Temptation

It is not poverty that I fear for you, but I fear that the world shall open its gates for you, that you shall compete for it, and that it will destroy you as it has destroyed them. [Bukhari]

Introduction to David Horowitz

GOP Most Wanted Playing Card

Further Reading:

David Horowitz Biography

Frontpagemag.com

Associate of Jihad Watch

(Racist favorite Islamophobic News Rag's.)

Misinformationist/ Propagandist for the United States Government?

Free Palestine Song by Reef Ali

Courtesy of...

How to have Peace?

This is a shot of the sculpture outside the UN headquarters in New York. Created by the Swedish artist Carl Fredrik Reutersward as a tribute to John Lennon.

John Hagee Christian Zionist Spreading Propaganda for Israel

Hagee on the Palestinians:

He believes that the land of Israel has never belonged to the Palestinian people. He teaches that the land was first called Palestine by the Romans, that there is no Palestinian language and that the Palestinians came from Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Iraq and other Arab nations before 1948.

Hagee: Giant of Christian Zionism has awakened
March 15, 2007

By Stan Goodenough

American evangelical leader John Hagee took a powerful message of support for Israel to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s 2007 policy conference in Washington DC earlier this week.

“I want to say this as clearly and as plainly as I can possibly say it,” he emphasized, his booming voice filling the auditorium.

“Israel you are not alone. There are 50 million Christians standing up and applauding the State of Israel.”

Hagee, pastor of the 18,000 member Cornerstone Church in San Antonio, Texas, and founder of the newly-formed national organization Christians United for Israel (CUFI), repeatedly triggered standing ovations from the crowd.

“It’s a new day in America,” he cried.

“The sleeping giant of Christian Zionism has awakened. Millions of Christians across America consider the Jewish people the apple of God’s eye; the chosen people; a cherished people.”

These Christians, standing with America’s five million Jews on behalf of Israel, had powerful potential to shape the future and were “a match made in heaven.”

Hagee said CUFI was spreading quickly across the United States, its goal being to ensure “that Congress knows that the matter of Israel is no longer just a Jewish issue.

“It is a Christian-Jewish issue from this day forward.”

Speaking to the megalomanic rantings and actions of Iranian leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Hagee said it was imperative that “we must stop Iran’s nuclear threat and stop it now.

“The only way to win a nuclear war,” he stressed, “is to make certain it never starts.”

As far as Israel and the nations were concerned, the only real truth pertaining to them was to be found in the pages of the Bible, in which God warned that He would bless those who bless Israel and curse him who curses Israel.

Those threatened judgments, Hagee said, are “very real.”

“Where are the nations that have persecuted the Jewish people,” he asked, listing Pharaoh and his army, the Babylonians, the Greeks, the Romans, the Ottoman Empire and “that goose-stepping lunatic Adolf Hitler and his Nazi hordes?”

All were “historic footnotes in the bone yard of human history.”

As for Israel and the Jewish people, “they are alive and well. They are thriving. They are prospering. They are growing. Even in the day of adversity they are still going forward.”

“Israel lives,” Hagee proclaimed, his voice rising and his hand stabbing the air in front of him.

“Shout it from the housetop: Israel lives! Let every Islamic terrorist group hear it: Israel lives!

Let every tin horn dictator in the Middle East hear it; Israel lives! Let it be heard in the halls of the UN: Israel lives! Let it echo down the marble halls of the presidential palace in Iran: Israel lives! Let it ring in the terrorist camps of Osama bin Laden: Israel lives! Israel Lives! Israel lives!”

Answering the often-asked question of why Christians support Israel, Hagee said it was because Christians believe that they owe “a debt of gratitude” to the Jewish people.

“You gave us the Word of God. You gave us the Patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. You gave us the prophets. [You gave us ] the first family of Christianity Mary, Joseph, and Jesus; the Apostles…

“If you take away the Jewish contribution from Christianity there would be no Christianity,” he continued. “Judaism does not need Christianity to explain its existence. But Christianity cannot explain its existence without Judaism.”

Hagee “humbly ask[ed] forgiveness of the Jewish people… for the deafening silence of Christianity in your greatest hour of need, during the Holocaust.

“We were not there. We cannot change the past. But together we can shape the future,” he said.

Ending his message, the Texan declared: “Let the word go forth from Washington DC tonight: There is a new beginning in America between Christians and Jews.

