A Prosecutor Is Called 'Relentless'

By Josh Gerstein

A federal prosecutor who has led a series of investigations into Islamic militants and Muslim groups based in Virginia, Gordon Kromberg, may soon be facing a trial of sorts himself, if defense lawyers get their way.

Attorneys for a former Florida college professor who pleaded guilty two years ago to aiding Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Sami Al-Arian, are asking a federal judge to hold a hearing on whether anti-Muslim bias led to the government's decision to obtain a new indictment of Al-Arian in June for contempt for refusing to testify before grand juries pursuing the Virginia organizations.

While the motion claims Muslim terrorism suspects are generally treated unfairly by the Justice Department, Al-Arian's lawyers argue that Mr. Kromberg, 51, has a particularly egregious record of intemperate statements and actions in a series of terrorism-related cases and investigations. Read more ...

Source: New York Sun

Moderate Islam?

By Sam Solomon

Where is moderate Islam? Does it exist? If so, then where? Is it rooted in true Islam or just wishful thinking?

"Islam is a Religion of Peace"
"Muhammad is a man of Peace"
"The Qur'an is a book of Peace"

How can we know if these statements are true?

We frequently hear from politicians in the public sphere and individual Muslims and Islamic organisations, that Islam is "a religion of peace", that it is "tolerant of other faiths and beliefs" and that it is "in favour of democracy, equal rights and freedom of speech." Read more ...

Source: Pilcrow Press

Honor Killings in America

By Supna Zaidi

Honor Killings get a lot of attention in Europe, especially the UK and Germany, but what about the US? Honor Killings are murders committed to maintain family honor and dignity by fathers, brothers, and husbands against wives, and daughters after any perceived slight usually related to the woman’s sexuality or sexual life.

Such a premeditated, backwards crime not only gathers little attention in the American media, it is not recognized for its mysoginist roots by the hate crime laws at the federal or state level. The United States must make a very public statement against such foreign and barbaric practices before honor killings become as common here as it now is in Europe. Consider the following examples:

On July 7, 2008, it was reported that Twenty-five-year-old Sandeela Kanwal was killed by her father in Jonesboro, Georgia. Her father, Chaudhry Rashid, 54, strangled her at home because she had been asking his permission for a divorce from her arranged marriage for months. Read more ...

Source: Muslim World TodaySupna Zaidi
Latest recipient of The MASH Award

The Deobandi Fatwa Against Terrorism didn't treat the Jihadi root

By Walid Phares

Many in the West and in other regions of the world were impressed by the issuing of a fatwa (Islamic theological edict) condemning Terrorism by one of the leading religious centers in the Muslim world, the Darool-Uloom Deoband in India. An Islamic seminary said to have 'inspired' the Taliban has, according to the said document denounced "terrorism" as against Islam, calling it an "unpardonable sin."

Hoping for a major change in ideology, international counter terrorism authorities and policy makers have been asking experts to determine if the Deobandi declaration will help counter the calls for violent Jihad by al Qaeda and its ilk around the world. In the war of ideas with the Jihadists, many Western architects of strategic communications look for any sign that hearts and minds may be changing course and sympathies. From Washington DC to Brussels and beyond, bureaucrats tasked with exploring the Muslim world for new trends, shop around for what they call "counter-narrative against extremism."

The Deobandi School, a classical third branch for Salafi Islamism (along with Wahabism and Muslim Brotherhood), has significant weight in the South Asia Theater. Its teachings based on a strict interpretation of Islamic law have reached many countries, including Afghanistan and Britain, where they are said to have indoctrinated the Taliban. Read more ...

Source: Counterterrorism Blog

Muslim voices of sanity must get louder

By Firoz Bakht Ahmed

Ahmedabad and Bangalore, like many others, are global cities and the terror that struck these on consecutive days too is a global phenomenon. As a human being and an Indian Muslim, I literally wept over the needless deaths of those who died or were maimed. In the last decade, a significant number of moderate Hindus have started supporting anti-secular and anti-minority groups that want to transform India into a theocratic Hindu nation. This bodes ill for the nation.

