"STAND WITH US" CONFRONTS GAZA FLOTILLA SPEAKERS BY: FERN SIDMAN On Thursday evening, June 17th, members of Stand With Us, the pro-Israel student advocacy organization staged a raucous demonstration outside The House of the Lord Church on Atlantic Avenue in downtown Brooklyn, as they confronted the allegations leveled against Israel in its role in the May 31st commando raid on the "Free Gaza Flotilla" ship, the Marvi Marmara. The former Turkish MP and IHH activist Ahmet Faruk Unsal who had been scheduled to speak was denied access to the USA, however Viva Palestina organizer Kevin Ovenden and filmmaker Lara Lee, who claim they were passengers on the ship, took the podium to spew forth invective against Israel for the attack that left nine Turkish terrorist nationals dead. Sponsored by a litany of anti-Israel and pro-Hamas organizations such as Al-Awda-New York: The Palestine Right to Return Coalition, the Muslim American Society, American Muslims For Palestine, NYC Labor Against the War, International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network, the Arab Muslim American Federation, Labor For Palestine, Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine, Action for a Progressive Pakistan, and the ANSWER Coalition among others, the speakers called for "an international war crimes" tribunal to be established in order to bring Israel to "justice" for what they perceive as an act of "piracy and murder". Approximately 40 member of Stand With Us and other concerned citizens stood directly across the street from the church holding aloft signs saying, "Humanitarian Aid Workers Don't Carry Knives, Axes and Metal Bars", "Israel: We Stand With You” and "Shame on Turkey" while chanting "Terrorists - Yes; Humanitarians - No". Clearly, the implications of the demonstrators was that the Turkish sponsored flotilla, under the aegis of the IHH, which stands for the Foundation for Human Rights and Freedoms and Humanitarian Relief, is not an Islamic charity but rather a group with direct links to terrorist organizations. According to news reports, Turkish security forces, in 1998, raided the IHH’s headquarters in Istanbul and found weapons, explosives, instructions for making IEDs and a flag with a jihad message. As former French counter-terrorism magistrate, Jean-Louis Bruguière, who was involved in the raid, has explained: “It was clearly proven that some of the NGO’s work was not charity. It was to provide a facade for moving funds, weapons and mujahedeen to and from Bosnia and Afghanistan.” The IHH is also a member of the Saudi-based umbrella organization, the Union of Good (Ittilaf al-Kheir), led by Sheikh Yusuf Quaradawi, who is considered the spiritual leader of the Muslim Brotherhood. Every year the Union of Good, whose top officials include Hamas members, channels millions of dollars to Hamas-controlled organizations in the West Bank and Gaza. Avi Posnick, the local chapter leader of Stand With Us said, "We are here today to counter the bald faced lies and egregious propaganda that are being hurled against Israel inside this church. Based on video and personal testimonies, Israel has been exonerated from any wrongdoing but these speakers, who allege to be humanitarians, but are just the opposite; choose not to look at the truth. Israel did not randomly kill "innocent” people aboard the Marvi Marmara but rather defended herself against terrorists with the intent to kill Israeli commandos and with the intent of smuggling weapons to Hamas forces in Gaza." Referencing a June 15th article by Jerusalem Post reporter Caroline Glick in which she wrote: "Led by US President Barack Obama, the West has cast its lot with Hamas against Israel. It is not surprising that Obama is siding with Hamas. His close associates are leading members of the pro-Hamas Free Gaza outfit. Obama's friends, former Weatherman Underground terrorists Bernadine Dohrn and William Ayres participated in a Free Gaza trip to Egypt in January. Their aim was to force the Egyptians to allow them into Gaza with 1,300 fellow Hamas supporters. Their mission was led by Code Pink leader and Obama fundraiser Jodie Evans. Another leading member of Free Gaza is former US senator from South Dakota James Abourezk. All of these people have open lines of communication not only to the Obama White House, but to Obama himself", New York State Assemblyman Dov Hikind who represents the 48th assembly district in Boro Park and was present at the demonstration said, "I am not at all surprised. Obama has created a political atmosphere that not only endangers Israel but the entire Western world." "My question is: Where are all the Zionist organizations? Where are all the pulpit rabbis? Why aren't they here today and why don't we hear their collective voices of outrage and indignation against the Obama administration's pressure on Israel to empanel an investigative committee to find out what really happened on the Marvi Marmara, when we all know that the State of Israel was being attacked by terrorists? Why isn't the Zionist leadership, especially here in New York organizing rallies and demonstrations against the nefarious policies of this administration as it pertains to Israel?" Assemblyman Hikind declared. Citing the abject silence on the part of his colleagues in the Democratic party, Hikind intoned, "We can expect little or nothing in terms of strong opposition to Obama's Middle East agenda from our elected officials in the Democratic party. Their reluctance to voice their concern about Israel's predicament speaks volumes about their allegiance to partisan politics and their repudiation of the concerns of their constituencies."
 ANKARA, Turkey — Turkish police on Friday rounded up 120 people suspected of links to the Al Qaeda terror network in simultaneous pre-dawn raids in 16 provinces, the state-run Anatolia news agency reported. It was not clear if Friday's detentions would amount to a major blow to homegrown Islamic militants allegedly affiliated with Al Qaeda. Turkey has carried out similar raids against alleged Al Qaeda suspects in the past year. The arrests follows another raid on suspected militants in the cities Ankara and Adana last week in which police rounded up and interrogated some 40 people and reportedly seized documents detailing Al Qaeda activities. Twenty-five of them were charged with membership in a terrorist organization while the rest were released. "Each operation against Al Qaeda leads to new information and widens the net," said Nihat Ali Ozcan, a terrorism expert at the Economic Policy Research Institute in Ankara. He said the operations were likely to continue. Those detained Friday include a faculty member of the Yuzunci Yil University in the eastern city of Van, who is suspected of recruiting students at the campus and other people through the Internet and of sending them to Afghanistan for training, Anatolia reported, citing unnamed police officials. The suspect was identified by his initials M.E.Y. only. Anatolia said other suspects included some local leaders, university students, and people believed to be spreading Al Qaeda propaganda. Police seized documents and computer hard-disks during Friday's raids, it said. Police would not comment on the arrests Friday. Homegrown Islamic militants tied to the Al Qaeda carried out suicide bombings in Istanbul, killing 58 people in 2003.
