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In this mailing:
by Khaled Abu Toameh
• July 11, 2016 at 5:00 am
- Recent reports
leave no doubt as to cooperation between Hamas and ISIS groups in
Sinai. These reports, the Egyptians and Palestinian Authority argue,
provide further evidence that the Gaza Strip remains a major base
for various jihadi terror groups that pose a real threat.
- The report said
that terrorists wanted by the Egyptian authorities were admitted to
the Gaza Strip hospital in return for weapons given to Hamas by the
Islamic State in the Sinai.
- Mahmoud Abbas
and the leaders of the Palestinian Authority (PA) can continue to
talk all they want about a Palestinian state that would be
established in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem. But
when ISIS-inspired groups are active in Gaza and there are no signs
that the Hamas regime is weakening, it is rather difficult to
imagine a Palestinian state.
- The jihadi
groups clearly seek to create an Islamic emirate combining the Gaza
Strip and Sinai. Abbas might thank Israel for its presence in the
West Bank -- a presence that allows him and his government to be
something other than infidel cannon fodder for the jihadis.
Reports indicate that an increasing number of Hamas
gunmen have in recent years fled the Gaza Strip to join ISIS in Sinai,
Syria and Iraq. Pictured above: An August 2014 image of terrorists from
the Islamic State in Sinai (then known as Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis),
preparing to behead four Egyptians they accused of spying for Israel.
Hamas denies it up and down. Nonetheless, there are growing signs
that the Islamist movement, which is based in the Gaza Strip, is
continuing to cooperate with other jihadi terror groups that are
affiliated with Islamic State (ISIS), especially those that have been
operating in the Egyptian peninsula of Sinai in recent years.
This cooperation, according to Palestinian Authority security
sources, is the main reason behind the ongoing tensions between the
Egyptian authorities and Hamas. These tensions have prompted the
Egyptians to keep the Rafah border crossing mostly closed since 2013,
trapping tens of thousands of Palestinians inside the Gaza Strip.
In 2015, the Egyptians opened the Rafah terminal for a total of
twenty-one days to allow humanitarian cases and those holding foreign
nationalities to leave or enter the Gaza Strip.
by Majid Rafizadeh
• July 11, 2016 at 4:00 am
- Islam can
provide a powerful language and tool to commit the worst crimes,
while at the same time the perpetrators of those attacks feel
blessed, privileged, rewarded and on the winning side.
- This
indoctrination evolves into a deep-seated fear of even questioning,
let alone leaving, the rules of Allah and Islam. Once you become the
slave of Islam, it kills your courage to leave it.
- Unless we gain
a better understanding of the nature of Islam -- its reliance on
Qur'anic verses, as well as its values, principles and ideology, we
will not be capable of addressing this threat.
- Simply stating
that Islam does not have to do anything with these violent acts is
not a constructive; it is just a way to avoid tackling the problem.
As Muslims, we need to accept the fact that there exist some parts
in the religion of Islam that gives social, political, religious,
and cultural legitimacy to violence. Otherwise these Islamist groups
would not have flourished.
It is sometimes important to talk about things that are tempting to
be silent about. It is important to shed light on the intricacies,
complexities, and nuances of the religion of Islam as well as the
contemporary social, political and economic traditions linked to this
faith and the uncontrolled rise of extremism.
I used to be a devout follower of Islam: one of the few who actually
read the Qur'an word for word and tried to follow the rules in detail.
The penalty for renouncing Islam, it is also crucial to note, is
death. It is legally administered in Islamic societies by governments,
Islamic courts, and even individual Muslims who desire to fulfill their
duty prescribed by Allah, the Qur'an and Muhammad.
These Islamic laws, of course, create fear about telling the true
story.
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