Hatewatch Briefing 2005-01-14

Welcome! This briefing will be looking hard at the dark places that mainstream media sometimes seems determined to look away from, to better understand our declared enemies on their own terms and without illusions. Our goal is to bring you some of the top jihadi rants, idiotarian seething, old-school Jew-hatred, and more from around the world, leaving you more informed, more aware, and pretty disgusted every month. This Winds of Change.NET HateWatch briefing is brought to you by Lewy14. (Email me at my handle "hatewatch" here at windsofchange.net). Past briefings and posts on related topics can be found here. Entil'zha veni!

HIGHLIGHTED TOPICS

• Religious Hate: Ansar al-Sunnah Army: Democracy is un-Islamic; Bin Laden to Palestinians: voters are apostates; Omar Bakri calls British Muslims to jihad; Qaradawi and Khamenei blame Israelis for Karbala and Najaf bombings; Tsunami as the wrath of God; South African Mufti – never trust the Kuffaar; PA TV rebroadcasts religious exhortation to fight Jews; Kashmire preacher murdered for peace prayer; Christian exodus from Nineveh; Australian Christians convicted of vilifying Muslims?

• Idiotarian Seethings: Northeastern professor embraces vision of Qur’anic society; Manahattan Community College: no security please, we’re idiots.

• Race and Culture: Palestinian textbooks – reloaded; French holocaust denier on Iranian TV; Iranian TV Guide; Euro media execs think the N word is funny; Fascist salute photos; Young royal sports Nazi chic.

• A Hopeful Note: Extremism confronted in Saudi schools; Update from Irshad Manji; Indonesian scholar calls for understanding in wake of the Tsunami.

Religious Hate:

• The theology behind this statement by the Ansar al-Sunnah Army is by now depressingly familliar:

  "Democracy is a Greek word meaning the rule of the people, which means that the people do what they see fit," the groups said in a warning. "This concept is considered apostasy and defies the belief in one God — Muslims' doctrine."

  The penalty for apostasy, of course, is death. Further:

  “We believe democracy is an atheist call that idolizes human beings,” says a manifesto detailing Ansar al-Sunnah’s ideology.

  I believe this kind of thinking is nothing but sacralized tyranny power lust.

• On the same theme, it’s worth reminding the voters in the Palestinian elections about the recent words of Osama Bin Laden:

  On the elections in the Palestinian Authority, he said, "The land is under occupation, the constitution of the land is a Jahili [pre-Islamic constitution] made by man … and the candidate Mahmoud Abbas is a Bahai who was brought in … under the Oslo Accords."

  Palestinians. Psst. He’s talkin’ to you.

• Omar Bakri has concluded that British anti-terrorism legislation precludes Muslims from living at peace within Britain – a conclusion he is ready to enforce with accusations of takfir and threats of violence:

  "They are hypocrites, we don't believe they are Muslims," he told UPI. "In a time of crisis, who ever allies with them (the kuffaar -- non-believers) is one of them, so I don't believe they are Muslims in the first place. I doubt if one of them would dare to walk the streets of Mecca by themselves," he added.

  Bakri demands Muslims leave Britain or fight under the banner of Bin Laden.

• After a terror bombing that left 67 people dead in Najaf and Karbala, “progressive” Sheik Qaradawi blames… Israel:

  The International Association of Muslim Scholars [Qaradawi’s organization] suggested the attacks could be connected with Zionist (Israeli) and other international intelligence agencies and aimed at damaging Iraq’s social cohesion. [N.B.: AP’s source for this assertion is a fax from the IAMS; which unfortunately cannot be verified]

  Iran’s Khamenei beats the same drum:

  "No doubt, the Israeli and American spying services are behind these events and this is a plot aimed at keeping the Iraqi people busy so that they miss the chance [to participate in] elections," Khamenei said, according to the official Iranian news agency IRNA.

  Nice to see him go on record supporting the Iraqi elections, anyway. MEMRI’s Steven Stalinsky has more on Arab conspiracy theories here and here.

• MEMRI provides a roundup of fascinating theories surrounding the tragic Asian tsunami. A Palestinian Sheik blames American and Israeli corruption of the area, an Egyptian journalist blames American and Israeli (and Indian!) nuclear testing, but perhaps the Saudi’s have interesting things to say. In a passage sure to endear the Saudi’s to the Muslims of South Asia, Ibrahim Al-Bashar, advisor to the Saudi justice minister, lectures the victims.

  These countries, in which these things occurred – don't they refrain from adopting Allah's law, which is a form of heresy? Man-made laws have been chosen over Allah's law, which has been deemed unsuitable to judge people?! Whoever does not act according to Allah's law is a heretic, that's what Allah said in the Koran. Don't these countries have witchcraft, sorcery, deceitfulness, and abomination?

  I thought Banda Aceh is the one Indonesian province which has implemented Sharia. Dr. Abu Ziyaad also explains how failure to adhere to Sharia is itself apostasy, deserving of punishment.

• South African Mufti Ebrahim Desai has a word for those who would trust non-Muslims: don’t.

