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This week marks the 70th Anniversary of the Munich Agreement, an event that many historians agree changed world history. The American Freedom Alliance has held a series of events during this week, looking at the Munich Agreemnt for avariety of angles and culminating with an important international commemoration at which John Howard , the former Prime Minister of Australia and Petr Pithart, the former Prime Minister of the Czech Republic, will be honored. We encourage everyone in the Southern California area to join us at this important vital event. Details of the Commemoration can be found here: http://www.americanfreedomalliance.org/microsite/rememberingmunich/images/flyer-remembering-munich.jpg
At a time o growing tension and struggle within our own socities over fiancial , social and political issues, we hope that the lessons of Munich will remain with us and guide us in our decision making for the future.
Appeasement and the Lessons of Munich
By Avi Davis
The memory of the Munich Agreement dredges up strong images and perhaps even stronger emotions. The handshake in Munich in the early hours of the morning of September 30, 1938; the ill-fated Heathrow Airport address, with an exhausted Chamberlain fluttering the Munich Agreement in the wind; the false proclamations of peace announced by British daily newspapers the next day. But the stronger images are those we associate with the aftermath: scarred battlefields, cratered cities, billowing crematoria, emaciated concentration camp victims and the newsreels revealing piles of rotting corpses.
With the benefit of hindsight, we can review the series of events that led to one of the greatest diplomatic debacles in history and ask some compelling questions: What motivated the actors in this drama? What kind of world view informed a policy that impeded any serious effort on the part of the Western democracies to confront Hitler and to abandon a democratic country with whom they were allied? And more to the point, what lessons have the Western democracies gleaned from the Munich Agreement in recognizing current threats to Western civilization?
The Meaning and History of Appeasement
“Appease(ment)”is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary alternatively as “ to bring peace, pacify, settle strife or disorder;” and “to pacify, assuage or allay anger or displeasure.” But since 1938, the word has garnered a political meaning all of its own. A third entry in the OED defines “appeasement” in a derogatory sense, “ used of the British Prime Minister’s efforts from 1937 to 1939 to stave off the threatened aggression of the Axis Powers.” Of course, for many political leaders, commentators and pundits, appeasement today signifies far more than one instance of failed diplomacy. It has come to define cowardice and irresolution in the face of aggression.
Yet the fact that the dictionary uses a historical event to give context and meaning to a word, is powerful evidence of how deeply ingrained the events and lessons of 1938 have seeped into the consciousness of the West.
But is it entirely fair? Appeasement, after all, was a function of the foreign policies of all the Great Powers in the 19th Century. It was regularly and skillfully employed by European political leaders from Metternich to Bismarck to Salisbury in order to create a balance of power that kept Europe largely at peace for 100 years. Imperial Rome had employed policies of appeasement to govern its far flung empire and so did Great Britain when its own imperial ambitions began to outgrow its reach. An example is how the U.K., confronted with the rising menace of a unified Germany, sought to strengthen its global position by appeasing the United States in the 1890s. Between 1896 and 1903 Great Britain acceded to American demands to explicitly accept the Monroe Doctrine; submitted British Guiana’s border dispute with Venezuela to international arbitration; agreed to the construction of the Panama Canal and settled a Canadian- American border dispute in the U.S’ favor. All were examples of a willingness to appease a foreign power’s demands in the interests of broader future interests.
The First World War and the various crises leading up to the commencement of hostilities in Europe in 1914, jettisoned the carefully crafted ‘concert of Europe’. The land grab of the late 19th and early 20th century in Africa and Asia, and the imperatives of empire building, brought an end to the willingness of statesmen to subordinate territorial ambition to practical diplomacy. In its place emerged muscular foreign policies which scraped and grinded against one another until they ignited the spark of an all consuming confrontation.
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NEWS: EUROPE AND AMERICA
2012 London Olympic Park Lavatories Will Not Face Mecca
London's Olympic Park toilets to turn away from Mecca out of respect for Islamic law-Daily Mail Reporter
Toilet facilities are being built at London's Olympic Park so Muslims will not have to face Mecca while sitting on the loo. The Olympic Delivery Authority has said it wants to produce an ideal venue for people of all cultures, faiths, ages and abilities for the 2012 Games and beyond. The Islamic religion prohibits Muslims from facing the Kiblah - the direction of prayer - when they visit the lavatory. An ODA spokeswoman confirmed that a 'percentage of general toilets would not face Mecca' out of sensitivity. She could not say how many toilets would turn away from the East. Also as part of the design, special washing facilities will be linked to Islamic prayer rooms. It is not the first time toilets have changed direction to accommodate Muslims. Last year, thousands of pounds of taxpayers' money was used to ensure toilets at Brixton prison in London did not offend Islamic law. Muslim prisoners complained of having to sit sideways on toilets so as to not break code. Faith leaders in the government pressured officials to approve turning the toilets 90 degrees. But ODA chairman John Armitt said it was about making the London Olympic venue the 'most accessible and inclusive public park' for future generations.
Other design measures earmarked for the park include:
• Gentle slopes into the venue with wider pathways with smooth surfaces and seating and resting places at regular intervals for wheelchair users;
• Accessible toilet facilities including special areas where older disabled people can be helped to change by their carers; and
• Baby changing areas and buggy stores at toilet facilities.
