Female Peace Activists Raped by Arabs/other Islam related news
(Please remember that if you click on an individual article's link and get my personal AOL email page, to click on the main link for that website or else copy and paste it, in order to read entire article and see videos, and remember, it is the rich oil cartels that control the world, NOT the Zionists. If a specific article stands out for you, I ENCOURAGE you to copy and paste it in its entirety and send it to the groups. Permission is granted to fwd and share any posts that I send. MBS)
(Sorry, no table of contents but these sites have the same kind of articles, that I send; US News, International News, Israel News. MBS)
http://grendelreport. posterous.com/
http://tundratabloid.blogspot.com/
http://sultanknish.blogspot.com/
http://israelmatzav.blogspot.com/
Some 3,300 years ago the Jewish nation was created! Unfortunately there are people, including misguided Jews, who are still questioning this fact. Regardless, whether it was Divine providence or conception of the nationhood by people who escaped the tyranny of Egypt,
Jews have a lot to celebrate!
(Is it just me or what? If women are "routinely" being raped and its an "open secret", then what is the problem with these women? I am not condoning the behaviour of the males, but WTF? MBS)
Two activists have exposed a disturbing phenomenon that they say is an open secret within the "peace camp": female "peace" activists are routinely harassed and raped by the Arabs of Judea and Samaria with whom they have come to identify. They say the phenomenon has gotten worse lately and that many foreign women end up as wives of local Arabs against their will, but cannot escape their new homes & Roni Aloni Sedovnik, a feminist activist, explains that when female peace activists from Israel and abroad went to Judea and Samaria and demonstrate against the Israeli "occupation" they were sexually assaulted by Arab men, whom they have come to help. These are not isolated incidents, Aloni-Sedovnik stresses. Rather, this is an "ongoing and widespread" phenomenon that includes verbal and physical abuse. She accuses the 'peace' camp of purposely covering up the trend so as not to offend "the Palestinians and their heritage, which sees women as sexual objects."
Aloni-Sedovnik cites two specific cases - one is a case of rape and the other a case of "severe sexual harassment." The attackers, she stresses, in both cases were familiar with the victims and knew that they were "peace activists."
The rape occurred several months ago in the village of Umm Salmona, near Bethlehem. The victim, an American activist, wanted to press charges but leftist activists put pressure on her not to do so, so as not to damage the struggle against the 'occupation.'
The second case involved an Israeli activist who took part in the demonstrations at Shimon HaTzaddik neighbourhood in eastern Jerusalem, where the High Court ruled that Jewish families may move into homes that they have owned for generations. This woman filed a complaint with the police but retracted it after "severe and unfair pressure" from the demonstrations' organisers...
Why there is No Pressure to 'Negotiate' on Abbas?
The PLO Executive Committee gave Mahmoud Abbas the mandate he requested for breaking off the US-sponsored "direct talks. The Saudi royal mouthpiece Asharq Al-Awsat crowned Mahmoud Abbas on Sept. 29 the "most inept diplomat of 2010," a dubious honor he is said to have earned by simultaneously meeting Israeli and Hamas Islamic terror objectives, but blaming Israel for the breakdown of talks and resumption of settlement construction.
Food for Thought. by Steven Shamrak
Muhammad's murderous life history, his lies and paedophilia are not so vigorously questioned, if at all, as are Jewish beliefs in reincarnation, spiritual teachings of Kabbalah and the Oral Law. Where are the so-called nice people with their political correctness, religious tolerance and acceptance?
Mahmoud Alyaee, secretary-general of Iran's industrial computer servers, confirmed that 30,000 computers belonging to classified industrial units had been infected and disabled by the malicious Stuxnet virus. Is clandestine cyber war being fought against Iran by the United States with elite cyber war units established by Israel?
Appeasement will Never Bring Peace!
A PA leader tells the UN that a peace deal is possible if Israel withdraws to the pre-967 borders, thus allowing a proposed Palestinian state to have east Jerusalem as its capital. 'Israel is above the law. It expands settlements, erects apartheid fence,' he said. "Israel must choose between settlements and peace." (Enemies set so many conditions but have not even made a commitment to negotiate peace with Israel! A ten months freeze on settlements did not stop terror attacks and have not yielded any good will gestures from the PA!)
US Senate - Time to Pressure Abbas.
Almost all US Senators signed a letter to Obama saying that Netanyahu "reached out to Abbas," who they said must be pressured not to freeze talks.
"Palestinians" not Welcome in Lebanon.
President of Lebanon Michel Sleiman reiterated refusal to settle Palestinian 'refugees', saying such a step would undermine stability in the country. "Lebanon has said it will not accept the settlement of Palestinians for several reasons, especially due to dangers that will result from the settlement which will undermine security and stability." (The Lebanese know their brothers well. They remember that 'Palestinians' were behind the civil war in Lebanon. From the Arab league perspective, so-call Palestinians are used as the perfect weapons to undermine the security and stability of Israel.)
International Refusal to See Reality.
Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman told Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon of the United Nations that the end of the freeze on Jewish building in Judea and Samaria was just an excuse for Abbas not to continue direct talks with Israel. "For nine months, the Palestinians claimed that the freeze was a trick. Now they have turned it into the most important thing", said Lieberman.
"President Arafat instructed Hamas to carry out a number of military operations in the heart of the Zionist entity after he felt that his negotiations with the Israeli government then had failed," Mahmoud Zahar, one of the Hamas leaders, told students and lecturers at the Islamic University in Gaza City. This was the first time that a senior Hamas official disclosed that some of the suicide bombings in Israel during the second intifada, which erupted 10 years ago, were ordered by Arafat. Until now it was widely believed that Arafat had ordered only his Fatah militiamen to carry out terror attacks on Israel.
