Gates of Vienna News Feed 7/25/2008

There’s a lot of news tonight. These are just some of the headlines:

• Muslim Votes Crucial for Obama
  
• Amanpour’s Ridiculous Racism
  
• MAS Holds Farewell Dinner and Fundraiser for Former Sharon Imam Masood
  
• Author Fears Possible ‘Fatwa’ After Publishing Fictional Book
  
• Libya: Oil Shipments to Switzerland Halted After Diplomatic Row
  
• Building Peace Between Jews and Muslims, One Pastry at a Time
  
• Muslim Day at Six Flags a Time to Relax and Connect With Others
  
• Italy and Libya Close to Accord
  
• You Must Be Nicer to Muslims, Britain is Told by UN Human Rights Chiefs
  
• Anti-Hijab McDonald’s

Thanks to Insubria, TB, Miss Kelly, Fausta, and all the other tipsters who sent these in. Details are below the fold.
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Muslim Votes Crucial for Obama

CHICAGO — Disturbed by Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama’s apathy to reach out Muslim voters, American Muslims are being urged to act to show the White House hopeful that the Muslim vote will be crucial in the November election.

“Muslims need to let Obama know that he has to earn their votes,” Saaqib Rangoonwala, managing editor of Muslim magazine InFocus, told Reuters on Friday, July 25.


Amanpour’s ridiculous racism

During today’s press conference in Paris, Christiane Amanpour asked Sarkozy “if he feelt awkward praising black Obama when, only a few years ago, he was calling black French rioters “scum.”

I kid you not.

Watch: [go to Fausta’s for the video]


MAS holds farewell dinner and fundraiser for former Sharon imam Masood

(from Miss Kelly)

Apparently the DOJ and Masood’s lawyers worked something out for former Sharon imam Muhammed Masood and his family to take a “voluntary departure.” The Boston Muslim American Society is holding a farewell dinner and fundraiser tomorrow at a restaurant next to the Islamic Cultural Center (the new Roxbury mosque). Lots of people convicted of lying to federal agents do jail time, but not Masood. Perhaps it’s just as well to have the entire family leave the U.S.

I wonder how the government will manage a three year probation when he’s overseas, which was part of his pleas agreement. No word yet on where he’s going. Probably not back to Pakistan. This ought to be covered in the Quincy Patriot Ledger in a few days.

Stay tuned!


Author fears possible ‘fatwa’ after publishing fictional book

A popular writer is traveling under a false name after he published a fictional book dealing with the Koran and Mohammed.

Brad Thor authored the just-released international thriller The Last Patriot (Atria Books, July 2008) — and now he wonders if a fatwa might be issued against his life. “That is an issue for us and something that my family’s been concerned about because there have been multiple death threats,” he reports. A fatwa is an Islamic religious ruling or scholarly opinion on a matter of Islamic law.

Thor finds it difficult to believe anyone would become that upset over fiction. “My goal here is to entertain, not to inflame,” he points out. “But I think what we’ve learned from the Danish Mohammed cartoons, from the British school teacher in Sudan who let her children name their teddy bear Mohammed, there is definitely a subset of that population that has absolutely no tolerance for anything other than their radical Islamist hard-line,” Thor notes.


Oriana and the Cherries

In her novel-world, family chronicles interweave with history. It all starts with a hat full of fruit.

Let’s forget for a minute about 9/11 and its repercussions. Let’s forget the angry woman who took up the role of defender of the West against the terrorist — and cultural — threat of looming Islam, and the writer who with a free thinker’s ruthless insight coined the term Eurabia, brutally shattering some of our taboos about co-existence. Let’s rewind and go back in time, but not too far. We are not going back to the days of the outstanding reporter from Vietnam and the world’s other hotspots, author of memorable reports for Europe that were syndicated to all the international papers, or to the woman who described her obsessive political and romantic relationship with Alexander Panagoulis in her epic portrait Un uomo [A Man], or to the protagonist of Lettera a un bambino mai nato [Letter to a Child Never Born], which moved the world with its intimate woman’s story…

Alessandro Cannavò for Magazine

English translation by Giles Watson

Article in Italian


Morocco: Immigrants to Europe barred from country because of ‘al-Qaeda links’

Rabat, 24 July (AKI) — A group of Moroccan citizens living in Europe have been barred from returning to their country because of their alleged links with the al-Qaeda.

