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TERROR IN MUMBAI
By Avi Davis
 As I write these words, Mumbai is the focus of world attention as ten targets throughout the Indian city have been attacked by an unknown terrorist strike force. Over 143 people have been killed and hundreds more injured. It didn’t take long for the pundit-ocracy to declare the attack another manifestation of the long string of Hindu-Muslim clashes, which predate today’s attack by more than 300 years.
But there are outstanding features of these latest series of attacks which distinguish them completely from anything that has gone before. The first is the scale and sophistication of the operation. The terrorists, landing by sea from Mumbai’s largely unpatrolled port, operated simultaneously to attack and occupy significant landmarks in the city. As they accomplished this, they were able to target three of the most important members of the Indian anti-terrorist unit in Mumbai who were shot within minutes of one another. Once taking charge of the hotels, they set up command centers in both, a military tactic previously unknown in terrorist circles. The reconnaissance alone involved in planning, coordinating and executing this surprise assault was of extraordinary sophistication and on the level of a first world military operation. The targets must have been scoped out for months, if not years, and the financial resources that would facilitate the training and arming of the operatives, extensive. That funding could not have come solely from the ranks of the usual Kashmiri terrorist groups which have perpetrated bombings and attacks against India for decades.
The second unique aspect is the identity of the kidnap victims chosen by the group. In the two major hotels stormed, the assailants isolated Americans, Britons and Israelis and in another part of the town they led an assault on Chabad House which operates as Mumbai’s unofficial Jewish community center. The fact that foreign nationals were chosen as kidnap victims is already a major departure from previous attacks. That a Jewish center was attacked and the rabbi and his wife kidnapped, is an indication that these Islamists see their fight as united with that of Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran, who have all conducted or facilitated attacks on other Jewish centers around the world. They are all no longer simply dedicated to the destruction of the Jewish state but to a confrontation with Judaism, Jewish life and the infrastructure that supports it. Here were terrorists then making a statement, not to India, but the world: Western civilization, not just India, is under assault and no place that supports Western ideals, policies and lifestyles will be safe from similar attacks in the future
India, with 1.2 billion people is one of most populous countries earth. It is one of the “Asian tigers” whose phenomenal growth has fueled global economic expansion over the past twenty years. But it is also a country, since its founding, that has suffered continuously from sectarian violence and internecine violence. Attacks on Parliament in 2001 killing 70, on a train in Mumbai in 2006 killing 187, and in New Delhi earlier this year are only a few of the atrocities suffered by the country in this century. But the country is also notoriously porous, its anti-terrorism infrastructure weak and immature and its intelligence services uncoordinated. It is therefore a soft target for terrorists and a perfect for forum for the Islamists’ deadly form of political theater.
However one cannot talk about India’s security problems without mentioning the country’s birth partner, Pakistan. When the two countries were partitioned in 1947 over one million people died as revenge and reprisal killings by Muslim and Hindu nationalists roiled the sub-continent. Three wars and countless border incidents since then have sown a climate a deep hostility, suspicion and distrust. Yet Pakistan suffers from its own scourge of terrorism from Islamic fundamentalists and the recent attempt of new Pakistani prime-minister Asif Ali Zardari at rapprochement with India is a recognition that the survival of both countries is now at stake. They must recognize that they are unavoidably dependent on a cooperative approach to destroying the Islamic fundamentalist fire that burns uncontained within their own borders.
Such cooperation, of course, should not just be regional, but international. If the terrorist assault in Mumbai has now anything to teach us in the West, it is that terror still threatens us all; that Islamic fundamentalists will take heart and courage from their successes on Thursday and Friday and that more such attacks are on their way. Without a united international effort, possessed of a central Allied command and an intelligence network that is thoroughly coordinated between the Western aligned countries, the Mumbai assaults will inevitably be duplicated against other soft targets in Asia, the Americas and Europe. The incoming Obama Administration should therefore be forceful in restating American commitment to leading this international effort and providing countries such as India and Pakistan with the training, armament, intelligence and networking resources that will assist them in their battle on the war’s front line. Such leadership is ultimately crucial to defeating the single greatest threat to life and liberty in the West.
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JFK AND EXECUTIVE PRIVILEGE
By Avi Davis
There is no more traumatic event in the history of the modern United States than the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Not Pearl Harbor, not Watergate, not the Iranian hostage crisis and not even 9/11 can claim that honor. The assassination, whose 45th anniversary took place earlier this week, is seared into popular consciousness because to many Americans the murder of JFK still remains inexplicable: how was it possible that such a vigorous and articulate leader, whose administration augured such promise, could so quickly and easily be dispatched from history? It shouldn’t seem unusual then, that over time his death became widely regarded as a virtual martyrdom, ushering in a hagiography that has elevated the deceased president to the ranks of American sainthood. Although his image was carefully crafted well before his death, it has since become embalmed in such a mixture of romanticism and nostalgia that it is often difficult to extract the real person from the myth. American citizens were never given the opportunity to see the real Kennedy beneath the hype and likewise deprived of the chance to see what might have transpired had his Administration been roiled by the shockwave of 60s radicalism. They did not see the president’s hair turn grey; the bags and dark circles begin to form ominously beneath his eyes or permanent lines cut deeply into his cheeks. Nor would they see his Administration, which would likely have won a second term in 1964, detoured by the increasing discontent of the civil rights movement, burned by the failure of his Administration’s policies in Vietnam and rocked by sexual scandal.
