IRIS Blog

Mark Steyn comments on the many perfectly legal techniques Islamists are effectively wielding which are having a large cumulative effect:

Over in Sweden, they?ve been investigating the Grand Mosque of Stockholm. Apparently, it?s the one-stop shop for all your jihad needs: you can buy audio cassettes at the mosque encouraging you to become a martyr and sally forth to kill ?the brothers of pigs and apes? ? i.e. Jews. So somebody filed a racial-incitement complaint and the coppers started looking into it, and then Sweden?s chancellor of justice, Goran Lambertz, stepped in. And Mr. Lambertz decided to close down the investigation on the grounds that, even though the porcine-sibling stuff is ?highly degrading,? this kind of chit-chat ?should be judged differently ? and therefore be regarded as permissible ? because they were used by one side in an ongoing and far-reaching conflict where calls to arms and insults are part of the everyday climate in the rhetoric that surrounds this conflict.?

In other words, if you threaten to kill people often enough, it will be seen as part of your vibrant cultural tradition ? and, by definition, we?re all cool with that. Celebrate diversity, etc. Our tolerant multicultural society is so tolerant and multicultural we?ll tolerate your intolerant uniculturalism. Your antipathy to diversity is just another form of diversity for us to celebrate.

Diversity-wise, Europe is a very curious place ? and I mean that even by Canadian standards. In her latest book, The Force of Reason, the fearless Oriana Fallaci, Italy?s most-read and most-sued journalist, recounts some of her recent legal difficulties with the Continental diversity coercers. The Federal Office of Justice in Berne asked the Italian government to extradite her over her last book, The Rage and The Pride, so she could be charged under Article 261b of the Swiss Criminal Code. As she points out, Article 261b was promulgated in order to permit Muslims ?to win any ideological or private lawsuit by invoking religious racism and racial discrimination. ?He-didn?t-chase-me-because-I?m-a-thief-but-because-I?m-a-Muslim.? ? She?s also been sued in France, where suits against writers are routine now. She has had cases brought against her in her native Italy and, because of the European Arrest Warrant, which includes charges of ?xenophobia? as grounds for extradition from one EU nation to another, most of the Continent is now unsafe for her to set foot in. What?s impressive is the range of organized opposition: the Islamic Centre of Berne, the Somali Association of Geneva, the SOS Racism of Lausanne, and a group of Muslim immigrants in Neuchatel, just to name a random sampling of her Swiss plaintiffs. After the London bombings and the French riots, the commentariat lined up to regret that European Muslims are insufficiently ?assimilated.? But, in fact, at least in their mastery of legalisms and victimology, they?re superbly assimilated. One might say the same of the imam who took my chums at The Western Standard to the Alberta Human Rights Commission over their publication of the Danish cartoons.

76% of Israelis: Amir Peretz Wrong for Job as Defense Minister
This article explains why

Comatose Florida Teen 'Best Target We Can Dream of'
According Abu Nasser, a leader of Abbas' Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, who warns that all Americans and all Jews are targets worldwide

IDF: Katyusha Rockets Brought into Gaza

Olmert Orders Sanctions Against Hamas
4 Hamas terrorists to have their Jerusalem residency cards revoked following the latest Tel Aviv suicide bombing. Of course the terrorists are suing. "The courts might ask the government to explain how it can define the three as terrorists and strip them of residency, while choosing not to arrest them when they had the chance"

Hezbollah Child Abuse

Penn State President Blocks Art Censorship
Another win for an army of Davids

Ze'evi Murder 'Mastermind' Off Hook
Here's the danger in applying the John Kerry doctrine of treating anti-terrorism as criminal enforcement. "Not enough evidence" to convict the terror mastermind in the murder of an Israeli minister, because the terrorists he commanded carried out the murder, not him directly

I'd Chop Up PM, Claims 'Terrorist'
It is time to recognize that this is not in the realm of abnormal psychology

Jihadist Tried in NYC Subway Plot
"This piece shows how the mainstream media is both actively obfuscating and highly ignorant of the jihad ideology"

Sweden?s largest Muslim organisation has demanded that Sweden introduce separate laws for Muslims, according to Swedish television. Sweden?s equality minister Jens Orback called the proposals ?completely unacceptable?.

The Swedish Muslim Association, which represents around 70,000 Muslims in Sweden, has sent a letter to all Sweden?s main political parties suggesting a number of reforms, SVT?s Rapport programme reported.

