Gates of Vienna News Feed 8/20/2014

Liberia attempted to contain its Ebola outbreak by quarantining West Point, a slum neighborhood of Monrovia. Soldiers guarding the barbed-wire fence surrounding the quarantined area used live ammunition against local residents who attacked them in an attempt to escape.

In other news, UK authorities are planning to use voice-recognition software in an attempt to identify the “British” mujahid who beheaded James Foley. Meanwhile, British police warn that watching beheading videos may constitute a terrorist offense.

To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.

Thanks to Andy Bostom, C. Cantoni, Caroline Glick, Fjordman, Insubria, JP, Mark Spahn, RR, Steen, Vlad Tepes, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.

Notice to tipsters: Please don’t submit extensive excerpts from articles that have been posted behind a subscription firewall, or are otherwise under copyright protection.

Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. We check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.

USA
» Eternal Flame Draws Crowds to Orchard Park
» Orange Commissioners Reject Planned Mosque in Contentious Hearing
 
Europe and the EU
» Anti-Semitism in Britain: “Sit Up and Take Notice”
» Austria Detains Nine Suspected of Wanting to Join Militants in Syria
» Britain’s Beheaders — How We Came to Export Jihad
» Dutch Doctors Warned to Look Out for Ebola Symptoms
» Italian MPs OK Arming Kurds as Renzi Visits Iraq
» Italy ‘In Right Direction’ On Unpaid Bills Says EC
» Italy: Supermarket Posts Sign Against Roma Beggars, Denies Racism
» Italy: Football: Egypt Star Abou Treika Rejects Rome ‘Peace Match’
» Northern Ireland: Tensions Mount in Belfast Over George Galloway Saturday Night Speech
» Outrage as UK Foreign Secretary Claims ISIS Attracts ‘Moderate Jihadists’
» ‘Racist’ Theatre Project Pulled From Swedish Festival Over ‘Blackface’ Claim
» Syria Conflict: Austria Police Hold Nine Jihadist Suspects
» UK: Exeter Mosque Opens Its Doors as Moderate Muslims Recoil at James Foley Execution
» UK: James Foley: Police Warn Watching Beheading Video is a ‘Terrorist Offence’
» UK: MP Criticised Over Supermarket Boycott Protest
» Young Jewish Swedish Leader: ‘All My Friends Are Getting Death Threats’
 
North Africa
» Egypt: 4 Men Taken Hostage, Beheaded by Jihadists in Sinai
» Egypt: ISIS Tells Muslim Brotherhood: Repent or Else
 
Israel and the Palestinians
» Caroline Glick: Why Israel is Losing the Information War
» Gaza War Resumes With Deadly Strikes, Rocket Fire
» Hamas’ Military Chief Believed to Have Been Killed in Airstrike, Sources Say
» Hamas: Israel ‘Opened the Gates of Hell’
» Israel Confirms Air Strike Targeted Hamas Military Chief
» Live Blog: Israel’s Offensive in Gaza
» Senior Fatah Source: Qatar Pushed Hamas Back to War
» ‘We Will Not Stop’ Gaza Operation: Israeli Premier
 
Middle East
» Conservative Delusions About Yazidis Slaughtered During Surge, Too
» Iraq Conflict: Fighting Resumes at Mosul Dam
» Iraq: Hunt Begins for ‘British’ Islamic State Executioner of US Journalist James Foley
» Iraq: ‘Brutal’ Islamic State Terrorist Who Beheaded US Journalist is British, Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond Reveal
» Iraq: US Journalist James Foley ‘Beheaded by IS’ — Latest
» Iraq: PJ Crowley: Foley Video Not Intended for US Audience
» Iraq: Militants Use British Killer as Propaganda
» Iraq: ‘Beheading’ of Journalist ‘Shocking and Depraved’ — PM [UK]
» Islamic State Terror Chief Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi Hunted by Specially-Formed Elite Military Unit
» Italy Completes Humanitarian Airlift to North Iraq
» James Foley Went Looking to Support Terrorists in Syria, Instead They Cut Off His Head
» Our Democracy and the West’s Boots
» Saudi Arabia: Grand Mufti: Terrorism Has No Place in Islam
» Turkey: Kurdish Women Taking Up Arms to Battle Islamic State
» U.S. Hostage Rescue Failed, White House Says
» UK-Based Journalist Justifies Rise in Global Anti-Semitism
 
Russia
» Clashes Kill 34 Civilians in Ukraine
» Russia Fruit Ban Causes Polish Apple Excess
 
South Asia
» Malaysia: Kuala Lumpur: Ready to Hit Pubs, Discos and Breweries Dreaming of the Islamic Caliphate
» Pakistan: Don’t Allow Even a Mosquito to Enter or Exit Parliament, Says Dr Qadri
» Pakistan Crisis Puts Army Back in the Driving Seat
 
Far East
» China Paper Denounces ‘Rampant Rascality’ of Australia Tycoon
» Filipino Muslim Fighters Not Training With Jihadists: Philippine Military
 
Australia — Pacific
» His Name is Sulaymin Khalid — But He Wants You to Call Him ‘Abu Bakr’
» Join Our Team: Abbott Spruiks Terror Laws
 
Sub-Saharan Africa
» Clashes Erupt as Liberia Imposes Quarantine to Curb Ebola
» Ebola Crisis: Liberia Orders Curfew and Quarantine
» Nigeria: Soldiers Rebel Over Lack of Weapons to Fight Boko Haram
» Soldiers Manning Ebola Checkpoints Bring Back War Memories
 
Latin America
» Puerto Rico’s Population Dwindles
 
Immigration
» Sweden: Parties Duel as Refugee Costs Skyrocket
 

Eternal Flame Draws Crowds to Orchard Park

Increasing numbers of hikers, scientists and even a crew from a TV show are visiting Chestnut Ridge Park to glimpse the ‘world record’ Eternal Flame

The wisp of fire flickers in a hollow behind a forest waterfall. The once-obscure marvel known as the Eternal Flame, located on a shale creek bed in Chestnut Ridge Park, is attracting increasing numbers of admiring hikers, scientists and even a crew from a new, yet-to-be-named Travel Channel show about unusual places.

“It’s like the flame is coming out of the rock. It’s so cool,” said Shelby Marra, a student at the University at Buffalo who hiked in on a recent afternoon in celebration of a friend’s birthday. “I can’t stop looking at it.”

Marra was one of several hikers alternately posing for pictures, gazing at and puzzling over the mysterious flame, a golden orange sprout a few inches tall licking defiantly at the wet stone. Near her, a man from Saudi Arabia said it seemed like a miracle. “This: amazing,” he said with a broad smile and an apology for his limited English.

More people have been coming to see the waterfall flame since research published last year declared it a “world record” natural gas “seep,” or leak, for the high-concentration ethane and propane — about 1 kilogram of gas a day — released from shale somewhere beneath the crack.

With visitors like the Travel Channel crew, geologists and world travelers making the trip to Orchard Park, the Erie County Parks Department has made the half-mile trail more accessible. A big sign, about two years old, marks the trailhead at the Corral parking lot on Route 277. New pictures of little flames mark the trees along the path so people can find their way down steps and over roots to the creek bed that leads to the flame.

