 by Noah Shack Government Relations Research Associate, Canada-Israel Committee “Could our resources have been more wisely used? Without a doubt, though it’s easier to criticize than to envision.” – David Symons, a ‘Gaza Freedom March’ participant. In response to an endless barrage of rockets being fired from Gaza onto civilian populations in southern Israel, Israel launched Operation Cast Lead in December of 2009.
On the first anniversary of that operation, 1,360 people joined Mr. Symons in Cairo on the Gaza Freedom March, the announced goal of which was to break the so-called blockade of Gaza. This small number was a far cry from the Million-Man March show of force that they hoped for. But more importantly, it appears that an obsessive condemnation of Israel edged out the welfare of Gazans as the core objective. If a repeat of this ill-fated campaign were planned for next year, a quick visit to Air Canada’s website shows that a single, round trip, economy class ticket from Toronto to Cairo would cost $1584.52. To be generous, let’s assume the average flight to Cairo for the Gaza Freedom Marchers cost around $1,000 per person. That’s nearly $1.4 million evaporated before a single protester touched down on Egyptian soil. According to its organizers, “the Gaza Freedom March will show the residents of Gaza that the international community of citizens has not forgotten them, and will call worldwide attention to the ongoing humanitarian crisis.” In reality, the action was barely picked up in the media with the exception of Iranian Press TV, which was only too happy to broadcast images of another regional government manhandling protesters in the streets. Not even the population of Gaza mobilized in response to this grotesquely expensive failed publicity stunt.
According to Maggie Young, a UC Berkeley student who was one of 84 marchers admitted to Gaza, the protest was primarily led and controlled by 500 men associated with Hamas.
Ha’aretz correspondent Amira Hass described it as “a ritual, an opportunity for Hamas cabinet ministers to get decent media coverage in the company of Western demonstrators,” noting that “there were no Palestinian women among the marchers – a slap to the many feminist organizers and participants, both women and men.” A popular blog sagaciously relates the following: “An interesting fact about white people is that they firmly believe that all of the world’s problems can be solved through ‘awareness.’ Meaning the process of making other people aware of problems, and then magically someone else like the government will fix it… This belief allows them to feel that sweet self-satisfaction without actually having to solve anything or face any difficult challenges.” Would it not have been a better use of resources to send $1.4 million to initiatives already engaged in alleviating the humanitarian situation in Gaza? A successful global mobilization to raise millions of dollars for the Red Cross or UNRWA would surely enjoy more profile, and have the added bonus of actually impacting the situation on the ground for the people of Gaza. Instead, 1,360 people took a trip to Cairo to ring in the New Year, and returned home with nothing to show for it but some paltry awareness. The root of this misguided resource allocation is precisely as Mr. Symons elucidates: “it’s easier to criticize than to envision.” By focusing exclusively on criticizing and demonizing Israel, participants in the Gaza Freedom March have revealed their true objectives.
Their goal has far less to do with helping Gaza than with condemning Israel. The marchers are home, but their campaign against Israel continues. Those same people who opted to hold a self-aggrandizing protest rather than allocate funding to a worthy cause now decry the Government of Canada for seeking transparency regarding its aid to UNRWA, blaming a shady Zionist conspiracy no doubt. Never mind that Canada will continue to actually support the people of Gaza by providing much needed food, and over $300 million in other Palestinian aid projects. Easier to criticize than envision indeed. CIC H/T: Blazing Cat Fur
 The suspected ring-leader of the failed "Toronto 18" bomb plot, aimed at provoking a Canadian withdrawal from Afghanistan, has been sentence to life in prison. Zakaria Amara, a Jordanian-born Canadian citizen, was sentenced on Monday "for his role in a terrorist plot to bomb Toronto", the public prosecution service of Canada said in a statement. He was also sentenced to nine years "for his participation in a terrorist group," to be served concurrently. The sentence is the stiffest punishment imposed in the conspiracy and under Canada's anti-terrorism laws, which parliament passed in the wake of the September 11 attacks on the United States in 2001. But Amara may be eligible for parole in less than seven years after having already served time in prison awaiting trial. Amara had pleaded guilty to involvement in the Toronto 18 plot to set off bombs outside Toronto's stock exchange, the country's spy agency and a military base. Judge Bruce Durno, who read out the sentence, said that if the plot been successful it would have been the most horrific crime in Canada's history. "What this case revealed was spine-chilling,'' Durno said. "Zakaria Amara did not just commit a criminal offence. He committed a terrorist offence that would have had catastrophic and fatal consequences." After the judge read his sentencing Amara addressed him saying "I just want to reassure you that the promises I made [to rehabilitate], I'll do my best." Michael Lacy, Amara's defence lawyer, said the defence was disappointed