Tuesday, March 24, 2015
US Accuses Israel of Spying on Nuclear Talks with Iran
The US has accused Israel of spying on international negotiations over Iran’s nuclear programme and using the intelligence gathered to persuade Congress to undermine the talks, according to a report on Tuesday.
The Wall Street Journal cited senior administration officials as saying the Israeli espionage operation began soon after the US opened up a secret channel of communications with Tehran in 2012, aimed at resolving the decade-long standoff over Iran’s nuclear aspirations.
The apparent decision by the White House to leak the allegations is the latest symptom of the growing gulf between Barack Obama’s administration and Binyamin Netanyahu’s government over the Iran talks, in which the Israeli leader suspects US officials of being ready to make too many concessions at the expense of Israeli security. Intelligence analysts suggested that the leak reflects the degree of anger in Washington at Netanyahu’s actions, and could mark a more serious blow to the already tottering relationship. » | Julian Borger Diplomatic editor, and Mairav Zonszein in Tel Aviv | Tuesday, March 24, 2015
California Lawyer Seeks to Put 'Shoot the Gays' Proposal on 2016 Ballot
A California lawyer says he wants to legalize the execution of gay people, and there may be nothing the state’s attorney general can do to stop the proposal from moving forward.
Matt McLaughlin, an attorney in Huntington Beach, California, filed paperwork to bring his proposal, which would sanction the killing of gay and lesbian residents on the basis of their sexuality, before voters in November 2016.
The initiative, named the “Sodomite Suppression Act”, is awaiting further review by the office of the state attorney general, Kamala Harris, who does not appear to have the authority to block it. However, the measure is unlikely to reach voters, as the California supreme court can intervene to prevent measures that violate the state constitution from reaching the ballot.
The so-called “shoot the gays” proposal would mandate “any person who willingly touches another person of the same gender for purposes of sexual gratification be put to death by bullets to the head, or by any other convenient method”. McLaughlin, a lawyer since 1998, declared in his proposal that it is “better that offenders should die rather than that all of us should be killed by God’s just wrath”.
The initiative would also make it a crime to support gay rights, punishable by a $1m fine, up to 10 years in prison and expulsion from the state. It would be illegal to distribute “sodomistic propaganda” to “any person under the age of majority”. Being a “sodomite” or distributing “sodomistic propaganda” would disqualify a resident from serving in public office or public employment and from enjoying any public benefit. » | Lauren Gambino in Los Angeles | Monday, March 23, 2015
Germanwings Airliner 4U 9525 Crashes in French Alps
The Airbus A320 - flight 4U 9525 - went down between Digne and Barcelonnette. None of the 144 passengers or six crew is expected to have survived.
The plane crashed after an eight-minute descent, an official said. It is not clear if it sent a distress signal.
The dead are believed to include 16 German schoolchildren. French and German leaders have expressed shock.
"This is the hour in which we all feel deep sorrow," German Chancellor Angela Merkel told reporters, adding that she was planning to travel to the crash site. (+ BBC videos) » | Tuesday, March 24, 2015
Home Secretary Theresa May Pledges Blitz on Hate Preachers and Sharia Courts
A review of Sharia courts and a ban on fundamentalist clerics spreading bile-laden messages would be ordered if the Tories are re-elected, she said.
Extreme groups trying to infiltrate schools, universities, town halls and charities also will be rooted out.
Mrs May used her last major speech before the general election to underline her stance on the Islamist threat to British society.
She said: “We have been clear all along that the Government’s counter-extremism strategy must seek to defeat extremism in all its forms, but it’s obvious from the evidence that the most serious and widespread form of extremism we need to confront is Islamist extremism.
“Extremism is not something that can just be ignored.
"It cannot be wished away.
"It must be tackled head on.”
Laying out her wish list of counter-terrorism measures in an uncompromising speech, Mrs May called on British Muslims to help to tackle extremism.
She said: “To those who choose consciously to reject our values and the basic principles of our society, the message is equally clear – the game is up.
