An ally on the brink : Choudhury's pro-Israel Bangladeshi newspaper is in danger of erasure

Seth Mandel

THE JEWISH STATE

June 25, 2010

Reading the reports on the state of newspapers today, and following the New Media revolution, you couldn't be blamed for thinking advertising and the riddle of the online paywall are the media's most pressing challenges.

Such is life, and worry, in a free country.

In reality, while newspapers are struggling in the West (from 2007-2009, the industry's revenue dropped by 30 percent in the U.S., according to the OECD), journalists elsewhere in the world -- especially in repressive states -- put their lives on the line. It is this combination -- falling revenue and the constant threat of death -- that has pushed Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury's newspaper to the brink.

Choudhury's paper, The Weekly Blitz , is published out of Bangladesh. When it was founded in 2003, advertising revenue wasn't an issue. But as soon as the Blitz started publishing pro-Israel editorials, local businesses in this Muslim country immediately started shunning the paper. Later that year, Choudhury was arrested at the airport heading to a writer's conference in Tel Aviv, tortured for 10 days, and kept in solitary confinement for 17 months at a Dhaka prison.
He is still on trial for sedition, blasphemy, and treason, for which he would be executed if found guilty.

Choudhury speaks eloquently about the fight against radical Islam and the moral imperative of supporting Israel. He is an unabashed Zionist, which many of our readers -- who filled a room in November 2009 to hear him speak -- know well.

In that speech, Choudhury mentioned that the police protection he was finally granted after the intervention of the U.S. Congress -- most notably Rep. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) -- has been removed. As if on cue, six weeks after Choudhury gave that speech in New Brunswick, armed robbers broke into his home. The commotion woke the neighbors, and the men fled.

Such incidents have become routine, unfortunately, though Choudhury refuses to flee Bangladesh or convert out of Islam. "I remain important to the Muslims because I am a Muslim," Choudhury said back in November. "The moment I become an ex-Muslim, it makes no difference. If you want to reform a class, you need to be a member of the club. I am a member of Islam and I demand a reform in Islam... preaching hate is not the Islam that I follow; the Islam I follow is where I can embrace a Jew as a brother."

He has always been frank about his Zionism. "Today, Israel is suffering, tomorrow the world will suffer," he told me when we first met. Israel, he said, "is a land blessed by God. And God will protect his land."

And it goes without saying that bravery has never been a weakness for him. But now he is in the position of needing our help. It can't be easy for him to ask for it, but it should be easy for us to answer the call. A wealthy businessman in Bangladesh recently offered to buy Choudhury's paper for a generous sum, but Choudhury knows the man's intention: to silence one of the few pro-Israel, pro-Western voices in the East. Choudhury declined, choosing principles over money.
"But, now, our very sustainability has become almost impossible," Choudhury wrote in a message to readers. "Each month, we are losing [a] huge amount of money in continuing the print and online edition of this newspaper. For any newspaper, it is absolutely impossible to sustain without any advertisement revenue." He included the email address: ediblitz [at]yahoo.com at which he could be contacted by those willing to help.

Choudhury will get no help whatsoever from his fellow countrymen, who at best ignore him and at worst wish the government would end his troublemaking once and for all. So he needs the West to step up to the plate. Jewish organizations should do what Choudhury's close friend Richard Benkin did when he first heard Choudhury was in danger. Benkin references the one-word response Moses gave God when he was called from the burning bush: Hineni -- here I am.
Advertising revenue would be great, though a grant would be even better. We are blessed with philanthropists aplenty, and Israel has no more courageous defender than Choudhury. This is the first time he has ever made such an appeal. It has been two weeks since Choudhury published that request, and, he told me, "the situation is still unchanged. Weekly Blitz is in the very worst economic constraint."

"Today, I stand before you, the people of Bangladesh and in fact the entire Muslim world as a witness; a witness that Israelis want above all else peace and justice," Choudhury was to say in that speech prepared, but never delivered, to the writer's conference in Tel Aviv. "And those who spread false rumors to the contrary around the world, and especially in Muslim countries, are, frankly, either deluded or dishonest. I also stand before you perhaps as a living contradiction: a Zionist, a defender of Israel, and a devout, practicing Muslim, living in a Muslim country."

