Western safety continues to be under threat

Actress Noa Tishby lit Hanuka candles with Carla Bruni, and the latter said

Talking about her Jewish heritage, Bruni noted that her name is Bruni Tedeschi, and the Tedeschi is the Jewish side of the family.

“On my passport, I still have Tedeschi. My grandfather on my father's side was [from the] Jewish-Italian community,” recalled Bruni, who said that her grandfather went to study in Germany between the First World War and the Second World War. It was during this time that he felt the rise of antisemitism and ended up converting to Christianity in order to completely erase his Jewish identity.

On what is happening vis-à-vis antisemitism today, Bruni said, “I really feel terrible. I thought it was over. I thought we learned something from the past, but obviously someone is sort of canceling the past. Also, the historical past. People don't know what happened anymore, as if we forgot what happened. All my friends that are Jewish don't feel safe anymore. People are changing their name when they're ordering Uber or when they're ordering a pizza. I would never think that this would happen, never, and they're basically all leaving France.”

Asked by Tishby what she thinks the Jewish community should do in times like this, Bruni replied that they should “resist” through education and talking.

Well they also have to start pushing back against Islamic indoctrination, and show the courage for doing so. And they also have to condemn magazine writers who take blame-the-victim positions, and that includes "kapos" who use their ethnic background as a shield for what they're doing.

USA state secretary Marco Rubio followed up on this news by warning that Europe is not just destroying their culture, they're also wearing security links with the USA:

Secretary of State Marco Rubio has warned that Europe risks destroying the “shared culture” of the West and in turn weaken bonds with the United States.

At a press briefing from the Department of State in Washington DC on Friday, Secretary of State Rubio doubled down on the assertions made in the White House’s National Security Strategy memo, which declared that Europe faces “civilizational erasure” if it continues globalist policies of mass migration and attacks on fundamental liberties such as freedom of speech.

The memo has riled feathers in Europe, with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz saying that many aspects of the document were “unacceptable to us from a European perspective”. Meanwhile, the unelected head of the European Commission — the executive arm of the EU — Ursula von der Leyen demanded that the United States not “interfere” in European democracy.

Responding to the pushback, Secretary Rubio said on Friday: “You go to these NATO meetings and you meet with people, what they will tell you our shared history, our shared legacy, our shared values, our shared priorities. That’s what they talk about as the reason for this alliance.

“Well, if you erase your shared history, your shared culture, your shared ideology, your shared priorities, your shared principles, then what – then you just have a straight-up defense agreement. That’s all you have.”

One that may not even exist any longer as a result of leading to a caliphate on European soil. Something vital to consider is that if an Islamic caliphate is established in Europe one day, it could lead to multiple times the danger Iran's nuclear development imposes, and still does. They can't go easy on Europe's governments, based on how they continue to drag the quality of life down with them for the sake of Islamofascism.

Update: see also this article and this one too on how Iran's tyrants are still not willing to surrender.

Update 2: a new poll's discovered that 1 in 3 Muslims in France want sharia applied globally.

Frank Miller's remains defeatist during a convention in Ireland

Down the Tubes gave some coverage of comics artist Miller's trip to a convention in Dublin, Ireland, where his recent documentary, American Genius, was screened, and his 2011 GN, Holy Terror, is also brought up, which he may have otherwise disowned in a very sad example of capitulation several years back. Most eyebrow raising here is that he actually raises the issue of censorship:

He also spoke about censorship, about how it’s like being trapped, and how “it’s worse than anything, censorship always achieves the opposite of what it intends to”. He went on to say that “through the 1950s, when they clamped down on every foreign entertainment we loved, the most subversive stuff in the world surfaced”. This part is interesting to me, as I am looking at Irish censorship of that time, that relates to comics.

Frank then reflected on entering the film business, and how he was working on Robocop II and he said “I convinced myself this thing would be this thing was going to win an Oscar” and how it was brilliant, and he would fix it, fix it in editing and how “I’d been convinced that something was brilliant, that wasn’t that good”.

Well first, I don't think he was ever a success at writing screenplays himself at the time, nor was he ever successful at crafting a film based on Will Eisner's Spirit, as he once did around the time Eisner passed on. So who's to say he's truly a "genius"? Not really.

But how funny if he's bringing up censorship problems, when he himself, in a way, succumbed to just that when he expressed regret over crafting Holy Terror about 7 years ago? And a lot of good it did him, since the Thought Bubble convention shunned him? All that does is put a damper on his whole argument, and suggest he's not very firm on his positions at all.

There's also the following claim that's bizarre:

Dave Gibbons spoke about Martha Washington, and then Frank spoke about Sin City, the black and white crime comic and how Dark Horse “didn’t flinch”, even though there were no superheroes, and which, at the time, was unheard of. We see a variety of authors, Al Williamson, and John Romita Jr., talk about comics they worked on with Frank, and there is discussion about original art.

Gee, hasn't the writer heard of say, Adam Strange, Nick Fury, and even Jon Sable, Freelance? Those weren't exactly characters known for being superheroes. Why, even the Warlord and Omega Men could be considered non-superheroes within such a universe. Even Marvel's New Universe line, short as it was, may have had characters who weren't superheroes either. We could even add the GI Joe and Transformers comics. Those aren't superheroes by any stretch either, no matter how close they came to having similar adventures. Now, here's more about the documentary:

The film pivots to the 21st century, and after the events of 9/11. One of the narrators explains how he “used nails to scrape the ink into the page because he had such visual visceral response to everything that happened during 9/11 and this was one of his first expressions of his anger and pain” we are told.

“I was still breathing in the stink,” says Frank Miller, visibly emotional, “of concrete, glass and human flesh” and how immense it was going through a “darkness, a sadness and horror”… “it turned into rage later”.

[...] The time shifts twice now, as two hours later, I learned that Frank was at home in New York during the 9/11 attack and tragedy, something I had suspected, but could not imagine. There were no shortage of connections at the time, including its impact his work on The Dark Knight Strikes Again, and, later, for example, his controversial contribution for the anthology, 9-11: Artists Respond. Art and anger, the expression of an artistic response, dealing with upset or trauma through art, it is a very interesting aspect.

I have no idea what the precise contribution was, but is the columnist complaining about something published in response to a horrifying incident where thousands of people were murdered by jihadists? It's bad enough he let's his leftism be clear later in the article. Now we have to hear something's wrong with contributing to what one would think was meant to be a tribute to the victims? Though as I'm aware, at least one special published around that time did contain left-wing messaging, and it's chilling now to wonder if Miller did anything similar. Because as revealed by the following:

Back to the film, which continues apace, and later the music later goes deep, a bass sound, and we learn that that the American conservative commentator Andrew Breitbart was a fan of Frank’s work, and tried, perhaps, to use him. Frank talks about how he met Breitbart, and discusses how people have an agenda, and how individuals had an agenda.

This element of the film was very specific. You can see how he is so unhappy with this time, and how he was near “something that gave us Donald Trump” and this was not something Frank was happy with. Frank wasn’t having any part of that (Breitbart News itself reported in 2017 how Miller described Trump as a “buffoon” during a Comic Con panel), and stayed very much away from them.

Obviously unhappy, Frank spoke of how the “propaganda” that Breitbart practised crossed a line into the territory on “no respect”.

Then Frank was asked a direct question: “Do you regret your comments on the other Occupy Wall Street people?” and he responded he was “certainly inconsiderate of the people who were occupying Wall Street, so sure,” and he reflects, “it was very aggressive”.

