A nice junk science comment...

I'm sure there will tons of replies to this opinion piece in the Globe...

Unfortunately, junk science is a widespread disease. Environmental activists are generally against so-called chemical fertilizers. But what makes manure and compost more virtuous than nitrogen and potassium fertilizers?

Let's start with nitrogen. The scientific fact is that the soil doesn't know the difference between nitrogen sources, as long as it gets enough. Potassium fertilizers are made from a naturally occurring mineral called potash and, here again, the soil doesn't care where it comes from. While organic products are generally very safe, there is no doubt that the raw animal waste sometimes used as fertilizer carries a higher consumer and groundwater pathogen risk. On the other hand, the composting often used in organic gardening has a positive impact on soil stability and water retention.

If soil science doesn't make organic food a superior choice, what about the claims of nutritional superiority? A recent large-scale U.S. study found no discernible difference. Organic foods cost more because they are more labour-intensive, and yields per arable hectare are lower than conventional farming.

The plain fact is that organic food consumption is a feel-good indulgence for those willing and able to pay a premium, but organic farming methods could never begin to feed every Canadian, let alone the world's population.

My global "junk science" award goes to the myriad environmental groups and associated acolytes united in opposition to genetically modified foods (GM foods), or as they have labelled them, "frankenfoods." Policy makers in Europe have reacted by banning domestic production or importation of GM foods. This despite the fact that there are no credible studies showing negative impacts from consuming GM foods, and there isn't even a plausible scientific theory as to why there would be.

Most of the grains, fruits and vegetables that make up modern diets are vastly different than their ancient ancestors. Humans have continuously cross-bred food plants in search of higher yields, improved taste, better nutrition and disease resistance. An important Canadian example is canola; traditional "genetic modification" methods transformed the bitter rapeseed into a healthy and tasty oilseed.

Astounding progress in identifying the genetic building blocks of organisms has accelerated the long and arduous genetic modification process, offering huge potential leaps forward in the increasingly urgent search for higher yielding and more nutritious crops to feed a hungry world. Erosion caused by denuding natural vegetation, groundwater depletion and biological runoff make agricultural production the most damaging human endeavour to our planet's soil, water and aquatic life. GM foods research shows promise of making a big difference.

Seed crops that lower fertilizer requirements and need less water are already a reality. Agra-giant Monsanto has developed an herbicide-resistant seed grain that eliminates the need for fallow tillage to control weeds, thereby reducing water needs, air emissions and soil erosion. This is only one of the GM foods advances made by this innovative and research-intensive company, yet the frankenfood crowd's propaganda has portrayed Monsanto as an environment-destroying corporate pariah.

And so we come full circle in the great farm and garden junk science game, from British Columbia's well-meaning but scientifically illiterate municipal councillors, to the Canadian Cancer Society's campaign against weed and bug killers, to the organic industry's self-serving claim of environmental and nutritional superiority, to the GM foods-opposing frankenfood crowd. It's hard to find evidence that supports any of these claims, but it isn't hard to see the harmful consequences these misguided policies can, and do, have.

Indonesian airline infiltrated by terrorist...

This could have been a scary one...

A suspect wanted in connection with hotel suicide bombings in the Indonesian capital had infiltrated the national airline in a plot to carry out a "bigger attack," the national police chief told members of parliament Monday.

The suspect, identified only as Syahrir, had been recruited by a militant network and was working as a technician with the airline, Garuda Indonesia, said National Police Chief Gen. Bambang Hendarso Danuri. Documents seized by police uncovered the plot to strike in Indonesia's airline sector, he said, without providing details.

Syahrir had resigned from the airline, but remains at large, Danuri said.

The blasts at the J.W. Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels on July 17 killed seven people and wounded more than 50 others, ending a four-year pause in terror attacks in the world's most populous Muslim-majority nation.

Syahrir is the brother-in-law of a militant suspect shot dead by police earlier this month in an hours-long standoff in Central Java province, Danuri said.

The suspect who was shot, Ibrohim, had been working as a florist at the two hotels for years before smuggling in explosives and the bombers for the July attacks, police say.

Muslims throw fireworks at Police in Luton...

They had to call in the riot police...

Officers wearing helmets and carrying shields were sent to the park after Asian youths attacked local police.

The incident happened a week after Alan Johnson, the Home Secretary, issued a banning order on protestors planning right-wing demonstrations in the area.

A group of PCSOs patrolling the park had been on the lookout for any such protests, when they were attacked.

A spokesman for Bedfordshire Police said: ''Today's disorder follows weeks of engagement and public consultation by Bedfordshire Police and Luton Borough Council in response to tensions within the community after the town was identified as a potential location for a march by right-wing supporters.''

Police had to send in an extra 50 officers and six police horses at 4.30pm as the violence escalated. Two people were arrested for public order offences.

Useful idiots march in Ottawa...

Some snapshots from today's Gay Pride March of the Queers against Israeli Apartheid...otherwise known as Idiots for Sharia Law...Note the guy wearing a keffiyeh with the Independent Jewish Voices group!

Hamas weighs in on Holocaust education....

Ok, now it appears they don't teach about the holocaust in Palestinian schools...

Hamas condemned the United Nations on Sunday, saying it planned to teach Palestinian children in the Gaza Strip about the Holocaust – but the UN agency which runs schools in the enclave would not confirm any change.

Branding the Nazi genocide of the Jews "a lie invented by the Zionists", the Islamist movement which runs the Gaza Strip wrote in an open letter to a senior UN official that he should withdraw plans for a new history book in UN schools.

A spokesman for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), which educates some 200,000 refugee children in Gaza, said the Holocaust was not on its current curriculum. He would not comment on Hamas's statement that it was about to change.

Palestinians resent the way world powers reacted to the Holocaust by supporting the establishment of Israel in 1948, a move that left half the Arab population of then British-ruled Palestine as refugees in Gaza, the West Bank and abroad.

Hamas said it believed UNRWA was about to start using a text for 13-year-olds that included a chapter on the Holocaust.

In an open letter to local UNRWA chief John Ging, the movement's Popular Committees for Refugees said: "We refuse to let our children study a lie invented by the Zionists."

UNRWA spokesman Adnan Abu Hasna said: "There is no mention of the Holocaust in the current syllabus." Asked if UNRWA planned to change that, he declined to comment.

An Oxymoron - Saudi Archaeology....

Some people are trying to examine the Saudi past...

Much of the world knows Petra, the ancient ruin in modern-day Jordan that is celebrated in poetry as "the rose-red city, 'half as old as time,'" and which provided the climactic backdrop for "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade."

But far fewer know Madain Saleh, a similarly spectacular treasure built by the same civilization, the Nabateans.

That's because it's in Saudi Arabia, where conservatives are deeply hostile to pagan, Jewish and Christian sites that predate the founding of Islam in the 7th century.

But now, in a quiet but notable change of course, the kingdom has opened up an archaeology boom by allowing Saudi and foreign archaeologists to explore cities and trade routes long lost in the desert.

The sensitivities run deep. Archaeologists are cautioned not to talk about pre-Islamic finds outside scholarly literature. Few ancient treasures are on display, and no Christian or Jewish relics. A 4th or 5th century church in eastern Saudi Arabia has been fenced off ever since its accidental discovery 20 years ago and its exact whereabouts kept secret.

In the eyes of conservatives, the land where Islam was founded and the Prophet Muhammad was born must remain purely Muslim. Saudi Arabia bans public displays of crosses and churches, and whenever non-Islamic artifacts are excavated, the news must be kept low-key lest hard-liners destroy the finds.

"They should be left in the ground," said Sheikh Mohammed al-Nujaimi, a well-known cleric, reflecting the views of many religious leaders. "Any ruins belonging to non-Muslims should not be touched. Leave them in place, the way they have been for thousands of years."

In an interview, he said Christians and Jews might claim discoveries of relics, and that Muslims would be angered if ancient symbols of other religions went on show. "How can crosses be displayed when Islam doesn't recognize that Christ was crucified?" said al-Nujaimi. "If we display them, it's as if we recognize the crucifixion."

Palestinians demand end to education on the holocaust....

Gee, this was a surprise that they taught it at all...

A group of refugee camp committees in the Gaza Strip wants the United Nations to remove history of the Jewish Holocaust from its classroom curriculum.

In a letter to director John Ging, the committees urged the refugee agency to scrap its program because mention of the genocide "confirms the Holocaust and raises sympathy for Jews."

Holocaust denial is not uncommon in Gaza's refugee camps, where many feel marking legitimate Jewish suffering discounts the injustices done to Palestinians displaced from their homes in 1948.

Nevertheless, UNRWA's eight grade curriculum includes an overview, as part of its course on human rights, of the estimated six million Jews killed in European concentration camps. It was thought that by explaining the plight of Jews in Europe before they arrived, Palestinians would gain sympathy for their suffering, as well.

But in light of the latest Israeli assault in Gaza, the committees insisted that teaching what they called an Israeli or Jewish "version" of history plays on already heightened sensitivities in the besieged coastal strip, and noted that several UN installations were badly damaged in the winter invasion.

UNRWA did not immediately return calls seeking comment.

"The refugee camps committees categorically refuse to let our children be taught this lie created by the Jews and intensified by their media," the committees' letter said. "First of all, [the Holocaust] is not a fact, and secondly, those who added it to the curriculum intended to mess with our children's emotions."

Palestinians to 'amend' beliefs....

I'm not sure I would like to have my beliefs amended....

The de facto government has detained 160 supporters of the ultra-Islamic (Salafi) movement.