“We pledge to God and to the Jewish people to fulfill the words of the prophet Isaiah: ‘For Zion’s sake I will not hold my peace and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest. You who make mention of the Lord do not keep silent and give the LORD no rest until He makes Jerusalem the praise of all the earth.’”

Helping Palestinian Refugees

New slave trade rife as Britain marks abolition

A woman walks next to a wall covered by posters in Sofia, Bulgaria promoting a campaign to prevent women from becoming sex slaves abroad in a file photo. Two hundred years after Britain abolished the slave trade, it is home to thousands of men, women and children who have been tricked, coerced or intimidated into prostitution or forced labor. (Alexei Dityakin/Reuters)

March 20, 2007

By Paul Hughes

LONDON (Reuters) -Two hundred years after Britain abolished the slave trade, it is home to thousands of men, women and children who have been tricked, coerced or intimidated into prostitution or forced labor.

Many are bought and sold several times over and pushed into the sex industry to repay "debts" demanded by their traffickers. Others are trapped in inhumane conditions working for little or no pay in hotels and restaurants, on farms or in private homes.

The government -- once again trying to halt the trade -- estimates at least 4,000 women and children were in Britain in 2003 as a result of trafficking for sexual exploitation. Rights activists say many more are in all forms of forced labor.

They are victims of what is now the third largest illicit trade in the world after narcotics and weapons, with an estimated annual value of $32 billion.

"In the last 200 years we haven't come that far," Klara Skrivankova, trafficking program coordinator at Anti-Slavery International, said ahead of the March 25 bicentenary of the parliament act that made Britain's slave trade illegal.

"Slavery is pretty much universally abolished ... but in reality it flourishes and a lot of people profit from it."

Today's victims are no longer overwhelmingly Africans. At the Poppy Project, a London safe house scheme for women trafficked into sex work, the top four source countries are Lithuania, Albania, Nigeria and Thailand.

Detective Superintendent Mark Ponting, who heads a new 11-strong London Metropolitan Police unit to target the human traders, said women were being brought into the country and sold for up to 8,000 pounds ($15,570).

"This is a commodity as far as these criminal networks are concerned and they're making huge money from it," he said.

DANIELA AND FAISAL

Daniela's is the kind of story Britons hear often. She was 16 when a friend of her father's convinced her to leave home in Romania to work as a hotel maid in Britain.

"When I got here I realized I'd been tricked," said the 19 year old who like other victims wanted her identity concealed.

Told she owed 1,500 pounds for passage and papers, she was taken to a flat where she was raped and beaten by her minders and forced to have sex with men to pay off her "debts."

"They threatened me with a knife and told me they would kill my mother and sister if I behaved badly, if I refused to see men or tried to ask for help," she said.

Daniela escaped when police raided the flat. They took her to the government-funded Poppy Project.

Daniela entered Britain illegally, hidden under a truck by her traffickers, but most victims hold EU passports or valid work visas.

"Most ... enter the UK legally but become subject to forced labor through a mix of enforced debt, intimidation, the removal of documents and an inadequate understanding of their rights," said a report by researchers at Hull University last month.

Faisal, a chef from Morocco, was lured by promises of good pay and housing to a restaurant in southern England.

"Once I arrived, I saw the reality was very different," he said. "I had to live in the stockroom: no toilet, running water. Even so, 100 pounds was deducted each week for this ... and I was (often) denied wages. The employer threatened me with deportation if I complained."

"NEED TO ACT"

Growing official awareness of the problem has led to a number of initiatives in the last year.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair said in January Britain would sign the Council of Europe convention on human trafficking.

"There are still modern examples of slavery and people trafficking that we need to act against," he said last week.

In March 2006 the government tightened legislation on gangmasters after 23 Chinese laborers drowned while collecting shellfish in a northwest England estuary in 2004.

The UK Human Trafficking Center, a police-led body dedicated to understanding and tackling the issue, was set up in October.

A nationwide police blitz on brothels and massage parlors last year uncovered 84 people trafficked into the sex trade, including 12 children.

Rights groups say the police have been too narrowly focused.

"There have been no anti-trafficking operations in the area of forced labor, all have been into sexual exploitation," said Beth Hertzfeld, a spokeswoman for Anti-Slavery International.

"There's been a law against trafficking for forced labor since 2004 and not a single prosecution."

Particularly vulnerable are domestic workers like Teresa, 37, from Mumbai, who worked 18 hours a day for 20 pounds a month from an employer who made her sleep on the floor and beat her, until she escaped thanks to a concerned neighbor.

