Solsticewitch13's BOS

http://www.stonegateinstitute.org/2847/saudi-arabia-blasphemy-death-sentence

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In the end he will have to fire himself.

Facing growing criticism over lack of reforms and transparency, Jordan's King Abdullah has announced an unprecedented crackdown on corruption, sending a number of his former top government officials to prison.

But the clampdown has only increased the appetite of the Jordanians, who continue to press for harsher measures against senior officials suspected of embezzling public funds and abusing their powers.

The king's hitherto unsuccessful attempts to appease the protesters are designed first and foremost to prevent the Arab Spring from infiltrating the kingdom.

For the past several months, Jordan has witnessed weekly demonstrations calling for far-reaching reforms and end to financial corruption. Most of the protests have been initiated by the kingdom's powerful Muslim Brotherhood organization.

At the beginning, King Abdullah did not take the protests seriously. But when some Bedouin tribes who were known for their loyalty to the monarchy started joining the protests, the king finally began to realize that the situation in the kingdom is much more serious than he had thought.

Over the past year, King Abdullah has dismissed two governments in a bid to calm the situation, but to no avail. His recent decision to appoint Awn Khasawneh, a respected judge of the International Court of Justice, as prime minister, has also failed to put an end to the growing protests.

Although most of the protesters in Jordan have thus far avoided calling for regime change, a former parliament member broke the rules by publicly calling for toppling the monarchy.

The man, Ahmed Abbadi, was last week arrested by Jordanian security forces and is now facing up to 15 years in jail if convicted.

Abbadi hails from a powerful Jordanian tribe and his arrest has triggered street clashes between his supporters and police forces in the capital Amman.

Members of Abbadi's tribe have vowed to stage more protests until the former lawmaker is released.

Political analysts in Amman point out that the king is desperate to restore calm and order that he has gone as far as ordering his security forces to arrest some of his most trusted and loyal officials, including the former mayor of Amman, Omar Maani, and the ex-chief of General Intelligence, Mohammed Dahabi.

The two men were arrested on suspicion of financial corruption as part of the king's efforts to show that he is serious about reforms and transparency.

Some former prime ministers and cabinet ministers are also being questioned about their role in various corruption scandals over the past decade.

Yet all these measures have failed to convince the demonstrators that the king is indeed serious about improving the situation.

Each arrest and questioning has been followed by more demands from angry Jordanians.

Now many protesters are demanding that the king arrest Bassem Awadallah, one of his closest friends and a former minister of planning and head of the Royal Court, on graft charges.

A Jordanian journalist said that if the king continues to succumb to public pressure, "in the end he will have to fire himself."

True, King Abdullah has taken a number of measures to fight corruption in his little kingdom. But at the end of the day, Jordan is still far from becoming a democratic country.

This is a country where the king can appoint and fire prime ministers and governments and dissolve an elected parliament any time he wishes. And this is a country where the prime minister -- with the approval of the king, of course -- appoints newspaper editors and senior journalists.

King Abdullah's efforts to improve his image were recently marred by the sentencing of an 18-year-old activist to two years in prison for setting fire to a picture of His Majesty King Abdullah II.

The young man, Uday Abu Issa, was tried before a military state court, which found him guilty of "undermining the king's dignity."

The king would do well to realize that in the age of the Arab Spring, sending a young man to prison for burning the picture of an Arab leader will only add fuel to the fire. He also needs to understand that the rule of totalitarian autocrats in the Arab world is no longer acceptable.

If King Abdullah wants to survive, he must cede some of his powers, allow free and democratic elections for parliament and government and stop suppressing his critics. If he fails to wake up, Jordan could soon be taken over either by Islamists or the Palestinian majority.

Related Topics: Khaled Abu Toameh

Accusation of Blasphemy in Saudi Arabia Means Death Sentence

by Ali Alyami
February 13, 2012 at 4:45 am

http://www.stonegateinstitute.org/2844/a-convenient-hatred

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PLEASE HELP? Updates on Hamza Kashgari's case and what you can do.

Forwarded email: "We have news from Hamza's lawyer that the Malaysian government is hesitant to deport Hamza because of the international pressure. Earlier today, his lawyer has informed us that he is being prepared for extradition to Saudi and a plane is ready and waiting for him. Please help us secure his safety by calling and sending requests of intervention to all of the people on your networks. His lawyer's information is listed, best regards."

