'Palestinian Authority' appointed Imam gives television tips on how to beat your wife
What's most amazing about this is not that it happened, but the reaction of the naive westerners to a glimpse of true Islamic behavior.
Hassan Al-Laham is the top Muslim spiritual leader for Gaza appointed by the 'moderate' 'Palestinian Authority.' (No, this guy isn't even appointed by Hamas, even though he's in Gaza). Official 'moderate' 'Palestinian Authority' television carried this lesson by him informing husbands how to beat their wives... and get away with it.
Let's go to the videotape.
This video, which Fox News calls 'shocking' (Hat Tip: Memeorandum), is actually more than three years old (where was the media for the last three years?). Shocking? Hardly. Certainly not to anyone at all familiar with Islam.
But there's much more to this interview than the short clip you just saw.
Explaining that divorce must be a last resort in Islam, Al-Laham laid out the four steps that should come first.
"Allah said: Warn them [the wives], and separate from
them, and hit them, and bring an arbitrator from his family and an
arbitrator from her family," he said.
Al-Laham, whose title makes him the top spiritual
leader appointed by the Palestinian Authority, then went into detail
about how a husband should hit a wife.
"Not hitting that will bring the police, and break her hand and cause bleeding, or hitting that makes the face ugly," he said.
The hitting should "be like a joke," even reinforcing "the love and friendship" between the couple, he said.
I don't know about you but I can tell you that if God Forbid I hit my wife, it would not reinforce the love and friendship between us. And my guess is that most Muslim women would tell you - if they felt safe talking about it - that being beaten by their husbands does not reinforce love and friendship.
So why is the West so shocked by this? Because Muslims get a free pass from the Western media. They're considered so 'exotic' and 'cool' that they can do no wrong.
The world needs to wake up to this misogynistic cult.
Here's another example. Let's go to the videotape.
Okay, that one was staged. But it was staged to make a point. Abuse of girls and women happens all too much in the Arab Muslim world. It's time to stop giving them a pass on it.
Taharrush - the Arab rape 'game' that's been exported to Europe
What happened in Cologne and other cities in Europe on New Year's Eve is known in the Arab world as Taharrush. It's a rape 'game' and it's particularly unpleasant for the women caught up in it (Hat Tip: Ellen S).
The "rape game" Taharrush is about a large group of Arab men surrounding
their victim, usually a Western woman or a woman wearing Western-style
clothing, and then the women are subjected to sexual abuse.
They
surround the victim in circles. The men in the inner circle are the
ones who physically abuse the woman, the next circle are the spectators,
while the mission of the third circle is to distract and divert
attention to what's going on.
If there is enough men, the woman
is dragged along by the mob, while the men take turns ripping her
clothes off, grope her, and inserting fingers in her various body
orifices.
I have a mercifully short video of it to show you (safe for work, but parental discretion advised - I did not turn on this video with my kids in the room).
Let's go to the videotape. More after the video.
Sounds like what happened to CBS reporter Lara Logan in Cairo's Tahrir Square five years ago, doesn't it? More reading here.
And now thanks to Frau Merkel, it's been exported to Europe. Will the US be next?
The “Babes of Hamas” pinup calendar was intended to support the
cash-strapped organization in its efforts to rebuild its arsenal,
tunnels, and logistical operations in the wake of a punishing war this
past summer with Israel. However, the publication has sold anemically,
forcing the organization to absorb tens thousands of dollars in expenses
and to dispose of the hundreds of thousands of copies it had ordered
several weeks ago.
The calendar features twelve wives and daughters of Hamas operatives,
including those of senior Hamas officials, clad only in a full-body
chador, hijab, and niqab, completely revealing their eyes. The
photographs were taken at various romantic or scenic locations in the
Gaza Strip early last month, such as the beach at sunset with a boatload
of weapons being smuggled in the background, or in the cleaning
products aisle of a well-stocked supermarket, to emphasize the privation
caused by the Israeli blockade. As a bonus feature, the calendar also
includes a life-size, fold-out poster of a well-oiled Kalashnikov
automatic rifle completely uncovered, positioned such that its magazine
intake socket is showing.
Hamas spokesman Ashudda Nohn told reporters that slow demand and
difficulty in delivering the calendars in any significant quantities to
the West Bank were both to blame for the paltry sales. “We may have
overestimated the popularity of the genre in the Gaza Strip,” admitted
Nohn. “And that’s weird, because despite the morality patrols and
enforced separation of men and women in all sorts of venues, pornography
consumption here is on par with anywhere else in the world.”