"We will no longer tolerate your behaviour.
"We will expose your hateful beliefs for what they are.” » | Anil Dawar | Tuesday, March 24, 2015
Monday, March 23, 2015
Afghan Woman Farkhunda Lynched in Kabul 'for Speaking Out'
Farkhunda, who was beaten to death by a Kabul mob last week, had been arguing with a mullah about his practice of selling charms to women at a shrine.
In the course of the argument she was accused of burning the Koran and a crowd overheard and beat her to death.
Hundreds of Afghans protested on Monday against the attack.
Farkhunda, 28, was beaten, hit by bats, stamped on, driven over, and her body dragged by a car before being set on fire. (+ BBC video) » | Monday, March 23, 2015
Mob Launches Anti-Semitic Attack on Stamford Hill Synagogue
A drunken mob of more than 20 thugs shouted "kill the Jews" as they stormed into a north London synagogue while young worshippers celebrated the end of the sabbath.
The anti-Semitic abuse was hurled by the group of men and women as they first beat up a young man outside before chasing him inside, breaking windows and attacking others.
Part of the chaotic incident in Stamford Hill was captured on video before the intruders were beaten back as the worshippers grabbed chairs to protect themselves.
Scotland Yard said six people - four men and two women - were later arrested on suspicion of public order offences and assault. (+ video) » | Agency, video source, YouTube/vos9es | Sunday, March 22, 2015
Sunday, March 22, 2015
Counter-Terrorism Bureau Warns of Jihadi Threats to Jewish, Israeli Targets in Europe
THE JERUSALEM POST: The Counter-Terrorism Bureau warned on Sunday that global jihadi elements will likely seek to carry out additional attacks on Jewish and Israeli targets, particularly in western and northern Europe.
The warning appeared in an annual travel advisory guide issued by the Bureau, a part of the Prime Minister's Office.
It noted the string of terror attacks in 2014 in Belgium, France, Denmark, Canada, and Australia, adding that these "raise concerns over additional attacks against Western targets, including Jewish and Israeli targets." Militant veterans of battlegrounds in Syria and Iraq who return to their countries, and local extremists inspired by terrorist organizations, are behind the threat of more attacks, the advisory, issued before the Passover holiday, said. » | Yaakov Lappin | Sunday, March 22, 2015
Obama kritisiert Netanyahu öffentlich
US-Präsident Barack Obama hat den israelischen Regierungschef Benjamin Netanyahu öffentlich für seinen Wahlkampf kritisiert. Die von Netanyahu kurz vor dem Urnengang gemachten Äußerungen über arabische Wähler stünden im Gegensatz zum "Besten", was der israelischen Tradition eigen sei, sagte Obama der "Huffington Post" vom Samstag. Netanyahu hatte kurz vor der Wahl auf seiner Facebook-Seite vor "Scharen" arabischer Wähler gewarnt, die der Opposition zum Sieg verhelfen könnten. » | APA/dpa | Sonntag, 22. März 2015
L'extrême droite européenne réunie en Russie
Des représentants d'une dizaine de partis de l'extrême droite européenne, pour certains réputés néo-nazis, se sont réunis dimanche en Russie lors d'un forum organisé par une formation pro-Kremlin, défendant les "valeurs traditionnelles" familiales et critiquant les sanctions contre Moscou liées à la crise ukrainienne.
Près de 150 membres de mouvements nationalistes, comme les partis d'inspiration néo-nazie grec Aube dorée et allemand NPD ou le parti bulgare Ataka, réputé pour sa rhétorique violente anti-minorités, ont discuté du "soutien des valeurs traditionnelles" familiales défendues par Vladimir Poutine, du conflit en Ukraine ou encore de la politique "orgueilleuse" des États-Unis. » | Source AFP | dimanche 22 mars 2015
New Dark Age Alert! Malaysian Parties Chase Islamic Vote with 'Death by Stoning' Law
Lawmakers from Mr Najib's United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) joined the opposition Parti Islam se-Malaysia (PAS) to pass Islamic criminal law, or hudud, in the opposition-held state of Kelantan.