Vice chairman of London Olympic Organising Committee's Sports Advisory Group and Paralympic champion Dame Tanni Grey-Thomson said: 'London 2012 is aiming to go further than any previous host city to ensure that both the Olympic and Paralympic Games are accessible for everyone. (Dailymail.co.uk)
CAIR Asks FEC To Investigate Aish HaTorah’s Distribution Of Obession DVD
Muslim group seeks probe of 'radical Islam' DVD-Eric Gorski
A U.S. Muslim advocacy group Tuesday asked the Federal Election Commission to investigate whether a nonprofit group that distributed a controversial DVD about Islam in newspapers nationwide is a "front" for an Israel-based group with a stealth goal of helping Republican presidential candidate John McCain.
The promoters of "Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West" denied trying to promote any presidential campaign. They said it's also incorrect to tie the DVD campaign to Jerusalem-based educational group Aish HaTorah International, although current and former employees are involved with the project.
The Council for American-Islamic Relations asked the FEC to investigate the DVD distribution, which targeted about 28 million households mostly in battleground election states.
The DVDs - which critics call anti-Muslim propaganda - were inserted this month into more than 70 newspapers and paid for by the Clarion Fund, a nonprofit founded in 2006. The group's focus is "the most urgent threat of radical Islam." It has declined to identify board members or its funding.
Never picked up for traditional distribution, "Obsession" features scenes of Muslim children being urged to become suicide bombers, 9/11 carnage and interviews with critics of Islam.(APNews)
Another organization, the Endowment for Middle East Truth, is a partner with the Clarion Fund in "The Obsession Project," which will also include research publications and issue forums.
Ari Morgenstern, a spokesman for that group, said targeting swing states was designed to attract media attention, but is not meant to influence the election result. He said the film "makes a very clear and upfront distinction between the majority of peaceful followers of Islam and those people who subscribe to a radical Islamic ideology." (Apnews)
French Prisons Becoming A Breeding Ground For Terrorism
Jailhouse jihad-Economist
Fears that terrorism is breeding in French prisons
HOME to Europe’s biggest Muslim population and a robust counter-terrorism system, France has long kept a keen watch on Islamic radicalism. In recent years it has been spared big bombings of the kind seen in London and Madrid. But France is no stranger to attack by jihadists, and officials fear it is just a matter of time before they strike again. The authorities are particularly worried about recruitment to militant Islam in France’s overcrowded prisons. “French prisons are a preferred recruiting ground for radical Islamists,” Michèle Alliot-Marie, the interior minister, told Le Figaro newspaper. She and her EU counterparts have been working on a joint handbook on how to counter the phenomenon, which touches many European countries, notably Britain. At the end of September, Ms Alliot-Marie will host an EU seminar, in the heavily Muslim Paris banlieue of Saint-Denis, to discuss what to do. Fiercely secular, France does not collect official statistics based on religion. But Farhad Khosrokhavar, a French specialist on the subject, estimates that Muslims make up well over half France’s prison population—far higher than their 8% or so share of the total population. Among these there are currently some 1,100 people behind bars in France for terrorist-related activities, according to Alain Bauer, a criminologist. Ms Alliot-Marie said that another 55 have been detained this year. Proselytising among inmates is common. Security officials are worried that many radicals jailed around the time of the 1998 football World Cup, hosted by France, are starting to be released. “Radicalised Islamists become more influential in prison,” says Mr Khosrokhavar. He reckons there are a few hundred Islamists actively recruiting behind bars in France. (Economist)
Coalition Of Activists Seek To Charge Ahmadinejad With War Crimes
Petition charges Ahmadinejad with inciting genocide
IWhile Iranian president speaks before UN General Assembly a coalition of legal experts, activists, diplomats signs petition in Washington calling on public to recognize him as war criminal rather than legitimate leader Yitzhak Benhorin
WASHINGTON – As the UN General Assembly welcomes Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in New York, a petition fighting to bring him to justice for incitement and genocide is being prepared in Washington.
The petition was reared by the head of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, former Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Dr. Dore Gold. Gold met with a coalition of legal experts, anti-genocide activists, governmental officials, and diplomats in Washington Tuesday in order to commence a public attempt at converting Ahmedinejad’s image from that of a legitimate leader to that of a war criminal. During the conference, former US Ambassador to the UN Richard Holbrooke called for the annulment of Ahmedinjad’s statements. "Words matter," Holbrooke said. "When people say, 'Don't pay too much attention, they don't mean it' - it reminds me of my grandfather in Hamburg, who read Mein Kampf. He took it seriously, but many other people didn't. (Ynets)
Is English Common Law Derived From Islam?
Is English law related to Muslim law?-Mukui Devichand
In London's historic "Inns of Court", barristers practise law in the shadow of the distinctive medieval Temple Church. But does English law really owe a debt to Muslim law?
For some scholars, a historical connection to Islam is a "missing link" that explains why English common law is so different from classical Roman legal systems that hold sway across much of the rest of Europe. It's a controversial idea. Common law has inspired legal systems across the world. What's more, calls for the UK to accommodate Islamic Sharia law have caused public outcry. The first port of call when looking for an eastern link in the common law is London's Inns of Court.
FIND OUT MORE...