“It is one of the most beautiful and fascinating gas manifestations … I have ever seen,” wrote Italian geologist Giuseppe Etiope in an email from Finland last week. He works for Italy’s National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology, and travels the world studying gas seepages. He even sent a photo of the world’s biggest eternal flame at a mountain in Azerbaijan called “Yarnardag.”

Yet, Etiope said, the small Chestnut Ridge Park seep that burns when ignited — sometimes hikers must relight it with a lighter — is uniquely beautiful.

Another regional “eternal” flame was considered by Etiope and his collaborators in Clarington, Pa., but it seems to be from an abandoned gas well. The flame at Chestnut Ridge, by contrast, is naturally occurring. A geologist working with Etiope hypothesized that prehistoric people may have had a hand in its origins.

Before Europeans arrived, people could have carved the opening to make it easier to light, said Arndt Schimmelmann, an Indiana University geologist.

The abundance of natural gas in Pennsylvania and New York leads to many leaks through breaks in the ground. They’re especially easy to spot along shallow creeks and waterways because they bubble.

The Chestnut Ridge seep “looks very natural, but I think it was made by people. But people who actually recognized there was a seepage. … They were very observant people. They knew how to make fire,” Schimmelmann said. “They must have figured out, ‘Wow, this is a beautiful place to have an eternal flame.’ “

Schimmelmann’s research about the flame was part of a project funded by the federal Department of Energy to look into naturally escaping gas and to better understand how it contributes to greenhouse gas emissions…

           — Hat tip: Mark Spahn [Return to headlines]
 

Orange Commissioners Reject Planned Mosque in Contentious Hearing

Plans for a mosque to serve the Dr. Phillips area’s Muslim population were scuttled Tuesday after a contentious hearing before the Orange County Commission.

Commissioners unanimously rejected a zoning request following three hours of public debate. If approved, the mosque would have been built near residential neighborhoods off Apopka Vineland Road.

Residents had argued that traffic from the mosque would disrupt a quiet neighborhood that retains a country charm, with some residents keeping horses, donkeys and other animals. The area is not far from the Bay Hill Country Club.

They worried that holding five prayer services daily, from before sunrise to after sunset, would bring a recurring flood of cars to the area. Backers of the mosque said they expected only Friday services to draw a capacity crowd of 240 worshippers, with only a handful likely to attend daily services…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Anti-Semitism in Britain: “Sit Up and Take Notice”

by George Igler

A striking feature of the rising tide of anti-Semitism in Britain is the silence with which the country’s leaders are choosing to respond to a growing climate of hatred and intimidation, directed not only at Jews themselves, but increasingly anything remotely Jewish…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Austria Detains Nine Suspected of Wanting to Join Militants in Syria

(Reuters) — Nine people suspected of intending to join Islamic militants fighting the government in Syria have been arrested in Austria, Vienna prosecutors said on Wednesday.

“We don’t have more details yet,” a spokeswoman said.

The Austria Press Agency had reported the nine people were being questioned and a decision on whether to place them in investigative custody was pending.

About 100 people from Austria, home to roughly half a million Muslims representing about six percent of the total population, are estimated to have joined rebel forces fighting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government.

The insurgency is split between competing factions in Syria, with the militant Islamic State emerging as the most powerful.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Britain’s Beheaders — How We Came to Export Jihad

by Douglas Murray

It is the now familiar nightmare image. A kneeling prisoner, and behind him a black-hooded man speaking to camera. The standing man denounces the West and claims that his form of Islam is under attack. He then saws off the head of the hostage. Why did Wednesday morning’s video stand out? Because this time the captive was an American journalist —James Foley— and his murderer is speaking in an unmistakable London accent…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Dutch Doctors Warned to Look Out for Ebola Symptoms

The Dutch public health institute RIVM has warned family doctors to be on the look-out for symptoms of the deadly Ebola disease but says the chance of it arriving in the Netherlands is ‘extremely small’.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Italian MPs OK Arming Kurds as Renzi Visits Iraq

‘Iraq, Syria like Srebrenica’ says Renzi on need to fight ISIS

(ANSA) — Rome, August 20 — Italy’s parliament on Wednesday backed Premier Matteo Renzi’s move to send military aid to Iraqi Kurds fighting an offensive by fundamentalist Islamic State (ISIS) militia in the country’s north as the premier himself met with Iraqi and Kurdish leaders as well as refugees in Baghdad and Erbil.

Now that parliament has approved the resolution, Italian-supplied weapons including anti-tank rockets, automatic weapons, machine guns and ammunition could be in the hands of Kurdish forces “within days,” Defence Minister Roberta Pinotti said.

“Prior planning” by the government means that organizing transfers of weapons via air and sea “is already in progress and may be finalized in the next few days,” the minister said.

European foreign ministers decided last Friday to accept urgent requests from Kurdish authorities for weapons, subject to the consent of Iraqi national authorities.

Indeed, Iraqi Premier-designate Haider al-Abadi issued a call for help after meeting with his Italian counterpart.

“We hope the European Union will help us fight this war against terrorist groups,” Abadi said.

“Europe will not turn its back on Iraq,” the Italian premier said during his brief mission to Baghdad, adding that Italy will respect Iraq’s sovereignty and make sure any weapons deliveries happen under Baghdad’s supervision.

“Anyone who thinks Europe is about to turn its back on the ongoing slaughter in Iraq…has gotten the wrong forecast or the wrong semester,” said Renzi, who is representing the European Union during Italy’s six-month duty presidency.

“Europe is not just about (interest rate) spreads and rules,” the Italian premier tweeted on his @matteorenzi account.

“It was born to defend…human dignity. That’s why we are here today #Erbil,” said the 39-year-old premier, who went on to compare ISIS atrocities in Iraq and neighboring Syria to the 1995 Srebrenica genocide in the former Yugoslavia. “At the time, many in my generation said ‘Never again’,” the premier said just before leaving Erbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan.

“Europe cannot afford to remain silent this time, because this battle is in the very heart of Europe”.

Later on Wednesday, Italian national security authorities issued an alert for possible terrorist attacks on “sensitive targets” after receiving unspecified “threats” in relation to Italy’s military aid to Iraq. The potential targets include embassies, places of worship, stations, ports, airports, and travel agencies, officials said.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy ‘In Right Direction’ On Unpaid Bills Says EC

Govt has allocated 56 billion euros to pay commercial creditors

(ANSA) — Brussels, August 19 — Italy is “moving in the right direction” on paying its massive unsettled bills to private-sector suppliers, which means it may avoid incurring disciplinary EU procedures, Industry Commissioner Ferdinando Nelli Feroci told ANSA on Tuesday.

Italy’s government sent the EC a 53-page letter Monday night, detailing how it plans to pay down debts it has racked up with commercial creditors while also trying to cut the budget deficit as the economy contracts.

The most salient point is that the government has allocated 56 billion euros to pay bills which it and previous administrations have accumulated so far.

