Beheadings Of Infidels, Halal Sex Products And "Muslims Don't Like Dogs"

A Month of Islam in Europe: June 2014

Austria accused Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan of stirring up trouble on June 19, when he urged thousands of cheering supporters in Vienna to reject "assimilation."

Erdogan was rallying support for his candidacy ahead of Turkish presidential elections in August, and expatriate Turks have become a significant bloc of voters after changes to the electoral system now allow them to cast votes abroad.
Around 268,000 people of Turkish origin live in Austria, according to government figures, of whom nearly 115,000 are Turkish citizens.
Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz, who had expressly warned Erdogan not to undermine efforts to integrate Turks into Austrian society, criticized the latest comments:

"These show very clearly that the Turkish premier has brought the election campaign to our country and created unrest with this. We reject this. And I can only say that respect for a host country looks clearly different."

In Graz, the second-largest city in Austria, police on June 5 arrested a 41-year-old Islamic preacher from Chechnya who is believed to be involved in efforts to send Austrians to war in the Middle East.
State prosecutor Hansjoerg Bacher said that the imam is thought to be behind the radicalization and recruitment of eight Chechens resident in Austria, four of whom have died in fighting in Syria.

In Bulgaria, the Kardjali District Court on June 16 rejected a property claim lodged by the office of the Chief Mufti, the spiritual leader of Bulgaria's Muslims, to be awarded ownership of the building housing the Regional Historical Museum. The court found that there was no basis for the claim, and ordered the representatives of the Muslim community to pay 91,062 leva ($63,000) in costs to the state.
This case was the latest in a series of lawsuits by the Chief Mufti's office, filed under the Religious Denominations Act, which allows applications by recognized religious denominations to be awarded property believed to be historically theirs.
The building was originally intended to serve as a Muslim religious school, and it was funded in part by donations from the local Muslim community in 1920s and 1930s. However, the building was never used as a madrassa. Instead, it was nationalized during Bulgaria's communist era and became a museum.
Lawyers for the Kardjali district administration argued that the Chief Mufti's office is not the heir to the local Muslim community because at the time there was no such registered legal entity.
In the southern Bulgarian town of Peshtera, residents are angry over the local mosque's powerful loudspeakers, which are blasting the Islamic call to prayer, the adhan, several times a day.
According to Radio FOCUS, the town is a model of multicultural tolerance, but residents are increasingly irritated by the adhan; the "silent discontent may escalate to petitions and protests," the radio said.

In Britain, a new television channel aimed exclusively at British Muslims, British Muslim TV (BMTV), was launched in early June. The channel, operating under the slogan "Confidently Muslim, Comfortably British," is airing on the British Sky digital platform; the programming content is being exclusively funded and made in the UK.
BMTV will compete with other channels, such as Islam Channel, one of the UK's most prominent and popular English language Muslim satellite channels; Noor TV, Peace TV and Iqra TV, all of which have a South Asian focus and are usually broadcast in Urdu or Bangladeshi; and to Shia Muslim focused channels such as Hidayat TV and Ahlebait TV.
Speaking to Al Arabiya news, the marketing director for BMTV, Wasim Akhtar, said that BMTV aims to be different from the other Muslim channels by being "inclusive of all different views and open to all different types of Muslims. So the channel isn't just about issues of faith, it's about practical Muslim life here in Britain."
In a trial at the Central Criminal Court of England and Wales [Old Bailey], a jury heard how police found 38-year-old Tahira Ahmed after she was decapitated in her west London home, allegedly by her husband, 41-year-old Naveed Ahmed. Tahira had been stabbed, had both her arms broken, and her head cut off. The couple, who have two children aged six and 12, had been married for 14 years.
Also in London, police launched an investigation into the origins of a sign telling dog owners to stay out of a park because it is "an Islamic area now" and "Muslims don't like dogs."
Meanwhile, it emerged that taxpayer money could be used to help fund a new mosque for the Muslim community in Belfast, according to Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness. The move came after a local pastor named James McConnell denounced Islam as "Satanic" and a "doctrine spawned in hell."
McGuinness said he and First Minister Peter Robinson, who visited the Islamic Centre in south Belfast in June, "absolutely accepted" that the 4,000-strong Muslim community "is entitled to a mosque, if a proper site can be found which is suitable for them."
McGuinness said McConnell's remarks were "shameful" and could affect investments in Belfast. "This will impact, if not handled correctly by us, on our prospects of attracting foreign direct investment," McGuinness said. "The story travelled all round the world, and I think that it was very damaging."
In a bid to reverse negative stereotypes of Muslims in the UK, the Ahmadiyya Muslim Association in Devon and Cornwall in southwestern England launched an advertising campaign in June to promote "positive awareness of Islam."
The campaign involved banners displaying Muslim messages of peace on a fleet of more than 100 city buses. Under the slogan of "loyalty, freedom, equality, respect, peace" the community also launched a website: LoveForAllHatredForNone.org.
A regional president of the group, Muhammad Noman, said: "A true Muslim can never raise his voice in hatred against his fellow citizens, nor against the ruling authority or government of the time. He should remain loyal and fully abide by the laws of the land of which he is a subject."
More news about Islam in Britain during June 2014 can be found here.

In Cyprus on June 3, Turkish Cypriot mufti Talip Atalay recited a prayer at the reopening ceremony of the Taht-el kale mosque in Nicosia, which had been closed for more than 50 years. Atalay visited the mosque after an invitation from the Greek Orthodox Archbishop Chrysostomos II as part of the Religious Track of the Cyprus Peace Process promoted by the Swedish government.

In the Czech Republic, President Miloš Zeman refused to apologize for comments he made during a speech at the Israeli Embassy in Prague on May 26 at a reception to celebrate Israel's Independence Day.
Quoting several verses from the Koran that call on Muslims to kill Jews, Zeman said that Islam was to blame for the attack at the Jewish Museum in Brussels that killed four people. He also said:

"There is a term, political correctness. This term I consider to be a euphemism for political cowardice. Therefore, let me not be cowardly."

