Religious Hate:

• Via Jihadwatch: Abu Bakar Bashir, spiritual leader of Indonesia’s Jemaah Islamiyah, is interviewed by an Australian journalist. Bashir discusses the recent Australian embassy bombing in Indonesia, which he speculates was perpetrated by the Australians themselves.

  Australia has to be introspective about itself. At the moment, I still don’t know who is actually behind the embassy bombing, whether it has been done by those who hate Australia, or Australia itself which has actually done this for their particular political purpose. If it is done by those who hate Australia, there must be steps that need to be corrected by Australia. [emphasis mine]

  So, if Australia did it, it is Australia’s fault, and if an Australia hater did it, it is Australia’s fault. Got it. So maybe it’s John Howard’s fault? Nope:

  He [Howard] is on the slide because he has been cheated and lied to by George W. Bush.

  So it’s Bush’s fault?

  Bush is being used by the Jews. The Jews are the most evil men in the world.

  OK, now we get it. Read the whole thing. Bashir sings a seductive song of accommodation: if only you would leave us alone, we would do the same. But note that Jemaah Islamiyah claims responsibility for the bombing, and that Bashir claims this group is fictional, and meanwhile that the Bali bomber has published a book explaining how his Islamic piety led him to blow up 200 people – what exactly would it take for Bashir to acknowledge Islamic terror? Where is his fatwa against the perpetrators? Where is the evidence that we should treat his words of accommodation and mutual toleration as anything other than deceit, or delusion?

• From MEMRI: Last year the Islamist movement Al-Muhajiroun planned an event celebrating “The Magnificent 19”, which was called off. This year another convention was planned, "The Choice is in Your Hands: Either You're with the Muslims or with the Infidels”. From the London daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat:

  According to [Al-Muhajiroun leader Omar] Bakri, the anticipated criticism of Al-Muhajiroun for the organization's insistence on memorializing 9/11 will be "a simple sacrifice in comparison with what we must actually do – that is, support the Jihad led by bin Laden." [emphasis mine]

  Two questions: Did this celebration actually take place? And when do we get to take Bakri at his word?

• Also, check out this retrospective on Atta: Read the whole thing. Deviant, or true to the teaching of Islam?

• Via Jihadwatch, we learn that twice in three days, Palestinian TV broadcasts open calls for religiously motivated genocide against the Jews. The linked site “Palestinian Media Watch” is excellent; sadly their frames based navigation is not. Use this Google cache link to see the article, and this link for the main site. Stay a while.

• “Spritual leader” terrorist cheerleader Omar Bakri Mohammeds supports kidnapping children in “self defense” of for Iraqis. But killing them? No way. Of course,

  "As long as the Iraqi did not deliberately kill women and children, and they were killed in the crossfire, that would be okay."

  I hope this isn’t what people mean when they talk about moderate Muslims…

• Robert Spencer highlights this defense of Jihad as aggressive war against the infidel, argued from Islamic texts, as posted on an Islamic web site. Note especially the use of the hadith to disambiguate the Qur’an. (Full disclosure: As Hatewatch goes to press, the linked web site is “down for maintenance”.)

• Muslims who convert to Christianity in the US face death threats. Any chance CAIR will protest?

Idiotarian Seethings:

• From the department of what are they thinking, comes this:The Muslim Brotherhood In America: In Search of Friends Among the Foes:

  Some federal agents worry that the Muslim Brotherhood has dangerous links to terrorism. But some U.S. diplomats and intelligence officials believe its influence offers an opportunity for political engagement that could help isolate violent jihadists.

  Isolate them with what, level 10 force fields?

  In some nations -- Egypt, Algeria, Syria, Sudan -- the Brotherhood has fomented Islamic revolution. In the Palestinian territories, the Brotherhood created the Islamic Resistance Movement, or Hamas, which has become known for its suicide bombings of Israelis. Yet it is also a sophisticated and diverse organization that appeals to many Muslims worldwide and sometimes advocates peaceful persuasion, not violent revolt. Some of its supporters went on to help found al Qaeda, while others launched one of the largest college student groups in the United States. [emphasis mine]

  Hey, sometimes they’re peaceful! Some may want to draw a parallel between the Muslim Brotherhood and the IRA. Is there a Muslim version of Gerry Adams with whom we could do business? Unlikely: the demands of Jihad are not negotiable, and for the Jihadi terrorism is not a means, but an end in itself. Consider this from an ex Brother:

  "They have this idea that Muslims come first, not that humans come first," says Mustafa Saied, 32, a Floridian who left the U.S. Brotherhood in 1998.

