Palestinians: We Want Our Own Knesset

by Khaled Abu Toameh • March 1, 2016 at 5:00 am

Apparently Najat Abu Bakr forgot that she is a member of the Palestinian parliament and not the Israeli one. She and her colleagues have no right to criticize President Abbas or any senior official in Ramallah. Such criticism is considered an "insult" to top officials and even an act of treason.
And so we have two legislators. One is forced to seek shelter within her own parliament for fear of being arrested by the Palestinian security forces. The other receives all the rights and privileges enjoyed by her fellow Arabs inside Israel -- in spite of her immensely provocative behavior.
That is the difference between a law-abiding country and the Palestinian Authority, which has been functioning for many years as a mafia.
Najat Abu Bakr and many Palestinians dream of the day they too will have a Knesset, a true parliament, where leaders are held accountable.

Haneen Zoabi (left) and Najat Abu Bakr (right) are outspoken members of parliament -- Zoabi in Israel and Abu Bakr in the Palestinian territories. That is pretty much where the similarities end.

What do Haneen Zoabi and Najat Abu Bakr have in common?

Both women are outspoken members of parliament -- Zoabi in Israel and Abu Bakr in the Palestinian territories.

Zoabi, who hails from Nazareth, is a citizen of Israel. Abu Bakr, from the West Bank city of Nablus, is an elected member of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC), the parliament that has been effectively paralyzed since 2007, when Hamas expelled the Palestinian Authority (PA) from the Gaza Strip.

But outspoken participation in parliaments is pretty much where the similarities end.

Zoabi, who resides inside Israel, lives a rather different life from her colleague, Abu Bakr, who is a Palestinian citizen.

Zoabi, the Israeli member of parliament, is a provocateur of long standing who regularly enrages the Jewish-Israeli public. She joined a flotilla "aid" convoy to the Gaza Strip -- a move that left many Israelis furious.

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Moderate "European" Islam: Stemming Terror with Band Aids

by Judith Bergman • March 1, 2016 at 4:00 am

The project of a "French Islam" has failed abysmally. A 2,200-page report, "Suburbs of the Republic," concluded that Muslim immigrants in France were increasingly rejecting French values and identity, and instead immersing themselves in Islam. The report warned that Islamic sharia law was displacing French civil law in many parts of suburban Paris.
The pattern of "importing" imams with no knowledge of the local language and customs is the same all over Europe.
Qatar and Saudi Arabia, where the official form of Islam is Wahhabism, are the main financiers of mosques in Europe. Wahhabism discourages Muslim integration in the West, but actively encourages jihad against non-Muslims. Qatar has financed mosques in France, Italy, Ireland and Spain, among other places, thus spreading Wahhabism across the continent.

The Grand Mosque in Paris was assigned to Algeria's trusteeship by the French government in 1957. Since 1982, Algeria has been responsible for funding the Grand Mosque. (Image source: Wikimedia Commons)

Last week Austria ordered the first foreign-funded imam to be expelled when his visa expires. The decision was made under the new provisions of an anti-radicalization law, which Austria passed one year ago under considerable controversy. The main aim of the law is to counter extremism by requiring imams to speak German, and to prohibit foreign funding for mosques, imams and Muslim organizations in Austria. It also stresses that Austrian law must take precedence over Islamic sharia law for Muslims living in the country.

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