Meeting at UC Irvine to Have a Bust of Raoul Wallenberg Placed on Campus

Gary Fouse
fousesquawk
http://garyfouse.blogspot.com

First Gas, Then Fire

By Findalis of Monkey in the Middle

Over a week ago President Bashar al-Assad of Syria launched a gas attack on his own people.  Hundreds of civilians are dead and thousands are wounded.  Now to follow up such a hideous act, Assad has launched an incendiary bomb into the city of Aleppo.

Citizens from the area of the city of Aleppo in northern Syria, suffering from burns most likely caused by a incendiary bomb similar to napalm, were shown on Friday on a BBC network broadcast.

According to the report, 10 were killed and many more injured in a bombing on a school.

The broadcast shows a man, identified as a teacher in the bombed school, suffering from burns in most of his body.

The broadcast shows a man, identified as a teacher in the bombed school, suffering from burns in most of his body.

Wounded from the attack:

Click here if the video fails to load.

"The plane bombed a residential area in Orum a-Kubra," he said. "We tried to evacuate quickly, but it appears that fate had the upper hand today."

"The students gathered in one place, and then the plane got us," he added.

In another video, taken after the attack, a doctor who treated the wounded said that 10 students were killed and about 50 injured, most of them suffering from severe burns caused by napalm.

The BBC report described the scene and said the wounded looked like "walking dead."

A BBC reporter at the scene estimated the bomb contained either a napalm type explosive or thermite.

A British medic, Dr Rola, who was in Syria with the charity Hand In Hand, treated the victims at the hospital.

She said: "It is just absolute chaos and carnage here. We have had a massive influx of what looks like serious burns, seems like it must be some sort of, not really sure, maybe napalm, something similar to that.

"But obviously within the chaos of the situation it is very difficult to know exactly what is going on."

She said later: "We feel like some sort of, not even a second class citizen, like we just don't matter. Like all of these children, and all of these people who are being killed and massacred, we don't matter.

"The whole world has failed our nation and it is innocent civilians who are paying the price.".

Meanwhile, the NBC network released a survey which shows 50% of Americans oppose an US strike against Syria. Close to 80% of the surveyed said the President Barack Obama must have the Congress' go-ahead before a military intervention against Assad's regime.

SOURCE

On September 6, 2007 Israel destroyed Syria's nuclear reactor. Could you imagine Assad with a nuke or two?  Would he use it on his own people?  I do believe he would use a nuke on his own people.  He has already used Sarin gas and now an incendiary bomb.  Syria has descended into Hell.  A Hell of their own making.  How this will end is not known to the future, but it will not be a good ending for the Syrian people.

University of California Whitewash

Gary Fouse
fousesquawk
http://garyfouse.blogspot.com


Over the years, I have often reported on the on-going investigations by the Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights as to complaints of anti-Semitism on the University of California campuses. Principal among these was the complaint lodged against UC Irvine in 2007. It may be summed up by stating that the source of the complaints are incidents and speech that have arisen during the periodic anti-Israel events staged by the various chapters of the Muslim Student association and the Students for Justice in Palestine.

Now to the relief of the various campus administrations and Palestinian activists, the DOE has concluded that the complaints are baseless-or to be more exact- are covered under First Amendment protections. Previous findings held that complaints were not filed in a timely manner, or that Jews were not protected as a religion under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, or that there was no finding of discrimination as to nationality-specifically, no Israelis had been victimized. And on it went.

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-uc-jewish-20130828,0,6127004.story

http://www.sacbee.com/2013/08/28/5687439/feds-reject-uc-berkeley-anti-semitism.html

Up until a few years ago, when Ken Marcus was the head of OCR, there was hope that the complaints would bear fruit. Alas, Marcus has long since been replaced by people with a different mindset, so this finding is hardly surprising.

"However, UC Santa Cruz Chancellor George Blumenthal, in a statement, said: “This campus values the free and open expression of ideas, and we diligently safeguard our students' civil rights. We are, therefore, pleased that these allegations have been thoroughly investigated and dismissed.”

"UC Irvine Chancellor Michael Drake said in a statement that “UC Irvine’s Jewish student community is vibrant, growing, and actively engaged in a wide variety of activities on our diverse campus. We are pleased that these allegations have been dismissed and believe very strongly in our carefully and actively nurtured culture of inclusion.”

I find the above comments highly offensive. Here is why:

"You can take the Jew out of the ghetto, but you can't take the ghetto out of the Jew."
-Washington DC-based Mohammed al Asi at UC Irvine in 2001

"You Jews, you'all the new Nazis!"
-Amir Abdel Malik Ali
At UC Irvine 2010

"Rupert Murdoch-straight up Zionist Jew!"
-Amir Abdel Malik Ali
at UC Irvine 2006

This picture appeared on the MSU Apartheid Wall in 2008. I witnessed it and photographed it myself.

All of the above occurred during the Muslim Student Union Union-sponsored week of events at UC Irvine in May of the above years. There are many more which have been documented on this site.

Of course, it is not surprising that the LA Times would give the last word to the crowing of two pro-Palestinian supporters.

"Rebecca Pierce, a recent graduate of UC Santa Cruz and member of the Committee for Justice in Palestine, said in a statement that she and others felt “vindicated that the DOE has rejected this attack on our freedom of expression, and we will continue to advocate in accordance with our values regarding human rights and social justice.”

But activists involved in pro-Palestinian causes on campus also questioned why the probes took so long, with the one at Irvine started in April 2008, the Santa Cruz one in March 2011 and Berkeley, September 2012. Berkeley-based attorney Liz Jackson, who works with the Center for Constitutional Rights, said the delays have created a chilling effect, making some students afraid to participate in political actions. She said she deplored any anti-Semitic remarks made on campuses but that it is wrong to depict UC as having an anti-Jewish climate."

I wouldn't really call this a disappointment because our side gave up the ghost a few years ago that these complaints were ever going to amount to anything given the current climate. The out-going UC president, Mark Yudof, himself Jewish, never supported the idea that anti-Semitism was a problem on his campuses and showed a cavalier disinterest in the problem passing it off as free speech. His successor, the politically-correct Janet Napolitano will be no improvement. In a nutshell, the administration of the University of California and the various chancellors have been intimidated and cowed into submission by the various MSA chapters. Nobody wants to appear to be Islamophobic. As for anti-Semitism, nobody cares.

Guns Of August 2013

In July 1914 the Great Powers of Europe ((Italy, France, Germany, the British Empire, the Austria-Hungarian Empire and Russia) failed to come to a diplomatic solution to the growing nationalism, the colonialism that the Great Powers forced upon the Third World, the growing call for war that was filling the continent of Europe.  Then the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife Sophie by Gavrilo Princip, a Serbian national member of the Serbian nationalist organization, the Black Hand, in the city of Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. This was the final straw that broke the proverbial camel's back for the Great Powers and the Guns of August fired.