The targets were the British consulate, a British bank and two Jewish synagogues. In 2008, an attack blamed on Al Qaeda-affiliated militants outside the U.S. Consulate in Istanbul left three assailants and three policemen dead. Turkish authorities have said dozens of Islamic militants have received training in Afghanistan. However, Al Qaeda's austere and violent interpretation of Islam receives little public backing in Turkey. Several other radical Islamic groups are active in Turkey, a predominantly Muslim but officially secular country. In June, Turkey's court of appeals upheld life sentences for six militants accused in the 2003 deadly bombings, including Syrian Loa'i Mohammad Haj Bakr al-Saqa, who was charged with masterminding the bombings. The court sentenced 33 others to between three years nine months and 18 years.
It acquitted 15 of the suspects, citing a lack of evidence. Hundreds of other suspected militants are on trial for membership in a terror organization. FoxNews
 Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon's dressing down of the Turkish ambassador in Jerusalem last week was in the air but not directly referred to during Defense Minister Ehud Barak's time in Ankara on Sunday. Instead, the 12-hour visit was characterized by pleasantries and long conversations, in a clear attempt by both countries to broadcast that the past was behind them. The Turks viewBarak as someone they can work with and believe that he can have the impact on Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu that they are hoping for. The Turkish media highlighted this point by making a distinction between Barak, whom they described as the leader of the left-wing Labor Party, and Ayalon, who, some papers wrote, was a member of the "far-right" Israel Beiteinu Party. The last time Barak visited Ankara was in February 2008, the same day that Hizbullah military commander Imad Mughniyeh was assassinated in Damascus, an operation attributed by some to the Mossad. The killing came half a year after Israel bombed a nuclear reactor in northwest Syria. Then, Israeli-Syrian relations were at an all-time low. Soon after, though, Jerusalem and Damascus launched indirect peace talks with Turkish mediation. Barak's visit at the time likely had something to do with that. On Sunday, Barak's hosts pressed him on the Syrian issue, identifying him correctly as the Israeli cabinet member most supportive of peace talks. Whether or not such negotiations will take place is not up to Barak, though. Netanyahu will have to decide. Barak was trailed throughout his visit by a crowd of Turkish press. At the airport, journalists and cameramen lined the runway with satellite hookups reporting his arrival live. At the mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, he was again met by a pool of reporters. After the minister laid a wreath on the tomb of the republic's first president, and as he signed the visitors' book with a plea for a "safe and secure region," one ofBarak's senior advisers marveled at the size and grandeur of the monument while noting what a great leader Atatürk was. Israel will likely have to keep on hoping for a new secular leader like Atatürk. While Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's Islamic party is predicted to get only 33 percent of the vote in the 2011 elections - more than 10% less than his party received in 2005 - he is still likely to come out first and win a third term. Within the Turkish cabinet, there are believed to be a number of ministers favorable to Israel. Defense Minister Vecdi Gonul, Barak's official host on Sunday, who called the Israeli Embassy on Friday and asked how to translate some Turkish words into Hebrew, is perceived in Jerusalem as the "Israel lobbyist" in the Turkish government. He has tried over the past year, unsuccessfully, to restore warm and full diplomatic and military ties, one of the goals ofBarak's visit. His other meeting, with Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, lasted three-and-a-half-hours, more than double the time originally allotted. Davutoglu is the foreign policy architect within theTurkish cabinet, and is a close associate of Erdogan. Members of Barak's delegation said they believe Erdogan will tone down his criticism of Israel. While he is unlikely to begin supporting Israel, the officials said that the countries could maintain good working relations regardless. The Turkish dailies Sunday were filled with articles about Barak's visit. One column in Today's Zaman, an English-language paper affiliated with the Islamists, said that Israel could no longer rely on maintaining ties with Turkey just on adefense level, and could no longer depend on American-Jewish groups like AIPAC to influence the US Congress. Instead, the column recommended that Israel renew peace talks with Syria and work to improve the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip. The hope in Ankara is that Barak will be able to deliver the goods. This is also the understanding within Israel. As long as Erdogan is prime minister, the most Israel can hope for are lukewarm ties. "The moment there are peace talks, this will change," explained one Israeli official. The only question left is whether Netanyahu will agree to hold those talks. JPost 
 Applying double standards by requiring of [Israel] a behavior not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation" is anti-Semitism. For over 46 years, Turkey has knocked on Europe's door requesting membership in the European Union. The Europeans, however, have been in no rush to invite a Muslim country into their midst, even if it is the most westernized and most democratic Muslim country in the Middle East.
To add to it, Turkey is already a strategic partner in NATO and nearly 3 million of its citizens are peaceful and productive immigrants/guest workers in Europe. Joining the EU, however, demands of Turkey far-reaching political and social reform "on the ground" and "10 to 15 years of negotiations" while the Turks prove democratic changes are "irreversible." On the other end, U.S. [and the Quartet] yardsticks for the Palestinian Arabs, a hostile society demanding statehood, amount to praise for fabricated non-existent reforms and call to abandon the required incremental progress as clearly stated in the "goal-driven Roadmap." The end to violence and democratic reform, that Palestinians have yet to begin, is tolerable by the U.S. administration -- all in order to forge the way for the establishment of a Palestinian state within two years, one which will endanger the very survival of a free and democratic Israel and the rest of the free world. Comparison of the goals and the ramifications of each: The Turks' goal is membership in the European Union - a political alliance that the Europeans have already stated will have an iron-clad reversibility clause for Turkey if it fails to live up to its commitments. The Palestinians' goal is sovereignty as a State - status for which there is no reversibility mechanism if 'Palestine' turns into a rogue state - the kind of polity the U.S. is currently grappling with in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Iran, North Korea, Yemen and elsewhere. Logically, the yardsticks of judging readiness and maturity should be at least equal, if not more stringent for the Palestinian Arabs, a society that consciously and purposely sacrifices its own youth for political gain and tactical advantage, with a leadership that champions the murder of Jews and suicide bombers. Freedom House, a non-sectarian organization founded by Eleanor Roosevelt to monitor civil rights around the world, appraised the Palestinian Authority with the lowest possible rating in its 2009 survey - deeming it "Not [a] Free" society.
