Tag Archive for: Israel

PODCAST: The War against the Infidels

LISTEN to this podcast of the January 10, 2016 Lisa Benson Show on KKNT 960 The Patriot.  Lisa Benson and New English Review Senior Editor Jerry Gordon co-hosted this show with the assistance of Board of Advisors member, Richard Cutting.

Col. Richard Kemp, (ret.) CBE, former Commander of British Forces in Afghanistan and noted commentator on counterinsurgency and counterterrorism, discussed why Israel is the outpost of civilization in the Middle east. He urged Queen Elizabeth to visit Israel in 2017, the 100th Anniversary of the liberation of Jerusalem from the Turks to honor ANZAC fallen.  He drew attention to British Prime Minister Cameron who has spoken before Israel’s Knesset and his designation of the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist group.  He suggested that perhaps the Administration might follow suit.

He considers the Muslim Brotherhood as an evil organization seeking to spread Islamist hatred of Israel Europe and the West. Hamas he pointed out had links to the Muslim Brotherhood with objectives similar to that of ISIS.   An ISIS he said was spreading its barbaric Islamic doctrine across the Muslim Ummah from Syria and Iraq to North and sub-Sahara Africa and South Asia.

With regard to the resurgence of the Taliban in a 14 year war in Afghanistan with NATO forces, he said that some of it was attributable to the role of Pakistan intelligence service.  The Pakistanis and Afghans he noted are enemies.  He called attention to the internecine war between the Taliban and ISIS endeavoring to gain power as enemies of the democratic government in Afghanistan. A government plagued with corruption hobbling the country’s security forces.  He called attention to a generational long struggle against Islamist Jihadism in which the West cannot relax. It must stand up and fight.   He noted in passing that the US Administration has taken its eye off the ball with outreach to an enemy, Iran. He attributed some of the present difficulties in the Middle east and South Asia to both the pullout of US forces in Iraq and pull down of ISAF troops in Afghanistan.

Dr. Sebastian Gorka addressed the number one issue in polls taken of Americans, national security and domestic Islamic terrorism.  He suggested that the Administration had to jettison the canard of lone wolf terror acts. The Boston Marathon Bombers, the shooting in Chattanooga, the massacre in San Bernardino and the recent attempted murder of a police officer by a convicted felon and convert to Islam in Philadelphia he said was reflective of the connective tissue of Global Jihad doctrine. That doctrine viewed America and the West as antithetical to Jihadist aims.

He viewed the ability of the US and the EU to vett the millions of migrants and refugees flooding the west as well nigh impossible.  While referencing the intense scrutiny of his parents, refugees from the 1956 Hungarian rebellion against Soviet Communism, he suggested that could only be done under intense and repeated questioning by counterterrorism security echelons using a data base to check documents and bona fides.  He suggested that the US is hobbled by the lack of manpower and a data base to vett, for example, the stream of Syrian Refugees.

Having visited a Syrian refugee camp during the recent Christmas New Year’s holiday, he was struck with two takeaways. He commended the Kingdom of Jordan, without the resources of oil revenues of an incredible job of s country of 6 million handling an influx of 1.5 million Syrian refugees. He tasked the oil rich Gulf States and Saudi Arabia to offer financial and resettlement assistance.  He said there was no sense to send Syrians to the EU or the US. Rather it was incumbent on the contending powers, especially the US, to resolve the conflict, hereby enabling the Syrians in Jordan, Turkey and Lebanon to return home.

Regarding the recent settlement between New York City and Muslim and civil liberties advocacy groups ending  the NYPD Muslim community profiling program, Gorka  said in a recent House Armed  Services Committee testimony  that after 9/11, the NYPD had been let down by Federal law enforcement and counterterrorism agencies. The NYPD he noted undertook to build perhaps the best counterterrorism intelligence and surveillance program to monitor and protect the Muslim community in New York against Islamist inroads. Effectively he commented to the House Committee that politics continued to get in the way of national security.

When asked about the current rising Sunni Shiite divide between Saudi Arabia and Iran, he referred to a comment from Israeli PM Netanyahu, who said it was a Game of Thrones pitting the Saudi Wahabbist Sunni Caliphate against the Mullahs of the Shia Mahdist Caliphate in Nuclear Iran.

EDITORS NOTE: This column originally appeared in the New English Review.

Israel is Safe, Smart and Fun!

Captain Dan Gordan (IDF Reserves) is an accomplished Hollywood writer and producer.

He is the “escort” for our upcoming mission to Israel, from March 12th  to the 22nd, 2016.

Please listen to Dan discuss the safety, security and importance of Israel in today’s destabilized world.

For more information on this exciting and educational trip contact: Damon@TheUnitedWest.org.

The West is so naive when it comes to the Islamic State

In our January 2016 New English Review discussion with Dr. Jill, Bellamy, “The ISIS Chemical Biological Threat to the West,” we wrote:

In conversations with Dr. Bellamy she had raised the threat that the Islamic State with more than $1 billion in funding from smuggled oil sales, extortion and looted bank hard currency and gold reserves could acquire the professional staff of scientists and technicians and equip laboratories for production of leading edge synthetic biological weapons. She had also drawn concern over foreign ISIS fighters in Libya gaining control of Gaddafi-era chemical weapons caches sealed by the UN.

Dr. Bellamy provided confirmation of this in a FoxNews report presenting graphic evidence of what she said should give the West cause for concern, “Footage of ISIS weapons lab shows construction of heat-seeking missiles, car bombs:”

New images of what is being called a “jihadi technical college” in the ISIS terror group’s de facto capital shows that the group is capable of producing key components for advanced weaponry, including surface-to-air missiles.

Footage of the weapons lab in Raqqa, Syria was obtained by Sky News and shows that ISIS scientists have managed to produce a homemade thermal battery for use in surface-to-air missile systems. That had previously been thought impossible for terror groups without any military infrastructure to accomplish.

The footage shows that ISIS can recommission thousands of missiles previously thought unusable and target passenger and military aircraft.

Sky News reports that terror groups had previously been able to build the weapons, but storing them and maintaining the thermal battery was difficult to do.

“What this video shows is that ISIS is leagues ahead of their terrorist predecessors,” Chris Hunter, a former bomb technician with the United Kingdom Special Forces, told Sky News. “Their advanced knowledge of weapons engineering, coupled with their seemingly limitless ability to reverse engineer and recondition weapons (which until now intelligence agencies had considered obsolete and beyond repair) kept me awake all night.”

Sky also reported that the ISIS “research and development” team has produced remote control cars to act as mobile bombs, complete with “drivers” — mannequins with self-regulating thermostats that produce the heat signature of humans, allowing the car bombs to evade sophisticated scanning machines that protect military and government buildings in the West.

The Sky report was based on eight hours of unedited training video that was seized by the Free Syria Army when it captured an ISIS trainer making his way toward Europe via Turkey.

An ISIS defector in Turkey told Sky News that a top secret training program was known about in Raqqa, his home town. He confirmed the program was designed to carry out attacks in Europe and further afield.

“If [attacks were] meant internally. they could send someone to set an explosive device or wire a car as they are able to do this [openly],” the defector said. “But doing such a program and documenting it was meant to target a large number of people and in more than one location.”

Bellamy’s comment on this FoxNews report is apt:

The West is so terribly and dangerously naive when it comes to IS. They cling to the notion that they are incompetent or don’t have WMD capabilities and continuously try to downplay the threat we face. Israel and possibly Russia are the only countries who really ‘get it’ when it comes to Da’esh scientific staff.

Our comment.  President Obama, this is graphic evidence that we are not dealing with a JV team of Islamic terrorists in occupied Raqqa, Syria, the capital of the self-declared Caliphate, the Islamic State.

RELATED VIDEO: Usama Dakdok’s analysis of the Islamic State (presentation begins at 13:00 minute mark):

EDITORS NOTE: This column originally appeared in the New English Review.

2016 — A ‘Perilous Year’ for the U.S. and the World

2016 will be a perilous year for the U.S. and the World primarily because no leadership will be forthcoming from the U.S. during the remainder to the term of President Obama.

Iran is currently building and testing new ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads in violation of U.N. resolutions. The Obama administration promised to deliver to Congress a list of sanctions against Iran. Even though the sanctions were rather mild Iran objected and Obama postponed the sanctions indefinitely. These sanctions may be characterized as a new ‘Obama Red Line’ which he has breached. It is notice to Iran–Iran is no longer constrained by the nuclear agreement which in effect is only binding on Obama and has no legal force against Iran. Further it is notice to Iran that it can continue as the leading state sponsor of terrorism without fear of any action by the U.S.

It is no coincidence that Saudi Arabia, Bahrain (home to the U.S. fleet), Sudan The United Arab Eremites and Kuwait have broken relations with Iran following Obama’s feckless withdrawal of sanctions against Iran. Undoubtedly this was the last straw for Saudi Arabia and other Sunnis. They realize Obama has become the defender and supporter of Iran against U.S.’s former allies.

In effect Obama is trying to create Iran (a Shiite Persian country) as the strong horse in the region against the Arab Sunnis. Obama has picked the wrong horse as there are about one and a half billion Muslims 87% of which are Sunni and 13% Shiites. Added to this mix they see Obama favors Iran over Israel America’s only reliable ally in the region.

It is no wonder that Obama’s favored treatment of Iran over Saudi Arabia and the other Sunni nations has prevented Obama from creating an Arab Sunni coalition to fight ISIS. An effective coalition of Arabs to defeat ISIS must be postponed until Obama is no longer in office and a president that does not follow in Obama’s footsteps is elected.