According to a statement from Interior Minister Fathi Hammad on Sunday the families of the detainees will be allowed visits.

He pledged that “the Independent Commission for Human Rights can visit the detainees and check up on their detention conditions. Anyone who will not be found guilty of any charge will be released.”

Hammad explained that his ministry was carrying out a “recovery program” in order to amend the beliefs of the Salafi supporters.

Why can't we get rid of this guy???

Our systems seems to love gangsters and terrorists...

Federal Court Justice Yves de Montigny late last night granted reputed gangster Jackie Tran a last-minute reprieve from deportation.

Tran's lawyer, Raj Sharma, said he was happily surprised by the latest development in his client's five-year bid to stay in Canada.

"Obviously, Mr. Tran is ecstatic," Sharma said after talking to his client.

Prior to the stay being granted, Tran faced imminent deportation.

Now, however, Tran cannot be deported, pending a decision on whether his lawyer can make the case against the department of justice in Federal Court, where Sharma intends to argue that errors we're made in an earlier appeal ruling on Tran's 2004 deportation which was based on serious criminality.

"Mr. Tran cannot be deported," Sharma said of his client's last minute reprieve from deportation, for now.

Officials say Tran, whose real name is Nghia Trong Nguyen-Tran, should be deported back to Vietnam, given he is said to be involved in organized crime.

Sharma in part won the emergency stay based on the argument he still has a viable case to make to try and argue against deportation.

Tran was arrested most recently when he failed to attend a meeting with immigration officials on Tuesday, a breach of release conditions set in October 2008.

Tran is also waiting on a ruling in another hearing, where CBSA officials argued he should be removed based on organized criminality.

While police and the CBSA claim he is a gang member, Tran, a permanent resident, argues he is a changed man and sole support for his mother and sister here.

He was first ordered deported in 2004 for serious criminality after being convicted of trafficking cocaine.

The Muslims New Weapon - The Rectum Bomb....

Nothing like innovation....

The failed assassination attempt on Prince Muhammad Bin Naif, Assistant Minister of Interior for Security Affairs, Thursday night was planned by Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula which operates from Yemen, sources confirmed.

The suicide bomber was recruited by Yemeni Nasser Al-Wohaishi, known also by the nom de guerre Abu Baseer, the sources said.

Al-Wohaishi is the head of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, which had announced in an Internet posting last January the merger of the Saudi and Yemeni branches of Al-Qaeda.

The merger was seen by analysts as an attempt to consolidate after the Saudi branch of Al-Qaeda was practically wiped out following a vigorous counter-terrorism campaign led by Prince Muhammad.

According to Okaz sources, the bomber who detonated himself only a meter away from the Prince was part of a terrorist cell formed to target oil installations and public figures.

The sources said the bomber stayed in an apartment on Sari Street, northwest of Jeddah, Thursday.

He had slipped into the Kingdom from Mareb, east of Sana’a, Yemen’s Foreign Minister Abu-Bakr Al-Qirbi told The Associated Press.

“He was in Yemen,” said Al-Qirbi. “He claimed that he was going to hand himself over to Saudi authorities and make a statement to his followers to abandon Al-Qaeda principles.”

Okaz sources said the bomb was implanted in the attacker’s rectum, which could explain why he refused to drink coffee at the Prince’s Court.

Hat tip: Elder of Ziyon.

More problems in Sweden...

I wouldn't want to be a fireman in Sweden...

Disturbances related to several fires continued on Friday night in Gothenburg in western Sweden.

“Objects were also thrown at busses and trams; among other things a windshield was broken,” said deputy police commander Sven Persson.

Rocks were also thrown at emergency response workers. On the way to a fire in the neighbourhood of Gällbo, a firetruck was hit by a large rock that broke the windshield. Two firemen were injured.

“One guy had glass splinters in his eye and another had an injured arm,” Bo Holmlund of the greater Gothenburg Fire and Rescue Service (Räddningstjänsten Storgöteborg) told TT news agency.

The firemen were treated on the scene by paramedics and were then taken to the hospital, but neither of them were seriously injured.

Two cars caught fire on Friday night in the neighbourhood of Västra Frölunda in Gothenburg. Police said that when they arrived a lot of people were out on the street to see what had happened.

“The fire had evidently started in one car and then spread to the other,” Persson said.

Wilders questions traditional marriage....

Doesn't he know that traditional marriage is sacred?

Party for Freedom (PVV) leader Geert Wilders has seized on a news report from Saudi Arabia for peppery written questions to the cabinet. In these, he compares the Islamic prophet Mohammed to a pig.

Wilders has requested clarification from Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen on a marriage in Saudi Arabia between an 80 year old man and a 10 year old child. The child had run away from her elderly husband, but was brought back to him by her father, the English-language website Arab News reports based on a Saudi newspaper.

Wilders asks the minister if he shares the view that "this man is behaving like a pig, just like the barbarous Prophet Mohammed, who married the six year old girl Aisha." The PVV leader wants Verhagen to summon the Saudi Arabian ambassador to express his repugnance.

Are you an Islamophobe???

Phyllis Chesler reprints a simple test..

Lorna Saltzman, a really good writer, an environmentalist, and once a Green Party Presidential candidate, has written a tongue-in-cheek Test Guide for all those who are worried about their own racism or Islamophobia. She writes:

Are you an Islamophobe? Here is a simple test.

Lorna Saltzman’s Test

Do you favor equal rights and treatment of women and men?

Do you oppose stoning of women accused of adultery?

Do you favor mandatory education of girls everywhere?

Do you oppose slavery and child prostitution?

Do you support complete freedom of expression and the press?

Do you support the right of an individual to worship in her chosen religion?

Do you oppose government- and mosque-supported anti-Semitic publications, radio, TV and textbooks?

Do you oppose the wearing of burqas in public places, schools and courts?

Do you oppose segregation of the sexes in public places and houses of worship?

Do you oppose the death penalty for non-Muslims and Muslims who convert to another religion?

Do you oppose “honor” killings?

Do you oppose female genital mutilation?

Do you oppose forced sexual relations?

Do you oppose discrimination against homosexuals?

Do you support the right to criticize religion?

Do you oppose polygamy?

Do you oppose child marriage, forced or otherwise?

Do you oppose the quranic mandate to kill non-Muslims and apostates?

Do you oppose the addition of sharia courts to your country’s legal system?

Do you disagree with the quran which asserts the superiority of Islam to all other religions?

If you answered most or all of these affirmatively, you are a vile Islamophobe and deserve to be beheaded as the quran instructs.

If you answered one third or more of them affirmatively, you are a borderline Islamophobe and need to receive brainwashing to become a full-fledged dhimmi.

If you answered a quarter or fewer affirmatively, you need a few private lessons in dhimmitude to scrub yourself clean of those remnants of Islamophobia.

If you answered affirmatively to NONE of these, Congratulations! You are a worthy observant (radical–PC addition) Muslim and have a bright future vilifying Jews, torturing women or, inshallah, becoming a suicide bomber.”

Chavez's Covert War....

I hope Obama recognizes that Chavez is a menace...

Venezuela's strongman Hugo Chávez recently warned that the "winds of war" were blowing in South America, and called on his military to "prepare for combat" against neighboring Colombia, a U.S. ally. Should we take his prediction seriously, or is this another cry of "wolf" by the loud lieutenant colonel? And how worried should be the American government be in either case?

An overt Venezuela-Colombia war is unlikely. To be sure, saber-rattling by someone who wears battle fatigues in public cannot be ignored. But Chávez's generals are in no mood to face the Colombians or anyone else. Corruption and politicization have weakened Venezuela's military, despite its acquisition of billions of dollars of Russian and other foreign weaponry. Plus, in his 10 years in power, Chávez has only ever pointed his guns at defenseless Venezuelan civilians. Bullies like him do not forewarn their intended victims. He does not fight openly, preferring to intervene covertly -- either directly or through his regional "anti-imperialist" alliance, the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA), a collection of the highest-decibel, lowest performing leaders in the region, from countries including Cuba, Bolivia, Nicaragua, Ecuador, and, until June, Honduras.

Honduras has been the most recent target of Chávez's subversion. There, he convinced a gullible follower, Manuel Zelaya, to retain his office through ALBA's so-far successful modus operandi: After reaching power democratically, change the rules, neutralizing the legislative and judicial systems so that no opposition leader can ever rise democratically again. Chávez has guided this strategy in Bolivia and Ecuador, and ALBA member Daniel Ortega is attempting the same in Nicaragua. Thankfully, however, Honduras's institutions of democracy -- the justice system and legislature -- proved too strong. The Supreme Court unanimously found Zelaya guilty of high crimes and ordered the military to remove him from office.

Losing Zelaya -- the first reversal in the drive to spread "21st Century Socialism" in the region -- has driven Chávez to near hysteria. He has repeatedly promised to "overthrow" the new Honduran president, Roberto Micheletti, who was constitutionally appointed to office by an overwhelming congressional vote. (All but three members of Zelaya's own party voted for Micheletti.) No Chávez soldiers have been spotted in Honduras, but there are reports that Venezuelan and Cuban intelligence operatives are fomenting violence in order to damage the government's image, a common tactic in Latin America.

Are the Pakistanis losing their nerve???

Now's the time to go hard against the Taliban...

Despite strenuous entreaties by top U.S. officials, Pakistan has abandoned plans to mount a military offensive against the terrorist group responsible for a two-year campaign of suicide bombings across the country. Although the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has been in disarray since an Aug. 5 missile strike from a CIA-operated drone killed its leader, Baitullah Mehsud, the Pakistani military has concluded that a ground attack on its strongholds in South Waziristan would be too difficult.

