Daphne Anson: Mercy For The Merciless?

Eretz Israel is our unforgettable historic homeland...The Jews who will it shall achieve their State...And whatever we attempt there for our own benefit will redound mightily and beneficially to the good of all mankind. (Theodor Herzl, DerJudenstaat, 1896)

We offer peace and amity to all the neighbouring states and their peoples, and invite them to cooperate with the independent Jewish nation for the common good of all. The State of Israel is ready to contribute its full share to the peaceful progress and development of the Middle East. (From Proclamation of the State of Israel, 5 Iyar 5708; 14 May 1948)

With a liberal democratic political system operating under the rule of law, a flourishing market economy producing technological innovation to the benefit of the wider world, and a population as educated and cultured as anywhere in Europe or North America, Israel is a normal Western country with a right to be treated as such in the community of nations.... For the global jihad, Israel may be the first objective. But it will not be the last. (Friends of Israel Initiative)

Tuesday, 19 May 2015

Mercy For The Merciless?

An Aussie kid's fun in the sun

Will the Australian government have mercy on the merciless?

It seems that prime minister Tony Abbott is standing firm on this one, despite calls from certain "progressive voices" and of Australian imams for the repatriation of those who, having gone off to fight against the interests of the nation to which they owe allegiance, and whose ways they so obviously despise, now want to return here.

Here's the transcript of an ABC (Oz's equivalent of the BBC) radio broadcast I heard earlier today (emphasis added):

'ELEANOR HALL: The lawyer for an Australian man who wants to come home after joining Islamic State in Syria says the trained medic would be a valuable resource for authorities as they try to steer young Australians away from radical ideas.

That view is backed by an Islamic group and criminologists.

But the Prime Minister has warned that foreign fighters face prosecution and jail if they return to Australia.

Simon Lauder reports.

SIMON LAUDER: The Australian Government says more than 30 Australians have been killed in fighting in Syria and Iraq for what the Government says is a terrorist cause.

The Department of Foreign Affairs is still trying to confirm reports that the latest is a Melbourne teenager who died while fighting for Islamic State.

Not everyone who joins the fight dies for it. Some, like this man who was interviewed by CBS in February, have seen enough and they want to come home.

ABU IBRAHIM: A lot of people when they come, they've a lot of enthusiasm about what they've seen online, what they've seen on YouTube.

They see it as something a lot grander than what the reality is. It's not all military praise or victories, you know.

SIMON LAUDER: The man in that interview was known as Abu Ibrahim.

ABU IBRAHIM: I know friends remained in the brotherhood, but ISIS itself, no.

SIMON LAUDER: He's believed to be one of a small number of Australians who are negotiating with authorities to be allowed to return home after fighting with Islamic State and having their travel documents cancelled.

Lawyer Rob Stary says he can't confirm it's the same man, but he's assisting a Victorian man who wants to return to Australia from Syria but has had his passport revoked.

ROB STARY: My client is a person who's trained as a medic, as a nurse.

SIMON LAUDER: Mr Stary says many weeks of negotiations with Australian Federal Police have stalled.

He wants them to consider that the man could be a valuable tool in any anti-radicalisation programs.

ROB STARY: Young men for instance here who've been radicalised, primarily through social media, governments really taking to them, or the authorities, with a sledgehammer, the opportunity to engage those people have largely been lost.

SIMON LAUDER: What assurances would you like from Australian authorities before this man should step back on Australian soil?

ROB STARY: I don't expect any assurances. What we would like though is the opportunity to have some dialogue about de-radicalisation and about how this person can be used to the benefit of the broader Australian community.

SIMON LAUDER: And obviously that would mitigate against any prosecution or penalty.

ROB STARY: Sure but we do that in every context, we do that in every other context of the criminal law.

We need to have some good faith shown by the authorities that they want to engage with our client.
So we do it in every other context of the criminal world.

SIMON LAUDER: Spokesman for the Australian National Imams Council, Sheikh Mohamadu Saleem, told ABC Local Radio in Melbourne Australian former Islamic State fighters should be allowed to face prosecution and reform themselves.

