covers the southern portion of Mindanao, the Sulu Archipelago, Palawan, Basilan and the neighboring islands. There are approximately 4.5 million Muslims in the Philippines[2] and the majority live within this area.
The MILF was first centred around the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), formed in the late 1960s following the Jabidah Massacre. The group demanded the formation of an independent Moro Islamic state and took part in terrorist attacks and assassinations to promote their ideas. The central government rejected this demand and sent troops into Moroland to maintain order. The MILF was formed in 1981 when Salamat Hashim and his followers split from the MNLF, due to the MNLF’s reluctance to launch an insurgency against the Philippine government forces and movements towards a peace agreement
I wonder if the “other” meaning of MILF is interpreted as offensive to Muslim religion by this group or by OIC (Organization of the Islamic Conference). If that’s the case, we’d witness pornography websites getting sued!! That’s one legal battle you don’t want to miss ;)
“Persepolis” Unbanned
Good news from Lebanon.
Following the public outcry Lebanese authorities decided to lift the ban of the movie “Persepolis”. The movie was banned (details here) due to its offensive nature to Iran and Iranian Islamic revolution
BEIRUT (AFP) — Lebanese authorities reversed on Thursday a decision to ban the prize-winning animated film “Persepolis,” following an outcry and claims the measure was aimed at pleasing Iran and Shiite clerics.
The general security department, which initially prohibited the film, said the ministry of interior, of which it is a part, had “decided to authorise the film’s distribution in Lebanon”.
It said “personal, political or confessional motivations” had nothing to do with the original banning.
But here is the question: will Network Solutions unban their suspension of Fitnathemovie.com account? Oh, wait, I guess this decision is no longer relevant since the movie is out.
Congratulations, Network Solutions, Lebanese authorities reacted faster than you did.
I guess there is still hope for the freedom of speech in Lebanon. Is there a hope for NS?
Fitna The Movie
Geert Wilders: 1. Islamists, “Network Solutions” and other dhimmis: 0
UPDATE: Liveleak pulled the plug on “Fitna” after receiving threats from the representatives of the “Religion of Peace”
The movie, however, is still visible. Please let me know in comments in case the current video isn’t displaying the movie and I will upload it from another source!
And here it is:
