Sunday, January 25, 2015
Somali Muslim Teens Beat Christians for no Reason
There was no robbery here. This was just gratuitous violence against Infidels. What was supposed to be one of the year’s coziest evenings ended for the couple Nanna Skovmand and Mads Schøllhammer as one of the worst experiences ever. The couple was at midnight on the way home from Christmas Eve when they were suddenly attacked by a group of young men. The attack was so rough that the couple had at Rigshospitalet’s trauma center, where they spent 10 hours. The attack took place in front of the couple’s home in Vesterbro in Copenhagen. A young man who, according Nanna Skovmand, is about 16 years old, cycled up to the couple and began to provoke them. “We do not know him. Have not seen him before, and suddenly he starts to just shout at us,” explained Nanna Skovmand to TV 2. Intervened and got himself beaten up When Mads Schøllhammer replied, the young man struck him on the head with a bottle. Mads Schøllhammer defended himself, but this resulted in the deterioration of the situation. Several young men came and took part in the assault. – Two or three men jumped out from a bicycle storage room with iron chains from mopeds. They stood around Mads and kicked and beat him, Nanna Skovmand said to TV 2. Fear for her boyfriend’s life gripped Nanna Skovmand, but this made the men also attack her. – One turned to me, threw me in the ground and beat me with a chain, explained Nanna Skovmand to TV 2. The battered woman had 16 stitches, an injured neck and had several of her teeth knocked loose. Mads Schøllhammer escaped the assault with fewer bruises…. Nanna Skovmand shared on her private Facebook page pictures of herself immediately after the assault and after treatment in the hospital…. Police have released depictions of the perpetrators The police are no closer to an investigation of the case, but have released descriptions of two of the assailants: – Male, possible Somali background, 16-17 years old, wearing a light blue hoodie, otherwise dark clothes and white sneakers. – Male, possible Somali background, 16-17 years old, bald, wearing black down jacket and white hooded sweater underneath, light jeans and dark shoes.
Ted Cruz looks to Keep Radicals from Returning to US
Sen. Ted Cruz (R., Texas) filed legislation on Friday to ban American citizens who fight alongside the Islamic State (IS) and other terror groups from returning to the United States, where they pose a significant terror threat, according to sources in the senator’s office.
Cruz, who first proposed the legislation last year, seeks to strip those Americans who travel abroad to fight with IS (also known as ISIL or ISIS) of their U.S. citizenship rights and stop them from coming back stateside.
The bill, known as the Expatriate Terrorist Act (E.T.A.), tightens and updates existing regulations by which a U.S. citizen effectively renounces his or her citizenship.
Cruz said that he is filing the bill partly in response to President Obama’s Tuesday State of the Union address, which he described as “detached from reality” on the foreign policy front.
“President Obama’s approach to foreign policy refuses to acknowledge the threats our enemies pose to our national security—it is detached from reality and making the world a more dangerous place,” said Cruz, who also is releasing a new video that takes aim at Obama for misleading the nation about these threats in his annual address.
Cruz said stripping American ISIS fighters of their citizenship is a step toward securing the country and restoring the country’s image.
“We’ve seen the grave consequence of the Obama-Clinton-Kerry foreign policy unravel with respect to Iran, Russia, and now Yemen,” Cruz said. “These consequences are not confined to faraway lands. They directly threaten America and our allies.”
“That is why this week, I am re-filing the Expatriate Terrorist Act, which prevents Americans who have fought abroad for designated terrorist groups from returning to the United States,” he said. “I look forward to working with senators on both sides of the aisle on this and additional measures to secure our nation and restore America’s leadership in the world.”
In his new video, an advance copy of which was provided to the Free Beacon, Cruz makes the case that Obama’s statements on the foreign policy front do not comport with reality.
From Iran to Russia, Yemen, and beyond, Obama painted a picture of his actions that do not comport with the truth on the ground. Multiple media outlets noted after the address that Obama’s remarks were “not close to reality.”
In the wake of the attacks in Paris and in the midst of upheaval in Yemen, the president refused to utter the words “radical Islamic terrorism.”
Regarding Iran, Obama said on Tuesday, “Our diplomacy is at work with respect to Iran, where, for the first time in a decade, we’ve halted the progress of its nuclear program and reduced its stockpile of nuclear material.”
Cruz’s video, called “It’s Time to Face Reality,” points out that Iran is continuing work on new nuclear reactors and still enriching uranium, the key component in a nuclear bombs.
It also challenges Obama’s statements on Russia, Yemen, and the fight against terrorism.
Cruz, who first proposed the legislation last year, seeks to strip those Americans who travel abroad to fight with IS (also known as ISIL or ISIS) of their U.S. citizenship rights and stop them from coming back stateside.
The bill, known as the Expatriate Terrorist Act (E.T.A.), tightens and updates existing regulations by which a U.S. citizen effectively renounces his or her citizenship.
Cruz said that he is filing the bill partly in response to President Obama’s Tuesday State of the Union address, which he described as “detached from reality” on the foreign policy front.
“President Obama’s approach to foreign policy refuses to acknowledge the threats our enemies pose to our national security—it is detached from reality and making the world a more dangerous place,” said Cruz, who also is releasing a new video that takes aim at Obama for misleading the nation about these threats in his annual address.
Cruz said stripping American ISIS fighters of their citizenship is a step toward securing the country and restoring the country’s image.
“We’ve seen the grave consequence of the Obama-Clinton-Kerry foreign policy unravel with respect to Iran, Russia, and now Yemen,” Cruz said. “These consequences are not confined to faraway lands. They directly threaten America and our allies.”
“That is why this week, I am re-filing the Expatriate Terrorist Act, which prevents Americans who have fought abroad for designated terrorist groups from returning to the United States,” he said. “I look forward to working with senators on both sides of the aisle on this and additional measures to secure our nation and restore America’s leadership in the world.”
In his new video, an advance copy of which was provided to the Free Beacon, Cruz makes the case that Obama’s statements on the foreign policy front do not comport with reality.
From Iran to Russia, Yemen, and beyond, Obama painted a picture of his actions that do not comport with the truth on the ground. Multiple media outlets noted after the address that Obama’s remarks were “not close to reality.”
In the wake of the attacks in Paris and in the midst of upheaval in Yemen, the president refused to utter the words “radical Islamic terrorism.”
Regarding Iran, Obama said on Tuesday, “Our diplomacy is at work with respect to Iran, where, for the first time in a decade, we’ve halted the progress of its nuclear program and reduced its stockpile of nuclear material.”
Cruz’s video, called “It’s Time to Face Reality,” points out that Iran is continuing work on new nuclear reactors and still enriching uranium, the key component in a nuclear bombs.
It also challenges Obama’s statements on Russia, Yemen, and the fight against terrorism.
Norway's Take on Muslim Youth
It seems that most people in Europe -- in the wake of the Paris massacres at the magazine Charlie Hebdo and the kosher supermarket -- have either forgotten, or never been taught, that Muslims have invaded Europe several times before. In the Eighth Century, the Moors (Muslims from North Africa) succeeded in conquering Spain and the early medieval French King, Charles Martel, fought and put a stop to the Moors' invasion of France. It took 800 years to expel Islam from Spain; the final expulsion of the Moors from Andalusia occurred 1494. Later, the Ottomans made it to the gates of Vienna in 1683. How has Islam's nature and history in Europe been forgotten?
In the picture, on the Left, is the World Islamic Mission mosque in Oslo. On the Right, sitting in front of the black flag of jihad is Ubaydullah Hussain, a well known Islamist in Norway who was convicted of hate speech against Jews and threatening journalists.