  But shouldnt the west also recieve praise because its always them who intervenve when muslims r being tortured,they stopped Milosovic kiling muslims and sent their own troops to the country,they r usually the first to send aid when theres a flood,they r also intervening in Isreal and condeming them killing Muslims ,so should we appreciate their efforts or not?

  In simple the Kuffaar can never be trusted for any possible good they do. They have their own interest at heart.

  That a religious authority would seek to destroy the grounds for empathy between people is not merely cynical, it’s dehumanizing and hateful. To be fair, this fatwa was a few years old. Perhaps Desai’s changed his mind.

• The Hadith which reminds Muslims that the Hour of Resurrection will not arrive until they have fought the Jews is apparently in reruns on Palestinian TV.

• Via Discarded Lies, an article in the Telegraph details the exodus of Christians from their homes in Nineveh, driven out by bombings and shootings – Islamists are claimed to be perpetrating the terror. The article also notes the close association of the Christian community with the former Baathist regime. The Christians have fled to the Kurdish controlled north, or out of the country, and the expectation is that the exodus will be total. Check out the “related links” on the Discarded Lies post, especially this story about the Christians of Bethlehem. Meanwhile, some Indonesian Christians abandon their churches to worship in less conspicuous venues.

• On Dec 26, Moulvi Mohammad Bashir, preacher at a mosque in the “non-descript hamlet of Danwakote in Rajouri district” in Kashmir, had his throat slit by unidentified “militants” terrorists – his prayers for peace are the only motives given.

• Robert Spencer relates the ironic story of Daniel Scot, a Pakistani Christian who fled that country charged with blaspheming the Prophet Muhammad. Now he stands convicted of a similar offense – in Australia. Now, incitement to violence is a real phenomenon and its ban is well founded. I’ve not read the passages in question, and they may indeed cross that line. Hate speech is also a real phenomenon, and deserves at the very least thorough condemnation. But as Spencer shows, at least some of Judge Higgins’ complaints with regard to Scot’s statements about the Quran don’t stand scrutiny. Parts of the trial seem positively Kafkaesque:

  When during the trial Scot began to read Qur’anic verses that discriminate against women, a lawyer for the Islamic Council of Victoria, the organization that brought the suit, stopped him: reading the verses aloud, she said, would in itself be religious vilification. Dismayed, Scot replied: “How can it be vilifying to Muslims in the room when I am just reading from the Qur’an?”

  Further, Higgins bases his conviction on his determination that the Pastor Scot’s conduct was not “engaged in reasonably or in good faith”. Chilling that interfaith dialog (OK, quite possibly diatribe) must now pass the judicial scrutiny of “good faith”. Consider: the lack of influence wielded by Leviticus is due not to a prohibition of criticism, but precisely because such criticism (in “good faith” or not) is permitted. Putting the Quran beyond criticism is an error unfounded in law or reason.

Idiotarian Seethings:

• Shahid Alam, Northeastern professor of Economics, has raised a ruckus by “seeking parallels” between the American revolution and the Bin Laden led “Islamist insurgency”, and claiming he’s been subject to threats orchestrated by LGF and Jihadwatch among others. (Charles Johnson responds here.)

  So why the fuss? That Alam engages in vapid comparison between the 9/11 hijackers and the Minutemen – “are we not allowed to make inference that there are parallels?” – is of no concern to me. Pfft. Dude. Whatever. His recital of the litany of rehabilitated terrorists suggests he could see Bin Laden himself attain such rehabilitation – closer. Here’s the rub:

  They [the 9/11 hijackers] died – so they thought – because they wanted their people to live, free and in dignity. [emphasis mine]

  I’m in the tank for freedom and dignity – but the jihadi conception of freedom and dignity for “their people” is obviously in conflict with mine. Where is Alam? He disavows the methods of the hijackers, but not their concepts of “freedom” and “dignity”. He concludes:

  Will the Islamic world be smashed into a collection of micro-states – ethnic, sectarian and tribal entities – allied to and dependent on the US and Israel for their survival? Or will the Muslims oppose this new ‘civilizing mission’ and regain the freedom to shape their destiny in ways that allow the integral Qur’anic society, just, inclusive, creative, seeking knowledge, taking the middle road, to once again enrich our common human sojourn on earth?

  For the record, smashing the Islamic world into micro states is not an agenda I endorse. But neither is Alam’s vision of a Qur’anic society. Robert Spencer drops the hammer:

  Alam's assumption that an Al-Qaeda victory would bring freedom and unity to the Islamic world assumes a society that consigns women and non-Muslims to all manner of misery, and puts a straitjacket on free inquiry, freedom of conscience, and the human soul…Yes, Professor, they are fighting for their freedom as they see it. So were the Nazis, striving to free Germany from the so-called "Jewish threat" and the encirclement of hostile powers. But someone who wrote in 1938 about the Nazis' returning dignity to the German people would have deserved the condemnation of free men, just as Shahid Alam deserves that condemnation now.

  This is hard, uncompromising language – and rightly so. An insurgency founded on the Quran and Sharia can advance no claims I will recognize, and his characterization of a Quranic society as “just, inclusive, and creative” must rely on definitions incompatible with the Western conception of human rights.

