The Palestinians have time in their fight for a state, and Hamas is committed to observing a truce with Israel as it builds a nation, senior Hamas leader Mahmoud al-Zahar told AFP.
“We are not in a hurry to buy or to sell our national interest because this is not the proper market,” he told AFP during a wide-ranging interview conducted in the expansive living room of his Gaza City home.
Zahar derided peace talks as a waste of time, heaping scorn on Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas for engaging in negotiations, and ruled out recognition of Israel.
But he also stressed Hamas has no plans to launch new attacks on the Jewish state and was instead focusing its efforts on state-building and providing an example of honest Palestinian governance.
“We are not saying ‘wait’ because we are not just sitting here,” he said. “We are reconstructing everything… For the first time, we are really administrating real progress in different ways, on all kinds of things.”
“We are giving a good example of purified administration,” he added.
They are indeed administering real progress - mainly in the field of enforcing Sharia law, with a good example of an administration purified of all elements that are politically or religiously suspect - all of it funded by Western and Israeli taxpayers or organised crime.
As for that "truce" - well, it will only last until they think they're strong enough to strike again, or until other time that suits them.
Sentiments such as these still remain perfectly normal in the Hamas-run media:
A reader has sent me this article, from May's Jewish Chronicle:
Police feared a Facebook campaign blaming "corrupt Jewish Zionists" for the conviction of a Syrian doctor for immigration offences, would lead to protests outside a court.
Extra police surrounded Kingston Magistrates Court on Friday while Shawkat Spahi-Shoaib attended a sentencing hearing after being found guilty of using deception to remain in the UK.
He had applied for indefinite leave to remain in the UK in May 2005, despite awaiting trial in Manchester for two sexual offences, of which he was later found guilty.
The doctor launched a Facebook group which drew more than 1,600 members, claiming that the two judges involved in the original trial and appeal, investigating officers and defending solicitor were all Jewish.
Among the postings, Dr Spahi-Shoaib wrote: "The Jewish Zionists are working in the UK and possibly around the world." Some posts suggested "at least hundreds" would atend the hearing. But there were no reported incidents or protests and the sentencing was referred to Kingston Crown Court.
It seems this can be filed under the "opportunities provided by mass immigration" section - just imagine how Syria's loss here was Britain's gain.
This individual has been found guilty of two sexual offences; in spite of this he was able to apply for indefinate leave to remain in the United Kingdom, but was charged with misrepresenting himself (and from what I understand of the system, it must have been a very serious lie in order to see him prosecuted).
Upon being caught and punished for his actions, he decides to blame Jews.
This is the mindset we're importing - and as a rather pathetic attempt to defend the good doctor states:
A Muslim Syrian Doctor with a Distinction in Medicine. Graduated within the top 10 students of his country.
Well, the Syrian education system must leave a lot to be desired, mustn't it?
The same website continues to campaign for his release, stating he is currently locked up in HMP Wandsworth for "ticking the wrong box" on an immigration form.
Would that be the "lots of taxpayers cash and infidel women, please," box by any chance?
We're not told, but apparently the sexual assaults he was convicted of were misunderstandings caused by - wait for it - a cultural misunderstanding. There's lots of bleating about his pregnant wife - who we're probably now keeping, and didn't seem to matter too much to him when he was forcing himself on random girls.
As usual, I'm ticking the "what on earth is this individual doing in my country" box.
Crown Heights, NY - An 11-year-old Jewish girl was attacked at a Crown Heights playground by a band of black youths who slammed her into a metal slide, kicked her repeatedly - and pelted her with anti-Semitic invective, the girl's mom said.
"Dumb Jew! B----! Why are you here? Why are you in this world?" the boys screamed as they pummeled Nechama Benjamin at a Montgomery St. playground.
The shocking attack by at least three boys is being investigated by police. The beating caused Nechama to black out and left her with a bloody nose - and a terrible fear of leaving home, her mom said.
"My daughter told me she is afraid to go out, to go to the park - to go anywhere," said Elka Benjamin, 31.
Nechama went to the local park with her 6-year-old brother around 6 p.m. Although Crown Heights has long been plagued by racial and religious tension, Nechama's mother thought it was okay for her kids to go to the playground alone because the family lives on the same block.
Trouble started when one of a group of boys playing soccer tossed the ball at Nechama, hitting her in the leg, her mother said.
She tossed it back - and an argument ensued. The boys surrounded Nechama, taunting her mercilessly, her mother said. Then the boys grabbed her by the hair and dragged her from the bench to a playground slide.
Nechama spoke to cops Tuesday at the NYPD's 71st Precinct stationhouse, where a boy who witnessed the incident was also questioned.
No arrests have been made, a police source said last night.
The Dutch Arab League has left up a cartoon which shows "two Jews inventing the Holocaust" on its website - even though it was ruled illegal by the OM, the Dutch Public Prosecutor.
The OM have now been accused of being afraid of a Muslim backlash if they enforce their decision - because we all know how overzealous they can be when it suits.
The Arab European League (AEL) says political motives are behind the Public Prosecutor (OM)'s decision not to prosecute the organisation for publishing a controversial cartoon. In order to provoke the OM into taking the AEL to court after all, the Islamic group has republished the cartoon on its website.
On Tuesday, the OM decided that a cartoon showing two Jews 'inventing' the Holocaust is a punishable offence. Nevertheless, the OM decided not to prosecute the AEL, which made and published the cartoon on its website over three years ago.
The condition attached to this dismissal was that the website would not republish the cartoon. But in the meantime, the AEL has published the cartoon on its website a second time.
The AEL is republishing the cartoon in protest against the OM's simultaneous decision, also announced on Tuesday, that cartoons portraying the Islamic prophet Mohammed are permitted. These are the political cartoons that were originally published in a Danish newspaper in 2005.
According to the OM, the 'Danish cartoons' are not punishable because they concern the prophet Mohammed and say nothing about Muslims as a group. "None of the cartoons is offensive towards Muslims or incite hatred, discrimination or violence against Muslims. Therefore their publication or distribution is not punishable either", stated the OM.
On the other hand, the AEL cartoon about the 'invented Holocaust' is punishable. "By claiming that they invented the murder of six million Jews, Jews are being insulted as a group", according to OM.
This explanation did not go down well with the AEL. Spokesperson Abdou Bouzerda is especially angry because the Danish cartoons were republished in the Netherlands by anti-Islam MP Geert Wilders.
"Wilders is judged right and may continue to publish cartoons that one and a half billion people perceive as offensive. While we have to remove political cartoons that could be offensive to Jews", Bouzerda sneered.
Bouzerda claims that the OM is not prosecuting the AEL out of fear of Muslims. "The OM merely wished to prevent angry Muslim reactions if it became evident that we were being prosecuted and Wilders was not".