Norway, like many other countries in Europe after World War II, has built up an expansive welfare state. It is based on the principle of shared values, shared goals and shared faith in the state. Historically, Norway has prided itself in being a largely classless society with a large middle class, and only a small upper class or nobility.
In Norway's educational system, history is not a valued subject. It is included either under the umbrella of "social studies" or "Norwegian." This downgrading, combined with the erosion and virtual removal of Christianity from the education system, means that many are unaware of how their society and democracy were formed, or of the enormous prices paid to attain them. Recent generations seem to take them for granted.
The development of the West, which began with Socrates in Athens; then proceeded to rule of law based on verifiable evidence and equal justice from Rome; then the theological debate that preceded the Reformation and the Renaissance; the Enlightenment and the growth of science -- all of these, over hundreds of years, have shaped constitutions and created today's democratic societies. Today's constitutions, legal systems, codes of ethics, and even desired values for children, are based on the values and qualities expressed in both the Old and New Testament, but most young people are not aware of this.
Islam is an ideology. All nations have their own, although this may not be obvious to those who are born and brought up in them. What, then, is Norway's post-war ideology (or idealism), and how does it permeate Norway's society today?
Before large amounts of oil began to be extracted in the 1970s, Norway was largely a mono-cultural society. However, the last 40 years have been a high-speed transition to a multicultural society, whose previous solidarity and joint values are now being broken down and questioned by parallel and, in the case of Islam, some widely opposing values and goals.
With immigration comes a larger gap between the poorest and richest than before, but Norway retains its strong social values of equality and its dream of solidarity -- perhaps a key reason why socialism still has such a strong hold on the country.
Norway's education system is permeated in an idealistic vision of equality and a belief in cultural relativism: that everyone, every culture and every religion are of the same value. Schools and even preschools are obliged to work toward wiping out class differences. As the state opposes the idea of private schools, there is virtually no alternative to the state school. The majority of teachers are idealists who believe in the idealism they are obliged to preach.
Cultural and religious relativism prevail. Islam is presented in schoolbooks as "just another religion." Key practices, such as washing before praying, and praying five times a day, are presented; but Mohammed's biography, Islam's ideology and agenda, the concept of the kafir [infidel] and all its aggressive contents are brushed under the carpet. Islam is presented as an attractive religion, not an ideology, and is portrayed as if has already been reformed, a situation that is just not the case.
There is no tradition of debate clubs in Norway; the result is pressure for consensus of views and thoughts. To debate, in England, is considered an art. Many schools have debate clubs, and there is no harm seen in disagreeing strongly, then still going after to the pub. In Norway, in the workplace, to disagree is not always a safe option. To express an opinion that runs against the stream can be associated with "being difficult," "argumentative," and that what you think is "wrong," with unpleasant overtones of "you are wrongly programmed."
Norway's politicians are both younger and less experienced than their European counterparts, who mostly enter politics later in life after a career in business. Few of Norway's politicians have an international perspective from higher education or a career apart from politics. Many have gone straight into politics from student days. They are raised in a society with a small population entrenched in a socialist consensus, and that presses for conformity. How then does one express dissent in a country whose politicians and media are rooted in socialist thinking; where discussing religion is a no-go; where politics has replaced religion, and where there is a small population ensuring conformity of thought, with the risk of being sanctioned for expressing other thoughts?
Most of the media has the same socialist outlook as Norway's politicians. There is either complete ignorance or a blind refusal to go to the root of Islamic terrorism, or how Islam's doctrine effects the socialisation, mindset and actions of Muslims. Despite the existence of informative, independent websites such as document.no and rights.no, the media refuses even to look at Islam's doctrines.
Rather than investigate Islam for themselves, politicians in Norway have put their blind faith in what the imams in Norway say is Islam. Likewise Islamsk Råd, The Islamic Council of Norway, has been given media space to determine what Islam is or is not.
The last three years have seen an explosion in the knowledge of Islam by the man-in-the street, largely thanks to the internet, and inspired by key figures such as Geert Wilders, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Irshad Manji, Brother Rachid and Norway's own Hege Storhaug. While no voice critical of Islam gets coverage in the media, recent coverage in the media of Germany's populist PEGIDA movement (Patriotic Europeans against the Islamization of the West) has already started changing this lapse.
PEGIDA was started in Dresden last October by Lutz Bachman, who stepped down on January 21, 2015, after a photo of him posing as Hitler surfaced. Its wildfire popularity throughout Europe in just three months or existence seems due to the politicians' and media's neglect of their populace -- especially the media's refusal or inability to undertake independent investigative journalism.
People are now discussing what exactly is preventing the European media from going to the root of Islam -- discussing which elements of Islam's key scriptures (the Koran, the sira and the hadith) are at conflict with the non-Muslim world.
If the media and politicians admit there is a problem, they will be forced to retract their belief in multiculturalism and apologize for voluntarily allowing a change in Norway's demographics, with potentially many violent outcomes. They might have to admit that the media and politicians know of the dangers of Islam's doctrines but do not dare to publish them; that maybe they have been collectively threatened and are afraid of the consequences. Other countries' media might be afraid to talk about Islam's doctrines because of their dependence on oil from the Middle East, but this is not the case for Norway.
PEGIDA's followers can trigger a sorely needed debate on the unopened Pandora box of Islam's doctrines. They can also ask questions that need to be asked, but that neither politicians nor the media have so far had the guts to ask. Caricatures and cartoons are only the symptom; we need to get to the root.
In the picture, on the Left, is the World Islamic Mission mosque in Oslo. On the Right, sitting in front of the black flag of jihad is Ubaydullah Hussain, a well known Islamist in Norway who was convicted of hate speech against Jews and threatening journalists.
Norway, like many other countries in Europe after World War II, has built up an expansive welfare state. It is based on the principle of shared values, shared goals and shared faith in the state. Historically, Norway has prided itself in being a largely classless society with a large middle class, and only a small upper class or nobility.
In Norway's educational system, history is not a valued subject. It is included either under the umbrella of "social studies" or "Norwegian." This downgrading, combined with the erosion and virtual removal of Christianity from the education system, means that many are unaware of how their society and democracy were formed, or of the enormous prices paid to attain them. Recent generations seem to take them for granted.
The development of the West, which began with Socrates in Athens; then proceeded to rule of law based on verifiable evidence and equal justice from Rome; then the theological debate that preceded the Reformation and the Renaissance; the Enlightenment and the growth of science -- all of these, over hundreds of years, have shaped constitutions and created today's democratic societies. Today's constitutions, legal systems, codes of ethics, and even desired values for children, are based on the values and qualities expressed in both the Old and New Testament, but most young people are not aware of this.
Islam is an ideology. All nations have their own, although this may not be obvious to those who are born and brought up in them. What, then, is Norway's post-war ideology (or idealism), and how does it permeate Norway's society today?
Before large amounts of oil began to be extracted in the 1970s, Norway was largely a mono-cultural society. However, the last 40 years have been a high-speed transition to a multicultural society, whose previous solidarity and joint values are now being broken down and questioned by parallel and, in the case of Islam, some widely opposing values and goals.
With immigration comes a larger gap between the poorest and richest than before, but Norway retains its strong social values of equality and its dream of solidarity -- perhaps a key reason why socialism still has such a strong hold on the country.