RELATED ARTICLES:

U.S. Sanctions Delay Could Open Door for Iranian Weapons Violations

Iran’s Ballistic Missiles Are Actually a Huge Problem

Obama’s struggle against Netanyahu

The Growing Islamic State threat to Israel: A Clear and Present Danger

Attention has been  brought to bear by recent activities on Israel’s northern and southern frontier by ISIS in Syria and the Salafist affiliate in the Sinai, Ansar Beit al-Makdas (ABAM).  That is independent of the alleged ABAM involvement in the downing of the Russian Metrojet Airbus 321 on October 31, 2015 with a bomb secreted aboard the aircraft that killed 224 passengers and crew in the Sinai.

While ISIS allegedly fears only the Israeli Defense Force, at issue is Israel prepared to deal with these threats on both its Northern and Southern Frontiers.

Moreover, what the U.S. can do given its virtual abandonment of an alliance with Egypt, Israel and neighboring Jordan that collectively face the emboldened  self-declared Islamic State (IS). An Islamic state that has demonstrated its long arm reach planning and fomenting barbarous  terrorism in the Middle East, Europe and even here in the U.S. In the final days of 2015.

Note this Fox/Nation/Townhall  report by a former German Parliament member, now intrepid journalist,  Jürgen Todenhöfer, who with his son spent 10 days in the occupied  Syrian and Iraqi  precincts of the self-declared Caliphate, the Islamic State (ISIS), “Israel Defense Force only Army ISIS Fears”:

German reporter Jurgen Todenhofer went behind enemy lines to spend ten days with the Islamic State. He went with his son, Frederic, but not after spending nearly half a year ensuring that his safety would be guaranteed before venturing into this perilous region of the world. He plans on never going back (good idea), but noted that the only army these Islamic fanatics truly fear is the Israel Defense Forces.

They are confident that they can defeat soldiers from the West, namely British and American troops, but noted that the Israelis might be too tough for them. An aspect of their strategy is to lure Western troops into their territory in order to capture them. Oh, and they plan on killing every Shiite Muslim they can find, and view Muslims living in Western countries who vote as “top-priority enemies…as they give people rather than God the right to make laws.”

The claim from German reporter Jürgen Todenhöfer, a former member of the German Parliament, came after he spent 10 extraordinary days behind enemy lines in Iraq and Syria, accompanied by his son Frederic. He returned saying the group behind the Paris attacks was “preparing the largest religious cleansing in history” and with a “pessimistic” view on what can be done to combat it.

But the author of My 10 Days in the Islamic State told Jewish News: “The only country ISIS fears is Israel. They told me they know the Israeli army is too strong for them.”

Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gadi Eizenkot

From left: Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gadi Eizenkot, Galilee Division Commander Brig. Gen. Amir Baram, and GOC Northern Command Maj. Gen. Aviv Kochavi on the northern border, Wednesday  Source: IDF Spokesperson’s Unit.

Today’s Israel Hayom edition had a follow up story about IDF preparing for possible ISUS attacks on the Golan Frontier, “IDF braces for Islamic State attack on northern border:”

Army on high alert for possible terrorist attacks by Shuhada al-Yarmouk Brigades, affiliated with Islamic State, or other jihadist groups such as Nusra Front, affiliated with al-Qaida.

[…]

Based on the modus operandi of the Nusra Front and Islamic State, the Israel Defense Forces examined several possible ways these groups could act against Israel. One scenario for an attack, according to the assessments, is smuggling explosives-laden vehicles into Israel. Additionally, officials were not negating the possibility of a terrorist ground force infiltrating Israel, firing anti-tank missiles at Israeli targets, planting explosive devices and launching rockets.

The Shuhada al-Yarmouk Brigades controls the border area shared by Jordan, Israel and Syria, extending over around 10 kilometers (6.2 miles). According to estimates, the organization comprises some 600 fighters who impose their will on some 40,000 locals. The organization itself is surrounded by numerous other rebel groups with which it is fighting, including the Nusra Front, and is “besieged” in a type of enclave in the southern Syrian Golan Heights.

ABAM  ISIS affiliates beheading “Israeli spies” in Sinai

ABAM  ISIS affiliates beheading “Israeli spies” in Sinai.

However, Israel’s  Northern Frontier is not the only threat from ISIS.  Dr. Ronen Bergman, intelligence columnist for Israeli daily Yediot Ahranoth  had an extensive investigative article on the ISIS  affiliate, threat on the Southern Sinai frontier with Egypt, Ansar Beit al-Makdas (ABAM), “The Battle Over Sinai: ISIS’s Next Strong Force:

As the world’s eyes are focused on the Islamic State in Syria and its activity in Europe, the organization’s branch in Sinai – Ansar Bait al-Maqdis – is gaining strength, and the Russian plane bombing may be just the beginning of its integration into ISIS’s international war. Bergman outlines the profile of one of the most threatening and intriguing challenges faced by the Israeli and international security community, only a few kilometers south of Eilat.

[…]

The Russian plane crash in Sinai on October 31st, which left 224 people dead, is still preoccupying intelligence organizations around the world. Updated intelligence received by Western intelligence agencies reveals that the few days before the attack saw a significant increase in the volume of written and spoken communication between senior members of the Ansar Bait al-Maqdis (ABAM – “Supporters of the Holy House”) terror organization, which has been calling itself Sinai Province in the past year after swearing allegiance to the Islamic State, who are active in the Sheikh Zuweid area in the northern part of the peninsula.

In addition, there has been a sharp increase in volume of communication between these activists and elements affiliated with ISIS’s Security and Intelligence Council in Iraq and Syria. This body is responsible for ISIS’s most important secret activities, including special operations and aiding organizations outside Syria and Iraq, where the organization’s power base is, including al-Maqdis.

Key Players in ABAM  Hamas origins and ISIS support:

The names of several key activists in this organization is repeatedly raised in the investigations into the matter: The widely mentioned name is Abdullah Mohammed Sayyid Kishta, a main force in improving ABAM’s abilities in the past two years, who served in the past as an operations officer in Hamas’ military wing. Kishta then left for Sinai, through one of the tunnels under the Philadelphi Route (which separates between Egypt and the Gaza Strip), and became head of instructions at ABAM in regards to the operation of antitank missiles and advanced explosive devices.

He is considered one of the senior antitank warfare experts in the region. Since he began his work in the organization, there appears to be an extremely significant increase in al-Maqdis’ use of antitank missiles and in their improvement. Up to two years ago, they mainly used RPGs, moving on to more advanced missiles like the Kornet.

Kishta is helping the organization improve its terror abilities in developing and assembling advanced bombs, including armor-piercing antitank explosives and explosive devices against roads and armored bunkers of the Egyptian army.

Intelligence groups in the West received information in March and April this year about ties between senior ISIS members in Iraq and members of al-Maqdis’ bomb units, including Kishta. A decoding of these messages revealed that ISIS’s R&D experts in Iraq are convinced that they have managed to develop a certain formula for putting together explosives with relatively low effectiveness, but which cannot be detected through regular means.

Israeli Intelligence on the origins of ABAM :

Israeli intelligence first heard the name Ansar Bair al-Maqdis in Gaza.

“In the early 2000s,” Haim Tomer recalls, “we heard there were radical Salafi cells in Gaza which go by that name. At the time, it was a local organization which attracted former activists from all kinds of other organizations who were discharged from them or found Hamas’ policy to be too moderate after different agreements signed with Israel.

ABAM was first comprised of a mixture of fragments of organizations and people and did not appear to be a big success. Israel’s security control and Hamas’ dominance made it impossible for the organization to really thrive and it didn’t leave a significant mark. But in 2002, its name emerged again in organizations of Bedouin in northern Sinai, and then in all of Sinai.

“We were confused for a moment,” says a senior source in the AMAN (Israeli Military Intelligence Directorate) research division. “We didn’t know if these were the same people we knew from Gaza or that they were just using the same name.”

But an examination conducted in Israel at the time revealed that global jihadist elements – mainly Egyptian, Libyan and Saudi – arrived in Sinai in order to take advantage of al-Qaeda’s international success at the time, after the September 11 attacks and the wave of attacks which washed through the world afterwards, and establish a terror organization there. These activists used a local infrastructure of Bedouins and Salafi Sunni activists who had escaped from Gaza.

The Sinai has seen significant attacks  by ISIS affiliate  – Ansar Bait al-Maqdis on Egyptian security forces, despite Egyptian forces  engaged in destruction and flooding smuggling tunnels along the frontier with Hamas-controlled Gaza. Israel has built a 200 mile security fence and positioned IDF combat battalions.  Along its southern frontier.  Notwithstanding, the Eilat port and resort complex is still vulnerable to possible ISIS attack.  The Multilateral Force and Observers, set up to monitor the Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty, have been hit with IED attacks, prompting the US Army to send additional troops. This begs the question of why the MFO is not engaged in coordinating ISIS counterterrorism threats in the Sinai with both Israel and Egypt.  Moreover, ISIS presents a possible threat along the Israeli Jordanian border above the neighboring port of Aqaba where sympathetic groups have arisen and are allegedly under surveillance of Jordanian security forces.

EDITORS NOTE: This column originally appeared in the New English Review.

The Art of War

York University, a public research university located in Toronto, Ontario, is Canada’s third largest university, with 52,800 students, including 5,462 international students, and 7,000 faculty and staff. The Mission Statement is grandiose and appealing, claiming “excellence in research” with a goal of cultivating “the critical intellect.” There are assurances that the University is “open to the world: we explore global concerns,” accompanied by ensuring “social justice” and a commitment to teaching “social responsibility.”  The President’s Message further confirms that the University is “proud to be one of Canada’s most socially responsive and engaged Universities,” yet the president, Dr. Mamdouh Shoukri, is unwilling to test those very ethics.