It's already old news he sadly backtracked, but what's really bizarre is that, at the time he first made the condemnations, he never provided even a single article link to back up his accusations. Let's take this report and also this one as examples. Why didn't he direct anybody to check those out? I never understood that at all. If anything, Miller's retraction sounds like a frantic effort to mend fences with fellow leftists when he didn't have to, and that's another huge problem - he didn't have the courage to part ways with them. I guess being famous was far too important to him than justice. And Breitbart's also problematic for him? For shame. If memory serves, the late Andrew Breitbart was favorable to Israel, and the news site named after him, in a manner of speaking, got a special start in Israel. Recalling Holy Terror, a subject of the American Genius documentary, is supposed to involve an Israeli mentor or something, I must say I find it difficult to understand why Miller has an issue with somebody in real life who was helpful to Israel in his time, unless maybe Miller wasn't so strong on his positions then at the time after all? He certainly doesn't seem to think much now of saying he supported patriotism back then either. And then, turning to the documentary's discussion of Holy Terror, it says:

The film then switches to footage of what I would consider right wing television championing his controversial project, Holy Terror, the film purposely showing its impact, in that regard, feeding the Islamophobic hatred that some people harbour, recognising an aspect of Frank’s past work that I had not expected to see.

“I get that it was complete freedom and a break,” Frank acknowledges, “and it shows… I was not at my best.”

The discussion moves to actors and film aspects, but then comes back to Frank, and he says how he was processing a large “amount of alcohol without even being aware of what I was doing.”

I realize Miller had problems with addiction, as he later told, but this seems like a cheap, all too convenient excuse to say he was almost literally wrong in his beliefs at the time. Wow, he sure isn't doing much to make me think he's worth upholding. Not that I ever thought much of his resume before though, recalling GNs like Sin City seem to comprise the bulk of his output, and hardly anything that could be described as optimistic. That's decidedly one of Miller's biggest problems, and why he's unfortunately overrated. Perhaps that's why, if there's any mistake Breitbart made, it was being too big a fan of Miller's. Also, lest we forget, Miller's art style's become very mediocre over the years, to the point where one can wonder why he continues his artist career, if he does. He even tears down on Will Eisner:

He then spoke about his “biggest feeling about addiction” which was a “sickening sense of missing time”. I thought this was powerful and he spoke about when he sat down with Will Eisner, over dinner, and Eisner did not want to talk about life, or what he had done wrong, but rather he had to go out, “travel the world, and get his heart broken”.

Then we see him talking about how he loves people who tell “heart-rending” stories, and how some people he admires, have made “terrible and tragic mistakes” and how he has to “learn from them, to to learn the true nature of life and what success is”.

One can only wonder if he believes Eisner made a mistake to research Islamic antisemitism, as he did when he was developing his last GN, The Plot. Miller certainly lets down Eisner's memory with this defeatist position, that's for sure, and what Miller says here about Eisner sounds rather forced, like he's looking for an opportunity to rip down on a guy I thought was a respectable mentor to him. And recalling the disgraced Neil Gaiman was a contributor to the documentary, does Miller come to terms with how Gaiman made mistakes? Who knows? It's shameful how he clings to friendship with otherwise unreliable figures, and recalling he wasn't credited to a letter written by Batman specialists in support of the Israeli family of an infant who was murdered by Hamas jihadists, one can only wonder - is Miller really that cowardly he couldn't add his name to the list, assuming the Wyman Institute asked him? That's not helpful at all. What's he "learning" then? The discussion of the documentary continues:

Frank Miller: American Genius is definitely not a piece of propaganda, as it goes to the weaknesses and failings that have occurred to Frank, which I had not anticipated, issues which were discussed included his alcoholism and its effect on him, his anger and the graphic novel Holy Terror, and his take on the Occupy Wall Street Movement. I wasn’t aware that during that darker phase of his life, that Breitbart and Steve Bannon, had become somewhat enthralled and desired to be aligned with Frank.

The film was not afraid of addressing parts of Frank’s life that one would be ashamed of, and I felt that this film was prepared to probe and ask hard questions. It was reflecting on what had happened, and Frank came across as quite remorseful about what had occurred, and repentant.

It is not for me to decide what others will make of the film, or whether they can find any form of reconciliation for the harsh utterances he made and the work that was Holy Terror. I am not and was not impacted in the way others were, who will have felt outrage with validity; that they were impacted, hurt or targeted. My position and privilege protect me, and it is easy for me to consider that to fail is to be human. So it it is to individuals to consider and decide for themselves their view, if they even want to.

Gee, the writer sure is intent on validating the defeatist side of the whole affair. Has he even ever met 9-11 Families? In the near quarter century since the tragedy, people like him never seem to bring up the victims and their families, as if they don't matter. At worst, the defeatists act like they don't even exist. It's a similar situation with Israel post-October 7, 2023. Also note he complained earlier about "islamophobia", and that's pretty telling as well. And on that note, the columnist then proceeds to sugarcoat pro-Hamas movements in Ireland:

This is no scarf to give warmth or comfort. It is an international quilt of resistance, which has been crocheted in rural Ireland by a group of women and their international allies for Palestinian children killed in Gaza. This is “Craftivism” and the quilt is “a gesture of remembrance, resistance, and rage at the appalling loss of life in Palestine.”

Wow, so much feeling for "palestinians", but none for Israeli victims of Islamofascism, huh? Or even the Irish victims of the same? That's the impression one can get from this otherwise one-sided disgust and sorry excuse for a pop culture column, which even proceeds to sugarcoat anti-Israel cartoonist Joe Sacco:

I had picked up Footnotes in Gaza by Joe Sacco earlier in the day, at the Oxfam charity table at Dublin Comic Con. Charity tables at conventions turn up the most unusual things, and I think they add a lovely aspect, so I rummage under the table, and find this amazing book, and I am asked whether it was a good book, as I commented that I had it, even though I was considering it, you can always gift such a book, I reckon, and I respond, “one of the best” I says, “Sacco is brilliant and one might find a path to understanding what is happening now, and an appreciation of the history for sure.

Oh yeah, Sacco's a pure god, but Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster are nothing, is that it? Such a disgrace. And no objections to how "palestinians" are indoctrinating their children with the Religion of Peace? There's another sad example of failure right there. The writer then says:

I am back in the room with Frank and many fans, and I have three questions in mind, I have mentioned to comic reading pals over the years, that I have these questions, for some time, that I wanted to ask them of him, long before I knew he would be in Ireland. The third, which sadly I do not get to ask, would be tricky, although possibly the easiest in this setting, as I want to ask Frank “If he hates the Irish”, given his portrayal of David the bomb maker in Holy Terror and The Mercenaries in Sin City as Irish; and I am not altogether sure that the Irish aspect was a positive element in Daredevil, and if Matt Murdoch is crippled by his Irish Catholicism – but I did not get to ask this question. Probably for the best.

My second question was about 9/11 and as you know, I asked this on Monday.

After all the defeatism, one could wonder if Miller really cares about the better interests of the Irish at all, though an even better query is whether the columnist does, after all Ireland's gone through, and even Britain, at the hands of the Religion of Peace, which the Gazans he speaks of adhere to, and many of them even kept Mein Kamph in their houses. What, is that okay if they follow those kind of horrific belief systems? That Islamic indoctrination practically led to October 7, 2023. It even led to the assault on Salman Rushdie. On which note, is Miller aware of verses in the koran like 47:4? There's valid issues that can be made about the "Religion of Peace", and he throws them all away just to remain in the "good graces" of the leftists with whom he produced the documentary.