Analysts say they are not surprised at the lack of revenue from sales
of the calendar. “The real action is in Syria and Iraq, where people
can get actual women for just a few dollars in the areas under control
of the Islamic State,” says Hugh Mantraffy-King, who studies societal
developments in the region. “Who’s going to plunk down forty shekels for
a few photos when you can get the real thing just a few hundred
kilometers to the north for a only slightly more?” Forty shekels equals
about 12 US dollars. Christian, Kurdish, and Yazidi women are available
for purchase as sex slaves in IS-controlled areas for as little as ten
dollars, but transportation and smuggling fees add to the total.
ABC cancels series on American teen kidnapped by Saudis
ABC Television in the United States has canceled a series whose main character was an American teenage girl who was kidnapped to Saudi Arabia. Pam Geller writes at Breitbart that the series was canceled due to pressure from CAIR, Hamas' US branch.
The show was apparently about an American girl who is kidnapped by Saudi relatives and has to learn to live in Saudi Arabia. Alice in Arabiawas
described as “a high-stakes drama series about a rebellious American
teenage girl who, after tragedy befalls her parents, is unknowingly
kidnapped by her extended family, who are Saudi Arabian. Alice finds
herself a stranger in a new world but is intrigued by its offerings and
people, whom she finds surprisingly diverse in their views on the world
and her situation. Now a virtual prisoner in her grandfather’s royal
compound, Alice must count on her independent spirit and wit to find a
way to return home while surviving life behind the veil.”
BuzzFeed reported
that the script “describes veiled Muslim women as ‘completely formless,
anonymous.’ One sympathetic female character, in describing her lavish
Riyadh home, lauds it as ‘worth having to wear a silly veil while
outside.’”
What is wrong or offensive or untrue about that?
BuzzFeed also noted that “the show has some departures from the
standard template. The heroine is half Saudi, and sees herself as a
‘good Muslim girl’ — not the blonde Christian victim more typical of the
genre. But it broadly plays on a familiar narrative of a beautiful girl
kidnapped from the United States by sinister Arabs, held against her
will in the desert, and threatened with early marriage.”
Clearly they are in apologist mode. Nonetheless, CAIR wrote to ABC
Family that it was “concerned about the negative impact this program
could have on the lives of ordinary Arab-American and American Muslims”
and claimed that Alice in Arabia “may engage in stereotyping that can lead to things like bullying of Muslim students.”
CAIR wrote to ABC Family that it was “concerned about the negative
impact this program could have on the lives of ordinary Arab-American
and American Muslims.”
Pam notes that it's been 25 years since the American entertainment industry dealt with this problem.
Who speaks for those girls? The last time Hollywood addressed this horror was 25 years ago, with the feature film Not Without My Daughter, starring Sally Field. I guarantee you that in Alice of Arabia,
ABC wasn’t planning on presenting anything even close to that. You can
bet that it would have been a whitewashed and silly presentation of the
situation of women in Saudi Arabia, but CAIR didn’t want even that.
CAIR fights against shows like Alice of Arabia because they
don’t want any discussion at all of the plight of women under Islamic
law. They do not want any light at all shed on this problem, no matter
how benign the presentation. TV shows can focus on the situation of
women in any country except Muslim countries. Period. No “Arabia,” no
kidnapping -- no matter how prevalent it is in real life, as well as
sanctioned by the Sharia.
The problem of American women being kidnapped to Saudi Arabia is real, and it usually involves Saudi men marrying American women and then bringing them 'home' to Saudi Arabia. This is from a US State Department (!) advisory on the issue from 2003.
Most American women fall in love with westernized Muslim
traditionalists, leery of the West and its corrosive ways, and eager to
prove their wives' conformity to Saudi standards. The husbands are not
"Arab princes" of western folklore; rather, they are part of the vast
majority of Saudis who "get along" with the help of extended family
members and marginal expectations. Their American citizen wives are
often from the South/Southwest (where many Saudis prefer to study), they
have virtually no knowledge of Saudi Arabia other than what their
fiancés have told them, and do not speak Arabic. When they arrive in the
Kingdom, they take up residence in the family's home where family
members greet them with varying degrees of enthusiasm and little
English. Typically, their only driver will be their husband (or another
male family member), their social circle with be the extended family,
and they will not be permitted to work or appear uncovered among men to
whom their husband is not related. Initially, the American citizen
spouse will be almost entirely isolated from the large western community
that resides in the Kingdom. Gradually, the spouses who survive form a
network with other American citizen women married to Saudis. The
majority of American citizen spouses fall into this category.
