Islamic Hypocrisy in Europe

by Khaled Abu Toameh

European countries are certainly not the right place for Muslims who want to live under sharia law.

Muslims who are unhappy with France's recent decision to ban the veil should find a more suitable place to live, such as Sudan, Saudi Arabia or Iran. There, they would feel free to wear the burqa and the niqab and build as many mosques as they want.

Just as Saudi Arabia bans the construction of a church or synagogue in Mecca and Medina, the Italians and the Spaniards have the right to limit the number of mosques in their countries. Muslims who see the establishment of a church or synagogue in their neighborhood as a provocation have no right to complain when non-Muslims express the same sentiments about mosques.

Would it ever occur to a Christian or Jew to move to Saudi Arabia and demand the right to drink alcohol and eat pork?

Can anybody imagine what would happen to a Christian if he or she were wearing the cross on the streets of Jeddah in Saudi Arabia? Or if a Jew wearing a skullcap were seen walking in the streets of Kabul or Khartoum?

Just as most non-Muslim women do not feel comfortable living in Islamic countries where women must cover their heads and faces and are not allowed to drive a car, Muslims have no right to impose their lifestyle, culture and religion on others.

Non-Muslims who travel to Islamic countries often respect the laws, traditions and religious beliefs of their hosts. Christians who have broken sharia laws in some Islamic countries often find themselves behind bars and end up facing deportation.

But why is it that when Muslims goes to live in a France, Britain and Canada, they do not hesitate to demand that the people living in these countries accept their ways?

A Muslim woman who wants – or is forced – to wear a veil is entitled to do so – but she has no right to protest if a Western government bans her from covering her face.

The ban should not be seen as an act of hostility toward Islam; instead, it should be regarded as a move intended to prevent a phenomenon that even many Muslims see as an act of degradation against women.

Radical Muslims who are trying to impose their will on Western societies are only causing damage to their faith.

The campaign launched by some Muslims against the French ban will only alienate non-Muslims and increase their concerns about Islam.

By challenging the French ban, for example, Muslims are telling the French people that they are more interested in separation from Western culture than integration.

Muslims living in Western countries have the right to practice their religious beliefs and traditions, but they should not expect non-Muslims to accept everything they want.



Hudson NY

Why Are European Leaders Instigating All-Out War in the Middle East?

by Eldad Tzioni
Posted on May 12 2011 2:00 pm

Since World War II, Europeans have been understandably skittish about doing anything that could lead to armed conflict. Europe, and later the EU, has generally stuck to using negotiations and (in extreme cases) sanctions as the only tools in their arsenal to cajole dictators and despots to get in line.

Not surprisingly, this strategy often fails.

Nevertheless, one can understand the European fear of conflict. Europe was devastated by WWII and the collective memory of the horrors of that war are still raw. Medium-sized towns in Europe lost more people in the war than America lost on 9/11.

All of this makes the recent flurry of stories about European countries being eager to recognize a Palestinian state all the more puzzling.

British Prime Minister David Cameron has said that Britain is prepared to formally recognize an independent Palestinian state in September unless Israel opens peace talks with the Palestinians. (He somehow didn’t seem to notice that it has been “moderate” Mahmoud Abbas who has resisted negotiations, not Israel.)

French President Sarkozy has made a similar statement. So has Norway’s foreign minister. Spain doesn’t look too far behind.

Such a unilateral move is a recipe for disaster.

Negotiations are meant to solve the biggest issues between Israel and the Palestinian Arabs: Israeli towns and villages in Judea and Samaria, Arab prisoners in Israeli jails, water resources, Palestinian Arabs who live in other countries wanting to “return” to Israel, incitement to terrorism in the Palestinian Arab media and schoolbooks, Israel’s security, and Jerusalem. By recognizing a state, Europe would not be solving a single one of these issues. On the contrary, they will be exacerbating them.

Today, despite these outstanding issues, there is relative peace. Palestinian Arabs in the West Bank are doing well economically, they are not worried about Israeli army actions, their travel restrictions have been consistently diminishing, and they have more autonomy than they have ever had in their history. Even in Gaza, under the autocratic rule of Hamas, as long as Hamas is stopping rocket fire the Gazans can start to gain a semblance of normal lives.

If “Palestine” is unilaterally declared, all of the gains over the past two decades would disappear in an instant.