Due to this "hypocrisy", the AEL republished its cartoon. In doing so it implicitly provokes the OM into taking the matter to court. "Let the OM prosecute us by all means; we want a court verdict ".
The OM had in fact initially received the request to take the AEL to court from the Centre for Information and Documentation on Israel (CIDI). Following Tuesday's OM decision not to prosecute the AEL despite its alleged crime, CIDI director Ron Naftaniel is starting an Article 12 procedure, which means he is appealing the OM's decision not to prosecute.
Naftaniel considers it "disgraceful" that the OM took three and a half years to pass judgement on the AEL cartoons. He is also disgruntled that the OM deems another AEL cartoon as legal. This cartoon portrays Adolf Hitler in bed with Anne Frank. "A nightmare for the thousands of Jewish Holocaust survivors still alive."
Israel's invasion of Gaza this year prompted a steep increase in anti-Semitic attacks and intimidation in London, according to Jewish groups.
The Community Security Trust recorded 303 anti-Semitic incidents in the capital in the first half of this year, a record.
There were 67 more attacks than in the same period last year and the total accounted for nearly half of all incidents in Britain.
Much of the surge took place in January when there were more than nine incidents every day.
Trust spokesman Mark Gardner said: "British Jews are facing ever-higher levels of racist attack and intimidation that threaten the well-being of our otherwise happy and successful Jewish community.
"There is no excuse for anti-Semitism, racism and bias, and it is totally unacceptable that overseas conflicts should be impacting here in this way.
"During the conflict, people were phoning up Jewish groups and screaming abuse down the phone or bombarding them with insulting emails. Most of those groups are in London and that accounts for some of it.
"But there was also graffiti with slogans like 'Kill the Jews', attacks on synagogues and a number of assaults."
Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Chris Huhne said: "Britain is setting a shameful new record in anti-Semitic incidents this year, which are running at double the annual rate of the previous record.
"It is abhorrent that anyone should be intimidated on the grounds of their race, colour, gender, sexuality or creed."
Of course, if you believe this, you would think that the Israeli government is directly responsible for the rise in attacks.
This is simply untrue, however.
The main things responsible for this rise are the growth of Muslim populations in certain areas, and the increasingly acceptability of anti-semitic rhetoric on the mainstream political Left, disguised as "pro-Palestine" sentiment.
Indeed, one thing which the war in Gaza demonstrated was how comfortable Leftists, the anti-war movement and radical Islamists are becoming with each other.
Although you risk accusations of racism for pointing out the obvious, many contributors at the article seem to get it; here are two comments from a reader describing himself only as 'Real', from London:
We all know who is behind this, and much of the heroin trade, people smuggling, money laundering etc. And no doubt it will continued to be ignored here on our streets whilst young men die fighting a useless war in Afghanistan. Why can't our troops fight the war that is here on our streets in London? Without the Afghan heroin trade from (nearly 100% of which makes its way to the UK funnily enough) certain fundamental terrorist wouldn't have any money! Strange how my whole town has turned into one great giant kebab shop / shisha bar during this time of recession. We need to stop this global holocaust that is about to rear its ugly head here in our country. Those people want to see us ALL dead not just Jewish people. I have been harassed by them several times but I'm white and atheist so there's nothing to tell the police. And we all know way over half of them aren't here legally. When is this stupid government going to wake up and get real?
In response to Russell - there is a recent large immigration of Palestinians to my local area, I guess they are awaiting their refugee status to be assessed or are here illegally. I'm not saying that as a judgement, just pointing it out that there are huge numbers of Palestinians here in an area which also has a rapidly shrinking Jewish community. I live near a Jewish business which I will not endager by naming but which has been suffering more than one racial attack and direct intimidation per week for many years now and never more so than recently. However, the growing number of Somali / Turkish / Afghan muslim shops in the same street are not being attacked and there are countless informal prayer rooms in the local shops units which are not even being enquired upon by the council or harasses in any way at all despite being clearly in breach of planning regs. Not to mention the strange 'cafes' where men sit and smoke and watch TV all day despite not having food licences, entertainment licences, or complying with smoking legislation. I think that is what people mean by 'kid gloves' - I personally feel that is an accurate assessment. Any war in the name of religion should be intervened on by the UN peacekeeping force in my opinion. Blair and Bush have escalated this situation beyond all our wishes and many Jewish people have rejected their faith because of Gaza - how many muslims are rejecting theirs because of 9/11?
Here are just some of the things that Jews in Britain have to put up with, these cases taken from North East England:
A SCHOOLBOY aged just 11 beat-up a Jewish man because of his religion.
The school-aged attacker launched himself at the victim — in his late 20s — landing a punch on him outside the synagogue, on Bewick Road, Gateshead.
After spearheading the onslaught, the 11-year-old stepped to the side as a gang of older attackers “piled-on” the isolated man, leaving him bloodied.
The child-attacker is now at the start of a four month supervision order made by magistrates at Blaydon youth court, after pleading guilty to racially-aggravated assault by beating at an earlier hearing.
His young age means he cannot be named.
The court heard that the youngster had been involved in drugs and alcohol.
After reading reports, chairman Doug Howell said: “It says here you haven’t used cannabis for a while.
“At your age, I can’t understand how you can get your hands on alcohol or drugs at all. Don’t do it.”
The court heard that the attacker, from the central area of Gateshead, was stood outside the Gateshead Hebrew Congregation, at the junction of Bewick Road and Rydal Street in Bensham, Gateshead, with a group of older males.
The youth squared up to a Jewish man after older lads urged him on in March this year.
Below is an earlier report (by an “anti-fascist” source) from January 16, 2009:
Arrests made after racist abuse in Gateshead
Several arrests have been made following allegations of racist abuse in a Tyneside community.
Police in Gateshead stepped up patrols in the Bensham and Saltwell area, home to around 5,000 Jews, amid fears Jews could be targeted because of events in Gaza in the Middle East.
Officers received reports of abuse towards members of the Jewish community on Bewick Road, and windows at a Jewish building were damaged last Friday. Two boys, aged 14 and 15, were arrested for affray and racially-aggravated criminal damage. Then on Sunday night, there were reports of a man driving on Coatsworth Road shouting abuse. An 18-year-old male youth was arrested for racially-aggravated harassment.
As violence escalates in Gaza, police have been keeping a watchful eye on the community but they say neither of the incidents appear to be related the conflict.
Gateshead Central Neighbourhood Inspector, Peter Storey said: “The first incident involved two local boys shouting racial abuse at Jewish students and breaking a window of a Jewish building. The second was someone shouting abuse as they went by in a car. These are infrequent offences which happen in the Gateshead area from time to time. But they are in no way, shape or form connected with the events in Gaza. It is disorder that got out of hand. We have got extra patrols in the area but no-one in the community has change their patterns or behaviour. It is business as usual.”