Israel needs such fire more than anything; yet this flame is in danger of being snuffed out. "Please pray for us," Choudhury told me this week. We should, and we will. But if all we can do is pray, we haven't done enough.

Seth Mandel is the managing editor of The Jewish State.

Muslim Sheikh Pays Solidarity Visit to the Jews of Hevron

Noam Arnon, a spokesperson for the Jewish community of Hevron, told Arutz Sheva about a very unusual guest who came to show his support on Monday.

Making the trip from Italy to Hevron for the second time in recent years, the head of the Italian Muslim Assembly, Sheikh Abdul Hadi Palazzi, met with local Jewish leaders in a show of solidarity.

The sheikh, an Italian national who received his Islamic education from leading mainstream Saudi and Egyptian Sunni institutions, believes that his religion obligates its followers to support Jewish sovereignty in the Land of Israel.

In support of his position, Sheikh Palazzi quotes Koranic passages and traditions that affirm God's assignment of this land for the Jews.

As Palazzi has written of himself, he is "a Zionist Muslim clergyman and a friend of the Jewish people."

"We are talking about a unique personality," Arnon told Arutz Sheva. "A man who connects warmly with everyone he meets. A very brave individual."

During Sheikh Palazzi's visit to Hevron, community leaders discussed with him ways in which Islamist fundamentalism might be curbed.

"He emphasized Saudi Arabia as responsible for extremism," Arnon said. "It funds mosques in Europe and the United States and then determines who will be allowed to speak in them. In this way, Islam becomes more and more extreme, which is a dangerous trend."

In his activities in Italy, Arnon explained, Palazzi teaches what he calls "the real Islam", which he believes includes tolerance, Jewish-Muslim fellowship and Zionism. "He even organized a protest outside the Iranian embassy in Rome when Ahmadinejad talked about destroying Israel," Arnon added.

Sheikh Palazzi, who is also the Muslim co-founder of the Islam-Israel Fellowship of the Root & Branch Association, told his Hevron hosts that Italian Jews are now shifting their political positions further to the Right. In the past, according to Palazzi, Jews in Italy were primarily supporters of the Left, but a slow change in underway. Arnon said that Sheikh Palazzi believes his efforts, as a non-Jew supporting Israel, have contributed to that shift.

Asked about threats against the Zionist sheikh Arnon was adamant that he was perfectly safe in Hevron. "He walked around [here] without bodyguards," he said. However, Arnon said that he would probably be unable to openly enter Gaza or Ramallah under current circumstances.

Palazzi's visit in Israel continues for another few days, during which he will be making his way to other communities in Judea and Samaria to express his support for continued Jewish development and sovereignty in those regions.

INN

"Although there are differences of opinions in some areas among Islamic countries, the point is that the main enemy is the Zionist regime"

Oh, the Protestants hate the Catholics,And the Catholics hate the Protestants,And the Hindus hate the Muslims,And everybody hates the Jews. -- Tom Lehrer

"Iran speaker says Israel opposes Tehran-Cairo ties," from WashingtonTV, December 23

Washington, 23 December (WashingtonTV)--Iran's parliament speaker, Ali Larijani, on Wednesday played down any differences between the Islamic Republic and Egypt and reiterated Tehran's opposition to arch-enemy Israel.

Speaking in Tehran at the end of a three-day visit to Egypt, Larijani accused Israel of opposing cooperation between Tehran and Cairo.

"Although there are differences of opinions in some areas among Islamic countries, the point is that the main enemy is the Zionist regime," he said, according to the official ISNA news agency.

Relations between Iran and Egypt have soured over disputes on a number of regional and international issues, including Israel's three-week offensive in the Gaza Strip last January.

