Read the Blaze article here | Dave Urbanski | Sunday, February 22, 2015
Monday, February 23, 2015
Sunday, February 22, 2015
US Security Chief Warns Shoppers After Terror Threat
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
Al Shabaab Calls for Attack on Mall of America in New Video
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
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
Kleines Mädchen wird für Boko Haram zur Selbstmordattentäterin
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
Islamic 'Radicals' at the Heart of Whitehall
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| Lady Warsi arrives in Downing Street on July 6, 2010 |
Entryism, the favourite tactic of the 1980s’ Militant Tendency, is when a political party or institution is infiltrated by groups with a radically different agenda. Since Militant’s Trotskyites were expelled from the Labour Party, the word has rather fallen out of fashion.
But now, according to one Muslim leader, Islamic radicals are practising entryism of their own — into the heart of Whitehall – courtesy of a woman who was until recently a government minister.
Baroness Warsi, the first Muslim woman to sit in Cabinet, handed official posts to people linked to Islamist groups, including a man involved in an “unpleasant and bullying” campaign to win planning permission for the controversial London “megamosque” proposed by a fundamentalist Islamic sect.
He sits – alongside other radicals or former radicals and their allies – on a “cross-Government working group on anti-Muslim hatred” set up by Lady Warsi and Nick Clegg, the Deputy Prime Minister.
Some members of the group are using their seats at the table to urge that Whitehall work with Islamist and extremist-linked bodies, including one described by the Prime Minister as a “political front for the Muslim Brotherhood”. Some are also pressing to lift bans on foreign hate preachers from entering Britain, including Zakir Naik, who has stated that “every Muslim should be a terrorist”. » | Andrew Gilligan | Sunday, February 22, 2015
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Anti-terrorism chief quits over failure to expel suspects: Senior official quits over fears scheme to deport terrorists isn’t working » | Robert Mendick and Robert Verkaik | Saturday, February 21, 2015
Austrian Islam Bill Stirs Feelings of Alienation
DPA - Amid Europe-wide debates on extremism and integration, Austria is changing its law governing Islam. However, the changes risk deepening the rift between Muslims and the majority population.
"Muslims feel they are misunderstood and under suspicion," the Austrian Islamic Community, an umbrella organization, has said about the planned Islam law and the restrictions it contains.
On Wednesday, the bill is expected to pass in the Austrian parliament with the majority of social democrats and conservatives. Despite the current frictions, the Islamic community was a main driver behind the project to update the rudimentary law that had governed relations between the state and Islam since 1912.
The bill contains several provisions that will make life easier for the nearly 600,000 Muslims among Austria's 8.6 million inhabitants, the second-largest religious group behind Catholics.
For example, Muslim clerics gain the right to visit hospital patients, soldiers and prisoners. In addition, schools and other public institutions will have to offer food in line with Muslim rules.
On the other hand, the bill stresses that national law stands above Muslim sharia law, a provision that is absent in Austrian laws governing other religions. » | Albert Otti and Alkimos Sartoros | Sunday, February 22, 2015
Saturday, February 21, 2015
Muslim Dutch Mayor to Muslims: Accept Western Values or Leave
The Muslim mayor of Rotterdam, the Netherlands, said this week that Europe has no place for extremists who are not willing to live within the bounds of its norms.
Speaking to CNN's Michael Holmes on Wednesday, the mayor, Moroccan-born Ahmed Aboutaleb suggested that those Muslims who don’t embrace values should leave Europe.
"You are not forced to be with us, it's a choice," he said. "Work with us together to construct a 'we society.'"
"But if you want to stand out of the 'we community,' you threaten us, you go to Yemen to learn how to use a Kalashnikov and to come back to threaten the society, well you are not part of my 'we society,' you better leave," added Aboutaleb.
Aboutaleb drew headlines around the world in the wake of last month's attack on the editorial staff of the Charlie Hebdo magazine in Paris, when he said, "if you don't like it here because you don't like that humorists who make a newspaper -- yeah, if I can say it like this, get lost!" » | Elad Benari, Canada | Friday, February 20, 2015
Silence! Political Correctness Hampering ‘Free Speech’ in UK Universities
Tolerance Test: Islamophobia, Anti-Semitism on the Rise in Europe
«Mein Kampf» sera bientôt dans les kiosques
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| La nouvelle édition sera composée du texte original et de 5000 commentaires d'historiens. |
Interdit depuis 1945, Mein Kampf sera disponible dans les librairies allemandes dans moins d’un an. L’Institut d’histoire contemporaine (IfZ) a annoncé hier la réédition commentée du livre d’Adolf Hitler en janvier 2016. Les droits tomberont dans le domaine public à la fin de l’année.