The move has drawn criticism from other parties in their respective coalitions, while human rights groups say it's an unconstitutional step for secular Malaysia. » | Niluksi Koswanage and Liau Y-Sing | Monday, March 23, 2015
Australia a Puzzling Hotbed of Islamic State Recruiting
The London-based International Center for the Study of Radicalization and Political Violence reports that between 100 and 250 Australians have joined Sunni militants in Iraq and Syria. Given Australia’s vast distance from the region and its population of just 24 million, it is a remarkable number. The center estimates that about 100 fighters came from the United States, which has more than 13 times as many people as Australia.
Experts disagree about why Islamic State has been so effective recruiting in Australia, which is widely regarded as a multicultural success story, with an economy in an enviable 24th year of continuous growth.
Possible explanations include that some Australian Muslims are poorly integrated with the rest of the country, and that Islamic State recruiters have given Australia particular attention. In addition, the Australian government failed to keep tabs on some citizens who had been radicalized, and moderate Muslims have been put off by some of Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s comments about their community.
Greg Barton, a global terrorism expert at Monash University in Melbourne, said Australia and some other countries underestimated Islamic State’s “pull factor.”
“We’re all coming to terms with the fact that this is a formidable targeter and predatory recruiter that goes after individuals one by one with a very masterful use of technology, and our sense of confidence that because we’ve got society working well makes us secure misses the point,” Barton said. » | Rod McGuirk, Associated Press | Sunday, March 22, 2015
‘In Islam, They Are All Rotten Apples’: Activist Ex-Muslim
Today, she is that rare thing: a public intellectual who, despite death threats and charges of bigotry, calls for an end to Islam — not just as the faithful know it, but as we in the West think we know it.
“The assumption is that, in Islam, there are a few rotten apples, not the entire basket,” Ali tells The Post. “I’m saying it’s the entire basket.”
In her book, “Heretic,” Ali argues for a complete reformation of Islam, akin to the Protestant reformation of the 16th century. Though her own education led her to reject Islam and declare herself an atheist, she believes that for the world’s 1.6 billion Muslims, there must be another way.
“If you are a child brought up to believe that Islam is a source of morality” — as she was, in Africa and Saudi Arabia — “the Muslim framework presents you with the Koran and the hijab. I don’t want to be cruel and say, ‘You grow up and you snap out of it.’ But maybe we who have snapped out of it have not done our best to appeal to those still in it,” she says. » | Maureen Callaghan | Sunday, March 22, 2015
The Baroness, Islamic Extremists and a Question of Free Speech
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| 'The Creator is the one who should decide what the laws should be,' said Abu Essa Niamatullah |
At first glance, it looks admirable: two closely connected campaigns, called YouElect and Mend (Muslim Engagement and Development), to get British Muslims involved and voting in this year’s general election.
Mend says it is “creating and supporting an environment in which British Muslims can confidently and critically engage in politics”. One of YouElect’s leaders, Jamil Rashid, told the Islam Channel: “We’re all part of this society, so I think it’s extremely important that Muslims stand up and be counted.” Who could disagree? That, no doubt, is why the Electoral Commission has made Mend an “official partner” in registering Muslim voters for the coming campaign; why at least 10 Labour and Tory MPs joined the launch of Mend’s “Muslim manifesto” in the Commons earlier this month; and why even Lynton Crosby, the Conservative campaign director, addressed a Mend fringe meeting at last year’s Tory conference.
Mend also holds events with police chiefs, gets funding from the EU and is a “key partner” in the Hacked Off campaign for state-backed controls on the press. The truth, however, is that these distinguished bodies and people have been conned. Both Mend and YouElect are clever fronts to win political access and influence for Islamists holding extreme and anti-democratic views.
When not giving reassuring interviews, Mr Rashid is a director of the London-based Muslim Research and Development Foundation, the think tank of one of Britain’s most notorious hate preachers, Haitham al-Haddad, an extremist cleric and Sharia judge from east London.
