‘Experts’ Downplay Importance of Terrorists Crossing Border

Terrorists Are Crossing the Border, But Relax: 'Experts' Say It's Nothing to Worry About

Terrorists Are Crossing the Border, But Relax: 'Experts' Say It's Nothing to Worry About

BY ROBERT SPENCER

SEE: https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/robert-spencer/2023/04/12/terrorists-are-crossing-the-border-but-relax-experts-say-its-nothing-to-worry-about-n1686699;

Republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, & research purposes.

We’re used to seeing the establishment media cheerlead for Democrat administrations, but Bloomberg went above and beyond on Wednesday with an article that was condescendingly entitled “Terrorists Crossing the US Border? Rising Encounters Explained.” Gather round, you rubes, and let your moral and intellectual superiors explain away what your lying eyes are showing you! “Skyrocketing terrorist watch list hits at US borders are fueling fear and condemnation of Biden immigration policies,” the Bloomberg article said, but don’t worry: there isn’t any reason to lose confidence in Old Joe and his henchmen: “border buffs dispute whether the numbers indicate a serious threat.” Oh, well then!

When the media starts running spurious explainers of this kind, it’s a sign that they’re feeling the heat. People are noticing how terrorists are taking advantage of the Biden regime’s nonexistent Southern border, and so the “experts” must be called in to reassure everyone that the Left has things completely under control.

First, Bloomberg gives us the bad news: “The US Border Patrol reported almost 100 encounters last fiscal year of people whose names appeared on the federal government’s official list of known or suspected terrorists and their associates, up from 16 the previous year.” And those bad old patriots are pouncing, as they do: “The watch list hits represent a tiny percentage of overall encounters of people trying to cross the border without authorization but provide powerful ammunition for President Joe Biden’s critics, who say the administration’s policies have created a chaos at the border and undermined national security.”

But then Bloomberg gives us the good news: sensible people, that is, Leftists, know there is nothing to worry about: “The Department of Homeland Security maintains that the rise in terrorist watch list hits simply corresponds to the overall increase in border crossings and each encounter doesn’t actually represent a terrorist attempting to enter the US. Many immigration and national security specialists have concurred, cautioning the American public and elected officials against reading too much into the data.”

Got it? People on terror watch lists crossing the border don’t actually represent terrorists attempting to enter the country! Bloomberg doesn’t bother to explain what they actually do represent. Instead, they trot out “former DHS official Tom Warrick, now at the Atlantic Council,” who tells us reassuringly: “There is no particular reason to fear that the numbers directly translate into an increased security threat.” Not directly!

Bloomberg also quoted Stewart Baker, a senior DHS official during the George W. Bush administration, saying that “the worst possible interpretation: people who are watching this, al-Qaeda for example, saying, ‘Well, what better way to get our people in, send them across the border.’” But he immediately dismissed that possibility. Bloomberg added: “Many individuals on the terrorist watch list may not present actual threats, but DHS doesn’t release enough data to say for sure, Baker said. The agency doesn’t publish information about watch list encounters’ countries of origin or what happened after agents apprehended them.”

Related: Democrats Boycott Border Control Hearing After Accusing Republicans of Using It to Attack Biden

Meanwhile, no matter what these media-anointed experts are saying, there are all kinds of other threats that are directly increasing. Last Wednesday, Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz tweeted some figures showing just how bad the border area has become:

Past 48 Hours…

– 10,070 Apprehensions
– 52 lbs. of Fentanyl
– 38 lbs. of Ecstasy
– 11 lbs. of Meth
– 11 lbs. of Cocaine
– $48,000 Seized
– 20 Firearms
– 5 Stolen Vehicles Recovered
– 5 Sex Offenders
– 4 Warrants
– 1 Gang Member

Significant numbers for just 2 days!

This was just an ordinary couple of days at the border, and Ortiz doesn’t even mention the terrorists. Fox News reported last October that “the number of migrant encounters at the U.S. southern border climbed to a record more than 227,000 during the month of September and more than 2.3 million for the fiscal year 2022, according to data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection.” That data also shows that “there were 20 known or suspected terrorists arrested at the southern border in September, bringing the total terror watchlist arrests at the border for the fiscal year 2022 to 98. The number of terror watchlist arrests at the border for the last five years combined was 26.”

What did Old Joe and his handlers say about this? Nothing, of course, because they weren’t challenged by the sycophantic Leftist propagandists we call “journalists.” They could count on the likes of Bloomberg and its “experts” to clean up after them.

Biden’s New Muslim Liaison to Fight ‘Institutional Islamophobia’ From attending an event featuring a World Trade Center bombing co-conspirator to the NSC.

BY DANIEL GREENFIELD

SEE: https://www.frontpagemag.com/bidens-new-muslim-liaison-to-fight-institutional-islamophobia/;

Republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, & research purposes.

In 2010, the Islamic Society of North America honored one of the unindicted co-conspirators of the World Trade Center bombing.

Also at the ISNA convention were three members of the Obama administration: Rashad Hussain, George Selim, and Mazen Basrawi. Hussain went from working as Obama’s envoy to the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to serving as Biden’s Ambassador for Religious Freedom, while George Selim joined the ADL as its VP of National Affairs.

And Mazen Basrawi was brought in as the Director of Global Engagement at the National Security Council under Biden and will now also double as the White House Muslim liaison. The appointment reveals that the Biden administration sees Muslims in America as an adjunct of the foreign Muslim governments and Islamist entities whose cooperation it is trying to solicit.

In a little over a decade, Basrawi has gone from attending an Islamist conference that featured some of the worst of the worst to a role at the National Security Council.

At the ISNA conference, Basrawi may have been in attendance when the Muslim Brotherhood-founded group honored Imam Siraj Wahhaj. Wahhaj, named as an unindicted co-conspirator in the first WTC attack, has declared,  “I will never ever tell people, ‘don’t be violent, that is not the Islamic way’: the violence has to be selected” and predicted, “In time, this so-called democracy will crumble, and there will be nothing. And the only thing that will remain will be Islam.”

Tariq Ramadan, the grandson of the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, who recently faced rape accusations from multiple women, and had supported terrorist attacks on Americans in Iraq, was a keynote speaker. Other speakers included Hamza Yusuf who had defended the Blind Sheikh, the World Trade Center bombing figure, and warned two days before 9/11 that “this country is facing a very terrible fate.” That fate seems to be here.

Basrawi was one of the many Islamic appointees of the Obama administration traveling through the DOJ and then into the NSC. And Islamic groups are celebrating his latest appointment.

The Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) described itself as being “proud” to announce Basrawi’s appointment and was “excited to see what Basrawi brings to this role.” CAIR cheered that it was looking “forward to working with Mr. Basrawi to address issues of concern to the American Muslim community, including institutional Islamophobia in federal law enforcement.”

Considering CAIR’s history of support for Islamic terrorism, that’s likely to get Americans killed.

Basrawi juggling a role at the NSC and Biden’s Muslim liaison intersects when it comes to Islamic terrorism. In 2003, Basrawi, then a UC Berkeley law student, signed an ad falsely accusing the War on Terror of depriving Muslims of rights. When John Yoo returned from helping fight terrorism at the DOJ to teaching at UC Berkeley, Basrawi campaigned for his removal.

“They are stripping noncitizens of what is left of their existing rights, and engaging in illegal foreign policy,” Basrawi had ranted. “It’s those sorts of things that have affected our communities.”

Basrawi soon joined the Bay Area Association of Muslim Lawyers which was set up two weeks after 9/11 to fight investigations of Islamic terrorism. BAAML worked with CAIR and agitated to censor law enforcement training materials discussing Islamic terrorism including those by Daniel Pipes, Robert Spencer, and Stephen Coughlin.

He also began donating money to Democrats including Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, and former Nation of Islam member Keith X. Ellison. Shortly thereafter, Basrawi was working for the Obama administration at the DOJ  where he defended the Islamic mega-mosque in Murfreesboro, TN in court, and regularly attended the administration’s ‘Iftar’ dinners.

At law school, Basrawi had been protesting Yoo’s role in fighting terrorism at the DOJ and, in a changing of the guard that was all too typical of the Obama era, he was working at the DOJ.

There Basrawi was able to conduct a tour of anti-American groups with the full backing of the Obama administration. At the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, whose leaders had defended Hamas, Hezbollah, and other Islamic terrorist groups, Basrawi lectured on fighting a mythical 9/11 “backlash” against Muslims and declared, to loud cheers, that, “We can say a man by the name of Barack Hussein Obama is the president of the United States”.

Even though his donations to Hillary didn’t pay off, Basrawi stayed behind at the Justice Department under Trump while donating money to Joe Biden and MoveOn. After maxing out his contributions to Biden, Basrawi moved up the ladder in the new Democrat administration.

It was a long way up the ladder of Islamist activism from the bygone days when Basrawi had started an Islamic culture club at Fairfax County’s Thomas Jefferson High School, but even then he had been building the kind of resume that would appeal to Islamists and later to Democrats.

Despite his current sensitive position, Basrawi’s Facebook friends network includes Hatem Bazian, the godfather of campus Islamism and antisemitism, Keith Ellison, Anwar Khan, the head of Islamic Relief USA, BDS activist Noura Erakat, Hady Amr, Salam Al-Marayati, Wajahat Ali and other hateful personalities whom we have covered elsewhere. They also serve as a map tying together government officials, activists, nonprofits, and journalists into a network.

“Though I oppose the undemocratic electoral college, I accept that that is the constitutional form of government in which we currently live,” Basrawi posted after the 2020 election.

That’s the system we “currently live” under, and one that, as Imam Sirraj Wahhaj had predicted, would be destroyed to make way for an Islamic theocracy depriving us of all of our rights. “If 6-8 million Muslims unite in America, the country will come to us,” he had predicted.