Israel’s Oslo obligations would no longer exist. Security cooperation between Israel and the new “Palestine” would disappear. The Palestinian state would consider Israel to be its enemy (this language is used daily in mainstream Palestinian Arab media). The peace treaty that the PLO signed with Israel would be null and void because the PLO would no longer exist. Israel would no longer provide electricity to Gaza – part of an enemy state. Tax revenue collected by Israel that make up 70% of the PA budget would disappear.

Most importantly, it would solve none of the issues that are outstanding in the conflict. On the contrary, it will encourage Israel to make its own unilateral moves concerning land, water, Jerusalem and so forth.

“Palestine” would not want to naturalize millions of Arabs of Palestinian descent who now live in Jordan, Syria and Lebanon, and their problem of being forced to remain stateless by the Arab League will remain. In fact, the Palestinian entity would continue to insist that they move to Israel, destroying the Jewish state demographically–a negotiating position that they have never wavered on, and a problem that is kept artificially alive by the Arab states.

Any of these issues–”refugees,” land, water, Jerusalem–is enough to spark a regional conflict. Together, such a conflict is inevitable.

Only Israel has made real, concrete concessions during the long Oslo process. The PLO has not only not budged–they have bragged about their own intransigence. If the Europeans decide to recognize a Palestinian Arab state, they would be rewarding intransigence. And if that state includes Hamas, then the EU will also be explicitly rewarding terror.

One thing is certain: if a Palestinian Arab state becomes generally recognized by thttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifhe world community in September 2011, then the Palestinian Arabs who such a state is supposedly meant to help will be in a much worse situation for years, if not decades, afterwards. Terrorism–which has been successfully fought by Israel over the past eight years–will return, as the Palestinian Arab security forces would abandon all cooperation with Israel. Hezbollah and Hamas would be emboldened to increase rocket fire and other terror attacks.

More likely than not, European recognition of a Palestinian Arab state will culminate in another major Middle East war–and possibly a series of them.

Is this what the EU really wants?



Elder of Ziyon

Jihad Threatens Europe

Ron Ben-Yishai analyzes concrete al-Qaeda threat faced by Europe.

The travel advisory issued on Sunday by the US State Department in Washington is neither standard, nor exaggerated. It is based on concrete intelligence from agencies in the US, Pakistan, Britain, France, and Germany. A picture has come together in recent days justifying the warning and the beefed up security measures in Europe.

In general, the elements posing a threat are two jihadist cells – i.e. al-Qaeda or an organization operating under the terror network's influence. The group planning terror attacks in Britain and Germany (and in Sweden, too, apparently) is hiding, organizing, and training in the tribal area in western Pakistan. Its members are Muslims with German and British citizenship and it is led by extremist religious figures. They arrived in Pakistan and Afghanistan about a year ago in order to train and join the jihad. Now, they are trying to carry out missions in their home countries.

This group's immediate objective is to avenge the fatal blows sustained by al-Qaeda in Pakistan as result of US drone attacks in recent months. Since entering the White House, US President Barack Obama has authorized no less than 122 drone hits against senior al-Qaeda and Pakistani Taliban leaders hiding out in the tribal regions of the country. This is more than double the number of attacks former President George W. Bush authorized in all eight years of his presidency.

Just last month, at least 22 such attacks in Pakistan alone killed dozens of Muslim terrorists. In response, and in a bid to deter the US and its European NATO allies deployed in Pakistan and Afghanistan, jihadists are now trying to leave Pakistan for a revenge campaign in Europe. The reasoning is clear. There are many American tourists on the continent, whose urban centers and public transportation systems are packed with people, and security measures are relatively lax.

The Mumbai model
The preferred method of attack is shooting attacks and taking hostages. This modus operandi, which was successfully executed last year in Mumbai, India, does not necessitate the smuggling and transport of large explosive devices, nor the expertise required to operate them. It allows the perpetrators, British and German citizens, to reach their targets unhindered, armed with assault rifles and handguns that can be obtained on the local market and hidden in handbags.

The planned attack is not the first time this year that extremist Muslims have tried to attack the West in revenge for the drone attacks. In the beginning of May, members of an extremist Muslim organization attempted to detonate an explosive-laden jeep in the bustling hub of Times Square. Fortunately, the explosive was faulty, and no one was hurt. The main operative who transported the car bomb to New York City and detonated it was caught in a quick FBI operation. During his interrogation, he indicated that he sought to avenge the deaths of Muslims killed by drones in Pakistan.

