Blonde on Blond: A Blonde's Bombshell

"Why have jihadist terrorists made France Europe’s bloodiest battlefield? Simple answer: Because France let in the most Muslims."

So writes Australia's most-read (and most controversial) columnist, conservative Andrew Bolt (pictured), in the wake of the Nice atrocity.  He goes on, inter alia, in the Herald-Sun:

 "This link between immigration policies and terrorism largely explains why the French are the greatest victims of Europe’s jihadists.

 It also explains why we are fools not to change our own immigration policies to protect ourselves.

No European Union country has a higher proportion of Muslims than France — up to 10 per cent of its population, or six million people, though statistics are vague, and vary.

Yes, numbers don’t tell the whole story, but they do count....

France has the most Muslims, and that is why four people were killed, three of them children, in an Islamist attack on a Jewish day school in Toulouse four years ago.

To order click here

That is why 20 people were murdered in Paris in last year’s Islamist attacks on the Charlie Hebdo magazine and a kosher supermarket....

That is why 130 more people were murdered in Paris last November in an Islamic State assault on restaurants, a concert hall and a football stadium.

That is why a policeman and his wife were last month murdered by a jihadist outside their home.

That is why 84 people died in last week’s terrorist attack in Nice, when a Tunisian-born man rammed his truck into a crowd celebrating Bastille Day....

Japan has strict controls on immigration and its 127 million people include just 100,000 Muslims. Result: zero Islamist attacks.

Contrast that with Australia, which has a population of just 24 million, but 500,000 Muslims. How we’ve paid for leaving our door open....

The mathematics is clear: The more Muslims we import, the more danger we are in...."

One of the readers agreeing with Mr Bolt is television presenter Sonia Kruger, who has become  the whipping girl of the usual suspects of the Left for her remarks during a television news channel today in which Mr Bolt's column was discussed:

The betting seems to be on how much longer Ms Kruger will keep her job.

Meanwhile, on the warpath over free speech regarding Islam is the woman British Home Secretary (now Prime Minister) Theresa May (pictured, in hijab) banned from Britain along with Jihad Watch's Robert Spencer:

David Singer: UN Security Council Must Take Military Action Against Islamic State

Here's the latest article by Sydney lawyer and international affairs analyst David Singer. 

He writes:

President Obama’s continuing refusal to co-sponsor a Security Council Resolution with Russia authorising the use of military force against Islamic State ensures that the horrendous murders in Orlando and Manganville this past week will be repeated with ever increasing frequency anywhere and at any time.

Speaking after a meeting with his National Security Council following the Orlando massacres President Obama stated:

“As we know all too well, terrorist groups like ISIL have called on people around the world and here in the United States to attack innocent civilians. Their propaganda, their videos, their postings are pervasive and more easily accessible than we want.

This individual appears to have absorbed some of that, and during his killing spree, the shooter in Orlando pledged allegiance to ISIL.

As I've said before, these lone actors or small cells of terrorists are very hard to detect and very hard to prevent.

But across our government at every level -- federal, state and local, military and civilian -- we are doing everything in our power to stop these kinds of attacks.”

President Obama was in complete denial so far as his Presidential options were concerned.

Despite a raft of resolutions passed by the Security Council under Article 41 of the UN Charter requiring member States to take a melange of actions against Islamic State – a resolution calling for the use of military action by the United Nations under Article 42 of the UN Charter remains stymied because of America’s opposition to taking such action proposed by Russia.

Article 42 is quite clear in its terms:

“Should the Security Council consider that measures provided for in Article 41 would be inadequate or have proved to be inadequate, it may take such action by air, sea, or land forces as may be necessary to maintain or restore international peace and security. Such action may include demonstrations, blockade, and other operations by air, sea, or land forces of Members of the United Nations.”

 Passing such a resolution would oblige all 193 member States to comply with Article 43(1):

“All Members of the United Nations, in order to contribute to the maintenance of international peace and security, undertake to make available to the Security Council, on its call and in accordance with a special agreement or agreements, armed forces, assistance, and facilities, including rights of passage, necessary for the purpose of maintaining international peace and security.” 

 Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov issued this warning on 18 November last:

“The Security Council needs to give preferential attention to the task of creating a solid legal foundation for the fight against this evil [Islamic State] and for the mobilization of an actual global coalition in response to this common uncompromising challenge for us all”. 

 President Obama preached a similar mantra in St Petersburg on 6 September 2013:

“And I respect those who are concerned about setting precedents of action outside of a U.N. Security Council resolution. I would greatly prefer working through multilateral channels and through the United Nations to get this done.”