The Pentagon has burned 9,500 copies of Army Reserve Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer's memoir "Operation Dark Heart." The U.S. Defence Intelligence Agency attempted to block the book that discusses the tipping point in Afghanistan and a controversial pre-9/11 data-mining project called "Able Danger." The agency also attempted to block key portions of the book that claim "Able Danger" successfully identified hijacker Mohammed Atta as a threat to the United States before the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks. Please, view this information and judge yourself. This important constitutional issue of the United States is still not addressed properly! Is he a legitimate President? A natural born citizen must be born on US soil and both parents must be US citizens. Obama's father was Kenyan! (Why aren't the US Congress, the Supreme court, independent press investigating this allegation and, most importantly, the US voters up in arms about this? Aren't they at least curious to learn whether or not there has been an abuse of the United States constitution and democratic process?)
Priority of 'Moderate' Islamic State.
Pakistan's Prime Minister called a female scientist convicted of trying to kill US interrogators in Afghanistan "the daughter of the nation" and vowed to campaign for her release from an American jail. (It is a well-known secret that the ISI, the Pakistani intelligence agency, has been actively supporting the Taliban. But the charade that Pakistan is a moderate Islamic state persists! How can we win the war against terror by befriending enemies like Pakistan and Saudi Arabia?)
19-year-old Breslov Chossid was murdered by Ukrainian thugs near the grave of his Rebbe in Uman, just two months before he was to be married. (It is time to bring the remains of the Rebbe home and stop sponsoring anti-Semites with Jewish money!)
Labor Party does not Reflect the Reality.
Defence Minister, Ehud Barak, said that comments made by Foreign Minister, Avigdor Lieberman, at the UN General Assembly "do not reflect the stance of the government, and certainly not the stance of the Labor party. The Labor party believes in continuing the direct talks in order to achieve an agreement with the Palestinians, and in order not to play into the hands of Israel's enemies."
No International Fuss nor US Pressure!
South Korea says its first working-level military talks with North Korea in two years ended with no progress. South Korea pressed North Korea to apologise for the deadly sinking of a South Korean warship in March and to punish those responsible. Forty-six sailors died! (Because there are no Jews in Korea)
Quote of the Week:
"We have to stop apologising and looking for where we are guilty. The other side does not want peace and wastes time. The truth is not always pleasant but it needs to be told." - Avigdor Lieberman, Foreign Minister of Israel
(exracts from interview with Nicolai Sennels )
It is good to keep ones own identity and traditions while maintaining respect of others. Islam has no such tradition!
Danish integration problems with Muslims became public worldwide in 2006 when the newspaper, Jyllands-Posten, published 12 cartoons of the prophet Mohammed. Currently 70 percent of inmates in Copenhagen's youth prison consists of young men of Muslim heritage& According to the Danish police and the Danish Bureau of Statistics over 70 percent of all crimes in the Danish capital are committed by Muslims.
According to the (politicly correct) Copenhagen authorities it is apparently permitted to state that the serious problems among Muslims are caused by poverty, the media, the police, the Danes, politicians, etc. But two things are definitely not allowed: 1) discussing the significance of culture and 2) our foreigners own responsibility for their integration in our societies. Unfortunately many very powerful politicians lack a clear understanding of the psychological aspect of culture and the influence it has on integration. Danish psychologist Nicolai Sennels does not believe that integration of Muslims in Western societies is possible. · Germany - only 12 percent of 3.5 million Muslims see themselves as more German than Muslim.
· France and Denmark - only 14 percent of the Muslim populations respectively see themselves more French or Danish than Muslim.
· Denmark - 50 percent of the 1st- and 2nd-generation immigrants are against free speech and 11 percent of them would like to see the Danish constitution exchanged with the Sharia law.
People hope that most Muslims are modern and accept Western values. The experience is different and this has been proven by the statistics in Europe and some deadly serious riots Europe saw a couple of years ago. In these riots, we saw Muslims (who do not practice the Islamic religion in their daily lives) standing up for their culture and religion in a very aggressive way.
Unfortunately many politicians see poverty as the main cause of integration problems. I think this is a horrible and one-dimensional view of poor people and of people in general. The idea that people's behaviour is decided by the amount of money they have in their bank accounts every month is an exceedingly limited view.
Those who say that integration is possible, carry a very great responsibility. There is a very great risk that they are selling us hope, a dream that has no foundation in reality... On the contrary, research that we have on integration of Muslims in Western societies shows that we are continuing to head in the wrong direction.
Just to Share with you this e-mail from a Muslim who is a strong advocate of racial and religious harmony. | "I am a Muslim by faith.... a Christian by spirit....a Jew by heart....and above all I am a human being." Dr. Tawfik Hamid.
Dr. Hamid is an Egyptian scholar and author
From the heart of a Muslim - Tawfik Hamid
| | | | "I was born a Muslim and lived all my life as a follower of Islam | |
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After the barbaric terrorist attacks done by the hands of my fellow Muslims everywhere on this globe, and after the too many violent acts by Islamists in many parts of the world, I feel responsible as a Muslim and as a human being, to speak out and tell the truth to protect the world and Muslims as well from a coming catastrophe and war of civilizations.
I have to admit that our current Islamic teaching creates violence and hatred toward Non-Muslims. We Muslims are the ones who need to change. Until now we have accepted polygamy, the beating of women by men, and killing those who convert from Islam to other religions.