If the University welcomes the diversity from 157 countries, it should be prepared to suppress conflict and injustice.  If it prides itself on social responsibility, it should discourage irresponsible behaviors and the incitement to isolate one people, one country. If excellence in research is encouraged, then it may be time to thoroughly research both the irrational Islamic hatred and culture of violence and the validity of the Jewish bond to the Land of Israel.

Affixed to a wall in the Student Center is a mural that features a Palestinian youth preparing to throw two rocks at an Israeli structure. More than 4,000 incidents of rock throwing against Jews are reported each year in the West Bank, causing serious injury and death. The “art” expresses the Arab demand for a Palestine that includes Israel along with Gaza, Judea and Samaria (Jordan’s West Bank), without border definitions, without compromise. The violent elimination of the State of Israel and the Jewish people define the words beneath, “Justice” and “Peace.”

Having initiated four military wars against Israel, suffering utter humiliation with each loss, the Muslim Brotherhood chose the course of psychological warfare, propagating lies on which to base another intifada (uprising), days of rage or boycott, and it is on Israel specifically that Muslim students maintain their focus – for the time being.  The mural is propaganda meant to provoke; to deny Israel her 3,000 year history of Jewish presence (Muslims appeared in the 7th century), and the legal deeds held by the Jewish state since 1948.  The mural supports the invented history of Jordanian, Lebanese, Syrian, Saudi and Egyptian Arabs who deceitfully took the Latin name of Palestinians to fabricate a bond between themselves and the area they invaded and lost in 1967. The concocted history and accusations of “occupation” are part of the Islamic aggression against the world, one of many battles in which Muslims are engaged – in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas – to establish a global Caliphate.

Yet despite voiced disapproval by students and citizens alike, University President, Dr. Mamdouh Shoukri assures us of their commitment to a safer environment, but that this instance is off campus and beyond his jurisdiction. Yet these are York students, and the building is York University Student Centre. Is there no responsibility to maintain an apolitical, non-threatening environment? The mural is encouraging violence, perhaps worthy of emulating, climate permitting. Dr. Shoukri knows such incidents in American universities have resulted in terror and bodily harm inflicted on Jewish students. Who is charged with overseeing student welfare or is this disengagement in collaboration of the narrative? Is this being considered “free speech” until legally challenged, or slander and incitement to violence? It is certainly advocating one political viewpoint while suppressing another.

Therefore, I would ask the president to consent to five more murals to enhance the Palestinians’ objects of glory or mission on one wall, and an equal number of similarly sized murals to express the objects of Israel’s glory or mission on the opposite wall. Thus both groups could legitimately present their ideas of justice and values to students, faculty and staff.

stoning of woman by palestinians

Palestinians stoning a woman.

A second Palestinian mural should show the stoning of Islamic women who are accused of adultery or something as simple as owning a cell phone. Siddqa, 19, was dressed in a full blue burqa, buried up to her waist in the ground, and pelted with stones. When she collapsed, covered in blood but still alive, a Taliban fighter shot her three times in the head with an AK-47. This photo is of her 19-year-old lover who was trying to flee, was captured and stoned to death. Justice was equally served.

buring of Islamic state prisoner

Muath Al-Kassasbeh being burned alive by the Islamic State.

The third is the Jordanian pilot from the US-led Coalition, Muath Al-Kassasbeh, who was deprived of food for five days, displayed in front of armed terrorists, caged, soaked with petrol and set afire as an offering to Allah. Watching and listening to the screaming and melting is considered justice to the “religion of peace.”

beheading by isis

Islamic State mass beheading.

The fourth, death by decapitation, is not as commonplace as stoning or being buried alive and left exposed to the elements. Beheading, mentioned twice in the Koran, instills fear into those who watch, and it attracts more publicity than car bombings and suicide bombings. The killers achieve a sense of justice. Children are taught to behead at an early age, using dolls and live animals.

woman raped by muslimsThis is a recognized Australian victim of rape. In Saudi Arabia, rape victims would receive 100 lashes for committing adultery, followed by incarceration for a year. Australia lacks such rules of “justice.”

woman shot for wearing red jacket by muslims

Muslim mother of three shot for wearing red jacket.

The sixth is justice for women. The Muslim woman, mother of three, was walking in the street, stopped, and pronounced guilty of wearing a red jacket over her black burqa. She was told to kneel and was summarily shot in the head.

This new discovery is worthy of inclusion because of the enormous pride and occasion for celebration. Samir Kuntar, Palestinian superhero, smashed the head of a four-year-old Israeli girl with the butt of his rifle.

The opposite wall should also display a like number of murals to acknowledge the interests and commitments of the Israelis.

haiti israel relief

Israeli soldiers helping Haitian earthquake victims.

Haiti’s devastating earthquake of 2010 attracted many rescue teams, including from Iceland, China, Qatar, South Africa, Columbia, Cuba, Japan, Florida, and New York City’s experienced 9/11 personnel. Israelis brought a rescue team of 200 and a field hospital. An Egyptian-Jewish Haitian supplied his factory’s grounds and trucks to bring in tents, medical equipment, communication hardware and all supplies. Within eight hours, the field hospital was set up and operational, and became the model for the future. Israelis performed surgeries and births, treated broken bones and traumas. The first baby born was named Israel Michel.

water purification israel company

Israeli company’s water purification system.

An Israeli company’s water purification systems deliver safe drinking water from almost any source, including contaminated water, seawater and urine. Following a major earthquake in Taiwan in 2009, Israeli humanitarian aid workers brought locally made WaterSheer products to ensure a steady stream of potable water for the survivors and wherever it was needed. Within 48 hours, Taiwan had 4,227 gallons of pure water per day.

israel exoskeliton system

ReWalk Robotics exoskeleton system.

Dr. Amit Goffer, an Israeli, developed ReWalk Robotics, an exoskeleton system that enables the paralyzed to walk. Facilitated by computers and motion sensors, it allows independent, controlled walking. It helped Clair Lomas to complete the marathon course at the London Paralympics in 2012, and recently assisted a groom to walk down the aisle. It also provides dignity, mental health, improved cardiovascular health and bowel function, loss of fat tissue, and building of lean muscle mass. Users have less pain, take fewer medications, and require less hospitalization.

Israel has become the fastest growing laboratory for innovative technology, following US and China in creativity and entrepreneurial leadership. Some innovations are responsible transportation using batteries, not oil; drip irrigation that allows farmers worldwide to grow 40% more crops using half the water. Tahal Group has technological solutions to make wastewater treatment processes more efficient and relevant. LifeStraw is the water filter chosen by leading NGOs for humanitarian relief worldwide since 2005, which meets or exceeds EPA standards for efficacy. It removes almost all the waterborne bacteria and parasites and it filters a maximum of 1000 litres of water, enough for one person for one year.

amazing israeli medical breakthroughs posterIsrael’s breakthroughs are too numerous to mention. Here are a few recent ones:

  • Researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem developed a molecule (NT157) that targets metastatic human melanoma and colon cancer.
  • Israel’s Oramed gives China the right to its oral insulin capsule to treat the large, growing numbers of diabetics in China.
  • A new arthritis treatment reduces high blood pressure.
  • Japan turns to Israeli tech to treat radiation disease.
  • A new voice technology Voice ITT translates speech of people with communication disabilities.
  • Israel’s Enopace performed first implant operation to treat patients with congestive heart failure.
  • Israel developed a plastic material that repairs itself.

For weekly updates on Israel’s achievements, send your request to: michael.goodnewsisrael@gmail.com.

I welcome hearing from Dr. Mamdouh Shoukri, that he will take the high road in re-aligning himself and the University with the original mission to think of what is “true…noble…right…admirable…etc.” In so doing, they could then be instrumental in fulfilling the rest of the quotation, that “the God of peace shall be with us.”

RELATED ARTICLE: Canadian Imam likens Trudeau to a king who helped Muslims and then converted to Islam

 

Muslims stone Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem in Bethlehem

Knowledgable Christians in the U.S. know that the sole person at fault here is Fouad Twal. Why was he poking Muslims in the eye and provoking them by daring to enter Bethlehem? Doesn’t he realize that to be a Christian, much less the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, in Bethlehem presents a continuing danger? He should apologize to Muslims for not showing sufficient “solidarity with Islam,” retreat to Jerusalem, and stay behind closed doors, lest he continue to offend Muslims.

“Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem greeted in Bethlehem by hail of stones PA reportedly arrests 16 ‘Salafi radicals’ who were planning to carry out terror attack against tourists celebrating Christmas,”Times of Israel, December 25, 2015:

The car taking Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem Fouad Twal, head of the Catholic Church in the Holy Land, was struck Friday, Christmas Day, in Bethlehem by rocks thrown by Palestinian rioters.

None of the passengers in the patriarch’s vehicle was injured in the incident, but his car sustained damage, according to a Ynet news report.

Clashes between Israeli security forces and Palestinian demonstrators erupted following his departure from the city, known as the birthplace of Jesus, the news site said….

He also said Palestinian security forces arrested Wednesday about a dozen suspected radical Islamists in Bethlehem.

A report in the Palestinian Ma’an news agency put the number of detainees at 16. According to the report, the group are Salafi radicals who were preparing to carry out a terror attack against Western tourists arriving in Bethlehem to celebrate Christmas there.

The report did not identify the detainees as being affiliated with any known jihadist groups.

A report in the Hebrew-language daily Ma’ariv said that senior PA officials met in Bethlehem earlier this week in order to formulate a strategy against the threat posed by extremists to the Christian celebrations in the city.

At least four people are being held in detention without trial in Bethlehem and four others, supporters of Islamic State, were arrested elsewhere in the West Bank. It was not clear where eight other people were being held.

