Wednesday, June 5, 2013

Gatestone Update :: Khaled Abu Toameh: Radical Islam Arrives in Ramallah, and more



Facebook  Twitter  RSS
Gatestone Institute
In this mailing:

Radical Islam Arrives in Ramallah

by Khaled Abu Toameh
June 5, 2013 at 5:00 am
Be the first of your friends to like this.
The Palestinian Authority leadership is using Muslim radicals to scare Western donors into continuing, or perhaps increasing, their financial aid to the Palestinian government in West Bank.
What happened on Tuesday In Ramallah -- often referred to as the bastion of Palestinian secularism and moderation -- serves as a reminder that radical Islam has found its way to this West Bank city.
Hundreds of Muslim fundamentalists marched through the streets Tuesday to mark the 92nd anniversary of the fall of the Caliphate.
The Palestinian Authority, which had in the past cracked down on Hizb-ut-Tahrir [Party of Liberation], the radical organization that led the march, instructed its security forces not to intervene, even as PA spokesmen condemned US Secretary of State John Kerry's efforts to revive peace talks between the Palestinians and Israel.
Hizb-ut-Tahrir is a radical, Islamist political organization that calls on all Muslims to unify under an Islamic state ruled by Islamic law, Sharia, and a Caliph. The march in Ramallah was organized by members of its Palestinian branch, who, along with their fundamentalist followers, lamented the long-ago decision by the Grand National Assembly in Angora, Turkey, to depose Caliph Abdul Medjid Effendi and abolish the Caliphate.
Palestinian residents of Ramallah expressed surprise at the Palestinian Authority's decision to allow hundreds of Muslim fundamentalists to march in their city in scenes that appear to be taken from the streets of the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.
"Since when does the Palestinian Authority allow Al-Qaeda supporters to stage demonstrations in our cities?" asked a Palestinian shopkeeper.
Remarked another Palestinian university student who witnessed the event: "Today I felt as if I'm in Syria or Gaza. It's strange that the Palestinian Authority, which arrests people who post critical comments on Facebook, allows Muslim extremists to march in Ramallah, calling for the establishment of a Caliphate."
Chanting slogans in favor of the restoration of the Caliphate, the Muslim fundamentalists called on Islamic armies to "march toward Palestine to liberate the Aqsa Mosque and the rest of Palestine."
The fundamentalists also shouted slogans in support of the jihadi terrorists engaged in the fight against Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime.
Baher Saleh, a senior Hizb-ut-Tahrir official, told the crowd that it was time for Muslim armies to "liberate the Aqsa Mosque from the hands of the filthy Jews."
Saleh and other members of the organization also condemned the Palestinian Authority leadership for failing to endorse their ideology and mobilize the Islamic world for war against Israel.
Palestinian Authority officials have not offered an explanation as to why Hizb-ut-Tahrir, whose members are frequently targeted by Palestinian security forces in the West Bank, was given permission to hold a rally in favor of jihad [holy war] against Israel.
Some Palestinians, however, said that the decision to allow the fundamentalists to hold a rally in Ramallah was aimed at sending a message to Kerry about the challenges and threats facing the Palestinian Authority.
The Palestinian Authority leadership, according to this theory, is using the Muslim radicals to scare Western donors into continuing, or perhaps increasing, their financial aid to the Palestinian government in the West Bank.
But at the same time the Palestinian Authority is also shooting itself in the foot. Hizb-ut-Tahrir is an organization that openly despises the Palestinian Authority leaders, dubbing them traitors and collaborators with the enemies of Islam.
Related Topics:  Khaled Abu Toameh