The document also lists planned measures to prevent such debt from accumulating again, including a deal with banks, creating a guarantee fund at the finance ministry, and waivers from Italy’s internal stability pact for regional governments.

“I can’t disclose in advance how the Commission will analyse the letter, but it contains a series of elements that go in the right direction,” Nelli Feroci said.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Supermarket Posts Sign Against Roma Beggars, Denies Racism

‘Don’t give them money, they make more than skilled workers’

(ANSA) — Catania, August 20 — A supermarket in the Sicilian city of Catania on Wednesday posted a sign urging shoppers not to give money to Roma panhandlers, because they allegedly make more than a skilled worker.

“Don’t give handouts to gypsies, they make 80 euros a day tax-free. Thus is more than qualified Italian workers make,” read the sign.

Management denied charges of racism, explaining that they simply wish to discourage the Roma family that has been panhandling in front of the supermarket for three years.

“They stick to our opening hours, and drive clients away,” management claimed, adding that police merely referred them to social services.

Italy has been repeatedly criticized by human rights watchdogs like Amnesty International for ongoing discrimination against the Roma people’s rights to education, housing, health care and employment.

Pope Francis earlier this summer called on Italy to stop discriminating against this ethnic minority.

More than half of the Roma and Sinti people living in Italy have Italian citizenship, according to the interior ministry.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Football: Egypt Star Abou Treika Rejects Rome ‘Peace Match’

Due to ‘Zionist participation’

(ANSAmed) — NAPLES — Former star of Egypt and its Al-Ahly football club Mohamed Abou Treika has rejected an invitation to take part in the September 1 ‘Inter-religious Match for Peace’ called by Pope Francis.

“I rejected the invitation due to the participation of Zionists. We are setting an example for the younger generations,” the 35-year-old former striker who left football last year wrote on Twitter. According to the English edition of the Egyptian newspaper Al-Ahram, Abou Treika declined the invitation due to the presence in the match of Israeli former center-fielder Yossi Benayoun, who has previously played with Liverpool and Chelsea. Abou Treika is considered a symbol of Egyptian football due to his successes on the field: 22 titles with Al-Ahly, including five African Championships Cups and the bronze for the 2006 Club World Cup. He helped Egypt win three consecutive African Championship titles in 2006, 2008, and 2010.

During the 2008 African Cup, Abou Treika showed his support for Palestinians after scoring a goal against Sudan by raising his jersey and showing a t-shirt underneath with “Sympathize with Gaza” printed on it to protest against the Israeli blockade on the enclave. The ‘peace match’ will be held at Rome’s Olympic Stadium and aims to bring together people of different religions.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Northern Ireland: Tensions Mount in Belfast Over George Galloway Saturday Night Speech

Questions are being asked over the wisdom of the decision by Belfast City Council to let divisive Member of Parliament George Galloway hire the city’s taxpayer-funded main hall to give a speech this weekend…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Outrage as UK Foreign Secretary Claims ISIS Attracts ‘Moderate Jihadists’

Britain’s Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond has caused outrage this morning after referring to “moderate jihad” on the BBC’s Radio 4 Today Programme.

Speaking about the ongoing security threats to Britain and the wider world emerging from the region, Hammond said:

“The Middle East remains a region of significant instability there’s the situation in Libya, the continuing tension between Israel and the Palestinian Territories, and then the situation in Syria and Iraq.

“The emergence of ISIL as a successor organisation to AQ [Al Qaeda] with an absolutely poisonous ideology, hoovering up moderate jihadist, if you can have such a thing as moderate jihadist, activity in Syria, drawing support from the more moderate Syrian opposition is a major challenge primarily to region but also to West. Partly because they are trying to establish a caliphate from which they would launch attacks against the West, and partly because they have amongst their number significant elements of Western fighters”.

The comment about “moderate jihad” caused outrage on Twitter, with social media users expressing the following frustrations…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

‘Racist’ Theatre Project Pulled From Swedish Festival Over ‘Blackface’ Claim

A Danish theatre group which uses make-up artists to change participants’ race says the project is not doing ‘blackface’ but intended as a celebration of diversity

A theatre workshop aimed at fostering “a greater understanding of discrimination” has been pulled from a Swedish city festival programme after anti-racism campaigners accused it of offensive, racist ‘blackfacing’.

With Other Eyes, by the Danish theatre group Global Voices, uses make-up artists to change participants’ race and gender, allowing them to “see the world from a new perspective”.

Martin Neilson, the Danish actor who launched the project, said it had been intended as a “celebration of diversity”, and blamed the organisers of the Malmö festival for the “huge mistake” of illustrating it with a picture of a blond Swedish boy wearing black face paint…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Syria Conflict: Austria Police Hold Nine Jihadist Suspects

Nine people have been arrested by police in Austria on suspicion of planning to join Islamist militant groups in Syria.

The suspects were detained close to the country’s border and were being questioned, reports from Vienna say.

The interior ministry said they were all Chechens with Russian citizenship who had been granted asylum in Austria…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Exeter Mosque Opens Its Doors as Moderate Muslims Recoil at James Foley Execution

DEVON residents are being given the opportunity to tour Exeter Mosque today the day after shocking video of the beheading of American journalist James Foley was circulated on the internet.

People will be given the chance to ask questions about Islam and tour the building at the open day, which runs from 2pm to 5pm.

All are welcome at the event, where Muslim community leaders will explain the workings of the mosque and its role in the community…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

UK: James Foley: Police Warn Watching Beheading Video is a ‘Terrorist Offence’

Police are warning the public that watching the video appearing to show the beheading of an US journalist by Islamic State (Isis) militants could be a terrorist offence.

The video, uploaded to YouTube, reportedly shows journalist James Foley being killed by an Isis fighter speaking with a British accent. The video, entitled Message to America, was a retaliation to the US airstrikes in Iraq, according to the alleged killer.

[…]

Scotland Yard’s Counter Terrorism Command, SO15, has said it will be investigating the video and has warned people against viewing the graphic footage themselves.

A Met police spokesperson added: “We would like to remind the public that viewing, downloading or disseminating extremist material within the UK may constitute an offence under Terrorism legislation. “…

           — Hat tip: Vlad Tepes [Return to headlines]
 

UK: MP Criticised Over Supermarket Boycott Protest

A Labour frontbencher has been criticised by Jewish leaders over her role in an anti-Israel protest that forced a supermarket to close.

Shabana Mahmood was part of a demonstration outside a branch of Sainsbury’s in Birmingham, protesting that it was ‘stocking goods from illegal settlements’. She also took to social media to back a boycott of Israel, a position that is contrary to Labour Party policy.

The Jewish Leadership Council described her actions as inappropriate and called for Ms Mahmood to apologise, while the Board of Deputies condemned her part in the Sainsbury’s protest as irresponsible…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Young Jewish Swedish Leader: ‘All My Friends Are Getting Death Threats’

Death threats, daily anti-Semitic attacks, and harassment are causing many young Swedish Jews of the shrinking 20,000-member community to say “enough,” and seek to establish their futures elsewhere, according to a report by Zvika Klein of Israel’s NRG News.