The situation calls for introspection by Muslims, India’s largest minority community. Read more ...

Source: Thaindian News

Film Explores Desperate Lives of Gay Muslims

By Duke Helfand

LOS ANGELES -- “A Jihad for Love” might not be the blockbuster movie of the season, but the new documentary about the plight of gay and lesbian Muslims is enjoying a degree of acclaim as it casts light on a subject often shrouded in mystery.

The film’s gay Muslim director, Parvez Sharma, has spent the past year touring theaters and festivals.

“A Jihad for Love” was the documentary centerpiece last week at Outfest, a gay and lesbian film festival in Los Angeles. On Aug. 1, it opens in West Hollywood and Palm Springs.

Filmed surreptitiously in 12 countries over six years, the movie offers a window into the distraught lives of gay and lesbian Muslims as they struggle to reconcile their sexual orientation with their devotion to a faith that condemns their way of life.

Some are beaten or imprisoned. Others are forced to flee their homelands. Several have their faces obscured in the film to protect their identities and their families from reprisals.

But Sharma, 35, a former journalist in India, said he did not intend to attack Islam but to open a dialogue about a dilemma that forces people to endure lives of quiet desperation. Read more ...

Source: LA Times

Sharia in The Park: Helsinki Bows to Islam......!

A Helsinki mother was taking in the sun in the Tapuli residential park in Tapaninkylä with her two sons, ages 5 and 6. While the boys were splashing in the swimming pool the mother decided to get some sun. She spread her blanket on the grass by the pool, so she could keep an eye on the children.

The mother managed to lied down only for a second, when a member of the park’s staff, a woman, came over and admonished her to dress up. According to the woman an adult is not allowed to be in the park in a bikini. Read more ...

Source: Tundra Tabloids

Hamas' Christian convert: I've left a society that sanctifies terror

By Avi Issacharoff

A moment before beginning his supper, Masab, son of West Bank Hamas leader Sheikh Hassan Yousef, glances at the friend who has accompanied him to the restaurant where we met. They whisper a few words and then say grace, thanking God and Jesus for putting food on their plates.

It takes a few seconds to digest this sight: The son of a Hamas MP who is also the most popular figure in that extremist Islamic organization, a young man who assisted his father for years in his political activities, has become a rank-and-file Christian. "I'm now called Joseph," he says at the outset.

Masab knows that he has little hope of returning to visit the Holy Land in this lifetime. Read more ...

Source: Haaretz

It's time for moderate Muslims to come out of shadows

By Awad Loubani

Re: What jihad really means and Real issue is extremists killing fellow Muslims, July 24.

Writers of this opinion article and the writer of the letter to the editor must be commended for their courage to inform and clarify to Canadians the fallacies practised by Muslim radicals, who, under the pretext of Islam, are disguising their political agenda in the West.

Moderate Muslims in Canada are as worried and apprehensive of Muslims extremists, as are the other Canadians.

They are also becoming suspicious and skeptical of those Muslim leaders who continuously veil and protect the political ideals and jihadi propensities of the extremists among them. They are masking their activities and softening their interpretations of religious texts and prophetic traditions in public, while allowing the sale and circulation of literature that endorses violent interpretations. Read more ...

Source: The Ottawa Citizen
H/T: Tarek Fatah

Afghan insurgent attacks at record high

August 01, 2008

INSURGENT attacks in Afghanistan have hit record highs this year with hundreds of civilians killed, including 19 aid workers, and spreading insecurity hampering relief work, aid groups said today.

Unrest had spread to once stable areas, and welfare agencies were forced to scale back aid delivery even as drought and food price hikes put millions of people in difficulty, the Agency Coordinating Body for Afghan Relief said.