The new Secretary General of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation [OIC], Iyad Ameen Madani, condemned Zeman's speech, saying, "It is only appropriate that President Miloš Zeman apologizes to the millions of Muslims worldwide for his deeply offensive and hateful anti-Islam statements."
An OIC statement said:

"The Secretary General reiterated that Islam is a religion of peace and tolerance and that terrorism should not be equated to any race or religion; a stance upheld by all major UN texts on the subject of countering terrorism. He added that the OIC countries share a profound respect for all religions and condemn any message of hatred and intolerance."

On June 10, a spokesman for the Czech government said Zeman would not be apologizing for his statements. "President Zeman definitely does not intend to apologize. For the president would consider it blasphemy to apologize for the quotation of a sacred Islamic text."
The Gates of Vienna blog summed it up this way: "As far as I am aware, Miloš Zeman is the first Western head of state ever to tell the OIC to go jump in a lake. So this is an historic occasion."

In Denmark, the Danish Security and Intelligence Service (PET) revealed that at least 100 Danish jihadists (both male and female) have left Denmark to fight in Syria, and that at least 15 of them have been killed.
The information was made public during a June 23 seminar entitled, "Syria and the Danish Prevention Model," organized by the PET's Center for Terror Analysis (CTA). Some 100 representatives from the Danish police, civil society and the media attended the event.
According to the CTA, the majority of Danish jihadists are young Sunni Muslims (aged 16-25), including Danish converts to Islam. The CTA said most of the jihadists have links to Islamic communities in Copenhagen, Aarhus and Odense.

"Those returning from the conflict have been trained in military skills that can be used to carry out a terrorist attack in Denmark or against Danish interests abroad," CTA said. "They can also use their status to recruit new members to the group and new warriors to the conflict."

On June 14, Danish police raided a mosque in the Vibevej district of Copenhagen after a passerby allegedly saw weapons being carried into the complex. Four men were arrested during the operation.
On June 5, Denmark issued an international arrest warrant for four jihadists who were filmed shooting at effigies of six prominent Danish critics of Islam.
In the video, which was recorded in Syria and first surfaced in August 2013, the men fired their guns at effigies of former PET secret agent Morten Storm, free speech advocate Lars Hedegaard, former MP Naser Khader, the imam Ahmed Akkari, former prime minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen and cartoonist Kurt Westergaard.
Danish authorities said that under Danish anti-terror laws the shootings are illegal; they also conceded that some of the jihadists may already be dead.
Meanwhile, Denmark's largest mosque opened on June 19 in the Rovsingsgade district of Copenhagen after receiving a 150 million kroner (€20.1 million, $27.2 million) endowment from Qatar.
Not a single Danish politician of note attended the inauguration ceremony of the 6,700-square-meter (72,000-square-foot) complex, which houses a mosque, a cultural center, a television studio and a fitness center.

In Finland, the Security Intelligence Service (SUPO) on June 19 said it was investigating a suspected Finnish female jihadist who posed with weapons and published threats against Shia Muslims on Facebook.
The photo uploaded to Facebook shows a burqa-clad figure posing with an assault rifle, and brandishing what is claimed to be a suicide bomb. A comment on the page—written in Finnish—says the woman has come to Syria because "there are lots of Shias to kill."
On June 12, a spokesman for SUPO revealed that around 40 people have travelled from Finland to Syria to join Islamist groups there. He also said that around 200 individuals in Finland are believed to be at risk of radicalization.
On June 9, Finnish media reported the death of a 23-year-old jihadist from Espoo, the second-largest city in Finland, who had been fighting in Syria since December 2012. The man, of Somali background, had moved to Finland at the age of two. If the death is confirmed, he would be the third Finnish citizen to die in the fighting in Syria.

In France, Prime Minister Manuel Valls on June 3 increased the government's estimate of the number of French nationals fighting in Syria to 800, including about 30 who have died in the conflict.
Valls told BFMTV that these jihadists pose an unprecedented threat to France. "We have never before faced a challenge of this kind," Valls said. "It is without any doubt the most serious threat we face. We have to ensure the surveillance of hundreds and hundreds of French or European individuals who are today fighting in Syria."

In Iceland, the head of the Muslim Association of Iceland, Ibrahim Sverrir Agnarsson, on June 2 said that final preparations are being made for the design of the country's first mosque, set to be built on a plot of land in the Sogamýri district of Reykjavík.
The future of mosque has been in doubt since May 23, when the leader of the Progressive Party in Reykjavík, Sveinbjörg Birna Sveinbjörnsdóttir, said she wanted to reverse the city council's controversial decision to grant the plot of land to the Muslims free of charge. She now says the issue should be voted on in a public referendum. After her remarks, support for the Progressive Party in Reykjavík increased and the party secured two seats in municipal elections that were held on May 31.
The founder of the Muslim Association, Salman Tamimi, said he would file a lawsuit against individuals who left anti-mosque comments on an online article about the mosque controversy published by the newspaper Visir on June 1. Tamimi's lawyer, Helga Vala Helgadóttir, said it was important to take a stand against hate speech.

In Italy, authorities on June 17 said the Italian Navy had rescued almost 600 migrants from boats in the Strait of Sicily between Italy and Africa as part of the Mare Nostrum ["Our Sea"] search and rescue operation, launched in October 2013.
On June 9, roughly 1,300 migrants were ushered to safety at the merchant port of Taranto after being rescued at sea off the coast of Sicily.
More than 50,000 migrants crossed to Italy during the first six months of 2014, more than the total for the whole of 2013.

A jihadist from Luxembourg who died in Syria in December 2013 was claimed as a martyr for ISIS on June 17. A tweet from ISIS described a man identified as "Luxembourg national Abu Huthaifa" as the "first martyr for ISIS from the second richest country in the world."
Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn confirmed in May 2014 that two people from the Grand Duchy had joined militants in Syria. One of them was originally from Kosovo, and another was of North African origin. Both were killed, including Abu Huthaifa. Why ISIS was just now claiming his martyrdom remains unclear.

