Religious Hate:

• Hizballah is threatening suicide attacks in the UK if a Persian television channel “MA-TV” is not banned. Presenter Manouchehr Fouladvand has received death threats because he "frequently mocks the Prophet Muhammad and Islam's holy book the Quran."

• Iran’s supreme leader affirms that Salman Rushdie remains “an apostate whose killing would be authorised by Islam”, but apparently the British government doesn’t consider Khamenei to be speaking in his capacity as head of state:

  However, senior British officials swiftly made plain last night that the Iranian Government, which had disassociated itself from the fatwa in 1998, had not changed its position… They insisted that the move did not presage a further deterioration in the already tense relations with Iran over its nuclear programme. “This should not be taken as a new development,” one said. [Emphasis mine]

  Yeah, exactly – it’s the same murderous intolerance that’s been there all along.

• The web broadcasts of radical cleric Omar Bakri have been recently monitored by the Times of London. Bogus dissimulation notwithstanding, Bakri declares terrorism against British civilians legitimate in Islam:

  The Times monitored Mr Bakri Mohammed’s nightly webcasts in which he declared that the “covenant of security” under which Muslims live peacefully in the UK had been “violated” by the Government’s tough anti-terrorist legislation, The Syrian-born radical said: “I believe the whole of Britain has become Dar ul-Harb (land of war). In such a state, he added, ”the kuffar (non-believer) has no sanctity for their own life or property.“

  The New York Times, in a survey of radical Muslim clerics in Europe and the scrutiny they receive, calls Bakri’s group Al-Muhajiroun “Britain's largest Muslim group” – let’s hope the Times got this wrong.

• Sheik Qaradawi’s remarks on the recent Asian Tsunami may have been interpreted charitably by some, but Saudi Professor Abd Al-Aziz Fawzan Al-Fawzan’s statements appear unequivocal:

  Collective punishments, such as earthquakes, devastating volcanoes, torrent floods, rampant plagues, lethal storms and gales according to all scholars, they are divine punishments and divine warnings to all those rebelling against Allah, whether or not they are Muslims.

  In other words, what part of “the Tsunami victims had it coming” don’t you understand? This tripe is equally offensive coming from the clergy of any faith, as it dehumanizes the victims and plays on fears and superstitions to enhance the prestige of the clerics themselves. Nonetheless it appears to be a popular sentiment.

• Not content to let their dead colonial masters lie in peace, Somali gunmen have reportedly dug them up and trashed their remains.

  “The profanation of a silent and historical place, sacred to all civilisations, is a vile and particularly hateful act which can have no justification whatsoever,” the Italian government said in a statement.

  Amen.

• I trust no-one has yet forgotten the Theo Van Gogh case, or that another potential victim, Dutch PM Hirsi Ali, was forced to seek protection. She has just now returned to work. Imagine if a member of Congress had been forced to seek the protection of a foreign Air Base for over two months.

• Here's an example of how tensions between different ethnic or religious groups escalate: after ten years of praying in an alley, Muslim merchants in the Greenhills Shopping Center in Manila, Philippines, seek to upgrade to a prayer area inside a parking garage. Residents of the wealthy Christian area of Manila are up in arms about it, worrying about their property values.

  Muslim politicians, liberal clergy, and civil-society groups rushed to the mall owner's defense, accusing homeowners of twisting the facts to fit their anti-Muslim bias. The resulting debate has highlighted the often prickly interfaith relations in this majority-Catholic country, where Muslims make up around 5 percent of the 84 million population.

  Christians in Manila decry mall's Muslim prayer room.

Idiotarian Seethings:

• Charles Johnson links to a post by British author and journalist Melanie Phillips, who relates the following brief discussion with the secretary of the Muslim Council of Britain, on the topic of Britain’s proposed new law banning incitement to religious hatred

  Then I asked Iqbal Sacranie, general secretary of the MCB,whether he thought that any public statements about Islamic terrorism, or any speculation about the number of Muslims in Britain who might support Islamic terrorism, would constitute incitement to religious hatred. He said: ‘There is no such thing as an Islamic terrorist. This is deeply offensive. Saying Muslims are terrorists would be covered by this provision’.

  However, these statements by Director of Public Prosecutions Ken Macdonald (and endorsed by MCB spokesman Inayat Bunglawala) would appear to belie Sacranie’s tautological stance.

• That Israelis ought not to get blown up on busses shouldn’t be controversial, but the exhibition of a blown up Israeli bus in Berkeley on January 16 drew a counter protest which briefly became violent. [Hat tip – Bob Harmon]. Charles Johnson links to photo and video blog entries showing the counter protestors endorsing the very terrorism which the bus exhibit protests. (“One three five seven – all our martyrs go to heaven!”) The children propagating latter day blood libel (“organ thieves!”) are particularly charming.

• While the E.U. is talking about banning the swastika, another symbol of oppression is still fashionable: Living with the hammer and sickle. Maybe this symbol doesn't carry the same horrors the swastika does - children were not gassed in the gulags - but is there anything chic about tyranny and enslavement?

• Former Attorney General Ramsey Clark joining Saddam’s defense team, claims his client has been“demonized”. Caveat: Clark is speaking in his capacity as a defense attorney, and I hesitate to attack a man as an idiot if he is fulfilling a professional obligation. Nonetheless the idea itself, that Saddam has been “demonized” is offensive because it dehumanizes his victims. There are real demons, Virginia, and Saddam was one.