At that level political rights and civil liberties are absent or virtually nonexistent, and people experience severely restricted rights of expression and association - all as a result of the extremely oppressive nature of the regime. These "realities on the ground" are totally ignored by the EU and the U.S. in their effort to advance immediate Palestinian statehood. Requiring Israel to cede parts of its land in favour of the Palestinians' empty promises, while their Charters call for the dismantling of the Jewish State, is "applying double standards by requiring of Israel a behavior not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation." Hudson New York
 Mehmet Ali Agca, the man who tried to kill Pope John Paul II in 1981, has been released from a Turkish prison, nearly 30 years after the assassination attempt in St Peter's Square in Rome. Agca waved to journalists on Monday as he left the prison in Ankara, the Turkish capital, where he had served out a separate sentence for crimes committed in Turkey. On his release, he was reportedly taken to be assessed for compulsory military service, although a 2006 military hospital report said he was not fit to serve because of a "severe anti-social personality disorder". "I am expecting him to be released after the military hospital check-up," said Gokay Gultekin, Agca's lawyer. Agca's lawyers said earlier that the military authorities still considered him to be a draft dodger and required him to undergo the examination. There have been long-standing questions about the 52-year-old's mental health based on his frequent outbursts and claims that he was the messiah. Following his release from prison, Agca issued a handwritten statement through his lawyers in which he claimed the world would end "this century". "I proclaim the end of the world. All the world will be destroyed in this century. Every human being will die in this century," he said in his statement. "The Gospel is full of mistakes," he said, apparently referring to the Christian religious texts. "I will write the perfect Gospel." He signed the paper as "The Christ eternal, Mehmet Ali Agca". Agca served 19 years in an Italian prison for his attack on the pope, before being pardoned on the pontiff's initiative in 2000. But he was extradited to serve a sentence in his home country for other crimes, including the 1979 murder of a newspaper editor. The pope, who died in 2005, met with Agca in Italy's Rebibbia prison in 1983 and forgave him for the attack.
Agca's motives for shooting and wounding the pope remain a mystery. Some people believe he was working for Soviet-era eastern European security services alarmed by the Polish pontiff's fierce opposition to communism. In a statement issued last week, Agca said he would answer questions on the attack in the next few weeks, including whether the Soviet and Bulgarian governments were involved. Al Jazeera
 The militaries of Israel and Turkey are trying to salvage an alliance severely damaged as Ankara realigns its position in the Middle East. A one-day trip to Turkey by Israeli defense minister Ehud Barak on Sunday will be the highest-level visit by an Israeli or Turkish official to the other country since Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's explosive confrontation over the Gaza conflict with President Shimon Peres at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, in January 2009. Already this week, a Turkish military team has been in Israel to test Heron unmanned aerial vehicles that Israel has contracted to sell to Turkey for just under $200 million. A senior Israeli official also was in Ankara this week to keep that much delayed deal on track. Analysts say it is no surprise that the main effort to restore the relationship is coming from the two militaries, which have formed its bedrock ever since the alliance was formed in the mid-1990s. At the time, the alliance gave Turkey access to technologically advanced military equipment and Israeli intelligence capabilities. Turkey was fighting a brutal counterinsurgency war with Kurdish militants who had bases in Iraq and Syria. Turkey and Syria came close to war in 1998. Israel and Turkey signed more than 20 military agreements in the 1990s. One called for four joint air force training sessions a year in each country. The two navies participated in joint exercises and staff officers collaborated on war-game simulations.
Deals like Israel's modernization of 54 Turkish Phantom jets helped military exports reach $1 billion during the decade. Israel also supplied radar systems and missile components. "Turkey is the only regional partner Israel has in terms of military relationship," said Gerald Steinberg, a political-science professor at Bar Ilan University, located outside Tel Aviv. "It once offset conventional threats from Syria, and was a threat to Hezbollah and Iran that Israel could strike from the north through Turkey." But in the past decade, the collaboration has become less vital. Military trade dropped off. While Israel won a $688 million contract to modernize Turkish tanks, the Heron deal has been a bone of contention. Mr. Erdogan's avowedly Islamic government is taking a much tougher view of Israel's role in Gaza and the West Bank, even as he restores relations with its Muslim neighbors, where criticizing Israel is popular. Turkey last year held its first joint military exercises with Syria, signed dozens of agreements with Iraq, and last week established visa free travel with Lebanon. For Israel, the relationship with Ankara also has become less critical. A growing commercial relationship with India is overshadowing military business with Turkey, Israeli analysts say.
And the conventional military threat from Syria has diminished and Iraq has been removed for now as a foe. Still, Turkey's military has significant contracts for arms purchases from Israel that it wants to see completed, says Hüseyin Bagci, professor of international relations at Middle East Technical University in Ankara. "On the political side, both governments are playing to domestic audiences and the latest conflict served both sides. On the military side, both sides try to arm each other," says Mr. Bagci. Analysts believe the relationship will survive, though in reduced form, if only because for Turkey to become hostile toward Israel would severely complicate its relationship with the United States, and end support it has received from the Jewish lobby in the U.S. Congress. Indeed, since Turkey's high-profile removal of Israel from planned NATO air exercises last fall, the two militaries in December conducted a joint search-and-rescue exercise in the Mediterranean. Also in December, President Peres and Turkey's President Abdullah Gül met on the sidelines of the climate conference in Compenhagen. But this week's dispute over the Israeli foreign ministry's deliberate, televised humiliation of Turkey's ambassador has exposed a rift within the Israeli government over how to handle Turkey, says Alon Liel, a former foreign ministry director general. A hard-line camp is led by Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, who wants to preserve Israel's honor in the face of attacks on its policy toward Palestinians—attacks that Mr. Erdogan makes frequently. The second camp is led by Mr. Barak, who reflects the desire of Israel's defense establishment to preserve ties with an important trade partner.
Unlike Mr. Lieberman, Mr. Barak also wants to resume peace talks with Syria, says Mr. Liel. Turkey had been mediating talks with Syria when the Gaza conflict began. WSJ
 By Dr Afyare Abdi Elmi In the past, probably fearing a repeat of Black Hawk Down, the international community has given little attention to addressing the root of Somalia's problems - statelessness. It has ignored the necessity of rebuilding the Somali state, particularly its coercive capacity.
As Charles Snyder, the former US assistant secretary of state for Africa, openly said, US efforts in the country have largely focused on denying al-Qaeda the opportunity to establish military bases there and in containing Somalia's problems to Somalia's borders.
In retrospect, neither objective has been achieved.