It is understood that the victims of the abuse were pupils at local Jewish schools. Mrs Bas, of the Gateshead Hebrew Congregation, said the abuse had been frightening.
She said: “I didn’t actually see anything but I’ve heard exactly what happened. In the first incident, a group of girls from the college were just passing by when they all of a sudden were chased and had abuse shouted at them. The people chasing them broke windows, including some car windows.
“It’s frightening, really, and it must have been particularly frightening for the girls involved. In the second incident, some people started fighting with a group of boys from the college. It really must be made clear that this sort of racial behaviour is not going to be tolerated.
Of course, for those who simply want to blame the semi-mythical 'far-Right' for all of these attacks, here is Mark Steyn's account of Holocaust Memorial Day 2008 - in London:
Those few dozen London Jews considered themselves at ’ome. But they weren’t. Not any more. The tour was abruptly terminated when the group was pelted with stones, thrown by “youths”—or to be slightly less evasive, in the current euphemism of Fleet Street, “Asian” youths. “If you go any further, you’ll die,” they shouted, in between the flying rubble.
A New Yorker who had just moved to Britain to start a job at the Metropolitan University had her head cut open and had to be taken to the Royal London Hospital at Whitechapel, causing her to miss the Holocaust Day “interfaith memorial service” at the East London Central Synagogue. Her friend, Eric Litwack from Canada, was also struck but did not require stitches. But if you hadn’t recently landed at Heathrow, it wasn’t that big a deal, not these days: Nobody was killed or permanently disfigured. And given the number of Jewish community events that now require security, perhaps Her Majesty’s Constabulary was right and these Londoners walking the streets of their own city would have been better advised to do so behind a police escort.
Food for thought for all of us, I think, about who the real fascists are in Britain today.
One of the questions which often crops up here, in one form or another, is how much is an innocent human life worth?
In modern Europe, it seem that the innocent are worth a lot less than the guilty.
Some time ago I described the kidnap, torture and murder of a young French Jew called Ilan Halimi by a largely Muslim and African gang calling itself 'The Barbarians'.
The incredibly disturbing case highlights many things which are a growing problem in modern France; growing anti-semitism and a disenfranchised immigrant underclass hostile to the state, the mainstream culture and values of society and the French people.
Halimi was kidnapped and killed like an animal on the whims of an individual called Youssof Fofana, the son of immigrants from the Ivory Coast.
Here is a description of what became of Ilan Halimi, and two other disturbing cases of Islam-inspired anti-semitism in France from The Frozen North:
In January 2006, a young man named Ilan Halimi arranged a date with a woman he’d met in the shop where he worked. She was a member of “The Barbarians,” a gang who lay in wait for Halimi that night and kidnapped him.
Over the next three weeks, Halimi was held in a basement and tortured to death. Beaten, stabbed and burned over four fifths of his body, Halimi was eventually found handcuffed and abandoned in a field. Halimi died on the way to hospital.
Now, over three years later, Youssouf Fofana, the leader of “The Barbarians,” is being tried in Paris for the role he played in those crimes. Fofana “swaggered into court” and shouted out the takbir (Allahu Akbar). He has also stated that he has “friends” in court who can take photographs and identify jurors. Fofana had previously tried to escape justice by fleeing to the Ivory Coast, but he was quickly tracked down and extradited back to France.
Twenty six other members of Fofana’s “Barbarians” are facing charges as well; one of the most disturbing aspects of this crime is the way so many people participated in it. Several of the accused have admitted that Halimi was targeted because he was Jewish, and they believed that their victim’s family would be able to meet their ransom demands.
In 2008, in the same Parisian suburb of Bagneux where Ilan Halimi was held captive, six youths abducted Mathieu Roumi. They handcuffed and beat him, wrote “dirty jew” on his forehead, and told him that he would die the same way Ilan Halimi did before finally releasing him. The American writer Nidra Poller has also compared Halimi’s murder with the killing of Sebastien Selam, a twenty three year old who worked as a DJ in a Parisian nightclub, by one of his Muslim neighbours. Selam’s murderer not only “smote his victim above the neck,” he mutilated his face and eyes. The murderer then returned to his family home, where he told his mother that he would go to paradise because he had killed a Jew.
The gang apparently kidnapped Halimi because they thought 'Jews were loaded' and would be able to pay the ransom. They repeatedly rang Halimi's parents whilst he was being held and quoted verses of the Koran at them.
After the murder, Fofana fled to Ivory Coast, where he went into hiding and made a series of threatening phone calls to Halimi's family. He was arrested and extradited soon afterwards, and the trial has been held behind closed doors.
From day one, Fofana did his best to disrupt proceedings and make his true intent known:
Fofana, the son of Ivorian immigrants, raised his fist as he turned up in court at the start of the trial and proclaimed "Allah will conquer!" Asked to state his name, he answered "African Barbarian Armed Revolt Salafist."
From the beginning of the two-month trial, Fofana made repeated anti-Semitic declarations, threw his shoes at court staff and sacked all his lawyers.
Towards the end of his trial, Fofana told the court: "I would rather live like a lion for a day than as a sheep for one hundred."
Expelled from court in June for throwing his shoes at lawyers, Mr Fofana has often refused to answer questions.
But 24 days into his trial, he was asked about the fatal blows that Mr Halimi suffered and he yelled: "Yes, it's me that did it! You know very well that I did it!"
When asked for his date of birth, he repeatedly gave the date Halimi died. He mocked the victim's relatives, and threatened jurors and magistrates, telling them his men on the outside could 'fix' them.
This man is worse than an animal. He has no respect for anything or anyone, and is proud of being considered a brutal savage and the hatred he feels for the society which took his family in. He repeatedly wrote to magistrates working on the case, in letters filled with anti-semitic insults which tried to justify his crime 'because of the suffering in Palestine and Africa'.
Prosecutors described him as "a perverted, immature megalomaniac".
So taking all of the above into account, what sentence did he receive upon being convicted?
Life, with a minimum of 22 years.
The girl who lured Halimi to his death, of Iranian descent, will serve 9 years, whilst 22 other gang members received sentences ranging from 18 years to 6 months.
Ilan Halimi's family will now appeal as the they feel the sentences are unduly lenient.
Four Lancashire County Council staff have been sacked for sending an email which compared the Israeli presence in Gaza and the West Bank with the Holocaust.
A Muslim councillor who forwarded the email 63 times was not even disciplined, however.
Salim Mulla said that he did not believe the email to be offensive - and although he has always supported Holocaust Memorial Day, he said:
'If there are other similar atrocities going on, not just in Gaza, I will say they are not acceptable.'
Is a man who believes a military operation against terrorists is the moral equivalent of the Holocaust really fit to hold public office?
