Tuesday, February 17, 2015
'Islamic State's Ambitions in Libya Are a Direct Threat to Europe'
On Sunday, when Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant supporters began circulating a promotional flyer for an upcoming propaganda video, it was clear that it would feature a break from the norm. The image, over which were embossed the words[.]
“A Message Signed in Blood to the Nation of the Cross”, depicted what appeared to be the Mediterranean Sea, its waves discoloured with blood. » | Charlie Winter | Tuesday, February 17, 2015
Islamic State 'Planning to Use Libya as Gateway to Europe'
Islamic State militants are planning a takeover of Libya as a "gateway" to wage war across the whole of southern Europe, letters written by the group's supporters have revealed.
The jihadists hope to flood the north African state with militiamen from Syria and Iraq, who will then sail across the Mediterranean posing as migrants on people trafficking vessels, according to plans seen by Quilliam, the British anti-extremist group.
The fighters would then run amok in southern European cities and also try to attack maritime shipping.
The document is written by an Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) propagandist who is believed to be an important online recruiter for the terror in Libya, where security has collapsed in the wake of the revolution that unseated Colonel Gaddafi in 2011. » | Ruth Sherlock, Beirut and Colin Freeman | Tuesday, February 17, 2015
Viktor Orbán: Putin's Man In Hungary?
Should Islam Be Banned for ‘Defamation’?
Yet the OIC seems to miss one grand irony: if international laws would ban cartoons, books, and films on the basis that they defame Islam, they would also, by logical extension, have to ban the entire religion of Islam itself—the only religion whose core texts actively and unequivocally defame other religions, including by name.
To understand this, consider what “defamation” means. Typical dictionary-definitions include “to blacken another’s reputation” and “false or unjustified injury of the good reputation of another, as by slander or libel.” In Muslim usage, defamation simply means anything that insults or offends Islamic sensibilities.
However, to gain traction among the international community, the OIC cynically maintains that such laws should protect all religions from defamation, not just Islam (even as Muslim governments ban churches, destroy crucifixes, and burn Bibles). Disingenuous or not, the OIC’s wording suggests that any expression that “slanders” the religious sentiments of others should be banned. » | Raymond Ibrahim | Tuesday, February 17, 2015
Double-layered Veils and Despair … Women Describe Life under Isis
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| Veiled women sit on a bench in Raqqa in March last year. Women are now instructed to wear double-layered veils, loose abaya and gloves. |
Women living under Islamic State’s control in Iraq and Syria are facing increasingly harsh restrictions on movement and dress, which are rigorously enforced by religious police and are leading to resentment and despair among moderate Muslims.
Residents of Mosul, Raqqa and Deir el-Zour have told the Guardian in interviews conducted by phone and Skype that women are forced to be accompanied by a male guardian, known as a mahram, at all times, and are compelled to wear double-layered veils, loose abayas and gloves.
Their testimonies follow the publication this month of an Isis “manifesto” to clarify the “realities of life and the hallowed existence of women in the Islamic State”. It said that girls could be married from the age of nine, and that women should only leave the house in exceptional circumstances and should remain “hidden and veiled”. » | Mona Mahmood | Tuesday, February 17, 2015
Copenhagen Shooting: Denmark Holds Mass Memorial and Rally to Honour Victims
Read the Telegraph article here | David Chazan and Julian Isherwood in Copenhagen | Monday, February 16, 2015
Monday, February 16, 2015
Maroc: deux journalistes français en tournage expulsés du pays
Peu après la visite de Bernard Cazeneuve, l'affaire fait désordre. Deux journalistes de l'agence Premières Lignes sont revenus en France ce lundi après avoir été expulsés du Maroc, raconte FranceTVInfo. Jean-Louis Perez et Pierre Chautard, qui réalisaient un documentaire pour France 3, ont été interpellés dimanche 15 février dans les locaux d'une association à Rabat et priés de quitter le pays, pour avoir travaillé sans autorisation du ministère de la Culture et de la Communication. » | Par LExpress.fr avec AFP | lundi 16 février 2015
Comment l'"État islamique" s'est installé aux portes de l'Europe
"Aujourd'hui, nous sommes au sud de Rome, sur la terre musulmane de la Libye." Couteau à la main, le djihadiste assène son message de haine à la caméra. Derrière lui, une vingtaine d'hommes en combinaison orange, alignés sur une plage les mains menottées, viennent d'être décapités sans pitié. Ces vingt Égyptiens coptes (de confession chrétienne), enlevés le mois dernier en Libye, sont les dernières victimes en date de l'organisation État islamique (EI). Et leurs bourreaux de signer, par cette vidéo atroce, le coup le plus retentissant de l'EI en dehors des frontières de leur califat autoproclamé en Irak et en Syrie.