The Pakistani military has choked off main roads leading out of South Waziristan, and the country's fighter jets have been pounding targets from the air (an operation Islamabad insists it will continue). But that falls short of the military campaign the U.S. desires. Instead, Pakistani authorities are hoping to exploit divisions within the TTP to prize away some factions, while counting on the CIA's drones to take out Baitullah's successors. (See pictures of refugees fleeing the fighting in Pakistan's Swat Valley.)

U.S. counterterrorism officials worry that a failure to capitalize on the post-Baitullah confusion within the TTP will allow its new leader, Hakimullah Mehsud, to consolidate his position and reorganize the group. Officials in Washington say special envoy Richard Holbrooke and NATO commander General Stanley McChrystal have pressed the Pakistanis to strike while the iron is hot. But after initial promises to launch a ground offensive in South Waziristan, the Pakistanis have backed off.

Iran tested detonation.....

The UN confirms it's nuclear program has a military purpose...

A new report commissioned by the International Atomic Energy Agency says that Iran's nuclear energy program may contain "military dimensions."

In other words, the report states that Iran may be working towards acquiring a nuclear weapons capability. The report was issued just prior to the annual meeting of IAEA member states which is scheduled to convene next month in Vienna.

The report alleges that Iran is refusing the agency's repeated requests for explanations and documentation over its past nuclear activities. Tehran's non-compliance has raised suspicions that it is aiming to attain nuclear weapons.

It has become evident that Iran has confirmed, albeit implicitly, that it carried out experiments in order to test the process known as "detonation," a key stage in the development of nuclear weapons.

In addition, it refused to comment on other activities related to its nuclear program, including "weaponization," one of the final phases in manufacturing nuclear weapons in which fissionable material is installed into the bomb.

The report also states that Iran continues to install centrifuges used for enriching uranium in the nuclear facility in Natanz. The IAEA estimates that Iran has over 9,000 centrifuges.

Israeli TV report on Hamas Violence...

Thanks to Vlad Tepes for putting this on YouTube..

Rock throwing at firemen in Sweden...

Of course, they don't speak about who is doing the rock-throwing.....but, I think we know, right?

Fire fighters in Gothenburg were attacked with stones on Thursday night as they rushed to tackle the latest in a series of fires with suspected connections to youth gangs that have raged across the city in the last week.

The rescue workers were met by stone-throwing youths shortly after midnight as they attempted to put out a fire in a newspaper storage box on Tamburingatan in the Västra Frölunda suburb.

There were no injuries as police quickly arrived at the scene and dispersed the group.

Earlier in the evening, firemen managed to contain a fire in a shed on Rubingatan, also in Västra Frölunda. The shed was destroyed and police classified the incident as arson, as there was a serious risk that the fire could have spread ot a larger adjacent building.

Later a moped was set alight in by the nearby Vattnedal school on Smaragdgatan, where a pre-school was ravaged by flames on Wednesday night.

Fire brigades were again in action later in the night following reports of two car fires on the island of Hisingen.

Guess what the BBC is teaching to the Palestinians???

They're training Palestinian journalists, and look at the title of the course!

BBC World Service Trust completed a two-week specialised training course in television news production for Ma'an Network with the participation of network stations Bethlehem TV, Al-Amal TV, and Qalqiliya TV on Thursday.

The course, aimed at improving reportage, camerawork and photo editing, came as part of a two-year "Support to the Palestinian Media Sector" project funded by the European Union and the Dutch government.

The training focused on news reporting and the production of news stories, with participants producing 10 reports by the time training was completed. The course was complemented by an online seminar entitled, "Introduction to Journalism, Accuracy, Impartiality and Fairness and Straight Dealing," which was accessed via the BBC’s iLearn training resource.

Yes, can you imagine? The BBC actually training the Palestinians on impartiality???

The Hebron Massacre...

Shouldn't Jews be allowed to live in Hebron???

No theme is more deeply embedded in Jewish history than exile and return. The biblical exodus from Egypt to the promised land, the return from Babylonian exile, and, most recently, the establishment of the state of Israel all affirmed the enduring determination of the Jewish people to return to their homeland.

Yet another wrenching exile and return, now rarely remembered, occurred 80 years ago this week. On Aug. 23-24, 1929, the Jewish community of Hebron was exiled following a horrific pogrom. The tragedy is known as Tarpat, an acronym for its date in the Hebrew calendar.

Until 1929, Jews had lived in Hebron for three millennia. There, according to Jewish tradition, Abraham purchased the cave of Machpelah to bury Sarah. It was the first parcel of land owned by the Jewish people in their promised land. Ever since, religious Jews revered Hebron as the burial site of their matriarchs and patriarchs. Conquered, massacred and expelled over the centuries, Jews always returned to this sacred place.

After 1267, under Muslim rule, no Jews were permitted to pray inside the magnificent enclosure, built by King Herod in the 1st century, that still surrounds the burial caves. But following the expulsion of Jews from Spain at the end of the 15th century, a small group of religious Jews rebuilt a community of study and prayer in Hebron.

In August 1929, that community was suddenly and brutally attacked. Incited by the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem—who claimed that Jews were endangering Muslim holy sites on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem—Arab rioters swept through Palestine. In Hebron, the carnage was horrendous.

It began on Friday afternoon when Arabs attacked Jews with clubs and murdered a yeshiva student. The next morning, joined by local villagers, Arabs swarmed through Hebron screaming "Kill the Jews." They broke into the home of Eliezer Dan Slonim, where many Jews had gathered for safety. There they wielded knives and axes to murder 22 innocents. In the Anglo-Palestine Bank, where 23 corpses were discovered, blood covered the tile floor. That day, three children under the age of five were murdered. Teenage girls, their mothers and grandmothers were raped and killed. Rabbis and their students were castrated before they were slain. A surviving yeshiva student recounted that he "had seen greater horrors than Dante in hell."

When the slaughter finally subsided, 67 Jews had been murdered. Three days later, British soldiers evacuated 484 survivors, including 153 children, to Jerusalem. The butchery in Hebron, Zionist and religious officials alleged, was "without equal in the history of the country since the destruction of the Temple." Sir Walter Shaw, chairman of an exhaustive British royal investigation, concluded that "unspeakable atrocities" had occurred.

Tarpat extinguished the most ancient Jewish community in Palestine. With synagogues destroyed, Jewish property converted into storerooms and barns for livestock, and the ancient cemetery desecrated, few signs remained that there had ever been a Jewish presence in Hebron.

But nearly 40 years later, after the Six-Day War of 1967, a small group of religious Zionists returned to Hebron to rebuild the destroyed community. "What was in the past in Hebron," declared their matriarch Miriam Levinger, "is what will happen in the future. Always!" So it would be.

Hiding Husseini....

The Grand Mufti had ties to Adolf Hitler, and the Germans are trying to hide it...

The publicly funded Multicultural Center's (Werkstatt der Kulturen) decision to remove educational panels of the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Hajj Muhammad Amin al-Husseini, who was an ally of Adolf Hitler, from a planned exhibit, sparked outrage on Thursday among a district mayor, the curator of the exhibit, and the Berlin Jewish community.

The curator, Karl Rössler, told The Jerusalem Post that it is a "scandal" that the director of the Werkstatt, Philippa Ebéné, sought to censor the exhibit.

"One must, of course, name that al-Husseini, a SS functionary, participated in the Holocaust," said Rössler.

The exhibit covers the "The Third World during the Second World War" and three exhibit panels of 96 are devoted to the mufti's collaboration with the Nazis.

The grand mufti delivered a talk to the imams of the Bosnian SS division in 1944, and was a key Islamic supporter of Nazi Germany's destruction of European Jewry.

Ebéné denied that there was an "agreement " reached with the local German-Muslim community to shut down the exhibit. She termed media queries regarding an agreement as "Eurocentric."

She told the Post that the exhibit was intended as a "homage to soldiers from African" countries who fought against the Nazis.

When asked about her opposition to the inclusion of the mufti panels, she asked, "was there ever a commemoration event in Israel to honor the [African] soldiers?"

Rössler was notified last Friday that Ebéné wanted to take out the panels dealing with the grand mufti, but he rejected her demand to remove them.

Miss Sweden...

Shame on Naomi Klein....

Gee, you can even celebrate the city of Tel Aviv without ridiculous protest...

Several Canadian filmmakers plan to withdraw their movies from next month's Toronto International Film Festival to protest a weeklong cinematic homage to Tel Aviv.

They claim that the screenings will show Israel in a positive light instead of creating a critical forum in which to discuss the occupation.

The Tel Aviv-centric week launches the Toronto Festival's new City to City event and is intended to celebrate Tel Aviv's centennial.

According to the protesting artists, including culture critic Naomi Klein and director John Greyson, the problem is not the official participation of Israeli films at the festival but the character of the forum in which they will be screened.

They refer to an interview given last year by the Israeli consul in Toronto, Amir Gissin, to the Canadian Jewish News, in which he said that Israel's image would be improved by participating in the festival.

Among the films to be shown are "Kirot" ("Walls") by Danny Lerner, "Phobidilia" by Yoav and Doron Paz, "Bena" by Niv Klainer, "Jaffa" by Keren Yedaya, "The Bubble" by Eytan Fox, "A History of Israeli Cinema, Part I and II," by Raphael Nadjari, "Life According to Agfa" by Assi Dayan, "Big Eyes" by Uri Zohar, and "Big Dig," a 40-year-old film by Ephraim Kishon.