The fact is, were he not a Muslim he would be fired or imprisoned for such views. Although I don't generally believe anyone should be persecuted for their political opinions, however ludicrous, his views call his judgment and his objectivity seriously into question.
It is believed those involved brought memory sticks containing the anti-Semitic material in to work to bypass the Lancashire County Council's security system.
Authority bosses deemed the 'highly inappropriate' content to be a sacking offence after a three-month investigation, which saw a total of 14 staff suspended.
Five others received formal written warnings and a further five have since returned to work.
The offensive email was only discovered after one of those involved was off work and a colleague accessed his computer.
Titled 'Holocaust Survivors', it contained pictures of 1930s and 1940s Germany and compared them to modern-day images of the Gaza conflict.
The introduction to the email reads: 'The grandchildren of Holocaust survivors from World War II are doing to the Palestinians exactly what was done to them by Nazi Germany.'
Graphic photographs of people dying in Germany were alongside pictures of people killed in Palestine.
The email is said to urge the reader to forward the message on to 'show the world the face of this murderous state'.
The sacked staff worked in the adult and community services and children and young people departments at Lancashire County Council.
Council chief executive Ged Fitzgerald said: 'After a full investigation, we have taken disciplinary action against a number of staff found to have sent and received highly inappropriate emails.
'Four people have been dismissed with a further five staff receiving formal written warnings.'
He added: 'For some less serious cases, the staff involved have returned to work and any necessary action will be handled by their managers.
'This has been an unfortunate incident, but an isolated one. By far the majority of our staff use email appropriately and are working hard to deliver a good service to everyone in Lancashire.'
Blackburn with Darwen councillor Salim Mulla also sent out the email to 63 colleagues, but no disciplinary action was taken against him.
He sent it in January, not believing it was offensive.
Councillor Mulla, the senior vice chairman of Lancashire Council of Mosques, said: 'I shared it with my colleagues. I send a lot of emails.
'A lot of people didn't fully understand what was going on. I felt at the time, when the war was taking place, that it was important there were discussions within the council.
'It's something I feel very strongly about and I wanted to share it with the elected members. I speak my mind - some people like it, some people do not.
'I have supported Holocaust Memorial Day every single year and I will continue to do that.
'But if there are other similar atrocities going on, not just in Gaza, I will say they are not acceptable.'
Last week a liberal French friend of mine was bemoaning the state of her country. How could it be, she asked, that the majority of French voters were so stupid as to deliver what was largely seen as an overwhelming victory for Nicolas Sarkozy and the centre-Right?
Only, she doesn't really see Sarkozy as representing the centre or moderate Right. To her, he is a semi-mythical fascistic figure, and will never live down the infamy he achieved in her mind when he called the 'youths' tearing France apart back in 2005, after the deaths of two teenage criminal suspects in Clichy-sous-Bois, 'scum'.
Well, as real Right-wingers, patriots and nationalists know, that was all bravado. Whatever my friend says about the way he treats the 'poor, poor immigrants', far more immigrants still come than is necessary or useful. Far more than leave, certainly.
The idea that Nicolas Sarkozy is Right-wing, or even a French patriot, is so ludicrous as to be laughable.
Yet still, the press included Sarkozy and his UMP when lamenting the apparently stunning victory of the Right across Europe in this month's European Parliament elections.
Sarkozy is, in my opinion, a very dangerous man. Like most Western politicians, he cares far more about saying the right things to the right people than actually acting in a way which benefits the French people. Despite this, many French voters seem to feel that they have no alternative to the right of Sarkozy and the UMP (note the relatively disappointing performance of a real patriot like Phillippe de Villiers).
Why is he dangerous? Recently, Sarkozy called the Islamisation of France inevitable. He says that it is natural that churches will be converted into mosques, and that the country will start to align itself more closely with the Muslim world in matters of foreign policy.
As if to prove this, earlier this week French websites were buzzing with news of secret clauses in an agreement which has seen a French military base open in the United Arab Emirates:
According to Le Figaro, June 15, the secret clauses of an agreement concluded at the end of May between Paris and Abu Dhabi commit France to defend the seven Emirates "by all the military means at her disposal". This would include nuclear weapons as well.
Putting rich Arab sheikdoms under the French nuclear umbrella abroad, and domestically:
We knew what Sarkozy's vision of the future was: an "Islam of France", "métissage" between races and ethnic groups, dissolution of nationalist, regional, and ethnic identities, subjugation to Brussels, openness to socialism, and a Turkey as closely aligned with Europe as possible, etc...
The latter point is most interesting, because when Sarkozy was elected his platform included denying Turkish accession to the European Union. As soon as the votes were counted he declared that his vision for Turkey was 'if not membership, then as close a relationship as possible.'
His real agenda then started becoming slowly clear; he insisted that if France was to emerge from the ethnic and religious tensions which now plague increasingly large parts it, then the French people and nation must be the ones who change. On that basis, an affirmative action process was created, overseen by a successful Algerian businessman called Yazid Sabeg. Also, interracial, ethnic and religious relationships are seen as 'vital for the future of France'. When one looks at the demographic situation and the continuing flow of immigrants, one must ask who is absorbing whom - but to Sarkozy such matters are unimportant.
They should be important, however. Mass immigration from the Third World, particularly the Muslim segment of it, has changed the face of French society in a variety of ways.
We are not simply talking about the bus queue being more colourful or different scripts on shop signs; we are talking about the importing of backward attitudes, behaviour and values into France.
Nothing summed this up more aptly than the shocking murder of Ilan Halimi, a French Jew of Moroccan parentage.
The following is a passage from The Frozen North's description of the murder of Halimi, and frighteningly similar cases:
In January 2006, a young man named Ilan Halimi arranged a date with a woman he’d met in the shop where he worked. She was a member of “The Barbarians,” a gang who lay in wait for Halimi that night and kidnapped him.
Over the next three weeks, Halimi was held in a basement and tortured to death. Beaten, stabbed and burned over four fifths of his body, Halimi was eventually found handcuffed and abandoned in a field. Halimi died on the way to hospital.
Now, over three years later, Youssouf Fofana, the leader of “The Barbarians,” is being tried in Paris for the role he played in those crimes. Fofana “swaggered into court” and shouted out the takbir (Allahu Akbar). He has also stated that he has “friends” in court who can take photographs and identify jurors. Fofana had previously tried to escape justice by fleeing to the Ivory Coast, but he was quickly tracked down and extradited back to France.
Twenty six other members of Fofana’s “Barbarians” are facing charges as well; one of the most disturbing aspects of this crime is the way so many people participated in it. Several of the accused have admitted that Halimi was targeted because he was Jewish, and they believed that their victim’s family would be able to meet their ransom demands.