Independent and uncoordinated military actions to wipe out Islamic State taken by Russian-led and American-led coalitions have only had limited success.

A minority of UN member States are shouldering the burden of inflicting total defeat – whilst the rest just make pious condemnatory declarations and avert their gaze.

Islamic State’s radicalising of Muslim minds everywhere is endemic and growing and represents a world-wide problem demanding a world-wide response.

How many more San Bernardino and Orlando massacres will President Obama mourn and decry before he agrees to co-sponsor a Security Council resolution with Russia authorising military action against Islamic State?

"A Big Thank You To Israel For Helping Injured Civilians From Syria": One man & his sign at a London anti-Assad rally (video)

It's hard not to harbour a soft spot for this guy, whom we've encountered more than once on video, and to fret for his safety.  For this young pro-Israel Londoner of Iraqi/Iranian parentage goes where the faint-hearted fear to tread.

In the introduction to this latest video he explains:

"I went to Trafalgar Square with a couple of friends to see how big the anti-Assad protest would be. More importantly I wanted to see their reaction to my presence (with my sign and flag). A little flag can make so much noise! From being called a racist (typical) to a member of the Saddam Hussein school, of course the Palestinian 'refugee' playing the victim card, blaming Israel for his supposed plight.. Everyone was so angry at what I had, which was a sign saying 'A big thank you to Israel for helping injured civilians from Syria'."

While on the subject of Syria, Peter Martino writes:

"....During the past three years, thousands of young Islamic immigrants from France, Germany, Britain and all other European countries, as well as young Western Islamic converts, have gone to Syria, where they trained to be killing machines. Some of them have returned home, where they now constitute the biggest threat to domestic security in decades.

French authorities were able to capture [Mehdi] Nemmouche [the captured Brussels Jewish Museum shooting suspect] within a week because they had his name on a list of returned Syria fighters. Having his name on a list of jihadists, however, was not able prevent him from committing murder in neighboring Belgium.....

The ease with which Nemmouche was able to carry out his assault has frightened many all over Europe. How is it possible that this man, who was known to be a terrorism risk, could acquire an automatic rifle and take the weapon into the Jewish Museum? Why had he not been followed? Obviously such a practice is not feasible for all criminals, but for known jihadists? Had his phone and internet chats been tapped? It would be also be helpful, albeit unfortunately, if owners of buildings seemingly at risk invested in security guards and metal detectors for their entrances.

There are also political questions. Why had Nemmouche even been allowed to return to France after his stay in Syria?....

The problem affects not only European countries. American and Australian Muslims are also known to have travelled to Syria to join jihadist groups fighting the Assad regime. Russia is also familiar with the problem: more than a year ago, the head of the Russian Federal Security Service, Alexander Bortnikov, warned that the return of Russian Syria fighters will pose a terrorist threat.

It remains to be seen in what way the Western authorities react to this threat. So far, the signs are not encouraging. The Belgian authorities used -- or rather abused -- the murderous attack in Brussels to indoctrinate the public with multiculturalist propaganda.

Last week, for example, Brussels school children were given special lessons to warn against anti-Semitism and racism. The way to combat this, Yvan Mayeur, the Socialist Mayor of Brussels, said, was "to give room to the many cultures and religions in Europe." He said that his city needed more "diversity." But diversity does not mean diversity any more. Diversity is now the new code word for more Islam. Other politicians advocated punishing "hate crimes" more severely. But hate crime does not mean hate crime any more. It is now the politically-correct European "newspeak" code word for criticism of Islam.

So, rather than arming itself against the Islamist threat, the West still remains blind to the threat, while terrorists such as Merah and Nemmouche carry on killing Jews -- and others."

 See Martino's entire article here

Hezbollah's Newest Recruit (video)

I guess any fond grannies and aunties handy with needles and crochet hook were told ahead of time to put their knitting patterns away:

(Memri.org video)
Hat tip: Vlad Tepes blog

British Labour Leader Lauds Charity With Links To Hamas

On-again off-again "Zionist" Ed Miliband, Britain's Opposition leader, born to non-practising Jewish parents of leftist sympathies, is, like David Cameron and Nick Clegg (both of whom have paid extravagant tribute to Islam in Ramadan addresses seen respectively here and here), keen to woo the votes of Britain's large and growing Muslim community.