We have never had a clear and strong stand against the concept of slavery or wars, to spread our religion and to subjugate others to Islam and force them to pay a humiliating tax called Jizia. We ask others to respect our religion while all the time we curse non-Muslims loudly (in Arabic) in our Friday prayers in the Mosques.
What message do we convey to our children when we call the Jews "Descendants of the pigs and monkeys".. Is this a message of love and peace, or a message of hate?
I have been into churches and synagogues where they were praying for Muslims. While all the time we curse them, and teach our generations to call them infidels, and to hate them.
We immediately jump in a 'knee jerk reflex' to defend Prophet Mohammad when someone accuses him of being a pedophile while, at the same time, we are proud with the story in our Islamic books, that he married a young girl seven years old (Aisha) when he was above 50 years old.
I am sad to say that many, if not most of us, rejoiced in happiness after September 11th and after many other terror attacks.
Muslims denounce these attacks to look good in front of the media, but we condone the Islamic terrorists and sympathise with their cause. Till now our 'reputable' top religious authorities have never issued a Fatwa or religious statement to proclaim Bin Laden as an apostate, while an author, like Rushdie, was declared an apostate who should be killed according to Islamic Shariia law just for writing a book criticizing Islam.
Muslims demonstrated to get more religious rights as we did in France to stop the ban on the Hejab (Head Scarf), while we did not demonstrate with such passion and in such numbers against the terrorist murders.
It is our absolute silence against the terrorists that gives the energy to these terrorists to continue doing their evil acts. We Muslims need to stop blaming our problems on others or on the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. As a matter of honesty, Israel is the only light of democracy, civilization, and human rights in the whole Middle East .
We kicked out the Jews with no compensation or mercy from most of the Arab countries to make them "Jews-Free countries" while Israel accepted more than a million Arabs to live there, have its nationality, and enjoy their rights as human beings. In Israel, women can not be beaten legally by men, and any person can change his/her belief system with no fear of being killed by the Islamic law of 'Apostasy,' while in our Islamic world people do not enjoy any of these rights. I agree that the 'Palestinians' suffer, but they suffer because of their corrupt leaders and not because of Israel .
It is not common to see Arabs who live in Israel leaving to live in the Arab world. On the other hand, we used to see thousands of Palestinians going to work with happiness in Israel , its 'enemy'. If Israel treats Arabs badly as some people claim, surely we would have seen the opposite happening.
We Muslims need to admit our problems and face them. Only then we can treat them and start a new era to live in harmony with human mankind. Our religious leaders have to show a clear and very strong stand against polygamy, pedophilia, slavery, killing those who convert from Islam to other religions, beating of women by men, and declaring wars on non-Muslims to spread Islam.
Then, and only then, do we have the right to ask others to respect our religion. The time has come to stop our hypocrisy and say it openly: 'We Muslims have to Change'. Tawfik Hamid
http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Editorials/Article.aspx?id=189950
Editorial: Farce at the UNHRC By JPOST EDITORIAL 10/02/2010 22:16
Because of their numerical preponderance, Arab/Muslim states can skew all int'l discourse to the detriment of Western progressive values.
The UN Human Rights Council report that has scathingly condemned Israel for last May's
Mavi Marmara incident was no bolt from the blue.
Indeed, any other conclusion to the UNHRC's hasty "probe" would have been nothing less than a bombshell.
All UN forums are notoriously tilted against Israel but, even in this inhospitable context, the UNHRC stands out in infamy.
The UNHRC report was a separate pet project, conducted independently of the UN secretary-general's own Mavi Marmara inquiry. Incredibly, the UNHRC probe was preceded by the verdict. The Council's investigation followed a UNHRC resolution that harshly scolded Israel for what was termed "an outrageous attack."
In other words, the UNHRC brazenly revealed itself as a kangaroo court – a self-appointed tribunal that violates established legal procedure to deliver a sham judgment, predetermined in disregard of the facts and the law.
But not only is the UNHRC a kangaroo court, it also obsessively strives to put only one defendant – Israel – in the dock. This, after all, is the forum that initiated the Goldstone Report.
Pro forma the Geneva-based council was born only in 2006, but in actual fact it started out as the much-discredited UN Human Rights Commission. Former UN Secretary- General Kofi Annan took the extraordinary step of abolishing it because of its unabashed politicization, which mostly manifested itself in its fixated demonization of Israel – singled out for censure on any occasion and under any pretext.
The unlamented Commission was replaced by the Council amid promises for sincere introspection, contrition and most of all the cleaning up of the Commission's shameful record. Nonetheless, the Commission's preposterous patterns reasserted themselves in full from the get-go.
The Council consistently discerns nothing more urgent with which to occupy itself than Israel's alleged human rights abuses.
THE COUNCIL is the Commission's carbon copy, with one exception. The Commission held a single yearly session.
The Council treats us to multiple annual extravaganzas.
Twenty-seven of its 47 seats are Asian/African, with Arab/Muslim states accounting for the bulk of these. This not only guarantees massive anti-Israel bias, but it makes mockery of human rights. Among the council's members are such stalwart champions of civil liberties as Saudi Arabia, Libya, Bangladesh, China, Jordan, Pakistan, Algeria, Angola, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Djibouti, Mauritania, Senegal, Uganda, Zambia, Malaysia and Qatar.
For a nation to be castigated by those on the list above unequivocally attests to the precise opposite of whatever they may allege. When such a thoroughly disreputable band points the finger of blame so unanimously, their guilty verdict becomes a veritable badge of merit. Any accolade from this assortment would have to be regarded with the utmost suspicion. The fact that they abhor Israel ought to be a source of pride.