In the end, I'm very disappointed with Miller, who appears to have made use of the American Genius documentary as a means of groveling for all the wrong reasons. Mike Baron and Chuck Dixon, by contrast, will likely never get a documentary about their careers by contrast. And as for the Down The Tubes news site, it's more like down the drain, seeing how far-left their approach really is, so what business do they have speaking for the medium anyway? Miller has at least a few allusions to WW2 in his writings, and his standings today end up making them look like a joke. Does he also think communism isn't worth protesting? From what I know, Miller was unhappy in the 90s when Marvel put Elektra to more use again, but considering how poor his own viewpoints have become, that's why I don't think Miller has any business complaining that Marvel decided to bring the kunoichi he created in 1981 back into the spotlight again. All that matters is how artistically successful that was, and post-2000, it definitely wasn't much. But then, it's not like Miller's had much to do with Marvel and Daredevil for years now, so maybe he at least understands it's hardly worth it to be so petty. He has recently returned to work with them on a joint project with DC, for a Batman/Wolverine crossover. but again, his artwork has become so forced and mediocre, what's the use beyond the artist's name recognition?

And that's got to be the problem with how that comic's being sold too - just upon that Miller's the illustrator. But that alone doesn't guarantee artistic success, even story-wise. All that aside, my problem with Miller, again, is that he's the kind of creator who's far too obsessed with all that's dark, yet when a serious issue like Islamic terrorism comes about, he turns defeatist, as is already old news. When it comes to brighter storytelling, there's very little of that in Miller's resume, as again, he's just so obsessed with making use of Batman for reasons increasingly pointless. No doubt, a similar argument could be made involving Wolverine. And Miller even has the gall to throw Eisner under the bus. I just don't know what Miller's still working in entertainment for, or why we have to consider Sin City fantastic art any more than anything else. Miller's definitely past his prime, and the defeatist path he's taken of recent only feeds into the narrative the far-left wants to hear. And all this just explains why, beyond Daredevil, there's little else he's ever drawn and written that I've ever cared for.

Turkey's occupation in northern Cyprus does pose a danger to Israel as much as to the Cypriots

Shay Gal wrote about how Turkey's occupation of northern Cyprus is as much Israel's problem as it is for the Cyprian citizens themselves, in ways similar to Hamas in Gaza:

Cyprus recently marked the 51st anniversary of Turkey's 1974 invasion - a lasting trauma for Greek Cypriots. For decades, Israel treated this conflict as a distant Greek-Turkish issue, but must now clearly acknowledge: Northern Cyprus is not just a Greek-Cypriot problem - it is also an Israeli one. In practical terms, Northern Cyprus functions as an international no-man's land, enabling Turkey and terrorist groups like Hamas and Iran's Quds Force unrestricted operational freedom.

Since the invasion, which killed thousands and displaced hundreds of thousands, Turkey's presence has quietly transformed. The area is now a forward base for Turkey's military, hosting sophisticated weapons systems, cyber surveillance, and signals intelligence (SIGINT) infrastructure capable of intercepting both military and civilian Israeli communication, alongside covert terrorist facilities supported by Ankara. According to leaked intelligence documents, senior Turkish officials characterized Northern Cyprus as an ideal location "where anything can be done without interference by police or judicial oversight".

Turkey can deploy armed drones from Lefkoniko airfield - converted from an abandoned airport into a drone base amid regional gas disputes - far more rapidly than from its mainland bases. Since May 2021, Turkey officially stationed armed Bayraktar TB2 drones there, and more advanced Akinci UAVs were publicly showcased at a military parade in July 2024. These UAVs can rapidly target Israeli gas rigs, naval vessels, and strategic sites. In addition, Turkey's advanced ATMACA anti-ship missiles, with a range exceeding 200 km, could directly threaten Israeli maritime assets, including its critical natural gas platforms. Moreover, Turkey's new Typhoon ballistic missile is capable of precisely hitting targets up to 560 kilometers away. According to Western intelligence, missile bases in Kyrenia and Famagusta are already prepared for their deployment, posing Turkey's first direct ballistic threat to Israel, with the capability of striking Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, and Haifa Bay.

That strongly hints Turkey's just as willing to declare violent war against Israel sooner or later, much like Iran. And for all we know, Turkish forces quite likely built underground tunnels and headquarters on the nothern end they occupy, and that too can be very dangerous. Why, who knows how many similar locations like that were built in secrecy in mainland Europe, and even in the USA and Canada?

I have to take issue with one part here though:

It is not Israel's role or desire to liberate Northern Cyprus. However, if the threat from the area reaches a critical threshold, Israel's strategic posture must shift. Israel, in coordination with Greece and Cyprus, must prepare a contingency operation for liberating the island's north. Such an operation would neutralize Turkish reinforcement capabilities from the mainland, eliminate air-defense systems in Northern Cyprus, destroy intelligence and command centers, and finally remove Turkish forces, restoring internationally recognized Cypriot sovereignty.

Oh for heaven's sake. That's ludicrous to imply Israel shouldn't play a part in seeking to free Northern Cyprus from the jihadist poison still lurking there. By Gal's logic there, Israel shouldn't have taken part in WW2, nor come to defense of Druze/Christian inhabitants in Syria. Let's be clear. While security forces in Cyprus obviously shouldn't ignore this, that doesn't mean Israel shouldn't be ready to act upon such an issue either. Islamic jihadism is everyone's concern, and the situation's only gotten worse everywhere, including in Europe. If we fail to act on behalf of innocent non-Jews, we're failing every innocent European during WW2. And failure to act only fuels antisemitic accusations that Jews "don't care" about anyone but themselves. We can't afford such possibilities, no matter what. So, Israel should help Cyprus put a stop to the Turkish monster at the north end of the island, and not just to protect Israel itself. Even non-Jews are in danger of Turkey's own atrocities.

Update: Middle East Forum, interestingly, says that Turkey's grip on the northern area is deteriorating, and we should not reinforce it. Absolutely correct, and all must be done to get Turkey's overlords off the island.

Haredi schools visit Poland's Holocaust memorial sites

For the first time possibly, Haredi schools in Israel are organizing delegations to visit the Holocaust memorial sites in Poland:

Every year, tens of thousands of Israeli students walk through the gates of Nazi death camps and visit former Jewish ghettos. These trips have traditionally been attended primarily by students from the state and state-religious school systems.

Now, for the first time in Israel, an organized delegation of ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students has traveled to Poland. The trip, initiated by the Netzach education network—the ultra-Orthodox division of the Education Ministry—along with the municipalities of Jerusalem and Beit Shemesh, marks a historic shift in the ultra-Orthodox community’s engagement with Holocaust remembrance and collective national memory. Although the participants came from religious high schools rather than traditional Haredi yeshivas that avoid core secular studies, they are still ultra-Orthodox students from Haredi homes.

Rabbi Menachem Bombach, founder of the Natzach network, emphasized the national significance of the trip. “When ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students follow a path that was previously reserved for students in state schools, it symbolizes that the memory of the Holocaust belongs to all of us. The Holocaust did not distinguish between Haredi, religious or secular Jews, and its memory should be shared by everyone.”

Shai Calderon, head of the Education Ministry’s ultra-Orthodox division, echoed this sentiment: “This is an important journey that every young man should experience. Confronting the memory of the Holocaust and connecting to the national story of the Jewish people are essential parts of our Jewish and Israeli identity. This trip allows yeshiva students to become part of the collective memory that unites all segments of Israeli society.”

It's also something women have to study, and there's a vital point to make that women were some of the biggest victims of the National Socialists' tyranny at the time too. Something that certain past Haredi movements refused to attend museums dedicated to the topic based on, and one NYC museum also capitulated to. If this is changing, this trip being made by Haredi schools to Poland is certainly a good start. Let's just hope they recognize the legitimacy of women who were victims, and also those who fought against National Socialists at the time.