In 2008, in the same Parisian suburb of Bagneux where Ilan Halimi was held captive, six youths abducted Mathieu Roumi. They handcuffed and beat him, wrote “dirty jew” on his forehead, and told him that he would die the same way Ilan Halimi did before finally releasing him. The American writer Nidra Poller has also compared Halimi’s murder with the killing of Sebastien Selam, a twenty three year old who worked as a DJ in a Parisian nightclub, by one of his Muslim neighbours. Selam’s murderer not only “smote his victim above the neck,” he mutilated his face and eyes. The murderer then returned to his family home, where he told his mother that he would go to paradise because he had killed a Jew.
Many tried to downplay the role of Islam and anti-Semitism in this murder. It was clear, however that Halimi and later Roumi were specifically targetted because they were Jewish.
Although they ostensibly gave their reasoning as 'Jews have money and can pay,' Fofana rang Halimi's parents demanding a ransom whilst quoting passages of the Koran to them. Now on trial, it has been noted that he likes to shout out 'Allahuakbar!' in the courtroom, whilst telling the judge he has no authority over him.
He also knows no fear at all. He has shouted out to jurors that he will kill them, he remembers their faces, he has men on the outside etc.
Now, under these circumstances, what is the major concern of the French authorities? The growing Muslim underclass in their midst? Anti-Semitism and other forms of Islamic violence against infidels on the rise?
No - simply suppressing as much of this information as possible at all costs. Here is a picture of Halimi in captivity which they tried to ban:
The fact is that French society is becoming far more violent. To deny that or try to hide it is ostensibly to prevent people from taking sensible precautions to defend themselves - and some will undoubtedly pay the ultimate price.
Another growing phenomenon in modern France is racist violence against white French people. The following video shows an unprovoked racist assault on a Frenchman which took place on a Paris night bus:
The violence involved is shocking in the fact that is seems completely random. What struck the French authorities wasn't the brutal racist attack, however - it was that a French policeman had dared to leak the video and make public not only his typical working conditions, but the fact that the authorities did not treat such crimes very seriously.
He was immediately suspended from duty - for harming the image of the bus company. Meanwhile, the victim came forward to denounce the idea that the assault was in any way racially motivated - when of course, if it had been the other way around, it would simply have been taken for granted that it was, by authorities and victim alike.
The undeniable trend of immigrant violence continues unabated, however. In late April, a young couple were killed in Douchy-les-Mines when they had the misfortune to get a puncture outside the house of a known violent criminal.
They were in the town to show their ten week old baby to relatives - and instead they were gunned down with an old rifle by Ahmed Assous, 62, a man with 'a reputation for violence' who did not like anyone to park outside his house.
Another very disturbing case concerns a beheading in Lyons:
A victim atrociously mutilated on the 12th floor. A suspect who lived on the 5th floor. The entire affair is concentrated on #5 of a large complex of residences, 65, rue de Saint-Cyr in Lyons. On Saturday afternoon (April 25), Raymond Arveuf, 62, was found decapitated (note: the head was missing) in his apartment on the top floor of the building by his brother who was concerned that he had not been present at the usual family dinner on Saturday. The night before he had been watching a soccer match with friends in a bar in Valse.
The police inquiry was quickly oriented to a lower floor. Traces of blood were followed, leading police to feel that the victim's head had been thrown into the trash and carried off the next day by waste removal services. Moreover, the inter-regional judicial police ran into Youcef Djellouli, 29, a neighbor on the 5th floor, whose speech was confused. Taken into custody, this oldest member of a family of four children did not delay in admitting to the murder. The young man spoke, in substance, of a sudden desire to kill. According to his initial statements, it was indeed he who had been heard at 2:30 a.m., he who struck, slit the throat of and decapitated the bachelor who apparently had lived a quiet life. The presumed weapon, a kitchen knife, was found in his home. The reason for his actions were still not understood.
Apparently, such cases are the tip of an iceberg. These are the acts of violent individuals - but the pattern of immigrant-on-French violence cannot be overlooked in them.
Increasingly, not even the police are safe from violent immigrant youths. Theodore Dalrymple recounts a recent article in Le Figaro:
THE POLICE ARE MORE AND MORE THE TARGET OF AMBUSHES AND GUNSHOTS recounted how the police and other emergency services had been ambushed in the banlieues of Paris the night before, and ten policemen were injured by shots from hunting weapons.
A pattern seems to be emerging. The services get called out to a banlieue—in the latest case, to attend to a power outage, deliberately caused by youthful residents—and then groups of these youths, often no older than 15, confident that they remain virtually untouchable by the law, confront them with a hail of stones. A gun is then discharged on the police from somewhere or other. In the latest incident, 24 policemen were fired at, though “only” ten were injured.
Incidents like this are now so common that they hardly make the headlines. They are more like confrontations in a grumbling, low-intensity civil war than “normal” criminal activity with an acquisitive aim. The secretary-general of the police union said that the police were “very worried by the rise of organized and armed violence.”
As he says, this is now so frequent in many places it is not news-worthy. Many will complain that these youths are not well treated, they are marginalised, discriminated against underprivileged, etc.
Well, here is an account of what happened when a group of these youths from the banlieues were given a paid holiday in Zandvoort, the Netherlands:
The Paris youth came to Zandvoort with one guide, where they had reservations at Sunparks houses. The group caused problems immediately after arrival, including maladjusted behavior in the swimming pool.
After an inspector noted that the youth were causing destruction, the park alerted the police and lodged a complaint on destruction. The group got wind of that and fled, apparently in an effort to prevent an insurance claim. But during their flight out of the village the police pulled the bus over and arrested the passengers.
According to the official account, the vandals destroyed a children's bed, made holes in the ceiling, pulled clothing hangers from the wall, destroyed a few lamps and broke a glass sliding door.
The French youth were in the Netherlands on a sponsored trip by a social organization which helps underprivileged youth from the Paris suburbs, according to the Kennemerland police department.
The 19 youth of presumably Algerian origin have been in jail since their arrest. The police aren't letting the arrested go, because eleven of them are refusing to give their details, according to police spokesperson Jeroen Groot. "It's not an easy group, that also in Paris already has a bad record."
All of this is part of a change which has swept French society, mirroring what has happened throughout Europe and the West but in many ways worse because of the sheer numbers involved.
In an attempt to be tolerant and inclusive, the French have allowed many new prejudices to spring up, but also resurrected the old ones.
The most disturbing thing of all is that the leaders of France don't see it as their duty to help the people they govern or restore order to their nation - but to help the forces which are suffocating their country in any way they can, whilst dismissing any concerns outside their interest as completely trivial.
A National Socialist called James von Brunn walked into the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. late yesterday and opened fire with a rifle.
Von Brunn is 88 years old, and has been described as a 'hardcore neo-Nazi'. His rampage left a security guard, Stephen T. Johns, dead.