La création d'une branche de l'EI en Libye date du 31 octobre dernier, date à laquelle la milice du Conseil consultatif de la jeunesse islamique a prêté allégeance à Abou Bakr al-Baghadi, "calife" de l'organisation djihadiste. "Le groupe a été créé début 2014, après le retour au pays de djihadistes libyens qui avaient combattu en Syrie, pour étendre le califat", explique Romain Caillet, chercheur et consultant sur les questions islamistes au cabinet NGC Consulting. "Il répondait ainsi aux consignes de l'EI, qui a appelé les musulmans européens et africains à émigrer en Libye, un territoire plus proche de chez eux" que l'Irak ou la Syrie. » | Par Armin Arefi | lundi 16 février 2015
Talentierter Thai-Boxer, Ex-Häftling und Antisemit
Die dänischen Medien berichten laufend über den Attentäter von Kopenhagen, es werden immer mehr Details über dessen Lebensgeschichte bekannt. Demnach war der 22-jährige Omar Abdel Hamid al-Hussein ein kickboxender Einzelgänger, der wegen mehrerer Gewalttaten bereits der Polizei bekannt gewesen war. Beispielsweise war er 2013 in eine Messerstecherei verwickelt. Bestätigt ist auch, dass er in Dänemark geboren wurde und im Bandenmilieu aufgefallen war. Der junge Mann palästinensischer Abstammung wurde erst vor zwei Wochen aus dem Gefängnis entlassen, wo er wegen eines Messerangriffs in der S-Bahn einsass. Al-Hussein habe Palästina als zweite Heimat betrachtet und sich sehr für die Palästinenser engagiert, heisst es in Medienberichten. Die Zeitung «Ekstra Bladet» sprach mit Schulkollegen des Attentäters, der eine Erwachsenenbildung absolviert hatte. Einer seiner Freunde sagte dem Blatt: «Er hatte keine Angst offen zu sagen, dass er Juden hasse.» Von Zeugen wird er auch als hitzköpfiger Antisemit beschrieben. Laut anderen Weggefährten galt der 22-Jährige als talentierter Thai-Boxer. » | Vincenzo Capodici | Redaktor Ausland | Montag, 16. Februar 2015
Frankreichs Juden in Angst
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| Jüdische Gegend in Paris |
Kein Monat vergeht in Frankreich ohne erschreckende Übergriffe auf Juden und ihren Alltag. Es vergeht auch keine Woche ohne beschwörende Äußerungen der Politiker: Sie rufen das Land händeringend auf, sich vereint dem Antisemitismus entgegenzustellen - es müsse ein "Ruck" durch die Nation gehen. Unter den Juden wachsen unterdessen die Angst und der Wunsch, nach Israel auszuwandern.
Immer wieder lockt auch Israels Regierungschef Benjamin Netanyahu sie an: Nach jedem größeren Zwischenfall lädt er sie ein, Frankreich nun den Rücken zu kehren. Das akzeptiert Staatschef Francois [sic] Hollande nicht.
