French Muslim Leaders Boycott Jewish Dinner Over 'Violence' Remark

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Row breaks out between heads of France’s Jewish and Muslim communities after the leader of the country’s main Jewish group blames Muslims for “all violence today”

A row erupted on Monday between French Jewish and Muslim community leaders after the head of France’s Jewish community blamed young Muslims for “all violence today” in a radio interview.

The comment drew an angry response from Muslim leaders, who boycotted the annual dinner of the main French Jewish organisation on Monday night.

They normally attend the event along with representatives of other religions.

The dispute reflects heightened tension and sensitivities in France, which is home to Europe’s largest Jewish and Muslim minorities, following the series of attacks by Islamist extremists in Paris that left 17 dead last month. » | David Chazan, Paris | Tuesday, February 23, 2015

France Seizes Passports of Six 'Syria-bound' Citizens

BBC AMERICA: French authorities have for the first time confiscated the passports of six nationals who were allegedly planning to travel to Syria to join jihadists.

Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said the intelligence services believed the men wanted to join the Islamic State (IS) militant group.

The measure is part of new counter-terrorism laws adopted last November.

Meanwhile, France has deployed an aircraft carrier off Bahrain to be used against Islamic State (IS) militants. » | Monday, February 23, 2015

Jetzt fordert der Großimam die Modernisierung des Islam

DIE WELT: Im Islam herrscht "Chaos", findet der Großimam der Kairoer Azhar-Universität. Deshalb macht sich Scheich al-Tajib für eine Modernisierung seiner Religion stark – auch, um dem IS das Handwerk zu legen.

Der Vorsteher der anerkannten ägyptischen Azhar-Universität hat sich auf einer Anti-Terrorismus-Konferenz in Saudi-Arabien für eine Modernisierung des Islam ausgesprochen. Es habe eine "historische Ansammlung" falscher Interpretation islamischer Quellen gegeben, die zu Extremismus und Gewalt unter Muslimen geführt hätten, sagte Großimam Scheich Ahmed al-Tajib in seiner Rede zur Eröffnung der Konferenz. Es sei notwendig, dieses "Chaos" unter "Kontrolle zu bringen". Geschehe dies nicht, gebe es "keine Hoffnung" für die islamische Gemeinschaft, ihre Einheit zurückzuerlangen. » | dpa/KNA/rct | Montag, 23. Februar 2015

THOMAS DIBACCO: Obama's Naivete Over Iran Trumps Reality

It's ironic that President Obama's hope for a political framework agreement on nuclear issues with Iran by March 31 coincides with the diplomatic hope of President Franklin D. Roosevelt 70 years ago in a March 1 speech before Congress. That hope was to trust the Soviet Union at the recently concluded Yalta Conference - trust that…

It’s Cringe Time!

Keep working on those acting skills, Mr President! Obama and Michelle goofing around »

My Friend the Suicide Bomber: Meet the Men Recruited to Kill

Al-Shabaab targets young vulnerable men across Scandinavia, inviting them to embrace jihad and become suicide bombers in Somalia. Seeking a sense of belonging, and encouraged by preachers on online videos, a group of Danish Muslims gathers in a small Copenhagen apartment and makes plans. When one man doubts the cause and sees his friends planning carnage, can he escape the call of al-Shabaab? If so, what next?

It’s Absurd to Deny Jihadis Act in the Name of Islam

THE AUSTRALIAN – OPINION: WITH jihadist violence continuing to escalate, the acid test of today’s national security statement will be the actions it proposes.

But no policy can be effective without an honest diagnosis of the problem it is intended to address.

That is why Barack Obama’s statement to last week’s global summit on extremism was so disappointing. Coming from a man who ridicules the proposition that “guns don’t kill people, people kill people”, Obama’s claim that “No religion is responsible for terrorism, people are responsible for terrorism”, combined mendacity with hypocrisy.

The jihadis may indeed be “madmen”, as Obama said; but to deny they act in the name of Islam is as absurd as denying the crusades were fought under the banner of Christianity.

Nor was Obama on more solid ground in blaming Islamic extremism on poverty and disadvantage. Few claims have been as decisively rejected by social scientific research; and so has the claim that the radicalisation of Muslim youth in western countries is caused by social exclusion. (+ video) » | Henry Ergas | Columnist | Sydney | Monday, February 23, 2015

Oman: Heikler Thronwechsel

ZEIT ONLINE: Oman galt lange als Hort der Stabilität und geschätzter Vermittler. Doch nun ist der Sultan schwer krank. Der Thronwechsel könnte der Region weitere Konflikte bescheren.

Jahrzehntelang galt Oman als ein von allen Seiten geschätzter Vermittler. Unterhändler aus Teheran und Washington bahnten 2003 in Maskat die jetzigen Atomverhandlungen an. Bei heiklen Geiselbefreiungen laufen oft die Fäden in der omanischen Hauptstadt zusammen. Überdies müht sich Oman als Mitglied des Golfkooperationsrates stets um politischen Ausgleich zwischen Iran und den übrigen Monarchien am Golf.