Now in this last week of August we are beginning to hear the Guns of August rolling again.  A different part of the World, (The Middle East not Europe.) and different players (Syria, Iran, Hezbollah, Russia, Israel, United States, Great Britain.).  Diplomacy has failed, Assad of Syria will not listen to the world.  And the Assad regime attacked his own civilian population with Sarin gas.  But the outcome of their actions just might ignite the world into a global war.

From Debka:

Ahead of the US strike on Syria, the Israeli security cabinet in special session Wednesday, Aug. 28, ordered the partial mobilization of select, qualitative IDF reserve forces: Rocket, Air Force, missile interception, Home Defense command and intelligence units. Anti-missile Arrow, Patriot and Iron Dome systems were spread out more widely than ever before across the country. US and Syria wound up last military preparations for the US strike. Barring last-minute hold-ups, debkafile’s military sources report the American operation is scheduled to start Friday night, early Saturday Aug. 30-31.(Confirmed)

In the past 24 hours, the US Air Force finished a major buildup at the big US Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar. B-1B bombers and F-22 Raptor stealth fighter jets were brought over from other US Mid East air facilities on the Omani island of Masirah and Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean.

These squadrons were not assigned to the US military strike against Syria, say our military sources, but will stand ready to move in should unforeseen complications in the course of the US missile assault on Syria call for the introduction of extra assets from outside.

Israeli officials and spokesmen continued to insist Wednesday on low expectations of a Syrian counter-offensive against their country. Nevertheless, the new US air force reinforcements in Qatar will stand ready to rush to the aid of US allies - Israel, Jordan and Turkey - in the event of their coming under Syrian Scud attack.

On the opposite side, the Syrian army Tuesday started scattering personnel, weapons and air assets to safe places to reduce their exposure to damage and losses from US assaults.

Our military sources report that personnel, tanks and artillery of the Syrian Army’s 4th and Republican Guard Divisions, which are held responsible for the Aug. 21 chemical attack on civilians, were being moved into fortified shelters built last year against potential foreign military intervention.(Confirmed)

Syrian army command centers in Homs, Hama, Latakia and the Aleppo region were also being split up and dispersed, after a tip-off to Syrian and Russian intelligence that they would be targeted by the US strike. Syria has also transferred its Air Force fighter planes, bombers and attack helicopters to fortified shelters which are armored against missile and air attack.

In Israel, the IDF Wednesday installed two Iron Dome missile interceptors in the northern “Valleys” region and Safed in addition to Haifa. Another Iron Dome battery was posted in the heavily populated central district. Arrow, Patriot anti-missile missiles, as well as Iron Domes, have been deployed more widely across Israel than ever before. debkafile’s military sources report that Israel’s Arrow and Patriot interceptors are linked to the US missile shield with which their operation is synchronized.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said Tuesday that Israel was ready for any scenario. Although it takes no part in the Syrian civil war crisis, Israel would not hesitate to fight back for any attempted attacks – and would do so forcefully.

Wednesday morning, the machinery for distributing gas masks to the population broke down under the pressure of demands to distribution centers across the country. The Homeland Ministry’s website crashed. Former Interior Minister Ellie Yishay complained of a shortage of protective masks due to budget cuts. He said there are only enough to supply 40 percent of the population.

Will someone please tell me why are we getting involved in a civil war?  Have we not learned from past experience (Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan) that we cannot defeat a military using conventional military tactics and Obama's idea of rules of engagement.  Rules written to give the enemy every advantage.

All I can see if we attack Syria is that we support al-Queda and enter into a war we cannot extract ourselves from for years.  A war that will cost the US thousands of lives and billions of dollars.

What is the Proper Sentence for NIdal Hasan?

Gary Fouse
fousesquawk
http://garyfouse.blogspot.com


We will shortly know what the military jury decides should be the fate for Nidal Hasan, death or life imprisonment. Surprisingly, many are guessing that the jury will decide that life imprisonment with no possibility of parole is a harsher sentence than the death that Hasan apparently craves. After all, in his paralyzed condition, life in a cell trapped in a wheelchair and having to wear diapers for another 40 or so years is nothing to look forward to. Hasan thinks that with a death sentence, he will achieve martyrdom and go to Paradise, where he will be entertained by 72 virgins.

There are 13 jurors. If only one of them decides that Hasan would suffer more with a life sentence, that's what it will be. It must be unanimous for death.

Personally, I support the death penalty for premeditated murder and if this case doesn't merit the death penalty, few do. There is no worry that just maybe an innocent man has been convicted. He proudly admits it and was captured in the act anyway.

Were I to believe that Hasan's vision of martyrdom and paradise was true, I would say give him life imprisonment and let him rot to death in ignominy. However, I don't believe that for one moment. On the other hand, we have seen too many cases where life imprisonment turns into eventual freedom. In the case of the Blind Sheikh, we had been worrying about Egyptian president Mohammad Morsi pressuring President Obama to release this evil man who is sentenced to life in a US prison for plotting terror acts against us. (Fortunately, that worry has been removed courtesy of the Egyptian military.) Who is to say that some future president may find it expedient to placate some Middle East dictator-or hostage-taking terrorists- and turn Hasan loose?

In addition, even with a death sentence, appeals will take several years. Since it is only military and federal courts involved here, the process probably won't take as long as state-originated appeals do. Timothy McVeigh may be a closer template. Hasan will still have to spend some years sitting in his wheelchair and soiling his diaper before justice is administered.

Assuming most of his victims and their survivors want to to see the death penalty applied here, I think that is the fitting punishment. He has gotten his trial and the world has seen that we have a justice system that works better than any other-imperfect as it is.  Hasan will eventually learn that his soul is not going where he thinks it is.

Muslim Brotherhood Supporters Using 4-Finger Salute

Gary Fouse
fousesquawk
http://garyfouse.blogspot.com


Hat tip Vlad Tepes

                              The new international sign of support for the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt


A  protest was held in yesterday Ottawa, Canada by supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. Note the use of the 4-finger salute that was used. The same salute was used the day before by Muslim Brotherhood supporters in Gaza. The Gaza group was parading through town with weapons as well. Vlad Tepes has video of both events.

http://vladtepesblog.com/2013/08/24/muslim-brotherhood-stage-protest-in-ottawa-canada-pretend-to-demand-democracy-and-sharpen-their-taqyyia/

In addition, last night in Santa Monica, California a group of counter-jihad activists had a table (lawfully) set up on the Third Street Promenade during the evening hours. For some strange reason, the Promenade was flooded with Muslims last night, several of whom engaged our friends. Four older men who came up to the table made it a point to show their yellow caps with the 4-finger hand sewn on as a sign of support for the Muslim Brotherhood.

Here is a website that is promoting the symbol (Pakistaniyan)

http://www.pakistaniyan.com/2013/08/what-is-happening-in-egypt-and-why.html

Here is an explanation which one of my sources obtained from Facebook:

Copied from a Facebook Page:

"Rabaa” meaning four or the fourth in Arabic has become the sign of anti-coup protests in ‪#‎Egypt worldwide. It is the symbol of war against military regime & support for those who were martyred while protesting against military coup. The massacre on August 14 near Masjid ‪#‎Rabia of anti-coup protesters in Egypt tried to voice their demands to the world by raising their four fingers. Rabaa al-Adawiya Square is around 180 feet wide road and almost 6 miles long & it was fully decorated by the gathering of anti-coup protesters, it is as famous as ‪#‎Tahrir Square in Cairo due to resistance of hundreds of thousands of anti-coup protesters going on for more than two months. It has witnessed one of the gravest massacres of recent years. Let’s all change our DP to ‪#‎R4BIA to show solidarity with our ‪#‎Egyptian brethren."