“Wherever you came from, you came to America. And you came for one reason—for one reason only—to establish Allah’s deen,” the unindicted World Trade Center bombing co-conspirator honored and hosted by the Islamist organizations of America, declared.

Mazen Basrawi is only one of many working his way through the system on a long march through our institutions. They have told us their mission. Now they are carrying it out.

Hitler’s New Army: Muslims Call for ‘Death to Israel’ and ‘Death to Jews’ in Germany

BY AMY MEK

SEE: https://rairfoundation.com/hitlers-new-army-muslims-call-for-death-to-israel-and-death-to-jews-in-germany-video/;

Republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, & research purposes.

It is no secret that Germany has a long and shameful history of left-wing Jew-haters colluding with Jew-hating Muslims.

Berlin has been hit by another disturbing wave of antisemitism as hundreds of Muslim protesters, mainly migrants, chanted “death to Israel” and “death to Jews” in two city neighborhoods with a large Islamic presence, Kreuzberg and Neukölln. The rally was centered on the ongoing controversy at the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, where radical Palestinians barricaded themselves in al-Aqsa Mosque in violation of religious compound rules.

Israel’s Ambassador to Germany, Ron Prosor, slammed the rally, accusing the participants of abusing Germany’s freedoms and “unreservedly” calling for the annihilation of Israel and Jews. In a powerful tweet, he also accused them of “flouting democratic values,” “crossing every possible red line,” and “spitting in the brown [fascist] well from which they drink.”

The rally was captured on video, which shows protesters chanting “Free Palestine” and antisemitic slogans. According to the organization Democ, the protesters also glorified terrorism.

Many Muslims were draped in their Palestinian war scarves (keffiyehs), which many believe to be the modern equivalent of the Nazi swastika while chanting genocidal anti-Jewish Islamic chants. For example, mobs screamed, “From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be Free,” this is code for eradicating the State of Israel and its millions of Jews.

The rally has prompted responses from German officials, with Felix Klein, the Federal Commissioner for Combating Antisemitism, and Katharina von Schnurbein, his European counterpart, both condemning the protesters. Von Schnurbein emphasized that hate speech against Jews is “painful and unacceptable” and should be punished.

Experts have criticized Germany’s fight against antisemitism. Henryk M. Broder, a German Jewish expert on antisemitism, lambasted Berlin’s commissioner to combat antisemitism, Samuel Salzborn, for misguided priorities, including his focus on renaming streets originally named after antisemites. Critics argue that Salzborn focused on a low-level priority while the city struggles with Islamic-animated antisemitism and violent Jew-hatred.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center has also urged some German commissioners to resign due to their alleged antisemitic comments. At the same time, Rabbi Abraham Cooper of the center has criticized Berlin’s annual al-Quds Day rally, calling it “antisemitic, not only anti-Israel.” The rally, held nearly every year since 1996, is an Iranian invention designed to create and increase hatred of the Jewish people and their connection to Jerusalem.

Open borders Germany

The violent acts and calls for jihad against Jews in Germany and Europe are a stark reminder of the catastrophic consequences of multiculturalism and mass-Islamic migration. The globalist agenda of open borders, relentlessly promoted by legacy media, has made life increasingly intolerable for European non-Muslim populations.

Former left-wing Chancellor Angela Merkel’s decision to allow almost two million people from some of the most antisemitic countries to immigrate to Germany has had disastrous consequences. The Jewish community is now suffering from a wave of attacks, threats, and murders, and their pleas to stop importing Islamic antisemitism have fallen on deaf ears. Instead, left-wing leaders and their media allies have waged a campaign to silence and prosecute anyone who dares to expose this problem.

It is no secret that Germany has a long and shameful history of left-wing Jew-haters colluding with Jew-hating Muslims. But sadly, Germany has gone to great lengths to whitewash this history from its past.

If Germany fails to reverse the influx of refugees pouring into its country, the security and freedoms of Jews, Christians, women, gays, and non-Muslims will continue to erode. It is time for Germany to acknowledge the failure of multiculturalism and mass-Islamic migration and take urgent steps to protect its citizens from the perils of open borders.

Pennsylvania: Restaurant asks waitress to remove hijab, restaurant is inundated with death threats

BY LARRY ESTAVAN

SEE: https://www.jihadwatch.org/2023/04/pennsylvania-restaurant-asks-waitress-to-remove-hijab-restaurant-is-inundated-with-death-threats;

Republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, & research purposes.

Michael’s Family Restaurant in Glenside, Pennsylvania has been receiving death threats all day. Hundreds of threatening phone calls have reduced the owner’s mother to tears, and the restaurant is pleading for people to see reason.

This all stems from a manager who sent a waitress home when she would not remove her hijab. Michael’s Family Restaurant has since fired the manager and apologized. But as WTXF reporter Ellen Kolodziej says, that might not be enough, as protesters began to assemble outside the eatery.

Listening to Tameka Beverly, the aunt of the employee, it is not clear if her niece wore the hijab to the job interview.

Her first day she wore it. She showed up for training, she wore it. Then they told my sister she couldn’t wear it when she came back, but she wore it anyway. In no way should anybody be discriminated against and made to feel less and pushed into a corner where they have to remove their hijab.

The combination of a televised hijab crisis involving a restaurant strongly suggests the presence of the Hamas-linked Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).

Indeed, when WPVI ABC6 read a statement from the restaurant, the station omitted the last sentence.

Michael’s Family Restaurant in Glenside released a statement Saturday:

“Michael’s Family Restaurant has been serving Glenside for over 15 years and have always taken pride in our quality of service, respect for our customers, and the diversity of our employee and customer base.

A video posted online on Friday, April 7, 2023 recorded one of our employees violating the values of our establishment. Our leadership team evaluated facts of the case and we would like our community to know that, effective Friday April 7, 2023 this employee is no longer affiliated with Michael’s Family Restaurant in Glenside.

We thank everyone who reached out to our Restaurant to record their disappointment. We share their sentiments and would like to underline that we value and respect every background that we proudly serve, including our Muslim-American customers. We are saddened that this incident disrupted their peaceful observance of the month of Ramadan. Needless to note, our beloved employee will be able to work here with her khimar should she wish to do so.

Additionally, we commit to meeting with Muslim-American community members to listen to them and also have our staff go through a sensitivity training to ensure an incident like this never repeats.”

The last sentence read:

We will work with CAIR-Philadelphia and other leaders to achieve these goals.

This is the second TV attack by CAIR this month and the eleventh of the year. Which is on pace for over 30 incidents this year.

This year’s victims so far:

  1. Nazi Club 131
  2. “KKK” boots
  3. Art professor
  4. Oklahoma police
  5. Officer Patrick O’Donnell
  6. Jonathan Boone
  7. Shaw University
  8. Missouri prison
  9. Whole Foods
  10. Nazi Club 131 (again)
  11. Michael’s Restaurant

Afghan Muslim migrants in US directed ‘racism, sexism’ at aid workers, were angry at inferior housing

BY ROBERT SPENCER

SEE: https://www.jihadwatch.org/2023/04/afghan-muslim-migrants-in-us-directed-racism-sexism-at-aid-workers-were-angry-at-inferior-housing;

Republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, & research purposes.

Anyone who finds this surprising knows nothing of Afghan and Islamic culture, and its attitudes toward non-Muslims and women. It’s unlikely that anyone in these NGOs knows anything about the Islamic understanding of the Infidel obligation to support Muslims financially, either. NGOs would have dismissed any warnings about all this as “Islamophobic.” But although they’ll never admit it, they’re now finding out that what the “Islamophobes” have been saying was accurate.

“Federal Report: Biden’s Afghans Directed ‘Racism, Sexism’ and ‘Verbal Abuse’ at U.S. Aid Workers,” by John Binder, Breitbart, April 6, 2023:

Afghans, brought to the United States by President Joe Biden, directed “racism and sexism” as well as “verbal abuse” at American non-governmental organization (NGO) employees who helped resettle them across the nation, a federal report alleges.

Following the U.S. Armed Forces’ withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021, Biden opened a refugee parole pipeline that has resettled more than 86,000 Afghans in American communities — many without having to be screened or interviewed in person beforehand.

To resettle the massive inflow of Afghans, Biden’s State Department contracted with NGOs that use taxpayer money to resettle refugees across American communities for the federal government, including:

Church World Service; Ethiopian Community Development Council; Episcopal Migration Ministries; Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society; International Rescue Committee; Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service; United States Conference of Catholic Bishops; U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants; and World Relief.

A report from the State Department Inspector General (IG) this week reveals that in the midst of their resettlement across the U.S., many Afghans directed racist, sexist, and verbally abusive behavior at NGO workers.

“[Resettlement agencies] also attributed some inappropriate behavior on the part of [Afghan] parolees to the lack of cultural orientation,” the IG report states:

For example, some [resettlement agency] staff reported experiencing racism and sexism from Afghan clients unaccustomed to the norms of U.S. society. Another [resettlement agency] reported that some [Afghan] parolees refused to work with female case managers or case managers from minority groups. [Emphasis added]

One [resettlement agency] reported that a few local offices had issues of verbal abuse from Afghans, mostly those who were upset or frustrated by the process. Many [Afghan] parolees had very high expectations and did not understand the role of local affiliates and would become frustrated with services and housing. [Emphasis added]

In addition, the IG report states that many Afghans brought to the U.S. by the Biden administration needed immediate medical treatment because they suffer “with mental and physical health issues” while others arrived in the U.S. with COVID-19.

Afghans, the IG report alleges, also had unrealistic expectations about the U.S.

For instance, some Afghans reportedly expected the federal government to provide them with “welcome money” when they arrived in the U.S. Others also expected free, luxury housing and were displeased with the actual housing that was provided to them.