La nouvelle édition comptera 2000 pages au total (avec près de 800 pages consacrées au texte original) agrémentées de 5000 commentaires d’historiens. On ne connaît pas encore son prix. » | De Christophe Bourdoiseau Berlin | samedi 21 février 2015
German Anti-Islam Group Pegida Marches in Britain
The cameras are still rolling at Byker Grove. These days, though, they are set high above the security fence at the edge of the grounds, next to signs warning off intruders. When the children’s soap finished its run, in 2006, producers abandoned the Victorian mansion where it was filmed.
Children will soon be running around the grounds again. Not PJ and Duncan, the youth club teenagers played by Ant and Dec, but students of an Islamic academy that is planned for the site, Benwell Towers.
Not everyone is happy with the proposal, however. In fact, when the Bahr Academy bought the property two years ago, the English Defence League, a far-Right group that has often clashed with police, staged its biggest-ever demonstration. It claims 5,000 members marched through Newcastle that day.
As tensions rose, someone hung a pig’s head from the gates, a calculated attempt to offend. The protesters seemed to favour an empty shrine to Nineties television over a faith school. Work on the site has now begun but it remains controversial, hence the security cameras.
So it was not such a surprise to learn that another march was planned for the city, next weekend. That is, until Geordies discovered the identity of the group behind the demonstration: Pegida, a populist anti-Islam movement – in Germany. It only held its first march against the “Islamisation of the West” in the German city of Dresden last October; now, it seems, it is ready to spread its message internationally.
Branches have been set up in several other countries, including France and Spain, and the Newcastle demonstration next Saturday will be its first in Britain. If it is successful, more marches are planned, for Birmingham and London, as well as Bathgate in Scotland. Read on and comment » | Tom Rowley | Saturday, February 21, 2015
French Icon Brigitte Bardot On Trial Again For Blasphemy Against Islam
Now, the prosecutor, Anne de Fontette, wants a heftier fine and a tougher sentence: the equivalent of $24,000 and a two month (hopefully) suspended jail term.
What crimes has Bardot committed in the land without a First Amendment, in the land of Hate Speech laws that are being slickly exploited by non-persecuted Muslims?
Bardot has written: “I am fed up with being under the thumb of this population which is destroying us, destroying our country.”
Bardot, seventy[-]nine, is an avid animal rights activist and abhors the slaughter of animals for any purpose, including religious ones. But mainly, she laments “the Islamization of France.” » | Dr. Phyllis Chesler | Friday, February 20, 2015
Hass auf Muslime erreicht neuen Höhepunkt
Es ist eine schöne Geste. In Oslo wollen morgen Samstag über achthundert junge Muslime eine menschliche Schutzkette um eine Synagoge errichten. Die Idee des erst 17-jährigen Initiators kommt nicht von ungefähr. «Wir sind nicht alle Terroristen», lautet die Aussage, die dahintersteckt. Denn das ist im Volk und bei Toppolitikern aus der Mitte nicht mehr selbstverständlich.
Rechtspopulisten vor Sieg
Die Stimmung gegenüber Muslimen hat sich in Skandinavien und ganz besonders in Dänemark seit den New Yorker Anschlägen von 2001 und der Mohammed-Karikaturen-Krise mit Ausschreitungen in der islamischen Welt gegen Dänemark 2006 erheblich verschlechtert. … » | Von André Anwar | Stockholm | Freitag, 20. Februar 2015
Friday, February 20, 2015
Obama’s Elementary Errors on Islam
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| President Barack Obama addresses the White House Summit on Countering Violent Extremism on Feb. 18. |
The three-day White House conference on “violent extremism” exposed anew Obama’s inability or unwillingness to understand the challenge of Islamist terrorism, let alone to lead the fight against it.
The conference was billed as a global event bringing together people of different views from more than 60 countries. In practice, however, it acted more as an echo chamber for Obama’s politically correct approach.
“Violent extremism” is misleading, to say the least. (Is there extremism without violence?) The generic term obscures the fact that we face a specific form of terrorism rooted, nurtured and waged in the name of Islam.
