Islamberg !!!!

Fox News has reported on a new town 150 miles north-west of New York called Islamberg. A very unexciting name for a place where Moslem "baalei teshuva" have made home.

While the report in the above video looks like a reporter trying to make a non-event interesting, when reading the article it appears that this place may be more sinister than the video shows. The head of this village is a radical Moslem who is - surprise, surprise - anti-Zionist. He has also been linked to various terrorist organisations. Let us hope that the Obama administration or at least the local authorities will wake up and do something about these people.

My first thought when I started reading this was of New Square - the town setup by the Squarer Rebbe in upstate New York. Both towns were established so that the pios would not have to interact with the grob, secular world. While New Square has its own problems they are obviously a benign group and living a sheltered life in the environs of their Rebbe. Lehavdil, this Islamic town doesn't sound so holy.
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Malcom Fraser

Cartoon by Geoff Pryor

Former PM Malcolm Fraser (from 1975 - 1983) is opening his big mouth again and accusing the present government of using "the politics of fear to damage traditional Australian values". He said this and more in a speech at the Australian National University today as reported on ABC news.

I remember Fraser well from his days as Prime Minister. He was one of the most right wing PMs we have had and is now reinventing himself as a (small "l") liberal.

What bothers me is that he is trying to cover up the issues of radical Moslems and the damage they are doing in the world today. All this touchy-feely stuff that Islam is a peace loving religion is not borne out by the facts on the ground. Sure there are many Moslems in Australia and other countries who just want to get on with the job of living and raising their families in peace. But unfortunately there are also many of those, including their leaders, who want to stir up trouble.

As Australians we cannot jump to the conclusion that anyone who is different is bad but we must also recognise and stop the troublemakers before things get out of hand.

The Sheik Stays - For Now

Is the mufti praying for forgiveness - I think not

Reports from the ABC and The Age say that Australia's "foot in mouth" sheik, Taj el-Din al-Hilali, will stay on at least until April when the National Immams Council will meet to vote on a new mufti. The Australian has a different take on the situation and has reports from other leaders of the muslim community who say that he has little support and will be leaving his position soon, albeit with a "golden handshake".

I think that the moslem community is reading the Australian public incorrectly. They are still blaming the media for what the sheik actually said about women, Australians etc and appear to be absolving him of responsibility for his public opinions. (see previous post here). When will they wake up and get rid of this radical "leader". His presence is not good for Australia in general and Jews in particular. If he is being reported as making these inflamatory comments imagine what he is saying to his flock in arabic that is not being reported in the general press.

Let us hope that he is ousted soon and a saner, less radical leader is appointed who can communicate effectively with the Australian public.

Oink! Oink!

Sheikh Feiz Mohammed and friend

Well they're doing it again. A Sydney Moslem cleric has attracted more attention to their "cause" by encouraging children to die as Muslim matyrs. He has also referred to Jews as pigs. Their true colours are being shown again for all to see. Our society is so concerned with political correctness that it is non-PC to critisise any Moslem no matter what he says. These stupid clerics think that they are untouchable and can say whatever ridiculous and irresponsible thing they want.

The Australian has a report here.

The ABC quotes Keven Rudd and says:

The Muslim community has moved to distance itself from comments made by a Sydney cleric calling for children to be encouraged to die as Muslim martyrs.

The head of the Global Islam Youth Centre, Sheikh Feiz Mohammed, has also referred to Jewish people as "pigs", in a video of one of his lectures.

The DVDs were reportedly found being sold by children outside a mosque in Britain.

Islamic Friendship Association spokesman Kaysar Trad says the comments do not reflect the sentiments of the wider Muslim community.

"As a community, it is quite disconcerting for us that these comments are found from time to time and they're broadcast all over the news," he said.

"They certainly give the public an erroneous impression about Islam and Muslims."

Acting Attorney-General Kevin Andrews has condemned Sheikh Mohammed's comments.

"The importation of hatred in Australia is unacceptable," he said.

"It's offensive to the Australian people, it's reprehensible.

"It's particularly outrageous that certain groups in Australia, such as the Jewish community, have been highlighted in these comments, and we condemn the comments."

Rampant Foot-in-Mouth Disease

Good on ya Sheik AlHilali! Your true feelings keep being revealed and embarrassing the Moslem community - who are embarrassed not because they do not agree with you but because they do not want what they really believe being revealed to the Australian community.

I talked about Hilali's statements supporting rapists in October here, here and here. And the stupid pronouncements keep coming. The Australian reports:

"The Western people are the biggest liars and oppressors and especially the English race," the Mufti of Australia said in Arabic during the extensive interview in Eqypt, his birthplace. "The Anglo-Saxons who arrived in Australia arrived in shackles. We paid for passports from our own pockets. We have a right in Australia more than they have."