Law in Action, presented by Mukul Devichand, is on Radio 4 on Tuesday, 1600 BST
"You are now leaving London, and entering Jerusalem," says Robin Griffith-Jones, the Master of the Temple Church, as he walks around its spectacular rotunda. The church stands in the heart of the legal district and was built by the Knights Templar, the fierce order of monks-turned-warriors who fought Muslim armies in the Crusades. London's historic legal district, with its professional class of independent lawyers, has parallels with the way medieval Islamic law was organised. In Sunni Islam there were four great schools of legal theory, which were often housed in "madrassas" around mosques. Scholars debated each other on obscure points of law, in much the same way as English barristers do. There is a theory that the Templars modelled the Inns of Court on Muslim ideas. But Mr Griffith-Jones suggests it is pretty unlikely the Templars imported the madrassa system to England. They were suppressed after 1314 - yet lawyers only started congregating in the Inns of Court after the 1360s. (BBC)
Prince Charles Becomes Patron Of London Jewish Museum
Prince Charles Becomes Patron Of London Jewish Museum
 LONDON (EJP)---The Prince of Wales, heir to the British throne, has agreed to become Patron of the Jewish Museum in London, the museum announced Tuesday.
It is the Prince’s first patronage of a Jewish community organisation with a remit in the United Kingdom.
“It is a recognition of the museum’s role in highlighting the history and life of one of Britain’s oldest minority communities and in contributing to interfaith understanding,” Rickie Burman, director of the Jewish Museum, said. The Prince was formerly patron of the Jewish Museum in support of its 75th anniversary in 2007. In a message sent to the museum in 2007, Prince Charles said:“Aside from housing its unique and beautiful collection of Judaica from this country and around the world, the museum serves as a centre of explanation of the Jewish religion, especially for children.” “One of the most urgent issues that needs to be addressed in the United Kingdom and elsewhere in the world, is the fostering of understanding between people of different faiths,” he added. “Those who can develop such understanding, I believe, will contribute so much more towards the harmonious progress of our world. The development of the extended museum is a project that I wholeheartedly support”. The Jewish Museum is in the midst of a major expansion that has been partly funded by a 4.2 million pounds grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund. The project will triple the space at its Camden Town premises and integrate the collections, displays and activities of its two former sites under one roof. The state-of-the-art museum, scheduled to reopen in Autumn 2009, will have enlarged exhibition galleries, new education facilities, a large auditorium and hands-on displays for children and families.
The museum, which was founded in 1932, holds one of the finest collections of Judaica in the world.
The Prince visited the museum’s flagship location in Camden together with the Duchess of Cornwall in February 2007.
Guide Dog For The Blind Will Be Allowed To Enter UK Mosque
First Guide Dog Allowed to Enter UK Mosque-Dog News
Leicester guide dog is first to be allowed to enter UK mosque
After months of work by The Guide Dogs for the Blind Association and The Muslim Council of Britain (MCB), guide dog Vargo has become the first guide dog in the UK to enter a mosque after the Islamic Shari’ah Council issued a historic fatwa11 stating “a blind person, in the light of Shariah Law, will be allowed to keep a guide dog to help him and if required to take him to the mosque for his prayers2”. In this momentous event today (on Wednesday 24 September), Vargo accompanied his 18-year-old owner Mahomed-Abraar Khatri to his local mosque in Leicester, seen as a massive step forward for other blind and partially sighted Muslims. Previously a guide dog has not been able to accompany its owner into a mosque as the Islamic faith recognises dogs as being used for guarding and hunting only. However Vargo – and other guide dogs – are working dogs and so necessary adjustments to encourage independent mobility are supported. A specially constructed rest area has been set up in the entrance of the mosque for Vargo to stay in whilst Mahomed-Abraar is praying. Previously Mahomed-Abraar - who attends the RNIB College in Loughborough - had to be accompanied to the mosque by a sighted assistant. (Dogmagazine)
ACADEMIC FREEDOM
Universities Under Pressure To Disclose Foreign Gifts After 9/11
Universities Disclose Foreign Gifts-Bari Weiss
New York University has received an unrestricted gift of $20 million from the government of the United Arab Emirates, while Columbia University received $20.5 million earmarked for its public health school from the late Ronald Lauterstein, a Canadian who made his fortune in private nursing and home care services. The two gifts dwarf all other foreign donations received by each school in the past two years, according to disclosure records filed with the state of New York and obtained by The New York Sun. The next largest gifts to NYU in 2007 were $1,504,108 from a professor emeritus of German, Eberhard Berent, given to establish a chair of Goethe, and $1,312,670 from the National University of Singapore. Significant gifts to Columbia this past year came from the The Gatsby Charitable Foundation, nearly $1.5 million; United Nations Development Programme, nearly $1 million, and the Swedish corporation Volvo at $750,000. The $20 million gift from the United Arab Emirates, listed in NYU's yearly disclosure report, is part of a pledged $50 million, which the university can use where it sees fit. (NYSun)
Bipartisan Group Seeks To Improve US-Muslim Relations
Bipartisan Group of U.S. Leaders Calls for 'Changed Course' in Relations With the Muslim World