The same Muslim Brotherhood that is burning Christian churches in Egypt and attacking Coptic Christians.

Don't let anyone tell you the Muslim Brotherhood isn't spreading its agenda to North America. It most definitely is and has been for a long time. Here's hoping the current military government crushes them.

Why is the Media Burying the Coptic Christian Story?

Gary Fouse
fousesquawk
http://garyfouse.blogspot.com


I invite the reader to go to the web pages of all the national news networks, ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN and Fox. I have just done so, and it is clear that only Fox News is paying any attention to the attacks against Coptic Christians in Egypt.

This is our news media. If they don't like a story, or it doesn't fit into their world view, they bury it or ignore it altogether. As of today, we have over 60 Christian churches attacked and burned in Egypt, and only Fox news finds that newsworthy? Why is it that even educated readers have to go to Fox or the blogosphere to be kept up-to-date on what is happening to the Copts in Egypt? Ever since the Copts became a minority in Egypt, they have been subject to discrimination and abuse in varying degrees. Under the rule of Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood, it became open season. Since the military coup, they are being blamed and the attacks have increased by Brotherhood supporters. The Brotherhood is denying responsibility just as they deny responsibility for all the violence, but the Investigative Project on Terrorism has come up with an internal document in which the MB gives its blessing to the attacks.

In Egypt and across the Middle East, a new holocaust is developing, and the world remains silent. Our own administration has nothing to say as they incredibly side with the Brotherhood. The UN is silent. The EU is silent.

And our news media, with the notable exception of the much-maligned Fox News, is silent. This is beyond shameful.

"Five Things I Learned About Mohammad"

Gary Fouse
fousesquawk
http://garyfouse.blogspot.com



Cross-posted from the Orange County Register

Tonight, PBS is broadcasting a 3-hour program entitled, The Life of Mohammad, hosted by Rageh Omar,
a Somali-born British journalist. Yesterday, Cathleen Falsani wrote the below article advertising the program. The article is entitled, "Five Things I learned About Mohammad". It appears in the paper's Faith and Values section. The text is below.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Falsani: 5 things I learned about Muhammad 
 
On Tuesday evening, PBS will air “The Life of Muhammad,” an 
exceptionally fine documentary series about the life and legacy of the 
founder of Islam. 
 
Hosted by Rageh Omaar, a veteran Somali-born British journalist and 
war correspondent who is Muslim, the three-hour documentary paints a 
vivid picture not only of the Prophet Muhammad — who, according to 
prevailing Islamic custom, cannot be depicted in any fashion — but of 
the varied understandings of his life, teaching, and legacy. 
 
Journalist and author Rageh Omaar, host and narrator of the three-part 
PBS series, "The Life of Muhammad," which airs Aug. 20 nation-wide. 
 
Filmed on location in Saudi Arabia, Israel, Jordan, and elsewhere, 
the documentary, which was made for the BBC where it aired in 2011, 
succeeds where predecessors have failed by incorporating sweeping 
landscapes — physical and spiritual — with a breadth of knowledge from 
Muslim, Christian and Jewish scholars (more than a dozen by my count, 
including some of the preeminent names in their fields, including 
Karen Armstrong and Tariq Ramadan) whose own perspectives run the 
gamut from orthodox and mystic, to skeptic and even detractor. 
 
Divided into three parts — “The Seeker,” “Holy War,” and “Holy Peace” 
— the film opens inside Omaar’s hotel room where he is preparing for 
the haj — the pilgrimage to Mecca that is one of the Five Pillars of 
Islam. Omaar tells us he made his first haj as a boy with his family 
30 years earlier. 
 
It is this human, personal touch from the host that helps make the 
documentary all the more compelling. 
 
“Like most Muslims, the first human name I heard was not that of my 
mother or father,” Omaar says, “but of Muhammad.” 
 
As is the Islamic custom, shortly after he was born in Somalia in 
1967, someone whispered the words of the Shahada — the Muslim 
statement of faith that says, “There is no God but Allah. Muhammad is 
his messenger” — into Omaar’s ear. 
 
“Fourteen-hundred years ago a man born here, in Mecca, in Saudi 
Arabia, changed the course of world history,” Omaar says, adding that 
he wants to explore the “many complexities” of Muhammad’s life and 
times and how they “still affect today’s world. I want to uncover the 
real Muhammad.” 
 
Robustly researched and beautifully filmed, combined with Omaar’s 
inviting demeanor and assuring gravitas, “The Life of Muhammad” is 
well worth watching. It is a vivid corrective to the fear and 
misinformation that surrounds Islam and its 1.3 billion adherents 
worldwide. 
 
Muslims are no more a monolith than Christians and Jews, and their 
understanding of their own doctrines and theology are as dynamic as 
any held by their Christian and Jewish cousins — all monotheistic 
“People of the Book,” whose stories overlap throughout history and 
continue to do so today. 
 
Most viewers will learn a lot about the Prophet and Islam. And even 
those of us who have studied Islam likely will walk away with at least 
a few new gems of information and perspective. 
 
Here are a few of mine: 
 
1. Muhammad was an orphan. 
 
His father died before he was born, and his mother (who had placed him 
with a Bedouin wet nurse as an infant and reunited with him several 
years later) died when he was about 6. He then went to live with a 
grandfather, who also died, before he finally came under the 
protection of his uncle, Abu Talib, who would be among Muhammad’s 
closest companions until his death. 
 
Interestingly, while he was an ardent supporter of his nephew, 
according to the film, and despite Muhammad’s best efforts to persuade 
him, Abu Talib never converted to Islam. “The most direct, the most 
unequivocal statement in the Qur’an, is that there is no compulsion in 
religion — no ifs, ands or buts,” scholar Merryl Wyn Davies, director 
of London’s Muslim Institute, says in the film. “Unless you make a 
free, willing choice for faith, you cannot be held accountable for 
your actions thereafter. That is the essence of what Islam is about.” 
 
2. Muhammad’s first wife, Khadijah, asked him to marry her. 
 
When Muhammad was about 25, he agreed to work for Khadijah, a widow 
who was a successful merchant, accompanying some of her wares on a 
trade caravan. When he returned, she asked him to marry her. Even 
today it’s unusual for a woman to ask a man to marry her, but in 
7th-century Arabia it would have been absolutely unheard of, according 
to the film. 
 
Muhammad and Khadijah were married for nearly 25 years and together 
had four daughters. Although polygamy was the custom at the time, 
Muhammad didn’t take another wife until after Khadijah died. She was 
the love of his life, according to the film, his first convert and is 
considered the “mother of Islam.” 
 