The Australian has a few articles about this latest controvesy. Hilali's friends try to explain away what he said here, and you can see excerpts of the interview here. Alexander Downer's comments and NSW Community Relations Commission (CRC) chairman Stepan Kerkyasharian's statements are here. Kerkyasharian says Sheik al-Hilali should “keep his mouth shut”.

Despite Muslims trying to assure the world that they are peace loving, the average Australian, who has no strong feeling about muslims either way, is seeing for himself that the truth is not so benign. Even if we believe that the majority of Moslems are not violent, the truth is that the Islamic community as a whole does not condemn terrorist attacks but applauds them. We have seen this since well before 9/11.

While the press and politicians are trying to present Hilali as being "several sandwiches short of a picnic" as Kevin Rudd said, the truth is that he is representative of all Moslems. Thank G-d that most Aussies are not falling for this and are starting to realise what type of people we are dealing with.

Cartoon Comment

Two cartoons from Nicholson in The Australian relating to the Al-Hilali debacle.

Get Thee Behind Me Woman

With regard to our friend (not!) Sheik Taj Aldin Al-Hilali which I spoke about here, The Australian has a number of articles on this topic.

The complete text of Sheik Al-Hilali's Ramadan speech is reproduced in Revealed: the Mufti uncut. Despite Hilali's protests that he was misquoted etc etc it is obvious that the original reporting was accurate. He clearly says that women are the cause of "adultery" and need to be punished more severely than men.

I also like Caroline Overington's essay, Metaphor hides mufti's real message, which is an interesting look at the veil worn by Moslem women. The concept of modesty is foreign to most of western society these days, but I feel that there is something wrong with a creed that says that women must cover up completely but men can wear what they want.


Oh, and if you like polls, The Age has one which lets you vote on Should Sheik Taj Aldin Alhilali be sacked after his comments on rape? Go here to register your opinion.
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Sheik Alhilali Condones Rape

Sheik Taj Aldin Alhilali has opened his big mouth again and demonstrated his true colours. In a much publicised speech he has defended Moslems who were sentenced for gang raping 4 women in 2000. In the much publicised Ramadan sermon to 500 of the faithful last month The Age reports:

He said there were women who "sway suggestively" and wore make-up and inappropriate clothes, "and then you get a judge without mercy (rahma) and gives you 65 years".
"If you take out uncovered meat and place it outside on the street, or in the garden or in the park, or in the backyard without a cover, and the cats come and eat it ... whose fault is it, the cats or the uncovered meat," the sheik asked.
"The uncovered meat is the problem."
"If she was in her room, in her home, in her hijib (head scarf), no problem would have occurred."

According to the report in The Age here, a statement was issued today by the Lebanese Muslim Association who said "The board is satisfied with the notion that certain statements made by the mufti was misinterpreted."

The Australian has a less simplistic and more detailed coverage of this incident here. Whereas The Age would lead us to believe that Hilali has the support of the majority of Australian Muslims, The Australian reports that many in that community are incensed at Hilali's extreme opinions in general and these statements in particular. As in any community politics interferes with common sense and there is no simple way for them to get rid of the Imam. Let us hope that this changes soon and Hilali disappears from here very soon.

As a postscript, The Age has an interesting list of Hilali's more ridiculous statements here - many of them to do with Israel and Jews.
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A Religion of Peace...

Some reactions to the Pope's comment on Islam last week:



These and more can be seen here.
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Dry Bones' take

From the Dry Bones blog

Unfortunately the Pope was correct. Islam is a religion of violence - the entire world is scared of terrorists and the terrorists are mainly of the Moslem faith. When the politically correct Western governments finally recognise this maybe then there will be a backlash against these thugs.

But we are being told by the representatives of Islam that the Koran preaches peace and theirs is a religion of peace. If these spokesmen really believe this why do they not denounce the extremists among their co-religionists? Maybe they are also afraid of a violent reaction.

Let us hope that the new year of 5767 ushers in an era of true peace with the coming of Moshiach.
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Yalla Yalla Nasralla

I saw this cute video on Jerusalem is the place to be blog. Enjoy.
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At least someone's happy...

From the Dry Bones blog. Check out his latest post here where the lies of this war are starting to become unravelled.
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Chinuch Hezbollah Style

This, and other informative videos, are found here on YouTube thru Giyus.org. It is interesting and disturbing to see the mindset of Hezbollah, Hamas and other Arab groups.

We in the "West" are brought up with a love and reverence for life. It seems that this doesn't apply to our Arab cousins. This is the problem with media commentary on the entire Middle East situation. The media erroneously comments on events from a Western viewpoint whereas the protagonists are operating from an entirely different, and more deadly, point-of-view.