The al-Shabab group has become a fully-fledged movement and is now not afraid to openly challenge both Somalis and the international community.
Moreover, long gone are the days when any given conflict affects only the people in that country. The refugee flow, free weapons and human suffering affect places that are far from Somalia.
However, attitudes are now changing. The profile of this issue has been raised and there is a sense of renewed urgency and international attention. According to the press, Somalia is activated and the UN Security Council may debate its options soon.
If the situation is to be reversed, Somalia's state has to be reconstructed.
The long term solution to the Somalia challenge is to rebuild a strong central state.
The international community must, therefore, come up with a comprehensive strategy - and one that has a security, political and economic plan.
Moreover, the international community must keep in mind that all of its efforts have to enhance the will and the capacity of Somalis - it should not replace them.
Regarding the security component, the international community's intervention has to focus on a suitable mandate for international peacekeeping forces that can assist the Somali government in the short term and in developing Somalia's security forces in the long term.
One of the most challenging tasks would be to convince troop contributing countries to participate in a Somalia mission.
The Black Hawk Down event haunts many countries when considering committing to such a mission. But, things have changed in a significant way.
Although there are political stakeholders that are competing for power and resources, most Somalis are tired of the ongoing war. Moreover, the stakes are high now - as extremism and piracy pose threats to world peace - and the Somali conflict has transformed to such a significant degree that it is now "ripe for resolution" to use William Zartman's vocabulary.
As such, events in the past should not keep the international community from doing the right thing.
Moreover, developed or semi-developed countries need to have self interest when sending their troops to Somalia.
Such leverages, while not present now, can be created.
Indonesia or Turkey might be interested in leading such a mission if Washington pressures them. As in the case of East Timor, if Somalia's resources are on the table, powerful and energy-hungry countries, such as China, might be tempted to invest in a peacebuilding project.
 Reuters is reporting here that the People’s Republic of China will not agree to additional sanctions on Iran. “This is not the right time or right moment for sanctions because the diplomatic efforts are still going on,” Chinese envoy Zhang Yesui told reporters.”The efforts aimed at diplomatic negotiations on the Iranian nuclear issue still need some time and patience,” said Zhang, whose country holds the rotating presidency of the U.N. Security Council this month. “Trying to bridge differences and finding a settlement through diplomatic efforts — there’s still space for such efforts,” he said through an interpreter. Analysis. This is nothing more than a fairly blatant attempt to humble the United States.
The PRC is well aware that it is the United States that is leading the effort to sanction Iran over its nuclear programs. We are doing this to forestall an attack on Iran by Israel and the regional (nuclear) war that would follow. The 5+1 group has laid out a plan that would remove the bulk of Iran’s enriched uranium from the country. Iran has offered to swap part of its enriched uranium for an equivalent amount of nuclear fuel either on Iranian soil or in Turkey. I believe it is the PRC’s plan to force the 5+1 Group, of which it is a member due to its permanent seat on the Security Council, to accept the Iranian offer thereby trumping the position of the other five countries (even though Russia’s position is flexible). The PRC has two motives here. The first is commercial. The PRC has made some major investments in Iranian oil and gas projects that would be seriously impeded in a next round of sanctions. These projects include the building of refineries that would remove Iran’s dependence on outside sources for refined products principally gasoline and aviation fuels. Second this is a relatively cheap way to embarrass the United States and demonstrate our impotence to the rest of the world while increasing the influence of the PRC throughout the world without building carrier strike groups. The danger is that Israel will perceive that it is being set up for a sacrifice in a big power conflict. The Sunni states of the region may come to the same conclusion. Iraq and Saudi Arabia already have religious and secular problems with Iran. Jordan, Lebanon and Egypt have problems eminating from Syria undoubtably at the behest of Iran. Sooner or later, and probably sooner, some combination of Israel plus some or all of the GCC states and Egypt will come together to take on Iran before it is truly capable of a nuclear strike with its new solid fuel missiles. A successful Iranian revolution may overcome this scenario by events. There is equally as great a chance that the mullahocracy will precipitate the regional war to punish the Iranian people for rejecting them and to their way of thinking rejecting God (monafeghin).
This is a dangerous course to take. World Threats
 This is the first time, I think, in which German authorities prosecuted somebody for ordering an honor murder, and not only for carrying it out. This is an important step in fighting such murders. The son, the actual murderer, will be out of jail before he's 30, which is probably why he was the one chosen to do it.
A German court imprisoned a Kurdish man, 50, for life on Tuesday for ordering the "honour killing" of his own daughter after being told she had lost her virginity.
A son and an Azeri friend lured the 20-year-old woman, Gulsum, to a lonely country road near the Dutch border, throttled her with a rope and clubbed her to death, inflicting horrific injuries to her face.
German authorities have vowed to stamp out the archaic custom among some Kurds, Turks and other ethnic groups of families murdering their own members who offend "family honour" through sexual relationships. Social workers had earlier tried to protect Gulsum.
The state court at Kleve sentenced Gulsum's brother, 20, to nine and a half years in youth prison, just short of the maximum youth sentence of 10 years. He and the victim were two out of three triplets. He had confessed to the killing after he was arrested.
His helper, 37, was jailed for seven and a half years.
Judges said they were convinced the only motive to murder Gulsum had been that she was no longer a virgin and had secretly undergone an abortion.
They said they were also convinced the father of 10, who denied the murder, had ordered his son to kill the sister.
(more)
Source: Earth Times
See also: Germany: Brother confesses to honor killing With thanks to Islam in Europe
 TEHRAN, Iran — Iran's foreign minister says Turkey could be a venue for Tehran to exchange nuclear material with the West. The statement is another of several offers Tehran has recently made without formally responding to a U.N.-drafted proposal that would reduce Iran's stockpile of enriched uranium and ease Western concerns over Tehran's nuclear intentions. Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki told state TV late Thursday that Iran "does not have a problem with Turkish soil" as the location for an exchange of enriched uranium for nuclear fuel. Iran has earlier said it would only accept the exchange on its own territory. The U.N. plan requires Tehran to ship enriched uranium abroad in return for nuclear fuel for a Tehran research reactor. FoxNews
 ISTANBUL: In response to a Swiss vote banning the construction of new mosque minarets, a group of Muslims this month went into a church building in eastern Turkey and threatened to kill a priest unless he tore down its bell tower, according to an advocacy group.