with the sentence in view of Amara's "genuine expressions of remorse and in light of his denunciation of the terrorist activity". He said they had not decided whether to appeal. The 2006 arrests of Amara and 17 other people made international headlines and heightened fears in Canada, where many people thought their country was relatively immune from attacks. Prosecutors said Amara planned to rent trucks, pack them with explosives and detonate them via remote control. Police found he used a public library computer to conduct searches on bomb-making and the chemicals needed for explosives. A bomb-making manual, circuit boards, and a device that could trigger an explosion via a cell phone were found in his home. Amara had tried to buy what he believed was three tons of ammonium nitrate from undercover police officers, who had switched it with an inert substance. His personal computer also had recordings of Osama bin Laden, the al-Qaeda leader. Also sentenced on Monday was Saad Gaya, one of Amara's suspected co-conspirators, who was given 12 years in prison, minus seven-and-a-half years credit for pre-trial custody. Since the arrest of the Toronto 18, four have now pleaded guilty and one
was convicted. Charges were stayed or dropped against seven people. One man's trial began last week and five others face trial in March. Al Jazeera 
 Jordan has demanded that Israel hand over some of the famous Dead Sea Scrolls. The kingdom claims Israel seized the scrolls illegally from a museum in East Jerusalem during the Six-Day War in 1967. Israel seized the scrolls and other antiquities from the Palestinian Museum, which was managed by Jordan in east Jerusalem when it occupied this part of the city in 1967,” said Rafea Harahsheh of Jordan’s antiquities department. The scrolls were discovered by a Bedouin shepherd in 1947. The famous parchments number 900 documents and biblical texts belonging to the Essenes, a breakaway Jewish sect that lived in the craggy hills above the Dead Sea where the scrolls were discovered. They provide a rare insight into life in the Holy Land and the emergence of early Christian groups in the area. The Jordanians recently asked the Canadian government to seize some of the scrolls while they were on display in Toronto. They have also appealed to the United Nations in support of their case. Israel has refused to discuss handing back the scrolls. Its foreign ministry told the Jerusalem Post, “Jordan’s occupation of the West Bank was never recognized by the international community and the kingdom relinquished all claims on the territories. The scrolls have no relation to Jordan or the Jordanian people.” Jordan says Israel seized 14 scrolls kept in a museum in the eastern sector of Jerusalem when its army occupied that Jordanian-controlled part of the city in the 1967 war. Israel annexed eastern Jerusalem soon after the war and now says the entire city is its unified, eternal capital. Israel’s annexation of Jerusalem has not been internationally recognized. ”We are very keen on getting them (the scrolls) by reminding different countries of the international accords on cultural wealth they signed,” Maha Khatib, Jordan’s tourism minister, told the AP, citing the 1954 Hague Convention governing the protection of cultural property during armed conflict. Earlier this month, Canada refused a Jordanian request to stop the scrolls’ return to Israel, after they were displayed at a Toronto museum. It also refused a similar request made by the Palestinian Authority, according to Canadian diplomats. Khatib said Jordan has given up hope that Israel would directly give back the more than 2,000-year-old scrolls and now hoped Western nations would return them to the Arab kingdom when they host them in exhibitions. The scrolls include the earliest known version of portions of the Hebrew Bible and have shed important light on Judaism and the beginnings of Christianity. Their origin is the subject of an insular, but notoriously heated, academic debate. They will next be exhibited in Milwaukee, Wisc., starting Jan. 22. With thanks to Vlad Tepes
 Jordan has tried to reclaim the Dead Sea Scrolls from Israel, an official said. In a complaint made to the United Nations Jordan said that the ancient texts were seized from the Palestinian Museum when Israel captured east Jerusalem in the Six Day War. “The Government has legal documents that prove Jordan owns the scrolls,” Rafea Harahsheh, of the country’s antiquities department, said. The scrolls had been on display in Toronto’s Royal Ontario Museum. Jordan asked Canada to seize the texts under the 1954 Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict.
A Canadian Foreign Ministry spokesman said that it was not appropriate to intervene.
 by Ryan Mauro Pajamas Media has a great article about a moderate Muslim organization called LIM in Norway that is reacting to the attack on one of the Prophet Mohammed cartoonists by organizing a demonstration for free speech.
The spokesperson, Sheikh Rehman, is challenging the Islamic Council of Norway to do the same, but says he thinks they won’t do it because they worry they will “lose face in the Muslim world.” Rehman even supports the publication of the cartoons, saying: Muhammed didn’t want to be depicted, because he didn’t want to be turned into a false god. When Muslims believe that depictions of the prophet insult him, then they are turning him into just such a false god. There should thus be no reason not to caricature him. I would go so far as to say that Muslim leaders are unqualified. The second article comes from the Islamic Supreme Council of Canada.