Obama did defend his evasion: “Al Qaeda and ISIL [a k a ISIS] and groups like it . . . try to portray themselves as religious leaders, holy warriors in defense of Islam,” he said. “We must never accept the premise that they put forward, because it is a lie.” Operatives of al Qaeda and ISIS “are not religious leaders — they’re terrorists,” he said.
In fact, these terrorists now call their outfit the Islamic State, or IS, under a caliph. And no higher authority has the legitimacy and power to challenge their claim.
Islam has no mechanism for excommunication. Individuals can leave the ummah and be regarded as apostates (murtad). But no one who swears he is a Muslim can be excluded.
Even very bad Muslims are still Muslims as long as they haven’t thrice publicly rejected the two testimonies. (The two testimonies are accepting the oneness of God and that Muhammad is His Prophet.) Thus, neither Obama nor anyone else is qualified to decide who is a Muslim — or what is “true Islam.” » | Amir Taheri | Friday, February 20, 2015
Hitler's Hidden Drug Habit: Secret History
Putin's Growing Tensions With The West
Putin-Rede: "Niemand ist Russland militärisch überlegen"
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| Russlands Präsident Putin: Militärische Stärke als Argument |
Moskau - Russlands Präsident Wladimir Putin hat eine deutliche Warnung in Richtung Westen ausgesprochen. "Niemand sollte die Illusion haben, dass er eine militärische Überlegenheit gegenüber Russland erreichen könnte", zitiert ihn die Agentur Interfax. "Wir werden immer eine passende Antwort auf sämtliche solcher Abenteuer haben", sagte er demnach in einem Grußwort anlässlich eines Feiertags für die "Verteidiger des Vaterlandes" in der kommenden Woche. » | mxw/Reuters | Freitag, 20. Februar 2015
Russian Tensions Could Escalate into All-out War, says Nato General
Tensions with Russia could blow up into all-out conflict, posing “an existential threat to our whole being”, Britain’s top general in Nato has warned.
Gen Sir Adrian Bradshaw, deputy commander of Nato forces in Europe, said there was a danger Vladimir Putin could try to use his armies to invade and seize Nato territory, after calculating the alliance would be too afraid of escalating violence to respond.
His comments follow a clash between London and Moscow after the Defence Secretary, Michael Fallon, said there was a "real and present danger" Mr Putin could try to destabilise the Baltic states with a campaign of subversion and irregular warfare.
The Kremlin called those comments “absolutely unacceptable". » | Ben Farmer, Defence Correspondent | Friday, February 20, 2015
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Britain cannot defend itself against Putin's military might, top brass warn: Former RAF chief says that Britain's defences have been 'decimated' and would not survive a Russian air attack » | Camilla Turner | Friday, February 20, 2015
Saudi King Salman Showers His People with Cash
Riyadh: European leaders are still battling over austerity. The US Congress is gearing up for another fight over the budget. But in Saudi Arabia, there are no such troubles when you are king - and you just dole out billions and billions of dollars to ordinary Saudis by royal decree.
Not surprisingly, Saudis are very happy with their new monarch, King Salman.
"It is party time for Saudi Arabia right now", said John Sfakianakis, the Riyadh-based Middle East director of the Ashmore Group, an investment company, who estimates that the king's post-coronation giveaway will ultimately cost more than $US32 billion or $41 billion.
Since Salman ascended the throne of this wealthy Arab kingdom last month, he has swiftly taken charge, abolishing government bodies and firing ministers. But no measure has caused as much buzz here as the giant payouts he ordered to a large chunk of the Saudi population.
These included grants to professional associations, literary and sports clubs; investments in water and electricity; and bonuses worth two months of salary to all government employees, soldiers, pensioners and students on government stipends at home and abroad. Some private companies followed suit with comparable bonuses for their Saudi employees, putting another few billion dollars into people's pockets. » | Ben Hubbard | Friday, February 20, 2015
USA: Obama bekämpft Jihad-Tourismus mit Bürokratie
Washington. Am Donnerstag war Barack Obama in seinem Element. In seiner binnen 24 Stunden zweiten Rede zur Frage, wie sich der Reiz von Terrorgruppen auf junge Menschen vermindern lasse, appellierte der Präsident in der Sprache des einstigen Universitätsprofessors an die in Washington versammelten Vertreter von knapp 60 Staaten und internationalen Organisationen: „Wir alle haben die Verantwortung, die Vorstellung zurückzuweisen, dass der IS den Islam repräsentiert. Die Vorstellung, dass der Westen im Krieg mit dem Islam sei, ist eine hässliche Lüge.“ » | Vom Korrespondenten der Presse Oliver Grimm | Donnerstag, 19. Februar 2015
Thursday, February 19, 2015
Obama Accused of Skirting Islamic Extremist Threat, at ‘Summit without Substance’
"Sadly, this was a summit without substance," said Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee. "Americans understand we are not at war with Islam. But, we will not defeat these fanatics if we refuse to define them for what they are -- violent Islamist extremists."