Accordingly, along with former Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams (who once made an ass of himself by supporting the formal integration of aspects of sharia law in Britain), "Red Ed" was on hand the other evening to pay tribute to the charity Islamic Relief.

Said Ed inter alia:

“I want to congratulate Islamic Relief on its campaign on the War on Hunger. It’s an important campaign because it looks beyond conflict – whether it’s in Syria or in Afghanistan or elsewhere – and it asks the question that all right-minded people would ask, which is: ‘What can we do to make a difference to the most vulnerable people in this country?’ ...."

All very well and noble, no doubt.

But, as Samuel Westrop, Associate Director at the Institute for Middle Eastern Democracy, wrote recently:

'Islamic Relief Worldwide [IRW] is the poster-child of an exemplary Islamic charity. Headquartered in the UK, and given tens of millions of dollars by Western governments, the United Nations and the European Union, IRW consists of a "family of fifteen aid agencies" which "aim to alleviate the suffering of the world's poorest people".

New information, however, indicates that IRW -- which counts Islamic Relief UK and Islamic Relief USA as its most important branches -- is an extremist organization with a pro-terror agenda. IRW has worked with a significant number of organizations linked to terrorism.

IRW's accounts show that it has partnered with a number of organizations linked to terrorism and that some of charity's trustees are personally affiliated with extreme Islamist groups that have connections to terror.

In 2006, the Israeli Ministry for Foreign Affairs designated IRW itself a terrorist front, and claimed that:

"The IRW provides support and assistance to Hamas's infrastructure. The IRW's activities in Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip are carried out by social welfare organizations controlled and staffed by Hamas operatives. The intensive activities of these associations are designed to further Hamas's ideology among the Palestinian population."

In May of 2006, Israeli police arrested IRW's Gaza coordinator, Ayaz Ali. The Israeli government stated Ali had assisted Hamas-related institutions and groups such as Al Wafa and Al Tzalah, both of which are designated terror organizations in Israel. According to the Israeli government, Ali also said that he had cooperated with local Hamas operatives in Jordan:

"Incriminating files were found on Ali's computer, including documents that attested to the organization's ties with illegal Hamas funds abroad (in the UK and in Saudi Arabia) and in Nablus. Also found were photographs of swastikas superimposed on IDF symbols, of senior Nazi German officials, of Osama Bin Laden and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, as well as many photographs of Hamas military activities … Ali admitted that he was aware that several of the organizations supported by the IRW in Judea, Samaria and Gaza were indeed identified with Hamas." [Author's emphasis]

For several years, IRW has supported the Islamic University of Gaza, where, during 2008, rockets and explosives were produced for use by Hamas. One of the most senior Hamas leaders, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, founded the university in 1978, and sixteen of the university's lecturers and teachers are elected Hamas members of the Palestinian legislature.

In 2002, the Russian Federal Security Service also accused Islamic Relief of being part of a radical Islamist network, providing support to terrorists in Chechnya.

Islamic Relief has denied the charges against them. These denials would be more convincing, however, were it not that IRW appears to be a hub for donations from charities accused of links to Al Qaeda and other terror groups.

In 2004, 2007 and 2009, IRW accounts revealed donations of tens of thousands of pounds from the Charitable Society for Social Welfare [CSSW], a charity founded by Al Qaeda terrorist and "Bin Laden loyalist" Abdul Majeed Al-Zindani. In 1998, the Al Qaeda terrorist Anwar Al-Awlaki, eventually killed by a U.S. drone strike, served as vice-president of CSSW's San Diego branch.

During a terrorism trial in 2004 in the U.S., Federal Bureau of Investigation agent Brian Murphy testified that CSSW was a "front organization to funnel money to terrorists."

In 1999, Human Concern International, a charity that Osama bin Laden told an Egyptian interviewer in 1995 was funding an al-Qaeda charitable front called Blessed Relief, gave IRW a $50,000 donation. IRW continues to refer to Human Concern as a partner. In 2008, Human Concern granted IRW a further £25,000.

Human Concern has also funded the Global Relief Foundation, an organization shut down by the American government on the grounds that it had been laundering money for al-Qaeda and was linked to the Taliban. Similarly, in 2009 another funder of the Global Relief Foundation, the International Development and Relief Foundation, gave IRW just under £200,000.

Further, in 2008, IRW's accounts revealed a donation of £13,437 from the Yemeni Al-Eslah organization -- a branch of the Muslim Brotherhood whose leaders include Sheikh al-Zindani, whom the US Government has designated a "Global Terrorist."