Twenty imams that are patrt of the group published a fatwa on January 8 saying any attack on the U.S. or Canada is an attack on all the Muslims living there, and “Islam requires Muslims to stand up to this evil.” And there’s also this very important line in the fatwa: In fact, the constitutions of the United States and Canada are very close to the Islamic guiding principles of human rights and freedom. There is no conflict between the Islamic values of freedom and justice and the Canadian /US values of freedom and justice. Irfan al-Alawi and Stephen Schwartz in The Weekly Standard write about the All-India Ulema Mashaikh Board, and how the group’s secretary-general has called for Wahhabist control of the country’s Islamic institutions to be ended. They write that the majority of Sunni Muslims in India and Pakistan “are conservative but adhere to the spiritual Islam of Sufism.” He even puts a number on it, saying 80% of India’s Muslims practice Sufi traditions. World Threats 
 One of the most visible leaders of an Al Qaeda-affiliated terrorist militia in Somalia spent a year in Toronto ingratiating himself into the Somali immigrant community as a convert to Islam.
Omar Hammami – known to followers as Abu Mansour "Al-Amriki" (the American) – ate at Somali restaurants and prayed in Somali mosques.
He married a Toronto woman of Somali origin and had a daughter with her.
Then, after learning Somali ways, he left to join the Horn of Africa's top terror group, Al-Shabab, to wage Islamic jihad and recruit other foreign nationals to the cause, say former friends and relatives speaking publicly of the terrorist's Toronto connections for the first time.
"He betrayed us," says a former friend who worked with Hammami at a Weston Rd. pizzeria. "For a man to be saying that, Islamically, it is okay to be killing innocent people – and yesterday you fed him bread and welcomed him into your houses – it kind of shatters you."
Five ethnic Somali men disappeared from Scarborough this fall, all friends believed recruited into Al-Shabab. Three are said by family associates to have since phoned home from Somalia. No direct connection to Hammami is known but in the Somali community his Internet postings are notorious.
On a 2008 recruitment video, referring to one of his dead fighters, Hammami says, "We need more like him.
"So if you can encourage more of your children and more of your neighbours, anyone around, to send people like him to this jihad, it would be a great asset for us."
A least 20 young men have left Minneapolis, Minn., for Al-Shabab in the last 18 months. One of them is confirmed to have blown himself up with a car bomb in the Somali port town of Bosasso. Five others are said by relatives to be dead.
Other young men have left from Boston, Columbus, San Diego and Seattle. Others have joined from Australia and the United Kingdom.
The suicide bomber who killed three government ministers and at least 16 others at a graduating ceremony for doctors and engineers last month in Mogadishu was recruited from Denmark.
Hammami himself is said to have been wounded in fighting late last year.
Al-Shabab's stated goals are to take power from the fragile government backed by African Union troops and turn Somalia into an Islamic state friendly to Al Qaeda. Ultimately, its leaders say, the aim is to establish a global Islamic state.
"We are striving to establish the Islaamic Khilaafah from East to West," Hammami writes in an Internet posting of Jan. 8, 2008, "after removing the occupier and killing the apostates."
For Torontonians, al-Shabab recruitment presents another terrifying possibility: A fanatic returns to explode himself in a crowd.
Or as RCMP Commissioner William Elliott put it in October: "The potential follow-on threat is Somali-Canadians who travel to Somalia to fight and then return, imbued with both extremist ideology and the skills necessary to translate it into direct action."
Omar Hammami is 25 years old. He grew up in Daphne, Ala., just outside Mobile.
His mother is Baptist by religion. His father is Shafik Hammami, a Syrian-born engineer with the Alabama transportation department and president of the Islamic Society of Mobile. Reached by phone last week, he refused comment.
Although Hammami grew up Baptist, he converted to Islam in the late 1990s while attending Daphne High School.
"He had tons of friends," fellow student Shellie Brooks told Fox News four months ago, "and of course things changed a bit when he converted because his beliefs changed."
In September 2001, Hammami had just started computer science studies at the University of South Alabama – and been elected head of the Muslim Student Association – when Al Qaeda launched its suicide attacks on the United States....
Read it all here.