• Rif'at Sayyed Ahmadm, the Energizer Bunny of Holocaust denial, (mentioned in the last two Hatewatch updates), participated in a panel discussion on Egyptian TV. Telling quote from his former editor, Muhammad Al-Zurqani:

  I think, Dr. Sayyed, that you and I are of the same generation, colleagues who worked together. We were educated from childhood that the Holocaust is a big lie."

  I was educated from childhood to believe in Santa. I outgrew it.

• Per Joe Katzman, noted “spiritual leader” Jimmy Swaggart makes the Idiotarian roundup this day for vowing to murder gays who “look at him like that”. (He later delivered a non-apology. Idiotarian seething or religious hate? I report, you decide.

• Via Drudge and Michelle Malkin, we learn of an official school terrorism drill in Muskegon County, Michigan. But who should stand in for the bad guys? Using actual terrorist groups would send the wrong message – it’s wrong to label people. Well, most people.

  "The exercise will simulate an attack by a fictitious radical group called Wackos Against Schools and Education who believe everyone should be homeschooled. Under the scenario, a bomb is placed on the bus and is detonated while the bus is traveling on Durham, causing the bus to land on its side and fill with smoke."

  Obviously someone hired Swaggart’s jokewriter.

• Check out this definitive, unabridged compendium of Bush=Hitler references. Aside from recording the repeat violators of Godwin’s law, why is this a problem? Because it cheapens the actual reality of the Nazis, who they were, and what they did.

Race and Culture:

• Any Muslims to blame for the massacre of school children in Beslan? Not according to Chechen politician Badr Al-Din Bino

  "Where are the Russian forces? Either there is a failure and the Russian forces cannot secure this region or there was Russian collaboration."

  Once again, the possibility of responsibility lying anywhere other than with the victims is denied. Are you sensing the pattern here? Oh, and any such denial from Basayev? Actually, no:

  "We are not bound by any circumstances, or to anybody, and we will continue to fight as is convenient and advantageous to us, and by our rules," he said in an unrepentant statement published on a rebel Web site.

  Fight?

• The third anniversary of September 11 brings out the conspiracy moonbats once again.Who perpetrated these attacks? The Jews, to take attention off of the Palestinian issue, the CIA, to further American hegemony, etc. Bin Laden? Maybe, but he was Bush’s sock puppet. And don’t forget the Freemasons. Who is propagating these theories? Egyptian professors, journalists writing for Government papers, Saudi clerics, and Iranian TV – which alternately blames the CIA and the Jews within a couple weeks of each other.

  At Al-Shahid Mosque in Khartoum, Sudan on August 27, 2004, the imam 'Abd Al-Jalil Al-Nazir Al-Karouri discussed September 11 during a Friday sermon that appeared on Sudan State TV: "… When September the ninth comes [i.e. September 11] we will again review the material we handed out about the Jewish thumbprint. Let's say in brief, that whether the 9/9 events and the destruction of the two famous buildings in the U.S. were carried out by Israel's enemies, as the U.S. claims, or by Israeli agents, as we claim, the outcome is the same - the Jews are the cause.

  Oy.

• Further exploring the topic of 9/11 consipiracy theories, Zeyad gives us the backstory.

  Try to imagine it this way: starting with your early childhood you hear adults around you blaming 'Jews', 'Israel', 'Zionists', 'infidels', 'colonialism', 'imperialism', 'the West' for all the ills of your society. At school you are taught a flowery refined version of Arab and Islamic history. One in which the Ummah was the center of the world. You revel in the glories of your ancestors, their superior military and economic power, their benign tolerance of religious minorities, all the wealth of scientific knowledge they brought to humanity while the west was wallowing in the Dark Ages. You then learn about the conspiracies against the Islamic Empire and its divine message for humanity. Colonialism. How the west came to enslave your countrymen and plunder your riches for centuries. You look around you at the Arab and Islamic world today and you wonder what went wrong. How can such a glorious 'chosen' Ummah suffer such a pathetic fate.

• The Palestinian Authority is promoting a prisoner, Samir Quntar, as a national hero. What did this hero do?

  In 1979, Quntar crossed into northern Israel from Lebanon, and took Danny Haran and his four-year-old daughter, Einat, as hostages, to bring them to Lebanon. When the Israeli army arrived, Quntar murdered Danny and Einat. Danny's other daughter also died in the attack. Quntar was captured, and received multiple life sentences totalling 542 years in prison.

  He got off easy.