Norway's education system is permeated in an idealistic vision of equality and a belief in cultural relativism: that everyone, every culture and every religion are of the same value. Schools and even preschools are obliged to work toward wiping out class differences. As the state opposes the idea of private schools, there is virtually no alternative to the state school. The majority of teachers are idealists who believe in the idealism they are obliged to preach.
Cultural and religious relativism prevail. Islam is presented in schoolbooks as "just another religion." Key practices, such as washing before praying, and praying five times a day, are presented; but Mohammed's biography, Islam's ideology and agenda, the concept of the kafir [infidel] and all its aggressive contents are brushed under the carpet. Islam is presented as an attractive religion, not an ideology, and is portrayed as if has already been reformed, a situation that is just not the case.
There is no tradition of debate clubs in Norway; the result is pressure for consensus of views and thoughts. To debate, in England, is considered an art. Many schools have debate clubs, and there is no harm seen in disagreeing strongly, then still going after to the pub. In Norway, in the workplace, to disagree is not always a safe option. To express an opinion that runs against the stream can be associated with "being difficult," "argumentative," and that what you think is "wrong," with unpleasant overtones of "you are wrongly programmed."
Norway's politicians are both younger and less experienced than their European counterparts, who mostly enter politics later in life after a career in business. Few of Norway's politicians have an international perspective from higher education or a career apart from politics. Many have gone straight into politics from student days. They are raised in a society with a small population entrenched in a socialist consensus, and that presses for conformity. How then does one express dissent in a country whose politicians and media are rooted in socialist thinking; where discussing religion is a no-go; where politics has replaced religion, and where there is a small population ensuring conformity of thought, with the risk of being sanctioned for expressing other thoughts?
Most of the media has the same socialist outlook as Norway's politicians. There is either complete ignorance or a blind refusal to go to the root of Islamic terrorism, or how Islam's doctrine effects the socialisation, mindset and actions of Muslims. Despite the existence of informative, independent websites such as document.no and rights.no, the media refuses even to look at Islam's doctrines.
Rather than investigate Islam for themselves, politicians in Norway have put their blind faith in what the imams in Norway say is Islam. Likewise Islamsk Råd, The Islamic Council of Norway, has been given media space to determine what Islam is or is not.
The last three years have seen an explosion in the knowledge of Islam by the man-in-the street, largely thanks to the internet, and inspired by key figures such as Geert Wilders, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Irshad Manji, Brother Rachid and Norway's own Hege Storhaug. While no voice critical of Islam gets coverage in the media, recent coverage in the media of Germany's populist PEGIDA movement (Patriotic Europeans against the Islamization of the West) has already started changing this lapse.
PEGIDA was started in Dresden last October by Lutz Bachman, who stepped down on January 21, 2015, after a photo of him posing as Hitler surfaced. Its wildfire popularity throughout Europe in just three months or existence seems due to the politicians' and media's neglect of their populace -- especially the media's refusal or inability to undertake independent investigative journalism.
People are now discussing what exactly is preventing the European media from going to the root of Islam -- discussing which elements of Islam's key scriptures (the Koran, the sira and the hadith) are at conflict with the non-Muslim world.
If the media and politicians admit there is a problem, they will be forced to retract their belief in multiculturalism and apologize for voluntarily allowing a change in Norway's demographics, with potentially many violent outcomes. They might have to admit that the media and politicians know of the dangers of Islam's doctrines but do not dare to publish them; that maybe they have been collectively threatened and are afraid of the consequences. Other countries' media might be afraid to talk about Islam's doctrines because of their dependence on oil from the Middle East, but this is not the case for Norway.
PEGIDA's followers can trigger a sorely needed debate on the unopened Pandora box of Islam's doctrines. They can also ask questions that need to be asked, but that neither politicians nor the media have so far had the guts to ask. Caricatures and cartoons are only the symptom; we need to get to the root.
The No Go Zones for Muslim Teens
The “no-go zones” in some Western nations, where law enforcement has lost control because of the influence of Islamic law, are coming to America.
That’s according to several Islam experts interviewed by WND who believe the kind of Muslim enclaves that have developed in Europe due to a lack of assimilation will eventually arise in the U.S. as the Muslim population grows.
The contention that “no-go” zones exist is controversial, as evidenced by the widespread ridicule that arose when an analyst said in a Fox News interview shortly after the Charlie Hebdo terrorist attack in Paris that the major English city of Birmingham was a “no-go” zone itself.
The analyst apologized, but only for exaggerating his point, not for asserting “no-go” zones exist.
As WND reported, the government of France has identified 751 Zones Urbaines Sensibles, or Sensitive Urban Zones, that the state does not fully control, citing Middle East foreign policy expert Daniel Pipes, director of the Middle East Forum.
The zones are enclaves where Muslim immigrants have chosen not to assimilate, and law enforcement has lost some degree of control.
Republican Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal recently told Fox News interviewer Neil Cavuto that the zones are inevitable in America if the country doesn’t insist that immigrant Muslims assimilate.
He said Islamists are setting up their own culture within the United States “to overturn our culture.”
“We need to recognize that threat,” he insisted.
He said there are neighborhoods that could be defined as a no-go zone.
“You can call them whatever term you want, but absolutely there are neighborhoods, we have communities of people that don’t want to integrate or assimilate,” he said.
Islam analyst and expert Robert Spencer of Jihad Watch told WND the zones “aren’t here.”
“But they’re coming as the Muslim population grows,” he warned. “We already see areas such as Dearborn, Michigan: It isn’t a no-go zone — police don’t fear to enter there and non-Muslims aren’t menaced for non-adherence to Shariah norms — but police did the bidding of the Muslim community a couple of years ago and arrested some Christian missionaries solely for the crime of preaching to Muslims. A Shariah crime, not a crime according to any U.S. law.”
David Yerushalmi of the American Freedom Law Center, which has fought legal battles over the Dearborn disputes, said there aren’t any no-go zones in American right now, but Dearborn comes close.
There, evangelical Christians were attacked with rocks and bottles by a Muslim crowd for talking about their faith on public property during an annual Arab festival. When police arrived, they ordered the Christians to leave or face arrest.
Several legal cases over the incident have been resolved in favor of the Christians, but a major one, handled by AFLC, is still under way. It has been granted the highly unusual step of a hearing before a full federal appeals court, which previously denied the Christians’ claims.
Yerushalmi said there have been times when first responders have declined to go into certain riot areas for a time because it “would incite the crowd to more violence.”
He said there aren’t the numbers of Muslims in the U.S. population at the moment to form such no-go-zones.
“However, you have demographics which are changing,” he warned.
Islam analyst Pamela Geller of Atlas Shrugs not only believes the zones are coming, she’s already prepared a strategy to fight them.
“There aren’t large-scale no-go zones here as there are in Europe, but they are coming, because Islam by its very nature is against assimilation into a kaffir (non-Muslim) society. It is supremacist at its core – Islam must dominate and not be dominated,” she told WND.
“So while Muslims have assimilated here to a greater degree than they have in Europe, there are growing Muslim areas in some cities (Dearborn, Newark, etc.) and these will continue to grow. Then there are rural Muslim camps where firearms training and other alarming things have been reported,” she said.
She asserted the U.S. should end immigration from Muslim countries.
Geller argued “there is no reliable way to tell a jihadist or jihadi sympathizer from a ‘moderate.’”
She called on Muslim groups in the U.S. “to renounce the aspects of Islam that contradict constitutional freedoms, or face sedition charges if they try to advance those elements.”
Geller said that when the U.S. Muslim population “grows to the levels we see in European countries, we will face exactly the same thing that Europe is experiencing now.”