To read this article go to Avi Davis’ blog
Avi Davis is the Executive Director and Senior Fellow of the American Freedom Alliance in Los Angeles. He can be contacted at isdev@ix.netcom.com
NEWS: EUROPE AND AMERICA
 Massacre in Mumbai: Up to SEVEN gunmen were British and 'came from same area as 7/7 bombers'
By JUSTIN DAVENPORT , RASHID RAZAQ and NICOLA BODEN
Last updated at 5:39 PM on 28th November 2008
• British-born Pakistanis among arrested militants
• Commandos storm strongholds to rescue hostages
• Death toll rises as another 24 bodies found in hotel
• At least five dead hostages found in Jewish Centre
• Bystanders wounded in crossfire at Taj hotel siege
British-born Pakistanis were among the Mumbai terrorists, Indian government sources claimed today, as the death toll rose to at least 150. As many as seven of the terrorists may have British connections and some could be from Leeds and Bradford where London's July 7 bombers lived, one source said. Two Britons were among eight gunmen being held, according to Mumbai's chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh. At least nine others are reportedly dead. The eight arrested were captured by commandos after they stormed two hotels and a Jewish centre to free hostages today. One security official said: 'There is growing concern about British involvement in the attacks.' At the Oberoi Hotel, the siege ended when two militants were shot dead. Dozens of traumatised guests emerged unharmed but inside there were scenes of carnage and the bodies of another 24 victims. Mumbai officials say more than 150 people in total have now died in the attacks. Another 370 were wounded. The bodies of another five hostages were found dead inside the Nariman House Jewish Centre this afternoon after commandos finally secured the building. Two militants were also killed. It is not known whether the Rabbi and his wife who were believed to be among the hostages are dead or alive. (Dailymail.co.uk)
 HLF Officials Convicted on All Counts-IPT News
DALLAS – A jury convicted five former officials at the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (HLF) on all counts in the Hamas-support case after 8 days of deliberations. The men, Shukri Abu-Baker, Ghassan Elashi, Mohamed El-Mezain, Mufid Abdulqader and Abdelrahman Odeh, could face up to 20 years in prison for their convictions on conspiracy counts, including conspiring to provide material support to terrorists. The verdicts, read Monday afternoon, ended a two-year saga in what is considered the largest terror financing case since the 9/11 attacks. In the original trial last year, jurors acquitted El-Mezain on 31 of the 32 counts against him, but could not reach unanimous verdicts on any other counts, prompting a mistrial. Prosecutors made a series of significant adjustments, from dropping 29 counts each against defendants Mufid Abdulqader and Abdelrahman Odeh, to adding new witnesses who could put the charity support in context. In addition, jurors in this trial saw three exhibits Israeli military officials seized from the Palestinian Authority which showed the PA also considered HLF to be a Hamas financer and that an HLF-supported charity committee was controlled by Hamas. The result was a much more streamlined case that followed a logical narrative, said Peter Margulies, a law professor at Roger Williams University in Rhode Island. Seeing the Palestinian Authority reach the same conclusion as the U.S. government had to have helped, he said.In addition, prosecutors provided summary exhibits that served as "a road map" to the case and had to help jurors deliberate, Margulies said. "The jury was able to look at the evidence and get past the perceived biases of any of the witnesses and see the evidence as a whole." (Investigativeproject.org)
 Prison staff drove 40 miles to buy £3,500 worth of takeaway curries for Muslim inmates-Daily Mail Reporter
Muslim prisoners at a maximum security jail were treated to £3,500 of takeaway curries to mark a religious festival. Some 200 inmates at Whitemoor prison near March in Cambridgeshire had meals worth around £18 each after complaining about the quality of jail food. Staff, who also tucked into the meals, drove 40 miles to pick them up from a takeaway in Peterborough. The meals were bought at the end of October this year to celebrate Eid, a Muslim holiday that marks the end of Ramadan, the Islamic holy month of fasting. Main dishes included lamb rogan josh and beef madras. A former non-Muslim inmate said: 'They tried to do the curries in-house but the prison chefs couldn't meet the budget of £1.80 per prisoner - and the Muslim inmates complained that it tasted rubbish.
'The smell of it wafting was torture for the rest of us.' A Prison Service investigation is to now look at the 'unacceptably' high costs of the meals. It is also likely to look into reports that standard security checks to ensure weapons or contraband were not being smuggled in with the dishes were not carried out in case the meals got cold. The prison houses 458 of the most dangerous men in the country, including one third who are Muslim. Among them are al-Qa'eda terrorists. Stewart Jackson, Tory MP for Peterborough, said yesterday: 'It is an absolute disgrace that this happened. Decent, law-abiding taxpayers will be appalled that their taxes are going on this. (Dailymail.co.uk)
Forced marriage cases up by 80pc this year as investigators find parents using 'bounty hunters'-Martin Beckford
The number of forced marriages being investigated in Britain has risen by 80 per cent this year with parents using "bounty hunters" and bogus missing persons campaigns in a desperate bid to track down runaway children and make them wed. A special Government unit dedicated to stopping teenagers being married off by their families dealt with 300 cases in the first half of this year, up from 168 in the same period of 2007.