In a letter sent to the Toronto festival administration, Greyson wrote that the protest was not against Israeli films or filmmakers chosen for the festival.

He expressed admiration for film work by Israelis shown at previous festivals and said that he would attend Israeli films in the future.

Rather, he wrote, his protest was about the "spotlight" itself, the business-as-usual atmosphere advanced by the choice of Tel Aviv as a young, dynamic metropolis, in a celebration free of confrontation with less pleasant parts of Israel, such as what he termed the "brutal occupation."

Gays against Israeli Apartheid to march in Ottawa...

Yes, these idiots are at it again....here's an e-mail that is circulating in the gay community...

Bring noisemakers, banners, flags!

OCCUPATION IS A COCK BLOCK!
++++++++++++++

Queers who are taking a stand against apartheid are inviting all queer people and allies to join in the struggles for the rights and dignity of queer people of territories occupied by Canada and Israel.

We reject the corporatization and depoliticization of queer identity that is being “celebrated” today. Instead, we celebrate the long history of queers being at the forefront of social justice movements (from the Civil Rights movement in the U.S. to the Anti-Apartheid movement in South Africa).

This year, we continue this legacy of Queer resistance. As we march against different manifestations of homophobia both at home and across the world, we also march in solidarity with all people struggling for social justice and self determination everywhere.

Like many queers throughout North America and beyond, we are fed up with Israel's attempts to falsely brand itself as a safe haven for queers in order to divert the world's attention from its racist policies towards Palestinian people. We believe all forms of oppression are related. We do not support the fight against homophobia if it is perpetuating racism.

We are also standing in solidarity with indigenous people in "Canada" who are confronting colonization and imperialism. We recognize that the Canadian state, from its very beginning, has disrupted and destroyed many first nations communities through sexual violence, repression, assimilation and occupation. Queer rights are moot if they mean legitimization of occupation. There can be no pride in our communities if we do not stand in solidarity with others who are resisting all forms of oppression.

Canada and Israel bolster each other's colonial occupations through political, military and economic support. To us, the links are clear. As queers our role in the struggle is obvious.

It's been 8 months since Israel's brutal assault on Gaza which saw hundreds of thousands of people across the world take to the streets in outrage. Many have joined the global movement of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israel.

In Tyendinaga, Six Nations, Barriere Lake, Akwesasne, Coast Salish and across the continent, first nations communities are fanning the flames of resistance to colonization.

Recently, in Toronto and Montréal, Queers have taken to the streets during Pride parades to loudly declare their love and solidarity towards the people of Palestine and their struggle for justice, land and dignity.

This Pride week, it's time for us in Ottawa to reaffirm our solidarity and to march with our allies in our hearts.

Join us as we loudly declare:

THERE IS NO PRIDE IN OCCUPATION!

What does one start with this nonsense??? I wish they would go march in Ramallah, or in Gaza, and see what would happen.

Sikhs and Islamists join forces in India...

This doesn't sound good....

International Islamic and Sikh terrorist outfits have joined hands to strike in India and are recruiting youngsters abroad for it, the Intelligence Bureau (IB) has warned.

Pro-Khalistan elements — in coordination with the Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence and Laskhar-e-Tayyeba — have stepped up their activities in Duerin (Germany), Lahore and Dhaka.

They are planning joint operations against important targets in India, the report says. The Sikh groups have also recruited people willing to be human bombs.

Since January 2007, 77 terrorists have been arrested in Punjab alone.

On August 25, a dreaded Pakistan-trained terrorist, Balbir Singh Beera, wanted in a number of cases, was arrested after a gunfight at the Ludhiana train station that left a vendor dead.

Four terrorists were arrested by the Ludhiana police on June 29. Thirty-two gelatin sticks and six detonators were recovered from them. Ranjit Singh Neeta, chief of the Pakistan-based Khalistan Zindabad Force, had provided the explosives, the report says. Heads of religious sects were the module’s target.

"A multi-layered effort is on to revive terrorism in Punjab by using the interface of terrorist leaders based in Pakistan with foreign-based terrorist sympathisers who are arranging to send funds and motivating recruits,” a senior Punjab intelligence officer, who did not wish to be identified as he is not authorised to speak to the media, told HT

Sikh militants based abroad, particularly those in Pakistan belonging to the Babbar Khalsa International and KZF, are continuing their efforts to revive terrorism in Punjab and target political leaders, the report says.

They are also trying to procure arms from insurgent groups in the Northeast. The growing nexus among Sikh extremists, Islamic militants and Northeast insurgents has the IB worried.

I like a prison that supplies footbaths...

I don't think I'd want to be housed at one that didn't....

Figures obtained from the Ministry of Justice under the Freedom of Information Act show that the money was spent on two footbaths, a "squat" toilet and a shower area at Canterbury Prison in Kent, which only holds foreign nationals awaiting deportation and has 92 Muslim inmates.

Footbaths are often used by Muslims as they are required to wash their feet before prayer. However, the area is not exclusive to Muslims and can be used by all inmates.

The expenditure was condemned by the TaxPayers' Alliance.

Matthew Elliott, chief executive, said: "It's ridiculous that we are spending so much money on prisoners who should have been deported, rather than kept here as a burden on innocent taxpayers.

Other measures have been taken to accommodate the prison's global population, including a multi-faith area allowing all inmates to practise their religion. Muslim prisoners are permitted one hour's use every Friday for prayers.

Islamic prayer timetables are provided, the Koran is available on request and an Imam is employed for 18 hours a week to carry out generic work and faith duties.

Nastiness in Copenhagen...

One Muslim family forces 23 families to move....

A tiff between neighbours has turned into a horror movie for 23 families who face being moved out of an apartment building in Helsingør due to the aggressive behaviour of one other family.

Life has reportedly been hell for the 23 families since the family in question moved into Lejerbo housing association’s Unit 32 rental flats on Belvederevej last October.
The residents have allegedly faced harassment, violence and threats from the family on a daily basis.

The conflict peaked on Monday while the family accused of the rotten behaviour was entertaining relatives. Their children reportedly began throwing rocks and spitting at other families in the building’s playground area. When they were told to stop, their parents came down to the playground armed with knives and clubs.

A melee ensued and two residents were injured and taken to hospital, while one man was arrested.

Threats have since followed the incident, including the Lebanese family spray painting, ‘We’ve killed a man. Watch your step. Ha ha!’ on the sidewalk outside the building.

But instead of the aggressive family being forced to move out, Lejerbo housing association has instead volunteered to relocate the other families at no charge. The reason is that the one family cannot be evicted until the matter is settled through a court order.

Birgitte Wittendorff, head of Helsingør’s social services department, said the city did not have the power to negotiate solutions in household or neighbour disputes. But the city would step in and evict the family as soon as it had the legal means to do so.

The 23 families previously filed their case with the Tenant Complaints Board and the family was ‘evicted’ by the board – a decision that must be upheld in the court before it can be actualised.

In the meantime, many of the building’s residents were reportedly living in fear, especially those who testifying in the eviction case.

Palestinian judge denies Jewish ties to Jerusalem...

Gee, the Palestinians say the darndest things...

The Palestinian Authority's chief Islamic judge, Sheikh Tayseer Rajab Tamimi, said on Wednesday that there was no evidence to back up claims that Jews had ever lived in Jerusalem or that the Temple ever existed.

Tamimi claimed that Israeli archeologists had "admitted" that Jerusalem was never inhabited by Jews.

Tamimi's announcement came in response to statements made earlier this week by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, who said that Jerusalem "is not a settlement," and that "the Jews built it 3,000 years ago."

"Netanyahu's claims are baseless and untrue," said Tamimi, the highest religious authority in the PA. "Jerusalem is an Arab and Islamic city and it always has been so."

Tamimi claimed that all excavation work conducted by Israel after 1967 have "failed to prove that Jews had a history or presence in Jerusalem or that their ostensible temple had ever existed."

He condemned Netanyahu and "all Jewish rabbis and extremist organizations" as liars because of their assertion that Jerusalem was a Jewish city.

Well, the Saudis have a good idea....

Shouldn't we bring this here???

In conservative Saudi Arabia, men and women are increasingly availing misyar, a no-strings marriage of convenience focused primarily on sexual relations.

Misyar allows couples to live separately, but come together for sexual relations. It deprives women of almost all the rights that a normal marriage would entitle them to, but offers men an “opportunity for a bit of fun on the side, in secret, and at a huge discount.”

Misyar’s rising popularity also owes to the high cost of marriage in Saudi Arabia, as dowry, dinners, parties, decorating a flat and the honeymoon, set the groom back several hundred thousand riyals. “Misyar for cash-strapped men is a boon,” the Guardian reported.

A Saudi cited by the report claimed that he entered several misyar marriages after his first normal marriage fell apart.

He said none lasted for more than six months and said the marriages had not been as cost effective as he had hoped, irrespective of the fact that he was hoping to find a compatible partner for a permanent relationship. He said that misyar wives were “crafty and inclined to extract money and gifts”.

“Thanks to Bluetooth technology, websites and an abundance of apartments in major cities like Riyadh and Jeddah, there are tales of misyar wives who have clandestinely entered into more than one misyar contract,” the paper said. “These ladies say misyar husbands never tell their full-time wives about their relationships, so why can’t misyar wives have similar arrangements?” it stated.

Internet ads for misyar marriages often reveal the desperation of those looking for partners, with some only demanding a woman with the “ability to satisfy the needs of a man who desires things permitted by religion.”

Should we call this a traditional marriage?

Dershowitz on Sweden....

Their behavior can only be explained by the desire for appeasement...

