FORMER PRESIDENT OF INDONESIA WANTS WEST TO PAY JIZYA

Paying money to jihdadists will not change their mentality, but merely perpetuate it. Yet Susilo Yudhoyono thinks jizya solves everything (Hat tip: Jihad Watch):

Australia and Indonesia should work together to combat terrorism by lifting people around the globe out of poverty, a former Indonesian president believes.

Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who is visiting Canberra, also praised Australia’s acceptance of Muslims as an inspiring example to a world troubled by Islamophobia.

He believes there is a direct link between a more prosperous world and a peaceful one, and is urging Australia to promote sustainable development goals.

“Then more poor will graduate to middle class and become the owner of a dignified life,” he told a defence policy conference on Friday.

Hundreds of millions of people were trapped in insecurity, injustice and marginalisation which led to hopelessness, he said.

“In some of these areas, fertile minds can become corrupted.”

By the Koran, not poverty. Besides, where does he think they get the money for buying and building weapons and explosives? Jizya funds that too. The man is a disgrace, and if Australia's government is kowtowing to his beliefs, that too is bad.

UN CENSORS ISRAELI EXHIBITION

The UN's hostility to Israel took the form of censoring a positive portrayal of Zionism and Jerusalem:

A special exhibition initiated by Israel’s permanent mission to the United Nations with the organization StandWithUs and expected to open on Monday at the UN headquarters, was partially censored by the international body this weekend.

Three out of 13 displays put together for the exhibition were disqualified by the UN including one about Jerusalem, another about Israeli Arabs and a third about Zionism.

The Jerusalem poster presents the city as the spiritual and physical capital of the Jewish People. It shows pictures of holy sites and states that “The Jewish people are indigenous to Israel and have maintained a continuous presence in the land since 1000 BC. Jerusalem has been the center and focus of Jewish life and religion for more than three millennia and is holy to Christians and Muslims as well.”

The display on Israeli Arabs explains that they are “the largest minority in Israel, making up 20 percent of Israel’s population” and describes them as “equal citizens under the law in Israel.”

Finally, the third display defines Zionism as “the liberation movement of the Jewish people, who sought to overcome 1,900 years of oppression and regain self-determination in their indigenous homeland.”

Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon demanded on Sunday that Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon reverse the decision to disqualify these posters and said that “by disqualifying an exhibition about Zionism the UN is undermining the very existence of the State of Israel as the homeland of the Jewish people.”

The Israeli mission pointed out that UN General Assembly reversed in 1991 a resolution equating Zionism with racism, which had passed 16 years earlier and that with the decision to censor the displays “the UN is de-facto enacting this old resolution, defining Zionism and Jerusalem as ‘unacceptable,’ and disqualifying key elements of the heritage of the Jewish people.”

Unfortunately, I think that reversal was in name only. The irony is that even though this particular exhibition says Jerusalem is "holy" to Muslims, it still wasn't enough for them, and they censored it anyway. I'd stronly advise putting such an exhibition elsewhere.

Here's more on JP Updates.

GUESS WHO INDONESIA STANDS WITH?

No shock at all:

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu this week called for Israel and Indonesia to develop bilateral relations, but Indonesia has rejected the call.

Netanyahu’s call came during a meeting on Monday with a delegation of senior Indonesian journalists.

At the meeting, Netanyahu told the journalists that "the time has come for official relations between Indonesia and Israel. We have many opportunities to cooperate in the fields of water and technology. Israel has excellent relations with several countries in Asia, particularly China, Japan, India and Vietnam. In addition, Israel is also deepening its relations with Africa, Latin America and Russia. Relations with the Arab world are also changing. Indeed, we are allies in the fight against radical Islam.”

“Relations between Israel and Indonesia must also change. I have more than a few Indonesian friends on Facebook. The time has come to change our relations; the reasons that prevented this are no longer relevant and I hope that your visit will help with this," he added.

But an Indonesian official quoted by The Jakarta Post dismissed Netanyahu’s call on Thursday, saying the country will stand firm in its support of an independent Palestinian state and will not respond to Netanyahu’s remarks.

And that sums up how stupid it is to think Indonesia is any better than Turkey.