By: Aeneas Lavinium
ICLA

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

For press queries contact Chris Knowles at vict…@gmail.com

10 December 2013, Basel, Switzerland: Today – on United Nations Human Rights Day 2013 – the International Civil Liberties Alliance (ICLA) launched a new program: Victims of Sharia Action Network. The program will highlight the problem of sharia-inspired human rights abuses around to world to mobilize public opinion and action on behalf of the victims of sharia.

Program Director Chris Knowles said:

“Victims of sharia have suffered in silence for long enough. The International Civil Liberties Alliance will give them a voice . The legal, political and frequently barbaric doctrines of Sharia result in human rights abuses and flagrant disregard for civil liberties in violation of international norms and national legal codes.”

ICLA now has a form on its website to enable victims of sharia, their family members, lawyers, or community activists to submit details of specific sharia-based human rights abuses. This form may be accessed at http://www.libertiesalliance.org/victims-sharia-action-network/vosan/.

For many years the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has been trying to extend the reach of sharia by demanding a global blasphemy law. At the same time terms such as “Islamophobia” have been put into circulation to blame the victims of sharia abuse rather than its perpetrators. Meanwhile, within OIC countries like Pakistan, sharia is being used as an instrument to terrorize religious minorities. VOSAN will take a two-pronged approach. The program will expose and confront human rights abuses caused by sharia within Muslim-majority OIC member countries, as well as abuses of civil liberties and human rights caused by accommodation to sharia doctrine in Western democracies.

VOSAN will focus public attention on cases of sharia-based doctrinal violations of human rights and norms of civil liberties, including: undermining freedom of expression, institutionalizing inequality before the law, encouraging cruel and unusual punishments, providing justification for gender-based inequality, promoting homophobia, persecuting apostates, and inciting the expansion of this systematic discrimination and violence to all countries, Muslim and non-Muslim alike.

In 2014, Victims of Sharia Action Network will expose, confront and advocate against sharia abuses, always with a focus on specific cases to engage public interest and advocacy:

• Highlighting specific sharia-related human rights abuses and engaging in public education on representative cases, generating “Top Ten” lists for priority public action;

• Opposing the enforcement of Islamic blasphemy laws to Muslims and non-Muslims alike.

• Campaigning for an end to sharia-based human rights abuses in OIC member states and other countries with a significant Islamic population.

• Raising the issue of sharia abuses of human rights and denial of civil liberties in international forums such as the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, and the European Parliament.

• Encouraging Muslim reformers to partner with the VOSAN programme on specific cases, to free sharia’s victims.

• Lobbying national governments to make combatting sharia human rights abuses a priority of their foreign policy.

• Supporting the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by campaigning for the non-recognition of the Cairo Declaration of Human Rights in Islam on the grounds that it withholds basic human rights from both Muslims and non-Muslims alike.

VOSA is an implementation of the Brussels Declaration launched by ICLA in the European Parliament in July 2012. The Brussels Declaration http://www.libertiesalliance.org/brusselsconference/2012-brussels-declaration/ aims to preserve free speech, civil liberties, human rights and democracy, against all efforts to injure and usurp those universal principles.

More information may be found at: http://www.libertiesalliance.org/victims-sharia-action-network/vosan/

ENDS

ICLA Postal Address: ICLA Inter. Civil Liberties Alliance, Postfach 1403, CH 4001 Basel, Switzerland.

Arlene from Israel

The question, for starters, is how gullible do Obama and his representatives think that Israel is? Or Mahmoud Abbas, for that matter. What the Americans are attempting to do is stitch together a “peace” deal using that hocus pocus.

Kerry came to town last Wednesday for a series of meetings with Israeli and PA officials in order to advance the “peace process.”

On Friday, Kerry announced that he had presented both the Israelis and the Palestinian Arabs with “new security ideas”:

He had brought with him US Gen. (ret.) John Allen, described by Kerry as “one of the best military minds” in the US.

Credit: khaama

Gen. Allen, according to the JPost, had been designated by Obama to “assess the potential threats to Israel and the region from a future Palestinian state, and come up with possible security arrangements.”