On Thursday night, PA President Mahmoud Abbas and the authority’s prime minister, Rami Hamdallah, participated in a midnight mass at Bethlehem’s Church of the Nativity, Ma’an reported.

In a statement released by his office before the visit, Abbas praised Palestinian Christians for their role in creating a “rich and diverse society.”

“This year, we witnessed more churches around the world supporting the call for recognition of the State of Palestine, and an increasing number of Christian groups campaigning to divest from companies that profit from the Israeli occupation of our land,” Abbas said.

The Christian Palestinian population dwindled significantly over the past years. Christians today make only 2 percent of the Palestinian population in the West Bank.

RELATED ARTICLES:

Islamic State claims responsibility for jihad martyrdom suicide attack at Bangladesh Ahmadi mosque

Video: Robert Spencer speaks on the Syrian refugee crisis and the Islamic idea of hijrah

Preserving the Traditions of the Jewish Diaspora — A Lesson for All in 2016

This was derusha, a sermon or homily, delivered by Dr. Fred Leder at Congregation Beth El, Fairfield, Connecticut on Shabbat, December 26, 2015. Dr. Leder is a fellow Columbia University alumnus and former President of the synagogue.

Dr. Fred Leder

Dr. Fred Leder

At the beginning of this Sedra [Aramaic for “order” synonymous with Parasha or Torah portion in English] Vayehi [the final reading from the Book of Genesis . Genesis 47:28 – 50:26]  we find Jacob, an old man, on his death bed in Egypt. He asks Joseph, his rich influential son, to bury him with his ancestors in the cave at Machpelah. Jacob is thinking about his life and what will become of his descendants. When Joseph comes to visit his father, Jacob recalls what God  promised him:

“I will make you fertile and numerous, making of you a community of people; and I will assign this land (Canaan) to your offspring to come for an everlasting possession.”

Now Jacob is wondering how this might all come about.

Jacob tells Joseph that he will adopt Joseph’s sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, elevating them to the status of their uncles, each to have his own tribe and his own portion in the land, someday. He does this out of love and devotion to Rachel, his wife who died young and was buried on the road to Ephrata.

Then Jacob looks at the sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, whom he has just adopted and elevated to patriarchs, and he asks Joseph, “Who are these?”
Jacob is neither blind nor senile and surely, he knows who the two boys are. He is perhaps, inquiring about their character. Are these two boys going to carry the traditions of their ancestors back to Canaan?  It seems Jacob is wondering, and maybe not so sure.

Tradition has it that the boys answer the question by reciting the Shema for their grandfather.

The Shema or sh’ma  is one of only two fixed prayers in the torah  that Jews  are obligated to recite daily  morning and night:

Sh’ma Yisra’eil Adonai Eloheinu Adonai echad. Hear, oh  Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One. Blessed be the Name of His glorious kingdom forever and ever.  And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be in your heart. And you shall teach them diligently to your children, and you shall speak of them. when you sit at home, and when you walk along the way, and when you lie down and when you rise up. And you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be for frontlets between your eyes. And you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

Then Jacob blessed them, saying:

The God in whose ways my Fathers Abraham and Isaac walked,
The God who has been my shepherd from my birth to this day.
The Angel who has redeemed me from all harm.
Bless these lads.
In them may my name be recalled,
And the names of my Fathers Abraham and Isaac,
And may they be teeming multitudes upon the earth.
By you shall Israel invoke blessings, saying: God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh

It is our tradition to bless our sons on Friday nights with this very blessing… “God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh.”

This begs the question why Manasseh and Ephraim?

Ephraim and Manasseh were children of the Diaspora. They were born in Egypt. They dressed like affluent Egyptians. They spoke Egyptian and they had no firsthand knowledge of Canaan. That is why Jacob asked who they are.

Jacob was pleased to find that the sons of Joseph understood the tradition of their father and grandfather and he could see that his dream of being blessed with a multitude of descendants who would one day return to Canaan, was going to happen.

Jacob asks Joseph to see that he is buried at Machpelah in Hebron with his ancestors, and upon his death, he is embalmed in the Egyptian tradition, and carried with a military escort provided by the Pharaoh, to Hebron, to be buried in the cave at Machpelah.

One day Moses and the entire people of Israel would take the bones of Joseph in an ark, to be buried in Canaan. After Sinai, the people of Israel would carry with them two arks. One containing the ten commandments and one containing the bones of Joseph.

So Joseph and Manasseh and Ephraim laid the groundwork for the continuity of the Jewish people. That is why we invoke the blessing asking that our sons be like Manasseh and Ephraim.

However, life is not so easy, and every grandparent worries about the continuity of his traditions. Especially in the Diaspora where our children function primarily in the gentile world.

In October 2013, The Jewish Telegraphic Agency published a study of American Jewry done by Pew Research, augmented by population data from the Steinhardt Social Research Institute and the Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies at Brandeis University. These studies put the number of American Jews at about 6.5 million people. About 35 % of respondents identified as Reform Jews, 30 % claim no denomination, 18 % Conservative and 10% Orthodox.

Overall, 22% of U.S. Jews claim no religion at all. Thirty-two percent of all Jews born after 1980 claim to have no religion, and as you might expect, these people have much less connection to Jewish organizations and are less likely to raise their children Jewish.

The most startling finding is that the intermarriage rate among young Jewish people is 58%, and the number rises to 71% when only the non-Orthodox are considered. This is compared to 17% in 1971, only 44 years ago. Among in-married Jews, however, 96% are raising their children as Jews by religion, compared to 45% among intermarried Jews.

In other words, when a gentile marries a Jew and converts to Judaism there is a very good chance the children will be raised in a Jewish home. Among the general Jewish population, this is a fifty-fifty proposition. What prejudice and anti-Semitism could not achieve, acceptance in America is achieving, and it is not clear that non-Orthodox Judaism has any future at all in this country.

What are Jewish parents to do, to preserve and protect our Jewish heritage? At the end of the day, I suppose one needs to be fortunate, but clearly, it starts with teaching.

The foundations of a Jewish home are kashruth, Shabbat and the festivals. Learning the history of our people, as well as a strong affinity to Israel also play very important roles.

Children learn by watching.

Does Mother light candles on Friday night and does Father bless his sons and daughters, in the tradition of Jacob?

Do Mother and Father attend Shabbat services on a regular basis?  If not, how could anyone expect his children to be synagogue people?

I am old enough to remember the founding of the State of Israel. For me the return of the Jews from the ruins of Europe and the Middle East to reclaim their ancestral land, speaking Hebrew and fighting to maintain their heritage was a very moving experience. It was a miracle in modern times.

I remember the days when it was common knowledge among the gentiles that Jews were cowards, dealmakers who would never fight in an organized military. In 1958, a very well meaning gentile professor at Columbia told me that the one thing Israel did was to prove to the world that Jews could fight.

I am also old enough to remember the Six Day War in detail. When the war broke out on June 5, 1967, Israel maintained radio silence regarding the battle taking place in Sinai. Egypt, on the other hand, trumpeted initial victories claiming to have repulsed the Israeli Air Force (IAF) and to have shot down their planes. Nobody knew these were false claims. That night and the following night, I attended a small minyan in New Jersey and we prayed for a miracle, fearing that the Jewish state was lost.

On the third day, Israel lifted the embargo on war news and reported that in the first hours of the war they had destroyed the Egyptian Air Force that Israeli armor had reached the Suez Canal, that the IAF was moving to destroy the Jordanian Air Force, and that commando units were moving north to defend Jerusalem. Spirits soared as the first Jewish army in over 1900 years was moving to liberate a divided Jerusalem, and the Temple Mount.  When Motti Gur broadcast, “Har ha bayit b’Yadeni” (the Temple Mount is in our hands) the entire world Jewish community was thrilled, even those who did not practice anything.

I mention this now to give some sense of the familial bond we had to our brothers and sisters in Israel at that time and how truly a miracle was performed for all of us in our own lifetime. I do not believe that sense of awe is transmitted to our younger people. Certainly not on our college campuses where BDS movements thrive, even among Jewish kids, and all the prejudices of the world are visited on the Jewish State.

To paraphrase Giulio Meotti, an Italian journalist who writes for Il Foglio, in Rome:

No other nation on earth, which since its founding, less than seventy years ago, had to sacrifice 23,000 soldiers.

No other nation on earth lives without recognized borders.
No other nation on earth has a population living under a perpetual emotional strain.
No other nation on earth is constantly threatened to be wiped off the map.
No other nation on earth is threatened by boycotts all over the world.
No other nation on earth wins its wars and then loses the peace.
In no other nation on earth do guests on official visits utter disrespectful and offensive comments.

No other nation on earth provides its own enemy with water, electricity, food, weapons, and medical treatment.

As Charles Krauthammer put it in 2011:

Israel is prepared to give up land, but never again without peace. A final peace. Which is exactly what every Palestinian leader from Haj Amin al-Husseini to Yasser Arafat to Mahmoud Abbas has refused to accept. Which is why, regardless of who is governing Israel, there has never been peace. Territorial disputes are solvable; existential conflicts are not. Land for peace, yes. Land without peace is nothing but an invitation to national suicide.

Beth El has always had a tradition of close support of Israel, not only financially but also with organized visits, especially tours for young people. Travel to Israel is the only real way of understanding the miracles that have been performed for us in modern times. This understanding is part of the foundation of our tradition and our attachments to Judaism.

In today’s world, more than ever before, we need to lead our children in our traditions by example, and we need to support our brothers and sisters in Israel with all the physical and emotional sustenance we can provide. We cannot accept the new anti-Semitism that has become rampant in Europe and parts of the United States. We have to raise our voices against boycotts, false accusations, and false comparisons.