MOHAMADU NAWAS SALEEM: As long as there are not going to be a threat to the security of this country and they are prepared to participate in de-radicalisation programs.
SIMON LAUDER: But there's no sign of that being allowed, at least not from the Prime Minister Tony Abbott.

TONY ABBOTT: A crime is a crime is a crime is a crime, and if you go abroad to break Australian law, if you go abroad to kill innocent people in the name of misguided fundamentalism and extremism, if you go abroad to become an Islamist killer, well we're hardly going to welcome you back into this country.

Dr Clarke Jones from the Australian National University is an expert on radicalisation and terrorism.

He says Australian authorities should be making the most of returning fighters who are willing to change.

CLARKE JONES: The Government needs to be very careful in the narrative it uses and the Prime Minister, that sort of narrative from the very top of Australian Government will prevent people coming home and will prevent us using people that have had this sort of conflict experience in intervention programs and trying to help others or steer others away from joining the Islamic State.

SIMON LAUDER: Despite that, callers to ABC Local Radio this morning show support for the Prime Minister's view.

ABC RADIO CALLER: I'm really really furious about the possibility of letting these criminal back into the country.

I wouldn't be surprised if they come and recruit more teenagers and they're going to boast about the number of people they have killed.

Who is going to guarantee they are not going to pop up in my neighbourhood and try to recruit my children?

SIMON LAUDER: In a written statement, the Australian Federal Police says it's aware of a small number of Australians who've made approaches to return from the Syria-Iraq conflict zone.

The AFP won't be commenting further.'

Here, by the way, is the Wikipedia entry on the National Imams' Council.

What's not to love, eh?

Meanwhile:

3 comments:

Empress Trudy20 May 2015 at 00:43
So we're at the point where we have to have politicians make statements defending their enforcement of the law to arrest and prosecute mass murderers and that, that is somehow a debatable difference of opinion and social mores.
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Ian G20 May 2015 at 06:47
We have the same problem in the UK. I think those who come back and promise to deradicalise others by telling the truth, particularly the young women, could be helpful. If we do not give these fools a route out - on terms - then they will turn against us. We also need to differentiate between those fighting for IS and similar goups and those fighting with the Kurdish Peshmurga.

However, at the moment our governments seem to be blind to the dangers pose by the current mass migrations using unseaworthy vessels as a form of moral blackmail. We have to help make life in their homelands more attractive. It's a long term committment.
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'For as long as these antisemites wrap themselves up in the Palestinian flag, too many people are willing to turn a blind eye. Only against Jews is this type of racism openly tolerated. It is flourishing in schools, colleges, universities, unions and in city councils. In fact, so rampant is the disease now, in some settings you can be ostracised if you do not partake in the frenzy yourself. Bashing Jews has becomes a trendy position for the ignorant social justice warrior. "Palestinianism" is a viral "ponzi scheme" and as it spreads, it carries antisemitism in the undergrowth.' David Collier (2017)

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If you take a stand that is based on a lie, then that stand cannot succeed. If you try to oppose antisemitism but pretend it is the same thing as "Islamophobia," then the structure on which you have made your stand will totter and all your aspirations will fail. If you try to make a stand based on the idea that settlement construction rather than the intransigence of the Palestinians to the existence of a Jewish state is what is holding up a peace deal, then facts will keep on intruding.' Douglas Murray (31 December 2016)
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/9685/britain-little-lies

'Islamophobia does NOT come from the same wellspring of hatred as antisemitism. Antisemitism is a true prejudice because the hatred and demonisation it promotes derive entirely from lies and a repudiation of rationality itself.
Islamophobia is a false allegation of prejudice which is deployed to silence rational criticism based on actual facts about attitudes and practices within the Islamic world.
[L]ethally compromised even-handedness is to misunderstand, and thus minimise, antisemitic attitudes and behaviour while shutting down legitimate and necessary discussion of the threat from the Islamic world – even to demonise as “Islamophobic” anyone who draws attention to the extent and consequences of Muslim antisemitism.' Melanie Phillips (14 December 2016)

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Europe is today facing a crisis as serious as the confrontation with Nazism. If Western leaders continue behaving like Chamberlain and fail to stand up to this global threat, it could usher in a new Dark Age in which the Judeo-Christian culture is subsumed by primitive barbarism. The writing is on the wall Isi Leibler (12 January 2015)

Expose The Lies!