The Swedish foreign minister Carl Bildt, has refused to condemn a “blood libel” published by one of Sweden’s leading newspapers, Aftonbladet. The article outrageously claims that Jewish soldiers in Israel killed Palestinians in order to harvest their organs. The writer of the article, Donald Bostrom has acknowledged, according to the New York Times, that “he has no idea whether the accusations are true.” Yet a widely-read Swedish newspaper was prepared to publish this undocumented, and highly volatile accusation, without requiring its author to present any credible evidence.

This false accusation is reminiscent of the medieval blood libels that falsely accused Jews of killing Christian children in order to use their blood for religious rituals.

Not only has foreign minister Bildt refused to issue to a personal condemnation of the current “organ libel,” his foreign ministry explicitly disavowed the denunciation that was issued by Sweden’s Ambassador to Israel, who had called the article “shocking and appalling.” In a self-righteous statement, Mr. Bildt claimed that condemnation of the article would be inappropriate because freedom of expression is a part of the Swedish Constitution.

This is a bogus and ignorant argument, as anyone who understands freedom of speech will attest. I have devoted much of my life to defending freedom of speech and consider myself something of an expert on the matter. Nobody is talking about censoring the Swedish press or imprisoning the writer of the absurd article. What we are talking about is expanding the marketplace of ideas to include a completely warranted condemnation of sloppy journalism and outrageous accusations that foment an already increasing anti-Semitism in Sweden. Freedom of speech is based on an open and vibrant marketplace of ideas. No journalist is immune from criticism for bigotry and defamation, even from high ranking government officials.

Recall that virtually every government official in Europe went out of their way to condemn the depiction of perfectly innocent cartoons that offended some Muslims by portraying Mohammed. (More recently, the Yale Press withdrew these cartoons and other classic art depicting Mohammed out of fear of violent reaction.) Without getting into the business of comparative offensiveness, no reasonable person could argue that depicting a long-dead religious figure comes anywhere close to falsely accusing contemporary Jews of murdering innocent Palestinians to steal their organs.

The reality is that the Swedish government, long known for its cowardess, simply does not want to get into a fight with the Muslim world, much like it didn’t want to get into a fight with the Nazi’s during the Second World War. Sweden is perfectly willing to sell out the Jews in the name of neutrality, or in this case, in the false name of freedom of expression. Its silence is beneath contempt.

I am offended by Sweden’s craven complicity with evil not only as a Jew, but also as a strong defender of freedom of speech. Freedom of speech carries with it certain obligations as well. One of those is to condemn false speech. The best answer to false speech is not censorship, it is truthfulness. By remaining silent in the face of the bigoted falsities contained in the Aftonbladet article, the Swedish foreign minister inevitably creates the impression that he sympathizes with the writer, and perhaps even with his conclusions. Mr. Bildt, too, has freedom of speech, which he has exercised on many occasions. By choosing not to exercise it on this occasion—or even worse, by exercising it to criticize the Swedish Ambassador to Israel for her condemnation of the article—Bildt becomes a facilitator of bigotry. He should be ashamed of himself. His country should be ashamed of him. And if his country is not ashamed of him, then every decent person in the world should be ashamed of Sweden.

Silence in the face of evil is not an option. As Edmund Burke reminded us many years ago: “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.” To that I may add, “or say nothing.”

The Burkha Bandit...

Ahh, it's time for the movie....

Dressed from head to toe in a traditional Muslim woman's burkha, this is the moment a robber raided a travel agent.

Brandishing a knife, he threatens the two women staff before making off with an undisclosed amount of cash.

The robbery in Luton came six weeks after a similar incident in nearby Dunstable and, this week, a £150,000 raid on a jeweller's in Banbury, Oxfordshire.

Police are investigating the possibility the crimes are linked.
The knife-wielding robber targets Thomson travel agency during a spate of violent crimes committed by men dressed in burkas

Just weeks before the 'burqa robbery' Banbury, Oxfordshire yesterday, this CCTV footage shows another burqa-clad thief targeting First Choice Travel in Dunstable

The first incident happened on July 7 - the fourth anniversary of the 2005 terrorist bombings in London.

A man in a burkha, which left only his eyes visible, walked into First Choice Travel in Dunstable. After threatening two women staff he took the cash and escaped through the back door at 10.15am.

On August 16, a burkha-clad man made off with a 'large amount of cash' from the Thomson travel shop in Luton.

Then, on Tuesday, a man wearing a burkha and two accomplices, who wore dark clothes and had their faces covered, stole £150,000-worth of Rolex, Cartier and Breitling watches from jeweller Michael Jones in Banbury.

They threatened four members of staff with a knife and an axe at 2.30pm before escaping in a black Audi estate driven by a fourth man. The car was found abandoned. The robbers are believed to be Asian.

Bedfordshire Police said they were 'keeping an open mind' about whether the crimes were linked. They want to trace two women who went into the Thomson shop in Luton during the robbery but left because staff had been told to say it was closed.

Thames Valley Police, which covers Banbury, refused to deny the incidents involved the same man.

Detective Inspector Steve Duffy said: 'Thankfully nobody was injured during the robbery but obviously staff have been left very shaken by what happened.'

There have been growing concerns over the use of burkhas and other Muslim clothing to conceal criminals' identities.

Is Aftonbladet sponsoring this event???

Perhaps their reporters can give some monologues...

Sweden's capital will this weekend welcome a host of international comedy stars when the very first Stockholm Comedy Festival opens on Friday.

I can hear them now - Did you hear the one about the Israeli organ factory???

A good overview of Hamas....

A murderous, genocidal organization....

Earlier this month, Hamas launched a devastating bombardment of rocket-propelled grenades and machine-gun fire against a mosque in Rafah. The attack killed at least 22 Palestinians, including an 11-year-old girl. Over 100 more were injured and the mosque, which belonged to a rival Islamist faction, the Jund Ansar Allah, was left riddled with bullets. The adjacent building was destroyed. Yet Hamas's disregard for the sanctity of a house of worship, and its contempt for the lives of neighbouring civilians, is unlikely to be the subject of any probing reports from Human Rights Watch.

It is no surprise to see Hamas brutalising the Palestinian population as it tightens its vice-like grip over Gaza. After all, it seized control of the territory in a bloody coup against the Palestinian Authority in June 2007, murdering rivals and hurling PA officials from the rooftops. Subsequently, it has ruthlessly and violently crushed any potential challenge to its power, whether from the Palestinian nationalists of Fatah, or from rival terrorist groups within the Islamist fold.

Meanwhile, it has imposed Gaza's rapid descent into fanatical freefall. As it hounded out the Palestinian Authority, Hamas opened Gaza's floodgates to a tsunami of extremism. Extremism breeds extremism, and the rise of rival Jihadist groups is a problem of Hamas's own making. Yet when it perceives such groups as a threat, or when ideological differences exist, it demonstrates its own barbaric methods of conflict resolution and law enforcement.

Brutality is at the heart of Hamas's practice and ideology, characterising its actions against both Palestinians and Israelis. Throughout its bloody history, the organisation has unleashed waves of indiscriminate terror against any attempt at progress. Yet alarmingly, sections of the media are determined to whitewash and legitimise it. They are joined by various politicians, commentators and activists, who argue that Israel and the West must talk to Hamas, so implying that it is on the verge of a switch to moderation.

Yet Hamas has no interest in compromise or negotiation. The most vicious, genocidal anti-Semitism is intrinsic to its goals. Its charter includes the ominous vision that, "The Day of Judgment will not come about until Muslims fight the Jews and kill them. When the Jew will hide behind stones and trees. The stones and trees will say O Muslims, O Abdulla, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him." This year, a senior Hamas figure, Fathi Hammad, reminded us of its continued commitment to this goal when he stated: "We will not rest until we destroy the Zionist entity."

Meanwhile, Hamas continues to implement a systematic process of religious radicalisation within Gazan society. It reformulated Gaza's penal code, introducing medieval punishments such as public lashings, the severing of limbs and execution by stoning. New laws force schoolgirls to wear the hijab. Security forces make public harassment of women routine and oversee Gaza's descent into misogynistic, religious totalitarianism. It is absurd that any self-proclaimed "progressive" should sympathise with a programme of theocratic oppression.

The latest essential clothes for thieves: A Burkha...

Perfect for men on the job, and women at home...

The man and two accomplices, armed with a handgun and an axe, burst into Michael Jones Jewellers on the High Street in Banbury, Oxfordshire, at about 2.20pm.

They threatened four members of staff, a man and three women, with their weapons before making off with the Rolex, Cartier and Breitling watches.

A man was waiting outside for the three suspects in a black Audi, which was later found abandoned.

Staff at the shop told police the offenders, including the one wearing the burkha, were all male.

The other two were wearing dark clothing and had their faces covered. All are thought to be Asian.

Muslims intimidate Jews in Stockholm...

More troublings signs of what is happening in Sweden...

The strong Muslim presence in Stockholm makes the Jewish community there apprehensive about taking a public stand against the recent article in the Aftonbladet tabloid reporting Palestinian claims that IDF soldiers stole body organs from Palestinians, Rabbi Isak Nachman, the spiritual leader of two Orthodox synagogues in the Swedish capital, said on Sunday.

"We want to combat this type of thing, but some Jews here are afraid - there are between 400,000 and 500,000 Muslims out of a population of about nine million," said Nachman, a member of the Rabbinical Centre of Europe.

"There is definitely anxiety and tension, especially at times when Israel is involved in a military operation, like Cast Lead," he said.

