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Tag: Islam

  • Pamela Geller Says Islam Should Act Like Mormons

    Pamela Geller will never stop her fight, even in the face of beheadings, even when other Conservatives deride her, even if no one else understands why she is doing it.

    Geller has organized competitions that feature artists drawing the Muslim prophet Muhammed, which is a violation of Muslim beliefs. She does so because people have been threatened and killed for doing it. And in The United States of America, she argues, we should not allow threats to keep us from exercising our First Amendment rights.

    “I am not being overly provocative or purposely insulting Muslims,” Geller insists. “Islamic jihadists, not I, made Muhammad cartoons the flash point for the defense of the freedom of speech when they began killing over them. If we don’t stand against them on that point, the only alternative is surrender and submission.”

    Pamela Geller’s motives for what she does are often misunderstood. But she is gaining traction among people on both sides of the political aisle. The difficult thing about understanding and agreeing with Pamela Geller’s motives is that one may also find her methods distasteful.

    MSNBC host Chris Hayes, while calling Pamela Geller’s views “odious and cretinous,” did draw a parallel that might help some understand her mission.

    “If we were going to do a segment [on his show] that was about someone that was advertising on the network and I was kind of on the fence about it, or actually didn’t like the segment, right, I thought it was a little unfair maybe, but then someone came to us and said ‘you can’t do that segment because of an advertiser.’ I’d be like, ‘now we have to do the segment.’ Because I have to — it has to be the case that we can do that segment.”

    Geller sees being understood yet reviled as a dichotomy that many have had to face when insisting on their freedoms. Some may engage in civil disobedience to prove a point about violations of their Constitutional rights. Observers may shy away from aligning with such a person. But history often is kind to them, celebrating their once-derided actions as needed for freedoms regained in their wake.

    Her issue is not just one that finds a typical Left/Right divide in the United States. Fox News hosts like Bill O’Reilly and Laura Ingraham have said Geller “was insulting the entire religion, one held by our moderate allies such as Egypt and Qatar.”

    Pamela Geller sees this as ignorance.

    “They are wrong in assuming that we must submit to Sharia to placate moderates, rather than that moderates need to accept the freedom of speech.

    Geller draws a parallel that illustrates her point.

    “Roman Catholics don’t like their religion mocked or the mockery of other religions,” Geller says, “but Roman Catholics don’t kill when their religion is mocked — and so no one talks about “provoking” them or ‘respecting’ them. In any pluralistic society, we have to put up with being offended and even with our core beliefs being mocked. Roman Catholics have learned that. Mormons and others have learned that — look at The Book of Mormon on Broadway. Why must we condescend to Muslims and think they cannot learn that? It’s the low expectation of soft bigotry.”

    Some say they know they have Freedom of Speech that allows them to draw Muhammed, but they do not wish to insult or provoke Muslims. Geller calls these people out.

    “They are afraid of being killed by Islamic jihadists and camouflage their fear and cowardice as ‘respect’ for Islam and Muslims.”

    Montel Williams, known for his disgust with Pamela Geller, posted a tweet recently that stepped into Grammar Police territory, but only succeeded in showing that he does not know the word “blaspheme.”

  • Pam Geller, Muhammed Drawings, and Bikers [Pics]

    When Pamela Geller organized a “Draw Muhammed” contest in Texas, things got a bit out of hand. You may recall that two jihadists showed up at the
    event, intending to kill people inside. They only wounded one security guard and were killed in the firefight, but the news was out.

    On the heels of that news, Pamela Geller submitted an ad campaign featuring the winning drawing from that contest to be displayed at bus and train stops around Washington, DC. (See that drawing below.)

    In response to that submission, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority has banned all “issue-oriented” ads from being displayed on Metro property for the rest of the year.

    “In the coming months, Metro will fully consider the impact that issue-related advertisements have on the community by gathering input from riders, local community groups and advocates,” Metro spokesman Michael Tolbert said.

    Pamela Geller responded to that decision by saying, “The nation’s capital banned free speech for fear of offending the very savages we are fighting here and across the world.”

    Pamela Geller’s position and actions surrounding this scandal have raised much debate. Her position is pretty clear:

    We have a right to free speech, which means we can draw pictures of Muhammed. To refuse to do so or to display them because we fear reprisals from jihadists means we are cowering before those who would impose Sharia law on us by force.

    She calls this The Assassin’s Veto.

    “Drawing Muhammad is not illegal under American law, but only under Islamic law,” Geller has said. “Violence that arises over the cartoons is solely the responsibility of the Islamic jihadists who perpetrate it. Either America will stand now against attempts to suppress the freedom of speech by violence, or will submit and give the violent the signal that we can be silenced by threats and murder.”

    CNN host Chris Cuomo recently sat opposite Pamela Geller and asked her why she insists that these images be displayed. He equated drawing images of Muhammed — although a protected American right — to using the N-word. It is allowed, sure. But it is offensive.

    Geller was having none of this line of thinking.

    “They pretend it’s about not offending when at it’s all about fear,” she said on her website. “Cuomo told me off camera that it is CNN policy not to run the cartoons because of fear of violence. In a word, submission. The N-word is just an intentional slur with no positive message – our ad stands for free speech in the face of violence and thuggery.”

    Now comes the news that a bike rally is planned for Friday, May 29 in front of an Islamic Community Center in Arizona where the two jihadist gunmen used to congregate. The organizers of the event specifically plan to draw pictures of Muhammed while there. And they encourage those who plan to attend to bring guns, in case any more jihadists show up to crash the party.

    The event is deliberately timed to happen at 6:15 P.M., the same time as a prayer gathering at the center. So far, 325 people have responded to the Facebook event page for the rally.