According to a report on the Casablanca-based newspaper Assabah, the security services have come up with a blacklist of the names of 28 people living in Europe who have been accused of links with the terrorist network.


Libya: Oil shipments to Switzerland halted after diplomatic row

Tripoli, 24 July (AKI) — Libya’s state-run oil shipping company said on Thursday it would no longer carry oil destined to Switzerland after the arrest of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s son, Motassim Bilal, also known as ‘Hannibal’.

Swizerland imports 50 percent of its crude oil supply from Libya.


TERRORISM: ONLINE INSTRUCTIONS ON ABDUCTION, ITALIANS TARGET

(ANSAmed) — WASHINGTON, JULY 24 — The Italians are in the top ten of the targets of kidnapping published by a website close to Islamic extremism, which also published detailed instructions for the activities of the Jihadist cells involved in “urban terrorism”. The instructions for kidnapping and the list with preferred “human targets” — to be used in order to demand the release of detainees or money for future operations — was intercepted by US-based research centre Jamestown Foundation, specialised in the study of terrorism. A large tutorial for the kidnappings (and in some cases for the “execution of the hostage”) was recently published online by an alleged terrorist identified by his combat name Abu Hajar Abdul al-Moqrin. Al-Moqrin presented a list with targets explaining that priority must be given to Jews from Israel and the US, who must be targeted before the Jews from Great Britain and France. Following are “the Christians, especially those from the US, Britain, Spain, Australia, Canada and Italy”. Then come the “apostates”, mainly leaders of the Muslim countries who have relations “with Jews and the Christian governments”, Egyptian Hosni Mubarak and the leaders of the Gulf Countries are mentioned. At the last place are “spies and security agents who protect Jews and Christians”. Al-Moqrin calls also to target, inside these categories, at top government officials and diplomats, with preference to old people, less protected and physically weak. Instructions are given on how to use weapon with silencer, anaesthetic injections and instruments for electrical discharges and on the modalities for hostage transport. The Islamic site, analysed by Abdul Hameed Bakier, an expert from the Jordan intelligence who is working for the US think tank, offers explanations on how to organise Jihad cells of four people to infiltrate the western cities, detailing any logistic and financial aspect of their activity. “The Jihad operations to be carried out in the cities include assassinations, abduction, vandalism and raids to release imprisoned Jihadists,” is explained. (ANSAmed).


Tunisian cartoon plotters remain jailed

A Danish court ruled Friday it was legal to continue holding two Tunisians suspected of plotting to kill a Danish cartoonist who satirized Islam’s Prophet Mohammed without trial.

The two men, aged 26 and 37 and residents of Denmark, have been held at the request of the Danish intelligence agency PET’s since February 12, when they were arrested on suspicion of planning to murder Kurt Westergaard


Building peace between Jews and Muslims, one pastry at a time:

[…]

One woman who participates in the monthly pastry workshop is Nathalie Obadia, a Jew of Tunisian origin who says she does not want divisive Middle East issues poisoning relationships with her neighbors. “What’s happening over there is over there,” said Obadia, 39. “Here, we’re in France.”


Muslim Day at Six Flags a time to relax and connect with others

Gurnee park expects about 1,200 Muslims to attend Saturday

On any other day, Sobia Ahmed would opt to forgo many of the snacks on offer at Six Flags Great America in Gurnee. To perform the Islamic prayers she recites five times a day, she likely would slip onto a secluded path at the amusement park or look for solace under a shady tree for a few furtive minutes.

But this Saturday Ahmed and her family will eat and pray at their leisure in the park with hundreds of other Muslims from the Chicago area who plan to visit the sprawling entertainment center for a day catered especially to them.

For the fourth time since 2004, Six Flags in Gurnee is sponsoring Muslim Day, bringing in outside caterers to provide halal food and turning an amphitheater into a makeshift mosque to accommodate Muslims who observe dietary laws and strict prayer schedules. Muslims who plan to go say they appreciate the sense of community the event creates as well as the opportunity to talk about Islam with curious non-Muslims at the park.