When our national leaders are wrong in some respect regarding Israel we have to speak out, collectively and individually. We will not always have leaders who are sympathetic to our cause. Sometimes we have leaders, who are downright hostile, but this is a free country and we are free to support those who support us.  We are the strongest Jewish community on earth and it is vital that we use our resources in support of Jewish causes in America and throughout the world. It is also critical to our survival as Jews in America.

Shabbat shalom.

EDITORS NOTE: This column originally appeared in the New English Review. The featured image is of a painting of Jacob Blessing Manasseh and Ephraim, Sons of Joseph by Benjamin West, American Painter, 1766-1768.

Christmas in History: First Media Reports of Nativity Story

How did the ancient mass media report the alleged birth of Christ?

The People’s Cube prepared the following compilation of quotes from the Roman and Judean sources, which should help our readers to form an unbiased opinion of what really happened in the days surrounding the so-called Christmas…

© 2007 Directorate of Historical Revisionism, Karl Marx Treatment Center.


Click here for a larger image

OTHER STORIES:

Judea Today

Another Consumer of Nature’s Resources Born in BethlehemAn international scientific consensus has been reached, and it’s not in Mary and Joseph’s favor. Had the parents of Jesus been more proactive in raising their awareness, they may have considered such important factors as Judea’s fragile environment and air pollution that only increases with every newborn child. No matter how amusing a set of small carbon footprints around the house may seem initially, potential parents should always remember that the footprints will only become bigger as the child matures and turns into yet another indulgent consumer of nature’s limited resources.

The Daily Pharisee 

Scrutiny Tightens On Three Magoi’s Lobbying Operation

BETHLEHEM, December 28 – House Ethics Committee Chair Stephanie Tubbs Jones (D-Judea) urges congressional ethics probe into gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh by three Magoi – who are the focus of criminal investigations by the Justice Department.

The ethics panel said in a statement that a special subcommittee would try to determine if two Nazoreans violated the law by accepting “gifts, travel benefits, contributions to religious committees and organizations, or any other items of value” from the three Magoi and their lobbying operation.

The Nazoreans who were identified by name as the focus of the committee’s investigations – Joseph and Mary – have said they are innocent of wrongdoing.

Samara Post Intelligencer

Suspected Religious Cultists Exposed in Bethlehem

A homeless couple claiming that an “angel” had declared their infant child “the son of God,” was caught red-handed while apparently trying to engage in some ritual involving animals behind a local inn. Despite his young age, the unplanned and undocumented child whom they referred to as “Jesus” had already acquired notoriety in the religious underworld, operating under several aliases including Immanuel, Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, and The Prince of Peace. Authorities are investigating a possible link to the highly profitable smuggling of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

The police arrived at the scene after a call made by a local PETA activist who complained that the couple and the mob that followed them had inconvenienced the resident animals and “displaced handfuls of hay” in order to make a bed for the infant. “What sort of people are these that would invade a peaceful manger, disturb the animals in their home, deprive them of sleep of nourishment, and do YHWH knows what else with them?”

Prosecutors are considering charging the couple as accessories to an unauthorized light show that terrorized area shepherds who happened to be tending their flocks at night. No charges are currently being considered against the infant, though authorities have made clear that he will require careful observation and possibly therapy as he grows up.

The Nazareth Post (Lifestyle Section)

Mary: A Pregnant Teen Failed By The Government

Despite the homeschooling, the abstinence-only education, and her determination to save herself for that special someone, Mary Davidian, 15, still found herself pregnant. Neither her former resolve to remain chaste, not the fact that she was known by all and sundry as “The Virgin Mary,” prevented her from becoming yet another statistic in the growing problem of unwed teen mothers throughout the Roman Empire, particularly in poorer provinces like Judea.

Mary’s been betrothed for some time to Joseph Nazareth, 18, who operates a struggling lumber fabrication business out of his own home. But Joseph – and Mary, too – both agree he’s not the father.

When asked about the father’s identity, Mary raves incoherently about angels and dreams, and someone whom she can only identify as God, a likely gang-related alias.

“We don’t know who this God is, his age, if perhaps he’s so much older than young Mary that he might be guilty of statutory rape,” said a spokesperson for Planned Parenthood of Nazareth. “Notwithstanding, the fact that Mary conceived even though she’s still a virgin is all the proof anyone needs, that teaching abstinence to our children is totally unrealistic and ineffective. Can’t the right-winged religious extremists see that even when they remain virgins, young people are still going to go out and have sex?”

Rome News and World Report

Senate Ratings At All-Time Low As Occupation of Judea Continues

ROME (Associated Papyrus) The Senate voted today to continue the funding of legions in the Middle East under the threat of a dictatorial veto if they passed a bill that would have denied the funds. The move further alienated the Senate’s base, which vented its anger with posts on The DailyStylus.

“We voted to put them in office with the promise that they’d bring the legions home before Saturnalia. Well, it’s Saturnalia and they’re not home. I’m never voting again!” wrote Alvamus Goldscroll, an unemployed lyre player from Woodaquaduct. “I’m so angry, I’m getting a mallet. Stop the illegal occupation of Judea!”

EDITORS NOTE: This political satire (a.k.a. politically correct) column originally appeared on The Peoples Cube.

Tampa’s Al Qassam Mosque on Muslim who stabbed Jews: ‘May Allah shower him with mercy’

Read what the email the Al Qassam Mosque sent honoring a Palestinian terrorist killed by Israeli forces committing a stabbing attack on Jews in Jerusalem. See corroborating story below with pictures.

This is a great example of the duality of Islam. We have the Imam of the al-Qassam Mosque denouncing terrorism pubicly. Yet when these same Muslims think no one is looking they honor those who are committing the violence in terrorism “May Allah shower him with mercy” the Tampa Mosque leaders write below.

Hassan Shibly of CAIR is connected to this Mosque who hosted the North American Imam Federation.

Connect the dots and you have a wide net of Muslim Americans who support those who honor Palestinian Jihadis murdering Jews in Israel.

EMAIL FROM AL QASSAM MOSQUE TO ITS MEMBERS:

From:
Date: Wed, Dec 23, 2015 at 1:18 PM
Subject: [Tampa-Muslims**مسلمي-تامبا] Azaa Tonight at ICT Masjid Al-Qassam 8pm
To:
image1.jpeg

استشهد الأخ عنان محمدابو حبسة
العزاء الليلة بعد الساعة
الثامنة مساءً في مسجد القسام لمدة يوم واحد فقط والشهيد قريب الإخوة فرج ابو ناصر وعماد ونضال وزياد عبد المحسن زغلول
نسأل الله أن يتغمده بواسع رحمته وعظيم مغفرته وأن يلهم ذويه جميل الصبر وحسن العزاء
إنا لله وإنا إليه راجعون ولا حول ولا قوة الا بالله العلي العظيم

Br. Anan Mohammad Abu Habsa was shot and killed by Israeli occupation forces in Palestine.
Azza at ICT Masjid Al-Qassam tonight after 8pm for one night
He is the cousin of BRS. Faraj, Emad, Nidal and Ziad Hasan
May Allah shower him with His mercy~ Ameen.
May Allah grant patience to his family during these difficult times.
ICT Masjid Al-Qassam 5910 E. 130th Ave Tampa, FL 33617

RELATED ARTICLE:

Two Palestinians And Two Israelis Killed In Jerusalem
Wednesday December 23, 2015 20:53 by IMEMC & Agencies

Israeli sources have reported, Wednesday, that the police killed two Palestinians after carrying out a stabbing attack in Jerusalem, and that one Israeli died of stab wounds, and the other was accidentally shot and killed by the Police.

assafhabsa.jpg

The incident took place in Bab al-‘Amoud area; the Israeli police said policewomen opened fire on the Palestinians, accidentally wounding an Israeli, who died of his wounds.

Palestinian sources later said the two slain Palestinians have been identified as Issa Assaf, 21, and Anan Abu Habsa, 20, from the Qalandia refugee camp. Both are former detainees who were held by Israel.

The Israel army and police closed the entire area, including the Old City, while dozens of additional officers and soldiers were deployed.

Israeli daily Haaretz has reported that the man who was accidentally killed by the police has been identified as Ofer Ben-Ari, 46, the second was identified as Mordechai Birmacher.

Below is my November 17, 2015 column exposing the terrorist ties of the Al Qassam Mosque.

Tampa, Florida Terrorist Supporting Al Qassam Mosque

Muslim terrorist Dr. Abdul Mawgoud Dardery was invited to speak on November 11 and 13, 2015 at the Al-Qassam Mosque – Islamic Community of Tampa (ICT), 5910 E. 130th Avenue, Tampa, FL 33617, 813-985-9433.

Dr. Dardery is the foreign relations committee spokesman for the Egyptian Revolutionary Council (ERC).  The ERC according to their website exists to overthrow the current Egyptian government and replace it with Egypt’s past president Mohammad Morsi, a self declared Muslim Brotherhood leader.

Dr. Dardery is an exiled Muslim Brotherhood Shura Council member and Egyptian Parliamentarian with a history of open support for Hamas, a US designated foreign terrorist organization.

Dr. Dardery is a ‘terrorist’ because the ERC is an arm of The Muslim Brotherhood which was designated a terrorist organization by Egypt, Bahrain, Russia, Syria, Saudi Arabia, and United Arab Emirates.

Al Qassam Mosque Born Out of Hate And Intolerance

The infamous convicted Florida terrorist Dr. Sami Al-Arian in his Hamas funding trial USA v. Al-Arian,03-CR-77, “Exhibit A” said the ICT-Al Qassam Mosque was named after Izzedin al-Qassam.  Izzedin al-Qassam was so loved by Muslim terrorists he was the inspiration for the Islamic Jihad movement, says Palestinian scholar Ziad Abu Amr.