WASHINGTON, Sept 24, 2008 /PRNewswire-USNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Leaders Call 'Global War on Terror' an Inadequate Response, Propose Comprehensive U.S.-Muslim Relations Strategy to Prevent Another 9/11. "Few challenges matter more than reducing distrust and misunderstanding between the United States and people living in Muslim majority states. This timely report is a groundbreaking, stereotype-shattering and thought-provoking contribution to that essential cause." -- Madeleine Albright, former U.S. Secretary of State, member of the U.S.-Muslim Engagement Project's Leadership Group." The United States needs to make a significant shift in our relations with Muslim countries, relying more on diplomacy and helping lay the foundation for democratic development." -- Richard Armitage, former U.S. Deputy Secretary of State and Leadership Group member. Today at the National Press Club, the bipartisan Leadership Group of the U.S.-Muslim Engagement Project released its report entitled Changing Course: A New Direction for U.S. Relations with the Muslim World. The report argues that the Global War on Terror has been an inadequate framework for improving our security and preventing future 9/11s. It proposes a comprehensive strategy with concrete actions to reverse extremism, increase U.S. and international security and improve U.S. relations with Muslim countries and communities. The report also calls upon Muslim leaders to take reciprocal steps to improve relations. (Marketwatch)
FREEDOM OF SPEECH
Saudi Cleric’s Latest Edict Calls For Flogging, Jailing And Termination Of Jobs If Media Criticises Religious Leaders
Saudi cleric issues fatwa against journalists/ writers who criticise religious figures-by admin
FREEDOM TO WATCH: A Saudi man drinks coffee as he watches Satellite TV at his home in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Tuesday, September 16, 2008. Arabs are denouncing a Saudi cleric's edict that it is permissible to kill the owners of satellite TV stations that show "immoral" content. Many fear the fatwa could fuel vigilante attacks on the media. A top Saudi cleric has issued an edict saying writers who challenge or criticise religious sheikhs should be fired from their jobs, flogged, and jailed. This comes close on the heels of another top cleric calling for the death of owners of satellite TV stations that air “immoral” soap operas. Sheikh Abdallah Ben Jabreen, a former member of the Saudi Arabia’s Establishment of Fatwas, told Al-Majd TV, a privately owned channel in Saudi Arabia, that journalists who criticise religious figures should be punished, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) reported. Ben Jabreen’s fatwa came in support of an edict issued last week by Sheikh Saleh al-Lihedan, who called for the deaths of owners of television channels that broadcast “immoral” programs. In a statement, CPJ expressed concern about al-Lihedan’s fatwa. “Those (writers) and journalists and satellite TVs who attack scholars, and particularly well-known sheikhs, and publish bad bulletins about them—they must be punished … even by lengthy imprisonment …or by dismissing them from their jobs, and flogging and rebuking,” (Newswatch.In)
Rep. Tom Tancredo Proposes Jihad Prevention Act
The Jihad Prevention Act-Kathy Shaidle
 IInternational reaction was almost uniformly negative last week when news broke that Britain had officially granted Muslim Sharia courts permission to rule on everything from divorce to domestic violence. After all, in its strictest form, Sharia law requires the stoning of women accused of adultery, and the execution of converts from Islam, among other draconian punishments for offences that aren’t even considered crimes in the West. In the U.K. and abroad, pundits and politicians denounced Britain’s capitulation, but only one elected official responded with a daring proposal aimed at preventing Sharia law from gaining such a foothold in America. That that politician was Rep. Tom Tancredo won’t surprise observers of American politics. The Colorado congressman has long been an outspoken critic of the unofficial “open-borders” policy that encourages millions of undocumented immigrants – including would-be terrorists – to enter the U.S. each year. During his short-lived presidential campaign in 2007, Tancredo repeatedly raised the immigration issue during televised debates. He also aired a provocative television ad in which he promised to “stop all visas to nations that sponsor terrorism and [to] arrest and deport any alien who preaches violence and hatred.” The ad earned Tancredo scorn on the Left and also on some parts of the Right. Undaunted, he has now proposed a “Jihad Prevention Act” that “would bar the entry of foreign nationals who advocate Sharia law [and] make the advocacy of Sharia law by radical Muslims already in the United States a deportable offense.” In his official announcement on September 18, Tancredo observed: “This is a case where truth is truly stranger than fiction. Today the British people are learning a hard lesson about the consequences of massive, unrestricted immigration.” “When you have an immigration policy that allows for the importation of millions of radical Muslims,” he explained, “you are also importing their radical ideology – an ideology that is fundamentally hostile to the foundations of western democracy – such as gender equality, pluralism, and individual liberty. The best way to safeguard America against the importation of the destructive effects of this poisonous ideology is to prevent its purveyors from coming here in the first place.” (Frontpagemag)
Canada Prohibits Simon Wiesenthal Center From Displaying Poster Comparing Ahmadinejad To Hitler
Canada: Don't liken Ahmadinejad to Hitler-Ohad Pas
Toronto municipality prohibits Simon Wiesenthal Center from displaying poster featuring saluting Hitler and Iranian leader with burning devil over his shoulder as it 'may promote discrimination'. Center: Exhibit meant to be provocative because the situation is real and serious.
TORONTO - The City of Toronto has prohibited the local chapter of the Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies from displaying a poster titled "The Making of a War Criminal" featuring an image of Hitler saluting and a photo of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad with a burning devil over his shoulder.
