Clinton Issues Holiday Greetings to Muslims, Not Jews

by Maayana Miskin

Both Jews and Muslims celebrated holidays in September 2009. However, the United States Consulate in Jerusalem – America's representative in Israel's capital – chose to focus entirely on Islam this year, while ignoring the Jewish holidays of Rosh HaShana and Yom Kippur completely.

The Consulate's website features Eid il-Fitr greetings from U.S. President Barack Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and Consul General Daniel Rubinstein. Its staff was involved in Ramadan celebrations in Jenin and Shechem, and hosted a meal in Jericho for the Muslim holiday of Iftar.

Clinton's greeting was published on September 19 – the first day of Rosh HaShana. However, no mention was made of the Jewish holiday.

All three holiday wishes from American leaders to Muslims were apolitical, and focused on messages such as “personal reflection” and “charity.” In contrast, President Obama's Rosh HaShana greeting, which is not on the site, included a brief promotion of his Israel-Palestinian Authority peace plan.

Snub Follows Admission that Consulate Caters to PA
The High Holidays snub follows an admission in August that the U.S. Consulate in Jerusalem views itself as America's representative to the PA, while the embassy in Tel Aviv is seen as the representative to Israel. Consulate staff explained that they are “the principal representation to the Palestinian Authority” in an email to a Jewish American concerned by the lack of balance in consulate events.

The admission angered many American citizens in Israel. America's apparent recognition of the PA's claim to rights in Jerusalem was seen as a slap in the face, particularly because America takes care not to recognize Israeli rights in the capital city despite more than 40 years of Israeli sovereignty in the greater Jerusalem area.

The U.S. has repeatedly declined to move its embassy to Jerusalem, the seat of Israel's government, and American citizens born in Jerusalem are not registered as having been born in Israel.

Embassy Ignores Judaism as Well
While admitting that U.S. representatives in Jerusalem cater to the PA, consulate staff defended that decision by pointing to the Tel Aviv embassy as the existing representative to Israel. However, the Tel Aviv embassy website provides no mention of the major Jewish holidays in September and October.

The only mention of any autumn holidays, Jewish or Muslim, appears in the form of a video from a dinner hosted at the Ambassador's residence in celebration of Iftar.

Source: INN

Non-muslim Appeasement of Muslims: does it make any Sense?

“Might I ask, what has Omar Khadr got to 
do with Eid or Ramadan or with Muslims?"
Tarek Fatah - National Post

The annual Muslim holiday of Eid has come and gone, and once more the community has been showered with messages from politicians tripping over one other to prove their credentials as lovers of Islam and all things Muslim.I have an offer to make to all these men and women who stumble and mumble to utter “Salaam Alaikum” messages written by their Muslim staffers: If you are so enamoured by my faith and impressed by the conduct of my community, then stop these annual shenanigans and once and for all come join our ranks.

Convert to Islam. Perhaps, some have already taken the plunge. Take for example this year’s Eid message by Jack Layton. Addressing us Muslims as “Dear brothers and sisters” the NDP leader preaches the end of Ramadan “is an opportunity to renew the spirit and faith in Islam.”I am waiting with bated breath to see Layton “renew” his faith in Islam. Will he be following...

Read more...

Milan: Anti-burka protest during Eid celebrations

A celebration of Eid ul-Fitr in Milan (Italy) ended up in clashes between Muslims and extreme-right anti-burka protesters.

Politician Daniela Santanchè, of a neo-fascist party, was injured.

Former parliament member Santanchè, a figurehead for years of the feminist movement within the extreme right in Italy, had called on her supporters to come and protesters against the burka during a large celebration of Eid ul-Fitr in the capital of Lombardy.

A group of Santanchè supporters tried to prevent burka wearing women from entering the hall and clashes ensured, according to the Italian media.

Santanchè says she was thrown down. According to spokespeople of the Muslim community, Santanchè threw herself on the ground.

Doctors in a hospital in Milan confirmed she was lightly injured.