Three Muslims on Dec. 4 entered the Meryem Ana Church, a Syriac Orthodox church in Diyarbakir, and confronted the Rev. Yusuf Akbulut. They told him that unless the bell tower was destroyed in one week, they would kill him.
“If Switzerland is demolishing our minarets, we will demolish your bell towers too,” one of the men told Akbulut.
The threats came in reaction to a Nov. 29 referendum in Switzerland in which 57 percent voted in favor of banning the construction of new minarets in the country. Swiss lawmakers must now change the national constitution to reflect the referendum, a process that should take more than a year.
The Swiss ban, widely viewed around the world as a breach of religious freedom, is likely to face legal challenges in Switzerland and in the European Court of Human Rights.
There are roughly 150 mosques in Switzerland, four with minarets. Two more minarets are planned. The call to prayer traditional in Muslim-majority countries is not conducted from any of the minarets.
Fikri Aygur, vice president of the European Syriac Union, said that Akbulut has contacted police but has otherwise remained defiant in the face of the threats.
“He has contacted the police, and they gave him guards,” he said. “I talked with him two days ago, and he said, ‘It is my job to protect the church, so I will stand here and leave it in God’s hands.’”
Meryem Ana is more than 250 years old and is one of a handful of churches that serve the Syriac community in Turkey. Also known as Syrian Orthodox, the Syriacs are an ethnic and religious minority in Turkey and were one of the first groups of people to accept Christianity. They speak Syriac, a dialect of Aramaic, a language spoken by Christ. Diyarbakir is located in eastern Turkey, about 60 miles from the Syrian border.
At press time the tower was standing and the priest was safe, said Jerry Mattix, youth pastor at the Diyarbakir Evangelical Church, which is located across a street from Meryem Ana Church.
Mattix said that threats against Christians in Diyarbakir are nothing out of the ordinary. Mattix commonly receives threats, both in the mail and posted on the church’s Internet site, he said.
“We’re kind of used to that,” Mattix said. He added that he has received no threats over the minaret situation but added, “I wouldn’t be surprised if we do.”
Mattix said the people making threats in the area are Muslim radicals with ties to Hezbollah “who like to flex their muscles.”
“We are a major target out here, and we are aware of that,” Mattix said. “But the local police are taking great strides to protect us.”
Mattix said he also has “divine confidence” in God’s protection.
The European Syriac Union’s Aygur said that Christians in Turkey often serve as scapegoats for inflamed local Muslims who want to lash out at Europeans.
“When they [Europeans] take actions against the Muslims, the Syriacs get persecuted by the fanatical Muslims there,” he said.
The threats against the church were part of a public outcry in Turkey that included newspaper editorials characterizing the Swiss decision as “Islamophobia.” One Turkish government official called upon Muslims to divest their money from Swiss bank accounts. He invited them to place their money in the Turkish banking system.
In part, the threats also may reflect a larger and well-established pattern of anti-Christian attitudes in Turkey. A recent study conducted by two professors at Sabanci University found that 59 percent of those surveyed said non-Muslims either “should not” or “absolutely should not” be allowed to hold open meetings where they can discuss their ideas.
The survey also found that almost 40 percent of the population of Turkey said they had “very negative” or “negative” views of Christians. In Turkey, Christians are often seen as agents of outside forces bent on dividing the country.
This is not the first time Akbulut has faced persecution. Along with a constant string of threats and harassment, he was tried and acquitted in 2000 for saying to the press that Syriacs were “massacred” along with Armenians in 1915 killings.
In Midyat, also in eastern Turkey, someone recently dug a tunnel under the outlying buildings of a Syriac church in hopes of undermining the support of the structure.
At the Mor Gabriel Monastery, also near Midyat, there is a legal battle over the lands surrounding the monastery. Founded in 397 A.D., Mor Gabriel is arguably the oldest monastery in use today. It is believed local Muslim leaders took the monastery to court in an attempt to seize lands from the church. The monastery has prevailed in all but one case, which is still underway.
“These and similar problems that are threatening the very existence of the remaining Syriacs in Turkey have reached a very serious and worrying level,” Aygur stated in a press release. “Especially, whenever there is a problem about Islam in the European countries, the Syriacs’ existence in Turkey is threatened with such pressures and aggressions.”
 One of Germany’s most senior Catholic leaders, Cardinal Joachim Meisner, criticized on Sunday what he described as restrictions on Christians in Islamic nations. In an interview with Deutschlandfunk radio, Meisner, who is archbishop of Cologne, charged that this led to “an aversion against Muslims” among Germans. The often outspoken cleric said he had been campaigning for the past two years for the Church of St Paul in Tarsus, Turkey to be permanently opened for worship by any Christian. The Turkish government which treats the early medieval church at Paul’s birthplace as a museum granted access to Christian groups from mid 2008 to mid 2009 to use it, but restrictions are back in force. “It’s a battle that is pointless. And then you get the feeling, this just is not right. And that is one of the reasons for all this aversion towards our Muslim fellow citizens,” Meisner said. via German Catholic leader criticizes Islamic treatment of Christians : Religion General. Despite the term (“aversion) which I think is somewhat over the edge (looks as if Europeans had something personal against Muslims), he is right in pointing out the problem: the extreme differences (and absolutely unjustified ones) between the situation of Muslims in Europe and that of non-Muslims in Islamic countries. Thanks to Tea and Politics
 The Patriarch speaks the truth about the mistreatment of Christians in Turkey -- a cultural hangover of the dhimma -- and the Turks, true to form, would rather shut him up than deal with the problem. They have followed the same pattern with the Armenian genocide. "Turkey slams orthodox chief's crucifixion remark," from AFP, December 19 ANKARA (AFP) Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on Saturday criticized as unacceptable remarks by the spiritual leader of Orthodox Christians that he feels "crucified" and "second class" living in Turkey. "We regard the use of the crucifixion simile as extremely unfortunate.... I would like to see this as an undesired slip of the tongue," Davutoglu told reporters here when asked about Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I's comments in an interview with US television network CBS. "We cannot accept comparisons that we do not deserve," the minister added. He rejected criticism that the Islamist-rooted government in Turkey was discriminating between its citizens on religious grounds. "If Patriarch Bartholomew I has complaints on this issue, he can convey them to relevant authorities who will do whatever is necessary," he said. In an excerpt from the interview, which will be broadcast in full on CBS on Sunday, Bartholomew I says that the tiny Greek minority in Turkey is not treated equally. "We are treated... as citizens of second class. We don't feel that we enjoy our full rights as Turkish citizens," says the patriarch, who represents the world's 250 million Orthodox Christians. He ruled out the option of leaving Turkey. "This is the continuation of Jerusalem and for us it is equally holy and sacred land. We prefer to stay here, even crucified sometimes," the patriarch adds. The CBS website quotes Bartholomew I as saying that the Turkish government "would be happy to see the Patriarchate extinguished or moving abroad, but our belief is that it will never happen."... Though Ankara does not interfere with the patriarchate's religious functions, it withholds recognition of Bartholomew's ecumenical title, treating him only as the spiritual leader of some 2,000 Orthodox Greeks still living in the country. Turkish authorities also keep closed a theological school on an island off Istanbul, depriving the church of a means to train clergy. With thanks to JihadWatch
 From CAN: The Islam in Europe blog, citing the Danish newspaper Kristeligt Dagblad, says that a new book in Denmark contains a study showing that 18% of Danes and nearly 66% of immigrants from five Muslim countries have anti-Semitic viewpoints. The study was carried out by interviewing approximately 1,500 people from Turkey, Pakistan, the former Yugoslavia, the Palestinian territories, and Somalia, and 300 ethnic Danes.