The disputed poster was to be displayed as part of a travelling Holocaust exhibit in schools and institutions throughout the Canadian city. City officials claimed the exhibit may "stereotype or promote views and ideas which are likely to promote discrimination, contempt or hatred for any persons". Avi Benlolo, chief executive in the Canadian branch of the Wiesenthal Center said in response that "Ahmadinejad's threat to wipe Israel off the map - if that's not a call for genocide or another Holocaust, I don't know what is," said. "We did this exhibit to press this case. It needs to be seen in public spaces," Benlolo said. City councilor Mike Feldman defended the city's decision to edit the exhibit, saying "It's the city's responsibility to try to maintain a peace within the city. The city is erring on the side of caution. If we display that, then what will prevent any display from anyone else?" He said he was concerned that the exhibit would provide a platform for Ahmadinejad's "very dangerous" ideas. "I don't think anyone is applauding what this mad man is saying but ... I don't know what the (display) would accomplish," he said. Benlolo, on his part, said the exhibit is not meant to be offensive. "It's meant to be shocking," he said. "It is meant to be provocative because the situation is real and serious." (Ynet)
ANTISEMITISM
Once Again, Ahmandinejad Denounces Israel And Zionism
Ahmadinejad rails against Zionists, U.S. bullying-Claudia Parsons
Reuters
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad railed against "Zionist murderers" in a speech to the United Nations on Tuesday and vowed to resist American bullying and defend Iran's right to nuclear power. After a long discourse on God, justice and morality, Ahmadinejad said a small number of "deceitful" Zionists were manipulating Americans and Europeans. Ahmadinejad, who has said in the past Israel should be wiped off the map, said there was growing resistance in the world to the aggression of "bullying powers," a phrase he used repeatedly to refer to the United States and its allies. "The Zionist regime is on a definite slope to collapse, and there is no way for it to get out of the cesspool created by itself and its supporters," he said, referring to Israel. "American empire in the world is reaching the end of its road, and its next rulers must limit their interference to their own borders," Ahmadinejad said. He dwelled on what he described as Zionist control over international "financial and monetary centers."The comments were swiftly denounced as anti-Semitic by the Anti-Defamation League, the Simon Wiesenthal Center and U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, among others. Israeli President Shimon Peres said the comments echoed an anti-Semitic tract -- now considered fraudulent -- that was published in the early 1900s and described a Jewish and Masonic plot to take over the world. (Washingtonpost)
Muslim-Jewish Tensions Fester In Paris’s 19th Arrondissement
Tense Rivalries Threaten a Melting-Pot District-Steven Erlanger
 PARIS — The fashion is more Brooklyn than Paris, with young Muslims and blacks in low jeans, sunglasses and hoodies, often with a kaffiyeh knotted carefully around the neck, and sometimes, now, with guns. There is a large Jewish community, too, many of them Lubavitcher, with kosher butchers and delicatessens, a large religious school and synagogue, close to the Medina Hammam Center and African grill restaurants like Le Marcory. The 19th Arrondissement is one of the most fascinating and complicated districts of Paris — one of the largest, youngest, poorest, most racially diverse — and the most criminal. The size of Grenoble or Reims, with nearly 190,000 people, the district, on the northeast edge of Paris, is split into at least three territories, with at least two large mini-ghettos, or cités, run by their own gangs of youths, who spar along the borders and sometimes clash with the Jews. And it borders some of Paris’s poorest suburbs. This has been a bad month for the 19th, with a surge in violence that has brought anxious responses from community leaders, the mayor of Paris and the police. Six young men have been wounded, another shot to death. And there are new accusations of anti-Semitism, with an attack on three young men wearing skullcaps after an exchange of insults, and the police are adding patrols. Mendel Shapira, 24, who works in the Eshel Glatt Kosher butcher shop on the Rue Petit, said, “These Arabs and blacks come here because they know Jewish people live here, and it’s worse when there are things going on in Israel.” (NYT)
Ronald S. Lauder, President Of The World Jewish Congress Criticises Christian Groups For Hosting A Dinner With Ahmadinejad
Jewish leader outraged by Christian groups’ invitation to Ahmadinejad
NEW YORK (EJP)---The head of the World Jewish Congress has expressed outrage at the decision of five Christian groups to host Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at a dinner in New York this week.
The Mennonite Central Committee, the Quaker United Nations Office, the World Council of Churches, Religions for Peace and the American Friends Service Committee are sponsoring a dinner on Thursday with Ahmadinejad as the guest of honor, an event described as “dialogue between religious and political leaders” and a conversation to discuss “building peaceful societies”. The Iranian president will be in New York to attend the annual United Nations General Assembly. In a statement, Ronald S. Lauder, president of the World Jewish Congress, said: “These organizations, who present themselves as altruistic and who have global influence, are promoting the world’s foremost supporter of terrorism and an egregious violator of human rights.” He added: “It was Ahmadinejad who held the first-ever state-sponsored international conference of Holocaust deniers. It is Ahmadinejad who is posing a threat to the United States and to Europe, and who has repeatedly called for the annihilation of Israel." "It is Ahmadinejad who is defying the United Nations Charter with his mistreatment of minorities and women, and violates the UN Genocide Convention by threatening the destruction of another member state. It is Ahmadinejad who is steadfastly ignoring UN Security Council resolutions and who continually lies to the International Atomic Energy Agency about the real intentions of his nuclear program, endangering not only his neighbors in the Middle East but the entire world. Such a man cannot be a partner for peace and inter-faith dialogue.” US Jewish groups are mobilizing to protest Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s presence at the UN General Assembly in New York. A mass protest rally was scheduled on Monday across from the United Nations building. Sarah Palin, the Republican vice-presidential nominee, will be among the featured speakers, according to the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, which is organizing the demonstration. Lauder added: “These groups, who claim to hold up values such as peace and mutual understanding, make a mockery of themselves by shamelessly providing a cruel dictator and racist with a platform for his invective. “There is no purpose in dignifying the Iranian president. The World Council of Churches, the Quakers and the other sponsors of the event in New York have a long and distressing record of demonizing Israel. With their bow to Ahmadinejad, they have brazenly chosen a racist dictator as their friend.” The WJC president also criticized the participation at the dinner of the UN General Assembly’s current president, the former Nicaraguan foreign minister and Catholic priest Miguel D’Escoto Brockmann. “Instead of showing a united face against Ahmadinejad, Mr. D’Escoto honors a man who does great dishonor to the United Nations. That is shameful and puts the credibility of the UN vis-à-vis Iran in doubt,” Lauder said. (EJP)
TERRORISM, INTERNET, JIHAD
Meet The New Women Cadets Of Kabul
The Women of the Kabul Police Academy-Edda Schlager
Of the over 1,600 cadets at the Kabul Police Academy, only 10 are women. They are breaking traditions and taking considerable personal risk.Yet it is still almost impossible to find female officers patrolling the streets -- many are still stuck in desk jobs.