“I and my friends decided to leave,” 22-year-old Victor Borsolov, told NRG, after getting his 11th death threat after posting pro-Israeli views on his Facebook page.

Borsolov, a student of International Relations and Economics from Gothenburg, suggested some other preferable countries.

“I’m thinking of emigrating to Berlin, Tel Aviv or Haifa,” he said.

“We have never seen such anti-Semitism in Sweden. Since the beginning of [IDF Operation Protective Edge against gaza rocket fire], we started to see anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism in a different way from what we have seen so far in Sweden,” Borsolov said….

           — Hat tip: Steen [Return to headlines]
 

Egypt: 4 Men Taken Hostage, Beheaded by Jihadists in Sinai

(ANSAmed) — CAIRO, AUGUST 20 — The corpses of four decapitated men taken hostage a few days ago in the northern Sinai were found on Wednesday near Rafah and Al-Arish, say Egyptian security sources. Inhabitants of the area say that the four were taken hostage by militants from the Salafi group Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis and later killed out of revenge for alleged collaboration with security force in a recent operation in which one of the group’s leaders was killed. A large-scale army operation is underway in the region against jihadist groups active in the peninsula. On Tuesday three alleged extremist militants were killed and 30 others arrested.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Egypt: ISIS Tells Muslim Brotherhood: Repent or Else

The Islamic State has issued a statement damning the Muslim Brotherhood for its “deception” and calling on the Brotherhood to repent.

Terror group ISIS has issued a chilling warning to Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood — Repent or else.

A sickening statement by group spokesman Said Abu Hamza al-Hilali claimed that the MB had deceived itself and millions of young people, and branded the group “delinquents from the path of God.”

The statement released on underground jihad forums also called for Muslim Brotherhood activists to repent for their attempts to embrace “democracy,” and branded their views “dirty.”…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Caroline Glick: Why Israel is Losing the Information War

For most Israelis, the international discourse on Gaza is unintelligible.

Here we were going along, minding our own business.

Then on a clear night in June, apropos of nothing, Palestinian terrorists stole, murdered and hid the bodies of three of our children as they made their way home from school.

Before we could catch our breath from that atrocity, they began shelling our major population centers with thousands of rockets, missiles and mortars, and infiltrated our communities along the border with Gaza through underground tunnels to kidnap and murder us.

And as the Palestinians did all of these things, they used their civilian population and the foreign press corps as human sandbags. They ordered their own people not to evacuate their homes from which Hamas, Fatah and Islamic Jihad terrorists launched their missiles, rockets and mortars at Israel. And they launched missiles at Israeli cities from outside the hotel where the foreign reporters were staying.

It doesn’t take a PhD to understand what the game is. And Israelis — even many with PhDs — understand what is happening.

This is why so many Israelis are up in arms about our government’s failure to impact the wall of lies that comprises the discourse on Israel in the Western world…

           — Hat tip: Caroline Glick [Return to headlines]
 

Gaza War Resumes With Deadly Strikes, Rocket Fire

By Nidal al-Mughrabi and Allyn Fisher-Ilan

GAZA/JERUSALEM, Aug 20 (Reuters) — Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip fired rockets at Israel for a second day on Wednesday after fighting resumed with the collapse of truce talks and an Israeli air strike that killed three people in Gaza.

Charging that Israel had “opened a gateway to hell”, Hamas’s armed wing vowed to target Israel’s Ben-Gurion International Airport with rocket fire, possibly to retaliate for what Hamas was quoted by Israeli media as saying was an Israeli attempt to assassinate its top militant leader, Mohammed Deif, in a Gaza City strike…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Hamas’ Military Chief Believed to Have Been Killed in Airstrike, Sources Say

Hamas’ military chief is believed to have been killed in an airstrike in Gaza early Wednesday, Israeli intelligence sources tell Fox News.

Israeli officials said Wednesday the country’s military targeted Mohammed Deif after militants fired rockets at Israeli cities just hours before a temporary cease-fire was set to expire.

The Times of Israel reported that a house believed to be the home of Deif was hit early Wednesday. Dief has escaped numerous Israeli assassination attempts in the past. It was not immediately clear whether he was there at the time of the attack. The paper also reported that the strike killed Dief’s wife and infant son.

Israeli government officials expressed support for the operation throughout the day Wednesday.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Hamas: Israel ‘Opened the Gates of Hell’

Hamas says rocket fire came in response to airstrike on Gaza home, vows Israel will have no peace.

Hamas declared on Tuesday night that Israel had “opened the gates of hell”. In a statement, the group’s so-called “military wing” said that it had resumed the rocket fire on Israel because the Israeli Air Force had launched an airstrike on a home in Gaza.

The group warned that “the price will be a heavy one”. Senior Hamas official Ezzat al-Rishq warned, according to AFP, “Israel will not enjoy security so long as the Palestinian people do not, and it started it.”…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Israel Confirms Air Strike Targeted Hamas Military Chief

Diplomatic source confirms IDF attempted to eliminate Mohammed Deif, five bunker-busters reportedly used; Sa’ar: ‘Deif just like Bin Laden.’

An Israeli diplomatic source confirmed Wednesday morning to Walla! that Israel tried overnight to eliminate Mohammed Deif, the head of Hamas’s “military wing,” the Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades.

Hamas has claimed that five bunker-buster bombs were fired by Israel targeting the elusive mastermind behind Hamas’s terror war.

“The wife of the great leader (Deif) was martyred with his daughter,” wrote Hamas leader Moussa Abu Marzouk on his Facebook page Tuesday night, not indicating the fate of Deif himself.

While Deif’s condition is currently unknown, local health officials quoted by Reuters said three people were killed in a strike on a house in Gaza City, including a child and a woman, possibly Deif’s wife and daughter. The third death was not identified, leaving speculation open that the IAF may in fact have hit its mark.

Interior Minister Gideon Sa’ar (Likud) commented on the latest attempt to end Deif’s life; the terrorist leader has until now evaded five IDF assassination attempts, losing both of his legs in one airstrike.

Deif “is exactly like (former Al Qaeda leader Osama) Bin Laden,” appraised Sa’ar, speaking to Galei Tzahal (IDF Radio). “This is an arch-murderer. Where there is an operational opportunity to eliminate him — it must be taken.”…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Live Blog: Israel’s Offensive in Gaza

Follow all the latest updates on Israel’s war on terrorism and efforts to extinguish rocket fire from the Gaza Strip.

9:10 a.m. Rocket sirens sound in Gaza frontier towns.

8:40 a.m. Likud MK Danny Danon, the former deputy defense minister who was dismissed from his post during the initial stages of Operation Protective Edge due to his criticism of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, told Channel 2 on Wednesday that Israel “has a do-over” and needs to exploit it in order to “defeat Hamas.”

“There is a price to pay in any conflict,” Danon said. “The price is steep, but we have no choice. The Middle East is a rough neighborhood.”…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Senior Fatah Source: Qatar Pushed Hamas Back to War

Hamas reportedly tried to get Qatar involved in truce talks; when Egypt refused Qatar ordered Mashaal to reject truce or be expelled.