This is the time to act against the Saudi and the rest of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation's war on freedom of expression and thought as stated in their UN Resolution 1618.

We will keep you posted regarding plans to demonstrate in front of embassies and the White House to expose OIC's war on freedom of expression worldwide.

==============

Hamza's Lawyer Contact info.

Muhammad Afiq Bin Mohamad Noor
Cell/ Home +6010 3666 434
Office no. +603-2095 2299
Fax no +603 2093 7670
Email: afiqmnoor@kesavan.com.my

Also

Malaysia Embassy in DC

Please contact Syyed Anwar, Director of Public Relations with home I have spoken about Hamza's
Phone: +1-202-5729700
Fax: +1-202-5729882
Email: malwash@kln.gov.my

New Zealand High Commission Kuala Lumpur
Craig.Wadsworth@mfat.govt.nz

Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Malaysia
webmaster@kln.gov.my

Ali H. Alyami is Executive Director of the Center for Democracy and Human Rights in Saudi Arabia.

Related Topics: Ali Alyami

A Convenient Hatred
The History of Antisemitism

by Phyllis Goldstein
Facing History and Ourselves, 2011. 432 pp. $17.95

Reviewed by Michael Curtis
February 13, 2012 at 4:30 am

http://www.stonegateinstitute.org/2842/radicalization-british-muslims

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Romans erected 2000 crosses outside Jerusalem on which to hang Jews a few years before Jesus was even born: a way of diverting attention from problems and the real causes of them.

Discrimination, prejudice, bigotry, intolerance, persecution, racism, and xenophobia have existed in all historical eras and in all countries in some form. However, there is something altogether distinctive in the extraordinary persistence of antisemitism, the hateful and hostile perceptions and persecution of Jews as individuals and as a collective group that has existed for thousands of years throughout the world up to the present. From a rational point of view this persistence is baffling because of the contradictory nature of the negative assertions about Jews, the way in which they are assessed by a standard not applied to others, and because that hostility is manifested irrespective of any particular behavior by Jews. No other group of people in the world has been charged with these characteristics. Antisemitism has been displayed in public life, the media, school text -books, the workplace, religious institutions, and in reference to Israel.

The new book, A Convenient Hatred: the History of Antisemitism, by Phyllis Goldstein, with a foreword by Sir Harold Evans, the distinguished journalist and editor, is a welcome addition to the literature on the subject. The book, sponsored by Leonard Stern, is published by the non-denominational educational and professional development organization, Facing History and Ourselves. The work is a valuable contribution not only in itself but also to the mission of the organization, enlightening the general citizenry on issues of racism, prejudice, and antisemitism.

Goldstein, a senior editor at the organization, traces the history of antisemitism throughout history, using memorable historical events and episodes to illustrate the diverse nature of antisemitism and to link the past to the moral questions we face today. She disarmingly acknowledges that others may differ in the choice of events to illustrate antisemitic behavior, and somewhat modestly suggests that the book is in many ways a primer to encourage readers to further investigate the subject.

Goldstein, aiming at a wide audience, writes in a clear, precise manner, in a tone that is devoid of polemics, ideology, or exhortation. She does however hope, perhaps idealistically, that the presentation of information about antisemitism and other hatreds and the way in which these hatreds are transmitted may help overcome them. She understands that myths and stereotypes become embodied in individuals, institutions, and classrooms, and then infect political and social leaders and action. She indicates the way in which antisemitism has ranged from rhetorical and polemical utterances and writings to discriminatory and punitive actions.

In his eloquent foreword Harold Evans, surprised by the widespread globalization of hateful antisemitism, regards it as a mental condition conducive to paranoia, impervious to truth, a very peculiar pathology that recognizes no national borders. Goldstein, starting with the antisemitism displayed over 2500 years ago in Elephantine, an island in the Nile in southern Egypt, puts this mental condition on display. Prejudice against Jews goes back to early history and is found in Egyptian, Greek, and Roman writings and actions, and in early Christianity. Behavior patterns, that have become familiar through two thousand years, were present in this early period, as for instance, in the burning of the Jewish temple and the use of Jews as scapegoats in the struggle between the rival Persian and Roman powers in Egypt. In Alexandria, in which Jews constituted 40 percent of the population, in 38 C.E. there was mob violence against Jews fed by false accusations, and the categorization of Jews as a "diseased race of lepers" by Apion, a Greek lawyer resident there. It was realized early that antisemitism was a convenient device for a leader or a group to unite adherents against a supposed enemy, a way of diverting attention from problems and the real causes of them.