3. There are no memorials, statues or even plaques marking Muhammad’s 
birthplace. 
 
Although historians and scholars believe they know precisely where 
Muhammad was born, in Mecca on June 6, 632 A.D., there are no markers 
celebrating the site as a sacred or even special place. According to 
the film, any signs or markers with Muhammad’s name have been removed 
over the years in an effort to ensure that Muhammad is not worshipped 
or venerated in any way. Muhammad was not the son of God or divine — 
he was just a man, a fact that he insisted be made clear in his 
lifetime and after. 
 
Worshipping Muhammad or anyone other than Allah — the one true God — 
is considered the very worst kind of sin. 
 
In accordance with the prevailing tradition in Islam against depicting 
Muhammad or any of the prophets before him (including Abraham, Moses, 
and Jesus), the film does not include any dramatic reenactments of 
Muhammad’s life or any historical artwork that shows the prophet 
without his face covered by a veil. 
 
4. Muslims haven’t always prayed toward Mecca. 
 
Among the many mosques and houses of worship Omaar visits in the film 
is the Masjid al-Qiblatain (or “Mosque of Two Qiblas”) in Medina, 
Saudi Arabia. Qibla is the Arabic term for the direction Muslims face 
when they pray five times daily (another of the Five Pillars of 
Islam.) The Mosque of Two Qiblas is so named because it has two arched 
alcoves indicating the direction of prayer — a large one facing in the 
direction of Mecca and a second, smaller one facing toward Jerusalem. 
 
It was in this mosque that, while leading prayer, Muhammad is said to 
have received a revelation from God telling him to change the 
direction Muslims faced during prayer. According to the film, in the 
revelation, God told Muhammad to pray toward Mecca and the Kaaba — the 
large black cube that the Qur’an (the Muslim holy book) says was built 
as the first building for humans to worship Allah — rather than 
Jerusalem, as was the custom among Muhammad’s followers, as well as 
among Jews and Christians. From that day forward, no matter where they 
are in the world, Muslims face toward Mecca when they pray. 
 
5. An “Islamic state” probably doesn’t mean what you think it means. 
 
One of the most fascinating chapters in the film deals with the 
so-called “Constitution of Medina,” which is said to have been written 
by the Prophet Muhammad himself as the basis for the very first 
Islamic state in Medina. While there are varying historical and 
religious opinions about who wrote it, when and why — the film does an 
excellent job presenting various sides of the debate — the document 
was an agreement between the Muslims in Medina and the pagans, Jews, 
Christians and others who lived there at the time and made up what 
Muhammad described as the “ummah” or “community. 
 
While “ummah” is often used today to describe an exclusively Muslim 
community, the film says that’s not what Muhammad intended. In fact, 
the constitution of the first “Islamic state” defined the rights given 
to non-Muslims as explicit members of the community, including a 
statement that said the “security of God” is equal for all groups, and 
that non-Muslims were not obligated to take part in “religious wars.” 
 
One of the scholar-commentators in the film, Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali, 
the Pakistani-born Anglican bishop of Rochester, England and author of 
“Islam: A Christian Perspective,” has one of the best lines in the 
film. Commenting on the Medina constitution, he says, “When people 
today say to me, ‘We would like to create an Islamic state here or 
there,‘ I say to them, ‘Will it be like the first one? And if not, why 
not?” 
 
Contact the writer: cfalsani@ocregister.com 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Comment: With all the superlative adjectives, looks like this will be one of the greatest 

cinematographic ventures since Technocolor was invented. 

I would not expect the Orange County Register to run an article criticizing Islam or 

the prophet-even in the editorial section. Yet, at the same time, this article is so 

hagiographic in nature as to be historically misleading if not downright false. The timing 

could not have been more ironic with over 60 churches in Egypt having been attacked and 

burned to the ground-to say nothing of all the other attacks against Christians and 

non-Muslim minorities across the Islamic world.

"It is a vivid corrective to the fear and misinformation that surrounds Islam and its 1.3 
billion adherents worldwide." 




Really? Tell that to the Coptic Christians in Egypt who are huddled in fear as we speak. Are they so 

misinformed?




“The most direct, the most unequivocal statement in the Qur’an, is that there is no 



compulsion in religion — no ifs, ands or buts,” scholar Merryl Wyn Davies, director 




of London’s Muslim Institute, says in the film."







True, that statement does appear in the Koran, but so do others written later that call it into 

question. In many parts of the Islamic world, forced conversions are going on even today. 






"Muhammad and Khadijah were married for nearly 25 years and together 

had four daughters. Although polygamy was the custom at the time, 
Muhammad didn’t take another wife until after Khadijah died. She was 
the love of his life, according to the film, his first convert and is 
considered the “mother of Islam.” 
Misleading?

"While “ummah” is often used today to describe an exclusively Muslim 
community, the film says that’s not what Muhammad intended. In fact, 
the constitution of the first “Islamic state” defined the rights given 
to non-Muslims as explicit members of the community, including a 




statement that said the “security of God” is equal for all groups, and 

that non-Muslims were not obligated to take part in “religious wars.”
 
Too bad the writer did not go into detail about what the conditions of dhimmitude were, which 
includes the part that they must feel subjugated to Islam.



This is quite similar to the current textbook controversy in our schools as to how Islam is 



presented to our children. Again, in the interests of harmony and the sensitivities of Muslim 

schoolchildren, I wouldn't expect schools to attack Islam or any other religion.Yet, if it is

necessary to present such a misleading narrative in this area, perhaps, it would be better to

leave the subject alone. If we want to be well-informed on this subject, it is certainly possible

to read the Islamic texts, study the complete life of Mohammad, and follow world events.

Who is Winning the Propaganda War in Egypt?

Gary Fouse
fousesquawk
http://garyfouse.blogspot.com





-Coptic Solidarity

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/08/18/washington-split-on-egypt-aid-raising-more-questions-on-who-us-backs/

Peaceful protesters above

Apparently, that would be the Muslim Brotherhood as they continue the mantra that peaceful protesters have been massacred by security forces. never mind that over 60 security personnel have been  killed. Never mind that those "peaceful sit-in" sites were centers of rapes and killings of suspected spies Never mind the fact that those poor protesters holed up in a Cairo mosque only found themselves there after after attacking a nearby police station. Never mind the 60 or so Christian churches attacked and burned to the ground by Muslim Brotherhood supporters. Here is today's propaganda piece from Ikhwan Web, the MB's English-language web site:


Peaceful protesters

http://www.ikhwanweb.com/article.php?id=31249

Meanwhile the feckless leaders of the EU willingly gobble up the propaganda of the Brotherhood as they dither over what to do.

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/08/18/european-union-to-urgently-review-egypt-ties/

They could always send the baroness Lady Catherine Ashton over to Cairo I guess.

Here is a Fox News  interview of Jason Isaacson of the American Jewish Committee, which has come out in support of the Coptic community. The video has a misleading title (Coptic Christians blamed for violence in Egypt).

http://video.foxnews.com/v/2611760536001/coptic-christians-blamed-for-violence-in-egypt--/?intcmp=obnetwork



Franciscan school burned by peaceful protesters
-Frontpage Magazine

Meanwhile, here in the US, our own leaders on both sides of the aisle, in  the White House, State Department and Congress, have no clue what to do. Last week Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham issued a joint statement to the President urging him to stop aid to Egypt based on the actions of the military-led government. They said not one word about the plight of the Coptic Christians.

