Record-breaking 360 million Christians persecuted in 2021, Hungarian prime minister one of few to speak out

BY CHRISTINE DOUGLASS-WILLIAMS

SEE: https://www.jihadwatch.org/2022/01/record-breaking-360-million-christians-persecuted-in-2021-hungarian-prime-minister-one-of-few-to-speak-out;

republished below in full unedited for informational, educational & research purposes:

This shocking news, that 360 million Christians were reportedly persecuted in 2021, would not be tolerated if the victims were any other group, especially Muslims; nor should it be. But when the genocide and persecution of Christians are pointed out, there is virtual silence; then the ever-present accusations of “Islamophobia” enable the abuse to continue unchallenged.

Of all the countries where Christians face the most persecution, Afghanistan is the worst, according to the organization….

Yet globalists are opening the doors of the West to multitudes of unvetted Afghan migrants, while Christians are virtually ignored.

Orbán has been sensible in desiring to protect his country’s Christian heritage in the face of profuse accusations of “Islamophobia.”

There is no other religion that attacks critics and is as hostile to disbelievers as Islam, in keeping with Islamic blasphemy laws and 1,400 years of violent Islamic conquest.

“Record-breaking 360 million Christians persecuted in 2021,” by John Cody, Remix News, January 20, 2022:

In 2021, almost 6,000 Christians were killed due to their religion. The number increased by 24 percent compared to the previous year, when less than 5,000 cases were recorded. Eight out of ten Christians killed were from Nigeria.

The number of closed, attacked, or destroyed churches has also increased by more than 600 cases. According to the organization, the number of detained Christians for religious reasons increased by 44%.

Although Nigeria featured the most Christians killed, outright persecution is the worst in Afghanistan, where the main cause is the growth in persecution is due to the Taliban following their takeover after President Joe Biden’s chaotic withdrawal from the country. In addition, radical Islamists have access to documents revealing those who converted to Christianity. It is believed that many murders go unreported. The Taliban kill identified men on the spot, rape Christian women or force them to marry. North Korea, Somalia, Libya, Yemen, Eritrea, and Nigeria follow Afghanistan on a sliding scale.

Often overlooked by the news media, Christians are the most persecuted of any group in the world. In recent years, a record number of attacks on Christians has also been recorded in Europe.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has become one of the few European leaders that have become vocal about the topic, with his government hosting an annual summit on the topic of Christian persecution.

“Hungarians make up 0.2 percent of the world’s population. Does it make sense for such a small nation to stand up and act? Our answer is yes. And your presence, attention, encouragement and the fact that you are here today convinces us of this, not to mention the history of Christianity. The twelve apostles certainly represented a smaller proportion of humanity at their time than Hungarians today, yet we are all here,” Orbán said in 2019……

Middle East Studies Association Runs Up Against State Anti-BDS Laws

SEE: https://mesana.org/

Image result for Middle East Studies Association FLORIDA

BY HUGH FITZGERALD

SEE: https://www.jihadwatch.org/2022/01/middle-east-studies-association-runs-up-against-state-anti-bds-laws;

republished below in full unedited for informational, educational & research purposes:

The Middle East Studies Association (MESA) is a politico-academic group consisting of university teachers of the history, religion, contemporary politics, economics, and sociology of Middle Eastern lands and peoples. Many of its members are themselves Muslims — Arabs, Turks, and Iranians. The departments and centers where they work are often the recipients of Arab funding; the best known of these bought-and-paid-for places is the Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at Georgetown University, founded in 1993 by a well-known apologist for Islam, John Esposito, with an initial $20 million endowment from Saudi Arabian Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal.