Vielleicht war es ein Segen für das Land im Osten der Arabischen Halbinsel, dass seine Ölvorkommen nicht so üppig sind wie bei den ganz Großen nebenan. Und so nutzte Sultan Qaboos, der sich 1970 an die Macht putschte, seine absolute Autorität und die 5,5 Milliarden Barrel Bodenschätze, um aus seiner ramponierten Heimat mit damals zehn Kilometern geteerter Straße und einem tobenden Bürgerkrieg einen modernen Staat zu formen, dessen Einwohner noch nie zuvor so lange in Frieden gelebt haben. » | Quelle: ZeitOnline | Freitag, 20. Februar 2015

PETER MORICI: Obama and Moderate Muslims Both Fail to Fight Islamic Extremism

Fighting racism, prejudice and the violence those can beget is everyone's job. Muslims would do well to respond to President Obama's invitation to combat extremist ideas in their communities, but too often Washington's broader policies toward minorities encourage just the opposite. Ideologies of love and hate have a lot in common. Those appeal to youth seeking…

What a Load of BS! Fox News Sunday Grills DHS Secretary Over Obama Refusal To Say ‘Islamic Extremism’

Read the Blaze article here | Dave Urbanski | Sunday, February 22, 2015

Is Allah the Worst Communicator Ever? (David Wood)

HT: Robert Spencer @ Jihad Watch »

US Security Chief Warns Shoppers After Terror Threat

BBC AMERICA: US Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson has urged people to be vigilant following a terror threat to Western shopping centres, including one of America's largest malls.

He said he took the threat by the Somali-based group al-Shabab seriously.

In a video, the group urged followers to carry out attacks on shopping centres in the US, Canada and the UK.

Al-Shabab was responsible for the 2013 attack on Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi that killed 67 people.

Mr Johnson told CNN that the threat was part of "a new phase" of terrorism in which attacks would increasingly come from "independent actors in their homelands".

"Anytime a terrorist organisation calls for an attack on a specific place, we've got to take that seriously," he said.

In the video, a man with a British-sounding accent and full face covering calls on supporters of al-Shabab to attack "American or Jewish-owned" Western shopping centres. (+ BBC video) » | Sunday, February 22, 2015

No Justice for Women or Foreign Workers in Saudi Arabia

Saudia Arabia Is the Biggest Women's Prison in the World

David Starkey Educates Mehdi Hasan on Free Speech & "Backward Islam"

Al Shabaab Calls for Attack on Mall of America in New Video

FOX NEWS: A new video from Al Shabaab purportedly shows the terror group calling for an attack on Mall of America, in Bloomington, Minn.

According to Fox 9, the mall is one of three similar targets the terror group specifically names, including West Edmonton Mall in Canada and the Oxford Street shopping area in London.

The video purportedly shows 6 minutes of graphic images and the terrorists celebrating the 2013 Westgate Mall attack in Nairobi, Kenya, that killed more than 60 people.

The narrator, his face wrapped in a black-and-white kaffiyeh-type scarf and wearing a camouflage jacket, spoke with a British accent and appeared to be of Somali origin. He accused Kenyan troops in Somalia of committing abuses against Somali Muslims.

He ended the video by calling on Muslim men to attack other shopping malls in Western countries. (+ FoxNews video) » | FoxNews.com | Sunday, February 22, 2015

Al-Shabaab Calls for Attacks on Oxford Street and Westfield Centres in New Terror Threat

THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: Somalia-based terror group releases video threatening some of the world's busiest shopping areas

Islamist terrorists have called for attacks on London’s Oxford Street and the Westfield shopping centres in the latest jihadist threat to the UK.

A video released by the Somalia-based fanatics al-Shabaab called on its followers to “hasten to heaven” by attacking some of the country’s busiest shopping areas.

It also threatened venues in America and Canada as well as “Jewish-owned” centres.

Counter-terrorism police in the UK were assessing the video while the head of US homeland security warned shoppers to be “particularly careful”.

The video, which lasts more than an hour and was released over the weekend, centred o[n] the fall out from al-Shabaab’s attack on the Westgate shopping centre in Kenya in 2013 that left 62 people dead and more than 100 injured.

A terrorist dressed in army fatigues and his face covered then warned: “Can you imagine what a dedicated mujahideen (soldier) in the West could do to the American and Jewish-owned shopping centres across the world.” » | Tom Whitehead, and Peter Foster | Sunday, February 22, 2015

Angela Merkel zu Gast bei Papst Franziskus

Kleines Mädchen wird für Boko Haram zur Selbstmordattentäterin

TAGES ANZEIGER: Ein siebenjähriges Mädchen hat sich im Nordosten Nigerias in die Luft gesprengt. Es bleibt offen, ob sie wirklich wusste, was sie tat.

Sieben Jahre jung war das Mädchen, das bei einem Anschlag fünf Menschen getötet hat. 19 weitere Menschen seien verletzt worden, als der am Körper des Mädchens befestigte Sprengsatz am Sonntag auf einem Markt der Stadt Potiskum explodierte, sagte ein Mitglied einer Bürgerwehr. Weiter lesen und einen Beitrag hinzufügen » | Sonntag, 22. Februar 2015

Bill Maher: Obama Uses 'Orwellian' Speech to Sound Like NRA on Islamic Terror

HBO talk show host Bill Maher blasted President Obama on Friday for saying religion isn't responsible for terrorism, comparing the president's statement to a National Rifle Association slogan. Mr. Maher said Friday that when Mr. Obama said "No religion is responsible for terrorism. People are responsible for violence and terrorism," that statement bore a striking resemblance…