Florida files indictment against Andrew Tate and his brother

The influencer Andrew Tate, who's notoriously a convert to Islam, and recently supported Hamas, is now facing charges of abuse in the state of Florida:

Florida has opened a criminal investigation into Andrew Tate and Tristan Tate after the brothers arrived in the state last week. The Tates had left Romania after the country lifted travel restrictions on them following an indictment.

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier revealed the investigation during remarks to a reporter on Tuesday afternoon.

“These guys have themselves publicly admitted to participating in what very much appears to be soliciting, trafficking, preying upon women around the world, many of these victims coming forward, some of them minors,” he said. “You know, people can spin or defend however they want, but in Florida, this type of behavior is viewed as atrocious. We’re not going to accept it.”

“They chose to come here and set their feet down in this state, and we’re going to pursue every tool we have within our legal authority to hold them accountable,” he continued. “So we are in the process today, we have secured and executed subpoenas and warrants, and we’re going to continue to move forward with full force of law.”

This can be a good way to make clear conservatives don't find these two monsters even remotely acceptable. It wouldn't be shocking if the other Tate were also a convert to Islam. They should serve a prison sentence for their crimes, though it's regrettable that so far, any connections they have to the Religion of Peace are being obscured. That's wrong, and anybody who cares should point out that most disturbing detail about them.

Minister for diaspora affairs says Muslim migration in Europe is main source of antisemitism now

Also the main source of sexual violence on the continent. Here's what Amichai Chikli says about both the hostage situation and Europe's own crisis:

Chikli linked the rise in antisemitism in Western European countries with their failure to combat rising Islamist violence as a result of mass immigration.

"Antisemitism is a growing problem in Europe due to Muslim immigration,” he said. “The European right wing parties have a point, because they realise the problem and are presenting a solution.

"They understand the challenge of radical Islam and they are willing to take the necessary steps. So many countries have it completely wrong. Look at the UK, for example, I'm not sure that what is happening there is reversable. These countries need to get a hold of the problem."

According to Chikli, figures like Marine Le-Pen in France proved their support for Israel by participating in pro-Israel events and promising not to enable legislation that could block Kosher slaughter.

Chikli was asked whether he was concerned that the erosion of democracy in Europe, characterized among others by xenophobia and Islamophobia, would eventually lead to a threat against Jews. The minister responded that he did not believe there to be a problem of islamophobia since there was a “very good reason to worry” about the rise of Islamism in Europe.

Chikli expressed support for immigration policies in Hungary and Poland, as examples of places where Jews can walk around freely. The comment drew murmurs from the crowd, with one person claiming that Hungary had a fascist government.

Chikli also warned against the spread of the Muslim Brotherhood in Syria via its new regime, which is backed by Turkey. Erdogan and Turkey had the “exact same ideology” as Hamas, and therefore the Syrian front was one Israel should be concerned about.

Hugh Fitzgerald followed up on the news, and notes:

Chikli is deeply suspicious of Abu Muhammad Al-Julani, Syria’s de facto ruler, and of the rebel group he headed, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham. Al-Julani claims that he years ago broke all his ties to Al-Qaeda and ISIS, and is now intent on rebuilding the broken nation-state of Syria, not in furthering a pan-Islamic caliphate. But the schoolbooks just adopted in Syria contain worrisome changes in their texts, that stress Islamic themes and anti-Israel propaganda.

As some people were rightly worried, the current Syrian autocrat is another example of going from bad to worse, and cannot be recognized as a valid politician.

October 7, 2023 massacre by Hamas could be a prelude to what could happen in the rest of the world

In this interview with a woman who grew up in a Muslim family, she warns that the Hamas bloodbath on October 7, 2023 is a horror that can happen in the rest of the globe:

"I feel that since October 7, humanity has been in a very delicate and dangerous transitional state. Everything I've been shouting and warning about for years has suddenly come out all at once for the whole world to see through the GoPro cameras of the Hamas terrorists," says Yasmine Mohammed, one of the world's leading activists for the rights of Muslim women and support for ex-Muslims.

"If the West sobers up and realizes who it is up against and how the worst versions of Islam entered the most important Western institutions, and if it then proceeds to tackle it at the core, then there could remain a chance to correct course," she says, "but if Western liberals continue to play the role of useful idiots for Muslims who use them to promote their ideology, then things will get much worse. The massacre that took place in Israel may be just a prelude to what awaits the whole world."

She does not disclose her current place of residence, and even her exact age is confidential. These security measures, along with various other precautions she takes, stem from the fear that radical Muslims will try to harm her. Given the fate of not a few Muslims or ex-Muslims who dared to publicly criticize Islam, she certainly has something to fear. Just two years ago, the world was shocked when, during a conference in New York, a Lebanese-American stabbed and wounded author Salman Rushdie. In his 1989 bestseller "The Satanic Verses," Rushdie presented unflattering depictions of the Prophet Mohammed and Ayatollah Khomeini, leader of Iran's Islamic Revolution. Since then, he has become a target for radical Muslims worldwide.

Naturally, Mohammed does not want to enter these bloody statistics, "especially for the sake of my two daughters." Nevertheless, she gives interviews and acts with a sense of urgency, warning in harsh terms about the dangers posed by Muslim civilization. "The West is facing an obstacle called Islam," she states. "If we are afraid and do not say this truth, the price is that we will lose the free world. The risk is certainly worth it, even my personal risk."

This should by all means be an outrage that followers of the Religion of Peace would threaten her over an Orwellian thoughtcrime. Tragically, there's only so many scumbags in the west who'd rather cowardly ignore it all.

The videos disseminated by Hamas of the massacre in the communities surrounding Gaza affected her on a very personal level. "The first thing I saw was a few seconds of the video of Shani Louk, how she lay on the truck of the Hamas terrorists who abducted her from the nature rave. I closed it immediately, I simply couldn't continue. I got flashbacks within seconds: the abuse I endured as a child from my stepfather because I didn't memorize verses from the Quran verbatim; Iranian women being raped and murdered because they refused to wear the hijab; and Algerian women murdered because in their husbands' opinion they did not behave modestly. I saw generation upon generation of women whom extremist Muslim men treated as subhuman. It made me realize that the voice I am raising is more important than ever."

Alongside the personal outrage, Mohammed demonstrates extensive knowledge of both Islamic scripture and research, as well as an understanding of the prevailing sentiments in Muslim countries around the world. As someone familiar with the Muslim world from the inside, she feels her testimony is of paramount importance. The organization she founded, called "Free Hearts, Free Minds," provides support and psychological assistance to "Muslims who dare to think freely" in Islamic countries and the West. She is interviewed by media outlets and forums around the world, unraveling her story of leaving the Muslim world, and criticizing the lack of understanding in the Western liberal world of the true intentions of Islamic leaders.

In 2019, Mohammed warned about the dangerous connection between the progressive Left and Islam, in a book she published called "Unveiled: How Western Liberals Empower Radical Islam." In addition to criticizing Western liberalism and its naivete in the face of Muslim ideologues who cunningly exploit it, she extensively recounts her personal story there.

The journey she had to go in order to publish the book also teaches a lot about the fear of what the message is trying to convey. "All the publishers refused to publish it for fear that its message against Islam would pose a security threat to them," she recounts. "Even Neil Blair, J.K. Rowling's agent, who thought the book was worthwhile and tried to convince publishing houses to publish it, couldn't help me." She decided to self-publish the book. The book sparked discussion in many forums, and to her surprise, it was translated into some 15 languages. "I wasn't prepared for that, because I didn't know how much people in places like Sweden and Germany would identify with my personal story and with my insights on Islam. I thought I was alone in this battle, and it turned out I clearly wasn't."