Fortunately, he was badly wounded by two other guards before he could kill anyone else.
An event like this is tragic, and puts the dangers of extremism and being blinded by ideology into a great deal of perspective.
But it seems that some sections of the media are portraying this maniac, a committed Nazi, as simply an ambiguous 'Right-wing extremist' - and going as far as to suggest that if conservatives didn't exist, if we all loved Obama or Islam more, the world wouldn't be such a bad place and people like this wouldn't exist.
What nonsense. Vlad Tepes writer 'jdamn' claims that some of Von Brunn's disgusting writings have been quoted to him by Muslims during past arguments.
This stuff includes, apparently, not only anti-semitism and denial of the Holocaust, but unadulterated hatred of Christianity. He also loathed, amongst others, George W. Bush and John McCain.
Barack Obama said he was 'saddened' by the shooting, but you have to wonder.
Wasn't it Jeremiah Wright, the black racist Obama spent over 20 years listening to, who recently said something like 'Obama doesn't talk to me anymore, the Jews don't allow it?' The black supremacist and racist movements are well known for their anti-semitism.
Didn't Obama very recently show the soles of his shoes in a photograph taken whilst he was on the phone to the Israeli government?
Wasn't it just yesterday that Obama's lackeys told Benjamin Netanyahu that he had no right to be involved in deciding the fate of his nation's capital, Jerusalem, with George Mitchell saying:
Whatever MSM commentators seem to think, anti-semitism's growth is mainly on the Left. That is where the real danger lies, for it is where the power lies - and the existence and actions of scum such as von Brunn does not change that.
Well, all of Barack Obama's simpering appeasement to the Muslim and Arab world really paid off.
A couple of very recent incidents show just how successful talking to and trying to understand your opponents can be. Particularly when they are as tolerant and rational as many found in 'Palestine' and the wider Arab world.
Israel Matzav reports that on the 6th June, Arab journalists who had clearly absorbed Obama's message of peace and love refused to attend an interview because it would mean sitting next a Jewish Israeli:
Yediot Aharonot reports that after basking in the light of President Obama for an hour in Cairo on Thursday, two Arab journalists out of seven didn't show up for an interview with The One because an Israeli Jew (Nahum Barnea of Yediot) was also invited (translation from The Weekly Standard via Memeorandum).
After Obama’s speech yesterday at Cairo University, we gathered, six senior journalists from all over the Muslim world and I, the reporter for Yedioth Ahronoth, around a circular table in a side room. The president wanted to give us an interview.
The original group had eight. The Syrian did not show after hearing that a reporter from Israel had been invited. The Lebanese, Naoum Sarkis, had been sitting with us all at the front of the hall but when he realized where I was from and whom I was representing, he passed on the opportunity and fled.
If further proof were needed that a new era in Jewish-Arab relations beckons, today Arab militants launched an attempted terrorist attack on Israel from Gaza.
Around ten men fired upon the Israeli military, and four were killed when the Israelis returned fire. With them the terrorists had horses which had been booby-trapped with explosives.
It is believed that they were either trying to abduct Israeli soldiers or attack a nearby Israeli community.
As Israeli tanks and helicopters came to assist ground troops, mortar shells were fired from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip to help the cell escape.
Aussie Dave over at Israelly Cool covers this story in more detail, but he also has some information on what became of 48 ambulances donated by other Arab states during January's conflict in Gaza:
“The [Palestinian] Health Ministry stated yesterday that Hamas militias had raided 46 ambulances, donated by Arab states during the recent aggression on the Gaza Strip, of the medical equipment that they contained… and used them as military vehicles to arrest civilians, after painting [the ambulances] black.
The Ministry’s director of public relations and information, Dr. Omar Nasr… said that the medical equipment removed from the ambulances was expensive. He demanded that the Hamas militias declare, courageously and openly, what had become of the thousands of tons of medical equipment which had been brought into the Gaza Strip as assistance for the Palestinian people, and which had passed at its [Hamas's] orders to private warehouses and its own medical centers, and was later sold to the helpless citizen…”
[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, May 20, 2009]
Seems that the peace plan is on track. Occidental Soapbox has a very good rebuttal to Obama's speech - well worth a watch. A transcript can be found at his blog.
I found a very interesting resource a few weeks ago - Court News UK.
It provides little news stories and updates on the most interesting cases currently going through the London court system.
Unfortunately it also highlights just how often people get away with the most outrageous things.
Take the top story from today:
STAMFORD HILL, STOKE NEWINGTON, N LONDON. A Muslim student who racially abused a disabled Jewish woman after she asked him not to play ball games in the street was spared jail. Hushen Ali, 20, branded Batya Beverley Wiles a 'Jewish bitch' and a 'Jewish c**t' after she confronted him in her wheelchair.
Nice. It's interesting to know that even in the age of political correctness, only the officially favoured minority groups count as worthy of protection.
Here's another which beggars belief:
WALTHAM ABBEY, EAST LONDON; ENFIELD, NORTH LONDON A Nigerian mum-of-nine behind a £25,000 benefit scam involving a mystery identical twin sister was spared jail today (fri) because she is a mother. Mary Adama-Agbo, 43, was arrested on suspicion of using the fake identity of sibling Sarah Nnadiekwe to secure mortgages of more than £400,000 on two properties - while claiming handouts to cover the repayments for six years.
So, we have to pay to raise her nine kids, pay for her benefits scam, and presumably pay any fine she may have received, not to mention the cost of a court case which was completely pointless.
Nice work, if you can get it.
Another case of a violent criminal released early killing someone:
STREATHAM, KENNINGTON, TULSE HILL, SW LONDON; TOTTENHAM, N LONDON.
A gangster who shot a man dead in a road rage attack six months after being released early from prison was given two life sentences today (Fri). Junior Cameron, 27, gunned down 35 year-old Gary Guthrie after they were involved a minor traffic accident in Streatham, south London.
After he compared Palestinians to every fashionably oppressed group on earth yesterday in a speech given at a university from which rabidly anti-semitic clerics and Islamic terrorists have graduated, Obama flew on to Germany.
After speaking with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Dresden, they went on a 'personal' tour of Buchenwald concentration camp.
Naturally, Obama seized on the opportunity to pretend that modern animus from the West to those who wish to destroy it is the route not only of all evil, but to another tragedy such as the Holocaust - merely one day after appeasing those who wish to launch the next Holocaust, including the Muslim Brotherhood:
Obama said he wants to "reflect on this difficult history" on his visit because it is a reminder of the "dangers when peoples are in conflict and not acknowledging a common humanity."
But Obama stressed that he also wants to "celebrate how out of tragedy you now have a unified Europe," and he wants to highlight the power of "reconciliation, forgiveness and hope."
We may have a unified Europe for now, but unity is not about stifling conformity - it is about the recognition of differences and also the right to be different.