A senior member of Palestnian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah faction said Wednesday Hamas’s choice to forego the Egyptian truce proposal and return to its rocket war on Israel was due to Qatari pressure.

The Fatah source, quoted in the Arabic Al-Hayat as cited by Yedioth Aharonoth, said that during the Cairo truce talks Hamas had been pressing for Qatar to play an active role in the negotiations, and asked that a senior Qatar source be invited to the talks.

Egypt reportedly refused the proposal, stipulating that Qatar apologize for its policies towards the Nile State since Muslim Brotherhood member and former Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi was deposed last July 3, indicating the tension between Eygpt and Qatar. Qatar is the leading sponsor of the Muslim Brotherhood, of which Hamas is the Palestinian branch.

The Fatah source added that Qatar threatened to expel Qatar-based Hamas politburo chief Khaled Mashaal, saying it would “force him to leave,” if Hamas agreed to the Egyptian truce proposal in its current structure…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

‘We Will Not Stop’ Gaza Operation: Israeli Premier

Jerusalem: Israel’s prime minister says he will press forward with a military operation in the Gaza Strip until rocket fire out of the Palestinian territory is halted.

Benjamin Netanyahu made the comments in a nationwide address Wednesday, a day after talks aimed at ending Israel’s monthlong war against Hamas militants collapsed in failure.

Netanyahu’s tough words signal a protracted period of fighting could lie ahead…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Conservative Delusions About Yazidis Slaughtered During Surge, Too

The multi-ethnic Iraqi democracy project was a predestined failure even before Obama.

By Andrew G. Bostom

Iraq’s Yazidis are an indigenous, ancient, pre-Islamic non-Muslim religious minority whose syncretic beliefs derive, in part, from Zoroastrianism. Over the past 3-weeks, world attention has riveted on the Yazidis’ (Yezidis’) horrific plight, targeted by the latest jihad rampages of the “Islamic State” (IS/IL) butchers, and subjected to massacre, rape, enslavement, and forced conversion to Islam. Indeed, ever grudgingly, the non-Muslim world has been compelled to acknowledge IS/IL’s ghastly, murderous jihad rampages against both the Christian and Yazidi religious minorities of northern Iraq.

Per President Obama’s address Thursday evening, 8/7/14, the U.S. initiated both humanitarian air-drops to those Yazidi refugees stranded on Mount Sinjar, Iraq, and bombing runs against IS/IL positions outside Erbil, Kurdistan. Unquestionably, the Yazidis—and Christians—remain in a parlous state.

However, due to the efforts of the Kurdish PKK militia—a U.S.-designated terror group—some ~50,000 Yazidis were evacuated from the Sinjar Mountains within a week of President Obama’s announcement. Der Spiegel reported that PKK fighters who controlled the region on the Syrian side of the border, liberated the road to Sinjar, and established a network of refugee camps for the beleaguered Yazidis. The PKK’s successful evacuation undertaking prompted U.S. Special Forces—who landed in the Sinjar mountains last Wednesday (8/13/14)—to cancel their own plans to organize a rescue airlift for the (ostensibly tens of thousands of) stranded Yazidis.

Assessing these developments, last Friday, 8/15/14, mainstream conservative icon Charles Krauthammer sniped,…

           — Hat tip: Andy Bostom [Return to headlines]
 

Iraq Conflict: Fighting Resumes at Mosul Dam

Sky’s Alex Crawford, who has been at the strategic dam, says there appears to be some hardened IS fighters putting up resistance.

Fighting has resumed at Mosul Dam in northern Iraq with US jets spotted flying overhead, according to Sky sources.

Islamic State (IS) militants seized the strategically important site, which supplies water and power to millions of people down the Tigris river valley, nearly two weeks ago. But US President Barack Obama announced on Monday that Iraqi and Kurdish forces had regained control of the hydroelectric facility with the help of American airstrikes.

He called it a “major step forward” in the battle against the extremist group.

However, as the Kurds were celebrating their victory at the dam, it appeared there were still remnants of IS in the area who were putting up resistance…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Iraq: Hunt Begins for ‘British’ Islamic State Executioner of US Journalist James Foley

Intelligence agencies are trying to identify the executioner of American journalist James Foley after he spoke with what appeared to be an English accent.

The Islamic State jihadi, clad all in black with his face covered, addressed the camera during a five-minute video and delivered an anti-American rant in what appeared to be an accent from London or southern England…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Iraq: ‘Brutal’ Islamic State Terrorist Who Beheaded US Journalist is British, Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond Reveal

In the video Mr Foley is seen kneeling in a desert-like environment at an unknown location as an IS fighter stands by his side dressed in black and with his face covered.

Mr Hammond said the video had not been verified but ‘all the hallmarks point to it being genuine’. The Foreign Secretary said his reaction to the clip was ‘horror, absolutely horror at what appears to be a brutal execution’. He added: ‘On the face of it, it appears to be a British person.’

Mr Hammond said: ‘Certainly at first pass that’s what it looks like and we will obviously want to investigate that further. We have been saying for a long time that there are a significant number of British nationals in Syria and Iraq operating with extremist organisations. That’s one of the reasons why this organisation represents such a direct threat to the UK’s national security. Many of these people may seek at some point to return to the UK and they would then pose a direct threat to our domestic security.’…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Iraq: US Journalist James Foley ‘Beheaded by IS’ — Latest

Islamic State insurgents have posted a video apparently showing the beheading of US journalist James Foley. Intelligence agencies will try to identify masked killer, who has British accent, as Foley’s mother says ‘he was an extraordinary son’

10.45 British intelligence agencies are likely to use voice recognition software to try to identify the British jihadist who beheaded the American journalist James Foley, the Telegraph’s Steven Swinford reports.

Philip Hammond confirmed this morning that British intelligence agencies are analysing the video to try to establish the man’s identity.

Counter terrorist officers are expected to run the broadcast through voice—recognition software to see if he is somebody already known to intelligence services.

The man’s London accent may also help the services to identify the areas where the extremist grew up and lived.

10.23 David Cameron is returning from his holiday in Cornwall after just a day, following the murder of James Foley. Mr Cameron said: “If true, the murder of James Foley is shocking and depraved. I will today chair meetings on the situation in Iraq/Syria.”…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Iraq: PJ Crowley: Foley Video Not Intended for US Audience

When President Barack Obama recently authorised a military air campaign against the Islamic State (IS) in Iraq, some form of retaliation was inevitable.

The Islamic State’s first response is the horrific video that suggests the beheading of American journalist James Foley, captured in Syria in 2012.

As propaganda, the video seems to reinforce our understanding of the brutal protagonist now at the centre of the conflicts in Iraq and Syria.

But the broader message the video delivers has potential strategic significance…

PJ Crowley is a former US Assistant Secretary of State and now a professor of practice and fellow at The George Washington University Institute of Public Diplomacy & Global Communication.

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Iraq: Militants Use British Killer as Propaganda

LONDON (AP) — Islamic militants are using a beheading video to send a chilling message — not just through the gruesome act, but also by the choice of messenger.