In the Netherlands, the Dutch intelligence service AIVD on June 30 released a new report entitled, "Transformation of Jihadism in the Netherlands," which states that about 130 Dutch jihadists have travelled to Syria, and that nearly 30 have since returned. Approximately 14 Dutch jihadists have died on the battlefield. Most of the Dutch jihadists have joined up with ISIS.

The Dutch-Turkish jihadist known as Yilmaz is one of about 130 Dutch jihadists who have traveled to Syria.

On June 21, the leader of the Dutch Freedom Party, Geert Wilders, accused the government of being "asleep" and "naïve" for failing to understand the size of the threat posed by Muslim radicals in the Netherlands. "The threat to the Netherlands is now greater than ever, even more than ten years ago with the Hofstad Group [an Islamist terrorist organization of mostly young Dutch Muslims of mainly North African ancestry], Wilders said. "We now have hundreds of jihadists and thousands of sympathizers. This naïve Cabinet's inaction is inviting an attack in the Netherlands."
Foreign Affairs Minister Frans Timmermans on June 16 told the Dutch Parliament that the government was taking "various measures," both in terms of criminal law and administrative law, to prevent Dutch nationals joining up with groups such as ISIS.
Also on June 16, the newspaper Volkskrant reported that AIVD had given the Turkish government the names of more than 100 young men and women who Dutch authorities believe may be planning on going to Syria. The paper said Turkey has agreed to detain and deport them if they attempt to cross the Turkish border en route to Syria.
On June 19, Abdoe Khoulani, a member of the Party of Unity (PvdE), a fundamentalist Muslim political party based in The Hague, expressed support for ISIS on his Facebook page. He wrote: "Long Live ISIS. And insha'Allah [Allah willing] on to Baghdad to fight the riff-raff there."
Khoulani's message was spread on Twitter by Arnoud van Doorn, a former member of the Dutch Freedom Party who converted to Islam and is now a member of the PvdE. Van Doorn said Khoulani was—like John the Baptist quoting the words of Isaiah—a "voice of one crying out in the wilderness" [to prepare the way for the Messiah].
In response to the backlash, Khoulani said his words were simply a call to justice. He added that ISIS is not a terrorist group, but a resistance organization.
Meanwhile, a Dutch company selling halal sex products on June 4 announced an alliance with Europe's largest erotic retailer in an effort to tap into the lucrative Muslim market, potentially worth billions of euros.
The founder of Amsterdam-based El Asira, Abdelaziz Aouragh, said the deal with Frankfurt-listed Beate Uhse came four years after his company first launched a range of erotic products that do not contravene Sharia law.
El Asira, which means "Society" in Arabic, launched its range of products in 2010 to massive acclaim from the local Muslim community. Beate Uhse, based in Flensburg, Germany, approached El Asira in 2012 with a business proposal to sell products jointly in Muslim markets.
"We will take 18 of our Islamic branded products to the market through Beate Uhse," Aouragh told Agence France-Presse. "Considering we're targeting a global market of around 1.8 billion people, the potential is huge."
The two companies are also looking into the possibility of opening a store for halal sex products in the Saudi Arabian city of Mecca, the holiest place in Islam, Aouragh said.

In Norway, the country's first-ever Shia Muslim mosque was inaugurated in Oslo on June 1. One of the main purposes of the Tauheed Islamic Center is "to provide an opportunity to non-Muslims to learn about the universal teachings of Islam." The first official event held at the mosque was a ceremony marking the 25th anniversary of the death of the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of the Iranian revolution.
Separately, Nemat Ali Shah, the Pakistani imam of the Central Jamaat Ahle-Sunnat mosque, the main Sunni Muslim mosque in Oslo, was recuperating in the hospital after a masked assailant repeatedly hacked him with a small axe or knife in the center of the Norwegian capital on the evening of June 16. Muslims were quick to condemn the attack as an Islamophobic hate crime, but on June 30, Oslo police arrested a fellow Pakistani who allegedly attacked the imam due to a power struggle within the mosque, which has more than 5,000 members mainly of Pakistani origin.
In Slovenia, the local Islamic Community on June 4 announced that construction work on the first Slovenian mosque was about to begin in the capital of city of Ljubljana, nearly ten months after the symbolic ground-breaking ceremony took place in September 2013.
Mufti Nedžad Grabus confirmed that Qatar would cover 70% of the cost of the project. "Without Qatar, the Islamic community [of Slovenia] would not be able to continue with the project," Grabus said.
The mosque and Muslim cultural center, 44 years in the making, will be built north of the city center, on a plot of land that the Muslim community bought from the City of Ljubljana, at a projected cost of €21 million ($28.5 million).

In Spain, the Union of Islamic Communities in Spain (UCIE), a Madrid-based Muslim umbrella group, and the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Education (ISESCO), a Morocco-based arm of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), held a four-day conference in Madrid aimed at promoting the development of Koran institutes in non-Muslim countries. The event, which was held from June 18-21, was attended by Muslim leaders from Europe and North Africa.
On June 17, the Halal Institute of the Junta Islámica de España, a competing Muslim umbrella group based in Córdoba, held a conference aimed at promoting the "normalization of halal" in European countries. The official conference title was: "Possible Similarities and Differences between European Standards Compared with Halal Standards Demanded by the Arab Countries."
Conference attendees called on the Spanish government to sponsor an official study aimed at finding ways to bring European food standards into compliance with Islamic Sharia law.
Meanwhile, municipal officials in Barcelona denied reports that Qatar had offered to pay €2.2 billion ($3 billion) to convert the city's La Monumental bullring into a forty thousand capacity mosque. The building would include a 300-meter (985-foot) minaret. The mosque would be the third largest in the world, after those in Mecca and Medina.
On June 16, Spanish police in Madrid arrested ten individuals (eight Moroccans, one Argentine and one Bulgarian) on allegations that they were members of an international network that recruited jihadists for ISIS.
The ringleader was a 47-year-old Moroccan national named Lahcen Ikassrien, who was arrested in Afghanistan in 2001 and released after three-and-a-half years in Guantánamo. In July 2005, the U.S. government handed him over to Spain, where he faced charges of cooperating with al-Qaeda. In October 2006, the Spanish High Court acquitted him on the grounds that no firm evidence existed of his ties to the terrorist group.
Ikassrien, who lives in Madrid, was part of a cell led by Abu Dahdah, a Syrian-born Spaniard who was sentenced to a 27-year prison term in Spain for his part in the September 11, 2001 attacks, and for being one of the founders of al-Qaeda in Spain. In February 2006, the Spanish Supreme Court reduced the Abu Dahdah's penalty to 12 years because it considered that his participation in the 9/11 conspiracy was not proven. He was released in May 2013.