    The invitation reads:

    This will be a PEACEFUL protest in front of the Islamic Community Center in Phoenix AZ. This is in response to the recent attack in Texas where 2 armed terrorist, with ties to ISIS, attempted Jihad. Everyone is encouraged to bring American Flags and any message that you would like to send to the known acquaintances of the 2 gunmen. This Islamic Community Center is a known place that the 2 terrorist frequented. People are also encouraged to utilize there [sic] second amendment right at this event just incase [sic] our first amendment comes under the much anticipated attack.

  • Pam Geller Pokes Islam, People Get Shot

    Pam Geller Pokes Islam, People Get Shot

    Pam Geller believes that what she calls “Islamic supremacists” are an affront to Christians and Jews all over the world, and she especially wants to see their activity curtailed int eh United States.

    Pam Geller was vocal about her opposition to what some called the “Ground Zero Mosque” in Manhattan. During that fight, she made her positions known, but some of her statements were a bit confusing. For example, Pam Geller seemed to draw a distinction between some Muslims when she said:

    “I believe that Muslims are more victimized by Islamic supremacists than even non-Muslims.”

    But then she claimed that all devout Muslims are extremists:

    “I also believe that a true translation, an accurate translation of the Koran, is really not available in English, according to many of the Islamic scholars that I’ve spoken to. That’s deeply troubling. And I don’t think that many westernized Muslims know when they pray five times a day that they’re cursing Christians and Jews five times a day. I don’t think they know that.”

    She claimed then that the only way a Muslim could be moderate is to be secular only, not embracing the full tenets of Islam.

    “I believe in the idea of a moderate Muslim. I do not believe in the idea of a moderate Islam,” she said.

    Now Pam Geller has pushed her opinions about Islam to the point of offense. Geller staged a “Jihad Watch Muhammad Art Exhibit and Cartoon Contest” in Garland, Texas this past weekend. Two gunmen turned up outside the center where the event was held, were repelled by police, and opened fire. They were shot dead.

    There have been multiple instances of people in other countries being targeted for killing, and even killed, for daring to draw the prophet Muhammed in cartoon form.

    “We decided to have a cartoon contest to show we would not kowtow to violent intimidation and allow the freedom of speech to be overwhelmed by thugs and bullies,” Pam Geller told The Washington Post.

    After the shootings at the event, Pmela Geller took to her blog to claim the incident was part of a war.

    “This is a war. This is war on free speech. What are we going to do? Are we going to surrender to these monsters?”

  • Facebook Blocks ‘Insulting’ Pages on Muhammad in Turkey: Report

    Apparently, Facebook isn’t going to fight the free speech battle today.

    According to multiple outlets, which cite both state reports and a source inside Facebook, the social network has blocked access to some pages inside Turkey.

    The move follows an order from a Turkish court. The pages in question were deemed “insulting” to Muhammed.

    Facebook does have a history of saying no to these types of requests. In 2010, Pakistan wound up blacking access to Facebook entirely because the social network refused to censor pages about Mohammed.

    Then again, Facebook does comply with governments and removes content all the time.

    “We restricted access to a number of pieces of content primarily reported by the Turkish Information and Communication Technologies Authority and Turkish law enforcement officials under local laws, especially law 5651, which covers a range of offenses including defamation of Ataturk and personal rights violation,” said Facebook in its latest Transparency Report.

    In just six months, Facebook restricted 1,893 individual pieces of content in Turkey.

    For Facebook, it boils down this: either comply with the order or face a country-wide, all-out Facebook ban.

    Facebook definitely doesn’t want to see its Turkish user base, which totals around 40 million, go dark. Why? Well, here’s a thought.

    The move is going to get a lot of attention – not only because of the subject matter of the pages (insulting Islam), but also because of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s strong free speech rally cry in the days following the Charlie Hebdo attack. Here’s what he had to say:

    A few years ago, an extremist in Pakistan fought to have me sentenced to death because Facebook refused to ban content about Mohammed that offended him.

    We stood up for this because different voices — even if they’re sometimes offensive — can make the world a better and more interesting place.

    Facebook has always been a place where people across the world share their views and ideas. We follow the laws in each country, but we never let one country or group of people dictate what people can share across the world.

    Yet as I reflect on yesterday’s attack and my own experience with extremism, this is what we all need to reject — a group of extremists trying to silence the voices and opinions of everyone else around the world.

    I won’t let that happen on Facebook. I’m committed to building a service where you can speak freely without fear of violence.

    My thoughts are with the victims, their families, the people of France and the people all over the world who choose to share their views and ideas, even when that takes courage. ‪#‎JeSuisCharlie‬

    Even having said all that, Facebook blocking content shouldn’t surprise you. Facebook is not and will never be a haven for free speech. It’s not set up for that.

    Image via Peretz Partensky, Wikimedia Commons

  • Turkey Demands Facebook Block ‘Insulting’ Pages

    Earlier this month, a day after the terroristic attack on the offices of French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, Mark Zuckerberg took to Facebook and said he is committed to making sure his site is a place where people can “speak freely without fear of violence”.

    Well, what about the fear of a court order and a country-wide ban?

    A Turkish court has ordered Facebook to block various pages that it says are insulting to the Prophet Mohammad. According to Reuters, the request was made by a prosecutor. Apparently, Turkey is threatening to just block the whole site in the country if Facebook fails to comply with the order.

    Let’s go back a couple of weeks and take a look at what Mark Zuckerberg had to say about free expression on Facebook.

    A few years ago, an extremist in Pakistan fought to have me sentenced to death because Facebook refused to ban content about Mohammed that offended him.

