10/22/14

Is There No End?

Arlene from Israel

Late this afternoon, there was a terror attack in Jerusalem.  An Arab from eastern Jerusalem ran his car into a group of people who were waiting at the Ammunition Hill station of the light rail.  Eight people were injured.

Scene of light rail terror attack

Credit: Flash 90

A three-month old baby girl, badly hurt at the scene, died shortly thereafter in the hospital.

A heartbreaker: Apparently the parents had been trying for years to have a baby. They were on the way from praying at the Kotel (Western Wall) when they were attacked.  The baby’s grandparents had just come in from the US to meet their new grandchild. They had only hours with her before she was taken from them.

Is there no end??

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The terrorist tried to flee the scene on foot and was shot; he was badly wounded but is not dead.   Identified as Abdur Rahman Slodi of Silwan, he had previously served in Israeli prison for terrorist activities – according to press reports.

Frankly, I hope he is in a lot of pain.

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It is news past due: Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch has announced the formation of a new police unit dedicated to dealing with the “unrest” in Jerusalem.

Today we saw a full-blown terrorist attack, but for the most part the “unrest” refers to Arabs throwing stones and Molotov Cocktails, and firecrackers and even, on at least one occasion that I am aware of, fireworks.  They function at a level that tends to be less than lethal, but feels unsafe (IS unsafe) and vastly uncomfortable.  This is the “silent intifada” designed to drive out Jews from certain areas of Jerusalem.

Along with the new police unit are plans for adjustment in the law that makes it easier to cope with minors, who are major participants of that “silent intifada.”

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Meanwhile, in Berlin, Kerry, in a joint press conference with German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, declared current relations between Israel and the Palestinian Arabs “unsustainable.”

Saying that United States was aware of the urgency of the situation, he indicated that it was necessary to find a way to negotiate.

I would call him a clown. but nothing seems very funny right now.

Actually, I rather agree that the current situation is “unsustainable.” But what I have in mind is not precisely what he is referring to.

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Hamas spokesman Hossam Badran, in a statement for official Hamas television, declared: “This is a natural response to the crimes of the occupation and invasion of our land by the Jews, particularly on the [Temple Mount].

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There a connection between the attitude reflected by this Hamas statement and Kerry’s assessment that the current situation cannot be sustained.  He is caught up in the distorted vision of Israel as “occupier.”  Poor suffering “Palestinians,” whose situation must be remedied. No matter the cost to Israel.

 

10/22/14

Do Sharia Teachings Need To Be Moderated In Order To Protect Women?

ICLA

Alain Wagner, ICLA’s chairman, asks for a strict control of muslim teaching facilities and for a ban on sharia teaching activities. Working session 9 : “Violence against women and children” 26 September 2014.

The International Civil Liberties Alliance wishes to emphasize the particular need for the participating states to ensure the protection of women and children from vulnerable groups who often are unable to enforce their rights due to their confinement in close-knit, closed cultural communities.

Yesterday we mentioned the case of Muslim women and children in the UK who suffer from the activities of Islamic Courts, but you also have the obligation to expand the subject to problems of Muslim educational institutions.

Some anti-democratic Muslim organizations, such as the Muslim Brotherhood or others who receive funding from countries like Qatar and Saudi Arabia, use the guise of religious freedom to open schools with educational activities. These organizations that disseminate discriminatory doctrine against women and non-Muslims and are generally incompatible with respect for individual freedoms, often are not subject to any serious control. As demonstrated by the total absence of screening of educational content of such organizations in OSCE participating states.

The example of textbooks, discovered by chance in the UK, teaching children how to cut off the hands and feet of thieves, within a Muslim school receiving state subsidies, is absolutely typical of the current degree of negligence.

Physical abuse is one thing, but one should not forget the devastation caused by moral violence. Muslim women are the first victims of the organizations that promote the respecting of the fundamentally discriminatory rules of Sharia.

All OSCE participating states committed to the eradication of discriminatory practices against women and young girls should have as the core principle the prevention of the development of educational institutions disseminating the principles of sharia. But that is currently not the case.

Whether due to intense pressures exerted by the countries of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, or because of a poor understanding of sharia and its manifestations by the authorities of the member countries, the fact is that our duty to protect muslim women is clearly not fulfilled.