Nachman added, however, that there was not a threatening feeling on the streets of Stockholm as a result of the article in Aftonbladet. "I walk around with a kippa and the Chabad rabbi here wears his hat. Muslims don't live in the large Jewish neighborhoods."

Most anti-Semitic statements were being made by local bloggers, he said. The latest subject being discussed by these bloggers was the alleged Jewish connection of Sweden's ambassador to Israel, Elisabet Borsiin Bonnier.

Bonnier, who called the Aftonbladet article "shocking and appalling," was sharply criticized by Sweden's Green Movement and by the country's main opposition party. The Swedish government also distanced itself from her statement.

Now, said Nachman, Bonnier's marriage to a man who apparently has Jewish roots is being singled out for censure.

"This is a very troubling development," he said.

Stockholm's rabbi said that he was particularly disappointed with Sweden's intelligentsia. "There are plenty of educated people who know about the history of blood libels and have remained quiet," he said, adding that this non-action was in line with Sweden's neutral stance during World War II.

Philippines arrest terrorist who planned to bomb Israeli embassy...

Some good news...

The Philippines said on Tuesday it had eradicated a group of Muslim militants with links to the notorious Abu Sayyaf rebels after the arrest of its top leader suspected to be part of a 2006 plot to bomb Western embassies.

"We believe that his group is already obliterated," national police chief Jesus Verzosa said, referring to Rajah Solaiman Movement (RSM), a small group known for bomb attacks in the capital and in the southern island of Mindanao.

RSM, with less than 50 members, has close links with the al Qaeda-affiliated Abu Sayyaf, the deadliest Muslim rebel group in the Philippines.

Dinno-Amor Pareja, 28, also known as Khalil and Abu Jihad, did not resist arrest when law enforcement teams stormed his hideout in Marawi City on Mindanao last Friday, Verzosa told reporters.

Pareja, who is also on the wanted list of the US treasury department, assumed the leadership of the RSM group in 2005 when its two top leaders and organizers were arrested.

Verzosa said Pareja helped plan attacks on the embassies of the United Kingdom, United States and Israel in Manila and during the meetings of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Cebu City in the central Philippines in 2006.

Security forces foiled the plots after 600 kg of explosives were seized in a raid in a Manila suburb. But they failed to arrest Pareja who sought refuge in Muslim rebel bases in Mindanao.

Police escorted a handcuffed Pareja to a detention facility in a police camp in the capital on Tuesday, hours after he was flown in from the southern Philippines.

Pareja is also facing rebellion and murder charges for a February 2005 commuter bus bombing that killed three people and wounded dozens in Manila's main business district.

Mosques in Malaysian province gets arrest powers...

Nothing like adding new police officers, no?

Mosque officials in Selangor, Malaysia's most populated and richest state, have been authorized to arrest Muslims drinking alcohol in public, a move likely to court controversy in the multi-ethnic Asian Muslim heavyweight, the daily Star reported on Tuesday, August 25.

"These officials have been appointed to assist the Selangor Islamic Religious Council and the Selangor Islamic Religious Department," Selangor Executive Councilor Hasan Ali told reporters after a briefing at Shah Alam Mosque.

Under the scheme, imams, muezzins and other mosque officials would be authorized to arrest offenders.

Oops...no evidence to support the Swedes....

Hey, here's a reporter who actually does research....

The family and relatives of Bilal Ahmed Ghanem, the Palestinian at the center of the organ-theft story in the Swedish tabloid Aftonbladet, said on Monday that they didn't know if the accusations were true or not.

The family lives in the tiny village of Imatin in the northern West Bank. Ghanem, 19, was killed by IDF soldiers during the first intifada on May 13, 1992.

He was a Fatah activist who was wanted by the IDF for his involvement in violence.

His mother, Sadeeka, said he was shot by an IDF sniper as he walked out of his home. "The bullets hit him directly in the heart," she said.

Ghanem's younger brother, Jalal, said he could not confirm the allegations made by the Swedish newspaper that his brother's organs had been stolen.

"I don't know if this is true," he said. "We don't have any evidence to support this."

Jalal said his brother was evacuated by the IDF in a helicopter and delivered to the family only a few days later.

The mother denied that she had told any foreign journalist that her son's organs had been stolen.

New dress code for Gaza, says Hamas...

Nothing like school uniforms, no?

Female students in the Gaza Strip will be required to wear head coverings and full-length robes beginning this school year, the Hamas rules of the Gaza Strip announced on Monday.

According to the new regulations, any female student that does not attend class in the proper attire will be sent home.

The ministry also has ruled that male teachers cannot teach in girls' schools and women are not allowed to teach at boys' schools.

More on the Swedish blood libel....

Some additional details you won't find elsewhere...

Silence is golden according to Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, the government official who insists his country's ambassador to Israel must refrain from expressing an opinion on virulent anti-Semitic accusations in the Swedish left-wing tabloid Aftonbladet. Accusations intended as a blood-libel against all Jews and Israelis everywhere.

The article's author Donald Boström freely admits that he has no evidence of any of his allegations but says it is up to Jews and Israelis to prove themselves innocent. An interesting if not entirely original twist - Jews are guilty until they prove themselves innocent. The basic tenets of democracy do not appear to be familiar to either Boström or Aftonbladet.

Much of the material in Boström's article came from a book he published in 2001 Inshallah which was jointly financed by the Swedish Foreign Ministry and various other government-backed organizations.

Here is what Boström writes in the acknowledgements section (comments in brackets are my explanations): "Thanks to Diakonia [90% government-financed Christian aid organization], Forum Syd [government-financed aid organization], Graphics Industry Union, Stockholm Graphic Workers' Union [part of the Swedish Trade Union Confederation, co-owner of Aftonbladet], the Swedish Christian Study Center, the Brotherhood Movement [Christian branch of the Social Democratic Party], the Swedish Palestinian Solidarity Movement [partly government-financed], Trade union TCO and the Swedish Foreign Ministry for their financial donations."

A worrying pattern emerges of governmental, church and trade union involvement in officially-sanctioned demonization of Israel.

This is no one-off phenomenon. Rampant Swedish media distortion and the tacit and blatant anti-Semitism expressed in various Swedish governmental and quasi-governmental organizations can be charted with the utmost clarity in an NGO Monitor report "A Clouded EU Presidency: Swedish Funding for NGO Rejectionism."

THE RESULTS of media distortion and constant demonizing of Jews and Israelis are felt in Sweden all the time - most recently Saturday in a soccer match involving Jewish youth club IF Hakoah, in which spectators raced onto the pitch during and after the match to assault the Hakoah players for the crime of being Jewish.

One problem, however: at this particular match, none of the Hakoah players happened to be Jewish. Not that it mattered in a climate of hate cloaked in government silence.

Other aspects of Swedish silence that are equally worrying if one steps back and examines the broader canvas. Sweden is one of the world's largest per capita donors to Palestinian Arab welfare. This funding comes in the form of tax revenues paid dutifully by hard-working Swedes lucky enough to still have a job, to the tune of about of 700 million kronor per annum and increasing yearly.

And despite the millions that he takes from Swedish citizens to give to Palestinians, Bildt deliberately chooses not to condition these payments on the Palestinians' release of the only Jew in the Gaza Strip: the young Gilad Schalit who was captured by Hamas 1200 days ago and has since not been allowed contact with his family, legal representation or visits by the Red Cross - itself a gross violation of his human rights.

Bildt has every reason to be tight-lipped. Talking would put Sweden's decades-old policy of selective silence in jeopardy. There's too much at stake if people start asking questions. Swedes might start demanding that some of their tax money be spent on their own welfare rather than on Palestinians.

More blood libel from Sweden....

The Palestinians tell them a story...and they love it!

Despite Israel's harsh protests, Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet published a second article accusing the IDF of harvesting Palestinian organs.

In the article, published Sunday, Oisín Cantwell and Urban Andersson report from the northern West Bank village of Imatin, where 19-year-old Bilal Ahmad Ghanem was killed during a clash with Israeli soldiers in 1992.

Ghanem's family claims that his body was returned several days later, wrapped in hospital bandages. Aftonbladet published what is said was a photo of the body, which had a scar running from the neck down to the abdomen.

The second article, titled "Mother never stopped suffering; she never stopped wondering," quoted Bilal's brother as saying that the killed teen was "hunted by Israel for protecting his people."

The brother, who was 15-years-old at the time, recounted the shooting incident. "A number of (IDF) soldiers ambushed (the Palestinians) and opened fire. The fist shot hit (Bilal) in the chest, the second in the leg. We believe that he was still alive after sustaining the two bullet wounds."

The mother, Sadija, told Aftonbladet "they could have arrested him, but instead they decided to kill him.

According to the family, the IDF demanded NIS 5,000 (about $1,300) to return the body.

"It was the middle of the night. The soldiers caused an electrical power outage in the entire village. Bilal was returned in a black bag; he had no teeth. The body was stitched from the neck all the way down to the abdomen," the Swedish newspaper quoted the mother as saying.

According to the article, when asked what happened to the body, the soldiers said it had undergone an autopsy in Tel Aviv. The family, however, claims Bilal's organs had been stolen.

The word police strike in Northern Ireland...

This is from their Human Rights Commission!

Documents released under freedom of information rules show that the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission advised staff to replace the phrase “black day” with “miserable day”.

Its explanation was that the term carries a “hierarchical valuation of skin colour”.

The commission also urges employees to be careful of the term “ethnic minority” because it can imply “something smaller and less important”.

The National Gallery is concerned some terms its staff use could discriminate against women.