When I raise the possibility that in her book she predicted what is happening today, she demurs. "I'm no prophet. I just described what was happening from my perspective, as someone who was inside the Muslim world, for my Western liberal friends. Unfortunately, they suffer from severe blindness, which could end up costing Western culture dearly. Unfortunately, people who didn't listen to me at the time, or who dismissed me and saw me as 'crying wolf', are now forced to see hordes of pro-Palestinians marching through the streets of every Western capital. I took the risk of being Cassandra [a figure in Greek mythology that no one heeded; ] and I will continue to be one until my voice is heard."

She must definitely continue, without fear. But it's definitely atrocious how all these decades, the west virtually enabled much of the abominations we're seeing today, and never truly made an effort to reeducate masses not to embrace barbarism. And the double-standards are another serious issue:

Q: Can you really envision something similar happening in America?

"Certainly, it's already happening. The city of Hamtramck in Michigan welcomed a large Muslim community, as many there felt that the Muslim minority in America was feeling threatened during Trump's presidency. Many Muslims responded to the call and came to settle there. Today there are so many Muslims there that they dominate the city council. One of the first steps they took upon gaining a majority on the council was declaring that LGBT flags would not be allowed to be flown in the city. Liberals reacted with shock and a sense of betrayal. That didn't help them. All I could think was 'What on earth did these liberals think in the first place.' What's toxic about this whole affair is that if Christian parent organizations, for example, spoke critically of LGBTs, it would be dreadful and terrible and condemnation would come from all sides. But while the radical Right struggles to thrive because it is under consistent surveillance and criticism, Muslims are held to a different standard.

"Add to that what is already known to all, how with Qatari money organizations that are mouthpieces for Islamist movements have become dominant in institutions of higher education in North America, or another group, which has a growing lobby within the American government – and you get the full picture. Many have warned that this is how Islam is strengthening its hold in the West. I warned some time ago that the barbarians are at the gates. This time they didn't have to fight over Rome: They came in through the main gate, and in the name of free speech we have all surrendered to them."

While there's certainly a valid argument that the LGBT movement was naive about the Islamic movement, it's still entirely possible quite a few of the wokeists are fully aware of what Islam is like, and would bizarrely enough forfeit their practices once the Religion of Peace takes over. Suggesting it's something like what Winston Churchill called "crocodile feeders".

This is vital info, especially following a very troubling statement made by one of the released hostages, who's taking a bizarrely lenient view of the Religion of Peace that led to the horror of October 7, 2023:

Agam Goldstein, released from Hamas captivity during a November 2023 prisoner swap, spoke Saturday night at an International Women's Day rally demanding that 19 women held hostage in Gaza be released from captivity. [...]

"From what I was taught about Islam, it is a religion that believes in bringing good into the world and opposes injustice. There are verses in the Quran that explicitly say - treat women well. There is also a verse about holding prisoners, about the way it is permitted by religion to hold them. And all we can hope for is that some humanity exists within you, or at the very least that you received a mission to keep them alive.

This is stupefying when you consider it doesn't sound like she quoted any verses from the koran. I realize Goldstein may have been raised under a leftist education system, to the point she runs the gauntlet of alluding to Stockholm Syndrome, but even so, this is a huge disappointment that she's taking such a devastatingly cliched path, concealing koranic verses like 2:223, which are exactly what led to the bloodbath last year. Goldstein's statement will not solve the crisis, and will only prolong it. Much like the terrible incident Lara Logan went through over a dozen years prior, it's regrettable Goldstein is also being naive about the Religion of Peace.

Transsexual activists get Abigail Shrier event canceled at Tel Aviv location

Whether or not influence of transsexual propaganda is as severe here as it is in the USA, there's still serious problems with them, and now, it's led to brave Abigail Shrier, the author of Permanent Damage, having an event canceled at a Tel Aviv center, even if another venue was arranged:

When journalist and author Abigail Shrier’s book Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters, positing that transgenderism in teen girls is a social contagion, was released in 2020, Amazon would not allow her to advertise it, and employees of the book-selling giant petitioned for it not to be sold at all. It was twice removed from Target’s shelves, and even a lawyer from the American Civil Liberties Union called for “stopping the circulation of this book.”

With the book’s recent release in Hebrew by Sella Meir, a publisher that specializes in bringing heterodox and conservative voices to light, the debate over whether Shrier’s ideas should even be available in the public square has reached Tel Aviv’s public square: Kikar Atarim, to be precise.

Sella Meir and the Tel Aviv International Salon (TAIS) planned a book launch for Shrier for her to advise parents on what to do if their teen daughters say they are transgender. The event was planned to take place at the glass-windowed strip club-turned-event space overlooking the beach, run by the organization Social Space, for next Sunday, until the publishing house’s owner. Rotem Sella, and TAIS founder Jay Shultz were told it was canceled.

Cancellation of the book's launch in Israel

“We do not host such events,” a woman named Omer wrote. Sella said she called the event “homophobic” in a phone call.

The Social Space, which repurposes unused buildings for social projects, did not respond to numerous emails or calls from The Jerusalem Post. But it told Haaretz it would not have signed with Sella Meir in the first place had it known about the book’s content, adding that it “will not allow for any incitement.”

Sella and Shultz plan to hold the event, which has more than 150 registered attendees, on the same date at the nearby Carlton Hotel’s beach lounge.

Now let's hope the hotel stands firm on this, and that the authorities will keep it safe if needed. But this Social Space movement is clearly a disgrace if they're following a far-left belief system, and shouldn't be buying up any properties if this is how they're going to go about their business. The building where this was supposed to take place may have once housed the Pussycat Club, which was a strip bar. To think, that it was closed down for this?

Controversy surrounding the cancellation

“Nothing is more important than vibrant civil discourse and debate,” Shultz said. “Bad things happen in darkness, and sunlight is the best medicine. More speech, more insight, more conversation and more dialogue is always the only solution for tensions in society. This is the nonpartisan honest broker mission of the Tel Aviv International Salon.”

Sella said Irreversible Damage is a “book full of compassion meant to defend teens… It does not criticize lifestyles, and the attempts to prevent the conversation about it comes from ignorance and incitement. We will not give in to bullying and narrow-mindedness.”

Meanwhile, Sella Meir has begun marketing it as “the book and event that they are trying to censor.”

Steimatzky, Israel’s largest bookseller, initially declined to carry the book but said on Tuesday night that it would order copies. Tzomet Sfarim, Israel’s second-largest bookstore chain, has a small number of copies of the book around the country, but not in Tel Aviv or its liberal suburbs. The two chains hold 80% of the book market in Israel.

The Jerusalem Post was able to order a copy from a Tzomet Sfarim store in Tel Aviv upon inquiry.

“What [the booksellers] are saying is that the Israel public cannot decide for itself what to read,” Shrier said Tuesday.

“These are the same activist forces we’re seeing in America, which is a very intolerant minority that says we can’t get a message out about girls’ health,” she said. “A bunch of adults, mostly biological men, decide what we’re allowed to talk about when it comes to the health of teenage girls… It’s a very intolerant group of people that push the censorship.”

It's also disgraceful if Steimatzky and Tzomet Sefarim initially balked at selling the book, because that compounds how politicized these 2 are as a result. As for lifestyles, let's be clear. That's a form of ideology, and there's nothing inherent wrong with taking issue with that any more than Islamofascism.

Shrier said she has had many Israeli parents contact her to say they are seeing girls in their daughters’ classes decide they’re transgender.

“We’re talking about a peer contagion that has caused harm to thousands of American girls, and the peer contagion is now in Israel,” she said. “Unless parents are aware of the risks, they have no way to protect their families.”

The transgender experience in Israel

In contrast to Shrier’s experience of opposition to the book in the US, one of the leading figures in the battle to ban and banish Shrier in Israel is a “trans-non-binary” 16-year-old named Reut from Petah Tikva, who asked that her last name not be shared. She, together with other transgender youth, run a WhatsApp group with more than 200 members that is called “Anti-transphobic demonstration,” which the Post was able to view.