I'm fairly certain that if Europe's unity was important to Obama, he would not be pressing for the admission of Turkey to the Union.
Difference and hostility are not the same thing. Accepting that some things don't fit or won't work is not xenophobia or hatred.
Anyway, Obama was very keen to play up his personal connection to Buchenwald - his grandmother's brother Charles Payne, now 84, was one of the first U.S. soldiers to come into contact with the wickedness of the Holocaust - his unit liberated Ohrdruf, a sub-camp attached to Buchenwald.
Mr Payne was not present at the tour, but he will attend tomorrow's D-Day landing commemorations in Normandy.
What is interesting is that last week, the Telegraph ran an article in which Mr Payne, pictured below, took the unprecedented step of showing Obama up for the vain, posturing politico that he undoubtedly is.
Barack Obama faced unprecedented public criticism from a member of his own family when his great uncle said he was only visiting a concentration camp next week for 'political reasons'.
Asked if his great nephew was following in his footsteps, which the White House has suggested as a reason for the trip, Mr Payne told the German magazine Der Spiegel: "I don't buy that. This is a trip that he chose, not because of me I'm sure, but for political reasons."
Denting the normally smooth-running presidential public relations machine, he added: "Perhaps his visit also has something to do with improving his standing with Angela Merkel. She gave him a hard time during his campaign and also afterwards."
Exposing the haste with which political biographies can be formed, Mr Payne expressed surprise at how his great-nephew had used his wartime experiences on the campaign trail. As a candidate, Mr Obama used the wartime service of his white mother's parents and family to allay concerns about his heritage.
"I was quite surprised when the whole thing came up and Barack talked about my war experiences in Nazi Germany. We had never talked about that before," he said, adding that he enjoyed a "warm and friendly relationship" with his great nephew, though he was not part of his inner circle.
The first time they discussed his participation in the war was when Mr Obama wrongly said during the campaign that Mr Payne had "liberated" Auschwitz. Opponents swiftly pointed out that had been done by the Red Army.
"He couldn't have gotten it from me since we had never talked about this particular episode in the war," he said. "My sister and her husband were both great storytellers and sometimes made up the details to go along with it. They told him about my deployment with the 89th Infantry Division and apparently they mixed up a few details."
Mr Obama soon called Mr Payne to check the details of his war experience, he said. "He wanted to know where this camp was that I had helped liberate. I told him that it was Ohrdruf and that it was a subcamp of the Buchenwald concentration camp. I described a little bit of what I had seen," he said.
Well, there you have it from the horse's mouth. Not only is Obama not really interested in his own family's history (well, the non-Muslim, non-Marxist parts at least), he is not really interested in Europe's past or future, or the tragedy which befell the Jewish people and millions of others over 60 years ago.
He is slightly more dangerous than 'all talk, no action', however; he wants to take actions, no matter how ill-advised or proven foolish by history, which make him look good today - and sod the consequences tomorrow.
It's not as if he has to live in a defenceless Israel or a Europe in which tens of millions of illiterate Muslim peasants have freedom of movement, after all.
He can sit with his bodyguards behind gates and tell his grandchildren that he is the great peacemaker, the man who united the people of the world into one mind.
By that point, perhaps there won't be anyone left who wishes to contradict him - such are the gifts ego and ideology combined give to formerly free people.
For some European countries, Islam and the issues which Muslims generally care about have become fairly important for some of the major political parties.
I'm talking about the Left and the mainstream, not the supposedly Islam-obsessed Right. Pandering to the prejudices of Muslims is becoming necessary for political parties in many European cities and regions which have a rapidly changing zeitgeist.
The fielding of Muslim candidates is also growing.
Perhaps the most disturbing example of a party which has a blatantly Islamic agenda is 'Liste Antisioniste', the anti-Zionists.
Here is one of their campaign posters:
The premise of this party is allegedly that the end of Zionism will mean world peace. Its founder is the viciously anti-semitic comedian Dieudonné M'bala M'bala.
"FOR A FREE EUROPE!" Free from Censorship, speculators and NATO.
So in other words, free to promote Islamic propaganda, free to desert our cultural and historic allies to Islamic violence, free to align ourselves with the Muslim world.
From the Netherlands, we have an example of a mainstream party which is trying to woo the Muslim vote through any means necessary.
CDA politician Rena Netjes was recently interviewed by Al-yaqeen.com. This website is run by Dutch Muslims, including a hate preacher based in the Hague, and as far as I can gather it attempts to foster 'understanding'; i.e. Islam is pleasant and terrorism is often quite understandable. It also seems to promote the idea that Islam is compatible with the rights of women.
So what did the erstwhile Miss Netjes, a woman married to an Egyptian Muslim, have to say for herself?
"I want to go on the record for the Muslims, because I find it very bad what is happening [presumably the rise of Wilders and the 'demonising' of Islam] and this must stop. I will put my neck out for you.
I think it is honestly nicer than in the Netherlands in those [Muslim] countries . What I appreciate is that Muslims are very serious about their faith and how many have respect for God."
She has also said in the past that she would never have met a man as 'respectable' as her husband in the Netherlands. This quote caused most controversy:
Q: Finally: We've heard many promises. Why should Muslims trust that you will keep them?
A: People just need to google my name and they could see everything that I've done in the past. I also appear on TV programs in the Middle East. From both sides I try to cultivate understanding. It is also easier for me to stand up for Muslims than somebody with a Muslim background. For such a person, people could think that he has another agenda. Additional, I also understand the ideas of the ethnic Dutch, therefore I can also 'deal' with them. I understand both opinions well and I have both worlds united in me.
Oh, I think I understand you perfectly, Miss Netjes - you are what we call a Qusiling.
But this re-alignment isn't just a phenomenon in the European Parliament elections. It is happening the local elections, too.
Italy will see its first ever veiled female Muslim candidate who is running for the communal council in Perugia:
Maymouna Abdel Qader, an Italian of Palestinian descent, is a political science graduate of the University of Perugia.
She is running for Perugia's communal council for the Sinistra e Liberta coalition, which is made up of mainly socialist, anti-war and secular parties.
"Though being the first veiled Muslim woman that has ever run for elections in Italy, until now I have received a positive response from the people, who have also appreciated my choice, and look at me as a novelty of the local political scene," said Abdel Qader in an interview with Adnkronos.
Abdel Qader - who is the daughter of the imam of Perugia Mohammed Abdel Qader and is also one of the founders of the Young Italian Muslims association - said she is personally campaigning and distributing fliers to promote her candidacy.
"These days I am personally distributing fliers for my candidacy in order to ask the citizens of Perugia for their vote. Many have wished me well, after they see that I am Italian and not a foreigner," she told AKI.
Abdel Qader also said her objective is to represent Italy's second generation of Muslim immigrants in Italy, that are now what she calls "The new Italians".