The black-clad fighter who appears to kill journalist James Foley speaks with an English accent, underscoring the insurgents’ increasing use of Western militants to mobilize recruits, terrify opponents and project the image of a global force…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Iraq: ‘Beheading’ of Journalist ‘Shocking and Depraved’ — PM [UK]

David Cameron has described the apparent beheading of a US journalist by an Islamic State militant with a British accent as “shocking and depraved”.

The PM is returning from his holiday for meetings on Iraq and Syria with Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond, Downing Street said…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Islamic State Terror Chief Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi Hunted by Specially-Formed Elite Military Unit

Around 100 CIA spooks and special forces are hunting for 42-year-old dubbed The Ghost because he leaves no trace despite running an army of followers

A crack unit has been formed to hunt down the terror chief whose barbaric Islamic State group has blazed a trail of murder and mayhem across the Middle East .

Around 100 CIA spooks and special forces are hunting for 42-year-old Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, dubbed The Ghost because he leaves no trace despite running an army of followers.

It is the biggest counter-terror search since the Americans tracked down and killed al-Qaeda mastermind Osama bin Laden in 2011.

Using unmanned spy planes, other aircraft and satellite imagery, intelligence experts are gathering mobile phone call data and movements on the ground in Iraq and Syria .

A source said: “Al-Baghdadi is elusive but he will be found eventually.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Italy Completes Humanitarian Airlift to North Iraq

Six flights bringing food, water, tents to refugees

(ANSA) — Rome, August 20 — The last of six Italian C-130J military transport planes landed Wednesday in Erbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan, as part of a humanitarian airlift to aid civilians fleeing an offensive by fundamentalist Islamic State (ISIS) militia in northern Iraq.

Italy since August 16 has sent six such humanitarian aid flights, bringing 49 tonnes of food and water, 200 tents and 400 sleeping bags to United Nations refugee camps in the northern part of the country, where Kurdish forces are battling ISIS in a bid to stop the fundamentalist militia as it tries to set up a caliphate in parts of Iraq and Syria.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

James Foley Went Looking to Support Terrorists in Syria, Instead They Cut Off His Head

by Daniel Greenfield

James Foley was one of a new breed of activists calling themselves journalists. He didn’t travel to report on a story, but to promote an agenda. And the agenda was obvious from his Twitter feed.

Any human life lost is tragic, but a moral individual would have much more empathy for the Syrian Christians who suffered at the hands of Foley’s favorite Jihadists than one of their pet propagandists.

Foley came to Syria to support the Sunni Islamist rebels against the Syrian government.

He cheered on the Sunni Muslim terrorists fighting to ethnically cleanse the Christians of Aleppo. In the conflict between Israel and Hamas, his tweets and retweets were chock full of pro-terrorist propaganda.

But Foley ran afoul of at least some of the Sunni Jihadists in Syria. His twitter feed was filled with references to the FSA. And the FSA was going to be eclipsed by the Al Qaeda affiliates. And that was where he ended up.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Our Democracy and the West’s Boots

By Thaar Al-Rasheedi

The attempt to separate social values from policy in any country is doomed to failure, especially in terms of applying the full form of democracy and liberties in an Arab state. Western democracy does not fit us in the form it ended up to. What we need to understand is that Western democracy has come a long way and went through many experiences within its respective societies before it ended up the way we know today where individual values are respected and each individual is valued regardless of his color, religion, race or doctrine. In the Arab world, we have completely different social values from those of the West.

Our societies are completely different in form and ideology. Therefore, the attempt to adapt current Western democracy as it is is more like a child’s attempt to wear his father’s shoes or boots and walk in them.

In this case, he will be doing nothing more that imitating and he will never manage to walk easily in those boots. For instance, in Kuwait, which is the only exception in the Arab world where we have been having a democracy that fits our social values for over half a century with all its flaws and mishaps, democracy has created real democratic thinking and real liberties that have become integral parts of our social thinking patterns today. We ought to reinforce this way of democratic thinking rather than turn up against it. We need not amend our constitution as so many people have been calling for.

What we really need is to fully enforce it. Some politicians claim that our constitution is rigid and stagnant. However, before we call for amending some of its articles, we rather need to impose it in full, not because it is better than its peers in the Arab region, but because it is the only one that is closer to social thinking and matches it to a large extent.

Yesterday, the Telegraph published a report quoting the former British ambassador to the Middle East Andrew Green where he states that applying Western democracy is impossible in Arab states. Green, who served as ambassador to Iraq and Syria, said that the real power in the Arab region is not that of the law but rather that of bonds, be them family or tribal ones. According to him, policy in the region is nothing more than exchanged interests amongst citizens related by family or tribal bonds in the absence of a social system that ensures and guarantees individual rights.

Ambassador Green’s report almost matches the truth in most Arab countries. We, in Kuwait, still have a problem in the output of parliamentary elections that are usually subject to doctrinal, familial and tribal considerations.

Therefore, changes in successive parliaments were only in faces and names. However, this is starting to change in Kuwait and we need more time to reach a point where selection and election is done according to efficiency rather than race. Such change does not take place in one or two years, however. It takes longer because peoples’ ages are not measured in days. Yes, indeed.

Our democracy only matches that of the West in form but this does not mean that we are on the right track or, at least, in its beginning. We in Kuwait are closer to the essence of democracy than others.

—Translated by Kuwait Times from Al-Anbaa

           — Hat tip: RR [Return to headlines]
 

Saudi Arabia: Grand Mufti: Terrorism Has No Place in Islam

Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Aziz Al-Asheikh says that extremism and the ideologies of groups like the Islamic State and Al-Qaeda are Islam’s No. 1 enemy and that Muslims have been their first victims.

He also said in his public statement that terrorism has no place in Islam. “The ideas of extremism, radicalism and terrorism… have nothing to do with Islam and (their proponents) are the No. 1 enemy of Islam,” he said in a statement on Tuesday.

He cited militants from the Islamic State, which has declared itself a “caliphate” straddling large parts of Iraq and Syria, and the Al-Qaeda network, saying their brutal actions have tarnished the image of the divine Islamic faith…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Turkey: Kurdish Women Taking Up Arms to Battle Islamic State

Pkk militants have already crossed into Iraq, press reports

(ANSAmed) — ISTANBUL, AUGUST 20 — The militants of the Islamic State (IS) have struck terror into thousands during their murderous rampage across Syria and Iraq, but hundreds of Kurdish women are ready to take the fight to them, as 9NEWS website reports. Women from the Turkish Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) have crossed over to Iraq to battle the Islamic State, the daily Mirror has reported. Their presence on the battlefield is particularly discomfiting for IS fighters, who believe they will not reach Paradise if they are killed by a woman. The female PKK fighters are specifically hunting the militants believed to be responsible for the kidnapping of thousands of non-Muslim women and girls during the conflict. The girls face execution, slavery, or forced conversion to Islam at the hands of the fanatical IS. The PKK has an unsavory reputation in Turkey, where it has been accused of roadside bombings. The Kurdish group is also listed as a terrorist organization by NATO.