“So far this year the number of insurgent attacks, bombings and other violent incidents is up by approximately 50 per cent on the same period last year,” said ACBAR, a grouping of about 100 Afghan and international non-governmental organisations.

There were 463 insurgent attacks in May and 569 in June, it said in a statement, citing figures from a range of sources including the Afghanistan NGO Safety Office.

This was “greater than the number of such attacks in any other month since the end of major hostilities following the international intervention in 2001,” it said.

“This year 2,500 people have reportedly lost their lives in the conflict and whilst exact figures are not yet available, this could include up to 1,000 civilians,” the group added.

Initial estimates were that more than 260 civilians were killed in July, which was higher than any other month in the past six years, it said.

July saw some of the worst violence of an insurgency by Islamic extremists launched after the Taliban were ousted from government in a US-led invasion in late 2001.

A suicide bomb at the Indian embassy in Kabul killed around 60 people and other attacks left dozens more dead. Military action, mostly air strikes on insurgents, killed nearly 80 civilians, according to Afghan and military officials.

ACBAR said two-thirds of reported civilian casualties could be attributed to insurgent activities especially suicide bombings and the use of civilian property to launch attacks.

But the growing number of air strikes by international military forces, up by about 40 per cent on last year, had also contributed.

In addition, “Aid organisations and their staff have been subject to increasing attacks, threats and intimidation, by both insurgent and criminal groups,” ACBAR said.

“This year there have been over 84 such incidents, including 21 in June, more than in any other month in the last six years.

“So far this year 19 NGO staff have been killed, which already exceeds the total number of NGO workers killed last year.”

Violence had forced the closure of schools and health facilities in the south, it said. It was also hindering vital development projects.

Drought and higher food prices meanwhile put more than four million Afghans in “extremely difficult circumstances”, especially young children and breastfeeding or pregnant woman.

“Increasing and spreading insecurity is jeopardising the delivery of essential humanitarian assistance to these people and threatening their lives and livelihoods.”

ACBAR called on all parties to the conflict to prioritise the safety of civilians and observe “fundamental standards of humanity” and “the established international laws of armed conflict.”

This included distinguishing between civilians and combatants; never using civilians as a shield; not attacking humanitarian, development and medical personnel or supplies.

ACBAR also called for an end to hostage taking and said military raids should be conducted with proportionate force, with speedy compensation for civilians who suffered as a result.
Source: The Australian

Jews arrested for reclaiming Jewish Jerusalem property

By Aaron Klein
© 2008 WorldNetDaily

JERUSALEM – Israeli forces today arrested a group of Jewish activists who attempted to reclaim ownership of a Jewish-owned Jerusalem property that had been illegally settled by local Arabs.

The incident ensued in an area widely expected to be handed over to the Palestinian Authority as a result of Israeli-PA negotiations aimed at forming a Palestinian state. Much of the land in question, however, is legally owned by a Jewish nonprofit organization that purchases property for the stated purpose of Jewish settlement.

Tens of thousands of Arabs moved into the neighborhood, known as Shoafat, the past 15 years and constructed there illegally.

Earlier today, a group of about 160 Jewish activists entered the five-acre Jewish property in Shoafat to reclaim it on behalf of the site's owner, identified as Israeli citizen Eliyahu Cohanim, who had given the group power of attorney over the site.

Cohanim said he had been dismayed that Arabs were constructing illegally on his land and that the PA was planning to build in the area, including on Cohanim's land.

The Israeli government over the years has done little to stop rampant illegal Arab construction in northern and eastern neighborhoods of Jerusalem, which now have Arab majorities.

Aryeh King, chairman of the Jerusalem Forum, which promotes Jewish construction in Jerusalem, said he informed the Israeli Border Police of the Jewish group's intention to enter the property today with permission of the owner.

A Border Police force arrived on the scene and asked the group to leave the home, claiming they were disturbing the peace.

When the group refused, many members were arrested and taken in for questioning.

A video taken by Israel National News shows Arabs looting the property just after the Jewish activists were removed from the site.