Shame on them.

Muslims: Stop the Killing-Stop the Hate

Gary Fouse
fousesquawk
http://garyfouse.blogspot.com


With some 30 or so Christian churches going up in flames in Egypt and Christians fleeing for their lives in Syria, is it not time to drop the pretenses? All across the Islamic world, non-Muslims are being persecuted, raped, arrested, murdered and their places of worship burned. We would be reading the same about the Jews, but they fled back in the late 1940s. Most settled in Israel, which the Arab world would incinerate tomorrow if they could. And make no mistake; that conflict is not about land. It is about religion. If the Israelis were Muslims, this would not even be an issue.

Even in Europe, Jews dare not walk the streets lest they be assaulted or spit upon by Muslim punks roaming the streets like rat packs. And if there are no Jews or Christians to kill, well, why not kill each other? Just yesterday in Iraq, another 30 or so Muslims were killed by car bombs set by other Muslims-Sunnis vs Shia.

One would think that the world would rise up as one and call for an end to the insanity. It doesn't, however. Instead, the world wrings it hands over charges of "Islamophobia" when anyone cries out over the horrors of the Middle East, Pakistan, Iran, Sudan, Nigeria, the beheadings, the stonings of women, or the crimes and assaults committed by Muslim immigrants in Europe. When people point out the calls for murder coming out of mosques and identify the passages and the texts that are the basis for these fatwas, they are called "Islamophobes".

Because Islam is a religion of peace.

That is what Muslim leaders here in America tell us over and over again neglecting to mention that Islam is also a political ideology-and a totalitarian one at that, which does not recognize any division  between religion and the state.

I have personally heard Imam Muzammil Siddiqi, formerly the head of the Islamic Society of North America and one of the most influential Muslim leaders in the country,  tell an audience in California that Islam is a religion of peace and tolerance. Really? Where is the peace? Where is the tolerance?

I have also heard an Ahmadi Imam tell an audience at UC Irvine what a forgiving man the Prophet Mohammed was. He forgave and released his enemies.

"The Koran tells us, "If you kill one man, it is if you killed all of humanity. If you save one man, you save all of humanity." That is true, but in other so many other  parts (written later in time) it calls for the killing of people. That is because the Prophet was then at war.

But back to Egypt. Who are we to blame for the bloodshed in Egypt? Is it corrupt military leaders trying to hold onto power? Or is it the Muslim Brotherhood trying to install an Islamic caliphate and spread it as far as they can?  A combination of both?

Who is burning the churches? It is not the military. Safe to say, the work is being done by Muslims who support the Muslim Brotherhood.

Even in Syria, which some say is a war that  has nothing to do about religion, we see rebels (whom we support) executing their captives to cries of "Allahu Akhbar" and "Takbir". Meanwhile, Syrian Christians are fleeing for their lives from those same rebels that we support.

Is it not time for all of us to stand up and ask, "If Islam is a religion of peace then why all the killing? Why all the hate directed at non-Muslims?" Is it not time to drop the term, "radical Islam" and admit that it is simply Islam?

But that would be "Islamophobic". Such a statement would wind up in the files of the learned professor Hatem Bazian's Islamophobia Research and Documentation Project up at UC Berkeley all neatly filed and tied with a ribbon and bow for the day they can be turned over to Eric Holder's Justice Department for criminal prosecution.

No. It is high time we openly told these Muslim leaders that if Islam is a religion of peace, it is time to demonstrate it and live by it. It is not just for little people like me to say it; it is time for the leaders of the Western World and those parts of Asia that want to remain free to say it. It is time to tell the Islamists and jihadists to forget their dreams of Islamic domination because we as free people will not submit. Furthermore, we will not allow good Muslim citizens of our  own countries to be abused by somebody's vision of sharia law that mandates death for things we in the West do not even consider criminal, such as apostasy, blasphemy, adultery and homosexuality, to say nothing about so-called "honor killings".

It is also time for foolish pastors and rabbis to forget these inter-faith conferences in which they allow themselves and their flocks to be misled by imams whose real agenda is bringing about an eventual Islamic caliphate right here in America and the West. I am thinking specifically about Pastor Ed Bacon of the All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena, who last year allowed the Muslim Public Affairs Council to hold their annual conference at his church and who proclaimed that Christians "could be so hateful" and that "the history of Christianity is littered with acts of evil" -giving as an example, "Evangelical Zionism". I am also thinking of those misguided rabbis in Boston who were cozying up to the radical-linked Islamic Cultural Center in Roxbury and its sister mosque in Cambridge, from which sprouted the Tsarnaev brothers. Those same Jewish leaders excoriated Charles Jacobs of Americans for Peace and Tolerance within the Jewish community when he warned them of the radical affiliations.

Look at them now.

Enough. If people want to stand up for human rights, then we must stand up to this jihad-both the violent one and the more "peaceful" but deceitful  civilizational one. We cannot say we defend women if we turn a blind eye to stoning and the obvious misogyny and second-class citizenship of women who have to live hidden behind the veil. We may not be able to change it in the Middle East, but we can prevent it from taking root here. We cannot say we defend gay rights when we turn a blind eye to the fate of Iranian gays who are being hanged for their sexual orientation. It is all according to shariah. Any claims that shariah law is compatible with our Constitution are flat out lies.

The problem is that we do ignore it. It would be too inconvenient to talk about it-at least for our leaders. In Europe it could land even the common guy in jail. It may yet do that here in the US soon if this current administration has its way. We also ignore the rampant anti-Semitism which did not appear out of nowhere. It is in the Islamic texts. Read it. It's all there; the anti-Christianity, the anti-Semitism. Listen to the words of Yusuf al Qaradawi, one of the most highly respected Islamic scholars in the world and the spiritual leader of the Muslim Brotherhood. Read the opinions coming out of Cairo's prestigious Al Azhar (Islamic) University. Read the interpretations of the most-respected al Bukhari school of Islamic thought about all these questions.

But we concern ourselves with "Islamophobia" because, after all, Islam is a religion of peace.

Of course it is. That's why the churches are burning in Egypt. That's why the Jews are being driven out of Europe-not by Europeans, but by Muslim immigrants. That's why Sunni and Shia kill each other.

"But," you say. "not all Muslims are like this. Most are decent."

True. But where are their voices amid all the outrages? The fact is that they make themselves irrelevant through their silence. Is it fear? Is it that those non-Arabs don't know Arabic and can't really interpret the Koran or the Hadith? Is it a recognition that they cannot win the theological debate with the jihadists? I don't know; perhaps, it is a combination of all of the above.

But I know one thing.

The daily acts of terror around the world contradict claims that Islam is a religion of peace.

The daily acts of intolerance toward Christians and Jews contradict claims that Islam is a religion of tolerance.