Source: Islam in Europe

Suicide blast hits Pakistan market

PESHAWAR, Pakistan: A suicide car-bomb yesterday tore through a market in Pakistan, killing 33 people and trapping victims under smashed shops as families bought supplies for a major religious festival.

The explosion flung body parts across the bazaar and gutted shops in Ustarzai, a small mainly Shia northwest town between the garrison city of Kohat and Hangu, another town with a history of sectarian unrest.

A spokesman for the little-known Lashkar-i-Jhangvi al-Almi militant group claimed responsibility.

The area was packed with shoppers buying food and delicacies for the weekend and the Muslim Eid al-Fitr holiday, which Pakistanis expect to start on Monday with the sighting of the new moon after the fasting month of Ramadan.

Bodies lay on the road and casualties were trapped under the debris from shops that caved in after the blast, which came when the bomber rammed a jeep packed with 150kg of explosives into another vehicle.

Police spokesman Fazal Naeem in nearby Kohat said 33 people were killed and 56 wounded. "There are 33 dead and more than 50 injured. Twenty-five have been identified while the rest are in a very bad condition. The bodies have been completely damaged," said a North West Frontier Province police spokesman.

Police said the bomber came from the nearby Orakzai, the tribal district home of Pakistan's new Taliban chief, Hakimullah Mehsud, who has vowed to avenge the death of his predecessor, Baitullah Mehsud, who was killed in a US drone strike.

"This is a Shi'ite-dominated area and we cannot rule out the possibility that this was a sectarian-motivated attack," said police officer Ali Hasan.

Soon after the blast, Shia youths took control of the bazaar and attacked two police vehicles with sticks and chanted slogans condemning the Taliban and the Pakistani government.

"Dozens of shops were destroyed. Their roofs caved in and many people were trapped under the debris," said Mr Hasan.

Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani condemned the "cowardly act of terrorism" and said the government was determined to "stamp out the menace of terrorism and militancy from the country".

Pakistan claims to have cleared the Taliban from the northwestern districts of Buner, Lower Dir and Swat.

Government troops have also launched operations against a local Taliban-linked warlord in the semi-autonomous Khyber tribal region, which lies on the main supply route for Western troops in neighbouring Afghanistan.

Source: The Australian

Jihad sites hail vote to celebrate Islam in schoolsResolution could dictate New Yorkers observe Muslim holidays on 9-11

July 05 | By Aaron Klein

Islamist websites associated with terrorist organizations, WND has learned, hailed over the weekend a recent New York City Council resolution recommending the city's school system shut down to commemorate two of the most important Muslim holidays.

The nonbinding resolution passed last week was the subject of extensive coverage in the pan-Arab media, including on the Al Jazeera and Al-Arabiya satellite networks.

The stories were also discussion themes over the weekend on two Palestinian websites linked to terrorist organizations. The Palestinian Forum for Dialogue is known to be close to Hamas, carrying the group's official propaganda, while the Islamic Forum is strongly associated with the Islamic Jihad terror group. The topic of the resolution was hailed in hundreds of user postings on both websites.

A typical posting on the Islamic Forum website, translated from Arabic by WND, reads:

"[The resolution proves] there is a new situation in America where Obama understands that going against Islam and Muslims only brings disaster for us."

Obama, however, was not involved in the resolution.

Another posting on that website stated, "Allah is with the Muslims when we fight for our rights."

Stated another posting on the Islamic Forum: "The new [U.S.] administration and the American people understand they cannot defeat Islam and they should co-exist with Islam."

One user comment on the Palestinian Dialogue forum stated, "This is one more sign about Islam getting stronger all around the world."

"It is one more sign of the fact of Islam being accepted as a growing power. This proves we don't have to be ashamed of our religion and we should insist on our rights to wear our clothes and celebrate and fast on Ramadan," the comment stated.

NYC forced to honor Islam on 9-11?

The Council resolution received much U.S. media attention; however the reports did not note the holidays fall on Sept. 11 in some years.

The council vote is at odds with the opinion of Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who has said he is opposed to adding any more days off to the school calendar. Bloomberg, however, recently relinquished control of the school system to a newly appointed board of education, which could approve the holiday plan.

