US: Government May Have Fabricated Evidence Against Holy Land Foundation

Evidence against Muslim charity appears fabricated

An official summary of an FBI-wiretapped conversation contains anti-Semitic slurs that do not appear in the actual transcript.

Greg Krikorian (LA Times)

Israel: Living with the Indignities of the Checkpoints

Apartheid Looks Like This
Another small indignity at an Israeli checkpoint

Jonathan Cook (AntiWar.com)

… As a result [of the checkpoints], moving goods and people from one place to the next in the West Bank has become a nightmare of logistics and costly delays. At the checkpoints, food spoils, patients die, and children are prevented from reaching their schools…

Minnesota: More Muslims Suing Employers Over Religious Rights

Freedom of faith on company time?

Shannon Prather (Pioneer Press)

School bus driver Seham Nabry says her boss confiscated her prayer mats and complained that her ritual hand and feet washing messed up the office bathroom. She also says he blared Christian music and taunted Muslim workers as they prayed.

Nabry said giving up her daily prayers – one of the five pillars of Islam – wasn’t an option. So she did what more and more Muslims in Minnesota and across the country are doing – she sued her employer.

“People told me I should just leave the job and find a new job, but I was thinking if I leave this job, there’s no guarantee there won’t be another manager like him,” said Nabry, a Burnsville resident who emigrated from Sudan. “I came to America for freedom. Why should I walk away?”…

Saudi Arabia: Routine Mistreatment of Minorities & Foreign Workers

From our mysterious , top secret deeply undercover correspondent:

Dr. Abbas Bakhtiar takes a scathing look at Saudi Arabia’s treatment of religious minorities and foreign workers, and why the Arab media still handle the regime with kid gloves.

Saudi Arabia and its Apologists

Dr. Abbas Bakhtiar (Payvand’s Iran News)

It is said that “honest criticism is hard to take, particularly from a relative, a friend, an acquaintance, or a stranger.” I recently wrote an article “Iran vs Saudi Arabia” in which I criticised some religious elements in Saudi Arabia for financing and spreading the xenophobic and extremist Wahhabi version of Islam throughout the world. Using international reports, documentaries and mainstream news reports, I highlighted the level of Saudi involvement in spreading this extremism and with it the Wahhabi terrorism. I also pointed at the elephant in the room – the House of Saud. I pointed out that House of Saud and its 7000 princes rule the country like a feudal fiefdom and rely on this extremist sect (Wahhabism) as a source of legitimacy…

Iran: Apologies and Resignations Demanded Over Exam Deemed Mocking the Prophet pbuh

This just in from , our top secret deeply undercover correspondent:

Iranian MPs enraged over test accused of mocking Muhammad

Robert Tait (The Guardian)

Iranian MPs have demanded an apology from President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad after teachers were given government-sponsored tests deemed “insulting” to the prophet Muhammad.

The exam – sat by teachers seeking promotion – provoked outrage by posing questions which appeared to degrade Islam’s holiest figure by alluding to personal habits and proclivities. Most of the 40 multiple-choice questions have been judged so mocking that Iran’s state-controlled media has refrained from publishing them.

One less offensive question, reproduced by local newspapers and websites, lists four choices when asking how Muhammad compared himself with the prophet Joseph. They are: “A) I am more beautiful than Joseph; B) Joseph is more beautiful than me; C) I am cuter than Joseph; D) Joseph is more beautiful than me but I am cuter than him.” Others refer to his hair and beard colour…

…The latest row has spurred parliamentarians to begin preparations for impeaching the education minister, Mahmoud Farshidi, who has apologised for the tests. However, MPs have dismissed his mea culpa as insufficient and have called on Mr Ahmadinejad to apologise on the government’s behalf…

I can’t help wondering if Farshidi was set-up by his enemies. Who actually approved this exam for distribution?

Iran: US Generals May Quit If Bush Orders Attack

The latest 411 from , our top secret deeply undercover correspondent:

US generals ‘will quit’ if Bush orders Iran attack

Michael Smith and Sarah Baxter (London Times)

SOME of America’s most senior military commanders are prepared to resign if the White House orders a military strike against Iran, according to highly placed defence and intelligence sources.

Tension in the Gulf region has raised fears that an attack on Iran is becoming increasingly likely before President George Bush leaves office. The Sunday Times has learnt that up to five generals and admirals are willing to resign rather than approve what they consider would be a reckless attack.

“There are four or five generals and admirals we know of who would resign if Bush ordered an attack on Iran,” a source with close ties to British intelligence said. “There is simply no stomach for it in the Pentagon, and a lot of people question whether such an attack would be effective or even possible.”