Given the makeup of most Middle Eastern Departments, it is almost impossible for someone who takes a dim view of Islam or a positive view of Israel to be hired. The Muslims will hire only those who share their views, and their non-Muslim colleagues will similarly choose only those who, like themselves, have decided to agree – whether out of genuine conviction or out of calculated self-interest – with the Muslim view of Islamic history, Islam, Israel and “Palestine.” These faculty members reproduce themselves, and their Middle East departments become ever more partisan, filled with Defenders of the Faith (of Islam), promoters of such fictions as the “convivencia” of Islamic Spain, and the claim that “Islam has always been part of America’s story,” and hostile to Israel and to those who dare to defend it. Examples in Middle East Studies departments of strong partisans of the Palestinians who are deeply hostile to Israel are everywhere; think only of Rashid Khalidi, Joseph Massad, and Hamid Dabashi at Columbia, or Sarah Shields and Kylie Broderick (though a graduate student, and virulently anti-Israel, Broderick has been entrusted with teaching a course on Israel and the Palestinians) at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

In these Departments of Middle Eastern Studies, a sanitized view of Islamic history is presented by academic apologists well-versed in taqiyya and kitman; unwary young students can be easily led astray. Fear of being charged with “islamophobia” is enough to silence those members of the faculty who might otherwise object to the versions of Islamic history, and of Islam, being taught. There is nothing so politicized as an academic department. Teachers don’t want to antagonize their colleagues, especially If they don’t yet have tenure. Even with tenure, it’s important to stay in the political good graces of colleagues. Professors who do not toe the party line may find that their teaching load is increased, that a favorite course has been assigned to someone else, that they have been assigned to teach the course that “no one wants to teach,” that they are saddled with more administrative tasks than are others, that they are left off of search committees, and so on. Why stick your neck out?

MESA has unsurprisingly come out foursquare for the anti-Israel BDS (Boycott, Divestment, and Divestment) movement. It wants to boycott Israeli academic institutions and professors. But now it has run up against an unexpected obstacle: many states have outlawed the BDS movement. And this means that their universities are refusing to renew their membership in MESA. If this anti-BDS movement in statehouses gains steam, it could lead to significant loss of membership, money, and influence, for MESA.

A report on two universities that have followed the anti-BDS legislation in their respective states and thus refused to renew their membership in MESA is here: “The University of Arizona, Florida State University End MESA Ties Amid Israel Boycott Debate,” by Dion J. Pierre, Algemeiner, January 18, 2022:

Florida State University and an academic center at the University of Arizona have declined to renew membership in the Middle Eastern Studies Association (MESA), amid questions over whether the group’s movement toward an academic boycott of Israel could violate state or university policies.

At MESA’s annual meeting in December, 93 percent of voting members present resolved to direct leadership “to give effect to the spirit and intent” of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel. A vote to ratify it will be held for MESA’s 2,800 members as early as this month.

93 percent of the MESA members present and voting wanted to “give effect to the spirit and intent” of BDS, by supporting a boycott of Israeli academic institutions. That gives some idea of just how overwhelming anti-Israel sentiment is In MESA. That vote reflects what the French call “la pensée unique.” This means it is the only accepted view. The Party Line.

A group of critics, including several MESA members, warned at the time that such a move would threaten academic freedom, by preventing “free exchanges between faculty members and students worldwide.” Later, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis cautioned that as a public institution, Florida State University would likely not be permitted to participate in an Israel boycott via its partnership with MESA, due to state law prohibiting the use of public funds to support BDS.

FSU confirmed to the blog Legal Insurrection on Sunday that it had not renewed its annual membership in MESA for the year 2022. The spokesperson did not give a reason for the decision.

On Tuesday, asked about FSU’s decision, Anne Betteridge, Director of the University of Arizona’s Center for Middle Eastern Studies, told The Algemeiner that the institution had also not renewed its membership at the end of 2021. She later added that the center had not received its dues notice from the association.

Like Florida, Arizona has passed a so-called anti-BDS law, as have a number of other states home to MESA partners, including the University of Arkansas, the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and the University of Michigan. Some of those state laws have been challenged in court over alleged First Amendment violations….