“… consequently [Afghans] rejected the housing provided to them as being insufficient to meet their needs or of an inferior quality,” the IG report states….

Hamas-linked CAIR sues Virginia prison for denying Ramadan accommodations to newly converted inmate

BY CHRISTINE DOUGLASS-WILLIAMS

SEE: https://www.jihadwatch.org/2023/04/hamas-linked-cair-sues-virginia-prison-for-denying-ramadan-accommodations-to-newly-converted-inmate;

Republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, & research purposes.

The Hamas-linked Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) is yet again fighting for the expansion of the Islamic presence in a prison. It has just “sued the Virginia Department of Corrections and officials at a correctional facility for their refusal to provide Ramadan accommodations to a Muslim inmate.” The prison already provides special accommodations to Muslims on Ramadan, but that isn’t enough for CAIR. They want the rules bent. Prison officials reportedly refuse to accommodate new convert Alexander Crichlow because he converted to Islam after the deadline to sign up for Ramadan accommodations, and given the vigor of new converts, it is very important to CAIR that Crichlow be accommodated expeditiously.

In 2018, CAIR sued Riverside Regional Jail in North Prince George, Virginia, for allowing a Christian space, and filed an injunction demanding “Islamic programming” and “pork-free meals.” The lawsuit filed by CAIR actually called for the dismantling of the Christian “God Pod.” CAIR’s claims had nothing to do with religious rights and everything to do with prioritizing Islam. There is a stark contrast between peaceful Christian “God-pods” and Christian prison fellowships (which have been long established in institutions) and the record of Islam in prisons. Jihad recruitment is rampant in prisons, with little effort to curb it. In 2020, Al Qaeda-trained jihadist Mohamed Ibrahim was sentenced in the Eastern District of Texas for recruiting other inmates to join the Islamic State. Fox ran a report some years ago warning that federal prisons are a “breeding ground” for terrorists, and that “if we continue to downplay the threat, we do so at our own peril.”

Other Islamic organizations also aid the cause of Islamic expansion in jails. The Seerah Foundation proudly proclaims its mission as “spreading Islam and supporting Dawah projects” in prison, and the National Islamic Prison Foundation’s (NIPF) outreach program is also dedicated to converting inmates in America to Islam. The NIPF is heavily funded by Saudi Arabia. Its clerics are “responsible for indoctrinating inmates,” and are “mostly Saudi-trained clerics who preached the tenets of Wahhabism, an extremist form of Islam that is associated with passionately anti-Semitic and anti-Western worldviews.”

The more Islamized prisons become, the more dangerous they will be for infidel inmates. That danger will spread to the general population once these jihadis are released. In February 2022, the UK set a precedent and decided to segregate imprisoned jihad terrorists, as UK prisons had become dubbed “jihadi training camps.” Muslim prison gangs were also reportedly beating prisoners who wouldn’t convert to Islam.

In five American states, one in every five inmates is Muslim. Recently in California, CAIR, and Muslim prisoners also complained about having to give up beards and kufis.

Read more about the relentless, disturbing record of Hamas-linked CAIR HERE.

“US Muslim group sues prison for denying Ramadan accommodations to an inmate,” by Servet Günerigök, Anadolu Agency, April 5, 2023:

WASHINGTON – The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said it sued the Virginia Department of Corrections and officials at a correctional facility for their refusal to provide Ramadan accommodations to a Muslim inmate.

The Green Rock Correctional Center in Chatham has denied accommodations to Alexander Crichlow during the month-long religious observance, CAIR said Monday.

Crichlow, a Muslim who converted to Islam in January, fasts from before dawn until sunset during Ramadan.

Since January, he has repeatedly asked prison officials to provide him with the same Ramadan accommodations as dozens of Muslims at Green Rock, including receiving breakfast before dawn, a double serving of dinner at sunset and permission to gather daily for evening prayers with other Muslims.

“But prison officials reportedly refuse to accommodate Critchlow because he converted to Islam after their arbitrary deadline to sign up for Ramadan accommodations, which fell on Nov. 18, 2022—over four months before Ramadan,” CAIR said in a statement. “According to them, an exception-free statewide policy refuses Ramadan accommodation to any incarceree who converted to Islam after Nov. 18, 2022.”

The group said that “there is nothing difficult about prison officials providing Crichlow exactly what they already provide to dozens of other Muslims.”….

Rockets Blast Israel After Brutal Attacks At Al Aqsa Mosque

Kim discusses the Israeli occupation with Jamal Dajani, a Peabody award-winning journalist/ producer and co-founder of Arab Talk Radio https://www.facebook.com/ArabTalkRadio/. He is a Palestinian/American with decades of experience in geopolitical analysis. Dajani has a documentary called, “Occupied Minds" available for free online https://www.linktv.org/shows/occupied...

Israel hits Hamas weapons factories and jihad terror training camps after rocket barrage from Gaza

BY

SEE: https://www.jihadwatch.org/2023/04/israel-hits-hamas-weapons-factories-and-jihad-terror-training-camps-after-rocket-barrage-from-gaza;

Republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, & research purposes.

The Israeli Air Force (IAF) destroyed Hamas weapons factories and other terrorist targets inside Gaza after a barrage of rockets was fired into southern Israel.

The targets belonging to the Islamic terror organization Hamas included weapons facilities and terrorist training camps. “Hamas Radio said the Israeli strikes hit two training camps,” the Israel Hayom newspaper reported Wednesday.

The rocket attacks were carried out by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, an Iran-funded terrorist group that enjoys the protection of Hamas in Gaza. “Some 16-18 rockets were fired into southern Israel, most of which were intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defense system or landed in open fields,” the Israeli news website Ynet reported. “Military sources said the rockets were launched by the Islamic Jihad faction,” the outlet confirmed.

“IAF strikes Gaza in response to rockets fired after al-Aqsa clashes,” by Tzvi Joffr, Jerusalem Post, April 5, 2023:

The IAF targeted two Hamas weapons manufacturing and storage sites in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday morning after 10 rockets were fired in three waves from the Gaza Strip towards the Sderot area and Yad Mordechai in response to clashes that broke out at al-Aqsa on Tuesday night, according to the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit.

It later also struck a military compound and multiple military positions controlled by the terrorist organization.

Palestinian factions in Gaza fired surface-to-air missiles at the Israeli aircraft carrying out the strikes, according to Palestinian reports. Rocket sirens sounded in Sderot and in Mabu’im, near Netivot, during the strikes.

One of the rockets fired overnight hit a factory in the Sderot industrial zone, five fell in open areas and the rest were intercepted by the Iron Dome.

The Gaza-based terrorists fired rockets aimed at Israeli towns and cities as angry Palestinians on Tuesday went on a rampage inside the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount. They were enraged at the prospect of Jewish worshipers visiting the holy site during the Passover.

“On Tuesday night, dozens of masked youths barricaded themselves inside the Al-Aqsa Mosque atop the Temple Mount with fireworks, clubs, and rocks following evening prayers, while locking the doors and placing barricades at the entrances, police said,” The Times of Israel reported. “This was an apparent preparation for Jewish visits to the Mount on Wednesday, which is Passover Eve,” the news outlet added.

Vatican repudiates papal bulls calling for resistance to jihad violence

BY ROBERT SPENCER

SEE: https://www.jihadwatch.org/2023/04/vatican-repudiates-papal-bulls-calling-for-resistance-to-jihad-violence;

Republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, & research purposes.

They might harm the “dialogue.”

“Rome Cancels Anti-Muslim Papal Bulls As Uncatholic,” by Jules Gomes, ChurchMilitant.com, April 4, 2023:

VATICAN CITY (ChurchMilitant.com) – The Vatican has abrogated three papal bulls claiming that the documents are offensive to indigenous peoples and “have never been considered expressions of the Catholic faith.”

The bulls Dum Diversas (1452), Romanus Pontifex (1455) and Inter Caetera (1493) contain the basis for the “doctrine of discovery,” which “is not part of the teaching of the Catholic Church,” the Vatican has announced.

Cultural Imperialism

“The Church acknowledges that these papal bulls did not adequately reflect the equal dignity and rights of indigenous peoples,” the dicasteries for Culture and Education and for Promoting Integral Human Development said in a joint statement published Thursday.

The Vatican dicasteries quoted Pope Francis’ words endorsing the repeal of the bulls: “Never again can the Christian community allow itself to be infected by the idea that one culture is superior to others, or that it is legitimate to employ ways of coercing others.”

Since the Magisterium “upholds the respect due to every human being,” the “Catholic Church therefore repudiates those concepts that fail to recognize the inherent human rights of indigenous peoples, including what has become known as the legal and political ‘doctrine of discovery,'” the Vatican statement categorically declared.

The bulls’ contents “were manipulated for political purposes by competing colonial powers in order to justify immoral acts against indigenous peoples that were carried out, at times, without opposition from ecclesiastical authorities,” the statement added.

Modern-day Islamophiles have sought to present these as wars of conquest and colonization.

But top Islamic scholars told Church Militant that the Vatican had annulled the bulls not so much because of their purported relationship to colonialism and slavery but because the documents were offensive to Islam and an obstacle to ongoing dialogue.

Appeasing Islam

“The revocation of these bulls is likely the result of Francis’ ongoing ‘dialogue’ with the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, Ahmed al-Tayeb,” Robert Spencer, Islamic scholar and author of The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (And the Crusades), told Church Militant.

“That ‘dialogue’ only resumed, after al-Tayeb broke it off during the papacy of Pope Benedict XVI, when Francis agreed not to criticize Islam or speak out against Muslim persecution of Christians. Al-Tayeb, meanwhile, made no similar concessions. The ‘dialogue’ is entirely one-sided,” Spencer noted.

“The public repudiation of these long-forgotten documents is intended to buttress the pope’s efforts to engage Islamic groups in this dialogue, which results only in the issuance of soothing falsehoods and will not prevent a single Christian from Muslim persecution,” Spencer added….