...
Inevitably, American citizen spouses characterize their Saudi
husbands during their school days in the United States as being
completely "westernized"; drinking beer with the best of them, chasing
after women and generally celebrating all the diversities and decadence
of a secular society. Women married to Saudis who did not fit the
stereotype of the partying, or playboy/prince, are careful to point out
that their spouses nevertheless displayed a tolerance toward all of
these diversions and, particularly, toward them. In other words, the
Saudi-American relationship virtually always blossoms in the States, in a
climate that allows dating, cohabitation, children out of wedlock,
religious diversity, and a multitude of other Islamic sins which go
unnoticed by Saudi relatives and religious leaders thousands of miles
away.
American citizen wives swear that the transformation in their Saudi
husbands occurs during the transatlantic flight to the Kingdom. There is
the universal recollection of approaching Riyadh and witnessing the
donning of the black abayas and face veils by the fashionably
dressed Saudi women. For many women, the Saudi airport is the first time
they see their husband in Arab dress (i.e., the thobe and ghutra). For those American women reluctant to wear an abaya (the all-encompassing black cloak) and for those Saudi husbands who did not make an issue of the abaya
prior to arriving, the intense public scrutiny that starts at the
airport—given to a western woman who is accompanying a Saudi male—is
usually the catalyst for the eventual covering up. Since the
overwhelming majority of American citizen wives never travel to the
Kingdom prior to their marriage, they are abruptly catapulted into Saudi
society. When they arrive, their husband's traditional dress, speech,
and responsibilities to his family re-emerge and the American citizen
wife is left to cope with a new country, a new language, a new family,
and a new husband. Whether a Saudi has spent one year or eight studying
in the United States, each must return to the fold—grudgingly or with
relief—to get along in Saudi society and within the family hierarchy
that structures most social and business relations.
Social pressures on even the most liberal Saudi are daunting. Shame
is brought upon the entire family for the acts of an American citizen
wife who does not dress modestly (e.g., cover) in public, who is not
Muslim, who associates with men other than her extended relatives.
Silent disapprobation from family and friends is matched by virulent
public disapproval by the Kingdom's religious proctors (Mutawwaiin)
and vigilante enforcers of the faith. Several American wives, fearing
the latest round of religious harassment, have started fully veiling;
not to do so, they discovered, meant public squabbles with the Mutawwaiin
who vociferously oppose dual-national marriages. The experience of all
dual-national couples is that voluntary and involuntary compromises are
made or simply evolve. The sum of these compromises is quite often a
life very different than the one imagined and speculated upon in the
safety of the United States.
Read the whole thing. I wonder how many American women could have been saved by that television series.
Video: Egyptian sexual harassment at its finest at Cairo University
Remember Lara Logan? If you thought that a sexual assault in the world's largest Arab-Muslim country on a high profile television reporter, whose story was told around the world, was going to change the behavior of the Egyptian masses, you were dead wrong.
This video was shot at Cairo University where - one would think - a higher class of people hangs out than elsewhere in Cairo. In other words, you should assume that this video includes footage of the most intelligent, 'high class' Egyptians.
The young girl, with long blonde hair and a pink shirt, pink shoes
and jeans, can be seen in the video, uploaded to YouTube, walking
through the university campus as a group of men gather around her and
whistle and shout profanities at her.
The Saudi television
channel reported that a group of men also attempted to remove her
clothing, which cannot be seen in the clip.
University guards were forced to escort her until the she was safely off campus.
Adding
to the controversy, the Dean of Cairo University Law School, Gaber
Nassar, described the student's outfit as "a bit unconventional" and
implied that she was responsible for the harassment it caused.
“This
girl entered the university wearing an abaya (loose cloak) and then
took it off in the faculty, and appeared with those clothes, that
caused, in reality -- but this doesn't justify at all [the incident],”
Nassar said on private Egyptian channel ONTV.
Later, Nassar realized that his reaction wasn't very smart, and tried to walk it back.
Nasser later claimed he was misquoted and justified his response on Twitter.
"I
assure that this is not true and I apologize for the misunderstanding
and I repeat that those who (harassed the girl) will be severely
punished,” he wrote.
Right.... If they ever find them.
Sexual harassment of women in the Arab world in general and in Egypt in particular is much worse than just about anyplace else.