What worries us, therefore, is not their animus but the disingenuous respect with which the UNHRC's rulings are treated by the minority of democratic UNHRC members and how they are generally reported without reservations by the media of the free world. It is this cynical acquiescence to injustice in the West, both by governments and journalists, which must deprive anyone who cherishes justice of residual peace of mind.
The ongoing travesty produced by the UNHRC is twofold. Not only does it grotesquely target Israel (the subject of 90 percent of its resolutions) but the compulsive preoccupation with Israel also diverts attention from where it ought to be focused. Thus the UNHRC studiously ignores the oppression of the Kurds in Iran, Turkey and Syria, as well as of Berbers in Algeria. It managed only two resolutions on Sudan's mass murders in Darfur. One declared the Khartoum regime responsible for maintaining law and order; the other actually heaped praise on Khartoum for the admirable job it was doing.
The inherent flaw in UN institutions – whether they are dubbed commissions or councils – will not be eliminated unless the world's democracies stand up to the danger that threatens them, too, even if Israel currently seems the global punching-bag. Because of their numerical preponderance, Arab/Muslim states can skew all international discourse to the detriment of Western progressive values.
If democracies submit to bullying facilitated by a prearranged anti-democratic majority, then all their high-minded principles are per force rendered a fetid farce. The UNHRC, with its skewed machinations and manipulations, is a dismal case in point.
The Apostates of Islam
We left Islam
We are ex-Muslims. Some of us were born and raised in Islam and some of us had converted to Islam at some moment in our lives. We were taught never to question the truth of Islam and to believe in Allah and his messenger with blind faith. We were told that Allah would forgive all sins but the sin of disbelief (Quran 4:48 and 4:116). But we committed the ultimate sin of thinking and questioned the belief that was imposed on us and we came to realize that far from being a religion of truth, Islam is a hoax, it is hallucination of a sick mind and nothing but lies and deceits.
Some of us have embraced other religions but most of us have simply left Islam without believing in any other religion. We believe in humanity. We believe that humans do not need to follow a religion to be good. All we need to follow is the Golden Rule. All we have to do is to treat others the way we expect to be treated. This is the essence of all the goodness. All good religious teachings stem from this eternal principle. This is the ultimate guidance humanity need. This is the Golden Rule.
One who claims to be a messenger of God is expected to live a saintly life. He must not be given to lust, he must not be a sexual pervert, and he must not be a rapist, a highway robber, a war criminal, a mass murderer or an assassin. One who claims to be a messenger of God must have a superior character. He must stand above the vices of the people of his time. Yet Muhammad's life is that of a gangster godfather. He raided merchant caravans, looted innocent people, massacred entire male populations and enslaved the women and children. He raped the women captured in war after killing their husbands and told his followers that it is okay to have sex with their captives and their "right hand possessions" (Quran 33:50) He assassinated those who criticized him and executed them when he came to power and became de facto despot of Arabia. Muhammad was bereft of human compassion. He was an obsessed man with his dreams of grandiosity and could not forgive those who stood in his way. Muhammad was a narcissist like Hitler, Saddam or Stalin. He was astute and knew how to manipulate people, but his emotional intelligence was less evolved than that of a 6-year-old child. He simply could not feel the pain of others. He brutally massacred thousands of innocent people and pillaged their wealth. His ambitions were big and as a narcissist he honestly believed he is entitled to do as he pleased and commit all sorts of crimes and his evil deeds are justified.
Muhammad produced no miracles and when pressed he claimed that his miracle is the Quran. Yet a cursory look at the Quran reveals that this book is full of errors. Quran is replete with scientific heresies, historic blunders, mathematical mistakes, logical absurdities, grammatical errors and ethical fallacies. It is badly compiled and it contradicts itself. There is nothing intelligent in this book let alone miraculous. Muhammad challenged people to produce a "Surah like it" or find an error therein, yet Muslims would kill anyone who dares to criticize it. In such a climate of hypocrisy and violence truth is the first casualty.
We are apostates of Islam. We denounce Islam as a false doctrine of hate and terror. However we are not against Muslims who are our own kin and relatives. We do not advocate hate and violence. Muslims are the main victims of Islam. Our goal is to educate them and let them see the truth. We are against Islam and not the Muslims. We strive to bring the Muslims into the fold of humanity. Eradicate Islam so our people can be liberated, so they can prosper and break away from the pillory of Islam. We would like to see Islamic countries dedicate more time to science and less time to Quran and Sharia. We would like to see them prosper and contribute to human civilization. We would like to see the draconian laws of Islam eliminated and people are treated humanely. We strive for freedom of beliefs, for equality of gender and for oneness of humankind.
Today the humanity is facing a great danger. Islamic fundamentalism is on the rise and the hatred is brewing in the minds of millions of Muslims. This hatred must be contained or there would be disastrous consequences. We believe that the education is the only answer. Muslim intellectuals must realize that Islam is a false doctrine and they must let the rest of Islamic world know the truth. Islam is a religion that thrives on the arrogant assumption that it is the most logical, the most scientific and the most perfect religion. While the fact is that it is the stupidest doctrine — the most backward and absurd belief. Once the truth about Islam becomes common knowledge, it will be weakened and the Islamic fanaticism will lose its fangs. Hundreds of billions of dollars are being expended to combat Islamic terrorism, yet no effort is made to contain the ideology behind this terrorism. It is our belief that Islamic terrorism will not be eliminated unless and until the ideology behind it is exposed and eradicated. This is what we intend to do.