 Jordan has asked Canada to seize the 2,000-year-old Dead Sea scrolls, on display until Sunday at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, invoking international law in a bid to keep the artifacts out of the hands of Israel until their disputed ownership is settled. Even if Canada ignores the request, it will make other countries think twice before accepting the controversial exhibit. Summoning the Canadian chargé d'affaires in Amman two weeks ago, Jordan cited the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict, to which both Jordan and Canada are signatories, in asking Canada to take custody of the scrolls. Jordan claims Israel acted illegally in 1967 when it took the scrolls from a museum in east Jerusalem, which Israel seized from Jordan during the Six-Day War and subsequently occupied. The Hague Convention, which is concerned with safeguarding cultural property during wartime, requires each signatory “to take into its custody cultural property imported into its territory either directly or indirectly from any occupied territory. This shall either be effected automatically upon the importation of the property or, failing this, at the request of the authorities of that territory.” This means Canada must act, says Jordan. “The Government of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan would be grateful if the Government of Canada would confirm … whether it is prepared to assume its international legal responsibility, and the means by which it intends to do so,” it wrote. While confirming that Canada has received a message from Jordan, a spokesperson for the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade said yesterday that “differences regarding ownership of the Dead Sea scrolls should be addressed by Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority. It would not be appropriate for Canada to intervene as a third party.” The ROM's exhibition of the scrolls, mounted “in partnership with the Israel Antiquities Authority,” opened on June 27. While Jordan has acted only recently in asking Canada to take custody of the scrolls, the Palestinian Authority has made its position known since April, when Salam Fayyad, Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority, wrote to Prime Minister Stephen Harper concerning what it argues is the illegal use of the scrolls. More at the Globe and Mail H/T: Smooth Stone
 EIGHT Americans possibly working for the CIA were killed when a suicide bomber blew himself up after sneaking into the gym on a US base in Afghanistan yesterday. And four Canadian soldiers and a woman journalist were also killed when a bomb exploded as their armoured vehicle passed by on Tuesday, in one of the deadliest 24 hours for foreigners in the war-torn country. The attacks come as the number of US and NATO-led foreign troops is set to soar to 150,000 to try to halt an increasingly virulent insurgency by the Taliban militia that has made 2009 the bloodiest year for international forces since the 2001 invasion. Pentagon spokeswoman Lt Col Almarah Belk said the eight Americans died when an attacker detonated a vest packed with explosives on Forward Operating Base Chapman in Khost province - a key Taliban stronghold. “Eight Americans have been killed in an attack on RC-East,” a US embassy official said, using the military term for a region of eastern Afghanistan. But the Washington Post newspaper said that most of the eight probably worked for the CIA, which it said was using the Chapman base. A suicide bomber managed to penetrate the base's defences, detonating an explosive belt in a room described as a base gym. The Post said US sources confirmed that all the dead and injured were civilians, and that most were probably CIA employees or contractors. It said the attack appears to have killed more US intelligence personnel than have died since the US-led invasion in 2001, adding that the agency has acknowledged the deaths of four CIA officers in Afghanistan since then. Suicide attacks are a hallmark of the hardline Taliban militia, who are waging a major insurgency to topple the Western-backed government of Afghan President Hamid Karzai and oust the foreign troops. The US said last month it had doubled the number of civilian experts working in Afghanistan and was “on track” to meet its goal of nearly 1000 by the new year. Many are to work in provincial military bases alongside military reconstruction teams. The New York Times said an unidentified NATO official described Chapman as “not a regular base,” suggesting it was used by US intelligence agencies. The five Canadians were killed in a roadside bombing in the Taliban stronghold of Kandahar in southeastern Afghanistan, said General Daniel Menard, the head of Canadian forces in the country. “Yesterday Canada lost five citizens,” General Menard said on Canadian television, adding that a Canadian civilian official was also wounded. “Four soldiers and one journalist were killed as a result of an improvised explosive device attack on their armoured vehicle during a community patrol in Kandahar City.” Public television station CBC identified the journalist as Michelle Lang, a reporter with the Calgary Herald. The deaths raised to 138 the number of Canadian soldiers killed in Afghanistan. Canada has some 2800 troops deployed in the Kandahar region, who are supposed to return home in 2011. The Australian
 THE Canadian transportation department has temporarily banned most carry-on luggage on flights from Canada to the U.S. The moves comes following the Christmas Day terror attempt on a Northwest Airlines flight from Amsterdam to Detroit. Transport Canada said in a statement on its website that "US bound passengers are not allowed to bring carry-on bags into the cabin of the aircraft, with some exceptions.” Exceptions include medication or medical devices, purses, infant care items, laptop computers and cameras. The additional security measures are expected to be in place for "at least several days,” the statement said. Transport Canada is asking travellers to arrive at the airport three hours in advance of their scheduled flights due to delays stemming from extra security measures. The Australian
 From CAN: Up to five Somalis living in Canada disappeared earlier this month and the authorities are investigating whether they have joined the ranks of the Al-Shabaab terrorist group in Somalia, The National Post reports.