Goldstein provides some interesting details while telling her stories. One of particular interest, in the light of events that would occur shortly thereafter with blame for the crucifixion of Jesus falling on the Jews, was the Roman action in erecting 2000 crosses outside Jerusalem on which to hang Jews, a few years before Jesus was born. She does not claim to be a deep specialized scholar, in the sense of Anthony Julius in his book on antisemitism in Britain, nor is she an expert in the many languages in which antisemitism has been expressed, but she has mastered the existing literature in English on the subject. She presents her thoughts in a readable style and systematic manner, and brings the subject up to date by relating the distortions of present day Holocaust deniers and the unpleasant fulminations of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, president of Iran. Goldstein might have dealt more fully with the sordid record of the Mufti of Jerusalem, and with the present complicated interaction of antisemitism and anti-Zionism.

In this historical tour we witness the manifestations of antisemitism during the emergence of Christianity from the followers of the Jewish Jesus, the anti-Jewish laws issued by Emperor Constantine in 314 after his conversion to Christianity, the accusations of Jews as "Christ killers," the impact of Islam and its empires, the episode of the Crusades, the struggle between the new Protestantism and Catholicism, the mixed fruits of the Enlightenment, the false conspiracy theories of Jewish power, the distortion of race theories, the machinations of the Soviet Union, the abuse of international organizations, and the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Throughout 2000 years demonization, dehumanization, and discrimination against Jews have occurred. Goldstein illustrates this in the various chapters, in both familiar and less known issues: included are those in 167 A.D. on the charge of deicide or the murder of God; the burning of synagogues in Iraq in 388; the slaughter of Jews in the Rhineland during the first Crusade in 1096; the even greater slaughter by the leader of the Crusade of Jews in Jerusalem in 1099; the attacks on Jews by individuals and groups during the second Crusade in 1146-7; the imposition of special taxes on Jews and attempts to remove them from international trade; the incitements by John Chrysostom in Antioch in the late 14th century; the expulsion of Jews from England in 1290 and later from other countries including Spain in 1492; the charge in 1144 of ritual murder of Christians to obtain their blood; alleged responsibility for poisoning wells and the Black Death in the 14th and 15th centuries; the desecration of the host in the late 13th century; the insistence by the Church from the 13th century on that Jews wear clothing or head covering that distinguished them from Christians; the attacks on the Talmud and the burning of Jewish books in 1242 in Paris; the expulsion of Jews from Spain in 1492; forced conversions; the Inquisition in Spain in 1480 to deal with alleged false conversos by burning or torture (the notorious auto-da-fe, the burning of Jews at a public event); the insistence in Spain on purity of blood (la limpieza de sangre) which made race a major rationale for antisemitism; the assault of Martin Luther on the "damned, rejected race of Jews, "the prejudice of the Jesuits which lasted until 1946; the teaching of contempt of the Jews in church documents, a practice that was not disavowed until 1947; the inclusion of Jewish books in the Vatican Index of Forbidden Books in 1549; the confinements of Jews to ghettoes starting in Venice in 1516; the belief of Voltaire during the Enlightenment period that Jews "were ignorant and barbarous people;" the special clothing, hats, and even shoes Jews were obliged to wear in the Ottoman Empire; the massacres in the Ukraine in 1648; the second class status, dhimmis, of Jews under Muslim rule; the political use of anti-Jewish rhetoric by Tories against Whigs in the 1754 British election; the murder in 1840 of innocent Jews for the disappearance of a monk in Damascus; the refusal of many European countries to allow Jews to become citizens; the well known Dreyfus Affair in France in the 1890s; the pamphlet in 1878 by Wilhelm Marr which coined the word "antisemitism;" the racial theories of Ernst Haeckel; the forged Protocols of the Elders of Zion produced by the Russian secret police and later publicized by Henry Ford and recently by Saudi Arabia and by Hamas in Gaza; the confinement of Jews to the Pale of Settlement in Western Russia and attempts to convert Jews to the Russian Orthodox faith; the pogroms (thunder) beginning in 1881 in Russia and continuing for over two decades and then resuming in 1917-9 in the Ukraine; the lynching of Leo Frank in Atlanta in 1913 for the murder of a 13 year old girl; the allegation of responsibility for the Russian Revolution and two World Wars; the Holocaust; the massacre in Kielce, Poland in July 1946; the ritual murder of Daniel Pearl in Pakistan in 2002; and the incessant condemnations of Israel since its establishment.