Among the things she wants to promote if elected, is that Perugia's public pool can be reserved solely for women, at least once a week.
"It is a battle that it not just limited to Muslim women. The pool will be open to all women, and I count with the support of many women about this."
In Brussels, many local council candidates are Muslim, primarily of North African and Turkish descent.
The following information is translated by Islam in Europe:
The posters in these areas belong mostly to the Francophone Reformist Movement (RM), Humanist Democratic Party (cdH), and Socialist party (PS).
In 2007 Muslims were estimated to be 7.5% of the French Community and 11.8% in Brussels, and on the increase. This electorate is potentially more important, since youth make up 32%, compared with 23% elsewhere.
Muslims are voting Left - in recent elections the Socialists got 43% and the CdH 18.7%, which between 2004 and 2007 got an infusion fo votes from MR. Today the Socialists get most of the Muslim votes, despite having an atheist ideology, while traditional ethical values play a fundmanetal role in voting for CdH, whch was founded on religious identity.
Just a third of the Muslim electorate of 2007 attended a mosque regularly. Two thirds said they were not practicing.
Samira says that Muslims vote for the Left for socio-demographic causes. Muslims belong to the disadvantaged group: workers, employed and unemployed, and women, who make up just 6.6% of the Muslim electorate, tend to vote Left.
Dutch language blog In Flanders Field looked at the Socialist Party and published a list of the apparently Muslim candidates. 26 of the 72 PS candidates (36%) are Muslim.
Meanwhile, the Francophone Humanist Democratic Party tried to hide (1, 2 NL) the Muslim headscarf of one of their canddiates - Mahinur Ozdemir, number 21 on the list.
The party denies that it asked to hide the headscarf and says that the poster was prepared by outside sources. Ozdemir (bottom left above, and below with hijab) first said that she's deeply shocked and insulted, but later spoke to the publishers and agreed that it is not the party's fault.
However, Belgian broadcaster RTBF says that this is not the first time and that the CdH also tried to hide Ozdemir's headscarf in the municipal elections of 2006.
Interesting that they should attempt not only to Islamify the party list, but then hide the fact they have done so from less observant voters.
Perhaps they fear another change in the zeitgeist?
Anti-Semitism is a growing problem in modern Britain. Figures show that the number of attacks against Jewish individuals and institutions has doubled since 2000.
As Britain gains more and more 'ethnic minorities' and ethnic politics becomes increasingly important (for some, at least), Jews are becoming Britain's 'forgotten minority', particularly as they integrate and move out of their traditional, close-knit communities, which in turn are taken over by other minority groups.
The following documentary, part of Channel 4's 'Dispatches' series, explores these issues in more detail. Anti-Semitism in Britain is not, it seems, just a standard form of racism. It is a unique and complex issue.
Far from being the preserve of the far-Right, it now finds most popularity amongst Muslim youths and even the far-Left.
As the 'Palestinian' cause gains popularity amongst British and Muslim youth, becoming one of the most fashionable Left-wing causes on university campuses and elsewhere, many people are choosing to identify the policies of the Israeli government with Jews, with 'Zionist' or 'Israeli' often used as a code word for 'Jew'.
The police acknowledge there is a growing problem; some Jewish communities in Manchester have had to bomb-proof windows in Jewish schools and synagogues, and some Orthodox Jews who are easily identifiable by their appearance need a police escort to worship safely.
This documentary was made nearly two years ago, but after the 'pro-Gaza' riots of January 2009 I think its message is more relevant than ever.
Those events saw a British diplomat arrested at a rally screaming 'f***ing Jews' and 'I hope the Israeli army is wiped out in Gaza', and Tony Blair's sister-in-law Lauren Booth accused of anti-Semitism after telling a packed demonstration 'Britain should expell all Israelis'.
Ideas which were once confined to loopy neo-Nazis are now becoming mainstream - I've had very Left-wing friends tell me to find out the 'truth' about 9/11, how it was a Mossad job and the proof is 'no Jews died'; the belief that Jews control the Government and therefore our foreign policy towards Israel is also rising, along with other shadowy conspiracy theories that many hoped had died with Hitler. As well as this is the frighteningly ingrained belief, explored in the documentary, that if one supports Israel or is against anti-Semitism in an outspoken way one must be Jewish, even 'secretly'.
This is a problem which needs addressing, and fast, but the politicians seem reluctant to address the root cause.
A student of history and politics, teacher, sometimes writer, English patriot and unashamedly 'Eurocentric'.
A fan of truth, of our ancient liberties, of Western Civilisation - determined to defend them all in any way, at any cost.
I am working to overcome the double standards which now rule much of our life and conspire to silence us completely on certain issues.
A Dutch Perspective on the Meaning of the Westminster Quarters
During WWII and the occupation by the Nazis of the Netherlands, it was under occupation rule forbidden to listen to the BBC. (The fine was the death penalty). Still some people listened to the BBC.
Every BBC broadcast was introduced by the chimes of Big Ben. My grandparents lived under this awful Nazi occupation and listened to the BBC in the cellar. In those dark days the chimes of your Big Ben were their only promise and hope for democracy and freedom to this country of mine.
Happy birthday Big Ben. 150 years old. I dont know what your magic is. The promising sound of freedom and democracy, the amazing chimes of liberty?
But as an old tower you are still a gorgeous stone bloke with a beautiful voice.
“How dreadful are the curses which Islam lays on its votaries! Besides the fanatical frenzy, which is as dangerous in a man as hydrophobia in a dog, there is this fearful fatalistic apathy. The effects are apparent in many countries. Improvident habits, slovenly systems of agriculture, sluggish methods of commerce, and insecurity of property exist wherever the followers of the Prophet rule or live.
A degraded sensualism deprives this life of its grace and refinement; the next of its dignity and sanctity. The fact that in Mohammedan law every woman must belong to some man as his absolute property‹either as a child, a wife, or a concubine must delay the final extinction of slavery until the faith of Islam has ceased to be a great power among men. Individual Muslims may show splendid qualities. Thousands become the brave and loyal soldiers of the Queen; all know how to die; but the influence of the religion paralyses the social development of those who follow it.
No stronger retrograde force exists in the world.
Far from being moribund, Islam is a militant and proselytizing faith. It has already spread throughout Central Africa, raising fearless warriors at every step; and were it not that Christianity is sheltered in the strong arms of science -the science against which it had vainly struggled -the civilisation of modern Europe might fall, as fell the civilisation of ancient Rome.”
— Sir Winston Churchill, The River War, first edition, Vol. II, pages 248-50 (London: Longmans, Green & Co., 1899).
Churchill on Us
"We have not journeyed across the centuries, across the oceans, across the mountains, across the prairies, because we are made of sugar candy."
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