The individuals are believed to have flown together to Kenya, which borders the East African country currently suffering from a civil war.
“As you know, we have one of the largest Somali diaspora communities in the Western world,” the newspaper report quoted William Elliott, the Commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mountain Police, as saying during an October 30 presentation. “The potential follow-on threat, from a Canadian and RCMP [Royal Canadian Mountain Police] perspective, is Somali-Canadians who travel to Somalia to fight and then return, imbued with both extremist ideology and the skills necessary to translate it into direct action.” The National Post reports that if the group has indeed joined the terrorist forces in Somalia, they wouldn’t be the first Canadians to do so.
A businessman in Toronto was killed in 2008 fighting Ethiopian troops that had intervened in the conflict, and a “handful” of others had also joined the fight. Somali-Americans have also gone to Somalia to join al-Shabaab, at least two of which have since died in the conflict, including one who became the first American suicide bomber.
Press reports indicate that as many as 20 Somali-Americans have disappeared in the Minneapolis area and are believed to have gone to Somalia. World Threats
 by Salim Mansur There has been a little storm in a teacup over the itinerary of Prime Minister Stephen Harper's recent visit to India in the pages of the National Post. Some people have expressed unhappiness with Harper for his journey to Amritsar in Punjab, the sacred city of the Sikhs, and in visiting the Golden Temple for political mileage with Canada's Sikh community. Others were put off by the prime minister for going to Mumbai, the city terrorized by Islamist warriors (jihadists) sent from Pakistan in Nov. 2008. In Mumbai, he visited the Chabad House of the Orthodox Jews where six people were murdered, including Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg and his pregnant wife Rivkah. Again, it is implied Harper was cynically exploiting his official visit to India for the political purpose of securing Jewish votes in Canada. There is some legitimate ground to be critical of Harper's visit to the Golden Temple and how such a visit might be viewed as pushing the buttons of ethnic politics that is demeaning to all Canadians. The same cannot be said of Harper taking time to pay respect at the Chabad House. But this visit was neither about merely remembering the horror of Islamist terror descending upon India's largest and most cosmopolitan city, nor the obscene hunt by the jihadists for a few Jews and their murder in a city of more than 14 million people.
It was instead much more with Harper displaying a sense of compassion, grieving and solidarity with India after Indians had suffered their own version of 9/11. The Chabad House in Mumbai symbolizes what modern India represents as the world's largest democracy and what the Islamists hate. India's nationalism is a composite nourished by diverse streams of ethnicities and religions over many centuries. Jews arrived in India about the time Siddhartha Gautama, the founder of Buddhism, was born in the 6th century before Christ. This is more than a millennium before Islam arrived and nearly two millennia before Sikhism was preached in the Punjab. In recent decades, an unfortunate distance grew between India and Israel when New Delhi leaned towards the Arab world. But in 1992, the two democracies established full diplomatic relations and this has grown into a strategic partnership befitting the history of the two people. This includes India's Muslims -- the second largest community of Muslims in the world after that of Indonesia -- whose leaders have travelled to Jerusalem and embraced Jews and Israel in the fullness of their faith-tradition. India's blemishes and virtues are not hidden. They are out in the open -- the poverty of her multitudes, the sacrifices in the making and preserving of her democracy, the struggle to make the transition into a modern industrial society -- and openly discussed as the founders of modern India wished it. India, as an open, secular democracy where all of the world's faiths are present, was under assault by the Islamist terrorists. And by murdering Jews in Mumbai, these terrorists were indicating Jews are not safe anywhere. In visiting the Chabad House, Harper went the distance to affirm Canada's solidarity with India and the contempt for Islamists everywhere. salim.mansur@sunmedia.ca Toronto Sun
 A CANADIAN journalist freed by Somali kidnappers today with Australian Nigel Brennan says she was beaten and tortured during her 15 months in captivity. Ms Lindhout said they were released today after a ransom "was paid by our families" to the kidnappers, she told Canadian television in a telephone interview from the hotel in Mogadishu were they were taken by Somali officials. "I believe they are taking that money and, as far as I understand, they plan on leaving the country," Ms Lindhout told CTV News Channel. "It's a long story. It's been sort of going on for the last couple of weeks, and tonight finally everything came together and the men who had kidnapped us turned us over to the federal government in Somalia." Ms Lindhout said she was beaten and tortured while in captivity. "It was extremely oppressive. I was kept by myself at all times. I had no one to speak to. I was normally kept in a room with a light, no window, I had nothing to write on or with. There was very little food. I was allowed to use the