The ICT-Al  Qassam Mosque was incorporated by convicted terrorist Sami Al-Arian in 1992.  Federal investigators say that, at the time, Al-Arian was the North American leader of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

In this video clip Sami Al-Arian openly says,”…Jihad is our path, victory to Islam, Death to Israel…”

Sami Al-Arian doubled down on his hate speech calling Jews “monkeys and pigs” and warned against recent peace efforts aimed at ending the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, at a 1991 Islamic Committee for Palestine Conference in Chicago, IL, Steve Emerson reports.

To date no member of the Al-Qassam Mosque has publicly condemned Sami Al-Arian for his hate filled rhetoric and funding of Islamic terrorism.

The bigotry and hate Sami Al-Arian founded the ICT Al-Qassam Mosque on years ago, was reaffirmed with the invitation of the Muslim Brotherhood terrorist Dr. Abdul Mawgoud Dardery.

The current owners of the ICT Al Qassam Mosque, according to Hillsborough County records, is the North American Islamic Trust (NAIT).   NAIT’s terrorist ties to the Muslim Brotherhood were exposed during the largest terrorist funding trial in American history, United States v. Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, et al. Richardson, Tx.

NAIT holds title to approximately 70% of the Mosques in the United States.  Including Imam Mohammad Musri’s notorious Islamic Society of Central Florida Mosque in Orlando, FL. In June of 2009, Mohammad Musri’s Mosque was caught on film hosting a Hamas fundraiser.

Conclusion

The next time you hear about Hamas firing their Qassam rockets at Israeli civilians imagine the pride emanating from the Islamic Community of Tampa Al Qassam Mosque.

If the Muslims of Tampa were not proud of the all the dark, bigoted, and hate filled associations the word Al Qassam generates, why would they name their most revered place of worship the Al Qassam Mosque?

I propose the current Al Qassam Mosque leadership take sensitivity training classes because they have no idea how offensive everything associated with the Al Qassam Mosque founding and terrorist sympathies are to America’s freedom, liberty, and Representative Republic.

EDITORS NOTE: This column originally appeared on FamilySecurityMatters.com.  Under Creative Commons License: Attribution

Precarity

Precarity is a neoliberal term that was unfamiliar until I researched the theme of the National Women’s Studies Association (NWSA) conference. It means precarious, hazardous, risky, and it focuses mainly on the supposed “evils” of capitalism. Although life’s uncertainties have existed since the beginning of time, these women had come together to discuss the insecurities of living, focusing on the drawbacks of being ill prepared for functioning in today’s workforce. Where previous generations sometimes stayed with a company from hiring to retiring, today’s employees change jobs frequently and must keep up with the ever-changing technology. Thus these women fear the difficulties that arise with a free society, changing economy, other unreliable coworkers, and all that free enterprise has to offer.

Risk is the very essence of freedom and of life, and yet this is their anxiety.

They spurn those gifts bestowed upon us by our Creator and cited in our Declaration of Independence – Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of happiness, all of which involve risk. It is the freedom to pursue our own happiness along our chosen path that helps us to accept failures and overcome hindrances, and to continue chasing our personal dream. Instead these women are overwhelmed by responsibility, regarding the challenge as simply “misery” generated by capitalism, since they view that the sale of one’s abilities for profit may also result in failure and unemployment. Resistant to change and diversity, they yearn for their vision of a more secure and simpler life of the past, which, of course, is remembered without the discomforts, diseases, poverty and squalor.

Their dreams of the Utopian past erase the men’s long hours of hard labor, the women who were bound to a life of raising more children than they could manage, illnesses that have since been eradicated, few kitchen appliances to ease daily chores, and a labor force of children to help families make ends meet. Blaming capitalism for their current difficulties, the NWSA members want more entitlements and government intervention in exchange for the joys of innovation, growth, and the dignity of achievement. Taught by today’s academia to rely on their feelings and to redefine right and wrong, they wallow in comfortable discomfort and, significantly, decide to boycott Israel, her harvest, inventions and medical innovations. Could it be because Israelis treasure life and produce advantages and benefits not previously known, while the Palestinians desire to acquire Israel without the labor? Arab leaders allowed the barren, sparsely populated, impoverished land to become malaria-ridden over centuries before the Diaspora Jews returned to their historic homeland to cultivate the soil and recreate a flourishing democracy.

Precarity is the cost of living! It is the cost of charting one’s own course with all the possibilities of turning the unsure into opportunities. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights declares that “all human beings are endowed with reason and conscience and shall act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood,” but the new liberalism distorts the vision of brotherhood into a nightmare of sameness, none better or worse; the goal of certainty, no triumphs or failures; and a less educated population reduced by chaos, abortion, sterilization, euthanasia, and incurable diseases. And for political correctness, with their minds distorted and freedom of speech eradicated, these souls will no longer recognize friend from foe, good from evil, excellence from mediocrity, or even female from male.

Amazingly, although we know that eight-one percent of mosques in America advocate violence, and Germany appears to be losing its autonomy to the invaders, and Sweden is losing its heritage, and Belgium went on lock-down, and France is actively closing mosques and eliminating militant imams, the NWSA denounced Israel. Despite the legal documents to verify that Jews, not Arabs, hold rightful title to the land, and under whose direction diverse people within flourish, these women choose Islamo-fascism, where a clear majority of its people favor severe Sharia law and terrorism.

As technology (much of it from Israel) provides us with a front seat to the world, we have seen Muslims destroy 3,000 people in the World Trade Center; Muslims behead or burn Christians alive; Muslims turn their young children into knife-wielding murderers; Muslims kill groups of revelers in arenas and weddings and schoolchildren in classrooms and school buses; Muslims car-attack or knife Jewish pedestrians, but these women are boycotting Israel. Muslims are harming girls with Female Genital Mutilation, followed by enslaving, torturing, and imprisoning women in lifelong domestic/sexual servitude in the Middle East, Africa and Asia, but the NWSA women ignore where they could be truly useful. Islam is overtaking and creating havoc in Europe, and our national intelligence-gathering agencies (FBI and DHS) have long terror-watch lists of dangerous Islamic jihadists, but the NWSA is boycotting Israel.

What the NWSA should know is that the Jewish people have moral, historical, religious and legal claims to the disputed lands in Israel, yet Israel has been willing to forego some claims for the sake of peace. The State of Israel was built on land purchased by Jews, and Jews have been a presence in Jerusalem for 3,000 years, with a majority-Jewish population for more than 250 years.  Israel already ceded land to the Palestinians, who, in turn, destroyed prospering businesses and use the land for launching rockets. In truth, the Arabs who took the name “Palestinians” are the occupiers.

Morally, Israelis are first responders who have helped numerous countries, from Albania to Turkey, after floods, fires, earthquakes, bombings, tropical storms, hurricanes and cyclones, providing emergency humanitarian and medical personnel and assistance. Israelis helped Boston after the Marathon Bombing and California with its fires and water shortages. America benefits from this valuable partnership, including intelligence; the UK benefits from Israeli technology in protection, jobs, medicines and more. Israel is a global leader in bio-technology and defense, agriculture, water innovation, medicine, book publishing, and more.  Increasingly, Israeli entrepreneurs are attracting more foreign banks’ investments in their innovative technology.

IsraAid, which, in cooperation with Israeli NGOs FIRST and Operation Blessing-Israel, launched a social-worker training program in the new African state of South Sudan, one of the most undeveloped in the world. They are addressing the country’s violent misogynistic culture of rape and forced marriage. The women of NWSA could be involved, but do absolutely nothing.

How will these work-shy, incompetent women defend themselves when the soldiers of Allah fill our streets and execute their many forms of violent jihad on our citizens? Will they crumble into submission when the young Muslim males wreak havoc on the most vulnerable? Will they merely stand by and watch the migrants join forces with their brethren in the terror mosques to create battalions beyond the control of our diminished police and armed forces? These women are either terribly ignorant or filled with a fanatical evil – how else to explain this mindset?

Perhaps it is then that the National Women’s Studies Association will finally achieve its goal.

Their insecurities will be gone because their future will be spelled out to the letter. All the laws of Islam are clearly defined for women in the Qur’an. Independence and security will be as amputated as the limbs of Islam’s thieves. They will be guaranteed of being equal to all other women (devalued by men), and their tomorrow will be precisely as today – that is, of course, unless they are accused of some minor Mohammedan infraction. Then the morrow will not even come into question.

Final note: With all the ignorance shown by NWSA, they also appear to be unaware that Israel boycotts are Illegal. Under corporate law, an organization, including nonprofit, can do only what is permitted under the purposes specified in its charter.  Boycott resolutions that are beyond the powers of an organization are void, and individuals can be sued and board members liable for damages.

We Need YOU to Protest this Unfair Boycott!

  1. Call NWSA:(410) 528-0355
  2. Email NWSA at: nwsaoffice@nwsa.org
  3. Click here to protest on the NWSA Facebook page.

A Biblical Solution to the Omnibus-Muslim Problem

The Omnibus Budget Bill to be voted Friday, Dec 11, will provide $1.2 Billion for “nearly 700,000 green cards – or lifetime residency cards – to migrants from Muslim nations over the next five years (as we did over the last five years),” said Senator Sessions of AL, re Friday’s vote. Readers should email congressman.

The Muslim problem is about militancy as taught in the Koran. Christ said, “Blessed are the peace-makers.” The Bible covenant with Abraham provided the Middle East for his descendants. That includes Arabic Muslims from Ishmael. Islam’s push into Europe and America is foreseen in Daniel 8, but it ends badly for a militant Muslim ram.

First the Problem from a 2002 UN Report: “More books are translated into Spanish in a single year than have been translated into Arabic in the last thousand, suggesting at the very minimum an extraordinarily closed world.” Mark Steyn.