Latifa is sitting at home with her young son when female police officers suddenly storm into the room. "Hands up, back against the wall," they yell, two of them pointing their pistols at Latifa. The boy stares, wide-eyed, into the barrel of a gun. Then Latifa is led out of the room. Outside, one of the police officers orders her to stand with her face against the wall, puts on handcuffs and pats her down. Suddenly Latifa's mobile phone rings. The policewomen giggle. One of them quickly opens the handcuffs so that Latifa can answer her phone. Latifa, in fact, is a police officer herself, or at least a future one. But today she is playing the role of a woman suspected of being a drug dealer, together with her young nephew, who she has "borrowed" from her brother. Latifa and her fellow cadets are attending the Kabul Police Academy, and they are currently practicing the techniques of raiding houses in a special, two-story Tactical Training Center set up for this purpose on the grounds of the academy. Ten women, together with about 1,600 male students, are currently undergoing training here to become police officers. They are part of the one-third of all students destined to become higher-ranking officers. For these young women, this means attending the academy for three years.
Ten Female Officers for a New Afghanistan
Together with the men, the female students complete courses in shooting pistols and Kalashnikovs, in computer science, tactics and house-to-house combat. There is no separate girls' class. The women and men are trained together, except in physical education and in certain exercises like today's. In terms of their appearance, the only difference between the young women and their mail counterparts is the black headscarf they wear. Their hair, ears and necks must be covered. The headscarf is part of the uniform, which consists of grey slacks and a corresponding jacket -- for men and women. The female police cadets are quick to note that they wouldn't even wear a burka in private. The burka, a blue garment covering the entire body, was once required under the Taliban, and is still worn by many women in Afghanistan today. "We respect the headscarf, which is considered a dress code in Islam," says Habiba, 19, "but not the burka." Fazel Rahman Ayubi, one of the instructors, is firmly convinced that women belong in the police force, even in Afghanistan. The girls, says Ayubi, are aware of their future responsibility early on. But the colonel has his doubts about the male recruits. "Close to 80 percent of our students only want to become police officers because they hope to gain privileges and corruption money." (SpiegelOnline)
The Perils Of Ignoring Radical Islam In Our Time
Radical Islam, a Religion of “Peace in our Time”-A. Miller
“Peace” is apparently the word on the lips of British politicians whenever the omens point, in stiff armed salute, to catastrophe. In 1938, Neville Chamberlain gave his now infamous speech, ‘Peace in our Time,’ in which he announced that Germany would be allowed to annex Sudetenland from Czechoslovakia. This, the so-called Munich agreement, was meant of course to placate the Third Reich, but instead it is now seen as the first step to the occupation of Poland and to the onset of the Second World War. With utter lack of foresight Chamberlain had announced, “They [the various governments in the dispute] rejoiced with us that peace was preserved, and with us they look forward to further efforts to consolidate what has been done.” The British people, “were at one with those of Germany, of France and of Italy […] their intense desire for peace.” There was a certain unintended dimension to junior Labour minister David Cairns’ recent statement, that Gordon Brown is the most unpopular British prime minister, “since Neville Chamberlain after Hitler invaded Norway,” as the same sort of language and mentality of appeasement that facilitated the rise of Nazi Germany is routinely employed by Brown and his government in regard to radical Islam. Its most literal outpouring came in July, when Brown spoke to the Knesset, and urged that Israel should share Jerusalem with the Palestinians. Like Chamberlain, Brown spoke of his belief that, “[…] this historic, hard-won and lasting peace is within your [Israel’s] reach, I urge you to take it by the hand.” (Brusselsjournal)
Muslim Groups Lambast Anti-Muslim Video Game
Hypocrisy 2.0
Islamic groups condemn a macabre anti-Muslim video game. by Jonathan Schanzer
MUSLIMS IN BRITAIN were reportedly incensed over the release of a computer game called "Muslim Massacre," advertised by its creators as a "game of modern religious genocide." The game, available by free download on the Internet, urges players to "wipe out the Muslim race with an arsenal of the world's most destructive weapons," according to the UK-based ash-Sharq al-Awsat newspaper. Predictably, Muslim condemnation of the game was swift and harsh. "The makers of this 'game' should be quite ashamed of themselves," insisted Inayat Bunglawala, spokesperson for the Muslim Council of Britain. "Encouraging children and young people in a game to kill Muslims is unacceptable, tasteless, and deeply offensive," growled Mohammed Shafiq, CEO of the UK-based Ramadhan Foundation. A columnist for the UAE-based Gulf News called it a "sure-fire way to incite hatred...It is invidious in its concept and it is invidious that it is available to everyone on the Internet." While the "Muslim Massacre" video game is undoubtedly hate-filled and extremely tasteless, the reactions of some Muslims groups are hypocritical. Where was the widespread condemnation of the Hamas terrorist organization's video game entitled "Taht al-Hisaar" (Under Occupation)? Young children--the software provider claims it is suitable for children 13 and up--assume the role of Palestinian gunmen who fire automatic weapons upon Israelis. There can be no doubt that this game was designed to incite children to hate. Similarly, there was a dearth of condemnations after the release of Hezbollah's video game "Special Forces 2," which glorifies the 2006 war between the Lebanese terrorist group and Israel. Players assume the role of Hezbollah fighters, and earn points by capturing or killing Israeli soldiers and firing rockets into Israel. According to one Hezbollah mouthpiece, "Through this game the child can build an idea that this enemy can be defeated." This game was a sequel to the first "Special Forces," a wildly popular game that glorified the killing of Israelis, first produced by Hezbollah in 2002. (Weeklystandard)