    We stood up for this because different voices — even if they’re sometimes offensive — can make the world a better and more interesting place.

    Facebook has always been a place where people across the world share their views and ideas. We follow the laws in each country, but we never let one country or group of people dictate what people can share across the world.

    Yet as I reflect on yesterday’s attack and my own experience with extremism, this is what we all need to reject — a group of extremists trying to silence the voices and opinions of everyone else around the world.

    I won’t let that happen on Facebook. I’m committed to building a service where you can speak freely without fear of violence.

    My thoughts are with the victims, their families, the people of France and the people all over the world who choose to share their views and ideas, even when that takes courage. ‪#‎JeSuisCharlie‬

    As Zuckerberg mentions, Facebook does have a history of refusing to ban content some see as “offensive”. In 2010, Pakistan wound up blacking access to Facebook entirely because the social network wouldn’t censor pages about Mohammed.

    Then again, Facebook does comply with governments and removes content all the time.

    “We restricted access to a number of pieces of content primarily reported by the Turkish Information and Communication Technologies Authority and Turkish law enforcement officials under local laws, especially law 5651, which covers a range of offenses including defamation of Ataturk and personal rights violation,” said Facebook in its latest Transparency Report.

    In just six months, Facebook restricted 1,893 individual pieces of content in Turkey. It’s not just Facebook, as Turkey has been cracking down on social media freedoms for a while now.

    It’ll be interesting to see how Facebook responds to this one. On one hand, Facebook has no problem regionally banning content to comply with government requests. On the other hand, this is a hot-button issue and the company’s CEO just made a sweeping statement about free speech.

    To be continued …

    UPDATE: Facebook has reportedly blocked a number of page.

  • ‘Duck Dynasty’ Patriarch Phil Robertson Talks Killing ISIS

    Duck Dynasty patriarch Phil Robertson told Fox News during a recent interview that the only two ways to respond to ISIS are to “convert them or kill them.”

    It was while talking with Sean Hannity that the Duck Dynasty star made his remarks as the two talked about the brutal tactics ISIS is using, including demanding that communities convert to Islam or die.

    “In this case, you either have to convert them, which I think would be next to impossible,” Robertson told Hannity. “I’m just saying convert them or kill them — one or the other.”

    The Duck Dynasty patriarch added that he’d much prefer converting them to Christianity–participating in a Bible study with the members of the militant group so he could “show them the errors of their ways.”

    Phil Robertson added that he wouldn’t hesitate to kill the ISIS militants if engaged in a gun fight with its members.

    Anyone who follows Duck Dynasty and the Duck Commander crew knows this isn’t the first time Phil Robertson has been outspoken about controversial matters. It was back in December when he made blatantly homophobic comments during an interview with GQ magazine that was published in their January issue. In fact, A&E temporarily suspended Duck Dynasty for a while following his remarks.

    Phil Robertson appeared in a Good Morning America interview on Tuesday saying “I don’t hate anybody,” with regard to those homophobic comments.

    The Duck Dynasty star appeared on GMA in an effort to promote his new book, unPHILtered: The Way I See It, that went on sale Tuesday.

    Do you suppose Phil Robertson’s comments about killing or converting members of ISIS will spark the kind of controversy that his comments about gays did? Or do you think people will simply disregard what he said, since he now has a reputation for ‘spouting off?’

  • Hobby Lobby Ruling Used by Gitmo Detainees

    As if it weren’t enough that every armchair pundit in the United States is prognosticating about the unintended far-reaching effects of the Supreme Court ruling in the Hobby Lobby case, here comes the sworn enemy of the United States to weigh in on the debate.

    Lawyers for detainees at Guantanamo Bay are using the Hobby Lobby ruling in support of arguments for their clients, terrorist detainees. The detainees have previously complained that their freedom to worship is infringed upon by conditions at Gitmo. However the courts have ruled that Gitmo detainees are nonresident aliens. Therefore, the protections of the Religious Freedom and Restoration Act (RFRA) afforded to U.S. citizens — and now to corporations, thanks to the Hobby Lobby ruling — are not applicable to them.

    Given the Hobby Lobby ruling, the detainees are trying once again to get some recognition of themselves as “persons”, and therefore have the RFRA applied to them. Their attorneys submitted a filing to that end.

    “Hobby Lobby makes clear that all persons—human and corporate, citizen and foreigner, resident and alien—enjoy the special religious free exercise protections of the RFRA,” the filing reads. “Guantanamo Bay detainees, as flesh-and-blood human beings, are surely ‘individuals,’ and thus are no less ‘person[s]‘ than are the for-profit corporations in Hobby Lobby or the resident noncitizens whom Hobby Lobby gives as an example of persons to whom the RFRA must apply.”

    “Thus, Hobby Lobby puts it beyond reasonable dispute that, as ‘person[s]‘ protected by the RFRA, Guantanamo Bay detainees enjoy rights of religious free exercise, including the right to pray in congregation.”

    The detainees have filed a motion asking for the court to order military personnel to allow communal prayer during Ramadan.

    Guantanamo detainees have been staging hunger strikes for years over what they see as abuses of their religious traditions.

    Image via YouTube

  • Pope Francis Stresses Peace During Holy Land Visit

    Monday wrapped up the end of an arduous, three day trip to the Holy Land for Pope Francis, only the fourth such trip by a pope since the inception of the Catholic church some 2,000 years ago.