It is still difficult to provide a rational, unprejudiced explanation, economic, social, religious, or political, for the persistence of antisemitism. Why for example is antisemitism so deeply embedded in the culture of Spain since it is over 500 years since Jews were expelled from the country? Why did General George S. Patton in his diary on September 15, 1945 refer to Jewish DPs in the camps in Europe as "lower than animals?" The danger of antisemitism remains, in governmental actions, in international bodies especially those related to the United Nations, the Durban Conferences, and among those opposed to the existence of Israel. After centuries of animosity towards Jews displayed by Christian Churches it is saddening that Arab and Islamic organizations, influenced by the example of the Mufti of Jerusalem who called for the removal of Jews from Palestine, have now made antisemitic rhetoric and calls for action against Jews a significant part of their activity. Radical Islamists have linked anti-Semitism, or Judeophobia, to their disproportionate criticism and hostility to the state of Israel.

One must ask why international organizations, supposedly promoting and protecting human rights around the world, have been obsessed with condemning and demonizing the state of Israel for fifty years through one-sided resolutions and disproportionate criticism. The fantasy of Jewish and Israeli power and conspiracy reached an absurd climax when some declared that Jews were responsible for the bombing of the World Trade Center in New York on September 11, 2001.

In her book, Goldstein has made the horrifying history of antisemitism accessible to everyone. One can only hope that it will have a widespread readership and a salutary impact in changing opinions and behavior in public life, the media, schools, and religious institutions.

Michael Curtis is Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Political Science at Rutgers University and a member of the Board of the American Israel Friendship League

Radicalization of Young British Muslims

by Irfan Al-Alawi
February 13, 2012 at 4:00 am

http://www.stonegateinstitute.org/2845/government-shields-intel-by-changing-law

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University Islamic Societies Sow Terrorist Propaganda: "I started to get really into it [Al-Awlaki lectures]….everybody listens to him and likes him."

A newly-released study from the British organization Student Rights exposes a problem of which the moderate British Muslim community has been aware for years: the advance of radical ideology among young Muslims, through videos and direct preaching.

A report, "Case Study: London South Bank University Islamic Society," discloses that the London South Bank University (LSBU)'s Islamic Society (Isoc) has exploited social media to disseminate terrorist propaganda. The LSBU Isoc, an affiliate of the Federation of Student Islamic Societies (FOSIS), has long been known for harboring radicals and their sympathisers.

Nine times since November 2011, the LSBI Isoc has used its Facebook account to present video lectures by the late US-born Al-Qaeda preacher Anwar Al-Awlaki, who was executed in a US military drone operation in Yemen at the end of September 2011. That is,

after both Al-Awlaki's role in several terrorist attacks in the US and his death were widely publicized, the LSBU Islamic Society reposted his lectures. Al-Awlaki was the Al-Qaeda leader involved in inciting the mass attack by Nidal Malik Hasan at Fort Hood, Texas, in which 13 people were killed and 29 injured. Al-Awlaki played the same role in the Christmas 2009 attempt by Umar Farouk Abtulmutallub, a Nigerian Muslim extremist, to blow up a Northwest Airlines flight over Detroit, Michigan.

Al-Awlaki maintained relations with three hijackers involved in the September 11, 2001 terror attacks on New York and Washington, DC. After 2001, Al-Awlaki relocated from the US to Britain, where he stayed until 2004, when he went to Yemen. While in Britain, Al-Awlaki addressed the 2004 annual conference of FOSIS, and was advertized as a participant in a series of talks organized by the Muslim Association of Britain (MAB) and the University of London students' Islamic Societies. MAB, founded in 1997 by Kamal Al-Helbawy, a representative of the Muslim Brotherhood in the UK, is small but well-known for its fundamentalist outlook. The London South Bank University Isoc's Facebook page had 3,039 subscribers when it posted the Al-Awlaki videos. Student Rights noted in its survey that by reposting the Al-Awlaki videos LSBU-Isoc "clearly endors(ed) Al-Awlaki as an authority on religious and even political matters."