In fact, all three bulls are mentioned together in volume seven of the scholarly series Christian–Muslim Relations: A Bibliographical History — Central and Eastern Europe, Asia, Africa and South America (1500-1600), published in 2015 by the academic publisher Brill.

Enemies of the Cross

“The Dum Diversas of 1452 authorized the king of Portugal to attack, conquer and subdue not only Muslims but also pagans and other unbelievers and to seize their goods and territories, transferring them to his own possession,” the book notes.

In its Latin text, Romanus Pontifex encourages “Catholic kings and princes” to “not only repress the ferocity of the Saracens [Muslims] and the other infidel enemies of the Christians but also conquer their kingdoms and places, even if they exist in very distant and unknown parts from us, for the defense and increase of the Faith.”

The bull Inter Caetera is a historic remnant with no juridical, moral or doctrinal value.

The bull condemns “the perfidious enemies of the Cross, especially the Saracens and all the other infidels” and orders the excommunication of those who send the Muslims “weapons and other things prohibited by the law.”

It authorized King Alfonso of Portugal to “invade, conquer, defeat and subjugate all Saracens and pagans and other enemies of Christ” and to “enslave their persons perpetually” and seize their possessions for profit.

Pope Nicholas V ends the bull with a warning that no one may “infringe or rashly contradict his decree. … But if anyone does attempt this, let him know that he will incur the indignation of almighty God and His blessed Apostles Peter and Paul.”

In Dum Diversas, Nicholas V commends Alfonso for intending “to subjugate the enemies of Christ, i.e. the Saracens, and bring them back to the faith of Christ with a mighty hand,” noting that “the authority of the Apostolic See supports you in this.”

Dum Diversas ends with a similar proscription:

It is therefore permissible for no man to diminish this page of our concession, reparation, will, indult and decree, or oppose it with rash initiative. If anyone dares to attack her, let him know that he is about to incur the wrath of Almighty God and the blessed Apostles Peter and Paul.

Inter Caetera both “confirmed the terms” of Romanus Pontifex and “specified that the spiritual jurisdiction of the regions conquered was to lie with the Order of Christ, the successors to the Knights Templar in Portugal,” the Brill book explains.

The Holy See confirms that Inter Caetera has already been abrogated.

“These bulls, with their statements about how important it is to resist the efforts of Islam to conquer and subjugate Christians, embarrass Pope Francis and today’s Vatican,” Spencer said, lamenting how the pope “is wholeheartedly committed to the fond and false notion that ‘dialogue’ with Islam will blunt, and possibly even extinguish, the jihad imperative.”

“The recent histories of Nigeria, Iraq and elsewhere show how false and damaging that idea really is,” Spencer warned.

In July 2022, two protestors with a large banner confronted the pontiff during Mass at the Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré Basilica outside Quebec City and asked him to rescind the “doctrine of discovery.”

However, in a statement to the United Nations Ninth Session of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues in April 2010, the Vatican argued it had abrogated the doctrine as early as 1494.

“The bull Inter Caetera is a historic remnant with no juridical, moral or doctrinal value,” the statement said. “The Holy See confirms that Inter Caetera has already been abrogated and considers it without any legal or doctrinal value.”

European Catholic & Anglican Churches Celebrating Ramadan & Iftar

France: Catholic church to host Ramadan iftar during Easter octave

BY ROBERT SPENCER

SEE: https://www.jihadwatch.org/2023/04/france-catholic-church-to-host-ramadan-iftar-during-easter-octave;

Republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, & research purposes.

Isn’t this wonderful? Now: when is the Easter celebration at the local mosque? What’s that? Never? These expressions of generosity and outreach always and in every case only go in one direction, and are never reciprocated. Now, why is that?

“Lille: during the Easter octave, we will celebrate iftar at the St-Pierre-St-Paul church,” translated from “Lille : durant l’octave pascale, on fêtera l’iftar à l’église St-Pierre-St-Paul,” by Gabrielle Cluzel, BVoltaire, March 27, 2023:

The Easter octave, that is to say the eight days following Easter, is not new. It was the Emperor Constantine, in the 4th century, who introduced it into the Catholic liturgy: it is a question, in the daily mass, of “reviving the event of Easter Sunday.” By songs and texts taken from Easter, we mean to “remember that the Resurrection extends beyond the Easter feast,” we can read on the site of the Catholic Church in France. During this period, “the newly baptized on Easter night wear their white garments.”

This year, the Thursday of the Octave of Easter will be a little special in the Saint-Pierre-Saint-Paul church in Lille, the priest welcoming there for the second consecutive year… “the iftar under the stars.” This breaking of the Ramadan fast (according to the definition given by the Larousse of iftar) is part of the “nomadic scene for the time of a moon” imagined by the association (duly supported and subsidized by public funds) Attacafa (culture, in Arabic) which, since 1984, has made a point of “creolizing the cultural places of the region and the metropolis [of Lille] to fight against all forms of ethnocentrism.” Hats off to the artist. Celebrate the breaking of the Ramadan fast in a church, you had to dare. The soothing presentation, as coated in sugar as the pastries associated with the event in the collective imagination, obviously aims to extinguish the prejudices of the most refractory: “This festival offers you, through a desacralized program, to take share in this time of sharing, celebration and tolerance, because this is also the meaning of this particular month.”

For the modest sum of 10 € (full price), and with a reservation, you can start the evening of April 13 by listening to the concert of Turkish singers and musicians Gülay Hacer Toruk and Fawaz Baker. Then, from 8:41 p.m., according to the Allevents and Lille Actu site, “the members of the association “Turkish women from the North” will prepare the meal!

On the side of the diocese, there is a tendency to minimize the event and to keep its distance: according to the communication manager contacted by Boulevard Voltaire, this welcome should only be seen as an “initiative of the parish and not of the diocese” to “live in friendship with our Muslim brothers. And no meal, in any case on the spot. The priest has lent his church ‘only’ for the concert, as he does for secular concerts insofar as respect for this consecrated place, not for the banquet. A priori the banquet will take place outside the church,” says one to Boulevard Voltaire. The sites announcing the iftar, however, suggest the opposite, giving no other meeting place after the concert.

Perhaps the parish priest of Saint-Pierre-Saint-Paul and the Attacafa association found their inspiration not far from there, on the other side of the border, in Molenbeek? In June 2016, according to the Saphir News website, a giant fast-breaking meal (iftar) was organized at the Saint-Jean-Baptiste church. 600 people responded “to share a meal prepared mainly by volunteers from mosques and Muslim associations in the town”: “A fraternal gesture, which [was] nothing more than a sign of the good relations […] established over time between Christians and Muslims.” Relations somewhat cooled, we will agree, over the attacks of March 22 in Brussels and the many edifying reports on this city that followed.

Perhaps, who knows, the Lille initiative also aims to restore the image of Wazemmes – a popular district of Lille where the Saint-Pierre-Saint-Paul church is located. The reputation of this district was somewhat tarnished in 2016 by a vitriolic open letter from a CNRS researcher, Philippe Froguel – a former leftist sympathizer yet – to Martine Aubry: according to this diabetes specialist, the middle classes and students had fled the neighborhood because the living conditions there had become very difficult, in particular due to “community regression.” He had given as an illustration “the ordeal” experienced by the women in his laboratory, objects of “contemptuous demonstrations by Islamists of all stripes.”

Will this (repeated) gesture of friendship disarm “Islamists of all stripes,” whose presence, seven years later, cannot be doubted, whether residual (if one is optimistic) or exponential (if we are not)…or to be taken by them as a huge symbolic victory?

______________________________________________________________

UK: Anglican cathedral to host Ramadan iftar during Easter season

BY ROBERT SPENCER

SEE: https://www.jihadwatch.org/2023/04/uk-anglican-cathedral-to-host-ramadan-iftar-during-easter-season;

Republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, & research purposes.

Once again, do these Christians really think that this will change what the Qur’an teaches about Christ and Christianity?

Qur’an 98:4-6: “Nor were the people of the book divided until after the clear proof came to them. And they are not ordered to do anything else but serve Allah, keeping religion pure for him, as hanifs, and to establish prayer and
to give alms. That is true religion. Indeed, the unbelievers among the people of the book and the idolaters will remain in the fire of Gehenna. They are the most vile of created beings.”

Qur’an 5:14: “And with those who say: Indeed, we are Christians, we made a covenant, but they forgot a part of what they were reminded about. Therefore we have stirred up enmity and hatred among them until the day of resurrection, when Allah will inform them of their handiwork.”

Qur’an 5:17: “They indeed have disbelieved who say, Indeed, Allah is the Messiah, son of Mary. Say, Who then can do anything against Allah, if he had willed to destroy the Messiah son of Mary, and his mother and everyone on earth? To Allah belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth and all that is between them. He creates what he wills. And Allah is able to do all things.”

Qur’an 4:157: “And because of their saying, We killed the Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, the messenger of Allah, they did not kill him nor crucify him, but it seemed so to them, and indeed, those who disagree about this are in doubt about it, they have no knowledge of it except pursuit of a supposition, they did not kill him for certain.

Qur’an 4:171: “O people of the book, do not exaggerate in your religion or say anything about Allah except the truth. The Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, was only a messenger of Allah, and his word that he conveyed to Mary, and a spirit from him. So believe in Allah and his messengers, and do not say Three, Stop, it is better for you. Allah is only one God. It is far removed from his transcendent majesty that he should have a son. Everything that is in the heavens and everything that is on the earth is his. And Allah is sufficient as defender.”

Qur’an 5:116: “And when Allah said, O Jesus, son of Mary, did you say to mankind, Take me and my mother as two gods besides Allah? He said, Be glorified. It was not for me to say what I had no right to say. If I said it, then you know it. You know what is in my mind, and I do not know what is in your mind. Indeed, you, only you, are the knower of hidden things.”