In Sweden, government health inspectors said they found some 60 cases of female genital mutilation (FGM) in Norrköping in eastern Sweden since March, with all 30 girls in one school class found to have undergone the procedure.
FGM has been illegal in Sweden since 1982 and can be punished with up to ten years in prison. Since 1999 it is also a criminal offense under Swedish law if the procedure is performed in a different country.
Most girls who undergo the procedure are between the ages of 4-14 years, but the operation is also carried out on infants. There are no official statistics detailing the extent of FGM in Sweden, or of how many girls are taken to have the procedure conducted abroad.
Meanwhile, the Swedish Parliament on June 17 approved changes to the country's immigration law to "facilitate moving to and from Sweden." The changes reduce the requirements for obtaining permanent residence for students and workers. In addition, individuals whose application for asylum has been rejected now need to wait only four months to become eligible for a work permit. Moreover, immigrants who have already obtained permanent residence in Sweden can retain that status for up to two years after they leave the country.
The anti-immigration Sweden Democrats (SD) rejected the proposal. "We should have mobility, but these suggestions give evidence that the government has dropped all reason when it comes to immigration policy," David Lång (SD) wrote in the party's motion.

In Switzerland, the Islamic Cultural Center in Lausanne received a $140,000 donation from the Government of Kuwait to fund the construction of a center for raising awareness about Islam. On June 20, the Kuwaiti news agency KUNA reported that the Kuwaiti Ambassador to Switzerland, Bader Al-Tunaib, presented the donation to head of the Complex Culturel des Musulmans de Lausanne (CCML), Dr. Mohammad Karmous. A Tunisian with a French passport, Karmous has multiple ties to the Muslim Brotherhood.

The Vatican failed in an attempt to cover up the contents of a prayer by a Muslim cleric at an interfaith "Prayer for Peace" service held in the Vatican garden on June 8. Departing from a pre-approved script, the imam recited verses 284-286 of Sura 2 from the Koran, the latter part of which calls on Allah to grant Muslims victory over non-Muslims.
Most non-Muslims non-Arabic speakers did not understand what the imam had said, but that changed when a former Muslim who speaks Arabic translated the full prayer on the indispensable blog, Gates of Vienna. The Vatican initially denied that the imam had said what he said, but then it doctored the video to edit out last part of Verse 2:286.
Gates of Vienna posted a complete video of the imam's prayer, which does indeed (3m54s into the video) ask Allah to "make us victorious over the tribe of the unbelievers." In an interview with Radio Vatican, a German-speaking Jesuit priest named Felix Körner remained unbowed.
Körner defended the imam, saying Verse 2:286 fully accords with Roman Catholic doctrine and is wholly peaceful in intent. "If one hears something in a skewed manner, one is going to have a mistaken understanding of it," he said.
Meanwhile, the Vatican partnered with the Emir of Sharjah (one of the emirates of the United Arab Emirates) to present an "unprecedented" art exhibition entitled, "So That You Might Know Each Other," a verse from the Koran. The four month exhibit, which ended on June 14, was designed to serve as a "sign of openness and cooperation between religions."
The 70 exhibits on display at the Sharjah Museum of Islamic Civilization included textiles, musical instruments, jewelry, rudimentary weapons, books and manuscripts, many of which were on loan from the Ethnological Museum of the Vatican.
The German broadcaster Deutsche Welle summed it up this way: "The fact that Rome is lending its works for the first time is an act of diplomacy in line with Pope Francis's current policies. While Pope Benedict XVI had distanced himself from other religions, his successor is pursuing a different policy."

Muslim Persecution of Christians, January 2014

Human rights organization Open Doors published its 2014 World Watch List in January, highlighting and ranking the top 50 nations that persecute Christians. The overwhelming majority of countries making the list—and nine of the top-ten worst offenders—are Muslim, and include nations from among America's allies (Saudi Arabia, Kuwait) and its contenders (Iran); from among economically rich nations (Qatar) and poor nations (Somalia and Yemen); from among "Islamic republic" nations (Afghanistan), "democracies" (Iraq), and "moderate" nations (Malaysia and Indonesia).

The report also indicates that every Muslim nation that the U.S. has helped "liberate," including during the "Arab Spring," has become significantly worse for Christians and other minorities. Previously moderate Syria is now ranked the third-worst nation in the world in which to be Christian, Iraq fourth, Afghanistan fifth, and Libya 13th. All four receive the worst designation in the ranking process: "extreme persecution."
Three of these countries—Iraq, Afghanistan, and Libya—were "liberated" in part thanks to U.S. forces, while in the fourth, Syria, the U.S. is actively sponsoring "freedom fighters" against the regime. Many of these "freedom fighters" have been responsible for any number of atrocities—including massacres, beheadings, and the crucifixion of Christians, and others.

Despite this track record of interfering in Islamic nations, only for the human rights of minorities to plummet, and despite the fact that Syria has gotten dramatically worse for Christian minorities, Secretary of State John Kerry declared in January that, if only Bashar Assad goes away, "I believe that a peace can protect all of the minorities: Druze, Christian, Isma'ilis, Alawites—all of them can be protected, and you can have a pluralistic Syria, in which minority rights of all people are protected."
The same was predicted of Iraq over a decade ago, yet today, well more than half of the Christians are either dead or have fled, after years of constant attacks on their churches and persons once the Arab dictator Saddam Hussein was ousted.