But the head of the Forced Marriage Unit, based at the Foreign Office, fears this could be just the tip of the iceberg as many victims are too scared to come forward and communities often close up to hide what is going on. Wayne Ives also warned that heads of families are going to extreme lengths to get their children to marry, in some instances posing as officials to kidnap runaway brides or paying people to track them down.
His comments came as a new law comes into effect next week, which will make it easier for courts to stop ceremonies going ahead if it is feared that the bride and groom are being married against their wills.
A separate law will see the minimum age at which foreigners can come to Britain to get married being increased. Despite the drive to tackle forced marriages, however, many feel it is still taboo because of fears of criticising immigrants from Pakistan and Bangladesh, who are involved in most cases. Schools have refused to discuss so-called honour crimes in case they cause offence to ethnic minorities or religions, while MPs have been accused of failing to highlight forced marriage in case they lose Muslim votes. (Telegraph.co.uk)
German police arrest two said to be behind Islamist website-DPA
Karlsruhe, Germany - German federal police arrested two men Tuesday for operating a radical Islamist website and they are likely to face charges of supporting terrorism, prosecutors said. The German-language website, GIMF, which stands for Global Islamic Media Front, contained videos from al-Qaeda, Mesopotamian al-Qaeda and the radical group Ansar al-Islam. It also contained two videos made in Germany demanding the withdrawal of German and Austrian troops from Afghanistan, the prosecutor-general's office in Karlsruhe said. The suspects, aged 23 and 26, were both German nationals. A third German, 19, who was already in custody on another matter was also suspected of involvement in running the site. Police arrested the two men men Tuesday in the German towns of Biberach and Schlangen on warrants issued last week. A further five persons were under suspicion after 12 premises were searched during the day. Explaining why managing a website was considered to be terrorism, the prosecutors said it spread propaganda. "The operators of GIMF assist the purpose of Islamist terrorist groups to reach the largest possible audience with propaganda that serves to mobilize more supporters and intimidate the western public," the statement said. (Earthtimes.org)
"It is unbelievably naïve of Birthe Rønn Hornbech (Lib) to put forward a plan like this. Unbelievable that the government tells us again that dialogue is the way forward in dealing with extremism and we have to accept it.”
The Mosque and the Imam-Stephen Schwartz
Washington's Islamic Center is riven by scandal and lawsuits.
The Islamic Center in Washington, D.C., is among the most prominent and opulent Muslim prayer houses in America. It displays the national flags of Muslim countries out front and makes obvious to thousands of passing motorists that the faith of Muhammad has a place in America. That was the message delivered by President Dwight D. Eisenhower when the mosque was opened in 1957. The chief executive (accompanied by his wife, Mamie, who unlike later American first ladies Hillary Clinton and Laura Bush saw no need to don an Islamic head covering) declared,The countries which have sponsored and built this Islamic Center have for centuries contributed to the building of civilization. With their traditions of learning and rich culture, the countries of Islam have added much to the advancement of mankind. Inspired by a sense of brotherhood, common to our innermost beliefs, we can here together reaffirm our determination to secure the foundations of a just and lasting peace.
Eisenhower concluded,
Our country has long enjoyed a strong bond of friendship with the Islamic nations. . . . Under the American Constitution, . . . this Center, this place of worship, is as welcome as could be any similar edifice of any religion. Indeed, America would fight with her whole strength for your right to have your own church and worship according to your own conscience. Without this, we would be something else than what we are.
The Islamic Center was built at the suggestion of the Egyptians, but with support from Christian and Muslim Arabs and Turks in America, along with Afghan, Pakistani, Iraqi, Indonesian, Syrian, Turkish, and Iranian diplomats and the Saudi royal family. The Nizam of Hyderabad, a fabulously rich Muslim dignitary in India, and the Aga Khan, global leader of the Ismaili Shias, were solicited for large contributions. Later assistance came from Kuwait, Jordan, Yemen, Bahrain, Morocco, and Tunisia. And U.S. corporations with interests in the Muslim world-Bechtel and the Arabian American Oil Co. (later Saudi Aramco), among others-kicked in. According to an official History of the Islamic Center issued in 1978, construction was slowed by the diversion of Arab attention to the fight against Jewish immigration to the state of Israel. Yet the mosque was completed and remains an impressive showpiece. (Weeklystandard)
Belgium: Broadcasters receive video terror threat
Update: Dutch TV show Netwerk also got the same DVD. According to analysis, the video itself seems to have been montaged together from an existing clip. The Belgian Muslim community condemns the video and says it casts a stain on the Muslims in Belgium.