The PROBLEM is complex; leaders and media can’t seem to identify it. Maybe we could help them?

The Shoe Bomber. the Beltway Snipers, the Boston Marathon Bombers were Muslim. The Fort Hood Shooter was a Muslim. The Underwear Bomber, the U.S.S. Cole Bombers, the 9-11 Hijackers and now the San Bernardino Terrorists–ALL OF THESE (and many edited from this list) WERE MUSLIMS!

More innocent people died on 9-11 than died in Pearl Harbor. We declared war then, but not now; not on Muslims, but we need to declare war on militancy as taught by numerous quotes in the Koran such as, “Make war on the infidels living in your neighborhood.” Koran 9:123.

For hundreds of years, it has been no problem for Hindus to live with Buddhists, Jews or Christians.

Atheists have lived with Buddhists, Jews or Confucians, Christians have lived with Jews, Hindus and Shintos—these religions don’t have a problem being neighbors.

But Muslims have a problem living with Hindus, Buddhists, Christians, Jews, Atheists, and worst of all, MUSLIMS LIVING WITH MUSLIMS IS A BIG PROBLEM!

MUSLIMS don’t want to live in Muslim countries of Gaza, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Iran, Iraq, Yemen, Syria, Lebanon, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Nigeria, Kenya or Sudan.

They want to be in Australia, England, Belgium, France, Italy, Germany, Sweden, Norway, India, Canada, USA—any country that is not Islamic; why is that if it’s a “religion of peace?

When trouble comes, who do they blame? Not their leader. Not themselves, they blame the country and want to change it to be like the countries they left!

Islam likes organizations: Islamic Jihad: an ISLAMIC terror organization, ISIS/ISIL an ISLAMIC TERROR ORGANIZATION; Al-Qaeda, Taliban, Hamas, Hezbollah, Boko Haram, Muslim Brotherhood, Palestine Liberation Front. ALL of these and many more are ISLAMIC TERROR ORGANIZATIONS.

Are we so stupid that we can’t figure out how to deal with the problem? At least President Obama and now Attorney General Lynch know it’s not the Muslims and to speak against them may soon be a CRIME! This isn’t “hate speech.” We shouldn’t hate anyone; Christ died for all. We should end our “Stupid problems” with Free Speech while we still have it.

Obama admitted being Muslim and he wants to flood US with Muslim “refugees” Now we come to the biblical solution:

God promised to give Abraham the land between Egypt and the Euphrates River for his descendants in the 15th chapter of Genesis. Five verses later, Abraham agrees with Sarah to have a son by Hagar. The Arab nations are descendants of Ishmael, and they should occupy the area in the covenant for Abraham’s “seed.”

Any other plan, like the pope’s encouragement for Germany to take a million refugees while the Vatican takes two families, [isn’t that interesting?] is against the provision that God made for Abraham’s descendants. When leaders become part of a stupid problem, we need to go back to basics. Dan88

The Bible shows the problem of Muslim militancy will soon be solved “at the time of the end.” A militant Muslim ram gets stomped by a GOAT [Global Organization Against Terror] that flies from the west in Daniel 8 (the book Christ recommended when asked about end-times.)

Leaders should consider the Bible solution, rather than “wait and see”–hoping for an answer in the election next November. Congress has proven they go along to get along with hidden forces and rewards while voting against the Constitution that made us great.

The answer for everyone reading this is to Google their congressman and send him an email SAYING “I WILL CAMPAIGN AGAINST YOU IF YOU DON’T SAY NO TO OMNIBUS DEC 11.” Leaving a message by phone doesn’t work–“mailbox is full.”

IF WE DON’T ACT, WE GET WHAT WE DESERVE, AS PRESIDENT OBAMA PROMISED ON HIS ELECTION NIGHT: “CHANGE HAS COME TO AMERICA!”

 

The Muslim Parasite and the Western Host

There has been much discussion about the coordinated Muslim migration from Syria to Europe and the United States. This migration has been called by some a parasitic one, as Muslims become welfare recipients of the host nation while they maintain their sacred duty to remain devout followers of Mohammed.

History shows how the followers of Mohammed cannot by Muslim law (shariah) integrate or assimilate into the host nation’s culture. Rather they feed off the host country until the time when they have sufficient political, financial, social and military power to overthrow the host country and replace it with Islam.

Europe is witnessing a revolution against the Muslim “invasion.”

Columnist Robert Heller in an email titled “Why Christian refugees should be given priority to emigrate to the U.S.” writes:

Christians are earmarked for genocide by the Islamic State. Many have already been beheaded or otherwise slaughtered. When President Obama said there should not be a religious test he omitted the fact that people marked for genocide and extinction should by all human instincts be saved from certain death. These people marked for death happen to be Christian.

If the Islamic State decided all people with blue eyes or black skin should be marked for genocide would President Obama say we don’t recognize their plight over Muslims who wish to emigrate because living in a war torn country is dangerous or difficult.

The issue is not whether a person is Christian; it is that this particular group of people are subject to rape, torture and death above all others. Obama’s effort to make this a Christian or Muslim religious issue is beyond comprehension.

Former Israeli Ambassador Yoram Ettinger, in his column “Second Thought: A U.S.-Israel Initiative”, writes:

Europe has ignored the significant impact on contemporary Islamic geo-strategy by crucial milestones in the life of Muhammad, the prophet of Islam, such as the 7th century Hijrah (Islam-driven emigration). Muhammad emigrated/fled from Mecca to Yathrib (Medina) – along with his loyalists – not to be integrated and blend into Medina’s social, economic or political environment, but to advance and spread Islam through conversion, subversion and terrorism, if necessary.  Asserting himself over his hosts and rivals in Medina, Muhammad gathered a critical mass of military might to conquer Mecca and launch Islam’s drive to dominate the world.

In 1966, this Hijrah precedent was applied by Mahmoud Abbas, Arafat and the entire Fatah leadership which emigrated/fled from Syria to Jordan, incited the Palestinian population of Jordan, but failed in their attempt to topple the hosting Hashemite regime. In 1976, they failed in their attempt to topple the regime in Beirut, which had hosted them since they emigrated/fled from Jordan in 1970. In 1990, they collaborated with Saddam Hussein’s invasion and plunder of Kuwait, stabbing the back of the Sabah family, which had hosted them, their relatives and PLO associates since they emigrated/fled from Egypt in the mid-1950s.

On Friday morning, November 13, 2015, a few hours before Islamic terrorists launched their offensive against France, French Muslim children studied – and French Muslim adults heard in French mosques – that according to the Quran, humanity must submit to the prophet Muhammad, and the “infidel” must accept Sharia’ laws; “Holy War” (Jihad) must be conducted on behalf of Islam, and the participation in the Jihad rewards one with the benefits of paradise; the abode of the “believers” (Dar al-Islam) must be expanded into the abode of the “infidels” (Dar al-Harb), who are doomed to the sword; prohibiting “believers” to submit themselves to the rule of the “infidel,” except as a temporary tactic; agreements with “infidels” are provisional, as a prelude to subordinating the “infidel;” emigration of the “believers” must serve the historical, supremacist goal of Islam; and shielding the “believers” from “infidels” may require the Quran-sanctioned Taqiyyah – double talk and deception-based statements and agreements to be ignored, contradicted and abrogated once conditions are ripe.

Selwyn Duke in his column “Islamic influx: Why a Religious Test for Immigrants is Moral and Wise” writes:

People believe in things.

Some of those things are good and true, others are bad and false. And if what people believe is bad and false — whatever water-muddying label it wears — there’s every reason not to vote for them. There also may be good reason not to befriend or hire them, depending on the degree and nature of the badness. There may be reason to keep them out of your home.

And there certainly may be reason to keep them out of your national home.

It should be noted that when Charles Martel saved Europe from a Muslim invasion in 732 A.D. and when the responses to Islamic aggression known as the Crusades were launched in 1095, people understood the above well. In fact, the earliest known uses of the terms “religious” and “secular” were, respectively, 1200 and 1300; even so, they didn’t have their current meanings. “Secular” as in “in reference to humanism and the exclusion of belief in God from matters of ethics and morality,” only dates from 1850.

Thus, during Christendom’s formative years, adolescence and rise to dominance, people did in fact view the world more clearly in the most important sense: they understood that there was simply the true and untrue. Maybe now we can understand why Pope Benedict XVI identified the 13th or 14th century as the West’s high water mark.

Read more.

The ultimate question is: Whom do you trust?

Recent events in Paris and Mali must be viewed in a historical perspective. Islam and the followers of Mohammed have a sacred duty to conquer the non-believers. Remember the Middle East was once a Judeo/Christian paradise of prosperity, trade and peace.

It fundamentally began to change when Mohammed migrated (hijrah) from Mecca to Medina. Thus ends today’s lesson.

RELATED ARTICLES:

Why Does Global Warming Only Turn Muslims Into Terrorists?

More Syrians Stopped at the Border

Barack Obama Blocked 75% of Strikes on ISIS

Al-Qaeda claims Mali slaughter: “All praise is due to Allah”

Anat Hoffman’s Chaut-akbar

The summer season of Chautauqua is long over, and the “scholarly” vacationers have returned to their winter existence. For staff and speakers, it is a respite, a tactical Hudnathe time to assess their position and decide on their new plan of action, the speakers, and the indoctrination for next summer, because Islam’s stealth war against the infidel must continue. Its raison d’etre is to mindbend the captive audience, and ultimately to gain acceptance for Sharia – the Qur’anic legal system that dictates every facet of the adherent’s life – as the law of the land.

Surely, we might expect more Islamic representatives and topics next year. Their language will obscure the true nature of the themes and Islam’s history, and present a glossed version of the “Religion of Peace,” as veiled as their women and as masked as the armed jihadists. It may subtly, if not overtly, disparage the State of Israel.