The Apostates of Islam
http://www.apostatesofislam.com/
Gay Palestinian seeks residency in Israel on humanitarian grounds Majed Koka has lived with his Israeli partner for last eight years and filed for residency in 2009, but is still waiting for the Interior Ministry's answer.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/gay-palestinian-seeks-residency-in-israel-on-humanitarian-grounds-1.316274
http://newsok.com/armenian-genocide-of-1915-precursor-of-holocaust/article/3500005
Armenian genocide of 1915 precursor of Holocaust Published: October 1, 2010
Gary Beasley (Your Views, Sept. 22) mentioned a connection between
Hitler and Islam during World War II. This connection actually goes back much further, all the way back to the Armenian genocide of 1915 in which the Muslim Turks (who were allies of
Germany during both world wars), after disarming the Christian Armenians, stole their land and plundered their wealth. They conscripted the men they didn't immediately slaughter for grunt labor as their military service to keep them from becoming proficient with firearms; they worked the men until they dropped dead of exhaustion or starvation.
They raped the women and children in the presence of their spouses and parents; those they didn't slaughter immediately they drove in massive "caravans" through the scorching desert to be "deported," meaning slaughtered naked or sold to become part of a Muslim harem. Some 1.5 million Armenians, about 50 percent of their population, were exterminated. Next in line to be targeted were the Greeks, then the (less numerous) Jews. The Germans learned the pattern for genocide from the Islamic Turks and imported it into the
Third Reich.
I encourage all readers to research Islam in
Denmark on the Internet and consider those facts along with the Armenian genocide. Then decide for yourself how much of a threat Islam is in this country.
Egyptian Psychotherapist Dr. Radhwa Farghali: Women in Arab Society Are Treated as Minors
Following are excerpts from an interview with Egyptian psychotherapist Dr. Radhwa Farghali, which aired on Al-Jazeera TV on August 5, 2010:
The Law Treats Women More Harshly than Men
Dr. Radhwa Farghali: "In some cases, the law does not treat women and men equally. Take, for example, the issue of honor [killings]…"
Interviewer: "So there is one law for men and another for women?"
Dr. Radhwa Farghali: "Exactly, even though the discrimination in these issues is not ordained by religion. Take, for example, the issue of prostitution. If a woman is caught in a case pertaining to sex, she is severely punished, whereas the man gets off scot free. In most of these cases, the man turns state's evidence, while the woman receives the most severe punishment – not to mention the social damage done to her and the mark of shame that she bears. This does not mean that I am personally advocating women's promiscuity, or that I am calling for lighter sentences for women, but at the very least, there should be equality, because there are two parties to this crime, so how can you punish one party and not the other?"
Interviewer: "Is this true of the laws of all Arab countries?"
Dr. Radhwa Farghali: "The laws of most Arab countries do not punish the man and the woman equally, even though religion treats them equally. The second issue has to do with honor killings. A man has the right to kill his sister, his daughter, or his wife, if she is caught in immoral circumstances. The same does not hold true for women. If a woman kills her husband, who cheated on her, she is subject to severe legal measures, and in most cases, she is punished like any murderer. The man, on the other hand, is considered to be defending honor, and he gets a mitigated sentence or is even acquitted."
Arab Wives are Treated "Like a Piece of Furniture in the House"
Interviewer: "We have on the line Ibrahim Abdallah from Saudi Arabia. Hello…"
Caller over the phone: "Islam has given everybody their rights. What about women's violence against men? For example, a woman might stubbornly rebel against her husband, leave the house without his permission, bring home people he hates, and constantly incite their children against him. Some husbands were even killed by wives who were unbalanced, mentally disturbed, or socially retarded. To this list I should add the woman's sexual betrayal of the husband, going about unveiled in front of men in public places, berating her husband for being poor, comparing him to others, traveling abroad on her own, insisting on working without his permission, constantly wanting to have the last word, and always using the weapon of pretending to be oppressed. Allah said about women: 'Truly, mighty is their snare.' There should be equality between the rights of the man of the woman.
Interviewer: "Thank you, brother Ibrahim. […]"
Dr. Radhwa Farghali: "In Arab society, women are treated as if they were minors or incompetent. The man has the right to beat his wife in order to discipline her. He has the right to kick her, to burn her, and sometimes even to kill her, or to debase her body, as a form of discipline. She is like a piece of furniture in the house. […]
"Why should a man marry four wives? If a man is married to a good wife, who communicates with him psychologically, socially, and physically, and raises the children – why would he want to marry four wives? For the sake of variety?"
Copts Apolgize for Suggesting that They Aren't Infidels... http://www.pakistanchristianpost.com/headlinenewsd.php?hnewsid=2322
| Muslim Body Sets Conditions for Christian Citizenship in Egypt |
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Cairo: October 1, 2010. (By Mary Abdelmassih AINA) -- Bishop Bishoy, secretary of the Coptic Church's Holy Synod and the second highest authority in the church, caused a Muslim furor last week when the media published excerpts from a lecture he was due to give later to the clergy during the "Coptic Faith" Seminar held in Fayoum, south of Cairo on September 23.
He was questioning whether some verses inferring that "Christians were infidels" were added to the Qur'an after the death of Prophet Muhammad by one of his successor Caliph Uthman ibn Affan (644-656), suggesting that they may have been inserted for religious/political purposes. Bishop Bishoy's lecture was later canceled for unknown reasons.
Angry Muslims considered his queries about the time frame of these verses as accusations that the Qur'an was distorted, since they believe that all verses were received by Muhammad through the Angel Gabriel during his lifetime and that the words have remained undistorted since then.