American and Pakistani intelligence officials, bolstered by British and German sources, have been on to this group for more than a year. However, only in July did they reveal the group's preparations to carry out attacks via cell phone conversations between the German citizens and their handlers. In these telephone conversations, eight German and two British operatives tried to secure weapons, cars, and hideouts where they could prepare their attacks.

More critical information was received in recent days following the killing of the group's leader, Sheikh Fatah al-Masri (apparently an Eygptian), and one of its members, a British Muslim of Pakistani descent, Abdul Jabar. It is unclear how the two were killed, but the rest of the group's members who weren't caught or killed were believed to be working on the final preparations for the attack, and perhaps may have already arrived in Europe.

France's Twin Towers
Another group, threatening to carry out attacks in France and maybe Italy, belongs to an organization called "al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb" and is a splinter of the mother organization operating in North and Sub-Saharan Africa. This group is also aiming to avenge the actions against it members undertaken by special French forces sent to fight in Nigeria and other African countries.

Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb recently kidnapped several groups of French citizens, including tourists and professionals from the mining and oil industries. The terrorists even executed one of the French hostages. In response, French President Nicolas Sarkozy ordered special troops be sent to take action against al-Qaeda. In at least one case, the forces successfully released the captives.

Following the French operation, the al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb's leadership decided to carry out a mass-casualty attack by detonating explosives at central French tourist sites, first and foremost being the Eiffel Tower. This is the reason that French authorities have evacuated the site, a symbol of France's strength, twice in recent weeks. Like the Twin Towers in New York that symbolized the power of America, the Eiffel Tower is high-up on the terrorists' list of targets due to its symbolism of French achievement.

There is concrete intelligence indicating terrorist intentions to carry out the said attack in France. It is likely that this information reached the security establishment in Paris after Italian police arrested a French citizen of Algerian descent in possession of explosive devices about a month ago.

It remains unclear whether the Pakistani group and the North African group are coordinating their attacks with one another. It is more likely than not, however, that each group chose the timing most befitting of its objectives, and only by chance their two attacks are being planned for the same time period. The modus operandi adopted by the two groups is also different.

However, it is likely that al-Qaeda is trying to time the actions of the two groups in order to create the impression of simultaneous, coordinated attacks on different sites in Europe, something which would increase their deterrent effect and grant al-Qaeda new momentum in its effort to recruit new members.





Ynet News

Senior German Politician Calls to Stop Muslim Immigration

Christian Democratic Union party leader stirs controversy following racial remarks; says 'we don’t need additional immigrants from 'foreign cultures'

BERLIN – A German official on Saturday called to stop Muslim immigration into the country, stirring public controversy.

Horst Seehofer, leader of the Christian Democratic Union Party (CSU), which is a member of the coalition government in Germany, said in an interview to Focus magazine, "It is obvious that immigrants from Turkey and Arab countries face more difficulty integrating into German society than other immigrants."
"In any case," Seehofer added," the conclusion is that we don’t need additional immigrants from 'foreign cultures'."

The German politician's remarks rekindled an already heated public discussion over the question of the Muslim minority's integration in Germany.

During the interview, Seehofer also argued that unemployment benefits should be revoked from immigrants who do not seek employment, arguing that immigrants should be forced to share the basic values of Germany, and have command of the language.

Seehofer's remarks come after German President Christian Wulff's speech on the 20th anniversary to the unification of Germany.

Wulff, whose speech carried a particularly reconciliatory tone, said that Islam constituted a part of Germany's nature, just as Judaism and Christianity have in the past, and will continue to be a part of the nation in the future.

The speech triggered mixed reactions, as Muslim community leaders lauded it, while Christian-rightist elements, including Seehofer, issued fierce criticism.

"I do not understand how the role Christianity has played in Germany can be compared to that of Islam," Seehofer noted during the interview.

According to the conservative politician, tolerance and openness to other religions, as cemented in the German constitution, do not grant these religions direct influence over the country's core values.

Seehofer's remarks angered politicians from across Germany's political spectrum, leading some politicians to dub him a "radical-rightist populist."

The heated debate in German society centers on the integration of nearly three million Muslim immigrants living in the country today – a majority of them of Turkish descent.