The author of the study is Professor Peter Nannestad of Aarhus University’s Institute for Political Science.
“All were asked three questions, which deal with their attitudes towards various groups in society and not just to Jews. But it’s the Jews that the five groups are clearly most distrustful and prejudiced against,” the report said. The inquiries found that 31.9% of the immigrants and 18.2% of ethnic Danes interviewed agreed that “there are too many Jews in Denmark” and 65.8% of the immigrants agreed that you “can’t be careful enough in relation to Jews in Denmark.” The third question asked by the researchers was whether they did not want to see a family member marry a Jew.
75.2% of the immigrants and 14.7% of ethnic Danes said they did not want that to happen.
The author considered those sentiments to be anti-Semitic in the study. World Threats
 Kurdish demonstrators have clashed with Turkish police a day after Turkey's pro-Kurdish political party was banned by the constitutional court. A crowd threw firebombs and rocks at police vehicles including an armoured bus in the town of Yuksekova close the border with Iraq on Saturday. Police detained about a dozen protesters in the neighboring city of Hakkari, officials said. The move came after after a mob attempted to lynch two police officers but were prevented by local Kurdish politicians, the state-run Anatolia news agency reported. Protests took place elsewhere in the region and the western cities of Ankara and Izmir, Anatolia said. Anita McNaught, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Turkey, said: "We've seen an escalation of street protests, we're now seeing fatalities." The violence followed the banning of the pro-Kurdish DTP party, which Turkey's constitutional court had found guilty of co-operating with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has been fighting for autonomy in Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast in a conflict that has lasted 25 years and claimed 40,000 lives. Ahmet Turk, the chairman of the Democratic Society Party (DTP) and one of two pro-Kurdish legislators who were expelled from parliament, said on Saturday the entire group had withdrawn from the assembly and would boycott parliamentary sessions. "Our group has withdrawn from the parliament effective today," Turk said.
The Kurdish party had a total of 21 seats in the 550-seat assembly before the court shut it down. The court also barred Turk and Aysel Tugluk, another legislator, from joining any political party for five years along with 35 other party members - including Leyla Zana, a prominent Kurd who served a decade in prison on charges of separatism. Abdullah Gul, Turkey's president, defended the court decision during a visit to Montenegro on Saturday. "What else can the court do when there are party administrators who declare the terrorist organisation to be their reason of existence," the Anatolia news agency quoted Gul as saying.
The ruling is likely to hamper Turkey's efforts to join the European Union, which had warned Ankara that banning the party would violate Kurdish rights.
Turkey's Kurdish population, whose language was outlawed for years, has long complained of discrimination. But Hasim Kilic, the constitutional court chairman, said the party's closure "was decided due to its connections with the terror organisation and because it became a focal point of the activities against the country's integrity". The ruling comes after weeks of clashes between police and protesters angry at the the prison treatment of Abdullah Ocalan, the founder of the PKK.
Earlier this week a protester was shot dead as 15,000 pro-Kurdish protesters marched in the city of Diyarbakir. The DTP was founded in 2005 as a successor to several Kurdish parties that were forced to wind up for collaborating with the PKK. The PKK is listed as a "terrorist" group by Turkey and much of the international community.
The party says it has "no organic links" with the separatists, but insists the group should be considered an interlocutor in efforts to resolve the Kurdish conflict. Cengiz Aktar, a columnist with the Turkish Hurriyet Daily News, said there are "some links" between the DTP and the PKK but criticised Turkey for making party closures "a habit". "The links apparently are there, according to the constitutional court. But in modern democracy, party closures are very seldom," he told Al Jazeera. "This one really comes at a very unfortunate moment when the country was making a very important opening towards its Kurdish minority. "It's a totally new era and suddenly comes this unacceptable decision that may overturn the whole democratisation process and bring the country to the verge of chaos." Al Jazeera
 The irony is most likely completely lost on the EU. "Turkey prepares to join EU in a building confiscated from the Orthodox," by Nat da Polis for AsiaNews, December 11: Istanbul (AsiaNews) - Unbelievable but true: the headquarters of the Secretariat for the entry of Turkey into the European Union is a building confiscated from the Orthodox Christian community in the 90s.
The building is located in Istanbul, in the well-known area of Ortakoy, under the first bridge over the Bosphorus. Before the seizure, the building was used as a primary school for children of the minority Orthodox in Ortakoy. Here, once lived a thriving Orthodox community, now non-existent because of past purges against minorities, executed by the "secular" Turkish State. Thanks to the policy of purging, the building and many other schools, at one point found themselves without students, unused and then confiscated. The forfeiture rule however prevented foundations - owners of buildings - from allocating them to different uses.