Swiss citizen arrests deepen Libyan crisis

Switzerland’s foreign ministry has voiced concern at the detainment of two Swiss nationals in “alarming conditions” in Libya.

The pair were held as Libya rolled out a retaliatory response to the arrest of Moammar Gaddafi’s son Hannibal in Geneva on July 15, including the alleged suspension of oil supplies to Switzerland on Thursday.

The Swiss nationals, one of whom is an employee of Swedish-Swiss firm ABB, have been formally arrested and charged with immigration offences, ministry spokesman Jean-Philippe Jeannerat said on Thursday.


Italy and Libya close to accord

(ANSA) — Rome, July 24 — Italy and Libya could sign a historic friendship and cooperation accord resolving issues related to Italy’s colonial occupation of the North African country by the end of August, Premier Silvio Berlusconi has said. Speaking to journalists on Thursday evening, the premier confirmed news leaked to Libyan television earlier in the day that the two countries were close to reaching an agreement after more than a decade of negotiations.

The accord would finally resolve issues related to Italy’s colonial occupation of the North African country in 1911 and the expulsion of some 20,000 Italians by Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi in 1970.

“We are working intensely and with a strong desire to draw up a pact of friendship by August 31,” Berlusconi said.

Gaddafi’s son, Seif al-Islam, told Libyan television that the two countries were likely to sign a “billion dollar” agreement in the next few weeks.

The accord includes various projects, including the Italian construction of a large coastal highway costing an estimated six billion euros that would link Libya with Egypt and Tunisia.


You must be nicer to Muslims, Britain is told by UN human rights chiefs

Britain was told yesterday by a United Nations committee to take firm action to combat ‘negative public attitudes’ towards Muslims.

The nine-member human rights committee also criticised some of the UK’s antiterror measures.

The body, which is composed of legal experts, said it was concerned ‘ negative public attitudes towards Muslim members of society’ continued to develop in Britain.


Anti-hijab McDonald’s

CAIRO — Two young American Muslim women are suing the world’s largest chain of fast food restaurants McDonald’s over denying them jobs for donning hijab, the Detroit News reported on Friday, July 25. \

“I applied for the McDonald’s position maybe two weeks ago and he (the manager) simply (told me) I had to make a choice and remove my hijab, or I would not be able to establish employment there,” 25-year-old Quiana Pugh said.

“When I walked away, I was definitely hurt by it and disturbed. I was confused that it could happen here in Dearborn, with so many Muslims.”


LIBYA: RESPECT OUR RIGHTS TOO, REPATRIATES TO BERLUSCONI

(ANSAmed) — ROME, JULY 25 — A telegram to Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi to call for respect of the rights of the Italians repatriated from Libya and to ask for a meeting at the Italian government with a delegation of the association was sent by president of Association of Italians Repatriated from Libya (AIRL), Giovanna Ortu, after yesterday the son of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, Saif al-Islam, announced the forthcoming signing of an agreement with Italy for compensations amounting to billions and the prime minister confirmed that Rome and Tripoli are working hard to reach an agreement “by August 31”. “In merit of Your statements on the forthcoming closing of the legal dispute with Libya with the same willingness which You have expressed last week to the Libyan prime minister and foreign minister, and from our modest position, we ask for equal dignity, certain that this time a delegation of the association will be granted a short meeting,” the telegram reads. “A government which defines itself democratic cannot continue ignoring our appeals and remaining deaf to the legitimate demands of Italian citizens, while it is ready to pay billions to favour the demands of a dictator who accuse us of an occupation that happened almost one century ago for which Libya has been already compensated in 1956 and blackmails with the bogy of the illegal immigrants,” Ortu says. In a statement, the president of AIRL estimates to three billion euro the compensations owed for the property confiscated from the Italians by Gaddafi in 1970, legitimate demands, Ortu states, in front of which “it would be unworthy that in the moment when the money for compensations amounting to billions are found for Libya there is no place in the budget for an allocation related to the compensations” owed to the repatriates. (ANSAmed).