France's Blood Libel against Israel

by Guy Millière
June 5, 2013 at 3:00 am
Be the first of your friends to like this.
The video is a fake. The boy shown there was not "killed" in the incident. But according to France's "official truth," he was "killed." He will therefore be considered "killed" by French political leaders, the French media, and probably, in a few weeks, the French judiciary. In France, no one can question "official truth" without incurring huge risks.
On September 30, 2000, at the beginning of the Palestinian terrorist offensive against Israel called since then the "second intifada," a particularly violent clash took place at the Netzarim junction in the Gaza Strip. As shots were exchanged between Arab militiamen and Israeli soldiers, cameramen from various television channels were nearby, filming news reports. One of these reports quickly spread around the world and became a ubiquitous tool for anti-Israeli Arab propaganda. It showed a young boy huddling against his father, the two unsuccessfully trying to protect themselves from gunfire: the son appeared to have been killed. The commentary accompanying the images was overwhelming. The last words of the voice-over, uttered in a stricken tone, were: "The child is dead".
The child, Mohammed al-Dura, immediately became a "martyr" -- and a symbol. The Israeli army clearly dared to kill defenseless people, even children!
The report was considered indisputable: it had been broadcast on the main French public channel, France 2, and validated by a noted journalist, Charles Enderlin.
Very soon, Israeli columnists and military experts thought that the report had all the appearances of a crude forgery. In the images, the "dead" child was still lifting his arm after his "death". Neither father nor son showed any trace of blood, nor was there any blood on the wall behind them. The bullet holes on the wall behind the father and son had round forms, showing that they could not come from the angled Israeli position.
A few weeks later, an Israeli website, the Metula News Agency, made a short film demonstrating in detail that the report was indeed a fake. An Israeli scientist, Nahum Shahaf, conducted a reconstruction and a scientific demonstration in support of the short film. In 2002, a German filmmaker, Esther Schapira, directed a documentary reaching the same conclusions: Drei Kugeln und ein totes Kind ("Three Bullets and a Dead Child").
It was soon revealed that the footage had been shot by a Palestinian Arab cameraman, Talal Abu Rahma, and sent to Charles Enderlin, who had not been present at the scene. And it became apparent that Enderlin had added a commentary without first conducting any verification.
At this point, Enderlin could have replied with further explanation. France 2 could have admitted a mistake. But they stuck to their positions: Enderlin swore that he had "proof" that the images showed the reality and that his commentary was correct; and France 2 fully supported Enderlin. Neither the short film made by Metula News Agency, nor the documentary directed by Esther Schapira was broadcast in France. The Israeli government, for its part, remained silent.
The case has grown. A courageous and tireless French entrepreneur, Philippe Karsenty, head of a news media watchdog group, Media Ratings, understood the lasting harm of the fraud and saw in this deception an opportunity to expose the workings of the Palestinian propaganda machine and the complicity in it of many in the Western media.
In 2004, Karsenty posted all the information available to him, including irrefutable evidence of missing footage, and wrote that the truth had to be unearthed. He was accused by Enderlin and France 2 of defamation, and dragged to court.
Undaunted, he decided to give lectures and talks on the subject around the world.
In 2012, seeing at last the sheer scope of the case, the Israeli Ministry of Strategic Affairs created a special government inquiry committee. The committee's report was officially handed to Israeli Prime Minister a few days ago. Its findings corroborate what all those who followed the case from the beginning already know: the Enderlin and France 2 report is "baseless." The child shown in the video was not "killed" in the incident -- the incident was staged. Upon receiving the committee's report, Binyamin Netanyahu declared that the Enderlin and France 2 report is "an integral part of the ongoing campaign to delegitimize Israel."
Logic and basic human decency would dictate that Enderlin and France 2 draw the consequences, withdraw the charges, and apologize to everyone victimized by the fraud. This is not, however, what happened. On the contrary, Enderlin and France 2 now accuse the Israeli government of wanting to harm their reputation and are threatening to "sue Israel."
The French public has not, of course, been informed of the content of the committee's report. It is further very likely that no newspaper, no magazine, no radio and no TV channel in France will speak of it.
When, in fact, complaints were filed by Enderlin and France 2 against Philippe Karsenty, a petition of support for Enderlin was published in several French newspapers: all mainstream journalists had signed the petition.
In July 2009, to show his support for Enderlin, former President Nicolas Sarkozy awarded him the title of Knight of the Legion of Honor, one of France's highest honors. The current President, François Hollande, has not commented on the committee's report. He will also probably remain silent on the subject.
On May 26, the French judiciary was supposed to make a final decision on the complaints against Philippe Karsenty. The decision was postponed to June 26, undoubtedly due to the committee's report. It does not mean that the decision will be in favor of Karsenty. The French judiciary depends on the French Department of Justice, and therefore the French government. Its position will be the one adopted by the French government.
The Enderlin and France 2 report is baseless. It is a fake. But in France, it exists as an "official truth;" and in France, no one can question an "official truth" without incurring huge risks -- from blacklisting by the media to arbitrary audits by the tax bureau, to even death threats.
The child shown in the video was not killed in the incident. But according to French "official truth," he was "killed": he will therefore be considered "killed" by French political leaders, the French media, and probably the French judiciary.
The Enderlin and France 2 report is assuredly "an integral part of the ongoing campaign to delegitimize Israel" conducted worldwide.
It is an integral part of the campaign to delegitimize Israel conducted in France -- a campaign that has not stopped.
The workings of the Palestinian propaganda machine and the complicity of many in the Western media have been exposed all too often. This just makes one more time.
Charles Enderlin and France 2 should to be ashamed, but they have no shame; most French political leaders, the French media and the French justice should be ashamed, but probably feel no shame.
Most French people will never even know anything at all about the affair.
Israel's Minister of International Relations, Yuval Steinitz, gave an accurate definition of the Enderlin and France 2 report : "a modern-day blood libel against the State of Israel".
This makes France's cover-up of the truth a French blood libel.
The fact that almost all the members of the French elite continue to stand up for this or any blood libel is a hideous stain on the honor of France.
Related Topics:  France  |  Guy Millière