King said his group decided to act today due to the illegal Arab construction:

"We did this after the Arabs started this week to build an illegal structure on the spot; this is after the municipality has already demolished a structure on this property once before," King said.

While the property in question is owned by an individual Jew, the Jewish National Fund, a U.S.-based nonprofit that purchases land in Israel for the stated purpose of Jewish settlement, owns large swaths of the Shoafat neighborhood, in which tens of thousands of Arabs now illegally reside.

A WND investigation last year found Shoafat was purchased legally on behalf of JNF using Jewish donations in the early 1900s. The Israeli government manages the land on behalf of the JNF.

Much of the illegal Arab construction in Shoafat took place in the past 15 years, with some apartment complexes built as late as 2004.

Internal JNF documents obtained by WND outline illegal Arab construction on the Jewish-owned land. A survey summarized on JNF stationery conducted in December 2000 and signed by a JNF worker states, "In a lot of the plots I find Arabs are living and building illegally and also working the JNF land without permission."

King last year released a study detailing how while Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was mayor of Jerusalem from 1993 to 2003, the Jerusalem city hall deleted files documenting hundreds of illegal Arab building projects throughout eastern sections of Jerusalem. King said he forwarded his findings to Israel's state comptroller for investigation.

King charged Olmert told senior municipal workers not to enforce a ban on illegal Arab buildings.

The Jerusalem municipality released a statement in response to the allegations claiming the threat of Arab violence kept it from bulldozing illegal Arab homes.

"During the years of the intifada, the municipality had difficulty carrying out the necessary level of enforcement in the neighborhoods of eastern Jerusalem due to security constraints," the statement read.

Today's incident comes amid a flurry of rhetoric from senior Israeli officials suggesting largely Arab sections of Jerusalem should be severed from the rest of the city for a future Palestinian state.

"Whoever thinks it's possible to live with 270,000 Arabs in (eastern) Jerusalem must take into account that there will be more bulldozers, more tractors, and more cars carrying out [terror] attacks," Olmert said earlier this week, referring to two incidents this month in which Palestinian residents of eastern Jerusalem deliberately plowed bulldozers into pedestrians, buses and passenger vehicles, leaving three dead in the case of the first attack.

Vice Premier Chaim Ramon, a top Olmert deputy, told the Knesset this past weekend:

"Whoever thinks the problem of Jerusalem and terror are specific, and that destroying one house or another will help, is burying his head in the sand. The main question is, does the government want [Jerusalem Arab neighborhoods of] Jebl Mukaber or Sur Bahir as part of Israel or not."

Source: WND

Congressman Sherman Turns the Tables on MPACGroup Tried to Block Emerson Testimony

Note: This is a verbatim news release from U.S. Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA)

For Immediate Release

July 30
2008

Muslim Public Affairs Council Tries to Halt Congressman Sherman's Hearings

Sherman Oaks, CA – On Tuesday, the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) demonstrated in front of the Office of Congressman Brad Sherman, Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Terrorism and Nonproliferation. The demonstrators demanded the cancellation of a subcommittee hearing on whether American foreign aid is going to organizations affiliated with terrorists.

"This hearing will go on. We need to make sure that the State Department is not giving U.S. tax dollars to those on the other side in the war on terrorism," said Sherman. "I know there are many in our community so desperate for peace that they want us to sweep under the rug the pro-terrorism positions of some groups. There are groups in the Islamic world truly dedicated to peace, but we should not blind ourselves to the fact that some are not."

The day of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, MPAC executive Salam Al-Marayati created a furor when he stated on a Los Angeles radio program, "If we are going to look at suspects, we should look at groups that benefit the most from these kinds of incidents, and I think we should put the State of Israel on the suspect list ..." Read more ...

Source: The Investigative ProjectHon. Brad Sherman
Latest recipient of The MASH Award


Salam Al-Marayati
Latest recipient of the Distinguished Islamofascist Award