"My madam was very cruel," said Teresa. "She hit me on my stomach. She regularly tried to strangle me."

Iraq: The Lost Generation.

Introduction:

This 47 minute long documentary was filmed by an anonymous Iraqi journalist. Broadcast on the UK's Channel 4 in November, 2006.

About the Documentary:

When the US-led invasion of Iraq promised to replace Saddam Hussein's brutal regime with freedom and democracy, nearly half of the country's population was under 21.

'Iraq: The Lost Generation' opens a window onto the hidden world of Iraqi youth, revealing the brutalization and psychological trauma of living under military occupation. It reveals how the people with whom the future of Iraq rests, are reacting with anger, aggression and, in some cases, violence.

Operating at great personal risk, a local Iraqi journalist and crew traveled widely throughout the country, outside the safety of the green zone, to document the lives of a range of young people whose hopes and dreams have been shattered by the occupation. This film highlights how the radicalization of a generation has taken place -- it's not just the Americans who are the only enemy now there is civil war in Iraq.

We meet, amongst others, 19 year-old Haydar, who lost his right leg after being shot by an American patrol, which had been ambushed. His sister, whose husband is bodyguard to a powerful Shia militia leader, proclaims she would be willing to die for her country. Muhammad, a newly qualified doctor and soon-to-be first-time dad, is struggling to work amidst the danger and deprivation of modern, lawless Iraq -- from the lack of medical supplies to personal threats from the police and army.

We hear from an Iraqi army recruit serving with an elite unit in Baghdad. Then there are the teenagers fighting to shape the future outcome of Iraq: Sunni insurgents and the notorious Shia militias. Young men so politicized they are prepared to kill and be killed for a greater cause.

Many see no future at all and those that can have chosen to flee abroad to escape the daily violence, kidnappings and killings.

Some 120 journalists and media workers have been killed since March 2003, that's more fatalities than in World War Two or the Vietnam War. The danger in Iraq comes from all sides: the Americans, the sectarian militias and criminal gangs whose kidnappings and killings have flourished in the lawlessness that is modern day Iraq.

This experiential film captures the real and raw reality of the occupation on Iraqi youngsters, the impact of which is largely unknown in the West.

Poll: Iraqis dont trust U.S. occupation forces

U.S. Muslim women file complaint against Israeli lobby

March 16, 2007

The National Association of Muslim American Women (NAMAW) filed an official complaint with the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division, Criminal Section, and also with the Executive Office for the U.S. Attorneys at the Department of Justice against pro-Israeli organizations in the United States, according to an article on theuglytruth.com.

The complaint states that as a result of misleading and false information provided to U.S. law enforcement agencies, the media and also to various governmental agencies, various Jewish groups and individuals have sought to create an environment that is hostile towards American Muslims, leading to the deprivation and violation of Muslim civil liberties and civil rights.

The complaint lists the American-Israel Political Action Committee (AIPAC), American Jewish Committee (AJC), Anti-Defamation League (ADL), and the American Jewish Congress B’nai B’rith, the Jewish Council on Public Affairs, as well as individuals such as Daniel Pipes, Steven Emerson, Rita Katz, Steven Schwartz, Evan Kohlman, and others.

The complaint consists of five pages of accusations, backed by more than 100 pages of relevant documents extracted from transcripts of Congressional testimonies, articles, and public statements.

In it, NAMAW says that “Jewish organizations and activists in the U.S. may have created enemies lists that include the names of Muslims, Arabs, white nationalists organizations, and others that they have targeted as threats to, or enemies of the state of Israel.”

“These Jewish organizations and activists have used their financial resources and also their formidable political influence to purposefully poison public opinion against Muslims, Arabs and Islam in an attempt to demonize and vilify the same for political purposes, and also to create an environment conducive to the deprivation and violation of Muslim and Arab constitutional rights, and especially the repression of Muslim religious and political freedoms, and free speech,” it added.

NAMAW also says that these organizations and individuals may have also committed perjury in testimonies provided to the U.S. Congress.

It says that Jewish groups and activists may have purposely given false impressions, and made false statements aimed at misleading the media, policy makers, law enforcement, and various government agencies.

These false statements led to an aggressive campaign in the United States to suppress Muslim rights, NAMWA says.

The complaint also says that NAMAW suspects that the Jewish campaign against Muslims and Islam in the United States has been ongoing for more than 10 years.

The group asks the Department of Justice to investigate its charges, and to cooperate with the Muslim community to dispel misconceptions and lies that have demonized Muslims, Arabs and Islam.