The president and top officials in his administration, as they have before, generally avoided using the term "radical Islam" during the summit. Instead, Obama argued that groups like the Islamic State "use Islam to justify their violence" and that to accept that connection would be to embrace the "terrorists' narrative." (+ FoxNews video) » | FoxNews.com | Thursday, February 19, 2015
Return of the Religious Police Worries Reformers in Saudi Arabia
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| Saudi women shopping in Riyadh |
The violation of modesty might seem technical, but this was Saudi Arabia, and the religious police were having none of it.
They swept through Riyadh's Marina Mall, going through shops with names like "Princesses' Island" and "My Scarf" which specialise in abayas, the all-enveloping, shapeless gown that Saudi women must by law wear in public, and tore down any that weren't black.
Black is the colour stipulated for abayas, but as Saudi society has become more cosmopolitan, women have begun to experiment.
First dark patterns emerged, then a few diamante adornments, then the occasional striped sleeve; finally - the step the religious police thought was taking it too far - abayas of whole different colours, like brown, and dark blue.
The cloaks still hid every vestige of a woman's anatomy: only not in the same monotone.
"It was very annoying," said one shop assistant, who requested that he not be identified to prevent further raids. "They did cause a big problem. However, it is the law I suppose, so we just have to put up with it."
The attack on the Mall was not, women's rights and other activists say, a one-off. It happened shortly after the death of 90-year-old King Abdullah at the end of January, and may have been a sign that the once-feared religious police which he spent years trying to rein in felt they were now in the ascendant again. » | Richard Spencer, Riyadh | Thursday, February 19, 2015
La beauté iranienne à travers le voile
La beauté iranienne à travers le voile by LePoint
L'organisation État islamique menace l'Europe d'un "chaos" en Méditerranée
Le message est clair. L'État islamique menace l'Europe d'envoyer des milliers de barques remplies de migrants vers les côtes italiennes en cas d'intervention militaire en Libye. L'information a été révélée par le quotidien italien Il Messagero qui s'est procuré des écoutes téléphoniques auprès de la police, rapporte Le Figaro. Dans ces enregistrements, les djihadistes parlent de "500 000 migrants" qu'ils enverraient par bateaux vers l'Italie.
Le pays est en première ligne, à 350 kilomètres seulement des côtes libyennes. Son ministre des Affaires étrangères a fait savoir lundi dernier que la Libye devait être "la priorité absolue". Le pays redoute l'installation d'un "califat" en Libye et a averti que le temps était compté pour une solution politique, face au renforcement de l'organisation de l'EI. » | jeudi 19 février 2015
Der kurzsichtige Terrorfürst
Die Jihadisten-Miliz Islamischer Staat (IS) sorgt mit ihren Gräueltaten weltweit für Schlagzeilen, doch über ihren öffentlichkeitsscheuen Chef Abu Bakr al-Bagdadi ist wenig bekannt.
Einem Rechercheteam von «Süddeutscher Zeitung», WDR und NDR ist es nun nach eigenen Angaben gelungen, dank Dokumenten und Zeugenaussagen ein genaueres Bild des irakischen Jihadisten zu zeichnen. Wie die «SZ» am Donnerstag berichtete, war al-Bagdadi demnach schon früh machthungrig. Der «Weltspiegel extra» porträtierte den Terroristen. » | spu/AFP | Donnerstag, 19. Februar 2015
Exodus aus Europa
«Wir wären nicht mehr dieselben ohne jüdische Gemeinde.» Die dänische Ministerpräsidentin Helle Thorning-Schmidt rief diese Woche nach den Anschlägen in Kopenhagen die Juden des Landes zum Bleiben auf. Ähnliche Aussagen machten auch die Regierungschefs Deutschlands und Frankreichs. Es war eine Reaktion auf Israels Premier Benjamin Netanyahu, der am Sonntag die Juden Europas zur Auswanderung nach Israel aufgefordert hatte.