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The "Apartheid" Slur

The division of Judea and Samaria (West Bank) into three separate areas “A”, “B” and “C” was agreed on by Israel and the PLO pursuant to the Oslo Accords.
95% of the West Bank Arabs live in Areas A and B and their daily lives are under the total administration and control of the PLO since the Palestinian Authority was disbanded by Abbas in January 2013. The PLO has total security control in A and shares security control in B with Israel. Israel has total administrative and security control in C.
Israel is entitled to and will continue to take responsibility for the security of Jews living in the West Bank.
Jews were given the legal right to settle in the West Bank under article 6 of the Mandate for Palestine and article 80 of the UN Charter. They did so for decades until they were driven out in 1947 and not able to return there until 1967.
There are Arab roads only in the West Bank that Jews are not allowed to use. Jews are also forbidden from entering Area “A”. Selling land to Jews is forbidden by the PLO under pain of death. The PLO runs the daily lives of 95% of the West Bank Arabs and Hamas runs the daily lives of 100% of the Gazan Arabs. They have been under occupation – and subjugation – by these two evil groups for the last ten years and given no say in their future or any opportunity to elect others to lead them following the disastrous political decisions of their leaders over the past ten years. Hamas and the PLO do not accept the continued existence of a Jewish State and call for its disappearance.
The narratives did not begin in 1948 – they began in about 1917. How do you make peace with an enemy that has been obsessed with not recognising any Jewish national rights in former Palestine for the last 100 years? David Singer (2016)

The Jews of the Holy Land ... are surrounded by hostile states 650 times their territory and sixty times their population. Yet their last, best hope of ending two millennia of international persecution - the State of Israel - has somehow survived. When, during the Second World War, the island of Malta came through three terrible years of bombardment and destruction, it was rightly awarded the George Cross for bravery. Today, Israel should be awarded a similar decoration for defending democracy, tolerance and Western values against a murderous onslaught that has lasted twenty times as long. Andrew Roberts (historian)

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Iran and ISIS are competing for the crown of militant Islam... In this deadly game of thrones, there’s no place for America or for Israel, no place for Christians, Jews or Muslims who don’t share the Islamist medieval creed, no rights for women, no freedom for anyone... [T]he greatest danger facing our world is the marriage of militant Islam with nuclear weapons. To defeat ISIS and let Iran get nuclear weapons would be to win the battle, but lose the war. We can’t let that happen...[T]he days when the Jewish people remained passive in the face of genocidal enemies, those days are over. We are no longer scattered among the nations, powerless to defend ourselves. We restored our sovereignty in our ancient home. And the soldiers who defend our home have boundless courage. For the first time in 100 generations, we, the Jewish people, can defend ourselves....Even if Israel has to stand alone, Israel will stand. But ... I know that America stands with Israel... You stand with Israel, because you know that the story of Israel is not only the story of the Jewish people but of the human spirit that refuses again and again to succumb to history’s horrors. Bibi Netanyahu (12 Adar 5775; 3 March 2015)

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I am duty-bound to defend freedom, culture, peaceful coexistence, the civic education of children, and all the principles that the Tablets of the Law have rendered universal. Principles which Islamic fundamentalism systematically destroys. This means that, since I am a Gentile, a journalist and a leftist, I have a triple moral commitment to Israel. Because, if Israel were to be vanquished, modernity, culture and freedom would also be crushed. Even though the world has failed to wake up to this fact, Israel's struggle is the world's struggle. Pilar Rahola

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