Her 18 points to address the problem include:
1. Profiling of Muslims at airports and in hiring in professions in which national security and public safety could be compromised.
2. Investigating foreign funding for mosques in the U.S.
3. Watching for mosques where violence is advocated.
4. we need an accurate depiction of Islam and its violent doctrines in school textbooks.
5. Stopping foreign aid for countries using Shariah, or Islamic law.
6. Denying citizenship to those who support Shariah. Onetime Muslim terrorist Walid Shoebat has posted a piece online by Keith Davies explaining that no-go zones in the U.K. are areas where even serious crimes are not reported, because they are handled by Shariah rather than British law enforcement.
“Numerous murders and rapes are not reported in these no-go zones because of local justice systems,” he wrote.
WND reported last year that President Obama had thanked Muslims for “building the very fabric of our nation” and claiming they were in part responsible for “the core of our democracy.”
But his comments didn’t align with statements from some of the Founders.
For example, in 1801, President Jefferson sent the Navy to the Barbary Coast to stop Islamic pirates’ reign of terror on U.S. merchant ships. Jefferson read the Quran to understand what was motivating the pirates, and he learned that the Muslim holy book commanded the faithful to “plunder and enslave” non-Muslims.
In 1814, after Tripoli broke its truce and began attacking U.S. ships again, former President John Adams wrote Jefferson a letter advising that Islam’s founder was “a military fanatic.” In another writing, he condemned Islamic law as “contemptible.”
His son and future president, John Quincy Adams, went further, arguing that the essence of Islam is “violence and lust: to exalt the brutal over the spiritual part of human nature.” He suggested the Quran’s commands to fight and conquer other lands “in the cause of Allah” were at odds with democracy, peace and the Judeo-Christian ethic on which America was founded.
“The precept of the Koran is perpetual war against all who deny that Muhammad is the prophet of God,” he added. “The vanquished may purchase their lives by the payment of tribute; the victorious may be appeased by a false and delusive promise of peace; and the faithful follower of the prophet may submit to the imperious necessities of defeat: but the command to propagate the Muslim creed by the sword is always obligatory, when it can be made effective. The commands of the prophet may be performed alike by fraud or by force.”
Amid the controversy over the recent Islamic terrorism in Paris, Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo said she may sue Fox News for its references to no-go zones in the city.
Pipes said that as far back as 2006 that France’s Sensitive Urban Zones ranged from two zones in the medieval town of Carcassonne to 12 in the heavily Muslim city of Marseilles. Most towns and cities have at least one, he said.
Pipes regularly has updated a 2006 post citing references by politicians, civil leaders and journalists to “no-go zones” in Britain, Germany and Sweden, as well as France.
Soeren Kern, senior fellow of the Gatestone Institute, wrote in 2011, “Islamic extremists are stepping up the creation of ‘no-go’ areas in European cities.”
“Many of the ‘no-go’ zones function as microstates governed by Islamic Shariah law,” he wrote. “Host-country authorities effectively have lost control in these areas and in many instances are unable to provide even basic public aid such as police, fire fighting and ambulance services.”
And Spencer noted that in 2002, the New York Times’ David Ignatius wrote of France that “Arab gangs regularly vandalize synagogues here, the North African suburbs have become no-go zones at night, and the French continue to shrug their shoulders.”
Jindal also referenced the zones in a speech in London last weekend.
He said in his prepared remarks that “in the West, non-assimilationist Muslims establish enclaves and carry out as much of Shariah law as they can without regard for the laws of the democratic countries which provided them a new home.”
“It is startling to think that any country would allow, even unofficially, for a so-called ‘no-go zone,’” Jindal said. “The idea that a free country would allow for specific areas of its country to operate in an autonomous way that is not free and is in direct opposition to its laws is hard to fathom.”
The Council on American-Islamic Relations in Washington, a “civil rights” group founded as a front by the Muslim Brotherhood, according to the FBI, expressed disappointment in what it called “Muslim bashing.” -
That’s according to several Islam experts interviewed by WND who believe the kind of Muslim enclaves that have developed in Europe due to a lack of assimilation will eventually arise in the U.S. as the Muslim population grows.
The contention that “no-go” zones exist is controversial, as evidenced by the widespread ridicule that arose when an analyst said in a Fox News interview shortly after the Charlie Hebdo terrorist attack in Paris that the major English city of Birmingham was a “no-go” zone itself.
The analyst apologized, but only for exaggerating his point, not for asserting “no-go” zones exist.
As WND reported, the government of France has identified 751 Zones Urbaines Sensibles, or Sensitive Urban Zones, that the state does not fully control, citing Middle East foreign policy expert Daniel Pipes, director of the Middle East Forum.
The zones are enclaves where Muslim immigrants have chosen not to assimilate, and law enforcement has lost some degree of control.
Republican Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal recently told Fox News interviewer Neil Cavuto that the zones are inevitable in America if the country doesn’t insist that immigrant Muslims assimilate.
He said Islamists are setting up their own culture within the United States “to overturn our culture.”
“We need to recognize that threat,” he insisted.
He said there are neighborhoods that could be defined as a no-go zone.
“You can call them whatever term you want, but absolutely there are neighborhoods, we have communities of people that don’t want to integrate or assimilate,” he said.
Islam analyst and expert Robert Spencer of Jihad Watch told WND the zones “aren’t here.”
“But they’re coming as the Muslim population grows,” he warned. “We already see areas such as Dearborn, Michigan: It isn’t a no-go zone — police don’t fear to enter there and non-Muslims aren’t menaced for non-adherence to Shariah norms — but police did the bidding of the Muslim community a couple of years ago and arrested some Christian missionaries solely for the crime of preaching to Muslims. A Shariah crime, not a crime according to any U.S. law.”
David Yerushalmi of the American Freedom Law Center, which has fought legal battles over the Dearborn disputes, said there aren’t any no-go zones in American right now, but Dearborn comes close.
There, evangelical Christians were attacked with rocks and bottles by a Muslim crowd for talking about their faith on public property during an annual Arab festival. When police arrived, they ordered the Christians to leave or face arrest.
Several legal cases over the incident have been resolved in favor of the Christians, but a major one, handled by AFLC, is still under way. It has been granted the highly unusual step of a hearing before a full federal appeals court, which previously denied the Christians’ claims.
Yerushalmi said there have been times when first responders have declined to go into certain riot areas for a time because it “would incite the crowd to more violence.”
He said there aren’t the numbers of Muslims in the U.S. population at the moment to form such no-go-zones.
“However, you have demographics which are changing,” he warned.
Islam analyst Pamela Geller of Atlas Shrugs not only believes the zones are coming, she’s already prepared a strategy to fight them.
“There aren’t large-scale no-go zones here as there are in Europe, but they are coming, because Islam by its very nature is against assimilation into a kaffir (non-Muslim) society. It is supremacist at its core – Islam must dominate and not be dominated,” she told WND.
“So while Muslims have assimilated here to a greater degree than they have in Europe, there are growing Muslim areas in some cities (Dearborn, Newark, etc.) and these will continue to grow. Then there are rural Muslim camps where firearms training and other alarming things have been reported,” she said.
She asserted the U.S. should end immigration from Muslim countries.
Geller argued “there is no reliable way to tell a jihadist or jihadi sympathizer from a ‘moderate.’”
She called on Muslim groups in the U.S. “to renounce the aspects of Islam that contradict constitutional freedoms, or face sedition charges if they try to advance those elements.”
Geller said that when the U.S. Muslim population “grows to the levels we see in European countries, we will face exactly the same thing that Europe is experiencing now.”