While Logan's assault is horrifying, it's not surprising. The Arabs in general - and the Egyptians in particular - are known for this sort of thing. This is from a 2006 post by the Sandmonkey - one of the first things I ever read on his blog.
The
story is as follows for the those of you who didn't hear about it: It
was the first day of Eid, and a new film was opening downtown. Mobs of
males gatherd trying to get in, but when the show was sold out, they
decided they will destroy the box office. After accomplishing that, they
went on what can only be described as a sexual frenxy: They ran around
grabbing any and every girl in sight, whether a niqabi, a Hijabi or
uncoverd. Whether egyptian or foreigner. Even pregnant ones. They
grabbed them, molested them, tried to rip their cloths off and rape
them, all in front of the police, who didn't do shit. The good people of
downtown tried their best to protect the girls. Shop owners would let
the girls in and lock the doors, while the mobs tried to break in. Taxi
drivers put the girls in the cars while the mobs were trying to break
the glass and grab the girls out. It was a disgusting pandamonium of
sexual assaults that lasted for 5 houres from 7:30 PM to 12:30 am, and
it truns my stomach just to think about it.
I called my father
when I heard of that happening, and he informed me that he didn't hear
of it at all. They watched Al Jazeerah, CNN, flipped through opposition
newspapers, and nothing. Nada. Nobody mentioned it. As if it didn't
happen.
But it did.
...
Now, the egyptian
blogsphere has been abuzz in debate over the incident. Some are writing
posts on why it happend, possible causes, what it means, the social and
political factors that could possibly lead to this behavior, and quite
honestly, I can't be botherd. I don't care why it happend. Rape is not
up for debate. I just care that it happend. What we should discuss right
now isn't what caused it, but what kind of horrible punishment that
should be enacted on any egyptian male who thinks that it is well into
his right to sexually harass a female on the street. That's it. Pure and
simple.
I am often told that I am too westernized or too liberal
by people I know, and they are not wrong or inaccurate. My values are
for the most part western values. However, there are two middle-eastern
traits in me that I can never give up: The first is my stupid insistince
on always paying for the bill when I am with a girl I am dating, and
the second is my protectiveness of women. I have no tolerance for those
who assault women sexually in any way, and that almost got me kicked out
of my school in Boston when I broke the leg of one of my roommates who
raped a friend of mine. The incident only resulted in him getting a
broken leg because people stoped me before I killed him. And I had the
full intention of killing him. Rapists do not deserve to live. And
that's how I feel towards every single one of those pieces of shit that
attacked women on the streets of cairo the other day.
People can
debate solutions based on dialogue, education, or whatever and that's
their right. My solution is far simpler: Any egyptian man whose mother
raised him right should beat the living crap of any man he sees on the
street that assaults or harasses a female. Think of them as your
sisters, and act accordingly. The Police isn't interested in protecting
the women, and that's fine, but that means that we should take this job
as our own. Those who insist on acting like animals will be treated as
such, and deserve no sympathy or mercy from us. I assure you, if we did
this, if we undertook this as part of our national duty, there will no
longer be a problem on our streets.
That is all!
There's another point here. Note that the woman in the video is blonde and is wearing her hair loosely. Several years ago, the wife of a friend confided in me that she had been
raped before they were married. She was assaulted by an Arab man right
here in Jerusalem, and she told me that she attributed the assault that
she was blond and that she was wearing her hair loose. She said that
blonds have to be particularly careful around Arab men, and she advised
wearing their hair tight and in a bun. Look at the woman again. See what
I mean?
'Kinder, gentler' Hamas hires female spokesperson who wants to live in Britain
Hamas has hired Egyptian-born 23-year old Isra Almodallal to be its spokesperson. Almodallal spent five years living in Britain - to which she would eventually like to return - and speaks fluent English.
She is not a member of the Islamist group. She wears a
traditional headscarf along with a touch of makeup, listens to
non-Islamic music and will on occasion shake hands with members
of the opposite sex, behaviour usually frowned on by Hamas.
Modallal, who was born in Egypt but has Palestinian
nationality and lives in Rafah refugee camp in southern Gaza,
took up her post earlier this month.
She said she planned eventually to return to Britain, where
she lived for three years in the northern city of Bradford with
her brother, a British national.
"It is a period of my life ... then I am going to complete
my (law) study ... in Bradford or Scotland or London
University," Modallal told Reuters.
...
Modallal said however she would not take calls from Israeli
journalists.