toilet exactly five times a day," she said. "There were times that I was beaten, that I was tortured. It was an extremely, extremely difficult situation." She said the kidnappers told her they were beating her because the money "wasn't coming quickly enough". "They seemed to think that if they beat me enough, then when I was able to speak to my mother - which they would put me on the line with her every couple of months - that I would be able to say the right thing to convince her to pay the ransom for me, which was $1 million," she said. "Of course, my family didn't have $1 million and it didn't matter what I said to them. But they didn't really understand that. They thought: She's Canadian, everyone in Canada is rich. She must have $1 million." One of the kidnappers, who refused to identify himself, said that a ransom of $US1 million ($1.08 million) had been paid for the pair's release. Their release was confirmed by an independent source in the Somali capital Mogadishu to an AFP journalist. Ms Lindhout and Mr Brennan were in a Mogadishu hotel today, pending their departure from Somalia tomorrow. A hotel employee said the two journalists were "very tired" following the end of their ordeal, one of the longest-running of many kidnappings in the lawless country. Mr Brennan has told Australia's Channel 7 network he is relieved and safe and looking forward to going home. A Somali journalist and two drivers were also taken hostage but were freed after 177 days in captivity. They were unable to identify their captors or the motives for the kidnappings. The Australian
New Citizenship Guides Spells It OutBy Phyllis Chesler The Canadian government has just revamped its citizenship guide for immigrants. The document is titled “The Rights and Responsibilities of Canadian Citizenship.” According to Canada’s National Post, “In Canada, men and women are equal under the law,” the document says. “Canada’s openness and generosity do not extend to barbaric cultural practices that tolerate spousal abuse, ‘honour killings,’ female genital mutilation or other gender-based violence. Those guilty of these crimes are severely punished under Canada’s criminal laws.” Read more ... Source: PJM
 Nothing to see here. Move along. "Syrian carrying $880,000, Hezbollah ring, 9/11 videos, stopped at Canadian border," by Frank Luba for the Canwest News Service, November 12 VANCOUVER -- Don't cross the Canadian border with almost a million dollars that you fail to declare -- especially when you also have a Hezbollah ring and a Palestinian scarf in your possession. Khaled Nawaya found that out the hard way when he was arrested Oct. 6 at the Douglas border crossing in Surrey, B.C., and had to spend a month in detention while being investigated as a security threat. He was released on Thursday with a long list of conditions after a hearing before the federal government's Immigration Division member Lynda Mackie. He remains to have no status in Canada. Mr. Nawaya, 34, had a visa to get into the country and, according to his lawyer, Phil Rankin, has spent 18 months going through all that's required to move to Canada from the U.S. as a landed immigrant. "It's not like this started 30 days ago," said Mr. Rankin. But the Saudi Arabian-born Syrian citizen, who is qualified as a flight instructor and had hoped to work in B.C., complicated his situation by not declaring the money. That's against the law, although charges have not yet been laid as his case is still being investigated. Mr. Nawaya was reluctant to speak to the media but finally declared: "I feel great. It's an experience for life. It's one of these things." About $800,000 of Mr. Nawaya's stash, which is still in the Canadian government's possession, was in Canadian gold coins purchased by Mr. Nawaya's brother, who lives in Texas. There was another $70,000 in cash and about $10,000 in his pockets, Further compounding the situation was his possession of a ring with the Hezbollah emblem. Mr. Rankin said the ring was one of two specially made by Mr. Nawaya's brother.... His goods also included a Palestinian scarf and DVDs related to the 9/11 tragedy. Mr. Rankin said the combination of possessions led to the notion Mr. Nawaya was a security threat. Islamophobia! Source: JihadWatch
 OTTAWA — A new citizenship guide for potential immigrants to Canada flatly declares that new Canadians cannot engage in "barbaric" cultural practices such as genital mutilation and "honour killings." The new guide, released Thursday by Jason Kenney, Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism, says in a section called "Equality of Women and Men" that such practices are illegal and severely punishable under Canada's criminal laws. "Multiculturalism doesn't mean that anything goes. Multiculturalism means that we celebrate what's best about our backgrounds, but we do so on the basis of common Canadian values and respect for our laws," said Kenney. "It's no secret that we've seen instances of culturally rooted abuse of women, so-called 'honour killings,' forced marriages, and spousal abuse, and even female genital mutilation. We want to make sure that people understand that multiculturalism doesn't create an excuse to engage in those barbaric cultural practices." The updated guide, called Discover Canada: The Rights and Responsibilities of Citizenship, also puts greater emphasis on the obligations of citizenship, such as getting a job, as well as military history. Kenney said it is a significant improvement from the 1997 Liberal version. "When you become a citizen, you're