• How has it come to this? That to so much as offer a course on security is to be seen as endorsing a police state?

  Furious students and faculty members at the Borough of Manhattan Community College are demanding that the school abandon plans for a certificate program on security management... While those who proposed the program argue that it will offer BMCC students sought-after skills to help them find jobs in the security industry, critics say the program is an oppressive outgrowth of the Department of Homeland Security.

  Charles’ comment is worth repeating here:

  In the city that suffered the worst terror attack ever on American soil, these enlightened students and faculty members not only want to remain suicidally ignorant about how to defend themselves, they want everyone else to be ignorant too.

  Indeed.

Race and Culture:

• Two cheers for the IHT for publishing this article by Itmar Marcus condemning Palestinian textbooks which portray Jews as a people without the legitimacy of a nation and unworthy of the love of God. A longer version appears here at Palestinian Media Watch:

  In the new 6th grade book Reading the Koran, children read about Allah's warning to the Jews that because of their evil Allah will kill them: "...Oh you who are Jews, if you think that you are favored of Allah... Then long for death if you are truthful... for the death from which you flee, that will surely overtake you..." In other sections they learn of Jews being expelled from their homes by Allah, and in another Jews are said to be like donkeys: "Those [Jews] who were charged with the Torah, but did not observe it, are like a donkey carrying books..."

  Still, some claim the incitement against Jews is all just a myth, so I checked a bit. From this article I found a link to the latest IPCRI repost on Palestinian textbooks, and a pointer to this passage:

  The concept of Jihad as expressed in the text books and in light of the political context in which we are living forces the reader to relate to the violent connotations of the concept. By not placing Jihad in the broader context and leaving it as it is currently dealt with in the Palestinian text books,one cannot but come to the conclusion that the Palestinian Authority is encouraging Jihad in the narrow sense of the Holy War against Israel and against Jews as well as against Christians. [emphasis mine].

  I won’t claim to have read the whole report, but the Palestinian texts receive a great deal of criticism – and the Israeli texts don’t emerge unscathed, either. Check it out for yourself – the last appendix is worth it alone.

• Former lecturer of University of Lions and full time Holocaust denier Robert Faurisson gave an interview to Iranian TV:

  Faurisson: "Because Jews, in a certain way, are used to treating the French as they treat Palestinians. The difference is that Palestinians refuse to obey the Jews, whereas the French obey the Jews, once more because of the Big Lie of the alleged 'Holocaust,' in which unfortunately they seem to believe. The alleged 'Holocaust' of the Jews is the sword and the shield of the Jewish tyranny all over the world. Destroy it.”

  The French as the lapdogs of the Jews – that’s a new one for me.

• Iranian TV is airing a “drama” about an Israeli government conspiracy to steal children’s organs, including a little girl’s blue eyes. (Great minds apparently think alike). Another show portrays Jews stoning early Christians being crucified by the Romans. Check out the MEMRI TV project for other fine family entertainment.

• Via Glenn, a story of a couple of unfunny racist “jokes” told by executives of Metro International, a global publisher of free urban tabloids.

  At one Metro International newspaper dinner in Rome in April 2003, Steve Nylund, the head of Metro USA, told nearly two dozen attendees a joke about the genitalia of black men, whom he called [you guessed it].

  The word in question was also used by Metro director Hans-Holger Albrecht at an event in Stockholm in August of 2003. The story was broken by mediachannel.org. Metro International has apologized for Nyland’s remarks. Un. Effing. Excusable.

• Perhaps Italian footballer Paolo di Canio deserves the benefit of the doubt over the intent behind this gesture. [Hat tip: Drudge]. On the other hand, I’m disinclined to extend it to these guys.

• Just one question for the latter day Prince Hal – whatcha drinkin’ there? [Hat tip: Drudge].

A Hopeful Note:

• MEMRI posts some excerpts from a public discussion among educators and the media in Saudi Arabia concerning religious extremism in Saudi schools.

  "Extremism is the incubator from which the ideology of Takfir [accusing other Muslims of apostasy]emerges, which leads to terrorism… Extremism is more dangerous than armed terrorism, because the latter is carried out by known individuals or groups that can be resisted by force and quickly uprooted. But when the extremism remains, similar groups quickly appear, because the incubation continues."

  I’ll take this as a good sign, except that a cynic may point out that “terrorism” and “extremism” that is referred to might refer exclusively to opposition to the rule of the Royal Family.

• That the problematic aspects of Islam can be reformed from within is the hope of many, including myself. Andrew Sullivan posts a letter from “Muslim refusenik” Irshad Manji, who shows how it’s done.

• The last word goes to Alpha Amirrachman, a lecturer at the University of Muhammadiyah, writing in the Jakarta Post. Professor Amirrachman’s moral compass points everyone away from temptation to use the tragedy in Aceh as a means of furthering their sectarian agenda. [Hat Tip: Zorkmidden]

  The catastrophe is thus a test of our commitment to nurturing our sense of humanity and very possibly, this could serve as a historical turning point for this multi-ethnic country to embrace a more harmonious coexistence after prolonged religious and communal conflicts.