Qur’an 19:35: “It is not fitting for Allah that he should take to himself a son. Glory be to him, when he decrees a thing, he says to it only, Be, and it is.”

Qur’an 9:30-31: “And the Jews say, Ezra is the son of Allah, and the Christians say, The Messiah is the son of Allah. That is their saying with their mouths. They imitate the statements of those who disbelieved before. May Allah curse them. How perverse they are. They have taken as lords besides Allah their rabbis and their monks and the Messiah, the son of Mary, when they were called to worship only one God. There is no God except him. May he be glorified from all that they ascribe as partners.”

Qur’an 9:29: “Fight against those do not believe in Allah or the last day, and do not forbid what Allah and his messenger have forbidden, and do not follow the religion of truth, even if they are among the people of the book, until they pay the jizya with willing submission and feel themselves subdued.”

“Living Bankside Grand Iftar 2023,” Southwark Cathedral, n.d.:

SPECIAL EVENT

  • VENUE

    Southwark Cathedral

  • TIME

    7:00 PM…

The Dean of Southwark and Southwark Cathedral are delighted to be hosting the seventh Grand Iftar with Living Bankside.

This year’s theme and focus is on young people (our future) and their role in society. Accordingly the event has been organised by and will be delivered by young people from across London. A number of young people’s organisations will be represented at the Iftar.

Living Bankside in partnership with Southwark Cathedral and the Association of Muslim Lawyers has gained a reputation in its efforts towards promoting community cohesion and collaboration with all age groups, ethnicities and faiths, including those of no particular faith. This has created an inclusive platform for building positive relationships between people from diverse backgrounds.

The Iftar will bring all communities together to celebrate Ramadan, to promote resilience and to share the common values of Hope, Peace and Unity. At the core of our values and mission (Living Bankside, Southwark Cathedral and the Association of Muslim Lawyers) is compassion. We invite you on this occasion and in the future to join us in whichever way you can to spread compassion. The evening will include performances and speeches, followed by the opening of the fast….

______________________________________________________________

UK: Anglican cathedral hosts iftar event to spread ‘the spirit of Ramadan’

BY ROBERT SPENCER

SEE: https://www.jihadwatch.org/2023/04/uk-anglican-cathedral-hosts-iftar-event-to-spread-the-spirit-of-ramadan;

Republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, & research purposes.

This spirit?

“Ramadan is not a month of laziness but rather a month of activity, of effort, and of hard work, and as it also was in the life of the Prophet, a month of jihad, conquest, and victory.” — Palestinian Authority Supreme Sharia Judge Mahmoud Al-Habbash

“Ramadan is a month of holy war and death for Allah. It is a month for fighting the enemies of Allah and God’s messenger, the Jews and their American facilitators.” — Qaedat al-Jihad

“Ramadan is the pious month of ‘Jihad-o-Qital’ (Jihad and killing). Those who attain martyrdom while waging Jihad, doors of heaven remain open.” — Maulana Bashir Ahmad Khaki

“People attend Iftar event at Manchester Cathedral,” Iran Press, March 30, 2023:

Open Iftar events are the flagship initiative of Ramadan Tent Project, an award-winning charity that brings communities together and spreads the spirit of Ramadan through various initiatives.

Since 2013, Open Iftar has connected over 500,000 people across the country at some of Britain’s most iconic cultural spaces, from the Royal Albert Hall, Wembley Stadium, and Trafalgar Square, to regional events at Baltic Museum, Bradford’s Centenary Square, Coventry Cathedral and many more.

Open Iftar bridges communities; it is a space in which our commonalities are highlighted, our differences celebrated and human connection is forged….

Islamic Terror-Tied Nadia Kahf Sworn in as New Jersey Superior Court Judge

SEE: https://newjerseyglobe.com/governor/murphy-names-15-new-judges-with-huge-number-of-minority-nominees/

Nadia Kahf, a family law and immigration attorney from Wayne, is sworn by Hany Mawla as judge of the New Jersey Superior Court during a ceremony in Paterson, NJ on Tuesday, March 21, 2023. Nawal Al Qudah and Abdullah Al Qudah watch as Kahf is sworn in.

No alternative text description for this image

BY AMY MEK

SEE: https://www.jihadwatch.org/2023/04/islamic-terror-tied-nadia-kahf-sworn-in-as-new-jersey-superior-court-judge;

Republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, & research purposes.

Kahf is the former Board Chairwoman of Hamas-linked CAIR in New Jersey and the current Chairwoman of a Muslim Brotherhood-founded mosque led by an Imam who was arrested and convicted of being a member of Hamas.

Following her Superior Court of New Jersey appointment on March 23, 2023, Islamic supremacist attorney Nadia Kahf became the first hijab-wearing judge in the United States. Kahf, a Syrian-origin family and immigration attorney, took the oath of office on Thursday with her hand on a copy of the Quran – a book that teaches supremacy, hatred, and hostility. Furthermore, it dehumanizes and stigmatizes non-believers.

Islamic governments across the world celebrated Kahf’s appointment. Islamic news sites in MoroccoIndia, and Turkey. “Nadia Kahf becomes New Jersey’s first hijabi judge,” wrote Sinar Daily, a news site in Malaysia. The Turkish government gleefully highlighted on their English news station:

Kahf has a background serving as a leader in a radicalized and terror-tied organization and an Islamic center founded by the Muslim Brotherhood that wants to overthrow our Constitutional republican form of government and replace it with Sharia.

She will serve as a Passaic County Superior Court judge after New Jersey’s left-wing Governor, Phil Murphy, nominated her last year.  Governor Murphy has a long history of working with Islamic terror-tied groups and individuals to harm the state he was elected to protect. The Hamas-linked Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) in New Jersey has continuously praised Murphy’s work.

This relationship between Governor Phil Murphy and Islamic supremacists is known as the Marxist Red and Islamic Green axis. The radical pairing has a long history of uniting to destroy their common enemy: those who believe in national sovereignty and individual freedom. Then, to achieve their own goals, they use one another until their goals are achieved, and only at that time will they turn on one another and, in the end, fight to destroy the other.

Terror Connections

Sharia-compliant Kahf is a former Board Chairwoman of CAIR in New Jersey. She has been a CAIR-NJ board member since 2003. So it is not surprising that Governor Phil Murphy, who is in bed with CAIR, nominated Kahf for the Superior Court judicial role.

Unsurprisingly, Kahf chose to take her oath on the Qur’an. CAIR’s Founder and Chairman Emeritus Omar Ahmad had made his terror-tied organization’s goals clear when he said,

Islam isn’t in America to be equal to any other faith, but to become dominant…The Koran, the Muslim book of scripture, should be the highest authority in America, and Islam the only accepted religion on Earth.”

While CAIR bills itself as a “Muslim civil rights” organization, the evidence shows it is a Muslim Brotherhood organization operating on behalf of the designated Foreign Terrorist Organization Hamas.

Hamas’ charter states:

“The Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him salvation, has said: ‘The Day of Judgement will not come about until Moslems fight the Jews (killing the Jews), when the Jew will hide behind stones and trees. The stones and trees will say O Moslems, O Abdulla, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him. Only the Gharkad tree, (evidently a certain kind of tree) would not do that because it is one of the trees of the Jews.” (related by al-Bukhari and Moslem).’

CAIR has also received funds from other Hamas entities and organizations affiliated with Al Qaeda. In addition, a document retrieved from CAIR headquarters reveals internal discussions at CAIR to support Osama bin Laden.

The day before Kahf was sworn in as an NJ Superior court judge, CAIR-NJ Executive Director Selaedin Maksut warned, “Nadia may be the first to wear a hijab on the Superior Court bench in New Jersey, but she certainly won’t be the last, Insha Allah.”

Nadia Kahf is the leader of a controversial mosque

Kahf is also the Vice Chairwoman and Interim President of the controversial Muslim Brotherhood-founded Islamic Center of Passaic County in New Jersey. The Mosque’s Imams have radicalized terror-tied backgrounds and affiliations, were educated at radical institutions, and engage in anti-western, dangerous sermons. New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy has been a previous guest and speaker at the troubling Mosque.

“Mohammad El-Mezain was one of the founders in August 1989 and the first imam of the Islamic Center of Passaic County (ICPC) in New Jersey. El-Mezain was convicted of funneling money to Hamas in November 2008, along with four others in the Holy Land Foundation (HLF)-Hamas financing trial in Dallas. El-Mezain reportedly stated in a 1994 speech at the ICPC that he raised $1,800,000 inside the United States for Hamas activities,” reports the Investigative Project on Terrorism.

Dr. Mohammad Qatanani

The now senior imam at the center, Mohammad Qatanani, is accused of lying on his immigration documents by failing to disclose his arrest and conviction in Israel when he confessed that he was a member of Hamas and provided support to the terrorist group. Qatanani is also related by marriage to a leading Hamas operative in the West Bank.

Investigative journalist Daniel Greenfield questioned why Qatanani has yet to be deported despite lying about his terrorist past. The journalist reported, “Imam Mohammed Qatanani, who was a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, the organization that is behind both al-Qaeda and Hamas, despite his own guilty plea to being a member of Hamas, and despite the fact that even in the United States, he had defended a charity that provided funds to children of suicide bombers (this is done as an incentive to reassure terrorists that if they die, their families will be taken care of), was not deported.” Instead, he is now the leader of a mosque, that the new Passaic County Superior Court judge leads as Chairwoman.

The Muslim Brotherhood is a global religious and political movement that seeks to spread Islamic law. In a 1991 document, a member of the American branch explained that the group’s goal was ” a kind of grand Jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and “sabotaging” its miserable house by their hands and the hands of the believers so that it is eliminated and God’s religion is made victorious over all other religions.”