• Via Glenn Reynolds, this piece in the Times of India documents American harassment of Indian call center workers:

  Usually, I limit the calls to 60 seconds anyway, so I can call back and really hammer them. I've been doing this about 20 minutes a day. It's great fun!

  The stereotype of American’s as rude and jingoist is sad. Immeasurably sadder is when we live up to it.

Race and Culture:

• Just before the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, anti-Semitism erupts again in Russia as lawmakers call for outlawing all Jewish organizations and punishing officials who support them. Jews are accused of fomenting ethnic hatred and provoking anti-Semitism: Russian Lawmakers Target Jewish Groups.

  Even though the story was picked up by radio stations and leading Internet sites in Russian, there has been no official condemnation. The libelous document is divided into chapters with such titles as "The Morality of Jewish Fascism," "Provocateurs and People Haters," and "Jewish Aggression as an Expression of Devilry."

  Blood libel makes comeback in Russia.

• Most Germans are sick of being reminded about the Holocaust, nearly half of Britons are unaware of Auschwitz, and half of all Europeans think Jews talk too much about the Holocaust. And what about the next generations? France is waking up to anti-Semitism as well - albeit a little too late. French high schools didn't start teaching about the Holocaust until 1983. Now, faced with waves of "new anti-Semitism," they're adding special classes about the Holocaust for elementary school students.

• I can’t believe that the German magazine Stern would be unaware that to reference to George Bush as Condi Rice’s master is deeply offensive – in an article published on MLK day, no less. Via Andrew Sullivan, Davids Medienkritik has a charming photo with a translation of it’s vile caption.

• There have been reports that the tragedy of the Tsunami has been compounded by trafficking in the resulting orphans, but as MEMRI-TV reports, Yemeni Professor Ahmad Muhammad Al-'Ajal kicks it up a notch by claiming “global Zionism” is behind the abduction:

  Many studies have proven that a large percent of the slave market belongs to the forces of global Zionism, whose octopus tentacles spread evil throughout the world.

  Remember, the good professor is an anti-Zionist, not an anti-Semite. (For this and other MEMRI-TV clips, navigate through the main site – sadly no permalinks to the clips)

• Tired of hearing the 21st century blood libel, "Jews were warned about 9/11," Marc Levin takes on the Protocols of Zion. In the 90-minute documentary, Levin, a well-respected filmmaker, personally confronts anti-Semites of various stripes.

• Some forms of judenhass are blatant and easy to spot, such as Friday sermons exhorting the slaughter of Jews. Other forms are more ambiguous, but they're just modern mutations of the same libel. Mohammed al-Dura's death has been a symbol for the intifada but there's a strong possibiliy that this entire incident was staged, possibly even with the collusion of western news organizations like France's TV-2.

  Evidence shows, however, that he was not killed by Israeli fire. Following the broadcast of the video, the IDF, using drone and satellite photography, demonstrated the near-impossibility of Al-Dura having been hit by an IDF bullet. Independent media analysts in Israel, Germany and France claim to have conclusive evidence proving the entire incident was staged. Calls for an investigation into the event, however, which are supported by at least one member of the French parliament, have been met with complete refusal to cooperate on the part of France’s Channel 2.

  Despite Evidence, French TV Still Refuses Al-Dura Probe

• A study, conducted by Palestinian Media Watch at the request of Israeli Diaspora Affairs Minister Natan Sharansky, accuses the Palestinian Authority of conducting Nazi propaganda against Jews.

  The file, they claim, consists of three phases: Presenting Jews as sub-human and having evil qualities; presenting Jews as a nation that threatens the existence of Palestinians, Arabs, and the world in general; and the Palestinian version of the "final solution," the elimination of the Jews.

A Hopeful Note:

• Ahmad Bukhori, in a Jakarta Post editorial, has some advice for achieving harmony in a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural society: children's programs run by mosques, churches and shrines should emphasize co-existence and harmony in diversity. Teaching children diversity.

• Distance is the enemy of perspective. Sixty years after liberation, as the reality of Auschwitz now recedes to the edge of living memory, the bare facts flatten out. Melanie Phillips notes with disdain that the habit of drawing pernicious moral equivalence with the Holocaust is indulged even by those born to its victims: in this case, one Stanly Lipmann, in an article in the Spectator. Phillips comments:

  To call [Israelis] Nazis, and thus to accuse them of genocide, is beyond grotesque. To back up this filth, Lipmann equates Auschwitz with Jenin and Falluja. Falluja? So the Americans too are Nazis, are they? As for Jenin, he is peddling the big lie that the Israelis perpetrated a massacre there — ignoring the fact that a mere 56 mainly armed Palestinians died in that incident along with no fewer than 23 Israeli soldiers. There was no massacre. This was a libel against Israel, which Lipmann is repeating.

  Thankfully, Daniel Goldhagen reclaims Auschwitz from the diminished canvas of “what was” with the intrusive, jagged relief of what might have been:

  They [the Nazis] viewed social and political conflicts and problems as racial and biological ones. Their reflexive solution was to slaughter people and to pulverize communities. Had the Germans won the war, they would have slaughtered tens, perhaps hundreds, of millions more around the world and enslaved the peoples of Poland, Ukraine, Russia and other countries. Auschwitz was the place most emblematic of the world that Hitler and the Germans were creating, a death factory embedded in vast slave production facilities. As we commemorate its liberation on Jan. 27, the people of Europe and the world should shudder at how close Hitler came to destroying civilization, to plunging the world into darkness that might have lasted his 1,000 years.

  The liberated march from Auschwitz still.