The mere fact that the promotion of Islamic headscarves in some religious educational institutions is considered only in the aspect of an individual statement of confession, without ever considering the fact that the wearing of such is linked with the principle of the sequestration of women when they do not wear it, nor ever considering that behind this phenomenon, there is often a promotion of a political agenda shows the inability of participating countries to deal knowledgeably when they try to protect muslim women. And that is just one example among many.

Recommendation to participating states:

Establish educational charters prohibiting the dissemination of the promotion of sharia and incentives to abide by its rules in all institutions with educational activities.

Develop and implement educational programs for young children from at-risk backgrounds to promote the concept of equal rights between the sexes and the right of women to assert their choice against discriminatory community standards.

10/22/14

Call for Jihad to be Recognised as a Crime Against Humanity

ICLA

Alain Wagner, ICLA’s chairman demands jihad to be recognized as crime against Humanity.

Working session 13 : “Tolerance and non-discrimination II” 30, September 2014

Religious intolerance can lead to war. The Islamic state’s creation in Syria and Iraq causes a contagion effect much farther than its own frontiers. Within OSCE countries, since many years, some Muslim organizations disseminate a doctrine glorifying and praising jihad.

Instead of being prosecuted as they normally should be, those organizations are recognized as partners by participating states. Sharia proponent organizations which glorify the criminal concept of jihad, are destroying social cohesion and make possible the appearance of Jew hunters as we’ve experienced in France and Belgium. They also make Islamic fighters recruitment more easy in our countries.

If they really want to uphold their commitments to fight against hate crimes and incitements to violence, participating states have to send a clear message to hate preachers and to firmly repress their activities. Military jihad concept has to be clearly identified as a crime against Humanity as defined by the Statute of Rome, chapter 2, article 7.

ICLA’s recommandations for OSCE:

Participant states must integrate in their hate crime legislations, new provisions criminalizing any apology of military jihad or of any jihadist’s feat of arm.

Participant states must aswell criminalize any public exhibition of the black flag of jihad, the white caliphate flag and the Islamic state’s flag as incitement to hatred and violence.

Those hate symbols have no place in the streets of countries forbidding incitement to violence.

10/22/14

Watcher’s Council Nominations : ‘You Usta be My Girl’ Edition

The Watcher’s Council

http://www.theblaze.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/600x399151.jpg

The president hasn’t been invited to do too much campaigning for his fellow Democrats this year. In fact, they have pretty much treated the idea of him making an appearance on their behalf like the president was suffering from Ebola.

One of the rare exceptions was Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown, who’s seeking the governor’s seat in Maryland. He thought it would be a great idea to have the president as a headliner at a campaign event to gin up black turnout. Instead, the largely black crowd in Maryland streamed for the exits while the president was still reading his speech to them off of the teleprompter.

The story was so embarrassing that Facebook actually blocked the link to a Yahoo news story about what happened like this:

And anyone attempting to post the story on their own Facebook account got this message:

This week’s edition gets its title from the variation of the title of an old O’Jay’s tune that was undoubtedly echoing in President Barack Hussein Obama’s head as he watched the crowd walk out on him and remembered happier days. They did usta be his girl (or another word I could think of), after all, but some of them are apparently getting tired of the same old song.

Welcome to the Watcher’s Council, a blogging group consisting of some of the most incisive blogs in the ‘sphere and the longest running group of its kind in existence. Every week, the members nominate two posts each, one written by themselves and one written by someone from outside the group for consideration by the whole Council. Then we vote on the best two posts, with the results appearing on Friday morning.

Council News:

This week, The MidKnight Review, Changing Wind.Org, Blazing Cat Fur and The Pirate’s Cove earned honorable mention status with some great articles.

You can, too! Want to see your work appear on the Watcher’s Council homepage in our weekly contest listing? Didn’t get nominated by a Council member? No worries.

To bring something to my attention, simply head over to Joshuapundit and post the title and a link to the piece you want considered along with an e-mail address (mandatory, but of course it won’t be published) in the comments section no later than Monday 6 PM PST in order to be considered for our honorable mention category. Then return the favor by creating a post on your site linking to the Watcher’s Council contest for the week when it comes out on Wednesday morning.

Simple, no?

It’s a great way of exposing your best work to Watcher’s Council readers and Council members, while grabbing the increased traffic and notoriety. And how good is that, eh?

So, let’s see what we have for you this week…

Council Submissions

Honorable Mentions

Non-Council Submissions

Enjoy! And don’t forget to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter… ’cause we’re cool like that! And don’t forget to tune in Friday for the results!