The antisemitic and anti-Christian Imam Qatanani has given many radical sermons at the center and participated in rallies and programs. In addition, he has voiced his support of terrorists, their organizations, Islamic jihad, and Islamic law (Sharia). See Qatanani’s troubling quotes regarding HLF, Palestine, jihad, and Hamas here.

Shaykh Osamah Salhia

Another of the mosque’s imams, Shaykh Osamah Salhia, spent eight years abroad studying Islamic Law (Sharia) at Al-Azhar University- Faculty of Shari’ah in Cairo, Egypt. He also went on to teach numerous classes on Sharia (Islamic law).

This university is considered the most prestigious institution in all of Sunni Islam. However, it is also infamous for encouraging extremism and terror, along with teachings that include unrelenting jihad and hatred for non-Muslims. For example, one professor female professor at the school teaches that Allah allows Muslims to rape non-Muslim women.

The school’s troubling curriculum also addresses degrading dhimmis [Non-Muslims Living in Muslims Countries], conquering a country through emigration, and how to deal with non-Muslim residents once the land has been taken over.

Imam Baker

In a February 22, 2019, sermon at the Islamic Center, visiting Imam Baker falsely claimed that the IDF Chief Rabbi called to rape Palestinian women to boost soldier morale. He also said that homosexuality would never be accepted in Islam, but “we [Muslims] are not kicking anybody off the Empire State Building since Muslims live in a non-Muslim country that does not follow shari’a law.”

Why is the United States knowingly allowing a dangerous imam and a terror-tied New Jersey Superior Court judge to operate, recruit and train soldiers, including young children, in their Mosque? This Imam and judge are supported by the Muslim Brotherhood and other terrorist groups who wish to see the United States governed by Sharia or Islamic law.

Furthermore, why are well allowing Governor Phil Murphy to appoint Nadia Kahf to the Passaic County Superior Court when she has shown her allegiance to Sharia and terrorists trying to overthrow our constitutional federal republic form of government?

This article was cross-posted with permission from the RAIR Foundation.

Taliban arrest at gunpoint prominent activist for girls’ education and founder of Afghan girls’ school project

Taliban arrest at gunpoint prominent activist for girls’ education and founder of Afghan girls’ school project

BY CHRISTINE DOUGLASS-WILLIAMS

SEE: https://www.jihadwatch.org/2023/04/taliban-arrest-at-gunpoint-prominent-activist-for-girls-education-and-founder-of-afghan-girls-school-project;

Republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, & research purposes.

As international human rights organizations have called for the release of Matiullah Wesa, founder and leader of Pen Path charity. No one knows where he is following his arrest at gunpoint and beating by the Taliban..

Afghanistan is known as the “most repressive country in the world” for women’s rights; the country adheres rigidly to Sharia law. The only way any rights for women and girls will be restored in Afghanistan is if the Taliban is overthrown and replaced with a more humane government. But the likelihood of that happening is slim, particularly after the catastrophic failure of the Biden administration’s withdrawal from Afghanistan. Even former Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, as corrupt as he was reported to be, stated that his biggest mistake was trusting America.

“Founder of Afghan girls’ school project arrested in Kabul,” by Ruchi Kumar and Emma Graham-Harrison, Guardian, March 28, 2023:

A prominent activist for girls’ education has been arrested in Afghanistan, in the latest sign that hardline Taliban authorities are determined to stamp out all opposition to their ban on girls and women attending school or universities.

Matiullah Wesa, founder and leader of the Pen Path charity, had been fighting for education for Afghan children who were out of school – both boys and girls – for more than a decade, with a focus on rural areas of southern Afghanistan.

Top diplomats and human rights groups, including a senior UN envoy and Amnesty International, called for his immediate release.

“He could have left Afghanistan, but he stayed despite the risks to work for his people, advocating for education rights for girls,” said Samira Hamidi, Amnesty International’s South Asia campaigner.

Wesa was detained after attending prayers at his local mosque on Friday, his brother, Attaullah Wesa, told the Guardian: “Matiullah was at the mosque in Kabul, offering his prayers. When he stepped out, there were gunmen in two vehicles who ran towards him to arrest him.”

“Our elder brother was with Matiullah and they tried to question the men, asked them to show ID, but they showed him their weapons instead and took him away,” he said, adding that the family was very concerned about Matiullah’s safety….

Video: Christine Douglass-Williams on Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s Call for Third Intifada

A terror group tries to exploit the turbulence in Israel

SEE: https://www.frontpagemag.com/video-christine-douglass-williams-on-palestinian-islamic-jihads-call-for-third-intifada/;

Republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, & research purposes.

In this interview, Frank Gaffney interviews Frontpage Magazine Associate Editor Christine Douglass-Williams about Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) calling for a third Intifada in Israel. She unveils how the PIJ is capitalizing on the turbulent time for Israel.

In an update, PIJ has now declared the “IDF disintegrating before our eyes” due to inside protests against judicial reforms. PIJ has also met with Hizballah head Hassan Nasrallah to “strengthen the rebellion against the Zionist enemy.”

Don’t miss this interview!

House Republicans subpoena Blinken to hand over sensitive government doc related to Afghan withdrawal

BY CHRISTINE DOUGLASS-WILLIAMS

SEE: https://www.jihadwatch.org/2023/03/house-republicans-subpoena-blinken-to-hand-over-sensitive-government-doc-related-to-afghan-withdrawal;

Republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, & research purposes.

For some reason, Blinken has refused to provide the Dissent Cable “from U.S. officials in Afghanistan reportedly warning of the grave risk that the government there would collapse,” that is until a subpoena was issued. Finally, the move may give Americans some much-needed answers about Biden’s humiliating and disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan.

“House Republicans Subpoena Blinken for Key Afghan Dissent Cable,” by Robbie Gramer, Foreign Policy, March 28, 2023:

A top Republican lawmaker issued a subpoena for U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken to produce a sensitive government document related to the collapse of the Afghan government, escalating a monthslong battle between the Biden administration and Congress over a Republican-led investigation into the final days and months of the war in Afghanistan.

Rep. Michael McCaul, the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, aims to force Blinken to deliver a confidential dissent cable written by nearly two dozen U.S. diplomats in July 2021, related to the precarious state of the Afghan government, and accused Blinken of stonewalling the committee as it investigates the chaotic last stages of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan just a month later.

The State Department has denied accusations of stonewalling and insists it is working to cooperate with the committee while following regulations on not releasing dissent cables. McCaul sent the subpoena to Blinken on Tuesday.

The brewing political fight between the Republican-controlled House and the Biden administration spotlights the unique role that the State Department’s dissent channel plays in U.S. foreign policy.

The dissent channel is a specialized system that allows diplomats of any rank to send a cable registering formal protest directly to the top echelons of the secretary of state’s team. The system carries outsized importance in the culture of the American diplomatic corps, even if it rarely changes U.S. policy.

McCaul’s subpoena also signals what could be the opening salvo in the brewing political and legal standoff between the committee and the State Department, officials and congressional aides familiar with the matter said….

Adults In Charge: Iran Has Attacked American Forces 83 Times Since Biden Regime Took Power

Adults In Charge: Iran Has Attacked American Forces 83 Times Since Biden Regime Took Power

BY ROBERT SPENCER

SEE: https://pjmedia.com/columns/robert-spencer/2023/03/30/adults-in-charge-iran-has-attacked-american-forces-83-times-since-biden-regime-took-power-n1682862;

Republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, & research purposes.

During the Trump administration, the Islamic Republic of Iran was feeling the effects of global sanctions and was severely restricted in its abilities to pursue its longstanding practice of engaging in and funding terrorism, either directly or through its proxies, such as Hamas and Hizballah. That was, however, a long time ago now, and the newly emboldened Iranian regime is more aggressive than ever against American forces. Could they possibly sense weakness at the top in Washington? Inconceivable!

On Tuesday, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) asked Biden regime Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, “How many attacks has Iran or its proxies launched against American positions in Iran and Syria, uh, since Joe Biden took office?” Austin answered, “There’s been, uh, about 83 attacks, I think, uh, since, uh, in the last several years.” Cotton responded, “That’s a lot of attacks over two years. How many times have we retaliated against Iran or its proxies?” Austin said: “We’ve, we’ve launched four major strikes, senator, but now — an, an attack can consist of a number of things. It can con — consist of, uh, you know, a rocket that’s fired in the direction of one of our bases but not effective —”

Cotton interrupted, “Mr. Secretary, I’m well aware of what an attack could entail. So 79-and-4 is Iran’s record right now….” After some more back and forth, Cotton asked Austin, “So what kind of signal do we think this sends to Iran when they can attack us 83 times since Joe Biden has become president and we only respond four?” The answer is obvious: we’re sending the Iranian mullahs a message of irresolution and weakness of will, and that is likely only to embolden them further.

Iran has been threatening the U.S. throughout the Biden “presidency.” According to a July 2022 report from the dissident news outlet Iran International, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps boasted that it would soon have the ability to transform New York into “hellish ruins.” Back in January 2022, the website of Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, released a video showing the assassination of Donald Trump and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on the golf course at Mar-a-Lago. This came amid a barrage of threats against Trump for the killing of Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani in Jan. 2020.

In late Feb. 2023, Fox News reported that Iran had renewed its threats against Trump and Pompeo and even stated them in Islamic religious terms. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps aerospace force, declared, “God willing, we are looking to kill Trump [and] Pompeo… and military commanders who issued the order should be killed.”

Such threats go back years before that as well. On Feb. 11, 2014, the thirty-fifth anniversary of the Islamic Revolution, Iranian Chief of Staff Hassan Firouzabadi boasted, “Iran is prepared for the decisive war against the U.S. and the Zionist regime… Iran has been making plans, conducting maneuvers, and preparing its forces for this battle for years now.” And it still is.