It also demands the DOJ to develop and implement programs aimed at healing U.S. society of the harsh racial and religious polarization resulting from an “ongoing and criminal hate campaign against Muslims, Arabs and Islam.”

The National Association of Muslim American Women (NAMAW) is a political organization whose mission is to organize and educate Muslim women and to make their voices heard on issues that are important and relevant to all Americans.

The association was originally formed in 1989 in Newark New Jersey as National Association of Muslim Women, and was later re-established in 1994 as the National Association of Muslim American Women (NAMAW).

Source

Muslims angered by FBI’s invitation to anti-Islamic author

March 20, 2007

Despite the FBI’s claims that it is doing its best to win the trust of Muslim and Arab Americans, the bureau invited an anti-Islamic author to discuss anti-terrorism efforts with Indiana's Joint Terrorism Task Force – a move that angered Islamic organizations in the United States.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) says author Robert Spencer is an "Islamophobe" who distorts the Islamic religion, mainly because of his books "The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam" and "The Truth About Muhammad: Founder of the World's Most Intolerant Religion".

The decision by the FBI's Indianapolis office to bring in author Robert Spencer to talk to its anti-terrorism task force raises concerns that the bureau is listening to an 'Islamophobe' who distorts Islam," CAIR said in a statement.

CAIR officials say the Federal Bureau of Investigation had originally planned to have Spencer address Indiana's Joint Terrorism Task Force based in Indianapolis this week.

Spencer, however, had another appointment and therefore the meeting has not yet been held. But both Spencer and the bureau still hope to hold the meeting, the officials said.

Louay Safi, director of leadership development with the Islamic Society of North America, said the FBI's move is akin to bringing an anti-Semite to talk about Jews or a Ku Klux Klan member to discuss racial affairs.

"Many people in our community will not be happy with it," she said.

Safi added that Spencer's writings take selected passages from Islamic writings in a misleading way to prove that the Islamic religion condones terrorism.

The FBI’s use of Spencer will reinforce views that the bureau treats Muslims unfairly, she said.

"When they bring in someone like that, it makes it difficult even for us to explain to the Muslim community that (the FBI) is neutral and is not listening to extremists who really hate Muslims.” Safi said.

U.S. Muslim leaders say the Arab and Muslim community became the FBI’s prime target after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.

Since then, FBI agents arrested hundreds of people for questioning, raided Muslim charities, monitored mosques, and held suspects for months without being charged.

Muslim leaders say they want to improve their relations with the FBI, but believe that the bureau is targeting the wrong people.

Arab and Muslim Americans also believe that if the FBI agents trusted them more, other Americans would, too.

Source

Further Reading:

700 Club on Insulting Islam

A Mask of Lies

“Remove your Hijab or quit your training dilemma”

March 18, 2007

In another sign of continuous attempts to make it harder for Muslims enjoy a stable life in Western countries, 19 year-old Sondos Abdel Latif got trapped in “the remove your Hijab or quit your training dilemma”.

Last Tuesday Sondos was informed that she has to take off her Hijab to continue the training in Montreal’s Brodeaux Jail.

But Abdel Latif chose her Hijab.

Quebec’s Public Security Department claimed that they were only concerned about Abdel Latif’s life since it was against her safety.“

As a security measure, the Hijab cannot be accepted as an element of the uniform to execute the functions of a correctional officer," department spokesman Real Roussy said Thursday.

The Canadian Council on American Affairs couldn’t agree less, stressing that dismissing Sondos for wearing the Hijab was totally unnecessary and that the Canadian Armed Forces and police departments in other Canadian cities allow women to wear headscarves on active duty.

"If it really was a security issue, they would have sat down with Sondos and would have said, 'Look, we're really worried about your safety and we need to talk about what we can do to address this or we'll fire you,'" said CAIR spokeswoman Sarah Elgazzar.

"But she was given an ultimatum: 'You either take it off or you're fired.'"

Repetitive and different forms of violations of Muslims’ basic rights have been the source of furor of many Rights organisations.

Abdel Latif was not available to answer reporters who were investigating this incidence; however, a debate about how Muslims have been treated in Quebec is starting to make headlines.

This was a result of the previous incident involving another 11 year-old Muslim girl in Ontario, who was participating in a soccer tournament, before she was requested to remove her Hijab. When the girl refused, she was pulled-off the field.

The flap became international when the Hijab issue was raised at an International Football Association board meeting and Egypt accused Canada of “religious intolerance”.