It is an incontrovertible fact that it is Muslims who are carrying out almost all of the terror and intolerance around the world. It is happening in the Middle East. It is happening in Pakistan. It is happening in Africa. It is even happening in Europe, the US and the West. And it is all being done in the name of their religion.

But Islam is a religion of peace.

Is that why we experienced 9-11?

Is that why British soldier Lee Rigby was slaughtered recently on the streets of London? The killers told us why they did it.

Is that why Mohammed Merah went on a killing rampage at a Jewish school  in Toulouse, France. He told the cops why he did it before he was shot and killed.

Is that why European cities are being subjected to riots?

Is that why car bombs are killing people by the dozens every few days in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan?

Is that why two Chechen "refugees" set off bombs in Boston?

Isolated incidents? How many more would you like me to list? There have been over 20,000 just since 9-11.

Islamophobia? How do you define it? No matter how you do, you cannot condemn people for having fears or negative feelings about Muslims and their faith, religion, political ideology, or however you define it. It is logical, and there is every reason to feel fear, mistrust, or even hate. I still cling to the, perhaps, naive notion that most Muslims are good people and should not suffer for all that is happening around us.

But  don't expect us to swallow the mantra that Islam is a religion of peace and tolerance.

List Of The Churches And Institutions That Have Been Destroyed By Muslim Brotherhood Supporters Today

By Findalis of Monkey in the Middle


Hat Tip to Atlas Shrugs

Islamic supremacism in action. Muslim Brotherhood groups in the US like Hamas-CAIR are demanding that Obama support this violence and genocide.

CopticWorld regrets to inform you that today has been very destructive for Coptic Christians in Egypt. We are attempting to document all the destruction. You can see a list of the churches and institutions that have been destroyed at:

Tallying the destruction Coptic World Aug. 14, 2013, 10:15 p.m.

Please note that this situation is fluid and changing.

Churches
 Alexandria

1. Father Maximus Church

Arish

1. St George Church | Burned 

Assiut

1. Good Shepherds Monastery |  Nuns attacked
2. Angel Michael Church | Surrounded
3. St George Coptic Orthodox Church 
4. Al-Eslah Church| Burned 
5. Adventist Church | Pastor and his wife kidnapped 
6. St Therese Church 
7. Apostles Church | Burning 
8. Holy Revival Church | Burning 

Beni Suef

1. The Nuns School 
2. St George Church | al-Wasta

Cairo

1. St Fatima Basilica | Heliopolis | Attempted Attack

Fayoum (Five churches)

1. St Mary Church | El Nazlah 
2. St Damiana Church | Robbed and burned
3. Amir Tawadros (St Theodore) Church
4. Evangelical Church | al-Zorby Village | Looting and destruction
5. Church of Joseph | Burned 
6. Franciscan School | Burned 

Gharbiya

1. Diocese of St Paul | Burned 

Giza

1. Father Antonios
2. Atfeeh Bishopric

Minya

1. Church of the Virgin Mary and Father Abram | Delga, Deir Mawas 
2. St Mina Church | Abu Hilal Kebly, Beni Hilal 
3. Baptist Church | Beni Mazar 
4. Deir Mawas Bishopric
5. Delga Church | Attacked 
6. The Jesuit Fathers Church | Abu Hilal district
7. St Mark Church | Abu Hilal district
8. St Joseph Nunnery 
9. Amir Tadros Church 
10. Evangelical Church 
11. Anba Moussa al-Aswad Church
12. Apostles Church 

Qena

1. St Mary’s Church | Attempted Burning

Sohag

1. St George Church 
2. St Damiana | Attacked and burned 
3. Virgin Mary | Attacked and burned 
4. St Mark Church & Community Center
5. Anba Abram Church | Destroyed and burned 

Suez

1. St Saviours Anglican Church 
2. Franciscan Church and School | Street 23 | Burned 
3. Holy Shepherd Monastery and Hospital 
4. Good Shepherd Church (molotov cocktail thrown)- Relationship with Holy Shepherd Monastery unknown.
5. Greek Orthodox Church 

Christian Institutions

• House of Father Angelos (Pastor of Church of the Virgin Mary and Father Abram) | Delga, Minya | Burned 
• Properties and Markets of Copts | al-Gomhorreya Street, Assiut
• Seventeen Coptic homes | Delga, Minya | Burned
• YMCA | Minya| Burned 
• Coptic Homes | Qulta Street, Assiut | Attacked
• Offices of the Evangelical Foundation & Oum al-Nour | Minya
• Coptic-owned shops, pharmacy, and hotels | Karnak and Cleopatra Streets, Luxor | Attacked and Looted
• Dahabeya Nile Boat | Minya| Church-owned 
• Bible Society bookshop | Cairo | Burned 
• Bible Society | Fayoum 
• Bible Society | al-Gomohoreya Street, Assiut 

Churches Burn in Egypt

Gary Fouse
fousesquawk
http://garyfouse.blogspot.com


Hat tip Jihad Watch and Mondo




http://www.jihadwatch.org/2013/08/video-brutal-muslim-brotherhood-attack-on-st-george-church-in-sohag-egypt.html

As Barack Obama, John Kerry and our State Department wring their hands over the Egyptian crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood, Coptic Christian churches are burning in Egypt. The above video comes from Sohag, Egypt and shows the attack on St George's Church.

As Obama opens the floodgates for refugees from Syria, let's see how many Christians we offer refuge to. I am betting precious few.  We wouldn't want them to come here and spread malicious gossip about what is going on in their homelands, would we? We already know what happened to the most recent Copt from Egypt who did that.

Saudi Princess Fails to Show For Arraignment So Judge Postpones Arraignment

Gary Fouse
fousesquawk
http://garyfouse.blogspot.com



Meshael Alayban ---Where is she?


Remember that Saudi princess who was charged with human trafficking when one of her house servants escaped the Orange County house where she was being held and forced to work (according to the charges)?

Well, it seems Meshael Alayban failed to show for her arraignment on July 29, so the judge merely postponed said arraignment until September 20.





That's what I said. Back in the pre-Prohibition days when I was a DEA agent, if you failed to show for a court appearance, your bail was forfeited and a warrant was issued.

http://abclocal.go.com/kfsn/story?section=news/state&id=9179037

And who posted the $5 million bond for the princess?

The Saudi consulate (Hat tip Atlas Shrugs).

http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/2013/07/saudi-consulate-pays-5-million-bail-for-muslim-princess-arrested-for-slavery-.html

Help a Mom Caregiving a Young Daughter with Extremely Debilitating Cerebral Palsey – Just a Vote – No Money

Grumpy Opinions notified me that one of his readers and an occasional contributor to his site has an 9-year-old granddaughter with Cerebral Palsy. She has never walked without assistance. She cannot speak without a specialized computer program. Now she has also been diagnosed with “mitochondrial degeneration.” Her name is Alexa Savage and her devoted Mom, Kimberly has been nominated to receive a “caregiver” cruise. If she wins, she can take the whole family along, including Alexa. All you have to do is visit this site and cast a vote for Kimberly Savage. When I voted, I was not asked to donate, didn’t even see a place to donate.

