Yes, I know, I've been away for a while. Meetings in Washington, weekend break in Chicago (where I am now), and tonight I head for Boston to work (actually, I am working on the way as well).
Muslims threaten to murder Pam Geller, media silent or cheering
I find the lack of a harsh reaction in the US media to threats against the life of Pamela Geller - the prominent blogger and organizer of last weekend's Mohammed cartoon drawing contest - incredible. Her life was threatened by the monsters from Islamic State earlier this week, but perhaps even more incredible is this clip from Fox News that went up a short time ago.
Radical Imam Anjem Choudary told Pamela Geller tonight on Hannity that
she should be tried in Shariah Court and slaughtered... for speaking out
against radical Islam.
Let's go to the videotape.
But it's not just the media. The United States government is ignoring its most basic task: To protect its citizens. Pamela Geller told Sean Hannity tonight that she reached out to the FBI
but has not heard back from them after ISIS issued a death threat
against her on Tuesday. Homeland Security has also not contacted her.
Let's go to the videotape.
This is the United States of America in 2015. Stay safe Pam....
Garland, Texas: No, it wasn't an 'anti-Islam' event
As I'm sure those of you in the US (at least) have heard already, over the weekend, two Islamic terrorists were killed while attempting to attack a Draw Mohammed cartoon contest in Garland, Texas. It goes without saying that the multi-culti Islam-loving media is blaming the organizers for organizing such an 'offensive' event. (Funny, I don't recall anyone complaining or anyone trying to kill the organizers or participants in Iran's Holocaust cartoon contest).
One of the organizers, Pamela Geller, went on CNN Monday morning and destroyed the mediabot (Alisyn Camerota) who was questioning her.
The gunman, named by Danish media as Omar
Abdel Hamid El-Hussein, was well known to police for violence, weapons
violations and his membership in a gang. Reuters could not confirm his
identity and police declined to comment.
Police
records show a man named El-Hussein was convicted of stabbing a man in
the leg on a Copenhagen train in 2013 and Danish media said he was
released from prison in January.
"He
was 'normal' religious, nothing unusual, he didn't go to mosque any
more than the average Muslim," El-Hussein's father told TV2.
He
was an avid kick boxer in his younger years and was often known by the
nickname "Captain Hussein" but members of his club said he has not been
there for years.
"He was a good
student," Peter Zinckernagel, El-Hussein's principal at the VUC Hvidovre
school near Copenhagen told Reuters. El-Hussein attended the school
until the end of 2013, when he was arrested for the train stabbing.
National
news broadcaster TV2 said El-Hussein's parents were Palestinian
refugees who came to Denmark after living in a Jordanian refugee camp
for several years.
TV2 obtained a psychiatric assessment of
El-Hussein conducted in connection with the assault case for which he
was imprisoned in which he told psychologists he had a happy childhood
and good relations with his parents and a younger brother. However, he
did not graduate from school, was unable to get into a university and
later was homeless.
Citing two
unnamed friends, Politiken daily newspaper said the man was passionate
in discussions about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and had a short
fuse. They expressed shock that he should launch such attacks, however.
That ought to encourage Western countries to take in 'Palestinian refugees.' /sarc
Leave it to Pam Geller. She's offering a $10,000 prize for the best Mohammed cartoon at a May 3 contest in Garland, Texas.
It’s time to stand up.
That’s why my organization, the human rights advocacy group the
American Freedom Defense Initiative, or AFDI, will be holding a contest
for cartoons of Muhammad, and an exhibit of Muhammad cartoons this May
in Garland, Texas. The keynote speaker will be Dutch freedom fighter and
Parliamentarian Geert Wilders – one of the very few politicians on the
international scene who dares to speak the truth about the jihad threat.
The contest will be online, with entries posted at the AFDI website.
The winning cartoon will be announced at the May 3 cartoon exhibit in
Garland. The winning cartoonist will be awarded a $10,000 prize.
The cartoon exhibit will feature images of Islam’s prophet, both
historic and contemporary, and speeches by leading voices of freedom and
internationally renowned free speech advocates. Also speaking will be
brave artists who are unbowed by violent threats and determined to stand
for the freedom of speech.
The exhibit will be held at the Curtis Culwell Center in Garland on
Sunday, May 3. This was the site of a Muslim conference denouncing
“Islamophobia” – an obscene stand for them to take after the Charlie
Hebdo massacre – and our massive Free Speech Rally outside that event.
The Muslim event was held in a hall owned by the local school district.
When asked why they allowed that event on their premises, they answered
that their hall was open to anyone who wished to rent it. So we are
renting it for our Muhammad Cartoon Exhibit.
In case that last paragraph wasn't enough of a hint for you, Garland, Texas has a Muslim population. Garland is in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, which has the fourth largest Muslim population of any metropolitan area in the United States.