Arab Terrorist Plows Car Into 23 Soldiers In Latest Jerusalem Attack
23 Soldiers Hurt in Arab Terror Attack in Jerusalem-Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
 (IsraelNN.com) An Arab terrorist from eastern Jerusalem ran over a group of soldiers and some civilians shortly before 11 p.m. Monday night at Kikar Tzahal (IDF Square) near the Jaffa Gate in Jerusalem. The terrorist was driving a private vehicle, a black BMW, when he attacked opposite the entrance to the Old City. He was shot and killed by an IDF soldier in the targeted group. One of the victims is in serious condition, and all of the others suffered light and moderate injuries. Most of the wounded were evacuated to Jerusalem's Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital, and seven other victims were rushed to Shaarei Tzedek Hospital. The victims were primarily soldiers who had gone to the Old City to participate in the nighttime selichot prayers traditionally recited before Rosh Hashanah. Shortly after the attack, a group of young hareidi-religious Jews gathered in a spontaneous protest near the scene of the incident. Protesters threw rocks and cursed at Arab passersby, calling out condemnations of the Arab presence in Jerusalem. The small mob was dispersed within a short time. The terrorist was under 20 years of age and a resident of Jerusalem. Initial police investigation of the incident revealed that he carried out the attack alone. However, security forces are following all leads that may indicate a connection with Palestinian Authority terrorist organizations.
Two earlier terrorist attacks in the capital this year involved a tractor and bulldozer, killing three Israelis and injuring scores of others. Both of the terrorists were Israeli Arabs from eastern Jerusalem who were working in the city. Asked by a reporter how the police is handling the threat of such vehicle-based attacks, Jerusalem District Police Chief Aharon Franco said, "Jerusalem police are widely deployed throughout the [Muslim] month of Ramadan - an attack such as this can happen anywhere - so that we can respond quickly." (INN)
Radical ENVIRONMENTALISM
British Farmers Blame Environment Agency For Floodwater Problem
Environment Agency neglect has lead to floodwater backing up-Michael Wigan
Britain's tragically swamped farmland is often a self-inflicted woe, claim farmers. Years of neglected draining by the Government's Environment Agency (EA) have resulted in blocked watercourses causing floodwater to back up and take longer to reach the sea. This is a side-effect of the fashion embraced by Government agencies and championed by conservation charities for minimal land management or active reversion to pre-modern farming landscapes. Dr Helen Phillips of Natural England, articulating these policies, has talked about the need to create more floodplains, restore wetlands by blocking-up old drainage channels, and allow rivers to find their own courses. Sadly, this is incompatible with food-growing, reducing carbon emissions, and the management of land for the delivery of benefit to humans. Supposedly for the sake of wildlife habitat, 're-wilding', as some call it, looks non-sensical to food producers. Summer flooding has put this whole approach to land management under pressure. The Government's soggy silence over the woes of farming betrays an anxiety that a link will be made between the failure of the nation's harvest, soil losses, and farmers' inability to get onto land and sow next season's crop, and their own whacky policies. Have they made the effects of bad weather worse? If so, when will insurance companies be asking them what they are up to? (Telegraph)
Society and CULTURE
Sir Paul McCartney’s Interview With The Jerusalem Post Before His Landmark Concert In Tel-Aviv This Week
Ahead of Israel concert, McCartney shares with 'Post' his optimistic view of life-David Horovitz
 A full half century after The Beatles began to take shape, Paul McCartney still sounds awed, modest and appreciative when discussing the lasting resonance of their music. Ahead of his Tel Aviv concert on Thursday, McCartney talks here to The Jerusalem Post about his beliefs, about how he copes with near-universal fame, about the puzzling, even "magical" inspiration for some of his songs, and about his abiding, insistently optimistic outlook on life.
Paul McCartney, just turned 15, was introduced to John Lennon, all of 16, at a church fete in Woolton, Liverpool, at which Lennon's skiffle group, The Quarrymen, was playing. The older boy, so legend has it, was impressed by McCartney's familiarity with rock and roll music and his facility with a guitar. For one thing, he knew how to tune it properly. The year was 1957.
McCartney, who had already started penning his own songs (he still sometimes plays his first ever composition, "I Lost My Little Girl"), soon joined Lennon's band, and the two began writing music together. As other Quarrymen came and went, they recruited a skilled 15-year-old guitarist, George Harrison. It was 1958 - 50 years ago - and, though they had not yet found their name, The Beatles were on their way.
Variants on The Beatles moniker were introduced in 1960 by Stuart Sutcliffe, an artist who reluctantly became their bass player but who died, of a brain hemorrhage, in 1962. With Pete Best on drums, the band honed its live skills at endless gigs in Liverpool and Hamburg, failed an audition at Decca Records in London in January 1962, made a better impression on producer George Martin at Parlophone a few weeks later, drafted the adept Liverpool drummer Richard Starkey in place of Best that August, recorded their first single, "Love Me Do," in September, and set off to change the course of musical history.