In an effort to diffuse the situation, Coptic Pope Shenouda III apologized on state-run TV on Sunday September 26 saying: "I am sorry if our Muslim brother's feelings were hurt. Debating religious beliefs are a red line, a deep red line."
Bishop Bishoy told the clergy audience in Fayoum that his questions were merely about the time of the verses, which say "Verily they are disbelievers and infidels who say 'The Messiah, son of Mary, is God.'" (Qur'an 5:17). He believes these verses contradict the Christian faith. "I don't understand how that can be turned into an attack on Islam," he said, insisting that his remarks had been taken out of context.
Many Copts were against the Bishop's remarks, especially coming at a time of heightened tension with Islamists, when demonstrations were being staged by them in front of mosques against the Coptic Church and Pope Shenouda, with false accusation like the abduction of a converted to Islam priest's wife (AINA 9-17-2010) or the Church stockpiling weapons to wage war against Muslims (AINA 9-21-2010).
On Friday, September 24, thousands of Islamists demonstrated in front of Ibrahim Mosque in Alexandria demanding the detainment of Bishop Bishoy and insulting Pope Shenouda and throwing shoes at his photos.
Members of al-Azhar's Islamic Research Council held an emergency meeting led by the institution's head, Grand Imam Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb, repudiating Bishop Bishoy's comments and accusing him of provoking sectarian tension.
A "Statement to the Nation" was released by the Council on Saturday, September 25 in which al-Tayeb said "This kind of behavior is irresponsible and threatens national unity at a time when it is vital to protect it." He also warned against repercussions these sorts of statements can have among Muslims in Egypt and abroad.
The Statement went on to say the Council stresses the fact that Egypt is an "Islamic State" according to the text of its Constitution, which represents the social contract between its people. "From this stems the rights of citizenship, as taught to us by the Messenger of Allah in his pact with the Christians of Najran, in which he decided that they were to enjoy rights and duties as the Muslims. However, these rights are conditional to respect for the Islamic Identity and the citizenship rights as set by the Constitution."
The Christians of Najran, Medina, refused conversion to Islam in 631 A.D. and offered Mohamad to maintain their faith, accept the dominance of Muslims and pay an annual tribute (the jizya), he accepted and the pact was sealed between them.
Magdy Khalil, head of the Middle East Freedom Forum, issued a press release on September 27, saying the Al-Azhar's "Statement to the Nation" brings us back to the era of Dhimmitude. He thinks this statement, which is addressed to the Islamic nation and Muslims in Egypt and abroad, undermines completely the concept of modern citizenship, replacing it with their perception of an alternative Islamic citizenship, which corresponds to that promoted by various groups of political Islam. "citizenship in the traditions of the Islamic Research Council is conditional to non-Muslims in the Egyptian State by their acceptance of the Islamic State, respecting the Islamic identity and accepting the rule of Sharia," said Khalil, "meaning that the Council has reproduced the unfortunate Dhimmi status as a condition for the Copt to being a citizens in his own country."
He believes the "Statement to the Nation" does not strengthens national unity in Egypt but rather contributes to the increased agitation of the Islamized people, increases the feeling of religious superiority towards the Coptic minority and contributes to the destruction of what remains of the pillars of the civil state.
Partners for the Nation, an Egyptian Coptic organization, slammed the Al-Azhar statement. "The secular Coptic community completely rejects al-Azhar's statement that Egypt is an Islamic state. We are a civil state. We reject a state religion and no religious institution should interfere in political matters or bypass the role of the state," said Mamdouh Ramzi, head of the organization, in an interview with Al Arabiya.net. He added the expression "Egypt an Islamic state" is "totally false" and seeks to spread hostilities between Muslims and Christian Copts in Egypt and undermine efforts toward democracy.
He said trying to impose Islamic law in Egypt would possibly lead to a situation similar to that in Sudan, when a bid to impose the Islamic law lead the Christian south to demand secession. Ramzi demanded that Al-Azhar withdraws its statement, holding the institution responsible for any consequences of its announcement, which he said could lead Egypt down a dangerous path.
Magdi Khalil further criticized the Al-Azhar statement for falsely claiming that "all beliefs are considered a red line not to be crossed." He accused Al-Azhar of having a basic plan through its curriculum, educational books and preaching "to ridicule the beliefs of non-Muslims, challenge their faith and their holy Books, a line not constrained by the Al-Azhar since its inception in 972 A.D., and until the present time under the chairmanship of Dr. al-Tayeb, who challenged the validity of the Bible from the rostrum of the state-run Nile television, when he was rector of Al-Azhar University."
"We refuse to bow to their condition of respecting the Islamic Identity, in order to get our citizenship rights," said Coptic activist Selim Riad. "We have our separate Coptic identity, and our rights are not at the disposal of Muslims setting conditions for us to obtain them." |
Saudi Parents in a Lather over Rumor of School Gender-Mixing http://www.emirates247.com/news/region/mums-flood-saudi-school-on-gender-mixing-report-2010-10-01-1.297802
Mums flood Saudi school on gender-mixing report Talks of boys being admitted to class send parents into a tizz By Staff
Worried mothers packed a Saudi primary girls school after they learned it would allow little boys to join classes along with their daughters, causing disruption of classes for nearly a week, al Watan newspaper reported on Friday.
The mothers and other custodians of the school girls continued to pour into the school every morning for nearly a week despite assurances by the headmistress that the boys had been admitted to school but into a separate building.
The crowd kept escorting their children into Alabrar School in the central town of Madina and stayed inside for long hours to make sure their daughters are not mixing with the new male entrants, the paper said.