• This article presents another case of deafness to the language of hate, this time in Sweden. A picture is painted of a pervasive political atmosphere hyper critical of Israel. It can be argued that many criticisms, taken singly, are impossible to dismiss as anti-Semitism or expressions of hate (with some notable exceptions). Yet the relentless, shrill criticism, the racist stereotyping present in the cartoons, are contributing to a climate in Sweden where it would appear that the case for Israel is not up for debate, but simply to be shouted down – and the Jews are once again afraid to be known as Jews. (A phenomenon not confined to Sweden). Is this an accurate picture?

• Enough with the Bushitler meme – what about the real deal? In Saxony, neo Nazis poll even with the ruling party:

• On the other hand, this is just bizarre: Springtime for Hitler in the Palestinian Authority

A Hopeful Note:

• Here at Winds, we followed the Arab reactions to Beslan which came thick and fast. MEMRI followed with many more translated excerpts. Read the whole thing, but consider this…

  The participation of a portion of the Arab volunteers in the resistance to the Soviet involvement in Afghanistan is possible to understand. Less so the fighting on the side of the Chechen rebels in Chechnya. However, that some should participate in the abduction of Russian children in an elementary school? There are no mitigating circumstances for the inhuman horror and the height of barbarism that occurred in the children's school on the celebration of the opening [of the school year].

  …from Palestinian columnist Hasan Al-Batal. The horse found the water on his own. Will he drink?

• Chechen relatives of former Chechen President Maskhadov had this to say to their cousin:

  Pamzan and Ruslan Maskhadov, cousins of former Chechen President Aslan Maskhadov called on him to end terrorism. “Today, life is back to normal in the Chechen Republic. It is possible to work and receive a salary,” the two brothers said. “Consequently, the reasons for terror are neither present nor justified.” They urged Mashkadov to put an end to his actions once and for all and stop the gangs “who have killed hundreds of innocent children.” They also asked Ossetians for forgiveness.

• Former Kuwaiti Minister of Information Dr. Sa'd Bin Tefla compares the Islamic reaction to Salman Rushdie with the reaction (or lack thereof) to Bin Laden:

  "But let us put aside the [subject of the] fatwa. Have any protests been held condemning bin Laden's actions in any of the Islamic capital cities? Perhaps there were some that demonstrated in his favor. The [Muslim] satellite stations competed amongst themselves in broadcasting his sermons and fatwas, instead of preventing their dissemination as they did in the case of Rushdie's book. Have we earmarked a reward for anyone who kills bin Laden as we did for anyone who kills Rushdie on account of his book?

• The Free Muslim Coalition offers us this apology for 9/11, and for other acts of Islamic terror.

• From an article by Dr. Shaker Al-Nabulsi:

  "… If the Arabs had today a well-burnished mirror in which they can see themselves, and if they had the requisite courage to look in it, they would be stricken by fear and panic at the sight of themselves. The image [would be] that we have become the most terrorist nation and the greatest spillers of blood in the world in this [current] stage of history in which nations resolve their problems through dialogue, diplomacy, conventions, and through appeal to the world's better judgment, to public opinion, and to intellectuals, instead of threatening [others] with bloodshed if this or that demand goes unmet… The image is that we have become a nation devoid of reason!"

  Again, the problem is that he asserts that Islam has been “hijacked” without providing an argument as to how, exactly. Still, the force of his rhetoric manifests sincerity. Dr. Al-Nabulsi is listed as an example of an Arab “progressive”. Can we trade?

• Some very interesting reactions to the abduction of two French journalists in Iraq. Iraqi columnist 'Adnan Fares has this to say about Chirac:

  Today, Jacques Chirac's France is a major source of succor for third-world dictatorships and terror organizations. This is in the context of a new plan in its current international policy, which is aimed at serving interests that are far removed from international norms and values… Jacques Chirac does not condemn terror against the Iraqi people, but calls upon terrorists to distinguish between friend [namely, France] and foe."

• This editorial from the Jordan Times contains the magic phrase I’ve been waiting to hear in a piece condemning the ongoing kidnapping and execution of western hostages in Iraq:

  The point is not to save the image of Islam, the point is to save ourselves from the affliction that, if allowed to fester, will consume us and life as we would have wanted it to be: Democratic, pluralistic, free and creative. [emphasis mine]

  IMRA’s well founded but snarky interjections aside, this is the right sentiment and should be acknowledged as such.

• Syrian University lecturer Mundir Badr Haloum, expands on this theme in a column in the Lebanese daily Al-Safir: 'Ignominious Terrorism Exists, and One Cannot but Acknowledge its Being Islamic'

  What gets passed on from generation to generation is the belief in legal rulings that forbid thought and permit killing…

  Ouch.

The battle for the soul of Islam is joined. In the wake of the Beslan massacre and the 9/11 anniversary, the number of Muslim voices rejecting the rhetoric of misdirection, delusion and jihad continues to grow.