Her 18 points to address the problem include:
1. Profiling of Muslims at airports and in hiring in professions in which national security and public safety could be compromised.
2. Investigating foreign funding for mosques in the U.S.
3. Watching for mosques where violence is advocated.
4. we need an accurate depiction of Islam and its violent doctrines in school textbooks.
5. Stopping foreign aid for countries using Shariah, or Islamic law.
6. Denying citizenship to those who support Shariah. Onetime Muslim terrorist Walid Shoebat has posted a piece online by Keith Davies explaining that no-go zones in the U.K. are areas where even serious crimes are not reported, because they are handled by Shariah rather than British law enforcement.
“Numerous murders and rapes are not reported in these no-go zones because of local justice systems,” he wrote.
WND reported last year that President Obama had thanked Muslims for “building the very fabric of our nation” and claiming they were in part responsible for “the core of our democracy.”
But his comments didn’t align with statements from some of the Founders.
For example, in 1801, President Jefferson sent the Navy to the Barbary Coast to stop Islamic pirates’ reign of terror on U.S. merchant ships. Jefferson read the Quran to understand what was motivating the pirates, and he learned that the Muslim holy book commanded the faithful to “plunder and enslave” non-Muslims.
In 1814, after Tripoli broke its truce and began attacking U.S. ships again, former President John Adams wrote Jefferson a letter advising that Islam’s founder was “a military fanatic.” In another writing, he condemned Islamic law as “contemptible.”
His son and future president, John Quincy Adams, went further, arguing that the essence of Islam is “violence and lust: to exalt the brutal over the spiritual part of human nature.” He suggested the Quran’s commands to fight and conquer other lands “in the cause of Allah” were at odds with democracy, peace and the Judeo-Christian ethic on which America was founded.
“The precept of the Koran is perpetual war against all who deny that Muhammad is the prophet of God,” he added. “The vanquished may purchase their lives by the payment of tribute; the victorious may be appeased by a false and delusive promise of peace; and the faithful follower of the prophet may submit to the imperious necessities of defeat: but the command to propagate the Muslim creed by the sword is always obligatory, when it can be made effective. The commands of the prophet may be performed alike by fraud or by force.”
Amid the controversy over the recent Islamic terrorism in Paris, Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo said she may sue Fox News for its references to no-go zones in the city.
Pipes said that as far back as 2006 that France’s Sensitive Urban Zones ranged from two zones in the medieval town of Carcassonne to 12 in the heavily Muslim city of Marseilles. Most towns and cities have at least one, he said.
Pipes regularly has updated a 2006 post citing references by politicians, civil leaders and journalists to “no-go zones” in Britain, Germany and Sweden, as well as France.
Soeren Kern, senior fellow of the Gatestone Institute, wrote in 2011, “Islamic extremists are stepping up the creation of ‘no-go’ areas in European cities.”
“Many of the ‘no-go’ zones function as microstates governed by Islamic Shariah law,” he wrote. “Host-country authorities effectively have lost control in these areas and in many instances are unable to provide even basic public aid such as police, fire fighting and ambulance services.”
And Spencer noted that in 2002, the New York Times’ David Ignatius wrote of France that “Arab gangs regularly vandalize synagogues here, the North African suburbs have become no-go zones at night, and the French continue to shrug their shoulders.”
Jindal also referenced the zones in a speech in London last weekend.
He said in his prepared remarks that “in the West, non-assimilationist Muslims establish enclaves and carry out as much of Shariah law as they can without regard for the laws of the democratic countries which provided them a new home.”
“It is startling to think that any country would allow, even unofficially, for a so-called ‘no-go zone,’” Jindal said. “The idea that a free country would allow for specific areas of its country to operate in an autonomous way that is not free and is in direct opposition to its laws is hard to fathom.”
The Council on American-Islamic Relations in Washington, a “civil rights” group founded as a front by the Muslim Brotherhood, according to the FBI, expressed disappointment in what it called “Muslim bashing.” -
Friday, January 23, 2015
Muslim Youth Put to Task
The Charlie Hebdo attacks in Paris seems to have finally galvanized the French as to the threat of violent Islamism, one that they and other Europeans have been reluctant to face with determination for the past decade. The world has been inspired by the French people exposing themselves to further attacks by marching in the streets.
World leaders, with the notorious exception of President Barack Obama, marched in solidarity with the French citizenry. The Paris attacks remind us of the international reach of Islamist terrorism and suggest some of the things that must be done to counter global Islamism.
Let’s be clear about what happened in Paris. Trained gunmen armed with advanced weaponry executed a rapid assault in an urban center and then drove away. Their target was journalists. The location was a building full of civilians. This was not an attack on a military or police site nor an attack on a government building. The murderers did not choose to blow up Charlie Hebdo’s offices in the middle of the night to spare human life. Indeed, their targets were people, not the property of the newspaper. The murderers were acting as self-appointed executioners.
Typically, like almost all violent Islamists, the cowards had their faces covered.
There are several important observations to be drawn from the Paris attacks. One is that we cannot delude ourselves with the notion that there will always be a “lone wolf” or two out there and so Western societies cannot protect themselves. This is a false assertion in many ways.
Jihadists like the brothers are not lone wolves. They were trained Al Qaeda operatives. They are part of a movement that claims adherents in Western Africa, across the Mahgreb, and in Afghanistan, Syria, and Pakistan. Al Qaeda’s off-shoot, Islamic State, now claims the allegiance of Nigeria’s Boko Haram and other groups as far east as the Philippines. These are not “lone wolfs,” they are the storm troopers of a larger armed network.
Another way that the “lone wolf” image is faulty has to do with Western societies protecting their citizens. The French security agencies knew that the Kouachi brothers were violent extremists. The French knew they had traveled for training abroad. The French knew that violent Islamists were living openly and preaching hatred in Islamist enclaves within France. The French have experienced terrorism before and they’ve seen the violence in the Francophone world, from Lebanon to North and West Africa. The French government should have known and done better.
Are security officials tangled in bureaucratic red tape protecting the “rights” of violent Islamists within their own societies? Separately, has political correctness made it impossible to take on the messages and activities of violent Islamists?
When it comes to the “rights” of violent Islamists, there is simply no right to advocate violence. Western security officials should work diligently to deport or imprison non-citizen Islamists who in any way advocate violence. Non-citizens are guests; they have no right to disrupt the society wherein they are guests. By “advocate violence” I mean openly call for violence, prepare an attack, provide financial support to violent Islamists (such as money to Hamas), or support violence against individuals, groups, or governments (e.g. Israel).
Non-citizen violent Islamists should be thrown out or prosecuted and imprisoned; in some cases they will have to be terminated if they have turned to active violence. Legislatures should take every step necessary to make this easy for security agencies with a goal of protecting the public.
What about violent Islamists who are citizens? The Charlie Hebdo killers were born in France, just as Maj. Hassan Nidal was a serving U.S. Army officer. Citizenship should not cloak criminals and terrorists: public security comes first. The responsibility of the citizen is to support, rather than erode, public order. In other words, the basic social contract between citizens and the state has to do with a recognition of the political rights of citizens as the state provides a framework for law, order, and security. Citizens who violate this contract by advocating and/or supporting violence are like those who yell “Fire!” in a crowded movie theater when there is no real threat. They are disrupting the public order and they will likely cause harm as people are hurt in the melee. So too, advocating and supporting violence, violates the basic social contract. Prosecute them, imprison them, or deport them: they are traitors. If they have turned to violence, stop them!
