Palestinian 'activist' killed by Palestinian 'terrorists' whilst Palestinian 'Islamists' feel challenged

I think the above title sums up this Sky News article but in more detail it seems that an Italian activist, Vittorio Arrigoni, with a pro-Palestinian group called the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) was seized in Gaza by was seized on Thursday morning by a Salafist extremists group, ideologically linked with Al-Qaeda, in an attempt to force the release by the Hamas government of their leader, Sheikh Abu Walid al-Maqdasi, who was arrested last month by Hamas police. 

Very sad for Vittorio Arrigoni and his family but when you link up with supporters of terrorism in a territory run by terrorists and partly populated with people who make Hamas look moderate then I am afraid you run a very large risk.

Sky include an interesting line in their report:

'The killing is a direct challenge to Hamas by a group espousing a more extreme Islamist ideology.'

Nice to see Sky recognising that Hamas do espouse an extremist Islamist ideology, now maybe they could publicise Hamas's real views on the future of Israel, as comprehensively covered on this blog.

Meanwhile the BBC's report on the same story only goes this far:

'They consider Hamas, an Islamist movement itself, too moderate, our correspondent says.'

Do you see the subtle change in emphasis?

This country gets odder by the minute

'A special immigration court said Abid Naseer was an al-Qaeda operative - but could not be deported because he faced torture or death back home in Pakistan.'

To quote Ed Balls and the Anti-Nowhere League - "SO WHAT" Why should we care about people who are not British citizens and who apparently want to kill as many of us as they can? Why are their human rights more important than those of the British public to not be blown up as they travel on the tube or bus? Why are the human rights of two Pakistani citizens more important than mine? Why should two Pakistani citizens have the right to stay in this country even though they apparently hate what this country stands for?

This sort of thing makes me so angry and it looks as though this Conservative government is going to be a limp wristed about it as the last Labour government; I despair, I really do.

Joe Biden with a scary prediction

ABC News report that:

"Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., on Sunday guaranteed that if elected, Sen. Barack Obama., D-Ill., will be tested by an international crisis within his first six months in power and he will need supporters to stand by him as he makes tough, and possibly unpopular, decisions.

"Mark my words," the Democratic vice presidential nominee warned at the second of his two Seattle fundraisers Sunday. "It will not be six months before the world tests Barack Obama like they did John Kennedy. The world is looking. We're about to elect a brilliant 47-year-old senator president of the United States of America. Remember I said it standing here if you don't remember anything else I said. Watch, we're gonna have an international crisis, a generated crisis, to test the mettle of this guy."

"I can give you at least four or five scenarios from where it might originate," Biden said to Emerald City supporters, mentioning the Middle East and Russia as possibilities."

Oh super, what can we look forward to Joe? Russia invading the currently independent Baltic countries? Al-Qaeda/Taliban attacks on US and British bases in Iraq, Afghanistan and/or Cyprus? Iran launching a missile attack on Israel? Hamas/Hezbollah setting off dirty bombs in Tel Aviv? Al Qaeda setting off dirty bombs in New York, Washington, London?

I really don't like the way the rest of this decade is shaping up... Where would be safe to sit it out?

Anti-goat discrimination

The Telegraph report that

"Al-Qa'eda is losing support in Iraq because of a brutal crackdown on activities it regards as un-Islamic - including women buying cucumbers."

Even worse

"Sheikh Hameed al-Hayyes, a Sunni elder, told Reuters: "They even killed female goats because their private parts were not covered and their tails were pointed upward, which they said was haram.

"They regarded the cucumber as male and tomato as female. Women were not allowed to buy cucumbers, only men."

Other farcical stipulations include an edict not to buy or sell ice-cream, because it did not exist in the time of the Prophet, while hair salons and shops selling cosmetics have also been bombed.

Most seriously, Sheikh al-Hayyes said: "I saw them slaughter a nine-year old boy like a sheep because his family didn't pledge allegiance to them.""

Sheep, goats and cucumbers - sounds like a fun party...

"better to jaw-jaw than to war-war"

It is "better to jaw-jaw than to war-war" so say the appeasers, quoting Winston Churchill's words from 1954. Everyone is capable of reforming many of the same people say about some vile person who is to be released from prison.


That's an item from the New York Times of 21 December 1924 marking the release on parole from prison in Germany of Adolph Hitler. Adolph Hitler had been imprisoned in April of that year for 5 years for conspiring to overthrow the Weimar government. He was released as part of a general amnesty. The paper reports how :

"His behaviour during imprisonment convinced the authorities that, like his political organization... was no longer to be feared."

The article ends with one of the most inaccurate predictions ever :

"It is believed he will retire to private life and return to Austria, the country of his birth."

I wonder if people really expect the leaders of Hamas, Hizballah, Fatah, Iran, Syria, al-Qaeda etc. etc. etc. to be tamed by our appeasement and so to abandon public life and go back to their homes and live in peace.

Who is "innocent"?

I have blogged before about the the never asked question "Who is innocent". Inayat Bunglawala and Muhammad Abdul Bari of the Muslim Council of Britain were oft heard to say in the days after the London bombings that

"we condemn the killing of all innocent people wherever they are" or "Those who seek to deliberately kill or maim innocent people are the enemies of us all..."

I pointed out Anjum Chaudri's revealing explanation

"When we say innocent people we mean Muslims, as far as non-Muslims are concerned they have not accepted Islam and as far as we are concerned that is a crime against God... As far as Muslims are concerned, you are innocent if you are a Muslim, then you are innocent in the eyes of God. If you are a non-Muslim then you are guilty of not believing in God"

"I must have hatred to anything that is not Islam"

I now note that al Qaeda’s second-in-command, Ayman al Zawahiri, has issued a declaration that includes this

"we haven’t killed the innocents, not in
Baghdad, nor in Morocco, nor in Algeria, nor anywhere else. And if there is any innocent who was killed in the Mujahideen’s operations, then it was either an unintentional error, or out of necessity as in cases of al-Tatarrus [taking of human shields by the enemy]... we are confronting the enemies of the Muslim Ummah and targeting them, and it may be the case that during this, an innocent might fall unintentionally or unavoidably, and the Mujahideen have warned repeatedly the Muslims in general that they are in a war with the senior criminals – the Americans and Jews and their allies and agents – and that they must keep away from the places where these enemies gather."

A new low (update)

I blogged earlier that "Al-Qaeda have hit a new low, they apparently strapped bombs to two mentally disabled women and detonated the bombs remotely. That's disgusting, is it not? Maybe the BBC will consider calling Al-Qaeda terrorists now, maybe not."

It seems as though not everyone agrees with me. Libby Spencer atNewshoggers writes "For the record, assuming it's true, I think it's just horrible that whoever was behind this latest disaster used Down's women to perpetrate the bombings but I don't see it as a sign of desperation. I see it as a sign of adaptation and a brilliant one at that."


Brilliant adaptation is it Libby? I suppose using mothers to load their pushchairs with explosives and blow them, their babies and anyone nearby to pieces would also be brilliant adaptation - would it? Maybe packing explosives into disabled peoples' wheelchairs would also be brilliant adaptation - would it? People like you disgust me; your "liberalism" seems to be a thin veneer covering facististic tendencies.