Libya offers a more recent precedent. Since U.S.-backed "rebels" overthrew Qaddafi, Christians—including Americans—have been tortured and killed (some for refusing to convert), churches bombed, and nuns threatened.

January's roundup of Muslim persecution of Christians around the world includes (but is not limited to) the following accounts, listed by theme and country in alphabetical order, not necessarily according to severity.

Attacks on Christian Places of Worship

Egypt: Christian churches were severely targeted during the first month of 2014. Among other incidents, during New Year Eve church services, Muslim Brotherhood supporters attacked St. George Church in Ain Shams; one young Coptic man died from a bullet wound to the head. International Christian Concern reports that on Friday, January 3, Muslim Brotherhood supporters also attacked an Evangelical Church in the Gesr El Suez area of Cairo, "pelt[ing] stones on the church and chanting slogans against Christians," in the words of a local. Reports indicate that "there was no security for the church building and that the attackers operated with impunity." On Sunday, January 5, security forces in Suez disrupted a terrorist cell belonging to the "Supporters of Jerusalem," whose members were plotting to attack a nearby church during January 7 Orthodox Christmas celebrations. In the bathroom of the Three Saints Church in the city of Beni Suef, the police found, among other items, a bomb, which was defused by police. On January 10, security forces "arrested a bearded person in possession of four hand grenades in a handbag next to the Church of Two Saints," according to a local Christian. (In 2011, a suicide attack on the same church on New Year's Eve resulted in the killing of over 20 Christian worshippers). On January 24, authorities found explosives inside a car parked behind the Al Malak Church, which was targeted, "to be exploded," sources told International Christian Concern. On January 25, security forces in the city of Ismailia found 26 Molotov Cocktails inside a bag next to the Church of St. Bishoy. Witnesses say that the person in possession of the bag of explosives was sitting in a car next to the church and that "he fled when he saw the policemen." On January 28, "A group of armed men," according to Asia News "attacked the Coptic Orthodox Church of the Virgin Mary in the governorate of Giza. Police responded to gunfire and one officer died in the shootout, while two others were injured."
Indonesia: In the province of Aceh, where Sharia law holds sway, Christians, who make up 1.2 percent of the population, continue to be denied permits to build churches. According to Agenzia Fides, "There are only three churches in the provincial capital Banda Aceh (one Catholic and two Protestant), and even though the Christian population in Aceh is increasing, the requirements to obtain permits and the pressures of radical Islamic groups on the civilian authorities have made it extremely difficult for non-Muslims to build new places of worship. Moreover, the current governor of the province, Zaini Abdullah, who was elected in 2012, promotes a declared program of islamization of society." According to Zulfikar Muhammad, coordinator of the Aceh Human Rights Coalition, the laws that appear within Sharia districts "limit the freedom of minorities to practice their faith and are not coherent with the Indonesian Constitution."
Malaysia: An unidentified assailant hurled two firebombs at a shrine fronting the Church of the Assumption. Only one bomb ignited, causing minor damage to the structure. The assault seems to have been the response to Christians using the word "Allah" to refer to the biblical God. "But the incident," said Sky News, "stirred memories of a wave of such attacks on places of worship—mostly churches—four years ago during an earlier bout of divisions over the dispute in the Muslim-majority country.... Conservative Muslims have raised pressure in recent weeks for Malay-speaking Christians to stop using the word 'Allah.'"
Nigeria: On a Friday in the Muslim-majority north, gunmen suspected of being members of the Islamic organization Boko Haram burned down a church and the house of a National Assembly member. Separately, in the midst of several Sunday morning raids by Muslim Fulani herdsmen, at least fifteen Christians were killed.
South Sudan: During clashes between rebel groups and the recently formed government of South Sudan, Catholic and Protestant churches were attacked and priests forced to flee for their lives. The whereabouts of a bishop who disappeared remains unknown. Some 600,000 people, most of them Christian, have also fled their homes amid reports of mass slaughters and ongoing attacks on churches.
Zanzibar: More than 100 Muslims stormed a church following an evening worship service and beat the visiting preacher. According to a church elder, "These rowdy Muslims were shouting and yelling, saying, 'We are looking for the bishop of the church to slaughter him—we are tired of the existence of this church near our mosque and the noise they are making.'" The Islamic mob fled when police arrived—but not before tearing the visiting pastor's coat and shirt, and causing him to suffer multiple injuries requiring treatment. According to another church member, the "congregation has been living in fear for their lives... At the moment we cannot worship freely because we are being threatened. The Muslims are accusing us of making a lot of noise while they themselves make a lot of noise."

Attacks on Christian Freedom: Apostasy, Blasphemy, Proselytism

Algeria: Ali Touahir, a 52-year-old Muslim convert to Christianity, is paying the price for apostasy: his Muslim wife has left him, taking their seven-year-old daughter, and is divorcing him in court. One of his wife's brothers has openly threatened to kill him. According to court documents, the wife's lawyer wrote: "It is not possible that my client [the Muslim wife] still remain under the same roof with a man who has renounced his religion, as he became apostate; and we are not ignorant of the punishment that is due an apostate under sharia [death]."
Israel: Christians in Nazareth were warned against "slandering" Allah. A large billboard was posted in Nazareth featuring a picture of a stop sign, along with Koran 4:171 which reads: "O people of the Scripture [Christians]! Do not exceed the limits of your religion. Say nothing but the truth about Allah (The One True God). The Christ Jesus, Son of Mary, was only a Messenger of God and His word conveyed to Mary and a spirit created by Him. So believe in God and His messengers and do not say: 'Three gods (trinity).' Cease! It will be better for you. Indeed, Allah is the One and the Only God. His Holiness is far above having a son."
Kazakhstan: A court fined two Protestant Christians for possession of Christian publications, which it defined as "extremist material." According to a note sent to Agenzia Fides, a "tough system of religious censorship imposed by the state" prevails in the nation. Earlier, in October, 2013, Bibles and icons in a small shop were seized by police, and the owner indicted for the sale of religious material without the permission of the state. Similarly, a 67-year-old Christian Presbyterian Pastor has been under arrest since May 17, 2013, on charges of distributing "extremist material" -- basic leaflets on the Christian faith.
Lebanon: After allegations of blasphemy, that a decades-old library owned by a Christian and church leader possessed "material deemed insulting to Islam and Muhammad," the building was torched in an arson attack; two-thirds of its 80,000 books and manuscripts were destroyed.
Malaysia: Christians using the word "Allah" for worship were again attacked by Muslim groups. Similarly, a portrait of Fr. Andrew Lawrence, Director of the Catholic Weekly Herald, was burned; threats to his life continue. Msg. Murphy Pakiam, the region's Archbishop Emeritus, in a letter asked that authorities to "take the necessary measures to prevent further provocative acts of intimidation against minorities." He concluded by saying, "Let us not forget to pray for our enemies, who have misunderstood our faith."
Pakistan: Asia Bibi, a Catholic Christian wife and mother who has been on death row for over four years without trial for allegedly blaspheming Islam and/or its prophet Muhammad, sent a message to Pope Francis saying that "only God will be able to free me.... I also hope that every Christian has been able to celebrate the Christmas just past with joy. Like many other prisoners, I also celebrated the birth of the Lord in prison in Multan, here in Pakistan... I would have liked to be in St. Peter's for Christmas to pray with you, but I trust in God's plan for me and hopefully it will be achieved next year."