However, Iraqi terror analyst Nasser Kataw told the Mirror that the participation of the PKK alongside their fellow Kurdish fighters the Peshmerga, while being supported by US airstrikes, showed the threat level posed by IS. “There has been a re-drawing of battlefield alliances as people who were once enemies have joined together to try and defeat the scourge that is the Islamic State,” he said.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

U.S. Hostage Rescue Failed, White House Says

A United States Special Operations team tried and failed to rescue James Foley and other Americans held hostage in Syria during a secret mission this summer authorized by President Obama, senior administration officials said Wednesday.

A day after Sunni militants posted a video showing Mr. Foley being beheaded, officials described what they called a “complicated operation” in which several dozen commandos were dropped into a remote area of Syria where American intelligence agencies believed several hostages were being held.

But when the Special Operations team arrived on the scene, the hostages were not there. Officials said the commandos exchanged fire with militants, and one American was slightly wounded when one of the United States aircraft came under fire.

All of the team members were evacuated successfully. “It was not ultimately successful because the hostages were not present at the location of the operation,” a senior administration official said, speaking on background about the mission. “We obviously wish this had been successful.”

Officials declined to say exactly when the mission took place, saying only that it happened earlier this summer. They also would not provide the location of the mission, but noted that if it had taken place in or near a heavily populated area, it would likely to have been noticed before now.

[Return to headlines]
 

UK-Based Journalist Justifies Rise in Global Anti-Semitism

Amid spike in world anti-Semitism, UK-based journalist in Saudi op-ed finds nothing amiss with ‘Jews should be gassed’ calls.

An op-ed last Tuesday in a prominent Saudi Arabian newspaper justified statements from international anti-Israel rallies calling for Jews to be killed as an “understandable reaction” to the “barbaric war” Israel is conducting in Gaza.

The piece in the Saudi Gazette, written by UK-based Pakistani journalist Ali Ashraf Khan, was translated and revealed by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI).

According to Khan, the statement “all Jews should be gassed,” a call for a continuation of the Nazi genocidal machine which was heard at recent pro-Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) rallies in the Netherlands, was “understandable.”

“How come they (the Jews) don’t realize or nobody has explained to them that this is an understandable reaction of people who feel helpless in the face of the barbarity that Israel is committing against helpless civilians in Gaza,” penned Khan…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Clashes Kill 34 Civilians in Ukraine

Clashes between government forces and separatists have killed 34 civilians in Ukraine’s Donetsk region, officials say.

Fierce fighting between government forces and pro-Russian rebels has killed 34 civilians over the past 24 hours in east Ukraine’s Donetsk region, local authorities say.

“Over the past day as a result of military hostilities, 34 residents of the region died and another 29 were wounded,” the regional administration said in a statement on Wednesday.

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Russia Fruit Ban Causes Polish Apple Excess

Poland has 677,000 tonnes of apples which, under normal trading conditions, would have made their way to Russia.

But because of Moscow’s retaliatory food embargo on EU fruit and vegetables, they haven’t.

The Russian tit-for-tat move follows the EU’s decision to impose sanctions on Russia’s banking, oil and defence sectors because of Moscow’s alleged actions in Ukraine.

Poland is the European Union’s second-biggest apple producer, but Polish apples have been banned from Russia since the beginning of August.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Malaysia: Kuala Lumpur: Ready to Hit Pubs, Discos and Breweries Dreaming of the Islamic Caliphate

Malaysian police arrest 19 suspected militants, who were preparing a wave of attacks in the country. They were targeting, pubs, nightclubs and bars. The ultimate goal was the creation of an Islamic state on the model born in Syria and Iraq. Plans include trips to the Middle East to learn battle techniques.

Kuala Lumpur (AsiaNews / Agencies) — Malaysian police have foiled plans for a wave of attacks by local extremist groups inspired by the exploits of jihadist militants of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.

The number two of the anti-terrorism squad Ayob Khan Mydin confirms that 19 suspected militants arrested in the months of April and June were planning to target pubs, clubs and a local brewery of the Danish brand Carlsberg.

The group’s main goal was to establish an Islamic caliphate in Southeast Asia, covering Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines and Singapore; the militants had also planned a trip to Syria to meet with leaders of the Islamic State, and learn the secrets and techniques of battle that allowed jihadists to conquer large parts of Syria and Iraq in recent months.

As AsiaNews recently reported, fundamentalist movements and local Muslim leaders been inspired by the exploits of the Sunni fighters and intend to support the struggle for the establishment of the Islamic Caliphate, which has now been extended also to Asia.

Those arrested by the Kuala Lumpur intelligence agents include two professionals and two housewives. They were only at the initial stages of their plan and were not in possession of any weapons nor techniques for the production of bombs. Seven people have been indicted for terrorist armed struggle and illegal possession of guns. The deputy head of the Anti-terrorism squad adds that they were planning “a campaign of violence and armed struggle” and were also “ready to die as martyrs.”

The authorities have also blocked some others at the airport, ready to leave for Syria and Turkey to join the Islamic State militias. All are aged between 20 and 50, and some had begun a fundraising campaign — even on social networking sites — to pay for the ticket and stay, as usual, under the guise of a “humanitarian operations”. However, interrogations revealed that those arrested were followers of an “Islamic extremist ideology”, which involves the killing of innocent people because they are non-Muslim and attacks on bars and nightclubs, because prohibited.

Malaysia is a nation of over 28 million inhabitants, mostly Sunni Muslims (60%). In general a moderate view of Islam prevails and there have been no serious incidents of violence in recent years. However, there have been minor attacks on and violations of the religious freedom of the minorities, as seen recently following the controversy over the use of the word “Allah” by the Catholic weekly Malaysia Herald. Therefore concerns are growing about a possible escalation of tension in an area considered to be “fertile ground” for militant jihadist movement.

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]
 

Pakistan: Don’t Allow Even a Mosquito to Enter or Exit Parliament, Says Dr Qadri

Qadri orders his followers to siege parliament until prime minister resigns

ISLAMABAD — The Pakistan Awami Tehrik (PAT) chief Dr Tahirul Qadri on Wednesday commanded his ‘Revolution March’ participants to surround the Parliament House, make hostage all those inside the building and do not allow others to enter it till the resignation of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

“Don’t allow even a mosquito to enter or exit the parliament. Anyone going out of the parliament would jump over our dead bodies,” he told his supporters during his address…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Pakistan Crisis Puts Army Back in the Driving Seat

ISLAMABAD: As tens of thousands of protesters advanced on the Pakistani capital last week to demand his resignation, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif dispatched two emissaries to consult with the army chief.

He wanted to know if the military was quietly engineering the twin protest movements by cricket star-turned-politician Imran Khan and activist cleric Tahir ul-Qadri, or if, perhaps, it was preparing to stage a coup…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

China Paper Denounces ‘Rampant Rascality’ of Australia Tycoon

A Chinese state-run newspaper on Wednesday called on Beijing to “teach Canberra a lesson” after Australian tycoon and politician Clive Palmer labelled the Communist government “mongrels” who “shoot their own people” in a televised tirade…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Filipino Muslim Fighters Not Training With Jihadists: Philippine Military

The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) on Wednesday denied the pronouncement made by a former Philippine president that at least 100 Filipino Muslims are currently training with the Islamic State (IS), a group of jihadists in Syria and Iraq.