Finally, is it true that political correctness has made it impossible to take on the Islamists? Sadly, this does seem to be the case in Western societies. Much of the recent reporting from France, as well as other European countries, suggests that government officials are so wary of offending Muslims that they refuse to stand up for Western values. The root of this problem lies in the multi-cultural, postmodern bias of Western Europe which finds it difficult to stand up for classical Judeo-Christian values. The postmodern viewpoint is that every culture or subculture is equally valid within its own context, and how dare we Westerners lecture ethnic Pashtuns or Arabs on right and wrong? This approach has led to Islamist ghettos in Manchester, Birmingham, London, Paris, and elsewhere that are effectively run by conservative forms of shariah. These are havens for violence against women and minorities, and they are the breeding grounds for terrorism.
One way to counter Islamist violence is to expose it and its ideology while trumpeting and protecting Western values. We value free expression in print and speech, the right of individuals and communities (including Muslims) to worship (without violence), the sanctity of private property and the rule of law, the ability of people to assemble without coercion or threat, legal mechanisms for law and justice, and a society rooted in respect for the rights of others and their security. These values are rooted in the Judeo-Christian ethic of neighbor-love, for which there is no equivalent among violent Islamists.
The other way to counter Islamist violence is to take the fight to them at home using every legal and security tool at our disposal, and to ally with like-minded governments to deter, dismantle, and destroy violent Islamist networks abroad. In 2001 George W. Bush rightly called this a war, and although it has taken more than a decade, even France’s Socialist Prime Minister agrees that ”It is a war against terrorism and radical Islam.”
The question is whether Western governments will have the moral courage to do more than give speeches and participate in marches: it is time protect ourselves at home, amplify anti-Islamist voices in the Muslim world, and destroy foreign fighters and training camps that threaten our long term security.
- See more at: http://www.libertynewsonline.com/article_323_36798.php#sthash.wlPrvcH9.dpuf
World leaders, with the notorious exception of President Barack Obama, marched in solidarity with the French citizenry. The Paris attacks remind us of the international reach of Islamist terrorism and suggest some of the things that must be done to counter global Islamism.
Let’s be clear about what happened in Paris. Trained gunmen armed with advanced weaponry executed a rapid assault in an urban center and then drove away. Their target was journalists. The location was a building full of civilians. This was not an attack on a military or police site nor an attack on a government building. The murderers did not choose to blow up Charlie Hebdo’s offices in the middle of the night to spare human life. Indeed, their targets were people, not the property of the newspaper. The murderers were acting as self-appointed executioners.
Typically, like almost all violent Islamists, the cowards had their faces covered.
There are several important observations to be drawn from the Paris attacks. One is that we cannot delude ourselves with the notion that there will always be a “lone wolf” or two out there and so Western societies cannot protect themselves. This is a false assertion in many ways.
Jihadists like the brothers are not lone wolves. They were trained Al Qaeda operatives. They are part of a movement that claims adherents in Western Africa, across the Mahgreb, and in Afghanistan, Syria, and Pakistan. Al Qaeda’s off-shoot, Islamic State, now claims the allegiance of Nigeria’s Boko Haram and other groups as far east as the Philippines. These are not “lone wolfs,” they are the storm troopers of a larger armed network.
Another way that the “lone wolf” image is faulty has to do with Western societies protecting their citizens. The French security agencies knew that the Kouachi brothers were violent extremists. The French knew they had traveled for training abroad. The French knew that violent Islamists were living openly and preaching hatred in Islamist enclaves within France. The French have experienced terrorism before and they’ve seen the violence in the Francophone world, from Lebanon to North and West Africa. The French government should have known and done better.
Are security officials tangled in bureaucratic red tape protecting the “rights” of violent Islamists within their own societies? Separately, has political correctness made it impossible to take on the messages and activities of violent Islamists?
When it comes to the “rights” of violent Islamists, there is simply no right to advocate violence. Western security officials should work diligently to deport or imprison non-citizen Islamists who in any way advocate violence. Non-citizens are guests; they have no right to disrupt the society wherein they are guests. By “advocate violence” I mean openly call for violence, prepare an attack, provide financial support to violent Islamists (such as money to Hamas), or support violence against individuals, groups, or governments (e.g. Israel).
Non-citizen violent Islamists should be thrown out or prosecuted and imprisoned; in some cases they will have to be terminated if they have turned to active violence. Legislatures should take every step necessary to make this easy for security agencies with a goal of protecting the public.
What about violent Islamists who are citizens? The Charlie Hebdo killers were born in France, just as Maj. Hassan Nidal was a serving U.S. Army officer. Citizenship should not cloak criminals and terrorists: public security comes first. The responsibility of the citizen is to support, rather than erode, public order. In other words, the basic social contract between citizens and the state has to do with a recognition of the political rights of citizens as the state provides a framework for law, order, and security. Citizens who violate this contract by advocating and/or supporting violence are like those who yell “Fire!” in a crowded movie theater when there is no real threat. They are disrupting the public order and they will likely cause harm as people are hurt in the melee. So too, advocating and supporting violence, violates the basic social contract. Prosecute them, imprison them, or deport them: they are traitors. If they have turned to violence, stop them!
Finally, is it true that political correctness has made it impossible to take on the Islamists? Sadly, this does seem to be the case in Western societies. Much of the recent reporting from France, as well as other European countries, suggests that government officials are so wary of offending Muslims that they refuse to stand up for Western values. The root of this problem lies in the multi-cultural, postmodern bias of Western Europe which finds it difficult to stand up for classical Judeo-Christian values. The postmodern viewpoint is that every culture or subculture is equally valid within its own context, and how dare we Westerners lecture ethnic Pashtuns or Arabs on right and wrong? This approach has led to Islamist ghettos in Manchester, Birmingham, London, Paris, and elsewhere that are effectively run by conservative forms of shariah. These are havens for violence against women and minorities, and they are the breeding grounds for terrorism.
One way to counter Islamist violence is to expose it and its ideology while trumpeting and protecting Western values. We value free expression in print and speech, the right of individuals and communities (including Muslims) to worship (without violence), the sanctity of private property and the rule of law, the ability of people to assemble without coercion or threat, legal mechanisms for law and justice, and a society rooted in respect for the rights of others and their security. These values are rooted in the Judeo-Christian ethic of neighbor-love, for which there is no equivalent among violent Islamists.
The other way to counter Islamist violence is to take the fight to them at home using every legal and security tool at our disposal, and to ally with like-minded governments to deter, dismantle, and destroy violent Islamist networks abroad. In 2001 George W. Bush rightly called this a war, and although it has taken more than a decade, even France’s Socialist Prime Minister agrees that ”It is a war against terrorism and radical Islam.”
The question is whether Western governments will have the moral courage to do more than give speeches and participate in marches: it is time protect ourselves at home, amplify anti-Islamist voices in the Muslim world, and destroy foreign fighters and training camps that threaten our long term security.
- See more at: http://www.libertynewsonline.com/article_323_36798.php#sthash.wlPrvcH9.dpuf
Muslim Youth Suspected
Zealots on motorcycles are throwing acid at women whose veils are deemed too loose in the ancient city of Isfahan. Are they defying the law, or enforcing it?
Every day before leaving home, Sara stands before the mirror and tightens the knot on her scarf. She has not worn makeup for two weeks and she wears a black long-sleeved top under a raincoat. She checks the buttons to make sure that they are all tightly fastened. But when she steps outside, she still worries. And so do her parents.