But so far, not one of these anti-BDS laws has been struck down.

To its chagrin, MESA may find itself on the receiving end of anti-BDS legislation by a growing number of states. Thirty-five states have already passed such legislation; within a few months, there may be another ten. What this means is that those states who have such laws on their books, and their public universities, will no longer join MESA, will do nothing to help the group, and may even call for a boycott of the MESA boycotters, as by refusing to allow them to hold their meetings in those anti-BDS states. Another worry for MESA members teaching in public universities is the possibility that state legislatures may start to hold hearings on the scandal of the hiring practices, the courses offered, and the treatment of students who may not agree with the BDS movement, in Middle East Studies Departments in the state. The publicity will not be good for those departments.

With this potential worry, MESA members will likely choose to drop their plans to institute a boycott of Israeli academic institutions and decide, for their own good, to stay away from the BDS temptation. Otherwise, they may find that they have inadvertently provoked investigations into their practices, that will not stand strict scrutiny, and could lead to a loss of funding from states determined to make Middle Eastern departments in their universities places where teaching and scholarship are no longer imbued with nearly-unanimous pro-Islamic, pro-Palestinian, and anti-Israel attitudes.

Texas synagogue gunman’s final call with family during siege

EXCLUSIVE: Texas synagogue terrorist ranted about “f***ing Jews” in last call to family made during siege.

He said he was “opening the doors” to further attacks

"I want to be a martyr" Texas synagogue gunman's final call to family

A British man who held four people hostage in a Texas synagogue ranted against Jews and American wars in countries like Afghanistan as his brother pleaded with him to give up and free the captives, a recording of the conversation shows. In the expletive-filled recording posted on the website of The Jewish Chronicle, 44-year-old Malik Faisal Akram said he was “bombed up” and equipped with “every ammunition” as he talked to his brother Saturday from inside Congregation Beth Israel in the Dallas suburb of Colleyville.

SEE: https://www.thejc.com/news/world/exclusive-texas-synagogue-terrorist-ranted-about-f-ing-jews-in-last-call-to-family-made-during-siege;

republished below in full unedited for informational, educational & research purposes:

The British terrorist who took four people hostage inside a Texas synagogue ranted about the “f***ing Jews” in the final phone call he made to his family during the siege, a recording obtained exclusively by the JC reveals.

In a chilling conversation with his brother in Blackburn from inside the Congregation Beth Israel synagogue in Colleyville, Malik Faisal Akram, 44, said: "I'm opening the doors for every youngster in England to enter America and f*** with them”.

Addressing fellow jihadists, he shouted: “Live your f***ing life bro, you f***ing coward. We’re coming to f***ing America. F*** them if they want to f*** with us. We’ll give them f***ing war.”

The terrorist boasted about his desire for martyrdom. "I've asked Allah for this death, Allah is with me, I'm not worried in the slightest,” he raged.

The disturbing 11-and-a-half minute audio recording, obtained from a security source, reveals a conversation between Akram and his brother, Gulbar, 43, who was speaking from a police station in Blackburn in an attempt to persuade him to surrender.

In a semi-coherent ramble about American conflicts overseas, the terrorist said: “Why do these f***ing motherf***ers come to our countries, rape our women, and f*** our kids? I'm setting a precedent… maybe they'll have compassion for f***ing Jews.”

When urged by Gulbar to end the siege, do time in prison, and come back to his family, Akram shouted that he had been “praying to Allah for two years for this” and intended to die. "I'd rather live one day as a lion than 100 years as a jackal,” he said.

"I'm going to go toe-to-toe with [police] and they can shoot me dead … I’m coming home in a body bag.”

He added: "I promised my brother on his deathbed that I'd go down a martyr.” One of his younger brothers died three months ago, reportedly from Covid.

The terrorist had already made a phone call to his two teenage sons, who had been spending some time with him over the last year. Gulbar is heard pleading with him to calm down, put down the weapon, and let the hostages go.