AFP spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Ramon Zagala said the local military intelligence community has not monitored any Filipino going to Syria or Iraq to train with members of the IS, formerly known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

Citing reports from sources who are “knowledgeable about Mindanao,” former Philippine President Fidel Ramos said in a television interview Tuesday night that 100 young Filipino Muslims have gone to Iraq to undergo training and become jihadists…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

His Name is Sulaymin Khalid — But He Wants You to Call Him ‘Abu Bakr’

He’s 19, half Italian and had his passport cancelled by ASIO. So is he a threat or just a ‘passionate kid’ from suburban Sydney?

He goes by the name of Abu Bakr but the teenager who appeared on national TV wearing the logo of listed terrorist organisation Islamic State last week is actually 19-year-old part-time labourer Sulayman Khalid.

Khalid, who grew up Sydney’s southwestern suburbs, is of Iraqi and Italian background and had his passport revoked by ASIO in December. He was charged on Friday with affray and intimidation in an alleged ‘religious hate crime’ incident involving a 43-year-old shopping centre cleaner.

His lawyer Zali Burrows told Daily Mail Australia earlier this month that he is simply a ‘young kid who is passionate about injustice’.

But the security services have had concerns about the Islamic State supporter for some time…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Join Our Team: Abbott Spruiks Terror Laws

Prime Minister Tony Abbott has warned Sydney’s ethnic community that they shouldn’t be complacent against a possible “mass casualty event”.

Tony Abbott says people migrating to Australia must “join our team” as he urges Muslim community leaders to back his proposed anti-terror laws.

The prime minister met with community leaders in Sydney on Monday, trying to sell sweeping new counter-terrorism powers aimed at stopping Australian militants fighting overseas.

The government is facing a backlash from Islamic groups, who fear they will be unfairly targeted by the new laws…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Clashes Erupt as Liberia Imposes Quarantine to Curb Ebola

Liberia’s halting efforts to contain the Ebola outbreak spreading across parts of West Africa quickly turned violent on Wednesday when angry young men hurled rocks and stormed barbed-wire barricades, trying to break out of a neighborhood here that had been cordoned off by the government.

Soldiers repelled the surging crowd with live rounds, driving hundreds of young men back into the neighborhood, a slum of tens of thousands in Monrovia known as West Point.

[Return to headlines]
 

Ebola Crisis: Liberia Orders Curfew and Quarantine

Liberia has imposed a night-time curfew and has quarantined an area of the capital Monrovia in a bid to halt the deadly Ebola outbreak.

President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf said the curfew would be from 21:00 local time to 06:00 (21:00-06:00 GMT). She said all movement would be blocked in and out of the West Point area.

Meanwhile, three doctors with Ebola who started taking an experimental drug last week showed remarkable signs of improvement, a Liberian minister said…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Nigeria: Soldiers Rebel Over Lack of Weapons to Fight Boko Haram

A group of soldiers in the North-eastern part of the country is refusing to fight Islamist sect, Boko Haram, until they receive better equipment, one of the mutineers has told the BBC Hausa Service…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Soldiers Manning Ebola Checkpoints Bring Back War Memories

Every day motorcycle mechanic Issa Kamara walks up to a soldier on the outskirts of Sierra Leone’s capital. After getting his temperature taken the officer clears him to enter the city on his way to work.

“The digital thermometer looks like a revolver and pointing it at me looks like putting a gun to my forehead,” the 22-year-old, clad in a yellow shirt and black pants, said in Newton, outside Freetown. “It reminds me as a small boy of passing through the checkpoints during the war years that were meant to stop rebels from entering Freetown.”

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Puerto Rico’s Population Dwindles

Puerto Ricans are either no longer born on the island or, if they are, do not stay, and when they leave, do not come back. Over the last five years, the number of Puerto Ricans living on the American mainland has surpassed that living on the island. As residents grow older, the population drops even more.

Between 2000 and 2010, Puerto Rico’s population dropped for the first time in modern history, by 2.2 percent, from 3.8 million to 3.7 million.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Sweden: Parties Duel as Refugee Costs Skyrocket

Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt and Opposition Leader Stefan Löfven clashed on Wednesday after the Migration Board asked for more money to handle Sweden’s influx of refugees.

Swedish media reported on Tuesday that the country is looking at record-breaking numbers of refugees this year, with one report predicting up to 100,000 displaced people resettling in Sweden.

The Migration Board has announced that it cannot afford to handle the influx on the current budget, and has asked for 48 billion kronor ($6.9 billion) above the 91 billion ($13.2 billion) allowance the board has already been granted for the next four years.

“We need this decided quickly,” Migration Board financial manager Annika Alenius told newspaper Expressen. “Time is of the essence. We need to recruit additional personnel immediately. Otherwise we risk increasing the price tag even further.”

In his summer speech this past weekend, Reinfeldt urged Swedes to “show tolerance and open their hearts” for asylum-seekers arriving in the country.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

5 thoughts on “Gates of Vienna News Feed 8/20/2014

  1. If as we suspect this man who took part in such a disgusting display of inhuman behaviour on behalf of the Islamic State, held a British Passport his accsent clearly gave suspicion that he was not of this nation- clearly his loyalties were not to the country who had adopted him and given him Citizenship but to a Middle Eastern country. Regretably it has to be accepted that all Muslims by the very virtue of the despotic ideology they are a potential threat to the West. It would also be wise for the BBC to withdraw all Muslim Journalists, Newscasters, & Reporters for the foreseable futre.

  2. @UK: James Foley: Police Warn Watching Beheading Video is a ‘Terrorist Offence’

    “We would like to remind the public that viewing, downloading or disseminating extremist material within the UK may constitute an offence under Terrorism legislation.”

    An exercise in censorship and sanitising jihadism gives the prevent strategy new meaning to prevent the British peoples from knowing the truth about the brutality of the ideology in their midst – what you don’t know won’t hurt you.

    Is this more about protecting the reputation of SO15 (given that the perpetrator maybe British) and the reputation of the religion of peace than protecting the British peoples from jihadism?

  3. @Outrage as UK Foreign Secretary Claims ISIS Attracts ‘Moderate Jihadists’

    UK Foreign Secretary ‘Moderate Jihadists’ FCO lingo for our men in Syria.

  4. “We put the best of the United States military in harm’s way to try and bring our citizens home,” said Rear Adm. John F. Kirby, the Pentagon press secretary.

    Thank goodness no lives were lost in the “failed” attempt to release the wastes-of-skin like Foley and other cheerleaders for the jihadist murderers. Poetic justice can be sweet in surprising ways.

  5. @UK: James Foley: Police Warn Watching Beheading Video is a ‘Terrorist Offence’

    Judith Miller, a former print writer and now a FOX news contributor has stated that EVERYONE should watch the beheading video…

    I watched the beheading of an Italian truck driver a decade ago. I will never forget what he said just before his head was chopped off, something like “I will show you how a real man dies.”

    I don’t need to see any more beheading videos. I get it.

Comments are closed.