Cairo has accused Tehran of trying to dominate the region through its alliances with the Palestinian militant group, Hamas, and Lebanon's Hezbollah.

Egypt and Jordan are the only Arab states to have a peace treaty with Israel.

"The Islamic Republic of Iran's strategy is to use all the forces of the world of Islam and to generate general participation in combating the Zionist regime," Larijani told reporters in Tehran....

With thanks to JihadWatch

Iran vows to back Hamas until 'imminent collapse of Zionist regime'

Iran's official news agency says President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has reiterated his support for Hamas during a visit by the Palestinian militant group's Syrian-based leader.

In a meeting with visiting Hamas politburo head Khaled Meshaal, Ahmadinejad said that Iran would constantly stand besides the Palestinian nation until what he called "imminent collapse of the Zionist regime (Israel)."

Iranian TV quoted Meshaal as saying that Hamas would continue its fight against Israel and its supporters "until final victory."

"The government and the people of Iran will always stand by the Palestinian resistance and the Palestinian people," Ahmadinejad said during the meeting. "Today Palestine is symbol of the global front of freedom-seekers and militants."

Iran does not recognize Israel and supports Lebanese-based Hezbollah and Hamas - two of the chief militant groups fighting Israel.

Haaretz

Sympathizer of Nazis Influenced Ahmadinejad’s Ideology

Meir Javedanfar, who I met while I was in Israel this summer, comments on how a pro-Nazi thinker helped spawn Ahmadinejad and those of his ideological circle.

The Iranian president comes from a cadre of messianic revolutionaries who were influenced by the teachings of an Iranian philosopher by the name of Ahmad Fardid.

Born in 1909 in the city of Yazd in central Iran and educated in Europe, Fardid was an admirer of Martin Heidegger, the renowned German philosopher who was a leading intellectual supporter of Hiter’s National Socialist ideology….

…Fardid believed that ideas such as human rights, tolerance and Western democracy are decadent. He also believed that all international organizations are conspirators against Iran.

An antisemite, he saw the “hand of Zionists” controlling foreign governments and nongovernmental organizations. The use of violence to achieve political goals was, in Fardid’s opinion, absolutely permissible.

Fardid died in 1994, but his influence remains. Javedanfar observes that Fardid was comfortable with radical Shiite Islam because of its similarities with Nazism, specifically the power of a divinely-inspired “Supreme Leader.”

Javedanfar notes that there are some differences in the followers of Fardid, though. Ahmadinejad has said he doesn’t have a problem with Judaism and Jews in general, just the Zionists, which is different than his former senior advisor who called Jews “filthy.”

This doesn’t make Ahmadinejad a moderate, of course, and the fact that this other man was his “senior advisor” strongly indicates that Ahmadinejad is saying something different about the Jews privately than publicly.

Source: World Threats

Christian Zionists back 'united Jerusalem under Israeli sovereignty'

This week, The International Christian Embassy Jerusalem (ICEJ) is marking the 30th consecutive year in which Christians from all corners of the globe have ascended to Jerusalem to celebrate the biblical Feast of Tabernacles.

More than 5,000 Christian pilgrims from over 80 nations arrived in Jerusalem in recent days to take part in this week-long celebration, making it once again Israel’s largest annual tourist event and the largest solidarity mission to Israel this year.

On Tuesday, during the annual Jerusalem March, Feast pilgrims were in national costumes while others wore specially designed “Jerusalem United” T-shirts to convey Christian support for a "united Jerusalem under Israeli sovereignty."

“The status of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital is once again being assailed, even to the ludicrous point of denying the 3,000 year old Jewish connection to the city. The Christian Embassy was founded 30 years ago on the principle of marshalling global support for a united Jerusalem under Israeli sovereignty and we have never left that mandate,” said Malcolm Hedding, ICEJ Executive Director.

Referring to the recent Arab riots that erupted amid rumors that a group of Jewish extremists was planning to visit the Temple Mount, Hedding stated that Israeli authorities have shown great responsibility in handling the tensions. “The way Israel has responded to the recent scenes involving crowds of agitators trying to deny the rights of others to visit Jerusalem’s holy sites only reinforces our confidence in Israel as the proper guardians of this city, to ensure freedom of access for all peoples,” he said.