She will not discuss Hamas
suicide bombings and other attacks, which have killed hundreds of
Israelis over the years. Nor will she be handling the sensitive
reconciliation attempts with the rival Palestinian government in the
West Bank. Spokesmen for the Hamas movement, as opposed to the Gaza
government, deal with those subjects.
"I am not Hamas. I am a Palestinian activist who loves her country," Almodallal said.
When asked her opinion on Hamas' history of
suicide bombings against Israelis, she did not answer directly but said
Israel's unfair media coverage had given Hamas a bad reputation.
"This is because of the Israeli media, which
is a smart media. They change the truth and show the opposite picture of
Palestine and the Palestinians," she said.
If only it was.
Almodallal is not a Hamas loyalist and says that she would be equally willing to work for the Fatah terror organization. She is 23-years old and the divorced mother of a 4-year old daughter.
The Egyptians always seem to find the time to molest women no matter what is going on. It's a national sickness.
Close to 100 women have fallen victim to "rampant"
sexual attacks in Cairo's Tahrir Square during four days of protests
against Egypt's Islamist President Mohamed Morsi, Human Rights Watch
said on Wednesday.
"Mobs sexually assaulted and in some cases raped at least 91 women in
Tahrir Square... amid a climate of impunity," HRW, which is based in
New York, said in a statement.
It cited figures from the Egyptian Operation Anti-Sexual
Harassment/Assault, which runs a hotline for victims of sexual assault,
showing that there were 46 such attacks against women on Sunday, 17 on
Monday and 23 on Tuesday.
Another women's rights group, Nazra for Feminist Studies, reported that there were another five attacks on Friday, said HRW.
The watchdog called on Egyptian officials and political leaders
"across the spectrum to condemn and take immediate steps to address the
horrific levels of sexual violence" in the iconic square.
"The rampant sexual attacks during the Tahrir Square protests
highlight the failure of the government and all political parties to
face up to the violence that women in Egypt experience on a daily basis
in public spaces," said Joe Stork, HRW's deputy Middle East director.
"These are serious crimes that are holding women back from
participating fully in the public life of Egypt at a critical point in
the country's development."
There's a much bigger problem than rape preventing women from participating in Egypt's public life. The real problem is that it shows a complete lack of respect for half the population, treating women as objects rather than as people. But then, that seems to be what Islam everywhere seems to think about women, so perhaps the problem isn't unique to Egypt - it's just most visible there.
Could Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan be a candidate for a Nobel peace prize? (Hat Tip: MFS - The Other News) (Given that they gave one to President Hussein Obama for his 'future potential' how much worse could this be)?
Well, there's a small catch....
Turkish Family and Social Policies Minister Fatma Şahin held talks with
Secretary General of the Council of Europe Thorbjørn Jagland, who is on a
visit to Turkey. After the meeting she said that “the process of EU
integration strengthens Turkey’s positions and weight”, Turkish NTV reported.
Later on the minister wrote on her twitter page about her impressions
from the meeting with Mr Jagland, as follows: “Apart from Secretary
General of the Council of Europe Thorbjørn Jagland, who told me literary
the following: “Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is a Noble
Prize candidate if he manages to solve the Kurdish issue”, is also
Chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee”.
At the meeting Minister Şahin confessed that the violence over women in
Turkey was a problem of the society and there was a need to take the
necessary steps in this field.
I'd be amazed if Erdogan were to manage to 'solve the Kurdish issue' (unless genocide is a 'solution'), let alone his Islamist government do anything to ameliorate violence against women. 'Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me'?
#Tomorrow13 A Muslim talks about Israel's President's conference
Next week, I will be attending the annual President's Conference here in Jerusalem for the third time (maybe even the fourth). One of the speakers will be Raheel Raza, the President of the Council of Muslims Facing Tomorrow. Raheel received a letter from a 'Palestinian in Vancouver' urging Raheel to boycott the conference. She wrote this piece in response.
My response to my Palestinian friend is that the first time I was
invited to speak at this conference three years ago, I went, hesitantly,
not knowing what it was all about. I was so enthused by both my visit
to Israel and the conference that I wrote extensively about the
experience on my blog, and later named my own Not-for-Profit
Organization "Muslims Facing Tomorrow" with an idea that one day, I
would host a similar conference about ideas and a vision for a better
tomorrow.