Related: Iranian Mullahs Ratchet Up Threats to Kill Trump

In a Friday sermon on Feb. 21, 2014, the head of Iran’s influential twelve-member Guardian Council of the Constitution Friday worship, Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, preached, “The first option on our table is ‘Death to America.’ The entire people’s slogan is ‘Death to America.’” In May 2015, the IRGC’s commander-in-chief, General Hossein Salami, actually said that Iran wanted war with the United States: “We have prepared ourselves for the most dangerous scenarios and this is no big deal and is simple to digest for the U.S.; we welcome war with the U.S. as we do believe that it will be the scene for our success to display the real potentials of our power.”

Will the Iranian regime one day decide that the time for that war has finally come? Will the U.S. military be able to tear itself away from its drag show long enough to defend the nation? The frequent attacks from Iran and the torpor of U.S. forces in responding is a display of the respective wills of the leadership of each country today. If the U.S. really were ruled by a traitor class that wanted to bring disaster upon the American people in every possible way, would it be behaving any different from how the Biden regime is acting, down to the smallest detail?

Nigeria: Muslims hack non-Muslims to death with machetes, kidnap others in jihad raid in Ondo State

BY ROBERT SPENCER

SEE: https://www.jihadwatch.org/2023/03/nigeria-muslims-hack-non-muslims-to-death-with-machetes-kidnap-others-in-jihad-raid-in-ondo-state;

Republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, & research purposes.

“When your Lord inspired the angels, I am with you. So make those who believe stand firm. I will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve. Then strike the necks and strike their fingertips.” (Qur’an 8:12)

“Armed Herdsmen Attack Ondo State Community, Abduct Residents, Brutalise Others,” Sahara Reporters, March 25, 2023:

SaharaReporters learnt that the incident, which occurred on Friday, had left the entire town in fear and anxiety as the families of abducted victims wait to hear from the kidnappers.

Gun-wielding herdsmen have attacked Ogbese community in Ondo State, during which several residents were kidnapped while others were badly injured.

SaharaReporters learnt that the incident, which occurred on Friday, had left the entire town in fear and anxiety as the families of abducted victims wait to hear from the kidnappers.

Eyewitnesses also informed SaharaReporters that the herdsmen used machetes to hack other residents during the violent attack.

“There was an attack on the residents of Ogbese. Some were kidnapped while some were badly injured, the residents of the town are now living in fear,” one of the sources said.

The country is generally beginning to experience a resurgence of armed herdsmen’s attacks and killings which the government has failed to adequately address.

SaharaReporters had last week reported that Fulani herdsmen invaded six communities in the Kwande Local Government Area of Benue State, North Central Nigeria and killed no less than 50 persons.

The affected communities in the four-day attack are Adam, Iyarinwa, Abamde Ityuluv, Waya Boagundu, Agura Ayaga and Azege areas in Turan Council Ward, Kwande LGA.

The former chairman of the Council Tertsua Yarkbewan, who confirmed the casualty figures while addressing journalists, had on Monday, said the death toll could be more….

Greece: Muslim migrants plot jihad massacre at synagogue, would be paid $16,250 for every person they murdered

BY ROBERT SPENCER

SEE: https://www.jihadwatch.org/2023/03/greece-muslim-migrants-plot-jihad-massacre-at-synagogue-would-be-paid-16250-for-every-person-they-murdered;

Republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, & research purposes.

Celebrate diversity! This plot was a direct result of mass Muslim migration into Europe. You know, the mass migration that only “racists” and “Islamophobes” oppose. The Left is forcing “diversity” upon Europe in a sea of blood.

“Greek police uncover Pakistani plot to attack Jewish synagogue in Athens – ‘€15,000 per dead,'” Greek City Times, March 28, 2023:

A Pakistani jihadi group operating in the Greek capital was unveiled to be masterminded by a man who is wanted for murder in Iran and who recruited two men aged 27 and 29 to carry out a series of targeted terrorist attacks against innocent civilians and a Jewish restaurant/synagogue.

The terrorist organisation was dismantled by Greek police and intelligence officers.

The first target for the series of attacks, and in which the planning was almost completed, was a Jewish restaurant which also functioned as a synagogue. The restaurant-synagogue is in the central Athens neighbourhood of Psirri.

The would-be terrorists had chosen to attack either with weapons, explosives, or setting fire at a time when there would be more than 50 people in the building. In other words, the goal was a mass bloodbath.

For each dead person, the two Pakistani perpetrators would receive 15,000 euros from the Pakistani mastermind of the terrorist network, Proto Thema reported.

The case began to unfold two months ago when information about the network’s activity reached the National Intelligence Service (EYP) of Greece. The Anti-Terrorism Department were also informed.

The two Pakistanis, who worked in various manual jobs in Attica and the countryside were immediately observed by intelligence officers and on February 15th and 16th they were arrested as they did not have the necessary papers to stay legally in Greece.

From their mobile phones, communications with the leader were found. The pair had carried out surveillance on Aesopou Street in Psirri. They then received the final instructions for carrying out the attack and began looking for more people to help carry out the terrorist attack….

It was recently revealed that up to 50,000 Pakistanis are living in Greece with fake papers, most having entered posing as Syrians during the 2015-2016 refugee crisis and without any real formal documents or identity papers.

Iran-backed forces ramp up strikes on US bases in Syria~SAUDI TV MOCKS BIDEN’S FLOPS IN A COMEDY SKIT

'The Big Saturday Show' co-hosts weigh in on President Biden authorizing an air strike in response to an Iran-backed drone strike in Syria, killing a U.S. contractor and wounding several other Americans.

SAUDI TV MOCKS BIDEN'S FLOPS IN A COMEDY SKIT

Biden Harris MBC studio 22 skit

SEE: https://nypost.com/2023/03/24/saudi-tv-airs-snl-style-skit-mocking-joe-biden-kamala-harris/

Biden Blasted for Weak Response to Iran Attacks on Americans in Syria

BY MATT MARGOLIS

SEE: https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/matt-margolis/2023/03/25/biden-blasted-for-weak-response-to-iran-attacks-on-americans-in-syria-n1681444;

Republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, & research purposes.

The response by President Joe Biden to drone and rocket attacks in Syria that resulted in the death of a U.S. contractor and injuries to six other Americans was criticized by Republicans as being too little too late.

On Thursday, Biden ordered retaliatory airstrikes in response to the fatal drone attack in Syria on a coalition base. Republicans criticized his response, citing his weaknesses as a president towards other world leaders. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) accused Biden of letting Americans down again and placed the blame squarely on him. Furthermore, a day after the retaliatory airstrikes, Iran-backed proxy forces launched rockets at a U.S. base in northeast Syria, highlighting the escalating tensions in the region.

“I fear General Milley and Secretary of Defense Austin are not proving to be up to the task of providing the deterrence America needs to remain safe. However, the ultimate blame for the failing foreign policy and military situation we find ourselves in lies with President Biden,” Graham tweeted on Friday. “President Biden owes it to those Americans fighting radical Islam to respond vigorously to any attack on them and their position by Iranian proxies. The weak, uncertain response to the initial attack obviously did not work.”

“America has only one path available when attacked – respond swiftly and vigorously with overwhelming, punishing force designed to make enemies wary of engaging with the United States,” he added. “Being strong is the best deterrence against future attacks.”

Related: Joe Biden Is All the Worst Things About Obama and More

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) also criticized President Biden’s retaliatory strikes as coming too late, claiming that American lives could have been saved if Biden had responded forcefully to the dozens of earlier Iranian attacks. Cotton tweeted that Secretary of Defense Austin should explain why more isn’t being done to deter Iran.

Similarly, Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) faulted Biden for not imposing sanctions on Iran and for his “flawed” nuclear agreement. She pointed out that Iranian proxies have attacked U.S. servicemembers nearly 80 times, and criticized the Biden administration’s “doctrine of appeasement,” which, Ernst pointed out, has “emboldened our adversaries” and cost American lives.

Of course, Biden, whose leniency and advocacy of Iran mirrors that of his former boss, Barack Obama, justified his response by insisting he doesn’t want to provoke the terrorist-sponsoring country. “Make no mistake, the United States does not, does not, I emphasize, seek conflict with Iran,” Biden said Friday. “But be prepared for us to act forcefully to protect our people.”

I’ll believe it when I see it.

DAVID WOOD: The Truth About Ramadan~Vatican Says Ramadan Is Important for Christians, Too?

Ramadan is typically described as a month-long fast. Yet the entire month is filled with feasting. Indeed, binge eating during Ramadan is causing a health crisis in Muslim countries. So why are gluttony and excess portrayed as a strict discipline and self-control in Islam? Is there a spiritual component to Ramadan? David Wood explores the issue and uncovers the disturbing truth about Islam's holiest month.

THE HISTORY BEHIND FASTING IN RAMADAN

What Are They Smoking? Vatican Says Ramadan Is Important for Christians, Too?

What Are They Smoking? Vatican Says Ramadan Is Important for Christians, Too

BY ROBERT SPENCER

SEE: https://pjmedia.com/culture/robert-spencer/2023/03/26/what-are-they-smoking-vatican-says-ramadan-is-important-for-christians-too-n1681627;

Republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, & research purposes.

Christians of all traditions were likely surprised on Friday when the Vatican’s Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue issued a message to Muslims for Ramadan, the Islamic month of fasting by day and gorging by night. The fact that such a message was sent was not a surprise, as interreligious dialogue has for many years been far more important to the hierarchy of the Catholic Church and other Churches than actually spreading the Gospel message. The surprising aspect was that in the message, which was entitled “Christians and Muslims: Promoters of Love and Friendship,” the Vatican asserted that Ramadan is important not just for Muslims, but for Christians as well. Christians, were you aware of this?

