Gates of Vienna News Feed 7/31/2014

The Libyan mujahideen of Ansar al-Sharia have declared an Islamic emirate in Benghazi, but forces loyal to the government deny that the jihad groups have control of the city. Meanwhile, intelligence services in the region are concerned that Islamic armed militias in Tripoli may have taken possession of ten civilian airplanes, and will use them for the purposes of jihad.

In other news, Israel and Hamas have agreed to observe a 72-hour ceasefire in Gaza.

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

Thanks to C. Cantoni, Fjordman, Insubria, Jerry Gordon, Phyllis Chesler, 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.

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Madrid, Here We Come!

The new Caliphate, a.k.a. the Islamic State, has big plans for the future. After they finish wiping out the mushrikun and murtadeen in the Middle East and North Africa, it will be time to reclaim al-Andalus for the Ummah.

Many thanks to JLH for translating this article from Die Preußische Allgemeine Zeitung:

Madrid Shall Fall in 2020

Islamists of the terror organization ISIS give notice of their expansion into Europe

by Wolfgang Kaufmann July 22, 2014

“Oh Muslims, hasten to gather around your caliph, so you may become again what you were for years — kings of the world and knights of war.” With these words, Abu Muhammad al-Adnani, Speaker of the Sunni-Salafist Organization “Islamic State (IS, previously ISIS), ended his 34-minute address at the beginning of Ramadan, in which he apprised the world of the foundation of a new caliphate.

On the same day, supporters of Caliph Ibrahim, alias Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, propagated a map via Twitter, showing the caliphate, whose territory comprehends the north and east of Syria and half of Iraq, and is expected to expand in the future like the historic caliphate of the 7th century, to include the Near and Middle East, North Africa, and then Spain, Portugal, Austria, southeast Europe, the Caucasus, central Asia and the sub-Saharan regions of Africa. And there was timeline for the planned annexations, in which, for instance, the fall of Madrid is announced for the year 2020.

Proof that this kind of statement does not result from the euphoria of a number of overzealous proponents, but accurately represents the intentions of the IS leadership, is in a personal appeal by the caliph — carried, among others, by “The Telegraph” — in which there is a further, especially symbolic goal of conquest: “Hasten to your new state, Muslims…That is my advice to you. If you follow it, you will conquer Rome and become masters of the world, by Allah’s will.”

Many commentators thoughtlessly assess this as mere swagger in the style of Osama bin Laden. But the IS is not al-Qaida. In contrast to that terror network — active worldwide, but splintered — it has a solid territorial base of circa 300,000 square kilometers, with prosperous metropolises and profitable oil fields. Therefore, IS can already finance its military campaigns with no problems. Estimates of the British secret service are that it has by now accumulated $2.4 million.

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Huge Assassination Gang in the Netherlands

Mirrored from Vlad Tepes, an article from the Dutch daily De Volkskrant. Many thanks to SimonXML for the translation:

The group of Moroccan-Dutch youths who are involved in at least six assassinations in the Netherlands and Antwerp in a series of extremely violent robberies, is much larger than expected. According to the Amsterdam police it is not a few dozen, but “hundreds” of young people in the Netherlands and Morocco. These drug dealers, shooters, agents and facilitators, all of whom are linked to one another.

According to detectives, a quarter to a third of the new apartments in Tangier, one of the safe havens across the border in Spain, is financed with dirty money — from the Netherlands and other countries. Almost weekly trips are made by one or more Dutch police teams to Morocco for criminal investigation or seizure. The Dutch police and the judiciary have already had assets seized amount to approximately 100 million euros in the North African country, mainly in real estate with which money is laundered.

(The rest is of limited relevance)

For a complete listing of previous enrichment news, see The Cultural Enrichment Archives.

From Lakemba to Gaza

Muslims in Lakemba, a southwestern suburb of Sydney, gathered together recently for a march in support of Gaza. The event was sponsored by Hizb ut-Tahrir, so it’s no surprise to see all the black flags of jihad. But listen to the chants — it’s not the usual “Khaybar Khaybar ya yahud” stuff.

Many thanks to Vlad Tepes for adding subtitles and uploading this video:

Gates of Vienna News Feed 7/30/2014

The spread of the Ebola virus in Africa is a growing concern, especially in Liberia. The disease has spread to Nigeria, and analysts are worried that the contagion will migrate to Britain and the USA via air travel.