I see this as unmitigated gall: Expecting Israel to rely on a foreign military leader’s assessment of Israel’s security situation. This could not even be expected to be a disinterested assessment, as Allen is charged with furthering the negotiations. As a matter of fact, according to Obama, Allen has already concluded that it would be possible to arrive at a “two state solution” that protects Israel’s need for security.

Did we expect Allen to say, “Mr. President, this just isn’t going to work”?

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According to Caroline Glick, writing on Friday (see more below), the proposal by Allen “involved, among other things, American security guarantees” and “a pledge to deploy US forces along the Jordan River.”

Kerry fell all over himself when he was here trying to demonstrate how seriously the US regards Israel’s need for security. In terms of the US negotiations with Iran, he said, “Israel’s security was at the top of the US agenda.”

http://www.jpost.com/Diplomacy-and-Politics/Kerry-Israels-security-at-the-top-of-US-agenda-in-Iran-nuclear-talks-334076

Anyone who would buy this has been sleeping for the last several weeks and is probably still asleep. The US has demonstrated over and again that it cannot be trusted by its allies.

See John Keinon’s analysis in the JPost, “A tale of two Kerrys” – about the turn-about in Kerry’s position, which hardly inspires confidence. “Will the real John Kerry stand up.”

http://www.jpost.com/Diplomacy-and-Politics/Analysis-A-tale-of-two-Kerrys-334180

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The Allen plan apparently does involve an Israeli presence at the Jordan River, as well – at least for some interval of time. And it is for this reason that, according to Reuters, an unnamed Palestinian Arab official has said that the PA rejected the plans “because they would only lead to prolonging and maintaining the occupation.”

http://www.jpost.com/Diplomacy-and-Politics/Kerry-presents-new-security-plan-to-Netanyahu-Abbas-334150

While the response from Netanyahu – a reiteration of what has been Israel’s position – is that under any peace agreement, Israel “must be able to defend itself, by itself, with our own forces.”

Netanyahu “has rejected outright the idea of any third party involvement.” (Emphasis added.)

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/afp/131207/obama-says-security-guarantees-possible-israel

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So, what we’re seeing are irreconcilable differences in the positions between Israel and the PA – something that the US will not acknowledge upfront, but that Foreign Minister Avigdor Leiberman has stated clearly:

“To speak frankly, I don’t believe that it’s possible in the next year, this year, to achieve…some break-through…”

http://thehill.com/blogs/global-affairs/middle-east-north-africa/192392-israeli-fm-lieberman-predicts-no-deal-with

“Trust between the two sides is about zero,” said Lieberman, who cautioned about creating “expectations” of a positive outcome to the talks.

http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/1.562223

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Obama, addressing the prestigious Saban Forum of the Brookings Institution in Washington DC yesterday, said that “a framework” could be reached “within the next several months” but his conceptualization was a bit different:

What he has in mind, astonishingly, is a deal with the PA only, that would lead to a deal with Gaza down the road. Allow me, here, to respond to a few of the comments he made during his talk, moderated by Haim Saban.

(See http://www.imra.org.il/story.php3?id=62537 for the full text of Obama’s remarks.)

“I think we’re now at a place where we can achieve a two-state solution in which Israelis and Palestinians are living side-by-side in peace and security.”

He’s either deliberately duplicitous (a distinct possibility) or living in a dream world.

He knows about this “place” in part because, “There are young people, teenagers that I met both in Israel and the Palestinian Territories that want to get out from under this history…”

This is perhaps a small point but, in the interests of addressing distortions of truth, I could not let it pass. When Obama was here some months ago, he spoke to students at the Israel convention center (Binyanei Ha’uma) in Jerusalem. However, the American Embassy selectively invited students from certain universities. Members of Ariel University, who tend to be more nationalist, were not invited.

This is how Obama plays things. By design, he “met” a certain kind of student only.

As to the picture of “Israelis and Palestinians living side-by-side.” Any even remotely serious assessment of the situation would have to address the fact that Abbas is enormously weak and that Hamas is ever-eager to take over, should there be an independent Palestinian Arab state (Heaven forbid). The only thing keeping Hamas at bay in Judea and Samaria is the IDF – this you’ve read here repeatedly.