Source

"Born Here"

Palestinian rap group DAM (Da Arab MC's) created this music video about the life of Palestinians in Israel.


They're from Lod, a town between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, so they're Palestinians with Israeli citizenship (often called "Israeli Arabs").


They usually rap in Arabic, but they made a Hebrew version of this song with a music video to get their message out to the majority of Israelis who don't speak Arabic.

You find out more about them at http://www.dampalestine.com/main.html .


(Hebrew/Arabic with English subtitles)




"I don't have Freedom"
Another song from "DAM," see their web site.

Maa Salaama

There (on the Day of Resurrection), Al-Walayah (the protection, power, authority and kingdom) will be for Allah (Alone), the True God. He (Allah) is the Best for reward and the Best for the final end. (La ilaha ill-Allah none has the right to be worshipped but Allah).
( سورة الكهف , Al-Kahf, Chapter 18, Verse 44)

And if anyone of the Mushrikoon (polytheists, idolaters, pagans, disbelievers in the Oneness of Allah) seeks your protection then grant him protection, so that he may hear the Word of Allah (the Quran), and then escort him to where he can be secure, that is because they are men who know not.

( سورة التوبة , At-Taubah, Chapter 9, Verse 6)

When Their Gone, Their Gone For Good

What you do and how you live is for you to decide, if all keeps going in the direction it is now the vast majority will one day not be here and the people of the world will see a sorrow far greater then their worse nightmare…it is all up to you, if you choose life or death, but one thing to remember immorality and greed is not the answer.

As the day I started this blog page, the core issue for world peace is to once again make Palestine a free country, for it is and always will be the center of the world.

The clock is ticking….

Al-Aqsa Intifada Palestinian Fatality List

Palestinian fatalities since the beginning of al-Aqsa Intifada
A monthly list of Palestinians killed since 29 September 2000

Total = 4266

Iraq war protesters to march on Pentagon

March 17, 2007

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Thousands of people were expected to converge on the center of the US capital Saturday and march on the Pentagon as part of a series of demonstrations marking the fourth anniversary of the increasingly unpopular Iraq war, organizers said.

"We're feeling a shift in the general population of the country who are now opposed to the war and are now thinking about doing something about it, not only about voting but becoming active in the anti-war struggle," Bill Hackwell, a spokesman for protest organizer Act Now to Stop War and End Racism (ANSWER), told AFP.

Late Friday, about 100 peace activists, including members of the clergy, were arrested as they held a vigil on a sidewalk on front of the White House, ignoring police orders to disperse.

"Hopefully, I think it really speaks truth to power," said Kate Manzanares, a 29-year-old doctor from Virginia, who watched the arrests along with about 1,000 other protesters.

Earlier in the day, the group that organized the vigil, Christian Peace Witness for Iraq, held a service at Washington's National Cathedral that was attended by 3,500-4,000 people, organizers said.

The war has grown increasingly unpopular, with recent polls showing that a majority of Americans now say the invasion was a mistake and want the US government to set a timetable for the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq.

Hackwell said more Americans are demanding change because too much money is being spent on the war rather than social needs like health care, education and employment.

"It is not an exaggeration to make this connection about the funding that gets cut for needed social programs and the money going to the Pentagon," he said.

War veterans and their families were to lead the march starting at 12:30 pm (1630 GMT).

Other anti-war events are planned in the next few days across the country.

In Los Angeles, thousands of protesters are expected to take the streets of Hollywood Saturday and another ANSWER demonstration is expected in San Francisco.

United for Peace and Justice, which describes itself as the largest anti-war coalition in the United States, said it was expecting thousands of people to turn up at a protest in New York on Sunday.

"The national anti-war movement is planning a unified surge of protest actions calling on Congress to end the occupation and for the immediate withdrawal of US troops," the group said in a statement.

The leftist group MoveOn.org is also organizing candlelight vigils for Monday in Washington and across the country, spokesman Steve Hoffman said.

Anti-war activists have heavily mobilized since Democrats took control of Congress from President George W. Bush's Republicans in November elections marked by voter anger at the war.

Activists want the Democratic-led Congress to push hard for the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq, where more than 3,200 American soldiers and tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians have died since the war began.

The protests come on the heels of congressional votes on Iraq.

Democrats failed to pass in the Senate a plan to withdraw US troops by March 2008, although a measure calling for a pullout by September 2008 passed a key panel in the House of Representatives Thursday.