“They continued to pack the school for most of last week after that school got approval by the Ministry of Education allowing it to have boys…the report gave rise to rumors through some websites that the boys have been moved into the same classes where the girls study,†the paper said.
It quoted the school’s head, Noha Surour, as saying the problem had been caused by rumors that the school would allow gender mixing.
“They were wrong because there will be no sex-mixing in classes.…we reassured them that the boys had been moved into a separate building and separate classes…they will use separate toilets, separate canteens and separate gates…we received approval from the Ministry of Education to admit boys until the second primary class and we are the first school in Madina to do so.â€
Surour said 25 boys had enrolled in two primary classes in the school and that there are plans to open a third class for them.
Alwatan quoted the school’s owner, Abdul Hafeez Alakluk, as saying he had received many phone calls criticising him for allowing boys in his school.
“Some Islamic scholars have even criticised this plan…but I told them that what they have thought would not happen because boys will have separate buildings in the school…the only thing is that they will have female teachers but their age is only between nine months and five years,†he said.
Saudi Arabia, one of the most conservative Muslim countries, still bans gender mixing at its schools despite a controversial decision by King Abdullah last year to establish the Gulf Kingdom’s first co-educational institutionâ€"the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST).
KAUST, which has been criticised by some Muslim scholars inside and outside Saudi Arabia, is designed to produce Saudi scientists and is the only educational institution in the world’s oil superpower where men and women can mix. It is located near a Red Sea village away from the clutches of religious police.
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/meast/10/01/yemen.child.brides/index.html?iref=allsearch
Video..
Child bride horrors last a lifetime By Mohammed Jamjoom, CNN October 1, 2010 -- Updated 0742 GMT (1542 HKT)
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- Yemen parliament looking again at outlawing child marriage
- Girl tells how at 11 she was forced to marry a 32-year-old cousin who raped her
- Rights campaigner says the pain of a child marriage lasts until "the day of death"
- Conservative parliamentarians blocked a previous attempt to ban child marriages
Sana'a, Yemen (CNN) -- Reem al Numeri is 14-years-old and recently divorced. She was 11 when she says her father forced her to marry a cousin more than twice her age.
Reem says she has been stigmatized by her divorce and now lives the life of an outcast. Without a husband or father to support her, she cannot attend school.
Her story has echoes of Nujood Ali -- the Yemeni girl whose story sparked an international outrage that many thought would force change in the country.
But a bill to outlaw child marriages got blocked and the practice continues. On Saturday, Yemen's parliament will look again at child marriage.
Reem's desperate pleas to stay a child fell on deaf ears as her father forced her to marry a 32-year-old cousin. "He said you need to go into the room where the judge is and tell him you agree to the marriage," Reem said. "I said I won't go in there - he took out his dagger and said he'd cut me in half if I didn't go in there and agree."
For Reem, the terror and the trauma were just beginning. She said she was told to sleep with her husband, but refused. She locked herself in a bedroom every night to ensure her safety but, according to Reem, he managed to sneak in and raped her.
Reem said members of her family first ordered her to submit, then expected her to celebrate. "They chose not to buy me any bridal dresses until they were sure I'd had sex with him because they didn't want their money to go to waste," she said. "Once they were sure, they bought me the bridal clothes and threw me a party. After that, I burned the white bridal dress I was given and then I used a razor to try to kill myself." Reem's father and ex-husband did not return CNN's calls.
In Yemen, a deeply tribal society, the issue of child marriages is a complicated one.
Two years ago, 10-year-old Nujood Ali shocked the world when she took herself to court in Yemen's capital city of Sana'a and asked a judge for a divorce.
After a well publicized trial, she was granted one -- and became a heroine to those trying to shine a spotlight on the issue of child brides in Yemen, where more than half of all young girls are married before age 18, mostly to older men.
In 2009, Yemen's parliament passed legislation raising the minimum age of marriage to 17. But conservative parliamentarians argued the bill violated Sharia, or Islamic law, which does not stipulate a minimum age of marriage.
And because of a parliamentary maneuver the bill was never signed into law.
More than 100 leading religious clerics called the attempt to restrict the age of marriage "un-Islamic".
Mohammed Aboulahoum, who advises Yemen's president, said the law should be passed, but he added the fight against child marriage restrictions were a distraction -- a way for the parliament to avoid bigger, more sensitive, political issues.
"I think there should be an age limit," Aboulahoum said. "And if you sit even with the religious people and you ask them, would you let your daughter marry at the age of 12 or 13, they would tell you no. So it is something, we use it more for politics."
Reem's attorney, Shada Nasser, is one of Yemen's most well known advocates for children's rights.
Nasser has represented several child brides seeking divorce, including Ali. She doesn't even think the practice should be called marriage. "I think it is rape," she said.
But Nasser also has hope that Reem's generation will help build a new Yemen, free of child marriages.
"Who can build this Yemen?" asked Nasser. "Me? No - all these small girls -- they must build Yemen. But all these girls need a good law - a family law." Nasser begs the clerics standing in the way: "I ask them to give these girls mercy."
A prominent Yemeni human rights activist, Amal Albasha, is also outraged the practice continues. Her organization, Sisters Arab Forum, tries to intervene on behalf of child brides, to stop the marriages from taking place. Albasha added that nothing will change until people in Yemen try to fully understand the horror a child bride goes through.
"You know, just two days ago, a 9-year-old girl got married in Taiz." she said. "Just think about the pain, the fear -- just think about a 9-year-old with a 50-year-old in a closed room," said Albasha. "The experience remains until the day of death."