Such was the case of Israeli-born Anat Hoffman, who was invited to speak at the Hall of Philosophy (perhaps more aptly named Hall of Propaganda), as reported in The Chautauquan Daily of August 29, 2015.  Her calls for a more peaceful, inclusive Holy City used three key words: “Holy City” is the non-Jewish name for Yerushalayim (Jerusalem), and “inclusive” is the code word for de-Judaizing the city. It was clear that Hoffman had an agenda to defame not only Jerusalem, the capital, but also Judaism and Israel, the only country in all the world that was dedicated to the Jewish people.

She repeatedly claimed that Israel had no Constitution, when in fact it is embodied in written texts that reflect Israel’s political system, social content, and expanding constitutional tradition – the operative constitution to determine basic operations and governance. Israel relies on Torah and Jewish law (halakha), which is also the basis for America’s Judeo-Christian laws and Constitution. Perhaps Hoffman seeks (but does not clarify) a codified Constitution, but like the Parliament of the United Kingdom and the Parliament of New Zealand, Israel’s Knesset is a Sovereign Parliament that fulfills that function.

With every tribute that Hoffman could muster, including the beauty and nuances of Israel’s language, Hebrew, and the state’s technical innovations, she provided a grievance, her primary one being a gripe against the religious prohibition against women’s praying with men at the Western Wall, a separation that is also maintained in an orthodox synagogue. The rule is grounded in the orthodox view of the divinely-authored Hebrew Scripture, but Hoffman sells her disdain of the orthodox community and, by extension, Israel and Judaism, thereby earning herself the strongest applause.

Hoffman spoke of the violence of zealots, without identifying them or their motivation, thereby again ridiculing Israel to an audience that has been fed pro-Islamic and -Palestinian views throughout the many summers. She never explained that the zealots are Jews who fought against eviction from their homes in Gush Katif in order to appease the Palestinians for a peace pact that the Arabs would never honor. They are the 8,600 Jews who were completely uprooted – lost their homes, schools, neighborhood, community, and livelihoods – among them, the successful, flourishing greenhouses that shipped superior-quality produce worldwide – the same greenhouses that were maliciously destroyed by Palestinians immediately upon transfer of ownership. Zealots are also those who must defend their families and homes against armed Palestinians who use deadly stones, firebombs, and knives to kill innocents indiscriminately – from the very young to the aged. Hoffman never addressed the infamous Itamar attack, the butchering of five members of the Fogel family, and others killed mercilessly by their deadly neighbors.

Clearly, Anat Hoffman tried to summarily dismiss the Iran deal, deceptively telling her listeners that Israelis “are not very concerned,” except that they are quite concerned because the deal will enable Iran to fulfill its threat of annihilating Israel. Following that blatant invention, she suggested that her audience never allude to the deal should Prime Minister Netanyahu ever visit Chautauqua.  Might that be because he would truthfully clarify the peril to both Israel and America?

Rather, she urged Chautauquans to invite Ayman Odeh, a communist who “swept her off her feet,” who vociferously complains of inequality while holding a position as leader of the Knesset’s United Arab Party. She did not expose this man as the violent agitator who threatened the elected government with armed insurrection and who threatened the Aramean population (Arab Moslems) with death for wanting to join the Israel Defense Force (IDF) because of their love for Israel. Odeh’s vitriol and aggression have resulted in violence, which is destroying tourism, commerce and jobs in Nazareth.  In a recent interview, Nazareth’s Mayor Ali Salam accused Odeh of “ruining” the city and the peaceful coexistence had between Jews and Muslims.  Hoffman withheld Odeh’s true activities, the incitement, the violence, the bloodshed. Taqiyyah (Holy Deception for the advancement of Islam) is the essential component of Chautauqua’s programs.

Other guest speakers were Seyed Hossein Mousavian and Imad Kiyaei who came to advise Chautauquans of the benefits of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, aka the Iran Deal, between the US, China, Russia, the European Union and Iran, assuring the gullible that it will stabilize the region and create a pathway to peace.

Chautauquan guest speaker The Reverend James Walters is the chaplain of The London School of Economy and overseer of its faith center.  A “hotbed of Muslims and Lefty Jew haters,” the school hosted a joint Palestine Society and Feminist Society event that portrayed Israelis as rapists, the Islamic tactic of projecting its own evils on its enemy; and the women applauded those who killed Israelis.  Walters concealed the radicalization activities in the UK and in Europe by his friend, Qari Asim, the Makkah Mosque imam in Leeds, home to the mastermind and bombers of the London Underground train in 7/7/05.  He denied any knowledge or connection to the violence that killed 52 and injured more than 700.  And, while British authorities refuse to study, understand, or connect ISIS with Islam, British jihadis have declared that their black flag will fly over Buckingham Palace. I might also wonder how long before “incomparable” Institution’s speakers proclaim the same over the Hall at ”Chaut-akbar.”

EDITORS NOTE: The featured image is of Israeli police arresting Anat Hoffman after she said the Shema Israel prayer at the Western Wall in Jerusalem, Oct. 16, 2012. (Women of the Wall).

Report: Why the Arab Spring Failed

The Rubin Center for Research in International Affairs has issued a report by Jonathan W. Pidluzny, Ph.D., who is an assistant professor of government at Morehead State University.  Dr. Pidluzny has recently held academic fellowships with the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies and the Jack Miller Center.

The Arab Spring began in 2011 during the Obama administration and while Hillary Clinton was U.S. Secretary of State. This report by the Rubin Center provides an understanding of why it has failed. It failed not for the reasons you may think.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FULL REPORT.


WHY THE ARAB SPRING FAILED: THE CULTURAL ROOTS OF THE ARAB PREDICAMENT, A REVIEW ESSAY OF TAREK HEGGY’S THE ARAB COCOON AND THE ARAB MIND BOUND

By Jonathan W. Pidluzny

why the arab spring failedEvery year, life in the Arab Middle East gets worse for its inhabitants.  Tarek Heggy’s books The Arab Cocoon and The Arab Mind Bound (2011) argue that cultural factors are to blame.  With all eyes focused on the Arab Spring, his books did not receive the attention they deserved on publication.  They are worth revisiting today, because they help to explain why the Arab Spring failed.  Heggy argues that a “Bedouin model” of Islam spread wildly in recent decades with ruinous consequences for the region’s educational system and its politics.  This essay traces Heggy’s argument and explains why his cultural critique is also an argument against democratizing reforms.

The Arab Spring and the events that have followed will mark a turning point of lasting historical significance for the Arab world, though not the one Western observers envisioned when popular unrest first burst to the surface in 2011.  With the hopes roused by the “Arab Spring” extinguished (or worse) in virtually every country affected by its revolutions, the question Tarek Heggy took up in two books published as protestors first took to the streets is more urgent than ever.  The Arab Cocoon (2010)[1] and The Arab Mind Bound (2011)[2] boldly ask why the Arab world has proven so resistant to progress in all its forms. The books did not receive the attention they deserved when they were first published, probably because they offered a grim assessment of the Arab world’s predicament at a time the world was giddy with hope, naively confident the Middle East was finally on the cusp of meaningful, ground-up, democratic reform.

Heggy, a prominent advocate of political reform in Egypt and a successful oil-industry executive, published the first book before Mohamed Bouazizi’s self-immolation in a Tunisian fruit market set the region ablaze, and the second, in early 2011, just as the uprisings were beginning to gain momentum in Egypt.  As a result, the author could only comment on the Arab Spring in passing, in an optimistic note appended to the second book just prior to its publication.  “I am certain,” he wrote, “that the revolutions of the youth of the middle class… will bring about the required change within the structure of the Muslim mind, Muslim culture and Islamic religious teaching.”[3]  Although Heggy’s hopes have been disappointed, his analysis of the political and cultural milieu in which the revolutions unfolded is all the more pertinent in light of the devastation it has wrought.  In fact, his analysis helps to explain the failure of the Arab Spring, even though he did not, himself, predict it would fail. The account Heggy puts forth–that it is Arab culture, broadly construed, that is holding the region back–helps to explain why steps toward openness and democracy can have illiberal and destabilizing consequences.

The problems Heggy catalogues are well known.  According to virtually every metric, the Arab world’s economic and political systems perform appallingly. The region’s governments are among the most corrupt on the planet; untouched by the third wave of democracy, the Arab world cannot, to this day, claim a single functioning liberal democracy; respect for the rights of women and minorities–never a shining example for the world–has deteriorated since the Arab Spring catapulted Islamist parties to power; abject poverty remains widespread, and opportunity for economic advancement nonexistent for huge proportions of unusually young populations; and violent ideologies claiming a basis in Islam’s sacred texts inspire new adherents every day, who are tearing the region apart.  The region fares no better in literary and intellectual pursuits.  In spite of the Arab world’s impressive achievements in the sciences and the arts during its golden age, the region makes very few cultural or scientific contributions of global importance today.[4]

Efforts to explain the region’s seemingly intractable resistance to progress and development, many of which blame America, the West, and Israel for the Mideast’s problems, have yielded an immense literature. Heggy’s answer sets his books apart.  He dispenses with the familiar tropes:  No, U.S. foreign policy and the existence of Israel are not the primary reasons for Mideast malaise.  Nor does he blame European colonialism, the global capitalist system, or the league of autocratic rulers who clung (and in places, continue to cling) to power thanks to oil revenues or outside military aid.  Instead, Heggy draws on his cosmopolitan background, long experience in the region as a businessman, and discussions with public intellectuals of every persuasion to offer a profound critique of the Arab mind.

Read more.

RELATED ARTICLE: White House Legitimizes Iran’s War Against Israel