Muslim terrorists are threatening Belgium with 'chaos, bloodshed and atrocious attacks' in a DVD they sent to various news editors. The police is checking if this is more than a sick joke. In total three DVDs were sent to the editors of broadcasters VRT and VTM and to the alternative news site Indymedia. The DVDs show three masked men against a background of a sheet with Muslim writing. One of the men sits down and recites a four minute long unintelligible text which is drown out by Islamic war-songs. Two armed men stand in the background: one holding an AK-47 Kalashnikov machine gun, the other is a living bomb with explosives around his waist and on his chest. The Dutch subtitles, which is written decent but not error-free Dutch and with knowledge of Islam, is a complaint against the Belgian military presence in Afghanistan and in particular of the F-16s which were recently sent over there by the minister of defense, Pieter De Crem. The minister announced at the beginning of the month that yet more soldiers will be sent to the north of Afghanistan in January. The DVDs reputedly arrived last Thursday to VRT, VTM and Indymedia but were revealed only today. They were in an envelope with the sender marked the Arabic broadcaster Al-Jazeera with an address in the Brussels Louizalaan. But Al-Jazeera do not have an office there, and at the address in question there was no clue to the sender. (Islamineurope)
ACADEMIC FREEDOM
An Authoritative Word on Academic Freedom-Stanley Fish
More than a few times in these columns I have tried to deflate the balloon of academic freedom by arguing that it was not an absolute right or a hallowed principle, but a practical and limited response to the particular nature of intellectual work. Now, in a new book — “For the Common Good: Principles of American Academic Freedom,” to be published in 2009 — two distinguished scholars of constitutional law, Matthew W. Finkin and Robert C. Post, study the history and present shape of the concept and come to conclusions that support and deepen what I have been saying in these columns and elsewhere. The authors’ most important conclusion is presented early on in their introduction: “We argue that the concept of Academic freedom . . . differs fundamentally from the individual First Amendment rights that present themselves so vividly to the contemporary mind.” The difference is that while free speech rights are grounded in the constitution, academic freedom rights are “grounded . . . in a substantive account of the purposes of higher education and in the special conditions necessary for faculty to fulfill those purposes.” In short, academic freedom, rather than being a philosophical or moral imperative, is a piece of policy that makes practical sense in the context of the specific task academics are charged to perform. It follows that the scope of academic freedom is determined first by specifying what that task is and then by figuring out what degree of latitude those who are engaged in it require in order to do their jobs. (Fish.blogs.nytimes)
FREEDOM OF SPEECH
UN anti-blasphemy measures have sinister goals, observers say-Steven Edwards
'(Pakistan's anti-blasphemy laws) have been used to intimidate business partners, suppress any reformist ideas, jail people who discuss women's rights,' say critics.
UNITED NATIONS - Islamic countries Monday won United Nations backing for an anti-blasphemy measure Canada and other Western critics say risks being used to limit freedom of speech.
Combating Defamation of Religions passed 85-50 with 42 abstentions in a key UN General Assembly committee, and will enter into the international record after an expected rubber stamp by the plenary later in the year. But while the draft's sponsors say it and earlier similar measures are aimed at preventing violence against worshippers regardless of religion, religious tolerance advocates warn the resolutions are being accumulated for a more sinister goal. "It provides international cover for domestic anti-blasphemy laws, and there are a number of people who are in prison today because they have been accused of committing blasphemy," said Bennett Graham, international program director with the Becket Fund, a think tank aimed at promoting religious liberty. "Those arrests are made legitimate by the UN body's (effective) stamp of approval." Passage of the resolution is part of a 10-year action plan the 57-state Organization of Islamic Conference launched in 2005 to ensure "renaissance" of the "Muslim Ummah" or community. While the current resolution is non-binding, Pakistan's Ambassador Masood Khan reminded the UN's Human Rights Council this year that the OIC ultimately seeks a "new instrument or convention" on the issue. Such a measure would impose its terms on signatory states. "Each time the resolution comes up, we get a measure of where the world is on this issue, and we see that the campaign has been ramped up," said Hillel Neuer, executive director of the Geneva-based monitoring group UN Watch.While this year's draft is less Islam-centric that resolutions of earlier years, analysts note it is more emphatic in linking religion defamation and incitement to violence. That "risks limiting a broad range of peaceful speech and expression," Neuer argues. (Canada.com)
 Westerners Welcome Harems-Daniel Pipes
A Scottish judge recently bent the law to benefit a polygamous household. The case involved a Muslim male who drove 64 miles per hour in a 30 mph zone – usually grounds for an automatic loss of one's driving license. The defendant's lawyer explained his client's need to speed: "He has one wife in Motherwell and another in Glasgow and sleeps with one one night and stays with the other the next on an alternate basis. Without his driving licence he would be unable to do this on a regular basis." Sympathetic to the polygamist's plight, the judge permitted him to retain his license. Monogamy, this ruling suggests, long a foundation of Western civilization, is silently eroding under the challenge of Islamic law. Should current trends continue, polygamy could soon be commonplace. Since the 1950s, Muslim populations have grown in Western Europe and North America via immigration and conversion; with their presence has grown the Islamic form of polygyny (one man married to more than one woman). Estimates find 2,000 or more British polygamous men, 14,000 or 15,000-20,000 harems in