    Before embarking on his historic journey, Pope Francis and the Vatican insisted that the purpose of the journey was strictly religious, with the main goal being the meeting between Pope Francis and Patriarch Bartholomew of the Orthodox Church, a meeting marking the 50th anniversary of the first meeting between a Catholic pope and Orthodox patriarch since the Great Schism in 1054 CE. Pope Francis even hearkened back to the 1964 meeting and Pope Paul VI’s reputation as the “pilgrim Pope” in his latest tweet:

    While creating better ties between the Catholic and Orthodox churches was perhaps the stated purpose of the Pope’s visit to the Holy Land, the Argentinian-born leader of the Catholic Church was able to accomplish much more.

    The Pope’s visit could have started on rocky ground as he decided to fly directly into Bethlehem, a Palestinian city, instead of heading to Israel first. Pope Francis only complicated matters further by referring to the “state of Palestine”, giving credence to the UN upgrade of Palestine to non-member observer state status in 2012, and by also making an impromptu stop at the separation wall constructed by Israel along the West Bank, taking a moment to pray for an end to the violence which has surrounded the Holy Land for the past two centuries.

    While the first half of the Pope’s ventures were concentrated on paying homage to the plight of the Palestinian state, Francis spent the second half of his visit attending to the Israeli aspect of the equation.

    The day started with Pope Francis visiting the third holiest place in the Islamic world, the Dome of the Rock. From there, the Pope continued his visit of religious intersectionality by praying at the Western Wall, the holiest place for Jews to gather and pray. Holding to Jewish tradition of placing a note in the crack of the wall, Pope Francis left behind a Spanish version of the “Our Father” prayer.

    Francis’s next stop, while not the most religiously significant, was perhaps the most politically important gesture of his three-day trip. When Theodor Herzl went to Pope Pius X in 1904 to ask for assistance in the creation of the Israeli state, he was adamantly denied, with Pius even insisting that the remaining Jews convert to Christianity.

    To atone for such a political insult with long-lasting implications, Pope Francis spent much time at the Mount Herzl cemetery, becoming the first Pope to lay a wreath on Theodor Herzl’s grave. Pope Francis would also lay a wreath, composed of yellow and white flowers, in the Hall of Remembrance at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial. While at the memorial, Pope Francis had a message for the world concerning the events of the Holocaust: “Never again, Lord, never again! Here we are, Lord, shamed by what man — created in your own image and likeness — was capable of doing.”

    And if the political implications of Pope Francis’s trip were not evident enough, he also invited both the President of Israel, Shimon Peres, and the Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, to the Vatican for all three gentlemen to pray for peace. Both presidents eagerly accepted the invitation.

    In a time with ever-rising tensions and declining Christian and Catholic populations, the Pope’s visit could not have been more important. Perhaps Pope Francis’s calming nature and egalitarian principles will be the first to appeal to an area which has been plagued by power grabs for centuries.

    Image via YouTube

  • Boko Haram Has Kidnapped Eight More Girls

    On Monday, May 5, Boko Haram, the Islamic militant group responsible for abducting 276 school girls last month, reportedly kidnapped eight additional girls.

    The newly abducted girls aged from 12-15 and were taken from a Northern village in Nigeria. Immediately upon arriving, the Boko Haram jumped from their trucks and started shooting before seizing the girls, along with the tribe’s livestock and food.

    “They were many, and all of them carried guns,” Lazarus Musa, a villager explained. “They came in two vehicles painted in army colour. They started shooting in our village.”

    “Many people tried to run behind the mountain but when they heard gunshots, they came back,” Lazarus continued. “The Boko Haram men were entering houses, ordering people out of their houses.”

    Also on Monday, the leader of Boko Haram Abubakar Shekau announced, in a 57-minute video, that he planned on selling the abducted girls on the market for marriage. He could be seen smiling with two armed guards standing next to him. “I abducted your girls. I will sell them in the market, by Allah,” Shekau said while laughing. “Allah has instructed me to sell them. They are his property and I will carry out his instructions.”

    It has been three weeks since the Boko Haram stormed the secondary school in the small village of Chibok. The slow process of finding the girls has led to riots and protests by citizens. Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan informed the public that they are doing everything in their power to make sure the girls are returned home safely.

    “Let me reassure the parents and guardians that we will get their daughters out,” Jonathan said. He also explained that additional military units, along with aircraft units, had been deployed to help with the search.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Boko Haram Will Sell Abducted School Girls

    On April 14, Boko Haram, an Islamic militant group, stormed an all-girl secondary school in the village of Chibok and kidnapped more than 200 school girls.

    Now, the leader of the group Abubakar Shekau has announced that he is planning on selling the girls on the market for marriage.

    On Monday, the AFP news agency obtained a 57-minute video from Shekau. The video shows him bragging about having the girls and calling them his slaves.

    “I abducted your girls. I will sell them in the market, by Allah,” Shekau can be heard saying while laughing with two armed military gaurds standing next to him. “Allah has instructed me to sell them. They are his property and I will carry out his instructions.”

    Boko Haram means “Western education is sinful” and Shekau makes reference to the fact that the girls were receiving Western education at the school.

    It has been three weeks since the girls were kidnapped, and the inability to have prevented the attack, or rescued the girls, is stirring protests at the capital Abuja. The Nigerian government says they are deeply embarrassed by the ordeal and President Goodluck Jonathan said that they are doing everything in their power to rescue the girls. “Let me reassure the parents and guardians that we will get their daughters out,” Jonathan said, and then added that they had deployed more militant groups and aircrafts to help with their rescue.

    Britain and the United States have offered their services in finding the girls, however not many specifics have been revealed. On Saturday, US Secretary of State John Kerry promised to help. “The kidnapping of hundreds of children by Boko Haram is an unconscionable crime, and we will do everything possible to support the Nigerian government to return these young women to their homes and to hold the perpetrators to justice,” Kerry said.