Dhimmitude and Murder

Bangladesh: Ovidio Marandy, a young Christian and brother of a Catholic priest, was murdered. According to his brother and family, "Muslim radicals wanted to punish the young man, a well-known figure in the local Catholic community, because he had recently organised a demonstration in his village against Islamist violence," and more generally was speaking for Christian rights in the Muslim majority nation. According to the local Christian priest, "We are shocked by what happened. Christians have the right to vote. Why are Islamists attacking us? We want peace."

Buddhists and Christians protest Islamist violence in Bangladesh.

Egypt: Yet another Coptic Christian child was kidnapped in Egypt. Thirteen-year-old Cyril Rif'at Fayiz was abducted in the Minya district by "unknown persons" who later called the child's parents demanding one million Egyptian pounds, the equivalent of nearly $150,000 USD -- an exorbitant sum for Egyptian villagers.
Syria: Two Armenian families were compelled to convert to Islam at the hands of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), and one young Armenian man, Minas, was killed for refusing. According to iNews, "Minas and his father were held in ISIL's prison for 115 days, according to one activist, and his accusation was that he refused to submit [to Islam; convert]." The same report mentions other Christian Armenians killed, including one who reportedly had "his head chopped off and placed in a biscuit box." Separately, according to Aleteia.org, another Christian man, Fadi, was beheaded and his body stabbed with his own crucifix, which had exposed him as a Christian to "rebels" who had stopped his car.
Turkey: Protests against Christmas and New Year celebrations were described as "unprecedented" by Al-Monitor. The campaign was led by the Anatolian Youth Association (AYA), the youth branch of the pro-Islamic Felicity Party. In one instance, in various Istanbul neighborhoods, members displayed posters picturing a Muslim man punching Santa Claus, with the slogan "No to New Year's and Christmas celebrations." The group also distributed flyers stating, "We are crying out that the New Year's and Christmas celebrations held in our country are wrong and constitute a blow dealt to our Muslim identity." On 26 December at Beyazit Square in Istanbul, the AYA stabbed an inflatable Santa while chanting against Christmas and New Year celebrations. One Christian bishop expressed concerns that the Santa parody was "like a rehearsal" for attacks on real people: "A handful of Christians are left in this country, and such incidents naturally cause fear... The savage murders of missionaries took place in the wake of similar hate campaigns."

About this Series

While not all, or even most, Muslims are involved, persecution of Christians is expanding. "Muslim Persecution of Christians" was developed to collate some—by no means all—of the instances of persecution that surface each month.

It documents what the mainstream media often fails to report.

It posits that such persecution is not random but systematic, and takes place in all languages ethnicities and locations.

Happy 40th Anniversary, Baby (Roe v. Wade video)

The man in the following video celebrates the sexiness of 40 years murdering our children...54,000,000 of them.

It's as if he's saying "let's have guilt-free sex where if I get you pregnant, we can just kill the child and move on with our sensual lives..."

Absolutely vile and detestable.

From YouTube:

"...the Center for Reproductive Rights asked Mehcad Brooks of the USA Network's "Necessary Roughness" and HBO's "True Blood" to prepare a special video message just for you. To learn more and to sign the Bill of Reproductive Rights visit DrawTheLine.org."

Link to video


Cross-posted from Against All Enemies

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Disclaimer: These opinions are solely my own, and do not reflect the opinions or official positions of any United States Government agency, organization or department.

Abortion: America's Holocaust

Happy 40th Anniversary to Roe v. Wade

In those 40 years, there have been 54,000,000 Americans aborted, or an average of around 1,350,000 Americans per year.  (For comparison, approximately 6,000,000 Jews were killed during the Nazi Holocaust in Europe.)

Another way of looking at it is that there are about 26 babies aborted every 10 minutes in America.  This is about the same amount of time it took Adam Lanza to kill 26 people at the Sandy Hook Elementary School.  So every 10 minutes there is another Sandy Hook in America due to abortion...every 10 minutes for the last 40 years.

"Are we prepared to say that such violence visited on our children year after year after year is somehow the price of our freedom?"
- President Obama

It would be worth your time listening to the Christian Worldview interview with Scott Poling, the senior pastor of the Harvest Baptist Church in Oswego, Illinois.  They discuss the issue of abortion in relation to the Word of God.

Cross-posted from Against All Enemies

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Disclaimer: These opinions are solely my own, and do not reflect the opinions or official positions of any United States Government agency, organization or department.

It's Not The Guns, It's The Madman Doing The Killing!

By Findalis
Monkey in the Middle

After the tragedy of last Friday, the leftist of the nation, headed by President Barack Hussein Obama, are demanding that the nation dismantle the 2nd Amendment and take guns away from the citizens of the land.  It seems that every time a tragedy happens, the left want to remove the guns as if it was the panacea that will cure all the ills of the land.