“The world is constantly declaring that Israel should adhere to human rights, parity and greater access of movement but is absolutely silent when Israel tries to ensure all of these. As Christians, we call on all of those who see Jerusalem as a holy and important city to reject this double standard.”

Hedding also referred to the importance of Jerusalem in general and the work the ICEJ was undertaking in the political realm.

“At this our 30th Feast we are reaffirming our commitment to stand with the Jewish people in their deep spiritual attachment to Jerusalem, and to working in our home countries for diplomatic recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s unquestioned capital,” he said.

Source: YNet

Amil Imani - Islam is Misunderstood!

Everybody just relax.

Islam is badly misunderstood. The negative stereotype of Islam is the usual evil-doings of Zionists in America and their foolish fellow travelers, fundamentalist Christians. Please don’t listen to what these hatemongers say about Islam and hear us out. So implies the nationally-launched campaign of Muslim organizations in the United States.

Ads are popping up in newspapers and magazines proclaiming the magnificence of Islam and aiming to refute the “false allegations” of Islam’s ill-wishers.

Huge billboards are festooning major highways, such as the one along Highway 101 and Tully Road in San Jose, California, with crafty messages. Bold letters on the billboard proclaim: Islam You Deserve to Know. A toll-free number, 1-877-WhyIslam and website, WhyIslam.org beckon the public to get the real scoop about the religion of peace.

The billboard sneakily reminds the viewers about their kinship with Muslims. “Islam: The message of Abraham, Moses, Jesus and Mohammad.”

Well folks—Christians and Jews—the overwhelming majority of the people in the United States, you need to relax about Islam. Muslims are family. They are your kindred through your shared progenitor, Abraham.

Having Abraham as an ancestor would demand that the “children” be loving siblings. That’s the message the American Muslims try to convey. And that’s the way they aim to keep us in the deadly slumber of complacency and the delusion of multiculturalism.

For one, multiculturalism and multi-religionism are not interchangeable and are not one and the same. Muslims and their frequently well-paid apologists use the multiculturalism umbrella only in non-Islamic lands to shield themselves from the torrent of legitimate criticisms that those who know Islam better shower on this cult of violence peddled as the religion of peace.

Don’t listen to me and don’t listen to these conniving dissimulators. Find out for yourself. See if the euphemism of multiculturalism is ever even mentioned by any Islamic leader, ever printed in the Islamic press, or ever appears in any form anywhere in Muslim countries. This multiculturalism gambit is Islam manufactured wool to pull over the eyes of the non-Muslims while the Muslims carry on with their unrelenting campaign of eradicating anything or anyone non-Islamic anywhere in the world.

Those of us, through reason and tremendous act of will, who have freed ourselves from the enslaving yoke of Islam placed around our necks from birth, know about all the heinous inside dirt of this plague of humanity. We hardly need to call a toll-free number to hear a phony canned message of deceptions and lies.

We have experienced Islam first-hand and up close from the inside. We have studied the Quran, the Hadith, and the Sunna. We have seen Islam in action where it wields sway. Some of us even tried desperately to cling to this security blanket that was wrapped around us from birth. Yet, the more we studied and the more we experienced Islam, the more our effort to remain in the fold became untenable.

We broke away from Islamic slavery and found it to be our solemn duty to expose this fraud of a religion, help other Muslims to free themselves from it, and warn the good-hearted and gullible non-Muslims against falling prey to it.

The Muslim organizations in America, generously financed by the oil-rich Muslim government and sheikhs, are directed to sell Islam Lite for long enough until the cult runs deep roots and the Real Islam is introduced. One can see how the scheme played out in Europe. Much of Europe is already past the stage of Islam Lite and knee deep into the quagmire of Real Islam. And that’s exactly where things are headed in America. Read more here ...

Source: Amil Imani