    Many of the girls are believed to have been taken across Nigerian’s border to Cameroon and Chad. Loose reports revealed that some of the girls have already been sold into marriages for as little as $12.

    The hashtag #bringbackourgirls has been used on Twitter more than one million times as people are desperately praying and hoping for their safe return.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Brunei Sharia Law Going Into Effect

    Hassanal Bolkiah, 67, The Sultan of Brunei, plans to begin enforcing Sharia law for Muslims and non-Muslims on Thursday, despite concerns from human rights campaigners and international watchdog groups. In the Arabic-speaking world, Sharia, also known as Islāmī qānūn, means the moral code and religious law of a prophetic religion.

    Sharia deals with many of the same topics addressed by secular law, including politics, crime and economics, as well as with personal matters such as sexual intercourse, hygiene, diet, prayer, general etiquette and fasting. Punishments include amputation, beheading, flogging, stoning, blinding, severing of the spinal cord, burying alive, hanging, burning alive and crucifixion.

    Bolkiah warned that anyone who took to social media to protest his mandate might be prosecuted. “It is because of our need that Allah the Almighty, in all his generosity, has created laws for us, so that we can utilize them to obtain justice,” the Sultan commented. It would seem a Tweet might warrant some medium-strength flogging in Brunei under the impending the new laws.

    During a speech yesterday, Bolkiah explained how he would introduce Sharia in three phases – “Today I place my faith in, and am grateful to Allah the almighty, to announce that tomorrow, Thursday, May 1, 2014, will see the enforcement of sharia law phase one, to be followed by the other phases.” The phases are likely to begin with fines and jail sentences, and could graduate to crucifixion.

    Bolkiah, said to be worth roughly $20 billion, is likely going to see a problem with his ties to the U.K. The Sultan presently pays for a garrison of 1,000 British soldiers known as the Royal Gurkha Rifles, who are stationed in the Southeast Asian country. Great Britain’s Ministry of Defense had asked authorities in Brunei to clarify whether the new laws would have any impact on the their troops. The outcome of that communication has yet to be made public.

    Commenting on the Sultan’s new edict, Anicée Van Engeland, a lecturer in law at SOAS, University of London stated, “When rulers do this, it is usually for domestic political reasons.” Bolkiah said he wished to reduce the “challenges” of globalization, mainly the use of the internet.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Scorpions Drummer Jailed for a Month in Dubai

    Scorpions Drummer Jailed for a Month in Dubai

    Scorpions drummer James Kottak was arrested at Dubai International Airport for drunk and disorderly conduct on April 3, and was sentenced to 30 days in jail for the crime of insulting Islam. According to Dubai state-run newspaper The National, Kottak flipped the bird and mooned other travelers while in an airport transit hall.

    Kottak told police he had taken a wrong turn on his way to a Formula One grand prix gig in Bahrain, and subsequently denied flashing his middle finger, dropping his pants or insulting Islam.

    A witness described as ‘Officer AA’ said he heard Kottak saying “what is this disgusting smell?” before insulting Islam. “I didn’t see anything else but I heard him. I then informed my supervisor, who came and took the defendant away,” AA added. A Jordanian passenger services agent called ‘AB’ said that Kottak was shouting “non-educated Muslims” and then gave other passengers the middle finger.

    Kottak has been sitting in a Dubai jail since the incident, and will soon be released, having logged some time served. Kottak did plead guilty to being intoxicated without a license, and paid a fine of roughly $550. The drummer also explained that he was merely showing people his back tattoo, not mooning. During his misdemeanor trial, Kottak’s attorney Hamid Al Khazraji told the judge, “Their testimonies are contradictory, your honor.”

    Scorpions are a German rock band formed in 1965, and have sold between 75 and 100 million records worldwide. Here is a bit of a Scorpions refresher:

    Awesome.

    James Kottack, 51, of Louisville, Kentucky joined the band in 1996, and was previously married to Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee’s sister Althena.

    Here is Kottak doing a drum solo at a Scorpions gig:

    Kottak’s fans took to Twitter, relaying some confusion regarding the missing musician:

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Jerusalem Riot Disbanded by Israeli Police

    Israeli police mobilized at a sensitive holy site in Jerusalem Wednesday, employing tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse a riotous protest formed by Palestinian Muslims, who were attempting to block Jews from entering the compound.

    Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said that the unruly mob threw stones and firecrackers from atop the Temple Mount, the holiest site in Judaism. To Muslims, The Temple Mount is known as the “Noble Sanctuary” and is regarded as Islam’s third-holiest site. Israel captured the compound along with the rest of east Jerusalem from Jordan during a 1967 war, and skirmishes still occur at the site.

    Jews typically worship at the Western Wall, and while Israel allows them to climb the Temple Mount for visits, they aren’t permitted to pray at the site. The riot started when some Islamic worshippers barricaded themselves inside the Al-Aqsa Mosque to “defend” the site from Jewish groups, according to Sheikh Azzam Tamimi, head of the Waqf, the Islamic authority that manages the Temple Mount. Jewish pilgrimages at times foster rumors that Israel is planning to take over the site.

    Here is some raw footage of the situation in Jerusalem as it escalated:

    Tamimi commented that roughly 30 people suffered from tear gas inhalation or had been hit by rubber-coated bullets, though none of the injuries appeared to be life-threatening.