The community of Ortakoy appealed to the administrative courts in Istanbul, which have yet to rule on the issue. In case of a ruling to the contrary, the Orthodox intend to apply to the court in Strasbourg. The inauguration of the Secretariat took place in the presence of Prime Minister Erdogan, accompanied by Minister for European Affairs Bajis and by various authorities and European representation. The event has aroused unease in diplomatic circles in Brussels, so much so that on the eve of the inauguration, a senior government official visited Patriarch Bartholomew I to let them know that the courts decision will be respected. The question also arises whether the current Turkish government aware of the building's history. Hmm. Meanwhile in Brussels some discomfort is spreading towards politicians who are champions of Turkey's entry into the EU. Ankara has not yet shown a convincing European orientation, it is believed that the "champions" are tied to the country by economic and financial interests. One suggestion for resolving the issue comes from Lakis Vigas, representative of minorities in Turkey in the General Directorate of Foundations. Interviewed by the newspaper Milliyet on the case of Ortakoy, he says a possible solution would be if the Ortakoy foundation were granted the possibility to lease the building to the Turkish nation. This gesture would have a noble purpose: the entry of Turkey into the EU the "source of our hopes." That is, be a good dhimmi and play along. Anyway, for a truly noble, tolerant gesture, how about giving back the Hagia Sophia? With thanks to JihadWatch
 Turkish Prime Minister Recip Erdogan is in Washington, D.C. for meetings with American officials and a number of public and private appearances along the DC circuit. Unfortunately I'm too snowed under with work to actually go to any of them -- but I wish I could, because there's probably no more interesting figure in Middle East diplomacy these days. Erdogan has been charting a new course for Turkish foreign policy which has sparked noisy popular acclaim with Arab publics, wary observation from Arab leaders, and jittery anxiety among many Israelis. Turkey's shifting Middle Eastern role is one of those factors which really could shake up long-standing patterns in a number of ways. Erdogan, of course, heads the government of the mildly Islamist AKP. The electoral success and governing style of the AKP has proven absolutely fascinating to many in the Arab world. I've had many conversations with, and read hundreds of papers and op-eds by, Muslim Brotherhood members keen to figure out the lessons of the AKP's success. As a model of workable political Islam, the AKP offers an important model -- if a dual-edged one. Many Turkish secularists continue to sound the alarm bells of creeping Islamism, complaining that even if the AKP is committed to democracy it is using its governing power to radically reshape Turkish political culture and governing principles. These strike me as healthy debates and normal politics, though, not the stuff of political apocalypse. Erdogan burst into a new level of Arab popularity with his much publicized outburst at Davos, when he stormed off a panel with Shimon Peres in protest over Gaza as Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa sat by bemusedly. This demonstration captivated Arab audiences and become the talk of Arab politics for weeks.
Turkish diplomacy has built effectively on Erdogan's sudden personal popularity by seeking a more active and independent diplomatic role. Its diplomacy in many ways resembles that of Qatar, also an important American ally which has found considerable popularity with Arab public opinion. Like Qatar, Turkey explicitly and determinedly talks to both sides of the great Arab political divide, maintaining relations with Israel and the United States while also engaging regularly with Syria and Iran. It isn't for nothing that Turkey was well-positioned to mediate the secret Syrian-Israeli talks last year. If this reorientation has earned Erdogan and Turkey applause in the Arab world, it has naturally provoked some serious criticism among Israelis and those committed to the Israeli-Turkish alliance (especially after its cancelation of a scheduled war game with Israel in October). I've seen an endless deluge of opeds filled with ominous warnings of Turkey's dangerous new path, rising anti-Americanism, the AKP's creeping Islamism, its alleged turn to a radical Islamist foreign policy. And don't think that Arab regimes, suspicious and fearful of their own Islamist movements, aren't fearful of the AKP's example and worried about the intrusion of a new, unpredictable diplomatic player into their turf. I find this all overblown. Turkey's turn to a more active Middle East role was driven, I'd guess, as much by the effective closing of the door to European Union membership as it was by Erdogan's Islamism (the AKP was a strong advocate of EU membership when that was a viable option, hardly the marker of a radical Islamist agenda). It has played a more constructive role in Iraq, after tensions spiked over Turkish military incursions into northern Iraq because of alleged PKK safe havens there.
Its distancing from Israel is, from what I can tell from a distance, broadly popular with Turkish public opinion -- especially after the Gaza war. And it appears that Turkey and Israel have rebuilt their working relationship over the last few weeks. Turkey's cultivation of good relations across the spectrum makes perfect sense for a player on the periphery without a direct stake in old battle lines which wants to maximize its diplomatic clout. And it is potentially extremely useful. In fact, I would go so far as to say that Turkey is exactly the sort of player which the Obama foreign policy needs: one able to talk to both sides of deeply rooted conflicts, while maintaining its credibility and protecting its own interests. Turkey can mediate Syrian-Israeli talks in a way which no Arab country could (I heard a rumor a few weeks back, which I couldn't confirm, that Syria was actually urging Turkey to rebuild its ties with Israel so that it could resume an effective mediation role). Turkey can bridge the gap with Iran in ways which few Arab states could -- and without the vulnerabilities of, say, a Qatar. So I regret not having time to see Erdogan while he's in town. Turkish foreign policy is one of those wild cards which really could shake things up, bridge old divides, and introduce new possibilities. Obama's diplomacy should be creative and subtle enough to take advantage of those opportunities, and to maintain a strong alliance in new conditions. Foreign Policy
 Are you worried — like so many Americans after the Fort Hood massacre — about the growing threat of Islamist subversion and terror here at home?
Worried, beyond that, about what we’re doing — or not doing — militarily in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iraq? Worried about the growing reach and power of Islamist movements in Europe and South America, as well as Asia, the Middle East, and Turkey?
Worried about the military alliances Islamist governments are forging with their secular mirror images: socialist-god governments in places like North Korea, Russia, and Venezuela?
Then focus like a laser on Iran, now, because Islamists will score major victories in all those places and more if we fail to prevent the ruling mullahs from openly, triumphantly making Iran the world’s first Islamist nuclear power.
The danger isn’t only Iran’s own catastrophic recklessness, once she gets the bomb, or the fact that all her Arab neighbors will respond by scrambling to go nuclear too.
It’s also that Islamists everywhere — joined by growing masses of previously undecided Muslims — will see Iran’s success in achieving nuclear status the way Iran’s mullahs see it: as a historic defeat for the West, blasting open the gate to a 21st-century world where Islam rules and Christians, Jews, Hindus, and Buddhists are subservient or worse. Islamist ranks will swell, everywhere, as confidence grows that the Islamist side is the winning side, and victory is near.