The same year, the UK-based charity Human Appeal International gave IRW £34,081. A 1996 CIA report claimed Human Appeal International was one of a number of Islamic charities used as conduits for funds to terrorist organizations, and tied it to the Saudi-based Muwafaq, an Al-Qaeda front group. The FBI, in 2003, claimed there was a "close relationship between Human Appeal International and Hamas." In February 2005, Hamas's website had already openly announced the receipt of funds from HAI.

One of Human Appeal's trustees is Dr. Nooh al Kaddo, who also serves as executive director of the Islamic Cultural Centre of Ireland. In 2009, this organization gave £2,707 to IRW.

The Islamic Cultural Centre is part of the Muslim Brotherhood's European network and hosts the European Council for Fatwa and Research, of which former IRW director Issam Al-Bashir is a leading member. The head of the council is Yusuf Al-Qaradawi, the spiritual leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, who believes Hitler was "divine punishment" for the Jews and is a supporter of suicide bombings.

In 2010 and 2011, the Kuwait-based International Islamic Charitable Organisation provided IRW with hundreds of thousands of pounds. According to counter-terrorism expert Matthew Levitt, a leaked CIA report identified this Kuwaiti charity as a key supporter of terrorism.

It is not just the charity, however, that has partnered with extremist groups. A number of IRW trustees and officials are also personally affiliated with state sponsors of terror, extremist groups and pro-terror organizations ....'

Read all of Westrop's article here

Waking Up To Reality

"I think we need to wake up to the reality," says British Islamic extremist Anjem Choudary towards the end of this video, in which he vents shocking views towards non-Muslims in the wake of Drummer Rigby's murder.

He's right of course, we do need to wake up to reality, but not in the way he means. (See, by the way, this pertinent article re double standards in Britain towards the stirring up of racial hatred.)

On the very day that it's revealed that the Australian Minister for Immigration was kept in the dark for eight months about the fact that an illegal immigrant being held in a not highly secure family detention centre is a convicted member of Egyptian Islamic Jihad, comes this article regarding the ostrich-like stance of American officialdom towards the jihadist terror threat:

"Why has the U.S. government called certain Islamic groups supporters of terror in federal court, and then turned around and called these same organizations “moderates” and embraced them as outreach partners? In a number of cases from the Clinton, Bush, and Obama administrations, the leaders of these organizations (some of whom are now in federal prison) were under active investigation at the same time they were meeting with senior U.S. leaders at the White House and the Capitol and helping develop U.S. policy. Now these same Islamic organizations and leaders have openly encouraged a purge of counterterrorism training that have effectively blinded law enforcement, homeland security, and intelligence agencies to active terror threats as seen in the inaction of the FBI concerning the Boston bombing suspects and other terror cases. This study poses serious questions as to the efficacy and even security concerns about U.S. government outreach to Islamic groups, which often turn out to be Islamist militants, enemies of Islamic moderation, and even supporters of terrorism"

 Read the disturbing rest here

On rather different note,  regarding Arab media antisemitism, please sign this petition

(For a whacky example of Iranian antisemitism see Ian G's blog here)

The War On Terror & Radical Islamism (video)

My technical problems Down Under are now (hopefully) fixed, which means that I'll be blogging regularly again.  As a starter after the hiatus, here's a mob of Israel-haters in Sydney last week, marking so-called Nakba Day (hat tip: reader Shirlee).

And below is a much longer video, from Shalom TV, featuring Daniel Pipes (founder and director of the Middle East Forum) and Rabbi Eric Yoffie (immediate past president of the Union for Reform Judaism) giving their differing views on the threat to the West posed by Islamism, the one arguably realist and the other overly phlegmatic:

This is the Way to Defend Israel and Western Values against the Islamic Foe! – an American Congressman’s Magnificent Speech

Last month, at the “Americans Against Hate” pro-Israel Conference, Congressman Allen West (Republican, Florida) made a magnificent speech, notable for its clear realism and its engaging, non-bombastic, eloquence, about the threat to Israel and the West posed by Islamist extremism and by continuing appeasement and denial of who the enemy is and what the enemy intends.

A genuine philosemite, he's a retired lieutenant-colonel and decorated war hero; you can read and hear more of this great man on Israel here:
http://www.seraphicpress.com/archives/2010/02/lt_col_allen_we.php

We need more politicians of his kind.  On both sides of the Herring Pond.  May he and his party prosper!

And may those American Jews who still laud Barack Obama come to their senses soon!