Upon my return, I praised the country and the people, but many of my
Muslim friends were not interested in knowing these details. They only
asked, "Were there any Palestinians at the conference and was the
Israel-Palestinian issue discussed?" I was happy to respond that yes,
there were Palestinians at the conference; I had even brought home a
book on Islam from one of the Palestinian speakers there.
About human rights violations: granted that Israel, like every other
country, has violations -- but far fewer than those of the countries
surrounding it. Israel is still the only liberal democracy in the area
where one can find gender equality and freedom for its citizens. During
my visits to Israel, I have, in fact, questioned Israeli Arabs and found
that they are loath to leave the country where they enjoy freedom and
human rights.
...
My problem is that I am from Pakistan, a country where the word human
rights has no meaning or recognition whatsoever. According to the Human
Rights Watch World Report on Pakistan for 2012, Pakistan had a
disastrous year -- including increasing attacks on civilians by militant
groups, religious minorities facing unprecedented insecurity and
persecution, and where freedom of belief and expression are coming under
severe threat as the presence of Islamists has grown by leaps and
bounds. This does not even begin to address violations against women.
The Aurat Foundation, a local women's rights group in Pakistan, says the
number of incidents of violence against women in Pakistan has increased
at least seven percent over the past year.
But I have never seen or heard a Palestinian speak out about these
human rights violations; take part in demonstrations or boycotts for
these offences, or show support for the cause of Pakistani women. Where
were their voices when Christians and Shias were being killed and
brutalized in Pakistan just a few months ago? No one asked me to cancel
my annual visits to Pakistan, but I did lodge a complaint against my own
land of birth at the UNHRC, so I may not be travelling back there soon.
...
In ending let me say this to my Palestinian friend: The
Palestinian-Israeli conflict is over land, and can be solved when both
sides recognize one another and, as equals, then have a dialogue. This
means that, like me, you have to accept that Israel has a right to
exist. It is not the only conflict related to Muslims. If you want
justice for those facing criminal human rights violations, then speak
out against Sudan, Egypt, Burma, China, Iran and all other countries who
regularly persecute their own citizens.
#AnaLama: Saudi preacher who raped and murdered daughter pays 'blood money' and is released
You may recall Lamaa, the 5-year old Saudi girl who was raped (not part of the previous post - just found that out now), tortured and murdered by her father, a Saudi television preacher.
The only good news I can tell you is that the preacher has now been named. His name is Fayhan al-Ghamdi.
The bad news is that he has now paid 'blood money' and has been released from custody by the Saudi authorities. No trial (heck - he admitted he did it). No prison sentence. Just money for snuffing out a little girl's life.
Fayhan al-Ghamdi had been accused of killing his daughter Lama, who
suffered multiple injuries including a crushed skull, broken back,
broken ribs, a broken left arm and extensive bruising and burns. Social
workers say she had also been repeatedly raped and burnt.
Fayhan
al-Ghamdi admitted using a cane and cables to inflict the injuries after
doubting his five-year-old daughter’s virginity and taking her to a
doctor, according to the campaign group Women to Drive.
Rather
than getting the death penalty or receiving a long prison sentence for
the crime, Fayhan al-Ghamdi served only a few months in jail before a
judge ruled the prosecution could only seek ‘blood money’.
Albawaba News
reported the judge as saying: "Blood money and the time the defendant
had served in prison since Lama's death suffices as punishment."
Fayhan al-Ghamdi, who regularly appears on television in Saudi Arabia, is said to have agreed to pay £31,000 to Lama’s mother.
The
money is considered compensation under Islamic law, although it is only
half the amount that would have been paid had Lama been a boy.
Despite
Saudi Arabia’s famously strict legal system, Women to Drive say fathers
cannot be executed for murdering their children in the country.
Equally, husbands cannot be executed for murdering their wives.
Formal
objections to the ruling have been raised by three Saudi activists, and
the twitter hashtag #AnaLama (which translates as I Am Lama) has been
set up.
What's a girl's life worth in Saudi Arabia? £31,000. And a boy's life is worth £62,000. Really not a whole lot more What a sick society and a sick religion.
Okay, she lives in the US and not in Gaza City or Ramallah which is why, for now at least, it's at least somewhat safe for her to speak out. But that doesn't minimize at all the courage of Qanta Ahmed, who is a Medical doctor and not an academic one (Hat Tip: Mrs. Carl).
Israel’s eight-day operation “Pillar of
Defense” sought to dismantle the Hamas apparatus from within Gaza. The
predictably seamless alignment of the Muslim world against Israel was
even more breathtaking than usual in the face of Syria’s 22 months of
systematic genocide, one which has consistently failed to trigger
unanimous Muslim protest. What does this say about us as Muslims?