Somehow managing to survive a ban by the State of Israel (which probably did not block their appearance here in 1965 because it feared they might corrupt our nation's youth, but more likely because of protekzia in the shape of pressure by one concert promoter who was jealous of the rival who had signed them), they went on to sell more than a billion records worldwide and so dominate global culture that when Lennon remarked in a 1966 interview that they were "more popular than Jesus now," he was being matter-of-fact as well as provocative.
And now, finally, with Lennon dead (murdered outside his Manhattan apartment block in 1980), Harrison dead too (from cancer, seven years ago) and Ringo "otherwise engaged," McCartney, 66, is bringing their music, and his own, to Israel. Some here have called it the greatest cultural event in our 60-year history. He blokily describes it as an opportunity to come to a region he's been interested in visiting, to "see what's what."
A ridiculously gifted musician, songwriter and vocalist who has spent five full decades, to quote from a 1968 composition, "sitting singing songs for everyone," McCartney's has been a life lived at an unthinkable level of fame, which he says he has generally found a way to enjoy. But however divinely gifted, and unspeakably wealthy, he has not led any kind of charmed existence.
His mother, a nurse, died of cancer when he was only 14. Lennon's assassination was both crushing and personally terrifying, bringing the fear that he might be next. His first wife, Linda, the love of his life from whom he was truly inseparable for almost 30 years, died in 1998. His recent second marriage, to Heather Mills, was disastrous, and very publicly so.
But McCartney, it would seem, is one of nature's undimmable optimists, earnestly glad to be alive, marveling at his growing band of grandchildren (six, as of daughter Mary's third son's birth last month), and rather humbled by nature.
His voice, down the phone on Friday from England, where he has been rehearsing ahead of the trip to Tel Aviv, was unmistakable even in conversation - melodic and cadenced. He did not sound unduly concerned about the Islamist threats of violence his visit has prompted. This, after all, is the lyricist who wrote, in 1967, about "the people standing there who disagree and never win, and wonder why they don't get in my door."
I don't know if he was being unworldly or self-calming in suggesting similarities between the extremists' objections now and the marginal hostility to a recent appearance he made in Quebec or to shows played at Tokyo's Budokan martial arts arena. But he wanted to stress that his message is one of humanitarianism and friendship. Indeed, this week's show, the latest in a series of one-offs that has seen him play to almost 700,000 people in Liverpool, Kiev and Quebec, is being promoted as McCartney's "Friendship First" concert.
As we hung up the phone, after an exchange of Shaloms, I could just hear him beginning to explain to someone in the background what the word means. On Thursday, Tel Aviv plays host to the earnest musical genius who told me that "the human spirit is a great thing" and feels "the world is a magnificent place and that we are blessed to be on it." Shalom, of course, will have a lot more meaning when everybody internalizes those words of wisdom.
Is that Paul? Yeah! How're you doing man?
I'm great. It's lovely to speak to you. I have to tell you my sister and my mum were in the enthralled masses at Hammersmith Odeon in 1965… I remember them well! (Laughs)
All they could hear was screaming, they said. I know - that's all we could hear too... I must say, even though we couldn't hear anything, it was pretty exciting times.
You're the soundtrack to my children's lives as well. My daughter, who's 11, has just started learning bass and she's learning "Let It Be." That's the first thing they've got her working on. Wow. It is fabulous, eh. We never, ever, thought that it would last this long. But, you know, it's a great tribute that it has lasted and that kids play it these days. I'm very proud of that fact.
It's third time lucky for Israel, right, after our brilliant government banned you and then the Wings dates fell through [in the 1970s]? Is this somewhere you've particularly wanted to play? Yeah, you know, I'm always interested in visiting places I've never been to before, just as a tourist. It's always interesting to go to a new region. The offer of a gig came up. And it was somewhere that I'd been interested in. I'd like to go there and see what's what. I hear from a lot of people that Tel Aviv is a great place. (Jpost)
The Return To Purity In America
A virgin army proclaiming the thrill of the chaste-Jane Treays
The American ‘purity movement’ is growing fast. Meet the girls who won’t even kiss before marriage and their highly protective fathers
It would be a mistake to draw hasty conclusions from Lauren Wilson’s appearance. This is a woman who tosses her long, glossy hair as she speaks and bats her long eyelashes – even at me. A glamourpuss who admits, with a coy smile, that she is actually a bit of an icon to her peers. But this poised 22-year-old is no small-town seductress. In Colorado Springs, a city in a very religious corner of the American Midwest, she is admired principally for her virtue: not only was she a virgin when she married her boyfriend Brett, but she had never even kissed him – a deed accomplished for the first time in front of a cheering congregation. “There was something so special to know that we’d waited,” she told me. “I mean, a kiss awakens everything, and all of a sudden everything within you just wants to respond. We have no regrets. ” Young women like Lauren are no great rarity in the United States these days. In fact, one in six girls aged between 12 and 18 is estimated to have taken a “purity” pledge. Some wear a silver ring to signal their intention to remain chaste, but others take the concept much further, vowing to be pure in all aspects of their behaviour. Lauren’s sister Khrystian, a 21-year-old musician with long blonde hair, explained: “Purity for me is purity of the mind, purity of speech. It’s what I spend my time doing: emotional purity in the heart. It’s a complete wholeness. I have chosen a higher standard for my life.” The sheer numbers in the purity movement are making these aspirations more than a pipe dream: if the people you know share your deep-seated beliefs, then you’re less likely to succumb to temptations.
www.americanfreedomalliance.org
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