Sara, 21 years old, lives in the historic Iranian city of Isfahan, close to Jolfa, the Christian quarter. For the past two weeks there have been rumors going around that a group of motorcyclists are throwing acid on women whose hejabs, the veils to be worn over the hair in the Islamic Republic, do not meet this gang’s standards. They target women’s faces, and the attacks are said to have been concentrated, precisely, in Sara’s neighborhood.
On October 16 the Iranian Students' News Agency (ISNA) confirmed one report: a woman in a car had been attacked, and acid was thrown in her face. There was widespread speculation that it was done as a means of punishment because the woman was wearing an “improper” hejab arranged to show too much of the hair and face beneath.
Colonel Hossein Hosseinzadeh, deputy commander of the security forces in Isfahan, confirmed that two such attacks had taken place, but he said the motive was not clear and the police were pursuing the matter.
Fazlollah Kafil, Isfahan’s governor, said that the victim was a married woman. “It is possible that the motive was personal,” he said. “We have to investigate such cases carefully. If we are too hasty, we will make people feel unsafe. Police will let us know what they find out as soon as possible.”
Every time she looks in the mirror she thinks, “This is the last time I will see my face intact.”
But residents of Isfahan feel unsafe already. According to some reports, up to six women have been taken to Isfahan’s Feyz Hospital in connection with acid attacks. The hospital specializes in treating eye conditions. One person IranWire spoke to said the average age of the women is about 30.
In addition to this, there were other reports. “I had two patients who were burned by acid,” a doctor at Isfahan’s Burn Center told IranWire. “I am not at the hospital every day and every hour, so it is possible there have been other cases that I don’t know about.”
Around the time ISNA first reported one attack, people living near Martin Passage in Jolfa witnessed another. Although it was not reported by the media, Sara was there shortly after it happened. “I went to Martin Passage to do some shopping,” she says. “When I got close I saw that people had gathered around and the street was very crowded. At first I thought there had been a traffic accident but when I got close and asked people they said that two young women had been attacked from behind by somebody who had used a syringe to throw acid at the them. People said that acid had made holes into their manteaux and had burned parts of their bodies.”
Another Isfahan resident told us, “Two weeks ago a group of motorcyclists threw a bucket at the faces of some women to frighten them. There was no acid in the bucket, just water mixed with some cleansers, which gave the sensation of burning. They just wanted to frighten people. But in recent weeks there have been real acid-throwing attacks.”
All of this comes just as the Iranian parliament has passed a law that gives further powers to morality patrols. Ansar-e-Hezbollah—or the “Supporters of the Party of God”—a militant fundamentalist group, announced it would be resuming its street activities, which include targeting for harrassment women who are not wearing what the group deems to be proper Islamic headscarves. Ansar-e-Hezbollah also has said in the past that sexual violence against women can be attributed to such instances of female impropriety. In the current climate, fundamentalist vigilantes may well believe their actions are justified.
Other Isfahan residents who spoke to IranWire said anyone who witnessed the attacks reported that those throwing acid on women rode large motorcycles and conformed to the stereotype of very religious people. “In mosques and other ceremonial gatherings,” one resident explaine, “there have been calls for women to observe rules around wearing a proper hejab, in order to prevent certain people from being provoked.” Thus the rumor as well as the reality of the threat is used for intimidation.
Of course, many people who consider themselves to be devoutly religious and who follow a more fundamentalist branch of Islam are stunned to hear what is happening in Isfahan, and this includes influential officials and politicians. “I heard the news a couple of hours ago and it really shocked me,” Akbar Pakzad, a well-known commander of the Revolutionary Guards in Isfahan told IranWire. “Such actions are forbidden, whether by religion, by sharia or by the law. They are not human. Anybody who takes such actions under any pretext has committed a crime and must be punished under the maximum penalty.” He considers throwing acid a deadly sin, which must be punishable by death.
When asked what he thinks about Ansar-e-Hezbollah taking action against those who do not observe rules pertaining to Islamic dress for women, he says, “I am not a member of Ansar-e-Hezbollah. I belong to the Revolutionary Guards and at this moment I am an advisor to Commander [Qasim] Soleimani [the commander of the Qods Force] for military training. I condemn this action from the viewpoint of the Guards and the [paramilitary] Basij. About Ansar-e-Hezbollah you have to talk to Hojatoleslam Kamil Kaveh.”
Pakzad is referring to the head of Ansar-e-Hezbollah in Isfahan, who denies having heard the news. “Unfortunately or fortunately I have not heard anything about it,” he said. “A Muslim would not even think about doing such a thing even if he has only a drop of religion in him.” Asked whether Isfahan’s Ansar-e-Hezbollah have started up a campaign against women who do not wear their hejab in line with what the group thinks is acceptable, he gives an odd answer. “We do not have the good fortune at this time,” he says, without explaining why. “I have to go to Friday Prayers and cannot talk any more,” he says before leaving.
Though IranWire contacted the police for a comment, they refused. In general, Isfahan authorities have been unwilling to speak on the matter. But the people of Isfahan are talking, and some are feeling decidedly anxious and worried.
Since witnessed the aftermath of the attack near her home, Sara has discussed it many times with many people. Every time she looks in the mirror, she says, she thinks about what has happened and is horrified. “Believe me,” she says, “every time, I think: this is the last time I will see my face intact.”
- See more at: http://www.libertynewsonline.com/article_364_36410.php#sthash.5IEYKwLo.dpuf
Every day before leaving home, Sara stands before the mirror and tightens the knot on her scarf. She has not worn makeup for two weeks and she wears a black long-sleeved top under a raincoat. She checks the buttons to make sure that they are all tightly fastened. But when she steps outside, she still worries. And so do her parents.
Sara, 21 years old, lives in the historic Iranian city of Isfahan, close to Jolfa, the Christian quarter. For the past two weeks there have been rumors going around that a group of motorcyclists are throwing acid on women whose hejabs, the veils to be worn over the hair in the Islamic Republic, do not meet this gang’s standards. They target women’s faces, and the attacks are said to have been concentrated, precisely, in Sara’s neighborhood.
On October 16 the Iranian Students' News Agency (ISNA) confirmed one report: a woman in a car had been attacked, and acid was thrown in her face. There was widespread speculation that it was done as a means of punishment because the woman was wearing an “improper” hejab arranged to show too much of the hair and face beneath.
Colonel Hossein Hosseinzadeh, deputy commander of the security forces in Isfahan, confirmed that two such attacks had taken place, but he said the motive was not clear and the police were pursuing the matter.
Fazlollah Kafil, Isfahan’s governor, said that the victim was a married woman. “It is possible that the motive was personal,” he said. “We have to investigate such cases carefully. If we are too hasty, we will make people feel unsafe. Police will let us know what they find out as soon as possible.”
Every time she looks in the mirror she thinks, “This is the last time I will see my face intact.”
But residents of Isfahan feel unsafe already. According to some reports, up to six women have been taken to Isfahan’s Feyz Hospital in connection with acid attacks. The hospital specializes in treating eye conditions. One person IranWire spoke to said the average age of the women is about 30.
In addition to this, there were other reports. “I had two patients who were burned by acid,” a doctor at Isfahan’s Burn Center told IranWire. “I am not at the hospital every day and every hour, so it is possible there have been other cases that I don’t know about.”
Around the time ISNA first reported one attack, people living near Martin Passage in Jolfa witnessed another. Although it was not reported by the media, Sara was there shortly after it happened. “I went to Martin Passage to do some shopping,” she says. “When I got close I saw that people had gathered around and the street was very crowded. At first I thought there had been a traffic accident but when I got close and asked people they said that two young women had been attacked from behind by somebody who had used a syringe to throw acid at the them. People said that acid had made holes into their manteaux and had burned parts of their bodies.”