The media attention was unbearable for his elderly parents and the wider family, he added.

But Akram responded by saying he was pleased with the attention he had attracted to the cause of Muslims who were, in his view, oppressed by the US.

The fanatic, who had gained entry to the synagogue by posing as a homeless man, claimed that he was heavily armed. “I’m bombed up, I've got fucking every ammunition,” he said. He then raged about the Taliban and the United States’ foreign wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. American forces had occupied Afghanistan but the Taliban were unable to travel to the US to take their revenge, he said.

The homegrown terrorist repeatedly demanded the release of Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani neuroscientist suspected of having ties to al Qaeda who was convicted of trying to kill US troops in Afghanistan. He spoke emotionally about Siddiqui, known as “Lady al Qaeda”, calling her his “sister” and insisting that she be freed.

The prison where Siddiqui is serving her sentence, FMC Carswell, is in nearby Fort Worth. “She's in [prison] for 84 years, they f***ing framed her,” he said.

As the recording continues, it becomes clear to law enforcement and the terrorist’s family, who were all listening to the call, that Akram did not want to live anymore, would not put down his weapon, and intended to die in the siege, security sources said.

The audio ends shortly before the hostages ran out of the synagogue and Akram died in a hail of bullets fired by an FBI SWAT team. His final words were: “I’m going.”

Read more:

News

BBC admits they shouldn't have put 'hostages' in quotes in coverage of Texas hostage siege 

Hero rabbi has embraced local Muslim community

Texas synagogue attacker told a court he ‘wished he had died’ in 9/11 plane

Texas gunman said 'I want to kill Jews' last year

Two more men arrested in Texas gunman terror investigation

Revealed: Last known picture of Texas gunman before siege

MI5 said Texas synagogue attacker was not a threat in 2020 investigation

Features

How a career criminal from Blackburn became the US synagogue attacker

Inside the Texas synagogue siege, minute by heart-stopping minute


Comment

The BBC has a serious issue with Jews

It is grotesque to assert that the Texas synagogue siege was not motivated by antisemitism

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Texas synagogue jihadi said he was ‘praying to Allah for two years for this,’ railed against ‘f***ing Jews’

SEE: https://www.jihadwatch.org/2022/01/texas-synagogue-jihadi-said-he-was-praying-to-allah-for-two-years-for-this-railed-against-fing-jews

 

Facebook Bans Criticizing Taliban and Ben and Jerry’s support of anti-Israel BDS

BY DANIEL GREENFIELD

SEE: https://www.jihadwatch.org/2022/01/facebook-bans-criticizing-taliban-and-ben-and-jerrys;

republished below in full unedited for informational, educational & research purposes:

What do Facebook, Ben and Jerry’s, and the Taliban all have in common? They support terrorists.

Facebook has threatened to ban the head of the watchdog group UN Watch due to alleged content violations, including a post denouncing the Taliban and the movement to boycott Israel.

The post in question showed a photograph of Taliban leaders in the presidential palace in Kabul after their takeover of the country in August 2021. Hillel Neuer commented on the photo, “Prediction: Ben and Jerry’s will never announce a boycott of the Taliban.”

The statement was an ironic reference to the ice cream giant’s controversial decision to end sales in the West Bank and eastern Jerusalem.

That post was censored by Facebook for what it called “violating our Community Standards.”

UN Watch does really important work in its niche. And Hillel Neuer’s posts tend to see a lot of traction. He takes the fairly dry issues of UN abuses and corruption and finds ways to make them relevant and pop.

One of UN Watch’s key issues is the elevation of regimes that abuse human rights, like China and Pakistan, to leading roles in UN bodies.

There’s no conceivable violation in Neuer’s post. But Facebook, like any lefty institution, uses the strictest and most ruthless standards when going after conservatives and people whose politics it dislikes while refusing to hold its own accountable.