Roshonara Choudhry, a British-born Muslim of Bangladeshi background and a student at Kings College, London, in 2010 stabbed British Labour politician Stephen Timms, MP – fortunately without killing him. Choudhry told British police that she had been influenced by Al-Awlaki's videos. According to the London Guardian of November 2, 2010, she said to investigators, "I started to listen to Anwar Al-Awlaki lectures last year and then I started to get really into it and I listened to everything … like all of his recorded lectures that he made and that would have been like since November. I've been listening to him since November… everybody listens to him and likes him."

Al-Awlaki's sermons were also found to have motivated nine British Muslims -- grouped in London, Cardiff (Wales), and Stoke-on-Trent -- to plot bombings of the London Stock Exchange, Big Ben, the Houses of Parliament, the US Embassy, the home of London Mayor Boris Johnson, and two Jewish synagogues, among many other targets. Although the nine intended their spree to be carried out around Christmas 2010, they were arrested by British authorities. After being informed of their probable sentences, as their trial was about to begin they pled guilty in a controversial arrangement, and were sentenced on February 1, 2012. The ringleader of the group, Mohammed Chowdhury, aged 21 -- and, according to Court News UK, nicknamed "JMB" for Jaamat-ul Mujahideen Bangladesh, an illegal Taliban-lining terror group - was told he would be jailed for no more than 13-1/2 years. Under British penal rules, however, he may be released after completing half his sentence, in less than six years, because of time he already served. The convicted men could have been sentenced to life in prison. The other five defendants pled guilty to lesser charges of "preparing a terrorist attack". All nine had originally claimed innocence in the conspiracy. Except for Chowdhury and two associates, who were born in Bangladesh and acquired British citizenship, the would-be terrorists were all British by birth.

The LSBU Isoc has also posted videos by one of the most notorious Saudi extremists, Aidh (Ayed) Al-Qarni, known for encouraging Saudi subjects to contribute to the defence of Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq, and calling on terrorists to travel to Iraq to fight. Al-Qarni is infamous for the recklessness of his diatribes. In one example, he declaimed, "houses and young men must be sacrificed, throats must be slit and skulls must be shattered. This is the path to victory".

On January 6, 2012, LSBU Isoc hosted Murtaza Khan, another prominent radical, as a speaker. In 2007, the UK Channel 4 "Dispatches" documentary, "Undercover Mosque," recorded Khan asking, "For how long have we seen that our mothers, our sisters and our daughters have to go and uncover themselves in front of these filthy non-Muslim doctors?"

The susceptibility to such appeals of British Muslim youth, especially through the student societies linked by FOSIS, has been aggravated by the assault on British Islam by advocates for the Deobandi and Wahhabi sects, along with the Muslim Brotherhood. Islam in the UK is South Asian in its majority origins. People of Pakistani, Indian, and Bangladeshi ethnicity account for about three-quarters of Muslims in the UK, who total 1.5 to 2 million. Deobandism is a fundamentalist interpretation that first appeared in India almost 150 years ago and inspired the Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Through the mass revivalist group Tablighi Jamaat (TJ), as well as in Deobandi madrassas [Muslim religious schools] in Britain, students are inculcated with fundamentalist views from an early age. Deobandi boarding schools in the UK, created on the model of the original Darul Uloom Deoband in India, include Darul Uloom London, located in Kent, and Darul Uloom Bolton. Darul Uloom Bury, near Manchester, the oldest, was launched in 1973.

Deobandi madrassas produce imams who press radical attitudes on British Muslims. Most British Muslims are moderate, traditional, and reject and resent the fundamentalist invasion. But in the streets of East London and other cities with large Muslim communities, Deobandi agitation is a daily fact of life. Student groups such as the Isoc at LSBU and others affiliated with FOSIS provide an alternative source for the transmission of radical doctrines.

It has been asserted widely that Deobandis now control a majority of British mosques. Although they may have gained institutional leverage, they have not won over the majority of British believers in Islam. Moderate British Muslims must take back our mosques and university student societies from the extremists and work to drive the Deobandis out of all positions they have captured.

Related Topics: Irfan Al-Alawi

Government Shields Intel by Changing Law
And more from the Turkish Press

by AK Group
February 13, 2012 at 3:00 am