What is more, the PA is Hamas in a suit and tie: the goals of the two groups are the same. Both seek Israel’s destruction. A careful analysis of the words of PA/PLO leaders in Arabic, as well as PA/PLO documents, makes this quite clear.

Add to this a history of the PA security forces turning their guns on Israeli soldiers.

What Obama and Kerry are pushing is pure hype, made-up nonsense.

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According to Obama, “We know what the outlines of a potential agreement might look like.”

This is a commonly touted myth. It is not so. You’ve seen above how great the differences are. Whenever this expectation is expressed, it is code for the ’67 lines as the basis for negotiations and a divided Jerusalem. This is what Abbas has always demanded, and what he continues to demand to this day. Obama embraces this position and acts as if it is a foregone conclusion.

It is not: Israel will never accept this.

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Moderator Saban asked Obama:

“The Palestinians are two people – one in the West Bank, led by President Abbas that is negotiating the deal; and on in Gaza, led by Hamas that wants to eradicate Israel from the face of the earth. President Abbas, as far as I know, says he won’t make a deal that doesn’t include Gaza, which he doesn’t control. How do we get out from this?” labyrinth?”

Replied Obama:

“Well, I think this is going to happen in stages…

“…if, in fact, we can create a pathway to peace, even if initially it’s restricted to the West Bank, if there is a model where young Palestinians in Gaza are looking and seeing that in the West Bank Palestinians are able to live in dignity, with self-determination, and suddenly their economy is booming and trade is taking place because they have created an environment in which Israel is confident about its security and a lot of the old barriers to commerce and educational exchange and all that has begun to break down, that’s something that the young people of Gaza are going to want. And the pressure that will be placed [on Hamas??] for the residents of Gaza to experience that same future is something that is going to be I think overwhelmingly appealing.”

This scenario painted by Obama is so full of holes it makes Swiss cheese appear as solid as a brick wall.

I don’t think it’s necessary to parse all of this. I cannot believe that even Obama believes it: that there will be a settlement and – “poof” – life for the Palestinian Arabs in Judea and Samaria will morph into something so fantastic that young Arabs in Gaza will force (force?) Hamas to join the negotiated settlement.

My metaphor of hocus pocus as diplomacy is very apt. This is nothing but a bunch of words pretending to be a policy.

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Lastly, I will mention here with regard to Obama’s Saban remarks, that he says it “remains to be seen whether President Abbas, then, is willing to understand that this transition period requires some restraint on the part of the Palestinians as well. They don’t get everything they want on day one. (Does this mean ultimately they DO get everything they want?) And that creates some political problems for President Abbas.”

Well, I suppose when you’re inventing a scenario you can say whatever you want. But if Obama has even a scintilla of understanding about what’s going on, he knows very well that Abbas will not compromise on his demands. And, in point of fact, cannot, as his regime and very possibly his life would be at risk if he struck an agreement that compromised on Palestinian Arab demands.

My own suspicion is that this babble by Obama about a transition that will lead in time to the inclusion of Gaza is less to address Abbas’s concerns than it is to cover his own rear. How do you, after all, actively promote a negotiated settlement when there is still a terrorist Palestinian Arab entity outside of its terms? This business of transition is Obama’s answer.

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Please see Caroline Glick, “The politics of subversion,” which addresses this entire situation:

http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Columnists/Column-One-The-politics-of-subversion-334125

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As to where Netanyahu stands on all of this…

In his statement following his meeting last week with Kerry, his tone was more conciliatory than it has been for a while. I have my own theories as to why, which I may address when I write about Obama’s statements on Iran at the Saban Conference. And he did say (which makes me shudder) that “Israel is ready for a historic peace” based on two states for two peoples.

Again, with this? I want to ask him. Again?

But he also made the statement I cited above. In it’s entirety: “It is a peace that Israel must be able to defend itself, by itself, with our own forces against any foreseeable threats.”

What is more, he called on the PA to stop finger-pointing and creating artificial crises. “Israel,” he declared, is honoring “all understandings reached in the negotiations that led to the current talks.

Put simply: Stop carrying on about settlements. We have a right to do what we’re doing.