THE WAR WE MUST WIN Most Americans can scarcely imagine an Islamist-ruled world. Most Muslims can, and they respond in one of three ways. Moderate Muslims wholeheartedly reject the Islamist vision and the support for jihad that is inseparable from it; Muslim extremists embrace it, many with growing fervor; and a third group sits on the fence, waiting and watching. Constant politically correct reassurances that only a minority of the world’s Muslims support violence against us are based on the fantasy that only “Islamist extremists” do that; “moderate Islamists” don’t. In fact, there is no such thing as a “moderate Islamist.” All Islamists are extremists. It’s an extreme creed. Moderate Muslims do exist, millions of them, many bravely fighting against the rising Islamist tide, but they aren’t “moderate Islamists.” Moderate Muslims are anti-Islamist Muslims, who oppose the imposition of Sharia and all the oppressive baggage that comes with it. They are on our side — freedom’s side — and we should be on theirs. Instead, we mostly ignore them and fail to heed their warnings, reaching out to “moderate Islamists” instead, welcoming them into our critical institutions — as our military, aided by the FBI, welcomed Major Hasan. When it comes to Islamists abroad, poll data make it clear that they are the overwhelming majority in the Middle East. Iran and Turkey were the two great Middle Eastern exceptions, as Islamism swamped competing ideologies in all the Arab lands. Iran may still be, if popular majorities in that once great nation were allowed free choice, but they are governed by an Islamist regime more despotic than any Persian shah, ancient or modern. Turkey, once the freest, most proudly westernized and progressive country of them all, is on the verge of the same sorry fate. If you doubt that, look again at the new Turkey, governed by an Islamist party since 2002, a Turkey that is right now preparing to embrace Iran. H/T: David F.
 This interview with Turkish-German lawyer, Seyran Ates, first appeared in the land of the fjords, the land of oil, the home of the political correctniks who choose and bestow the Nobel Peace Prize. I am talking about Norway, where my friend and colleague, the American author Bruce Bawer, also lives. Bruce has written a number of important books such as While Europe Slept: How Radical Islam is Destroying The West From Within and Stealing Jesus: How Fundamentalism Betrays Christianity. Bruce (who currently has a piece featured on Pajamas) is the one who translates my work into Norwegian. Two far-sighted women, Rita Karlsen and Helge Storhaug, publish Human Rights Service as an online journal in both English and Norwegian. I first “met” Seyran Ates when I was researching my book about Islamic gender apartheid and its penetration of the West. Thus, I quoted her twice in The Death of Feminism. I recently met Seyran for the first time in person in Rome at the G8 conference; I wrote about it for PJM here. We bonded. But, we really met when Seyran came to stay with me in New York City. Seyran Ates' latest book: "Islam Needs a Sexual Revolution" By Phyllis Chesler for Human Rights Service This past week, my home and my life were graced by a very heroic houseguest. I am talking about Seyran Ates, the Turkish-German lawyer, author, and freedom fighter who flew to New York City to spend six days with me, to talk, laugh, dream, strategize, hang out, hide out. Yes, hide out. Seyran’s fourth book Islam braucht eine sexuelle Revolution has just appeared in Germany. Its title: “Islam Needs a Sexual Revolution” has, apparently, led to more than the usual number of death threats. Seyran temporarily cancelled her tour to promote the book and came to visit me instead. Seyran is no stranger to serious trouble. In 1984, as a 21 year-old law student, Seyran was working at a Women’s Center in Berlin where mainly Turkish and Kurdish girls and women came for counseling. Seyran was sitting with her client, a fifteen year old battered Turkish Muslim girl. All around them, other women were giving and receiving advice, shelter, legal services. A quiet man quietly entered. Politely, but firmly, one of the women said: “Sir, there are no men allowed here.” Expressionless, the man in the trench coat assured her that “What I have to do will take no time at all.” Quickly, smoothly, he shot and killed the fifteen year old. He also pumped three bullets into Seyran’s neck and shoulder; she was not expected to live since the shooter had punctured a major artery. Against all odds Seyran recovered but her rehabilitation would take six years. The shooter calmly walked out of the Women’s Center. Yes, he was finally found and jailed for six months but no, he was never convicted. Although six Turkish and non-Turkish women identified him, the police made so many procedural errors that the judge felt there was enough reasonable doubt and could not convict him.
In Seyran’s expert opinion, the problem was that the victims were women—and Turkish women at that. It was a Turkish-on-Turkish, Muslim-on-Muslim crime—perhaps the fate of Turkish-German women was not yet seen as a priority on the multi-culti German agenda. A lesser mortal might have given up. Seyran, however, completed law school. She went on to specialize in defending battered, mainly Muslim immigrant girls and women, including those who are the intended targets of honor killing. However, Seyran was a rebel long before this incident. When she was 18 years old, she ran away from home. She could no longer bear being “treated as her father’s and elder brother’s slave and servant.” She wrote a book about it but under a pseudonym. She titled it: Wo gehören wir hin? (Where Do We Belong?) and it was a cri de coeur about immigrant identity. When I asked her how she found the strength to do this, she told me this: “My parents, who were farmers, first came to Berlin in 1968 as guest workers. Berlin was undergoing a political and sexual revolution. I have no idea what they made of it all. Anyway, I arrived here in 1969 when I was six years old. I was the only Turkish girl in school. Everyone spoke German. Me too. I became completely integrated. There were no separate or parallel facilities, no parallel universe to impede my integration.” Seyran wanted the same freedoms that German girls and women had. Now, in retrospect, she realizes that, as the only daughter, her mother really needed her help. (Seyran has reconciled completely with her family. In fact, they all live together in the same building in different apartments and support Seyran’s decision to be a single mother.) Here, in the West, a non-Muslim divorce lawyer who represents a non-Muslim battered woman client might well be sued by her client’s ex-husband; she might have to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to defend herself. I know many American women lawyers who have faced this. But a lawyer like Seyran risks her life, faces death, each day she defends a battered Muslim woman, each time she helps her flee from an intended honor killing. So many heroic Muslim and ex-Muslim feminists and dissidents have received death threats. Some write under pseudonyms, live in exile, often require bodyguards and/or serious police protection.
Here, I am thinking about Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Magdi Allam, Lubna Hussein (the brave, trouser-wearing journalist who just fled Sudan), Ibn Warraq, Irshad Manji, Taslima Nasrin, Asra Nomani, Wafa Sultan. Those of us who share their views and who write about them in the West, are usually called “racist Islamophobes.” More at Chesler Chronicles
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