Turkey Rises Against Islamist Rule

by Veli Sirin
June 5, 2013 at 2:00 am
Be the first of your friends to like this.
The ruling AKP has arrested students unhappy with increased tuition fees and journalists accused of "terrorism." Turkey has more journalists in jail than any other country.
Turkey has been swept by demonstrations against the Islamist regime of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The uprising, as it has become, began after police assaulted peaceful protestors opposed to the environmental degradation of Istanbul. By Monday, June 3 – the fourth day of clashes – the clamor against removal of trees from Gezi Park, adjoining the great city's main Taksim Square, had also spread to the Turkish capital, Ankara, and the country's symbol of its past urban diversity, Izmir. A civic action with an ecological message had become a mobilization of Turkey's disaffected secular masses.
Police have fired tear gas at the growing crowds, numbering in the hundreds of thousands; the protestors have reacted in some places by setting up barricades and throwing stones. The police use of gas was especially prolific in the Beyoglu and Besiktas neighborhoods of Istanbul on June 1. Other citizens have taken to the balconies of their homes and apartment buildings, banging on empty pots to express their discontent with Erdogan. The people are chanting for the resignation of "dictator" Erdogan, and warning him, "Tayyip, see our strength." Containers of building materials intended for the "reconstruction" of Gezi Park have been burned.
Some 500 people were arrested in Istanbul early Monday, along with 300 in Izmir. Previously during the weekend, according to Interior Minister Muammer Guler, 1,700 citizens were detained in 67 towns to which the confrontation had spread. The Turkish Medical Association has reported that about 3,200 people have been injured. Courageous medical personnel, often the real heroes in such street battles, have rushed to their aid, setting up an emergency clinic. Two participants in the protests have been killed. Mehmet Ayvalitas, 20, was struck by a car that drove into the demonstrators in Istanbul on Sunday, while Abdullah Comert, 22, received a fatal head injury during a protest in Antakya near the Syrian border. One woman was admitted to hospital with a fractured skull. Lawyers were recruited to defend the arrested.
Erdogan has threatened the people with his customary rhetoric, describing the demonstrators as "looters," accusing them of alignment with terrorists, charging opposition politicians with provocation, and warning that the national intelligence services will identify "internal and external" enemies. "We will settle accounts with them," Erdogan declared crudely. By his manner, this Islamist betrays both his lack of civility and his pretensions to absolute power.
It appears, however, that the citizens of the Turkish Republic are "settling accounts" with Erdogan.
Erdogan held to his plan to depart the country on an official tour of Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia. This flight from a political challenge is evidence of weakness, not confidence. The leadership of Erdogan's administration and his "Justice and Development Party" (known as the AKP) is divided. President Abdullah Gul defended the protestors' rights on Monday. Gul stated, "Democracy does not mean elections alone. There can be nothing more natural for the expression of various views, various situations and objections through a variety of ways, besides elections." Erdogan's former Culture Minister, Ertugrul Gunay, explained that the people seeking to protect Gezi Park wanted no more than to preserve one of the few green areas remaining in Istanbul.
Nothing could better illustrate the depth of the social crisis in Turkey than the split at the top of the power structure. Protestors fear Erdogan's authoritarianism and Islamist ideology. Political differentiation has extended to the business class. Erdogan intended to transform Gezi Park into a shopping mall, but Turkish fashion designers said they would not open outlets in the proposed structure.
In the past, the prime minister's uncompromising stance was successful. But now the angry populace, among the most worldly in Muslim countries, has caused its failure. The ruling AKP has arrested students unhappy with increased tuition fees and journalists accused of "terrorism." Turkey has more journalists in jail than any other country. Then came a ban on alcohol, which, although conforming to Islamic religious principles, has been rare in Muslim lands.
Erdogan was revered like an idol for his perverse form of modernization. The economy grew. Turkey bid for recognition as a regional power. The conflict with the Kurdish revolutionary movement was, at least formally, brought to an end.
But rage was building among secular citizens, liberals, and the left. They are dissatisfied with a political leader who ignores human rights. The Turkish media do not report on the situation clearly and accurately. Eyes are closed while people are victimized.
The world needs to open its eyes and perceive the danger of Recep Tayyip Erdogan for regional stability and pluralism. Erdogan has overreached; a new Turkish revolution may have begun. On Tuesday, the Confederation of Public Workers' Unions, known from its Turkish name as KESK, called for a two-day strike against Erdogan's "fascism." The people of Turkey have promised to resist Erdogan's authoritarian ambitions until victory is achieved.
Related Topics:  Turkey  |  Veli Sirin

To subscribe to the this mailing list, go to http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/list_subscribe.php
at

No comments:

Post a Comment