Italy, 30,000 harems in France, and 50,000-100,000 polygamists in the United States. Some imams openly acknowledge conducting polygamous marriage ceremonies: Khalil Chami reports that he is asked almost weekly to conduct such ceremonies in Sydney. Aly Hindy reports having "blessed" more than 30 such nuptials in Toronto. Social acceptance is also growing. Academics justify it, while politicians blithely meet with polygamists or declare that Westerners should "find a way to live with it" and journalists describe polygamy with empathy, sympathy, and compassion. Islamists argue polygamy's virtues and call for its official recognition. Polygamy has made key legal advances in 2008. (For fuller details, see my blog, "Harems Accepted in the West.") At least six Western jurisdictions now permit harems on the condition that these were contracted in jurisdictions where polygamy is legal, including India and Muslim-majority countries from Indonesia to Saudi Arabia to Morocco. (Frontpagemag)
Media Bias
 The Case of the Missing Honor Killing-Phyllis Chesler
Psychologically, we tend to believe that what we see with our own eyes, especially if it is "acted out" for us, is the "truth." Our brains are wired so that visual images assume a permanent reality--even if that reality is a computer-generated or photo-shopped Big Lie. Mohammed al-Dura did not die in his fathers' arms even though that carefully staged image was seen round the world. Israel did not massacre anyone in Jenin even though that Big Lie has also taken on a life of its own. I'm glad that America's Most Wanted chose to dramatize the honor killing of Sarah and Amina Said in Dallas on Jan 1, 2008 by their father Yaser Abdul Said, who has been missing ever since. I hope the program helps aid in his capture. I applaud on-camera narrator John Walsh, who has turned his own grief at the loss of his child into something positive for so many others. However, the dramatization was oddly, perhaps even purposefully misleading. Key figures were either fatally mischaracterized or were entirely missing in action. Malevolent motives, which had no basis in fact, were attributed to the innocent girls and yet their mother, Patricia, was not presented as the collaborator in their murder which she surely was. Their older brother, Islam, a foul-mouthed man who bullied his mother, harassed and monitored his sisters, and ultimately justified their being honor murdered, was not in the TV picture.Why would America's Most Wanted do this? (Frontpagemag)
Alibhai-Brown's Media Outrage
Independent columnist asks "Where is the media outrage over Gaza?"
Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, a columnist for the UK's Independent, regularly features on HonestReporting and its UK affiliate due to her propensity to describe Israel as a "racist" and "apartheid" state.
In her latest anti-Israel screed, Alibhai-Brown rails against Israel's closure of Gaza:
It is a siege without mercy, locking people into a prison, most of whom have not been convicted of any crime except that of being Palestinian. I am not defending the militants who attack Israel; what they do is extreme provocation. But even that cannot excuse Israel's actions. Neither United Nations food aid nor European Union medical supplies are allowed through. Fishermen are gunned down, power cuts mean industries have shut down.
• Contrary to Alibhai-Brown's accusations, food aid and medical supplies have been allowed into Gaza and crossing points have only been shut due to persistent Palestinian rocket attacks. See here for details of goods and food as well as medical evacuations taking place between Israel and the Gaza Strip since the Hamas takeover of Gaza.
• As recently as today (Nov. 24), the Gaza crossings have been reopened for supplies.
• Contrary to Alibhai-Brown's charge regarding power cuts, even the Palestinian Authority has accused Hamas of staging the latest blackouts in the Gaza Strip in a bid to win sympathy and incite the Palestinian public against Israel and the PA.
• The charge that Israel "guns down" Palestinian fisherman is extremely serious and without any basis and goes beyond previous unsubstantiated allegations made against the Israeli navy.
Despite the fact that HonestReporting has monitored many column inches of coverage and comment on the Gaza situation in the media, Alibhai-Brown disgracefully compares it to the very real crisis in Mugabe's Zimbabwe and asks:
where is the outrage in the media? I have scoured the newspapers, and there is nothing. Israel can get away with anything it chooses to do. So low are expectations of this democracy that such a state-made humanitarian disaster is not even news.
Alibhai-Brown then goes on to attack the right of British Jewish institutions to defend and support Israel, describing it as "propaganda to justify the unjustifiable." She even criticizes the Jewish Chronicle newspaper for becoming "hardline" under its new editor Stephen Pollard, despite the fact that Pollard only started the job today! (Nov. 24) (Honestreporting)
ANTISEMITISM
 "The Digital Intifada" Promises to Fight Zionism Online-Malkah Fleisher
(IsraelNN.com) As part of its ongoing jihad against Israel, the Hamas terrorist organization has adopted a new mission, recently unveiled at its booth at a digital communications exhibition in Iran: hacking Israeli websites. A new Hamas-affiliated group, calling itself "The Digital Intifada," introduced itself in late October at the second annual National Exhibition and Festival of Digital Media in Tehran, according to the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center at the Israel Intelligence Heritage & Commemoration Center (IICC). The objective of "The Digital Intifada" is to develop anti-Jewish websites and encourage the criminal hacking of Israeli governmental and non-governmental websites. At its booth at the Tehrani exhibit, Hamas's new computerized warfare promised $2,000 prizes for succeeding in the crime of hacking any Israeli site which is "hostile to the Palestinian people." Particular honor would go to anyone who hacked the websites of the Sephardic religious political party Shas, the Temple Mount Faithful website, and the American Internet Haganah (specializing in monitoring global jihad websites). "The Digital Intifada" booth also featured Hamas-related websites, including Palestine-info, Filastin al-'An, Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, Al Aqsa TV, the PALDF Forum and Sabiroon websites, among others. Vendors distributed anti-Jewish, pro-Islamic jihadist pamphlets, scarves, and hats to interested recipients. (INN)