The Islamic holidays being considered for commemoration are Eid al-Adha and Eid al-Fitr. The former commemorates the Islamic belief Abraham was willing to sacrifice Ishmail. The latter marks the end of the Islamic fast period of Ramadan. Jewish and Christian tradition relates Abraham was willing to sacrifice his son Isaac, not Ishmail.

Islamic holidays are set based on the lunar calendar, meaning the dates corresponding to the Gregorian calendar change each year. As first noticed by Andrew Walden, publisher and editor of the Hawaii Free Press, Eid al-Adha falls on Sept. 11 in the year 2016, according to the accepted Umm al-Qura calendar.

Eid al-Fitr, meanwhile, will begin at sunset Sept. 9 and continue to sunset Sept. 10 next year. The dates, though, depend on the official citing of the new crescent moon as certified by the Saudi "hilal committee," which at times has shifted holidays by one or two days, meaning Eid-al-Fitr could technically also be celebrated on Sept. 11 in 2010.

The council's vote reportedly comes as the culmination of a three-year lobbying effort by U.S. Muslim groups, including the Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR. The council resolution cited New York City's growing Muslim population as well as the fact that the system observes major Jewish and Christian holidays.

The resolution's advocates have cited a statistic claiming Muslims make up 12 percent of the city's public school students and, therefore, they deserve recognition.

Bloomberg told reporters before the vote that not all religions could be accommodated on the school system's holiday schedule, only those with "a very large number of kids who practice."

"If you close the schools for every single holiday, there won't be any school," Bloomberg said. "Educating our kids requires time in the classroom, and that's the most important thing to us."

While Bloomberg recently handed control of the school system to a new education board, the state Senate could take action to put the mayor back in control.

"Right now the degree of control the mayor has over the education system is completely unclear," Councilman G. Oliver Koppell, the only council member to vote against the resolution, told FoxNews.com.

Source: WorldNetDaily

NYC Muslims push to add holidays to school year

NEW YORK - Moneeb Hassan remembers having to choose between a final exam in American history or celebrating the Muslim holy day of Eid al-Adha. In the end, he chose both. Hassan, 17, is one of thousands of Muslim students in the city who must perform a balancing act between his academic and religious obligations during his holidays. But the nation's largest school district hasn't sanctioned official Muslim holidays.

"People came to this country for freedom of religion," Hassan said. "We're just asking for fair and equal treatment."

Muslim activists lobbying to add the holy days to the school calendar - which takes school off for Christmas and the Jewish holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur - were heartened this week by a City Council resolution supporting the observance of the two holidays - Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha. Read more ...

Source: AP
H/T: Weasel Zippers

Switzerland: Proposal for Muslim official holidays

Markus Ries, a professor of church history at the University of Lucerne, is suggesting to give two-three days of official holidays to minorities in Switzerland, instead of some of the current holidays.

Ries was interviewed on Surseer Woche where he said that the Feast of the Assumption (Aug. 15th) is only celebrated by a small minority and for the most part is just a welcome day off in the Catholic areas. Why not give two days off for two biggest Muslim holidays, he asks, making Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha official holidays.

Ries is aware that his proposal doesn't stand a chance. He thinks his proposal had advantages for ecumenism, saying on Schweizer Radio DRS that everybody should be able to practice his religion.

Source: Islam in EuropeMarkus Ries
Latest recipient of The Dhimmi Award

Stealth Jihad or Hysteria?

By Robert Spencer

During the recent Tyson Chicken controversy, I published an article at FrontPage in which I argued that Tyson and the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) should not have agreed to make Eid al-Fitr a paid day off for employees at the Tyson plant in Shelbyville, Tennessee, on the grounds that it set a bad precedent for accommodation of Islamic practices at a time when the Muslim Brotherhood is pressing forward a stealth jihad agenda of trying to impose Islamic Sharia law bit by bit and make American businesses and individuals grow used to the idea that Muslims must have special accommodation. Read more ...

Source: FrontPage Magazine