not just getting a travel document into hotel Canada," said Kenney. "You are inheriting a set of responsibilities, of obligations, as a citizen. And we will expect you to fulfil certain responsibilities, as a citizen. And I think to a certain extent that wasn't sufficiently emphasized in the old guide." Discover Canada also delves into Canada's historical — and sometimes controversial — past, through mention of the Hudson's Bay Company's trading rights, the War of 1812, the Rebellions of 1837-38, Confederation, Louis Riel's armed uprisings, the Quiet Revolution and Quebec sovereignty. The guide goes on to expound on the world wars, including an explanation of Remembrance Day and the poppy, all of which is prefaced at the beginning of the guide in a section called Defending Canada. "There is no compulsory military service in Canada. However, serving in the regular Canadian Forces (navy, army, and air force) is a noble way to contribute to Canada and make an excellent career choice," reads the guide. Jack Jedwab, executive director of the Montreal-based think-tank Association for Canadian Studies, says the new citizenship document represents a clear victory for the "well intentioned" proponents of Canada's military history, who have long argued that the country's pivotal participation in the two world wars should occupy a more central place in our national identity. But he says a recent Canada-wide survey by ACS highlights the limits of touting Canada's achievements in the First World War and Second World War as a way to strengthen citizens' sense of belonging in a country with such diverse experiences of those epic conflicts. Read more,,,, Source: Canada.Com
 UNITED NATIONS -- Guards ejected an accredited Canadian commentator from the United Nations after she denounced a controversial report that focuses heavily on alleged Israeli war crimes. Anne Bayefsky, a York University political science professor, offered the only pro-Israel commentary on Thursday night at a microphone outside the General Assembly hall following remarks by its Libyan president, Ali Treki, and the chief Palestinian official at the United Nations, Riyad Mansour. Arab and Muslim countries had overcome Western opposition in the adoption of a resolution endorsing the report by South African Judge Richard Goldstone, which focuses on the Israeli assault last winter on Gaza. Ms. Bayefsky said four guards confiscated two UN passes the organization had issued to her as director of Touro Law Center's Institute on Human Rights and The Holocaust, and removed her from the building after questioning her. "I am quite sure that if I had congratulated the United Nations, no one would have said anything," said Ms. Bayefsky, who was unable to get her credentials reinstated after spending more than two hours drafting a request at the UN last night. UN-based blogger Matt Lee said Mr. Mansour, after being told a "pro-Israel non-governmental organization" had spoken at the microphone, asked: "Did we capture them?" Mr. Lee said he spoke with Mr. Mansour after the guards had led Ms. Bayefsky away, and security officials were unable to confirm last night whether they had acted of their own accord, or in response to a complaint. Mr. Treki's spokesman, Jean Victor Nkolo, said Ms. Bayefsky was "not authorized at all" to use the mike. "This is a stakeout for member states and for the General Assembly," he said. "NGOs and private individuals have nothing to do there. Period." Mr. Nkolo dismissed suggestions Ms. Bayefsky would have felt free to approach the microphone on grounds that other similarly accredited organizations have done so in the past. Human Rights Watch's Steve Crawshaw spoke there in 2007 as he complimented the assembly on a widely cheered human rights decision, Mr. Lee's innercitypress.com Website notes. Actress Mia Farrow, an activist against Sudanese actions in Darfur, also spoke at a microphone generally used by diplomats, addressing reporters outside the UN Security Council this year. Ms. Bayesfky herself had previously spoken at the microphone following the UN's Human Rights council elections, without incident. The drama unfolded less than two weeks after UN guards faced criticism for allowing a man disguised as Kentucky Fried Chicken founder Harland "Colonel" Sanders to enter the complex and pose for publicity pictures. Ms. Bayefsky had offered her assessment of the resolution, which gives both Israel and the Palestinians three months to launch "independent credible investigations" into alleged war crimes outlined in the Goldstone report. Part of her focus was on Hamas, which controls Gaza, but which most western countries list as a terrorist organization. "The idea that ... a terrorist organization is going to decide for itself whether or not it violates the rule of law is something that, I think, no serious democratic society will take seriously," she said. "You just have to ask yourselves whether this process has done anything in terms of bolstering the credibility of the United Nations." Little more than half of the assembly's 192 members approved the resolution, which passed 114 in favour, 18 against (including Canada), with 44 abstentions. Source: National Post H/T: Atlas
 by Ryan Mauro A battle in the war against radical Islam in Detroit was briefly waged on October 28 when the FBI engaged in a deadly shootout with an extremist imam refusing to be arrested.
The imam was a leader in “Ummah,” meaning “the brotherhood,” a group said to consist of mostly African-Americans, many of whom converted in prison.