"Nein zum Antisemitismus, dem Krebs unserer Gesellschaft." So hieß es im Dezember als Antwort auf den "Horror von Creteil": Vermummte und bewaffnete Männer hatten in dem Pariser Vorort bewusst ein jüdisches Paar tyrannisiert und ausgeraubt. Die Frau wurde vergewaltigt. Schon damals versprach Innenminister Bernard Cazeneuve, den Kampf gegen den Rassismus und Antisemitismus zur "nationalen Sache" zu machen und die Juden zu schützen. » | DiePresse.com | Montag, 16. Februar 2015
Jews Face Renewed Doubt Over Their Future in Europe
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| People lay flowers outside a synagogue where an attack took place in Copenhagen, Feb. 15, 2015. |
Denmark will do everything it can to protect Jews, said its Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt to reporters Monday. But across town, the thousands of bouquets that had been laid at the gates of a synagogue where a gunman killed a Jewish man at the weekend were a painful reminder that they hadn’t been protected enough. Here and across Europe, the attack added to a growing fear among Jews that the continent was once again not safe for them.
About 80 people were celebrating a bar mitzvah at the synagogue on the central Copenhagen street of Krystalgade in the early hours of Feb. 15 when Omar Abdel Hamid El-Hussain shot and killed synagogue member Dan Uzan, who was guarding the entrance to the building. Earlier El-Hussain had killed one and injured three at a meeting on freedom of expression organized by Lars Vilks, a cartoonist who had depicted the Prophet Mohammed as a dog.
Coming so soon after a similar attack in Paris, in which two gunmen killed cartoonists and editors at the offices of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, while another killed five in two other incidents, the Copenhagen events have sharply undermined the small Danish Jewish community’s already deteriorating sense of security.
“It’s terrifying,” says Marianne Isaksen, a member of the congregation where Dan Uzan was killed. She and her husband Alf, both in their 70s, knew Uzan, and had come out to Krystalgade to commiserate with other synagogue members and pay their respects. “We knew things were getting worse, but we never thought it could happen here.” » | Lisa Abend | Copenhagen | Monday, February 16, 2015
Why Are They Converting to Islam?
One of the things that worries the West is the fact that hundreds and maybe even thousands of young Europeans are converting to Islam, and some of them are joining terror groups and ISIS and returning to promote Jihad against the society in which they were born, raised and educated. The security problem posed by these young people is a serious one, because if they hide their cultural identity, it is extremely difficult for Western security forces to identify them and their evil intentions. This article will attempt to clarify the reasons that impel these young people to convert to Islam and join terrorist organizations.
The sources for this article are recordings made by the converts themselves, and the words they used, written here, are for the most part unedited direct quotations.
Many of the converts are convinced that Islam is a religion of peace, love, affection and friendship, based on the generous hospitality and warm welcome they receive from the Moslem friends in their new social milieu. In many instances, a young person born into an individualistic, cold and alienating society finds that Muslim society provides – at college, university or community center – a warm embrace, a good word, encouragement and help, things that are lacking in the society from which he stems. The phenomenon is most striking in the case of those who grew up in dysfunctional families or divorced homes, whose parents are alcoholics, drug addicts, violent and abusive, or parents who take advantage of their offspring and did not give their children a suitable emotional framework and model for building a normative, productive life.
The convert sees his step as a mature one based on the right of an individual to determine his own religious and cultural identity, even if the family and society he is abandoning disagree. Sometimes converting to Islam is a form of parental rebellion. Often, the convert is spurned by his family and surrounding society for his decision, but the hostility felt towards Islam by his former environment actually results in his having more confidence in the need for his conversion. Anything said against conversion to Islam is interpreted as unjustified racism and baseless Islamophobia.
The Islamic convert is told by Muslims that Islam respects the prophets of its mother religions, Judaism and Christianity, is in favor of faith in He Who dwells on High, believes in the Day of Judgment, in reward and punishment, good deeds and avoiding evil. He is convinced that Islam is a legitimate religion as valid as Judaism and Christianity, so if his parents are Jewish or Christian, why can’t he become Muslim? He sees a good many positive and productive Muslims who benefit their society and its economy, who have integrated into the environment in which he was raised, so why not emulate them? Most Muslims are not terrorists, so neither he nor anyone should find his joining them in the least problematic. » | Dr. Mordechai Kedar * | Sunday, February 15, 2015
* Dr. Mordechai Kedar is a senior lecturer in the Department of Arabic at Bar-Ilan University. He served in IDF Military Intelligence for 25 years, specializing in Arab political discourse, Arab mass media, Islamic groups and the Syrian domestic arena.