We are hypocrites.
While Muslims define Israel as the enemy, we
ignore Assad, and diabolically laud Hamas. Hamas is never sated – each
year it devours ever more Palestinians, regardless of age or gender. If
Israelis lose fewer citizens than the Palestinians in these conflicts it
is for the same reason Israel exchanges more prisoners for each captive
soldier: quite simply Israel values human life more than does Hamas,
which relishes ground operations taking place among densely populate civilian areas.
Explaining this to Muslims in the
Twitterverse, I get sharply reminded that Hamas does not have the
“luxury of launch sites” that Israel enjoys. Have we lost our minds,
Muslims? How can we speak of ‘launch sites’ as ‘luxuries’ while
disregarding the culling taking place in Syria? Perhaps we have not lost
our minds, but we have most certainly lost our religion.
As I am not one to speak for others, allow me
to let Hamas speak for themselves. They are bald-faced about their
mission, seeking glory through death, annunciation through annihilation:
We are ready to offer 1,000, 2,000 or even
10,000 martyrs every year. We are ready to keep offering martyrs for
twenty years because we are sure we are moving in the right direction
and that we will prevail in the end” (Hamas leader Khalid Al Mish’al in
Gaza”
To Hamas, a Palestinian life is worth more
when “martyred,” a dead child more of a blessing than one living. “The
children of the kindergarten are the shaheeds [martyrs] of tomorrow,”
reads a sign displayed at a Hamas-run kindergarten. The martyrdom mantra
is their anthem.
So is this where the flytilla group will be spending Sunday and Monday?
Former Gaza Division’s Southern Brigade Commander, Colonel Pinhas (Pinky) Zuaretz – the final witness in the case – is scheduled to testify Sunday, July 10, in the Corrie civil trial against the State of Israel.
Colonel Zuaretz was the commanding officer of the Israeli military’s Gaza Division’s Southern Brigade in 2003, when American peace activist Rachel Corrie was killed.
...
Craig and Cindy Corrie, Rachel’s parents, will hold a press conference on Monday, July 11, at 11:00 AM at the American Colony Hotel in Jerusalem to discuss the conclusion of this phase of the case, as well as next steps in their efforts to seek accountability for their daughter’s killing. They will be joined by their other daughter, Sarah Corrie Simpson and Attorney Hussein Abu Hussein. The press conference will be held in English, with attorneys available at the conclusion for brief interviews in both Arabic and Hebrew.
It's a pity that the Corrie's are so ideologically obtuse that they won't even consider the possibility that someone else is responsible for their daughter's death.
The murder rate of women has increased 1,400 percent under the current government.
Only two of Turkey’s26ministers are women; those two cover education and women’s affairs.
None of the ruling party’s undersecretaries are women.
Only 3.5 percent of deputy undersecretaries are women.
Less than 6 percent of director-generals are women.
Less than 0.5 percent of regional directors are women.
Just over 2 percent of provincial directors are women.
None of the top finance officials are women.
None of the top Justice Ministry officials are women.
The UN Development Program ranked Turkey 101 out of 109 in women’s empowerment.
Turkey boasts 26 women’s shelters; not good for a country of more than 70 million.
37 percent of Turkish marriages involve child brides.
Women were once equal in Turkey, but Prime Minister Recep Tayyip “I am the Imam of Istanbul” Erdoğan has reversed course.... When it comes to the present, the situation of women in Turkey is comparable not to that in Europe but rather to that in Iran or Egypt.
Yes, Turkey has gone Islamic. I wonder who will be next.
The attack on Lara Logan in Cairo two weeks ago was carried out by Muslims who believed it was their religious duty writes Andy McCarthy.
You are just supposed to assume it was a “mob” — the sort of thing that could have happened in any setting where raw emotion erupts, say, Wisconsin’s capitol.
Except it doesn’t happen in Madison. It happens in Egypt. It happened in Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim country, in the riots that led to Suharto’s fall — as Sharon Lapkin recounts, human-rights groups interviewed more than 100 women who had been captured and gang raped, including many Chinese women, who were told this was their fate as non-Muslims. It happens in Muslim countries and in the Muslim enclaves of Europe and Australia, perpetrated by Islamic supremacists acting on a sense of entitlement derived from their scriptures, fueled by the rage of their jihad, and enabled by the deafening silence of the media.