The public debate was set in motion by Thilo Sarrazin, a former banker who published a book in which he slammed the Muslim immigration in the country, claiming it led to a drop in Germany's intellectual capacity and has diminished it's cultural assets.

Sarrazin was dismissed from his post at the Bundesbank following the publication of his book, which sold hundreds of thousands of copies and is expected to become Germany's largest best-seller since the end of the Second World War.


Ynet News

Netherlands to Ban the Burqa, Says Anti-Islam MP

Wilders backs plan to cut government spending by 18 billion euros in exchange for say in immigration policies. 'We want Islamization to be stopped,' he says

The Netherlands will ban the burqa and halve immigration under measures agreed in a pact to form a minority coalition government, anti-Islam MP Geert Wilders announced Thursday.

"A new wind will blow in The Netherlands," declared Wilders whose party is part of the deal, standing alongside the leaders of the pro-business VVD party and the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) that will form the minority government.

"There will... be a burqa ban," said the controversial politician, who is to go on trial in Amsterdam next Monday for inciting hatred against Muslims, adding that there would also be 50 percent reduction in immigration.

"We want the Islamization to be stopped," he said, speaking in The Hague as measures in the agreement were announced.

Wilders -- who campaigns for a ban on Muslim immigration and wants to end the building of new mosques and tax Muslim head scarves -- had a say in the plan's immigration policies in return for supporting its austerity measures.

The "Freedom and responsibility" plan seeks to cut government spending by 18 billion euros (24 billion dollars) by 2015.

It proposes cutting The Netherlands' contribution to the European Union by one billion euros and shaving a billion euros off development cooperation and 1.2 billion off health care costs.

It also wants to reduce the number of MPs from 150 to 100 and the number of senators from 75 to 50.

Important reforms
The longest chapter of the accord -- seven of its 46 pages -- is however devoted to immigration.

"A reduction of immigration is in order and urgent given the societal problems," stated the document.

"The immigration policy ... is aimed at limiting and reducing the arrival of migrants with few prospects."

It proposes stricter conditions for granting asylum and making it harder for the partners and children of immigrant workers to move to The Netherlands. It also wants integration examinations to become harder.

CDA party members, deeply divided over cooperation with Wilders, have yet to approve the new accord which will be debated at a party congress on Saturday.

If they do, the CDA's 21 MPs must put their final stamp on the deal before Queen Beatrix can give presumed prime minister-in-waiting Mark Rutte, the VVD leader, the go-ahead to form his cabinet.

The VVD, or People's Party for Freedom and Democracy, narrowly won the June 9 elections with 31 out of 150 parliamentary seats but needs partners to form a government.

Wilders' Party for Freedom (PVV) will remain outside the envisaged VVD-CDA cabinet but will provide the minority government with the majority it needs to pass decisions through parliament in return for a voice in policy formation.

The three parties started negotiations soon after the polls to reach a balance between Wilders' socialist economic policies and strict budget cuts promised by the VVD and CDA.

CDA leader Maxime Verhagen described the deal as a "very good governing agreement."

"I am convinced that it is an agreement that every Christian Democrat will be able to identify with," he said.

Rutte said his government planned on carrying out "important reforms."

"We want to give the country back to the working Dutch citizen," he said.

The banning of the burqa is controversial in Europe, where the French parliament this month passed a law prohibiting the wearing of a full-face veil in public.

The exact number of women wearing the head-to-toe covering burqa in The Netherlands is not known but are believed to amount to a few dozen. Muslims make up an estimated about 900,000 of the 16.5 million Dutch population.

This is better

Ynet News

Terrorist Plot Uncovered in Europe

Intelligence agencies disrupt plans for multiple attacks on cities in Britain, France and Germany by group of militants based in Pakistan thought to be linked to al-Qaeda, Sky News reports

Intelligence agencies have disrupted plans for multiple attacks on European cities by a group thought to be linked to al-Qaeda, Britain's Sky News said on Tuesday.

Militants based in Pakistan were planning simultaneous strikes in London, as well as cities in France and Germany, the channel's foreign affairs editor, Tim Marshall, said.

US counter-terrorism agencies are poring over intelligence reports suggesting a major attack plot is currently in the works against unspecified targets in Western Europe or possibly the United States, they said.