As you might imagine, the 'security costs' of putting on an event like this are going to be enormous. Read the whole thing.
#RandomFolks victims of 'militant attack' at Copenhagen synagogue
A #RandomFolk was murdered last night and two others were wounded in a terror attack on a Copenhagen synagogue (Hat Tip: Memeorandum) that was eerily similar to the attack on a Paris Kosher supermarket a month ago. After the second attack in Copenhagen, the terrorist (whom the BBC insists on calling a 'gunman') was killed by police. This is from the first link.
In the second attack, a Jewish man was killed and two police officers wounded near the city's main synagogue.
Police say video surveillance suggested the same man carried
out both attacks. They do not believe any other people were involved.
"We assume that it's the same culprit behind both incidents,
and we also assume that the culprit that was shot by the police task
force... is the person behind both of these assassinations," Chief
Police Inspector Torben Molgaard Jensen told a news conference.
He said police would maintain a high presence in the city.
The BBC's Malcolm Brabant in Copenhagen says the city has been on high alert after the shootings.
Early on Sunday, police said they had been keeping an address
under observation in the district of Norrebro, waiting for the occupant
to return.
When he appeared, he noticed the officers, pulled out a gun
and opened fire, police said. They returned fire and shot him dead. The
incident happened near Norrebro train station.
Norrebro is a predominantly immigrant district of Copenhagen, about
three miles (5km) away from the synagogue where the shooting took place
just hours earlier.
A man was shot in the head, and was later confirmed to have died. Two
police officers were wounded. It was later reported that the victim, a
Jewish community member in his 30s, was guarding outside a bat mitzva
celebration at the synagogue, according to Denmark's BT newspaper. It was reported that 80 people were attending the celebration at the time.
Dan
Rosenberg Asmussen, Copenhagen Jewish community leader, said that
following the earlier attack, he had requested police presence at the
synagogue, but police did not follow through.
“We had contacted
the police after the shooting at Café Krudttønden to have them present
at the bat-mitzva, but unfortunately this happened anyway," Asmussen
told Denmark's TV 2 News, as reported in The Guardian. “I dare not think about what would have happened if (the killer) had access to the congregation."
As in the Paris attacks, an anti-Islamist cartoonist was targeted and a Jewish target was hit a short time later. The synagogue was right to request police protection. Jews should take heed.
Is Michelle silencing Barack, or is he just out on the golf course?
Danish govt has described attack as act of terrorism. UK PM has urged protection of free speech. France’s Hollande has spoken out. USA?
— David Frum (@davidfrum) February 14, 2015
Michelle won't let him speak out because it's Helle Thorning-Schmidt's country? Or maybe he just won't say anything bad about Muslims? Or maybe he's just out golfing?
Maybe she could teach her friend Barack a thing or two
Shavua tov, a good week to all of you.
Some of you might recall the sequence of pictures above from Nelson Mandela's funeral a few months ago. The lady in the pictures is Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt. Tonight, a Copenhagen debate including Swedish cartoonist Lars Vilk - who has drawn cartoons of Mohammed - was attacked by 'gunmen.' But Helle Thorning-Schmidt is no foolish lady. She's calling this a terror attack.
A shooting at a free speech debate in the Danish capital, Copenhagen,
is being treated as "a terrorist attack", the Danish prime minister
says.
Helle Thorning-Schmidt said the attack was "politically motivated" and that the country was on a high state of alert.
A manhunt is underway for a suspect who targeted the event at the Krudttoennen cafe in the Oesterbro district of the city.
One person is dead in the terror attack. Three police officers were injured.
Denmark is on high alert after a gunman in
Copenhagen killed one person and injured three others at a debate on
blasphemy and free speech attended by a controversial Swedish
cartoonist.
Several dozen shots were fired at the seminar and a manhunt is now under way.
Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt described it as a "politically motivated" act of terrorism.
Cartoonist Lars Vilks, who has faced death threats over his caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad, was unhurt.
...
An audio recording, obtained exclusively by the BBC, revealed the moments leading up to the attack.
One of the speakers at the debate, which took place at a cafe
and concerned the limits of free speech, is suddenly interrupted by a
barrage of gunshots.
Eyewitness Niels Ivar Larsen, speaking to the Associated
Press news agency, said: "I heard someone firing with an automatic
weapon and someone shouting.
"Police returned fire and I hid behind the bar."
The French ambassador, Francois Zimeray, was also present during the attack.
Shortly after the shooting, a message appeared on his Twitter feed saying he was still alive.