It suggests they should replace the term "gentlemen's agreement" with "unwritten agreement" or "agreement based on trust" while "right-hand man" should become "second in command".

The Learning Skills Council is also mindful of "gender bias" in some language used by its workers and has asked them to "perfect" their brief, rather than "master" it.

Advice issued by the South West Regional Development Agency states: “Terms such as ‘black sheep of the family’, ‘black looks’ and ‘black mark’ have no direct link to skin colour but potentially serve to reinforce a negative view of all things black. Equally, certain terms imply a negative image of ‘black’ by reinforcing the positive aspects of white.

“For example, in the context of being above suspicion, the phrase ‘whiter than white’ is often used. Purer than pure or cleaner than clean are alternatives which do not infer that anything other than white should be regarded with suspicion.”

2 brothers forced to move because muslim neighbour thought they were gay....

This is from the Gay Press in the Netherlands...

The Amsterdam neighborhood Ymere, two brothers forced to move because their Muslim neighbor them a gay couple looketh and violence was threatened.

In late July the two men were at loggerheads with their neighbors. "Dirty gay people," said the man using one of the (heterosexual) brothers, "I take you off."

When he asked the man what exactly was going on, he came with a knife on him. When they wanted further explanation, the man returned to his home to its own words to get a gun. Then the brothers were abscond.

Muslims in Sweden throw out festival...

Here's an article that can't even say who these 'residents' are...

A street festival held in the Rosengård district of Malmö deteriorated into a fight on Saturday evening as activists were forced out by area residents.

The “Reclaim Rosengård” street festival, which was conceived as a protest against the social conditions in Rosengård, didn’t exactly go according to organizers’ plans. The event was supposed to get underway at 8pm on Saturday, but after about 15 minutes the activists who had gathered to participate were pushed out by Rosengård residents.

The activists' floats with music were also barred from entering the predominantly immigrant neighbourhood.

“There were quite a few who had gathered, not only young people, but also a lot of parents. I think that patience has run out among the residents of Rosengård,” said municipal district representative Inger Leite to the TT news agency.

According to Leite, the Rosengård residents had made it clear previously that they didn’t want people to feel they had the right to come and speak to the residents who live there.

Instead, the activists gathered in front of a nearby petrol station where they threw stones, bottled, and burning objects at police cars.

By 2am Sunday morning, the disturbances remained in full swing. Several small fires were burning, including a hedge near the petrol station which had also had its windows broken.

Wilders not to be prosecuted for Muhammed Cartoons....

The Arab-European League in the Netherlands is upset that Geert Wilders is not going to be prosecuted. So, what do they do? They re-publish an anti-semitic cartoon - in which they were prosecuted three years ago.

I personally don't think anybody should be prosecuted. But, what kind of behavior is this? The cartoon depicts two Jews "searching for victims" at Auschwitz, hinting that the Jews invented the holocaust..

Ynetnews has the story and the link to the cartoon.

Palestinians continue to charge Israel with stealing organs....

Gee, Palestinians say the darndest things....

The Bethlehem-based Palestinian news agency Ma'an published a report over the weekend which it said confirmed allegations that IDF soldiers kill Palestinian civilians to harvest their organs.

The charges appeared last week in Sweden's left-leaning Aftonbladet newspaper and have since been widely quoted in Palestinian and Arab newspapers.

"They plunder the organs of our sons," read the headline in Sweden's largest daily newspaper, which devoted a double spread in its cultural section to the article.

Ma'an, which is funded by Denmark and the Netherlands, headlined its feature: "Disappearances, Holding Bodies, Organ Theft - Intertwined Crimes."

The feature is based on an interview with Abdel Nasser Farwaneh, a former security prisoner in Israel who is described by the news agency as an "expert on prisoners' affairs."

Farwaneh is quoted as saying that the "findings" published by the Swedish newspaper are true.

"All the facts, evidence and testimonies over the past few decades regarding the way the occupation forces were treating and killing innocent civilians don't leave room for doubt about the credibility of the report in the Swedish newspaper," he said.

The "expert" claimed that hundreds of Palestinian and Arab prisoners have disappeared in Israeli detention centers and prisons.

"This policy of hiding prisoners is surely connected to what the Swedish newspaper published," Farwaneh said. "It's possible that all those missing prisoners, or a large number of them, were deliberately killed so that their organs could be stolen and used illegally. The remains of these prisoners are then hidden in secret cemeteries known as the Cemeteries of Numbers."

Farwaneh told the agency that there was also good reason to believe that the allegations were true because many bodies of Hizbullah gunmen that were returned by Israel were missing organs.

He also claimed that IDF soldiers had "executed" more than 50 civilians after arresting them during the second intifada, which began in September 2000. "This could be related to what the Swedish newspaper reported about organ harvesting," he said.

Senegal to try Two Teenagers for Homosexuality....

I hear Ban Ki-Moon is upset...

Two Senegalese teenagers will stand trial this coming week for allegedly committing homosexual acts. It is the latest in a string of cases targeting gay men and now young boys in Senegal.

Newspapers here in Dakar are preoccupied with the onset of the Muslim holiday Ramadan and the final matches of the season for Senegal's most popular sport, traditional wrestling. They have yet to comment on the story of two young men from the religious town of Darou Mousty in northern Senegal. The two seventeen year-old boys will stand trial this week for "homosexual acts" in a juvenile court in the region's capital, Louga.

Three other young men from Darou Mousty were arrested with the teenagers in June, but were tried in an adult court in August. Two of the men received five-year sentences and a third, who is younger, was sent to jail for two years. In Senegal, homosexuality is punishable by a maximum of 5 years in jail and fines of up to $3,000.

Siré Ba is a lawyer representing two of the men, including one of the seventeen year-olds. He says the men were in a private house when a neighbor walked in.

Dutch museum lies about the Jews....

Gee, who runs this museum???

In accusing Israel of "robbing Palestinian identity and replacing Palestinian money," the Netherlands' Geldmuseum (Money Museum) has adopted propaganda that "runs contrary to the truth," the country's largest pro-Israel organization said this week.

The museum has denied any political bias.

The Hague-based Center for Information and Documentation (CIDI) has complained on the matter to the Geldmuseum in Utrecht following reports about an exhibition on people's attitudes toward money.

In the exhibition, there are cardboard characters from 50 different locations including writing on what their currencies mean to them.

"The first character one sees upon entering the room is of a kaffiyeh-wearing Sami Issa from Israel, or Palestine, standing near a mock Arabic shop," a disgruntled visitor told Haaretz.

Issa describes old paper notes, which he calls "real Palestinian money," which "prove that Palestine existed." He then argues the money was replaced with notes with Hebrew text, constituting "the theft of Palestinian identity."

In a complaint letter to the museum, CIDI founder Ronny Naftaniel said he was "appalled" by the Museum's "departure from factual truth."

Naftaniel also wrote that from 1900 to 1948, Arabs and Jews in the Land of Israel used Ottoman, Egyptian and British money, but never "Palestinian money."

Claiming otherwise, Naftaniel said, "gives the impression that an independent Palestinian state had existed before the birth of the State of Israel. The display goes on to reinforce this impression by saying the identity of that non-existent state was stolen."

"The politically motivated and historically unfounded text in the exhibition is not appropriate for any museum aspiring to be a relevant source for monetary history," Naftaniel said yesterday. The museum has not replied to his letter.

One visitor, who asked that his name be withheld from the article, said the exhibit, and the absence of an Israeli voice from it, showed that the Money Museum "has joined the fight against Zionism."

Bloggers meet in Ottawa....

Several of us met today in Ottawa for a great conversation...

Thanks, Deborah for posting this. I am a big fan of Deborah's - she's passionate, smart, and her blog is definately worth reading on a regular basis.

Ottawa Citizen misuses statistics...

In a large article on Islam, the Ottawa Citizen reporter makes a startling claim!

In less than three decades, the number of Muslims in Ottawa has leapt to about 65,000 from 4,320. The median age among Muslims is a young and fertile 28, compared to the national median of 38.8, the oldest Canadians have ever been. Islam is the fastest-growing religion in Canada, jumping 128 per cent since 1991.

Some Canadians are nervous about the implications. A recent Angus Reid poll found 45 per cent of Canadians believe Islam incites violence. Just 28 per cent have a generally positive view of the faith. Yet only 32 per cent claim to have a thorough knowledge of it. In other words, 68 per cent admit they don’t really know what they’re talking about.

I'd like to see all the results of the poll. But, just because only 32% claim they have a thorough knowledge of Islam, doesn't mean that the other 68% don't know what they are talking about. It's a ridiculous statement. I certainly don't have a thorough knowledge of Islam, but I know enough! I am surprised this paragraph pass the Citizen editors.

US climate bill would boost employment!

Yes, but only in the government....

The House-passed climate change bill, if enacted, would expand the federal government so much that it would take billions of dollars and thousands of new employees to implement.

Now-obscure federal agencies such as the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission would have to become mini-behemoths in order to handle their expanded responsibilities. Congress would have to appropriate billions of dollars for more bureaucrats, much of which is not reflected in the House bill.

"The problem is that there's a mismatch between the government's capacity and its mission," said Darrell M. West, vice president and director of governance studies at the left-leaning Brookings Institution.

One provision would almost overnight create the nation's largest commodity market in which polluters would buy and sell rights to emit carbon dioxide. These rights - called allowances - are at the heart of the measure, which seeks to slash the amount of greenhouse gases by forcing polluters to curb their emissions or pay for the right to pollute.