The effort is grassroots and not part of an organization, Reut said, though when asked if adults are involved, she said to contact Ma’avarim, an NGO that provides support for transgender Israelis.

After the Social Space canceled Shrier’s event, Reut wrote: “Following inquiries to the place… it canceled the event (which is totally a victory as far as we’re concerned)!”

Reut told the group she would send an update of the protest location when she knows where the book launch will be held.

In between classes on Tuesday, the trans activist said she and her fellow teens from different cities in Israel had commented against the book on the social media accounts for the venue and Sella Meir, and they plan to put similar pressure on any stores that carry it.

“This is a dangerous book,” Reut said. “It’s meant for parents, and one of the most important things for trans youth is to be accepted by their families.”

Without support from families, she said, “the percentage of suicides rises very sharply.”

Reut also said the book mischaracterized what she called “gender-affirming care.”

Regarding whether Shrier should be free to share her research, just as Reut and her fellow activists are free to protest her, she said: “Freedom of expression is very important, but there has to be some kind of limit.”

“To try to convince parents of trans children not to accept their children and directly harm them is something that, in my opinion, cannot be accepted in our society,” she said.

Now, what are the chances this is actually a male, and an adult man in focus here? One who's practically parroting all the same talking points of USA leftards at that. Whoever it is should be ashamed, and Shrier and company should file a lawsuit for any damages sustained. The alleged teenager sounds obnoxious, and that's one of the biggest problems with these ideologues.

Shrier detailed the argument that she makes in her book, which is that over a 100-year diagnostic history, gender dysphoria was practically never diagnosed in teen girls. Rather, it occurred in boys aged two to four who felt profound psychological discomfort with their biological sex, and most outgrew it, she said.

“When you see it, as we see in US and England and across the West, where teenage girls suddenly say they’re transgender with their friends – that is not classic gender dysphoria,” Shrier said. “That’s something else. That’s part of the social contagion.”

When an adolescent girl tells her parents she is trans, she said, the parents should treat her like the age that she is, like a girl “who doesn’t really know very much about herself or what she’s going to want long term, because that’s the truth… There’s nothing more normal than a young girl feeling really uncomfortable in her body at the onset of puberty.”

On this note, it's exactly why the direction many religious people - certainly Haredis - took with women in the past century, insisting they dress modestly and not sing, was very stupid, ill-advised, and amounted to body shaming before the left took up that whole idea. If we take that as an example, is it any wonder girls could have a bad time during puberty? That's why what the Haredis in particular have wrought must cease. Religious people could do a favor by telling their daughters it's fully acceptable to become supermodels and beauty queens, and even to work as singers. And lest we forget, girls should be told to be proud of their bodies, and not embarrassed by them.

The “irreversible damage” to which Shrier refers to in the book is from hormone treatments or surgical interventions that could lead to infertility, as well as other medical side effects, such as lower bone density, that have come to light in recent years.

“In many cases, they are infertile,” she said. “Their bodies are forever changed, and they are not leading the lives that they would have hoped and their families would have hoped for them.

“If there’s a chance of arresting this in Israel and saying to your daughter, ‘Listen, we love you, but I’m not going to pretend you’re a boy’… that’s a really good place to start.”

Shrier said the way Israel handles this book “will determine the fate of a lot of girls between the ages of eight and 20, their quality of life and whether they can be healthy and whether they’ll be permanent medical patients.”

Asked where she thought the line should be drawn for freedom to disseminate controversial ideas, she said: “Whatever the line is, it shouldn’t be drawn [to prevent] giving information to parents on the very real risks of gender medicine.”

Shrier cited several European countries, including the UK, Sweden, France and Finland, which are reconsidering their policies and curtailing gender-related treatments for minors.

And if they can reconsider, that's why here too, all must be done to put a stop to these extremists who're serving as a 5th column to take attention away from Islamofascism. On which note, you can be sure these LGBT activists here have no issue with Islam, in contrast to Judaism.

Here's more on this at the Jewish Press.

China, Fearing Regime Change by the U.S, Bulks Up Its Nuclear Deterrence Capabilities

An eye opening report. 

My first thought, "Well that's just great (*Eye-roll*)."

At the Wall Street Journal, "China Is Accelerating Its Nuclear Buildup Over Rising Fears of U.S. Conflict":

China has accelerated an expansion of its nuclear arsenal because of a change in its assessment of the threat posed by the U.S., people with knowledge of the Chinese leadership’s thinking say, shedding new light on a buildup that is raising tension between the two countries.

The Chinese nuclear effort long predates Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but the U.S.’s wariness about getting directly involved in the war there has likely reinforced Beijing’s decision to put greater emphasis on developing nuclear weapons as a deterrent, some of these people say. Chinese leaders see a stronger nuclear arsenal as a way to deter the U.S. from getting directly involved in a potential conflict over Taiwan.

Among recent developments, work has accelerated this year on more than 100 suspected missile silos in China’s remote western region that could be used to house nuclear-tipped missiles capable of reaching the U.S., according to analysts that study satellite images of the area.

American leaders have said the thinking behind China’s nuclear advance is unclear. Independent security analysts who study nuclear proliferation say they are also in the dark about what is driving Beijing after exchanges between Chinese officials and analysts mostly dried up in the past few years.

The people close to the Chinese leadership said China’s increased focus on nuclear weapons is also driven by fears Washington might seek to topple Beijing’s Communist government following a more hawkish turn in U.S. policy toward China under the Trump and Biden administrations.

American military officials and security analysts are concerned China’s nuclear acceleration could mean it would be willing to make a surprise nuclear strike. The people close to the Chinese leadership said Beijing is committed to not using nuclear weapons first.

China plans to maintain an arsenal no larger than necessary to ensure China’s security interests, they said, adding that the Chinese military believes its nuclear weapons are too outdated to present an effective deterrent against a potential U.S. nuclear strike.

“China’s inferior nuclear capability could only lead to growing U.S. pressure on China,” one person close to the leadership said.

Nervous international reaction to Russian leader Vladimir Putin’s call for his nuclear forces to be put on alert following his invasion of Ukraine has offered Chinese officials a real-world lesson about the strategic value of nuclear weapons. So did Ukraine’s decision in 1994 to turn over the nuclear weapons left in the country after the breakup of the Soviet Union in return for security assurances from the U.S. and Russia.

“Ukraine lost its nuclear deterrence in the past and that’s why it got into a situation like this,” said a retired Chinese military officer with ties to the country’s nuclear program.

The people familiar with the Chinese leadership’s thinking said Beijing hasn’t conveyed any adjustments to the country’s nuclear policy as a result of developments in Ukraine. China’s Ministry of Defense didn’t respond to a request for comment.

The people have knowledge of Beijing’s thinking about nuclear policy through their work with various agencies involved in security issues. None are directly involved in the setting of nuclear policy. They didn’t preclude that future developments might change Beijing’s approach and said other factors may also be influencing the leadership’s approach to nuclear weapons.

Their observations nevertheless bring greater clarity to a shift in Beijing’s thinking that has far-reaching consequences globally. Rising tension between the U.S. and China over nuclear weapons could throw the world back into a Cold War-style nuclear standoff similar to that seen in the decades following World War II between the U.S. and Soviet Union.

The risk of miscalculations this time could be higher, however, because while the U.S. and Soviet Union communicated about their nuclear weapons during arms control talks from the late 1980s, the Chinese program and Beijing’s thinking on the role of nuclear weapons has been shrouded in secrecy. China has declined to engage in nuclear arms control talks with the U.S., saying Washington should first reduce its nuclear inventory.