Maybe Thorning-Schmidt could teach Obama how to say the "t" word.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is in Turkey this weekend, where she is speaking at this year's annual conference of the ATC (American Turkish Council) (Hat Tip: Will). Among the things Clinton may want to raise with her hosts are Prime Minister Erdogan's interview with CNN's Fareed Zakaria last weekend, in which Erdogan claimed that Israel has killed 'hundreds of thousands of Palestinians' (Hat Tip: Joshua I), and the upcoming trial of a cartoonist for publishing in a humor magazine a cartoon that denounces Islam (Hat Tip: Ronald G).
But don't worry. I'm sure Hillary won't offend her hosts by speaking so bluntly.
Dr. Walid Phares argues that the recent suicide bombing in Stockholm shows that attempts to remain neutral in the war on terror are doomed to failure.
Until Taimour Abdulwahab al-Abdaly’s explosive belt went off prematurely in Stockholm last month, Sweden was the poster child for isolationism in the war on terror. While Abdulwahab’s bomb failed to achieve his desired result, it did obliterate the myth that nations can remain neutral to global terrorism.
Abdulwahab’s failed attack typifies the jihadis’ all-out war against “infidels.” He was a doctrinaire jihadist with ties to a local militant Islamist organization, and his attack didn’t spring up out of nowhere. There had already been warning signs that terrorists were mobilizing against the Scandinavian democracy. Militants had threatened Swedish artist Lars Vilks for his satirical cartoon portrayal of the prophet Mohammed, attacking his home and attempting to murder him with an axe. Others threatened Vilks.
The Iraq-born Abdulwahab was a member of the Facebook group “Islamic Caliphate State.” He lived in Luton in Bedfordshire, England, home to four of the terrorists who killed 52 and injured more than 2,000 in the 7/7 train bombings.
Swedish authorities claimed that Abdulwahab had been “completely unknown” to them before the blast, and that they were trying to ascertain when he was first “radicalized.” Swedish prosecutor Tomas Lindstrand said that the country’s security apparatus “was not a Stasi organization engaged in analyzing people’s Facebook pages.”
The irony is that Abdulwahab’s musings on Facebook are the only evidence of his radicalism prior to the attack.
Farasat Latif, the secretary of the Luton mosque to which Abdulwahab belonged, said, “Despite Abdulwahab’s extreme views nothing pointed to the fact that he was going to do something stupid.”
Unfortunately, I think we're reaching the point in the West where we have to assume that any Muslim might do 'something stupid' until we can affirmatively prove otherwise.
Phares sums up:
European authorities have a lot of catching up to do. Whether or not they wish to admit it, they are at war. Even when jihadists act as “lone wolves,” they always have ties to some kind of radicalizing environment. The internet is always a vehicle for radicalization, but small cadres of global jihadists create the habitat that cultivates terrorists like Abdulwahab. Luton had been a known hotbed of radicalization since July 7, 2005.
The Swedes have now joined the community of nations besieged by Salafi terrorists. They may entertain notions of neutrality, but the jihadists who attack them don’t care.
Indeed. What it will take to get them to start catching up?
As I am sure most of you have already heard, there was a suicide bombing in Stockholm on Saturday night. The bomber was not a Lutheran. The Swedes hurried to call it 'terrorism,' a term they would not have hurried to use regarding Hamas.
I'm sure a lot of you were surprised that Sweden has been targeted for Islamist suicide bombings, especially in light of the fact that country has made it clear that it stands against Israel. But you shouldn't be surprised. The Islamists have far bigger goals than the destruction of the State of Israel. Robert Spencer explains what they're after now (Hat Tip: Jihad Watch).
So if this effort succeeds entirely, and it becomes illegal in Sweden to speak critically of Islam or Muhammad (if that isn’t functionally the case there now already), will there be no more acts of jihad against Sweden?
Again, this is unlikely. For behind all these shifting pretexts is an imperative that cannot be placated: the mandate, rooted in Islamic doctrine, to wage war against unbelievers until they either convert to Islam or submit as inferiors to the rule of Islamic law. The pretexts always shift, and are useful to stir up a righteous anger against Infidels that is useful for making recruits among peaceful Muslims, but if one cause of that anger is taken away, the anger itself will not dissipate. Instead, it will just find another object, and manufacture a grievance to use for that purpose if necessary. The anger itself, and the resultant jihad, are the only thing that is constant.
So while the audio file sent to the Swedish news agency spoke of Afghanistan, insults to Muhammad, and Lars Vilks, the biggest mistake embattled Swedish Infidels could make would be to think that if reasonable accommodation were made in Sweden’s military posture and attitude toward speech about Islam, a lasting peace with the Muslims in their midst would then ensue. A prediction: a period of calm may indeed come in that case, but it would only be the calm before a greater storm than ever, as Islamic supremacists newly emboldened by Sweden’s show of weakness in making these accommodations would press forward even more fiercely than before.
And one thing is certain: Western governments, possibly including Sweden itself, will amply prove the truth of that prediction by the policies they adopt and pursue in the next few years.
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