"It could be a $2 trillion market within five years," said Bart Chilton, commissioner of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

The commission, which would police the new futures market for allowances, apparently would need to expand its work force by at least 31 percent initially to fulfill its obligations under the bill. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which would oversee the day-to-day trading of allowances, has estimated that it would have to expand by 20 percent or 30 percent.

The Environmental Protection Agency, which would oversee pollution regulation, also would balloon in size. The agency regulates 330 million tons of pollution a year but would regulate 6 billion tons of carbon dioxide emissions a year from 7,400 facilities under the legislation.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said the government's expansion would cost $8 billion over a 10-year period. For the bill to operate effectively, nearly 1,500 regulations and mandates would have to be approved for at least 21 federal agencies. The rule-making process alone would take years.

How would you like some Hamas 'Re-education'???

I'm sure this is fun....

The de facto Ministry of the Interior in Gaza will try to "correct" ideologies held by members of Jund Ansar Allah who were arrested after and during gun battles last week, spokesman Eyhab Al-Ghussein said on Saturday.

The ministry said it would seek help from the Union of Muslim Scholars.

Of course, the Palestinians believe the Swedes....

And, the Swedes believed the Palestinians...

International human rights organizations must carry out a serious and immediate investigation on media reports published by a Swedish newspaper alleging Israeli forces harvested organs from Palestinian youth, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine demanded Saturday.

The report in Aftonbladet quoted Palestinians claiming Israeli soldiers detained young men who died in custody, and alleged their bodies were returned with organs missing.

A PFLP statement said such reports, given the detailed names, dates and photographs included and the staunch support of the Swedish government of the reporter, must be taken seriously. The group said the story was similar to alleged violations carried out by soldiers in the 1980s in Gaza, where they were said to have stolen organs from children taken to Israeli hospitals.

Hold it....I missed that last charge - stealing organs from Palestinian children??? Gee, Palestinians say the darndest things (My apology to Art Linkletter).

Are the global warming numbers cooked?

Here's one view of a small part of the puzzle....

The amount of carbon emissions caused by world forest destruction is likely far less than the 20 percent figure being widely used before global climate talks in December, said the head of the Brazilian institute that measures Amazon deforestation.

Gilberto Camara, the director of Brazil's respected National Institute for Space Research, said the 20 percent tally was based on poor science but that rich countries had no interest in questioning it because the number put more pressure on developing countries to stem greenhouse gases.

"I'm not in favor of conspiracy theories," Camara told Reuters in a telephone interview on Friday.

"But I should only state that the two people who like these figures are developed nations, who would like to overstress the contribution of developing nations to global carbon, and of course environmentalists."

A lower estimate for carbon emissions from deforestation would have an impact on the Copenhagen talks, where preserving forests is a top item on the agenda.

The summit will negotiate a follow-up to the Kyoto climate change treaty that could introduce forest credit trade to cut developing nation deforestation.

Camara, who stressed that he thought Brazil's deforestation rates remain too high, said recent calculations by his institute using detailed satellite data showed clearing of the world's biggest forest accounted for about 2.5 percent of annual global carbon emissions.

Given that the Amazon accounts for about a quarter of deforestation globally, a figure of about 10 percent for total emissions caused by forest destruction is likely to be more accurate, Camara said.

Bruce Bawer will be in Ottawa

The Free Thinking Film Society Presents our first speaker!

We are proud to announce that Bruce Bawer will be coming to Ottawa on September 14th to speak to us. We will also be hosting a reception for Bruce and everybody right after his speech and Q&A.

Date: September 14, 2009, 7:00 PM
Place: National Archives/Library of Canada, 395 Wellington Street Ottawa
Admission: $15.00
Admission includes reception at the Archives

Tickets are now available at two locations:

Ottawa Folklore Centre (1111 Bank Street, Ottawa, (613) 730-2887) - in Ottawa South.

Compact Music (190 Bank Street) Near Nepean.

Bruce Bawer's latest book is "Surrender: Appeasing Islam, Sacrificing Freedom". and here are some short reviews:

"Sublimely literate and rational...an immensely important and urgent book."
- Booklist (boxed, starred review)

"An alarming, depressing, brilliant and remarkably courageous book."
- Martin Sieff, Washington Times

"Bruce Bawer has yet again written an excellent book....I truly hope that it will serve as an eye-opener for everyone." - Geert Wilders

“Written with an urgency and clarity that makes it hard to stop reading and re-reading it. It should be studied by all who wish to understand the forces at work in the West that make an Islamic ‘House of Peace’ a brewing nightmare.”
- Ayaan Hirsi Ali

"With courage and verve, Bruce Bawer builds the case for how 'the West is on the road to sharia'....Bawer rousingly and rightly argues that the West’s unwavering principle must be 'a refusal to sacrifice or compromise liberty - no matter what.'"
- Daniel Pipes, Director, Middle East Forum

"Liberals should be in the forefront of the defense of free expression against the deeply disturbing threats Bruce Bawer documents."
- Ron Rosenbaum, author of Explaining Hitler and The Shakespeare Wars


BIO of Bruce Bawer

Considered one of America's leading cultural critics, Bruce Bawer was born in New York City in 1956 and received his BA, MA, and PhD in English from the State University of New York at Stony Brook.

Described by Kirkus Reviews as "a literary essayist for the ages," he has published several volumes of literary criticism, including Diminishing Fictions (1988), The Aspect of Eternity (1993), and Prophets and Professors (1995). His other books include A Place at the Table (1993), one of the most influential books ever written about homosexuality; Stealing Jesus (1997), which Publishers Weekly called “a must-read book for anyone concerned with the relationship of Christianity to contemporary American culture"; Coast to Coast (1993), which was named by the Dictionary of Literary Biography Yearbook as the year’s best first book of poems; and While Europe Slept (2006), a National Book Critics Circle Award finalist and New York Times bestseller. Bawer's latest book, Surrender (2009), was described by Booklist as "sublimely literate and rational...immensely important and urgent." Bawer has also contributed hundreds of articles and reviews to such publications as The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, City Journal, The Wilson Quarterly, The Chronicle of Higher Education, The New Republic, Cato Policy Report, The Nation, and The Times Literary Supplement, and is a regular contributor of literary essays to The Hudson Review. Since 1999 he has made his home in Oslo, Norway.

New York Times Book Review

There is no more important issue facing the West than Islamism, Islamofascism or — to use yet another label — radical Islam. And there is no more necessary precondition to countering that threat than understanding it: where it springs from, how it is expressed and the ways in which it is spreading. But before we do any of that, we have to agree that the threat exists.

For the United States, the danger so far has taken the form of terror, as 9/11 so clearly demonstrated. In Europe, terror is real too, but a more insidious problem has now taken hold: many liberals and others on the European left are making common cause with radical Islam and then brazenly and bizarrely denying both the existence of that alliance and in fact the existence of any Islamist threat whatever.

Bruce Bawer’s “Surrender: Appeasing Islam, Sacrificing Freedom” is focused on this phenomenon. Bawer, an American writer who lives in Norway — the archetype, even the caricature, of the liberal European mind-set — seeks to show, among other things, that the United States is becoming as culpable as Europe, its liberal news media and college campuses willfully refusing to acknowledge the danger posed by radical Islam and opening their pages and seminars to those who seek the undoing of the very tenets that allow liberals — and everyone else — their freedoms. Bawer devotes much of his book to an attack on The New York Times for refusing to highlight the Islamist threat while swallowing the claims of figures like Tariq Ramadan, a supposed moderate who, Bawer writes, is “a habitual practitioner of the Islamic art of taqiyya — which essentially means saying one thing in Arabic and another thing in English or French.”

But it’s when he turns to Europe that Bawer is able to provide example upon example of how the West is becoming its own worst enemy. He cites, for instance, the welcome offered by the former mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, to the Muslim cleric Sheik Yusuf al-Qaradawi, who supports suicide bombing and the execution of homosexuals. Livingstone proudly hugged Qaradawi in public at City Hall.

That alliance between a man who is presumed to be a proud liberal — Livingstone was a member of the same Labour Party as the prime minister at the time, Tony Blair — and a Muslim cleric who would return the West to barbarism was far from unique. But Livingstone is a politician. He is accountable to voters for his behavior, and he was voted out of office.

More pernicious, perhaps, is the refusal of institutions that depend on freedom of speech for their very existence to stand up for that freedom. Bawer analyzes the story of the 12 cartoons of Muhammad published in the Danish newspaper ­Jyllands-Posten in September 2005, which is emblematic of the “surrender” of his title. When the paper was attacked by radical Muslims for daring to mock Muhammad, solidarity from other newspapers in supposedly free nations across the globe was paltry. The response of political leaders was even worse. Rather than confronting a blatant, indeed self-proclaimed, attempt to ensure that Islam could not be treated like any other subject in a free country — that is, mocked, criticized or satirized — politicians and editors simply cowered in fear of retaliation. Even those newspapers that offered words of support to Jyllands-Posten refused to reprint the cartoons.

Almost the only leader to show any backbone was the Danish prime minister, Anders Fogh Rasmussen. His response to a demand by Muslim leaders for a meeting was to tell them that “it is so self-evidently clear what principles Danish society is based upon that there is nothing to have a meeting about.”

“Surrender” is, at times, hard going. In part that is because of the level of detail Bawer offers in support of his argument. But “Surrender” is hard going in another respect as well. Bawer is unquestionably correct, and that fact is quite simply ­terrifying.

Stephen Pollard, the editor of The Jewish Chronicle, is the author of “Ten Days That Changed the Nation: The Making of Modern Britain.”
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Bill Moyers interview of Bruce Bawer...