As Jihad Watch director Robert Spencer has detailed, al-Azhar University endorses a sharia manual called Umdat al-Salik. It is quite clear on the subject of women who become captives of Muslim forces: “When a child or a woman is taken captive, they become slaves by the fact of capture, and the woman’s previous marriage is immediately annulled.” This is so the woman can then be made a concubine of her captor.
This arrangement is encouraged by the Koran. Sura 4:23–24, for example, forbids Muslim men from consorting with the wives of other Muslims but declares sexual open season on any women these men have enslaved. (“Forbidden to you are . . . married women, except those whom you own as slaves.”) Moreover, Mohammed — whose life Muslims are exhorted by scripture to emulate — rewarded his fighters by distributing as slaves the women of the Jewish Qurazyzah tribe after Muslim forces had beheaded their husbands, fathers, and sons. The prophet himself also took one of the captured women, Rayhanna, as his concubine. And, as Spencer further notes, Mohammed directed his jihadists that they should not practice coitus interruptus with their slaves — they were encouraged to ravish them, but only in a manner that might produce Muslim offspring.
With the full horror of what happened to CBS News reporter Lara Logan in Cairo's Tahrir Square ten days ago just starting to come out, Phyllis Chesler takes on a group of writers who are unable to acknowledge the basic truth that Logan was raped (that term sounds so much starker than the blander 'sexually assaulted') by Muslims as an act of war against westerners.
Writing at the London Guardian, blogger Amanda Marcotte chose not to focus on this act of jihadic barbarism because she did not want anyone to draw negative conclusions about Islam, Muslims, Egyptians, or about the so-called Egyptian pro-democracy “revolution.” Instead, like many other commentators, Marcotte bemoaned the fact that “rightwingers” might now draw some politically incorrect conclusions. Marcotte writes:
“In this case, rightwingers who have an interest in stoking fear and loathing of Muslims worldwide pounced at the opportunity to smear all Egyptians with this crime.”
She dismisses the possibility that any “rightwingers” might have a genuine concern for the victim and condemns them all for using Logan’s public gang-rape and beating for “political score-keeping.” After all, every good multicultural relativist knows that all cultures, all countries, all religions are equal and therefore are pretty much the same—except for Western cultures which are somehow worse.
Thus, while Marcotte admits that Egypt is well known for its sexual harassment of women, she insists that women in the West, especially in the United States also endure street sexual harassment. Marcotte cites one study that shows that “up to 100% of women in the United States are sexually harassed” on the streets and claims that at similarly “jubilant” times, such as fraternity parties on the American college campus, women are also ”sexually assaulted.”
I doubt that fraternity gang-rapists curse their victims as “Jews.” But forgive me: I am about to accuse Islam and Egypt of having an anti-Jewish bias. I also doubt that boozed up American fraternity gang-rapists claim that they are overthrowing a dictator and taking power for the people.
In any event, according to Marcotte, “rightwingers” are also delighted to focus on the vulnerability of female journalists because “rightwingers” want to keep women pregnant and barefoot and out of the job market, certainly far away from war zones.
Well, at least they don’t want them to wear burqas. Again, forgive me: I am suggesting that burqas are not a sign of freedom but that burqas and face veils do, increasingly, characterize Islamic gender apartheid in a jihadic era; and that they were all over Tahrir Square.
Ultimately, Marcotte believes that the real assault on Logan is a “rightwing” “assault on all women who have ambitions, or who are willing to be out in public while looking attractive. This response to Logan’s attack should make it clear that the US and Egypt differ on the issue of sexual violence perhaps only in degree but not in kind.”
I'm not familiar with the other writers Chesler cites - Asra Nomani, Kim Barker, and Sabrina Tavernise - but Marcotte is an all-purpose hater. She hates Jews and Israel as well. I guess she hates us enough to even sell out her own gender. Can a woman be misogynist? Marcotte is trying hard.
I am an Orthodox Jew - some would even call me 'ultra-Orthodox.' Born in Boston, I was a corporate and securities attorney in New York City for seven years before making aliya to Israel in 1991 (I don't look it but I really am that old :-). I have been happily married to the same woman for thirty-five years, and we have eight children (bli ayin hara) ranging in age from 13 to 33 years and nine grandchildren. Four of our children are married! Before I started blogging I was a heavy contributor on a number of email lists and ran an email list called the Matzav from 2000-2004. You can contact me at: IsraelMatzav at gmail dot com