    Jews historically gather at the Western Wall during the Passover holiday, and police restricted access to the adjacent Temple Mount after Wednesday’s clash. Jews see the compound as the site where the two biblical Jewish Temples stood, and believe that one day a third Temple will be constructed. Muslims on the other hand believe that the golden dome of the shrine, called Dome of the Rock, holds the rock where the Prophet Muhammad ascended to heaven. The site has been the center of religious and territorial conflict between Israel and its surrounding Arab neighbors.

    Tensions in the area had already been rising due to the recent shooting of an Israeli police officer who was en route to celebrate the Passover holiday with his family in the West Bank.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • ‘Noah’ Movie: Biblical Film Banned In Several Islamic Countries

    It’s safe to say that the Muslim side of the world is not too keen on seeing the upcoming Hollywood film, “Noah”.

    The biblical epic film, which is directed and co-written by Black Swan director Darren Aronofsky, features New Zealand actor Russell Crowe as the ark-building follower of God. In a statement given by a representative of Paramount Pictures to Reuters, censorship officials from Bahrain, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates have banned the showing of “Noah” in their local theaters, on religious grounds.

    The film previously sparked a religion-fueled debate among conservative Christians in the United States, which compelled Paramount Pictures to modify its marketing material with a disclaimer that says, “artistic license has been taken” in interpreting the story of Noah.

    Juma Al-Leem, who is the director of media content at the UAE’s National Media Center, informed the Associated Press that the reason behind the prohibition is the fact that Islam disapproves of the depiction of the Prophet Mohammad as well as other holy figures in art and films as it promotes the worship of a person rather than God.

    After watching “Noah”, the censors added that some of the scenes in the film contradict Islamic teachings and that these elements might offend their viewers. Cairo’s Al-Azhar, which is the foremost center of Islamic studies, issued a religious edict called a fatwa against the film’s showing. The edict declared that the film is a “clear violation of Islamic law”.

    The big-budget film, which cost $125 million to make, will premiere on March 28 in American cinemas. Apart from Crowe, “Noah” also features other big Hollywood names such as Sir Anthony Hopkins as Methuselah, Jennifer Connelly as Noah’s wife Naameh, and Emma Watson as Ila.

    Noah is one of 25 prophets that the Qu’ran mentions by name. His Arabic name is Nuh, and is believed by Muslims to have been commanded by God to build an ark after seeing the people in his community refusing to worship God alone. There are subtle differences between the Qu’ranic and biblical versions of Noah’s story, although both accounts mention a massive flood and Noah’s ark saving a pair of each animal species.

    Watch ‘Noah’ Trailer


    Image via YouTube

  • Israeli Airstrikes Target Hezbollah Weapon Shipments

    In 2006, Israel and Hezbollah fought a 34 day battle which ultimately resulted in nothing gained but many lives lost. This conflict, known as the 2006 Lebanon War or 2006 Israel-Hezbollah War, was just part of the much larger Israeli-Iranian proxy-war, a perpetual struggle for power between the Jewish Israeli state and the Muslim state of Iran.

    Since hostilities officially ended in the summer of 2006, however, Israel and Hezbollah have not forgotten their deep-seated hatred for one another, a feud aided by the geographic closeness of the fighting parties. It was this close proximity which led to the airstrikes enacted by the Israeli government late Monday night somewhere along the Lebanese-Syrian border.

    On Tuesday, Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, declined to confirm reports that Israel had indeed conducted an airstrike along the Lebanon-Syria border, simply stating, “Our policy is clear. I don’t comment about what we did or didn’t do—but we will do whatever is needed to protect Israel’s security.”

    While Israel has a history of declining to comment on its foreign affairs, a senior Israeli security official confirmed to TIME that the strike had hit a convoy transporting surface-to-surface missiles from Syria into Lebanon, the homebase of Hezbollah militants.

    Hezbollah’s presence in Syria has increased drastically since the onset of the Syrian civil war in 2011. Because Hezbollah’s main population is derived from Shi’a Muslims, it closely follows the political actions of Iran, a state which has attempted to bolster the defense of the Assad regime in Syria to cement the ties between the two countries and maintain proper defense against the Israeli state.

    In return for Hezbollah’s assistance in the Syrian civil war, Assad and the Syrian regime have given Hezbollah many missiles to be transported and stockpiled in Lebanon. Since 2006, Israel estimates that Hezbollah has amassed a stockpile of over 100,000 rockets and missiles given by the Iranian and Syrian governments.

    Eyal Ben-Reuven, a former senior official in a military camp in Northern Israel near the Lebanese border, believes that Hezbollah’s engagement in the Syrian conflict makes it less likely that Israel will see any form of retaliation for striking the weapons convoy. Ben-Reuven does believe, however, that Hezbollah, Iran, and Syria pose severe threats to the existence of the Israeli state: “Israel has always stayed as the main objective for Hezbollah and Iran. A terror organization gets these kinds of capabilities not for deterrence, but for acts. This is the difference between states and organization. This is something that we have to keep in our hands to prevent this kind of transfer of game-changing weapons.”

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Boko Haram: Priest Kidnapped in Cameroon Set Free

    On Tuesday December 31, the Islamic militia of Boko Haram set free French priest Georges Vandenbeusch following a seven-week captivity.

    He arrived in France Wednesday, greeted by President Francois Hollande at an air base near Paris.

    Members of the radical Islamist group kidnapped the 42-year-old priest November 13 in Cameroon. The armed men then took him to northern Nigeria where he says he stayed  “under a tree for a month and a half.”

    Fortunately, Fr  Vandenbeusch was not harm but still experienced a lack of compassion the group had for other hostages within his environment.

    “The leadership (of Boko Haram) decided to release the priest on compassionate grounds and having benefited from his medical expertise,” a source said within the radical Islamic group.

    However, the French priest denied treating any hostages or rebels of the Islamist group.