The message was signed by Cardinal Miguel Ángel Ayuso Guixot, a Spanish prelate who is the prefect of the Interreligious Dialogue Dicastery, and Msgr. Indunil Kodithuwakku Janakaratne Kankanamalage, a Sri Lankan who is its secretary, is addressed to “Dear Muslim brothers and sisters.” It immediately states, “The month of Ramadan is important for you, but also for your friends, neighbors, and fellow believers of other religions, in particular Christians.” Can Cardinal Guixot or Msgr. Kankanamalage give us any examples of Christians who observe Ramadan, or who think it important?

Certainly, there are many Christians who believe for various reasons that it is very important to build good relationships with Muslims, but one would be hard-pressed to find any who actually join in the fasting-and-gorging month, just as it would be difficult to find any Muslims who observe the Christian fasting season of Lent. Although there is always some overlap, particularly among people in mixed marriages, it is rare for people of one religious tradition to follow the practices of another. The Vatican is so anxious to reach out in friendship to Muslims that it is massively overstating its case. That’s not to say that most Christians have a negative view of Ramadan. They just aren’t thinking about it at all.

The Vatican message, however, goes on to assert that during Ramadan, “existing friendships are reinforced and others are built, paving the way for more peaceful, harmonious and joyful coexistence. This corresponds to the divine will for our communities, and indeed for all the members and communities of the one human family.” Gee, that’s swell, but even Guixot and Kankanamalage seem to realize that it’s a bit pollyannish, as they go on to assure us that “we are aware, dear friends, that peaceful and friendly coexistence faces many challenges and threats: extremism, radicalism, polemics, disputes, and religiously motivated violence.”

You can say that again. In fact, much of that religiously motivated violence comes from people who are observing the month of Ramadan that the Vatican is busy celebrating. In April 2022, the Palestinian Authority’s Supreme Sharia Judge, Mahmoud Al-Habbash, declared that “Ramadan is not a month of laziness but rather a month of activity, of effort, and of hard work, and as it also was in the life of the Prophet, a month of jihad, conquest, and victory.” The jihad he had in mind was violence against unbelievers, and not getting the kids to school on time, as a Muslim cleric in India, Maulana Bashir Ahmad Khaki, made clear in 2018: “Ramadan is the pious month of ‘Jihad-o-Qital’ (Jihad and killing). Those who attain martyrdom while waging Jihad, doors of heaven remain open.” In 2012, a jihad group in Bulgaria explained, “Ramadan is a month of holy war and death for Allah. It is a month for fighting the enemies of Allah and God’s messenger, the Jews and their American facilitators.” Or as the Vatican put it, “The threats are fueled by a culture of hate.”

Related: Catholic Cardinal Opens ‘Abrahamic Family House’ With Muslims Praying Prayers Denouncing Jews and Christians

The Vatican did not, however, explain exactly where that “culture of hate” was coming from. Instead, it pretended that both sides had an equal responsibility to seek peace: “We need, then, to find the most appropriate ways of countering and overcoming such a culture, enhancing instead, enhancing love and friendship, in particular between Muslims and Christians, due to the bonds that unite us.” Terrific. But did Guixot and Kankanamalage ever pause to ponder why such statements always and in every case come from the Christian side of the interreligious dialogue with Muslims, not from the Muslim side? Where are the Muslim leaders exhorting their coreligionists to reach out to Christians and other non-Muslims in friendship, and to reject the understanding of Ramadan that includes violence?

The Vatican’s naïve and willfully ignorant Ramadan message only highlights the fact that in this as in virtually all other cases, the friendly outreach to other religious traditions is decidedly one-sided.

Syria: Iranian drone kills U.S. contractor & FIVE U.S. SERVICEMEN

BY ROBERT SPENCER

SEE: https://www.jihadwatch.org/2023/03/syria-iranian-drone-kills-u-s-contractor;

Republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, & research purposes.

Why do we still have troops in Syria? What is their purpose, other than to line the pockets of the military-industrial complex?

“American Contractor Killed in Drone Attack on Base in Syria,” by Eric Schmitt, New York Times, March 23, 2023:

WASHINGTON — A U.S. contractor was killed and another contractor and five U.S. service members were injured when a self-destructing drone struck a maintenance facility on a coalition base in northeast Syria on Thursday, the Pentagon said in a statement.

U.S. intelligence analysts concluded that the drone was of “Iranian origin,” according to the Pentagon statement, which said the attack took place near Hasaka at 1:38 p.m. local time.

In response, at President Biden’s direction, Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III said he ordered airstrikes against facilities in eastern Syria used by groups affiliated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, or I.R.G.C.

“The airstrikes were conducted in response to today’s attack as well as a series of recent attacks against coalition forces in Syria by groups affiliated with the I.R.G.C.,” Mr. Austin said in a statement released late Thursday.

“These precision strikes are intended to protect and defend U.S. personnel,” the statement said. “The United States took proportionate and deliberate action intended to limit the risk of escalation and minimize casualties.”

United States Air Force F-15E fighter jets attacked a munition warehouse, a control building and an intelligence-collection site, two senior U.S. military officials said.

The U.S. airstrikes killed eight pro-Iran fighters in eastern Syria, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a group in Britain that tracks the conflict through contacts in Syria.

Rami Abdurrahman, its director, said on Friday that the strikes had targeted a weapons depot in the city of Deir Ezzor, killing six fighters, and that two other fighters had been killed by strikes in the desert of Mayadeen and near the town of Bukamal. A United States official confirmed the locations of the American retaliatory strikes, but not the casualty reports.

“As President Biden has made clear, we will take all necessary measures to defend our people and will always respond at a time and place of our choosing,” Mr. Austin said. “No group will strike our troops with impunity.”

The attacks are likely to stoke tensions with Iran, which Biden administration officials call the largest security threat in the Middle East.

“Iran’s vast and deeply resourced proxy forces spread instability throughout the region and threaten our regional partners,” Gen. Michael E. Kurilla, the head of the military’s Central Command, said in testimony to the House Armed Services Committee earlier on Thursday….

Church of Sweden archbishop screams ‘Allahu akbar,’ says Muhammad is prophet, successor says Muslims welcome to join

BY ROBERT SPENCER

SEE: https://www.jihadwatch.org/2023/03/church-of-sweden-archbishop-screams-allahu-akbar-says-muhammad-is-prophet-successor-says-muslims-welcome-to-join;

Republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, & research purposes.

This is the last gasp of a dying church (and a dying civilization). A culture that has no identity of its own and welcomes those who wish to conquer and subjugate it is a culture that will soon be a matter of history. These two archbishops are signposts on the way to the demise of the Church of Sweden, and of Sweden itself as a non-Muslim country.

“The Archbishop: Muslims can join the Church of Sweden,” translated from “Ärkebiskopen: Muslimer kan vara med i Svenska kyrkan,” Samnytt, January 26, 2023 (thanks to L.):

Outgoing Archbishop Antje Jackelén received harsh criticism for her religious relativist stance, not least in relation to the controversial religious ideology of Islam. She adopted the Swedish variant of “Allahu akbar” as her language of choice and said she could not put the peaceful healer Jesus before the warrior and mass murderer Muhammad as a prophet. Now Jackelen’s successor goes a step further and welcomes all Muslims to the Church of Sweden.

Martin Modéus has been appointed as the new archbishop in the Church of Sweden. For more conservative and traditional Christians, it is out of the frying pan and into the fire after eight years with the controversial Antje Jackelén. In a debate article in the left-liberal Dagens Nyheter, Modeus presents himself as the heir and further developer of the religious relativism for which his predecessors became famous and criticized.

The fact that Modéus is speaking out in this way is caused, among other things, by the fact that the Center Party’s supposed new party leader, Muharrem Demirok, who has already been in several storms before taking office, has also declared that he is a Muslim but also a member of the Church of Sweden. Many have reacted against this, but Modéus takes the opposite stance – being a Muslim and not a Christian does not constitute an obstacle to being part of the Church of Sweden, he believes.

That the Christian way of “relating to faith” would be a requirement in the Church of Sweden, Modéus emphatically opposes – all ways, even the Muslim, are equally legitimate and needed in the country’s churches.

A requirement to be a Christian in order to be part of a Christian congregation is regarded by the new archbishop as a recent “ideologization of the concept of religion.” However, the claim is contradicted by many who believe that what is new and ideological instead is the idea that it is just as well to believe in Allah and Muhammad in a Christian congregation as in Jehovah and Jesus.

In the Church of Sweden, under the leadership of Archbishop Martin Modéus, “you define what you believe in based on your own terms.” According to Modéus, the fact that the Church of Sweden receives a diversity of non-Christian beliefs “is an asset.”

Modéus wants the country’s churches to function more as clubs for general social community than places where a common Christian belief is shared. In this, he claims to have been inspired by one of the ideologues of Dagens Nyheter’s editorial page, Björn Wiman.

The Church of Sweden has lost many members. This is due, among other things, to the fact that more and more Swedes have adopted a secular outlook on life, but in many cases also to the fact that you do not recognize yourself in the “left-wing church” it has turned into, which nowadays functions more as one of the Social Democrats’ many corporative legs in Swedish society.

However, many Swedes remain members, by birth and unfettered habit, that they have not come to terms with leaving or are simply not aware that they are members of something they never actively chose to join. Even outspoken critics retain often their membership in order not to lose the right to vote in church elections and thus the opportunity to influence the future direction of the Church of Sweden.

However, the Church of Sweden needs new members to replace those who fall away, and the large group of immigrant Muslims is therefore attractive. According to Modéus, it is by opening the church doors to them that you can still claim to be a “people’s church.” That the church should be something only for believers or cultural Christians is “far too narrow,” the archbishop asserts in the DN article.

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