In other news, the Israeli Defense Forces caused international outrage by destroying a mosque in a Gaza refugee camp. However, when entering other mosques, the IDF discovered caches of missiles, weapons, and bombs.

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

Thanks to C. Cantoni, Caroline Glick, Insubria, Jerry Gordon, JP, Phyllis Chesler, Steen, 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.

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Our Duty is to Preserve Sweden

Sverigedemokraterna (the Sweden Democrats) is a political party that is Islam-critical and opposes mass immigration into Sweden. As a result, it is demonized by the establishment and the mainstream media. Its members are sometimes fired from their jobs and denied access to certain state services. Sometimes they are even violently attacked by “anti-fascist” thugs.

The following video was made by Sverigedemokratisk Ungdom (SDU, Sweden Democrat Youth). Many thanks to Vlad Tepes for uploading this video:

Transcript:

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Getting out the Muslim Vote in Tennessee

Below is the latest newsletter from Tennessee Council for Political Justice.

Newsletter #136 — Allah Says You Cannot Break Ranks With Other Muslims (part 2 of 2)

“Asalaam Alaykum, it’s your Muslim boy scout calling.”

Will Mwafaq Aljabbary’s fellow Kurd and mosque board member, Fadi Ezzeir help to get him votes for the Tennessee State Senate District 21 Republican seat?

As late as 2009, Ezzeir served as the President of the Nashville chapter of the Muslim American Society (MAS). In 2004 the Secretary-General of the MAS acknowledged that it had been founded by members of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Ezzeir is listed as the Executive Director of the Scouting Department of the Muslim American Society (MAS). In 2002, he organized the first Islamic boy scout troop in Nashville. In 2006 Ezzeir used the Muslim boy scout troop to make voter calls to other Muslims using a MAS script.

Did the script have the boy scouts tell their co-religionists that Allah says they can only vote for another Muslim?

The kids know what’s in their Islamic school textbook “What Islam Is All About”:

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Gates of Vienna News Feed 7/29/2014

Dozens of men armed with knives and axes attacked a police station, and then civilians in two towns in the western Chinese province of Xinjiang. Police then shot and killed dozens of the attackers, who are thought to have been Uighur terrorists.

In other news, Deputy Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Arinc said in a speech that women should not laugh in public. He also said they should not discuss recipes on cell phones.

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

Thanks to C. Cantoni, Charlie Marteau, Fjordman, Insubria, JP, MC, Phyllis Chesler, Seneca III, 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.

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A Blow to the Muslim Brotherhood

As a reminder that Hamas is officially the Muslim Brotherhood in Palestine, Ashraf Ramelah discusses the current war in Gaza in relation to Egyptian President Al-Sisi and the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt.

A blow to Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood as Israel crushes Hamas

by Ashraf Ramelah

A few weeks ago shocking news arrived from Israel regarding the kidnapping of three young men. As news first circulated around the world, Israelis braced for the worst and prayed prayers for the safe delivery of the Israeli captives. How would this menacing action unfold for the victims and the country? Finally, we learned of their murders and the arrest of two Arab-Muslim suspects with links to Hamas. This horrific act of aggression against three Jews was committed in the first days of the Islamic month known as “blessed” Ramadan when fighting is forbidden.

The ninth month of the Islamic Hegira calendar is set aside for believers to honor the revelation received by the 7th century prophet. Muslims must be dedicated to fasting, prayer, and charity to the poor. Most importantly, aggression by and against Muslims must cease. Disturbances by outsiders during this calendar month trigger Muslim sensitivities and heighten intolerance. Making this calculation, Hamas attacked Israel in this timeframe knowing it would enhance sentiment. Israel’s retaliation would always be viewed as sacrilegious, securing world opinion in favor of Gaza terrorists where empathy is already heavily weighted. Hamas and Gazans remain in the more positive light despite their instigating acts provoking war in the month of Ramadan.

About a week after the kidnappings, Khaled Meshaal, head of Hamas’ political bureau, boasted and blessed the kidnappers publicly with a bold announcement on Al Jazeera TV denying the involvement of Hamas. Another Hamas leader, Ismail Haniyeh, already anticipating Israel’s counter-attack for the murders that had not yet been discovered (and Hamas rocket fire) appealed to the sympathy of the Egyptian people regarding Hamas’ “victimization,” stressing the importance of the remaining open tunnels between Egypt’s Sinai and the Gaza Strip — ones that Al-Sisi has yet to dynamite shut in his commitment to destroy all illegal passages. Food and weaponry was now in demand by Gazans who needed Egypt to smuggle such provisions through the tunnels, indicated Haniyeh.