Another Isfahan resident told us, “Two weeks ago a group of motorcyclists threw a bucket at the faces of some women to frighten them. There was no acid in the bucket, just water mixed with some cleansers, which gave the sensation of burning. They just wanted to frighten people. But in recent weeks there have been real acid-throwing attacks.”
All of this comes just as the Iranian parliament has passed a law that gives further powers to morality patrols. Ansar-e-Hezbollah—or the “Supporters of the Party of God”—a militant fundamentalist group, announced it would be resuming its street activities, which include targeting for harrassment women who are not wearing what the group deems to be proper Islamic headscarves. Ansar-e-Hezbollah also has said in the past that sexual violence against women can be attributed to such instances of female impropriety. In the current climate, fundamentalist vigilantes may well believe their actions are justified.
Other Isfahan residents who spoke to IranWire said anyone who witnessed the attacks reported that those throwing acid on women rode large motorcycles and conformed to the stereotype of very religious people. “In mosques and other ceremonial gatherings,” one resident explaine, “there have been calls for women to observe rules around wearing a proper hejab, in order to prevent certain people from being provoked.” Thus the rumor as well as the reality of the threat is used for intimidation.
Of course, many people who consider themselves to be devoutly religious and who follow a more fundamentalist branch of Islam are stunned to hear what is happening in Isfahan, and this includes influential officials and politicians. “I heard the news a couple of hours ago and it really shocked me,” Akbar Pakzad, a well-known commander of the Revolutionary Guards in Isfahan told IranWire. “Such actions are forbidden, whether by religion, by sharia or by the law. They are not human. Anybody who takes such actions under any pretext has committed a crime and must be punished under the maximum penalty.” He considers throwing acid a deadly sin, which must be punishable by death.
When asked what he thinks about Ansar-e-Hezbollah taking action against those who do not observe rules pertaining to Islamic dress for women, he says, “I am not a member of Ansar-e-Hezbollah. I belong to the Revolutionary Guards and at this moment I am an advisor to Commander [Qasim] Soleimani [the commander of the Qods Force] for military training. I condemn this action from the viewpoint of the Guards and the [paramilitary] Basij. About Ansar-e-Hezbollah you have to talk to Hojatoleslam Kamil Kaveh.”
Pakzad is referring to the head of Ansar-e-Hezbollah in Isfahan, who denies having heard the news. “Unfortunately or fortunately I have not heard anything about it,” he said. “A Muslim would not even think about doing such a thing even if he has only a drop of religion in him.” Asked whether Isfahan’s Ansar-e-Hezbollah have started up a campaign against women who do not wear their hejab in line with what the group thinks is acceptable, he gives an odd answer. “We do not have the good fortune at this time,” he says, without explaining why. “I have to go to Friday Prayers and cannot talk any more,” he says before leaving.
Though IranWire contacted the police for a comment, they refused. In general, Isfahan authorities have been unwilling to speak on the matter. But the people of Isfahan are talking, and some are feeling decidedly anxious and worried.
Since witnessed the aftermath of the attack near her home, Sara has discussed it many times with many people. Every time she looks in the mirror, she says, she thinks about what has happened and is horrified. “Believe me,” she says, “every time, I think: this is the last time I will see my face intact.”
- See more at: http://www.libertynewsonline.com/article_364_36410.php#sthash.5IEYKwLo.dpuf
Prediction from 4 years Ago Now Comes true
The continued civil unrest and violence in the Arab nation of Yemen is getting worse by the hour and the threat of radical Islamists taking control of the government in the coming days appears quite likely, according to U.S. intelligence sources.
Fox News Channel reports that Yemen's beleaguered President has been wounded by rebels in Sanaa but the report is still considered unconfirmed.
One report coming out of Saudi Arabia's neighbor is that tribesmen led, in many cases by al-Qaeda leaders are marching into Yemen's capital city to attack government security forces and leaders.
Reports claim that tens of thousands of Yemeni men and foreign fighters who've joined in the civil war are on their way to Sanaa hopes of either pressuring Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh to resign from his post or else remove him from office by force.
Saleh, however, refuses to resign and believes that his more than 30 years as the ruler of Yemen give him the right to stay in office, say U.S. intelligence experts.
The tribesmen are expected to fight alongside the armed militia of tribal leader Sheikh Sadiq al-Ahmar, who started battling government forces in Sanaa last week. On early Friday, government troops backed by tanks were seen approaching the home of Ahmar. With the tribal reinforcement, a bloody battle is expected between the Yemeni security forces and the tribemen.
Civilians from Sanaa, who are not combatants, are anticipating escalation of violence and have already fled the city. Automobiles and trucks formed long lines at gas stations to fill up for long road trips.
Aside from tribal groups, the Yemeni government is also dealing with thousands of anti-government protesters who have camped at Change Square to demand Saleh’s resignation. Gunmen continue to fire into the crowd, while snipers -- believed to be members of al-Qaeda on the Arabian Peninsula -- were positioned in makeshift "birds' nests" on nearby rooftops.
The urban combat goes on regardless of a ceasefire agreement made last week.
This may be the current regime's final battle and it's likely al-Qaeda will have a safe haven much like the one they enjoyed in Afghanistan under Taliban rule. A worst case scenario, according to some U.S. counterterrorism experts, would be to have the government -- and the entire nation -- run by al-Qaeda.
- See more at: http://www.libertynewsonline.com/article_392_30635.php#sthash.W4CgoW9b.dpuf
Fox News Channel reports that Yemen's beleaguered President has been wounded by rebels in Sanaa but the report is still considered unconfirmed.
One report coming out of Saudi Arabia's neighbor is that tribesmen led, in many cases by al-Qaeda leaders are marching into Yemen's capital city to attack government security forces and leaders.
Reports claim that tens of thousands of Yemeni men and foreign fighters who've joined in the civil war are on their way to Sanaa hopes of either pressuring Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh to resign from his post or else remove him from office by force.
Saleh, however, refuses to resign and believes that his more than 30 years as the ruler of Yemen give him the right to stay in office, say U.S. intelligence experts.
The tribesmen are expected to fight alongside the armed militia of tribal leader Sheikh Sadiq al-Ahmar, who started battling government forces in Sanaa last week. On early Friday, government troops backed by tanks were seen approaching the home of Ahmar. With the tribal reinforcement, a bloody battle is expected between the Yemeni security forces and the tribemen.
Civilians from Sanaa, who are not combatants, are anticipating escalation of violence and have already fled the city. Automobiles and trucks formed long lines at gas stations to fill up for long road trips.
Aside from tribal groups, the Yemeni government is also dealing with thousands of anti-government protesters who have camped at Change Square to demand Saleh’s resignation. Gunmen continue to fire into the crowd, while snipers -- believed to be members of al-Qaeda on the Arabian Peninsula -- were positioned in makeshift "birds' nests" on nearby rooftops.
The urban combat goes on regardless of a ceasefire agreement made last week.
This may be the current regime's final battle and it's likely al-Qaeda will have a safe haven much like the one they enjoyed in Afghanistan under Taliban rule. A worst case scenario, according to some U.S. counterterrorism experts, would be to have the government -- and the entire nation -- run by al-Qaeda.
- See more at: http://www.libertynewsonline.com/article_392_30635.php#sthash.W4CgoW9b.dpuf
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