See also the latest form Crooks and Liars, featuring an interview (transcript and video links) by Wolf Blitzer with Seymour Hersh:

Seymour Hersh: Negroponte–Iran Contra—Funds–al Qaeda…Oh my!
John Amato (Crooks and Liars)

Sy Hersh tells us that the echos of Iran Contra weighed heavily in Negroponte’s decision to resign his post and is claiming that Bush is funneling money without authorization or oversight that has ended up in the hands of Sunni jihadist groups…

Morocco: Female Religious Teachers Graduate, Ready to Minister to Women

Islam’s pioneering women priests

Richard Hamilton (BBC News)

A radical innovation in the Islamic world has arisen in Morocco – women priests. The Mourchidat, as they are known, are the first women ever in any Muslim country that can perform the functions of a male Imam in a mosque, except lead the prayers…

This is a great idea. It makes religious teaching and advice more accessible to women. But the Mourchidat are not priests. There are no “priests” in Islam. Even male Imams are not priests – they are not part of any holy order, they do not have any required training (although it’s best if they are educated, obviously), and they do not take any vows or have to perform particular rituals before taking on the responsibilities of an Imam.

Germany: Most Muslims Are Buried Abroad

Muslims in Germany Choose to be Buried Abroad

Michael Scott Moore (International Spiegel)

As the first generation of Muslim immigrants to Germany get older, over 70 percent still plan to be buried in the country of their birth. Is integration a problem even in death?…

It’s not that “integration” is a problem. There are not many Muslim cemeteries in Germany, grave sites in Germany are leased (meaning the bodies may be moved after several decades), and many Muslims do not wish to be buried in caskets. In addition, Turks and other Muslims are still considered as guests and aliens. Therefore, it is not strange that they would want to be laid to rest among their own people.

Israel: Neo-Nazi Jews Who Hate Jews

In the 1990s, many Jews left Russia and other former Soviet states for Israel. Some were not able to assimilate into Israeli society. (I remember reading an article once about Russian Jews who had opened their own delis in Israel so that they could buy the pork sausages to which they had become accustomed.)

Now, some of these Jews have become neo-Nazis, run anti-Jewish web sites, desecrate Jewish cemeteries and generally do whatever they can to harass Jews.

Though they are Jews themselves, they hate Jews. This is both creepy and sad. They don’t realize that if they returned to Russia, they’d be rejected by their fellow anti-Semites who would still consider them as Jews first and not true Russians. After all, the lack of acceptance is why their parents left Russia in the first place.

Israelis run anti-Jewish Web sites

Moti Katz (Haaretz)

Six minors, immigrants from the CIS, were arrested early this year on suspicion of burning flags and stealing mezuzahs from Nahshonim School in Bat Yam. They also confessed to stealing mezuzahs from homes in the city on eight additional occasions. The teens attributed their actions to a hatred for Jews and Judaism. In the past three months, there have been five break-ins at synagogues in the southern city of Arad. All of the incidents have involved vandalism, the theft of charity boxes and the scrawling of obscenities on the walls.

In the past several years there have been similar incidents carried out by young immigrants from the CIS, including the desecration of Jewish cemeteries, throughout the country. Many religious institutions have instituted security measures as a result. In 2006 there were at least six reports of broken headstones, desecration of synagogues and graffiti with swastikas and anti-Semitic sentiments, according to figures gathered by Damir, an organization that assists victims of anti-Semitism…

Belgium: Couples Refuse to be Wed by Black Official

In Sint Niklaas, a town named after patron Saint Nicholas, several white couples have canceled weddings when they discovered that a black man would be officiating.

Flemish couples don’t want to be wed by Wouter

Alex Duval Smith (The Observer)

Wouter Van Bellingen has a good Flemish name. He is a former patrol leader in the Boy Scouts. He is an elected official of a party that wants more autonomy for Flanders. And he is a Belgian black.

Now, three couples in the town of Sint Niklaas – whose patron saint is Santa Claus – have judged their registrar by his skin and cancelled their weddings. ‘I am not really surprised. I’m used to having more space on the train than my fellow passengers,’ said van Bellingen, a 34-year-old father of two. However, the town’s Socialist mayor, former minister Freddy Willockx, said that he was shocked by the racism that was being shown by the people of Flanders. ‘I had found the image of a black man officiating at a white wedding rather beautiful,’ he mused…

Farrahkan: Lips full of praise, hearts far removed from the prophets we all claim…

Farrakhan’s final major speech addresses unity of religions

Jeff Karoub (Associated Press)

Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan stressed religious unity during his final major speech on Sunday, saying Jesus Christ and the Prophet Muhammad would embrace each other with love if they were on the stage behind him, but that the world is at war because the houses of faith are divided.