The proposals include allowing imams into state (public) schools to give Muslim children separate lessons in Islam and their parents? native languages. The letter also said that boys and girls should have separate swimming lessons and that divorces between Muslims should be approved by an imam.

The letter provoked an instant, and damning, response from integration and equality minister Jens Orback. ?We will not have separate laws in Sweden. In Sweden, we are all equal before the law. In Sweden, we have fought for a long time to achieve gender-neutral laws, and to propose that certain groups should not be treated like others is completely unacceptable.?

Orback said he had spoken to representatives of the Swedish Muslim Council, and they did not support the association?s position. ?We have freedom of speech, we have the right to opinions and we have the right to make proposals - but if a law is going to be changed, it must be the same for everyone.?

Asked whether the proposal plays into the hands of racists, Orback said that it did.

Via Little Green Footballs

It's worse than Lenin predicted. The West is paying for the rope with which we will be hung:

An Islamic school in London is teaching that non-Muslims are akin to pigs and dogs, and it is doing so with subventions from the British taxpayer. More alarmingly, when notified of this problem, the British authorities indicate they intend to do nothing about it.

The Times (London) reported on April 20 in Muslim students being taught to despise unbelievers as 'filth', that the Hawza Ilmiyya, a Shi?i institution, teaches from the writings of Muhaqqiq al-Hilli. This scholar lived from 1240 to 1326 and wrote the authoritative work on Shi?i law (Shara'i? al-Islam). About non-believers, called kafirs, he taught:

The water left over in the container after any type of animal has drunk from it is considered clean and pure apart from the left over of a dog, a pig, and a disbeliever.

There are ten [sic] types of filth and impurities: urine, faeces, semen, carrion, blood of carrion, dogs, pigs, disbelievers.

When a dog, a pig, or a disbeliever touches or comes in contact with the clothes or body [of a Muslim] while he [the disbeliever] is wet, it becomes obligatory-compulsory upon him [the Muslim] to wash and clean that part which came in contact with the disbeliever.

The radical left successfully argued that if the PLO was legitimized and given governmental responsibility it would be forced to mature and moderate. Were they right? If not, why are they getting away with the same argument now for Hamas?

What drives a young Palestinian to turn his body into a bomb? Children are not born hating. It is something they learn - and the Palestinian Authority has been the ideal teacher. The first step is to promote hatred by demonizing a target group, portrayed as so evil and threatening that killing its members is seen not as murder but as justified revenge and admirable self-defense. As part of the PA's incessant demonization of Jews and Israelis, PA TV has been running daily video clips with actors depicting Palestinian prisoners going through horrific torture at the hands of Israeli guards.

But it's not enough to establish Israel as the enemy. The terrorists who kill Israelis must be seen as heroes and leaders of society. There are no greater heroes and role models in PA society than terrorists. Summer camps and sporting events are routinely named for terrorists. The PA Ministry of Culture recently produced a poetry collection named for the woman terrorist who killed 21 in a Haifa restaurant.

Of course, as Soccer Dad notes, this has been known for years, and has not changed at all since Arafat.

Egypt Turns Down Offer of Assistance from IDF
Nearly every major Muslim tragedy (tsunamis, earthquakes, terror attacks, ferry sinkings) includes a story of a refusal to accept aid from the most advanced country in the region in terms of emergency response

30 killed, at Least 150 Wounded in Dahab Explosions
This was utterly predictable, based on our continuous warnings that Gaza would turn into a world terror hub after the Israeli withdrawal, and particularly after the Rafah crossing debacle in which it was decided to cover up granting free reign to al-Qaeda et al in Gaza and Sinai

Pakistani Teen Raped, Jailed in Saudi Arabia
See this previous post for an explanation of why Muslim Law, with its half-valuation for female testimony, makes this abuse systemic

Muslim Murder in Belgium Prokes Mass Protest
Of course, the mainstream media is covering up the Muslim connection

Iran Recruits Hezbollah Terror Master; Iranian Officers in South Lebanon Take Command of Hezbollah Rockets Aimed at Israel

Hamas Leader: "PA Provides Protection for Forces of Jihad"
"Hamas political bureau chief Khaled Mashaal confirmed that the Palestinian Authority under Hamas rule has become a hothouse for the growth, development, and encouragement of terrorists"

Michelle Malkin's Internet Broadcast Site Debuts
This looks like it will be big

Occasionally an absolute must-read is published. Today is such a day, courtesy of Natan Sharansky. It is an essential counterbalance to the eloquent defeatism of Alan Dershowitz.