Four US security officials, who asked for anonymity when discussing sensitive information, said that initial intelligence reports about the threat first surfaced roughly two weeks ago, around the time of the anniversary of the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.

Sky News' Marshall said an increase in drone attacks in Pakistan in the past few weeks was linked to attempts by Western powers to disrupt the plot, which was at an "advanced but not imminent stage."
British security sources declined to comment on the Sky News report.

Britain in January raised its international terrorism threat level to "severe" – the second highest level of alert in the five-tier system.

The head of Britain's MI5 Security Service, Jonathan Evans, said on September 16 there remained "a serious risk of a lethal attack taking place."

Eiffel Tower alert
The Eiffel Tower and the surrounding Champ de Mars park were briefly evacuated on Tuesday because of a bomb alert, the fourth such alert in the Paris region in as many weeks, but a search turned up nothing, police said.

French Interior Minister Brice Hortefeux said on Sept. 20 France faced a real terrorism threat due to a backlash from al-Qaeda militants in North Africa, with fears growing of an attack from home-grown cells within French borders.

Citing unidentified intelligence sources, Sky said the planned attacks would have been similar to the commando-style raids carried out in Mumbai by Pakistan-based gunmen in 2008.

The heavily armed militants launched an assault on various targets in Mumbai, including the Taj Mahal hotel and the city's main train station.

The United States appeared to have widened drone aircraft attacks against al Qaeda-linked militants in Pakistan and might have killed a senior leader of the group, Pakistani and US officials said on Tuesday.
US officials declined to comment on specific plots in Europe or elsewhere but acknowledged that targeted drone strikes in Pakistan were meant to disrupt militant networks planning attacks.

"It shouldn't surprise anyone that links between plots and those who are orchestrating them lead to decisive American action," a US official told Reuters.

"The terrorists who are involved are, as everyone should expect, going to be targets. That's the whole point of all of this."

The US national security officials said that most of the threat reporting suggested that the targets of whatever plots were under way were in Europe. One of the officials said, however, that there was particular concern that US interests in Europe might be targeted.

Two officials also said that they could not rule out the possibility that some of the threat reporting could relate to attack plots under way which might be directed at targets inside the United States. One of these officials added that the intelligence reporting was tangled and could mean that more than one plot has been set in motion.

US intelligence chief James Clapper declined to comment directly on any European plot but stressed that al Qaeda remained committed to attacking Europe and the United States.

"We are not going to comment on specific intelligence, as doing so threatens to undermine intelligence operations that are critical to protecting the US and our allies," Clapper, the director of national intelligence, said in a statement.

Germany Will Become Islamic State

Germany Will Become Islamic State, Says Chancellor Merkel

Chancellor Angela Merkel said that Germans have failed to grasp how Muslim immigration has transformed their country and will have to come to terms with more mosques than churches throughout the countryside, according to the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung daily.

“Our country is going to carry on changing, and integration is also a task for the society taking up the task of dealing with immigrants,” Ms. Merkel told the daily newspaper. “For years we’ve been deceiving ourselves about this. Mosques, for example, are going to be a more prominent part of our cities than they were before.”

Germany, with a population of 4-5 million Muslims, has been divided in recent weeks by a debate over remarks by the Bundesbank’s Thilo Sarrazin, who argued Turkish and Arab immigrants were failing to integrate and were swamping Germany with a higher birth rate.

The Chancellor’s remarks represent the first official acknowledgment that Germany, like other European countries, is destined to become a stronghold of Islam. She has admitted that the country will soon become a stronghold.

In France, 30% of children age 20 years and below are Muslims. The ratio in Paris and Marseille has soared to 45%. In southern France, there are more mosques than churches. The situation within the United Kingdom is not much different. In the last 30 years, the Muslim population there has climbed from 82,000 to 2.5 million. Presently, there are over 1000 mosques throughout Great Britain - – many of which were converted from churches.

In Belgium, 50% of the newborns are Muslims and reportedly its Islamic population hovers around 25%. A similar statistic holds true for The Netherlands. It’s the same story in Russia where one in five inhabitants is a Muslim.

Muammar Gaddafi recently stated that “There are signs that Allah will grant victory to Islam in Europe without sword, without gun, without conquest. We don’t need terrorists; we don’t need homicide bombers. The 50 plus million Muslims (in Europe) will turn it into the Muslim Continent within a few decades.” The numbers support him.


Family Security