“Our lips are full of praise, but our hearts are far removed from the prophets we all claim,” Farrakhan told tens of thousands at Detroit’s Ford Field. “That’s why the world is in the shape that it’s in…”

CounterPunch: Muslims and Charitable Giving

For some reason, CounterPunch chose to caption R.T. Naylor’s “Inside Islamic Charity” with the lurid caption “Mall Versus Mosque in the War on Terror.” Actually, “Inside Islamic Charity“, excerpted from his book Satanic Purses
, is an essay that explains the Islamic motivations for charitable giving and the reasoning behind the prohibitions on interest.

Inside Islamic Charity

R. T. Naylor (CounterPunch)

…Although popular bigotry and political opportunism certainly play a role, part of the West’s confusion over Islamic charities arises because the Qur’an supports an economic ideology very different from the canons of savage capitalism so beloved of today’s bond brokers and televangelists. Islamic ethic imposes on Muslims as their primary duty the creation of a just society that treats the poor with respect. It favors equity over economic hierarchy, cooperation over unscrupulous competition, and charitable redistribution over selfish accumulation. In effect, the Qur’an was an early blueprint for the welfare state.

The most fundamental premise of that ethic is that economic activity is inseparable from spiritual. The ultimate purpose of life is the ibada of Allah. More than simply worship, this implies total submission to God in all aspects of life, including the economic. Where God and the market disagree, the market must give way…

Global Warming: Bacteria Migrating to New Environments

Yet another reason to worry about global warming: bacteria are migrating with the warm temperatures, bringing illness and pestilence with them…

Global warming: enough to make you sick
Rising temperatures are redistributing bacteria, insects and plants, exposing people to diseases they’d never encountered before.

Jia-Rui Chong (LA Times)

Iraq: Armenian Christians Seek Refuge in US

Armenians, Chaldeans and other Christians are facing difficult times in Iraq, caught in the middle of the factional fighting and routinely accused of collaborating with the US. Many are leaving their homes, probably never to return.

Glendale Armenians reach out to Iraqi Christians
An Armenian church in Glendale is part of an effort to allow more refugees persecuted in part for their faith into the U.S.

Teresa Watanabe (LA Times)

Southern California is home to at least 300,000 Armenians, one-fifth of whom may have ties to Iraq, community leaders say. They estimate that a few hundred Iraqi Armenians have come here since the war began, mostly on tourist or work visas, and may be seeking political asylum or other ways to stay.

Despite those efforts, many people are calling for far greater measures amid what experts say is the largest mass exodus of Iraqis from their homeland in modern history…

…The Chaldean Federation of America said Christians make up about 200,000 of the 2 million people who have fled Iraq since the war began. Joseph Kassab, federation executive director, said Iraq’s Christian population has dwindled from 1.1 million during Saddam Hussein’s regime to 600,000.

Christians are routinely targeted for violence and accused of being American collaborators, [Joseph] Kassab [executive director of the Chaldean Federation of America] said. But unlike their Arab and Muslim neighbors, Christians lack tribes or militias to protect them, he said…

Iraq: Female Suicide Bomber Kills at Least 40 at University

Another suicide bombing by a woman. And why was this target chosen? The victims were students, mostly women, trying to improve their lives. They were on their way to exams. Instead they have passed on to martyrdom.

Inna Illahi wa inna illahi ra’jiun.

Blast Kills 40 as Cleric Faults Baghdad Plan

Damien Cave & Wisam A. Habeeb (NY Times)

The bomb at Mustansiriya University’s college of economy and administration wounded at least 55 people, most of them students, many of them women. It was the second recent assault at a branch of the university, one of Iraq’s elite institutes of higher learning, and one at which where most students are Shiite…

…The female suicide bomber at Mustansiriya arrived today at the busiest time of day, at about 12:40 p.m., minutes before the start of afternoon exams. Officials and witnesses said the woman approached the campus through a middle pathway, between separate canopied entrances for men and women. When guards saw the woman trying to enter and questioned her, she moved quickly toward the building where female students pass through a security checkpoint.

Most suicide attacks in Iraq have been conducted by men, but since the first woman exploded herself at an army recruiting station near the Syrian border in September 2005, a handful of others have appeared.

The blast shattered glass all the way through the surrounding academic buildings, from front to back. An hour and a half later, blood, body parts, skirts, veils, bloody textbooks and steel ball bearings littered the walkway where the explosion occurred…