Haddad describes democracy as “filthy”, regards music as a “prohibited and fake message of love and peace”, states that Jews and Christians are the “enemies of Allah” who will “all go to hellfire” and advises Muslims not to “integrate … as simple as that”.
On March 6, Mr Rashid spoke at a rally organised by Cage, the pro-terrorist lobby group which had the week before provoked outrage by describing Mohammed Emwazi, “Jihadi John”, as a “kind and gentle” man who had been “radicalised by MI5”. He described Cage as “the leaders in our community – we are all Cage, and we stand with them in all their endeavours”. Ismail Patel, the director of YouElect, is also spokesman for the British Muslim Initiative, closely linked to Hamas, the terrorist group which wants to destroy Israel, and the Muslim Brotherhood, which wants to replace secular democratic government with a caliphate under Islamic law.
Then there is Mend. It, too, has defended Cage, accusing the media of trying to discredit the group after the “Jihadi John” episode. It, too, has links to Haddad, who, despite his views on democracy, has appeared in a Mend video urging Muslims to vote. He has said in the past that voting may be permissible to return a Muslim majority government in “50 years, something like this” as a prelude to “Islam spreading all over the world”.
Mend is next month launching an election tour, to “reinforce the importance of electoral participation” and encourage Muslims to go to the ballot box. A star speaker at five of the six events listed will be Abu Eesa Niamatullah, another British extremist who opposes democracy. » | Andrew Gilligan | Sunday, March 22, 2015
Pentagon Investigates 'IS Online Threat' to US Military
A list of names and addresses was posted on a website linked to the group alongside a call for them to be killed.
The group said it obtained the information by hacking servers and databases but US officials said most of the data was in the public domain.
A US security source told the BBC that those on the list were being contacted.
The group, which called itself the Islamic State Hacking Division, said the personnel named had participated in US missions against IS.
It urged its supporters in the US to "take the final step" and "deal with" those named. » | Saturday, March 21, 2015
Saturday, March 21, 2015
Der Umgang mit dem Islam in der Schweiz
Muslime in der Schweiz
Der Islam ist nach dem Christentum die zweitgrösste Religion weltweit. In der Schweiz stellen Muslime die viertgrösste Glaubensgemeinschaft dar: nach den aktuellsten Zahlen von 2011 sind dies 320'958 Musliminnen und Muslime. Diese Zahl ist seit der Erhebung von 2000 praktisch konstant geblieben. Während den grossen Einwanderungswellen ab den 1970er sowie 1990er Jahren sind viele Flüchtlinge und Arbeitskräfte aus muslimischen Ländern in die Schweiz gekommen. Etwa 90% der hier lebenden Muslime stammen somit ursprünglich aus dem Balkan und der Türkei. Insofern überwiegt in der Schweiz ein europäisch geprägter Islam. An der Gesamtbevölkerung bemessen machen Muslime nach den Berechnungen des Bundes heute rund 4.5% der ständigen Wohnbevölkerung aus. Die Mehrheit lebt in den Städten, rund ein Drittel besitzt den Schweizer Pass und etwa die Hälfte spricht eine Landessprache als ihre Hauptsprache.
Es ist wichtig zu betonen, dass die Muslime in der Schweiz weder ethnisch und kulturell noch hinsichtlich ihrer Einwanderungsgründe eine einheitliche Gruppe bilden. Die Bandbreite der Auffassungen ihres Glaubens reicht von weltlichen und modernen bis hin zu streng traditionellen Ansichten.
Nach Schätzungen praktizieren nur 10 bis 15% der Muslime ihren Glauben tatsächlich. Dies liegt in der Grössenordnung der anderen grossen Religionsgemeinschaften in der Schweiz. Die grosse Mehrheit der in der Schweiz lebenden Muslime sind also rein „nominelle“, da sie ihren Glauben nicht praktizieren. Dies heisst allerdings nicht, dass sie nicht gläubig sind. » | Von Ronja Harder | Dienstag, 26. November 2013
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