 UNGA head accuses Israel of apartheid-Allison Hoffman
A top UN official has called for "concrete action" against Israel over the country's treatment of Palestinians in the territories. General Assembly President Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann suggested Monday that the international community should consider sanctions against Israel including "boycott, divestment and sanctions" similar to those enacted against South Africa two decades ago. "Today, perhaps we in the United Nations should consider following the lead of a new generation of civil society who are calling for a similar nonviolent campaign," said D'Escoto, a Nicaraguan diplomat who currently holds the one-year presidency. "Israeli policies in the Palestinian territories appear so similar to the apartheid of an earlier era, a continent away, and I believe it is very important we in the United Nations use this term," d'Escoto added. "We must not be afraid to call something for what it is." D'Escoto's remarks kicked off an annual two-day plenary session recognizing international solidarity with the Palestinian people. Israeli Ambassador Gabriela Shalev was slated to speak Tuesday morning. Israeli officials told The Jerusalem Post ahead of the session that they planned to object to the "complete disconnect" between the "one-sided" portrayal of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the UN forum and what happens on the ground. "The situation is the resurgence of terrorism, Hizbullah and Hamas -- this is the situation in the Middle East," charge d'affaires Daniel Carmon told the Post. "Why is this not reflected?" (Jpost)
WIESENTHAL CENTER DENOUNCES NOBEL LAUREATE'S CALL FOR UN TO 'SUSPEND ISRAEL’
Center says, "It is tragic that a person who earned international accolades now chooses to whole heartedly embrace only the Palestinian narrative"
The Simon Wiesenthal Center today denounced Nobel Peace Prize laureate Mairead Maguire’s call for the international community to suspend Israel from the United Nations. According to The Jerusalem Post, Maguire, who received the Prize in 1976 for creating peaceful solutions to Northern Ireland’s sectarian violence, made this plea in protest to Israel’s temporary blockade of Gaza in wake of new rocket attacks on Israeli citizens living close to the border. "It is tragic that a person who earned international accolades now chooses to whole heartedly embrace only the Palestinian narrative in the Holy Land," said Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean of the Wiesenthal Center. "Ms. Maguire photo ops with the head of Hamas, whose establishing covenant justifies the destruction of Israel by invoking the infamous Protocols of the Elders of Zion is a stain on the reputation of a peace maker," he added. "In the face of suicide terror, kidnappings and continuing rocket and missiles targeting Israeli civilian communities, Israel has the moral and legal right and obligation to protect all of her citizens, "said Cooper, adding, "But one wonders who will protect the rest of us from the dangers wrought by the moral blindness of leaders unable or unwilling to distinguish between the victims and perpetrators of terror." (SimonWiesenthalCenter)
Foxman slams Zionism entry in 'Encyclopedia of Racism' -Abe Selig
Announcing that "Zionism has no place in an encyclopedia on racism," the Anti-Defamation League has joined a chorus of condemnation of an article published in an encyclopedia that covers race and racial discrimination.
Printed by the Gale publishing company in November 2007, The Encyclopedia of Race and Racism has been awarded reviews promoting it for use in high school and religion classes. But an entry on Zionism featured in the encyclopedia has drawn the ire of Jewish groups, including the Zionist Organization of America and the American Jewish Committee, which called last month for the article to be withdrawn - prompting an apology from the publisher, but no pledge to pull the entry. Gale, a division of Cengage Learning, published the apology on its Web site last week, with links to both the AJC and ZOA Web sites, and a message promising to supplement the on-line version of the encyclopedia with articles describing alternative perspectives on Zionism. However, the message goes on to say that Gale, which also publishes an updated version of The Encyclopedia Judaica, stands by the article, and that it will remain. "Gale's role as publisher of the encyclopedia is not to present a particular viewpoint on any topic, but to provide well-founded information that presents a broad scope of knowledge and views on a subject," the message read. "Further, while we cannot and do not shy away from controversial views, we are committed to providing comprehensive, respectful coverage. Based on the constructive feedback we have received, we have concluded that we should offer a broader range of views on the subject of Zionism." The ZOA called those measures insufficient, and the ADL is renewing the call for the entry to be pulled altogether. (Jpost)
TERRORISM, INTERNET, JIHAD
Norway: Imam tries to recruit refugee for suicide attack
Spokesperson Martin Bernsen of the Norwegian Police Security Service (PST) confirms to Dagbladet that the security police is aware with what he describes as special religious activity at asylum shelters. PST has no evidence that the recruiting attempts succeeded. Dagbladet got confirmation that there was an attempt to recruit an Afghan citizen who sought asylum in Norway by an Imam. The PST was informed of the recruiting attempt in the summer. The asylum seeker told a Norwegian citizen of the recruiting attempt. A short time later the Norwegian citizen contacted the PST and informed them of the imam's recruiting attempt. "The asylum seeker said that an imam from Oslo attempted to talk about Jihad - holy war. He wanted to recruit the asylum seeker so that he would go back to Afghanistan. There he would participate in a suicide attack and blow himself up," says Dagbladet's source. The Afghan, who first left Norway voluntarily - after his asylum request was rejected - was later sent back to Norway by the Italian authorities after he was arrested in Italy.