Experts in Middle East conflict expected to see a demand on Israel to liberate particular terrorists as a ransom for the kidnapped boys. Such exchanges have been typical of the past. But why not this time? The answer: Hamas wanted to entice Egypt into warfare with Israel in order to help the Muslim Brotherhood regain power in Egypt. Hamas had a broader agenda for the kidnappings, murders, and rocket fire into Israel. Its aggression stirred up pro-Palestinian, pro-Hamas opinion by Egypt’s politicians, journalists and media in order to put pressure on Al-Sisi’s new government to help the “oppressed” Gazans. But Al-Sisi ignored the call to aid Hamas militarily, deciding not to break Egypt’s peace treaty with Israel.

Hamas intended Egypt to comply with its request. It was meant to be a distraction for Al-Sisi to interrupt his strenuous battle against the Muslim Brotherhood — the beginning of the long-awaited reversal of the damage being done to organized terror inside Egypt. Hamas’ ploy aimed to release Egypt’s MB from Al-Sisi’s grip allowing it the time and space necessary to reenergize and regain power. But not only have the hopes of Hamas been dashed regarding its capacity to bait the religious issue and persuade Egypt’s Islamic leaders, but it wrongly predicted Egyptian mounting negative sentiment towards the existence of Hamas’ and its motives. The majority of the Egyptian public is attentive to Israel’s counter-attacks on Gaza with an unprecedented enthusiasm to see Hamas and its terror obliterated.

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Two Minutes Hate Against Bild

Yesterday afternoon we published a translation of an opinion piece by Nicolaus Fest from the German newspaper Bild. Mr. Fest put into writing his doubleplus ungood thoughts about Islam, and now he’s in big trouble: his own editor has repudiated him, and politicians have called for the paper to apologize to German Muslims.

My goodness! Based on the aversive reaction, you’d think he was Diana West writing about Harry Hopkins and FDR!

Below are excerpts from a Breitbart article about the brouhaha:

Germany’s Biggest Paper under Fire for Attacking Islam

Germany’s biggest newspaper was forced into a climb down after it criticised Islam’s “criminality,” “murderous contempt” and “honour killings.”

“I don’t believe in God, but at the same time Christianity, Judaism or Buddhism don’t bother me. Only Islam bothers me more and more,” wrote Nicolaus Fest, vice editor-in-chief of the Bild am Sonntag newspaper in an opinion piece published on Sunday, according to The Local.

“I’m bothered by the considerably disproportionate criminality of youths from Muslim backgrounds. I’m bothered by Islam’s murderous contempt for women and homosexuals. I’m bothered by forced marriages, ‘justices of the peace,’ ‘honour killings,’” he wrote.

These cultural manifestations were making Islam “a barrier to integration.”

He also called for more deliberate policies when dealing with claims for asylum and visa applications to Germany. According to RT.com, Fest concluded by saying: “I don’t need any imported racism and I don’t need anything else Islam stands for.”

The opinion piece attracted thousands of angry online comments and criticism from German politicians who called the article “racist.” Politicians such as the Green party’s Volker Beck demanded an apology from the newspaper to German Muslims, who currently make up 4.3 million (over five per cent) of the country’s population.

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The Consequences of Departing from the “Accepted History”

A year ago, in July and August of 2013, we were in the early stages of the controversy over Diana West’s book American Betrayal. Ms. West was being subjected by a series of vitriolic attacks by Ronald Radosh, David Horowitz, Conrad Black, and other major luminaries. She had few prominent defenders, and most of those who spoke positively about her book did so after a significant delay, and then even hedged their mild support with caveats and criticisms.

The “Barroom Brawl” continued for another four or five months, and then died out last winter.

Or did it?

Three weeks ago a writer named Jeff Lipkes published a 12,000-word three-part account of the controversy over American Betrayal at American Thinker (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3; Diana West’s email exchange with the editor is here). Mr. Lipkes’ work was yet another attempt by the neoconservative elite to cement Ms. West’s position as a “conspiracist” and “right-wing loopy” from the point of view of the bien-pensants of the “conservative” establishment.