This panacea has been tried through out Europe and other places.  In Great Britain they removed guns from the hands of the people and violent crime has risen by 25%.  The problem in some areas is so great that the average Brit is afraid to leave his or her home at night.  In fact home invasion robberies are on the rise and the new self-defense weapons (knives, baseball and cricket bats) are now being outlawed.  They are destroying their nation in order to achieve a Utopia.

In Australia guns were removed from the people 5 years ago.  Violent crime has risen 6000%.  The people are demanding their guns to be returned.  They are not safe, the police are not helping and they have no way to defend themselves.

In the City of Chicago there have been 436 murders so far this year.  That is up from 435 for the total of last year.  Chicago has some of the strictest gun laws in the nation.  Yet the murder rate is climbing to be almost 2 murders a day.  That is about 60 deaths a month.  Way more than the 26 at Newtown, CT.  Yet the leftists in the city call for more gun control.  It doesn't work.

Now we are hearing the same cries.  Get rid of the guns.  Get rid of the assault weapons.  Get rid of the large magazines.  Get rid of the bullets.  But not the true reason for the massacres.

BLAME THE MURDERER!  GET THE MENTALLY ILL VIOLENT MURDERERS OUT OF OUR MIDST!!!

Now I've just said a horribly bigoted thing.  After all, these people have an illness.  They cannot be just thrown into a hospital.  The old State Mental Hospitals were eliminated because they were cruel placed.  The mentally ill have rights!   They need to be allowed out amongst us.  They have the right to a life.

What the bleeding heart liberals refuse to recognize is that not all the mentally ill are able to be amongst us.  In fact, it is for our safety that they need to be locked away.

The great number of the mentally ill (90%) take their medicine, see their doctor, live quite normal lives.  They are not violent.  They are our neighbors and friends.  They are no harm to themselves and others.

A smaller amount need a more structured environment.  A group home or the like will be fine for these people.  They need a person telling them how to live each day or even each hour at time.  They might become violent or self-destructive, but can be controlled better.

The last group, a very small minority, are extremely violent.  They WILL hurt themselves or others.  They WILL find a way to acquire guns, explosives or even knives.  These are the madmen who WILL commit a murder, murder/suicide, or even a mass murder.  They have no feelings for others, no consciences.  Killing is just another high for them.  These are the mentally ill that MUST be hospitalized before they kill.

Unfortunately there is no way to commit a young person to a State Hospital to protect society.  Until a person commits a crime, and is "in the system", one cannot commit a dangerous individual.  In fact it is only until a mentally ill commits the crime, he or she will not even get any help.  Over 50% of prisoners in US prisons are mentally ill.  In fact our prison system has become our State Mental Hospitals.  Prison budgets are being bloated by the care of the mentally ill.  By the drugs and therapy these people need every day.  And true criminals, many who will repeat their crimes over and over without any mental illness, are put upon the streets of our cities in order to care for the mentally ill.

This should not be.  In fact the tragedy in Newtown, CT could have been prevented if Nancy Lanza had been able to call a state run hotline, explained her fears, and gotten Adam into a state facility for evaluation.  If that had been an option for her, she would be alive and 26 innocent victims would be celebrating the season.

Should we not address the guns which did not kill anyone, but the mentally ill man who commits this crime.

VIDEO: Civilian Executed At Point Blank Range in Syria

By Findalis of Monkey in the Middle

If one thought that keeping the press out of a nation will mean you can get away with anything including murder, guess again.  Assad of Syria has been trying this since the protests started.  But he forgot that people have cell phones, those cell phones have video cameras.  The people of Syria are becoming the reporters.  Thus the truth is emerging, slowly but emerging.

The following video is extremely graphic.  The name of the victim is unknown.  But his murder his documented.




Please pass this on to others.  On death among 30 that day.

Hat tip to Elder of Ziyon

Why Is THIS Acceptable To The World?

WARNING: THESE PHOTOS ARE EXTREMELY GRAPHIC AND NOT INTENDED FOR CHILDREN.

Why is the MURDER of 5 innocent Jews acceptable to the world and the world will scream bloody murder if an Arab develops a hangnail?

Photos of the murder of the Fogel family in the town of Itamar, north of Jerusalem, on March 11, 2011 by Arab terrorists.

These photos were released by the family. They have given full permission for their use in order to report on the horrific reality of murdering children and babies in their sleep, "simply because they are Jewish."

3-year-old Jewish boy

11-year-old son

Father and 3-month-old baby

3-year-old Jewish boy

This is the true face of terror. This is what the creatures who call themselves Palestinians dance, sing and rejoice in.  This is the true face of Islam.  Forget the lies CAIR, the liberal left and the idiot media tell you. Look carefully on this family. This could be your family.  If Muslims don't get their way, they resort to violence like this.

Please remember the 3 remaining children of the Fogel family who buried their parents and siblings today.  One day part of a happy, loving family, the next day ORPHANED!

MSM Hides Another “Resident Alien” Murderer

If you’ve watched enough local network affiliate news broadcasts, you get a feel for how it’s usually done – especially when the story is about a gruesome murder. There’s always the on-the-scene reporter live at the scene. There are usually brief interviews with neighbors and relatives of both the victim and the suspect. If the suspect gets away, the story stays hot and little by little more and more is revealed about the suspect. And so it goes – usually. But not so with this story! Not one peep from the MSM affiliates or the big newspapers about the suspect’s background. The silence about the suspect was so deafening I decided that there had to be more to this story.

Last week 19-year-old Melanie Goodwin, a Denton, Texas resident, was bludgeoned to death, set on fire, and her charred body dumped by Ernesto Pina Reyes. We know this because . . .

A business surveillance camera captured a grisly scene, showing a man dragging UNT student Melanie Goodwin’s body from her car and setting it on fire, according to an arrest warrant affidavit released Thursday. . . The man in the video was identified as Ernesto Reyes by his girlfriend . . .