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This leads to an enormously important point. And here I will circle back to the comments by Foreign Minister Lieberman at the Saban Conference, regarding his doubts that anything will come of negotiations. For he said something else as well:

“Israel is not ‘occupying’ the West Bank [Judea and Samaria].” (Emphasis added)

www.timesofisrael.com/liberman-says-skeptical-peace-talks-will-bear-fruit/

Mazel tov. This is telling it like it is, and it is about time.

Credit: Oliver Fitoussi

It is not enough to claim security alone, when negotiating. That means if the US could be trusted, and the Palestinian Arabs were truly peaceful, then, hey, we could pull back to the ‘676 line.

But this land is ours, legally

Every time Obama makes a statement about the outlines of a agreement being clear, by which he means that Israel is expected to surrender most of Judea and Samaria, there must be forthright refutation from the Israeli government.

By: Allen West

This is a time when those of us who share the Judeo-Christian faith sing songs of peace and goodwill towards all men. This is also the time — as it seems it is all the time — when those who follow the theocratic-political totalitarian intolerant belief of Islam — which means submission — kill those who will not submit to their form of proselytization, forced conversion.

According to a reports from World Net Daily,

A Syrian city overrun by the Muslim Brotherhood was the scene of the execution of three Christian men who refused to convert to Islam. The Catholic young men were killed by rebels fighting the regime of Bashar al-Assad after they had taken control of the village of Maaloula.Todd Daniels, a spokesman for the American human rights group International Christian Concern, said based on the statement from the Melkite patriarch, these men were martyred because they refused to recant their faith,” Also, 12 nuns were kidnapped at about the same time. They were identified as Mother Superior Pelagia Sayyaf and 11 nuns with her.

International Christian Union President Joseph Hakim said the rebels forced their way into a monastery to take the nuns hostage. Dutch human rights activist Martin Janssen said that when fighting broke out in Maaloula, the nuns remained behind to care for the children in the monastery. The jihadists forced their way into the monastery and demanded that the 12 nuns had to go if they wanted to save the lives of the children with them,” Janssen said, and blames the Muslim Brotherhood.

“The Free Syrian Army is powerless,” he said, noting the Muslim Brotherhood is starting to take a leading role. “They’ve used the honest Syrian people who really want democratic rule and used them to open the door,” Hakim said. “The entire terrorist movement is financed by the Saudi government and the Turkish government,” Hakim said. “Let’s be honest, how can the rebels have that much money?”

The violence comes amid U.S. support for the Islamic rebels in Syria, an ill- advised endeavor. Many have alerted the Obama administration that these “rebels” are tied to al-Qaida and have declared their intent to establish Islamic law the country. It also rekindles the questions about a potential gun-running scheme out of Libya from the Islamist rebels President Obama supported through Turkey to the Islamist rebels in Syria.

We know the Obama administration wholeheartedly supported the Muslim Brotherhood government of Mohammed Morsi in Egypt. Thank God the Egyptian people and military rose up in defiance to Obama’s Islamist leanings.

However, this episode reminds us again there is no aspect of “coexistence” with Islam and that “when tolerance becomes a one way street it leads to cultural suicide” along with ritual executions and beheadings.

Now the chuckleheads at the Council for America Islamic Relations (CAIR) will see this post and declare that Islam does not believe in any compulsion of religion. What they will not explain to you is the concept of “nakeesh,” Arabic for abrogation. That means latter verses in the Koran supersede previous verses. So later in the Koran and Hadiths, when Mohammed sent a letter to Heraclius, Emperor of the Byzantine Empire, offering him conversion, subjugation (jizya tax), or death, that became the modus operandi for all subsequent Islamic conquests.

We can pretend to live in some type of politically correct fairy tale land or face the truth. These barbarians follow the standard of someone who is nothing more than a murderous warlord, psychopath/sociopath, liar, and by modern day standards, a pedophile. Saying this, the truth, does not make me an Islamophobe, it makes me someone as Sun Tzu would say, “knows my enemy.”

There is a cleansing occurring of Christians in the Middle East, a region where Christians have resided for some 2000 years, certainly before Islam was ever conceived. God welcome the souls of those who refused to surrender their faith. God protect those nuns. And God help these murderous jihadists because the day of reckoning is coming — and your progressive socialist apologist allies, to include President Obama, will not save you from warrior Christians such as myself.