This group isn’t the only one trying to create an Islamic state within the borders of the U.S., and this shoot-out should be expected, unfortunately, to be a sign of more violent conflict coming down the line in this country with Islamic militant groups. The gunfire began when the FBI tried to arrest Imam Luqman Ameen Abdullah, whose original name was Christopher Thomas, for his involvement in a crime ring along with followers of his.
Abdullah violently resisted, and managed to shoot and kill one of the FBI’s dogs before falling to gunfire. The spiritual leader of Ummah is Jamil Abdullah al-Amin, a former Black Panther who is in jail for killing two police officers in Georgia that tried to arrest him.
To Abdullah, he was just following in his leader’s footsteps and carrying out the “offensive jihad” against the U.S. government he had long preached about. The government also indicted 11 of Abdullah’s followers on charges including illegal possession and sale of firearms, conspiracy and theft of interstate shipments, mail fraud to obtain the proceeds of arson, and tampering with vehicle identification numbers.
Some fled to Canada, including Abdullah’s oldest son, who was arrested in Ontario. His son trained about 60 youth in martial arts at the mosque and was part of what was called the “Sura team,” a group that carried guns to protect the mosque. Read more here,,,, Source: FPM
 WINDSOR, Ontario — A lawyer for two Canadians wanted by the FBI following the death of a controversial imam in a police shootout in Detroit says they plan to fight extradition. The two men, Mohammad Al-Sahli, 33, and Yassir Ali Khan, 30, both of Windsor, Ontario, appeared briefly in court on Monday. Lawyer Patrick Ducharme says their case was put over until Friday for a bail hearing. The men, arrested Saturday, remain in jail. The FBI accuses the men of a conspiracy to sell stolen goods, and says they were followers of Imam Luqman Ameen Abdullah. A police complaint suggests the imam espoused violence and sought to establish a Shariah-law state within the United States, a claim his mosque calls preposterous. Source: FoxNews
 "Abdullah beat children with sticks at his Detroit mosque, the complaint claimed, and was trained with his followers in the use of firearms, martial arts and swords." Imagine the national media frenzy if that sentence were about a Catholic priest or an evangelical pastor. But this story will get media notice only because Abdullah was killed -- and much of it will probably center on questions of whether the shooting constitutes "Islamophobia." Detroit Jihad Update. "Son of Radical Islam Leader Killed in FBI Shootout Caught in Canada," from FoxNews, October 29 One of three people sought by the FBI was captured in Canada Thursday and two were still on the loose after a federal raid and deadly shooting of a radical Islam leader whose goal authorities say was to take down the U.S. government. Federal authorities in Detroit said the son of 53-year-old Luqman Ameen Abdullah, who was killed in Wednesday night's shootout with FBI agents, was arrested across the border in Windsor, Ontario. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police took 30-year-old Mujahid Carswell, who was considered armed and dangerous, into custody Thursday. No other details were released. Carswell was among 11 people charged Wednesday in a criminal complaint in federal court in Detroit. Andrew Arena, the head of the FBI office in Detroit, says the men follow "a very hybrid radical ideology" that mainstream Muslims "would not recognize." It would be interesting to see him explain the differences. But probably this statement arises either from ignorance or from a desire to provide some politically correct cover. Read more here,,,, Source: JihadWatch
 By Robert Spencer Now why is it that this imam, who has dedicated his life to understanding the Koran, misses its teachings of peace and tolerance? "Toronto imam preaching hate instead of harmony," by Charles Lewis for the National Post, October 21
A Toronto-area imam is under fire for using derogatory language against Jews and Christians, calling for Allah to "destroy" the enemies of Islam from within and calling on God to "damn" the "infidels." The address, given last Friday by Imam Saed Rageah at the Abu Huraira Centre and then posted on YouTube , is an attack on those who have been calling for a ban on the niqab and burka, both of which cover the faces of women. "Allah protect us from the fitna [sedition] of these people; Allah protect us from the evil agenda of these people; Allah destroy them from within themselves, and do not allow them to raise their heads in destroying Islam." [...] The Abu Huraira Centre attracts about 800 to 1,000 people to a typical Friday service. A man who worked at the centre said that many women who attend only wear the hijab, which covers the head, and do not wear any covering on their faces. [...] Throughout the 35-minute speech he uses the word "kuffar" to describe non-Muslims. In referring to those Muslims who would seek allies outside the Muslim community to bring about legislation that would ban face coverings, the imam said: "You will see a lot of them going to the kuffar, taking them as friends and allies. The wrath of Allah is upon them. If they were true believers they would never take them as allies."... That accords with Koran 3:28 and 5:51, both of which tell Muslims not to take unbelievers as allies. Source: JihadWatch
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by Noah Shack
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