    Initially, Fr Vandenbeusch’s abductors demanded money in return for his freedom, which the French government refused. Instead, they asked of his safe return since he holds a significant title of a clergyman.

    Fr Vandenbeusch was released on terms unknown. However, the French government and his captors have denied that his freedom involved a ransom.

    Hollande has stated that the French government terminated a previous policy of paying ransoms for captives. However, the release of previous hostages abducted by Boko Haram has been under suspicion.

    Six other French nationals still remain in captivity in Syria and Mali.

    Since 2009, The Boko Haram Islamic movement has terrorized and killed thousands of Christians. Recently 12 victims were killed in Christian Villages in Northern Nigeria.

    Although the country is predominantly a Muslim state, the group “desires to establish a separate Islamic state in Nigeria’s northern states where it can enact an ultra conservative interpretation of Sharia law.”

    Unfortunately, the Nigerian government struggles to control the violence perpetrated by Boko Haram and their brutal attacks continue daily in an effort to control the Nigerian government.

    Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi told BBC News that the French government hopes violence would soon subside within the country.

    “We hope that all forms of violence, hatred and conflict in the tormented regions of Africa be stamped out, as well as elsewhere in the world.”

    Image via Youtube, Euronews

  • Angola Bans The Islamic Religion

    The African country, Angola, has declared the Islamic religion illegal, becoming the first country to do so. Until further notice, the predominantly Christian community, has ordered that all mosques be shut down. It has been reported that some mosques have already been destroyed with the possibility of more demolition to come.

    “The legalisation of Islam has not been approved by the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights [and] their mosques will be closed until further notice,” said minister of culture Rosa Cruz e Silva said on Friday, November 22.

    The Muslims account for less than one percent of the country’s total population of 19 million people. “This is the final end of Islamic influence in our country,” President Jose Edurado dos Santos said.

    (image)
    [Image via Wikimedia Commons]

    Islam is not the only religion that has been banned in the country. 194 other sects have been outlawed, and, according to Sliva, more may soon be banned as well. “All sects on the list published by the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights in the Angolan newspaper Jornal de Angola are prohibited to conduct worship, so they should keep their doors closed,” Cruz said. “Besides these, there is a long list of more than 1,000 applications to be authorized.”

    [Image via Wikimedia Commons]

  • Benjamin Netanyahu: Iran Agreement Is A “Historic Mistake”

    As Secretary of State John Kerry and President Obama celebrated a series of resolutions on nuclear proliferation that they supposedly reached with Iran, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took the complete opposite tone.

    In a speech today before Israel’s cabinet, CNN and the Washington Post report Netanyahu reiterating Israel’s desire to completely dismantle Iranian uranium enrichment programs, and halt any nuclear developments by Iran.

    “What was achieved last night in Geneva is not a historic agreement, but a historic mistake… Today the world has become a much more dangerous place because the most dangerous regime in the world has taken a significant step toward attaining the most dangerous weapon in the world,” he told he cabinet.

    Iran, meanwhile, claims that the nuclear program is a peaceful one, that it is simply exercising a right to enrich uranium like other nations, and that only the medical research and energy industries will benefit. Not everyone in the international community agrees with Iran’s assessment, even though the country has yet to officially enrich weapons-grade uranium.

    If Iran makes the effort to start, then Israel appears prepared to preemptively strike. Israel’s intelligence minister Yuval Steinitz, compared Iran to North Korea: “The last-second amendments put into the agreement are far from satisfactory. The current deal, like the 2007 failed deal with North Korea, is more likely to bring Iran closer to having a bomb.”

    Israel’s foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, believes the deal “brings us to a nuclear arms race… The world has to understand that this is the biggest diplomatic victory Iran has had in recent years. There’s no doubt the agreement recognizes Iran’s right to enrich uranium.”

    White House descriptions of the deal seem a bit tamer than Israel’s. A fact sheet from D.C. called the deal “the first meaningful limits that Iran has accepted on its nuclear program in close to a decade.” It went on to say that, “With respect to the comprehensive solution, nothing is agreed until everything is agreed…Put simply, this first step expires in six months, and does not represent an acceptable end state to the United States.”

    The White House acknowledged Iran’s official concessions in the agreement: all enrichment of uranium above 5 percent is to be halted; the stockpile of 3.5 percent enriched uranium is to be frozen; any uranium enriched to 20 percent is to be neutralized or diluted; and all activity at the Arak nuclear reactor (which has the potential to produce weapons-grade plutonium) is to be halted.

    Netanyahu had been attempting to convince world leaders that Iran would be producing a “bad deal.” After making his case to French President François Hollande and Russian President Vladimir Putin, relations between the White House and Israel seemed strained.

    Isaac Herzog, the leader of Israel’s opposition Labor party, called out Netanyahu, saying “Netanyahu must do everything in order to fix the damage that was caused from the public clash with the U.S. and return to an intimate relationship with President Obama and other world leaders.”

    The most dramatic quotation came from Israel’s economic minister, Natfatli Bennett, who said “If a nuclear suitcase blows up in New York or Madrid five years from now, it will be because of the deal that was signed this morning… There is still a long campaign ahead of us [and] we will continue to act in every possible way.”

    [Image via Wikimedia Commons]

  • New Taliban Leader: Same Boss Who Wanted Malala Dead

    CBS News and The Week have both reported that, following the drone bombing of Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud, a new leader for the Pakistani Taliban Movement has been chosen.

    The AP confirmed the ascendance of a new leader with a statement from the Taliban’s leadership council. Mehsud, in particular was a difficult target to hit, with several previous reports of his death proving false and a $5 million bounty placed on his head. But the official word from the Taliban indicates he is quite dead this time, and has been replaced by a man named Mullah Fazlullah.