It was impossible to confirm yesterday at which shelter the recruiting attempt was. The asylum seeker in question declared that he was in the prayer room at the asylum shelter when he was contacted. "The asylum seeker pretended that he would be willing to go back to Afghanistan and participate in a suicide attack. At the same time he made a condition that the imam will also come along," says Dagbladet's source. The imam excused himself saying he was busy in Oslo, says the man who warned the PST about the recruitment attempt.
 British Islamist Kamal Al-Hilbawi and Liberal Nabil Yassin Debate: Are Israeli Children Legitimate Military Targets?
Following are excerpts from a TV debate featuring Dr. Kamal Al-Hilbawi, introduced on the program as director of the LondonCenterfor the Study of Terrorism, and political analyst Dr. Nabil Yassin. Dr. Hilbawi is also former spokesman of the international Muslim Brotherhood in the West. [1] The debate aired on BBC Arabic TV on October 17, 2008:
To view this clip on MEMRI TV, visit http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/1922.htm.
Al-Hilbawi: "I Believe That Every Israeli Civilian is a Future Soldier... Even If He Is a Child"
Dr. Kamal Al-Hilbawi: "I condemn the targeting of any civilian, but incidentally, I believe that every Israeli civilian is a future soldier."
Interviewer: "He is what?"
Dr. Kamal Al-Hilbawi: "A future soldier."
Interviewer: "Even if he is two years old?"
Dr. Kamal Al-Hilbawi: "Even if he is a child. A child born in Israel is raised on the belief that [the Arabs] are like contemptible sheep, and that this is a land without a people, and they are a people without a land. They have very strange concepts. In elementary school, they pose the following math problem: 'In your village, there are 100 Arabs. If you killed 40, how many Arabs would be left for you to kill?' This is taught in the Israeli curriculum. What would you say about that? Should a child studying this be considered a civilian? He is a future soldier."
[...]
Dr. Nabil Yassin: "What Kamal said is very dangerous. He is familiar with the case of the Kharijites. He takes us back to the Azariqa, the Kharijites who were most lethal to Muslims. They used to cut open the bellies of pregnant women, because they believed that the child would become an enemy of the Kharijites."[...]
 Report: Web 2.0 gives new tools to hate groups-EJP
WASHINGTON (AFP)---Social networks MySpace and Facebook and video-sharing site YouTube are being used as powerful new tools by extremist groups to spread a message of hate, participants in a recent conference on Internet hate speech warned.
"MySpace, Facebook and YouTube are the 'killer apps' of the Internet today, and they're used by millions, but the virus of hate certainly has infected those technologies," Christopher Wolf, chair of the International Network Against CyberHate (INACH), told the Global Summit on Internet Hate Speech. "The Internet continues to be exploited by people who espouse hate in many different ways -- anti-Semites, Holocaust deniers, racists, homophobes and terrorists," Wolf said on the opening day of the two-day event hosted by the French embassy. "The Internet toolbox that is available to hatemongers has had a number of new items added to it over the last several years," Wolf said, citing Web2.0 features such as blogs, social networks, video sites and instant messaging. Stefan Glaser, a co-founder of INACH, an umbrella group for non-governmental groups fighting online hate speech, said that with Web 2.0 tools "the effect of hate is getting broadened." "Neo-Nazis are very well aware of social network platforms for recruiting the next generation, for infiltrating youth groups," said Glaser, who runs Jugendschutz.net, the German bureau which protects minors on the Internet. Deborah Lauter, national director of civil rights for the Anti-Defamation League, said extremist groups "use these social-networking sites and they create a community, a community of hate and it has very real consequences." (EJP)
ENVIRONMENTALISM and Science
'World mandate' on climate action-Richard Black
An opinion poll in 11 countries has produced what organisers term a "global mandate" for action on climate change.
About half of the respondents wanted governments to play a major role in curbing emissions, but only a quarter said their leaders were doing enough. In developing countries, a majority of people were prepared to make "lifestyle changes" to reduce climate change. The survey was commissioned by the HSBC Climate Partnership, which includes business and environmental groups. Lord Nicholas Stern, who led the 2006 Stern Review into the economics of climate change and now works as a special advisor to the HSBC partnership, said this amounted to a global mandate for stronger action. "It does show that people in the world expect their governments to take strong action as as matter of responsibility, and hope they will work with other governments to take action," he told BBC News. "It is not a story which says 'I will do something only if others do'." The survey is published just five days before this year's United Nations climate conference opens in the Polish city of Poznan. (BBC)
 Reading This Will Change Your Brain-Janeen Interlandi
A leading neuroscientist says processing digital information can rewire your circuits. But is it evolution?