U.S. government and private sector estimates put China’s nuclear arsenal in the low hundreds of warheads, far below the roughly 4,000 warheads held by both Russia and the U.S. The Pentagon says it now expects China to have 1,000 warheads by the end of this decade.

Satellite images taken during January show the last 45 of the temporary covers over each of 120 suspected missile silos near the city of Yumen have been removed, suggesting the most sensitive work at all of the silos has been completed, said Matt Korda, a senior research associate for the Nuclear Information Project at the Federation of American Scientists in Washington. At two other smaller silo fields in western China, work is at earlier stages.

The silos at each of the sites are large enough for a new long-range Chinese missile known as the DF-41 that was put into service in 2020 and is capable of hitting the U.S. mainland, analysts say. Tests of missiles that are launched from aircraft and can carry nuclear warheads also give Beijing a stronger chance of being able to retaliate if it is hit first in a nuclear attack.

In public, China has played down its nuclear pursuits.

“On the assertions made by U.S. officials that China is expanding dramatically its nuclear capabilities, first, let me say that this is untrue,” Fu Cong, director general of the Foreign Ministry’s arms control department, said earlier this year. He said that China is working to ensure its nuclear deterrent meets the minimum level necessary for national defense.

Chinese leaders had seen nuclear weapons as being of limited value because they don’t offer realistic options for fighting most wars. A major shift occurred in early 2020, according to the people familiar with the leadership’s thinking, as the U.S. government hardened its stance toward Beijing in the early stages of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Strong criticism of the Communist Party from senior Trump administration officials spurred a consensus among Chinese leaders that Washington was willing to take greater risks to stop China’s rise, some of the people said.

A May 2020 speech in Mandarin by former Deputy National Security Adviser Matt Pottinger was particularly alarming, they said. Speaking on the anniversary of a pivotal 1919 student protest in China, Mr. Pottinger said: “Wasn’t the goal to achieve citizen-centric government in China, and not replace one regime-centric model with another one? The world will wait for the Chinese people to furnish the answers.”

“The speech was obviously calling the Chinese to topple the Communist Party,” one person familiar with the Chinese leadership’s thinking said.

In response to a request for comment, Mr. Pottinger said that such an interpretation was “a profound admission that the Communist Party knows it has failed to deliver citizen-centric governance, and it confirms what everyone already suspected: What Beijing fears above all is its own people.”

At the same time, increased support from the U.S. for Taiwan, a democratically self-ruled island that Beijing views as a part of China and has vowed to put under its control, prompted Chinese leaders to debate the prospect that the U.S. might be willing to use nuclear weapons in a conflict over the island, according to the people close to the leadership...

 

GASOLINE CARS GREENER THAN ELECTRIC!!!

It has been said before, but I will repeat it again:

GASOLINE CARS GREENER THAN ELECTRIC!!!

and let me restate it again, just in case any ekonutsies don't get it:

GASOLINE CARS ARE  (and will continue to  be...) GREENER THAN ELECTRIC!!!

After a 2 year study the German Öko Institute has concluded that gasoline powered vehicles are cleaner than Electric powered vehicles. The implementation of electric cars will have NO IMPACT on the reduction of CO2 until 2020!  (let's ignore the fact that the whole CO2 meme is dubious...)

Instead, the study recommends further improvements in fuel efficiency of gasoline powered vehicles.

While the EU continues to stumble head over heels, foisting all sorts of ineffective Green initiatives upon its citizens, is it any wonder the economy of Europe is going down...and staying there?

BUREAUCRACY RUN AMOK

From this source, we learn about what it takes to start up an online business in Greece (hat tip to MK):

...At the health department, they were told that all the shareholders of the company would have to provide chest X-rays, and, in the most surreal demand of all, stool samples....

Bureaucracy run amok. Literally into the muck.

NOW THAT IS SICK

Of all the filthiest acts the MSM could commit in their demonization of Rifqa Bary, not to mention the "parents" themselves, do you know what they've done now? They've given her diaries to the Orlando Sentinel to publish. Of course, there's the question if anything extra was fabricated in their drive to demonize her.

Is this what real parents do? Is this what any decent person does, to expose someone else's private properties, which is a violation of privacy? This is most truly disgusting, and Rifqa's counsel should sue the paper over this. Come to think of it, they should sue the "parents" as well. This exposes the "parents" as the attention-hungering hatemongers they really are. Such vile characters should be shunned and ostracized by any and all sensible society.

Update: Rusty at the Jawa Report has some extra things to observe on the case, including a certain blogmaster's surprising irresponsibility in how he addressed Rifqa's defenders.

Update 2: Atlas Shrugs and Jihad Watch have a new video of Rifqa from last May that's also interesting for viewing, as well as the following statement by Bruce Bawer for the Intl. Free Press Society and Free Thinking Films about Europe's multiculturalists:

And in many cases they shamefully close their eyes to honor killings. The murders by parents and siblings, of girls and women who in some cases doing no more than looking at a boy the wrong way, have according to Islamic beliefs, soiled family honor. European authorities are so much a prisoner of multiculturalism that they could actually believe that their obligation in such matters is not to protect innocent children from brutality, but to display sensitivity to cultural difference.

Within Muslim communities, there are only a very few unimaginably bold men and women, who dare to speak out against the traditional sharia based autocracy of the Mullahs and Imams. And when they did so, they were not defended, let alone praised for it by the government, media or by professors,but were rather accused of betraying their people and rocking the boat. Take the writer Whalid Al-Kalbaisi, who came to Norway from Iraq many years ago, and has recounted a conversation he had with the Ethnic Norwegian Director at what Al-Kalbaisi described as an "international cultural center".

This cultural bureaucrat plainly thought of himself as being devoted heart and soul to the welfare of immigrants, but when Al-Kalbaisi raised the question of the freedom of Muslims to criticize or even leave their own religion, the cultural bureaucrat was displeased. "You are a Muslim Whalid", he said, "and you must not lose your identity. " "But do you believe", Whalid asked, "that I will lose my identity if I believe in the freedom of expression?" "Listen" the man replied, "this is something that you decide yourself, but your attitude causes a lot of problems. We want to create a multicultural society and we don't want to dissolve these foreign cultures, your attitude alters all our plans, it creates conflicts between immigrants.

I think that's telling of what Norway for one has in mind for its own country.

WHAT ABOUT THE BUILDING?

The Jerusalem Post writes about Netanyahu's scheduled meeting with US/European officials:

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu will make it clear in his discussions with US and European officials abroad that Israel will not accept any limitations on its sovereignty in Jerusalem, sources at the Prime Minister's Office said, immediately before his plane took off from Tel Aviv on Monday afternoon.

The PMO sources said Netanyahu also stressed that normal life in the settlements will need to be assured.

Netanyahu was leaving Israel for a visit in London and Berlin, where he is scheduled to meet with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and US special Mideast envoy George Mitchell.

In his meetings with Brown and Merkel, Netanyahu will raise the need to apply maximum pressure on Iran "in order to stop their nuclear march," the sources said, adding that the prime minister discussed the matter with French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Sunday night.

In addition to the Iranian nuclear threat, Netanyahu will discuss bilateral security issues with his European counterparts.

Regarding Netanyahu's meeting with Mitchell, which will be held in London early on Wednesday morning, the sources said that while there has been a certain degree of progress in the discussions leading up to the meeting, a "breakthrough" is not expected.

The sources reiterated remarks made by Netanyahu on Sunday, noting that the Israeli-Palestinian peace process was expected to resume in the end of September.