It’s just your vote and it will mean so much to this family. Please bookmark the site and vote once a day through August 24th. Here’s what Alexa’s grandfather sent to Grumpy Opinions:

To help her mother, Kimberly Savage, win a caregiver cruise (and take along the entire family) click the photo and vote. You will NOT be asked for a donation.

Alexa Savage is 8 years old. She has had cerebral palsy since birth. She has never been able to walk or speak without assistance, but she can use a computer, and goes to school in 2d grade. She speaks thru a specialized talking computer. She likes to read, but has trouble with math. She likes to swim, but has to watch others run and play. Most days she plays with her video collection on her free time. Her parents do all they can with their time and resources to get Alexa the therapy and support she needs.
Alexa has recently been diagnosed with “mitochondrial degeneration”. Basically, the “engines” inside her cells that process nutrients are breaking down. As new cells grow, there are fewer and fewer working mitochondria. Eventually this will mean that she can’t sustain life and will go into seizures and her heart will stop. We don’t know how much longer Alexa may last. She is already 3 years past the doctors’ best-case estimates.

Her parents would like to take Alexa on one last adventure, a cruise, as long as she is still functioning rather well. It would mean a lot to the entire family. Alexa would be able to take along her sister and brother on this cruise as well, which would do them all a lot of good. We need a little help from you, however. Please do all you can. Click on the link below and that is all we ask. No donation, just a vote. This is not a phony gimmick or some marketing ploy, but a real request to help a real girl and her family, and it won’t cost you anything. Just a vote.

http://cruise.caregiverstress.com/view-vote-for-entries/?k=Kimberly+Savage
Please vote once a day till August 24.

The following was written by Alexa’s grandfather at the Caregiving Cruise website:

My daughter, Kimberly Savage, has been caring for her 9 yr old daughter with Celebral Palsy (who doesn’t walk or talk) for 9 years. In addition she is now working 40-60 hrs a week at a full time job since her husband, Jason, was layed off in January 2013.
Alexa requires 24 hr assistance as she can not do anything for herself. My daughter, works like Superwoman to accomplish everything she does everyday. She’s an incredible human being. Her stress level is beyond the stroke level and she so very very much deserves this time away.

In addition she has two other school age children ages 6 and 11. She is constantly helping others with special needs to get things to help them. She is a huge advocate for others. She goes way out of her way to help so many children and adults, I’d love to think someone could help her. God bless you and your caregiver award committee.

Please vote every day. There is time to get Mrs. Savage to the No. 1 spot from her current 91. Bloggers, please feel free to take this post and use it from your site to help this family. 

Linked at Wake Up America! Thanks Susan!
and
Maggie's Notebook  Thanks Maggie
and
Monkey in the Middle  Thanks Findalis

German Church Burning

Gary Fouse
fousesquawk
http://garyfouse.blogspot.com


Hat tip Gates of Vienna

Last week, I posted an article on the burning of a a church near Hannover, Germany. At the time, I drew a comparison with the burning of synagogues across Germany in November 1938. Gates of Vienna has an update on the German reaction to the burning and the larger picture. Comparisons and contrasts are also being made in Germany.

http://gatesofvienna.net/2013/08/the-kristallnacht-of-the-multicolored-republic/#more-30112

Of course, it is easy for apologists to point out that Reichskristalnacht was carried out by SA goons under the orders of the Nazi state while real police and fire departments stood by. True enough. Yet, the threat still exists, much as it did in the 1930s. Ask any Jew still living in Europe. The burning of the Garbsen church, apparently in the absence of a convenient synagogue, signifies that the hostile "youth" living in their midst from one city to the next has no respect for anybody that is different from them even though they are the minority fighting against the established civil order.

The fact of the matter is that Europeans have a significantly large and hostile minority bent on destroying the society they live in. These are not just restless juvenile delinquents resorting to arson; they are following an ideology and drawing inspiration from their elders, not necessarily their horrified parents, but radical imams in local mosques and those abroad, like Yusuf al Qaradawi, whose hateful words are carried to Islamic communities across the western world. Fortunately, for a variety of factors, the US and Canada do not see this type of street violence from our Muslim minority. Instead, we are having to deal with the isolated cases of violence from radicalized individuals.

It is time for Christians to recognize that they are under just as much threat as the Jews. One way or another, all Europeans are learning that the climate of fear is increasing. Europe is no longer a peaceful, relatively crime free continent that has finally learned its painful lesson from two world wars and the Holocaust. The 1930s are back only in different form. The violence happening in European cities is an outgrowth of hate-fed by a hateful ideology directed not only at Jews, but at Christians as well. Unfortunately European Christians have mostly set aside their Christianity and thus, don't feel they have anything to protect in that regard. Similarly, they are surrendering their liberties to a state that submits to the threat and prohibits anyone speaking out about the 900 pound gorilla stalking the streets and plazas of the once-great European cities. What is left to defend except their very safety?

That is why you get politically-correct European newspapers trying to navigate the mine field of acceptable speech in defining the problem that should be very easy to define. However, you cannot deal with a problem until you define it.

"The Street Was Covered with Blood and Bodies" Remembering The Sbarro Bombing August 9, 2001

Hat Tip to Yid With Lid


Twelve years ago Palestinians blew up a pizza place in the heart of Jerusalem. One month later, other Islamist terrorists blew up the World Trade Centers in NY, the Pentagon Building in Washington DC, and were foiled in their attempt to destroy the Capital building by the brave passengers of Flight 93.

It is important to remember these acts not simply to memorialize the innocent victims who's only crime was to be at the wrong place at the wrong time, but as a reminder that terrorism still suckles at the teat of political correctness and Western World appeasement.

Her eyes, I think, will stay with me forever. Imploring, beseeching, full of so much sadness. I think the shock of where and how she was, was sinking in. I can't begin to describe all that was in those eyes.

Yesterday; Thursday, August 9th the 20th of Av, on my way to work, I found myself walking down Yaffo street. Hungry, I decided to stop and grab a quick bite... at Sbarro's Pizza.

In the past 5 years I have frequented this establishment exactly twice. Walking into Sbarro's there is a larger area for sitting in the front, but the back looked a bit cooler and quieter, so I decided to grab a seat in the back. That decision saved my life.

Waiting on line, when they brought me the baked Zitti I asked for, it was cold. So I asked the woman behind the counter if she'd mind warming it up. "Ein Ba'ayah", no problem, she said with a smile. I will always wonder if that was her last smile on earth... A couple of moments later, a fellow from behind the counter came to the back with my baked Ziti. Then he started to speak to someone at one of the tables... That baked Ziti saved his life.

At about 2PM, I both felt & heard a tremendous explosion, and day turned into night. And then the screaming began. An awful, heartrending sound; the sound of people coming to terms with a whole new reality, of people not wanting to comprehend that life has changed forever. Those of us sitting in the back were spared, but I was afraid of panic, so I started yelling at everyone to quieten down; not to panic. The ceiling looked like it might cave in, but there is always the danger of a second explosion, detonated on purpose shortly after the first... But then I smelled smoke, and was suddenly afraid the restaurant mightbe on fire. So we started climbing our way through the wreckage to the front.