Is technology changing our brains? A new study by UCLA neuroscientist Gary Small adds to a growing body of research that says it is. And according to Small's new book, "iBRAIN: Surviving the Technological Alteration of the Modern Mind," a dramatic shift in how we gather information and communicate with one another has touched off an era of rapid evolution that may ultimately change the human brain as we know it. "Perhaps not since early man first discovered how to use a tool has the human brain been affected so quickly and so dramatically," he writes. "As the brain evolves and shifts its focus towards new technological skills, it drifts away from fundamental social skills." The impact of technology on our circuitry should not come as a surprise. The brain's plasticity—it's ability to change in response to different stimuli—is well known. Professional musicians have more gray matter in brain regions responsible for planning finger movements. And athletes' brains are bulkier in areas that control hand-eye coordination. That's because the more time you devote to a specific activity, the stronger the neural pathways responsible for executing that activity become. So it makes sense that people who process a constant stream of digital information would have more neurons dedicated to filtering that information. Still, that's not the same thing as evolution. (Newsweek)
Society and CULTURE
Giving Thanks for Genocide?-Mona Charen
No, we celebrate the peaceful start of the not always peaceful history of the greatest of nations. Thanksgiving is coming — a time to participate in the great American tradition of maligning and abusing our ancestors.
Last year, Seattle public school administrators warned teachers that “Thanksgiving can be a particularly difficult time for many of our Native students.” Accordingly, teachers were advised to consult a list of 11 Thanksgiving “myths.” No. 11 read as follows: Myth: Thanksgiving is a happy time. Fact: For many Indian people, “Thanksgiving” is a time of mourning, of remembering how a gift of generosity was rewarded by theft of land and seed corn, extermination of many from disease and gun, and near total destruction of many more from forced assimilation. As currently celebrated in this country, “Thanksgiving” is a bitter reminder of 500 years of betrayal returned for friendship.
In his new book, The 10 Big Lies About America, film critic and radio talk show host Michael Medved recalls the Seattle episode, as well as many other examples of self-flagellation that now characterize many of our national observances. Columbus Day? The start of a vicious subjugation. A Denver Columbus Day parade was marred last year by protesters who threw fake blood and dismembered dolls along the parade route. Plymouth Rock? Weren’t the Native Americans here first after all? The 400th anniversary of the landing at Jamestown was renamed from celebration to “commemoration” in 2007 because “so many facets of Jamestown’s history are not cause for celebration.” Medved, a passionate but not blind patriot, argues that our kids and the rest of us are being fed a tendentious history that wildly exaggerates the offenses of European settlers. The notion that “America Was Founded on Genocide Against Native Americans” cannot withstand scrutiny. Like racism, genocide is a word that has lost its meaning through promiscuous overuse. Medved reminds us that the international “Genocide Convention” defines genocide as an act or acts “committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group as such.” In the clash of civilizations between European settlers and Native Americans, millions died. But the overwhelming majority of those deaths were attributable to diseases carried involuntarily by Europeans and spread to natives who had no natural immunities to these pathogens. That is a tragedy, but not a crime. (Nationalreview.com)
 Shakespeare suffers after SATs scrapped-Joanna Sugden
Shakespeare’s popularity in schools has had a "fall by virtue" following the abolition of national tests for 14-year-olds, as teachers opt out of training courses and cancel theatre workshops. Half of teachers booked on courses with the Royal Shakespeare Company have cancelled now they don’t have to prepare pupils for English tests on the Bard. The Government abandoned the national curriculum tests for teenagers, which included questions on one of Shakespeare’s plays, this summer after critics labelled them redundant. Ed Balls, the Schools Secretary said at the time that GCSEs already provide an adequate measure of pupil and school achievement. But Shakespeare has become a victim of the decision as schools cancel trips by touring theatre companies to save money - one of the largest groups reported an 80 per cent drop in business. Barry Sheerman, the chair of the cross party Schools and Families committee, said the Government’s control over the curriculum left teachers “too frightened” to complain in case they didn’t get a promotion. “It’s quite chilling if schools don’t want students to go and see Shakespeare if it’s not examined,” Mr Sheerman said. Jim Knight, the Schools Minister, promised to investigate the decline in teaching seminal texts like Romeo and Juliet and Measure for Measure. "If something is part of a statutory test it focuses minds and drives behaviour," Knight said. "I'm disappointed schools have taken this line and we need to do more research to find out why. We have already been working on how to improve the teaching and appreciation of Shakespeare at Key Stage Three." (Timesonline.co.uk)
German incest couple appeal to European Court to overturn prison sentence-David Wroe
A German brother and sister living in an incestuous relationship that has borne four children are appealing to the European Court of Human Rights to overturn the man's jail sentence.
Patrick Stuebing, 31, and his sister Susan Karolewski, 23, have been in a sexual relationship for seven years. Last year, the German Constitutional Court upheld a three and a half year prison sentence for Mr Stuebing for four counts of incest. Now the couple from Leipzig, who first met as adults after Mr Stuebing was adopted by another family, are taking their fight to the European court, arguing that Germany's law breaches the European Convention on Human Rights. The couple's lawyer, Endrik Wilhelm, said the appeal argued that article 173 in Germany's legal code banning vaginal intercourse between siblings breached their right to sexual privacy and also did not meet a "social demand" for punishment. "This is not the Fritzl case," said Mr Wilhelm. "They are loving adults saying: 'We want to have sex'. Nobody needs protecting here." The couple's children reportedly suffer some disabilities. Erik, seven, Sahra, five, and Nancy, four, all suffer some kind of delayed development or physical disability. All live in foster homes. The youngest daughter, Sophira, is three and is still being cared for by the couple. Stuebing had a vasectomy last year.
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