I'm not going to turn a blind eye to the hard questions here now, but what about allowing construction in Jerusalem and the "settlements"? As Caroline Glick said in the article in the prior topic, if he's going to bar building, then he's not conducting a strong policy or doing well on his assurances. Don't take his statements here at face value. I realize that wouldn't be a good idea.

IRELAND PUTS ITSELF IN DANGER

The Irish government has agreed to take in 2 Guantanamo inmates:

DUBLIN – Ireland has agreed to accept two inmates from the Guantanamo prison camp in Cuba within the next two months, Irish Justice Minister Dermot Ahern announced Wednesday.

Ahern said the two men belong to a group of about 50 prisoners who are "no longer regarded as posing a threat to security but who cannot return to their own countries." The United States has appealed to European Union countries to give most or all of those men sanctuary, but until now only France has stepped forward to accept a specific detainee.

Whoops, looks like even France may have put themselves in more danger than need be too. For how do we know these men really aren't deadly anymore?

In January after taking office, U.S. President Barack Obama announced his intention to close the 7-year-old military prison. He specifically appealed to European countries such as Ireland — long critical of the Guantanamo prison and demanding its closure — to shelter inmates who have been cleared as terrorist suspects but would face prison, torture or execution if deported to their homelands.

Ireland is the second EU member to reach agreement with the Obama administration on the issue. France received one Algerian ex-inmate in May in a gesture timed to an Obama visit.

Several other European governments say they are willing in principle to take ex-Guantanamo inmates eventually. But they stress that any delays are down to the Obama administration, which has struggled to forge a plan to close Guantanamo that resolves legal and political obstacles — particularly grassroots opposition to permitting any resettlements on American soil.

Portugal, which was the first nation to call for a coordinated EU role in helping to close Guantanamo, said last month it still plans to take two or three prisoners, but has no agreement yet with the U.S.

The only group of Guantanamo inmates to receive enthusiastic third-country offers for resettlement are Chinese Muslim separatists called Uighurs.

Albania took five Uighurs in 2006, Bermuda took four more in June, and the tiny Pacific island of Palau has offered to take the 13 remaining in Guantanamo. The U.S. has yet to accept that offer.

Most of the approximately 230 men still locked up in Guantanamo are from Yemen, which the United States says lacks reliable prisons and terror "rehabilitation" programs. Negotiations are continuing to transfer most or all of the Yemenis to neighboring Saudi Arabia instead.

Ahern said the two Uzbeks coming to Ireland would receive permanent residency rights and would not be treated as refugees, a legal status that would allow them to work and move freely.

But how do we know they wouldn't plot behind the scenes to commit more acts of terrorism within these European countries? The reason why many of them are being sent to European ones and not released in the US/Canada is because the controversy that would result there is already clear. But what about in Europe? Do the citizens there not care enough to protest this? And think of the costs it could take to keep these terrorists under surveillance.

EU ELECTIONS RESULT IS A SHIFT TO THE RIGHT

It's starting to happen. People are waking up. Europeans are getting fed up with leftist socialism, dhimmitude. They are a road map for the US--Conservatives need to stand up and fight back--and vote. This is what happens when you do. Breaking via Yahoo. Read it all here.

BRUSSELS – Europe was leaning to the right Sunday as tens of millions of people voted in European Parliament elections, with conservative parties favored in many countries against a backdrop of economic crisis.

Opinion polling showed right-leaning governments with edges over their opposition in Germany, Italy, France, Belgium and elsewhere. Conservative opposition parties were tied or ahead in Britain, Spain and some smaller countries.

For many, the Europe-wide elections were most important as a snapshot of national political sentiment.

High unemployment across Europe has increased voter dissatisfaction with mainstream national parties, and skepticism over the EU's power to help spur economic recovery.

Polls ahead of Sunday's vote showed German Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative Christian Democrats leading the center-left Social Democrats in Germany, which holds national elections in September. Merkel hopes to form a center-right government after the national vote with the pro-business Free Democrats.

Voters in Germany are more concerned about the costs of financial intervention than the commitment to job preservation favored by the Social Democrats, said Tanja A. Boerzel, a political scientist at Berlin's Free University.

In France, President Nicolas Sarkozy's conservative UMP party has steadily held the lead in polls, with the Socialist Party second.

Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi's Freedom People's Party held a two-digit lead over his main center-left rival in the most recent polling despite a deep recession and a scandal over allegations he had an inappropriate relationship with an 18-year-old model. Analysts saw Berlusconi's tough stance against illegal immigration as a vote getter.

In Britain, dissident Labour legislators said a plot to oust Prime Minister Gordon Brown could accelerate after the party's expected dismal results in the European elections are announced.

Opponents say the Labour leader has been so tainted by the economic crisis and a scandal over lawmakers' expenses that the opposition Conservatives are virtually guaranteed to win the next national election, which must be called by June 2010.

More here.

WILDERS EXPOSING TRUE ISLAM IN LA

David Horowitz and Opening Remarks


Geert Wilders masterful speech


Speech Part 2 and Q & A


"FITNA" movie


Source: Weblog GeertWilders

KRAUTHAMMER POUNDS "DISGRACEFUL" OBAMA

Hat Tip: Pat Dollard

Europe has been "sucking on our tit" since WWI...

EU DOES NOT REALLY RECOGNIZE ISRAELI GOVERNMENT

EU reps like Javier Solana are attempting more interference in Israel's internal politics:

The European Union urged Prime Minister-designate Binyamin Netanyahu on Sunday to craft a government that embraces the long-standing goal of an independent Palestinian state living side by side with Israel.

The prospect of a new hawkish government, with Israel Beiteinu chairman Avigdor Lieberman as a possible foreign minister, will be seen in Europe as a setback to the Middle East peace process.

"Let me say very clearly that the way the European Union will relate to an [Israeli] government that is not committed to a two-state solution will be very, very different," said Javier Solana, the EU's foreign and security affairs chief.

US, European and moderate Arab officials have largely remained silent about the possibility of Lieberman becoming Israel's top diplomat. But as Netanyahu is in the final stages of crafting a coalition government based on the Feb. 10 election outcome that prospect could become a reality this week.

Solana and other EU officials met with the foreign ministers of Egypt and the Palestinian authority to discuss the formation of a Palestinian unity government - bringing the rival Hamas and Fatah factions under one roof - and rebuilding the Gaza Strip after Israel's recent offensive.

Solana is one of the most disgusting people in the EU, who led to a lot of the current problems. And any "urging" they do here is merely an attempt to dictate to another country how to run its business.

Here's some more on this over here.

PAT CONDELL ON FIRE

Hat Tip: Bare Naked Islam

THE JEWISH ANCESTRY OF THE IBERIANS

An interesting new discovery in the genetics field:

From the 15th century on, Spain's Jews were mostly expelled or forced to convert, but today some 20 percent of Spaniards have genes similar to Sephardic Jews, a study has found.

A report in the American Journal of Human Genetics says almost a fifth of Spaniards have genes similar to Sephardic Jews. With a population of more than 40 million, Spain may thus have 8 million citizens with "Jewish" genes.

"The genetic composition of the current population is the legacy of our diverse cultural and religious past," study author Francesco Calafell, on the evolutionary biology faculty at Barcelona's Pompeu Fabra University, said Friday. Along with researchers from Leicester University in England and the Wellcome Trust, the study compared DNA samples from 1,140 men in Spain, Portugal and the Balearic Islands with established data on Moroccans, Algerians, and Sephardic Jews in Istanbul and Israel.

"The work shows that religious conversions and subsequent marriages between people of different lines had a significant impact on modern populations both in the Balearic Islands and in Portugal," another author Elena Bosch said in a statement.

There's some more here. By the way, I think I remember reading years ago that a lot of Armenians are distantly related to the Israelis. This page may offer more insight on that.