Would there be another explosion? Would the roof collapse? Were we making the wrong decision, climbing through? There are moments that last a lifetime... There are no words to describe what the front of Sbarro's Pizza looked like in the immediate aftermath of that explosion. A woman was lying near the steps to the back. Her eyes were staring straight at me, following me. So full of pain and longing, sadness and despair. I dropped down becide her trying to ellicit a response to see if she could speak. And then I watched the life just drain out of her. I tried to get a pulse, to no avail. She died there, on the steps in front of me. She was lying by the table I had decided not to sit at...

There were bodies everywhere, and those images are in my mind; they won't let go. A child's body under the wreckage; a baby-carriage; limbs and a torso; A woman holding a motor-cycle helmet and screaming next to a person on the floor who had obviously been someone she was with... And then the mad rush to help the ambulance and emergency crews get the wounded out. They were obviously afraid of a second bomb, so there was no medical effort inside beyond getting the wounded on to stretchers and out. A religious Jew missing at least two limbs in tears and shock; what do you say? "yehiyeh Be'Seder" it'll be all right? Will it?

I happened to sit a bit to the left as you walk towards the back, and so the wall behind me shielded me from the blast. Another fellow whom we went back in to get wasn't so lucky. Sitting only 5 or 6 feet to my left, he caught the full force of the blast and was thrown in the air. When we got him on the stretcher he was bleeding profusely and was missing a leg... There are no words to describe what that man's hand, clenched around my arm, felt like. He just kept looking from me to his leg and back again. I started saying Tehillim ...

So many mixed emotions fill my head today. I came home last night and gave each of my children a very long hug... But there are so many families today who are waking up to the reality that life will never be the same. 17 funerals with friends and families saying goodbye to those they loved so, whose only crime was a desire for a slice of Pizza on a beautiful Jerusalem afternoon... A Personal Account of the Bombing, by Rabbi Binny Freedman



Click here if the video fails to load.

This horrible bombing was part of what has become known as the second intifada. Israel and the Palestinians had been close to a peace deal where Arafat would get almost everything he asked for, but neither the terrorist or his people were ready for peace so Arafat authorized a wave of horrible homicide bombings.

Although Secretary of State Kerry has forced the Palestinians into talking, they still have no desire to make peace. Those "peace-loving, moderate" terrorists of Fatah, run by Palestinian Authority's (PA) President Abbas, claim to the world they are looking to make peace with their Israeli neighbors. The truth is the moderates do not run the PA, it is the radicals who still run Fatah, its ruling party.

Witness the fact that the PA almost nothing has been done to prepare the Palestinians for a compromise peace and two-state solution alongside Israel. In fact Jews and Israel are demonized and terrorists are honored. In schools, children are taught that the anti-Semitic Protocols of the Elders of Zion is true and there are TV programs glorifying those who participated in mass-murder.

Terrorist Ahlam Tamimi

Terrorist Ahlam Tamimi has been described as the person who drove drove the suicide bomber to the Sbarro pizza shop in Jerusalem in August 2001. But that is an understatement.

On the day of the massacre (9th August 2001), she personally transported the bomb (10 kg) from a West Bank town into Jerusalem, concealed inside a guitar case. Taxi cabs brought her and an accomplice by the name of Al Masri, a young, newly-religious fanatic, to an Israeli security checkpoint and from there into Jerusalem.

To reduce suspicion, they dressed as Israelis and the bomb was not detected. Tamimi, who inspired, planned and engineered the Sbarro attack, personally led her "weapon" - Al Masri - to the target she had carefully selected at Jerusalem's busiest intersection.

The target was the Sbarro pizza restaurant,because it was located in the heart of Jerusalem and on a hot summer vacation afternoon it would be teeming with women and children. Tamimi instructed Al Masri to wait fifteen minutes before detonating the explosives to give her sufficient time to flee the scene safely. He followed her orders. As to this being (as some journalists have implied) an act of momentary madness or lack of sound thinking, take into account that a short time prior to Sbarro attack.

Tamimi carried out a 'dry run', placing an explosive inside a downtown Jerusalem supermarket (Hamashbir Lazarchan) which exploded causing damage but resulting in no injuries.

Fifteen people were murdered in the attack, 7 of them children. Ahlam Tamimi was captured, jailed for the murders, but released as part of the Giliad Shalit deal despite the fact she showed no remorse for her mass-murder.

The names of the dead are:

• Giora Balash, 60, of Brazil
• Zvika Golombek, 26, of Carmiel
• Shoshana Yehudit Greenbaum, 31, of the U.S.
• Tehila Maoz, 18, of Jerusalem
• Frieda Mendelsohn, 62, of Jerusalem
• Michal Raziel, 16, of Jerusalem
• Malka Roth, 15, of Jerusalem
• Mordechai Schijveschuurder, 43, of Neria
• Tzira Schijveschuurder, 41, of Neria
• Ra'aya Schijveschuurder, 14, of Neria
• Avraham Yitzhak Schijveschuurder, 4, of Neria
• Hemda Schijveschuurder, 2, of Neria
• Lily Shimashvili, 33, of Jerusalem
• Tamara Shimashvili, 8, of Jerusalem
• Yocheved Shoshan, 10, of Jerusalem

When Yassir Arafat started on his murderous rampage in 1964 (three years before the 6 day war), he was treated like the animal he was. Then slowly through a combination of Arab Oil power and the world's continued hatred of Jews, the murderous rampage was treated with appeasement, and the Islamic world was taught that terrorism is a legitimate means of political expression.

And they learned well. That appeasement of Palestinian Terror directly lead to 9/11/11 and the War on Terror the Western World still fights today.

The Sbarro bombing was not the first of these horrible murders, or the most deadly. A little over a month later another terrorist attack, this time in the United States captured the world's attention, and the United States became actively involved in the war against terror.

After 9/11 for the first time in its history, the US treated a terror attack in Israel as n act of war against civil society in the entire world (at least until the Republicans lost congress in 2006 when things began to revert).

After election day 2008 under the leadership of new President Barack Obama the US seemed to revert back to the pre-9/11 mentality. This country stopped fighting the war against fanatical Islamists, at least the stopped fighting to win. Twelve years after Sbarros, and almost 12 years after 9/11/11 it seems the Islamists have the United States on the run.

This President does all he can to force Israel to make one-sided concessions to "moderates" in Fatah who continue in their refusal to recognize Israel as a Jewish State. Via his secretary of state Obama does all he can to force Israel to make one-sided concessions to a Fatah who still promotes mass-murderers like the one who blew up a Sbarros pizza place in Jerusalem as heroes.

Islamist hatred is fed with dollars and euros. They continue to close their eyes to the fact that the "Palestinian problem" is all about the Western World, funding a people who are being taught by their leaders that blowing up innocent men, women and children having a slice of pizza, is a heroic act.

Until the world recognizes the fruits of their appeasement, horrors like the Sbarro bombing will continue to happen in Israel, Europe, the US and elsewhere throughout the world.