Nach den wiederholten Attacken auf jüdische Einrichtungen in verschiedenen westeuropäischen Staaten ist die Verunsicherung gross. Für Aufsehen sorgen neue Zahlen zu Frankreich. 6658 Juden sind im letzten Jahr aus Frankreich nach Israel ausgewandert, wie aus den Daten der dortigen Migrationsbehörden hervorgeht. Das ist eine Verdoppelung gegenüber 2013. Im gleichen Zeitraum hat sich in Frankreich auch die Zahl der registrierten antisemitischen Straftaten verdoppelt. Das Auswanderungsplus gegenüber dem Schnitt der letzten zehn Jahre beträgt gar rund 140 Prozent. Weiter lesen und einen Kommentar schreiben » | Von Luca De Carli | Donnerstag, 19. Februar 2015
Wednesday, February 18, 2015
Tuesday, February 17, 2015
ISIS Militants Reportedly Burn to Death 45 People in Western Iraqi Town
The identities of the victims are not clear, the local police chief told the BBC, but some are believed to be among the security forces that have been clashing with ISIS for control of the town. ISIS fighters reportedly captured most of the town last week.
Col. Qasim Obeidi, pleading for help from the Iraqi government and international community, said a compound that houses families of security personnel and officials is now under siege. » | FoxNews.com | 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
Egypt Bombs IS in Libya after Beheadings Video
State TV said the dawn strikes had targeted camps, training sites and weapons storage areas. A second wave of strikes was reported hours later.
Libyan officials said Egypt hit targets in the militant-held city of Derna. The strikes came amid widespread condemnation of the killings. The US and UN described them as "cowardly".
A video emerged on Sunday showing militants forcing a group of men to the ground and decapitating them.
The kidnapped Egyptian workers, all Coptic Christians, were seized in separate incidents in December and January from the coastal town of Sirte in eastern Libya, under the control of Islamist groups.
The video of the beheadings was posted online by Libyan jihadists who pledge loyalty to IS. It was one of the first such videos to come from an IS group outside its core territory in Syria and Iraq.
The video describes the Copts as "crusaders" and refers among other things to two women, wives of Coptic priests, whose alleged conversion to Islam triggered a sectarian dispute in Egypt in 2010.
IS militants claim to have carried out several attacks in Libya, which in effect has rival governments. (+ BBC video) » | Monday, February 16, 2015
How Isil Spread to Libya - and Now Has Europe in Its Sights
Isil's execution of 21 Egyptian Christians on Libya's Mediterranean shore is intended as a clear message to Europe: the group is expanding its geographical spread, and it has the West in its sights.
The slow creep of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) through Libya has gone largely unnoticed, but it is here, in a divided nation spiralling further into chaos, that the Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi's men are now finding find fertile ground.
The jihadist group - one of several now operating in Libya - gained a foothold in the port city Derna in back October, after a senior Isil official travelled to eastern Libya to unite a panoply of militant factions under a single banner.
The Isil leader has since recognised the Libyan "provinces" of Barqa in the east, Tripolitania in the west, and Fezzan in the desert south as belonging to his self-styled "caliphate." » | Louisa Loveluck | Monday, February 16, 2015
Sunday, February 15, 2015
Hundreds of Jewish Tombs Damaged in Northern France
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| Overturned grave stones in the Jewish cemetery in Saare-Union |
Hundreds of graves have been vandalized at a Jewish cemetery in eastern France, in what the president called an "odious and barbaric" anti-Semitic act against French values.
The vandalism comes at a time of growing insecurity among French Jews and amid general religious tensions in Europe, after Islamic radicals attacked a kosher market and a satirical newspaper in Paris last month and similar attacks hit Denmark this weekend.
French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said in a statement Sunday that a criminal investigation team is at the damaged cemetery in Sarre-Union, near the German border, and authorities will do "everything" to pursue the vandals. » | Reuters | Sunday, February 15, 2015
Islamic State: Egyptian Christians Held in Libya 'Killed'
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| Egyptians had protested earlier this week calling for the return of the kidnapped Copts |
The footage shows a group wearing orange overalls, being forced to the ground and then decapitated.
It was posted online by Libyan jihadists who say they are allied with IS.
Egypt's president had earlier this week offered to airlift Egyptian expatriates out of Libyan territory.
The kidnapped Egyptian workers, all Coptic Christians, were seized from the coastal town of Sirte in eastern Libya, now under the control of Islamist groups. » | Sunday, February 15, 2015
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