After Part 3 was published, Diana West submitted a letter of response. The editor of American Thinker, J.R. Dunn, insisted that her letter had to meet his requirements in order to be published at AT, and that she must accept his editorial revisions if she wanted it to appear. This was an unusual — if not unprecedented — set of restrictions imposed upon an author who wanted to publish a response to a piece that had attacked her.

J.R. Nyquist has written an extensive account of the American Thinker episode, and I have excerpted major portions of it below. But before we get to that, I’d like readers to think about the larger implications of the ongoing efforts to suppress and discredit Diana West.

Here we are, more than a year after Ronald Radosh and David Horowitz began their campaign to “take down” the book that “should not have been written”. Dozens and dozens of reviews, articles and opinion pieces have been written attacking American Betrayal, many of them by people who have never read the book. Diana West has been shut out of most publications, unable to defend herself in a major venue against the manifold falsehoods, misrepresentations, and name-calling directed at her.

But that’s not enough. One year later, a representative of the establishment’s point of view was assigned the job of writing 12,000 words against her, and she was denied the opportunity to publish an unedited response in the same outlet.

That’s some planet, that Planet X.

What is it about American Betrayal that warrants such an extended and determined effort to suppress it?

Below are excerpts from what J.R. Nyquist has to say on the topic in the second part of “Further Reflections on Diana West’s Critics” :

In the controversy over American Betrayal I am remiss in one respect. I never wrote a proper review of the book. Instead I wrote two versions of a review, and both were rejected by editors. For this I am grateful because in truth I had not invested the time required to properly do the job. I did not fully appreciate the impact of the campaign against American Betrayal, or how effective that campaign had been. For those who have not read the book, it is about the Communist infiltration of the U.S. Government, and the influencing of U.S. policy during the critical years of World War II and its aftermath. The facts reviewed in the book are not entirely new. What was original was the way in which these facts were presented; that is, in order that we might see the big picture with greater clarity. This is Diana West’s special achievement.

This is a book with far-reaching implications. These implications, of course, have yet to be mapped out. For example, we must assume that Soviet agents were not only at work in Washington during World War II. They were also at work in Chungking, Tokyo, Berlin, London and Paris. If the U.S. Government had Communist moles, every other government probably had them. As if to prove my point, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Louis Kilzer wrote a book titled Hitler’s Traitor : Martin Bormann and the Defeat of the Reich (which alleges that Bormann was Stalin’s agent). Here we discover that it wasn’t just a case of Harry Hopkins manipulating Roosevelt. Hitler was manipulated by Bormann, and probably by others we’ll never know about. Many books remain to be written; for example, regarding how Churchill was manipulated, and also de Gaulle. Consider a 1997 article titled How a Soviet mole united Tito and Churchill. Consider, as well, the situation of Charles de Gaulle, as described in the Encyclopedia of Cold War Espionage, Spies, and Secret Operations: “In the late 1950s, and especially since the defection of Anatoli Golitsyn in 1961, strong suspicion surrounded the SDECE of harboring Soviet moles who were close to President Charles de Gaulle after he returned to power in 1958.”

Then there was the Tokyo spy ring, of course. Within that organization, Soviet spy Richard Sorge was credited with saving the Soviet Union in 1941. At the Spy Museum website we read, “The spies [of the Tokyo ring] pursued relationships with senior Japanese politicians, garnering information about Japanese foreign policy.” But as we know, Soviet spies do not merely garner information. Their primary work must have been to influence Japanese policy — as Moscow’s moles in Washington worked to influence American policy. Why did Tokyo fail to make peace with China and solidify a friendship with the United States? It is not an idle question when so many leading Japanese politicians thought the proper strategic direction for Japan was against the Soviet Union. In reminding us that Soviet agents are not merely spies, Mrs. West has laid bare the tragedy of a war that need not have been so costly. And this is why she has been so savagely attacked. This is why her work is called into question.

Everyone knows the role that Hitler and the Japanese militarists played in bringing about World War II. What about the role of Stalin and his agents? With the exception of Viktor Suvorov’s The Chief Culprit and Icebreaker, no major study has appeared exploring the extent to which Moscow may have connived at the crises of 1938 and 1939. On the other hand, we do have John Koster’s Operation Snow, which shows how Soviet spies succeeded in pushing Japan and the United States closer to war in 1941. Is it thinkable? Certainly, it takes us beyond the “accepted history.” But is the idea so implausible that future authors must be struck from civilized discourse as “conspiracy theorists”? Or are such ruminations consistent with what we know about Soviet active measures (i.e., disinformation). Ask yourself the question: Why is someone attacked, going on a year, for discussing the strategic implications of Soviet penetration of the Roosevelt administration? Unless Moscow is recycling Russia’s old strategies from World War II, with an eye to a repeat performance, why would anyone care?