There are two distinct marks of a dissident. First, dissidents are fired by ideas and stay true to them no matter the consequences. Second, they generally believe that betraying those ideas would constitute the greatest of moral failures. Give up, they say to themselves, and evil will triumph. Stand firm, and they can give hope to others and help change the world.

Political leaders make the rarest of dissidents. In a democracy, a leader's lifeline is the electorate's pulse. Failure to be in tune with public sentiment can cripple any administration and undermine any political agenda. Moreover, democratic leaders, for whom compromise is critical to effective governance, hardly ever see any issue in Manichaean terms. In their world, nearly everything is colored in shades of gray.

That is why President George W. Bush is such an exception. He is a man fired by a deep belief in the universal appeal of freedom, its transformative power, and its critical connection to international peace and stability. Even the fiercest critics of these ideas would surely admit that Mr. Bush has championed them both before and after his re-election, both when he was riding high in the polls and now that his popularity has plummeted, when criticism has come from longstanding opponents and from erstwhile supporters.

With a dogged determination that any dissident can appreciate, Mr. Bush, faced with overwhelming opposition, stands his ideological ground, motivated in large measure by what appears to be a refusal to countenance moral failure.

The Wrong Foot (Jerusalem Post editorial):

At what point in the coalition negotiations do the parties jointly decide, "it's not our money, let's stick it to the voters"? It is difficult to interpret the decision to form a government of a minimum of 27 ministers in another manner. Such profligacy is a form of corruption, and clearly starts the nascent government on the wrong foot.

The government of Binyamin Netanyahu of just a decade ago stuck to the legal limit of 18 ministers. Ehud Barak subsequently asked the Knesset to override the law, allowing him to appoint a government of 25 ministers. Ariel Sharon at one point presided over a government of 28 ministers, but he "only" had 25 at the outset.

Now Kadima and Labor have announced that, after hours of agonizing negotiations, a breakthrough was reached when Kadima accepted Labor's demand of seven ministries, leading to 12 ministers for Kadima. Previously, negotiations had been based on a formula based on 23 to 25 ministries, of which Labor would control about five and Kadima eight.

Senior Labor member Eitan Cabel reacted, "We received almost everything we wanted and even more than we expected." The same cannot be said for the voters, who will pay for this result in more ways than one.

The government could well grow further to a record 29 ministers, since Kadima's other expected coalition partners - Shas and Israel Beiteinu for starters - are now demanding additional ministers as befits the new formula. The direct cost of the additional ministers and deputy ministers will not be negligible, but it could also be just the beginning.

Almost half of the Knesset members in the government are now "ministers." What is not well understood is that these new ministries will be staffed by ever-growing legions of political cronies. Sharon's systemic corruption in political appointments (despite his promises to the contrary) will likely prove to be one of his most lasting legacies. Get ready for a lot more of this collaboration between Olmert and Peretz. This is what I predicted before the last election, saying "Israel is heading for long-term disaster by placing these [Kadima] foxes, along with Peretz's Labor, in the henhouse rules committee."

A must-read by Alan Dershowitz, despite his misguided defeatism. For an extraordinary rebuttal, see Dissident President, by Natan Sharansky.

Face it. Iran will get the bomb. It has already test-fired rockets capable of targeting the entire Middle East and much of southern Europe. And it claims to have 40,000 suicide volunteers eager to deploy terrorism ? even nuclear terrorism ? against its enemies. With a nuclear capacity, the Islamic Republic of Iran will instantly achieve the status of superpower to which Iraq aspired.

Nothing will deter Iran. Sanctions are paper protests to an oil-rich nation. Diplomacy has already failed because Russia and China are playing both sides. Sabotage, bribery ? even assassination of nuclear scientists ? may delay but will not prevent Iran from becoming a nuclear power. That leaves military threats and, ultimately, military action.

First, consider military threats. They are already coming from two sources: the US and Israel. Neither is working, for very different reasons.

The Iranians would probably give up their nuclear weapons programme if their leaders truly believed that refusal to do so would produce an Iraq-like attack ? an all-out invasion, regime change and occupation. Leaders, even religious leaders, fear imprisonment and death. Only the United States is capable of mounting such a sustained attack.

But the continuing war in Iraq has made it impossible for the US to mount a credible threat, because American public opinion would not accept a second war ? or so the Iranians believe. Moreover, America?s allies in the war against Iraq ? most particularly Great Britain ? would not support an attack on Iran.