Now Arab Australians are trying to equate Israel with Hezbollah and have asked that PM John Howard remove Hezbollah from the list of banned terrorist organisations - see here. Does this tie in with another report on The Age website here that Moslem terriorists are headed around the world, including Australia, in order to attack Jewish targets?

Keep saying tehillim!!
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Aussie Arabs Showing Their True Colours

Australian supporters of the Arab cause mobbed John Howard's car yesterday after he left a Liberal Party conference in Perth. The Australian descibed it as a "violent scuffle" - read the story here. And see a newsclip of the incident below:



In response to the guy speaking about Israeli aggression at the end of the newsclip here is a map of the area showing how Israel overwhelms the Arab countries in size:

Thanks to Bagel Blogger for the video



I just read in The Age (here) that a woman was shot dead in Seattle, Washington by a mentally deranged Muslim American. The Seattle Times reports in detail here that as well as the woman who was killed 5 others were seriously injured.

Hopefully this violence will not spread - althought the Australian Jewish News reports an upsurge in antisemitic violence and incidents throughout Australia. Keep saying tehillim!
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This T-shirt Says It Well

Someone sent this to me but I don't know where it originated from.

Just in case you can't read the line in brackets it says "Please Don't Kill Me".
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More Cartoons

From Cracked.com (found via YoYenta.com):

Click on cartoon to see larger view.
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Cartoonists Fight Back

Thanks to Jake from Jerusalem for these and a number of others.

Cartoon by Bob Gorrell, AOL News, February 8, 2006

Cartoon by John Trever, The Albuquerque Journal, February 9, 2006
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Freedom of Speech

Last September the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten published some cartoons depicting Mohammed. This has angered much of the Muslim world as it is forbidden in their "religion" to show images of their prophet. We are all used to the death threats issued to anyone who they decide to hate and the newspaper has received it's fair share. Over the last few months other European newspapers have come out in support of Jyllands-Posten and have also published these cartoons and others. I was surprised that the media is actually defending free speech at the expense of alienating their Moslem friends.

All the cartoons can be seen here. Update on 8 Feb: the cartoons can now been seen on the Elder of Ziyon blog here along with some of the anti-Jewish cartoons published by the Arab world by way of comparison.


I originally heard this story on The World Today on ABC Radio. A transcript of the show can be found here.

Also, while surfing the web, I discovered the website of Front Page Magazine which includes an opinion piece by Robert Spencer titled Thou Shalt not Draw. The essay provides a good run-down of this latest stoush.



While you are at the Front Page Mag site you can download a booklet by a David Meir-Levi called Big Lies which describes the war in the Middle East over the last 60 years and the historical facts surrounding the conflict. Scroll down until you see the graphic above and click on it to display the booklet.
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Something in common?

On ABC radio's AM program yesterday morning the following was reported. I have quoted most of the interview and you can read the complete transcript here.

Is this so different from what we believe?

TONY EASTLEY: Less than two months after being elected to run the municipal council in the West Bank city of Qalqiliya, the militant group Hamas is being accused of introducing Taliban-style rules on the city. The acting Mayor, who's also a Hamas member, has banned a popular Palestinian festival because it supposedly violates Islamic values. He's told AM that the festival encourages young men and women to mix, and possibly even dance together. Our Middle East Correspondent, Mark Willacy, reports from Qalqiliya.
MARK WILLACY: Under the summer sky in cities and towns across the West Bank this month, Palestinians have been celebrating their culture through traditional song and dance.For seven years the Palestinian International Festival has been a resounding success. But in one West Bank city the show has been cancelled. Two months ago, the people of Qalqiliya elected Hamas members to every seat on the municipal council. And now the council has banned the Palestinian International Festival. Hashem al-Masri is Qalqiliya's acting mayor.
HASHEM AL-MASRI (translated): According to our society the men should be isolated from the women. They shouldn't mix at events like the festival. The festival should respect our Islamic heritage so men and women should not be dancing together.
MARK WILLACY: Qalqiliya is the first major West Bank town to elect Hamas to its council. The largest Palestinian militant group, Hamas's main aim is to establish an Islamic state on all of historic Palestine. Qalqiliya's elected mayor – Hamas activist, Wajih Nazzal – is in an Israeli jail. His stand-in, Hashem al-Masri says the Hamas council is only responding to the will of the people in banning the festival.
HASHEM AL-MASRI (translated): There is only five per cent of the population who want the festival. If you like, you can ask people on the street and more than 90 per cent will tell you they are against the festival.
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MARK WILLACY: Across the West Bank, Palestinians are celebrating their heritage through song and dance. But in Qalqiliya, the Koran takes precedence over traditional culture.This is Mark Willacy in Qalqiliya for AM.