Ms. Goodwin’s charred body was found Tuesday morning near a business located in the 3200 block of Keller Springs Road in Carrollton. The Dallas County Medical Examiner determined that Ms. Goodwin, 19, died of multiple blunt force injuries. . .

"She was last seen at a Denton convenience store Tuesday where police believe Mr. Reyes, who authorities say did not know Ms. Goodwin, approached her and asked her for a ride. . ."

Donovan Young, a friend of Reyes, “gave Reyes a gas can, money for fuel, and later helped to abandon the car his friend had been driving.”

Reyes remains at large and may have even fled to Mexico. Despite being wanted for murder he reportedly is communicating to his myspace.com account. The page, which among other things contains sexual photos, was last updated on September 27, 2007. . .

A MySpace page registered to a 20-year-old Ernesto Reyes of Denton was last updated Thursday, two days after Goodwin's death. It appeared that several lewd images of women had been removed. Singleton said that investigators are aware that someone logged on to the page and that they're looking into it. . .

Fox News only news source reporting that Reyes is an alien
. . .“Police have issued a murder warrant for the arrest of Ernesto Pina Reyes, a 20-year-old resident alien living in Denton, Texas, in connection with the death of Melanie Goodwin. Reyes remains at large.”

Now be sure to read the following article very, very carefully. Ok I’ll highlight!

Parents of dead UNT student offer $10,000 reward
BY SARAH BLASKOVICH, Community Editor(Created: Monday, October 1, 2007 4:48 PM CDT)

Ernesto Reyes, the Denton resident who Carrollton police believe may have killed 19-year-old Melanie Goodwin last week, is still missing.

In an effort to encourage community members to speak up, Goodwin’s family is offering a $10,000 reward for anyone who has information that may lead to the arrest of Reyes. The money is a combination of donations from employees at the Southern Reservation Office of American Airlines and from Goodwin’s friends.

Goodwin’s body — which was burned after she was killed, police said — was found at the 3200 block of Keller Springs Road in Carrollton at about 11 a.m. Sept. 25. The University of North Texas student died from multiple blunt force trauma, according to officials at the Dallas County Medical Examiner’s Office.

Carrollton resident Donovan Young was arrested for tampering with evidence in the death of Goodwin on Thursday. Young was released from the Dallas County Jail on Monday and posted bond on a $125,000 bail.

Police still have no leads as to where Reyes may be, said Sgt. John Singleton, spokesperson for the Carrollton Police Department.

Reyes lives at 8513 Swan Park Drive in Denton, according to police affidavits. Reyes lives with family members, said neighbor David Rush. There was no answer at Reyes’ home Monday afternoon.

But now there’s some things we can do . . .

According to today’s Fort Worth Star Telegram, America’s Most Wanted has joined the search. Please note how this newspaper story below also failed to note that Reyes is a resident alien.

Will AMW reveal that Reyes is a resident alien??? Well if you go to AMW the story page is missing. Let’s just drop them a note and ask AMC if they plan on revealing that Reyes is a resident alien.

This is the response I got from my note:

Thanks for contacting America's Most Wanted. We value our viewers' comments and suggestions. Because we receive such a high volume of emails, a personal response may be delayed, but we want you to know that we received your email, and someone will get back to you as quickly as possible. In the meantime, thanks for watching, thanks for visiting amw.com, and thanks for wanting to make a difference.

Sincerely,
John Walsh & the AMW Team
http://www.amw.com/
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/americasmostwanted

Pay attention to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram story below . Do you read anything about Reyes being a resident alien?

America's Most Wanted has joined the search for the man sought in connection with the killing of University of North Texas sophomore Melanie Goodwin.

The show's Web site features a case file on Ernesto Pina Reyes, 20, of Denton, along with a description of the crime and images of Goodwin and Reyes. The case was mentioned on Saturday's episode.

A $10,000 reward is being offered for information leading to Reyes' arrest, said Matthew Bobo, a spokesman for the Goodwins. The money has been donated by the employees of the Southern Reservation Office of American Airlines and friends of the Goodwins.

Goodwin was last seen alive at a Denton convenience store about 1:40 a.m. Sept. 25. She was talking with Reyes, who asked her for a ride, according to police.

Her burned body was found in the 3200 block of Keller Springs Road in Carrollton about nine hours later. Police said a surveillance videotape from that location shows a man matching Reyes' description dragging a body from Goodwin's car. They issued a murder warrant for him Wednesday.

An acquaintance of Reyes, Donovan R. Young, 19, was arrested last week on a charge of tampering with evidence in the case. He was released from the Dallas Jail after posting $2,500 bail this weekend, according to a jail spokesman.

Relatives have said Goodwin had no connection to Reyes or Young before she was killed. The America's Most Wanted Web site says Goodwin was on her way home from an event when she stopped for gas.

Online: http://www.amw.com/

Tip line
Call Carrollton police at 972-466-4775.

tshurley@star-telegram.com
Traci Shurley, 817-548-5494

Let's ask the reporter if references to Reyes being a resident alien were edited out of this story!

You can find a world of information on the Reyes address at the Denton Central Appraisal District Property Search. Tip – leave off the word “Drive” in your search.

http://www.dentoncad.com/joomla/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=99&

Use your imagination and let’s bombard the media with requests for information about Reye’s actual immigration status!!!

Question, should the name of the property owner be revealed? Leave your answer and comments.

**This was a production of The Coalition Against Illegal Immigration (CAII). If you would like to participate, please go to the above link to learn more. Afterwards, email stiknstein-at-gmail-dot-com and let us know at what level you would like to participate.

resident alien
Illegal immigration


Tags: immigration, mexico, immigration reform, homeland security, mexican border, illegal aliens politics, news, law, media, culture, police, murder, criminal, legal

Trackposted to Outside the Beltway, Perri Nelson's Website, DeMediacratic Nation, Adam's Blog, Right Truth, Webloggin, The Amboy Times, Conservative Cat, The Crazy Rants of Samantha Burns, Pirate's Cove, and Gone Hollywood, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.