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10275/1092241-82.stm
Syrian Actress Tests Boundaries Again By ROBERT F. WORTH, The New York Times
DAMASCUS, Syria
NIHAD ALAEDDIN was once one of the great sirens of Syrian cinema. Working under the stage name Igraa, or Seduction, she embodied the openness and liberalism that reigned in the Arab world during the 1960s and '70s, performing the region's first cinematic nude scene and flippantly telling journalists that "we have to bring sex to the cinema because our audience is frustrated."
Now, after 15 years of self-imposed seclusion, she has returned as a ferocious critic of the Islamist wave sweeping the Middle East, and her courage has drawn the admiration of a younger and more constrained generation of actors and filmmakers. A multipart documentary about her appeared on Syrian television last year, and a prominent Syrian director is now working on a film about her life.
Unlike many other actresses of her era, she refuses to apologize for any of her numerous risqué roles, and even defends her sexual freedom in a way that is almost unheard of in this increasingly conservative country.
"Men have this hypocrisy nowadays. If the girl wears a hijab she must be honest," Igraa said in a voice ragged from chain-smoking, during a late-night interview at her Damascus apartment. Today's Islamic conservatives, she said, are mostly "liars" who "criticize others but don't truly believe themselves."
"The whole issue of the hijab has become an excuse for hunting down other people," she said.
She laughed and added, "This kind of talk could get me hanged."
Igraa's own family has been split by the Islamist trend. As a teenager in the late 1950s, she traveled with her older sister to Cairo, where an Egyptian impresario renamed them Seduction and Charm and made them a successful belly-dancing duo who toured Europe and Asia in daringly scanty outfits.
Then in the late 1970s the Islamic revival began, taking with it Igraa's sister. She took the veil and became a conservative Muslim, discarded the name Charm, and now refuses to talk about her belly-dancing past, though the sisters remain on speaking terms.
As for Igraa, who still uses that name, she now lives mostly nocturnally, rising in midafternoon. Her apartment is a decaying museum of her own career, with dozens of pictures of her alongside bizarre collections of cheap trinkets and stuffed animals. In her late 60s, she still dresses like the precocious teenager she once was, with tight jeans, pancake makeup and a spectacularly bouffant wig hiding her gray hair. She married only eight years ago, to a man decades her junior, and has never had children.
Some critics say her new iconoclasm is just an effort to dignify what was little more than a career in soft-core porn. Igraa bristles at the notion. "I took off my clothes for a principle," she said. "If I wanted to do it for money I could have done it in the dark and made a lot more."
BORN in Damascus to a lower-middle-class family, she dropped out of school in the fifth grade and moved to Cairo at the age of 13. After training with the legendary Egyptian belly dancer Tahia Carioca, she danced with her sister for several years, and then began acting in television dramas. She went on to become a leading actress, screenwriter and director.
"There was a kind of bloom of freedom in those days," said Nabil Maleh, a Syrian director who helped to make Igraa's career.
Igraa's breakthrough came in 1970 with the film "The Leopard," widely considered to have established modern Syrian cinema at a time when Egypt dominated the business. During filming, the producers and director worried that the story -- about a Robin Hood figure in the mountains of northern Syria -- might not get the attention it deserved without some kind of lure. They asked Igraa, who played the protagonist's wife, to do a nude scene. She surprised them by agreeing almost at once. By modern standards, the film is scarcely racy at all: a few glimpses of flesh during a muted love scene. But at the time, it was profoundly shocking.
"I felt like a suicide bomber when I was making this scene," she recalled. "To do such a scene in Syria -- I knew there would be criticism."
There was criticism, but the film was a hit. People traveled in packed buses from remote towns to the movie theaters in Damascus and Aleppo. Igraa was defiant about her role, and when she was asked to blame the director and producer, she refused, saying they had done the scene with her full consent.
She went on to make dozens of other films, many of them tawdry affairs with a lot of bikini scenes and not much plot. But she also wrote 25 screenplays, and she casts her work as an effort to break down patriarchal attitudes toward women.
"My films criticized the double standard of the Eastern man," she said. "He studies in Europe, but he comes back East and returns to his old attitudes. If he could lock his wife and sister up, he would."
To some younger filmmakers, her standing as an artist is less important than her defiance. In a country where artists are often forced to make compromises -- with censors, or with religious orthodoxy -- her honesty and steadfastness alone seem a virtue. Despite her controversial views, however, she has not suffered harassment or threats.
"She is very important because she is not a liar," said Khaled Khalifa, a prominent novelist and television screenwriter. "She never regretted, she never apologized." He added that in contemporary Syrian television and film "you can barely even show a kiss."
Mr. Khalifa said he had tried to persuade Igraa to return to the screen, without success.
ODDLY, Igraa said she was a great admirer of Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of the Shiite militant group Hezbollah. She does not share his Islamist principles, but admires his honesty. "If he asked me to sacrifice my blood, I would," she said.
Igraa said she would make another film if the role were right. For now, the Syrian director Omar Amiralai is making a film about her life, and she seems comfortable to play the provocateur.
Pointing to a huge movie still on her living-room wall that shows her younger self, head thrown back and eyes closed in what appears to be a moment of sensual abandon, she asked, "Guess what I'm doing in that picture?" The answer? Being stabbed to death by her husband. In the film, she played a woman who cheats on her husband and then returns to him, only to have him kill her.
Men usually think the still shows a moment of sexual climax, she said, with a bawdy smile. "Only women ever guess it right."
This article originally appeared in
The New York Times.
A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort. ~Herm Albright~
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