When the second version of my review of Mrs. West’s book was rejected by a reputable conservative publisher, I assumed it was due to the inadequacy of my own writing, so I asked the publisher for a chance to rewrite the review, and give it a more scholarly tone. The publisher was extremely kind, and wrote a reply which was nonetheless troubling. He wrote to dissuade me from any such attempt. He admitted that America was penetrated by the Soviets during World War II. But writing about this went against “accepted history.” In this matter, Mrs. West should not have been so bold. “That our policy-making apparatus was compromised is also clear,” he explained. But “this is so jarring to the lay reader that” the thesis requires a substantial backing up. I was astonished at this. What about Mrs. West’s 900 plus endnotes? Well, it seems that endnotes don’t count if a journalist compiles them. What I want to know is, when and how did we end up in a Kafka novel? Oh yes, we live in a strange world indeed; for if I say the sky is blue, it can only be credited if I am a meteorologist! If “accepted history” is made of such stuff, then “accepted history” is for dolts. This also explains why Radosh’s unscholarly, error-filled, screeds against Mrs. West receive a pass and are given credibility; that is, because he is a historian.

I had assumed that conservatives and anti-Communists would instinctively rally to American Betrayal. In large degree, this did not happen. We see, above, why it did not happen. Of course, a few great names rose to Mrs. West’s defense — like Vladimir Bukovsky and Stanton Evans. We know that both are courageous men. It would’ve been out of character if they had not defended her. Sad to say, this fortitude did not rub off on the “larger” conservative “movement.” It speaks ill of conservatism overall that Radosh’s self-discrediting attacks on Mrs. West were not dismissed out of hand. Instead, these attacks were taken as a warning, translated as follows: “Shut up or we’ll drag your name through the mud too.” And so we find that American conservatives are easily intimidated. Against all reason, Radosh’s bungling attacks on American Betrayal sent a chill through the “movement.” The implication, of course, is that the conservative movement is worthless.

As the publisher had written to me, “I believe Diana is substantially right….” But that does not matter. Someone else now dictates whether a conservative rejects or accepts a book review. What we believe, what is substantially right, must be left to someone with “an authoritative voice.” And how does the would-be ventriloquist of conservatism acquire this mythical status? Of course, no conservative possesses such a voice, so that the problem of departing from “accepted history”becomes insurmountable. We must stay with the Office of War Information, and praise our wartime alliance with Stalin. And we must wait for a ventriloquist from God-knows-where to tell us what nonsense is to follow the current nonsense.

But shouldn’t the decisive point have been that Mrs. West is “substantially right”? And therefore, how are we served by an “accepted history” that is substantially wrong? Shouldn’t this “history” be overthrown? And, further, how did we get saddled with such a history?

Or maybe we should ask how we got saddled with such “conservatives”?

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Gates of Vienna News Feed 7/28/2014

Muslim leaders in Malaysia complained that the Scottie dogs that were part of the opening of the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow were disrespectful to Muslims. During the opening ceremony, each team was led by a little dog wearing a tartan coat with the name of the country emblazoned on it. Since dogs are considered unclean by Muslims, the Malaysians found the use of the Scottie offensive. In addition, the little dog assigned to Malaysia inexplicably refused to walk ahead of the country’s team, and had to be carried by the team’s representative.

In other news, Hispanic converts to Islam in Miami embraced their new faith as they celebrated the end of Ramadan. Meanwhile, new rules at the Los Angeles County Jail allow Muslim inmates to celebrate Ramadan.

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

Thanks to C. Cantoni, Insubria, JP, LS, Srdja Trifkovic, 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.

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The French Government: Crooks, Christianophobes, and Sons of Whores

The Algerian-French auto pundit Aldo Sterone — who found it too hot to sit in his car while recording this video — returns with a discussion of current events in Syria and Iraq, the presence of terrorists from Boko Haram in France, and the failings of François Hollande’s socialist government.

Many thanks to Oz-Rita for the translation, and to Vlad Tepes for the subtitling:

Transcript:

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