Attack on Europe: Islamic Terrorism Brings a New Era
Beirut (AsiaNews) - The terrorist attack in Copenhagen two days ago represents a clear signal that Islamic terrorism is undergoing an escalation and is coming closer to Europe. In the video showing the beheading of 21 Egyptian Copts in Libya, one of the executioners is heard boasting of being "south of Rome".
All this indicates that terrorists are now moving into Europe. Their violent and bloody fanaticism and their attempt to "invade" the continent carry strong confessional undertones, as an "anti-crusade" crusade.
All European countries are concerned that the terrorism of the Islamic State (IS) might be coming closer. So far, its terrorist actions have been ad hoc, carried out by individuals. Clearly, such outbreaks of violence are due to the appeal organised terrorism has on young Europeans.
This new age of terrorism fascinates troubled young people. The alleged Danish killer had already spent time in prison. The two Frenchmen who attacked Charlie Hebdo and the one who attacked the kosher store had also former convicts. Organised terrorism gives purpose to young European Muslims going through a crisis of identity and values. All these young attackers were born in Europe, children of Muslim immigrants. » | Samir Khalil Samir | Monday, February 16, 2015
Exclusive: Geert Wilders to Keynote Muhammad Art Exhibition and Contest in Texas
Wilders earned international recognition in the free speech movement when he was brought up on charges for speaking out against Islam at a March, 2014, rally where he promised to reduce the number of Moroccans living in the Netherlands. “The public prosecutor in The Hague is to prosecute Geert Wilders on charges of insulting a group of people based on race and incitement to discrimination and hatred,” prosecutors said in a statement, according to an article by Sam Webb on the DailyMail. » | Bob Price | Sunday, February 15, 2015
ISIS Sets Its Sights on Europe in Latest Beheading Video
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| Relatives of Egyptian Coptic Christians purportedly murdered by Islamic State (IS) group militants in Libya react after hearing the news on February 16, 2015 in the village of Al-Awar in Egypt's southern province of Minya. |
The executioner speaks in English and points his knife toward the Mediterranean. “We will conquer Rome, by Allah’s permission,” he says.
The video released by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) on Sunday showing the killings of 21 Egyptian Christian workers, appeared to be directed at the Christian world, the continent of Europe and gloried in its brutality.
It was filmed in Libya on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea. The video made no reference to the other powers in Libya’s civil war, in which both of the country’s rival governments claim to be combating ISIS. » | Jared Malsin | Cairo | Monday, February 16, 2015
German Carnival Parades Go Ahead Despite Terror Threat
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| In the run-up to the parades, there were concerns that satirical floats that poked fun at Islamist terror could provoke attacks |
Annual carnival parades that are among Europe’s biggest street parties went ahead in the German cities of Cologne and Düsseldorf on Monday, despite an Islamist terror threat that saw a similar parade in the city of Brunswick cancelled at the last minute.
Tight security was expected at the annual Rose Monday parades in Cologne and Düsseldorf, which each draw crowds of around a million people, and in nearby Mainz, which attracts around half a million.
A parade in the northern city of Brunswick on Sunday was cancelled just over an hour before it was due to start, after police said they received information about a “concrete threat of an Islamist attack”.
It emerged there was also a previously unreported high terror alert at Frankfurt airport on Sunday after police received a tip-off from an unnamed source who learned of an alleged planned attack in an internet chat, according to a report in Bild.
“Such a serious alert situation has only happened very, very rarely before,” Christian Altenhofen, a police spokesman, told the newspaper. » | Justin Huggler, Berlin | Monday, February 16, 2015
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