    Fazlullah’s age isn’t accurately known, but he rose to fame in 2006 when he started broadcasting Islamist messages from a pirate radio station he called “Mullah Radio” in the Swat Valley region. Fazlullah’s broadcasts encouraged a return to Sharia criminal law, the closing of all girls’ schools and the complete cessation of female education.

    In 2009, Pakistani military forces attempted to wrest Swat Valley from Taliban influence. Many homes were looted in the fighting, but a tentative peace was established; Fazlullah dodged the Pakistanis in a game of cat-and-mouse, taking him through the mountains on the border with Afghanistan. He is suspected to be directing operations in both countries using that same mountain range.

    2012 saw Fazlullah step up his campaign against women’s education, particularly when he ordered an inspirational 14-year-old named Malala Yousafzai shot for publicly condemning his desire to close girls’ schools. She survived the attempt, and became an international symbol of defiance against Islamist hardliners in a way that remains similar to her namesake, Malala of Maiwand, who became a symbol of defiance against British Imperialism in the 19th century.

    The Taliban’s previous leader had indicated a willingness to go to the negotiating table. Fazlullah is an extreme propagandist, who appears regularly on YouTube encouraging violence while carrying a U.S.-made M4 assault rifle, perhaps a wartime trophy. After Malala survived the assassination attempt, Fazlullah made additional threats against her and her family.

    Fazlullah and his fellow Taliban hardliners believe they are the sole inheritors of Mohammed’s vision of society in Medina, a mystical egalitarian community that the Islamic Prophet allegedly created in Saudi Arabia. But that vision sometimes clashes with the tribal rules and laws that the Taliban leaders must follow, as their insurgents need shelter, sustenance, and supplies — which they would not get if they operated outside their tribal structure.

    [Image of the old Taliban leader via YouTube]

  • John Kerry Visits Egypt, Vows Support for Interim Gov’t

    NBC News and Fox News both report that U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry visited Egypt last weekend to see just how much of a foothold democracy has gained. “President Obama and the American people support the people of Egypt,” he told reporters in Cairo. “We believe this is a vital relationship.”

    Kerry’s visit comes coincidentally timed, as the shadow of Mohammed Morsi’s presidency was lifted via military coup this summer, and Morsi was scheduled to go on trial the day after Kerry arrived. The last time Kerry was in Egypt, he urged Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood-backed government to enact economic reforms and become a more inclusive administration. As public order declined, Egypt’s military deposed Morsi.

    Kerry indicated that Egypt’s leaders have signaled a turn towards a democratic constitution and free elections, coinciding with a “road map” to stability that the White House drafted for the struggling nation.

    “The road map is being carried out to the best of our perception, there are questions we have here or there about one thing or another, but foreign minister [Nabil] Fahmy has re-emphasized to me again and again that they have every intent, and they are determined, to fulfill that particular decision and that track,” Kerry said regarding Egypt’s progress to democracy.

    Fox News notes that a tense rift between Cairo and Washington, D.C. is the likely cause for increased secrecy and security. The State Department didn’t even confirm Kerry was visiting Egypt until he was already on the ground in Cairo. Additionally, last summer’s regime change put the Obama administration in a difficult position: unsure of whether the $1.3 billion in military aid given to Egypt was still viable.

    During his visit, Kerry was expected to meet with several key figures, including interim president Adly Mansour and military chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who led the coup against Morsi. Egypt is merely the first stop on the Secretary of State’s latest Middle East tour, during which he plans to visit Saudi Arabia, Poland, Israel, the Palestinian Authority, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Algeria and Morocco.

    [Image via Wikimedia Commons]

  • Israeli Airstrikes: Three Attacks in Two Days

    Israel appears to be responsible for a series of bombings over the last two days, according to separate reports by the New York Times and USA Today.

    The NYT article, published today, has Israeli military strikes killing four Hamas militants near the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel.

    Considered the deadliest confrontation since the Israeli offensive of November 2012, the fighting started last night when elite Israeli engineers were trying to destroy a mile-long tunnel that they suspected was being used to conduct guerrilla warfare.

    Although they found the tunnel last month, Israeli forces intended to close in from both sides of the border; as the gap narrowed, Hamas forces set off an improvised explosive that wounded five Israelis. Officials and witnesses of that firefight said an Israeli tank shell killed one militant and injured several others.

    A second strike in southern Gaza was carried out early this morning against a second tunnel, this one described as a “terror tunnel.” Three militants were killed in that fight, but despite outward appearances, the Israeli military described both actions as defensive in nature, and a response to Hamas’ breaking of the cease-fire.

    Israeli military spokesman Lt. Col. Peter Lerner said “This mission was imperative due to the potential to utilize the terror tunnel for future attacks against Israeli civilians… Hamas, as the authority in the Gaza Strip, is accountable and responsible for all activities aimed at harming Israeli civilians and I.D.F. soldiers.”

    On the other side, Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said “We salute the heroic fending-off by our holy fighters and we salute the martyrs… [Gaza will be] nothing but a hell burning the occupation.”

    The USA Today report described a third operation on the Syrian front, in which Israeli warplanes bombed several targets that were likely to be missile systems in-transit to Hezbollah militants.

    An Israeli official, speaking only on the condition of anonymity, noted that between two and four jets were targeting a Russian-made cache of SA-125 missiles. The official spoke anonymously because the Israeli government had not granted permission for the Hezbollah strike to be discussed.

    [Image via CIA World Factbook/Wikimedia Commons]